the black dog

Flashback – 17th March 1976

Pain. That was the first thing Remus had recognised when he had awoken in the Hospital Wing following the full moon. He hadn’t been in this much pain following a full moon since his friends had become animagi two years ago.

His eyes opened and he took in the white, almost transparent cloth curtains that were tightly closed around his bed. He was alone. The chair inside the enclosed space was unoccupied and he wasn’t met with the concerned eyes of his friends like he usually was ever since they found out he was a werewolf late first year.

The only indicator that anyone had been there at all was the mug that sat on the small bedside table next to his cot. Remus was filled with that much pain that he couldn’t even lean over to look into the cup to see whether it was full, half-empty or empty. Whether it was tea or coffee.

He let his eyes drift to his chest, bandages tightly bound around his chest. He knew the marks of his own werewolf claws that sliced across his chest were deep, the type to leave scars. What’s a few more scars anyway? At least his face felt like it wasn’t hit. Good. It was easier, not having to offer people explanations when they saw his scars and asked what had happened.

He heard the door to the Hospital Wing open and close, voices filtering into the room. He could recognise the muffled voice of Dumbledore becoming clearer as he walked closer to the bed.

The next voice he heard had Remus tensing. What could possibly have happened last night for him to be here? Clearly something had gone wrong. He hadn’t hurt his friends had he? His wolf liked the animagi and hadn’t shown any aggressiveness towards him, if anything, his friends had told him that his wolf was fiercely protective of them.

“Remus’ place here has been compromised.” He heard his father tell McGonagall and Dumbledore. “I was told he would be safe here. Albus, you came to our house personally to hand Remus his letter and tell him it was possible for him to attend Hogwarts like any other normal child.”

Dumbledore’s voice replied, “I can assure you it is still safe here for your child. We aren’t holding what happened against your son. What happened to young Mr Snape—”

Snape? What happened to Snape? What did that have to do with Remus and his father?

“I don’t care what happened to the Snape boy! I care about my son!” His father hissed. “If something more devastating happened he wouldn’t just be labelled a murderer but a monster! That would have damaged him more than anything.”

Monster. Remus hated that word. It was what the Wizarding World liked to refer to werewolves other than the word ‘beast’. It had taken Remus years in Hogwarts and reassurance from his friends that he wasn’t the monster that society had labelled him as.

“Mr Lupin, no one here considers Remus a monster. What happened was unfortunate and we are working out how to best approach handling the punishment of those involved.”

Punishment? Those involved? Had someone orchestrated something against Remus and his friends? Was it Snape? Or was Snape targeted as well?

“There shouldn’t be a situation that needs to be handled. I have every intention of pulling Remus out of this school.”

“That seems like an extreme response to the situation,” Dumbledore told his father. “I can assure you nothing like this will happen again.”

“Someone he considered his own friend caused this situation! And it seems that he is only getting a slap on the wrist for what he has done. When Remus is awake I will offer for him to leave Hogwarts. If he wants to then the decision is final.”

Remus’ heart sank. What? One of his friends had caused a situation that his father wanted to pull him out of Hogwarts for? Who? Why? This had to be a mistake. Surely his father was exaggerating and had mistakenly labelled someone as his friend. He knew his friends. He knew James, Pete and Sirius. There was no way they had done something that would threaten his reputation in society. They knew he struggled with how he and his condition was viewed by the Wizarding World.

“Remus is a valued student here at Hogwarts. I don’t believe it is in his best interest to leave his friends and the opportunity for a good education because of a situation we are in the process of resolving,” Dumbledore said calmly, dismissively.

His father’s voice now had a biting edge to it as he told the Headmaster, “I put my son’s well being over everything else. My wife is at home likely wondering where I went because I rushed here as soon as I got your patronus telling me there was an ‘incident’ and I was needed here.”

“And we thank you for your response,” McGonagall’s voice joined in. “But I would be deeply saddened to hear that it would lead to Remus’ departure from the school.”

“Yes, Remus would be a great loss to the school,” Dumbledore agreed.

“If Remus tells me he wants to leave after being informed of the situation then we will be out of here immediately. He will be transferred to St Mungos to continue healing and will not be returning to Hogwarts.”

“I am happy to continue healing him here even if he decides to leave,” Madam Pomfrey cut in.

“That won’t be necessary,” his father told her.

“Then we shall wait for Remus’ response,” Dumbledore said simply.

“Until then I want a detailed explanation of what punishments have been given to Walburga’s son.”

Walburga’s son.

Sirius or Regulus?

Surely it couldn’t be Sirius but it seemed more likely since he was the one that knew Remus’ secret. Unless Regulus somehow found out. But it didn’t seem likely it was Regulus either, he wasn’t exactly friendly with Sirius’ brother but the boy wasn’t unfriendly either. They often sat near each other when they studied alone in the library, not speaking or interacting but just sitting in silence with their books, parchment and quills. It didn’t seem that Regulus had pent up rage toward Remus and was plotting his downfall. Plus if the target was Snape—a Slytherin—then why would Regulus do this?

“How about all of us discuss this in my office?” Dumbledore offered.

Remus was left to hear their footsteps retreating as they exited the Hospital Wing. His thoughts were an assault as he remained in the dark to the ‘situation’ that had gone down last night. He couldn’t imagine why either of the Black brothers would do this.

Before he had the opportunity to let his thoughts fall further down the rabbit hole, out of the corner of his eye he saw the curtains move—like a gust of wind pushed them open—wide enough to let an individual slip through.

James removed his invisibility cloak and Remus felt immediate relief when Sirius hadn’t appeared from under there as well. His friend scanned his face and his body carefully. James didn’t seem surprised at the injuries Remus had on him. Surely James wasn’t in on it too?

Before James could open his mouth to break the silence, Remus asked him brokenly, “Is it true?”

“Moony, Sirius didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Sirius.

Sirius.

Sirius.

Not Regulus. Sirius.

James said something else but Remus didn’t hear what it was. His ears felt like they were ringing and he could see James’ mouth was moving but no sound reached him. He was sure his heart had shattered into a million little pieces with the confirmation of a name. It hurt more than any cuts on his skin. It was a direct cut to the heart. Was it possible to die of a broken heart? If it was then it seemed he would die in silence. He always thought he would die screaming.

He spoke loudly, trying to speak over the silence as he made his demand to James. “Tell me what happened.”

“I can’t speak for Sirius,” James said carefully. “But I can tell you what I observed.”

Remus didn’t reply and James, upon realising that he was not going to answer, started to relay the events of last night from his point of view.

“You went off to the Shack after dinner and you left us in the Great Hall, remember that?”

Remus nodded, remembering leaving alone so he could make it to the Shrieking Shack before the full moon triggered his transformation.

“Well once Pete, Sirius and I left the Great Hall we ran into Mulciber, Snape and Avery who were waiting around the corner to catch us by surprise. Pete and I were fighting off Mulciber and Avery while Sirius was against Snape. We managed to hit Mulciber and Avery with a stunner but not before Pete got surprised with a conjunctivitis curse,” James winced, “I shouted at Sirius that I was taking Pete to the Hospital Wing. He had Snape pinned against the wall and he looked like he was handling it so I left with Pete.”

James paused and looked up at Remus, his face morphed into something that appeared to be regret. He then continued, “Pete was lucky that Pomfrey had an oculus potion on hand. Once he could see again we were going to head straight for the Shack and meet Sirius there.”

“And did that happen?” Remus finally broke his own silence with the question.

“Well, no. Sirius sprinted into the Hospital Wing and he looked terrified and guilty. He said that he told Snape about the Whomping Willow and that he was on the way there.”

Remus’ heart skipped a beat. And not in a good way. Sirius had led Snape directly to him on a full moon and likely led him to find out that he was a werewolf.

“I ran immediately down to the Shrieking Shack, leaving Pete and Sirius in the Hospital Wing. I didn’t transform and went into the passageway and found Snape at the end, staring horrifically at Moony,” he paused to take a deep breath, “I put myself between the two of you and slammed the door shut, before pulling Snape back through the passageway.”

Remus knew that once the door to the Shrieking Shack was closed during a full moon it wouldn’t open again until the full moon was down, a security measure added by Dumbledore. It explained why he was injured so severely, his wolf hadn’t spent a moon alone for a long time. Not that his wolf handled being alone before his friends became animagi. He had the scars to prove it after all.

“Is that what the scratches are from? The Whomping Willow?”

They were too shallow to be from his wolf’s claws. But they were still red and angry looking, it was obvious that James hadn’t been to Pomfrey to have them healed or even used a healing charm himself.

“Yes. I didn’t have Pete to hit the knob and freeze the tree, and I wasn’t about to leave you and Snape.”

“I see,” Remus replied, trying to fight the quiver in his face that signalled a breakdown was coming.

“Sirius is outside. He wants to talk to you, to tell you he’s sorry.”

“I don’t want to hear it,” he told James, turning his head away to blink back the tears that were threatening to spill from his eyes.

“It might make you feel better. To hear what he has to say,” James offered, voice soft and full of concern.

“Make me feel better? No. He only wants to make himself feel better,” angered had leaked into his voice. How could his friend even suggest that?

“Remus…” James began.

“No,” he said firmly. “I will permit Lily in to see me so I can say goodbye to her but no one else.”

Was it shitty of him to not want to permit his other friends—Peter, Mary and Marlene—to say goodbye too? Probably. But Remus was so close to breaking and he didn’t want anyone other than Lily to see him in that vulnerable state. He’ll send the others letters. And Sirius—Sirius can live the rest of his life with guilt knowing that his actions caused this. He doesn’t deserve any of Remus’ words.

“Goodbye? What do you mean goodbye? You aren’t leaving,” James paused. “Are you?”

“You didn’t hear? Dad is going to ask me if I want to leave Hogwarts.”

“And you are going to say yes? Why Remus?”

“I can’t walk around knowing that one of my best friends outed me to our enemy. That our enemy knows I’m a werewolf and can hold it over my head. I don’t want to walk around Hogwarts in fear that was caused by someone I considered my friend,” he furiously wiped at a tear that had escaped his eye.

“Please. Sirius knows he’s fucked up and I’ve yelled at him and I’m still angry with him for what he did but I’m begging you, just let him talk to you. I can’t lose you Remus,” James said, his eyes filling with tears. “We can’t lose you.”

“My mind is made up. I’ll miss you. I’ll miss Lily, Pete, Mary and Marlene. But I can’t be here,” Remus told him, his body shaking and sending bolts of pain to his injury sites.

“Can I send you letters? Can we meet up outside of school?”

“Yes to the letters but I can’t give you an answer for seeing you outside of school." Remus shook his head "I’ll be back in Wales and I can’t come visit you when I know that Sirius lives in your house.”

“I’ll visit you,” James countered.

“I don’t want you to leave Sirius alone with your parents,” Remus said, giving him a pointed look.

James recoiled at that. “Remus. Sirius wouldn’t hurt my parents.”

“He hurt me,” Remus said. “Who knows who he’ll hurt next.”

When James opened his mouth to answer, Remus gave him a pleading look and asked him, “Can you go get Lily? Please. I don’t think I have much longer in this castle.”

“You aren’t going to change your mind are you?” It was more of a statement from James than a question.

“Please.” Was all that Remus could tell him, his voice shaky from the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.

Because of his injuries James didn’t try to hug him. Instead, James reached for his hand to give it a squeeze. He saw tears spill from his friend’s eyes as he squeezed his hand back.

“I’ll miss you,” James told him.

“I’ll miss you too, James,” Remus said sadly.

“Goodbye Remus,” James told him, lifting his free hand to wipe at the tears that had escaped from his eyes.

“Bye James.” Remus released James’ hand and watched as his friend slipped back through the curtain.

He hadn’t known then that he wouldn’t see James in person for seven years. Or that after four years he would no longer speak to James—verbally or written.

Flashback – 27th July 1981

“Remus, I have the new junior editor coming in a few minutes. He’ll be the one editing your stories before they come to me,” Cuffe told Remus, one eyebrow raised.

Remus hated not knowing who he was going to be working with. He was living life waiting to run into someone unexpected from his past, as much as would have loved to not live this way. He couldn’t help it, his brain was wired differently ever since that day. He was more cautious, more anxious, it took longer to trust people and he still expected anyone he let close to him to turn around and stab him in the back.

Cuffe must have seen the uncertainty in his face, clasping his hands together with a sigh. “He has already taken the oath not to reveal the identity of Rowen O. Misty to anyone without your consent.”

A knock sounded at the door to Cuffe’s office.

“That should be him now.”

Cuffe stood up and walked around his desk, past Remus to fling open the door, “Ah, Mr Black. Please, do come in.”

Remus’ heart sounded in his ears. Nonononono. It couldn’t be. He couldn’t have been found already. Not when he finally got a job doing something he loves. There was no chance. Fate couldn’t be that cruel.

Present – 3rd May 1983

“Cuffe wants to know whether you’ve finished the story for tomorrow’s paper,” Regulus hovered over Remus’ desk in the open-plan office space. “He wants me to edit it by tonight so he can check it before it gets published.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Remus replied, placing down his quill with a sigh. “I’ll be done within the hour. He does realise that writing imaginatively takes a lot more thinking then the other reporters he has employed?”

“Well, these other reporters don’t have dedicated readers eager to read more imaginary stories about the Muggle world,” Regulus replied, clasping a hand on Remus’ shoulder. There was a hint of Regulus’ typical snarkiness in his voice.

“Are you sulking because no one jumps at the book reviews you publish in the daily edition?” Remus said amused, raising an eyebrow at the man.

“Hey!” Regulus scowled, “Margaret at the coffee shop in London loves my book reviews.”

“Margaret is a 127 year old retired, widowed witch who doesn’t have much else to do with her time then read every word of the paper—Muggle or wizarding. It’s what old people do,” he rolled his eyes.

“I’ll tell Margaret you said that.”

“If only I could go back and tell my fourteen year old self that Regulus Arcturus Black made an elderly friend at a coffee shop in London that he sees regularly."

“She’s nicer to talk to than you.”

“So we are no longer grabbing dinner together afterwards?”

“At the rate you’re going there won’t even be places open for dinner,” Regulus scoffed. “Seriously, Remus, it’s a one page story. Has your brain run out of ideas or something? Two years of publishing your stories in The Daily Prophet and you’ve lost your creative touch.”

Remus scowled. “Well maybe if you buggered off I’d be able to concentrate.”

“Fine then. I’ll be back at 5:00 to collect your story for editing. Hopefully I can get it to Cuffe in time for dinner,” Regulus sighed.

The condition he had when signing on as a writer for the Daily Prophet was that his name would not be mentioned or published in any newspaper, instead choosing to write under a pseudonym. Cuffe was reluctant at first but quickly caught on when whispers around the Wizarding community emerged of who the mysterious ‘Rowen O. Misty’ was. Nothing interested folks more than a mystery, and it certainly kept them busy.

Remus was surprised when Cuffe put the whole office under a magical oath to not reveal to anyone without Remus’ permission that he was the face and name behind ‘Rowen O. Misty’. Which Remus was thankful for considering these reporters would do just about anything for a story that could gain themselves traction. Especially Rita Skeeter. She already tried multiple times to try and coerce Remus’ permission.

Despite promising James that he would keep in touch via letter, Remus didn’t want to tell his old friend that his address had changed once he moved to London. That would mean he no longer had the excuse of living too far away. Instead, he left James to continue sending owls to his house—or rather, his parents house. His mother had told him that she had kept the letters from James in case he ever wanted to read them. But she also told him about a year ago that the letters had stopped. It took James a full year of never getting a response to stop.

He now lived in a small two-bedroom apartment he shared with Regulus, moving out from the apartment he had shared with his previous flatmate after Regulus had dropped comments about wanting to leave his own flatmate to move closer to the Leaky Cauldron. Remus had learnt that Regulus had moved out and stopped speaking to his family once he finished Hogwarts. What Regulus had told him was that he had never looked back, simply packed a bag at eighteen and vanished without a word to his family. For a while—and to Regulus’ amusement—his mother had thought him dead, with Rumours! even posting an article about how Regulus had drowned at a beach somewhere on the South coast.

Remus was cautious of Regulus at first, unsure whether he was still talking to his older brother who Remus had dedicated his life to avoiding like the plague. He didn’t so much as want to see the face of the person who had ruined his life, it was bad enough looking at the similarities on Regulus’ face, the same grey eyes and ebony black hair.

Remus had grown close to Regulus over the last few years, which would have both terrified and intrigued younger Remus. Fifteen year old Remus would be shocked at where he was now. The people he hung around. Regulus’ friends often intruded on their apartment, braving the several floors of stairs and constantly complaining of there being a lack of a floo system. Remus surprisingly got along with Regulus’ friends, who had no intention of telling anyone that Remus had returned to London.

Regulus didn’t let Remus live his life in crippling anxiety and fear, dragging Remus out of the apartment to different parts around London, both the Muggle and magical parts. They had their own record player and vinyl collection which they often added to from their local Muggle music shop.

Regulus didn’t seem scared with the possibility of running into their shared ghosts of the past. In fact, the younger Black brother was almost looking forward to seeing his brother again. Regulus had told him that his first intention if he ever saw his brother again was to punch him in the face. It was one of the things he had ever brought up in their first conversation post-Hogwarts.

Flashback – 3rd September 1981

“You don’t still talk to him, do you?” Remus asked Regulus before taking a long drag from his cigarette.

They were out on their balcony, leaning over the edge and looking out into the London cityscape.

“Him? How vague,” Regulus replied with an amused chuckle.

“Reg,” Remus pleaded.

“I haven’t spoken to him since his last day at Hogwarts. He walked up to me and told me that he wished me the best in the House of Black and that I would likely never see him again,” Regulus told him, the muscles in his jaw clenching from how hard he was pressing his teeth together.

“Is that so horrible?” Remus asked him, genuinely curious. He knew the relationship between the Black brothers had been tense since Regulus was sorted into different houses.

“I wanted to wait until I turned eighteen to get access to my bank account before I left. I was willing to try to repair our relationship once we got away from our parents but he clearly wasn’t interested.” Remus watched Regulus squeeze his eyes shut before opening them to look up at the sky, where he knew a certain star was shining above them.

“And now? Do you still want to repair that relationship? If given the chance?” He asked Regulus.

“What I want more than anything is to punch him in the face.”

Remus was shocked at Regulus’ words, obviously shown on his face from the way Regulus chuckled, then told him, “Don’t look at me like that. I’m sure you would want to do the same thing.”

“Possibly. But I think while your fight sense kicks in, my flight sense kicks in.”

Regulus laughed, a sound that was surprisingly sad. They stood in a comfortable silence for several minutes, taking drags from their cigarettes and exhaling into the air of the summer night. Regulus passed his cigarette to Remus wordlessly, needing his hands free to roll up the sleeves of the button-up shirt he had worn to work that day. The ink above Regulus’ elbow on the back of his arm was just visible beneath his rolled up sleeve. It was a small tattoo of the sun, accompanied by the words ‘Sonnet 33’.

Remus passed the cigarette back before gesturing to Regulus’ arm. “You never told me what that tattoo means.”

“You don’t know Sonnet 33?” Regulus gasped sarcastically, “and you call yourself a writer? Shameful.”

“I’m sorry I don’t know all of Shakespeare’s Sonnets,” Remus rolled his eyes. “He has so many bloody sonnets.”

“At least you know that is Shakespeare,” Regulus told him.

“So what does it mean?” Remus asked, causing Regulus to sigh.

“The sonnet or that tattoo?”

“Both.”

“Good thing I have this sonnet memorised. I’ll tell you the last six lines:

Even so my sun one early morn did shine,

With all triumphant splendour on my brow;

But out, alack, he was but one hour mine,

The region cloud hath mask’d him from me now.

Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;

Suns of the world may stain when heaven’s sun staineth.”

Remus closed his eyes and listened as Regulus recited the lines from memory. When Regulus was finished, he turned to look at the man. “Well that’s…”

“Depressing?” Regulus offered. “It’s a poem that was written to a lover—not of Shakespeare but of the narrator. He has been betrayed by this person but is trying to forgive them by acknowledging human's have flaws.”

“Not everyone is perfect, like how the sun is blocked by the clouds,” Remus murmured.

“Exactly.”

Remus frowned, “Why this sonnet? Why not something happier?”

“Have you met me? I’m not exactly a happy person.” Regulus rolled his eyes before sighing, “But, I had someone who I considered my sun. But he only ever saw me as a shooting star. I wasn’t intended to be a constant in his life, just a fleeting moment.”

“Why get a tattoo for him then?”

Regulus sighed, falling into a brief moment of silence as if debating whether he wanted to share a piece of himself—his past—with Remus. Eventually, he opened his mouth. “I wanted him to be a constant in my life. Like the sun. I guess it’s a reminder to myself not to get caught up again in someone who doesn’t want me the same way I want them. A part of me won’t let myself forget him anyway, even though I wish I could.”

Sadly, Remus knew exactly how Regulus felt.

Present – 3rd May 1983

“Regulus, I am sorry we couldn’t grab dinner from your favourite restaurant.”

“I guess I can’t blame you," Regulus sighed. "Cuffe was the one that dumped that extra editing work on me on top of your story."

“We’ll swap our Italian Tuesday’s to Italian Thursday’s for this week," he promised.

“Good because there’s this new bar I want to try out on Friday. Everyone at the office has been talking about it.”

They paused in the stairwell and moved to the side to let one of their neighbours pass.

“I assume it’s not a Muggle bar then,” Remus said, glancing over his shoulder and lowering his voice.

“Nope. Just opened in Absconditus Alley. Not too close but not too far,” Regulus kept his voice low as they continued their ascent up the stairs.

“I’ll keep my calendar free then.”

“What calendar?” Regulus scoffed. “You only hang out with me and Lily.”

“I talk to Barty, Evan, Dorcas and Pandora!” He said offhandedly.

“By association,” Regulus rolled his eyes.

They reached their door marked with a rusted ‘5D’ nailed to the door. Remus pulled his key out of his pocket to unlock it, pushing it open to reveal their apartment, cased in darkness from the night sky outside.

Regulus stepped in first, Remus shutting the door behind them.

“Good, you’re finally home,” a voice said from somewhere in the darkness.

“Merlin’s fucking beard!” Regulus shouted as Remus fumbled for the light switch. “Lily, why the fuck were you sitting in the dark?”

Lily, who was sitting on the couch, shrugged. “It’s peaceful.”

Remus sighed, running a hand down his face. “I really shouldn’t have told you where we hid our extra key.”

“It was for emergencies. It was between Lily, Evan and Barty. Dorcas is out of the picture because she travels too much,” Regulus sighed, finally over his fright.

“Yeah. Yeah. You love me more than them,” Lily said, waving her hand in dismissal.

“We trust you to respond to emergencies,” Regulus amended. “Which this doesn’t look like.”

“I love you, Lily,” Remus said, walking over and planting a kiss on her cheek before sitting down beside her. “Don’t listen to Reg he is just pissed off his favourite Italian restaurant is closed.”

“Good thing I brought leftovers from my dinner then.” She held out a takeout container towards Regulus before pinning him with a glare. “And this is an emergency.”

Regulus took the container from Lily with a small smile. Remus was surprised by the friendship that had blossomed between the two of them. He was initially nervous about bringing Lily around to the apartment, worried that the two would clash despite—as far as Remus knew—not interacting while they were at Hogwarts. It was a given for those in Gryffindor not to associate with Slytherins. Remus was sure that hadn't had changed after he left. Upon seeing the mixture of anger, guilt and regret on her face he winced. “Mary?” He asked.

Lily groaned and flopped back onto Remus’ lap. “I almost broke up with her again.”

“What happened?” Remus frowned at her.

“We got into a massive fight,” Lily winced. “Again.”

“About?”

Lily sighed, “She wants to move.”

“You hate where you two live,” Regulus called out as he heated up the food in the microwave oven, even though he could use a warming charm. Regulus had adapted to the Muggle way of life so well that he barely used his magic for things he could do the 'Muggle way'.

“No,” Lily shook her head, “she wants to move move. She wants to live in Los Angeles. Says there’s greater opportunities to pursue acting over there. In both the Wizarding and Muggle arts.”

Mary didn’t know Remus was in London. Lily had promised not to tell her until Remus wanted his old friends to know. It was the same with Dorcas, she hadn’t told Marlene since Marlene played on Puddlemere United with James and one slip could mean his whole past could come crawling back. He constantly felt guilty, as if he was helping to strain Mary and Lily’s relationship because he was getting Lily to lie to her.

“And you don’t want to move?” Remus asked.

“No. What? Do you want me to move?” Lily replied.

“Of course not.”

“I wouldn’t mind,” Regulus said, handing Remus a plate of food before turning a chair around from their small dining table to join the conversation.

“Who’d bring you Italian food when your restaurant is closed?” Lily replied petulantly.

“Good point.” Regulus said between mouthfuls, “don’t leave.”

“My whole life is here. My job is here. I didn’t work my ass off in the OWL’s exams to become a healer at St Mungo’s just to leave. It took me three years to advance from a trainee healer to a healer! All that to just throw it away and start again at some random hospital in LA. Everyone knows St Mungo’s. Who knows any American hospitals? No one!”

“Well there’s St. Eldrin’s Hospital for the Magically Impaired in New York,” Regulus said, receiving a glare from both him and Lily, “sorry I’m not good at responding to other people’s issues that don’t involve me.”

Remus scoffed, “That sounds narcissistic.”

“More like trauma-based. I was raised in the Black family, remember?”

“How could I forget?” Remus rolled his eyes.

“Why should I upend my whole life just to pursue her dream? What about my dream?” Lily continued, her voice breaking as tears filled her eyes.

“Hey, your dreams are of equal importance,” Remus assured her. “You just need to reach a compromise.”

“Compromising is hard when every conversation turns into a screaming match or angry sex,” Lily said, laughing humourlessly as she wiped at the few tears that had rolled down her cheeks.

“That also sounds like the House of Black. Minus the angry sex,” Regulus said. “Well, actually, there was a lot of incest in previous generations, my parents included.” Seeing the appalled looks on his friends’ faces he backtracked. “Nevermind, sorry. Not the time or place. Back to you.”

“When would Mary be leaving? Hypothetically speaking,” Remus asked.

Lily sat up and rearranged herself so her back was against the couch, her fit tucked up beneath her. “She needs to finish school first. She finishes at the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts late July.”

“That gives you a month and a half at least until you need to reach a final decision, right? If you and Mary want to make this work then you will.”

“Look at you, Remus,” Lily said, laughing, “Having never been in a relationship and giving good relationship advice.”

Regulus cut in as Remus opened his mouth, “No. One night stands, casual dates and hookups do not count.”

“So that counts you out too then,” Remus replied.

“By choice, as you know,” Regulus rolled his eyes.

Ah yes. His sun. Now thinking about it, he felt bad about calling Regulus out about his romantic life. Oh well, he’ll apologise after Lily leaves.

“Can we watch a movie? I need to watch something to take my mind off of this.”

“Our movie collection hasn’t expanded since the last time you were here. Me and Reg are more music people than movie people.”

“What do you have?” Lily asked with a small smile, her eyes still red and puffy.

“Off the top of my head: Halloween, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music, Star Wars: A New Hope, Grease, and Carrie,” Remus listed.

Regulus groaned, “Why would you bring up the G-word? It’s always—”

“Grease it is!” Lily shouted, launching herself off the couch.

“You want to take your mind off your love life so you put on the movie that you cry to when you hear Hopelessly Devoted to You. Smart,” Regulus scoffed.

“Regulus, I think your memory is hazy," Lily called out, a smirk in her voice. "The first time we watched Grease we were all crying to Hopelessly Devoted to You.”

“Don’t remind me,” Regulus said bitterly.

“You brought it up.”

“Then I take it back. Pick another movie,” he demanded.

“Nope,” Lily said, popping the P as she dug in their cabinet for the VHS tape. “You just don’t want to cry. Again.”

“I will kick you out,” Regulus warned her. Remus believed he was joking. Maybe.

“Remus wouldn’t let you,” Lily laughed.

“I think Remus would,” Regulus argued.

“Does Remus get a say? He’s sitting right here,” he cut in, getting ignored by his two friends.

Lily returned to her seat on the couch, reassuming her position as the title sequence began. Regulus sighed, putting his plate in the sink before sitting on the ground in front of the couch with his back against the edge.

When Olivia Newton-John started singing Hopelessly Devoted to You there was not a dry eye in the room.