Forget Me Not

27th December, 1985

Remus was pacing, Maggie locked herself in her room, and Sirius was shivering outside in the cold. The winter moons are the worst, especially December , if only because it always seemed to interrupt Christmas.  

Sirius locked up in the sky, the sun was still setting, but everyone will have to head outside soon. He already cleared a patch in the Forest and set down a blanket with a warming charm. He had a magical tent on standby in case they needed to stay outside for longer than normal. Everything is going to be fine. Just fine.

Sirius went to get Maggie and Remus half an hour later, there is only about twenty minutes before they should start changing. When the two werewolves finally came outside, Sirius noticed that Maggie looked scared and Remus looked worried. 

“Easier if you lay down” Remus told Maggie, gesturing to the blanket on the ground. Maggie was silent but laid down on the blankets. Remus followed suit and the three all sat in silence. Awkward 

Soon though, Sirius longed for the silence, anything other than screaming. Maggie was trying to hold it in but it wasn’t going very well. Remus started shaking and gasping but was generally quiet except for when he yelled for Sirius to change.

Sirius watched through padfoots eyes as Remus and sweet Maggie slithered in the ground, their bones snapping and reshaping, the occasional shriek. Shrieks that wrapped around Sirius liked ice. They were cold and vicious, settling around the woods like curses. Sirius hoped the silencing charms were working, no one else should listen to this.  

This was nothing like hogwarts. At Hogwarts, Remus was fifteen, not eleven. At Hogwarts Sirius didn’t have to watch two people that he loved howl in pain. 

The screaming stopped and was replaced with growls. Remus was staring at a tiny pup eyeing it suspiciously. Padfoot rolled on its belly hoping Maggie’s wolf would follow suit. Thankfully she did and Remus seemed to back off a bit. He nudged padfoot, unsure of the new addition. Maggie crept up next to Sirius, Remus sniffed her and gently nipped at her. She’s in the pack, she’s safe.

The wolves and padfoot ran around the Forest for the night. There weren’t many creatures but Padfoot had fun rolling in the snow and howling at the moon with Remus. Maggie followed Remus around, seemingly trusting him more than Padfoot.

Overall it wasn’t too terrible, but the transformation back was brutal. Maggie and Remus whined and ducked under a tree. It seemed to take ages for their bodies to snap back into their human form, and even longer for them to wake up. 

Sirius changed and rushed over to Maggie and Remus as soon as their bodies settled. They were both breathing, but their eyes were closed and they wouldn’t move. Sirius tried waking them to no success. He decided to whip open the tent (set up by magic) and carefully levitated both bodies inside. He sat there for twenty minutes before Remus opened his eyes. He tried lifting his head but groaned and set it back down.

“Bloody hell what happened pads, look like someone died…where are we”

“In the tent, you two wouldn’t wake up and it was too cold to leave you outside”

“Is Maggie okay, did you give her anything”

“No but she’s okay you were both just sleeping”

“Did I hurt her”

“Nope you took her in”

“Hmm”

Remus was clearly exhausted, he had the usual bags under his eyes and the sickly color to his skin, but he got up, put on his pajamas, and hobbled over to Maggie. She was laying in a cot with a blanket placed over her, both to keep warm and for privacy, Sirius held onto his shoulders to keep him steady and Remus placed a hand on her forehead. She started to stir and Sirius let out a sigh of relief. 

“Maggie” Remus said, “we need to go inside, are you alright to walk back” 

Maggie said she was alright and carefully got up. She was just as unsteady as Remus was, her movements slow and jagged. 

“Merlin, you both are too stubborn. Both of you grab onto my arms and do not let go”

Remus and Maggie looked at each other but they ended up doing as he said. So Sirius walked back very slowly while supporting the weight of Maggie and Remus. He directed them right to their bedroom and made both of them lay down in the bed. 

“We are staying together today, no objections. Everyone needs some sleep”

“You sound like Poppy” Remus said, wrapping himself in a blanket

Sirius gasped, “no fair I’m definitely Minnie”

“You wish,” Remus teased. “Now get over here I’m too knackered for this”

Sirius piled into bed next to Maggie who was already sleeping against Remus, which is totally unfair because that’s his spot but he let it slide because he loves Maggie. 

Suddenly his position dawned on him, he was sleeping next to two sick werewolves. Surely that would be a nightmare for some people, but for Sirius, it was the most ideal situation in the world.

***

Maggie woke up next to Remus, she could hear his low steady heartbeat. He looked different when sleeping, she noticed; his face was more relaxed and he looked much more peaceful.

She stretched out her limbs and rubbed her eyes. It was noon, she slept for a while and was still tired. And everything hurt, but not as much as it normally did. It was more subtle now, and she had no scratches. She was very happy not to add more scars to her ever growing collection. 

Remus stirred and Maggie realized she was not in her own bed, she was in her guardians room. The events of this morning slowly came back to her. She remembers being in a tent and then walking for a bit and then more sleep. And Sirius. He practically carried her on the bed. Maggie decided that this situation was much more pleasant than St Mungos, even if she had to be vulnerable in front of people. 

That was the worst part, she transformed in front of people. She knew she screamed, she always screamed, but having someone watch is different. She couldn’t remember if Remus screamed, but she was sure he was better about it. 

Remus opened his eyes and sighed next to her. 

“Morning” he said as he sat up and stretched. 

Maggie rubbed her eyes and yawned, she was still exhausted and hungry. Her stomach growled so loud even Remus heard it, or it could just be the wolf hearing. 

“Why don’t we go get a bite, I’m famished” Remus said. “Yeah me too” Maggie replied. 

The two got out of bed and hobbled over to the kitchen. Apparently they were both still exhausted. Sirius was in the kitchen and had spread out a full English breakfast. Literally nothing could sound better at the moment. 

Sirius frowned and walked over to the walking zombies. He gave Remus a quick kiss before reprimanding them about how they should be in bed. 

“Love I really really mean this, Piss off, I’m hungry” Remus said once Sirius was done with his lecture. He sat down and grabbed a piece of toast. Maggie followed suit, she was also starving. 

“You lot are going to eat us out of house and home, I’m never going to leave this kitchen” Sirius said once all the food was thoroughly devoured. 

“You got this from the diner down the road” Remus cheeked.  

“Fine then you’ll empty my vault, food is not free”

“Are you telling me Sirius Black of the House of Black doesn't have enough money to support his family?”

“I can’t win with you”

Remus leaned on his shoulder, “no, that’s why I like you”

Maggie finished her food and stood up to leave.

“Take it easy” Remus said at the same time Sirius said “get some sleep”

Maggie rolled her eyes and instinctively replied with “alright dads”. She froze. It was just what she told anyone who bossed her around. But this time it had real meaning, real actual meaning. Remus blushed and Sirius looked shocked. 

“Uhm sorry it was just a joke I didn’t-“

“You can call me dad, I quite like it” Remus said. Sirius nodded in agreement. 

Maggie mounted the word and said it in her head. It felt right “Ok dad”  

Sirius and Remus smiled, “right now get some sleep”, Sirius said. 

***

31st December, 1985

Lily and James Potter are perfect. That’s all that Remus could say about his friends. The Lupin-Black-Brenton family all attended their annual party. It was sort of the official ‘we adopted a daughter’ announcement. Of course their close friends knew, but they hadn’t really told anyone else. They needed to be settled as a family first, but it had been a month and time to let the cat out of the bag. 

Okay well there wasn’t exactly an official announcement but there were definitely stares when they walked into the manor together, and they told anyone who asked but didn’t officially state ‘hey we adopted a daughter’. 

Harry was ecstatic to see Maggie again, and Maggie was nice enough to play with him, but it’s not like there were many other people for her to play with. All of them were still young, they had time. 

Sirius was with James talking to his quidditch friends and Remus was sitting on the sofa chatting with some people about his favorite books until Sirius dragged him away. 

“You know you’re supposed to kiss the love of your life at midnight” he said, in a low whisper that Remus loved.

“Hmm I did hear that yes, around this time last year I believe”

“We should practice, so it’s perfect” , Sirius looked up at Remus grinning. Remus pulled the other man in but was interrupted by a quick “ow”

He knew that voice, the voice that stole his heart for this past month. “Maggie?”

She was with a man, clutching her hand and biting her lip. Whoever she was talking to seemed angry. Remus and Sirius ran over to see what’s going on. 

“What the hell happened?” Sirius demanded. 

“This your daughter?” The man asked, eyeing Remus’s scars.

“Yes” Sirius saw proudly

“What the hell are you playing at, her hand burned on my ring”

What was he talking about, there would be no reason for her to-oh. He felt it, the queasiness and the sting in his nose. It was a silver ring. It could have burned Maggie’s skin straight off. Remus was speechless, if he couldn’t think of a way out of this, Maggie would be outed. 

“Don’t be silly Felix, I’m sure it was just some accidental magic, did the same thing when I was her age, sister wouldn’t talk to me for a week” Lily said absentmindedly. Lilly Evans, she really was perfect in every way. Always getting people out of tight spots. 

Felix shut his mouth and stormed off, Maggie let out a sigh of relief. 

Remus took Maggie’s hand and walked her upstairs to an empty room. “Lemme see” he demanded. 

Maggie held out her hand and saw a red ring indent on her wrist. 

“How long did you touch it for?” He asked. There was no need to ask if it hurt, Remus knew it did. 

“Just a second,” she said, eyeing the nasty red spot. “That's good, shouldn’t have done too much damage” Remus tried his best to sound confident, but he wasn’t an expert in silver. His life sort of depended on staying away from it, “I’ll see if Lily has a pain potion-“

“Right here Lupin” Lily said as she walked in the door. She handed the potion to Maggie who took it gratefully. Sirius and James walked in too, arm in arm with Harry running in behind them. 

“Maggie!” Harry yelled, pushing past all the adults to give his cousin a hug. Maggie returned it and took a deep breath. Harry saw her hand and asked “what happened”

“I’m allergic to silver”. Harry stared at her and shrugged, “I like gold better anyway”

James laughed and ruffled Harry’s hair. 

“James, can you go get some bandages?” Lily asked, “I think we should wrap the wound, fraid magic won’t help”. “Sure thing Lil’s, umph” James walked right into Mary. “Oh sorry James, just came to see where you wandered off to”. Mary walked into the room with her cheerful smile and looked around expectantly. 

After a minute of awkward silence Remus spoke up: “Maggie hurt her hand”. He didn’t say how.  The only people who knew about Maggie’s condition were Lily and James, Remus left it up to Maggie to decide who to tell, it was her choice. Mary pursed her lips, “some bloke downstairs was ranting on about how someone burned their hand on a silver ring, thought it was Remus”. Lily rolled her eyes, “I told Felix it was some accidental magic”. Mary sat down next to Maggie, whose sleeve was rolled up slightly and it exposed a silver scar on her wrist. Maggie laid flat on the bed and closed her eyes. “Is there another potion I could take, this hurts”

Mary laughed, “Black your daughter is giving you a run for your dramatics”. Remus shook his head. Maggie really did have a dramatic side once you got to know her. 

James walked back into the room with bandages and some silver dittany. “This should help!” Lily took the vials and bandages and got to work on patching Maggie’s hand. She still complained that it hurt so Lily suggested a sleeping drought. Maggie protested but gave in after Remus, Sirius and Lily all told her she would feel better when she woke up. Once she was asleep the adults plus Harry all exited the room and Mary punched Remus playfully. 

“Oi, what's that for Macdonald”, he demanded. 

“Remus that was not from accidental Magic” she hissed, “whats going on”. Sirius folded his arms and furrowed his brow. Remus was torn. Mary was smart and would never hold it against Maggie, but Maggie deserves to be the one to tell her. But at the same time Mary was one of his best friends and it was hard to lie to her. “It’s for Maggie to tell, but it’s basically what you think”

Mary's face was priceless, her mouth hung open and she whispered “oh”. Sirius took a deep breath and grabbed Remus’s hand. Mary gave them a hug, it was nice. She told them that they were foolish for thinking she’d ever think badly of them. It was actually a very sweet moment.            

Remus heard the beginning of the countdown from the party downstairs. He turned to Sirius and whispered, “what's that you said about tradition”. Sirius smirked and grabbed Remus’s head, pulling them close together. Perfect way to start the new year.