Harry Potter Oneshots

The Unexpected Letter

Today was the day.

The day he had been dreading since as long as he could remember.

Soon enough, all of the other neighborhood kids would gather in the square, parading their Hogwarts letters around while the older kids would share a mixture of advice and greatly exaggerated stories to their soon-to-be classmates. Yet Remus would not be joining all of the other young witches and wizards.

His parents had warned him from the start that even though he showed early signs of magic, he would have to stay in muggle school and learn magic at home. They warned him that other families, blinded by prejudice, would not want him learning alongside their children.

Remus knew this. He did. And he thought that after years of living with this future in mind, he would have accepted his fate by now. But why does it still hurt so much? Why does the jealousy, the bitter anger, feel like a tangible weight pressing on his chest? He raised a hand to his chest to massage the skin, yet it did nothing to ease the pain.

Eager to distract himself, he turned away from the window he had been staring out of and reached for his book. Though every time he turned his eyes to the page, they seemed incapable of taking in any words or their meanings. He had barely managed to read a paragraph when he heard footsteps on the stairs and he was distracted once more.

"I'm going to make some tea," his mother announced as she appeared in the hallway. "Do you want any, sweetie?"

"No thanks," he replied stiffly.

"How about some cocoa?"

"No thanks."

She gave a watery smile and reached over the sofa's edge and ruffled Remus's hair, planting a kiss on the top of his head. She whispered, "Okay," and began to move things about in the adjoining kitchen.

"How about some pasta tonight, hm? I feel like today is a good day for your favorite comfort food, what do you say?" she asked as she turned on the stove.

There it was again. The careful avoidance. All day, his mom and dad had been dancing around the subject as if failing to mention his lack of a Hogwarts letter would somehow make him forget that he would never be able to go to Hogwarts. To learn magic. To be a part of his father's world. He knew they were trying to act like it didn't affect them to try and make him feel better, but he was eleven for Merlin's sake! He wasn't a child! He saw their worried glances, their whispered conversations. Even his muggle mother knows how much a Hogwarts letter means to any magical child. It means friendship and indepence. It means a life of learning and determining your own future. It means–

"Did you hear me, honey? Do you want pasta for dinner tonight?"

Remus was torn out of his reverie and blinked back the tears that had threatened to spill. "Sure," he replied in what he hoped was an even voice.

"I'll start cooking soon then since your Dad should be home in about an hour. Do you want to help? I know how much you like–"

"I want to read some more," he said shortly.

"Alright." She disappeared with her steaming mug of tea back upstairs, leaving Remus in peaceful silence. A silence that was soon broken by laughter and shouts outside.

Sure enough, he heard his neighbor run outside her front steps, shouting "I got it, I got it!" The rest of her conversation was muddled by the walls and Remus slouched further into the couch. He wanted nothing more than to meld with the cushions today, to disappear into its soft fabric and never come out. Instead, he continued to pretend to read while his mind wandered to darker topics and his eyes continued to wander to the window, hating himself for still hoping that he would see an owl headed towards the house. Instead, all he saw was the darkening sky and a few lonely clouds scudding across the window.