No one said a word for a solid five minutes after Eleanor declined the chocolate that had been offered. Her eyes were fixated on Remus Lupin, her former professor, and recently discovered biological father. All the excitement she had felt initially quickly turned into confusion and panic, leaving Eleanor speechless. It seemed both adults were waiting on her to say something first, with Margaret practically pulling at the end of her curls, full of nerves. Eleanor didn't know what to do, let alone what to say. It wasn't like the man standing before her was a stranger, she had been around him for the majority of her fifth year.

"This doesn't make sense," she whispered finally, "how could it be you?"

"Eleanor, if I could explain- "

"When did you figure it out?"

Remus glanced over in Margaret's direction before he let out a heavy sigh. "Not too long ago, if I'm being completely honest with you. For most of the term, you were just one of my students, but throughout the year, you constantly reminded me of someone I knew, but I couldn't quite place who it was. It wasn't until about a month or so ago, that I finally made the connection, and of course, I had to confirm that I was right by getting into contact with your mother."

Curiosity got the best of Eleanor during the moment as she peered up at him. "Who do I remind you of?"

There was a softness to his smile, but a sense of sadness to his eyes as he answered. "My mother. You very much remind me of my mother Hope. You're so much like her, with the knitting and how you talk and handle yourself. But you look just like her too. It didn't register with me sooner because I only thought about how my mother looked near the end when she was sick. She didn't look much like usual self by then. Her illness took such a toll on her."

As much as she wanted to be sympathetic during such a time, especially when it came to learning about her late grandmother, Eleanor found her head practically spinning with everything. She managed to make her way over to the kitchen table, sitting herself down with a slight shake of her head.

"But why didn't you say anything to me while we were back at the castle? We spoke in your office when you were telling me about your resignation, why didn't you tell me this back then?"

"I didn't think it was the proper time, Eleanor," Remus told her. "There was already a lot going on at the time. Think about everything you had just learned in a short period of time; it didn't seem appropriate to spring it on you that I was your father."

"So, you thought showing up to my house as a surprise would be the best way to go about it?"

"I wasn't really sure what to do. A letter seemed a bit too informal and after discussing it over with your mother, she thought it would be best to speak with you as soon as you came home."

Looking over her shoulder in the direction of her mother, Eleanor could see that Margaret was on the verge of tears but had yet to say anything. She turned her attention back to Remus, suddenly feeling a surge of anger race through her body, although she wasn't sure who she was angry with.

"So, this is why you kept asking if I had spoken to my mother," Eleanor said, "and why you said you knew how she reacted. You were putting it all together then!"

"I wanted your mother to make the decision of how we were going to go about this," Remus attempted to explain, "I didn't want you to be upset."

"Me? Upset?!" Eleanor scoffed. "What about my mum? What about her being upset? You just up and left her one day! She couldn't find you; it was like you didn't exist. Did you ever think to contact her to see how she was doing? To see if your night with her resulted in anything. How could even do something like that?"

Remus cleared his throat as he pulled up a chair to sit beside her at the table. "You have every right to be upset with me, Eleanor. But at the time when I met your mother, I was not in the best place mentally. I was young, not much older than yourself, just like your mother, and we were jumping into war times fresh out of Hogwarts. My friends were establishing their lives, moving in together with talks of starting families of their own, I felt like such a burden then. But I was seeking comfort from anyone willing to give it."

Eleanor didn't interrupt him, waiting for him to continue with the evident frown pulling at her lips.

"Somehow, I came upon this town one day and I met your mother, and we just seemed to hit it off. We spent the entire day together, just talking and one thing led to another. I didn't want to just up and leave, Eleanor, your mother is a wonderful person. But I did not want to risk forming a relationship and developing feelings, knowing the full moon was just around the corner waiting for me. I didn't want to become a burden to someone else."

"So, instead, you left my mother with another burden."

"Ellie!" Margaret cried out. "You were never a burden! Please, I know things have been strained between us, but don't ever think I saw you as a burden."

Eleanor looked down at the table, ignoring her mother's words. "She doesn't even know, does she? She doesn't know about the full moons," she whispered before glancing back up at him. "Did you never think to come back and see how she was doing? Did you ever think that one night could have resulted in something more? You left my mother, pregnant and alone."

"I didn't know she was pregnant with you."

"You didn't know anything because you left! You didn't bother to write or anything. And then I was born, and she was stuck with me. She had no knowledge of magic, but you did! You could have been there for me! You could have been there for her! You could have helped! But instead, you decided that the pressure was too much for you!"

The amount of emphasis Eleanor placed on the word "you" as she pointed at Remus, made her feelings clear. Both adults had anticipated her becoming upset at one point, more than likely due to the fact that she would be overwhelmed. However, they didn't expect Eleanor to push herself away from the table and leave the kitchen.

No matter how many times Margaret called after her, they heard Eleanor stomp up the stairs to her room before she slammed the door. She thought about going after her daughter to try and talk to her, but Remus advised her not to as he invited her to sit down at the table.

"Let her go," he sighed, "she has every right to be upset with me. She's right about everything. I took the easy way out and it wasn't fair to you. Even if you didn't become pregnant, I still could have handled things a bit better, even if it were as simple as sending you a letter. But I didn't because I was too much of a coward."

Margaret placed her hand over his. "I don't think either one of us anticipated the events that followed that night. I'll admit, at the time, I thought it was something I did that made you decide that you weren't interested in me. The way we had spent the day together, I didn't think you were the type to be looking for a one-night stand, but that was my mistake- "

"No, Margaret, it wasn't like that," Remus shook his head. "Truly, it wasn't. I enjoyed all the time we spent together that day. I wasn't looking for a one-night stand, it's just that's what happened and when I woke up the next morning, I knew deep down that we couldn't have the relationship that we both wanted."

"Why not?"

There was a long pause as Remus debated whether to lay it all down on the table right then and there. His secret had already been exposed at Hogwarts and considering Margaret was the mother of his child, she had a right to know. He could only be thankful that his lycanthropy had not infected Eleanor in the way that he feared it would if he ever chose to have children. But the guilt settled in as he debated all the what-ifs.

What if the lycanthropy had passed onto Eleanor and she ended up turning into a werewolf? He remembered his parents struggling to contain him on a full moon when he was young, and his father had been a wizard. How would have Margaret managed as a muggle if Eleanor had been a werewolf? Muggles very rarely survived werewolf attacks, so if Margaret did survive such an attack, it would have been two infected by his hand.

"Margaret, I need to tell you the real reason as to why I left all those years ago."

Meanwhile, up in her room, Eleanor was settled in the centre of her bed, trying to wipe away as many tears as they continued to fall. All her life, she had prayed, even dreamed about the moment, where she would meet her father and it went so differently in her head. She always thought that she would find herself overjoyed, welcoming her father into her life with open arms. But then again, when Eleanor had pictured all the other scenarios, she had never envisioned her father to be her Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

She wasn't sure what she was upset about, it wasn't like Professor Lupin had been terrible to her, in fact, she had confided in him on numerous occasions. She enjoyed his class because he was kind and had a great sense of humour. And she knew the reason behind why he had left in the first place, he didn't know her mother had been pregnant, and he didn't want to be considered a burden because of his lycanthropy. Both understandable, but all Eleanor could think of, were all the years where she had been isolated from everything.

Her mother had treated her like she was a monster, and her father wasn't around to tell her otherwise.

Just as she was about to fall back onto her bed, Eleanor heard a light tapping at her window and saw her new owl waiting to be acknowledged. Wiping her face once more, she pushed herself up and made her way over to open the window. The owl let out a little hoot as he was welcomed in. He was tawny in colour with a speckled body, and while he was small at the time, Eleanor knew he would grow to be quite large compared to the school owls that mostly consisted of barn owls.

"Hello there," she greeted him, "are you happier now that you got to stretch your wings a bit? I'm sorry we didn't get to properly meet earlier; you would understand if you knew the circumstances right now. You're quite cute though."

The owl began to explore the room, making his way over towards Eleanor's television that she had turned on, just to have some background noise. He seemed curious enough about what appeared on the screen, leaving Eleanor to watch him as he tilted his head as if he were watching it.

"I take it that you're a fan of The Live Mike?" she asked, noting it was a rerun of the old Irish comedy show. "I guess you and Mum have that in common."

She watched a bit of the variety show, laughing to herself as the owl seemed to hop up and down whenever someone new would appear on the screen.

"That's Dermot Morgan, he's pretty funny," she said and suddenly, the owl started to screech. "What? Do you like that name? Dermot?"

Apparently, he did enjoy the name as he continued to hop around in place in front of the television. With how serious the expression was of Dermot, it made Eleanor laugh to see the flat face paired with his silly antics.

"Well, welcome to this family, Dermot. It's under construction as of right now, but I think you'll fit in perfectly."

Just as she was about to go over and pet the newly named owl, she heard her mother's scream from downstairs, causing her to make her way over to the door immediately. There was the sound of a door slamming as Eleanor made her way to the top of the staircase. A few moments later, she watched as Remus walked out the front door.

Hurrying down the steps, Eleanor ran after him outside, only to find him settled on the front steps of the home. She came to a halt before colliding into him, as Remus looked over his shoulder, offering a tired smile. Closing the door behind her, Eleanor made her way to sit beside him.

"I take it that you told her the truth," Eleanor said, "and she didn't take the news very well."

"No," Remus sighed, "she didn't, but that was to be expected. There aren't many people that welcome the idea of a werewolf, let alone having one be the father of their child. Even with wolfsbane, the presence of a werewolf isn't a pleasant one."

Thinking about her mother was just coming to accept the idea of magic, Eleanor didn't want to see Margaret revert back to her old ways of finding magic to be the devil's work. Margaret had more than likely given up hope of ever getting into contact with Eleanor's father, only to have him show up out of the blue years later, claiming to be a werewolf.

"You're not going to leave, are you?" Eleanor asked him. "I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier. I wasn't upset with you; I didn't know what to think. But I don't want you to leave. I'm sorry!"

"Eleanor," he said softly, "you don't have to be sorry; you have nothing to be sorry about. I'm not leaving, I'm certainly not leaving you. We have sixteen years to catch up on, besides what we spoke about back in Hogwarts, I don't know much about you."

"Well, to be honest, Pro- "

Eleanor stopped herself, her brows furrowing together in confusion that brought Remus to look down at her.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure what to call you," she admitted. "It feels too weird to call you Professor now."

"You can call me whatever you want. Remus, Lupin, Complete Bastard- "

She laughed but shook her head at the suggestions. Nervously, she began rubbing her hands together before glancing over at him.

"Would you mind if I called you Dad?" she whispered. "You don't have to say yes. I understand if it's too sudden or if it's too weird. But I've always wanted my father in my life and every time I've pictured it, I always called him Dad."

"If you want to call me Dad, Eleanor, I'm perfectly okay with that. Mind you, I may not respond every time, it'll take some getting used to."

"Well, while you're getting used to that, you could also get used to calling me Ellie. Normally, I'm only called Eleanor if I'm in trouble."

She pushed herself up to her feet and made her way towards the front door.

"I'm going to go talk to my mum," Eleanor told him, "get her to calm down hopefully. You can make yourself at home."

Remus nodded his head, only to find Eleanor's arms wrapped around him from behind, catching him off guard completely.

"Thanks for coming back, Dad."