Teddy saw her before she saw him. He was outside his godfather's house, poking around the woods and creek in back when he noticed the girl. She was on the opposite bank, doing exactly the same. He had just enough time to check his hair color, sandy brown, and change his eyes to his normal dark brown (he had been experimenting with purple and red earlier.) before she looked up and noticed him. Teddy jumped across the rocks leading across the river and extended a grubby hand. "Hi. I'm Teddy Lupin. I'm seven."
The girl smiled and shook. She had light brown braids, green eyes, and a light spattering of freckles across her nose. "I'm Erin Black. I'm seven too." She pointed off behind her, where Teddy spotted a boy about his size scaling a tree. "That's my twin brother Mathew." Mathew looked up at his name, then jumped down from his tree and jogged over.
"I'm Teddy." Teddy told him.
"Mathew." He replied. Mathew looked a lot like his sister, but without the braids. "We just moved here."
"This is my godfather's house. I'm here most of the time, except when I'm with my Granmum."
"Oh," Mathew said, "What about your parents?"
Teddy shifted uncomfortably. "My mum and Dad are dead, but it's okay, because I don't really remember them."
"It's the same with my Dad." Erin said. "Mum says he just left one day, and she didn't know him for very long."
"Oh." Teddy said. He changed the subject, "Do you like to play Quidditch?"
"What's that?" Mathew asked.
"It's a sport. You play it on your broomstick."
"How do you play with a broom?" Erin questioned.
"You know, you fly on it." Teddy said.
"Fly?" Mathew said interestedly.
"Haven't you ever played before?" Teddy asked.
"No." Mathew said, shrugging. "I'm great at soccer, though."
Teddy's eyes widened. Harry had told him about soccer, it was a muggle sport. If they didn't know about Quidditch, were they muggles?
"Teddy, love, come in for lunch!" Ginny called.
"Who was that?" Erin asked.
"My Aunt Ginny. Would you like to come for lunch? She makes quite good sandwiches."
"Well, I'd have to ask my mum, but I'd like to." Erin told him.
"I'd like to come too. My mum's a doctor, so she hasn't got much time to cook." Mathew said.
"I'm sure it will be alright. We'll be right back." Erin promised.
Teddy tore into the house. "Ginny, Harry, guess what!" he called.
"What's up, Teddy Bear?" Harry said, thumping down the stairs with James attached to his hip. Ginny followed.
Teddy was too excited to object to being called Teddy Bear."When I was out playing I met some kids. They're twins, and they're really really nice, and I think they might be muggles because they don't even know about Quidditch, but Mathew jumped from really really high and he didn't get hurt, so maybe they just don't know about it because they haven't got a dad. And we can be best friends now because they live right behind us-"
"Slow down, Ted." Harry said, looking slightly perplexed. "What are their names again?"
"Erin and Mathew Black."
Harry coughed in surprise and nearly dropped James. He and Ginny exchanged significant looks. "What does their dad do, again?"
Teddy looked exasperated. "I told you, Harry, they don't have a dad. I think they said their Mum only knew him a little while before he left."
Harry and Ginny looked at each other again, but Ginny said, "And you think they're Muggles?"
"I don't really know, because their Mum's a nurse and they can't fly and they don't play Quidditch and Mathew does soccer, but he was soooo high in the air when he jumped down and he didn't even say ouch, and they feel like magic."
"They feel like magic?" Harry asked.
"That's what I said. I've invited them to lunch."
Harry and Ginny's eyes widened. "You've invited them to lunch?" Harry said incredulously.
"Why are you repeating everything I say?" Teddy asked. "James does that enough. I told them what good sandwiches you made, and asked them if they'd come. They've gone to ask their Mum."
Harry and Ginny shot each other dubious glances, but Harry said, "What can it hurt? Go out and meet them, Teddy."
The minute Teddy's sandy brown head banged out the door, they were in full conversation.
Ginny said panickedly, "Do you think-"
"I don't know, it would be so like Sirius to shag some muggle girl and not bother to check the results-"
"The timing's about right too, I mean, if he escaped from Grimuald Place just before he died-"
"They'd be just a little older than Teddy, maybe not even eight yet." Harry finished.
"And assuming it was a muggle, they've been raised as muggles, but they could still be magical, which would explain Teddy's 'feel like magic'."
"Raised as muggles- Bloody heck, Ginny!"
"What- Oh." She glanced around at the enchanted clock on the mantle, the blue flames in the fireplace, the cauldron spitting green liquid, the dishes doing themselves in the sink, Prongs in his cage on the windowsill and Kreacher, who had just scuttled out of the room. "Why don't we have a picnic?"
"You're brilliant."
Jessica Black had walked her children over to meet Mr. and Mrs. Potter, and wound up staying for sandwiches and watermelon and hastily transfigured chocolate frogs. While she was a very nice young woman, probably in her thirties and greatly resembling her children, it couldn't have been much more obvious that she was a muggle.
More concerning to Harry was the fact that Mathew's jawline and both children's noses looked a good deal like his godfather's. He decided to investigate, and was looking for an excuse to question Jessica when she commented, "Teddy is so polite and well behaved, he must be a wonderful son."
Ginny smiled and replied, "Yes, thank you, he's a wonderful boy, but we aren't quite his parents."
"Oh?"
"Yes, I'm afraid his parent's passed away when he was younger than James." Harry said. "James is ours, though, and as you can probably see, we have another one coming." He said, smiling and patting Ginny's belly.
Ginny knew exactly where her husband was going with this, and she continued, "Are Erin and Mathew your only children?" She asked, watching them play tag with Teddy among the trees.
Jessica nodded. "I've always wanted more, but the circumstances under which the twins were conceived were, well, not very traditional, I mean to say, we weren't actually married, and well, I've changed." She said hastily.
"I'm sure." Ginny said with an understanding smile.
"I hope you don't mind my asking," Harry said slowly, as though it had just occurred to him, "But something about your children looks familiar, what was their father's name?"
"I doubt you've ever met him, he lives out in London, or he did, but his name is Sirius Black."
Both husband and wife managed to keep their expressions under control, but Ginny could sense her husband's excitement rolling off him like ocean waves.
"No, I must have been thinking of someone else." Harry said quickly, maybe a little too quickly, because she raised her eyebrows as though she suddenly doubted him.
Ginny broke the tension quickly with another strategic question. "I do say, he's gone quite high, should we get him down so he won't fall?"
Jessica squinted up at Mathew, who was indeed dangerously high in the tree, and said, "No, I don't think we'll need to. He shouldn't go any higher. I have to tell you, I sometimes think those children are made of rubber; Mathew's fallen from much higher and been perfectly fine, while Erin managed to fall from the roof when she was five, heaven knows what she was doing up there, or how she got up, for that matter, but she practically bounced to the ground, not a scratch on her."
"I know what you mean." Ginny said brightly. "Very resilient, children. It's the same with Teddy. Another thing with him," she said with a glance at Harry, "I sometimes think he can talk to animals. Maybe it's just a little boy thing, but our cat, Dobby, does practically whatever he wants, and it's a very aloof cat."
"You know, it's the same thing with the twins. I used to think it was unusual, the things they can convince our dog to do, but I figure it's just the number of treats they sneak him."
Harry decided that was enough evidence to sway him. It was time to change the subject. "What kind of dog?" he asked.
"Oh, we aren't exactly sure what breed Toby is, but I've always thought part German Shepard."
"Yes, I had a mutt as a teenager, Padfoot. He was a big shaggy black thing-"
Unnoticed by Jessica, Ginny shot Harry a grin, and he squeezed her hand back. Both were thinking of Sirus. Things they'd never known. They carried on talking till it was nearly dark, to a cheerful background of the children's shouts and yells.
Later, Harry told Teddy sternly, "You're not to talk to Erin and Mathew about magic just yet. I believe you may be right, and they are a witch and wizard, but their Mum doesn't know about magic, and I can't have her children knowing before I can find a sensible way to tell her."
Teddy nodded as if he understood, but grabbed his plastic quaffle on his way out the door. "Teddy!" Harry barked.
He turned and looked at him. "What?"
"Your hair!"
Teddy tugged a turquoise lock down in front of his eyes. "Hm." He changed it black, then turned back to the door.
"Teddy!" Ginny shouted after him.
"What!"
"Wasn't it sandy brown yesterday?" she asked.
"Yeah, so what?" Teddy said impatiently.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Muggle hair doesn't change overnight!"
"Oh." Teddy said, and morphed it yesterday's color.
He'd made it to the front step before Harry shouted, "Teddy!"
"Wh-at?"
"Your eyes."
"What about them?"
"They're orange."
Teddy shrugged. "Not anymore."
He turned once again, but Harry called after him, "Teddy!"
"Whaaaaaaat!"
"Leave the quaffle here."
Teddy hurled the red ball back into the room, then ran for it before anyone could notice he had one of his Puddlemere United T-shirts on.
Harry shook his head at Ginny. "It's a good thing children his age don't notice much, and when they do, they accept it and move on. Did I ever tell you about the time I jumped onto the school roof?"
Ginny grinned and shook her head.
Harry leaned back in his chair. "There were these rather nasty friends of Dudley's, Pierce and Malcolm, and they had a whole nasty group of friends who liked to pick on me as a sort of sport. I believe the time in question, they had threatened to jam my head in the toilet, and I was only seven, so what could I do but run…"
Harry's breathing comes in gasps as he rounds the corner of the school building. He can hear Pierce and Dudley and Malcolm and Kyle and Lord knew who else gaining on him, and not a teacher in sight. He takes a running leap at the large dumpster beside the building, hoping to make it over and land behind without hitting his head on the wall or breaking any bones, and vaults over it. Much to his surprise, he lands, not behind the dumpster or even atop it, but on the roof. Had the wind caught him mid jump? It isn't a terribly windy day, but suddenly there is a much more pressing matter to deal with.
"Harry Potter!" The sharp voice of Assistant Head Teacher Mr. Fredrick barks up at him.
He never could remember how he managed to get down, but next he knew, he was being dragged into the Heads office. The following conversation was not the slightest bit pleasant.
"So you thought you'd climb school buildings, eh?"
"Oh, no sir, you see-"
"I don't want excuses!"
"It's not an-"
"Don't interrupt!" The Headmaster interrupts. "Do you know how much trouble the school could get into if you hurt yourself?"
"No, Sir."
"Keep your mouth shut, boy!"
"But you asked-"
"I said Keep Your Mouth Shut! I can see the lawsuits now! And do you know who I can guarantee you would be paying those lawsuits?" The Headmaster asks with a nasty leer.
Harry kept his mouth shut.
"Answer me, boy!" Headmaster yelled.
"But you said-"
"I know what I said. Answer Me!"
"I don't know, sir."
"Useless, idiotic boy, your parents will be paying it!"
"My parents are actually-"
"Don't interrupt. Your legal guardians would be paying it, out of your pocket money, no doubt!"
"I don't get any-"
"SHUT UP! I'm tired of your excuses. You're suspended!"
"I-"
"QUIET!"
Ginny winced. "Ouch. Suspended at seven?"
"Wasn't the first time. I got ISS for a day in first grade when I turned my teacher's wig blue, and a week in my cupboard. They couldn't actually prove it was me, but they got me for cracking the window twice in both first grade and kindergarten when I was angry, they assumed I'd thrown something at them, so they already had me down as a troublemaker. Point of the story being no one even registered the magic."
"You turned your teacher's wig blue?" Ginny asked, smirking.
Harry grimaced. "If I remember correctly, I thought blue was a secondary color because it looked like purple and green, and the argument got a bit heated."
Ginny tried desperately not to laugh. "Things I never knew."