REASONS TO STAY ⁰¹- HP Rewrite

ii. parting tears

T W O .
❝ parting tears ❞

Tuesday, August 31st, 1971

REMUS WATCHED AS HIS mother exasperatedly told Caron to sit still after she announced that she was bored for the third time within half an hour. He felt for his sister, and he knew that Caron wasn't understanding that this strange woman was someone their mother hadn't seen in years, so he tapped her shoulder and gestured for her to move closer to him with a mischievous smile. It was a gesture Caron knew well, so she perked up immediately and did as told.

'Wanna walk around the house and see what we find?' Remus asked, turning slightly away from their mother so that she couldn't see what he was proposing. Caron nodded vigorously, desperate for any kind of adventure. 'Okay, follow my lead. Be quiet.'

Caron was anything but quiet, although it could also be that Remus was sensitive to sounds. Either way, whether Hope and Aunt Pip noticed that they were slowly walking away from them or not, they didn't say anything.

It had been thirty minutes since Aunt Pip first pulled them inside, gushing over how long it's been since the last time she'd seen her sister and how big Remus was. Apparently, she hadn't been able to meet Caron until then, and was quite surprised to find that she was deaf. An awkward silence had ensued as Caron put on her most charming smile, babbling on while assuming someone was interpreting for her (Hope was). After a moment or two, Aunt Pip seemed to recover from her mild surprise and casually promised to learn sign language. Remus doubted she would, but he didn't say anything.

Aunt Pip's house was quite impressive. Remus watched in amazement as the ceilings arched over them, constellations and planets painted onto it to look as though they were staring right into space. Golden-framed portraits of his aunt and some other woman adorned the gray walls. The intensity in the paintings between these two women made him feel strange, it wasn't a sight he'd ever seen before — not that it would make much of a difference considering Remus had never really left the house before.

The floors were wooden, creaking slightly over the weight of his sister and him as they slowly wandered deeper into the enormous house. Statues of naked Greek goddesses were displayed in every corner, each of them in sensual positions that made Remus blush and quickly push Caron along.

'I think Aunt Pip is rich,' Caron said after they'd reached the dining room. 'How else can she afford all of these things? The house is so big, too, that you can fit the biggest elephant. We can call her Pip, you know, in honor of our aunt.'

Remus wasn't sure what Caron was saying, but he nodded in agreement as if he knew exactly what was happening. They pushed the door that Remus knew led to the kitchen, the scent of turkey made his stomach rumble.

Inside the kitchen, Caron and Remus were surprised to find a woman cooking. The same woman in the portraits with his aunt. She was yet to notice them, focused on the cookbook as she rolled dough. Flour was everywhere. Remus was about to push Caron out of the kitchen to leave the woman alone when the young girl smacked her hands harshly onto the counter beside her to gain the woman's attention. Remus bit his lip as the poor woman yelped and dropped the rolling pin onto her previously perfectly flat dough.

"Oh! I didn't realize you'd already arrived!"

A moment later, Aunt Pip and Hope appeared behind the two kids. Hope sighed exasperatedly, embarrassed to have such nosy children. Aunt Pip seemed more amused than anything.

"I see you've met my friend, Elena." Aunt Pip smiled, eyes twinkling. Remus noticed that her gaze avoided his mother's, and he momentarily wondered why. Aunt Pip strode over to her flour-covered friend, who was looking for a rag to clean herself up a bit. "Hope, this is the girl from Italy that I told you about over the phone."