Hi, everyone! I hope you're staying safe and coping well as the school year starts back up again. This was written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) Floristry: Task 3 - Write a fic with one of the following themes: Deep/Pure Love, Affection, Admiration, Good Luck. I chose admiration :)
Word Count: 2424
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All rights go to J. K. Rowling.
Warnings: Mentions of canon character deaths. Nothing graphic, but it is mentioned frequently.
Teddy's arms slipped around the photo album he was holding, and he fumbled with it for a moment until it was secure enough in his grasp that he could lug it over to where Uncle Harry was sitting on the couch.
"Uncle Harry!" he said, beaming and depositing the photo album onto Harry's lap. "Uncle Harry, tell me the story again!"
Surprise shone in his uncle's green eyes before fondness took over. Uncle Harry reached over and grabbed Teddy underneath the arms and pulled him up onto his lap, carefully moving the photo album out of the way as he did so.
After pressing a kiss to Teddy's forehead, Uncle Harry opened the photo album to the first page. Excitement flowed through Teddy. He loved getting to hear this story more than any of the others—it was funny, and sometimes sad, but it had really cool magical battles in it. The best part, though, was that it had no words, just pictures, so Teddy could technically read it by himself whenever he wanted to, but he liked it when Uncle Harry told it best.
Besides, Uncle Harry always took him out for ice cream after he told Teddy this story. It was awesome.
"Once upon a time," Uncle Harry began, voice rumbling, "there was a boy named Remus Lupin. He was a werewolf, and that made him a little bit sad sometimes, because some people were mean to him. But when he went to Hogwarts, he was sorted into Gryffindor—the House of the brave, daring, chivalrous—" ("What does chiv-li-ris mean, Uncle Harry?" "It means noble and respectful. Like a knight.") "—and he met three people who would become his best friends in the world: Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew."
"James was your dad, right, Uncle Harry?" Teddy knew he was, but he liked showing Uncle Harry that he remembered.
Uncle Harry smiled softly. "That's right. Sirius was my godfather, too. Anyway, these four friends called themselves the Marauders."
Uncle Harry pointed at the first picture. Four boys wearing Hogwarts robes and red and gold ties waved back at the camera. Teddy looked at the one in the back with amber eyes and brown hair. Squeezing his eyes shut, Teddy concentrated really hard. After a second, his eyes flew open and he turned to look at his uncle.
"Did I do it?" Teddy asked excitedly. "Is it brown?"
Uncle Harry ran a hand through Teddy's hair, grinning at him proudly. "You sure did, Ted. It looks exactly like Remus'."
Pride filled Teddy's chest. He loved to change his hair to match the people in the pictures, and Remus was one of his favorites to do.
He and Uncle Harry kept flipping through the photo album, laughing and grinning as Uncle Harry told the story of the Marauders. His uncle got a little sad, though, when he got to the part when the Marauders had to go fight the bad wizard. Teddy didn't really understand why, but he knew that they all had to go on different missions when Uncle Harry was a baby. Still, he knew it made his uncle sad, so Teddy leaned his head on Uncle Harry's shoulder when they got to that part. He would cheer up soon when Remus went to Hogwarts again to teach Uncle Harry and his friends.
Eventually, they got to another one of Teddy's favorite parts. Making funny faces at the camera with Aunt Ginny was Nymphadora Tonks. Her hair was a different color on every page, and Teddy always had a fun time matching her. Right now, her hair was pink like bubblegum, so that's what Teddy focused on. When he felt Uncle Harry press a kiss to the top of his head, Teddy knew he had succeeded.
"Nymphadora Tonks liked to be called Tonks only. She could change her hair color and the shape of her nose at will because she was a Metamorphagus, like you, Teddy. She was a lot of fun, and very brave. I didn't know her when she was at Hogwarts, but I know she was sorted into Hufflepuff. Tonks was always a lot of fun to be around. One day, when she and Remus met each other at Grimmauld Place for another secret mission, they started to fall in love with each other."
Uncle Harry continued the story until they reached the very last page, where there was a picture of Tonks holding Teddy when he was a baby, Remus standing behind them with one hand on Tonks' shoulder and one on Teddy's head. Teddy didn't have much hair when he was a baby, but even in the picture you could tell it was turquoise. As he looked at the picture, Tonks changed her hair from magenta to turquoise to match Teddy, never once looking away from him. Remus laughed quietly in the picture, and then he leaned down to kiss Tonks' cheek, then Teddy's.
Uncle Harry had reached the end of the story. "In the end, Tonks and Remus had to leave. Before they left, they made sure that everyone they loved was safe. They're heroes, and they're happy where they are. They watch over you all the time, Teddy. They love you."
Teddy smiled, gazing at the picture in awe. "Remus is my dad," he said, "and Tonks is my mummy."
"That's right."
Teddy placed his small hand on the photo, millions of thoughts racing through his hands. He was so lucky—his parents were heroes.
Uncle Harry cleared his throat, disrupting Teddy from his thoughts. "How about we go and get some ice cream?"
Teddy took a deep breath. He was standing in the Great Hall for the first time in his life, stories of all the moments and adventures his family had shared in this very room flitting through his head. Biting his lip, Teddy wondered where he would be sorted.
"Johnson, Frederick."
Gryffindor seemed to be the House everyone expected him to be sorted into. It was where his father was Sorted, where his father's friends were Sorted, where his godfather and aunts and uncles were Sorted. If Teddy was Sorted into Gryffindor, he'd be carrying on his family's tradition, in a way. He thought of the tales told around the Potter's dinner table of post-game Quidditch celebrations in a common room decked out in red and gold, of pranks played on Slytherins, of loud laughter and rowdy meet ups at the Three Broomsticks over copious bottle of Butterbeer.
"Gryffindor!"
It seemed that Gryffindor was the House that guaranteed you lifelong friends. Remus had been in Gryffindor, and he'd found friends so great that they'd gone down in history as the Marauders. Yes, Peter Pettigrew had torn them apart, but in the end, Remus and Sirius fixed things between the two of them, and in the middle of another war, no less.
"Kelly, Irene."
The Marauders. They were practically royalty back in their school days, and they were gods in the Potter, Granger-Weasley, and Lupin households. The genius of the group was Remus, who was the one largely responsible for the creation of the Marauder's Map. Teddy had seen it, once. Uncle Harry showed it to him and told him all about how brilliant his father was. He'd never forget what the Map had said to him that day.
"Ravenclaw!"
Mr. Wormtail offers the highest of compliments to Mr. Lupin, a true wonder to the world.
Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Wormtail, and would like to add that Mr. Lupin has fabulous hair.
Mr. Padfoot would like to offer his praises for the prank Mr. Lupin recently pulled on Mr. Weasley, as it was quite Marauder-worthy.
Mr. Moony presents Mr. Lupin with his pride and love, for he knows Mr. Lupin will make a great legacy.
"King, Robert."
There was nothing that Teddy wanted more than to live up to those words. He wanted to be someone his parents would be proud of; they'd each done amazing things with their lives, and Teddy wanted to live up to that.
He wasn't sure if his father would be disappointed or not if he wasn't Sorted into Gryffindor—from what Uncle Harry had said, he didn't think so. Honestly, Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron would probably be the most disappointed (they would try to hide it, Uncle Harry much more successfully than Uncle Ron), but Teddy was pretty sure they'd get over it quickly.
"Slytherin!"
Of all the pictures he had collected of his parents, one of Teddy's favorites was of his mother and father out in the field surrounding the Burrow. Tonks was sitting on a broomstick, kicking her feet in the air, laughing heartily. Remus was leaning back on his elbows, which were propped on top of the broomstick, gazing adoringly at Tonks. It was that picture, more than any of the others, that made Teddy feel like he knew who his parents were. They were amazing people—everyone in his life had told him so. But that picture practically radiated the love between the two, and it was that love that Teddy wanted to know them for. It was that love that he thought made them good.
"Lopez, Emilia."
Now, standing in the Great Hall, both eagerly anticipating and dreading his turn to sit on that stool, Teddy was about to find out something about who he was.
"Ravenclaw!"
Would he live up to their standards? What if he wasn't enough? Unease settled in Teddy's stomach as he shifted on his feet. Suddenly, he didn't want to get Sorted.
"Lupin, Edward!"
Heart pounding, pulse rushing, Teddy walked toward Professor McGonagall, sank shakily onto the stool, and waited for the Sorting Hat to be placed on his head. Immediately, the Hat started talking.
Ah, a Lupin. Let's see what we have here, shall we? Hmm. There's a thirst to prove yourself, but not to the world; no, you want to show yourself that you're worthy of your parents.
Did the Sorting Hat always see directly into your soul?
A chuckle sounded inside Teddy's head, which was kinda weird, to say the least. Yes, that's the point of me. You're smart, and you have a certain amount of impulsiveness and snark that reminds me greatly of your father and his friends. You'd do well in Gryffindor, I think.
Teddy couldn't hear anything over the sound of his thundering heart. He was getting hot and cold flashes, but he wasn't sure whether that was a good or a bad thing. The Sorting Hat was going to place him in Gryffindor, just like Remus.
Hold on, the Hat told him, laughing. I'm not done yet. You would do well in Gryffindor, but you've also got one of the kindest hearts I've seen in a long time. With your thirst to prove yourself is a determination to work hard and do good. You're loyal, Teddy Lupin, and it's easy to see that you're unafraid to give your all. I think...Yes, I know exactly where you'll go.
"Hufflepuff!"
Loud cheers erupted from a table to Teddy's left, and he got to his feet slowly, turning over the last couple of minutes in his head. He was in Hufflepuff, just like his mother.
Teddy grinned suddenly. Just like Tonks.
After the feast, Teddy followed the rest of his housemates to the Hufflepuff Common Room. Instead of going to his dormitory to settle in immediately, however, Teddy decided to walk around the Common Room. In a glass case against one of the walls, he found plaques dedicated to different Hufflepuffs. The words on the plaque shifted from the person's name to their big accomplishment and then to a brief description of who they were.
It was a really nice way to honor people's memories, he thought. Teddy scanned the names, eagerly soaking in all the information he could about strangers he now shared a connection with.
Helga Hufflepuff, Pomona Sprout, Amelia Bones, Cedric Diggory, Nymphadora Tonks—
Teddy's eyes snapped back to the last plaque. Nymphadora Tonks. Slightly impatiently, he waited for the words to change so he could read more about her.
Star Beater on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. War hero.
Eyes widening, Teddy gaped at the plaque. He hadn't known that his mother had been a Beater on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. It must not have been something that any of his aunts or uncles had known about her. Warmth flooded Teddy's chest as he thought of his mother hitting Bludgers towards opposing players, her choppy, magenta hair streaming behind her. The plaque said she was a star Beater, too. Somehow, it didn't surprise Teddy at all.
(Teddy also liked that the plaque listed her as a Quidditch player before a war hero. He thought Tonks would probably have felt smug about that.)
The words shifted again, and Teddy's attention snapped back to them.
Tonks (who would deck you if you called her Nymphadora) was spunky and fun loving. She was quick to defend, and her moods could shift as quickly as her hair color and nose shape. She was a proud Metamorphmagus and a talented member of the Order of the Phoenix. She died fighting bravely alongside her husband, Remus Lupin, during the Battle of Hogwarts. Tonks never let anything get in her way, and she died working to build a world she believed in.
Tonks never let anything get in her way. No matter how many times he read or heard something new about his parents, Teddy was always left in awe. There were so many layers to unwrap around both of them, and he hoped that he never stopped discovering more about who they were.
Teddy turned away from the case and started to walk towards the first-year boys dormitory. He sat on the bed next to his trunk and pulled out a well-worn photo. In it, his parents were smiling down at him as he slept as an infant in his mother's arms. They both looked liked they loved him a lot, and Teddy swore then and there that he would show them how much he cared.
Like Remus, he would push through the hard times and focus on what was right.
Like Tonks, he would never give up, never let anything or anyone stop him from following his heart.
"I promise," Teddy whispered, reverently touching the photograph, "that I'll make you two proud."
And even though his parents had certainly set the bar high, Teddy knew in that moment that he would, and if he was being honest with himself, he thought maybe they already were.