Never Surrender [ Snape x Lupin ]

Chapter Thirty Four

They had been receiving some visitors at home. Neville was the first one to see Severus and his inseparable friend, the armchair. Soon Hermione and Gina also visited them, repeating the dose a couple of times to see Teddy and to know how things were going. Snape knew it was mostly because of Remus and the little cub that people would come over, he even suspected the girls were getting along with Pixie and it was nice to see her having fun with people outside her work. However, the Slytherin found himself to be secretly happy that Harry was clearly visiting him instead of everyone else. Of course, the Gryffindor spent some time with his godson and had tea with everyone, but it was with Snape that he spoke to during most of the afternoon.

The house felt alive and complete, but once again in his life, Remus had been feeling guilty for not being able to enjoy happy moments like everybody else.

To some extent he knew that to be natural to him, he couldn't avoid having a more melancholic perspective of life. Remus knew he didn't experience bright and vibrant happy feelings in their full potential as everyone else. Similarly to Snape practicing dark arts, all those emotions seemed to be encrypted in a foreign tongue he couldn't speak. That vibe the Weasleys gave off so effortlessly always seemed unreachable even if sitting at their big table among them all. It was an isolating thing, Remus sometimes felt he was some degrees colder than the rest of the room, but he got used to it somehow. He also got great at brushing it off so he wouldn't spoil the mood and concern everyone. He did it all for them, the ones he loved, and didn't abandon him for what he was.

Remus had a lot in mind as he played with his son in the living room after lunch, dreading himself for possibly cursing such a beautiful baby with his condition, exhausting himself trying to find evidence if either Teddy inherited Lycanthropy or not. How could he be so selfish, having a child being who he was? Would Edward ever love him for real once he discovered all his misery came from his father's blood? What if he hated his father so much, that he'd leave and something bad happened to him? And what about Severus... What if his relationship with his son was so bad that he would give up on being a family with them? Not that Lupin had ever asked, it was his ultimate secret that he wanted to marry him and have a stable life with Severus, but he was just too afraid to ask too early and ruin what they had. Which was by far the most fulfilling thing about his life right now.

To his luck, after playing for a long time and exhausting Teddy as much as he could, Remus heard the so-awaited sound of keys close to the other side of the door. Remus had been to the hospital for his consultation with Ophelia a few days prior and this time it was Severus' turn to go there. The werewolf was ready to hear anything, but maybe this time he dared to be a little hopeful, Severus got significantly better in the last month.

Being true to himself, it was his little cub who was giving Remus some work recently. Teddy had been waking up in the middle of the night, something that was occasional before. It concerned Lupin since it could be an early sign of Lycanthropy, didn't escape his notice this started happening a few nights before the last full moons. During the day Teddy was all good, eating well, playing with everyone in the house, nap time always on schedule. But he had been more agitated during the night and that was undeniable.

The werewolf couldn't even point a finger at Severus and his return to the dark arts for it. To Remus' relief, the atmosphere in the house came back to being less shadowy over time. They spoke about it and Severus said his magic was indeed flowing more naturally and that without the stagnation from the hospital it would probably be more balanced. Remus would have loved to put the blame on it, however, Teddy was unbothered with Snape back to the cauldron and the cub's relationship with Pixie remained the same after she started flying to the second floor to practice.

The door opened, Severus and Pixie performed some spells to dry their shoes since it was raining outside and then they finally came in. Severus had a light expression on, which indicated good news, and Pixie had a very proud-looking face.