Note: Hello there! Welcome to a brand new shiny AU fic! Yes...I haven't finished my other fics yet...and yes, I should probably have done so before I posted this one! But the idea popped into my head and just would not go away until I wrote it down! And, typically for me, I could not resist posting it to see if anybody liked the idea! No panic, readers of Meet the Muggles! I will be updating that as soon as I can – I've even written almost half of the next chapter for you! I know I haven't updated The Dark Creature's Child for a long time either...I'm sorry about that, too! But don't worry! I never abandon my fics! I will complete them all, given time!

Anyway, I shall stop rambling about my other fics and we can just get on with this one! I hope you enjoy reading it! Thank you in advance to anybody kind enough to review!

1: Be Careful What You Wish For

As he reached to pull open the door of his car, pausing to admire his new dinner jacket yet again in the shiny black paintwork, Augustus Beddington prepared himself for the conversation that was no doubt about to follow.

"Wasn't it adorable?" his wife exclaimed for the third time since they had left the warmth of his brother's hallway some minutes earlier, and as he ducked down into the driver's seat, glad to be out of the rain that was beginning to become far more than just a light drizzle, Augustus rolled his eyes and agreed:

"Indeed it was, Eliza dear."

As Eliza Beddington carefully arranged the skirt of her dress around her lap, before reaching to pull the car door shut, she glanced sideways at her husband, eyes fluttering as she said:

"It makes you think, doesn't it?"

"Does it?" Augustus asked, staring determinedly out of the front windscreen, and Eliza paused midway through reaching for her seatbelt to shoot her husband a distinctly irritated look.

"Yes, Gus!" she informed him somewhat sulkily. "It does!"

Augustus failed to respond as he reached to turn the key in the ignition, and the car roared into life. The man let out a satisfied sigh at the sound, murmuring:

"Listen to that. It's...music!"

"You and your cars!" Eliza snorted moodily, shifting irritably in her seat. "You don't care about anything else. You don't care about me! You don't care about making me happy!"

"Oh come on, my darling!" her husband protested as they pull out of their parking space and sped off up the dimly lit road. "You're being absolutely silly!"

"I want a baby!" Eliza declared, giving her foot a furious little stamp and folding her arms firmly across her chest. "I mean it! I want one!"

"When William bought Alison one of those fancy aprons from Harrods the other month you wanted one of those, too. And then the month before, when Victoria's husband bought that puppy! I got you both, just like you wanted. You wore the apron once and then gave it away to Harriet, and you got bored of the puppy after an hour and had it sent to Battersea..."

"I WANT a baby, Gus!

"Yes, but only because William and Alison have one!" As they turned onto the next street, Augustus couldn't resist slamming his foot down onto the excellerator in frustration. "It's ridiculous, Eliza! Absolutely ridiculous!"

"You're speeding." Eliza informed him with a sniff, but he didn't take any notice of her.

"A baby! Honestly! What on earth would you want a baby for? Nasty, noisy, smelly things, babies. If we did have one I'd send it away to boarding school as soon as one would take it!"

"We could get a nanny."

"A nanny?" Augustus turned to offer Eliza a scowl. "Don't be silly!" he scoffed. "That's just another mouth to feed, a load of money down the...BLOODY HELL!"

At the sight of a dark figure seemingly darting out into the middle of the road in front of them, Augustus slammed his foot down onto the brakes, wincing in anticipation as the car screeched to a halt, mere inches from colliding with the figure.

Breathing heavily, both Augustus and Eliza stared with wide eyes out of the windscreen at the figure, who seemed to have been stunned by the near miss, shoulders hunched and head bowed against the incoming collision.

"What are they, insane?" Augustus finally exclaimed furiously, giving himself a little shake and reaching to wind down his window, ready to give the person a good piece of his mind.

But at that moment, the person suddenly decided to move, hurrying around to Eliza's side of the car and reaching to tap urgently upon the window.

"She must be lost." Eliza observed, reaching to wind down her own window, and as he leaned to squint through the darkness Augustus found that he was indeed looking at a woman.

The near-victim was a tall, thin woman with a pale, pointy face and sleek white-blonde hair. She was wearing a dark, bottle green coat and was clutching a bundle of blankets to her chest, pale eyes darting around her surroundings in a distinctly uneasy manner.

"You should be more careful!" Augustus informed her irately before either she or Eliza could say a word. "I could have knocked you down!"

"Oh do shut up, Gus dear! Eliza told him impatiently, leaning forward to peer out of the window. "Gosh!" she exclaimed, nose wrinkling at the sight of just how drenched the stranger was, water dripping from the ends of her long, pale hair. "Don't you have an umbrella? You look terribly wet!"

The stranger stooped to get a clearer look at the couple inside the car, before turning to glance nervously over her shoulder. It was at that moment that there came the sound of a muffled whimper, and, squinting at the bundle of blankets that the woman was clutching, Eliza caught sight of a tiny hand peeping out from the folds.

"Oh!" she exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands together in delight. "Look, Gus! A baby!"

Augustus was just letting out a heavy sigh of annoyance when the woman turned her attention back to the couple and, quite abruptly, reached to push the blanket-clad child through the open car window.

"Here." she said, thrusting the baby into Eliza's lap. "Take him."

As Eliza rushed to gingerly grab hold of the bundle to stop it falling straight from her lap, both she and her husband turned to look at the stranger with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"What on earth do you mean, take him?" Eliza asked in astonishment, and Augustus said:

"Listen here! You can't just hand over a...a baby like this! It's...it's well...proposterous!"

Apparantly the strange, pale woman was entirely unconcern by her actions, she was much too busy glancing around nervously again.

"Do you hear me?" Augustus asked as Eliza stared down at the baby curiously. "I said you can't just hand over a baby like this! It's...crazy! You, Madam, are absolutely crazy!"

The stranger stooped again to peer at the couple, expression so deadly serious that Eliza thought she looked anything but crazy.

"His name," the woman said, eyes locking with Eliza's imploringly, "is Teddy. Teddy Lupin."

Eliza jumped a little as a pale hand reached through the open window to rest upon her arm. "You must keep him secret." the stranger told her. "And you must keep him safe."

And with that, before either Augustus or Eliza could say a word, the woman turned on her heel, dark coat billowing behind her, before turning and rushing away down the street.

"Now just you wait a minute!" Augustus shouted, much to the baby's distress, and Eliza winced as he immediately began to wail.

As his wife stared down at the bawling bundle with a completely clueless expression, Augustus reached to fling his car door open, rushing to undo his seat belt.

"Bloody woman!" he growled as he leapt out of the car and into the rain that was by now falling in sheets, his new suit was going to be ruined for sure, he thought furiously as he set off down the road at a run. The deranged old Snow Queen could pay for the dry cleaning...

But it soon became apparent to the drenched businessman that the strange, pale woman was nowhere to be seen.

It was almost as if...as if she had vanished into thin air...!

Just as this ridiculous thought occurred to him and he came to a reluctant halt beside a pedestrian crossing, Augustus' attention was diverted by the sound of a high pitched shriek of alarm, and he immediately spun around to look back towards his abandoned car.

"GUS! AUGUSTUS! COME QUICKLY!"

Huffing and puffing from the sudden burst of activity, Augustus ran full pelt back down the street, coming to a skidding halt beside the car and narrowly avoiding cracking his head upon the frame as he stooped to stick his head through the open window.

"Look!" Eliza squealed above the loud wails of the baby, and as his wife reached to tug the blankets away from the child's head, Augustus' eyes widened to the size of saucers.

The baby's hair had turned from a pale shade of brown to a shocking shade of bright red.