Hogwarts
School Healer
Creature Task Force - Registrar
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21 years old
Hufflepuff Alumnus
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Trish
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Post by Mali Johar on Jun 23, 2017 17:17:24 GMT
Remus was a prisoner in his own home and no one knew how terrible and torturous that was like Mali and Theo did. Perhaps that's why the the large Troll had agreed to come along. They weren't exactly on good terms. Mali hadn't seen much of Theo lately and when they were around each other everything felt tense. She wasn't really sure about their relationship or if there was even still a relationship to be had but someone needed to watch the children and there wasn't many people she would trust with the secret outing. They were mostly silent as they walked through the streets of Godric's Hollow, having appeared about a block away from Remus' house. Mali didn't want the loud crack that often accompanied her apparition to wake the children if they were sleeping. Twice she wandered too closely to Theo, it was like he was magnetic and drawing her in, and their hands or arms would brush together. Each time the witch scrambled two steps over to re-inflate his personal bubble and give them some space.
They turned down the walk up to Remus' house and Mali broke the silence. "I've brought along some things for the children in case they wake up." It was well past their bed time, most of her 'secret missions' seem to happen near midnight. It just felt safer to work under the cover of nightfall even if it really wasn't. "Coloring books and board games and things like that. I've also packed up some of your favorite snacks in case you get hungry." Watching kids on an empty stomach was the worst. One couldn't have patience for little ones when they were hangry themselves. Mali stopped on Remus' door step and turned to look up at Theo, the first time she looked directly at him since they arrived. Her heart still fluttered, the same as it always did, whenever Theo was around and there was a wonderful warmth in her chest. "Thank you for this."
With that said, Mali knocked a soft but persistent knock against the door. Hopefully the man in question was up and awake. Mali alternated between periods of sleeping all of the time to escape the mind numbing boredom and terrible stress induced insomnia that kept her endlessly awake when it was her that was on house arrest. When Remus did appear on the door the witch wasted no time in slipping inside. Normally she would have greeted a friend with an enthusiastic hug but it felt a bit insulting to do that with Theo near, consider what had sent them away from each other. "Hello." Mali started and didn't stop. She babbled out her whole spiel quickly and breathlessly before her own tension and nervousness choked the words right out of her. "You're going on a trip with me, we're going to see Gabriel. Theo's going to sit with the twins 'til we get back. We're going via...." She paused to rummage through the tote bag of supplies, prying a chocolate frog card from the jumble inside. "Portkey! I made friends with someone from the magical transportation department." It felt important to explain just how safe her idea was before Remus had a chance to reject it so she left no room for him to get a word in edgewise. "It's illegal to make an unauthorized port key but they don't really have a way of detecting them. They've got to catch you in the act which is pretty difficult because it's quieter and safer than apparating. The bloke's got an aunt who's a werewolf so I traded him some of my potion ingredients and he taught me the spell."
Mali unshouldered her bag and set it down before checking her watch. "You've got about ten minutes to get ready." Mali held out the card and Dumbledore peered up from the card from underneath his half moon glasses and long white beard. "I'm going with you so we can get back.. You don't think Gabriel will have us arrested, do you? Oh, I don't think he's like that. Well? What are you waiting for? Go get ready."
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St.Mungo's
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31 years old
Gryffindor Alumnus
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Mego
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Post by Theo Ashland on Jun 23, 2017 18:55:34 GMT
Theo's decision to help Mali was almost instinctual. There was never a second thought - when she needed something, he would help. He might gripe, moan, and try to talk her out of it...but that was helping too, in it's own way, right? Right. Even now, with everything going on between them - and technically, everything was nothing, nothing was going on between them because they weren't talking and that was just as confusing - he didn't even think about telling her no. Because when the time came where they eventually sucked it up and talked this whole mess out, no mattered what they decided, Theo knew they were always going to need each other for certain things. For Theo, he needed her because no one else could understand him the way she did. He had to have that, no matter what.
Because they had been through all those things together, those terrible things, and they couldn't throw that away overnight. They would never get rid of those harrowing memories, and now, they even had a handful to choose from - lucky them. Take, for instance, the utterly cruel and unusual punishment of house arrest. Neither one of them came out of that the same as they were before, and that's why they were always going to need each other. Theo was adamant on that point. No one else could understand that. Except, perhaps...for Mister Lupin. That's what Mali needed help with tonight, and that was another reason his decision was already decided for him, before she even asked. If he could in any way possible help, he was never going to sit back and let another person suffer through what he and Mali went through.
He owed Mister Lupin, anyway. The breakouts the man orchestrated for Theo and Mali were one of the bare few things that saved Theo's sanity during that time. This was literally the least he could do to return the favor - watch the man's kids while Mali whisked him away. Theo even missed the little rascals, so there was another plus to this midnight excursion. All of these reasons floating around inside his head made it much easier for Theo to justify to himself that he was doing this for a true purpose, and not just as an excuse to be close to Mali again. He wasn't ready for the conversation they needed to have, and neither was she, but he missed her. He tried not to watch her too much as he trailed her down the sidewalk to Mister Lupin's house. His heart thrilled whenever she bumped up against him, only to sink when she scrambled away.
They didn't talk until they'd already reached Mister Lupin's house, and Theo felt an instant weight of regret at those wasted, silent minutes. "Oh...thanks. I didn't even think about that." Theo was usually always prepared, but it was safe to say he was a little distracted when Mali came to fetch him earlier that night. When she said she even packed up some of his favorite snacks, Theo smiled in the darkness. Now that was just like Mali. They stopped at the door and Mali looked up at him and Theo just about lost it right there and then. He ran a hand over his face like he was trying to wipe his wretched feelings away. "No problem. Thanks for the snacks." That was lame. "And...you know, thanks for thinking of me." Worse. Theo pulled his lips into an awkward half-smile and turned toward the door.
Mister Lupin appeared soon enough, and Mali was off. Theo followed her in, nodding at the older man before standing sentinel off to the side, listening to Mali's explanation for a second time. He still had that strange smile on his face, but he had to look away from her and watch Mister Lupin before she caught him. The older man hesitated for a moment, but then seemed to give in and disappeared down a hallway, leaving Theo alone with Mali again. He eyed her bag on the floor, scooping it up by the handle after a few moments and then daring to look back at her. "Well. I'll just take this, then? I think I'll go peek in and see if they're still asleep." He stared, then nodded like he was giving her a salute, and turned for the stairs. With one large foot on the second stair (the advantages of long legs) he suddenly turned back around and looked at Mali again. "Good luck. Please be careful. If you need anything, send...I mean, call me." He rummaged in the back pocket of his jeans for the little cell phone he bought with Mali. She was still the only person he talked to on it, and he usually left it forgotten on his bedside table, but he'd remembered to slide it into his back pocket right before leaving earlier that night.
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Hogwarts
Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor
Werewolf
Order of The Phoenix
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44 years old
Gryffindor Alumnus
Wandless Magic
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Mego
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Post by Remus Lupin on Jun 23, 2017 23:12:46 GMT
Remus was no stranger to insomnia. When he started thinking about just many nights he hadn't slept, the number quickly got dizzying. All sorts of things kept him awake. The moon, obviously. Pain. At one, there'd been quite a bit of hunger and cold. Worries. Fears. Tonight, it was a pleasant little combination of all of them. He was getting older, and the familiar sensation of being too exhausted to sleep that usually only cropped up close to the full moon was slowly seeping into all his other weeks, too. His hands were achy, he felt a chill in his old drafty house, and he was hungry for something that wasn't reheated leftovers. And yes, Remus was very worried, and he was very scared. Those two usually got worse the later he stayed up. He found himself stuck on thinking about what was going to happen to him with his trial and how there was a very real (or at least it felt that real to him) possibility he might be all alone again after it, everyone he loved taken away from him. This was one of Remus' biggest fears, and it would keep anyone awake all night, because the nightmares were far worse.
So afraid of the future was he, Remus didn't have the energy to fear the present. A knock on his door near midnight just didn't seem all that strange to him at this point. The hours were all sort of running together, anyway. When he answered his door, Mali and Theo were standing outside. Now that...that was sort of strange, going by his last (also sort of strange) encounter with Mali. He had time for one questioning look between the two before they were coming inside. He then had time for one short nod of greeting toward them both before Mali went on one of the more impressive spiels he'd heard from her, hardly stopping for a breath.
Gabriel. They were going to see Gabriel. Remus' brain caught on the name and sent a deep ache through his chest. "Why are we going to see Gabriel?" Remus' voice was masked in sincere puzzlement, his brows drawn together in confusion. If Gabriel wanted to see him, why hadn't he just come here? "Is he okay?" Remus' heart started to race, and then he was utterly distracted by the thing Mali pulled from her bag. A chocolate frog card. Remus stared dumbly at the tiny Dumbledore on its front. "Portkey," he echoed Mali quietly. "You made a Portkey." He simply couldn't help the pride that seeped into his voice. Mali was consistently surprising him with all of her magical accomplishments as of late.
Mali was sending him off to get ready after her speech, and Remus was still staring at the chocolate frog card. Her order snapped Remus to attention, and his gaze wandered back over to her. She had come here to take him to Gabriel, wherever he was, and it only took a second of looking at her to know how useless it would be to tell Mali no. And he didn't even want to say no, not for a second. This was extremely illegal, yes, but when had that ever stopped Remus? But he did hesitate. He didn't know if he could handle seeing Gabriel right now. If he was hurt somewhere, that would crush him. If he wasn't hurt...well, Remus knew Gabriel was hurt. On the inside. And Remus had done it to him. Remus didn't want to hurt him ever again, and doing this was the very opposite of the break and the space they'd both agreed to. But Mali had come all this way...
"Oh, what the hell," he said after a long moment, shrugging his shoulders. "Ten minutes." He turned away from the pair and went down the hallway. It wouldn't take him two minutes to get ready, but the tension was so thick in his entryway between his two newly arrived guests, he'd make it last ten minutes. He went into the spare bedroom on the first floor, where he kept things for after the full moon when he was too weak to make it up the stairs. He changed out of his pajamas into something warmer - even though it was probably warm outside, Remus was feeling very cold. He spent a good chunk of his ten minutes looking at himself in the mirror, something he loathed to do for ten seconds normally, running his fingers through hair that was always wild and over scars that seemed to stand out even harsher against his increased paleness. With a deep sigh, he sat down on the bed and pulled on a pair of socks before shuffling out back into the entryway, finding Mali alone.
It wasn't quite ten minutes, by his calculations. Remus slipped into a pair of his shoes by the door, and then leaned against the wall and looked at Mali. "On a scale of one to ten, how deathly do I look?" He asked with a small smile. He knew he looked tired, and old, but inside he felt so alive and young. As the time crept closer, his blood pressure and body heat rose so much he seriously considered stripping off his freshly donned sweater before they left.
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Hogwarts
School Healer
Creature Task Force - Registrar
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21 years old
Hufflepuff Alumnus
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Trish
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Post by Mali Johar on Jun 25, 2017 4:37:03 GMT
There was so much more to be said. She wanted to tell him that she was always thinking of him, that she missed him and that she didn't want things to be like this anymore. Mali wanted to tell Theo that she was hurting and that she needed him. Not just for midnight excursions into law breaking but for silly little conversations over ice cream and everything inbetween. "You're welcome." She allowed herself only two quiet words and a slight smile before they fell back into silence otherwise she would rip the scab off a barely healing wound. Her emotions would bleed out, distracting them for their initial objective and she owed it to Remus to follow through.
Remus was blindsided by their arrival. His look between them made Mali feel self conscious but she was too busy explaining the plan to do anything about it. She stole glances of the man troll as she spoke to admire how nice that tiny odd smile looked on his face while he watched Remus. "Oh, I'm sure he's fine." Mali tore her eyes away from Theo to look at the werewolf. "It's just time to put this rubbish all to rest, isn't it? You're no good without him, it's like you've wilted a bit or something. It's a surprise for him, too." The witch launched right back into explaining her plans when Remus interrupted again, this time it wasn't a question. The man sounded impressed with accomplishment and her modesty waved it off. "It's really nothing special. S'easy once you get the motion down right." Mali illustrated it miming the movement with an invisible wand.
After all of that, Remus agreed to go. "Brilliant!" Mali squeaked, clapping her hands together and bouncing on the tip of her toes with enthusiasm. "Ten! Off you go!" That left her and Theo to stand wordlessly in the room. The uncomfortable swayed a little, shifting her weight from foot to foot idly, unsure of what else to do. Theo broke the silence and moved to take the bag, startling her. "Oh, alright." His nod coaxed a little more of a smile onto her face and she watched him leave for the stairs. He paused and melted her heart a little bit. Theo still had his phone and he thought about it enough to remember it. She knew he didn't have a lot of friends who clung to the muggle technology. "W-wait!" she called behind him, taking a step forward as he went to leave. A thousand words were on the tip of her tongue but she couldn't get them out. "I..." There were very few times that Mali was rendered speechless and this was one of them. She couldn't start any of that there.
"Um.. I left my knitting." Luckily Mali had stashed away her knitting so she could give Remus and Gabriel a bit of privacy and occupy her time. She walked over to Theo, reached in the bag and pulled out said knitting, a nice soft burgundy yarn. Mali retreated back to her original position and waited for Remus who arrived with time to spare. "I think you could look deader than a dementor and Gabriel wouldn't notice.. but you look fine. Ready?" Mali held out the frog card so Remus could grab hold.
A few seconds later the portkey whisked them away and spit them out in the hallway of Gabriel's apartment building. Mali scrambled up to her feet the moment the spinning sensation stopped and propped a hand on her hip. "I thought I did it for the roof. I thought that would be safer but this worked out alright, didn't it?" A look down the hall in both directions didn't reveal any muggles lurking about so she would count it as a win. "Now which one is his?? Oh, I think it's this one. "
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Ministry of Magic
PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Trish
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Post by Gabriel Bishop on Jun 25, 2017 7:25:35 GMT
Gabriel absolutely needed to make sure that he was interested in fixing things with Remus for all the right reasons. That it wasn't his fear of being alone in a new place that drove him to excuse a terrible breach of trust. A lot of it was the Wampus in him. Remus needed someone to try and shield him from the oppressive clutches of the Ministry and it stirred his inner 'warrior' into action. He didn't know exactly how to answer his own question but thought that space was a decent (although very uncomfortable) place to start. He busily made friends with others but in the end it was Remus who snuck into his thoughts when they were quiet.
Like now, Gabriel was laying in bed but his mind was elsewhere. Perhaps remembering how comfortable it felt the last time he was cuddled up with Remus and how well the man fit in his arms and against his chest. There was little hope of sleep tonight but the least he could do was lay there and pretend it was a possibility. Without Remus everything felt restless and out of place and Gabriel felt no different, shifting and turning 'til he thought he heard a sound. A knock? A quick glance at his clock shoo'd that possibility right out of his mind. It was far too late (or early) for anyone to be knocking. The auror ran a hand over his face and resettled into bed to resume his episode of insomnia.
There was another knock, this one sounded a little bit more persistent. There was no denying it that time. Gabriel sat straight up and snatched his wand from his bedside table. Whatever possessed someone to knock on his door at this hour couldn't be good. The reason behind the knock was either nefarious or tragic, whatever it was the auror wasn't about to find out while unarmed. He crept up to his own door, bare feet almost silent against the carpet, without even pausing to put on a shirt. Gabriel listened for another knock and then peered out of the peep hole. "Christ." The very last thing he expected was to see Remus standing on the other side. That werewolf was going to be the bloody end of him, ignore that pleasant little thing his heart did when he saw who it was.
Gabriel took a moment to work his face back into a neutral expression. Not mad, not pleased just... indifferent. Once he was satisfied that he had an adequate grip on his emotions, Gabriel opened the door and stepped aside. "Get in." The order was simple and it left no room for argument. Mali followed without hesitation, tugging Remus along with her. His neutrality was broken the second he closed the door, replaced by anger and irritation. He didn't mean to slip out from underneath his cool mask but this was the god damn dumbest thing he'd ever seen and it pissed him off. Clearly Remus didn't understand the seriousness of his situation and was going to land himself in fucking Azkaban. "What the hell are you doing!?" He demanded as he whipped around on the two. "Are you trying to get sent to Azkaban? Are you planning on taking me along with you? What the fuck is wrong with you?" Remus was too fucking good for Azkaban but he was making it really fucking hard to stay out of it.
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Hogwarts
Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor
Werewolf
Order of The Phoenix
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44 years old
Gryffindor Alumnus
Wandless Magic
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Mego
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Post by Remus Lupin on Jul 7, 2017 22:56:39 GMT
Just down the hall, Remus could hear the awkwardness between Mali and Theo. Hell - he could feel it, soon as they showed up on his doorstep. He tried his best to ignore it, for their sake and for his. He had really, really already done enough meddling in the affairs of Mali and Theo. Really. And, thinking about those two - two people who were very obviously soulmates, despite the problems (what soul didn't have problems?) - going through a rough patch...that made him nervous. His own relationship with Gabriel, fast and passionate though it was, was also far more fragile. He just couldn't think about all the other things that could go wrong in love right now, not when he was about to do something this risky for that very love.
Mali was alone when Remus got back to the entryway, imbibing him with a little bit of confidence before they were spinning off to Gabriel's apartment building. Remus tried to keep his balance as they landed, but it had been quite a long time since he'd taken a Portkey, so he fell right alongside Mali. He pushed himself up and dusted himself off. "Mm, this is better actually, I think," Remus nodded. "With roofs, you never quite know how close the edge is." Remus thought he would rather prefer getting spotted by a Muggle, rather than taking a tumble down into the streets of London. Remus nodded again as Mali sought out Gabriel's door. "Yes, that one," his voice suddenly very quiet. Remus stuffed his shaking hands into his pockets and stood shoulder to shoulder with Mali.
Gabriel didn't answer their first knock. Remus set his jaw so his face wouldn't twist into the disappointment he felt. Maybe he was working...maybe he was with somebody else. Remus just stared straight ahead at the door while Mali knocked again. And then - there he was. Remus had trouble meeting the man's eyes at first, and not just because Gabriel was half-naked - but Remus could see, from the lines around his eyes and mouth, that Gabriel was hiding his emotions again. That terrified him more than any anger or grief Gabriel could throw at him, because it represented a lack of something. A loss.
Remus shuffled in behind Mali without a word. When he faced Gabriel again, the anger was there, hot and palpable. Remus knew better than to expect Gabriel to be happy about all this illicit activity; and the anger, though intense, was better than nothing. Anything was better than nothing, because Remus had a whole lot of nothing these days and he really had nothing to lose. Gabriel bit into them and Remus stood there and let him finish, meeting his gaze with a confidence he couldn't name the source of. Maybe he fed off of Gabriel, his anger sparking a liveliness in Remus he hadn't felt in weeks. Finally, something to fight for.
"You," Remus said after a beat, taking a step forward so he was in front of Mali. "You're what's wrong with me, Gabriel. Taking a break was a foolish thing to agree to and...and I've come to take it back. Damn your space." Remus was buzzing all over. He had no earthly idea where this was all coming from, only that he owed Mali ten thousand butterbeers for knowing exactly how to make it happen. Remus could see too, though, from the heat in Gabriel's face that the nuances of their current relationship were a bit less important than the fact that what they were doing right now was highly illegal. "No one here's going to Azkaban tonight, if no one here turns us in," he added as an afterthought, his tone indicating how very silly he found the idea and how much he thought anyone in this room would do such a thing.
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Hogwarts
School Healer
Creature Task Force - Registrar
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21 years old
Hufflepuff Alumnus
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Trish
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Post by Mali Johar on Jul 8, 2017 4:54:29 GMT
Remus was so smart, that's why she liked him. When creating a portkey Mali only considered stealth, concealing their actions to eyes both muggle and magical. He was a bit more practical in his thoughts, citing the edge of a roof as a potential hazard. Mali nodded along, it didn't matter if they were found out if they'd broken their necks, did it? "I didn't even consider that." Her oversight was forgivable, wasn't it? Mali was rather new at the whole 'breaking the law' deal even though she made up for lack of experience with enthusiasm. "Although you're so talented I'm sure you could pop away to somewhere safe mid-fall." There was no hiding her admiration for the werewolf and maybe that was the problem, what kept Theo so far away.
Mali couldn't afford to stew in her wistful thoughts because Remus and Gabriel were the focus of the night. They needed to get back together and that was apparent from the way that Remus sort've fizzled out at the door. Like a candle, extinguished by a stray wind. His voice softened and lacked confidence along with his body language. The desire to reignite that light drove on her knocking 'til they were greeted by a very pleasant sight. Remus couldn't meet Gabriel's eyes but Mali was staring unabashedly to admire the man's naked torso.There were very off topic comments on the tip of her tongue 'til the witch looked up at the blonde's face. There wasn't a single readable expression on the man's face, it was blank. There was something very unsettling about the neutral expression, he looked pissed without actually looking pissed and that anger was always the worst. A low simmering boil.
She filed into the man's apartment, tugging Remus behind her, only to be taken by surprise when he lost that cold neutrality and exploded at the both of them. Mali, who wasn't having a very good night, wasn't keen on being someone's verbal punching bag today. Sure, what they'd done was very foolish but he didn't have a right to speak to either of them like that. Remus had gone through quite enough and when the 'F' word tumbled out of the blonde's mouth she scolded him with a reproachful "Language!" Mali stepped forward to put herself in between the two of them. to tell Gabriel off. The dwarfed witch had only just opened her mouth when Remus spoke, sounding completely different from the man she'd towed inside moments ago.
Then he was in front of her, telling Gabriel everything the auror needed to hear. Remus didn't need Mali to stand up for him so the witch took a step back from the group before hurrying off to find a place to sit and work on her knitting that was still within ear shot of the pair.
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Ministry of Magic
PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Trish
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Post by Gabriel Bishop on Jul 8, 2017 7:38:14 GMT
There was a mighty conflict brewing. Remus wouldn't look him in the eye and that sent an ache through the hollowness in his chest but he was so god damn angry. Remus would be completely lost to him if he was sent of to Azkaban. The Minister had tolerated their antics before, likely because she got a cruel kick out of it all, but if Remus was breaking an actual law? There was nothing he could do and he worked so hard to protect Remus. His temper piqued when after ushering the pair of criminals inside, the littlest one had the audacity to scold him over the use of the 'F' word. Gabriel had never rolled his eyes so hard, the woman was practically a giant toddler. "Grow up---"
His own words were cut off by Remus as the werewolf stepped closer. Something changed within Remus, he wasn't the defeated shell of a man from the past several weeks but the talented, confident wizard that he fell in love with. It was almost enough to quell his anger but the cockiness of it all put him off. Damn his space? "What's foolish is the fact you hid an entire organization from me despite multiple pleas for honesty." As much as Gabriel tried to overlook what happened, he always came back to it. His feelings regarding the Order of the Phoenix and Remus' involvement were unresolved. He was so busy stuffing them away so he could function in his role as a significant other and try to see Remus through that the feelings were never thoroughly examined so when he sought his answers it all became overwhelming.
Remus was so frustrating. He was reckless and thoughtless and so damn casual about his law breaking. Gabriel huffed and ran a hand through his hair. There was no putting up aloof walls, frustration and concern were clearly written all over every angle of the auror's face. "And what if someone saw you? Or someone notices you're missing? Why should I keep risking my neck for you?" Not turning Remus and his jail breaking companion in was a very dangerous thing but Gabriel knew he would risk everything he had for Remus again and again because that's what people in love did. There was no rhyme or reason to it, he couldn't say that Remus deserved it, but he would take the risk. He would oblivate the whole damn apartment building if it meant keeping him safe. "You're going to be the death of me, Remus. Seeing you in Azkaban again would kill me."
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