Becoming Familiar with a Man of Misery

Chapter 79 ~ Appointments and Disappointments

“Come in Marcus,” Isadora said, stepping aside and letting the tall, blonde wizard enter. She closed the door and followed him. Once they were in the living room, Isadora led him over to her work desk on which sat her main computer. Marcus glanced over at the terminal where Remus Lupin sat as he passed. Remus seemed to ignore him. Hm. What was the werewolf doing here? He seemed to be working.

Isadora gestured to a comfortable chair in front of her desk and Marcus folded himself into it. Isadora slid behind her desk and sat down, putting on her glasses. Marcus studied her. She still looked good. On the wall behind the witch were a number holders which held travel brochures offering different types of packages. She turned on her terminal and looked up at Marcus pleasantly as it warmed up.

“I’ve met you before, haven’t I, Marcus?” she asked the wizard.

“Yes,” he replied smiling at her. “At your son’s wedding. A very sweet, if short introduction. Your son was quite…shall we say…protective.”

“Overbearing more likely,” Isadora replied. “He feels he needs to protect me from potentially bad influences.”

Marcus lifted his eyesbrows.

“Can’t say I blame him. A witch as lovely as you needs protection. There’s a lot of wolves out here,” he replied, taking a little jab at Remus, who was listening despite himself.

The werewolf’s hairs began to rise on the back of his neck at the wizard’s obvious jibe as well as his flirting. His jaw tightened as he continued to type.

“I have access to wolfsbane,” Isadora replied lightly, letting his compliment slip over her. “Now, Mr. Delaluci, what kind of package are you interested in?”

Marcus was thinking a slim, ivory-skinned, black-haired package about five-seven and naked would suit him just fine. His violet eyes telescoped at her. Isadora started.

“What did you just do with your eyes?” she asked him.

“Oh, sometimes they do that. Telescope. My pupils enlarge. Happens when I’m thinking,” Marcus lied, his voice becoming a bit suggestive, “as well as when I am doing other pleasurable things. They’re a gift from an ancestor.”

“I see,” said Isadora, wondering what kind of ancestor would give a wizard violet, telescoping eyes. She caught the little suggestive comment he made about “other pleasurable things”. He was a flirt, this Marcus Delaluci.

Remus caught it too. His werewolf hearing was locked to the couple, and he couldn’t help the low growl that rumbled in the back of his throat. The wizard frowned at the screen before him. He was making all kinds of typing errors. He cleared the screen and started again.

“Now Marcus, what kind of package are you interested in?” she asked him.

“Extreme. I like anything extreme,” he said, his violet eyes leveled at the witch. Her dark eyes behind the glasses shifted a bit at his comment. Marcus was a very attractive wizard after all, in a rugged kind of way.

The crossbreed sensed Mrs. Snape hadn’t had a tumble in a good while. Marcus could always zero in on women who needed to get laid, whether muggle or witch. It was a lesser talent of his and accounted for many of his sexual successes. Mrs. Snape was definitely in that category. Women who needed to get laid had to be tantalized first. Marcus had no problem dangling himself in front of the witch.

Isadora looked at him a moment, then cleared her throat.

“Um, all right…extreme. I take it you mean extreme sports,” she said.

“You can take it that way if you like,” Marcus replied giving her a rather sexy smirk. “But yes, extreme sports is a love of mine. I like anything that involves danger.”

Fucking Severus Snape’s mother fell nicely into that category.

Remus’ nostrils were flared now, and he was typing just a bit harder than necessary. That wizard didn’t know what danger was. Remus could feel Marcus’ very sexual attraction to Isadora…it felt like tiny needles piercing the werewolf’s skin…not painful, but irritating, very, very irritating. Isadora was not his witch, but every nerve in his body was attuned to her now, especially with Marcus trying to gain her interest. His territorial instincts were aroused. He also sensed something not quite human about the wizard. Marcus had some kind of tainted blood. Animal blood. It was faint, but detectable. Again, Remus helplessly growled deep in his throat.

“Very well, Marcus…we do have some packages here that focus on extreme activities. Are you familiar with muggle travel?” she asked him.

“Oh, I’ve visited the muggle world quite a few times to exercise my love of things extreme. But I’ve never flown in an airplane. It sounds like it’s rather dangerous…so of course, it appeals to me,” he replied, “I’d be willing to fly in an iron bird.”

Isadora stood up, turned and began picking through the brochures. Marcus’ eyes drifted to her round ass. Those jeans were certainly flattering. They hugged every curve. Isadora turned back around and Marcus quickly shifted his eyes to her face. She smiled at him, offering him the brochures.

“Take a look at these, Marcus, and see if there is anything here that interests you,” she said, as the wizard took the brochures from her. “I’ll be right back.”

Marcus began leafing through the brochures as Isadora walked over to Remus. He tensed up the moment she came close, willing himself to calm. He felt like pushing her behind him and challenging the wizard to a duel for her.

Remus cursed himself. The full moon was past. Why was his mating instinct still so strong?

“How’s it going?” Isadora asked him, looking at the screen expecting to see it full of typing. Instead there were only a couple of lines of very basic typing. She also noticed the wizard was very tense.

“Remus, you should be much farther than this. You’ve gone over it plenty of times and have been sitting here a while. What’s wrong?” she asked him, frowning slightly.

“I…I made a lot of errors so I started over,” he replied, not looking at her.

How many errors could he have possible made? What had thrown off his focus? Remus had the best concentrative powers she had ever seen. Only her son seemed more focused than the werewolf.

Marcus turned slightly in the chair and saw the witch leaning over the werewolf…who seemed unnaturally stiff, as if he were purposely keeping from reacting to the witch’s closeness. Oh ho. Remus Lupin had wood for Snape’s mum. Marcus thought Severus would probably take that a lot worse than him giving the witch the high hard one. But then again, Severus probably had her on such a high pedestal he expected no cock to be able to reach her. His mistake if that were true. The witch was far from over the hill and would jump right off that pedestal if the right wizard were there to catch her. Marcus was sure of that, and his arms, among other parts of his body, were wide open.

The wizard was also sure that no matter how Remus felt, he would never try to fuck the witch. He was too withdrawn…too broken. Too pitiful. Marcus had good powers of observation and when he met Lupin three years ago, immediately saw that the werewolf shied away from relationships of any type because of his malady. Even those people who cared for him were kept at arm’s length. He would never make a move on Isadora simply because he didn’t feel worthy of her. He was a werewolf after all. Beautiful witches didn’t fuck werewolves. The only possible way anything could happen between the two was if the witch initiated it.

In Marcus’ estimation, Remus had nothing going for him to attract a witch like Isadora. He was poor as piss first off, shabby and sad. He had no fire…no oomph. He dragged himself around the wizarding world as if he had a ton of rock cakes tied to his tail. The only reason he was here was probably because the witch felt sorry for him. He wouldn’t make a proper husband, and there was nothing in his demeanor to even suggest he’d be a decent lover. He might as well be dead.

Marcus began to leaf through the brochures again. Hm. Snowboarding, Surfing, Hang Gliding, Bungi Jumping, Mountain Climbing, Scuba Diving, Shark Fishing…the list went on and on. He took a look at the prices and stifled a low whistle. He didn’t have the galleons for this. He would have to string her along until he could talk her into coffee or dinner.

“Why are you so off your game, Remus? Is everything all right with you? Is it something I can help you with?” Isadora asked the werewolf. her voice filled with concern. She removed her glasses.

Remus looked at Isadora when she asked him the last question. He couldn’t help himself. He was too caught up in his animal responses to keep from reacting. Could she help him? Gods, if his dreams were any indication and Isadora were willing, she could help him very much.

When the wizard looked at her, his eyes reflected the the heat Isadora had seen in her dreams, powerful, feral and intense enough to make her catch her breath in response. Remus caught himself and looked away, aware the witch must have seen his desire by the way she was looking at him. He stood up abruptly.

“I have to go, Isadora,” he said hoarsely.

“No. Don’t. Stay here Remus. I want to help you,” she said, “Just wait until I am done with this client…”

“He’s no client, Isadora,” Remus said with a growl. Isadora was taken aback by the ferocity in his statement. Clearly, he did not like Marcus.

“Of course he’s a client,” Isadora said, looking over at Marcus who was busily leafing through the brochures.

“He’s more of a wolf than I am,” Remus said, his nostrils flaring as he looked at the wizard. His eyes turned back to Isadora. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to do this, Isadora. I can’t handle it.”

“What do you mean, Remus? You breezed through the training program, and for a wizard who never even touched a computer before, you caught on remarkably fast. Clearly you are a natural at this. Why would you think you can’t handle it? As soon as your typing gets up to par I am going to turn some of my clients over to you to make their travel arrangements. I was hoping to start you next week,” Isadora stated.

Remus shook his head sadly. Isadora was at a loss as to what to say. She didn’t understand this.

“It’s not the job, Isadora,” Remus said, his soft eyes intense, “It’s you. I hardly even know you and I…I…oh fuck. I just can’t do this…it’s torture. I’m sorry you wasted your time.”

Remus started for the front door, and Isadora ran past him, blocking the foyer. Marcus watched what was happening with interest.

“Remus, wait. What you’re doing…what you’re giving up makes no sense. You can change your life if you just stick with it,” she said.

Remus turned slightly to look at Marcus, who pretended to be looking through the pamphlets. He looked back at Isadora and lowered his voice even more.

“Isadora, you know what I am. An animal with animal instincts and animal desires. These desires permeate me whether or not I am transformed. Severus told me I needed to be away from you during the three days my instincts are strongest…but Isadora…they are always strong around you…and even when I am not around you. I refuse to torment myself, even if it means I will remain poor as a result of it. I came here against my better judgment today. I’ve been dreaming of you the entire week I was away…totally inappropriate dreams…dreams that could and should never happen. I don’t want to be here alone with you one day…and…and…”

Remus stopped speaking, his chest heaving as he fought to calm himself. Isadora stared at him. He had been dreaming of her too?

The werewolf firmly grasped the witch by her shoulders, ignoring the fire he felt shoot through his loins as he gently moved her aside and opened the door.

“But…but Remus…” Isadora said following him.

He looked over his shoulder at her.

“Goodbye, Isadora,” he said softly, disillusioning himself as he walked out of the door and disapparating. Startled passersby looked up at the sky as the thunder of Remus’ departure sounded.

Isadora stood in the doorway,her dark eyes sad.

“But I dream about you too, Remus,” she said softly to the empty space before her.

Marcus came sauntering out of the flat. He waved his hand in front of the staring Isadora, who looked up at him with a slight frown. She remembered what Remus said, and her frown grew a little darker.

“Marcus, are you actually going to buy a package today?” she asked him.

The wizard hesitated.

“Well, I thought I’d just look them all over and get back to you,” he said.

Isadora arched an eyebrow. She walked past him, and Marcus started to follow her back in. The witch stopped him, flipping her pale palm before his face with a bit of attitude.

“Wait here,” she said evenly, closing the door in his face.

Marcus frowned and stood there. The door opened slightly and Isadora’s arm thrust out of the crack, her hand full of brochures. Marcus took them reflexively.

“You don’t need an appointment to browse the packages,” she seethed. “Come back when you’re ready for a good deal to actually travel.”

She closed the door and Marcus heard it click. Damn it.

He rapped on the door.

“What?” came Isadora’s muffled voice.

The witch was frustrated about what just happened with Remus. She wasn’t in the mood for Marcus or any other wizard right now.

“How about going out with me for coffee sometime?” Marcus called through the door.

On the other side of the door, Isadora scowled blackly. Remus had been right. Marcus had only come to her office with the intentions of taking her out…or worse.

“He wants coffee?” she thought, grinning evilly, “I’ll give him coffee.”

She pulled her wand out and flicked it at the door.

Over Marcus’ head a huge tankard appeared. It tilted over, drenching him in coffee, then disappeared. Isadora quickly warded her door against the spluttering wizard. He was lucky it was cold.

“Do you want cream and sugar with that?” Isadora called through the door.

“I see the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!” Marcus shouted angrily back at the witch as he scourgified himself of the coffee dripping down his face.

He meant mother and son were more alike than he thought. Next thing Marcus knew, he was conked on top of the head by a very large, heavy and hard red apple.

He got the message. No goodies here.

“She’s Snape’s mother,” he muttered, “I should have known she’d be a bitch.”

He disapparated, not bothering to disillusion himself.

Isadora snickered as she walked back into the living room. She sobered as she looked at the terminal Remus had been working at. She walked over and sat down in his chair, pressing her fingers against the screen, tracing the sad little lines of letters he had typed. She thought about what her son had said about the werewolf. How he would give up on this like he did everything else in his life.

“Oh Remus,” she said softly. “Why do you run from everything? Why don’t you at least try?”

There was only silence.

He wasn’t there to answer her.

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A/N: Oh Remus, Remus, Remus. You ran too fast. At least Isadora knows how he feels about her. But he has no idea she is attracted to him. What to do? What to do? And poor Marcus. It doesn’t look like he’s going to get any nookie this story. Lol. Please review.

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The Burning Pen

Becoming Familiar with a Man of Misery
by Ruth Solomon

The story content is adult in nature and can contain graphic sex and violence. Those under the age of 18 are asked to leave this site immediately. You are not welcome here. The author is not responsible for those under-aged who view these works.

CHAPTER 80

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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