Twinkling stars and sparkling eyes
A little Remadora OS for you!
I’m soooo late but @hpshipweeks
fanfiction.net
Rating: K
When his mind was full with buzzing thoughts, Remus J. Lupin did not know a better cure than a walk outside. Especially when it was fall, and when he had no choice but to live in Grimmauld Place, a rather dull and depressing place, where dwellt a moping Sirius.
No Order mission has been assigned to him today, andso far nothing worth of interest already knew the Black family's library by heart, and waiting all day long for bad news didn't seem really sensible to maintain his mental health, neither was the idea of hearing his old friend's Firewhisky-induced complain.
Diagon Alley was bustling in this chilly october morning, witches and wizard excitingly anticipating Hallowe'en, unaware of the upcoming storm. Remus never liked the wizarding streets more than in fall the season seemed to suit pretty well the wizarding kind. Askew buildings were wearing freshly-falled leaves harmoniously, grinning and grimacing pumpkins were decorating spruce shop fronts while Flourish and Blotts' window proudly showed the newly-updated editions of "Charm your own singing pumpkins" and "Winning the favour of Leprechauns, a Beginner's Guide".
However, the walk was quite ineffective on Remus' mood, even though the incriminated thoughts didn't relate to war and Voldemort or to the sad memories of that particular Hallowe'en fourteen years ago, they kept buzzing in his mind, still imprecise. That was quite upsetting. Especially when these ideas seemed to want to take control over his body, too. Indeed, he felt strange tingles through his whole body when the thoughts came across his mind.
Quite unusually, Remus stopped in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies. Not that he had an extreme interest in that sport, but a broom in particular caught his attention. It possessed a dark brown handle, shining in the morning sun, strangely reminding him of someone's eyes. The former teacher quickly decided that this thought was rather ridiculous and walked away.
As he cut through the colourful crowd, Remus was trying to grasp that particular idea that kept bothering him, darting around the borders of his mind, never allowinghim to catch it. And the more he tried, the further the thought fled. He therefore decided to avoid thinking about it, just to let it come back. There, he'll be waiting in ambush, ready to trap it.
Wrapped in his reflections, the werewolf didn't see that hag coming and hit her with enthusiasm. He apologised profusely in front of her grumpy face, trying not to look at her huge boils, before finally raising his head. He was just before Eeylops Owl Emporium. The shop stood on a pavement busy with numerous owl cages. Their occupants were one bird, a tawny owl, was looking at him with her large excited eyes. She seemed to havea quite enthusiastic nature. His idea had a very cheerful and willing soul, too.
Remus carried on, avoiding a rather suspicious and tiny wizard, who was peering at Remus under the edge of his hat. This time, he ended up at the apothecary. In spite of his lack of potion skills, it always have been one of Remus' favourite shop. Dried herbs were hanging on the roof, spreading a calming smell. The shelves were crumbling under uncountable jars, each one containing a strange and eerie ingredient, or something coming from a distant land, or even brought back after facing some mortal peril. Every one of them had a story to tell.
Suddenly, the former teacher noticed something very bright in his field of vision. He turned his head to face a large jar. It was trapping what looked like miniature stars. They were peacefully floatting in the air, twinkling and sometimes softly colliding. This sight brought the image of the dark twinkling eyes back in his mind. It seemed very strange to Remus that someone ever wanted to catch these little sparks and brew them in a potion. Brewing stars in a potion. What a strange and sad idea. Moved by this insufferable thought, Remus took the jar and bought it. It cost him only 10 Sickles. As Remus left the shop, he was still surprised by that price. It seemed that beauty had apoor value to his peers.
Moping about the value of beauty, firmly holding his precious jar, Remus was walking straight ahead, hardly looking around him. Suddenly, he found himself in Diagon Alley South Side, facing Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop. The shop window showed proudly the latest novelty, a mouth-glueingcandy-floss. "Many flavours, from strawberry to Butterbeer !" chanted the window, "trick everyone, friends and foes !".Strangely, the bright bubblegum colour of the candy-floss reminded him of something, something that was able to produce these strange butterflies in his stomach and these tingles down his spine. Again, his mind was playing with him.
Feeling that fleeing ideas were enough to say he deserved some hot chocolate, Remus promptly Apparated in Grimmauld Square. He entered Sirius' house at once, went to the kitchen, placed his jar on the table and made himself a huge mug of hot chocolate. He finally settled down,relieved, as if the bothering thought couldn't pass through the walls. Only, he missed something.
Remus was moping about upsetting thoughts that didn't let him alone when the kitchen door burst open, letting a very tired Tonks enter. She seemed harassed by a long day of work, and crashed into three different pieces of furniture on her waybefore noticing Remus.
"Oh" she said with a small smile, "sorry".
He smiled at her as an answer, Summoned her a mug and Conjured hot chocolate in it.
"There. Come and have a sit." he told her.
Tonks smiled back and started she drank, the young Auror saw the jar with the stars in it, and her face lit up. She made a small noise of delight before almost sticking her face on the glass to have the best look in it. Her sparkling eyes matched perfectly the twinkling little things. Even her hair, faded by weariness, gained brightness.
She didn't notice that Remus was looking at her with some stupor in his eyes : he found his thought. She was the thought, actually. And she wasn't bothering at all finally. Even the feeling of absence had disappeared. Strangely, Remus never felt so good in his life.
Later in the evening, when everyone was having dinner, Remus slipped away and placed the precious jar in Tonks' room. She was its rightful owner, after all.
