A/N: This story was written for season two of the International Wizarding School Championship Forum.

Words: 1967

Special Rule: Incorporate the color grey in your story and the meaning behind it

School: Mahoutokoro

Theme: Zonko's Joke Shop

Main Prompt: [Event] Picnic

Year: 6

A/N 2: I'll be focusing more on the fun side of the theme than pranks.

Looking up at the large home in front of him, surrounded by lots of trees that provided great privacy, Harry wondered to himself for the fifteenth time if it was too late to turn back and go home.

The older teen couldn't help but think back to the events that led him to stand there.

Three months ago had been the final fall of Voldemort and Harry had been miserable.

It wasn't just about all of the lives they had lost in the process, although it played a huge part.

Harry just didn't know what to do with himself anymore. His whole life was spent learning about defense and how to fight just to survive. It wasn't something he really enjoyed; it was simply vital for him to learn because of the psycho that was constantly after him.

Now that said psycho was dead and gone, Harry didn't really know what his purpose was. He was absolutely sick of all the fighting and seeing death everywhere he looked; so much so that he outright declined to become an Auror when Kingsley offered. He'd seen and done too much and he was quite weary of it all.

However, Harry did spend most of his life fighting bad guys. He didn't really know what to do with his life. Something that he was amazing at was something he hated. The ability the wizarding world praised him for was something he came to loathe.

But what else did he have?

That was a question he had continued asking himself for the past three months and was never able to answer.

So he hid away at Grimmauld Place, didn't speak with anyone except Kreacher, and spent most of his days wandering the house with a deadened gaze that skirted the drab, gray walls.

It was three months into his new occupation as a recluse that something changed from his routine of getting up, eat the food Kreacher made, wander the house, eat a little, wander the house some more, swallow more food, sit in a daze, and then sleep.

He was in the sitting room, no spark in his green eyes as they stared blankly at, yet another, colorless, gray wall that made up Grimmauld Place when he had heard the sound hooting coming from the window.

The irrational part of his brain had wondered, just for a split second before his head turned to investigate the sound, that if it was Hedwig. But that thought was dashed when his eyes had caught sight of the regal-looking owl perched on the windowsill with a letter tied to its leg.

Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and even Neville and Luna wrote to him often to tell him what they were up to while he wasted away in the home practically deprived of color, so seeing an owl wasn't what surprised him. No, what surprised him was that he didn't recognize the odd owl sitting patiently on the sill.

He couldn't think of anyone else who'd want to talk to him at that moment, especially since he hadn't left the house in three months.

His curiosity peaked, he got up and went over to the owl to untie the letter.

He let the owl nibble on his fingers before it took off, his attention solely on the letter in his hand.

His surprise only skyrocketed as he read the contents.

Dear Harry,

I know receiving this letter must be a shock to you, but honestly, it was a shock for me to write. Before my daughter died, she told me that she and Remus named you godfather of Teddy.

I have been taking care of him ever since my daughter and her husband...passed.

If you'd like, you can come to visit him. I think it would be nice if Teddy saw someone other than his grandmother for a change.

Owl me whenever you'd like to visit; we'd love to have you over.

Sincerely, Andromeda Tonks.

Harry had reread the letter many times before guilt had completely washed over him.

He hadn't bothered to check in on Teddy, too wrapped up in his own mind and issues, that he had neglected his own godson in a way.

It was his guilt that had pushed him to reply immediately to Andromeda's letter, also with a genuine desire to see how much Teddy had grown since the last he saw him.

Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly depending on how you looked at it, Andromeda answered back right away and told him their address.

Which was how Harry found himself in front of the relatively significant townhouse, a couple of days later.

He began to lose confidence when he first had left Grimmauld Place and blinked at all the bright colors - the blue sky, the green grass, the yellow cars, and red buses - that assaulted his irises, too used to the drab and lifeless walls of the home he wallowed in for three months.

His confidence took another shot as he walked a short distance towards the Apparition Point, thoughts of horrible meeting and terrible first impressions plagued his mind.

And now that he had finally arrived at Andromeda's place of residence, all of his confidence quickly left him, which caused him to feel nervous and jittery.

If someone had looked at him then, they wouldn't have known that he fought in a war not even six months ago.

It took a couple of deep breaths before Harry was able to steal himself to walk up to the front door and knock somewhat timidly.

It seemed that he had just removed his fist from the door when it was opened, and not by Andromeda.

Harry blinked at the House Elf on the other side of the threshold.

"Hello!" it said. "I is Lyra! Is you Harry Potter? Mistress Andromeda said she is expecting you."

"Uh," the flummoxed wizard stuttered. "Him, um, I mean, yes. Yes, I'm Harry."

"Come in, come in," the House Elf, Lyra, gestured towards him emphatically. Harry hastened to obey and she shut the door behind him. "Mistress Andromeda and Young Master Teddy is outside in the garden. I is taking you to them."

"Okay," Harry said blankly, still a little confused about how fast things were moving. As the two moved through the house Harry couldn't resist saying something. "I didn't know Andromeda had a House Elf," he said in lieu of anything else.

"I is a gift to Mistress Andromeda from former Mistress Narcissa!" Lyra explained brightly. "Since Young Master Teddy is so young, I is here to Help Mistress Andromeda out with lots of things."

"Oh," Harry replied, before falling silent.

It was probably a good thing that they then arrived at the set of patio doors that led to the rather large - and enclosed - backyard.

As he looked through to the outside, he saw a woman, Andromeda, sitting on a picnic blanket, her back to them. Her light brown her was swept up into a bun and she was wearing a regular muggle shirt and pants from what he could see.

However, what he didn't see, or rather who, was Teddy.

But before he could question it, Lyra was throwing open the doors and hurrying through them. Harry had to jog a little to keep up - he didn't know House Elves could move that fast. "Mistress Andromeda! I has Harry Potter with me!" she said as she stopped behind the woman on the blanket.

Andromeda turned her head so she was looking over her shoulder, and Harry was looking into a pair of grey eyes.

Harry inhaled sharply as his mind, unwillingly, conjured up Sirius' face over hers for a quick moment before the image vanished and Andromeda's face was the only one he saw.

He shook his head slightly before he cleared his throat. "Uh, hi, Miss Andromeda," he said. He felt heat rise to his face at his lackluster greeting.

Nice, Potter. Real nice.

Andromeda merely smiled at him, warm and inviting. "Hello, Harry, it's nice to see you again," she said, her expression not changing at Harry's mental hiccup. Her smile widened. "Someone has been pretty eager to see you."

And then she turned around fully to face him.

Harry widened his eyes.

Teddy was sitting in Andromeda's lap, his attention fully on the toy in his hands. Harry felt his breath catch when he noticed that the three-month-old had the same shade of hair as Remus did and had to blink back the sudden bout of tears.

"Teddy Bear?" Andromeda crooned softly to the baby in her arms. She shifted him. "Look, honey. Someone's here to see you."

When Andromeda had shifted Teddy, the baby's attention went from the toy in his hands to his grandmother before looking around. When his eyes connected to Harry's own green ones, the older teen had to stifle a gasp when he noticed his amber-colored eyes - same as Remus.

However, he couldn't hold back the gasp when the baby gave him a gummy smile before his hair turned from its light brown to jet black, and his eyes shifted to emerald green.

Harry looked back up at Andromeda and saw her looking silently amused. "He's a.." Harry couldn't finish the question.

But she knew what he was trying to get out and nodded with a smile. "Yes," she answered. "I found out about the ability my daughter gave him about a month ago."

The baby began to babble and raised his arms out toward Harry. "It looks like he wants you," Andromeda informed Harry, the smile on her face stretching into a grin.

Harry looked at her in confusion. "Wants me…?"

"Wants you to hold him," the Tonks Matriarch informed him.

"Oh," Harry blinked. "Is that...okay?"

Andromeda laughed. "Of course, dear," she said, humor in her tone. "Actually, it's great timing. I've been meaning to dig out something for Teddy to play with, would you mind watching him while Lyra helps me?"

"Um," Harry was thrown. "Sure…"

She beamed. "Great!" She lifted Teddy, who by that time was squirming and reaching towards Harry like a man, or a baby, on a mission. "Hold your arms out, dear."

Harry did as he was told and couldn't but marvel silently how light Teddy was after his grandmother deposited him in his arms.

"I shan't be but a moment," he heard her say, but honestly, he wasn't paying attention to her anymore.

Because Teddy had his small arms wrapped around Harry's neck and Harry's own arms were wrapped around him, in turn, to hold him steady. He held Teddy close enough to feel his rapid heartbeat on his chest and listened to him babble in his ear as he rubbed a hand, almost unconsciously, up and down his back.

Teddy stopped babbling and Harry drew him back slightly in alarm, afraid he had done something wrong. But the baby looked content. And in fact, when Harry looked at him, still with his eyes and hair, the baby smiled so widely that Harry couldn't help but smile, the first smile in three months back at him.

He remembered thinking all those months ago, 'What else did he have?'

Well, the answer to that question was sitting in his lap, smiling like nothing was wrong in the world.

Leaning against the doorframe of her patio doors, Andromeda watched as Harry used the many toys to entertain Teddy, a small smile on his face with Teddy either giggling or squealing the whole time.

She couldn't help but smile. "Let's hope that the two of you help each other," she murmured quietly to herself before walking over to join them.

She noticed throughout their picnic, as they ate and played and simply relaxed, that Harry didn't offer to give Teddy back.

She didn't offer to take him back, either.