Chapter Text
It was an early morning, only 4am, the air was still chilly from the cloudless night before, but it was going to be another hot, sunny day. Some birds were already awake and greeted the new day with their beautiful voices.
Remus stepped out of his flat, closing the door behind him silently, and took a deep breath. He loved early mornings. Everything was still calm and sleepy. He had the whole town for himself and he could watch it come to life slowly. It was the best part of the day, at least for Remus.
He walked down the narrow street where his flat was, until it ended in a slightly larger one. It was another cobblestone street; they had a lot of those in the old part of town; it was all small two-level buildings in every color there is, some of them were small shops that sold handmade soap, knitted material and flowers, others were small restaurants and cafes that had a handful of tables outside for the people to sit down and enjoy the view while drinking a freshly brewed coffee. And in between a green painted flower shop and a yellow book shop, there it was: Remus own shop.
The house was pale blue with a large window to the street next to the dark blue entrance door. Over the door was a golden sign that said: Moony’s Bakery.
Remus took the keys out of his pocket and opened the door. He then turned on the light as it was still pretty dark outside and the room wasn't illuminated with sunlight yet.
He went into the back room and, after he turned the light on, he took his apron from the hook and pulled it over his head. Then he put some water in the kettle. He couldn't start working without a good cup of tea first. Remus took out his favorite mug out of the cupboard and placed the tea strainer in it, then filled it with loose Earl Grey tea, his favorite. He got it from another shop on this street.
When the tea was ready, he took a first sip - and burnt his tongue. Why is he always doing this? The tea was still too hot to drink, so he placed it aside and took the dough out of the fridge where he had left it yesterday.
He was forming the bread loaf, when he heard the ringing of the bell, that announced someone just entered the bakery.
It was still very early, so there was only one person who it could be.
“Good morning, Lils.” Remus said loud enough for her to hear.
He opened the oven and put the bread inside, then set a timer.
Lily came into the back room and turned the coffee machine on.
“Good morning, Re.” she smiled.
Lily handed him his mug.
“Here. Before it gets cold again.”
“Thanks.” he said and took a sip.
It was still hot, but not too hot. Perfect drinking temperature.
The sound of the coffee machine filled the room and shortly after, the smell of fresh coffee streamed through it.
Remus went to the fridge and took the milk out. He walked back and gave it to Lily, who poured some of it into her coffee.
“Thank you.” she said.
Remus nodded and went back to work on the croissants, Lily joined him shortly after.
“So how was your date yesterday?” he asked her.
Remus reached for the rolling pin and rolled out the first layer.
“It was nice.”
“But? It sounded like there was a but coming.”
She sighed.
“But I don’t think I'm going to meet him again.”
Remus looked up from where he was covering the layer with butter.
“Why? I thought he was nice?”
“He is nice. He's really nice, I just don't… get the feeling, you know?”
He nodded.
“Poor… What was his name again?”
“James.” Lily helped him out.
“Poor James.” Remus finished his sentence and smiled at her.
They worked next to each other quietly, there weren't many words needed after years of working together. They knew one another, and they had a routine by now.
The shelves in the salesroom were already filled with different kinds of breads, pastries and cakes, when Remus heard the bell ringing as someone entered the bakery. He walked into the saleroom to check who it was.
“Good morning, Mrs. Figg.” Remus smiled at the elderly lady.
She was living in the flat right above the bakery and owned the whole house, she was Remus' landlord.
“Good morning, my dear.”
“The usual?”
Remus took a paper bag and put two croissants in there. Mrs. Figg came to his bakery ever since he had opened it and she always bought two croissants.
“Yes, please. The smell that comes up to my apartment is mouthwatering, Remus. Oh, I'd also like three pieces of your incredible chocolate cake. My grandsons are visiting today and they love your cake and I can't blame them.”
Remus smiled as he took three pieces out of the display. He then wrapped them and handed everything to her.
“Enjoy your day with your grandsons.” Remus said to her as she paid.
“Oh, I will. Thank you, Remus. Have a good day.”
Remus watched her leave the bakery, then went back to Lily.
“Marlene should be here any minute. Can you stay in the saleroom until then? It'll be busy any minute and I have to finish the cake for the Blacks,” he told her.
Lily nodded.
“Sure. I'll help you when Marlene’s here, okay?”
Remus nodded.
Marlene worked for Remus as a vendor, and he couldn't wish for a better person; she was charming, smart, and she was really good with their customers. When Remus had told her he wanted to open his own bakery, she offered herself to work for him until he found staff, but she had stayed even after Remus had hired other people, and Remus was glad she did. They went to school together and became friends rather fast.
Remus took the sponge cake out of the fridge together with the raspberry cream, he had both prepared yesterday. He cut the cake lengthwise into three equal pieces. The raspberry cream he distributed between the first and the second and the second and the third piece, then he built the cake back together and placed it back in the fridge to cool down again. In the meanwhile Remus had to prepare the chocolate ganache.
The saleroom was already buzzing with people's voices when Marlene entered the backroom.
“Morning.” she said as she locked her bag away, then she went back outside to help Lily.
While the ganache was cooling down, Remus made himself another cup of tea. He sat down for a moment, closed his eyes and just listened to the sounds in his bakery: Lilys and Marlene’s voices, laughter, the rustling of paper bags. He smelled the bread that was still baking in the oven, mixed with the sweet scent of melted chocolate.
Remus smiled to himself. He loved everything about it, even to get up early in the mornings.
He and Lily had met in culinary school. First they were partners, who worked and learned together, but they figured out quite fast that they were on the same wavelength and became friends.
When Remus told her he wanted to open his own bakery someday, she supported him immediately. They finished school together, and both got jobs in different restaurants, but they stayed in touch, and after Remus had rented this shop, he offered Lily to work with him again. He couldn't pay her as much as she earned at that moment, but she said yes nevertheless, remembering the good times they had had working together. Neither of them regretted their decision.
“What are you dreaming about?” Lily's voice brought him back into the present.
He opened his eyes, smiled at her and got up.
“Nothing. I've just been in some memories.”
“Sit down, we're having breakfast now. I suppose you haven't eaten yet, have you?”
So Remus sat down again, while Lily set the table. Both ate a bun and a chocolate croissant, those were Remus favorite. He was biased on that topic, but he thought he made the best chocolate croissants in town.
“Marlene’s okay out there?” he asked Lily.
She nodded.
“You know her. The more the merrier. She's doing fine. How's the cake going?”
“I just made the ganache, it's still cooling down though. But it'll be done in time.”
“Yeah, better to not make the Blacks angry.” she grinned.
Remus shrugged.
“Yeah, you're right. She's hard to deal with, even when she's in a good mood. I don't want to see her when she's angry. Beware that I ruin her son's birthday party because the cake is late. She would behead me or something.”
Lily laughed.
“She definitely would.”
Remus emptied his mug and got up again, then went over to the fridge to finish the cake. He covered it with chocolate ganache, rolled out the black fondant and placed it gently over the cake. He made sure that there was no crease in the fondant. When he was happy with the outcome, he took the buttercream out of the fridge to build different sized flowers on the cake. The flowers were blue and a dark purple and they looked great on the black fondant; it made everything look noble. Only one third got covered with flowers, so the cake wouldn’t look too overloaded.
When Remus was done, he looked at his masterpiece; the cake wasn't healthy for sure, but it was incredibly beautiful.
Lily looked over his shoulder, she smiled.
“Looks great.”
“Thanks.” Remus answered “Time to go then. You're good here on your own?”
He turned around just in time to see her roll her eyes. Remus laughed.
“Okay, okay. Sorry for asking. I'll be back soon, though. Try to not set the kitchen on fire.” he teased her.
“That only happened once! And we were still at culinary school and it was just a small fire!”
Remus laughed loudly at that, and Lily smiled despite his teasing.
After he had packed the cake up safely for transportation, Remus took the keys for the car that was parked behind the bakery and went outside. A second later he came back, took the cake with him, ignored Lily's laugh and went back outside again.
The drive to the Blacks wasn't long, they lived right at the end of the old part of town. It was an old house, beautiful nevertheless, and the garden was gorgeous. Remus had the chance to walk through it once as he had delivered some pastries for one of Mrs. Black's famous parties that took place in the garden.
Their ancestors were the founders of the city and the family still had the old money and they were not shy about showing what they owned, so hosting parties were a common thing for them. Today they were celebrating the birthday of their younger son, Regulus Black, but of course only the people who had a name and, more importantly, more money than they could ever spend, were invited. Remus was only good enough to bring them some indulgence in the form of cake.
He parked the car, took the cake and got out, then walked up the long way to the main door to ring the bell.
A moment later it was opened by a servant who let him in. Remus followed him through the rather busy house until they were in the dining room. It was beautifully decorated with different types of flowers, and his cake would fit perfectly into the schema.
“I’ll let Mrs. Black know that you are here.” the woman, who let him in, told him and left.
Remus unpacked the cake to place it on the sideboard, when a voice behind him made him jump.
“That’s a damn nice cake.”
Remus turned around to look at the person who almost made him drop the cake, to see a man in jeans and a button-down shirt leaning casually in the doorframe, a smirk on his face and his eyes watching Remus. He looked like he would own this place and, technically, this wasn’t wrong; it was Sirius Black standing there, the elder son of the Blacks.
Remus swallowed.
“Thank you, Mr. Black.”
Sirius pushed himself off of the doorframe and walked over to Remus, who turned around to finally place the cake on the sideboard, before anything could go wrong.
Sirius was standing right next to him now, Remus could feel his body heat, to watch him arrange the cake. They both turned around when they heard footsteps and, as soon as Sirius recognized his mother, he moved away two steps from Remus.
“Son, go make yourself useful somewhere else.” she told him and Sirius left without another word.
Remus watched him leave, then looked at Mrs. Black and showed her the cake. She inspected it for a moment, then nodded.
“This will do. Thank you.”
And with the wave of her hand, she dismissed him.
Outside again, Remus couldn’t hold back the urge to roll his eyes anymore.
This will do. That cake was a goddamn piece of art, that’s what it was. This will do.
He shook his head.
Back at the bakery, he found the front room full with people. He made his way to the backroom, when he noticed a red-haired woman with three children around her, all of them had the same shade of red hair as their mother.
“Hello Mrs. Weasley. How are you?” he asked the woman, who turned around to look at him, then smiled.
“Hello Remus, nice to see you. Oh, you know we're doing okay.”
“How is Arthur?” he asked.
The little ones have noticed him now and walked over to him, all of them excited to see him. That might have something to do with the cookies he gave them every time. He walked behind the counter and took out three large chocolate chip cookies and handed them to the kids, his index finger on his lips as to tell them not to tell their mom.
Mrs. Weasley watched them of course with a loving expression on her face, Remus smiled at her with a wink.
“Arthur is good, a little nervous and excited for the twins, but he’s been like that with all of them. I think some things never change.”
She placed a hand over her stomach.
“Twins this time? Congratulations. Tell Arthur I said hi.”
She nodded.
“Of course. We have to go now, we still have to run some errands, and that is not as easy as it sounds with the three of them with me. Goodbye, Remus. Have a nice day.”
“Thank you, you too.”
He watched her leave with her children, on each hand one of them and the third one walking slightly in front of her.
Remus turned around when he heard Lily’s voice.
“Everything went okay?” she asked him.
He nodded.
“Yeah, I guess she liked the cake, even though she didn’t say so. ‘This will do’ is all she had to say about it.”
Lily grinned at him.
“Sounds like a huge compliment coming from her, if you ask me.”
Remus followed her into the backroom and sat down for a moment.
“Hmm, maybe. I’m glad I don’t have to see her every day, she is… well, quite something.”
“She sure is.”
Lily looked at her phone as it made the unmistakable sound of an incoming message, she sighed.
“What?” Remus asked her.
“It’s James… He wants to know when we meet again.”
“Ouch. Guess you have to break this poor guy's heart, then.”
“Yeah… Damn it. I'm not good at that.”
Remus laughed a little, then got up again.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. I have to prepare some cakes now…”
Lily put her phone back into her pocket and looked at him.
“No, I already did that. We’re all set for today. You can go home, if you like, I can do the rest.”
“Are you sure? There's still a lot to do…”
“Yes, I am. You always work so much, go enjoy the nice weather, enjoy yourself for once and let me work.”
Remus looked at her suspiciously, then sighed.
“Okay. Thank you, Lils. Nevertheless, if you need my help, just call me. I’ll be here immediately.”
“I know, but I won’t need your help. Come on. Go.”
She almost pushed him out of his bakery and Remus was laughing as he left, stepping into the bright sunshine.
So he had a whole afternoon for himself? He knew exactly what he wanted to do.
He turned left and entered the bookshop next to his bakery, then took a deep breath. He loved the smell of books, old books, new books; they all had their unique smell and Remus loved it.
He strolled through the shelves, looked at the books and read the summaries and after a while he was already carrying four books with him, but there was no such thing as too many books.
He went to the checkout and the cashier, whose tag said his name was Brad, looked at his books and pointed at a black one with golden letters on it.
“I loved that one. So well written, and the story is amazing.” he smiled at Remus.
“Then I know now which I'll read first.”
“Tell me what you think of it afterwards, yeah?”
Remus nodded, paid and, with another smile at Brad the cashier, he left the store.
The cobble stone street was filled with people going shopping, chatting in cafes or just having a walk to enjoy the perfect weather.
Remus followed their lead and sat down outside a cafe. He ordered some homemade lemonade, then took out the book the cashier recommended to him and started reading. That was the perfect way to spend the day, at least for him.
He loved reading, his small flat was filled over and over with books, in every nook another one. And it never was enough; books were his not-so-secret addiction.
So Remus sat there, reading and drinking his lemonade for what felt like a couple of minutes, but when he checked his watch, it's been almost two hours.
He usually went to bed early considering he had to get up at the crack of dawn again, but tomorrow was his day off, so he had more time to spend reading today. If he could keep his eyes open, that was.
But he still had to go grocery shopping and cook himself dinner, so he paid for his drink, got up and walked back to his flat to show his treasures their new home.