Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Forever and Always	By : cls2256 Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Het - Male/Female Views: 6832 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter or any of its characters or details, nor do I make any money from this fanfic.

Chapter List
- 38
- 39
- 40
AUTHOR'S NOTES: this story has so many goddamn chapters because I didn't take word count into consideration in the earlier chapters. I feel like my chapters are either 1200 words or 6000 words LOL.
Reguardless, thanks for reading thus far! Writing is my break from the real world- I update about twice a week, so you never have to wait too long for the next chaper!

Flashes of light whirled around her as she felt the snap of her forearm, the pain flooding up into her shoulder as he stood over her, his face purple with rage.
By the time I’m done with you, you’re going to beg me to kill you!
His nostrils flared and a vein in his temple pulsed as he looked at her with the upmost revulsion. Fear flooded through her as she felt a hand grab her shoulder.
“Mia”
The hand shook her gently, the out of place voice clear in her ear as Dolohov’s twisted face began to fade.
“Mia!”
Her eyes snapped open, her cheeks wet and her heart pounding. She blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the dark bedroom.
“You’re alright— you’re ok” Remus murmured in her ear as he ran a hand through her hair. “It was just a dream…”
“Sorry,” she mumbled, wiping her face then rubbing her aching forearm “was I crying?”
“Yeah— what can I do for you?”
She turned her bedside lamp on and looked over at the clock reading 4:12, sitting up as she debated whether she should try to go back to sleep or just get up. Her first day at the Ministry was today, and she had her alarm set for 5:45 anyway.
“Nothing— I think I’m just going to get up” she said, fearing what she would see if she fell back asleep.
She reached over to her nightstand for her calming draught, dropping a couple drops onto her tongue to ease her nerves. She took a deep breath as she felt her heartbeat slow back to a slow, steady pace.
“I’ll put on some coffee” Remus said through a yawn, stretching his arms over his head.
Mia noticed how tired he looked; shadows under his eyes more pronounced, visible even in the dimly lit bedroom. She wondered if he had been up all night watching her whimper and cry in her sleep, or if the symptoms of the full moon this weekend were starting already.
“You don’t have to get up with me” she said, kissing his cheek “go back to sleep”
“I want to see you off for your first day; I’ll nap while you’re working”
“See me off for my first day as a bullshit paper pusher?” she jeered as she got out of bed, making her way into the bathroom.
“Yes, because you’re going to be the best bullshit paper pusher the Ministry has ever had” He teased.
Mia let out a bark of laughter “Shut up” she called as she turned the shower on, holding her hand under the water to wait for it to heat up.
She stripped down, rubbing her twinging arm as she stepped into the steaming water. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes; thoughts of her potentially boring job swam in her brain as she tried to give herself a positive pep talk. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t a tiny bit nervous for her first day, as she didn’t know what to expect, but would never admit this thought out loud.
As the water turned her skin pink, she wondered what she would tell people, namely muggles, what she did for a living when asked. She always told muggles her mother was a detective, maybe she could say she was an administrative aide for the court system? It wasn’t a complete lie— she was just leaving out the fact that it was the magical government’s court she worked for. Administrative aide yet aspiring detective sounded somewhat decent in her mind, and she wondered if it would sound cooler when the words left her lips.
“Coffee is steeping” Remus’s voice echoed in the bathroom, snapping her attention back to reality. He pulled back the shower curtain and eyed her up and down with a devilish grin “Care if I join you?”
She gave him a wry smile as she rolled her eyes, giggling softly “Get in here— but I’ll be pissed if I don’t finish before we run out of hot water”

The clock read 7:03 as Tonks apparated into the flat, her face pink from the frigid February air.
“Wotcher! Ready for your first day?” She chirped, smiling brilliantly as she shook off a chill.
Mia, Penelope and Remus were all sitting around the table, Mia looking out of place dressed in her work clothes compared to Penelope’s frizzy bedhead and pajamas. She had her nose buried in the Ministry employee handbook as Penelope and Remus shared leafs of the Daily Prophet. Frankie and Lionel hooted excitedly as Tonks fed the owls a couple treats.
“Ready to push some papers” Mia said false enthusiastically, giving her double thumbs up and standing up from the table. “Let me grab my coat”
“Tonks, do you want to have a girls’ night out this weekend? It’s a full moon on Saturday, so no boys allowed” Penelope asked, winking at Remus.
“Absolutely! Sounds like fun” Tonks said with a toothy grin
“Actually I was going to spend the…” Mia started, Remus’s hand coming up to silence her.
“No she’s not, she’s having a girls night with you two” he interjected “I will be fine, I’ve been doing this once a month for thirty-something years”
Mia kissed his cheek, ruffling his hair. “I know, but It makes me feel better to keep you company. I don’t like that you’re stuck in a cellar for 12 hours all alone”
“Well, too bad— I feel better when your with your friends” he smirked “I’m a man who gets what he wants”
“Shut up” she snorted, rolling her eyes and linking arms with Tonks “Love you, see you tonight— bye Penny”
“Good luck!” Both Penelope and Remus hollered in unison, their words muffled by the unmistakable pop of apparition.
Mia hadn’t been inside the Ministry of Magic since the night Sirius died, forgetting just how grand the architecture before her was. She and Tonks stood in the atrium, as she drank in the scene around her. The black tiled walls stood many stories above their heads, and a large fountain featuring a witch and wizard cast in gold, with a centaur, a goblin and a house elf looking at them in an adoring fashion. The fountain had many glittering gold, silver and bronze coins littered in the bottom of its basin, a small emerald placard reading ‘all proceeds from the Fountain of Magical Brethren benefit St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries’. She hadn’t ever stopped to admire the underground building before, even as a child when she would come to work with her mother, it never seemed to have quite the impact that it did today.
Her mind wandered to the night Sirius was killed; her and Dumbledore running through the atrium to get to the Department of Mysteries, the flashing lights of spells and the chunks of cement flying around them as it was blasted apart by stray curses, Sirius’s body falling through the ominous archway after Bellatrix Lestrange hit him with a spell right in the chest. She could see it clear as day in her mind’s eye, her best friend floating backwards, disappearing behind the fluttering black curtain— only to not reappear on the other side.
“Mia— come on, I’ve got to show you around before the work day starts” Tonks said, dragging her towards the elevator lifts.
“Sorry, yeah,” she replied, her mind snapping back to reality.
She and Tonks filed into the lift, followed by a few other Ministry employees dressed in dark blue uniform robes.
“They work for Magical Maintenance” Tonks whispered in her ear “They all wear blue”
The lift seemed to move in a couple different directions, stopping at a few floors and exchanging passengers; a few paper airplanes whizzed in and out of the lift with the crowds of people, Mia remembering Susan telling her they had to switch from owls to paper airplanes a few years back— due to the mess of owl droppings.
“How’s everything been going?” Tonks asked quietly “that airman leaving you be?”
“He’s called a few times to check in. He thinks Remus hits me, or something.” Mia said, rolling her eyes “Oh— and that he’s faking his identity” she added with a cynical laugh.
“What?” Tonks said, a little too loudly, as a few Ministry workers looked over their shoulders and scowled at her. “That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. why would he think that?”
“It’s complicated— it’s not completely his fault though. If he remembered what he witnessed the day my dad died, it would all make sense to him” Mia sighed “He had been looking into Remus, background checking him. Couldn’t find anything on him except his ID I made him get to go on base. He got suspicious when there was no other record of him in the muggle world”
“You need to nip that in the bud— what if he starts following him and sees him do magic? Or sees you?”
“I think I put a stop to it, I don’t know—“ They were interrupted by the pleasant disembodied voice stated ‘Level 2, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administrative Services’
“This is us!” Tonks chirped, taking Mia’s arm and leading her forward. “We’ll talk about this later— this first door is Pius Thicknesse’s office; he is Head of Magical Law Enforcement…”
Mia observed the frosted glass door with the gold embossed lettering reading Thicknesse’s name and title, as Tonks dragged her along.
“This door is Gawain Robards’s office, head of us Aurors…”
“Yeah, I remember mum telling me about him; she was really mad he got the head spot over her. She insisted he paid off Scrimgeour to get the spot” Mia said with a laugh.
“Ohh, I remember that day— it was bad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Robards look scared before…”
They giggled as Tonks led Mia into a room with a couple dozen cubicles that she recognized as Auror Headquarters. A few heads popped up from the partitions of their desks, craning their necks to look at the two women in the doorway.
“Wotcher everyone! This is Mia, she’s interning as an aide for the Wizengamot, but she wants to be one of us!” Tonks called.
“Hi sweetie!” Susan called, jumping up from her seat and rushing to hug her, distracting Mia from the few monotone hellos she received from the other Aurors. “Oh look at you on your first day, don’t you look nice— that blouse does wonders for your figure…”
“Mum….” Mia grumbled, rolling her eyes and flushing scarlet “please don’t…”
Susan squeezed her tightly, forcing most of the air out of her lungs.
“Can’t a mother wish her daughter luck on her first day of work??” Susan huffed “Tonks is giving you the grand tour, I take it?”
“Yeah, I just figured she’d want to see where her office might be one day” Tonks grinned, winking at Mia.
“Where’s Kingsley?” Mia asked as she scanned the cubicles.
“With the Prime Minister, of course” Susan said “He told me to wish you best of luck on your first day, he was sorry he couldn’t be here to say hello— and to remind you that this will look good on your resume”
Mia smiled weakly; wishing that she could stay here at Auror Headquarters rather than off to what she assumed would be her mundane and boring job.
“Alright, well, I won’t keep you— Have a wonderful day sweetheart.”
Susan bustled back to her desk as Mia and Tonks rounded the corner towards the Wizengamot offices, the halls of the second level paneled with the same black glass tiles as the atrium.
“Your mum seems to be doing well, she’s been really chipper” Tonks said quietly
“It’s an act, my mum is never that chipper” Mia muttered, giving Tonks a slight shrug “her eyes were puffy— probably cried all night”
At the end of the long hall, they reached a set of wood doors with similar frosted glass panes as the other offices, the gold embossing reading ‘Offices for Wizengamot Administrative Services’.
“Delphinus is pretty cut and dry, but she’s alright…” Tonks whispered.
They walked through the double doors of the Wizengamot offices to find the most boring office setting Mia had ever seen; even the plain gray cubicles of the Auror office had more pizzazz than the plain beige room she stood in. There were a few desks positioned around the large room, but all the walls were lined with black file cabinets stacked seven feet high, a library ladder slowly moving around the room as to access the top few drawers. A middle-aged, dark haired, dark skinned woman in burgundy robes strode towards them, her face stoic— not a smile, nor a frown.
“Can I help you, Nymphadora?”
“Aw come on, Delphinus, don’t call me that…” Tonks protested “I brought your fresh meat!”
Mia stifled an eye roll as Tonks gestured to her. She forced a smile and stuck her hand out to shake. “Mia Roswell, it’s a pleasure”
“Ah yes, Susan’s daughter” the woman said, looking Mia up and down and outstretching her hand “Kingsley Shacklebolt talked very highly of you— Delphinus Gamal”
Mia’s smiled turned more genuine at hearing this; she respected Kingsley and his opinion of her, and she felt a small sense of pride that he would speak so well of her. Delphinus shook Mia’s hand, her stately demeanor gave the impression that she was generally calm, but that she irritated easily if someone sneezed the wrong way.
“Alright, I’ve got to get to work. I’m on desk restriction so I have a mound of paperwork to get to—!” Tonks said, clasping a hand on Mia’s shoulder
“Why are you on desk restriction?? What’d you do??” Mia chuckled, her brow rising.
Tonks flushed an unnatural shade of pink, her words stammering slightly. “Oh— it’s nothing really, nothing. I’ll see you after bit— for lunch!”
Mia snickered as she watched Tonks scurry out of the office, assuming she got in trouble for playing a prank on one of the other Aurors. She turned back to look at Delphinus, who looked less than amused with Tonks’s bright personality, yet didn’t necessarily scowl at her either.
“Come here, Mia, I’ll have you get to some sorting” Delphinus walked her over to a desk full of files, stacked at least 50 high in each pile. “You drink coffee?”
“Yes— I love coffee” Mia said, caught off guard by such a casual question.
“Me too, every morning I need you to stop by Calista Calderon’s coffee shop in Diagon Alley and get me a troll-sized latte with 2 pumps of butterscotch, 4 pumps of dark chocolate, 2 sugar cubes and 3 shots of espresso”
“Sure—“
“And make sure they steam it twice, but absolutely no foam. Got it?”
“Yea— yes ma’am” Mia tried to recite the ingredient list in her mind to memorize it, but Delphinus continued speaking, distracting her.
“Now, I need you make 14 copies of each, then sort the original files into alphabetical order, and organize them into the proper file cabinets. A is to the left, all the way to Z on this far wall over here” She gestured to different points of the room to show her the proper cabinet order. “I need all of this done by 4:00 today— I trust you know a duplication charm?”
“Yes, I do— I’ll get started right away” Mia said, trying to keep her tone positive.
Delphinus nodded, walking away and retreating into an office that was separated by the same wooden doors with frosted glass panels. The door clicked shut, and Mia stared at the glass pane with gold embossed letters reading ‘Delphinus Gamal, Head of Wizengamot Administrative Services’ for a moment before turning her attention to the nearly 200 files that were piled over the very large desk.
“Fuck” she whispered under her breath “I’m a goddamn paper pusher”
“I’m a goddamn paper pusher!” Mia spat, pacing in front of the smooth leather couch in Helen’s office.
“At least it seems relatively easy” Helen offered
“Yeah, more like mind numbing.” She scoffed “Remus keeps telling me that it can’t be that bad, but it’s been three days and I think my boredom is making my brain rot”
Helen let out a bark of laughter “I’ve heard most of the Ministry jobs are pretty boring”
“Not being an Auror, I’m sure” she grumbled. “I also fucked up Delphinus’s coffee order on my second day— there was foam and I got the sugar and chocolate amounts wrong”
“I’m sure it wasn’t a big deal—you’re new, after all” Helen offered with a slight shrug.
“Oh, it was— she was less than pleased with me that day. Told me her day ‘needs to start off right to ensure the courts run smoothly, and her day can’t start off right if she is forced to drink such atrocities’” Mia snorted “I swear— she is a monotone version of my mother”
Helen and Mia both laughed at this. “Well, at least Remus seems to be incredibly supportive. He must be a very positive influence for you”
“He’s great, honestly. Better than great— I can’t believe I ever broke up with him. He’s been so good to me since my father died”
Helen began scribbling on her clipboard, the sound of her quill scratching sounding like mice scratching at walls.
“Why is it that you think you pushed him away?” Helen asked.
“I don’t know, because I’m an idiot?” Mia snapped, sitting back on the couch and crossing her arms.
“You’re not an idiot; you are a very intelligent witch. Greif does terrible things to people. Think”
Mia sighed, the only thing she hated more than talking about her feelings was thinking about them.
“Because when I looked at him, I was reminded of Sirius, and it was too much.”
“But why was it too much? What’s the matter with remembering your friend?”
“My entire friendship with Sirius was because of Remus; we did so much together, the three of us. He didn’t have many friends left, thanks to that filthy traitor.”
“Are you angry that he got the short end of the stick in life? Spent half of it in prison and then killed at a young age?”
“Doesn’t that make you angry, Helen? It should, even if you didn’t know him. Sirius was a good man— loyal, brave, and funny as hell. He was my best friend. He was family. He didn’t have family that loved him because he didn’t believe in their bullshit pure-blood slytherin pride.” Mia huffed “But we loved him, I loved him.”
“He didn’t deserve to go to prison, or have his life taken so soon— I agree.” Helen began, setting her quill down “But why did anger over that translate to you pushing away the people that you love? Was it to isolate yourself like Sirius experienced for over a decade?”
“No” Mia breathed, balling her fists up “Because looking at the people who reminded me of him made me feel. Of course I loved Remus, Penelope and the Order, but they made me feel. I was taught to push my feelings aside, to persevere and be strong. I couldn’t ‘be strong’ when I felt this horrible, painful, grieving feeling that I felt whenever I remembered Sirius.”
Mia stood up from the couch and walked over to the window, looking out onto London traffic.
“When I was a child and I was upset, my mother used to tell me to buck up— wipe my tears and move on. The Byrne women were strong, fierce and formidable— we didn’t let our petty emotions get in the way. It was never a ‘thing’ with her to talk about my feelings, so I just thought I wasn’t supposed to feel”
“What about your father? You couldn’t talk to him when you were upset?” Helen asked gently.
“No” Mia laughed “Thanks to mum’s memory charm, I couldn’t confide in my dad about much. I watched him— well, more so listened— to him be tortured, and I couldn’t talk to him about how scared I felt, or about my nightmares because he had no idea it had happened.” She sighed “I was so scared it would happen again. Mum had sent me to live with him in America, so I couldn’t even talk to her about it— not that she probably would’ve been of any help”
“And you lived with your dad in the States until you were seven?”
“Yeah; Dad thought he and mum used to fight all the time, didn’t get along anymore, etc. I was forbidden to tell him the truth about why they divorced and why he asked for a transfer back to the States. I think she confunded the General to approve the paperwork; She was friends with his wife at the time.”
“That must’ve been a lot to deal with at such a young age”
“Yeah, I don’t know why she didn’t just memory charm me too. She executed the plan pretty quickly, we were in America maybe a month after the attack, so she might’ve just been sloppy. Mum swears she didn’t, but I think she put a tongue-tying charm on me. Dad would try to ask me about the nightmares, why I was having them, but just couldn’t find the words”
“I see” Helen said as she began to scribble.
“When Dad told Mum he was marrying Miranda— I’ll never forget— she came to visit for a couple weeks when I was 6. He was stationed in Colorado, and when Dad introduced Miranda as his fiancée, Mum pursed her lips, looked her up and down and said ‘Honestly John, I expected more than a bottle-blonde waif’”
Mia let out a bark of laughter, but I was short lived. She slunk back down onto the couch, picking at her fingernails.
“They screamed at each other for over an hour. Miranda and I hid in the other room— she let me lay with my head in her lap as she held a pillow over my ears. She was so good about it, but Mum was devastated; refused to talk about anything to have to do with Miranda for months. I never saw her cry, she put on a show that she was just fine. I remember asking her if she were alright a few days after the fight and she said ‘Byrne women are strong; we don’t let petty emotions get in our way’”
“So it sounds like she taught you that the best way to deal with your emotions was to not feel them” Helen said
“Yeah, I came back to live with her when I was 7 because I kept breaking lightbulbs and things with magic when I was angry, and the ‘proper’ way to deal with things was to pretend like they didn’t bother me. I was a Byrne woman, after all”
“So, you pushed away the people who reminded you of Sirius because you didn’t want to feel your feelings? The feeling was so uncomfortable it was easier to push it all away?”
“I guess— you’re the behavioral specialist, you tell me” Mia shrugged.
Helen chuckled, sitting back in her chair, giving Mia a slight nod. “You shared so much with me today, Mia, I appreciate your honesty”
“Yeah, I guess I did” She said, scrunching her nose slightly. “I’ve never shared that much about my parents to someone before”
She didn’t feel uncomfortable with being so honest with Helen today; it actually felt good to get some of these things off her chest.
“You’re making progress. I can also tell you ignoring your feelings are not the best way to deal with them. It’s healthy to feel— even bad feelings”
“My mum should come see you” Mia teased “I honestly think she’s more fucked up than I am”
Helen let out another bark of laughter, smiling at Mia and shaking her head slightly. “Well, our time is up for today. I’m going to give you some homework—“
Mia groaned obnoxiously, nothing good ever came from the word ‘homework’.
“I want you to identify uncomfortable feelings during your day to day happenings, and rather than stifle them down, I want you to think about them. Think about how they make you feel, and even confide in someone about them.”
“Mmm, I don’t know…” she said, biting her lip and crinkling her nose in dissatisfaction.
“I’ll ask you about it next session” Helen smirked
Mia rolled her eyes “fine fine, I’ll try this whole ‘feeling my feelings’ thing.”
She got up to leave the office, but turned back to Helen who was smiling proudly at her. She chewed her lip slightly as she felt a pang of appreciation for the blonde witch.
“Thanks for listening though, to my— bullshit, or whatever.”
“Of course” Helen said with a slight chortle “I’ll see you next session for more ‘bullshit’— as you like to call it”
Mia continued the rest of the week at the Ministry copying and sorting files, unsure if she hated Delphinus Gamal, or just simply the job itself. She at least had gotten the coffee order correct the rest of the week— troll sized latte with 2 pumps of butterscotch, 4 pumps of dark chocolate, 2 sugar cubes, 3 shots of espresso, steamed twice with absolutely no foam. She had found herself reciting this order while she showered or did the dishes— Remus even swore she was muttering it in her sleep one night. Tonks insisted she was alright once she got to know her better, but Mia wasn’t sure which had more of a personality; Delphinus, or a doorknob.
Despite feeling like she had the most mundane, boring job the Ministry had to offer, when Tonks suggested an impromptu trip to the Leaky Cauldron for a celebratory butterbeer Friday afternoon, Mia couldn’t but accept.
The girls walked through Diagon Alley, arms linked and with shopping bags in tow, enjoying the slightly warmer temperatures that moved across London the later part of this week. Mia sucked down a couple butterbeers as Tonks devoured a few cups of chili at the Leaky Cauldron, and then hit the shops for some retail therapy. The sun was still just peaking over the horizon, giving them another few minutes of daylights.
“Dammit, I forgot I needed to stop by Gringotts!!” Tonks said, looking at her watch. “Do you mind?”
“But Florean Fortescue’s closes in 20 minutes!” Mia protested “I’ve been dying for treacle toffee ice cream all week!”
“My head has been all over the place lately” Tonks sighed, grasping her fire engine red pixie cut and shaking her head “I have to get into my vault, I’ve just spent all my coins and if we’re going out tomorrow—”
“Alright alright; you go get your money or whatever, and I will get the ice cream. Meet me back here?”
“Thanks— I’ll be quick!” Tonks squeaked, trotting up the large white marble staircase of Gringott’s Wizarding Bank, tripping on the second to last step.
Mia snickered as she heard Tonks swear loudly; fucking klutz she thought as she shook her head. She looked at her watch as she bustled into Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream parlor, apologizing to Mr. Fortescue for stopping by so close to closing,
“No matter, my dear; what’ll it be?”
She picked up two pints of treacle toffee ice cream, as well as a pint of chocolate and a pint of strawberry. Mr. Fortescue packaged the pints into a Styrofoam box, self-cooling with a handy freezing charm, and sent her on her merry way.
Tonks wasn’t outside Gringotts yet, so Mia strolled up and down the street of Diagon Alley, admiring the beautiful sunset that was now just a faint glow of red, an almost full moon rising in the sky just a touch above the horizon.
She felt a pang of guilt that she would be spending a fun evening with her friends while Remus would be locking himself away for the painful transformation for the millionth time. She wished she could take his burden away from him, or at least find some way to make his condition easier. Sure, wolfsbane was an incredible breakthrough for werewolves, but she thought there had to be something better that could be created.
She hoped he would be home at a somewhat decent time this evening; Dumbledore tasked him, Bill and Arthur with patrolling Hogwarts for him so he could run out on ’business’— as Remus had called it. She found it slightly odd that she or Tonks were not called on for patrol, but figured Dumbledore might just have a rotation in place. Remus was always available, thanks (and unfortunately) to him not working, making him Dumbledore’s first choice for almost everything.
She had missed him this week, being gone more than her usual 3-days-a-week she worked at the Clearwater’s wine and cheese shop. She wanted to spend the rest of the night curled up in his arms on the couch with her pint of ice cream, eating straight from the container as they watched muggle cooking shows— a personal favorite of Remus’s.
Just as she was passing the mouth to Knockturn Alley, she felt large hands grasp her shoulders and rip her backwards, around the corner of a brick building and into the shadows.
“Evening, princess” said a deep, raspy voice that made Mia shiver down to her core.
She gasped; she was looking at the sinister grin of Fenrir Greyback as he pinned her to the brick wall with one arm, and held his wand at her throat with the other.
“Don’t scream” he said warningly “Or that friend of yours inside Gringotts will pay”
She drew her wand with a shaking hanmd, Fenrir laughing in her face.
“If you were going to use that, you would’ve done it already” he said as he ripped the wand from her grasp, throwing it aside. “There’s something about me that you are frightened of— it makes you freeze up”
Fenrir took a long sniff of her, his stale scent overpowering Mia’s nostrils as she squeezed her eyes shut. He was not wrong; there was something about him that terrified her, which rendered her frozen like a statue.
“I can smell the fear rolling off of you” He grinned menacingly “but there’s nothing to be afraid of— well– tonight, at least. We’re just chatting”
“Have you been watching me?” She asked as her voice shook, avoiding his eyes and feeling an unnatural tingle in her palms.
“Since you and that spiky haired friend of yours have been inside the Leaky Cauldron.” He snickered “Dolohov promised me a bite or two out of you, I’d like to collect. Just wondering, where does Remus spend the cycle? Chances are he leaves your pretty face behind somewhere else—”
He cupped his large, dirty hand on her cheek. Mia turned her head sharply, trying to shake off his touch.
“—Leaves you unprotected.”
He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. “Look at me,” he hissed, his grip so firm it could bruise. He turned his head slightly as he studied her face. “My— you really are beautiful. I see what Remus likes about you, your scent is intoxicating”
She began to shake, glaring at him and pressing herself against the brick wall behind her to put as much space between them as possible. She locked eyes with him, wishing that if looks could kill, he would drop dead right here in the street.
“He is probably so terrified of the wolf that he locks himself away hours before moonrise. It would be so easy then—“ he now looked her up and down as the corners of his mouth turned upwards “to mark and turn you without him to get in the way. Then Dolohov and I would both get what we want.”
“Dolohov wants me dead” she said through gritted teeth
“Dolohov wants your mother to suffer” Fenrir corrected “You don’t have to be dead for that— and I can’t think of a better way to get under Remus’s skin than to take what is his—” he leaned in to whisper in her ear “Then you’d get to see what a real werewolf is like”
“You disgust me!” She spat angrily
She jumped slightly at the zap she felt against the skin of her palms as Fenrir laughed maniacally. His laugh made the hair on the back of her neck stand up as she pushed herself harder against the brick wall behind her, wishing there was a spell that could make her disappear through walls.
“Oh, Mia— don’t you understand? I enjoy it so much more that way…”
“Mia?? Mia! Where’d you go?” she heard Tonks call out from the steps of Gringotts.
“Don’t answer her” Fenrir hissed pushed his wand harder into her throat and leaned in to whisper in her ear again “Remus can’t protect you from me; he doesn’t even have the balls to mark his territory”
“Mia?”
Tonks’s voice was getting closer; Mia prayed she had her wand out, ready to attack.
“I’ll see you again soon, Princess” he said smoothly, stepping away from her. “Real soon”
He gave her one last sinister grin before disapparating, leaving Mia pressed against the brick wall, shaking as tears began to spill down her cheeks. She was frustrated she didn’t act quickly enough, she should’ve drawn her wand and hexed him the moment she heard his voice. Why did she freeze up? Why does she always freeze? She sunk down onto the cobblestone road and began to sob, the moments of her father’s murder and Fenrir slicing through her thighs flashing in her mind. The reel of memories seemed to play all around her as she wrapped herself into a tight ball and squeezed her eyes shut. Her imagination began to run wild as she imagined being bit, with Fenrir laughing triumphantly at turning her into a creature that Remus would despise. Would he love her still if she were like him? She rubbed at her face with her coat sleeve where his filthy hand had touched her, trying to scrub him off.
“Mia?” Tonks said as she poked her head around the corner “What’re you…”
Tonks’s face twisted with worry when Mia looked up at her with a tear soaked face, sobbing and trembling.
“What happened? Why are you over here??”
Mia tried to speak, but her panic only allowed for broken words unable to understand through her choking sobs.
Tonks apparated with Mia into the living room of her flat, arms full of shopping bags and ice cream coolers. Mia dropped to the floor the moment her feet hit the ground, her breathing rapid and shallow as she sobbed. Penelope and Remus ran to their sides, them having been pacing in the living room waiting for them.
“What happened?” Remus snapped “Where is her calming draught?”
“Why aren’t you at Hogwarts?” Tonks asked as she threw the bags and coolers aside.
“I left the moment I felt my wrist vibrate!” He hissed, holding his wrist up at her. The smooth, gold band was now still and quiet. “Bill and Arthur had it covered anyway— what happened?”
“He’s coming for me!” Mia squeaked through a sob, her voice constricted and high-pitched in panic.
“Who? Who is coming?” Tonks asked urgently.
Mia was hyperventilating, her face feeling of pins and needles from lack of oxygen. Penelope grabbed a spare bottle of calming draught from a kitchen drawer, kneeling in front of her and forcing her mouth open.
“Mia, just relax…” Penelope said as she dropped a few drops onto her tongue.
“Tonks, what happened?” Remus asked again.
“I don’t know; I went into Gringotts and she went to Florean Fortescue’s, and when I came out she was at the mouth of Knockturn Alley having a fit.” Tonks said worriedly.
“Knockturn Alley??” Penelope said incredulously “At sundown?”
“I don’t know—that’s just where I found her”
“Penelope, can you make her some earl grey tea? Tonks, in my traveling cloak there’s a bit of chocolate” Remus asked as he picked her up off the floor and carried her to the couch.
Mia had started to slow her breathing, her sobs reducing to shuttering breaths. He sat her down gently, grabbing a throw blanket and casting a heating charm.
“I know how much you like heated blankets” He whispered with a small smile, wrapping her in the thick, warm comfort of her favorite throw.
Tonks handed her the package of chocolate that she accepted with a shaking hand. She tore the package open and bit off a corner of the square, allowing it to melt in her mouth.
“There, just breathe— good, that’s it”
Remus sat on the floor in front of her, instructing her to breathe until she was calm enough to speak.
“What happened?” he asked gently, his voice soft and soothing to her ears.
“Greyback” she whispered. “in Diagon Alley”
“WHAT?!” Penelope cried from the kitchen as Tonks sank into the armchair, dumbfounded
“I didn’t even see him!!” Tonks squeaked.
“He’d— he’d been watching us. He waited until you were inside the bank to make himself known— told me if I screamed for help you’d pay for it” she gestured to Tonks with a shaking hand.
“What did he want?” Penelope asked as she bustled over with Mia’s steaming cup of tea.
“To talk, according to him. I froze too, I should’ve hexed him the moment I heard his voice, but I fucking froze.”
Remus’s face was drained of all color, his eyes bugged slightly as his mouth was pressed into a tight line.
“What did he want to talk about?” Remus asked slowly as he tried to steady his tone.
“Where you spend the cycle, and where I spend the cycle. He insinuated that he would come for me tomorrow”
Mia began to tremble again as she remembered how pleased he looked when asking where she spends the cycle. She rubbed at her face where he had touched her, wishing to take a shower and scrub her skin raw. Remus clenched and unclenched his jaw a few times before taking a deep breath.
“You girls are not to leave this flat tomorrow. I’ll put up enchantments before I leave, but it has to be a girl’s night in.”
“No no no no no— Remus, please, you can’t leave tomorrow!” Mia said panicked
“I have to; I cannot spend the cycle in a muggle flat building— even with wolfsbane.” He said heavily “The three of you should be fine with some protective wards, but I’ll have someone on standby in case you girls will need anything so you don’t have to leave.”
“I’ll just come with you; we can do girl’s night another night…” Mia started, but Remus held his hand up to silence her.
“I think you are safer here. Honestly.” He said, looking at her with a firm expression. “I’ll be leaving you with a trained Auror”
“Have Kingsley help you with the wards, Remus” Tonks interjected “He’s really good at them”
Remus nodded to her, and then turned back to Mia. “Just as a precaution, you aren’t leaving the flat until after the full moon sets.”
Mia nodded, swallowing hard. She would be lying if she tried to say she wasn’t absolutely terrified of Britain’s most savage werewolf— so terrified she didn’t even have the sense to hex him the moment she heard his voice.
“He wants to turn me” she whispered “he wants to turn me to hurt you”
“I’m not going to let that happen” he said softly, shifting to sit next to her and pulling her towards him. “I will keep you safe”
He felt sick as he held her, hoping he could make good on his promise.
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Forever and Always