Thanks for the comments my lovelies.
I wrote this straight after Lilac, but I've re-written and edited it quiet a lot. There is still a section that I'm not quiet happy with, but if I don't post it now, I'll drive myself crackers repeatedly editing it. The chapters are getting longer, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Three, Brown

Teddy knew he would be in trouble if he was caught, but he didn’t really care. He ran as fast as he could through the long grass so that no-one could find him. He clambered into his den, pulling the wood panel that served as a door down behind him. Through the spy holes he had made, he could see his house and decided to keep watch for his Granny coming. She might see me if I keep my hair blue, he thought. He screwed his face up as tight as he possibly could and thought about brown things. Twigs, chocolate cake, Hermione’s hair. He picked up the dented steel kettle and looked to see what colour his hair had turned and was really pleased to see that it did look like Hermione’s. He hadn’t been able to choose his hair colour for very long, but his Granny had told him that his Mummy had been able to choose when she was five too. That made him feel special. His Mummy had been a brave person and he wanted to be brave too. That’s why he was hiding.

*****

“Nymphadora Tonks! You come here right now!”

Nymphadora looked in the mirror, saw that her hair was red and started running. She wasn’t going to get the blame this time, it wasn’t her fault! She wasn’t going to get shouted at when it was Sirius’ fault. He had told her that if she put dung bombs in Mummy’s potion it would make them smell nice. And now Mummy was shouting and Nymphadora knew it had been a joke. She ran to the bottom of the garden and hid behind the big tree. It wasn’t a great hiding place, but it did give her a chance to wipe her hands on the grass. Sirius is a big stupid bogey head, she thought, and he’d best watch out when I get a wand. She started to look around for a better place to hide when;

“Well young lady, what have you got to say for yourself?” Mummy had found her.

“Sirius told me…”

“Oh, you silly girl, have you forgotten what Sirius said about those Acid Pops? He told you that you’d really like them and what happened?”

“They burned a hole in my tongue.” Nymphadora frowned. She would need a really good hex to get Sirius back for that.

“Well, you’ll have to come and help me tidy up, there’s spoilt potion all over the kitchen. Next time Sirius tells you something and you think he might be fibbing, tickle him until he tells you the truth. He’s very ticklish.”

*****

Granny wanted Teddy to stay with Molly while she went away, rather than go with Harry. Well that wasn’t fair. Harry was going on an adventure and Teddy wanted to go too. He had heard Granny and Harry talking. Someone called Greyback had escaped from somewhere called Azkaban, and Harry was going to catch him. If Harry was going to catch him, then Greyback must be a bad wizard, but Teddy was brave and he knew he could help. He had run away to hide in his den so that when Granny went away, he could go and find Harry. Teddy thought it was a really good plan.

It had started to go dark and Teddy was hungry so he started looking in his bag for some chocolate to eat when he heard the grass rustling. He peered out of the spy hole again, but he couldn’t see anyone. He went back to searching for chocolate. He heard rustling noise again and lay flat on his belly to try and get a better view of who it was. He was sure it was a person, he could smell someone sweaty nearby, it was the same sort of smell that Mundungus had sometimes. Had Granny sent ‘Dung to look for him? Teddy thought about this for a little while and then he heard a very scary sound. Something big had fallen over and now it sounded like someone had hurt themselves, they were screaming very loudly. Teddy tried to remember that he was a brave boy as he squinted out into the darkness. Then he heard a noise that sounded a bit like a dog or a wolf and he didn’t feel at all brave, he wanted to be holding his Granny’s hand.

“TEDDY!”

That was Harry’s voice. Feeling very glad indeed, Teddy started to wriggle out of his den. He tried to push the wood out of the way but it wouldn’t move. He tried again, but it was stuck. He started to panic, the dog-wolf was near him, he could hear it, and he just wanted to get to Harry. He closed his eyes and pushed, but it wouldn’t move. When he opened his eyes, he understood why. The pink and silver blue lights were back, and he knew he had to stay still and quiet. He could hear what sounded like lots of people Apparating now; maybe others had come to help Harry. The lights grew brighter and he couldn’t see the darkness outside. There was loud shouting, running feet and lots of people shouting a spell that sounded a bit like

“Stupefy!”; something very heavy hit the ground nearby, making the whole den shake. There was more shouting, but it sounded happy. There were more spells, and some people Apparating again. Teddy tried to listen for the dog-wolf, but all he could here was grown-ups talking. The lights disappeared and Teddy knew that it would be ok to climb out of the den.

“TEDDY REMUS LUPIN!”

Harry was shouting. That was funny, Harry never shouted at Teddy. He didn’t get cross with Teddy very much, that was why Teddy liked him.

“You made me and Granny Andromeda very worried young man. Why did you run away? Have you been in that den all day?”

“Granny said I had to go and stay with Molly but I wanted to come and get that bad wizard with you. I came and hid in my den before it got dark.” Teddy was blinking. He wanted to cry, but he didn’t want Harry to think that he was a baby. He wanted to go catch the bad wizard.

Harry looked down at the little boy. He was filthy, had tears in his eyes and for some odd reason he looked a bit like Hermione. Harry sighed.

“That bad wizard has been caught, Teddy. Did you hear that big thud? That was him falling over. He’s been taken away. Besides, I need to know that you’re safe before I go chasing bad wizards.”

Teddy was now really disappointed. The lights had stopped him seeing the bad wizard! That really wasn’t fair. “Can I help you when I get a bit bigger?”

“We’ll see. For now I think you need to go and talk to Granny Andromeda.”

Teddy frowned. “She’s going to shout at me.”

“Well, you’ll just have to wait and see, she might not.” Harry knew that
Andromeda was beside herself, and shouting at Teddy was one of the last things that she would do tonight.

“Where’s the dog-wolf?”

“The what?” Harry was shocked. He wondered how much Teddy had seen.

“I could smell someone dirty, and then someone hurt themselves and started making loads of noise, and then there was a dog-wolf thing. I heard it.”

Harry had been waiting for the day when he would have to explain to Teddy about werewolves, his father and Greyback. He had never expected it to come so soon. He decided to wait so that Andromeda, and hopefully Hermione, could help him.

“It’s gone Teddy. We need to get you bathed and into bed. We’ll talk about it properly tomorrow.”

Teddy wrinkled his nose, as though the answer was actually a bad smell. He knew that Harry didn’t want to tell him about the dog-wolf, grownups always said they’d tell you to tomorrow when really they didn’t want to tell you at all. Teddy was just about to start complaining about not being given a good answer when he saw his Granny running towards him. He didn’t think his Granny knew how to run. She swept him into a tight hug, peppering his dirty face with kisses.

“See, I told you she wouldn’t shout.” Harry’s face became very serious. He looked into Teddy’s dark, twinkling eyes. “Do you promise never to run away again?”

Teddy nodded earnestly. “Never again!”