Watching Teddy Grow

Watching Teddy Grow
by hgseeker

(A/N: This is the closest song I could find with the proper theme. Bear with me.)

Watching Scotty Grow
Bobby Goldsboro

There he sits with a pen and yellow pad
What a handsome lad, that's my boy
BRLFQ spells mom and dad,
But that ain't too bad, that's my boy
You can have your TV and your nightclubs
And you can have your drive-in picture show
I'll stay here with my little man near, we'll listen to the radio
Biding my time and watching Scotty grow

Making a castle out of building blocks
And a cardboard box ... that's my boy
Mickey Mouse says it's thirteen o'clock
Well, that's quite a shock ... but that's my boy

In four short years I've gone from rags to riches
What I did before that, I don't know
So let it rain on my windowpane; I've got my own rainbow
And we're sitting here shining, watching Scotty grow

Riding on daddy's shoulders up to bed
Old sleepyhead, that's my boy
Got to have a drink of water and a story read,
A teddy bear named Fred, that's my boy

What's that you say, momma, come on and keep your feet warm
Well, save me a place, I'll be there in a minute or so
I think I'll stay right here and say a little prayer before I go
Me and God watching Scotty grow

Me and God watching Scotty grow

2002:

Twenty-two-year-old Harry Potter smiled as he listened to the old Muggle song wind down. Most precisely, it was a father talking about bonding with his small son, but his own feelings for his godson, four-year-old Teddy Lupin were very much akin to the feelings of the father in the song. As a result Harry found himself superimposing Teddy's name over that of the boy and their own actions for the actions in the song.

He tiptoed out of Teddy's room and placed a Silencing Charm on the door so he would have an undisturbed nap. It was fortunate that the child had fallen asleep in time for him to have some alone time with Ginny, who was coming over after her latest game ended. He generally went to watch her play, but had had to forego it this time because of babysitting. Andromeda hadn't had a free day in weeks, so it was the least he could do. Harry had explained why he wouldn't be able to come to the game; Ginny had said she understood and told him she would drop by after she had finished the game. If she wasn't too tired, that was.

Harry had been thinking along the lines of napping himself, but all thoughts left his head when Ginny Apparated in. The lovers met in the centre of the room, unable to stop kissing for a long time. When they finally did, he led her to the couch and they sat down, Ginny curling up close to him with her arms around his waist and her head on his shoulder.

"Gods, I've missed you, Harry."

"That goes double for me," he crooned, kissing the top of her head, then resting his cheek on it as his own arms tightened around her.

"Isn't it about time we thought about getting married? After all, it's been three years since the War."

"I've been busy at the Ministry," he apologised; his tone wasn't lost on Ginny.

"I know; I heard the latest batch of laws you helped get passed," she remarked with a smile.
"Laws such as:

Protective charms on Muggle homes, especially those with Wizarding kin
Require the wealthiest wizards to give 10 percent of their annual income to the neediest
Make the use of Polyjuice Potion permissible under controlled circumstances
Make Dumbledore's birthday a Wizarding holiday

How could I possibly object to laws like that? To think I'll be able to brag to our children later that it was their father who brought about such tremendous changes!"

Ginny also recalled that Harry had once said he didn't want anything named after him in his lifetime, and that even after his passing, it would be necessary to get his children's, if not Ginny's, OK before doing so. Typically modest of him, but he had to expect it sooner or later after all he had done for the Wizarding world, not the least of which was the destruction of the worst Dark wizard who had ever lived. She could also understand how Harry could identify with Teddy, losing his parents as a baby just as he himself had. However, he had at least had his mum and dad for over a year; Teddy had only been a month old when Remus and Dora had been killed in the War.

Not that the boy would lack for love, not with his maternal grandmother, his parents' friends and his godfather, the Boy Who Lived himself, taking care of him. Even without ever having known his mum and dad, Teddy was starting out with far more than Harry himself had ever had in the way of emotional security.

There was a long silence where the lovers silently communed with each other, luxuriating in the other's warmth and closeness. Just when Harry least expected it, Ginny spoke again.

"Has Teddy come up with a special name for you yet? I heard from 'Mione that he calls Andromeda 'Nana'. She even said that he calls Ron the same thing that Lavender used to! You should have seen the look on his face. It was priceless!" Ginny laughed, provoking a like reaction in Harry.

"Oh, no! You're kidding!" Once Harry calmed down, he replied to her earlier question. "To get back to the subject, he's still learning how to say my name, frankly, and if he wants to do that, I won't mind. After all, I always called Sirius by his Christian name."

"Just the same, it's always nice to have a child give you a special name," Ginny observed.

"By the way, has Teddy given you a special name yet?" Harry threw back.

"Not that I know of yet, but there's still time for both of us," she replied.

"How'd your game go?" he finally asked; she gave him a blow-by-blow account. When she finished, he commented, "Sounds typical of Pansy to do something like that ... hitting a Bludger in your direction and forcing you to do a Sloth Roll. I'm thankful for the new law that requires Quidditch players, whether amateur or professional, to have special protective spells around their heads to act as helmets. Even at that, they can't stop all injury, especially not injuries inflicted by sheer nastiness like McLaggen did to me that one time. It was a wonder I survived it!"

"You just have a very hard head." Ginny laughed at the look on Harry's face. "Well, you do. How else could you have survived?"

"No more talk. We don't have a lot of time," Harry crooned, lifting Ginny's face to look into her chocolate-brown eyes, brushing her hair away and stroking her lips with his thumb. Ginny felt her heart speed up at the mixture of love and desire in her beloved's sea-green eyes and it prompted an answering emotion in her own.

"You'll get no argument from me," she returned with a smile. "Let's get to it."

It was the better part of two hours later that the Silencing Charm wore off and Harry heard Teddy call for him. "Uncle Hawwy! Uncle Hawwy!" He sounded upset and Harry had to find out why. He released Ginny; she moved off and got up to follow him, watching as Harry moved to scoop Teddy into his arms and cuddle him. It was obvious the child had been crying, and Harry asked why.

"What happened, Teddy?" Harry asked even as the boy buried his face in his shirt, his hair turning green in his distress.

"Bad ... dweam ... Uncle Hawwy," Teddy explained through his tears. "I saw ... Mummy and Daddy. They were... dead." All of those present looked at the smiling picture of Remus and Dora on the boy's night table, reminiscent of the picture of Harry's own parents, taken shortly after Teddy had been born and while he was asleep.

"It's all right, mate. It was just a bad dream. Everything's fine."

"But Nana says that Mummy and Daddy are ... weally gone. Fo'ever," the boy said, the word provoking further tears and his hair to turn a deeper green.

"That happens to everyone eventually, mate. You'll join them one day. We all will. And you know something? I happen to know that your mummy and daddy loved you very much. That's one reason why they're ... gone. You're too young for me to explain it all to you now, but when you're older, I will. I promise."

"Cwoss your heart and hope to die? Nana says Gwan'pa told her that you should only say that when you weally mean something."

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Harry assured the child, making the age-old crossing gesture over his chest.

Ginny stood leaning against the door, smiling at the tenderness and understanding Harry was showing the sobbing child, unable to help picturing him doing it with one of their own. Meanwhile, bonding with Teddy was the best experience he could have for his future parenting.

After a time Teddy calmed down and Harry gently patted his wet cheeks dry, then kissed the top of his head and hugged him tightly. "Okay now, mate?"

"Yeah. Uncle Hawwy?"

"Yes?"

"Who's the pwetty lady in the doorway?"

"That's Ginny. She's my friend Ron's sister. I intend to marry her. Would you mind that?"

"Not as long as you stay my godfather."

"I'll always be your godfather, mate. Meanwhile, would you like to meet Ginny?"

The boy nodded, and Ginny joined them after Harry motioned her over to sit beside them.

"Teddy, this is Ginny."

Teddy lifted his head to meet Ginny's eyes and she smiled at him.

"Hi, Ginny."

"Hi, Teddy. Nice to meet you."

"Uncle Hawwy says you and he ... going to mawwy."

"That's true. Would you like to be in our wedding? I mean, as ring-bearer or something?"

"What's a wing-bearer?"

"He carries the rings for the couple to be married. You would walk down the aisle toward us and carry them on a little pillow."

"Think ... 'bout it," the child promised, then yawned deeply and his head became heavy on Harry's chest.

"I think he's going back to sleep," Ginny returned quietly.

"Looks like it. Give me a few minutes to make sure he's asleep and I'll be right with you." Harry leaned over to give Ginny a quick kiss, then she got up and left the room.

A few minutes later Harry joined her after putting another Silencing Charm on the door of Teddy's room--or at least the room used as Teddy's in his flat. "He's asleep again?"

"Yeah, and 'Dromeda's supposed to be coming for him soon. Hate to wake him up. He looks so peaceful."

"Maybe he'll stay asleep," Ginny remarked.

"Hope so. He needs it after the nightmare he had."

"Definitely sounds like he's following in your footsteps. Remember the nightmares you used to have."

"No more, thank Merlin ... and I wouldn't inflict nightmares like that on anyone, especially one like Teddy."

"Well, let's get back to the living room. We didn't get to finish our snog." But just as they were about to start again, there came a knock at the door and Andromeda's voice.

"Harry?"

"Come on in, 'Dromeda," he called back.

When the elder woman came in, she hugged Harry and smiled in Ginny's direction. "Ted used to call me that," she recalled, a shadow coming over her eyes at the reminder of her lost husband, who would surely have doted on little Teddy--but he had been lost in the war, as surely as Dora and Remus had been. "How's Teddy?" she asked.

"He's asleep," Harry reported. "He can stay here if he wants. You know I don't mind."

"Thank you, Harry, but I don't want to be alone in that house. Please go get him."

Harry sighed. "If you say so." With that, he left the room and came back with Teddy in his arms, wrapped in his favourite blanket and his hair as pink as his mother's, which usually indicated happiness and peace. He was still sound asleep.

"Here you go." Harry handed the boy over to his grandmother.

"Thank you, Harry. You know you're welcome to come by my place any time, too."

"Thanks, 'Dromeda. Would it be all right if I brought Ginny once in a while? Teddy's met her and they like each other. She's even invited him to be in our wedding."

"What could he do? He's only a little boy."

"There's a position in the wedding party called 'ring-bearer' meant for a child about Teddy's age. Of course, you have the final say, although Teddy didn't seem to be averse to it."

"When were you going to have your wedding?"

"We haven't set a date yet, but we're engaged. As soon as we set a date, we'll let you know, then make plans for Teddy to be in the wedding party."

"I'm sure he'd be very pleased to be included," said Andromeda. "Well, I'd better get home now. Every happiness to you both."

Harry and Ginny smiled and nodded at the older woman, then she Disapparated once outside.

One look into the other's eyes told them what their partner wanted, so words were not needed. With that, Harry scooped Ginny into his arms and headed for his bedroom, then upon arrival, closed and locked the door so they wouldn't be disturbed. There was a long night ahead, and they intended to make the most of it.