A/N: So I recently was inspired to write this. I'm sorry if it's solemn and depressing or anything like that, because that honestly wasn't my goal, but I'm sort of ticked off right now for a lot of different reasons, so if it gets grim and bleak or angry, I apologize. I'm also not really one for next-generation stuff, but I'm trying this. I'm not very satisfied with the ending, but I think it's okay. Please review.

I stepped through the door of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, making certain to wipe my feet on the doormat. Ginny would have a fit if I tracked in any mud.

"Where have you been?" a soft voice asks from the dining room.

"Huh?" I ask, hanging my jacket up before going in. Ginny sat at the end of the table, her hands folded in front of an untouched plate. James, who was seven, sat at her right and Albus, his younger brother, sat beside him. Little Posy sat on Ginny's left. Her feet didn't yet touch the ground. Teddy sat farther apart from them and said nothing.

"I said," Ginny repeats, her voice louder and harder this time, "where have you been?"

"Work," I say, sitting down next to Posy and kissing her on the cheek. "This food looks delicious."

"It is," Albus chimes in.

"We ate earlier," adds James.

Ginny's glare is sharp as flint and as volatile as a Killing Curse. It is late, but I hadn't realized how late. I'd gotten wrapped up in my new case.

I clear my throat. "Why don't you all go to bed?" I ask quietly. "It's late, and we're going Christmas shopping tomorrow. Go get some rest."

"It's only ten," Teddy objects for the first time. Like Ginny, his plate still had food on it. As I watch, he stabs a potato with the ferocity of someone contemplating genocide.

"Teddy, you're a guest here and while you're staying here I'd appreciate it if you obeyed the rules," I say coolly. He glares at me and follows James, Albus, and Lily. Outside in the hall I hear a door slam.

"Was that necessary?" Ginny demands once they are gone.

"What are you talking about?" I ask, unable to quench my own rising anger. "He's a guest here and it's time for him to go to bed and just because he's fourteen doesn't mean he can stay awake later."

"That's not what I was talking about," she snaps.

"Could you elaborate then, and tell me what you were talking about?"

"It's ten o'clock! You just now got home!"

"I was at work!" I shut my eyes for a moment and see a blinding green light, a roof collapsing. But when I open them again I just see my wife, angry and upset.

"Really?" she demands. "Because I was watching Rose and Hugo all day, too, and Ron came by and picked them up at seven. So why were you there three more hours?"

"Ginny-"

"Is there a woman?" she asks.

"Ginny-"

"If there's a woman, I'll get out right now, Harry, and I can file a divorce in no time-"

"There's not another woman!" I explode. "I seriously was at work, okay? I had some extra stuff to do, I got a new assignment, and I didn't realize I stayed that late." I stayed so late talking to the therapist, I add silently.

She gives me a hard look for several seconds before sighing. "You're not lying."

"Why would I lie to you?" I ask softly.

"I need you to come home earlier," Ginny says. "At least by seven."

"Ginny, do you even understand my job? It's a great job, and I get paid for it, and I love what I do." I meet her eyes. I do love being an Auror. It's fun. It pays well. It's what I do.

"Do you love me?" she counters. "Do you love us? How about your kids? Teddy? Because it feels like you don't, and it feels like you're never here, and it feels like you don't love us."

"I love you!" I gasp, horrified. I stand up. "I love you more than anything!"

"This isn't about me," Ginny murmurs. "You were supposed to talk to Teddy today."

"Talk to Teddy?" I repeat.

"You don't remember?" She sounds irritated. "He asked you yesterday if he could talk to you, and you said you would today, but you never did, Harry."

"I'm sorry."

"Tell him that," she snaps. My heart sinks like a stone when she adds, "Talk to him, too!"

I eat alone that night and when I go to bed and try to kiss Ginny goodnight, she rolls over and away from me. I sigh. After a few seconds, she says, "It's not because you're late. You're kind of absent around here, Harry. And if you love Teddy at all, or even relatively like him, or feel any kind of debt to his parents, you need to get a grip."

With that, my wife turns off the lamp.

"I still love you, you know," she adds. "I'm pretty sure we all do, but you really have to talk to him."

My heart sinks lower in my chest, but I say, "I'll talk to him tomorrow when we're out, okay?" In all honesty, talking to Teddy is last thing I want. I don't want to talk about his parents, or the war, or anything, really. But I would have to eventually.

It's freezing in Diagon Alley, with snow billowing around on the wind and coating the world with a thin layer of white dust. Faces peek down at us from shops and apartments. Lily squirms in my arms and when I set her down, she teeters along with us on short legs. I love my family, I really do. I love them more than anything. James is more and more like the old Fred and George every day, but he couldn't possibly know that. Albus wouldn't hurt a fly. Lily is everything like Ginny. Teddy is the only difficult one.

Teddy. I'm supposed to talk to Teddy.

I already know what he's going to ask me about, but it doesn't help me brace myself for the questions, or his reaction, or how much he'll probably hate me for not telling him sooner.

Ginny turns to me. "I'm going to go take James, Albus, and Lily to get fitted for cloaks. Teddy, do you want to come with me or go with Harry and pick out something for Christmas?"

It takes all my willpower and self-control not to sigh aloud. Ginny meets my eyes and then gives a questioning look to Teddy. He raises a blue eyebrow, sighs, and says rather reluctantly, "I'll go with Harry." He doesn't want to talk, either, I guess.

"Can I go with Teddy, too?" James asks eagerly.

"No," Ginny says firmly. "You need fitted for new robes."

I'm about to ask them when and where we'll meet afterwards, but Ginny says to me, "Keep up with him-he's already leaving."

I turn around and curse under my breath. Teddy was already walking away and down the street. "Wait up!" I yell, but either he doesn't hear or more likely doesn't care, because he keeps going. "We'll meet later," I say to Ginny hastily before chasing after my godson.

"What do you think you're doing?" I demand when I catch up with him.

"I'm going to go see George," Teddy says, disparity obvious in his voice. "Wish him a Merry Christmas, you know, say hello to Freddie and Roxanne."

"Good idea," I say. "You can pick something out at the shop, too, if you want, and you'll get it for Christmas."

"Harry," he says calmly, "I'm fourteen. I don't need you to hover over me every second."

"I'm not hovering."

"Right. You're never hovering, are you? Never." There's an edge to his voice that makes me uncomfortable, but I'm not even sure what he's implying.

We push through the doors of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes a few minutes later and into the crowds of people inside. Business certainly is booming this time of the year. Behind the register I see Freddie, who is thirteen, ringing up customers as the line grows all the longer.

"Let's find George," I suggest. But Teddy's no longer listening and already slipping easily through the crowd. I push past people after him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I ask him over the sounds inside.

He whips around, people crowding at us on every side. He's angry. Very. He stands my height, fists clenched at his side, face reddening. "What the hell are you doing?" he shouts, but from all the noise inside, barely anyone casts us anything more than a glance.

"Teddy-"

"Just stay out of my fucking life, okay? It's obviously what you want, right?"

I'm too startled to reprimand him for his language, let alone make a reasonable reply. Instead I stand stupidly in the store, my mouth gaping open. He turns away from me, disgusted, and begins to make his way to the front of the store. I manage to squeeze through the hordes of people and catch up to him outside.

"Teddy!"

"You never listen to a damn word I say, you act like I'm not even here! Just leave me alone!"

Ginny, why did you do this to me? I find my voice. "Dammit, Teddy, just listen to me-"

"I've got all the time in the world, just talk!" He stops and turns around to glare at me.

I stare back, at a lost for words.

"That's what I thought," he says bitterly before continuing down the street.

"Teddy," I plea desperately, but he ignores me, giving me only one option: follow him. I walk beside him but he pays no mind, and he leads us to the Leaky Cauldron. He sits down at a table and very hesitantly I sit across from him.

"Ginny told you to talk to me, didn't she?" he asks accusingly.

"Yeah," I admit.

Hannah brings us butterbeer and we drink in silence. At last I get over my nerves, cough, and ask, "Look, I told you I'd talk to you. So here's me trying not to be an ass and you trying to talk to me and the both of us trying to be reasonable."

He stares at me, an odd look on his face, before saying, "You're really bad at being a father. You know that, right?"

"I love my kids," I say hotly.

"Let me elaborate. You're a shitty father to me."

"You're not really my son," I point out, which sounds a lot worse than it had in my mind.

"Right," Teddy muses. "You don't treat me like family, which is obviously the reason my parents made you my damn godfather."

"I'm a good father."

"You're okay. Ron's a good dad, though. Even George is a better dad than you, and he's not even any fun."

"He used to be fun," I say quietly. "He used to be a lot of fun. Hasn't been for...for a long time, I guess." I try to keep my voice level.

Teddy sits back and looks at me appraisingly. "You don't like me," he decides. "George likes me. Even Ron likes me, and Ginny, too. But you... You don't."

I lower my eyes.

"Why not?" he asks, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

I finish off my butterbeer. "I-Your parents. I loved your parents."

"Yeah," he says, giving a halfhearted laugh. "No shit. Otherwise you would've dumped me on someone's doorstep or never let me come over, right? Because I live with my grandmother, you would have let me stay there if you didn't love my parents."

"Your parents were great people," I say softly. "They were always there for me. And I guess I was for them, but not enough. When your mother was pregnant, Lupin-your father-he tried to leave."

"Leave?" Teddy echoes, leaning forward. He has a hurt look in his eyes. "What do you mean? Leave! Because he didn't love me, is that it?"

"He was afraid you would be like him," I say quickly. "A werewolf."

My godson straightens. "Well, I'm not, am I?" he says coolly. "He sounds like a bastard if that's why he wanted to leave."

"Your father was not a bastard," I say. "He loved you. He was one of the bravest men I knew."

"Yeah, yeah, I know all that shit. It's what you tell me every time I ask about them," Teddy says with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You always act like yesterday is this huge deal but you never bring it down to terms. So why were my parents so great?"

"Is this what you wanted to ask me about?" I inquired.

"Yeah. I mean, what else would I ask you about?"

"Dating advice?" I offer, grinning.

"You're kidding, right? I ask George that kind of stuff."

"George? I was a ladies' man be-"

"George said you've kissed like two girls that he knows. And George-well, you know George. Anyway, answer the question."

"Right. Why were your parents great? They loved us. Your father was brilliant. He taught me how to conjure a Patronus. He taught me Defense for a year." I take a deep breath, looking at him if he wants to add anything, but he doesn't. So I go on. "He tried to keep me out of trouble, I think, and he helped me with my godfather, S-"

"Sirius," Teddy breaks in. "Your godfather."

"Right. They all were really good friends with my parents. Lupin was always there for me, really, and he was really smart. Good at tactics. He tried to get me to quit Disarming people-said it was too obvious. Said that if I get attacked, I should use a Killing Curse, because that's less expected from someone like me, when I'm wanted by Death Eaters."

"And my mother?" Teddy asks eagerly.

"She was in Hufflepuff-"

"I was almost Sorted into Hufflepuff!" Teddy exclaims.

"Really? I was almost in Slytherin, but that's another story. Tonks went to school with Charlie-Ginny's brother-and was Sirius's cousin, I think. She was a Metamorphmagus, like you."

"I already know this stuff, Harry! Tell me about her!"

"She was really clumsy-always knocked stuff over. And a really gifted Auror. After Sirius died, she-she got depressed, and we thought it was because she loved Sirius, but it was because she loved your father and he wouldn't marry her. And then when they got married, I'd never seen her so happy! She was a really great person."

"Why didn't you ever tell me about them sooner?" Teddy doesn't sound angry now as much as hurt. "You might have known them and loved them, but they were my parents, Harry. I deserved to know."

"I never liked going back to then," I admit. "It was difficult. George is a perfect example of how badly the war changed us. And I didn't want to-I didn't want to go back to then."

"Don't be stupid," he scoffs. "You're not going to turn into George just by remembering! We wouldn't let you!"

"Teddy, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Am I absent?"

He finishes his drink and frowns. "I guess maybe a little. I'm here nearly every day, and I've noticed you're getting very wrapped up in work. It worries Ginny, and you never really replied when I sent you a letter saying I made Seeker."

My throat tightens. "I'm sorry."

"Your kids don't notice, but they will."

"You're a good kid, Teddy."

"I guess so," he says, shrugging. "Thanks for talking to me."

"Do you still want something for Christmas? We'll probably meet Ginny later."

"Nothing could be better than the things you just told me, but I really would like to go see George, Angelina, Freddie, and Roxanne."

"I'm sorry," I repeat as we leave.

"Don't worry about it," he says dismissively. "You finally told me, right? I mean, yesterday's still in the past, but I respect it if you don't want to talk about it. But you have to about some things."

My godson is fourteen years old. He is a Metamorphmagus, a Gryffindor, a Seeker, and my godson. But most of all he is braver than I could ever be, because he pulled me out of the darkness that was pulling me under.