Harry isn't used to giving Hermione relationship advice. Ever since he can remember, it's been the other way around, with Hermione trying to steer Harry and Ron through their interactions with girls and pointing out their mistakes. It feels strange to be the one trying to help her with someone she fancies, even if she isn't eager to take his opinion on board.

He wants to continue the conversation, eager to make use of the opportunity to help her, but he takes the food to the kids instead.

It's her decision, he tells himself, and he repeats that whenever he gets the urge to go back and remind her of how much simpler it would be to tell Fred everything. But she hasn't failed at anything to date, and he comforts himself with the knowledge that that isn't likely to change anytime soon.

His mood brightens instantly upon seeing Teddy and Victoire, who have stopped playing tips in favour of Lego. Colourful bricks of varying shapes and sizes are spread out across the floor, creating a virtual minefield of potential stubbed toes. What appears to be the beginning of a building sits between them in the middle of the floor.

"What are you building?" he asks as he clears a small patch of carpet and drops down to sit with them, reaching over to set the food on the coffee table.

"A tower," Victoire replies. "The prince lives there with his books, then a girl comes along one day and he climbs down to talk to her. He wants to go away with her, but his d-duty is in the tower. But she comes by every day, because she loves him, and he finally decides he loves her too. But his family doesn't want him to marry her, so he takes his books and they run away together." With a broad smile, she adds another green block to the building. "And they live happily ever after."

A faint blush tinges Teddy's cheeks, and he looks down at his toes. "She said we could play an adventure game next if we did this first."

"You said you wanted to play too!"

Harry can't help but smile sympathetically. While Teddy never used to be concerned over whether something was a 'girl game' or a 'boy game', an ill-timed comment from Seamus the week before has had him constantly questioning if things are too girly for him.

It doesn't seem to impact what he plays with Victoire when they're alone, but it sends him into bouts of shyness whenever an adult sees them playing something Seamus would see as girly. Harry's determined to help him get back to the point where he plays whatever he wants, stereotypes be damned, but he can't help but be amused at his sudden – and, hopefully, temporary – shyness. "I think it sounds like fun."

Victoire puffs up proudly. "Thank you."

"You know," Harry adds, determined to start undoing the damage Seamus did, "it sounds a lot like the way your parents met, Teddy."

A peculiar expression crosses the boy's face, but Victoire bobs up and down eagerly. "Ooh, a story!"

Setting the snacks down between them, Harry lowers himself to sit cross-legged on the floor in front of them, his back against the couch. They both immediately reach out and take one of the crackers.

"Your father was mischievous and playful when he was young, kind of like the twins, but he was always self-conscious about being a werewolf. And then the war came, and that made everything so much worse for him. By the time I met him, he kept to himself as much as he could.

"It was like he was in a self-imposed tower – which means it was one he chose to shut himself away in. But he was smart and kind and a wonderful teacher, which is why we all liked him. But none of us knew how lonely he was. He had Sirius there, but he shut most people out.

"And then, one day, a young woman came into the picture."

Grinning, Victoire moves forward, pushing the Lego pieces aside so she can shuffle next to Harry and curl into his side. Harry rests a hand on her shoulder before lifting the other, expectantly, for Teddy, but the boy shakes his head and starts to play with the Lego again.

Harry frowns in concern; every other time he's told the tale, Teddy has been eager to hear it. He can't comprehend why the boy would suddenly lose interest in it.

Maybe he's not in the mood for story time today, he thinks, but the sight of Victoire's face, upturned and excited, pushes him forward anyway.

With a deep breath, he continues with the story he and Hermione put together to tell Teddy. Neither of them really knows how Remus and Tonks got together, and given the bias of hindsight, he doubts they ever will. Instead, they put the pieces together as best they could and guessed at the rest of it until they had a story they could tell Teddy.

"Everyone else accepted that was how he was and left him to it, but she never cared about what was traditional or normal. So she treated him like the person she knew he could be, rather than the person he was, and she slowly lured him out of his tower. He always returned at the end of the day, closing in on himself and blocking everyone out, but he wanted to stay with her more than anything.

"But she had grown to care for him, so she kept coming around, until she eventually confronted him. And he admitted he cared for her as well but thought it was better for her if he didn't act on it."

"Aww," Victoire gushes. "That's so sweet."

"It was." Harry glances at Teddy, who seems to be searching the pieces for something. "He couldn't be with her while continuing to block everyone out all the time. He had to either accept he was worth more than he thought or let her go. And she refused to just be let go. So he left his self-imposed tower behind and followed her. He asked her to marry him, and they had you, Teddy.

"There were times when he returned to the tower when life got too hard. But he always came back out again, for her and for you. Because at the end of the day, the two of you were his entire world."

"That's the most beautiful story ever," Victoire says with a squeal. "Isn't it, Teddy? It's like your parents were out of a fairy tale!"

"Yeah," he replies, not looking up from the half-built Lego car in his hands. "Beautiful."

"What are you making? I thought we were doing the tower first!"

He shrugs. "Don't feel like it anymore. You can, if you want."

She protests as she goes back to the tower, but Teddy refuses to change his mind.

Harry watches them play, separately but together, and tries to wrap his head around his godson's unexpected reaction.

It doesn't make sense. If Teddy wasn't in the mood for a story, he would have said so, or would have at least been happy to return to the game afterwards. Unless it's because of what Seamus said. Maybe putting up with a 'girly' game that sounded like a fairy tale was too much for him.

"Don't forget the cheese and crackers," Harry says, holding up the plate and setting it on the table nearby.

Victoire hurries back over almost immediately, but Teddy is slow to follow her.

Harry doesn't know what to do other than to keep an eye on him and ask him about it later.