Written for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments) Term 13

Additional challenges listed below

Word Count – 1123

Ginny had just finished setting the dishes aside when she heard the knock on the door. She pocketed her wand and waddled to the door. Yes, waddled. Ginny Weasley was 7 months pregnant and not exactly happy to be on her feet.

"Not in the mood, Walburga," Ginny raised her hand at the painting of the Black matriarch, who had just opened up her mouth to say something.

Ginny looked through the peeping hole and, after seeing Andromeda's smiley face and Teddy's blue hair, opened the door with a gigantic smile on her lips.

"I'm so glad you two are here." She leaned forward as much her belly allowed her to give Teddy a hug, but stopped short when she noticed his split lip. "Oh my… what happened to you?"

"I don't want to talk about it," he replied grumpily and tried to go through her.

Ginny looked at Andromeda, who shrugged and shook her head.

"Um, no, you're going to talk about it."

"I already said-"

"I don't care what you said. It's adorable that you think I am like your Godfather and will let this slide, but I'm not and I won't," she said, firmly. "Please, Andromeda. Come in."

Teddy went ahead first, stomping his feet. Andromeda sighed, before turning to Ginny.

"He refused to tell me as well. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss the time when he was a baby." She turned to the painting. "Hello, auntie."

"Yeah, I can't believe you're saying this either," Ginny said, running a hand over her belly and ignoring Walburga and her not so delicate comments. "You have no idea of how this happened?"

"None," she said. "When I went to pick him from at Platform 9 ¾ he already had that."

"And he didn't even try to hide it?"

"Oh, he did. But got distracted at one point and I saw it. After that, he gave up."

"Don't worry, Andy. We'll get to the bottom of this," she promised. "Teddy!"

"Up here, mama!" she heard James' voice reply.

As they climbed the stairs to James Sirius' bedroom, Ginny and Andromeda laid down their theories. From bullying to accidents, the two women had a lot of theories, but as they tried asking the boy if any of them were true, nothing came out. Andromeda and Ginny tried everything. Calmly asking, bribery, asking yes or no questions. Nothing worked. Teddy was irreducible.

"Was I that headstrong when I was eleven?" she asked Andromeda, when they had both given up and moved to the living room instead.

"Well, I didn't know you when you were eleven, but I'm willing to bet that you were probably just like that," Andromeda teased her.

"I'm worried, Andy. What if it's something bad?"

"If it was something bad, I'm sure McGonagall would have heard and told us."

Ginny thought of Teddy as one of her kids. She didn't care that he wasn't biologically or legally hers. She took care of him ever since he was a baby, she and Harry had him over at least one weekend a month, they traveled together, they spent holidays together, they had traditions. They were family, and it made Ginny angry that she couldn't get through to him. Maybe Harry could, and he would be arriving home at any minute.

As if on cue, Harry opened the door. Before the poor thing had time to even put his suitcase down, he was mobbed by the women. Ginny would have felt bad if she weren't so worried.

"Hello, Andy. Lovely having you here. Hi, my love. I'm glad to be home," he said, louder than the both of them, trying to make his way into the living room. "One at a time, please."

Andromeda gestured for Ginny to go ahead.

"Teddy's got a black eye and he doesn't want to tell any of us what happened. We're worried and thought that maybe you could get it out of him."

"Oh, that? Don't worry, I already know about it," Harry said dismissively.

"You what?" Ginny shot him a glare. "So, you already knew that Teddy was hurt and you didn't tell us?"

"Well, I only found out yesterday, if it makes things better."

The way Harry was so calm and collected about the whole thing made Ginny want to punch him, or maybe it was the pregnancy hormones. Andromeda was just watching everything with curiosity in her eyes.

"Then tell us!"

"Oh, I can't. Teddy asked me not to."

Ginny rubbed her temples. "Harry. I've been cleaning this house since the morning. I have a child inside of me. I am worried. Do you want to add 'angry' to this list?"

Harry seemed to ponder for a minute. "Fine, but you can't let Teddy know that I told you."

"I promise," said Andromeda. Sometimes Ginny forgot how much older she was. She blended so well with the family. It felt natural having her around.

"Yeah, fine. Me too."

"Alright. Apparently, Teddy and some of his friends heard about the Shrieking Shack and wanted to check it out for themselves. Let's just say that they didn't hear how you stop it from trying to kill you and that they were very lucky to only have gotten a few bruises out of the whole thing."

"Teddy got hit by the Whomping Willow?" Ginny was confused. "Why did he refuse to tell us that?"

"He got embarrassed," Harry shrugged. "He thinks you and Andy are the most badass people in the world and that you would laugh at him for going something so stupid."

Andromeda laughed. "Kids are strange."

"Yes, they are," Harry agreed.

Andromeda and Harry started talking about Teddy's many misadventures at Hogwarts, but something still didn't sit right with Ginny. She was flattered that Teddy thought she was brave or whatever, but Harry literally saved the Wizarding World. Teddy surely knew about that.

"Why did he tell you, then?" she blurted out before she could stop herself.

"Huh?" Harry turned to her.

"I still don't understand why Teddy told you. Why wasn't he embarrassed of you?"

"Oh, that's easy. I tell Teddy embarrassing stories about myself all the time. His favourite story is about the time when I had no bones in my arms for almost a week." Harry shot her a devious smile. "If you want, I can tell some embarrassing things about you. Something about fresh pickled toads."

"Oh, no! Thank you very much," Ginny said, quickly. "I'm fine."

She wasn't completely fine, but her integrity meant a lot to her. As long as Teddy had someone he could confide in, she was okay. And she knew there was no one in the world better to confide in than Harry.

Insane House Challenge

#67 – Word: Natural

August Auction

Day 10/ Auction 4 – Dialogue: "Oh my...what happened to you?" / "I don't want to talk about it." / "Um, no, you're going to talk about it."