Author's note: Here's

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

Dedication: For the-bi-who-lived, who asked for Teddy being embarrassed by his parents. The username inspired this.

Content Warnings: NA

Caught In the Stacks

It had taken years for Remus to earn Madam Pinch's approval. Years. Years of good behaviour as a student (at least in the library), years of teaching on and off, and Merlin, he'd almost died at the Battle of Hogwarts a few steps away from the library, hadn't he? But finally, she had allowed him to browse the library after hours, trusting that he would fill out his library cards properly and leave them neatly stacked on his desk—often with a gift of sherbert lemons for her. It was the best time to browse the library too, since he wouldn't get ambushed in the stacks by students scrambling with essays in classes he didn't even teach or trapped into conversations with colleagues, so really Remus was feeling at the top of the world as he roamed the shelves lit by dimmed lanterns and torches. Until he took a sharp left and spotted the end of the row of books on Dragonology, that was.

Because there were two students there kissing one another with hungry mouths and wandering hands, which would have been Remus's problem anyways since he was technically a responsible adult, but one of the students was wearing robes rimmed with Hufflepuff House's canary yellow and had a shock of fluffy, colourful hair.

So really, this was Remus's problem problem.

He dropped the small pile of books he had gathered thus far down on a nearby shelf, hoping that the sound of books on wood would be enough to announce his presence but evidently it was not. Remus cleared his throat loudly but the two students didn't hear him. Oh, for the love of Merlin…

"Edward Lupin," he said finally, since he knew that the sound of his full name never failed to get his son's attention.

The sound of his father's voice probably also helped to snap Teddy out of his extracurriculars, which gave Remus a chance to recognize his partner-in-crime; a Slytherin boy in his year named Finn MacMillan. As panicked as Teddy looked at this turn of events, Finn looked especially devastated. He tugged his clothes back into place self-consciously.

"I do believe the library is closed," Remus said. "You might want to find your way back to your respective common rooms."

"Oh my God," Teddy blurted.

"Yes Professor Lupin," Finn said breathlessly. He looked at Teddy once before mouthing someone Remus didn't quite catch. He darted off, hauling his backpack onto his shoulder as he made a swift exit.

Teddy turned to look at Remus, looking mildly annoyed.

"Well thanks," he said sarcastically.

"I would have interrupted anybody, believe me, this was just a terrible coincidence for you," Remus said, crossing his arms. He looked over his shoulder, to where the other boy had disappeared. "Do you do that often, Teddy?"

"I don't want to talk about this with you."

"Finn is very nice," Remus said politely. "I've heard quite a lot of gossip and fawning about him, so you should consider yourself quite lucky, according to my understanding of the grand scheme of Hogwarts politics."

"Stop. Stop talking. Stop talking now," Teddy said, mortified. Remus bit back a grin and crossed his arms.

"So how long has this been going on?" he asked.

"There's no—that's not a… that's not of your business!" his son protested as loudly as he could.

"I'm your father, aren't I?"

"Does that mean you're not a professor who'll write me up?" Teddy asked, suddenly hopeful.

"No, no. I can multitask," Remus reassured him. "I contain multitudes."

"I know 'I hate you' is the cliché things for a 16-year-old to tell his father, but I kind of hate you right now,"

"That's alright," Remus said. He tucked his hands in his cardigan sleeves and leaned against a shelf. "But seriously, Teddy. How long has this been going on?"

"It's not—it's nothing that's…" Teddy shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other and ran a hand through his sky blue hair. Remus had noticed, just seeing his son in the Great Hall or in class, that Teddy's hair had been that shade fairly consistently. He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what Finn MacMillan's favourite colour was…

"It's nothing yet," Teddy said with a sigh. "It's just… we just like each other, okay? And it would be nice for it to become something, but it's not there yet."

"Okay," Remus said more gently. "Is he nice to you?"

"Yes, Dad," Teddy said, rolling his green eyes. "He's nice."

"You know I have to ask," Remus said. "As your father. Or else I'm a professor who should take ten points from both your houses, at a minimum."

"You can if you want, I'll hold the door for McGonagall tomorrow or something."

"You should do that either way," Remus said reproachfully. Still, he couldn't help but smile.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Teddy asked, crinkling his nose.

"Because I love you," Remus said. "And sometimes you grow up and do things that show me how grown up you are, and I remember how much I love you and how wonderful you are."

"Ewe, Dad."

"You have something red and wet on your neck."

"Ewe, Dad."

"Goodnight," Remus said, before wandering back to find his book. He smiled, entertaining himself with the last mortified face that Teddy had made. After all, what could he have possibly done to make this situation worse than it already was? He muttered to himself happily: "Mischief managed."

WC: 914