Family
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Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted. ~Paul Pearshall
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"Papa! Papa! Get UP! Auntie Hermione sent some letters!" A girl shouted from the doorway.
Teddy groaned from his place in bed then looked at the time, seeing it he stuffed his head under the pillow.
"Not now Niamh it's seven in the morning on a bloody Saturday...Give them to your mother." He mumbled drifting back into dream land.
"OW!" He yelped as his wife smacked his arm.
"Don't you dare drag me into this Teddy Lupin!" Victoire growled from her side of the bed with her head face down in the pillow. He glared at her, trying not to pout.
"Oh honestly! The two of you are so embarrassing! You act like babies!"
Teddy and Victoire looked to each other and shared a secret triumphant grin as their youngest rolled her eyes.
"Ok, I'm up. What did Auntie Hermione send?"
"Dunno, they came with that stuck up owl of her's, Angel or something. Honestly! What is a monster like THAT doing with a name like 'Angel'? 'Demon is MUCH more fitting."
Teddy ignored the rest of her prattle when it showed no sign of stopping and summoned the letters from her hand.
She continued to talk as if nothing was different.
Beside him, Victoire sat up as well to see what their old friend had sent.
Teddy gasped.
"What is it?" She asked trying to see what was so special about them.
"I don't believe it!" She gasped recognizing it.
"I had forgotten all about this thing!" Teddy whispered handing his wife the one with her name on it.
"Me too, though it's not surprising...it's been what...30 years since we wrote these for the time capsule?" She asked.
Teddy nodded slowly.
"What is it?" Niamh asked from her place still in the doorway. Her parents had a spell up to keep their children out unless there was an emergency so she couldn't go in and pester them for answers.
Teddy and Victoire personally thought the spell was one of Hermione's greatest spell creations.
"Why don't we go downstairs? That way we can all see them." Victoire said standing.
Teddy hesitated, he wasn't sure that he wanted his children to hear what he had said so long ago...
"Teddy?" His wife asked from the doorway, she looked concerned.
"I'm coming." He said with a reassuring smile. She returned it and continued down stairs.
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By the time he made it down, Victoire had some how gathered all eight of their children in one room...normally it was quite a challenge. He grinned at the thought, it never stopped amusing him.
Despite it being her father who was the Weasley, she had inherited the Weasley Curse...fertility. No matter what spell or potion they used the kids just kept coming! Not that he minded, he was an only child and both of them had wanted a big family. They hadn't minded.
He looked at the letter in his hand. He had come a long way from being that sad and angry teenager.
He was a husband and a father. He had a nice home and there was plenty of food. He was one of the worlds most successful potion's master and the man who found the cure to being a werewolf. His wife was also very successful as a magical ambassador between the magical and muggle worlds.
They were currently undergoing a merging.
He looked over what he considered the greatest treasures in his life, his children.
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Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future. ~Gail Lumet Buckley
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First, there was 25 year old Fredrick but unless he was in trouble they called him Fred, he was the current Potions master at Hogwarts and was quickly becoming the most favored potion's master in the school's history.
Then there were the twins, Fabian and Gideon, they were 22 and worked with there uncle George in his joke shop.
His gaze moved onto the triplets then, 19 year olds Emrys, Rhys, and Caileen. They were completely different in nearly everything but at the same time they were extremely close and protective of each other. Emrys was now a junior healer in St. Mungo's while Rhys was the Herbology Apprentice at Hogwarts. Caileen was the oddest of all and it was always amusing to see the faces some people made when they found out she, a beautiful blonde haired blue eyed petit looking girl, worked as a magical tattoo and piercing artist.
Seventeen year old Helen was in her last year at Hogwarts, a strategist like her Uncle Ron with her Uncle Harry's passion for fighting. She was planning on becoming an Auror.
Then, his sweet little Niamh...she was 13 now and the only thing she was really worried about was her appearance and whatever 'Teen-Witch Weekly' had to say. The editor, Rita Skeeter, had made his life a living hell for the past two years.
He looked back at the letter and couldn't stop the shame that welled up in his chest.
"Dad? What did Aunt Hermione send?" Fred asked.
Teddy looked up at his oldest and held up the letter.
"A letter...I wrote it to myself about 30 years ago..."
"Yourself? Why would you write to yourself? Niamh asked. Helen rolled her eyes, "Maybe if you shut up once in awhile he would have the time to explain why." She snapped at her little sister.
Niamh stuck her tongue out at her sister in reply.
"Girls!" their mother scolded, immediately halting all further disagreement.
"Sorry Mum." They mumbled.
Teddy suppressed a grin and continued. "As I was saying...I wrote it to myself for Aunt Hermione's time capsule. Every one wrote one I think...She wanted us to show our families when we got them back."
"Well then! Hand them over!" Emrys said grinning. Rhy's reached over and tried to grab his while Caileen tried for their mother's.
He held his out of reach quickly.
"I'm not sure that I want any of you to read this...I was very bitter in my youth. I'm extremely...ashamed of what I've said."
"Oh come on Honey! It can't be THAT bad! Let the kid's read it." Victoire said smiling as they giggled over her letter.
"MOM! You had a crush on Uncle Harry!" Niamh gasped.
Victoire blushed and tried to get her letter back while everyone laughed. Teddy snorted.
"Dad?" Fred asked. "Come on Dad, we aren't going to hate you." He said with a teasing smile.
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Don't hold your parents up to contempt. After all, you are their son, and it is just possible that you may take after them.~Evelyn Waugh
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-sigh- "Here you go son." He said passing him the letter. Fred took it smiling, but his smile faded as he started to read.
Every one turned to look at him and got silent as a single tear fell down Fred's face. Once finished, he looked at his father helplessly and let the others have a look at it.
Victoire, a bit worried about what made her children so somber, took the letter when they all finished.
"Teddy..." She asked quietly.
"Teddy...do you really mean all of this?" She asked.
He looked at all of them with a small, sad smile.
"I used to." He told them truthfully, taking back the letter an looking down at the cold words he had written.
"What about now?" Fred asked carefully, eyeing his father curiously.
Teddy considered the question carefully.
"No, not anymore. I learned a very valuable lesson not long after I wrote that, the same lesson that every parent learns."
"What's that?" Helen asked quietly. He chuckled and pulled her into a one armed hug.
"Becoming a parent is the most terrifying and wonderful thing that anyone can ever do." He stated as he looked at them, his children, proudly.
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Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body.~Elizabeth Stone
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"It has it's up's and it's downs but trying to make the world a better and safer place for their children to grow up in is the one thing any loving parent will attempt to do for the rest of their lives...even if it costs them their lives."
He swallowed, trying to get past the lump that had suddenly developed in his throat.
"My Mother and Father died to make the world better for me...for all of you...and it may have taken me 21 years to figure it out but the moment I held you," he looked to Fred, "in my arms I knew...I knew that I would do the same. I would die for all my children...for my wife." He looked to a tearful Victoire.
"Oh Teddy." She whispered before hugging him fiercely. He wrapped his arms around her and held her for a moment before opening his arms out for the rest of them. They didn't need further prompting before launching forward and joining the hug.
Teddy smiled, hugging all of them before drawing his wand and aiming it at the letter and with a quick letter, sent it up into flames as his family, his greatest achievement in life, watched.
Hundred's of miles away, in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts an older woman smiled as she watched them from her crystal scrying ball.
"It was successful then?" A man asked as he noticed her smile. The woman laughed.
"Yes, indeed it was! I told you it would work!" She replied.
The other man in the room snorted.
"Of course it worked Harry! You should know better than to argue with Hermione...she always wins!"
Harry growled at him. "That's Headmaster Potter to you, Ronald. Don't you have something to do that doesn't involve brown nosing?" He said playfully. "Besides, you were just as skeptical about it when Hermione put that jinx on the parchment."
"I'm still not exactly sure what the jinx was supposed to do." Ron said.
"Oh Ron, it's a simple Jinx! I still haven't figured out how you became the bloody Head of the Magical Law Enforcement!" Hermione said exasperated.
Ron and Harry shared an amused look as she ranted after banishing her crystal.
"It was designed to compel Teddy to write what he didn't want to admit to or about himself. He didn't even remember what he wrote until he held the letter again. Now he can start to really heal."
Ron smiled and kissed her gently before moving to the floo. "Your a genius, now lets get home to our own kiddies. Rose is bringing that new boyfriend of hers and I wanna...talk to him." He said before quickly jumping into the flames.
Harry laughed as Hermione followed instantly screaming "Ronald Weasley! Don't you dare harm that boy! I want Grandchildren!"
Once he settled down he gazed at the wall to his right, it was made up of a huge mural. The ones who fought and died in the war smiled back at him. His eyes sought out a familiar group.
His parents, Sirius, Remus and Tonks smiled at him. He looked at Remus and Tonks.
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In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.
~Alex Haley
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"You've got a fine boy...he takes after you more than he knows." he told them. The pair nodded smiled happily at him. Harry laughed as Sirius and his dad slung arms around Remus's neck and mussed up the man's hair while Tonks and his mother stood back and laughed.
Harry then turned to the picture on his desk. His own children and grandchildren smiled back at him and waved. He looked at his watch and smiled again.
"Looks like it's time for me to see my own little monsters." He whispered to himself as he stood and walked to the floo without a second glance back.
If he had, he would have seen the proud smiles that adorned the faces of his own parents.
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Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family. ~Anthony Brandt
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You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu
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At the end of the day, a loving family should find everything forgivable.
~Mark V. Olsen and Will Sheffer
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I hoped that everyone enjoyed this! I made this for all the under-appreciated Moms and Dads out there!
Please review this, I'd like to hear some feedback!