"Remus," mum practically whispered. I chanced a look at my parents and both of their mouths were just hanging open. I walked over to Remus and wrapped my arm around him reassuringly.
"Um, hi Mr. and Mrs. Stroupe," he said nervously.
"I can't believe it," mum said and rushed to hug Remus, catching him off guard.
"It's good to see you again," dad said, giving Remus a pat on his back while my mum continued to crush Remus.
"All right, mum, I think Remus would like to breathe again," I said with a small laugh, glad my parents were glad to see Remus instead of being angry at him. My parents asked Remus all kinds of questions while we ate lunch and he answered them all the best he could.
"Will the two of you return to Hogwarts as a married couple after Christmas?" mum asked and I looked up at her, surprised.
"Oh, um, not as a publicly married couple. We figure for consistency's sake it would be better if the students continue to know me as Professor Stroupe rather than Professor Lupin," I answered. This was something me and Remus had already discussed within the first week of the holiday break.
"Besides, if something were to happen I'd much rather Avery and Lily both not be tied to my name for the time being for their safety," Remus said.
"But why? You're my dad, I want to have my real last name," Lily piped up, having been decidedly silent for the entire meal until now.
"Sweetheart, I know it's hard to not have your dad's name, but if something were to happen to you simply because we shared a last name with him, I would never forgive myself," I told her, putting my hand over hers.
"I wouldn't either. I know I've only just come back into your life, but you mean the world to me," Remus said to Lily and I was hoping he would be able to help her understand. Lily just sighed and got up and I heard her go upstairs to her room.
"Just leave her alone for a little while," I said when I saw Remus start to get up to go after her. "She'll come talk when she's ready," I said, putting my hand on his arm reassuringly and he gave me an understanding look.
"So, Remus, what are your plans once school is out?" my mum asked him and I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes.
"Well, I was hoping to continue living here, with my family," he said matter of factly and I had to suppress a snort of laughter at his answer, always being as forward to my mum as she was to him.
"I think that sounds wonderful," my dad said, giving a look towards my mother that I knew all too well.
"I think right now we're just taking everything one day at a time until we can make our marriage more publicly known at Hogwarts, at least among the students that is," I said and stood up to clear the table, Remus following suit to help me. That night after my parents and Lily had gone to bed, I laid on the couch with my head in Remus' lap and we just sat in silence, my eyes closed as he absentmindedly ran his fingers through my hair.
"Would you ever consider having more children? Once we were sure it would be safe considering all of the rumors right now about Sirius breaking out of Azkaban to revive You-Know-Who, of course," Remus said and my eyes flew open and I gave him a surprised look.
"Remus, we're in our thirties now, are you sure that's something we should even be considering?" I said, not necessarily hating the idea, but not exactly being excited about that kind of thing either.
"I know, but if we were to have more children at some point it would be better to try sooner rather than later," he said and I knew he was trying to persuade me to agree with him and I hated to admit it, but I did agree with him there.
"Well, you're not exactly wrong, I just hadn't even thought of that as a possibility," I said, sitting up.
"I missed out on helping you raise Lily and I think about that every day, about what it would have been like if I'd stayed and the things I missed out on by leaving. I hate myself for leaving you like that," he said and I took his hand into both of mine.
"But what would have happened if you had stayed? I may have been upset about you leaving at the time, but in hindsight it's what was best. Besides, you're here now, and Lily still has plenty of growing up to do," I said, hoping to reassure him.
"I know," he said with a sigh. "I'm heading up to bed, are you coming?" he asked me, holding his hand out to me as he stood up.
"Yes, I think I will," I said and let him pull me up by the hand. We walked up to our bedroom silently so as to not wake up Lily or my parents. I quickly got undressed and put on an oversized t-shirt to sleep in, slipping into bed next to Remus.
"You know, we don't necessarily have to wait to try for a baby," he said, his hand resting on my waist as I laid facing him.
"Don't be too hasty," I said with a giggle, kissing him quickly before settling in completely next to him and he grinned back at me.
"I can't say I didn't try," he said, pulling me closer to him and before long we were both sound asleep.
The next morning, mum was already in the kitchen when I got up, the smell of coffee drawing me down stairs.
"Morning mum. What are you doing up so early?" I said as I got myself a cup of coffee.
"I figured I could give you a break for once, you do so much and never once ask for anything in return. So how did it come about that Remus ended up back at Hogwarts?" she asked me.
"Well, you know there's been a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor every year for decades it seems, Dumbledore took his time finding one this year, though, Remus ended up riding the train to Hogwarts, though it didn't help that the full moon was on September first. But I nearly fainted when I saw he was going to be the new professor. I avoided him for a long time, but we've slowly gotten around to, well, basically getting to know each other again. I really wasn't sure how Lily would take the news about Remus, but you know how she is, she took her time mulling it over and is the happiest I think I've ever seen her. And of course she does no wrong in Remus' eyes, he already loves her more than anything," I said, leaning against the counter with my coffee mug in both hands.
"Should we expect more grandchildren in the future?" she asked me, glancing at me sideways.
"Mum, please. We've barely even kissed yet. That will take a little more time," I said, my face heating up from embarrassment.
"Well you can't blame me for asking," she said with a smirk and just then Remus walked into the kitchen.
"Oh, cinnamon buns, good, I'm famished," he said, coming up and kissing me on the cheek as I poured him a cup of coffee as well.
"Mum made them, so they'll be especially good," I said, going to sit at the table with him. The next two days went by quickly and before I knew it, it was Christmas morning. Me and Remus had been up wrapping the rest of Lily's gifts the previous night and were not prepared for her to come in and jump on our bed bright and early Christmas morning.
"Mum, Dad, come on. We're all waiting on you," she said, laying between us and I groaned, pushing her over top of me and off the bed.
"Lily, you know I love you to death. Just give us a few moments," I said, leaning on my elbow and rubbing my eyes, feeling Remus move around beside me.
"Okay, okay. I'll be downstairs with gramma and grand-dad," she said, leaving our room but leaving the door wide open.
"Ugh, we shouldn't have stayed up so late," Remus said and laid back down, pulling me closer to him.
"I agree," I said, turning to face him and snuggling into his chest, nearly falling asleep again. "Ugh, come on. Lily might just start opening presents without us," I said, finally getting out of bed and grabbing both of our robes, throwing Remus his. Once we were downstairs, Lily dove into the pile of presents under the tree, handing out everyone's presents. I was surprised, though, when Remus handed me one himself. I watched Lily open her presents, opening my own as well and leaving Remus' gift for last. He seemed very excited for the dragon skin leather journal I'd gotten him, complete with a brand new set of quills and ink. For some reason I felt nervous about opening Remus' gift, turning the small box over in my hands a few times and I could feel everyone watching me. I took a deep breath and pulled the ribbon off, dropping it to the floor and carefully taking the rest of the paper off. I opened the small box slowly, gasping at the diamond ring inside of it.
"I figured, if we were going to try and make this happen, we might as well start over properly," he said, taking the ring and slipping it onto my left hand. It fit perfectly. When I looked to Lily to see her reaction she was beaming at us.
"You knew, didn't you?" I asked her.
"Of course. You don't think he picked that out on his own do you?" she said.
"I should've known," I said with a smile. "Thank you," I said to Remus, planting a firm kiss to his lips. We all spent the rest of the day just lounging around, my mum fawning over me and my new ring the whole day. After I put Lily to bed that night, I came downstairs to Remus and my parents having a very serious conversation. Of course they knew he was a werewolf, so I assumed it had something to do with that.
"Avery, talk some sense into your husband please. Me and your father are offering the keep Lily at our house until the New Year. The full moon is in three days and your father and I agree it may be best not to have Lily in the house then. You know how curious she is," mum said as soon as I was in view on the stairs.
"Honestly, Remus, I have to agree with them. For now that may be the best thing for her. Unless there's something she's not telling us, she has no idea about your condition and I don't think she needs to find out about that yet," I said, sitting next to Remus on the couch, placing my hand on his knee and he sighed.
"Fine. I suppose you're right," he said defeatedly.
"She can go with them when they leave tomorrow, it won't take me long to pack her things in the morning," I said and my parents voiced their agreement. After a while we all went to bed and I could tell Remus already wasn't feeling well.
"You okay?" I asked him as we laid next to each other, resting my hand on his chest as I cuddled into his side.
"I'll be all right. Come here," he said, pulling me tight to him. I wrapped my arm around him completely and slid my leg over his to get comfortable.
"I love you," I said, looking up at him and he smiled down at me.
"I love you too," he said and kissed me and I fell into a restful sleep, though I knew he may not sleep well with the full moon so close.
Hello again to those of you reading! It's been quite some time since last I updated, but here's another chapter! I'd love to know what you think!
