FIC + ART: The Naturists [Remus/Luna] (Art: NSFW)
Title: The Naturists
Author/Artist: hikorichan
Prompt: # O42 After the war Remus is all about communing with nature.
Pairing(s): Remus/Luna
Word Count: 8,900, with illustrations created in pencil/Procreate app.
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): nudity
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: If it isn’t obvious, this ignores bunches of canon where I found it convenient for the story. Thank you to my betas, A, M, and L.
Summary: While searching for lost firebirds that are heating up Devon, Luna stumbles upon naturist Remus Lupin.
Chapter 1: A Discovery
That summer was uncharacteristically hot for Devon. Rolling pastures turned golden brown and brittle, and the leaves on the trees and bushes wilted in the endless heat. There seemed to be no end to the heat wave, weeks passing by with skyrocketing temperatures.
The only explanation for the odd weather, Luna Lovegood and her father agreed, was a flock of firebirds. They didn't usually come so far west, but perhaps the winds had changed during their migration, and once they reached Devon, the fireworks had enticed them to stay. Even more than a year later, people were still celebrating the fall of the Dark Lord, at least around Ottery St. Catchpole. Luna liked to watch the sparkling lights in the distance from her bedroom window and imagine a flock of firebirds somewhere nearby doing the same.
Luna hadn't seen one yet, but she was determined to find one.
Each morning, she waved goodbye to her father after breakfast, and went to search the nearby fields until dinnertime.
The heat didn't bother her. She liked the short, flowing sundresses it let her wear. They made her feel like a child again-when her mum would dress her up and they would go to the beach near Exmouth. A large straw sunhat shaded her face as she walked, making her shadow look like a balloon with legs. Sometimes on her way home in the evenings she’d put her back to the sun and stretch her arms out, just to see what strange shapes she could make.
July crept by with nothing to show for it, not even a feather. Having explored most of the fields in the area, she decided as August began to try the forests. Her first destination was a small wood near Clyst St Catchpole, a little speck of a village several miles from the main town of Ottery. She thought the dragonflies that congregated near the clear stream shadowed by the trees might have drawn the birds close with their colourful bodies.
She Apparated to the edge of the wood, where a low stone wall marked the barrier between the stretches of wilting and yellowed fields and the trees. Smiling, she tucked her wand into the brim of her hat, and scrambled over the wall. It was noticeably cooler in the shade, and Luna sighed contentedly.
The underbrush was sparse, the trees a mixture of oak, ash, and pine. Luna had no problem picking her way along, her goal the stream at the centre of the wood. She kept her eyes peeled for signs of firebirds-burnt branches or singed leaves or lost wing feathers-but spotted nothing as she continued. The crunch of the forest floor and the chattering of birds made a pleasant soundtrack as she walked along, and though she craved to see brilliant orange plumage, she wasn't disappointed with the scenery. A “pretty little wood,” her mother would have called it, when she was alive.
Soon, Luna began to hear the soft gurgling of a slowly running stream. She slowed her steps, not wanting to scare off any creatures that might be drawn to the water’s edge.
The forest thickened as she grew nearer, the plants not so hampered by the heat so close to the water source. Luna kept her ears perked and her eyes peeled.
The land began to drop, and-there! The sound of an animal. Growling… or perhaps sniffing something very loudly. A mating call?
Her steps grew to a crawl, her back hunching as she turned and crept towards the sound. A thick copse of trees was ahead, the water just a little ways away down a slope. Luna peered around a tree.
Well, she thought, that is definitely not a firebird.
It was even more startling. For there, pointed in her direction, was what could only be described as a very shapely bum. It's owner was asleep, his naked body draped over the trunk of a fallen tree. His golden skin was marred with dozens of long scars, as if he'd been mauled by a grizzly bear.
Eyes trailing up to his face, she recognized him immediately as her old professor, Remus Lupin.
She could see his profile, his long eyelashes resting against his scarred cheeks. The noise was his snoring.
She knew the werewolf now lived with Sirius and Harry in a small cottage on the outskirts of Clyst, close enough to Ottery to pop over to The Burrow, yet far enough from anything for peace-and peaceful was how Remus appeared while he slept.
Luna knew she shouldn’t spy on Remus in such a vulnerable state, but she could not help but linger and let her eyes roam over his body. He had a wiry frame, but it was his bum that captivated most of her attention. It was marred only by a short scar across the left cheek, and a trail of fine hair dipped down into his crack from a pool at the small of his back. It was lovely and round, the curves catching the scattered light that filtered through the canopy. She would have liked to touch it, but she did not dare move from her hiding place.
By his appearance, it would be a crime to wake him. So instead she catalogued a fine memory of him lying there, and then turned and crept back through the trees.
Rather than continue her search for the firebirds, she Apparated to a small hill she knew nearby. She hiked up the grassy ridge to the top, which gave a panoramic view of the land below. Squares of farmland spread out in all directions like a jigsaw puzzle, interrupted by venous roads and lumpy grey villages. She could see the small church steeple of Clyst in the distance and the wood just beyond it, and wondered if Remus continued sleeping.
Smiling at the thought of his naked form, she reclined against a rock and pulled her rucksack to her side. The sun was hot on her pale skin; beads of sweat dotted the creases in her arms and legs, and where the brim of her hat met her forehead. Even though she liked the sun, a little part of her envied Remus’s patch of shade. Picking up her wand, she cast a Cooling Charm on her hat, and felt a shiver of pleasant coldness spread down her spine. Slipping her trainers and socks from her feet, she buried her toes in the short, spiky grass; she smiled as it tickled the pads of her feet.
Content that she would not get heatstroke, she pulled out a sketchbook, a roll of paintbrushes, a small cup, and a little travel palette from her pack, setting it all around her within easy reach. She filled the cup with water with a quick Aguamenti, and pulled a brush from the roll.
Settling more firmly against the rock, she looked again towards Clyst and the little wood beyond.
Dipping her brush into the palette, she began to paint.
Chapter 2: A Meeting
Having made poor progress, Luna decided to return to the same wood the next day.
The air settled around her like a stifling, heavy blanket as soon as she exited the shade of the front stoop. It had grown even hotter overnight, indicating the firebird chicks might be hatching; she’d been able to sleep in her room on the top floor thanks only to a Cooling Charm on her pillow and a Blowing Charm near the open window.
In the bright morning sun, she doubted even a charm on her hat would keep her comfortable, so Apparated straight away to Clyst and its woods’ soothing shade.
She began her hike on the opposite side from the day previous, the path weaving more languorously through the trees than the one she took the day before. She kept her ears and eyes perked as always, this time also paying attention for the sound of snoring.
As she worked her way towards the river, a clearing appeared in the centre of the wood. From down the path, the dappled sunlight through the canopy made it glow yellow and chartreuse against the shadows of the trunks and underbrush blocking her way, like someone had lit up the circle of forest with a Lumos.
Part of her wanted to stop and paint it, but the other thought that where there was light, there might also be fire, and so she kept walking, slowing her steps.
Around the bend, she was delighted to see something was lying in the grass.
“Luna!” came a male voice, the shape moving abruptly.
Luna blinked, and found Remus sitting on the ground, all but gaping at her. It took her only a moment to notice he was once again naked beneath his legs and arms, which crossed over his body like protective clothing. He sat in a little patch of sunlit grass; it looked pressed down around him, as if he'd been lying down. She couldn't get a good view of his body through his limbs, but she could just make out a patch of hair on his chest and one dusk-coloured nipple.
“Hello, Remus,” she greeted him. She took a step closer, and Remus shrank back. “I'm sorry if I startled you.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Looking for firebirds.”
Remus’s arms tightened more securely around him.
“Were you suntanning?” Luna asked curiously.
“No,” answered Remus. “I-er…”
His cheeks went pink.
“I've seen naked men before. You don't need to be embarrassed.”
“I’m sure you have. I mean-er-sorry, I didn't mean it that way.” He swiped a hand nervously through his shaggy brown hair, and then seemed to realize he had revealed part of his chest, and snapped it back over himself.
Luna blinked at him, unoffended and curious.
“Were you sleeping?” she asked, thinking the naps might be a pattern.
“Sirius and Harry aren't fond of having me around the house,” Remus answered, shifting uncomfortably. His movements gave Luna a glimpse of his scrotum between his legs.
“I thought you all got on.”
“No, that's not it,” said Remus, shaking his head. “They just don't like seeing me naked. That’s why I’m here.”
“Why don't you put clothes on?”
“I don't like to. They feel… restricting.” He shrugged a narrow shoulder.
Luna contemplated his statement. She’d never really thought about her clothes before, except how she liked the way her dress would fly upwards like an umbrella when she spun. Just then, however, its fabric was stuck to a patch of sweat the size of her rucksack. Her bra was a damp, uncomfortable band across her ribs. Without a breeze, her knickers felt striped with sweat.
In front of her, Remus finally uncrossed his arms from his chest, and put them over his lap. Aside from his anxiety, he seemed comfortable.
She’d also heard that being naked could bring you closer to nature. Perhaps that was the edge she needed to locate the firebirds.
The ground did look soft and inviting. Protected by the forest, it was still green, with soft moss and clover sprouting between bunches of grass.
Carefully placing her rucksack, hat, and wand on the ground, Luna grasped the bottom of her dress and pulled it over her head.
“Wha-what are you doing?” asked Remus in a shaky voice, his spine stiffening and his eyes widening to saucers.
Luna folded up her dress as she spoke. “Getting naked. You don’t mind, do you?”
She bent, losing sight of Remus as she put her dress into her bag. Not hearing a reply, she pulled off her sandals next, then her knickers and her bra.
Hands on her hips, she peered at Remus, whose head was turned to the side, though his eyes flicked towards her and back again.
“You’re awfully shy for a naturist,” she commented.
Plopping down next to him, she stretched out in the grass on her back, spreading her arms above her head. Except for the odd stick or two, the ground was soft, the grass cool against her exposed skin. Above her, bright green leaves sparkled in the mottled light, hints of the blue sky revealed through their shapes.
“Most people don’t appreciate nudity.”
Luna turned her head so she could peer at Remus. He’d shifted so one leg was bent in front of his body, his arms wrapped around it; his other remained crossed in front of him. She could see more of him now: scars over his chest similar to the ones on his back; little rolls of skin where his belly folded forward to lean on his leg; square, bony knees; and legs dusted with dark hair.
“I’ve been told I’m not like most people,” stated Luna truthfully. ‘Loony,’ ‘odd,’ ‘a bit off’ was what people usually said when they thought she wasn’t listening. “Anyway, I don’t mind. You can lie down, if you want.”
She saw Remus’s eyes graze over her body before he lay himself out tentatively beside her. Being looked at didn’t bother Luna; it was only natural to be curious, and she’d never felt badly about her body like many of her classmates. It was long and willowy, her breasts small but with large nipples that tilted upwards, and her stomach was slightly round. Light brown hair, not dirty blonde like her head, covered her mons.
“Have you always felt restricted by clothes?” she asked Remus. She didn’t know much about him, except what knew from school or learned from Harry; she’d only seen him a handful of times outside of her second year at Hogwarts.
“Not always,” Remus explained. “I suppose it’s been more recent.”
“People change all the time,” Luna stated, hoping he wouldn’t feel strange for it. “I used to hate eating pickles, and now I don’t like a cheese sandwich without them.”
She heard Remus snort next to her.
“I suppose you’re right,” he said, sounding amused.
They both lay for several minutes, listening to the sounds of the forest and staring at circle of blue and green overhead. Slowly, very slowly, she felt Remus relax beside her.
“Aren’t firebirds from Russia?”
Luna turned her head, and found Remus peering at her with curious brown eyes.
“Most of eastern Europe. We think they got lost migrating this year. That's why it's so hot,” Luna stated matter-of-factly. She might not have seen the birds yet, but she was sure they were around. “With all the fireworks, it's no surprise.”
“I'll have to tell Sirius he's contributing to abnormal species behaviour. He brings home the bloody things from the shop constantly,” Remus mused, and Luna remembered Harry telling her that Sirius had taken a job at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes since his name had been cleared. “He says it's ‘worth celebrating being free and happy’,” he added with a note of sarcasm.
“You don't think so?”
Remus met her eyes with a serious expression.
“I suppose it depends on how free you feel.”
Emotion flickered in the darkness of his pupils.
“Are you working?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Not really. I help Daddy at printing time, and sometimes write an article or two.” She shrugged, and Remus rolled to stare at the canopy again.
“I didn't know what I wanted to do at your age either-not that there were really many options.”
“That's not it,” Luna corrected him. “I want to travel and research magical creatures, but with everything that happened last year, I can't leave Daddy alone yet.”
“You could work at the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.” He said the name of the Ministry department with a rasp of tension in his voice, and Luna concluded the werewolf’s dealings with them could not have been pleasant.
“Hermione’s working there now,” she stated. If any witch could make it better, it was Hermione Granger.
“Oh, I know. She tries to recruit me at least once a fortnight.”
“She wants to make a difference.” She'd heard Hermione speaking passionately about her goals to rewrite the laws pertaining to werewolves, house elves, and other magical beings. Luna agreed with her for the most part, though her own interests tended towards stranger, rare sorts of creatures.
“I appreciate her trying, but the old blokes in charge are never going to allow werewolves to live without restriction.” Luna could hear the resentment and resignation in his voice. His shoulders stiffened.
She only smiled and said, “Don't underestimate Hermione.”
“I don't,” Remus responded defensively. “But I've been here before, and know how it always turns out.”
“If we always knew how things turned out, life would be very dull, don’t you think?” Luna asked, thinking Remus had an awfully negative perspective on things. “I like surprises.”
Remus opened his mouth, looking as if he was about to retort, then snapped it shut.
After a few minutes, he said, “You didn't say why you don't apply to the Ministry.”
“Oh, an office job isn't for me. I'd feel far too…” She paused, a smile spreading over her face. “Restricted.”
Remus snorted, and Luna laughed loudly at her own joke.
When their chuckles subsided, Luna sighed contentedly, feeling any lingering tension slide from her limbs.
“You were right,” she said, stretching her fingers and toes in the grass, “this does feel better.”
“You should tell that to Sirius and Harry.”
Luna rolled over, resting her ear in her hand. “I can, if you like.”
Remus shook his head emphatically. “No, really. I wasn’t serious.” He peered into her face, and Luna noticed a thin scar tracing the corner of his right eye.
“Do you want help looking for the firebirds?” He looked entirely serious.
“That would be wonderful!” Luna exclaimed, surprised but happy at his offer. She sat up, and Remus followed her.
“I was hoping to find the river. Do you know where it is?” she asked excitedly, standing up and brushing bits of grass and moss from her skin. She picked up her rucksack and shoved her hat on her head.
“Do I look funny?” she asked, giggling as she imagined how she appeared standing naked under the shadow of the straw hat.
Remus still sat on the ground, his legs once more shielding him, though looking more relaxed than when she'd first found him. He stared up at her, her hat making a circle of shade across his face. She watched his chest rise and fall with a deep breath, and then he stood.
“You look fine.”
She smiled at him, eyes roaming over his torso. Remus shifted uncomfortably in front her her, his gaze darting between her body and her face and the woods behind her.
“The river?” Luna asked again when she'd finished attaching his front half to his back in her mind.
“This way,” he said, looking relieved, and waved her towards a path on the opposite side from where she'd entered the clearing.
The river was only short walk beyond the clearing, down a gentle slope that tapered onto a rocky flat that would be covered with water in winter. The stream trickled along on its narrower course, as lazy in the hot summer heat as the creatures that drank from it. A few damselflies drifted sleepily along its banks.
Luna’s eyes scanned the area, but once again found no traces of the birds she sought.
“No firebirds?” Remus asked beside her.
“Not here.”
“It’s a fair sized wood.”
Luna nodded, stepping out on the smooth rocks that lined the bank. They were cool on the soles of her feet. She left her rucksack on a large boulder, and continued towards the water, leaving Remus standing on the rooted bank.
The stream was glassy except for a few ripples, the twisted trees reflected in its course. Pleased she didn’t have to worry about getting her clothes wet, she dipped her toes into the water.
“It feels wonderful. Do you come here and swim?” she asked, wondering if any of it was deep enough to go for a dunk. She waded out further, but found it only reached her calves.
“Sometimes,” answered Remus noncommittally from the bank.
“Will you show me more of the wood?” Luna asked, turning around to face him. He looked awkward again, standing on the bank, and so she gave him her best smile.
Remus’s lips twitched, and then rose in reply.
“Sure. Of course. What do you want to see?”
Chapter 3: A Storm
Luna was surprised when Remus offered to help her continue her search for the firebirds. Most people, she found, could only handle her in small doses. Even her few friends often changed the subject when she brought up magical creatures. None of them had ever offered to aid her, not even when she told them their homes were infested with nargles or bumblefleas.
Her heart thumped with excitement as she left to meet him the next day. They'd scoured most of the small wood, but Remus said there was another close by.
Luna arrived early to their meeting spot, the little clearing where she'd stumbled upon him the day before. Quickly, she shucked off her dress and put it in her bag; she hadn't bothered with undergarments, knowing whom she was meeting. It still felt a little strange to be starkers, but she understood that was only because it was new. After a few minutes of the forest air on her skin, her long hair brushing against her back, she relaxed. She moved into the darker shadows of the trees to wait, enjoying the same odd rush of freedom she’d felt yesterday.
Remus was right on time, his tanned, scarred body popping into sight a few metres from where Luna stood.
“Good morning,” Luna called, waving.
Remus’s eyes flashed over her body, as if he was surprised to find her nude again. Just as quickly, he smiled and then walked towards her with a spring in his step.
“Shall we?” he asked, holding out his arm for her to take.
Luna placed her hand gently on his forearm, a little rush shooting through her.
“I tried sleeping naked last night,” she told him. “It was much better too.”
Remus met her eyes, his smile widening, and then whisked them away with a loud pop.
Together they spent the next two weeks searching for the firebirds, traipsing through woods and streams and fields, with nothing but darkening tans to show for it. The sun remained a burning beacon above them as they went, until one afternoon when dark clouds began to form on the horizon, casting a dark shadow over the hills beneath it.
They stood in a field of lavender, bright purple rows contrasting the golden orb that still shone above them.
“It looks like it might storm later, if those come this way,” Remus commented, frowning at the coming gloom. “Does that mean the firebirds are gone?”
Luna shook her head. “Hot air makes storms. The chicks might have hatched.”
“It's not thunderbirds?” Remus teased, making Luna frown.
“Thunderbirds live in Canada, near the Pacific,” she told him flatly.
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to sound like I was taking the piss,” Remus apologized quickly. “I believe you about the firebirds-it's not like I'm here just to hang out with a pretty naked woman-“
He chuckled, and then his expression shifted to horror. “I didn't mean-I'm sorry,” he stammered. “Merlin, Remus,” he chastised himself in a whisper. He swiped his fingers through his hair.
Luna felt her cheeks grow hot.
Remus glanced towards the incoming weather, but Luna peered at him instead. His tanned skin, warm eyes, and greying hair stood out against the backdrop of violet and slate.
“Maybe we should call it a day,” he said ruefully, still staring at the clouds.
“Can I paint you?”
Remus blinked, appearing startled by the question.
“You paint?”
Luna slid the rucksack off her shoulders, finding the sketchbook she always carried inside. She handed it to Remus. He flipped it open curiously, his eyebrows rising as he turned the first few pages. Luna moved so she could peer at the paintings over his shoulder. Colours smeared and blended over the pages, the forms impressionistic, but recognizable.
“That's Harry,” Luna pointed out.
“It’s wonderful,” Remus spoke lowly. He brushed his fingertips over the mottled emerald and chartreuse of Harry’s eyes, as if he could truly feel the young man through the forms on the page.
He closed the book, and handed it back to Luna.
“You don't want to paint me.”
Luna’s eyebrows creased. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to.”
“I mean, I'm not like that. Like Harry. It would be a shame to ruin your book with my ugly mug.”
Luna scowled.
“I watched you, did you know?” she asked, determined to prove to Remus that he shone as brightly as Harry-as brightly as the sun. “The day before I met you in the clearing. You were sleeping on a log. You looked good. So I watched you. I wanted to paint you then too.”
This time, it was Remus who blushed. Maroon curled up his cheeks, except for the white slashes of his scars.
“Will you let me paint you?” Luna repeated the question.
“All right,” Remus answered, shaking his head resignedly. Yet his eyes were warm, and when Luna caught them with her own, she felt her nerves zing.
A breeze picked up over the hill, rustling the purple stalks and lifting Luna’s hair from her back. Remus pushed his fringe from his eyes.
There was a long moment where Remus stared at her mouth. Luna let it draw out, not wanting to interrupt the possibilities.
Eventually, Remus glanced over his shoulder at the clouds again. She watched his eyebrows curl, his expression growing serious.
“We should probably call it a day.”
Luna peered at the storm, which was drawing closer with the wind. Streaks of grey rain were already falling in the distance. Yet she did not see any flashes of lightning, nor hear its rumbling call. The skin on her arms tingling with purpose, she shoved her sketchbook and her hat into her bag, and took Remus’s hand, making him jump. Without asking, she stared at where the rain poured on the earth, and twisted them away.
The first thing she felt was the pelting of warm raindrops across her bare shoulders and scalp. The roar of slashing rain pelting the earth filled her ears an instant later.
She grinned. She loved rainstorms. Not the dull drizzle of a dreary day, but this: the sky falling in a torrent, the air and earth alive and shouting.
“Where the hell are we? We’re getting soaked!” Remus groaned beside her, having to yell through the pounding rain.
“Doesn't it feel wonderful?” Luna asked, breathless. Still holding his hand, she tugged him onward.
They'd landed in a cow pasture, the beasts lifting their heads from where they sat huddled near the treeline for shelter.
“Luna!” Remus called, laughing, as she dragged him through the short grass, his legs hopping and skipping over cow patties. “What are you doing?”
“Having fun!” Luna called back at him, not stopping until they reached a low stone wall. She let go of Remus’s hand to clamour over it.
On the other side, she looked back to see if he needed help over the wall. But he’d stopped where she’d let him go, staring at her with an amused and baffled expression. The rain had made his hair stick flat to his head. Little rivulets of water coursed down his limbs and torso.
“Are you coming?” Luna called.
Shaking his head in resignation, he climbed over the wall.
“All right, lead on,” he said, smiling down at Luna. Her stomach flopped pleasantly.
She took his hand again, and they ran into the rain.
“Get out of my damn field!” a Muggle farmer shouted at them as they sprinted through his potatoes.
They were gasping, their feet muddy from the sodden earth, and laughing like mischievous children. They veered sharply, hopping over another fence as the Muggle continued shouting about ‘blasted kids.’
Luna hadn't felt so free, so alive in ages. She gulped the damp air down into her lungs, relished the feel of the rain on her skin and the sodden ground squelching between her toes as she ran.
Remus had overtaken her in their sprint, and ahead of her he looked just as exuberant and joyful as she felt.
The Muggle’s voice died away as they scrambled over another wall, and their pace slowed to a march so they could catch their breaths. A wood was up ahead, the land sloping down into another valley stream inside it. The rain had petered out slightly, endless sheets having turned to large drops again.
They were already turning towards the trees when lightning forked above them, lighting up the world with a brilliant white flash. Thunder followed closely behind it, a growling beast of warning.
“The woods! Quickly!” shouted Remus, waving at Luna to follow. She didn’t hesitate, bending low and pumping her legs, her rucksack bouncing on her bare back as she ran.
Together they sprinted into the wood, crashed through the underbrush as another bolt and roar exploded behind them. They finally stopped when they were safely ensconced in the trees. The rain leaked through the canopy in fat drops.
“Well, that was fun. You all right?” asked Remus, chest puffing from their run. He was still grinning, though the high of exuberance was beginning to wane.
Luna nodded, out of breath, her blue eyes intent on the way Remus’s damp skin glistened in the dim light.
“We should be safe here, I think.”
She nodded again.
Remus chuckled, combing back his damp hair from his face with his fingers. “You're being awfully quiet.”
Thunder sounded overhead.
Luna couldn’t think of an answer. She’d never run like that with someone before, not since she was five and her mother chased her around the yard.
She took a step towards Remus, knowing what she wanted to do. It had nothing to do with words. Watching Remus carefully, she took another step. A blush crawled up his cheeks. The white of his scars stood out against the ruddy pink, and without thinking, Luna reached out to trace one of the lines with a pale finger.
Remus looked away, but her fingers followed, trailing another.
“I like them,” she stated, intent on the deepening blush of his cheeks and the slippery feeling of his skin.
“You shouldn't,” Remus croaked. He took hold of her wrist, gently guiding her hand away from his jaw. Held it between them, his eyes locking on hers, dark and shimmering.
“People tell me I shouldn’t do things all the time, and when I ask why, most of the time they can never say. Daddy says it’s because people are afraid-”
“Luna…”
A flash and a boom echoed above them, so loud that they jumped in unison. They landed only an inch apart, so close Luna’s hair stood on end; a thrill went through her at Remus’s proximity, the feeling of his fingers warm on the skin of her wrist.
“Do you want to kiss me?” she asked, rather than close the gap between them. She didn’t want to assume.
His eyes flicked to her lips, and she knew enough about body language to know his answer.
“Luna, I…” his voice petered away into the pounding rain. He dropped her wrist and spun away, showing her his back.
Frowning, Luna reached out and placed a hand on the rise of his shoulder blade.
“Don't,” snapped Remus, shifting further away.
Luna dropped her hand, confused. She was sure he wanted to kiss her. Did he not understand she wanted it too? Was he embarrassed?
Carefully, she stepped around him so she could ask what was the matter; yet her eyes fell not on his face, but on his half-hard erection, which he was attempting to cover with a hand. His other arm was crossed over his chest defensively.
“Oh!” Luna gasped, covering her mouth with her palm. She giggled. That was answer enough.
Remus’s head jerked towards her as another loud boom echoed through the trees.
“Luna, I'm so sorry… I can't…”
And his face twisting as if in pain, he Disapparated, leaving Luna alone with the storm.
Chapter 4: A Spy
The blistering sun returned the next day, but Remus did not.
Luna stood alone in the wooded clearing for thirty minutes before hiking her rucksack up her shoulders and Disapparating away to search for the firebirds on her own.
She returned the next day, and the next, but still Remus did not come.
She was used to people deciding they’d rather not spend time with her-used to friends leaving her the moment someone more popular or less different came along-but for some reason, she found the empty clearing more and more unbearable with each passing day.
The memory of the kiss that had lingered in his eyes burned in her chest.
She’d thought he was different. Knew he was different. So why had he disappeared?
On the fifth day without Remus, Luna decided she would give up her search for the firebirds that day. Instead, she walked back down the path towards the forest’s exit for a few meters, sat down, and pulled out her paints.
She’d intended to paint the trees against the glow of the clearing, but what her brush produced was two brown eyes, so full of emotion she thought they must be tangled like roots inside.
She stared at the smudges of sepia and ochre, alive with a newfound understanding and a sense of determination. She might not be a Gryffindor, but she could be brave when it counted. Like now.
So she put away her things, pulled on her dress and sandals, and Disapparated to Clyst St. Catchpole.
She landed in a narrow lane just outside of the village centre. The road sloped down towards the main square, the church, pub, post office, and a handful of shops hidden by trees and a long bend. The wood where Luna met Remus was on the other side of the village, at the bottom of the valley.
Luna turned in the opposite direction, following the lane up and over the crest of the hill. The narrow, winding road was bordered on one side with trees, and she walked appreciatively in their shade. Remus, Harry, and Sirius lived in a little stone cottage hidden a quarter-mile off the lane, their drive obscured almost entirely by a massive clump of bushes and vines that clung to a tall stone wall. Trees hid the property behind it. She squeezed through the narrow gap that appeared as she approached, taking a quick glance behind her to ensure no Muggles were following.
She’d only been to the cottage once, when the three men had thrown a party shortly after moving in a year ago. Luna spent most of the night sitting in a corner with a glass of sweet wine. Neville and Harry and even Hermione joined her for a few minutes each to chat, but mostly she sat alone, watching everyone as they laughed, and smiled, and got progressively louder and sillier the more they drank. She had a good time.
The cottage looked a bit different now. The plants in the garden had sprouted up to cover the lower portion of the house, and a little shed had been built to the side of the yard, several broomsticks perched next to its door.
The house looked quiet, but just in case Luna darted quickly from the drive before the trees fell away, using their trunks and the underbrush to hide in as she skirted around to the back of the building.
She saw the smooth rise of Remus’s buttocks first, laying in the grass. Her eyes trailed up the curve of his back towards his shoulders, which were raised as he perched on his elbows. His head was bowed forward, but it wasn’t until she moved further along that she could see he was reading a book. He looked concerned, his eyebrows slightly creased and his mouth drawn down as he read. Two fingers held the corner of the page.
Silently, she moved behind the trunk of a tree, watching, wondering if she ought to reveal herself.
A loud pop of Apparition from the front yard forced her decision, and she shrunk back further into the underbrush. Remus lifted his head, peering through the open back door into the cottage. After a few moments, Luna saw the shadow of someone inside, the shape growing bigger and more distinct as they walked down the hallway and into the yard.
“Would you put some bloody clothes on?” Sirius huffed at Remus as he appeared outside. He wore loose-fitting summer robes, and his long hair was tied back into a ponytail. “I'm getting sick of coming home every day to your hairy arse.”
Remus only shrugged, his expression hidden to Luna from her angle.
“I thought you appreciated the male physique,” he stated, his tone not quite sarcastic. He made no motion to move from his spot in the grass.
“I wouldn't date your sorry arse,” Sirius teased, giving the werewolf a playful kick to one cheek. “Why are you here, Remus? I thought you were spending your days galavanting around with Luna Lovegood? You’ve been lying about in the yard all week.”
Even from her distance, Luna could see Remus’s body tense.
“It’s better if I stay away for now,” he muttered.
“Uh oh,” replied Sirius knowingly. Leaning over, he tugged on Remus’s bicep. “Come, on, time to talk to old Sirius-Merlin! Put on some shorts, man.”
Remus glared at his friend, but picked us his wand from the seam of his book and conjured a pair of boxers over his hips.
“Thank you,” said Sirius, and the two men approached a wooden patio set and plunked down in the two closest chairs. Sirius dragged his over so we was sitting closer to Remus, facing him at an angle. Luna could only see part of his face, hidden behind Remus’s head.
“Tell me what happened.”
Remus’s shoulders shifted, stiffened, then slumped. “I nearly kissed her.”
Sirius raised an eyebrow. “And she hexed you? Said she'd rather kiss a hippogryph?”
Remus shook his head.
“She admitted she's already in a relationship with someone more brilliant and attractive than you are?”
“No!” Remus protested, trying to stifle a laugh.
“You're going to have to be a little more forthcoming on the details.”
Remus took a breath, growing serious again.
“She said she liked my scars… we were close, and… she asked if I wanted to kiss her. And of course I wanted to. It was bloody obvious.” Even from the back, she could sense Remus’s pointed stare, and Sirius snorted. “So I… Disapparated.”
Sirius stared at his friend for a moment. “You're telling me that a woman whom you enjoy spending time with, who says she likes your scars, and apparently doesn't mind you frolicking around like some potty pervert, wanted to do things nude people normally do, and you left her there without so much as a see you later?”
“I had to!” Remus shouted, and then his body bowed forward as he buried his face in his hands. “Fuck, Sirius. She's so young… and I'm… well, I'm me.”
Sirius patted him on the back, but his expression was concerned. “A big bloody idiot, is what you are.”
“Sirius!”
“I'm pretty sure she knows you’re a ruddy werewolf, Remus, seeing as she's friends with Harry.”
“She hasn't seen me change.”
“So let her. She's old enough that it didn't bother you to romp around starkers with her.”
Remus groaned. “I never should have let it get this far.”
“Bollocks.”
“And what would you have me do? Doom her to a life of poverty and pain?”
Sirius laughed, and Remus shot him another glare.
“You're so melodramatic, and getting ahead of yourself, as usual. You haven't even kissed the bird yet! You might hate it! In another month you might decide she's as loony as everyone says.”
“She's not crazy,” Remus snapped.
“Okay, so maybe not that,” Sirius backtracked, “but remember what happened when Harry tried to ‘protect’ Ginny Weasley? In a year you'll have defeated the latest Dark Lord, and she’ll hex you within an inch of your life and run off with a gorgeous, big-titted Slytherin.”
Remus laughed. “I hear Ginny’s happy with Pansy.”
“But she could have been happy with Harry too, if he'd given her the chance. You can't make other people’s decisions for them. If you want to be with Luna, and Luna wants to be with you, then let her.”
Sirius leaned back in his chair, giving Remus a cheeky grin. “See how it plays out. It could be that you decide you can’t stand each other come winter, or it could be that she falls in love with your sorry arse and you have adorable little wolf babies and live happily ever after.”
“Sirius!” Remus shouted, his cheeks burning, but his friend only pointed a finger at him.
“You're a Gryffindor. Don't be a bloody coward. Go apologize for being an arse and kiss the woman.”
Sirius stood up, aiming an affectionate smile at his friend. “And while you're at it, would you tell Hermione you'll take that position? I'm sick of being pestered by her every time she comes to the shop.”
With that, he clapped a hand on Remus’s shoulder, and then strode back into the house. “Don’t take your bloody pants off! I'm making us lunch!” he yelled from inside.
Remus snorted, shaking his head, and then ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “Idiot,” he muttered to himself, and then summoned his book from the grass.
In the trees, Luna felt her heart beating quickly. Part of her wanted to run from the trees, but the other was more sensible. She was, after all, not a Gryffindor.
Slipping back the way she came, she exited out onto the lane and Apparated home.
Chapter 5: A Visit
She waited for the full moon.
If Remus went to the clearing to meet her that day, she was not there-hadn’t been, since she’d snuck into his yard. A small part of her-the hurt part and petty part, if she was being honest with herself-wanted him to worry. Just a little. She didn’t plan to let it last long.
It was dark when she Apparated to the lane outside Clyst, the moon already casting its silver glow over the hillside. The night air was hot and sticky, making her dress stick to her back uncomfortably as she walked up the hill, even though she’d left her rucksack at home. Her wand was tucked behind one ear, her feet bare against the still-warm asphalt. Around her, toads chirped and croaked in an opera of sound, warblers joining in with their falsetto call. Beyond that the night was still, the air dead calm.
She turned into the drive, walking up the centre, her pale blue eyes reflecting the moonlight.
A canine yipped up ahead. Close, making her hair stand on end. The rough bark of a dog followed.
She kept her steps even as she reached the end of the drive, where it opened up into a gravel turnabout in front of the cottage. The stone house was a grey box, orange glowing from deep inside the windows. In front of it, two large shadows ran and danced, bouncing on their four legs in play.
Sirius spotted her first, the big black dog pausing to stare. The massive wolf next to him growled playfully, snapping at his muzzle, and then turned his head, growing still.
The dog stepped forward, and his fur fell away like waves as he stretched up back into the form of a man. Sirius paused in front of her.
“You’ll keep him safe?”
Luna nodded.
“He’s an idiot sometimes, but it’s only because he cares,” he added softly with a sad, hopeful expression. With that, he turned away and strode back towards the house, pausing to give Remus a pat between the ears. He whispered something to the wolf, his words too low for Luna to hear, and then left them alone.
In wolf form, Remus was tall-his back nearly up to her shoulders-his fur thick and mottled grey. His yellow eyes glowed brighter than the illuminated windows behind him. His nose twitched as he sniffed the air, and Luna knew he must be gathering her scent. He wasn't like an animagus: he was more than the shape of what he'd become, his senses heightened, the wolf instincts running through his veins, even as his human mind controlled and countered them thanks to the Wolfsbane Potion.
He whined, a long note ending in a whimper.
Luna stepped forward, dropped to her knees, and wrapped her arms into the silky mane around his neck.
“If you never try anything, you’ll never know how free you are,” she whispered.
She felt the muscles shifting beneath his coat, and he pulled backwards. Large, yellow eyes stared at Luna, and in them she recognized the same tangled depths of the man lost inside the beast. His great mouth opened, silver-white sharp teeth exposed.
He licked her.
Luna giggled, closing her eyes as his fat tongue swiped up one cheek in a long stroke and then across her ear.
“You could have done that in the woods, you know,” she chastised him, smiling brightly.
Remus, the wolf, yipped. Whined again. She placed a reassuring hand in his coat.
“It’s all right,” she said seriously, and placed a soft kiss against his muzzle.
They played long into the moonlit night, running and spinning around the cottage and into the trees and the fields just beyond. In wolf form Remus was as fast as a horse, and he galloped circles around her as they ran, bouncing again and again to lick her face, her hands, and rub against her side.
When Luna grew tired, she found a soft patch of grass in the shelter of some trees. Remus laid down first, his eyes following Luna’s movements as she pulled off her dress. Smiling, she lay down next to him, using her folded dress as a pillow and curling her limbs into his soft fur. Her wand she tucked between them. His tongue dragged up her cheek again, gentle, and then he rested his head next to hers, his warm breath tickling her scalp. Burying her face into his furry chest, Luna closed her eyes.
She awoke to bright sun behind her eyelids, her first perception of an orange glow. The second was of a man’s limbs tangled in her own. Remembering the night, she opened her eyes.
Remus lay beside her, already awake and studying her. Tentatively, he brought a finger to brush the hair from her temples.
“Luna, I…”
Luna put a finger to his lips.
“Shh,” she shushed him. She let her fingers move to his cheek, tracing his scars again, and like a mirror, Remus’s hand moved down to cup her cheek.
Luna felt her body heating, watched the anxiety in his expression turn to determination. She closed her eyes.
His kiss was tentative, a feather brushed across her lips. She leaned into it, feeling a zing of exhilaration zoom from her lips down her spine as the kiss deepened, and a low moan reverberated from Remus’s throat.
She felt his excitement brush against her leg, and pulled away to smile at him, enjoying the pink tinge to his cheeks. Her own arousal pooled in the bowl of her pelvis.
This time, she didn’t ask what he wanted, only kissed him deeply, eagerly, while the hot sun watched from overhead.
Luna felt like she floated back to the cottage next to Remus, who insisted they should at least drop in for lunch in order to let Sirius know all was well. But when they reached the house, they found it quiet. Pleased that they didn’t need to put on their clothes, they ate cheese and pickle sandwiches as they stood smiling at each other across the kitchen island, had showers, and then returned to the backyard to lie in the grass.
“Did you find any firebirds this week?” Remus asked softly, weaving his fingers with Luna’s and laying their hands against his chest.
“No,” Luna answered, but not feeling disheartened. “There’s something I should tell you.”
“So say it.” Remus looked worried, but his hand held resolutely to her own.
“I spied on you again,” she admitted, pale eyes looking to judge his expression.
“When was that?” He did not look angry.
“Six days ago. You hadn’t shown up for a while, and I thought you might be feeling bad,” she explained. She squeezed his hand. “I overheard you and Sirius talking about why you left. I’m sorry for eavesdropping.”
“It’s all right. I was a prat to leave you. You deserved an explanation. It should have come from me earlier,” he said ruefully, squeezing her hand back. Luna wrapped her arm around him, closing her eyes and squeezing him close.
“Thank you for coming back last night.” He kissed her, long and lingering.
“Hey, Remus, I forgot to mention I brought home some of the new-oh shit!” Luna lifted her her head to see a sleep-rumpled Sirius, wide-eyed and spluttering. Remus stiffened beside her as Sirius darted behind the safety of the doorjamb.
“You have a bedroom, you know!” he yelled.
“We’re not having sex!” Luna called, pushing herself up to go and find him. She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.
“Luna, wait!”
“Hello, Sirius,” Luna greeted the wizard, who was hiding in the mudroom next to the wall. His eyes widened, scanning down, then up her naked body as she entered.
“We weren’t having sex,” she repeated, smiling.
“Luna… shouldn’t you put on some clothes?”
“There’s nothing wrong with being naked, you know,” Luna informed him, a hand on her hip and blue eyes intense. “It’s quite nice, actually, in the heat.”
Sirius looked as if he was facing a strange beast he’d never encountered before. “I’m sure it is.”
“You should try it sometime. Would you like to come out and speak with Remus? I’ll get us some tea.”
And with that, she turned and glided into the kitchen, pleased that she had sorted everything out.
Grabbing the kettle, she watched through the window Sirius wandering back outside to speak with his friend.
“Your witch is making us tea in the kitchen,” he informed Remus, sounding stunned. “In the nude.”
“It’s like she said, Sirius, it’s quite nice. You should try it sometime.” He sounded amused.
“Bloody hell.”
Luna put the kettle on to boil, not following the rest of the men’s conversation. Remus came in a few minutes later as she was pouring the steaming water into the pot.
“Sirius says he’s going to light off some fireworks tonight. Will you stay?”
The stars were outshone that night in Clyst St. Catchpole. Great glittering orbs bloomed against the black, lighting the sky up with red, blue, and gold. Pinwheels and silver stars frolicked and danced.
Luna stood next to Remus, watching with a contented smile on her face. Remus had his arm hooked around her shoulder, and she had her own around his waist.
In front of them, Sirius’s bare bum was on display as he bent to light of a firecracker. It rocketed out from the tube with a massive bang, and then exploded into a million zooming spirals. Harry stood nearby, and gave a loud whoop, his bare skin reflecting the glittering red light.
Luna had spent dinner explaining how she and Remus had met, and how comfortable and free she felt now that she had taken to naturism.
“There’s no harm in trying,” she’d told them at the end. “It’s natural, after all.”
Leaning into Remus as Sirius set off another blue Catherine wheel, Luna heard a great whoosh and a crow come from behind the trees. She shifted her gaze just in time to see a massive orange bird rocket into the air.
Four times the size of a phoenix, its tail of flame left a stream of sparks across the night sky as it soared towards the pinwheel, curling its wings to glide and twist alongside it.
“What the bloody hell is that?” Sirius shouted.
“It’s a firebird,” Luna said with a bright smile.
“Light off some more!” Remus called. “It likes the fireworks!”
Shrugging, Sirius stuck a giant cracker in the earth and tapped it with his wand. A great dragon, the same size as the firebird, erupted from the end with a roar, twisting towards the firebird.
Grinning, he strode towards Luna and Remus to watch the two fiery beasts dance in the sky, Harry joining them so they all stood in a row. Sirius clapped a hand on Remus’s shoulder.
Faces alight with light, they watched the firebird consume the dragon in one long gulp. The creature crowed proudly, beating its wings as it took off back where it came. Standing in the grass, the four humans felt a wave of warm wind blowing over their bare skin. Luna heard Sirius sigh contentedly.
“You know Remus,” he said, “this naked thing isn’t half bad.”
Author/Artist: hikorichan
Prompt: # O42 After the war Remus is all about communing with nature.
Pairing(s): Remus/Luna
Word Count: 8,900, with illustrations created in pencil/Procreate app.
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): nudity
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: If it isn’t obvious, this ignores bunches of canon where I found it convenient for the story. Thank you to my betas, A, M, and L.
Summary: While searching for lost firebirds that are heating up Devon, Luna stumbles upon naturist Remus Lupin.
Chapter 1: A Discovery
That summer was uncharacteristically hot for Devon. Rolling pastures turned golden brown and brittle, and the leaves on the trees and bushes wilted in the endless heat. There seemed to be no end to the heat wave, weeks passing by with skyrocketing temperatures.
The only explanation for the odd weather, Luna Lovegood and her father agreed, was a flock of firebirds. They didn't usually come so far west, but perhaps the winds had changed during their migration, and once they reached Devon, the fireworks had enticed them to stay. Even more than a year later, people were still celebrating the fall of the Dark Lord, at least around Ottery St. Catchpole. Luna liked to watch the sparkling lights in the distance from her bedroom window and imagine a flock of firebirds somewhere nearby doing the same.
Luna hadn't seen one yet, but she was determined to find one.
Each morning, she waved goodbye to her father after breakfast, and went to search the nearby fields until dinnertime.
The heat didn't bother her. She liked the short, flowing sundresses it let her wear. They made her feel like a child again-when her mum would dress her up and they would go to the beach near Exmouth. A large straw sunhat shaded her face as she walked, making her shadow look like a balloon with legs. Sometimes on her way home in the evenings she’d put her back to the sun and stretch her arms out, just to see what strange shapes she could make.
July crept by with nothing to show for it, not even a feather. Having explored most of the fields in the area, she decided as August began to try the forests. Her first destination was a small wood near Clyst St Catchpole, a little speck of a village several miles from the main town of Ottery. She thought the dragonflies that congregated near the clear stream shadowed by the trees might have drawn the birds close with their colourful bodies.
She Apparated to the edge of the wood, where a low stone wall marked the barrier between the stretches of wilting and yellowed fields and the trees. Smiling, she tucked her wand into the brim of her hat, and scrambled over the wall. It was noticeably cooler in the shade, and Luna sighed contentedly.
The underbrush was sparse, the trees a mixture of oak, ash, and pine. Luna had no problem picking her way along, her goal the stream at the centre of the wood. She kept her eyes peeled for signs of firebirds-burnt branches or singed leaves or lost wing feathers-but spotted nothing as she continued. The crunch of the forest floor and the chattering of birds made a pleasant soundtrack as she walked along, and though she craved to see brilliant orange plumage, she wasn't disappointed with the scenery. A “pretty little wood,” her mother would have called it, when she was alive.
Soon, Luna began to hear the soft gurgling of a slowly running stream. She slowed her steps, not wanting to scare off any creatures that might be drawn to the water’s edge.
The forest thickened as she grew nearer, the plants not so hampered by the heat so close to the water source. Luna kept her ears perked and her eyes peeled.
The land began to drop, and-there! The sound of an animal. Growling… or perhaps sniffing something very loudly. A mating call?
Her steps grew to a crawl, her back hunching as she turned and crept towards the sound. A thick copse of trees was ahead, the water just a little ways away down a slope. Luna peered around a tree.
Well, she thought, that is definitely not a firebird.
It was even more startling. For there, pointed in her direction, was what could only be described as a very shapely bum. It's owner was asleep, his naked body draped over the trunk of a fallen tree. His golden skin was marred with dozens of long scars, as if he'd been mauled by a grizzly bear.
Eyes trailing up to his face, she recognized him immediately as her old professor, Remus Lupin.
She could see his profile, his long eyelashes resting against his scarred cheeks. The noise was his snoring.
She knew the werewolf now lived with Sirius and Harry in a small cottage on the outskirts of Clyst, close enough to Ottery to pop over to The Burrow, yet far enough from anything for peace-and peaceful was how Remus appeared while he slept.
Luna knew she shouldn’t spy on Remus in such a vulnerable state, but she could not help but linger and let her eyes roam over his body. He had a wiry frame, but it was his bum that captivated most of her attention. It was marred only by a short scar across the left cheek, and a trail of fine hair dipped down into his crack from a pool at the small of his back. It was lovely and round, the curves catching the scattered light that filtered through the canopy. She would have liked to touch it, but she did not dare move from her hiding place.
By his appearance, it would be a crime to wake him. So instead she catalogued a fine memory of him lying there, and then turned and crept back through the trees.
Rather than continue her search for the firebirds, she Apparated to a small hill she knew nearby. She hiked up the grassy ridge to the top, which gave a panoramic view of the land below. Squares of farmland spread out in all directions like a jigsaw puzzle, interrupted by venous roads and lumpy grey villages. She could see the small church steeple of Clyst in the distance and the wood just beyond it, and wondered if Remus continued sleeping.
Smiling at the thought of his naked form, she reclined against a rock and pulled her rucksack to her side. The sun was hot on her pale skin; beads of sweat dotted the creases in her arms and legs, and where the brim of her hat met her forehead. Even though she liked the sun, a little part of her envied Remus’s patch of shade. Picking up her wand, she cast a Cooling Charm on her hat, and felt a shiver of pleasant coldness spread down her spine. Slipping her trainers and socks from her feet, she buried her toes in the short, spiky grass; she smiled as it tickled the pads of her feet.
Content that she would not get heatstroke, she pulled out a sketchbook, a roll of paintbrushes, a small cup, and a little travel palette from her pack, setting it all around her within easy reach. She filled the cup with water with a quick Aguamenti, and pulled a brush from the roll.
Settling more firmly against the rock, she looked again towards Clyst and the little wood beyond.
Dipping her brush into the palette, she began to paint.
Chapter 2: A Meeting
Having made poor progress, Luna decided to return to the same wood the next day.
The air settled around her like a stifling, heavy blanket as soon as she exited the shade of the front stoop. It had grown even hotter overnight, indicating the firebird chicks might be hatching; she’d been able to sleep in her room on the top floor thanks only to a Cooling Charm on her pillow and a Blowing Charm near the open window.
In the bright morning sun, she doubted even a charm on her hat would keep her comfortable, so Apparated straight away to Clyst and its woods’ soothing shade.
She began her hike on the opposite side from the day previous, the path weaving more languorously through the trees than the one she took the day before. She kept her ears and eyes perked as always, this time also paying attention for the sound of snoring.
As she worked her way towards the river, a clearing appeared in the centre of the wood. From down the path, the dappled sunlight through the canopy made it glow yellow and chartreuse against the shadows of the trunks and underbrush blocking her way, like someone had lit up the circle of forest with a Lumos.
Part of her wanted to stop and paint it, but the other thought that where there was light, there might also be fire, and so she kept walking, slowing her steps.
Around the bend, she was delighted to see something was lying in the grass.
“Luna!” came a male voice, the shape moving abruptly.
Luna blinked, and found Remus sitting on the ground, all but gaping at her. It took her only a moment to notice he was once again naked beneath his legs and arms, which crossed over his body like protective clothing. He sat in a little patch of sunlit grass; it looked pressed down around him, as if he'd been lying down. She couldn't get a good view of his body through his limbs, but she could just make out a patch of hair on his chest and one dusk-coloured nipple.
“Hello, Remus,” she greeted him. She took a step closer, and Remus shrank back. “I'm sorry if I startled you.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Looking for firebirds.”
Remus’s arms tightened more securely around him.
“Were you suntanning?” Luna asked curiously.
“No,” answered Remus. “I-er…”
His cheeks went pink.
“I've seen naked men before. You don't need to be embarrassed.”
“I’m sure you have. I mean-er-sorry, I didn't mean it that way.” He swiped a hand nervously through his shaggy brown hair, and then seemed to realize he had revealed part of his chest, and snapped it back over himself.
Luna blinked at him, unoffended and curious.
“Were you sleeping?” she asked, thinking the naps might be a pattern.
“Sirius and Harry aren't fond of having me around the house,” Remus answered, shifting uncomfortably. His movements gave Luna a glimpse of his scrotum between his legs.
“I thought you all got on.”
“No, that's not it,” said Remus, shaking his head. “They just don't like seeing me naked. That’s why I’m here.”
“Why don't you put clothes on?”
“I don't like to. They feel… restricting.” He shrugged a narrow shoulder.
Luna contemplated his statement. She’d never really thought about her clothes before, except how she liked the way her dress would fly upwards like an umbrella when she spun. Just then, however, its fabric was stuck to a patch of sweat the size of her rucksack. Her bra was a damp, uncomfortable band across her ribs. Without a breeze, her knickers felt striped with sweat.
In front of her, Remus finally uncrossed his arms from his chest, and put them over his lap. Aside from his anxiety, he seemed comfortable.
She’d also heard that being naked could bring you closer to nature. Perhaps that was the edge she needed to locate the firebirds.
The ground did look soft and inviting. Protected by the forest, it was still green, with soft moss and clover sprouting between bunches of grass.
Carefully placing her rucksack, hat, and wand on the ground, Luna grasped the bottom of her dress and pulled it over her head.
“Wha-what are you doing?” asked Remus in a shaky voice, his spine stiffening and his eyes widening to saucers.
Luna folded up her dress as she spoke. “Getting naked. You don’t mind, do you?”
She bent, losing sight of Remus as she put her dress into her bag. Not hearing a reply, she pulled off her sandals next, then her knickers and her bra.
Hands on her hips, she peered at Remus, whose head was turned to the side, though his eyes flicked towards her and back again.
“You’re awfully shy for a naturist,” she commented.
Plopping down next to him, she stretched out in the grass on her back, spreading her arms above her head. Except for the odd stick or two, the ground was soft, the grass cool against her exposed skin. Above her, bright green leaves sparkled in the mottled light, hints of the blue sky revealed through their shapes.
“Most people don’t appreciate nudity.”
Luna turned her head so she could peer at Remus. He’d shifted so one leg was bent in front of his body, his arms wrapped around it; his other remained crossed in front of him. She could see more of him now: scars over his chest similar to the ones on his back; little rolls of skin where his belly folded forward to lean on his leg; square, bony knees; and legs dusted with dark hair.
“I’ve been told I’m not like most people,” stated Luna truthfully. ‘Loony,’ ‘odd,’ ‘a bit off’ was what people usually said when they thought she wasn’t listening. “Anyway, I don’t mind. You can lie down, if you want.”
She saw Remus’s eyes graze over her body before he lay himself out tentatively beside her. Being looked at didn’t bother Luna; it was only natural to be curious, and she’d never felt badly about her body like many of her classmates. It was long and willowy, her breasts small but with large nipples that tilted upwards, and her stomach was slightly round. Light brown hair, not dirty blonde like her head, covered her mons.
“Have you always felt restricted by clothes?” she asked Remus. She didn’t know much about him, except what knew from school or learned from Harry; she’d only seen him a handful of times outside of her second year at Hogwarts.
“Not always,” Remus explained. “I suppose it’s been more recent.”
“People change all the time,” Luna stated, hoping he wouldn’t feel strange for it. “I used to hate eating pickles, and now I don’t like a cheese sandwich without them.”
She heard Remus snort next to her.
“I suppose you’re right,” he said, sounding amused.
They both lay for several minutes, listening to the sounds of the forest and staring at circle of blue and green overhead. Slowly, very slowly, she felt Remus relax beside her.
“Aren’t firebirds from Russia?”
Luna turned her head, and found Remus peering at her with curious brown eyes.
“Most of eastern Europe. We think they got lost migrating this year. That's why it's so hot,” Luna stated matter-of-factly. She might not have seen the birds yet, but she was sure they were around. “With all the fireworks, it's no surprise.”
“I'll have to tell Sirius he's contributing to abnormal species behaviour. He brings home the bloody things from the shop constantly,” Remus mused, and Luna remembered Harry telling her that Sirius had taken a job at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes since his name had been cleared. “He says it's ‘worth celebrating being free and happy’,” he added with a note of sarcasm.
“You don't think so?”
Remus met her eyes with a serious expression.
“I suppose it depends on how free you feel.”
Emotion flickered in the darkness of his pupils.
“Are you working?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Not really. I help Daddy at printing time, and sometimes write an article or two.” She shrugged, and Remus rolled to stare at the canopy again.
“I didn't know what I wanted to do at your age either-not that there were really many options.”
“That's not it,” Luna corrected him. “I want to travel and research magical creatures, but with everything that happened last year, I can't leave Daddy alone yet.”
“You could work at the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.” He said the name of the Ministry department with a rasp of tension in his voice, and Luna concluded the werewolf’s dealings with them could not have been pleasant.
“Hermione’s working there now,” she stated. If any witch could make it better, it was Hermione Granger.
“Oh, I know. She tries to recruit me at least once a fortnight.”
“She wants to make a difference.” She'd heard Hermione speaking passionately about her goals to rewrite the laws pertaining to werewolves, house elves, and other magical beings. Luna agreed with her for the most part, though her own interests tended towards stranger, rare sorts of creatures.
“I appreciate her trying, but the old blokes in charge are never going to allow werewolves to live without restriction.” Luna could hear the resentment and resignation in his voice. His shoulders stiffened.
She only smiled and said, “Don't underestimate Hermione.”
“I don't,” Remus responded defensively. “But I've been here before, and know how it always turns out.”
“If we always knew how things turned out, life would be very dull, don’t you think?” Luna asked, thinking Remus had an awfully negative perspective on things. “I like surprises.”
Remus opened his mouth, looking as if he was about to retort, then snapped it shut.
After a few minutes, he said, “You didn't say why you don't apply to the Ministry.”
“Oh, an office job isn't for me. I'd feel far too…” She paused, a smile spreading over her face. “Restricted.”
Remus snorted, and Luna laughed loudly at her own joke.
When their chuckles subsided, Luna sighed contentedly, feeling any lingering tension slide from her limbs.
“You were right,” she said, stretching her fingers and toes in the grass, “this does feel better.”
“You should tell that to Sirius and Harry.”
Luna rolled over, resting her ear in her hand. “I can, if you like.”
Remus shook his head emphatically. “No, really. I wasn’t serious.” He peered into her face, and Luna noticed a thin scar tracing the corner of his right eye.
“Do you want help looking for the firebirds?” He looked entirely serious.
“That would be wonderful!” Luna exclaimed, surprised but happy at his offer. She sat up, and Remus followed her.
“I was hoping to find the river. Do you know where it is?” she asked excitedly, standing up and brushing bits of grass and moss from her skin. She picked up her rucksack and shoved her hat on her head.
“Do I look funny?” she asked, giggling as she imagined how she appeared standing naked under the shadow of the straw hat.
Remus still sat on the ground, his legs once more shielding him, though looking more relaxed than when she'd first found him. He stared up at her, her hat making a circle of shade across his face. She watched his chest rise and fall with a deep breath, and then he stood.
“You look fine.”
She smiled at him, eyes roaming over his torso. Remus shifted uncomfortably in front her her, his gaze darting between her body and her face and the woods behind her.
“The river?” Luna asked again when she'd finished attaching his front half to his back in her mind.
“This way,” he said, looking relieved, and waved her towards a path on the opposite side from where she'd entered the clearing.
The river was only short walk beyond the clearing, down a gentle slope that tapered onto a rocky flat that would be covered with water in winter. The stream trickled along on its narrower course, as lazy in the hot summer heat as the creatures that drank from it. A few damselflies drifted sleepily along its banks.
Luna’s eyes scanned the area, but once again found no traces of the birds she sought.
“No firebirds?” Remus asked beside her.
“Not here.”
“It’s a fair sized wood.”
Luna nodded, stepping out on the smooth rocks that lined the bank. They were cool on the soles of her feet. She left her rucksack on a large boulder, and continued towards the water, leaving Remus standing on the rooted bank.
The stream was glassy except for a few ripples, the twisted trees reflected in its course. Pleased she didn’t have to worry about getting her clothes wet, she dipped her toes into the water.
“It feels wonderful. Do you come here and swim?” she asked, wondering if any of it was deep enough to go for a dunk. She waded out further, but found it only reached her calves.
“Sometimes,” answered Remus noncommittally from the bank.
“Will you show me more of the wood?” Luna asked, turning around to face him. He looked awkward again, standing on the bank, and so she gave him her best smile.
Remus’s lips twitched, and then rose in reply.
“Sure. Of course. What do you want to see?”
Chapter 3: A Storm
Luna was surprised when Remus offered to help her continue her search for the firebirds. Most people, she found, could only handle her in small doses. Even her few friends often changed the subject when she brought up magical creatures. None of them had ever offered to aid her, not even when she told them their homes were infested with nargles or bumblefleas.
Her heart thumped with excitement as she left to meet him the next day. They'd scoured most of the small wood, but Remus said there was another close by.
Luna arrived early to their meeting spot, the little clearing where she'd stumbled upon him the day before. Quickly, she shucked off her dress and put it in her bag; she hadn't bothered with undergarments, knowing whom she was meeting. It still felt a little strange to be starkers, but she understood that was only because it was new. After a few minutes of the forest air on her skin, her long hair brushing against her back, she relaxed. She moved into the darker shadows of the trees to wait, enjoying the same odd rush of freedom she’d felt yesterday.
Remus was right on time, his tanned, scarred body popping into sight a few metres from where Luna stood.
“Good morning,” Luna called, waving.
Remus’s eyes flashed over her body, as if he was surprised to find her nude again. Just as quickly, he smiled and then walked towards her with a spring in his step.
“Shall we?” he asked, holding out his arm for her to take.
Luna placed her hand gently on his forearm, a little rush shooting through her.
“I tried sleeping naked last night,” she told him. “It was much better too.”
Remus met her eyes, his smile widening, and then whisked them away with a loud pop.
Together they spent the next two weeks searching for the firebirds, traipsing through woods and streams and fields, with nothing but darkening tans to show for it. The sun remained a burning beacon above them as they went, until one afternoon when dark clouds began to form on the horizon, casting a dark shadow over the hills beneath it.
They stood in a field of lavender, bright purple rows contrasting the golden orb that still shone above them.
“It looks like it might storm later, if those come this way,” Remus commented, frowning at the coming gloom. “Does that mean the firebirds are gone?”
Luna shook her head. “Hot air makes storms. The chicks might have hatched.”
“It's not thunderbirds?” Remus teased, making Luna frown.
“Thunderbirds live in Canada, near the Pacific,” she told him flatly.
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to sound like I was taking the piss,” Remus apologized quickly. “I believe you about the firebirds-it's not like I'm here just to hang out with a pretty naked woman-“
He chuckled, and then his expression shifted to horror. “I didn't mean-I'm sorry,” he stammered. “Merlin, Remus,” he chastised himself in a whisper. He swiped his fingers through his hair.
Luna felt her cheeks grow hot.
Remus glanced towards the incoming weather, but Luna peered at him instead. His tanned skin, warm eyes, and greying hair stood out against the backdrop of violet and slate.
“Maybe we should call it a day,” he said ruefully, still staring at the clouds.
“Can I paint you?”
Remus blinked, appearing startled by the question.
“You paint?”
Luna slid the rucksack off her shoulders, finding the sketchbook she always carried inside. She handed it to Remus. He flipped it open curiously, his eyebrows rising as he turned the first few pages. Luna moved so she could peer at the paintings over his shoulder. Colours smeared and blended over the pages, the forms impressionistic, but recognizable.
“That's Harry,” Luna pointed out.
“It’s wonderful,” Remus spoke lowly. He brushed his fingertips over the mottled emerald and chartreuse of Harry’s eyes, as if he could truly feel the young man through the forms on the page.
He closed the book, and handed it back to Luna.
“You don't want to paint me.”
Luna’s eyebrows creased. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to.”
“I mean, I'm not like that. Like Harry. It would be a shame to ruin your book with my ugly mug.”
Luna scowled.
“I watched you, did you know?” she asked, determined to prove to Remus that he shone as brightly as Harry-as brightly as the sun. “The day before I met you in the clearing. You were sleeping on a log. You looked good. So I watched you. I wanted to paint you then too.”
This time, it was Remus who blushed. Maroon curled up his cheeks, except for the white slashes of his scars.
“Will you let me paint you?” Luna repeated the question.
“All right,” Remus answered, shaking his head resignedly. Yet his eyes were warm, and when Luna caught them with her own, she felt her nerves zing.
A breeze picked up over the hill, rustling the purple stalks and lifting Luna’s hair from her back. Remus pushed his fringe from his eyes.
There was a long moment where Remus stared at her mouth. Luna let it draw out, not wanting to interrupt the possibilities.
Eventually, Remus glanced over his shoulder at the clouds again. She watched his eyebrows curl, his expression growing serious.
“We should probably call it a day.”
Luna peered at the storm, which was drawing closer with the wind. Streaks of grey rain were already falling in the distance. Yet she did not see any flashes of lightning, nor hear its rumbling call. The skin on her arms tingling with purpose, she shoved her sketchbook and her hat into her bag, and took Remus’s hand, making him jump. Without asking, she stared at where the rain poured on the earth, and twisted them away.
The first thing she felt was the pelting of warm raindrops across her bare shoulders and scalp. The roar of slashing rain pelting the earth filled her ears an instant later.
She grinned. She loved rainstorms. Not the dull drizzle of a dreary day, but this: the sky falling in a torrent, the air and earth alive and shouting.
“Where the hell are we? We’re getting soaked!” Remus groaned beside her, having to yell through the pounding rain.
“Doesn't it feel wonderful?” Luna asked, breathless. Still holding his hand, she tugged him onward.
They'd landed in a cow pasture, the beasts lifting their heads from where they sat huddled near the treeline for shelter.
“Luna!” Remus called, laughing, as she dragged him through the short grass, his legs hopping and skipping over cow patties. “What are you doing?”
“Having fun!” Luna called back at him, not stopping until they reached a low stone wall. She let go of Remus’s hand to clamour over it.
On the other side, she looked back to see if he needed help over the wall. But he’d stopped where she’d let him go, staring at her with an amused and baffled expression. The rain had made his hair stick flat to his head. Little rivulets of water coursed down his limbs and torso.
“Are you coming?” Luna called.
Shaking his head in resignation, he climbed over the wall.
“All right, lead on,” he said, smiling down at Luna. Her stomach flopped pleasantly.
She took his hand again, and they ran into the rain.
“Get out of my damn field!” a Muggle farmer shouted at them as they sprinted through his potatoes.
They were gasping, their feet muddy from the sodden earth, and laughing like mischievous children. They veered sharply, hopping over another fence as the Muggle continued shouting about ‘blasted kids.’
Luna hadn't felt so free, so alive in ages. She gulped the damp air down into her lungs, relished the feel of the rain on her skin and the sodden ground squelching between her toes as she ran.
Remus had overtaken her in their sprint, and ahead of her he looked just as exuberant and joyful as she felt.
The Muggle’s voice died away as they scrambled over another wall, and their pace slowed to a march so they could catch their breaths. A wood was up ahead, the land sloping down into another valley stream inside it. The rain had petered out slightly, endless sheets having turned to large drops again.
They were already turning towards the trees when lightning forked above them, lighting up the world with a brilliant white flash. Thunder followed closely behind it, a growling beast of warning.
“The woods! Quickly!” shouted Remus, waving at Luna to follow. She didn’t hesitate, bending low and pumping her legs, her rucksack bouncing on her bare back as she ran.
Together they sprinted into the wood, crashed through the underbrush as another bolt and roar exploded behind them. They finally stopped when they were safely ensconced in the trees. The rain leaked through the canopy in fat drops.
“Well, that was fun. You all right?” asked Remus, chest puffing from their run. He was still grinning, though the high of exuberance was beginning to wane.
Luna nodded, out of breath, her blue eyes intent on the way Remus’s damp skin glistened in the dim light.
“We should be safe here, I think.”
She nodded again.
Remus chuckled, combing back his damp hair from his face with his fingers. “You're being awfully quiet.”
Thunder sounded overhead.
Luna couldn’t think of an answer. She’d never run like that with someone before, not since she was five and her mother chased her around the yard.
She took a step towards Remus, knowing what she wanted to do. It had nothing to do with words. Watching Remus carefully, she took another step. A blush crawled up his cheeks. The white of his scars stood out against the ruddy pink, and without thinking, Luna reached out to trace one of the lines with a pale finger.
Remus looked away, but her fingers followed, trailing another.
“I like them,” she stated, intent on the deepening blush of his cheeks and the slippery feeling of his skin.
“You shouldn't,” Remus croaked. He took hold of her wrist, gently guiding her hand away from his jaw. Held it between them, his eyes locking on hers, dark and shimmering.
“People tell me I shouldn’t do things all the time, and when I ask why, most of the time they can never say. Daddy says it’s because people are afraid-”
“Luna…”
A flash and a boom echoed above them, so loud that they jumped in unison. They landed only an inch apart, so close Luna’s hair stood on end; a thrill went through her at Remus’s proximity, the feeling of his fingers warm on the skin of her wrist.
“Do you want to kiss me?” she asked, rather than close the gap between them. She didn’t want to assume.
His eyes flicked to her lips, and she knew enough about body language to know his answer.
“Luna, I…” his voice petered away into the pounding rain. He dropped her wrist and spun away, showing her his back.
Frowning, Luna reached out and placed a hand on the rise of his shoulder blade.
“Don't,” snapped Remus, shifting further away.
Luna dropped her hand, confused. She was sure he wanted to kiss her. Did he not understand she wanted it too? Was he embarrassed?
Carefully, she stepped around him so she could ask what was the matter; yet her eyes fell not on his face, but on his half-hard erection, which he was attempting to cover with a hand. His other arm was crossed over his chest defensively.
“Oh!” Luna gasped, covering her mouth with her palm. She giggled. That was answer enough.
Remus’s head jerked towards her as another loud boom echoed through the trees.
“Luna, I'm so sorry… I can't…”
And his face twisting as if in pain, he Disapparated, leaving Luna alone with the storm.
Chapter 4: A Spy
The blistering sun returned the next day, but Remus did not.
Luna stood alone in the wooded clearing for thirty minutes before hiking her rucksack up her shoulders and Disapparating away to search for the firebirds on her own.
She returned the next day, and the next, but still Remus did not come.
She was used to people deciding they’d rather not spend time with her-used to friends leaving her the moment someone more popular or less different came along-but for some reason, she found the empty clearing more and more unbearable with each passing day.
The memory of the kiss that had lingered in his eyes burned in her chest.
She’d thought he was different. Knew he was different. So why had he disappeared?
On the fifth day without Remus, Luna decided she would give up her search for the firebirds that day. Instead, she walked back down the path towards the forest’s exit for a few meters, sat down, and pulled out her paints.
She’d intended to paint the trees against the glow of the clearing, but what her brush produced was two brown eyes, so full of emotion she thought they must be tangled like roots inside.
She stared at the smudges of sepia and ochre, alive with a newfound understanding and a sense of determination. She might not be a Gryffindor, but she could be brave when it counted. Like now.
So she put away her things, pulled on her dress and sandals, and Disapparated to Clyst St. Catchpole.
She landed in a narrow lane just outside of the village centre. The road sloped down towards the main square, the church, pub, post office, and a handful of shops hidden by trees and a long bend. The wood where Luna met Remus was on the other side of the village, at the bottom of the valley.
Luna turned in the opposite direction, following the lane up and over the crest of the hill. The narrow, winding road was bordered on one side with trees, and she walked appreciatively in their shade. Remus, Harry, and Sirius lived in a little stone cottage hidden a quarter-mile off the lane, their drive obscured almost entirely by a massive clump of bushes and vines that clung to a tall stone wall. Trees hid the property behind it. She squeezed through the narrow gap that appeared as she approached, taking a quick glance behind her to ensure no Muggles were following.
She’d only been to the cottage once, when the three men had thrown a party shortly after moving in a year ago. Luna spent most of the night sitting in a corner with a glass of sweet wine. Neville and Harry and even Hermione joined her for a few minutes each to chat, but mostly she sat alone, watching everyone as they laughed, and smiled, and got progressively louder and sillier the more they drank. She had a good time.
The cottage looked a bit different now. The plants in the garden had sprouted up to cover the lower portion of the house, and a little shed had been built to the side of the yard, several broomsticks perched next to its door.
The house looked quiet, but just in case Luna darted quickly from the drive before the trees fell away, using their trunks and the underbrush to hide in as she skirted around to the back of the building.
She saw the smooth rise of Remus’s buttocks first, laying in the grass. Her eyes trailed up the curve of his back towards his shoulders, which were raised as he perched on his elbows. His head was bowed forward, but it wasn’t until she moved further along that she could see he was reading a book. He looked concerned, his eyebrows slightly creased and his mouth drawn down as he read. Two fingers held the corner of the page.
Silently, she moved behind the trunk of a tree, watching, wondering if she ought to reveal herself.
A loud pop of Apparition from the front yard forced her decision, and she shrunk back further into the underbrush. Remus lifted his head, peering through the open back door into the cottage. After a few moments, Luna saw the shadow of someone inside, the shape growing bigger and more distinct as they walked down the hallway and into the yard.
“Would you put some bloody clothes on?” Sirius huffed at Remus as he appeared outside. He wore loose-fitting summer robes, and his long hair was tied back into a ponytail. “I'm getting sick of coming home every day to your hairy arse.”
Remus only shrugged, his expression hidden to Luna from her angle.
“I thought you appreciated the male physique,” he stated, his tone not quite sarcastic. He made no motion to move from his spot in the grass.
“I wouldn't date your sorry arse,” Sirius teased, giving the werewolf a playful kick to one cheek. “Why are you here, Remus? I thought you were spending your days galavanting around with Luna Lovegood? You’ve been lying about in the yard all week.”
Even from her distance, Luna could see Remus’s body tense.
“It’s better if I stay away for now,” he muttered.
“Uh oh,” replied Sirius knowingly. Leaning over, he tugged on Remus’s bicep. “Come, on, time to talk to old Sirius-Merlin! Put on some shorts, man.”
Remus glared at his friend, but picked us his wand from the seam of his book and conjured a pair of boxers over his hips.
“Thank you,” said Sirius, and the two men approached a wooden patio set and plunked down in the two closest chairs. Sirius dragged his over so we was sitting closer to Remus, facing him at an angle. Luna could only see part of his face, hidden behind Remus’s head.
“Tell me what happened.”
Remus’s shoulders shifted, stiffened, then slumped. “I nearly kissed her.”
Sirius raised an eyebrow. “And she hexed you? Said she'd rather kiss a hippogryph?”
Remus shook his head.
“She admitted she's already in a relationship with someone more brilliant and attractive than you are?”
“No!” Remus protested, trying to stifle a laugh.
“You're going to have to be a little more forthcoming on the details.”
Remus took a breath, growing serious again.
“She said she liked my scars… we were close, and… she asked if I wanted to kiss her. And of course I wanted to. It was bloody obvious.” Even from the back, she could sense Remus’s pointed stare, and Sirius snorted. “So I… Disapparated.”
Sirius stared at his friend for a moment. “You're telling me that a woman whom you enjoy spending time with, who says she likes your scars, and apparently doesn't mind you frolicking around like some potty pervert, wanted to do things nude people normally do, and you left her there without so much as a see you later?”
“I had to!” Remus shouted, and then his body bowed forward as he buried his face in his hands. “Fuck, Sirius. She's so young… and I'm… well, I'm me.”
Sirius patted him on the back, but his expression was concerned. “A big bloody idiot, is what you are.”
“Sirius!”
“I'm pretty sure she knows you’re a ruddy werewolf, Remus, seeing as she's friends with Harry.”
“She hasn't seen me change.”
“So let her. She's old enough that it didn't bother you to romp around starkers with her.”
Remus groaned. “I never should have let it get this far.”
“Bollocks.”
“And what would you have me do? Doom her to a life of poverty and pain?”
Sirius laughed, and Remus shot him another glare.
“You're so melodramatic, and getting ahead of yourself, as usual. You haven't even kissed the bird yet! You might hate it! In another month you might decide she's as loony as everyone says.”
“She's not crazy,” Remus snapped.
“Okay, so maybe not that,” Sirius backtracked, “but remember what happened when Harry tried to ‘protect’ Ginny Weasley? In a year you'll have defeated the latest Dark Lord, and she’ll hex you within an inch of your life and run off with a gorgeous, big-titted Slytherin.”
Remus laughed. “I hear Ginny’s happy with Pansy.”
“But she could have been happy with Harry too, if he'd given her the chance. You can't make other people’s decisions for them. If you want to be with Luna, and Luna wants to be with you, then let her.”
Sirius leaned back in his chair, giving Remus a cheeky grin. “See how it plays out. It could be that you decide you can’t stand each other come winter, or it could be that she falls in love with your sorry arse and you have adorable little wolf babies and live happily ever after.”
“Sirius!” Remus shouted, his cheeks burning, but his friend only pointed a finger at him.
“You're a Gryffindor. Don't be a bloody coward. Go apologize for being an arse and kiss the woman.”
Sirius stood up, aiming an affectionate smile at his friend. “And while you're at it, would you tell Hermione you'll take that position? I'm sick of being pestered by her every time she comes to the shop.”
With that, he clapped a hand on Remus’s shoulder, and then strode back into the house. “Don’t take your bloody pants off! I'm making us lunch!” he yelled from inside.
Remus snorted, shaking his head, and then ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “Idiot,” he muttered to himself, and then summoned his book from the grass.
In the trees, Luna felt her heart beating quickly. Part of her wanted to run from the trees, but the other was more sensible. She was, after all, not a Gryffindor.
Slipping back the way she came, she exited out onto the lane and Apparated home.
Chapter 5: A Visit
She waited for the full moon.
If Remus went to the clearing to meet her that day, she was not there-hadn’t been, since she’d snuck into his yard. A small part of her-the hurt part and petty part, if she was being honest with herself-wanted him to worry. Just a little. She didn’t plan to let it last long.
It was dark when she Apparated to the lane outside Clyst, the moon already casting its silver glow over the hillside. The night air was hot and sticky, making her dress stick to her back uncomfortably as she walked up the hill, even though she’d left her rucksack at home. Her wand was tucked behind one ear, her feet bare against the still-warm asphalt. Around her, toads chirped and croaked in an opera of sound, warblers joining in with their falsetto call. Beyond that the night was still, the air dead calm.
She turned into the drive, walking up the centre, her pale blue eyes reflecting the moonlight.
A canine yipped up ahead. Close, making her hair stand on end. The rough bark of a dog followed.
She kept her steps even as she reached the end of the drive, where it opened up into a gravel turnabout in front of the cottage. The stone house was a grey box, orange glowing from deep inside the windows. In front of it, two large shadows ran and danced, bouncing on their four legs in play.
Sirius spotted her first, the big black dog pausing to stare. The massive wolf next to him growled playfully, snapping at his muzzle, and then turned his head, growing still.
The dog stepped forward, and his fur fell away like waves as he stretched up back into the form of a man. Sirius paused in front of her.
“You’ll keep him safe?”
Luna nodded.
“He’s an idiot sometimes, but it’s only because he cares,” he added softly with a sad, hopeful expression. With that, he turned away and strode back towards the house, pausing to give Remus a pat between the ears. He whispered something to the wolf, his words too low for Luna to hear, and then left them alone.
In wolf form, Remus was tall-his back nearly up to her shoulders-his fur thick and mottled grey. His yellow eyes glowed brighter than the illuminated windows behind him. His nose twitched as he sniffed the air, and Luna knew he must be gathering her scent. He wasn't like an animagus: he was more than the shape of what he'd become, his senses heightened, the wolf instincts running through his veins, even as his human mind controlled and countered them thanks to the Wolfsbane Potion.
He whined, a long note ending in a whimper.
Luna stepped forward, dropped to her knees, and wrapped her arms into the silky mane around his neck.
“If you never try anything, you’ll never know how free you are,” she whispered.
She felt the muscles shifting beneath his coat, and he pulled backwards. Large, yellow eyes stared at Luna, and in them she recognized the same tangled depths of the man lost inside the beast. His great mouth opened, silver-white sharp teeth exposed.
He licked her.
Luna giggled, closing her eyes as his fat tongue swiped up one cheek in a long stroke and then across her ear.
“You could have done that in the woods, you know,” she chastised him, smiling brightly.
Remus, the wolf, yipped. Whined again. She placed a reassuring hand in his coat.
“It’s all right,” she said seriously, and placed a soft kiss against his muzzle.
They played long into the moonlit night, running and spinning around the cottage and into the trees and the fields just beyond. In wolf form Remus was as fast as a horse, and he galloped circles around her as they ran, bouncing again and again to lick her face, her hands, and rub against her side.
When Luna grew tired, she found a soft patch of grass in the shelter of some trees. Remus laid down first, his eyes following Luna’s movements as she pulled off her dress. Smiling, she lay down next to him, using her folded dress as a pillow and curling her limbs into his soft fur. Her wand she tucked between them. His tongue dragged up her cheek again, gentle, and then he rested his head next to hers, his warm breath tickling her scalp. Burying her face into his furry chest, Luna closed her eyes.
She awoke to bright sun behind her eyelids, her first perception of an orange glow. The second was of a man’s limbs tangled in her own. Remembering the night, she opened her eyes.
Remus lay beside her, already awake and studying her. Tentatively, he brought a finger to brush the hair from her temples.
“Luna, I…”
Luna put a finger to his lips.
“Shh,” she shushed him. She let her fingers move to his cheek, tracing his scars again, and like a mirror, Remus’s hand moved down to cup her cheek.
Luna felt her body heating, watched the anxiety in his expression turn to determination. She closed her eyes.
His kiss was tentative, a feather brushed across her lips. She leaned into it, feeling a zing of exhilaration zoom from her lips down her spine as the kiss deepened, and a low moan reverberated from Remus’s throat.
She felt his excitement brush against her leg, and pulled away to smile at him, enjoying the pink tinge to his cheeks. Her own arousal pooled in the bowl of her pelvis.
This time, she didn’t ask what he wanted, only kissed him deeply, eagerly, while the hot sun watched from overhead.
Luna felt like she floated back to the cottage next to Remus, who insisted they should at least drop in for lunch in order to let Sirius know all was well. But when they reached the house, they found it quiet. Pleased that they didn’t need to put on their clothes, they ate cheese and pickle sandwiches as they stood smiling at each other across the kitchen island, had showers, and then returned to the backyard to lie in the grass.
“Did you find any firebirds this week?” Remus asked softly, weaving his fingers with Luna’s and laying their hands against his chest.
“No,” Luna answered, but not feeling disheartened. “There’s something I should tell you.”
“So say it.” Remus looked worried, but his hand held resolutely to her own.
“I spied on you again,” she admitted, pale eyes looking to judge his expression.
“When was that?” He did not look angry.
“Six days ago. You hadn’t shown up for a while, and I thought you might be feeling bad,” she explained. She squeezed his hand. “I overheard you and Sirius talking about why you left. I’m sorry for eavesdropping.”
“It’s all right. I was a prat to leave you. You deserved an explanation. It should have come from me earlier,” he said ruefully, squeezing her hand back. Luna wrapped her arm around him, closing her eyes and squeezing him close.
“Thank you for coming back last night.” He kissed her, long and lingering.
“Hey, Remus, I forgot to mention I brought home some of the new-oh shit!” Luna lifted her her head to see a sleep-rumpled Sirius, wide-eyed and spluttering. Remus stiffened beside her as Sirius darted behind the safety of the doorjamb.
“You have a bedroom, you know!” he yelled.
“We’re not having sex!” Luna called, pushing herself up to go and find him. She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.
“Luna, wait!”
“Hello, Sirius,” Luna greeted the wizard, who was hiding in the mudroom next to the wall. His eyes widened, scanning down, then up her naked body as she entered.
“We weren’t having sex,” she repeated, smiling.
“Luna… shouldn’t you put on some clothes?”
“There’s nothing wrong with being naked, you know,” Luna informed him, a hand on her hip and blue eyes intense. “It’s quite nice, actually, in the heat.”
Sirius looked as if he was facing a strange beast he’d never encountered before. “I’m sure it is.”
“You should try it sometime. Would you like to come out and speak with Remus? I’ll get us some tea.”
And with that, she turned and glided into the kitchen, pleased that she had sorted everything out.
Grabbing the kettle, she watched through the window Sirius wandering back outside to speak with his friend.
“Your witch is making us tea in the kitchen,” he informed Remus, sounding stunned. “In the nude.”
“It’s like she said, Sirius, it’s quite nice. You should try it sometime.” He sounded amused.
“Bloody hell.”
Luna put the kettle on to boil, not following the rest of the men’s conversation. Remus came in a few minutes later as she was pouring the steaming water into the pot.
“Sirius says he’s going to light off some fireworks tonight. Will you stay?”
The stars were outshone that night in Clyst St. Catchpole. Great glittering orbs bloomed against the black, lighting the sky up with red, blue, and gold. Pinwheels and silver stars frolicked and danced.
Luna stood next to Remus, watching with a contented smile on her face. Remus had his arm hooked around her shoulder, and she had her own around his waist.
In front of them, Sirius’s bare bum was on display as he bent to light of a firecracker. It rocketed out from the tube with a massive bang, and then exploded into a million zooming spirals. Harry stood nearby, and gave a loud whoop, his bare skin reflecting the glittering red light.
Luna had spent dinner explaining how she and Remus had met, and how comfortable and free she felt now that she had taken to naturism.
“There’s no harm in trying,” she’d told them at the end. “It’s natural, after all.”
Leaning into Remus as Sirius set off another blue Catherine wheel, Luna heard a great whoosh and a crow come from behind the trees. She shifted her gaze just in time to see a massive orange bird rocket into the air.
Four times the size of a phoenix, its tail of flame left a stream of sparks across the night sky as it soared towards the pinwheel, curling its wings to glide and twist alongside it.
“What the bloody hell is that?” Sirius shouted.
“It’s a firebird,” Luna said with a bright smile.
“Light off some more!” Remus called. “It likes the fireworks!”
Shrugging, Sirius stuck a giant cracker in the earth and tapped it with his wand. A great dragon, the same size as the firebird, erupted from the end with a roar, twisting towards the firebird.
Grinning, he strode towards Luna and Remus to watch the two fiery beasts dance in the sky, Harry joining them so they all stood in a row. Sirius clapped a hand on Remus’s shoulder.
Faces alight with light, they watched the firebird consume the dragon in one long gulp. The creature crowed proudly, beating its wings as it took off back where it came. Standing in the grass, the four humans felt a wave of warm wind blowing over their bare skin. Luna heard Sirius sigh contentedly.
“You know Remus,” he said, “this naked thing isn’t half bad.”