Hey Elissa; thanks for your kind reviews! You actually reminded me to ask my lovely Beta where this chapter was at. So here it is!

And Hellllllllo to every one of you lovely people! I hope you are all doing well, staying safe and are trying to make the best of things.

Ted

Teddy Stark couldn't sleep. It was so late that the sun had gone down already and the dark waters of Loch Ness far beneath his window had turned even darker than usual. He was very tired, yes, but the silence and his thoughts kept him up. When he had first started Hogwarts, sharing a dorm with four other, snoring boys had been quite the thing to get used to. Teddy had never had to share a room before and all the noises had been strange and unfamiliar. Simultaneously, Hogwarts had been too quiet in other areas. Yes, it had meant an incredible freedom and an amazing camaraderie between him and the other kids now staying so close together, but Teddy had never felt so alone. For as long as he could remember, home had always been filled with laughter, warm scents and so much love, it felt like a separate entity. He couldn't remember life before Emmy made him a big sister and the noisy babies had just kept coming. And so had the cousins. And aunts and uncles dropping by. Yes, they all wrote to him constantly, but it never felt quite right. And he had always felt like a bit of a baby himself, for getting that much post. The other students didn't. No one really bullied Teddy, he was actually quite popular, but he also knew others thought he was a bit spoiled. His family always showered him with love and presents and he dutifully and happily sent a reply each time. He didn't think he was too close to his family, but he didn't want people making fun of him either, so he had tried to cut back a little. His family, though, kept writing and Teddy loved them all too much to say something, even if he felt a little wrapped up at times.

Then, out of nowhere, his Mum had died. Teddy was at school, hadn't seen her in almost a month and… she was just gone. Grandma Andromeda had come to get him and he just… couldn't understand. He had been allowed to stay with his family for a week. For the funeral. But exams were looming and soon he had been back into his old routine. People stopped treating him like glass again and it had been easy. To pretend. To forget that Mum would not be waiting for him to come back home. That they wouldn't share cocoa again while watching the sun set outside. That she wouldn't be there to just… understand. Understand him. Understand his Dad. Understand everything. Because Mum ALWAYS understood.

Then he had come home for the summer.

And here he was. Three days into his summer holiday and feeling like his whole world was crashing down around him. He was home, but… home wasn't. Mum was gone. She had taken everything with her that had been normal in their house and there was no pretending. Aunts and uncles dropped by every day, helping out with the little ones. Cooking. Cleaning. But it just felt so, so wrong.

Emmy had been so excited to join him at Hogwarts, now she spent most of the day hiding behind a bush in the garden, reading a book. Jimmy and Alec, both normally so full of energy and pure chaos, walked quietly, like they were afraid to disturb the house itself. Lily clung to Grandma Molly, who arrived when Dad had to leave for work and only left after dinner. And Teddy found himself standing in the middle of it all, unsure of what his role now was. He was a big brother, through and through. And he had always loved it. He and Emmy were close enough in age that he couldn't really remember a time without her. Often, when people heard that he was the oldest amongst his siblings and cousins, they told him things like: "That's quite the responsibility!" And Teddy never got that. Once he actually responded: "Why? I'm still one of the kids." That had gotten him strange looks, but really: What were they saying? What exactly was his responsibility here? Well, he always felt it was his job to show Jimmy where Grandma was hiding the cookies or Emmy when their Dad was distracted enough that he would basically allow anything, without much thinking about it. Being a big brother meant having lots of fun, making your brothers and sisters laugh or occasionally helping them out of their own jams, because really, they got into enough trouble without his help.

None of that felt like a tough job to Teddy. But right now, none of these things were needed, either. And Teddy didn't know what to do or how to act. A quiet noise outside his door alerted Teddy and he jumped up from his cushion on the floor and hurried back to bed. Maybe his Dad had come to check on him and even though he didn't have to be in bed, it felt right either way.

It wasn't his Dad, though.

The door opened a little and suddenly Teddy felt someone tug at his blanket. He opened his eyes to see Alec, a soft toy in hand, pull himself up on the bed and try to snuggle under his blanket, without disturbing Teddy.

"Hey, buddy, you okay?", Teddy asked softly, reaching out to pull his baby brother closer.

"I'm sorry. Didn't wanna wake you.", Alec mumbled, hiding his face inside the toy's soft fur.

"You didn't. I was still up. What's wrong?"

"Nothin', I just missed you much."

"I missed you, too.", Teddy promised and felt the sudden impulse to press a kiss to his brother's head, just like Mum always had.

Ten minutes later Alec was sleeping soundly, when Teddy's door opened again. This time, it really was his Dad. He stopped in the open door for a second, before he softly snuck over.

"Want me to carry him back to his own bed?", Dad whispered, his deep voice still vibrating through the air.

"No, it's fine. I miss my roomies, anyway.", Teddy responded and Dad nodded, his face still hidden in shadows. He hesitated for a brief moment, his right arm moving slightly before he stopped and said: "Night, Teddy." and hurried out of the room, leaving Teddy a little confused. For an instant there, his Dad had looked like he had wanted to touch him, maybe brush his hair back like he used to. When Teddy was still a kid.

Half an hour later, Teddy was still wide awake. Alec's soft snoring wasn't enough to lull him to sleep. Not with all the worries, thoughts, feelings and… that immense hole where Mum used to be.

Carefully, Teddy climbed out of bed without waking his littlest brother and made his way downstairs for something to drink. He reached the kitchen and froze. There, in front of a full bottle of firewhiskey, sat his Dad, his feet propped up on a chair and his face turned towards the darkness outside the giant window.

Teddy realized his Dad was either really deep in thought or drunk for him to not have spotted his oldest yet, because normally no one could sneak up on Harry Stark.

"Dad?", Teddy asked carefully and his father almost jumped off the chair, toppling his footrest in the process and rousing Merlin, who had apparently been sleeping under the table.

"Bloody…! Teddy! I… sorry, you startled me. Everything alright? Do you need me to move the munchkin?"

"No, it's cool. Just couldn't sleep.", Teddy shrugged, scratching Merlin's giant ears soothingly.

"Me neither.", Dad admitted and levitated a fresh glass and a bottle of pre-made cocoa from one of the cabinets.

Teddy pulled one of the chairs out, set down and just… stared at the now steaming two glasses.

Before he even noticed what was happening, he felt tears slide down his cheeks. Dad froze for a second, before hurrying around the table, falling to his knees in front of Teddy and enveloping him in the biggest hug in the universe.

The scent of… Dad was suddenly and reassuringly all around Teddy and for the first time that week, Teddy felt a sense of home. Of belonging.

"I'm so sorry, Little Bear. I didn't think. I'm so sorry. Look at us both, eh?", Dad said quietly, his deep voice vibrating through Teddy's whole world, thick with his own tears, "What would Mum say now, mh? Me not making cocoa from scratch, like she learned from Grandma Molly."

"Blasphemy!", Teddy tried to imitate Mum's playfully annoyed tone, "Traitors to the name of Weasley."

Dad chuckled a little, his face still pressed to Teddy's hair.

"That we are, son. That we are. I just can't cook for shit. Not even something so simple."

The swear word cut through the sad and wistful fog of Teddy's mind. Had Dad just… really? In front of him?

"Am I allowed to swear now?", he asked, a little hopeful. As if it mattered, really. But it still did. Somehow.

"Well, you are a teenager, not a child. With me you can swear all you want. Just… don't do it in front of the kids. Or either of your grandmas, for that matter."

"Is that the right moment to ask, if I could try some of that Firewhiskey?", Teddy grinned, raising his head to look at his Dad, only half joking.

"Sorry to disappoint, but that bottle is still closed and it shall remain that way.", Dad smiled back, patting him on the back and groaning painfully, as he stood back up.

Only when he had sat down, did Teddy spot the pages strewn across the table. It looked like… houses.

"Are we moving?", he asked, a sudden note of fear back in his voice.

"No. Not, if we don't all agree. But yeah, I've been thinking about it. Aunt Audrey came up with the idea and I don't know… what do you think?"

"You are not selling this house, right?!"

"No, never! Never, ever. I promise. It's just…", Dad stopped short, searchingly looking at Teddy.

"It's just what?"

"Teddy, I promise, I won't do anything without talking to all of you, but right now it's just an idea and I don't want to burden you with any of this, okay?"

"Burden me? Dad, you said it yourself: I'm no longer a kid. I can handle stuff."

"True, but you are still MY kid. I am the Dad. This is my job, not yours."

"Dad, I… I wanna help."

"You don't have to…"

"I know I don't have to do anything. But I want to help. I can help. Did you like it, when people didn't want to 'burden you' at my age?"

Dad narrowed his eyes at him.

"No, I really didn't. But I also don't want you to go through the shit I did at your age."

"Seriously, I feel better when I know what's up.", Teddy tried to convince his Dad, "I hate surprises. And I want to help."

And Teddy really meant that. He wasn't a kid anymore. Mum was gone, Dad was on his own for the first time ever and Teddy thought that maybe, finally, it was time to take on some of that responsibility people kept telling him about.