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Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the canon, world, and characters portrayed below and you can tell I'm not J.K. Rowling because #transrights

Warnings: NA

First Night Out

He swirled the wine in his glass and tried to settle down in his chair and relax. There was, after all, no reason to be stressed right now. He and Dora were just sitting in a restaurant, about to have a meal—a nice meal, by the look of the place that they had chosen. It was a Muggle restaurant too, and they'd snatched a table in the corner which meant that they were set for a rather quiet meal away from any interruptions and stares. Well, no more stares than Remus usually got for the scars on his face, anyways.

Dora was sitting across from him looking equally preoccupied and faraway, but far more beautiful. Her hair was swept up in a chignon and turned a deep purple for the occasion, which Remus recognized as the shade she'd worn when they'd eloped. It made sense, given that that was what they were here to celebrate. She was wearing a little black dress that wrapped around her loosely like a kimono, and her crystal blue eyes were lined with kohl. Remus wondered what had inspired the colour today since it wasn't one of her most frequent shades. Teddy's eyes had been blue all day; he wondered if Dora was thinking of him too. It was nearly all Remus could think about now.

He reached out across the table and Dora came back to reality and took his hand. He squeezed her fingers and she smiled.

"Wine's good," she said. "I haven't drank in ages."

"I'm glad it's worthwhile, then," he said. He poured her another glass from the bottle on their table and nudged it towards her when she didn't notice.

"Sorry," she said. She tipped her glass in a little toast before taking a sip. "I'm just worrying that Teddy's being colicky for Mum—he's been colicky all day."

"His afternoon nap really seemed to help," Remus pointed out.

"True," Dora said. "Then again, he might be due to crash… well, I was colicky, so Mum knows what she's doing."

"That she does," Remus said. "I did laundry this morning and showed her where the extra blankets were. They should smell like us enough to help."

"Nice touch," Dora said. Then she reached out and squeezed his hand across the table again. "Sorry, we shouldn't be talking about the baby—we're supposed to be real life adult humans right now."

"It is unnerving, a little bit," Remus said. Under the table, his foot was tapping the floor. "Just, you know… to be away from him."

"I know," Dora said. "It's the first time we've left him alone."

"Well, we did leave him to fight at Hogwarts," Remus pointed out. The war had been only a month ago, but Remus did not relish the memory of the night he had rushed to the castle, not knowing if he would come home and coming close not to seeing his wife or his son again at all…

"That doesn't count," Dora said, waving him away with her free hand. "There was far more adrenaline and just about an apocalypse involved."

"True," Remus said. "This is just… us. Well, not just us."

"We're not just anything," Dora said with a grin. She squeezed his hand.

"No," Remus said. "No we're not. I know it's been a difficult year. It's been… nearly impossible at times. But I wouldn't have made it through this war without you. You're everything to me. You and Teddy."

Dora smiled and brought his hand to her lips to kiss his knuckles.

"Teddy whom I'm quite missing right now," Remus admitted sheepishly.

"So much," Dora echoed, shaking her head. "Far more than is reasonable, frankly."

"Absolutely," Remus said. "It's madness, really."

"This baby's ruined us," Dora said. Remus laughed again. They rarely ever went out—it had been unwise for Order of the Phoenix members to wander about in public more than necessary over the last two years, after all, and at times Remus' lack of work had made things tight. Tonight had been supposed to be special, but neither of their hearts were into it.

"Well, maybe we don't order dinner," Remus said. "Maybe we just take the rest of this wine and order dessert to go and curl up in bed, with Teddy safely in our line of sight?"

"I would love that," Dora said. She looked over her shoulder, scanning the restaurant for their waiter. She turned back to him and smiled. "Well, maybe we can grab two bottles of wine."

Shipping Wars

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

List (Prompt): Summer Medium 2 (Holding Hands)

Word count: 750