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The room hadn't changed much since Harry was eleven. It looked like a disused classroom, dark shapes of chairs and desks were piled against the wall and an upturned waste paper basket stood in a corner, but propped against the wall facing him was something that didn't look like it belonged there, that looked as if someone had put it there to keep it out of the way. And sat in front of the magnificent mirror, with the ornate golf frame and the clawed feet, was Teddy. He had his back to Harry, but he could tell who it was. Teddy's hair was light brown, not like his usual blue. Harry felt like his insides had turned to ice. He wasn't sure that Teddy had noticed him come in, so he quietly cleared his throat.
Teddy shot round and let out a guilty gasp. He jumped up from the mirror and clumsily shoved his wand out in front of him. His eyes were wide open and he was breathing in short, quick breaths. But when he realised it was Harry, his breathing slowed, and his expression returned to normal. "Harry." Teddy whispered. "I…I…" He stuttered. "I thought you were Filch." Teddy quickly put his wand back into the pocket of his robes and furrowed his brow. He was, as ever, trying to hide his emotions. He shook his head and took a deep breath, then in a carefully steady voice he began. "I, erm, I…" He was struggling for words, Harry could tell. Then Teddy seemed to realise something. "Why are you here at Hogwarts?" He asked Harry.
"I was teaching a Defence against the Dark Arts class today. Your Defence against the Dark Arts class, actually." Harry replied calmly, although he didn't feel calm at all. He just wanted to get straight to the point with Teddy.
"Oh, really? I didn't realise, I'm sorry I missed it. I was a little…um, preoccupied. What was it about?" Teddy was trying his hardest to sound casual.
"It was interesting, Teddy." Harry replied. "You would have enjoyed it. It was on Patronuses. In fact, your dad taught me all about them. It seems a shame that you missed it."
At the mention of his father, Teddy made a strange movement towards the mirror, and Harry took his chance.
"I know what that mirror does." He began to walk closer to Teddy, who still stood in front of the mirror. Teddy cast his gaze onto the floor, ashamed.
"I couldn't help it." He breathed, so quietly Harry strained to hear him.
"It is the Mirror of Erised." Harry said simply. He didn't know what else to say.
"I didn't know it was called that."
"I expect you've realised by now what it does?"
Teddy fell silent, and turned his gaze longingly back to the mirror.
Harry carried on. "It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest desires of our hearts."
"I know." Teddy said sadly.
Harry repeated the exact words he remembered being told all those years ago. "This mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that." He winced a little; these words didn't sound as wise coming from Harry as they did when Dumbledore had said it to him. He felt a little embarrassed. Evidently, Teddy hadn't noticed, as he was still staring forlornly at the mirror. He had sunk back down to the floor, and sat in the exact position Harry had found him in.
The surface of the mirror shimmered and glinted but Harry refused to look into it. He had been here before, and he really didn't want to bring back all those memories of those cold nights he had spent kneeling in front of it. And he also didn't want to think back of the last time he saw the mirror, when he had pulled the philosopher's stone out of his pocket. It was funny how one magic mirror could cause so much grief. But as Dumbledore had said, men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they had seen, or been driven mad by it. He had to help Teddy.
"Teddy, I know about this mirror because I found it, just like you. I came across it one night, I didn't go looking for it…"
"I did." Teddy quietly interrupted. Harry stopped what he was about to say, deciding it would be better to let Teddy finish. Teddy finally looked up to Harry and continued, "You told me, not long ago, about how you saw your parents once in a magic mirror in Hogwarts. And I thought, it's probably still there, somewhere."
"How long have you been looking for it?"
"Not long. The map helped. Harry," Teddy hesitated.
"I know what it's like to be sat there, Teddy. I know what it's like to see people you can hardly believe were real." Harry comforted.
"Harry," Teddy began again. "Just looking at them, seeing their faces, it's wonderful!" Teddy smiled, his eyes wide with awe. He turned back to the mirror. "They're there! I can see them! At first, it seemed so real, I really thought for a second…"
"Teddy, honestly, I really know, more than anybody else, what you're feeling right now." Harry tried to comfort Teddy again. Teddy rested his head on his knees and looked away.
"You don't understand." Said Teddy at last.
"Explain, then." Said Harry.
Teddy swallowed.
"You've told me before, you saw your parents loads after they died." Teddy whispered. "In the mirror, then from Voldemort's wand, the times in that pensieve thing, and then in the forest! Even with the dementors, you said you'd hear their voices. I have no idea what my parents sound like! I wouldn't even know if I'd ever heard them speak!" Harry got the impression that Teddy had been storing this up for a while, and now it all just seemed to spill out of him. He lifted his head off his knees, but still looked away from Harry. "Harry, I can barely talk to people about them. Gran will talk about my mum, but she refuses to speak about my dad, she says she didn't know him that well. Anytime I mention them someone always looks away, or just sighs, or you can see that sad little flash in their eyes…" He began to trail off and Harry seized the opportunity to try and comfort him again.
"You can talk to me, Teddy. You know that. I'll talk to you about Remus and Tonks. Anytime. Honestly. I know what it's like, and I would've loved to have someone to really talk to about my parents."
Teddy seemed to ignore him. "There are hardly any photos. And people just say 'they were very brave' and they look at me pityingly. Huh, 'War Heroes'." Teddy spat. "You know, my parents died in the grounds of this castle! How many times must I have walked over the exact spot where they were killed?!" Harry's breath caught in his throat.
"And I miss them." Teddy had never admitted this before, and Harry didn't know what to do. "And I feel guilty to miss them. Because I never got to know them, so I don't deserve to miss them, or feel sad about them. I don't know anything about them, not really. Why should I miss people I never knew?"
Teddy had taken a deep breath, trying to steady himself. "And up until last week, when I found this mirror, I wasn't even sure what they looked like."
Harry looked down at the forlorn Teddy and he remembered the first time he met Professor R. J. Lupin on the Hogwarts Express at the start of his third year. He remembered their lessons on boggarts and grindylows and red caps and hinkypunks, his anti-dementor lessons, the time Lupin had covered for him when Snape discovered the map. He remembered the night in the Shrieking Shack, when Harry had watched him embrace an Azkaban escapee as a brother. When he saw Lupin transform into a monster in front of the full moon.
He thought back to when Lupin had asked him what his patronus was when he rescued him from the Dursleys, when Harry first met Tonks, how she changed her hair from purple to pink, how she tripped over the Troll Leg umbrella stand at Grimmauld Place. When Lupin had restrained Harry to stop him running after Sirius through the veil. When Tonks had so bravely declared her love for a man who deemed himself too old, too poor and too dangerous for her. And when Lupin had turned up on the doorstep of Grimmauld Place and offered to help Harry with his mission. When he had asked Harry to be Teddy's godfather. All the memories of them swelled in his mind, like they were fighting for a way to get out. It seemed cruel to Harry that he got to spend so much time with Remus and Tonks, and Teddy so little.
As Teddy stared up into that mirror, he looked so much older. He looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He looked like Remus. No one had ever told Teddy how much like his parents he looked, mainly because no one knew what a metamorphmagus really looked like.
"You look just like your father, Teddy." Harry wondered if this was what Teddy would like to hear. Teddy didn't say anything.
Harry desperately wanted to help, but he just couldn't think of anything comforting to say. They sat in silence for a while.
The silence shattered as the door creaked open. Harry turned instinctively, his wand held out.
Any guesses as to who's at the door?
