Author's note: Enjoy!

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

Hogwarts: Assignment #1, Home Ec Task #3: Write about starting a new tradition

Content Warnings: NA

Sweet Precedents

Remus had known he'd missed his family since coming back to work. He'd known he had. It was strange to wake up alone in the Defense Against the Dark Arts wing of the castle, it was strange not helping Teddy pick a hair colour for the day, and it was strange to go this long without hearing his wife laugh. But he hadn't realized how much he'd missed his son until Teddy came for his first visit to the castle.

It just felt so good to be walking around Hogsmeade holding the little boy's hand and listening to him chatter about everything that had gone on in his first two weeks of first grade. It was as if he was walking Teddy to school or bringing him to the public library or running an errand, like the two of them had done a hundred times before. He had no regrets about taking the professor position at Hogwarts, but he'd missed being home with Teddy and spending so much time with him.

"And then Derek bit Meaghan and Miss Brown got really upset about it because he bit Joshua that morning too so that was two people he'd bitten now, and can I have my mittens again?" Teddy asked, pivoting mid-story.

"Sure," Remus said, fishing them out of his cloak pocket. The autumn weather couldn't quite decide what to do with itself today. "Did you want to go inside a shop for a little while, Teddy? Maybe warm up?"

"A cool one?" Teddy asked, suspiciously.

"I'm sure that could be arranged," Remus said. Then when he realized where in the village they'd wandered to, he smiled. "Perhaps even the coolest one."

Remus led Teddy to Honeydukes and pushed the door open for him. He froze in the doorway, jaw dropped.

The shop was absolutely buzzing with students, because of course it was—but there were so many sweets and confections and colourful things to look at that Teddy still had plenty to see.

"What is this place?" Teddy asked.

"The best place in the world," Remus said with a smile. "Honeydukes. Do you want to go inside or stand in the doorway all day?"

"Go inside! Am I allowed to choose something?" Teddy asked.

"It would be a shame not to," Remus said, gently pushing his son out of the doorway so that two Slytherin students who were cooing at Teddy could slip out of the shop. "How old are you?"

"Five years old."

"Five things, then," Remus said.

They left with way more than five things. Even if Remus's self control regarding sweets had been up to the task, he'd missed Teddy far too much not to be indulgent. Plus, they were a two-income family now, right? What was the point of that if not sweets?

He and Teddy did a few laps of the sweet shop because Teddy couldn't believe all the stuff he was seeing. One of the employees offered him a free sample of Taffy Tarantula Legs and Teddy had never looked happier. He kept asking Remus to lift him up so he could see the higher shelves properly, and he shook boxes of candy to hear the sweets rattle around inside as he carefully weighed which sweets to bring home. They had almost an entire basket filled when they finally ducked out of the shop, and sat in the park on the outskirts of town to dig into their purchases.

Teddy ate ravenously, and Remus was aware that he'd pay for this later. Maybe he'd swipe a Snitch from Rolanda's office for Teddy to chase around the grounds to burn off some energy. There would be no vegetables at supper, that much was sure.

"This is the best one," Teddy declared unilaterally when he'd finished chewing on a licorice wand.

"Are you sure?" Remus asked with a smile. "What about the Fudge Flies?"

Teddy's face fell as he reconsidered and Remus laughed.

"I'm teasing you," he promised. "Oh, look who I've got in my chocolate frog."

"Harry!" Teddy said with a toothy grin when he recognized the card Remus held up.

"You should add it to your collection," Remus said, handing it to him. He already had two, anyway.

Teddy looked at the spread of candy before him carefully before selecting a Pumpkin Patty in a bright orange wrapper. Remus kept munching on his chocolate frog.

"Oh no… We should save some for Mama," Teddy finally realized.

"I have some Sour Cherry Skeletons in my bag that you can bring home to her," Remus promised. "Don't worry."

"Oh good," Teddy said before picking another Pumpkin Patty from the pile. Remus smiled.

"Do you miss Mum?" Remus asked.

"A little bit," Teddy shrugged. "Like when she goes on missions. But I missed you before so it's okay."

Remus smiled sadly. He'd known this would be hard on Teddy, even with all the back-and-forth he'd managed to do, the letters he'd sent daily, the calls through the fireplace, and the visits—of which this would hopefully be the first of many.

"What are some things that we can do to make it easier for you when I'm at work or Mum's undercover and you can only be with one of us at a time?" Remus asked.

"Chocolate helps," Teddy said wisely. Remus burst out laughing.

"It usually does, yes," Remus said. "Well, I'll tell you what: we'll make this a tradition. Every time you come to Hogwarts, you and I will stop by Honeydukes, get as many sweets as we need, and catch up. That way, you have something to look forward to when you miss me. Okay?"

"Okay," Teddy agreed. He opened his chocolate frog and looked at the card. "Harry again! You keep this one."

"Alright," Remus agreed, slipping the card in his cloak pocket.

WC: 967