There's a lot going on in this chapter and the second half is proving to be tricky so I'm giving you part one to be going on with. Also, my laptop is playing up and so I'm posting this before it gets eaten. If my laptop goes down again I'll have to send it away to be mended and so my next post could take a while. Feedback is always appreciated.
Anyway, back to Teddy....
Five, part one, Forest Green
Teddy climbed onto the Hogwarts Express, found compartment and leaned out of the window to wave to Hagrid.
“See yer for Harry’s birthday in a few weeks!”
“Bye Hagrid!”
When he could no longer see Hagrid or Hogsmeade, he pulled the window up and flopped into a seat.
“So, what are you going to do this summer Ted?” Keith Moore was looking at him expecting a Marauderish answer.
“I’m not sure. It’s Harry’s birthday soon and I’ve got some Quidditch tickets that Gran got me for my birthday.”
“That’s it?” Keith sounded disappointed.
“Well… I did quite fancy going to Lupin Cottage.”
“Where?”
“Lupin Cottage. It’s the place that belonged to my grandparents. My Dad grew up there. I’ve only ever seen photos, and Gran doesn’t really know anything about it or my other grandparents. They died before my Dad met my Mum.”
“Who owns it now?”
“Actually, I do.”
Keith’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
“You own it and you’ve never been? Is anyone living there?”
“Yeah, Gran rented it out just after the war. So many people had lost so much and it made no sense to have it sitting there empty. The same family still lives there. The Richards, I think.”
“Wow, a man of means eh? You’d never guess from the state of those jeans.”
“What’s up with ‘em?”
“Mate, the holes have got holes. You’re in serious danger of mooning someone! And that hair, I mean, forest green? It looks like a cheap dye job. ”
Teddy laughed and they passed the rest of the journey with easy banter, games of Exploding Snap and Wizard’s Chess. As the train pulled into King’s Cross, Teddy lifted Moony’s cage down from the rack and he and Keith made their way along the corridor of the train, dragging their trunks behind them.
“Floo me if you want some company when you go to Lupin Cottage.”
“Will do. Are you coming to Harry’s party?”
“Me? At Harry Potter’s birthday party?”
“You say it like it’s a huge deal. Victoire will be there.” Teddy wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“She’s thirteen, don’t be foul!” Keith was blushing. “But yeah, if it’s ok, I’ll come to the party.”
“’Course it’ll be alright, Harry’s cool.”
Teddy and Keith climbed down from the train, both looking for their families. Keith’s mother ran forwards and hugged him tightly. He tried to fight her off; Teddy heard snatches of what Keith was saying, “…get a grip… such an embarrassment…” Teddy could have stood all the embarrassment in the world for a welcome like that from his mother. He looked around and saw his Gran standing back from the crowd, waiting for him. She was impeccably dressed in what she told him was a Channel suit, whatever that meant. She looked very much like a Muggle anyway, which Teddy took to mean they were going home on the Muggle train.
“Hello darling, have you had a good term? How were the exams?” She kissed him on the cheek.
“It was alright, we won the Quidditch cup, flattened Slytherin in the final, took the house cup too.” He grinned lazily. His Gran may not have been a typical Slytherin, but she still hated to hear that they had lost anything, especially to Gryffindor.
“And the exams?”
“Well they were exams, I think they went ok. I did my best, and we’ll know in a few weeks, won’t we?”
“Very true. Let’s get going, I’ll carry the cage.”
Teddy shouted his goodbyes and followed his Gran through the barrier and into the Muggle station. The journey home was uneventful, apart from the ticket inspector’s reaction to Moony. He strongly objected to having an owl on his train, he seemed to think that she would make a mess on the floor. It was only when Andromeda insisted that she had checked the regulations and having an owl on board was fine that the man moved away from them, muttering under his breath.
At few days later, in the garden pruning the Flutterby bushes, Teddy thought seriously about visiting Lupin cottage. He knew that he had lived there with his parents before the Battle of Hogwarts, but being so small he had no memory of it. He had tried so many to find a memory by staring at photographs of himself with his parents but they never came. The only thing he could remember was laughter, a light musical chuckle and a hoarse laugh, although Teddy often wondered if he really did remember that or whether he was so desperate to remember something that he had invented it. His Gran and the others had told him a lot about his parents over the years and he had developed a sketchy understanding of what they were like. The desire to see his first home had been growing for a while and now it was almost like having stomach ache. After putting the clippings on the compost heap, Teddy headed inside. His Gran was busying making a cup of tea.
“Thank you for doing that darling, you’re so much better at it than me.”
Teddy smiled. He knew that what his Gran had said wasn’t actually true, she was an excellent Herbologist. He often thought that she was trying to remind him how glad she felt that he was around by seeming to need him to do practical things she could manage very well on her own.
“Gran? What can you tell me about Lupin Cottage?”
She considered him over the rim of her tea cup. “Nothing that I haven’t told you before. Why do you ask?”
Teddy took a deep breath. “I want to go there.”
Andromeda put her cup down slowly. “Well, I can’t say that I’m surprised. I’ve been waiting for you to ask for years.”
Teddy sighed, the relief etched on his face.
“You didn’t think I’d be upset did you darling?”
“Well, to be honest, yes. I know that you didn’t always like Dad and that he was a bit of a… ”
She raised her eyebrows.
“I think the polite version of Ron’s phrase is, ‘total idiot’. Hermione said that he was scared and didn’t act rationally.”
“Just this once I am tempted to agree with Ron.” Andromeda sniffed. “It’s important that you know about both of them. Just remember darling, you are not just the sum total of where you come from. You are an individual too.” Teddy frowned, not really understanding what his Gran meant. “If Sirius or I were just the product of our parents, if we didn’t think as individuals, then we would have been like them.”
“Crazy?”
“Yes, to be blunt about it. If we had chosen to buy into their pureblood lunacy, then I wouldn’t have married your Grandfather nor had your Mother and as a consequence I wouldn’t have you. And Sirius…” She sighed sadly.
“Well he probably would have joined the Death Eaters, like poor Regulus.”
The pair lapsed into a contemplative silence. Eventually Andromeda said “I’ll owl the Richards to explain.” As she stood up, Teddy thought he saw her wipe her eyes. He knew all about his mother’s ancestors, the Blacks and the Tonks but nothing about the Lupins. He had grown up hearing stories about the Marauders, how important friendship and loyalty had been to his Dad, but it somehow didn’t feel like enough.
***** BANG!
CRASH!
THUD!
Remus woke up, convinced that someone was attacking the cottage. He grabbed his wand and sprang out bed, running to the bedroom door. “Dora!” he hissed “Where are you?”
“I’m here. What’ve you got your wand out for?”
“I thought someone was trying to blast the door off its hinges.” He looked around. Now that the panic was over he could see that several pieces of furniture had been moved. “Please tell me you levitated those.”
“Well, I tried but I think my hormones are interfering with my magic, so I shifted them the muggle way.”
“You lifted my Grandmother’s teak dresser on your own? And it’s still in one piece?”
She looked hurt. Hastily Remus tried to repair the damage. “Don’t get me wrong, I hate the thing. It’s ugly. And apparently indestructible. An ashwinder once laid fifteen eggs underneath it and it didn’t catch fire.
Besides, it’s you I care about. I don’t want you to hurt yourself or the baby. Anyway, what was wrong with where everything was before?”
“I don’t know. I woke up a couple of hours ago with this burning desire to organise everything. Get it clean and tidy.”
Remus nodded. “Hmm. Just two questions: Who are you, and what have you done with my wife?”
She slapped him gently on the arm “I know it’s a bit of a departure for me, Mr Neat and Ordered. I think it’s called nesting, getting ready for the baby.”
“That makes sense really, there’s not much longer to wait is there?” He rubbed her bump. “And then we’ll get to meet you, Little Lupin. Just promise me one thing, no more heavy lifting.” He looked at her seriously.
“Yes sir!” she giggled. “I’ll bet the kids were all scared of you, Professor.”
“Oh yes, especially after they found out I get hairier once a month. Now, I insist that you go back to bed and rest. I’ll bring you breakfast.”
He turned away to find what she done with the pots and pans when she seized him by the wrist and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Surprised but delighted, he returned it. Her lips, smell and taste were a heady mix and when they eventually broke apart Remus felt dizzy.
“Not that I object at all, but what was that for?”
“Because… I wanted to. Do I need a reason?”
He grinned. “No, no, you don’t need a reason. Just… promise you’ll never stop surprising me.”
It was Tonks’ turn to grin.
*****
A few days after their conversation about Lupin Cottage, an owl brought the news that Teddy had been hoping for. The Richards were more than happy for him to come and look at Lupin Cottage. They had found and stored some of his father’s old things and their daughter Amelia, who apparently was Teddy’s age, would be more than happy to show him around the surrounding area. Teddy couldn’t think which house she might be in. He didn’t actually recognise the name Amelia Richards at all.
Lupinfangirlx named Amelia Richards and Paintbrush named Keith Moore.