TEDDY Lupin wanted a puppy for Christmas but instead, he got a jumper with a giant 'E' on the front, a picture book on Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them, a Quidditch junior set (complete with a Tiny Tots Nimbus broom) and as much candy as Santa could fit in his stocking. He crawled all around the tree, searching for one last puppy-sized box—one last card telling him his puppy was hidden in the lavatory or his Grannie's bedroom. Teddy squeezed his eyes shut real tight and held his breath and counted to ten, but when he opened them, there was nothing in the living room that looked even close to a big, fluffy, cuddly, barking, face-licking puppy. Teddy frowned.
"Santa must have forgotten with all the letters he gets around the hols," his Grannie reasoned, ruffling Teddy's hair. "Besides, puppies are hard work. You have to train 'em, and walk 'em and teach 'em not to leave their number ones and twos around the house."
Teddy pushed Grannie's hand off and pulled a couch cushion over his head and ears. His puppy wouldn't poop and pee inside the house. It would be trained and he would take him for walks around the garden, teach him to fetch sticks and balls and stand on his hind legs. Teddy's puppy would be the best puppy in the whole wide world.
So on December the twenty-seventh, 363 days before the next Christmas, Teddy got out a quill and parchment and wrote a letter, sounding the words out (like his auntie Hermione taught him to):
deer_sanTi_klos
i_wonT_a_pu
pi_for_krismus
Teddy
He wrote his name and address on the front, signed and sealed the envelope and stuck it on his Grannie's owl Earl's foot with instructions to carry it to: nord pool , 1 kandi lan, santi clos wrksop.
Next year, Santa will get his letter first and he will remember to deliver him a puppy. He'd understand now. Teddy sat by the window and imagined Santa reading his letter right this moment and putting his puppy into a special gift box just for him. Then Teddy realized he didn't describe exactly what he wanted his puppy to look like. When Santa's reply of 'yes!' didn't come in what felt like forever, Teddy knew Santa just couldn't pick which puppy to gift him. Trouble was, Teddy was not a good drawer, and he didn't know what his puppy should look like. If he saw a picture of it, he would know right away. But his Grannie had no books on puppies—and she was napping— so Teddy went to the only other person he knew who could help.
He went to the chimney and took a big handful of Floo powder (like his Grannie had done many times) and threw it into the pit. Then he said his aunt Hermione's address, the one that he remembered she said at the table at Christmas, and it made him fly right there.
"Mi-ni-nistery."
The green smoke gulped him up and spun him round and dumped him on his bum on the cold, hard floor.
Teddy found himself in a big room with many wizards and witches in dark capes talking about things he didn't know. He ran around, trying to find the cape with a head of curly hair that was his Auntie until a big man caught him by the arm and asked who he was searching for. He took him to a large desk with a swivel chair and kept asking him all sorts of questions like what his name was and who his parents were and if he knew his address. Even though Teddy tried to tell him a million times that his name was Teddy Lupin and he was here for Aunt Hermione and he lived in his Grannie's house, the silly man still got everything wrong. He made a big announcement that "Deddy Oobin" was lost and that if anyone knew of a "Deddy Oobin" to please come down to the front desk.
Lucky for him, aunt Hermione came down and found him standing firmly by the front desk with his arms crossed and his lips shut tightly together; when that was sorted, she grabbed his hand and took him back to the Burrow.
"Teddy! Never ever use the Floo without an adult witch or wizard," Hermione said. She took Teddy by the hand and walked him to the kitchen where his uncle was reading. "Had to get off work early. Imagine that Ron? Teddy decided to take the Floo…..to the Ministry of Magic…in the middle of the working day…alone!"
"Bollocks! Spectacular! " Uncle Ron cried, putting down the newspaper to pat Teddy on the back. "What was it like, your first time?"
This reply earned him a pinch of his cheek from his wife.
"Err, I mean…Teddy, that's real dangerous," Uncle Ron said. When Hermione had gone to fetch Teddy a mug of milk and some biscuits from the kitchen, he leaned in and whispered, "Next time, say the word 'Burrow' so you don't end up flying Merlin knows where. Your uncle Harry once said Diagonally instead of Diagon Alley and it got him into loads of trouble."
Teddy nodded, swallowing back his tears. "O-okay."
"Atta boy. Don't cry, happens to everyone. Just have to learn to speak clearly," uncle Ron said sitting Teddy on his knee and giving him a squeeze. Well, Teddy wasn't sure everyone had trouble speaking clearly—certainly not any grown-ups he knew—but it happened to Teddy every time he opened his mouth.
"So! What do you need from your favourite uncle Ron?"
"B-books." Teddy sniffled.
"What?"
"Books."
"Books? Sure you don't want to test that new broom I gave you?"
"I want a puppy book."
"What book?"
"A puppy book."
"A bumpy book?"
Teddy stuck his face right into Uncle Ron's. "PU-ppy."
"Puppy! The lad wants a puppy book," Ron grumbled. "Aunt Hermione will see what she can do."
When the milk and biscuits were finished, Aunt Hermione reasoned with Teddy and understood that he would not go back to Grannie's house without a proper book on puppies. There was only one place they could go to settle his dilemma —the library—and since Hermione had a free afternoon, she was more than happy to take him.
"Lots of books here," she said as soon as they Apparated at the gates of a busy-looking brick building.
"Even puppy books?"
"Every book means even puppy books."
That was good. Teddy and Hermione went to the section with all the animal books and she helped him find three whole books on animals with giant puppy pictures. When she told him that he could take them home to read them, Teddy hesitated. Grannie said you couldn't take things home that didn't belong to you—that was stealing.
"Borrowing books isn't stealing. It's taking something to use and enjoy for a little bit," Hermione explained.
His Auntie also had some books to find in the library. As Teddy watched her look around the shelves, it reminded him of the way Uncle Ron looked at chicken—hungry and ready to devour everything in sight. Secretly, his Auntie must have been very happy to get away from the Mi-ni-nistry and the Scary Man on the Swivel Chair who asked lots of questions.
"Stay here and don't move," Aunt Hermione pointed to a small table with another boy of Teddy's age sitting and drawing, while she went to a nearby desk to talk to a woman with spectacles.
Teddy opened his book and saw about a million puppies of all colours and types, only they didn't move like the ones in Grannie and Auntie's books. He turned page after page until he saw the one he wanted–gray and smooth with big bright eyes.
The boy across from him asked for paper, so Teddy traded him two pieces for a few markers. Teddy lay his paper on top of the book and traced the puppy picture as dark as he could with black. He coloured the puppy's eyes –yellow and the fur –gray. He was doing a really good job and the boy beside him thought so too, so much so that he also began to draw a fat, red puppy.
"That's my mumma," said his new friend, pointing to a tall and thin woman talking with another equally thin and tall woman just nearby. "She talks to everyone."
Teddy looked at the boy's mum and he looked at his aunt Hermione who was getting a very big pile of books from a woman at the desk. "My mum's dead," he said and went back to tracing the puppy's ears. The boy looked at Auntie Hermione like he'd seen a ghost and went real quiet.
When Teddy finished drawing, his aunt Hermione and Spectacle Lady hovered above him and the lady screamed in horror. "My book! My book!"
Well, Teddy didn't know what else to do so he grabbed his picture and hid under the table.
"Your son left stains all over the book from his markers," the lady continued screaming.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it. He's never been in a library before." Auntie Hermione apologized and pulled Teddy out from under the desk. "Teddy, what do you have to say?"
The two of them bulged out their eyes at Teddy, waiting for the right answer. Teddy looked for the boy, but he and his markers were gone. Just like that, Teddy had lost a new friend.
"Teddy, say you're sorry," his Auntie said.
"Why?"
"Because you aren't supposed to do that!"
"No!"
That? What exactly? Teddy didn't remember being told what not to do. His Auntie told him he could borrow some books and use them for a little bit to enjoy them. Teddy was enjoying himself very much until everyone started raising their voices at him and didn't let him colour in his puppy.
Teddy didn't like the library any more than he did the Mi-ni-nistry, so he turned around, walked to the door and sunk against the wall, hiding his face in his hands so the people who were walking inside wouldn't see his tears.
"What were you thinking Teddy?" his Auntie cried when she caught up with him.
"I don't know," Teddy whispered. One moment, he was drawing the perfect puppy for Santa, and the next, everyone was yelling at him and he didn't get to take his puppy book home as promised. The library was the worst. His Grannie was right, you really couldn't just take things that didn't belong to you.
Aunt Hermione spoke very loudly. "I won't be able to go to the library for three months now and I had to pay a fine to Mrs Renolds. Do you know what a fine is? It's when you damage a book and you need to pay to have it replaced."
Teddy hugged his knees. He wasn't sure what the fines were, and he didn't really care.
"Teddy, don't draw over the top of books. Ever. Okay?"
"Okay," Teddy repeated. He clutched his puppy picture for Santa Clause tightly against his chest all the way back to his home.
Grannie Andie was also cross with him. She asked him why he snuck out and why Aunt Hermione was spending her work day 'babysitting him' and why he was such a bother to Uncle Ron and why couldn't he stay home and listen as she asked him to and why did Merlin bless her with such a troublesome boy. She reminded Teddy of the Swivel Chair Man.
Teddy kept his mouth shut. Sometimes it was best to say nothing at all when adults were angry—they usually stopped scolding you quicker.
Puppies weren't like that. They were always happy to spend time with you, always looking at you with their big, beady eyes wagging their tails. They didn't scold you for doing what you weren't supposed to or ask you millions of questions that they weren't going to listen to anyways. They didn't mess up your words or ask you to repeat yourself. They didn't run away when you needed them the most, taking their markers with them. Puppies didn't care if you said nothing at all. Puppies were the best of friends and Teddy couldn't wait until Santa brought him his very own.
After Grannie was finished, she gave Teddy a big hug and warned him to never leave the house without a grown-up's permission again. Teddy promised he wouldn't and went to sleep with his picture under his pillow.
That night he dreamt of the 'book puppy'—all gray with big amber eyes like saucers floating in the sky. He dreamt that he and the puppy were running through a vast field of daisies of all colours. They fell together into the stems and made grass angels with their arms and legs, sweeping the stalks away. The air smelled sweet, like chocolate and sugar sprinkles and the ground was softer than his Grannie Andie's winter flannels. Then the puppy lay on his chest, all snuggly and warm and its heart thumped. Teddy heard a distant song in a voice so faint and familiar:
"My darling, sweetie boy,
I love you very much;
I'll bake you buns and treacle tarts,
And hug you 'till you're mush.
But when the full moon shines
And sets the world aglow;
I'll stay inside the forest—
So that my hide won't show…"
Teddy closed his eyes and petted the puppy, wondering where he heard that voice before and why it sounded so familiar, like someone had spoken to him like that a very long time ago.
When Teddy woke up, his stomach rumbled an awful lot and Santa still hadn't brought him his puppy. So he went down for breakfast, humming words from his dream.
"Where did you hear that song?" Grannie asked him, pouring him a glass of milk.
Teddy shrugged.
"Your mum used to make up songs like that all the time when you were in her belly," Grannie said in that tone of voice which meant Teddy shouldn't ask anything more of her.
Instead, Teddy asked if he could use Earl the owl again to send his letter.
"Earl needs his break too," Grannie said, slipping him an egg on toast with a squirt of red sauce (just the way Teddy liked it). But even though he gobbled up his breakfast in a snap, Teddy couldn't help but feel he wasn't doing enough for his Christmas puppy. Santa had so much to do, if he didn't read his letter now, his work would pile up and he'd yet again forget his special present.
Teddy looked at the giant map on the wall above the kitchen table.
"Where's the North Pole?" he asked.
"Up North." Grannie dried her hands on his shirt and stuck her finger at the top of the map. "Right there."
"Where are we?"
Grannie showed him a pink patch in the blue-blue ocean that looked like a floating bread crumb—the kind they fed to ducks at the pond.
Teddy floated his pointer finger over the North Pole. Then he floated his thumb on England - trying to make a pathway. He squinted one eye shut. Well, it wasn't that far for Earl to fly— only a few fingers away! Teddy had an idea.
"Can I go outside?" Teddy asked before running to his room.
"Dress warmly."
Teddy pulled on two pairs of trousers and a warm, woolly jumper over his shirt. He put on knitted socks and then a scarf that covered every inch of skin on his face. He stuffed candies from his stocking into his pockets in case he got peckish on his walk.
Grannie Andie walked in and laughed. "Going far?"
"No," Teddy said. "Just the North Pole." He went to the front door and stood on his tippy toes, shoehorn in hand, knocking his hat down from the coat rack.
Grannie Andie snatched it up and slipped it over his head, covering his eyes and ears. "Is that so, Mister Lupin?"
"I'm Teddy! Teddy!" he cried, scrunching up his nose so Grannie couldn't tell he was actually enjoying the kisses on his nose and cheeks, and squirming out of her big embrace. He had business to get to.
"Oh!" He ran to his room to fetch the puppy picture.
Grannie took an elastic and rolled the paper into a tube, fastening it shut before handing it to Teddy. "Be back before lunch and stay out of the forest."
"But that's the North Pole-"
"No forest," she said sternly. "You're a good boy."
Teddy had his sled in hand as he stomped through the snow up to the hill by the forest. It clumped to his boots, but the nearer he came to the forest, the deeper his boots sank into the white ground.
At the top of the hill was a fence and behind the fence was the forest. Teddy had seen it many times through his window. He now knew Santa lived just beyond those trees but his Grannie told him not to go there. Teddy wasn't very happy about that rule, but he was a good boy. So instead he plopped down on his sled and slipped down the hill. The snow was still crisp and his feet crunched as he walked right back up.
He played like that for a bit, but then it got boring because the hill was the very same each time he slid down it and he had no one else to play with. Now if he had a puppy, it would be a different story. First Teddy would slide with the puppy. Then he'd slide and the puppy would follow him down the hill. Then the puppy would sit on the sled and Teddy would chase it down. And maybe once, they'd let the sled down by itself and race each other to the bottom.
Teddy took his sled up once more and looked at the forest, sighing deeply. It would only take a minute to walk to the North Pole. He held up his fingers—just that much between the Pink Breadcrumb where he and Grannie lived and Santa Clause's Workshop. Grannie wouldn't mind if he went there and back again. Besides he wouldn't even go into the forest, he'd stay on the trail.
No, Teddy promised both Grannie and Auntie Hermione and Uncle Ron that he wouldn't go anywhere without an adult's permission. Why was it so hard to be good?
Teddy traced two eyes, floppy ears and a tongue in the snow. Maybe his puppy would poop and pee all over the house and he wouldn't be able to stop it. Teddy was not even sure how to train puppies — it would be a lot of hard work, trying to teach them new rules. Teddy didn't even know all the rules himself. He got into loads of trouble just by trying to do the right thing. How could he take care of a puppy if he was so troublesome —if everyone had to babysit him all day long?
"Maybe I don't need a puppy," Teddy admitted.
Then it happened– a bark echoed from the trees. Teddy's breath came in small clouded puffs and stilled in the air. He thought he misheard it, but then, there it was again! Teddy's puppy –it was here.
Teddy looked at his house. He looked at the forest. What was one more troublesome act? He dropped the string of his sled and crawled underneath the fence and ran into the trees. He was going to get his puppy no matter what.
The puppy's cries got louder the deeper Teddy went into the tangle of prickly pine branches and bare twigs. Any second now, he'd see the wagging tail and happy eyes looking at him.
I'm coming, Teddy said, running faster as his cheeks burned from the cold claws scratching away at his skin. Then, he fell flat into a giant pile of snow.
Teddy raised his head: a small clearing opened before his eyes and a creature scurried behind a bush.
"Hey! Hey!" Teddy spat, wiping his face with the back of his glove. His nose dripped and his neck tingled from the snow seeping into the folds. "I won't hurt you."
The creature's body, flickering behind a tree trunk, was of a light gray colour: hunched and growling. And then, it prowled towards him: a giant wolf. Teddy stilled.
The wolf was twice as tall as Uncle Ron and his eyes sparkled in the sun like two amber saucers. His grey fur moved with his muscles as he crept closer and closer toward Teddy, leaving pits in the snow. Teddy wasn't sure whether to run or to hide, so he decided to play dead, dropping himself into the snow and holding his breath. Maybe the wolf didn't eat dead boys.
The wolf stilled too, raising his giant black nose into the air and sniffing. Then, he howled in a voice so lonesome and low. Teddy's body went cold and the wolf began to sniff him all over, poking him with his snout and ruffling his hat and scarf. Then, the wolf licked Teddy's cheek. His fur smelled like pine and crackling campfire wood and, to Teddy's surprise, very faintly of chocolate. Teddy reached out his glove and patted the wolf's head. The animal's eyes, up close, looked human—not at all like the eyes of the puppy in Teddy's books. Almost like this was no wolf at all.
And then, the wolf was gone. Turning his giant tail to Teddy, he stalked back into the forest and kept walking until his entire form disappeared into the shadows.
Teddy went back to the fence, following in his footsteps. He found his sled and slid back down towards his house.
His Grannie looked at him as though she knew exactly where he was. But she said nothing as she hung his wet snow trousers and mitts up before casting them dry with her wand and hanging them into the wardrobe. Teddy wondered just when she'd scold him for not listening to her, but the moment stretched out endlessly into the afternoon as Grannie folded the laundry and sorted through Earl's letters.
Finally, after dinner, Teddy blurted out, "I went into the forest."
Grannie said nothing, only nodded her head and went into the kitchen. She made him hot cocoa while she Levitated out ingredients for dessert.
"I saw a wolf," Teddy wanted to tell her but decided not to take his chances. His Grannie had already been kind enough not to scold him.
Grannie and Teddy ate in silence, the forks hitting the edge of the plate. Teddy wondered when Grannie would use her angry voice with him, but it did not come.
"I'm sorry…about not listening," he whispered.
Grannie sighed. "You know why we can't have a puppy."
Teddy knew. Too messy, too much responsibility, Santa Clause forgetting. "I know," he said, holding back his tears.
"We just…" Grannie began and finished by giving Teddy a heavy hug.
Teddy smiled, but his heart sank every second he was in her embrace and it continued sinking until he went to sleep. He waited until Grannie had shut the door to drown his head in the sheets and sob very quietly into the giant, square pillow. Then, when he calmed down, he took out his hand out and breathed in and out as he traced the peaks and dips between his fingers (just like Grannie taught him to do when he was frustrated).
That night, Teddy didn't dream of wolves or puppies or libraries. He didn't dream of anything at all. By morning, Teddy had dry eyes and a new plan.
"Grannie?"
"Yes?" she said, tensing.
"I…I don't want a puppy anymore," Teddy said bravely. "You don't have to cry and be sad."
He didn't think the puppy would make Grannie so upset. He came over and gave her a hug. When she squeezed him, Teddy squeezed harder, hoping to fit last night's broken pieces inside her back together.
"Your dad was…a werewolf." Grannie began rocking him back and forth in her embrace. "We can't have a dog because…it would remind me too much of him. Rather, of the fact that he is gone. Him and Dora."
"Was mum a werewolf too?"
Grannie laughed. "She may just as well have been one— wild thing that she was. You're like her, so much like her. You have that same glimmer in your eye." She smiled and kissed Teddy's cheek. "I'm sorry Teddy…I try to do good by you, but I don't think I do a very fine job."
Teddy shook his head. "Guess what? I saw a wolf in the forest yesterday."
"A wolf? And did you invite it to the house?"
"No."
"Why?"
Teddy crossed his arms. "That would be stealing."
Grannie chuckled. "Or borrowing?"
Teddy grimaced. You couldn't really borrow anything, not even books in a library. "It belongs in the forest."
"That's very reasonable of you."
"Maybe it would leave number ones and twos in the house."
Grannie smiled. "Maybe. We could still adopt a puppy if Santa doesn't bring one."
"Santa is very busy," Teddy said sternly.
"I'm sure he saw how much work you put into your letter and into your drawing. That doesn't go unnoticed."
Teddy grinned. "Can I see a picture of mum and dad?"
The two of them spent the evening sitting on the giant, velvety sofa flipping through an old book of photographs of Teddy's parents and their friends. His mum had different coloured hair in every photograph and a big smile that made Teddy's heart go pitter-patter every time she looked at him. His dad was very tall compared to his mum and looked like he knew everything in the world. Teddy wished he were here right now so he could ask him all the questions he had on his mind—how to make the perfect paper airplane, why fingernails grew back so quickly and how to sharpen crayons so they didn't break. Instead, he touched his parents' faces and wished the paper would feel warm and soft. His dad's eyes were amber, like saucers in the night sky. Teddy's lashes fluttered.
"Grannie, if dad was a werewolf, does that make me a puppy?" he asked.
"I never-" Grannie's chest shook with laughter. "Well, I guess that does."
She pulled him in close. "Mister Lupin, I guess Santa really did bring one of us a puppy for Christmas." Then, she squeezed him tight and planted kisses all over his cheeks and head while Teddy laughed and cried out, "My name is Teddy. Teddy !"
A/N: Originally the idea for this story was Teddy being miserable at home and being bullied in Muggle school so Andromeda buys him a puppy, but Teddy still runs away. However that idea kind of drifted off into the depths of my drive. I did still want to write something sweet with lil' Teddy and a cute pet, but with a hint of sadness. I really had lots of fun with Teddy's character here and tried to include as many personal anecdotes as I could. Enjoy and leave a comment if you're called to. I love hearing from you!
