If there was one thing that you needed to know about Remus Lupin, it was that he wasn't a morning person. However, he had apparently raised a child who was a morning person, and an aggressive one at that.

"Da if you don't get up in the next two seconds I'll get the ice bucket." Teddy threatened, towering above Remus's bed. Most mornings in the Lupin household began like this, with Remus groaning and moaning about getting up and Teddy shouting various threats and profanities in an effort to wake his lazy father.

"Do it, I dare you" Remus moaned, pulling his covers back over his face, Teddy being the bastard he is, had opened the curtains, letting the blazing sun into the room and consequently burning Remus's retinas.

"Don't test me, father! Now get your ass up! we're gonna be late for school." Teddy nagged, dragging the covers from Remus.

"I'll call in sick" Remus whined, scrambling for his stolen duvet.

"I'll tell the office that you're faking" Teddy threatened, pulling the covers out of Remus's reach "Do you really want Linda the office lady to find out that you're a lazy bastard?"

"You really shouldn't speak like that Edward, I have the power to ground your ass" Remus threatened, finally sitting up in his bed, admitting defeat.

"What time is it anyway?" Remus yawned, rubbing the crusty sleep out of his eyes.

"6:30," Teddy said proudly.

"AM?" Remus shouted, now fully alert and awake. Teddy started giggling maniacally.

"Maybe.."

"You are so dead"

Remus sprang out of bed to chase his son, but Teddy had already bolted off, hiding in the bathroom to avoid his father's wrath.

"You'll thank me later! now go get ready!" Teddy called from the other side of the bathroom door, causing Remus to let out a low growl as he vowed to get his vengeance.

"I have no clue what they talked about last night Rem, but it seemed like James gave him a proper scolding," Lily admitted, her voice crackling coming out of the speaker of his broken phone.

"Oh for fucks sake, I never wanted him to do that, I didn't even want him to talk to Sirius about it!"

Lily sighed in agreement, Remus could hear her tapping her nails and fidgeting. "I know me neither, but you know how he gets, he goes all mother hen."

Remus nodded, before stopping himself and realising how ridiculous he looked nodding to nobody, as Lily couldn't see him.

"Yeah but I really don't want you guys to be mad at him as well.."

"Moony, he hurt us as well, he's barely been here since our wedding! He's Harry's bloody godfather and he's only met him twice - he's let all of us down."

Remus hadn't even thought about how James and Lily had felt, and he cursed himself for being so selfish. After All they lost Sirius just as much as he did.

"That's partly my fault though, I was the reason he left in the first place."

"Oh Remmy, please just accept the fact that Sirius is being an A-hole right now, you don't need to be so nice about him, he doesn't deserve it."

Remus stayed silent, he couldn't even begin to comprehend how he felt about Sirius, but he focused on the easiest feelings he was getting.

Sad, angry, lust.

He shook his head involuntarily, not even wanting to think about Sirius in that way, it had only caused him pain in the past.

"Yeah, I guess you're right Lils.." Remus let out, sighing and tapping a pen on his desk, before looking at the clock on his computer.

"Listen, I've got to go, the bell goes in a minute, but we'll talk tonight when Smurfette and I come round."

"Right, take care doll, tell James he left his lunch here, so he's stuck with the canteen food."

"It's a marvel how that man is still alive."

"Honestly! it's like I have two children instead of just the one."

They both laughed heartily, enjoying a moment of playful teasing after the tension of the Sirius situation.

"See ya tonight pet."

"Alright love," Lily said sweetly, before hanging up. Her timing was perfect (as usual) because as soon as she hung up the phone, the school bell went, signalling the beginning of first period.

Getting out of his seat, Remus got and opened his classroom door, ready to greet the grim faces of his morning English class. He had never anticipated becoming a teacher, and he was still quite new with teaching, After starting University late, starting his first year when he was twenty-five.

The four years that ensued were pure chaos, with a 8-year-old Teddy and a very stressed Remus living with the newly-wed Potters, Remus managed to combine parenthood and getting a degree in teaching (with a lot of help from the people around him.)

Somehow, he had done it, he had finished his degree with honours as he moved onto teaching. James - (who had been Godric Hollow Highschools PE teacher.) Managed to score Remus a job interview, where he wooed the strict headmistress McGonagall into getting his job as an English teacher.

Remus thought it was perfect, and working with your best friend wasn't exactly horrible. Plus seeing Teddy during the school day was fun.

"Mornin' Mr Lupin!" Victoire greeted, her long blonde hair and dazzling smile making Remus wonder how the hell his gangly son managed to get such a nice girl.

"Morning Ms Weasley" He greeted back with a grin and a knowing wink. Remus wished he could have Teddy in his class, but of course, it was against the rules even though he did have fun embarrassing his friends.

"What up Loopy?" Leo Rankin greeted, raising his hand for a high five only to be met with a raised brow and crossed arms.

"Leo, for the sanity of us all, stop calling me Loopy." Remus sighed, walking over to the chalkboard to write the starter.

"But I can't help it just fits so well!" Leo argued, this definitely wasn't the first time that Remus had fought with Leo about his nickname.

"It really doesn't Rankin." Another student added.

"Cathy what do you know? have you come up with a better nickname for Mr R?" Remus turned, putting on his best teacher stare before pointing at Leo's empty seat.

"Get to your seat Rankin, before I tell McGonagall that you're selling Rosemary in a bag and calling it weed."

"It's basically the same thing!"

"In your seat Rankin."

Reluctantly, Leo stalked to his seat, the whole class watching as he grunted and tutted about having to retrieve his books from his bag.

"Thank you, now! did anyone actually read chapter sixteen?"

••••

"I can't believe this, this is typical Dora," Remus exclaims while marching around the Potters living room.

"I know Rem.." Lily sympathises, her hands clasped around her mug, watching Remus with a motherly worry.

"She told Teddy before she told me! Teddy, you'd think that I'd have a right to know first!"

"You have every right to be pissed Rem," Lily added.

"I am pissed! I'm pretty fucking pissed! First of all, she tells Teddy before me, then she doesn't even have the courtesy to phone me back!"

Remus is on a warpath, he had managed to control himself on the drive to the Potters, but as soon as Teddy had left the house to take Harry to the park he had lost control, immediately venting to Lily.

"What time is it in Barcelona?" Lily asks, treading lightly.

"Only just after five, that's barely an hour difference!" Remus rampages, pacing once again and tugging a hand through his hair.

"Well, then she has no excuse to just diff you like this." Lily agreed, still tense about the distraught Remus marching around her house.

"Maybe she's busy with all of her new kids, who Teddy hasn't even met yet, by the way."

Remus knew that it was a low blow, bringing up Tonks's other children. Remus had always been filled with jealousy over Tonks and Charlie, with Charlie sticking by her throughout the whole pregnancy, helping her with everything and anything. Most importantly, he stayed after, and Remus had always seethed with jealousy over something that he couldn't have with Sirius.

"Rem, I know you're angry, and you have every right to be, but don't you think you might be overreacting?" Lily reasoned, and Remus cursed her for knowing him too well.

"Overreacting?! Lils she's going to come back here and ruin everything ." 

Remus was panicking, thinking of the well put together Tonks and her perfect husband and even more perfect kids. It would only be a matter of time before Teddy moved out of their dinky flat and into the mansion that Dora's gonna have.

Remus was caught off-guard by the look of surprise on Lily's face. "Rem? What are you on about? If anything this is a good thing, you've always wanted Dora in Teddy's life!" 

Remus knew he jealously was unreasonable but that didn't stop the ache that filled his stomach when he thought about Teddy possibly leaving him.

"Lil, when they come back, Teddy's gonna realise how good it feels to be normal. Nymphs got this perfect family and husband and Teds gonna realise that he doesn't want to live with his weird, gay dad." 

Lily's face was that of deep concern as Remus spilt the truth, he walked back over to the sofa and sat down with a depressed sigh, feeling tears prick at his eyes.

"What a load of bollocks." Lily laughed, causing Remus to snap his head round to look at the girl with an angry expression.

"Huh?" Remus asked, clearly offended.

"Remus you must be crazy, you think that just because Tonks is back Teddy's just going to ditch you? You're his dad, and he loves you more than anything, so stop your whinging!" 

Upon reflection, Remus did see Lily's point, staying silent and pondering her words, Remus knew that Lily was right, but that didn't stop his anxieties from attacking him.

"Lily it's just- I'm not even mad at Dora, not really it's mainly me I'm pissed at!" Remus groans, throwing his head into a pillow, unable to face Lily.

"You?" 

"Yes, me. I'm a lonely bastard who hasn't been in a real relationship since I was sixteen and then there's Nymph, with her two new amazing daughters and wonderful husband. Where does that leave me? I'm alone Lils." 

To Remus's surprise, Lily leaned forward and took Remus's cheek, slapping it gently.

"What the hell are you doing Lily?!" Remus asked, lurching back and holding his cheek, even though the sting was faint.

"I'm slapping you out of it," Lily said plainly as if it was painfully obvious.

"Remus, you're doing that thing you do where you assume that people are always going to do the worst thing and then you start to believe it." 

Remus started to slowly lean forward, still cautious of Lily and her lethal slap.

"I'm not! when have I ever done that?" he said defensively, offended by Lily's accusation.

"Oh I don't know, for example, when you told me you liked men, you had already made your mind up that I was some sort of homophobic bigot who was going to beat you up." 

Remus flushed lightly, thinking of his embarrassing coming out to Lily, where he brashly assumed she was going to have him kicked out of school.

"Lily that's different! I was fourteen!" 

Lily simply scoffed as she lifted her mug of tea back up, taking a healthy sip.

"Then why are you automatically assuming that Teddy will abandon you? has Teddy ever done anything of the sort? has he ever hinted at being unhappy with you?" 

"Well, no but.." 

"There, No, there's your answer," Lily concluded, nodding to secure her point. "If anything this is a good thing Rem, Teddy bonding with his mother while also giving you a break can only mean good things, You know Tonks, and you know she would never do that."

Remus sighed, once again hating Lily and all of her endless wisdom she seems to have.

"Honestly Lily, instead of a nurse you should have been a therapist." 

"Who says I'm not? I'm the Marauder’s certified counsellor." 

Remus agreed as he picked up his tea, feeling forever grateful for Lily Evans-Potter.

•••••

After collapsing onto his bed, Remus brought out his phone, checking it for the first time in hours. Lily had confiscated it in his emotional state, fearful of the texts he could send to Tonks but regret in future. He audibly sighed at the many missed calls from the woman, accompanied by almost a billion texts.

Remus was grateful that Teddy had decided to stay at the Potters for the night so that he could call Tonks and scream at her loudly as he wanted, (if necessary.)

Dora (baby momma) (11 unread messages)

Remus couldn't help but smile at her contact name, which she had so eloquently put into his phone herself when giving her number to him. He clicked onto her contact, bracing himself for the potentially violent texts.

(18:23)
Hey, just saw your missed calls, phone me x

(18:24)
FFS Lupin, pick up your damn phone.

PICKKKKK UPPPPPPPP

pick up.

(18:26)
Remmy, you better not be avoiding me.

r u alive?

I'm sending the FBI in case you're dead.

(18:34)
Just remembered that the FBI is an American thing..... I'm sending Scotland Yard instead.

(18;45)
UPDATE, just received a threatening message from Lily on Facebook. Damn, I forgot how scary she can be.

(18;54)
Call me when you have a min x

(21:19)
Hey, Lily confiscated my phone, cancel Scotland yard.

(21:19)

Really? Does that mean I have to cancel the swat team as well?

(21:20)
If it’s not too much of a hassle

(21:22)
Ahhh Remus Lupin, always one for impeccable manners.

(21:23)
Can you phone? It’s okay if not, I know it’s pretty late...

(21:23)
Shut your overthinking ass up, gimme five mins, gotta check on the little ones

Remus tried to hold in the bitterness he felt when Dora spoke about her children, His own jealousy arising whenever he thought about how perfect her life was. Compared to his, which was - to say the least - a complete train wreck.

After a minute or so, he heard his phone ringing, with Tonks’s contact picture popping up. Making Remus smile again, it was a picture from James and Lily’s wedding. A dolled up Dora and a very angry looking Teddy were posing in the photo booth. It was a pretty adorable picture.

Remus let it ring for a minute, gearing himself up to talk to Dora, eventually, he clicked the green button and raised the phone to his ear.

“Dora?” Remus croaked, stupidly asking when he already knew who was calling.

“No, it’s Scotland Yard! You’re being arrested for being too damn sexy.” Tonks teased, already sending Remus at ease.

“Damnit, again? What’s it about me that’s so alluring?”

“It's the silver fox thing you’ve got goin’ on. It  drives the lads crazy.”

“Silver fox?! I’m only thirty-one, Jesus Christ.” Remus laughed, subconsciously tugging a hand through his greying hair.

“Nope, not Jesus Christ, still Scotland Yard.”

Remus felt his body loosen up, already beginning to feel embarrassed about how he was worried earlier. This was Tonks, she’s known him forever. Remus knew that she would never do anything on purpose to hurt him.

“Well could you put Christ on the phone, I need to ask him something.”

“Rem, you already know the answer, you’re going to hell.”

They both let out a laugh at that, letting Remus remind himself why he loved Tonks so much.

“So…” Remus began, making Tonks let out a long sigh.

“Oh yes, adult talk now… So, I take it Teddy told you?”

“Yes, why the hell did you tell him before you told me? You’d think that I’d have a right to know first.” Remus let out, wanting to make sure that Tonks knew how angry he was.

“I know, You’re completely right, I’m SO sorry Rem, I just got so excited about our house finally being sold and I jumped the wagon.”

“Jumped the wagon? More like crashed the bloody wagon.” Remus snarled.

“Okay, Yes, crashed the fucking wagon, and I’m really sorry about that.”

Remus didn’t answer, instead of taking a second to calm himself down, not wanting to start a huge argument with the clearly sympathetic Tonks.

“It's okay Nymph, it's just… I don't want you making promises to him that you can't keep. You should have seen his face. Little fucker ran across campus just to tell me about it.”

“Oh Remus, I know that in the past I’ve been flakey..” Tonks began, instantly making Remus’s blood boil. She's been a bit flakey? She's not been fucking here! He thought, trying to calm himself down so he wouldn't burst out in anger.

“But this is different Rem, We’re moving, all of us - It's happening. Charlie and I have new jobs over there and we’ve bought a house in Hogsmeade! That's barely a half-hour away from you guys.”

Remus could tell she was genuine, the excitement in her voice was so easy to listen to, instantly calming all of his qualms about her sincerity. “Mia and Ivy have been enrolled in the local primary school, they’re both so excited to meet their big brother with the blue hair.”

“I’m sure Teddy cant wait to meet them as well,” Remus added quietly.

“Rem, I know what you're like, This isn't going to change anything. I promise if anything it's going to make your life easier.” Tonks added, sounding glad of Remus’s positive reaction.

“I want to be there Rem, I love him so much, and I miss him like hell.”

“He misses you too Nymph, honestly, you don't even know how much,” Remus admitted, his eyes welling up in tears.

Tonks let out a giggle combined with a sniffle, letting Remus know that her eyes were doing a similar thing. “I miss you too Rem.”

“Me too Dora, me too…”