James could immediately tell where Teddy was in the room. His neon pink hair was as much a show of remembrance for his mother, and by extension his grandmother, as it seemed a statement of defiance just by the way it stood out against the sea of black surrounding him. James separated from his family and made his way over.
"Hey Ted."
"'Lo Jim."
Teddy bent down to James ear and said, "It's nice these people coming to pay their respects and all, but this? She would have hated it. It's stupid. I was the one that was closest to her, but they all descended like a flock of vultures and now they're going around with the nerve to act heartbroken! It's not...it's not..."
"I know," said James, "but you just have to put up with it. It's what dad does when he's forced to go to those events that he hates. You have to grin and you have to bear it and realise that it's giving them just enough that they leave you—"
James was interrupted by a woman clutching a handkerchief and sniffling. She was wearing a stupidly large fur coat trimmed with black feathers and dotted with rhinestones. "I'm so sorry for your loss, dearie. She really was a good friend." Teddy smiled at her through gritted teeth. The old woman walked off making increasingly loud, and increasingly more fake, sobbing noises into her handkerchief. As if the woman had started off a chain reaction, more and more people came over to give their condolences to an ever-more frustrated Teddy. James got the distinct impression that someone had actually formed a queue. He started to play a game in his head, trying to guess which ones were here because they wanted to be, and which ones were here because of the free drinks. He got the distinct impression that the people in the latter group far outweighed the former. It was either that or Teddy's grandmother was friends with a bunch of raging alcoholics.
"—alone." finished James, eventually. "Who were they anyway?"
"No clue," Teddy said, reaching for a glass of champagne. James was sure it wasn't his first drink of the night, judging by the red flaming of his cheeks. He just watched as Teddy swallowed it down in one gulp, did the same to a second, and was about to do the same to a third when a hand appeared on his arm, stopping him.
"Now, what kind of godfather would I be if I let you have any more of that stuff?"
"Harry!" Teddy said, embracing him. "It feels like ages since I've last seen you."After patting Teddy on the back, which only caused Teddy to hug tighter, Harry gently extricated himself from his iron grip, staring meaningfully at his son.
"Oh! Is it time to go already?" said James, checking his watch. He was surprised to find that they'd been there for almost an hour.
"So long as Teddy doesn't mind leaving early," said Harry. At that point, a man walked up to Harry and greeted him warmly.
"Oh, I'm done with this place. My trunk's just upstairs," said Teddy to neither of them in particular.
"James, help Teddy with his luggage," said Harry, distracted by his conversation with the man.
"Harry, there's really no need—"
"I insist, you're family now." Harry not-so-gently pushed the two boys towards the back of the room, towards the stairs. "The car's just outside, James."
"OK Dad." As they climbed the stairs, James turned towards Teddy with a grin, and a wiggle of his eyebrows, "So, Ted, how's Victoire?"
"Oh that? She dumped me months ago for some guy named after your dad."
"What, Potter?"
"No, Harry, you eejit." James had to hide a smile, at Teddy's slight Cork accent that was becoming more and more prominent as the night drew on. Teddy opened the door onto the sole room he had called home for the past few weeks. The walls were bare and the four poster bed freshly made. The window was surprisingly large and overlooked a garden, which James would have seen as a riot of colour if it had been during the day. He was rather surprised at the state of the room, he would have thought Teddy would have made more of a mark on it. If it weren't for the trunk in the middle of the room, James wouldn't have been able to tell that anyone had stayed there at all.
"Well?" asked James.
"Well what?" said Teddy, mock offended, as he sat heavily down on the bed.
"Where's your other luggage? I can take this and a bag or two down by myself, but we might have to make more than one trip if you have a lot of stuff."
"What are you talking about? This is all of my luggage."
"Oh." The silence that earlier had felt companionable now grew awkward. "But what about all the toys Andromeda bought you? My mum always said she was afraid that you'd get spoilt rotten."
"I kept a few bits and pieces, but I sold the rest. I'm not one for sentimentality. All those toys were doing was taking up space sitting and gathering dust." James said nothing in reply. "Sorry, uh. That was a bit, um, strange wasn't it? Recently even the smallest amount of alcohol has been affecting me strangely and apparently it's removed my verbal filter so I'm just saying stuff without even actually thinking stuff through like how when I saw you today I thought – wait, I should probably stop there, shouldn't I?" With a great breath out, Teddy flopped backwards so he was half-laying on the bed.
James, nodded, an amused sparkle in his eye, "You thought what?"
"How short you must be because Lily's not that much shorter than you now." Teddy quickly clamped his hand over his mouth, and that only made James' grin wider.
" I'll tell you what, Ted, when it comes to alcohol, you're second only to Winky." This caused a stream of expletives, followed by a declaration from Teddy,
"I think you'll find that Winky is second only to me."
James picked up the trunk, chuckling, "Come on, let's get this down to the car."