Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Herbology Assignment 10
Task: Write about the theme of rapid growth. Whether this relates to a character, a plot, an idea, an inanimate object, etc., is up to you.
Extra Prompts:
3. (colour) brilliant green
W.C. 394
Forgiving
A seven year old boy with peculiar turquoise hair stood in front of his biological parents' graves, thinking about the last lesson he learnt from them.
Until earlier this year, he used to struggle hard to keep his hair a normal shade of shaggy-brown, when his mum—Ginny—had told him his mother Nymphadora Tonks had always kept her hair in her favourite bubblegum pink colour. The next time he had been here, he had learnt the important lesson of 'Be yourself,' as he realised that his father never tried to use magic to hide his lycanthropy scars.
The two headstones that lay side by side in the memorial park had always served as a growth catalyst for him.
He stood there, gazing at the grey marble, thinking what else would have been incorporated in his personality by the time he left the place. Yes, Teddy was mature, far more mature than any other child his age.
He read and reread the phrase that was written on his father's headstone, "It is the quality of one's convictions that determines success, not the number of followers." He had read those words hundreds of times; he hadn't yet understood what they meant.
They're for another time, he told himself.
Turning around, he walked to where his mum and dad were standing.
"Hey," Harry said, his eyes betraying his uncertainty.
"Dad, did you and my father ever speak of me?" Teddy asked him, looking straight in his brilliant-green eyes. The very same eyes lost their focus, as Harry's mind swept back into the war days. He repeated the story Teddy had heard many times before, but there was something new, which will be the centre of Teddy's thoughts for days to come.
Harry chanced a glance at the figure of Remus Lupin. "And Remus, your son…"
With a sad smile on his face, Remus said, "Others will tell him what his mother and father died for. One day, he'll understand."
Tears started to prickle at Teddy's eyes; he hadn't yet forgiven his parents for getting themselves killed. But as he stood there, watching the graveyard formed because of a foolish dark wizard, he realised his parents had died only to give him a chance to live in a better place.
Wiping his tears away, he hugged Harry and Ginny tightly, muttering, "I love you, mum and dad."