Clumsy

Summary: Next gen one-shot: Teddy Lupin has certainly inherited more than just one character trait from his mother. Pure fluff. Teddy/Victoire.

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: *Sigh* the characters aren't mine. I just like to borrow them from JK Rowling who created the most amazing world for us to make use of.

Teddy is clumsy, just like his mother was.

Harry Potter realises this for the first time the very day he sees his five-year-old godson seemingly trip over nothing and crash to the ground in a sprawl of flailing limbs. In the sobs and bloody scraped knee that follows, Teddy's ordinarily sandy brown hair turns firstly a violent shade of pink followed by a neon orange and then, as his sobs quieten, is rendered back to brown once more.

Harry realises with a relieved smile that the young boy is just like Tonks all over again. For Teddy may certainly look like Remus with his pale skin and warm amber brown eyes- he even acts like him sometimes, already showing signs of quietness and a maturity far beyond his young years just like Moony, but when it comes down to it, that degree of endearing clumsiness is inherently Nymphadora Tonks.

Andromeda realises it too and as she and Harry soothe the youngster's tears and she heals his wounds, pacifying him with a chocolate frog, she silently thanks Merlin that her grandson has brought her daughters memory back to life for her once more.

For she has missed that clumsiness, almost as much as she has missed Dora.

…

Teddy doesn't like being a Metamorphmagus at first. Not when he realises it makes him so different from every other boy or girl his age, as evidenced by the day he spends with his godfather's brother-in-law, Bill.

Teddy has just turned seven and his grandmother has noticed that just like Dora did, as he gets older, his inability to control his clumsiness is becoming even more apparent. Teddy stumbles down stairs, trips on uneven cobblestones in Diagon Alley and drops everything that is passed to him across the dinner table. Today is seemingly no different and he flushes as he knocks over a goblet of pumpkin juice which immediately soaks into Fleur Weasley's lace tablecloth.

"Sorry," Teddy mumbles self consciously, his toes curling in mortification.

Bill kindly tells him not to worry about it and Fleur, seeing he is embarrassed, fusses over him, distracting him as his hair unconsciously turns several shades of red, for both of them adore this quietly spoken young boy who reminds them so much of their fallen friends from the Order of the Phoenix. Teddy however cannot help but notice Victoire giggling from the other end of the table and cringes as he puts his head miserably in his hands and wishes not for the first time, that he was just a normal wizard.

The feeling is intensified ten-fold three weeks later when he returns to Shell Cottage with Harry and sees Victoire and her cousin Roxanne playing on the sand outside. The two of them are running merrily after one another in a frantic game of tiggy and Teddy watches them enviously, wishing he had half their coordination. Victoire's silvery blond hair streams out behind her as she runs and she stops short when she sees Teddy stood there. "Come and play, Teddy!" she urges.

He does and things are going well- until as usual, he stumbles over nothing and lands flat on his backside on the wet sand.

"You're so clumsy!" Victoire giggles as she approaches but then she sees the look of hurt that crosses the older boy's face and instantly feels bad for always blurting out the first thing that comes into her head. She stops her giggles abruptly. A definite Weasley trait rather than a Delacour one is saying whatever comes to mind. "Sorry," she apologises in a rather small voice as she sits beside him; "but I think it's funny." Roxanne makes a face and wanders off, leaving the two of them alone, the game of tiggy long forgotten.

"You would," Teddy huffs miserably as he wipes disparagingly at his sandy robes feeling undeniably frustrated. The very last thing he wants is to be a laughingstock and inwardly he despairs, for if he is incapable of walking without stumbling or tripping over things now, what's it going to be like when he gets a bit older?

He feels a small hand slip shyly into his and when he looks down, Victoire is looking back up at him earnestly, with all the wisdom of a five-year-old etched over her sweet little face. "You're funny," she says simply, "not like the others- they're just boring babies- or like Dominique who follows me around all the time and tries to take my toys. I like it when you make your hair change colour too."

Teddy flushes with pleasure and simultaneously his hairs turns a deep shade of burgundy.

Victoire giggles again and Teddy finds that he rather likes the sound of it actually. He realises that if Victoire finds him funny then him being a Metamorphmagus can't be such a bad thing after all, and like his clumsiness- he'll get used to it eventually.

…

It's thirteen years later and Teddy is still as clumsy as ever, only now he finds he doesn't mind it as much. It doesn't stop him from excelling in all his subjects at Hogwarts and he is just as brilliant at Defence Against the Dark Arts as his father was. The clumsiness also doesn't prevent him from passing all his N.E.W.T.S and being accepted into Auror training at the Ministry of Magic, just like his mum.

First however, he heads to Kings Cross to see off Victoire, now in her sixth year at Hogwarts and prettier than ever. She's his best friend and knows him better than anyone else in the world, yet Teddy still can't quite prevent the butterflies in his stomach whenever he looks at her. Thankfully, he has managed to get his blushing under some degree of control by now- though his hair is another story.

The younger kids are off to Hogwarts for the first time today and Teddy uses the resulting pandemonium to tug Victoire to one side, intending to speak to her in private before she jumps on the train. It doesn't quite work out that way however and as they round one of the brick pillars he trips over a students abandoned trunk and almost lands flat on his face there and then.

Teddy grins as he feels Victoire's hand slip into his, rightening him, steadying him, just like always. "You're so clumsy," she scolds, but her voice is filled with affection as she pushes the trunk out of the way where he can't trip over it and he smiles sheepishly despite his astute embarrassment.

"You wouldn't have me any other way," he says stoutly, hoping that's true.

"Too bloody right," Victoire agrees firmly and his heart lifts immeasurably at that assurance.

He bites his lip as he stares down into that face, the face that has became so firmly imprinted on his mind over the years. Those blue eyes. "Vic I--- I'm going to miss you this year. I---I---"

Before he can talk himself out of it, he bends and brushed his lips quickly to hers. He starts when he feels Victoire kiss him back, tentatively and his heart thuds faster than ever as he slips his arms around her neck. His shock of hair turns lurid purple and then a rich lavender as he smiles contentedly against her mouth.

"I've wanted to do that for ages," he whispers. "Positively ages."

"Me too," Victoire replies sounding incredibly happy as her eyes meet his. She was always told that it was better to kiss with your eyes closed, but she finds she rather likes seeing the myriad of emotions crossing Teddy's face, not to mention the vivid colours altering in his hair as the kiss instinctively deepens.

He bends to kiss her again and as her lips meet his for the second time he hears a shocked intake of breath from barely two feet away followed by a disgusted sounding "bleurgh!"

When he and Victoire look up, so rudely pulled from their blissful kiss, he sees her twelve-year-old cousin James stood there, looking positively disgusted in his Hogwarts robes. "Ugh!" James says, plainly revolted; "you were snogging!"

Teddy can't prevent the violent blush from creeping across his face this time, and even if he had been able to, his hair turning fuchsia would have demonstrated his mortification at being caught out- by Vic's young cousin nonetheless. "I just came to see her off," he protests, knowing it's a futile argument.

Victoire smirks- funnily enough she's looking as calm as ever, despite the interruption.

James looks suspicious; "but you were snogging!" he whines again sounding aghast, green eyes so very like his fathers but that fiery red hair just like his mothers. "Snogging! Our Victoire!"

Teddy takes a deep steadying breath as Victoire's mouth quirks in amusement; "yes I was," he admits finally. "And I'm going to snog her again right now if you don't mind." This said, he presses his lips quite firmly to Victoire's once more, trying valiantly to ignore him.

"Ugh!" James blurts again, his distaste at the scene evident.

Teddy barely pulls his lips from Victoire's but murmurs quite distinctly; "go away James."

This time, the oldest Potter kid actually listens and the two teenagers burst out laughing as he runs back down the platform, shielding his eyes. "He's gone to tell the others," Victoire says frankly, her own lovely eyes meeting his.

"Good," Teddy says simply as he brushes a silvery blond strand of hair from her cheeks. "But do you know what? I reckon they all know anyway."

As it turns out, he's right. Teddy later braces himself for the 'Weasley interrogation' only it never comes. Instead, Bill takes him to one side and assures him that he's already family.

…

Seven years later...

"He looks just like you, Teddy," Harry says in a hushed voice as he gazes into the wooden crib, at the tiny infant sleeping cosily inside.

"Right down to the purple hair," beams a decidedly sleepy looking Victoire Lupin, resting back against the pillow. She is exhausted after the long and draining labour early that morning but is happy, very happy.

Teddy still seems to be in shock as he stares down at his son, barely eight hours old. He is a father now. A father. His heart thuds at the realisation and he barely even notices as his own hair flickers yellow- the radiant colour of happiness. For he truly is happy, thanks to his wife and newborn son.

As the baby lies there peacefully his own amber eyes take in the child with utter fascination. "Did I look like this when I was born?" he wonders outloud, running a shaking finger over the child's head of hair. He never expected a baby to be born with so much hair- this was indeed another wonderful surprise.

Andromeda beams as she takes her grandson's hand. "You looked just like this," she assures him softly, "and your hair kept changing colour just like this little ones- yours was turquoise first…" She gestures to her new grandson; "what are you going to call him?"

Victoire's eyes link with her husbands as she takes his hand. "Do you want to tell them, Teddy?"

"Remus," Teddy replies quietly, linking eyes with his godfather and basking in the warm smile that is returned. "Remus William after both of our fathers."

"That's perfect," Harry says approvingly.

And it is.

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A/N: Please review!! :)