AN: The Potter world belongs to J.K. Rowling
2nd May 1998
Remus walked into the nursery after dinner, with Teddy in his arms humming the lullaby Lily used to sing to Harry. Remus paced the room with Teddy in his arms watching his colourful hair turn to sandy brown slowly. Remus smiled softly, his child was his precious gem. When Teddy had cried for the first time in his arms, his eyes had pricked; he felt his heart break when he couldn't calm his baby down. Andromeda had taught him then that crying is the only form of communication for a baby, so they cry when they feel hungry or sleepy or when they want to be held. Teddy whimpered in his sleep, he had been unusually fussy today clinging to Dora and then him.
Remus was about to put Teddy in his cot when Arthur's patronus landed gracefully on the floor.
"Harry appeared at Hogwarts. We are fighting. Apprate directly inside Hogshead. Hurry, the battle can begin anytime."
Remus stared at the spot where the patronus had been, looking up he saw Andromeda and Dora standing by the door. Andromeda's face had gone white while Dora's eyes took a determined glint; Remus knew he would have to fight Dora for this one. He crossed the room with Teddy in his arms; Andromeda took Teddy from him and went downstairs they waited till her footsteps had died down.
"Dora-"
"No! I am coming. I can't stay back here not knowing. I won't stay back here; I am a fully trained Auror for heaven's sake!"
"I never doubted your abilities, Dora." He said impatiently, time was running out, he had to reach Hogwarts.
"Then I suppose we should be going together. We don't have time." She said turning and starting to walk down the hall.
"You can't come Dora." She whirled around; eyes on fire.
"Why not? We just established that I am a skilled Auror and I can take care of myself."
"I know but who would look after Teddy?"
"My mum can look after him for a night." She said crossing her arms across her chest, looking at him angrily.
"It's a battle Dora. Might as well be the last battle for wizarding Britain. No one knows if we would survive the night or not. I would not leave Teddy orphaned." He hissed the last word out angrily.
Dora's hair was bright red by now. She looked livid. "And why must you be the one to go? You would make a better parent than me if one of us dies, I should go do this."
Remus looked at her angrily, why didn't she understand? He could not lose her too. He had lost everyone; he won't be able to live with her loss. "I can't- You can't- I won't" He ran his hand through his hair, pulling at it, he looked in her eyes, his eyes filled with sorrow and grief. "I just can't" he choked.
"Yeah well, I can't either."
He looked at her again, his face a tortured mask. "Dora" he whispered, "Dora please. I beg you, give me this one thing and I won't ask for anything ever again. Teddy needs you, much more than he needs me right now." Her eyes were defiant. He sighed and pulled her in his arms, she struggled to get out but he held her waist with one arm, as his other reached up to cup the back of her neck. He brushed his thumb on her cheek. She looked away from him.
"Dora" he said his voice constricted, "I know you can take care of yourself, I also know you can take care of Teddy and protect him. If I die tonight, you would be able to support him financially and emotionally. If we lose you tonight, how will I provide for Teddy? No one gives jobs to werewolves, you know that. And you have just been through a difficult pregnancy, your body is recovering and it isn't recovering well enough because you are not getting enough rest. I know you can fight, but this battle can go on for days, what if you tire out and make a stupid mistake? Like I said before, Teddy needs you more than he needs me."
She smacked him on his chest before burrowing her face there. "I hate you." She muttered. He smiled, his grip tightening on her waist, he dunked his down to her ear "I love you too." He whispered. She parted with though still in his arms and looked at him, her hands cupping his cheeks. "I hate when you fight with your logic. Teddy needs you too; in fact both of us need you. I can't stay here Remus; I would go crazy not knowing. I promised to you, I won't ever let you be alone, not like that. I can't let you walk out alone now." She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. Remus felt his resolve break, he needed her; he needed her like the air he needed to keep him alive. All he wanted to right now was to pull her into their bedroom, shut the door and this godforsaken war out and spend the rest of his life discovering the hidden corners of her body. Drown himself in her sighs and moans, kiss every inch of her skin, lose himself inside her and do it all over again and again and again.
They broke the kiss, Remus' mind protested. The harsh reality of the battle came back to him, he had to leave and she had to stay. "Dora, love. Stay here please. If this doesn't end well. If he wins, someone would have to stay and fight or make sure that Teddy and Andromeda are protected. Stay here for the night. If the worst happens and we lose, I will come back tomorrow morning and we would escape to Spain. Stay here and make arrangements for a quick escape. If we lose, we need to get away as soon as possible. Can you do that?"
She gave him a fierce look, telling him that she knew he was trying to distract her. He wouldn't run away even if they lose, he would fight till the end and so would she. Andromeda and Teddy however, needed to get out. She nodded; Remus gave a sigh of relief before gathering her up in a bone crushing her. "I love you Dora. Don't you ever forget that." She clung to his neck, "I love you too Remus" she whispered frantically, "Come back home to me. We need you." She gave him a last searing kiss before breaking away and running down to the drawing room. Remus looked around at Teddy's nursery. He saw a stack of pictures on the chest of drawers. He picked up those pictures, sifting through them and pocketed the one with Teddy in it. He walked to his room and opened his closet, pulling out two stacks of envelopes and a vial of his blood. He walked back to the nursery and placed the envelopes next to the pictures before walking down to the drawing room.
Teddy was awake and cooing in Andromeda's arms while Dora was sitting next to her, a hand gently laid on Teddy's head which was a mix of bright pink and turquoise. Tears were falling from Dora's eyes and her hair turned to the mousy brown she had sported almost a year ago. Andromeda looked up as Remus entered and smiled sadly at him as he sat down next to her. Andromeda passed Teddy to Remus, whose hair immediately turned to sandy brown. He cooed at Remus, flailing his legs in the air. Remus smiled at him before kissing his forehead "Hey, big guy! Now, you have to take care of your mum and grandma for me okay?" Teddy cooed, sucking his fist; Remus grinned "Nothing much, just make sure they laugh and smile all the time." His throat constricted over his next words, "Teddybear, if I don't make it tonight." He inhaled deeply, before putting his mouth next to Teddy's ear "I want you to remember that Daddy loves you." Teddy ran a sticky hand on his cheek, cooing sleepily. Remus swiftly kissed his son's forehead before handing him back to Andromeda.
Andromeda shifted Teddy to one arm as she patted Remus' cheek with the other hand. "I know you will come back, Remus. I will take care of them till then." She smiled at him "I hate to see you leave though. I wish the war was over. When it will all be over, we will be a proper family. I would be the nagging mother in law, finding faults with the way you raise your children." Remus grinned at her, he knew this was Andromeda's way of telling him that she cared about him and wanted him back home soon. He engulfed Andromeda in a hug. "I promise, I would get mad at you and point out that my children are much more mature at their age than their mother with hot pink hair, who was raised by you." He said grinning broadly. Dora sniffed and glared at him, as he winked at her. She got up and stalked to the door angrily. He shook his head before turning to Andromeda and holding his palm up, "There is enough blood in this vial for two portraits, if I don't make it back, you know what to do." Andromeda took the vial, looking at Remus as if she wanted to say something but thought better of it and leaned her head on his shoulder. Remus kissed her forehead and followed Dora's trail to the door, pulling his travelling cloak from the hook near the door and shrugging it on. He looked at her, as she stood there, sulking with her arms folded across her chest.
"Dora" he sighed her name as he pulled her in his arms, "I love you." She blew out a breath, "I love you too. Come back home soon?" He laughed before lifting her up for a last kiss. He kissed her hungrily, greedily, as if he won't get to kiss her again. Their tongues explored each other's mouths like it was their first kiss. He tried to put all his love for her in one kiss, she did the same. Too soon, much too soon they parted, breathing heavily. He pulled back from her and kissed her forehead softly before and opened the door "Don't worry, you won't get rid of me this easily. I will be back soon, hopefully bearing excellent news. Then I will drag you to our room, lock the door, place a silencing charm and shag you senseless." He said grinning deviously at her before walking out.
"Sounds like a plan!" She called after him. He laughed before turning on spot and disappearing with a soft pop. Moments later he appeared at Hogshead, "Merlin's beard! This is a pub! Not a godforsaken train station!" Aberforth Dumbledore complained as he saw Remus. "And what are you doing here Lupin? Shouldn't you be home, with your wife and child?"
"Nice to see you too, Aberforth. I was told I had to apparate directly into your pub, I guess I should be heading to the school." Remus said, moving for the door.
"You can't go out." Aberforth said sullenly, "There is a caterwauling charm and all the entrances to the school are blocked, even the secret passages are blocked." Remus frowned.
"So, how are we supposed to get to the school?"
"Go upstairs; my sister's portrait would open to a path leading you to the room of requirement, that's where all of them are."
"What in the name of Merlin's snitch covered boxers is the room of requirement?"
Aberforth's beard twitched but before he could answer someone appeared out of thin air on Remus' right. Remus spun, wand out before looking at the familiar face of "KINGSLEY!" he yelled happily, pulling Kinglsey Shacklebolt in a hug, "How did you get here?"
"Got a message from Arthur. Said Harry popped up at Hogwarts and the battle is beginning. I tell you Remus, that kid is a raving lunatic. Brilliant but crazy. Not only has he successfully broken into the ministry, stunned the senior undersecretary and freed a lot of doomed people. This morning he broke into Gringotts, stole something and managed to escape on a dragon!" Kingsley's booming laugh followed his declaration.
Remus gaped at Kingsley, "I- I- I- thought Gringotts was just a rumour." Kingsley grinned at him. "Blimey! James and Sirius would have been proud of Harry for breaking in and escaping from Gringotts but to successfully steal something. Even Sirius wouldn't have dreamt of it." Remus said before laughing.
"Anyway, we should get going."
"Yeah." Remus headed up the stairs, with Kingsley on his heels.
"How are we getting into the castle then?"
"Aberforth said his sister's portrait opened into a passage to the castle. Apparently, that's the only way in, the passage opens to some crazy contraption called the room of requirement. Have you heard of it before?"
Kingsley shook his head. "So, where is Tonks? I imagine she wanted to come along."
Remus sighed, "She did but I convinced her to stay at home with her mum. Teddy is barely two weeks old, though he looks like he is six weeks old. But still, he needs her. I reckon if he has to have one parent alive, it should be her."
"Bet she chewed you out for not letting her come. She is not someone who shies away from a fight."
Remus nodded looking morose, Kingsley laughed at his expression. "Hey, cheer up. The death eaters are going to be a piece of cake compared to Tonks." Remus laughed, as they started climbing the short flight of steps at the end of the passage. Remus followed Kingsley and clambered into a room he swore he had never seen in the castle. It was huge, with hammocks hanging in blue and bronze, black and yellow and red and gold. The Weasleys were there, so were a lot of Hogwarts' and his ex students, not to mention more than half of the current seventh and sixth year students. Remus greeted everyone before looking around at his students. The room was charged with energy and anticipation but the more Remus looked around the more he was disgusted with what he saw. Nearly all of the current students were sporting injuries of some sort. Neville looked like a large animal had used him as a chew toy and then spit him out, Seamus looked worse but their injuries were healing. Terry Boot looked like someone had whipped him with nail, his robes were soaked with his blood, though Parvati Patil was helping him apply the essence of Dittany to help heal him. Nearly all of them smiled bravely and radiantly at him when he caught their eye, for some reason Remus felt his chest expand with pride at the sight of his students. It was difficult to believe that these were the same children he had taught. All of them had come a long way.
"So, what is going on? What are we waiting for?" He asked to the person next to him not really seeing who it was.
"We are waiting for Harry to come back; Luna took him to the Ravenclaw tower. They should be coming back soon. We would know the rest of the details as soon as he returns." Bill Weasley replied.
"What is this room though? I have never even heard of it." He muttered more to himself than to anyone else.
"Do you hear that Georgie! The legendary marauders don't know about the room of requirement." Fred Weasley said grinning at Remus cheekily.
"I hear that Freddie, what do you say should we tell him about it?"
"Sure, they told us about the secret passages."
"The room of requirement, my dear Moony-"
"As the name suggests is a room which would be anything you require"
"Like a broom closet if you need to hide from Filch"
"Or a room to hide your failed experiments."
"Or a room for an illegal students group so that they could hide away and practice magic." The two finished together.
"It is still creepy, when you two finish your sentences together." Remus muttered as the twins hi fived each other.
"So, where is this room?"
"7th floor, behind the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy." Fred replied.
"And how do you access it?"
"You just walk along the corridor, three times, thinking of the kind of room you require and then you can put in requests- like ask for a bathroom" George said pointing towards the toilets.
"Or hammocks" Fred said pointing at the hammocks
"Or secret passages out of the school." George said grinning at Remus.
"Hey! I remember this room!" Remus exclaimed, "We had to hide in here one night because filch was on the prowl. He was new here then, and vicious. This was an abandoned classroom back then. We never found it again though."
The twins nodded as Bill muttered "fascinating" under his breath. Just then the door opened and Harry appeared, slipping on the steps in shock. Remus was the first to reach him, "Harry, what's happening?" he asked as he met Harry at the foot of the stairs.
"Voldemort's on his way, they're barricading the school- Snape's run for it- what are you doing here? How did you know?"
"We sent messages to the rest of Dumbledore's Army," Fred told Harry cheerfully. "You couldn't expect everyone to miss the fun, Harry, and the DA let the Order of the Phoenix know, and it all kind of snowballed."
"What first, Harry?" George piped up. "What's going on?"
"They're evacuating the younger kids and everyone is meeting in the great hall to get organised," Harry said. "We're fighting."
AN: Okay, so it looks like it would be longer than the three chapter fic, I initially envisioned it to be. Probably a couple of more chapters for the completion of the fic. I hope you like it. Please do read and review. Happy Reading.