Teddy Lupin sat in front of the tall white pillar, lost in thought. Minerva McGonagall watched him from the tower window and smiled slightly. He was growing up to be a good man, clever and kind. There were bad days, of course, and this was one of them. It had been sixteen years since the Battle of Hogwarts, since his parents had left him at home and gone to fight Voldemort and died in the process. Minerva had gone down to the memorial- a white pillar engraved with the many, many names of all those who had died fighting the Death Eaters- while it was still dark that morning. She had allowed herself a few minutes to mourn the loss of all the friends, students and colleagues who had died that day.
She had dropped the apparition barriers for that day, knowing from years past that the survivors and the families of those who had died would want to come to pay their respects. She had seen them trickle in over the course of the day, sometimes alone, sometimes in groups. She hadn't canceled classes, not with exams only a few weeks away, but she had a feeling no one had learned much.
It was a different world now, that was for sure. A better one, maybe. Certainly there were no forces of evil trying to take over, and the ministry was better by far than it had been under Fudge. Other than that, though, nothing had really changed. Everyone was older. She was older, and more alone than she had been. Albus was gone, as were Severus and Alastor, Remus and Tonks. Filius had joined them last year. There were new people though; Neville was shaping up to be a fine professor, Teddy would be graduating in a year and the Potters' oldest son would be coming next year. That was a strange thought. She would have taught three generations of Potters, all of them trouble makers.
Down on the grounds, the sun set and Teddy got up. He returned to the castle with a determined look on his face. Sixteen years on, things weren't so bad.