FIC: Remnants; Chapter One
Title: Remnants
Characters: Andromeda, Remus
Rating: G
Length: 1677
Summary: The epilogue gave us hints of Teddy/Victoire and Rose/Scorpius. This is the development of those relationships through the eyes of Andromeda.
Chapter One: Remus
“What the hell just happened?” Bella hissed at me from across the table. I looked down the Slytherin table; Lucius Malfoy, my fellow prefect, was wearing an expression on his face that was a cross between sympathy and amusement. Narcissa looked as if she was about to vomit.
“The hat put him into Gryffindor,” I replied in a matter of fact voice.
“I know he was sorted into Gryffindor I’m not blind Andromeda.”
“Well, you did ask…”
I know just how irritating I was being, and I stand by it. I was not about to let a Bellatrix Black temper tantrum ruin the glow of my first night as a prefect. She had obviously, and predictably, taken the result of Sirius’ sorting as a personal offense.
Bella continued to mutter angrily and slightly threateningly under her breath until Professor McGonagall shot her a filthy look; Professor McGonagall was no fan of Bella’s. Bellatrix completely ignored McGonagall’s glare, so I, seeing no other option, kicked her under the table. That shut her up.
I didn’t really pay attention to the rest of the Sorting; I had no reason to now that Sirius had been sorted. Of course, I greeted every new Slytherin as befitted a prefect, but I didn’t pay attention in between new Slytherins. Most of my concentration that evening was on keeping Bella from marching over to the Gryffindor table and making a scene.
I was mildly successful, and Bella agreed to hold off on her “discussion” with Sirius until the following morning.
That “discussion” was the reason for my presence outside of Gryffindor Tower on the first morning of the new term; I thought it my duty to warn Sirius of the explosion making its way up from the dungeons.
He emerged from his common room about ten minutes after my arrival. He was flanked by three boys, none of whom I paid much attention to.
I would like to say that my first encounter with Remus Lupin stands out clearly in my mind, but really, all it left was a vague impression of brown hair and an honest smile.
I warned Sirius of Bella’s approach, and Sirius managed to avoid her until late in the afternoon. The resulting argument wasn’t pretty; their arguments never were.
The argument progressed along predictable lines: Sirius was disgracing the family and Bellatrix was blaming him for something he claimed to not have much control over (I always suspected that he had nudged the hat away from putting him in Slytherin, but I never discussed it with him).
There was, of course, nothing Bellatrix could do about Sirius’ house placement, so after their argument had run its course, the two of them reverted back into their usual somewhat close, though somewhat tense relationship. They didn’t get to see each other very much anyway; seventh year Slytherins didn’t have much contact with first year Gryffindors, cousin or no.
I met Remus properly about a week later. I was sitting on the edge of the lake doing my homework with Marlene McKinnon, who was my best friend at the time. Marlene had begun a relationship with Fabian Prewett over the summer and it was all she could talk about.
The relationship ensured that I would be around Fabian, and his twin brother Gideon by extension, quite a lot that year. This arrangement made me slightly uncomfortable since, although I had no problem with Gideon and Fabian, I knew that their older sister Molly hated me.
The Prewett family wasn’t held in very high regard by my family, who kindly referred to them as “nasty liberal purebloods.” In my family’s eyes, the Prewetts were nearly as bad as the Weasleys, who were the most prominent blood traitor family in Britain.
Molly Prewett was in a relationship with Arthur Weasley. She was also in the same year as Bella. Frankly, I would’ve hated me too.
Anyhow, it was that day by the lake, listening to Marlene analyze something or other Fabian had said over lunch, that Sirius took it upon himself to introduce me to his friends.
He sauntered over and greeted us with a suave, casual sort of smile which he perfected over his years at Hogwarts, to the general appreciation of the female half of the school.
“Hello ladies,” he said with a smile. On either side of him were the three boys I had noticed that morning outside of Gryffindor.
“Your cousin?” Marlene asked me, in a mildly interested voice. Without waiting for my response she cast her eyes over his friends and she stopped on the skinny boy with the untidy black hair.
“Hey Potter,” she said casually. Their parents belonged to the class of pureblood families who were slightly more respected than the Weasleys and the Prewetts, but who were still classified by families like mine as “those liberal purebloods;” the word “liberal” was always uttered in a particular disapproving tone of voice.
After the greeting was returned (“’Sup McKinnon?”), Sirius began the introductions.
Looking back, these introductions seemed oddly important to Sirius, he seemed to want very much for me to like his friends; my approval was always very important to him, although he never told me.
“This is Peter,” he began, turning my attention to the short, fat, timid looking boy standing to his left. I greeted Peter cordially and he nervously returned the greeting. I never really warmed up to Peter, and he always seemed slightly afraid of me.
“This is Remus,” said Sirius, motioning towards the boy standing between him and Peter. Remus, unlike Peter, smiled, looked me straight in the eye, shook my hand, and said that it was nice to meet me. I remember smiling to myself, surprised at how polite and mature he was, those being two qualities not often found in eleven year old boys.
I always considered him to be the most reliable and trustworthy of Sirius’ friends, and over the years this impression was tarnished only once (although that one occasion did significantly lower my opinion of him for quite a time).
After meeting and greeting James, who reminded me so strongly of Sirius that I nearly laughed out loud, the four of them plopped down with me and Marlene.
We in the midst of the sort of conversation prefects always seem to have with first years, you know the kind: “So how are you liking Hogwarts so far?” and “Are you enjoying your classes?” when Lucius Malfoy, my fellow Slytherin prefect, approached our group with my thirteen year-old sister, Narcissa, in tow. She always seemed to follow him around.
Lucius cast an appraising eye over the six of us, sneering slightly at James and Marlene, giving Sirius a disdainful, yet interested sort of glance, and completely disregarding the existence of Peter and Remus.
“Andromeda,” he said with an annoyingly responsible inflection in his voice, “Professor Slughorn wants a word with us. I told him I’d fetch you.”
I did not at all appreciate being “fetched” by Lucius Malfoy. Lucius never seemed to grasp that I, in fact, did not like him, at all. The crush on me he had developed in our first year never really went away (this seemed to amuse Bella just as much as it pissed off Narcissa) but merely lurked beneath the surface.
As I wasn’t in the mood for a verbal sparring match with Lucius (he would have taken it as flirtation), I followed him back to the school. Marlene, looking slightly put out, and excused herself to go find Fabian.
Narcissa stayed behind to talk with Sirius. I suspect that this “talk” consisted of Narcissa telling Sirius exactly what he was doing/what he had done wrong and why it was wrong.
I came into contact with Sirius and his friends rather a lot over the next three years, and got to know them rather well, but I didn’t pay them much attention. I spent the majority of that time period either worrying about Bellatrix or being preoccupied with my secret relationship with Ted Tonks, a muggle-born boy in my year.
After I left Hogwarts, I was quite neatly cut off from Sirius. My family did everything they could to keep me from having contact with Sirius and vice versa.
However, in the summer before his sixth year of Hogwarts, Sirius joined the ranks of the Black family outcasts. As a result, I saw much more of him, Remus, James, and even Peter, than I had in the past couple of years.
I watched the four of them grow into semi-adults. I watched them as they fought in the Order of the Phoenix, and I watched as they disappeared one by one. James was lost to murder, Peter fled to the sanctuary of an unknowing wizarding family, Sirius was carted off to Azkaban, and Remus was left alone to rebuild what was left of his life.
I didn’t see Remus very much after the war. Looking back, I think we were avoiding each other. Seeing him bought back memories of all I had lost, and I’m sure I did the same to him.
We flitted in and out of each other’s awareness over the following years. I would be walking into Flourish and Blotts and he would be walking out, or we’d end up next to each other on line in Madame Malkin’s.
We’d always greet each other pleasantly, discuss how it had been far too long since we had last seen each other, and then we’d agree to make a lunch date. We would then forget about each other until our next meeting during which the same conversation would take place. We never did have that lunch.
I see now that we were both hiding from the past. We reminded each other of all we had lost, and it was easier to avoid each other than to look back.
It was during the Second War that Remus came back into my life, and when he did it was in a way I never would have imagined.
That, however, is another story.
Characters: Andromeda, Remus
Rating: G
Length: 1677
Summary: The epilogue gave us hints of Teddy/Victoire and Rose/Scorpius. This is the development of those relationships through the eyes of Andromeda.
Chapter One: Remus
“What the hell just happened?” Bella hissed at me from across the table. I looked down the Slytherin table; Lucius Malfoy, my fellow prefect, was wearing an expression on his face that was a cross between sympathy and amusement. Narcissa looked as if she was about to vomit.
“The hat put him into Gryffindor,” I replied in a matter of fact voice.
“I know he was sorted into Gryffindor I’m not blind Andromeda.”
“Well, you did ask…”
I know just how irritating I was being, and I stand by it. I was not about to let a Bellatrix Black temper tantrum ruin the glow of my first night as a prefect. She had obviously, and predictably, taken the result of Sirius’ sorting as a personal offense.
Bella continued to mutter angrily and slightly threateningly under her breath until Professor McGonagall shot her a filthy look; Professor McGonagall was no fan of Bella’s. Bellatrix completely ignored McGonagall’s glare, so I, seeing no other option, kicked her under the table. That shut her up.
I didn’t really pay attention to the rest of the Sorting; I had no reason to now that Sirius had been sorted. Of course, I greeted every new Slytherin as befitted a prefect, but I didn’t pay attention in between new Slytherins. Most of my concentration that evening was on keeping Bella from marching over to the Gryffindor table and making a scene.
I was mildly successful, and Bella agreed to hold off on her “discussion” with Sirius until the following morning.
That “discussion” was the reason for my presence outside of Gryffindor Tower on the first morning of the new term; I thought it my duty to warn Sirius of the explosion making its way up from the dungeons.
He emerged from his common room about ten minutes after my arrival. He was flanked by three boys, none of whom I paid much attention to.
I would like to say that my first encounter with Remus Lupin stands out clearly in my mind, but really, all it left was a vague impression of brown hair and an honest smile.
I warned Sirius of Bella’s approach, and Sirius managed to avoid her until late in the afternoon. The resulting argument wasn’t pretty; their arguments never were.
The argument progressed along predictable lines: Sirius was disgracing the family and Bellatrix was blaming him for something he claimed to not have much control over (I always suspected that he had nudged the hat away from putting him in Slytherin, but I never discussed it with him).
There was, of course, nothing Bellatrix could do about Sirius’ house placement, so after their argument had run its course, the two of them reverted back into their usual somewhat close, though somewhat tense relationship. They didn’t get to see each other very much anyway; seventh year Slytherins didn’t have much contact with first year Gryffindors, cousin or no.
I met Remus properly about a week later. I was sitting on the edge of the lake doing my homework with Marlene McKinnon, who was my best friend at the time. Marlene had begun a relationship with Fabian Prewett over the summer and it was all she could talk about.
The relationship ensured that I would be around Fabian, and his twin brother Gideon by extension, quite a lot that year. This arrangement made me slightly uncomfortable since, although I had no problem with Gideon and Fabian, I knew that their older sister Molly hated me.
The Prewett family wasn’t held in very high regard by my family, who kindly referred to them as “nasty liberal purebloods.” In my family’s eyes, the Prewetts were nearly as bad as the Weasleys, who were the most prominent blood traitor family in Britain.
Molly Prewett was in a relationship with Arthur Weasley. She was also in the same year as Bella. Frankly, I would’ve hated me too.
Anyhow, it was that day by the lake, listening to Marlene analyze something or other Fabian had said over lunch, that Sirius took it upon himself to introduce me to his friends.
He sauntered over and greeted us with a suave, casual sort of smile which he perfected over his years at Hogwarts, to the general appreciation of the female half of the school.
“Hello ladies,” he said with a smile. On either side of him were the three boys I had noticed that morning outside of Gryffindor.
“Your cousin?” Marlene asked me, in a mildly interested voice. Without waiting for my response she cast her eyes over his friends and she stopped on the skinny boy with the untidy black hair.
“Hey Potter,” she said casually. Their parents belonged to the class of pureblood families who were slightly more respected than the Weasleys and the Prewetts, but who were still classified by families like mine as “those liberal purebloods;” the word “liberal” was always uttered in a particular disapproving tone of voice.
After the greeting was returned (“’Sup McKinnon?”), Sirius began the introductions.
Looking back, these introductions seemed oddly important to Sirius, he seemed to want very much for me to like his friends; my approval was always very important to him, although he never told me.
“This is Peter,” he began, turning my attention to the short, fat, timid looking boy standing to his left. I greeted Peter cordially and he nervously returned the greeting. I never really warmed up to Peter, and he always seemed slightly afraid of me.
“This is Remus,” said Sirius, motioning towards the boy standing between him and Peter. Remus, unlike Peter, smiled, looked me straight in the eye, shook my hand, and said that it was nice to meet me. I remember smiling to myself, surprised at how polite and mature he was, those being two qualities not often found in eleven year old boys.
I always considered him to be the most reliable and trustworthy of Sirius’ friends, and over the years this impression was tarnished only once (although that one occasion did significantly lower my opinion of him for quite a time).
After meeting and greeting James, who reminded me so strongly of Sirius that I nearly laughed out loud, the four of them plopped down with me and Marlene.
We in the midst of the sort of conversation prefects always seem to have with first years, you know the kind: “So how are you liking Hogwarts so far?” and “Are you enjoying your classes?” when Lucius Malfoy, my fellow Slytherin prefect, approached our group with my thirteen year-old sister, Narcissa, in tow. She always seemed to follow him around.
Lucius cast an appraising eye over the six of us, sneering slightly at James and Marlene, giving Sirius a disdainful, yet interested sort of glance, and completely disregarding the existence of Peter and Remus.
“Andromeda,” he said with an annoyingly responsible inflection in his voice, “Professor Slughorn wants a word with us. I told him I’d fetch you.”
I did not at all appreciate being “fetched” by Lucius Malfoy. Lucius never seemed to grasp that I, in fact, did not like him, at all. The crush on me he had developed in our first year never really went away (this seemed to amuse Bella just as much as it pissed off Narcissa) but merely lurked beneath the surface.
As I wasn’t in the mood for a verbal sparring match with Lucius (he would have taken it as flirtation), I followed him back to the school. Marlene, looking slightly put out, and excused herself to go find Fabian.
Narcissa stayed behind to talk with Sirius. I suspect that this “talk” consisted of Narcissa telling Sirius exactly what he was doing/what he had done wrong and why it was wrong.
I came into contact with Sirius and his friends rather a lot over the next three years, and got to know them rather well, but I didn’t pay them much attention. I spent the majority of that time period either worrying about Bellatrix or being preoccupied with my secret relationship with Ted Tonks, a muggle-born boy in my year.
After I left Hogwarts, I was quite neatly cut off from Sirius. My family did everything they could to keep me from having contact with Sirius and vice versa.
However, in the summer before his sixth year of Hogwarts, Sirius joined the ranks of the Black family outcasts. As a result, I saw much more of him, Remus, James, and even Peter, than I had in the past couple of years.
I watched the four of them grow into semi-adults. I watched them as they fought in the Order of the Phoenix, and I watched as they disappeared one by one. James was lost to murder, Peter fled to the sanctuary of an unknowing wizarding family, Sirius was carted off to Azkaban, and Remus was left alone to rebuild what was left of his life.
I didn’t see Remus very much after the war. Looking back, I think we were avoiding each other. Seeing him bought back memories of all I had lost, and I’m sure I did the same to him.
We flitted in and out of each other’s awareness over the following years. I would be walking into Flourish and Blotts and he would be walking out, or we’d end up next to each other on line in Madame Malkin’s.
We’d always greet each other pleasantly, discuss how it had been far too long since we had last seen each other, and then we’d agree to make a lunch date. We would then forget about each other until our next meeting during which the same conversation would take place. We never did have that lunch.
I see now that we were both hiding from the past. We reminded each other of all we had lost, and it was easier to avoid each other than to look back.
It was during the Second War that Remus came back into my life, and when he did it was in a way I never would have imagined.
That, however, is another story.