AN: This fic is written for QLFC Round 8. It will fit in with my As Potter is to Snape AU, but you shouldn't need to read that to understand this. I'm ignoring canon completely so that Snape, Remus, and Tonks didn't die.

Appleby Arrows

Seeker

Prompt SEEKER: Write about an important milestone in someone's life. Your story must include a Next-Gen character as the main character; I went with Teddy Lupin.

Beta: DaughterOfTheOneTrueKing

Word count before AN: 1352

First Words

Teddy Lupin was only a year old and already the blue-haired baby had his entire family wrapped around his tiny fingers. All he needed to do was look up at them with his big, beautiful eyes, and immediately they jumped to do his bidding. To say that he was spoiled was an understatement.

Besides his parents, Teddy had his Grandma Andromeda, and Grandma Minnie and Grandpa Albus, who doted on him constantly. His cousin Harry was always coming over with new toys for him, and even his Uncle Severus had been seen very nearly smiling while holding him once.

Today Remus had brought Teddy over to visit with Severus and Harry at the Manor while Tonks was spending the day with her mother. Remus had placed him in the high chair that Severus kept in the kitchen for him while the brothers and Harry sat around the table talking.

Harry, who sat closest to Teddy, was entertaining the boy by shooting showers of tiny fireworks from his wand. The colors danced in front of Teddy, who laughed gleefully and clapped his hands.

Whenever Harry would get pulled into the conversation with his dad and uncle, Teddy would blow slobbery raspberries at him until he turned his attention back to him.

"Oi, Teddy," Harry said grinning, "you're as bad as Fang."

Teddy's only answer was another raspberry and a giggle.

Remus turned to face his son with a wide smile. "He said "Mum" the other day."

As if that word alone sparked something in Teddy, he immediately began to look around for her. "Mum?"

"No, Mum's not here," Remus said, moving his chair closer to his son. "Say 'Dada.'"

"Mum."

Harry laughed, earning him a glare from Remus.

"You can do it, Teddy," Remus encouraged him. "Dada."

"Mum!"

"Dada. Please, Ted. Just one time. Dada."

"Mum. Mum. Mum. Mum. Mum." Teddy repeated over and over with a lot of other gibberish in between. This not only caused Harry to laugh so much that his side hurt, but Severus was now smirking as well.

Remus narrowed his eyes at all of them before moving his chair back to its original place and continuing his conversation with Severus.

"Are you coming to dinner Saturday night?" Remus asked.

"If nothing comes up," Severus answered drily.

Remus knew he would be there. Severus said the same thing every time he and Tonks asked him over for dinner and never once had anything ever "come up" that kept him away.

He turned to Harry who was now levitating Teddy's stuffed dragon so that it floated around the boy's head. "What about you, Harry?"

"Sorry," Harry said without taking his eyes off of Teddy, "I've got a date with Ginny."

Severus looked over at the mention of Harry's girlfriend. "Miss Weasley is about to start her last year at Hogwarts next week. One would think that she would want to spend time with her own family for a while before she leaves."

"She does," Harry defended, "but I won't be able to see her as often when school starts back. What with all of my Auror training and everything. And I'll see her even less when I move out."

Severus huffed, "We've been over this, Harry, you're not moving out. Why would you waste money on a flat in London when you could floo from Hogwarts just as easily?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "No one told me that when you adopted me you'd become so overprotective that you'd want to run my whole life."

Severus merely shrugged as he stood up from the table and walked towards the kitchen, calling over his shoulder as he went, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you hadn't read the fine print. It was right there at the bottom of the adoption papers. 'All adoptive parents automatically become overprotective of their children and said children relinquish their rights to whine about it.' You've got to pay more attention, Harry."

Harry ignored Severus in favor of turning back to Teddy. He leaned in towards the baby and whispered, "You're Uncle Sev thinks he's so funny. Just wait until I turn all his robes pink when he starts his first class next week. Then we'll see who's laughing."

"What was that?" Severus asked as he came to stand behind Harry and held out a teething cookie for Teddy to take before refilling his and Remus's coffee cups.

"Nothing," Harry said innocently.

"I expect you home at a decent hour on Saturday, Harry. Mrs. Weasley was none too pleased when you brought Ginny home late last week."

Harry ducked his head at that. Mrs. Weasley had scolded them both right in their living room and he had no desire to have a repeat conversation.

"Yes, sir," Harry responded before leaning towards Teddy again. "Maybe by the time you're my age, Uncle Sev will actually see me as an adult."

Teddy would have laughed but he was too busy smacking his lips around the cookie and having a fun time making a huge mess, so Harry left him to it and turned away from him.

When Teddy was finished with it though, he held out his sticky hands towards Severus who wasn't paying him any attention and began to babble at him. When that didn't immediately get him another cookie, Teddy smacked his hands on the high chair and said, "Sev!"

That caught everyone's attention and all three men turned to stare at the baby.

"What did you say?" Remus asked.

"Sev," Teddy said again, and this time, his metamorphmagus abilities kicked in to get his point across. Teddy's bright blue hair was turning black and straightening, growing down to his shoulders. His eyes darkened as well, though they didn't quite match Severus's own. Still, it was enough that Severus, who had just been taking a sip of his coffee, nearly choked on it in an effort to keep from spitting it across the table.

Severus stood up and moved to stand in front of Teddy who reached for him. But Severus wasn't about to pick up the child, especially when he was covered in the sticky cookie. He raised one eyebrow at him in his trademark scowl and much to his utter dismay, and Harry's delight, Teddy did his best to copy him, scowling right back. Though, what was fierce on Severus was absolutely adorable on Teddy and Harry had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.

Remus wasn't laughing, however. If anything, he was nearly pouting. "Honestly, whose son are you anyway? You won't say Dada but you'll say Sev? And now, you change your appearance for the first time on your own and it's to look like him? I'm disappointed, Ted. I'm really disappointed."

Teddy simply laughed and his hair changed back to blue before reaching for his dad, who picked him up without a second's hesitation. Remus waved his wand over the boy and he was cleaned up babbling happily once more.

"Come on, then," Remus said as he reached for his bag and the stuffed dragon that Harry handed him. "Let's get you home. Mum will be there soon."

"Mum?"

Remus sighed. "Yes, yes." He turned a final time to look at Severus and Harry. "See you Saturday, Severus."

"Bye, Remus. Be good, Teddy." Harry called after them.

Once they had disappeared through the floo, Harry looked up at Severus and smirked. "I can't wait to see him at Hogwarts. Imagine, you show up for class one day, and he'll be there looking like you and giving a hundred house points to Gryffindor."

"What makes you think he'll be in Gryffindor?"

Harry grinned. "Well, he definitely won't be in Slytherin."

Severus let his hand rest on Harry's shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze. "Now, what's this I heard about turning my robes pink?"

"What? You don't think pink is your color? How about blue? Like Teddy's hair?" Harry asked cheekily before moving away from his adoptive father and taking off down the hall before Severus had a chance to think of anything else to say.