Chapter Fifteen

Harry and Dudley were fascinated by their new… well, we called them cousins, since they called Nic and Danae uncle and aunt, so that made Laurel their cousin. Both boys loved to just stare at the baby, and they were always willing to drop whatever they were playing with as soon as she began to cry. They were her loyal subjects, and she ruled their world with absolute power. It made it a bit hard for us adults to get them to do anything other than coo over her, at least until Sirius figured out that the best way to get them to do something was to tell them that Laurel needed them to do it. It might have been a bit manipulative, but I'd learned to pick my battles when it came to my parental morals, and that wasn't worth losing sleep over.

Danae's family came often over the first few weeks, which meant that we had a grumpy Danae to deal with after the visits were over, since she and the majority of her family didn't see eye to eye on most anything. And then the visits slowly trickled off, until they ended completely, with Danae and Nic going to see them when they felt like they couldn't get out of it by any other means.

"I'm sorry she doesn't understand you," I told Danae, after they came back from one of those visits. She'd shoved baby Laurel, gently of course, into Nic's arms and headed straight to the kitchen. I found her with a package of Honeyduke's finest fudge sitting next to a bottle of Ogden's, as she stared at her hands unseeing.

"She's never understood me, I don't know why I thought it might be different now that I have a daughter, too," she said softly. Then, with more conviction than I'd ever seen in her eyes, she looked to me. "But I will never allow anyone to treat my daughter the way she's treated me. I will die, I will kill before I allow anyone to make Laurel feel like she's not good enough just for being her."

I felt her words sink into my heart, gasping a little as they settled into my mind. "And Pet, I would do the same for your boys, and even for you," she told me, coming to take my hands in hers. "I'm so sorry I never even said anything with Dursley, but I will never let anyone ever treat you like you're less than ever again. You are a queen, a goddess, and you deserve a man who will worship the ground you walk on. Just like I have with Nic."

Tears prickled, and I threw my arms around her. "I'm so glad I have you," I whispered in her ear. "And I don't care what your mother says, I think you're wonderful just as you are."

"And that's why you're my family, not them," she agreed. "We might not be conventional, but we would do anything for each other, and that matters more than blood, or last names."

Bringing a newborn into our household dynamic took some adjusting, but once we figured out some soundproofing spells and monitoring charms, the rest of us at least were able to get back to normal sleep routines. Which made it easier to keep track of the full moons, since Remus's eye rings were more easily monitored than a lunar chart. Three weeks out of the month, he was his usual sunny self, but during the last week, the bags below his eyes grew, until they were nearly large enough to pick up the week's groceries, and it took approximately an hour and a gallon of coffee for him to become functional.

Which was why it was so surprising to see him staring at the morning edition of the Prophet with so much intensity the morning before the full moon in May. "Rem, what's wrong?" I asked, feeling a little panicked.

He handed me the paper, and I instantly saw what caught his eye. "Is- It's not a joke, is it?" he asked me, hope and dread mingling in his words.

I read the headline again and shook my head. "I don't- I don't think so, Rem. I think it's real."

"What's real?" Sirius asked as he beelined to the coffee on the hob.

"Damocles Belby successfully creates Wolfsbane Potion," I read aloud. "This potion purports to alleviate lycanthropy symptoms, allowing werewolves to keep their human minds during their wolfish transformations."

The coffeepot thunked back to the hob. "You're serious?" Sirius gasped, looking between me and Remus like we might be trying to pull a not-so-funny prank.

"No, you're Sirius, not Pet," Tina said, shoving him over to grab the coffeepot. "What's got everyone's knickers in a knot?"

"Someone's made a potion to help werewolves," I said, still a little unbelieving. "And they've published the recipe in the Prophet, so anyone can make it."

Remus came to look over my shoulder. "The ingredients are pricy, and it seems a bit tricky-"

"Price is no matter," Sirius interjected, coming to my other side. "And there's no potion Pet can't make."

I glowed a bit at the praise, though I did push it aside for Remus. "We can start growing these in the greenhouses, it'll make it easier. And I can control the quality of the ingredients that way. Only the best for our Rem." I pressed a kiss to his cheek, then turned to head to the library. "Professor Sprout will know where the best places to get the starts from."

"You don't have to start now, Pet," Remus called after me, but I could hear the gratitude and hope in his voice. "I have to take the potion every night before the full moon, so you've got another month."

"Only another month," I promised him. "I'm not letting you suffer this any longer than necessary."

The rest of the month of June was spent writing letters, tending plants, and pouring every spare ounce of time I had into making sure the potion was exactly the way it was meant to look. As I'd written to Mr. Belby, the inventor of the potion, he'd kindly sent me photographs of the potion properly made in every stage, so I had a reference to go from. I had never fretted over a potion so much, not even for my NEWTS, but I wanted to help Remus, to give him some control back that had been ripped away from him at such a young age.

The evening before Dudley's second birthday, I (somewhat terrifiedly) handed Remus a mug. "It looks exactly like what it's supposed to, and I followed the directions perfectly, but we have no way of knowing if it's going to work, and I really want it to for you," I rambled. "It smells awful, I know, and will probably taste worse, but Mr. Belby said that adding anything to improve the taste makes it utterly useless, so I'm sorry!"

Remus took the mug from my hand and gulped down the potion in one go, grimacing at the taste afterwards. And then he wrapped his long arms around me. "Thank you, Pet," he whispered into my hair. "You've no idea what this means to me."

"You're family, Rem," I whispered back, fighting back tears. "And I will do whatever I can for my family."

The potion seemed to give Remus a little more energy than he normally would have a week before the full moon. The whole day of Dudley's birthday, he and Sirius chased both boys around, playing with their stuffed quidditch balls, and allowing the boys to climb all over them. And when the Weasleys and Longbottoms arrived to join us that evening, they simply took all the children to the garden to play a rousing game of quidditch, on foot, since we didn't have enough brooms for them all. And most of them were still quite small.

When it came time for Dudley to open his presents, Harry didn't quite understand why he couldn't help. No amount of explaining to a nearly-two-year-old was going to help, so I simply passed him on to Remus, who kept him occupied with the stuffed snitch, while Sirius took copious photos of Dudley opening every single present. We may have gone a little overboard, since there were more than thirty at the last count, but as Sirius said, "Our little man only turns two once." So we simply had to spoil him.

After the guests were gone and both little boys were tucked into bed, I gave Remus his nightly dose of Wolfsbane, followed by a Dreamless Sleep potion. He simply kissed my cheek and headed upstairs.

And so, it went on for the rest of the week. Remus, though more tired each consecutive day, had more energy than usual this close to a full moon. The night of the full moon, he and Sirius made their usual preparations, just in case, in some abandoned hut on a rock in the middle of the sea. "But I have every faith in Petal's potion, so I'm sure I'll be spending a boring evening sitting next to a sleeping wolf," Sirius said, kissing both boys and then me on his way to the door. Remus just tossed me a tired grin and followed.

I barely slept that night. I tossed and turned, hoping with everything in me that the potion worked the way it should. And what little sleep I did get was filled nightmares of what could happen if it didn't. Maybe it was a horrid prank, masterminded by someone who secretly hated werewolves, and it would actually harm Remus instead of helping him. Perhaps it raised his bloodlust, making him harm either himself or Sirius. What if it killed him?

"Petal!" A call woke me from my restless sleep. "Petal, you're a genius!"

I hurried to throw on my dressing gown, then rushed to my bedroom door. I threw it open, and there were Sirius and Remus, grinning manically at me. "It worked, Pet," Remus said, tears in his eyes even as he grinned at me. "Your potion worked!"

Some wordless shriek left my mouth as I launched myself at them. They caught me, or rather, Sirius caught us all, and we laughed and sobbed and babbled at each other. Later, I would sit down with both of them and record every detail they could remember, but for just then, we were simply happy it had worked.

AN: It's only been a month, guys! I'm so proud of me for getting this chapter out to you so quickly! It's a bit short, but it's a good place to end it. Things are about to start happening, and I can't wait to share it with you! Also, I'm debating between two people for Remus to end up with, so I've decided to ask for your help. I can't say who the options are, as one would be a spoiler, so if you'd like to help me decide, PM me and I'll share the options with you so you can help me. Thanks for reading, and a big thanks to those of you who leave a review!