*MINOR EDIT 10/27/15: Minor spelling error fixed cause it was driving me nuts! Feel free to ignore if you're read this already as nothing else has changed.*
Chapter 4: This is Home
"Belief over misery
I've seen the enemy
And I won't go back
Back to how it was
And I got my heart set on what happens next
I got my eyes wide it's not over yet
We are miracles and we're not alone"
-"This is Home" by Switchfoot from The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
XXXX
October 6, 2001: Oz waited nervously at a booth at the Three Broomsticks, holding a steaming mug of hot cocoa between his cold hands. Any minute now his father would walk through the door and sit down at his booth. They had exchanged a few brief letters since their initial contact over the summer and had agreed to mark the booth they would meet in with a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them set out in the open. Oz had read through it several times, at his father's suggestion, and had found many of the entries informative and eye-opening.
"Daniel—Oz." Oz looked up from his cocoa. The man standing by his booth was tall and thin with sandy hair and expressive amber eyes. He fidgeted nervously with the ends of his frayed gold and red striped scarf. "You are Oz, aren't you?" he asked, his hoarse voice hopeful.
Oz cleared his throat. "Yeah. You're my dad?"
The man smiled crookedly. "Guilty as charged. My name's Remus," he said, holding out his hand for Oz to shake. "I figured that might be the safest place to start."
"Yeah," said Oz. "You wanna join me?"
Remus raised his eyebrow. "That was the plan, was it not?" he said, sliding into the seat across from his son. Oz let out a nervous chuckle. Remus smiled crookedly. "Despite the rumors, I don't bite," he quipped.
"That's good to know," said Oz, relaxing slightly. "So…"
'So. Why don't I start?"
Oz smiled sheepishly. "That would be of the good. I'm not usually much of a talker."
"Me neither," admitted Remus. "Not these days at least. Although, I have been getting practice lately at my job."
"What do you do?" asked Oz.
"I'm a professor up at Hogwarts."
XXXX
"Gred—"
"—and Forge—"
"—reporting for the sitting of the baby!"
Willow didn't even look up from her stack of papers as she replied, "If you boys so much as think of sitting on my Lily-cub, I will turn you both into rats faster than you can say 'eep.'"
"Ma'am, yes ma'am!"
"Wouldn't dream of it!"
"Good," said Willow, setting her purple pen down and finally looking up at the grinning freckled faces of the Weasley twins. "Lily is currently picking out what books she wants you two to read to her. I told her that you boys did funny voices and everything." The mischievous twinkle in her jade eyes rivaled their own.
"You expect us—"
"—to read to the sprog?"
"That and so much more," cackled Willow, the grin on her face positively malicious with glee. "Gentlemen, until I decide that you have been thoroughly punished for your unauthorized Hogsmeade visit—and yes, I am aware that it was probably not your first or your last; I am hardly a fool—your free time belongs to me…and to Lily."
There was something so incredibly familiar in Willow's smile as she gleefully informed them of their Lily-sitting duties that they just could not place. Once the redheaded professor was through instructing them on the proper care of her baby girl, she sent them off into her private quarters to entertain the kid while she continued her work in peace.
"You ever get the feeling we're missing something important?" Fred asked George as they climbed the stairs to Willow's rooms.
"All the time, Gred," replied George. "Were you referring specifically to Miss Willow or has our brain jumped to a new subject?"
"Miss Willow, of course, Forge," replied Fred. "That smile—"
"—the glint—"
"—the freckles—"
"—the hair—"
"…you don't think?"
George shrugged. "Mum and Dad've never said anything, but what else could it be?"
Fred's brown eyes gleamed mischievously. "Methinks it's time we write to our dearest eldest brothers, brother mine."
George's grin was just as mischievous. "Methinks it's past time, mine brother. Operation Willow Tree is a go."
"Operation Willow Tree?"
"You don't like it?"
"It's not sneaky enough. We need a sneakier name for this operation."
"Well what do you suggest, o master of plan naming?"
"How about Operation Pranking Willow?"
"How is that any sneakier?"
"It has pranking in it."
"That just means it's prankier, not sneakier."
"Okay, Mr. 'Operation Willow Tree,' you got a better suggestion?"
"Operation Red Tree."
"Operation Momma Bear."
"Operation Pterodactyl."
"Pterodactyl?"
"Shut up. You're not coming up with anything better."
"Operation Terrible Terror."
"Operation Furious Fury."
"Operation Atrocious Alliteration."
"Operation Pretentious Praenomen."
"Operation Voracious Vowels."
XXXX
"Wait, you mean you actually got to ride a dragon!"
Remus smiled sheepishly. "Well, it was a rather ill-conceived plan on my friend's part, but she was rather insistent and the trainer was loath to tell her no. We were sixteen and stupid; her mother had just died and she decided to rebel by pulling crazy, stupid stunts like that, pulling me along with her."
Oz actually laughed. "Wish I had stories like that," he said wistfully.
"Oh, you must have something," said Remus.
"Well, there was the time my fiancée and I helped fight off a giant snake demon."
Remus raised an eyebrow. "That sounds exciting."
"And terrifying," said Oz, shuddering. "I don't think any of us who survived will ever forget our high school graduation."
"What happened?"
"Well, the mayor of our town had been working on becoming a pure demon for years and the last step, his ascension, was to take place on our graduation day. So in the middle of his speech, it started and he turned into this giant snake thing. We had discovered that the only way to kill him was to wait until he had ascended and blow him up. My friend Xander and I led the other students with my fiancée while our other friend Buffy lured the mayor-snake through the school into the library where Giles, our librarian and mentor, was waiting to blow the fuse. Ka-boom and you have deep fried mayor, extra crispy. Everyone who wasn't there bought the gas explosion excuse, which was good for us."
Remus blinked his amber eyes slowly. "Your life has been just as crazy as mine," he said, chuckling.
Oz smiled. "You have no idea. Actually, things were pretty normal for me, right up until I got bitten by my baby cousin."
Remus looked confused. "What does that have to do with the price of cheese in Nepal?"
"Well, it turns out that Jordy is a werewolf," said Oz casually. "When he bit me, I became one as well."
Remus' eyes widened. "He must have been a born werewolf to infect you outside his wolf form."
"That's what my Aunt Maureen said. Jordy was only five or six at the time, so that makes sense." He looked over at Remus' contemplative expression. "You're taking this a lot better than I thought you would."
Remus blinked. "What? Oh, the werewolf thing." He chuckled darkly. "Such things don't really faze you anymore when you're a werewolf yourself."
Oz raised his eyebrow. "It is a small world after all."
"Indeed."
The father-son pair sat in silence for a few moments. "Can I ask," said Oz, "how long have you been a werewolf?"
Remus smiled wryly. "Far too long; since I was a small child."
"So you have lots of practice dealing with the wolf, then."
"Out of necessity," Remus replied. "It's not like I had a choice."
"Maybe…maybe sometime we could share stories?"
Remus gave him a small smile. "Sometime, perhaps, but not today. Let us speak of happier things."
"Sure," said Oz with a shrug. "Can you tell me about my mother?"
"Your mother? Of course. Where should I start?"
"How about when you first met?"
"Alright, that seems as good a place as any."
AN: Fred & George just may be on to something here! The next chapter will focus solely on Oz's parents, so we won't see our favorite pranking twins again just yet. Never fear! Operation Lacks-a-Name has only just begun!
Please read & review! No flames though; the plot dragons don't like the competition.