Perfect Illusion: Scars Saga 2

Mending Bonds

Chapter 27

Mending Bonds

Two Weeks ago

18 June 1994

With a pop, Jonathan and Remus arrived at the little cottage in Yorkshire that Remus called home. Almost immediately upon arriving Jonathan pulled his arm from Remus'. Remus quickly began picking up while Jonathan looked around the open room. The sparse furniture was all tattered and roughly patched. There were faint scratch marks covering the wooden surfaces. Off to the side Jonathan saw a doorway that led to a bedroom. The door next to it, he assumed was the loo; there was one last door on the other side of that.

"I...I know it's not much," Remus said shamefully. "But it serves its purpose."

"No, it's...it's great," Jonathan reassured.

There was a moment when the two stood in an awkward silence.

"Are...are you hungry?" Remus asked. "I'm not as good as a cook as your mum, but I can put something together."

"Yeah...sure..."

22 June 1994

With a great, final push, Jonathan and Remus managed to get the mattress around the door frame. Then they collapsed against the nearest wall, breathless and massaging their sore arms.

Remus' small cottage was labeled a two bedroom, but since it had only been him for the last fifteen years he only used one. The other was more of a collect all without a bed. For the first few nights, Remus and Jonathan had traded off on who slept on Remus' bed and who slept on the couch. Finally Remus decided to make the second bedroom a functional one; he and Jonathan went out and bought a bed.

"You know," Jonathan began between breaths. "That would have been much easier if you just used your magic."

Remus chuckled. "Yeah, it probably would have been. But my Mum used to say, 'Anything worth having, is worth putting forth the effort.'"

Jonathan looked at Remus and raised an eyebrow. Remus chuckled again.

"My mother was a Muggle; growing up she always insisted that my Dad let me learn to do things the Muggle way, with manual labor."

Remus rose to his feet, groaning as his bones cracked.

"Ah... I say we did enough manual labor moving this in. Do you agree?"

Jonathan nodded vigorously.

"Good." Remus pulled out his wand and gave it a wave. The parts of the bed rose up and assembled itself. The mattress floated on to the frame, and the fresh set of sheets began to lay themselves on top.

"Hey... Remus..." Jonathan began; Remus turned around. "Do...do you remember over Christmas break, you...you said you could introduce me to your dad, if Mum agreed, and she did..."

Remus nodded. "Yeah, I remember. Why?"

"Do...do you still think you can do that?"

Remus smiled. "Yeah, I think I can. He's away right now, but he should be back by this weekend. I'll owl him and set something up."

Remus turned back to the fully assembled bed.