True Reflections: Scars Saga 3

All I Need

Chapter 23

All I Need

5 July 1996

"Hey, Mum, when's Harry supposed to get here?" Jonathan asked as he walked into the living room.

I looked up from the book I was reading, while my hand continued to comb through Remus' hair as his head lay in my lap.

"I'm not sure," I replied. "Dumbledore said he was going to pick him up at eleven, but then he had to...borrow him for something. He wasn't sure how long it would take."

"Borrow him?" Jonathan raised an eyebrow in a manner very much like his father. "You have no idea what he wants with him, do you?"

"Of course I do. I'm just not telling you."

"No she doesn't," Remus murmured, half asleep.

"Oi!" I poked him in the arm. "You're supposed to be on my side."

"Right. Sorry," he apologized. "No she doesn't."

I shoved his arm and rolled my eyes as he and Jonathan chuckled. Suddenly there was an obnoxious hoot from behind me. I jumped, dropping my book and upsetting a very content Remus. I looked over my shoulder and found a Hogwarts school trunk with a bird cage sitting on top, and inside the cage was a white snowy owl.

"Hedwig!" Jonathan exclaimed.

Hedwig and I glared at each other for a moment.

"Mum...when you asked Harry to stay with us, did you forget that Hedwig would come with him?"

I turned back around and picked up my book. "It...might have slipped my mind."

Jonathan grinned before standing up to fetch Hedwig from her cage. She didn't fly over and attack me like I half expected her to, but she did eye me the whole time Jonathan walked by with her. She even turned her head in that freakish owl way; I'm convinced it was solely for the purpose of unnerving me.

"What do you have against Hedwig, Mum?"

"I don't have anything against her."

"It's the avian species in general," Remus replied.

"Cats and birds aren't known for their friendly relations," I explained.

"Neither is a cat and a mouse..." Jonathan paused. "...or a dog for that matter," he added hastily.

"Yes, and Sirius and I often fought like cats and dogs." I purposefully ignored his insinuation about Peter.

"What about Dad?"

Remus grinned. "I'm a superior canine."

I snorted. "Keep telling yourself that, Love."

He furrowed his brow in confusion. "You told me that."

"I did not."

"Did so. Back in sixth year. You and Sirius were arguing about what was better, the cat or the dog, and Peter..."

"...pointed out that you were a canine too," I finished for him. "I remember now. And I said you were a superior canine like the leopard was the superior feline. I had yet to discover just how superior you were." I whispered the last bit seductively.