A/N: I solemnly swear, on my Cliffie Anonymous club membership, that I am a fluffy(brained), happy writer and shall always remain so. I'm also addicted to AU and children!fic. Finally, I solemnly swear that I am up to good. My mischeif is managed.

"The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves."

It was a cold winters' night, and Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks were curled up on their sofa while music played on the wireless.

"You know, sometimes I wish we had a piano, like the one at Grimmauld Place." Tonks said. "We could all gather round it and sing."
"What, like that time we got drunk?" Remus spoke quietly.
"Exactly like that…I bet you can sing even better when you're sober."
"You won't catch me singing again, Nym…" Remus laughed.
"Oh, but yours and Sirius's rendition of There's No One Quite Like Grandma was so funny…"
"You mean, Sirius's, mine and your rendition."
"I joined in?"
"You really, really did."
"Oh, Merlin…" she laughed, and put her hand to her face. Remus laughed too, remembering the expression on her face as she sang.

From a distance away, the door swung open and their daughter came wandering into the room.
"Oh, Sephy, I thought you'd gone to bed." Remus said, sounding surprised.
"Do you really think she'd go to bed if we didn't tell her to?" Tonks responded.
"Daddy!" Persephone clambered onto the sofa between her parents. "Daddy, make Edwin talk."
She handed Remus her beloved stuffed wolf, which had been given to her for her second birthday by her grown-up friends, Harry, Ron and Hermione. Why his name was 'Edwin' was a total mystery to Remus and Tonks, especially when it had come from the mouth of a toddler embracing her new toy.

Remus picked up Edwin and rested him over his arm.
"Hello, Sephy." Remus, or rather Edwin, growled. "My name is Edwin."
Sephy burst into giggles, and tried with difficulty to think of something to say.
"Edwin, what's your favourite thing to do?" Tonks asked.
"Well…" Remus replied in his soft, growly Edwin voice, "I like going swim…"
"Don't give her ideas." Tonks whispered, indicating the pensive Sephy. Edwin was one of the few toys that had never been in her bathtub.
"I like dancing." Remus said, making Edwin move to the music. Sephy shrieked with laughter.
"Edwin! Edwin, do you like having breakfast?" she asked, amid giggles.
Tonks and Remus both shook their heads and laughed quietly at the strange question.
"Oh, yes, Sephy! I do like eating breakfast, but only when you're there because you give me some of your cereal…"
"Remus…" Tonks muttered softly again, thinking of the number of times they had to clean dried milk off of Edwin's plush muzzle.
"Those two grown-ups that live with you eat very boring cereal. And sometimes your mummy doesn't eat breakfast at all!"
"That's naughty." Sephy had a very wide grin on her face at the thought.
"I know, very naughty. I don't see why she would want to miss having breakfast with us, do you?"
"Mummy has to go to work in the morning." Sephy informed Edwin.
"Really? What does your mummy do?" Remus was flawless at doing a wolfish voice, as well as a smile to accompany it that only Tonks noticed.
"She catches bad guys!"
"Oh, that's good. I wouldn't like to meet any bad guys, would you, Sephy?"
"NO!"
"Your mummy can catch them all, can't she?"
"Yeah! My mummy's really cool!"
"Do you love your mummy, Sephy?" Remus, or Edwin, asked the little girl with a sly glance and a smile at her mother.

Sephy thought for a moment, and Tonks was a little bit scared she would say "No" or "What is love?"
"Yes." Sephy said. "I love my mummy because she's cool and she's got funny hair, and she lets me have sugar on my cereal, and she paints with me and I like painting."
Remus smiled, and for a second, forgot to nod Edwin's head in agreement.

"Do you love your daddy too, Sephy?" Tonks asked, running her fingers through her daughter's long, brown hair.
"Yes, because my daddy's really nice and he makes good chips and he does funny things and he tells me stories about Harry Potter. Harry Potter's cool!"

And so they were on to Harry Potter, which is where all of Sephy's conversations with Edwin ended up. Remus supported Edwin on his arm while Sephy gushed over Harry Potter's adventures, which she had heard many, many times and would never grow tired of, and he looked at Tonks with a smile. She smiled back, and they turned to look at Sephy, who was ignoring them and looking at Edwin while she spoke. She was their daughter, and she loved them for the exact reasons they wanted her to love them. And they loved everything about her, and hoped the happiness between them would never fade away.

A/N: I hope that was a good antidote, and that Kerichi doesn't mind me mentioning Remus's wolfish smile, which, naturally, belongs to her. That is all folks, but if the challenge comes up again and I've got time to do it, I will. So to you I say au revoir. Never goodbye.