Never Surrender [ Snape x Lupin ]

Chapter Twenty Eight

A great wizard once said that the time to choose between what is right and what is easy would come. And it did, not only for the Order of the Phoenix but for the magical community as a whole. There was no place for neutrality, hesitation, and sadly, no time for goodbyes.

Remus will never forget what it felt like to wake up at the hospital after losing consciousness in his last battle at Hogwarts. He was relieved he had been able to wake up, a type of blessing he would never take for granted again, especially because of his son. Teddy. Where was him? Was he safe? What happened to everyone?

He knew his wife was gone the moment he was awake, he could never forget that even if reviving in another body in another life. He saw the spell hit her, he heard her interrupted scream, saw her falling. That incomplete scream would haunt him for the rest of his life. But he didn't have time for that now, he had their son to raise, he'd have to love him for them both. Make him happy for all the ones that sacrificed their lives so Teddy's generation could live a better world.

The first weeks at the hospital were tough on him. The nurses and doctors wouldn't stop evaluating his health and casting spells on his injured body. He had to be moved away to transform two weeks after he woke up, and it was terrible to remember how it felt to transform without Wolfsbane. The wolf was extremely violent and he hated that it only contributed to doctors having a prejudice against him. He woke up from it with some bite marks all over him, and for the first time, he didn't get upset. Everybody knew by now. And he knew a great deal of his resilience came from the wolf, he looked at his new scars with a somewhat understanding look.

"Just this time, you get to be angry and destructive," Lupin said while bandaging his ankle. "I don't blame you, I wish I could be left in a house to break everything on it myself"

Lupin was committed to his treatment, it was mostly therapy, some potions, and some physical checkups. When the doctor told him he had post-traumatic stress disorder, explained the symptoms and next steps he took the information in with staggering normality.

"Had anyone told you about your diagnosis?" Ophelia, his assigned psychiatrist, asked him while writing the prescriptions, among with the one for Wolfsbane

"No, but I had some of those symptoms during my life. I'm actually relieved I can call it something now" he admitted

"If you keep doing everything right just like you are doing, you will be going home in a week. And if you show up to your weekly appointments and take your potions the way I'm writing you" she said tapping her quill in her instructions. "I say I'll be able to authorize you to have full custody of your son in a few months"

"A few months?" He said sadly

"He's adorable and will be a great kid, he always waits quietly to see you. I think he knows this is a hospital, I wish my kids were this reasonable. But I need to make sure you can walk on your feet well enough before I authorize you to do such a heavy task. In the meantime, his grandma is taking excellent care of him. And you can see him all the time" she explained, her word was final but didn't mean she had to make it harder

"Understood. Sounds... fair" Lupin said trying to make a mental list of everything he needed to improve to take care of his own son

"I see where he got his good sense from, although he's still an infant. Take the time to get used to your new home, they chose a rather nice neighborhood for you as far as I can tell" she said winking at him in a friendly way

"You didn't... That was you?" Remus said touched

"Oh but I did. They wanted to assign the one closer to the edge of town for you, not a bad place, but Teddy will need kinds to interact with and everything there is handier for a single father. And of course, you wouldn't transform in the woods, you can come to transform in our underground quarters"