Carry On || Remus Lupin x Reader

4

Even with the combination of Remus and Sirius - two of the creators of the Marauder's Map and two of the prankster masterminds of their schooldays - and the Weasley twins - two of the most creative minds you've ever met and two of the prankster masterminds of their schooldays - none of you can manage to figure out a way to quiet Walburga Black or remove her from the wall. Sirius ends up just finding an extra blanket and hanging it up over the portrait, telling all of you that you'll just have to remember to be quiet around her as to not set her off. He threatens to hex the next person who does, and you can tell that he's only half joking.

Once you get back down to the kitchen, you find that Molly has already jumped into action. The dishes in the sink are being washed on their own, while Molly herself is looking through the cupboards, organizing the food and other supplies that you'd bought and put away rather haphazardly.

You and Sirius exchange a look as she begins to rattle on to her kids about how they'll all be expected to help clean, and how you all will have to make sure that the house is in the best possible shape for the first Order meeting in a few weeks.

"Why can't we be in the Order?" Ron asks.

"You're far too young," Molly immediately dismisses him, turning away, "Now, upstairs, all of you."

After some protesting, the twins, Ron, and Ginny head upstairs, their footsteps thundering above you, leaving you, Molly, Arthur, Bill, Sirius, and Remus in the kitchen. Sirius takes the seat at the head of the table, propping his feet up on the table itself, which earns a look of disapproval from Molly, but she doesn't say anything.

You sit down, too, at the end of the table, and Bill starts pulling out the chair next to you, just as Remus starts towards you. Bill seems to release his mistake, though, because he says, "Oh, sorry. You can sit here."

Remus waves his hand dismissively, walking around to the other side of the table, so that he's across from you. There's that odd look in his expression again that you doubt anyone who doesn't know him as well as you do would be able to catch.

"It's all yours," Remus says, just before looking at Sirius, who's already looking at him. You can tell there's some sort of silent communicating and understanding between them, but you can't quite tell what's going on. You wonder if they did that as kids.

"So," you say instead, trying to change the subject and steer everyone away from the somewhat awkward energy that has now filled the small room, "Who's all in the Order, anyway?"

"Nobody's quite sure." Arthur is the one to answer you, from his seat at the opposite end of the table from Sirius. "We aren't supposed to discuss it outside of here, but I'd suspect that Dumbledore is trying to get together as many people from the original Order as possible."

You know exactly what he's saying, without him having to say it directly: Dumbledore is trying to get together all of the original Order members who are alive. Which, from what you know, isn't very many. Remus and Sirius have told you a bit about what the original Order, mostly to give you a heads up of what to expect this time around. In their stories, they threw out so many names that it was hard to keep track, but it was easy to realize that Remus and Sirius are the last two of their friend group from that period of time. You also learned from them that Molly's twin brothers were killed during the war. You can't possibly imagine losing that many people close to you - Remus, Sirius, or Bill especially.

You look at Remus, who appears distracted, sliding his finger up the handle of his mug. He seems to feel your eyes on him, though, because he looks up, raising his eyebrows ever so slightly at you, as if to ask why you're staring. You smile slightly at him and shake your head, and he offers you a small smile back. You'll have to ask him later what's wrong, because something clearly is.