Bollocks, Hot Chocolate and Stories
"Well, I think it's a load of bollocks, personally."
Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin folded her arms over her large belly, one of her sleek eyebrows raised as if daring someone to contradict her. Harry Potter and Remus Lupin looked at each other, frowning in a bemused yet amused way. They looked back at Tonks, who's eyes had narrowed dangerously. The smiles slipped off of the men's faces.
Remus stood up at the same moment that the couple's four-year old son, Teddy, came into the room, pulling his favourite teddy behind him and sucking his thumb. He looked between the adults: Remus, stood up and frowning, head inclined to the side curiously; Tonks, arms folded and eyes narrowed, an eyebrow raised in annoyance; and Harry, sat down and keeping out of the way of the two parents, an eyebrow raised in amusement and the hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth.
Everyone turned towards the small boy, who scampered over to Remus and tugged on his jumper – which was tied around his waist – saying, "Can I have a hot chocolate, Daddy?" in a small, high-pitched voice. Remus stooped down, and heaved Teddy into his arms. As they headed towards the kitchen, Harry and Tonks heard Remus say, "And would Mr. Teddy Lupin like his hot chocolate with whipped cream and a flake?" to which Teddy nodded eagerly.
Teddy had left his toy on the floor, and Harry bent down to pick it up from where it lay beside his armchair. When he lifted it to look at it, however, he whimpered as the black dog stared back at him with its glassy grey unfathomable eyes.
Sirius…
Tonks heard Harry whimper, and she smiled softly, one lone tear making its way down her cheek. "That was the toy S-Sirius got me one Christmas. I can remember the day we – and when I say "we" I mean me and Remus – first gave it to Teddy like it was yesterday." She still choked a little on her deceased cousin's name, Harry noticed, and he smiled sympathetically at her.
Remus came back through with Teddy at that precise moment, sitting down next to his wife. Teddy clutched his mug of hot chocolate, topped with whipped cream and a flake, in his small hands as he looked towards Harry eagerly. Remus grabbed the mug as it tipped precariously when Teddy reached out with one hand and said, "Sandy! Uncle Harry, can I have Sandy please?"
Harry looked down at the stuffed dog, and smiled. He handed the toy to Tonks – who leaned forwards with great difficulty over her rapidly enlarging pregnant belly – who placed it in Teddy's lap whilst the boy sipped his drink. He looked up to Harry again, and said quietly with whipped cream coating his top lip, "Can you tell me a story please, Uncle Harry?"
Harry considered his godson, then looked at Remus and Tonks. Just by looking them in the eyes he could see they didn't want any stories from his fourth year on to his seventh… Harry smiled as he remembered when Albus Dumbledore told him about the Mirror of Erised in his first year. So he took a deep breath, and began.
"Well, when I was in my first year at Hogwarts – before I had discovered the Map"– Harry had already recounted stories about his third year to Teddy on many other occasions –"I was looking through the Restricted Section in the library for any information about a person called Nicholas Flamel. And, purely by accident, I opened a screaming book, had to leg it, and found a room with a mirror in it. Except it wasn't any old mirror. No, this mirror I'm talking about is the rumoured-to-still-be-at-Hogwarts Mirror of Erised.
"Now, of course, I didn't know at the time that the Mirror showed you your heart's desire, but what I saw in the Mirror was my parents. I never knew mine because they- they died before I could know them properly. But, yeah, I saw my parents, and they were smiling at me. Mum placed her hand on my shoulder, and I tried to place mine over hers. But, of course, I just touched my shoulder.
"So joyous was I at finding another deep mystery of Hogwarts, I ran back to my dormitory and woke Ron – yes, your Uncle Ron – and told him to get underneath my Invisibility Cloak, quick. We went back to the room, and I said to Ron, "Look in the mirror! Do you see my parents?" He says, "No." I retort, with a, "Look, stand here! There. Now you see them, don't you?" He just looked thunderstruck as he saw his heart's desire.
"He said he saw himself holding the House Cup, the Quidditch Cup, and that he had Head Boy badge. Then he looked again, and said, "I'm even Quidditch Captain!" Then he turned to me and said, "Do you think this mirror shows us the future?" A little saddened, I reply, "How can it? My parents are dead…"
"I went back the next evening, and sat down with my parents again. Then Dumbledore – yes, the best Headmaster I told you about, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore – said something like, "Back again, Harry?" I turned around, and he told me all about the Mirror.
"But here's the funny bit – and I don't mean funny ha-ha, I mean funny as in strange – because I asked him what he saw when he looked into the Mirror, and he replied, "I? I see myself, holding a pair of woolly socks." He didn't, of course. He saw himself with his family, too. His dad, his mum, his brother and his sister. All of whom were dead to him. His brother was still alive, but his parents and sister were really dead."
Harry clapped his hands together, looked down at his watch, and said, "I ought to be going, Ginny's going to wonder where I've gotten to."
He stood up, then hesitated. He looked back at the Lupins, then said, "There's something I would like to ask you."
He sat back down again; a small pink blush had crept into his cheeks. "We haven't got a pageboy or a best man yet, and…"
He looked up at them, smiling. He turned to Remus. "Remus, would you do me the honour of being my best man?"
Remus's jaw dropped. "M-me? You've got to be joking…"
Harry rolled his eyes at Tonks, and said, "It's a yes or no question, Remus. Will you, or won't you?"
Remus looked at Tonks and Teddy, and spluttered, "I… well… Yes. I'll be best man."
Harry grinned, and turned to Teddy. "And how would my brilliant godson like to be pageboy?"
Teddy looked nervous. "What do I have to do?"
Harry smiled. "All you have to do is walk down the aisle to me and Ginny and hand the Ministry official our wedding rings."
Teddy creased his eyes, and looked at his parents. Remus was smiling at him proudly; Tonks brushed one of his bangs back from his face. Teddy turned back to Harry, and said, "I'll do it! I'll do it! I want to do it!"
Harry leaned forwards, and ruffled Teddy's hair. He stood up. "That's all for now. If we need anything else"– Harry winked at Tonks –"I'll just come by again and ask. Thank you so much."
A/N: Sorry it's not very long, but I'm submitting this for the NANO WRIMO (National Novel Writing Month) competition at my school, and I wanted it to be reasonably short - reasonably short meaning that no one dies of boredom just by reading it. So? Tell me what you think! Love it? Hate it? Just say in the comments. Speak into the silence...