Title: I Love You Mum and Dad
Notes: THIS FIC CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!! But if you've already finished the seventh book, (who hasn't by now, really?), than you're okay to keep on reading. A couple quick notes before we proceed into the story. First, I don't really like J.K. Rowling's version of werewolves in her story so I'm tweaking them in my favor, deal with it or don't continue to read this. Second, I'm also inventing wildly as I go and I've given some thought as to what would be begotten from a werewolf and a metamorphmagus, the answer is in this fic and will probably make another appearance in another fic that I have an idea for but haven't written yet. And of course, this is just another tale about poor orphaned Teddy. This story takes place in Teddy's final year at Hogwarts. I hope you like it, reviews are love.
Disclaimer: Of course I don't own these characters. I wish I did. I am only using them for a spot of fun. They belong to J.K. Rowling who is a complete genius and wins at life. The end!
I Love You Mum and Dad:
"Right after you'd had your son...Remus, I'm so sorry ---"
"I am sorry too," said Lupin, "Sorry I will never know him...but he will know why I died and I hope he will understand. I was trying to make a world in which he could live a happier life." - (Deathly Hallows, page 700, American hardcover)
Seventeen year old Ted "Teddy" Remus Lupin was out wandering the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was an hour before curfew and he was feeling restless. The full moon was only two days away and he needed to move. Victoire had already gone back up to the castle to finish off her homework, something he should have been doing as well.
Teddy had become quite familiar with the grounds around the school. It was no surprise. He was always out with the pangs of his "condition". Teddy was a special boy in many ways. For one, he was the godson of the famous Harry Potter. Teddy loved his godfather as much as his grandmother, who was his primary care-taker. He would go home to Andromeda over holidays and visit with his godfather and his family quite a lot. It was almost like having a real mum and dad.
Teddy was also special not because he was an orphan, as many children became orphans after the Battle of Hogwarts but because of who his parents were. Harry often told him of his parents when he was little whenever he asked. He knew that his father, Remus John Lupin had been best mates with Harry's father and that he was Harry's favorite teacher. He also knew that his father had the same type of "condition" that he, Teddy, had. His father had been a werewolf.
His mother, Nymphadora Tonks Lupin had been an Auror and met his father in the Order of the Phoenix, and organization which had been set up to defeat the most evil wizard of the age, Lord Voldemort. His mother had also been a metamorphmagus which was why Teddy had the ability to change his appearance at will. Harry told him how his mother would always entertain them by changing her nose in funny ways. His grandmother, his mother's mother, had shown him pictures of his mother and father very often and when Teddy looked in the mirror, he could see a bit of both of them looking back at him.
Teddy found his way over to the large stone monument that had been erected on the grounds to commemorate those who had lost their lives, on both sides, during the war. The monument stretched out forever with the names of the fallen. Teddy walked over to the familiar space on the wall where his mother and father's names were written in the black marble. He traced his hand over the groves that spelled out their names and sighed heavily. He didn't hate them, he just wished that they could have stayed around for him. But he also understood and accepted why they were not with him today.
At least he had Harry, who knew exactly what it felt like to not have parents, his own having been killed during Voldemort's first rise to power. Harry left no doubt in his mind that his parents had loved him. He had told him of how brave they were and how they had lain down their lives so that Teddy could live a better one. He felt immensely proud when someone who had known his parents in life told him just how much he was like them.
He pulled his hand away and turned toward the Forbidden Forest, the place he knew so very well. He walked toward the towering trees slowly, intent on only taking a short walk but then a breeze picked up and carried and unexpected scent to his nose. His nostrils flared in the wind and he was sure he had smelled it. Distant, old and almost gone, was Harry's scent. He walked into the forest and followed a path until he lifted his nose and scented the air once more.
Harry had warned him never to stray from the path should he wander the forest in his human form but the scent was just too enticing and strange not to follow. He turned off the path and headed into deeper, darker parts of the forest, parts that he hadn't even wandered in his animal form. He came to a grove of trees just before a large clearing that seemed, at one point, to have been covered with spider webs. The webs didn't concern him, however.
He stood in the trees and sniffed the air once more in all directions. The scent trail definitely ended where he was standing and yet he could not find the source of it. He crouched down low on the ground and tested the scent. He caught it and followed it to a clump of very old leaves that had fallen over time. It was not the smell of the leaves that he had caught, though the smell had grown pungent with time. No, the smell he was seeking lay below them.
He dug at the leaves, dug and tested the scent and dug some more until at last, he was left staring at the earth below. He almost missed it but something moved in the trees, an owl taking off in flight, and a dim beam of light illuminated the bare patch of earth. There, laying harmlessly at the base of the tree was a cracked black stone. Teddy picked it up gently and turned it in his hand to get a better look. He could almost swear that there was an image on the stone. He turned it again to get a better view of the image. There was a speck of dirty on the stone and Teddy turned it in his hand once more to clean it off.
It happened most suddenly. Something moved behind him and could hear what sounded like footsteps walking toward him. Every hair on his body stood on end and he gripped the small stone tightly. He felt his muscles tense, waiting for an attack, his nostrils taking in the air, his ears straining to hear anything else. He could not smell an intruder, perhaps it was a deer or one of the centaurs. But then the leaves crunched again and he couldn't help but feel that someone was behind him. He sat up slowly and began to turn.
"Wotcher Teddy," came the voice of a woman from behind him.
Teddy yelped and spun around quickly, so quickly that he landed on his behind in the dirt. He was left staring up at a pair of people he thought he would never get to see. They weren't solid, but they weren't ghosts either. A pretty young woman with short, spiked, bubble gum pink hair and a heart shaped face smiled down at him, her blue eyes sparkling with laughter.
"I see you've inherited my clumsiness," she chided in a good-natured way.
The man beside her smiled too. He looked much younger than what Teddy was used to seeing from the old photos. His hair was not so gray but a sort of dirty blonde and his face was not so worn or lined and he didn't look as sickly. His eyes were warm and friendly but at the same time guarded. Teddy sat on the forest floor and stared up at his parents in utter shock.
"Don't be afraid, son," Remus Lupin said.
"I'm not," Teddy finally managed to say around the large and uncomfortable lump that had formed in his throat.
He stood up and brushed the dirt off of himself, accidental dropping the stone as he did so. The images of his parents flickered and then disappeared and Teddy swore loudly before diving for the stone once more. He stared at it, not quite sure how it worked and then he tried turning it in his hand. His parents came back into view. He stared at them hungrily. He was nearly as tall as his father and seemed to tower over his mother. They looked at him as if they could never see enough of him.
"Look how he's grown, Remus!" his mother exclaimed, "I remember how small he was, just a baby in my arms."
"You look well, Teddy," his father said, "How are...things?"
Teddy knew what he was asking, "I'm a magical mystery. It seems that the metamorphmagus ability that I inherited from mum tampers with the lycanthropy I inherited from you."
"You're not a werewolf then?" his father asked, sounding rather relived.
"Not really," Teddy shrugged, it was always fun, explaining his condition, "I can er, change what animal I am. The healers at St. Mungos have taken to calling me a pan-were or something."
"A pan-were," Remus tested the term, "That is interesting. So you're not dangerous? You can choose which animal to become when the moon is full?"
"Yes," Teddy nodded, "But Headmistress Clearwater is having Professor Devland make me the Wolfsbane Potion, you know, as a precaution."
"Very wise," Remus smiled, "I'm glad to see that I have not hindered your ability to live among the normal people."
"You wouldn't have hindered me, dad," Teddy said, a bit stung by his father's self-loathing words, "Harry told me what happened to you and I know that it wasn't your fault."
Lupin look both taken aback and touched by his son's words, "I see we made the right choice when we made Harry your godfather."
"He was the only one for it," Dora smiled, "And I'm happy to hear that he's told you about us."
"Of course he's told me," Teddy said, "I only asked him and Grandma 'Dromeda to tell me about you almost every hour of everyday when I was younger."
Teddy fished around in his robes and pulled out a very worn photograph and held it up to them. It was a picture that had been taken right after his birth and depicted an elated Lupin and sweat soaked, tired but beaming Tonks holding a tiny sleeping baby who's hair kept changing colours. At seeing the photograph, Tonks' eyes brimmed with tears and she clutched onto her husband who put an arm around her. Lupin looked at his son, sadness so raw in his eyes that it made Teddy's throat nearly close. He had meant the photo to make them happy, as it made him, not sad.
"I'm sorry," Remus said, "I'm sorry we left you behind."
"We should have stayed with you," Tonks said clearly, even though her eyes were streaming tears, "I'm sorry."
"Don't ----," Teddy said, reaching forward to comfort his mother only to have his hand pass through her image. He pulled it back, frowning.
"Don't cry, mum. I know that you and dad had to go. Harry told me that you two fought so hard and that the battle might have gone the other way if you and all the others hadn't stepped in. I'm not angry or ashamed at what you did or who you were. I know that you fought that day to protect me and give me a future and now here I am, living a good life, getting a good education and surrounded by people who love me and who I love back. Isn't that what you wanted for me?"
"He's got your wisdom, Remus," Tonks half-smiled, "You're so grown up, Teddy and I only wish that we were there to see it."
"I do too," Teddy said softly, "I've always wanted you here but I know that what you did was the right thing and I'm grateful to you both. I've loved you my entire life, even if you weren't around for me to show it. I guess this is my time to show you. I wish I could keep you around forever."
"But you know you can't," Lupin smiled wistfully, "I assume that Harry told you about the Hallows?"
"Yeah," Teddy nodded, "I've heard the bed time story. Its almost curfew and Victoire's probably waiting for me."
"Victoire?" Tonks asked with a small smile.
"Yeah," Teddy beamed but couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed, "She's my girlfriend. She's Bill and Fleur Weasley's oldest."
"But that's fantastic," Lupin replied, "We're happy for you, son."
"Thanks," Teddy replied, his face sobering, he needed to get back up to the castle and yet he didn't want to say good-bye either, "I love you both so much."
"We love you too, Teddy," Tonks replied.
"And we couldn't be more proud of the person you've become," Lupin continued, "I just want you to know that we've always loved you and we always will."
"I know, dad," Teddy nodded, "I'm just so glad that I could see you and let you know that I'm alright. I'll always be proud to be your son and I'll treasure my life because I know that its what you died for. Thank you so much for the life you've given me and I love you more than I can ever say."
His parents just nodded. They knew that it was good-bye. The family stood in the forest that night and took each other in for a last lingering moment and as the single tear traced its path down Teddy's cheek, he released the Resurrection Stone and watched his parents smiling, teary faces fade into the night as the stone hit the earth once more. Teddy fell to his knees on the ground and dug a small hole in the ground in which he buried the stone, his lone tear falling onto the freshly filled hole.
"Good-bye," he said quietly before getting to his feet, "I love you mum and dad."