Fic: Amalgamation for Lesbianremus

[amahami]

Title: Amalgamation
Author/Artist: amahami
Recipient: lesbianremus
Rating: T (for language)
Contents or warnings (highlight to view): *panic attacks, newborn left on doorstep, references to trauma *
Word count: ~18k

Summary: A baby is left on the Delacour-Lupin doorstep the day before Hanukkah. After the four parents decide to keep her, they need to work to include her in the festivities. And boy, are there festivities.

Notes: It takes place in Dec 2000. Remus (who is Jewish) and Sirius are married, and Fleur and Tonks are married. The four of them live together and co-parent Teddy, who is about two and a half.

Tonks is genderqueer and uses they/them pronouns. Regulus is agender and uses they/them pronouns. Sirius is genderfluid and shifts between she/her, they/them, and he/him.
I can also be found on AO3 and tumblr.

There are five chapters. Each one begins with a bolded statement of which chapter it is, and each one ends with “end chapter” with underscores around it.

I am not Jewish, but I did my research in multiple places, guided by my Jewish friend Zach, who majored in Judaic Studies. This fic has been checked over for accuracy by a Jewish person.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER ONE

Tonks hurriedly slipped their shoes on before giving Fleur and Teddy each a kiss on the cheek with a mumbled "I love you.” They tossed a wave to Sirius across the table and took one last look around the room to make sure they had everything, then hurried out the kitchen door.

Sirius and Fleur heard Tonks fall to the ground.

"Bloody buggering- I mean- fuck." Tonks sighed. Fleur looked at Sirius, fighting a grin. Sirius just rolled his eyes and shook his head before taking a sip of his latte.

"Uh, guys?" Tonks said in a tone of voice that made Fleur look up in alarm and immediately rush to the next room.

Teddy frowned. "Renny!" he called to Tonks. He looked to Sirius pleadingly. "Papa, s'il vous plaît," he whined.

Sirius sighed. "D'accord, d'accord." He let Teddy down from his chair so he could rush into the front room to check on his clumsy parent.

"I'm a brodder?" Teddy asked from the other room. Sirius straightened his back. Surely Fleur and Tonks would have asked before the four of them had another child? He hurried into the living room.

Tonks was still on the ground just outside the doorway. There was a dented cardboard box lying open in front of them. Tonks' hand was inside it.

Sirius approached, confused, until he saw the baby swaddled in the box.

"Where, uh. Tonks, where did that baby come from?"

Tonks shook their head. Their hair had been pink when they left the kitchen, but it had since turned blue. Sirius had never seen it blue before; he looked to Fleur, confused.

Fleur shrugged helplessly. "Je ne sais pas."

They all stared at each other in confusion for a few moments until the baby began to cry. Tonks picked the baby up, snatching the note that fell from the folds of the blanket in midair.

"Hello, my name is Amber. I was born on 15 December at 7:18 in the morning in my womb's home. My womb had me secretly, and cannot handle a baby mentally or financially, but wanted me to live. My womb left me on the doorstep of the Delacour-Lupin residence before dawn on 20 December. Please take care of me, or take me to someone who can."

"Who the fu- uh. Who would leave a note like this? What the fu- shit. Fuck. Damn it." Tonks groaned in frustration.

"Ooooooooh, Renny said bad words! Papa!” Teddy turned to Sirius. “Renny said shit, fuck, and damn!"

Sirius fought down a smile. "Yes, Renny did say some bad words. But you shouldn't be repeating them, mister," he said sternly.

Teddy's shoulders slumped. "Désolé, Papa."

"De rien, de rien," Sirius mumbled, snatching the note from Tonks. He read it quickly before sighing. "Tonks, you need to get to work. I already have the day off, so I can look after Amber. We can talk about a course of action once everyone gets home. Yes?" He turned to Fleur to confirm the plan.

Fleur nodded. "Oui, sounds fine to me. Go on to work, Tonks," she said before leaning in to kiss her spouse.

Tonks handed the baby to Sirius before attempting to rush away, managing to trip over the box again. They sighed and mumbled, "You're a wizard, Tonks." They shook their head. "Apparate."

Once Tonks disappeared, Fleur picked the box up off the floor. There was a strong warming charm on it, as well as an extra blanket in the bottom.

"Fleur, you need to leave for work in forty-five minutes," Sirius quietly reminded his co-parent.

"Ah, oui! Merci, Sirius, merci," Fleur said, rushing away to her and Tonks' room to get ready for work.

"Papa, Amber a faim, oui?" Teddy asked.

"Oui, merci Teddi." Sirius walked to the kitchen to prepare a bottle for Amber. Teddy had only stopped taking bottles a year prior, so he was sure he remembered how.

Tonks had been unable to chestfeed because of dysphoria, so they had each become proficient at the potion. Even Remus, who was infamously bad at potions.

"Papa, can I watch tele?" Teddy asked softly. Sirius glanced over at his plate to make sure Teddy had eaten his breakfast. Once he saw the mostly empty plate, he nodded.

"Make sure to keep it quiet so you don't wake up your daddy," Sirius said halfheartedly. He already knew Teddy wouldn't listen to him, but at least he tried.

Once Sirius finished the milk potion for Amber, he looked around and realised they’d packed away all the bottles. He looked at Amber and sighed.

"Darling, I need to go wake my husband up before you can eat. I'm sorry." He frowned and walked to their bedroom.

He didn't bother to knock before walking in. Remus was sitting upright, looking at him grumpily.

Sirius tried to fight a smirk but lost, if the pout on his husband's face was anything to go by.

"Teddy's show wake you up again?" he asked before kissing his husband's pouting lip.

Remus' lips twitched upwards as he nodded. He noticed the baby, then, and flinched backwards, startled. "Why are you babysitting?"

Sirius grimaced and quickly explained the accidental baby acquisition. "I made some of that milk potion for her, but then I remembered all the bottles are in the attic. Could you hold her while I go find them?"

"Of course, my darling- pronouns, dear?"

"He/him right now, please," Sirius said, handing Amber to Remus.

"Of course, my darling husband. Remember that I have to go to work for a half-day today, though."

Sirius nodded. "Of course, Moony. The kettle is still hot if you want to make your morning tea."

When Sirius went back to the kitchen, Remus was sipping his tea and the remnants of Fleur's breakfast were gone. Amber was still in his arms and was visibly upset.

"I just need to wash these, darling. Then you'll get your breakfast," Sirius said soothingly. He hand washed them the muggle way, since he knew cleaning charms left a bit of a minty residue on the dishes.

Soon enough, Amber had a bottle in her mouth, and was happily drinking it down.

The morning went smoothly after that. Sirius put Amber down for a nap in Teddy's cot before helping Teddy get ready for Nursery. He went every day for half a day during the week, unless there was a holiday.

Teddy decided to wear his blue skirt to Nursery, since his renny's hair was blue that morning. He wore grey leggings underneath it, and his favourite lion shirt, which was red.

Remus agreed to leave a bit early to take Teddy so Sirius didn't have to explain anything before they made a decision.

About the time when Remus left, Amber began to cry. Sirius walked to Teddy's room and picked her up.

"Time for a change, eh? Then we'll get your lunch ready," he said to her quietly.

Underneath the blanket she was swaddled in, she wore a plain muggle tshirt, an adult one. She was swamped in it. So Sirius took it off her and shrunk it carefully, before putting it back on her. It was still a bit big, but it looked more like a baby shirt instead of an adult one.

Once Sirius had changed her and he sat down with a bottle in-hand to feed her, they realised their gender had changed. They weren't sure where they were at yet, but that happened sometimes.

Amber finished her bottle and Sirius burped her before putting her back in Teddy's cot. Then Sirius was alone to do what they needed to do. They swiped some leftovers from the fridge and headed to the art room.

Sirius sat in front of their current project on the easel. It was in no way a small canvas. It was their family. Well, technically, they supposed it was the stars, but everyone in their family, barring Tonks and Teddy, were named after stars or galaxies.

They were painstakingly added one at a time from memory. Sirius didn't want to use any references; this was a piece about memory as much as it was about family.

Once they finished their cold lunch, they remained sat in front of the easel. They knew it was wrong. They didn't know what was wrong, but they knew it was wrong. Sirius shouted in frustration.

They spun themself around and summoned their pottery wheel before summoning a slab of clay. There was a pot of refilling water stuck with a charm to the side of the table the wheel was on.

With the dunk of their hands into water, they began.

And that's where Remus found them when they got home from work. He made sure his steps were loud - to the point of stomping - but Sirius didn't seem to hear him.

"Sirius, darling," he said quietly, trying not to startle Sirius, whose gaze was focused intensely on the pottery wheel in front of them.

Sirius' foot twitched on the pedal, but their hands stayed stable. "Yes, husband of mine?" they asked, falsely sweet to mask how upset they were at being interrupted.

"It's gone six, and dinner is on the table. When did you last feed and change Amber?"

Sirius took their hands off the clay in front of them as their head whipped up. "Amber! Shit, I forgot, Remus I forgot about her, I'm so sorry. I fed and changed her not long after you left for work. But she hasn’t cried, I would have heard her, I solemnly swear, Remus!"

Remus approached slowly, his hands open in front of him. "It's okay, Sirius. I was just asking if she was due for a feeding. Everything's okay, darling. Can I touch you?"

Once Sirius nodded, Remus laid a gentle hand on Sirius' face. "You are so amazing, Sirius, and you deserve to take time to yourself. I know you would have heard her if she cried. We made sure of it when we built this room. I was only asking because I needed to know if she needed to be fed.

"When did you last feed yourself?"

"I ate around one," they said numbly.

"I'll let you be, but it's only another hour until Teddy goes to sleep, and then we have to discuss what we're doing about Amber. So try to get to a good stopping point, okay?" Remus kissed Sirius' forehead with weight behind it, to help ground them.

"I'm nearly done. I'll be out in a few," they said.

Remus hummed in disbelief, and left the room.

When Remus went back into the art room, he stomped his way there. He stomped into the room, and Sirius looked up, surprised (but not startled).

"I'm just about done, Moons, like I said. I can help tuck Teddy in tonight if you want," Sirius said, not looking up from the clay in front of him.

"It's half seven, Pads."

"Fuck. I did it again, didn't I,” Sirius said forlornly.

Remus smiled. "We fully expect it on days you're in the art room. It's okay. Right now we really do need you, though. Can you put a stasis charm on it, and come back to it after we discuss?"

Sirius sighed. They really didn't want to stop, because if they did, they'd have a hard time getting started again. But they also hated anyone other than Remus seeing them at work on an art piece. They sighed again before putting a wandless stasis charm on the clay and pottery wheel.

They walked over to the sink and flicked the sink on magically. Once most of the clay was off the palms of their hands, they dried their hands off on the towel next to the sink and then cleaned it with a cleaning charm.

"Alright, let's go," they said, walking to Remus and taking his hand. Remus ignored the feeling of clay on the top of his spouse's hand, and just enjoyed having their hand in his.

In the living room, Fleur was curled up next to Tonks, who was holding Amber. They looked up as Remus and Sirius walked in and took a seat on their couch across from them.

They all looked at each other in silence for a few moments.

"We have plenty of money-" Sirius began at the same time Tonks said, "I already love her."

Fleur and Remus smirked but nodded. "I do too," Fleur said.

Remus pitched in, "I don't think we could give her up if we tried."

"We must think of the logistics though," Fleur said. "We ‘ave to go to the Ministry and organise the adoption, decide what to tell everyone... I want ‘er too, but decisions must be made outside of what we want."

Remus nodded. "We can truthfully tell people we adopted her. I'm sure we could meet at the Ministry after the holidays. And that way we don’t have to worry about them taking Amber over the holidays because they haven't ensured we are eligible parents and can’t leave her at-risk. And since most of the Ministry is closed for the next week..."

It took some time to plan out a new budget, but between them all having jobs and the Black fortune, it was really more about deciding how much to put into the Delacour vault and take out of the Black vault over the next few months, as well as allowance changes.

There were also some schedule adjustments. Because a newborn couldn’t be vaccinated, and they'd rather not expose her to deadly diseases just yet, she couldn't go to nursery until she was older.

Fleur had to continue working her normal schedule, since she worked for the bank. Tonks, on the other hand, thought they could convince the Ministry to let them take the overnight shift on Fridays since they were always begging for more aurors to work that shift. Additionally, they thought they could get an additional half-day off on Monday mornings, for a total of two and a half days off a week.

Remus and Sirius both chose their own schedules and were able to work around each other’s schedules to assure that someone would be home at all times. Because Remus' revolved around when children were available to be tutored as well as the hospital’s schedule, however, his was less flexible and took more finagling. They managed, though.

In the schedule, they decided it would be best to put Sirius down as working on their art pieces from Thursday afternoon to Friday mornings, since they almost always pulled all-nighters when they made art.

Tonks said they and Remus would discuss what could be going on with the spell in the art room, and would fix it before the following Thursday.

They also discussed Christmas and Hanukkah. As Hanukkah was set to begin the following evening, they didn't have much time to prepare for another child.

They decided to ask Regulus if they could watch Amber while everyone was gone the following couple of days. Remus would go with Sirius to the muggle High Street to get the necessary things the following afternoon, and return home in time for Hanukkah's start at sunset.

By the time everything was agreed upon, though, Sirius was bouncing up and down in their seat, itching to get back to work on their pottery.

Remus just shook his head at his adorable spouse, before shooing them goodnaturedly off to their studio.

Fleur and Tonks said they'd put Amber in one of their drawers, with a cushioning and warming charm on it. They vowed to leave it open, and said they'd take care of her in the night so whenever Sirius went to bed, they could get some sleep.

By the time Remus could floo Regulus, it was already pretty late, but he knew Regulus would still be awake.

When he stuck his head in the flames, it took his eyes several moments to adjust to the brightly lit parlor of Grimmauld Place. The walls were painted abstractly with a near-neon palette.

However, the person he was looking for was absent from the room.

"Regulus!" he shouted, hoping his voice would carry to wherever his sibling-in-law was.

"Just a minute!" a voice shouted from somewhere in the house a moment later.

While he waited for Regulus to grace him with their presence, he thought back to the day he found out they were alive.

A week after the war ended, Hermione showed up at his doorstep.

"Professor, I'm so sorry for intruding like this, but my kneazle is sick, and everyplace is still closed, and I just-"

Remus held his hand up to stop her. "Come in, Miss Granger. I can't promise I will be of any help, but I can certainly try. I did a minor in magical creatures, so with any kind of luck, I have the knowledge to help.

"Put it on the table here, and I'll have a look at them," he said, gesturing to the kitchen table.

Hermione gently set a muggle cat carrier on the table and opened it. An ugly flat-faced kneazle walked out and looked at him, tentatively sniffing the air.

The kneazle's eyes widened and their ears perked up. It smiled a cat's smile, and suddenly there was a person who looked not much younger than he was on the table.

It took him a moment to place them, but there on the table was Regulus Arcturus Black themself.

Hermione, for her part, was staring openly at them. Then her lips opened in an o and she blurted, "That's why you always turned around when I got dressed!"

Regulus went red in the face and looked at the table awkwardly. "Er-" they coughed a few times, then nodded.

Remus had absentmindedly conjured a glass of water and handed it to Regulus. They wore a black threadbare button-down shirt and trousers. They looked healthy, besides their nose, which was bent at more than a ninety degree angle, and their hair, which went down past their tailbone.

Regulus drank the water slowly. "Thank you," they eventually croaked. "I haven't spoken in nearly twenty years. My apologies."

They turned to Hermione. "Thank you for your hospitality these years. You're a wonderful owner. The best." They smiled widely, in a way that reminded Remus of their animagus form's grin.

Hermione waved a hand dismissively. "You make a great pet. I've loved taking care of you. Er. Who are you?"

"My apologies, mademoiselle. My name is Regulus Arcturus Black, of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. It's a pleasure to officially meet you," they formally said, taking her hand and pressing their lips against her knuckles.

She flushed, and then jolted back. "But you're dead!" she shouted.

Regulus looked at their arms, and turned them this way and that. "Am I?" They asked.

"How did you survive the cave?" she asked them.

Regulus shuddered. "The potion only really affects humanoids. As soon as I did what I went to do, I shifted before making my way out."

Remus finally snapped out of his stupor and asked, "What cave?"

Regulus took in Remus' face, took a deep breath, and bluntly stated, "The Dark Lord had Horcruxes. He kept one in a cave, with hundreds of Inferi. It was- it was horrible. But I found out, and took it. I had Kreacher take it and destroy it, although I recently found out he didn't succeed, when Hermione mentioned the three of them doing it."

Remus shuddered. Then he said, "How did you stay safe?"

"Once I got away from the cave, I turned into a human, just for a moment, and apparated to Godric's Hollow. It was known to house many wizarding families, so I thought I could hide out in the area, and that I would know when it was safe to come out of hiding.

"The..." They paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "The Potters saw me wandering about and took me in. This was not long before Harry was born.

"When they put the house under the Fidelius, they still let me out. I was away when... When he came.

"I was picked up a couple of days afterwards, by the Hogwarts groundskeeper. He took me to the shop you bought me at, Hermione."

Hermione and Remus both nodded. "Sirius is out helping with rebuilding Hogwarts right now. Will you still be here if I go get him?"

"Sir, you can use your patronus to tell him to come here, can't you?" Hermione asked.

Remus rolled his eyes at himself for forgetting, and sent a patronus to Sirius asking him to come home as soon as he could.

Within moments Sirius was in the house, wand in hand. When he saw Regulus, he stopped so quickly he nearly toppled over.

It took time, but he and Regulus helped each other heal. And now Regulus was on their own in their childhood home.

And speak of the devil, Regulus chose that moment to walk into the parlor. "Remus? You can come through," they said, concerned.

Remus took his head out of the fire and then stepped through, falling into Regulus.

"Shit, sorry mate. I'm pants at flooing."

Regulus just waved his apology away. "I know. You have paint on your shirt now, though."

Remus looked down, and indeed he did. But as soon as he looked down, Regulus flicked his nose.

Remus glared, and Regulus shrugged. "Couldn't help it. What are you here so late for?" they asked. Straight to the point, as always. Although they certainly weren't straight.

Remus snorted. Then promptly explained why he snorted. Regulus just shook his head, and waited for a proper response.

"Right. We seem to have, er... Acquired? A baby. And we can't change our schedules immediately, and Sirius and I have to go shopping for her so she has Hanukkah gifts tomorrow, and- Could you please watch her tomorrow for us? Fleur won't leave for work until nine, and I won't take Teddy to school until noon, and Sirius and I probably won't actually leave until about half-one, so..." he trailed off.

Regulus nodded. "Sure, I'll watch this baby. I can arrive at..." They looked to the grandfather clock in the southwest corner of the room. "Eleven. I'll need time for you to tell me what's going on before Sirius wakes up."

"That won't be a problem. I need to go check on Sirius, but I'll be ready for you then. Thank you Reggie."

Regulus smiled and nodded in response, turning away as soon as Remus did.

When Remus got back, he headed straight for Sirius' art room. He stomped his way in, and Sirius looked up as he entered.

"Regulus will watch Amber for us tomorrow. They're arriving at eleven, but you don't have to be up until just before noon."

Sirius nodded and repeated, "Regulus will arrive at eleven. I need to be up shortly before twelve." Once Sirius nodded again, Remus turned around and headed to bed. It had been a long day, and his joints were protesting.

Tomorrow would be another long day, but he was grateful today was over.

He fell quickly into a deep sleep, and didn't even wake up when Sirius joined him in bed at some point, although he cuddled up to his spouse in his sleep.

______end chapter______

CHAPTER TWO

The following day, Remus awoke to his alarm. It was a newer charm that could only be heard by the caster, which was good for both post-moon sleeping and mornings after Sirius spent all night in their art room.

Remus mentally groaned and grumbled as he dragged his stiff body out of bed and limped to the bathroom.

After a nice, hot shower, his joints weren’t as stiff, and he felt much better. It was only just past eight, and far too early for anyone to be up if you asked him, but Tonks had to be in to work at eight, and Fleur needed to get ready to go to work herself.

So there Remus was, awake and dressed to see the sunrise.

Once Fleur saw him, she stood up. “Teddy ‘elped me with breakfast, and just sat down to eat. I need to go get ready now. ‘ave a good day, Remus.” Fleur gave him one of her brilliant smiles, and he responded in kind as he sat down next to Teddy.

Teddy’s hair was long and pale blond like Fleur’s, but it was tied back at the nape of his neck.

“Daddy! Look what I made!” Teddy yelled, stabbing a piece of crêpe with his tiny fork.

“You made a crepe?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

“Oui! I made a crêpe! Avec des fruits!” he was bouncing up and down in his seat, trying to shove the fork into his mouth.

“Teddy, please don’t bounce while you’re eating. I’m worried you’ll hurt yourself,” Remus said, frowning, as he summoned the crêpe Fleur had left for him under a heating charm.

“Avec des fruits? With fruit?” Remus was still very much a beginner at French, and more often than not, Teddy taught him new words, not Fleur.

She was a lovely co-parent, and generally spoke English around him and Tonks. It was only when they weren’t around that she spoke French.

And it was a beautiful language, it really was. But Remus was getting old, and remembering things was getting more difficult.

Coupled in with the fact that Remus already knew English, Welsh, and Hebrew… It was a slow process.

“Oui, some fruit,” Teddy said with his mouth full.

It took them a while to eat breakfast, and even longer to get Teddy clean again.

Afterwards, the two of them went to Teddy’s room. Remus opened Teddy’s wardrobe and asked his son what he wanted to wear today.

Teddy brought his hand up and rested it on his chin in thought. “Snitches,” he finally announced.

Remus took Teddy’s shirt with the snitches on it off the hanger and floated it into Teddy’s arms.

“Which trousers, Ted?” Remus asked, turning away to look into his closet again. The snitch shirt was scarlet with light green stripes, for the Caerphilly Catapults. There were at least a dozen tiny golden snitches flying around it.

After a few moments without an answer, he said in a warning voice, “If you don’t decide for yourself, I’m going to have to decide for you.”

“Daddy!” Teddy screeched. Remus turned around to find Teddy tangled in his shirt. One arm poked out of the neck hole and his head was stuck in an arm hole. His other arm was in the far arm hole, which put his arm at an angle that prevented him from tugging or removing the shirt on his own.

Remus could barely see Teddy’s eyes peeking out of the shirt, though the top of his head was visible.

Teddy began screaming and got louder the longer he was stuck.

Remus was next to him in a flash, trying to pull the shirt off gently. However, with a thrashing toddler within it, it proved rather… Well, impossible.

Remus sat down in the chair next to Teddy’s cot and pulled his son into his lap.

“Teddy, baby it’s okay. Daddy’s here,” he soothed, rocking him gently. Teddy continued screaming and thrashing, which encouraged Remus to continue. “You’re okay. I’m right here. I know it’s scary, but everything will be okay. Daddy won’t let you get hurt. It’s okay to be scared, but sometimes being scared makes it harder to fix the scary thing. Like right now you’re scared and trying to get out, but you’re moving your arms too much for me to take the shirt off you. It’s okay to be scared, but let’s try to breathe through it.”

Remus allowed himself a quick sigh as Teddy continued to scream. “Breathe with me, okay? Breathe in, one, two, three, breathe out, one, two, three. Breathe in, one, two, three, breathe out, one, two, three.”

As he continued to coach Teddy into breathing normally, Teddy started to follow along. And within a few minutes, Teddy had stopped screaming.

He was still crying, but he wasn’t thrashing or piercing Remus’ eardrums with that high-pitched shriek.

“Alright Teddy, I’m going to take my arms away, but just to take the shirt off. Okay?” Teddy nodded and Remus gently removed first one arm, and then the other from the shirt.

Then Remus took the hems and pulled up, slowly but firmly. It took several excruciating seconds, and Teddy looked like he was on the verge of screaming again when it finally came off.

Teddy’s bloodshot eyes widened in surprise, then closed in relief. He latched himself onto Remus and bawled.

Remus smiled slightly, wrapping his arms back around his son. He was more than glad Fleur had left for work already.

“See? Once you got your breathing under control, you could control yourself easier so I could fix what was scaring you. You’re so strong, Teddy. I’m so proud of you.”

Teddy smiled up at him, then asked the inevitable question. “Strong enough to wear my knight outfit?”

Usually they reserved the knight outfit for days when Teddy was miserable from the lycanthropic blood running through his veins, or when he needed to see a Healer.

However, the shirt Teddy had picked out was damp and stretched out. It needed to be washed, and there wasn’t time to wash it before they had to leave. So Remus nodded to himself and stood up, taking Teddy with him.

Remus pulled the knight outfit from the shelf in the wardrobe. He put Teddy down and shook the shirt out. He helped Teddy dress in the faux-chainmail shirt and faux-armour trousers.

Once he was dressed and ready to go, Remus asked him, “Are you ready to get out the Hanukkah things?”

“Hanukkah! Hanukkah! Hanukkah!”

Remus rolled his eyes fondly and took Teddy’s hand, leading him to the attic.

“Do you remember the rules?” He looked down at Teddy, who was staring at the door to the attic in awe.

“Yes! No touching anything, no tripping over anything, no magicking anything. And most importantly, no asking one million questions.” Teddy paused a moment. “How many is one million?”

Remus thought about it for a while. Then he said, “One million minutes is over 100 days.”

Teddy’s eyes widened. “That’s a lot!”

Remus nodded and spelled open the door. “You can go first, but wait for me at the top of the stairs.”

Teddy mumbled an affirmative before dashing up the stairs. Remus had to take the steps slowly, but Teddy didn’t seem to mind. He sat at the top of steps, humming the theme song to one of his shows.

Once Remus got up the steps, he directed Teddy to the smaller box that had Hanukkah written on it in Hebrew.

“Would you like to carry that for me, Teddy?” Remus asked, already anticipating his answer.

“Yes!” Teddy shouted, jumping up and down.

“Okay, pick it up carefully. It might be a little heavy. Let me go down first, okay?” Remus knew that would be the only way to keep Teddy from running down the steps, and likely tripping. This way at least, if Teddy fell, he’d fall onto Remus instead of the steps.

Remus picked up the larger box that read Hanukkah, and together they went down the stairs.

Remus led the way to the dining room, where he set the box on the table, and Teddy attempted to do the same. Teddy fell onto his bum, having overbalanced. He pouted and prepared to cry.

“Are you hurt?” Remus asked quickly.

Teddy paused and thought about it. “No. Not hurt.”

“Did it scare you, falling?”

Teddy immediately nodded. “That’s okay. Falling is scary. But I’m glad you’re not hurt. Can you get up?” Remus asked.

Keeping Teddy from crying when he fell was easy enough, as long as you distracted him quickly enough. Once he started crying, though, he was hard-pressed to stop.

Teddy got back up, and picked the box back up from the floor. “Here, Daddy. I can’t do it.”

Remus took the box and set it on the table. “Next time, you should say ‘Can you please do it for me?’ But I’m proud of you for admitting you can’t do it,” he said.

“Can I go watch my show, Daddy? It’s almost Thomas o’clock. Please?” Teddy remembered his manners at the last moment.

Remus’ lips twitched up in a smirk. “Ten o’clock, Teddy. Ten. But yes, you may go watch telly. Please remember to keep it down!” he shouted after the running toddler.

Remus sank down into the chair and opened the bigger box. He took a deep breath and grabbed his Chanukiah, a candelabra used for Hanukkah. While many Jews just called it a Menorah, that wasn’t technically its proper name, and calling things by their proper names was important to him.

It burned, and fuck did it hurt. But he gritted his teeth and set it as gently as he could on the table. He put a quick protection spell on it, then grabbed the special table for it.

While perhaps it might not be common with other families, he was pretty sure his family could trip over a house. Ergo, his Chanukiah got a special table, warded against being knocked over or anything knocked down or off. It was a mix between a stasis charm and a sticking charm, and it was a piece of art if you asked him. Especially because it still allowed the candles to burn the oil.

Remus set the table up before the front window, where Chanukiahs were usually placed. The house didn’t have windowsills large enough for anything larger than a finger or two, which was why he had a table in the first place. However, in the past, Chanukiahs were placed at the outside entrance to the home.

Because he married Sirius, he didn’t have to worry about paying for food, shelter, or clothing, so he was able to save up his money to buy the best kind of Chanukiah – a silver oil one.

However, lycanthropy did not like silver. Remus knew this going into it, but he decided to buy it anyway. It was simple but gorgeous. Like all Chanukiah, his had nine branches – eight in a line, and a ninth, called a Shamash, out of place. His Shamash which stood above the rest of the Chanukiah, was in the middle, held up by a vertical piece of silver attached to the base. That is where the other eight branches met to make four arcs. Just above the base and underneath the branches was a Star of David.



(via thechosengift.net)

He took the clean polishing cloth and the polish and set to work, silently praying as he did it, and ignoring the burn of silver as best he could.

He was jerked out of his prayer by the whooshing of the floo. He apologised to G-d and ended the prayer before looking up.

Regulus had arrived, and Remus glanced at the clock on the wall – it was eleven. Huh.

“Give me just a minute, Regulus. Let me finish this up,” he said, turning back to the Chanukiah. It was perfectly polished. How long had he been polishing unnecessarily? Oh well.

He stood up and took it to the stabilised table, gently setting it down before activating the spell.

His eyes widened, horrified. He’d forgotten all about Amber! “One moment,” he said, rushing off to Fleur and Tonks’ room. He walked in and looked around. No baby. He mentally apologised to each of them before opening each of their drawers. No baby.

The baby couldn’t even roll over yet! Where could she have gone? He rushed into his room to ask Sirius what he should do, but froze as soon as he opened the door.

Sirius was up and feeding Amber in their bed. Remus sighed a huge breath of relief and thanked G-d she was okay.

“How did you get her milk?” he asked. “I was in the dining room the whole time.”

Sirius grinned, unashamed. “You were a bit…” Sirius paused to search for the right words. “Immersed. In your Chanukiah polishing.”

“Oh,” he said quietly, embarrassed.

“Is Reggie here, then?” Sirius asked.

Remus nodded. “They are. Once you’re done feeding her, if you want to take her into the living room to introduce her to Regulus and explain the situation in more detail, I’d really appreciate it. Teddy has Fleur’s hair today, so I’m going to braid it for him, and I’ll likely need to relax for a while afterwards.”

“Of course, Moony. She’s just about done, so I’ll bring her out shortly. Oh, and Moony? She/her for now.”

Remus nodded. “Of course, love. Thank you,” he said before turning around and walking back out to the dining room.

“Sirius will be out shortly. She’s feeding Amber right now. You can wait with Teddy and I in the living room. I need to do his hair up.” Remus grimaced.

Regulus nodded and followed him to the living room, where they sat a bit stiffly on the guest armchair.

Remus sat down in his usual spot on the couch, but with his back against the armrest.

“Alright kiddo, do you want your hair braided?”

Teddy’s head whipped around to face him, eyes bright with happiness. “Yes Daddy, please!”

Remus smiled at his son and gestured for him to get up on the couch. Remus readjusted him so he could get at his hair more comfortably.

“What kind of braid do you want today?”

“Princess hair!” he shouted, causing both Regulus and Remus to grimace.

“You want the crown of braids like Princess Leia?”

Teddy nodded, turning his head to the TV. After a moment, he turned back to Remus. “Daddy, why are we sitting here? We do braids there,” he said, pointing to Regulus.

Regulus’ eyes widened slightly, and they jumped up. “I’m sorry, Remus. Where should I sit?”

Remus smiled gently. “If you really don’t mind, you can sit there,” he said, nodding his head to the couch where Fleur and Tonks usually sat.

Regulus walked over and sat stiffly on that couch. Teddy hopped up and ran in place while he watched his show, waiting for Remus to slowly get himself up and over to the other chair.

When he was settled, he called Teddy to him. Teddy sat on the edge of the chair, and Remus began to braid his hair into a crown.

Sirius came in a few minutes later, still in her pajamas, with Amber in her arms. She sat down next to Regulus, who relaxed infinitesimally with her proximity.

They murmured to one another, discussing the events of yesterday morning, as well as their plan.

Regulus offered to babysit the following day as well, from nine to four. Remus would be home by four, since sunset was so early this time of year, and he didn’t work on Shabbat.

Remus mostly tuned them out, focusing on the intricate braiding and pinning of Teddy’s hair.

Teddy squirmed more than a worm, though, and what would have taken Remus twenty minutes on someone sitting still took him nearly an hour with Teddy, because he kept having to take out and redo parts of it.

Once Teddy was finally done, Remus asked him to follow him to the kitchen so he could spell the hair to stay. Teddy complied with only a quiet whine; it was over quickly enough.

“You have five minutes before we walk out the door. Do you need to do anything?” Remus asked, knowing full well they had at least fifteen minutes.

Teddy shook his head, inching towards the living room.

“Not even brushing your teeth?” Teddy groaned. “Come on Teddy, you can get brushing while I put some proper trousers on.”

“Ooo-kay,” Teddy replied sadly, drawing out the o.

Once proper trousers were donned, Remus summoned Teddy’s socks and handed them to him. “Please put your socks on while I put my shirt on. Then I’ll put my socks on, we’ll go to the living room, I’ll put my shoes on, and then I’ll help you put your shoes on. Okay?”

Teddy pouted and crossed his arms. “I’m a big boy! I can do it myself!”

Remus sighed internally. “I know you’re a big boy, Teddy, but your knight shoes have laces, remember?”

Teddy’s eyes lit up. “My knight shoes! I’m wearing my knight clothes!” he shouted happily.

Remus smiled. “Yes, your knight clothes. Please put your socks on,” he reminded Teddy as he changed his shirt and found a somewhat clean pair of socks. They didn’t match, but nobody would see them today anyway, so it didn’t particularly matter.

When they went back to the living room, it was just Regulus and Amber. Remus grabbed his trainers and Teddy’s knight shoes before sitting down at the end of his and Sirius’ couch.

“Where’s Sirius?” he asked, pulling his shoe on.

“They- I mean she. She is in the shower.” Regulus said, fiddling with the end of their sleeve.

Remus just nodded as he quickly tied his shoe and donned the other one. Once that one was tied, he heaved himself off the couch and onto the floor, where Teddy was sat watching something on the telly.

Remus pushed Teddy’s shoes onto his feet and carefully tied the laces. The shoes were similar to hiking boots, and had a glamour on them to make them look like a knight’s Sabatons and Greaves.

Teddy looked down at the shoes in wonder, as he did whenever he wore them. “Thank you, Daddy,” he said quietly, sincerely.

Remus smiled as he got to his knees. As he stood up, he said, “You’re welcome, son. Go get your lunchbox and then we’ll apparate to school.”

Teddy ran off and came back seconds later, tripping on the Chanukiah table and falling to the ground.

“Fuck!” Teddy yelled, glaring at the table. He shook his wrist out without looking away from the table, or even blinking.

Regulus snorted, and Remus shot them an exasperated look before going over to Teddy.

“Are you okay?” he asked tentatively. Teddy nodded absentmindedly, continuing to glare at the table.

“Edward. Look at me please,” Remus demanded in frustration. Teddy looked up, annoyed at the use of his proper name.

“You said a bad word.”

Teddy sighed as if the conversation was the greatest inconvenience in the world. “Yes, I said a bad word. But I fell and it hurt, so it’s okay.”

Remus’ hand slapped his forehead before he realised what he was doing. “Teddy. Teddy, that’s not how it- Renny said that didn’t they,” he said rather than asked.

Teddy just nodded. Remus sighed again. “Teddy, you can’t be using bad words like that. I’ll let it slide because you fell, but please don’t say it again.”

“Okay,” Teddy said. “I can do that.”

“Thank you. Now,” Remus said, pausing to help Teddy back up. “To school. Let’s get out the door first so we don’t hurt the telly with our magic.”

“Yes. We don’t want the telly to hurt, because it’s so nice,” Teddy affirmed confidently.

Remus sighed again, but took Teddy’s hand and walked outside. He closed the door and apparated them away.

Remus came back not long afterwards, and loudly declared, “I’m going to lay down for half an hour. Then I’m going to get up, eat, and Sirius and I will go out and run our errands.”

Regulus raised a single dainty eyebrow as if to say “you’re telling me this why?”

“Right. Okay,” Remus said, and walked away swiftly and awkwardly, only to turn right around when he got part-way through the kitchen.

When he re-entered the living room, he explained himself with a simple “Shoes.” He plopped himself down in his seat and slipped his trainers off, before forcing himself up again and heading back to his room.

He made it into the bed the second time, and pulled out the book he was reading. He’d read and relax for a while before he and Sirius went shopping.

He settled back in bed, and began to read.

______end chapter______

END CHAPTER NOTES: I’m aware the Chanukiah in the link is brass XD

CHAPTER THREE

Remus suddenly jolted awake. When had he fallen asleep? He grabbed his wand and pointed it at… Sirius? Oh. Okay.

He glanced at his hand and started. “Why do I have Teddy’s training wand?” he asked, baffled.

Sirius shrugged. “I have no idea, Moons. But you wanted to leave around one-thirty right? It’s one now, and I know you need to eat lunch.”

Remus grumbled and sat up, which knocked the book that was apparently open on the bed next to him to the floor.

“Fuck. There goes my page,” he said in annoyance. He should have known better. He always fell asleep when he attempted to read in bed.

He just wanted to be comfortable. Was that too much to ask? He sighed.

“I think you lost it well before you dropped the book,” Sirius said logically. Remus glared at her as if the logic of that statement was her fault. Sirius just smiled that beautiful smile of hers that always melted his heart, and he sighed again, but this time because he was full to bursting with love.

Sirius helped him get up and immediately kissed him. Just a tender kiss, but it was enough to greatly lift his mood.

“Food,” Remus said, noticing his hunger.

“Food,” Sirius repeated, taking Remus’ hand and dragging him out into the kitchen.

For lunch, Sirius had made Remus three chicken-turkey-beef sandwiches and fruit salad for a light pudding. When Remus saw them he looked between the table and Sirius with a longing look on his face, torn.

“Eat first. You can thank me later,” Sirius said with a smirk on her face.

Remus nodded and sat down carefully before digging into the sandwiches. He was apparently ravenous and practically inhaled all three sandwiches, slowing down only when he got to the fruit.

Remus loved fruit but preferred to treasure each bite, as fruit was something of a delicacy to him. He enjoyed the pineapple, grapes, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon, and all the other fruits in turn. He hummed around a particularly sweet piece of pineapple and felt as if he had melted into his seat.

Movement to his left caught his eye, and he saw Sirius stumble into the counter. When Sirius glared at him, he just smiled innocently back, aware he’d made his wife swoon.

After his last bite, Sirius swept the dishes away and into the sink before Remus could even stand; though once he had, Sirius took his hand in hers and dragged him out the front door.

“Okay,” Remus began. “Where should we go first? Mothercare World? We have a lot to do, but it’d be a good place to start, Muggle England.” Remus nodded to himself and waited for Sirius’ response.

After a few moments, Sirius nodded her head. “That sounds good,” she said. “We should avoid the wizarding High Street until after the holidays.” She gripped Remus’ forearm tightly to side-along. “Especially when we’re buying baby things. We don't want the Ministry finding out about Amber until after the holidays.”

“Exactly,” Remus said before taking a deep breath and focusing on the Apparation Point close to their destination. Once the awful squeeze was over, he took several deep breaths for both his sake and Sirius’. They both had a tendency to panic after apparation from the claustrophobia that came with it.

Sirius nodded her head slightly, dazed. She hooked her elbow with his and started off towards Mothercare World, Remus stumbling after her.

The store was bright and full of light. It had clothes for pregnant folks, babies from preemie to six years, shoes for kids, toys, and general baby necessities.

Sirius took out her wallet to check the bills before she quietly whispered, “We have over two hundred pounds. Don’t worry too much, but do your magic math thing to make sure.”

“Mental math,” Remus corrected absentmindedly. He grabbed a trolley and headed off towards the clothes.

“You’re in charge of the list, Pads. Remember that we don’t need a lot. It’s mostly clothes.” He handed Sirius the list.

When they got to the baby clothing aisle, Remus tossed several packages of solid-coloured baby growsuits into the trolley; his eyes widened as he spotted the cutest baby growsuit. It was dark blue and had a menorah on it, and also came with little striped leggings to go over it. It hit the bottom of the trolley before he’d even checked the size.

As soon as he realised, he snatched it back out and checked the size (and proceeded to get a smaller size).

Sirius was looking with wide eyes at a jumper that said “My best friend” with a dog’s face on it. She turned slowly to Remus with wide puppy eyes. “Pleeeeaaaase?” she asked.

Remus rolled his eyes and nodded. She enthusiastically threw it into the trolley. “I can adjust the image so the dog looks like me, and it’ll be amazing, just you wait Moony!”

“I know it will, darling. Now come on; we need pajamas and something cute for Amber to wear on the baking themed Hanukkah night from this section. I’ll go grab some shirts and trousers, but I’ll be right back. Okay?” Remus asked.

Once Sirius nodded, he took off. Sirius absentmindedly strolled along in a different direction, deep in thought, until she saw the best plushie she had ever seen in her life.

It was a deer, the same kind of deer James was, and it looked exactly like him. Well, the antlers were twice as large, but otherwise it looked exactly like him.

She needed it. Amber would probably like one, too, even though it was bigger than her right now. Sirius gently put one in the front of the trolley and tucked one under her arm. James should be close to her heart, after all.

She looked down at the list and crossed off baby growsuits before looking around for Remus, but couldn’t find him. She had moved, so Remus wouldn’t be able to find her, either. She whimpered quietly, but headed to where Remus said he’d be.

Remus was an aisle away from the trousers, holding a small round container in his hand. He turned when Sirius got within normal human hearing range, and held it up.

“It’s perfect for art night, isn’t it? You mix the powder with water, then roll it out a bit. You stick the baby’s hand and foot in to make an imprint, and then let it dry a few days. Then you have a record of the baby’s size.”

Sirius nodded vigorously. She could definitely do that herself, but she thought it might help Remus to do this himself. So she didn’t complain when Remus dropped it in the trolley along with the tiny chef’s hat and a few packages of shirts and trousers.

“What’s left on the list?” he asked once he was back at the head of the trolley.

“Games, Books, Puzzles, and Movies,” Sirius replied, reading the remaining theme nights off the list.

Remus nodded and headed to the aisle across from them – the pajamas. Remus glanced around at the clothes for a few moments before plucking four sets of pajamas off the racks and holding them up one at a time for Sirius to see, asking for her opinion.

Sirius only rejected one set, and only because she was afraid the tiny jewels would come off and Amber would choke on them.

Remus nodded in understanding. “Would you pick the last set for us?” he asked softly.

Sirius’ grin was huge, and Remus automatically mirrored it. Sirius then turned around to look through the racks. She eventually chose a dark green set with orange tree trunks and bright green leaves and vines. It had a few monkeys on it, and at the end of the trousers were little fluffy slippers that looked like bananas. They were adorable.

Remus nodded, and Sirius set it in the bottom of the trolley with care before asking if the toy section was next.

On their way there, they passed the toddler beds. Remus froze and called out to Sirius.

“Hmm?” she asked, confused as to why they’d stopped.

“Teddy really ought to get his own bed instead of sleeping in the cot with the railing down,” Remus stated, staring at the toddler beds in the aisle in front of them.

Sirius cocked her head to the side and considered for a moment. “Yes,” she finally said.

It took them less than a minute to find the right one. It was a train frame, and it would take but a few minutes of work to transfigure it into a more realistic train bed, once assembled.

Before they could take the box it was in, Remus noticed the price. It wasn’t expensive, really, but after it and the mattress, it would leave under £80 to purchase everything else.

“Padfoot, Love, one of us needs to go to Gringott’s to take out more money,” Remus said softly.

Sirius’ eyes widened in panic, and she began mouthing ‘no’ over and over.

Remus talked softly to her, and gave her reassurances to try to keep her calm, at least until she could be held. Once given the okay, Remus took her in his arms and hummed quietly to her.

Once she had calmed down, Remus spoke. “Here’s what we’ll do. We finish our shopping here, then we go to the front and tell them we need to nip over to the bank down the street; we won’t be but a few minutes. Then we apparate over to Gringott’s, get the money out, and then apparate back. We don’t have to be apart at all. Sound good?”

Sirius nodded. “Sounds good, Moons. Thank you,” she mumbled. Remus just nodded and released Sirius, before bending down and picking up the box that held the pieces of the frame.

Sirius sprang into action and helped Remus get it into the trolley, and then the tiny mattress.

Once they got to the toy section, they both picked out a small selection of baby toys from stuffies to musical instruments.

Perfect for Puzzle Day was the shape sorter shaped like a ball. Amber was definitely not old enough to really play with it, but it would make the rest of them feel good.

They stopped by the music section to see if there was anything new, and there was. There was a new cassette that had brand-new children's songs. That went in the trolley, too.

They considered themselves done and headed for the front. By the time they got to the front, however, they’d picked up a few packages of flannels, some more cloth diapers, socks, mittens, hats, and bibs.

Remus and Sirius walked together up to a person in the company uniform at the front. “Hi,” Remus began. “We forgot we needed a toddler bed, and need to nip out to the bank to get a bit more money. Could we leave this here at the front while we go do that?”

The person tilted their head one way, then the other, studying them. They finally nodded. “You have twenty minutes before I start reshelving this though, mate. Be quick, yeah?”

“Yes, of course. We’ll be back swiftly,” Sirius said, bowing slightly. The person blushed and covered their mouth with their hand.

Sirius led Remus away to the bathrooms. Once they made sure it was empty, they apparated to the private room at Gringott’s. The goblin there seemed to have been expecting them, and hurried them away after performing the usual tests to confirm each of their identities.

They only went to the Tonks vault, since it was the closest to the top and the least protected. It was perfectly safe, but it also took far less time to get to.

Sirius shrugged and took a couple handfuls of Galleons and stuffed them in her coin purse before turning around and leaving.

Remus sighed and followed her. Once they were back up in the main bank, they headed to the currency conversion side to get the Galleons changed to Pounds.

Then they headed back to the private room to apparate back to the store, though they went to the Apparation Point instead of the shop toilets.

The two of them hurried to the shop and were both panting lightly as they crashed through the door.

“Sorry,” they both mumbled to the startled shopkeeper. They stood behind their trolley as the person rang them up, and Remus handed the appropriate amount of money over.

“I want to head to the book shop before we head home, Padfoot. Are you up for it?” Remus didn’t mean to issue a challenge, really. It just… Happened.

“Of course I am, Moony. I could do more afterwards, too. But the sun sets in just over an hour, so we should be getting back fairly soon.”

Remus nodded and took their bags while Sirius hefted up the bed frame and mattress. As soon as they were at the Apparation Point, they shrunk their items down and stuck them in their pockets before apparating to Remus’ favourite bookstore.

It was a place called Pendleburys, in the small town of Llanwrda, Wales. It sat in a small valley, with mountains on every side. A perpetual mist seemed to enshroud the building at the bottom of the valley, and inside it was the most magical muggle place Remus had ever been.

There were tall trees surrounding the bookshop on three sides, and the light pink side panelling nicely accented the grey shingles on the roof.

The building was an old, 18th century barn, specially converted to fit the needs of a bookshop. There were bookshelves everywhere, and where bookshelves wouldn’t quite fit, there were end tables stacked with books. Everything looked chaotic while somehow maintaining an organised, tidy quality about it.

There were books of every kind, from as far back as the 1600s, and as current as that moment.

It was a place that Remus knew very well, having not only hid away in it countless dozens and dozens of hours throughout his childhood, but also having spent much of his adolescent summers working there.

Remus first drifted over to his favourite section, as he always did – poetry. The poetry section was not small, not by any means, but it was small when compared to the other sections of the store. But what could he say? He had a certain affinity to poetry. It tended to be more accepting of queerness and magic, and probably lycanthropy too, if they knew it was real.

So this was where much of his heart and soul remained. He flipped through a few familiar copies, mouthing the words to his favourites, and then replacing them on the shelf.

Sirius just watched contentedly. One of her favourite things was when Remus was as relaxed as he was in that moment; there were no walls up, no fears, no worries, just… Being. And that brought Sirius back to before Azkaban, before life as she knew it ended. When Remus was himself, Sirius was herself. It was perfection.

But, not all moments last, and it ended as quickly as it began. Remus shook his head, set whatever book he’d been reading back, and did an about-turn before marching away.

Sirius stared after him a moment, admiring his arse. It really looked great in those trousers. She hurried after him after another moment of gazing.

After what seemed like endless turns and more sections than she could count, they finally ended up in the children’s section.

Remus rushed over to a book he knew would be perfect. He just had to buy it. He looked up to his wife and turned the book around so Sirius could read the title - Light the Candles: A Hanukkah Lift-the-Flap Book. It was a dark blue book with four cartoon children in front of a chanukiah they were lighting. She could tell Remus was drawn to it; he needed it. Sirius’ glossed pink lips turned up as she nodded, and Remus’ lips turned up in response.

The two of them took some time to meander the bookshop a bit more, and chose a few more books for Amber. Minus the Hanukkah book, they were all board books, so she could hold them herself.

It took them several minutes to wind their way back to the front, and when they did, the shopkeeper’s face lit up.

“Remus! It’s lovely to see you again!” She said, grasping Remus’ hand. “It’s been too long. You used to come for Tea every Saturday, but you haven’t in- Hey, this isn’t your old friend Sirius is it? Long black hair, punk looking, aristocratic, shorter than you by a considerable amount… He’s out of prison, then?”

Remus grimaced. “Er, yeah. See…” He paused a moment, and then began to speak in Welsh. He explained that Sirius was his spouse, but it’s not legal everyplace so he tried to keep it a bit quiet, but yes, they were very much in love; they were very happy together. And, as it turned out, Sirius had been innocent from the start.

Remus turned to Sirius and asked a question in Welsh. Sirius stared blankly back at him.

“That was Welsh, dearie,” the kind woman said to Remus.

Remus cursed softly. “Would you mind if I invited Seren to Shabbat Tea after Hanukkah?”

“Anything that makes you happy, Moons. But don’t forget I work weekends again, so I’ll be away. You should check with Fleur and Tonks, too,” Sirius said in an almost-mumble. She was beginning to tire after the big day.

“It’s near sunset, Remus. Go be with your family on this first night of Hannukah. May G-d bless your family. Now go on. Free of charge, as long as you get in touch about when we can meet for Shabbat Tea. Here’s one of the poetry books you’re always looking at, too. For Hannukah.” The woman packed their books and the poetry book into strong paper bags.

“Nope. Absolutely not,” she said firmly as soon as Remus opened his mouth. He sighed in defeat and took the bags. “Diolch, Seren,” Remus thanked her and walked slowly out the door with Sirius not far behind.

______end chapter______

PRE-CHAPTER NOTES: all blessings will be translated into English out of respect (it’s disrespectful to type the blessings in Hebrew or the transliterated Hebrew). They will be in italics though, so you know they’re not in English.

Unless you are Jewish, please do not refer to Jewish people as Jews. It has been (and continues to be) used in a derogatory way, and I won’t go into it here, but in general, it’s best to take the extra two syllables to say “-ish folks” to keep anyone from becoming hurt by your words.

The beginning might not make sense at first, but it will by the end of the chapter. Please be patient :)

******

CHAPTER FOUR

When they entered the house, they were surprised to see several dozen shoes at the door.

Remus slipped his shoes off and turned to Sirius, who was looking a bit peaky. “If you’d like, Padfoot, you can go to our bedroom and wrap Amber’s Hannukah gifts. You can also work on Teddy’s bed, if you want to do something more. I’ll handle the people,” Remus murmured quickly to his wife. “I need to do the lighting of the Chanukiah, though, so you’ll miss that. But that’s okay."

Sirius nodded numbly for a few moments too long before taking the shrunken bags out of Remus’ pockets. Remus shivered at the sudden intimacy, and a blush crept up his neck.

Sirius gave him a peck on the lips before putting the shrunken bags into the significantly larger book bag. She then took the book bag from Remus’ hand and walked swiftly away, avoiding the kitchen entirely.

Remus took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen, where much of the hubbub was. The chairs were gone, but on the table were fresh loaves of bread, a crock pot with a brisket in it, a huge bowl of mixed vegetables, several plates of latkes, a bowl of applesauce and a bowl of sour cream to go with it, and ten bottles of Manischewitz wine stacked in a pyramid with a light sticking charm.

Remus was positive that the table wasn’t normally that large.

To Remus’ left stood Fleur, chatting quietly to Regulus in French. In front of him, Percy stood talking to Hermione, who leaned against Pansy. Pansy’s arms were wrapped around Hermione, and her head rested on Hermione's shoulder.

In the back corner of the kitchen in front of the sink Draco chatted with Luna, while Tonks tried to keep Ron from eating anything on the table.

Through the archway on the west side of the kitchen, Remus could see Andromeda talking to someone who could only be her sister, from the way she was speaking, and behind them a gaggle of Weasleys and their partners discussed Quidditch.

Ron turned to him. “Finally! Now we can eat!” He paused a moment and glanced at Tonks. “Right?”

Tonks fought the grin that twitched onto their face, but lost. “Not quite. First Remus is lighting the Chanukiah. Then we eat.” Ron’s shoulders slumped forward slightly, but he said nothing.

Tonks shouted, “Time to light the Chanukiah! Get in the front room!”

Remus went to the front room to take his place in front of the Chanukiah. It was only a few moments before the room was flooded. Everyone was elbow to elbow, and the temperature increased by several degrees.

Remus took a moment to look around before shouting above the chatter, “Where’s Teddy?”

Andromeda looked up from her conversation with Narcissa and shouted back, “With Ted in his room!”

“Not anymore I’m not,” Ted said from the archway. He held his long white cane in front of him, perpendicular to the ground to keep it out of the way while he was just standing there.

Teddy’s hand was in his free hand, and he looked overjoyed to be with his grandfather (who looked just as happy to be with his grandson).

“You aren’t quiet,” Ted explained, smiling awkwardly. “I’m here, anyway. Teddy, could you please lead me to your daddy?” he asked, taking his hand from Teddy’s and putting it on his shoulder.

“Yes,” Teddy said confidently, and carefully led Ted to Remus.

“Thank you Teddy,” Ted said. Then, louder, he said, “If you know the words, you’re free to say the blessing with us, but you don’t have to. Just be quiet, please.” He nodded to Remus to begin.

Remus put a candle in the rightmost spot, and then in the middle. He lit the middle one, picked it up, and began the blessings.



“Blessed are you, Lord, our G-d, sovereign of the universe

Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us

To light the lights of Hanukkah.

Amen”



“Blessed are you, Lord, our G-d, sovereign of the universe

Who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days at this time.

Amen”



“Blessed are you, Lord, our G-d, sovereign of the universe

Who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season.

Amen.”



Ted, Remus, Tonks, Sirius, and Andy recited the blessing in Hebrew with them. Teddy hummed along, and everyone else repeated the amens.

Once the third and last one was said, Remus lit the other candle with the Shamash. Then he put the Shamash back in the middle.

“Are you saying Hamotzi, or am I?” Ted asked.

Remus shrugged.

“If you gestured, I can’t hear the movement with so many people” Ted said.

Remus grimaced. “Sorry Ted. I shrugged.”

“How about you do the honours tonight, Remus?” Ted asked after a moment.

Remus nodded then said awkwardly said, “Yes. Okay everyone, quiet please so I can say the blessing before we eat.”

“Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth. Amen.”

Everyone repeated the amen, and the few closest to the table grabbed plates to start filling.

Ted let go of Teddy’s hand and slowly squeezed himself through the crowd while saying “excuse me; pardon me” repeatedly.

“Remus?” Ted asked, his side facing Remus.

“Ah, here, Ted. I was jostled a bit when everyone converged on the food. Sorry.”

Ted huffed out of his nose. “Not your fault. Can I pour you a glass?” he asked, gesturing slightly in the direction of the wine.

Remus shrugged again out of habit. “Sure. Do you need help?”

Ted tilted his head to the side slightly, considering. “Are the glasses already out?”

Remus looked around for a moment, then paused. “Hang on, let me double-check.” He gestured to Tonks to get their attention. “Are the wine glasses out yet?”

“No. Fleur wouldn’t let me.” Tonks pouted, hair lightening from dark to light pink.

“Thanks.” Remus turned back to Ted. “No, not yet. Could you help me get them down?”

Ted smiled. “Of course, Remus. Of course. Where do you want them?”

“On the counter beneath the cupboard they’re in is fine. We’ll need all of them, maybe more.” Remus grimaced. That reminded him...

While Ted slowly made his way through the crowd, cane still perpendicular due to the small space, Remus walked over to Tonks.

“What’s all this?” he asked them.

Tonks smiled. “My dad said it was a shame you didn’t do a get-together like just about every other person during Hanukkah. I asked Sirius why you didn’t, and they mentioned how much work it was, and you just weren’t up for big groups.

“I know you already have gifts bought and wrapped for everyone, so you can give those out tonight, and I know you already have the story prepared for Teddy, so...” They shrugged. “I talked to Sirius and Fleur, and they thought it would be a good idea, too.”

Remus nodded slowly. “I hate that you’re right, you know.” He smiled. “Thank you. It means a lot to me, and this is great, and I just-

“Oh!” Tonks interrupted him. “My dad made the brisket. And the crockpot it’s in is your gift, so don’t try to give it back to him. It’s already expanded to hold over double what it should, but he doesn’t think it should be expanded much more.”

“Thank you, Tonks. Let me go thank him.” Remus nodded to them before making his way through the crowd, grabbing a bottle of wine on his way through.

Remus set the bottle down heavily out of the way of the glasses, but within Ted’s reach. Ted turned towards Remus slightly.

“Remus,” he said, telling Ted who he was.

“Thank you, Remus. There might be one or two I missed, but I think I’ve got all of them,” Ted said.

Remus looked up into the cupboard. “You got them all. Although I should probably get Teddy’s plastic wine glass. It has a top and everything, but lets him feel like one of us.”

Ted smiled. “That is adorable. But I think Teddy’s already got it.”

Remus looked around. “Where’s Teddy?” he asked no one in particular.

“Cissy made his plate alongside hers and took him out to the play area to eat,” Andromeda said from her place in the queue.

Remus nodded his thanks. “Did he have a kiddie wine glass?”

Andy nodded, and Remus shook his head. “Andy confirmed that. Kids, am I right?”

Ted just snorted. He grabbed the wine bottle and made a swirling motion with his finger, pointed at the top of the bottle. The cork popped off and landed on the far side of the counter.

He held a wine glass in front of him in his left hand, with his index finger crooked into it against the edge. He picked up the bottle with his right hand and carefully poured it into the glass, stopping once he felt the wine touch his finger.

Ted picked up the glass of wine and handed it to Remus before repeating the process for his own glass of wine.

Remus took a sip a hummed. “Why do you only ever offer to pour my drinks?”

“I pour Andy’s all the time,” he said, grabbing a third glass for his wife. “Nobody else trusts that my hands are clean. Or else they don’t think I can do it myself, despite the evidence to the contrary.”

“Ah. That must be frustrating. I can relate, but I benefit from it more often than not. Sirius can often tell when I need something done for me, as opposed to when I can do it myself.”

Ted nodded in understanding, taking a sip from the wine glass as he put the bottle down carefully. “Andy’s the same with me. At first it wasn’t, of course, when I first lost my sight. I’m sure you noticed how… Overprotective she was. She’s far better now, though it took a bit of a spat for her to realise I just don’t need the help she thinks. Has it been the same for you? Has Sirius gotten better about it over time?”

“I think it’s been the other way around, actually. Until after Teddy was half a year old, I didn’t think Sirius could do anything themself. That is, until I found out that it was upsetting them that I wouldn’t let them even try.

“It’s hard sometimes, because I see all the ways they could get hurt, but... I trust them with my life, and the life of our son, so shouldn’t I trust them with their own life?”

Remus took another sip, and Ted nodded. “Exactly. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have to trade with my wife.” He picked up the other wine glass and carefully made his way towards his wife, who was humming.

“Is it okay if I float our glasses to our seats?” she asked quietly. Once Ted nodded, she set one of the plates down on the table and flicked out her wand as she walked through the archway, sending the glasses next to Narcissa’s plate.

She walked back and picked the plate up from the table. “Would you like me to guide you while you hold your plate, or would you prefer to use your cane while I hold your plate?”

“Please guide me,” he said, holding his hand out for his plate. Andromeda handed him his plate and then held her arm out for him to take. He took it and they walked together into the play area in front of where the Chanukiah was set up.

Remus waited until most of the crowd had moved into the front room before approaching the table. He grabbed two plates, one for him and one for Sirius, whenever they were ready to eat.

Draco was standing at the foot of the table with a wine glass in his hand, waiting patiently for Harry to move out of his way. Regulus was digging through the vegetable bowl, trying not to get any carrots. They appeared frustrated at being unable to do so, so Remus asked from across the table, “Can I help you, Reg?”

Regulus looked up, startled. Their face went a bit pink, but remained impressively blank. A moment passed before they responded. “Yes please.”

Remus nodded and scooped a spoonful of veg onto Regulus’ plate, before mumbling a spell. All the carrots on Regulus’ plate flew to Sirius’ plate.

Regulus smiled at Remus. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Remus said, smiling. He finished getting their plates filled and turned to the three people in the kitchen. “I’m going to go see if Sirius is ready to join us. I’ll be right back.”

He turned and hurried out the dining room and through the hallways, stopping before his closed bedroom door. He knocked quietly.

“Padfoot? It’s just me. Can I come in?”

A bark resounded through the room, making Remus laugh. He opened the door, and a giant black dog tackled him to the floor.

“Oof. Padfoot! You’re lucky we padded all the floors for Tonks and Teddy.” Remus grumbled a bit while petting the enthusiastic bear-sized dog.

“Are you having trouble coping with everybody here?” he asked after a few minutes. Padfoot whined and looked down.

“Oh, honey, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s okay. Do you want me to bring your food in here, or do you want to come with me? You can stay a dog.”

Padfoot licked Remus’ face to thank him, and then a few more times for good measure.

“Is everything wrapped?” he asked the dog, whose tail was wagging so fast it was just a black blur. Padfoot nodded.

“Good. Thank you. Are you still she/her?” The dog’s head shook from side to side. “They/them?” The dog nodded their head.

“Okay. Thanks Pads. I’m going to walk away, and if you don’t follow me, I’ll bring back your food.” Remus slowly got himself back to his feet and accio’d the onesie for Amber. He then summoned all the other gifts for that day from the closet and sent them to the corner of the front room.

They went floating away in a single-file line, bobbing up and down as they went.

Remus nodded and turned the other way and walked back towards the kitchen. He heard Padfoot’s paws clicking on the floor behind him and let out a relieved sigh. It was good that Sirius was socialising, even if it was in dog form.

Remus went back to the kitchen, empty now that everyone had gotten their food and moved to the front room. He picked up his and Sirius’ plate and followed the noises of happy chatter. Everybody was sat on the floor, separated into conversational groups.

As soon as he entered, Luna stood up and practically floated to Molly, took Amber out of her hands, and sat down next to Arthur. Molly looked at her, upset that someone less qualified than she would take a baby from her; Arthur tried to quickly soothe his wife’s frayed nerves.

Remus sat down between where the gifts had neatly arranged themselves in a large pile and the Chanukiah in front of the window. Sirius plonked themself down right next to him. As soon as Remus set Sirius’ plate on the floor, they dug in.

Remus grimaced. It was always disgusting, watching Sirius eat while in dog form. So he dug into his own food to distract himself.

Several people got up for seconds while he and Sirius ate.

When they were done, Remus took care of his and Sirius’ dishes. When he came back, he asked the room, “Are you ready for the story?”

There was a murmur of affirmations, and a yell of affirmation from Teddy.

“Macca- Maccabees!” he shouted, jumping up and down on Narcissa’s lap. To her credit, Narcissa didn’t even wince.

Remus nodded and summoned a chair to sit on, for his body was protesting being on the floor so long. Once he was settled, with Sirius laid down at his feet, he began.

“Many of you think you already know why we celebrate Hanukkah. I can almost guarantee you’re wrong.

“See, it’s about more than oil. It’s a celebration of- Let me just get to the story.

“It all began over two thousand two hundred years ago. Way back then, us Jews lived in the Holy Land – Israel. The Holy Temple stood tall and proud in Jerusalem. The Holy Temple was the first Temple. And all the Jews were serving G-d faithfully.

“There were a handful of unfaithful Jews, called Hellenists, who thought it was better to look and behave as the Greeks did. They adopted the Greek ways of life, which included serving idols.

“One of the Commandments, remember, is not to serve any idols before G-d.

“At this time, the Greek king Antiochus ruled over Israel. He was a horrible, awful man. The people even nicknamed him the Hebrew word for madman.

“The Hellenists gave King Antiochus money to replace the High Priest with a man called Melanus.

“Now, around that time, King Antiochus had been in a war with Egypt. He started it, and he won. However, a rumour spread that he had died in battle.

“The Jews took the opportunity to rebel against the evil, wicked High Priest Melanus.

“It took a little while for King Antiochus, who was alive and well, to catch wind of his rumoured death. He was Muggle, after all, and people had to go and tell him directly.

“Anyway, when he found out, he was very angry. And that was before he found out the people had risen against and rebelled against the High Priest Melanus, who he’d appointed.

“When he found out about that, he sent his soldiers to kill all the Jewish people. All of them, women and children included.

“He also told them to take all the Jews’ money and fancy objects, to destroy their cities, and ruin all their homes.

“The wicked soldiers were excited to do as the king asked, and hurried towards the Holy Land.

“The evil king wanted the Jews to forget their religion and worship his gods instead. He believed in many gods, but none of them was the Jewish god, G-d Himself.” Remus paused for a moment, glancing at Teddy.

“It’s okay to believe in many gods, even if none of them is my G-d. It’s only when someone tries to make people believe what they believe that it’s not okay.

“Um. Where was I? Oh, King Antiochus wanted the Jews to abandon G-d and worship his gods instead. He made horrible laws that erased and destroyed Judaism, the Jewish religion.

“King Antiochus even entered the Holy Temple and stole all the holy objects!” Remus paused to let the shudder of holiness pass through him.

“Why?” Teddy interrupted.

“Um...” Remus stalled for time. “I think it was a part of erasing Judaism.” he finally said.

“After King Antiochus took out our holy objects, he put Greek idols up on the altar, and he sacrificed a pig. Now, a pig is one of the most unclean things on Earth, and to sacrifice it is... Very bad, anyway.

“He also made a law that said if someone was found learning Torah, resting on Shabbat, using the Jewish calendar, or even keeping kosher, the punishment would be death.

“Now, I know many of you here aren’t Jewish, so let me take a moment to explain. The Torah is what some might call our ‘holy book,’ but it’s not a book. It’s a big scroll. But it’s not to be touched, so we open it with special handles.

“It has the first five books of the Tanakh, along with ages old interpretations. The Tanakh is what some call the Hebrew Bible. It has 24 books in it.

“Shabbat is the Jewish holy day. It begins on Friday at sundown, and ends on Saturday at sundown.

“And the Jewish calendar is different than the usual calendar. It goes by moon cycles. Each month is twenty-eight days long. The first is always a new moon, and the fifteenth is always a full moon. There are twelve months in a year, but the years are a bit shorter than the usual calendar.

“It is currently the year 5761.

“And kosher is two separate things. It technically means to fit, but it really means to adhere to the food laws set forth by G-d, and food that is fit to be used for ritual purposes.

“G-d told us not to eat pork and shellfish, for example. Many people know those two. There’s many other things, too, but it’s basically about what we can and cannot eat, and under what circumstances.

“To recap, King Antiochus said that anyone found learning Torah, resting on Shabbat, using the Jewish calendar, or keeping kosher, would be sent to death.

“His plan to remove Judaism didn’t work, though. He thought the Jews would become weaker in their faith, but they became stronger. Many Jews risked their lives to keep G-d’s commandments.

“Hordes of Greek soldiers spread all throughout Israel, to all the small villages. When they got into a village called Modin, they set up an altar for idol worship in the centre of the village.

“They ordered all Jews of the village to come and serve the Greek idol. A man name Matisyahu came to the altar with his five sons, as was demanded.

“A Hellenist walked up to the Greek altar to bring a sacrifice. When Matisyahu saw him, he drew his sword and killed the unfaithful Jew.

“Then he and his five sons and a few loyal friends began to attack the Greek soldiers, killing many of them and causing the rest to flee.

“The Jewish rebellion had begun.

“Now, they knew the King would send troops to fight back, so Matisyahu and his small group hid in some caves high up in the mountains.

“The Jews told all the other Jews that anyone who had complete faith in G-d, and who has the courage to fight, should come up into their caves to join the rebellion.

“Matisyahu knew he was dying, so he put his son named Yehuda in charge of the group that would be known as the Maccabees.

“The name Maccabee comes from their battle cry, ‘who is likened unto You amongst all powers, O, G-d.’ In laymen’s terms, it means ‘belief and faith in G-d.’ It’s an acronym from the Hebrew words, M-ch-ba-y. Maccabee.

“The Maccabees were very brave, fighting against the huge Greek army. The Maccabee army had but six thousand men, who weren’t trained. The Greeks, however, had over fifty thousand!

“G-d performed a miracle. The Maccabees beat the huge Greek army. Afterwards, they marched to Jerusalem to reclaim the Holy Temple.

“When they arrived at the Temple, they saw that a lot of it had been destroyed or stolen. All the golden vessels were stolen, including the golden Menorah.” Remus paused for a moment to get up and remove the Menorah from the wall next to the door.

“This is a Menorah. It is a candle holder, with room for seven candles.” He made sure everyone had seen the Menorah besides Ted (who wouldn’t see it no matter what, but as a Jew himself, was well aware of what he was speaking) before placing it back on the wall.

Remus waited until he was sat back down to continue. “The golden Menorah couldn’t be replaced because it was so expensive, so they made a metal one plated with gold instead.

“That means they just had a thin layer of gold on top of the metal.

“On top of that, the oil that was supposed to be used to light it was no longer sealed, so it was impure. They searched and searched and searched, and finally, they found one small jug of pure olive oil, still sealed with the seal of the High Priest Yochanan.

“However, the small jug had only enough oil to light the Menorah for one day, and it would take eight days to make more oil. The Temple would remain dark for seven days.

“Except by a miracle of G-d, the Menorah continued to burn for eight whole days, until more oil was made.

“This miracle showed everyone how G-d cared for His people, and the Jewish Nation.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but there are two reasons we celebrate Hanukkah. We celebrate the miraculous defeat of the Greek army by the Maccabees, and we celebrate the single day of oil in the Temple lasting eight days. We light one additional flame for every night of Hanukkah.

“Today is 25th Kislev, the third month in the Jewish calendar. It is the first night of Hannukah. Tonight we will light two candles. The helper candle, Shamash, will be first.

“If you look next to me at the Chanukiah, you’ll see the middle candle is raised above the other eight. That’s where the Shamash goes. The other candle we light tonight will be this one.” Remus pointed to the empty Chanukiah, to the branch closest to him – the right side of the Chanukiah.

“It is also a custom to eat foods fried in oil. We had latkes with dinner, and though I don’t know if we have enough for everyone, we do have some Sufganiyot.

“That is, jelly-filled powdered doughnuts. Then we can do gifts, then Dreidel, a betting game. Fleur, could you grab the dish from the top of the fridge, please?” Fleur was sitting not far from the archway, and was the closest.

She nodded and went to grab it. Chatter broke out, and Remus took the brief reprieve to look worriedly at his oddly quiet son.

“Are you okay, Teddy?” he asked Teddy, who was still in Narcissa’s lap.

Narcissa grimaced slightly. “I may have promised him a new train if he behaved himself while you told the story.” She looked to Teddy. “You’ll have to wait until after Suf-” she cleared her throat in embarrassment. “You’ll have to wait until after doughnuts, okay?”

Teddy nodded furiously. Remus smiled and nodded to Narcissa to show that he wasn’t upset in the least, as Fleur came in and distracted Teddy with the messy treat.

There was more than enough for everyone, almost like someone else made... Wait a minute. “Who made more?” Remus asked accusatorially.

Harry slowly raised his hand, looking petrified. “That would be me, sir.”

Remus smiled hugely. “They look exactly the same as mine. I’m so impressed, Hari. I’ll bet these are amazing! They are kosher, right?”

Harry nodded once, swiftly. “Yes, everything I used is certified kosher.”

“I’m so proud of you. Thank you,” he said sincerely.

Harry shrugged, embarrassed. “Happy to help.”

Once Fleur had passed everyone a doughnut (and Teddy a second one), they all bit into them and enjoyed them.

“Hari really did a great job on them,” Sirius said, having shifted back into human form while Remus was distracted.

Remus nodded. “I really don’t know if I’m eating mine or his,” he agreed.

“You have quite a task in front of you, you know, teaching at least a dozen people how to play Dreidel, and refreshing the other dozen’s memory,” Sirius said.

Remus groaned, eating the last of his Sufganiyot. “Don’t remind me.”

______end chapter______

CHAPTER FIVE

They had a rule, the Delacour-Lupin, Weasley, and Malfoy families, that gifts were only given on birthdays and on whatever holidays each individual celebrated. So only Remus and Ted were giving gifts that night.

Regulus had asked to hand out the gifts, so they searched through the pile and handed out the gifts once everyone shifted into a large circle to make viewing easier.

Remus sat between Ginny and Charlie, while Sirius took a seat between Teddy and Draco.

They opened the gifts in threes, to be sure nobody missed what was given. They made sure Teddy was in the first group, as he was practically vibrating with excitement. Sirius and Draco opened theirs at the same time. Teddy squealed when he opened the early Christmas gift from Narcissa – it was a new train for his train set.

At the same time he opened that, both Sirius and Draco gasped.

In Draco’s hand was a large handmade book. The cover was dark faux-leather. He had it open to the first page.

“Lupin... Thank you,” Draco said, choked up. He had tears in his eyes.

“I was the only living person Severus entrusted his belongings too, though grudgingly I’m sure. I am working on putting together the rest of his potions notes, but I thought this would be a good beginning,” Remus explained.

With the war not having ended before he died, there were few people and places that were safe. Remus was apparently one of them.

Remus looked to Sirius, who was staring into the box in their lap. “Sirius?” Remus asked quietly, concerned.

Sirius looked up to him and they locked eyes for a moment. Then suddenly Sirius was up, and then they were in his lap.

“Thank you Moony!” they cried hoarsely, tears slipping from their eyes. They buried their face in Remus’ shoulder. Remus’ arms came up to pull Sirius closer to him.

“This doesn’t mean you have to go to the Temple, Pads. Just so you know. But the Community accepts you, and I want you to know that.”

Sirius just pulled themself closer to Remus, and he rubbed their back as they worked through their emotions.

“I gave them a rainbow kippah that I made. It says love in Hebrew on it, too,” Remus explained to the confused crowd.

The gift opening continued on with Tonks, Bill, and Fleur, and around the circle gradually. It wasn’t until Regulus, Harry, and Hermione were opening their gifts that Sirius had calmed down enough to show their face.

Regulus stared at their gift in confusion. They held up a flat plastic rectangle with the name of a large London library on it, and a barcode on the back.

“What is this?” they finally asked.

Remus smiled. “That is a library card. Muggle libraries have many books you haven’t read, and I know you want to read them, so... I went and got you one.”

Regulus stared at the card in awe. “Thank you, Remus,” they finally said.

Harry, meanwhile, was staring into his own box.

“Those are ten collections of memories. Each one is from a different year. It’s not a lot, but it’s some, and I think that’s a start. Every memory in there revolves around either your mum or your dad. They’re labelled by year.

“It might be a good idea to dive into them when you’re here. You can take the Pensieve into your room from the attic, but in case you have any questions or anything, I’ll be here at some point in the day to answer them,” Remus rambled.

Harry smiled and whispered a thank you, gazing into the box like if he looked away, they’d disappear.

Hermione was trying to patiently wait, but she was bouncing in place. When she saw that Harry had finished speaking, she yelled, “Thank you Remus! This is perfect!”

Remus smiled. “You’re very welcome, Hermione. I thought you’d appreciate a Jew’s notes on Judaism. I made all of them while I was studying at uni, both here and in Israel.”

Hermione’s smile was huge, and she looked fit to burst. She opened the first notebook and began to read, as others began to open their gifts.

Remus enjoyed seeing everyone open their gifts, and it was always fun to see their reactions.

When Charlie unwrapped his gift – a magical copy of Newt Scamander’s original manuscript for his book on magical beasts, Charlie nearly began to cry.

Okay, he absolutely cried. He was too happy to hold it in. He was too happy to find the words for how amazing a gift it was, and he ended up surrendering and wrapping an arm around Remus, tears streaming down his face.

“You’re welcome,” Remus said with a grin.

Since Remus already knew his gift for that night (the crockpot with the brisket), and it couldn’t be unwrapped, he was skipped. The last four people (Ginny, Ted, Narcissa, and Andy) all opened their gifts together.

Ginny grinned uncontrollably when she opened her Women of Quidditch book. “If I wasn’t already so gay, I think I would be now,” she said.

A few people in the circle, mainly the gays, laughed. Ted opened his, and a smile lit up his face as his fingers ran over the raised dots of the parchment inside.

“How did you manage to snag a Braille subscription to the Daily Prophet?” he asked.

Remus made an ‘I don’t know’ hum. “All I did was point out the inaccessibility of the production, and now they have one starting on the first, and I got you a subscription to it.”

Ted shook his head. “It’ll be good to be able to read the Wizarding news on my own again. I think Andy was getting tired of reading about the Business sector.” He jokingly elbowed his wife, who was running her fingers across the box in her lap.

On the box it said Safe Stainless Steel Knives/ Magically Sharpened and Charmed So You’ll Never Cut Yourself Again. “You always know just what to get us,” she said, gesturing to a mostly healed cut on her hand.

“Mm, I just pay attention,” Remus replied, unable to take the compliment.

Narcissa was looking at Remus with a raised brow. “Trust me,” he said.

Narcissa nodded. “I can do that,” she said in her sweet, aristocratic accent that meant she was hiding her feelings. “Who shall I take with me?”

“I know Andy would love to go, but so would many people in this room.”

Narcissa nodded before handing one of the tickets to see the Russian ballet (in Russia) to Andromeda. “Will you go with me?”

Andromeda smiled at her sister. “It would be my pleasure, Cissy.”

Remus looked to Teddy, and saw he had fallen asleep. Teddy would be upset that he missed playing Dreidel, but it would be benefit everyone else for him to be taken to bed then; he’d be cranky if he was woken up and it was getting pretty late anyway.

Remus nodded decisively and put a silencing charm around Teddy’s head before he stood up and levitated him carefully away from the celebration and to his bedroom.

“I’ll be right back,” he said as he walked away. “I’m just putting him to bed.”

“Amber needs to be changed and then fed,” Luna suddenly said, moments after Remus had left the room.

Fleur nodded. “I’ll take ‘er. Sirius, could you please ‘eat up ‘er bottle?”

She groaned as she stood up to take the baby from Luna. She walked out of sight as Sirius stood up and headed to the kitchen.

Soon enough, Remus rejoined the group, Sirius was happily wearing their kippah, and Amber had a bottle in her mouth.

Remus summoned the box of dreidels and gelt, and picked up a dreidel. “This is a dreidel. It is a cube with a rounded pyramid on the bottom and a very small cylinder at the top. It is basically a top with flat sides. Each side has a Hebrew letter on it. Together, they stand for Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, which means ‘a great miracle happened there,’ referring to the miracles of Hanukkah.

“Dreidels in Israel have a different symbol at the end, changing the saying to Nes Gadol Hayah Po, which means ‘A great miracle happened here.’ I have one from my time studying in Israel.

“You’ll begin with ten pieces of Hanukkah gelt - these coin-shaped pieces of chocolate wrapped in gold foil.” He held one up between his pinky and ring finger.

“When it’s your turn, you’ll spin the dreidel. There is one Hebrew letter per side, and each has a different meaning. They tell you what to do on your turn, depending on which side faces up.”

He held the dreidel so the side that said נ faced those in front of him. ”This is pronounced nun, and it stands for nisht, which is the Yiddish word for nothing. You do nothing on that turn.”

He held up the side that said ש. “This is shin, and it means that you put three gelt in the centre pot. You do the same thing if pe is facing up.” Remus took a moment to find said dreidel in the box.

A moment later, he hah’d as he lifted it out of the box, with the פ facing away from him. “Pe. This is the dreidel from Israel.”

Then he turned it so ה faced outwards. “This is he. It stands for halb, or half. You win half of what is in the middle. If it cannot be halved evenly, you get the extra piece.

He turned the dreidel one final time, so ג was facing outwards. “This is gimel, which stands for gantz, and gantz means all. You take everything that’s in the middle.

“Once you’re out of gelt, you can either ask someone for a loan, or just spectate. The game ends when all but one person is out of gelt. That takes longer than I’ll be able to stay awake, however, so let’s say we’ll go ‘til nine. That’ll give us an hour.” The folks in front of him murmured in agreement, and a few people yawned.

“Alrighty! That was easier than I thought. When you split up, I’ll make sure there are people who know the letters with you, because I’m sure you haven’t memorised it already.”

There were a few awkward chuckles.

“Okay, let’s just split up diagonally right here,” Remus pointed a line through the circle. “So that there’s twelve on each side, and wherever I am will have thirteen.”

Everyone slowly moved into two separate circles. Once everyone settled, Remus sent out ten gelt to each person. He set two dreidels in each circle, and set one with braille on it next to Ted’s gelt.

“Your dreidel is next to your gelt, Ted,” Remus said as he sat down next to him. His circle had Pansy Parkinson, Luna, Percy, Arthur, Molly, Charlie, Ginny, Ted, Andy, Narcissa, Lee Jordan, and Oliver Wood.

He took ten gelt out of the box for himself, and looked around.

“Alright, what are we waiting for? Let’s get started.”

And with that, the games of Dreidel began.

~~~

By the time the hour was gone, Luna and Narcissa had seventy pieces each. Lee had managed to hold onto five of his gelt.

In the other circle, Fred, Tonks, Angelina, and Bill each had about thirty pieces, and Draco had six. Ron had given into temptation and eaten a few of his.

Everyone slowly got up, aching from being on the floor so long.

Draco and Harry approached Remus and Sirius. “Thank you for having us,” Draco said, bowing slightly.

Harry rolled his eyes, and Sirius pulled Draco into a hug. “None of that, Cousin. We’re happy to have you. And we fully expect to see you tomorrow night, so don’t you be shacked up with my godson then.”

Harry went red in the face and grumbled something unintelligible before yanking Draco out of the embrace and moving into Sirius’ arms, himself.

“Weird as you may be, Sirius, I- I love you, and I’m happy to be here. So is Draco. We’ll be back tomorrow, don’t worry,” he said, still flushed.

“I’m not the only weird one, Hari. Now go give Moony a big hug so I can get on with the rest of these awful goodbyes.”

Harry did; he gave Remus a hug and thanked him for being amazing, which flustered Remus. Draco awkwardly shook Remus’ hand once it was free, and then they were out the door heading back to their home.

Next up was Ginny and Luna, who were leaning on each other in exhaustion. “Thank you for having us, guys. It’s been-” Ginny stopped mid-sentence to yawn.

Luna picked it up. “Lovely. Everything was fantastic, and now I understand why the Georgian Sprites are in your front garden.”

Remus and Sirius just stared at them in confusion, waiting for either to explain. The two girls walked away and flooed out.

Pansy came up to Remus. “You know Hermione well. She’ll be up all night reading your notes, though.” Pansy sighed. “Thank you for having us, and I’m sure we’ll see you in a few days. Now excuse me while I go make my girlfriend put down your notes long enough to apparate home,” she said, shaking her head with a smile on her face as she walked away.

Percy and Oliver Wood said a quick goodbye before heading to their home, and then Fred, George, Lee Jordan, and Angelina Johnson were in front of them.

“Mister Moony, you are amazing, and we are forever grateful for you knowledge,” George said, and he and Fred mock-bowed. “We shall be poring through night over your Marauders Map notes and the book on Greek spells. We’ll burn the candle at both ends, and we’ll learn so much.”

Lee Jordan shook his head fondly. “Thanks for having Angie and I too. You’re alright,” he said, looking Remus up and down.

Sirius rolled their eyes and put an arm around Remus. “Yeah, he is,” they said with a sappy grin on their face.

The four of them walked outside to apparate away.

Molly, Arthur, and Ron came up. “We’ll see you on the 24th, right?” Molly asked.

Remus nodded. “You’ll see us then.”

“Good. Goodnight,” she said, leading the other two away.

Charlie and Bill came up and gave them each a hug, thanking them both for their hospitality before leaving.

Then, finally, Regulus came up. “Good night, Sibling. Brother-in-law. Thank you for having me. I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” they said formally before turning on their heel and flooing back to Grimmauld Place.

Then, finally, it was just Tonks, Fleur, Remus, and Sirius left. They looked at each other and groaned. They were all exhausted and ready for bed.

“I already put a stasis charm on everything in the kitchen, so we can clean up in the morning. Go to bed,” Fleur assured Remus and Sirius, that latter of whom was struggling to stay awake.

Tonks nodded. “Us too. Bed. Sleep.” They each went to their respective rooms and slept like the dead... Until two hours later when Amber cried, needing to be fed.

______end chapter______

Note: this fic is incomplete, and I plan on finishing it over on AO3. I spent the first two weeks doing research on Judaism, the third week writing, and the fourth week ill. So that's where I'm at.

Thank you to my alpha reader, Shilo (AO3 | tumblr), my British beta wild_flame (AO3 | tumblr), and my beta aurelie_saintjuste (AO3 | tumblr).

Bonus: I had some extra money, so I commissioned this art piece from Pharrah | milkfruit:



Direct link here

Sources for Judaism info (if only one page was used, the link will take you to that page. Otherwise, it will take you to the homepage):

my irl friend Zach
chabad.org
@goy-bullshit-translator
jewfaq.org
ourjewishcommunity.org
hanukkahfun.com
Sasha Brown-Worsham

Comments

[brighty18]

I am hungry now. I eant latkes and brisket and applesauce. And it is all YOUR fault. LOL. Seriously, though, that was my only complaint about this darling, delightful, utterly happy story!

There was so much to love here: Sirius as an artist, Remus as Jewish, Teddy being adorable, the shopping trip, the party, this passage: Sirius just watched contentedly. One of her favourite things was when Remus was as relaxed as he was in that moment; there were no walls up, no fears, no worries, just… Being. And that brought Sirius back to before Azkaban, before life as she knew it ended. When Remus was himself, Sirius was herself. It was perfection. Just lovely!

I was also very impressed with your very natural feeling use of pronouns. That is not always easy to accomplish, but you did ot exceedingly well.

I was also impressed with how beautifully you presented the co-parenting and living situation. As a polyamorpus person who has also lived in community, I found the interactions between the four parents very realistic and true.

Great story!

[amahami]

I am sorry for making you hungry XD I'm so glad that's your only complaint though!!!

There is so, so much more to the story. More happiness, more Goodness, more love. I haven't written it yet, but it will be written at some point (the link to the fic on AO3 is not far above this, so if you want that link, you can feel free to subscribe there, but there is no pressure to do so (although I'm not sure the art is posted yet - since I listed the artist as the author of that chapter, I can't post it myself. XD).

I'm glad you liked it, and that you found so much to love! I was worried about the fic revolving around Hanukkah, honestly, when that wasn't something you requested, but Remus forcefully told me that he'd be celebrating whether or not I liked it. XD

I really am glad you loved it all. I know I didn't get into the flonks dynamic much, but this is the first time I've even considered them being romantically involved, so I had to find my bearings. In the next couple chapters, I'll hopefully get into their dynamics more.

Do you see why I needed your Weasley ships? XD It wasn't a Big Thing, but it felt important for me to include, so. :)

I honestly got goosebumps writing that passage. It is one of my favourites in the story. I think it really showed a lot about them.

I'm so glad the pronouns all felt natural! There were, like, a dozen times I misgendered someone, and between my alpha and two betas, and then me reading it myself, I think we caught all of them. It gets difficult with a character whose pronouns change. I think it'd be easier in person, to be honest. But I'm so glad the pronouns felt natural :D

Fun fact: I haven't been in a relationship since I was fifteen or sixteen (I'm 21 now), and I have superbly limited experience with polya folks. So I'm so, /so/ glad it was realistic and true.

Thank you so much! Thank you for your wonderful, inspirational prompt, and for helping me find a story I'm so passionate about!

[amahami]

It was nearly 4a when I posted this reply, and only just reread it. You are not my recipient, which I would have known if it hadn't been so late :"D sorry about that. I really do appreciate your comment though, and I'm so happy you enjoyed it