It was a cold winters night on the 24th of December 2021 but the Potters and the Weasleys were all safe and warm inside. The wind was blowing non stop making a howling noise outside. All of the inhabitants of the Burrow were in the living room toasting to life and placing presents under the enormous Christmas tree situated in the corner of the room.
Everyone apart from James Sirius Potter that is. James was sat at the kitchen table a book of 1001 uses for Troll Toenails open lazily in front of him. He wasn't reading it, he had no need to. He had passed his O. without lifting a finger and James had decided that is exactly what he would do with his N.E.. He was only continuing with his school work because Teddy wanted him to. James had already been talented spotted by the Quidditch team, Puddlemere United.
The kitchen was lit only by a few candles hastily placed here and there making the Christmas cards and decorations hanging down from the walls or ceiling glitter in a small pool of light. James sighed and slammed the book shut and threw it to the side with all the other books and other pieces of parchment he had been pretending to read.
The back door in the Weasleys kitchen suddenly swung open, a figure standing in the doorway clinging onto a few bags. Teddy Lupin managed to close the door, bags still in hand, without letting too much snow into the room.
He smiled as he noticed James sitting at the table.
"Hi, James." Teddy wandered over to the table and placed down the bags on the small space that James had left.
"Don't call me James." he snapped "It's Jem. Or Jamie. But never James."
Teddy looked startled at Jem's sudden out burst. Jem normally acted cool and casual. This knew snappy Jem had caught Teddy off guard.
"Oh, okay, sorry…Jem." Teddy apologized and sat down in the empty seat next to Jem's. He picked up a book and stared.
"What's this? The famous James Potter actually revising?" Teddy commented cocking an eyebrow.
"Jem! And of course not. I just want Dad to think I am." Jem said, leaning back in his chair.
Teddy winked "Gotcha."
The older man then stood up and started to remove his coat. Teddy was dressed in a simple purple t-shirt with short sleeves with a single white line running around his collar and the cuffs on his t-shirt and some old tattered jeans. His feet were clad in ordinary black sneakers that he nearly always wore.
Jem smiled. His dress sense was something Victoire couldn't change about Teddy.
Ever since Teddy had started dating Victoire little over five years ago nearly everything about him had changed. Especially his appearance. Teddy was now normally seen with bright, silky blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and pointed features. Fleur Weasley said it made them look so adorable when Teddy and Victoire were together. Jem said in made them look like they were about to inbreed.
Today, nothing was different. Teddy's hair was still blonde and his eyes and facial features were still the same as Victoire's but in a male version. Jem, still, didn't like it.
It was then that Harry Potter walked into the room clutching a glass of butter bear. At the age of forty-one, Harry didn't look too bad. His hair was going slightly grey at the roots and he was developing small wrinkles around his eyes but Harry was still as skinny and tall as ever.
Harry grinned, spotting Teddy.
"Ted!" Harry made his way over to Teddy and gave him a manly hug placing his glass on top of Jem's copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them. "Good to see you!"
Teddy pulled away from the manly hug and placed his fashionable black coat (or as Albus Potter liked to call it 'Teddy's camp coat') over the side of a chair.
"Good to see you too, Harry."
"Why don't you come and join us in the living room? Everyone's dying to see you!" Harry asked gesturing towards the living room door.
"Sure, why not." Teddy turned to leave with his God father picking up his bags as he went he got to the middle of the room and then turned round, "Hey, Jem, are you coming?" His eyes looked hopeful and for a second flashed their original green colour that Jem missed so much.
Jem nodded standing up. He couldn't pretend to be studying any longer. Especially since it was Christmas Eve. He followed Teddy and his Dad into the living room where a wave of people launched themselves onto the new arrival.
Teddy was hugged, kissed, patted, squeezed, thumped and everything else that was a sign of greeting in the Weasley/Potter households. The last to get to him was Victoire. She stood on her tip toes and kissed Teddy on the mouth and for a moment, Jem didn't know if he was imagining or not, Teddy looked momentarily disgusted.
Several more chairs had been placed in the room and along with the other settees, arm chairs, rocking chairs and stools everyone managed to sit down apart from a few of the younger ones who had sat on the floor purposely.
Teddy had sat on one of the settees and had invited Jem to join him. Victoire sat on his other side which upset Jem because it meant he would have to play gooseberry.
Jem cleared the room with his eyes. Nearly all of his family were there. Grand-ma Weasley, Grand-dad Weasley, Mum, Dad, Albus, Lily, Aunty Hermione and Uncle Ron with Rose and Hugo, Uncle George and Aunt Angelina with Fred and Roxanne, Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey with Molly and Lucy, Uncle Charlie and Uncle Bill and Auntie Fleur with Victoire, Dominique and Louis.
The room was incredibly crowded, but it was like this every Christmas so Jem was used to it by now.
Teddy's bags had been taken off him and unloaded adding even more presents to the Christmas tree which was completely surrounded already. All the presents sparkled in their wrappings by the light of the candles. Jem, like all seventeen year olds, had grown out of the idea of Father Christmas over eleven years ago but Christmas presents still excited him.
As the evening wore on the chatter got more and more slurred. The grown ups were on what seemed like their millionth round of butter bear and even some of the younger ones had started giggling and hiccupping. Victoire, being who she was, never got drunk nor tipsy. Teddy had also refrained from getting hammered as well. However, Jem, being a typical seventeen year old, had got absolutely smashed.
He was laughing and giggling and telling the most random stories, most of them very crude. Victoire was glaring at him, a look of extreme disapproval in her eyes.
"Look at him, Ted!" she pointed out a slight French twang in her accent. "Why do his parents let him get like this, hmm?"
Teddy looked at Victoire cocking his head to one side.
"Jem's an adult now, they can't exactly stop him. Anyway, it's Christmas, give the poor guy a break," Teddy snapped at her "Come to think of it, all you do it complain about him whenever you see him!"
Victoire looked shocked, Teddy never stood up to her. She could easily stand up to him and watch in delight as he apologised over and over again for something he never needed to apologise for but it had never been the other way round before. She raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms across her chest. Victoire was wearing a small black dress, some patterned tights and a pair of strappy high heels. Her blonde hair was curled around her shoulders and her make up had been done to perfection, her eyelashes caked in so much mascara that they touched her eyebrows whenever her eyes were open. This extreme eyelash look wasn't a good one but no one dared tell her that.
Teddy turned back to Jem who was now telling some story about some muggle woman running up naked to him in a street and begging him for sex once.
"And then she-" Jem slurred before Teddy interrupted.
"RIGHT! I think that's enough, don't you?" Teddy bellowed over the moans of several drunk voices. "Come on, bed, now!"
Some of the more sober adults nodded in agreement and dragged their spouses and children off to bed leaving Teddy to deal with Jem. Victoire had gone off in a huff, flouncing out of the room with a scowl on her pretty face. Teddy sighed, it was going to take a lot of apologising to get her to forgive him. But deep down Teddy felt that maybe he didn't want her to…
No, he was being stupid. He loved Victoire…
Teddy dragged Jem off the settee, slinging an arm around his athletic body in an attempt to get him upstairs. The Burrow had been extended by several stories so now there was room for everyone. Teddy pulled Jem up the stairs to the second floor listening to Jem's drunken rambling.
"-and women! Honestly! They say one thing and mean another! They don't make any sense to me!" Jem ranted as Teddy opened the door to a spare bedroom where Jem's trunk stood at the end of a metal bed.
Teddy helped Jem out of his clothes and into some clean boxers resisting the temptation to run his hands over Jem's muscular frame. How could somebody be so slim and narrow but yet so muscular?
"-and all they do is moan, moan, moan. Especially the French." Jem hiccupped and Teddy pushed him down onto his bed where Jem buried himself under the duvet.
Teddy smiled at the thought of what Jem's hang over was going to be like the next day. Of course, someone will have brewed up a whole cauldron full of Hangover potion since it would be Christmas day. He went to the door, magically blew the candle out and was about to shut the door when he heard.
"I don't like women…prefer men…they make more sense…I love you, Teddy." Jem slurred before falling instantly into a deep sleep.
And deep, deep, deep down inside of Teddy a voice called out. I love you too.
*****
On Christmas Day 2021 nearly everyone awoke with a hangover. They opened their bedroom doors to find a small vial of Hangover potion on the floor and they drank it gratefully.
Teddy Lupin had taken it upon himself to brew the potion since he knew that most of the adults would be too hung-over to or enjoyed watching other people suffer. The vials had been placed outside the rooms at about seven in the morning and most people found theirs two to three hours later.
Teddy had been slaving away in the kitchen, preparing breakfast for everyone. He kept it warm, or indeed cold, magically while he waited for them to wake up. He picked up that morning's edition of the Daily Prophet that had been left outside by an owl at a ridiculous time. The headline blared out 'GRINGOTTS GOING BANKRUPT?' but Teddy knew this was un-true because Charlie had explained that it was just a publicity stunt since the Daily Prophet was slowly losing readers.
He got absorbed into the pages, the lies, the stupid-ness of it all and jumped, knocking over a carton of milk, when the kitchen door swung open to reveal Jem.
His messy black hair was handsomely sticking up all over the place and his hazel eyes were getting less blood-shot by the second. Jem was still dressed only in his boxers.
"Merry Christmas, Teddy." Jem said cheerfully. Teddy suspected that without the Hangover potion Jem wouldn't be quite so cheerful. "Thanks for the Hangover potion, by the way. I'm guessing it was you who put it outside my door."
Teddy nodded "Merry Christmas to you too, Jame-Jem! And, yes it was me. Breakfast?"
Jem smiled "Just some toast please."
Teddy handed Jem a plate full of warm toast and a mug of tea with milk and two sugars, just how Jem liked it.
Jem sat at the table and began to munch his toast. Teddy joined him smiling as he drank his cup of coffee.
"So, do we have to wait for everyone else before we can open presents?" Jem asked spitting crumbs all over the table.
"I'm afraid so." Teddy said chuckling at the face Jem pulled. "Would you like it if they opened their presents without you?"
Jem thought about it for a second, "No, probably not."
Jem looked Teddy up and down, noticing something was different but he couldn't put his finger on it. Suddenly, it clicked.
"Hey, your hair's turquoise again! And your eyes are their original green colour too!"
It was true. Teddy no longer looked like a male version of Victoire. He had gone back to looking like his old self.
Teddy nodded, blushing "Yeah, do you like it?"
Jem smiled "I love it! I never did understand why you wanted to look like Victoire anyway. She looks like a lemon." Teddy laughed as Jem sucked in his cheeks and crossed his eyes. And something inside Teddy twisted, like a knot. Jem was still adorable when he was impersonating a lemon.
Jem finished his toast and tea and Teddy stood up to take it away his hand momentarily brushing Jem's as he took the plate and mug. He felt a warm butterfly like movement flutter in his stomach and he gasped. The green eyes met the hazel ones and sudden realisation finally struck both men. But no…it couldn't be…could it?
Teddy jerked his head away and placed the dirty dishes in the sink were a dishcloth started to clean them. He ignored the feeling in his stomach and looked for something to distract him, but he couldn't. Jem was still staring at him and it was a little unnerving…but he liked it.
Jem coughed and suddenly found his finger nails very interesting.
"So, err, am I the only person that still calls you Teddy?" Jem asked staring at his nails.
"Yeah, I think so. Everyone else calls me 'Ted' ." Teddy replied staring at the floor.
Jem looked up "Do you want me to call you 'Ted'?"
Teddy smiled and shook his head "No, you can be special. You're the only one that's allowed to call me 'Teddy'"
"I prefer Teddy anyway. Ted makes you sound old and boring." Jem said turning back to his fingers but laughed when he looked up to see Teddy turn into an old man with little white wisps of hair, a crooked back, knobbly knees and think bony hands.
"Get off my lawn, you whippersnappers!" Teddy said raising a wrinkly arm and shaking his fist at the imaginary youths.
Jem giggled "Watch out, Teddy, you did that a little too well!"
Teddy morphed back to his original self giggling.
Teddy and Jem mucked about, chatted and enjoyed each others company for a glorious half hour before others started to join them down stairs. As soon as everybody had eaten their breakfast and thanked Teddy for the Hangover potion it was about mid-day. Then they all made their way into the living room for the hour long task of exchange gifts.
Nobody that year had to act like they liked their gifts. Everybody got what they wanted, or indeed, didn't ask for but loved anyway. Jem had received several books on Quidditch, who he loved so much and it was his biggest passion in the entire world apart from…Jem shook his head trying to rid himself of the thought. He had also received some Weasley Wizard Wheezes merchandise from George and Angelina, odd bits of old heir looms from Grand-ma and Grand-dad Weasley including a photo album of moving pictures and an old quill, some books from Percy and Audrey which Jem had no intention of reading but would help him on his quest to fool everyone into thinking he was actually revising, some dragon hide gloves and boots from Uncle Charlie, a new broom stick from his Mum, Dad, Lily and Albus which must of cost hundreds of galleons, several other bits of brick-a-brack and some really fancy dress robes from Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur…
Teddy, being a trainee healer had received hundreds of books on the subject, some money and some really fancy dress robes from Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur which made Teddy look absolutely horrified. They weren't horrible dress robes, he wasn't being forced to wear them and they weren't cheap as far as Jem could see, so what was the problem?
The present giving and receiving went on longer than they had expected and Jem had found himself glaring at Victoire with pure hatred in his eyes more than several times now. He had never liked his cousin. He had always found her stuck up and bossy. And she had never liked him, she found him messy and down right irritating.
But there was something venomous about his glare this time that Jem just didn't understand. There was also a voice in his head shouting out insults whenever the chance passed him. Victoire had received a beautiful dress which Jem found himself saying 'Make you even more of a slut' under his breath, quiet enough that only Teddy seemed to hear.
At about two o'clock the present giving had to paused due to the fact that if they didn't have lunch soon they would all die of starvation.
Everyone ate huge mounds of Grand-ma Weasley's cooking since everyone found it delicious. Everyone apart from Victoire that was.
"I don't want to put any weight on." She commented winking at Teddy who didn't know what the hell was going on and looked startled at the gesture. "I want to look lovely and skinny." She smiled, excitement in her eyes.
A few of the grown ups got what she was on about. Mostly the women.
"She wants to look nice for the wedding." Rose had whispered to a confused looking Albus.
"What wedding?" Albus asked looking up at Rose.
"Her own."
"But, Teddy hasn't proposed yet, has he?"
Rose shook her head and carried on explaining what Victoire was probably thinking in a hushed whisper to Albus.
Jem had caught a bit of the conversation and had to excuse himself to the toilet as he felt physically sick. Teddy? Propose?! Jem wiped some tears away from his eyes. Tears of frustration he had told himself.
He had returned to the table about five minutes later and sat picking moodily at his food. He wasn't hungry anymore. And by the looks of it neither was Teddy.
Nobody noticed that they weren't eating apart from Victoire who thought that they wanted to look slim too so she said nothing.
Around about half past three the present giving had started again. Jem had sat moodily in an armchair in the corner of the room a book about 'How to polish your broomstick' opened in front of his face. Unfortunately, Teddy and Victoire and chosen to sit on the settee right next to him.
Teddy had given Victoire a beautiful, silver necklace in the shape of a butterfly which Victoire absolutely loved and had demanded that he put it on her right away.
Jem had kept making remarks under his breath, most of them inaudible but Teddy, having fantastic hearing, heard most of them.
When Victoire had been passed a huge box of Mrs. Miller's Self Applying Make up Jem made a huge mistake.
"Yeah, make you look more of a slapper than you already are."
Jem had said this a little too loudly. Everyone had turned to stare at him, Victoire with a look of hurt on her face. Jem had blushed so hard that he resembled a tomato.
Teddy had stood up glaring down at Jem "A word, please, James." Teddy had said this with so much venom, his hair turning an unbelievable shade of red, that Jem didn't dare argue.
Jem was dragged by Teddy into the kitchen where he stood in disgrace while Teddy glared at him.
"What's wrong with you today?!"
Jem didn't answer, he stared at the floor his hands writhing in his pockets.
"All you've done is offend Victoire today!" Teddy shouted, "And I know you don't much care for her but you've never been like this before!"
Jem continued to look at the floor, tears forming in his eyes. He had always hated being shouted at by Teddy.
"LOOK AT ME, JAMES!"
Jem didn't look up. He couldn't. It was very rare that he did but when Teddy was angry, the last thing you wanted to do was to look at him. His eyes usually turned a violent shade of red and his hair normally turned the same colour. Teddy looked so threatening like this that nobody dared ever stare.
"Oh forget it!" Teddy shouted finally and made his way to the door where a hand stopped him.
Jem had grabbed onto Teddy's arm, stopping him from leaving. The hand didn't feel angry nor out of place. Teddy stared at the hand feeling deep inside that was where the hand belonged.
"Teddy, I-" Jem had started but had chocked. Teddy looked up, letting go of the door knob and had been horrified to see that Jem was crying. His face immediately softened. Teddy's hair became his original shade of brown and his eyes had gone back to being green. He turned round to face Jem the hand still on his arm.
"Teddy, I…" Jem tried again, "I…" He stopped and sighed "I'm jealous of her."
For the second time that day the hazel eyes met the green ones. Teddy hated seeing Jem cry. He always had. Even when they were younger Teddy had always tried to get Jem to stop crying. He once told him that he could eat sadness and had gone round opening and closing his mouth for about six months afterwards whenever Jem was in the room.
"I love you, Teddy." Jem had whispered a tear rolling down his cheek.
Teddy had been thrown off guard. What did he do now? He didn't want to upset Jem. He didn't want to hurt him.
So he did what he felt was right.
Teddy lifted a hand and gently brushed away the single tear, pulling Jem's in at the same time. Their lips met and an explosion surged it's way through Jem. The kiss was so soft, so beautiful but so passionate at the same time.
Jem reached up and gently placed his arms round Teddy's neck pulling the kiss in deeper his tongue penetrating Teddy's mouth. Teddy had snaked his arms round Jem's waist where they felt they belonged.
Jem, unexpectedly, pulled away.
"Teddy--"
"Jem," Teddy whispered back his hair turning turquoise, the colour that he associated with happiness, "Shut the fuck up and kiss me."
So Jem did what he was told.