Selene || Remus Lupin

Ch. 104 - Mum and Dad

"Hello, Eliza, my darling girl. It's Dad. You'll be pleased to know that you are now officially a big sister! Hope was born a couple of weeks ago, and she's the loveliest little thing."

Remus lowered himself to the ground, sitting cross-legged in front of the little headstone on the little grassy hill. Ahead of him, the sun was just beginning to peek out over the horizon. It was much earlier than he would have normally woken up, but then again, he'd gotten very well-acquainted with the idea of starting his day before the sun had come up over the past few weeks.

Hope had, unsurprisingly, completely altered their lives completely in the very short time that she had been with them. Of course, there were the obvious things, such as the fact that Remus and Selene no longer had just themselves to worry about, or the fact that neither one of them had been able to sleep through the night uninterrupted.

Nevertheless, Remus wouldn't trade his new life for the whole wide world.

Unless, of course, it was for one where Harry was there too.

"Your mother is doing great, of course," Remus went on. "She's already a natural. Everything seems to be instinctual to her..." He sighed, resting his head on his fist. "Sometimes I feel like I've got a bit of catching up to do... Being a dad doesn't seem to come as naturally to me as being a mum comes to her..."

Remus huffed.

"Sometimes I can't get her to stop crying, and other times I can't get her to sleep... I don't always know what's wrong either, but Selene seems to be able to know exactly what Hope needs as soon as she starts crying – sometimes even before."

A bird flew overhead, and Remus watched it disappear into the thick of the tree branches above him.

"I'm trying my best, but I wish I could figure it out as fast as Selene has," Remus said. "I just want to be a good dad."

"I think that sentiment proves that you're a wonderful dad."

Remus' head snapped up, just as Selene sank down to the ground next to him, a small pink bundle held against her chest.

"Selene!" Remus said in surprise, reaching out to her. "What're you doing out here? Is everything alright? Is Hope okay?"

"She's fine, we're fine," Selene said, as Hope began to stir fitfully in her arms. "Hope was just missing her daddy."

"You think so?" Remus asked, a small smile on his face.

Hope let out a soft cry, and Selene nodded, gesturing for Remus to take her.

As soon as Hope made it into her father's arms, she stopped crying at once, instead falling back into sleep in Remus' embrace.

"See?" Selene said. "She needed you."

Remus grinned.

Selene smiled back at him, before her eyes slid past him to the little headstone before them. Her face fell slightly.

"Is there where you disappear off to every so often?" she asked quietly.

Remus nodded. "I try to catch Eliza up with what's going on with us and everything we get up to."

Selene didn't say anything right away, but Remus thought he could see her eyes glisten in the morning sunlight.

Remus knew that Selene had a hard time talking about Eliza, and an even harder time visiting her grave. She'd never gotten over their daughter's death, especially considering the circumstances, and so coming there to see her was something that she had to force herself to do – not because she didn't want to, of course, but because she didn't really know what to do with herself once she was here.