The Marriage Law // Remus Lupin

xxxiv. everything has changed

Aurora plonked herself down next to Remus at the kitchen table early the next morning; Lily had woken them up and told them to start planning and have made most of the decisions by the time they came back—probably thinking they wouldn't do it themselves.

"Good thing we did quite a bit in the early weeks." She told him, nursing the coffee in her hands as she spoke, Remus' head resting on the table nearly asleep.

"Mhm." He agreed and tilted his head sideways to look at her. Aurora smiled softly at him, his hair still messed up and poked him lightly on the shoulder.

"Come on, wake up."

"It's too early." Remus mumbled but still reciprocated her smile, crinkling his eyes at the corners.

A small, soft laugh rippled from her mouth as she turned away from him and towards the different wedding plans. "Okay, first question I guess: small or big wedding?"

"You choose."

"Remus," She sighed. "The whole point is that we choose together."

"Well, what do you want?" He questioned, amber eyes searching hers.

You. She had wanted to say. Just you. But she knew better than to actually speak the word out loud.

"A small one." Aurora told him.

"Then a small one we shall have."

"Don't just agree with everything I say." She poked him again, a bit harder but the smile on her lips proved there was no malice to her action.

"I won't." He grinned lazily at her. "What's your favourite flower?"

Aurora thought about it for a minute. Surprisingly this was a question the hadn't yet asked. "A Narcissus. Yours?"

"Magnolias." Remus replied, pointing to a picture of a white flower in a magazine.

Slowly they got through majority of the decisions; both of them luckily agreeing on keeping it to close friends and family—Aurora suspected that he would definitely have more friends than she would.

"Remus," She said him as they were eating their lunch, their work done for the day. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did." Remus teased her as a grin spread on his face.

Aurora scowled at him, poking him on the shoulder again. "Don't be a smart-ass."

"What was the question?"

Aurora felt all the confidence she had gathered leave her as she stared at the man sat beside her. It had been nearly a week since the full moon and she could see he was getting better—the dark circles under his eyes had faded a few days ago.

"Have you ever considered trying wolfsbane?" It wasn't the question she was going to ask, as she would need to find her scattered courage for it, but it was close enough.

Wolfsbane was a new development invented by Damocles Belby just last year that eased the symptoms of lycanthropy.

"I have." Remus admitted, but did not choose to elaborate.

"Have you ever...tried it?"

"No," He shook his head. "It's too complicated to make and the ingredients are too expensive."

Hearing the reasons that stopped him from being able to have access to a potion that could help him, Aurora felt more driven than ever to try and do something.

"I know what I want to do for my job." She said after a few minutes of silence.

"What is it?" Remus asked her, his hair falling in front of his eyes, causing him to raise a hand to push it back.

"I want to work in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

"Why?" She knew he was curious now. Probably wondering why she would choose to work there.

"Because I want to try and make a change. I want to actually help people with lycanthropy."

Remus looked at her, his eyebrows furrowing together. "Why?" He repeated his previous question, but the word only came out smaller than a whisper.

"Because you have so much to offer the wizarding community. You're smart, you're hard-working. And that's just you. There are so many others that have had chances ripped away from them, and I know things were promised to be better after the war, but it hasn't happened yet. You deserve something so much better."

He continued staring at her, not saying a word. Just studying her; the honest look on her face and the determination in her eyes.

"Are you..." She paused as she searched for the word, nerves wracking through her body. "Upset?"

Remus shook his head lightly, teeth gnawing at his lip. "Did you mean that?"

Aurora knew what he was referring to: how she believed he deserved better. "I do mean it. You deserve the whole damn world, Remus John Lupin." A small smile etched its way on to her face, eyes watching his as he searched her face to see if she was telling the truth.

Slowly, a smile spread on his own face as he lifted a hand to her cheek, brushing the strands of hair back behind her ear.

She knew he could hear the hitch in her breath as he did so, could feel the burn of her eyes boring into him. "If one of your friends interrupts us right now, I will kill them." Aurora warned him.

"Don't worry. I'll probably kill them first." Remus whispered, the breath from his words hovering over her lips.

She only just had enough time to register what he had said before his lips crashed on to hers.

Instinctually, her eyes closed as she kissed him back, enjoying the feeling of his chapped lips on hers. The only thing she could think of was why they hadn't done this earlier as she could feel Remus lift his other hand to her other cheek, cupping her face.

Aurora pulled away first, needing to catch her breath, but smiled as Remus chased her lips. "Am I still on friendship level four?" She asked playfully, enjoying the flush of red that spread across his cheeks.

"Definitely not." He grinned, absentmindedly stroking her cheeks with his thumbs.

She hummed contentedly in response, a matching grin covering her face. "How high then?"

"Very high."

AN:
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fuck, marry, kill: benjy, aurora, james