AFTER THE WAR

A/N: First of all I should point out that I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. However, if you keep reading there are a few who are entirely original and do belong to me. If you have read this before, I extended the first chapter/combined it with the second chapter. I was looking through the first chapters and noticed they were extremely short. I am going to rewrite the second chapter today and extend the other short chapters before I continue with the story. I hope you like it!

11 years after the second battle at Hogwarts...

5 days before Teddy Lupin was due to go to his first year at Hogwarts, Harry found the young boy crying on the spare bed at their house. "What's the matter Ted?" Harry looked down at his godson whose hair was changing from turquoise to its normal shade of blonde.

"It's them again." Teddy looked up at the man who he called father and cried even harder.

"Teddy listen to me," Harry bent down and looked into Teddy's currently deep blue eyes, "They wouldn't want you to be upset." He sat down beside Teddy, "Especially not your father."

Teddy hated it when Harry was right. He avoided looking into his godfather's eyes. "I had a dream last night," Teddy began before Harry unexpectedly stood up and walked over to the closed door.

"James Sirius Potter, if you want me to even consider letting you watch a movie tonight you better go do your homework. And don't make me come out there to prove you are listening!" Harry said to the door before quickly putting an impenetrable silencing charm on the door.

"Drat," James muttered from the other side of the door as it went eerily quiet. He stamped dramatically down the hallway followed by little skips belonging to his baby sister. "James, just do what your father says." Ginny patted her son on the shoulder and continued down to the kitchen.

"Now, what happened in your dream?" Harry always wanted to know what happened in Teddy's dreams, having had many terrible nightmares himself as a child. He often worried that Teddy would not want to talk to him regarding his parents. Although many people told him otherwise, Harry still felt responsible for the deaths of everyone in the war. "Well, I was in this house with grandma but she looked a lot younger and a woman stood next to her shaking a rattle."

"What did the woman look like?" Harry prompted.

"She had bubblegum pink hair and sparkling blue eyes and she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen." Teddy gazed off into the distance, remembering the sight of his mum.

"And what happened then?" Harry looked slightly pale.

"There was howling and this wolf thing came into the house. Grandma was screaming to the other woman repeating "Make him stop!" Teddy took a deep breath, "And then I squealed, well at least I think I was the baby and the wolf looked down at me and transformed into a man with kind, caring eyes and he hugged me." Teddy was in tears, "And then I woke up crying and Lily half-ran, half-tumbled in here." Harry felt like he was going to be sick. His eyes were red and he was as pale as a sheet.

"What is it dad?" Teddy was really worried, he knew it was something he had said and it mustn't have been good.

"Thh-those people in your dreams," he started looking at the frightened look on Teddy's face, "The woman with pink hair and the man who was a wolf." Harry had no idea what to say to the boy, "They were your parents; I mean are your parents." Teddy gasped and shook uncontrollably. He made to say something but no words seemed to come. His eyes swelled up and tears began to fall uncontrollably down his cheeks. Harry pulled his godson onto his lap and hugged him for what seemed like forever.

When they finally let go of each other, Teddy looked like the happiest little boy in the world. Even though he had tearstains on his cheeks and red eyes, his smile was so big it could have been Christmas. "I remember my parents." Teddy was literally bouncing with joy, "Often when I think of my parents I see you and Ginny and other times, I just see the people I have seen in photos." He looked up at Harry who looked like he was about to break down.

"What's wrong?" Teddy asked coming to sit on Harry's knee.

"You are very lucky! You know that, don't you?" Harry's mouth twitched into a weak smile. Teddy nodded but his face was filled with puzzlement. Harry gave a slight nod and tried to find the right words.

"When I was barely older than you, I saw the first picture of my parents." He began, "It was at Hogwarts." He took a deep breath and looked into Teddy's now brown eyes, "Up until then I hadn't had a place to call home… You see the people I lived with, my aunt and uncle, and my cousin all hated me and it was hard to love any of them." Teddy looked if possible even more confused. "You've seen pictures, heard stories and you have one of the biggest families on the planet. And every single one of them love you very much!" Harry knew what it felt like to be Teddy. To feel totally alone in the world, but Teddy actually wasn't.

Technically Teddy wasn't a Weasley, but he and his grandma had been added to the family a long time ago. And Harry wanted Teddy to know that he wasn't alone and that he was very much loved. "My cousin made fun of me and bullied me every day, and he was my only cousin!" Harry continued.

"Victoire makes fun of me and teases me." Teddy interrupted. Harry had known his godson for nearly the whole of Teddy's life. To Harry, Teddy was an open book and though Teddy hadn't told Harry about the way he felt towards Victoire, Harry knew.

"Ah," Harry began "Well that's because she fancies you," Harry shrugged, "A lot!" Teddy couldn't hide his happiness and started screaming things along the lines of "She likes me!" and "I knew we were meant for each other!"

"Settle down," Harry laughed, "You're going to break my silencing charm and even James can't manage that!" Teddy immediately went silent and blushed.

"Do you really think she likes me?" Teddy looked rather worried because even though Victoire was a year younger than him, he'd had a crush on her since the day she could talk.

"Why wouldn't she?" Harry asked back and hugged his beaming godson.