.

Teddy hated the carpet. He had nothing against it, as such. They were not enemies, he didn't go out of his way to hurt it or it him, but he found it very hard to like when it was so itchy to touch. He liked the beanbags in the corner a lot better. He particularly liked the plain light blue one, the one that was the colour of the sky. It was such a nice colour. He'd have liked to change his hair to match, but he wasn't allowed. He wasn't allowed to change his hair or eyes or nose - or anything! And that, for Teddy, was no fun at all. He found it very unfair, if he was honest. It was very hard to control, too, and a lot of the time it wasn't really his fault. He couldn't help it if when Peter Matthews would steal his friend's apple his hair liked to change red. He was angry. How else was he supposed to feel? Happy? No, it was very hard, but he prided himself that he had become very good at it.

He tried not to think about the carpet but, as he lay on his stomach, he found it was all he could look at. He didn't want to listen to his friends chatting about girly things. They were just so boring. He was very thankful that he had his friend Daniel to keep him from going crazy. It was at times like this he didn't know why he had two girls as mates when they liked talking about dresses and dolls so much, but when he, Jessica and Lady played together, he understood. It was just so much fun, and a very smart plan of his, he had to admit.

He allowed a small smile as he thought of it. He wasn't allowed to tell his friends what he was, or what he could do. So if he couldn't tell them, he would show them. Through their pretend adventures together he could share his world with them and he wouldn't get in trouble because they wouldn't see any of it as real. Yes, he was quite happy with his plan and he had so much fun with his friends, but there was only so much they would want to play that game with him.

They were girls and girls like to talk about girly things and Teddy, being a boy, had no interest in said girly things. It seemed very simple to him but when he had explained this to Jessica she had seemed a bit hurt and he didn't like it when Jessica Lawrence was hurt. He liked it when she was happy. He liked it when she laughed. He didn't know why exactly except that it made him smile. She made him smile. She was very pretty.

He especially liked it when he got to be the Sir Teddy the brave knight (Wizard, he would tell himself, but the others said knight was cooler) and rescue her from the fierce dragon (Daniel waving his arms going 'arghhhhhh'. It wasn't exactly the same, but he didn't think Miss Price would appreciate a real one in her classroom somehow. Hey, he could imagine). He really liked that, as she giggled a lot and he got to hold her hand - only to lead her down the treacherous path away from her tower, of course.

Ginny had made a weird awing sound when she had heard him retelling that particular venture to Harry, who seemed to be trying very hard not to laugh, and his 'cousin' Vicky had been mad at him for days after; which, he thought to himself, was why he didn't mention his adventures much any-more. Girls...were weird.

At least Harry had had a reasonable reaction, even if he still didn't get what was so funny. Though, it could have been the way Vicky went a bright red looking like a blond tomato. Not really caring, he yawned widely hoping his friends would get the hint.

Neither Jessica nor Lady made any sign of stopping their giggles but fortunately Daniel did get the message and managed to change the conversation to the swimming pool he now had in his garden. The girls seemed excited by this and asked if they could come over on the weekend. Teddy, who wasn't that much of a swimmer quickly admitted to having plans when invited, which he did after all. His insides squirmed with excitement as he thought about going to watch Ginny play Quidditch against Puddlemere united.

Harry, a Puddlemere united fan, particularly like the matches as apparently he couldn't lose. Although it was funny to watch him hide his support from Ginny so he wouldn't get glared at. He chuckled as he imagined his godfather being pinned down by his wife's look,

'It would be great if they won! Er, but obviously, it would be better if you won love, though it would be nice; they are a good team after all, but their chasers have nothing on you, though they are good, but you're better, obviously…" Ginny would nod, accepting his answer, Harry would sigh in relief and a very amused Ron would mutter something along the lines of, 'Nice escape, mate'. It happened every time.

He tuned back into his mates conversation, fully expecting weird looks at chuckling to himself so much, but instantly regretted it. They were paying no attention to him. Daniel had stopped bragging about how amazing his dad was to build such an awesome thing and the others had chimed in, Lady babbling on about the intricate and completely realistic dolls house her dad had made her for her birthday and Jessica, whose dad was Lady's uncle, was bouncing up and down as she talked of her ballet classes which he had paid for.

Teddy was about to jump in stating that Quidditch was far more exciting than swimming, ballet or a dolls house that, quite frankly, did nothing but he stopped himself. Not because they would have no idea what he was on about, he hadn't seen how to introduce it into their games yet and if he had they'd find him weird for thinking it was real, but because he felt guilty.

Harry, after all, as amazing as he was, wasn't his dad. Not really. He sure as anything felt like one. He was the closest thing Teddy had, but he wasn't. Teddy glanced up at his arguing friends, not even feeling happy that Jessica shared his views and though Lady's doll house was boring, nor annoyed that she felt ballet was far the best, and felt like he was seeing them for the first time.

Were those things really important? Yes, they were nice, they were special to them, their dad's had all put time and effort into making them or working hard to afford them, but that was just it, they were things. What about looking after them when they were ill, or cheering them up when they were down, or listening to you babble on about dragons when they had work to do but they find you more important? Why weren't his friend's arguing about those things? He supposed it was because any decent dad would do those things. But not every dad could afford to build their son a swimming pool or take their daughter to ballet lessons.

Daniel turned to Teddy not wanting his mate to be left out, though- more likely- really bored with the talk of dancing and dollies, and asked "What about you Teddy?"

Lady hit him on the arm and glared at him as if to say 'don't be so insensitive'. Daniel immediately looked guilty and started to apologise for starting a topic about dads when Teddy didn't have one, but Teddy didn't let him instead stating quite proudly, tiring to keep any form of misery out of his voice,

"My dad died so I could grow up in a better world." Nobody knew quite what to say to that, and with that Teddy went back to looking at the carpet, realizing it wasn't really worth hating.

Hello again guys! Sorry for the wait, and that this was short, and again very random. Oh well it's a look at younger Teddy. :) The next one will be much longer. There is another conversation that follows on from this bit which has Harry in it, but it will posted later on. Why? Because I haven't wrote it yet. But you guys deserve to have something and I really wanted this to go before the next one as it shows Teddy with one of the OC's above, but older. Ah don't worry guys I know what I'm doing. I hope you liked it. If you didn't, at least hold on till the next one.