The Marriage Law // Remus Lupin

xxi. aim for my heart

They had decided to make a chocolate cake--which Remus fought heavily for.

"Why are we baking again? Please remind me." Remus asked, watching Aurora sift flour into the bowl.

"We're baking because I'm bored, and the only other thing to do in this house it seems is play Scrabble. And I would kick your ass any day at Scrabble," She told him. "And technically, I'm the one baking, you're just sitting there eating some of the chocolate."

"You wish you could beat me at Scrabble," Remus said, standing up and walking over to her. "What do you want me to do?"

"You can start by cracking the eggs," She pointed at the mixing bowl in front of her and then at the eggs.

"Okay." Remus nodded, picking up an egg at a time, gently breaking them. He was on his last egg when the shell cracked before he could move it over the bowl, causing the egg yolk to splat on the floor.

Aurora started laughing, trying to hide it behind her hand, as Remus stared at the yolk with a betrayed look on his face. "Come on," Aurora smiled, having finished laughing. "You crack another egg, and I'll clean this up."

She walked around Remus to get some napkins to scrape away the mess. 

"You don't use your wand much, do you?" Remus asked as he cracked the final egg properly this time.

"Uh, no. I don't," She said, placing the used napkins in the bin. "I don't like to be independent on magic."

Remus nodded, agreeing with her. "James, Sirius and Peter use theirs for everything, I think they forget sometimes that they have hands to use as well." The same fond look on his face appeared as it did the other day.

Remus looked over at her, silently waiting for her to tell him what to do next. "You have to beat it all together now," She instructed. "Are you going to tell me why your friends mean so much to you now?" She asked, sticking a finger inside the bowl and scooping some of the mixture on to it and placing it in her mouth.

"That's not good for you," He told her. Remus looked like he was contemplating the idea. "I'll tell you, if you tell me a secret of your own."

"Okay," Aurora nodded her head slowly. "I'll tell you a secret. You start."

Remus sat down on one of the stools as Aurora took over, dividing the mixture in half to go into the tins.

"During the first year at Hogwarts, I was terrified people were going to find out that I was a werewolf, and I wouldn't be allowed the education I had always wanted," He paused, looking at her to see if she was listening. She was. "And during second year, Sirius had found out and confided in the other two. I went back up to the dorm one day, and they were all sat there in a circle, and told me that they knew.

"The first thought I had was that these amazing friends I had found, hated me and were scared of me. But then they told me that they weren't afraid, and that they didn't care. It's uh," His voice cracked, like the memory was something he cherished a lot. Aurora placed a hand on his arm and gave him a small smile, hoping to try and comfort him. "They were the first people, other than my parents and Dumbledore, who accepted me."

Aurora nodded slowly, moving to sit next to him now that she had put the tins in the oven. "For 11 years of my life, the only friend I had was Lois. I couldn't talk to new people, but Lois could. She would always make friends wherever she went, and I was always afraid that she would find someone better she wanted to hang out with," She started fiddling with the sleeves on her jumper, trying to distract herself. "When we got to Hogwarts, we promised each other that we wouldn't let houses get in the way. But I saw how many friends she was making, and how much people didn't like Slytherins. So I started giving her these excuses every time she wanted to hang out; that I had homework to complete, wanted to finish a book or a drawing. I effectively pushed her out of my life."

Aurora laughed pathetically at the memory, remembering the way her sister's face would be taken over with hurt, and how she tried to hide it behind a smile and saying they'll do something another time. "And during the Christmas of fifth year, we got into an argument. I let one small feeling of jealousy affect the rest of my life. She told me that she never wanted to speak to me again out of anger, and I took the words too literal. Every time she came near, I walked in the other direction. She stopped trying to talk to me after a year or two."

Aurora lifted her hand to wipe away the tears that were threatening to fall and smiled weakly at him. "Are we at friendship level 5 yet?" 

Remus laughed at her question, and instead of answering, he pulled her into a hug. "Maybe level 4." He offered.

Aurora laughed into his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. They stayed like that for a few minutes, until the timer went off and she pulled away from him to take the cakes out of the oven.

"What do we do now?" Remus asked gently.

"We make the buttercream while they cool down," She paused. "And choose a cheerier topic of conversation."

Remus nodded, and started to grab the ingredients to make the icing. "I think we can do that."

"I, uh," Aurora started to say. "I reread Pride and Prejudice last night."

"You did?" A grin spread on his face. Aurora nodded, feeling a blush start to creep up her neck. "What did you think of it?" He asked her.

"It's kind of ironic," She told him. "It talks about marrying for love, while we are being forced to whether we like each other or not."

Remus was standing close to her now, their faces only inches apart. She looked into his eyes and found them already looking at her. "It doesn't mean that we can't grow to lo--,"

"We're home!" Sirius Black's voice cut through what Remus was about to say, and Aurora didn't know whether she was happy about it or not. "Are you baking a cake?" Sirius asked as he walked into the kitchen, arm around Lois.

Aurora pursed her lips together and nodded, looking over at her sister. "How was Italy?"

"It was great, we saw the colosseum and--" Aurora interrupted her sister by pulling her into a hug. "And we got to eat Italian pizza." Lois said, quieter this time, returning her twin's hug.

Aurora laughed. "I'm glad you got to eat Italian pizza." She said sarcastically.

"Me too," Lois smiled. "Missed you though."

Aurora copied her sister's smile. "I missed you too."

AN:

remus and aurora bonding time yet again :)

any bonding activities you want them to have? let me know!