A Love Without Time (Remus Lupin)

Thirty-Four.

Everything calmed down after Halloween. And in November, one of the first Quidditch games of the year took place. It was supposed to be Slytherin VS Gryffindor, but Slytherin backed out due to their Seeker being injured. On the very first day of school Draco Malfoy provoked a Hippogriff and it attacked him. It happened in front of all of the kids, too. It was just a scratch but Draco is milking it. He had his arm in a sling ever since.
   
Now normally I would never say this about another student of mine, but it was honestly pathetic. Draco was just milking his injury to not only get sympathy but to make Hagrid look bad. I'm sure it was all his father's idea. His father was married to one of Sirius's Black's cousins, and he was a Death Eater. So you just know the kind of environment he was raised in.
   
So Slytherin backed out, and now Gryffindor was playing Hufflepuff. It was Bradley's first ever game on the team, and I knew he was nervous. I had visited both teams in their locker rooms to wish them luck. Really I just wanted to visit my son and then Harry and the Weasley twins and wish them luck. It was raining so hard, I knew they would have trouble seeing.
   
I sat with the other professors while I watched the game. Harry was up high, looking for the Snitch. And then he looked distracted, he was looking off from the pitch. He was definitely distracted. He got his focus back on the game quickly though, and he and Cedric Diggory saw the Snitch at the same time. But what Cedric didn't see was the Dementors that attacked Harry.
  
Harry fell off his broom, plumating about 70 feet to the ground. His Nimbus 2000 broom got destroyed on the way down because it fell right into the Whomping Willow tree. Harry hit the ground and was out cold. I ran to the field without thinking about it. If Remus were here I know he'd be running to Harry with me. Cedric had caught the Snitch, but he was asking for a rematch, saying it wasn't a fair win, but Oliver Wood was telling him it was fair and he didn't want a rematch.
   
Lyanna was helping Fred and George wrestle the Bludgers into the crate, and Ron and Hermione Granger were helping Harry sit up, even though Harry was unresponsive. It was terrifying to see. Madam Hooch said Harry was alive, that he would be okay, but he needed to get to Madam Pomfrey as soon as they could get him there.
   
They got Harry onto a stretcher and brought him up to the castle. I found Bradley and I saw he was safe and suddenly I felt my entire body tense up while I also felt relieved at the same time. Harry was okay, my kids were okay. Everyone was okay. But still I felt like I had just lost someone.
   
I made my way up to see Remus. I needed to see him. He was in his room, resting, but I knew he was awake. He opened the door and he could instantly tell something was wrong. "Are you okay, Bunny? You look like you've seen a ghost."
   
"I see ghosts all the time," I tell him. I entered his room without him inviting me in. He closed the door as I began to tell him what happened. I sat on his bed with him while I told him the entire story. "I thought for a second he was dead," I said at the end. "I can't lose anyone else I care about. I just can't do it."
   
"It's alright, Bunny," said Remus as he put an arm around me. I was crying now. He knew exactly how to calm me down. "It's alright, Harry is alright. There's no need to worry."
   
"He's going to come back, you know," I said as I wiped my eyes free of tears. "Voldemort isn't dead like we think he is. He's just too weak to do what he did before. Dumbledore thinks he's going to come back."
   
"It's alright, Bunny," he says as he pulls me into a long hug. I melted into it. His hugs always made me feel so much better. He just has that perfect touch. I wanted to tell him that I loved him, but I didn't want to scare him off. I just got him back. I don't want him to run from me now. I won't say that unless he does first, no matter how hard I am feeling it.
   
"You want to know what Harry told me on Halloween?" He asks.
   
I sniffle. "Sure."
   
"He told me that you were his favorite Professor, and that you have been more of a mother to him in two years than his Aunt ever has been. He absolutely loves you."
   
"I love him, too. He's so strong and so brave. I absolutely adore him."
   
"I know. He's got a lot of James and Lily in him, despite hardly knowing them."
   
"He's so much like both of them. It's a good reminder that they were real, you know. That it wasn't all some horrible dream."
   
"Just like how your children remind you how Matt and Marlene were real."
   
"Exactly," I nodded. "Without them I would probably think that I dreamed it all."
   
He kissed my head. "You should go check on Harry."
   
"I will in a bit," I said, "I need to compose myself first."
   
"You stay here as long as you need to, darling," he tells me. I laid down on his bed. Remus lays next to me. Wrapping his arms around my waist. I was asleep in a few minutes. I woke up about an hour later. Remus was still fast asleep. I decided to let him sleep. I went to his bathroom to fix my hair a bit and then I left him to sleep.
   
I headed straight for the Hospital Wing to visit Harry. I was so relieved to find him awake, sitting up and eating. "Harry," I breathe, "Hi sweetheart."
   
"Hi Professor Greene," he greets me. I sit in a chair next to his bed.
   
"How are you feeling?" I ask as I settle into the chair.
   
"I'm alright," he admits. "Madam Pomfrey is keeping me for observations."
   
"Good," I smiled at him, "I'm glad you're okay."
   
"Thanks," he says, his tone was weak. Like he was nearly straining to speak.
   
"You got everything you need? Clothes, food, all of that?"
   
"Yeah," he nods, "I got it all."
   
"Great. Well, I just wanted to see for myself that you were alright. You send someone to come find me if you need anything, okay?"
   
"I will," he assures me.
   
I stood up and I caressed his face. "You're so brave, kid. Your parents would be so proud of you."
   
"Thanks, Professor."
   
I left him then. I went to get some dinner. I figured I should bring something back to Remus tonight. So I made up a plate for him while dinner was ending. After dinner I brought Remus the food. He thanked me and began eating.
   
After he ate, he asked me how Harry was, and I told him he was going to be just fine, and that if he needed anything to have someone come find me. He smiled at that. "You love him like he's your own son, don't you?"
   
"I always have, even when he was a baby. James was my son's Godfather after all we were pretty close."
   
"You were the one who talked Lily into dating James," he reminds me. I smiled at the memory.
   
"Yeah, she was pretty on the fence about it before she talked to me," I agreed.
   
He kissed my temple, "You were a great friend, and it made you a great mother."
   
"Thank you," I say, my voice was soft. Every single time Remus tells me what a good mother I am, it makes me blush so hard. I get butterflies in my stomach. It was the world's biggest compliment coming from him.
   
I spent the night with him, but we did not have sex. We quite literally slept together. That next morning I woke up to the sound of his shower going. It gave me an idea. I stood up and got undressed and I headed into the bathroom and joined him in his shower. I wrapped my arms around his torso from behind and laid my head onto the middle of his back.
   
"Hello Bunny," he chuckled, "Come to join me?"
   
"I heard the shower going and I figured why not join you?"
   
He turned around to face me and smiled down at me. "I was hoping that you would," he admits, "I can't reach my back like I used to. Would you mind?"
   
I laughed at that, "Not at all. Turn back around."
   
He listened and I washed his back for him. He turned back to face me. The water was hitting his head, and he was looking down at me and smiling so happily. His large hands on my body, and I don't remember how, but they ended up on my hips.
   
"You're so beautiful," he says in a mere whisper that was just loud enough for me to hear it.
   
"So are you," I tell him, smiling up at him.
   
"You're the only person who ever thought so."
   
"And what do I always tell you about that?" I ask, but he knows the answer already. "I'm the only one who matters. Now kiss me."
   
He smiles a genuine, pleased smile and the. He kisses me, like I told him to.

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Here's part 34!

They're too cute!

I mean I already knew that, but I do know absolutely adore writing sweet, cute moments between them.

-Emily Winchester.