geri_chan | FIC: Wolfsbane and Mistletoe

Title: Wolfsbane and Mistletoe
Rating: PG
Pairing: Snape/Lupin
Word count: ~1,870
Warnings: Unabashed fluff
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.
Sequel to: A Halloween Dilemma, but this story can stand on its own.
Summary: The full moon falls on Christmas Eve, but Lupin and Teddy still manage to bring some Christmas cheer to Snape.

***

Lupin tended to go a little overboard during the holidays, festooning not just the Christmas tree, but the entire house with tinsel and lights and various decorations. Snape would always grumble about the gaudiness of it all and Lupin's Gryffindor sense of taste (or rather, his lack thereof), but Lupin would always protest, "But it's for Teddy's sake!"

"Oh, very well then," Snape would grudgingly give in. "If it's for the child's sake." But secretly he enjoyed having a bit of color and good cheer in his life after too many gloomy Christmases spent alone. He was comforted by the sound of Lupin's voice humming Christmas carols as he decorated, and by the sound of Teddy's laughter. He even let himself be cajoled into making gingerbread cookies--working with the spices was almost like mixing potions, after all, and the effort was well worth it to see the pleasure Teddy took in decorating the gingerbread men and wolves (Lupin had a slightly twisted sense of humor at times) with candies and raisins.

"Why does that wolf have three eyes?" Snape asked, frowning slightly as he made a show of scrutinizing Teddy's cookie with a critical eye.

"That's a nose, not an eye, Papa!" Teddy said indignantly.

"Ah, I see," Snape replied gravely. "I thought it might be a mutant wolf."

Teddy opened his mouth to defend his creation, then thought it over and said slowly, "Hey...a mutant wolf would be kind of cool, wouldn't it?"

"It would certainly be unique," Snape agreed.

"I could even give him four eyes!" Teddy exclaimed, clearly getting enthused by the idea. "And maybe some antennas--"

"Antennae," Snape corrected.

"Or tentacles!" Teddy continued, ignoring the interruption.

Lupin sighed and shook his head, murmuring, "You two," in despairing tones. However, his indulgent smile belied his words, and he bent down to kiss Teddy on the top of his head, then planted a light kiss on Snape's mouth.

The next day, it was Snape's turn to sigh and shake his head when Lupin and Teddy returned from a walk in the woods loaded down with holly and mistletoe. Lupin looked puzzled by Snape's reaction and explained, "They're for our Christmas decorations"--typical Gryffindor, stating the obvious.

Snape heaved another sigh and set aside the Potions journal he was reading. "Yes, I can see that, Lupin," he replied in an exaggeratedly patient voice. "But honestly, is it really a good idea to be using poisonous plants as decorations when we have a young child in the house?"

"Papa, I'm not a baby!" Teddy protested. "I know not to eat holly and mistletoe berries!"

Lupin chuckled as he ruffled Teddy's blue hair fondly with one hand. "Yes, Severus, you've been quite thorough with your descriptions of poisonous plants in your potions lessons with Teddy. Have a little more faith in him--he is your son, after all."

Snape couldn't hold back a smile, or the sudden surge of pride and happiness he felt at the reminder that Teddy was as much his as Lupin's, even if they shared no blood connection. "Yes, that is true," Snape agreed. "But he is also your son, which means he has a bit of Marauder recklessness in him." He could speak such words lightly now, without any bitterness, the sting of those unhappy childhood days having faded with the years of joy and contentment he had shared with Lupin and Teddy.

"But still, he knows enough not to eat poisonous berries, so I apologize for impugning your intelligence, Teddy," Snape conceded.

"You're forgiven," Teddy said magnanimously, and both Snape and Lupin burst into laughter. Teddy grinned at them impishly, then asked, "What does 'imp-yoon' mean?"

"Bring the dictionary, scamp, and we'll look it up together," Snape said, and Teddy hurried to pull the dictionary off the bookshelf.

"Ever the teacher, Severus?" Lupin asked with a grin.

"If he looks up the information for himself rather than just having me feed him the answers, the knowledge will stick with him longer," Snape replied. Teddy returned with the dictionary and climbed up onto Snape's lap, and the two of them bent their heads down over the book and looked up the word in question. Snape pretended not to notice, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lupin smile at them tenderly.

After Teddy was sufficiently informed about the definition of "impugn," Snape joined his lover and son in decorating the house with poisonous shrubbery, making sure to grumble loudly all the while. He didn't fool either Lupin or Teddy, of course, and they just grinned and replied cheerfully to his blustering complaints.

"Do we really need this much mistletoe?" Snape asked, since Lupin seemed intent on hanging some in every doorway in the house, and even from the living room ceiling.

"The better to kiss you with, my dear," Lupin replied with a playful leer as he pointed to the mistletoe hanging above them.

"As if you need an excuse," Snape retorted, but accepted a kiss from Lupin as Teddy giggled.

***

So the cookies were baked and eaten, the house was decorated with the holly and mistletoe, and the tree was hung with ornaments and fairy lights and strings of popcorn that the three of them put together (although quite a bit of the popcorn ended up in Teddy's stomach, which was why they always made extra). Presents were wrapped and tucked under the tree (or handed out to friends), and the stockings were hung up by the fireplace.

As it turned out, the full moon fell on Christmas Eve, so they had an early supper and then Snape handed Lupin and Teddy their goblets of Wolfsbane Potion. Teddy grimaced, but drank down his potion without complaint, and Snape smiled at him approvingly and gave him a mug of hot chocolate to wash the taste out of his mouth.

"Santa will still come even though I'm a wolf, right?" Teddy asked anxiously.

"Of course he will," Snape said in a gentle voice that would have astonished his former students. "As long as you're a good wolf," he admonished more sternly, and Teddy grinned at him, reassured.

"I will be!" he promised, and Snape knew that he would be--at least for tonight. Actually, although Teddy had a mischievous streak that he no doubt got from both Lupin and his late mother, he was for the most part a well-behaved child who managed to stay out of trouble...most of the time, anyway.

Teddy was always filled with nervous energy after the change, so Snape watched indulgently as Lupin and Teddy playfully roughhoused together, and even allowed himself to be coaxed into a game of tag. Teddy was quite fleet and nimble in his wolf form, and Snape was sweating and out of breath by the time he managed to catch hold of the squirming, yipping bundle of blue fur--and even then, he suspected that he'd only caught Teddy because Teddy had taken pity on his Papa and allowed himself to be caught.

"Enough," Snape said breathlessly, lifting Teddy up to plant a kiss on his furry head, and Teddy licked Snape's face affectionately in return. "It's time for good little wolves to go to bed. Besides, the faster you go to sleep, the faster Christmas morning will come."

Teddy gave him one last lick, and Snape set him back down on the floor. He ran over to curl up on the rug next to the fire that he and Lupin like to sleep on when they were in wolf form. Lupin lay down next to him, allowing Teddy to snuggle up against his side for additional warmth.

Snape waited until Teddy's breathing slowed down into a quiet, even rhythm, then tiptoed to fetch "Santa's" presents from their hiding place in the closet. Usually Lupin helped him with this task, but obviously that was impossible while he was in wolf form. And judging by the loud snores coming from near the fireplace, Lupin had fallen asleep along with Teddy.

"Lazy wolf," Snape muttered, but he smiled at his sleeping lover and son, then quickly filled the stockings with candy, presents, and oranges, worried that Teddy might wake up unexpectedly. With that chore done, Snape reheated the remainder of the cocoa, deciding to polish it off and do a little reading before turning in himself.

However, he was more tired out by the game of tag than he realized, and the hot milk made him even sleepier. The words on the page started to grow blurry, and Snape set the book down, thinking that he ought to go to bed. But the couch was comfortable and his limbs felt too heavy to lift, and before he knew it, he had fallen fast asleep.

***

Late at night, some small sound caused the wolves to stir and wake--perhaps it was the quiet snoring coming from the couch. In any case, they yawned and stretched, then blinked sleepily and looked around. Teddy grew excited when he saw the filled stockings, but Lupin nudged him away from the fireplace, giving him a stern look that said, "You have to wait until morning to open your presents."

The small blue wolf sighed, but he knew when his fathers could be charmed into bending the rules and when they meant business, so he obediently moved away from the stockings. He saw his Papa sleeping on the couch, and bounded over to join him.

Snape grunted when Teddy jumped up onto his lap, but didn't wake. Lupin ambled over, intending to join his two loved ones on the couch, but he happened to look up and spotted the mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. His mouth dropped open in a wolfish grin, and he nudged Teddy with his nose and cast a significant glance up at the ceiling.

Teddy's tail wagged eagerly and then they both pounced on Snape and began covering his face with very wet, enthusiastic swipes of their tongues.

"ARRGH!" Snape shouted, waking up out of a sound sleep to find himself being slobbered on by two werewolves. "Lupin! Teddy! What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing?"

Lupin attempted to give him a wide-eyed innocent look--quite a feat in wolf form--and glanced up at the ceiling.

"I knew you were up to mischief when you brought all that mistletoe home," Snape said sourly, wiping his face on his sleeve. Teddy began to look a little worried, clearly wondering if he was being a bad wolf and if Santa might take his presents back. Snape sighed and relented, saying, "Well, I suppose it can't be helped--where there is mistletoe, there must be kisses. Merry Christmas, my two incorrigible wolves."

He planted a kiss on both Teddy's and Lupin's foreheads, and then wiped his mouth on his sleeve, muttering under his breath about wolf fur. Teddy made a mental note to ask Papa what "incorrigible" meant when he was human again, then tilted his head back and joined his Dad in howling for sheer joy.

"Will the two of you pipe down?!" Snape shouted, then broke off into spluttering laughter as the two wolves covered him with slobbering kisses under the mistletoe.

-End-

***

Afterword: There is already an anthology of werewolf Christmas stories called Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, which I recced here, but the title was so perfect for this story that I had to borrow it. (Btw, most of the stories in the book turned out to be very enjoyable, although alas, none of them involved any gay werewolf romances. ~_^)

FIC: Wolfsbane and Mistletoe

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