Iridescence
by sweaterweather21

Chapter 1: Aqua

Written for the Poetic Colors Challenge on HPFC

Teddy Lupin

July 2, 2004

"Go, Ginny! I love you!" The old man cheered wildly, throwing his wrinkly arms in the air.

Harry just chuckled at his godson, who was currently sporting a potbelly, crinkly blue eyes, and thinning gray hair.

Changing his appearance like a random person was a game Teddy loved to play, especially when it involved being in public. Harry humored him for the most part; it was innocent and quite entertaining, at least for the time being. In a way it was a comfort knowing that some part of Tonks still existed in the little boy.

Teddy loved spending his weekends with Uncle Harry, especially when they went to Aunt Ginny's Quidditch matches. At only 5 years old, he already knew the names and position of all the starters on the Holyhead Harpies.

It was semi-final of the Quidditch World Cup, therefore, fairly exciting, but Teddy was only a five year old boy. He didn't have the longest attention span, and Harry could tell that he was starting to get restless. "Would you like to get some ice cream, Ted?" Harry offered.

The old man nodded his head and reached for Harry's hand as they descended the steps from the box seating headed for the sign promising "Immortal Ice Cream – It Never, Ever Melts!"

"What flavor would you like?" The vendor questioned, a big smile plastered on his face.

Teddy pretended to read the sign, while actually looking at the different colors of ice cream. Several minutes passed, and he was still indecisive. Finally, he made his choice.

"Banana!" "Dreamsicle!" "Wait, no, Rocky Road!"

The vendor kept smiling, but there was a distinct impression of confusion directed toward the excited old man in front of him. "So, what will it be?"

"All of them, please!"

The vendor looked toward Harry, recognizing that Harry took care of the old man. "Teddy!" Harry glanced toward his godson, "Pick one, please."

"But Uncle Harry," Teddy pouted, unhappy. "I can't decide."

"How about banana? That's your favorite flavor!"

"No!"

Luckily, Harry was a patient man. "Rocky Road, then?"

"No!"

"Dreamsicle?"

"No! All of them!"

Looking straight at Teddy, Harry replied calmly, "Teddy, for the last time, pick one. If you can't we just won't get any."

"Uncle Harry! NO!" Teddy screamed.

The vendor put down his scoop and sat down, realizing that this was beyond his influence. Harry led Teddy to the men's room, which was, thankfully, deserted.

"What was that all about, Ted?" Harry questioned gently.

Teddy's disguise melted off as the little boy rubbed his eyes. Crinkled skin slowly straightened out until it was smooth, gray hair thickened and changed to a sandy brown color, and the potbelly seemed to melt until it was only a slightly chubby tummy.

"Nothing." Teddy had inherited Harry's stubbornness. It didn't seem to matter that the two weren't related by blood.

"Do you want to go home?"

"No," Teddy replied, using as few words as possible.

Harry sighed, feeling the burden of being a parent. "Fine, we'll tell Ginny we saw her game when she gets home."

"Nooooo! I wanna stay and watch!"

"Sorry, Teddy. You're overtired, we're going home."

The moon was really big and bright tonight, Teddy decided as he stared out the window, purposefully not looking at Harry.

"Why were you so grumpy today, Teddy?"

Teddy didn't turn away from the window. He gave a little shrug, not wanting to tell his uncle the real reason why.

"Well maybe you could tell me why you're not an old man anymore?" Harry continued, oblivious to the fact that he had just answered his own question.

Teddy couldn't hold it in any longer. A small tear escaped the corner of his eye; he quickly wiped it away. "Something's wrong with me, Harry. The metamorphmagus isn't working!"

Harry looked confused momentarily before responding. "I'm sure that's not true, Ted. You're probably just overtired or sick or something. You should get some sleep."

There was a look in Teddy's eyes, though, that told Harry faintly recognized.

Teddy looked toward the window again, and then it dawned on Harry.

It was a full moon.

Clearly, Teddy had inherited something from his mother – his metamorphmagus powers. So it made sense that he would inherit something from his father – crankiness around the full moon.

Teddy could sense something was up, and he interrupted Harry's thought process. "What?" he asked, a bit irritated.

"Nothing, Teddy. You'll understand when you're older."

This only further enraged the little boy, and Harry took this as his cue to leave. "Goodnight, Teddy. I hope you feel better in the morning."

Quietly, Harry stood up, flicked the lights off, and closed the door halfway, just where Teddy preferred it. Pausing outside the room, he closed his eyes for a moment, trying to remember when things weren't so complicated and hoping that Teddy would be better in the morning.

True enough, Teddy was back to himself the next day, looking like a surfer with his shaggy blond hair, tan skin, and aqua eyes.

Author's Note: I'm officially addicted to entering challenges :P What can I say? Anyway, this is for the Poetic Colors Challenge on HPFC, and I had an idea to use the color as a prompt for each of the Next Gen. Most of these will also probably be combined with other challenges and competitions, so this should be an interesting mix of chapters ;D I can't promise that this will be updated on a regular schedule, but I can say that right now I'm working on Lucy Weasley next! Thanks for reading :)