Author's note: Okay, first off I take no responsibility for the accuracy of the "anniversary gifts by year" in this story. Every list on the internet is doing its own thing. As you are going to see, this chapter got out of hand really fast. Many times I told myself "hey… hey remember how this is your drabble series?" but I just kept typing words and it didn't stop. And then I thought of making this a oneshot, but it references Margo and the Other Moon Cooperative and other things that are unique to this collection's verse, so I'm just going to let this happen. I suppose I could have saved this for the 100th chapter, but I really couldn't wait to show all of you, so happy 90th chapter! I'm truly thankful you are all still enjoying this. Your reviews really make my day and help make this story a good escape for me.
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: Thanks to Keepsmiling1 for helping me figure out the "Crystal" section of this and to Aya for tolerating me while I screamed about this, oops.
Content Warnings: Palliative care (last scene); some citrusy and suggestive content
Years of Gifts
1: Paper
Teddy had been particularly fussy today; she could tell from how tired Remus looked when she got home from work. Still, one of her favourite suppers was on the table, warm and delicious as always followed shortly by a giant platter of lemon bars with a shortbread crust she had once accidentally called "better than sex" in front of her father. Since Teddy was refusing to drink from his bottle, she sat on the couch to nurse him and Remus brought dessert to her.
"What's the occasion?" she asked jokingly—not expecting there to be an answer, never mind the one that Remus came up with.
"Our anniversary," he said plainly.
It was as if the world had dropped out from under her feet.
"Holy shit," she said. "It's…"
"June 30th," Remus said. "We were in Scotland a year ago. The Lestranges had nearly offed us, and we were drinking it off in a tavern when you said you didn't want to die without being married to me. You said it so honestly that I believed you, and I had just enough Firewhiskey in me to ask you if you wanted to ask the bartender and do it tonight. Remember?"
"Of course I remember marrying you. I just completely forgot that that was today," she confessed. There was no use in lying to him, was there? It was obvious enough.
"It's okay," Remus promised, putting a hand on her knee. "I didn't want to make this a whole thing."
"Well… it should be a whole thing!" she protested. "We're married. We've been married a whole year. And not just any year; a year where we made a baby and survived a war. A year from hell."
"A good year," Remus smiled. He squeezed her knee. "Still, Teddy's so little and you're so swamped at work—even though you're still supposed to be on maternity leave—that I thought you had enough on your plate."
"I want you on my plate though," she protested. "That's the point."
"Well, you can take care of next year then," Remus said.
"And you won't lift a single muscle to do something romantic or sweet, or even helpful?" she asked.
"If that's what you want," he said.
"Hmm… I suppose that's fair, then," she said. "You get one year to go nuts, I get to go nuts the next, and we even out."
"Does that mean I can give you your present?"
"Merlin, there's a present? I'm not winning wife of the year this year, am I?" she asked.
"You're running unopposed," Remus teased before kissing her temples. "Do you want it?"
"Yes," she said.
"Okay, I know it's old-fashioned…"
"From you? Colour me shocked."
Remus rolled his eyes but there was still a smile on his lips.
"Do you want it?"
"Yes," she said, her smile matching his. He reached into his back pocket and retrieved a paper envelope.
"Paper's the traditional gift, when you've been married one year," he said.
"I think I've heard that somewhere," she said. She readjusted Teddy on his nursing pillow so she could take the envelope he was offering her and unfolded it. As it turned out, the envelope had been made by cleverly folding a sheet of paper. When she opened it, a series of equally cleverly folded paper stars rained down onto her lap like a meteor shower. Some of them were on their own, but others had been made into a garland with a thin, transparent thread that might have been a fishing line. Each star was made of a different coloured paper, and she immediately imagined them draped over her desk and looped around her corkboard at the Auror Office.
"They're supposed to be lucky," Remus said. "I figure since I have all the luck in the world, being with you and having Teddy, I should share."
Her heart swelled not only because of what he said but because of the matter-of-fact way he always delivered his absolute sweetest lines—as if it was obvious, when really it wasn't outside of his beautiful brain.
She leaned forwards to kiss him and carefully lined up the paper stars on the side table before scooching closer to him to snuggle. Teddy unlatched for a second and made his displeasure known, but he settled back down soon enough. Thank goodness he was a happy eater.
She rested her head on his shoulder and he looped an arm around her.
"It really has been one hell of a year," she said softly as she toyed with her lucky stars.
"It really has," Remus said.
"I wouldn't have survived it without you."
"I wouldn't have had a reason to without you," he said. "I know I… I know I've faltered. I know I've been at my absolute lowest and worst and most afraid, and it came out on you…"
"We don't need to talk about that," she said.
"We do. So that I can tell you how much of a better man you've made me. So I can tell you just how happy I am to be here and how thankful I am that you found the patience to have me in your life," Remus said.
"You know, you need to stop acting like it's a burden for me to be here. I like being married to you."
It was blunt and straightforward, and that made Remus smile.
"I like being married to you too," he said softly.
"I like our cozy life and our cozy little moments like this," she said, closing her hand around one star made of pink and green striped paper. "But I do think we're worth making a fuss about."
"Then let's," Remus said.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Let's make a fuss," he said. "Let's have the wedding we couldn't have had last year, in the middle of a war that was just getting worse."
"We're already married."
"I did not think that Nymphadora Tonks Lupin was one to talk her way out of a party."
She smiled so hard at that one that she let the use of her full name go. He had a quota of once a week, and this was a good usage of it.
"A party, huh?"
"We can invite our family, our friends," Remus said. "Eat cake, drink wine, dance."
"You've given this some thought."
"Maybe I like being married to you so much, I've thought about seeing you in a white dress once or twice," he said. That made her smile, just as Teddy finished up eating. Remus passed her a burping cloth that she threw over her shoulder before propping up Teddy against her. Remus zipped up her hoodie for her, since no single person in the world had enough hands for a baby.
"Okay, but on one condition," she said.
"What is it?" he asked with a smile.
"We keep this day as our anniversary, no matter when we have this party you speak of," she said.
"Deal," he said.
"And you don't lift a finger next year, it's my turn to celebrate," she said. "And we'll keep alternating after that."
"Deal," he said.
2: Cotton
He knew that he wouldn't see Dora until later that night, since she had worked an overnight shift and would only stumble home after 9:00—after he would have taken Teddy to the park to give her a free run of the flat to shower, change into her softest pajamas, and sleep off whatever she'd been up to. Still, he wasn't expecting to see a package wrapped in leftover Christmas wrapping paper at the foot on the kitchen island when he wandered out of bed to go make tea before Teddy woke up. The note he found was written in all caps, like every note Dora ever left, with a sharpie.
REMUS
OPEN NOW
DON'T TRY TO BE POLITE AND WAIT FOR ME
LOVE YOU
-T
He smiled and got the kettle going before tearing at the paper, finding the soft dress shirts inside. The cotton they were made of was soft and breathable and there was a variety of colours before him—navy blue, sky blue, forest green, snow white, wine-deep burgundy… There was another note tucked between two of the shirts.
Remus,
I know this is kind of, sort of incredibly boring, but you never buy yourself new clothes and since anniversary #2 is all about cotton for some reason, I saw my chance and took it.
Also, you get to test try one of these shirts tonight. We have a dinner reservation at a restaurant I think you'll like; Harry will give you the address when he comes by to babysit Teddy at 7:00. I'm crashing at my mum's because I don't want to spoil the surprise but I know that I'd sing like a bird after one look from you. It's going to be good though, I promise!
See you later,
Dora
PS- If you want to make sure we don't clash, my hair will be that eggplant colour you like and I will be wearing a very, very cute black dress the whole world should consider itself lucky to see me in.
PPS- I forgot about a card but I'll think of a way to make it up to you tonight, I'm sure. Feel free to use that beautiful mind of yours to come up with ideas.
3: Leather
"Here, that's better," Remus said as he buttoned the gloves to tighten them around her wrist with the vintage copper button that was there.
"That's a nice fit," she said. Her hand slipped away from his for a moment as she pulled them back and examined her new duelling gloves. They fit her… well, like gloves.
"Where on earth did you get dragon leather so soft?" she asked as she ran one hand's fingertips against the other's palm.
"I have my ways," Remus said.
"Merlin, you didn't slay a dragon yourself, did you?"
"It would be pretty cool of me if I had, would it not?"
"Hot, even," she said with a smile and a wink.
She held her hands out in front of her and looked at the black gloves once again, examining the careful stitching around the top and bottom of the gloves, above the bones of her wrist and just under the second knuckle on her fingers. Her anniversary present had started with a surprise appointment to get her nails done, since she reckoned Remus had anticipated that she would spend a long time admiring her hands like the clever man that he was. But the duelling gloves were really something to behold. They had already been broken in and they were so comfortable and well-shaped, that she suspected that he had found them in some magical antiquary and tailored them for her—quite possibly himself.
"I thought they'd match your usual boots quite well," Remus said. "And your wand holster…"
"They do," she said, flexing her hands. "And hopefully, since they're dragon leather, they'll actually last a while instead of the shite ones the Auror Office gives us."
"Hopefully," Remus said. His eyebrows furrowed with worry then, and he took one of her hands in both of his to admire them. "I don't like the idea of you chasing down dark wizards and stalking suspects with cracked or torn gloves and other improper safety gear."
"You and me both," she said, examining her hands. That only deepened the furrow between her eyebrows. The remaining Death Eaters in Britain were getting wilier and were hiding deeper in the Wizarding World's dark underbelly and nooks and crannies than they had before; she'd been on quite a few undercover missions lately, and she knew he was worried.
"There's a few extra spells on them," he said. "Including a sticky hand charm to make disarming you a bit more difficult, and some fireproof spells…"
"You really haven't gotten over that time Rabastan Lestrange tried to scorch my hands when I was bringing him in," she observed.
Remus shook his head and took her hands again, examining them once more even if they didn't bear a single scratch or burn or mark from that particular duel.
"You're too precious not to be wrapped up and protected as much as humanly possible," he said.
"Well, I'll try to remember that when I'm wearing these gloves," she said. "But do you know what the best part of these is, babe?"
"What?"
"Since they cover enough of my hand, I get to wear my wedding ring in the field," she said with a smile.
4: Flowers
They had run away to the Black summer villa in France that Dora had inherited by default after Bellatrix Lestrange had died in the Battle of Hogwarts. It was on the darker side, as far as origin stories went, but really nobody was complaining about the fact that they had somewhere to run away to and get some sun. Although it was dark now, as they sat on the sand with their feet stretched out into the water so that the incoming tide would lap at their calves. Dora, who had insisted that he not lift a finger to help since it was her year to put something together, had dragged out a few lanterns to light up the night and Remus had a baby monitor propped up in the sand in case Teddy woke up inside. If there was one thing he could appreciate about Muggles, it was baby monitors. What godsends.
"I want you to be extremely proud of me for not breaking this on the way to France," Dora said as she handed him his present.
"I am extremely proud of you for not breaking this on the way to France," Remus said with a smile as he accepted it. This year, it was wrapped in leftover rainbow wrapping paper from Teddy's birthday and there was even a card on it. Remus started there.
I tried to write a card this year to be really fancy about it. It's been four years, so I feel like I should. But I don't quite have the words to say how much I love you, so I'll say I love you and call it good enough. Try again in a few years? I think we have many of those to look forward to, so I'll be sure to practise.
Love,
Your Dora
He smiled and leaned forwards to kiss her as he started tearing at the wrapping paper.
"Merlin, be so careful, it made it all the way to France," Dora said against his lips when she realized he was multitasking. He laughed as he finished tearing the paper, carefully, and examined the long, flat object inside. It took him a while to peg the material for what it was: a transparent sheet of resin, held together in a bronzish frame. And then, frozen in the resin like a bug trapped in amber, was a series of pressed flowers.
"Do you recognize them?" Dora asked as he examined the flowers. He gave it a second longer, to try and put one and two together. White anemones, baby's breath, a white dahlia…
"Those were your wedding flowers," he remembered. "Not the ones we picked outside the tavern when we eloped, the ones from the ceremony we had with Teddy and our friends and family and all of that."
Dora's shoulders relaxed as he recognized the flowers. She always got so anxious about gift-giving, Remus was only inclined to fawn about the flowers more.
"They're not the real ones," she said apologetically. "I wasn't wise enough to keep that bouquet around, whoops, but Mum remembered what florist she went to and they were happy to reconstruct when I showed them the bouquet."
"This is beautiful," Remus said. He lifted up the frame by the chain it was on and examined the frame as it twisted gently. "I could hang this in the kitchen window, it'll catch all that night in the morning."
"Sure," she said as the waves lapped up and tickled her ankles. "That sounds like a good spot for it."
Remus gently spread the wrapping paper like a picnic blanket so he'd have a safe spot to put down the resin art before pulling Dora close. He kissed her forehead, her nose, her lips.
"I love your anniversary gifts," he promised, as if sensing the nervousness bubbling under her skin.
"I never feel as if they're as good as yours," she said quietly.
"They're always perfect," he promised. "Just like you."
5: Wood
"Can I shake it?" she paused to ask as she lifted the box to her ear. Remus nodded.
"I don't get you presents that you can't shake," he said with a smile as he took another sip of his tea. They had eaten so well during dinner that they hadn't had room for the complimentary cheesecake that their waiter had brought upon hearing that it was their five-year anniversary, but that hadn't stopped them from devouring it. Nor had it stopped them from ordering another slice when they'd fallen in love with the chocolate cookie crust under all that creamy goodness. They'd come home thoroughly stuffed and had been sipping on mint tea to beg their stomachs for forgiveness ever since, with little to no success.
"It really has been five years, huh?" Dora said with a smile. She gave the present a few shakes and when it kept stumping her, she ripped the corner of the wrapping paper to examine her present closer before looking at it. Teddy loved watching her unwrap the Christmas and birthday presents he picked up for her, so she'd gotten more methodical in her unwrapping and it made him smile to watch.
She examined the oak box in front of her and mouthed the words inscribed on the sides of the box, running her fingers against the delicate stars engraved on the top and the pine trees growing along the sides of the box. They made her smile, and she only smiled more when she found the ratchet underneath the box. She looked up at him, arching one of her pink eyebrows.
"Should I crank it?" she asked.
"Twist it four or five times before cracking the lid," Remus said as he nursed his cup and watched. She did and smiled as the music poured out once she cracked the lid. The music box was relatively simple; there was a drawer at the bottom and a few slots where she could store rings or necklaces—which would be an improvement over her current system which was to scatter them across their bedroom, leave them in her pockets, leave them in a tangled knot in the back of her bathroom shelf, and then yell Accio whenever she needed something specific to wear. The back of the lid had a mirror on it too, framed by different spots where earrings could be kept. But the main draw to it, aside from the music coming up, was the series of lights that danced above the box like will'o-the-wisps. Remus had Lily to thank for teaching him that particular charm, and he had Andromeda to thank for use of the piano on which he'd recorded the music for this particular contraption.
"This is the song my mum always played for my dad," she said. "When I was little…"
"She told me it was the first piece of Muggle music she learned how to play for him," Remus said. "She played it at our wedding, but I think you might have been slightly too tipsy to dance at that point."
"It's not my fault I was such a lightweight, I'd just had a baby," Dora said though she focused on the twinkling lights dancing to the rhythm of the music with an intensity and a concentration that he'd only seen during a few select Order missions—or the first time she'd cut Teddy's fingernails as a baby.
And then when the music stopped she closed the box and immediately cranked it again to listen to the music again, and that was all the endorsement Remus needed for a smile to split his face. He took another sip of his tea and sunk deeper into their couch.
6: Iron
"So, I think this might be cheating," Dora said as she put her wine glass down and pulled her legs against her chest. "Because this isn't entirely iron, it's mostly glass, truth be told, but the frame is iron, so I feel like I'm satisfying our terms and conditions."
"Okay…" Remus said, not sure where she was going with this prologue. And since they had been married six years today, he was also wise enough not to even try and guess. He just tore through the present she'd given him, wrapped in brown paper and red ribbons. His fingers touched something cold as soon as he tore through the paper: something cool, flat, and uniform. His hunch was confirmed when he pulled all the paper off and found himself holding a pair of two-way mirrors.
"Do you know what they are?" she asked.
"Two-way mirrors," he smiled, examining the runes engraved on the back of the mirror. "Sirius and James used to have a set."
"That's where I got the idea," Dora admitted. "Although, to be clear, Sirius isn't getting either of these. We could technically loop him in, I suppose—but these are for you and me."
"So I could deduce from this," Remus said, gesturing towards their flat's balcony where she had tied white balloons and hung a "Happy Anniversary!" banner that Teddy had evidently helped to colour. Not to mention that the wine they were drinking was good wine.
She abandoned her glass of wine and scooted across the balcony to come curl up against him, stealing part of the blanket he had thrown over his legs. She rested her cheek against his chest.
"I missed you lots while you were at Hogwarts," she confessed.
"I missed you too," he said, kissing the top of her head. Not to mention how he'd missed Teddy. Having them sneak into the castle, spend weekends with him, and running away from Hogwarts himself couldn't in a million years make up for being so far from them. He wouldn't pretend that he hadn't considered, once or twice, that taking his old job back had been a terrible idea. The fact that Teddy's birthday had fallen on Easter break this year, and the fact that their anniversary was in the summer when he was home, was lucky.
"It helps when I get to see your face," she said. "Especially when it lights up because you're talking about your students or a really good class. So, I decided to problem-solve."
"And Problem-solve you did," Remus said. He buried his nose in her hair a second longer. "These are incredible. Thank you."
She snuggled into him some more, making a pleased humming sound that was maybe 'you're welcome.' A beat passed before she looked up.
"Do you want me to run inside so we can test our new toys?" she asked.
"Yes," Remus said with a grin, handing her one of the mirrors. "I'll climb down the fire escape."
7: Wool
"Did you make these?" Dora asked as her jaw dropped. It seemed the most likely option, but the pair of socks she was holding was beautiful. The colours of the yarn transitioned from Egyptian blue to magenta, pine green to yellow, grass green to white and back again…
"Molly taught me," Remus said, seeming pleased with himself. "I saw the yarn and thought of you and… well, that's about as far as I got on my own, I was fairly hopeless. I think we can just about confirm that she's a miracle worker, not a witch."
Dora grinned as she examined his handiwork. She didn't know much about socks or knitting or anything remotely domestic—her mother had given up on her ages ago, and by having Remus around she hadn't really had a need to learn. But this definitely seemed like a lot of work. The yarn was so thin, and the stitches were so tiny… She tried to imagine how long it would take to make a single sock, let alone a pair, and then abandoned the project even hypothetically.
Since it was summer, she had an easy time kicking off her flip-flops and trying on the socks for size. It was sticky hot in their apartment despite the cooling spells Remus had been recasting every few hours, but the socks were still comfortable and soft.
"How do they fit?" Remus asked anxiously.
"Like they were made for me," she said with a grin. "How long have you been working on these?"
"I think I realized that I would be the one coming up with a gift on our 'wool' year… five years ago?" he said.
She burst out laughing.
8: Salt
"I'm sorry," Remus said as he followed her to the bathroom, still only half-awake. His brain was so fuzzy, he couldn't even remember what she had asked him to follow her for. While that wasn't rare for the day after the full moon, he had been hopeful that he would feel better by the time evening came around.
"Don't be," Dora said. "It was bound to happen eventually, wasn't it? The timing, and all."
"I suppose so, but still…"
"Remus Lupin, you do not control the cycle of the moon. You have nothing to be sorry for," she insisted.
"I still feel bad that I have absolutely no energy to celebrate our anniversary," Remus said. He had been sleeping most of the day after the full moon, of course, but he still felt like he'd been run over by a train. His handful of transformations without Wolfsbane, when he left Hogwarts for the summer, were always particularly ferocious.
"And what makes you think that your incredible wife hadn't thought of that in advance?" she said. "And what makes you think that once she did, she didn't want to do something special for you anyways?"
She pushed open the door to the bathroom to show it glowing with candlelight. The bathtub itself was full of steaming hot water and frothy bubbles, there were flowers on the vanity by the sink, and there was a cup of tea waiting for him on the edge of the bathtub along with the book he was currently reading. The whole room smelled like vanilla and cypress oil.
Remus could feel his shoulders already relaxing as the hot water called to him. She kissed his cheek while he looked over the bathroom.
"Anniversary number eight is 'salt,'" she said. "If anything, the timing is perfect."
"You're perfect," he said.
"Just for you," she said, kissing his cheek again. "I do think this is the fanciest bath anybody has ever drawn, and I cast a temperature-retaining charm on the water so you can soak for as long as you like."
"I'm so excited," Remus confessed.
"And I didn't even tell you the best part."
"What could that possibly be?" he asked.
"I'll join you in there after I drop off Teddy at mum's," she said, wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing the top of his shoulder. "See you in a few."
9: Willow
Remus smiled when he saw her, all dressed up for dinner at a fancy restaurant. She had actually dressed fancy too, since he had gone to a lot of trouble to get a Portkey to Italy where they would be eating tonight—since she had been upset for a few weeks now that she'd had to drop out of a work trip to Rome when one of the Death Eaters she'd tracked down years ago had appealed his sentence, and she'd had to stick around England to testify before the Wizengamot.
"I feel like I'm getting a gift even if it's decisively not my year," he said.
"Sure," Tonks said as she rolled her eyes, though she was rather pleased. She'd kept her turquoise hair long, that way she could curl it and pin it into an updo studded with glittery silver bobby pins. And the long black dress she was wearing, well, that always had an effect on anyone with eyes and any kind of good sense, didn't it?
Remus smiled and gave her another look before hesitating.
"One second," he said before ducking out of the bedroom. He returned a few moments later with a small black velvet case and handed it to her.
"I had this whole plan for giving them to you in a botanical garden et cetera, but really I think they would match so well with the rest of your outfit that you would be mad at me for making you wait until after dinner," Remus said.
"I'm already on the stunning side of things, but alright," she said, accepting the case he handed her and the kiss on her cheek. She cracked it open and smiled when she saw the earrings inside, tracing them with one finger.
"What kind of plant is this?" she asked quietly. "No, wait, I know this! Nine years is willow."
"Nine years is willow," he nodded, picking up the dangling white gold earrings from the case. They were shaped like long, undulating willow branches studded with leaves. She tilted her head to the side so he could gently put the earrings in her ears and shook her head slightly, satisfied by the way they dangled and swished. He chuckled and she shot him a smile before tilting her head the other way so he could put in the second earring.
"See, I'm most familiar with the Whomping Willow, however," Remus explained.
Tonks froze.
"Should I… should I be afraid of these?" she asked.
"No, no," Remus said. "See, I always liked the Whomping Willow because by protecting itself it always protected me."
"Even if it's the most batshit insane tree in the world," Tonks mumbled.
"Even so," Remus nodded. "So it gave me an idea; these earrings are infused with a charge of Protego—similarly to the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes products. If there's a spell that flies within two feet of you while you're wearing them, the earrings will deploy a shield charm. They each have one charge, though I suppose I could recharge them… try not to need them, however."
"I'll try," she said, touching her fingertips to one earring and smiling again. "But you know, I am in the mood for some trouble tonight…"
"Some trouble?" Remus asked with a smile. "Hopefully none that you'll need a shield charm for."
"Oh, I'm not hoping to shield anything at all," she said. Then she kissed him. "Come on, now that I'm looking extra spiffy, let's go off to one of the most romantic cities in the world."
10: Tin
For their tenth anniversary, they found their way back to the tavern where they had first eloped, tucked in the middle of nowhere. Well, not nowhere, the Scottish Highlands. The bartender had been old as time way back when, so it wasn't particularly surprising that he wasn't still around. Still: the same bar was on tap, the menu hadn't changed. When Remus ordered the same thing he'd ordered on the night that they'd walked into this tavern to hide from Death Eaters and walked out married—ham, egg, and chips with an ale—she smiled and ordered the same fish and chips she'd gotten that night too.
While they waited for their food, she put the gift bag that he'd been gracious enough not to tease her about carrying on the table. One of Teddy's friends from Muggle school had brought it to him, so it was covered in colourful and pleasantly round cartoon characters that she didn't quite recognize.
"Okay, I'm really proud of this one," she said with a smile. "I mean, I have to thank Hermione for pointing me in the direction of the antique shops you two found in London, but I'm very proud."
"And I'm very intrigued," Remus said with a smile. He pulled the yellow silk paper out of the bag and folded carefully.
"We don't need to reuse it," she pointed out.
"Well, now we can," he said with a shrug before going back into the bag for his present. His jaw dropped when he took the antique tea tins out of the bag; still in good shape though the paint was fading on some parts of the aluminum.
"Wow," he said. "Wow, wow, wow… How old are these?"
"One is 1934 and the other is 1956," she said. "I think. I wrote it down to be sure, there's a paper in my top desk drawer…"
As Remus investigated the tins, he heard the leaves shift within it and his face brightened even more.
"Is there tea in them too?" he asked.
"Of course there is," she said. "I know who I married. Ten years ago."
"Ten years ago," Remus said, reaching across the table to take her hand so he could raise it to his lips and kiss her knuckles.
11: Steel
"I feel like such a grown-up," she said, holding his arm for balance as they stumbled out of the winery (which was definitely not a very wise choice since this was the fifth stop on their wine tour and he wasn't stable enough to make up for her clumsiness as he usually was). "I mean, only adults do this kind of thing, right?"
"Right," Remus said. "That's why we're doing this, right?"
"Right."
"Right."
She laughed at him, which made him laugh at her because the world was pretty fun and light at this point of the wine tour. Plus, they were getting extra generous servings of wine since another couple on the wine tour had made a big fuss about the rain ruining their experience—for reasons Remus couldn't understand since he wasn't sure what their plan had been for how exactly had any of the staff here been supposed to control or fix that. Whatever, it was working out well for him and Dora.
"That white wine was so good," she mused. "And the other lady at our table didn't even touch hers! What a tragedy. I should have smuggled it out by… Well, I don't know why, but I'm an Auror so I could probably figure something out, right?"
"Right," Remus said, nodding vigorously. "Wait—I can help with this! Well, your present can."
He reached into the pocket of his raincoat, which he'd cleverly equipped with an extension charm earlier in the day, and his pockets found the pink bow that topped off the package. Her jaw dropped when she saw it.
"I get a present?"
"It's our anniversary," Remus reminded her—which he was only confident in because he'd written a small note to that effect on the package itself.
"Oh my gosh," she breathed and giggled. "We're married like grown-ups."
"Yeah, we are very married," Remus said with a giggle of his own. It was just so good that they were married; he was sure that that was true with or without wine.
"Are you ready to get back on the bus and proceed to our next destination?" a tour guide (who was probably used to dealing with this kind of thing) asked them gently.
"Yes!" Dora said, grabbing his hand. "Yes, come on Remus, we have to get on the bus."
"Right, right, right," he said. "Open your present on the bus."
So they slipped back into their seats before Dora tore at the wrapping of the present. She gently placed the pink bow behind Remus's ear and kissed his nose.
"So handsome," she said before tearing at the wrapping paper far less carefully. Remus shoved the scraps of wrapping paper into her pockets as the bus drove off again and Dora cacked gleefully when she saw the stainless steel flash he'd gotten her. Her initials were engraved in the bottom corner in bold capital letters, and on the flask's bottle—so she and only she would see it—he'd carefully used a spell to engrave: I love all the trouble you've gotten me into; here's to making more.
Dora giggled and kissed him more boldly than he'd usually want her to in public, but they were on their way to their sixth winery after all.
"This is going to be so useful," she said with a big smile on her face. He giggled some more.
12: Linen
"This is so heavy," Remus commented as he picked up the box she'd left on the kitchen island, waiting for him.
"Correct," she nodded. "Which is why it didn't come to the Natural History Museum, happy hour, or to the restaurant with us."
"Fair enough," Remus said with a smile, putting it down again. He stopped for a second to catch the can of cider she'd tossed him from the fridge and waited for her to wander back to the kitchen island before picking at the snowman-themed wrapping paper.
The box was full of notebooks with soft, linen covers in a rainbow of colours. There were soft pastel colours like the ones Teddy wore, electrifyingly colourful and bright ones that made him think of her, and more neutral and standard blacks, greys, browns, and taupes that… well, were boring enough to be part of his palette. He was so outnumbered in this family.
"I got somewhat carried away when they asked me what colour I wanted to order," she mused. "But hey, you're stocked up now for maybe a year."
"Maybe," Remus laughed. He gently took one of the many notebooks out of the lineups and held it up. Across the island from him, he saw her hair shift to the same pale shade of apple green as the cover of the book.
He burst out laughing and she smiled at herself proudly. New freckles bloomed across her cheeks and nose to go with the change, which also brought out the natural grey of her eyes even more.
Remus pulled out an orange notebook next, the same shade as the apricot jelly Andromeda made every summer. She shifted her hair again and it curled up, shortening and changing itself into a mullet. Her eyes almost glowed amber now and Remus laughed again.
"Are you guys being inappropriate?" Teddy called from his room, where he'd been barricaded for the day with the Nintendo DS they'd gotten him for his birthday so that he would have something to talk about with the other Muggle boys in the building. Remus wasn't sure what game he was playing, something about animals crossing something?
"No, we're playing a game," Remus said.
"Ewe!"
"Not an ewe game. Actually, come on out here, Offspring," Dora called back. "We could use another Metamorphmagi for it!"
13: Lace
"You fixed it!" Dora said happily as she recognized the garment that had been wrapped up in white wrapping paper that matched the lace ribbon Remus had used.
They were sitting in their apartment, which Remus had decked out in candles before making her her favourite dinner. He could have gone in a variety of routes: she really liked this spinach-stuffed chicken breast he made, pork belly, anything with pasta frankly, the lamb cawls he could make with his eyes closed, and he was slowly but surely perfecting his pad thai for her. But by year 13, he knew very well who he had married, so he'd made breakfast for dinner: strawberry and whipped cream stuffed French toast, fluffy eggs, hash browns, hearty sausage, crispy bacon, along with mountains of fruit and mimosas that were only a few drops of orange juice away from being straight champagne. There were also cinnamon buns left over from this morning, but Remus doubted that they would have to break into them. They should probably add those to the plate they had saved for Teddy, who had gone to camp with a Muggleborn friend's family.
"I did not—although which one of Madam Malkin's daughters it was I couldn't tell you," Remus said. "I only taught the youngest one, so I know it wasn't Miranda. It might have been Madison? I don't know."
He watched her lift the black satin robe from its packaging. He had watched her wander around in that black robe for over thirteen years now; while getting ready for bed or nights out, while forcing oatmeal down Teddy's throat before sending him off to school, as she trekked from the shower to their bedroom and stopping by the kitchen to snack on whatever he was eating, to lounge around on lazy Sunday mornings… So of course, he had also watched the hem of the garment and its wide sleeves get caught on chairs and other furniture, had watched the tie at the waist fray, had watched the fabric wear down with time. But Dora really loved that thing and hadn't stopped wearing it, so why replace it?
Her fingers ran over the new chantilly lace that had been added onto the sleeves and hem of the robe. It was black, in keeping with the rest of the robe, and Remus watched somewhat nervously as she examined it. The Malkins had promised that it would be easy to remove if Dora didn't like the change, but he hoped she liked it.
"Satin isn't on our list," Remus said apologetically. "I needed to find an excuse to bring it in for some tender love and care."
"I love it," she said with a smile. "I like the texture of it, it feels so nice. Like I'm levelling up, you know?"
She threw the garment over her arm and got up to kiss him, propping one hand on his shoulder. Then she leaned in so her breath was tickling his ear.
"I'm going to go change into this, and maybe some other lace things I have," she said.
"I could come help," Remus offered.
"No, no," she said. "You stay here. I'll come back out soon and finish my drink. Slowly."
14: Ivory
She had found them a Welsh restaurant to eat it, since she thought Remus deserved some cooking from the place he'd grown up without having made it himself and he also deserved it to be good which was why she wasn't making it either. Neither of them were good at making decisions and she was very much in the mood to treat her husband, so they'd gone for the tasting menu which had so far included Cornish cod, soda bread, a leek tart, and had an upcoming course labeled "chocolate" that seemed made for Remus. They were getting a break after their lamb entrée before their next course—a cheese platter or something equally fanciful—came out, when she took the lull in their conversation to take the envelope out of her pine green suit's inner pocket.
"So I went off-script this year," Dora confessed as she leaned across the table.
"Is that allowed?" Remus asked teasingly.
"I'm hoping it is," she said as she slipped the envelope towards him. "See, it didn't seem right to get something made of ivory—which is what the fourteenth anniversary present is, by the way—for my husband who has such a sweet spot for magical creatures and animals that he brought home the Grindylow that lives on his school desk so he wouldn't get lonely over the summer."
"You said you were okay with that—" Remus said, eyes wide with worry.
"I am, I'm fine," Dora said (although she maybe would have said something different if she had realized how beedy the thing's sickly little eyes would be, as it watched her make her coffee every morning…) "But still. I didn't think you'd appreciate something made of ivory not because it had to be, functionally, but to fulfill a tradition."
"It's good reasoning," he said. She slid the envelope across the table and he took it. He smiled when he read the inside of the card—which explained what magical beast conservation and protection society she had made a donation to in his name, and contained a thank you note from the organization Charlie had suggested to her.
"I know it's not really a gift for you..." she started to explain.
"But I love it," Remus said, interrupting her categorically. "I really, really love it."
"Oh, so you don't want the Chocolate Frog I also got so you'd have something a little more tangible to hold?"
"No, no, I want both. I love them both," he said. She burst out laughing just as their waiter circled back to their table to refill their wine.
15: Crystal
Since it was Dora's day off and Teddy was off babysitting the Potter brood that day, as he was for most of the summer, they'd had no reason to leave the house to celebrate today. In fact, since Dora had been working a truly stupid amount of hours for the last two weeks to follow a new lead on the whereabouts of Rodolphus Lestrange, it was actually best that they bundle up in the living room and watch cooking shows on a loop and yell at the contestants.
He walked down to their favourite Chinese take-away while she was power napping to get them supper, which only resulted in a sleepy Dora full of noodles and almond chicken and egg rolls who wanted nothing more than to cuddle—which she interrupted briefly when Teddy came home, helped himself to some food while chatting about his day, and then vanished into his bedroom to go read. Still, when he felt her breathing slow and her head lull against him he shook her gently.
"Can I give you your present before you fall asleep, love?" he asked quietly.
"Okay," she said while stifling a yawn, which told Remus that he had to move fast. Still, he kept things nice and slow as he cleared the coffee table and brought the present her way. He had filled a gift box with newspaper and surrounded it by as many cushioning spells as he could safely cast on one object before lowering in the crystal vase.
Dora gasped when she saw it and her eyes watered up.
"Is it… it is really the one that..?" she couldn't quite get the words out.
"It is," Remus said. He kissed the top of her ear. "Sirius and I have been working on putting it back together since Easter. We used as many of the original pieces as we could save to mend it."
It had been long, painstaking work but he and Sirius were both more than decent at charmwork and had, after all, experience in long and painstaking work from their time making the Marauder's map. But even before he'd gotten his best friend onboard, when they had been packing up Andromeda's house after she had passed away and Dora had accidentally dropped this vase and burst into tears, Remus had known immediately that he needed to fix it. In the months since, the guilt of having broken it hadn't eased at all.
When Andromeda had run away from home, this was one of the family heirlooms she had brought with her to pawn and sell and fund her new life. Unlike the gold and jewels, the vase had never been sold or given away or lost, and Andromeda had always been quite smug and proud of having never been caught with it. Remus had only ever seen her take it out for special occasions, so he had known that it meant a lot. His heart had broken a little bit too when it had shattered against the living room floor, but mostly for Dora. He had known he needed to fix it, no matter how many pieces it had shattered into. He and Sirius had finished fixing it on the latter's dining room table two days ago, just in time for today.
Her lower lip shook a little bit and he pulled her against him as she sobbed.
"Happy?" Remus checked to make sure he got the right read on her tears.
"Happy," she said quietly as she burrowed into her chest. That particular position didn't last long since she couldn't see the vase from there, so she pulled away quickly and wiped at her eyes.
"I… It's really it?" she said.
"It is," Remus said, kissing her cheek. "And there are flowers to go with it. Look."
He pointed out a pack of Spontaneous Seeds glued to the top of the lid—one of George Weasley's least chaotic and most useful inventions, patented with help from Neville after he'd become the Herbology Professor, where one could summon a bouquet within seconds by simply watering the seeds. Remus had the impression that George probably used them to get out of quite a few spats with his spouse, and he knew for a fact that Arthur always had a few packs stashed in his sock drawer to help make up for his terrible memory.
Dora smiled when she saw the seeds, and smiled a little more when she saw that they were daisies, her favourite, but her lower lip trembled still.
"I'm afraid of touching it," she said quietly. "I don't want to break it again."
"I know," Remus said gently. "Which is why there are cushioning spells on it, just in case something happens again."
And whether it was from fatigue, relief, grief or some tumultuous cocktail of the three, Dora burst into tears again.
"Merlin, Dad," Teddy said, wandering out of his bedroom. "What kind of anniversary is this?"
16: Wax
Dora had brought him to a fancy restaurant the Aurors had brought Kingsley to upon his retirement as Minister of Magic, except they were being even fancier by ordering more than happy hour menu items.
They were winding down after putting away a melted brie and something called a pork roulade that had come with something else called goat cheese whipped potatoes that Remus had spent the evening trying to figure out how to recreate at home, and vegetables with a kind of seasoning he couldn't pinpoint which drove him slightly crazy.
"—I'm going to try it with paprika and without paprika, and see which one tastes most similar," Remus concluded. He finally put his fork done and gave a satisfied little nod which made her hide a smile behind her wine glass. A waiter swept by to take his plate and asked if they'd like to see a dessert menu (which of course they did). That was one of the perks of not going out often; you didn't feel bad about looking at the dessert menu.
"Here," she said as she reached into her purse. "We're going to get distracted by dessert in about five minutes, so you need to unwrap this now."
"Okay," Remus said. "I—"
"Don't say something clever, we don't have time," she said to cut him off. He laughed and she repeated "don't!" so he swallowed his chuckle and tore at the holly-patterned wrapping paper. It was hiding an ornate wooden box, containing a bronze sealing stamp, a melting spoon, a tea candle, and five sticks of bronze-coloured wax. The design's seal was a blazing sun surrounded by eight stars.
"This is beautiful," he said, running his finger over the bronze. "Oh this is going to be so, so fun to use…"
"I thought you would get a kick out of that whole process. And also… well, I've noticed you sending a lot more letters for the Other Moon Cooperative this year," she said, referring to the loose group of werewolves who had recently started being more open about the way they shared resources and advocated for themselves together within the Ministry especially. "I thought this might make things… I don't know, more official-looking? Fancy? More fun to do?"
Remus smiled and held up a wax of stick to the light so that the sparkles and glitter inside would catch that light.
"I asked Abigail for suggestions," she said. "She says that she's been doodling this on a lot of the notebooks you guys use?"
"It's a joke, I think," he said. "Because 'the other moon' is the sun, you know? But I quite like it; I think it's good to remind people that werewolves are around during the daytime too. That we exist in more ways, that we are ourselves most of the time and have to put up with ourselves too."
"That is nice," she said, leaning her chin on her hand. "And the eight stars, is that for the phases of the moon?"
Remus nodded. "I didn't want the Other Moon cooperative to pretend we're not also werewolves. That's… trying to fit in and act normal and take the punches has never helped, not me or anybody else actually. I hate to say it, because it's one of the things Fenrir Greyback used to say all the time, but it can be true in a different way than what he thought."
"It makes sense," she said. "I mean, isn't that what we told Teddy about being a Metamorphmagi? Don't pretend to be normal because you aren't? I mean, this is different…"
"Different, but with that same logic, yes," Remus nodded.
It made her happy, when she was able to fill in the blanks like this. That had been part of the reason they'd almost lost each other so long ago, hadn't it? Well, there had been a few things going on there, but her inability to understand his life as a werewolf and the experiences and fears that had given them—let alone take fears that seemed irrational to her seriously—definitely hadn't helped. She liked sensing, as their years wore on, that she was getting better. And she had every intention to keep on getting better, too. That was the thing about being married, wasn't it? You got to grow and be around to watch each other grow?
"Well, I hope this helps them listen," she said as she wrapped her hand around his, the bronze seal warm between their palms.
17: Furniture
"I don't know about this," Dora said as he led her slowly but surely up the emergency staircase of their apartment. Blindfolded.
"Well I do and I promise you're okay," Remus said. He took another backwards step up the staircase and then tugged on her hands so she took a step up as well.
"The stairs feel steeper than normal."
"You're the one afraid of the elevator," Remus teased. One of the only tells that Dora wasn't totally born and raised in the Muggle world.
"You should have warned me to take it easy on the wine at dinner," Dora said reproachfully.
"I'm working very hard to make this a surprise; that would have ruined it all."
"The surprise will be if I make it all the way up in one piece," she grumbled.
"Do you want to take the blindfold off?"
"No, no. Now I'm invested in this whole thing," she said with a grin. Her lips were painted a bright, bold red that made her smile especially bright. "I'm just going to have a bad attitude about it."
"Well, we're almost there," Remus said with a grin of his own.
He pulled Dora up onto the landing and backed into the door, propping it open with his foot for Dora as he led her onto their building's rooftop. The new landlords had renovated it greatly in the last two years—mostly to try and crank up everyone's rent overnight, but that's what tenant unions were for right? Their boring concrete roof had become a terrace, complete with flower beds, garden plots that could be booked in the spring for summer use, green patches for folks to walk their dogs, and lounging chairs on which his wife could usually be found as soon as summer came into swing. If he couldn't find her and/or Teddy when he came back from errands or a walk at this time of the year, it was usually because they were up here eating ice cream. Remus was quite proud of the addition he'd made, and he quietly steered Dora so she stood before it.
"Alright, are you ready?" he asked.
"I finally get to take this thing off and see my present?" she grinned.
"I can't tell which one you're most excited for."
"Well, usually I am not the blindfolded one."
"You're impossible. For all you know, you're surrounded by children and puppies, you know."
"Am I?"
"Just take it off," he said before she actually got the satisfaction of making him laugh. She grinned anyway because she could hear it in his voice and then slipped the blindfold off and gasped when she looked at the swing.
"That... did the manager put that in? Is this because we complained about the smell in the stairway so much?"
"No, I did," Remus said, enjoying her shock. Her jaw dropped.
"That's my present? That's mine? I have a swing now?" she asked, rapid-fire.
"Seventeen years is supposed to be a gift of furniture, but our flat's nice and full," he said, slipping his hands in the pockets of his dress pants. "But the rooftop felt very... well, proper and boring, which I thought could be improved on."
As he talked, Dora wandered over to investigate the porch swing he'd set up. He had had quite a time finding a place to assemble and varnish it without Dora finding out, and she had almost caught him sewing the cushions out of a multicoloured fabric that had made him think of her instantly, but the surprise was all worth it. She crashed on the swing and pushed herself off the ground, kicking off her shoes as soon as her feet were in the air. The hem of the skirt she'd worn out to dinner fluttered around her ankles. Remus smiled: this was the reaction he had wanted.
"Okay, this is nice," she said with a grin. "Are you coming to sit with me?"
Nevermind, that was even better.
18: Porcelain
It was such a gorgeous day that she'd scrapped their dinner plans and had instead picked up some sandwiches at an extremely fancy and overpriced café by the Ministry while she was on her way from work—and, while she was at it, a box of fun-looking pastries. Remus had been more than happy with the prospect of a picnic in the park, even before he had known that she was taking him to a new park close to the one they'd where they'd go watch one of those Shakespeare In the Park shows. They even found a picnic table to claim as their own, since Remus wasn't exactly in the greatest shape this close to the moon and his bad hip could do without the up-and-down and sitting on the ground.
They watched a group of kids play freeze-tag as they ate and had fun listening to the parents trying to wrangle their kids since they hadn't had that problem in years, and were thus fully able to side with the kids as toddlers ran for the hills or campaigned for another popsicle from the family ice cooler.
"I guess this is what being old feels like," she said as they watched them.
"I've been old for about seventy-five years and I confirm that yes, yes it is," Remus said as he took another bite from an éclair.
"Speaking of which," she said as she reached into the paper bag in which she'd carried their food. "I have a present."
Remus burst out laughing.
"What an excellent segue," Remus said. "Does it mean I should expect this gift to be reflective of my geriatric ways?"
"Maybe," she said. "Do you want a hint?"
"Always."
"It's one of the latest old man things you said that made me laugh at you," she said.
"That's a very long list," Remus said.
"Try," she insisted. "I told Sirius about this one, and he laughed at you too."
"That doesn't shorten the list," he grumbled.
Remus thought about it for a moment and then grinned, smile lines gathering at the corners of his eyes.
"Is it in reference to the thing I said about how I haven't seen my favourite teapot since Kreacher retired from the Hogwarts Kitchens, but I don't want to bother the other elves about itt?" he said as it dawned on him. She burst out laughing because it was just as funny to her the second time around.
"I'm going to take that as a yes," Remus said with a laugh as he tore open the birthday balloon wrapping paper she'd used. The leather case inside was closed with a simple clasp. He carefully took out the porcelain teapot inside and opened the lid. His laughter was especially delighted when he took off the teapot's lid to reveal the two tiny cups nestled inside.
"For tea on the go!" he said.
"For tea on the go," she laughed along with him. Merlin, it didn't take much, did it? He was easy to please now that he'd decided he was allowed to be happy.
19: Bronze
"I always feel so lazy when I get you jewellry," Remus said as she lay back against him, the simple bronze bar resting on her chest. Its warm colour contrasted with how cool and pale her skin was.
"Now, now," she said. "I like shiny things, so watch yourself there."
He smiled though she couldn't see it and watched as she rested her head against his chest, putting her in the exact right spot for hair-playing. Her lavender hair was soft under his fingers, and strands of grey stuck out and caught the light as he toyed with them. It was so recent, that they had started matching even the slightest.
"But I do like knowing why you choose the things you give me," Dora said as she started playing with the bronze bar. "You always have a reason."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do," Dora said. "What was going through your mind when you picked this one up?"
Remus thought for a second as he recalled it.
"I think I had just spent some time talking to students about magical creatures appearing in Ancient Greek myths," he said. "We'd gone over it in class, but a few of them wanted to talk about it more while we walked down to Hogsmeade one weekend. A lot of the Muggleborns knew the old stories and were excited about being able to share stories that they knew. Anyways, I was thinking of how all those ancient heroes were all supposedly alive in the Bronze Age, according to Muggle historians. They had bronze weapons to fight against all those monsters and save all their villages and keep themselves safe. So when I saw something bronze in the shop window, I just knew I wanted you to have it with you whatever it was."
"Well fuck. See, that's what I'm talking about," she said, turning her head so that her soft cheeks rested on his chest. She rose and fell with him as she breathed.
"I'm going to retire from the Auror Office soon," she said. "Twenty-five years is already a long career for an Auror."
"That's not what I meant," Remus said, backpedaling rapidly.
"You have spent a long, long time worrying about me and watching me get hurt," she said.
"There are things you've tolerated too," he pointed out.
"I know, but we're nearing two decades together now," she said. "I want the next to be… well, more peaceful."
"Take the time that you need for that. I'm plenty peaceful right here, right now," Remus said. He kissed the top of her head.
20: China
"I feel nervous eating off of these," Remus confessed as he took his seat at the table and looked at the brand new china plate waiting for him there. They had never had an abundance of nice things in their flat; both because they had started their married life in an incredibly precarious state (both financially and, well, in general), then because there had always been small children running around, and then because they had never gotten into the habit. Tonks, if she was home alone, was known to eat cereal over the sink for dinner by pouring cereal and then milk directly into her mouth, after all.
"But eat you will," she said as she lowered a serving plate to the table. It matched the rest of their new dinner set; bone white china with a pine green rim painted on all the bowls, plates, and cups.
"I'm sure I will," he said.
"You better," she said. "Because the other part of your anniversary present is that I actually made this dinner instead of ordering in."
His eyes widened and he barely caught his jaw from falling as he turned to look at her.
"You… I mean, you cooked all of this?" he asked—catching himself even as he looked at the meal on the table with wide, incredulous eyes. There was a chicken that she had cooked in sauce with a fancy French name she had already forgotten along with the rest of Fleur's recipe, something called potato fondants she had been practising making for weeks now to make sure she'd get it right when it mattered most, green beans with gruyere and bacon bits, and baby carrots she had managed to roast without burning.
"You sound so surprised!" she protested, even if he frankly had grounds to do so. If she was left in charge of food, there was usually a microwave or a walk to their favourite take-out shops involved, and that had been true for over twenty years now.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" Remus said, trying to save it.
"Way to make me sound like I'm not wife material," she kept pressing because there was a special kind of joy in making Remus Lupin squirm.
"You are, you are!" Remus said. "Just not the… not the cooking kind, is all. Usually! Usually not, but this looks… wow, this looks incredible."
She laughed.
"Yes, I made this. And you can thank everyone in the Auror Department for being my guinea pigs while I practised," she said quite smugly—even if they were all absolutely sick and tired of always eating the same dishes as she tried to remake them time after time with less burnt bits.
"Oh, I am very thankful," Remus said. "This smells incredible, Dora. See, I told you that you had it in you…"
"No," Dora said. "No, this is your anniversary gift. This is a one-time thing, I am not the cooking kind—you said it yourself, and you married me anyways."
Remus laughed and got up from his spot to give her a quick kiss and a hug.
"That I did," he said. "I have good ideas sometimes."
"I do believe it was my idea, but whatever," she said, as she rolled her eyes.
"Honestly, love, this looks spectacular."
"Good," she said. "Because dessert looks a bit of a mess, so enjoy this while it's here."
Remus laughed some more.
22: Copper
They were just sitting down around the dining room table, which was covered in take-out containers from their favourite Indian restaurant, when the Patronus came crashing in through the open porch door.
"Is that Teddy's?" Dora asked with a frown, pausing as she poured wine in their cups as Remus popped the lids off the lamb korma, palak paneer, onion bhaji, and everything else they had splurged on.
The swan Patronus answered for her when it opened its mouth and spoke in Teddy's voice.
"Baby was born today—kind of happened all at once, long story, but it's a little girl! She's eight pounds and twenty-one inches, early but doing great and so is Victoire. Visitor hours open at 10:00 tomorrow morning if you want to come see her," Teddy said before the swan vanished.
Dora dropped the wine.
"Oh my God!" Merlin said. "The baby's early? Is she alright?"
"I mean, wow, I—I guess… well, Teddy said so," she said, eyes wide, staring at the spot where the Patronus had vanished. Wine was seeping into her sock now, but she didn't care much. "Oh my God our baby has a baby!"
"Our baby has a baby," Remus repeated, which blew his whole entire mind into a million pieces. He put down what he was holding and circled the table to swoop her in his arms and hold her tight, as a placeholder until he could hold his son and granddaughter—because they had a granddaughter now...
"Well fuck my thing, this is the best gift ever," she said with a smile.
25: Silver
"Hey, Remus?" Dora called from the bedroom while he washed the dishes.
"Yes love?" he called back, drying a hand on his pants so that he could lower the volume on the radio to hear her better.
"Anniversary is in a month."
"It absolutely is," Remus said.
"It's falling around the Full Moon. Can I make a suggestion?"
"Isn't it my year to organize something?" he asked. "Moon or no moon?"
"Yeah, but even so?"
"Go on."
"Can we skip silver?"
Remus froze. Was that really what the twenty-five-year anniversary gift was? Silver? Whose brilliant idea had that been?
"Let's skip silver," Remus agreed. "I'll think of something else."
"Good talk, can't wait!" Dora called back. Remus nodded and turned the radio volume up again.
30: Pearl
"What does it look like when it's hanging?" Remus asked. "Can I see?"
His smile was genuine, even if he was struggling to keep his eyes open and seemed weaker today than he had yesterday. Tonks nodded and got up from her spot, perched at his bedside. She took the hook at the top of the mobile from his hands as she did and stretched it out over him. It became easier to see the strands of mother-of-pearl disks, intermingled with pieces of sea glass, and a few shells and bells. They clinked against one another as she stood up, and Remus smiled at the effect.
"I thought of hanging it at the villa, at first," she explained. "You know, near your morning-coffee-drinking chair overlooking the sea. But I think it would look nice in our bedroom window, too, that way you can keep it close. It would catch the breeze pretty well, I think"
Remus nodded although his head barely left the pillow.
"And all the light," he said.
"And all the light," she echoed with a nod.
"We have to go to France before the end of summer," Remus said. "And we'll bring Teddy and Victoire and the girls."
"We will," she said.
"We can… we can time it so it's in-between the full moons perfectly," he said. "I'll be okay to travel, then. I should be okay then."
"We'll find a time to bring everyone up, there's plenty of time. You don't have to worry about that," she said, sitting back down and resting the mobile on his chest.
"I do," Remus said. "Dora, I… I think it's becoming clear that I do."
He winced as he said it and she realized she must have made some odd face herself.
"I'm sorry," he said, reaching out to touch the sea glass and mother-of-pearl again. "Not today…"
"No, let's… let's talk about it today," she said. She put her hand over his. "That's what we celebrate today, isn't it? In sickness and in health."
"To have and to hold," Remus finished, putting his other hand above hers.
"Teddy, can I borrow you for a second?"
Teddy looked up from the kitchen table, where he'd just gotten Margo and Iris settled in with grapes and cheese strings, and spotted his father wearing soft clothes and leaning against the wall.
"Whoa, Dad," he said, hurrying over. "Slow down."
"I'm fine, I'm fine," his father promised. "I just need to show you something before Victoire and your mother come back from their errands, that's all."
"Do you need one of the mobility aids?" Teddy asked.
"Just come," Dad said—which wasn't an answer, but Teddy knew better than to waste time by arguing.
He let Dad lead him past the girls, whose hair he made sure to stop and ruffle like the marshmallow of a grandfather that he was, and they walked into what had been Teddy's childhood bedroom. Teddy hovered over his father as he moved to sit down on his old bed, still covered in leaf-patterned sheets he'd left there when he'd moved out.
"Can you go look on the second to bottom shelf of your closet?" Dad said. Teddy did before his father tried to get up to help, and got down on his knees to properly look. He saw the collection of parcels wrapped in brown paper and a variety of colourful ribbons there, with numbers stamped on each of them.
"What's all this?" Teddy asked.
"They're our tradition," Dad said. "Give her one on our anniversary, for me—but only ever second year because I get odd-numbered years, and she gets even numbers. I'm supposed to do 'travel,' for 31, later this year…"
"Maybe you will," Teddy said.
"Maybe," his father agreed. "But in case I don't, there's something for her there. And there's something there for 33, and 35…"
"How many are there?" Teddy asked, his mouth dry and his stomach churning even if he knew he should be happy that his father looked so matter-of-fact and peaceful and calm about this. The part of him that was a Healer knew that this was healthy and good and important. The part of him that was Teddy, which was rather large come to think of it, didn't want it to need to be happening in the first place.
"Enough to last her until 50 years," Dad said. "If she still asks for them by then, and hasn't decided it's more helpful to her to move on—either by starting new traditions, or if she meets somebody else…"
"Dad…" Teddy started.
"What? Older people fall in love all the time, Teddy," he said. "However that looks, I want her to be happy. That's the point of these. That's been the point of all of this, whether or not I believed it was possible."
Teddy looked down at his own wedding ring, which hadn't been there quite as long though he understood the sentiment from years of being Victoire's best friend before anything else. That was the point, wasn't it? The point of all of this.
"Okay," Teddy said. "Okay, I'll make sure she gets them on time, don't worry."
His father nodded, satisfied.
"Thank you," he said. "You were the biggest gift of them all, do you know that?"
"You only say that because I've made you two bonus gifts, who are out there eating your food and probably making your table unspeakably sticky," Teddy said.
Remus smiled.
"The gift that just keeps giving," he smiled.
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