A/N: I haven't written in ages, but this idea came to me after queenoftherandomoneandonly asked if I was planning to write anymore HP stories.
The world's a better place since the war ended. Peace, it seems, has been restored to the magical community; no one has to live in fear anymore. It's now a place where people don't fear leaving their houses; where people don't dread listening to the radio in case of hearing a loved one's name in the list of the dead; where children can grow up safely.
Or so Harry tells him anyway. He was too young to know anything about the war, but his godfather has been most illuminating when it comes to his questions about it. What happened, why, where... All the basic things. But then, of course, the difficult questions have to be asked as well.
Was it a cause worth fighting for? The answer to which, of course, is yes, as far as he is concerned. Harry would never have planted a seed of doubt in the young boy's head as long as it could be helped. And, though Harry would struggle to admit it, concerning him as it does, the definitive answer is yes. Because the cause goes far beyond Harry, his life and victory; it encases the eradication of a force of evil, an evil that tore innocent families apart through death. Yes, that includes Harry, and the loss of his parents, but it also includes Teddy, and the loss of his parents. Of all the questions that the boy could have asked, that was the most important one.
Was it a cause worth my parents dying for? At which point, Harry had told the lad of the last thing Remus Lupin had said to him, in the forest, after his death; that one day, his son would understand what his parents died for.
Thinking back, he's not sure that he did understand at that moment, when his godfather first told him. But now, he thinks, it does make sense. His parents died in a battle that saw the downfall of arguably the world's greatest wizard; certainly the cruellest one, Teddy thinks. And with Voldemort's reign of destruction over, families would no longer be torn apart and children would no longer become orphans. His parents died so that he could have a future, and Teddy thinks that he could not be prouder of them and could not be more thankful to them.
A hand rests on his shoulder, drawing him out of his thoughts. He gives a small nod, and straightens up, raising himself from the floor. He can hear the slow, careful footsteps of his grandmother, as she makes her way back to the house. Teddy looks back down, and seeking to keep his voice under control, whispers, "I-I'm off to Hogwarts now, so I guess I'll see you in the summer."
He nods slightly, murmurs a quick goodbye and then hurries to follow his grandmother, leaving behind the gravestone marking the final resting place of his parents.
In Loving Memory of
Remus J. Lupin
and
Nymphadora Tonks Lupin
2.5.1998