Author's note: Enjoy!

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.

Hogwarts: Assignment #6, Floristry, Task #12 Write about someone attempting to start over

Warnings: Estranged family, reunion

Regrets and Reunions

Remus regretted everything. He regretted ever thinking this would be a good idea, he regretted ever saying a word of it to Dora, he regretted letting her talk him into this, he regretted…

She put a hand on his knee, which he hadn't even realized was bobbing up and down nervously. She arched an eyebrow, tinted the same bubblegum pink as her even bangs and bouncing curls.

"Do you want to hold the baby?" she asked. Her eyes were the same bright baby blue Teddy's had been for a few days now—he didn't think she knew how happy that made him. "Would that settle you down?"

Before Remus could respond, his father returned to the parlour carrying a tray loaded with cups of tea and slices of lemon blueberry cake. Remus had never known Lyall Lupin to bake, and wondered at what point of their long separation this development had occurred.

He thanked his father politely for the tea and passed a cup to Dora. Teddy was sleeping against her, oblivious to the expedition he had motivated and the shock he had given his grandfather. As he slept, his hair transitioned softly from blues to pinks to greens and pinks again. It made Remus think vaguely of the Northern lights. Regardless of how unaware the sleeping baby was, watching Teddy's belly rise and fall as he breathed soothed Remus. It reminded him of why he had dragged himself and his family back to Wales, even if he hadn't been eager to do it...

"Thank you," Dora said, taking the cup from Remus. She took a sip before looking around the living room again. "You have a beautiful home, Mr Lupin."

"Please," his father said. "Call my Lyall. You… you're my daughter-in-law, after all."

Dora smiled and nodded, but didn't add anything more. She looked from Lyall to Remus expectantly. Remus had tried to warn her just how awkward this might be… His wife was hardy, but too optimistic for the Lupin family.

She was saved by Teddy, who woke up and immediately started whining and crying. The short, low-pitches cries that rose and fell senselessly told Remus that the baby was most likely hungry.

He reached out, but Dora swatted him away. She got up, repositioning Teddy against her.

"You two catch up, I'll go feed him," she said, one hand brushing Remus' shoulder. She turned back to Lyall. "Is there a place, that..?"

"Yes, umm, the kitchen has quite a nice view of the beach and a very comfortable chair…" Lyall offered.

"Thank you," Dora said, shooting Remus a look like get on with it before excusing herself. He was sad to see the two of them gone, anxious to be left alone…

"She's radiant," Lyall said a few seconds after she was gone. Remus had been making efforts not to meet his father's eye, but he couldn't ignore that.

"She is," he admitted. "She's… everything, well, nearly everything to me—now that there's a baby too..."

Lyall nodded along.

"Are you two married?" Lyall asked.

"We are," Remus said. "She just doesn't wear her ring on her finger, because she's an Auror. It's on a chain around her neck, she usually tucks it away."

"I see."

"She has Mum's engagement ring," Remus said.

"I see," Lyall said again. "When did that happen?"

"That Mum gave me her ring? Ages ago," Remus said. I never thought I would need it, but I couldn't say no to her.

"I meant the wedding."

"Last May," Remus said. "It was small. Actually, we eloped."

"Right," Lyall nodded. "And what about Teddy? When was his birthday?"

"April 14th," Remus said. "Just before sunrise."

Lyall nodded.

Remus swallowed.

"It was a hard year," Remus said. "It was… a hard few years. I could have written."

"You could have," Lyall said.

That got under Remus's skin like a bee sting, even if he had admitted it first. His father shouldn't have just agreed...

"I could have, as could you," Remus said. He scratched the back of his head nervously and took a deep breath. "I had… there was a lot to do in the war and I had a lot to work through. Dora can attest to that, she stood by me in ways I never could have imagined or dreamed."

Lyall shook his head. "The war, again… I knew you would be involved again, but… were you hurt? During that big battle at Hogwarts?"

"I spent three days in St. Mungo's," Remus said shortly. "Dora suffered a concussion, but both of us are thankfully well."

Dad nodded. "And... the baby?"

"What exactly are you asking me about the baby?" Remus asked. His father didn't seem to know what to say. He saw the calculations in Lyall's head before he ultimately decided to err on the side of caution, but Remus wasn't in the mood for it. Not for euphemisms, not for abstractions, not for any of it.

"Is he healthy?" Lyall hazarded.

"If you're asking if Teddy's like me, the answer is no," Remus said. "You're not allowed to look happy or relieved about that—as if it would have changed your life or affected you. If the illness had passed on to Teddy, I wouldn't have brought him here in a million years, either. Because if it had, I would have been able to give him what he needed to be safe and healthy and well, and Dora would have loved him enough to make it all okay. His life would have been complicated, and it's for the best that he's just human, but I would have made it a good life."

Lyall looked caught off guard by this, and maybe Remus was too. He was usually much quieter. Much more polite. Much calmer. Remus sighed and tapped back into those parts of himself.

"You and I haven't had the best relationship," Remus said cautiously. "The reasons why aren't mysterious."

His father shifted awkwardly in his seat, looked around for something else to do, but Remus was right.

"You lost my trust in a big way when I found out why Greyback came after me," Remus said. "That was something even Mum couldn't fix between us, though Merlin knows she tried until her dying breath."

Lyall looked at his shoes.

"I don't blame you for making me a werewolf," Remus said. "I'm… we're past that, now, and I have a good life. I do hold you responsible for the amount of fear and secrecy and anxiety and self-loathing you instilled in me because of it, however."

Lyall looked up and opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but Remus raised his hands. This was the extension of an oil branch, not a discussion.

"I think we can do better," Remus said. "I think we can be better to each other than we have until now, and Teddy… Teddy already lost one grandfather during the war. I think he's a good chance of us to try to do better."

Against Remus' expectations, his father got up and crossed the parlour. He extended a hand to Remus. When Remus shook it, Dad pulled him up and wrapped his arms around him.

"I missed you," he mumbled into Remus' shoulder.

Remus sighed again, and wrapped his arms around Lyall in an awkward hug.

"It's alright," Remus promised. "We're done with that."

Stacked with: Hogwarts; Shipping War; Link Maker; Spring Bingo

Individual Challenge(s): Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; LEO MC; Professor MC; Rian-Russo Inversion; Small Fry; Old Shoes; In a Flash

Word Count:

Shipping Wars

Ship (Team): Nymphadora Tonks/Remus Lupin (Technicolour Moon)

List (Prompt): Spring Medium 2 (Tea)

Spring Bingo

Square (Prompt): 2D (Pink)