Under the Hunters Moon

Waning Moon III

Remus Lupin, the Shrieking Shack

If you would have told Remus a few weeks ago that not only was Sirius Black innocent, but the man who betrayed the Potters was the man Sirius was framed for killing and when he learned that, he would meet a Goddess, well he would either say you were mad or hex you out of his office, or both.

But here he was, standing in a place he had a dislike for since his school days both believing and not as he looked into the eyes of said Goddess.

"Hestia," Remus hears Sirius breathe out as the Goddess looks into the eyes of Lupin with a stern disappointment. Lupin swallows the lump in his throat as he, with great difficulty, looks away from the Goddess with guilt in his chest and looks over to Sirius as he stands from the ground.

"Wha-what can I do for you, my Lady?" Sirius asks, sounding unsure as to how to address the Goddess before them.

Hestia just smiles at Sirius before saying "I'm not like the rest of my family, Sirius Black, I do not demand respect nor demand anyone to call me their Lady. I am just Hestia to you, if you do not mind, but I still thank you for the show of respect." Before she moves to the fireplace in the room, Lupin scrambles back from the Goddess before standing.

"So, you're the one who helped Sirius escape the Tower?" Lupin asks and the Goddess simply nods her head, "Why?" Moony asks as Sirius' head snaps to him and shakes his head, telling him to stop, but Moony carries on, "I ask with all due respect, of course, but I'm not used to people acting out of the goodness of their heart." The werewolf admits.

The Goddess tilts her head as to think over the question before with a wave of her hand restarting the fireplace to bring a comfortable heat back to the room before she answers, "It is probably because I am not a person, Remus Lupin, I am a God. It is a part of my nature to defend the Hearth, the Home, and Family." Hestia says with a shrug.

Remus looks at Sirius before turning back to the Goddess, "But none of us were Family." Lupin says, confused.

Hestia is quiet for another moment, looking into the fire before she speaks again, "Is that what you told yourself for all those years to ease the burden of your guilt Remus Lupin, that you were not family to James and Lily Potter? That you did not care?" She asks in a soft tone as she turns to Remus, eyes filled with disappointment.

"I never said that," Remus snaps at her, before looking away and to his feet, feeling as if he was a child being scolded by his mother again for being out too late, "I'm sorry, …" He whispers out.

"You are, but over the wrong thing," Hestia says, as she brushes aside the disrespect as it was nothing to her, "You had the power to change the boy's fate but you never once did so, he was locked away in pain without knowing the warmth and comfort of a real family and that damage is nothing something that can be washed away by teaching the boy a charm."

"I-I couldn't have taken him in any way," Remus speaks his excuse before the Goddess nods her head in understanding.

"I know," she says, "With the curse that runs in your blood you could not take care of a child so young, but you needn't have taken him in, just visited once, and you refused to even do that, so deep into your guilt and self-hatred that you heaped on yourself without cause," Hestia tells him like a cruel mirror, "Family is more than those who we share blood with Remus Lupin, some family we choose ourselves and you did choose your brothers, right here in these walls, and when you both choose something else over taking care of one of your brother's sons, you broke that oath," Hestia speaks a truth that Remus had long ignored, he does look up to see her face, the werewolf could feel her eyes on him.