For the Want of a Better Ending...

A poet that Fay Lyrebird had spent an amazing three days with, had once described her as a lethal weapon with legs. This was probably because she had distracted him her mind-blowing talents and then she had stolen his drafts, which she later published and won a lot of money. Fay was beautiful, she was smart, and had a knack for getting men to do whatever she wanted. What made her different from the conniving bitch from the street was the fact that Fay had made a career out of it.

When she had heard that Severus Snape was well on the way to making a cure to lycanthropy, she caught the next train to Hogwarts and offered herself as a Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. This pleased Dumbledore no end because one of his many mottos is "never look a gift horse in the mouth." Thanking her profusely, he gave her the job since her credentials were almost glowing enough to make her eligible for his position. Having wormed herself thus far into the operation, Fay sat back, relaxed, and let Snape find the cure.

Remus had been her own diversion. She had had a crush on him ever since she laid eyes on him back in the midst of childhood. He confided in her about how Ginny didn't seem to treat him right, how he longed for an adult conversation, how he wanted some sort of change. It was too easy to kiss him when he was ripe for the picking. It was easy and fun.

Amusingly enough, the distraction she needed to break into Snape's lab was supplied by the birth of Ginny's child. Albus had been contacted by a hysterical Molly Weasley and, seeing as the school was not in mortal peril, let Severus control things for a while. Snape was an anal retentive bastard and was all tuckered out by the time he fell asleep. A perfect time for the perfect crime.

She was now waiting patiently in the waiting room of the hospital, the vial of the elusive cure hiding in her pocket. Fay was getting bored with this scene, and it was time she found out whether Remus was completely under her spell. She liked to think of herself as some sort of chaos factor. That was just a nice way of saying she was pretty much the devil and planned to tempt as many people as she could.

I was sober. I was debonair. I was ready to beg at the feet of Ginny Weasley. Sirius had spent the entire trip back to the hospital gushing about her, and I realised that if I didn't get her back soon, she'd fly into the arms of my best mate. And, this was my fault. Partially. Me being a bit of a wanker didn't stop the fact she acted like a child.

'Where have you been?' Hermione asked me as we walked in the door. 'Ginny has been crying and calling out for any strong male presence. Snape made the mistake of going in there looking for you. We haven't seen or heard him since.'

'Snape's looking for me?' I asked. Sirius elbowed me in the side to remind me that I was here for Ginny, not my workmate.

'Step aside, young lady!' Sirius said, puffing out his chest. 'We are here to see Ginny.'

Hermione raised an eyebrow. 'I don't think you, Remus and your chest will be allowed in there. Especially when Snape's held hostage.'

'Kick him out!' he replied. 'We are men on a mission.'

She sighed and went to the door to call out for the man in question. I looked around, feeling nervous and awkward. Hermione gestured us over, and we walked to the door. Our journey was intercepted by Fay who looked like she was up to more mischief. Mischief? I haven't used that word since I stopped reading Enid Blyton in Muggle Studies.

'Remus.' She said.

'Fay.' I replied.

'I have a proposition.'

The room was completely silent. As if these people didn't get enough action in their own lives! Did they really have to observe my little crisis? 'Not now, Fay. I have to see Ginny.'

'You might want to listen to her, Lupin!'

Snape was white – even for him.

I was pretty much on the verge of cracking. As soon as the baby was born and things had been patched up with Ginny I was going to spend six months doing nothing more than getting friendly with her body, enjoying being a father and sleeping.

'She has the cure, the notes and has erased my memory.' He managed to croak out.

'You have to be joking!' I exclaimed. This was me Pissed Off. 'Sirius, go see Ginny. I have to sort this out.' He nodded, clearly confused. 'Fay, what are you going on about? What is this proposition? How did you get the hands on that stuff? Why did you clear his memory?'

'Remus, I am offering you the chance to be free of your curse, and free of Ginny and the child. I'm offering you the chance to be with me.' She pulled out the notes and the bottle to show me the evidence.

'You're insane!' I cried. 'I don't want to be with anyone other than Ginny. She is the only one I could ever possibly think about loving. You can't just buy my love by curing my lycanthropy. I'd rather be a werewolf than be your plaything. Seriously. You're nuts.'

She looked flustered, to say the least. Before she could get a really good retort in, Ginny disarmed her, making the vial smash against the wall. The papers fluttered down and landed at Severus' feet. 'See, I told you. She was too good to be true.' Ginny announced from the door.

'I don't care.' I said, stepping over the body of Fay so I could hug Ginny. 'What are you doing out of bed?'

'I'm saving your life!'

'She didn't actually have a wand out, Gins.' Sirius said.

'Yes, but if he had gone with her, I would have killed him myself.' She looked exhausted, and the baby wasn't even born yet. I smoothed a strand of her hair out of her face. 'Look, I don't care if you kissed her. I love you. I'm getting sick of all this rubbish. You can see that Fay is really a crazy, manipulating bitch. Can we never speak of it again?'

I nodded. 'Get back in bed.'

I helped her over to the bed where the midwives were practically running around like headless chickens. 'How far apart are your contractions, Miss Weasley?' One asked.

'Oh, they're supposed to be apart?' Ginny said breathlessly.

Sirius and I hung back as they checked the progress. I distinctly heard some swearing. 'Miss Weasley, how, in God's name were you able to stand?'

'Where there's a will, there's a way.' She sighed.


It was late by the time I woke up. I was dead tired, but pain free. If ever there was a reason to love the magical world, this was it: their painkillers can't be beat. Sirius was sitting in a seat next to the bed, half asleep, and when I woke him up, he told me Remus was getting coffee. I would kill for a cup of coffee.

'I'm sorry about earlier.' He told me. 'I shouldn't have kissed you. I shouldn't have feelings for you.'

I waved away his apologies with an extremely tired hand. 'Sirius, you're just feeling sorry that your awesome powers of seduction didn't sweep me off my feet.' I grinned. 'If I had not been taken for, I would have melted like putty in your hands.'

Remus entered the room with his steaming cups of liquid coffee heaven. 'Ah, you're awake!' He said softly and handed Sirius a drink. 'You were great. The doctor was so impressed.'

'I'm glad everyone enjoyed the show.' I rolled my eyes and stole Remus' coffee so I could take a sip. 'How is she?'

He sat down next to me in the bed and a huge smile broke on his face. 'She's perfect. She has ten toes and ten fingers and these pudgy little hands.'

'Have you named her yet?' I asked.

'No, you were suppose to name her.'

'Well, I don't have any names picked out, I thought you were going to have it all sorted.'

Sirius held up a hand. 'Name her Grace Ginevra Lupin and all will be well.'

I shrugged. 'Sounds good to me. Remus?'

'I have no complaints. She won't get teased at school, at least.' He reclaimed his coffee from me. 'Here's to Grace Ginevra Lupin. May she be as beautiful as her mother, as studious as her father and as dashing as her godfather.'

'To Grace!' Sirius and I echoed.

We were quiet for a few moments as we all absorbed the fact that our lives had changed dramatically. I'm allergic to silence, so I was the first to speak. 'What has happened to Fay?'

Remus looked decidedly uncomfortable. 'She's locked away somewhere and isn't going to get out for a while.'

'If she doesn't seduce the guards and run away, you mean,' I said snidely. Sure, I might be all grown up and totally a mother, but it didn't mean that I had to forgive everything. The facts were that Fay was a man-eating, manipulative thief who almost ruined Remus' chances of ridding himself of lycanthropy.

'Maybe they'll have eunuchs keeping watch?' Sirius suggested in such a hopeful voice, that I had to laugh.

'Maybe!'

'And the cure?' I asked after our smiles had faded.

'Snape has the notes and can work off them. There should be a new batch of cure ready in about two weeks – just in time for the full moon, actually. But I'm not sure if I want to drink it yet…'

I frowned. 'What do you mean? This cause has meant everything to you!'

He shrugged uncomfortably, as if explaining himself was embarrassing. 'It's just that…being a werewolf is a huge part of who I am. It has dictated how I live my life for so long, that I'm not sure that I am ready to just let go of it. I need to come to terms with the fact that I might not be who I am for much longer.'

I leant over and took his hand, squeezing it gently. 'Well, I'll support you for as long as it takes.'

He squeezed my hand back. Sirius was growing bored at this stage, and so he leapt out of his chair and walked out the door. I blinked in confusion, but decided it was just another Sirius-isms that I was used to. 'So are we ok now?' Remus asked.

I nodded. 'I'll be more mature and understanding and you can actually talk to me once in a while and tell me what you need. See? Look at all the money we saved on therapy!'

He leant in close and growled something in my ear that was far too inappropriate to mention, but I will say that it made my cheeks go very red. If you have any idea of my level of open-mindedness, (it is quite incredibly, to say the least) then you will know that it must have been amazingly sexy and naughty.

At this point, Sirius had returned and was dragging with him a priest of some sort. The poor soul looked confused and disoriented, but smiled politely. 'Ginny, Remus, this is Father James and he's going to marry you!'

'Where did you – hello Father – where did you find him, pray tell?' Remus asked, too baffled to be angry at his oldest friend.

'He was just, um, wandering around. I think he's supposed to be in some sort of monastery at the moment, but he's here now, so pay attention.'

So, the priest married us and we signed some papers that Sirius produced from his pocket and then we were husband and wife. I felt bad for Mum who was still stressing out about the wedding – especially now that I had shrunk several dress sizes after delivering Grace, but at that moment I was far too tired to even give a damn. I think that kinda sums up most of the decisions I've made in this life.

THE END.

Author's Note: So, we have come to the end of the B Word journey. When I started this thing, it was just a fun little piece I wrote without knowing what it would lead to. There have been so many changes since I started - my age, for one, two books being published, as well as writing style, plot twists and characterisation. I will make no apologies for what has been written because the progression of this story has clearly shown how far I have come as a writer and as a person, and that is an awful load to place on a simple fanfiction! I would love to thank every single person who read this story and reviewed, but alas my hands are tied. So, I will instead thank: Iselin, for her tireless efforts as my beta reader through thick and thin; Jennifer for letting me flood her inbox with variations on a similar theme; and Hannah, my psychically linked friend that, instead of drifting apart when we don't talk to each other for months, simply use that time to collect more obsessions that are exactly the same.

This is not the ending I would have wanted, but I have realised that I never truly wanted an ending, and this is the best I can do. Thank you.