Teddy Through Time

With a jerk behind the navel as though an invisible hook and line had dragged him forward, Harry was pulled into nothingness, spinning uncontrollably, his finger glued to the Portkey as he and Hagrid hurtled away from Mr. Tonks. Seconds later Harry’s feet slammed onto hard ground and he fell onto his hands and knees in the yard of the Burrow. He heard screams.
Throwing aside the no longer glowing hairbrush, Harry stood up, swaying slightly, and saw Mrs. Weasley, Ginny and Teddy running down the steps by the back door as Hagrid, who had also collapsed on landing, clambered laboriously to his feet.
“Harry? You are the real Harry? What happened? Where are the others?” cried Mrs. Weasley.
“What d’you mean? Isn’t anyone else back?” Harry panted.
he answer was clearly etched in Mrs. Weasley’s pale face.
“The Death Eaters were waiting for us,” Harry told her. “We were surrounded the moment we took off — they knew it was tonight — I don’t know what happened to anyone else, four of them chased us, it was all we could do to get away, and then Voldemort caught up with us —”
He could hear the self-justifying note in his voice, the plea for her to understand why he did not know what had happened to her sons, but —

“Thank goodness you’re all right,” she said, pulling him into a hug he did not feel he deserved.
“Haven’t go’ any brandy, have yeh, Molly?” asked Hagrid a little shakily. “Fer medicinal purposes?”
She could have summoned it by magic, but as she hurried back toward the crooked house, Harry knew that she wanted to hide her face. He turned to Teddy.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I wanted to join the convoy, but Mad-Eye wouldn’t let me. Truth be told, neither did Remus or Kingsley. They claimed this wasn’t my war and that I might cause more harm than good. I didn’t want to sit idly at home.” Teddy explained.
“Will there be casualties?” Harry asked, desperate for knowledge
Teddy’s face remained impassive and unreadable, and in his silence, Harry understood he had no intention of revealing anything.
“Ginny…” Harry said, and she immediately responded to his unspoken plea.
“Ron and Tonks should have been back first, but they missed their Portkey, it came back without them,” she said, pointing at a rusty oil can lying on the ground nearby. “And that one,” she pointed at an ancient sneaker, “should have been Dad and Fred’s, they were supposed to be second. You and Hagrid were third and,” she checked her watch, “if they made it, George and Lupin ought to be back in about a minute.”
At her words, Teddy looked stricken with terror and bolted into the Burrow, brushing past Mrs. Weasley who was handing Hagrid the brandy bottle. He yanked off the cork and downed it in one gulp.
Harry, who knew Teddy probably knew all the evening’s events, realized something was wrong from the urgency in his run and felt a strange clench deep in his gut.
“Mum!” shouted Ginny, pointing to a spot several feet away.

A blue light had appeared in the darkness: It grew larger and brighter, and Lupin and George appeared, spinning and then falling. Harry knew immediately that there was something wrong: Lupin was supporting George, who was unconscious and whose face was covered in blood. Harry ran forward and seized George’s legs. Together, he and Lupin carried George into the house and through the kitchen to the sitting room, where they laid him on the sofa.
It looked as though Teddy had just finished spreading what appeared to be an enchanted first-aid kit across the living room table. Harry instantly recognized the pungent green salve that had been smeared across Bill’s face in the hospital wing, something that now seemed like a lifetime ago. There were all manner of bandages, an unfamiliar potion sealed with wax, and a bowl of water with a cloth inside.
As the lamplight fell across George’s head, Ginny gasped and Harry’s stomach lurched: One of George’s ears was missing. The side of his head and neck were drenched in wet, shockingly scarlet blood.

Teddy immediately began cleaning George’s wound with the wet cloth, his wand clenched between his teeth.
Mrs. Weasley bent over her son and Teddy, watching George’s face in horror.
Once the area was sufficiently cleaned—still bleeding, but visible enough—Teddy tapped George’s head three times with his wand.
Harry did not stop watching what Teddy was doing or the nature of the spells, because Lupin had seized him by the arm and dragged him—none too gently—back to the kitchen, where Hagrid was still struggling to squeeze through the back door.
Teddy heard the muffled shouting from the kitchen, straining to catch the words exchanged there. He only caught his father’s cry, “Answer me!”, Hagrid’s incomprehensible roars, but not Harry’s voice.
He had managed to completely clean George’s bloodied face and had stopped the massive bleeding entirely.
His hands were trembling, and he noticed he was sweating.

A lump rose in his throat and a new wave of guilt washed over him.
He had known—again—about a Weasley’s injury.
Arthur and Molly, who had given him a home without truly knowing him. Who had always been there as he grew up, every Christmas with one of Molly’s knitted jumpers ready for him. Who had told him about his parents—Molly always crying, Arthur always steady and admiring—who’d taken him in as though he were their own grandson, who were the first to know about the ring he’d bought for Victoire, and the proposal that had been planned…
And Bill… the one who perhaps understood Teddy better than anyone, save for Harry. The one who’d taken him fishing in summer holidays, who’d shared most of his secrets, his music…
And George… Teddy thought again. George, who had become a close friend, someone who had encouraged him more than anyone else, who had found him work and friends in every timeline. Thanks to him, he had never felt alone—not as a child, and not now.
How had he betrayed their trust again?
And the knowledge that they were still going to suffer… to grieve… to mourn…
How had he let those he loved get hurt again, without doing anything?
Albus must have been wrong, he thought, when he said Teddy shouldn’t meddle with time…
Maybe, he thought, he was here to change everything.

He wiped the sweat from his brow and began to feel the signs of exhaustion and his energy being drained.
Mrs. Weasley gently nudged Teddy aside, and he stood up, yielding his place beside George. With a silent understanding, she continued the care from where he had left off.
He noticed his hands were coated in sticky blood, and guessed he had smeared some across his brow when he wiped the sweat away. He made his way to the kitchen sink, trying to ignore the glances from Hagrid, Remus and Harry. He scrubbed his hands under the running water, fighting to remove the blood that, quite literally, felt as though it was on his hands.

“Will George be okay?”
All Lupin’s frustration with Harry seemed to drain away at the question.
“I think so, although there’s no chance of replacing his ear, not when it’s been cursed off —”
There was a scuffling from outside. Lupin dived for the back door; Harry leapt over Hagrid’s legs and sprinted into the yard.
As Teddy turned off the tap, he trailed after Lupin and Harry, who were already halfway to what now appeared to be Hermione, shifting rapidly between Harry’s appearance and her own, and Kingsley.
Hermione flung her arms around Harry’s neck in a tight hug, and Teddy skidded to a halt behind Lupin.

“The last words Albus Dumbledore spoke to the pair of us?”
“‘Harry is the best hope we have. Trust him,’” said Lupin calmly.
Kingsley turned his wand on Harry, but Lupin said, “It’s him, I’ve checked!”
“All right, all right!” said Kingsley, stowing his wand back beneath his cloak. “But somebody betrayed us! They knew, they knew it was tonight!”
“So it seems,” replied Lupin, “but apparently they did not realise that there would be seven Harrys.”
Teddy was not surprised to find all eyes turning to him. It was clear from the looks Kingsley and Lupin exchanged that, beyond reasonable doubt, they suspected him.
Teddy appeared calm despite the tension, his eyes flicking momentarily to Harry, who signalled for him not to interfere.
“Small comfort!” snarled Kingsley. “Who else is back?”
“Only Harry, Hagrid, George, and me.”
Hermione stifled a little moan behind her hand.
Teddy didn’t hear the murmured conversations. Though he knew the outcome, he couldn’t understand why he felt so anxious. Could my arrival in this timeline change something? he feared.
The thoughts gnawed at him and, preferring not to watch people suspecting him as a traitor, he pretended to be looking at the sky, searching for any sign of the remaining convoy.
It wasn’t long before the other four arrived.
Lupin stepped away from the group, choosing to stand at a distance so no one could see his face.
Teddy didn’t know where the courage had come from, but he approached from behind and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“She’ll be all right,” he whispered.
Lupin acted as though he hadn’t heard, but Teddy noticed his grip on his wand tighten and, seconds later, he shrugged off Teddy’s hand.
Teddy turned and stepped away from the group, choosing to observe them from afar, feeling more alone and out of place than ever.
He watched Harry return to the Burrow, missing the moment Arthur and Fred arrived.

Lupin immediately approached Arthur, though Teddy didn’t catch their words. Arthur appeared distracted, pushed Lupin aside, and bolted into the house, Fred close behind.
Teddy watched Remus glance up at the sky in silent prayer, ignoring Kingsley’s curses.
He decided to head back into the Burrow.
“Do you know if he’ll be all right?” Fred asked Teddy upon arrival.
“Yes, he’ll definitely be all right. The ear was severed using Sectumsempra; it can’t be reattached. But he’ll live…” he answered.
“And the consequences?”
“His sense of humour’s been wounded as much as his ear.”
Fred looked bewildered, unsure what Teddy meant.
“How do you feel, Georgie?” whispered Mrs. Weasley
“Saintlike,” repeated George, opening his eyes and looking up at his brother. “You see . . . I’m holy. Holey, Fred, geddit?”
Mrs. Weasley sobbed harder than ever. Colour flooded Fred’s pale face.
“You were right, Teddy,” said Fred, smiling at George. “Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humour before you, you go for holey?”

Teddy didn’t find his place among any of the convoy or the Weasley family. The feeling of isolation hovered stronger than ever, and the metallic scent of George’s blood lingered in his nostrils.
He decided to step outside for some air, even if it meant risking more accusations from his father.
Teddy looked up at the sky, searching for a speck of light that might become his mother, hoping he would be the one to bring hope back to his father’s face.
He guessed there were tears in Lupin’s eyes; he saw him in the faint starlight, trembling.
He wanted to hug him, or place a hand on his shoulder once more, but knew that any further gesture of affection would be too much…

It was Hermione who spotted them first.
“It’s them!” screamed Hermione.
Tonks landed in a long skid that sent earth and pebbles everywhere.
“Remus!” Tonks cried as she staggered off the broom into Lupin’s arms. His face was set and white: He seemed unable to speak. Ron tripped dazedly toward Harry and Hermione.

Teddy had always heard his father was a rather reserved man, not one to show emotion openly. He watched his parents’ embrace, surprised, almost as if he’d caught them in a moment too private to witness—but was struck by how swiftly his father’s anxiety had melted into relief.
When they finally broke apart, Teddy ran to hug his mother, grateful that at the very least, he hadn’t ruined the timeline.
“So what kept you? What happened?” Lupin sounded almost angry at Tonks.
“Bellatrix,” said Tonks. “She wants me quite as much as she wants Harry, Remus, she tried very hard to kill me. I just wish I’d got her, I owe Bellatrix. But we definitely injured Rodolphus. . . . Then we got to Ron’s Auntie Muriel’s and we’d missed our Portkey and she was fussing over us —”
A muscle was jumping in Lupin’s jaw. He nodded, but seemed unable to say anything else.
“It’s because of your marriage,” Teddy blurted out.
“Yes,” said Tonks slowly. “I had guessed…”
“Bellatrix sees you as another disgrace upon the family tree—choosing to marry a werewolf, just as your mother betrayed the family by marrying a Muggle-born.”
“How do you know that?” Lupin whispered.
“I can only guess the Death Eaters have been sneering at the Malfoys and Lestrange's over their family ties to you. It’s the only way those carrion-feeding cowards feel important or close to Voldemort.” Teddy continued, ignoring his father’s stare.

“Mad-Eye,” they all said, and drank.
“Mad-Eye,” echoed Hagrid, a little late, with a hiccup.

Teddy didn’t want to drink. A fresh wave of guilt had begun to bubble somewhere near his temples.
Another death. Another friend of his parents. Another Order member lost.
He snatched Tonks’s full goblet before she could sip, gave a slight shake of his head, and quietly levitated both glasses toward the kitchen, hoping no one would notice.

“So Mundungus disappeared?” said Lupin, who had drained his own glass in one.
The atmosphere changed at once. Everybody looked tense, watching Lupin, both wanting him to go on, it seemed to Harry, and slightly afraid of what they might hear.
“I know what you’re thinking,” said Bill, “and I wondered that too, on the way back here, because they seemed to be expecting us, didn’t they? But Mundungus can’t have betrayed us. They didn’t know there would be seven Harrys, that confused them the moment we appeared, and in case you’ve forgotten, it was Mundungus who suggested that little bit of skulduggery. Why wouldn’t he have told them the essential point? I think Dung panicked, it’s as simple as that. He didn’t want to come in the first place, but Mad-Eye made him, and You-Know-Who went straight for them. It was enough to make anyone panic.”

“You-Know-Who acted exactly as Mad-Eye expected him to,” sniffed Tonks. “Mad-Eye said he’d expect the real Harry to be with the toughest, most skilled Aurors. He chased Mad-Eye first, and when Mundungus gave them away he switched to Kingsley. . . .”
“Yes, and zat eez all very good,” snapped Fleur, “but still eet does not explain ’ow zey knew we were moving ’Arry tonight, does eet? Somebody must ’ave been careless. Somebody let slip ze date to an outsider. It is ze only explanation for zem knowing ze date but not ze ’ole plan.”
“You knew Mad-Eye was going to die tonight?” Ron asked in a low, accusing whisper.
“I did,” said Teddy, almost whispering back.
“And you didn’t say anything? Again?” Ron barked.
Teddy looked at Ron, almost defeated.
“I think, Teddy, it’s about time we heard a bit of truth from you for a change,” Bill said sternly, raising his wand towards Teddy.
“I’m inclined to agree with Bill,” said Lupin angrily, his own wand now pointed at Teddy as well.
“How do we know you’re not a Death Eater spying on us?” asked Ron.
Harry felt a surge of anger at Ron and a quiet hope that Teddy could talk his way out of the attack. He knew better than to interfere—at least for now.

“I’m not a spy! I swear!” Teddy pleaded.
“You knew Dumbledore was going to die, and you did nothing. You knew Mad-Eye was going to die tonight, and you let it happen,” Ron accused.
“And it’s lucky you didn’t join the mission tonight, or he might not have been the only one,” Bill added.
Teddy felt himself retreating, backing away until he met the wall behind him. Every eye in the room was fixed on him.

“No!” Harry said loudly, and all heads turned to him—except Lupin, who stepped closer to Teddy, pressing his wand to Teddy’s throat.
“He couldn’t have done anything. You all know that. He’s not a spy. I trust him!”
Lupin was wearing an odd expression as he looked at Harry. It was close to pitying.
“You think I’m a fool?” demanded Harry.
“No, I think you’re like James,” said Lupin, “who would have regarded it as the height of dishonour to mistrust his friends.”
Teddy understood what his father meant: Harry’s father had once been betrayed by his own friend, Peter Pettigrew.
“The truth, Teddy. Now. I won’t wait much longer,” said Lupin, turning his head back toward him. His usually calm tone had turned into a bark.
Teddy looked terrified—Harry had never seen that expression on his face. He guessed it wasn’t just the tone that had shifted—Lupin’s entire face had changed. Something Teddy had never recognised.
Harry looked desperately to Tonks, who stared back at the scene with almost indifference.
“Go on,” said Lupin, pressing his wand harder. He grabbed the collar of Teddy’s shirt and shook him.
“I—I… I’m your son!” Teddy cried out in terror, pushing Lupin back slightly. “I’m your son…” he said again, breathless.

The gazes in the room shifted sharply, landing on Teddy with stunned expressions.
“And your son,” he repeated, eyes lowered to Tonks.
Lupin and Tonks exchanged a silent look.

“My name is Teddy Remus Lupin,” Teddy began, and for the first time, Harry discovered the nature of Teddy. His hair turned instantly from deep black to an unnatural blue. “Half-werewolf,” his hair now turned violet. “Metamorphmagus,” it changed to Tonks’s favourite bubblegum pink hair. “Son of Remus and Nymphadora Lupin,” it turned luminous green. “Born on the 20th of April, 1998,” now a red-ginger hue spread across his scalp, unmistakably Weasley-like.
“Godson of Harry Potter,” and now his hair was a sandy brown—the very same shade as Lupin’s. The resemblance between father and son was undeniable now, as if a younger, healthier version of Lupin stood before them.

An odd expression passed over Tonks’s face. Lupin looked uncertain, turning to his wife for confirmation. Bill lowered his wand. Harry, who already knew who Teddy was, stood surprised nonetheless by the vivid display. Molly and Hermione gasped, covering their mouths in astonishment. Ron bit his lip, shocked. Fred and George glanced at one another, then at Lupin and Tonks—speechless for perhaps the first time in their lives. Hagrid’s face was buried in his beard, unreadable. Only Arthur broke the silence: “He really does look like you, Remus.”
Teddy’s eyes searched the room, seeking support.
“I believe him,” Harry said to Lupin.
“But you don’t,” Teddy said quietly to his father.
He drew his wand. Lupin and Bill both raised theirs again, pointing them squarely at him.
“Expecto Patronum,” Teddy said, almost carelessly.
A shimmering figure burst from his wand and landed in the centre of the room—a wolf.
“You were always asking me what my tattoo meant,” he said to his mother.
Teddy pulled down the collar of his shirt to reveal a smooth chest with a black outline of a full moon and a howling wolf inked over his heart.
Lupin looked at him in disgust. “He’s lying,” he stated.
“Lying?” Teddy echoed in disbelief. “Mum’s pregnant now—you just found out! I’m going to be born in nine months!”
“He overheard our conversation,” Lupin told the others, unmoved even by the announcement.
“Remus,” said Molly.
“How do you think I knew where and when your wedding would be, when you planned it with twenty minutes’ notice? How do you think I found this dump of a pub? Or your family’s summer home?” Teddy challenged.
Lupin said nothing.
“Look at me! Dad, just look at me! I look just like you!”
“That’s just your abilities, not your blood,” Tonks said, doubtful.
“Mum…” Teddy’s voice cracked.
“Don’t talk to her,” Lupin growled.
“I’m named after your father! Haven’t you noticed we share a name? How could I possibly have known what you’d name me—unless I already was him?”
“You picked a name from some relative of a member of the Order, something to whip out if exposed—lull us in the meantime,” said Ron.
“Oh, them? Before they even knew they’d get married?” Teddy snapped.
“You went with Tonks, easiest to fake thanks to your abilities,” Ron added, gesturing at the changing hair.

“Say something…” Teddy pleaded with Tonks.
Lupin raised his wand.
“No!” Harry leapt forward, shielding Teddy with his own body. “I believe him. I trust him. I’ve known who he is—since Dumbledore died.”
Lupin lowered his wand and stepped back, his face falling into a mask of emotionless detachment and addressed Bill, “There’s work to do. I can ask Kingsley whether —”
“No,” said Bill at once, “I’ll do it, I’ll come.”
“Mad-Eye’s body,” said Lupin. “We need to recover it.”
“You still don’t believe me,” Teddy said.
Lupin ignored him. No one spoke.
“Dad…”
Teddy pushed Harry aside and ran out of the Burrow. A faint crack of Disapparition echoed in the distance.
No one dared speak his true name again.

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