Despite Remus breaking his promise, Selene still decided to keep her end of the bargain. She saw that staying downstairs was probably more beneficial to him than leaving him alone in a dark flat, so by the following evening he was sitting behind the bar, spinning around on one of the stools and watching the stream of patrons entering and leaving. It was quite empty during the daytime, just the usual customers who hung around for some crisps and a pint of butterbeer. Selene took the opportunity to teach Remus the basics on bartending. Most things were done by magic, but Remus didn't have that option, so he had to do everything manually. He didn't mind. He liked the monotony of pulling the levers on the drink dispensers, trying to mix the correct liquids together to create a number of different concoctions that Remus spent ages trying to memorise. Butterbeer was the easiest, it had its own dispenser, but Selene said once the bar became busy after ten there'd be far more complicated drinks to make. Fancy cocktails that Remus was almost mesmerised by. They weremagic of course, so half of them glimmered like tiny mirrors, or had different coloured smoke emanating from them. One of the drinks was called Moonshine, not to be confused with the muggle stuff. This had what looked like actual moonbeams reflecting from it, and bouncing off the surrounding walls.
"Can I try it?" asked Remus. "It's certainly fitting." Selene looked confused for a moment before she understood the joke. She laughed.
"Absolutely not, you're far too young for these sorts of drinks. I'll let you have one butterbeer, but that's about as far as I'm willing to go." Selene poured him a Butterbeer and he sat sipping it as he watched the bar go from it's normal, daytime facade to its secret, queer world after ten o'clock.
Remus saw Rosie again and waved. She waved back and walked over.
"Hey, Remus," she greeted, as friendly as if she'd known him forever, instead of just from a single meeting a year ago. "Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts?"
"I'm uh... taking a break," replied Remus, hoping that Rosie wouldn't pick him up on his apparent skiving. No such luck, though.
"Yeah, I heard about your mum. I'm really sorry." Remus smiled lightly in acknowledgment.
"Thanks. I'd rather not talk about it, though."
"Of course, sorry..." she glanced around, looking for something to say. "So are you working behind the bar now?"
"Yep! I think I'm doing a good job, too. Do you want a drink?"
"What do you recommend?"
"I'm good at Moonshine drinks, Selene taught me how."
"Alright, I'll have one of those then." He brightened up and jumped down from his seat, taking a good five minutes to make the drink– as opposed to Selene's mere seconds– but he wanted it to be perfect, and luckily for him, Rosie was patient enough.
"I'm trying to get it to shine super brightly, but I think you need a spell for that." He called Selene over, and she tapped her wand against the brim of the glass. It shone brighter than any other Moonshines she'd mixed, and she smiled at Rosie as Remus handed it to her with a neatly folded napkin. He awaited Rosie's verdict anxiously. Rosie took a sip and her eyes quite literally lit up.
"That's one hell of a Moonshine, kid." Remus grinned proudly, probably the first time he'd properly smiled in the last few days. He went back to his seat at the bar, watching Rosie light a cigarette, the bright colours of the smoke mingling with the glimmering drink. It was very hypnotic, and Remus struggled to tear his eyes away. The cigarette hung from Rosie's mouth, and Remus couldn't help but note how pretty she looked right then, framed by magic, her long hair falling down her back as braids. Selene was very lucky, that was for sure.
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Boys Will Be Bugs
Fanfiction[REUPLOAD] Remus Lupin has more than one secret, and there's no way of knowing who he can trust. All he has are his parents, but they can't protect him when he goes off to Hogwarts. But then Remus meets a boy and his two other friends, and soon real...
