auntie - best friend remus
The crowds were buzzing with excitement, faces bright and wonderous as they looked across the quidditch field. The champions were basking in it, hearing chants of their own names, some people had even gone to the effort of creating posters showcasing who they’re cheering for and holding them above their head. Harry Potter waved his hand up in the air with a boyish grin, sure he was terrified for his life, but why not have some fun before he’s forced into that hellhole, they call a maze.
The champions were allowed to see family members who had come to watch the third task before it began, so no surprise his biggest supporter, his aunt Y/n was here along with his uncle Remus. Y/n was bursting with nerves, Remus could see that, so his hand kept a firm but comforting grip around her own hand.
“Harry, you have to be careful. If at any point you believe you’re in any real danger, or something bad happens, come back out, okay? Don’t be the hero here today, if something is not right, you raise your wand for help, and you come right back-“ Y/n was rambling off her words, gripping Harry’s shoulders after shrugging off her friends hands for a moment. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes were wider than usual, trying her hardest to best exaggerate her point to her godson.
“Aunt Y/n-“ Harry cut in, gently taking her hands off his shoulders to hold them in his hands, he smiled comfortingly despite his own nerves, “I’m going to be okay! If Dumbledore says it’s fine, then it’s going to be fine. Nothing bad is going to happen, I’ll be back out in no time.” He continued.
Y/n sighed, “I’m sorry for worrying, I just want you to be safe, the past few years you’ve been put into so much danger, you’re still only a kid, it’s not fair-“ she felt Remus placing a hand on her back.
“Everything’s going to be okay, both of you- yes even you Harry don’t give me that look, I know you’re nervous too. Y/n why don’t you go say hi to Cedric and I’ll wait up in our seats after I finish talking with Harry?” he slowly coached her away, her hands slowly disconnecting with Harry’s.
Her footsteps slowed as she reached her nephew, her arms going outward, he met her halfway in a big hug. Cedric though being a lot younger than her still managed to tower over her figure, unable to wrap her arms around his neck without being on her tiptoes, she wrapped her arms around his middle instead.
“Auntie y/n” Cedric smiled, “how have you been? I’ve missed you” he kept the large grin on his face despite his eyes giving away his worries.
“I’ve missed you too Ced, I’ve been okay but what about you? You have done incredibly the last two tasks!” She let out enthusiastically, stepping back only slightly from their embrace.
“I’ve been good, hopefully on the road to champion now” he teased
y/n laughed and let her hands take one of Cedric’s larger ones, she smiled up at her nephew
“No surprise to me, just please for the love of merlin remember to come back if it gets too dangerous. Eternal glory really doesn’t matter in hindsight okay, everyone, me especially would very much rather you coming out unharmed.” She let out, an expression of worry on her face, eyebrows creased creating a line in the middle of them.
“I’ll be fine! Stop stressing, you’re creating worry lines right here!“ He laughed using his thumb to press down lightly on the crease between her brows. He looked down at her face again, and let out an almost inaudible sigh.
“I’m serious, aunt y/n, I promise I’ll be okay. It’s just a maze, what harm could it possibly do, I’ve already been chased around by a fire-breathing dragon and had to pretty much become a real-life fish in the black lake… this is just a maze. You took me in a maze when I was younger remember, a Halloween one. I was so scared at first, but you held my hand and told me everything would be okay, and it was!” He reminded her of that day years ago, back when he was still much smaller than she was.
Y/n smiled a little at the memory before inhaling a large breath before replying, “but I won’t be holding your hand today” now a sadder smile graced her lips and she quickly brought him in for another hug, tighter than the last.
“But I’m older now auntie, and I’ll see you before you know it” He whispered, hugging her tightly before letting her go. “Go on and sit up with Lupin and when I come back I’ll give you another hug, okay?” He chuckled a little, before pointing to where Remus was sitting in the stands.
“I’ll see you soon, I love you” she smiled at him and he smiled back.
“I love you too auntie, see you in a bit”
-
It had been close to 15 minutes since all the champions entered the maze, and y/n’s leg had not stopped bouncing, even when Remus placed his hand just above her knee, she just started bouncing the other one instead.
“y/n darling, you need to calm down, it’s ok, they’ll be ok.” His chin rested on her head, as she curled more into his side. The large sweater she was wearing sheltering her from the cold, and since her best friend was practically a furnace, he helped with that too.
“you don’t know that. It makes it 10 times worse that it’s both of them, both of my boys put into a Triwizard competition, merlin do you even remember learning about this in school, it was put to a stop for a full hundred years for a reason, not just for fun!” she exclaimed
Remus looked down at her softly, heart hurting knowing just how hard she was taking this, and she was right after all, these tasks were dangerous, so he couldn’t tell her she was worrying about nothing. He just pulled her closer to him and they waited.
-
And at last, they both could hear the trumpets starts playing, loud noises surrounding them.
Y/n quickly looked down to the entrance of the maze, beginning to stand up and get a bigger view as people crowded around them partially blocking her view.
It seems Remus clocked on first, as he quickly tried to shield her view, and pull her back into him, this time with her head tucked into his chest, but unaware of what was happening, she struggled slightly out of his hold to look down toward the grounds.
But as she did, she suddenly wished she did as Remus wanted and hid her sight from anything around her.
She saw Harry, distraught as ever, all bloodied up and screaming for his dear life, holding onto someone.
There lying on the ground was her nephew, her Ced.
He was lying on his back, eyes wide open, skin pale.
But his chest wasn’t moving, there was absolutely no sign of life on him.
In the distance she could hear someone screaming, and before she caught up with herself she was running through the crowd, down the stairs and onto the quidditch pitch.
Her throat closed up on her and she realised it was her voice she could hear, she was screaming, deafeningly.
As she saw everything close up she urged herself to turn away, ‘close your eyes’. That’s what Remus used to tell her when they were younger, during the first wizarding war, when things got too scary, he would put his hand over her eyes and tell her to close her eyes. But she couldn’t do that now, she was no longer a child, and she couldn’t just turn away.
Instead she ran closer and dropped to her knees, a bubble was created around them, she couldn’t hear anything, only static. Her vision was blurred yet all she could do was stare at Cedric’s face, his eyes, so lifeless. They used to be anything but, always finding a positive in the world, even as a baby growing up in the midst of a war, he could sense her moods and always managed to cheer her up.
Her body, shaking, partly from her cries partly because of shock; she couldn’t move.
“Ced?” she whispered, she was down on her knees, body slumped right next to his own, they’re so close, he must be able to hear her… right?
“wake up now Ced, it’s time to wake up.” Why wasn’t he waking up?, she thought. He must be asleep, he must be tired, after all of this.
Her hand moved to his shoulder, trying to shake him awake.
He wouldn’t wake up.
She could feels arms around her, attempting to pick up her body and move her away, but she wouldn’t move.
Noises were starting to invade their bubble now, she could hear multiple screams now, not just her own.
But she didn’t look up, even as she heard her godson calling for her.
Her eyes stayed on Cedric’s unmoving figure.
-
It had been 5 days now, since the third task.
Y/n hadn’t moved much, or talked, or eaten…
Herself and Remus already lived together, in the same apartment.
It was usually fun, being best friends as well as housemates.
It wasn’t fun now, almost a week and Remus could barely get any food at all in her system, and there was no sign of her moving from her spot in her bed, the mattress probably had an imprint of her body by now.
As he’s done the past 4 days, Remus came in this morning drawing the blinds open and sitting her up against the pillows to drink a hot cup of tea.
She never drank it all, but it was better than having nothing in her system.
Her eyes were cast downward, spaced out, not looking at anything specifically.
Remus took this time to take her in, his once lively and bright best friend.
The first wizarding war had maimed her enough, she didn’t deserve anything else like it again… yet here they were.
It took Remus a good 5 minutes to bring her body up from the ground at the tournament, even longer to move her away fully and get her home.
Remus wanted to bring Harry, but he knew staying at their house after what just happened would only worsen his condition by seeing his Aunt so dull and empty.
She hadn’t yet grieved, and Remus knew that.
This happened back in 1981 after the Potters fell, it took her months to genuinely smile again. She didn’t process it, she just looked on as life passed her by. She cried once, the night she found out, but after that it took 2 weeks for her to show a hint of any emotion, she was lifeless.
It was exactly a month after the Halloween 1981, she cried again.
November 31.
She took it in, she went through all the stages of grief in one day, catching up with it all at once. Remus was there through it all, he never left.
And he hoped so badly it wouldn’t be the same this time, but things weren’t looking to be in his favour. He had to do something, quickly and not wait around for it to get that bad again.
She was brought out of her daze as she felt him take one of her hands into his own, he caught her eye. Smiled gently to her and took the mug from her, placing it on the bedside table next to them.
He sat on the bed, close to her, but not too close, he didn’t want to invade her bubble.
“I’m so sorry, y/n/n.” he murmured soft enough for her to hear.
He continued on, “It’s ok to be upset, more than upset. But I need to know that you know what’s happened, you haven’t spoken love and I need you to-“
“I know.”
It went silent again, his grip on her smaller hand tightened a little bit, and she squeezed back.
“we’re going to be ok, not soon, but eventually, it will feel ok again. I promise.” He whispered to her.
“I know” she repeated.