My Little Teddy
"Jamsie, can you say daddy? Dad-dy. Come on kiddo you can do it."
Ginny Weasley- or should I say Potter- laughed at her husbands antics, as he gently too the little blue bundle out of her arms and rocked it in his own.
"Darling, he's barely two days old. He's not going to be saying anything for a good few months yet."
Ginny sat down besides her husband on the sofa of their comfortable, but not overly large living room. Despite the huge piles of gold that lay in their Gringotts vault- courtesy of the ministry and James Potter Senior- the couple had decided not to let their children grow up ridiculously rich and pampered. Now they would finally see whether they made the right decision, though Ginny had no doubts in her mind. 'James couldn't have asked for a better father.' She thought, smiling to herself as she watched Harry tickle the tiny boy in his arms. It was no big surprise to her; not after she had seen the way he bonded with young Teddy Lupin.
"…And look here James," said Harry, holding the small boy who look remarkable like his mother out in front of him. "See this gorgeous, beautiful, charming young woman here; that's your mummy. Mum-my. Try saying that."
Harry leaned in to kiss his wife, but halfway there he paused, adding in a more serious and worried tone, " Actually Gin, are you OK? You look absolutely exhausted. Why don't you go upstairs and lie down for a bit. I'll be fine looking after James."
Ginny suppressed rolling her eyes with some difficulty. Of course she was tired, what did he expect. She had, after all, just given birth to her first child and brought him home less than five minutes ago. "No thanks Harry," she replied, slightly coolly. "I'm absolutely fine. I want to stay here with you and James okay."
The boy-who-lived-twice (as they were calling him nowadays) opened his mouth to argue with his wife but no words escaped his lips. This is because just as he was about to speak, a bright green glow snaked itself through their fireplace, and one by one bright red hair came tumbling out of the flames.
Within minutes pretty much the entire Weasley clan- plus Ted Lupin and Hermione (though technically you could say she too was a Weasley, having just married Ron a few months ago) was standing in the living room, bearing various gifts and sweet words for baby James.
"Hey mate," said Ron, instantly walking over to Harry, whist Hermione 'cooed' and 'ahhed' the baby. "So what's it like being a father? Can he say 'daddy' yet?"
If anyone had torn their eyes away from baby James just then, they would have seen that there was one person not gathered around the sofa. Teddy Lupin stood about a meter behind everyone else and was staring determinedly at everything but the newborn baby. 'Stupid baby,' he thought furiously to himself, his hair turning red at the mere thought. 'Why is everyone gathered round it like he's Merlin or something. What special thing has he done? He can't even play Quidditch yet- I can.' Try as he might, the seven-year-old could simply not understand all the attention the baby was getting.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Harry scoop James up in his arms and held him high in the air like a bird- 'The same as he did to me.'
Suddenly a new, more dominant thought entered Teddy's mind, with such force that it crushed the air out of his lungs. His surroundings appeared to fade away into a black hole of horror and anguish. 'What if Harry doesn't want me any more.' The thought of it almost sent tears streaming down the little boys face- but boys never cry. Crying is for girls only. 'What if Harry doesn't want me anymore.' Ted was surprised he hadn't seen the truth before now. Why would Harry want him anymore? He had his own child now. He only loved Teddy before because he had no one else. But now…
The little metamorphagus tried feverously to rid his mind from this thought, but try as he might, it continued to overpower every limb in his body.
'No, Harry loves me. He want stop loving me now. He'll just love me and James.'
'But Teddy, James is his real son. You're just his old teacher's son. Of course he'll love James more.'
'HARRY WOULDN'T DO THAT.'
'Look who he's playing with now if you don't believe me. Not you; his own son.'
Ted nearly screamed out loud with the pressure of his thoughts. He loved his godfather more than he'd admit to anyone else. Although he technically lived with his grandmother, he spends practically every other day at Harry and Ginny's place. The couple never seemed to mind. In fact they seemed glad to have him there…until now.
Meanwhile in the rest of the room- in another world- a friendly argument had broken out between Harry and Ginny, who appeared not to have noticed the little boy breaking down.
" He's my son. He'll be a seeker of course."
"He's my son too, and I say he'll be the world's best chaser."
"Fine let him be a chaser. Ted with be my glorious seeker, won't you Teddy bear?" replied Harry, spotting the lime green hair from behind all the Weasley's legs, and walking up to his godson, putting an arm round his shoulder.
Ted half-heartedly shrugged off Harry's hand, though inside his ribcage his heart was pounding. Harry was still talking to him, which mean that he probably didn't want to not know him anymore.
Spotting the rejection in his godson's eyes and recognising it for what it's worth, Harry bend down and tactfully whispered into Ted's ear so that no one else could hear. " It's quite noisy here with a newborn baby and all isn't it? How's about we go up to your room for some peace and quiet- just the two of us. Huh?' The son of Remus Lupin masked the small smile threatening to creep up on his face with the same talent as his father.
Teddy Lupin loved his room at his godfather's house. Harry and Ginny had made it especially for him after they found out that he ended up staying over every other night. It was fairly large and positively covered in Quidditch posters. There was also a moderate bookshelf in the corner. The little boy seemed to have inherited his father's love for books, much to Harry's shock and amusement.
The pair sat on the bed in tense silence.
"Ted…" began Harry, sounding rather unsure of where he was going with the conversation.
"Harry, do you still want to be my godfather?" interrupted Teddy, blurting out his thoughts without thinking first. Instantly he regretted spot of 'weakness', but continued meekly "I mean now that you have James and everything."
The-boy-who-lived-twice was shell-shocked for a couple of seconds. Sure he expected this topic to come up, just not so abruptly. "Ted," he began softly, taking the small hands in his own. "I'll always want to be your godfather no matter what. And you know why, because I love you. I do love you Teddy Lupin, and James being born won't stop that."
Harry trailed off slightly, remembering the day he started practising his godfather duties. He would never forget that day; but how to convey that to a seven-year-old.
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were sitting in four seats at the front of a small gathering of people. In front of them lay two motionless corpses, glazed with cold and vacant with sorrow. Remus John Lupin and Nymphradora Tonks. They loved each other; they died with each other.
Harry's was the last speech of the funeral and may that time the dim darkness of dusk had set in.
" Remus Lupin was first and foremost my Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, but defence wasn't the only wisdom he passed on to me. Remus taught me more than any other professor at Hogwarts. He taught me the value of friendship, he taught me the beauty of forgiveness, but most importantly he taught me to believe in myself and seek the happiness deep within me. Although he was a werewolf, Remus never hid from prejudice and society, and it was that braveness and determination that I admired most about him.
In fact there is only one reason for us not to mourn Remus' death. That is because today…today…the marauders are reunited. Moony, Padfoot and Prongs are together once more, and I know that's what Remus wanted more than anything else. Where ever the three of them are now I can guarantee they'll be having lots of fun, making lots of mischief."
Soon after Harry's speech, a woman carrying a sleeping purple-haired child approached him. Her eyes read and puffy from the tears that had left them, she looked even less like her sister Bellatrix.
"Mrs Tonks, I'm so so sorry about Tonks- I mean Dora. She…I…I'm"
Andromeda silenced him with her hand.
"Teddy Lupin," she stated simple, gesturing at the child in her arms. At Harry's blank look she continued explaining, "Before Dora and Remus died they named you him godfather. Before they died they named you his godfather. They wanted you to look after him if…anything should happen to them."
"But Mrs Tonks, I can't…I mean I don't know how…you're his grandmother."
"Hold him," replied Andromeda in that same simple, slightly commanding voice she had used earlier.
Harry gently took the sleeping child into his arms and rocked him back and forth. Inside those closed eyelids Harry saw his own eyes. The eyes of an orphan; a casualty of war. In that moment the-boy-who-lived-twice came closer to doing something than during the entire funeral- crying.
"I want to be a part of his life."
" Ted," said Harry, looking into the seven-year-old's chocolate honey brown eyes, "since the day I first held you, you've been one of the biggest parts of my life. And I'm never, ever going to let anything change that. Besides, I doubt James will be as much fun to tickle!"
"Promise?" asked Ted between giggles, as Harry's fingers wrecked havoc on his torso.
"Promise."
Harry pulled his godson into a big hug against his shoulder.
A/N: There it is my first little one shot on Teddy Lupin. Hope you enjoyed.
If you did please R&R (a special plee to those who add me to their favorites but don't review. Please, please give me some feedback- just something short that'll take you an extra 30 second but will make me extra-super-duper happy), If
If I get enough positive feedback, I'll probably write another similar one shot where Teddy asks Harry about why he doesn't have parents.
By the way for those who are interested the next chapter of Family Love will be posted sometime this week. I just need to get it from my notebook onto the computer.