The following morning, Teddy knocked on Sirius Black's door after breakfast. Molly was back at the Burrow, Remus was napping, and Tonks had gone out, either on Auror business or Order business Teddy did not know. Regardless, the other three sometimes-residents were occupied, and it was the perfect time for the young man to learn to become Sirius Black.
"Come in," Teddy heard through the door. He walked in to find a nearly naked Sirius Black, and balked.
"Oh, Merlin," he began, shielding his eyes. "You told me to come in—"
"I did," the Animagus said matter-of-factly, "And so you're here—mind closing the door?"
Teddy, still trying to avert his eyes, did as he was told. He heard Sirius chuckle.
"Modest as your father, I see," he quipped quietly. "I'm shirtless for a reason Teddy, and it surely isn't to seduce you. If you're going to learn to look like me, you have to learn what I look like, yes?"
"Well," Teddy huffed, finally opening his eyes to see the man in his boxers. "I didn't expect I'd have to look like you naked—unless that's how people normally see you?"
"No," Sirius remarked off-handedly. "Not these people anyway—but you've got to get my form right. I won't have anyone going about looking like me without really looking like me."
Teddy supposed he saw the reason behind all this. He sighed, taking off his own shirt. "I'm not here to seduce you either," he muttered, giving Sirius reason to bark. He stared intently at the man, eyeing the tattoos on his chest. "You've certainly got a lot there."
"Now you really sound like Remus—he never liked them," the man explained. "Think you can copy them, though?"
Teddy nodded, focusing intently on the shapes and sizes of the tattoos and the rather hollow chest upon which they were imprinted. It took a few tries, but he was certain he got it. He followed with Sirius' rather thing arms and legs.
"Am I really so scrawny?" Sirius asked, sounding a bit stunned. "Merlin, I didn't keep up my exercise routine very well in Azkaban, did I?"
Teddy scoffed. "Yeah, suppose not…here," he stated, motioning for Sirius to come a bit closer. "I need to see your face a bit better." The Animagus approached and Teddy took stock of his features: grey, narrow-set eyes, a somewhat large nose, high cheekbones, a greying mustache, large, puffy head of hair, and a somewhat scraggly mess of facial hair. Teddy narrowed his eyes a bit.
"You're certainly a bit hairy," he remarked. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"That's rich, coming from Furry Junior."
"I'm not furry," Teddy insisted. "Now hold still—I've got to try and get this." The young Lupin pursed his lips, focusing very closely on this face in front of him. First to turn were the eyes and the hair, and then he began to morph his face to match the features of the Black family, noticing he had the same high cheekbones as Sirius—and, he assumed, his mother. Finally, Teddy felt he had done a significantly good job.
"Well?" He asked. "Do you have a mirror, what do you think?"
Sirius Black looked shocked at the face in front of him. "I…I'd say that's me," he admitted. "You're fairly good at this, you know. Here—" He walked over to the other side of the room and pulled a mirror from his bedside table. "Take a look yourself."
Teddy took the hand mirror and studied his—Sirius'—reflection, making a few tweaks. "I ought to be good," he snorted, "I was born this way wasn't I?" Putting down the mirror, Teddy smirked and began to transform back into himself—his real self. He saw Sirius' gaze upon him and he bit his lip.
"Do I really look that much like him?" Teddy asked. "Remus, I mean," he added quietly. Sirius nodded his head.
"More than you know—but you stand…proudly. You've got a confidence and a healthiness about you I've never seen on him. It just makes me wonder," Sirius sighed, "What it could have been like, you know? Had he not been bitten."
Teddy grimaced. "I imagine he would've been a different man. Who knows," he shrugged, "I might not have ever been born."
A silence filled the room for a moment before Sirius cleared his throat. "Right, well, you'll need some of my clothes," he suggested, walking over to the dresser. "Here, I've got a nice shirt," he threw an orange thing onto the bed behind him, "A vest, pants…socks. That should do, right?"
Teddy nodded, turning his eyes and hair back into his disguised look. He began changing into his own clothes and picked up some of Sirius'. He felt a bit like a ghost—not of Remus, per say, but of what he could have been. It was a haunting feeling.
Later in the way, right before Remus woke up and Tonks returned, Sirius slipped out of the house unseen, taking Buckbeak with him. When his mother did return, Teddy made a big show of 'leaving the house' to go for a walk. In reality, of course, he ducked behind the stairway and into a cupboard beneath it where he had stashed Sirius' clothes. He slipped them on and began transforming himself before appearing ever so slowly out from behind the door. The coast was clear: no one was to be found. Those were the perks of Sirius leaving in the middle of a school and workday, he presumed.
Teddy began to head to the kitchen where he—Sirius—normally sat, drinking his Firewhiskey. The young man knew exactly where it was hidden and reached into the cabinet right under the sink, pulling out a bottle. He had to stay in character, after all, and it gave him a nice chance to sit, drink, and relax. After a while, however, this grew quite boring and with a nice buzz, Teddy decided that 'Sirius' was due for a nap. He trudged up the stairs and was about to head to the Animagus' bedroom (a king-sized bed for one person, believe it or not) when he heard some sort of rumbling from his own—Teddy's—bedroom. He grew concerned: was Remus searching his things? It wasn't as if Teddy really had many things to be found, but for a brief, somewhat drunken moment of panic, the young man opened the door. Inside was something that, try as he might, he could never forget.
Tonks, shirtless, save a brassiere, was straddled across Remus who was particularly unclothed. The two were clearly involved in something neither Teddy nor Sirius, nor anyone else for that matter, was supposed to see. Remus, facing the door, was the first to catch on.
"Oh, Merlin, Padfoot—"
"Padfoot? You're thinking about your school friend while I'm—Oh."
Teddy, or 'Padfoot,' stood in the doorway, mouth agape.
"I…er…"
He quickly shut the door, trying as best he could to erase the memory of…that. Can you obliviate yourself? Teddy wondered to himself as he walked as fast he could to Sirius' room, shutting the door loudly behind him and flopping on the bed. He heard some snippets of a conversation from the next room over:
"I have to…he'll…know."
"Can't…wait? Just….and…finish what we…"
"Dora…back…after we talk, promise"
Teddy groaned, and soon enough he heard a knock on his door.
"Padfoot?"
The younger Lupin man sat up on the bed. He needed to make sure he sounded like Sirius now—an event he hadn't entirely prepared for. He had been hoping Sirius could just be in a drunken mood. "Come in," he replied, trying to match Sirius' tone exactly.
Remus opened the door and walked in a bit slowly. Teddy had to try and keep himself from laughing and vomiting all at once; his father's hair was rumpled and he had clearly spent very little time putting on his clothes—his shirt wasn't even tucked in, and he wasn't wearing any shoes. For Remus Lupin, this was as unkempt as it got.
"Look, Pads…" He rubbed the back of his neck, taking a seat on the other side of the bed. "I…I know what you're going to say."
Teddy couldn't help it—he laughed. "You…what? What in Merlin's name do you think I'll say?"
Remus chuckled sheepishly. "Something along the lines of 'well done' or 'about time…' you just seemed rather shocked, and I couldn't tell…It's okay that she's your cousin, right? I mean, that's not an issue?"
Teddy was certainly not about to congratulate his father on this, though he assumed Sirius would, but he could at least offer a bit on the whole 'cousin' thing. "Not an issue at all, Moony—she's an adult. And, if I may say, she's quite smitten with your professor-like charm for whatever reason."
Remus rolled his eyes. "I'm not sure what it is she seems in me—I'm only glad she does. Only…" he sighed, looking rather sad. Nothing new, Teddy thought to himself. "I worry I'm doing something I shouldn't with her—she's nearly half my age, has her whole life ahead of her…and could be doing much better than dating someone like me," he admitted. Teddy looked at his father intently, wondering how to best word what he wanted to say next.
"None of those things really matter, Moony," Teddy insisted. "We're living in strange times—it doesn't matter what other people say and think anymore."
"It matters to me," Remus mumbled, and Teddy realized just how much his father let his guard down with Sirius—they had, after all, been friends since they were eleven years old. "I don't want to be hurting her—"
"It would hurt more if you pushed her aside," Teddy insisted. "Trust me. Just let yourself…feel. You deserve it. No one worthy enough to be your friend, or dare I say girlfriend, cares nearly as much as you do about your furry little problem." The younger Lupin paused for a minute, trying to gauge his father's feelings. "Besides, if anything, having that boy around should teach you something: it's not that unheard of for someone with your little problem to find what it is that any man wants."
Remus smiled. "You…You always know what to say. I suppose I'm making too big a deal about it—you know how I get, 'Moonying about' and all that," he grinned, and Teddy did his best to chuckle at an inside joke he knew nothing about. "Thank you, Padfoot. I…I suppose I should get going," he said sheepishly. "I told Dora, er, we'll use a silencing charm this time—"
"—Please," Teddy insisted eagerly. "I'm planning on taking a nap and as much as I miss our dormitory times at Hogwarts, the sound of my friends' shagging isn't something I care to relive."
Remus grew a shade of pink Teddy had honestly never seen on the man and rose from the bed. "Thank you Padfoot—really. I'll…er…I'll see you later," he actually giggled, leaving and closing the door behind him.
Better use that silencing charm, Teddy thought to himself. And by all means…don't use my bed.
Teddy didn't really get the chance to nap—who could, after the nightmare of knowing what one's parents were doing behind closed doors. After a while of sitting around Sirius' room, he heard something at his window—a stone hit the glass pane. Sirius.
Teddy opened the door to Sirius' room and headed downstairs. He couldn't tell if his parents were still in the upstairs bedroom, but the door was closed which was good for sneaking Sirius in, but bad for Teddy's sanity. He headed downstairs and opened the door that led to the cellar, where Sirius had somehow snuck out from. He ushered the man in as quickly as possible, returning to his disguised form as quickly as possible.
"Here—we've got to change. Clothes are in the cupboard under the stairs," Teddy explained. The two men scurried inside as Teddy put on his old clothes and Sirius the clothes Teddy had been wearing all day. One at a time, the men exited the small room. Once outside, Teddy yelled:
"I'm back!"
Sirius looked at him funnily. "Why would you do that?" He asked. Teddy felt a shiver run down his spine.
"I'll tell you later," he said warily. "And you…everything went well?"
Sirius nodded, whispering: "I didn't mention Mad-Eye: just told Harry to be careful is all. Said we don't know why all these bad things are happening. I really just wanted to see the boy, you know."
Teddy nodded. Even as a child, he knew Harry had been a somewhat comforting presence, especially with those who cared about him. At that moment, Teddy heard footsteps from about and he sighed.
"Look, long story short," Teddy whispered, "You convinced your old pal Moony to shag my mum." He saw Sirius' face light up in glee and mirth. "No, I don't want to talk about it, just don't be surprised when they come down looking…happy," he muttered.
Sure enough, like clockwork, Remus and Tonks walked down the stairs. Purposefully, Teddy noticed, trying to make it look like they hadn't just been doing what he knew they had been. Remus looked flushed and disheveled, whereas Tonks looked particularly proud of herself. Teddy wasn't going to say anything, but that didn't mean Sirius wouldn't.
"So," the Animagus grinned. "How was it?"
Teddy wanted to vomit.
