The Human

"Do you mind if you're not the love of my life anymore?"

She was leaning against Remus' side while the baby drifted off to sleep on her lap after feeding. Tonks might have been biased, but she was pretty sure that Teddy was the most perfect human ever to exist. It was astonishing how much she liked this mothering lark. After all, she was hardly Molly Weasley when it came to domestic stuff, she'd anticipated dropping the kid on its face, and it was barely a secret that her own mother had liked babies so little that she'd stopped at one (when she was younger, Tonks had spent a grumpy afternoon moaning about this and nagging for a younger sibling, only to go off the idea when Dad pointed out that she'd have to share her toys). So much had happened during the pregnancy it had been easy to lose track of the fact that a physical human baby was going to turn up at the end of it, needing feeding and changing and burping. But he had turned up and honestly, being his mum was the best thing that had ever happened to Tonks. She loved his staring eyes. She loved that he was a human body in miniature. She loved cuddling him when he was warm and full and sleepy like this. Breastfeeding was complicated at first but they were getting the hang of it now, together. The fact that Teddy seemed to be permanently hungry was knackering, but at least it meant that they got a lot of practice at feeding, and it made Remus pleased.

"I like him being hungry," he'd tried to explain, "I feel like 'There's my son, he wants to grow up big and strong'. All a bit primal, isn't it?". Usually he hated anything animistic like that in himself, but he'd been grinning, and he grinned all the time these days. Tonks had never known him to be so contented and calm for so long. Their son was a real Daddy's boy already. Remus was the best at making him stop crying, and Teddy didn't kick so much when it was his dad changing his nappy. Finally, Tonks thought, there's somebody in the world who thinks you as marvellous as I do.

Mum was different too. She'd been doing that Black stiff-upper-lip stoicism since Dad died, and then breaking down every few days. She'd been quiet too, which wasn't like her at all, and when she did speak she was detached and more impatient than usual, and then she'd get upset with herself for snapping. Her grandson seemed to have given her purpose again. Tonks, Remus and the baby were still living at Mum and Dad's house, so Mum was busy tidying up, organising the perplexingly huge amount of washing a tiny baby produced, or explaining to a flummoxed Remus how the gate on Teddy's cot worked.

And then there was Teddy himself, the most glorious person in the universe. He had Tonks' hair (well, sort of. It usually flickered between green and blue, and flared red when he was screaming) and Mum's eyes and everything else was Remus. He kicked a lot. He smelt soft and clean. His cried weren't a "Waaah!" but an "Eee-yar!". His grip was tiny and brittle and fierce. So far he hadn't weed on any of them when having his nappy changed, although apparently that joy would occur at some point. He didn't like silence, and was happiest when being sung to or hearing people talk; the radio and the record-player had certainly got a lot of use over the last few weeks.

Mum and Remus hated the "when all this is over" conversation. They both played the "well, we thought it was over last time" card, which made Tonks roll her eyes. What was the point of the Order and Potterwatch and getting on with their lives if they couldn't imagine what the world would be like when they'd won? When they did, when it was over, Tonks would go back to work and Remus would stay home with Teddy. Tonks imagined coming home to them, her boys, to find Remus telling Teddy a story or playing him music. When Teddy got older Remus could play games and teach him to read, make things with him and take him to the playground. It wouldn't matter that he couldn't get a job because he'd be raising their child. Teddy was going to be so sweet and so smart, just like his dad. She could tell.

Right now, Remus was sitting beside her with a book on his knee, although he hadn't turned a page for about ten minutes. He'd been watching them Tonks and Teddy instead. He closed the book, rested his chin on top of Tonks' head, kissed his fingers and stroked them on Teddy's forehead.

"No. I don't mind at all".