Usually, this was the time of year he loved best. Early October, the weather starting to get colder, but the sun still bright in the sky most days. It always reminded him of starting school again, of the first few quidditch practices of the year

He tried to spend as much of it outside as he could, and Harry was the perfect excuse -- when the office got too stuffy or he had the day off, he could take Harry to the park to run off some energy and get some fresh air, and more and more these days, Ted was happy to join them, to keep him company while Harry was perfectly pleased to run around on his own playing pretend. 

Harry tripped, in the distance, got back up with such an overly-concerned look on his face -- the same face Lily always made when she was concentrating too hard on something that was puzzling her, mouth turned down -- that he couldn’t quell the instinct to laugh rather than getting up and going over to help him. Harry was sturdy, resilient, determined, just like his mum, and a second or two later he was running again, chasing after leaves drifting slowly down from the trees. 

     ‘Do you think we were ever that serious, at 5?’ he asked, glancing back at Ted once he was sure Harry was fully recovered from his fall. ‘Like every minor inconvenience was the end of the bloody world? Wish I could do that now, don’t you?’

Saturday. Remus felt like it had been five weeks since he last had a Saturday, free and to himself to do whatever he wanted to do. He wanted to spend a day in Hogsmeade, get some shopping done, more biscuits for the office, a new quill, a stroll in the clean fresh October air, and a stop by Ted and Andromeda’s to see Ted. With as much as he saw Andromeda around the castle it was easy, sometimes, to remember that he hadn’t seen Ted. For as long as he’d been close to them, they had been so much of a package deal, less two friends and more one unit, Ted-and-Dromeda. 

It was how he’d taken to believing that families should be. An aspirational kind of thinking, but they were the closest to family he had anymore-- maybe the closest he’d ever had. 

So, a few errands later, he made his way to the familiar cottage, an extra box of biscuits in hand, and knocked on the door, hoping Ted was home -- and knowing that they almost certainly were. 

It really was just Andromeda’s luck to be paired with Ted for this potions assignment, not ideal but not entirely bad either. Last year she would have called him a friend, possibly even something more, but her head was clearer now. The summer had come and gone with the two of them barely speaking, if Ted had tried to reach out she hadn’t responded. She told herself that she had just been wrapped up in the idea of a teenage romance, something she might expect from Narcissa but that she was definitely too sensible to entertain. Her holiday had been spent with those like her, purebloods and the wealthy. She had travelled to the south of France with her family, and socialised at countless galas and parties with those she constantly reminded herself were her people, even if she often found that her smile was forced and had to fight the urge to roll her eyes when some people spoke. She had allowed herself to be swallowed up again by the elitist bubble, willingly forgetting that the outside world existed.

That all changed when she returned to Hogwarts. She was once again reminded that the horizon stretched far further than her family claimed and of the hypocrisy of her class, especially those she had to share a common room with. There were plenty of people more more intelligent, more accomplished and more interesting than the children of the Sacred 28 and they were just as worthy of recognition as anybody else. Her sisters didn’t agree, but she was starting to think they weren’t completely right either. Seeing Ted again had only brought everything she had felt in fifth year, everything she thought she had just imagined, flooding back. Getting to know him had opened her eyes up to all these realisations. She had no idea that she could have so much in common with a muggleborn, let alone learn from him. He had brought out a side to her that nobody else, even herself, had ever seen and she had trusted him enough to share things she hadn’t even told her sisters with him. The both of them being made prefects had also made avoiding him more difficult, it was impossible to maintain her usual levels of iciness when on patrol with him for hours at a time. He was just infuriatingly friendly and easy to talk to.

She arrived at the classroom they had booked to work on the project at exactly the agreed upon time only to find Ted already there. “Good afternoon,” she greeted him politely and took a seat at the table. “How long have you been waiting?”

“Lumos,” Andromeda said softly, holding out her wand to illuminate the dark, sixth floor corridor. The first week back after the holidays was a time that most prefects dreaded being put on duty, but Andromeda didn’t really mind. If only because it meant she didn’t have to spend the evening feigning interest in her housemates’ Christmas stories. At the sound of footsteps behind her she turned abruptly, pointing the bright light of her wand in that direction. “Merlin Ted, don’t sneak up on me like that!” She lowered her wand with a sigh of relief.