Not Just Another Day in the Park (PG-13)

“I’d love to, well have to take an afternoon and see it, I’m sure they wouldn’t notice us apparating out on an Hogsmead weekend.” She looked up at him with a bit of a mischievous smile on her face. “Nothing really, but I have thought a bit about maybe talking my parents into letting me spend a week or two just traveling, but I’m very doubtful of their approval. You?”

Remus couldn't help but return her mischeivious grin-chances were she was right, they wouldn't notice. And it sounded like it would be a fun trip, too. Remus shook his head at her question. "Not really...I'm going to try and hang out at home a little more, and then I'm probably going to have some stuff to do for the Order," Remus said, figuring nobody would be close enough to hear, and he'd seen Joc at some of the meetings, so he knew she was in it, too. "Were would you go?" He asked curiously.

“I’m sure your parents would love to have you home for a bit.” Joc teased. “I don’t really know, I just wanna get out and see some of the world with my own eyes, but I’d probably just stick to Europe or maybe America. Which is part of the reason I doubt I can get my parents to agree.” She didn’t realize until that moment that she may not actually need her parents approval to travel but she knew she wouldn’t do it without talking to them about it first.

"Well, perhaps not," Remus admitted, his tone joking but also thinking it may be half-true. "But I would like to see them." He then raised an eyebrow. "Why would visiting America make them not agree?" He asked, wondering what exactly they disliked about the Country.

“It has nothing to do with my possible destination, it has everything to do the fact that I’m unsure where I’d want to go,” she explained. “No parent in their right mind would let their seventeen year old go just anywhere. And then there’s the issue of communication,” She was referring to being able to let her parents know she’s okay, “Owls don’t usually do things like cross an ocean and muggle mail can be a bit slow.”

"Oh, I see," Remus said with a nod of understanding. "Well, it seems like you should be able to, anyways-I mean, you're seventeen now. You should get the chance to just wander and figure out were you want to go, what you want to do after this year," He pointed out. All the same, he could see why not being able to see her parents would be a problem-he hated being away from home for so long, and he knew his parents did also. But she could always apparate over once every week or so and visit, or something.

“It would seem that way wouldn’t it? But my mum still has a bit of a muggle mindset, I may be an adult in the wizarding world but in a lot of the muggle world I’m still underage.” She explained. “And my dad’s more likely to take the ‘keep my little girl safe’ route then let me do what I want.”

Remus nodded in understanding-it had took his mom a while to get adjusted to the fact that he was legally an adult in the wizarding world now as well. Actually, now that he thought about it, he had to agree that maybe Joc going alone wouldn't be a good idea. "Well, maybe you could convince them if you did it with a friend...Like, maybe you could take Katherine with you." He suggested. He would rather, of course, go himself to insure her safety, but could also see Joc's point of view and didn't want to be overprotective-two parents tended to be more than enough.

“Kat’s parents don’t even let her hang out with me, its one thing to come up with an excuse to get away for the afternoon its something else to come up with something acceptable to keep her away for a week or two.” She didn’t want to share too much about Kat’s home life but this was an exception for the time being.

Remus raised an eyebrow, wondering why someone wouldn't be aloud to hang out with Joc. However, he then remembered her previous comment on Kat's home life, and figured it wasn't because of Joc but rather Kat's parents. Also remembering that Joc hadn't wanted to say to much, he didn't inquire further, but rahter suggested, "Well, I could go with you." He wasn't sure who else he could recommend since she'd said that Kat was pretty much her only friend.

It took a moment or so for what Remus had said to really set in. She kinda liked the idea of traveling with him, but at the same time they didn’t really know each other that well and she knew with pure certainty that her parents would never let her travel with her boyfriend. Joc sat up and turned her body towards Remus, “Rem, that’s a wonderful offer but I know that’s the last thing my parents would ever agree to and their acceptance of this trip or at least to some degree is important to me. And honestly we haven’t known each other that long I don’t know if traveling together is necessarily the best idea.”

Remus pretended to look hurt-which he was, a little. "What are you suggesting, exactly, Ms. Aurora? I'm a perfect gentleman, there would be no reason for your parents not to approve!" He said this all jokingly, though he thought it was all true. He'd never hurt Joc in any way, nor push her to do anything she wasn't ready to do.

Joc noticed the look on Remus’ face and placed her hand on his knee and gave it a little squeeze. “I wasn’t implying anything, but gentleman or no it doesn’t change the fact that you’re my boyfriend,” she explained, “And no parent in their right mind would allow their teenaged daughter to travel for several weeks with her teenaged boyfriend, no matter the circumstances.”

Remus shrugged. "I suppose so," He admitted. She had a point-parents did tend to be overprotective. However, Joc had also said that she didn't think it would be wise to travel together. But, not wanting to offend her-or particularly want to hear the reason-he didn't bring it up. Instead, he said, "Well, you could go with somebody else...I don't know, maybe somebody you know from school, or something?"

“I’ll figure something out I’m sure.” She said hoping to mark the end of the conversation about this since it seemed to be putting strain on the situation. “So how have things been going with the Order? I haven’t really been able to keep up with everything with the shop and running as many errands as I have been lately.”

Though Remus had mentioned the Order just a couple of minutes ago, he couldn't help but cast a cautious glance around the pond. Once he'd made sure that no one was around, he turned his gaze back to Joc. "Not so grate-it seems like for every Death Eater we catch, there's ten more to take his place," He admitted with a frown, his expression growing much more serious.

Joc rolled her eyes at Remus’ cautiousness, but understood it all the same. “I will say I’m not surprised, there may not be a ton of purebloods but a good portion of them share His ideals so it only makes sense that they’d be joining en masse as He is rising in power.”

Remus nodded in agreement. "True, but it's still annoying. And you'd think there'd be at least a few more who didn't share his beliefs-our numbers aren't increasing nearly as fast as theirs." And they were losing quite a few people-they could barely recruit a single person to replace every one that died. And that thought made him worry-after all, Joc was in the Order also. He was rather glad she hadn't been around lately and in danger of being hurt. Luckily, they'd be heading back to school soon and she wouldn't have the chance to put herself in harms way.

“There are plenty of people who don’t share His beliefs, but not all of them are willing to take the same stand we are,” she pointed out, “ And its not like we’re as out there as He is, it’s a lot easier to find a Death Eater than it is to find an Order member.” She understood his annoyance with the situation, life would me a lot easier without having to worry about this developing war.

"I suppose so," Remus said with a sigh. After all, it was risky business to join the Order, even if you could find a way in. The fact that they had so few people, though, made him feel rather guilty about leaving for school soon and not helping. But, at the same time, he was looking forewards to the break.

Joc saw his dismay and squeezed his knee to comfort him, “I guess this wasn’t really the best topic of conversation,” she said lightly. She didn’t really know what more to say so she sat in silence, in her own way letting him know she was there if he needed to talk about it at all.

Remus shook his head, immediatly feeling guilty for being a downer. "No, it's fine," He assured her. "It just worries me is all." He said with a somewhat forced smile. Of course it worried him-if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named won this war, there was no telling how bad things could get.

Joc noticed his ‘smile’ and placed a light kiss on his lips, “You don’t have to pretend to be happy for me, I understand the worry, but nothing’s set in stone just yet.” She wanted to comfort him but she was worried about it herself. “I know we are legally adults now, but we’re still in school and I wish we didn’t have to worry about this, it’s too much of an adult problem for seventeen year olds”

Remus nodded again. "Yah, I wish I didn't have to do it, either...But, really, they can use all the help they can get, even if it is with the help of a bunch of kids who just turned 17." He said with a shake of his head.

“Well, it affects us just as much as it affects them, if not more since we’re younger and that makes it our fight as well,” she pointed out. It was especially the fight of those who weren’t purebloods, like the two of them, for if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had his way they would be dead or befall whatever fate He saw fit.