The year after her brother James graduates, Teddy Potter returns to Hogwarts for her final year. With the Marauders gone, it should be a quiet, peaceful year despite the mounting tensions in the world outside of school.
The problem, naturally, lies...
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The first day of Christmas holidays, Teddy is awoken in the morning by what feels like wet sandpaper laving over her cheek.
When she sleepily peels her eyes open, she ends up screeching in shock when she comes face to face with a large, furry head. She lashes out on instinct but misses because the stag apparently anticipates that reaction and leaps back out of her way, enormous antlered head tossed back as it snorts in amusement.
"You arsehole, James!" She bellows, grabbing her pillow and chucking it at him.
Her stupid dickhead of a brother, in stag form, honks out a ridiculous animal laugh as he trots out the door of her room, his hooves clopping on the wooden floor. Furious, Teddy flops back on her bed and glares at the ceiling. She only lays there for a moment — she's wide awake now, so there's no point in lying around in bed for too much longer.
James is waiting for her in the kitchen, back to human and holding a cup of coffee. The stupid git is grinning, clearly under the impression that he's just impossibly funny. Lily is there too, although she's reading the Daily Prophet at the table and looking utterly unbothered as she sips on her tea.
"I told him not to, Teddy." She says without looking up.
"Dick." Teddy hisses, slapping at his head.
James just laughs and ducks away from her hands. "Oh, come on, you've missed me!"
Despite herself, Teddy feels a reluctant smile beginning to tug at her lips. She had missed him, as incredibly annoying as he is, and she finds herself stepping towards him without thinking. James flinches on instinct, probably assuming she's coming to get him back for waking her up that morning, but instead she practically jumps into his arms and hugs him hard.
"Yeah," She says, burying her face in his chest. "I did."
For a moment, James' hands flail around her in a way that's distinctly bewildered. Off to the side, Lily has looked up from the newspaper and is looking rather concernedly at Teddy. The two of them have a silent conversation made up entirely of exaggerated facial expressions, whereby James looks questioningly at Lily and Lily mimes out returning the hug. A little late, James wraps his arms carefully around her and hugs her back, rocking her side to side very gently.
"Did something happen, Teddy-Bear?" He asks quietly, his brow furrowed as he rests his chin on top of her head.
"I don't want to talk about it." She mumbles into his jumper. "But Hogwarts was shitty without you there."
James seems to puff up at that, clearly proud that he had been missed so much, but his concern doesn't abate. Her big brother has always given the best, most comforting hugs, and this one is no different — it makes her feel like a little kid all over again, like they're small and she's just come running to him because she'd scraped her knee and wants him to make it feel better. He rocks her gently and kisses the top of her head, humming softly in a way that makes her slump against him.
