Chapter 20 – Happy Endings

Remus sighed in content and stretched himself out on the couch. The routine was burnt into his brain and he loved every minute of their life. They would both wake up in each other's arms as the sun began to rise each morning, he would shower (sometimes they'd shower together, which was personally his favorite way to start each day) while she made breakfast (wearing only one of his shirts, which usually made him want to ravish her all over again), they'd eat together and discuss anything and everything from books to work to their future (kids? He was ready if she was), he'd give her a quick kiss and floo to Hogwarts to prepare for the day ahead.

His departure would give Hermione almost an hour alone in the house, which she usually spent reading or working on cases for work, then she'd floo to work. They'd usually spend lunch together at Hogwarts unless she was really busy, then he'd visit her at the Ministry or eat alone, and he would get home first, like he was today. He'd have anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour on most days to himself, which he spent on the couch reading or grading at their table. Today she had owled saying she was running late due to a special case hearing and would be home as soon as she could be. Remus looked at the time over his book and sighed quietly.

She should be home anytime soon, or he hoped. She was already an hour late and he had started dinner not too long ago and was letting it slowly simmer in the kitchen. The fireplace suddenly boomed to life with green flames and out stepped a disheveled Hermione. He sat up immediately at the look on her face, she looked frustrated and tired.

"What happened, Love?"

"A very long, drawn out battle over my newest law…" she replied with a sigh. She gave him a quick smile and kissed him.

"It smells delicious in here! What are you cooking?"

"Some steak and potatoes…" Remus replied with a glance at the sky, even though he didn't need to. He could feel the full moon was approaching and he was craving steak from it. Hermione nodded slowly; she kept an eye on the lunar cycle just like he did. She gave him another smile and dumped her briefcase on the arm chair closest to the fire.

"So tell me about this law and what made the battle so difficult," Remus said as he stepped into the kitchen. Hermione followed behind him and Remus noticed the skip in her step.

"Well…it passed…" He looked at her and smiled brightly.

"That's fantastic! What was it about?"

"You," she replied simply as she picked up a potato from the pan and ate it, ignoring how hot it was.

"Me?" Remus couldn't keep the shock off his face and Hermione nodded with a smile.

"It's a werewolf protection act. Employers can no longer discriminate against people who turned into a dashingly adorable, furry puppy every month," she said with a smile. Remus glared at her description of werewolves and opened his mouth to argue that they weren't "adorable puppies" but really dangerous creatures. She frowned at him before continuing, "unfortunately, you have to be a registered werewolf through the Ministry and under careful administration of the Wolfsbane potion, which is now provided through the Ministry for free, but you'll get four days off of unpaid time for the full moon…" she watched him carefully as he turned the heat up on her steak and took his rare one out of the skillet. He frowned at her.

"Some werewolves will see this as a pity party, Hermione. They're going to feel that employers are begrudgingly giving them the job, they'll probably drop their pay to below minimum wage, and they're still going to treat my kind as 'low lifes' and kick us around…"

"The law will require employers to pay werewolves the same amount as everyone else. I'm trying to make our world a better one, Remus…" Hermione looked at the tiled kitchen floor and Remus sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"I know, I'm sorry, Love. I'm proud of what you have accomplished in such a short amount of time. You've helped so many magical creatures get the rights that they deserve…I may not have reacted very kindly to your news about the werewolf law and I apologize for it. I am grateful for what you stood up for today, thank you." Remus gave her a quick kiss and turned his attention back to dinner. Hermione grabbed a forkful of potatoes from the pan and quickly ate those, smiling at the look Remus gave her. "If you keep eating those, there won't be any left for when we actually get to sit and eat," he mumbled as he swatted her hand away from the pan when she went for more. Hermione giggled at him and wrapped her arms around him, placing her head in between his shoulder blades.

"You can act as cute and lovey dovey as you want, Mione, you aren't getting any more potatoes until your steak is done," Remus chuckled as he swatted her hand away from the potatoes again.

"I'm starving! Just take my steak off now; I'll eat it like it is!"

"Did you not eat lunch today? You didn't come by Hogwarts if you did…"

"No, unfortunately I was in court all day with different laws and case hearings…" Hermione sighed and gave up on getting more potatoes from him, "I'm going to go change really quickly, Mr. Party-Pooper," she gave a small laugh and walked to their bedroom. Remus shook his head and said a quick spell that heated up the steak more and quickly set the table. The couple ate their dinner in a heavy debate about her next law. Remus enjoyed helping her fine tune her cases and they most often times required research, something they both loved to do. After they finished eating, Hermione spelled the dishes to the sink to wash themselves and the couple began to work on their workloads in quiet.

"Darling…?"

"Yes, Hermione?"

"Do you love how quiet our home is?" Remus looked at Hermione in confusion.

"Of course I do…why do you ask?"

"Does it ever feel…too quiet?" Hermione wasn't looking up to meet Remus's eyes and this confused him more. He thought to himself as he looked around their home.

"I suppose sometimes it can be…again, why do you ask?"

"No reason…just wanted to hear your sexy voice," Hermione gave him a seductive smile and he winked at her. He had a feeling that wasn't entirely the truth but he left it alone for now, with full intentions of asking her again when they were preparing for bed.

"Love…" Remus smiled as he looked up from the essay he was grading as Hermione spoke again.

"Yes, Beautiful…"

"Kingsley, I mean the Minister has asked me about a different job…" Remus leaned back in his chair with a smile.

"What job is that, Hermione?"

"He asked if I would take over as head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement…I'd be Harry and Ron's boss…" Remus's eyes felt like they were going to fall out of his skull in shock.

"That's great, Hermione! …Are you going to take the job?"

"Well, yes…but I have a dilemma first, Remus…I've discussed it thoroughly with Kingsley and I think we have a plan," Hermione said as she scratched out a chunk of her law and made edits to the side.

"A dilemma? What kind of dilemma?" Hermione looked at him in shock for a moment before smiling.

"Moony hasn't told you yet?"

"Told me what?" Remus was beginning to get irritated with all this beating around the bush she was doing. Hermione stood and began pacing in front of him and his irritation only grew. It turned to concern when she covered her mouth with her hand and ran out of the room and to the bathroom. He quickly followed and found her vomiting dinner in the toilet. He held her hair and rubbed her back and he could hear the werewolf in his mind saying that he knew all along, but wouldn't tell Remus what he knew. After a few moments, Hermione leaned back and flushed the toilet.

"Are you getting sick, Love?" she nodded slowly.

"Alright, let's get you cleaned up and into bed then," he helped her stand and, while she brushed her teeth and rinsed out her mouth, he went and prepared the bed for her to lie in. He lay down beside her and held her close and the two fell asleep like that. He woke to the sound of her vomiting again in the morning and felt bad when he had to leave and she was in there again.

"I'll be fine, Love, go on to Hogwarts. I'm just going to owl Kingsley that I won't be in today and I'll sleep this off," Remus nodded with a frown and kissed her forehead and left flooed to the school.

He had never wanted a day of work to go by faster in his life. He rushed through his lectures and even let his last class out extremely early so that he could return home to Hermione to check on her. When he stepped through the fire place of his home, he was greeted with a pale and tired looking wife lying on the couch in front of him.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he knelt beside her. She smiled sleepily at him.

"Better. I have a favor to ask, Remus, if you don't mind…"

"Anything, Beautiful, what is it?"

"Can you hold out your wand?" Remus pulled his wand out of his robes and looked at her curiously. She pulled the wand closer to her and pointed it right at her, "this isn't going to hurt me at all, okay. Trust me when I say that. It's going to tell us what's making me so sick…" Remus looked at her in concern and doubt and she smiled. "Just say 'lupus puerum' please…"

"Lupus puerum…" Remus's wand stood stock still for a moment before glowing a blue light as little pieces of blue confetti spewed from the end. Hermione chuckled and looked at Remus's face. He was beyond confused and looked at Hermione with an eyebrow raised.

"I got the same result. Now we won't know for sure until the end but I'm pretty sure this is accurate…"

"Hermione, I love you with all my heart….but I cannot even begin to describe how infuriating it is for me right now that I have no clue what is going on…" Remus stared at his wand as it continued to glow and shoot confetti, and now small fireworks, out of the end. Hermione smiled brightly and sat up.

"I didn't want to tell you until I perfected that spell…since we're the first to use it, there is some small doubt to how truthful it is but Remus…Love…that spell detects, or should detect, if an unborn child will be a Lycanthrope. Remus, I'm pregnant with a perfectly healthy baby boy…" Remus sat still beside her for a moment as the information processed.

"Wait…I'm going to…I'm going to be a father?"

"Yes. Hence all the questions last night…I was hoping you weren't too attached to our solitude and Kingsley said I could work from home as the pregnancy progressed…"

"How long have you known?"

"Since the last full moon…I sat with you in this living room, remember? Well, the wolf took over for a moment and he laid his head down on my stomach with a whine…I had had my suspicions, but that led me to go and get tested to make sure I was indeed pregnant…I had suspected that Moony would have told you or hinted at you…or something…" Remus frowned for a moment at his inner wolf before he broke into a smile and held Hermione to him.

"We're going to be parents! You have made me the happiest wolf in the world, Hermione!" Hermione stood up and the two giggled in their excitement as Remus picked her up and spun her around. He set her down and gave her a sharp look.

"Who else have you told?"

"Just Kingsley…I was hoping we could break the news to the Potter families and the Weasley's at the dinner this weekend." Remus let out a sigh and Hermione laughed, "I wouldn't tell our friends before telling you, Remus. I was going to tell you today regardless of the spell working or not…" Remus sighed happily as he fought against the flashbacks of three years ago when he had almost lost her to Greyback. It had been three years today since the war ended and Remus was excited. The memories were still there, the pain, sadness, and loss…but everyday was better because of the woman in his arms.

(Four years later)

Remus could feel something was wrong. Something was in the room with him and his wife and it startled him awake. He opened his blue eyes and jumped when he saw two small blue eyes staring from his spot next to his bed at him.

"Daddy…I can't sleep…I had a bad dream…" Remus smiled softly at the young boy in front of him. It didn't matter that Remus had the acute senses of a werewolf, his son Sirius John Lupin, was the sneakiest kid that lived. He pulled the boy up on to the bed and Hermione rolled over slowly to look at them sleepily. She smiled as their son crawled in to bed between her and her husband.

"I had a bad dream, mommy…" Sirius said with a sniff. Hermione ran her hand through his sand-colored hair and smiled.

"It was just a bad dream, baby…You're safe here…" Remus met her eyes and he reached over their son to put his hand on Hermione's growing stomach.

"Mummy, when is my sissy going to get here?" Sirius put his hand on her tummy as well but quickly pulled it back in fear when he felt a kick. Hermione chuckled softly and put her hand on Remus's.

"Soon, Sirius," she replied with a yawn.

(Seven Years Later)

"Mum, dad, hurry up! I want to find Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron!" Remus laughed as Sirius took off ahead of the couple on the platform 9 ¾ leaving Hermione to push his trolley. Remus swapped her places and pushed Sirius's trolley while Hermione held on to their daughter, Luna Dora, and their youngest son, Lysander James's hands. The couple saw Sirius talking to Albus Severus Potter and James Sirius Potter, Harry's two sons. Harry and Ginny saw them and waved them over. James and Lily stood behind the couple and Remus smiled brightly at his friends.

Hermione hugged her friends and their children tightly. Ron and Lavender joined them with their eldest son Hugo and their daughter Rose and the group became noisy very quickly. Remus watched his son, who was looking around confused.

"Why is everyone staring at us, dad?" Remus glanced around and noticed that everyone was staring at them. He knew why, but it was something that he and Hermione hadn't discussed with their son yet. The Golden Trio had saved the world and had many fans because of it. Ron gave a snort and all the kids looked at him curiously.

"I'm a bit of a big deal, that's why," everyone laughed and their kids looked at them in confusion. Hermione looked behind her and saw Draco with his wife and son. The two smiled and nodded at each other before both began to check and make sure their children were all set for the train ride. A kid came running up to Sirius, Albus, and James II and he looked very excited.

"Are you aware that your parents are on chocolate frog cards?" The kid handed Sirius one of the cards and Hermione laughed at the shock on his face when he saw a picture of her on the card.

"Mum! You're not telling me something! Why are you on a chocolate frog card?" Sirius asked as he flashed the card around to the group.

"Because she's bloody brilliant," Harry called out and the group laughed again. Remus picked up Lysander as Hermione picked up Luna and the couple kissed before kissing Sirius goodbye and waving goodbye to him as the train rolled away. The group of friends all looked at each other for a moment.

"Well…who's ready for lunch?" Ron called out and the group laughed and made their way to James and Lily's house for a BBQ lunch.

The End.

A/N: I intend to take a small break from writing so that I can get ahead in my classes again before starting my next one. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, set me as a story alert, favorite author, etc. I promise that I have more stories coming so don't give up on me!

Lupus purueum is Latin for Wolf Child – I couldn't think of anything better to use so just go with it.

2/11 - I had to edit this chapter again because I originally named the child John, not Sirius, and then changed it to Sirius and forgot to change it at the end of the chapter. My apologies!