Chapter 8: Pardon Mr Lupin, there's a Nogtail in my garden.

Disclaimer: We don't own the characters, places or anything recognisable from the Harry Potter Books 'cause they belong to J. K. Rowling. We write only for our own pleasure and make nothing from it.

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Sirius had seen Remus in change many times. He knew what to expect and knew he could control him if need be. Remus would be dosed up with Wolfsbane this time but that didn't seem to make him any the less agitated and anxious.

He paced and paced and then paced some more.

"If you don't stop, you'll make me so dizzy I'll throw up!" Sirius was starting to get fractious as well. The mood seemed to be in the air.

"Sorry." Remus sat heavily on the sofa, staring at his feet and wringing his hands, deeply preoccupied.

Sirius couldn't concentrate on what he was reading in The Quibbler, not that that made it any the less clear. He put the magazine down. "Cup of tea?" He stood up and went in the kitchen.

"Good idea." Remus followed him. It was Eight o'clock, still quite a while before the sun would set. He could feel it though, his body changing, his mind. He could smell Sirius' concern and aggravation. He sat down at the table sighing deeply.

"How you holding up?"

"Merlin, I'm a right sorry case aren't I?" Remus rubbed fretfully at his leg.

Sirius watched his friend sat at the table so full of nervous energy. Remus picked at loose threads on his clothes and bit his fingernails. When the cup of tea was placed in front of him he seemed relieved to have something to concentrate on, no matter how small.

"Still got last night on your mind?"

"I don't think anything else will ever be on my mind." Remus took a tentative sip of his hot tea. "Thanks for staying, I know you've got to head to Australia pretty soon."

"I'll probably go sometime tomorrow, to be honest l wish I had a few more days here with you."

"You'll get there and be having so much fun with Harry that I'll be forgotten within the hour."

"Yeah, probably." Sirius kidded. "Are you sure you don't want me to see if I can wangle you some tickets, you could join us once your feeling all recovered?"

"No, I'd better not, you know I could never pay you back."

"And that would never matter."

"Well, it does to me. I'd rather I only spent your money when I really needed to."

"Fair enough, owl me if you change your mind though."

Remus gave a weak smile.

Sirius knew Remus would never accept the offer, he found it hard enough to ask for help when he really needed it. He still felt he should offer though, he would have liked having Remus with him at the world cup.

"So, let me get this straight, this new wolfsbane leaves you in control of the wolf but you're not so out of it as with the old stuff?" Sirius wanted to know what was going to happen.

"That's the idea, and it does work but I don't even think I've much control when I'm a man anymore so I don't really trust myself fully." He took big swigs of his tea. "Will you make sure I don't leave the house tonight?"

"Of course." Sirius promised. He knew Remus needed that kind of security.

"Thanks." Remus stared out the window, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed. "I think I'm going to go and clear some of the breakables from my room." Remus stood and left the kitchen leaving Sirius' concerned countenance behind to finish his tea.

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Sirius went into Remus' bedroom, finding him crashed out on the floor. He wasn't surprised, Remus had certainly not given him much chance to sleep last night; the chair in the corner seemed to have taken the brunt of his friend's frustrations. He unhitched a dressing gown from the back of the door and flung it at Remus.

"I've made breakfast," Sirius said as the other man stirred blearily on the floor and rolled over with a grown. "You need some food, come on, you can go to bed as soon as you've eaten."

Remus yawned and fumbled with the dressing gown chord. "Thanks."

He was looking pretty shagged out. Sirius went over to him, propping him up and helping him into the kitchen.

"I'm going to go in a bit, want to pick up some bits before heading to Australia," Sirius told Remus as they were just finishing their last mouthfuls of scrambled egg.

"Ok, sorry I'm not going to be in much of a state for a farewell."

"Are you sure you're going to be ok?" Sirius stood up from the table, he was already packed and ready to leave.

"Yeah, I just need to get some more rest and I'll be fine."
"I didn't just mean physically."

"Yeah, well. I'll just have to sort something out."

"Promise me you'll talk to April, maybe this weird wolfsbane doesn't agree with you as well as it does with her. Either way, you shouldn't suffer being out of control."

"I know, I'll see her as soon as I'm not so jittery."

"Good." Sirius briefly embraced his friend. "Do me a favour, Moony. Tell her how much you like her – when it's not full moon. All this pussyfooting around isn't good for anyone," Sirius advised. "Too much more and you'll both go blind." He added with a wink.

Remus cleared his throat, hoping he wasn't going red at Sirius' obvious double entendre. He doubted his body was in any state to respond so efficiently to his embarrassment. Sirius started clearing away from their breakfast.

"Do you want me to do anything for you before I go?" Sirius put a fresh cup of tea in front of Remus. "I know you'll be pretty rough for a few days, to be honest I don't know how you usually cope."

Remus rubbed his temples. "If you could just make sure everything's locked up and stuff,"

"Of course." Sirius concern was clear on his face.

"Don't worry about me." Remus assured. "I'm always fine."

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Remus yawned into his fist and went into the bathroom to do his ablutions. He was feeling much better this morning; the wolf seemed to have receded, leaving him feeling much more at ease with himself. He should go and see April really.

He got out of the shower, feeling that the smell of sweaty old dog was really gone for the first time in over a week. He made wet footprints across the hall into his bedroom to find some clothes to put on.

He was just buttoning his shirt when he heard his fire crackle. "Remus, are you there?" The high voice emerging from his fireplace belonged to April. Think of the devil!

"I'm here," Remus called, shrugging his robe on and heading for the fireplace.

Her face was peering out of his grate. "There's a Nogtail in my pig sty and I don't know what to do."

Now this was something he could cope with. Remus knelt down to speak to her. "How long has it been there?"

"I'm not sure, it can only be a couple of days at the very most."

"That's not too bad then, don't worry, I'll come over."

"Thanks." She gave a small smile. Remus liked seeing her; it made a nice way to start the day. Let's not think about how nice it would be if she were your girlfriend just now! Advised his inner voice of reason.

He looked around for his shoes hoping Sirius hadn't got really in the spirit of being a dog, chewed them and hidden them in the back of the sofa. Luckily he hadn't, they were where Remus had kicked them off by the back door. I really should get some new ones. He thought, noticing that the sole was dangerously close to starting to flap.

He left through the front door and headed up the road with purpose. It was surprising how much easier the invitation had made going to see her. He mustn't let himself wriggle out of discussing uncomfortable issues. He needed some questions answered.

Remus wasn't sure where he would find April. He walked around the path and into the back garden. He saw her descending the steps from her house. She smiled and picked up her pace, almost breaking into a little run when she got to the bottom.

"Hello." She smiled and fell into step beside him. "I didn't know who else I could ask for help. I thought you would be good with this sort of thing." She looked up at him hopefully.

Remus felt warmed by her welcome and apparent lack of animosity. "I'm not promising anything. If I can't scare it away then it may be a matter for more professionals. The longer it's been here unnoticed the harder it will be to get rid of."

He may have been all business but at least he was there. April felt more secure the moment she saw him. She had to hurry to keep up with his long strides; he must be feeling as refreshed this morning as she was. "Thank you for trying." April was acutely aware that she was beaming stupidly and looked at her feet.

"Show me where it is." Remus leaned over the wall of the sty and peered inside.

"It's that one." April pointed at one of the littler pigs near the back in pigs' the little hut.

"The one on the left?" Remus asked.

"Yes."

Remus squinted. "Almost indistinguishable, they're so sneaky." He sounded a little far away like his mind was too busy forming a plan to still be fully in on what he was saying.

"Do you want me to come in with you?" April offered, not sure if she had the right shoes on.

"If you could encourage the other pigs out and just leave me in there with the Nogtail?"

After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing April stood outside the pig hut keeping her pigs together with the help of a large piece of board, leaving Remus in the hut with the Nogtail. There was a loud crash and a burst of light, the roof lifted off the little shed and it shook like it was a bout to take off. April stared in shock, dropping her piece of wood in the quagmire. She bent down to pick it up just as the roof crashed back down and made her jump. When she looked up a small cloud of dust was rising and everything looked still. The other pigs looked agitated and one of them squealed loudly.

"It's ok," she told them, nodding encouragingly, quite sure that they didn't have a clue what she was talking about. There was no sign of the Nogtail running away in fear that, apparently, was the aim of the exercise.

"This is turning out to be more of a task than I thought." Remus admitted with more than a little reluctance as he squelched out of the hut, one side of his hair stood on end. "You might have to get the Ministry involved. They have a pack of Albino dogs especially for things like this." He looked down at the mud splattered half way up his legs.

"I was afraid you were going to say something like that." April ran her hands through her hair; it made Remus want to touch it too, it looked so soft…

He looked back over at the pig hut as a thoughtful gesture to try and prevent him staring. "I think owling is the proper procedure, they should have it all sorted by the end of the day."

"Well, I suppose we'd better go in where I've got parchment and stuff… Will you help me secure the other pigs in this bit?" she asked, indicating where she had them all gathered.

Remus, noticing she had looked away, tried to smooth his hair down but to no avail. "Of course."

Remus and April spent the next twenty minutes experimenting with various barriers and roping charms to enclose the pigs. It turned out that the pigs didn't like invisible barriers and April was worried they might hurt themselves.

April started back towards the house and Remus followed. "Better clean up before we go in," she giggled, as she looked him up and down, then herself. They were in a dreadful mess.

"If you do me, I'll do you." Remus pulled his wand out of his sleeve and looked up to see April grinning at him.

"Be careful, making suggestions like that to a lady." She sounded playful but it still made his stomach turn with the audaciousness of his comment.

"Sorry," he said quickly.

"What for?" she giggled and quickly did a cleaning charm, bringing his robes back to their former lack of glory. "Much better," she announced. "My turn."

Remus returned the favour, trying not to stare at her too wantonly in case he cleaned her clothes off as well.

"Thank you." April started up the steps and asked, "What should I say when I owl the ministry?"

"Just tell them who you are, where you are and what the problem is. Dropping in that you would be willing to donate them lots of gold never does any harm either."

"Politics!" April said in disgust, opening the back door and ushering him inside.

She found parchment and quills, quickly dictating her letter. The quill wrote in a flourishing scrawl with large capitals. Remus couldn't understand why he found this fascinating. She called her owl and he appeared from somewhere upstairs.

"I should probably not be around when they get here,"

"Why not? I could use the moral support," April said and stopped tethering the letter to her owl to touch his arm.

"Having a Nogtail and a werewolf in your back garden might be news, and not the sort that's good for business." Remus looked at her little hand on his arm. She didn't seem bothered by him; she had asked him to her house and was now voluntarily touching him!

"At least stay until they get here, won't you? I'll put the kettle on and make some sandwiches for lunch."

"Ok." Remus watched her finish with the owl and send it on its way. He had no excuse not to talk to her about what was bothering him so much. "April, something's been bothering me." He decided to plough straight into it; why get all cosy over lunch and then spoil it?

"Sit down, we'll talk." April indicated the kitchen table, complete with homely check tablecloth and bowl of unnaturally perfectly fresh fruit.

"Actually that's an understatement, more like chilling me to my very core." He sat down, not meeting her gaze, or knowing what to say next.

"What is it?"

Her genuinely concerned expression did nothing to make this easier. "Do you have dreams around the full moon?"

He looked so mortified, disgusted even. April got cups out of the cupboard, not sure whether she felt hurt or appalled with herself. Dreaming about her disturbed him, and she was enjoying it. "Yes."

"I've never really remembered anything before, but since living here, they've been getting much clearer, I'm remembering things."

April was quiet.

"That first full moon, did I hurt you?" He felt sick, he couldn't believe he was saying this; it seemed so insensitive. He was sure he'd never been more confused in his life. She was so nice to him, she seemed so comfortable but he was sure he was remembering doing worse to her than he had ever imagined before.

"Remus, you did nothing I didn't let you do." She stopped what she was doing and pulled out a chair to sit next to him realising the weight of what he was worried about.

"Merlin," he murmured so silently April only just caught it. "I should really leave, the ministry people will be here in a bit. I'm so sorry."

"Remus, don't go. Stay. I hate the thought that you're uncomfortable with me." April reached out and took his arm as he went to get up.

He opened his mouth to say something but words seemed to fail him.

"Please don't go. You've done nothing wrong in my eyes. This is all my fault, I should have considered your feelings more, I'm so sorry." It occurred to April that grabbing hold of him might be a bit of an invasion and reluctantly moved her hand from his warm sleeve. "Can we forget it for now? I've been happier recently than I have in years and you're a really big part of that. No… I think you're the reason. It can be very lonely here."

"I think it would be easier to forget my name." Remus said helplessly. He looked at her, not knowing how to respond to her kind words. "I'll try."

April gave a small, reassuring smile. "I'm going to make some sandwiches and we're going to drink tea," she declared and stood up

The sandwiches were, of course, delicious. Remus wondered briefly if he would find her so amazing if he didn't like her so much. But then would he like her so much if she wasn't so amazing? It was something of a paradox. He looked at his plate wondering if it would be rude to start picking up the breadcrumbs with his fingers. He hadn't liked to ask if it was possible he might have met the ham he'd just eaten when it was alive…

April was thoughtfully and slowly spinning her teacup. She thought of the full moon when she had first met him. A feeling of freedom and exhilaration she had never felt as a wolf before. She had wanted only to be natural with him. He wouldn't seek out humans when he had the call of his own kind. But how to tell him that, she could barely explain it to herself.

Remus cleared his throat. "Those were excellent sandwiches," he announced and scraped his chair back, picking up their plates and tidying them onto the side.

"You don't have to do that," April said quickly.

"Least I can do, and I'm only moving them."

He grinned at her and she was pleased, he seemed a bit calmer after some lunch. "Where do you think the ministry wizards are?" she wondered aloud.

"I don't know; I would have expected them by now. Perhaps you should floo general enquiries, see what they say," Remus suggested as he sat back down and drained the tepid dregs of his second cup of tea.

"I'll have to. I don't want the other pigs all cooped up too long." She stood up and left the kitchen, smoothing her dress over her bottom as she walked out the door. Remus blinked after her.

He heard her muffled voice as she spoke into the fireplace in the adjacent room.

It was several minutes before Remus realised that he was sat there unsuccessfully straining to hear what her soft tones were saying. He got up and started to put their dishes in the sink, setting the washing up in motion with his wand.

Something smashed. Remus head darted round automatically; too many nights on watch for the order. He winced at the bolt of pain that shot up his neck and behind his ear, his hand coming up to massage a complaining muscle, he was lucky not to have smashed something himself. "Everything alright?" he called

"More or less," came her reply. April sounded sad.

Remus stepped away from the sink and stowed his wand away inside it's sleeve pocket. He walked out of the kitchen, passed the door down to her potions lab and into the living room. April was knelt on the floor near the fireplace; something was staining the carpet in front of her. "What's happened?"

"I'm so clumsy sometimes, it's a wonder I can make a potion without knocking a cup of tea into it." She picked at a couple of shards of glass out of the wet ring on the floor.

"What was it?" Remus squat down beside her; he wanted her to stop gathering up the glass in case she cut herself but didn't feel he had the right to tell her not to.

"It was a present from my Uncle Sean when I was ten." I knocked it off the mantelpiece when I stood up." She sighed and dried the carpet with a deft flick of her wand.

"Was it some kind of snow globe?" Remus asked eyeing little figures stranded in the thick pile of the carpet and what might have been more recognisable as a small cottage had it not been upside down.

"It wasn't just a snow globe, it mimicked the weather everyday." She said quietly, rescuing all the little people who grumbled and sat huffily in her palm as they hugged their arms round themselves and shivered miserably. "I used to be fascinated by the weather when I was little; I'd lean out the window and get wet when it rained." She smiled weakly and stood up after rescuing the cottage and checking that she had brought everyone to safety.

Her eyes were glistening with tears. This must mean a great deal more to her than she was letting on. Remus stood up next to her and was made aware just how dainty she was by her closeness, how fragile by her look of sadness.

"I can remember him telling me once that I'd be so powerful when I grew up that I could have any weather I liked every day." She made a little derisive snort. "I can't even get the new nail growing potion recipes to work properly," she muttered

"You're powerful," Remus blurted in assurance.

"Says you, with your mystery and dark arts defence skills." April looked up at him quizzically, having to tilt her head to look into his face.

"Mystery?" Remus frowned.

"You're obviously more skilled than you let on if you've worked at Hogwarts. How did you get dark arts skills? I don't know anything about you really, you haven't been an auror?" it was a question although Remus got the very familiar feeling that she already knew the answer.

"No I haven't." He wondered at this sudden bout of inquisitiveness and stepped back from her, feeling he was probably being invasive by standing so close. He cleared his throat to hide his nerves.

April tried not to let the disappointment and sense of loss show on her face when he moved only a fraction. Had she gone too far? Did he not want her to know anything? "I'm sorry. I don't mean to snoop."

Remus was confused as to what was going on. "It's ok. Ask me something, anything." He said this before wondering at its prudence. What if she asked him something he didn't want to answer?

"Like what?"

"I don't know."

There was an odd pause.

"I hate to sound like I'm prying," April hesitated, she hated asking personal questions in case they were beyond the bounds of this friendship and she had stepped outside the imaginary boundary line without realising it. Still, she'd started now, she couldn't very well not ask.

"Go on," he prompted, throwing caution to the wind.

"How do you make enough money to live?" She watched him closely, wondering if she'd offended him. "Please don't answer if you don't want to, in fact, don't tell me, I shouldn't have asked." She panicked a little - what if he was reliant on his friends or something, a situation she knew he would be loathed to admit, especially to someone he had known for as little time as he had her.

"It's ok. I'm not very open about it simply because the fewer people who know, the fewer can find out. I don't mind you knowing." He smiled warmly in reassurance.

"Oh, ok, although I feel horribly nosy for having the gall to ask."

"And so you should." Remus kidded, smiling for the first time since they'd come in from the garden. "I'm an author. I write novels."

April blinked, so that was why he had bits of parchment and quills all over his house, and he must go to Diagon Alley to visit a publisher or something. "What sort of novels?" she wondered. What an insight into a man, she wanted to read them, and right now!

"You have one of them on your book shelf." He smirked. "Quite well thumbed I might add."

"No, I'd have remembered, recognised your name. Do you use a pen name?"

Remus was strangely warmed by her eagerness. "I write anonymously."

"'Hairy Snout, Human Heart'," she whispered.

"I really don't have any secrets now." Remus smiled.

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April went to bed with 'Hairy Snout, Human Heart' that night as though reading it for the first time. The well-thumbed pages were turned with new interest. She lingered over particularly painful passages, wondering just how much of himself Remus had put into it. He'd said that a lot of the story wasn't his, but the feeling behind it was, and there wasn't a syllable that didn't endear him to her further. A sensible part of her mind tried to suggest that it might not be wise of her to attach herself to this book character, pasting his personality onto the man she spent most of her time drooling over.

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A/N:

For info on Nogtails etc. see 'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them' (also by JK Rowling).

Once again apologies for delay in updating. I won't make any promises about chapter 9 because I'll probably break them. Thank you to all those who have stuck with this story despite it's slow progress, you amaze and delight me. Special thanks to those who review; you make my day.

Love and Hugs,

Martha. xxx.