The Wisdom of Boys by IslandPrincess1

Rating: G
Genres: Romance
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 7
Published: 24/07/2007
Last Updated: 24/07/2007
Status: Completed

Obligatory Teddy and Harry, godson-godfather fic that ignores canon. Out for ice cream, Teddy
Lupin makes a selfish suggestion that is more altruistic than he knows. (Oh, may I be forgiven for
this cliche.)




1. --
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**A/N:** *Right well, obviously I'm ignoring the epilogue and a number of other things
that are now supposedly canon* *(for me, Ron never came back to help and Harry and Hermione
are the ones bidding children off, with Remus, Tonks and Malfoy *snerk* in the end)**. I
had* *hopes; they were dashed for Jo apparently writes friendships better than romance,*
*so* *I've decided to surrender to gleeful bitterness in revenge. Pointless really, JKR
isn't going to read this, ever.* *As well she shouldn't, I'm not really proud of
it as it's a bit rushed and badly edited, and of course, is just `cause I'm bitter.*

*Working on the first chapter of the now completely AU* Miles Potter, age 10, Squib*,
should have it to you someday... soon. Had to post this though, couldn't resist. How is it
possible that a character that was just mentioned in the background could steal the entire*
*show?* *I only got through the story to read about Teddy. Screw Harry Potter, it's
Teddy Lupin all the way.*

**Disclaimer***: I don't want this, pfft, it's all hers**. And no, I don't
just hate it for the shippi**ng.*

*******

**The Wisdom of** **Boys**

.*.*.*.

“What's that?” asked the little boy with the bright turquoise hair, falling about his head
in delicate ringlets. The sight should have been more shocking than it was, but with his dark
twinkling eyes, slightly large nose and round face, rather turned him into a Warholian angel.

“What?” absently asked the man carrying him, his mind otherwise preoccupied with navigating the
bustling and crowded Diagon Alley.

“That,” repeated the boy, pointing to a shop window barely visible through the crowd to their
left and almost indiscernible from the ones that framed it.

The man, who looked more like a boy himself with his messy black hair, followed the small,
chubby finger to the shop and replied, “Flourish and Blotts, a bookstore, where I bought you that
book last week.”

“The one with Daddy and Mummy in it?” asked the boy, turning to look the man in the face. His
eyes, as usual, fell to the unusual scar on his forehead, shaped like his comic book drawing of a
lightening bolt, then the round-rimmed glasses and finally the vivid green eyes of his
godfather.

His godfather did not look back at him, but replied, “That's the one, *Great Wizarding
Events of the Twentieth Century*.”

Still looking at him, the boy said, “You're in it too.”

His godfather paused, and then said quietly, “Yes.”

There was a moment then where the boy just stared at him, willing him to go on. It was a losing
battle, he never did, all he spoke of were the boy's parents, which, for a five year old, was
far from interesting after the first twenty times. He turned then to look back at the busy street
they were wandering through and after a moment, spotted a new target straight ahead. He leaned his
head back onto his godfather's shoulder and asked, “What's that?”

At once his godfather's gaze flicked ahead to the towering white building that stood
directly before them at the end of the Alley. Its sides gleamed brilliantly in the glare of the
summer mid-afternoon sunshine, and its bronze nameplate dazzled dangerously at all who looked to
it. He replied, “The bank, Gringotts, where wizards put their money. I have some in there just for
you.”

Automatically the boy asked, “Did Daddy and Mummy have money for me in there too?”

His godfather's face adopted a closed expression, though for a moment something like
sadness... or pain, flickered in his eyes. “I think so... but your Granny would know.”

Satisfied, the boy lifted his head from his godfather's shoulder, sat silent in his arms for
a moment, scanning the crowd and Alley again, and then asked, “What's that?”

He was pointing to a noisy, dirty little shop to their right now. The noise, of course, gave it
away. His godfather replied at once, “The Magical Menagerie, where, if you're good, I promise
to get you a cat like Aunt Hermione's.”

The boy's gaze now seemed plastered to the shop's window, which was so packed with
various cages that it was difficult to see within. “Like Crookshanks? *Really?*”

His godfather smiled. “Yes, really. I don't ever break my promises to you do I?”

The little boy looked back at his face again, and in his excitement turned his hair olive green.
His godfather's smile became a laugh and he half-tossed him in the air a moment before
switching his position in his arms, so that he now faced left, and asked, “How is it that you never
manage to turn your hair pink? Or red?”

At once the little boy scrunched up his face as if he'd eaten something sour and said,
“*Pink* is for girls! And the Wheezies are red. I'm not a Wheezy, I'm Teddy Remus
Lupin, so my hair is—” He trailed off, thinking about this for a moment, and then turned his hair
light brown. “—brown.”

His godfather stopped in the middle of the street, causing the few pedestrians immediately
behind them to walk into him and stumble away swearing under their breath. He ignored them though
to swing his godson round to face him and ask, “I thought your hair was blue? You're not Teddy
Lupin. I know Teddy Lupin and he has blue hair.”

A wide pixie grin broke out on the boy's face, then he scrunched his face again, wrinkling
his nose a moment, and his hair was turquoise again. “It's not blue, Uncle Harry, it's
turquoise!”

Chuckling, Harry resettled Teddy against his side and began walking again through the Alley.
They were supposed to meet Hermione for ice cream nearly half an hour ago, but Teddy had misplaced
his shoes and then refused to leave until they'd found them. Normally his grandmother would
have sent him anyway, but she'd left for work almost as soon as Harry had arrived. And
unfortunately, when it came to Teddy, Harry was a pushover.

Teddy returned his attention to his game, and after a few moments, asked, “What's that?”

Harry followed his hand again and found himself now looking at Ollivander's. “That's
Ollivander's, where you get your wand. It's where I got mine, and, someday, where
you'll get yours.”

At once Teddy swivelled round to look at him, and with his best puppy-eyed expression, asked,
“Can't I get one now?”

On this Harry could not be swayed. “Because you don't need one yet. When you're eleven
and ready to go to Hogwarts you'll get one, I promise.”

Teddy didn't look at all pleased with this answer, but just at that moment a familiar voice
called, “Hey! Harry! Teddy! Over here!”

They both stopped and turned to look to their left, the entrance of Florean Fortescue's Ice
Cream Parlour, and standing in the doorway was Hermione. Her long brown bushy hair loose down her
shoulders, she wore robes of electric blue and a weary, but happy expression on her face. Harry
guessed that she'd immediately come from the Ministry for the meeting, and regretted that he
didn't seem to have the power to resist his godson. She often had so little time to spare that
to keep her waiting was just cruel.

Before Harry could stop him, Teddy jumped out of his arms and raced across the busy street to
Hermione in the doorway. “Aunt Hermione! Aunt Hermione! Can I have a wand from `Livanders?”

Hermione looked down at him confused, and then up at Harry with an arched brow. Harry calmly
walked over to them before replying, “He saw Ollivander's and wants one, I told him he
can't but he won't listen.”

She smiled, “And why should he? You give him everything he asks for, don't you?”

He glared at her at once, but she looked back down to Teddy and said, “At last the man of the
hour is here. What flavour do you want? I promise you can have two scoops this time, and sprinkles
and fruit.”

The dark eyes widened and matched the colour of her robes, and then he ran to the counter with a
half-yelled, “Oh boy!” The wand request was long forgotten, Harry had to love the way she had with
children.

But instead of immediately following him, Hermione turned to Harry and said sadly, “Ron's
moved out.”

Harry's happy expression fell away in an instant, and at once he took her by the arm and
guided her to the nearest table. He took a moment to look over to Teddy, up on his tiptoes trying
to peer over the counter at the various flavours, and then asked, “What happened?”

“We had a fight,” said Hermione casually. “We never see each other anymore. I'm always at
the Ministry, he's deep in training for the Auror programme, and whenever we're together
we're too tired to do anything but sleep. I can't remember the last time we went out
somewhere... unless you count that pub crawl we had with you and Ginny three years ago.”

Harry looked away to Teddy, who was still peering at the flavours, a little further down the
counter, and drawing the attention of more than a few of the other customers. Not looking away now,
he replied, “Why didn't you both just take a day together?”

“We tried to... but... I don't think we really wanted to by the time we decided to try that.
I actually think we've been through for a long time now, we just both refused to see it....” At
this she put her elbows unto the table and dropped her head into her hands, then exhaled heavily
and said, “I really thought that we were supposed to be together. I mean, I thought I liked him, I
really did, but when we were alone I just... we had almost nothing in common.”

Harry, still looking at Teddy, who was now authoritatively summoning one of the attendants to
place his order, scoffed, “Nothing in common? You've been friends for nearly twelve years now,
you couldn't possibly have been unless you had *something* in common. Something you both
like to do...?”

At this she gave a pained expression, and then said with disdain, “Oh we had something
alright....”

“Well there you go,” said Harry, finally looking away from Teddy to her and sitting back in his
seat.

But to his surprise Hermione went beet-red and said, “Er... well....”

He sat up again at once and asked, “Do I really want to know what this `something' is?”

She looked up at once, and narrowed her eyes, “It's not... *that*, get your mind out of
the gutter.” Then her expression softened and she looked embarrassed again, “It's—”

Just then Teddy came charging over with his order, pistachio and butter pecan with chocolate
sprinkles and apple slices in a small glass bowl and a wafer for a spoon, set it on the table and
clambered up into Harry's lap. Hermione sat up away from the table and smiled. He gave her his
cheekiest grin in return, and then turned to look up at Harry for a moment, before sliding the bowl
down and settling into the seat beside him. Hermione said as he reached for the wafer, “Something
about that looks as if you're going to be sick.”

Teddy stuck the wafer into the ice cream, took out a large chunk of the already melting
pistachio flavour, and stuffed it into his mouth before replying, “No. Granny always says that but
it's not true, I never do. And Mrs Weasley lets me get *three* scoops.”

“Mrs Weasley?” asked Harry. “Which one?”

“Gwanny Wheezy,” replied Teddy, with his mouth full again. Then he swallowed and added, “And I
get a slice of chocolate cake too.”

Hermione folded her arms and looked him in the eyes, “Well unfortunately for you I'm not Mrs
Weasley or Harry so that's it for you.”

Teddy turned to Harry and said, “She has so much to learn.”

Both Harry and Hermione burst out laughing, and Harry asked, “Oh? I'll have you know, young
man, that there's not a thing in the world that our Hermione doesn't know... or wants to
know. Do you know what doing? She'll never leave us alone now, not now when you've just
suggested that there are things she doesn't know....”

Hermione glared at him, but Teddy shrugged. “Well that's okay. You can marry her so she
doesn't have to worry about going home, and I can live with you so I can teach her.”

Though Harry started laughing again, Hermione paled, then blushed, and then, when Harry noticed
her reaction, pretended to gag and said, “We can't get married, we're friends... actually
closer than that, we're like siblings.”

Teddy stopped eating and looked up at her, “Siblings?”

“She means like brother and sister,” explained Harry.

Teddy shook his head. “But you're not brother and sister, you're friends. There's no
reason you can't get married, and when you do I can live with you.”

At this Harry began, “Now see here, if we get married who says that I'd want you
around?”

“Because I brought you two together,” said Teddy, simply. “I don't do these things for
free.”

Hermione sunk her face into her palm and laughed, her whole body shaking silently in her mirth.
Harry kicked her under the table, which earned him a glare, and then turned to Teddy and asked,
“And what about Granny Andromeda? Are you just going to leave her to move in with Hermione and me?
I don't think she'd like that.”

Teddy seemed to ponder this for a moment, his face and eyes turned to the ceiling, and then he
replied, “She can do without me for a while. I think I make her really sad... she cried when I
turned my hair pink yesterday.”

All mirth was immediately drained away at these words, and Harry turned to Teddy and asked
seriously, “She cried?”

Hermione was quicker, “You're not making her sad. I think you make her really happy,
she's just sad because she misses your Mummy and Daddy.”

Teddy looked at his ice cream sourly then, before replying, “Then that's why you can be my
Mummy, and Harry, my Daddy, so I won't have to remind her of them and make her sad.”

“If you left I think she'd be sadder,” replied Harry.

Teddy said nothing to this, just stared at his ice cream, and then at last with a sigh said,
“Okay, so I'll stay with Granny. But you and Hermione still have to get married so I can teach
her everything she has to learn about me and you.”

Hermione interrupted, “And what makes you think that I don't know everything I need to about
Harry? I happen to know him a whole lot better than you do.”

He looked up at her in surprise. “Really? Better than me?” She nodded. “Better than Granny?” She
nodded again. “Better than the Wheezies?”

“Which Wheezies?” Harry asked.

“All of them,” said Teddy.

Hermione stammered, “W-well... I don't think I know him better than Ginny... or Ron....”

“But you just said that you know everything about him,” said Teddy.

“True,” said Hermione. “But Ginny's his girlfriend, so she must know him better than me. And
he and Ron were friends before I was friends with him....”

“But if you know *everything* then don't you know him better than everyone else?” asked
Teddy.

Harry decided to come to her rescue, “She actually said she knows everything she needs to know
about me, not everything.”

“What's the difference?” asked Teddy, turning to him.

Harry made to answer, then stopped and thought about it for a moment. Then he said, “We
can't just get married, Teddy. I have a girlfriend, you know, Aunt Ginny...?”

Teddy frowned at this, and then asked, “Does she know everything about you?”

Harry again made to respond, then stopped and thought about it for a moment. A few minutes would
pass too, in which Teddy would get distracted by an older girl walking by with a larger bowl of ice
cream than his and Hermione would begin to look at Harry in shock, before he said, “Er... I
don't think so really....”

Teddy turned to look at him, and then smirked in a manner eerily reminiscent of Sirius Black.
Hermione tried to help, saying, “But that doesn't matter, she's getting to know him now.
Right, Harry?”

Harry nodded quickly, a little too quickly, “Yes, she's getting to know me now; we're
getting to know each other better. That's what people do in relationships before they get
married.”

Teddy looked unimpressed, “Aunt Hermione already knows everything about you, and you're
friends. You don't have to do that with Aunt Hermione.”

Aunt Hermione was looking at Harry rather suspiciously then, and when he turned to her their
gazes locked. There was a moment of silent communication, which ended with Harry reddening and
looking away and Hermione finally turned back to Teddy and asked, “Why is this really so important
to you that Harry and me get married? We're perfectly happy being friends.”

Teddy shrugged, “Granny was telling me about Mummy and Daddy once after I found a picture of
Mummy looking sad and she said that Mummy was sad because Daddy had left her. I asked her why he
left, didn't he like her, wasn't he her friend? She said yes she was her friend, she was
his best friend and she loved him but he was too scared and so he made her sad. But he was sad too
so he came back and when he did they were so happy again that they married and had me. You were
looking really sad too, Aunt Hermione, like Mummy in the picture, so I thought that if you two are
best friends like Mummy and Daddy, maybe if you get married you won't be.”

“But I've not been sad,” said Hermione, at once glancing at her reflection in the chrome
napkin dispenser on the table between them.

Teddy narrowed his eyes at her and Harry laughed. When she turned to glare at him again, he said
with a wink, “What, you cannot deny his logic. Maybe we should give it a go and see if it will stop
making you sad.”

Hermione folded her arms and arched a brow, “Do all boys firmly believe that *a little
snogging will make a girl happy*? And what about Ginny?”

With more casualness than he intended, Harry said, “What about her? We're not joined at the
hip.”

Hermione's jaw dropped slightly, apparently not getting the joke. But Harry blustered on,
“As a matter of fact, you know what, let's make this our first date. I'm going to buy us
ice cream and then maybe we can go for a walk in the Alley, or go back to my flat to play board
games for a while.”

“Yes, lets!” said Teddy, lifting his hands above his head to cheer, melted ice cream dribbling
down his chin.

Harry looked down at him, then took a napkin from the dispenser and wiped his chin before
looking back up at Hermione and saying, “How can you refuse this face? The face of a blue-haired
angel? Don't break the angel's heart, Miss Granger, first lesson of Teddy and me.”

Hermione shook her head a moment, looking at the two and then smiled and said, “Fine... I want
peach.”

“Yay!” cheered Teddy, before going back to his ice cream.

*

In less than three weeks they would be sitting in that same cafe, without Teddy, for this was to
be a real first date. They were both not welcome at the Burrow for the while and Rita Skeeter was
having a field day, but neither could care less at the moment really. They were far too caught up
in the frightful newness of what they were embarking upon, and pondering, when they could, the
wisdom of little boys.

*Fin.*

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