HP Fic: The Easiest Thing on Earth
Aug. 2nd, 2007 04:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
themegalooOh man. I'M FICCING!! Shock of all shocks, it's HP. DH Spoilers in the very premise of it. So if you don't want to know about the very, very end of the book, away with you!
Title: The Easiest Thing on Earth
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
themegaloo
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,669
Pairing: Teddy/James
Summary: James had known Teddy was special since he was five years old.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
There is a fine line between admiration and absolute adoration and James Potter crossed it at age 15. When he was young, even before he’d gotten his Hogwarts letter, it had been simple. Teddy Lupin practically lived at his house. He was older. He was learning magic. He could do the neatest tricks with his nose and his face and his hair and he was really, really smart. It was only logical that James look up to him. Admire him. Want to be just like him.
Needless to say, his mum had not been best pleased when she discovered him with a bottle of bright green muggle hair dye. She had to explain (as calmly as possibly for someone of Weasley descent) that there was a difference between Teddy changing his hair color and James changing his hair color. Five-year-old James hadn’t quite understood the details, but he knew that it meant Teddy was special.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
James hadn’t understood what it meant when Teddy left for school for the first time. He hadn’t realized that it meant Teddy wouldn’t be coming around several times a week to have dinner and play with James and tell him stories and read to him (and Albus and Lily, but James didn’t think much about them when Teddy was around). He set up a blanket fort next to the fireplace all through the first week, determined not to miss Teddy when he eventually came over. He stockpiled biscuits in a hidden corner to share with Teddy, drew pictures to show to Teddy, thought up stories to tell Teddy…
It was a few weeks before he finally came to terms with the fact that Teddy wouldn’t be coming over to play with him anytime soon.
That was the time in which he hated Teddy, or at least he tried to. He frowned whenever anyone mentioned him, pouted whenever his mum and dad got post from Hogwarts and pushed his brother over any time that Albus asked if he missed him. He was sent to his room a lot and wasn’t given much dessert over those few weeks. He ate the biscuits he saved for Teddy, pretending he was biting Teddy’s head off like a chocolate frog every single time because it was Teddy’s fault anyway.
And then he got his first very own letter from Teddy. It didn’t say much, but James responded in his messy scrawl with his favorite red and gold shiny marker.
He wasn’t mad at him again after that.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
There had been a year when James had shared a common room with Teddy. It had been almost like old times again—sharing meal times and seeing him regularly. But there was something at the very base of things that was different.
It didn’t take much to figure out, really. He had to share him. There was something different about sharing Teddy with his younger siblings who, at that point, mostly just stared up at him with big eyes hoping he’d make their favorite faces or tell a funny story. At Hogwarts, Teddy talked to people and they talked back and they kept his attention for hours debating something for class or talking about Quidditch or sometimes even talking about girls.
Teddy didn’t listen very much when the other older boys were talking about that. James knew because it was the same look he got when Grandmum Weasley was trying to tell him that bright blue hair was simply not done and wouldn’t he please stick to something a bit more normal?
James knew Teddy better than anyone in the world. Or at least he thought he had.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
He hadn’t expected to see Teddy at the station the September that Albus Severus had first started at Hogwarts. He’d seen the flash of bright blue in the crowd after he’d run off to find a carriage and had immediately changed course to say hallo and maybe get a hug and a hair ruffle to start the school year off with.
Of course then he noticed Victorie and did what any thirteen-year-old would do. He stood and stared in shock for a long moment before running off to tell the first person who would listen. And at least four more people after that.
He spent most of the next year looking for a girlfriend so he could be just like Teddy. He found a few, but they barely wanted to hold hands, and the idea of snogging anyone the way Teddy had been snogging Victorie was just really weird. Teddy laughed when he told him about it over Christmas holidays and told him that when he was a third year, none of the girls had wanted to snog him either.
He stopped trying after that. He wanted to be just like Teddy, after all.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
There was a day sometime during fifth year when he stopped wanting to be like Teddy, and James couldn’t put a finger on just when it happened. Instead, he simply found himself missing him when he wasn’t about and striving to be near him as often as possible when he was.
He was there when Victorie decided she’d rather date someone not tied up in the history of their combined families to shove chocolate bars across the little table in Teddy’s flat while playing Wizarding Scrabble (the board would call out the words as they were added and it became a game of building funny sentences instead of just words—especially when there weren’t any adults about). When James rowed with his parents over the typical idiotic teenaged things like curfews and use of his uncle’s less appealing products and disputes with Albus over house loyalties and Quidditch teams, well, he always knew he could crash at Teddy’s for a few hours until things calmed down at home.
When he was at school, he found himself starting a new letter far too frequently to be considered proper and instead would spend days writing everything he could think of and weighing down the school owls with multiple rolls of parchment.
Teddy always wrote just as much in return.
During seventh year, James spent most of the holidays at Teddy’s flat, revising for his NEWTS. Teddy was quieter than Albus and Lily, would sit with him and read whatever book he’d picked up most recently from the Central London Wizarding Library where he worked (he had gone into research after Hogwarts, investigating some of the Dark Artifacts that were still being unearthed from the war James’s own father had fought in). When James came across something he simply couldn’t work out, Teddy was always there to help.
James had once wished Teddy had been his brother. Now he was fighting the strange feeling of relief that he wasn’t while finding himself uncertain of what he would do without Teddy’s calm, but vibrant presence in his life.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
James had never lacked friends at school, he was immensely popular, but there was no one he ever shared the same connection with as he did with Teddy. Teddy was a role model, a confidant, someone he knew he could trust with his life and who liked him no matter what, even though they weren’t family and he didn’t actually have to.
In short, Teddy was special and James had known it since he was five years old.
When he graduated and left Hogwarts (with a good number of NEWTS thanks to revisions that even Aunt Hermione was proud of), James moved into the flat downstairs from Teddy. He wanted to be a professional Quidditch player. He was just waiting for the right team to sign him.
In the meanwhile, he worked in the backroom at Quality Quidditch Supplies in order to pay his rent.
He ended up knocking on Teddy’s door most nights with an empty stomach and a bright smile to cover up the disappointment of another day without being signed and the resignation of another week polishing dusty brooms for his rent money.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
No string of bad luck lasts forever, thank Merlin. After a few months of waiting, James finally got the letter he’d been waiting for. The Wimbourne Wasps needed a chaser. This was it. He was going to play Quidditch. This was the end of menial labor in a shop that eternally smelled of resin and oils. The end of constant worry over where his next meal was coming from and fear of having to go back home with his metaphorical tail between his legs. It was a new beginning.
That night he ran up the stairs and stood outside Teddy’s door with a real smile on his face, laden down with take-out and a bottle of firewhiskey. It was a night for celebration. Teddy had opened the door and congratulated him with a hug. After dinner they sat and listened to the Ballycastle Bats trounce Puddlemere United on the wireless while toasting firewhiskey to the future. At the close of the game, James fell into Teddy’s lap with a drunkenly pleased grin and decided to stay there the rest of the night.
The next morning when Teddy left for work, it was with a brief kiss, a ruffle of hair and one James Potter who was looking into getting rid of his flat.
At age nineteen, James Potter had found where he belonged: with Teddy Lupin.
After all, he’d spent the last fourteen years knowing he was special, and knowing that made living with him the easiest thing on earth.
-Fin-
Title: The Easiest Thing on Earth
Author:
themegalooRating: PG
Word Count: 1,669
Pairing: Teddy/James
Summary: James had known Teddy was special since he was five years old.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
There is a fine line between admiration and absolute adoration and James Potter crossed it at age 15. When he was young, even before he’d gotten his Hogwarts letter, it had been simple. Teddy Lupin practically lived at his house. He was older. He was learning magic. He could do the neatest tricks with his nose and his face and his hair and he was really, really smart. It was only logical that James look up to him. Admire him. Want to be just like him.
Needless to say, his mum had not been best pleased when she discovered him with a bottle of bright green muggle hair dye. She had to explain (as calmly as possibly for someone of Weasley descent) that there was a difference between Teddy changing his hair color and James changing his hair color. Five-year-old James hadn’t quite understood the details, but he knew that it meant Teddy was special.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
James hadn’t understood what it meant when Teddy left for school for the first time. He hadn’t realized that it meant Teddy wouldn’t be coming around several times a week to have dinner and play with James and tell him stories and read to him (and Albus and Lily, but James didn’t think much about them when Teddy was around). He set up a blanket fort next to the fireplace all through the first week, determined not to miss Teddy when he eventually came over. He stockpiled biscuits in a hidden corner to share with Teddy, drew pictures to show to Teddy, thought up stories to tell Teddy…
It was a few weeks before he finally came to terms with the fact that Teddy wouldn’t be coming over to play with him anytime soon.
That was the time in which he hated Teddy, or at least he tried to. He frowned whenever anyone mentioned him, pouted whenever his mum and dad got post from Hogwarts and pushed his brother over any time that Albus asked if he missed him. He was sent to his room a lot and wasn’t given much dessert over those few weeks. He ate the biscuits he saved for Teddy, pretending he was biting Teddy’s head off like a chocolate frog every single time because it was Teddy’s fault anyway.
And then he got his first very own letter from Teddy. It didn’t say much, but James responded in his messy scrawl with his favorite red and gold shiny marker.
He wasn’t mad at him again after that.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
There had been a year when James had shared a common room with Teddy. It had been almost like old times again—sharing meal times and seeing him regularly. But there was something at the very base of things that was different.
It didn’t take much to figure out, really. He had to share him. There was something different about sharing Teddy with his younger siblings who, at that point, mostly just stared up at him with big eyes hoping he’d make their favorite faces or tell a funny story. At Hogwarts, Teddy talked to people and they talked back and they kept his attention for hours debating something for class or talking about Quidditch or sometimes even talking about girls.
Teddy didn’t listen very much when the other older boys were talking about that. James knew because it was the same look he got when Grandmum Weasley was trying to tell him that bright blue hair was simply not done and wouldn’t he please stick to something a bit more normal?
James knew Teddy better than anyone in the world. Or at least he thought he had.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
He hadn’t expected to see Teddy at the station the September that Albus Severus had first started at Hogwarts. He’d seen the flash of bright blue in the crowd after he’d run off to find a carriage and had immediately changed course to say hallo and maybe get a hug and a hair ruffle to start the school year off with.
Of course then he noticed Victorie and did what any thirteen-year-old would do. He stood and stared in shock for a long moment before running off to tell the first person who would listen. And at least four more people after that.
He spent most of the next year looking for a girlfriend so he could be just like Teddy. He found a few, but they barely wanted to hold hands, and the idea of snogging anyone the way Teddy had been snogging Victorie was just really weird. Teddy laughed when he told him about it over Christmas holidays and told him that when he was a third year, none of the girls had wanted to snog him either.
He stopped trying after that. He wanted to be just like Teddy, after all.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
There was a day sometime during fifth year when he stopped wanting to be like Teddy, and James couldn’t put a finger on just when it happened. Instead, he simply found himself missing him when he wasn’t about and striving to be near him as often as possible when he was.
He was there when Victorie decided she’d rather date someone not tied up in the history of their combined families to shove chocolate bars across the little table in Teddy’s flat while playing Wizarding Scrabble (the board would call out the words as they were added and it became a game of building funny sentences instead of just words—especially when there weren’t any adults about). When James rowed with his parents over the typical idiotic teenaged things like curfews and use of his uncle’s less appealing products and disputes with Albus over house loyalties and Quidditch teams, well, he always knew he could crash at Teddy’s for a few hours until things calmed down at home.
When he was at school, he found himself starting a new letter far too frequently to be considered proper and instead would spend days writing everything he could think of and weighing down the school owls with multiple rolls of parchment.
Teddy always wrote just as much in return.
During seventh year, James spent most of the holidays at Teddy’s flat, revising for his NEWTS. Teddy was quieter than Albus and Lily, would sit with him and read whatever book he’d picked up most recently from the Central London Wizarding Library where he worked (he had gone into research after Hogwarts, investigating some of the Dark Artifacts that were still being unearthed from the war James’s own father had fought in). When James came across something he simply couldn’t work out, Teddy was always there to help.
James had once wished Teddy had been his brother. Now he was fighting the strange feeling of relief that he wasn’t while finding himself uncertain of what he would do without Teddy’s calm, but vibrant presence in his life.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
James had never lacked friends at school, he was immensely popular, but there was no one he ever shared the same connection with as he did with Teddy. Teddy was a role model, a confidant, someone he knew he could trust with his life and who liked him no matter what, even though they weren’t family and he didn’t actually have to.
In short, Teddy was special and James had known it since he was five years old.
When he graduated and left Hogwarts (with a good number of NEWTS thanks to revisions that even Aunt Hermione was proud of), James moved into the flat downstairs from Teddy. He wanted to be a professional Quidditch player. He was just waiting for the right team to sign him.
In the meanwhile, he worked in the backroom at Quality Quidditch Supplies in order to pay his rent.
He ended up knocking on Teddy’s door most nights with an empty stomach and a bright smile to cover up the disappointment of another day without being signed and the resignation of another week polishing dusty brooms for his rent money.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
No string of bad luck lasts forever, thank Merlin. After a few months of waiting, James finally got the letter he’d been waiting for. The Wimbourne Wasps needed a chaser. This was it. He was going to play Quidditch. This was the end of menial labor in a shop that eternally smelled of resin and oils. The end of constant worry over where his next meal was coming from and fear of having to go back home with his metaphorical tail between his legs. It was a new beginning.
That night he ran up the stairs and stood outside Teddy’s door with a real smile on his face, laden down with take-out and a bottle of firewhiskey. It was a night for celebration. Teddy had opened the door and congratulated him with a hug. After dinner they sat and listened to the Ballycastle Bats trounce Puddlemere United on the wireless while toasting firewhiskey to the future. At the close of the game, James fell into Teddy’s lap with a drunkenly pleased grin and decided to stay there the rest of the night.
The next morning when Teddy left for work, it was with a brief kiss, a ruffle of hair and one James Potter who was looking into getting rid of his flat.
At age nineteen, James Potter had found where he belonged: with Teddy Lupin.
After all, he’d spent the last fourteen years knowing he was special, and knowing that made living with him the easiest thing on earth.
-Fin-
