The Story of Teddy Lupin

Chapter 10: Home For Christmas

The next morning Teddy woke to three little faces staring at him. At first waking up like this surprised him so that he often woke with a jolt, but James, Al, and Lily had taken to impatiently staring at him like this whenever he was home from school. They started it the previous Christmas, though then it was just James and Al. So he rubbed his eyes a bit to push away the tired feeling and sat up. "Hey guys. Whatcha doin?"

"Waitin for you ta wake up."

"Alright Al, I'm up."

James jumped in then, "come fly with us!"

"What about breakfast?"

"We already ate."

"But I haven't. And it's a bit cold outside isn't it?"

"We'll be okay. You flew in the cold last night."

"Yeah, because we had a game, I wouldn't have if it hadn't been for that though. Liable to get sick flyin around in the cold."

James grumbled, "you sound like mum."

"Sorry bud, but she's right."

Teddy got up then and followed the kids downstairs. When he got there he ran into Ginny in the kitchen. "Teddy, you want some breakfast, though its really almost time for lunch?"

"Is it really? Sorry I slept so late."

"Oh it's fine. We wanted to let you sleep. I'm sure you were exhausted after last night's game."

"Yeah I was. Thanks."

"How about a light breakfast since it is close to lunch?"

"Yeah okay."

"I'll fix you something up real quick then."

"Thanks." Teddy sat at the kitchen table while Ginny fixed him some porridge. She also set a cup of hot chocolate in front of him. That was one thing everyone says he got from his dad, the love of chocolate. When the porridge was done Ginny sat down at the table with him.

"You played great last night."

"Thanks. Thanks for coming again."

"Wouldn't have missed it for the world. You get to talk to Lee and Neil much after the game?"

"A little."

"Well, I guess you got to talk with Lee a bit more than Neil since we were talking to Cho. Oliver and Alicia seemed to run out of there."

Teddy shrugged and continued eating.

"Is something wrong?"

"Neil and I had a fight."

"What about?"
"The quidditch game."

"Ah. Because you're on different teams?"

"Yeah."

Ginny just looked at Teddy for a moment, hoping he would elaborate on his own.

"He thought his team was better and would win. Lee was worried how we would all react after the game and Neil said that we had said we would be good sports if we lost so we'd be fine. I asked him what that meant and he said that that they were a good team. So then I started defending my team too. Lee hated it. Then we let it go and finished our homework, but we were both still mad even when the game started. I tried to talk to him after the game. Told him good game and that he was right he was a great keeper. All he said was thanks. I'm pretty sure he's still mad."

"I'm sorry sweetie. It's always hard to fight with your friends. But I'm sure you guys will make up soon. Just remember that you said you'd be a good sport whether you won or lost okay. Maybe don't bring the game up again. It could look like you were rubbing it in or something."

"Believe me I have no intention of mentioning the game. I may write to him today. Or maybe tomorrow."

"I think that's a good idea Teddy." She stood and went to leave the kitchen, but on her way out she bent and kissed him on the top of his head. Then went into the living room to check on the kids.

Teddy thought about what he would say to Neil when he wrote him. He hoped he wouldn't still be mad.

Later that day after everyone had lunch Teddy played a game with James and Al while Lily took a nap. Al ended up falling asleep during the game for a little bit and James teased him about it when he woke up. This. This down time with his brothers and sister is what Teddy missed while he was at Hogwarts. Though he would never actually admit that to anyone. Then later Harry came home from work and the kids pretty much attacked him as soon as he walked through the door. It had been a long time since Teddy had thrown himself at Harry like that. Harry missed it, but he knew Teddy was growing up and he'd just have to be okay with that.

That night after dinner Teddy helped put the kids to bed, Lily wanted him to read to her instead of Harry or Ginny. But once they were all in bed he went to his room too to write to Neil. He sat at his desk with a blank bit of parchment in front of him for over an hour before he finally came up with something to write. This is what he wrote:

Neil,

I'm sorry about our fight. I got carried away. I shouldn't have said the things I said. You really are a great keeper. I didn't think I was ever gonna make a goal last night. But I'm hoping we can put this fight and this game behind us. I'm not very good at this so I don't really know what else to say. So I guess I'll end with, if I don't see you/talk to you again before Christmas I hope you have a great holiday.

See you soon,

Teddy

After Teddy sent Moony to Neil's house with his letter he went to bed. He knew he wouldn't get to sleep in much more during the holiday. And the next morning he found he was right to think that, Ginny woke him up bright and early. When he dragged himself downstairs Ginny was rushing around the kitchen getting breakfast on the table. "Teddy, good you're up. I need to run to the profit for a bit. I'm taking you all to the Burrow until I'm done. I should be back by lunch though. Would you mind helping mum with the kids, they can be a bit of a handful. Not that she can't handle them herself, she did raise seven kids after all."

"Of course I'll help. And I'll even make sure not to mention the fact that I'm helping."

Ginny patted his cheek, "good boy."

After a quick breakfast Teddy flooed over with James while Ginny took Al and Lily. It was really easier to side-along the children than to floo with them, but with four underage kids to take it was faster to use the floo network. So once they had all come out into the living room at the Burrow Ginny gave them all a quick kiss and then stepped back into the fire place to floo to the Profit. Molly came in from the kitchen then, "did Ginny leave already?"

Teddy was helping Lily get some toys out while he answered, "yeah. She was in a bit of a hurry this morning. I think she might have been running late."

"Ah, well, that's okay. The five of us will have a wonderful morning together and Ginny can just join in when she gets back."

"She said she should be back by lunch."

"Good. I'll have something fixed for us when she gets here and we can all eat together before you go back home. Until then, let's have some fun. What do we want to do today?"

James jumped up then, "can we go outside and fly on our brooms?!"

"I don't know, its pretty cold buddy. How about we build a snowman instead?"

Al jumped in then, "Okay!"

James and Al got their coats back on and Teddy and Molly helped them with their scarves, gloves, and hats. Molly turned to Lily then, "how about we have a tea party in here by the fire?"

Lily picked up the toy teapot and smiled, "okay".

So Molly helped Lily get the tea party set up while Teddy followed the boys outside buttoning his coat as he went.

Once outside Teddy found a level area to build the snowman on and scooped up some snow to start the bottom ball. He had James and Al roll it around until they either couldn't push it for themselves anymore or were satisfied with its size (of course with the first one they wanted it huge and so Teddy had to help them push it a little). Then they did the same for the second ball (Teddy had to convince them to stop so that it would actually be smaller than the bottom ball). And Teddy made the head himself (he knew it would be way too big otherwise). Once he put the head on he sent James and Al in search of 5 little stones to use as the buttons and the eyes while he got the sticks for the arms. Then he snuck a carrot out of the kitchen to use as a nose (James and Al thought he was so funny when he was sneaking around trying not to let Molly catch him. And they found an old hat and scarf in the broom shed too. All the while Molly and Lily sat having their tea party. Molly enjoyed this time with her granddaughter because she knew it would only be a matter of time before Lily would rather be outside with the boys. She was just like Ginny, who spent her whole childhood running along after her brothers getting into everything they did. So this is how the morning went. The boys only came in when Molly had to start lunch. She convinced them to help her in the kitchen, and they actually seemed to enjoy doing so.

So by the time Ginny came spinning into the fire place at a little after 12pm lunch was ready and Molly was just putting it on the table. "Mmm, mum this smells amazing."

"Thank you Ginny. I thought you all could eat lunch here before you went home."

"Thanks." She sat down at the table. "I'm exhausted. We had a major problem at the Profit. Or at least everyone was making it out to be major."

"I'm sorry dear. Here have some stew."

Molly dished food into everyone's plates/bowls and then served herself and sat down. As they ate Ginny looked around the table, "what did you all do today?"

Jamse tried to talk around his mouthful of food to answer but couldn't be understood so Al answered, "me and James and Teddy made a snowman!"

James finally swallowed and added, "and it's huge! You should see it mum!"

"Well it sounds like you've had a fun morning. And what did you do miss Lily?"

"We had tea party!"

"You did? Well, that must have been fun, Grandmum's tea parties are the best."

Lily nodded her head vigorously in agreement.

Molly added, "and after that the kids helped me get lunch ready."

Ginny raised her eyebrows, "really?"

"Yes. They did a really good job. And they seemed to enjoy it."

"Good. Maybe I'll be able to wrangle them into helping me at home."

"It's worth a try."

Once they were done eating Ginny gathered the kids' things and ushered them into the living room to floo home. Molly hugged and kissed them all goodbye and Ginny thanked her again for watching them and for lunch before they finally left. When they got home she put Lily down for a nap while James and Al played a game and Teddy did some of his homework.

Later that evening when Harry got home from work Teddy came running down the stairs to catch him before he got caught up in anything. He really wanted Harry to read over his Defense Against the Dark Arts essay. It was the only thing he had left and was struggling with it. It was a good thing they didn't get much homework over the Christmas holiday. He had to stop short at the bottom of the stairs though to keep from tripping over Lily, which caused him to trip anyways and fall flat on his face. At least he managed to miss hitting Lily. Harry came running over to help him up, "Teddy! Are you alright?"

Harry pulled him to his feet.

"Yeah I'm fine. I didn't hit Lily did i?"

"No she's fine."

"Good."

"Here sit down. You're bleeding."

Ginny came rushing in then "Who's bleeding?!"

"Teddy tripped at the bottom of the stairs. It's his nose. Can you tell if it's broken?"

She came over and tilted his face up to see it better. "I don't think it is, just bleeding."

"Good. That's easier and less painful to take care of."

Harry made some small hard strip appear then and put it on the bridge of Teddy's nose pinching it closed. "That'll stop the bleeding soon. You'll just have to breath through your mouth for a bit."

"Thanks Harry."

"What were you rushing down here for anyways?"

"Well I wanted to catch you before you got into anything. I just finished my DADA essay and I was hoping you'd read it for me."

"Of course. If you give it to me know I should be done by the time your nose stops bleeding."

Teddy handed the parchment then and noticed there were a few drops of blood on it. " Any chance you could get the blood off it too please?"

"Sure. I'll be back in a bit."

Harry went into his office with the essay then and Ginny brought Teddy some ice for his nose. He laid his head back on the couch and put the ice on his nose. it was really starting to hurt. By the time supper was ready Harry had finished reading Teddy's essay (only making a few suggestions) and Teddy's nose had stopped bleeding.

After supper Teddy finished his essay and put it away so he didn't lose it before he went back to school. Then he lay down on his bed. It was a bit early to go to bed, but he was starting to wonder why Neil hadn't written him back yet and if he would soon. He really didn't want him to be mad still. He fell asleep thinking about whether Neil was still mad or not.

The next day he went to his Gran's house, where he would stay until Christmas morning. It was the same every year; he woke up at his Gran's and they opened their presents, then apparated to Harry's to open presents with James, Al, and Lily, then went with them to the Burrow for lunch and their new sweater from Grandmum Molly. He liked spending a few quite days with his Gran before he went back to school. And he was pretty sure Aunt Narcissa was coming over on Christmas Eve sometime. He hoped she would bring Scorpius.

On Christmas Eve Andromeda made dinner for her, Teddy, Narcissa, Draco, Astoria, and Scorpius. Teddy was excited to see them again. He hoped Draco would warm up to them a bit more this time too. When they arrived Teddy was setting the table so Andromeda let them in. Narcissa hugged Andromeda when they came in and gave her a present, she gave her Teddy's present too. Andromeda set them under the tree and gave Narcissa her present too. She had also gotten something for Draco, Astoria, and Scorpius which she gave to Narcissa. Then she led them into the kitchen and they all sat down.

Dinner was nice. Narcissa and Andromeda talked non-stop it seemed and Astoria seemed to fit into most of their conversations easily. This, unfortunately, left Teddy and Draco to talk to each other. And Scorpius of course, but they either all three had to talk or push the other out and only talk to Scorpius. This kept happening all through dinner though. Until finally during dessert Astoria said something that got them both talking. By the time they left Scorpius had fallen asleep and Draco and Teddy had ended up talking for almost an hour straight without anyone else helping the conversation along. Teddy had no idea Draco knew so much about brooms. It was great.

The next morning everything went as usual. By the time they got to the Burrow Teddy was already tired. But he got his sweater on for the family picture they always took in them and then had lunch. After lunch all the kids went outside to have a snowball fight. They always split up into two teams. Teddy and Victoire were team captains. And they made a point to make sure the teams were evenly matched based on age. Then they would build forts and make snowballs in the allotted prep time they had before the fight started. No one really won. There wasn't really a clear-cut way to determine a winner. This was pretty much the only thing they played that didn't end with a winner. They just all came in tired and soaked. But it was fun.

A few days later Harry took Teddy to Kings Cross Station to get the train back to Hogwarts. When he got on he found Neil and Lee and together they found an empty compartment. Once inside Lee broke the ice by thanking each of them for the presents and the others followed suit. This led to them talking about what they had gotten and what they had done over the break. In no time it was like nothing had ever happened. They were back to normal. Which they were all very happy about.

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to post this chapter. It was hard to write for some reason. Hopefully I'll get the next one posted faster. Thanks for sticking with me.