Untouchable: a Fred Weasley fanfiction

The Professor

I might be sick.

I might scream, or cry, or break into maniacal laughter the second he walks through that door.

Why did I agree to this again? Meeting my long-lost father for the first time since I've known him as my Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, as of a week ago?

I'm not ready. I should have just waited to go back to school. I should have waited till break was over, then walked into class and sat down as if nothing happened, and then when he called on me to answer a question I would impulsively blurt the ABCs as I made direct eye contact with him.

That's a solid plan. I see no flaws in that plan.

So why am I currently standing in front of the door to my mother and I's house, sweating bullets as I wait for him to knock on the door?

The knock comes sooner than I thought.

Holy shit.

I watch Mum take a breath and approach the door, extending her hand to the knob.

Holy shit.

What do I even say?

Do I slap him? No. Do I hug him? God, no.

Mum opens the door, slowly, steadily. He's there. He's in front of us, he's there, he's here.

I watch Professor Lupin, my father, carefully slide his hands out of his pockets. His eyes are on Mum first- she's in front of him.

"Remus," she says in a breath.

He swallows. "Hello, Caroline."

Mum lets go of the doorknob and continues to stare at him for a moment, and he hasn't looked at me yet, and oh my god am I actually third wheeling right now when I've been the one out of the loop this whole time?

Then Mum steps to the side, looking at the floor. "It's good to see you... please, come in."

Lupin cautiously takes a step inside, now looking at me. It's hard eye contact, and it's just as uncomfortable as it sounds.

Well, for me. I don't know about him. He isn't looking away. He's slowly walking toward me, but he stops about two paces away. I gulp. Mum watches us.

The air is dense. The silence is deafening. Something in the house creaks.

"Hi..." he says finally, "...Jo."

I feel tense. So fucking tense.

Mum stares at me when I don't answer. "Jolie... say hello."

"I'm working on it," I say.

"It's alright, Caroline," Lupin tells her.

"She can be polite and offer a greeting-"

"Are manners really the concern right now, Mum?"

"Okay, I'm going to go," Mum says, hastily grabbing her coat. "I'm going to go on a walk. Somewhere. I'll... I'll come back later. That way, you two can have time to..."

She flicks her eyes between us with great anxiety-

"...Chat."

Lupin turns, watching her open the door again. "Caroline..."

"It's alright," she cuts him off, then offers a small smile- "we'll catch up later."

She slips out the door, the small ca-chunk placing us back in that excruciatingly awkward silence. Lupin turns to me again.

He scratches his neck. I stare at him, trying to figure out how to look at him- as a Professor, or as a Dad.

This is mad. This is all just mad.