JULIET {remus lupin}

EIGHTY THREE

August, '80

Remus Lupin paced his and Sirius' flat, anxiously waiting for the man to get home. James and he were on a mission, apparently Dumbledore had a spy from the other side, no one was sure who, but said leak had provided information about a death eater location where people were sure to be. It was the first proper lead they had had, before this, they were simply defending, not attacking. This was their first chance at leading this war.

Remus, although certainly wondering how it was going, was anxious for several reasons. Firstly, for the safety of his friends, secondly, worrying that Lily was okay (this was the first time James had left her, and thirdly, anxious about telling Sirius he planned to move out. The pair had only lived together for two years, he knew Sirius wanted it to be more permanent, but as days went by and more attacks happened Remus realised an irrevocable fact - he could die in this war. He knew this already, of course, but upon deeper pondering he'd come to think about Juliet, the witch he had so little time with, who he saw scarcely once a month. The witch, he'd realised very recently, that he was in love with.

Sirius and James burst through the front door and Remus held up his wand, an action which was becoming muscle memory.

"James Potter-" James breathed excitedly. Answering, "a stag," when asked what his patronus was.

"Sirius Black," Sirius grinned, "Harry Potter's Godfather."

"Boys," Remus laughed, stepping back and slapping James on the back, who ran to the kitchen tap and gulped from it.

"Best fucking day ever-"

"We caught-" James started.

"Well," Sirius interrupted, "Moody caught-"

"We helped!"

"Oh, no, we definitely did."

"We helped capture-"

"Igor Karkaroff!" Sirius exclaimed, grinning at an ecstatic James.

"Gone straight to Azkaban without trial."

"Is that democratic?" Remus asked, trying to annoy the boys.

"Fuck off, Moony," Sirius said, unable to contort his thrilled expression.

"Joking, well done, lads, that's incredible."

"Fuck me," James said, shaking his head, now splashing himself with tap water. "We did something, we helped. I really wanna do it, you know. I wanna be an auror, for sure, I know that now."

"Me too," Sirius said, beginning to talk very fast. "He's bloody incredible, Moody is. Literally insane. You should've seen him, Moony. I wanna be just like him, he said well done to us. Said we fucking helped! For the first time in my life, I have direction," he laughed.

Remus smiled tightly at the pair.

"We're gonna be aurors together, Pads," James grinned. "As soon as this ruddy war begins we start training."

Remus smiled again at his friends, as terrifying and terrible the war was, he hated to think about life afterwards. For now, no one cared that he was a werewolf. He was fighting, and he was loyal. Afterwards, his friends would become aurors, James and Sirius would be heroes of the war, that was a certain, and all he would be is a werewolf. Without parents, without money, and not an auror. The only certain he felt he had was Juliet

"I- er wanted to talk to you actually, Padfoot."

Sirius looked up from where he was pouring himself a glass or firewhiskey, "yeah, mate?"

"I, I think I want to move out..."

Sirius broke into a huge grin, "Romilly?"

"Er- yeah," Remus said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "That's the plan, gonna need to ask her to- well- to pay for it- if she agrees that is"