It didn't stop raining. Water consistently plummeting from the grey clouds above.

I left the inside of the coffee shop at two minutes to six, and waited outside sheltered by the shop front canopy. Keeping a fixated watch over at the bookshop to wave over Remus when he left.

I felt a mixture of emotions. Largely positive.

Jittery with nerves, which wasn't helped by the coffee I stupidly ordered caffeinated. My toes wiggled in my shoes as an attempt to release the anxious energy without drawing attention to myself.

A feeling sparked within me when I saw him. Familiar to what I felt when at school. What I would now understand and interpret as a crush. Though this feeling had more of its own gravitational pull.

It felt like it had submerged from deep water, bubbling up to the surface. Pulling the sky down towards it one star at a time, so that the feeling was truly at the centre of ruling everything within me.

There had been an intense shift as the vail that has shrouded my vision was swiftly removed. Everything came flooding back. Every small detail about him that I had forced myself to forget or convinced myself I had imagined, was beginning to consume me again.

It was as if I had a leak that I'd continued to patch up for years, blocking its content from escaping. The covering that patched it up tore immediately when he smiled at me.

I was flooded with the intensity but this time I felt I could swim.

Suddenly I saw a soggy clothed, tall person leave the bookshop. He looked around for me and I waved him over.

He jogged over to get out of the torrential rain. Which was effortlessly attractive.

Both of us now standing aimlessly under the cover.

"I'm sorry I'm late." He looked at me sincerely and a little out of breath from rushing to close and leave work.

"I feel later." I softly smiled.

I saw in his eyes that he knew what I was meaning. One minute late was nothing in comparison to a number of years I had kept him on a cliffhanger.

"You wanna make a run for it?" He asked, breaking our locked eye contact to the rain for a split second.

"Where are we running to?" I bit my lip to contain the urge to grin.

"Somewhere dry. Quiet." He said thinking for a moment.

"Hungry?" I asked, helping to guide the spontaneous plan.

"I could eat."
"There's a café a couple of streets away? Stay's open pretty late." He added.

"Perfect." I said bashfully. Though I couldn't tell if I was responding to this moment or the café.

Everything we said was brief, short concise sentences. Though it felt as if each syllable held a fraction of the weight that built up to this moment. Which felt larger than the sun itself.

I could have sworn I had stolen it from the dreary sky which now mourned for its return. The sun now lived in me. Burning with an indescribable warmth around his presence and heightening my senses as if I had tenderly sore skin and white glazed vision from the exposure.

This feeling was confirmed when his arm began to wrap around me, slightly grazing me, though he attempted to hover over me completely. He had taken off his jacket to hold over both our heads. Meaning we had to huddle closer together.

My skin felt like it could glow from the subtle touch, the feeling tingling strangely as if my skin was in fact sunburnt. Which was weirdly satisfying.

We began to run together to the café, Remus taking lead as I followed by his side. He ended up resting his arm on my shoulders as we shared the shelter of his coat.

We quickly got to the café and laughed lightly at the state of us both. Damp and quietly yearning. We lingered in the door way that sheltered us from the weather, as he took the coat from above us away.

There was a pull. Magnetic. That gravitational feeling building in still moments.

"A hug's okay, right?" He asked. Scanning my reaction slowly.

"A hug's okay." I almost whispered. Feeling automatically accepted back into his life without question, which made me feel a little emotional.

He wrapped his arms around me, so tall that my face now rested upon his chest if he didn't lean down. His heartbeat was strong but steady. Unlike mine that felt slow despite the frantic beating.

The hug felt beautifully tragic and you could tell it had been long awaited. I wanted to embrace him as soon as I saw him stood in front of me. I could sense that it was likely he felt the same.

He smelt lightly of lavender washing power, from his clothes getting wet and a mixture of sandalwood and crushed pepper from whatever cologne he was wearing. There were still under notes of cinnamon to him, the same scent I associated and remembered. Which I was beginning to believe was simply the scent of his skin.

We pulled away from each other and with a discreet flick of his wand that he pulled out of his jacket pocket (obviously enchanted to be deeper than it was) he made us less soggy from the rain, but not entirely dry that it was suspicious to muggles.

I smiled as a thank you for making me feel less shivery and he held open the door for me to enter. The warmth from the café welcoming us.

We sat down, still not saying much, which was starting to become apparent now that we had the opportunity to sit and talk. The tension was still there but had shifted into knowing we needed to approach how we ended up here, instead of gushing at each other's company.

"I don't really know what to say. I thought I would." Remus laughed.

"I didn't prepare this far either." I started to fiddle with the pages of the café menu.

"I have a lot of questions." He mumbled, a little awkwardly.

"I have a lot of time." I reassured him that his questions were okay to ask.

He took a minute to think. Probably attempting to figure out where he wanted to start, which I wouldn't know. I don't know where to start. It's what I struggled with while attempting to write the letters that rested in my bin.

"You look like you're doing well?" He began.

"Yeah, I really am. You?" I said. He nodded as a reply and then switched which eye he was focusing on of mine.

"I saw you a while back." He revealed and I cocked my head to one side a little like a curious animal.
"In the bookshop and then at the pub."

"Oh, you've known I've been free for a while?" I asked. My voice feeling small. It made sense as to why he didn't reach out, having been ignored in the past, but it would have been nice to have been approached instead of having to do the approaching. I pushed the thought aside to avoid feeling foolish.

"Free?" He repeated.

I took a moment. I didn't want to dramatise my past and make it seem as if I was using it as an excuse. I also didn't want to appear as if I had a relaxed home life and had the freedom to make my own decisions and chose not to ever reply to him or see him until now.

"It uh...wasn't easy back at home. I left about a month ago now." I revealed, now stirring a spoon around a mug of tea. He nodded as if he had a vague understanding of what I had meant by saying it wasn't easy.

"I wanted to come over to you when I saw you but I didn't think you'd want to do something like this." He laughed at himself.

"Why wouldn't I want to do something like this?" I asked, feeling sad for him that he had ever thought I wouldn't want to spend some time catching up.

"I mean..." He looked down at his drink and mimicked my action of stirring. Avoiding eye contact.

"I couldn't reply to you. I really wanted to." I said. It was out in the open. Something that so desperately needed to be revealed.

"Did you read them?" He asked, glancing back up at me through his hair that hung off his forehead as he looked down. Now springing up slightly the drier it got and turning into a chestnut colour instead of dark chocolate.

I shook my head no, sadly.

He nodded, taking in the information.

"Not even the ones I gave to Narcissa?" He asked.

I was taken aback. What?

"When did you give Narcissa letters?" I asked. My heart starting to beat faster again, but with a feeling of betrayal.

"After I stopped sending them to your house." He said. A slight frown forming between his eyebrows.

He didn't stop sending the letters when I thought he had. When I thought I was the loneliness I could ever feel, because of it. He was just trying another way to contact me and I was never told. Believed I had been forgotten. But I was betrayed. Why didn't Narcissa give me those letters? I felt a fury inside that was begging to be set free. More upsetting than pure anger.

"She never gave them to me." I whispered. My voice threatening to let my emotions slip.

"Oh?" He questioned.

"I'm so sorry you never got a reply." I could feel the intensity of my feelings bubbling inside of me. A stinging warmth threatening my eyes.

"You don't need to apologise. It was a long time ago now." He smiled, a smile that I could tell held the sadness for the boy inside him that never heard back.

"You deserve an apology and you deserved a reply." I said, my voice slightly breaking as I held it together for a bit longer.

"Hey, it's nothing you could have controlled I imagine." He reached over and put his hand on top of mind comfortingly. Sensing I could begin crying at any moment.

"I know this isn't about me, but I'm so angry that Narcissa- I didn't know." I said finally letting a tear roll down my face.

He let it fall, watching it as the droplet fell into my tea.

"Did you miss me?" He asked.

"Every day. Until I forced myself to ignore it." I admitted. Feeling guilty.
"and now I feel stupid to have ever made myself try and forget about you."

He smiled, which I wasn't expecting.

"I did the same. I missed you for a long time and then, not at all." He said. Which stung although it was similar to what I had done to him.
"But then I saw you at the shop and...I don't think I ever have stopped missing you. Just forgot how to recognise the feeling."

The statement almost calmed me down completely, a warmth brushing over me as if his words were a blanket.

"It was intense wasn't it? Our friendship?" I said, and we laughed at each other.

"I cringe looking back. I was so irritating." He pulled a face at himself.

"You were lovely." I rolled my eyes at his self depreciation.

"You look lovely." He replied.
"Happiness suits you." He added.

I attempted to hide the blush that violently appeared on my face whilst I felt butterflies try and catch the tea I was drinking, inside of me.

"Uh," I nervously smiled. Staring down at my drink again, waiting for my cheeks to cool down.
"When do you have to leave?" I asked.

"When you want me to."

I wanted to spend as long as I could talking with him and watching his hazel eyes expressively react to the conversation and his lop sided smile appear and be with him long after his hair had completely dried.

"I would like to be friends again." I said sincerely.

He nodded with a big smile appearing, which made that small dimple I loved finally make an appearance.

"I would like that too."

(I'd recommend listening to this song after this chapter and thinking about them both. It feels like how conversation would feel, opening up to each other and breaking past that new feeling of being around each other again. Revealing how they felt dealing with eachothers loss etc.)