"'ere is the chicken, Andromeda, move ze champagne please!"

Gran nudged the glass bottle forwards a bit without leaning any further than necessary, before sinking back into the plush covering and giving a satisfied smile. The rain was howling outside and was pattering hard against the window panes, however apart from the thin lines of water dripping endlessly down the smooth surface nothing else could have indicated a storm, as there was no sound to be heard inside the safe enclosure. The group of people seated around the spacious table were either red in the face from an overdose of alcoholic beverages, or had themselves busy with shoving food into their already bulging mouths. It was at the first crack of lightening (which none of them really noticed apart from the shabby figure seated facing the window) that the conversation began.

Bill tapped impatiently on the smooth oak wood, and with an acknowledging glance his wife beckoned Andromeda with a light nudge on the shoulder. Eyes stared back in a rather amiable way, and hands let go of the wine glasses and the forks with a soft clatter to the faint Beatles music playing in the background.

"I see that everyone has acquainted themselves well with the food and wine," Bill began, and gave a forced smile at his audience who were giving him satisfied looks back.

"And I must saw but we rejoice here at the acknowledgement that Victoire," to which Bill gave a hearty wave of his hand towards the girl who had been, so far, withdrawn from the conversations and had now turned a unique shade of scarlet, "and also Teddy are going to begin their years at Hogwarts this forthcoming September!" Teddy grinned happily and awarded himself with a rather substantial piece of treacle tart, and for once his gran didn't give a glare back in response.

"Cheers, cheers!" Bill began raising his glass, but stopped in time to observe the moon outside. He recalled just how extremely fortunate he was to be spared from turning into a were wolf every full moon, and painfully thought of Remus again and the terrible scream of agony that came from his throat the moment the curse hit him, hard in the chest. Trembling, he pushed the bitter liquid into his dry mouth and tried his best to conceal back the painful tears that burnt his eyes and throbbed his heart…and in solemn return everyone else raised their glasses too and drank the wine (or juice) down their own throats without a single word.

"Bill, vould you like some vater instead? Are you okay vith vine?"

"Ai Fleur dear, I'll be fine just this once. It's a special occasion, we all need our fun, and my goodness but would you look at how much whiskey Andromeda has drank! The monster!"

Andromeda gave a light laugh and as if on cue loaded her glass with yet another bottle of the faint yellow liquid, which made her promptly return back to her childhood life full of late night parties and swigging bottle after bottle of the toxic. Teddy, having satisfied himself quite well with the pompous dinner, began examining Mr. Weasley with some curiosity. He wasn't sure whether this character represented a wolf with a remarkable human similarity, or a human with a bizarrely wolf like appearance. Although one thing was sure to Teddy; he knew from his first encounter with this wolf/human was that he/it was cool. Really cool. Like a ponytail cool and skull earring cool. And by hell he wanted those scars that ran from the corner of the suspecting eye all the way to the corner of the cracked mouth, even though he would have to pay a heavy price for it. The more that he thought about it, the more Teddy realised that this was the family he had yearned for, the one that kept on appearing in his dreams. Well, to be more precise, the female had an odd pink hue over her head and the male didn't have red-orange hair, nevertheless a neat ponytail that trailed to the middle of his back…but-

"Teddy, uh, we must, uh, go home now, uh, no more Fleur, uh, no more please, uh."

"Bill vould send you 'ome, Andromeda. You look very – be careful!" Mrs. Delacour leapt from her chair and quickly helped the frail lady back into her chair, and promptly ran to the kitchen and came back with a cup of water. The lady had really consumed too much alcohol that night, and in consequence had a crooked smile stretched on her face as she lay with her eyes closed, emitting loud hiccups as she lay there. Victoire had disappeared off to her room again without bidding the pair good bye or even good night, and Teddy has resumed back to eating the treacle tart with satisfaction. Bill resided to a seat next to the window and was engulfed in his own busy thoughts, while Fleur rushed around like a bird and brought pills after pills to Andromeda, before straightening herself up and proclaiming:

"Bill, could I use some magic instead? She is not awake, she needs 'elp, the medicine is not vorking…Bill?"

From the corner of the room there came a slight nod. With much effort Fleur protruded from somewhere in her dress a thin stick, and with sudden realisation of what will shortly take place Teddy stopped midway through his chewing and instead stared wide eyed at Mrs. Delacour, paralysed. For this was his first time seeing magic.

"Dusacandium!" A sudden shot of purple light came whizzing out from the tip of the stick and landed in a perfect arc on his gran's forehead, leaving a trace behind that wafted temporarily in the air. It was as if his gran was suddenly awake from the dead, how she first opened her eyes and then her face lost the fiery red, then her fingers started moving and with a bolt she sat up again, eyes blinking furiously. Mrs. Delacour gave a smile, then struck the powerful stick back into her dress and helped to aid Andromeda, who was now completely fine on her own.

Baffled, Teddy came towards Mrs. Delacour and asked, with his face pale:

"Was that, that magic?"

"Yes, it is magic."

"So, that's a magic wand then?"

"Oh yes, it is. You vill get one at Grunvin's finest vands, although Ollivander's were always ze best. Ah, ze poor man died only a few years ago...of course, I got mine from Beauxbaton's vand makers, zey are also very good."

"So I'll get one?"

"Zeddy, you and Victoire vill both get one, Bill vill take you both. And you vill also get cauldrons, big pots, and also magic books and robes, great swishing ones. Ve, I mean, I, got blue ones. Very pretty. You vill get robes the colour of your 'ouse, I believe either-"

"Houses? Like the ones at boarding schools where rich spoilt nerds go?"

"Ai, yes. 'ogwarts is a boarding school, and the 'ouses are Slytherin, emerald green; Griffindor, sunset scarlet; Ravenclaw, gorgeous blue; and 'ufflepuff, 'oney yellow."

"And I'll tell you now straight and true that Griffindor is always the best house, your father and his friends were all in that houses and all the Weasley's were too, including myself." Bill became interested once again and joined the group crowded at the table, with a baffled Andromeda still temporarily speechless.

"Teddy, you had better live up to your parent's desires! Tonks herself was in Griffindor, and so is Remus. Very fine role models, and died in their desire to save you, to save the next generations and everyone else from having to face a miserable life…they were one of the bravest people out there, Teddy…and I pray to God that they are in Heaven and are able to look down and see their son progressing so well…" There were tears in Bill's eyes as he looked down at Teddy, who was standing speechless. He didn't want to say that he wanted parents like Bill and Fleur anymore; instead he felt ashamed of himself. Although he has never remembered seeing his parents before, or holding their hands or touching their faces, he knew deep inside that they were with him, always.

And with this in thought he returned Bill's remark with making a cross at his heart.

"I will."

**I have lied to you all who have bothered to read my last comment, and yes I have magically managed to produce yet another chapter of Teddy Lupin-19 years later the next day, which I will change to Before Hogwarts as I am planning to write a trilogy (perhaps), however I am dead serious now that I will most likely not be producing any more work (maybe on next Monday as it is a public holiday) until the middle of June, as mentioned before, however please do not give up on my fanfics! I will promise that my writing can only get better and if you must know but I am new to and this is my first and incomplete fanfic (!), so please either pardon my incorrect word use or send me a review of where I should modify it! I am planning to equip myself with a BetaReader sometime soon, so hopefully then my works won't be as difficult and squirming to read (hopefully it isn't that bad). Albeit this I still thank all of those who have read all the way up to this chapter, I understand that it is difficult to do so from experience myself, and I wish you all the best of luck with your own fanfics and may they attract swarms of reviews just like I hope I will!

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the light – Albus Dumbledore**