Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Heads up, I'm putting full moons wherever they help the story along. I know you can actually find that information online, so just don't check me and we'll all be good ;)
Instead of joining everyone at dinner, Harry asked Snape to make his apologies as he stayed in his rooms with Castor setting things up and getting the baby settled in. Castor had an epic meltdown of crying and screaming. He was confused and tired since he had been moved yet again to a fourth home in just a month's time. Harry thought they needed a few days to themselves to get settled in, so he called Dobby to bring them some dinner and stayed in for the night.
It was Tuesday before Harry and Castor started venturing out around the other inhabitants of the castle. Harry thought it would do Castor good to visit his Uncle Moony, so they set off to the DADA office. After knocking and Remus calling for them to enter, Harry saw Remus's office set up almost exactly as it had been in his third year. "I like what you've done with the place," Harry smirked.
"You wouldn't know why I keep finding cat pictures in odd places?" Remus asked as he reached out to take Castor into a big hug.
"Umbridge," Harry shuddered and subconsciously rubbed his scar-free hand. "You really don't want to know."
Remus made them tea and they talked over the new semester and how it was going to be for Harry not having his old friends. Harry agreed it would be strange, but he also thought that he could make friends again with those he would miss the most. He was sure that Ron and Hermione, and maybe Neville and Luna, would still become his friends, even if he was a different person. They would just have to start all over again. He knew it wouldn't be the same, but he wasn't ready to completely let go of those he cared about.
After three cups of tea and Castor slobbering over all Remus's lesson plans, they finally stood up to leave. "Come visit me any time, cub. You know I've missed you."
"Thanks, Moony," Harry smiled. He started walking to the door and stopped. He promised himself he would stay out of it, but he found that he just couldn't.
Harry turned back around with a serious look at Remus. "Ok, Moony, this is important, so I'm only going to say this once, and it didn't come from me, ok?"
"Ok…" Remus said, concerned.
"I don't know what your original intentions were for Friday with Dad, but it's now officially a date, so deal with it," Harry said sternly. "And, you better not hurt him."
Remus smiled. "I wasn't sure if he took it as a date or not."
"Well, it is now, so dress nice…and if he offers to pay, let him. He's traditional that way. And, please don't talk about James or Sirius, not on the first date."
"Yes, sir!" Remus laughed as Harry walked out the door and back to his rooms.
When he got back to his rooms, Harry put Castor down for his nap. Since he had stuck his foot in it this far, he figured he might as well go all in, so he threw a handful of floo powder in his fireplace which Dobby had insisted on connecting to the floo network for him. Unsurprisingly, the house elf was really good at getting things done without the headmaster knowing. He grimaced as he stuck his head in and called for Fred and George's place. "Oi! Prat 1 and prat 2, I hate the floo, so you better be home!" He called out.
Fred and George came into view from the kitchen. "Artiekins!" They both exclaimed.
"To what do we owe this pleasure?" George asked.
"Hey guys," Harry smiled at them. "Would you be free to come by the castle on Friday afternoon for a bit? Dad could use some help with something?"
"Of course, Arts," Fred agreed. "What's up?"
"Well, I'll tell you, but I warn you, if you make fun of him, I'll get all the old marauder's pranks from Moony and prank you both until you beg for mercy," Harry warned.
"Aw, Artie, we'll be on our best behavior," Fred said.
"Yeah, we promise…"
"Nope! Don't finish that!" Harry cut George off. "Never promise anything to a Fury unless you want it to be magically binding."
"Oh, yeah, good catch Arts," George said sheepishly. "Well, we'll try to be on our best behavior."
"As long as he is," Fred added.
"That works for me," Harry agreed. "Dad has a date."
"Really?!" They both exclaimed as they sat on the floor to better listen to Harry.
"Yeah, you know I'm not really knowledgeable on all that stuff, and," Harry turned red here. "Apparently, I'm the result of the last date he went on, so it's been a while."
"Yeah, I'll say," George agreed.
"He's freaking out about what to wear and do and everything. I was thinking if you both just came over and made everything sound normal and like everything would be fine that it'd help him."
"Of course, Harry," Fred said. "Why didn't you ask Remus though? They're more the same generation."
Harry smiled at them and leaned in conspiratorially. "Because, the date is with Remus," Harry said.
The twins collapsed laughing. They just couldn't believe the marauder was going out with the dungeon bat. "This'll be epic!" Fred laughed.
"Don't worry, Harry. We wouldn't miss this for the world!" George assured him.
Harry gave them the information they would need to floo to Snape's quarters and pulled himself back into his room. Well, he thought to himself, in for a penny…
Harry had fairly successfully avoided the headmaster and other professors the whole week. He preferred to eat in his rooms with Castor or, occasionally, with his dad or Remus. His relatives hadn't let him do his homework over the summer, and he had the new class of Ancient Runes anyway, so he ended up spending most of his time catching up. He also had to find a handwriting spell that he cast on all of his parchments when he finished to slightly alter his handwriting; unfortunately, it didn't make it better, but it wasn't worse. At least he didn't have to bother to disguise his handwriting with DADA or Potions.
When Friday rolled around, Harry and Castor were hanging out in Snape's chambers in the late afternoon. Snape was pacing while Harry looked on in amusement. "Dumbledore and McGonagall keep sitting between us at meals, so we haven't been able to talk. He just smiles and nods when he sees me. And, thank you very much for leaving me all alone with those people all week at meals…"
"Hey, we ate dinner with you twice in here," Harry protested.
Snape just sneered at him before the floo flared. "Who could that be?" Snape mused right before Fred and George Weasley stumbled into the room, Harry having immediately opened the floo to let them in. "You didn't?!"
Harry smiled. "He did!" George exclaimed.
"Now, you are not wearing that," Fred said, looking over his black robes. "Come George; let's find the closet."
"That way," Harry said pointing to the bedroom.
"Traitor!" Snape sneered as he trailed the twins into his room looking murderous.
Once Harry was able to get Castor down for a nap in his playpen, he made to follow the other three men. As he neared the room, he caught the tail-end of a conversation. "What if you just didn't slick it back? I mean really it can't be that bad," he heard George say.
Harry laughed as he joined them. "You all remember my hair before right?" He asked the twins.
"Yep!"
"Sure do."
"You had the crazy hair."
"Yeah, I got that hair from my dad," Harry explained. "Apparently Snape's is worse than James's was."
"I would disown you if it wasn't too difficult," Snape snarled as the twins really did try not to giggle.
Fred finally got over the most of his mirth and took charge. "Ok, so you have nice robes picked out, we just need to deal with the hair. George, you're on it. I'm crap with hair."
"Aye, aye, sir!" George said pulling Snape behind him to the bathroom.
"Why is no one afraid of me anymore?" Snape grumbled.
"Oh don't worry, the little firsties will be here in a couple days and you can terrorize them all you want," George said as he shut the door behind them.
Harry laughed at them as he walked over to the bed Fred was sitting on to look at the robes they picked out. Surprisingly, they weren't black. They were a very dark green with a white, dress shirt and black slacks to go under it. "Good choice," Harry nodded to Fred.
"He only has like two non-black options. That man needs to go shopping," Fred smiled. "I know what to get him for Christmas at least."
"So, you two are really embracing this whole family thing it seems," Harry said as he crossed his arms and leaned against the bedpost.
"Of course!" Fred looked shocked. "George and I have a lot of family, so we've taken it upon ourselves to show the rest of you lot what family actually means. I mean, between you, Snape, and Lupin, you wouldn't know family if it hexed you. We can't have our godson growing up like that."
Though it was blunt, Harry nodded in agreement. "So, what about you?" Fred continued. "We just got Daddy Snape ready for a date with the wolf, what about little Snape. Anyone strike your fancy?"
Harry laughed humorlessly. "Well, you know it didn't work out with Ginny," Harry started.
"Yeah, I never thought it would," Fred nodded. "You guys just aren't good together, as much as I would like to see you married into the family that is."
"Yeah, well, now I'm a teen-aged single parent who's classified as a dark creature, and oh yeah, my identity has existed for less than a month. I don't think anyone's going to be lining up to date me."
Fred looked at him musingly. He noticed quite clearly that Harry said 'anyone' not 'girls.' Interesting. Just then, George pushed Snape out of the bathroom.
"Oh wow, that looks good," Harry exclaimed approvingly as Snape stared stoically at them. His hair was still slicked back but with much less product, so it had a little more body to it and definitely didn't look greasy.
"I threw away all his old hair products and replaced them with some of the ones I use," George explained. "Do NOT buy those again," he said pointedly to Snape who rolled his eyes.
Fred and George started walking back to the living room. "Don't talk about potions the whole time," Fred warned.
"Making fun of Dumbledore is allowed though."
"No talking about Harry for more than like 30 minutes."
"That goes for Castor as well."
"Oh, and have fun," they both said as they flooed back to their flat.
Harry pushed Snape back into the bedroom where he left him to change and then had to push him out of the portrait hole so that he wouldn't be late. Harry picked up an old defense book from his dad's bookshelf and settled on the couch to read and wait for his dad to return as Castor slept in the playpen beside him.
It was with a decidedly awkward feeling that Snape walked to the entrance hall to meet Lupin. Remus had gotten there before him, and Snape noticed he was wearing robes that looked much less shabby than his normal ones. They almost looked new. As he got closer, Remus noticed him and turned around. "Wow…you look good!" Remus said appreciatively.
Snape hated himself as he blushed at the compliment, which had Remus smiling even wider. Snape cleared his throat. "Er, shall we go?"
"Of course," Remus said, opening the door and motioning for Snape to go first. "So, how's the planning for the new semester going?" Remus asked after they walked in companionable silence for a bit.
"Not bad," Snape grumbled and then sighed. "I'm no longer a Death Eater, but a lot of my students either are or their families are. I'm…concerned about how they will handle my new status. They know me well enough to not try anything on me, but I'm worried they will take it out on Arcturus. He never was one to avoid fights."
Remus nodded. "He isn't the same as he was before though. It was the name that made him a target. Even as your son, he's still safer."
"Yes, but getting in a fight with a young Fury is a recipe for disaster."
Remus laughed in a dangerous way. "Artie will be walking everywhere with a baby in his arms. If someone attacks him, they deserve everything they will get and some. I doubt he will have any trouble after that."
Snape looked at him in amusement. "You are a little bloodthirsty aren't you?"
Remus shrugged. "I'd blame the wolf, but one can never tell."
"I approve," he smiled. They ended up at the Three Broomsticks and took a booth in the back of the mostly empty restaurant. "How about you? Are you settling back in well?"
"I missed teaching," Remus said, looking over the menu. "I'm glad that I'm getting the opportunity again."
After a minute, Remus put down the menu and looked at Snape directly. "Severus, there's something I need to say before this goes any further, and please, just let me get it out," he said with a deep breath. "I've never apologized for my part in everything that happened when we were students. So, I want to say, for the record, I am so sorry. We were idiots and you didn't deserve anything we did to you."
Snape leaned back and crossed his arms. "I distinctly remember some nasty hexes on my part as well. I think I probably did deserve a little of it. But, regardless, apology accepted." Remus smiled and picked his menu back up.
The rest of the evening went smoothly. The food was good, they bonded over Harry and Castor, they talked about their favorite and least favorite students, gossiped about the other professors, and took part in some Dumbledore bashing as well. Remus even found time to explain his theory of how Harry had survived the killing curse when he was one. Snape was intrigued and promised to do some research into it. After mutually promising not to tell Harry, they also compared notes on what they knew of Harry's time at the Dursley's. Though they didn't have much information between the two of them, the picture didn't look very pretty. They were able to turn the seriousness around though by talking about the twins and some of their better pranks while at the school.
Remus remembered what Harry told him and only protested a little when Snape insisted on paying. They walked back up to the castle together and went to part ways in the entrance hall. "Erm, thank you for inviting me to dinner," Snape said, not sure how one ended one of these things.
"Thank you for coming," Lupin said. Then to Snape's utter shock, he leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on his lips. "The full moon is tomorrow night, so I won't see you until the welcoming feast. Save a seat for me though, right?"
Snape cleared his throat. "Indeed."
Lupin smiled and walked away to his rooms. After a minute, Snape also dazedly walked down to the dungeons. He was less than amazed to find his son asleep on the couch with his wings wrapped around Castor who was asleep on his chest. Snape pulled an afghan off the armchair and draped it over them. "Sleep well," he whispered as he went to his room.
Up Next: Artie's Sorting...