Selene || Remus Lupin

Ch. 67 - Draco Malfoy and the Golden Trio

After a mere few weeks of living at the cottage, Harry was well-acclimated to Selene and Remus' daily routine. In fact, Selene thought he fit in with them quite nicely, the idea of which was a cheerful distraction from what was happening in the world outside. A day hadn't gone by that Remus hadn't brought home news of a new death or attack, and that wasn't even to mention the depressing articles they'd been reading in the Prophet.

On Harry's birthday even, he'd come in late from doing things for the Order, and he looked greyer and wearier than he typically did. The Order had been calling Remus in quite often since everything had happened at the Ministry, barring the few weeks they'd given him and Selene to mourn.

To Selene's guilty relief, her reinstatement at Hogwarts had freed her from any obligations to the Order. Her only given task was to watch over Harry. Though, she knew this arrangement hadn't been a willing one, and she suspected that Remus had secretly been picking up her slack in the field.

"There have been a couple of dementor attacks," he said to the room at large, shrugging off his travelling cloak and pressing a chaste kiss to Selene's head. "And they've found Igor Karkaroff's body in a shack up north. The Dark Mark had been set over it – well, frankly, I'm surprised he stayed alive for even a year after deserting the Death Eaters; Sirius' brother, Regulus, only managed a few days as far as I can remember –"

"Yes, well, some of us deserters have managed just fine," Selene said coolly, a little piqued that Regulus' and Sirius' names had been invoked so carelessly. Her Mark seemed to burn all of time now, and it gave a particularly irritating twinge at Remus' words.

Remus' eyes widened fractionally. "I'm – I'm sorry, darling."

Selene waved a dismissive hand, gesturing for him to take a seat at the table.

"Did you hear about Florean Fortescue, Remus?" Bill asked, taking a glass of wine from Fleur. "The man who ran –"

"– the ice-cream place in Diagon Alley?" Harry interrupted, frowning. "He used to give me free ice creams. What's happened to him?"

"Dragged off, by the look of his place," Bill said.

"Why?" Ron asked, and Molly made an impatient noise, glaring round at all of them. Selene suspected she didn't think this was an appropriate conversation topic for birthday tea.

"Who knows? He must've upset them somehow. He was a good man, Florean."

"Talking of Diagon Alley," Arthur said, "looks like Ollivander's gone, too."

"The wandmaker?" asked Ginny, looking up at her father startled.

"That's the one. Shop's empty. No sign of a struggle. No one knows whether he left voluntarily or was kidnapped."

"But wands – what'll people do for wands?" Ginny asked.

"They'll make do with other makers," Remus said, running gentle fingers up and down Selene's forearm, careful to avoid her usually-sore Mark. "But Ollivander was the best, and if the other side have got him it's not so good for us."

Despite this lackluster birthday celebration at the Burrow, Selene tried to maintain a good environment for Harry. She wanted him to feel comfortable, to feel safe – two things she wasn't sure he'd ever really experienced before at the same time. They'd played Quidditch, stayed up late talking about Selene and Remus' time at Hogwarts, and even done chores around the cottage – at Harry's request and to Selene's mild surprise.

Presently, Harry sat at their kitchen table, watching amusedly as Selene topped off both her and Remus' coffee mugs for the fourth time that morning. Remus was at the stove, flipping pancakes and humming to himself cheerfully. It was a rare morning off for him, and he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it.