AN: Prompts will be displayed at the bottom to avoid them potentially giving away things.

Teddy Lupin and the Non-Hugging Blonde

AlwaysPadfoot

i. age five

Today we went to Aunty Narcissa's house for tea. Aunty Narcissa had a huge house, which was great to play hide and seek in — except no one played hide and seek with me.

When we got there, Aunty had a visitor. He had bright blonde hair, like Aunty, but more yellow than white. I thought he might play hide and seek, but Gran said I had to be polite, so I had to wait until the adults had stopped talking. Aunty said the man's name was Draco and that he was my cousin.

The adults had coffee and I got blackcurrant squash. Aunty knew I liked it more than orange squash so she always kept some in her cupboard just for me.

When Draco went to the toilet, I wandered off into the hallway after him, and when he came out I reached up and touched his arm.

"Will you play hide and seek with me, please?" I asked.

He must have been thinking about it, because he went quiet and Gran said when people were quiet they were thinking. She thought a lot.

Draco made a funny noise, looked behind him like he didn't want anyone to hear him, and then spoke: "One game."

I bounced up and down excitedly. "Can I hide?"

"Fine."

I ran as fast I could up the stairs when he started counting and went inside the nearest room. The walls were decorated green and I slid under the bed because I thought I heard Draco's footsteps on the stairs.

I tried to keep quiet because my breathing might have given me away, but after what felt like forever, someone came in. I was sure they were Draco's shoes that walked across to the cupboard and opened it. Then he checked behind the curtains, in the chest and in the bathroom before he walked into the middle of the room.

I covered my mouth because it was funny that he couldn't find me, and I was scared if I laughed he would. He moved towards the door and then stopped before coming back towards the bed. I scrambled backward, but he leaned down and looked under the bed straight at me.

"Found you."

"Aw, no fair," I said. "You have to hide now."

"No, I said one game," Draco replied. "C'mon. Your Gran will wonder where you've gone."

ii. age eight

"He refuses to change his hair back again. Everyone is more interested in Teddy being able to change his hair colour than my class," I heard Miss Grable say. "That's not it. I can deal with kids being unruly, but your grandson deliberately continues to disobey me, even after the incident."

I scowled at my feet. Miss Grable didn't like me very much and I hadn't disobeyed her, I had just explained that she was wrong. Gran was going to be angry at me for getting in trouble. But I was surprised; she didn't say anything. She took me home and someone was already in the house: Draco.

"Look, look, Draco my hair is like yours," I cried, forgetting all about how much trouble I was in, before grabbing him around the middle in a tight hug.

He didn't hug me back, but that was normal for Draco. He said he didn't like kids, or hugs, but I was sure he liked me. After all, he came round to our house all the time. I saw the picture I drew the other day of Draco and immediately went to grab it. When I turned around, Draco and Gran were sharing a look, but I thrust the picture into his hands anyway. Draco stared at the picture for a short while before coming to a conclusion. "My eyes are a little big."

I scoffed. "Eyes are hard."

Gran disappeared from behind us and Draco attached the photo back to the fridge. I felt as though I was about to finally get the lecture Gran had been going to give me before.

I thought Draco was my friend, not someone who would tell me off.

"What did you do in your class, Teddy?" he asked.

"Nothing," I insisted, looking away from him.

"When you look away I know you're lying to me."

"Am not!"

Draco sighed and glared at me with grey eyes. "When you look away when people are talking to you, then it's clear that you're lying. You can't lie to your family, Teddy. You also can't be impolite to teachers, even if they are wrong or you think they're wrong, you should never correct them in front of other students. What you did in your class was rude and thoughtless."

I felt tears stinging the back of my eyes. "You don't know anything."

iii. age seventeen

Gran threw a spectacular seventeenth birthday party for me during the Easter holidays. All of my cousins were back from Hogwarts and it felt as though there were nearly a hundred people in the house, actually, I was sure there were more than that.

Draco arrived exactly on time, Slytherin scarf draped around his neck, and in his hand was a Lightning Bolt Broomstick. His wife, Astoria, and son, Scorpius disappeared into the crowd of people and I went to try and give Draco a hug — which he tactically dodged.

"Is that for me?" I grinned.

"Depends on whether you agree to never try hug me again."

I made it seem as though I was thinking about it before I smiled widely. "Done."

He handed over the broom and I had to stop myself from trying to hug him again. It was an amazing present; my old broom was starting to get sluggish.

"Thanks, Draco," I said.

"As long as you annihilate Gryffindor on it, I won't have to take it back."

"That I can do."

iv. age twenty

I ended up at Malfoy Manor somehow. I knew Scorpius would be at school and Astoria was working at St. Mungo's so the only person there was going to be Draco. When he opened the door, it was like he knew what I was going to say because his face got all serious and glarey.

"You broke up," he said.

I nodded and Draco stepped aside to let me in.

Victoire and I had technically broken up a month ago. She had taken a promotion in France, we said we'd make it work and then she rang with the news I'd been dreading: she was in love with someone else. It was one messy, sobbing break-up.

Draco poured me a firewhisky from the cabinet his father had once used and we sat in front of the fire in his study. He asked me what happened and I relayed the whole story, piece by piece. I tried not to cry — which was surprisingly hard — and I knew Draco probably knew that. I suspected that this conversation might have been easier with Uncle Harry, but Draco would give me the real advice, the serious advice, faster. After I finished explaining how sad, and angry, and sadder I was, he sat back in his chair and balanced his glass on the armrest of the chair.

"I dated a girl after the war for about nine months; my father told me when I was younger that any girl you date for over four months should be the girl you are going to marry," Draco explained. "He was wrong about a lot of things, including that."

"Victoire and I were together for two years," I replied.

"It doesn't matter how long it is," Draco said. "The length of time doesn't define anything. You know how I look back at those nine months?"

I shook my head and swirled the remaining liquid in my glass around and around before I looked up at Draco. He met my gaze and he paused to think before answering. "I look at them and understand that not everything is perfect, nor is it what your parents tell you life will be like."

I sighed, leaning back in my armchair. "But why has it got to be like that?"

v. age twenty-eight

"What did I say to you eight years ago?"

I laughed. "I believe you said not everything is perfect."

Draco's eyes crinkled at the corner and he gave me that Malfoy smirk. I felt as though he was recalling something right there and then. "No, not everything — just some things. This, Teddy, is one of them."

We looked across at Roxanne, who was dancing with her twin brother right in the centre of the dance floor. She was beautiful, and stunning, and Merlin, I couldn't believe that it had taken this long for us to get married.

"This is definitely one of them," I murmured.

vi. age thirty

"Draco, meet your goddaughter." I smiled, cradling my daughter in my arm. "This is Daisy. Daisy, this is your godfather. He's pretty grumpy, and he doesn't like hugs, but he gives great advice. And he's going to hold you, right now."

I didn't give Draco a choice; I handed Daisy over to him and abandoned him without saying another word. Then I retreated back to the other side of the room with Roxanne.

"What did he say?" she asked.

I smiled. "I didn't give him a chance to say anything. If he looks like he might explode then I'll go over and give him a hand."

Roxanne snorted with laughter. "That's right, watch him suffer. If he drops her I'm blaming you."

I watched him stare down at Daisy in shock, before I saw the corner of his lips twitch upwards and he smiled. He smiled wider than I've ever seen. Astoria clocked him from where she stood talking to Hermione and she stared, before she looked to me like I had just done something amazing.

My eyes drew back to Draco and I swore for a moment that I saw his eyes glistening.

vii. age thirty-nine

I sat at the bedside for what seemed like hours in a stunned silence. I refused to leave, because when I did, then it would all become real. Merlin. It had all just been so sudden, because only last week we had been in London having our Thursday evening meal between grandson and grandmother.

"Teddy?"

I felt Draco rest his hand on my shoulder and as soon as he touched me, my body began to shake violently. All the emotion inside of me exploded and I crumpled forward onto the blankets of the hospital bed.

"Why her? Why my Gran? She's practically my mum, she's been there all my life and now she's gone," I sobbed. "She was okay; she said she was okay. How did I not see that she wasn't?"

Draco didn't say anything at all, but after a few moments of me sobbing he put his arm around my shoulders. He pulled me into a hug and I didn't think of him as acting out of character. I just sobbed heavily into his shoulder.

"Did you know?" I croaked, when I managed to get myself under control.

Draco shook his head. "She didn't tell me, Teddy. She didn't tell anyone."

"This is my fault," I murmured, rubbing my eyes and looking down at Gran. "I should have visited more often, or noticed something..."

Draco pushed me away to meet my eyes. "Teddy, this isn't your fault. Your Gran was sick and that will never be your fault. She loved you and she didn't want you to worry. I'm sorry, Teddy."

viii. age fifty-seven

Draco stood unaccompanied at the graveside as I approached him. This was different to when Gran had died; Draco dealt with things far differently, compartmentalising his emotions well for my sake. When Aunty Narcissa died he was solemn for weeks, but not incomplete. Today, he looked broken. Astoria had been his wife; they had been so close. I stood beside him in silence and waited, because soon enough I was sure he would start speaking.

But he didn't.

Draco walked away without a word, only to collapse ten metres away.

I spent three hours in the waiting room of St Mungo's with Scorpius, who looked as though his world was falling apart, and Albus, who never left Scorpius' side.

St Mungo's told us it was a minor heart attack and that Draco was still not conscious, but we were free to wait for him if we wished. I convinced Albus to take Scorpius home and come back tomorrow. I sent a quick message to Roxanne and then took up residence in the armchair in the corner of Draco's room. I was sifting through the poorly-researched rubbish the Prophet when I heard Draco start speaking.

"Teddy?"

"Yeah, it's me, are you okay? Do you need me to get a Healer?" I asked.

"No, I'm fine," he replied — a lie I was sure. "Is Scorpius-?"

"I sent him home with Albus," I said. "He looked awful. They'll be back in the morning."

Draco looked up at the ceiling. "Thanks, Teddy."

I smiled softly and sat up in my chair. "No problem."

iv. age seventy-three

Draco Malfoy died on the third of September 2071; he passed away peacefully in his sleep. One of the house elves notified Scorpius just after ten in the morning. It was too late to call a Healer.

It wasn't until I was standing in my own lounge with Scorpius opposite me that I realised Draco had been like a father to me. Of course, that wasn't something you said to the son of a father figure three hours after he died.

"I'm so sorry, Teddy," Scorpius said for the fourth time before he left.

When we were alone again, Roxanne immediately wrapped her arms around me and I sat down on the sofa, stunned.

"Teddy, are you okay?" she asked.

"Draco was like my dad. Harry was like a cool uncle, but Draco was there all the time. He told me off when I screwed up; he gave me sensible advice; he helped me out when things went to shit." I replied, my voice cracking. "No. No, I'm not okay."

She held onto me tightly and for the first time for many years, I cried.

Competition: QLFC Round Twelve

Prompt: KEEPER: You'll be writing about two characters in a familial relationship. It does not need to be canonical. [Characters: Draco Malfoy / Teddy Lupin]

Word Count: 2380