Rediscovering The Stars

Chapter 5 Part 1

December 22nd 1981

Finally, after five whole days spent sitting and chatting on the steam engine, the three friends arrived safe and sound in King's Cross Station. Looking around, positive and negative memories flooded back into Remus Lupin's mind. Memories of meeting his friends after the, what seemed too long, summer holidays and memories of waving goodbye out of a train window to those same friends' tearful faces and eyes, except one face was always missing. a face he wasn't even sure he would recognize almost a quinquennial later. Would Canis have wrinkles? surely not, he'd only be twenty two. Grey hairs? hopefully not. Would he even remember Remus and what they had together? God he hoped so. He'd always hoped with every inch of his heart the ebony haired man would one day show up again in his life and forgive him for anything and everything. For running away all those years ago. For never saying goodbye.

Nothing stood out to have changed in those four years, at least not in Remus's eyes. The muted browns and metallic greys still there, the domed glass windows looked up on the grey and cloudy sky. The wind had picked up when they'd arrived in England, reminding Remus of home, the cold, biting breeze of London he'd missed so much since his time in New York. Tonks had decided to latch onto Remus once more, cutting off any circulation his arm had managed to gain back from their journey on the train. Luckily Pete had booked a rental car to drive to his hotel before Remus had agreed to join him, so he could drop the scarred man off at the Potter's home. If they even still lived there after all these years.

He'd written letters to them from New York for a couple months after he'd left, updating them on how his life had been going since he'd arrived, how his apartment was coming together and how his schooling had been going. Last he'd heard, Lily was expecting their first baby in the summer of 1980, making their son about one, now. They'd made Canis the child's godfather and had tried to convince Remus to reconcile with the man but the brunet had simply stopped replying to their letters, feeling too ashamed to talk about something so private through the post.

The car Pete had rented wasn't much to write home about, a dingy old thing with run-down tires and a few scratches here and there in the black paint that'd been shoddily sprayed onto the body, seemingly without much care put into it. Though, it would do until they arrived at Lily and James' house. Traffic ended up being worse than he'd expected, holding them back for several extra hours than they'd thought, making it to Godric's Hollow at the sun-setting time of about seven o'clock at night. Slowly, they drove through the thin streets, houses lit up prettily with blinking, multicoulored Christmas lights. Tonks even pointed out one particularly festive looking house with a sleigh and reindeer perched on the roof, the front reindeer's red nose shining so brightly Remus couldn't look directly into it, even as far away from it as the car was.

Finally, Remus tapped Peter's shoulder and gestured towards the house to the left of the road, decked in several different shades of white to yellow lights strung up on the porch and balconies. The same, beat up old Beetle car James had drove since he'd gotten his license quietly sat in the driveway collecting snow on the roof.
"That's, That's it. That's their house." He breathed, hardly able to contain the mix of excitement and anxiety that had been pooling in his gut since they'd turned off the main road into Godric's Hollow.

He fumbled with the door handle, snapping it open and tumbling out, much to Tonks' amusement. She helped him to his feet, brushing the now-collected snow that seeped into his cardigan from his tumble and popped open the trunk, removing his and placing it in his hands,
"Tonks I." he started, watching her bright face calm slightly in the light of the setting sun, "I can't just drop in unannounced. How can I ask them to let me stay here for the Christmas period?" The bluenette smiled sympathetically at him, patting his slightly damp shoulder with her own damp mittened hand.
"They'll be delighted to see you, Remus, I'll bet you my entire uni fund." He chuckled and nodded, placing his hand over hers. "We'll wait at the end of the driveway if you'd like. To see you in." He thanked her and smiled.

The stones of the Potter's house pathway were slippery with ice, even under Remus's slightly chunky boots he'd salvaged from the bottom of his shoes cupboard back in his apartment. He began to think maybe this was a mistake. Why was he even here? To see Canis again after they'd never contacted each other in almost four and a half years? Bullshit, He bet Canis had already found someone new and better than himself anyways. The familiar murmur of muffled voices seeped from inside the walls, laughter and chatter of what sounded like a happy family. Remus pulled his cardi closer around his torso, turning to his friends as Tonks shooed him on, Peter sticking up two thumbs in support. He smiled wearily and reached his red-tipped finger to the buzzer, breathing deeply before pressing down and listening to an unfamiliar tune alert those inside to his presence at the door.

The cherry oak door swung open to reveal a man. Dark skinned and messy haired, glasses slightly askew on his face. No doubt, it was James Potter.
"Hello, how can I he-" he stopped dead in his tracks, staring up at his childhood best friend in complete and utter disbelief, 

"Remus?"