July '79: Enter BENVOLIO: Remus

[Charlotte Fudge]

Days off together were rare, but cherished, for Remus and Charlotte. Even with Remus's semi-predictable schedule to try and arrange her shifts around, since she was so new to her job at Flourish & Blott's, there was only so much Char could do to ensure they'd have time together. But today was one of those days, and the two shared a companionable quiet in the kitchen, each having taken care of readying part of breakfast, as had become a happy habit; the radio on to fill the warm summer air, they passed sections of the Prophet back and forth as they crunched on toast and sipped on tea, pointing items out that they knew would interest the other.

To many, it wouldn't seem like much. But to Charlotte, the simplicity of sharing breakfast in pajamas with the man she loved and was engaged to marry...it was everything to have a sense of normalcy in their flat while a war raged outside their walls.

Speaking of normalcy...

"Love, do you know the pet policy here?"

She looked across the little kitchen table at him over the International Affairs section, sending him a small smile. Lately she'd been thinking that it would be nice to have a cat around the place; while the flat was as homey as possible, it still was lonely when he was away for extended periods of time. And having a pet hadn't ever been an option for her; the Fudge family wasn't a fan of mess, and anything that risked it. But now...she had a job, they had the space...Remus wouldn't mind, would he?

[Remus Lupin]

Sometimes he just had to stare across the kitchen table to make sure this was real. To check and see if she was still there, sitting across from him and reading the prophet. His fiance. He didn't know if she would accept his proposal, but she had. And while his family was over joyed, hers...wasn't. He knew her father would be unhappy - Mr. Fudge hadn't given Remus his blessing at Christmas last year - but he wasn't about to let Charlotte go just because her father was stuck in his ways. And he had been quite happy to see that she wasn't about to let her family get in the way of their happiness either. Once school had ended, he'd helped her move the essentials into his flat and now it was their flat.

And so now they had a routine, a simple one, but still one he was fond of. He'd decided that it was important to eat something rather than soup, and the two of them had learned together to do some proper cooking. It was mostly just breakfast, but it was still better than eating porridge every morning. Picking up his pencil - muggles really did know what they were doing - he filled in another spot on the crossword puzzle that sat between them, looking up to catch Charlotte staring his way. Pet policy? He hadn't even bothered to read it, but they hadn't mentioned something to him. "Let me check," he said with a smile, standing up to go get his paperwork from one of the kitchen drawers.

He had never considered a pet before, but it might be nice to have a small dog around. Or a larger one, something similar to Sirius when he was in his animagus form, to keep an eye on the place. Sure, a magical person wouldn't be deterred by an animal, but they lived in a muggle neighborhood and he did worry with the hours he sometimes kept. Most of his neighbors were nice, but there were a few he wasn't too fond of. "So as long as we let them know and pay a small deposit, we're allowed up to two pets. What did you have in mind?"

[Charlotte Fudge]

While Remus looked surprised, he didn't seem put off by the idea, and that was a good start! As he went to review the policy, she slid the crossword puzzle and pencil a bit more over to her side, filling in 14-Down ("Beelzebub," oh the names that muggles come up with!). Char looked back to him with interest as he came back affirmative, absolutely lighting up as he asked her plan. You didn't even realize how excited you were about this, did you?

"I think it'd be fun to have a cat - they can be so calm and cuddly, and they're not that messy or anything, and then they've got those great spurts of energy..." She trailed off, chuckling as she remembered some of the cats with personality in Gryffindor House. In particular, there had been one unusually wily feline kept by a girl in Remus' year - no knitting, no quills, no socks were safe from it! "As long as it's not as crazy as Mary's, I think we could handle it. What do you think?" While she knew some couples viewed pets as the first step towards children, Char knew her fiancé wouldn't misunderstand her here. They were newly engaged, newly moved in together - they hadn't even set a time of year (or year, actually) for the wedding. She wasn't rushing towards motherhood in any way - in fact, never having fancied herself a mother, she'd be just fine if this cat was the only other living thing to join their family.

She just wanted a cat! Something to come home to on days when Remus was away, to play with and curl up with, to tend to. And Remus would have fun with it too! A cat would fit in their life easily enough, wouldn't it?

[Remus Lupin]

As he looked over the policy, he realized how amused he was at the thought of having a dog. And if they could actually find a black lab, he would have far too much fun messing with Sirius. Perhaps they could even name the dog Sirius. He smirked with amusement, wondering how his friend would react to such a scene. Hopefully he would find it amusing, otherwise Remus would just seem utterly strange. And seeing how Charlotte positively perked up at the thought of getting a pet, it was well worth it. Returning the papers to the drawer, he listened intently, freezing for a moment as she continued to talk. Because she wanted to get a cat?! He didn't want to crush her and say no, but having a cat around might not be the best idea.

He turned to look at her, taking a deep breath. Because everything she was correct. Cats were mostly well behaved, they took care of themselves for the most part. When it came to pets, they were fairly low maintenance. A dog would be more work for them, that was for sure. Frequent walks, playing fetch. But cats never liked him. He had a pet cat, when he was really young. They'd given him away to the neighbors after he had been attacked, because suddenly his precious kitten wanted nothing to do with him. And he had spent plenty of years during school trying to avoid the multitude of cats that roamed their common room.

"Ah well," he began slowly, trying to figure out how to phrase this. "I'm not fond of cats. I mean, they are fine enough. But cats don't tend to be fond of me because well...furry little problem." If they could find a cat that tolerated him, he would be willing to give a shot. "But I mean, we can go look today if you want. Just...don't get your hopes up that any of them will like me."

[Charlotte Fudge]

Watching for Remus' reaction, Char couldn't say she was heartened, but at least the bloke was willing to give it a try. She hadn't thought about how his "furry little problem" may cause difficulties with felines but, bless him, he'd humor her for a little while. We'll just have to find the kindest one, she vowed, turning to grin up at him.

"As long as you're willing to go meet some, let's give it a go," she said, for one of the first times not really taking his advice. How could she help but get her hopes up about the possibility of coming home with a cat today? "I think you just haven't found the right one yet." Char got up and gave him a quick kiss before trotting off to their bedroom to get dressed. She wasn't one to leave the flat in anything close to pajamas, after all. She slipped into the first clean sundress she found, and back in the kitchen returned to the Prophet to find the classifieds. With any luck there'd be a few litters to go and look at, or they could always stop by the Menagerie...

Tucked in between a call-to-action about a loose niffler in Surrey and a hotline for advice on household ghouls, Charlotte found what she was looking for. It was the one advert for cats that she could find, so a trip to Diagon Alley may yet be in order, but the listing was for a litter of tabbies born a few months back. They were just crawling over each other in the ad, trying to see her better or so it seemed, and she couldn't stop smiling, just tickled pink. "I've got a lead whenever you're ready, love."

[Remus Lupin]

She was far too excited about this cat. He could hear it in her voice as she got up, proclaiming that perhaps he hadn’t found the right cat. He wanted to remind her that he had spent 7 year in a school filled with cats, all of them avoiding him whenever he came across their path. But she was off to get dressed, and he gave a sigh before returning to his breakfast, doing his best to accept what was surely going to be his last cat free moments. Because if -no, when – she found one, she was going to give him a look and he would cave in. As long as the cat didn’t destroy his things, he supposed it would be alright.

She was back quickly, and he gave her a smile, admiring her as she sat across from him and browsed the Classifieds. Don’t just stare at her. He pulled himself out of his thoughts, standing to clean up their dishes from breakfast as she looked. There was a slight hope in his heart that maybe she wouldn’t find anything, but it was quickly snuffed out as she told him she’d found a lead. James and Sirius are not going to let you live this down if you get a cat. You will hear about this for the rest of your life.

”I’m ready,” he answered as he turned around, holding out his hand to her. He took the newspaper, checking the ad she had found for the address before he neatly tucked it into his pocket. It was only a short walk to the best apparitation point, thin walls not allowing for that kind of magic in his apartment. “What if it pees on the couch? Or tears up our books?” he asked as they walked through through Diagon Alley, the bustle of people around them preventing much conversation from happening. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before they arrived, and he held the door open for her. “You know what also sounds lovely? A fish. Much less responsibility.”

[Charlotte Fudge]

While her fiancé had consented to meet the kittens, he was obviously still not a huge proponent of the notion of adding one to their home. Char listened, more amused than anything, as he did his best to point out the flaws in her plan during their walk. "What if, what if, what if," she teased, giving his hand a squeeze, not deterred in the least. "I'm not saying it will go perfectly, obviously it'll need some training, and understanding from us during its time adapting. But I'm confident we can handle a cat." We've overcome slightly more than dealing with little messes. What was Remus truly so concerned about? Was he embarrassed about cats generally not taking to him? Did he really think it would cause such destruction and devastation they couldn't surmount? They stayed to the path, falling in among students on holiday and parents attempting to keep track of them, until turning off to face a quaint yellow door matching the one in the advertisement.

"A fish?" Charlotte laughed, he couldn't honestly be trying to use that as an argument! Ducking inside the door he held for her, she continued, "Dear, if you want a fish, we'll get a fish - we're allowed two pets, after all, no need for them to be mutually exclusive." They entered a shop homier than the large Menagerie, and Charlotte retook his hand to lead him towards the light mewing she heard. Surely he would soon start understanding the appeal of having a cat of their own; it would be different than the cats in Gryffindor Tower that weren't part of the life they were building together, it would be theirs.

The tiny gray kittens' attentions were drawn to them as they came closer, and Char looked back to her fiancé with a warm smile. "At the very least you can admit they're darling, can't you?" She gingerly picked up one that had been busying itself crawling over its siblings, and held the curious thing close to her chest, feeling its little heart beat against her fingertips as it looked about. "We'll just see if there's one that's fond of you, all right?"

[Remus Lupin]

Maybe having a pet wouldn’t be as terrible as he imagined. He grinned as lovely fiancé gave him a hard time, teasing him for his questions. He knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task, raising an animal was a challenge after all, but it was going to be much harder if the thing hated him. If could be the nicest cat in the world, but if it hated him….Charlotte was right. They could handle a cat if they got one. But surely she would see how insane the idea was once his presence caused an uproar of small hissing kittens. He wasn’t worried about the potentional destruction that a cat could cause, not with the fact they could easily repair anything with magic.

He rolled his eyes at her comment, laughing as he followed her inside. “I think if we got a fish, your potentional cat would probably kill it," Remus replied, dazzled by the amount pet supplies they were surrounded by. He’d never gone into a muggle pet store before, and Charlotte seemed to know exactly where she was headed. The kittens were nosy little things, mewing and stumbling about. Sure, they were cute. He never said they weren’t adorable…

But she looked cute holding the kitten, the little thing happily purring in her arms. He reached forward, not surprised when the tiny kitten hissed at him. He gave her a pointed look, “Oh, I’m sure we will.” Most of the kittens seemed to be moving away from him, except one that actually was waiting patiently near the edge of the cage. He stuck his hand in, waiting for the familiar sharp pain of tiny teeth, and instead was greeting with a head butt from the purring kitten.

[Charlotte Fudge]

"My potential cat, is it now? And to think, I've been thinking of it as our potential cat for all of the last hour." The young woman looked over a shoulder to return his grin, both knowing that the teases were just teases. Over the past few years, she had opened up to him enough to let the sillier side of herself out to play (a side of her that, prior, only Daisy had truly been privy to). "If it's a fish you still want - after meeting the litter - we can look; and get a bowl with some sort of lid, dear." From what she could see and hear of the store as she made a beeline towards the felines, there were songbirds too (did muggles really keep these beautiful birds as pets? what functions did they have? surely they weren't trained for postal services, so were they simply pets?), and little scurrying rodents. But fish? Not that she could tell...we'll just check in with the owner if it comes to that. But Charlotte was optimistic about the possibility of walking out of the shop with a kitten; Remus had hardly told her "no" before, not that she had much asked him for anything unreasonable in her opinion. And his concern about not finding a kitten that wanted him...we'll get lucky, won't we?

Unfortunately, the first little purring thing she picked up wasn't their lucky one. While it had been contentedly nestling into her, as soon as her fiancé came close it began to hiss; she returned his pointed look with one of her own, nodding slightly towards the others; she wasn't about to be deterred by one setback. Try for yourself, then... She did what she could to calm the kitten in her arms as Remus made an effort with the others, and her heart did sink a bit as there was a tumbling rush away from his hand. Her lips pursed, for the first time having an inkling of doubt about the success of this outing, but then...

There you go.

One of the little gray kittens had stayed put as its fellows gathered on another end of the enclosure, and approached Remus' hand when given the opportunity. Its head hit his knuckles, and Charlotte smiled. What did I tell you? Just haven't met the right one yet. After a few quiet moments of the pair testing each other out a little, she decided to press their luck again. "I bet he'll let you pick him up," Char said happily, keeping her voice low to try and not disturb the magic that was happening.

[Remus Lupin]

He was going to have call his Mum and tell her about this whole situation, and how they ended up with a cat because he certainly wouldn't be able to tell Charlotte no if she fell in love with a kitten. And perhaps a fish, although he wasn't sure if she was being serious about it or not. As they walked through the store, he was pleased to see the amount of different animals. He smiled as he looked at the few birds he could see, happily chirping away in their cages. They would have to look around the store, he was interested in seeing what other animals they could possibly consider as pets. Maybe a rabbit. Oh, how hilarious would that be. But a fish would be much easier to manage, especially if he was going to share his home with a cat intent on killing him.

But when the kitten nudged his hand, he couldn't help but chuckle. Of course, this little one had to prove him wrong. He ran his hand down the kitten's back, pleased when it still decided to stick around. Pick it up?! He looked to Charlotte, a wave of anxiety washing over him. This thing was going to claw his face off if he picked it up! But Charlotte looked so pleased with the situation, he didn't want to let her down. He knew so little about cats, but he did his best to pick it up in one hand, grinning when it didn't try to escape him as he brought it to his chest. "Okay, I'm holding a kitten. Are you pleased with yourself?" he asked Charlotte, before said kitten promptly decided it was going to climb up his shirt.

"Okay, ow, it's stabbing me. What are you doing cat?"

[Charlotte Fudge]

The priceless look on Remus' face when she gave him the nudge to pick the kitten up was returned with a look of it's not like I'm asking you to defuse a bomb, dear, until he gave it a try. What did he think the kitten was capable of doing? Claw his eyes out or something just as gruesome? It was only a kitten! Such a tiny thing that it fit within Remus' hand! Charlotte laughed, beaming, at his hardly contained bitterness, and carefully set the kitten she'd been holding back in with the others. Come now, can't truly be salty when you're holding a kitten to you like that. "Yes, I daresay I am," Char returned, still all smiles as the tricky little thing decided to climb Remus instead of lay still in his hands.

"All right then, little one, you can behave yourself better than this," Char said gently, teasing the tiny needle-like claws from Remus' shirt with a little difficulty and mewling from the kitten in question. The tiny gray bundle of fur and claws and teeth was then in her hands, held close to her chest, and at feeling it rub its head against her heart after settling down a tad...oh dear. The feeling through her at the affection wasn't maternal, she didn't think, but along the lines of it's just so little. It needs us. "Why don't you hold him again and see how you feel about him?" she suggested, looking up at him rather imploringly. It wasn't often she tried to coax her fiancé into something, and she didn't want to guilt him into taking the kitten home, but...can't he see how wonderful this would be?

[Remus Lupin]

What was he going to tell his mates when they came over and saw this cat at their place? He’d spent seven years of school hating the cats that roamed the Gryffindor common room with a passion, always having to shoo them out of his favorite reading spot. He knew quite well that all cats had different personalities. Most avoided him, but he’d lost his chair to more than one overly feisty cat. And who could forget the day Daisy’s cat had laid claim to his four poster bed, and Remus had decided that sleeping in the common room was worth not dealing with the terror of that cat.

Charlotte was so happy though, he knew the animal was going to come home with them. She saved from the cat as it attempted it climb him, and once the little thing was nestled in her arms, it was done. The kitten, so tiny and small, was going to be destroying their flat within the hour. ”Okay, come here kitten,” he said quietly as he coaxed the animal back into his arms. It settled against his chest, mewling a few times before starting to purr.

”Can we get one of those feathers on a string for him? And catnip - they like that sort of thing.” Surely the little creature in his arms would want to play at some point, and while the smell of catnip was not his favorite, it was terribly amusing. ”And he will need a proper name.”

[Charlotte Fudge]

Remus Lupin: Cat Owner Extraordinaire, Charlotte thought adoringly, trying not to smile too broadly and ruin the moment as he took the kitten back and it calmed. From being so adamantly pessimistic about the idea of having a cat, to now talking about toys and names as if he'd fully accepted the kitten into their lives, Remus was certainly making progress today. You'll think of something nice to do for him too, Charlotte promised herself, knowing that if it wasn't for her he would have contentedly spent their day off reading, and never would've had to put up with something as horrid as holding a kitten. "Wonderful ideas, dear, you're absolutely right," she declared, chipper as could be. Char pet the kitten quickly behind the ears before turning to the toys, rummaging through the bins and stacks until finding a pair of feather-string-and-bell-sticks that seemed promising.

"How about a name from a play?" she suggested, throwing a smile back at the pair of them; Shakespear being one of the first things that had brought them together in the first place, it felt fitting. "I wouldn't say he's a Romeo or a Paris," Char went on with a bit of a laugh, "but maybe someone else from Romeo and Juliet?"

(ooc: omg what i'm so sorry i left this here forever and a dayyy)

[Remus Lupin]

The kitten seemed so content in his hands, purring up a storm. It was unfair really, that an animal this small could change his mind about cats in only a few seconds. He’d spent seven years at school being terrorized by the multiple cats that wandered about their common room, seven years avoiding Mrs. Norris, and now one stupid kitten was making him feel mushy on the inside. Charlotte was the one who wanted a cat, not him! But it didn’t seem like it mattered to the tiny gray kitten he held close as he followed Charlotte around the store, nodding in agreement as she they looked through toys. The kitten was happily staying in one place instead of attempting to climb him, and Remus was quite pleased when Charlotte found some excellent looking toys.

Scratching the small animal behind the ears as he grinned at Charlotte, he nodded earnestly at her name suggestions. “Not a Mercutio or Tybalt either,” he mused, the two characters from the play not great namesakes. “How do you feel about Benvolio? Or we could call him Lord Montague.”

[Charlotte Fudge]

"I'm rather taken with Benvolio," Charlotte declared, trying to keep too big a laugh in. "I couldn't possibly call such a tiny little creature Lord of anything without feeling supremely silly about it, could you?" She grinned up at her fiancé, who for all the world knew had always been a cat person, with how comfortably he seemed to be holding the kitten now. Benvolio, she corrected with a smile. The young woman was relieved that they'd found a cat that was fond of Remus, even if she did feel slighted in what she knew was a foolish way that Benvolio already seemed to favor Remus over her. It was worth the shake-up to bring a playful new addition to their home, one who could provide comfort and levity in ways that the other occupants could not, and surely once they were all better acquainted, that cat would grow to love her too.

As they moved through the store, Charlotte's arms grew full with food and bedding and litter with the help of Remus and the shopkeep. But after gold was exchanged and she'd put a discreet charm on the bundle to lighten its load - Benvolio was still snuggled into her partner, and she wasn't about to stop that - the question of how to get home was one Charlotte didn't initially know how to answer. Usually they would just go the way they'd come - apparition. But was it safe to apparate with an animal? As uncomfortable as it was for a witch or wizard who knew what was going on, how would it impact a little animal who they couldn't communicate with? The decision came to take the Knight Bus instead, with Charlotte's promise to find what literature there was on the subject at Flourish & Blott's during her next shift. 

"What do you think?" Charlotte asked as they keyed into the flat. "Should we just let him explore?"