Written for Wolfwinks for the HPFC August one-shot exchange.

Family Matters

-oOo-

"You don't have to try so hard." Teddy swallowed, revealing he wasn't as unconcerned as he would like Harry to believe. "With the presents, and all. I know you've got your own family..." His eyes were still glued to the Cleansweep Super-Twenty broom he had unwrapped a few minutes ago, and his knuckles were wrapped around it so tightly Harry thought the tendons might burst.

"I was twelve once, too, you know." Harry put his arm around Teddy's shoulders, gently but firmly pushing him down until they were sitting next to each other on the front steps at The Burrow. Bloodcurdling screams and howls of laughter from the back suggested the party games had begun without them. "My blood relatives locked me in a cupboard beneath the stairs when I was home for the holidays, teaching me lots of important things about families in the process."

"What? Like what?" Teddy asked.

"That the only kind of family that matters is the one you choose for yourself. Like you, or Hermione. You're as much part of my family as Ginny and James are, we just don't live in the same house."

"Thank Merlin," Teddy said fervently. "If I lived with James I'd never get to have any of my things for myself!"

"That's the spirit," Harry said, yielding to the temptation to ruffle Teddy's hair, even though he probably was too old for it. It was ginger today, in homage to the Weasley family. "And if we lived with Hermione, there wouldn't be any room for our kitchen table or the couch, because of all the books."

Teddy laughed.

"So do you want to give that broom a test ride, or would you rather see if you can beat your Uncle George in the Dragon-Egg and Spoon race?"

"But he's not really my uncle, is he?" Teddy seemed to shrink infinitesimally again, the laughter evaporating. "He's everyone else's uncle, expect mine. I mean, Hermione is married to Ron, and Angelina –"

"I don't think Ron would be very happy if you tried to get married to him."

This time, Teddy didn't even smile.

Harry changed tack. "I spent a lot of birthdays, including my seventeenth, in this house before I was anywhere near getting married to Ginny. I'm pretty certain I'd still be here today, even if I had shack- ended up with someone else."

It wasn't just something he was telling Teddy because he thought it might get through to him, Harry realised – the bone-deep certainty that he belonged here, in this house and with these people, was still there even if he imagined his life with someone else.

The Burrow was home in a way Privet Drive never had been, and all the blood magic in the world couldn't change that.

"Of course all the adults remember your parents – we all knew them and liked them, and we miss them, too. But it's your birthday we're celebrating, not your parents' son. It doesn't matter if your surname is Lupin or Weasley, it's Teddy that matters."

"OK." It sounded more like a mouse than Teddy, but at least he was talking again.

"It was the same for your parents: your father had three very important friends, remember?" Harry was grateful Andromeda had glossed over the less palatable part of the story so far. "They were closer than most brothers. And your mum – she would do anything for her friends."

Charlie had enough Tonks-stories to bear out the truth of that for Teddy to hear when he got older. Perhaps quite a bit older, come to think of it.

"I suppose." Teddy had lifted his head now, looking at the chicken coop rather than the ground.

"So when you get yourself a place on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, it's not just your grandmother who gets excited."

"Well, she did bake me a cake with a Bludger on it, but I don't think she cares about Quidditch that much..."

"You see? This is where having a big family is really handy. You've plenty of people to play with during the holidays, and Ginny said she'll take you out flight training tomorrow. And we'll all cheer for Hufflepuff this year, as well as Gryffindor." Harry realised too late it might be counterproductive to remind Teddy that he was the only Hufflepuff in the house, but it didn't seem to matter.

Teddy was smiling now, and the initial excitement from when he had first unwrapped the broom had returned. "Really?"

"'Course. Although it's really me you should thank, as I'll have to get up with the kids when you two are out flying. Lily wakes up at five – I don't know where she gets the energy from." She would squeal down the house, too, unless they got up and played with her.

"I'll tell Ginny you said that!"

"No, you won't!" Harry reached out to grab him, but he was too late – Teddy was a giggling projectile bound for the back garden and Harry's unsuspecting wife, who had shouldered dawn duties every morning the past week and would not be impressed with him whinging about one morning.

Well, it was worth it, even if Harry had to promise to get up with Lily for the next two weeks to make up for it. Family was important, and no one knew better than Harry Potter how lucky he was to have so many people to love.

THE END