'where we are now' remus lupin & regulus black

Scrawny

" I say the wrong shit at the right times. If I'm offending them, I don't mind. Maybe they all should listen to me...it isn't all about what you see. Question though, how do I look to you? Am I so thin that you can see through?"

Content warning, strong language

REMUS LUPIN
DAY FIVE
DECEMBER 27, 1978

"Ready?"

I look down at Cordelia, her hands are shaking slightly at her side. The full moon is coming this weekend, but I know this is not the reasons for her nerves. I don't know the situation between her and her mum, i've never asked, but I want to be here for her now.

Hence why we have been standing in front of her house for fifteen minutes.

What does it mean that Cordelia is always bombarding me with personal family questions, and the thought to ask about her family hasn't really occurred to me?

"Whenever you are," I answer Delia. "There's no point in waiting, really. You're still going to see her either way, what's the difference?"

"The difference is—" Cordelia sighs, "Every minute I wait, is a minute i'm still happy. A minute where the life isn't being sucked out of me,"

"Don't worry, i'll be unhappy with you," I volunteer half-heartedly. From the corner of my eye, I see Cordelia with the ghost of a smile. She must like the idea of that too—being unhappy with someone instead of without.

Cordelia takes a deep breath and holds it in. "Fuck it," She huffs before pushing open the front door.

The house is still, almost frozen. As if nothing has been touched in years. It reeks of cigarettes and melancholy, like a chain smoker. The wallpaper is a floral emerald green pattern, and photos in frames cling onto the wall--none of which contain pictures of Delia.

Cordelia grips my hand tightly before leading me into the kitchen, where at the head of a large oak table sits a woman. She's tan—a few shades warmer than Cordelia—and slender. Her elbow rests on the table with a jewelry filled wrist flicked outwards. She looks regal while the cigarette she's holding burns between her fingers. Wild, long black waves cascade down her back, almost to her hips. The first word that comes to mind, beautiful. Her expression is stoic, for a moment I wonder if she even heard us come in, until she turns to face us.

She doesn't speak.

"Hello," Cordelia says so quietly it's nearly a whisper. It takes me by surprise, i've never known her to be soft spoken, timid.

"Speak up." The woman orders. Her tone is cold, stiff. Nothing like a mother's should be when speaking to her only child. There's something hypnotic about it, i'd be lying if I said her voice wasn't pleasant to hear.

"I said hello, mum." Cordelia says, firmer. "This is Remus Lupin, my boyfriend."

Her mother scoffs before ashing the cigarette into a round crystal tray.

I clear my throat, "I hope it's alright that I came, Ms.Evans,"

"Call me Rose, Ms. Evans makes me sound old. And it's alright, she would've brought you if i'd said no anyways, " She does a once over of my figure, seemingly unimpressed before her eyes snap to Delia. "Come, sit."

Cordelia breathes loudly through her nose and takes a seat at the other end of the table, I sit in the chair to her left. Her mom-Rose, slides a pack of cigarettes down the table to Cordelia, who, without hesitation, takes one out of the pack and sparks it.