WHO: Lily Potter & Remus Lupin WHEN: Backdated a few weeks. WHERE: Remus's apartment. SUMMARY: Lily drops by unexpectedly to kind of maybe ask Remus about her sister. WARNINGS: None.
Before seeking out Remus because she had many, many things she wanted to talk to him about, she stopped at a bakery and picked up a few options - a double chocolate chip cookie, dark chocolate cupcake with espresso frosting, and a slice of chocolate raspberry cheesecake. With the box of sweets in one hand, she knocked on the door with the other and waited for Remus to answer. Lily wasn't the type to just apparate in unannounced, even among friends.
There was so much to talk about. She wanted to know about Remus's feelings about her sister. Maybe not directly as she promised Petunia that she wouldn't butt in and instead let the two of them work things out together. And yet, Lily couldn't very well just pretend that she didn't know anything and wasn't achingly curious about it all.
She grinned when the door opened. "Remus - surprise! I hope you're not busy. I brought sweets and I'm not leaving with any of them, yeah?"
Remus was enjoying his last day before school started. Hermione wasn't around at present, and he assumed she'd be home by dinner time, so he was just sitting in the living room of his apartment with an old Sam Cooke vinyl playing in the background as he scratched down a potential quiz question for his students. He'd assigned summer reading to all of the upper classmen and they were meant to pick 4 novels from his list of twelve. This had seemed like a good idea to him back during the end of the year but this meant that he had to come up with twelve separate tests. He hadn't properly thought about how much work he was creating for himself. Still, the majority of it was done, and he wasn't going to issue the tests until the end of the week. He had time.
Glancing to his front door, he blinked. He wasn't expecting any visitors and he highly doubted Hermione had forgotten her key. Pushing the pad of paper onto the coffee table, he stood and made his way to the door.
Instantly, he smiled.
"This is a surprise," he said, clearly meaning it. Then his cheeks flushed some and he shook his head. "Oh, Lily, are you trying to fatten me up? Doesn't your husband do that enough already?"
Lily shrugged and moved past him into the room, grinning. "I just know you're not about to say no to what I've brought you," she said slyly. She set the box on the nearest table and looked over at him expectantly. "Besides, I know that school is starting soon and you deserve to treat yourself before that all starts again. Speaking of," she said, changing topics so suddenly, "what are you doing about Hermione's schooling? Do you have anything specific planned out for her?"
She was still trying to find exactly what she ought to be doing here, and she hadn't been able to figure it out yet. Since arriving, Lily had volunteered in various places, enjoyed the community theater production, offered some tutoring help on the side, but nothing really stuck.
Shutting the door behind her, he quickly turned to follow her inside of his flat. The edges of his smile curled up into a smirk with her comment. He didn't necessarily know what was inside of the box but he recognized the container. He was a fan of baked goods after all. "I don't think I'd actually turn anything away that you offered me," he commented with a chuckle. Then he nodded his head a bit. "I don't know if that is necessarily true but I'm not going to argue against treats."
Then he made a slight 'ah' noise as he made his way to his record player, so he could pull the needle from the record. "She's enrolled for now in middle school and we'll be supplementing her magical lessons in the evening and weekends. Charlie seems fond of her and gave her a few of the old textbooks that are lying around the Burrow." He didn't comment on his knowledge of that particular Weasley's disdain for him. He only knew that the books had come from him by way of Hermione. Charlie didn't speak with him.
"And we'll reach out to all of you, of course, for help in your specialty areas. As long as you all don't mind," he said, conversationally, before turning and motioning to his couch for her to sit.
Lily sat, making herself easily comfortable, and nodded. "I don't mind at all. I've been talking with Luna as well. I know she's older than Hermione is," and, really, not that much younger than Lily herself, "but I certainly want to help any way I can. I need something to do, Remus. So unless you want me to start getting into everyone's business and, oh I don't know, play matchmaker…"
There, she thought, that was a good way to let him bring up the subject of Petunia. Or at least prod him into doing so. Or to see if he would. She smiled innocently over at him and shrugged. "I need something to do, is all."
He was nodding along in understanding as she spoke as he made way to the arm chair that had always been his. There were still a few pieces in the flat that were Nymphadora's, as they'd been placed in living quarters together from the very beginning, but most of the pieces were his left overs from his small, loft sized flat he'd had since he left Hogwarts. He was intending to make a comment about Luna but then Lily mentioned her need to do something, anything, or else she'd begin trying to get into everyone's business. His eyes flashed up to her and he gave her a puzzled look. "Matchmaker? For whom?" He asked.
It didn't even occur to him that she perhaps meant him.
"Sirius? I wouldn't even bother if you're thinking about him. He does well enough on his own," he commented, with a light chuckle. "But, yes, please do help in relation to Hermione. I want her to have a balanced education and I can't give her that alone."
Lily opened her mouth to say she was talking about him but instead gave a shrug. "No," she said, "no Sirius. He doesn't need my help. I was - well, actually I was thinking about my sister. She can definitely do better than Vernon and he's not here besides, so I'd like to take a chance and see if I can't find someone for her." She kept her attention on him, watchful of his expression as she spoke. She wanted to be able to see if she could read him, at least.
"I'd be glad to help Hermione," she said, pressing her hands together. "I've just started a garden and I know I won't be able to find all of the plants that would help in herbology or Potions, there might be enough to get something started."
He'd been looking at Lily, of course, as they made their idle chatter. He'd had the hint of laughter still expressed on his face. But the moment she mentioned Petunia, his face seemed to shift, and for that brief moment he almost looked saddened by her statement. As though she'd just told him something horrible. Quickly, though, he recovered and he moved a clenched fist up to his mouth, clearing his throat.
"Ah," was all he managed to say in immediate response.
The thing was that Remus had been thinking about Petunia a lot himself as of late. He'd invited her to his home on a few occassions and he'd been quite overjoyed when she'd visited him out of the blue, though he'd done his best to not seem eager. And it was Petunia he'd spent a great length of time talking to about his worries over the aged down Teddy. She'd calmed him.
Feeling as though he needed to say more on the subject, he let his hand drop back down by his side. "Of course. She deserves all the happiness possible," he added. Lily had moved onto talking about Hermione again and he just nodded his head. "A garden will be helpful," he agreed, rather quietly.
"So do you," Lily said suddenly. She knew enough about the future and things and knew that Nymphadora Tonks had held a special place for Remus, though she hadn't really asked either of them about that when Tonks was around. She pressed her fingertips against her knees and leaned forward a little. "You absolutely do too," she said.
She nodded about the garden. "Obviously I won't be able to plant anything really useful, but we'll see. I should ask around and see if anyone from our world has anything I can use to create a store of. I know I came here with a few of my potions ingredients. Do you think they'd ever plant well here?"
Remus wasn't so certain he thought that was true. He'd read through all of the novels, he'd been given the first hand and second hand accounts of events, and he didn't know if he deserved much of anything. Of course, that didn't mean he didn't desire it. He liked the concept of company after having spent almost a decade on his own. Nymphadora was someone he could see himself growing to love but he hadn't been there yet while she had. It was difficult to be in a relationship with someone who was already on such a different plane of emotional resonance. It made you second guess everything and he felt guilty that he hadn't been quite at the stage she was. And while he missed her, there was no doubt there, he didn't know if it was missing her as a romantic partner or just the friendship.
Or, at least, he was telling himself he didn't know. He likely knew more than he was willing to admit even to himself.
After all, he was already feeling an eagerness to see Petunia in a way that hadn't been there with Nymphadora. He didn't feel an obligation to Petunia and that was sort of freeing. And he enjoyed her company more than he was letting on. He didn't say any of this, however, and just offered Lily one of his usual submissive smiles; the kind where you could tell he didn't necessarily agree just from the look in his eyes.
"Charlie has the suitcase of Mr. Scamander. Perhaps there are ingredients inside it that could be of use for the garden," he recommended.
Lily knew that smile, and she wasn't going to let it go. "I definitely want the both of you to be desperately happy," she said, smiling herself. If she hadn't told Petunia that shouldn't would talk to Remus about it directly she would be, well, talking to Remus about it directly. But for now, she'd back off, a little bit.
She perked up at the mention of Mr. Scamander's suitcase. "Oh, he does? I didn't realize," Lily began. "I imagine there must be quite a bit in there, yes. I'll have to get in touch with Charlie then, and see if I can take a look. Not only for the plants but also just for the creatures."
"Us both?" He found himself repeating, with just the slightest raise of his eyebrow. Clearly, she was grouping them together because she cared for them both, and not for any other potential reason. He suspected it was fair to say that the two sisters had a better relationship in this universe than back home; so it was plausible.
He gave a slight nod of his head. He didn't know many details. He just knew from what Nymphadora had told him. "I'm sure he'll speak with you," he said, looking away for a moment towards his kitchen. Then he looked to her. "Would you like tea, Lily? I should have offered sooner."
Oh, she had absolutely put them together because she wanted to put them together. Lily smiled at him with her teeth. She made herself comfortable, tucking a leg up underneath her. "Tea sounds lovely," she said to him.