Oh thanks you two, I'll need another head deflation soon!

With thanks to Mustang Sally, who chased away the nagging doubts.

Is the colour ok? or would it be easier to read in a different colour?

Two, Lilac

Ginny watched Harry with Teddy. She wasn’t sure that letting Teddy fly outside was the brightest idea that Harry had ever had, in fact she could see a serious flaw in the plan. Harry had spotted the toy broomstick in Diagon Alley the week before and couldn’t resist buying it for Teddy. He’d called it his ‘god-fatherly duty’. Sirius Black had bought Harry a broom, and Harry wanted to do the same for his own godson.

Teddy was becoming more confident on the broom and had started to speed up. He was becoming a lilac tipped blur.

“Get him to slow down Harry.”

“Oh, stop worrying, he’s fine!”

His words acted like some sort of jinx. Teddy rocketed upwards, now eight feet off the ground and out of Harry’s reach.

“How’d he manage that? It’s not supposed to go more than eighteen inches off the ground.” Harry’s voice was filled with a horrified kind of panic.

They both ran, Harry with his wand out stretched, “Acci-” but before he could summon he boy he caught his foot in a hole and fell face first into the grass, breaking his glasses and dropping his wand. Ginny jumped over him and called to Teddy in a sing-song voice “Come and get me Teddy! Come and get me Lupin”, trying to entice Teddy down again.

Teddy seemed to be having a great time; Harry could hear him giggling loudly. It must have looked quite funny, Harry on his hands and knees feeling for his wand and Ginny waving her arms around. He watched as Teddy got closer to the nearby tree. Picturing the look on Andromeda’s face as he tried to explain how her grandson had fallen out of a tree, Harry continued his increasingly frantic search for his wand.

“Ginny, where’s your wand?”

“In the kitchen!”

Teddy shot sideways into the tree with a nasty splintering noise. Pieces of the broken broom fell to the ground. Teddy was sat in the tree, still giggling as though this was the best joke he’d ever seen.

*****

Remus wasn’t sure about flying at all, especially not on a broom that seemed to be missing half its twigs. Listening carefully to Professor Wright, he had managed to kick off and get back to the ground alright, but the way that the broom had vibrated under his skinny eleven year old frame made him feel queasy.

“Right then chaps, time for another practice! Remember to keep your grip firm, I don’t want any accidents.”

Remus glanced at Lilly Evans, who looked slightly offended at being called a ‘chap’. She didn’t seem nervous about flying though. “Maybe I’m the only one thinking of sticking to the Floo Network.” he muttered miserably as he kicked off. The next thing he knew, Derek Bartholomew was shooting towards him, knocking Remus off his broom and out of the air. For a few heart stopping moments, Remus and Bartholomew were flying backwards without support. They landed with a thud in a tangled heap, Bartholomew on top, his elbow connecting with Remus’ nose. Remus felt it break, along with his collarbone and what felt like a rib. Bartholomew rolled off him and Remus sat up tentatively. He felt dizzy.

Professor Wright was shouting at Bartholomew now, as Lilly was running towards him and James and Sirius were supporting each other, roaring with laughter. He looked up at Lilly, taking a handkerchief from her.

“Don’t worry Remus, it’ll be better next time” she told him kindly, shooting a nasty look at James and Sirius, who were still laughing.

“Hmm, I hope so” he replied thickly.

*****

In the tree, Teddy wobbled. Harry still hadn’t found his wand and Ginny didn’t dare go for her own in case she needed to catch the toddler. As Teddy wobbled, Ginny could see something lilac underneath him, shimmering in the tree. She wondered if it was a balloon left over from the party they had had for Luna’s birthday.

“Will you hurry up!” she hissed at Harry, not wanting to shout in case she upset Teddy.

“I’m going as fast as I can!” he hissed back, clearly thinking the same thing.

Teddy had stopped giggling. He was starting to feel scared. Harry and Ginny looked far away and he wanted to go inside now. He wanted to look in Arthur’s pockets and find some sweets. He wanted to try and catch that orange cat again. Harry was standing up now, holding that funny stick thing that all the grownups had. Ginny was running away, were they playing a game without him? Teddy started to cry, and the pink and silver blue lights were back, he hadn’t seen them in a long time. They were bright and he felt happy when they were nearby.

Ginny swung her leg over her broom and soared up to the tree. Teddy was crying in earnest now, Ginny had made the lights go away. She pulled him onto her broom and gently descended to a graceful landing. Harry scooped his godson into a tight hug.

“How’d you manage that then mate? Eh? I think that we should keep this between us though,” he told Ginny, “Andromeda would skin me alive if she heard about it.”

“You’ve got a point. We can save his little neck, but you’d have no chance. Besides, Andromeda gets enough grey hairs from young Mr Lupin here as it is.” She tickled Teddy under the chin. “A true Marauder, aren’t you?”

Harry grinned. “Well we’ve got to keep up the Marauder spirit alive, haven’t we Teddy?” He put Teddy down and watched as he toddled unevenly towards the house. “Maybe I’ll leave the broomstick idea alone ‘til his birthday, let him master walking first.”

“Hmm, good idea” Ginny said, just as Teddy fell over.