If you are starting out here-

PLEASE HEAD BACK AND READ CHAPTER ONE IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!

-updates have been made guys! Not too much has changed in this chapter, but it does go more in depth on Teddy's back story so you can get a better feel of his personality! Getting there guys, sorry for the delay! Not too much has changed in this chapter, but it does go more in depth on Teddy's back story so you can get a better feel of his personality!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Warnings: Lots of violence, and cursing. Slash in later chapters.

Thinking/Reading: 'But how do I escape from death?'

Normal speech: "…Oh shite. You did this!"


July 28, 2190


Awareness returns to Teddy with his first desperate inhalation. Overcome by flashes of his last agonizing weeks of life, Teddy clenches his eyes shut and adjusts quivering limbs, curling himself into a defensive ball. Sobs of relief wrack his pubescent form at the absence of pain, but his tears fall far more swiftly as it dawns on him how he has arrived at this 'oasis' from torment. His father, his kind and unfailing hero... has given up on him.

Undoubtedly he'd done it to be merciful, but Teddy doesn't want mercy from his father. No, Teddy would rather suffer by his father's side than never see him again. It isn't like he hasn't been through great anguish before. Nothing has ever come close to causing him the distress he'd once endured with every transformation into his lupine form. The difference this time had been the length of his suffering. That's what had overwhelmed him to the point that he'd helplessly begged for death, though he dearly wishes he'd refrained.

At least when he'd been on the carving slab he could be sure of his father's unwavering devotion to him. He'd seen it in his father's tormented eyes as Teddy instinctually begged for an end to the constant burning brought by surgically precise hands. Here, wherever he is now, that loving and determined presence is absent. Teddy can sense somehow that should he remain, he will never feel it's gentle brush again.

Unacceptable.

Yanking harshly at his hair, Teddy desperately wails, "FATHER!" and listens, not yet daring to open his eyes. The answering silence is unbearable, -maddening even. Clenching his teeth, Teddy opens multi-colored eyes. Surrounding him on all sides is an empty gray abyss. The silently swirling mists bring him no comfort, only a growing sense of isolation.

Shakily uncurling from his crouch, Teddy scours the barren void for a means by which to leave its daunting reach. He has to return to his father. He can't bear the thought of leaving him alone to suffer when he only did what Teddy regrettably begged for him to do in the first place. His father is far too kind, though Teddy is unable to begrudge him for the trait. He's Teddy's hero after all: kind, brave, and loyal only to him.

That loyalty is why Teddy refuses to remain here, because he shares it. He'd do anything to ensure his father's happiness, and is well aware that without him around the man might very well go mad.

'But how do I escape from death?' Teddy broods despondently, peering anxiously around the eerie zone he's landed in. A soft crackling sound echoes behind him causing him to tense. Reaching for his wand, Teddy comes up empty and feels tendrils of dread creep up his spine, more so when he notices a shadow lengthening from his feet. Cursing he slowly turns, then freezes with unease at the thing drifting slowly towards him through the mist. Creaking and cracking as it comes ever closer, is a tarnished golden mirror.

Adorning the top of its gleaming frame, Teddy can make out glyphs carved into it, although it's far too dark for them to be legible. The mirror stops its approach a mere foot in front of him, and for a moment all is quiet and still. Heart racing with apprehension, Teddy watches as the hazy mist occluding its surface ripples and fades. What he sees on the other side makes his stomach roil.

Breath hitching with terror, Teddy swiftly maneuvers out of the frame, hoping and praying that the thing on the other side hasn't noticed him. Quieting his breaths, he guardedly peers around the corner into a room of carmine carnage. Teddy's never seen so much red in all his life.

What he initially thought a monster is revealed to be a gore-coated individual with their back thankfully turned to Teddy. Long hair lies limply against an equally drenched cloak that drags against the floor, leaving red streaks as the being takes a leisurely step forward.

A wet crunching echoes beneath its sturdy boot, and Teddy struggles not to gag. Spread at the murderer's feet in a chaotic circle, are unrecognizable hunks of flesh and bone that are carelessly being stepped through. A door opens at one side of the room and a vicious, deformed looking goblin waddles in, bowing reverently before the blood soaked being.

"Lord Peverell, the temporal sifter is prepared for activation," the goblin gloats, seeming pleased with itself. Teddy stiffens at the name Peverell, knowing from childhood storybooks that the Peverell's had a close relationship with death.

"Excellent. I will join you at the hall of time as soon as I take care of things here," replies a familiar male voice. The goblin inclines his head, leaving as Teddy ponders where he's heard those soothing tones before. At the loud thud of the door slamming shut, Teddy snaps out of his daze, tensing further as the man slowly turns around. The face that greets him leaves him choking on air.

"Dad?" Teddy pleads, hoping that what he's seeing is real.

"Teddy!" Harry exclaims, beaming at him.

"Oh thank Merlin, you're really here," Teddy blubbers, pressing as close to the glass as he can, unable to get through but still too relieved to care. Harry is here, he didn't really give up on Teddy, and he never will. Slowly starting to process information again, he takes in the blood covering his father and demands, "What happened? Are you hurt? Who did this to you?!"

"It's alright Teddy, I'm fine. I promise that none of it's mine," he swears, green eyes never straying from Teddy's equally emerald eye.

"Wait, then whose-?" Teddy starts, then blanches, once more taking in the horrific scene surrounding his father. His father, who is coated in gore, looking relieved and smiling at him like it's the winter hols come early. "…Oh shite. You did this!"

"I only did what was necessary in order to bring you back," his poor, mad father swears, pressing a blood soaked hand to the glass between them, uncaring as he steps through the remains of one of the unlucky bastards who had been deemed 'necessary'. Teddy gags. "I told you I'd save you. Soon you'll even have your own body again," Harry sighs, lovingly stroking the backs of his fingers along the outline of Teddy's face, leaving red streaks across the glass.

Cringing at the idea that this is somehow his fault- that his father's insanity had been caused by him, Teddy covers his eyes and groans, "I didn't mean for you to do this. I didn't want you to kill people!" He'd never thought his father capable of something like this. So cold and uncaringly remorseless… Harry used to put on a tough face for him, but Teddy had always known how fragile his heart truly was underneath it all. He's one of the few who have seen that side of his father because that heart has only ever been wholeheartedly loving and kind towards Teddy since he was a child.

He'd been so naïve back then though, back before he'd realized why everyone was so very kind to him. Such a stupid little boy, easily fooled by the 'kindness' of strangers, he'd fallen into the simplest of ploys- the cruelest fabrications of affection. When he was younger, before his stupidity had ruined his life, Harry had done his best to be everything for him. He'd go in to work a few days a week, then happily spend the rest of them with Teddy.

It should have been enough. Oh how he loathed his younger self who hadn't known enough to appreciate how good he'd had it. Instead, during his early years at magical daycare, whenever his father had to work and wanted him to socialize more, Teddy had watched the other magical families with envy. Selfishly he'd longed for the only thing he believed he was missing: a mother.

Such an easy thing to fix he'd thought, seeing how many women flocked to his lovely fathers side. Not once had he paid any heed to all of the obvious signs of Harry's discomfort and distrust at such attentions. He'd instead focused on how his father was still grieving over Ginny, saw him weeping over her pictures, and cringing from fireplaces- rarely would you find him using a floo. Teddy had fancied making everything better for both of them. Of finding some perfect person that would stop Harry's nightly fits and cease the longing in Teddy's heart for a maternal figure that would coddle him as he'd seen Lady Malfoy do with his friend Scorpius.

One of the sitters at the daycare, Flora Carrow, had seemed perfect. She was always so kind to him, doting on him over all others and happily teaching him whatever he so desired, much to the envy of the other children. He'd trusted her, babbled without a care to her eager ears all the things he knew of his father, hoping she'd be enticed into pursuing him as the two had never actually met as far as he was aware. In return she gifted him with all manner of treats and praise.

He'd loved her. Slipped and called her 'momma' many times, becoming happily flustered when she'd hug him in return and call him her precious little boy. So eager to please her he hadn't worried nor protested once when she'd asked him to meet her in the park near his home one night.

She hadn't even been there that moonlit eve. In her stead, a snarling beast had descended upon him, and while he'd made it out alive, he certainly hadn't made it out unscathed. Cursed by his naivety and greed, he'd ruined not only his life, but Harry's as well. He never saw Flora again, and though he tried many times, never gained the courage to confide in his father that the curse he'd received had been his own fault.

Guilt and shame tormented Teddy as he watched his father fade from his life, a desolate shell of his former self. His father became a ghost in their own home. Rarely did he see Harry out of the labs at Grimmauld, always busy trying to fix the nightmare Teddy had made of their lives. Apologies and promises were given to Teddy every time they spoke to one another, his father, always so desperate to make up for what he perceived as his own unforgiveable failure.

Teddy would flinch from the words, hating himself more when Harry would see his reaction and draw further into himself, believing that his son rightfully blamed him for his ailments. He couldn't be further from the truth. Would never know that his greedy, spineless son was the one at fault. Teddy knows how repulsive he truly is on the inside.

Too ashamed and terrified to ever tell Harry who was truly responsible for all their woes, knowing that he'd lose the one good thing he'd always had but rarely truly appreciated. The wonderful, amazing person he should have cherished from the beginning and known better than to be so selfish as to want more than he'd had. He'd had everything.

Why, oh Merlin why couldn't he see then that having Harry's love and devotion was enough? It should have been enough.

Oh how he loathed himself. The only thing Teddy hated more than himself growing up were the strangers that flocked to him and his father. Rose tinted glasses removed he could see their 'kindness' for what it truly was. Greed. Desire. Longing for what they didn't have, for what having Harry's love and devotion could give them.

Each of them were shattered reflections of the deceitful woman and the terrible emotions that had brought Teddy's world crumbling down around him. Seeing them as they truly were, the nauseatingly familiar sickness that fueled their empty hearts, he both understood and despised them. Harry deserved far better than the hollow creatures that preyed upon him the rare times he'd take Teddy out.

His own personal miracle, the dimmed but still wonderful light of his life, was surrounded by an irreverent society that tore at him until Teddy could endure it no more. He'd done his best to keep them all at bay, glaring them down, sneering with distaste and using the wandless magic his father taught him to confound and distract them.

Harry remained oblivious of all the unfortunate incidents that happened around him. He was happy believing Teddy to be his brilliant, innocent little boy, unaware that everyone but Harry considered him a cold, callous little monster. The terrifying beast that guarded the beauty. It was a satisfying arrangement until Fenrir caught Teddy by surprise, which lead him to where he is currently. Now it's been Merlin knows how long, and his father clearly isn't doing well.

To see Harry like this, driven to madness because Teddy had failed him once more…

'I've got to fix this,' Teddy despairs.

"I'm sorry if what I've done has upset you, but I-," his father breathes deeply, leans his wet red face against the glass and confesses softly, "I missed you… Merlin I've missed you." As if saying the words shattered some dam within him, he began to cry. Teddy has only ever seen his father cry on the anniversary of the battle of Hogwarts or after a horrific nightmare he always refuses to divulge the details of. The fact that he's crying about how much he's missed Teddy startles him enough to momentarily forget why he's upset.

"Shhh, It's alright dad, I'm here now. Please don't cry," Teddy begs, wanting nothing more than to hug his trembling father, prevented by the blasted glass wall between them, "I can't have been gone that long -you haven't aged a day!" Looking up through watering eyes, Harry shakes his head at Teddy.

"I may not look like I've aged," he cautiously informs Teddy, wiping his face in an attempt to dry it only to spread more blood beneath his lashes. Teddy eyes the red uncomfortably as Harry continues quietly, "but in a few days I'll be two hundred years old."

"…What." Teddy deadpans, absolutely stunned. His father has never lied to him, so it must be true, but Teddy can't help but wonder, "How?"

"Do you remember the fairytale about the three brothers and Death? The one I used to read to you?" he asks, only confusing Teddy more.

"Yes?" Teddy mutters, not sure where this is going. Vaguely he remembers the goblin who'd been in the room earlier calling his father Lord Peverell.

"A long time ago I was able to collect all three hallows, making me the Master of Death. That's actually how I was able to defeat Voldemort, and it's also how I survived the killing curse. As Death's one true Master, I can't die, and I don't age," he gently informs Teddy, looking worried about how he'll take the news.

"Okay, but that doesn't explain how I'm back after almost two hundred years," Teddy says tonelessly, trying to accept what his father is telling him and what it truly means. All of the people he knows -knew, are either dead or on their deathbeds, while his father is an immortal who has spent the last two centuries trying to resurrect him. Kreacher, Luna, Neville, the Malfoys- long gone. It sounds too insane to be real.

"As the Master of Death I have access to the souls of the deceased, but making a new living vessel for someone that won't reject the souls unique magical core is a very complex art. I've found a way to do it, to build such a body for you, but getting to the device that will enable me to do so is just as complicated as making the body. To get there I needed to store your soul somewhere safe for the journey," he explains to Teddy, continuing, "The problem was that I couldn't get your soul to bond with an object because it wasn't my own soul. I fixed that by ritually linking our souls together, which created a bond between them. The ritual itself was very similar to when I blood adopted you… besides the human sacrifice of course. The next step was simple, I just picked a powerful magical object –in this case the mirror of Erised, and then split our souls again, making you and the mirror into a horcrux."

"…A HORCRUX?! You made me into a horcrux? Like what that monster Voldemort did to you?!" Teddy demands, feeling nauseous. This can't be happening. Memory says that his father would never do something so horrible to him, and yet he has, so what's changed? "Why? Why would you do this to me?" Teddy insists, needing to know.

Eyes still unwaveringly fixed on Teddy's face, his father curls in on himself and says quietly, "The war took everyone from me, my family, my closest friends, the woman I loved- " here he pauses, face blank in an obvious attempt to distance himself from the memory, but Teddy knows how much his father had been hurt by losing his Ginny. He isn't sure if it's still there after so many years, but a picture of the woman playing quidditch had remained on a shelf in the living room all of Teddy's life. It was dusty, and hidden behind countless photos of Teddy himself, but it stood there all the same, unmoved.

"…But it also gave me you," he continues, smiling gently at Teddy, "Since the day you were first put into my arms, I've loved you more than anything. You were and still are, the best gift I've ever received."

"When Greyback-," he stops, hands clenching, causing some of the blood coating them to drip off more rapidly. "I couldn't lose you too. Not my baby," he tells Teddy quietly, pressing his forehead to the glass in a futile attempt to get closer. In that moment their eyes meet again and within his father's haunted green orbs, Teddy sees that two hundred years without him have nearly destroyed his father.

Overwhelmed, tears fill Teddy's eyes as he takes in the loneliness and desperation practically carved into his father's visage. He still feels hurt and angry over what's been done to him, but he just can't make himself direct that anger at his father when he's already suffered so much.

"After that day, I spent every waking moment trying to get you back. I'd made a promise to you and I was going to keep it," Harry says, voice echoing with nearly two centuries of resolve. "We're so close now Teddy. Just a little longer and I will be able to give you your body back. You won't be a horcrux afterwards I promise," Harry swears.

"What are you planning to do?" Teddy asks, wondering anxiously what kind of magic his father is going to perform to give back a physical form. With dawning horror, he realizes that it's probably going to be magic requiring something similar to the ritual his father just used.

"We're going to go back in time for the main item that we need. It ceased to exist around four hundred years ago, so we're going back to get it," Harry informs him. Teddy blinks, unsure if he's hearing this right.

"What? How on earth are you going to get us there?" Teddy asks incredulously.

"I've been working with the goblins to build a more powerful version of the time turner, and it's finally complete," His father proudly informs him. Smiling brightly he says, "Now that your soul is safely contained, we can be on our way!" Waving a hand he gestures towards Teddy, making the mirror he's in rise and follow behind an eagerly striding Harry as he turns and makes his way out the door into a long golden hall.

Teddy demands, "Does whatever we're going back for require anything like that?" Still feeling sickened, Teddy gestures back at the room they came from to emphasize his query.

"I'm not entirely sure, but if it does I'll try to avoid making a mess while you're around. I am so, so sorry that you had to see that," His father apologizes, waving a hand and banishing all of the blood and gore from his person as if just now realizing how terrible it made him seem.

"That's not why I was asking that. I don't care about you making a mess; I don't want you to hurt anyone else for me. Please father!" Teddy pleads. Just because he despised other people didn't mean he wanted Harry to further sully himself by killing them. More murder would just warp his ill father further. Surely it'd be better if Teddy remained in the mirror where he could watch his father without causing more damage anyway. He couldn't bear to encourage the ever-growing wreck he'd caused by falling for a cruel woman's false love.

"I- I can't promise that. I'm far too close to stop now Teddy," His father frowns, slowing down to look at him.

"But I don't want you to! I don't know how many people you hurt after I died, but this has to stop. You need to stop!" Teddy insists, trying to get through to him. How will his father ever heal if he continues on the wretched path Teddy unknowingly sent him on.

"I can't," Harry says softly, apologetically. His eyes plead with Teddy to understand, but Teddy doesn't want to; knows without a doubt that he's never been worth Harry staining his soul over. Sighing, his father raises a hand towards him, and Teddy has a moment to blink and feel a trickle of trepidation as the world goes black.


So that's another revamped piece- but wait! There's more! Not too long from now,- a few hours at the most, you can head for the third chapter and be prepared for shocking, horrifying fun times- like usual! ^_^