"This is Neville, Rem. Our son." Alice said proudly handing the werewolf the swaddled infant.
"He's so small." Remus whispered, stroking Neville's face carefully. "He's amazing."
"We make cute kids, don't we?" Frank asked from his bed, little 'rissa sitting beside him with a big smile.
"The cutest." Remus said, unable to take his eyes off his new son. "I just want to stay in this moment forever."
"Me too, love" Alice said pressing a kiss to Remus' cheek . "Me too."
"He knows you, you know." Augusta said from the doorway. Remus had been standing in the room, not moving for a long time, just watching his son play. "I've told him stories about you, Alice and F-frank."
Remus politely ignored her stumble over her son's name and just took in the sight of his son. This was beyond his every expectation. The last thing he had expected was to run into Augusta and Neville as he was leaving St. Mungos.
Remus had been sitting with his husband and wife for over two hours just watching them breath, just seeing that they were alive. "I should probably go soon." Remus said softly, stroking Frank's hand. "Sirius and the others will be getting worried if I don't get back."
"I don't want to leave you though. I've spend years without you. Years when I didn't even remember you." Remus said holding back tears. "I love you both, so much. I'll find our kids and I'll make things right. I promise."
Carefully Remus pressed a kiss to Alice's forehead and then another to Frank's. "I'll be back when I can, promise."
Finally, Remus managed to pull himself away from his husband and wife and to the door of the ward. "I'll come back soon."
"Remus?"
The scarred man turned quickly recognizing the voice, "Augusta?" There in the door stood Remus' mother-in-law, Augusta Longbottom. "Do you recognize me?"
"Of course!" She said incredulously, as if she could ever forget her son-in-law, "Remus, I've been looking for you. It's been five years. Where have you been?"
"Not, here. There is a lot I have to tell you." Remus said wrapping his arms around the older woman. "But I have to know, the kids, are they…"
"Remus," Augusta said pulling away from her son-in-law. "Neville is fine, he's safe."
"And Nerissa?" Remus asked.
"Come, we will talk about it at home, I'll visit Frank and Alice another day. Neville will want to see you."
"Neville, love, come here for a moment." Augusta called to her grandson.
"Gran?" The little boy asked as he padded toward the two who were still standing in the doorway.
"Love, this is Remus. Do you remember me telling you about Remus?" Augusta asked running a hand through Neville's hair. Remus' heart ached at how big his son was, the last time he had seen Neville the boy was only a toddler.
"Daddy Remus?" The five year old asked peering up at the man who he had heard about for years but never met.
Remus dropped down on one knee. "Yes, I'm Remus and I'm your daddy."
"Hi." Neville said shyly looking at Remus and then quickly looked to his grandmother for reassurance.
"Go on Neville, it's alright." Augusta told the youngster soothingly.
Neville was all big green eyes and sandy blond hair, a beautiful mixture of his parents, as he stared at Remus. Remus could see his son's eyes tracing scars before landing on golden brown eyes. "Want to see my garden?" The little boy asked hopefully.
"I would love to," Remus said honestly, pushing back to his feet.
"Come on!" Neville said excitedly grabbing Remus' hand. "I'll show you."
"What are we going to do?" Sirius asked raking a hand through his hair. It had been hours and they still hadn't heard from Remus. "I mean, we don't even know who we are fighting here. Not really."
The others watched as the escaped Azkaban prisoner paced back and forth. "We don't know why this happened and now Remus is missing!" Sirius ranted waving his arms.
"Calm down Sirius," Kingsley attempted to sooth from his spot in the chair Sirius had abandoned early in the conversation. "Remus could have been held up, after leaving the hospital."
"It's almost ten." Sirius countered rounding on his brother-in-law. "And it's the who that could be holding him up is the problem."
"Perhaps he returned to his home for something." Narcissa offered regally from her spot next to Lucius, "You did have Dobby kidnap him."
Sirius barely resisted the urge to snarl at his cousin. Ever since she been lucky enough to get her daughter back, Sirius could hardly stand to look at her. Her with her prefect family back together again, son and daughter a perfect pair with her husband at her side. Jealously burned hot and black in chest.
"No, he would have came back here first." Severus said waving his hand. "Remus is an intelligent man and he knows that we can't allow attention to be drawn to us. Him being missing is dangerous because if we were to begin looking for him in any manner it could draw attention to our situation."
"There is nothing we can about the werewolf being missing." Lucius declared, fed up with the pointless arguments. "We should be focusing on who did this-" gesturing with his hand to indicate the situation "-not on missing werewolves."
"Listen here, Malfoy!" Sirius said rounding on his cousin's husband, ready to fight when he froze suddenly. "Someone just entered the wards. It must be Remus."
"And if it's not?" Severus asked moving to stand.
"It has to be," Sirius explained moving toward the door. "I'm the one who holds the wards. No one but us can enter."
Severus and Sirius moved to the door, as the Malfoys and Kingsley remained in the sitting room that acted as their war room.
"Sirius! Severus! What are you doing?" Remus exclaimed startled when he entered Grimmauld Place properly.
"What is my daughter's name?" Severus demanded shoving his wand to Remus' throat.
Slowly the werewolf raised his hands looking between the two men. "Rosemary Jane." Remus said confidently.
For a moment Severus kept his wand raised but once Remus confidently met the other man's eyes the potions master dropped his wand and Sirius rushed to embrace his friend.
"Where have you been?" Sirius demanded pulling the werewolf into a hug, before making their way to the sitting room. "We thought something had happened."
Remus shook his head and flopped down on the sofa. "You won't believe what happened today," he said looking at the people in the room, his eyes stopping on Kingsley. "It looks like I'm not the only one with news."
Kingsley smiled brightly, "Yes, after being offered an invitation I found I couldn't resist coming to visit my brother-in-law."
Remus muffled a tiny laugh and shook his head. "I see."
"Get on with it Rem, I thought something had happened." Sirius complained sliding onto the sofa next to his best friend.
"Everything went according to plan, I went to the hospital. I didn't have any problems visiting...them." Remus paused, grief creating a tight, hard ball in his throat. "When I was leaving I bumped into Augusta."
"What?" Severus said sitting up, none of them had really considered approaching the Longbottom matriarch. It was a well known fact that she had hidden herself and her grandson in the family manor after the attack by the Lestranges.
"She recognized me," Remus said trying to explain. " I went with her back to Longbottom Manor, I saw Neville…"
Remus shook his head and pushed forward not dwelling on the few short hours he had spent with his son. "She cleared a few things up for me. I still don't remember what really happened that night the Lestranges attacked us and she isn't entirely sure either, but this is what she told me."
Remus closed the door reluctantly. He had just spent most of the afternoon playing with his son. Neville had shown Remus his garden then they spent the rest of the day just playing and getting to know one another. Hours later, Remus had just put his son to bed for the first time since the night their lives spun out of control.
"Master Remus?" A young house elf calls.
Reluctantly Remus pulls away from his son's door and looks at the small dark house elf. "Yes?"
"Mistress would like to be seeing you in her study, now." The house elf informed him.
Distantly Remus remembered that the study had once belonged to Frank's father but when he passed Augusta took up using the office to run the Longbottom estate. Before he knew it, Remus found himself at the door and before he could knock the door opened and Augusta called him inside.
Augusta was seated in front of the fire sitting at a glass that looked an awful lot like firewhiskey. Remus took the seat opposite of her and took the glass she offered him without a word.
"I've been looking for you, for a long time Remus Lupin." Augusta said meeting Remus' eyes steadily over her glass.
Remus swallowed hard, he didn't know what to say. How could he explain to his mother-in-law that he hadn't remembered his husband, wife and children. How could he tell her that. "I… I don't know what to say." Remus whispered dropping his eyes to the liquid swirling in his glass.
"Where were you?" Augusta demanded. "Why didn't you come to us?"
"Someone tampered with my mind." Remus admitted carefully. "I have almost two complete sets of memories from the time I was eleven years old until after that night." Remus tightened his grip on the glass. "I didn't remember them. I had no idea that I was was married to Frank and Alice. I didn't know I had two beautiful children that I was missing out on."
Remus stopped and took quick drink from his glass, the firewhiskey burned at his throat but he spoke again. "I don't know what else to tell you Augusta."
The older woman stared hard at Remus for a long while before nodding. "That matches what I have learned over the years," She admitted. At Remus' surprised looked she laughed softly. "Did you honestly expect me to have sat idle this whole time?"
"Of course not!" He sputtered. Augusta just laughed and waved him off.
"Some years ago, I approached Severus, and he acted as if he didn't know me. I did the same with Kingsley Shacklebolt. He was married to Sirius Black's younger brother, right? The man didn't even react to the boy's name." Augusta explained swirling her glass gently. "Nothing had been right since that night. When the Potter-Black's were attacked everything went crazy. It didn't helped that everyone was so secretive at that time. None of the children had been properly announced. James and Sirius had been hidden away since the twins were born and then somehow the press got it into their heads that Lily and James were married. The whole thing was a mess."
Remus nodded, frowning he had wondered just how everything had happened. Lily and James were hailed as having given birth to Harry Potter, the one who destroyed Voldemort but Remus knew that wasn't true.
"We were meeting that night, at Godric's Hollow," Remus said slowly, gently coaxing out the memories. "Peter had been distant for a while and it was worrying James so they were going to change secret keepers that night."
Augusta nodded, "Exactly but it was too late. Lily and James were killed, the twins and Lily's daughter were taken. From what I was able to discover the Albus found Severus at the edge of Hogwart's wards that next day."
Remus frowned, he could remember now. Lily, James and Severus were at the house in Godric's hollow. Sirius had been...somewhere likely with him, Frank and Alice but Remus couldn't remember.
"What happened that night at the house" Remus asked, his drink long forgotten.
"When, they, broke the wards and came in, there someone else came with them. We've never discovered who it was but they have to be the one who took Nerissa." Augusta explained. "Neville was left in his crib, but there was no sign of Nerissa. I filed a report with the Aurors but they wrote her off as dead. No one could figure out why Neville was left alone but they didn't care." Her tone had become bitter and Remus closed his eyes in sorrow.
"They didn't care because it was over." He whispered, picturing his little girl lost and alone.
"Exactly." Augusta said finishing off her glass. "Everywhere I went no one would listen. Even Albus Dumbledore turned me away when I went to him about my missing granddaughter and the strange happenings."
Remus say up, they had been skirting around the Dumbledore issue no one really ready to accuse the most powerful wizard in Britain but this was more than a little incriminating. "Is he?" Remus asked trailing off.
"I only know what I've told you." Augusta told her son-in-law. "I do have one other piece of news."
"What?" Remus asked sitting forward.
"I've found Nerissa."
"Augusta wants to send Neville here tomorrow." Remus finished. "Nerissa, too, after we go get her, so she and Neville can get to know one another again." Remus gave his friend a searching look. "If that's okay with you Padfoot? I'd feel better having the kids closer, plus the wards on Grimmauld Place are the best outside of Hogwarts."
Sirius pushed down the jealousy and nodded. From the corner of his eye Sirius saw similar looks on Kingsley and Severus's faces. Remus was getting his family back. "Of course. Will Augusta be joining us here as well?"
"No," Remus shook his head. "It would draw too much attention. Augusta has many dealings and her absence from Longbottom Manor would be noticed." The werewolf explained.
"Of course, Moony. I'd never turn you or yours away." Sirius told his best friend. "Where did Augusta find Nerissa, anyway?"
"I'm not sure how she did it, but she found here with a pair of dentists in Crawley." Remus said with a shrug letting himself fall back into his seat. "I really don't care, I just want her back."
"It's almost three in the morning, Sirius." Kingsley said. The Auror had been in the kitchen for over an hour trying to separate Sirius from the firewhiskey, something that he hadn't achieved just yet.
"Leave me alone, Kingsley." Sirius muttered into his glass. The man had only looked up to glare darkly at his brother-in-law, much more interested in getting to the bottom of his bottle than listening to reason.
"Sirius, please! This isn't a way to cope. We'll get the children back soon, the ministry is going to announce your escape within the next few days." Kingsley said pleadingly. The others had long since gone to bed. The Malfoys were less interested in getting back the other children, now that their family was complete again. Remus was practically giddy after spending the day with his son and discovering that his mother-in-law knew where his daughter was. Severus, having only the same empty reassurance that his daughter was safe with the Weasley family had retreated once again to the potions lab, leaving Kingsley to deal with his brother-in-law.
"No! This is the only way to cope! I was in Azkaban, Kingsley!" Sirius shouted pushing up from his seat at the table. "I spent years in a literal hell on earth. The rest of you didn't."
"My whole life was taken from me!" Sirius screamed, throwing the glass he had just been drinking from against the kitchen wall. "My husband, my kids, and now I'm stuck in this house that I swore I'd never return too. I've gone from one hell to another."
"Sirius…" Kingsley said trailing off.
"No! You don't get to judge me! I just, I just want my life back." Sirius said as the anger drained from him. "I want my boys. I want James. I want to go home."
Drunkenly the broken man stumbled before giving up and sinking to his knees. "If I just knew where Harry was," Sirius said to himself, "If I knew he was safe, it would be better. Maybe it wouldn't hurt so much."
With a sigh, Kingsley tugged Sirius to his feet and slung a heavy arm over his shoulders. "Come on Sirius. Let's get you to bed, things will looked better in the morning."
Slowly, Kingsley and Sirius made their way out of the kitchen and up the stairs where Kingsley could deposit his drunk brother-in-law into bed, never once noticing Severus standing just out of eyesight.
The former Slytherin watched with dark eyes as Sirius and Kingsley disappeared up the stairs. The smell of spilled firewhiskey made the potions master scowl and with an easy flick of his wand the mess disappeared. Sirius was deteriorating. Not surprising, considering he had just escaped Azkaban and while Narcissa had seen to his physical health, his mental health was a toss up. Even during school, Sirius had been broken.
Years of living in an abusive household had left him damaged in a way that Severus recognized, as he too was broken that way.
Seeing his friend, in such a dark place made him worry. James had been the one to pull Sirius back from the edge over and over again, but now James was gone and Severus realized as hard as Kingsley tried Sirius was going to fall head first over the edge if they weren't careful.
Severus, Sirius, everyone knew that they couldn't touch the children that had been placed with the Weasleys yet, but Sirius was drowning. That's why Severus had been so busy; the potion to dissolve a blood adoption was easy enough, so while the others thought he was tending the potion he had been instead been looking for Sirius' youngest son.
Living as he had been in Hogwarts, working for Albus Dumbledore, the subject of the boy who lived came up often enough. Severus had remembered right away that the Headmaster had said the boy had been placed with his aunt and uncle. With the entire wizarding world, assuming Lily had been his mother and with James having no living relatives that left only one place Harry could have been placed, Lily's sister and brother-in-law, Petunia and Vernon Dursley.
Severus hadn't wanted approach the muggles without making sure that Harry was indeed in their care so a few subtly inquires to Minerva earlier that day that provided the proof he had needed. Now all there was to do was get the child.
With a final look at the stairs where Sirius and Kingsley had disappeared, Severus slipped from the house and down the street to apparate. He had a little boy to bring home.