"Da, how am I supposed to get the subway without my oyster card?" A rather frustrated Teddy Lupin called, his voice muffled by the fact that he was neck-deep in the living room sofa.
"Just one more minute, I'm double-checking it's not on the coffee table, I'm pretty sure I put it there..." Remus shouts back, walking into the living room and bending down to inspect under the table.

"Fucking hell! I found that Queen CD you lost! it was here the whole time? I swear you were almost crying over that.." Teddy exclaimed, examining the CD case with his hand, and Remus stood quickly, eager to meet his old CD friend, but ultimately ended up smacking his head on the table.

"SHIT!" He yelped, holding his head and cradling it gently as he heard the faint laughter of his son in the background. "Shut up you dick!" Remus moaned, still holding his head as he climbed back to his feet.
"Oh- that was just so- good! ah! wish I had my phone out to film that-" Teddy said in-between gasps, fishing his mobile out of his pocket, letting out a happy squeal after looking at the back.

"What? You're not that happy overseeing me get hurt are you?" Remus asked, walking over to stand next to his son.
"No, but I found it! thank Jesus! it was just in the back of my phone, where it was supposed to be" Teddy hummed happily, clearly not seeing the murderous look on Remus's face.
"Are you having a laugh?! Teddy you bastard! we wasted half an hour of raking through this whole flat and the entire time it was in your sodding pocket?" Remus yelled, hands in his hair, pulling at the brown locks frantically.

Teddy, unwavering, simply stretched up and kissed his father's cheek, before grabbing his backpack and shouting a haste " goodbye!"
Remus let out a sigh as he mumbled a goodbye, retreating back to the kitchen to make himself a well-deserved cup of coffee.

After successfully brewing the coffee without any third-degree burns, he walked over to the sofa, pulling the pillows back on and reorganising them. Remus sighed happily as he sunk down onto the sofa, flicking on the T.V to an old rerun of Freaks and Geeks. After approximately two minutes of peace, he felt his phone was buzzing in his pocket.

Pulling out his half-broken iPhone 6, Remus let out a groan at the contact name.

Prongs (wanker)

"Prongs?" Remus answered, putting on his best I don't want to talk to your voice.
"Yello!" James responded, sounding much too chipper for a regular human being. Remus did groan this time, of course a wanker like James says " Yello " instead of hello, what an arse.
"This better be good Prongs, you know it's my day off" Remus grumbled, feeling more like a 50-year-old man instead of his real age of 31.

"Promise me, it's good all right.." James said ominously, with the shrieking of Harry being heard in the background.
"Well get to it then you plonker!"
"oh- yes, Padfoots back"
Remus froze, flashes of his sixteen-year-old self came to mind, long nights with the handsome man with dark hair and wild eyes.

"Again?"
"This time for good, he's bought a house and everything!"
Remus wanted to scoff a bitter, good for him but instead, be let out an uninterested mmhmm
"So... I figured we could go out for drinks, after all, he has been in France for ages, and you haven't seen him in what?"

Remus stopped for a moment, thinking of the desperate nights, Sirius's short visits where he would sneak into the house silently, where he and Remus would fuck hungrily. By the time Remus would wake the next morning, he would be gone and back to France.
"Well erm, your wedding I suppose.." Remus coughed out, James and Lily didn't know about the two men shagging on the sly.

"That must have been what? 7 years ago! Oh and he's never met Teddy has he?"
"No, never met Teddy..."
Remus tried to swallow the bitterness from his tone as he thought of a scared 16-year-old Remus being left behind by an equally terrified Sirius.
"God now I feel old, so you'll be able to come...? Oh! and could Teddy babysit Harry while we go?"

Remus felt trapped, he would rather throw himself out the window than go out for drinks with them, but he couldn't bring himself to refuse. "Yeah, that'd be fine, Teddy's always looking for extra cash, what time?"
"How about 7?" James asked, the cries of Harry getting louder.
"James! James, you prat ! get off the phone and come help me with your idiot of a son!" Lily called through the phone, making Remus grin at the girl's temper.

"Shit. gotta go Moony, see ya tonight"
"See you later Prongs" Remus breathed out, clicking the red button and throwing his phone down, how the hell was he supposed to see Sirius Black? He was the first man he had fallen in love with, the first man who had broken his heart.


Waking up slightly sweaty and disoriented, Remus blinked the sleep out his eyes, rubbing them with his knuckles.
"Da... DA!" Teddy called, standing above Remus, poking his arm with his boney finger.
"What? what what ?!" Remus mumbled, swatting away the finger and descending back down onto the sofa.
"You lazy bum, it's 5:30 in the afternoon!"

When Remus swatted him away the second time, Teddy felt desperate action was needed, and the action he chose was to jump onto his still half-asleep father.

"FUCK" Remus yelped, Teddy weighing him down and immediately waking him up.
"Are you up now?"
"You're an arse!" Remus wheezed with the wind being knocked out of him by Teddy.
"And you're a sad, sad old man" Teddy cooed, still weighing Remus down.

"All right! all right I'm up! what do you want!" Remus groaned, shoving Teddy off and sitting up, seeing his lanky son looking down at him, his electric blue hair shining in the light.
"Get up, get dressed, we're going to Uncle James's" Teddy snarked, walking over to the kitchen and opening the fridge.

"We're not going out till 7 though" Remus complained, standing up to follow his son into their dinky kitchen. "Hello?! did you not get the text on the group? we're all going round for dinner now!"
"We as in..?" Remus asked, suddenly scared of a reality where Sirius and his son are sitting at the same dinner table.
"Me, you, Potters plus some Sirius fellow, apparent old friend?" Teddy smirked, looking over at the flustered Remus.

"Yeah- well he shared a dorm with us at Hogwarts" Remus coughed, flicking the kettle on and trying to hide his blush.
"Old boyfriend, you mean?" Teddy teased, enjoying the endless torture he could give to his father.
"Teddy, no- of course, no-" Remus flapped, stuttering all over the place. Teddy raised a brow at the man and Remus sighed, giving in.

"Fine, old boyfriend.. my first boyfriend actually" Remus admitted, turning to pour the hot water into the mug.
"First boyfriend! Da! this is big, why didn't you tell me about him!" Teddy grinned, hopping onto their kitchen counter.
"Well, technically.. you're related to him"

Teddy stopped grinning as a look of confusion swept over his face. "What? huh? related?"
"He's your Ma's second cousin, so I guess that makes him... your third cousin?" Remus inquired, stirring his tea, still not looking into his son's eyes.
"He's grans cousin?!"
"Aye, your gran was a Black, and a cousin to Sirius"
"Oh my god! dad! you shagged mum's cousin!"
Remus sighed as he sipped his tea, waving him away with his hand.
"It was more like I'd shagged Sirius's cousin" He corrected, grinning at the look of disgust on Teddy's face.

"You little slut!" Teddy gleamed.
"Barely, Sirius and I were broken up at the time, Dora and I was a one-night thing, a rebound some may say"
"How romantic !" Teddy sarcastically remarked with the wry grin still plastered on his face.
"Oh extremely, especially when she cried on me about how much she missed Charlie" Remus scoffed, only feeling fond memories towards that one night with Tonks.

"Did you cry on her about Sirius?" Teddy teased.

"All night" Remus's tone dripped with sarcasm, as he rolled his eyes and put his now empty mug on the sink.
That shut Teddy up, and with a quick nod and an awkward grabbing of jackets, the Lupin men headed out of the house.

"It's a miracle every time you drive this thing and it doesn't break down," Teddy commented, earning a scowl from Remus as he slammed the door of his ancient car shut.
"Maybe when we win the lotto we can afford a Ferrari, for now, we have a Bowie." Remus knew his car was a piece of shit, and he was sure the car knew it as well, but he was still oddly sentimental over the car he had named after David Bowie.

"God you act like such a virgin sometimes" Teddy scoffs, pushing the bell repeatedly on the door to the Potters' home.
"Well kiddo, you're living proof that I'm not"
"Gross"

Remus just stuck his tongue out, once again appreciating the odd dynamic he had developed with his son, he once again pondered whether other single dad's had similar relationships with their sons. He guessed not.
"I'm here, I'm here!" Lily said, opening the door with her signature murderous look.

"Lupin, you better teach that son of yours some manners!" She scolded Remus, before turning to Teddy with a similar look. "Teddy, I heard you the first time you rang the bell!" Lily scowled, with hands-on hips, looking eerily like Euphemia Potter.
"Jus' makin' sure you lot haven't gone deaf" Teddy remarked, walking in and shrugging off his jacket, his gap-toothed mouth held in a grin.

Lily smiled fondly at the teenager, rolling her eyes before directing her gaze back to Remus after Teddy had left the hallway. "Lily I know what you're about to say" "He's in the living room Moony" Lily confessed, words fast and expression nervous. After Hogwarts Lily had taken to Remus's nickname and Remus thought it was sweet of Lily to use it.
"I guessed so, Teddy told me about your dinner ambush" Remus sighed, hanging his jacket up and avoiding the leather one hanging to his left.
"Remus, you just need to talk to him, he's still Sirius"
"Oh yeah, after all these years I'll just rock up with a 'hey Sirius, remember when I knocked up your cousin and then you left me - and everyone else?"

"Not exactly that but- James and I agreed that your both being stupid prats, he's back for good now and I think that you just need to get over yourselves"
Remus stopped for a second, looking down at Lily before deciding to kiss her cheek and forget her words.
"You look lovely Lils, what's for tea?"

Lily groaned and turned, directing Remus into the kitchen, where James stood looking rather frantic.

"Oh, Lily thank fuck !"
"Nice to see you to Prongs" Remus laughed, the expression of pure fear on James's face always a delight.
"Hey Moons, Wait- um Remus please don't kill me"
"Why would I want to kill you? wait..where's Teddy?" Remus asked, scanning the kitchen to find no blue-haired boy insight.

"He's in the living room... with Padfoot," James said, and it clicked for Remus why the man was so scared.
" Prongs !"
"James! you arse! you had one job!" Lily scolded.
"it's not my fault Moony raised a sneaky bastard! he got me talking about the harpies! the harpies! He knows how rugby sets me off!"

Remus groaned, terrified of the thought of a rogue Teddy being around an even roguer Sirius Black.
Lily shot her husband a poisonous look, before shoving two cans of coke in Remus's hands, and shooing him out of the kitchen, grabbing a carton of juice for Harry and a beer for Sirius.
"Lils, I think Teddy's past the age for a juice box" Remus grinned, entering the living room with his heart pounding.

"Oh no Rem, the juice box's for Sirius," She remarked, causing a familiar bark of laughter to envelope the room. Remus scanned the room to see his son sprawled out on one of the sofas, long limbs tangled in his lap, a smug look plastered on his face.
"Hey Da! me and Sirius were just talking about how he dyed your hair pink for a month."

Remus groaned, still not looking up across the room to see Sirius, as he launched himself down next to Teddy. "Don't. It wasn't a good colour for me, not good for my completion" Remus laughed, opening Teddy's can for him and handing it to him, a gesture that was so fatherly it made him internally cringe.

"It took him over a month to get back into Hogsmeade to buy more hair dye, he had to bribe Lily to dye it back for him" Sirius added, forcing Remus to look up at him.
Sirius was still as beautiful as ever, his long black hair tied up in an infuriatingly easy way, his tanned skin on his arms being covered up with sleeves of tattoos, in short. He looked sexy, pretty damn sexy.

The last time Remus had seen him was 2 years ago, and that was just for a night. The two kept to the dark, however, scrambling like teenagers.
"And when I finally got her to dye it back, it turned me orange, so I was actually ginger for about half a year until it grew out."

"There's nothing wrong with being a redhead!" Lily huffed defensively.
"I remember that! we called you carrot top for a year" a rather proud James added, strolling in with a four-year-old harry at his legs.
Teddy immediately gleamed, standing up to pick up Harry, twirling him around as he shrieked delightfully.

"Oh thank god! By the way Teddy the babysitting starts now." James sighed, sinking down on the sofa as Teddy held Harry on his hip. "Depends, will I get paid extra?" Teddy smirked, looking exactly like his mother.
"Why would you need extra money Lupin?" Lily retorted, snuggling next to James on the couch. "Oh you know for all the drugs and booze I'm buying." Lily laughed but shook her head in fake disapproval.

"Oh I'm so silly, I thought you were going to spend It on Victoire..."
Teddy immediately stopped playing with Harry as he froze. "How do you know about her?" Teddy asked accusingly. "I know everything... " Lily chuckled, resulting in a miffed Teddy handing her back her child. "Da! you traitor! you told her?!" Teddy sighed, sitting back down as the three laughed at him.

"She phoned me up after stalking your Instagram, and she forced it out of me!" Remus admitted, putting his hands up. "Lily! I thought I had you blocked!"
Lily sniggered before wiggling her eyebrows menacingly.
"On my main account... maybe .."

"Wait am I missing something? who's Victoire?"James asks, mouth agape as he clicks together with the pieces. "She's Teddy's girlfriend," Lily answered delightedly.
" Ex-girlfriend , I broke up with her before Lily has her round for an embarrassing dinner or someshit"

"Language round the baby" Remus scolds, looking up from his phone, he had pulled it out to mindlessly scroll on after he felt Sirius's persistent gaze. "Lupin gets that phone away, this is a family dinner!" Lily called, making Remus groan and tuck away his phone, looking up and seeing an amused Sirius staring at him.

It was as if the years had washed away, all the Marauders sitting bantering, Teddy had slotted right in, after being raised by the three of them (plus Euphemia, Fleamont, & Andromeda) He was incredibly close to his godparents, constantly at their home hanging out or babysitting baby Harry.

"Anyway, now that we're done with tormenting Teddy, let's focus on our surprise guest, what made you move back Sirius?" Lily asked, her smooth conversation skills killing all the awkwardness in the room.

Remus actively ignored Teddy's stare on his face as he looked for his reaction. Remus opted to look right at Sirius, who suddenly looked like a deer in the headlights. "Well we all know he didn't come back for the weather" James joked, removing the lull as they all laughed in appreciation, his crappy dad jokes coming in handy for once.

"I dunno Lils, I mean we've all got to come home someday," Sirius replied, cool and confident as his gaze drifted to Remus. "I'm so glad you're back, it's so good to have another babysitter for Harry" Lily joked. "Oh what and I'm not good enough am I?" Teddy shook his head, faking being hurt.

"Well you'll be wanting to spend all your spare time with your girlfriend , won't you?" Sirius teases, causing Teddy to flush a deep red, sinking back into the sofa muttering excuses.

"Thanks, now you've only gone and broken my son" Remus jokes, still not making eye contact with Sirius, and Sirius grins and it sends Remus soaring, fearful of his own blush rising he looks away and catches Lily's eye, who only looks smug as ever.


"Smoking kills Lupin."
Remus turned around to see the familiar grin of Sirius Black who was stepping towards Remus, pulling out a cigarette of his own. "That's the goal" Remus replied dryly, focusing on making an effort not to seem affected.

Sirius chuckles and leans back, inhaling and exhaling the cigarette with his usual flare. Remus realises it should be awkward, it should feel alien to have a thirty-something Sirius standing with him again after so long. It's not awkward though, it feels comforting to Remus - like he's rewatching his favourite movie, except this time he doesn't know the ending.

He can feel his face flushing under the blatant stare Sirius is giving him, he's been staring at Remus all night, his eyes unabashedly fixated on Remus's scarred face.
"Teddy's something isn't he? I mean, he could be your twin.. apart from the aqua hair."
Remus smiles slightly and nods, Teddy is something indeed, nothing he ever expected but everything he ever wanted.

"Oh he's had that hair since he was 12, begged for it since he was a bairn." Remus laughs, stubbing out his cigarette on the ashtray that Lily had put out on the patio after complaining about him leaving his cigarette butts everywhere.
"How old is he now? 15?"
"16 in April"
Sirius nodded and turned away, looking uncharacteristically guilty.

"Remus, I-"
"No Sirius, don't bother"
Sirius looked flushed as Remus shook his head at Sirius."You don't get to apologize, Sirius, I- I don't even know how I could ever forgive you."
"Moony..."
Remus snapped, hearing the teenage nickname come out of Sirius's mouth was too much. "You don't get to ' Moony ' me Sirius, you don't get to do shit. I don't care that your ' back now ' or whatever bullshit you've told Lily"
"I am back now Rem, I'm back and I'm not leaving."

"You're so full of it Sirius! I've heard that countless times from you, it's all I'm back for real this time Moony and I love you Moony, please, just suck my cock. Then the next day you're gone. and you've buggered off back to France." Remus pushed himself off of the wall, shaking his head disapprovingly. "I know you, and you're a liar Sirius. So do me a favour, save the bullcrap for someone else who gives a shit, because this time you're not coming anywhere near my bed."
"Remus-"

"You may be able to do whatever you want Sirius, fuck whoever you please but I cant' I have a family, a responsibility! Not all of us have the privilege of fucking off to France whenever things get slightly uncomfortable!" Remus turned and stormed back into the kitchen, marching in a blinding rage into the living room where James, Lily and Teddy were sitting.

"I'm leaving" Remus puffed, looking down at the worried expressions of the trio.
"We heard," Lily admitted, looking at Remus with her motherly stare. "You can stay if you want Teddy but I just need to get the fuck out of here," Remus said rapidly, looking down at his son who only had concern in his eyes.

Teddy stood up nodding to Lily and James before meeting his father's eyes and smiling sympathetically. "You leave, I leave" Teddy shrugged as he shimmied past Remus to get the two coats.
"I'm sorry guys but I can't right now" Remus apologized.
"Oh shush, never apologize Moony, I'm sorry I made you- We never knew about you two.." Lily began, standing up to hug Remus.

"I never told you about it.. I'm sorry for lying." Lily pulled away and nodded, opening her mouth to speak but being interrupted by Teddy. "Ready Da?" Teddy smiled, handing Remus his coat.
"Yeah yeah, sorry again guys, see you tomorrow at school Prongs"

"Drive safe Moons'' James said, smiling softly at Remus as he walked them to the door. "I'll be round tomorrow for Harry, but I will not show up if you dare tell my mum about Victoire" Teddy threatened, pointing an accusing finger at Lily.
"Alright, I promise! but only because I need you to look after my child, not out of the good of my own heart"
"Noted"

Teddy hugged Lily and did his handshake with James before jogging off to meet his father who was already turning on the car, eager to escape, and Teddy hopped in the car, smiling sympathetically at his dad, and Remus realised that he had heard that whole conversation, shagging part and all.
"Oh god not you too, if another person gives me that sad, sympathetic smile I'm going to run them over"

"Not our fault, you do look exceptionally glum, what happened?"
"Sirius happened," Remus sighed as he pulled out of the Potters drive.
Teddy didn't pry anymore, he opened the glove box, fingering through the twos extensive CD collection. "He left just before you were born" Remus admitted, eyes straight ahead on the road.

Teddy looked up, not expecting his father to open up about anything Sirius related. "We were back together when your mum came to our dorm, poor Dora was shitting it, came to Gryffindor Tower with a pregnancy test."
Teddy stayed quiet, he didn't know the specifics of it all, but he did know that his parents had a one night stand and were never actually together.

"Sirius lost it, went completely mental. I guess it was warranted but cor, you would have thought I committed murder or sommet"
"He punched me actually" Remus chuckled.~
"He punched you?"
"I did knock up his baby cousin"
"Yuck"

"His words, not mine - you should have heard what he yelled when I tried to tell him that a one year age difference didn't mean I was a pedo." Teddy laughed heartily and Remus joined him, he felt happy that his father was sharing some of his past, he usually never spoke of a time before he was born.
"James punched me too, but that wasn't until a week later"
"Prongs went at you too?!"

"Aye, mainly caus he thought I cheated on Pad- on Sirius" Remus coughed, correcting himself.
"Anyways, Dora comes to our dorm, and I had to explain everything to all of them and he eventually got it. We had broken up for about half a year."
"But obviously he was hurt, I mean I don't blame him, I was having a child with someone else..."

Remus stopped for a second before continuing. "So he left, I don't know where he went, he took off somewhere on his motorbike. Scared me half to death. He came back three days later, proclaiming that we could do this, we would do this together."

Remus gulped, feeling terribly vulnerable under his son's watchful gaze.
"And I believed him, I really believed him."
"He's the one who bought your crib, and your pram, he helped Dora and he supported me when I was absolutely shitting it. He helped us tell your Gran and Granda."

Teddy blinked rapidly, thinking of a young version of his dad, mum and Sirius, who were practically his age. He imagined how terrified he would be if he ever got Victoire pregnant.
"So- what happened?"

Remus sighed and grabbed the steering wheel tighter. "He betrayed me. that's what happened." Teddy felt his heart pang for his father, wishing he wasn't driving so he could hug the suddenly small man. "It was around a month before you were born, and Sirius did the unthinkable, He went and told my Ma and Pa about you and they-" Remus stopped again, seeing his father screaming at him as his mum sobbed.

"They didn't take it well, as I had expected, but he knew I didn't want them to know and he went and told them about Dora being pregnant"
"is that why I've never met them?"
Remus nodded and looked close to tears. "They cut me off after that, mainly my Pa. Ma wrote to me once, gave me a cheque and said she would see me again but I knew it was bollocks."
"I still don't know why the hell Sirius did that, but honestly I don't think I've ever been so angry in my life."

"We're getting a McDonalds, I need some shitty food right now," Remus said as he pulled into the busy drive-through, the line was around the block, but Remus pulled up and Teddy was secretly grateful because he wanted to hear the rest of the story.
"Anyways, we had a huge fight, mainly just me screaming at him. And when I woke up the next day, James had told me he had gone to France, staying with his uncle Alphard"
"And?"

"And that's it, he left. Just like that. and sure he broke my heart but I had you and I swear Ted- you were worth everything and more." Remus smiled brightly as he pulled forward slightly but he put a hand on his son's arm.
"When I saw your pink little face for the first time, I knew you were the most important thing in the world" Remus admitted. Teddy flushed as he smiled and looked down at his feet.

"I remember when you were born, I couldn't help but laugh to myself, thinking that me , the guy who had only ever had a boyfriend, was having a kid."
They both laughed as Remus pulled forward, spouting their extensive order of fattening foods and sugary drinks.

Once the pair had obtained their food, Remus pulled into a car park and they immediately tucked into their food, with a Pink Floyd CD playing in the background.
"I'm sorry Da," Teddy said suddenly, interrupting the flow of the conversation.~
"Sorry for what exactly?"
"If- if I had never- then you and Sirius-"

Remus cut Teddy off by leaning over and capturing him in a tight hug, stroking the back of his head. "Annwyl, I love you more than I could ever say, never be sorry for being here, because you're the best thing that's ever happened to me" Teddy started crying as he burrowed his face into Remus's neck, clinging onto his dad tighter.
"I love you Da"
"Love you more my little smurf"