Tale As Old As Time (A Remus Lupin Fanfiction)-completed

.26

When I opened my eyes, I was met with a soft glow of light covering everything within sight. The way the light bounced off of the rocks distracted me for a few seconds from the pain I felt resonating from all over my body. I winced as I slowly stood up, finally noticing the absence of the boys, including Remus. I limped over to the crevice where I had hidden my clothes and had just managed to throw my shirt on when I heard a noise from the other end of the cave.

"Hello?" I whispered, hoping it was just one of the boys.

"belle?" I heard Remus call out from behind a rock, a slight twinge of pain in his voice.

"Remus? Are you okay?" I asked, getting ready to go over to him to make sure he was okay.

"Yeah..I don't know" He whispered in a hoarse voice. "Do..do you think you could throw me my clothes, they should be somewhere near yours."

"yeah give me a minute." I said turning back to the crevice in the wall.

I searched for a few seconds and found a clump of clothes. Without checking the contents of it, I walked over as fast as I could without seriously straining my aching muscles. I tossed the clothes behind the boulder and we waited in silence while he pulled his clothes on.

"You didn't happen to find a shirt did you?" He said emerging from behind the rock without a shirt.

I didn't answer for a few seconds as I inadvertently stared at him.

"Um..no?" I said, finally tearing my eyes off of him in embarrassment.  My embarrassment further intensified when I realized I was also missing an article of clothing in the form of pants. At least my shirt went to my mid thighs.

We both kind of just stood there for a moment in embarrassment before we burst out laughing.

"At least it's not as bad as that time a few months ago." He said giving a small laugh with a shake of his head.

I just laughed at his comment, thinking of that embarrassing day. Compared to that, this was much less embarrassing. I shook my head, walking over to the crevice once more, grabbing the missing articles of clothing, throwing Remus' shirt his way.

"Thanks." He replied simply, throwing his shirt over his head while I quickly pulled my pants on. "Have you seen the others? " He said walking over to the entrance.

"No I havent. I hope they're okay." I said with a frown, walking over to where he was peering outside. "Maybe we should go look for them."

He shrugged in response and started making his way out of the cave. As soon as he was completely in the bright light he stumbled a bit, tripping over a tree root.

"Are you okay?" I asked rushing over to him grabbing his arms to steady him.

"Yeah sorry I'm just a little dizzy is all." He said shaking his head, sliding down the trunk of a tree until he was sitting on an area of frozen ground free of snow. "I just need to sit for a second. " he said closing his eyes.

I was silent for a moment before I spoke up, "Do you want me to sit with you or go find the boys?" I asked.

He was silent for a moment before replying "Can you stay?" He asked sheepishly

I nodded my head before taking a seat beside him, resting my back against the tree as well. "I'm sure the boys are fine and won't mind if we stay here for a while."

"Yeah they're probably just causing trouble somewhere..or they got lost." He said laughing a little.

"Probably" I said shaking my head with a small laugh. I paused for a moment before speaking again. "Honestly I'm surprised we're not worse off this morning. I thought that tonight was going to be rough."

"Me too. The only thing I really feel is sore and dizzy." He replied before adding hastily,"not that I'm complaining, we've been way worse off in the past." He said grimacing at the thought of our past full moons.

I nodded my head in response, not wanting to think about all of the ways we'd suffered in the past. I let out a huge yawn, closing my eyes and feeling my body relax for just a second.

Remus let out a small chuckle "Tired?" He asked, also letting our a small yawn. "Yeah me too I guess.

I moved a little so I could rest my head on his shoulder. Instantly, I was filled with warmth as we lay together. I felt him tense up at first, but after a moment he relaxed and rested his head on top of mine. Before I knew it, I was slowly falling back asleep resting on Remus' shoulder. 

~~~

In what I assumed to be a few hours later, I woke up in the middle of a forest, my feet entangled with someone else's. I shot up, confused at first until I realized where I was and why. I sat up further, attempting to stretch out my sore muscles before turning to look at Remus, who was lying peacefully on a the forest floor, a few leaves stuck in his hair. I laughed slightly when I saw this, reaching out to pick them out. I'd managed to untangle one when his eyes shot open in confusion.

"Where are we?" He asked looking around in confusion before recognition spread across his features. "oh, never-mind" He said managing to stand up. 

"I'm not sure how long we've been asleep but I'm assuming it's almost midday" I said glancing up at the sun that was high in the sky. "Maybe we should head back, I'm surprised we don't have frostbite we've been out here for so long." I said rubbing my palms together to create warmth. 

Remus nodded in agreement, shivering slightly. It wasn't overly cold out for December, but the chill of winter still hung in the air. "Maybe we should go find the boys, we still havent seen them since last night" He said, placing his hands in his pocket as he looked around our surroundings. "I can't imagine the trouble they've gotten into since they've been left alone" He said with a small laugh

I let out an amused huff of air at the thought, my breath condensing into a small cloud before disappearing with the wind. Before I could respond, I heard voices resonating from the rocks surrounding the cave just a few meters away. 

"Did you hear th-" Remus started out but was cut off when a ball of snow came hurling out of nowhere and hit him smack in the face, causing him to stumble in surprise and promptly fall to the ground. 

I instantly burst out laughing, almost falling down myself when I was also assaulted with snow. Unfortunately for me, I also managed to slip on ice and fall down. Unfortunately for Remus, I ended up falling straight onto him. 

"Ow!" He yelled out, hurriedly brushing the snow out of his eyes trying to see what was going on. He opened his eyes and met mine with a look of annoyance that changed to one of amusement at discovering I was the one who gracefully landed on him. 

He let out a small laugh, reaching up to brush the snow out of my eyes. "We just might get frost bite now. " He said shaking the snow off of his hand as I rolled off of him, only to lay in even more snow.

"Why's that?" I asked curiously, propping myself up as he himself began to stand up.

He gave me a smirk before scooping up a ball of snow and forming it into a ball before responding, "I believe some people have started a war they cannot finish"

I laughed, standing up and fashioning a snow ball for myself, "Don't start a fight you can't finish boys" I yelled at the general direction of the cave. 

I heard a chorus of laughs before multiple more snowballs were hurled our way, three figures appearing from the rocks. Sirius' laugh deepened as he took in our snow-covered states, but the smile was wiped off his face when he was hit straight on the face by a snowball of our own. I smiled proudly at my aim, Remus  giving me a thumbs up before hurling his at James. 

Maybe we would get slightly frostbitten today, but It would be worth it.