Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

17 June, 1977 - Family

Remus caught up with the other two on the seventh floor, just as Sirius finished pacing in front of the wall to open the Room of Requirement. He slowed his step as he approached, watching as the door to the room appeared and Sirius swung it open before looking back at Selwyn and motioning her forward. She looked at him, seeming to weigh her options before she started forward, her slow steps offering some explanation for why Remus had been able to meet up with them so quickly.

When they entered the room it had fashioned itself into a small cozy space with a fireplace in front of a couch and coffee table. Blankets were laid across the back of the couch and the rug underfoot was thick and soft. In the corner stood a tap and small basin, as though the room knew they'd been needing a place to wash the mud off themselves.

Lavinia paused a few feet into the room, looking around, her eyes skipping over the walls though her expression remained blank. Remus slipped around her and set down the tray he'd been carrying which had a steaming cup of tea and a few sandwiches which the house elves had given him, insisting it was no trouble when he apologized for waking them.

Sirius sighed when he caught sight of Lavinia frozen in front of the door and led her to the couch, pushing slightly on her shoulders to get her to sit before taking the cup of tea from the tray and pushing it into her hands.

In the light from the room's fire, Lupin could see her more clearly and it wasn't a terribly pretty sight. For one thing, she was covered in mud. Her hands and feet and clothes were caked in it and even her face was smudged. Her hair was a disaster, hanging limp over her shoulders, the tips of it brown with dirt. Oddly, she didn't seem to care much, which Remus found vaguely concerning. Even on their late night forays she was usually impeccably dressed, her hair always just so, even on nights when it was clear she wasn't in a good place.

He'd never seen her like this though and he wasn't sure how much of the vacant expression on her face was her being overly guarded and how much of it reflected some deeper issue. He suspected from the confused and worried look Sirius shot him that his friend didn't have any better guess than he himself did.

So, not knowing what else to do, Remus grabbed a blanket and laid it over her shoulders before sitting down next to her, fidgeting with his hands in his lap. Sirius soon sat down on her other side and there was a brief period of awkward silence where neither of them seemed to know what was supposed to happen next.

It was Lavinia who broke the silence and her voice was a quiet, wavering thing that broke Remus's heart.

"I saw her face," she whispered, staring down into her mug of tea. "I saw her face and I didn't - I couldn't -" Her voice broke and she didn't finish the sentence. "I wanted to run," she finished with a sob. Tears started rolling down her cheeks and she was shaking again, the tea in her mug sloshing precariously close to the edge.

"It's okay," Lupin said softly, putting one arm gingerly around her and taking her tea before it spilled onto her hands. "It's okay."

He looked over her shoulders at Sirius, who was watching Lavinia sobbing with a face of mixed horror and rage that said he had a good guess what Lavinia was talking about. For a long while there was nothing but the sound of Lavinia's sobbing and Remus's murmured assurances as he held her shoulders and Sirius sat with his head in his hands.

Remus couldn't blame his friend for not helping more. He knew this probably brought back all sorts of painful memories of his own. Indeed, Sirius rarely spoke about what his home life had been like before he'd left, and none of them asked, respecting his privacy. But each of them also had pretty good guesses, considering the state he'd showed up to the Potters' in this past Christmas.