"Heads up, T-man!" Duncan shouted as he streaked past to intercept a Bludger that was heading straight for Teddy, swatting it away with a grunt.

"Thanks!" Teddy shouted back as he pulled up on the stick of his broom, gaining altitude with stomach-lurching speed. Duncan waved his bat in response, already speeding toward the Bludger now bent on smashing Kelly Taylor to bits. Catching sight of the iron ball on a collision course for her, Kelly panicked, dumping the Quaffle in her hands and Teddy shook his head, quickly changing his climb into a dive, narrowly snatching it away from Jordan Armstrong an instant before it hit the ground and went out of play.

"Too slow, Armstrong!" Teddy crowed as he streaked past, pushing his broom to the limit as he bore down on their second-string Keeper, Joshua Mendoza. Narrowing his eyes, he grinned as Josh's eyes widened, real fear that Teddy would plow straight into him clearly apparent. And that's why you're second string, he thought when the Keeper lost the battle of wills and dodged out of the way, giving Teddy a clear shot at the goal.

A bell-like gong sounded, practically making Teddy's teeth rattle and he gave a shout, executing a perfect backwards flip in midair as the coach called an end to practice. Landing lightly on the ground, he high-fived Kelly and bashed forearms with Duncan. Baring his teeth at the hapless Josh, he shook his head. "You need to learn to stand your ground, man. Maria's graduating and then you're it."

Josh looked down at the grass. "I know," he mumbled, kicking a tuft of grass. "You're so fucking scary though!"

"So're Mission Hills, only they won't pull up at the last second," Teddy said, patting the second-string Keeper on his shoulder. The look he got in return indicated that Josh wasn't sure whether Teddy actually would, either.

"All right, good practice," Coach Parker said as he landed with a thump. "Taylor, trust your Beaters or get out of the way, don't just dump the Quaffle, all right? The Bludger won't follow the Quaffle. Sutton, good hustle, but you need to plan your shots better. You're the reason Taylor panicked." Duncan turned pink but accepted the criticism for what it was. He knew he had a tendency to not think ahead when things heated up.

"Mendoza, you need to work on your confidence. You're bigger than Lupin—you could have taken him out. I need you to be more aggressive. Cruz is—"

"Graduating, yes, I've already been told," Josh said, cutting his eyes at Teddy.

"Well, I'm telling you again. I don't need a Keeper that hides behind the goals." The coach looked at the rest of the group, his eyes falling on Teddy. "Lupin," he barked, making him stand up straighter, "you need to keep a lid on the showboating. That dive was dangerous and you nearly took Armstrong with you."

"But coach—" Teddy began, mouth falling open in dismay when the expected praise didn't materialize.

"Enough. Pull that stunt again in a live game and I'll see you benched."

Teddy felt a flush of heat wash over him at the threat of benching. "What was I supposed to do? Let it hit the ground and go dead?"

"Yes. Force a restart and get it back the smart way, not the reckless way." Teddy was about to protest again, but the coach gave him a quelling look and he subsided, stewing silently as Coach Parker critiqued the rest of the team.

Showboating. Like he's one to talk. He's the biggest showboat here, he thought mutinously as Coach Parker gave them a pep talk for their upcoming game against their southern California rival, Mission Hills.

"It's the last game before Winter Break! We've got a strong team and they're coming off a couple of losses, so they're ripe for the picking! Play like you did today against each other and we'll roll right through them!" He stood there with his hands on his hips like a general surveying his soldiers. "Now go get cleaned up!" he barked, sending them all scrambling toward the showers.

As they walked toward the locker rooms, Maria Cruz put her hand on his shoulder. "That was an awesome move, Teddy."

"Yeah, man! Coach Parker doesn't know what he's talking about," Duncan said, stoutly supporting his best friend.

"I thought you were going to hit the ground," Kelly said shyly and Teddy felt the heat come to his face again. She was a pretty blonde Junior that he'd recently become aware of and he was still trying to figure out how to ask her to the winter formal.

"I knew I'd get out of that dive. I just had to beat Jordan to the Quaffle, didn't I?" he said confidently, glancing over at his fellow Chaser.

Jordan shook his head. "You're crazy, Lupin."

Teddy grinned and turned his hair bright blue, looking over to see if Kelly had noticed. She caught him at it and rolled her eyes, causing him to shrug and turn it purple. "Let me know when I've got your favorite color," he said, nudging her with his shoulder. She giggled and pushed him away, making him bounce off of Duncan. The two boys quickly started a shoving match, and soon the entire team were laughing and running down the hall.

"No running in the halls!" called an authoritative voice and the group stumbled to a stop, nearly running into Harry Potter, still in his running gear.

"Sorry, Harry," Teddy said, earning a raised eyebrow from his godfather. They had an informal agreement that he would address him as "Mr Potter" on school grounds, something Teddy took every opportunity to forget.

"Hmph," Harry grunted. "Get cleaned up and I'll see you in my classroom, yeah?"

"Yes, sir!" Teddy said, throwing him a salute.

After a quick shower, Teddy and Duncan were getting dressed when Duncan nudged him with his elbow. "Tell me when I've got your favorite color," he simpered in a decent imitation of Teddy's accent.

"Leave off, Dunk," Teddy groaned as he shrugged his school blazer back on. "She's cute, all right?"

"You gonna ask her to the formal?" Duncan asked, peering in the mirror as he combed his wet hair.

"Was thinking I might." Teddy raked his fingers through his and called it good, deciding to give it a sun-streaked look in case he bumped into Kelly on the way to his godfather's classroom.

"Oooooh, Lupin's got a crush on a giiiiirl!" Duncan sang, batting his eyelashes at Teddy.

"I swear, the way you act it's hard to believe that I'm the younger one here," Teddy muttered as he shoved his Quidditch things into a laundry bag.

"Come on, I'm just having a laugh, all right?" Duncan said, heaving his book bag onto his shoulder. "Besides, I don't know how much luck you'll have asking her; I heard her dad's pretty strict."

"You know very well that no one can stand against the full force of the patented Edward Remus Lupin charm," he said, using his Metamorphmagus skills to subtly enhance his appearance. He made his skin slightly more tanned and his eyes a brighter blue, his hair became just a touch longer than was currently fashionable and expertly messy and his smile was very nearly blinding.

Unimpressed by his display, Duncan shook his head. "Man, you can be really fucking spooky when you want to be."

"Well, I'm sure I can win over Kelly's dad at any rate." Teddy let his features relax into his regular appearance, making sure to keep his hair looking like he spent all day surfing. The two boys left the locker room, chatting companionably on the way to Harry's classroom. To his disappointment, Kelly was nowhere to be found.

"See you tomorrow, all right?" Duncan said as he headed off the school grounds to Apparate home. Teddy burned with jealousy that Duncan already had his license while he wouldn't be eligible to test for his for several more months.

"Guess I'll have to content myself with driving a car," he murmured as he went into the classroom, sitting down in one of the desks with a sigh.

"Good day?" Harry asked as he assembled an enormous pile of papers.

Teddy shrugged. "It was all right."

"How was practice?"

Another shrug. "All right." He paused for a moment, fingers idly tracing a pattern on the wood desktop. "Coach yelled at me. Called me a showboat."

"Did he? Were you showing off?"

"Not on purpose."

"For once. So what happened?" Harry put the stack of papers in his satchel and stood, slinging it across his chest. Teddy stood and stretched, his stomach rumbling.

"Well, you know how Duncan sometimes doesn't plan too well where the Bludger goes when he hits it, right? He hit it away from me and sent it straight at Kelly Taylor." Harry frowned and Teddy rushed on, eager to defend his friend. "Duncan was totally there in time, but Kelly panicked and dropped the Quaffle instead of throwing it to me and I couldn't let it hit the ground, so I dove after it and caught it right before it hit."

"And Parker didn't like the dive?"

"No. He said it was too dangerous and I should have let the Quaffle fall and force a restart. I think he was just pissed off because he knew he couldn't have done it," Teddy said with a trace of teenaged smugness.

"More like Coach Parker has seen his share of cocky teenagers plow headlong into the pitch, don't you think?" Harry said as they approached the tiny staff parking lot.

"Tomayto, tomahto," Teddy said, grinning as Harry handed him the car keys. Inside the car, Teddy carefully adjusted the seat and mirrors; he and Harry were of a height, but they both liked slightly different driving positions and drove each other crazy with their subtle changes. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for choosing Lupin Air. Please fasten your safety belts and make sure your tray tables are in an upright and locked position," he murmured as he started the car, smiling at the quiet purr of the engine.

A few minutes later they were cruising down the main road from the school and on the way to the perennially busy Bay Bridge. Harry took a sheaf of papers out of his satchel and leafed through them, grading pen in his mouth. "So," he asked around it, "have you finished filling out those university applications?"

Teddy groaned inwardly and focused on the road ahead, pretending he hadn't heard his godfather. He felt Harry's eyes on him and he flicked his own for a quick look. "Mostly," he said when he confirmed that he was definitely being stared at.

"When do you plan to finish those? There's a deadline, you know."

"I know."

"What are your top three choices?"

Teddy was silent before finally sighing. "I don't have a top three."

"Are you just going with one or two?" Harry asked with a note of concern in his voice. "You know that's risky if you don't get into either one."

"I don't know if I want to go to university, all right?" Teddy blurted out as he merged carefully onto the busy freeway.

Harry was blessedly silent for a moment. "Do you want to apprentice instead? I'm sure Ginny can get you into a position at SF Thaumaturgical—"

"No, I don't want to be a Healer. Where did you get that idea?" Teddy shot him a look of amazement.

"Do you want to do a business internship with Jacob, then? You know he'd love to have you."

"No way," Teddy said emphatically. He liked Jacob, but he was best in small doses and he just couldn't imagine spending the entire day with the man.

"Quidditch tryout? I've still got some friends on English teams and I could probably get you one. What about magineering?"

Teddy tilted his head to one side and then shook it. "Nah."

"Do you want to go back to England? Ron could probably get you in at his firm," Harry said, rustling the papers around in his lap. Teddy shook his head again. The thought of working all day in a law office just gave him the willies. "What then? Tell me and I'll help you, yeah?"

Teddy took a deep breath and gripped the steering wheel tighter as he steered the big car on the approach to the bridge. "I want to be an Auror. Like you and Mum." As he knew he would be, Harry was silent and Teddy forced himself to maintain his relaxed position, looking as if he hadn't just dropped an atomic bomb in the middle of the car.

The rest of the ride to the parking garage was silent, Teddy acutely aware of Harry radiating disapproval in the seat next to him. He stole a glance at him as he made a right turn, feeling his stomach sink at the expression on his godfather's face as he pretended to focus on the papers in front of him. That furrow between his brows usually meant "We'll talk later, but I'm too angry right now to be civil to you."

"Good job," Harry said when Teddy parked the car and shut off the engine, almost making him jump in his seat.

"Thanks," Teddy said quietly, handing him back the keys. Harry made no move to get out of the car, so he settled back in the seat, waiting for Harry to say what he was going to say.

"Teddy, I want you to listen to me, all right? Really listen," he said slowly, clearly in "godfather mode."

"I'm listening." Teddy crossed his arms, looking straight ahead at the blank cement wall of the parking garage.

"Being an Auror is a tough, dangerous job and Gin and I want you to consider all of your options. You can do anything you put your mind to and we would hate to see you box yourself into a situation that might not be the best fit for you, yeah?" Teddy noted the use of his godmother's name and 'we' in Harry's statements. "You're excellent at Potions and Transfiguration and I've never seen anyone as good at puzzles as you are. You're a better flyer than me or Gin put together and we know that there are so many other things that you can do."

Teddy tried to take the praise to heart, but he couldn't help but hear that to Harry, he was too good to be a common Auror like his mother was and he felt a wave of resentment. "So you're saying that my mum was only fit to be an Auror? That she couldn't have done anything else?"

"No, God no! Your mum was amazing, but … listen, we just don't want you to get hurt. Running after Dark wizards is not a thing to be entered into lightly," Harry said and Teddy felt him put his hand on his shoulder.

"You came out all right," Teddy said truculently, choosing not to shake Harry's hand off of him.

"By the skin of my teeth. I've been shot, stabbed, hexed within an inch of my life, had my nose broken more times than I can count and I'm pretty sure I've regrown all of the bones in my body at some point," Harry said, sounding like he was warming to his subject. "If I'd stayed in, I'd probably look like old Mad-Eye by now."

"Yeah, but you and Ron went in even though you knew it was dangerous."

"Teddy, we grew up in a different time and didn't have the same opportunities as you do now. Walking down the street was dangerous and we just … traded one for the other," he said, his voice softening toward the end.

Teddy sighed, feeling the persuasion in Harry's words in spite of himself. "But I'm a Metamorphmagus, just like her," he said quietly. "I never knew her and if I become an Auror, then maybe …"

Harry's hand squeezed his shoulder tightly. "I know. You have no obligation, yeah? I did, so I fulfilled it until I couldn't anymore. I don't want you to have to do that." Teddy was silent and he heard Harry sigh. "Just promise me you'll finish the applications and write your essays, all right? Before break."

"Yeah, fine. I will." They got out of the car and Harry Apparated them home. Ginny was giving James his dinner and the baby screeched happily at their sudden arrival. Teddy watched as Harry kissed his wife hello and picked up his son, bouncing the crowing baby in his arms as he listened to Ginny tell him all about the amazing things James had done that day. He felt an old, familiar longing wash over him and he heaved a sigh as he went into his bedroom and shut the door.

"Teddy was quiet tonight. Is everything all right?" Ginny asked late that night in the calm darkness of the bedroom.

Harry sighed and shifted onto his side, squinting at her dim shape. "I nagged him about his university applications on the way home today."

"He does need to get them done. Did he get into a strop about it?" she asked, running her fingers through the hair at his temple.

"No, that would have been easier to deal with," Harry snorted, leaning into her touch. Stuart jumped up onto the bed and proceeded to insinuate himself between them, purring loudly. "He said he doesn't want to go to university and wants to be an Auror."

"Oh," Ginny said after a moment's silence. "What did you say?"

"I didn't yell at him, so you can hold that thought."

"I didn't say you did."

Harry moved the cat's tail out of his face and rubbed his eyes. "I told him it's bloody dangerous and that he can do anything he wants to. Offered to set him up with a Quidditch tryout. I think Wood is still with Puddlemere. Or he can clerk for Ron. Hell, I'm sure George would love to have him as good at puzzles and potions as he is."

"What did he say?"

"He brought up Tonks and accused me of insinuating that she was only good enough to be an Auror." Harry shook his head. "He has no idea just how tough it is to get into and through the training. He doesn't know how good she was."

"No, he doesn't," Ginny said softly, her voice full of sorrow for their fallen friend. "He's looking for a connection to them. He can't become a werewolf, so he wants to be an Auror."

"Well, he could become a werewolf, but it's hardly advised, is it? Besides, Remus was so much more than just a werewolf," Harry said, the scarred face of his favorite teacher coming to his mind.

"He was," Ginny agreed, falling silent as she rested her hand on his chest. "Even with the way things are now, being an Auror is so dangerous. What was it Mark was telling stories about last time we were at Sarah and Archimedes's?"

"He was telling about that bloke that was selling cursed stuff to Muggles. Told them it would grant one wish, but didn't tell them about the curses they'd get in return. Had his place up in Petaluma booby-trapped all to hell," Harry said, smiling at the memory of Sutton telling the story over dessert. The boys had paid rapt attention, mouths literally hanging open.

"Did you notice his wife while he was talking about it?"

"Yes. She didn't look best pleased, did she?"

"She didn't. Put me in mind of myself when you and Ron would tell your stories." Ginny scooted closer, upsetting the cat to rest her head on his chest, long hair tickling his skin.

Harry kissed the top of her head. "And you know with him being a Metamorphmagus Archimedes will send him everywhere. I only know of one other and he's on the east coast."

"They'll train him within an inch of his life and he's smart," Ginny said quietly.

"Hey, whose side are you on?" Harry said, squeezing her tight. "All the training in the world won't stop a Killing Curse, will it?"

"Did you ever think of that? Or think about getting shot?"

Harry shifted around, avoiding Ginny's eyes. "I tried not to."

"Maybe you should have, then?" she said, poking him hard in the middle of his chest. "Listen, I know you're worried about him. I am too. We want only the best for him, but this might be something he needs to do. He never knew Tonks and he knows that we and Andromeda love him very much, but it's not the same, is it?"

"No, it's not," Harry sighed, remembering the times when Molly had showered affection on him in an effort to make him feel like he was part of the family; it had only made him yearn for his own parents even more. Teddy's natural sweet nature and charm made it easy to overlook the fact that like Harry, he had his own dark times. Maybe this is just one of them, he thought as he snuggled closer to Ginny, pushing the cat out of the way. He'll get on with his applications and forget all about this Auror business.