Marauders - Always - Part One

You Have a Present For Me?

Remus was having a fitful dream when the bedroom door creaked open and Lily slipped into the dark room. She was carrying a paper plate with a big slice of Sirius's birthday cake on it, two forks clutched in her hand. She crawled across the bed and knelt on the blankets beside Remus, shaking his shoulder gently. "Remus," she whispered, "Birthday cake. It's chocolate."

Remus woke with a bit of a start, snorting air in through his nose in surprise, staring up at Lily as she loomed over him. He blinked up at her silhouette, the platter of cake balanced in her palm. She smiled and he felt guilty all over again. What if it had been Lily that had accidentally gotten the tea? "I don't deserve cake," he muttered.

"You do deserve cake," Lily answered. "C'mon. Dora made it. And it's chocolate."

When he didn't move in response, Lily took one of the forks, speared off a bite, and held it out to him. He stared at it for a long moment, then begrudgingly opened his mouth and she pushed it in. "Mmm, cake," she said, smiling.

"Mmm, cake," he echoed her halfheartedly, chewing the mouthful she'd stuffed him with.

Lily smiled, despite the tension. "Remus honey, it's going to be okay. I know you're worried and upset --"

"To say the least," Remus murmured around the cake.

"It was an honest mistake, though, and we're going to help him --"

"If you call it help."

Lily stared into Remus's eyes. "Your furry little problem hasn't stopped you from having a wonderful life, has it? Or are you inherently unhappy and just not telling us?"

Remus said, "I've been blessed with friends that understand. Friends that help me..."

"And you think we won't help Spencer the same way that we've helped you?"

"What about his family? What about Lula?"

Lily sighed, "We'll figure it out. But even if those things go away... he won't be alone, or uncared for, or unloved. We'll take Spencer in as one of our own the same as we've done for you."

Remus sat up and he hugged his knees. "Yeah?" He asked as he reached for the fork Lily was holding and she held the plate out closer to him so he could cut off a piece of the cake.

"Of course," Lily answered. "You know how we feel about werewolves and misfits around here. We collect them. Rather proudly."

Remus half smiled as he scooped a bit of cake and chewed it thoughtfully. He really couldn't say no to chocolate.

"I was thinking about what you were saying last full moon, when you were talking about the werewolves Dumbledore wanted you to work with, and how you felt like it was almost your responsibility to help them... Maybe Spencer is a part of that."

Remus looked up as he speared another bite of cake. "I still feel bad he doesn't have a choice in the matter."

"You didn't either," Lily pointed out, "No one who gets sick has a choice in the matter. Whether you attribute those challenges to fate or God or nature - whatever way you want to say it - the matter is that things come into our lives and it's less about keeping those hard things out and more about growing and learning how we will move through them, how we'll respond in the hard times, how we get through them. Do we become cold and heartless or do we push through and leave the situation a better version of ourselves than we were when we entered into it?"

Remus chewed as she spoke. His green eyes were so pale they were nearly grey - the palest she'd seen them in a very long time... It was as though the color was draining out the way his hope seemed to have done in the last couple of days. She put a palm on his knee. "I believe, Remus, that you will come through this and your good heart will be proven once again. Because you do have a good heart, Remus, whatever you may feel like at times. You doubt yourself but not one of the rest of us have ever doubted you. I could never doubt you." She smiled.