Selene || Remus Lupin

Ch. 94 - The Terror Begins

The next morning, Remus looked over next to him, at his sleeping, pregnant wife, and wondered how in the world he'd gotten to this point in life – married, with a grown son and a baby on the way. A jolt of mixed emotions ran through him: a flutter of horrible fear and something else – he vaguely recognized it as excitement – until it vanished.

Then his wife's eyes fluttered open. "Remus?" she said sleepily.

"I'm here," he said quietly, resisting the subconscious urge to tack on a "my darling" at the end of it.

She stared at him for a moment, and then he saw the look in her eyes before she jolted out of bed, running towards the bathroom.

Remus followed her almost instinctively, grabbing her long pretty hair and holding it out of the way while her shoulders heaved violently.

He was so sorry. Sorry she felt so sick. Sorry that she was having to go through it all.

Sorry that he'd been the one to do it to her.

When Selene was finally able to take a few deep uninterrupted breaths, she leaned up against the wall and looked up at him.

"I'm surprised you're still here," she remarked softly.

Hurt flickered in his eyes. "I told you I wasn't leaving."

"But you did," she said. "You walked out of the house and Disapparated, Molly said so."

"I had to do something," he said quietly, and then at the skeptical look on her face, he added, "Alone."

She hummed, leaning her head back and taking in another deep breath.

"You need to eat some breakfast," he said, crossing his arms.

Selene sighed, nodding her head a little clumsily. "Will you come with me?"

Remus nodded.

After Selene brushed her teeth, they headed down the stairs in silence, a very extreme contrast to the bustling kitchen that they made their way into. Since no one except Molly – and by extension, Arthur – was aware of Remus and Selene's unexpected news, no one paid them much mind as they sat down at the kitchen table wordlessly, except for Molly, who shot them both a worried glance.

In just a few moments, the Weasley matriarch had set plates of bacon and eggs in front of them both, saying in what she probably hoped was a bright voice, "Good morning, Lupins."

"Good morning," Selene said tiredly, her eyes trained on her plate as she stirred around her eggs without eating them. Remus, on the other hand, could only give Molly a brief, tense smile before his eyes flickered back to his wife.

"You need to eat," he said quietly.

She gave him an odd little shrug, but she did grab one of the pieces of bacon on her plate and start chewing on it forlornly.

A few minutes later, Harry made his way down to the kitchen, looking somewhat cheery. He caught sight of his parents and strode over to them, kissing the top of his mother's head and squeezing his father's shoulder.

"Morning," he said brightly. "Sleep okay?"

"Well enough," Selene said, reaching up to briefly grasp his wrist. "Er – Harry, have they told you how we're disguising you for the wedding this afternoon?"

Harry wrinkled his nose a little. "Polyjuice Potion?"

A faint smile appeared on Remus' face. "Unfortunately, that's the best option we have."