UNDER THE MOON, Remus Lupin

li.

DNA
⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

'Dear Alice,

I don't know how many letters I've sent, but I'm scared they aren't enough. It's silly to send them, considering you can't even read, but I hope one day you can read them. I don't necessarily want to talk bad about your mother, but I hate that she won't let me see you. Your grandmother has let me see you a few times when your mother was working. Your grandmother even told me to take you before your mum got back. But I couldn't do that. It wouldn't be right, even if I have a right to see you. Maybe you'll hate me for that one day. Just know that I love you. No matter what. I'm still not giving up.

- dad.'

Why? Why did Ruby have to keep Alice from her father? Why didn't he take her? Alice could've gotten all the answers to these questions, but she still wouldn't have been satisfied. This was about the 20th letter. She still hadn't learned anything about him or his whereabouts. Just that he had supposedly missed her and saw her when she was a baby. All Alice could do was keep reading by the light of the moon creeping through the window.

'Dear Alice E. Lafitte,

That's the latest news. Your mother actually let me pick your middle name! I didn't know she'd actually done it. Or maybe it was because she didn't know what to put. It feels like one of the last connections I have to you, your middle name. You're my daughter and I should see you. I want to see you. Even if it was just once a week I'd be happy. If I couldn't see you, I wish you were old enough to write back to me. I hope you would, if given the chance.

- dad.'

Alice sighed. Now her middle name had to do with this? What was so special about her middle name?

Downstairs she could hear Sirius, Remus, and Harry laughing. Maybe she should have been with them instead crying over old letters, but she was too deep in the bunch now. She took out the next one. This one was crumpled and shorter. It looked like it was written in a rush.

'Dear Alice,

I'm about to be married! I'm writing this letter as my mother does my hair, yelling at me to wait. But I can't. I hope one day you can meet my wife. She's beautiful. And I know she'd adore you just as much as I do. I love you.

- dad.'

After writing all of this mushy stuff, he still gave up on her. How could he have the heart for that? It happened when she was so young, yet she still felt so betrayed. She wanted to scream at him, tell him to go to hell when he tried to apologize, and ask him why he did this to her. Of course it wasn't just his fault, it was Ruby's too. But Alice had already had this argument with her a million times before. It was pointless.

'Dear Alice,

I'm a married man! My mother always said she'd whoop me if I became a dad before a husband. But she cried when you were born so I was lucky to avoid the whooping. Thank you for that one, by the way. You've changed my life. Your grandmother said I can come by soon. I'm not sure why I'm telling you this, you'll have already seen me before this letter even gets there, but I don't care. Now I should probably go have sex with my wife before she dumps me on our wedding night... I love you, my angel.

- dad.'

Her father wasn't a bad man. Alice could tell as she read on. He was a good man. But still... how could he leave her behind? Had she cried too loudly? Barfed in his arms? Drooled on him one too many times? What had prompted him to leave her? She needed to know. The answer had to be in one of these... it just had to.