Remus was sitting at the table next morning, drinking tea and reading the Daily Prophet, which had been delivered to the Potters' front door before the sun was even up. He had on a thick jumper, one leg crossed over the other. There was a creak on the stairs and Remus looked up from the paper to see Dora Potter, tip toeing carefully, wincing whenever the stairs made a noise, until she reached the bottom of the steps and turned and saw Remus. She stopped short in surprise. "Oh!" she said, then she laughed, "So much for my sneaking."

Remus laughed, "Honestly, I doubt any of them would've heard you anyway besides me or Sirius... Sirius's hearing is... superb."

"I didn't know you and Sirius stayed."

"Peter did, too."

"In the guest room?"

Remus said, "We all sort of fell asleep in James and Lily's room." He paused. "Tea?"

"Please." She walked over and sat down and he tipped his wand, producing a tea cup, his already hot kettle pouring out a perfectly made cup. "Why thank you."

"Of course, Mrs. Potter."

Remus lay the newspaper down on the table as she cupped her hands around the tea cup and sipped. He glanced at the window. "It looks like it's going to be a lovely day out," he commented. 

"The boys will probably want to play quidditch," Dora murmured.

"I think Sirius would be up for anything that's outdoors."

She smiled.

Remus sipped his own tea.

Dora coughed a few times, carefully covering her mouth with her handkerchief and turning away. Remus tried not to watch but his eyes kept straying to her anyway as tiny puffs of smoke rose up from the handkerchief.

He hated knowing things sometimes.

"How are you Mrs. P?" he asked gently when she'd finished coughing.

"I'm alright," she said. "Just a little cough. The tea will do me good." She smiled and sipped again.

Remus nodded.

"You know," she said after a moment's quiet, "You can call me mum, honey."

Remus met her eyes. He hesitated, then he leaned forward, placing both his feet on the floor and reaching over to take one of her hands in both of his. "I am truly, sincerely honored by that. I am, Mrs. Potter, I really am. I just --" Remus sighed sadly. "I'm afraid it would hurt to."

"Hurt to?"

"I miss my mum so much, and I know it's been years since she was killed, but there's not a single day that goes by that I'm not thinking about her and wishing she was still here."

"I understand that," Dora replied. "Well, I understand it in theory. My mother was never the sort you would miss. But I do understand grief and the way it never quite goes away, however long it's been."

Remus nodded, "I knew you would understand." He released her hand and sat back.

"I'm sorry that I never got a chance to meet your mum," Dora said. "She had such a beautiful person for a son that I imagine she must have been a very beautiful person herself."

Remus's smile twitched at his lips and he said, "Inside and out." He paused, then reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, an old muggle billfold, leather with creases. He unfolded it and pulled out a small photo card and stared at it a moment, then said, "You'll have a question when you see her, and -" he paused, "First of all, yes. And secondly, yes really." He held out the photocard.

Dora looked intrigued, then reached across the table and took the photo and stared at it for a long moment, and the same smile twitched on her lips as had on Remus's. She looked up at him and despite him having answered both questions preemptively, he could still see them on her face and he laughed, "Yes, really," he repeated.

Dora said, "That just makes me all the happier to know that she had a beautiful boy like you." She handed the card back to Remus. "That's a beautiful picture of her."

"She loved to read. Barely anyone knew that about her," he said, studying the photo. The pretty blonde Hope Lupin was laying down on a carpet in a library, a book spread before her, her eyes turned upward to the camera, peering through a pair of reading glasses, her red-painted mouth split wide in a grin. Remus wished more than anything that this had been a wizarding photograph. "She taught me to read and we used to sit in that very spot and read all the time when I was small." 

He could still feel the brick of the fireplace hearth under his bare knees and elbows, the warmth of the fire never enough so that she often had to tell him not to get too close. "Be careful, Remmy darling, don't set yourself on fire!" her voice trilled in his mind and he could hear her girlish giggle and feel the way she would scoop him closer to her, safer, away from the flickering heat so that he was on the carpet, too, and she'd roll so they were on their backs and the ceiling hung over them like the sky. "You have to be careful, Remmy," she would say, "Sometimes things that feel good can hurt'cha real bad if you aren't careful. It's the awful truth, but it's the way life can be. I love you too much for you to learn it the hard way darling."

He'd learned an awful lot the hard way.

Remus looked up at Dora. "You have beautiful boys, too, Mrs. Potter."

"At least call me Dora."

That he could do. Remus nodded, "Thank you, Dora."

She smiled warmly at this, then coughed a couple more times, covering her mouth with her handkerchief and Remus looked down at the table top. When she'd regained her breath, she said, "I can't take responsibility for Sirius being the beautiful boy he is."

"I think you can take more than you realize," he replied.

"I feel like if anyone should take the credit for parenting that boy it's James."

Remus chuckled, "Well that is probably true. But it's you who taught James how to do it if he did. We all owe you and Mr. Potter a great deal for that."

Dora smiled proudly, "Yeah, we did a good job with that one."

"You really did," Remus agreed, "And if him and Lily ever get on the job of it, they'll be having a little one that'll benefit from all of the love that has been so skillfully cultivated between all of us. What a lucky baby!"

Dora smiled, "I hope I get to see it." Remus could hear the worry in his voice. "I want to see it more than anything."

"Determination theory," he said quietly.

Dora met his eyes.

"You'll see it. But you have to believe it. Determination is often what makes or breaks a fight against an illness, you know."

"You are wise beyond your years."

Remus chuckled, "If I had a knut for every time I've heard that..."

There was a clicking then on the chair pulled up beside Remus and he looked down to see Newt Scamander's briefcase opening. A moment later, Bradley's bed-haired head popped up from beneath the lid and he looked groggily about. "We're still at the Potters?" he asked sleepily.

"We spent the night," Remus said, helping him out of the briefcase and catching the niffler by the scruff just before she slipped out into the house. "Oh no you don't," he said, putting her back inside, "An excellent try but you'll be staying in the suitcase, madam." He slipped her back in and closed the lid before she could get out again. 

"Did you sleep well, sweetheart?" Dora asked.

Bradley nodded sleepily.

"I'll get you some breakfast," she declared and she got up hurriedly. "Are you hungry, Remus? What about breakfast?"

"No thank you, Dora," he said. The full moon was the next day and his stomach was a right mess already.

"Well," she said, "I know just the ticket that will get my Jamsey down those stairs in a couple minutes flat." She waved her wand and a pan set on the stove as a full package of thick cut bacon emerged from the fridge and an apron flew over as she held out her arms and slipped into its waiting form. "Begin your countdown," she said as the bacon unwrapped and hit the pan with a crackling sizzle. "Any minute now."

Upstairs, James eyes popped open.

Peter was snuggled up to one side of him, and Sirius to the other side of him. On the other side of Sirius was Lily, laying on her side, head propped up, staring at the three boys with amusement on her face. James blinked at her. "Morning sunshine," Lily whispered in a teasing voice.

"Morning," James said.

Sirius muttered, "Mornin' Moonshine."

"I am not Moonshine, mate," James said.

"Oh my harem, it must be Tuesday."

"It's Saturday, rather," Lily whispered.

Sirius opened his eyes. "Bleeding hell, there is a female in bed with me."

"Never thought that would happen, did you?" James asked, laughing at the look on Sirius's face.

Sirius rolled his head back to look at Lily, "At least it's only Lilith."

"Only?" James said, "That's like saying it's only magic or it's only chocolate or it's only quidditch or --"

"While I love that we're listing things that you think are comparable to me," Lily said, "If you breathe deep, I've a feeling we'll be headed downstairs."

"Bacon?" James sniffed and scrambled out from under both Peter and Sirius, causing the other two to fall into the empty space where he'd been as he climbed up and headed out the door.

"Notice that bacon wasn't on the list of things he was comparing to you," Sirius said.

"I know I come second to bacon," Lily said. 

"Everything comes second to bacon," Peter mumbled.

"Except possibly Sirius ," Lily said.

Sirius looked at Lily, a smirk playing on his face, and he said, "Of course I come before bacon. Bloody look at me."

Peter was up and shuffling after James. "You lot coming?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're coming Pete," Lily said. "Be right there."

Peter hurried out the door and they listened to the sound of his footsteps as he went, then Lily turned to look at Sirius. 

"You love magicked him," she hissed in an accusatory tone the moment Peter was out of ear shot.

"Yes," Sirius said, "The night after the giant attack. When he was so distraught and not making any bleeding sense. When we came up here for that nap. I didn't set out to do it but he needed it so I did it and I've been going MAD EVER SINCE!"

"And he knows."

"You heard us talking last night," Sirius said. "Or him talking to me, rather."

"Yes," she said. "I did, I heard. And I think it's shit you love magicked him too without telling me and you've been keeping it from me and I sort of guessed but I was waiting for you to bloody tell me but you've been avoiding telling me and --"

"Because I thought you'd be angry. He doesn't want you to do it so you couldn't and I had to, I had to, someone had to, and he didn't tell me not to so I did and I'm not sorry persay, I mean I am, I am sorry because holy shit you have no idea, he's right, you've no idea what's going on in there...."

"He said I could, but only when he tells me it's alright, and I feel like he's never going to say it's okay, like he's only said that to make me stop asking and I'm so - I'm so jealous. I - what - what was it like?" Lily grabbed Sirius's hands.

Sirius thought for a moment, then, "Scary as fuck."

"Scary?" Lily's voice trembled.

Sirius nodded solemnly. "Lilith, he's not exaggerating when he says there's a lot. There's a lot. A LOT that even I didn't know about and I felt like I didn't even finish, honestly, I feel like I barely touched the surface like he's a bleeding iceberg and there's -- there's so much."

"See, he needs it so much and it just frustrates me he won't let me do it. Why won't he let me do it, Sirius? I'm not weak..."

"I know," Sirius said, "And so does he."

Lily sighed, frustrated.

"You gotta listen to him though, don't do it rogue like I did, Lily. I - I think that's what happened at the table. He was upset with me for having done it and it sort of - I don't know, it felt like - I touched him and it felt - like - there was hostility for a second?"

"Hostility?" 

"Yeah, like... Like when I touched him, something in him responded with like... anger. Anger at the love?"

Lily frowned.

"I know, it doesn't make sense. I was confused by it. But you saw it, didn't you? When I touched him and he acted like I'd electrocuted him. It felt like I had. It went all the way up my arm. Horrible." Sirius shivered, "But maybe that's because I basically did it without his consent? Maybe? I don't know. We didn't ask any of the other people we've love-magicked either, that I know of, and none of them respeonded like that. Right?"

"Never," Lily admitted.

"Well, maybe that's a thing."

"I'll ask Professor Laurie."

Sirius nodded. Then he added, "James is really smart, like, if he says the time isn't right, then... honestly, I'd believe him if I were you."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry. I really am. I didn't mean to like... infringe on you or anything, I --"

"Sirius," Lily interrupted. She looked at him very solemnly, "You had him first and you'll always have him first. I know that. I never once thought anything different."

"He loves you more than the fucking sun," Sirius said. "He --"

Lily smiled, and Sirius could just feel the fact that she was not jealous or upset or offended or anything negatively charged, just stating a fact as she reached up, put her palm against his cheek, and said, "But not more than a star."