A/N: I've not had much experience writing Teddy, so let me know how I did.
Written for mommaXbear 's Google Me Challenge
and partly for
PrincessShannon1498 's FLUFF Challenge.
The link to the picture I took this from is:
http:/hueco-mundo . deviantart . com/art/Teddy-Lupin-186452480
Before Teddy sat down on the warm grass, he placed the yellow day-lilies across his parents conjoined graves. If he could go back to the days of innocence, to the naivety of the young boy he'd been, he could even imagine them sleeping below the very earth. Always he pictured them hand-in-hand, big smile on their faces, just waiting for Teddy to tell them everything that they'd missed.
"It's been a while." He started conversationally to their headstones. As he sunk to the ground her placed a hand on the smooth granite, tracing their names, their dates of birth, their death- always too soon. "Maybe I'll just start from the beginning."
"I was little," he said with a smirk, sighing contentedly as he was about to delve into his past. Every week he'd stop by the cemetery. They'd already seen him grow up. "Well, Harry told me of how you two had died fighting. He never specified, but for a long time I couldn't seen what was worth dying for. Uncle Harry never told me. The only time he ever cried in front of me was when I asked. He just hugged me to him, saying over and over that he was sorry. It was then that Ginny told me exactly what kind of sacrifices you had made. I was seven, and I was proud. Proud to be part of something so great- of a bigger spectrum."
Teddy paused reflectively, until he was satisfied with his little speech. Then he continued.
"Of course you already know this," he said, starting to pull little clods of dirt and grass out of the ground. "But I received my Hogwarts letter at eleven. I was starting all by myself, paving the way for the incoming Potter-Weasley's. By that point, most all of the little rodents had been born. So, even if Hogwarts didn't go to well, I'd still have about a half-million people to come home to. And they loved me." Smiling to himself he said, "Grandma Weasley said you two had always been welcome. Said you'd been to your share of Weasley dinners. I was at the top of that."
Teddy shook the hair from his eyes, its turquoise strands illuminating the space around him, even in the beating sun. Another thought struck him as he reminisced- that he'd chosen to keep his hair this blue. He would listen to Molly whine and complain about Uncle Bill's atrocious hair, yet she left him alone. Aunt Fleur had later then told him that the picture Dad had died with in his breast pocket was the one of the blue-haired baby. After that Teddy never felt the need to change.
"On sorting day I kept thinking of the courage you two had had. I prayed and prayed that I could have just a sliver of that- I was so frightened you see- and it worked.
"I was sorted into Gryffindor.
"The red clashed with my hair, I will admit. But I was so excited again to be part of something that mattered."
Everyone had told him stories of his father's days at Hogwarts. Each was more impressive than the last, each a snap-shot of a particularly eventful life. Mischief making was in Teddy's blood, and no one would ever let him forget. He just tried to give the Lupin name its justice.
"And I waited for one of you to show up and tell me how good I was doing, and how impressed you were with me, just like everyone else. I knew you wouldn't come, but for some reason I never stopped hoping you would. I mean, flying broomsticks were real, same with killer trees, why not talking to dead people? I know it was stupid, I was young. I had to wish."
Teddy grimaced and leaned close to the graves, dropping his voice so even the doves couldn't hear. "I'd heard stories. About a stone that could resurrect people from the dead. Uncle Harry once mentioned how he'd dropped it in the forest... I looked for the better part of seven years for the damn thing. Never found a single pebble out of place.
"I dreamed of you two, both, of your voices, and how you'd feel. I'd see you in my dreams ever night, and every morning before I got out of bed. I'd only memorized you out of picture albums and books. In a lot of ways I felt that drew me and Harry closer. Both orphaned, abandoned for the greater good.
"By my fifth year, well of course you remember. I really lost my hold, all those years I'd just been chipping off the layer that held me together. I couldn't understand why, and it wasn't the same question I'd asked when I was young. Now I couldn't see how you'd done it. How could you leave your own child to fend for himself in the world?"
Teddy couldn't bring himself to relive his anger at his parents during those years. He'd pushed away so much; Victoire's helping hand, Grandma Andromeda's pleas for him to just talk. All he could see was his selfish parents dying for something that no one would ever remember- and leaving him alone, he was alone. Especially during that time.
"I'm sorry about what I said then." He whispered, blushing deeply. "It wasn't your fault. And I always loved you- love you. No matter what the circumstance."
He paused again, waiting a few heartbeats to readjust himself. He let the news, not real news, sink in, hoping it would reach his parents' ears, no matter how far away.
"Then I grew up, I understood. And a lot happened in the short time from then to here. A lot changed.
"For one thing, I became intrigued by the history of the final battle. And when I'd read my share, my heart softened and I'd learned to love you once more- not that I'd ever forgotten. You can forgive me, right? I was just a boy.
"Grandma Andromeda and Auntie Narcissa made up, if you'll believe it. But that was only situational. Molly nearly had a heart-attack when Rose married Scorpius Malfoy."
Again he paused, for measure. No one was listening but he went right along. "Malfoy's and Weasley's united. It something I thought I'd never live to see, let alone your generation. Guess their kid's gonna mess-up the whole entirety of the pure-blood lineage. I can already tell he'll be under tremendous pressure, but he'll have us Weasley's to back him up. That's all anyone really needs I suppose.
"All around me people are living their lives, and its scary to know just how fast its all really going. I don't think you're missing much. I've never minded coming down here you know.
"What I really came to say is that I'm going to marry Victoire. I think I've done right by her- I hope. Uncle Bill couldn't be happier in fact. She wants a big white wedding and I'm gonna give it to her. I only wish you could be there, that's all."
Teddy knew he wouldn't cry, he wasn't sad; he was happy. If anything this is all his parents wanted for him. For him to live his life to its fullest. He was going to start a family, and live in his new one, and not depress in the old. In time he would even get to see the parents of his dreams, and the could have all the time in the world to catch up with them. Before he got up to go, he turned once more to their little grave in the clearing, marveling at how the light lit it up as well. He didn't know when he'd be back to see them, but he hoped it'd be soon. "Just thought you'd want to know."
