A/N: Now here is a skip forward, more than an entire year later. Whereas last year, James was a fourth year, he is now a fifth year, and it is Christmas Break. We will be staying in this year for a while- the last chapter was just sort of an introduction. There isn't much more skippage, and if there is it's by a few months, not years.
Disclaimer: As always, I don't own Harry Potter, the fabulous J.K. Rowling does.
Please enjoy!
Teddy, 2020, James' fifth year
Holidays at the Potter's were always chaotic.
First, Ginny Potter had just burned the Christmas Ham (which happened every year) and was now currently sitting against the stove, crying into her apron (which also happened every year). Albus had just lit his second Christmas tree on fire, and Lily was using the all the hustle and bustle to cover up the fact that she was digging through everything in the attic, trying to find her Christmas presents.
Harry Potter was trying to nail in a sprig of mistletoe (Ginny had gone spare when he'd attempted using his wand, and now his best pair of robes was cast in the corner, with one or two bat-bogeys still attacking it), and had just succeeded in nailing his thumb instead. He was letting out an impressive string of curse words that had Albus rolling on the floor cackling, when the doorbell rang.
Nursing his injured thumb, Harry answered the door.
Teddy Lupin was standing there, his nose bright pink with cold, hands shoved in his pockets.
"'Lo, Teddy." Harry grinned.
Teddy grinned back. "Nail your thumb again, Harry?"
Harry grimaced. "Ginny's mad as a hatter around this time of year. Won't let any of us do magic."
Teddy nodded knowingly. "And which number Christmas tree is Albus on?"
There was a sudden whoosh of flames and a shout from the living room, then the sound of water spraying wallpaper. Smoke crept round the doorframe.
"That'd be number three," Harry groaned. "I think James is digging through the fossil pit he calls his room, so if you'd rather-"
Teddy saluted him. "Say no more. I'll be up there if you need me."
Harry smiled as Teddy vanished up the stairs.
Teddy twisted the knob to James' bedroom, as he'd done so many times before, and pushed the door open.
Fuck, was his first thought.
Teddy had known for a long time that he batted for both teams, but he'd never held any sort of attraction for anyone in the Potter-Weasley clan, including Victoire. The two had snogged before her seventh year at Hogwarts, but they'd mutually agreed that it was awkward and left it at that.
But fuck.
Teddy hadn't seen James or any of the younger Potters since last Christmas, having been abroad the entire summer holiday. Last Christmas, James had still been just a gangly fifteen-year-old with pointy elbows and big feet and a dorky smile.
Now, James was sixteen, and sometime between this Christmas and last he'd hit puberty, because he was the hottest bloke Teddy had ever seen.
Teddy gulped audibly, then tried to smile as James turned.
His eyes lit up. "Teddy!" and then he tackled the older boy in a hug.
James looked so incredibly like Harry- the shaggy black hair, the thin stature- but something was different about James. While Harry's appearance was comforting, fatherly, James was just fucking hot, even in the Hogwarts uniform he was still wearing. The sweater that Teddy had always found lumpy and unattractive on the majority of Hogwarts girls somehow clung to James' body, and the trouser legs left just enough room for imagination.
Teddy exhaled uncomfortably, then moved to sit on James' bed, trying not to notice how it smelled of him, and how at some point, very recently, James' scent had changed from the smell of a kid to that of a man.
"So, what's with the uniform?" He asked, trying to keep up a mantra in his head that went something like this: he's underage, he's sixteen, I'm five years older, he's my god brother...
It didn't seem to be working.
James grinned, and Teddy's stomach did something funny.
"I literally got back from Hogwarts an hour ago," he said. His voice had changed sometime in the past year, too, and it was now a deep bass, like his father's- rather than the pitchy squeak of an adolescent just beginning to go through puberty. "I've been unpacking ever since."
Unexpectedly, he tackled Teddy in another bear hug. "Blimey, I've missed you. Where have you been since last Christmas?"
"The life of an Auror never rests," Teddy replied, chucking a rose that smelt of rotten eggs at him (probably from Ron and George's shop).
James snorted, dodging the prank item easily. "Right, that. Dad reckons you lot have gone soft since Voldemort died."
"Well, I'd reckon any job looks soft to a man who killed the darkest wizard of all time," Teddy quipped, lying down on James' bed. "But you know, we don't see much action."
James waggled his eyebrows at Teddy, and he had to force himself not to blush. "By all means, don't let my presence interrupt. Continue- cleaning, is that what you're doing?"
James scowled. "Shut it, you arse-hole."
"I'm sorry," Teddy said, enjoying himself, "but I'm not seeing much progress. Perhaps you'd have better success if you just conjured a black hole."
"You wanker," James said, but he was laughing as he returned to the task at hand.
After a few minutes of watching that lovely (underage!) arse bending over to pick things up, Teddy couldn't take it any more. He spoke up. "How's Quidditch?"
He was rewarded with a blinding Potter-grin (Ginny and Harry both had it, and so all of their kids had inherited it), and the bed springs creaked as James climbed up beside him.
"Brilliant, mate, I was made Captain this year because Jesse left. Me!"
"Knew you would," Teddy said, throwing an arm around the younger boy, and James positively beamed.
"So, Prefect, Quidditch Captain- what're the chances of being Head Boy in two years?"
"Pretty good, I'd reckon," James said, jumping back off the bed. "You'd best get up, mum's about to call dinner in about four seconds."
"What? How do you-" but Teddy was interrupted by Mrs. Potter's call of "dinner!"
"Trade secret," James said, winking.
Teddy tried to ignore how undeniably sexy that was and threw his hands up in the air. "I give up, you're psychic."
"Sit next to me at dinner?" James asked.
"Of course. I want to know all about your fifth year. Damn, I miss Hogwarts."
True to his word, Teddy listened all throughout the Potter's Christmas Eve dinner to James describing the stunts that he and his faithful gang of miscreants- Fred Weasley, Miles Finch-Fletchley, and Lorcan and Lysander Scamander- pulled, usually resulting in some equally hilarious form of detention.
"She said we were nearly as bad as James, Remus, and Sirius," James said, puffing out his chest with pride.
Harry wagged his fork at him. "I don't know that I'd be proud of that, you arrogant little bugger. My father was right conceited when he was in fifth year- if he hadn't reduced the size of his head, he'd never have finally gotten my mother."
"That's better than you," Ginny retorted. "You didn't even notice me until I stopped chasing after you and started dating every boy in your year except for you."
Harry blushed as James, Al, Lily, and Teddy guffawed.
"Well, I think it's high praise," Teddy said, affectionately rumpling James' hair.
Ginny lifted her wine glass with a slight smile on her face. "The highest."
It was after dinner, and James and Teddy had retreated to the sitting room. Both were crammed into the squashy old red leather armchair, their legs tangled together. Al was laying across the rug in front of the fire, chatting quietly with Scorpius Malfoy through the flames. Lily was sprawled across the whole couch, her wand stuck behind her ear, thumbing through the week's copy of The Quibbler.
Teddy was highly aware of Harry and Ginny's eyes on them from the kitchen doorway, but he didn't turn.
"You mentioned something about a crab before?" he said, and James launched into another story.
Ginny leaned her head against Harry. "You know, I used to think that James' fascination with Teddy would fade, that it was just hero-worship. But I think Teddy's really his best friend."
"And I think he's Teddy's as well," Harry said, wrapping an arm around his wife's waist.
"It's lovely, isn't it?" Ginny said, fondly. "That the age difference doesn't seem to matter to them. Teddy doesn't talk down to James, and James doesn't treat Teddy like a god because he's older. They're equals."
They watched as Teddy's shoulders shook with laughter at something James said.
"I'm glad they have each other," Ginny said, and Harry agreed.
