Order Only: Private Message to Padfoot

[alt_lupin]

It was brilliant today, setting out together to get the boy.

I just wish we could have come back with him.

Comments

[alt_lupin]

I suppose we also could have done without the part where you had to run off to heave in the bushes.

We should see if our old friend Snape can come up with something better than ginger, when he's done troubleshooting my monthly potion.

[alt_sirius]

I can always do without the part where I have to heave into the bushes.

And yeah. I haven't the heart to tell Poppy that all the ginger's not much better. Well, it's better than vomming the contents of my stomach. But not by much.

Dunno as 'our friend' Snape would be half as inclined to assist me in my problem as he is invested in your furry one. That's a significant challenge, Wolfsbane. Keeping me from losing my lunch? Neither a priority nor a pioneering potioneer's miracle.

But it was good to see you in action again, old man. Did you a world of good, I think. So. Why is it you're sitting in your cafe writing to me and not, you know, finding your wife to celebrate the fact you're both alive?

[alt_lupin]

Mm. Well, I'm rather stuck here at the moment, first of all; she could come down, and bring Bea, but she's not choosing to.

I suppose she might like me to apologise for telling her not to come. But she wasn't going to see a way in that Frank and I couldn't, and I was right that three people were just going to attract more of the wrong sort of attention.

[alt_sirius]

Hmph. I'm not an expert, Moony, but telling any woman to stay home with the baby is generally a slap-worthy offence.

That said - she's not trained and she did rather show it in the field. You know Frank's well upset with both of you for stopping to row in the middle of a firefight? And rightly so.

I grant you it's difficult to find a way to tell her that without setting off that temper. She's not even a natural ginger!

[alt_lupin]

I'm not exactly trained, either. Most of us aren't.

I don't think we should both go, on something like this. And there wasn't time to sit down and have a chat about whether it made more sense to send her than me.

[alt_sirius]

Not trained, no, not like Frank or Alice (or even me and James), but you've experience, at least. We've been in battles and melees before.

Have you talked with Allie about how she and Frank handle it, anyway? Both of them out on missions, I mean. Might give you a basis for comparison.

[alt_lupin]

True.

Talking to Alice is a good idea. They DON'T usually both go out, do they? Someone stays with Kevin.

[alt_sirius]

Not usually, I guess. But sometimes.

Course there's always someone at Moddey to look after the little ones.

Merlin, sometimes I wish you two had had Bea there.

But then I wouldn't know her, would I? Well, worth it, then, I suppose.

[alt_lupin]

Sometimes I wish we had Bea there.

I'd miss her, though. Especially now she's started to smile.

[alt_sirius]

Circe, I completely forgot.

There's an owl from Terrie. Not Terry, the other Terrie.

I set it aside and then that Ministry wanker showed up. And then all this.

Hang on, I slipped it in my pocket.

[alt_lupin]

Well, don't keep me in suspense, mate!

[alt_sirius]

Let a bloke read, can't you?

[alt_sirius]

She's done the test.

She didn't tell them my name, just gave them some hair to use as a sample.

It didn't match. The baby's not mine.

[alt_lupin]

Ah.

That must be a relief.

[alt_lupin]

You'd have been a good father, though. I expect.

[alt_sirius]

Yeah.

Must be.

[alt_sirius]

Cheers, Dad.

No. It's best this way.

[alt_lupin]

It makes your life simpler, at least.

[alt_lupin]

Perhaps you'd feel differently if Terrie were the right girl, eh?

[alt_sirius]

That it does.

Still wish we could find her another placement, though.

[alt_sirius]

Sure, because what I truly need in my life is the opportunity to get hit with sticks while arguing about whether we should both be at the scene of a rescue.

[alt_lupin]

There is that.

[alt_lupin]

And on that note -- the cafe's clearing out. I think I'll lock up and go see if Dora's willing to talk to me yet.

[alt_sirius]

Go on and patch things up.

Paul's asking me why I'm laughing. Should I tell him?

[alt_lupin]

Has Paul been sitting with you this entire time?

[alt_sirius]

Jealous?

No, he's been telling campfire tales. Only without a fire, of course. Too risky tonight.

Hey - when I get back we really should dig out the texts on concealing spells. Give the cafe a little better cover. And the back room, of course.

[alt_sirius]

Now stop stalling and talk to your wife, man.

[alt_lupin]

I'm going, I'm going.