Warning: Nonmagical AU and mentions of M/M relationships
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters and no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: This takes place before Check Up, which can be found my stories list but you don't need to read that to understand this. Just know Sirius and Remus are Teddy's fathers. Also Teddy's about 14.
A/N2: This story is inspired slightly by the Cosby Show ep, Vanessa's Rich where Cliff gets excited at his daughter getting in a fight.
It was about 12:45 when Sirius started to tuck into his lunch. He felt it was rather deserved given the amount of paperwork he had just gone through in the past few hours. At first, Sirius thought taking the promotion at the consultancy firm would be nice. A little less travelling and a lot more time with his family sounded like a wonderful offer. Though right now, Sirius would rather take all the travelling needed for in-person consulting jobs rather than just having a pile of management paperwork tossed at him on top of his normal work load.
The ring of his mobile brought him out of his thoughts. Looking at the ID, he smiled when he saw it was Remus. Remus always knew how to bring him out of a bad mood.
"Hello handsome, called to distract me I hope." Sirius chirped. He quickly frowned when he heard Remus sigh in reply.
"Hey Sirius. I'm sorry to bother you but-"
"What did the little brat do this time?" It seemed like the only news of Teddy they received was bad. Yes, this was probably karma from all the times that Sirius threw fireworks and stink bombs down the loos at school but at least it had entertained most students, right?
"I didn't even bother asking. Susan called and said that Minerva wanted one of us to come down and see her and pick up Teddy."
"You know, I still insist I wasn't as bad as him when I was his age. At least my family was never on first name basis with the school secretary."
"That's because you're family would have probably seen her as help and therefore assumed her name was secretary. Besides, don't be so snarky about her. She sent us a lovely Christmas card and she really didn't have to."
"Yeah, she only sent it because she wants to have a go at you."
"Can we talk about this later? I need you to go and get Teddy. I've already cancelled enough classes here. I'm on thin ice as it is and my students have an exam coming up."
"Are you saying I've been promoted back to full parent?" About 7 months ago, Remus had declared Sirius was unfit to handle anything remotely associated to Teddy's school life. This declaration came after a weekend out of town where Remus came back to find that Teddy had successfully convinced Sirius it was within school rules to let the boy dye his hair blue. In Sirius' defence, the argument was quite good (even if Remus disagreed).
"Think of it as a trial period. Just go in, tell Minerva how sorry we are and that I'll give Teddy a fitting talk and punishment. If you have time perhaps get some flowers for her and Susan. Susan likes pink roses and Minerva likes violets."
"I think the flowers are a bit much. I can handle two women. Remember- the girls thought I was just short of a god back in school."
"The flowers are a sorry from me for sending you." Remus stated bluntly, a little sore at Sirius mentioning his old playboy days.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, don't get jealous. I'll go get the boy and make him do my paperwork. That's a fitting punishment I think."
Visiting the school office gave Sirius flashbacks of better times. He remembered all the pranks he, James, Remus and Peter had pulled and the stern talks Dumbledore, their headmaster at the time, have given. Perhaps they would have been more inclined to listen if he hadn't a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. Their pranks had been pretty good.
The moment Sirius saw the boy sitting on the seats outside the office, he knew something was up. Teddy's uniform was dirty, one of the sleeves was torn and there were scratches on his face. When Teddy saw Sirius though, he was unable to control a smile.
"Don't look so pleased. You're still get a punishment from Remus when we get home. Though depending on what you did, I might smack you around a bit before you see him."
"Susan'll be disappointed you're here. You should see her top. Her tits look great, not that you'd appreciate things like that." Teddy retorted and Sirius wondered if he needed to water down the hormonally enraged boy. "McGonagall already gave me a lecture. She wants to see you alone apparently." He said while ducking to avoid Sirius trying to flick his ear. Walking into the office, Sirius saw Susan sitting at her desk in a rather low cut top. For a moment, she frowned when she realised Sirius had come in place of Remus. Tarty bitch.
"Minerva is waiting for you in her office. Just knock on the door." She said pleasantly and Sirius made a note to tell Remus to never give this woman flowers ever again. A tired reply was what greeted him when Sirius knocked on Minerva's office door. When he walked in, he noticed a similar look of disappointment on her face. Was he that bad of a father? He liked to think he did a good job. Sure, Teddy got into some trouble but Sirius was doing quite well in teaching the boy life skills that actually mattered.
"Will Remus be joining us soon?" She asked as kindly as she could muster.
"No, he's caught up at the university today but I'm sure I can handle anything as good as him Minnie" Sirius stated, taking pleasure in Minerva's eye twitch at the nickname. It made him a little angry that no one seemed to want him here and the one person who did thought it was because the punishment would be less severe.
"All right then, I'll go ahead and tell you. Teddy, if you haven't already worked out, got into a fight today with two other boys."
"Two? At the same time?" Sirius said excitedly, he couldn't stop the smile flashing on his face. Remus would be livid but Sirius had to admit he was a little proud of the boy. There was hardly a scratch on him.
"Yes," Minerva continued, now using her voice reserved for the toughest of students. "I've already talked to all the boys involved as well as a few student onlookers and think I have pieced together what happened. The two boys were picking on Teddy and making offensive remarks about yours and Remus' relationship before Teddy started to attack them. Soon after they were pulled apart by one of the teachers."
The story suddenly lost its appeal. Never had Sirius or Remus considered their relationship would be a source of anguish for Teddy. They had done all they could to fill his life with love and joy, even if nowadays the boy annoyed the sense out of Sirius. In this day and age, Sirius liked to live under the impression that people were a lot more accepting than they had been when he was younger but it seemed that still wasn't the case. If anything though, he felt Teddy was completely right to give those boys a good punch.
"I felt it was better to talk to you separately about this, given the nature of what occurred. This is something that I thought would be important to talk to Teddy about at home. I've already given him the standard lecture against violence but told him if anyone else makes similar comments he should feel safe to tell me or you and Remus rather than fight."
"Yes, I suppose that's better. Have you talked to the parents of those two bullies?"
"The parents of the two boys agreed that their sons were out of line and the two have been suspended for a week. They are also going to issue a formal apology to Teddy before they are allowed back to classes and you are free and encouraged to attend it."
"I think I will be there. When will it be?"
"I've planned for Thursday, after school ends though if there's a change I'll let you know."
"Thanks Minerva, uh, I suppose I'll be off then. Teddy'll be going back to class tomorrow right?"
"Oh, well not exactly. While I understand Teddy's actions, we still have a no tolerance policy against fighting. The minimum punishment for fighting is three days suspension. I'm sorry but I'm not allowed to change that no matter the circumstances."
"It's all right. Well sorry for all the trouble then, I'll take him home."
"There's nothing to be sorry about this time Sirius. Have a nice day and if you need any advice feel free to give me a ring."
"Thanks again." Sirius left the office with a heavier weight on his shoulders. He was too upset to really think up a snarky comment to smirk at when he noticed Susan had put on a sweater. When he saw Teddy flirting with a girl though, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. Yes, he and Remus would have to talk to Teddy about what had happened and there probably wouldn't be much of a punishment but it seemed that Teddy was resilient as ever. Or at least his hormones did one hell of a job trying to get him a date no matter the circumstances.
"Hey Romeo, sorry to break up this lovely display of teenage hormones gone awry but you're coming with me to work." Sirius said, making the girl blush and run off. A look of annoyance crossed Teddy's face and Sirius felt rather pleased with himself.
"Couldn't you have waited a few minutes?"
"And have to hose you down with cold water afterwards? No. Now come on, you'll be doing my paperwork for the rest of the afternoon."
"Ugh, your office is boring as hell."
"I know, which is why you're going there. I heard about you flirting with those university girls when you're stuck in Remus' office."
"So am I still getting punished at home?" Asked Teddy a little sadly, making Sirius stop for a moment.
"Not if I have anything to do with it. Though you still shouldn't be fighting. We'll all have a talk at home. You...you're not upset about having us as fathers though, are you?" Sirius was sick to his stomach at even having to ask the question.
"Course not. Those guys are just fuc- uh I mean jerks. Iloveyouanddad." Teddy rushed out, blushing slightly. He didn't really want to start having this conversation right now where everyone he knew could see him.
Satisfied for the moment, Sirius placed a kiss on Teddy's forehead, much to the boy's embarrassment. As they walked, he placed an arm around Teddy's shoulder and was glad it wasn't shoved off.
"If that teacher hadn't pulled you apart, you think you would have won?" Sirius asked casually.
"Of course. Should see the other guys though. I gave one a black eye and the other a bloody nose."
"That's my boy! Oh but if Remus asks, I never taught you how to punch and block."
