Story about Teddy. Been sitting on this for a while. Please read it, tell me what you think. :)
The Stigma's Sorting
"Keys, Nicole!" cried the Charms teacher.
Hogwarts School watched with baited breath as the little blonde girl tip-toed up to the stool and the Sorting Hat was lowered onto her head. There was a moment of impatient silence before it shouted,
"Hufflepuff!"
Hufflepuff table stood up cheering as a red-faced Nicole scampered off the stool and over to join her new housemates.
"Lannigan, Jason!" called Professor Flitwick, and a boy with short, dark hair proceeded solemnly up to the stool.
'Finally in the L's…it's my turn soon,' thought a small boy who had been standing near Jason. The child had loppy, brown hair; clear, brown eyes; and narrow shoulders. Compared to the other children around him, who were a mass of nervous, trembling wrecks; the boy seemed unusually collected. Indeed, the only outward sign of his nerves was that, as the Hat approached his name, the tips of his brown hair grew steadily pinker. This, however, was no need for alarm, for the boy was a Metamorphmagus and more specifically, the boy was Teddy Lupin.
Teddy, for one, had been disappointed to see that it wasn't Professor McGonagall calling out the names in the Sorting Hat Ceremony. She featured in all of his "aunts' and uncles'" Sorting Stories as their list-reader and he'd expected her to be in his as well. Of course, now she was the Headmistress of Hogwarts, having passed the Deputy duties off to Professor Flitwick and Teddy couldn't mind too terribly. After all, at the end of the day, she was just his Aunt Minnie, an ever-present figure throughout his childhood, and sat with him every Sunday for the Weasley family get-together lunch.
"Ravenclaw!" The hat finally shouted after deciding hard on Jason. Teddy watched the boy go to his new house, thinking that Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad. Hermione had told him that he'd do well there. According to her, he was very insightful. But when Harry had heard this, he just shrugged, ruffled Teddy's hair the way they both liked it, and said that only meant the boy knew too much for his age.
"Yeah," Ron had agreed, "'Cause the poor thing was raised by a bunch of idiot teenagers who hadn't a clue about censoring themselves…Sorry about that again, Beta." Teddy could only smile when they joked about things like that. Because he knew it was true.
He was everybody's first child—the one where they learned what worked with parenting and what obviously didn't. 'Beta-Baby,' 'The Guinea Pig Child,' and 'Poor-Teddy-He-Knows-Too-Much-Because-We-Don't-Know-How-To-Do-This-And-We're-Very-Sorry'were just a few nicknames of his. Was it any real surprise he preferred 'mate' or just his name?
"Leshnock, Katherine!"
Lupin, Lupin, Lupin…any second now, it was going to be him when he least expected it.
He nervously glanced at the Slytherin table, not noticing that his hair tips went bright fuchsia when he did so. Not there. Anywhere but there. He knew he wasn't conniving and he always got caught when he lied—he'd never be a Slytherin. It was so obvious. But what if…?
He gulped.
"Just remember what Harry said,' he thought, trying to calm himself. 'Remember Harry…'
"Harry?"
The older wizard turned around, hastily stuffing papers into his desk when he saw that it was Teddy standing in the doorway.
"What is it, mate?"
Teddy swallowed nervously and Harry's expression changed from curiosity to a knowing smile. He Summoned a chair to cross the room and rest next to him, which he then indicated with his wand.
"Sit," he ordered. Teddy took the familiar seat next to his godfather and Harry leaned forward in his chair so that they were on the same eye level.
"What was that?" Teddy stalled, pointing at the half-open drawer that had just been crammed with parchments.
"The usual business," Harry replied, "Top secret, very hush-hush, très secrète, I'm contractually bound to kill you if you learn anything about it—you know."
"Yeah?"
"Definitely."
Teddy chuckled and glanced down at his hands. A moment passed.
"Teddy?"
He looked up to see Harry still smiling at him
"You didn't come in here to talk about an old Auror's paperwork, did you?"
Teddy shook his head.
"Can I hazard a guess at your purpose then?"
"Uh-huh."
"Can I guess that it has to do with school starting next week?"
A quieter: "Uh-huh."
Harry put a hand on his knee.
"I've already promised to loan you the map," he said gently. "And you get the Cloak until James is old enough to handle it…"
Teddy smiled weakly but it didn't seem to convince Harry, who patiently tried again.
"You're very smart and already know loads of magic."
"…In theory."
"Well of course, but that's more than a lot of kids so you do have a nice head-start…You know Headmaster McGonagall and Neville helped raise you…so the main thing you're worried about is…?" He raised his eyebrows and waited for Teddy to fill in the blank.
"Um…the Sorting?"
"Are you sure?"
"The Sorting."
Harry smiled.
"I was waiting for this," he said, patting Teddy's knee. "Listen kiddo, your mother was a Hufflepuff and she…pardon my French, could kick arse. (Teddy giggled.) And Remus was and is one of the most inspiring people I have ever had the honor to meet—there's your Gryffindor. Hermione has already said you would make an excellent Ravenclaw and she's quite right—you're very clever and possess all the creative thinking skills of a true Eagle."
"So what about—?"
"Teddy, there isn't a Slytherin bone in your body." Harry said dismissively.
Teddy gulped. That wasn't what he wanted to hear. Because he needed to know what would happen to him if he really did get into—
"But if you do," said Harry, with that same knowing smile on his face. "Then you'll make one heck of a Slytherin."
"Lupin, Edward!" called Flitwick.
Teddy jumped when he heard his real name and was suddenly aware of just how many people were in the room and just how many were staring right at him. He gulped and took a step forward. His eyes flicked up to the High Table. Aunt Minnie nodded to him discreetly, never one to openly show favoritism; while Hagrid and Neville were blatantly shooting him thumbs-ups and grins.
"You'll be great," Neville mouthed.
Teddy took a deep breath and strode up to the stool.
"Here we are now," Flitwick said quietly as he stretched up on his toes to lift the Hat over Teddy's head. The boy's eyes drifted over the Hall once more—Gryffindor table on the left, eagerly trying to see the child raised by their very own Harry Potter, not to mention son of their tragic hero, Remus Lupin; then Hufflepuff, excited faces hoping they would have him in their House, his mother a Badger herself; Ravenclaw, eyebrows raised, curiously sizing him up but withholding judgment till they'd seen what he could do; and Slytherin, analyzing, appraising, immediately deciding, and definitely (or, at least, hopefully) not for Teddy—and then the Hat dropped over his head, closing out everything else but for a small voice.
...
A/N: I always thought Teddy was fascinating, just because of all the dynamics in his family life and heritage and the scrutiny he'd be under from the press. I like to think of him as the sweet, well-mannered guy (with a slight rebel streak since he becomes a totally badass Auror with his power-couple-other-half, Vic) but he's still got a lot of the same insecurities as his father because he can feel the wolf inside his head every now and then and it makes him kind of temperamental. So...yay headcanons! What are yours?
Written while listening to The Hobbit, How to Train Your Dragon, and Newsies albums. Anybody got thoughts in this? Criticisms? Compliments? Cookies? (I'll take 'em.)