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Teddy got out of bed as quietly as he could and walked out of the room on his tiptoes, heading for the stairs.
He felt a bit guilty for sneaking around in the middle of the night, but he’d been anticipating that moment since Harry had invited him to spend the weekend in London with them.
Obviously it wasn’t the only reason he had accepted the offer: he considered the Potters as his second family and Harry as the father he’d never had, the person who understood better than anyone what it meant growing up as an orphan. With him he’d ridden a broom for the first time, with him he’d done the first accidental magic that didn’t contemplate transforming his body, and it was Harry the first person Teddy wanted alongside his granny at every birthday, to fill a void that was sometimes quite hard to ignore.
That night was one of those times, and even if guilt creeped in again as he passed by Harry and Ginny’s bedroom, it was easy to set the uncomfortable feeling aside when he arrived in front of Sirius’s old room.
Teddy took a deep breath and opened the door with caution. It didn’t creak, and he entered the bedroom with relief, heading for the only magical photograph hanging on the wall, the one where four Hogwarts students laughed amused, hugging each other.
Teddy had somehow always known that his dad was a werewolf and that he’d been a great friend of Harry’s father and godfather, but it was in front of that photo that Harry had told him the true story of the Marauders, of their friendship, their talent, their jokes, their courage. It was there that he’d told him how the other Marauders had not only accepted his father as a werewolf, but they’d also found a way to embrace his curse, keeping him company during the transformations.
It was there that Harry’d explained to him why all the Marauders were gone.
Teddy looked at the picture from the guy on the right, short and plump. He knew that Peter Pettigrew hadn’t done right by his friends and that because of it Sirius had spent twelve years in Azkaban, but Harry’d also told him that Peter’d died to save his life, just like James and Sirius.
Teddy focused on Harry’s godfather: he had long black hair and a handsome face that vaguely reminded him of his granny when she was young, but Teddy always felt a little uncomfortable looking at him, because he reminded him that even godfathers can die, and the idea that anything could happen to Harry was simply unthinkable.
He cleared his mind of the thought and looked at James. He and Harry would have been practically identical if it weren’t for their eyes, and to Teddy it always felt as looking at a younger, light-hearted version of his godfather.
Only after observing those three boys for the umpteenth time he finally dared to lay his eyes on the figure at the left, the one of a young man a little shabby-looking, but happy and joyful.
Since Teddy had first seen that picture, he’d only been in Grimmauld Place during the day and just for brief stops, so he’d never managed to carve out more than a few minutes to look at him.
This time, though, he had all night ahead of him.
***
Harry was going down to get a glass of fresh water for Ginny – his wand stretched out to light up the halls – when he passed by the room where Teddy slept, the same one Hermione and Ginny had occupied during their first summer at Grimmauld Place. The door was way more open than he remembered leaving it, so he peered inside to make sure everything was okay – if he hadn’t just seen James peacefully asleep, he’d suspect his son had found again a way to climb over the bars of his cot and join Teddy.
The last thing he’d expected, though, was to find the bed empty.
“Homenum revelio” he said instantly, his stomach clenched in fear. Relief washed over him when he sensed four hearts beating at different rhythms from above. As he climbed the stairs with light steps, the beats became stronger, though one remained lighter than the others, suggesting it was farther off. When Harry walked past his own room, he turned off Ginny’s placid pulse and the faster-paced one of the baby they were expecting, then he did the same with James’ pulse, who was sleeping blissfully in the next room. Now that he’d isolated Teddy heartbeat, it became even clearer that it came from an higher floor, so Harry kept going, finally getting a pretty good idea of where he’d find him.
He entered Sirius’ room in silence. Teddy was sitting on the bed, his back facing the door, his hair sandy brown instead of blue as usual, the only moving image on the wall standing out in front of him.
“Hey” murmured Harry.
He had spoken in a low voice not to scare him, but Teddy jumped nonetheless, whirling towards him with wide eyes, and the shock at the sight cut Harry’s breath.
Before him stood Remus Lupin, with his tired but warm eyes, his sweet expression, his boyish traits. The body, however, was the body of a child.
Harry felt his eyes stinging and had to blink several times to keep his composure. He swallowed, unable to articulate meaningful words and wondering if Teddy had turned into his father on purpose, or if he had unconsciously copied the image in front of him.
Harry put the still lit wand on a dresser and went to sit next to him, wrapping an arm around shoulders to pull him into a tight hug.
Teddy leaned into Harry’s chest, clinging to him as if he was his lifeline, and Harry cradled him while letting his gaze wander on his father’s cheerful features. Soon Teddy’s tears began to wet his pajama shirt, but Harry didn’t care, and only when he felt his lips getting wet and salty he realised he was crying as well.
“It’s not fair” murmured Teddy after a while.
Harry squeezed him tightly one last time and then he let him go, lifting his chin to look him in the eyes – they were red, swollen, identical to Remus’.
“No, it’s not” he told him, wiping Teddy’s nose and face with a sleeve of his pajamas and resisting the urge to ask him to return to his usual appearance right away. “And I’m well aware that it’d be nice to stay here all night and watch them smile, trust me, I am, but… truth is, we could stay here a whole lifetime and it still wouldn’t be enough to get them back.”
Teddy looked down, but nodded slowly. “Do you… do you ever think what it would be like if… if they were still alive?”
Harry sighed. “More often than you think.”
“Really?”
“Really. You’ve no idea I much I’d like to tell them about the baby that’s coming, or to introduce them to James, or to tell them how much I love my godson, but… they wouldn’t want us to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”
Teddy’s eyes returned for a moment to the image of Remus before staring at the ground. Harry wasn’t sure Teddy was old enough to understand those words, but he knew that deep down he was reiterating them for his own benefit as well.
“I’m sorry I snuck up” whispered Teddy.
Harry shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
“No, no, I know I shouldn’t have, but… but I couldn’t sleep… I kept thinking… thinking that I wanted to see them, all smiling together…”
Teddy sighed and swung his feet, hung from the edge of the bed, his legs too short to touch the floor.
Harry felt a ache in his heart, and he knew he had to do something, anything. “I was thinking… Why don’t we make a deal?”
Teddy immediately looked up at him, curious. “A deal?”
“Yeah”nodded Harry, trying to smile with complicity. “A pact just between the two of us.”
Teddy looked at him with an open mouth and wide eyes. “Do you really mean it?”
“Of course I do” said Harry, and this time smiling wasn’t very hard. He raised his right little finger in the air, and Teddy took the invitation at once, intertwining his pinky with it.
Harry cleared his throat with gravitas. “I, Harry James Potter and Edward Remus Lupin solemnly swear that every time we will stop by Grimmauld Place we will come here to greet the Marauders, but that we will only do it together.”
“I swear!”Teddy echoed him, finally smiling as well.
“Well, that’s it, then” said Harry, content. “Now, why don’t you resume your usual appearance, so we can go back to sleep?”
Teddy nodded, serious. He shut his eyes, squinting, and a moment later his hair turned blue and his features returned childish again, keeping certain traits of Remus in the shape of the face and in the cut of the eyes.
“Harry…”
“Yes?”
“Once in a while, if I feel like it, can I get yours and James’ hair?”
Harry had to fight the lump in his throat before answering with a cracked voice.
“Of course, Teddy. Whenever you want.”
***
The next day, Teddy walked around London with a bunch of messy black hair and a pair of shiny emerald eyes.