Written for:
OT3 Challenge - Family
Herbology Assignment 2 - Task: Write about a muggle child resisting some natural phenomenon due to bouts of accidental magic and people's reaction to it. Prompts used: (word) magic, (plot point) the child in question is an orphan
Olympics - Coxed Eight - Character: Teddy - Prompt: (word) angel
Emotion Challenge - Pessimistic
Pokemon Go
Pokemon Trading Card Challenge -
Bad Movie Tuesday - Glen or Glenda: [word] Remove, [action] Reading a book
Lucky Duck Challenge - 85. Emotion: ecstatic
Chocolate Frog Cards - (Gold): Carlotta Pinkstone - Challenge: Incorporate a Muggle knowing about wizards/witches and magic in your story.
Adopted
Teddy had long since given up hope that someone would adopt him. He was six, and people tended to overlook him. He was told not to give up hope, but Teddy knew better.
He may have only been six, but he wasn't stupid.
He had once entertained the fantasy that his parents would suddenly turn up and they'd be all together again. But the older children dampened this dream.
The older ones would talk about why their parents had left them. Some parents were dead, some weren't suitable to look after children. Some just didn't want the responsibility. Some of the kids were problem children. Mrs Bailey wouldn't tell Teddy which applied to him.
He wondered if it had something to do with his condition? After all, Mrs Bailey told him he had to always wear his hat which hid his hair, and had given him the tiny room to sleep in by himself. All the other boys shared rooms, whereas Teddy had to have privacy as he was only allowed to take his hat off when he was alone.
...oOo…
The day started out the same as any other open-day, with couples that had been approved to adopt. Couples that came to talk to Teddy, but chose other children. There were three couples, and it wasn't fair. Nathan had only been in the orphanage for a month. Surely it was Teddy's turn!
After all, he had washed properly and his nails were clean. His hair was brushed too. His buttons were done up correctly and he had checked that his shoes were polished.
...oOo…
Teddy hadn't accounted for all of the water. He had lost the older children within minutes of climbing through the hedge after them, wanting to escape for a bit.
He found that he didn't know the way back to the Orphanage. He just walked—the rain drenching him— and hoped he was going the right way.
He didn't recognise the field he was in and was terrified as he walked. It was getting dark and he missed his warm room. At least it was dry there, and Mrs Bailey would make him a warm drink and some chocolate.
Spurred on by the thoughts, he continued walking, the water now up past his ankles and soaking his socks.
As the water got higher, Teddy found himself climbing up a tree, hoping that the rain would stop, or that one of the people from the orphanage would find him. He wiped away the tears. Simon would laugh if Teddy cried. After all, only babies cried.
Finally the water was too high. The rain caused his hands to slip from the branches, and he didn't care if he was a baby for crying. He fell, and the water washed over him, causing him to panic.
Then he was dry.
He looked around. The surface surrounding him reminded him of a bubble, causing the tears to stop. Teddy didn't question why he was in a bubble, he was just glad that he wasn't being washed away.
He began walking, hoping to find the orphanage, when some red sparkles appeared to his left, forming words.
'Follow me!'
He began walking towards the sparkles, eventually finding himself at the small hill leading up to the orphanage and town. As he walked, he found himself out of the water, with the bubble around him fading.
"Teddy!" Mrs Bailey hugged him tight. "You were—"
"I was in a bubble, and the sparkles led me back."
"Do not repeat that to anyone," she whispered fretfully, tears on her cheeks as she clung to him. "Just say you were in town. My little angel! I'm so glad you're safe. You had me so scared!"
Neither of them noticed the man with glasses watching them carefully.
...oOo...
Mrs Bailey stared at the men who had turned up. She was used to gay couples. After all, her youngest son had a very nice young man of his own. The references checked out too.
"So… is everything alright?" the taller of the men asked, and Mrs Bailey observed him closely, taking in the scars on his face. At first, he looked like a ruffian, but he had a kind smile, and she felt slightly more at ease. She was also pleased that he was wearing a suit. After all, a meeting to adopt a child was a serious affair, and a lot of people forgot to dress appropriately.
His partner on the other hand—Mr Black, as it said on the paperwork—was wearing very tight trousers and a leather jacket! She wondered, faintly, if he owned a motorcycle.
She looked over the forms once more, her gaze drifting approvingly over the important names on the paperwork. The secretary to the Prime Minister herself was on here, and she had called the woman to ensure the signature wasn't forged.
"Of course. The boys should be finishing up their dinner. If you'll follow me."
They stood by the doors of the dinner-hall as the boys lined up to scrape their plates before putting them into the dishwasher.
"Where are they going now?"
"After dinner, we put a movie on," Mrs Bailey explained. "Though some have gone to the library to get a book."
"Did we see all of the boys here?" Remus asked.
"Well, we have had an injured boy on bedrest for a few days, but—"
"Can we meet him?"
Mrs Bailey couldn't find a reason to refuse.
...oOo...
Sirius looked at the boy who was sitting cross legged on the bed, a book in hand. "Miss Griffin just took my plate," he said to Mrs Bailey, putting the book down next to him.
"What's your name?" Remus asked.
"I'm Teddy, it's short for Edward," the boy said, looking between the pair.
"I'm Sirius and this is Remus," Sirius replied, pulling over the small chair from the desk. "You've got your own room, that's awesome."
Teddy nodded. "It is."
"I heard you were hurt. How're you feeling now?"
"Better." He glanced at Mrs Bailey before looking back at Sirius.
"How did you get hurt?"
Teddy didn't answer, his gaze moving to the bedcover.
"Why are you wearing a hat in bed?"
"I think that's enough. Teddy needs his rest—"
"We've decided," Remus murmured softly. Teddy was distracted and missed the words, but the woman's smile dropped quickly.
"We should talk elsewhere."
...oOo...
"I'm afraid that Teddy is unadoptable," Mrs Bailey began, once seated in her office.
"Why?" Remus stared at her.
"Teddy has… special needs and… and I'm sure you'll find one of the other—"
"Is this about the events a few days ago? The escaping the floods?" Sirius asked.
"How did you… he was very lucky to escape, and—"
"My partner saw it happen," Sirius said, avoiding the mention of which partner. "We're here to adopt Teddy because of what he can do. He's… different and he needs a home with people like him."
"No-one is different like Teddy," Mrs Bailey stated. "I must insist—"
"This isn't the first time you've done this, is it?" Remus interrupted. "Pushed people to adopt other children apart from that boy. Why?"
"I had to," she admitted. The room felt hot and she was scared of divulging too much.
"We'd like to see Teddy's file."
"It's confidential."
The man calmly pulled out his wand and waved it. "Accio Teddy's file." The drawer opened by itself and a file flew across the room into the man's hand. He watched her carefully with his amber eyes. "Teddy can do magic like us," he said softly.
It took Mrs Bailey a few minutes to recover from the shock. "You're not going to take him away and experiment on him?"
"Is that what you were worried about?" Sirius began to laugh. "Teddy's a wizard . We thought you were one of the people that hated magic, it's nice to know you were just protecting him."
"Wizard…"
"There are schools and we have our own society. I must warn you, anything we tell you about our world, you'll find impossible to repeat to others. Safety. You understand," Remus said. "We've been developing a system to track accidental magic. It's not foolproof yet, as the small things slip through the net, but we catch the bigger things. Teddy clearly was a large matter. Once notified, the department track the child. We observe the family and ensure they are being treated kindly, as we've had bad experiences with people who hate magic."
"One boy grew up in his aunt's cupboard under her stairs," Sirius added, frowning at the memory. "His father was in a coma and his mother died. She hated magic, but there was no system in place to allow us to anyone to keep an eye on him and make sure he remained safe."
"Teddy is an orphan, and this happens on occasion with parents not wanting to raise their child because they don't understand," Remus continued.
"And since Teddy is an orphan," Sirius added, "it means there are no parents to advise, so we get them adopted into the magical world. We were next on the waiting list for a child, thankfully. So, do you want to bring him in and we'll talk to him once more?"
...oOo...
Teddy clutched Walter the bear as he took a seat. Simon laughed that he still had a bear, so Walter was usually hidden under his pillow, but he was nervous.
"Teddy, I think it's time you remove your hat," Mrs Bailey said.
Teddy's hands shook as he reached for the hat, removing it. Mrs Bailey had insisted that it be a secret—that all the strange things be a secret—but now she was going to let the men see?
"These men are going to adopt you, Teddy."
"Really?" Teddy asked excitedly.
"Mr Black, Mr Lupin, I have your paperwork and everything seems to be in order," Mrs Bailey said. "Tell me: is it common for magical children to change their hair colour? Because Teddy can change his easily. We've been working hard on trying to keep it one colour. Teddy, would you like to show them?"
The boy focused on Sirius, and his short blonde hair quickly lengthened and turned black, with his eyes turning grey.
"He's a metamorphmagus," Sirius murmured. "Amazing! My cousin is one too. I can have her teach Teddy how to manage it." Sirius took a card from inside his pocket. "This is a phone number for a colleague, Hermione Granger. If you suspect any other children of having magic, please let her know."
Mrs Bailey nodded. "Of course. I'll need to do home visits for Teddy too."
"That's fine," Remus assured her. "You have our address. Teddy, would you go and collect your things?"
Teddy ran from the room ecstatically, not wanting them to change their minds.
...oOo...
Teddy clutched his small bag to his chest as he walked into the house.
"This is your home. You can call us by our names, or… maybe in the future, if it feels right, Dad, Pops, or whatever... " Sirius trailed off nervously. "What we didn't tell Mrs Bailey—because muggles don't understand—is that you're going to have three fathers."
"Three?" Teddy repeated.
"That's right," Sirius said. "We've adopted you, but we have to do a magical adoption. We'll do that tomorrow."
"You're back!" Teddy looked at two men with glasses who had approached.
"Are you Teddy? I'm… well, I guess I'm your brother, Harry."
"I have a brother?" Teddy finally found his voice. He had always wanted a sibling. He ran over to Harry, throwing his arms around him. Harry hugged him back, and James smiled at the boy who now had black messy hair and green eyes.
"I'm James, do you want me to show you to your room?"
"You're my third dad?" Teddy checked, letting go of Harry.
James nodded.
"Okay," Teddy whispered. He leaned in closer to Harry. "Which is the nice one that'll give us chocolate?"
The men all turned to look at Remus and Teddy followed their gaze hopefully.
Thanks to Dina for helping :)
1997 words