Author's Note: Enjoy!

Warning: Implied death

It was Christmas dinner at the Burrow, and Remus did not know why he was there. The invites came every year, for the past twenty-five years, without fail. He had always declined, opting to spend Christmas in one dingy, old pub or another. He had been working in different countries, campaigning for werewolves' rights and getting compensated for his work. He had finally made a living, but he still never settled.

Remus accepted the dinner invite this year for one reason, his health was declining rapidly due to his lycanthropy, it would most likely be his last Christmas. He did not particularly feel like spending this one alone, however, he wish he had. Charlie, Bill, and George threw him glares all night. Harry was not pleasant to him either, then again, he had been sending Remus pictures of his son for the first few months of Teddy's life until Remus told him to stop. Seeing him just hurt too much. Harry still continued to write, Remus never responded, so Harry had stopped all together. That was twenty-three years ago.

Remus sat in the corner of the living room all evening, he had said nothing to anyone. The children, well not exactly children at this point, in the room were confused of who he was. The one named after his two best friends gave him the dirtiest look of the night, one that passed George, Bill, and Charlie put together. Just before dinner was served, they walked through the door. His son and his wife, well ex-wife, along with four other people he had never seen before. Well, to be fair he had never seen his son before either, but it was easy to identify him as he had bright turquoise hair and looked just like Remus. Teddy had his arm around a blonde woman, who Remus could have sworn was Fleur, only to realize she was much too young, and he had seen Fleur with Bill earlier in the evening. This must've been one of their kids.

In Teddy's arms was a baby boy, who could not be any older than four months. He had purple hair at the top of his head, making him a metamorphmagus like his father and grandmother. Remus supposed that made him a grandfather, by blood if not anything else.

The other man with them was her new husband, Patrick. He was older than she is, but not nearly as old as Remus is. Patrick was tall, tan, and had sandy-blonde hair that was beginning to go gray. Most importantly, he was healthy and whole, something that Dora deserved. As for her, she had not changed much, and extra wrinkle here or there, but she was mostly the same Dora that Remus had fallen in love with. Her hair was a deep red color for the festivities.

The last person that had came in with them was Patrick's and Dora's daughter, Lydia. She was about fifteen and looked exactly as Dora did in her natural form, heart-shaped face and a small pointed nose. The only difference between the two was that she was tan and not a metamorphmagus, her hair was a deep shade of brown, inherited from the Black side.

Dora had looked taken aback at Remus's presence, only for a moment though. Whether him being there truly did not bother her or if she had just played it off as such, Remus did not know. However, beside her, Teddy looked angry. The Fleur look-alike placed her hand on his shoulder, which seemed to calm him down slightly, but he still looked on edge. It made sense that he would be, he was twenty-five and just meeting his father for the first time, at his family party none-the-less.

Following dinner, they all sat around the table, and Remus could not help but notice how happy Dora had looked with Patrick. She was not uncomfortable at all with Remus being there, meaning that she was really over him. Of course it had been twenty-five years, but that made one of them at least. Remus felt incredibly out of place. He was intruding on a family dinner of people who he had not spoken to in almost three decades. A pang of sadness and guilt hit him when Remus realized that this could have been his family if he had not been an idiot. What had he done?

He could not stand it anymore, he decided to leave early. He said goodbye to the group before walking outside towards the apparition point, but he heard footsteps behind him.

"Just going to get up and leave again, then," asked a voice from behind. Remus turned around and was faced with his son, these were the first words Teddy had ever spoken to him. "That's seems to be all you're good at."

Remus sighed, "I guess I should introduce myself. I'm-"

"I know exactly who you are, Remus," Teddy spat. "Trust me, I heard the stories, all of them. When I was younger I always wanted to meet you. That desire has disappeared over the years, but seeing as I have a chance now, I figured I would. Then again, I almost let you leave since you didn't even have the decency to approach me. Tell me, would I really have been that bad to have as a son."

Remus sighed again, trying to hold back the tears that were stinging his eyes, "of course not. I was the idiot there, Ted. Neither you nor your mum had nothing to do with me leaving."

"Oh believe me, Remus, I know you were the idiot," retorted Teddy.

"I just wanted you two to be happy, and I figured you would be happier without me," said Remus, looking down at the ground.

Teddy rolled his eyes, "she was a mess for a while, her morphing went crazy again. Then I was born, and the morphing went back to normal, and she was a lot happier, but still devastated. It took her years to realize you weren't coming back this time, so she finally owled you the divorce papers. She met Pat a few weeks later, and their marriage and Lydia brought her fully back. For a while we weren't better off, but now we one hundred percent are."

Remus nodded, still looking at the ground. he finally looked up, "what's the baby's name?"

"Sébastien Patrick," said Teddy. "He was born the twenty-third of August."

"Congratulations," said Remus with a small nod.

"Thanks," said Teddy. "Before he was born I was worried I would never live up to Patrick, but I knew one thing, I would do far better than you."

"Good," said Remus solemnly, "he deserves better than what I gave you."

"He deserves way better than nothing, Remus. All you left me with is your last name, and I changed that to Patrick's when mum got remarried."

"I know," said Remus, flinching a bit. Edward McDuggar did not sound right to him, but Teddy was never really his son, so he did not have a say over it. "You deserved more too"

"So why is that all you gave me?"

"I was scared," said Remus. "I was scared you would be like me, I was scared you would resent me for what I was, then I was scared your mum would never take me back, so I never tried."

"You're right, I do resent you," spat Teddy, "but not for your lycanthropy. I resent you for not even trying. I resent you for breaking mum's heart far too many times. And I resent you for never trying to meet me before tonight. Let's be real here, Remus, the only reason you are here is because you did not want to spend what may be your last Christmas alone."

"How did you-"

"I'm a healer, and I work especially with lycanthropy infected patients. I've seen many elderly werewolves, I can just tell," Teddy explained. "You weren't here to talk to me. You didn't even plan on it, did you?"

"I-"

"Did you?"

"No," stated Remus plainly.

"I thought so," said Teddy, crossing his arms over his chest. "That's probably for the best anyways, if you had been here to make amends you would have been disappointed. Twenty-five years of absence is impossible to make up for in one night."

Remus looked down and nodded again, "is that all, then?"

"I suppose," said Teddy as he turned towards the house. Teddy faced Remus one last time, "goodbye Remus."

"Goodbye Teddy."

Remus never saw the next Christmas after that.

I hope you enjoyed an angsty Christmas story in the middle of April. Please leave a review if you would like! :)