Author's Note: Enjooooy! Also I am super pleased that I've finally (finally) snuck some Leonard Cohen into my fics.
Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.
Warnings: NA
Stacked with: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Assignment 10, Swimming Lessons 4 — write about something relaxing); MC4A; Shipping War; Terms of Service; Shower of Words
Individual Challenge(s): Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; In a Flash; Brush; Seeds; Tiny Terror; Spring Rain; True Colours (x3); Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux
Representation(s): Auror Tonks; baby milestones
Bonus challenge(s): Mouth of Babes; Middle Name; Mother Hen; Second Verse (Odd Feathers); Chorus (Not a Lamp); Demo (White Dress; Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Mouth of Babes; Creature Feature; Suprise!; In The Trench; Esbat; Stitchin' Time)
Tertiary bonus challenge: NA
Word Count: 431
Shipping Wars
Ship (Team): Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin (Technicolour Moon)
List (Prompt): Spring Big List (Shared Blanket)
Morning to Come
Sleep baby sleep
There's a morning to come
The wind in the trees
They're talking in tongues
If your heart is torn
I don't wonder why
If the night is long
Here's my lullaby
Here's my lullaby
-Lullaby, by Leonard Cohen
Leaning over the side of the crib, he ran his fingers along the baby's unnaturally long and unnaturally violet hair as he finished singing the words to the lullaby. That was when a pair of arms snaked around his waist. He felt Dora's cheek press against his back.
"Keep singing and maybe I'll fall asleep too," she said contently. She had no idea how badly he would have loved to scoop her up and hold her close all night at that moment. Unfortunately, that would be impossible tonight.
He turned around to face her. She was wearing the quilt from their bed over her shoulders, patches of yellow and pink and blue that had been stitched together in a log cabin pattern. Seeing the shared blanket wrapped around her calmed him, somewhat. It was as if he wasn't completely leaving them...
"If you need anything while I'm gone—" he started.
"We'll be okay," Dora promised. Her hair was a lemony yellow, swept up in a low ponytail, and she was wearing her sleeping clothes even if they still had an hour to go before sundown, and maybe another hour after that before the transformation took hold. He'd be gone long before then.
"But if you do," Remus insisted. "I know your mother's here, but Arthur and Molly said to send an owl if ever… If someone from the Ministry or a Snatcher or someone from the Department of Magical Creatures shows up..."
"Remus," Dora said, taking his hands. "You'll be back at dawn. This is a monthly occurrence. We'll manage.."
"I know," he said quietly. "I just… I hate to leave you alone."
"We're not alone, Teddy and I have got each other, and we'll have you again soon," Dora said. She eased herself on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, shrouding him in their blanket too.
"Someone's tense," she noticed. "Do you also need a lullaby to relax?"
"I'll manage, I'm sure," he said. "It just seems like a bad way to celebrate his one-week birthday."
"Well his actual first birthday will be a quarter moon, so that's positive," Dora said. "I checked."
Remus smiled, and kissed her again.
"I'll see you in the morning, then," he said.
"Be safe," she called.
"I will be."
He had so many things to come home to, after all.