Here's chapter two!
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Teddy Lupin plays with tiny James all summer long, finally masters his traitorous eyebrow, flies in the sun on his brand new Quidditch broom as much as he can, teaming up with Victorie to beat Harry and Ginny, cooing- although he would deny it- over iddy biddy Albus and somehow getting wrapped into a dramatic tea party with Rose whenever Ron and Hermione came to visit. He gets a spattering of freckles all over his nose and cheeks, and at first he doesn't like them and hides them, but then his attention keeps lapsing and they keep coming back and eventually gives up and lets them be.
Either way, it was interesting to have a part of him that was, well… him, and not his abilities.
Halfway through the summer, he and Victorie are cackling in the living room together- it was the traditional yearly family sleepover at the burrow- because she's teaching him swear words in French and apparently he sounds utterly deplorable.
Harry, Ginny, and the various assorted parents had retired hours ago, but only after Albus had begun to yawn every five seconds and literally fell asleep in his cereal. Molly and Dominique were hiding under their 'Super Secret Fort of Awesomeness'- which consisted of a hastily constructed blanket over the dresser and the back of the couch and a nightlight- after the older girl had practically dragged the younger there, whispering and giggling like mad. Their noises had long since gone quiet.
They, however, are both laughing ridiculously hard; it's past midnight and everything is funny at this point, including deplorable French, but they're trying to be quiet at the same time because Molly and Dominique are sleeping and little James insisted in his stunted vocabularily that he was "sweeping wiv Ted and Vicky," and they would not be the ones to wake him up from his conked out, drooling state.
And then she goes quiet, and he glances at her out the corner of his eye.
"What's wrong?"
Whispering, to keep James asleep.
"...Do you think my dad'll care if I get put in Slytherin?"
Teddy frowns, shrugs, burrows deeper into his sleeping bag. His hair had been turning a light shade of mikado, he's pretty sure, out of curiosity, but now he's pretty sure that it's every color of the rainbow in confusion.
"Why would he?"
Victorie gives him a look from her own sleeping bag, the one that says he's being an idiot, and he makes a half frown to show his apologies.
Then she goes quiet again, so he nudges her.
"It doesn't matter, Vic. All the houses are super cool. Don't worry 'bout it."
She was worrying about it.
Just then, an idea pops into his mind.
"You know… if you want...I could go with you?"
"What?"
And Teddy grins.
He shows up at Hogwarts sporting his customary black messy hair- this time, his eyebrow is non rebellious- and clambers off the train next to Victorie Weasley without much affair. Then, he promptly picks a person and slowly morphs his features to sort of kind of resemble their's, ending up with dull red hair and bright green eyes and a rather stubby body by the time he and Victorie get on the boats together.
Nobody notices, but Victorie keeps giggling and she's going to give them away.
(Except he's giggling too, between his semi-serious, "Shhhh!"'s, and his hair keeps turning a bit turquoise in humor, but no matter, no matter.)
He shares her excited grin when the castle finally comes into view, stands with her- crammed in lika tuna in a can- as they all await to be led into the Great Hall, and pats her reassuringly on the back when she shoots him a nervous look upon her name being called to be sorted.
Victorie slowly walks up to the stool, her chin high despite her nerves, and sits down on the rickety wood. Just before the hat slips over her head, she catches his eye, and Teddy gives a thumbs up and grins even as he comes upon the strange realization that she was really, really pretty, shining under the magical starlight….
Which was an odd thought to come upon, and he quickly shoves it aside.
But almost without recognition, his features slowly convert to match her's. His face grows narrower and his nose slightly smaller and pointed. His hair seeps into a pale blonde and his eyes into a startling grey, his body growing back to it's slightly taller and lankier form.
(Mcgonagall, standing at the head of the row, is the only one to notice the slow transformation. The small joyful part of her that is young and gay and is what keeps her in the business smiles, realizing just what is happening, but she says nothing.)
When the hat calls out Gryffindor, Teddy smiles and applauds loudly, and when Victorie spots him and raises a brow- she could always spot him, no matter what he looked like- he wiggles both of his brows and they laugh. He's slightly disappointed at being in different houses, but he also thinks that it doesn't really change anything, anyways….
Except that weird thought of Victorie shining in the magical starlight, looking like an angel and portraying a sort of radiant grace he doesn't think should be possible, but he's sure it's no big deal.
Really.
It's not.
Eventually, the snake of First Years trickles down until he's the only one left. And Professor Mcgonagall looks down at the paper and then back up at him, raising her own eyebrow. Teddy puts on his most innocent expression, asking her if it was his turn to get sorted, and she lets out an exasperated sigh. (Except she's smiling, too, so he thinks she finds it funny.) After a few dramatics- which included him throwing his arms into the air and claiming that no one wanted him, that he was Teddy Weasley, and isn't his name on the list, Professor?
By the time Mcgonagall tells him to sit down, he has half the hall in hysterics and Victorie laughing so hard she snorts. Feeling very accomplished, he bows twice, purposely flashes his hair every colour of the rainbow, and grows a lovely octarine moustache as he sits down at the table, stroking it obnoxiously even as his friends laugh.
He meets Victorie's eye from across the room, gives her a wink. She flashes him a thumbs up, and he grins, moustache vanishing as his hair tinges blue.
He goes to bed blonde, and is highly surprised when he wakes up in the morning to find it the exact same hue as the night before, the only obvious difference in his appearance is that he's a bit taller and a little less lanky.
He shrugs, gives his reflection a smile, and dashes off to breakfast.
"I thought that it was just for last night, but you're keeping it?"
That's Victorie; she's curious. Teddy's sort of embarrassed- hair fading into pink- 'cause it is sort of weird, isn't it? He manages a shrug.
"I dunno. It just sort of stuck, so I guess so…. Do ya mind?"
Victorie looks at him, evaluating, for a few seconds. Then she shrugs, reaches up slightly to ruffle the hair, and starts wandering off.
"Nah, it's cool."
Teddy fixes his hair, quickly following after her.
Grins.
It stays blonde all year long.
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Boom! Slightly shorter than normal, but I really like this chapter. Hope you guys do to!
Huge HUGE thank you to Cde135 and Elektra Elentari for the support in their follows/favorites! And a MASSIVE hug and THAAANK YOUUUU TO Andy the willow tree, WriterGirl7673, and Elektra Elantari for my lovely lovely reviews! :D
Thanks for reading, everyone!
Mashpotatoe Queen