your hand in mine ` LILY

Godric's Hollow had a history for death much as the Potters had a history of death. With two generations not making it what wizards and witches would have considered elderly, it would have appeared to some that the cemetery in the village was bound to fill up with Potters. The Lupin family hadn't had much luck in the wizarding world as well. Their son had been bitten by a werewolf and then him and his wife had been killed. The connection perhaps was why Teddy and Lily could easily get along. The Weasleys had experienced death though not nearly as bad as some could say since their family was huge in itself. None of them had grown up without a set of parents. It was cruel to think that way, but a lot of people did when they compared the three families involved with the Order. He said, "Just making sure." Typically he wasn't so careful in his choice of words or actions. In fact, some considered him reckless since he was just like any other gryffindor. He would have often jumped into a situation than think about it. Teddy also came off as cool to everyone else though it was a way to not have too many people worry about him. It wasn't an act that he could keep up around death though. Cool was not what was needed for the present time. She had walked past him into the house, a house that she knew her way around. Whenever one of the Potters or Weasleys wanted to stay with him, he let them stay at the house. It was the perks of being the 'oldest brother' of the group. Lily hadn't been there to spend the night once before since she was one of the youngest out of the group. She had been there during the day to visit him though not the night. The only girl that had ever actually slept over was Victoire for obvious reasons. Having kicked off his shoes by the door before following her up the steps. He had heard her shout out before though hadn't heard what she said. He cocked his eyebrow up a bit at the sight of one of his shirts in her hands. She had just come out of his room. She told him that she was going to the guest bedroom before she walked around him. Teddy said, "Goodnight then?" Confusion was definitely what hit him at the sight of her. Not following her, he went into his own bedroom and changed out of his outfit which had been a black t-shirt, blue jeans, and a dark green jacket. His new outfit was just a pair of black pajama pants since it was fall and plus, Lily was there. Not exactly a time to go walking around in just boxers when he woke up. Shirt however, he never slept with a shirt on. Having tried going to sleep, he couldn't fall asleep. Replaying in his mind was the scene of what had happened. It seemed to be on a loop cause he couldn't get rid of the image out of his head. When he managed, it would just occur again. From the time on the alarm clock next to his bed, only a half hour had passed since they had gotten to the house. In the hospital, he had looked too tired to stay up another second. Though just like some nights after a task, he was up thinking about what had happened. In this case, what had happened to Harry. Getting out of the bed, he left his room to go to the room where Lily was, to check on her. When he had appeared in the doorway since the door had been left open, he saw that she was still awake. He asked, "Can't sleep either?" Obviously she couldn't since her father had been murdered.

If he hadn't fallen asleep yet then Lily would not have fell asleep. The two knew each other well enough that he would have known she was the same as him. With the nine year gap, he had seen a younger version of her cry before. As a role that he had taken, he was one of those few that some of the Weasley girls could comfort in about things such as boy troubles. It was something that he had grown used to as the 'older brother' figure to the rest of the family. Despite the fact that they had left the hospital, his eyes were still blue and his hair was still dark. An indication that he wasn't doing as well as he may have appeared on the outside. Having walked out of his room, he had walked down to the room where Lily had been. He had stayed in the doorway in case she didn't want to talk though she had shaken her head and patted the empty spot beside her. She began to talk as he laid down next to her though not too close. She began to go over the day about what she had been doing when she received the news and how she didn't even say good morning to her father. Her eyes were on the ceiling as she had laid back. He listened to her rather than interrupt her. He was leaning on his elbow which was bent so he was sitting up slightly rather than laying down completely. She had turned her head to look at him. Before she was to ask about him, he said, "Harry would want you to continue your seventh year and pursue your dreams." It was something similar to what she had told him only a year ago when his grandmother had passed. Teddy said, "Even though he's gone, you know he's still with you in your heart and memories, Lil." It was something that Harry had once told him whenever Teddy asked about his parents. While he may not have had memories of them, other people did and they shared those memories with him. Those memories were what made it seem as if he had been there since he had the memories of being told the stories. She asked how he was holding up, something that had been asked by her a year ago as well. He had looked up at the ceiling and said, "All I see is the same image of what happened and what could have been done differently." It was exactly what he had been seeing and there was a sense of guilt there. A sense of guilt that he hadn't gotten to Harry sooner. He didn't take well to grief since he hadn't had much to hold onto and was quite protective of anyone close to him. It was why he was so protective over the girls when it came to guys, why he stuck up for the boys like an older brother because it was just how he was. Before he had looked up at the ceiling, he had been looking from her to the wall deciding how to respond, if she did ask how he was. It was a question that was coming up too much for him. She began to speak yet again about the fact that she never got to thank him. About how it would have felt losing him or her uncle. He didn't say anything until she looked at him again, probably looking for a response. That was when he had to reply. Teddy said, "You shouldn't be thanking me cause the end result was still horrible and you're not going to lose me or Ron cause I'm going to find the son of a bitch that did this." In his voice, a bit of anger could have been felt towards the end of what he had said. Not towards her, but towards whoever had done what they had. It wasn't wise to promise something, but considering Ron seemed as if he was giving up being an auror and Teddy was capable of handling himself at least, it was worth taking the risk. The action that followed after that was not expected from him. After he had said those things, he had leaned down to Lily and kissed her on the lips. It had only lasted a moment before he had pulled away. Confusion was back in his mind over why he had just done that.

The scene was unfamiliar to the two. First, she had never spent the night at his home. Second, they had never talked in a bed at night about anything. Even when she had been over to talk to him about Andromeda, it had been during the day and in his living room. Yes, he had even resorted to alcohol during the day during those times. Since he had been given the days off from work, he had been left at his own house. The Potters and Weasleys had tried inviting him to their homes though he never went over there. Victoire had tried to get through to him though he just shut her out. The only one that had gotten through to him was Lily, who had basically made her way into the house without being invited in. She may have only been sixteen at that time, but she was her mother's daughter. There was no telling her that she couldn't do something. This time was different since the roles were reversed. He hadn't been stuck having to force his way to her since the two always seemed better connected than Victoire and him were. In the past, he hadn't thought that though when Andromeda had died the previous year, it had led to Victoire ending things with him. Since then, he thought of her as being a bit possessive since she had told him that she felt unwanted. It was after that point that he had realized that Lily and him had more in common. They knew what death felt like since it was practically in every generation of their family. He said, "It doesn't matter about the world right now. He was in your life, for them he wasn't in all of their lives as a father. They saw him as a great wizard that had defeated Voldemort. You don't need to start worrying about their fears right this second." She was right. The world would change with his death because it would cause terror in the people that had thought of him as the reason no one had tried anything until now. The world would see more deaths since the boy who had lived every encounter with Voldemort, was dead. However, it didn't mean that she had to start worrying about what the world was going to have go through. Not right now since he had been her father not just the boy who had lived. That's how he was looking at it since he had known Harry for more than just being the boy who lived. Despite her saying for him to not blame himself, he did. It was just how he was when it came to anything that he could have prevented. Silence had fallen between them before he had promised that she wouldn't lose him. What happened next was something that perhaps neither of them had seen happening when they were growing up. He kissed her on the lips, a gentle peck, if you'd call it that. It had only lasted a moment since he hadn't expected to do that. It was just like when he had started dating Victoire, it could have felt wrong since the whole family was like his own family. However when she had turned on her side and had kissed him back, it didn't feel wrong at all. When they had finally pulled away from one another, their foreheads were touching until she buried her head against his neck with her hand on his chest. Lily began to say that she couldn't lose him yet again. He said, "You won't. He has his tricks, I have mine." Being a metamorphmagus enabled him to change his appearance to nothing even resembling his real appearance. His arm was around her now with his hand resting on her shoulder, his fingers rubbing her shoulder up and down slowly to comfort her.

He said, "Well, if you're into yourself that much, it can be arranged" with a grin of his own on his face. If he hadn't had the ability of being a metamorphmagus then he would have been stuck with one appearance all the time. People could have argued that they had never seen his real appearance since he had the ability to change it. Except that he had pretty much stuck with the same look as he had when he was younger. When he was younger, he was only capable of changing his hair or eye color. His hair color was always changing as were his eyes which made it hard to identify him right off the bat. His hair color would have went from black to ginger to turquoise. Once he grew older, he stuck with hazel eyes and light brown. As an adult, he could have changed his appearance to anything he wanted minus animals. Animal features were possible, but he was not an animagus. Considering their age gap, most would have thought the two being together was not a possibility. However, he was his father's son, as it would have appeared to everyone else. How the families would take the idea of him with Lily was unknown since they had always wanted him to be with Victoire. At one point, Lily had even wanted the two of them to be married, so he could have joined the family. This was way back when Lily had not yet started Hogwarts herself. He knew that one person who would be upset was Victoire. After they had broken up for the second time only a year ago, the two would still see each other from time to time. Did he care what Victoire thought about it? A little bit since he didn't want her to get hurt. Other than that, not really. In the silence that followed their small conversation, she had drifted off to sleep. On the other hand, he had ended up staying awake with her laying next to him. That only lasted a half hour before he dozed off himself. It didn't last long before he woke up three hours later. Careful not to wake her, he got out of the bed and went downstairs.

He had sat in a chair at the table in the kitchen with a glass of whiskey in front of him. The bottle was laid on the table beside the glass. Teddy had poured the glass and had taken the whiskey down like a champ. The second glass of whiskey was sat in front of him on the table. He had poured it with the intent of drinking the second glass though had yet to drink it. The previous year he had relied on alcohol versus anyone to help him with his grief over his grandmother. It was his way of grieving, everyone had a way of coping with grief. His was alcohol which perhaps came from a relative in the Black family since neither of his parents had relied on alcohol for grief. Teddy preferred not showing his emotions in front of others. The previous year, he didn't let his own girlfriend in to comfort him. When it had gotten bad, that was when Lily had appeared. She hadn't known what was going on before or else she probably would have appeared before it got bad. Since then, he had drank though nowhere near as bad as that period of time. Normally guys wouldn't have cried and if they did, they were considered weak by society which was stupid. The reason that he had not touched the whiskey again was because there were a few tears trailing out of his own eyes. Eyes that were still blue due to his emotions. It was only after he had wiped them away that Lily had appeared in the kitchen, noticing her after removing his hand from his face. Lily crossed her arms over her chest before saying something that brought up the past. She moved over to him and downed the glass of whiskey. He had looked down as she downed the drink, a bit ashamed that she had caught him with a drink next to him. Teddy said, "You get used to the taste after a while.." It was his response to her saying that he used to drink it like water. She had moved over to the counter, looking over at him. He looked up at her as she asked about how long he had been up drinking. He said, "I lost track of time, only slept for three hours. That was the second drink poured and as you can see, I didn't touch that one." He got up out of the chair and walked over to her just as she said to come to bed with her, taking the glass from her.

It was expected that Lily would have ended up just being another sister to him. That if he eventually got married to Victoire as many had predicted in the family, Lily would have ended up as a sister to him. However, things were always complicated between the two. They had their good times and their bad times as many couples had. However, their bad times had led to the two breaking up twice. Who was to say that they couldn't have given it another try? They had tried to be together two different times, but it hadn't worked out. Despite not working out, they were still together at times not as a couple, but more as a hookup. Unknowingly, the last time that he had been with Victoire that way was two months before the death of Harry. Much of his ex list would have consisted of Victoire considering the amount of time that they had managed to be together. It was perhaps the only relationship that had held together for a good amount of time. Other than that, he tended to have hookups with girls. Lily was different though since he had known her since she was a baby. She wasn't another hookup or else they would have been done and over with. He had walked over to her, taking the glass from her and had set it on the counter beside her. When she kissed him, his hands had went to her hips as he kissed her back just as passionately. The t-shirt which she had stolen from his drawer was pressed against his chest which had nothing, but skin absent of clothing. She had pulled back, murmuring for him to go back to bed with her. He hadn't replied to her as she cupped his face. Their eyes not leaving the other's eyes the entire time. She kissed him again before pulling back again. His hands had been on her hips the whole time not moving anywhere else. They had grown up together and if anything, they were most likely going to take things slow unlike some other couples. At least they remained there until she moved away from him and walked towards a small end table across the room. He had turned around, leaning against the counter, watching as she walked over. He had forgotten about what had been on the end table. A picture of himself and Victoire back when they had still been dating which had been put there by Victoire. He hadn't removed it from the end table since he barely sat in his own living room, being out the majority of the time. Whether that was at the Potters', Weasleys', work, or a bar. Setting the picture frame down, she went back upstairs, presumably to the guest bedroom.

It only took one look towards the bottle of whiskey on the table before it burst into shards of glass. Wandless magic, something that he knew. Something that he hadn't intended to use in that moment. He was stupid to have kissed her without getting rid of that picture. In all honesty, he had been stupid to kiss her after all that happened during the day. It was only then that he heard the sound of a beak hitting against the window of the kitchen. Walking over to the sink, he opened the window in which a brown barn owl dropped a letter before flying away from him. Having caught the letter before it dropped in the sink, he closed the window and opened the letter. The letter was from the ministry, something he only expected to receive when he had to go to work. Not something he wanted to go to after what had happened. Teddy opened the letter and read its contents which detailed an attack on the whole Malfoy family. Everyone except Scorpius, who had not been at the home during that time. Everyone in the Malfoy family was tortured, presumably for their involvement with Voldemort's defeat twenty six years ago. Each of them were in St. Mungo's since they were left driven to madness instead of killed, a fate worst than death potentially. While he had not been close to the Malfoys, they were still a small piece of his family. What was left of his grandmother's side. Lily had been right, everything was going to change in the wizarding world with Harry's death. If anything good was to come of it, it would be if someone put a stop to bastard that was doing it all. How was he suppose to react to the Malfoys being attacked? He hadn't a clue how to react since they were never close. It wasn't like they gathered around a table and braided Lucius' hair or something as a family. He could have felt upset over it, but didn't for the most part since he knew how the family had treated Andromeda, Harry, and the Weasleys. Even him whenever he saw them in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade, when they'd look at him like he was a disgrace to their family tree. On the other hand, Draco was never rude to him. In fact, there was a time in Diagon Alley when he lacked enough sickles for an item and Draco had dropped a few sickles on the counter in front of him without a word. Something that he never told anyone about since he didn't want to seem like he would become attached to the Malfoys. Rolling up the letter in a ball with the use of his hand which rolled up in a fist itself, he moved from the counter and made his way upstairs to the guest bedroom where he presumed Lily had returned. Walking into the room, his right hand which had been in a fist opened, letting the letter fall on the nightstand beside the bed. As he turned to look at her, he asked, "What's wrong, Lily?" Her arm was on her face, so it was safe to assume that she was upset. Perhaps a dumb question for him to ask, but he was after all, a guy.

Victoire had grown up to be a beautiful woman, it was apparent that it would happen before she was born. Her mother was a veela, so it was bound to run in the family. Veelas were known for being very attractive, something not many men could turn down. The two had grown up close though distance ate away at their relationship. Since they had broken up, Teddy had come to assume that the oldest Weasley was possessive due to her behavior during their relationship. Despite that they always found their way back to each other. Not many people would have guessed against the two being married eventually with children of their own. Everyone had anticipated the day when he would finally be a real part of the huge family. Even in a divination class, it had been predicted that they would have ended up together in the end. The prediction would have appeared as false with Lily and him kissing in his kitchen. Not many divination professors were as good as they were said to be, at least in his opinion. Victoire was beautiful and someone that he cared about still though perhaps not in that way anymore. He worried about hurting her with the news of them though at the same time, wanted to tell the family, if him and Lily ever ended up together. It would have made things awkward between the two cousins though it didn't seem like it could be prevented. He had went upstairs back to her despite his instinct to leave her alone. To continue drinking and dealing with his own grief. He had dropped the rolled up mess on the nightstand before moving to sit on the edge of the bed, a distance from her. Lily had asked what the owl was about though he did not answer her right away, leaving her to read the parchment. After reading the parchment, that was when she had brought up Scorpius followed by the mention of her father's murderer. He said, "It's most likely the same person that killed him. It's bound to be someone who was once closely associated with the Malfoys, still pissed over their betrayal in the end." If he had to take a guess, it had to be someone close to the Malfoys previously. Multiple people since the Malfoys were not a weak family. That was something he knew based on stories from the Potters and Weasleys. The DA had been started back up a short while ago with James Potter as their leader. It was something that he joined immediately when it started back up. He had been offered to be a co-leader though had turned it down since he had enough on his plate. Rubbing the side of his face with his left hand, he felt that Lily had stood up from the bed. Putting his hand down, he stayed where he was seated as she began to say that she was fine. Her eyes didn't meet his which were back to their usual hazel. His hair back to it's usual color. When she had said that she was fine, he knew it was a lie. Teddy had an idea of when bullshit was floating about in the air. She turned around to look at him to which he only looked up at her. Lily brought up sleeping which was something that he tended to lack during periods of death. He felt tired though wasn't about to fall asleep. It was as if he could have laid down and probably stayed awake for hours. He said, "Me not sleeping isn't what is bothering you." Her eyes had went to her feet as she began to talk about being second best, those blue eyes looking up at him. The skin in her cheeks turning red like her hair color, something that he saw happen to her often. Running his hair through his hair, he was about to speak though was beaten by the punch. In this case, Lily speaking again. His eyes were on her as she said the next few words. When she finished, silence fell before them. He got up and walked towards her, his eyes looking out at the night sky as he stood in front of her. Teddy asked, "You know the story of my parents, right?" It was rare for him to bring them up since all he knew about them, were memories collected from everyone else. He said, "My father thought he wasn't good enough. Too poor, too old, a werewolf. You know who was there to tell him otherwise right? Your father." It was true that Remus had tried leaving Tonks with an unborn baby to go with Harry. Obviously, Teddy was bound to have learned it when he had gotten older. It wasn't a moment to be proud of his father, but a moment to have felt proud of his godfather. The one that had gotten through to Remus. He continued, "Second best or not good enough doesn't exist. So, what if your cousin has the looks? So, what if her and I dated in the past? That doesn't make her the first choice, my destined soul mate or the one I'm bound to end up with. That is in unrealistic muggle love tales, who are only lying to themselves." He had moved away from her then, going back to the bed to sit where he had been before. Scratching the back of his neck, he wondered what else to say. It was a strange night, that was for sure. Teddy said, "You don't know what you offer me? You're the one who got through to me last year, something that your cousin gave up on. I may appear brave and selfless, that auror that everyone looks up to. But you're the one with the drive to succeed. Are you going to let something that happened in the past stop you from living for the present?" Despite all those good qualities that she had mentioned about him, he knew he wasn't perfect.