Chapter 8

Thanks to the dreamless sleep potion, Teddy was out cold well into the afternoon. When he finally woke, he occupied himself cleaning their small apartment, the noise of his favourite Weird Sisters' album on full blast deafening all the pesky thoughts racing through his brain. He even managed to throw together some food for dinner before Victoire got home from her day out with Dominique and their mother. In the end the day had not dragged as painfully as Teddy had feared and soon after an early dinner, he headed back to work.

The young Auror who had covered the holding cells for the day shift was already waiting for him. Adam Wood, oldest son of Quidditch star Oliver Wood, had been two years below Teddy in Auror training. Despite being pretty green behind his ears, he was well-liked among his colleagues with a reputation of being hard-working, loyal and unpretentious, all reasons why Harry had picked him for this specific shift.

"Hi, Adam, I'm not late, am I?" Ted asked in greeting, although he knew that if anything he was early.

"No, of course not. Just keen to get home, is all. It was dead quiet all day, almost boring." Adam replied as he handed over the daily log.

"So nothing to report then." Ted flicked through the paperwork answering his own question and followed it straight up with one that really was on his mind.

"How is he?"

"Fine, given the circumstance. He was very quiet the two times I went in, but that's to be expected I think. Much prefer that to when they snap."

Teddy made a quick affirmative sound. He had hoped, prayed that James wouldn't snap, as they called it. It happened sometimes that being in a cell just made a person go wild and they had no alternative, but to restrain them for their own safety. But Teddy didn't know if he would have managed to leave Jamie in a full-body-bind or restrain him, even if it was for his own good.

Shaking off the thought, he refocused on the younger Auror.

"I'll take it from here. Go on and get out of here."

"Only too happy to," Adam smiled and a moment later Teddy was alone in the large open-plan office. He did a round of the holding cells, checked the monitoring charms and unsurprisingly found it all in perfect order. All too soon, he was back at his desk trying to concentrate on his paperwork. He had about an hour left to James' release. The minutes ticked by slowly, the large clock on the office wall mocking him as he desperately tried to focus on the report in front of him without looking up to check the time very five minutes or so.

Finally, about 50 minutes into the hour Ted threw in the towel and headed down to the holding area. He picked up James' belongings on the way, but then didn't delay any longer. When he opened the cell door Teddy half-expected to find his godbrother pacing the small space. Instead James lay on the small bed, hands interlaced between his head and open eyes staring at the ceiling. He looked almost peaceful.

Suddenly he must have noticed Ted in the door and quickly pulled himself up and into a standing position.

"Is everything alright?" James asked with a concerned, but also puzzled look.

"Of course," Teddy smiled, "I'm here to get you out. Your time's up."

"Oh, okay," James looked sheepish now. It seemed he had not expected the 24hour period to be over yet. Eager to get out himself, Ted motioned to the door.

"Go ahead, just put your hood back up in case we pass someone."

With James' face reasonably obscured, Teddy led his godbrother out of the cells and up to the Auror offices. Luckily Adam had been right and the building was incredibly quiet, so that they weren't seen by a single person. As they reached the Head Auror's office, he pushed the door open an released James' arm to allow him to enter first.

The 15-year old immediately bolted from his side.

"Dad," James' voice echoed from inside even before Teddy had the chance to fully open the door.

When he did, he saw his godfather leaning casually against his desk and James standing a few feet away from him. It looked like he had rushed to his father, only for his teenage mind to catch-up and make him come to an abrupt halt in the middle of the room. It seemed that while James's body craved the physical comfort of a parent, his stubborn head was not quite ready to admit that.

Luckily, Harry had no such qualms and quickly closed the gap between himself and his son to embrace him in a tight hug.

"Jamie," he murmured barely audible enough for Teddy to hear. They stayed like this for longer than James had allowed in years, and eventually it was Harry who loosened the embrace. Still holding on to his son's shoulders he pressed a kiss to his forehead. It was another show of affection James would have normally extracted himself from quickly, but today he only mumbled an emotional apology.

"I'm sorry- I'm sorry Dad." The words would have been lost on Ted if he hadn't been moving to lean against the wall and thus be in a position to read James' lips as he spoke.

There was a last comforting squeeze on the shoulder, before Harry let go of the embrace.

"Let's get you home," he turned partially to Teddy and the fireplace, "both of you."

"What do you mean?" Teddy frowned. "I have to finish the shift. I can't go home."

"Yes, you can. Come home with us." Harry answered evenly.

"There's no one covering the holding cells, I can't just ..."

"I've taken care of that. Ron should arrive down there just about now. Your team is on an active case Ted, you shouldn't have to pull two night shifts just to come back to the case on Monday. I just didn't tell you, because I wasn't sure when the case would wrap up."

"Oh, okay. Thanks," Teddy felt silly for not even realising that Harry would not want him to take off time during the week to make up for his weekend shift. Not only would it take him away from the case, but maybe more importantly it would draw additional attention to the fact that he had worked the extra weekend, which was unusual for a qualified Auror on an active case.

"So, will you come home with us? Just for a bit, Ginny made Sticky Toffee Pudding," Harry smiled apologetic for the cheap lure, but Teddy didn't care. He loved the fact that Ginny made their favourite dessert as comfort food, because he knew she made it just as much for him as she did for James. He quickly nodded his agreement and a second later all three of them stepped through the floo.

Teddy followed James, and when he appeared in the Potter living room, he found his godbrother already in a tight embrace by his mum. She caressed his cheek gently, although Teddy could almost see him squirm on the inside.

A second later Ginny broke the embrace and turned to look at him instead.

"Teddy," she said with a smile that was clearly forced, and Ted could see the tears that shone through her eyes, "come over here. Don't stand there like a tree."

He complied immediately. As soon as he was within an arm's reach of her, she pulled him close for a hug. It had been a while since they shared this sort of intimacy, but he could feel that she needed it today. It made his heart jump a bit as he realised that she had not only worried about Jamie, but also about him during the last 24 hours. So despite the fact that the embrace was awkward, since he was now bigger than her and Jamie was eyeing them curiously from the side, they stayed like this for several moments. They didn't even move when Harry came stumbling through the floo. Teddy only let go when he felt Ginny relax in his arms.

The forced smile, a bit lighter this time, was back as she spoke again.

"Right, let's have some cocoa. I've made some pudding, you must be starving."

"Mum," Teddy was stopped in his step by James' voice, "I really want to have a shower and change. May I go and do that first?"

Ginny was startled by his request, or maybe she wasn't so much by his request but the reticent demeanour he displayed.

"Of course, honey. I'll make sure Ted leaves you some pudding." Ginny said with a forced twinkle in her eye.

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that. You'd better hurry before I've finished it." Teddy joked, but he received not even a twitch of the lip from the teenager.

The three adults watched the teenager walk up the stairs, waiting in silence until they heard the bathroom door echo shut.

"How is he really, Ted?" Ginny asked with a frown.

He shrugged in response.

"He seemed fine, but he's unusually quiet." Ted stocked for a second, his eyes flickering between his godparents, but then he continued avoiding looking either of them in the eye.

"He cried last night." The words escaped his lips barely louder than a whisper, but they echoed heavily across the silent room.

Unexpectedly Teddy felt a hand on his shoulder and looking up his eyes met Harry's.

"Let's go into the kitchen and have some hot chocolate. It will make us all feel better."

Teddy was halfway through his cup of hot chocolate and had just accepted a second helping of pudding when James entered the kitchen in a fresh set of clothes. His hair was still slightly wet, but the shower must have done him some good, because he plopped into the chair opposite his parents with a new air of ease.

The silence that had entered the room with Jamie threatened to linger and kick the atmosphere straight back to awkward.

"If you want some cocoa or pudding, you'll have to get up and get it yourself. And while you're at it, top up mine too will you." Ginny held out her empty cup for him to take and although startled by her characteristic frank remark, James quickly took it and stood to do as he was bid.

Teddy and Harry smirked at each other, and once Jamie sat back down, any lingering awkwardness was forgotten.

Ted stayed for a bit after that, listening to Jamie's repeated apologies and adding his own consoling words to his godparents'. When he finally made a move to leave, Ginny didn't let him off without some food for the week and the promise that they would see him at the Burrow on Sunday.

Although he had grown up with it, as he grew older Ted still occasionally marvelled at being mothered by the fiery red-head. He imagined that this would have been what his mother would have done, fitting him with parcels of food because she knew neither he nor Tory could cook, making his favourite dessert as comfort food, or offering to fix a button on his shirt that he hadn't even noticed had come loose.

With that thought Teddy followed his Harry to the door.

"Thank you for everything you've done for Jamie," his godfather said and Ted could read the sincerity in his eyes.

"It was nothing," Ted mumbled to the floor, "probably pay-back for all the crap I put you through at his age."

Harry smiled. "Almost Karma, isn't it?"

"The thought had occurred to me," he replied with a shrug.

"At this rate, I'll end up with grey hair before the last of you four has left this house," Harry mock complained and ruffled his godson's hair affectionately.

"Dad," Teddy whined with a mortification that in its intensity surprised himself.

"It's a long time you called me that," Harry remarked in amusement.

"Well," he replied ducking out of Harry's grasp, "it's a long time since you've done that to me."

"Maybe I should do this a bit more often then."

"Don't you dare."

Harry smiled at him fondly and nodded in acquiescence, his eyes still sparkling with amusement.

"I'll see you at work then."

"See you, Harry."

Ted gave his godfather a quick hug goodbye and then stepped out the door walking the few steps to get out of the wards. He grabbed his wand ready to leave and as the sound of his own apparation pulsed against his eardrums a thought entered his mind.

Family, he mused, was a strange but wonderful thing.

AN: And that's a wrap. Thank you for reading this sequel to Teenage Rebellion. I hope you enjoyed it and would love your feedback, comments and criticism in the reviews. If you're interested in more, I post one-shots connected to this story-verse in the story titled 'Pieces of a Puzzle'. I also take requests for one-shots, so please do feel free to get in touch.

A big thank you goes to 4fan .ci for beta-reading.