InsaneJournal

LMOM #1 - Bits of Blue and Gold (R)
Title: Bits of Blue and Gold (1 of 31)
Author: summerborn
Rating: R
Pairing: Remus/OFC
Kink: Blowjobs, bad sex
Challenge: Lusty Month of May 2009
Warnings for overall story: Some will call this AU since Remus (and others, later) are alive post-war.
Word count this episode: 1250

There was nothing better to take the joy out of a bright May morning than the prospect of being evicted out into it.

Remus Lupin rubbed a hand over his sleep-blurred eyes and read the letter again. Then he put it carefully back down on the floor of the corridor, turned, and went back into his flat.

The owl brought two bills for "Mr. John Price," which Remus considered at arm's length before dropping them onto his kitchen table, and, of course, the Daily Prophet. He'd tried unsubscribing, but the customer service witch had insisted the paper was being delivered to Remus J. Lupin, not to the name Remus had been using since his presumed death, and there was no way he was about to reveal himself just so he could get the Prophet canceled.

He'd been spending most of his time with Muggles in the past six years, and it didn't pay any better now than it had when he was in his twenties. The small fortune Sirius had left him had covered gaps left by his meager income – and the gaps in between his jobs – but no matter how he'd stretched it, he'd finally run to the end of it.

Two months ago, according to the letter from his landlord.

Before he could change his mind, he flipped the Prophet open to the classifieds. A quick scan ruled out the majority of the positions – no one, he knew, would hire him for customer service or anything interfacing with the public, even if he wasn't recognized. After six years, though, he doubted anyone would recognize him except Harry, and he'd left the country last year.

An advertisement caught Remus' eye: "EXC. PAY. Magical study subjects needed, short or long-term. Choose your own hours. GET PAID TODAY," and an address.

On any other day he would have passed it by; on any other day, he hadn't received a pre-eviction notice. The exchange rate for Galleons was pretty good – depending on what "excellent" meant, maybe he could show up, do whatever they needed for one day, and get his landlord off his back for a little while longer.

-:-

An hour or so later, Remus found himself in Muggle London, in front of a plain office front, wedged between a high-end cafe and a solicitor's office. The glass doors were dark, with "Fair Weather Fantasies" in simple but elegant lettering. That gave him a moment's pause – there were, after all, things that he would not do for money, no matter how desperate he was – but he decided he could always say no and walk away.

Remus went inside.

He found a spacious reception area, tastefully decorated in grey and steel blue, very cool, very professional. A tingle of magic as he crossed the threshold told him that this was indeed a wizarding company – the witch sitting at a reception desk, idly waving her wand at squares of paper, causing them to fold up and float off at intervals, confirmed it.

"Good morning; do you have an appointment?" She barely glanced at him.

"No," Remus answered. "I saw your ad in the Prophet."

The witch looked up then. "Ah, for the study? Just a moment." One of the squares flapped its way to a door in the far wall, and a moment later a serious-looking young man in business robes came out, hand outstretched.

Slightly bemused, Remus shook it. "Hello, I'm–"

"Here for the study, yes," the other man said. "I'm David, I'll be your guide today, please won't you come in to my office?" He steered Remus into an office, sparsely furnished, and waved at the single chair in front of what was clearly David's desk.

Remus tried again. "My name is–"

"Not important," the man said, flashing a quick smile. "No offense, but our work is done strictly anonymously. I take it this is your first time here?"

It was then that Remus noticed the half-dozen small jars lining the front edge of the desk. Perhaps he'd made a mistake in coming after all.

"Yes," he replied cautiously. "Look, can you just tell me what it is you need?"

David leaned forward over the desk. "Quite simply, sir, we are looking for donations of a rather unusual kind. You see, we do a lot of work with St Mungo's, research and development, and our current focus is on understanding the way a person's mind interfaces with a spell like, oh, say, the Obliviate charm. You're familiar with that one?"

Remus nodded, mystified. "What sort of donations?"

"Memories." David leaned back a fraction. "If you can find a memory you can part with, we can add it to our bank for testing and analysis – the content doesn't matter quite so much as the feeling it invokes, you see. Our standard rate is twenty Galleons."

Remus had lived a long life, and there were plenty of things in his past he wouldn't mind letting go of... and yet, something nagged at him. To just give up a memory of something that had made him who he was? "Will I lose the memory?"

"Oh, you'd still remember what happened, generally speaking. The brain has a remarkable ability to adapt. You would find that the details were a bit fuzzy, that's all."

Twenty Galleons, Remus thought. "What sort of memory would you want?"

"For a first time, it's always easiest to find a memory that stands out, and provoked strong emotions – the day of your wedding, for example, though most people want to keep those details – or your first sexual encounter." David shrugged slightly. "Of course, moments of fear or extreme embarrassment also stand out for some people."

Remus considered. "Suppose it was something embarrassing. Would I have to tell you what it was?"

"Not if you don't want to. Before anyone else views it, we have a legilimens on staff who anonymizes everything."

That would have to be some legilimancer, Remus thought vaguely. Part of him wanted to get this process over with. He was already recalling a scene, late summer, with a Muggle neighbor, and if you want to talk about "extreme embarrassment..."

"What do I do?" he asked.

"Just concentrate," David said, and his wand was in his hand and Remus didn't remember when that had happened...

-:-

Not a first sexual encounter, then, but this time it was a girl, and Prongs was going to have a field day when he heard about this, but if Remus had anything to say about it then no one would ever hear about this. He'd been kissing Lorraine, they were in his room, she'd been hanging around all summer...

Kissing and more, when she reached under his shirt, slid her hands down across his stomach, obviously heading for something, and this girl – she couldn't have been more than fifteen? – knew what she was doing, or at least had gotten a good tip from her older sister.

Then her hands were in his pants, wrapping around his cock, and she made a noise as she kissed him, kissed his neck, started to kneel on the floor in front of him.

He froze up.

She moved to take him in her mouth, lips parting, and it was supposed to be enticing but he just couldn't and he'd pushed her away. She looked up at him in astonishment, then anger, and he sat in mortified silence as she straightened her blouse and stalked out, leaving him hanging out and not even hard, really.

A moment later, he was sitting in the office again, and David put the silvery strands into one of the jars, looking pleased.

Continued in part 2.


A/N: The title comes from Carole King's song "Tapestry":

My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision of the everchanging view
A wondrous woven magic in bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold