Just Thanks
Harry laughed and scooped up the small boy, who giggled. Holding his hand tightly, Harry swung Teddy Lupin around the room, then tossed him gently onto the sofa. The four-year-old laughed harder.
"More, more!" he begged. Harry obliged, and once more whirled him around so that the child's long blue-green hair flew into his eyes. Turquoise always had been his favorite color.
At last, they both flopped onto the overstuffed sofa, panting and laughing. They were quiet a moment, catching their breath, and then Teddy spoke.
"Uncle Harry, where are my parents?" he asked innocently, in the way only a small child could. As he asked the question, he pulled out of his pocket a tatterd picture. It show a tired and shabby, but grinning man and a laughing woman with vibrant pink hair. Betweem them they held a tiny bundle, out of which you could just see the face of a tiny baby. His hair was turquoise.
Harry was caught at unawares by the question, and felt himself flung back into memories, to that night. He hadn't really known how to tell Teddy. He had not idea whether the boy understood the concept of death at all. But he had to know sometime. Harry could not hide it from Teddy forever, it was best that he told him now, gently, and tried to make him understand what they had died for as best he could.
"Do you remember how I told you about that bad man, who was mean and horrible?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, Foldomor! He was bad!" replied Teddy. Harry had told him a little about Voldemort, how he had been a bad person, and how all the good people had helped defeat him.
"Well, four years ago, the year you were born, Voldemort was trying to, um, take over the world. Your mum and dad were in a special, secret group that was trying to stop him.
"They were undercover for a long time, working secretly and quietly against him."
"But why didn't they just get him straight away?" asked Teddy. Harry noticed that his eyes were silver-blue right now, they usually were when he was intrested in something.
"Voldemort was a very, very dangerous wizard. No one could just kill him because he'd used very bad, evil spells to stop them. After a long time, me, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Hermy undid the spell. We went to Hogwarts, and Voldemort followed us there.
"When we got there, everyone who hated Voldemort joined together, people from your mum and dads group, and kids at Hogwarts, people we knew. There was a big fight, and all Voldemort's people fought the good people. Voldemort killed a lot of people, and your parents died in that fight. They were fighting to make the world safe for you."
"They're not coming back, then?" asked Teddy quietly, "Not ever, even just to visit?"
"No," said Harry, and his voice broke hs he said it. He wished more than anything for Remus to be back, and Tonks, smiling and changing hair colors. Remus, Tonks, Sirius, James and Lily, Dumbledore... The list of those he would dearly love to see whirled out of control in his head. "No, they're not coming back." Hayy answered, and he felt a tear roll slowly down his cheek. Little Teddy reached out and held onto his hand.
"After your dad died," Harry struggled to continue, "I saw him, just once. He told me he wanted you to know why he died, and he hoped you would understand that he was trying to make a world that you could live in, and be happy. He wanted you to be happy."
The boy nodded. "I just wish... They would come back and talk to me." said Teddy in a tiny voice. "And maybe, I could say, you know, thanks."
Harry also nodded. He couldn't say anything. Just to say thanks, Teddy had said, and Harry knew that the four-year-old was right. That was what Harry really wanted, just to say thanks to everyone, to all the people who had died fighting for him, so that he could defeat Voldemort. To Remus and Tonks, Sirius, Dumbledore, Fred, Moody, and all the nameless ones, each who were mourned and missed by their own loved ones. Just that. Thanks.