Work Text:
"For I can't help falling in love with you."
The softly sung words filled the small nursery in a small stone cottage in the middle of a small piece of wild and otherwise untouched Welsh countryside.
"I didn't take you for an Elvis fan. Beatles? Sure. Rolling Stones? Sure. But never Elvis." Hermione's entire body relaxed against the doorframe as she watched her husband of six years put their daughter to bed for (hopefully) the rest of the night.
"I'm not. But my mum was." Remus kept his eyes on the crib as he felt his blessing breathe deeply, "She had all the records and could sing all his songs."
Hermione smiled, “My mum was the same but with The Monkees. I can still hear her singing and dancing to ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ around the kitchen. Dad used to laugh and laugh, but he never said no when she offered her hand.”
Hermione looked away at the memories of her parents. It had been almost a decade since she sent them away for their safety. She was absolutely gutted when she couldn’t find them and sometimes the grief still caught up with her. Remus resumed his humming as she stepped into the dark room. The light blue walls were tastefully decorated with a series of charcoal sketches.
It took months before Hermione found out that Remus Lupin could draw. She’d found a rough sketch of her reading in one of his books. She made it her mission to find others that he’d left pressed between the pages of whatever book had struck his fancy at the time. She found dozens throughout the library of Grimmauld Place and his personal one - Molly over the stove, Ronald and Harry playing chess, the twins laughing, Lily and James at Hogwarts, Sirius and Harry smiling. It was the story of his life and the people in it.
It took a little convincing on her part to get him to do the drawings when she told him that little baby Hope was on her way. But he worked on them for months. Now each wall was home to several of these sketches. A brown bear and a weasel. A stag and a doe. Another stag with a horse. A bunny. A jackrabbit. A pair of magpies. A jack russel terrier. A shaggy black mutt. And in the centre, a wolf and an otter.
Hermione loved the sketches of her family watching over her daughter. Her eyes tracked the movement of the wolf’s coat as she felt her husband wrap his arms around her, tucking her under his chin.
“Like a river flows, surely to the sea,” Remus’ rough voice vibrated from the top of Hermione’s head as she took up the next lines.
“Darling, so it goes, some things are meant to be,” Hermione turned in his arms and wrapped hers around his neck. “I love you, Remus Lupin.”
Remus smiled and kissed her forehead, “I love you, Hermione Lupin.”
Both heard the melody of the love song as they swayed back and forth in the summer moonlight.
Remus steered his beautiful wife out the nursery door and softly closed it behind them as they moved like a two-headed, two-armed, four-legged monster down to their bedroom. They passed Teddy’s bedroom door when Hermione whispered, “Have you heard from our son lately?”
Remus chuckled, “He’s having a ball on his camping trip with Harry and Sirius. They’ll be back the day after tomorrow.”
“Take me to bed Mr. Lupin.”
“As you wish, Mrs. Lupin.”
Take my hand
Take my whole life, too
For I can't help falling in love with you