Merry Christmas, Wherever You Are

by Sapphire Bronze

The story of Christmas a few years after the Battle of Hogwarts. Teddy Lupin was now 5 years old and asked his grandmother Andromeda whatever he wondered. It snowed so much on the Christmas Eve, and the next morning, Teddy and Andromeda had a sudden visitor. What was Teddy's question this time? What did the adults around him answered to the question?

A/N: I do hope you enjoy. I'm afraid there's something that doesn't make sense, as English is my second language…

Warning: A slight spoiler from Pottermore.

22 December

Little children never get bored of asking questions. Adults get bored of being asked those questions as they are always something similar, or, too difficult to answer with simple words, or, something that even adults don't understand well. 'Hey, Gran,'—Teddy was asking something again.

'Hey, Mum,'—years ago, Nymphadora would often said the same. Andromeda remembered that she and Ted got so stumped whenever their daughter asked endless questions.

It was nearly six years since the war ended—Andromeda lost her husband, daughter, and son-in-law, and Teddy lost none other than his own parents. She often got overtaken by onrush of sadness, a feeling of loss. If Ted were here, if Dora were here, if Remus were here—she can't help thinking so. Teddy always noticed his gran stared into vacancy, and said: 'Hey, Gran, what's up?'

'Hey, Gran,'

'What's up, Teddy?'

Andromeda hadn't got tiresome, but she thought he was asking something similar again. She was swishing her wand and a bubbly sponge was dancing on hovering dishes in the air.

'…Where's my mum? Where's my dad?'

Andromeda unwittingly took her attention away from the dishes. CLASH. They fell onto the sink and some got cracked. 'Reparo,' she swished her wand; the pieces were stuck onto each other and all was perfectly mended.

Andromeda had expected, of course, that Teddy would have such a question sometime. Besides, recently he was often invited to dinner at the Weasleys' and Potters'. He didn't have someone around him to be called 'Mum' or 'Dad'. And he might have vaguely wondered that. Andromeda was wiping the bubbly end of her wand with her fingers; she was being sunk in thought for a while.

'You do have Mum and Dad, Teddy. Yes.'

She squatted down and levelled her eyes at him. His eyes were a little moist. He wasn't going to weep. He seemed perplexed; he didn't understand what his gran said.

'Bring the photo here. I mean… the one by the radio.'

It was few days before I told him who the blonde woman was. He asked Andromeda why the woman has a big belly—Andromeda thought that it was time to tell him all properly even if he couldn't understand. She had also thought that his godfather, Harry Potter, had already told Teddy something. Maybe Harry had but Teddy again asked now. Anyway Andromeda must do in her own way. Who is her mother? Andromeda gave a sour smile. She even felt as if she'd heard Dora's angry voice. She went out the kitchen and entered the living room. She hadn't finished washing dishes yet.

There was a Christmas tree by the window in the room. 'I wanna Christmas tree! Gran, Christmas tree!'—Teddy cried pulling Andromeda's clothes as she was cooking dinner. They'd got a fir tree carried by a half dozen owls on the morning. She was a bit annoyed as he pestered so much, but she prepared the tree by the window with some decorations she conjured. The tree wasn't so tall but too tall for Teddy; only the bottom was decorated. Andromeda found a chair by the tree. He must have carried it there to decorate the top of the tree.

Teddy ran up to Andromeda with a photo frame in his hand. She sat down the chair and held him up on her lap.

'You know who she is?' Andromeda pointed herself in the photo.

'Gran!' said Teddy.

It was taken on Christmas, and by the Christmas tree, several months before Teddy was born. Then Ted, Teddy's grandfather, had already left home. All Andromeda could do was to pray for her husband's safety as he ran from the Snatchers and Death Eaters.

'Yeah.'

'It's same face!'

'Oh, yes, of course.'

Andromeda in the photo was waving her hands to her. She found her smile pathetic. She, in the photo, managed to smile.

'Then, who is this woman?'

Andromeda pointed to the next person in the photo. On a chair in front of the tree, a blonde woman with a big belly was sitting, smiling happily. She dropped her eyes on her belly and patted it; she waved her hand to the two looking at the photo.

'Mum!' said Teddy. He knew what Andromeda said few days ago.

'Yes. This is your mum, Teddy.'

'What's her name?'

'Nymphadora. Well, we always called her Dora.'

'Hmm…'

Nymphadora's smile got wider and still waving her hands to them.

'Is this my dad, then?'

A man gave a bright smile with his hand on Dora's shoulder. His face was shined by a flame from fireplace, and also, happiness of having a child.

'Yes, this is your dad. His name is Remus. Remus Lupin. …Very, very gentle man.'

She added the last words unknowingly. Ted had left home and running from the Dark Side. She was also being threatened by her own sister as she was a blood-traitor—it was Remus who helped Andromeda in those dark days. She'd heard he was a close friend of Sirius, her late favourite cousin.

'Your dad was awarded Order of Merlin, too. He fought against a lot, so bravely.'

In a sense, even against Andromeda—her prejudice. And he won. Andromeda pointed to something next to the radio. Gold medal of the Order was shining on a navy blue velvet.

It was a little difficult for Teddy to understand how great his father was. Andromeda was stroking his head vaguely. His hair was as blonde as his mother was in the photo.

'And where's Mum? Where's Dad?'

Andromeda felt as if cracking sound from fireplace suddenly disappeared. She received his words so deeply in her heart. She could no longer take her eyes off.

'Both your mum… and dad… are dead. They were killed. Only nearly a month since you were born. So sad. So angry. Your grandpa had been killed before, too… '

Dora and Remus in the photo smiled sadly. Teddy was poking their faces with the fingertip.

'What does it mean… they're dead?' said Teddy.

'Death is… death. They're dead. No other word equals that,' said Andromeda calmly.

Andromeda closed her eyes and stroked her grandson's head more mindlessly. She couldn't explain in the other words even if he couldn't understand. They were neither sleeping, nor travelling somewhere…

'Then… where do they go… when… they're dead?' asked Teddy, looking over his gran's painful face.

'They're usually lying in their graves. Their bodies are there—'

'I wanna go. Mum and Dad's—'

'You like to go to their graves?'

Teddy was poking his mum's belly now. As soon as Dora's hair turned to bubble gum pink, his hair turned to as pink as hers. Andromeda held him from behind. He was looking for an image of his mother.

'Teddy, then… let's visit on Christmas, before going to the Burrow.'

'Really?'

'Yes. For Dora, Remus…, and yes, Ted… your grandpa, let's make three wreathes for them. Teddy, you do for your mum and dad, please?'

'Yeah!'

25 December

A furious snowstorm howled all day on Christmas Eve. As Andromeda opened the curtain on the morning of Christmas, she found everything outside covered with snow as if it was paved with much white cotton. It was snowy and chilly, but peaceful morning unlike the last night.

She changed her clothes and went downstairs. She saw Teddy sitting down on the floor by the Christmas tree in the living room. There was a pile of packages next to him. He was waiting for her without opening any of them.

'Gran, can I—'

'Why don't you open them?' smiled Andromeda. She crouched and watched Teddy was opening each of the presents.

He tore open the first parcel to find a turquoise blue jumper with a large yellow T knitted on the front. There was also a large box of mince pies and nut brittle. It must have been from Molly Weasley.

'From Grandma Weasley!' said Teddy.

'Oh yes, we'd say thank you to her later,' said Andromeda.

Andromeda had heard that Molly Weasley helped Dora when they were serving for the Order of the Phoenix. And now, even after Dora died, Molly did care Dora's son, Teddy. Molly was as though his another grandma from the large, Weasley family. The card said Merry Christmas to Teddy and Andromeda, and she was waiting for them at Christmas dinner.

Teddy had received so many gifts this year again. A colourful alphabet poster, which sang with an amusing voice as a letter was touched, was from Hermione and Ron Weasley, who were now as famous as Harry Potter, for assisting him in the defeat of Lord Voldemort. Andromeda soon put it on the wall of the living room. Andromeda and Teddy wondered what the next one was because it was a quite long, thin package.

'Wow!'

Teddy got so excited to see what it was. It was a toy broomstick, from his godfather Harry and his wife Ginny. It was when Andromeda stopped Teddy from riding on it at once that they both heard the doorbell ring.

'Who's coming?' said Teddy with a wondering look.

'I wonder, too,' said Andromeda. She held him and hurried to the entrance. It wasn't too early to have visitors. Harry was going to take Teddy to the Burrow? But it was too early for Christmas dinner.

'Good morning, Mrs Tonks. I thought it might be too earl—oh! Hi, Teddy, are you well?' said a deep, slow, comfortable voice.

'Kingsley!'

A tall, black wizard was there. He was wearing a deep green knitted cap with little snow on the top, and a duffle coat of the same colour. He stretched his arms almost unconsciously, Teddy struggled to get out of his gran's arms; at the next moment, he was held in Kingsley's arms. They gave a broad smile.

'I'm sorry, Minister. Hey, Teddy, come here,' said Andromeda.

'Shan't!'

'Oh, no problem. And don't call me Minister, please. Just Kingsley. I'm just a friend of Teddy's parents. Well, excuse me for such a short notice… the ministry is pretty busy these days. I'd been working till late last night…. Anyway, I'd like to give a present to Teddy. All the owls are delivering or booked, I'm afraid, they'd said it'd be after New Year's… nonsense. And yes, I like to see how Teddy's going,' spoke Kingsley quite fast, which was unfamiliar for him.

'Present?' Teddy did catch the word; he was looking up Kingsley so excitedly with twinkling eyes.

'Yeah, well, I guess it's—'

'Please come in, Mr Shacklebolt,' said Andromeda. 'A bit messy inside but it's too cold here…. Teddy, get down if you can't behave yourself.'

Teddy reproachfully looked after his gran's back. Kingsley smiled sweeping away the snow on Teddy's head. His hair was as red as the poinsettia in the garden.

'In fact, I was going to Dora and Remus's grave,' said Kingsley calmly. He'd told Andromeda that he'd already had breakfast; Teddy was having muffins and Kingsley was sipping tea Andromeda had served.

'Oh,' Andromeda sipped tea looking at Teddy's hands. 'Well, in fact, we are going there, too, from now,' said Andromeda. 'So we'd made three wreaths… for Ted, Dora, and Remus.'

'Lovely,' said Kingsley. 'Teddy, how was it? You'd done well?'

'Yeah!' said Teddy. Kingsley stroked his red hair gently. He pulled out a long, narrow box from his breast pocket. It was a green package with a red ribbon.

'This is from me, Teddy,' said Kingsley.

'Wow!' Teddy stretched his arm and received it.

'Wait. What's the magic word?' said Andromeda sharply.

'Thank you, Kingsley!' said Teddy with a broad smile.

'You're welcome. Hey, open it.'

Teddy untied the ribbon and tore the package. He glimpsed Kingsley. Kingsley smiled. He opened the navy blue box with gold and silver stars on it.

'A wand!' yelled Teddy. He held and brandished it. Sparks fell down from the end of the wand as he did it. He jumped down from the chair and frisked with his wand.

'Wonderful, it's a toy wand…. Lucky you, Teddy,' said Andromeda but Teddy wasn't listening. He was avidly watching the sparks the wand made, which changes its colour one after another.

'It's a Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes product,' whispered Kingsley in Andromeda's ears. 'He said only Teddy's one is with a warranty as long as he's alive. If the effects fade, please ask him.'

Twenty minutes later, Teddy, Andromeda and Kingsley had left home and been walking on a snowy street slowly, as they synchronised their steps with Teddy's. Teddy was holding not his gran's hand but Kingsley's. The other hand was still holding the toy wand; the sparks poured on Teddy's footsteps.

As they went nearly half way, Teddy suddenly stopped; Kingsley and Andromeda followed. Teddy was nearly getting fussy as the much snow did bog down his steps.

'Teddy, go on.' said Andromeda. 'We're nearly there.'

Kingsley laughed and held Teddy on his shoulders at once.

'Mr Shacklebolt—'

'Please don't worry, Mrs Tonks. Teddy, don't frolic too much, or you fall.'

Teddy's view was now higher. He got so excited that he lost balance and nearly fell. Kingsley held Teddy quickly and Teddy held Kingsley's cap; it nearly slipped off and Teddy found Kingsley's head bald.

'Wow, your head's shiny!' said Teddy.

Kingsley roared with laughter. Andromeda felt uneasy.

'Teddy, please put the cap on my head. You saw it… I wish I had as much hair as you…. It's too cold without a cap.'

Teddy followed his words. He tapped and poked Kingsley's glossy cheeks with the fingertips. Kingsley made a funny look looking up Teddy; Teddy pinched Kingsley's cheeks and cackled. Andromeda was watching them from behind a little nervously. But it was also heart-warming for her to see. They looked like a true father and son.

It was a small graveyard in a forest. Ted, Remus, and Nymphadora—the three was lying there.

'Oh, they're all covered with snow,' murmured Andromeda. The tombs are covered with so much snow and looked just like snowy mounds.

'They're three rows behind,' murmured Andromeda vaguely. Teddy and Kingsley were following her. The forest was quiet. It was snowing so quietly, so gently. All they heard was their muffled footsteps. Teddy, on Kingsley's shoulders, had been silent since they entered the forest.

'Here,' said Andromeda. They couldn't see the headstones, but just snowy, gently-sloping mounds like others. Kingsley held Teddy down and Andromeda passed two wreaths to Teddy. The wreaths were a bit rough works but she didn't care; she knew well Teddy made them for his mum and dad with all his heart.

'Well…, Teddy, we'd better remove the snow first.' Kingsley led Teddy by the hand squeezing the snow towards the headstone, where Dora and Remus were lying. Andromeda also walked nearer to her husband's headstone.

'Hey, Kingsley,'

'What's up, Teddy?'

'Mum and Dad are cold, aren't they? So much snow…'

'Oh yes…, they must be a little cold…'

Andromeda was listening to them sweeping away the snow on Ted Tonks's headstone. 'Darling, are you—is everyone there well?' Andromeda vaguely talked to the headstone, to her late husband, unknowingly. Few minutes later, her black gloves touched a hard, chilly stone at last. Soon she could read the words on the headstone.

'Hey, Kingsley,'

'Oh, what's up, Teddy?'

'Why… why did they die?'

It came across her mind—the image of the witch she hate most. The witch resembled too much to her. She wanted to torture the witch by herself, in her own way. She wanted to make the bitch feel the same pain as her victims felt, as their families and friends felt—she trembled with hatred and realised: her murderer sister was, also, one of the deceased.

'They were killed—by a dark, evil wizard and witch,' said Kingsley.

'Why, why—my mum and dad—why—?' asked Teddy impatiently.

'Both Tonks—your mum, I mean—and your dad Remus fought against the dark witches and wizards, so bravely. I was fighting together with your mum and dad too… So I'm so sad that they were killed… it was the very final battle… We won, but lost so many friends…'

Andromeda saw Kingsley squatting in front of their headstone, sweeping the snow with his bare hands, heave a sigh and sniff. Teddy was looking up Kingsley wonderingly.

'So sad… but then… as I meet you… your smile gets me cheerful.' Kingsley said in a murmur after a spell of silence. Though Andromeda was trying to get her sister's image off from her mind, sweeping and sweeping so hard, she could catch his words and stopped her hands. She suddenly realised that she and Kingsley are doing without wands, something that was pretty easy and quick with it.

'You miss your mum and dad? You feel lonely without them?' said Kingsley gently. They were picking the carved letters on the headstone. Andromeda also picked T of Tonks, waiting for Teddy's answer.

'Well, never felt lonely…' said Teddy, a bit brightly. 'Gran, Harry and Ginny, you too, Kingsley, and—'

Kingsley nodded as Teddy said each name. Andromeda wondered whether he's never, really, felt lonely without his parents. He must miss them. Maybe always. She looked the back of her grandson. But it was definitely true—that everyone loved him.

Andromeda laid the wreath of Christmas roses on her husband's headstone. Something boiling hot came and she couldn't stop them. 'Why are you gone? Why aren't you here for us? We do want to meet you. We want you here for us. All of you…,' said a so tearful voice, which nobody would catch—even she wouldn't herself.

Teddy stood up and laid the wreaths on his parents' headstone.

'Teddy, your mum and dad are always with you…., though they're dead, but thinking of you… always,' said another tearful voice. Kingsley held Teddy's shoulders gently.

'But Gran said… "They're lying in graves"…, so… they're… here…'

Kingsley couldn't answer yet; he seemed to be thinking over. He read their names on the headstone, looking for the answers for Teddy.

'Well…, d'you… d'you know anything about your mum and dad?'

'Harry said… I'm same as Mum. The colour of hair changes—er—'

'It's really rare. You inherit it from your mum. Metamorphmagus, Teddy.'

'Meta—mor—? …And… Dad is… Dad was a great—Harry told me that…'

'Well, he was once his teacher. You mean that?'

'Yeah! Dad was Harry's teacher.'

'Your mum and dad were great. So kind. So brave. We all know how much they loved you. They must—'

Kingsley opened his mouth, holding Teddy's shoulder more tightly.

Andromeda saw Teddy and Kingsley, with her hand on her husband's headstone and her sight blurred with tears.

'—they must have wanted to stay here, alive, with you.'

Kingsley continued. Andromeda left the headstone and came nearer to Teddy.

'We'll never forget Tonks and Remus—your mum and dad. They're here for us—and they'll never forget you, Teddy, even though they're dead. They'll always love you… Always.'

'That means, yes, they're here for you…' said Andromeda. Teddy saw Kingsley's bloodshot eyes and tears rolling down on his gran's cheeks.

'Don't cry… I'm sad when you cry…'

Andromeda put her head on Teddy's shoulder. Kingsley gave a broad smile with tearful eyes and tapped his other shoulder, as though saying 'you're reliable, Teddy!'

'I wanted to tell them today something—so I'd decided to visit here as soon as I could manage—I tell them that their son is—the one they fought for is—well and loved by everyone…'

Suddenly the toy wand, which Teddy had been holding since he got, caught Kingsley's eyes. Kingsley tapped Teddy's shoulder and took his attention.

'Hey, Teddy. Will you conjure the sparks as much as you can, please? With your wand.'

'What? Well, yeah—'

Andromeda couldn't see what they were doing, but she'd found Kingsley's voice a bit excited. She took a half step away to allow him to swing his wand.

Teddy swung it at once. Sparks was blue at first, then gold; when they turned scarlet, Kingsley pulled out his wand from the breast pocket.

'Teddy, swing a bit slowly… okay, yes, yes…'

Kingsley aimed his wand at the sparks. Andromeda felt strangely thrilled watching what the two were doing—

'Wow!' Teddy was amazed to see it. The sparks got winded and twisted as soon as he conjured; Kingsley was transforming them—it was made of scarlet smokes, flying around the three. The bird was fluttering elegantly and came overhead. Kingsley aimed his wand at it again. Its tail feathers stretched so long, and got winded and twisted. They were now read as words:

Merry Christmas!

'Merry Christmas,' murmured Andromeda. The phoenix soaring high in the air, with its tail feather wafting like a ribbon.

The phoenix burned up. It turned the sparks as it was and fell softly above their heads. Teddy stretched his arms and widen his eyes.

'Teddy, a nice magic, really. Thanks.' said Kingsley.

'Merry Christmas, Mum, Dad!' shouted Teddy. He was looking heavenward until the very last spark fell onto the snow. Andromeda smiled wiping her eyes. Kingsley held Teddy on his shoulders again.

'So, now—' Andromeda glanced around their loving one's headstones. 'Let's go. We're invited by the Potters and Weasleys, you remember, Teddy?'

'Yeah!'

'It must be fun, Teddy. Er—well, I'll drop by, then. It's Christmas—I don't wanna work today.'

'Come with us, Kingsley!'

—Merry Christmas, wherever you are.