For Ellie, because she's the LilyTeddy Queen.
Cause when my back is turned, my bruises shine
When she was just a girl
she expected the world
but it flew away from her reach
&& the bullets catch in her teeth
- Paradise, Coldplay.
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i. The game is on again, a lover or a friend, a big thing or a small, the winner takes it all
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It's a Friday evening during the summer holidays when Teddy makes his way to the Potter household from the Auror Office having spent all day dealing with the case of the missing witch in Scotland before going to watch Olly do her concealment exam, something which made him undeniably proud since he was the one to train her. She had passed with flying colour which he had expected her too because Olly was practically good at everything.
He pushes open the front door, dropping his stuff in the hallway and heading straight for the kitchen where Ginny and Harry are sure to be. Sure enough when he pushes open the door Ginny in hovering by the cooker, stirring something that smells delicious in a huge saucepan and Harry is sitting at the head of the already set table which puzzlingly is set for seven.
"Hi Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny," he greets his godparents with a broad smile.
"Teddy," Harry says getting up to envelope him in a cuddle. "Congratulations on Olly's test scores, highest I've ever seen."
"Not really me," Teddy tells him modestly. "Olly's a natural. Is she coming tonight?"
He indicates the table but Ginny gives him a pained look as she comes forward to kiss him on the cheek.
"No," she says with a stretched smile, "Lily's brought a friend home."
Teddy's stunned at that. In her five years of Hogwarts Lily has never brought a friend home and has always insisted that she goes to her friend's house in order to avoid the cameras.
"Oh, I thought it must be Olly but she didn't say anything. Where is Lily?"
Harry and Ginny exchange what Teddy calls paranoid looks.
"She's in the pool," Ginny explains.
Wondering what that was all about Teddy heads through to the living room which has spectacular views out over the massive garden that backed the Potter's house and, of course, the swimming pool Harry had installed when they were all a bit younger. He can hear Lily shrieking through the open window and immediately heads outside. He's not sure what he's going to say, after all since he and Victoire had gotten engaged Lily had barely said anything to him and he's certain that her friend probably knows all about it.
He feels his heart constrict when he steps outside to find an attractive young boy wearing nothing but a pair of swimming shorts, soaking wet from head to toe. This is only made worse by the fact that he's holding Lily in his arms and all she is wearing is a green bikini that makes her look a lot older that fifteen.
He just stands there staring until the teenagers spot him.
He watches as the boy puts Lily down and he can almost feel her freezing him out already.
"Oh," she says in a flat tone which clearly tells him he is an unwelcome interruption, "Teddy, this is John. John, this is my father's godson, Teddy."
That statement hurts like nothing he has ever felt before because when she had been little she'd have been all over him and annoyingly that boy just jerks his head in way of greeting before grabbing Lily and tossing her over his shoulder. He's completely forgotten about as Lily shrieks in delight and all he can do is watch at the boy's hands slide over Lily's creamy bare skin before he takes a leap into the water. Teddy winces as Lily's head barely misses the side of the pool and then turns on his heel to stalk back into the house.
He encounters James in the living room watching the two teenagers out of the window and Teddy can still hear Lily's delighted shriek. James catches his eye.
"Yeah," is all he has to say.
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ii. I'd hoped you'd see my face, and that you'd be reminded that, for me it isn't over
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The banging is coming from his front door Teddy realises as the noise wakes him up from his sleep and he groggily opens one eye. He looks around for his alarm clock which is the stupid dragon one that Lily bought him for his eighteenth birthday back when she was only eight years old. Its four o'clock in the morning but the banging that is going on at his door sounds as though it'll wake the whole neighbourhood if it doesn't break the door down.
So he stumbles out of his bed, tripping over everything possible in the darkness until he reaches the living room and manages to turn on a light. He wonders briefly where his wand is and then spots it on top of the mantelpiece. Being an Auror has definitely made him more suspicious.
He moves slowly to the front door, his wand clutched in his right hand as he rubs his left hand over his face to try and wake himself up a little more. When he reaches the door he clutches the handle and silently unlocks it with his wand. The banging is still pounding away, practically making the door swing open on its own accord. Teddy waits for the break in the rhythm before he pulls open the door, wand at the ready.
Something solid collides with his body bringing him down with a crash and all he can see is red curls dancing over his face. Then Lily looks up at him and he can see the way her eyes are glazed with drink and how her mascara has run down her face. She looks the picture of despair, her ruby red mouth trembling.
"Teddy," she seems to breathe.
"Lily, what the …"
He doesn't manage to finish before she's pushing her lips against his in drunken fury, her kiss feeling hard enough to bruise him and he kisses her back unable to control himself because she writhing all over him, her skin hot and her breathing heavy.
"Lily, don't," he tries to protest breaking away from her. "We can't."
"Shut up, Teddy," she tells him claiming his mouth with hers once again and he can't stop his hands from sliding down over her bum, grabbing it with desperate need. She tastes of firewhiskey and the scent of smoke and sweat is on her skin. He wants her, he knows that, wants her desperately, one of the reasons he had proposed to Victoire in the first place. He felt dirty with his harboured feelings and even after she had told him that she was in love with him he still couldn't take action. She was a baby. He had been ten years old when she had been born; he'd held her in his arms. It was wrong to think sexual thoughts about her, to want her as badly as he did and her father would kill him.
All these reasons, all his defence about it all being for her own good went out the window as she sat back pulling her red top over her head to reveal creamy breasts encased in a pink satin and black lace. She was the most beautiful creature in the world. She started planting kisses down his bare chest but when she came to tuck her fingers under the elastic band of his boxers he came to his senses.
"Stop it, Lily," he tells her, sitting up and grabbing her shoulders. "We can't do this."
"Yes, we can," she protests drunkenly, trying to kiss him once more.
"No, Lily," he stays in control of himself, "we can't. You're just a little girl."
That does it and he can see the fire flare up in her liquid brown eyes. She wrenches herself free from his grip, standing up and almost toppling over as she does so. She stomps over to where her top landed, picking it up from the floor and almost falling over as she does so.
"You're a bastard," she tells him not bothering to pull her top back on. "I'm fucking seventeen."
"Lily …"
The loud crack of someone apparating stops him in his tracks and he looks at the open door of his flat to see Lily's best friend John Booth standing there, looking slightly dishevelled with his shirt mostly unbottoned but more sober than Lily. Teddy glares at him as the boy comes into his flat.
"Sorry, mate," John says with a grin as he goes over to Lily, "I lost track of her there."
"John," Lily cries throwing herself at the dark haired boy in equal parts of delight and sadness.
"Come on, Lils," he says gently, obviously completely unperturbed by the fact that Lily's was standing there in just her shorts and her bra, "I'll take you home."
Teddy feels his heart sink as he watches John wrap his arm around Lily's shoulders and slowly tows her towards the door. Just as they pass the threshold Lily wrestles away from John to turn back to look at him.
"I hate you, Teddy Lupin," she spits at him.
Teddy can't bear the look she gives him and he really just wants to punch John in the mouth when he glances back at him.
"Come on, babe," John whispers, slipping his arm back around her. There is a crack and they're gone leaving Teddy standing in his boxers in the middle of his living room, covered in ruby red lipstick.
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iii. Now they're going to bed, and my stomach is sick, and it's all in my head
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If Teddy didn't know any better he would have said that James had given in to Olly completely when it came to their choice of house. The beautiful London townhouse was right up Olly's street in the middle of a muggle neighbourhood even if there were the obvious magical touches including it being unplottable so that they didn't get any unwelcome visits from the Daily Prophet Reporters. He actually loved their house, it was bright and spacious and they always seemed to be throwing parties with a lot of the Quidditch aces due to James' position as a beater for Puddlemere United.
It's Friday morning when Teddy apparates onto the top step beside James and Olly's front step. He knocks open before he tries the handle. The doors open as always so he pushes it open and steps into the hallway.
"Hello," he calls standing by the stairs, wondering if James and Olly were even up yet. It was eleven in the morning but it wouldn't be the first time he'd visited to find them "enjoying a lie in". He's in luck though as James appears from the kitchen fully clothed with a big smile on his face.
"Hey Ted," he says in a soft voice, making Teddy wonder if Olly is still sleeping. "How're you doing?"
"I'm all right," he responds good-naturedly. "Where's Olly?"
"I'm here," comes Olly's voice as she descends down the stairs dressed in a pair of jeans and a Puddlemere United top that obviously belongs to James. Teddy grins up at her before she joins him in the hallway.
"Hi Teddy," she says kissing him on the cheek without having to go up on her tip toes to do so.
"Hey Olly, are you guys free tomorrow night?"
James glances at Olly who nods her head and Teddy has to smile at it. Whenever they were asked if they had anything on they always checked with each other just in case.
"You're in luck," James says still quiet, "we were supposed to be going out with Sage and Fred but Maggie's got the cold so we're doing in next week. She won't let Fred use any magic on her either and she even refused to let Roxy do it."
Maggie is Fred's muggle girlfriend who had finally been let in on the secret. She's been to Quidditch matches, wizarding clubs, the Ministry and Fred even took her to visit Hogwarts once with the condition that Sage's father Neville Longbottom who had become Headmaster showed them around. Teddy thought it was probably to make sure that Fred hadn't brought James, Sage and Olly with him to cause more havoc.
"I'm going to go over in about an hour and see if I can't slip something in her drink," Olly says with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "Fred gets panicky when she's ill."
"Why are you two being so quiet?" Teddy asks puzzled looking between James and Olly. "Have you had another party?"
Teddy smiles heading for the living room door. The last time James and Olly had a party Teddy had found several famous people sprawled about the living room with horrible hangovers which had caused him much amusement.
"No, Teddy," Olly warns him but he ignores her pushing open the living room door expecting to see a bomb site. Instead he sees something that makes him feel physically sick.
Lily is sleeping in a bed which Teddy suspects Olly magically conjured in the middle of the living room, her red hair spread out over the pillow and a creamy expanse of her back on show. Beside her John is lying on his back, well defined abs practically taunting Teddy. It doesn't matter that realistically Teddy knows James would never let anyone have sex with his baby sister in his house, all his brain registers is "Lily" "boy" "bed" before there's a loud crack as he apparates out of there which causes Lily's to crack open an eyelid and spot James and Olly in the doorway.
"If you haven't brought coffee there's going to be hell to pay," she groans.
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iv. I don't know what's right and what's real anymore, I don't know how I meant to feel anymore?
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There is a party at the Burrow for Arthur and Molly's anniversary and Teddy smiles in the party atmosphere because the Weasley's so know how to throw a good party. Victoire looks stunning in her fluid silver dress, the spitting image of her mother. Everyone is there, the Scamanders, the Longbottoms, the MacMillians, the Diggorys, the Zabinis and even his grandmother comes along.
It doesn't take long before he spots Lily and of course she's with John, the two of them standing by the drinks table topping up their drinks. Lily looks gorgeous in a red dress that looks like it probably belongs to Olly because she is always stealing things out of her wardrobe and John seems to actually have a shirt on for once.
"Hey Ted," says Albus as he appears in Teddy's line of vision smiling broadly.
"Hey Al," he responds cheerfully, "how are you?"
"I'm doing all right. I suppose you heard that James and Olly finally got engaged. Hardly a surprise though is it?"
Teddy laughs.
"Not really. It's not like they were ever going to split up once they realised that they were made for each other, although I hope he knows he's a bloody lucky bastard. Girls like Olly don't come along very often at all."
"Certainly don't," Albus agrees. "I sometimes wish Kaiya was just a little bit more laid back."
Teddy looks in the direction that Albus' gaze has wandered to see his girlfriend, Kaiya Zabini, Olly's half-sister, talking to Lily and John. She was dressed in a delicate looking blue dress with her blonde hair all piled up on her head.
"She looks beautiful," Teddy tells Albus and his godbrother gives him a grateful smile.
"Yeah she does," Al agrees. "Oh there's something else. Did you hear Lily's moving into a flat with John?"
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v. Tell me quick, ain't love a kick in the head?
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It seems like everywhere he goes John Booth is right there taunting him, forcing him to realise that Lily is not a little girl anymore, forcing him to know that she's all grown up and that she can choose to do whatever she wants with whomever she likes. He doesn't like having proof that Lily's now a grown woman, out of Hogwarts and writing about magical creatures (dragons mainly) for the Daily Prophet. Every time he see her that boy is right there laughing with her, touching her, making her smile and Teddy hates it, he hates him.
He gets the shock of his life one night when he runs in John Booth as he's leaving the Ministry and the nineteen year old looks frantic, searching around as if he is looking for someone, desperate to find them.
"Oh Teddy," he says as he spots the Auror relief pouring over his face and Teddy wants to punch him for saying his name. "You have to come with me."
"Why?" he asks with a frown wondering why he would ever go anywhere with this irritating idiot.
"It's Lily," he tells him. "She's in St. Mungo's. She's been calling for you."
Teddy's heart skips a beat just then as he is rooted to the spot with fear and then he's moving, grabbing John's shoulder and pulling him along towards one of the giant fireplaces.
"What happened?" he asked him.
"I picked Lily up from work," John explains in as calm a manner as possible, "and instead of apparating home we decided to walk it. We weren't that far along the road when two wizards attacked us."
"WHAT?"
Teddy nearly goes out of his mind before he steps into the green fire and shout "St. Mungo's." before whooshing through to emerge from a grate in St. Mungo's hospital. It isn't long before John joins him and then immediately takes him to the ward where Lily is.
Teddy goes cold when he sees Lily lying there. There are bruises on her face and she has a split lip, other than that she looks like she's sleeping. Her read hair contrasts brightly with the stark whiteness of the pillow beneath her head. He walks up to her feeling as it's some kind of strange dream. A healer, whom he recognises vaguely, looks up at him as he approaches.
"Well I was expecting her parents, Mr Lupin," the healer says, "but any family member is good enough. I suppose Mr Booth told you what happened."
Teddy nods, speechless.
"She's sleeping at the moment. We've had fix a couple of broken fingers and she's had a nasty gash across up the inside of her arm from a dark curse that I don't recognise but it's beginning to heal nicely now."
Teddy just nods again, feeling numb.
"Harry, Ginny," says John's voice from behind him and Teddy dimly wonders when John started calling them by their first names. He turns to see Lily's anxious parents rushing up to Lily's bedside. Ginny went straight for Lily but Harry stops by John and Teddy moves away from the bed wanting to hear more about what had happened.
"I didn't even know they were there," John was explaining to Harry. "We were laughing about something stupid and then there was a flash of red light which caught Lily in the arm. I grabbed my wand. I don't really know what happened. Lily was okay, she was duelling with me. I think she managed to get one of them in a body bind but the other one stunned her and she fell. I managed to get his wand away from him but he apparated away. I just grabbed Lily and apparated here."
To Teddy's disgust Harry lays a hand on John's shoulder. The nineteen year old is shaking slightly.
"You did well son," Harry says in a reassuring tone. "Where was this?"
"East Street, I think," John tells him. "It's just round the corner for the Prophet offices."
"Good, I'll get Aurors round there immediately to see if they can recover the attackers Lily hit with the bodybind and the other one's wand."
John pulls a wand out of his pocket and hands it to Harry.
"That's the other wand."
"Good lad," Harry says taking the wand from him. "Ted, why don't you take John out and get him a coffee or something?"
As much as Teddy wants to refuses he finds himself nodding. He walks with John to the entrance of the ward as Harry pulls out his wand and send his patronus to give orders to whoever was in the office and maybe even to inform his other children of what had happened.
Feeling like a ghost Teddy walks along the corridor with John at his side heading towards the café. He doesn't quite know what to do with himself. He's angry at the boy next to him. He should have taken better care of Lily. He, Teddy, would have never let anything like that happen to her. Lily needed someone who understood the situation to look after her, somebody who knew what being a member of the Weasley/Potter family meant. Wasn't he aware that she was a constant target?
The coffee wasn't particularly strong in the café which Lily had always complained about whenever they'd been here visiting but Teddy didn't mind and he didn't think John did much either. They sat in silence sipping at their mugs and avoiding eye contact.
"Are you an idiot or just downright stubborn?" John asks him eventually startling Teddy into looking up. The boy is looking straight at him, his dark eyes serious.
"What do you mean by that?" Teddy asks in a harsher tone than he intended.
"Look, I've seen Victoire, yeah she's beautiful," John tells him in a level tone, "but you must be thick staying with her when you're obviously in love with Lily."
"What, in the name of Merlin's sagging left bollock, would you know about it?" Teddy demands, his anger rapidly increasing.
"I know that Lily's in love with you," John replies anger creeping into his tone. "I know she has been for years. I know that you're in love with her too but you rejected her and for what, because you're scared of what her dad might say. That's just cowardly."
Teddy jumps to his feet, fists clenched by his side, wanting nothing more than to punch John in the face. What did he know about it?
"I'm not a fucking coward."
John gets to his feet slow, thumping a fist on the table and neither of them notice the attention their getting from the people around them.
"Oh no," he retorts. "Well, you seem like a coward to me, hiding behind your girlfriends skirt and making Lily miserable because you can't face her father."
Teddy punches him.
"Don't you fucking talk to me like that," he yells. "You're the one who can't even keep her safe."
John glares at him.
"Well maybe I wouldn't need to if you just fucking accepted the fact that you're in love with her instead of denying it constantly. You're fucking breaking her heart every day and you expect me not to say anything to you. I just sat down there with my best friend listening to her calling out for you in her sleep and you expect me not to tell you that I think you're a coward!"
Teddy punches him again, this time causing John to stagger but then he comes back opening out into a tackle and brings him crashing to the ground. Teddy thinks he's seeing stars as John punches him whilst he's on the ground.
"You're a fucking arsehole," John shouts at him, grabbing the top of his shirt and pulling it so Teddy has to look at him even though the stars have barely left his eyes. "It seems like nobody else is going to tell you the fucking truth so I bloody will."
"Get off me, you bastard," Teddy yells trying to push John off him. "What does Lily want me for anyway? She's got you to fuck around with."
John's weight is suddenly gone and Teddy looks up to see that he has sat back on the floor, looking stunned.
"What?" he says sounding as though somebody has just asked him if he was smuggling dragon eggs in his pocket. "I'm not sleeping with Lily."
It's Teddy turn to look stunned now.
"What?" he chokes out and then regains his senses. "Well, everybody think you are. The whole family thinks you're a fucking couple and that's why you've moved in together."
"No they don't," John protests, "or, at least, her parents don't. Harry asked him straight out if I was Lily's boyfriend when we moved in together and I told him that I wasn't. I'm her best friend."
Teddy doesn't really know how to respond to that but his anger with the boy has somewhat subsided. Slowly, he picks himself off the ground, ignoring the horrified looks of the other customers and the café staff. He sticks his hand out to help John off the floor too.
"Sorry about that," Teddy mutters to John as he picks up his fallen chair.
"It's okay," John responds gruffly retaking his seat. "My jaw isn't made of glass."
To the amazement of everyone in the café the two men lapse back into silence each contemplating what had just happened and sipping their coffee until Olly suddenly appeared in the café. Neither of them actually saw her until she reached them.
"Olly," they say almost in unison and Olly grins broadly at them both.
"She's awake," she tells them, "and she's asking for you, both of you."
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vi. You and me we can light up the sky, if you stay by my side, we can rule the world
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Teddy doesn't think he's even been so nervous, not even when the night he split up with Victoire. He can see her now, looking beautiful in a gold dress that matches her hair, with Seth's arm draped around her shoulders. The faces around him are all smiling. His grandmother looks at him proudly and Ginny is looking rather tearful. He fidgets badly, waiting for the music to start and the door to open, feeling almost a little sick wondering if she'll even turn up. It seems like forever until his best man says,
"She's coming."
Teddy turns as the music starts to see Lily standing in all her glory wearing a gorgeous black and white dress, one hand clutching Harry's desperately and her bouquet quivering in her other. Harry looks as though he might cry as they begin they're slow walk up the aisle. He watches as Lily catches sight of him, her face splitting into a huge beam.
It seems to take forever for her to reach him but then Harry's whisking back her veil to kiss her on the cheek before she takes her place beside him. All Teddy can do is smile at her as the ceremony begins and the words are but a blur, all her can see are Lily's eyes, Lily's hair, Lily's lips.
"We shall now exchange the rings."
Teddy gives Lily what he hopes is a reassuring smile as he turns to his best man. John just grins and then hands him the ring.
So I'm offically back on the fanfiction scene. I hope you enjoyed this.
Kerr x.