Hey guys! Sorry for the delay in updating. Hope you enjoy! XXOO HPFG
"I hate these clothes you wear," Charlie complained early in the morning. "It's so... obstructing."
"So sorry," Tess said sarcastically. "You know I don't like wearing nothing with all your family around."
"Prude," he teased. He moved on top of her and kissed her deeply, moving his hands under her shirt. "Baby," he crooned, nuzzling her neck and feeling her nipples harden against his fingers. They'd been married five years and he was still as hot for her as he had been the first day he'd seen her, the first time he had convinced her to have sex with him... he grinned at the memory...
"Uncle Charlie! Aunty Tess!"
"Ahhh!" Charlie rolled off Tess, glad that she was wearing something. "Teddy! Haven't you heard of knocking!" he asked irritably. Teddy, his sense of belonging already precarious, scrunched up his face and ran out the door. "Shit," Charlie said. "Where the hell did he get the idea he could just burst into people's bedrooms?" he complained.
"Probably Remus," Tess said dryly. "He wouldn't have much cared if Teddy did it," she reminded her husband. She curled up next to him, hugging him for a few seconds. "Go explain it to him. He looked bereft. He doesn't need to wonder where he stands with another family member."
Charlie and Tess dressed properly. They walked out to the breakfast table, where Teddy was sitting, looking forlorn. It was too early for anyone else to be up – not even Fleur, who believed in an early breakfast – but given that he was Lupin's son, he had energy to burn and was up looking to burn it. Hence why he had been up so early to interrupt Charlie and Tess in their early lovemaking session. "Hey, Kiddo," he said. "I'm sorry I yelled at you." He knelt so he was looking Teddy in the eye. "The thing is, when people are married, they need private time. You should never go into someone's bedroom unless they've invited you."
"Daddy never said I couldn't."
"Yes, but... your dad's marriage was very unusual. When he was married, I'm sure he and your mum were like me and Tess."
"Did you see them like that?" Teddy asked. "You and Aunty Tess are always hugging and kissing."
"I'm sorry, Kiddo, I didn't. But your dad was kind of a private man, he liked to do those things in private," Charlie said, figuring that he was kind of telling the truth. After all, he hadn't ever seen Lupin and Tonks being affectionate in public, but if they'd had Teddy, surely something must have happened in private. "But my point is – you can't barge in on people when they're in their bedrooms. Bedrooms are for privacy, you have to ask to come in," he said.
Teddy nodded. "I don't like it when Victorie plays with my things," he said. "The things my dad gives me."
Charlie made a mental note to talk to Bill about that. Victorie did tend to like playing with the bits and pieces Lupin had sent Teddy, things that he prized highly. The boy was starting to need his own space. In the meantime... "Why don't we get Fleur's pots and pans out for her," he suggested. Fleur couldn't stand anyone cooking with her, but she tolerated her utensils being put out for her.
She was kind of like Andromeda in that way.
He came back to Teddy a few days later. "Kiddo, there's no space to create a new room right now, but Ginny offered to share hers," he said. "She said she will be highly respectful of your things."
"Ginny can play with them," Teddy said magnanimously. "She knows how to treat them. And I like her." He bit her lip, suddenly confused.
"Everything OK, kiddo?" Charlie asked.
"Uncle Charlie – is it OK – is it OK – I mean – I like Ginny an awful lot, but – "
"You know, when Ginny was Head Girl, she was like a mum to a lot of the first years," Charlie said diplomatically. "A lot of them had lost their mothers and Ginny was a kind of replacement for them. She's very good at being a second mum to boys and girls who don't have one. Kind of like Luna. That doesn't mean they loved their mums any less."
Teddy nodded, seeming to understand that it was OK to like Ginny – love her, even – as a kind of mother without being disloyal to his mum.
"He wants Ginny for a mum, Bill, or at least he's starting to think like that. And I think she's good for him." He glanced out the window where Ginny and Tess were playing an energetic game of tag with Teddy – it took a werewolf and a former professional Quidditch player to run around with Teddy – "I loved her, I did," he said, speaking of Tonks. "But she wasn't suited to me, she wasn't suited to Remus, and when I see Teddy with Ginny – "
"I know, he's so alive and loving with her. It makes me think she brings out the best in them. She – "
"Fights with Remus and makes Teddy feel loved – makes them both feel loved. I never understood why my relationship with Tonks never worked with Tonks until I was Tess. I never understood how much werewolves and Weasleys need fire – Blacks may be good at love, even passion, but not at fire," Charlie said sagely. "And something tells me that Ginny and Remus together could set the world on fire, and the world would enjoy the warmth," he finished.
"Speaking of warmth – do you have any idea what's going on between Horace and Andromeda?" Bill asked.
"Nothing beyond what Teddy says," Charlie said, just as dying of curiosity, but he knew that Andromeda only ever revealed what she wanted to.
"I got you a present, Teddy, to say welcome," Ginny said, presenting Teddy with a wrapped present. He unwrapped it, a Paddington bear. He squealed with delight. "His name's Paddington, and he's very English," Ginny said solemnly. "And he's special. If you hug him, you'll be hugging me, no matter where you are."
"I'll call him Paddy," Teddy said, just as solemnly. "Like you. And like Daddy." He hugged the bear.
Ginny made a show of hugging herself. "See? He hugged me," she said. Then Teddy ran at her, Paddy in his arms, and hugged them both. "I love you," he whispered, barely audible, and Ginny didn't know if he was talking to her or Paddy. But she didn't care.
"I love you, too" she said to the little boy.
A barking at the door woke Teddy, followed by Andromeda, early Monday morning. Teddy rushed to the door, thinking Slughorn had arrived with Blackie and Emerald.
Standing in front of the door was a beautiful black dog with big brown eyes and a shining fur coat. There was a note attached to his collar – emerald green, no less.
Hi!
I'm an Australian Kelpie. I'm good with children. I'm energetic and intelligent, so I need lots of exercise and games. Please give me a good home.
"Ooooh," Teddy gushed, and dropped to the floor so he could hug the puppy. The dog responded by licking his face enthusiastically, and Teddy laughed joyfully. "Doggy! You're even better than Paddy! But don't tell Paddy that," he added hurriedly. "Or Ginny, either."
"Teddy, what's – oh, you have got to be kidding me," Andromeda said when she saw her grandson with his arms full of puppy.
"Please can we keep him, grandma?" Teddy asked beseechingly. "I know he can't stay here when Daddy gets home, but he could stay with you and I could see him when I come and stay with you. Please..." And he buried his face in the dog's sleek coat.
Well, how was she supposed to say no to that? Teddy had longed for a dog for the longest time, despite knowing that dogs didn't like his father. (She supposed it spoke highly of Teddy that he had accepted that graciously, rather than raging at his father for having a condition that made dogs frightened of him.) And she had fond memories of her own childhood dog, which Horace Slughorn damn well knew.
Damn that man. He knew how to endear Teddy to him in a way that made it impossible for her to turn him down.
"Horace Slughorn! How dare you!" Andromeda fumed later. "You knew how much he wants a dog. How am I supposed to tell him no?"
"All boys should have a dog if they want one," Slughorn said sagely. "All girls, too. I remember how much you loved your dog. I'm surprised you never got another one."
"Yeah – well – Dora could trip over her own shadow, let alone a dog, it was never practical. You should have asked me," Andromeda said huffily.
"And give you the chance to say no?" Slughorn asked. "Better to ask forgiveness than permission."
"I'm not forgiving you," Andromeda warned, though there was no heat in her voice. "What do you want from me?" she asked suspiciously. The Horace Slughorn who had been her Head of House only granted favours to see a greater one returned – either immediately or some point in the future. "Fine, you can kiss me, then," she said. She closed her eyes tightly.
She opened them a few seconds later to see him watching her intently. "Andromeda, if I'm going to kiss you, it will be when you're not acting so hoity-toity. You didn't act like that with Ted, so I'm not interested if you're going to act like that with me. I deserve at least the same respect as a muggle-born," he added, and Andromeda couldn't help but smile at that, because he was making fun of himself and the pureblood values that he had once vigorously held. "Why don't you bring Teddy and the dog over for dinner. Blackie and Emerald with love a pup to boss around and we can teach Teddy how to play chess."
"Remus already taught him."
"That Potions-failing Gryffindor?" Slughorn scoffed good-naturedly. "There may be not hope in me ever having him, but damned if I'm going to stand back and watch while he plays chess like a Gryffindor."
Ginny was making Teddy's bed – she was floored that he could be Lupin's son and Andromeda's grandson and still be such a slob – when she came across a piece of paper hidden in the pillow slip. It was from Fleur's stationary pad, which she had given him to write out his Christmas wishlist. She had assumed that he was staying with them for Christmas – it was, after all, a season for family.
My dad home, it read.
Ginny to be my mum
Yellow wellingtons
A Weasley jumper
Her heart broke a little to read such a humble, sentimental list. Two and three particularly cried out to her; he clearly loved her, and Paddy because she had given him to him, hence the yellow wellingtons. (No doubt he would be more disappointed if they were the wrong colour than if they didn't appear at all.) And the fact he had hidden it meant that he felt it was too much to ask, didn't want to ask for the impossible.
Poor boy, she thought. It was heartbreaking that he wanted such simple things – this was a boy who longed for a family and all the trappings that came with it.
There were footsteps in the hall, and Ginny quickly stuffed the list back in the slip and made his bed as if nothing had happened. "Hey, Teddy," she greeted him. "I was just making your bed, I hope you don't mind. I didn't touch your dad's things."
"You can touch them, if you like," Teddy said shyly, which was his way of inviting her. "I just didn't like it when Victorie did because she didn't know how to take care of them."
Ginny sat on the bed and held her arms out. Teddy ran and jumped into her lap, and Ginny used her wand to bring each item to them, one by one, and they poured over them in detail. Owls and dragons that had been enchanted to fly, shimmering squares of silk that changed colours as you moved them, pictures on parchment that told Nepalese folk stories. Ginny didn't find it difficult to demonstrate great interest in them; she missed Lupin as much as Teddy did, though as an adult that knew all things passed, no matter how permanent they seemed to be at the time, and she loving pored over news from him.
"That feels nice," Teddy purred when Ginny stroked his hair idly in much the same way Lupin used to do to her. "My dad combed my hair like that."
I know, Ginny thought. "He changed so much after he had you," Ginny said, as much to herself as to Teddy. "He was my Professor in second year as well as seventh, and he was so secretive, so ashamed of what he was. And then he had you and he felt so much more complete, so happier with his place in the world. You know, when I went to see Neville a few weeks ago – it was the first time I'd seen him with Alice, and he was so much happier. I think that must have been what it was like with your dad when he had you. He was my favourite Professor, you know. He was so good at teaching, he knows so much and he doesn't treat his students like they're little kids."
Teddy leaned back into her, and she wrapped her arms around his waist; he responded by winding his arms under hers, between her arms and his body, and threaded his fingers through hers. "I love you, Ginny," he said.
"I love you too, darling boy."
That night, Ginny was woken up by Teddy's crying. She flipped on the nightlight and went over to his bed. "What's the matter, sweetie?" she asked.
"I miss my daddy so much," he cried, throwing himself into her arms. "I love grandma and you and Aunty Tess and Uncle Charlie, but that's not the same as having daddy here. I miss him."
"I know you do, sweetie. Here, why don't you sleep in my bed for the night. It's not the same as your dad but, well, maybe it's a bit better than being alone."
Teddy sniffled. "Can Paddy come?" he asked.
"Of course Paddy can come." She picked Teddy up – Paddy securely in his arms – and carried him to her own bed. Teddy curled up to her in much the same way she had seen Victorie do with Bill and Fleur, albeit a lot bigger. "Try and get some sleep, sweetie. You'll feel better in the morning."
But despite that, she couldn't get to sleep herself. Remus, she thought. Please come home. Teddy needs you. I need you.
Lupin took in the spectacular view of Nepalese mountains after the first snow of the season. They normally had such a soothing affect on him, but today, he was distracted. And in a good way. All he could think about was Teddy. Something told him that it was time to return to his son.
Mack Edwards, the Head Healer – or at least, what passed for it, because his brand of Healing was so different to Andromeda's – approached him. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically. "But you don't seem to appreciate it."
"It's beautiful, it is," Lupin said. "I was just thinking about Teddy. I think it's time for me to go home. I want to spend Christmas with him."
Mack nodded. "I could have told you that weeks ago," he said. "I thought you should come to your own conclusion. What about the girl? Ginny?"
"She said she'll wait," Lupin said. "We'll see how it goes. I've put her through a lot."
"You've been through a lot yourself," Mack said. He didn't elaborate on that. Lupin had come to Nepal wracked with guilt and remorse, and it had taken months of counselling for him to find peace. He seemed to accept now that he wasn't responsible for his wife's death, and that she had been at least as responsible for their unhappy marriage... and that he owed it to her, and to Teddy, to be a good dad, and that in order to be a good dad, he had to be happy. Weather or not that was with Ginny remained to be seen. "Go in peace, Remus. You deserve to be happy."
McGonagall spotted Lupin the second she stepped foot in the Three Broomsticks. He'd always had a quality of powerful stillness that was borne of his lycanthropy, but what he possessed now was a serenity. He looked like a man who had faced down the worst possible scenario, and knew he could deal with it. He looked sad, but calm. Hopeful, even. "Minerva," Lupin said standing up to greet his – former, current? – employer.
"You look well," McGonagall said. "Nepal was good for you, I take it?"
"I thought a lot, rested even more," he said. "Minerva – I behaved atrociously. All I could think about was that I'd wished to be single for so long that she'd obliged me and died – and all the horrible ways I treated her – I felt like I was drowning in guilt and firewhisky was the only thing that could keep the nightmares away. I was a lousy teacher and an appalling father. I wouldn't blame Teddy if he wanted to stay with Andromeda."
McGonagall recognised the sincerity in Lupin's voice – not to mention the sobriety, not only in his voice, but his body language, his entire presence. "He misses you like crazy," she said. "He gets Andromeda to take him to the Owlery every fortnight. Charlie says he loves all the things you sent him, pores over them like they were Merlin's jewels and not – "
"Trinkets Neville got me from Knockturn Alley to pass onto him?" Lupin suggested with a smile. "I got him some things, too."
"He misses you so much," McGonagall said. "All he ever waited for were letters from you. If anything came out of this mess, I think it made Andromeda understand that you're a good dad. When you're not breaking his arm, that is," she added pointedly.
A look of shame and anguish crossed Lupin's face. "I never wanted to hurt him," he said in a small voice. "He was the best thing in my life – it was my job to protect him – he must have been so scared after Dora died and I just made it worse. But I'm going to make it up to him, if I can."
"How do you plan on supporting yourself?" McGonagall asked.
"I thought about that. I inherited enough from Dora and saved over the years. I don't need to work, if you're not going to give me my job back. And it'll give me time to spend with Teddy."
It was a face-saving announcement, McGonagall knew; while he might have been well-off enough to not need to work, he loved teaching. It was what made him such a good teacher. Which was a good thing, because he had been the best DADA Professor Hogwarts had had in the last decade. "Of course I'm going to give you your job back, Remus," McGonagall said. "On the proviso you keep it together and don't take your issues out on your son – or my staff – or the students."
Lupin looked visibly relieved. "I told you, I've had a lot of time to think," he reiterated. "I wasn't thinking straight. My priority now is making Teddy happy. That's the most important job I've got."
"And would I be wrong in thinking that you can make Teddy happy by making yourself happy?" McGonagall asked. "He adores Ginny, and you're free to be with her now."
"I seem to recall you threatening to fire me over it," Lupin said dryly.
"That was when you were married. And drowning in guilt over it. You're going to cop a lot of flak for being involved with her, whether it be now or ten years from now. Now..." she shrugged delicately. She couldn't outright approve of their relationship, given the age gap and the circumstances that it had been borne under, but she no longer had to outright disapprove, even forbid it. And if Ginny made them happy, who was she to tell them no? "Have you spoken to her yet?"
"No. I wanted to make arrangements with you and Andromeda first. I'm going to Shell Cottage after this, and then..." he shrugged. He had no idea what he was supposed to do after Shell Cottage. He was nervous as hell, perhaps even more so than he was about Teddy. At least with Teddy he had a legal right to take the boy and try and make him love him again... but Ginny was an adult who he had given her every cause to hate him.
Bill, Fleur, Tess, Charlie and Ginny were sitting around the kitchen table with cups full of hot chocolate. It was snowing outside, which made Ginny think about how cosy it would be to curl up in front of the fire with someone you loved...
But she supposed being surrounded by family as the Christmas season approached wasn't a bad way to go, either. She adored her two oldest brothers and their wives, and their companionship made it easier for her to deal with missing Lupin so much...
Her eyes were drawn to movement at the door. "Remus!" she cried, wondering if she was hallucinating. She had missed him so much and for so long that she had dreamed him into existence.
"I knocked," he said hesitantly. "No-one answered. I guess you were having too good a time," he said, hungrily eyeing the scene of companionship and hot chocolate. "I –" he started, before he was interrupted by Ginny throwing herself into his arms and kissing him passionately. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and kissing her back, flicking his tongue into her mouth and inhaling deeply to get her scent. He whimpered in an aborted attempt to say her name while his mouth was fused to hers and rubbed his arms up and down her back before picking her up and twirling her around. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he tightened his hold on her. He restrained himself from sliding his hands down to grab at that delectable backside of hers... "Gin, get down," he whispered urgently. "Before I make an ass of myself."
She slid down to her feet. "Are you really here?" she asked. She reached out to touch him. He rubbed his cheek against her hand, his rough stubble intoxicating against her soft skin.
"I'm really here," he said huskily. "I've missed you." He leaned in to kiss her again.
Bill coughed loudly from the table. Lupin let her go. "Hello," he said to the table in general, as if he was popping in for a casual visit instead of not having been seen for the better part of six months. To his sister, "Hey, Tess."
"You're back?" Tess asked eagerly. "For good?"
"For good," Lupin confirmed. "Teddy's coming tomorrow as usual, and we'll take it from there." He laced his fingers through Ginny's and ignored Bill's look of disapproval; all that mattered was that Ginny squeezed his hand back. "Gin, can we go for a walk?" he asked.
"I'll come with you," Bill said hurriedly.
Ginny started to growl, but Lupin interrupted her. "No, you won't," Lupin said easily. "What I have to say is none of your business."
"It is my business when that's my kid sister your feeling up in my kitchen," Bill countered. He wasn't sure he liked this new Lupin who looked so much calmer and more assured. The old Lupin could be reasoned with to stay away; this one saw nothing wrong with feeling up his kid sister in his kitchen.
"Bill, I promised your brother I would stay away from her while I was married. It's not my fault if you expected that to buy you twenty years. No-one was more distressed than me that it didn't happen that way, but what's done is done. If Ginny will have me, I intend to marry her, and we don't need you approval."
In front of him, Ginny gasped at these words. "Remus, do you mean – "
"When we're alone, love," Lupin directed her gently. He looked pointedly at Bill; he'd done nothing but think and rest for the last six months, and he was in a fighting mood, especially now that he'd decided he wanted to be with Ginny and wouldn't let anything stop him – so long as she wanted him, that was, which she seemed to – and if Bill wanted to argue with him, well, he was bigger and stronger and willing to do whatever it took to be with her...
Bill seemed to understand that, and he nodded slightly. "Love, get your coat," Lupin directed her. "It's cold out."
Ginny fetched her coat, buttoning herself up hurriedly. Lupin directed her out the back door, his hand on the small of her back. "Thanks a lot, Charlie," Bill said. "Before we had a chance of making him leave her alone. Now he's all over her in public because you told him to wait until Tonks died."
"Oh, come off it, Bill," Charlie scoffed. "When was the last time you saw him looking so calm? Or Ginny so happy? You may not like it, Bill, but I don't think anyone's going to make her happy the way he does, and at the end of the day, we have to respect that if we really love her. Besides," he added dryly. "Ten bucks says he's making a last-ditch effort to discourage her. He may be free to marry her, but that doesn't change the fact he's old enough to be her father... or a Dark Creature," he added, almost as an afterthought, because being madly in love with a Dark Creature hadn't exactly done him any harm.
"When did you get back?" Ginny asked Lupin breathlessly as she struggled with her gloves. He took her hand and slipped it inside his coat pocket, his fingers curled around hers. She was thrilled at the touch.
"This morning. I saw Minerva before I came here. Teddy will be by tomorrow morning, as usual." It had turned out to be a very beneficial arrangement for the Weasleys to have Teddy Monday morning to Friday afternoon – when Andromeda was teaching – and to focus her attention on him on the weekends. Plus, Lupin thought with an inward smile, it freed her evenings to spend with Slughorn.
"You came to see me before you saw him?" she asked.
"I wanted to sort things out with you before I promised him anything," Lupin said gravely.
That made sense; the boy was already so insecure about where the people in his life stood that to promise him a stepmother and then have it fall through... "He wants me to be his mum," Ginny said. "I found his Christmas wishlist, that's what he wanted – for you to come home and me to be his mum. He loves me, Remus – and I love him. I'd want him for my son even if I didn't love you," she added, almost defiantly, as if she was waiting for Lupin to deny that he loved her.
"I love you too, Gin, but I need to talk to you. I have to be honest with you – about my marriage." He felt Ginny's hand tense inside his and he knew what she was thinking: that Tonks was once again coming between us.
"OK," she finally said in a small voice.
"I treated her terribly," Lupin admitted. "I – I know this isn't easy for you to hear, Gin, but I have to tell you. I couldn't get married again in all good conscience without being honest about my marriage." They walked in silence for a minute, Ginny giving him the time he needed to discuss something that was clearly distressing for him. "We – weren't – compatible," he admitted. "Sexually, I mean," he admitted baldly. "She – she lied to me. When people say sex doesn't matters, they're lying, or they've never been in a relationship where you feel so frustrated – our whole sex life was either her feeling like a whore or me feeling bored and frustrated. And I forced the issue with her. I forced her to do things, threatened her with an annulment if she didn't. She was only happy in those final months because I tried so hard to give her what she wanted... Andy says she never knew, so I guess I should be thankful for that. But I have to live with how miserable I made her. That's why I went so crazy – all I could think about was the way she looked at me after I forced the issue with her. I felt like I'd raped her," he admitted. He felt rather than just heard Ginny's sharp intake of breath when he said that. "I thought I was entitled to treat her like that at the time 'cos she was my wife and she had lied to me, but now I have to live with that. I – I want you to know that about me. I want you to know what you're getting yourself into. I'm bigger and stronger and get carried away easily when I'm horny. You won't stand a chance if I'm determined to do something, and I want you to know that. I don't want to hurt you like I hurt Dora."
"Oh, Remus," Ginny said, full of empathy for him. He had recognised too late how bad a match he and Tonks had been, and would no doubt spend the rest of his life feeling bad for unhappy he had made her, when he was supposed to be the one to make her the most happy. "How did she lie to you?" she asked, knowing she didn't want to hear about his relations with his wife... and knowing that she had to hear it.
"Our first time was in a supply closet at St. Mungo's. I thought she was really into it, and it turned out she was just acting so I'd think she was into it... she knew if I'd known the truth, I would never have married her. I let her convince me that there was nothing so bad that we couldn't work through it."
"You seem... calm about it," Ginny said. "Sad, but calmer. Like you know it wasn't your fault."
Lupin laughed dryly at that. "It was your brother that helped me understand," he said. "And I think he understood himself for being with Tess. I loved Dora – we both did – but we weren't suited to her. Me especially... there was something there – something emotional – but the sex kept getting in the way and I was so cowardly... and she wasn't strong enough to call me on it. As I said, I've done a lot of thinking since I've been away. It's not my fault that she's dead and the state of our marriage wasn't entirely my fault, either. But, Gin, I'm rambling. I hurt Dora and I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life. I don't want to hurt you."
"Remus..." she struggled for words. "Do you remember that first time we got together? In Bulgaria, after Junior?" She shivered briefly to remember the unpleasant attack, and what else he would have done to her had he been given the chance... Then she steeled herself by remembering what had come after, and she smiled at that. "I told you that you could never frighten me... or make me feel ashamed... no matter what people think I ought to feel for wanting to be with you. You just spoke about sexual compatibility – did it ever occour to you that the reason we kept drawing back to each other was because of how compatible we were? That I was good for you because I yelled at you when you deserved it? That you desperately need someone to fight with you and call you on your crap?" she squeezed his hand in his coat pocket. "I never felt so alive when I was with you, and I think you feel the same about me. You could never hurt me. Give yourself more credit than that."
"Ah, Gin, I wish I'd met you twenty years ago. I wish I'd known then what I know now."
"Were you serious? Before, when you said you wanted to marry me if I'd have you?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah," he said shyly. "But I need Teddy's approval – from him, I mean. Not that I don't doubt that he loves you, but it's one thing for him to say it and another for him to mean it when he's faced with the reality. I don't want to come back into his life and stick another surprise on him. I want him to love you as much as I do."
"I understand," Ginny said. She knew he was right – it could backfire badly if he breezed back into Teddy's life with the announcement that he was remarrying just six months after his wife – Teddy's mother – had died, almost as if he had come back for Ginny and not Teddy – but it seemed like one more thing that she had to wait for.
"And there's another thing... he's going to work out eventually that I didn't exactly conveniently fall in love with you at first sight after I come back... he's going to work out that I was cheating on Dora... I want him to feel he can ask me about it – ask us about it, rather than hearing it from someone else... even if it means he hates us for a while."
"Remus, is this you trying to convince me not to be with you again?" Ginny said. "Because it's not working. I trust you and your judgement. If you think it's best for Teddy to be honest with him, then that's what we'll do."
"And I want you to love him like he's your own," Lupin added.
Ginny laughed. "I already said that I want him for my own son," she said. "Please, can you just kiss me?" she asked. "I know you want to, you wouldn't have kissed me the way you did before if you didn't."
Lupin turned to her, sliding his arms around her waist, burying his hands under her shirt, feeling her bare skin. "I've thought a lot about kissing you again," he admitted huskily, and lowered his mouth to hers. He kissed her as gently as he could, given that it wasn't in his nature and it had been so long that part of him was longing to push her to the ground and have his way with her, but he wanted to savour it... he sucked gently on her bottom lip, breathing in heavily, taking in her scent, her taste. "Beautiful," he murmured. "I've missed you so much."
Ginny shuddered with desire to feel Lupin's arms around her, his tongue in her mouth, exploring with delicious, agonising slowness... Their kisses had never been so slow, so careful before, as if they were meeting for the first time, but better than that, with all their history.
He was wrong. He could never hurt her.
Reluctantly, he drew away. "If I don't stop I'm going to take you in the snow," he admitted huskily. "And if I do that, I'm going to go back on my word of getting Teddy's approval first." Ginny nodded slightly, although she wouldn't exactly have been upset if that happened... but he was right. He needed Teddy's approval before he allowed himself to fall so deeply that he couldn't put the brakes on if he needed. It was frustrating, but it spoke volume about him and how much his son meant to him.
Lupin paced the living room restlessly. It was one minute past eight. Teddy was late. "Remus, relax," Ginny said beseechingly. "Sometimes he's not here until just before classes start. Andromeda hasn't kidnapped him."
"She might," Lupin said miserably. "I gave her enough reason to."
Ginny sat next to him and placed a comforting hand on his thigh. "She wouldn't have," she reassured him. "He's going to be here any second and he'll run into your arms and you'll forget about ever worrying."
He squeezed her hand. "Thanks," he said. "You're too good to me." And he leaned in to kiss her.
Kissing Ginny was a welcome distraction – more than a distraction – and he lost track of the time, barely registered the boom of the Floo going off, signalling someone departing – or someone arriving...
... Teddy arrived, Paddy in hand, to see his father – his father! – kissing Ginny – the way Uncle Charlie and Uncle Tess were always kissing – something he had fantasised about a thousand times. And now here it was, right in front of him, and he was too frightened to believe it was true.
He panicked. He dropped Paddy and fled.
"Teddy!" Lupin yelled when he realised that Teddy had come at the worst possible time. And he had wanted to get his approval before he saw them together. He hadn't wanted to bring Ginny into their lives like this... "I'm sorry, love, I have to go," he said, racing after his son.
He caught up with the boy easily. He had bolted outside and promptly fallen into a snow drift. "It's OK, I've got you," he said soothingly to his son, picking him up and hoisting him into his hip like he had done thousands of times before. To his paranoid, overprotective parental sense, Teddy seemed far too cold, as if he had spent hours in the snow and not just seconds. "Wrap your arms around me if you can." Teddy did so obediently, and his cold arms felt especially so against Lupin's superhumanly warm skin.
He carried Teddy back into the house and headed for what last year had been delegated his room. "Fleur, can I get some hot chocolate please?" he asked, sounding like an order despite being phrased as a question. Fleur just nodded and set to work.
He carried Teddy into the room and placed him on the bed, kneeling on the floor next to him and quickly stripping him of his shirt, rubbing his body vigorously, using friction and his own body heat to warm his son up. "Not so hard, daddy," Teddy complained. Daddy, Lupin thought. It was wonderful to be addressed that way again, and smiling encouragingly, he slowed down.
"Warmer?" he asked.
Teddy nodded. "Are you really here?" he whispered.
"I'm really here. And I'm never going away again," Lupin promised. "I'm so, so sorry for how I acted when your mum died. I was – well, I was really sad, but that doesn't excuse the way I behaved. It was my job to take care of you and I failed miserably. I can't ever take it back, though I wish I could," he said, feeling tears come to his eyes to remember how badly he had hurt his son, both physically and emotionally.
"Don't cry, daddy," Teddy said. "I don't want you to be sad anymore. I want you to be happy and play with me."
Lupin wiped his tears away hurriedly. "I'm crying because I'm happy," he said. "I'm so happy to see you again. I'm never going to leave you again." He waved his wand over Teddy's clothes, drying them, and dressed him again. He eased up onto the bed and pulled Teddy onto his lap.
There was a knock on the door, and Ginny came in with a tray of hot chocolate – and Paddy. "You dropped him," she said, placing the tray and the bear on the dresser and standing tentatively a little away from Lupin and Teddy, no idea what she was supposed to do now.
"Do you want Ginny to go?" Lupin asked Teddy, it sounded like an open question even to the six-year-old. Did Teddy want her to go immediately... or permanently? What Lupin had intended to ease Teddy into had instead been thrown in his face, and the shock could very well poison him against the woman.
"No!" Teddy yelled, demonstrating a possessiveness that Ginny had always thought was a werewolf thing and not a Lupin thing. "I want her to stay with us! Forever! I love her, daddy! I want her to be my mum! And she can be your wife, and you won't be sad or lonely," he added, almost as if this was an afterthought, though he had actually given it a lot of thought. It had seemed like the perfect solution – he and his dad both got someone to love and to love them, and when his dad was happier, he was a better dad. It was the perfect solution in his eyes. "Please, daddy, I'll never ask for anything again."
It was such a plaintive request that they would have been hard-pressed to say no even if they hadn't had any feelings for each other. Lupin reached for Ginny's hand. "I'd like that very much," he said. "I'd like – " he felt himself start to choke up. "I just want you to be happy with it," he finished lamely. "I want us to be a family, and – I mean – "
"What your dad is trying to say is that some step-families don't get along well," Ginny offered. She gripped Lupin's hand tightly as if to let it go would somehow make this all seem less real. Lupin was back, and Teddy approved. This was what she had been longing for for eighteen months. "Sometimes step-mums and dad are jealous of their step-children. But I don't want you to just be my step-son. I want you to be my son as if you were my real flesh-and-dad like you are your dad and grandmother's."
"Oh – oh," Teddy said, comprehending. He knew about other boys and girls who had step-parents who didn't like them, but he knew Ginny didn't have an uncaring bone in her body like that. "I love you," he said.
"I love you too."
"Can I call you mummy?" he asked.
"I'd like that," she said. "But can we wait until after the wedding? When it's proper?" she asked. She figured then Andromeda couldn't do much with her disapproval.
Luna left Alice with Sprout and ran through the Hogwarts ground yelling for her husband, blond hair flying behind her. "Neville! Neville!" she called through the grounds.
Needless to say, since Luna wasn't much for running through the grounds yelling, Neville was surprised to say the least. And a little frightened. "What is it?" he asked, all but forgetting that he was in the middle of teaching. He reached for Luna with both arms. "Is something wrong? Is Alice OK?"
Luna shook her head, hair flowing from side to side. She was smiling; glowing in fact. "Remus is back and he and Ginny are engaged!" she squealed with delight.
Neville's first reaction was to sigh with relief. He hugged his wife tightly. "Thankgod," he breathed. "I thought something had happened to you or Alice." Then he realised the news Luna was delivering; in fact, on further thought, it made him grin. Luna declaring the information in this way, making it public knowledge like this, would make it nigh on impossible for Lupin to wriggle out of it gracefully should he panic and change his mind. But then, that may have been the exact reason Luna had been the first to know. (He'd heard, unofficially of course, that Lupin had returned, but nothing formal about his reinstatement or relationship with Ginny.) She could be relied on to do exactly as she had done; be so happy for her friend that she ran across the school grounds calling for her husband to tell him the good news in the middle of class. "That's terrific," he gushed, meaning it. He had witnessed both Lupin and Ginny's misery over their break-up, known his own guilt for being the cause of it... and knew they would have enough disapproval without him adding to it. Impulsively, he leaned in to kiss his wife...
... It was broken up a few seconds later by the wolf-whistles of his seventh-years. "Oh, class dismissed," he said, waving them away. His students looked incredulous. "I'm sorry, do you not know what dismissed means? Go away." He crossed his arms resolutely over his chest and looked as authoritative and disapproving as he could manage, making it clear that he was not discussing it anymore until they dispersed. They could do exactly what Ginny had expected and gossip amongst themselves.
They finally did clear out and Neville led Luna to the small office at the back of Greenhouse One. "I've never come here," she said excitedly.
He smiled indulgently. Luna got excited over the oddest things... and yet, she wasn't nearly as flighty as people thought her to be. "It's nothing special," he said. Mostly duplicates of various bits of paperwork so he didn't keep having to go between here and his rooms in the Gryffindor tower. He had the furtherest distance between his private rooms and his work rooms of any Professor; he had checked.
"Yes, but it's yours," she gushed.
He pulled her into his lap. She had this way of making everything he did, everything he had, sound like something of such importance. "I love you," he said quietly. Returning to the reason Luna had come flying across the grounds, he said, "I'm glad for them."
"Really?" Her brow furrowed. "A lot of people won't be."
"We're not a lot of people," he said. He knew how Luna's mind worked; Ginny was the closest thing she had to a sister; Lupin was the closest he had to a dad. As far as she was concerned, that made them all but family, and a marriage would only cement that. Come to think of it, he was inclined to think that way. "They were miserable without each other. I was miserable knowing I'd caused it. They shouldn't be miserable for doing something that's not hurting anyone but small-minded gossips who've been fortunate enough not to lose loved ones of their own."
She kissed his nose. "You're such a wise man," she said sagely. "I'm the luckiest girl in the world to be married to you."
"I'm pretty lucky myself."
"Neville," she said, having forgotten her other news in the excitement of hearing from Ginny. "I have some other news..."
Lupin knew Ginny's brothers didn't exactly approve, but neither did they exactly disapprove either, so he couldn't complain too much – especially not after what he had put Ginny and Teddy through... and how much he would put Ginny though in the future. She seemed to understand what she was getting herself into, and he tried not to feel bad about that. He was trying to be through with feeling bad about the consequences of a choice made fully-informed.
He loved Ginny. He was prepared to face the disapproval of society for her. If she was willing – and everything about her seemed willing. And every time he saw that look on Teddy's face – that look of sheer joy at having his father back and Ginny as his mother in the not-too-distant future – he forgot all about what he and Ginny faced.
Besides, a passive lack of approval was still a vast improvement on active disapproval... and he was pretty sure that there were at least two people in the world who would be delighted for them; one with a whimsical idea of how romantic it would be.
"You can't wait?" Bill asked, his objections to the quick ceremony Lupin and Ginny (and Teddy) had unanimously agreed on: it would look terrible for him to be remarrying within six months of his wife's death.
"How long would you like me to wait, Bill?" Lupin said, his voice deceptively casual, that keen intelligence showing through that had a way of proving his point with reason. "She will always be young enough to be my daughter. People will always – " he stopped himself there, not wishing to explain to Teddy just yet that people would always be aware that they had been seeing each other while he'd still been married. "They might disapprove a little less given enough time, but they'll always disapprove. And given enough time, no-one will care anymore. At least, no-one I care about. Though personally, I am itching to see the reaction on Dora's cousin's face when he finds out," Lupin added, referring to Draco Malfoy. He was pissed off enough that half his family fortune – what he felt should have come to him through Bellatrix – would end up going to Teddy; now Teddy would have as a new mother the woman who had scooped up much of the other half – the Malfoy money – concentrating most of what he considered his rightful inheritance on three people that he despised.
Ginny hadn't thought of that; she grinned maliciously at the thought of Draco finding out about her and Lupin. While hate was perhaps too strong a word – hate had gone them in this bigoted, pureblood mess in the first place – she figured she couldn't be faulted for taking malicious delight in and misfortune that happened to the boy of the woman who had killed her mother. "I heard he's been hocking his mother's jewellery," she informed the group gleefully. "That Slytherin bracelet thingy that Slughorn was so fond of handing out to his favourites found its way to Borgin and Burkes," she said. "I thought that place was for unusual wizarding artefacts."
"Slughorn on ever gave about half a dozen out," Lupin explained. "He managed to put some kind of charm on the design so it was only his to give. I think Narcissa only ever got one because Andy and Bellatrix did, and she had a tantie over it. I don't think he thought that much of her, beyond her being a Black and having two talented sisters. They were for his ultimate favourites – his pet students who were Slytherins. Few enough were given that I guess they kind of count as unusual." He snickered. "And Andy says it's just some 'old piece of jewellery' that she found."
"I thought that was his bracelet she was wearing," Charlie said. "Do you know what's going on between them? She seems to have really mellowed for being at Hogwarts. And she's wearing what I think is her idea of colour."
"What, green so dark that as may as well be black?" Lupin asked. "I don't know exactly what's going on between them. But I do know that at one time, his approval meant everything to her. I think that's largely why she was so bitter about his disapproval. She never got on with her parents so there was this – er – mentor figure for her to look up to. And for all Horace's flaws, he does have a knack of seeing people for their talent as much as for anything else. She told me once that he and Ted were the only two men in her life she felt saw her for herself and not her money and prestige. And she's always had something a Slytherin mentality. It doesn't surprise me that she gravitated to him, even somewhat grudgingly, and it went from there. I always thought her grudge against him was completely out of proportion for his comments."
"What did he say?" Charlie asked. He had spent the most time with Andromeda through his relationship with Tonks, and was aware of her intense dislike of Slughorn. He knew it stemmed from his disapproval of her marriage, but not exactly what words had been exchanged.
Lupin shrugged. "I don't know, only that it was hurtful. But I know he's regretted it for a long time. I think if she was less – well, Andy – she would have forgiven him a long time ago. I'm glad they're getting along. Happy Andy can't possibly be a bad thing for me, and I felt awful banning Horace from being alone with Teddy. But that's all I know." He ran his fingers through Ginny's hair absently, and the movement of his arms caused Teddy to stir in his sleep. "OK, mate, time for you to go to bed. I'll put you in with Victorie, OK?"
"No," Teddy said sleepily, but remarkably obstinate for his sleepiness. "Wanna stay with Ginny. And you." He tightened his grip around his father's neck, as if daring him to dislodge him.
"You can't stay with us," Lupin said as gently as he could. "I need some time alone with Ginny."
"You know, that private time I talked to you about," Charlie spoke up with a cheeky grin.
Lupin looked blank for a second, then realised what Charlie must be talking about. He had never created boundaries with Teddy where his bedroom was involved, so naturally the boy had never realised that it wasn't appropriate for him to run into people's boyfriends. "I'm so sorry," he said. "It's never been an issue with us so I never explained it to him."
"I sort of gathered that, Remus," Charlie said with a dry smile. "Teddy, remember how you asked me if your mum and dad – your first mum, I mean – were like me and Tess? Well, you need to give them time to themselves," he said.
"I'm not going anywhere," Lupin promised, trying not to squirm that Charlie was attempting to help him out by alluding to the fact he wanted to spend the night with his sister. "If you really need me, I'll be in Ginny's room." Teddy gave a small nod against Lupin's shoulder in grudging consent. "Gin?" Lupin asked, holding out his free hand for his new fiancée. Ginny got up and rushed to him, taking his hand in hers, grateful to leave this room and her brother's allusions.
They took Teddy up to the nursery, where Victorie was already asleep. "We'll stay with you til you fall asleep," Lupin promised.
"Teddy, I need to ask you a huge favour," Ginny said. "I want to go into London with your dad tomorrow. Just the two of us. We need to look for wedding rings." Teddy started to protest, but Ginny's plan needed to be done without Teddy. "Please? We'll be home in time for dinner. We can't get married without it," she lied. Trust me, please, when she felt Lupin giving her an odd look.
"OK," Teddy said in a small voice. "If you'll be home for dinner. Read me a story, please?" Lupin obliged, holding the book open with one hand and using his free hand to wrap around Ginny's waist; Ginny leaned into Lupin, her head against his shoulder, her long red hair falling over his chest. As Lupin started to read, it was Teddy's last image as he fell asleep to see his dad and his new mum, looking very much like a couple in love, exactly what he had wanted since he had been old enough to know what a mother was and that he didn't have one, not really...
Lupin pushed Ginny roughly against the wall and kissed her hard, his tongue pushing deep into her mouth, seeking out her own. She responded eagerly, raking her fingers through his hair. "Fuck me, Remus," she cried gutturally. "Fuck me senseless."
"My pleasure," he grunted. "I've had six months to want you."
"Really?" she asked, longing to ask the obvious question but not sure how to raise the issue of fidelity that she couldn't expect given they had broken up... if broken up was even the right word.
"There hasn't been anyone else, if that's what you're after," he grunted. "I don't think I could get it up if I tried."
"Really?" she asked pleasedly.
"Don't distract me," he grunted. He slid his hands down her back and grabbed her buttocks, lifting her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist. His erection was immediately obvious. He carried her to her bed and distractedly threw an Imperturbable spell against the door before dumping her on the bed and climbing on top of her. Kissing her frantically, he tried unbuttoning her shirt then gave up and ripped it clean through so her top half was clad only in a lacy bra from which her breast swelled enticingly. He kissed her flesh where it escaped from the lacy material as he fumbled with the clasp and freed them. He sucked on one nipple as he kneaded her other breast with his hand with the tough passion that she had become so familiar with... and had loved every moment of. "REMUS!" she cried, arching her back, thrusting the attended breast deeper into his mouth. She hurriedly unbuttoned his shirt and bushed her bare breasts against his bare chest and entwined her legs with his, rubbing her groin provocatively against his erection, feeling it swell against her touch.
"Ginny, please," he said, knowing that he wasn't going to last long if she kept doing that; knowing that he wasn't going last long, fullstop...
"Fuck me," she ordered. "FUCK... ME... NOW!"
They divested each other of the last of their clothes and he plunged hurriedly into her, groaning as he did, feeling like a fire had been extinguished inside him and yet still feeling so warm... He began pumping her hard, grinding into her. "Ginny – Ginny – Ginny!" he cried her name over and over and he screwed her senselessly, just as she had asked. He stroked her with increasing speed and pressure so their climaxed happened simultaneously.
Afterwards he curled up in her arms, his head nestled between her breasts, momentarily sated, though he knew it would only be a matter of minutes before he was ready to go again. "Missed you," he murmured quietly.
She stroked his hair, damp from their exertions. "I worried that you were never coming back," she said. "And yet – I knew you would. I knew you couldn't just walk away from what we have. And whoever disagrees – well, fuck them. Besides, Luna will be happy enough for everyone."
"Was that who you sent the owl to?" Lupin asked. Ginny nodded, grinning mischievously. "Merlin – Ginny – you know by now that the whole school will know?" But her mischievous smile told her she had known exactly that... which was why she had done it. "I wouldn't have tried to wriggled out of it, you know. You didn't have to engineer for the whole school to know the same day." But his voice was gentle, easygoing.
"I know. But now you really can't." She nestled in his arms a little longer, than stirred. "I saw something a while ago and got it for you," she said, getting up and retrieving something from her dresser drawer. "It's white gold, not silver," she offered. It was a ring made from white, red and rose gold braided together – three shades of gold and the two Gryffindor colours. "I thought you'd like it, and... I don't know, I guess something inside me thought it would make a nice wedding ring. Maybe it just reminded me a little of mum's wedding ring. Bill has dad's and mum's ended up being promised to me," she said.
Lupin handled the ring, entranced by its simple beauty and touched by the thoughtfulness and far-sightedness of the gift. Then his browed furrowed in confusion. "Hang on – I thought we were going into London tomorrow for rings?" he said.
"I told Teddy that because there's something I want to take a look at... and I don't want him disappointed if it doesn't work out."
"Ah. Clever minx. Anything you didn't think of?"
"Nope, think I've got everything covered," she said saucily, reaching for his crotch expertly...
Andromeda opened the door, knowing before she did that it was Slughorn – with his finest mead in tow, something he didn't easily share. "I heard about Remus and Ginny," he said simply, which didn't exactly surprised Andromeda – everyone had heard. Neville's students had done a fine job of repeating the little they had heard, in an excellent spirit of Chinese whispers. "You must be angry."
She let him in. "I thought I would be," she admitted. "But I'm just... sad. For myself – I miss Dora – and for Dora, because she would have been miserable if she had lived. She and Remus were so incompatible, one could only be happy if the other was utterly compromising what they wanted. Perhaps she's better off... where she is. Perhaps that's why she went. I – did you ever see Charlie and Tess together?" she asked.
"At the wedding. They have a certain – intensity," Slughorn said diplomatically.
"You mean Charlie finally found someone as passionate and overtly sexual as he is?" Andromeda said with a smile. "Dora wasn't good with him. It was funny, because they were such good friends, I think that was the reason they got together – everyone just expected them to. But I saw how frustrated she was by how enthusiastic he was about things – not just sex – and yes, I knew about that, though I think to this day he thinks I didn't – just – the Weasleys are all so intense. I was the first to admit that Charlie and Tess are perfect for each other, far perfect that Charlie was for Dora, but I was so closed to the idea that Ginny might be perfect for Remus for similar reasons."
"That sounds like an apology of sorts," Slughorn commented.
"I was wrong to hold him to my own standards. Don't misunderstand me – I still thing he was wrong the way he went about things, and I think I always will, but I could have tried harder to understand what he was going through. It was so easy for me to judge when the line of marriage and widowhood was so clear-cut for me. I didn't give him any credit for how guilty he felt He said something to me once – years ago – that we had been friends once – and was I was one those so-called liberals who's fine with Dark Creatures so long as they're not dating their daughters... and he was right. I miss our friendship and I wish I had tried harder to keep that... to understand him better. I wish I had recognised that Dora was at least as guilty for their marriage being as bad as it was. She went out of her way to pretend she was something she wasn't to please him – he didn't know til after they were married – so maybe she was even more to blame than he was. Sorry," she said. "I'm rambling."
"I think it takes a lot of reflection to realise our own child's faults," Slughorn said sagely. "Maybe it's even harder than realising our own faults. I wouldn't know," he said dryly. He frowned when Andromeda chuckled at that. "What's so funny?" he asked. He wasn't sure if he liked her laughing at him or not. Was she sharing a joke, a camaraderie... or just having a laugh at his expense?
"Word has it you're considered the most paternalistic Professor after Remus and Neville. Given they're both prone to panic if they don't know exactly where Teddy and Alice are at any given moment, I think you should take that as quite a compliment."
He smiled. "When you put it that way..."
Andromeda noticed an open book on his coffee table that had been systematically highlighted. "They disappear in a few days, I just wanted to go back to some things that I didn't understand," he explained.
"You can do what you like with it, Horace, I gave it to you to do with as you like. You could have thrown it out if you were bored."
"On the contrary – it was fascinating. I didn't realise how much muggle sciences could contribute to our understanding if things," Horace said sincerely. "I wish I'd talked to him about it when he was alive. I wish I'd been open-minded enough to realise how interesting and worthwhile it was when he was alive. How much of it is his work?" he asked.
"Most of it," Andromeda said. "Hermione did maybe ten percent... just covering the advances in technology and science the last fifteen years or so." Which Slughorn meant to meant was closer to a quarter, but still, Ted Tonks's pet project had been a fascinating read, an in-depth look into how muggle society – culture and technology – could contribute to the magical community's understanding of the world. He had never meant it to be much more than his thoughts, though the professor in him had turned it into a quasi-professional work, and Andromeda's sense of order had naturally insisted that if he were going to do it at all, he should present it properly. Over the years, it had naturally come up with Hermione, who had expressed a keen interest and then started tweaking it in accordance with changing technology and culture. But overall, it had been a fascinating read. "What didn't you understand? Though Hermione is probably the better one to ask than me," she admitted. Though she liked to think she was far more open-minded than her mother-in-law, she was willing to concede she could often be just as ignorant of the muggle world as Audrey was of the magical one.
"The bit about genetics, mostly."
Andromeda laughed. "I have to give Hermione credit for that. It's been her pet project since Teddy was born. She was determined to prove that Remus can't have anything other than human children. It's really complicated but it has to do with the way we're made and that he essentially is made up of two species which are incompatible with the other. As far as having children goes, he's effectively only operating on half his being. Tess is different, because the trauma of turning – they still turn, you just don't see it – means she'll effectively miscarry every month, but short of mating with another werewolf at full moon, it's nigh on impossible for Remus to have anything but a human child."
"Wow." Slughorn was genuinely impressed, especially given that for all its spells and potions, the magical community had never grasped such a concept. "He must have been a brilliant man."
"He was, but not in the way you mean. Genetics and human biology is just like Potions of DADA, some people excel at it but most have at least a rudimentary grasp of it. His genius lay in his belief of how much greater a society we could be if we embraced the best of what both worlds have to offer."
Slughorn nodded sagely. "Something you believe in, too," he said needlessly. "St. Mungo's hasn't been managed so well in living memory."
"Please, if I had a Galleon for everyone who said that, the wealth I inherited from Bellatrix would look like a pittance," Andromeda scoffed.
"Come, now, I never knew you to be one for false modesty. You manage it well because you recognise how much knowledge is lost by refusing to hire muggle-borns, Dark Creatures, recognise what muggle science can offer. I've known a lot of administrators and Head Healers in my time, Andromeda – heck, I taught a lot of them – but you exceed all of them combined." There was a quiet sincerity in his voice that warmed Andromeda far more than any superlative. It was only what she had been told hundreds of times before – and something, because she wasn't big of false modesty, she knew to be true – but somehow, coming from Slughorn, it meant so much more...
There was a companionable silence between the two, until Slughorn leaned towards her and brought his hands around his neck. Sensing what he was going for, Andromeda jerked back, though not as swiftly as she may have done in the past...
... He handed her the chain she had threaded her wedding ring onto, something she had taken to doing when she expected to see Slughorn socially – something that seemed to be happening more and more frequently of late. "I'm sorry, that's been bugging me all night. You don't have to hide it away for my sake. I know you still care about him. I wouldn't feel the way I do about you if you didn't."
"And how do you feel?" Andromeda asked.
"That depends... how do you feel about him?" Slughorn asked cautiously.
It was a fair question; she wouldn't risk her heart to someone whose emotions were conflicted either. "You're right, I still love him," Andromeda said honestly. "I always will. But if it was him, I wouldn't want him to be alone if there was someone who could make him happy, damn convention. And I think he'd want the same for me. You know, it always distressed him at we were estranged. He'd be happy to know we're friends now. I think he'd be happy if it was more than that."
It was what he'd been hoping to hear – or close enough. He had always known that she would always love Ted, and it didn't bother him... at least, not as much as it once would have. He felt the way he did about her precisely because of her capacity to love... he couldn't expect her to switch that off for anyone but him.
His kiss, when it came, wasn't entirely unexpected... or exactly unpleasant. His lips were gentle on hers, yet just a little insistent. For someone who had such a physical appearance of – well, sluggishness – he was talented kisser. She opened her mouth to let his tongue in...
He pulled away after a few seconds, intentionally wanting to keep it brief. "That wasn't too bad, was it?" he asked. Andromeda shook her head wordlessly, suddenly feeling very shy. She was fifty years old but felt as nervous – infatuated, even – as she had been at seventeen with Ted. Slughorn leaned in to kiss her again, his tongue more probing this time, his fingers in her hair, a pleasant sensation, particularly for someone so long deprived of affection. Whimpering slightly, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Dromeda," he whispered. It had been his pet name for her, something Ted had taken a shine to, an origin that she herself that forgotten.
She pulled away, her husband's pet name for her jarring her. She was suddenly reminded that she had been married for almost thirty years and had loved him deeply. Despite her earlier words, she suddenly felt guilty, as if she was betraying Ted somehow. "I think you should go," she said quietly.
He realised his mistake and swallowed his hurt that she was blaming him for using the name that he had given her in the first place. "I'm sorry, I won't call you that if you don't want me to."
He went to touch her arm, but she deflected the embrace by moving away and standing up. "I think you should go," she repeated. "I need to think."
"Andromeda – "
"Horace, please," Andromeda snapped. "I can't do this. I need to go into London when school lets out for Christmas." He knew that by 'London' she meant her home where Ted was buried. "Please leave."
Slughorn knew that this was the end of it, at least for the time being, and went to leave. "You can't push me away forever," he said with quiet dignity. "But I won't wait forever, either. I won't come second to a ghost." And with that he left, leaving Andromeda alone with her thoughts – and her memories.