Chapter 3: Daylight Shadows
Ginny Weasley did not cry.
At least, that’s what she told herself everyday. And she hadn’t cried not one since the breakdown she had during the Final Battle. She had sat, albeit somewhat stony faced, through Lupin, Tonks, and Fred’s funeral without a single drop of water running from her eyes. She had held her sobbing mother and patted her robotically on the back and she had watched her green eyed, black haired boy break his promise and walk away without a single tear.
And she wouldn’t cry let herself cry now, she thought determinedly, grinding her teeth into her bottom lip. Her hand flew up fro her body and knocked on the smooth wooden door with the askew F and G on its front.
No one answered. She almost sighed in relief before catching herself. She couldn’t understand why she felt the irresistible need to cry every time she saw her problem. It was worst to see him than to think of Fred. But he seemed okay, like he could move on. So what was wrong with her?
“George?” she called out softly. Her hand reached for the knob. She opened the door a crack. “George?” she called again. She pushed the door open all the way.
There he was, lying in the middle of his bed, his chest rising and falling in the deep breaths of sleep. The untouched tray of food she had brought last night lay next to him on the bed. The room itself was in disarray. Papers, clothes, and who knows what were strewn about the room. Clearly, he had been experimenting.
George’s arms where outstretched to the point where his fingers fell in little arcs over the side of the bed. His red hair fell back in an odd covering, and his face was stubbled with days of missed shaves. His eyes were closed. In fact, he showed no reaction to Ginny’s entrance.
“George?” Ginny said again, her face upturned in a small smile. “I brought you lunch. I know you were working on stuff last night, but you have to eat something.”
She set the tray next to the uneaten one and took out for her wand. She gave a little wave and some of the mess cleared itself. The clothes flew lamely into a pile and one or two of the papers disappeared She had gotten better though. The first time she had attempted it, she had created and even bigger mess with a minor explosion. George had been working and hadn’t even blinked.
It had become a sort of routine for them. Ginny would come in every morning while George was still asleep and put out his breakfast. Then later she would bring is lunch and clean up some of the mess. She would sit awkwardly for a few moments and watch him work from a few minutes, before making some lame excuse to leave.
He had been working on something nonstop for the few weeks secretly; He had holed himself up in his room for hours upon hours, occasional bangs and explosions issuing from it. Mrs. Weasley let him. In a way, it was how he dealt with Fred. He was dealing with it much better than her. Ginny would lie awake for hours at night listening to her mother cry until her father came home and the cries broke. Ginny was not supposed to hear.
There was blissful silence after that, and it would all begin again.
The Burrow would have fallen apart long ago if it hadn’t been for Ginny. Her father was at the Ministry for all hours of the day and her mother moved mechanically and awkwardly through the motions of her day. Her mum and dad had somehow aged decades overnight and even the ghoul waved more than usual. True, her mother did what needed to be done, but it lacked any life in it. Still, the day was better than any second of the night.
Ginny gave another small wave of her wand, then sighed hen the pants on the top of the pile did nothing but flick miserable She shrugged and sat on the edge of the bed next to George’s still form.
“George, come one. It’s time to wake up. It’s already twelve.” Normally, Mrs. Weasley would never even think of letting a child of heir’s sleep so late, but George was an exception even in that.
“George,” she said again, shaking him slightly. “Come on.” George groaned and turned to his side.
“George! Look, I already did all of my chores, I just have to get you up. Mum may let you do whatever you want, but I need you to degnome the garden so I can go.”
George blinked and groaned. “Go, where?” he murmured sleepily.
“It’s Tuesday,” she said. George pushed himself up and he turned towards her.
“You’re going to see Teddy today.”
Ginny nodded.
George got up from the bed and began searching through a pile next to it. “Tell him hi from me,” he said to the jeans on the floor, “and give him this.”
He held out his hand to Ginny, a small rectangular box was in it. She suddenly understood what George had been doing all the time he was locked up in his room.
Ginny eyed the box suspiciously. “I’m not going to give him something that will blow up George,” she said warily.
“It won’t blow up,” he replied with a grin. A shadow of an old mischievous glint was in his eyes.
He waved his hand over the box and the sides of the rectangle fell away. A miniature live giraffe stood in his hand, pawing the ground nervously. It was identical to the real animal, only much smaller.
“Oh George,” Ginny breathed. “Wow.”
George grinned. “Fre- Fred and I were working on this for months. I finished this one and I’ve almost got the tiger done”
Ginny watched in amazement as George waved his hand again and the box flew back together. She threw herself at him and hugged him around the waist. George almost dropped the box. “What?” he yelped.
“You’re amazing,” Ginny said into his shirt, “Amazing.”
George smiled and ruffled her hair. “I know,” he said.
Ginny pulled back and scowled at him. “You don’t have to agree so easily.”
George just smiled and pushed her towards the door, putting the box into her hand. “Alright, Alright,” he said, “I got to change.”
Ginny scowled one more time for good measure, then hugged George quickly again. By the time he reacted, she was already flying down the stairs.
A few seconds later, Ginny rolled through emerald flames and onto a soft, blue hearthrug with a grace that indicated a lifetime of practice. She brushed the sparkling green remnants of Floo Powder from her shoulders and jeans just as the clock behind her chimed one ‘o clock.
“Ginny? Dear, is that you?” called a voice from the bowels of the right-hand hallway. Ginny followed the voice and found Andromeda leaning against the door at the end of the hallway, her hand on the knob.
“He’s been fussy all day,” whispered Andromeda as she greeted Ginny with a one-armed hug. “But I was about to wake him up. He won’t sleep through the night if I don’t.” Ginny nodded and Andromeda creaked the door open. Ginny’s eyes fell on the tiny figure whose spiky, bright blue hair suggested he’d been awake long before they had entered the room. He was unquestionably alert: watching Ginny with keen, brown eyes. He cooed with anticipation as she approached him and proceeded to giggle when she scooped him out of him wooden crib.
“I’m going to pop into Diagon alley and pick up some supplies,” announced Andromeda as she watched Ginny try to contain her squirming grandson. In a sudden effort to imitate Ginny’s abundant, Weasley-red hair, Teddy’s eyes pinched shut and his blue spiky hair grew to his shoulders and turned a severe violet.
“No problem,” Ginny laughed, she ran her fingers through Teddy’s hair amusedly.
“Right then,” Andromeda smiled wearily and moved into the sitting room to collect her cloak and Ginny followed with Teddy. “Extra bottles are kept-,”
“In the icebox, I know,” replied Ginny.
“And I suppose you remember how much to heat the bottle,” Andromeda fastened her cloak and placed a pointed lavender hat on top of her graying hair.
“Of course,” said Ginny, recounting her first visit with Teddy and Andromeda in June when Andromeda had shown her the Muggle method of checking the formula’s temperature by squirting some on your own wrist after she had tried testing it by touching the burner and, as a result, introducing Teddy to his first swear word.
“Well I’m off then,” Andromeda kissed her grandson and grinned roguishly, reminding Ginny of a bubbly, clumsy and (usually) pink-haired witch who should be holding the child in Ginny’s arms.
The loud crack from Andromeda’s Disapparation roused Ginny from her thoughts and back to a restless Teddy.
“I have something for you,” she removed George’s present from her pocket and presented it to him. Teddy watched with wonder as the box opened and the miniature giraffe was revealed. He promptly snatched the toy and stuck its elongated neck in his mouth, drenching it with drool.
“That’s from George,” Ginny smiled. “He’ll be glad to know you like it.” Teddy pulled the giraffe out of his mouth and granted her with a toothless smile. Out of nowhere he started poking Ginny in the face, counting each freckle.
“Ow! Hungry, are we?” Ginny extracted her hair from Teddy’s strong grip and walked him into the kitchen.
After placing him in a yellow high chair, she took a bottle labeled “Trolls’ Turnip Tastees From Our Home Grown Gnome Free Gardens ” and heated its milky white contents on the stove. A loud exclamation from the other side of the room brought hr attention back to Teddy. What she was a baby Teddy’s size with short, flaming red hair and blue eyes glinting with a proud sense of accomplishment. For all she knew, Teddy could have been her baby brother. And in a way, he was. As Ginny checked the temperature of the formula on her wrist, she recalled the time a few weeks ago when Ron and Hermione had visited Teddy with her and how Ron had eaten the cookies Andromeda made with such relish that Teddy imitated him and made a huge mess of his applesauce.
“So, now when you think of food, you turn into Ron,” Ginny refilled the bottle with the heated formula and handed it to Teddy. He tipped the bottle back and suckled on it with a vigorous ferocity. Ginny chuckled as he soon grew tired of the habit and slowed his pace. Unable to concentrate on both his bottle and his altered appearance at the same time, Teddy’s hair retracted to a natural, wispy brown and his eyes darkened to brown.
“Finally, someone has recognized Ron for what he truly is,” grinned Ginny. Teddy blinked at her and drained the bottle, dropping it onto his highchair with a resounding burp.
“Good one,” Ginny smirked and she removed the bottle from Teddy’s reach. When she went to turn off the stove, however, her hand slipped onto the coiled burner.
“Ow ” ow ” ow!” she yelped in pain, causing Teddy to whimper as she rushed over to the sink to run her hand under cold water. She sighed in relief as it subdued the pain to a slight and manageable throb.
“See, its just a little burn,” she returned to Teddy while examining her hand. An angry red blister had formed in the shape of a semi-circle to match the stove’s dangerous coils.
Teddy grabbed her fingers and pulled her hand closer to his throne-like chair. He seemed to observe Ginny’s burn and at once, his face wrinkled as his appearance began to change. Only, when he opened his eyes, the only difference was that his irises had turned a glowing, emerald green.
Ginny gasped in surprise. She knew those eyes. They had filled her thoughts and dreams without avail for the past two months, since Voldemort’s demise and the series of funerals that followed. But how could Teddy know what Harry’s eyes looked like? To her knowledge, he had never met his godfather. In addition, what brought on this sudden will to transform? When Teddy changed his appearance earlier to look like Ron, it was due to the connotation of Ron’s tendency to pig out. What had happened to make Teddy change his eyes to look like Harry’s?
“Ouch!”
Teddy tried again to poke Ginny’s raw burn but she pulled her hand away in time to avoid him. Before Ginny could scoff, a loud ‘pop’ filled the room.
“Hello? I’m back!” Andromeda’s voice preceded her as she walked into the kitchen laden with bags. Ginny stood to relieve her of several purchases, including owl treats, salamander eyes, and a book titled Experimental Magical Breeding: The Reasons, Results, and Why it Has Been Outlawed.
“Everything go alright?” asked Andromeda.
“It was fine, really. He just finished a bottle,” Ginny replied. “Andromeda, has anyone else been by to visit Teddy besides me?” Andromeda’s forehead creased in thought as she said,
“Hagrid had been by a few times and brought homemade baby food. I threw that out, of course. And the Minister came a few days after the ”well the battle to give his condolences and see Teddy. Kingsley worked with ‘Dora, you know.”
Andromeda’s eyes began to water and she crossed the room to lift Teddy into her protective arms. “There was one other visitor, but I doubt he’ll be coming back anytime soon.”
“Who?” Ginny questioned, although she already anticipated the answer.
“Well, yesterday Harry stopped by, but not for very long. He was so uncomfortable that he practically dropped Teddy and flew out the door after five minutes. He didn’t look good; poor lad was very drawn and looked like he could use a decent night’s sleep.” It was exactly what Ginny had been waiting to hear.
“Andromeda, right before you got back, Teddy made his eyes look like Harry’s. Look!” Andromeda adjusted Teddy on her shoulder to face her.
“Aren’t Harry’s eyes green, dear?” Andromeda replied. Ginny peered around her to get a better view of Teddy and was shocked to find that his eyes had returned to a deep brown.
“But they were green before!” Ginny explained.
“It couldn’t have been. I doubt he was with Harry long enough to even see his eyes properly. Though they are striking,” Andromeda said thoughtfully. “Maybe you’re just a bit tired from handling him for me. Why don’t you go on home.”
Ginny was put out by her sudden request for her to go and more so, embarrassed because Teddy had proven her wrong. Nevertheless, she kissed Teddy softly on the head and bid Andromeda farewell. That night, Ginny lay awake, consumed with thoughts of a deep green nature, in the sense that she could read every emotion they possessed.
A/N: So you've finally met (at least in this story) Ginny. Things are really starting to get interesting what with Teddy's talents and Ginny's recognition of Harry's features. You'll see how it continues to play out in chapter four, which will be up much sooner than it took for chapter three. Leave a review, we appreciate it!
SiriusRadcliffe
Teddy's Gift by SiriusRadcliffe
Chapter Notes: Wow, it's been awhile! Our pitiful excuses are homework and performances. Here, finally is chapter three. We betaed it ourselves this time to be quicker so sorry if there are a few mistakes. Thanks for all of the lovely reviews regarding the last chapter. Enjoy!
Miss Radcliffe~ and SiriusBlack1113