Ficathon 2017: Chime (Remus/Luna, Gen)

[hikorichan.livejournal.com]

Title: Chime
Author/Artist: hikorichan
Pairing: Remus/Luna (Gen)
Word Count/Art Medium:1285
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Challenge: rarepair_shorts CLUE(DO) Ficathon 2017
A/N: I chose the prompt, Remus/Luna in Honeydukes with a chocolate frog card. Gen-ish. This is their meet-cute. Thanks to AdelaideArcher and Lenaa1987, my amazing betas.

(AO3 link)



Even 40 years after he'd first seen Hogsmeade, the town still looked like a picturesque Christmas village. Thick snowflakes drifted onto the peaked roofs piled with snow, and a layer of white crunched underneath his boots.

For once, Remus was smiling. Signed employment papers sat on the desk in the Hogwarts’ Headmistress’s office, and Remus finally had hope again.

The past three years had left Remus nearly empty; he’d experienced more than his fair share of hard times, but he’d never felt more like a failure than after ‘Dora died. The grief would have been difficult enough, but a long employment history of ‘stay-at-home dad’ and the fact he couldn’t work for two days every month on account of his condition didn’t exactly scream ‘hire me’ to employers. He’d made ends meet as best he could with odd jobs and the help of his mother-in-law, but there had been more than one evening spent believing Teddy would be better off living with Andromeda or Harry than the useless werewolf he called Dad.

Once again, Hogwarts had come to his rescue, this time with the one position where advanced knowledge in cleaning up after children made a difference.

So he felt a little like celebrating. Relief made him feel uncharacteristically light, as if a balloon was attached by a string to his chest. And since he couldn’t share a bottle of firewhisky with his boy, he turned into Honeydukes.

The bell on the door chimed happily as he entered the brightly lit shop, which was mostly barren on a weekday morning. Mister Honeyduke smiled at him from behind the counter, and a young woman with a long blonde braid helped a hunchbacked old witch summon some sour sorcerers from a tall shelf.

Turning in the other direction, Remus reached into his pocket, testing the weight of his coin purse as he peered around. His heart rate lessened with the acknowledgement that it wasn't empty, and he let it sink back near the bottom.

He paused in front of the chocolate frog display, a glittering, purple and brown marvel that took up most of one wall. Boxes upon boxes of the confections were stacked in tiers around a central arrangement, and the head of a large brown frog stuck out from the wall, his tongue occasionally lolling out of his mouth to reveal one of the milk-chocolate sweets.

It croaked at Remus as he approached it, and he eyed the cardboard boxes embellished with jumping brown frogs. He always thought Dora deserved to be immortalized on one of the cheap, charmed collectors cards, but she’d just laughed and called him stupid.

“I’m not a hero, Remus,” she’d reminded him again and again with an exasperated but affectionate look. “I just do my job.”

Remus didn’t think that made her any less amazing, but in the end, she was right. Even being killed in the line of duty didn’t entitle her to become a chocolate hero, apparently.

Smiling wistfully, he peered up at the poster below the frog’s lolling tongue, which listed the latest cards and special edition boxes added to the line.

“Something for Teddy?” came a soft voice over his shoulder.

Startled, he turned towards the sound, only to find himself staring into the large, liquid blue eyes of Luna Lovegood. Something about the way she smiled serenely up at him made his mind go blank, and he blinked for a moment before speaking.

“Excuse me?”

“I asked if you were looking for something for Teddy.”

"Yes, for Teddy,” Remus clarified awkwardly, glancing back at the display in an attempt to regain his attention. “They're to... celebrate."

“That’s nice,” Luna responded, coming to stand next to him. From the tone of her voice, Remus thought she actually meant it. “He collects the cards, doesn’t he?”

Remus nodded. “Not as many as he’d like.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Luna’s mouth tilt upward. “I used to collect them when I was a kid,” she said as if lost in a pleasant memory. “I got the whole set, though Beatrice Bird was always my favourite—she travelled around the world on a Welsh Green, you know.”

She pointed at a set of boxes with red labels. “I think Teddy would like those ones. They’re a special British-Irish Quidditch League edition. Robin Long is one of the possible cards. Teddy likes the Appleby Arrows, doesn’t he?”

“How do you know that?” Remus blurted in surprise.

“Harry told me,” she replied simply.

Harry, Remus thought. Of course. They’re friends from school.

He snorted with embarrassment, dragging a hand through his scruffy hair. If Luna found him silly, she didn’t let on, only continued to smile at him.

"What are you celebrating? Did Teddy manage to turn his hair back to brown?"

Remus laughed. Apparently Harry told his friends more about his godson than Remus realized. It made him feel oddly proud.

"No, Teddy’s hair is still blue. He says he likes it that way. I don't really mind,” stated Remus. "The celebration is for me, actually. I’m to take over for Mister Filch at Hogwarts.”

“I heard he was retiring,” Luna commented, playing with one of her feather-shaped earrings. “Is Mrs Norris staying on, or retiring as well?”

Remus hid a smile with his hand. “I think she’s going with Mister Filch.”

“That’s too bad, but maybe you can get your own cat. When do you start?”

“I start training in a few weeks.”

Luna picked up two special edition boxes and put them in his basket.

“For Teddy,” she said, and then turned to an adjacent shelf, picked up a packet of gummy butterbeer bottles, and tucked it in next to the chocolate frogs. “Those are for you.”

"Did Harry tell you I like butterbeer bottles too?" Remus asked curiously—the bottles had been a favourite since he was a boy, and seeing them in his basket made him feel strangely nostalgic.

"No, you just seem like the sort of person who would like them,” Luna answered matter-of-factly.

Remus exhaled a long breath, then his lips rose into a smile. His fingers brushed his pocket unconsciously, even though he knew he’d end up buying what Luna had chosen. He wanted the sweets: the spicy, sugary gummies sticking to his teeth, Teddy’s chocolate-coated grin—the memories, and the expectation that he could do it again if he chose.

“Thank you,” he told Luna seriously.

She studied him, expression tranquil and wide eyes peering right through him. He let her look, for a rare moment unencumbered by self-judgement.

“I think you’ll be a wonderful caretaker,” she spoke smoothly, and once again, Remus believed she meant it.

“Thank you. I hope so,” he replied, his cheeks feeling slightly hot. “Well, I guess I should go pay for these.”

With some reluctance, he said goodbye and headed for the till, allowing Mister Honeyduke to count up his treats and punch them into the old, clanging register. He pushed away the pang at handing over his sickles, focusing instead on the smile that would greet him when he got home—on the future that was now within reach.

Turning for the door, he spotted Luna sorting boxes of Pepper Imps.

"I hope to see you again soon," she called out to him, and for some reason, that made him happy.

“You will,” he assured her. “I’ll bring Teddy to visit—to buy more chocolate.”

Her cheeks turned a pale pink, and Remus grinned at her, nodding, before turning back to the door.

The bell chimed brightly as he tugged it open, and stepped out into the snow.