A/N: Great big thank you to the one person who reviews this story. You rock, everyone else sucks! (But thanks for reading anyway!)

Disclaimer: A whole bunch of this stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Seven

Maybe Things Should Be Different

Albus was sitting in a completely uncomfortable silence with Daisy. He had been thrilled when she agreed to attend his cousin's wedding with him, but now he was wishing that he'd just kept his damned trap shut. It all began with the Kira and James fiasco that seemed too completely contrived he was shocked that anyone, let alone his Mum, actually believed it.

Unfortunately he was the only one who thought so.

Grand Molly and Granddad Arthur we both up in arms about it as was the rest of his whack-a-do family. When the news broke, in the middle of the ceremony no less, he'd whispered to Daisy that there was no way it was true. She seemed unconvinced though and Albus was having trouble not laughing in her face. She was sure that his Uncle Ron, the famous Auror, wouldn't have been fooled by James and Kira.

It was sad how positively wrong that statement was.

Albus had seen the two of them talk there way out of several month's worth of detentions for getting caught selling alcohol to first years! For Merlin's sake the those two could talk their way out of Azkaban, tricking Uncle Ron was nothing new or difficult for the two of them.

It was unclear to Albus which one of them came up with the lie that spread through the family but he had a feeling that it was James. Kira was too smart to tell such an easily disproved lie. The look on her face when Grand Molly asked her if she enjoyed herself was priceless and very telling in Albus' opinion. She looked horrified, humiliated and for the first time since Albus met her, embarrassed.

He felt bad for her, because even though she was the female version of his brother in many ways, she was also a genuinely good person who didn't deserve the inappropriate questions and suggestions of his family. Albus had sincerely hoped that the worst had past once the priest had gotten his family under control. Unfortunately he couldn't have been more wrong.

After that Uncle Bill just about had a heart attack when Victoire was overheard making a sensuous promise to her new husband and then all Hell broke loose. His family broke off into a series of small arguments that became perpetually larger as more family members poked their noses into other family members business.

Albus made a point of staying out of it. He had hoped to make Daisy his girlfriend by showing her what a wonderful and loving family he had. Oh, he knew that they were all bonkers but he'd been hoping that for Victoire they would behave. An incredibly short sighted idea in retrospect.

He and Daisy had watched Victoire threaten the priest into finishing the ceremony and clapped politely when he announced Mr. and Mrs. Teddy Lupin to a crowd of people who weren't paying attention. After that the happy couple vanished into the backyard and the arguments that ruined their wedding disintegrated and the family went on to enjoy the reception.

Albus had attempted to sit back and enjoy himself but the family's attention had shifted from Kira and James to Albus and Daisy, primarily because James had walked off with his Dad a few minutes ago. They had no one to pester anymore so they turned their collective attention to the poor shy girl and the red faced boy just trying to enjoy themselves.

To her credit Daisy handled it much better then he did. She was calm and cool and probably not thinking about murdering his entire family. No Daisy Doe was perfect, so perfect that she was starting to make Albus feel inferior. He sat there red faced and angry while she artful dodged any question that might embarrass the living daylights out of them both. (It seemed that Grand Molly had lost her internal censor and was not above asking base questions.)

Thankfully his Mum had come by a few minutes ago and had pulled a majority of the family away. Now Albus was sitting alone with a prim Daisy who refused to meet his eye and a depressed looking Kira who looked like she was about to cry. This damned wedding was without a doubt the worst date he'd ever been on.

"Albus?"

Albus looked up at his mother. She was at her wits end and that meant the party was over. That was okay with him, the sooner he got away from the horror of this date the better.

"Yes, Mum?"

"Will you go find your father and James? Kira, Daisy? Lily's out front, we'll be leaving as soon as Al returns with Harry and James," Ginny said. Daisy got up and followed Kira to the front yard without a backwards glance.

Brilliant, Albus thought, trudging into the backyard.

He continued to grumble about many of life's cruel turns. When he finally came across James, he stopped bemoaning his own life because as usual James' miserable existence out shown his. Victoire had her arms around James' shoulders bawling her eyes out. James was patting her back awkwardly and saying things like, "I'm sure it'll be okay?" "It's not too bad?" "It's not like he's going to leave you or anything?" He said all of it like he was asking questions instead of attempting to be comforting. James was never terribly good with delicate situations.

"James, what the hell are you doing?" Albus demanded. He was in no mood to deal with whatever new problem his brother had made for himself.

"Al!" James' eyes brightened as soon as he caught sight of his brother. "Dear Merlin! Help me with this. She won't stop crying and I don't know what to do!"

"What have you done to her?" Albus asked.

"I haven't done anything! Dad yanks me out here and starts talking about Tonks and Remus-"

"Why would he bother with that?" Albus scoffed. "We've all heard that story before." How gullible did James think he was?

"He added a bit at the end that we never heard before," James insisted.

"You think I'm an idiot, don't you?"

"Well… You're my brother, so yeah. But this is different, I'm actually telling the truth!"

"Fine, tell me! What did Dad add?" Albus demanded.

"Apparently Remus tried to abandon Tonks with Teddy while she was still pregnant. Dad wasn't going to tell Teddy until he and Victoire had their first baby but Teddy over heard him telling me and freaked. Now Victoire won't stop crying! She says the family ruined her wedding!" James said.

"Are you completely without thought?!"

"Well…"

"Of course the family ruined her wedding! The damned family ruined my date! BUT YOU DON'T SEE ME BLUBBERING! DO YOU?!" Albus roared. Victoire pulled her head from James' shoulder and the two of hem stared at Albus wide eyed.

"Well…"

"Shut up," Victoire snapped. "I'm sorry about your date, Albus," she said kindly.

"And I'm sorry about your wedding, Victoire. You might feel better if you had it out with the people responsible. Uncle Ron, Uncle George, your Dad, perhaps Grand Molly. For Merlin's sake the ceremony was under an hour, they have no excuse. Besides I think you've punished James quite enough," he said.

"You're right," Victoire nodded and stood up. "Thanks, Al." She walked toward the reception leaving the two brothers alone.

"You're wel-umph!" Albus smacked James in the back of the head before he could finish being an idiot.

"Which way did Dad and Teddy go?" James pointed and Albus took off in that direction.

"What're you going to do?" James asked keeping pace with his brother.

"I'm going to finish cleaning up your mess," the younger Potter snapped.

"My mess!?"

Albus stopped and rounded on him. "Yes, your mess! If you hadn't told that preposterous lie the family wouldn't have flipped in the middle of the wedding, Victoire wouldn't have started talking to Teddy, Uncle George wouldn't have pulled out his Extendable Ears and Uncle Bill wouldn't have over heard them. If you hadn't told that stupid lie Dad wouldn't have pulled you out here to explain something a blithering idiot would understand and Teddy would've never over heard anything. It you had simply told the truth I could have stuck my tongue down Daisy Doe's throat by now!"

"Ah ha!" James pointed at him. "This isn't about Victoire or Teddy, this is about you. You and your selfish desire to besmirch the squeaky clean image of your prudish girlfriend."

"Besmirch?"

"I'm not as much of an idiot as everyone thinks I am." Albus shook his head and walked away. "Look Al, I'm sorry! Okay? Rose was crying and Uncle Ron was about to hex the shit out of Wood and I'm not very good at coming up with lies on the spot. Kira had just fallen into my arms and all I could think about was snogging her- so that's what I said. I didn't think that Uncle Ron would tell anyone except Dad and I certainly didn't think he'd do it during the ceremony. I honestly thought that the only person to be humiliated by my lie would be me."

"What about Kira?" Albus asked.

"Kira's a strong, smart and disturbingly beautiful girl. She can handle herself."

"You really think that?"

Both Albus and James turned towards Kira who had just crept up on them while they had been arguing. She stood uncertainly in her pretty green dress looking more fragile then Albus had every seen her. She was vulnerable, especially right then. If James didn't answer that question perfectly their friendship would be over, Albus was sure of it. A shiver of panic ran down his spine, there was not telling what James would do without Kira there to temper him.

Albus glanced at his brother for some clue as to what he was going to do. James stood up perfectly straight and threw his shoulders back, puffing out his chest. Great, he was going to make a fool out of himself. How was Albus going to fix THIS?!

"No, Kira," he said. Albus gaped at his brother. There was no way James could be that stupid! "I know it. You're smarter then me- though that's not hard. You're strong enough to deal with me every damn day. Smart enough to handle any stupid situation I get us into with cool confidence…… And you're the most beautiful girl I've ever met."

"Really?" Kira choked. "You think I'm beautiful?"

"Really."

"You fancy me, then?" she asked. James turned bright red, squeezed his eyes shut and nodded. Kira smiled. "Is that why you've been acting so weird?"

"This is really uncomfortable for me, Kira," James mumbled. "Could you just agree to be my girlfriend or insist you'll never speak to me again, so that we can move on? The suspense is killing me?"

Kira walked up to him, cupped his cheeks with her hands and sealed her lips over his. James' eyes widen with shock for a moment before he melted into the contented snog that followed.

Albus stood shocked for a moment. That was the stupidest way to begin a relationship that he had ever seen. It was so utterly ridiculous that it could have only been the beginning of Kira and James' relationship. Albus shook his head and continued in the general direction of Teddy and his Dad.

Those two would figure out they were in public soon enough.

---

"Damn you, damn you! DAMN YOU!" Teddy roared and struggled against the ropes that Harry had bound him with.

"If you want freedom, young man, you'll have to clean up your language," Harry said, calmly ignoring the death glare coming from his Godson. He hadn't wanted to tie up Teddy, but it was the only way he could think to make the new husband listen.

Teddy growled and grumbled for a while but eventually he settled into a pout. "I can't believe you wouldn't have told me until Victoire got pregnant. That is the most inappropriate time to tell someone that their father was a damn coward!"

"He wasn't a coward, Teddy," Harry said, calmly. "He was afraid and alone. The only person he had in all the world was your mother. He was afraid that by getting her pregnant he was ruining her life, ruining your life… ruining what was left of his own life. So he did the cowardly thing and ran away. When he had to face me he wasn't just seeing a seventeen year old. He was seeing my Dad who was brave enough to die for me. He was seeing Sirius who was brave enough to die for the wizarding world that condemned him. He had to look into their eyes and tell them he was scared. And when I told him that he's a Gryffindor and Gryffindors don't run away from their problems, it wasn't just me talking, but them too.

"He was plagued by a moment of fear but he rose above it, Teddy. That's what I would have told you. Your father was afraid for you in a time of war and hatred and strife and being afraid for one's children was a common thing. But he did something amazing, Teddy. He rose above that fear and conquered it instead of letting paralyze him… so how can you be afraid when you have a child when your father over came so much to be with you. When he gave up so much for you."

Harry flicked his wand and the ropes vanished. Teddy leaned against the tree behind him. The poor boy looked put out and ashamed. Harry put his arm around Teddy's shoulders.

"I… didn't… know…"

"We glamorize out parents in our minds. We believe what we want and assume that the people who hated them are just bitter because our parents were so great… And when we are faced with reality the harshness of it destroys the dream world you created for you perfect parents."

Harry walked towards Albus who had just come into view, no doubt to tell him Ginny was ready to go.

"You're married now, Teddy. Life is about to get a million times harder for you because now everything isn't just about you. You need to think about how your every choice, you every action effects her life. And don't think that your father was weak… just don't repeat his mistakes, learn from them."