So, this has been sitting in my account for months now. I got the idea forever and a decade ago, but I've been tweaking it here and there ever since, putting off actually uploading it. I could probably make this shorter than it is, but I just have to publish it now, it can't just sit there anymore.
Disclaimer: Alas, I do not own Harry Potter, the Lion King, or Mission Impossible.
Teddy could hear the magnificent fight going on inside the Potter's house before he even began walking up their walkway. He supposed that you could probably hear it from Diagon Alley, in the deepest, darkest corner of Gringotts. Judging from the trying desperately to be deep with the occasional unexpected puberty crack mid-word, he assumed that it was Albus and James. Again. As he neared the door, he winced as a shriller voice chimed in. Lily or Rose, although Lily was more likely because Rose would just hex them.
"You troll! How dare you take my broom without my permission! How dare you! You have no right, no right at all! You cretin, now I'll have to clean your germs off of the handle, less I get sick and die!" Upon entering, he could see Albus standing in front of the fireplace, his voice becoming distinctly more unmanly and more near the pitch of a banshee by the second. James was standing opposite him, a deep and moody scowl that could only be found on the face of a 16 year old etched across his features. He ran his hand through his just-messed-up-enough-to-be-on-purpose-for-attracting-poor-unsuspecting-witches-that-are-not-immune-to-the-powers-of-the-tousled-look hair, sneering a particularly Malfoy comparable sneer that he must have picked up from Scorpius.
"Oh, shut up Albus, Merlin, stop sounding like such a girl! You're even worse than Malfoy! For crying out loud, get over it and stop being such a-" but both of them were cut off as their dearly loved but decidedly over dramatic sister stood up.
"SHUT UP!" blinking, they both looked over at her, startled. She sighed, flipping her thick red hair over her shoulder. "That's better. Now, have either of you even cared to notice that one of your favorite people in the world in standing in the doorway?" Rolling her eyes, she gave a deeply angsty groan at her two moronic brothers.
"Hagrid?" James's eyes lit up.
"Mr. Malfoy?" slipped out of Albus's mouth, earning him surprised and somewhat concerned looks from his siblings and a deeply hurt look from Teddy that he was bouncing back and forth between Albus and James.
"I'm sorry, but did I hear wrong, or did you just say that you're favorite person is Mr. Malfoy ?" Rose stuck her head in the doorway, eyes wide in disbelief. "Oh, Teddy, good to see you!" she looked up and smiled at him before entering the room, a thick book tucked under her arm. Albus turned red, giving a sheepish expression.
"He's not my favorite person, just one of my favorite people-oh, shut up James! And, I mean, he's really helped with the whole coming-to-terms-with-being-sorted-into-Slytherin-thing, cause it's not like Dad or any of the rest of the family could help with that. Well, I mean, before you got there Lils, now I'm not as lonely. I mean lonely at home, there I have Scorp and Rose of course, but you're not in Slytherin, but-" Albus rambled, now even the tips of his ears were red Teddy noted. James was giving him an appraised look as he tried to judge his mental health (probably at the same level as the rest of the family), Lily had blanked out at the mention of Scorpius and was now standing there with a cloudy-eyed expression, giving a sigh of longing every few seconds, while Rose had returned to her book, lips pursed.
"Still," James began slowly, "I still can't believe one of your favorite people is a Malfoy," Lily gave him a sharp look, while Rose merely sighed. Albus chose a glare, his lower lip poking out in a rather undignified fashion.
"You don't seem to have a problem with the Malfoys when Mrs. Malfoy comes around," he replied snarkily, causing Lily to cackle and the corner of Rose's lip threatening to twitch upward into a smile. Now James was blushing, which clashed wonderfully with his bright orange Chudley Cannon's shirt.
"I have no idea what you're talking about!" he protested.
"Ohhhh, , what a pleasure it is to see you! You look absolutely lovely tonight! Can I take your coat?" Albus imitated in a high-pitched voice that caused Lily to laugh in a most un-supportive fashion and Rose to smirk, even though all her stubbornly Ravenclaw genes (inherited from her mother, of course. The sorting hat was still most unhappy about being talked out of placing her in Ravenclaw and had plunked Rose in there just to spite her) were protesting that smirking was reserved for the Slytherins. Before James could argue back, they were interrupted as the smell of...well, the smell of something that must be food wafted in.
"Alright you little gremlins, lunch is ready! Although I'm not sure any of you deserve anything, you know, maybe it should be saved for Hugo and I, considering he was such a dear and helped me out while the rest of you stood in here and yelled, for Merlin's sake..." Ginny was standing there, blocking the doorway to the kitchen, Hugo standing right beside her and wearing a smug expression. If any of the kids sorting had surprised him, it had been Hugo's. James was definitely a Gryffindor, Albus was obviously Slytherin once you really thought about it, Rose had to be a Ravenclaw, there was no way she could be anywhere else, and Lily fitted in nicely in Slytherin with her little blackmail folder and devious smile. But Hugo, despite his baby face and unsure expression, was just as cunning as his cousin. Which was why all were astonished when he was put in Hufflepuff. Not that Teddy wasn't proud (and relieved) that someone else had finally been put in his house of course, it's just, well, if it was going to happen he would have expected Albus at the most. But maybe that was part of the cunning-ness of it all, the fact that no one ever suspected the Hufflepuff. Ever. Teddy knew from many a times he'd blamed something on a helpless nearby Gryffindor, and naturally the teachers believed him because who would believe a Hufflepuff and honestly, trusting a Gryffindor when it came to pranks was practically unheard of since the legendary days of Fred and George (they still hadn't removed a bit of the swamp, although Teddy suspected that was partly out of respect).
"But mother dearest, without food we'll slowly die agonizing deaths on this very carpet, and our last words won't be full of love for our families; no! Instead, they'll be pitiful plees for food that will haunt you for the rest of your life as you watch your dear children-and niece-whither up and turn to dust. And you'll go insane and spend the rest of your days at St. Mungo 's, saying "why didn't I just give them one last meal, my darling angels?'" and, just in case any of them were missing that little dramatic flair, Lily then collapsed on the floor, hand on forehead and an expression of despair on her face. Ginny's eye twitched.
"All of you, get in here and sit down before I change my mind. Oh, Teddy, glad you're here. Come and help me," Ginny's hand grabbed his arm as she dragged him into the kitchen.
"Whatever happened to 'Oh, hello Teddy dear! I'm so very very glad you've bestowed your presence on our home! Would you like anything to drink?'" Teddy complained as he waved his wand, watching glasses fill with ice. Ginny reached over and smacked the back of his head-hard.
"That ended when you got your own house key," she replied, raising one skinny eyebrow. Teddy gave her a hurt look to which she rolled her eyes, grumbling about ungrateful teenagers, ignoring Teddy's protests that he was 23 and not a teen thank you very much.
"Teddy!" he looked up right as Hermione hugged him, her hair smothering his face. She stepped back, smiling. "Planning on joining us for lunch?" she asked, grinning. Teddy sighed.
An hour and a half with only two minor injuries, one stray jinx, and three-and-a-half screaming matches later, lunch was finally over. The kids flocked outside to the backyard, while Teddy stayed back on the porch with Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny.
"So," Ron began, his arm around Hermione's waist, "the little ferret still coming around?" Hermione looked up from the paper she was reading and sighed, reminding Teddy of Rose.
"Ron, you know those three are best friends!" Ginny exclaimed, shaking her head. "You should know," she said, a devious smile coming on her face, "it's almost exactly like you and Hermione and Harry. Even down to the fact that he's going to get together with Rose," the second the words left her mouth, they began to argue.
"Rose? Are you serious? He annoys the hell out of her! No, no, definitely not," Harry said firmly.
"Harry's right," Hermione began, pushing her hair back behind her ears, "he's not going to get together with Rose. He's going to get together with Lily," she smiled as Harry stammered and Ron started laughing. Ginny sighed.
"Lily would faint-dramatically of course, complete with the long speech and lone tear-if she heard you say that. She absolutely adores the boy. Not that he notices, of course. Kinda reminds me of someone," she glared at Harry, who blushed.
"I did not ignore you," he stated firmly, "I simply didn't think of you in that way. I came around eventually," he finished softly, leaning down to kiss her.
"James! That's not fair!" they all looked up as Lily stood there on the ground, her tiny hand clamped around her broom, squealing at her older brother who was flying above and snickering, quaffle in hand. Albus was zooming around in lazy circles, yawning, while Rose was sitting firmly on the ground, looking up from her book every few minutes and rolling her eyes. Hugo was plopped down beneath a nearby tree, suspiciously scribbling something on a piece of parchment and looking up all shifty-eyed every five seconds.
"Teddy, what do you think?" Ginny asked, propping her head on her hand. Teddy yanked at his collar as they all looked at him, put-off by the sudden attention.
"Well, I think Ginny's right. The three of them-Rose, Scorp, and Albus-are kinda like how Ron, Harry, and Hermione used to be, and still are. So really, I think it's a matter of who Scorp is going to follow, Ron or Harry. He could end up with his best friend's little sister-" he sent a knowing look towards Harry, who was grinning-" or he could end up with one of his best friends," he gave Ron a Look. There was a moment of silence after he stopped speaking, then Ginny started clapping.
"Well said!" she declared, although Teddy could have swore she leaned over and whispered in Ron's ear "he's still gonna end up with Rose,".
Growing up, Teddy had heard plenty of stories from Harry. He could distinctly remember hearing about Malfoy Manor, and the large, imposing house with the albino peacocks and dark shadows everywhere. But as he walked up to the gate now, you could barely tell it was the same place.
The dark gate was twisted into complicated patterns, emeralds and diamonds stuck in clumps everywhere (Teddy knew from experience that trying to grab one of the jewels would result in some pretty nasty hexes). The dark trees had been replaced with blooming cherry blossom trees and suspicious looking fruit that Aunt Tori refused to tell him anything about, except not to touch them unless he wanted to wake up two weeks later halfway around the world with no memory of what had happened.
"Malfoy Manor," the gate declared, trying to sound mysterious but coming off like it needed to cough. "State your purpose," Teddy rolled his eyes.
"Uncle Draco, open up!" the gate cleared it's throat. Teddy sighed. "Please?" the gate cackled, then swung open. He stepped in, being careful not to step off the path into the practically knee-high grass. The Malfoys may have rejected their old Deatheater ways (as far as Teddy knew), but there was no telling what Aunt Tori had lurking in the grass, waiting to try and bite some poor unsuspecting witch or wizard's leg off (although, it was their fault for going to Malfoy Manor uninvited). As he neared the house, he was reminded again of how much it had changed. Previously dark and downright frightening, now it was bright and elegant, but still managed to hold onto that imposing, pureblood feel.
Before Teddy could even knock on the door (with the silver-and-emerald snake knocker, of course), it swung open to reveal a little house elf. "Master Teddy!" it squeaked. "How lovely it is to see you!" He grinned.
"It's good to see you too, Minnie," he said, following the house elf as she led him to the kitchen.
"Master Draco and Mistress Astoria are in here, preparing for guests," she squeaked. "Mistress won't even let Minnie touch the food, but Master Draco made sure Minnie made extras, just in case..." she mumbled to herself, wringing her hands before she disappeared. Teddy walked into the kitchen only to find Astoria bent over their oven, frowning and poking something with a fork, and Draco leaning on the counter behind her, reading the newspaper.
"Teddy-OW! Bloody hell that's hot!" Astoria grimaced as she brought her hand out of the oven, frowning at a red place on her wrist. Draco immediately put down the newspaper and gently took her arm, cradling her hand in his.
"And this is why cooking is not for you," he muttered under his breath as he touched his wand to the red spot, watching as it disappeared. She looked up sharply.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, nothing," he said quickly. "There, is that better?" he asked, holding up her hand and kissing the previously burned spot. She stood on tip-toe and kissed him on the lips, her arms encircling his neck. As the kiss deepened, Teddy suddenly felt very uncomfortable. Was the room getting hotter, or was it his imagination? He cleared his throat, causing Astoria to pull away, her face red.
"So, Teddy, what brings you to Malfoy Manor?" she asked causally, waving her wand so that a bubbling casserole flew out of the oven and onto the counter.
"Just...visiting," he said nonchalantly. "Aunt Tori, why are you cooking?" he said, watching as she scowled at the casserole as if it had caused her a deep personal harm.
"Yes, why?" Uncle Draco muttered under his breath as he sipped from a bottle of Firewhiskey. Astoria frowned at him.
"Stop setting a bad example," she chided, taking the bottle out of his hand.
"Hey!" he protested as she took a sip herself before tapping it with her wand and vanishing it. She looked back up at Teddy.
"Daphne and Blaise are coming over with the children, and Theo and Tracy said they might stop by with their little angels," she explained, admiring her casserole. She pushed back her dark hair, then looked up at the clock and swore.
"If you'll excuse me Teddy, it seems I've lost track of time and must go get ready now. Can't have anyone seeing me dressed like this!" she said, tugging at her yoga pants (she had been introduced to them during the fourth month of her pregnancy when slacks just weren't an option) before she disappeared with a pop. Draco rolled his eyes, then turned to glare at the casserole. He waved his wand, making a fork appear mid-air, then took a tiny sliver of the bubbling mess, chewing slowly. It didn't take long before he started gagging.
"Ugh, horrible! Minnie!" he rasped, mid-coughing fit. The house elf came out of no where, peering up with concerned eyes.
"Yes Master Draco?" she said, clutching her hands together. "Did it work this time?" she added hopefully.
"Does it look like it worked?" he said scornfully, glaring at her. His expression softened as she blinked,clueless. "No, Minnie, it did not work. Do you have the extra?" he asked. She nodded, her ears flopping.
"Minnie will get it!" she said, leaving with a loud pop, only to return a second later, clutching an identical casserole in the exact same green-and-silver dish. She toddled over to the counter, and, like a true professional, made Astoria's casserole disappear, replacing it with hers. "Is that all Master requires from Minnie?" she asked.
"Yes," Draco said, nodding. "Thank you Minnie,". She bowed, then left. Teddy looked at Draco and blinked.
"You saw nothing," Draco insisted.
"But, you replaced her casserole," Teddy protested.
"Yes," Draco said.
"But she doesn't know that," Teddy added.
"No," Draco raised an eyebrow.
"But, that's like lying to her!" Teddy said.
"No, it is lying to her," Draco corrected.
"That's not a way to have a healthy relationship," Teddy chided. Draco snorted.
"You know nothing about women," his uncle said. Before Teddy could reply, his aunt waltzed back into the room, having traded in her yoga pants and "Slytherins do it better" shirt for a white lace dress that Draco was staring at.
"Scorpius, come downstairs!" she yelled, getting a muffled grunt in return. She rolled her eyes just as a request to enter came in. Draco picked up his wand, grinning.
"Malfoy Manor, state your purpose," he purred. Astoria rolled her eyes.
"You enjoy that far too much," she said, grinning as he put an arm around her.
"Astoria! Tell that husband of yours to let us in before we blast this bloody thing open! And-" Draco rolled his eyes, flicking his wand in the air (Teddy supposed he had just opened the gate).
"They're heerrreee," she said, cackling at Draco's pained expression (she had a deeply rooted fascination with Muggle horror movies, which she occasionally forced her husband to watch). She looked at Teddy. "Feel like staying for lunch?"
"And then she has the nerve to ask me whether I would be in Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Honestly? Do I look like a Ravenclaw?," Olivia flipped her abnormally shiny brown hair over her shoulder and took another bite of cheesecake, sighing. Teddy checked his watch. Had it really already been two hours since he had first arrived? Granted, there weren't as many spells being thrown as there had been at the Potter's, but what was lacking in curses was made up for in the snide little jabs at one another. Maybe it was a Pureblood thing. Once a Pureblood, always a Pureblood, right? Or at least that's the idea that Draco always clung to whenever he was forced to do some dreadful Muggle thing with Astoria, like roller-blading or bowling.
"Ravenclaw wouldn't have been that bad," Scorpius protested, shaking his white hair out of his eyes. "Rose is in it," he added. Olivia gave him a pointed look, while Leo Zabini (his dear cousin) snorted.
"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly why, according to our own Scorpius Malfoy, Ravenclaw isn't 'that bad' " he said, smirking. His sister Delilah snickered gleefully, reminding Teddy more of Astoria than Daphne.
Since Blaise had that smoldering-sexy thing going for him and Daphne had the classic -blonde-and-curvy traits, it was natural that their kids would be gorgeous. Both had naturally tan skin and the same cocky grins (from their dad, of course), and, oddly enough, both had the Greengrass eyes (a naturally dominant trait). Leo was 16 and a natural Slytherin, strutting about the castle and charming poor witches with his undeniably good looks. Delilah was the same age as Lily, and got along very well with her; Teddy supposed it had something to do with the whole "I'm-the-innocent-one-in-the-family-but-not-really-mwahahaha" thing they both had going for them. But, whatever it was, it meant that the two were inseparable (which was both good and bad for the rest of them).
"Oh really? Because I thought that the reason Leo Zabini thought Hufflepuff 'was a noble house to be in' was because of a certain dark-haired witch named Gabrielle Walters?" Leo opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Nathaniel.
"Ooo, need some ice for that burn?" he said, grinning. Olivia sighed dramatically. Olivia was 12 and quite the snob, if Teddy did say so (he guessed that Theo and Tracy doted on her too much as a child). It didn't help her over-inflated ego that she was pretty and smart enough to rival even Rose and Scorp. The only reason she was in Slytherin was because she was a compulsive liar, though Scorp found it "adorable" (Teddy often noted that his godson doted on Miss Nott the way that he himself did Lily). Her brother, on the other hand, was the first Nott in centuries to break the "Slytherin only" tradition, although Teddy wasn't that surprised that he was put in Hufflepuff. He was sweet and loved everything Muggle-related (Theo blamed Astoria for that), and was the polar opposite of his twin sister.
"Wonder where he learned that phrase," Theo said dryly, giving Astoria The Look, which she pointedly ignored. Daphne fluffed her strawberry-blond curls and sipped her tea daintily, oblivious.
"No idea," Scorpius said nonchalantly, taking a dignified bite of pie. "Hey, Teddy, have you seen the new Mission Impossible movie? Not as good as the previous two, but it held its own I would say," he said seriously. Draco had a sudden choking fit, having been drinking his coffee. Astoria patted his hand, trying (unsuccessfully) to hide her smirk. Scorpius may have looked nearly identical to Draco (there were only minor differences-Scorpius's white-blond hair was a tad thicker, his skin a shade tanner, and his grey eyes had a hint of Greengrass green fighting its way through) but his personality was more his mother. He had her personal talent of witty insulting remarks, along with her unfortunately short temper. It also seemed that he had inherited her fascination with Muggles, namely Muggle movies. This wasn't helped by the Potter/Weasley clan, who, upon hearing that Draco was going a tad more insane on the inside every time Scorpius tried to bring up how much he loved Muggles and how neat and brilliant they were, made it their personal mission to take Scorpius to every Muggle party, fair, and theater in sight (except the circus, because, as Teddy's overly dramatic godson put it, he "didn't do clowns"). Even Ron made sure the kid saw The Lion King on ice.
"No, in fact I haven't," Teddy said, causing Theo, Blaise, and Draco to let out a unanimous groan and the women to roll their eyes.
"Great, thanks a lot Teddy, now he'll never shut up," Delilah hissed as Olivia narrowed her eyes dangerously. Teddy sighed as Scorpius's eyes lit up.
"Really? Well there's this really cool part.."
Teddy checked his watch. He had left an hour and thirty minutes later than he had planned, thanks to Scorpius feeling the need to discuss (in great detail) every Muggle spy movie ever made, and then someone got the great idea to try and play Monopoly (ever since Astoria introduced Daphne and Blaise to it, they had all been hooked, going as far as to gamble rather large sums of their family inheritance). The fun-filled game had took a sharp turn for the worst when Leo and Delilah had started cheating in a rather obvious fashion, which revealed that Tracy and Astoria had been scamming everyone all along (but then they all figured out that everyone except Nathaniel had been playing dirty, so apologies about the hexes thrown were given and all was forgiven).
A cool breeze was blowing, causing the wind chimes to swing softly. Teddy closed his eyes and took a deep breath at the peacefulness of the moment. Which was quickly interrupted.
"Teddy! What are you doing here? Wait, why am I even asking that?" he opened his eyes to see a short thin girl grinning and running towards him. "I've missed you!" she squealed, hugging him.
"I've missed you too Dominique," he said as she leaned back, looking up at him. Freckles were scattered across her skin, wisps of pale red hair escaped from her tight braid and hanging around her face. She was dressed all in brown dried dragon hide-dragon jacket, dragon boots, dragon gloves. He raised his now magenta eyebrows. "I like the tough biker look," he commented, causing her to smile bigger. "How's Romania treating you? How's Charlie?"
"Good, good, both good," she said, waving her hand. "Although, working with dragons is a tad harder than one may think. Look," she pointed to a thin raised scar above her right eyebrow. She grinned broadly. "My first war wound, eh?" she said, winking.
"Teddy? Is that you?"
"Yes, Louis, it's me," Teddy said, shaking his head as Louis ran over, nearly tripping on his way. Louis stopping right in front of him, running his fingers through his powder blue hair and causing it to stand straight up. He was wearing a matching hoodie underneath a leather jacket, where what appeared to be some sort of flame tattoo on his arm was peeking through a rip on the sleeves (probably deliberate, knowing Louis).
"I thought you were going for orange?" Teddy questioned, nodding towards his hair, which was now lying down flat. Louis shrugged.
"Blue is a much more appropriate choice when it comes to protesting the unfair stereotypes of Veela," he explained. "Besides," he said, leaning in closer, "the ladies like the blue better," he said, winking, causing his sister to roll her eyes.
"Ooo, you're such an inspiration," she said sarcastically. "He likes to pretend all this hair-dying and tattoo-getting is him going through his customary rebellious stage, but really it's so people will stop saying he's a girl," she confided in Teddy.
"Hey!" her brother cried. "No one ever thought I was a girl!" she patted his shoulder comfortingly.
"Yes they did," she said. "But a very pretty girl," she said, as if that was some source of comfort. He opened his mouth to say something, but instead just glared at her.
"Now, I know Teddy didn't come all this way to come see us, so why don't we let Teddy continue on his journey?" she said, grinning knowingly. "She's out back," she whispered to Teddy, her hand still clutching her brother's arm.
The smell of vanilla and fresh flowers wafted through the breeze, causing Teddy to close his eyes momentarily. Not that he didn't absolutely adore his rather eccentric family, but they were all a bit mad, and a moment of peace and quiet was just what he-
"Teddy?" his eyes flew open. Or, you know, peace and quiet could wait. "What are you doing here?" Victoire raised her blond eyebrows, blue eyes wide in surprise. Teddy smiled, leaning in to kiss her.
"Just stopped by to see you. I mean, I already saw everyone else in the family, figured I might as well stop by," he joked. A small smile played at the corner of her lips as her eyebrows raised.
"Oh, is that so? A last minute stop after everyone else, am I?" she teased, leaning against his chest. His hands found her tiny delicate ones as he grinned.
"No no, definitely not," he reassured her. "In fact, you happen to be the most important stop of the day," she tilted her head.
"And how exactly am I the most important stop of the day?" she asked, her fingers lazily winding pieces of his orange hair. Teddy took a deep breath and cleared his throat.
"Because you're always the most important thing to me," he said, causing her cheeks to flush a dainty pink the way they always did whenever he said something romantic and serious. "And you will always be the most important thing to me. You know, it stills blows my mind how someone as beautiful and perfect as you could have possibly stayed with someone as screwed up as me," she opened her mouth to say something, but he continued. "But when I think about it, it makes sense to me. We're suppose to be together. That's just how it is, you know? Like, peanut butter and jelly," he clumsily explained as she grinned up at him. Great. Now he was the one blushing. "And when two things go together that perfectly, you just don't screw it up. I mean, that's just the way it is. Together, forever," the smile dropped off her face, her eyes wide.
"Teddy," she whispered, "where exactly are you going with this?" He cleared his throat, reaching into his pocket.
"Victoire, I want you to be with me. Forever," he said softly, dropping to one knee, a tiny gold ring held in between his fingers. "Will you marry me?"
There was a slight pause as Teddy held his breath, waiting for her to sneer and shake her head. Her mouth was wide open, her eyes big as as quaffles.
She suddenly shrieked, throwing herself at him. He fumbled for a moment, trying to be sure not to lose hold of the ring as she knocked him on his back, still kissing him. She leaned back, grinning broadly.
"Is that a yes?" he asked, as she held up her hand for him to slip the ring (a delicate design of diamonds and turquoise jewels) onto her finger.
"That's a yes," she said, smiling as she kissed him.
As long as it took me to write this, the least you can do is leave a review. Love it, hate it, just say something!