Chapter 1 - Teddy's Return
(One Year and 10 Days Later)
Teddy and Mike has made their way around the world. Their plane had touched down at London Heathrow about an hour previously, they had collected their backpacks, made their way past a man who probably had some Troll blood in him working for Her Majesty's Customs and Excise, and were now headed to the exit where they were to be met by Harry and his family. Mike's parents were currently off on holiday, so he would be staying with Teddy and his Grandmother for another week or so. "Typical, we get back to England and I have to spend another week with your ugly face, as if the last year hadn't been enough," Mike had said when he'd found out, through a barely suppressed grin. With his parents being Muggles, they were always somewhat bemused by his magical abilities.
"Ah, the beautiful English weather," Mike said sardonically, looking out of the windows as they approached the exit doors. As was typical, it was chucking it down. "Can't imagine how glad I am we're back on this rainy little island having just spent a year sipping cold beers in 30-degree-plus heat surrounded by bikini-clad women. It was a terrible existence."
"It rained in New York," Teddy muttered, though he too was not impressed by their reception by the British Isles.
"Yes, but in New York we had sexy accents!" Mike exclaimed.
"I know you're glad to be back, so don't bullshit me. Come on, I'm sure Harry and the family are planning a massive party for us."
"Like the one we had before we left? I feel I'm slightly better prepared this year."
"Nobody is ever prepared for a Weasley gathering," Teddy smirked as the two young men passed through the exit doors and began to scan the crowd for Harry Potter and his family.
It was little Lily Potter, now nine years old, who spotted them first, squealing with delight as she saw Teddy and breaking free of her mother's hand to be soon scooped up into a big hug. The rest of the family approached, Teddy hugged his godparents and shook hands with James and Albus who were both too big for hugs apparently.
"Look at you Teddy, so grown up!" Ginny said, taking in his appearance. "New jacket?"
"Yeah, found it in a random shop in New York. It was bloody freezing and we needed coats." The dark red motorcycle style leather jacket had been one of his greatest purchases on the trip.
"And what's this?" she flicked his left ear.
"Ah well," he thumbed the small black disk lodged in his ear. "Let's just say we'd had a few drinks and these Irish girls we met in New Zealand decided we needed a more permanent memorial to the trip, and I got this done at the same time."
Ginny raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him.
"Check it out.," Teddy said, slipping off his jacket and pulling up his sleeve to show an intricate array of gold and red stars, linked by black waves on his upper arm.
"THAT IS SO COOL!" James Potter exclaimed, before turning to Mike. "Did you get one too?"
Mike turned and pulled down the back of his jacket and shirt to reveal what appeared to be a funny-shaped letter E.
"What is it?" Asked Albus, looking at the funny shape. "It looks like a Rune."
"It's a Greek letter, capital Sigma," Mike stated, to blank looks on most everybody's faces. "I wanted a tattoo that summed me up..."
Everybody looked confused.
"I told you it was a terrible joke!" Teddy said. "It's an Arithmancy joke, it's the symbol of summation. Sums him up..." Harry and Ginny groaned.
"Oh very clever," Harry said. "I'm not sure what your Grandmother is going to say when she sees yours, but on your head be it."
"So, tell us everything!" Ginny said, smiling brightly, before her eyes flicked to the children. "That is age-appropriate of course."
"As if we'd have been up to anything age-inappropriate Ginny," Teddy smirked, and Mike laughed. "So, start at the beginning I guess..."
His Grandma had been more understanding about the new addition to his body than he had been expecting. Partly, Teddy thought, because she was just very glad to have him back. Andromeda had smiled her biggest smile when he had handed over a beautifully crafted dragon he had picked up in Indonesia, and placed it on the mantelpiece above the fire, pride of place.
Teddy had unpacked his things carefully. Along with the clothes he had taken with him, he had acquired many new things over his trip. As he unpacked, he thought about seeing everyone again; he had missed them all, particularly Victoire, through the course of his trip. He smiled, not having seen his oldest friend for over a year. It was a reunion he was very much looking forward to. The chaste kiss they had shared a year ago had not played on his mind that much, but when it did, it caused great feelings of confusion.
The boys showered and dressed, preparing to head off to the Burrow. Teddy had worn a fitted white t-shirt which stated "Home Taping is Killing Music" with the image of a Muggle cassette tape and a pair of crossed bones, that had been picked out for him by a very nice American girl they had met on the east coast of Australia. Mike had subsequently explained the logo's ironic history since the 1980s. The sleeves were cut quite high and his tattoo poked out from underneath, which he liked, plus the white made his impressive tan look even better. He shook his head into a floppy black mop that dangled just above his eyes and covered his ears.
"Ready? Took your bloody time," said Mike, who was sat reading a magazine on the sofa as Teddy appeared down the stairs carrying the bag which contained an array of gifts for various members of the family.
Mike had discovered cardigans at some point when they were in America, and had chosen to break his favourite black one out for tonight over a white t-shirt, sleeves rolled up to above his elbows. His hair, now grown out of the shaved look he had sported at school, was styled into a series of messy blonde spikes.
"Sod off," Teddy retorted, as Mike threw down the magazine and headed for the fire.
"I see you wore your best t-shirt. Any particular reason you're looking 'veely' well dressed?" Mike smirked, the implication obvious.
"Will you bugger off? I honestly don't know how I put up with you for a year," Teddy said, grabbing a pinch of Floo Powder. "You know, it's gonna be weird travelling by this stuff again."
"I never liked Floo Powder, stupid bloody stuff," Mike muttered, as Teddy threw his handful into the fireplace stating 'The Burrow!' clearly.
They appeared, one after another, in the Weasley Grandparents' fireplace. Though the weather had not cleared up, a series of charms had been placed over the garden to keep the rain off and warmth in, as it was the only place large enough for all of them to eat together. Teddy was accosted by various members of the Weasley family, all greeting him cheerily, commenting on his tan, piercing or tattoo. It did appear that one branch of the Weasley family was missing however.
"Where are Bill and Fleur?" Teddy asked Ron, who had been asking what home taping was, and how exactly it was killing music. Mike just smirked in the background so Teddy gave him the universal gesture for 'wanker'.
"Er, not sure actually," Ron said, looking to Hermione for help. "They're coming, though."
"They should be here any minute," Hermione said, looking at her watch. "I think they had a house guest this evening."
Recognition dawned on Ron's face, "Oh yeah...is she bringing him here?"
"I believe so, yes."
"Poor bloke. The first one was always going to get it the worst," Ron said, a sly grin on his face, "especially with Teddy back now."
"Someone want to fill me in with what's going on here exactly?" asked Teddy, who was incredibly confused at the exchange.
"Oh yeah, you don't know!" Ron exclaimed. "It's that Victoire...ROSE WEASLEY! Sorry mate, it appears my eldest is trying to trick her brother into sticking Bertie Botts beans up his nose."
Hermione and Ron both shot off across the room, to extract the Every Flavour beans from Hugo's nasal cavity.
"What was that about?" Teddy said, looking at Mike who in turn looked thoughtful.
"I've got an idea, but I'm not saying anything," Mike replied mysteriously. "Come on, let's see if they've got any beers in."
They ambled through the house toward the kitchen, where a special cupboard was kept cooled by a Charm. In ages past, it would have been used to house the more perishable items in a kitchen, however most Wizards these days used an anti-spoiling charm; these days, it was where the Weasley (and one Potter) men stored their beer at parties.
Teddy tugged open the cupboard and pulled out a couple of Refined Butterbeers. Though Butterbeer itself was alcoholic, it was of such a low content that you would have had to drink about 50 before you'd even feel the effects, Refined Butterbeer was the adult version, of a strength comparable to most Muggle beers and ciders. Mike flicked off the bottle caps with the opener he kept on his key ring, reportedly the most useful £1.50 he had ever spent.
"Oi, are you old enough to be drinking that?" came a voice from behind them, and they both twisted round to find the grinning face of Charlie Weasley.
"Charlie! Alright, mate?"
"Yeah not bad at all, was in the country so I thought I'd come and say hello. Get me one while your there, Teddy."
In their youth, it was reportedly Bill Weasley that was the most rock and roll of the Weasley brothers, however, marriage and three kids had perhaps caged in the formerly dragon-fang-earring-wearing, ponytail-sporting eldest brother. In Teddy's eyes, and the eyes of most of the Weasley grandchildren, Charlie was the coolest of them. Never settling down (he proclaimed he was married to his dragons) he had always been the one Uncle who still really showed that rebellious streak that resided in all Weasleys, which the family men had all but grown out of. When most people thought of rebellion in the Weasley family, they instantly though of George Weasley. However, while undoubtedly he was somewhat of a non-conformist, George was a shrewd and successful was the real rebel, and was someone Teddy had always had a lot of time for.
Teddy handed a beer to Charlie, who grinned. Despite being now in his mid-forties, he really didn't look much older than thirty. "Charlie, this is my mate, Mike, the guy who I went travelling with."
"Alright, Mike, how's it going?"
"Alright, not bad ta, you?"
"Yeah not bad. So then, boys, allow me to escort you to the garden where you can tell me all about you little trip. I'm sure there are some details which have been left out from my dearest sister's version."
Both the boys laughed; there certainly were a few details which had been skipped over on some of the tales told to both Teddy's godparents, and especially to his Grandmother.
An hour later, the three of them were just about ready to break into their fourth bottle of Refined Butterbeer. Sat in the garden on a bench, Charlie was enraptured by the tales of some of their more questionable antics.
"...right, so then this geezer comes out all 'what are you playing at dickhead?' after Teddy is grinding up against this girl he'd had his eye on..."
"Ha, yeah, so she's gone to the bar, and he gives me a shove. Now, I've had a few too many of those 'buckets' at this point, so I've got my mad drunken duelling skills at the ready to kick his arse."
"Now, numb-nuts here obviously forgets he's not got his wand on him, so strikes the proper duelling position, arm over the head and all, then suddenly realises his right hand is holding a bottle of Singha beer, not 10 inches of Willow and Dragon Heartstring."
"So now this mad guy takes a look at me, holding this bottle of beer, crouched low, and he's wondering what-the-fuck and decides his best course of action is to just charge."
"Right, so now I think it's time to step in, this guy gets about a yard from Ted and I appear."
"So Mike sticks his arm out and fucking CLOTHESLINES the guy, he flips a full 180 in the air and lands on his face!"
"Now I'm thinking at this point, balls, we're gonna get busted for this one. So I grab this idiot and we're heading out of this bar before the bouncers can get to us."
"Just as we're reaching the door, the girl that had started it all asks us where we're going. I manage to spin some yarn about getting some air, did she want to come with us.. .and off we stroll into the night with her, a few of her friends, completely Scott-free."
Charlie had his forehead in his hands, shaking his head, laughing hard. "Oh boys, brilliant effort. Did you score?"
Teddy and Mike just grinned.
"Filthy bastards.. .hey, is that my big dopey brother over there?"
Teddy and Mike spun their heads and it was indeed Bill Weasley, who had finally arrived and was stood in the doorway chatting to Audrey, wife of his brother Percy. He spotted them looking over, saluted his brother, along with Teddy and Mike, and grinned. Charlie raised his nearly empty bottle of Butterbeer, shook the dregs and pointed at it, before holding up 3 fingers. Bill raised his eyebrow and Charlie pointed at Teddy and Mike. Bill obviously understood, and disappeared back into the house.
"That's pretty cool that you can do that." Teddy mused.
"It's a talent." Charlie said, shrugging before his eyes went wide. "Merlin, is that Victoire? I've been away for too long."
Mike and Teddy spun again and there was almost an audible thud as Teddy's jaw dropped. Victoire looked, well, different. Her hair which had once been long, straight and way past her shoulders had been cut back, now it just touched her shoulders and instead of being swept back, her fringe hung forward, around the outsides of her face. Whilst Teddy was no make-up expert, he knew eye-liner when he saw it, and her eyes were now much darker in their frames, making her bright blue eyes stand out more. Then there were the clothes. Apparently he wasn't the only one who had discovered Muggle fashion. A light blue sun-dress clung to her slender frame and floated somewhere on her thigh, with thin, barely visible straps over her shoulders. Something in Teddy roared with approval.
"Eyeballs back in there, Lupin. That's my niece you're gawking at," Charlie muttered, managing to maintain both a familial menace and a slight twinkle in his eyes. He stood up and started to make his way over to his brother who had just reappeared with the beers. Teddy still hadn't taken his eyes off Victoire.
"And the penny finally fucking drops, after a mere 16 years," Mike said, shaking Teddy into looking at him. There was a very smug smile on Mike's face.
"What?" Teddy said in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner.
"Don't bullshit me, son. Come on, let's go say hello. Hey Vicky!" Mike shouted, standing up. Teddy stood also as Victoire whirled round finally spotting the two of them.
She practically ran from the door on sighting Teddy, before launching herself into his arms for quite frankly the tightest hug of his short life so far. Teddy had to fight with his brain not to acknowledge how soft the skin of her back was under his palms, or how she smelt, or those two things which were currently pressing into his own chest.
"I missed you so much, you great big lump," she murmured into his chest, before pulling away. "I barely recognised you, Ted. You look so different. Is that tattoo real?"
"Yeah it is..." Teddy said, trying to regain his composure. "Merlin, Vic, you look amazing! What prompted this change? I mean - not that you didn't - that is to say..."
"Your babbling, Lupin," she said, smiling, and with a slight blush creeping into her cheeks. "Thought I'd try something new."
She let go of Teddy and turned to Mike, who was grinning broadly in a way that Teddy found deeply suspicious.
"Hey, Mike, you brought him back in one piece then?" she said, before giving him a quick hug. Something raged inside Teddy for no real reason at all at seeing her hug him. Teddy was perplexed, 'Merlin, what's got into me?' he thought.
"Yeah, he's nearly all there. May be missing a few brain cells due to binge drinking, but you probably won't notice.. .never was very clever."
Victoire laughed, and it was like music. Teddy mentally kicked himself.
"So let me take a proper look at that tattoo then," Victoire said, and Teddy pulled up his sleeve, showing her the full thing. "Gold and red? You great big geek."
"Go, Go, Gryffindor..." Teddy smiled. "I think I can now actually state that I DO bleed red and gold, if I'm stabbed in the right place. Show her yours Mike, I've got a Galleon on Vic not getting the joke."
Mike laughed and turned round, pulling his shirt down, revealing his Sigma again. "It's a tattoo that sums me up.." He dead panned. Victoire laughed. Mike turned and looked triumphant.
"I like it. Though I believe that did just make my geek-o-meter explode, Williams."
"Ha! You owe me a Galleon, Lupin. Congratulations, Vicky, you're the second person to get the joke without having it explained to them, other than Loops here."
"That is because I excel at Arithmancy," she said airily, trying to look prim but failing, before laughing. "Though I suppose five years of hanging round with you losers has given me a certain appreciation of nerdy jokes."
The opening bars of London Calling by The Clash suddenly played from Mike's thigh and he fumbled around in his pocket, before producing a small black box, sliding it open and starting to speak.
"Hi Mum.." he said, wandering off towards the edge of the garden.
"What was that about?" Victoire asked, looking at Mike, who was apparently talking to his hand. She climbed into the bench and sat on the table-top, feet on the seat.
"Mobile," Teddy said, sitting down next to her, and Victoire made a face that meant she had no idea what he was talking about. "It's a portable telephone, you know, that Muggles use to talk to each other. We got them so we could stay in contact if we lost each other when we were away. I've got one too, look."
Teddy reached into his pocket and produced the slim black mobile phone, pressing the buttons to unlock the keypad. He handed it to Victoire who held it like it was going to explode. Teddy laughed.
"It's not dangerous, you know. It's just like talking in the Floo, except you can't see each other. I actually prefer it now. When you think about it, sticking your head in a fire doesn't really strike you as a tremendously sensible idea." Victoire laughed, and the music returned in Teddy's mind.
"It's clever. Do all Muggles have these things?" She asked, flipping it over and pushing some buttons.
"Most everybody, especially our age. Mike said there's more of these things in Britain than there are people."
"How does it work?" she said, pressing some more buttons, just making numbers appear on the screen.
"Here, I'll show you," Teddy said, reaching to grab the phone, their fingers brushing. His stomach jolted. 'Man up, Lupin, you're nineteen for Merlin s sake,' he thought.
He quickly pressed a series of keys, to take the phone back to the standby screen.
"Wait, slow down," Victoire said, nudging ever closer, to peer at the phone.
"I've not done anything yet, Vic. Right, so what you do is press this, then this, and these are all the people who I can ring. All the telephones in the world have a special number, but it's quite hard to memorise all those numbers for everybody you know, so this is called a phone book. It's where I store all the numbers of the people I know." Teddy began to scroll down the list. He had built quite an impressive contact list over the last year, though the faces of many of the names had faded through the haze of alcohol.
"There's an awful lot of girls on this list, Mr Lupin. I'm a little bit jealous," Victoire said teasingly, her head now almost on Teddy's shoulder. "Did you meet all these people this year?"
"Yeah," Teddy said. His heart was racing, and Victoire's head was now close enough for him to smell her hair again. It smelled very nice. He mentally kicked himself very hard. "To be honest, I can probably only remember about fifteen or twenty or so properly."
"OK.. So how about 'Marie'?" Victoire said, her slim finger pointing at the name on the screen. Of all the people she could have picked, she had to pick Marie.
Teddy's mind involuntarily wandered to the twenty-two year old Scottish girl, her short, spiky, dirty blonde hair, the blue bikini she had been wearing when they'd met on a beach somewhere south of Brisbane, and how said bikini had ended up disregarded on the floor of his tent later that evening.
"Er, nothing to tell really," he said, his cheeks growing hot. "Me and Mike met her, and some of her friends when we were travelling in Australia."
Victoire looked away from the phone and met his eyes, smirking. "Something to hide there, Teddy?" She sat back, looking at him with a serious face, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.
"No, no! Er..." Teddy fought to regain his composure. "She was about your height, blonde. She was twenty-two, just finished uni, that's what Muggles do after school if they're clever enough. Me and Mike tagged along with them as far as Sydney." He hoped that would satisfy Victoire who was looking at him curiously before grinning broadly.
"Teddy Lupin, you dirty dog. She was four years older than you!"
"Am I that obvious?" He sighed, actually slightly relieved he didn't have to come out and say it.
"Teddy, I've known you as long as I can remember. Everything you do is obvious to me," she said, turning away slightly and bumping into him with her shoulder. Teddy nudged her back, slightly harder. ictoire retaliated and soon they were banging into each other with increasing vigour, giggling like 6 year olds.
They were brought to an abrupt halt by a throat being cleared. Teddy looked round, and there stood an individual he identified as Glen Anderson, a Ravenclaw from Victoire's year. He was holding two bottles of Refined Butterbeer in one hand, and a glass of Pumpkin juice in the other. Glen was a few inches shorter than Teddy, perhaps 5'8", but nearly as skinny. He had long brown hair, with streaks of blonde in it and was dressed in fashionable robes.
"I finally escaped your Father!" he said, addressing Victoire, his accent of a refined nature. He turned to Teddy, handing him the two beers. "He asked me to bring you and your friend these."
"Cheers, mush," Teddy said, to even his own surprise.
It wasn't the usual term of address he used, but having spent a year in Mike's company, he had apparently adopted some of his friend's speech tics. Mike, ever the class warrior, always seemed to use this one in particular when someone posh spoke to him.
"Teddy Lupin, right? I only remember you a little bit from school, but Tory is always talking about you. Glen...Glen Anderson, by the way." He stuck his hand out. Teddy put down one of the beers, keeping the other in his hand, jumped off the bench and raised himself to his full height (he didn't know why) before shakingGlen's hand firmly, but politely.
"Nice to meet you," Teddy said, while it was anything but.
Glen turned and handed Victoire her Pumpkin juice and then, in a gesture that made Teddy's grip on his beer bottle tighten, kissed her softly on the cheek. "So, Tory said you've been travelling 'round the world, as a Muggle?" he said, and though he probably hadn't meant it, it came out rather condescending. Teddy was still wondering why he kept referring to Victoire as 'Tory.'
"Yeah, me and Mike over there," he pointed to his friend who was still on the phone. "Went all through Asia, down Australia, up New Zealand, then the California coast, New York and home. It was pretty amazing."
"Sounds pretty brilliant," Glen said. "I can't imagine travelling without magic though."
"The Muggles do pretty well for themselves," Teddy said, somewhat sniffily. "A lot of the technology they have come up with in the last fifty years is way above and beyond things Wizards can do in many cases."
"Really? I can't imagine," Glen replied, sounding like he'd just been told Kneazles could fly.
"You can't, not unless you really lived it. I certainly couldn't. Some Muggle technology is just amazing, to be honest," Teddy said, his voice gaining a hard edge for some reason. "Was probably the greatest and most educational year of my life."
Before Glen could reply, Mike appeared behind him.
"Ah, my dear old Mum, making sure I got back ok, a mere six hours after we landed. Who's this geezer, then?" he said, clapping his hand on Glen's shoulder, gripping it tightly. As Mike was a good 6 inches taller than Glen, and could likely snap the boy in half, his knees buckled a little bit on the impact. Mike also had an outstandingly good memory, and Teddy more than suspected he likely knew full well who he was, but this was just a bit of a power play on his part.
Glen, to his credit, recovered quickly from the blow and introduced himself again.
"Anderson?" Mike said thoughtfully, before turning to Teddy, who nodded, "Tessa Anderson's little brother?"
"Yeah, did you know her?" Teddy bit his tongue to stop from laughing.
"I did indeed! How is Tess these days? I haven't seen her since Hogwarts," Mike said jovially. Teddy laughed, cos Mike knew her perhaps more intimately than he should.
Tessa Anderson had been a Slytherin girl in their year, with dark red hair and bright blue eyes. Whilst she was a perfectly lovely person, she was a little rebellious against her Pureblood, upper-class upbringing. This had meant she had shared many, many 'encounters' with Mike, Hogwarts' most Muggle of Muggleborns, and the dictionary definition of Working Class, in various locations round the castle. This was all very hush-hush, and Mike swore it was the secrecy and rebellion that got her off. Whilst not particularly serious, they had been at it since some time in their sixth year, breaking it of amiably before they completed school and moved on with their lives.
"She's working as a clerk at the Department of Magical Law. She works with Tory's Aunt, actually," Glen replied.
"Who the fuck is Tory?" Mike said, with his usual bluntness. Teddy set his expression into one of stony confusion, rather than the laugh he was feeling inside.
"Um, Victoire?" Glen said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Mike's face also took the same stony expression as Teddy's. Glen started to explain. "You see, 'Victoire' means 'Victory' in French, so..."
"Yeah I got it," Mike said, his tone clearly not impressed, and picked his beer up from the table. "You come up with that?"
"Well, we all did, I mean..."
"Vicky, is it OK I never, ever call you Tory?" Mike said, ignoring Glen.
"Vicky is fine," she smiled brightly, evidently trying to lighten the mood. "Don't even say it, Teddy, because I know the next sentence out of your mouth is going to include the phrase 'Vic was my first word,' and I wouldn't have it any other way, even though you are the ONLY one who still calls me that!"
Teddy laughed, before asking the question he'd really been dying to ask since Glen had arrived. "So, are you two together then?" He even managed to say it in a pleasant manner, much to his own surprise.
"Yep. For nearly three months now," Glen said, with great enthusiasm, putting his arm around her shoulders. Something inside Teddy growled.
"We leave for one year Vic, and you're hooking up with boys. I'm going to have to give your brother a talking-to," Teddy smirked.
"Don't you dare, Teddy Lupin!" she said, though still smiling. "Like you said before you left, I can take care of myself."
"I know you can, Vic, plus if Mr. Anderson here is any trouble, I'm sure we can grass him up to his big sister. We do know her after all..."
"Intimately," Mike added. Teddy again had to suppress the urge to laugh, hoping the implication was lost on Glen.
Before either of them could continue with the third degree on Glen, Bill and Charlie Weasley swooped down on the group, Bill grabbing Teddy in a headlock and messing up his hair.
"Oi, gerroff!" Teddy complained, "I'm nineteen years old. Bugger off, Bill!"
"Is that any way to speak to your elders, Teddy?" Bill said, before releasing him. "Nice to see you back, mate."
"You too, Bill," Teddy said, straightening himself out and giving the man a proper handshake.
"I'd love to stay and chat about your trip, but the rest of her uncles REALLY want to meet Victoire's boyfriend." He said the last word with just a twinge of distaste, before adding, "Especially Ron and Harry. You've heard of them I imagine, Glen? The Aurors, defeaters of Voldemort, that sort of thing."
"Yes, sir," Glen said politely, though Teddy did notice the large gulp in his throat.
"Shut up, Dad. Come on," Victoire said, grabbing his hand. "They're both big softies really, don't be frightened."
They both retreated back to the house. Teddy's eyes lingered on Victoire's legs and curves slightly longer than was perhaps appropriate, given that he was stood less than two feet from her Dad.
"I have to say, if I ever manage to reproduce and my daughter brings home a boyfriend for the first time, I want it to go somewhat like that. I think he just shit his pants," Mike said, breaking the silence. There was a collective laugh.
"Well, I didn't just set that little meeting up so I could stand here and miss it. Ron and Harry have apparently got a whole good Auror, bad Auror routine worked out," Bill said, also making his way toward the house.
Teddy, Mike and Charlie all stood sipping their beers in contemplative silence for a moment before Charlie spoke.
"You boys know that kid then?" He said, obviously wanting an independent opinion.
"Little bit. He's alright, I guess," Teddy said, trying not to diss Victoire's boyfriend to her Uncle, it would be a bit rude,\ "Bit posh, Pureblood family. Think he's a Chaser in the Ravenclaw Quidditch team."
"I don't like him," Charlie said, glaring at the doorway.
"Was there any chance you were going to like any bloke Vic brought home?" Teddy asked, a slight note of laughter in his voice.
"Probably not," Charlie replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"If it's any consolation then," Teddy said, in a very serious voice. "Mike has totally shagged his sister."
Charlie roared with laughter, before clapping them both on the shoulder.
Somewhat later in the evening, the family plus Teddy, Andromeda, Mike and Glen had squeezed into the house as the Charms began to wear off in the garden and rain was beginning to break through the magical barrier.
Teddy had found himself sat with Harry and Ron, very pointedly not looking at where Victoire was sat holding hands and occasionally kissing Glen, which filled him with an almost uncontrollable urge to hex his stupid face off. Mike was taking part in a very animated discussion with George Weasley about marketing certain Muggle products to the Wizarding world, though Teddy suspected this increased animation was due to the several beers Mike had consumed.
"So, what's the plan now you're back, Teddy?" Ron said, "Fancy following me and Harry into the Aurors? I heard you've got the grades for it."
"Not really sure, I mean, I'm only nineteen and I've not really decided on a career path. Me and Mike did have this crazy idea when were off travelling, but we're not sure if it'd work. I think that's what he's talking to George about."
"What was it? I'm sure it wasn't as crazy as dropping out of school to run a joke shop," said Harry.
"Well, I probably told you this when we were planning our round-the-world Muggle adventure, but Mike is obsessed with this idea of bringing the best of Muggle inventions to the Wizarding world. I mean, take this mobile phone," Teddy said, pulling out his phone again. "I can contact and be contacted by anyone in the world if I know the number, pretty much anywhere. It's far more convenient than a fireplace, and whilst talking Patronii are alright for short messages, you wouldn't want to have a conversation with them."
Ron smiled, "I had a bit of a run-in with telephones back when me and Harry were in school. Hermione has one of those to talk to her parents though. Seems like a good idea to me."
"Any others up your sleeve?" Harry asked, scratching his chin looking at the phone.
"Well, Mike thinks it's lame, but I used to really enjoy the board games he brought in his first and second years, stuff like Monopoly and Cluedo. I think if we adapted them a bit, maybe add a couple of charms, it would really work."
"As a former employee of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, I can imagine there is a market out there for those games. Just don't make a Wizarding version of Trivial Pursuit. At least I've got an excuse for being crap at the Muggle one I'm forced to play with the Grangers." Ron said, shaking his head.
"So what's the problem? Seems to me there's plenty of Muggle stuff out there which is waiting for some enterprising Wizards to adapt to the market." Harry said, "I mean, if it's the money..."
"No, it's not that," Teddy said, cutting his godfather off. "Neither me nor Mike have a clue when it comes to business is the first stumbling block. We're both creative with magic, but I'm not sure if he's really serious about it, and I don't think my handle on the Muggle world is quite good enough to go it alone."
"Why don't you think Mike will go for it?" Harry asked. "He seems to be talking about it enthusiastically with George right now."
"His family mostly, they're all in the Muggle army pretty much. His Dad has retired now and works for the railway or something, but one of his brothers is a combat engineer and the other flies something called an Apache, it's a type of helicopter, apparently. Guess he thinks his place is doing the Wizarding equivalent, so you can probably expect his application any week now." Ron and Harry looked at one another, but said nothing. Teddy sighed. "I guess I think we're onto something, but despite all the obnoxious arrogance, Mike still thinks his Dad will be disappointed if he's not doing something about keeping Britain safe."
They fell into a contemplative silence, before Ron Weasley snapped his fingers with a huge grin on his face.
"Research and Development!" he said, to the utter confusion of Teddy and apparently Harry.
"You what?" his godfather said, looking his best friend like he'd gone barmy.
"Research and Development, Harry. You remember those shield hats the Twins made in the war, what about making that a sideline? Adapting Muggle gadgets for the use of the Aurors and Hit-Wizards. Keeps the whole defence sideline up, doesn't it?"
"Actually," Teddy said, grinning broadly, "not only is that a brilliant idea, but I think we might have already invented something that you can use. Oi! Mike!" Mike spun round from his conversation with George, cocking his head. "Have you still got Gladys?"
"Er yeah, why?"
"Can you summon it? I want to show Harry and Ron."
"Bit far away mate, give me a second."
Mike Disapparated, and appeared with a pop again several minutes later. He threw Teddy a funny shaped plastic device.
"Is that what I think it is?" Harry said, pointing at Gladys, "A BB Gun?"
"Yeah, but this one is special. Come on, I'll show you," Teddy said, heading out into the garden with Harry and Ron.
"Why do you call it Gladys?" Ron said, eyeing the toy gun suspiciously.
"There's a character called Marv in a comic book called Sin City who has a gun called Gladys. We thought it was funny."
"Right..." said Ron, who just looked perplexed. "So what does it do?"
"Mike's brother bought it for him when he was starting his 5th year, and he was forever shooting the stupid little plastic balls at me. It's quite a powerful gun, so it stings like an absolute bastard if it gets you," Teddy explained. "So one day I nicked it off him, and I enchanted a couple of the BBs with the Rictumsepra hex and shot him with them, so not only did he get a sore arm, he was laughing on the floor. We used to put all sorts of stupid hexes on the balls."
"I think I see where you're going with this," said Harry, as they reached the garden. "If it works properly, of course."
Teddy released the magazine and looked at the BBs in the top. "We colour-coded them so we knew what they did. Looks like it's the body-bind pellets in there at the moment." He cocked the gun.
"How do you not get cursed when you touch them?" Ron asked, clearly picking up on a flaw.
"Well, we did to start off with, but we actually worked out this tricky charm that only released the curses if it hit something at speed."
"Clever. I like it."
"Want to see it in action?" Teddy said. "Ron, if you don't mind...just back up a bit."
Ron Weasley backed up about twenty-five metres and Teddy took aim. He squeezed the trigger and less than a second later, Ron fell to the floor in a Full-Body Bind. Harry laughed and pulled out his wand to release his friend.
"I'm impressed. You think you could enchant the BBs with a Stupefy?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, we had a go, but after Mike got a bollocking from Professor Longbottom about stunning other students, we thought the better for it. I mean, technically, you can enchant it with any Curse you like." Teddy said, thinking, "and I do mean any, but we've obviously not tried that one."
"If I wanted to do that, Teddy, I'd just use a regular gun," Harry said pointedly, taking the toy gun off him. "But Stupefy, I think we could use. What do you reckon Ron?"
"Bloody brilliant. If you got disarmed in a fight, it'd be great to have one of these things full of Stunners to unleash. Won't be expecting that at all."
"Tell you what. You and Mike bring it into Auror headquarters in a week or so and we'll talk about it proper. Think of any improvements you can make too. We'll probably be able to sell this to the head of MLES." He handed Gladys back to Teddy.
"Cheers, Harry," Teddy said, feeling quite proud of impressing his godfather.
They started to make their way inside, Teddy leading the way, and although the sun was now setting he could still see perfectly clearly something he wished he could immediately erase from his mind. Just outside the back door, pressed against the wall of the house, was Victoire, engaged in a rather enthusiastic snog with Glen. The roar in Teddy's chest overpowered his sense and almost without thinking he raised Gladys and shot Glen in the back.
There was a moment of confusion from Victoire as her boyfriend apparently went rigid and then, in an almost comedic manner, toppled backwards into a flower bed. There was a sniggering from behind him which he knew immediately was coming from Ron. Victoire looked confused for a moment, then spotted Teddy, Gladys in hand and her face became very hard. Her wand was out in an instant, and a curse that had the dark green colour of the Bat-Bogey Hex flew directly toward Teddy, who dived out of the way.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry said, and Victoire's wand flew from her hand. He then released Glen from the Body-Bind. WThe young wizard stood up, somewhat red in the face and dusted himself down.
"What the hell do you think you're doing Teddy!" Victoire said, less than impressed with Teddy for cursing her boyfriend. "I know that was you and your stupid curse gun."
"Finger slipped," Teddy said, his face a picture of innocence. Victoire thumped him hard on the shoulder.
"Liar. Don't do it again," she said, eyes narrowing dangerously, before stomping off back towards Glen.
Ron was still chuckling to himself, but as he passed Glen his face became hard and he gave him the sort of look Teddy suspected made wannabe Dark Wizards wet themselves. The look of sheer panic that overcame the Ravenclaw boy made Teddy's night.
As the three of them made their way back into the house, Ron patted him on the shoulder, before turning to Harry and saying cryptically.
"Well, at least he didn't conjure birds, they bloody hurt." Both of the older men laughed heartily.
Teddy was confused as to what that remark meant.