Here is the next update everyone! I would like to take the moment to thank everyone who has favorited this story or put it on their alert list. I would also like to thank anyone who has reviewed as a guest or anonymously, since I can't PM you to thank you personally. I hope you all continue to enjoy this story and giving feedback for what you like or don't like. On with the story!
Harry Potter is property of J.K. Rowling, who made a wonderful appearance reading at the Olympic opening ceremonies in case you haven't hear. I hear Moldy Voldy also made an appearance. This means we she definitely get a book on what he was doing there and how he got beaten by Mary Poppins :)
Tonks, Teddy, and Remus landed outside the gate to the front garden. Tonks immediately dropped Remus' hand as if were a hot iron. "This is Hillcrest Cottage," Tonks informed him brusquely, "It was an utter wreck when I bought it, but some magic and a bit of manual labo set it right." Teddy knew she was letting him in on the secret. People who had never been there before seemed to always miss the house's very existence. Once his mum told them about it, they were able to see the homey old redbrick cottage on the hilltop and its garden of mismatched wildflowers and ivy that had a habit of leaving its flowerbed to creep up the bricks to peer in the white-trimmed windows.
"It's lovely. You have done in excellent job with it," Remus said cautiously, but with clear admiration.
"Thanks," she said with a sharp nod to acknowledge his compliment, and then began striding towards the door, still holding onto Teddy by the hand. The sudden Disapparation had left Teddy feeling slightly ill and disoriented. He struggled to keep pace with his mother's quick steps, and frequently looked over his shoulder at his father, embarrassed to be dragged along in such a childish fashion. They had barely made it over the threshold when Tonks turned to Teddy and said, "Teddy, go up to your room."
"But Muum…" he began to whine, but she cut him off.
"Theodore, do as I say. Your father and I need to talk."
Teddy knew she meant business when she called him Theodore, so he decided it was probably best for him to listen. His foot was on the first step when he felt a stab of worry in his stomach. What if his father left before he could get any of his questions answered? He turned to ask his father to please stay, but his mum noticed his glance before he could. "You can talk to him later," she assured him, "But he and I have to talk about a few things first." He turned to his father, who nodded with a small, nervous smile. Teddy grinned back in return before he jogged up to his room, dropping an Extendable Ear by the living room door as he went.
Remus stood awkwardly in the middle of Dora's living room with his hands shoved deeply into his pockets. He could barely look at her stony expression. He had heard that no one was better in the interrogation room than her, and he could see why. Her look had the distinct air of Mad-Eye Moody, with both eyes focusing straight ahead as normal eyes should, of course. She was not glaring, just staring at him with a cool, calculating expression, as if she were sifting through his brain as he stood in front of her. Even though he knew she was not, the effect was unsettling. He knew she was angry, as she had every right to be. He wished she would say something, or even yell or throw things; anything but that stony gaze.
Finally, she spoke. "So, had fun playing Dad, did you?"
He winced. This was not going to be easy. "I don't think I deserve to be called his dad," he answered truthfully.
She grinned with a strange glint of malice in her eyes. "You're bloody right, you don't!" she said, "You may be his father, but you have not earned the title of 'Dad.' You forfeited that right when you walked out on…"
"I was wrong!" he exploded suddenly, his hand gripping a fistful of hair as it always did when he was overcome. "I was wrong to leave the two of you! I have spent eleven years trying to convince myself that I did the right thing, and most of the time I believed it. I could never quite get rid of the doubts, though, and they only get louder and louder, but I couldn't come back. I turned your life upside down to many times to ever come back. Now I've wasted all this time and I'm so sorry…"
Dora, who had previously been in a state of shock, recovered. "Sorry?" she laughed coldly, "You disappear from our lives for eleven years and you're sorry? I suppose we are to welcome you back with open arms because you are sorry and you have come to be Daddy. Last I recall you weren't so thrilled with the prospect of fatherhood."
"We were both scared," he protested.
"But only you ran away!"
"Dora, please listen…"
"Don't call me that!" she said sharply, "It's Tonks to you."
"Okay, Tonks," he conceded, wincing at her surname because in part of his mind, she would always be Mrs. Lupin. "I'm not here to try to pick things up where we left of. Merlin! When I woke up this morning I didn't have any idea I would be here at all! I just want to salvage some kind of relationship with our son."
She sighed deeply and fell to the couch. He could tell she was done fighting for now, but was by no means giving in. "That's what I've always wanted, I suppose. For you to want to know Teddy, I mean. So now that you've decided to exercise your parental rights, I assume you will want to take him away every other weekend or something like that."
"I know that is the only time you really get to see much of him. Why don't I see during the week while you are at work? I only tutor in the afternoons a few days a week, so I should be able to take him then."
She nodded in agreement. Remus could tell she was trying to hide her relief that he was not going to take any of the quickly dwindling time she had with her son. "That is probably the best option. I really do want you have time with him, Remus. I want him to know you. It doesn't matter what happened between… between us. I won't stand in the way Remus, but you have to understand that this is not a short term thing. Once you enter Teddy's life, you don't get to walk out again. If you can't handle that, I suggest you tell him now and leave before you can do more damage."
"I'm not going to leave," he said firmly, and it felt so right to say it at last. In his heart, he knew he was not only talking about Teddy. He only hoped he wasn't too late.
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