Wolf and Wings - Remus and Narcissa

Chapter 17

A/N: More all new content!

The morning was over, lunch was beginning, and Narcissa Black and Remus Lupin were still alone in his dormitory. She was waiting for her trunk and had flung his cupboard door open, looking for something to wear. The project quickly spiraled into a reworking and repairing of Remus's dingy wardrobe. Her wand worked over his clothes, lengthening sleeves and trouser, reinforcing frayed patches, brightening faded colour. His father had never learned these spells, all of them considered witches' work in the old days. Without a witch for a mother to teach him how to do this for himself, Remus's clothes were worn out, outgrown, or shredded by werewolf claws extremely quickly.

"But there's no need for you to keep bearing it," Narcissa said as she smoothed the wrinkles from a bunch of fabric meant to be a shirt. "Let me mend your things for you. When there's more time, I can teach you the spells. It's nothing. Not for me, at any rate. Clothes are easy."

He hung his head and looked sorry anyway.

She ignored it, approaching him where he sat on the bed, bringing with her what had once been his favourite cardigan before the left cuff had begun to unravel. It was mended now and she slid the sleeves up his arms and shoulders. "I like this one," she said as he linked his arms around her waist. "The green is cool and suits your eyes. Now no sad faces, Lupin. You are mine to take care of, and a well-kept wardrobe is part of what that means to me. Don't worry. It doesn't need to be fancy."

He accepted with a sigh and a nod. "You've done a nice job fixing this," he said, sliding the cardigan from his shoulders and draping it around hers instead. "Let it keep you warm as my thanks."

It was true that she had been working away, standing in the middle of the room, still wearing just his white uniform shirt with a pair of short 1970s boys' gym shorts underneath for modesty in case the lads came back.

"Yes, that's lovely on you," he said, easing her hair out of the collar. "Much better. Green is cool, and I'm not cool - "

"That's not what 'cool colour' means - "

"I know that," he said, laughing quietly, gripping the lapels as he held them around her. "I guess what I mean is, green and every other colour I've ever seen looks better on you."

"Well my school obligation to wear Slytherin green seems to be over. And frankly, after six and a half years, I might be sick of it anyway," she said, tossing her head. "And you needn't worry about me trying to dress you up like some ridiculous dandy from the dungeon. That was Lucius, the man I've just rejected in grand style. I want no more of that."

Remus let go of the lapels, gathering her in his arms. "Really? You have the skills to transform my stodgy, scruffy librarian look into high fashion, but you'd rather not?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Stodgy? Is that the look you intend? Well, you haven't fooled me with it, Lupin. No, to me, your look is that of a barely contained werewolf." She said it in a low, purring voice, her wrists crossed at the nape of his neck. "Strong and lithe, ravenous, always on the verge of pouncing on me, even - no, perhaps especially - when you're done up for the library."

"Must be the scars," he said. "Or will you be asking to charm them away with your Complexion Perfection balm again?"

She clucked her tongue. "Honestly, Lupin, don't you recognize a girl's excuse to touch your face when you hear one?" she said, standing on her toes, whispering into his mouth. "No, I don't want those scars to go anywhere."

Remus's pulse was rising. He bent his head toward her, but before he could connect, James Potter came yelping into the room.

"Remus - stars! Sorry!" he said. "I watched the map all day for your dots to stop overlapping before we came back here but - "