Chapter 127: Seventh Year: Responsibilities
Chapter Text
Monday 9th January 1978
Remus wrote three letters on his last night before school that Christmas break. Two would need a muggle stamp, and were to be posted into the red Royal Mail pillar box at the end of the road before they left for King's Cross. The second could wait until he got to Hogwarts, and could use one of the school owls.
The first was to Hope:
Dear Ms. Jenkins,
My name is Remus Lupin. My father was Lyall Lupin, and I believe I am your son.
I am now seventeen years old. I was given a letter written by you in 1965. I hope that you do not mind my writing to you. If you would like to write back, I would like that very much.
Yours Sincerely,
Remus John Lupin.
(He thought he had better sign off with his full name, though he would be very surprised if there was another Remus Lupin living in Britain. He also thought it best to keep it short and to the point. She would appreciate that, maybe, if she chose to ignore the letter.)
The second letter was to Grant.
Dear Grant,
I hope you had a nice Christmas. I wish I could have come to visit, but I stayed with my friend's family and it's hard to get away.
I hope you're all right. How's the job going? Have you saved up for a flat, yet? I'll have to start thinking about that soon. It's my last term of school, ever, and by June I will be living in the real world. I hope I can see you then.
Please write back as soon as you can, and let me know how you are doing.
Yours,
Remus.
(He didn't want to put 'yours sincerely', because it seemed silly and over-formal. He didn't want to put 'love', because that seemed very extreme. So in the end, 'yours', seemed the simplest, and most honest way to put it.)
"So it's just the Ferox letter still to post, then?" Sirius asked, as they took their seat in their usual carriage on the Hogwarts Express. They were completely alone - Peter had gone in search of Dorcas, who had apparently written him a very steamy letter over the Christmas break, while James and Lily had made a beeline for the prefect's carriage.
"Just the Ferox one." Remus nodded, patting his pocket. Sirius sat on the same bench as him, reclining back and stretching his legs out in Remus's lap, arms folded behind his head. Remus snorted indulgently, "Make yourself comfortable, why don't you."
"Don't mind if I do." Sirius grinned wickedly. "So." He said, "Which letter are you most looking forward to getting a reply from?"
"Which reply am I most looking forward to?" Remus quirked an eyebrow dryly, "You mean between my battle-wounded ex-teacher, my young-offender ex-boyfriend or the mother who abandoned me?"
"Well, when you put it like that ," Sirius tutted. "Honestly, the amount of stuff you keep back."
"Would you rather I was whinging all the time?" Remus sighed, opening the book he'd brought for the journey on top of Sirius's legs.
"No," Sirius mused, staring up at the carriage ceiling thoughtfully. "But, I mean. If you didn't have me to talk to about this stuff, I'd be worried your head would explode."
"It would not explode , thank you very much," Remus slapped his knee lightly with the orange-covered penguin paperback. "You're so dramatic. I coped perfectly well before you decided to involve yourself."
