(Untitled)

[sleep_to_die]

Date: January 8, 2002
Time: Midday
Characters Involved: Isadora, ANY
Location: Diagon Alley

Comments

[m4moony]

The next day was Severus' birthday and Remus was growing anxious about the gift he planned. He was fairly certain the other man would understand and appreciate the gesture. But still...there was a chance Severus might be expecting something more...traditional

[sleep_to_die]

Still staring quite dazedly at the broomstick display (and actually considering buying one, if only to kill time by hemming and hawing with the sales clerk) Isadora did at first not notice the man who was studying her. It wasn't until he actually spoke to her that she averted her attention away from the window.

If she had realized that he had called her "Whisp" immediately, perhaps her reaction would have been different. Recognizing his voice before seeing his face might have been easier on her. But no, she had been too engrossed in the broomstick display, and thought his greeting to have been a stranger's "Is that you, Miss?" as oppossed to "Whisp".

No one called her "Whisp" besides him.Her breath caught in her throat the second she recognized Remus Lupin standing there in broad daylight. Teeth immediately crushing down on her lower lip in her habitual gesture of nervousness, she gawked at him with bugging eyes, at a complete loss for words

[m4moony]

"It's all right. Believe me, I've heard worse." House elves all too often mimicked the ideals of the families they served, starting as a way, perhaps, to ingratiate themselves further with their masters. But, after years, even decades of such nonsense, it became so much a part of their thinking, they began to believe it themselves, Remus thought. Slef preservation by encouraging the same thought processes that kept them a downtrodden and mistreated race. The only exceptions he knew were the Hogwarts elves who had been exposed to Albus' kindness for so long

[sleep_to_die]

"No," she said mildly in response, her voice slightly detached. "You didn't have to do that. I'm um...I'm all right."

She attempted to smile and failed quite miserably. The corners of her mouth turned up a little bit, but realizing how ghastly she must have looked in doing so, she immediately stopped.

The actuality of speaking to someone-to someone she both knew well and cared for a great deal after such a lengthy period of isolation-had yet to fully sink in. It didn't quite feel real to her just yet.

"How have you been?" she asked, and immediately recognized the inanity of the question. At the moment, though, she didn't care. It was good enough to just...talk.

"I really missed you," she added as an afterthought. It wasn't until she actually said it that she realized how true it was.

[sleep_to_die]

"I know," she replied quietly, a slightly wistful hint to her tone. "You always have. Looked out for me, I mean."

When he offered her his arm, she once again attempted to smile, and actually succeeded. That was just so...Remus of him. She was already feeling better. The familiarity was helping, and quite a bit at that.

"I don't read the Prophet," she said brightly. "So you can tell me all about what you've been up to. And I'll try to do the same. So much has happened, really."

Nyxie muttered something about "filthy werewolves". Isadora fought the urge to strike her.