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It was a dark and cold evening, and after a long week at the Auror department, Harry was more than ready for a nightcap. Firewhiskey in hand, he settled onto the couch next to Ginny, who was wrapped up in a fleece blanket by the crackling fire. She snuggled up next to him, looping her arms around his waist as he draped one arm around her shoulder.
"Long day?" she asked.
"You have no idea." His fatigue was nothing out of the ordinary, as his new leadership position left him exhausted at the end of every week. He never saw Ron at work anymore since he left the department last year, which made the days at work seem endless. And of course, he missed the action of his prior position. He thought spending more time in the office and less in the field would help him conserve his energy, but soon found out that the lack of excitement just drained him more. Ginny knew all this, of course.
"Well thankfully, tomorrow is a day off for both of us," she said, reaching for Harry's glass of Firewhiskey and taking her own sip. "And the night is still young." She placed the glass on the coffee table. Before Harry could protest, she turned his face toward her and kissed him. Harry groaned through the kiss, and he felt Ginny smile against his lips. He was so tired, but Ginny had a way of convincing him he wasn't. So he conceded, gently pulling Ginny with him as he lowered himself to his back.
"Uncle Harry? Aunt Ginny?"
Harry and Ginny froze at the sound of Teddy's little voice calling from the staircase. Andromeda had been away for the past week, and Harry and Ginny were currently on day six of Teddy Duty. They didn't mind it one bit, but bedtime was turning out to be quite the struggle. It was the third time tonight that Teddy had come out of bed, and evidently they had gotten a little too comfortable with their privacy.
"Can you tell me a story?"
Ginny sighed. "What are you doing awake?" she asked, untangling herself from Harry's arms. She subtly straightened her shirt back out and Harry grinned, as if a five year old boy would have any idea what he was interrupting. "It's very late, Teddy."
"I can't sleep without a story!" said the blue-haired child as he entered the living room. When he came closer, Harry realized he had tears in his eyes.
Harry and Ginny exchanged a look of both frustration and concern. "What happened, Teddy?"
"I don't want to be alone! I'm too scared to sleep alone," he said, his hair deepening to a darker, more ominous shade of blue.
"Ok," said Harry, shifting over to make room for him. "We will tell you a story. And you can come be with us on the couch for a while. You don't need to be alone."
Teddy nodded eagerly, before running around to the front of the sofa, and diving into the cushion between Harry and Ginny, his hair lightening in it's blue shade.
"What kind of story do you want to hear?" asked Ginny as she draped her arm around his little shoulders. He leaned into her, placing his head up against her arm. Harry couldn't help but smile at the easy affection between the two.
"Magical creatures!" said Teddy.
"Magical creatures?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows. "Any particular kind of creatures?"
Teddy scrunched up his face in thought. "Way wolves."
Ginny looked at Teddy. "Way wolves? What are those?"
"Way wolves. The moon wolves."
"Oh. Do you mean werewolves?" said Harry cautiously, looking questioningly at Ginny, who shrugged.
"That's what I said," he replied, and his hair flickered red in frustration.
"Of course it is," said Ginny cheerfully. "We can tell you a story about a werewolf, if you'd like."
Teddy nodded in excitement before resting his head back down on Ginny's shoulder, and his hair settled at purple, as it did when he was content.
"We used to have a very good friend who was a werewolf," continued Harry. "He was a pretty cool bloke. Do you want to hear more about him?"
Teddy grinned. "Yes!"
"He was my teacher when I was in school. His name was Remus," said Harry. "Can you say Remus?"
"Wemus."
Ginny smiled. "Close enough," said Harry, before continuing his tale. "Remus became a werewolf when he was very young, and every single month, on the full moon, he would turn into a big scary wolf."
"Aaargh!" said Ginny abruptly, in imitation of a wolf growl, playfully digging her fingers into Teddy's side. Teddy shrieked then howled in laughter.
"Was he a mean way wolf?" he asked when he calmed down.
"No, he was a nice werewolf. But there are a lot of people who are afraid of werewolves, so he kept it a secret for a very long time. Every time the full moon came out, he would go out to the woods alone, and wait by himself until he could turn back into a human."
"He had to be alone? Was he sad?" asked Teddy, as his hair flashed blue again.
"I think he was very sad. It's lonely in the woods," said Harry. "I'd be pretty sad if I had to stay in the woods by myself. Wouldn't you?"
Teddy nodded, and snuggled up closer into Ginny's arms.
"One day, his three best friends found out that he was a werewolf. They discovered that he would disappear only when there was a full moon, so they asked him about it, and he told the truth."
"Uh oh," said Teddy. "Were they scared?"
"No, they weren't," said Harry. "But Remus thought they were scared, and it made him sad. Especially when they started spending more time together without him."
"Why?" said Teddy, as his hair brightened to an angry shade of red again.
"Well, Remus thought they didn't want to be his friend anymore, but it wasn't that. Do you know what it was?"
"What?" asked Teddy.
"They were working on a top secret project and wanted to surprise him. They were spending so much time together without Remus because they were brewing a magical potion that would help them turn into animals too."
"Like this?" Teddy scrunched up his face, and suddenly a pair of triangular puppy dog ears sprouted from the sides of his head.
"Exactly like that!" said Harry, as Ginny ruffled his ears. Teddy laughed as his ears slowly turned back into human ones. "But they couldn't do it as easily as you. They needed a potion to do it, and they could only pick one animal. It took more than a month to make the potion, and they didn't want to get caught, so that's why they were so sneaky about it."
"Did Wemus find out what they were doing?"
"He did. One night, under the full moon, he was in the woods by himself, and three more animals walked up to him. There was a dog, a rat, and a stag. He recognized them at once as his three best friends. And then he never had to spend a night alone in the woods again."
"I don't want to be alone either!" said Teddy.
"You don't have to be!" said Ginny. She reached for the two pillows that were behind her back and set them down on the coffee table, before motioning for Harry to do the same. He pulled the two pillows from his side and set them down next to hers.
Ginny took out her wand and pointed it at the first pillow, muttering a few incantations as it began to change shape. When she was done, the pillow resembled a stuffed animal puppy. "This is Padfoot!" she told Teddy as she handed it to him. He squealed in excitement.
Ginny did it again with the second pillow, altering until it looked like a little rat. "Wormtail." She repeated the process with the third, transfiguring it into a stag. "And Prongs."
Teddy reached for the other two pillows and hugged them into his chest, smiling, his hair swirling in color indecisively.
"There's one more!" said Ginny, as she turned her spellwork to the last pillow, and it reshaped into a wolf. "This one is Moony!" She placed the pillow on top of the pile of stuffed animals that Teddy was currently holding. Like his mother's, his hair had landed on bubblegum pink, as it always did when he was feeling truly happy.
"Wemus!"
"Yes! That one's Remus," said Harry. "He'll always be with you."
Teddy was smiling looking down at the stuffed animal. "I love wemus," he said as he hugged it closer.
"Remus loves you too," said Harry, as he reached a hand over to Teddy, ruffling his bright pink hair, as Ginny looked at him tenderly. "What do you say Teddy? Bedtime?"
Teddy nodded, standing up, still clutching his stuffed animals to his chest. Harry playfully chased him toward the stairs, roaring like a wolf as Teddy shrieked and giggled as he ran away from him. Harry couldn't help but laugh as he chased him all the way back to Teddy's room. Once tucked in, Teddy fell asleep quickly, while holding Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs close.
When Harry returned to the living room, Ginny was right where he left her, sipping away at Harry's forgotten firewhiskey, and looking admiringly at him.
"What's that look for?" asked Harry as he melted back into the couch next to her.
"Not so tired after all, are you?".
"What can I say? Chasing Teddy around gives me a lot more energy than sitting at a desk, filing paperwork-"
"You're gonna be an awesome dad," Ginny interrupted. "Maybe that's the new adventure you need," she said more softly.
Harry smiled at her, unable to ignore the jolt of excitement that Ginny's comment ignited. "Yeah. Maybe it is," he said, plucking the glass of firewhiskey from her fingers. "Anyway, where were we?" he said before kissing her again.