Fire Whiskey in the Moonlight (Remus Lupin)

Chapter Thirteen: The Rules of Friendship

Remus and I had been spending more and more time together, the time I would usually spend with Annie I now spent with him, spending extra time in his office instead of hanging out with my fellow Gryffindors, telling Katie and Eric that I was trying to distance myself from Tyler because of what had happened at Hogsmeade. Remus didn't seem to mind at all, always greeting me with a smile and asking when he would see me again.

However, today he was disappointing  me.

"Remus, come on! You told me you were going to practice!"

"I've been busy."

"It's literally been months and you are no better now then you were at the bar." I said before throwing a peanut in the air and catching it in my mouth with ease.

Remus rolled his eyes and took out his wand, "Wingardium leviosa." A few peanuts began floating and he directed them straight into his mouth. "See? I'm a natural."

"That's cheating."

"It's not cheating, I'm just using a different set of skills to accomplish the same task."

"The point isn't to just get the peanuts in your mouth, it's to catch them."

He threw a peanut in the air, and opened his mouth to catch it but it hit his nose and bounced onto the ground.

I couldn't help but to laugh.

"I'm sure you are still terrible at darts."

"Too bad there are no dartboards here for us to see. Only peanuts." I tossed another into my mouth.

"How did you get so good at that anyway?"

"Trish and I used to do it with popcorn. How did you get so good at darts?"

"I used to play with James, Peter, and Sirius." He smiled at the memory but only briefly before his face dropped.

"How are you doing with Black still being on the loose."

"I'm fine."

"That's what everyone says when they are not fine."

He sighed, "It's harder with Harry poking his nose into things. He doesn't know anything yet but I know he'll figure everything out sooner or later, and when he does I'm not sure what he'll do."

"You don't think he would ever try to go after Black himself, do you?"

"From what I know about his track record and what I know about his father, I would not put it past him."

"I mean Harry's a brilliant wizard but he's only a third year, he'd have to know better than to face Black alone."

"You didn't, and you are significantly less reckless than Harry."

"Well Harry sets the bar pretty high, compared to the average person I'd say I'm pretty reckless."

Remus chucked, "Only a young Gyrffindor would consider recklessness an admirable trait."

"Not just young Gryffindors, I know some old ones who are rather reckless as well."

"Are you calling me old?"

I smiled, "I was talking about Dumbledore."

"Ah yes, I suppose he proved you never quite grow out of that when he hired me."

"How do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"Oh nothing, just that Snape and I have some unresolved issues from our youth." He said quickly. I felt like he wasn't telling me something, but decided it was best not to pry into. It was more important to pry into how he was feeling about Black. That was more pressing, and you have to pick your battles sometimes.