Prompt 13 - Sunny
@wolfstarmicrofic August 13, word count 971
Previous part First part
Effie hugged him hard. Remus was seriously worried about suffocation, but she showed no sign of stopping, so he finally melted into it. He’d missed her so much. He had no idea how he’d gone ten years without one of her hugs.
“Remus, darling, please tell me you’re staying?!” She said excitedly, still hugging him. He nodded against her shoulder.
“Well, actually, I kind of moved in,” the shriek he was rewarded with was deafening.
“Oh my darling, I’m beyond happy,”
“Put the poor boy down, Effie,” Monty chuckled as he came into the living room. “Hello, Remus,” he said, bobbing his head to kiss him on the cheek before settling himself on the sofa.
“Hi, Monty,” Remus greeted him back, his words slightly muffled by Effie’s shoulder.
“Effie, will you please put my boyfriend down?” Sirius smirked from the doorway. Effie pushed away from Remus and held him at arm's length.
“Boyfriend?! Sirius Orion Black, you had better not be making up porkies again,” she warned him. Sirius just grinned widely at her and shook his head. “Oh my darling, get over here.” She held out one of her arms, and Sirius skipped across the room to be enveloped.
She held them both closely, sniffling as she squeezed them tightly.
“Mum, are you crying?” James asked as he came back into the living room with a tea tray.
“Remus is back, and he’s with Sirius. My prayers have been answered,” she sobbed.
Remus wouldn’t give this up for anything, but his back was beginning to ache from his pulled-over position.
“Effie,” Sirius whispered. “You’re hurting Remus,” she immediately let him go, and Remus stretched his back as he stood up straight again.
“Sorry, darling, I didn’t mean to get carried away,” Effie apologised.
“It’s fine,” Remus told her, stooping to kiss her cheek. Sirius led him over to the other sofa, and they sank into the plush cushions. Effie followed after them, clearly not done with Remus. She wrapped her arm around him, batting Sirius’s arm out of the way so she could continue hugging him.
“I forgot how nuts all the mums were for you, Remus,” Lily snickered as she walked in with the rest of the chocolate cake.
“He’s a kind, extremely handsome young man; how could we resist?” Effie laughed, giving Remus’s arm a squeeze.
“How’s Great Aunt Tilly?” James asked, changing the conversation.
“Oh, she’s fine now,” Monty answered. “We got rid of that little bloodsucker. He was trying to get her to change her will before we arrived. It took us a while, but we finally got through to her. She’s put us in charge of everything, so if she falls for someone like that again, they won’t be able to get their hands on anything.”
“Poor Aunt Tilly,” James said with concern. “Do you think we should maybe offer her a place here? We could build another annexe just for her?” Monty shook his head.
“No, she’ll never leave Sunny Spain now. We can just do what we can and hope that she’ll be okay. I’ve got her friend Violet on it, and you know how vicious she can be with that tongue of hers.” Everyone in the room, bar Remus, shuddered.
“She said I looked like a whore with my red hair and low-cut top,” Lily said almost wistfully. “It was this top,” she ended deadpan. Remus thought it looked fine. You could barely see her clavicle.
“Who’s Violet?” he asked Effie.
“Don’t ask and pray that you never find out,” she answered him, patting his arm. Remus took her advice and didn’t question her further. “How’s your dad doing, Remus darling?” Effie asked, changing the subject again. Remus swallowed, feeling rather uncomfortable.
“He, er. He, um, died. That’s why I’m back in the area. I was looking after him until…” his words petered out, unable to finish. Effie looked at him with knowing eyes.
“Oh, my darling,” she cooed softly, pulling him closer and wrapping him in a proper hug again.
“I’m terribly sorry to hear that, Remus,” Monty said solemnly. “I hope he didn’t leave you with too much to deal with,” Remus, Sirius, Lily and James all exchanged glances. They’d agreed that they’d leave, telling Effie and Monty about everything that was happening to Remus until the morning.
“Er, there’ve been a few issues, but I think we have most of it in hand now,” Effie patted his arm again.
“Tell us tomorrow, love,”
“Thank you,” he whispered. They sat and enjoyed reconnecting until Monty gave an almighty roar of a yawn and declared that it was way past his bedtime, wished them all goodnight and went out the back door towards the annexe.
“Poor, love, needs his beauty sleep,” Effie chuckled. “I’ll say goodnight as well. Remus, I am so incredibly happy to see you again, and I am hoping that this isn’t all a dream and that when I wake up, you’ll still be here.” She hugged him one final time, then she hugged the others and bid them all goodnight before following her husband outside to the annexe.
“I knew you were going to be the favourite again,” James huffed, but there was no jealousy in it.
“What can I say? The ladies dig me,” Remus joked before yawning sleepily.
“I think it’s time we all go to bed,” Lily declared, stifling her own yawn. After a quick check to make sure everything was locked up, the four of them went sleepily upstairs.
“Night,” Lily and James called to Sirius and Remus.
“Night,” they called back and shut the door.
They fell asleep quickly. Sirius was exhausted from all the cleaning he and James did, and Remus was exhausted from the excitement and pure happiness that had been coursing through him the second he’d heard Effie’s voice.
Next part
