Spells and Handcuffs (Remus Lupin)

Nightmare

As I drifted into the arms of sleep, my brain drew monsters as a sort of montage, changing as the moment's pass.

One born without love

The boughs of the cemetery twisted like contorted bones, writhing in a silent scream. Beneath them lied the cold stones, each marking a dwelling place in which no-one was home. I was never bothered by the howl of the wind until I must traverse this place, then it was all I could hear. My grandmother's voice whispered to me. Amanda. Amanda.

One save three - the ruthless, the reckless, and the mischievous.

I was in the basement. The smell of moisture and dirt permeated my nostrils. I could hear my own blood dripping on the floor and forming a small scarlet puddle around me.

Glancing at the man near me, I was suddenly back at the huge room with the large arch in the middle. A strange fire glowed from behind it while the shadow of a man stood holding his hand out to me desperately.

Falling stones. Cold air told me that the side of this stone wall had been blown away, and hot stickiness on my cheek told me that I was bleeding copiously. A ghost of his laugh still etched upon his face. The whole picture disappeared. My wand was gone.

One will create two of love.

Their bright amber eyes found mine and they laughed, as only a baby can laugh a sweet sound unblemished by the hurts of life. Their little faces glowed from a light within, and their miniature fingers grasped mine and held tight. I held them to my chest tightly; no matter what came I would protect them. Even to the point of death.

One will die of love.

Then I'm in the middle of a meadow. Silhouette of a dark castle above me. I was twirling. I was twirling around a sea of people, falling stones and flashing red, white and green lights. An invisible hand clasped over my mouth; an equally ghostly hypodermic of adrenaline pierced my heart, unloading in an instant. I felt my ribs heaving as if bound by ropes, straining to inflate my lungs. My head was a carousel of fears spinning out of control, each one pushing my mind into blackness. I wanted to run; I wanted to find the thing I was searching. Sounds that were near felt far away, like I was no longer in my body.

I had to find what I was looking for. Where? Where? The lights around me did not stop, passing me as if I had been immunized for them. And I didn't care. The only thing left on the edge of my mind was that I had to find ... Him.

The cold ruffled my hair as the moon rose above the forest trees. I heard the rough splashing of the water on the shore of the lake, the shouts around me, and again the multicoloured lights. Someone stood at the entrance of the forest. A large black wolf softly padded to me, holding something in its mouth that sparkled in the moonlight. Reaching out my hand, the wolf dropped a bracelet with two runes on it.

Panicked, I backed away until my arm touched a metal gate. I turned and saw all the beautifully carved headstones.

One after another and another bore the same name.

Lupin

I began running through the maze of headstones when a door opened to a bright and burning light. The earth opened beneath my feet, and I felt myself falling into a bottomless pit. The silhouette of a man looked down at me, his face in a shadow. And I was falling down and down...

I sat up in a cold sweat, gasping for each breath. I was in our room. Remus and the twins slept near me. Calm in their sleep. It was a dream, I told myself. Just a stupid nightmare. The nightmares were not over with the pregnancy. On the contrary, I now remembered them long after I woke up and they became more realistic and detailed. I sighed and plopped back down into my soft bed, pulling up the duvet. It had to be near dawn, I pondered. It was still dark outside the windows, and I fell asleep again without dreams.

It was a melody I knew, one my grandmother used to sing when I was frightened or ill. The sweet tune echoed in the darkness, but it was a deeper voice I heard in the distance. My head was pounding, and my mouth felt dry as if I hadn't drunk in ages. Wearily, my eyes peered open. The soft light from the windows of the room was too bright, making me wince. The song just ended and I saw Remus sitting in a rocking chair next to the bed, snuggling the twins.

"You seemed calm in your sleep and I decided not to wake you," he told me gently, smiling.

"Did you sing?" I asked him, rising from the bed.

"Yes," he admitted. "Not very successful when I woke up. "

"No, I liked it. It was like a tune my grandmother sang when I was little."

Remus got up and carefully placed the sleeping twins one by one in their beds. Glancing in their direction, it was hard to believe how fast they were growing. It boggled my mother's mind. It seemed only yesterday Remus held them in his arms for the first time in the wee hours of early morning.

Molly called it tender tummies. The twins cried endlessly for hours with me unable to calm them. Sometimes they would refuse to feed on my breast, and there were many days and nights where I grew depressed and exhausted from the ordeal.

Molly taught me how to craft ointments to rub on their skin, made of calming herbs, and it helped greatly. However, it was Remus that was the surprising factor. I didn't know what it was. A connection between father and kids, a manner that my husband possessed, but something calmed the twins immediately. It was if his embrace was the remedy.

Ethan and Hope would scream and cry, and those times when Remus would take them, the kids quieted within minutes. Many times, I would lay in bed and watch Remus work his magic on the children. He would sit and rock the kids, humming a simple tune. He had changed dramatically as a husband and father. There were times when I wondered if this part of him was just dying to come out. Being a father and a husband was something he was born for. The love and tenderness with which he cared for us seemed to flow from him and played on every string of his body.

Lost in thought I didn't know when Remus came in bed to me. Soft fingers caressed my cheek tenderly, pushing back my hair. Closing the distance, I wrapped my arms around him, snuggling into his chest. Nothing had ever felt so right.

"I won't be here for the next few days." He told me, resting his chin on his head.

"Is it necessary?" I sighed. I was used to Remus being around us all the time, and every time he went out, it was like an eternity.

"Yes, I still have to be among the werewolves and study their moods and actions."

"Didn't you tell them about Chiara's potion?"

"There's no point. You see, most of them know no life other than that of a werewolf. Many of them are similar in their human form to the monster inside. They want blood and revenge. And Chiara's potion has yet to be approved by the Ministry in order to be widely distributed."

"I know. She complained that in addition to the riots and the fear of Voldemort, all sorts of potions had appeared, and the Ministry had a lot of work to do. Hers is 256 on the approval list."

"Yes, now the Ministry has more important things than to seek treatment for several hundred werewolves." He joked with sadness in his voice.

"Your father will come today." I turned to him, trying to distract him because I knew his thoughts would go in the wrong direction.

Remus raised an eyebrow questioningly: "And before the twins were born, he was said to be ill and did not want to travel."

"Don't be harsh. He loves them very much, he helps me when you are gone. And he is a great interlocutor. I learned quite unusual things. It's like a walking encyclopedia of magic."

Remus laughed. "I still hope I don't find the house blown up one day."

" Several times I even leave him alone with the twins, I needed to get out of the house for a while."

"Dumbledore wrote to me about this, if we could be on duty at school next week for one night. He wanted us to be as many people as possible. I don't know why, but he seemed quite insistent. Do you think my father will be able to take care of the twins for so long?"

"I think so," I replied. "When exactly is it about?"

"June 30"