shadowycat (shadowycat) wrote in adventdrabbles, @ 2013-12-29 09:14:00 |
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Entry tags: | contributor: shadowycat, dec29, fandom: harry potter, prompt29, year: 2013 |
Dec 29, Harry Potter, Severus/Remus, Meet Me...
Title: Meet Me...
Author: shadowycat
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Severus/Remus
Word Count: 540 words
Prompt: 29: a city decked out in holiday lights
Rating: G
Warning: unbeta'd
Holiday lights glimmered all over Diagon Alley in every shop and flat. The first Christmas after the war was just past, and now everyone turned their thoughts toward the coming of a new year, determined to put the past, with all its pain and despair, behind them as quickly as possible.
Remus hunched deeper into his cloak as a brisk wind cut through the thin cloth. He barely noticed the crowds of cheerful people or the glittering lights as he moved slowly toward a quiet side street. On a long ago evening, after one more drink than had probably been prudent, he and Severus had made a pact that no matter what else happened, if they both survived the war, they’d meet up to close a pub on the next New Year’s Eve.
Even as he approached the small, dark pub that they’d designated as a meeting place, he knew that no meeting would happen-- could happen. For surely if Severus had somehow survived, he’d have shown himself before now, yet Remus never considered not making the rendezvous. Until midnight came and Severus didn’t, he still had hope, however tenuous, and that alone kept him going.
Pulling open the door, he stepped into the warm darkness of the little pub. Quickly he scanned the faces of those already inside, hoping, however irrationally, to see that one face above all others that he longed for, but there was no one he recognized. The grimy little clock above the bar read five minutes to ten. He had a bit more than two hours to wait.
Grabbing a table at back of the room with a good view of all the comings and goings, he ordered a beer from the solemn bartender and settled in to wait.
Those two hours passed with exquisite slowness. A few people came in, most drank their drinks quietly and left again, this didn’t seem to be a place for rowdy celebration, but though Remus carefully scrutinized every arriving face, it was never Severus. After two more hours, the bartender announced the pub was closing and began to usher his customers out the door. At last no one was left except Remus.
Forced to finally admit to himself that Severus wasn’t coming, Remus slowly got to his feet and slipped his cloak around his slumped shoulders. Tossing a few coins onto the table, he nodded to the bartender and headed for the door, unsure of what to do next. Just as he placed his hand on the rough wood, the bartender called out to him.
“What’s your hurry, Lupin? I thought we were going to close this place down together.”
It took a moment for the familiar voice to register but once it did, with a fiercely pounding heart, Remus spun around and stared at the man behind the bar.
“Severus?”
With a wave of a hand, the glamour of strangeness dropped away, and Severus’s beloved face gazed back at him.
Filled with relief and happiness, Remus approached the bar. “I thought maybe you’d forgotten.”
Severus shook his dark head, now finely sprinkled with grey. “Never. I’d fight my way through a horde of enemies to get back to you.”
Remus smiled. “What a coincidence, so would I.”