Teddy Lupin sat on a chair outside Professor McGonagall's office, rubbing his hands nervously. He nervously checked the time on his wrist watch every minute or so and his hair colour was its natural light brown for the first time since coming to Hogwarts.
Teddy Lupin was worried because he was in a lot of trouble. He was waiting outside the Headmistress's office because he had been caught planting fireworks around the Great Hall. This was Teddy's first time being caught but hardly his first instance of mischief. Indeed, since his arrival Hogwarts had experienced some sort of incident at least once a week. Nothing dangerous, of course, or even destructive.
He was worried because his Godfather had had such high expectations. Harry had assured Teddy he'd be an excellent student, would meet the best friends of his life here and become part of a community he'd love. Setting up fireworks hardly seemed to be the action of an excellent student. Would Harry feel let down? Of course he would, but hopefully he wouldn't have to know about it.
The door to his left swung open and McGonagall's voice called out from within, "Lupin."
Teddy stood and walked ungracefully inside. He made to sit down in the seat in front of McGonagall's desk but she said, "Please remain standing, Mr Lupin."
McGonagall flicked through a file - presumably either on Teddy or his little prank - and did not look up once.
Teddy scanned the Headmistress's office. Despite becoming Headmistress, Professor McGonagall still made more use of this office rather than her formal office. Some speculated it was so that she was closer to the ground to keep an eye out for trouble whereas others believed it was a belief that the Headmaster's office was still Professor Dumbledore's office in her mind.
"Well?" she suddenly snapped, looking up from the file to glare at Teddy, who flinched slightly.
"Professor?"
"Why did you do it?"
"I - er - I," stammered Teddy, running a hand through his hair nervously. Truth be told, he had no real reason for doing it.
"You thought it'd be funny? You thought it'd be amusing?"
"Er - yeah," muttered Teddy, looking down at his shoes.
"Right, well then you'll understand that you have to be punished for this."
"But professor! The fireworks wouldn't have hurt anybody - "
"With all due respect, Mr Lupin," said Professor McGonagall brusquely. "You did not create the fireworks and for all you knew anything could have happened when they went off."
Teddy opened his mouth to retort but closed it again - she had a point.
McGonagall nodded. "Very well. You will serve a weeks detention with Professor Cambley and I will be writing to your grandmother and your godfather."
"NO!"
"Excuse me, Mr Lupin?"
"You can't tell Harry! Please!" pleaded Teddy desperately. "He'll be furious!"
"I assure you, Lupin, that I can tell Mr Potter any thing I like," said McGonagall with an edge to her voice. "And if you are truly worried about disappointing him then you shouldn't have set up such a silly prank. On you go - no more needs to be said."
Teddy nodded, knowing nothing would ever change the stern professor's mind, and trudged out of her office feeling miserable.
***
"Hey, Ted," said Teddy's best friend, Andreas Towler, as Teddy walked into the Gryffindor common room. "What'd McGonagall give you?"
"Detention and a letter home," replied Teddy miserably.
"Well," said Andreas reassuringly, "at least she didn't take points."
"Yeah," said Teddy sitting down opposite Andreas. "But Harry's going to be real disappointed in me."
Andreas shrugged. "Just explain to him that you're sorry. He loves you more than to stay disappointed long over some little prank."
"You can explain to him during the Easter holidays," came the voice of his other best friend, Susan Cardwell, who was sitting in a chair behind him. "They're only about a week away now and things would've calmed down a bit by then. Ideal time really, assuming you are going home for the holidays."
"I am," said Teddy nodding. "You two aren't staying and I didn't really want to stay up here all by myself."
Andreas nodded and took out a text book - reading text books for recreation was an annoying habit of Andreas's.
"Ach don't worry so much, Teddy," said Susan. "He's probably been in trouble himself at some point."
***
Harry Potter was reading The Daily Prophet at his kitchen table, quietly humming to himself. The weather outside was pretty miserable - it was dark, heavily raining and anybody foolish enough to venture outside would be met with gale force winds. It served to make the warm, comfortable kitchen all the more pleasant, however, and so Harry Potter was quite content.
He was startled out of his state of bliss by a loud noise coming from his kitchen fireplace. He calmly looked over to see his 11-year-old godson, Teddy, clambering out of the fireplace, wiping soot off his robes.
Harry put the newspaper down on the kitchen table and raised his eyebrows slightly. He had not been expecting a visit from Teddy at all and it was highly unusual for him to just arrive by himself unannounced.
"Hello Teddy," said Harry, forcing himself to sound casual rather than suspicious. "What brings you here at this time?"
"Hello Harry," replied his small godson, taking a seat opposite Harry at the table and running a hand through his hair - which Harry noticed was its natural light brown.
"Forget to change your hair to blue this morning?" asked Harry with a chuckle. Teddy was rarely seen without his favourite electric blue hair.
"Er - no, I just came to say sorry," said Teddy quickly, as though trying to get something off his chest before he lost his nerve.
Harry merely raised his eyebrows even further.
"Sorry for what?" he asked, starting to worry. What on earth had Teddy done that had the boy so worked up? What, indeed, was so important that he'd come by without so much as a warning.
"Er - the prank I did at school last week," muttered Teddy.
"Ooooh yes," Harry said, pushing the newspaper out of his way and placing his folded arms on the table. "From what Professor McGonagall has told me you had quite a show planned for the next morning's breakfast."
"Yeah," muttered Teddy looking down, ashamed. "I'm really sorry. I won't do it again, I swear!"
To his astonishment, however, Harry merely chuckled again. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Teddy."
"Wait -"
"Did you expect me to be angry, Teddy?" asked Harry, looking Teddy in the eye and grinning. "To be honest, I am surprised you haven't been caught sooner."
Teddy's mouth dropped open in shock. "How did you -"
"Teddy," said Harry cheerfully, "your father was amongst the biggest pranksters and troublemakers Hogwarts has ever seen. Heck - I've got into plenty of trouble in my day too. You didn't mean any harm and, to be honest, I'd bet your father would likely be proud rather than disappointed."
Teddy smiled in spite of himself. "I thought you'd be really disappointed."
"Teddy," said Harry seriously, leaning forward slightly. "I will never be disappointed in you. While I will point you in the right direction and guide you when necessary, you are your own person. So long as you live a happy, good life - then I am happy."
"Really?"
"Really," said Harry smiling. "How'd your grandmother take it?"
"She hasn't really brought it up to be honest," Teddy replied, smiling at godfather.
"You see? It really isn't that big a deal, Teddy. Just - try not to be caught next time, eh?"
Teddy laughed. "Thanks, Harry."
"Anytime," said Harry leaning back in his chair. "By the way, does Andromeda know you are here?"
Teddy smiled a little too innocently and said, "See you around then."
"Bye Teddy," said Harry smirking as his godson disappeared in a flash of green flame. Harry unfolded the newspaper and flicked it open again, smiling to himself. Truly the son of a marauder!
A/N: Please, please leave a review. I really, really appreciate any feedback I get. Hope you enjoyed it - Teddy and Harry is an area I'm keen to explore through more one shots and maybe even a chaptered fic - please let me know what you think. Thanks!