True Reflections: Scars Saga 3

The Lupin Pack

Chapter 29

The Lupin Pack

After exchanging vows, the entire party returned to the Burrow for presents and a Christmas dinner. Molly and Kate out did themselves with the meal they provided. There was a sweet ham, a roast chicken, potatoes and carrots, green beans and field peas, a delicious cranberry jam, and pudding enough to satisfy the sweetest tooth.

After devouring all they could, Kate and Molly disappeared upstairs while everyone else nursed their overstuffed bellies. Remus could only assume that Kate was telling Molly what she had told him before the wedding, and he tried to keep the fear from his face as he anxiously awaited their return.

"So, Remus, how do you feel?" Bill asked.

"Hmm?" Rems responded with wide eyes. "Why...why...how do you mean?"

"Geeze, Dad. Did the food addle your brain that much?"

Bill laughed while Remus did his best to smile convincingly.

"How do you feel now that you're a married man? Do you feel any different? What do I have to look forward to?" Bill asked.

"Oh," Remus smiled in earnest. This was something he could answer easily.

"Yeah, yeah I do feel different somehow," he said as he spun the gold band on his finger. "It's strange, you know. It's..." Remus struggled to describe exactly how it felt; maybe he couldn't answer it so easily.

"Right now you feel like you couldn't possible love Fleur any more than you already do, yeah?"

Bill looked to his fiancé with obvious adoration in his eyes and smiled. "Yeah, I do."

"But you will," Remus said. "In that moment, the instant those vows leave your mouth, it's like you suddenly love her ten times more; it seems impossible, but it happens."

"And then each year thereafter the feeling only intensifies," Arthur added.

Bill continued to lock eyes with Fleur as he said, "I look forward to it."

Meanwhile, Ginny made a not-so-discreet gagging motion and Fred and George made poor imitations of their eldest brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law. Harry, Jonathan, and Ron all concealed their laughter behind their hands with more success.

Remus was acutely aware of the moment Kate made her return, and he glanced over his shoulder. He could see the fear in her eyes, and what's more, the Wolf could smell it. He knew the answer even before she gave the slightest downward nod of her head. He paused for only a second before leaping to his feet and rushing to her. Molly squeezed by them and did her best to give them some semblance of privacy at the foot of the stairs, as she went about clearing the table and trying to get the others to help her.

"What do we do, Remus?" Kate asked, and he could hear the slight tremble of her voice.

He cupped her face in both his hands and pressed his forehead against hers.

"I... I'm not sure; you'll have to guide me through it, but we will do it together. I love you, Kate. I'm yours, now and forever. We do this together."

"Are...are you scared?"

He could feel a few tears leak out of her eyes and slide under his fingers.