I Know My Heart Can Make You Happy

A/N: As per usual, I am dabbling in the world of Harry Potter, a land which is run by Queen Rowling.

Instructions on How to Dance

By A. R. Taloff/Fenrir

Chapter II: I Know My Heart Can Make You Happy

Luna stared at him with equal confusion, shocked, she stuttered and stood. "R-R-Remus. I mean, Professor Lupin. I mean, sir. I mean..." She shut up promptly.

His was staring at her dress. There is no way, no way.... She is too young. She is a colleague. How could we have not known?

Luna caught sight of the bouquet and bit her lip. How had he known? The Yentas, that is how. There was no way he would've known they were her favorites. Silver Shadows was one of the extracts in her perfume, which Ginny had applied liberally on Luna's wrists and under the ears.

"This can't be."

"I can't believe that this is possible."

They'd spoken simultaneously, and both looked around the coffee shop.

Luna was the first to speak. "Well, as there is no one else here, and you have that bouquet. Am I to understand that you came here to see me, I mean, your match?"

Remus nodded, trying to keep his thoughts from her legs, which he'd never thought of before today, and seemed to be all he suddenly could think of. They were very nice legs, and he was thankful they had never come into view until five minutes ago.

"And you're not wearing that blue dress for no reason?" he queried.

She shook her head and sighed. "I suppose we should sit." Luna carefully tucked her skirt under her bum and sat, chewing at her lower lip, completely ignorant of Remus's ogling eyes.

He sat, moving himself so The Legs would be out of his range of sight and thus, out of his temptation. Inhaling, he caught scent of something very intoxicating and decided there and then that what was going on was merely adrenaline and lust.

Clearing his head, he looked at her. Luna looked utterly miserable, and no amount of primping had changed that. He struggled to remember the staff meeting earlier. She was sitting just as uncomfortably as she was now and had been spying furtive looks at the empty chair where Sprout's assistant, Neville, used to sit.

Neville!

The mocha came, and he sipped it thoughtfully. Luna stared at the cup placed before her, filled with chai, and held a finger up as the waitress walked away.

"I paid for it," he proffered.

She caught his eyes and exhaled. "Thank you."

Silence descended again, and Luna tried to figure out what happened to Tonks. The bubbly, interesting Auror and Lupin had been dating since before the war.

Sighing, she met his eyes. "You two took the test?"

Remus drew himself out of his thoughts and nodded. "You?"

"Neville and I –" She cut off. "We took it, yes."

That's right; they had been dating. Tonks talked about that a lot. Said it wouldn't last. Well, guess she was right... sort of.

Remus opened his mouth, then shut it. He repeated the process about five more times before finally speaking.

"Well, we should probably get a place."

Luna had decided to take a calming sip of her chai when he'd popped that idea out like a golden egg.

He handed her a handkerchief as she whimpered in pain. Remus had to admit, that was the best spit take he'd ever seen. Not only had it been from the nose, but chai.

She looked like she was in so much pain as she dabbed at her nose, wincing. "I'b neber done thad before," Luna muttered to herself, trying not to giggle.

She knew very well if she started to giggle, that those giggles would turn into hysteria. Glancing up at Remus, she saw him mopping up the mess and looked at him for a moment. He looked... very nice. The shirt wasn't too stuffy, and the khakis were worn. His hair, well, she'd always liked men with longer hair. The fact that he'd dressed so nicely for a woman he thought was his perfect mate made him endearing.

Finishing the mop job, Remus tried to ignore the fact that she was watching him. It didn't help that he found the concept not altogether bad. Never having noticed her before, at least not as he did today, definitely left him feeling stupid. All this time, quiet Luna, she'd been the girl for me.... How empty headed can one be?

Luna gave up trying to figure out which excuses would work best and cleared her throat. "Where would we get one?" Trailing her finger around the mug, she thought for a long moment.

On the other side of the table, Remus watched her lonely eyes stare off into chai tea space. She was chewing her lip again, and he felt a little jolt in his nether regions. Realization struck him that Luna wasn't classically beautiful, but she was more mysterious, more enigmatic. And her legs, he decided, as an after thought, were really, really great.

Suddenly, Luna realized something, and her brow furrowed. He tried to look at her seriously without worrying about how those legs looked.

"Wouldn't we live at the school?"

Remus's jaw dropped. "Well," he replied carefully, "we could, but there is the problem of space. I have a single suite and a smaller one at that. I just thought, this way, we're away from prying eyes, and it will give us a chance to get used to each other in a larger space. Renovations will have to be made to the suite for you and I, just like they were for Rolanda and, uh... Tonks." He looked away trying to keep his mind from moving into self-loathing mode.

Luna looked down, feeling mildly better, because she, at least, didn't have to see Neville and Susan cavorting about. A jab of guilt hit for not feeling worse about feeling better despite his unhappiness.

"But with school in session, they'll be far slower," he finished.

"Yeah," she added lamely, letting the silence grow while she cursed her inability to think of anything profound or interesting to say. It was never this hard to deal with the silence with Neville. We would go hours without talking. That was fine.... Why isn't this?

Remus picked at a stray thread from his khakis. Tonks and I never had this awkward silence, did we? I don't remember ever being bothered by it before. He took a sip of his Mocha.

"How about London?" she asked suddenly.

The sip went down the entirely wrong path, and Remus coughed raggedly, pounding on his chest. He cleared his throat while Luna stared at him, horrified.

"Are you all right?" she asked, biting her lip and reaching out a hand to wipe some Mocha away.

He glanced at the hand, then at her, catching her eyes. Luna grimaced and retracted the touch, shoving the offensive hand between her thighs.

Which were probably just as creamy and shapely as the rest of her legs... His thoughts trailed out, and Remus banished them for later perusal.

Looking up again, he lifted a brow. "Why London? I mean, we could live in a nice wizard community. I'm sure they have temporary housing options."

Luna looked up and replied, "Well, London is nice and close to the da – er, uh..." She trailed off. "It's just nice here, and there are a lot of places to see and spend time at. That way, the parents won't be confused by us living together when we're both newly single. I don't want any of my students being taken from classes because of a soiled reputation." Cursing herself internally, she glanced at the table. Bloody hell, the dance studio! They were probably worried and confused or wondering why Neville and I hadn't come by! I'll have to stop by and... and tell them.

Not having thought about their living together that way, Remus sat quite silent. It was true that Tonks and he had shared her house, her other apartments, and his room, and that wasn't frowned upon, much. Grimacing, he did remember the occasional offhand remark, but they were never repeated. If he and Luna did rent together in a Muggle community, it would be less likely that any of those people would know them and probable that they wouldn't see the Muggles again if things went South.

Or North. She must be lonely or wanting children; she and Longbottom were awfully close, and they lived together, he thought, trying to think positive. He wanted children. The thought had crossed his mind more than once before he and Tonks received the letter. It was that reason he had more than once opened the second Yenta letter.

"So, er... do you want to start looking later this week? I can glance at a Muggle paper a bit this week, and if you don't mind checking as well, we could maybe start the process. Are there any, uh, things we need to look for?" Remus noticed she was getting cold. On a sunny day, it wouldn't be an issue, but the sun had disappeared sometime while they were talking, and Luna was rather obviously cold. He could see her gooseflesh and well... other telltale parts of her anatomy, showing her temperature. Standing, he removed his loose coat and ignored her gaping mouth as he slid it about her shoulders. "There," he murmured softly.

Luna had not noticed her impending chill until Remus placed the coat about her shoulders. Its obvious warmth washed over her skin, and she snuggled into it, watching him as he sat, a faint pink tinge edging his ears and coloring his cheeks. Neville had never offered her his coat, but then, she had never asked. Normally she dressed for weather, but today, Ginny had literally shoved her out the door.

She almost asked whether he did that normally, but she held back. Maybe it was just him doing it randomly. How had he known though? Ignoring that thought, she nodded slowly. "I'll look around. This is an appropriate time for apartment hunting, so we should be able to find a nice sized flat." Reassured by his nod, Luna continued. "Two rooms, a bath, a decent kitchen area, that sort?"

Remus felt his nostrils flare as she once again continued on her own tangent. Luna seemed to have a knack for doing that, particularly when she was nervous. Her pallor hadn't improved much, and her hands had been completely removed from above the table, probably because she'd realized they were shaking quite badly. A feeling of guilt passed through him. He must seem incredibly old to her, and he was probably nearing the age of her father or doting uncle. On top of that was the idea that they would be sharing space. Even if you included Sirius's inability to maintain space boundaries, Remus hadn't lived with another human being... other than Tonks... in a good long while. Much less a woman that would actually be staying in the place of abode. 'Dora never believed in staying entirely in one place, so while they shared a bed, often she would not be in it.

Oh, Merlin... A light bulb flashed on. Baths... What did the average flat have? One or one and a half? What happened if he needed to use the facilities while she was using them? Or while she showered? Tonks wasn't around much, so generally it didn't matter, but when she was, they had two baths so that they'd have privacy.

Luna saw his nostrils flare curiously and felt herself trail off. He appeared to be panicking. Not a shocking idea, really. I've been panicking since the minute I realized who he was. He probably just takes a bit longer to process things. She felt a little more nervous. "Professor?"

No response. Luna cleared her throat.

He became aware she was making funny vocalizations about the third clearing and felt sheepish for being so worried that he wasn't paying attention. "Yes?"

Unaware of the proper response, Luna stuttered a moment, then gained a thread of questioning. "Is that all right? I mean, I would hate to impose a certain apartment type or even living. Perhaps something larger?"

Remus shook his head. "No, I suggested it. I... think it's the right path. It will give us some time to get to know one another and give us time to get used to one another... yes," he ended lamely. He chanced a look at Luna, who was fingering his coat. I sincerely hope this works.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Luna carried the last of her boxes in and held the heavy door open for Remus, who was on his way up the stairs with some school papers. He reached the landing, braced the door so she could walk off, and admired the amount of boxes for a moment.

He knew very well he hadn't had the proper space to become a packrat of any substantial amount and so was always impressed by the amount of stuff any one person could acquire. Luna was an acquirer.

Most of the boxes were labeled generally with a small list descending with the detailed items included. He admired those, too. It was one thing to be a packrat, another entirely to be an organized packrat. He looked up as she exited the kitchen, purposefully shoving a renegade lock of hair behind her ear. Smiling at him tightly, she heaved up a box and walked into her room.

Staring about the flat, he realized he should do the same, and so began the task of unpacking his four boxes.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Three hours and a few peepings around the corner later, he noted that Luna's small mountain of effects had dwindled. He had been done for nearly a hour and found himself bored but unable to think of a way to get to know something more about her, other than the page long list of likes and dislikes that the Yentas had provided. After all, there were only so many things you could infer from someone liking the color blue and appreciating Mozart.

Ambling into the living room, he glanced about, thinking. There was only one large unmarked box left, and Remus decided to be handy and take it in, perhaps help her. He went through scenarios in his head for practice purposes.

'Thought I'd be helpful; here's your last box.'

Luna would smile a little and try to take it, but it would be a little too heavy; after all, she'd been doing a lot of moving all day, so he would grab it too, and they might brush hands. He'd ignore her legs – they were in baggy, mid thigh length shorts.

Nodding, he found that one to his liking and imagined another.

'Thought I'd be helpful; here's your last box.'

Luna's smile would be tired, and she'd wipe sweat off her brow and motion towards her bed – queen sized for Feng Shui purposes. They had gone shopping together, and she'd mentioned that. He didn't quite follow, but he'd look it up. She would hop on the bed and ask him to sit, then open the box, only to find her naughtier underthings and blush furiously. He'd console her, and they'd talk about the reason she had naughty undercouture. They'd kiss a little, and...

Shaking his head and wiping the sweat off his brow, Remus decided that was not allowed and tried to keep his imagination rated G.

'Thought I'd be helpful; here's your last box.'

She'd smile and ask him to set it on the floor, and he would open it and begin laying out books on her bedspread, enjoying their smell and texture, perhaps finding a few he didn't own or hadn't gotten around to reading. They would talk and become... friends.

Friends. He wanted for them to become friends, rather badly. The inner confession gave him strength, and Remus picked up the box, which was actually quite big and a bit weighty, and paused at her doorway.

Luna was currently putting books on her bookcase, in some specific order, and he hated to interrupt her. Glancing about the room, he smiled at what he saw. She believed in softer color palettes and had infused the room with it. Airy, late spring-colored curtains and sky blue comforter, cream-colored walls and a rag rug made the room lived in. He liked it, quite a bit.

Feeling momentarily like a peeping Tom, he knocked on the doorframe. Luna started, whipping her head about to see who it was, a book at the ready. Blinking owlishly at him, she took a breath. "Oh, yes. Um. What can I do for you?" She stood up, setting the book down, calmly eyeing him.

Remus smiled at her. "I thought I'd bring your last box in, be a helpful bugger."

Luna nodded and screwed her face up at the box, then realized what it was. Remus didn't quite understand the loss of color to her face or the way she furrowed her brow more and turned away from him. "Thanks, just set it on the bed," came a strained command.

Doing as she had requested, he brushed his hands off and glanced about, then at her as she fidgeted with the curtains. Reaching out, he began lifting off the box cover as he said amiably, "How 'bout I help you with the last one?"

Only to find her leaping across the room to push the lid down. "NO!" she exclaimed, angrily. Biting her lip, she breathed. "Just leave it alone, will you?"

Taken aback, Remus stared. "I just wanted to help."

Luna glared. "I didn't ask for it."

Rolling his eyes, Remus replied, "Sorry, what's in there –"

"Nothing!" Luna ground out. "It's none of your business. Just old stuff."

Drawing his lips into a tight line, he straightened. "I was going to go grab a bite. Would you be interested?"

"No," came the quick fire response. Then, to soften it barely, she added, "Thank you though."

Turning and leaving the room, he muttered a halfhearted, "You're welcome."

This was not what he planned.

A/N: Sorry this took so darn long to post. I've had the usual business of holidays, finals, and too many projects, but here you all are, and thank you for reading, in advance, along with thanks going out to my darling Beta.