Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter! I do own Liv though!
A/N: This is an AU fic, set after DH. Some of the people who died in that aren't dead in this. Tonks didn't get pregnant until after Voldemort was defeated and it was a girl.
This will be mostly centred around Liv, Remus' and Tonks' daughter, and her time at Hogwarts.
Breakfast
It had been sixteen years, sixteen long years since he'd left her. It was for her own good, of course. She'd be better off without him after all. They both would. Her and his unborn child.
His daughter.
His baby girl.
Yes it was for their own good. Who'd want a werewolf as a father or a husband?- Not that they'd even gotten that far.
When she had told him of her pregnancy he figured he had two options:
Marry her, the love of his life, and let her face a life tied to an old, poor werewolf.
Or leave and let her find a life with somebody who could give her anything and everything she wanted in the world.
It was clear which the more appealing choice to him was, to stay with her. Marry her. Raise their child together. Watch her grow up and them grow old together.
Yes it was obvious which he'd rather choose, but how could he do that to her?
And so, he made the toughest decision of his life. Packed his old, used bags with his worn, patched clothes and his second-hand items; strengthening his belief that he wasn't good enough for her.
He'd travelled for a while, not knowing where he wanted to go or what he wanted to do. Eventually he'd settled in France, found a dodgy neighbourhood and got a job in a pub for just about enough pay to support himself and his monthly Wolfsbane needs.
He worked during the days, no questions asked. It was hard enough to get people willing to work where he did as it was.
Every evening he'd return to his broken down apartment, curl up with a book and fight the urge to return to her loving arms, where everything seemed so much better and brighter.
He'd received two letters just the previous week. One from Hogwarts explaining how they were once again in need of a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, a letter he was sure Dumbledore hadn't had to write for quite some time. How he was a prime candidate for the job, and to please get back to the headmaster before the 31st of August.
He'd already had his quill dipped in ink ready to decline, though he was sorely temped to accept, when the second letter smacked in the face.
Literally.
This one was from the Order; it had kept going even after Voldemort. They felt safer knowing their protetion was not just in the hands of the ministry.
There was a new threat rising and they needed his help. This made him think hard. He bit his chapped lip. If there was a new threat rising, one that meant they needed the help of a poor old werewolf, then it must be bad.
They'd be in danger.
He had to go back. He'd accept the job from Hogwarts, go back, and help fight this new threat.
-
And now he was sitting in a park, one he hadn't set foot in for sixteen years, waiting for his oldest friend to show up and fill him in. He bounced his knee impatiently. Said oldest friend was once again late.
Typical.
He was always late, even when visiting Remus in France.
It had taken Sirius a good few years to forgive Remus for what he did. He may have understood why he did what he did, but that didn't mean that he approved of it, or of how he left her.
Eventually though, he forgave him or maybe he ignored it. Remus didn't know which, too glad to have his friend back to question his luck. Even with his aparant mercy though, Remus could always sense a little resentment from him.
His visits had been less frequent over the last few years. Sirius had settled down with a wife and kid of his own now.
He used to come bearing news of how everyone was doing. Even Tonks and Liv, and although Remus didn't say anything about them or ask about them Sirius offered this information freely, changing the subject quickly after. He knew Remus needed to be told they were alright.
Just as Remus was becoming restless he spotted his childhood friend walking towards him and stood to greet him with a hug.
"Moony! Good to see you mate! How've you been?" greeted Sirius.
"Quite well, Padfoot, quite well, and you?" Remus replied.
"Never better! Oh! Come on, were going to be late!" Sirius hastily tried to usher him up the road.
"Late? Late for what?"
"Breakfast and an Order meeting… Uh, you should probably know it's at Tonks' place," he told him quietly. At Remus' uncharacteristically shocked face, he quickly added, "You need to know what's going on mate, and it was Tonks' turn to hold a meeting… and breakfast, but don't worry she already knows your going to be there. Liv too, so there'll be no nasty shooks… for them. Now come on!"
-
Everyone was already sitting down to breakfast by the time Liv stumbled out of bed. Everyone, of course, being her mum, her godfather Charlie, Bill, Fleur, Ron, Hermione, Kingsely, Hesta, Sirius, Emmiline, Remus, George, Ginny, Harry and James- Harry and Ginny's son.
He wasn't allowed to stay for the meeting. Neither was she. They were too young, two years away from being of age. Two years more of constant curiosity. They were just about to go into their 5th year of Hogwarts, and despite both being sorted into Gryffindor, they didn't get on well at all.
They ran in two completely different circles. James' had a rather large group of friends, while Liv prefered to stick with just her two best friends.
They were both "trouble makers"; pranksters; ring leaders of mayhem- separately. Flying under the radar is much easier with just three.
McGonagall would probably have a heart attack if they put their heads together. They were more than a handful on their own.
Their prime targets were each other. Always.
As she reached the end of the stairs she remembered what her mum had told her the night before, 'he'll be here for breakfast and an order meeting.'
He was here right now!
Just as she stepped off the last stair, she stumbled, because of her groggy sleepy haze of course, stubbing her toe on that damn cabinet that was the black spot in her every morning!
"Liv's up!" she heard her mum chuckle from the kitchen.
"Wow no pressure to be a concerned mother or anything, I only just shattered my toe completely!" She called out dramatically getting up and walking through the dining room to get to the kitchen.
"You ok hon?" questioned Tonks, "Want me to go beat up the big bad cabinet for you?" she teased good naturedly.
"Haha, if that were the rule we'd never have any furniture with you living here!" countered Liv, getting some cereal.
"Hey!"
"What? You know it's true!"
"Mean..."
"Its morning…"
"Nice defence. It's morning. Got anything better?"
"Hmm… Stubbed my toe?"
"Me too," she sighed.
"Then I propose we get rid of the cabinet. No one would have to know, we could do it in the middle of the night like all dressed in black, it won't be missed. It'll be top secret!" Liv joked.
"Should I be worried?"
"Bout what?"
"That I'm either raising a criminal or a lunatic…"
"Nah it's the good kind of lunacy."
"My favourite kind!"
"So about the cabinet?"
"I like the cabinet…"
"Guess I'm on my own then…" this Liv mumbled with and evil smile.
"What was that?" questioned Tonks.
"Nothing," replied Liv, greeting the rest of the table with a, "morning," purposely avoiding the gaze of the tired looking man.
A chorus of, "Good morning," was heard as she took her place in between Charlie and Sirius across from James.
"What are up to today, Liv?" asked James, eyes shooting up from his plate quickly.
"Uhh... I'm going to pick up my books. Why?" she replied running a hand through her vivid green short hair.
"Just wondering if you wanted some company." He said with a sly smile, and after a minute of her silence added, "Do you?"
"I think I can manage on my own, thanks." She said with a slight smile of her own. Whatever his angle for wanting to accompany her was, she was certainly not going to entertain the possibility.
He looked a little put out, she noticed. Good prank foiled. "Oh do cheer up James, I'm sure you'll have plenty of chances to plot and scheme against me."
"I'm sure I will," he winked, dazzling smile plastered back on his face.
Liv rolled her eyes, and out of the corner caught a look that made her stomach flip for the most curious reason.
Remus. He looked... Proud? Happy?
She frowned. His body language would indicate nervous. Nervous was perfectly understandable. Nervous was to be expected. Nervous was what she wanted. And nervous he was, but still, there was a slight smugness to his expression and a strange glint in his eye as he caught the gaze of Sirius.
Liv gritted her teeth. This man didn't deserve that glint, or the tiny yearning look in her mothers eye as she glanced quickly at him and then back at her plate.
The table quietened a bit, some of the occupants noticing Liv's stare- Remus included.
Her lip curled slightly; an unconscious look of disgust she couldn't hide for the coward who fathered her.
"Mum?" She turned her head sharply in Tonks' direction.
Her mother quirked an eyebrow; unable to talk.
Liv got up from her seat and walked to her side, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "Love you."
A quiet whisper of support.
She left them to their meeting then.
-Katie