Author's note: Listen, life is hard and there's no serotonin left in this economy. Sometimes you just need your favourite characters being cheesy in an Everyone!Lives AU, so here we are. I'm also not marking this as "complete" because I might add more chapters and snippets as I need to make things warm-and-fuzzy in my soul.
Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.
Warnings: NA
Stacked with: MC4A; Shipping Wars; Hogwarts; Not Commonwealth
Individual Challenge(s): Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; Brush; Seeds; Homeschooled!; Times to Come; Old Shoes; Themes & Things A (Family); Themes & Things B (Innocence); True Colours; Rian-Russo Inversion; Short Jog; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux
Representation(s): Metamorphmagus Tonks and Teddy; werewolf Remus
Bonus challenge(s): Second Verse (Middle Name); Chorus (Bee Haven)
Tertiary bonus challenge: NA
Word Count: 1361
Shipping Wars
Ship (Team): Nymphadora Tonks/Remus Lupin (Technicolour Moon)
List (Prompt): Summer Medium 1 (Tower/High rise)
Hogwarts Submitting Info
House: Ravenclaw
Assignment: Assignment #2, Career Advice #2 Write about a child's pre-Hogwarts education
All Was Well
He'd gotten through a surprising amount of work by the time the knock came to his office door. His wife didn't wait for an answer, which Remus was thankful for, given the sleeping boy curled up on him. She let herself in and scoffed at the sight of them before he could even look up from the essay he was dotting with checkmarks and comments.
"Hey," he said quietly to avoid waking Teddy. "What are you doing here?"
"Sting went surprisingly well—you know how it is, old Death Eaters, they make mistakes… I got let go early," Dora said, easing the door shut behind her.
"And you decided to come here instead of taking the night to yourself?" Remus asked.
"I wanted to see my boys and make good use of the fact that the Aurors are the only Ministry personnel with direct lines to Hogwarts," she said.
"Not to mention McGonagall's open-door policy," Remus said. "You're always welcome here."
She slipped her Auror robes off and crept closer—something about spending more time around a sleeping child had made her much, much better at being quiet over the last few years, and maybe even a little bit agile. She leaned over the sleeping Teddy and kissed him quickly.
"I'll get you a chair," Remus said.
"No, no," she whispered back, pulling up her purple hair into a bun, exposing the row of rings and studs along and inside her ears. "I've been in the Defense Against the Dark Arts tower often enough…"
She had, and so she made herself at home and carefully lifted a chair closer—shockingly without dropping it or slamming it against his desk.
"Tell me about your day," she said, brushing at Teddy's wispy teal hair with her fingertips. He didn't stir. "What did you guys get up to?"
"Well, I let him have waffles for breakfast, so we got off to a really good start," Remus said. "We sat next to Flitwick, who turned his food different colours to match his hair the whole time, stretching out the breakfast-eating process by about half-an-hour…"
"Good, good," Dora nodded approvingly.
"We took a walk around the lake after," Remus said. "I was secretly meeting with a student to talk about a research project the whole time, but he was running ahead and picking up sticks so he didn't notice. He also did a great job at helping this student with their anxiety by initiating a really important conversation about lizards."
"Good job Teddy," Dora whispered to the sleeping boy, who still didn't stir.
"Then we were going to go visit Hagrid and the new litter of Nifflers that he's raising, but McGonagall needed an extra teacher to go to Hogsmeade with the students because she got whisked away to the Ministry," he explained. "So we went down to the village…"
"How much candy did you give him?" Dora cut.
"Such accusations!" Remus said.
"There's no way you went to Hogsmeade and resisted going to Honeydukes, and there's also no way that you resisted this child asking you for candy," Dora rationalized, crossing her arms but smiling nonetheless.
"I will admit that there was candy involved," Remus said. "How much, I will not disclose."
"You won't disclose?"
"That's between my son and I," Remus said. He kissed the top of the little boy's head and couldn't bite back a smile when he looked up again and met Dora's eye.
"Did you make him promise not to tell Mum?" Dora asked.
"I would never tell him to lie to you," Remus said. "But he was encouraged to keep this to himself."
"Right," Dora grinned. "He's a chatterbox, you know he can't."
"Well, I was hoping you'd both be at home when he spilled the beans," Remus said. "And by the time my next chunk of time off came around, you'd be so happy to see me again that you wouldn't bring it up."
Dora laughed. "Really? Is that so…"
"Yes," Remus smiled.
"Someone thinks highly of himself," she said, leaning forward to kiss his nose before leaning back in her chair. She swung her legs up so they rested on his knees. "Okay: so you fed our son a nondescript amount of candy in Hogsmeade that I will learn about later but forgive you for. What next?"
"We had lunch at The Three Broomsticks," Remus said. "We shared a chip butty. Madam Rosmerta brought him out a butterbeer."
"Wow. Good day to be Teddy."
"Very good. We ran into a study group while we were there and they pulled me aside for a quick recap on Grindylow life cycles. Teddy told them all about the one in your mother's backyard pond, and they loved it. It's like he's a little celebrity around here," Remus said. His hand was running up and down Teddy's arm absent-mindedly. "We went to Zonko's, and then to the pet shop to laugh at the fish. We sent Grandma a postcard from the post office, went to try out all the quills at Scrivenshaft's, and then he picked out some books from the stacks at Pendragon Press and we sat in the back to read stories…"
"He loves that," Dora said with a smile.
"His reading's getting really good," Remus said. "For his age, he's really good…"
"I barely get a word in when we read bedtime stories," Dora said. "And he narrates trips to the superstore like you have no idea. He wants to practise to make his dad proud."
Affection for this little boy swelled up in his chest.
"We did manage to visit the baby Nifflers too—Hagrid brought them up for us before dinner," Remus said with a smile. "He's decided he wants one."
"Did you delegate the task of talking him out of that to me too?" Dora asked.
"No, we went over why Nifflers aren't very good pets," Remus said. "We learned a lot about them, there was a book in the library that had quite nice pictures. Also, he wanted breakfast for dinner."
"That's because my son understands that breakfast is a state of mind, not a meal," Dora said.
Remus laughed. "After dinner, I took a patrol for McGonagall and he came with me. He loved running into students, chatting with the portraits, betting on which staircases would move… I may have shown him a secret passage or two, so if he starts looking for them around the flat, don't worry about it."
Dora laughed. "I don't think any other child has spent this much time getting to know the castle before even enrolling..."
"We came back here after because he wanted to colour. I started grading and and he fell asleep…"
He peered at the clock on his wall. "Wow. About three hours ago, now. Probably should have gotten him to bed…"
"No, he got his cuddles in this way," Dora said.
"He did," Remus said. "Jealous?"
"I'm here now," she smiled.
"I'm happy you are," Remus smiled. He reached out and took her hand. "I miss you two everyday when I'm overnighting at the castle, but when he sleeps over… I wish he'd never leave."
Dora smiled and squeezed his hand.
"Obviously we'd love to have you at home," Dora said. "But I can't even tell you how excited Teddy gets when I tell him I'm working nights. He loves it here. He loves the castle. He loves the things he learns here. And he loves you."
Remus smiled. Teddy stirred in his arms.
"Mama?" he whispered.
"Hi baby," Dora said, swinging her legs down and moving to crouch down so she was eye-level with Teddy. She pushed his hair out of his eyes. "Did you have a good day at Hogwarts?"
"Yeah," Teddy mused. "Are you gonna bring me home? I promise I'm learning lots here..."
"No, no," Dora promised. "Tonight's time with daddy, Mama just came to visit too."
"Good," Teddy hummed. "Can I stay with you and Daddy?"
"Of course," Remus said quietly. "Let's go get some sleep."