moony ~ remus lupin

Chapter Nine • Muggle Stores

The next couple of days were all pretty similar. They would all wake up and have breakfast together, Nick would drop off a gift for Claire in the morning and one at night. Eventually Mrs. Potter grew tired of him knocking on the door and put a spell on it, making it impossible to hear.

In the morning, the day before Christmas Eve, they were all sitting in the parlor talking. "I have some news for all of you," Mrs. Potter said excitedly. She was handing out cups of hot chocolate for each of them while she drank her tea. "A few of my friends in the next town over are throwing a Christmas party for their kids and wanted to know if you were interested in coming. It's tomorrow night and starts at eight o'clock."

They all looked around excitedly and drank their hot chocolate. "Yeah, that sounds amazing, Mrs. Potter!" Claire said as Remus sat and played with her rings. "But, I'm sure none of you have clothes suited for the party so today I want you all to go shopping for some nicer clothes," Mrs. Potter said, pulling out some galleons for them.

James looked mesmerized at the coins and nodded at his mum. "You can have the whole day to yourselves," she continued. "Fleamont will drop you off at the muggle store in a about an hour so you better go get ready." James jumped up from the couch and they all followed him up the stairs to their rooms.

Remus closed the door behind them. "You looked really good down there," he said, walking over to her. "Oh be quiet. We're leaving soon, now's not the time," Claire replied. "Here, you can wear this today," Remus said, tossing her one of his sweaters. "Remus, this is way too big. You know we aren't the same size, right?" She laughed, tossing the sweater back to him. They quickly changed as Remus went to go talk to Sirius and James while she put her mascara on.

She came out of her bedroom and walked into the boys' room. They were all standing there talking, waiting for her. "What's on your neck?" James asked, pointing to a dark spot on the side of her neck. "Remus, do you know what that is?" James asked again, turning angrily over to him. Claire walked over and looked in the mirror to see a hickey on the side of her neck.

"Holy shit." She sighed. She began covering up her neck with her hair and positioning it so it wouldn't show the bruise. "Remus, you have some explaining to do..." Sirius said, looking over at him as well. "Do you guys want a ride to the e store or not?!" James's dad called from down the stairs.

Remus awkwardly laughed, trying his best not to answer their question. He grabbed Claire's hand and pulled her out of the room and down the stairs. They all grabbed their coats and left, waving goodbye to Mrs. Potter as they did. They all hopped in the car, James sat in front with his dad while everyone else sat is the back. "You guys better not get into any trouble while you're out," Mr. Potter said, driving out of their neighborhood.

Remus continued to play with Claire's rings as they drove around town. James, Sirius, and Fleamont were all talking about quidditch and even though Sirius didn't play he sure knew a lot about it. Claire played too but was too distracted by Remus to chime in.

After a while of driving they finally arrived at the muggle stores. The flashy signs towered over them as they emerged from the Potter's car. With a quick goodbye, Mr. Potter was off. They all looked up, admiring the bright signs as Remus took Claire's hand. "Ooh let's go in here first!" Sirius said, dragging them into a store. It had a bunch of suits and nice dresses everywhere like they'd never seen before.

"We'll meet you back here in a few minutes!" Sirius and James called, running over to the men's section. "Let's find you a dress," Remus said softly to Claire. They smiled and walked over to the women's section. "This one is nice," Remus would say, picking up a dress every once in a while.

They came up with the three best options and Claire went to go try them on. She went into the dressing rooms and began to put the first dress on. She looked at herself in the mirror, turning all around as she did. This dress was light red with white flowers along the waistline. She walked out, wearing the dress to show Remus. The minute she stepped into view his jaw dropped.