Friendly Competition

[8] Mourning & Laughter

The rest of the semester seemed to whizz by for Harry.

He visited Teddy and Andromeda over the spring holiday for Teddy's birthday, and Teddy's delight at seeing him in person made him feel a bit guilty he hadn't done more than Floo call over Christmas, but he resolved to at least spend the time he could with him over the summer holidays, since he was away at Hogwarts the rest of the year.

He popped round the Burrow too (though he politely excused himself from Easter dinner, still wanting to avoid Ginny).

It was nice to see Molly and Arthur, even if Molly had the newest Celestina Warbeck record playing on a nonstop loop and wouldn't stop gushing about her and whatever new thing she was up to now. He'd suffered worse things, and it was always a nice feeling, the way they were so welcoming and happy to see him every time, like he was really part of the family, even if he and Ginny were no longer together.

However, May was a bit more difficult than usual, actually being there in the castle again when the anniversary of the war rolled around, looking around and seeing the ghosts of what was.

Harry had tried to go into the Great Hall for breakfast, but had ended up stalled in the entranceway, swallowing hard around the lump in his throat and looking away. He knew it was full of bustling life now, he could hear it, and he had glimpsed it before he had turned away, but he just— He just couldn't shake the feeling that if he looked again, somehow all the bodies would still be laid out in there, that the raised voices coming from inside would not be chatter and laughter, but survivors wailing over their loved ones, Molly sobbing over Fred's body.

He couldn't go in.

He left and went to the kitchens instead, without looking back.

In the kitchens, he found Draco sitting in a corner alone, picking at a plate of food, and Harry sat next to him. They ate together in silence, before going their separate ways.

Later, in the evening, Minerva let Harry use the Floo in her office to go to Andromeda's house, and he found Teddy upstairs half-curled on his bed. He had a book open in front of him, but he was staring at the pages a little too listlessly to actually be reading.

His usually bright turquoise hair, which sometimes turned black when he was excited about seeing Harry, was firmly bubblegum pink today, and his eyes had darkened from hazel to a warm brown that made Harry's heart hurt a little when he looked too closely. He had a fair few memories of Remus (certainly more than Teddy had ever had the chance to), but most of them were not happy ones, not for Remus anyway, and seeing those sad brown eyes again was a painful reminder that this was merely an echo of what was no more.

And Teddy was doing his best to echo his parents — to feel closer to them in his own way — but it only twisted the knife further that Harry knew these were only features Teddy knew from the few photos Andromeda had around the house.

Nonetheless, he stepped forward into the room.

"Hey Teddy," he said. "You want company?"

Teddy shrugged halfheartedly.

"Okay. I'm coming over, then."

Harry climbed onto the other side of the bed and took off his glasses, putting them aside behind himself and then settled in, lightly scratching Teddy's back to let him know he was there.

He didn't say anything. Sometimes it was best just not to talk.

Teddy let his hand with the book go slack against the bed, giving up the pretence of reading, but didn't otherwise move.

After a few minutes, though, he finally dropped the book completely and turned around, wrapping his arms around Harry and clinging tightly, burying his face against his neck, which was starting to feel a bit wet as Teddy sniffled quietly.