Chapter Five

"I'm not late today!" Romy exclaimed with a grin, lazily throwing her things at her feet and quickly tying the back of hair apron. She pulled her hair into a half-assed updo atop her head, her grin still capturing her face when Penny popped her head in from the kitchen.

"I'm so very proud of you!" the girl giggled, nudging her arm towards some empty tables that needed cleaning and Romy almost groaned. She started later than she usually did, but it was intentional. Charles had given her the morning off after she stayed later on her last shift, and she was rather happy for it.

"Your friend was in," Penny called, leaning against the door frame just behind the counter and watched Romy spray the table before cleaning it. She had the cart beside her with dirty dishes which she had stacked each cup and saucer and small plates messily in order to get them out of her way, "that pretty boy that's been stalking you."

Romy couldn't help but roll her eyes, "he's not been stalking me, Penny. He's an old...acquaintance."

"I forgot to tell you last night," said Penny, ignoring Romy's words, "he was here on your day off. I told him you wouldn't be in - that you were off and that you'd be back, but he didn't come in at all yesterday. Came in this morning, though. I told him you'd be in later."

"What if he was a serial killer?" asked Romy, "or what if I was only being nice to him because I was working and you're letting him know when I'll be working?!"

"Well, is he?"

"No. That's not the point, though. When was he here?" Romy frowned. She felt quite bad that she had missed him on her day off, she had wondered if he'd come back, much like she had offered - she wondered if he only cared about the free coffee she promised to give him rather than to see her.

Not like she cared, she didn't. She was more curious than anything, Remus Lupin was - as she said - an acquaintance, an old acquaintance. She wasn't sure if she could even call him that, but that wasn't the point. He was a piece in the puzzle of her old life, and it was a very, very tiny part of the puzzle - a part so miniscule that she'd not be able to tell if it were missing.

In fact, he didn't even have his own piece of the puzzle. He was nothing to her, it wasn't rude or mean but just the truth.

"He was here this morning." Penny shrugged, grabbing a cloth from the sink and moving to the counter to clean it, "I think he likes you."

"I think you're being nosy," Romy teased, sticking her tongue out at the girl when she flipped her off, "I'm joking...but he doesn't. Honestly, we don't know each other very well at all. We are practically strangers."

"Strangers don't wait for strangers to be finished with work," Penny trailed off, smirking when Romy stopped what she was doing to turn to her.

"How did you know that?!"

"I know a lot of things, Romy. Maybe he doesn't like you - if you don't know each other well then that's likely, but someone who is fine with just being strangers doesn't stay for hours on end just to talk to you. So, let him. Don't shut him out like you do most people." Romy frowned at Penny's words. She didn't think she shut people out, she could think of people she drifted from but...was that her fault?

She ignored the feeling that it was that bubbled in her stomach, focusing more on the tablets that needed cleaned and stacking the dirty dishes onto the cart she was weaving through the small, round tables. It kept her occupied and passed time rather quickly, and she preferred that to not doing anything.

"You know, you could help!" Romy almost snapped, turning to Penny who was leaning against the counter doing nothing. Romy loved Penny, but sometimes the girl could do things that got under her skin. They never did anything outside of work, never saw each other outside of work and Romy knew that Penny had many of her own friends besides Romy...Romy couldn't say the same.

"Alright, geez," Penny muttered, "you're just mad because you know what I said is right."

"Whatever." Romy didn't mean to seem rude, she didn't like to be rude especially when Penny could be right but that was beside the point. Romy was sure Penny only got away with not doing anything because Charles liked her, as much as neither of them admitted it to each other it was very clear to Romy.

She sat her cloth down on the counter, pushing the cart into the kitchen with the dirty dishes stacked atop. Shirley looked up from the pot she was stirring, offering Romy a smile which the girl returned silently. She didn't acknowledge Charles leaning against the wall with a cigarette in his mouth - he didn't care to acknowledge her either.

"Just leave them there, dear. I'll get them later!" Shirley spoke, her soft voice echoing through the kitchen and Romy simply nodded, muttering a small 'thank you' and turning back to the main part of the café.

The bell above the door rang, and she was glad they finally had a few customers come in. A couple sat at a table for two near the door, and a small family had entered when she was through the back and sat near the middle.

The newest customer caught Romy's attention more than any of the others, though. The man she was excepting to come by had finally arrived and she didn't need to force the smile onto her lips when he sat his things down at the small table in the back corner.

She hated to think that the most exciting part of the day would be when Remus Lupin entered the café, but it wasn't exactly a lie.

"I have been in here twice looking for you." Romy couldn't help but laugh at Remus' version of a greeting, "of course, it was only for my free coffee - but still."

"How charming," said Romy, "you really do love your coffee."

"It keeps me going," Remus grinned, "so...did you have a good day off?"

"I did. You didn't come in yesterday, though." His grin seemed to widen that she noticed, and she played with the ends of her hair to keep herself from staring at him.

"I had some business to attend to but believe me - I'd rather have spent my day here." He shook his head and she hummed, "I'll have the usual. For free, this time."

"Coming right up. I can bring it over," she said. He saluted her, turning to walk back to his seat but stopping himself short to call a rather loud 'thank you!' across the room. Her smile widened, and she rang up his order, taking some change from her tip jar in order to pay for his coffee.

She didn't care much about not paying, but she really wasn't in the mood to get on Charles' bad side.

She grabbed a tray from beneath the counter, her eyes catching Remus whose head was lying on his arms on the table he sat at. She noticed he seemed happier, but...still sad at the same time. He was definitely tired, she could tell that from a mile away, but it seemed as though his happiness was a façade.

She also realised she hadn't acknowledged the passing of his friends...and wondered if she should. She knew his friends, she knew Lily more but still. She didn't have to be a genius to know that they were like his family, and he had lost them so suddenly - had lost everything so suddenly.

With a sigh, she made her way over to his table, sitting the coffee on the empty space the table offered, "Remus?"

He lifted his head, a frown to his lips soon vanishing and a small smile taking over his face. It was fake...she just knew it.

"I don't think I've ever actually told you that I was sorry...for what happened to your friends." His frown returned in an instant and his eyes instantly fell onto the coffee.

"Ah," he said after a few moments of silence, "so this is a pity coffee?" he seemed disappointed at the thought.

"Wha- no...no it's not. I know how annoying it is for people to say they're sorry - I mean, I don't actually know why I said it. I am, though, cause its shit. I just...well, it's an 'I know what it's like to lose the people closest to you and it's complete and utter shit so just drink it' drink."

"When do you get a break?" he asked after a few moments of him silently staring at her.

"Well...anytime - now, I guess." She watched him, watched as he removed the backpack on the seat across from him and gestured for her to take it. She did, sliding onto the seat next to the large open window and he dragged the coffee to him, taking a sip.

"That business I had to attend to..." he trailed off, "no one in the wizarding world will give me a job. There are things I can't tell you, but no one wants me as an employee. Not stores, not pubs...not the ministry."

She looked around to see if anyone was listening to him, but they weren't. He was quiet as he spoke, and everyone seemed to be minding their own business.

"I was at a job interview. It's the same old thing. Fancy robes I hate wearing, scrambling to give them all my qualifications - which are good, I was a good fucking student. For the last few weeks, it seemed like everything in my entire life was going to shit. I didn't get the job, I didn't get any of the jobs." He sipped his coffee, and she waited for him to continue, listening intently.

"You're the only friendly face I have seen in a long time. The only familiar face with a smile on it and I didn't realise how much I needed that until I saw you through the window. The war was absolute shit. I lost everything, the only good things in my life completely gone. I'm not even sure why I'm telling you this, it just burdens you...but I don't want you to be sorry for what happened to me, because you're the only thing that's helped me in this entire year and you didn't even know it." Romy didn't know what to say when he stopped talking.

It was as though her whole view on how she saw him had switched and all she wished to do was be there for him more than she knew she could be. Maybe they could be friends, maybe it was a good thing - or a great thing - that he had walked in, that he had spotted her in the window and recognised her.

"You could look for a muggle job, Remus," said Romy, "I have absolutely no qualifications outside the wizarding world...nothing at all. I managed to get this job, it's enough."

"Look me in the eyes, Romy, and tell me you aren't stuck here." He took her by surprise, but what surprised her, even more, was that she couldn't. Because she knew that she was. She was scared to leave, scared of the lack of stability the job brought her.

"I'd rather scrape by and get a decent job. I hate what happened in the war, but the wizarding world is still my world. It's still what I'm apart of. I want to find a good, decent job. I want to be able to live my life in the wizarding world even though I'm terrified of it every day. Even though everything I lost, I lost because of it."

"I know why," said Romy, leaning her head on her hands, "I know why you're so willing to survive through it."

"Why?"

"Because you're a Gryffindor, Remus."