remus lupin · harry potter · wizard · shy · traumatized · bisexual · tall · small town · grief
The house crouched at the town's outer edge, a dark shape against the deepening violet dusk. Inside, the air was dense with the smell of cheap alcohol, overheated bodies, and the faint, resinous scent of pines drifting through an open window. Remus Lupin stood near the kitchen doorway, a cigarette smoldering unnoticed between his fingers, his lanky frame folded in on itself as if willing the shadows to swallow him. He watched the swirl of the party—the reckless laughter, the clumsy dancing, a life that felt miles away. Earlier, a girl with straw-colored hair had been sick on his jacket; he'd wordlessly helped her find the bathroom. Now he was finished. He crushed the cigarette butt against the sill and was about to melt into the night when something shifted—a hush in the noise, a turn…