I am sorry if I get any spelling wrong… I'm from Australia and although I am fairly sure that our spelling is the same I am not 100% sure! And if there is any other characters from the books that people would like to see make an appearance let me know! I am sure that I will forget half of them! Also if anyone wants anything in particular/ has suggestions let me know! I like suggestions… :P
And things will get more interesting after this chapter! Promise!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Remus pushed open the door to his private study and closed it behind him, his shoulders slumping and his head drooping wearily as he took advantage of being alone for the first time since the Hogwart's graduates return. He limped wearily across the room and collapsed into a chair placed before an empty fireplace.
"Well?" An excited voice broke the stillness of the dark room.
Remus didn't move or react to the voice, his head was buried in his hands and he relished the darkness that the book-lined walls provided him.
"Come, on, Moony! Does he know? Is he happy? Does he know about us?" The words were spoken loudly, each sentence increasing in volume. "Moo-ny!"
"Shut up, Padfoot." The retort was cool but concern laced the deep voice. "Moony?"
Slowly Remus raised his head and looked at the three portraits that hung on the wall. His face was unnaturally pale, the strain clear in the deeply carved lines on his forehead. His gold iris of his good eye stood in distinct contrast to the reddened area that showed his torment.
"Oh, Remus." Lilly Potter's portrait winced at the sight of her dearest friend. "What happened? Is it Dora? Teddy?"
Clearing his throat Remus swallowed before speaking. "They are fine. It appears, Lilly, Prongs, that your son is not speaking to me."
There was a moment of astonished silence.
"WHAT!" Sirius' portrait, who was a volatile as the man himself had been, spoke more explosively then he had since learning the details of Remus' cursing.
Remus leaned back and stared dully at the portraits of his dead friends. "He has not said one word to me in…" He glanced at the clock. "In six hours."
"Moony…" James slumped against his frame. "Remus…"
"It's fine. I shouldn't have expected more. I am practically nothing."
"You are not!" Sirius was pacing the limited space with fervour. "How could he? Why would he? I thought he liked you! I can't—"
"Shut up, Padfoot!" Remus and James spoke at the same time.
"What happened, Remus?" Lily had moved to James' portrait frame and stood, leaning into her husband's arms, her green eyes pools of sympathy.
Remus sighed and began to speak slowly. "Hermione is normal, natural and happy to be here but Harry… He barely acknowledged me when he got here and then… I… He was avoiding me…" Remus spoke slowly. "Hermione wrote to Dora this year and said he was angry… I had no idea he was this angry. I… I should have tried harder this year."
"Between almost dying and having some crazy curse that means you can't leave the house and neither can anything that has your writing on it, and full moons and need I remind you, nearly dying, you didn't really have time to deal with Harry." James spoke firmly. "He is angry, he has a lot to be angry about and I think he is taking it out on you because it's you. You are the last of the marauders."
"He's right." Sirius was leaning forward, the expression in his brown eyes earnest. "You are the last one he can take his hurt and frustration out on. James and Lily died when he was a baby. I was stupid enough to fall through a bloody veil right in front of him and now there is you. Dumbledore put him through hell, he was the one person that Harry could rely on and all Dumbledore used him was as a bloody tool to defeat Mouldy Voldy."
"Sirius." Lily frowned but Remus' face had relaxed into a half-smile.
"Perhaps."
"Give him time, Remus." Lily spoke again. "He will come around, I know you, be yourself. I mean, you managed these two fools for seven years at school, I am sure you can handle our son."
The werewolf nodded. "This is true, Lily. And he does have your common sense."
James sputtered indignantly.
"Is Andy here?" Sirius had ceased his frustrated pacing.
"Mmm. She wanted Hermione and Harry to feel like extra grandchildren. It caused a bit of amusement at lunch when they informed Dora that she would have been seven for that to work!"
"Where is Remus?" Andromeda Tonks pinned her daughter with a look that was torn between disapproval and motherly concern. Teddy lay, asleep, in her arms, his fingers curled around the black beaded necklace she wore, the thumb of his free hand firmly in his mouth.
Dora squirmed and cast a brief warning glance at the teenagers. "Probably in his study."
"Hmmm. He spends far too much time in there, Dora!" Andromeda shook her head. "He retreats in there the second he can and spend hours locked away from the present world."
"It's been hard on him, Mum." Dora defended. "He wasn't allowed to do anything for months and his magic has been so drained since the Battle. He gets sick of people hovering over him and I admit, I do worry about him too much. The study is the only place devoid of human company."
"It's not healthy, Nymphadora! He needs to have friends his own age!"
"Most people my age are dead." Remus' voice broke into the woman's frustrated rant and Hermione jumped in surprised. She had been following the conversation closely.
He limped across to sit beside Dora on the sofa. "And the ones who are not, tend to be rather biased against dark creatures such as myself." He laced his fingers through his wife's and brushed a kiss across her knuckles.
"Really, Remus, that is hardly true." Andromeda shifted her grandson in her arms. "And anyone alive would be better than—"
"Enough." His voice was suddenly stern and Harry and Hermione were instantly reminded of their former professor scolding Draco Malfoy for being cruel to Hermione about her heritage.
"You have made your thoughts know, and I appreciate your concern, however, it is my life. I should take Teddy to bed." His shoulders were more erect then they had been in a long time, his face taking on a familiar, shuttered look as he bent and scooped his son to his shoulder, holding him tightly with the arm that was not holding the cane.
Andromeda, her eyebrows raised in surprise, watched him leave. "Well, I see what Sirius meant." Her voice was bemused.
"What did Sirius say?" Harry asked seeing Dora was too busy staring after her husband.
"That when you made him angry he was the scariest thing in the world." Andromeda sighed. "Remus was the only thing that kept him remotely in line." She rose, her robes swirling around her. "I should go. Tell Remus I am sorry, Nymphadora, but he was Sirius' best friend and I do worry."
"I will. Good night, Mother." Dora smiled sweetly until her mother vanished through the floo and scowled. "Sirius' best friend." She mocked crossly. "My husband. But no, that gets forgotten!" She turned and wrinkled her nose at the bemused teenagers. "Sorry about that. She still isn't entirely happy that we got married. It did not help that Remus has been so sick. Why couldn't she have been more like Molly?"
"Can anyone be like Molly?" Hermione rose and put an arm around Dora. "She loves you and she loves Remus too, she just has a funny way of showing it. And she forgets that he had four of the most amazing friends and now they are all dead and he is the only one left. He and George get on well, so he isn't entirely friendless."
Dora hugged the younger woman. "You are right. And having you two here will be marvellous. We all think he is going to break, but you have seen the healthy version of Remus…" She shook herself. "I'm rambling. I am going to join my husband in bed. You two stay up as long as you like. We are pretty relaxed about breakfast here, I have it before work and I will be gone by eight in the morning. Molly is coming around ten I believe. The password for the floo is 'Snape's worst nightmare', just in case you forget."
Harry opened his mouth and then closed it again. "Do I want to know?"
"He started teaching potions the year before I started at Hogwarts." She grinned. "I was more clutzy then than I am now. Imagine, potions and clumsy, it was not a good mix. I was known as his worst nightmare!" She grinned. "Now, goodnight, kiddies, I will see you in the morning." She left the room humming tunelessly as she followed the hall to the large bedroom she shared with her husband and son.
Remus was waiting for her, Teddy was settled in the cot, the blankets tucked around his, clutching the stuffed dog that Harry had sent him. Is hair was light brown, and his chest rose in fell as a smile crept across the small face with his dreams. Dora bent and kissed his forehead gently.
"Are you angry?" Remus spoke slowly and Dora faced him, her face showing her surprise.
"Angry? Why would I be angry?"
"That I went to the study." His gaze was fixed on the end of his cane that rested against the carpet.
"Oh you fool." She pulled his eye patch off and flung it onto the bed carelessly. Cupping his face she looked down into it. "You idiot." She kissed him and smiled against his lips as he pulled her closer.
"I'm the fool?"
"Stop talking." Dora muttered.
Remus' laugh was muffled as she silenced him the best way she knew how.
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