Reading Between The Lines ~ Remus Lupin ~ Book 1

chapter 58

Monday, 26 December 1977

Lena was slightly concerned as she knocked on her boyfriend's front door and someone who was not her boyfriend or one of his parent's opened the door. The blond haired teenager flashed a smile at her. Lena turned her head around and peered at the number on the mailbox. Seven. She was in the right place.

"Uh, hi," Lena said hesitantly, clutching the gifts she was holding slightly tighter to the body.

"Hello to you too," the unidentified boy said. He sounded Welsh. His eyes were green like Remus. Lena thought Remus' were nicer.

"Uh, who are you?" Lena asked.

"Who are you?"

"I asked you first."

"Yeah, but you knocked on my door."

"But, it's not your door. You don't live there."

"Rhys, who's at the door? Oh, Lena. It's you!" Hope said, appearing behind Rhys. She stepped in front of him and pulled Lena into a hug.

"Lena, this is my nephew Rhys. Rhys, this is Lena, Remus' girlfriend," Hope introduced.

"Nice to meet you," Lena said, smiling as she panicked. She had no idea why Remus' family was there. Normally, Remus would spend Christmas in Wales with his mother's side of the family. This year they didn't because they couldn't go. The full moon was on Christma, and as Hope's family consisted of Muggles, they couldn't really explain Remus' condition. Even if they did, they wouldn't have a proper place for Remus to transform. Instead, they said Hope was feeling poor and travelling wouldn't be good for her.

"You too. It's nice to know Remus hasn't been lying about having a girlfriend," Rhys laughed.

Hope smacked lightly smacked the top of her nephew's head and Lena frowned. She didn't like anyone teasing her boyfriend.

"Why don't you go upstairs and get Remus, Lena, and then we'll introduce you to everyone," Hope suggested as they walked into the foyer and stopped in front of the stairs.

"Everyone?"

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"Come in," Remus groaned. He really just wanted to be alone. The house was full and everyone was so loud. He just wanted to rest. The full moon had not been fun the night before.

Remus smiled as his girlfriend walked into his room and sat down next to him on his bed. Lena leaned in and kissed him.

"How was your Christmas?" Remus said after kissing her back.

"Good. How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Remus said with a little smile.

Lena looked at him doubtfully but didn't comment. She leaned back and rested her head on his pillow. Remus laid beside and held her hand.

"I thought you weren't spending Christmas with your family this year?"

Remus sighed. "We weren't planning on it. They decided to surprise us and show up to our place on Christmas Eve. They didn't want us to spend Christmas alone."

"That's really sweet of them, but what did you do? You had to transform," Lena asked, turning on her side to face her boyfriend..

"I Apparated to Hogsmeade and used the Shrieking Shack."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'm sorry that you have to meet my entire family today."

Lena laughed. "C'mon. They can't be that bad, can they?"

"They're not bad. They're just curious. Too curious."

<><><><><>

Lena carried a stack of dishes from the dining room to the kitchen and placed them on the counter. She opened the bin and began to scrape the leftover food on the plates into the bin. Lena placed the dirty yet food-ridden plate next to her on the counter. She grabbed another plate and repeated.

"Oh, Lena," Hope said as she turned around the sink where she was washing her own stack of dishes, "You don't have to help wash up! Go back to the dining room and relax with the others."

Lena shook her head and continued scraping food off dishes. "No, I want to help. You shouldn't be in here all alone cleaning up. Besides I've been sitting for so long I need to stand up for a while," Lena finished with a laugh..

"Are you sure?" Hope asked.

Lena nodded. "Of course."

The teenager stacked the plates she had rid of food and carried them to sink and placed them next to the stack of dirty dishes by Mrs. Lupin. Lena moved to the other side of Hope and grabbed the dish towel next to the sink and began to dry the plates Hope passed to her.

Hope looked over her shoulder and at the kitchen door. It was closed. "Lena, do you have your wand with you?"

Lena reached into her pocket and produced her wand. "Why do you ask?"

"What would you say if I asked you to use your wand to clean this mess and then we have some hot chocolate?" she replied with a smile, her green eyes twinkling.

"I'd say I like the way you think, Mrs. Lupin."

<><><><><>

"It was so nice meeting you, Lena!" Remus' Aunt Carys said as she pulled Lena in for a hug.

"It was great meeting you, too!" Lena replied.

This exchange repeated itself many times, and each time she did it, she overheard the same phrase repeated. Rwy'n dy garu di.

She had heard the phrase before. Remus had said it to her before. The first time he had said it was when they were eating ice cream together in the Hogwarts kitchens. He said it meant "This is really good." Or something like that.

Lena suspected that "Rwy'n dy garu d" didn't mean what Remus had said it meant. After all, she never said "This is really good" to her family whenever they left after a gathering.

<><><><><>

"So I'm guessing that 'Rwy'n dy garu d' does mean 'This is really good.'"

"Time in a Bottle" was playing on Remus' record player. Remus and Lena were sitting on the floor of his room by his bed. His chess set was between them on the floor. Lena was teaching him extreme chess. He caught on quickly, Lena observed. It appeared to her that she was going to lose.

"What?" Remus asked, looking up from the board. He was unable to hide the slight surprise in his eyes.

Lena grinned as she knocked his rook in the bowl of water with a marble.

"Well," she said, "I never say 'This is really good' whenever I say goodbye to my family."

Remus' mouth went dry. "You remembered that I told you that 'rwy'n dy garu d' meant that?"

"Of course I did. I remember everything you say."

Remus smiled and held Lena's hand.

"So, what does 'rwy'n dy garu d' mean?" Lena asked.

"I think you know."

"Yes, but I want to hear you say it," Lena said, moving closer to Remus.

He leaned down, closer to her face. "It means 'I love you."

Lena's cheeks grew pink as she smiled. "You said that to me before we started dating."

Remus stared into her eyes and tucked her hair behind her ear."I know, but I meant it then, I mean it now, and I'll mean it tomorrow. I love you, Lena."

Lena rested her forehead against Remus'. "I love you, too. I've loved you for a very long time."

Lena smiled as Remus' lips fell onto hers.