A/N. Next up: Harry and Teddy! This was supposed to be a sweet little drabble about Harry meeting Teddy for the first time, but it somehow escalated into this. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it!
His Teddy Bear
It was almost a month before Harry could face him. It was slightly ironic, he thought as he walked up the front path, that a tiny baby could instill more fear in him than Voldemort. But it want s much the baby himself, but more what he represented. Teddy was everything he had fought both for and against – the child of a werewolf and a half-blood metamorphmagus, both outcasts, but a couple so very in love. But also an orphan, something Harry would wish on no one.
He didn't really know how he was going to look after this little boy – he had no idea what a father was supposed to be like. He supposed he had Arthur, and he was a good role model, but he only saw him in the holidays, never as an everyday disciplinarian, nor as a father of young children. And Bill and Fleur hadn't even thought of children yet. No, Harry was completely in the dark, but he was certain he was going to at least try.
When Andromeda put that tiny boy in his arms, Harry suddenly knew why his parents had died for him, and why Remus and Tonks had willingly done the same. Harry loved this little turquoise-haired baby so much it hurt, and he knew he would do anything for him, even if it meant giving up his life.
As he laid him back in his cot on his way out, he leant down, kissed the boy on the forehead and whispered "I love you Teddy Bear, now and forever."
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Harry really didn't want to believe it. Andromeda – a woman he had come to love as a sort of Grandmother – had just died. He knew that she hadn't really been the same since the Final Battle, and her aging body had finally succumbed to the battle that it had been fighting for almost a year now. He knew that she was now with her husband, daughter and son-in-law, but that didn't make it any easier for those she left behind. And among those people was a little turquoise-haired boy less than a month from his first birthday.
For Harry, there was only one option. Scooping the little boy up he apparated straight from St Mungo's to the Ministry, where he signed all the documents to ensure custody of the child. As Godfather, he now had the highest claim on him, and anyone who wanted to take Teddy away would have to get past him first.
The first few weeks were hard. Teddy would cry each night for the woman who had sung him to sleep every night since birth, and Harry would cry with him, mourning the loss of yet another loved one. But slowly things looked up, and each person entering Potter Manor would smile involuntarily as the sound of a child's gurgling laughter filled the house. And each night, as Harry tucked his Godson into his cot, he would lean down, kiss him on the forehead and whisper, "I love you Teddy Bear, now and forever."
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Teddy's first word was a shock to Harry, but no one else. They were all gathered at the Burrow for their weekly Sunday lunch, and all were doting on the tiny child sitting in the middle of the living room playing with a stack of blocks and his stuffed wolf. Harry had had to go into work to respond to an emergency, and the eighteen-month-old had been more than a little put-out.
Ginny had finally gotten him calm when the back door slammed, startling him, and sent him into another stream of tears. Before anyone could reach him however, a strong pair of arms had scooped him up and hugged him firmly to their owner's chest. Teddy looked up, ready to scream in the face of his captor, but instead let out an excited squeal. "Daddy!"
Harry froze in shock as the rest of the room looked on with goofy grins and tears in their eyes. "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Teddy was bouncing up and down in Harry's arms, his hair, still not quite under his control, whizzing through all the colours imaginable before finally settling on black perfectly matched to his Godfather. This seemed to pull Harry out of his stupor as he leaned down to place a kiss on the beaming face, whispering "I love you Teddy Bear, now and forever."
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The whole day had been a blur really. He remembered setting up the marquee, and being wrestled into his suit by Neville and the Weasley brothers – bar Ron, who was also being wrestled into his – before standing, trying not to look as nervous as he felt, under the arch of beautiful summer flowers. His breath had hitched as Ginny had walked down the aisle, and he was sure Hermione had had the same effect on Ron. Then it went blurry again, until Charlie announced, in a voice that he would forever deny was choked, that they were husband and wife. Well, husbands and wives, he thought wryly, looking at the other happy couple next to him.
Teddy had been their page boy, that fact was never up for discussion. He was as good as Harry's son, and Ron and Hermione viewed him as a sort of nephew. It was only natural that he play that role. He had given the boys some amusement as he toddled down the aisle on his wobbly two-year-old legs, concentrating so hard on not dropping the rings that his tongue was poking out of the corner of his mouth. If only Remus and Tonks could see him now, thought Harry as he watched his beautiful wife sail around the dance floor with him on her hip.
Suddenly there was a cry of "Daddy!" and a small missile had launched itself at his leg, giggling as he tried to hide behind him. "Daddy! Mummy's tickling me!" Mummy. Yes, he could get used to hearing her called that. He scooped Teddy up with one arm, and wrapped the other around his wife's waist. "We love you Teddy Bear, now and forever."
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"Daddy, is Mummy alright?" Teddy was looking up at him with such concern on his little, seven-year-old face, that Harry's heart melted.
"Of course Teddy Bear, Mummy's just a little tired that's all. Do you want to meet your little brother?"
Teddy approached the chair he was in with such a comical mix of excitement and trepidation that Harry had to really struggle not to laugh. Adjusting the little blue bundle, Harry pulled his Godson onto his lap. "Teddy, this is James. He's your little brother."
"Like Louis is Vicky and Dom's little brother?"
"Exactly. Do you want to hold him?"
Teddy held the tiny baby with such care and with such an innocent expression of love on his face that any doubts Harry had had about how he would act disappeared. "You're very good at that Teddy Bear."
"I'm gonna be a good big brother Daddy, I promise. I'm gonna love him forever and ever."
With tears in his eyes Harry kissed his eldest son on the forehead and whispered, "I love you Teddy Bear, now and forever."
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As they walked across the platform, weaving in and out amongst the throng of excited children, Harry couldn't help but remember the first time he had been here. A lonely little orphan, he had had no clue as to what he was supposed to be doing or where he was going. Now, looking at the boy who was clinging so desperately onto his hand, Harry realised that today Teddy could have easily been in the same position. But instead he was here with people who were, for all intents and purposes, his parents, along with his two brothers and sister, and countless Aunts, Uncle, cousins and Grandparents. Teddy may not have had any biological family left, but that hadn't stopped the Weasley family from opening its arms to yet another parentless boy, just as it had here all these years ago.
Harry was brought out of his musings by a small voice next to him. "Dad, are you sure it's all going to be ok?"
"Of course I'm sure Ted. I promise you that you'll love Hogwarts. I'm not promising it will all be fun and easy, but the Professors are really nice and I know you'll make lots of friends, not matter what House you are sorted into."
"You don't care if I'm not in Gryffindor?"
"Of course not. As long as you're happy, I'm happy. Always remember that Teddy."
Suddenly the whistle was sounding and there was a mad scramble to get onto the train before it left. Stealing one last moment with his Godson before they parted, Harry knelt down, wrapped the boy in a hug and whispered "I love you Teddy Bear, now and forever."
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He had known it was coming. It had been for the past seventeen years really, ever since he had witnessed a two-year-old Teddy keeping faithful watch over a newborn Victoire at more than one gathering at the Burrow. He had watched them as they grew up, always more than the surrogate cousin relationship he had with her siblings and cousins growing between them. Teddy's first two years at Hogwarts had been extremely hard on poor Victoire, but not as hard as last year.
Exactly a year ago today Victoire had been forced to go to Hogwarts without Teddy for the first time. Harry knew that they had only been friends then – but he also knew it wasn't going to last long. So as he stood with Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Lily and Hugo, Harry was not at all surprised at James' announcement that Teddy and Victoire had been snogging not five minutes prior. He also wasn't surprised to see the young man now staring longingly down the track as the Hogwarts Express disappeared, looking more than a little lost.
Gently roving Lily's hand from his own, he walked quietly up to his Godson. "You ok Ted?"
"Yeah, I guess. I'll just miss her."
"Trust me, I know the feeling. Ginny had an extra year at Hogwarts after the end of the war, and I wasn't exactly with her during her sixth year either. I promise you, it will get better though."
"Yeah, I know. Just like you promised I'd make friends at Hogwarts, promised I'd love having a sister as much as my brothers, and promised that failing one OWL was not the end of the world." Harry looked up at his tall Godson to see him sporting a smirk so much like his father's.
"Well, I was right wasn't I?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess you were."
Harry was then only mildly surprised to find himself engulfed in a hug, and used the opportunity to whisper "I love you Teddy Bear, now and forever."
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Turning to Ron George, Harry couldn't help but ask "Was I this nervous on my wedding day?" He then regretted it as soon as he saw the smirk on his brother-in-law's face. "Worse."
Privately, Harry disagreed. Teddy was pacing up and down at the front of the church, fiddling with the buttons of his suit and appearing to be in danger of decapitating the flower Ginny had so carefully positioned in his buttonhole. Eventually Harry couldn't take it any longer, and trode up to his Godson, taking him by the shoulders and looking straight into his eyes.
"Ted, calm down. You love her, she loves you. That's all that matters. In less than five minutes Victoire is going to walk through those doors, and trust you with her heart for the rest of your lives. That's a great honour Ted, and one I know you are up to. I believe in you, always know that."
"Thanks Dad. I did know all that stuff, I guess nerves just got the best of me. Me being married won't change anything, right? You'll still be there?"
Harry then did the only thing he could think of to reassure his Godson. Pulling him into a hug, Harry whispered the phrase he'd said countless times over the past twenty-two years. "I love you Teddy Bear, now and forever."
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Harry had had many proud moments in his life, but he decided that today was definitely the proudest. It wasn't that he had a new grandchild – this was his fourth, although in the eyes of the world he still had none. It wasn't even the fact that little Elijah Harry Lupin had been named after him. No, it was the scene that was playing out in front of him that truly hammered home the belief that he had done the right thing all those years ago.
Victoire was propped up in her bed, looking exhausted but the happiest he had seen her since the twins were born. Perhaps even happier now that she was filled with the knowledge that her family was finally complete. Five-year-old Leilani was curled up next to her mother, and three-year-old John and Eleanor had fallen asleep on Bill and Fleur's laps. She had just finished nursing Elijah and was staring into his clear blue eyes when her husband lifted him out of her arms and cradled him to his chest.
The whole room watched with happy tears in their eyes as Teddy bent down to place a kiss on his tiny son's forehead and whispered "I love you Elijah, now and forever."
A/N Isn't little Teddy just so cute?! I love him! Anyway, back to sanity (not really, but as close as I'm going to get at this point!). What did you think? Please review and let me know, along with any events/characters you wish to see. NG.