LMOM: Where, When, Why, Who & Howl Part 31
Wow. Busiest May on record for me and I managed to pull it off (er, pun sort of intended). THANK YOU to everyone who's left feedback- I'll go through this weekend and reply properly, but I've really enjoyed your thoughts.
And CONGRATS to everyone else who finished this year! I can't WAIT to read/view your stories/art! Thank you all for all the wonderful Remus goodness! And thank you to our lovely mods for running the LMOM yet again!
Title: Where, When, Why, Who & Howl Part 31 Author: KateKintail Rating: R to NC-17 Pairing: Oh, I’m not going to spoil it! Disclaimer: Not my characters or world. Just my creative juices. Please don’t sue. I don’t make a dime from this. Summary: New Companions all around! Remus is in heat and in need of more things than sex… Word Count for this part: 1,835 Notes: I’m in way over my head this year for pervy_werewolf’s Lusty Month of May. Any feedback you’ve got for me would be useful. Also, this is completely unbetaed, because of time constraints. Sorry!
Part 31
Where: England When: May, 1984
“For you, Remus? Anything.” He squared off in front of one of the control panels, hands positioned over the buttons, flexing as though he was preparing for a gunfight and he had an itchy trigger finger.
“Back to 1984,” Remus said. “But instead of home…” Remus took a deep breath. “Do you remember how I told you that I lost my pack in the war?”
The Doctor nodded. “All killed except for one in prison, I remember.”
Remus looked down at the controls he stood in front of, not sure even now if he dared make his request. Then he looked up, through the blue tube rising out of the center, and fixed his gaze on the Doctor. “Well, I wasn’t completely truthful. There’s one left.”
“Whereto, Remus?” he asked with kindness, sympathy.
“Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.”
*
The Doctor probably saw the two-story house, the pretentious car in the drive, the neatly tripped hedges. He probably saw the innocent, ordinary little neighborhood.
What Remus saw, however, was the young boys in the front yard. The fatter and older of the two was playing with a green and white checkered ball. He was kicking it around the grass and huffing as he tried to keep up with it. Every so often he kicked it hard against the side of the wall, just above the flower bed, and grinned to watch how far off it bounced, which was usually practically to the sidewalk. The skinner and younger boy sat on the front stoop, silently watching. He looked like he wanted to play as well but wouldn’t ask to do so.
After one especially hard kick against the front of the house, a woman poked her head out of the window and shouted something Remus couldn’t hear from all the way across the street. The fat little boy pouted. Then she held up something that Remus was sure was pie, and the boy ran inside as fast as his stubby legs could go.
All alone now, the boy on the steps walked over to the ball. He tossed it in the air, and caught it. And Remus felt his heart break. The boy looked so much like James, Remus felt he could have spotted him from a town away. The wild, untamed, black hair. The black framed glasses. The cheeks, mouth nose- it was like looking at a little mini James Potter.
“That’s him,” Remus said, the words practically depriving him of breath. “That’s Harry.”
The boy tossed the ball up again, higher, and when it came down, it fell into his fingers then slipped past them. It bounced onto his sneaker and then bounced across the yard. The ball kept rolling, silently when on the grass and then more smoothly on the paved sidewalk. It bounced down over the curb and headed across the street, right towards Remus and the Doctor.
Remus sucked in his breath, unable to believe this, and suddenly terrified. He considered fleeing. He could have grabbed the Doctor and ducked into the TARDIS before they were spotted. But his feet were rooted to the spot and the Doctor’s hand was on his shoulder. It wasn’t the first time the Doctor had held him, given him strength, and this time Remus didn’t think he needed it. Remus took a deep breath, bent down, and picked up the ball.
Little Harry bolted across the street after his ball and ran up to Remus. “Can I have my ball?” he asked, holding his hands out.
Remus squatted down and resisted the urge to hug the boy. “May I have my ball?”
Harry smiled sheepishly and echoed, “May I have my ball? Please?”
“Of course you may. But you have to promise me to never, ever cross the street without looking both ways again. Deal?”
Harry’s little head bounced up and down in repeated nods. “Promise.” Remus handed the ball over. Harry said a very perky and grateful, “Thanks!” then ran back to his yard, looking right and left before crossing the street on the way.
Remus straightened back up and leaned against the Doctor. The Doctor patted his head soothingly. “You could come visit him any time.”
But Remus shook his head. “Dumbledore decided it was safest to place Harry with his aunt and uncle. For the first year of his life, he was as good as my Godson, and then he was gone. The Ministry of Magic would never allow a werewolf to raise him; he’s too important to the wizarding world. And I can’t Apparate here. It’s a muggle town and the Ministry would detect the use of magic and be all over this place in an instant.” Remus took a deep breath. The Doctor squeezed his shoulder. “And not all the Death Eaters made it into Azkaban like Sirius. Harry’s all right here with his real family. The best thing I can do to keep him safe is to keep fighting the good fight and wait until the time’s right to come back into his life.”
“You’re a good man, Remus Lupin.” Remus smiled and turned, and put his arms around the Doctor. “There now. You’re all right.” Remus held back a sob, but his body shook anyway. “You are all right, aren’t you?” He rubbed a hand up and down Remus’ back.
Remus hugged him tighter. Then, suddenly mortified, he pulled away. “Sorry,” he said, pulling his sweater down a little in hopes of hiding his erection.
The Doctor chuckled. “It’s all right.”
“It’s just, we were hugging and so close and…” Remus’ cheeks flushed. “You’re rather easy on the eyes.”
“So I’ve been told. Perhaps we should go now?”
“Yes,” Remus agreed. “Take me home.”
“You are sure you want to go home then? You don’t want me to drop you off in some bar somewhere?”
“I absolutely want to go home. I’m glad to have a home, such as it is.”
The Doctor smiled. “Indeed.”
*
“Home sweet… Merlin’s Beard!”
“I’ve never heard that one before,” the Doctor said, following Remus out of the TARDIS and into Remus’ flat.
“It’s not… what it’s supposed to be like.” Remus’ eyes were watering and his jaw hung open.
The Doctor nodded. “Well as far as expressions go, I think I’ve heard my fair share. My favorite is probably one I heard on Xeniafellaby and referred to-”
“Doctor?” Remus turned and grabbed the man by the lapels of his pinstriped suit. “My flat? What happened here?”
He’d been gone a month and had expected to return home to find the philodendron on his windowsill wilting, a notice by his front door reminding him to pay his rent, and perhaps a fine layer of dust on the table and shelves. Instead, he found bookshelves filled with books when before there had only been bare wall. He found four chairs at his kitchen table when before there had only been one. He found a clean, fresh change of sheets on his bed when before there had only been ripped, stained ones. And, most noticeably, he found a gigantic metal cage in one corner of the room where before there hadn’t been one. “Doctor?”
Remus looked at him imploringly. The Doctor leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on the tip of Remus’ nose. “Call it a going away gift. Let me show you around.” He took Remus by the hand and instead of exploring some strange new time and place, he showed Remus the improvements to the flat. Beyond the obvious differences, there were also mended clothes, a fully-stocked fridge, and a sleek metal box beside the cage. “The cage is the strongest one can be. Reinforced steal and trimmed with holly. That’ll keep any werewolf inside. And to release it, all you have to do is speak the magic word.”
“And what’s that?”
“Well, I thought about Abracadabra or Open Sesame or even Bippidy Boppedy Boo. But I was worried those might be actual magic words.”
Remus laughed.
“So I just went with…” He angled his head towards the police box. His eyes rolled in that direction, too. When Remus didn’t say anything, he jabbed his head in that direction as well.
“TARDIS?”
The door sprang open and so did the metal box beside it. The Doctor grinned. “And that’s not all. You’ve got a nice safe box here for you to store your wand and clothes and any valuables during your transformation.”
“Valuables?”
“Sure.” The Doctor pulled Remus over. They both peered inside. “I didn’t know what currency wizards use, so I hope there’s an exchange somewhere.”
The amazingness of everything already overshadowed the thick stacks of thousand pound banknotes, but Remus felt tears leak from his eyes. After all he’d been through, he didn’t care a bit about money, but it would mean the sort of change of life he’d promised himself. He’d seen the last of those dingy pub bathroom stalls, that was for sure. “I guess I know what you’ve been up to when I disappeared with guys during our trips. You didn’t have to do this, Doctor.”
“Of course I didn’t. But like I said, you’re a good man, and the world can use more like you. You showed me things I’d never seen before.”
Remus waved that off. “You’d have gone to those places without me. And you would have stumbled upon the wizarding world sooner or later in your travels.”
“That’s not what I was talking about.”
Remus was overcome with emotion, but something in his body surged and he doubled right over.
“Remus!”
Waving that off, too, Remus straightened back up. “Looks like my time’s just about up.” He glanced out the window. The sky was no longer baby blue but a darkening mixture of pinks, oranges, and yellows. It was the most beautiful and most terrible sunset he’d ever seen. “I can’t even begin to thank you, Doctor. Will I ever see you again?”
“Who knows what’ll happen in the future? We might yet cross paths. You never know.”
Remus desperately hoped that was the case. But he felt a familiar sensation within him and he quickly took his place in the cage. It was with some regret that he closed the door behind him, but mauling the Doctor was not the way he wanted to end his month. “I don’t want you to see me transform,” said Remus. “Hurry. Go before the sun sets completely.”
The Doctor nodded. “All right. Goodbye, Remus.” He stood outside the cage and reached in, squeezing Remus’ hand, then cupping Remus’ cheek tenderly.
“Goodbye, Doctor,” Remus whispered back.
They stared at each other through the bars for a moment. Then the Doctor breathed out heavily. “What the hell, why not?” and leaned forward, pressing his lips to Remus’. Remus had never had a kiss quite like it.
The warmth from it stayed on his lips even when he stood alone in his flat, listening to the familiar fwhump-fwhump of the TARDIS dematerializing.