Word Count: 5,507
Rating: G
Category: AU, Humour
Notes: Written for HP George-centric 2010 Fest.  Many thanks to Ayla for her help and her betaing!
Summary: Teddy and Remus return to London from Tokyo, and they meet George who wants to close down his shop.  Teddy doesn’t want that to happen.
Pairing: Remus Lupin/George Weasley
Warnings: Uhm, maybe it’ll be too fluffy?  Cross-gen (42/24)
Dedications: Silent Cassia
Completed Date: April 7, 2010

---

Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them. — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

---

Five-year old Teddy, holding onto his daddy’s hand, skipped down the long corridors of the Japanese Ministry of Magic. He was so excited — so excited that his hair was turquoise, his happy colour. He was going on a trip, a portkey trip, and he couldn’t wait. He loved travelling by portkey; he didn’t mind that strange tug in his belly. He just found it fun that they could travel somewhere like that.

They entered a room, and a young Japanese worker greeted them with something dangling from his hand.

“Daddy!” Teddy pointed at the yellow Pikachu keychain. “Is that Pikachu going to take us back to England from Japan?”

Daddy tousled Teddy’s hair. “It will. When we both touch it, this man will activate it for us, and we’ll be in London’s Ministry of Magic.”

“Wow!” Teddy looked at the worker named Hangata with a grin. “Can I have this Pikachu, Hanagata-san?”

Hanagata chuckled. “Sorry. This belongs to the ministry. How about I give you this Charmander keychain instead?”

Teddy looked at his daddy hopefully, who smiled and said, “Go ahead. And what do you say?”

“Thank you!” Teddy hugged the keychain to himself. This was going to be his new favourite thing to show off. He loved Pokemon and their many species.

“Are you two ready?” Hanagata asked. “If you are, please touch the keychain. Mr Lupin? Teddy? Good luck in England.”

---

“Is this London, Daddy?” Teddy asked, his eyes huge as they looked around the busy streets. He watched the people pass by him, the red double-decker bus on the streets, and the English language all around him. He saw that the people were dressed differently here than the Japanese did. He didn’t see anybody wearing kimonos or anything of the like, but he did see colourful hairstyles and clothing that were wild like the ones he saw in Tokyo. He didn’t see any shrines or temples nearby like he did in Tokyo. London was different from Tokyo, yet he could sense that it was a busy and crowded place like his previous home.

“Yes, it is.” Daddy’s calm voice soothed him, and Teddy grabbed his daddy’s hand tighter. He didn’t want to get separated from him.

“It smells different.” Teddy sniffed at the air, and although he couldn’t explain how it smelled different, it did. In Tokyo, he smelled takoyaki, ramen, fish, green teas, and the cherry blossoms. Here, he smelled potatoes, meats, some different kind of tea, and some sort of a flowery scent that he wasn’t able to figure out yet. Tokyo had smelled very unique to his nose, along with Osaka and Kyoto when he had visited before, and now he sensed that London had its own scent. All of these new sensations intrigued Teddy. Daddy had explained to him about how Tokyo was on the other side of the world from London. Teddy was told that things were never the same from one place to another, so the new experience of being in London made some sense to him.

Daddy let out a quiet laughter “Are you ready to go meet your grandmother?”

“Grandmamma?” Teddy perked up. “I want to see her! I want to show her my new Charmander keychain!”

“Well, then, let’s go. It’s a short walk from here.”

“Okay!”

---

When they reached Andromeda’s house, Teddy met and saw many people there. There were many of Daddy’s grown-up friends. He lost count of how many legs he had hugged. Some legs were in trousers, some in jeans, and some were covered in robes. He liked the robes. They reminded him of kimonos; though the robes were less pretty than the designs and the colours of the kimonos.

With his grandmother, once she picked him up and hugged him tightly, Teddy could smell this flowery scent coming from her. She was warm and kind, and Teddy liked her immediately, even though he’d only met her once last year. He still loved his grandmother.

There was a party going on with many good food and sweets. Teddy looked at the foreign looking food, so different from the Japanese food he was accustomed to, but he liked them, especially the sweets. He always liked the Japanese chocolates, so when he tried the English chocolate, he was amazed by how much sweeter they were. He liked it. Then again, he and Daddy both loved sweets.

As the grown-ups talked amongst themselves, Teddy wandered around the sitting room until he ran into Harry, his godfather. His godfather had black hair that was wild. The hair fascinated Teddy. He always hated it when his hair needed to be brushed, but it looked like Harry never brushed his own. Teddy wondered if Daddy would let him not brush his hair, too.

“Harry!” Teddy squealed, running into the open arms. He laughed and giggled as Harry swung him around.

“You’ve grown so much, Teddy! What’s that in your hand?”

“It’s my Charmander keychain. Hanagata-san gave it to me! He’s the portkey man!”

“I see.” Harry nodded. Teddy saw a glint of happiness in the deep green eyes, and Teddy tried to change his own eyes to match that colour.

“Is it green?”

“Your eyes? Yes, they are. And your hair is now black. You’re pretty good at this.”

Teddy beamed at the compliment. He enjoyed his metamorphmagus ability. He and Harry talked until someone came near them, and Teddy saw it was a red-haired man with one ear. Teddy stopped talking, and he stared at the unknown man.

“Oh, hullo, George,” Harry said.

There was a sad look to George’s eyes, and Teddy remained silent. He was a bit frightened by George. He had never met a man with one ear, nor did he ever meet a man with such sorrowful eyes. But George was smiling. It was strange. Teddy always thought when someone was sad or happy, they were just that. Not both. He stepped back, bumping into Daddy.

“There you are, Teddy,” Daddy said. “Having fun with Harry?”

Teddy nodded, but his eyes didn’t leave George. “Yes.”

Daddy reached out and rested a hand on George’s shoulder. “This is George Weasley. He’s the owner of that joke shop I told you about. The one Harry is the sponsor of.”

“Really? He’s the owner of the WWW shop?” Teddy brightened a bit at that. Daddy had told him about the store and had promised to take Teddy there one day. But Teddy was a bit stumped. He’d imagine joke shop owners to be bright and bubbly, yet George seemed neither bright nor bubbly. But his mind wandered on, and another question popped in his head. “Are you named after Curious George?” That was the only George Teddy knew. Teddy loved those books Daddy would read to him. He’d always imagined that he was George and the man with the yellow hat was Daddy. Only, Teddy didn’t try to get into all those mishaps like George did!

George and Harry both blinked as Daddy laughed. “No,” Daddy explained. “I don’t think he’s named after that.” He turned to look at the other two. “Curious George is this character in one of his favourite Muggle book series. It’s a monkey that gets into a lot of sticky situations due to his curious nature.”

Teddy watched as George crouched down to his level. “I’m not named after a monkey, but I can act like one if you want.” Teddy giggled as George scratched his armpits and let out an “Ooh, ooh, aah, aah” sound. He then pretended to unpeel an imaginary banana and eat it. “How’s that?”

“You’re funny!” Teddy exclaimed, feeling more comfortable with him. Maybe being around George wouldn’t be as scary as he thought. He liked George’s goofy nature. “That’s not how Curious George acts, but you act like a good monkey.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t really like bananas. I prefer chocolates,” George continued.

“Me too! I like chocolates!” Teddy agreed excitedly. Aside from Daddy, he didn’t know that many people in Tokyo who liked sweets like they did. Teddy wasn’t sure why a lot of Japanese grown-ups didn’t like many sweets, but it seemed like the grown-ups in London liked it more, at least.

George reached into his pockets, and he pulled out a package of chocolate and gave it to Teddy. “Here, have some Chocolate Frogs.”

“Can I, Daddy?” Teddy asked.

Daddy nodded. “But that’s your last chocolate for the day. I don’t want you to spoil your appetite.”

Teddy took the Chocolate Frog, and he said, “Thank you!” He quickly ate the frog before it tried to escape from him, and when he finished he asked, “You own that joke shop, right? Can I see it?”

A dark look came on George’s face. It was really quick, but Teddy didn’t miss it. It was rapidly replaced with a smile, and George answered, “Yes. I’ll give you and your dad a special tour.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

---

“Woooow. This is so cool!” Teddy couldn’t keep his mouth shut as he walked up and down the aisle with Daddy and George. On the shelves he saw so many items that his eyes were crossing from trying to look everywhere. Next to each of the products were little monitors that showed the jokes’ effect on the screen. He watched one where a taco shaped treat caused someone to breathe out fire and fart really, really loudly. That was extremely funny, and Teddy found himself laughing and saying “Ewwww”.

He saw another product that transformed someone into a canary. That grabbed his attention. Although he had the ability to change his appearance, he had yet to figure out if he could transform into an animal. He looked at George hopefully and asked, “Is there one that can change someone into a Pokemon?”

“Er, a Pokeyman?” George looked bewildered.

“A Pokemon! You know, Pikachu? Charmander? Bulbasaur?”

“It’s another Muggle thing he likes,” Daddy explained, his eyes twinkling.

“Yeah!” Teddy pulled out his toy Poke Ball and showed it to George. “The Pokemon live in these things, and when I want to summon them, they come out of them!”

“Hmm.” George’s face changed into a thoughtful expression. “You know, while I probably can’t really do Pokeyman since I’ll run into some copyright issues, I can probably come up with some ideas equivalent to that.” A scheming look came on George’s face. “What do you say, Teddy. Do you want to help give me ideas?”

Teddy nodded, feeling proud that a grown-up was asking for his advice. “I’ll help!”

Again, Teddy saw a flicker of uncertainty on George’s face, but like before, it went away quickly. “Let me show you my inventing room. There’s a lot of stuff in there that goes ‘boom’, but it’s all harmless. I think you’ll like it. Especially the candy floss fireworks.”

“Okay!” Teddy couldn’t wait to see what was in the room. He was very fond of explosions.

---

After a long and exciting day at the shop, Teddy was tired and happy. He and Daddy came back with bags of free samples of George’s products, and Teddy couldn’t wait to try them all out. He’d wanted to try them out now, but it was bedtime. Teddy was too tired to beg to stay up longer.

Teddy snuggled comfortably into his bed; the same bed that came with him from Tokyo. The sheets were blue — his favourite colour — and his Pokemon blanket featuring the main characters covered him. When Daddy came back with a book to read, he said, “Daddy? I like George.”

“You do?”

“Yes, but why does he only got one ear?”

“Only have,” Daddy corrected. “That’s because he was in a fight with some bad wizards and witches before. One of them spelled it off of him.”

“Really? That must have been a big owie.”

“Yes, it was.”

“Daddy?” Teddy yawned. “Why does George look sad sometime?”

“Well, he lost someone important to him.”

“Like . . . ” Teddy paused, unsure if he wanted to ask about his mother and Sirius. He noticed that whenever they were mentioned, his daddy would turn sad.

Daddy nodded, giving a small sigh. “Yes, like your mother and Sirius. He lost his twin brother.”

“He’s a twin like Daisuke and Hikaru?” They were Teddy’s neighbours in Tokyo.

“Yes, just like them.”

“But George’s brother, Mummy, and Sirius are in that happy place now, right?”

“Yes, they are.” Daddy ruffled Teddy’s hair and opened up the book. “Now, let’s read a bit before you sleep.”

“Okay.” Teddy tried to stay awake for this nightly ritual. The only time they didn’t do this was when his daddy went off on his monthly business trip. Whoever stayed with him during the trip would read to him, but it wasn’t the same when his daddy read to him. He loved listening to his daddy’s soft voice reading the stories he enjoyed. His daddy was able to change his voice to fit the characters of the stories, making Teddy laugh. He called that skill “Daddy’s Voice-a-morpmagus Skill”.

Before he slept, he turned his hair into a mixture of violet and pink just like his mother’s favourite hair colours, and he thought about the shop and George. He hoped George would stop looking sad soon. He didn’t want the people he liked to be unhappy.

---

Teddy was supposed to be taking a nap, but he wasn’t tired. He didn’t want to take a nap. He wanted to play with his Pokemon and with George’s joke items. Quietly, after Daddy left his room, Teddy grabbed his toys and snuck out from his room. He crept downstairs, and he went into the sitting room. There, he played on the floor next to the sofa, and he quietly imagined and acted out his own Pokemon adventure. He pretended to be Ash, and he pretended to travel with Pikachu and his other friends. He and his other companions were taking a break by getting ready for camp in a forest, and he and Pikachu walked off to get some water from a nearby stream. There, he heard the running water and heard voices coming from the camp. Suddenly, Pikachu stepped on a balloon that appeared out of nowhere, and it let out a loud pop!

Teddy was startled from that noise. He was no longer in the forest. The loud popping noise he’d imagine was real, and he knew someone came over. In the kitchen, he heard three voices. Two of them were Harry — who was visiting — and Daddy. He wasn’t sure who the third voice belonged to yet. When the voices grew louder, Teddy realised that they were coming to the sitting room. He quickly gathered his toys, and he squeezed behind the sofa. As still as a mouse, he listened closely. The newcomer’s voice belonged to George.

“What brings you here?” Daddy asked.

Someone crashed onto the sofa, nearly startling Teddy out of his hiding place, but Teddy held his breath and remained still.

“I just told Ron that I wanted to close down the shop. For whatever reason, Ron yelled at me and told me to go take a walk to clear my head. I didn’t want to take a walk, so I decided to come here. I hope you don’t mind. I just needed to talk to someone who’s not family. I’m tired of my family’s nagging at times.”

Teddy’s eyes widened. George wanted to close his shop? Why? It was a wonderful shop filled with so many great stuff. Teddy didn’t want George to close it down.

“Harry,” George continued, “if it weren’t for you, Fred and I would have never opened the shop this quickly. On our behalf, I do thank you for all your support over the years, but . . . it’s already been five years, and it’s just been ruddy difficult running that shop without him.”

Fred? Was that George’s twin brother? Teddy wasn’t sure, but that was what he guessed.

“I understand, George. If you decide to close the shop, it’s your decision. I’ll support whatever you do. And it’s really nothing. I didn’t want that money,” Harry’s voice sounded heavy. Teddy wondered why grown-ups over here were always sad. The grown-ups in Tokyo weren’t like this, so why were the ones in London so depressing?

George spoke next, his voice sounding equally miserable. “I love the shop, don’t get me wrong, and I know a huge part of me will regret closing it, but . . . I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you take a break?” It was Daddy suggesting that. “Ron and Verity can run the shop for you while you take a well-deserved break. From what I’ve seen in the shop, there are enough products in stock before you have to create more. So take some time off. See if this is what you really want to do.”

“Maybe . . . ”

Teddy couldn’t help himself as he shouted, “Don’t close the shop, George!” He heard someone yelling, and he heard the sofa’s coil squeak loudly followed by a loud thud. He crawled out from his hiding place.

“Teddy!” Daddy admonished. “Why are you here? You know eavesdropping is rude!”

“I’m sorry,” Teddy automatically apologised. He saw George looking a bit dazed on the floor, and he scooted over to him. “Don’t close the store, George. I’ll miss it.”

George gave Teddy a crooked smile. “Merlin, Teddy. You were behind there the entire time? You were so quiet. I’m impressed!”

Teddy knew this trick. He knew that grown-up trick of trying to distract him. His nanny, Megumi-san, did that whenever he asked her a question. His lower lips came out, and he said again, “Don’t close the shop. I don’t want you to.”

“Teddy, I think you need to go back to your nap. And we’ll have a talk about your eavesdropping behaviour later. Go to your room.” He heard the firmness in his daddy’s voice, and he knew he’d better listen, but he still gave George a begging look with his eyes.

George shook his head. “Your puppy eyes are very convincing. I won’t close the shop yet, but I do need to think about it. Now listen to your daddy, Teddy.”

“Okay,” Teddy answered quietly. He didn’t believe that George was telling the truth, but he saw the warning look in his daddy’s eyes. He quickly gathered his toys, and he went to his room. Climbing into his bed, he grabbed his stuffed Pikachu. He whispered to it, “I hope he doesn’t close the store.”

---

Teddy woke up with a start. He’d been dreaming of catching Pokemon. He’d just caught a Pikachu, and it had kept saying, “Pikachu. Pika? Pika, pika, pikaaaa!” But then it began to say something new. It was now saying, “Teddy? Teddy? Wake up, Teddy.” The Pikachu’s voice sounded suspiciously like his daddy, and that was when he woke up. Daddy was sitting on his bed, and Teddy felt something inside of him twist at the stern look on his daddy’s face.

“Did you have a good nap?” Daddy asked, his voice sounding gentle despite his expression.

Teddy nodded. He wanted to talk about his dream, but he knew he was in trouble at the moment.

“You know it’s very rude to eavesdrop on people, Teddy. And you were supposed to be napping, but instead you snuck out from your room to play behind my back. I’m very disappointed in you.”

Teddy hung his head, his hair turning back into its natural, dull shade of brown. He knew what he did earlier was naughty. He hated disappointing his daddy like this. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I won’t do it again.”

Daddy smiled, and Teddy tentatively smiled back. “Good. I know you won’t.” He opened his arms, and Teddy went for the hug. He rested his head against the warm chest, listening to the steady heartbeat inside, and he felt protected by the strong arms around him. “Did you dream while you slept? You had a smile on your face when I tried to wake you.”

“Yeah!” Teddy proceeded to talk about his dream. When he was done, he asked, “Can I ask a question?”

“May I.”

“May I ask a question?” Teddy repeated. Daddy nodded, so Teddy asked, “Is George really going to close the store?”

“Teddy, it’s really none of our business on what George ends up doing. Whatever he does, we must respect his decision, but right now he’s thinking about it. So when you see him next time, don’t bother him about it.”

“I won’t.”

His daddy stood up with Teddy still in his arms, and Teddy giggled when Daddy pretended to put on a show on heavy Teddy was. “Oof. Soon, I won’t be able to carry you like this.”

“Because I’ll be a big boy?”

“Yes, now how about we go to the playground for a while. Then we’ll get some pizza for supper.”

“Yayyy!” Teddy loved going to the playground, and he loved pizza. He knew then that Daddy was no longer upset at his naughtiness.

---

Teddy was a bit curious on something. Lately, George was at their place a lot. Teddy didn’t mind. He liked George. He wasn’t sure whether George still planned to close the shop or not, but he didn’t ask. He remembered Daddy’s words on not pestering George about it. But he did know that George was still taking a break from the store, and it seemed like George mostly just hung around with him and Daddy.

One of the things George did with Teddy was flying. Daddy didn’t particularly enjoy that activity, so Teddy would usually go flying with Harry. But Harry was too busy with his job, so whenever Daddy was busy with his own work, something dealing with freelancing, George would take him flying. Then, when they were done, they’d stop by the Burrow, and Mrs Weasley would give him delicious cakes.

Then, in the evenings, all three of them would do something together. Sometimes Harry and all these friends of his would join them, but Teddy preferred just himself, Daddy, and George. He loved playing at the playground with them, and he made George watch Pokemon together. He was pleased that George ended up enjoying the show. In fact, they would all watch other films together. Teddy particularly enjoyed some of the Disney films.

During all of this, Teddy wondered just what Daddy and George talked about a lot. He noticed that they would sit really close to each other on the sofa, and he saw them share a secret look between them. He knew something was happening, but he wasn’t sure what. But he also noticed that Daddy seemed more relaxed and happier than before.

But Teddy was still curious and wanted to know what was not being said. He knew he was only a kid, but he was also getting to be a big boy, and he wanted to be treated like one.

---

Although it was Saturday, Teddy still had to take his nap. As usual, he didn’t want to, but Daddy insisted, so he listened.

He took a short nap, and he woke up. The house was quiet, and Teddy wondered if George was around like he usually was, so he quietly padded towards Daddy’s room. He noticed that the bedroom door was closed. That confused him since the door was always opened during the day.

He knocked on the door like Daddy told him to always do, and then he opened it. “Daddy . . . ? George? What are you guys doing?”

Daddy and George were on the bed. George was on top of Daddy, and he saw that their clothes were rumpled. They were also breathing rather hard. Teddy blinked at their current state, and he noticed that their faces had gone red. George’s entire head was red, reminding Teddy of a tomato.

“Oh, er, Teddy. You’re up already?” George pushed himself into a sitting position.

Teddy saw the two of them exchange looks. “We were, er, we were . . . ” Why was his daddy not able to speak? Teddy found that quite odd.

“Wrestling!” George blurted out in a strange sounding voice. “We were trying to see who’s a better wrestler between us!”

“Yes, wrestling,” Daddy agreed quickly. “And I think I’ve been beaten by George, here.”

Teddy frowned. “George beat you?” He walked closer to the bed. “Nobody beats my daddy! I’ll beat you now!” he declared and climbed onto the bed. He threw himself against George, laughing as he tried to push him down. George fell back onto bed with a loud shout, and Teddy grinned as he playfully punched him. “Bam, bam, bam! I got you!”

“Not bad,” George said. “You’re stronger than you look.”

“Of course! I eat my vegetables. It’s supposed to make me strong. Especially spinach. I want to be like Popeye!”

“Like who?”

Daddy let out a loud guffaw. “Popeye. This Muggle cartoon character.”

“Ooooh! Well, then I better eat more vegetables, too!”

“But first,” Teddy said, climbing off of him. “You got to beat me!”

“Remus! Your son is too tough for me!”

Teddy saw the proud look on Daddy’s face. “He is. He certainly is.”

---

“Can I play with that stuffed Pikachu when you’re done?” Sophie Jordan asked. She was Teddy’s neighbour, and was a cousin of George’s friend. Teddy was glad to have a friend his age. As much as he liked being around grown-ups, he wanted more friends his age.

Teddy handed over the stuffed Pikachu, and he said, “You know what I did yesterday?”

“What?”

“My daddy and George were wrestling, and I wrestled and beat George!”

“They were wrestling? Outside?”

“No, in Daddy’s bedroom.”

Sophie gave him an odd look. “But that’s what my mummy and daddy do alone. They never let me wrestle in the bed.”

“Really?” Teddy frowned and pursed his lips together.

“Yeah, and they also kiss together in bed, too.”

“Kiss?”

Sophie nodded. “Yeah. I caught them kissing in bed once, and they said they were wrestling and then when they finished, they decided to kiss. They told me that two grown-ups who love each other will do that. And my mummy and daddy love each other.”

“Oh. I wonder if Daddy and George were kissing, too.”

“Do they love each other?”

“I don’t know.” Teddy didn’t think too long on that. Sophie wanted to go on the trampoline, and he wanted to jump up and down, too. “I can jump higher than you!”

“Nu-uh! I can!”

Teddy grabbed her hand, and the two dashed off to the trampoline.

---

Later, during supper, George ate with them. Teddy watched the way they interacted, and he noticed that whenever George and Daddy looked at each other briefly, their eyes would soften, and they looked as if they spoke to each other with their eyes. Teddy remembered his conversation with Sophie, and he asked, “Daddy? Do you and George love each other?”

Their reactions amused him. Daddy spluttered and coughed on his tea. George turned very red, and he froze in his seat, as he dropped his hands on the table, leaving the fork dangling in his mouth.

Daddy managed to rasp out, “Why do you ask that?”

“I told Sophie about me catching you guys wrestling, and she asked if you guys kiss during wrestling, and she said two grown-ups who love each other only do that.”

Again, George and Daddy looked at each other. Nobody spoke, and Teddy waited forever for someone to say something.

George finally answered. “Teddy, I do like your father, and well . . . it’s a little too early to say I love him, but I think I do love him . . . ”

Teddy looked over at his daddy. “Daddy?”

His daddy nodded, but he didn’t answer right away. Another long silence passed before he cleared his throat and said, “I agree with George. I love him, too.”

Teddy accepted the answer. It was a strange answer, but then again grown-up were confusing at times, including his daddy. “So does that mean George’s going to be my new ‘daddy’?”

George chuckled. “We’re not getting married yet. We’ll wait on that, but if we do get married, yes I’ll be your new ‘daddy’.”

“So I’ll have two daddies?” When both George and Daddy nodded, Teddy felt happy by this turn of event. He didn’t mind his small family growing. But at the same time, it’d always been just him and Daddy. Daddy and him. With George being part of their family, that mean Daddy would have someone special for him. Then where would that leave Teddy? In a quiet voice he asked, “So now that Daddy and George love each other . . . will you still love me?”

His Daddy and George both left their chairs. Teddy moved in his seat to face the two who were now crouched on the floor. One of Daddy’s large hands was on his shoulder while the other smoothed his hair down. “I may have found someone to love — a grown-up kind of love — but nobody will ever replace you, Teddy. You’re my son, and if I ever have to choose between you or him, I’ll choose you. I will always love you, Teddy.”

“Just like he said, Kiddo. Your daddy here will always love you. And I will love you to.” George grinned as he continued. “I’ll choose you over him, too, because honestly you’re more fun to play with than your old man, here. At least you’re a much better flying partner than him.”

His daddy glared at George. Teddy giggled since he recognised it as a pretend glare. “I’m not old.”

George rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine. I mean young man. A handsome young man. Anyway, Teddy, don’t worry. I won’t take your daddy away from you. I may play pranks and own a joke shop, but I’m not cruel, okay?”

Teddy smiled as he felt his hair become turquoise. He was embraced in a “sandwich hug”, and he knew that things would turn all right. “I love you Daddy. I love you George.”

---

“I’ve decided something. Something very important.” George announced.

“What, what?” Teddy asked. “Are you going to go to Tokyo?” Lately, there had been talks about George wanting to visit Tokyo, and he was hoping he could go back and visit there, too.

“I’ve decided I’m taking you both to Tokyo with me, but that’s not my news.”

“What’s the news?” Daddy asked. Teddy was surprised that even Daddy didn’t know George’s secret.

“I’m not going to close the shop.”

“Brilliant!” Teddy shouted, a phrase he’d picked up from Ron. “You’re going to keep it open? Forever and ever?”

George laughed. “As long as I live, yes, I’ll keep it open. I’ve decided that I want to keep it open in memory of my brother . . . and because of you two.”

“What did me and Daddy do?”

“Both of you brought me back happiness in my life. Before you two came, I was feeling not happy.” Teddy nodded. He remembered George looking sad before. “And you two, especially you, Teddy, reminded me why Fred and I opened up that joke shop. We wanted to spread happiness and laughter in the world, and seeing how much you love the shop and how much you love my pranks and jokes . . . I want to keep spreading that joy. With your Daddy. Who I’d like to ask to be my business partner. As the last of the Marauders, I think it’s appropriate to ask him to be my partner.”

Now his daddy looked really surprised, and Teddy thought he saw tears in his daddy’s amber-coloured eyes. “George . . . I . . . ”

“Daddy? Will you?” Teddy didn’t exactly know what a business partner or a Marauder was, but it sounded like a good idea.

Daddy shook his head a bit, and he chuckled. “Well . . . all right. Someone needs to help you with the books and the accounting, after all.”

“And giving me some critiques and suggestions on the products,” George added.

“Hooray!” Teddy cheered.

George let out his own loud joyfulness, and he lifted Teddy up in the air, twirling them until Teddy felt dizzy. “Hooray, indeed! Now, let’s go back to my shop! We have a party to throw!”

“A party?” Teddy loved the idea of having a party in a joke shop. He especially wanted those candy floss fireworks. He loved watching the item burst into brightly coloured candy floss in mid-air. “Can we blow up all your candy floss fireworks?”

“Definitely! We’ll explode everything that can be exploded in the shop until we lift the whole building up into the sky!”

Teddy beamed. He knew that wasn’t possible, but it would still be neat to see all that! He couldn’t wait to do more fun things with his daddy and his new “daddy”.