I’ll be good
Don’t get him wrong, Remus Lupin loved The Full Moon Café. It bathed beautifully in the early autumnal days of Islington where the falling leaves would only start their journey of death and decay to help re-nourish the very ground they were to lay upon. Deep within the café was a tiny yet incredibly cosy book nook where Remus would find sanctuary during breaks in the antagonising rush hours of the café or the increasingly slow in-between hours of the day, where there was not a single bell chime for what felt like decades. As well as all this there was the constant aroma of freshly brewed coffees and teas that could have easily put Remus to sleep any day and time of the week (and let’s be honest, they had pulled this off at least once a month during his residence here but don’t worry his boss never found out and if they did they never seemed to care for his little work naps) and these very smells were almost always accompanied by the light flowing of chatter from the rustic building’s own front room that Remus found himself mesmerised by during the long shifts at the eccentric coffee bar.
Remus only ever found that the season changes later in the year just made his shifts much more bearable with warm winds accelerating into the cooler breezes of winter and autumn and king days shifting into early evening. Whilst the natural changes were happening the locals of Islington only seemed to mirror the natural cycles. Summer rushes were depleting with people preferring to return home for the early arise of darkness and many more customers were arriving only for the confort of their favourite cup of coffee. All whilst the temperatures were finally dropping back down to Remus’ manageable average of 12°C. Curled up in his second hand sweaters, he would walk down to Harold Wood train station (praying to any gods out there that he wouldn’t get assaulted by the everyday miserable British weather) and take the hour long train journey into London. Remus would sit there on the lizzy line and to pass time, only really people watch, as his fellow Londoners transversed through the maze of the London underground, whilst all minding their own business through listening to music, reading classic and modern novels or just admiring the world one crates in their own head. Everyone he saw in this journey lived through their very own lives with their own characters and plot points where Remus could only ever hope to appear for a split second all whilst he made no real impact on any other’s life, but from all this Remus had his very own story he felt he needed (or at least wanted) to tell.
Well you see, although R.J.Lupin could have been classed as the shy barista who was always seen not a mere metre from any known book (the current read being “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig), as well as the guy to go to if you wanted the worlds most banging mocha or basically any absolutely heavenly chocolaty drink you could dream of, and the academic who only had a mass of potential that was waiting to be used to benefit the art of our wider world, he also had dreams. His dreams reached far and wide, they were the reason why his potential was just that, potential but they were also the reason he was finally at a point of peace in his hectic life. He just couldn’t let go of the story, the music, the raw emotion they could portray together: the pure emotion he could portray. He had fought hard in life just to be here, Remus had stories to not just tell but share and let others experience with him, stories that could make a difference to the people he saw on his commutes. But for the mean time, he was here, dancing around The Full Moon Café, all so he could sustain his mundane little life in the outskirts of London.
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“But the blood on my hand scares me to death,
maybe I’m waking up.”
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As the front door of the café shut behind him with a charming little chime, the lingering of small talk was accompanied by the combination of coffee and fresh firewood in the air. The coffe shop seem to be built on its own magic that nearly instantaneously healed Remus’ inner child, calming him down to his magical core. The light crackling of the fireplace added the warmth into his soul whilst the soft mumbling of Bowie over the record player injected pure magic into his veins. Remus finally felt as though he could finally breathe clearly just from taking one step into the café. Taking in the sights of his home away from home, Remus seemed to notice that there were a few of their regular Thursday afternoon guests as well as the odd couple of new faces that could be found within both the café sofas as well as the crooked rows of books in the back. All the customers, old and new, also just seemed to be enjoying the mundaneness of this very small corner of the world they had all found themselves in, all seeming to be just as fond of this place as Remus was.
As he redirected his attention throughout the cafe and towards the barista station where he was soon to start work, Remus was only to be shocked to find that their fairly recent new hire, Benjy Fenwick, was stationed all alone.
‘Hiya Benjy, you don’t recon Emmeline is hiding out back again do you? She does know that you can’t be out here yourself and it’s important to me that you know that too yeah?’ Remus questioned only to be acknowledged by a near silent hum from the mentioned boy. Due to the basic silent treatment he was receiving, Remus waltzed up to the counter and looked questionably towards the boy at mention,‘Benjy your sure your good there cause u can go head on home if not.’ And that seemed to snap the poor child out of his paralysis.
‘Oh gods sorry Remus I didn’t hear you come in I’m actually so sorry it shouldn’t- no it won’t happen again- god- I’m just so sor-‘
With an outstretched hand reaching the young boy’s shoulder and softened voice being gifted to his ears it was all Remus could hope to do right now to help the poor boy relax even slightly, ‘Calm down and just breath will you cause it’s literally fine, we all zone out from time to time, some more than others but yeah.’
After a few beats Benjy finally seemed to come back to his essences mostly to the point where he could hold up a conversation, ‘Yeah okay I’m fine yeah. Sorry again but I mean it’s my first solo shift and I’m honestly knackered right now sorry.’ The boy looked as though he couldn’t decide wether to fall asleep standing up or start working at light speed to make up for daydreaming.
‘Hey why don’t I take over from now and you head off to the back, and maybe take a nap whilst you’re back there cause Benjy you seem like you need one yeah?’ Remus tried to get the boy to sit down but he was having none of it,
‘Nope I can finish this stupid shift i swear and anyway you should be more tired than me with finally submitting your insanely talented song the the BBC of all things’ now Remus really hated showing off but this boy looked up to him with such admiration that he found it impossible to let him down. If all things went to shit with his music at least Benjy would be cheering him in from the sidelines, well make that Benjy, Lily and James.
‘Go take a break, I insist, and maybe then i can show you the final edit I submitted’
‘When you make it big, and don’t even fight me in that because we all know you will, I will personally always be one of your very first fans.’
‘Of course you will Benjy now go take that break before you collapse cause I can’t be dealing with an unconscious teenager during my shift.’
Remus moved behind the counter, fitted in his “barista expert” apron and set up his little station for, as he deemed it, coffee science all as the bell chimed to alert what was probably another regular and to that it was. It was the charming old lady Suzan who lived down one of the residential roads beside the café. Remus loved her as every week she came in for a simple latte and scone but she was always accompanied by the cutest chocolate brown Yorkshire terrier pup that absolutely loved to cuddle up with Remus and his sweaters. And then upon seeing Suzan and once again threatening to dog-nap the pup due to it straight up burying itself into Remus’ chest, his face fully lit up as his already (although anxiety filled) above mediocre day just became ten times better. Through light chatter and the comfort of a classic-Remus-Lupin-certified-mocha, he started to finally get on with his day, all in the hopes that his second year of submitting his own music for the Eurovision Song Contest as the United Kingdom’s representative went a lot better than his previous attempt.
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Even though he was fully unaware of them, a pair of mesmerising crystal grey eyes followed Remus around during his shift in The Full Moon Café. The mind behind those very eyes was finally able to throw some sparks of inspiration together that were seemingly perfect for a song.