Harry Potter fanfiction
GUIDANCE
One-Shot
Teddy Lupin

Author's Note: So, this is just a little something that I was inspired to write after I watched the final film in the Harry Potter series. I completely lost it when I saw Remus and Tonks' dead bodies and cried ... hard. (Not like hardcore sobbing, but there were a lot of tears pouring from my eyes. d:) And then when Harry mentioned Remus not ever knowing his son, that's when I hatched this idea. So, I hope you enjoy it. It's nothing much, and it's not that long, not as long as I had hoped it to be, but oh well. Leave your comments. (: I'm anxious to see how I did. (And if anything sounds weird in this, cut me some slack; it's almost one o'clock in the morning. xD But let me know! I thrive on constructive criticism. ^-^) -Michele. (:

The mantle was littered with pictures, both animated and still. Sad, narrowed eyes grazed the photographs with longing, especially those of a merry couple, dancing around, holding each other delicately. The woman in the photographs was smiling widely, showing all of her teeth while bubblegum pink hair tickled her facial features. The man, on the other hand, was merely smirking, his narrow dark eyes glancing from the camera to his beloved wife in his arms.

Teddy Lupin reached out towards a photograph of his parents. They looked so happy together, it made him smile faintly. However, realizing that he'd never know the happy couple made his smile disappear, and his hand fell back to his side.

The spitting image of his father, but with the spunky and outrageous personality of his mother, Teddy was the son of the powerful Aurors, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks. He'd heard stories about them, from his grandmother and from his godfather Harry Potter, and they were great stories indeed. He was aware of the roles they played in the great wizarding war that ended the Dark Lord Voldemort's life, and also his parents'.

"Teddy, dear, is your trunk packed for tomorrow?" asked his grandmother, Andromeda, from the adjoining kitchen, her back turned to him. Taking one last look at his parents' pictures and their grinning faces, he turned away and followed his grandmother's voice into the kitchen. He perched himself at the breakfast bar, spinning gently on the stool while she fixed Teddy something to eat. Ingredients magically flew to her as she turned on the stove, and a wet cloth wiped down the counters around her.

"Yeah, everything's packed," he said with a nod.

"Your final year," sighed his grandmother. "Aren't you excited? After this you'll be thrust into the real world, and you can undergo your training to become an Auror."

He folded is arms over the breakfast bar, his lips pressed into a tight line while his eyebrows furrowed. He was silent for a while and his grandmother turned around, curious to his nonresponsive behavior.

"Teddy?"

"Grandmother," he began softly, his eyes briefly grazing her face before looking elsewhere in embarrassment. "Do … do you think Mum and Dad would … be proud of me?" He struggled to release the words, nervous for her answer. After all, Teddy had done things that weren't necessarily to be proud of since he started attending Hogwarts. He'd become a real prankster, and was constantly being scolded and reprimanded for his wrongdoings. He was always punished, and was always getting House points taken away from Gryffindor. And then, just recently that summer, he had his girlfriend, Victoire, had made love for the first time, and Teddy was afraid of the outcome. Would Victoire become pregnant, and, if so, what in the world was he supposed to do? He didn't want to talk to his grandmother about it, nor did he want to confess to his godfather, who happened to be Victoire's uncle, that he'd made love to her. It were times like these that he wished he had his own parents to talk to.

"Teddy …" his grandmother said gently. "Why would you doubt that? Of course your parents would be proud of you."

"But, I'm so troublesome. I cause a whole load of mischief, and I bet some people wish I would just get out of the country," he sighed.

"Ted Remus Lupin," she said firmly. "These thoughts are ridiculous. How could you think such a thing? Of course you're troublesome and mischievous—you're a teenage boy! Besides," A small smirk appeared on her face, "your mother was quite the mischievous one as well. She was always getting into trouble at school." His grandmother shook her head with a chuckle. "You are your parents' son. Hasn't Harry ever told you the stories of your father and his friends back when he was in school?"

"He's told me some," Teddy replied. "But from what I could tell, it was mostly Harry's father and Sirius that were really the troublemakers."

"Yes, but you are also Sirius' nephew, remember," she said with a grin. "Mischief runs in this family, Teddy. I think your parents would have been shocked if you would have turned out calm and quiet. I know I would have been shocked."

Teddy was grinning widely now, his hair shifting from the mousy brown color to an electric blue to match his happiness. His grandmother briefly turned around to check on Teddy's meal, stirring around the cube-cut potatoes in the frying pan.

"When you finish with your dinner, I want you to go back upstairs and take a bath. After all, you are still a teenage boy," she reminded. Teddy chuckled and shook his shaggy hair.

"Alright, Grandmother."

"Teddy …" a gentle voice whispered to him. Teddy's eyebrows furrowed as his eyes squeezed shut. "Teddy, dear …"

"Five more minutes, Grandmother," he begged, groggily, pulling his blanket over his head. He heard a playful chuckle that didn't sound like his grandmother. His eyes slowly opened, the blanket still over his head.

"Did you hear that, Remus? He thinks I sound like a grandmother! I didn't think I was that old," she said.

Remus? he thought mentally, and suddenly he threw the blankets off of him, jolting upright. His eyes were wide and glowing, full of shock and disbelief.

His parents were there, sitting in his bedroom, healthy and smiling and … alive! There was his mother, her heart-shaped face smirking mischievously while her pink hair shone vibrantly in short tousles, and his father, dressed in the usual tattered suits Teddy saw him wearing in the photographs, his scarred face spread with a gentle smile. His mother sat on the edge of his bed while his father took the chair that went with his desk.

"You're … you're here," Teddy whispered.

"'Course we're here, darling!" his mother exclaimed.

"We've always been here, Teddy," his father said. "We're with you everywhere you go."

Teddy's mother smiled, placing a hand gently on his jaw. "Oh, Remus, look—he looks just like you," she said softly. She noticed his electric blue hair and beamed, ruffling her hand through it. "I see you've taken a liking to vibrant colors."

Teddy grinned and shifted the color of his hair to neon green. His mother gasped and squealed with delight.

"Remus! Teddy's a Metamorphmagus as well!" she exclaimed, glancing back at Teddy's father with excitement. "You've inherited my ability!" She then shifted her hair to a bleach blonde color, morphing it into a mop of lengthy curls. Teddy grinned and morphed his hairstyle into a tall rainbow-colored Mohawk. His mother laughed giddily, clapping her hands. "Very nice!" After that, the two began having morphing showdowns, changing the complete appearance of their faces. Teddy's father sighed and chuckled.

"Alright, Dora," he said. "I think that's enough."

His mother's face returned to her natural heart-shaped youthful appearance while her hair changed back to the wispy pink style. Teddy did the same as to return to his original form and grinned sheepishly.

"So, what are you guys doing here? I mean, why can I see you?" asked Teddy. "Am I dreaming?"

"Of course you're dreaming, sweetheart," said his mother. "Even in the wizarding world, the dead cannot come back to life."

"You were asking your grandmother a question," said his father. Teddy's eyes slightly widened. "That is why we're here, why you can see us. We want to answer your question in person."

"Though, Mum pretty much summed it up," his mother said with a wink. "But we knew it would be better if we told you ourselves."

"You were right," Teddy said. "I would have rather heard it from you both."

"Right then, dear." His mother nodded. "Ask your question," she said, even though she already knew what Teddy wanted to ask.

He took a deep breath and looked both his parents in the eye. All jokes were aside now. No more giggles, no more playing around—just complete seriousness.

"I wanted to know … if you guys were proud of me …" Teddy said softly.

His father smiled widely as his mother thrust her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Teddy's heart pounded in his chest, feeling the warmth from his mother's body, from her embrace, like she was really there. He could smell her perfume and could feel her flesh against his skin. Never had Teddy known what it was to hug his own mother, and now that he finally was, he was dreaming it. What if this wasn't how his mother felt at all? What if she was normally cold and clammy, instead of soft and warm? He shook the thoughts aside. He highly doubted a woman as vibrant and beautiful as his mother could be cold and clammy. The way the hug felt was very real despite it only being a dream.

"Oh Teddy, sweetheart," she whispered in his ear. "We couldn't be prouder."

"You've become a marvelous young man, Teddy," his father said, rising from the chair to stand beside his mother. "You've inherited all the right qualities to make you a perfect man."

"If I were to have been born a werewolf, would you have thought differently of me?" asked Teddy, slightly fearing his father's answer. Teddy knew fully well of his father's lycanthropy, and how he was not proud of it in any way, shape, or form. However, the smile on his father's face told him that Teddy really did have nothing to fear. He clapped a hand on Teddy's shoulder as his mother withdrew from him to look him in the eyes.

"Regardless of what you turned out to be, I would have loved you all the same. I learned that I had to be proud of what I got from a dear friend, and he was absolutely right. I am proud of who I got as a son. I'm the luckiest father there ever was." He ruffled Teddy's tousled hair, chuckling at the extraordinary color. "You're just like your mum."

His mother grinned and Teddy took a good look at his parents again. He couldn't believe he was sitting here with them. It was so surreal and he hated the fact that this was actually all just a dream. Why couldn't this be reality? What had he done to deserve a parentless life?

"I miss you," Teddy said softly, his eyes brimming with tears. "I wish this wasn't a dream."

"We miss you too, sweetie," his mother replied gently, combing his hair out of his face.

"It's hard without you both here," Teddy continued. "I mean, I love Grandmother, and I know Harry does his best to be there for me, but it's not the same. They're not my parents. You two are. It's not the same. And … it's not fair … I never even got to really meet you, to get to know you, to grow up with you."

"I guess this falls under the question that we wanted to ask you," said his father. Teddy's parents locked eyes for a brief moment before returning their gazes to their son. "Teddy, are you proud of us?"

He was taken aback, not prepared for a question like that. Why would his parents ask if he was proud of them? He mulled the thought over in his mind. Of course he was proud of them. They had fought valiantly in the last wizarding war, and even died fighting. They fought for Hogwarts, for the goodness of magic folk and Muggles alike. They fought against the Dark wizard, Voldemort, the greatest Dark wizard in history. His parents would be in books. They would be read about and studied. Most importantly, they would be honored and remembered.

"We died in that war," his mother said. "We fought for the freedom you have today. But we left you and we robbed you of a chance to live a normal life with a normal family. We robbed you of the chance to have parents. I …" She closed her eyes, squeezing them shut, as she gripped Teddy's hand. "I could have lived," she whispered. "If I hadn't left to fight in the war, I would be with you now, Teddy. I would be alive with you. But I couldn't stand to be away. I needed to fight for the school, for the people, for you. So, I ask you, Teddy, my son, my sweetheart, my darling child"—she stroked his face again—"are you proud of us? Are you proud of me and my decision? Could you ever forgive me for leaving you to fight?"

He saw how his mother's eyes gleamed like glass and heard the fragility of her voice. It almost tore him inside, almost made him break down and cry like a little boy in front of them. But he didn't. He kept his composure and stared at his parents' faces, recording them in his memory. When he woke up, he didn't want to forget this moment. He didn't want this conversation to become a hazy blur that most dreams turned out to be after waking from them. He wanted this to be forever stored in his memory.

He smiled widely, then, flashing all of his teeth. He grabbed a hold of his parents' hands, one from his father and one from his mother. Shaking his head, he answered them.

"I've never known you, only what I've heard from Grandmother and Harry. I've never known your voices or your touch, but I have always known one thing. I've known that my parents were some of the greatest Aurors, and that they did fight valiantly in the wizarding war, that they helped protect Harry and guided him onto the right path, that, even though you died, your love still reached me. How could I possibly not be proud of you? How could I possibly not forgive you? I've got the greatest parents in the world, and I know they love me. They died fighting for me and my freedom, wishing me the greatest life I could live. That is something to be incredibly proud of."

His mother's cheeks glistened with tears as they strolled down her face, nodding her head and whispering, "Yes … yes …," thankful that he understood. His father smiled down at him, his own form of thanks a silent one, but Teddy heard it just as much.

"We are always with you, my son," his father said, "giving you guidance when you need it."

"Like guardian angels?" asked Teddy with a grin, and his father chuckled.

"Yes, like guardian angels."

"The best you could ever ask for," his mother assured with a smile as she wiped her tears. She then looked up at her husband, exchanging glances that Teddy didn't quite understand. His father nodded at her, and she returned her gaze back on her son.

"You'll be getting up soon," she said. "You've got a big day tomorrow."

"Your final year at Hogwarts," his father added proudly.

Teddy's gut wrenched. He didn't want to wake up. He didn't want to leave his parents. But they were encouraging him, and he knew he'd have to continue his own life. Besides, he knew now that they were always with him, granting him the guidance he needed. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. It was embarrassing, but now that he had his parents with him, he thought he should ask before they parted.

"You said you'd offer me guidance when I'd need it," he said. "Well, I need it now, actually."

"What's wrong?" asked his mother.

"You see, my girlfriend, Victoire, and I … well … we took our relationship to the next level," he stammered. As he feared, expressions of shock etched over his parents' faces. "I'm scared. What if … what if she becomes pregnant? What if I become a dad? I'm not ready for that … I-I don't know what to do …"

"If she is pregnant," his father said, "don't leave her alone. It's a big responsibility, and to dump that on a teenage girl would be cruel and cowardly."

"Accidents happen," his mother added. "If she does have a baby, well, you both will just have to deal with it. There are many options—if you two don't feel ready, you could always put the baby up for adoption."

"But don't let her deal it with it on her own," his father ended. "You must be a man and own up to your actions."

"And, in the future," his mother chuckled, "be more careful." Teddy blushed and his hair shifted a bashful pink that matched his cheeks. His parents laughed playfully, and Teddy nodded.

"Everything will turn out fine," Teddy's father reassured, "and we'll always be there for you."

"Now, it's time for us to go," his mother said reluctantly. "We will see you soon."

"You will?" asked Teddy hopefully.

"We're always with you, remember?" she reminded with a wink. Teddy smiled and nodded.

"Right."

His mother leaned over and pressed her plump lips to his forehead, and his father did the same. Afterward, his vision became hazy and, when he opened his eyes, his parents were gone. The pit in his stomach went empty, that disappointing feeling of dreaming something you wished were real. But he overcame that quickly. His parents were always with him, after all. He had no need to be disappointed. Stretching his arms over his head and smacking his lips together, he smiled up at the ceiling.

"Thank you, Mum and Dad," he whispered.

Post-story author's note: Okay, in case you're thinking how random the part between Teddy and Victoire is, it really isn't supposed to be random at all. They don't express this in the movies, but in Deathly Hallows, the book, it is mentioned. In the book, Remus is terrified of the idea of Tonks being pregnant, afraid of the baby turning out to be a werewolf, like himself, thus condemning Tonks to a doomed life. He tells Harry that he wishes to join him and to leave Tonks with her parents, but Harry confronts Remus, telling him it would be cowardly and pathetic for him to leave his wife with a baby to care for all on his own. I wanted a sentimental moment between Teddy and Remus regarding this situation. It appears that Teddy has [perhaps] fallen in the same tracks as Remus had, afraid of a baby in his life. Thus, Remus tells his son what Harry told him years ago, to not leave his partner alone with a responsibility as such. So, I just thought I'd clear that up for those who hadn't read the book, or had forgotten that particular part in it.

(And, in case you're wondering, Victoire isn't pregnant after all. I'm sure Teddy is extraordinarily relieved about that. xD)