moony and wood | r. lupin

harry

"How big do you think a heffalump actually is?"

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

August 1980

Ottery St. Catchpole

It was July 31st when Evie got the letter.

It was addressed to both herself and Remus, but her boyfriend was away on a mission, and wouldn't be returning for at least another two days.

The writing inside the envelope confused Evie– it had been marked from the Potters, but it wasn't Lily's usual neat cursive that had written the letter inside, but James' scraggly printing.

He had written to tell them that Lily had given birth.

Evie gasped when she read it.

James said that Lily had been in labor for a number of hours, but their baby boy was born on the evening of July 31st. They had decided to name him Harry– which made Evie smile. She knew how stressed out Lily had been over choosing a name for her baby, and Harry was one of the many that Evie advocated for.

James had written an entire page about how nervous, yet excited he was, to be a dad. He confided how it felt to be in charge of another human life, and how scary it was being responsible for him. But he had written about how precious Harry was, how happy he felt holding baby Harry for the first time, and how bringing another human into the world was a new kind of magic he didn't know existed.

He finished the letter off by apologizing for Evie and Remus not being able to see the baby because of the Fidelius charm– but he did the next best thing and included a picture of Lily holding the baby, the redhead smiling sweetly for the camera despite her hair being disheveled.

When Evie put down the paper, she realized she was crying. When did that happen? Suddenly she was struggling to breathe, and the tears felt heavier. She was getting mad at herself– why was she crying? She'd just finished reading about something happy, something she rarely saw in those days of war.

She heard the front door shut and whipped her head around, panicked. To her relief, she saw the face of Remus, but the relief quickly flooded away.

"What– no," Evie shook her head, scrambling for her wand. The tears in her eyes were blurring her vision, and she was still struggling to breathe. "No, no, you aren't here, you're not coming back for–"

"Evie," Remus tutted, quickly kneeling down in front of the couch in front of her. "What's happened? Are you okay?" He took one of her hands in his, but she flinched away, still searching for her wand.

"How– how do I know it's you? You're not supposed to be here," she sniffled, trying to maintain some form of composure in her messy state.

Remus sighed. "Evelyn, it's me, I promise."

She glared at him hard.

Remus moved to gently take her hand in his again, slowly. She complied, hesitant.

"There was one time," Remus began. "In our third year, you asked me if I had any muggle books, and I got really confused– why would you want to read a muggle book? But you said that your grandparents on your mum's side were coming to visit over the summer holidays, and you wanted something to connect with them about," Remus recalled.

Evie listened intently, trying to calm her breathing.

"I gave you 'Winnie the Pooh,' which my mum gave me years ago, and you came back to me the next day, and I explicitly recall you saying, 'how big do you think a heffalump actually is?' and Sirius thought it was an actual creature."

Evie nodded, blinking tears away. "It's you. Thank Merlin, it's you." She fell into Remus' arms. He carefully caught her, rubbing circles on her back.

"There, Evie," he paused, moving to sit up on the couch next to her, maintaining the embrace. "What's wrong? Will you please tell me?"

She sniffled again, pointing to the letter on the wooden coffee table.

Remus leaned forwards to grab it, and took a second to quickly skim through it. "Ev... Evie, it says Lily and James had their baby! What are you crying about– isn't that good news?"

She wiped away a tear, letting out a small laugh. "It is, I don't– it's silly, I'm being silly."

Remus gave her side a squeeze, setting down the letter to use the free hand to direct her face towards his, forcing eye contact. "Evelyn, my darling, anything that's got you crying like this isn't silly," Remus told her.

Evie willed for her eyes to stop watering as Remus spoke. She nodded.

"What's got you upset?" He asked again.

"It's just– James. He's so happy to be a dad, and it's beautiful, and–" she took another breath in an attempt to stop her voice from breaking. "We can't– we can't even be there to see it. We can't see the baby, we can't see Lily and James, I can't–" her voice broke. "I can't tell Lily I'm proud of her and that I love her, and–"

"Evie," Remus stopped her, pressing his forehead to hers.

Evie was crying again– not as dramatic as before, but more of a weep.

"It's okay. It is, believe me." Remus told her, caressing the sides of her face with gentle hands. "She knows, Evie. She knows." He used his thumbs to wipe her tears away.

Evie nodded again, words getting caught in her throat as she hiccupped.

Remus pressed a firm, warm kiss to her forehead. before letting her go. "Okay? Tomorrow we can write them back, demand to see more pictures–" Evie let out a tiny smile. "But for now... tea?"

Evie nodded again, wrapping a blanket around her arms, standing up to follow her boyfriend to the kitchen.

"Good. I'm thirsty." Remus noted.

"Why are you home early anyway?" Evie asked, throat sore from crying.

"Oh, it's a funny story, actually..."

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾