MOON MAN. remus lupin ✓

x. to marvel in the face of kindness

Life continued on.

     They didn't speak of that night. It was almost like it didn't happen. Remus both wished and didn't wish it happened. He was terrified that something would trigger Liam into freaking out and changing his mind.

     On the other hand, he liked having someone know of that part of him. Accept it. He didn't need to give a shoddy excuse for when that time of the month came around. He could use his wand to do things after closing up the shop. And he wouldn't need to look over his back as he did. Either way, it was freeing—the weight of it had unknowingly limited him. Without anyone there—James, Peter, even Sirius—he had grown weak, like a building that's foundation have slowly crumbled.

     Liam didn't seem to care, either. They could talk about magic and Hogwarts. Remus learnt that he'd noticed him and the other Marauders. He laughed at their pranks ( but only the harmless ones, and he made a note to criticise the more malevolent pranks ) and the jokes they threw around. It was... nice, being able to relive those memories again, no matter how tainted they had become.

     Remus had just arrived at the shop, his raincoat drenched from the downpour outside, when it occurred to him.

     "Why is it that I've never seen your parents before? I thought they owned the shop."

     "They do. They just don't like coming around," said Liam. He was sorting through some stock they'd recently purchased. He didn't look up from where he was putting down a book.

     Remus stopped righting a few pillows. "Do you want to talk about it?"

     Liam sighed and placed the pile of books he was holding on the counter. He came over to stand by the couch. He took a seat, and the worn leather grumbled.

     "My parents are quite conservative in how they perceive the world. They were shocked to learn that I was a wizard. The knowledge that a whole other world existed on the fringes of their own made them weird." He breathed. "They had a hard time coming to turns with it. It took them nearly the whole summer before my first year for them to wrap their heads around the idea.

     "Even still, it's a  pretty taboo subject. We don't talk about it. Any business I have in the Wizarding World operates on a strictly need-to-know basis. I warned them about He Who Must Not Be Named, told them to stay inside as much as possible and to avoid the areas around popular wizarding hotspots. The Leaky Cauldron, that alley on Oxford Street. They listened, thankfully, but other than that—nothing. It's like that other part of me doesn't exist around them."

     As he spoke, Remus sat down too. He couldn't imagine not having parents that knew about magic. Much less ones that didn't accept it fully. He thought about his conversations with his dad, showing off his trinkets to his mum. Her surprise when he brought home a chocolate frog and it got into the pantry. The scolding he got for letting his sweets roam around the house.

     Liam had begun to curl in on himself, his body angled away from Remus. Before he could control his mouth, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

     "My mum died."

     Liam turned back to him swiftly, looking cross-eyed at the abrupt shift in conversation.

     "It was in the winter of '79. She had pneumonia. We found out too late, and by the time we did, she was already too far gone."

     "I'm so sorry. I sound like an arse now for talking about mine," he admitted, and Remus shook his head.

     "No. My mum always accepted me for who I was. My dad, too. I can't imagine that it would have been like if I didn't have their support."

     Even the thought of it pained him.

     "What happened to your dad?"

     Remus shut his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, he looked straight into Liam's eyes, and quietly, he marvelled. "He's alive. I just can't bring myself to see him at the moment."

     Liam understood. Of course, he did.

     Remus' smile was shaky.

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a/n: okay so i got smashed last night and didn't post a second update. but im editing it rn and it should be done soon. so forgive me and my unreliability plsplspls