Her Single Rose (Remus Lupin)

One-Hundred & Eight

Aries stood silently observing the house before her. It was a white two story home with its own anchorage full of fields and forests behind. 

A small porch wrapped around the front, supposedly the back as well. It wasn't huge, but bigger than Aries imagined for a family of three.

She walked nervously up the steps, her braided raven hair curling in the soft breeze behind her. Looking around a bit, Aries noticed some plants and handmade pots out and about.

 None of them were covered in the same snow that wrapped around what would have been green grass just off the porch.

Aries knew Remus's father was a wizard, but his mother was a Muggle. She thought back to the lists she had gone through last week. She remembered all the times she felt relief from not seeing their names written. 

Relief from not seeing Lilys either. 

Looking closer, Aries could see the white paint chipping around door. It was the only imperfection she could find.

Aries brought her fist to the door, knocking gently before taking a step back. It was Monday today. Which meant, hopefully everything was still alright.

Then again, there was a very low chance of that.

The raven haired girl glanced over at her large bag beside her. It screamed at her, yelling she was wasting her time. 

Maybe Andromeda would be alright with an unannounced visit. 

Before Aries could take her bag and leave, the door opened, her hand freezing its motion toward her bag. 

Grey eyes met dark brown.

"Well hello there, how can I help you." The smiling man standing behind the door looked like an older version of Remus. The sharp resemblance caught her off guard, making her blink a few times before gaining her bearings. 

Her mouth opened but no sounds came out. The man raised a brow in confusion. Aries felt confused too. The only one to make Aries stutter is Remus. Now his father seems to have taken up all her words too.

He tilted his head, "You alright?" 

Aries shook her tongue free, suddenly feeling embarrassed from just staring, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare, you just...Remus looks just like you."

He seemed to understand what she meant, "You must be Aries, my son talks about you a lot." She blushed, now flustered from his comment.

What was it with these Lupin men? By the end of the week her skin might be permanently red.

"Actually you just missed him, he left for the Potter's yesterday." Aries heart dropped to her feet. Remus knew she wasn't at the Potters and James and Sirius knew Aries wasn't at the Lupins, "curious, really, he said he was looking for you." 

The man seemed to straighten up after that, his expression becoming unreadable. Aries body stiffened in challenge to his intimidation tactic simply by reflex, but immediately softened.

"Have you been treating my boy right." He asked gruffly, his eyes narrowing. Aries eyes widened at his implication.

She shook her head at the thought, "I have never cheated on Remus and I never will so lets make that clear, Mr. Lupin." 

He seemed surprised by her outburst, seeing as she spoke more now than she had a moment ago, "Your son has taught me a lot of things, he taught me not to run away even when I make a mistake, so I'm here. I broke a promise so I came to make things right. But I understand if you don't want me here."