The Marriage Law // Remus Lupin

xliii. help me hold on to you

In all honesty, Remus hadn't wanted to stop kissing Aurora, it was rather addictive. She was rather addictive; her laughs, her smiles, the way she looked at him.

After he had pulled away, she had put her jumper back on and went to go and get something to drink. Once she had come back, she just handed him the tea, paired with a warm smile, and sat down on his bed, leaning against the headboard, their arms pressed together.

She didn't pressure him to speak, just took his hand and held it, rubbing her thumb up and down soothingly over his knuckles. "Did you ever imagine getting married this young?" Aurora's voice broke through the silence. Remus turned his head to look at her, and saw her looking at one of the pictures on his bedside table—Lois and Sirius' wedding.

"James and Lily were younger." Remus said, his voice coming out just louder than a whisper. They were barely a year out of Hogwarts when James had proposed, all of them uncertain about living through the war, but James was certain that he wanted to marry Lily. Sirius had actually proposed to Lois after waking in a hospital bed after nearly being killed by Death Eaters. Remus never suspected that he would have the feeling of certainty of wanting to spend the rest of his life with someone.

"That doesn't answer my question." Aurora said, turning her head away from the picture to look at him, a teasing smile on her face.

Remus sighed, the question repeating in his head, the answer already there. "Marriage wasn't something I was sure would ever happen for me."

"Why not?" Her smile faded away into a concerned expression.

"Because who would want to be with a werewolf?" He shrugged, as if it was a fact that no one would ever want to marry him.

"You guys ready to come down?" James poked his head around the door, bright smile on his face, glasses a little lopsided.

"Yeah, coming now." Remus said, standing up from the bed and following James downstairs, leaving Aurora sat on his bed, in his room, confusion written all over her face.

All throughout dinner, Aurora tried to catch Remus' attention, but he focused on eating the food in front of him, eyes barley leaving his plate. Remus was definitely ignoring her, most likely because of what he told her.

When he excused himself, Aurora stood up to go with him, wanting to talk about what he said, but he left before she had even finished standing up.

"What was that about?" Lily asked, concern for her friend evident in her voice.

Aurora opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by the sound of someone arriving through the fireplace. "Hey guys." Sirius grinned as he entered the room, arm around Lois next to him.

"Hey." Aurora said, giving them a small smile before she slipped passed them to follow Remus. When she reached the door to his room she was unsurprised to find it shut, but was surprised to find it unlocked. "Remus?" She knocked on the door as she entered, closing it behind her. He was sat on the floor, leaning against the bed, elbows resting on his knees and his head resting in his hands.

"What?" He asked, looking up at her, exhausted.

"What you said earlier..."

"That no one would want to be with me, let alone marry me?" Remus finished for her.

"Yes, that," Aurora agreed. "You have to know that it isn't true." It broke her heart slightly to know that was how he felt, how his condition played a lot on his self esteem.

"And why wouldn't it be?" He scoffed, standing up from his place on the floor and making his way over to her. "I don't offer much. Once a month I turn into a beast, then have to be taken care of for a few days after that. I can't hold down a job in the muggle world, and I can't even get one in the Wizarding world, as they have the right to reject me. Any kids I would have could also be werewolves. I wouldn't marry me," Remus stated, shrugging, his demeanour having drastically changed from earlier that evening. "You're only marrying me because if you don't we'd both be put in Azkaban."

Aurora stared up at him, speechless. She watched as he turned around, busying himself by cleaning his desk, just moving things around. "Is that how you truly feel?" She asked, her voice coming out quieter than she intended. He shrugged again, not even turning to look at her. "Then I guess..." Her voice broke as she felt tears start to form in her eyes. "I guess we're done here." Quickly she turned around, not wanting him to see the tears fall, and opened the door, letting it slam shut behind her.

She moved quickly to her room, finding a bag and shoving it with clothes that would last for a few days, not bothering to take anything else. She wiped any tears away with her hands, and went downstairs, not sparing a glance towards Remus' door. "Hey Rory." Lois smiled at her from over the top of the sofa when she reached the bottom of the stairs. Once Lois' eyes landed on the bag hanging from her sister's shoulder, her brows furrowed together. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"I'm fine," Aurora lied, having to lift her hand to wipe underneath her eyes again. "I'm just going to spend some time at Mum and Dad's." She smiled pathetically, but still hoped it was convincing enough.

"I'll come with you." Lois was quick to offer, moving off the sofa and towards her sister.

"No, no. It's alright. I am...going to be alright."

"Okay, but I will be there after work tomorrow, no way out of it." Lois said. She pulled her sister towards her into a hug, wrapping her arms around her, eventually Aurora reciprocated.

"See you tomorrow then." She smiled weakly as she moved towards the fireplace, saying the name of her parents house as she dropped the Floo Powder.

AN:
sorry for the really long wait :( i didn't really know what to write :/

didn't really know where this was going when i started writing this chapter tbh but oh well

fuck, marry, kill: lockheart, moody, quirrel

OH AND I READ THE CRUEL PRINCE AND ASKJFHWUH I LOVED IT SO MUCH (still waiting for wicked king and queen of nothing to arrive though :( )