"I can't believe I agreed to do this."

"Would you stop saying that? Honestly, you've already agreed, so stop whining," hissed the young man to his companion across the table, who looked as though he would have liked to fling the menu he was holding at the first man's head. "And besides, this is supposed to be fun."

"Fun?" cried the man, jerking his legs violently under the table, causing the silverware to rattle and people seated around them to stare and mutter. He glanced at the murmuring people around and scowled a bit, but continued on in an angry whisper. "Fun? You're an absolute idiot, Lupin. If you wanted to bring someone along to have fun, why didn't you bring your wife?"

"Erm, excuse me sir," said a voice from behind them. "You'll need to keep it down a bit, the other customers have been complaining."

"Er… sorry," the first man said to the hassled-looking waitress.

"Here's your tea," she said, setting the saucers down quickly and hurrying away.

"Complaints…" muttered the young man, his gaze traveling the room, stopping on a scowling old lady who was clutching her carpet bag. The man scowled back.

"You look like an insect's just flown into your eye," said the man called Lupin conversationally, sipping his tea.

"Oh, sod off, Lupin," his companion said angrily, looking away to his tea. "I can't help that I got stuck with this wanker's face." Lupin smiled and reached over, touching the other man's deep brown hair, and letting a finger slide along his rosy cheek before it was batted away. "Stop…"

"But yes, like I was saying, this is fun," Lupin said, smiling serenely, his dark skin making his teeth seem nearly luminescent. "And you know perfectly well that Nymphadora and I are not on speaking terms."

"Yes, well, it's her business to be here, too," the man grumbled, taking a sip of his tea. "Why am I here? He never knew me, he probably wouldn't care…"

"Because it's important to me," said Lupin gently, covering the other man's hand with his own. The man blushed and looked away, and Lupin cackled inwardly at how easy his emotions were to read now. He glanced at the clock on the wall, and sighed.

"They should be here any second," he muttered, pulling his hand away. "I remember, he said on the telephone last night that he would be taking her here today at one o'clock. I saw it, I watched him…"

"You've told me," muttered the young man, absently rapping his fingers on the table.

They sat idly for nearly ten minutes, when a young couple walked in through the front door, talking merrily. The man was tall, with broad shoulders and dull brown hair. He listened attentively as the woman beside him chatted on, her long blond hair falling to her elbows, her face achingly beautiful. It seemed as if suddenly someone had turned a switch on in the restaurant, making every man stare at her longingly and every woman look at her contemptuously; the restaurant grew a little quieter.

"And to think that's a Weasley," muttered Lupin's friend, sipping his tea and trying to avoid looking at her. "God help us."

"Shut up, Severus. They'll be seated near us, it's the only table open," Lupin whispered excitedly. The couple were ushered over and seated almost directly next to Severus and Lupin.

"All right, we need to engage in conversation somehow," whispered Lupin conspiratorially. "What should we say?"

"You're asking me?" said Severus.

"Well, yes. You're the expert on youth. What should we say?"

"I'm the expert on youth?!"

"Yes, well, you worked with them for twenty years, didn't you? So what should we say?" he whispered, his eyes focused on the couple. Severus scowled at him.

"Oh, yes, they simply loved chatting in my class. 'Snape is such a git, he gave us four feet of parchment on Moonstones...'"

"Quiet!" Lupin hissed. "Goddamnit, you're so loud! Please be serious. What do we say? I don't remember anything from teaching, or from being young. You need to help me, you know more about what's… cool."

Severus rolled his eyes. "Once again, you should have taken your wife, not me. Why don't you just ask him his name, and say he looks familiar?"

"I can't do that!" said Lupin, looking a bit panicked. "What'll I say? 'You look like a man who's been dead for twenty years. Oh, how did I know him? Yes, I met him when I was two years old.'"

Severus reached across the table and gently grabbed Lupin's hand. "Get a hold of yourself, Remus. It's your own bloody fault that you chose two young men for us to… er… 'inhabit'. Ask the girl if she's part Veela. It's innocuous enough, and it will let them know that we're wizards. Does that sound easy enough?"

Lupin nodded, still looking a bit nervous.

He turned and cleared his throat, causing the young woman to pause what she was saying and turn slowly, her golden hair glinting in the dim lighting of the restaurant. Lupin noticed that she had her father's eyes, but every other feature belonged to her mother, including the slightly self-important look she was brandishing.

"Er, yes, I'd just… I really…"

"Yes?" she said airily, raising her eyebrow a bit. The young man seated across from her was looking at Remus with suspicion.

"I'd like to know, are you a Veela?"

He felt like an idiot as soon as he'd said it, and the feeling was only confirmed by Severus' quiet snort from behind his menu. The girl, however, smirked, and cast a faux-weary look at her companion.

"My great-grandmother was a Veela. Are you… you know?" she said, her voice lowering, deliberately flashing the thin wooden rod hidden in her sleeve.

"Squibs," interjected Severus, lowering his menu. "We're university students, too. None of that second-class citizen nonsense."

"Oh," said the girl quietly. "Well, who are your families?"

"You wouldn't know them," said Severus quietly. "Mine is from Belgium, and his is from… er… Nigeria." Remus felt a grin tug at the corner of his mouth.

The couple seemed to consider this for a second. Then the young man, and Oh God his eyes are just like mine Remus thought with a jolt, asked, "What brings you to England?"

"Education," said Severus. "What else?"

"And what are you studying?" asked the woman curiously.

"I'm studying chemistry. He's studying literature," answered Severus casually, his quick answers leaving Remus more than a bit impressed. But then again, the man had actively deceived people for the better part of his life; it was no wonder he was excellent at it.

"What are your names?" asked the girl, flashing a lovely smile.

"Lionel Avery," said Remus, having already practiced this part, offering his hand to the two young people, and Severus doing the same when he answered his name was Jack Bosseut.

"It's lovely to meet you, then. I'm Victoire Weasley."

"Ted Lupin."

"Very nice to meet you, Ted, Victoire."

………………..

Remus and Severus ended up sitting at Ted and Victoire's table with them, talking for nearly three hours. They listened to the couple tell about Hogwarts, about the new professors (Severus choked on his drink when Victoire mentioned Professor Longbottom and had a ten-minute coughing fit), about falling in love. Severus and Remus tentatively breached the story of their own "romance", admitting to Victoire that yes, they were together, and were surprised when she nodded and attested that she knew from the second she saw them.

"You were looking at each other so intensely, it was impossible to miss," she said. Remus laughed, and Severus's face turned a violent pink.

Teddy was quieter than Victoire, but Remus noticed his quick smile that was alarmingly like Tonks', and the nose that had belonged to him. Teddy also had a sense of humor that reminded Remus, somewhat painfully, of Sirius; but Sirius and Andromeda had always been close, and Remus remembered many a time when Sirius would come back from holiday saying how hilarious his cousin was. It wouldn't be a surprise that they shared a sense of humor, and Andromeda had passed hers down to her grandson.

Eventually conversation turned to family, and both men found themselves listening with great interest to Victoire talk about her family; how her father and mother were planning on taking a long trip to Egypt soon, how her youngest brother Louis was top in his class, a Ravenclaw, and looked just like her mother. How her sister Dominique, the middle child, was behaving badly in school, and "took after the Weasleys" in looks. She talked about her uncle Percy and his two uncontrollable daughters, telling a very funny story about how one of them hid a frog in her fathers' underwear drawer. Remus was pleased to hear that George was well: along with Harry, Ginny and their children. Victoire then went on a long anecdote about Ron and Hermione's family, and how they had recently gone to visit Paris, and had gotten terribly lost. Victoire was an entertaining and engaging conversationalist, and Teddy kept his eyes on her the whole time, entranced.

Then Severus was prodded into going into a long-winded discussion about his own childhood in Belgium. Remus was bewildered when Severus complied, going into a strange amount of detail about his childhood on the streets of Brussels, complete with names of old friends and a childhood dog. When he was done, he leaned over and muttered into Remus' ear that he needed to use the loo.

"How do you know so much about Belgium?" whispered Remus so the other two couldn't hear. He could practically feel a smirk form on the man's face.

"You were right; this is fun," he murmured, and walked off.

"So," said Remus conversationally, looking at Teddy. "What about your family?" He was finally there; this was what he had been waiting for since they began discussing families. He anxiously watched Teddy, taking not of every face, every reaction.

"Well," he began. "My gran raised me. Parents died when I was only a few weeks old. It was really nice; my gran had a small cottage, grew up there. Big garden. Some Muggle kids lived down the way from me, and we were friends; we played football out in the streets together. We had a lot of fun, and I'm still mates with a couple of them.

"My granddad died before I was born, and I was named after him. Killed in the war, broke my gran's heart. She still keeps his picture on the mantle. And Harry—Harry Potter—he's my godfather. Takes good care of me, always has. He's always made me feel like one of his own kids, so I guess he's always been a father figure for me. Great man. So… yeah. That's about it. Fairly happy childhood, considering my circumstances."

Remus' throat felt stuck; he didn't know if he could talk. His heart was speeding; he had to know more, just a bit more. Severus returned silently, placing a hand on Remus' elbow. It was small comfort.

"So… Lupin. I've… I think I've heard of your parents?"

Teddy snorted and took a sip of his drink, Remus watching him intently, mesmerized by his son. "Yeah, my parents, the war heroes. My mum was Nymphadora Tonks, Auror and Metamorphmagus. Gran never shuts up about her. 'Sharp witch, she was, so clever and funny'. Clumsy, too, according to everyone. Harry says she was a laugh. Wish I had known her," he finished wistfully, smiling. Victoire ran a hand through his hair, grinning; hair that might have been Remus' and it might've been Dora's, but the boy was a Metamorphmagus, and one couldn't be sure. Remus couldn't think of anything else, his throat was too tight, his mind too busy to be able to ask—

"And what about your father?" asked Severus. Teddy's face turned a bit colder, his posture becoming a bit tense.

"Er, that's sort of a sore subject…" said Victoire.

"No, it's fine," said Teddy stiffly. "My dad… my dad was a werewolf. He was a war hero, he was an informant for the Order of the Phoenix. But he… he was a bit of a crap dad. Apparently he walked out on my mum while she was pregnant, wanted out. Scared." Remus looked stricken, and Teddy took that as affirmation.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it the first time my gran told me. Harry had always said he was a great man, a brave man-- a hero. I sort of idolized him when I was a kid, and then, when I was fifteen, I found out he… well, did that. Harry says he went back, but it's still the fact that he did it in the first place, isn't it?" he grimaced. "My gran's never really said much about my dad, and she didn't like him in the first place. So I've had to come to my own conclusions about him. But ah, well. Even if I do hate my father, he's dead anyway. It's not like I can do much about it.

"But yeah, there's my story. What about you, Lionel? What was it like growing up in… what was it, Nigeria?"

Remus glanced at Severus, and went into a half-hearted talk about the typical Nigerian childhood, whatever that was, then fabricated a half-arsed explanation as to why he had no Nigerian accent. He finished his story quickly, and made up an excuse about the time, leaving Ted and Victoire a little bewildered.

"Yeah, all right. Nice to meet you, then, Jack. Lionel," Teddy said, shaking both their hands and grinning. They shook Victoire's hand, and exited the restaurant quickly, out into the cold night.

……………

Remus wrapped himself tightly in his coat and began down the street at a swift pace, Severus walking a few paces behind him. His breath came out in thick spirals, and his mind was whirling. His son…

Suddenly he noticed they were well out of sight of the pub, standing in front of an abandoned hardware store. Remus felt Severus touch his unfamiliar cheek, his hand snaking up to curl a finger around a small dreadlock.

"I'm so sorry, Remus," he murmured. "If it weren't for Andromeda—"

"Andromeda has nothing to do with it, Severus," said Remus harshly, feeling tears prick at his eyes. Severus drew his hand back. "It was me, it was bloody me. So what if I was a werewolf? What did it matter if I was scared? I was going to become a father, and I left the mother of my child while she was pregnant."

"Remus…"

"No, Severus, I'm not having this conversation. Not right now. Let's just put these bodies back where we found them and get back."

Severus let out a small sigh, but took Remus' strange dark hand and they walked down the street, back to the university dormitories where they had found the two roommates sleeping earlier that morning.

The nighttime breeze was only interrupted by Remus' short sniffles.

"Remus," said Severus cautiously.

"Hm?"

"He'll understand someday. If not here, then…"

"There. Yes, I know. It's just…"

"I know. I love you."

Remus smiled despite himself. Hearing that come from Severus was rare, and he treasured those words each time he heard them. "I love you, too."

"And you'll need to have a talk with your wife when we return."

"I know, I know. Maybe I will bring her next time, you were useless. The only thing you did was talk about your wonderful childhood in Belgium. That was bizarre… how do you know so much?"

Severus only laughed into the darkness.