As always, I own nothing.
Chapter 8
And for a moment, the silence was almost tangible.
"How- how old were you, when... When we died?" Asked Tonks, her voice trembling.
Teddy sighed.
"A month, give or take a few days."
His mother, a woman he had never even met before, at least, not remembered meeting, looked crestfallen. Her knuckles were white from squeezing her fists together, her lips pressed thin to stop them from trembling. His father, on the other hand, looked at him with such sadness, Teddy didn't know how to react. He met his father's gaze and felt tears building up in the corners of his eyes. He was not ready to face his parents' sorrow. He was overwhelmed by his own feelings: meeting his parents, talking with them, seeing them. He had thought he would never have such a chance. But here he was, looking at his family, for the first time in forever.
"A month? A month. What- what were we doing, leaving you alone? What kind if parents were we? What kind of parent leaves their child?" His mother was in hysterics, trying to speak while angrily wiping her tears away.
"You must hate us, for not being there for you."
"I don't hate you. How could I? Even though I often wish you were there for me, you died because of something you believed in. You sacrificed yourselves so that we could win the war, so that I could have a safe childhood. When I was younger I was angry that you left me, but Harry was there for me. He showed me his memories of you, he talked about you, told me stories about your lives. If he could not answer my questions about you, he would find someone who could. Nana 'Dromeda was there for me and I was there for her. You were great parents, but you thought that my life and future was something worth sacrificing yourselves for. And I really miss you, all the time. But I'm happy. You made sure of that."
There were a lot of teary eyes in the room. Teddy's parents were hugging him, his mum sobbing silently. Then they straightened their backs and Tonks forced a smile on her face, furiously wiping off the tears. She turned and ran to hug Harry tightly.
"Thank you! Thank you so much for keeping my boy safe, for raising him, for being there for him." And Harry, although baffled, nodded and hugged her back.
"Now, I think we have cried enough for this evening. Molly, how about an early breakfast?" Gran Molly nodded at Tonks. Soon enough everyone, even Snape, was seated around the large dining table and eating bacon, eggs, toast and porridge. Lily had insisted that her dad had to make her pancakes, 'because you make them even better that Granny does'. Harry had been a bit unsure, but with Molly's encouragement, he went and made pancakes for all of them.
The discussion in the table quickly went to the children's cousins. It was a way for all of them to forget the talk of death and loss, which they all welcomed.
"So after Roxy, there's Rose and Hugo," said Lily excitedly.
"Ron's kids?" Asked George, him mouth full of pancake. Lily nodded.
"Al, do you want to tell them? You've been awfully quiet the whole time." No one missed Lily's slight manipulation. Al shrugged, loading his mouth with bacon. When he finished chewing, he continued where Lily left off.
"Rose and Hugo are at our place all the time, mainly so they are being babysat by Teddy or someone else. Their parents work a lot, you see, and they don't like being home alone. Plus, we have a Quidditch pitch on our backyard, and we play there all the time.
Rose and I are the same age, we'll be going to Hogwarts together. She's my best friend."
"Sometimes she's so much like her mum, it gets kind of scary," James whispered loudly.
"Who is her mum? I don't think you mentioned that yet," asked Bill curiously.
"Yeah, who was insane enough to marry ickle little Ronniekins?"
Ron went scarlet and was about to say something quite rude to the twins when his mother shot him a stern look and shut him up.
"Are we going to tell them," Al asked his siblings and Teddy. James and Teddy nodded and Lily smirked.
"This'll be fun," she said, her smirk widening. "Al, will you do the honours?"
"And the answer to 'who is Rose and Hugo's mum' is... Drumroll please, James." James and Sirius started to make an irritating drumroll sound.
"Hermione Granger!" Both Hermione's and Ron's mouths dropped open.
"Yes! I knew it!" Ginny said, giving Harry a high five and instantly blushing a bit.
"Yes, yes, a big shocker, I'm sure. It's not like these two aren't always bickering about the tiniest things, or getting jealous of each other," James laughed.
"It kind of makes sense," said Tonks, eyeing the pair.
"Oh course it does," said Lily, nodding her head as if it was obvious the whole time. Hermione and Ron were trying hard not to look at each other.
"And moving on! Rose is awesome, likes to play Quidditch but is also the biggest geek I've ever met. They have a TV in their house and Rose of course has a laptop, for research purposes, she claims, so she's quite a fangirl. Her grandparents are muggles and her Mum's a Muggleborn so it's no wonder she is into muggle pop culture. She knows everything about this book and TV series called Game of.. Shows? No, that's not it... Game of Thrones! And don't even start to talk about a TV series called Doctor Who. She will never shut up. Like never. I tried, but eventually her dad had to hex her mouth shut, there was no stop to it. It sometimes gets a little scary, if you ask me." Lily was pleased that Al was getting out of his shell and opening up, even if it was about Rose and not himself.
"Aside from reading, TV and Quidditch, Rose likes to bake, plays chess better than her dad and she swims in a muggle swimming team, she's really good at it. What else..? Um, she and I are regular beta testers at WWW, don't tell our mums. They pay us in products and candy, so I'm not complaining, and besides, we never get seriously injured."
"Seriously injured," said Gran with a faint voice. Al nodded at her, smiling.
Ginny was laughing, but Hermione was eyeing George disapprovingly.
"I'll tell you about Hugo!" Said Lily, excited to be the centre of attention once again.
"Hugo is my age, as you already know. He likes chess and Quidditch, especially Chudley Cannons which I don't understand because the Holyhead Harpies are so much better. I guess it's an inherited thing. Anyway, Hugo is a bit shy and unlike Rose, he doesn't say whatever pops up in his mind. Whereas Rose is loud and temperamental, Hugo is calm and a bit too mature for an eight-year-old. Rose is really clever and intelligent, the family is betting whether she'll be a Ravenclaw or a Gryffindor, my personal opinion is Ravenclaw, by the way. Hugo is, on the outside, calm and a fine example of a Hufflepuff or a Gryffindor. On the inside, he is the mastermind of mischief and chaos. We'll run Hogwarts one day, just you wait. I'm thinking we should both be put into Slytherin, but maybe it would be more beneficial to have Hugo in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. We could both rule our own houses." At that, James and Al eyed their little sister a bit cautiously. Snape smirked. Lily paid them no attention and continued with her story.
"Rose's godparents are Auntie Fleur and Uncle George, Hugo's are Uncle Bill and mum. Mine, if you're interested, are Auntie Luna and Uncle Percy.
"Okay, now it's my turn," said James, unable to stay quiet anymore. Lily huffed annoyed, but let her brother to take the stage.
"And after Vic, Dom, Louis, Fred, Roxy, Rosie and Hugo, there are Lucy and Molly. Lucy is eleven, she starts Hogwarts this year with Roxy, but I'm sure she'll end up in a different house, probably Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Lucy and Molly are Uncle Percy's daughters and their mother is a muggle called Audrey. They met after the war. Both Lucy and Molly are magical, the Weasley blood is strong. Molly is our youngest cousin, she's only five. Lucy is a bit protective of her, she loves her very much and I think it'll be hard for her to leave Molly behind when she goes to Hogwarts. Lucy plays beater, and she's really good at it because Uncle George taught her."
"Lucy loves art and literature, she's a talented painter. She's kind and nice to everyone. Molly is so young it's hard to tell what she'll be like when she's older, but she likes to make a lot of noise, if that's helpful. They are both redheads, because like I said, the Weasley blood is strong."
I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Let me know by leaving a vote or a comment! Also, check out my new story "The Quileute daughter of Apollo", I personally like it even more than this one.