apples and scented candles • h.potter ✓

• six •

Teddy wasn't exactly a shy kid, but since he hardly ever met new people, it took him quite some time to warm up to Corben.

He sat on Harry's lap, staring at the colourful pictures of his book, while the two adults continued to do things that would make an outsider question whether they really were adults. They were talking about random things, and every once in a while, Corben would screw up his face and send Harry into another laughing fit.

"Aren't you supposed to be working now?" Corben asked when Harry had got over one of his bouts of laughter.

"Aren't you supposed to be training now?"

"Touché."

There was a pause, not an awkward one as would happen between two strangers, but the one that fell upon randomly between a conversation when both parties would find nothing to talk about. Harry glanced over at Teddy, glad that he wasn't getting bored, before turning back to Corben.

"Do you live alone, or with your family?"

"Alone."

"Not even with your brother?" Harry raised his eyebrow, enjoying the look of immense exasperation in Corben's face every time he did so.

"No," he shrugged, avoiding looking at Harry. "He left home right after graduating, when I still had three more years left of Hogwarts. And anyway, he spends too much of his time shagging his boyfriend, so it's better to leave them alone."

"How do you pay your bills then? If you don't have any job?"

"I've got enough inherited money to last me a lifetime," he answered nonchalantly. "Which is one of the reasons Blaise prefers to remain unemployed. He thinks I'm wasting my time training to become an Auror when I can just enjoy my life but, well, that's not what I want."

Teddy climbed out of Harry's lap, set his books aside and crawled tentatively over to Corben, who looked momentarily surprised. He watched him thoughtfully for several moments, before finally opening his mouth. "Are you also an Auror?"

He smiled and shook his head. "Not yet. I have to learn, train and give exams, and then, if I pass, I can become an Auror."

"My mum was an Auror."

"Oh," Corben looked uncomfortable, as though unable to figure out how to approach the subject of a deceased woman to her toddler son. But, as Harry has observed, Teddy was pretty open about the topic, for Andromeda had chosen to tell him stories of his parents since he was a baby. It hadn't been very easy, since, after he had learnt to speak, Teddy often failed to understand why he needed to use past tense when referring to his parents, as opposed to present tense for other people.

He decided to help Corben out.

"She was also a metamorphmagus, right, Teddy?"

He nodded his head excitedly, seemingly remembering the fact only now. "Yes, she was. She could change her hair as she liked, but I cannot because I'm still small. Harry and Nana makes me wear a hat when I go outside, but I don't like wearing it."

Corben laughed. "Well, when you learn to control your power, you don't have to wear it anymore, right?"

"Well, I can control it," he said grumpily, crossing his arms in front of him. "He doesn't believe me." He pointed at Harry in an accusing manner.

Corben sent a scolding look in Harry's direction, who pressed his fist over his mouth to stop his laughter from spilling out of his mouth. The side of his stomach was already hurting from laughing too much. "Is what I hear true, Just Harry? You don't believe him?"