Title: Back From the Dead
Rating: T
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Remus/Hermione, Harry
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em - not making any money off 'em. Dern it.
Word Count: 1,658
Summary: Soulmate!AU. Someone's back from the dead.
Notes:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry: Herbology - Task 3 - Write about a dead person coming back to life.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry: Scavenger Hunt
Hermione took Teddy from his highchair and handed him off to Harry.
"Hey, Little Boy. Is someone ready for bed?" he asked the two-year old.
"No!" the boy shouted.
Hermione rolled her eyes. That had been Teddy's first word, and she had the uncanny feeling that he actually knew what it meant. He certainly said it enough times.
Harry grinned at his godson. "Well, too bad for you because someone is going to bed, and he's a two-year old little devil."
Teddy grinned and predictably, he once against shouted, "No!"
Harry and Hermione shared a smile before he left the room, Teddy wiggling in his arms.
Hermione went to work on cleaning up the kitchen. Sometimes, it still felt as if she was living in dreamworld. When the war ended, she never thought this would be her life. She thought she'd be married and maybe already pregnant. She did her best to not think about who she thought she'd be married to, before those fantasies went up in embers.
When Andromeda had offered to take Teddy in so Harry could have an actual life and just enjoy being young, something he had never gotten to do before, he had said no. Maybe being a seventeen-year old guardian to a baby wouldn't be the easiest thing to do, but Remus and Tonks had made him the godfather, and he vowed to be there for Teddy in the way Sirius hadn't been able to for him.
Hermione knew Harry's heart was in the right place, but she also knew it would be hard for him to do it alone. She offered to move in with him and help for a year or so, until he got used to being a full time father, and he gratefully accepted it.
Ron and Ginny both had been displeased. Ginny hadn't wanted to share Harry with Teddy, and Ron hadn't liked the thought of Hermione living with Harry, even if it was only temporary. Both relationships imploded and because of that, Hermione was still living with Teddy and Harry, and helping him raise the young boy.
There was no reason for her to leave. Harry hadn't asked her to, and she enjoyed being there with him. They might be an unconventional family, but they were a family.
Although she wished she had more of a love life, she wouldn't give Harry or Teddy away for anything. And she really didn't need to have love. She was content with her current existence.
A buzz sounded throughout the house, alerting the occupants of the house that someone had trespassed through the wards, someone that wasn't keyed into them.
Hermione, always the careful one, quickly grabbed her wand. She knew Harry would stay with Teddy to make sure he was safe.
This wasn't the first time that something like this happened, and they had a strategy without even having to talk about it.
She opened the door and looked out in the darkness, her wand in her hand and ready to fire off a hex if something should come at her.
A figure was laying down, one with tattered robes.
She hesitantly walked closer. She kept her wand up in case it was a trick to catch her off guard. When she saw familiar brown hair and a tired and lined face, she almost dropped her wand. "Remus?" she uttered.
Hermione and Harry stood together while Remus drank some hot chocolate.
"Couldn't this be a trick?" Harry asked.
Hermione shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, I never heard of anyone coming back from the dead. Except Voldemort, of course. But Remus would never make a Horcrux."
"Why would he come back from the dead? How? And if he could, why couldn't my parents? Or Sirius? Or Fred? Or any of the other good people that died in the two wars?"
Hermione took his hand. "I don't know."
Remus, finished with his hot chocolate, looked at the two of them. His eyes lingered on their joined hands. "Are you together?"
Harry's eyes widened. "Of course not. Gross."
Hermione dropped his hand to elbow him. "Thanks a lot. You're not exactly Prince Charming you know," she commented wryly.
Harry blushed. "No, I didn't mean it like that. I meant you're like my sister, so I could never ever think about you in such a way."
Hermione turned away from Harry. "Harry and I live together. We've been raising Teddy together."
Remus smiled. "I knew it was the right choice to make Harry godfather. And I'm glad Teddy has had you as well. If he couldn't be raised by Dora and me, I can't imagine two people who are better suited to raise him."
Hermione bit her bottom lip. She thought about how she should ask her question, but she decided to get right to the point. "Do you know how your back?"
Remus swallowed. "Some kind of ancient magic pulled me back. It seems my soulmate was giving up on love, and she had done so much for the world that the Powers That Be thought she should be able to get her soulmate back."
"Tonks wasn't—" Harry started, but he was interrupted by Remus.
"No. I cared about Dora and I loved her in a way because she was the mother of my son. Dora knew she wasn't my soulmate. Her soulmate had already died in the war, and she knew I refused to be with my soulmate due to certain reasons. Her thinking was at least if we were together, we wouldn't be alone."
"Why wouldn't you want to be with your soulmate?" Harry asked.
Hermione looked down at the ground. She didn't really know the answer, but she had an idea. She had decided to wait until after the war was over to do something about them, but before the war ended, he married Tonks, and Hermione was left with a broken heart.
She wondered why she wasn't good enough. She never got her answer because he died, though. At least now she would finally get some closure.
Remus sighed. "It's complicated."
"I'd like an answer," Hermione insisted. Her eyes locked with Remus's, and she urged him to read the pain that he caused by marrying someone else.
"I never meant to hurt you," Remus finally said.
Harry looked back and forth between the two of you. "You two are soulmates?" he hissed. He turned an angry glare at Remus. "And you still married someone else, knowing you'd hurt the best person I know?" He looked back at Hermione. "And that's why Ron's ultimatum of Teddy and I or him didn't upset you that much."
Hermione shrugged. "I had already lost my soulmate. First to another woman, and then to death. I really didn't care what Ron thought any longer."
Harry went back to glaring at Remus. "You better explained yourself. Now!" he commanded.
Remus took a deep breath. "You once called me a coward for running away from Tonks and my responsibilities as a father. You were right. I am a coward. I ran away from them, and I ran away from Hermione. I knew when she was thirteen she was my soulmate, and I was disgusted with myself. She was a kid. I was old enough to be her father."
Harry's eyes narrowed. "It wasn't your fault. People can't choose their soulmate. And there was a reason why you two were matched."
"I know. And I told myself I'd wait until she was of age and then approach her so we can talk about it. But the older she got, the more amazing she became, and I knew she was way too good for me. She deserved someone better. Someone worthy of her beauty, intelligence, and compassion."
"Once again, people don't choose their soulmate."
"I know," Remus reiterated. "I still ran away, though. Scared that if I was with her, I'd taint her. So instead, I ended up hurting her in the worst way possibly by marrying another woman and denying our bond. There's absolutely nothing I can do to make up for my foolishness."
Hermione listened to everything he said. Without uttering a single word, she left the room and hurried upstairs.
Remus didn't need to look in Harry's direction to know what he should do. He raced after her and found her in the nursery. He ached to see Teddy, take his son in his arms, but there were three things that stopped him. Teddy was sleeping, Remus might scare him if Teddy didn't know who he was, and he needed to fix things with Hermione first.
"I'm sorry," he whispered behind her.
"I know," Hermione murmured. She reached into the crib and softly ran her finger along Teddy's cheek.
Teddy moved a bit, but he didn't wake up.
She turned around and pushed past him, leaving the nursery. Remus followed. "What can I do to make things right?" he asked.
In the hallway, Hermione faced him. Crystal tears rolled down her cheeks, and he wished he could make her chocolate eyes light up in laughter instead of flash in pain. "I'm not sure. I loved you. And you chose another. And you hadn't even talked to me about it. I always thought, 'What did I do wrong?' I blamed myself for years, and it was your cowardliness that was to blame."
"I'll make things right. If you just give me a chance," Remus pleaded.
"Harry and I've been raising Teddy since the end of the war. Even though you're back and the rightful father, Harry and I won't be pushed from his life. We love that little boy."
"Of course," Remus readily agreed.
"I'm not promising anything. You have a lot to make up for after all. But, we can talk and see what happens."
It wasn't what he wanted to hear, but he knew he had no right to ask for more. At the very least, it was a start.