A/N This is my first fan-fic so please read and review (as kindly as possible though)! Thanks and enjoy!
Disclaimer: JKR is the creator and owner of Harry Potter- I am a mere amateur writing fan-fics for fun!
Teddy Lupin and his grandma arrived at the Burrow one bright and hot summer afternoon. The entire Weasley/Potter clan was coming together to celebrate Albus Severus' first birthday and of course, being honorary family members, Teddy and his grandma were invited to the celebration.
Grammy Weasley grabbed Teddy the minute he and his grandma walked in the door, enfolding him in an enthusiastic hug.
"Look at you! Getting so big- couple more months and we'll be celebrating your birthday!" she exclaimed after she thoroughly kissed his cheeks.
Although slightly flushed in the face, Teddy smiled and hugged back the woman who was his Grammy by proxy with equal enthusiasm.
As Teddy stepped out of his Grammy's hug, he looked around at all of the red-headed grown-ups who were all welcoming him and his grandma into the clustered but cozy room. He loved the burrow for this particular reason; there were always people around. While he loved living with his grandma, he couldn't help but get lonely sometimes. But at the burrow you could never get lonely. In fact it was quite the opposite- you could never find a place to be alone, and for Teddy, the young age he was, that was perfect.
Amid the sea of red-heads Teddy finally spied the one dark, messy-haired head.
"Harry!" he excitedly yelled as he ran into his godfather's arms.
Harry picked him up and spun him around. "Hello kiddo! How's it going!"
"Brilliant! Before we came here, Grandma finally let me fly my training broom all the way to the creek behind our house! That's the farthest I ever gone before!"
"Really! Well maybe I'll have to look into getting you a Firebolt 290X for your birthday- you'll be growing out of that trainer broom I got you last year in no time!" Harry said with a mischievous smile.
"Don't be giving him any ideas Harry Potter! I've just gotten use to the idea of him flying five feet off the ground. I don't think I'm ready yet to give him free rein on a full sized broom!" Teddy's grandma scolded, but with a smile all the same.
A few other adults came over to say hi to Teddy, like Ron and Hermione who were his godfather's best friends, and Ginny, his godfather's wife. But after a couple minutes Teddy was quite bored as the adults began talking about grown-up things that in no way interested Teddy. So looking around, he saw his godfather's son Albus- the birthday boy- laying on the floor on top of a maroon blanket that had gold snitches all over it. Teddy was sure Grammy Weasley had made it- he had one from when he was a baby that was blue but with a large wolf stitched into it, though, instead of snitches.
"Hey Al! Happy birthday!" Teddy said in a high pitched voice, mimicking the way all the adults talk to Al and the other babies.
Teddy laid down on his stomach facing Al and entertained both himself and Al for the next 10 minutes, making funny faces and noises.
Suddenly he heard his name said by the adults talking. Looking up he asked, "what about me?"
Grammy Weasley smiled and told Teddy that her granddaughter Victoire was coming today. "She's about your age. You'll get along splendidly! They should be here any second now too." She ended, talking more to herself as she glanced at her clock- not to see the time, but to see the hand with Bill's picture on it move to 'traveling.'
Grandma looked over at Teddy as well, "Oh Teddy you've met Victoire before! Oh well, you probably don't remember you were both still quite little. But you'll like her- she's an angel!"
While Grandma turned back to ask Grammy about Bill and Fleur's other children, Teddy jumped up and ran to the window, pressing his noise against the glass.
An angel, Teddy thought to himself hardly containing his excitement.
Suddenly he heard Ron walking back into the room, "Bill's here!" he yelled to his mom, while trying at the same time to swipe a pastry from a dish on the table.
"Oh wonderful- RON WEASLEY DROP THAT THIS INSTANT! Those are for later!"
"Honestly Ron, you're worse than the children!" Hermione chided with an amused smile and a raised eyebrow.
Teddy was too distracted though to stay and see how Ron fared, and instead ran excitedly to the door.
He saw a vaguely familiar looking man with a long ponytail the same color as Ron's, standing in the entryway next to a woman with long silvery, blonde hair. The woman was holding a little girl who looked to be about the same age as Harry's other son, three-year old James.
That can't be the angel- grandma said she was about my age, Teddy thought to himself as he tried to spot another little girl through the legs of all the Weasley's coming in to greet their newly arrived relatives.
Then he saw her. She was stepping around the ponytail guy's leg to give Grammy Weasley a hug and Teddy knew immediately that she was the angel.
She was quite small with waist-length hair the same color as the woman's. Her powder blue dress matched the color of her sparkling eyes as well as the bow tied in her silvery hair. Yup that's her.
"Oh and this is Teddy, Victoire. Do you remember him?"
Teddy suddenly looked up and saw that Grammy was eagerly waving Teddy over towards her and the angel. As he got closer Teddy saw that the angel had a light dusting of freckles sprinkled on her noise and cheeks.
"Hi," Teddy said completely transfixed.
"Hi," She replied back in a high pitched but soft voice.
"You two go and play! I'll call you when we're eating!" Grammy said excitedly as she gently pushed both Teddy and the angel towards the other room where she kept several toys for her numerous grandchildren to play with when they came over.
The blonde angel immediately walked over to child sized house that Granddad Weasley had made for the grandchildren. "Let's play house! I'll be the mummy and you can be the daddy," she said as she picked up five dolls and began to place them in various cribs and prams.
Teddy just continued to stare at her, trying to wrap his mind around the idea of being in the presence of an angel.
He suddenly realized that she, being an angel, could do the one thing he thought about doing every single day.
He knew immediately what to do. He wanted-no, needed- to tell the angel something, but he was kind of embarrassed. On top of it all she just kept going on about playing house! Teddy finally decided to give in and play house, and wait until later to tell her.
All afternoon and evening Teddy and the angel played together- mostly girlie stuff that Teddy would have never really wanted to play, but since he had to tell the angel something and wanted to stay of her good side until then, he went along with her girlie games. As the adults went on and on about how well they were playing together, and the angel went on and on about this doll or that doll, Teddy was trying to pluck up the courage to tell the angel what he wanted to say.
As the celebrating and merriment was winding down towards the end of the evening, all the Potter/Weasley clan began to gather their belongings and their children in order to disperse for the evening. Teddy sat up from where his head had been previously resting on his grandma's lap and watched as Bill Weasley knelt down to pick up Victoire, whom had fallen asleep on the floor by the fireplace, clutching all five of her dolls in her arms quite fiercely.
Oh no! Realising that the angel was leaving, Teddy jumped up off the couch and ran over to the tall red-haired man holding the sleeping angel.
"Wait-no, I have to tell her something. Before she goes back- wake her up!" Teddy begged in a panic.
The gathering adults smiled on at young Teddy and his obvious adoration of the young girl. Smiling, Bill looked down at Teddy and offered "Why don't you tell me what you wanted to tell her. I'll be sure to tell her later."
Teddy seemed slightly hesitant to share his message in front of so many people, but finally his urgency to deliver his message won over his reluctance. "Well, could you just tell her to say hi to my parents for me when she gets back. Oh, and tell her to be sure to let them know that I love them."
Teddy soon became very aware that the entire room of usually vivacious Weasleys and Potters went silent, all of them turning to look at him. Teddy scanned the crowd, nervously wondering if he said something he shouldn't have, when Harry came forward and kneeled down next to him.
His brows furled with concern, Harry calmly looked into Teddy's eye, "What are you talking about, Teddy?"
Knowing that he definitely had done something wrong, Teddy once again inspected the faces in front of him, all of whom were still staring directly at him. Teddy saw his grandma coming to stand behind Harry, giving him an encouraging smile. Turning back to Harry, Teddy searched his eyes and knew that he could tell Harry. Harry would understand.
Looking down at his trainers, Teddy took a deep breath and explained.
"Well I just wanted the angel to say hi to my parents for me. You know, when she gets back to heaven."
Although he had spoken softly as if he only wanted Harry to hear him, not one of the adults starring on didn't hear Teddy's heart wrenching explanation.
Still starring most intently at his trainers, Teddy felt Harry put his hand on his shoulder, firmly and comfortingly grasping him. "Teddy, Victoire is not an angel. She's a little girl, just like you're a little boy."
"But grandma- she said- I mean…. I thought she could….. I just wanted them to know-"
Immediately understanding, Harry interrupted his obviously flustered godson.
"They know, Teddy."
Teddy lifted his head, his eyes glimmering with a spark of hope.
"They do?"
"Yea. They know because they are always here. With you every day- even now. They're here watching over you, loving you, and knowing, without a doubt, how much you love them. And miss them."
While many children- even several adults- would demand from Harry the why and how to back up his statement, Teddy simply smiled his brightest smile as he let this new information thoroughly sink in.
"Wicked!" he said in an awed whisper.
Harry returned his godson's smile, chuckling slightly and brushing his hand through Teddy's hair.
"Can I go outside and take a few laps around the yard on my training broom?" Teddy suddenly asked.
Only momentarily taken aback by Teddy's abrupt change of topic, Harry nodded his all right and then stood as he watched his godson happily run out of the house.
Ginny slowly made her way over to Harry. "Good job," she said quietly as she wrapped her arm around his waist, laying her head on his shoulder. They both stood there for a short while simply watching Teddy outside, marveling at his endearing innocence.
Slowly the family went back to their previous conversations and the tasks they were doing before Teddy had relayed his message.
None of them ever forgot that moment of pure love, childlike hope, and angelic innocence.
Neither did any of them, much to his chagrin, allow Teddy Lupin to forget the time he mistook Victoire Weasley for an angel.