Harry Potter rested his cheek against his godson's soft, light brown hair. Teddy couldn't change it at will yet, though it sometimes changed on its own, depending on his mood. The two year old slept on, snuggled tight and warm against his beloved godfather, whose arms encircled him gently as they sat together on the couch. Ginny walked in to the burrow's living room and smiled at the sight of the two.
"We should go," she said quietly, sitting down beside them, "Full moon tonight."
"I know," Harry whispered in reply, "I hate to wake him, though."
Molly came in, an owl perched on her shoulder and a letter in her hand. "From Andromeda," she said. "She wanted to make sure you were set, and tell you she's had to extend her trip. It's going to be another couple of days."
Andromeda, Teddy's grandmother, was in Athens helping an ill friend. Lately, the friend had taken a turn for the worse, and the disease showed no signs of relenting. Secretly, Harry was glad, not that the woman was sick, but that he got to spend extra time with Teddy. The little boy, with his fast changing hair, bright smile and happy giggle, lit up his world. Even at full moon, Teddy was forever making him laugh. Full moon was interesting for the little boy. It was like he was born on the Wolfsbane potion. He kept his mind during the transformations which, to the best of their knowledge, were painless but probably felt very strange. For the night of the full moon, their Teddy was a fluffy little puppy. The only complication was that he was evidently nocturnal, and kept Harry and Ginny up all night with his desire to play, play, play. Such was it that after one inordinately long night, full of short howls and yips and rolling around the floor with a cat size baby wolf, Ginny half-jokingly suggested they try giving him sleeping potion before each transformation. Andromeda had shot her down, and Harry in turn suggested instead giving themselves pepper-up potion each morning, which actually worked fairly well. They coped happily (or at least without too much complaining), each full moon, and while Hogwarts was a mild concern, it was so far in the future that the barely gave it a second thought.
And as Harry prepared to floo back to their own home, Teddy, still human, cuddled against his chest in a state of semi-wake, he couldn't think of a happier environment for the amazing little toddler to grow up in. Ginny stepped into the flames first, after a brief kiss from Molly. Harry and Teddy followed. Certainly the peaceful evening was no indication of what was to come.
What should have been a warning sign, they took as a gift, how quiet he was that night. Harry, stretched out on the couch beside the dog bed Teddy had almost never used before that night, actually got some sleep, and Ginny, upstairs, slept the whole night, not a single howl to wake her. They didn't worry until the next morning, when Teddy woke with a fever and chills.
"I'll owl the ministry, tell them I won't be in today," Ginny said, stroking a shivery Teddy's hair.
"No, I should stay," Harry said.
"Don't be ridiculous," Ginny said firmly, "They need you more than they need me, and you know your head of department will get far more irate than mine will if you miss. Don't you remember last-"
"Last time I took Teddy to a Quidditch game, and it was one of the best days of my life," Harry interrupted, "And I told Too-Strict so."
"I'm sure Madam Toesrick was terribly understanding about that. I'll owl you midday, let you know how he is."
"You'll owl me every half hour," Harry relented.
"Love you, honey." Ginny said smiling.
When Harry returned that evening, it was to a distressed Ginny and a very sick little boy. Even under all the blankets on his bed, he still shivered, clutching his stuffed wolf to him. Whenever he coughed, it came out deep and gasping, and with each sharp bark, his hair flashed deep blue. Ginny put her wand tip to his forehead, muttered an incantation, and watched as the tip took on a reddish glow, which slowly climbed the wand until it was more than half way up. She blew on the tip, then turned to Harry.
"It's a hundred and four Fahrenheit," she told him, "Do we take him to Saint Mungo's?"
"Maybe we'd better. I'll get him ready. Would you owl Dromeda?" he asked.
Ginny left the room, and Harry sat down beside the quivering lump of blankets that was his godson. "Come on, Buddy," Harry said gently, "Let's put something warmer on you."
"Nuh-Uh," Teddy said, burrowing deeper into the blankets.
"Come on," Harry Coaxed, "We're going to a place that will help you feel better. Don't you want to feel better?"
Teddy sneezed. His hair flashed purple. Then he nodded weakly. "Moony?" He asked. Harry nodded and pulled him and his wolf out of bed.
After buttoning his jumper, which was dark blue wool with a centaur stitched on the top left breast pocket, on over his pajamas and digging an extra pair of socks out of his drawer, Harry carried the feverish toddler downstairs.
"How are we getting there?" Ginny asked as Harry arrived in the kitchen. She was tying a scroll of parchment to their owl, Prongs' leg.
Harry frowned. "I don't know," He said, "I guess we probably shouldn't floo with him in this state…"
"No brooms." Ginny added. "That's way too cold for him…"
They looked at each other. "Muggle Underground," They said at the same time.
They both laughed, though it was strained. Teddy sneezed, his hair flaring purple again. "Hat." They announced together. Ginny went and got his favorite, knit by Molly, featuring the crossed bulrushes of Puddlemere United on a navy background.
Teddy slept through the train ride, waking to pull off his hat once they were at Saint Mungo's. He tried to take off his jumper too, but knowing how cold he'd be if he took it off, Harry wouldn't let him. They joined the queue to talk to the welcome witch. As they reached the head of the line, Teddy started coughing again.
"Goodness!" The welcome witch said when she saw his hair. "I've never seen a disease that caused that before! "
"He's a metamorphmagus," Harry explained.
"A metamorphmagus with a very high fever and a very bad cough." Ginny added.
"I see," The Welcome witch said, "Are you his parents?"
"I'm his godfather." Harry said. He glanced pointedly at Ginny, who began pointing the candles floating in bubbles out to Teddy. "His parents are dead, and his grandmother and I look after him," he explained quietly.
"I see," she said again, sympathetically. "You'll be wanting second floor. Just sign here, and look for the Gaspard Shingleton Ward ….Wait a minute….."
She was looking at where Harry had just signed his name. "Thank you very much," Harry said as her eyes flicked up to his scar. He grabbed Ginny's arm and steered them toward the door the witch had indicated.
Several hours later, Teddy was sitting in bed, introducing (in a mix of baby talk and real words) the stuffed dragon Ron Weasley and Hermione had just brought him to Moony. "Fanks to Unca Won, I bwing you…. Nowbewt, da fiwer bweaving dwagon!" He made Norbert ( Harry had suggested the name) fly around Moony (which had also been Harry's doing.). Harry noticed he was talking like the Quidditch announcers at the last game they had been to, which was amusing.
"So, Do they have any idea what this is?" Hermione asked, smiling at Teddy.
"They're not sure yet," Harry replied, "But his fever has already gone down. They're giving him potion and ashwinder eggs."
"As you can see," Ginny said with a smile, "he's perked up quite a bit."
Ron and Hermione had hurtled into the hospital minutes after Harry had sent them a patronus telling them Teddy was in Saint Mungo's. When they had arrived, he was pale and crying in the bed, hugging his wolf while the healers tried to wheedle yucky potions into him. He had been so weak he could barely sit up, let alone breath. His fever had also spiked another couple of degrees, making it dangerously high, even for a wizard. Now, less than an hour later, he was happy and smiling, watching Norbert, who Ron had just enchanted to fly around his bed. The tips of his hair had even turned turquoise. Harry kept thinking how much he loved magic. They wanted to keep him here for a few days for observation and the like, but he was feeling better, and that was what mattered to Harry.
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