Her Single Rose (Remus Lupin)

One-Hundred & Twenty

Remus smiled, watching Aries braid Estella's hair. They were in the kitchen, Remus making breakfast while he watched his two favorite people laugh together.

When Aries had arrived back at 12 Grimmauld Place, he had felt more relief than he realized he would. After so long, he had come to the conclusion that she wouldn't come back. That something had to have happened to her.

It nearly broke him. No notes, no letters, not even a whisper or trace of her in the paper. Estella and Sirius seemed to be the ones that truly believed she was still coming home.

Sirius relied on his "twin superpowers" but Estella just didn't understand death yet. Remus didn't have the heart to bring up his fears to Sirius, but he had to James and Lily.

He didn't think he would've been surprised by their agreement, after all, it had been a year of impatient waiting. When they agreed, he felt like maybe he was right.

But watching Aries walk inside their home, nearly made him crumble to pieces all over again. After so many nights of falling asleep with her, it became clear to him she was finally home. It wasn't until the nightmares that he realized there was more to the mission than what Dumbledore had let on.

It had only been a few weeks since she had gotten back but she still hadn't told him anything, not even about the nightmares.

When he watched times like these, Estella showing Aries her newest coloring, it made him forget about the bad that had once warped his mind.

Aries glanced up at Remus while she wrapped a band around one of Estella's finished braids. Once they locked eyes, Remus brought his mug of coffee up to his lips and sent her a wink. He watched in satisfaction as a light pink blush overtook her cheeks.

That had also been fairly new.

Remus had never felt like flirting was his strong suit. In fact, he felt as though he was rather shy throughout his school years.

Of course the times when he would ask her on a date or talk to her about their love for Liam Handley books, he had put forth more intention. However, those times he was also quite terrified of her rejection.

He hadn't understood James's depressed spirits after being rejected from Lily even though it was obvious she was actually interested. That was until he had felt the sting of rejection the first time he tried to ask Aries on a date.

Over the past year, raising Estella had proven to make him more confident with his abilities as a father and now as a boyfriend. Hopefully in the very near future, fiancé.

Riding the high of his confidence streak, in the last week, he had found that making Aries blush was one of his favorite things to do.

Aside from pestering her into annoyance, of course.

Aries tilted her head down, placing her lips by Estella's ear and covered the action with her hand, whispering something to her daughter. Estella's face went serious before breaking into a giggle and looking to Remus.

The young man raised a brow at Aries, who merely bit her lip and placed her chin on her hand against the table. Estella quickly hopped off the chair, abandoning her artwork to go to Remus who picked her up.

Estella did the same Aries had done, putting her lips and hand against his ear as if she was sharing secret, "Mummy says you have pretty eyes."

Remus couldn't help but chuckle at his daughters words, "Go tell you're mummy she is very sexy."

Estella giggled again, having absolutely no idea what it was she was saying, but loved the attention she was receiving. So, when Remus placed her back down on the ground and relayed the message to Aries, he couldn't help but feel unbelievably proud of himself when Aries jaw dropped.