Daylight Robbery

By the time everyone had made it to their destination, the moon high in the sky and the London streets devoid of life, they had been much too exhausted to speak on what they had just experienced.

Remus had greeted the servants who had patiently waited up for them, directed everyone to their assigned rooms and had promptly fallen into bed. He hadn’t bothered to undress and waved away the offers of help to wash and change for bed. He had expected to fall straight to sleep, the long day of travelling and subsequent robbery taking over.

This wasn’t the case however.

No, instead, Remus stayed awake, tossing and turning and waiting for sleep to drive away the image of the black haired man who had held the barrel of a pistol to his face. He hadn’t seen his face of course, only managing to make out his eyes, cheekbones and a snatch of his nose in the dim light. His eyes had been a strange colour, not blue, almost grey. His hair had been long, tied loosely behind him, a few pieces fallen and framing his face. He seemed familiar in some way, but Remus couldn’t imagine how. He hardly spent time interacting with someone who stole for a living.

He was also kept awake by his own stupidity. Naively, he had declined to stay overnight in one of the inns they had passed on their journey. Their initial arranged transport a few days ago had been delayed and so they had set off from Edinburgh much later than he had planned. He had reasoned with himself that they weren’t far from his townhouse, and that everyone would much rather have the privacy of their own rooms, than share whatever could be found in an inn. He hardly wanted Lily, Mary and Pandora to spend more nights than had already been necessary in an unfamiliar area. Also, his staff would be waiting for him, already informed of his arrival today, who would be unaware of his delay. It had seemed practical at the time, the fatigue of the past hours spent on the road already weighing on him, to keep going, and travel through the night.

Practical. Remus scoffed aloud.

Practical had gotten him and his friends robbed of their possessions. Not much, thank the lord. He had had the forethought to send everyone's luggage ahead of them, so that it would be waiting once they finally arrived. Most of the jewellery, clothing and trinkets had been long since waiting for them here, and so hadn’t been taken. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for what they had on their person. He didn’t know what had been taken from the others, though he was sure he would find out tomorrow. What he did know, was what had been taken from him and Pandora.

From Dora, a silver bracelet, a necklace and a small pair of diamond earrings Evan had gifted her. Remus had hoped she wasn’t too upset by loosing something important to her, but she had brushed it off, informing him she hadn’t much cared for diamonds in the first place.

He hadn’t cared for the money he had lost. What Remus cared for, was the signet ring he had been forced to give up. It had been in the Lupin family for generations, the gold long since tarnished, the engraving ‘luna oritur’, his family motto, worn down in places, but his. It was the last thing his father had given to him. Whatever his relationship with his father had been, or rather hadn’t been, it was still the last tangible connection he had to him.

And now he would never see it again.

It didn’t matter how enigmatic or curious he had found the man who robbed him, he was still, the man who had robbed him.

He replayed those few minutes over again and again, trying to commit the man to memory. If they ever met again, somehow, Remus would be sure to remember those eyes.
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The morning, with lots of well sugared tea and buttered bread to rouse them all from their deep sleep, was a much different story.

Excited chatter ran across the breakfast table, bright eyes shining and wide with exuberance.

Remus had been the last the come downstairs for breakfast, finally finding a meagre amount of sleep in the wee hours of the morning, and had taken a while to pull himself from his bed.

He had been glad to see everyone had already began to make themselves at home. It was going to be a long season, everyone confined mostly to this house until June, and he wanted to make sure they were comfortable.

“Good morning,” he said to them all, sitting down at the empty seat next to Regulus and Dora.

Everyone but Dora, who politely returned his pleasantries, ignored him, too busy chattering feverishly about the night before. Except for Regulus, who was too lost in his own thoughts to pay attention to what was going on around him.

Remus coughed loudly, getting everyone's attention, before pouring himself a cup of tea, and making them wait patiently.

He took a long sip as they glared at him, before he repeated, “Good morning.”

He was met then with the chorus of mornings he had wanted before, causing him to smile in response.

As he thought about what he had to say next however, he found the smile fading from his face. “I believe I need to apologise to you all. For last night,” he began, placing his cup back onto its saucer.

“Apologise? Why?” Evan interrupted before he could continue. Everyone also looked at him with the same manner of confusion.

“I made us travel so late at night. We should have stopped at an inn for another night, but I was thinking selfishly and wanted to be home, and caused well, you were all there,” he continued, “What happened was my fault, and for that, I am truly sorry.”

“Did you arrange for the highwaymen to be there?” Lily asked him.

Now it was Remus’s turn to look confused. “No, of course not.”

“Then it could hardly be your fault then, could it?” She finished, taking a bite of the bread on her plate.

“But still,” Remus began before being cut off once more by Mary this time.

“We’ve already discussed it, and we’re fine. A little shaken, but fine nonetheless. Besides, they,” she looked pointedly at Lily, Evan and Dora in turn, “haven’t spoken of any thing other than how those people looked for almost twenty minutes. I believe if they were to have any lasting injuries due to the experience or due to what they lost, they’re quite over it now.”

“Looked?” Remus repeated.

“Oh yes, I don’t think any one has noticed what was taken from them rather they noticed who took it from them,” Regulus said sardonically.

The three of them looked somewhat sheepish by this.

“And here I had worried all night about the emotional damages you all must have sustained,” Remus said wryly, though secretly he was quite pleased to hear this. If they had the ability to discuss their robbers appearances, they couldn’t be too deeply upset by whatever had been lost or by the experience itself. As far as robberies went, he assumed theirs hadn’t been the worst they could have suffered.

They continued breakfast with quiet conversation, though Remus had steered it away from conversations about highwaymen. He had spent his entire night thinking of them, he didn’t want to spend his morning doing the same.

Afterwards, they all retired to the drawing room, taking the day to settle themselves in and relax whilst they still had the opportunity. Once the social season started they would hardly have a night to themselves, and Remus knew already that he would ache for the company of just his friends, and not the entirety of high society.

Tomorrow, Lily, Mary, and Dora were all going into town to the modiste to get fitted for new dresses. Him and Regulus had both told them they had plenty of dresses, the many chests full that he had sent attesting to this, but Evan had argued that a woman always had need for a new dress, and after much back and forth it was agreed they would go. Evan’s protesting had made him the designated chaperone, much to his immediate dismay, but he could hardly go back on his earlier words.

For the next couple hours they spent their time lounging around, playing the piano, reading, embroidery, whatever pastimes they could do in the company of each other, occasionally breaking the silence with a bit of conversation here and there, mostly meaningless natter. That was until Lily brought up the topic of conversation that Remus had so hoped was going to be dropped indefinitely.

“About last night, Remus, you never told us about your highwayman. Regulus refused to tell us anything about his, despite the fact that he was the only one alone and thus the one with the most to tell. We tried asking Dora, but she was so focused on her own that she said she barely noticed yours.”

Your highwayman?
His highwayman?

“He is not my highwayman,” Remus spluttered out, his tone indignant at the idea. The scoundrel who had stolen something so precious to him was most certainly not, his.

Lily gave him a pointed look, as if to say you know what I mean, and stared at him to answer her.

Remus sighed, knowing that she wouldn’t leave him alone without an answer, and suddenly became acutely aware that everyone else in the room was paying attention to his answer, including Regulus, though he pretended to be too lost in his book to notice.

“He had dark hair, and was extremely maddening,” Remus told them, going back to writing his letter.

“Oh come on Remus, you have to tell us more,” Evan practically whined.

Remus was quite sick of all this talk about highwaymen, highwaymen, highwaymen.

“He had dark hair, was extremely maddening, questioned my accent and stole my fathers ring. Is that enough information for you all?” Remus asked them, finding it hard to conceal the anger in his voice. It wasn’t them he was angry at, he knew they were all just curious and good-naturedly nosy, rather he was angry at himself. He too, hadn’t been able to push the image of the highwayman from his mind, and he hated himself for it.

What he should have done, first thing this morning, was go straight to an officer and tell them what had happened last night, along with an inventory of everything that had been taken. After it had been clear however, that the only thing of any value that had been taken, was his own ring, he had held off. It was quite worrisome, that the reason he had not already done so, was because he did not want to get them in trouble. That arrogant man who had stolen from him, he did not want to have arrested, as bizarre as that was. And so he was angry, and the more they discussed them, the more angry he felt.

The room was silent after his reveal, everyone knew how important the ring was to him.

“Remus, I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” Lily said, looking ashamed.

The room was beginning to feel suffocating now, the peaceful silence of before was now gone, replaced with a stifling silence that crept into every corner and filled the room. Remus hated this feeling, guilt at what had happened, guilt at how he snapped at his friends, guilt at how, despite how he tried to hide it, how interested he also was by the strangers they had encountered last night. He hated that feeling so much.

Remus stood from his seat, excusing himself under his breath before striding out of the room before anyone could say anything to stop him.

He made it up the stairs and to the door of his room before someone called from behind him, “My locket.”

Remus turned around to face Regulus, who had followed him up.

“Pardon?” Remus asked him, wishing more than anything he could go into his room and sleep some more, attempt to shake off all these horrible feelings he had.

“My locket,” Regulus repeated, “that’s what was taken from me. And a few coins, but I won’t miss those.”

Remus swore under his breath. The same way that ring meant so much to him, Remus knew that locket meant a lot to Regulus. He had never told any of them the meaning behind it, nor had any of them even seen it very close up before, being permanently tucked inside the shirt of whatever he was wearing. They knew, however, that whatever it did mean, was something special to Reg, and its loss would be felt as keenly as his own was.

“I remember what he looked like. Vividly. I could draw him from memory if needed,” Regulus said, his point clear.

Regulus wanted Remus to make a report. Regulus wanted his locket back.

And again, that feeling of guilt came crashing back over him all over again. Here he was, being selfish all over again. He had considered not reporting the thefts, and for why? Because his friends could find the humour in the situation? Because he believed he was the only one who lost something of importance? Because he did not want to cause harm to the stranger from last night? By doing so, he would cause more damage to his friends, his family. He couldn’t allow that to happen.

It was too late in the day now, but it would have to be done.

Remus nodded his understanding, before replying “Please do. I will go make a report first thing in the morning, whilst the others are out.”

“We will go,” Regulus corrected, before he turned and went back down the corridor to his own room, clearly needing to be out of that room too.

Remus sighed, ready again for sleep.

This time when he slept however, he did not think about a stranger’s eyes.

He most certainly did not.