Note: Hi, this fic is AU in that Remus and Tonks survived the final battle, and...well the rest will be obvious from reading! I hope you like it, please feel free to brighten up my day with a review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

1: Fight

The boy gave an enraged shout and threw himself at his mocking opponent, bowling him to the ground and lashing out with his fists clenched into tight balls. The blows he dealt to the struggling boy beneath him were clumsy, anger clouding his accuracy but he didn't care, he simply had to hurt the insufferable brute as much as was physically possible. Other students had crowded around the pair and began cheering them on as the second boy fought back with equal ferocity.

From far above a man leaned against the stone banister at the top of the marble staircase, observing the scene below with a mixture of despair and pity. He ought go rushing down there to break up the brawl. Shout at the lot of them and sentence the two boys to a grueling number of detentions, he mused as the smaller of the two boys, who's hair was a tangled mess of bright crimson, let out a pained yelp as the other succeeded in smashing a fist into his nose.

It was his job, after all to stop such things.

Not to mention it probably made him a bad parent too if he did nothing.

But Remus Lupin did not move. He simply watched as his twelve year old son continued his frenzied attack on a fellow student, his nose now spewing blood as bright a red as his hair.

Suddenly there was a loud bang as sparks erupted from the wand of Minerva McGonagall as she came storming out of the Great Hall. Silence fell over the assembled students and in the center the two second years paused in their fighting.

"TEDDY LUPIN!!" The Headmistress bellowed as the crowd hastily parted to let her through. "ORION LYNCH!!" Reaching the middle of the crowd she seized both boys by the collar and yanked them to their feet. It was clear, Remus realized, that Minerva McGonagall was not the sort of witch who aged gracefully. No indeed, she seemed not to have aged at all from the time of Remus' previous stint as a teacher some fifteen years earlier. As she lead the two children away down the corridor Remus watched Teddy glance over his shoulder and, upon seeing his father, turned quickly away again, hanging his head miserably. A number of students looked up to see what Teddy had seen and Remus forced a stern expression onto his face before turning and walking back towards his office. Once inside he went straight to the fireplace and reached for the pot of floo powder. Throwing a handful of the powder into the flames he knelt in front of the now emerald blaze and stuck his head into it's midst speaking clearly the destination.

"We're raising a bloody thirsty killer." He announced when a kitchen materialized in front of him.

From her position seated at the table surrounded by mounds of paperwork, his wife glanced over at the fireplace where her husband's head had suddenly appeared.

"No, Remus," She told him patiently. "We're raising a child."

"Third fight this month, Dora!" He reminded her bluntly.

"Like you didn't get into fights at school..." Her tone was decidedly dismissive.

"Not like this!" He forced himself to lower his voice as he said, "I know they get into fights, Dora, but we can't let him go on like this. He's a good boy, it isn't like him."

"It is just like him to stick up for his own father."

"Dora...!" His voice was so strained that she looked over at him once again and sighed deeply.

"You're right." She agreed quietly, running a hand through her hair in frustration. "Merlin, what a mess this is turning into!" She sniffed and blinked back the tears that were threatening to leak from her eyes.

Tonks was, and always had been, immensely proud of her son. He was a clever, well mannered and hard working boy. In turn Teddy Lupin was equally as proud of his mother. Nobody had ever had any problem with that, it was Teddy's great pride in his father which caused him so much trouble. In his first year Teddy had simply ignored the teasing remarks of his fellow students, but since he had returned to Hogwarts for his second year two months previously he found the insults much fiercer and his tolerance to them had disappeared almost completely. Numerous fights had occurred ever since. However, today's had been the first one of his parents had witnessed first hand. What they had assumed were very much minor incidents were clearly getting more major by the day. It was clear to Remus, as he pulled his head from the fire some ten minutes later after attempting to comfort his wife who had failed to keep the tears at bay, that something would need to be done.

As he took as seat behind his desk and brushed the soot from his graying hair the door opened without any invitation and in wandered Teddy, eyes downcast and hair a morbid black. He walked silently forward and took a seat opposite his father, staring down at his shoes as he swung his feet up and down almost nervously. Remus' silent despair both saddened and worried him far more than McGonagall's shouting ever could.

"I think," Remus decided quietly, after a long and painful silence, "you and I need to have a little talk."