Happy Schoolday, Keith Lupin

Happy Schoolday, Keith Lupin

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Chapter 1

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"Oi! Remus and Sirius!"

A goldenhaired teenager had just enough time to turn around as he was already enveloped in a warm hug. Just seconds after that he was released and saw as his companion was closed in a similar embrace. The other teenboy, however, was a bit better prepared to this sudden assault and hugged the red-haired storm back.

"Lily!" said Sirius as he, too, was released. "Are you trying to crack my ribs?"

"Just getting back on you, my dear friend," the young witch giggled. Then she glanced around with an eager expression on her face. "So, where's the baby?"

"My Mum wanted to say properly goodbye, laughed Remus, nodding towards the nearby couple, his parents. The woman indeed had a little baby on her arms, cooing shamelessly at the tiny creature.

"I'm beginning to believe that she's going to keep him until the train is leaving and we don't have time to get him back," grumbled Sirius, pouting slightly.

Lily laughed. Then she said, "May I show him to my parents? Although Mum's ready to accept that magical people are drastically different even biologically, Dad isn't ready to believe that two boys could have a baby together." She pointed at the Muggle couple some way behind her. They looked half curious, half nervous.

"Sounds like he needs some further educating," said the raven-haired boy with a smirk. Then he turned towards his parents-in-law. "Oi, Michelle!" he shouted. "Bring Keith over here, we have some baby-showing to do!"

"Aww, do you really have to spoil my fun?" complained the goldenhaired woman as he brought the baby over to his parents. "I'll lose him soon enough as it is!"

"Yeah, what a tragedy," said Sirius, rolling his eyes. "I carried him and gave birth to him. I was in labour for seventeen hours. I'd think that values for more than a grandmother-grandson relationship."

"But he's the only grandchild I'll ever have," protested Michelle, although her smile didn't match her complaining tone. "If you take him away from me, then how am I going to fulfill my spoiling duties?"

"You can always owl him sweets," suggested the boy with a grin, taking the baby gently into his arms.

"He's far too young to eat sweets," Julian Lupin said dryly, although a little smile curled his lips also.

"But we're not," said his son with a smirk, wrapping his arms around Sirius's waist from behind. With a quick peck on Sirius's temple, he then said, "Come on, love. They're already waiting." And truly, the Evanses were watching them with the same half-curious expression, Lily smiling broadly next to her parents.

Remus and Sirius walked to the Muggle couple, Keith safely lying in his Father's strong arms. After a moment, they stood in front of their friend's parents.

"Good morning," said Remus with his most pleasant smile. "My name is Remus Lupin, and I'm one of Lily's friends. These are my husband Sirius and our son Keith."

"Nice to meet you," Sirius added, smiling charmingly.

For a moment, the Muggles just stared at them, then at Keith, then again at them. Then, surprising them all, Mrs. Evans turned towards her husband, exclaiming, "Ha! And you didn't believe!" With a triumphant grin, she turned towards the teens. "My husband said that it's solely women's duty to bear children. He couldn't believe that magic could change that," she explained.

"That's quite usual," chuckled Remus. "My Mum's been married to a wizard for about twenty years now, and yet she at first thought we were joking when we informed her that Sirius was pregnant."

"He's cute, thought," said the Muggle woman then, crouching nearer to the child. "Keith, you say? How old is he?"

"Just a month now," replied Sirius, shining with fatherly pride. He watched as Mrs. Evans cooed over his son.

Remus, however, was not interested in the woman. Even though he kept his hand resting on Sirius's back and acted to be following the interaction between Sirius, Lily, and Mrs. Evans, who were all fussing over Keith, the golden eyes were firmly locked on Mister Evans. The man looked wary, almost nervous, and... aggressive. Seemingly he did not approve what he saw. Whether it was the relationship between two men, their son, or just the proof that magic could indeed have almost any effects, Remus did not know. He did know a threat when one was directed on him or his pack, however - wolves were very sensitive to all kinds of emotional messages, and so were werewolves. And Keith and Sirius were the closest members of his pack.

All this made his werewolf instincts hit in on full force. Fighting back the strong urge to bare his teeth and growl at the man, or step between his family and the Muggle, Remus grasped Sirius's arm.

"We have to go," he said, trying to sound as normal as possible. "The train won't wait forever, and I don't want to try to find a free compartment in a moving train with a wailing child."

"What? Oh, yes," Sirius replied. "Well, we'd better go, then. It was pleasant to meet you, Mrs. Evans, Mister Evans."

Mrs. Evans chirped her cheery goodbyes, while her husband just glared at them as they went again to meet the Lupins, who had their trunks - two big ones and one, slightly smaller, full of stuff for the baby.

"What got to you, Remus?" asked Lily frowning as they pushed their trunks towards the platform 9 3/4 (Sirius had now Keith sleeping in a carrying cloth, and Julian pushed the carriage with Keith's trunk). "We're not in hurry yet, you know that."

"I just wanted to get away from that man," murmured Remus. "No offense, Lily, but your father reeked of hatred. If we'd stayed a while longer, I most probably would have attacked him for posing a threat to my pack."

Now, it was Sirius who was frowning. "He didn't look wholly comfortable, yeah, but I didn't sense any danger."

"You're not like me," replied Remus briefly, not wanting to discuss his lycanthropical traits in public. Then he seemingly cheered up. "Well, let's get to the train, anyway. We'd better settle down early so the train's leaving wont startle Keith."

Agreeing to that, Lily and Sirius followed him to the train. Julian said his last goodbyes and helped them get their trunks inside. At last, he reminded his son, "And remember, if anything goes wrong, don't hesitate to owl us."

"I will remember," Remus promised, rolling his eyes. "Goodbye now, Dad." And then, he disappeared inside the train.

As they were early, it was easy to find an empty compartment. Sirius sat down next to Remus, little Keith still securely folded against his chest. Lily watched in slight amusement as they started to look through the baby bag Remus was carrying, checking that they found all bottles and clothes and toys that were supposed to be there.

"Excuse me, but how on Earth could he have a favourite toy?" interrupted the witch. "He's just a month old, there's no way he cares about toys already!"

"Well, he does anyway," huffed Sirius. "I'd suppose that if my son falls asleep better with his stuffed hippogriff than a teddy bear, I know that better than you."

"Hey, I meant no offense," Lily replied amusedly. "It's just that if somebody told me a year ago that you two would be fussing over a one-month-old baby's toys, I'd called that somebody insane and advised them to visit Madam Pomfrey for a checkup."

"Who said we couldn't change?" asked Sirius, sticking his tongue out rather childishly. Just then, a quiet sound startled them all. The black-haired boy glanced down at Keith's face, which was the only thing that could be seen from the folds of the cloth. "Oh, he's awake," he breathed. "Seemingly he's not hungry yet, however."

"Awww," Lily said in a girlish I-love-babies mode. "May I hold him?"

"Of course." Taking the baby carefully out of the folds of the cloth, he got up to put his son into Lily's arms. "Support his head, too," he said. "This way, do you see? Little babies cannot support their heads by themselves yet."

Lily did as she was told, watching the tiny baby in bewildered wonder. She smiled gently down at the baby, then suddenly gasped aloud. "He smiled back!" she said, surprised.

"Of course," Remus said, smiling. "Babies are well capable of smiling back when they're a month old. You should have seen it a few days ago. Dad's boss, a very strict and nasty man, visited our home. So, I'd fallen asleep on the couch - it was only two days after the full moon - Dad was fetching some papers, Mum was shopping, and Sirius had gone to get a bottle for Keith. Both he and Dad said that the boss had been frowning disapprovingly at me and especially at Keith when they'd left. However, he'd accidentally glanced down at the crib. So, when Sirius came back with the milk bottle, he found this oh-so-mighty boss cooing shamelessly over our son."

"Julian vowed that he'd never seen his boss as much as smile at work, ever," Sirius said, grinning broadly. "The boy's obviously inherited his Father's charm."

"Oh, shut up," Remus huffed, although he was smirking at his husband's words. Glancing at the door of the compartment, he said, "I just hope James and Peter won't startle him when they finally find us."

And just then, the door of the compartment flew open, and their two last friends stormed inside. Keith was indeed startled, and started to cry. Loudly.