Reading Between The Lines ~ Remus Lupin ~ Book 1

chapter 49

Sunday, 19 June 1977

"This place is so nice!" Hope said as she walked around the kitchen of Gwen and Sirius' new flat.

They had all come back on the train the day before. As the lease didn't start until today, Gwen had stayed at the Pettigrews and Sirius had stayed at the Potters. The two families, along with the Lupins, came to help move the teenagers in.

"I know!" Lisa agreed as she looked at the living room. "I can't believe it came fully furnished!"

Euphemia poked her head out of one of the bedrooms. "Monty, Apparate home and go get the old curtains from the basement. One for Sirius and one for Guinevere. The rooms have excellent light from the windows so they'll need to hide it at night."

Fleamont smiled before popping out. "Of course, my love."

Gwen lifted up the box with her bed sheets and looked at Sirius. "Which room do you want?"

"Which room do you want?" he asked back.

"I asked you first," Gwen said, slightly exasperated.

"Just tell me which one you want. I don't really care."

"Fine. I want the room that you don't want."

Sirius grunted. "You are impossible!"

Fleamont Apparated back into the middle of the room, curtains flowing from his arms. He looked at Gwen and Sirius and shook his head. "You two, stop fighting. This is not a good start to being roommates."

"Yes, sir," Sirius and Gwen muttered.

Lena held in a laugh and Remus rolled his eyes as Fleamont reprimanded them. Peter and James just snickered and decided to start rolling out the carpet in the living room. Remus and Lena began to unpack the pots and pans and placed them into kitchen cupboards. They threw packing peanuts at each other as they did it, getting points every time they managed to get it in a pot or pan.

They didn't notice that Mark, whose hair turned from pink to its natural greying state, was glaring at Remus as the young couple laughed and messed around. Lyall did though and started to glare at Mark.

Lisa, who saw the entire exchange, was not pleased. "Mark!"

Mark grunted and walked over his wife. Lyall smiled triumphantly at his wife, as if he had somehow won. Hope was less than impressed and shook her head.

"Stop being so overprotective and go help Gwen move the furniture around in the room," Lisa tutted.

"But—"

"No buts. Remus is a nice boy."

"But he's seventeen!" Mark whined quietly. "Lena's only fifteen!"

"Mark," Lisa said, crossing her arms. "It's not a big age gap. They're only a year apart in school. He just turned seventeen and Lena will be sixteen in two months."

"And a day!"

"You have a problem."

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Monday, 27 June 1977

"You okay?" Peter asked, looking over at his younger sister who was clutching his hand rather too tightly as they walked up the drive. He didn't tell her that though.

"Yeah," Lena squeaked, lying through her teeth.

"Your mouth is saying one thing, your eyes are saying another."

Lena shut her brown eyes. "Well, now you can just take my mouth's word for it."

"Lena," Peter said gently.

"Yeah?"

"You don't need to be scared."

Lena opened her eyes and let out a breath. "I'm not scared. I'm nervous."

"Why are you nervous?"

Lena stopped walking and looked up at the building in front of her. The Dyslexia Institute wasn't looming or clinical looking, but she still didn't like it. She didn't know what to expect from the Institute and how helpful it would be. Her parents were convinced that the Institute would be a game changer. Lena had yet to be convinced.

"Because they're going to point out all of my flaws and make me feel worse than I already do. And I feel like I'm gonna be the dumbest one here."

Peter shook his head and looked at his sister. "They're not going to do that. They're going to teach you techniques and strategies and help you. And you're not dumb. You're so smart, Lena. I bet you're the smartest one there."

Lena sighed. "Alright. But if I'm the dumbest one there, I get your pudding for the rest of the week."

Peter grinned. "Lucky for me you're smart."

<><><><><>

Friday, 1 July 1977

"They're all really nice. And my age," Lena said, pressing her body against Remus' as they laid on a blanket at the park by Lena's house.

"How were the techniques they're teaching you?" Remus asked with his arm behind his head.

"I mean they're interesting, I guess. The teachers tell us common mistakes and how to avoid them. We do a lot of work with phonics. We're gonna be doing more. I dunno. It's a lot to take in I guess," Lena shrugged.

"What else are they going to teach you?"

Lena sighed. Her parents had been asking her what she thought about the program all week. "Can we talk about something else?"

Remus pulled her closer to him. "Of course."

They fell into silence for a moment until Remus spoke up.

"Do you ever think it's weird that people are both dying and living at the same time?"

Lena sat up and looked down at her boyfriend. "What in Merlin's name are you talking about?"

Remus rose up and looked back at Lena. "Okay, think about it. Obviously, we're living. But, the more we live, the closer we are to death. So, we're both living and dying at the same time."

Lena's mouth fell open. "I've never thought about it that way before."

"I know!" Remus said. "I keep thinking about it!"

Lena scanned the park with her brown eyes, taking everything in. She looked back at Remus and smiled. "I think it's a state of mind, you know? Like, if you're really happy and everything's going well, you're living and if you're upset and nothing's going right, you're dying."

"So, Lena, are you living or are you dying?" Remus said with a grin.

"Living," Lena smiled. "What about you?"

And, even though Remus knew he would transform later that night and would be in a world of hurt when the sun came up the next morning, all he could think about was how happy he was being with Lena.

Remus cupped his girlfriend's cheek and kissed her.

"Living."