Teddy Through Time

“Harry, are you okay?”
Harry did not know where to begin, but it did not matter, at that moment, something large and silver came falling through the canopy over the dance floor. Graceful and gleaming, the lynx landed lightly in the middle of the astonished dancers. Heads turned, as those nearest it froze absurdly in mid-dance. Then the Patronus’s mouth opened wide and it spoke in the loud, deep, slow voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt.
“The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming.”
Everything seemed fuzzy, slow. A faint pop of Apparition echoed to Harry's left. He turned just in time to catch a glimpse of a turquoise mop of hair and a wand drawn in readiness. It was Teddy—Harry saw him properly for the first time since he’d vanished from the Burrow on the night he arrived.
Harry and Hermione jumped to their feet and drew their wands. Many people were only just realizing that something strange had happened; heads were still turning toward the silver cat as it vanished. Silence spread outward in cold ripples from the place where the Patronus had landed.
Harry understood at once, the moment Teddy Apparated in— the protective enchantments around the Burrow had broken.
Teddy managed to dash past Ron, who was sprinting the other way towards Harry and Hermione. He nearly collided with him—Ron stared in astonishment—as Teddy reached his parents, wand raised, and shouted, "Protego!"
Harry saw cloaked and masked figures appearing in the crowd;
It seemed that both Lupin and Tonks had spotted Teddy too—for like him, they raised their wands and cried out together, "Protego!"

“Hold your fire, it’s me, Remus!”
“Oh, thank goodness,” said Hermione weakly, pointing her wand at Mrs. Black instead; with a bang, the curtains swished shut again and silence fell. Ron too lowered his wand, but Harry did not.
“Show yourself!” he called back.
Lupin moved forward into the lamplight, hands still held high in a gesture of surrender.
“I am Remus John Lupin, werewolf, sometimes known as Moony, one of the four creators of the Marauder’s Map, married to Nymphadora, usually known as Tonks, and I taught you how to produce a Patronus, Harry, which takes the form of a stag.”
“Oh, all right.” said Harry, lowering his wand, “but I had to check, didn’t I?”
“Speaking as your ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, I quite agree that you had to check. Ron, Hermione, you shouldn’t be quite so quick to lower your defenses.”
They ran down the stairs toward him. Wrapped I a thick black traveling cloak, he looked exhausted, but pleased to see them.
“No sign of Severus then?” he asked.
“No,” said Harry, “What’s going on? Is everyone okay?”
“Yes,” said Lupin, “but we’re all being watched. There are a couple of Death Eaters in the square outside— ”
“We know— ”
“I had to Apparate very precisely onto the top step outside the front door to be sure that they would not see me. They can’t know you’re in here or I’m sure they’d have more people out there; they’re staking out everywhere that’s got any connection with you, Harry. Let’s go downstairs, there’s a lot to tell you, and I want to know what’s happened after you left the Burrow.”
They descended into the kitchen, where Hermione pointed her wand at the gate. A fire sprang up instantly. It gave the illusion of coziness to the stark stone walls and glistened off the long wooden table.
Lupin pulled a few butterbeers from beneath his traveling cloak and they sat down"
“I’d have been here three days ago but I needed to shake off the Death Eater tailing me,” said Lupin. “So, you came straight here after the wedding?”
“No,” said Harry, “only after we ran into a couple of Death Eaters in a caf´e on Tottenham Court Road.”
Lupin slopped most of his butterbeer down his front.
“What?”
They explained what had happened; when they had finished, Lupin looked aghast.

"How do they keep finding us? And why can't the Death Eaters get in here?" Harry asked.
"As for the second question—that’s because Dumbledore’s Fidelius Charm still protects the house. Its location and visibility are still kept secret," Lupin replied. "As for the first... there's something Ted claims, and I’m beginning to fear he might be right."
"What—that he’s your son?" said Harry dryly.
Lupin made a visible effort to ignore Harry’s pointed remark; it seemed to take a great deal of restraint. He replied: "He claims the Ministry has placed a Taboo on Voldemort’s name. As you know, only his fiercest opponents dare to speak it aloud. The Taboo works by tracking the exact location where the name is used—it breaks the protective enchantments, and that's how they find those resisting him. I was sure he was lying, but it’s starting to look like he wasn’t. Do you remember saying Voldemort’s name?"
"Well, it's pretty clear Teddy wasn't lying, then. We’ve said Voldemort’s name—more than once, in fact—both while we were on Tottenham Court Road and here, too. How is the Fidelius still holding up, then?" said Harry.
"Because Dumbledore cast it—not the Ministry. The Fidelius Charm can’t be broken, not even by anything the Ministry has at its disposal," said Lupin.

“Tell us what happened after we left, we haven’t heard a thing since Ron’s dad told us the family were safe.”
“Well, Kingsley saved us,” said Lupin. “Thanks to his warning most of the wedding guests were able to Disapparate before they arrived.”
“Were they Death Eaters or Ministry people?” interjected Hermione.
“A mixture; but to all intents and purposes they’re the same thing now,” said Lupin. “There were about a dozen of them, but they didn’t know you were there, Harry. Arthur heard a rumor that they tried to torture your whereabouts out of Scrimgeour before they killed him; if it’s true, he didn’t give you away."
"And Teddy?" Ron asked. "He really came to the wedding—was it actually him?"
"Yes, Ted showed up just after the Patronus faded and tried to put up defences around the Burrow. Didn’t seem to help much, though—every curse he knows is no different from the ones the Order already uses. The Death Eaters searched the Burrow from top to bottom,” Lupin went on. “They found the ghoul, but didn’t want to get to close— and then they interrogated those of us who remained for hours. They were trying to get information on you, Harry, but of course nobody apart from the Order knew that you had been there."
"Teddy too?" Hermione asked anxiously.
"Yes," Lupin replied curtly. "He claims he was hit in the shoulder with Sectumsempra—left a gaping wound right in the middle of it. Looked more like a Splinching to me."
Harry looked furious, and Hermione was visibly tense.
"At the same time that they were smashing up the wedding, more Death Eaters were forcing their way into every Order connected house in the country. No deaths,” he added quickly, forstalling the question, “but they were rough. They burned down Dedalus Diggle’s house, but as you know he wasn’t there, and they used the Cruciatus Curse on Tonks’s family. Again, trying to find out where you went after you visited them. They’re all right— shaken, obviously, but otherwise okay.”
“The Death Eaters got through all those protective charms?” Harry asked, remembering how effective those had been on the night he had crashed in Tonks’s parents’ garden.
"Yes, if Ted managed to get past the protective charms and reach Tonks' parents' house more easily, it shouldn't have been a difficult task for the other skilled Death Eaters," said Lupin.
"What was he doing there?" asked Ron.
"He claimed he was protecting them. That he knew they were going to be attacked," Lupin replied.
"But you don't think that's the case, do you?" Hermione asked hesitantly.
"The three Death Eaters who were there fled as soon as I arrived. I think he didn’t tell them he was exposed, and their escape was just a cover story, as though he had fought them and defeated them," said Lupin.
"And you don't think he really helped Tonks' parents?" Harry asked, disbelieving.
"Three skilled and vicious Death Eaters against one boy? That seems unlikely to me. And right after being interrogated for hours? He immediately Disapparated from the cave to her parents' house. As talented as he is, even at my peak, I'm not sure I could have held out," Lupin replied.
"He's not a child anymore, he must be at least twenty-two. Besides – he's a Auror!" Ron said, a hint of irritation in his voice. "I believe him."
"And what did you do when you saw him, then? Did you expel him again?" Harry asked.
"Exactly," Lupin said firmly.
A brief, uncomfortable silence fell between the four of them.

“And are they bothering an excuse for torturing Harry’s whereabouts out of people?” asked Hermione, an edge to her voice.
“Well,” said Lupin. He hesitated, then pulled out a folded copy of the Daily Prophet. “Here,” he said, pushing it across the table to Harry, “you’ll know sooner or later anyway. That’s their pretext for going after you.”
Harry smoothed out the paper. A huge photograph of his own face filled the front page. He read the headline over it:

WANTED FOR QUESTIONING ABOUT THE DEATH OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Ron and Hermione gave roars of outrage, but Harry said nothing. He pushed the newspaper away; he did not want to read any more.
"The coup has been smooth and virtually silent,” said Lupin. “The official version of Scrimgeour’s murder is that he resigned; he has been replaced by Pius Thicknesse, who is under the Imperius Curse.”.
Ron and Hermione immediately began reading the articles aloud from the newspaper.
"Why are you shutting Teddy out?" Harry asked suddenly.
Lupin looked at Harry in surprise. Ron and Hermione stopped reading and glanced between Harry and Lupin.
“You don’t understand,” said Lupin at last.
“Explain, then,” said Harry
Lupin said nothing.
"Is Tonks really pregnant?" Hermione asked hesitantly, as though the question had been weighing on her for some time.
Lupin nodded.
“Oh, how wonderful!” squealed Hermione.
“Excellent!” said Ron enthusiastically.
“Congratulations,” said Harry.
Lupin gave an artificial smile that was more like a grimace, then said “I’ll understand if you can’t confirm this, Harry, but the Order is under the impression that Dumbledore left you a mission.”
“He did,” Harry replied, “and Ron and Hermione are in on it and they’re coming with me.”
“Can you confide in me what the mission is?”
Harry looked into the prematurely lined face, framed in thick but graying hair, and wished that he could return a different answer.
“I can’t, Remus, I’m sorry. If Dumbledore didn’t tell you I don’t think I can.”
“I thought you’d say that,” said Lupin, looking disappointed. “But I ought still be of some use to you. You know what I am and what I can do. I could come with you to provide protection. There would be no need to tell me exactly what you were up to.”
“But what about Tonks?” she asked.
“What about her?” said Lupin.
“Well,” said Hermione, frowning, “you’re married: How does she feel about you going away with us?”
Harry suddenly understood the direction the conversation was taking.
“Tonks will be perfectly safe.” said Lupin. “She’ll be at her parents’ house.”
“Remus,” said Hermione tentatively, “is everything all right . . . you know . . . between you and— ”
“Everything is fine, thank you,” said Lupin pointedly..
“So . . . do you accept my offer? Will three become four? I cannot believe that Dumbledore would have disapproved, he appointed me your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, after all. And I must tell you that I believe that we are facing magic many of us have never encountered or imagined.”
Ron and Hermione both looked at Harry.

“Just— just to be clear,” he said. “You want to leave Tonks at her parents’ house and come away with us?”
“She’ll be perfectly safe there, they’ll look after her,” said Lupin. He spoke with a finality bordering on indifference.
"You just said yourself the protections on her parents' house were breached!" Harry shouted at him.
“Harry, I’m sure James would have wanted me to stick with you.”
"“Well,” said Harry slowly, “I’m not. I’m pretty sure my father would have wanted to know why you aren’t sticking with your own kid, actually. My father died trying to protect my mother and me, and you reckon he’d tell you to abandon your kid to go on an adventure with us? Are you honestly telling me my dad would have told you to turn your back on the one son you do have? To abandon the son who hasn’t even been born yet? And in case you’ve forgotten — they’re the same person! I still don’t understand why you refuse to acknowledge him!"
Lupin’s face drained of color. The temperature in the kitchen might have dropped ten degrees. Ron stared around the room as though he had been bidden to memorize it, while Hermione’s eyes swiveled backward and forward from Harry to Lupin.
“You don’t understand,” said Lupin again.
“Explain, then,” said Harry.
Lupin swallowed.
"Remember last Christmas? When he came up to me and said he grew up thinking I was a hero?" said Lupin, his voice strained, his expression torn.
"Yeah," said Harry flatly, not quite following.
Lupin sprang to his feet: His chair toppled backward, and he glared at them so fiercely that Harry saw, for the first time ever, the shadow of the wolf upon his human face. And Harry was sure that the face he was looking at was the same one that had made Teddy speak the truth in such fear.
"A hero!" Lupin shouted, furious. "A hero!" he repeated, and for a moment, he looked quite unhinged.
"I–I made a grave mistake in marrying Tonks. I did it against my better judgment and I have regretted it very much ever since." Lupin was breathing heavily. "How can any child look at me and call me a hero? Don’t you understand what I’ve done to my wife and my unborn child? I should never have married her, I’ve made her an outcast"!
Lupin kicked aside the chair he had overturned. “You have only seen me amongst the Order, or under Dumbledore’s protection at Hogwarts! You don’t know how most of the Wizarding world sees creatures like me! When they know of my affliction, they can barely talk to me! Don’t you see what I’ve done? Even her own family is disgusted by our marriage, when parents want their only daughter to marry a werewolf? And... and this impostor... And the child— the child— ”
Lupin actually seized handfuls of his own hair; he looked quite deranged. “My kind don’t usually breed! It will be like me, I am convinced of it—how can I forgive myself when I knowingly risked passing on my own condition to an innocent child? And if, by some miracle, Ted... this impostor... is right, and my condition isn't hereditary, then it will be better off, a hundred times so without a father of whom it must always be ashamed!”
“Remus!” whispered Hermione, tears in her eyes. “Don’t say that—how could any child be ashamed of you?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Hermione,” said Harry. “I’d be pretty ashamed of him. But on one thing, you're right. When you put it like that, Teddy really is an impostor – how could someone like you appear as a hero in his eyes?"
Harry did not know where his rage was coming from, but it had propelled him to his feet too. Lupin looked as though Harry had hit him.
"Do you have another excuse to offer? Another lie you're willing to tell yourself and us, instead of admitting you're nothing more than a pathetic coward? A coward who's willing to abandon his own family to join us on an adventure. "
“How—how dare you?” said Lupin. “This is not about a desire for— for danger of personal glory—how dare you suggest such a— ”
“I think you’re feeling a bit of a daredevil.” Harry said, “You fancy stepping into Sirius’s shoe— ”
“Harry, no!” Hermione begged him, but he continued to glare into Lupin’s livid face.
“I’d never have believed this,” Harry said. “The man who taught me to fight dementors— a coward.”
Lupin drew his wand so fast that Harry had barely reached for his own; there was a loud bang and he felt himself flying backward as if punched; as he slammed into the kitchen wall and slid to the floor, he glimpsed the tail of Lupin’s cloak disappearing around the door.

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