All the legal stuff, summery and notes are on chapter one.
A/N: I still don't have internet connection, but I do have word so I was able to write two more chapters!! Hoorah. They are being beta'd at the moment so hopefully I'd be able to post them soon. Thank you so much for the vote of confidence and I'm so terribly sorry for all the mess. Love ya.
Mini-Moony- chapter fourteen
..o0o.. ..o0o.. ..o0o..
Looking apprehensively between his fingers Harry saw Hermione rushing out of the fireside, her bushy hair flailing behind her and groaned again, this was almost as bad as facing that social worker from hell.
"I came as soon as I could." The young woman said in a rush as she looked around her, seeing Harry slumped on the sofa and her boyfriend giving her one of those looks,
"I called you almost twenty minutes ago!" Draco cried, and Hermione smiled in apology. "What part of a.s.a.p didn't you understand?"
"Perhaps the part where you'll be sleeping on the sofa tonight, if you carry on with that tone." Draco bit his lip to keep away the smile. This was just his luck, to fall for the feistiest woman in England. But it sure made things interesting, especially in bed.
"Hermione?" Harry asked in a small voice, trying to shrink into the sofa when the woman in question turned a scorching gaze towards him,
"Well, well, if it isn't Mr. barging-into-my-office-and-threatening-me-for-doing-my-job." Harry smiled, Hermione couldn't be all that worked up if she was calling him names rather than saying 'Harry' in that condescending tone she had perfected during their time in Hogwarts.
"I'm sorry. I was upset; I didn't mean to take it out on you." The look Hermione gave him clearly stated she didn't believe a word,
"We'll just see how sorry you really are when you're turned into my own personal cookie-slave." Harry should have known his penance would come in dough form. "Here." Hermione handed him a thick parchment folder, which Harry took with a frown,
"What is it?"
"It's letters of recommendation regarding Aaron from myself and the head of the paediatric ward. They state Aaron's condition and recommend you and Remus as the best option for raising the boy." Harry felt like kicking himself. Even after he treated Hermione like shit she still pulled through for him. He rose from the sofa and in a heartbeat the poor woman found herself in a rib crushing hug. She patted Harry's back with a smile and then rolled her eyes at Draco in plea when Harry refused to let go.
"Harry, I just got a call from Severus, he wants us to come over." Remus said as he walked into the living room, followed closely by Aaron who was half hiding behind his legs. "Oh, hello Hermione."
"Remus…" Hermione chocked out and tried to gently pray Harry away from her. It wasn't as if she wasn't touched by Harry's reaction, but she really did prefer his thanks in form of cookies…
"Puppy!" Draco cried happily and dove behind Remus to retrieve the giggling Aaron. Hermione, now free of Harry's grasp of iron, looked at her boyfriend as he interacted with the boy and felt like a bloody rabbit in front of a hound when Draco fixed his gaze on her and marched towards her with Aaron perched on his hip.
"Nina, come say hello." Draco chided his girlfriend and Hermione managed to smile tightly at the boy who looked at her with an expression that clearly said he'd rather be anywhere but near her.
"Hello, Aaron, remember me?" She asked tightly and in response Aaron buried his face in Draco's shoulder and Hermione rolled her eyes,
"Great, I knew it! Kids hate me!" She pouted and Draco rested his hand soothingly on her arm,
"They don't hate you love, they're just terrified of you." Harry quickly eased Aaron out of Draco's arms when he saw the glare Hermione gave her boyfriend because he knew them both well enough to know this could lead to a full-blown screaming match or to a very inappropriate and spontaneous sex, either way, not something that Aaron would be too happy to be caught in the middle of.
"Ahem!" Hermione and Draco snapped their eyes up to meet Remus's raised eyebrows. Both hung their heads low, as if caught out of bounds after curfew and disappointing their favourite teacher. Harry tried to hide his smile in Aaron's hair, over the years Remus had perfected his 'I'm very disappointed in you' look which made every single student in Hogwarts ready to take a flogger and flagellate themselves in remorse. "Would anyone like to tell me what's going on?"
"It turns out your lovely social worker is a member of BWPS." Draco said curtly as he walked over to collect his briefcase and coat, and Remus shook his head,
"I should have known." Harry looked between his husband and best friend,
"Wait, you mean you know about this… organisation?" Remus shrugged,
"I've heard of them, nothing good mind you." Harry narrowed his eyes, he knew his husband well enough to know when he was being sugar-coating things as to not upset Harry and it drove Harry up the walls that Remus would treat him like a child,
"Ok, I believe this is our cue to return to work, come on Nina, lots more to be done today." Draco said briskly when he saw the look in Harry's eyes, and Hermione nodded, she too knew her friend well enough. Draco contemplated whether he should grab Aaron and whisk him away to the safety of his office while Harry and Remus let out steam but in second thought he decided that the child would be more useful as a buffer and hopefully prevent the row from even brewing.
Harry and Remus were still staring at each other when the other two vanished in the flames. Aaron could feel the tension and tried to squirm out of Harry's arms. He didn't want to witness the fight between his friends and less than that, being caught in the middle of it. Remus caught the boy's movements and reached for him, taking him from Harry's stiff grasp.
"We should head over to the Snape's. Severus said he wanted more blood samples from Aaron and me."
"We are going to have a long talk tonight." Harry snapped irritably, recognizing Remus's attempts of distracting him from his tongue-slip. Remus nodded reluctantly, Harry was infamous for not keeping anything inside and while most of the time Remus didn't mind his husband's open and honest nature he really was not looking forward to tonight…
..o0o.. ..o0o.. ..o0o..
"Sev, we're here." Remus cried as the three of them made their way out of the Snape household fireplace. Severus's dark head popped from behind a door in the far end of the corridor, which guarded the entrance to his personal potions lab.
"About time you all showed up," He muttered darkly as he made his way to the three Lupins. "I'm very close to deciphering which of the ingredients were causing the violent reaction in the boy but I'm running out of blood so I'll need fresh samples."
"But of course, my dear count Dracula." Remus said with a bright smile and Severus pulled a face at him, before he fixed the boy in his arms with a calculating gaze,
"How are you feeling?" He nearly barked at the poor boy, "Have you been experiencing any pains since the full moon?" He asked as he ran his wand over the frightened boy, "Have you been eating properly or is Harry stuffing you up with chocolate and cakes all the time?"
"Severus! Lay off the poor boy, you're scaring him!" Remus cried, halting the steam of questions that were causing distressed tears to form in Aaron's eyes. Severus rolled his eyes and motioned the boy to extend his arm. Remus murmured calming words in Aaron's ear to take the boy's mind from the process. Once Severus was done Remus passed Aaron to Harry and stuck out his arm.
"You had better come into the lab and see what I'm working on." Harry's eyes widened in shock, as did Remus's. It wasn't everyday that Severus invited people to his sanctuary. In fact, his ban of visitors was not solely extended to children but even his own wife wasn't immune to it. Tonks had gotten the ban after she accidently toppled over a potion that was in its last stages of six months brewing. Severus had actually fainted when he saw that. Remus followed Severus, excitement and wonder written all over his face while Harry and Aaron retreated to the living room to await Tonks's return from the day-care with Cleo.
"Sevy, we're here!" Harry heard the door closed followed closely by a loud crush and a small childish yelp of pain. He shook his head fondly, well; Cleo certainly was her mother's spitting image, if not by looks than definitely by behaviour.
"He's in the lab." He cried and a second later Tonks's head appeared through the door, her hair done in perfect chestnut ringlets today. Cleo's face peered behind her mother's legs and when she saw Harry she shot towards him, crashing right into his kneecaps and hugging his legs tightly,
"Uncle Harry!" Harry patted the girl's head while trying to pry her hands away since Aaron was clinging to the back of his legs and Harry feared he might just topple over the two children. Cleo had just spotted the boy hiding behind Harry and looked around her uncle's legs, before she abruptly left Harry and ran back to her mother. Harry lifted Aaron with a smile and the two children looked at each other shyly from the shoulders of their parents.
"Who's this little one?" Tonks asked brightly, and Aaron gave her half a smile that quickly turned into a wide-eyed stare when he caught sight of Cleo.
"This is Aaron." Harry said and nudged said boy a little to get a reaction. What he got was Aaron leaning close to his ear and whispering,
"Her hair is blue." Harry looked up to see that Cleo's hair was indeed turning a brilliant shade of indigo blue, and smiled,
"Yeah, it does that when she's shy." Cleo turned her head towards the boy and narrowed her violet eyes,
"Are you really a wolf?" Aaron was quite caught by surprise over the question, but he nodded all the same. Cleo smiled, her hair slowly returning back to its inky black natural colour and she slid down her mother's body and reached her hand up to Aaron. Harry put the boy down, and Aaron leaned against his legs, still sheltering in the safety of his adoptive father while he looked at Cleo. "Come on." The girl urged impatiently and after a quick look and a smile of confirmation from Harry, Aaron took her offered hand and let her drag him towards her room.
"Aren't they the cutest couple you've ever seen? I wonder what their wedding would look like…" Harry rolled his eyes; trust Tonks to come up with something like this…
"Not funny, Dora." He mumbled and Tonks gave him a bright smile,
"Well, what do you know, ickle Harry is becoming a daddy… it seems that just yesterday I swooped in to rescue you from that awful house you were living in…" She simpered as she slumped into her favourite chair,
"Yes, swooped in, all by your glorious self…" Harry snorted and Tonks gave him a little wink and changed her hair into the hot bubblegum pink she used back then. "And I'm not a daddy just yet. We just had a visit from the devil's social worker. We had to call Draco in for the save." Harry explained and Tonks winced in sympathy.
"Bet he enjoyed chewing the woman out." She wriggled her eyebrows cheerfully and Harry couldn't help but snigger. Tonks leaned forward in her chair with a contemplative expression, "I wonder, if you're daddy, what does that make Remus?" Harry rolled his eyes,
"I don't know… dad?" Tonks sagged back, clearly disappointed,
"Boring." She declared. But before Harry had time to offer protest on the subject Tonks continued, "Come on, let's go see how the kids are doing and then we'll make some tea. Where is that dashing husband of yours, you said?" She babbled happily as she got up from the chair,
"In the potions lab with your perpetually cheerful husband." Tonks's eyes grew to the size of saucers at that, and her jaw dropped,
"That Bastard, having others in his lab like that." She declared haughtily and stepped out of the room, her head held high against Harry's laughter.
The two made their way to Cleo's room, opening the door silently and peering inside. The two children were lying on Cleo's bed, curled around each other and fast asleep. Harry smiled, it was good for Aaron to be around children his age and Cleo was quite a lovely girl, if you overlooked her tendency to walk into objects.
"I think I better take Aaron home for his nap." Harry mused loudly, but his heart wasn't in it- the two kids just looked too cute to separate.
"Oh, leave them be and come help me make tea." Tonks said as she spelled blankets over the two children and closed the door softly behind her, "Ooh, I know, you can be in charge of desert!" Harry sighed, figures.
..o0o.. ..o0o.. ..o0o..
A/N: Remember how Victor Krum called Hermione Hermi-nini? Nina is the upgraded version. Besides, Draco decided he needed a pet name for his girlfriend that nobody else would be using so Mione was out of the question.
BWPS (Ban Werewolves from Polite Society) are quite a secret group, which was endorsed by Voldemort himself during his reign of terror. They've been outlawed after the war and went underground. They're not as influential or vocal as they used to be and most people don't even know they ever excited.