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“No, Cedric,” Teddy says in exasperation, “you’re doing it wrong.”
The toddler still is having trouble wrapping his tongue around the letter R , though, so it comes out as Cedwic and wong. Cedric has to bite down hard on his lower lip to contain his laughter.
“What am I doing wrong, buddy?”
He thought he’d been drawing a passable hippogriff on the piece of scrap parchment, but Teddy gives him an unimpressed look.
“Like this,” he says, and draws a blue and grey blob next to Cedric’s creation. “See?”
“Oh, very nice,” Cedric praises, and Teddy preens. “How about you draw your dads next?”
“Yeah!” Teddy agrees enthusiastically, and two more blobs soon join the hippogriff. Both are gold and red, likely because Remus and Sirius’s decorating skills are unfortunately limited to Gryffindor’s house colors.
Cedric’s attention wanders while Teddy is focused on his drawing. Harry had left them ten minutes ago to fetch some drinks (punch for Teddy, beer for himself and Cedric) and had been waylaid on his way to the bar by Draco Malfoy, of all people. They’re talking animatedly, and acid churns in Cedric’s stomach.
Victoire Weasley suddenly appears at Teddy’s side, and Bill drops into the chair next to her.
“‘Lo, Cedric,” he greets affably as the children squeal at each other, as though they haven’t been attached at the hip practically all day. “Where’s your better half?”
Cedric can only nod in Harry’s direction, not trusting himself to speak, and Bill twists around in his chair.
“Ah,” he says, turning back to Cedric. “You know he can’t stand Malfoy’s guts, right?”
“Yes, it sure looks that way,” Cedric says dryly.
“He only puts up with the man to make Sirius happy,” Bill says.
Cedric frowns. “Sirius can’t stand the Malfoys.”
“Yeah, that’s what makes this so hilarious,” Bill says. “Sirius puts up with Narcissa and Draco because he thinks it will make Harry happy, and Hary does the same. Neither of them realize that they both hate them. Back me up here.”
Bill addresses Ron, who takes a seat next to him, and Hermione, who drops into the chair next to Cedric. Her cheeks are pink from dancing, and she slips off her high heels with a sigh of relief.
“Back you up about what?” Ron asks.
“Harry hates Malfoy.”
“Oh, he absolutely does,” Hermione says.
“Can’t stand him,” Ron confirms, “but he’s too polite to say so. He doesn’t want to hurt Sirius’s feelings.”
“But Sirius--”
“Also hates Malfoy? Yeah. It’s kind of hilarious, actually.”
“I think it’s sweet,” Hermione says. “They both love each other so much, they don’t want to do anything to hurt the other.”
“He doesn’t look like he hates Malfoy,” Cedric mutters, aware that he sounds petulant now. For Merlin’s sake, he’s twenty-two years old, and he’s been dating Harry since the end of the Triwizard Tournament. Why is this leaving a bad taste in his mouth and an uncomfortable churning in his belly? Harry chose him years ago, and continues to choose him every day.
“Hello, munchkin!” Remus swoops in on their table, tickling Teddy’s sides. Teddy giggles, trying to escape his father’s fingers. “Are you having fun?”
“Yeah!” Teddy grabs the parchment he’s been working on. “Look!”
“That’s beautiful, Teds,” Remus praises. “Why don’t you draw Cedric and Harry, too?”
As Teddy sets to work again, Remus looks at Cedric and asks, “Speaking of, where is Harry?”
Cedric points in the direction of the bar, and Remus makes a sympathetic noise.
“Poor kid,” he says. “Go rescue him, Cedric. I’ll watch Teddy for a bit.”
“I don’t really think he needs rescuing,” Cedric says, trying not to sound sullen, as Harry throws his head back in laughter at something Malfoy says.
“He absolutely does,” Remus says. “He’ll talk to Draco all night because he thinks it’ll make Sirius happy, but he’d rather be anywhere else. Go .”
So Cedric makes his way over to the bar, weaving around tables and guests until he reaches his boyfriend’s side. He slides an arm around Harry’s waist, and Harry beams at him.
“Teddy’s wondering where his punch is,” Cedric says, lightly teasing, and Harry’s eyes widen.
“Oh! I’m sorry, I got distracted. Er, Draco was telling me about his promotion.”
“Is he always this rude, Potter?” Malfoy looks Cedric up and down, his lip curling, clearly finding Cedric lacking. “Clearly all those etiquette lessons went to waste.”
“Never had them,” Cedric says with a tight smile, “because my parents aren’t blood supremacists and didn't see the point. And I normally wouldn’t interrupt, but Harry and I are on Teddy duty tonight.”
“Right,” Harry says quickly, giving Cedric an odd look. “Er, speaking of--”
“Remus has him for the moment. Come on, love.”
Cedric takes Harry’s hand and leads him away. When they’re out of earshot of Malfoy, Harry sighs and says, “Thank you.”
They arrive back at the table to see Teddy in Remus’s lap, head resting against his chest and eyelids drooping. Teddy’s like that, full of energy up until the moment he’s not, and then he crashes quickly.
“I think it’s bedtime,” Remus says softly, and Cedric checks his watch. It’s indeed past Teddy’s bedtime, and he’s already had a long day, between the pictures that morning, the wedding ceremony that afternoon, and the reception tonight. “Harry, could you get Sirius, please? He’ll want to say goodnight.”
Harry makes his way over to the dancefloor, where Sirius is currently taking Molly Weasley for a spin. When the two of them come over to the table, Remus is on his feet with Teddy propped on his hip.
“Hi, baby.” Sirius holds out his arms, and Remus passes Teddy over. “Sounds like it’s time for bed, huh?”
Teddy wraps his arms around Sirius’s neck. “I wanna go home.”
“I know, honey. You’re going home with Cedric and Harry right now.”
“No, I wanna go home.”
“Teddy Bear,” Remus says gently, laying a hand on Teddy’s back, his brand-new wedding ring glinting in the soft light from the floating lanterns. “We’ve talked about this. You’re going to be staying with Cedric and Harry for the week, remember? Daddy and I will be back to pick you up next Sunday.”
Teddy immediately dissolves into tears, burying his face in Sirius’s shoulder. Sirius and Remus exchange panicked looks.
“We can put it off for a few years,” Remus says to Sirius in an undertone. “Take a trip when he’s older…”
“Or take him with us,” Sirius murmurs back. “The resort does have childcare options.”
No. Cedric can salvage this. Sirius and Remus deserve to have a honeymoon, and he needs to prove himself. Prove that he’s a far better partner than Malfoy could ever be. Prove himself to Harry and to Harry’s parents.
“Teddy,” he says, “I thought you wanted to go to the zoo with us tomorrow?”
Teddy lifts his tear-stained face from Sirius’s shoulder. “Yeah.”
“And have campouts in the living room, just like we practiced?”
“Uh-huh,” Teddy hiccups.
“And we’re going to visit Uncle Charlie and his dragons, don’t you want to do that?” Harry jumps in.
“There aren’t any dragons where your dad and papa are going,” Cedric says. “And they won’t have a fire to roast marshmallows.”
Teddy looks at Sirius, who wipes his teary face with a handkerchief and says, “Sorry, baby. We won’t have any dragons, and definitely no zoo.”
“And Victoire is coming over at the weekend, and you’ll get to have a sleepover with her,” Harry says.
Cedric holds out his arms, and Teddy allows himself to be passed over. Teddy has spent a night with them here and there over the past few months, getting him used to sleeping away from home in preparation for Sirius and Remus being gone, but this is the first time he’ll be away from them for multiple days in a row. Cedric and Harry both took the week off from their respective jobs to spend time with Teddy, and they’ve planned activities every day to keep Teddy occupied.
“We’re going to have so much fun,” Cedric says, bouncing Teddy a little. Harry runs his fingers lightly up Teddy’s side, and Teddy gives him a watery smile.
Sirius leans in to kiss Teddy, and then Remus does the same. They then both hug Harry tightly, murmuring quietly to him. Cedric moves a few paces away, adjusting Teddy so he’s more comfortable.
“Did you have fun today?” he whispers.
“Yeah,” Teddy whispers back. “Daddy was pretty.”
“Yeah. Your papa was, too. And you were an excellent ring-bearer, Teddy.”
“I was?”
“Mm-hmm. The best I’ve ever seen.”
The three of them take the Knight Bus back to the flat. Harry hates Portkeys, Cedric hates the Floo, and Apparition makes Teddy cry. Why wizarding forms of transportation have to be so violent and nausea-inducing, Cedric will never understand.
“I can take him,” Harry says as they board the bus and settle into their seats, but Cedric shakes his head.
“Nah, I’ve got him. Besides, I’m the better pillow. You’re all bony.”
As they had hoped, the half-hour bus ride lulls Teddy into a doze. Harry slips off his cloak and covers his little brother with it, and Teddy burrows further into Cedric’s chest.
“Harry, are you gonna marry Cedric?” he murmurs at one point.
“Oh, not for a while, buddy,” Harry says. “What, do you want to go to another wedding already?”
Teddy yawns, and then he says, “If you don’t marry Cedric, can I marry Cedric?”
Cedric has to smother his laughter in Teddy’s hair. Harry’s saved from answering by Teddy falling asleep, and he leans over to brush Teddy’s hair out of his face.
“I am absolutely telling this story at your wedding in twenty years,” he whispers to the sleeping boy.
Harry takes Teddy when they arrive back at the flat, carrying him off to his room. They purchased the three-bedroom flat after the war with the knowledge that Harry was going to have Teddy over as often as possible. Teddy has his own room, which still leaves them the third room for guests.
Barney comes out of the master bedroom and, seeing his people have arrived home, bounds excitedly over to Cedric. Their neighbors had agreed to look in on the dog twice today while they were gone, but Barney still needs his nighttime walk, so Cedric takes him out for that.
When they return to the flat, Teddy is awake and crying in a way that indicates he’s overtired. Harry has managed to get him into his favorite broomstick-patterned pajamas and has him tucked into bed with his stuffed wolf, but he’s weepy and refusing to sleep.
Barney lopes over to the bed and leaps up on it, laying down next to Teddy. Teddy hiccups, rolling over to bury his face in the dog’s black fur.
“There, see?” Harry soothes, running his fingers through Teddy’s hair. “Barney’s going to stay with you. It’s always easier to sleep when he’s around, isn’t it?”
Teddy nods, already calming. Cedric exchanges an amused look with Harry. They definitely hadn’t gotten the big black dog as a nod to Padfoot, and Sirius absolutely wasn’t jealous. Not at all. Especially not when his youngest son preferred to sleep with Barney over Padfoot.
Cedric goes into the kitchen to clean up the dishes they’d left soaking in the sink after breakfast. Harry comes out a little while later and kisses Cedric’s cheek while he reaches around him for the bottle of wine--being on toddler duty meant they’d left the reception far earlier than they normally would have, and thus it wasn’t even ten yet. Harry poured them each a glass, and handed Cedric his.
“You were acting weird earlier,” he says without preamble. “Why were you acting weird?”
Cedric’s heart pounds in his chest. “What do you mean?”
“With Malfoy.”
“Don’t you mean Draco?”
Harry’s eyebrows shoot towards his hairline.
“No,” he says slowly, “I mean Malfoy. Cedric, were you jealous?”
“No,” Cedric says quickly. Harry gives him a flat look. “Maybe a little?”
“Why?”
“You looked…really happy to be talking to him,” Cedric says. “And he was clearly enjoying himself. You kept laughing at his jokes…”
Cedric trails off, for the first time hearing how ridiculous his thought process had been. He flushes in embarrassment and looks away.
“Hey.” Harry sets aside his glass of wine and takes Cedric’s hands. “Cedric, I’m not interested in anyone but you. I never have been. And, frankly, I’m a little insulted that you think Draco Malfoy, of all people, could catch my interest. I like to think I have higher standards than that.”
Cedric laughs despite himself, but then uncertainty creeps in again. “It’s just that… I’m aware that I’m the only relationship you’ve ever had--”
“Who cares?” Harry says. “Remus is the only person Sirius has ever dated.”
“I--wait, really?”
Harry nods, and then he grimaces. “Although his first kiss was with my dad. And so was his second kiss. And his third kiss.”
“Dare I ask how you know this?”
Harry gives a mock shudder. “I learned way more about Sirius and Remus at their stag do than I ever wanted to know.”
“I just don’t want you to feel like you’re missing out.”
“I’m not missing out,” Harry says. “My parents found each other as teenagers, and so did Remus and Sirius. So did we. It happens. And what could I possibly be missing out on? I have a very sexy boyfriend who is a professional Quidditch player, and he’s intelligent, and the kindest person I’ve ever met, and he lets my little brother fall asleep on him and drool on him, and he takes really good care of me. Oh, he also was never a Death Eater, that’s a huge plus for me.”
Somehow, a massive lump has formed in Cedric’s throat. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Harry squeezes his hands. “Come to bed? I mean that in the non-sexy way, though. Teddy’s probably going to crawl into bed with us sometime tonight.”
“I know.” Cedric kisses his forehead. “I, uh. I do want to marry you, you know.”
“I know,” Harry says, and then he winks. “I already found the ring. You can break the news to Teddy.”