Title: Educating Remus

Fandom: Harry Potter

Pairing: Lupin/Tonks

Rating: PG

Word Count: 1233

Prompt: For the rt_challenge August ficathon #20, genre: romance

Spoilers: For Deathly Hallows.

Notes: Set after Chapter 25, Shell Cottage.

“Of course it’s you... earlier than I expected though.”

Andromeda Tonks spoke with enough disdain to remind Remus that she was a member of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, yet with enough of a sparkle to her eye to remind him that she was her daughter’s mother; quite a feat, but then, his mother-in-law, he knew, was quite a formidable woman. A formidable woman who had interrupted him in the middle of his proclamation of identity with a roll of her eyes, a shake of her head, and those very words, before turning on her heel and stepping back into the living room, closing the door firmly behind her.

Opening and closing his mouth – because in these troubled times, eschewing the protective procedures was a dangerous game – Remus considered going after her, then thought better of it.

There were far more pressing demands on his time.

Taking the stairs two at a time, covering the upstairs hallway in quick, quiet steps, he reached the small bedroom, carefully pushing open the door, smiling at the sight that met him.

His wife, lying on her side underneath the covers, their newborn son in her arms.

His wife, opening her eyes, turning them towards the door, towards him, and he spoke quickly.

“I am Remus John Lupin… your husband… proud father of Teddy…”

“Remus, in the name of Merlin, shut up and get in here.” His wife spoke with as much asperity as her mother, and he obeyed without conscious thought.

“Your mother said much the same thing to me when I identified myself,” he observed as he took off his travelling cloak, tossing it to the side, heedless of where it feel. His shoes followed, and he had to grip the dresser to keep his balance. “How are you both so sure that it’s me?”

“Because,” Tonks replied with a smile, a laugh not too far below the surface, “No Death Eater could duplicate that dazed and happy new dad expression.”

“Ah. Quite.” He hadn’t realised he’d been wearing that expression, but it explained a lot. Walking none-too-steadily to the bed, he lay down carefully beside her, not wanting to jostle the baby, or her. “How are you both?”

True to his prediction at Shell Cottage, Teddy’s hair was no longer the ginger it had been when he left the house; it was now a fetching shade of orange, with the faintest tinge of bright yellow at the tips. He ran his hand, enchanted, over the downy tufts, and he was so engrossed in absorbing every detail of his son that he didn’t realise Tonks hadn’t answered his question, but had, in fact, asked one of her own.

“Remus… are you pissed?”

“No… no, not at all.” A pause from him, a raised eyebrow from her. “Well, perhaps a little… Bill opened a bottle of wine when I arrived at Shell Cottage… rather good wine, it must be said, and the goblets seemed to be the self-refilling kind…”

His explanation was cut off when Tonks began laughing softly. “Completely pissed,” she said, but there was fondness in her voice. “Course, when I was born, my dad went out drinking with his two brothers and wasn’t seen again for three days… I should count myself lucky.”

Andromeda’s words now making a lot more sense to him, Remus reached out a hand to her cheek, one finger moving up to brush away the tears that had suddenly filled Tonks’s eyes. “Rampaging Hippogriffs could not have kept me away from you any longer.”

He was completely sincere, but his words had been carefully chosen to make Tonks laugh, and he was glad when they did the job. “Everyone sends their love,” he continued. “Fleur wants a picture the first chance we get… and Harry will be godfather, he says it would be an honour…” To be honest, he couldn’t remember if Harry had actually said that at all, but he was sure the young man was thinking it. “I remember when he born…” he said softly, the memory of James’s proud smile, of Lily’s face alight with love and pride suddenly so clear to him. “I think it fair to say that it was quite a while before we sobered up…” Despite the happiness of the day, a sense of loss came upon him suddenly and he had to swallow hard. “I can hardly believe that was almost eighteen years ago…”

He allowed himself, just for a moment, to think that if things had been different, they might be here with him today, taking him out, getting him so drunk that he couldn’t stand, toasting the birth of his firstborn, planning his life, his future…

But they weren’t. His old friends were dead, and they were in the middle of a war where no-one could be sure of a tomorrow.

Tonks squeezed his hand, bringing him back to reality. “I know you still miss them,” she whispered, and he took a deep breath, let it out slowly.

“I will always miss them,” he told her. “But I have you, and Teddy… and that, Dora, is more than I could have ever hoped for. Especially after behaving like … what was that charming phrase you used to describe my behaviour last year? Oh yes, a prize pillock, wasn’t it?”

“You deserved it.”

Running a hand over Tonks’s hair, he nodded. “I did… and quite a bit more than that. That you were willing to forgive me… that you were able to forgive me…” Words failed him, so he leaned over and pressed his lips to hers, hoping that the gesture would convey the emotion in his heart.

Pulling back, there were tears once again in Tonks’s eyes, but she was smiling. “It’s because I love you, you pillock,” she told him, and he laughed too, happier than he could ever remember being.

Looking down at his son – hair now a rather fetching shade of blue – he was reminded once again of looking at Harry when he was this size, sleeping peacefully in Lily’s arms, forehead still unmarked, blissfully unaware of the horrors that were to face him. “You know, it’s funny,” he said thoughtfully, “I remember the first war… remember going to James and Lily’s wedding… seeing her coming to Order meetings, her and Alice, getting bigger and bigger, comparing notes… and I remember thinking that we were in a war… that none of us were assured of a tomorrow, or what sort of tomorrow it would be… and I could never understand how they could contemplate bringing a child into the middle of that…”

His voice trailed off, and after a long moment of silence where all he could do was stare at Teddy, Tonks spoke, her voice quiet, almost afraid. “And now?”

Remus looked at his son, impressing every detail on his memory – the flush of his cheek, the shape of his lips, the rise and fall of his chest, the tightness of his tiny fist in Remus’s little finger.

Then he looked at Tonks, her dark eyes, hair his favourite shade of bubble gum pink, and he remembered how she’d fought for him, for them, remembered the sound of her laughter, the feel of her lips against his, how she’d looked on their wedding day.

“And now?” Raising their joined hands to his lips, he didn’t take his eyes off hers. “Now, I know.”