AN; some warnings of lime and adult themes in this chapter. but still incredibly cute lily/teddy bonding :)
It turns out that once he was able to justify it once, it happened again and again. That was the funny thing about justification. The same excuses could come up time and time again. So, when stood in the garden of the Potter household, sipping firewhiskey in the late summer air he could justify the way he was checking out his godsister. He could justify the way in which he grinned widely at her smile, at how he felt all the blood rush below the belt when he saw her crouch onto her knees to find her lost earring, completely forgetting the joys of being a witch and being able to summon it, something which, much to his chagrin, she was reminded of by her brother.
And he could definitely justify his sudden urge to kick Lysander's head in when he saw him grab her ass. He was her godbrother. They had been close ever since they were young. Of course he was going to feel incredibly protective over her. She was Lily. Lilly Lily Potter, girl next door with not an expressive bone in her body. Except, she wasn't Little Lily anymore. She had grown up and she had certainly become more... expressive. He smirked when he remembered that she had told him she had not done that with Lysander yet. In fact, that she had not done that with anyone up until two weeks ago. He felt oddly proud to be the person she trusted to give him that, despite the circumstances. But again, he could justify it. So it didn't matter.
When the end of the night came and Lily and Lysander said goodbye Teddy couldn't help but think Lily looked rather dejected and upset when Lysander had apparated out of the Potter's garden. "What's up, Lils?" he asked after walking to her side, realising that she had tears in her eyes. She grabbed his hand and apparrated to her apartment before sitting down on the couch.
"Am I ugly, Ted?"
He stared at her unblinkingly for a few seconds in astonishment that she would ever ask such a question. Apparently this was the wrong thing to do however as she promptly burst into tears a few moments afterwards. "Oh my god, you think so too!"
"W-What? Lily, no. No. You are not ugly in the slightest. What ever would make you think that?" She shrugged as she stared down at her lap, her hands knotting together under her scrutiny. "Lily, look at me." He took her chin gently in his fingers and pulled her face up to look at him, ever so sweetly. "Is this because of Lysander?" what she nodded in affirmative his hair turned a rather nasty shade of crimson. "What did he say to you?"
"I – I asked him to come over and stay the night and he told me he didn't want to. When I asked why he just shrugged, looking me up and down. I don't understand what's wrong with me."
Taking a deep breath Teddy wrapped an arm around her shoulders protectively and kissed the top of her head. "Nothing is wrong with you, Lils. Trust me, you're perfect just the way you are. If Lysander can't see that then screw him. You deserve to be with someone who makes you feel beautiful every day, not someone who makes you feel like you're ugly or like there's something wrong with you. You don't deserve to feel anything less than beautiful because that's exactly what you are."
"Then why do I not feel beautiful? Why has no one apart from my family ever told me that I'm beautiful or even pretty?"
"Because they're stupid. They can't see what's right in front of them. Trust me, Lily, you are one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen. And there's a lot to say for that given my playboy reputation at Hogwarts." He smiled teasingly at her as she managed a small smile back. He sighed taking her hand and pulling her towards the mirror on the mantelpiece, making her look at herself. "Look, you have a wonderful heart shaped face with almost perfect symmetry, a cute button nose with full lips and almond shaped eyes that are the deepest shade of emerald green ever. Your hair is a beautiful shade of auburn that is darker than anyone else in your family and your skin is almost perfect in complexion. I've never seen a spot or a blemish on your face since you were thirteen and you don't even have to wear makeup because you look like a natural English rose. Pure and beautiful."
"Every rose has it's thorns though."
Sighing Teddy brushed her hair to the side to reveal her tattoo to him again. Smiling softly at it he commented, "The only thorn you have is the one in my side when you don't believe me when I tell you just how beautiful you are."
She giggled softly as she stared at him in the mirror. "Thankyou, Ted." He shook his head in despair.
"No need to thank me, Lils. I just wanted to show you just how silly you're being. If Lysander ever makes you feel anything less than perfect, you tell me okay. I will give him a lesson or two in chivalry." She nodded smiling brightly as she turned to him and slowly leant in to give him a kiss on the lips. He sighed contently, blood rushing below the belt as he remembered the other night again, even though this particular kiss was much gentler and a lot less sloppy with drunkenness it still made him weak at the knees, even in a perfectly sober mindset.
She pulled away to stare at him for a moment before he leant in for another soft kiss. His hand trailed from her side up over her shoulder blade to grasp the back of her neck gently and run a hand over the symbol residing there. Closing her eyes she sighed contently before pulling away from him and staring up at him again.
"We shouldn't do this. What about Victoire? Or Lucas? Teddy, you have a son, this isn't fair to either of them." Teddy looked down in shame at the mention of his son, Lucas.
"Don't ruin the moment," he whispered before capturing her lips in his again, consequences be damned. After all, it's easily justifiable. He wants to make her feel beautiful. This is the easiest way to do so.
When he took out his Polaroid camera moments later after managing to undress her, Lily looked distinctly more worried. He chuckled at the wary expression she was giving the camera before snapping a picture of her. "TED!" she squeeked, trying to cover herself up for modesty. Teddy grinned pulling out the photo that developed moments later giving it a quick wave around to dry the ink he handed it to her with a smile on his face.
"See, I told you you were beautiful." He watched as the camera played her watching the camera with an adorably worried expression on her face before her eyes widened and she ran off to the edge of the frame, only sticking her head around to cover up her modestly. She chuckled at her photo softly before handing it back to him. He shook his head. "You keep it, we're gonna do a few more, some... less candid ones."
"Kinky," she observed with a smile.
"No, Lils, I'm trying to make you realise that you are incredibly beautiful, all you need is a little confidence." He sat her on the bed making her cross her legs and use her hands to help cover her up a little more before ruffling her hair slightly and snapping another picture of her with a smile. He handed her the shot as it developed and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, snapping another picture of the effortless smile that graced her features at the picture. Again, he gave her the developed picture, this time only containing her face and shoulders with an easy smile and bright eyes.
Her mouth fell open a little at the natural photo. "Wow..."
"If you do say so yourself," Teddy chuckled teasingly. "See, you are perfect in so many ways, Lily. You have a beautiful smile and look, oh so sexy with your hair slightly ruffled like that." She chuckled softly, still with the same smile on her face. She kissed his lips again softly, reaching to set down the pictures. Holding the camera away from them he snapped another photo, just as Lily turned to look at the camera. Taking out the developed photo they grinned happily at it as it showed them both kissing before she looked at the camera with a slightly dazed look and he stared down at her foreheads still touching, with a loving expression on his face. "Well, you can't say we don't look pretty damn good. Or pretty damn sexy." Lily nodded in agreement before taking the camera and photo off him, setting it down on the bedside table and kissing him again, allowing herself to get lost in the moment. He allowed her to pull them down onto the bed and finish undressing him.
Reviews are love :) if only to encourage me to write the next few chapters that got eleted when my computer decided it would be funny to shut it's self down? blah. it was such a cute chapter too with wolfy teddy as a little fluffy puppy haha!