A/N: I feel like I've read every single one of these, and I'm obsessed with them, so I've decided to write my own. It's more of an exercise to see how many cliches I can avoid and how many that'll end up here anyway. I've taken a lot of liberties, especially when it comes to ages and houses, so you will see that here, but hopefully, you like this! Above is my favorite Teddy fanart, but UpTheHillart :) ~A.
Teddy Remus Lupin was, in his humble opinion, the best babysitter an adult could ask for. At 18 years old, with 12 surrogate cousins, he thought he could take care of children well enough. So, when Harry and Ginny Potter and Hermione Granger-Weasley and Ron Weasley asked him to take care of their kids, he happily obliged, because he loved his cousins, and he wanted to make a quick galleon of course. What he didn't count on was them being more of a handful than they'd ever been.
Walking through the door, Teddy heard the roaring sounds of chaos all around him. How a 13-year-old, two eleven-year-olds, and two eight-year-olds could be making that much noise was beyond him, but that was the Weasleys all right.
"Thank you so much for doing this Teddy. I owe you so much," said Hermione Granger Weasley as she and her husband went to leave the house. "Now, the Ministry Christmas Ball should only last until about midnight, so you will probably be staying here tonight. Rose may want to stay up, but don't let her, she'll be dead on her feet tomorrow morning if you do. Oh, and as for Hugo, please don't let him stay up past 9 and make sure he takes his potions, he will try to weasel his way out of them as much as he can. Make sure Ro-"
"Hermione, dear, I think he understands at this point, let's get going before we're late." Ron Weasley smiled fondly at his wife as she hmphed and obliged, finally letting the door close behind them. Teddy heard the cracking sound of apparition as they left.
Harry Potter looked down at this family from the tops of the steps of Grimmauld Place. Teddy grinned up at him, watching the older man smooth out his dress robes and his wife take his arm as they both walked down.
"Teddy! Teeeedy! Teddy!" yelled 11-year-old Rose Granger-Weasley from the kitchen. "Teddy, can Scorpius pleaaasee come over right now!"
"Yes, please!" agreed Albus Severus Potter, his wild black hair bouncing up and down and he jumped and his emerald green eyes shining with excitement. "He's already asked Mr. Malfoy!"
"You'll have to ask your dad, Al. It's not my house. Here he comes right now, okay?" Teddy replied and watched as Albus looked hopefully at his mother and father.
"Draco already agreed?" Harry looked thoughtful as he contemplated his answer and his second son nodded forcefully. "Then, I guess it'll be alright, but make sure you floo-call before flooing over the Malfoy Manner or anything of the sort, we don't want any surprises. Teddy can help you." Harry smiled at them and called out in a louder voice, "Mum and I will be leaving now if anyone wants to say goodbye!"
Ginny Potter rolled her eyes at her husband but smiled widely as her daughter and firstborn son came racing into the kitchen, their cousin Hugo Granger-Weasley following closely behind them. Shyly, Hugo looked up at this aunt and uncle and said quietly, "Goodbye Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny." Harry pulled him into a big hug before leaning down to catch his only daughter.
"Bye Daddy! I love you, be careful, I love you!" Lily Luna Potter held onto her father tightly, before grabbing her mother's legs and saying "Bye Mummy, keep Daddy out of trouble, okay?"
Harry Potter laughed loudly at his daughter and went to ruffle his oldest son's wild auburn hair. "James, you stay out of trouble, okay? Let's have a quiet night here so Teddy can take care of you all."
James Sirius Potter put on his best innocent face and nodded at his father, before hugging his mother tightly. Both parents waved at their children as they exited the house, apparating away.
Al and Rose ran over to the fireplace, floo-calling Malfoy Manor. Lily and Hugo went over to the family room to start a game of wizards' chess, Lily hopeful even if she was playing against Ron Weasley's protege.
"Can Fred come over too, Teddy? Tonight's gonna be so boring, and Al and Lily get to have their friends." James pouted at his godbrother, though he never would've admitted it was pouting. Teddy sighed, but James was right to an extent.
"Only Fred, okay James? I can't handle this many of you at once. Maybe I'll ask Victoire to come over to help." Teddy smiled to himself as James rolled his eyes at his obviously smitten babysitter.
"Yeah, yeah, as long as Fred can come too."
Half an hour later, Victoire and Fred Weasley II, as well as Scorpius Malfoy came through the fireplace, 11-year-old Scorpius coughing loudly. He hated the Floo Network, but his father never would've apparated him to Grimmauld Place, hardly standing that his best friends were a Potter and a Weasley.
Well, a Granger-Weasley, but all the same to Draco Malfoy.
"Scorpius!" Rose jogged over to her friend, hugging him quickly as he blushed lightly. Albus punched his friend on the shoulder and they all walked into the living area to sit and talk. Hugo had just beat Lily for the 3rd time that night, and Scorpius thought he heard "Again!" so it probably wouldn't be the last time.
Victoire went to find her boyfriend, who was making hot chocolate for the kids in the kitchen. "Teddy!" Her blue-haired boyfriend scrambled as he dropped the spoon he was using and his face scrunched up in annoyance. She laughed quietly, used to Teddy's clumsiness by now. Kissing him lightly, she told him, "Fred has gone upstairs to plan whatever mischief James and him have thought of for next year, and Scorpius Malfoy came in behind me." Teddy nodded over at her and pulled the drawer open to find another spoon.
Upstairs, Fred Weasley and James Sirius Potter were not planning their mischief, at least, not what they were to do at school, seeing as that was not possible without the Marauder's Map.
"I still can't believe you got it taken away from you James! We need it, do you know where Uncle Harry hid it?" Fred's smile shone brightly on his darker complexion as he mock-scolded his best friend.
"Of course I do, Freddy! I've been waiting for this stupid Christmas ball for weeks now, it's the only time Dad will be out of the house until May! It's probably in his office, let's go before Teddy and Victoire come looking for us." The two boys tiptoed quietly over to the door James knew to be his father's office, and, incredibly, found it to be unlocked.
James could not believe his luck.
Closing the door behind them, the two 13-year-olds looked carefully through every drawer for that old piece of parchment. It seemed Harry Potter was better at hiding things from his son than he'd thought. When James got to the closest drawer to his father's chair, there was a small, see-through, box inside. Interested, he opened it and pulled out a golden chain, with a spinny looking thing and a tiny hourglass. 'A necklace', he thought, 'probably for Mum, eww, mushy.' James was about to put the weird necklace back into the box when he heard Teddy call him and Fred from downstairs.
Cursing quietly, the boys looked at each other. Neither of them had found the map, but James had found the weird necklace, so he decided he would be taking it for now. 'Sorry Mum', he thought, as he placed the small box into his robe pocket.
All 7 people that were in Grimmauld Place at that moment gathered together in the living area of the house. Teddy brought the hot chocolate he had finished making into the space in small cups, and they all sat in a circle, discussing plans for Christmas.
"Hey Lily, wanna see what Dad got Mum for Christmas!" James suddenly interrupted. "I found it in his office." He smirked and pulled the box out of his pocket.
"And just WHAT were you doing in Uncle Harry's office, James? Do we have to have eyes on you at all times? What were you two thinking? What if Uncle Harry has dangerous things in there? You know people send him things, he's a hero, what if something could hurt you?" Teddy did not stop to take a breath as he yelled at his godbrother, cursing how immature he could be.
"It's fine, Teddy, it's just a necklace, here Hugo, pass it to Lily."
The box made its way to Hugo, and he looked at it nervously. He didn't like breaking the rules like James did, and what if he got implicated because of fingerprints? He didn't like this at all. Suddenly, there was a screech from across the room, and Hugo dropped the box from where James had passed it to him. Lily ran over, opening the box quickly and pulling the (now destroyed) necklace from the package.
"Bloody hell, Hugo, now what? Dad's gonna kill us, also Rose, why are you still screaming?" James shook his head and began to scold his cousin.
"There's a spider! Scor, find it!" Rose jumped onto the couch, swatting her silver-haired friend on the shoulder.
"You shouldn't have even gone into Uncle Harry's office, James!"
"Daddy's gonna kill youuu." Lily giggled.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no, what did I do."
Teddy looked around as the house descended into chaos again, Rose screaming and looking around, James yelling at Hugo, Fred laughing at his cousins, and Victoire trying to calm everyone down. Looking closer at the necklace, Teddy gasped.
"Wait, that's a time turner, James you idio-"
In a blast of light, the group was gone.