Steal my heart and hold my tongue.
I feel my time, my time has come.
Let me in, unlock the door.
I've never felt this way before.
It had been that single day in which everything had changed. The day sheâd smile. The day sheâd looked at him. The day she had turned is already unhinged world completely upside down.
Secretly, perhaps he was happy his friends were in detention. If theyâd come with him to Hogsmeade, heâd never had been forced to spend time with her alone. Not that it felt like a punishment.
But it was that laugh. That single tiny noise she was capable of making that made his stomach feel funny. It made his eyebrows crease. It made his palms go sweaty. It made everything change.
The wheels just keep on turning,
The drummer begins to drum,
I don't know which way I'm going,
I don't know which way I've come.
He was thinking. The wheels inside his heads churning at an impressive speed. This was it. This was her. This was what James described all those years ago when he first spoke of Lily.
This undeniable want to be exactly where he was, if she was there. This feeling like something that transcended logic had taken place between them. All to do with the walk from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade.
That day. That inconspicuous day in fourth year, that unseasonably warm spring day, Remus Lupin developed a crush on Mary MacDonald.
Hold my head inside your hands,
I need someone who understands.
I need someone, someone who hears,
For you, I've waited all these years.
Fifth Year
Theyâd been struggling through so many late nights. It didnât help that his last transformation had left him with a giant slash mark down his back. The boys were trying to help. They were really throwing their all into the Animagus idea.
Sirius had spent every night in the library as proof of that. None of it could comfort Remus in his darkest hours. In those lonely moments spent before the moon rose above the trees in the dilapidated Shrieking Shack that was his salvation.
Three nights after it, he sat in his common room, the dying fire the only remaining light, and his head in his hands. He was not sleeping well, awoken at various stages by painful nightmares.
Then he felt a warm slide into his hair, move across his neck, and for a moment, he kept his eyes close, wishing for it to be someone, but only assuming it would be Madam Pomfrey. He looked up, and he found Mary.
âAre you okay?â She said simply, her face looking concerned.
For a moment, he almost wanted to smile, and somewhere he wanted to cry as well, as every part of the last few days fell upon him at once. He opted to smile.
âI just canât sleep,â he told her, looking up.
âI think itâs more than that,â she said, which caused his heart to stop.
She couldnât know. She just couldnât. It was impossible. His face grew very serious, and his body prepared for what would be coming.
âWhenever I get too stressed, and Iâm not feeling well, my mother always brings me tea,â she said, sitting beside him.
She pulled her wand from her pocket and brandished it. Two cups of teas arrived, and Mary motioned for Remus to take one, which he did, his smile becoming real.
She didnât know, but she was a force of complete comfort in that moment. All she did was sit there and talk to him, feed him tea, and occasionally touch his hand if she laughed, but she was comfort. Something Remus so often sought out, and never found.
For you, I'd wait 'til kingdom come.
Until my day, my day is done.
And say you'll come, and set me free,
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me.
It was then that he thought perhaps he more than liked Mary MacDonald. He thought perhaps he had indeed fallen in love with her.
He fell in love with the way she slurped her tea in what he naturally assumed was the most adorable way possible. He fell in love with how she continuously tucked that single strand of hair behind her ear every five minutes. He fell in love with how she looked at him, how her eyes viewed him in light he never saw himself in. He fell in love with how her hand felt as it brushed past his.
He fell in love with how somehow her smile didnât show all her teeth.
He fell in love with Mary MacDonald, in every respect, and in every way.
For Remus Lupin he knew she would never reciprocate his feelings, nor should she, but it was enough to know he was not enough to be denied he ability to possess that feeling. For Remus Lupin, he would wait his entire lifetime for her.
In your tears and in my blood,
In my fire and in your flood,
I hear you laugh, I heard you sing,
"I wouldn't change a single thing."
Desperate and bleeding he clung onto the squashy armchair, waiting for James. James was getting the Murtlap essence. Heâd broken his boundaries with the boys, and ended up with his own cuts and bruises, but all some that he knew everyone would pick as those from a dog, and those form a stag.
He couldnât see Madam Pomfrey. His mind, however much it wanted to focus on the pain, could only think of that archway that led to the dormitories and focus all his energy on hoping no one came through it.
The voice came from behind him, and despite his minds swimming in and out of consciousness, he knew who it was.
âMary,â he whispered, knowing this was the last person he wanted to see him, but she was the person he wanted to see more than any other.
âWhat happened?â She exclaimed, her voice sitting somewhere between despair and panic.
âI fell,â he lied with a groan.
âRemus Lupin, this is not a fall. Stop lying to me,â he said, crossing in front of him, her eyes brimming with tears, and frantically searching his body, as if looking for a place to start beneath all the blood.
Remus tried to turn himself from her eyes, but there was no way he could. He was too beat up in all directions.
âIt is a fall,â he muttered, using his last remaining energy.
âIt was a fall,â he said, his voice louder, his seemed to make everything hurt.
Mary looked taken aback for a moment, and then her watery eyes gave way in the quickest of seconds. Anger flashed through them, at least, anger beneath all the worry.
âRemus Lupin, donât you dare lie to me. I know youâ â
In that moment Remus hated what he was. That wasnât new; heâd just never felt it to this degree. He hated the skin he existed in, he hated the feet he stood in, and he hated every single hair on his entire body.
He hated that before him was the girl he love above any other. He hated that he could not be what she needed, and he would never truly be what she wanted, whatever she said. Had she known the truth, sheâd never had said those beautiful things. His hatred ripped through him like a fire, and suddenly, as he looked up, he couldnât bare to look at her and see everything he could not have.
âJust go,â he said, his voice almost acidic.
âNo! Remus Iâm not leaving you,â she told him quickly, moving to grab his arm.
He removed it from her reach, knowing that the longer she stood there, showing him all that would never be allowed to be his, the longer it would hurt him.
âJust go!â Remus snapped, hating his tone.
âPlease, just go. I donât want you here,â he said, and he closed his eyes as he said what he knew he must, but never wanted to. âI donât want you.â
It stung. Remus opened his eyes in time to see it sting. To see the tears flood down her face.
Somewhere in the back of his head, he could hear that laugh again. It crippled him more than his physical injuries. As if to punish him for what he had said to the girl who had moments ago been crying in front of him, and was now running from him, he thought of what she had said to him.
Heâd told her he liked her that he knew that it would never be reciprocated, but that his mother had told him to be honest. Then, sheâd placed her hand on his and said something that changed everything. Sheâd admitted she liked him, and she told him she would never change a single thing about him.
Now that girl was running from him, as he had done exactly what heâd tried to protect her from.
The wheels just keep on turning,
The drummers begin to drum,
I don't know which way I'm going,
I don't know what I've become.
She was distinctly not talking to him. She would not look at him. He didnât blame her. He wouldnât talk to him. It didnât matter. He was too afraid sheâd uncover something more if he spoke to her.
He couldnât work up the nerve to do anything. In truth, he was avoiding her as much as she was avoiding him.
He could not stop thinking about her. It didnât matter that her friends were begging him to find out what was wrong with her. Little did they know he was the problem.
He had no idea what he was doing with himself. No idea how to handle something heâd never expected to be a problem. How could one learn to love a werewolf?
For you, I'd wait 'til kingdom come,
Until my days, my days are done.
Say you'll come and set me free
Sixth Year:
âCan I sit here?â Remus said tentatively as he entered the library.
It had taken two months to work out what to say, and a further 3 months to build up the courage to do it.
She said nothing, she did not even look at him. Just when he was about to turn away, knowing heâd have to building up about monthâs worth of courage for another attempt, Mary shifted her History of Magic textbook, giving him a free part of the bench.
He sat down, pulled out his books, and then paused. He took a deep breath, readying himself.
He said it simply. She looked up.
âI apologise for everything that has ever transpired between us to lead us to that day last year. I canât take it back, however much I wish otherwise. I have never regretted something more in my life than the way I spoke to you.â
He mouth opened slightly, as if she had no expected this.
âYou are the most amazing girl I have ever known. You are kind, and smart, and wonderful, and I am none of those things in comparison to you.â
She went to interrupt, but he kept talking.
âYou turn me into the kind of man I can only dream of being. You are a spark of light in a very dark world.â
He looked down for a moment, composing himself to say what he knew had to be said.
âI cannot make up for what Iâve done, I accept that. But I love you Mary MacDonald. I have loved you for longer than Iâd care to admit. I will always love you. Should a day arise that I ever am worthy of you, I will be that man for you, and for you only.â
His eyes met her eyes one last time.
âJust say you'll wait, you'll wait for me.â