Astrophile [J.P]

Chapter 68

~ You know I never want to let you down, it cuts me up to see you sad. 

And I wish that I could undo what I've done, give back the faith in me you had. ~

***

Remus had packed his trunk and checked it twice to make sure he had everything he needed. It was not like he kept a lot of stuff either since he had to be constantly on the move due to his condition.

But that issue of constantly moving from one place to another had come to a halt for the time being as Albus Dumbledore had offered him to teach Defense Against The Dark Arts at Hogwarts. He had promised that he would make sure special care would be taken to keep his lycanthropy under wraps and even assured him that he would be provided a sufficient quantity of wolfsbane to minimize risks during this painful monthly transformations.

Hence Remus took the job and after so many years, he would be returning to his old school as a Professor; a dream he had held since childhood.

Going back to the school would bring up all the old memories as well, he was quite aware of that. Besides, Harry Potter was going to be one of his students and he was quite intrigued to meet their little Prongslet.

He wondered things would have been a lot different if the Potters hadn't died but of course wishful thinking only ended up in making him sadder. Harry could have known him as Uncle Moony if only James and Lily hadn't died that night.

But fate couldn't be changed and by then he had learnt to accept it.

However, before leaving for Hogwarts, he decided to pay Felicity a visit. So the evening before the first day of term would start, he packed his stuff and gave the keys to his landlady, telling her that she could rent the room out again as he was leaving for a long time.

And from there, he took the bus to Magnolia Crescent, arriving at the solitary neighborhood an hour later.

He walked to house number seven and rang the doorbell upon which the door was opened shortly, revealing Felicity.

It seemed as if she had just returned from work as she was dressed in formal clothes, the name tag visible on her blazer but she was barefoot, indicating that the first thing she had kicked off was her shoes upon reaching home.

"Remus, hi," she smiled, opening the door wider for him.

He had stepped in, placing an arm round her in a hug they had shared often. It was a reminder that they were still fiends, despite everything that had torn them apart.

"I'm sorry, the house will be a mess. I was late for work and left without cleaning and I had no idea you were coming either..."

He smiled slightly, "it doesn't matter. I came to see you not the house."

"Yeah, right."

Remus knew she didn't use magic in her house or else the cleanup would have taken just a few seconds. However, as he stepped in, he saw a makeshift kennel made out of blankets in the living room and that sparked his curiosity.

"Have you taken in a pet?"

She followed his gaze and shook her head, "oh this... No I haven't taken in any pets. This was just for a poor dog that had turned up in the storm last night. It was injured and starved, poor thing left before I even woke up this morning."

Remus stiffened upon hearing that from her, "a dog showed up at your house in the storm?"

"Yeah," she noticed that he had frozen, "is anything the matter, Rem?"

"What kind of dog, if you don't kind me asking? I mean..." His voice trailed off, unable to find a reason to justify why he would ask that.

"That's strange of you to ask. But it was a black dog with very large grey eyes. I would have kept it but it didn't stay."

He didn't reply as the thoughtful frown on his face deepened.

That dog could be Sirius in his Animagus form and Felicity obviously had no idea about that.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when her hand rested gently on his arm, "is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he spoke up, knowing he couldn't possibly tell her what he had been thinking, "I was just thinking... Never mind."

"Okay..." She looked at him closely but then gestured him to sit down on the couch, "you'd have tea, right? I was about to make some anyway."

"Thank you, Fel, though you really shouldn't feel the need to treat me as a guest."

That soft smile flickered on her face again, "ah, that's not the case. I am treating you as a friend. It's been long since we had tea together."

Her words though light held a deeper meaning behind them, an indicator of how much things had changed after the war.

She had put the kettle on to boil the water for tea while she glanced briefly at Remus who still seemed lost in thought.

"So what's been up with you lately, found a new job?" She asked as she poured out the tea in cups and joined him on the couch.

"Yeah... Actually I came to say goodbye."

She stiffened, "what... Why?"

"Professor Dumbledore offered me to teach Defense at Hogwarts. So I'll be leaving for school tomorrow and as you know, I'll have to stay there for the term."

The words sunk in and though she was surprised, she nodded with a smile, "ah, I see. Congrats, Rem, wasn't this a childhood dream of yours?"

"Yeah," he answered but didn't elaborate.

It had been a childhood dream of his which his friends used to motivate him for. But none of those friends could be with him at the moment while that dream was finally coming true.

"What about you? How's your life going?"

"Same old," she sighed wearily, "but these days the Ministry people turn up to raid my house every now and then. That's exhausting."

He knew exactly what she was referring to. Ever since Sirius escaped, he had been on the Ministry's watch list too.

"Same here," he remarked, "my landlady got annoyed by them visiting so often. I bet she's glad I moved out."

"But now you're going to Hogwarts, they won't bother you there."

"I hope so."

There was a while of silence between them after which she asked somewhat hesitantly, "Remus... Do you really believe he could have betrayed James?"

Remus stiffened and placed the cup of tea back in the tray. That one question was too much to handle.

"Fel, please... Don't bring that up."

She looked down at her hands that were tightly clutching her cup, the tea in it still full to the brim.

And so were her eyes as a tear streaked down her cheek but she said not another word.

She could see it would hurt both of them to talk about Sirius but deep down, a part of her believed that he was innocent.

At last, Remus stood up, an apologetic look creasing his features, "Fel, I have got to go now. It's an early start tomorrow and I plan to take the Hogwarts Express."

She looked up, "why don't you stay here? This house is every bit a home for you now even, as it was for all of us in the past. Stay the night and you can leave for the station in the morning."

He knew she would offer that but was still thinking of a way to politely refuse since he didn't want to be of any trouble to her.

"I mean it, Rem. Stay. And don't worry, I won't bring up anything that will make you uncomfortable."

The last sentence cut through him but he gave in and nodded, "alright. Thank you."

***