Dora had started to smile again and Remus knew that that was down to Teddy. Something so precious and pure as a baby always touched people, in his experience. It has been the same with James and Lily with Harry. He had been born after both sets of their parents had died. The Evans' deaths had hit them both hard in particular - Death Eater attack. But Harry had, well, not exactly made it better for them but made their grief easier to handle. Just like Teddy was doing for Dora. And for him. For all of them, really.

It was harder to let your thoughts dwell on death when you had such a perfect example of innocent life right in your arms. Though, it was a double-edged sword, he'd found, because then you found yourself getting wistful over the might have beens. And then you realised all over again that your little, innocent baby was never going to see his grandfather. Never know him. Never know that he got excited over muggle sports and teased his wife and was extraordinarily well-read. And the fact that he was an excellent Healer but would rush to defend you so you didn't have to fight. He had quick wit that could go up against his wife's sarcasm. He was warm and welcoming. And Teddy wasn't going to see any of that.

Remus tried not to think of that. So much loss in his life and you'd think he'd be used to it by now but he wasn't. He was starting to realise that you couldn't get used to losing people. Each one was like a fresh wound. And this one hadn't scarred over yet.

He looked over at Andromeda who was watching Dora chat away in a baby voice at Teddy. There was a sad sort of smile on her face.

"He's got Ted's nose," she said suddenly.

"Huh?"

Not exactly the most eloquent of responses but Andromeda's statement had come out of nowhere. She hadn't spoken a word about Ted since the funeral. Which Remus supposed was a normal reaction. Andromeda did seem like the type of person to internalise everything. Something he knew that Blacks were taught at an early age. He doubted that Andromeda would be any different.

"Teddy," she said with a wistful look. "He has Ted's nose."

"He has yours and Dora's eyes," Remus added with a smile of his own.

He felt like Andromeda didn't want to dwell too much on Ted but still wanted to talk.

"Yet he also looks like you," Andromeda said with a proper smile this time.

"Genetics are odd," he said with a laugh.

It seems like every day Teddy took after a different person more. And Remus was pretty sure it wasn't the morphing. Just that they were starting to see more of his personality and he was growing. Quite rapidly too. He was already double his birth weight.

"Well, I think he looks like an angel," Dora announced, having overheard them.

Andromeda and Remus laughed at this outburst of maternal pride. Which made her pull a face at them, just making them laugh again. It felt good to laugh. Even if it was oh so fleeting.

He settled down next to Dora and wrapped an arm loosely around her waist, just wanting to be close to her. They sat like that for a few minutes, her more or less completely involved in nursing Teddy.

"Thank you," she said suddenly, looking up from a busy Teddy.

The fuzz of hair on top of his head had turned gold, which it always seemed to turn when he was nursing. And when he was all sleepy. So that was the colour for when he was content or relaxed. Yes, Remus was determined to track his son's emotion and respective colour changes. He maintained that it would make taking care of him easier. Though, Andromeda had warned them that the colours might not stay consistent for each emotion until he was a bit older. Apparently, Dora's hair used to turn blue when she was angry. Which it definitely didn't do now.

"For what?" Remus asked, confused.

He didn't know what he'd done to deserve thanks. Unless you counted finding Teddy's dummy earlier when he was screaming his head off for no apparent reason. Because babies did that, apparently.

"Putting up with me. And mum. And all the crying. And silences. And-"

Remus put a finger to her lips, stopping her right there. He watched as he hair briefly flashed rainbow colours in her confusion. Kt was odd, he had got used to seeing Dora's hair shift with her emotions over the past two years and barely paid attention to it anymore unless it indicated she was angry or anxious or sad and he hadn't realised something had happened. That and her hair didn't shift that much with emotions, only when she felt them strongly. She explained that it was down to the control she had over herself now and her hair and eyes used to shift a lot more frequently when she was younger because of lack of control. That and puberty didn't help matters either. But he was noticing it again mainly because she, like him, was now always exhausted thanks to Teddy and had less energy to focus on controlling her emotions. But he was also noticing it again because of Teddy's abilities too. Almost like he was subtly comparing mother and son. It was fascinating.

But that wasn't the point here. The point was that his wife was apologising for something that she really shouldn't be apologising for.

"Dora, you're grieving. This is all perfectly natural," he reassured her.

But she shook her head. "I wasn't like this with Mad-Eye," she said softly, eyes filling with tears. "I was more... well, less this and more..."

She waved her hand vaguely as she tried to get her point across but not knowing how put it into words.

"Numb?" Remus supplied.

"That's it. Yeah. Numb."

"You don't react to grief the same way every time no matter how much you loved the person," he tried to explain.

"But-"

Now it was his turn to shake his head.

"No, Dora. Don't beat yourself up over what you are feeling and what you aren't. Please don't."

He'd spent years like that. Years. And it didn't help anything. In fact, it did the exact opposite. And he didn't want Dora to ever feel like that. It was horrible. There was nothing good about it.

"But-"

"Dora."

She sighed heavily and nodded. "Okay."

He pressed a kiss to her head. "You aren't really. But you will be. Eventually."

She scrunched up her nose, not looking too happy with that.

"I don't know if I want to be okay," she confessed. "Because that means-"

"You've got used to them not being there," he finished for her.

"Yeah."

It sucked but it was the truth. You had to learn to go on with your life. Not that it could be forced. But it would happen.

She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm lucky to have you, you know that?"

Remus pressed a kiss to the top of her head, watching it briefly flash a deep red, the tips staying pink. Love. That meant love and affection.

"And I, you."