Harry looked nervous.

That was understandable, Teddy supposed. Even if they traded Christmas cards each year, it'd been ages since the last time Harry had laid eyes on his cousin Dudley. That they'd decided to meet at the ice cream parlor -- which always brought up bittersweet memories of its previous owner -- probably didn't help, but it was the most "kid-friendly" shop on the street that wouldn't overwhelm the likely uncertain Dursleys.

Ted and Harry had arrived first, with no sign of the Dursley pair on the streets. They'd claimed a place near the back with a clear view of the door, and since then Teddy had been perusing the menu while Harry anxiously watched the door. For his money, Ted was excited. Delighted, really. He loved meeting new people. New family was even better, even if they weren't technically his family. And this meant he'd have a relative with him at Hogwarts a whole year earlier than expected! Ted was so eager, it was all he could do to keep his eyes from shifting colors.

Suddenly, Harry perked up, then rose from his chair. "There they are. Dudley! We're over here."

As Harry waved, Ted twisted eagerly in his seat for a first glimpse of the newcomers. He was so excited he felt about to burst.

After Harri had found out what a huge deal her namesake had been (even if most of it seemed unbelievable and considering it came from a young girl she had only just met, it was kind of suspicious) she had bugged her father the entire way home from Diagon the day before to finally meet him. Dudley had relented, like he ususally did when Harri got something in her head that she really wanted. She was never afraid to work hard and fight (most times literally) to get what she wanted. The previous night he had called up his cousin, though they rarely if ever spoke on the phone, and they had arranged to meet in Diagon the following day. Now the time had arrived and the pair were walking down the cobblestone main street that Harri had tried to familiarize herself with the day before. Thankfully Dudley had taken Holidays that week to help with getting Harri ready for school.

"There they are. Dudley! We're over here."

Harri perked up when she heard her father's name and the pair joined the other two at the Ice Cream Parlor. Harri was practically buzzing with anticipation. While she was still dressed in her usual fashion - an oversized Manchester United Jersey, faded and torn jeans and a half ruined pair of trainers - she had attempted to run a comb through her short cropped matted hair. When that hadn't worked she threw a knitted cap over top and tucked her brand new wand up into the hem. She was warned not to use it until she was at school but that wasn't going to stop her from keeping it with her at all times. At the very least there wasn't the usual layer of dirt on her face.

She looked up at the man who had saved her father's life, who had saved a whole nation of people if the stories were to be believed. Harri wasn't sure what she had been expecting but he seemed a little less than impressive. She was sure she came across the same way. She was used to being a disappointment to those her father introduced her to. Dudley had stopped telling everyone that she was his daughter and instead just referred to her by her nick name. Considering how gorgeous her mother was, most people expected her to be a pretty little angel, on the verge of being graced by puberty. Instead they got a skinny little scamp that could just as easily by passed off as Dudley's son.

The two cousins made an awkward though heartfelt embrace. Harri wasn't sure when it was the last time they had seen each other. She watched them exchange some words before being made aware of the boy by Harry's side, "So are you my cousin too?" Her voice was a little gravelly as well. 

Teddy beamed, bouncing out of his chair to meet the Dursleys on their approach. He was a head taller than the new first-year, and considerably longer all over, all thin limbs and bright colors compared to Harri's tattered clothes and knit cap. Still, Ted had been around enough rough-and-tumble sorts to know when someone knew how to have fun, and the wee Dursley looked like they knew how to have fun.

"So are you my cousin too?"

"I can be." He thrust out his hand. "Teddy Lupin. Call me Ted." Without meaning to, his eyes flickered quickly from dark brown to bright blue to silver before finally settling on green. He couldn't help. He was just so excited. "You're starting Hogwarts soon, right? That's brilliant. We'll be on the train together. I'm going back for my second year."

Out of the corner of his eye, he spied Mr. Dursley giving him an odd look before casting Harry a questioning glance. Perhaps he was wondering about Ted's last name, or his turquoise hair and color-changing socks. Or maybe he'd done the math and figured out that Harry would've been seventeen and four years short of marriage when Teddy was born.

Ted didn't let his smile waver. He figured the grown-ups would sort it out. Instead, he skimmed the smaller child's squat, messy face and picked out all the interesting features he found there. There was a lot to like. "You've got a cool nose. Good ears, too. You'll have to let me try them sometime."

Truth be told it was exciting to meet another wizard. It wasn't as if Harri hadn't enjoyed herself with Morrigan and her silent cousin but she had never really been comfortable around other girls. The Blackthorne's didn't seem like the super prissy, frilly types that Harri despised but it was still hard to find things in common with them, for the time being they had just focused on introducing Harri to the wonders of the Wizarding World. Teddy on the other hand was another boy, someone Harri could relate to outside of magic. She had a large smile on her face as he spoke to her.

She narrowed her brow slightly. She could have shown his eyes had changed colour but it was probably just a trick of the light, after all the boy had torquiose hair, his eyes were probably just reflecting that, "Yeah, I can't wait actually. I got to try some magic yesterday. Well I mean this bloke that sold me my wand let me do some swishing and stuff and I actually set his stool on fire. It was pretty cool."

She tilted her head to the side, confused at his enthusiasm and not fully comprehending the words he was saying, "You wanna try out me face? Is that like something Wizards do?" She thought for a moment, "Do I get to try out your face?"

Ted's smile spread all the wider at the story of Harri's adventures with Olivander. "Did you really? Brilliant! When I got mine, all I did was turn a box pink for a few minutes."

He angled his body a bit to steer the smaller kid toward the ice cream counter. After all, they were here for ice cream and he wanted to give Harry a chance to chat with his cousin alone. That didn't get far though, as both men trailed after them within seconds. Guess the tension was still too high for them to leave well enough on their own.

"Do I get to try out your face?"

That got a laugh, though perhaps it seemed a bit strained. Ted wasn't completely sure that he had a face to borrow, let alone how someone would do it -- what even happened if you stuck a metamorph's hair in a Polyjuice Poition? He covered any anxiety up with the sort of grin he used to add fangs to until he realized that it made Grandma Weasley nervous. "Nah, man. Not for a few years yet, at least. Not that I'd ever encourage ye to do something like that."

The last line was said a bit louder than the rest, because he'd caught a warning glance from Harry out of the corner of his eye. The man was downright paranoid about his offsprings' potential exploits, in spite -- or maybe because of -- all the trouble he'd gotten into as a child.

"Anyway..." Hunching over, Ted rubbed his palms on his jeans to clean off the bit of dirt and sweat that had accumulated in the summer heat.  "It ain't really a wizard thing. It's a me thing. Here, watch."

He turned his head to one side and brushed aside his hair so Harri -- the little Harri -- could more clearly see his ear. He grasped the cartilage between his thumb and forefinger, stuck his tongue between his teeth for concentration, and pulled. With a bit of effort, the ear stretched out and up, molding in his fingers like clay until he'd got it thin and pointed like a goblin ear. He went briefly cross-eyed in the process.

"See? Cool, eh?" He wiggled them, normal-ear and goblin-ear bouncing in time. Maybe he was showing off for the muggle, but hell, once the kid got to Hogwarts he'd be seeing a dozen weirder things before breakfast. Better get used to 'em quick.

Harri walked with him to the ice cream counter briefly distracted by the list of sweets and such up on the wall. There were certainly things that she had never heard of before. Either Wizards had really weird taste, the names were just jokes or other magical creatures (like those Goblins that ran Gringotts) came in for a treat from time to time.

She scratched at her matted hair as he spoke, "Magic's so cool." She said rather impressed. She was so excited to get to Hogwarts and learn all these things. She gave him a coy smile as he spoke louder at the end of his sentence making sure he wasn't giving her any bad advise. Not like she needed it. She gave it a week before she ended up in the Headmistresses Office, that was just the way she was, no amount of warning from her cousins was going to change that.

As he demonstrated his power Harri's eyes went wide, "Wicked!" She reached forward and pulled on his now pointed ear to make sure it was real and not some trick, she was dealing with magic here after all.

"Why's it you can do that then?" He had mentioned it was a 'Him' thing rather than a general wizard thing.