The Marriage Law // Remus Lupin

xlv. casually cruel (in the name of being honest)

Aurora woke the next morning to a pounding headache and her mouth worryingly dry. The sun that was peeking through the curtains was also not helping. Groaning, she pulled the duvet over her head, trying to find refuge from the light. She tried to go back to sleep, but the headache was all she could focus on when she closed her eyes.

She cautiously brought the duvet back down from over her head and rubbed her eyes to try to adjust them to the light. Once she had been able to open her eyes she realised that she was not in her room at her parents' house. Apparently, Lois had brought her back to the Potters' as she was currently in her room. "Merlin." She whispered to herself, she knew the chances of her leaving without seeing Remus were going to be low. She could either stay up in the room—not her favourite option, as she would most definitely go hungry quickly—, or make a run for the fireplace to floo back to her parents'—also not a great option, but definitely more favoured.

She had just finished changing—choosing to leave using the floo network and write Lois a note to let her know—when there was a knock on her door. Aurora paused her movements, a brief worry that it was Remus. Luckily her worries were set aside as she heard Lois' voice on the other side. "You can come in!" She called out to her. If it had been Remus, although it was a slim chance, she didn't know what she would have done.

Lois entered the room with a sheepish smile on her face and what appeared to be a potion in her hand. "It's a hangover potion. Sirius keeps a few in our room all the time." She told Aurora, passing the bottle over. She could imagine why Sirius would need to keep a few on hand.

"Thanks." Aurora smiled at her sister and opened the bottle, drinking it all. "Shouldn't you be at work?" It was a Tuesday after all.

"I took the day off," Lois moved to sit down on the bed next to Aurora. "You need me more than work does at the moment. And we didn't properly talk about what happened the other night." She wrapped an arm around her twin, hand rubbing soothingly up and down Aurora's arm. Aurora was grateful that Lois had done that for her, also grateful for last night as well.

"Is he still here?"

"He's hiding in his room." Lois answered, instantly knowing who she was referring to. "When I brought you back last night, you were a wee bit drunk."

Aurora couldn't hold back the snort. "A little more than 'a wee bit', I reckon." She remembered a lot of drinking, maybe a competition with Marlene. Her participating in a challenge didn't surprise her, she was known to be competitive.

"Probably," Lois smiled. "When I brought you back, I couldn't get you to be quiet, and you were talking rather loudly about what a dick he was."

"I didn't," Aurora said, embarrassment starting to seep in. "Did I say anything else?"

Lois grimaced and Aurora could tell from her face that she had. "You then went on saying how you wanted to suck his dick, and then how pretty you thought he was."

"Merlin." She groaned, regretting many of her life decisions that had led up to that moment. Maybe she should stop drinking. Maybe. "What do I do?"

"Lets get some food in you first, then we can discuss your death arrangements." Lois joked, standing up and offering her twin a hand.

Aurora had voted for eating out for breakfast, not fond of the idea of running into Remus even more so than she was when she woke up, and Lois agreed—even if she didn't Aurora was not going to stay in the house for much longer. But as 'luck' would have it, when she was leaving her room, Remus happened to be leaving his.

She didn't know what to do. Well, she did know what to do: walk away. But she couldn't tear her eyes away from him, whereas it seemed he was desperately trying to look anywhere that wasn't near her. "Rory!" Lois' voice came from the bottom of the stairs, dragging her attention away from the boy in front of her. "You coming?"

Aurora shifted her eyes back on Remus, looking him up and down. "I'm coming." She replied, turning away from him and going down. "Find a café, then?" She asked, receiving a nod from her sister.

It hadn't taken Aurora and Lois long to find a quiet place to have breakfast, nor had it taken long for food to be placed in front of them. "So, how are you feeling?" Lois asked.

Aurora waited until she had swallowed before she answered the question. "A bit shit, really," She answered, choosing not to lie as she would have usually. "I just thought we were going in a good direction, and then he tells me that he has nothing to offer in a marriage, and the only reason I'm marrying him now is because otherwise we both go to Azkaban."

"No," Lois gasped, hand covering her mouth in shock. "He said that?"

"He did." She shrugged, looking down at her food. "I mean, it obviously started that way, but I've told him that I like him, and we've been...I don't know." Aurora sighed.

Lois hummed, thinking the situation over. "It makes sense for Remus to try and push you away," That gained a confused look from her twin. "He's probably scared that he'll let you in, and you run in the other direction leaving him behind with his heart in pieces."

Aurora groaned, letting the words sink in. What Lois was saying made sense, but... "Is he always going to try and push me away whenever things get too deep, though?"

"I don't know."

"How helpful," Aurora said, receiving a laugh from Lois. "I miss Benjy."

Remus had been sitting in the living room when Lois came back, minus Aurora. "You're a bit of a twat." Lois told him, a ghost of a smile on her face.

"I know." He groaned as Lois sat down next to him, tucking her legs underneath her.

"She's not building a relationship for the sake of it, you know, knowing her, if she didn't want to marry you, you would know. She really likes you."

Remus nervously ran a hand through his hair. "What do I do?"

"You got yourself into this mess," Lois grinned at him, poking his leg. "Get yourself out of it."

AN:
i finally got my twin to read six of crows :))))) i'm so happy about it

fuck, marry, kill: marlene, sirius, james