Teddy Lupin knew something was amiss the minute Harry Potter decided to hold him back.
It wasn't as if this was a new occurrence. Harry had always been strangely overprotective of his godson, to the point where Teddy sometimes wondered if there was an underlying issue that he failed to comprehend. His grandmother, the person who was raising him, was supposed to be the one to do that kind of stuff. Hold his hand when he crossed the street. Smother him in hugs the moment he walked in the door. Try to keep tabs on where he was at all times. That sort of thing.
But no, Andromeda had left those duties resting on the shoulders of his godfather, something that Teddy assumed Harry not only wholeheartedly accepted, but relished in.
So, it came as no surprise that, when he was about to walk aboard the Hogwarts Express for the first time, Harry gently took hold of his shoulder and held him back. The other children who were bound for the train almost crashed right into them in their glee, running straight for what Teddy hoped to be the beginning of the rest of his life. Teddy was annoyed to say the least, and when he turned around to make sure that Harry was aware of his unbearable behavior, he stopped.
Harry was crying.
That was also not a new occurrence. Everyone in the Potter/Weasley family had a habit of crying for no reason at completely random moments. Even his grandmother was subject to these bouts of distress sometimes, especially when Teddy reminded her too much of his mum. Teddy, for the most part, understood why. He knew there was a war. He knew people died in the war. That is how he ended up in his grandmother's care after all. So when people cried, he assumed it was because of that and left them to themselves.
But this time was different. Teddy guessed it was a good thing that they got to Platform 9 ¾ an hour early, or else he would have never made the train. His grandmother, after much hesitation, finally left after instructing him to "write everyday!" (Teddy hoped she would settle for every week). He and Harry remained, and after much too long of a goodbye, Harry had said his final farewell and let Teddy be on his way to start a new adventure.
At least Teddy thought it was a final farewell, until he felt that hand on his shoulder.
Teddy first attempted to laugh his godfather's tears away. "Come on, Harry! What's got you so upset? It's just a few months, I'll be back for Christmas in no time!" he said through extremely awkward chuckles.
Harry observed Teddy for a few moments, as if contemplating something.
It made Teddy feel extremely uncomfortable. "Errr, look, you have James and Albus and even little Lily to keep you company, so I don't understand why you're so upset about this..."
Harry's emerald green eyes seemed to pierce right into Teddy, and he was surprised when Harry tilted back his head and began to laugh. He wiped his eyes for a few seconds and tried to get himself together. "I'm sorry for worrying you, Ted, but you seriously remind me way too much of your father." Harry said in between laughs.
Teddy felt a little annoyed at this, and a scowl graced his features. As it did, the children screaming aboard the Hogwarts express started to cloud his thoughts. He wondered how long it would take until people began to recognize who exactly was standing at the platform. Thankfully the train would be leaving in just a few minutes, and he felt glad he might be able to make it on without his famous godfather causing too much of a commotion.
"Look Teddy," Harry began, gaining back the attention of his impressionable godson, "I know that I may come off as too overbearing sometimes..."
"Sometimes my arse..." Teddy muttered.
"Anyway." Harry retorted. "It's only because I don't want anything bad to happen to you. Your parents named me godfather, and that means that I am, in some ways, responsible for you. My guardians weren't all that great, and if I can help it, no child of mine is going to have to suffer through any kind neglect.
"Am I little overboard? Probably. But I know what it's like growing up without a mum or dad. And if I need to be that for you, I will." Harry finished with a sad smile.
Teddy didn't exactly know what to say. He knew his godfather was an orphan, who in the wizarding world didn't? But he didn't know that Harry had been neglected, leading to a whole new slur of questions just bouncing in his young mind.
Harry must've known what Teddy was thinking, because he covered the boy's mouth with his palm and proclaimed "There will be plenty of time for that, as you so eloquently put, over Christmas break." Teddy nodded in understanding, and hoped that Harry would remove his hand quickly as his cheeks turned red with embarrassment.
Harry coughed a little, and removed his hand from Teddy's mouth. "As for the real reason I held you back..."
He began to stare again, as if deciding something, and then shook his head. He reached into his bag that he had with him, pulled something out, and handed it to Teddy.
It was a dirty old piece of parchment.
Teddy looked skeptically at his godfather, wondering what in Merlin's name was so great about a bloody piece of parchment that could get his godfather to contemplate whether or not he should have it. Harry just smiled at his reaction, in what Teddy could only assume was pure insanity. Teddy then wondered if St. Mungos had extra room in its mental ward for a godfather gone mad.
"This item has, over the years, belonged to seven people. Just seven." Harry said, causing Teddy to inwardly groan. Yes, that was the importance. He didn't know it was wizard tradition to hand down parchment from ancestors, and he hoped that the tradition would end with him. Your dead father gave you family photos to remember him by? Teddy had parchment. Yippee.
Harry ignored his godson's mental reservations and continued on. "Five of those seven people are now gone, leaving only two to carry on its tradition. The first of these two living people has no more need of the parchment. In fact, he and his brother passed it on already to the second person who is still alive." Teddy's eyes grew wide at that. That meant the brother was dead then.
"The second person is me, obviously. And I know what you're thinking. It's just parchment." Harry slowly took out his wand and place the tip on the item in question and whispered "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
The parchment immediately began to grow covered in ink, and words and pictures formed instantly at Harry's words. Teddy stared in awe as the magic began to work around the parchment, turning it into-
"-a map." Harry said. "The Marauder's Map, to be specific. Your father was Moony and my father was Prongs, and they helped create it." Harry laughed as Teddy's jaw dropped almost all the way to the ground. George Weasley, Harry's brother-in-law, would sometimes tell the children stories of how much trouble he and his twin would get into, and always ended his stories with a thanks to the brilliance of the Marauders. Teddy was never sure what exactly that meant, but he always became suspicious of the looks the adults would share amongst themselves. So his father was a prankster? The famous Moony?
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs were the original owners of this map." Harry said nostalgically. "And then Fred and George Weasley somehow managed to get their hands on it, Merlin knows how many greys McGonagall got because of that." Harry put his wand away and looked directly at Teddy. "And then, by some miracle, they gave it to me. Now, seeing as George was never one of the original owners, and he's already told me that my children should pass it along-" Teddy deflated a bit at that statement "-and considering that Padfoot never had children, that just leaves-"
"-what about Wormtail?" Teddy asked innocently.
"What about him?" Harry countered, but Teddy noticed there was ice in his tone.
"You didn't mention his children. Did he have any?"
Teddy noticed that Harry was trying to keep himself calm. "Even if they did, they would not be entitled to this map, and that is a story for another day." Harry added the last bit after noticing Teddy's mouth open with his abundant curiosity.
"Anyway," Harry continued brightly, and Teddy made a note to never mention this Wormtail in public again "that just leaves you!"
"Wait, I get to keep this? I thought you didn't want me to get in trouble! Wasn't this used for pranks? And what about your kids? Don't they have a claim to this as well?" Teddy was bursting at the seams with wonder and questions.
Harry, trying to follow along, answered the questions in order "Yes, you get to keep it, Andromeda said no detentions, not me, yes it was used for pranks-" Harry paused. "As for my kids, they have another relic that belonged just to my dad to hopefully keep them occupied." Harry then muttered something along the lines of "It definitely kept me occupied" but Teddy pretended he hadn't heard that bit.
"So, you're giving it to me?" Teddy asked hopefully.
Harry chuckled. "Teddy, you and I are second generation marauders. If our dads were here, I'm sure they'd be proud at how far we've come. The map is them, Ted. They spent their Hogwarts years, pulling pranks and having fun because of this map. You know, your father relinquished it to me after he confiscated it." Harry smiled at the implication that Lupin's actions now presented. "I'm simply returning the favor."
Teddy's smile grew even bigger, and, after thanking his godfather profusely, he embraced him.
Harry was overbearing, that much was true. But, Teddy guessed, he knew when to let a loved one go. He knew when to pass something onto to someone else. And Teddy knew that his father would be grateful (albeit a little worried, as there would be a new generation of pranksters rising soon) at Harry's willingness to hand over a treasured part of himself.
As the two Marauders' sons let go, and as the clock struck 10:59, Teddy Lupin boarded the Hogwarts Express ready to embrace the future and continue a prankster's legacy.