In The Shadows² ★ Draco Malfoy

*Happy birthday

When Briar had returned home from school for the summer holidays, she neglected to tell her mother about the Chamber of secrets or anything to do with it, in case she decided to not send Briar back for her next year

But she had told her mother about meeting Remus, so now on the night of her 12th birthday he was coming over to dinner with the Forrests and Briar

"Remus!" Juliette squealed when she saw her old friend in their entrance.

"Who's this?" Lizzie asked, turning her nose up in disapproval of his scruffy jacket shoes

"This, kids, in Briar's father Remus Lupin," said Juliette "Remus these are my kids Lizzie and Ollie"

"Are you magic?" Ollie asked immediately and Remus laughed

"I am," He smiled

"Can I see?" He asked

"Not now, Ollie," Juliette scolded her youngest "Now come on, let's all go into the kitchen, I think Briar's already in there"

Sure enough Briar was in there, on her tip toes trying to reach for her cake which her mother had deliberately placed on the highest shelf so she couldn't reach it. When her family walked in she quickly stepped away from the cake and placed a sheepish smile on her face

"Remus," She smiled

"Happy birthday," He grinned and passed her a gift. It was wrapped in brown paper, but Briar didn't care. The idea that he got her something was gift enough.

She gave him a quick hug in thanks before they sat down at the dining table with the rest of her family

"So, are you excited for your next year at Hogwarts?" Juliette asked Briar

"Absolutely," She smiled "I can't wait to see Ginny, and Harry, and Ron, and Hermione again. I miss being able to do magic and playing quidditch and annoying Draco."

"You play quidditch?" Remus asked in surprise

"Harry taught me," She smiled

"What's quidditch?" Ollie asked

"It's a bit like football but on flying brooms and there are 4 balls and 3 goals" Briar answered

"How does that work?" 

"Well there are 7 players per team; 3 chasers, 2 beaters, a keeper and a seeker, I play as a chaser" Remus looked proud "the chasers use the Quaffle to try and shoot it through one of the other team's 3 hoops which earns the team 10 points, the beaters hit 2 Bludgers with a bat around the pitch to try and knock off players on the other team, the keeper defends the three hoops, and the seeker is responsible to try and catch the snitch which earns your team 150 points, when it's caught, the game ends" She explained

"And you're on the team?" Ollie looked surprised

"Yeah, I'm the only first year" Briar beamed

"Well done" Remus smiled "They don't usually let first years on"

"McGonagall made an exception" She chuckled "I love her"

"Minnie was my favourite teacher too," Remus grinned "She hated it when me and my friends called her that"

"She said I remind her of you," Briar smiled

"Intelligent and hard-working?" he asked teasingly

"Troublesome and difficult" She bit back and he laughed

As Juliette watched them interact, she felt two ways about it. On one hand she was relieved to see Briar and Remus getting along like family and acting as a family should be. Remus had denied himself happiness for so long and he deserved it. But on the other hand, she would always see Briar as her own daughter and she was worried she would lose her to him

Once they had eaten, sang, and had cake, Remus retired to the living room with a cup of tea while Briar and her siblings played around with her new toys. 

But after a few minutes Remus was joined by none other than his daughter

"Hi," Briar said nervously "Um, I opened my present from you and I just wanted to say thank you for the bracelet"

"Anytime," He smiled and she perched herself in the armchair opposite his "Sorry, I'm not very good at the whole being a dad thing yet"

"It's fine," She chuckled "But um, I wanted to know if you would tell me more about who my mum was? It's fine if you don't want to, I mean I can't imagine how hard it was to lose her but-"

"Briar," He interrupted with a laugh "Your mum, Kendall Lyman, was one of the best witches I ever knew. She was brilliant at every class, and quidditch too. But she was in Ravenclaw so I never crossed paths with her until Professor Slughorn paired us together for a project. And thank heavens he did. Falling in love with her was amazing"

"Do you miss her?" Briar asked

"Every day" He nodded "You're a lot like her. Before she spoke to me, I would stare at her in every class and my friends would all make fun of me for not having the guts to say something"

"What were your friends like?"

"Troublesome and difficult too" He chuckled and she joined in "One of them was actually Harry's dad" Briar's eyes widened in surprise "Yeah, James Potter was one of my closest friends"

"Wow," she laughed

"Oh, Professor McGonagall wrote to me the other day," He said "She offered me the position of the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher for next year, and I told her I would take it"

"That's great," Briar smiled

"I know I haven't been a father to you, let alone a good one, but now that I know you I want the chance to get to know you better" He explained

"I'd like that," She nodded

"Briar!" Juliette called from the kitchen "There's a letter you haven't opened!" Briar gave Remus one more smile before she ran to open the envelope in her mother's hands

And while she did Juliette went to sit with her old friend 

"She's a great kid" Remus smiled, fondly looking at his daughter "It's because of you. You raised her better than I ever could have"

"You don't know that" Juliette said 

"I can't ever thank you enough for everything you've done for her," he added 

"I did it for you Remus, you're one of my best friends" she smiled "And I'm happy Briar has a chance to know you too. Every summer when you came home I watched you torture yourself and talk about how important it was that your friends were okay and all, but you deserve to be happy Remus. I know you think that because of your furry little problem you can't have it but you can"

"I hope so," He nodded "I don't want to completely take Briar away from you now, but I do want to spend more time with her"

"I know she'd love that" Juliette said "And I think it would be good for you both to get to know each other"

When her children't bedtime came, Juliette sent them all upstairs and Remus decided it was also time for him to leave, but right before he could, Briar came bounding into the entrance

"Thank you," she smiled at him "And I guess I'll see you in September"

"I look forward to it," he replied, with the same crooked grin and Briar stepped forward to wrap her arms around his torso. Remus froze for a moment, but he quickly wrapped his arms around her too

After a while, Briar pulled away from him and walked towards the staircase, placing one foot on the first step. Then she quickly turned around "Good night...dad," with that she raced up the stairs, and the sound of her and Ollie giggling from her room echoed around the house

Remus was almost starstruck. But he couldn't stop the grin that spread onto his face, wider than it ever had been before. Juliette laughed at his amazed expression and he flushed pink when he realised he had been caught, continuing to hear her laughter as he walked out of the driveway