There was nothing to do in the house. His grandma was ‘resting’, which meant Teddy was supposed to be quiet and couldn’t even entertain himself by exploring the house. She had refused to let him floo over to The Burrow, saying that the Weasleys would get tired of his constant presence over there and he needed to give them a break. He couldn’t believe it “ Mrs Weasley always seemed perfectly happy to see him when he went over and she always had cake for him, or a game to play with him. She certainly never told him that he had to just be quiet. And there was usually another child there for him to play with, even though they were all a bit young, except for Victoire. But she wouldn’t have been there today anyway “ she was in France with the rest of her family.
So Teddy was stuck, all alone, needing something, anything, to do. He was staring out the window, hoping for some sort of inspiration, when he saw a distant speck on the horizon. It appeared to be coming towards the house but it was hard to tell because it was being blown all over the place. Eventually, as it crossed the fence at the far end of the garden, Teddy realised it was an owl. He quickly opened the window he was sitting in front of and allowed the bird to swoop in to the living room, where it landed elegantly on the coffee table.
He wondered if he should get his grandma “ she usually dealt with the owls that came to the house, but then he decided he was old enough to be able to know what to do. He approached the owl, which had sleek brown feathers, and saw a letter attached to its leg. Cautiously, he reached out and untied the letter. Almost immediately, the owl ruffled its feathers and soared out of the window, back into the buffeting wind outside. Teddy watched its journey for a moment, but then turned his attention back to the letter. Seeing the name written on the front, he gave a small yelp of surprise “ it was addressed to him! He couldn’t remember ever receiving a letter addressed solely to him before. He wondered if this could be it.
Almost shaking with excitement, he ripped the letter open and began to read the words inside. Suddenly, he jumped up, yelling, “Grandma!”
He ran into his grandma’s bedroom, neither remembering nor caring that she had requested not to be disturbed. Her eyes shot open as he shouted again.
“Teddy!” she exclaimed. “Whatever is the matter? Are you hurt?”
“It came,” he said excitedly, lowering his volume slightly. “My Hogwarts letter came!” He was almost jumping up and down in his excited.
She smiled, still looking a little bleary-eyed. “That’s wonderful, Teddy. It’s a good job too. Had they left it much longer, we wouldn’t have had time to do all the shopping.”
“Does this mean we can go to Diagon Alley and buy my school things? And can I finally get my wand?”
His grandma had refused to let him get a wand until the letter arrived. She said he would have no need for one until he went to Hogwarts and there was no point in getting one when he wouldn’t even be able to use it. So he had been waiting eagerly for this day to come, and now that it had, he didn’t want to have to waste any more time.
“Yes, we can. Though not today “ it’s a bit late and it’s not really nice to go shopping in the rain.”
Teddy felt immediately disappointed. “But you promised we could go when the letter arrived.”
“And we will, but tomorrow. You’ve just got to be patient a little while longer. I promise we will go in the morning.”
“Okay,” he said, still feeling a little disappointed but cheered that his grandma had at least promised for tomorrow. He couldn’t believe he was finally getting a wand!
“Hello?” There was a sudden call from downstairs, from an instantly recognisable voice.
“Harry?” Teddy shouted back, charging down the stairs and into the living room, where his godfather’s head was sticking out of the fire.
“Ah, Teddy, good “ you’re home. May I come over?”
“Yes,” replied Teddy. “I’ll just tell Grandma.”
“Okay, I’ll see you in a minute.” The head withdrew from the fire.
“Grandma!” Teddy shouted up the stairs.
“Honestly, Teddy, don’t shout!” Andromeda chided, coming to the top of the stairs. “You could have just come up the stairs and talked to me. Now, what did Harry want?”
“He didn’t say. He’s on his way over though. I told him it was okay.”
“All right. I’ll be down in a minute.”
Teddy went back in to the living room, just as his godfather emerged from the fire.
“Hi, Teddy,” he said, coming over to hug him. “How are you?”
“Bored,” Teddy replied. “There’s nothing to do!”
Harry laughed. “You don’t have to be doing something all the time,” he said. “Anyway, I heard that the Hogwarts letters were being sent out today. Has yours arrived?”
Teddy waved the piece of parchment that he was still clutching. “Yes, about five minutes ago. But Grandma says I’ve got to wait until tomorrow to go shopping for my things.”
“Well, I can understand that “ the weather is absolutely terrible today. Diagon Alley would be no fun if you went this afternoon.”
“I know,” Teddy said, sighing. “But tomorrow is so far away!”
Harry ruffled his hair. “I’m sure you’ll survive,” he said.
“Hello, Harry.” Teddy’s grandma entered the room.
“Morning, Andromeda. How are you today?”
“Very well, thank you. I suppose Teddy has already told that his letter has arrived? And about time too!”
“Yes! In fact, that’s why I’ve come to see you. I was thinking that I could take to Teddy to Diagon Alley for his school things.”
Andromeda looked surprised. “That’s very kind of you, Harry, but why?”
“Well, I’m his godfather after all. I thought you might like a bit of a break and, well, I suppose I want to share the experience with him.”
“Actually, I’d already planned to take him tomorrow.”
There was an awkward silence in the room while both waited for the other to speak. Teddy simply looked between the two of them, unsure of what to say. He felt he should say something but he didn’t have a clue what. He could tell that this was obviously important to both of them, and he didn’t want anyone to be disappointed. On one hand, Teddy knew that Harry didn’t have anyone special to take him when he was eleven and probably wanted to ensure his godson wasn’t in the same situation, but on the other, Harry had his own children whereas his grandma only had him, and besides, she was the person he had always done these sorts of things with.
Teddy suddenly realised that, with neither willing to give in, they were both looking at him. He didn’t want to let either one down, but they obviously wanted him to make a choice. For a moment, he contemplated asking them both to come, but he had been shopping with the two together before and they always ended up having disagreements about money and what they should be buying. He didn’t want his grandma and godfather to be bickering while he was trying to buy his school things.
Teddy sighed and looked at Harry. “Thanks, Harry,” he said, “it’s really nice of you to offer but I think I’d like to go with Grandma if I could, please. She’d already made plans to take me.”
Harry looked surprised and his smile faltered.
“I’m sorry,” Teddy added, desperately. He hated this.
“It’s okay,” his godfather replied. “I understand. I thought I’d offer just in case, but obviously, I know it’s not the same for you as it was for me. Don’t worry about it. But maybe tomorrow you could come for tea and show Ginny and I everything you’ve bought?”
Teddy nodded and Andromeda said, “Thank you, Harry, and yes, he can come over tomorrow. I’ll drop him round at about six, if that’s all right.”
“Yes, we’ll see you then!” Harry gave Teddy a hug and stepped back in to the fireplace. “Bye!”
“Bye, Harry!” Teddy replied.
His grandma smiled at Teddy. “I hope that’s really okay with you, Teddy. You know I wouldn’t mind if you’d rather have gone with Harry.”
“Yes, I know, but I want to go with you, Grandma.”
She gave him a quick hug. “Well, we’ll go first thing in the morning.”
The next morning, Teddy was up bright and early, eager to leave for London. As soon as his grandma emerged from her bedroom, he was pestering her to go.
“We’ll leave in an hour,” she said to him, yawning. “We need to have breakfast and get ourselves ready to go out first.”
The next hour seemed to drag, but eventually, they were both ready to go. They were going to floo to the Leakey Cauldron.
“Are you sure you’re okay to go alone?”
“Yes, Grandma,” he replied, rolling his eyes just a little bit. “I’ve been through the floo on my own before.”
“Fine. Well you go first and wait there for me. Make sure you call out the name clearly.”
Teddy threw the powder into the flames and stepped into the fire, shouting, “Diagon Alley,” as he went. For a moment the whole world seemed to spin and he caught glimpses of various fireplaces before he was suddenly being thrown out on to a hard stone floor. Coughing, he stood up to find that the parlour of the pub was thankfully empty. A moment later, his grandma arrived, stepping elegantly out of the fireplace, clearly well-practiced at travelling by floo.
“Shall we go then?” she asked, straightening her robes.
Teddy was already ahead of her, and was halfway out of the door. They reached the courtyard, and even though he had seen it so many times before, Teddy watched in wonder as his grandma performed the wand movement that revealed Diagon Alley.
He had no idea where he wanted to go first; there were so many things to get and places to go. He was never usually particularly keen to accompany his grandma on her shopping trips, but this time, the trip was just for him which made it a lot more bearable.
His grandma said they ought to do the less interesting things first. He was measured for new school robes, to be collected at the end of the trip, and found all the books he needed in Flourish and Blotts. He already had an owl “ it had been Harry’s birthday present to him earlier that year “ but he stocked up on some treats. Finally, they had everything but the wand and it was time to head to Ollivander’s, at last.
Ollivander no longer ran the shop “ he had passed on the responsibility to his apprentice, but still retained the original name that all British witches and wizards knew so well. As they pushed the door open, a small bell rang above their heads and a man emerged from the back of the shop.
“Welcome to Ollivander’s,” he said. “My name is Henry, Mr Ollivander’s apprentice. How may I help you today?”
“My grandson requires a wand,” said Andromeda.
“Ah, excellent. Is it your first?”
Teddy nodded, feeling suddenly nervous.
“Wonderful! Well, let’s take your measurements then.”
A tape measure flew towards him and began to take measurements of all sorts of parts of his body. Henry quickly observed the measurements and then put the tape measure away.
“Now, let’s see what we can find for you.”
Teddy watched him consult some sort of notebook and then start pulling various boxes from the shelves. He took a wand from the first box and handed it to Teddy. Nothing happened. Henry took the wand back, consulted his notebook and again and handed another wand to Teddy. This time, there was at least some sort of reaction. Not quite the one Teddy was expecting though. He gave the wand a quick wave and water started spurting out of the end, soaking his robes. He looked to his grandma who gave a quick flick of her own wand and dried him off, a small smile on her face.
Teddy tried several wands, some which hardly reacted and others which gave some unexpected results, but non which seemed to be right. Henry frowned with each wand tried, and began to study his notebook even more carefully, almost as if he was worried about the amount of time it was taking him to match Teddy up with a wand.
At one point he left the room and went somewhere in to the back of the shop. He returned some minutes later and reached down to take a box from a low shelf.
“Mr Ollivander has suggested that I try this one.” He didn’t look convinced. “It doesn’t seem to fit your measurements, but Mr Ollivander usually knows best.”
He handed Teddy the wand and immediately Teddy felt the rush of warmth he had heard about flow from his fingers, up his arm and spread throughout his all body. He looked up at Henry and grinned.
“I think this is it,” he said. “What is it?”
Henry consulted the box. “Mahogany, twelve and a half inches, and containing a single phoenix feather.”
“A phoenix feather?” Teddy asked, surprised. “But that’s the same as Harry’s.” He looked over to his grandma, his face lit up with excitement. “Did you hear that, Grandma?”
His grandma looked a little sad for a moment, but then she attempted to smile. “That’s wonderful, Teddy. Harry will be so pleased.”
Teddy’s feelings towards the wand suddenly changed. He hated it when this happened. He always felt like there was a competition going on between Harry and his grandma, as if both of them wanted him to say he loved them more than the other. Why could they never understand that he loved them both equally? He looked at his wand “ it was so stupid! Why did it have to have something in common with his godfather, why couldn’t he just have had his own, unique wand? He looked at Henry.
“I’m not so sure this is right after all.”
“Teddy!” Andromeda exclaimed. “You just said that wand was perfect. What’s changed?”
He said nothing for a minute, but she fixed him with her stare that always told him he was going to have to give an answer eventually.
“I don’t want to have a wand with the same core as Harry’s if it makes you sad,” he mumbled.
“Oh, Teddy! I’m sorry “ I’m not sad that you and Harry both have a phoenix feather in your wands. Why ever would you think that?”
“Because of how you looked when you found out a minute ago. And because everything between you and Harry is always a competition.”
There was silence and then his grandma spoke again, her voice soft, “Teddy, I’m sorry that you think that. I never meant to make you think that Harry and I ‘compete’ over you. We just both love you so much. And the reason I was looking sad is that, well, your mother’s wand was made of Mahogany. It just brought back memories of the day I brought her here to buy her wand, not that she had to go through as many options as you!”
“Oh.” Teddy smiled. “So, really, I’ve got a part of my family and a part of Harry in here.”
His grandma nodded, a genuine smile on her face.
“Yes, Teddy. I think you’ve managed to find the perfect wand.”
That evening when Teddy took his wand to show his godfather, he was sure to tell him both about the phoenix feather and the mahogany. He had finally managed to find a way of balancing his grandma with his godfather, and he was determined to keep it that way.