Things fall apart
Chapter 19 - Things fall apart
Remus tried to enjoy himself, but the arrival of Arthur's Patronus informing them that the Minister for Magic himself was on his way meant that Remus and Dora had to leave. It was important that Harry had the Ministry of Magic on his side, even though Remus knew Harry didn't like the minister much. Remus grabbed Dora by the wrist and pulled her away, heading towards the fence. Remus climbed over the fence with ease, landing on the other side with a small thump. He grabbed Dora’s waist after she climbed over the top, lowering her down on the other side before making their way away from protective enchantments so they could disapparate back to Hogsmeade.
As soon as they reached home, Remus busied himself in the kitchen, he needed a distraction, and they needed dinner too of course, especially with Dora eating for two now. Remus was torn, he was elated at the thought of having a child of his own, he always wished for that when James had Harry all those years ago. But James wasn't a werewolf, his situation was completely different. Remus wondered if his plan of learning to properly brew Wolfsbane, and book writing would work. He knew Dora would be supportive, but there was a war going on, and the Ministry was being even more anti-werewolf now. Even without the war things would be difficult, and even if the Ministry were to treat werewolves like wizards, there would still be prejudices against him, and his family more importantly.
Remus watched Dora sleep, he stroked her hair, which was its usual shade of bubblegum pink. This was a mistake, he thought to himself. Although Dora was the woman of his dreams, he had doomed her to a life where she would constantly be shunned by society. She said she didn't care, but how long would it last? How long would it take for her to come to her senses, and fall in love with someone young and whole, someone who loved her enough to accept the child of a werewolf she bore. Remus considered discussing his fears with Dora, but he knew what she would say...something along the lines of 'I don't care', or 'we'll get through this together', or maybe even 'you and this baby are all the people I need in my corner'. Dora was a Hufflepuff through and through, Remus knew she wouldn’t give up on the people she loved. He finally drifted off to sleep, although he slept badly, slipping in and out of dreams.
Dora decided to sleep in the next day since she had the day off. When she finally woke up, she found Remus in the sitting room drinking a cup of tea while he perused the Prophet. Dora jumped on him as she showered him with kisses.
'Good morning dada,' said Dora excitedly, 'did you sleep alright?'
'Morning love, yeah I did,' lied Remus, he arranged his face into a smile. The fact that Dora just called him 'dada' just reminded him of his woes which he was trying so hard to forget.
'I'm so excited for the wedding,' as she lay down on his lap, 'how do you think I should wear my hair?'
'You'll look beautiful with any hairstyle sweetheart,' said Remus stroking her hair, 'I made breakfast, are you hungry?'
'I'm gonna shower first...I can't wait to share the news with Molly later, she'll be thrilled, you know how she absolutely loves babies. Care to join me in the shower professor Lupin?' A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes, 'we might not have much alone time anymore once these 9 months are up,' she began to kiss his neck, making her way up to nibble his ears.
'Sure, why don't you go on ahead, I'll catch up with you.' Answered Remus, he was trying his level best not to act suspicious around Dora, but it was proving to be very hard. It was only a matter of time before she figured out what was going on inside his head.
Soon it was time to leave for the Burrow, again. They retraced their steps from the night before, although there was no life changing news this time around. They spotted Harry in disguise, Remus thought they owed him an explanation for their abrupt departure the night before. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful, but Dora wouldn't have changed her little wedding for the world. As expected, Molly was absolutely thrilled that Dora was expecting, she gave Dora and Remus a hug each, and planted a kiss on Remus’ cheek. Arthur wrung his hands, and started giving him tips on how not to upset the missus when she was carrying your child, especially the first one. Remus was miserable, why was everybody so happy? Had they failed to see what he did?
‘Let’s dance Remus, I love this song,’ said Dora, dragging Remus out to the dancefloor.
Dora wrapped her arms around Remus’ neck, while he had his arms around her waist. They just swayed to the beat of the music. When he locked eyes with her, his worries disappeared. We can do this, he tried to convince himself. Let’s just take things one day at a time. He had already broken her heart once, and that once was enough. Remus felt a pang of guilt as he remembered their wedding, Dora deserved a proper reception, like this one.
‘I’m sorry we couldn’t have a proper wedding Dora, it’s what you deserve, not that dingy little tavern in the middle of nowhere,’
‘You know I wouldn’t have changed our little wedding for the world. Besides, you know I’m a tripping hazard. D’you really think it’s a good idea for me to maneuver around so many chairs in a gown with a train? I would have definitely knocked you down at the altar, and probably would have taken my poor dad down with me too,’
Remus smiled in spite of himself, and bent forwards to kiss her. Dora never failed to put a smile on his face.
‘You make me the happiest man on the planet Dora, how did I ever get so lucky to have you?’
‘And you make me the happiest woman on the planet Remus John Lupin,’ said Dora as she buried her head into her chest. For some reason, she really liked saying his full name, his was a lot better than hers anyway.
For a few moments, Remus’ fears ebbed away, how could he have ever thought of leaving the love of his life. He looked around him, he was reminded of a wedding which took place 18 years ago. I wish Prongs and Pads could see me now, I wonder which one of them would I have chosen to be godfather. Probably James, since Sirius was already Harry’s godfather, and he was also Dora’s cousin, which would make their baby Sirius’ cousin, removed twice of course. It struck his mind that Sirius could also technically be the baby’s granduncle, Remus bet he wouldn’t be too pleased about that, and actually let out a chuckle.
‘Hey sweetheart, I just realised something,’
‘What is it?’ said Dora looking up, Remus was almost an entire foot taller than her.
‘So, your mum and Sirius are cousins, so that would make our baby and Sirius cousins too, twice removed of course,’
‘Yeah I suppose so...and?’ she implored.
‘Well it could also mean that Sirius would be our baby’s granduncle, if you think about it another way,’ said Remus half-laughing.
‘Oh Merlin, you’re right!’ said Dora, starting to laugh. ‘ I bet he wouldn’t be too pleased about that….I would deliberately teach our kids to call him grandpa,’
They both laughed as they continued dancing on the dancefloor, but their little moment of joy was short-lived, as the atmosphere soon turned sour at the arrival of Kingsley’s lynx Patronus. This couldn’t mean good news, Remus and Dora were sure of it.
‘The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming.’
Dora and Remus broke apart as they drew their wands, they saw several masked figures appear. Both of them cast a shield charm in the direction of Harry and Hermione, they were glad to see Ron catch up with them, and they turned on the spot and disapparated with a pop. Most of the guests started leaving too, Dora and Remus stayed back, they couldn’t just leave the Weasleys, not with Death Eaters at their home. They knew it was really Harry they were looking for. A hooded Death Eater rounded on Arthur, his wand pointing directly at his chest, Arthur instinctively pushed Molly behind him. After interrogating them collectively about the whereabouts of Harry, they proceeded in searching the house for him. Obviously they weren’t taking the word of the biggest blood-traitor family around, especially when they so often housed Harry Potter. Funnily enough, they were quick to believe the ghoul in pyjamas was in fact Ronald Weasley, with spattergroit.
After a few hours of interrogation, and searching the entire house, the Death Eaters finally left. They were beyond lucky as none of them were harmed, but that was probably because the Death Eaters were outnumbered. The Weasleys, and the Lupins breathed in relief, but after a few moments, a sudden panic came over Dora, the Death Eaters didn’t seem to know Harry’s actual location, they were genuinely looking for him. This meant they would surely pay her parents a visit as Voldemort knew it was the real Harry Potter, accompanied by Hagrid who had sought refuge there. Dora prayed it wouldn’t be Bellatrix who showed up at her parents. Without a moment to lose, Dora grabbed Remus hands and begged that they go check on her parents, Remus agreed immediately. They bid the Weasleys goodbye, before disapparating directly to their parents house. There were no more protective enchantments stopping them from disapparating right outside the back door.