Chapter Text
Interesting how the clock seemed to tick louder as the deadline drew to a close.
Remus John Lupin checked his watch as if trying to make sure the one on the wall was not making a mistake. Standing in front of the classroom, with a voice that was trained by years of experience speaking in a noisy space, he announced, “Five more minutes.”
His gaze moved from one side of the room to another as the sounds of hurried scribbling and panic gush filled the room. He stopped at Hermione Granger, sitting straight on her chair in the front, looking like a student who had checked her answers twice --and would not hesitate to call out her teacher if she does not get a perfect A.
His gaze then moved to Neville Longbottom, who looked like … Well, a student who was fully aware that he had screwed things up. Lupin might need to talk to this poor kid later.
Five minutes passed, the bell rang, and the students stood up from their seat. Groaning, they made a messy queue to hand their test paper --and welcome the long-awaited summer holiday.
Apart from Hermione, the only other person to walk with a smile was Luna Lovegood. “Here it is, sir.”
“I hope you’re not drawing stick figures on your test again,” Lupin said as he received her paper.
This was the first time that he taught the teenager, and he had heard stories about her, certainly. But still, he felt like getting a heart attack when she took a test in his class for the very first time --and answered all the questions with doodles instead of words.
Luna was immediately called to his office. During the conversation, Lupin learned that the stick figures were actually some kind of mnemonic tool for her. It helped her to structure her thinking, so he thought of a way for her to continue doing it --without sacrificing her grades.
“Oh, no, sir. I took your advice. It’s very helpful.” Her eyes widened excitedly.
“I’m glad it was,” Lupin replied with a warm smile.
“Yeah, so I draw all my answers on the extra paper, then turn them into words and move them into the real test paper … It takes time, alright, but I just need to move really fast.” She stepped aside to give space to the other students.
“Well, I understand that you’re more of a … creative, visual thinker. But in English classes, you need to work with sentences.”
The last students handed their test papers, and Lupin moved back to his desk to put them into a large envelope. As he went through this process, the gentleman noticed that the blonde girl had taken a seat in front of him, folding her arms neatly as if waiting for the lesson to start.
He assumed that there was something that she would like to talk about. Many of his students found him easier to talk to, compared to the other teachers. They came to him with problems that ranged from “They’re talking about me behind my back!” to “Sir, my mind is very dark lately. I just want to disappear.”
If a piece of advice was needed, he would gladly give it. But he also learned that, often, these kids just needed someone to listen to them.
“So, how are things at home?”
Always a good place to start.
“Home is fine,” she answered, lifting her shoulders nonchalantly. “I still hear voices calling me from the attic, but everything is fine.”
“Uh-huh.”
“How about you, sir? How’s your child?”
Lupin stopped putting things inside his bag. “My child? But I don’t have a child.”
“At least not yet,” he hurriedly added with another smile.
Luna cocked her head to the side; her laser blue eyes studied her teacher carefully. “But you do, sir.”
“Eh?”
“Yes,” she nodded rapidly. The girl made some movements with her hands as if something was growing out of her head. “And it’s growing bigger every day.”
--
“I’m not peeing on a stick just because a sixteen-year-old made me!”
During recess, Lupin found himself standing near the greenhouse in the more quiet and secluded corner of the school --where he would sometimes catch a few students smoking or snogging. Only this time it was him who was trying to hide from prying eyes, making an urgent phone call.
“Look, Dora, I know this is going to sound really weird …”
“It is weird,” the voice on the other side replied.
“But please. Give it a try,” he pleaded. “Buy a test pack … I’ll pay for it later when I get back. Then call me. Let me know the result.”
He had just told her that Luna had told him that Tonks was with a child. No answer came from the other end, though Lupin could hear the muffled sound of a television playing in the background.
Nymphadora Tonks --the woman he was set to marry-- had been under the weather with a cold. He imagined her laying on the sofa in their living room, wearing his T-shirt or pyjama pants, watching a rerun of her favourite series with used tissue papers thrown around her.
After a while, the gentleman finally heard a loud sigh. “I think I know what’s going on here.”
“Oh?”
“Remus, you are being pranked by your students,” Tonks declared. “Again.”
Lupin waved his hand desperately. “No … No! This is different. It's Luna Lovegood. Not Fred and George!”
“How is it any different!?”
“She has a sixth sense!”
At this point, everything was so absurd that his fiancée ended up laughing instead of being angry at him.
“Yeah, go on. Keep on laughing.”
“Honey, I’m so sorry … but, you! You believing in this …”
Sighing, Lupin rubbed the back of his neck exhaustedly. “I’m making myself sound even more stupid here, but listen. Remember when … when Ginny went to juvenile detention?”
The laughter faded into silence.
“She predicted the incident months before it happened, Dora. It's not something that you just guess out of a person like Ginny.” Lupin started to pace up and down.
“Okay …”
“Look, you know I don't believe in these things. But … with this kid, you just never know!” He threw his arms wide. “I’m honestly terrified of my own student, and she’s not the one to bring knives to school!”
He took a hasty, deep breath. “So, please … just … just do it. Please. For my sanity? I’m having a mild panic attack here.”
The lady sighed again. “Alright. But I assure you. Nothing crazy is going on down there. I would have known.”
“Thank you, sweetheart. I … I hope she’s just being weird.” He massaged the bridge of his nose. “I’m not supposed to say that, but …”
“When are you coming back?”
“Uh. Just have to correct some exams. No patrol duty today. Will be back before six. Do you need anything?”
“Nah, I’m fine.”
“Alright. Bye. Love you.”
"Love you, daddy."
The phone call ended. The last thing that she said would usually make Lupin blush, but this time it sent chills down his spine instead. There was a 50 per cent chance that Luna was right, and … the word would have a whole different meaning then.
Tonks had known about his HIV status when they first met --when she helped to fill in the position of drummer in Lupin’s old band The Marauders, more than two years ago.
In the early days of their relationship, the idea of having their own biological child was out of the question. Lupin was afraid of passing the virus to her and his unborn child. So in every conversation about their future together, their hypothetical children were always adopted.
Until Lupin went to the clinic for regular tests and found out that his viral load was so low that it had become undetectable --meaning that there was a very low risk of him passing them to his partner. The doctor also reminded him of successful cases of, under the right care, parents preventing the passing of the virus to their children.
So right before they got engaged, with newfound optimism, the couple went to the clinic to get Tonks on ARV treatment as a preventive measure. With the hope that, after their wedding, they would be ready to have that baby.
But more than a month ago, after he popped the big question in Cornwall, the couple had a little too much champagne --and found themselves feeling a little braver than usual. Brave enough to let it out inside, without protection, on her fertile days. Twice.
Now you know why he was legitimately scared.
--
To be honest, Lupin struggled to remember how the rest of the day went for him after that phone call. He certainly recalled checking the exam results in the teacher's office, then to a brief meeting with the headmistress. But it was impossible to remember the details of these two occurrences, especially since Tonks never get back to him with the results.
The next thing he knew, he was already in front of 394 Wolfsbane Drive, knocking the door as if life depends on it.
"How was it? Did you get to do it?" were the first things he said to Tonks when she opened the door.
He was right in guessing that his fiancée had stolen yet another one of his T-shirts. She also had his boxer pants on; the only thing that belonged to herself was the hooded jacket. The woman did look like someone who had spent her day in bed. Her short hair --which had been in its natural colour of dark brown in the past year-- was messed up and her skin looked like it could use some moments in the sun.
"Bloody hell. Calm down, Mister. How about you get inside first?" She responded.
"Right. Sorry."
"And a kiss for the Missus?" She pointed at her cheek for him to kiss, which he willingly obliged.
Once they were inside, Tonks proceeded to the kitchen while Lupin dropped himself on the sofa in the living room.
"How's your day?" There was a hint of guilt in Lupin's voice.
"Alright, I guess. The cold improved, though not much," she answered from the kitchen.
"Let me know if you want to go to the doctor," he replied, absent-mindedly.
A moment later, Tonks returned to the living room with two cups of tea. Thanking her, Lupin took a sip of the tea before stopping to look at Tonks from head to toe. He could not stop his gaze from resting at her belly.
"And you, you only have one thing in mind today," Tonks pointed out.
"I'm sorry."
Tonks bowed down her head to look at her own belly. "You wonder if there's actually a child in here."
"I won't deny that."
Tonks sighed. Stretching her back, the women tried to get to a more comfortable sitting position. "Anyway, there's someone who would like to meet you."
Lupin rolled his eyes. Honestly, not the best time. "And who could that be?"
Please don't let them be her parents.
"Yeah! So this person … would really love to see you," Tonks answered. “But the thing is …”
The woman made some moves to reach out to the buffet behind the sofa. There was a large ceramic bowl which Lupin's late mother used to store keys and random things, and Tonks searched for something there. "He, or she … won't be here until the next nine months."
The woman handed him a piece of thin, rectangular white plastic with a small window on its top left corner. When Lupin looked down at it, his hand shook. For there was a plus sign inside the small window on its top left corner. "This is …"
"So … after your phone call, I checked the calendar, and uh … I've been late," Tonks shrugged. "Took three of these. They all said the same thing."
"Wash your hands, by the way. That thing has touched piss," she hastily added.
There was nothing that Lupin could do but to lift up his head and stare at his fiancée with impending tears in his eyes.
Seeing his reaction, Tonks laughed. "I guess your student is psychic, after all."
The plastic thing fell on the floor as Lupin jumped to give her a hug.