Happier Life by kailana-sama
I WILL NEVER KNOW.
A single tear fell from his eye and started to run down the photograph he was holding. He cleaned it the fastest he could, he didn’t want it to stain the happiest photo he had of them. Both of his parents looking and laughing at the blue haired baby in the crib. He slowly stroked their faces. “I wish you were here. I know I say this every year, but I really do…wish…you were here. I understand what you did and I’m proud to be your son, but…” He bit his lip because he couldn’t bring himself to continue.
It was his 8th birthday and Teddy was sitting on a bench outside the Burrow, the night was beginning to fall and every inch of him wished his parents were there. Even if he only had a moment with them, a moment to remember. To remember their faces, just to look at them. To hear their voices, to receive a kiss from his mother and hear his father tell him how much they loved him. Was it too much to ask? A single moment? Didn’t he deserve it?
Remus held his wife close to his chest as she started to cry. “Are you sure we can’t… just…” She began to ask, but she didn’t even know what she wanted to ask. Go talk to him? Touch him? Hold him? Kiss him? “There is nothing we can really do, Dora. Just focus, focus on him and he’ll know how much we love him, how much we wish things were different.”
She focused on him, allowing her love for their son to fill her, every second she spent with him before the Battle. Everytime she woke up at night to feed him, everytime she sang a lullaby to him, everytime she bathed him, everytime she hugged him, everytime she kissed him good night.
Teddy closed his eyes and tried to remember, anything would do, a smell, a voice, a touch, a laughter. Nothing. Those people in the picture were complete strangers to him. More tears started to run down his cheeks and he imagined them, talking to him. Imagined as if they were right there with him, his mother with her bubblegum pink hair and his father with the scars across his face.
But it was all wrong. If they were there, they wouldn’t even be in the Burrow in the first place. They would be in their house. Where would they be living? What kind of party he would have today? What kind of present he would receive from his parents? Would he have siblings? Would he have more friends? Would his parents introduce him to other people? How many wizards and witches he will never know because of what happened that day at Hogwarts? “I will never know. I will never know…them.”
He stared at them and focused on his mother hair, changing his own to bubblegum pink, moving his gaze to his father he focused on his eyes and changed his own to match the exact same colour of his. He didn’t need a mirror to know that they were in the exact same tone. He kissed the photograph before putting it inside his coat’s pocket.
“Teddy?” He cleaned the tears as fast as he could before spoting the pregnant ginger behind him. “Yeah?” “Are you ready, dear?” “Yes, aunt Ginny, I was just…” He cleaned another tear and tried to smile at her, failing in his task of finding an excuse to give her.
She walked at him and hugged him really tight. “It’s okay to be sad. It means that you love and miss them. Don’t be ashamed of being sad because of what happened.” “But uncle Harry said that time when I fell from my broom that brave boys don’t cry.” She took in a deep breath and sat on the bench beside him. “Well, uncle Harry thinks he knows everything, but he doesn’t. You know why? Because brave boys know when to cry.” He nodded as more tears fell.
“Aunt Ginny, is it possible to love someone you don’t know?” She took his hand and placed on her round belly. “Teddy, do you know this baby?” He shook his head looking confused at her. “Would you be sad if something bad happened to him?” He nodded, still confused. “Do you want him to be happy?” He nodded again. “That is love. You don’t need to know someone to love them because it doesn’t matter how they are, what matters is what we feel for them.” He stared at the grass for a moment thinking about his parents.
“Now let’s get inside, everything is ready.” He nodded again as she handed him a handkerchief. He started to clean the tears with the handkerchief and held her hand as she leaded them inside the house. “I do…love…and miss them.” “I know.” She ran a hand through his hair and smiled. “Me too.”
“We love you too, bear. More than you can imagine.”
Tonks and Lupin by neysha-sheyla