His phone had been buzzing incessantly from the coffee table opposite his sofa that he'd thrown himself down onto hours earlier. Remus' floor was littered with beer bottles and the odd fag butt, the ashes flayed carelessly across the wood floor as he ran a shaky hand through greasy hair.
Thursday was his new unlucky day, closely followed by Tuesday.
Rain battered against his window in a wild torrent, the wind battering against it with anger rattling the panes and his bones too. The grey clouds rumbled overhead like an old train on a warpath.
The slytherin group chat removed him as soon as the news came out though he'd received copious emails from the PR team about addressing the news or even a possible transfer in the works. He of course just marked them as read and didn't bother to reply to any of them.
Even as Pandora called him non stop probably to offer a shoulder to cry on, Remus could barely find the strength to stand let alone make his apartment presentable for the slytherin's apprentice medic. As kind as she was he doubted she'd appreciate the shithole his flat had become.
Photos of him aged 17 snogging his previous boyfriend Grant in a club had circulated through the internet in seconds flat and were now the talk of every hockey blog and sports article. He caught the tail end of a radio show involving the Slytherin captain Lucius Malfoy and his second Severus talking about bad press and sinners. A religious bunch the lot of them.
The photos were leaked by an anonymous source in the early morning and by the same afternoon Remus had packed a bag for himself and his Newfoundland pup named Fern who'd been slumped across his chest all evening. Her worried little eyes tracking across his face with each shuddering exhale and flick of his rusted lighter.
A speedy set of knocks at the door followed by his doorbell had remus' heart jumping in his chest as he heaved himself off the sofa with a pained groan, fern hurried along behind his heels but skittered back into the kitchen when he opened the door. Mrs.Pomfrey, his agent, stood in his doorway like an angel of death though her eyes shone with pity after taking in his state. Her grey hair falling about her face like a sentient halo as she shook the rainwater from her eyes.
"Oh Remus." she crooned sympathetically at him, watching as he slumped slightly at the sight of her. "Lets go sit down shall we?"
They sat at his kitchen table and she placed the thick folder she'd been carrying on top of the oak surface.
"I'm being transferred aren't I." more a statement than a question.
"Afraid so my dear but we should be able to get you into Ravenclaw or maybe Hufflepuff if we make our case well enough, plus you've got your calder trophy."
He received the trophy after his first season with the Snakes as a reward for being the most notable Rookie that year amongst all the others. It now sat on a shelf above his bed collecting dust.
Poppy's phone blared out sweet child o'mine as an unknown number flashed across the screen though she rushed to answer it before it vibrated off his table.
"Yes, this is Pomfrey... Well I'm sitting with him now if you'd like to speak to him?" she handed the phone to Remus over the table who fumbled with it for a second before hesitantly bringing it to his ear.
"'Llo? " his voice cracked and he couldn't help but cringe at the tinny voice chattering at him quickly.
"Mr Lupin, I'm George Weasley, calling on behalf of the Gryffindor Lions - I'm calling to offer you a position within our team."
"Oh uh that's kind of you but i wouldn't want to give you guys a bad rep for taking me on."
"That's not an issue at all Mr Lupin, should you accept we can arrange flights and temporary housing. We've already gotten the okay from your previous team though from your apparent aversion to picking up the phone you may not have realised." The lions manager seemed all too eager to have him with them as soon as possible.
After a few more minutes of conversation he handed the phone back to poppy who finished up the call before looking at him fondly.
"Seems our time is up my dear, you'll be under minerva Mcgonagall's care from now on."
She stood from her chair and wrapped him up into a tight hug. Naturally he hugged the much shorter woman back and offered her a cup of tea.
She'd left his home hours later, departing with promises of phone calls and status updates.
"I'll call you a cleaning service, make sure you give your landlord notice and all that jazz."
The next few days passed in a flurry of selling all his furniture and packing up his life into 2 neatly packed suitcases as well as a duffel bag full of hockey equipment which would no doubt be a nightmare to get through airport security. Luckily Fern was permitted to fly onboard with him as long as she behaved well which luckily she had been on the 4 hour flight to Gryffindor airport.
The plane had bright red seats and yellowish carpeting, hopefully a good omen of what was to come.
Though she did squirm about in his lap the whole time - no doubt bored already of the kids seated behind him. They kicked non stop at his back and begged to pet Fern until their father told them off.
She trotted behind him like a furry brown shadow as he towed his suitcases behind him to the arrivals area. He searched the area, head on swivel to find a sign with his name on it, growing more frantic as his panic built up. Had this been a prank or some kind of cruel game?
His phone pinged with a text 'behind you' and he swung around to see a tall man with a mop of scruffy black hair leaned with folded arms against the stained off white wall.
"Hey man I'm James,"he stuck a hand out to Remus, "One of the co-captains for the Lions it's nice to meet ya." He grinned boyishly and took one of the suitcases with the hand that wasn't occupied with an obnoxiously drawn name card with little lions doodled all over it.
"Who drew the lions?" Remus asked as they walked towards the exit.
"That would be my son, quite the little Dicaprio isn't he." chest puffing out with pride as he opened the boot of a car parked outside
"You mean Picasso right?"
"Yeah that's what i said wasn't it?"
The journey was mercifully short and full of mindless questions from James 'feel free to call me prongs' Potter about his previous place within the Snakes followed up by a million and one queries about the puppy sprawled languidly in the back of his audi.
"You don't need to be so quiet, you know? I've seen the clips of you on the ice - well we all have really - and youre so loud and frankly fucking feral mate." James' eyes seemed to glow at just the mention of his playing style.
"Guess it's kind of an alter ego thing, the wolf as they called me, it's easy to let go of everything out there.. But off the rink it's just easier to pull back from the noise and ignore it."
James just hummed in response.
"I mean sure I'm angry about the whole situation but what's the point of worrying about it now? It's done and there's nothing I can change about the whole thing." Remus tugged on his jumper and swiped a thumb across the protruding scar that crawled up from his chest to under his jaw in a jagged line.
"You're a better man than I could ever hope to be Lupin." With that the car slowed to a stop in front of a big two story house, the garden pathed with little pebbles and lined with blooming flowers that had no right to look so beautiful. A woman with choppy hair stood on the stoop holding hands with a wiggly little boy who looked to be bursting at the seams with excitement as a deep barking sounded out from within the house.
"How come we're stopping here?" Remus aimed at James who looked sheepishly at him.
"Well Weasly thought it might be smart to house you with another team member until you settle in with the team, think he thought it'd help you merge a bit better. Frank's a nice guy so no worries there Remus."
As if summoned, a broad shouldered at least 6'4 man stepped from out of nowhere to open the car door. Frank Longbottom as remus recalled, was a defenseman for the Lions and veteran player of the game with nearly fifteen years under his belt with the Lions.
"Aright prongs?" his gruff voice matching the calloused hand that clapped against his captain's shoulder.
"Aye, and yourself?"
"Grand my friend." Their friendliness was all too strange after putting in years with the Snakes who were known for ruthlessness even within their own team.
Eventually his belongings were moved inside and Fern was left to play with Frank's bulldog Terror though after assurances of 'oh she's friendly really frank just thought it'd be hilarious' from Alice his wife and babbling from Neville the little boy now in her arms Remus felt somewhat more at ease. The scrabbling of claws over wooden floors became background noise though as an extra chair was brought in for him and the table was set for a late dinner.
The realness of it all came crashing down onto him as he practically fell into the cushioned chair under him. Hands shaking in clenched fists and knee jumping beneath the table, Remus fell apart bit by bit until he rasped a sweaty scarred hand through his auburn shaggy hair.
The little boy beside him gasped slightly at seeing the raised white scars spread across the back of his right hand and Remus must've grinned his way with a few too many teeth because Neville shrieked nonsensically at his mum.
"Sorry Remus, he can be a little too curious…" Alice said while reprimanding her son with a glare.
"Not a problem Mrs.Longbottom." he replied and instead of getting more panicked, Remus showed Neville his now trembling hand. He calmed slightly and traced the branching lines with a chubby finger babbling along once again, shovelling cheesy pasta into his mouth with his spare hand. He fiddled with the silver rings hugging every other slim finger with awe - tugging and spinning them this way and that - eventually ending up with the boy snuggled into his lap with Remus' forearm holding him softly in place.
"Re!" the boy yelled happily, no less than a year old.
"Aye that's my name." he hummed back with a shine in his eyes that none of them had yet to see.
"Re re re re!" he chanted with a mouthful of broccoli.
"He'll be just fine here." Frank murmured to James who'd watched the whole exchange with a small smile.
"I just want the boys to like him." he muttered back.
"Oh I'm sure they will, just you wait… Sirius might like him a little too much." Frank grinned and dug into his dinner with the vigour of a man trying to please his not much of a chef wife.
The meal drew to a close with Neville begging to show Remus his new room and James being ushered out the door with a playful shoulder shrug directed at him. Sticky hands clutched at the loose material of his baggy blue jeans as he cradled the now thoroughly knackered Fern to his chest, Terror had passed out on the sofa a solid thirty minutes ago and was now drooling all over a rather nice blanket.
It turned out that the Longbottoms had redone their loft to become a guest bedroom for any team mates in need of shared housing for a while, Tommy Everett a rookie player from a local college had bunked there last summer according to the couple. He now was partnered up with the Lion's goalie Tate Glover as a relief player.
A double mattress had been placed onto a set of pallets shoved into the corner of the room under a sharply sloping ceiling covered in pillows and throws as well as a Lions team teddy which sat proudly between the pillows. His bags had been set beneath a window on the opposite wall that had a small sofa directly in front of it accompanied by a half filled book cubby.
The room was simple but calming, a new start ready for him to change however he wished as Alice mentioned to him as they left to put their son to bed. "We can go to the hardware shop in the morning and pick up some bits and bobs if that sounds good to you?"
"That'd be lovely, thanks." he smiled back, grin only growing at the sight of Fern burrowing deep into the bedding with little snuffling snorts as he shrugged the fraying tawny jumper off onto the floor to be picked up later. His assortment of rings and then necklaces followed though were carefully placed into a small dish on the window sill. Finally his jeans were shucked off and were also thrown onto the slowly forming clothes pile.
His bed was impossibly soft as he shimmied under the duvet with a bit of effort, sleep rushed at him as soon as Fern's furry self curled up in a tight ball practically inside his chest.