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FIC: A Halloween Dilemma
Sorry, this is about a week late, but better late than never, right? ;-)
Title: A Halloween Dilemma
Rating: PG
Pairing: Snape/Lupin
Word count: ~1,475
Disclaimer: No money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.
Author's note: This is a post-DH AU where Snape and Lupin both survived and are raising Teddy together.
Summary: Teddy wants to go trick-or-treating, but Halloween is a full moon night. Hermione comes up with a solution.
***
Teddy was upset that Halloween fell on a full moon this year, which meant that he wouldn't be able to dress up and go trick-or-treating, and nothing either of his fathers said was able to console him.
"There's always next year," Snape said, but for a five-year-old child, "next year" was the equivalent of eternity, and Teddy burst into tears.
Snape sighed. Although he loved Teddy as if the boy were his own flesh and blood, he still wasn't much good at comforting distraught children after years of terrorizing the students of Hogwarts, and he turned to Lupin for help.
"Why don't we have a party here at our house?" Lupin suggested cheerfully. "We can have it in the afternoon before the moon comes out. You can invite your friends, and we'll play games and have sweets. We can have pumpkin juice and candied apples and Honeydukes sweets..."
"But that's not the same!" Teddy wailed mournfully. "I want to go out trick-or-treating with Vicky and everyone else!"
Snape sighed again. Being close in age, Teddy and Victoire often had play-dates together, and the Weasley family was making a big fuss about Halloween. Fleur was making Victoire an elaborate fairy princess outfit, while Molly was whipping up batches of homemade candies and cookies. And of course George was inventing all manner of outrageous tricks and pranks for his shop, which he was more than happy to show off to his niece and her friends, much to their delight. Naturally, Teddy had gotten wound up with excitement over the holiday, which made his disappointment equally extreme, and Snape blamed the Weasleys for the entire mess.
Teddy sulked all day and cried himself to sleep that night. The next day, Hermione Granger stopped by to collect the Wolfsbane Potion that Snape was brewing for a Ministry program that distributed the potion for free to werewolves who couldn't otherwise afford it.
She was puzzled when Teddy didn't greet her with his usual good cheer, so Lupin had to explain why he was so depressed.
"Well, couldn't he still go trick-or-treating?" Hermione asked. "He takes the Wolfsbane Potion, so he's perfectly harmless during the full moon. He won't have hands, but he could still carry his treat bag if you sling it around his neck. And I'm sure we could find a costume to fit his wolf form--there are plenty of Muggles who like to dress up their pet dogs for Halloween."
"Teddy is not a pet dog!" Snape said indignantly.
"Of course not, Professor," Hermione replied soothingly. "I'm just saying that a pet costume would fit him perfectly, but if the idea of buying a costume made for a dog offends you, I'd be happy to make one for Teddy myself." She smiled at Teddy, who had stopped moping and was now looking up at her hopefully. "In fact, you don't really need a costume--you could simply go as a werewolf!"
"Yeah!" Teddy exclaimed, cheering up further. "It's like I have my own built-in costume!" He stared at Lupin and Snape pleadingly and asked, "So can I go trick-or-treating, Dad, Papa...please?"
"Well..." Snape said hesitantly. His former students would probably laugh, or perhaps just keel over in sheer disbelief if they knew how easily an ex-Death Eater could be swayed when his son stared at him with that pleading, puppy-dog-eyes look--maybe a dog costume would be appropriate after all! Hermione was still a clever little know-it-all, so she had probably guessed, but if so, she kept it to herself, having gained some tact over the past few years. "It's not that I object to Teddy going out on Halloween," Snape hedged, "but there are still people out there who are hostile to werewolves, in spite of the Ministry's reforms."
"Harry, Ginny, Ron, and I would be happy to take him trick-or-treating along with Victoire," Hermione volunteered. "We can stick to the neighborhood around the Burrows where everyone knows him. And that would give you and Remus a night alone together."
"A night alone together with a slobbering, shedding canine," Snape grumbled as Lupin smiled at him affectionately, not fooled by his bluster.
"That would be very kind of you, Hermione," Lupin said graciously. Actually, it wasn't the first time that she had baby-sat Teddy in order to give Snape and Lupin a little time to themselves. She had grown into a considerate young woman and Snape appreciated her kindness--not that he would ever admit it out loud to her or anyone else.
So Snape and Lupin ended up spending a quiet evening together on Halloween. (Their little cottage in the woods was too remote to attract any trick-or-treaters, which was fine with Snape. He loved Teddy dearly, but he wasn't particularly fond of other people's children.) After an early dinner, they settled down together on the couch with Lupin resting his head on Snape's lap. Snape picked up a potions journal to read, but Lupin stared wistfully at the novel he had been reading earlier in human form, so Snape picked up the book and began reading it aloud. He scratched Lupin behind the ears from time to time, and Lupin made contented little growling noises while his tail thumped happily against the couch.
It might seem like a dull evening to an outsider, but Snape and Lupin felt very relaxed and happy--so relaxed, in fact, that they eventually dozed off, the book falling out of Snape's hand to the floor, and they didn't wake until Hermione, Teddy, and Ron Weasley arrived through the floo.
Teddy jumped up on the couch, barking excitedly, and Snape sat up and said sternly, "Calm down, you little scamp," but Teddy just licked Snape's face, unintimidated, and Hermione and Weasley both grinned. It was rather embarrassing to be caught out as a softy by one's former students, so he gave them a withering glare while Lupin barked a greeting at his son and nuzzled his face fondly.
Weasley paled slightly, but Hermione just smiled at Snape and said cheerfully, "Teddy had a great time, and everyone thought he was just adorable! Somehow a werewolf is a lot less scary when he has bright blue fur."
"The fact that he's so small probably has something to do with it, too," Weasley added.
Teddy jumped off the couch and ran back over to Hermione, who was holding his trick-or-treat bag. "You want your treats, do you?" Hermione laughed, setting the bag down on the floor. Teddy yipped in agreement and butted the bag with his head, spilling the sweets out on the floor.
"Oh Merlin," Snape sighed. "That's just what we need--a werewolf cub on a sugar high! Teddy, you can have a couple of pieces tonight, but you'll have to save the rest for tomorrow." However, Teddy was already tearing open a small paper packet and gobbling down the bone-shaped biscuits inside it, ignoring the chocolate bars and lollipops and candied apples.
"Are those dog biscuits?!" Snape demanded indignantly, and this time both Hermione and Weasley flinched.
"I...I'm not sure," Hermione stammered. "This is the first I've seen of them."
"They're from the Lovegoods' house," Weasley said defensively, obviously hoping to divert Snape's anger.
"I'm sure they're fine," Hermione tried to assure Snape. "Luna said that she baked them herself. I assumed that they were normal biscuits...er, people biscuits, I mean."
"Nothing is normal about that family!" Snape scoffed.
"Come to think of it," Weasley mused, "didn't Luna just recently adopt a dog? She said that she was training it to track Snorkacks."
"Then they are dog biscuits!" Snape shouted, causing his two former students to cringe, but Lupin licked his hand and gave him a look that clearly said, "Calm down, Severus."
Lupin walked over and cautiously sniffed at the biscuits, then took one between his teeth and crunched it up enthusiastically, running his tongue across his chops to lick up any stray crumbs.
"Well...it seems that Remus thinks they're safe to eat," Hermione observed. "And quite tasty, judging by his reaction."
As if to confirm her words, Lupin barked and wagged his tail. Snape shook his head, saying, "Next thing I know, you'll be burying bones in the back yard or rooting through the garbage."
Lupin barked again and this time it sounded like a laugh. He jumped up on his hind legs, resting his front paws against Snape's chest for a moment so that he could lick Snape's face. Then he dropped back down to the floor and resumed eating the dog biscuits with Teddy.
Snape sighed in exasperation, but reached down to scratch behind Lupin's ears as he murmured, "Happy Halloween, Remus."
-End-
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*HUGS*
love, lore
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