Author's Note: No warnings necessary! I didn't write Theo/Harry as romantic but you could see it that way with ship goggles if you like!
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Form: Assignment #6: Healer Studies: Ailments
Task #7: Scrofungulus: Write about someone who has a contagious laugh or smile.
Bubbly
Bath time is sacred in the Potter household. Of course, it's not really the Potter household at all; it's more of the Potter, Weasley, Granger, occasional Old Classmate, and Lupin household, but Harry's name is on the bills. He never has to think twice about the bills because everything comes out of his ridiculously cramped bank account, and the piles of galleons never seem to dwindle, but the point stands. The steadily accumulating wealth might be something he'd feel guilty about, if it weren't for the history of hand-me-downs and almost dying in forests.
Not to mention, if he were more concerned about money and not being so frivolous with it, he wouldn't be able to buy Teddy the best bathtub in the world. A claw-footed, monstrous bathtub that takes up most of the bathroom on the top floor of Grimmauld Place.
Teddy Remus Lupin deserves only the best.
"Your crown, my lord," Harry says, depositing half a bottle's worth of bubbles on top of Teddy's head. "Fit for a throne."
The bubbles are a new thing. Usually, bath time is a mess of little tsunamis, enchanted rubber ducks that quack of their own accord, and crayons that promise to wash off the walls but really just smear the tiles pink and purple for a week. Not that Harry minds; he's made a promise to himself and to any future kids that pop up in his life to never be the kind of adult that minds mess. He refuses to be Aunt Petunia. Hence, the bubbles.
The bubbles were a gift, a new thing from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. One of George's tentative creations, after years of not wanting anything to do with the store he made with his twin. Harry was wary at first, too used to the strange and hilarious effects of most Wheezes products, but now he's got to admit that the bubbles are pretty nice. They're charmed to last for over an hour, which makes for an interesting clean-up, and they smell like fruit. They're shaped like fruit too, little translucent apples and pears resting on the surface of the water. Teddy giggles, sinking up to his ears in bubbles, his hair flashing blue through the film of foam.
He keeps giggling, and Harry can't help but grin along with him. He leans against the side of the tub, elbow propped up on the polished edge, and chuckles as Teddy floats among the suds, still giggling.
"You shouldn't let him swim about in that thing untethered."
Harry turns in time to see Theo slouch through the doorway. His shirt is neatly rolled up to his elbows, and he looks disapproving of the whole scene; joy and humour, in general, isn't his thing. Not outwardly, at least. He only went to the shops to pick up stuff for tea, but he looks like he just came back from an evening gala, crisply dressed and brows drawn down.
"I've got floatation charms all over him," Harry promises, tapping the wand tucked behind his ear. "Did you get everything?"
"Everything except croutons, but I can make those from scratch."
"Show-off."
"It is quite literally toasting bread, Potter. Even a toddler could do it." Theo shoots a pointed look at Teddy, who splashes eagerly towards him from one end of the tub. "Even that toddler, who I wouldn't trust near a cold radiator, let alone a lit flame."
Teddy has certainly inherited his mother's clumsiness. He's only just started running, and Harry's already gotten very good at grabbing him by the back of the collar before he can smack his nose on the curb.
"Yes!" Teddy yells, splashing again. "Yes, Cheo!"
It's not clear what he's saying yes to, but it is clear - at least to Harry, who is somewhat versed in the subtle nature of his expressions by now - that Theo would agree in a heartbeat. He is cold in some ways, and sneers plenty, and doesn't quite know how to talk to anyone that isn't an aristocrat, but he would deliver a gold-lined swimming pool straight to the front door if he thought Teddy might like it.
The very first time they met, it was when Theo arrived with a stack of ward-replenishing paperwork to fill out and a face like iron. Harry, baby-sitting at the time, had dropped Teddy into his lap and picked up his quill, ignoring the horrified stuttering coming from the other chair. It could have gone badly, he thinks. Theo could have thrown Teddy across the room like a Quaffle, or viciously cleaned his hands after giving him back. But it didn't go badly. Teddy turned his eyes grey to match Theo's dubious gaze, and garbled something incoherent, as babies do. And Theo held him carefully and smiled, looking perturbed by the idea that his mouth could do that without an intense muscle spasm.
From that moment on, he hasn't been able to resist one of Teddy's smiles.
"Hello, Lupin," Theo says. "It's Theo. We've had this conversation. You have to learn to pronounce your 'th' sounds, or we shall never get anywhere."
Teddy moves to slap the nearest patch of bubbles, and Harry swoops in, redirecting the course of those chubby fingers. "Oh no you don't," Harry says, and murmurs a spell, urging the bubbles into a cape to match Teddy's crown. "I don't want to know what these bubbles do when you pop that many at once."
Teddy laughs brightly, giggling as the cape tickles his skin. He lands on his back, star-fished, and kicks his feet. Theo's mouth twitches, and his face softens as he leans against the door.
The thing is, joy and humour isn't Theo's thing, generally, unless Harry unleashes his secret, blue-haired, giggly weapon.
He would call Teddy's laugh contagious, but he doesn't want to liken it to anything diseased or sickly. The truth is, his laugh could light up any hospital ward. It has brightened many of Harry's darker days. It doesn't sound like it should come out of a tiny boy, and that makes it even funnier. And now he uses it like a spell, dropping Teddy into the path of morose friends and family who come to visit until they're smiling and laughing like they can't just help themselves.
"It's not a kid laugh, is it?" Harry says, aiming a fine stream of pink cherry bubbles in a circle around Teddy's head. He shrieks and reaches for them; Harry winces at the high pitch, snorting at his own lack of foresight.
"He sounds a little like an old man trapped in a tiny body when he laughs," Theo concurs.
Harry turns to flash a smile at him. Leaning like that, a cotton grocery bag still looped over one wrist, he cuts an elegant figure. His shadow is slim and grey as it sweeps across the navy tiles. His eyes follow Teddy's progression across the bath, and his brows tick up when Harry's shirtsleeve rolls down, dipping in the water; when Teddy laughs, giggling helplessly as Harry curses and yanks at his sleeve, a soft sound escapes him.
"I heard that," Harry says.
Theo purses his lips. "No, you didn't." But he laughs again when Teddy does his awful, old-man raspy little cackle, sending bubbles cascading over the floor. The laugh itself is a brief, soft, unfamiliar sound; then, catching sight of Harry's smirk, he turns abruptly on his heel and stalks down the hallway.
"Dinner in twenty minutes," he calls, the barest trace of amusement in his voice, forced down.
Harry isn't sure when Theo became something of a permanent fixture in this household, but he likes it. Not just because he doesn't always have to cook dinner anymore, either.
"You heard that, didn't you, Tedward?" Harry leans in, swiping some bubbles off Teddy's nose. "He laughed. Even he can't resist your charms. And he's a miserable arsehole, so that's really saying something."
"I can hear you, Potter." Theo's voice floats icily down the hallway.
Harry snorts; he makes sure that Theo can hear that too. He's distracted quickly from the battle by a crashing, soaking wet wave that sweeps over him, bubbles and all. It gets up his nose and sends him reeling. Coughing, Harry shakes his wet hair and meets Teddy's mischievous, bright green eyes.
"Rebellion, is it?" Harry nods, rolling his sleeves up firmly. "I fought in a war, y'know."
Harry dives into the suds, blowing raspberries, and Teddy's laughter echoes off the tiles, perfectly loud and bubbly. Down the hall, Theo laughs quietly to himself, and only the croutons bear witness.
Thank you so much for reading!
[Word Count: 1430]