Hello, again! Sorry, it's been a while, but Chapter 8 is finally here.

I don't want to keep you long, so I'll finish this author's note with a few words: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you.

"Teddy!"

"Uncle Harry?"

"I was just about to come looking for you. You ok?"

"Yeah. Okay. Talking over this helped."

Teddy sat down to Neville, who promptly got up.

"I'll go now, Harry. It's not my place here, and I've got things to do. But I'll always be around if you, you know, want to talk. Um, see you around." The herbology professor quickly exited.

Harry put the Marauder's Map on the bed beside him.

"Ready to carry on to my 5th year?"

"No – yeah. Yes, I am. But before we go into all the, er, depressing stuff that seemed to happen that year could you please tell me about any good times – normal times – that you had at Hogwarts. Just so I know that you weren't in mortal danger all the time."

"Well, I don't think you could exactly say I had a normal time; being the boy-who-lived, chosen one, delusional attention seeker etcetera doesn't help that, but..."

"You never had any normal times?" Teddy looked aghast. "I know you said no to normal years, but never!"

"Yeah, but I'm not saying I didn't have fun sometimes – I did – but not necessarily under normal circumstances. I played quidditch often. But you wouldn't say a lot of the good times were normal, I don't think."

"Why don't you tell him about the DA?" interrupted Ginny.

"I will. Right, Ted, remember Ginny said about the interfering defence teacher briefly."

"Yeah."

"Well, she didn't actually teach us any magic that year, as the ministry thought that Dumbledore was training up some sort of army. All we did in lessons was read a book studying defensive theory."

"And this is meant to be good?" asked Teddy. "It sounds totally rubbish to me. And didn't you have a practical test in your OWLs – 5thyear is OWL year, right?"

"Completely right. But I'm just coming to the god bit. Hermione came up with the idea that we should teach defence to ourselves. Or rather, that I should teach defence. So, a group of us formed which we called Dumbledore's Army."

"Nice," remarked Teddy.

"My suggestion," said Ginny at the same time that Harry said, "Ginny's call."

"Anyway, we started the DA in the Room of Requirement, and learnt all sorts of stuff which we wouldn't have had the chance to otherwise."

"That sounds cool. But you're right, it's not exactly normal, is it?"

"I guess, Ted, that it depends what you classify as normal. It was certainly one of the less odd things in my school career."

"I guess it was. Only you, Uncle Harry, only you."

Harry grinned. It was true, only he, or perhaps his closest friends too, could say that one of the less unusual things they had done at school was lead a secret rebellion against an interfering toad.

"Ok, the rest of your 5th year then."

"Right, I think we need to start in the summer holidays. When I was in Little Whinging, Dudley and I were attacked by a couple of dementors."

"What?"

"Could you please refrain from repeatedly using the word 'what', Teddy? I'm sorry, but it's a bit annoying."

"Sorry, Uncle Harry."

"It's ok. And yes, a couple of dementors in Little Whinging, which forced me to use the patronus charm, which in turn meant that I was summoned to a disciplinary hearing at the ministry, and was almost expelled from Hogwarts."

"But you were using it in self defence. I'm sure that's allowed."

"Yes, but they didn't believe – or didn't want to believe, anyway – that there actually was a dementor. They were building me up to be a liar at this point."

"But why else would you produce a patronus if it weren't to repel a dementor?"

"I honestly couldn't tell you, Ted."

"So, before school even started, you're in trouble."

"That sums it up pretty well. To be honest, we can pretty much skip 5th year, nothing much happened, apart from the DA. I was banned from quidditch..."

"Why?"

"Why is hardly better than what, Teddy. I basically beat up a boy who enjoyed teasing me as he had just insulted my mum. He was a sore loser, the Slytherin seeker whom I had just beaten. Obviously Umbridge – the DADA teacher – banned me from playing quidditch."

"And there was your hand too."

"Ginny, please. Every little thing..."

"She banned your hand from playing quidditch? Can one of you please explain?"

"Umbridge kept putting me in detention –"

"Which does not mean that it will be okay to start getting detentions, young man, before you say anything!"

"Okay, okay. I'll try not to get detention."

"Good. Because neither your grandma, nor I, nor Harry will let you off if you get too many..."

"Oh, leave me out of this, Ginny. I got plenty more which weren't from Umbridge."

"Harry!"

"Can't we just get on with this please?"

"Yes, yes, fine. But Ted..."

"Yes, Aunt Ginny..."

"Ginny!"

"Harry?"

"Anyway, when we've all stopped. I kept getting detentions with Umbridge who made me write lines. 'I must not tell lies'." He flexed his hand and held it out to Teddy, who gasped. Even after all the years, the small, white scars still showed.

"She made you cut it into your own skin?"

"Not exactly. There was a quill bewitched to mimic the movement of the pen on the back of my hand. So I wrote on paper, it was magic that cut my hand."

"That's...That's not even legal, is it?"

"No. But I didn't know that though. Moving on, throughout the year I kept getting visions from You-know-Who. They sometimes showed me what he was doing through his eyes, sometimes just his feelings."

"That's quite strange. Why did it happen?"

"Ummm..." He paused, not quite sure what to say. "Dumbledore told me that it was because of my scar; because You-know-Who had tried to kill me, and I survived, some sort of connection existed between us." It wasn't exactly a lie. That was what Dumbledore had told him. Teddy didn't need to know – not this instant, anyway – about the small fact of being a horcrux.

"I had to learn occlumency with a teacher called Snape. He and I – well, we didn't get on very well."

"What's occlumency, Uncle Harry?" Teddy asked.

"It's kind of, well, I'm guessing you haven't heard of legilimency either."

"No."

"Legilimency is the 'art' of attacking another's' mind. A skilled legilimens can pick out different memories or thoughts you have. You-know-who was a legilimens, and it seemed this was the reason why he could penetrate my mind, along with the connection formed with the scar. Occlumency would have helped me block out any nightmares he sent me, but I wasn't very good at it, and so didn't try very hard to practise it. I was stupid, oh, so stupid!"

Ginny decided to carry on the story here. "In his history of magic exam, his last OWL, Voldemort sent him an image of Sirius being tortured. Having checked Sirius' house, and having been told by the house-elf that Sirius would never come back from the department of mysteries..."

"Uncle Harry went to the department of mysteries with Ron and Hermione, and perhaps some other members of the DA?"

"Yes. Luna, Neville and I went with him. How did you guess?"

"It's elementary."

"Wait. Earlier you didn't know Sherlock."

"Huh?"

"You basically just quoted Sherlock Holmes... Nevermind."

"Okaaay. But it is just what Uncle Harry does. And Ron and Hermione would come, even if Harry didn't want them to. And the DA was just a guess."

"Right."

"And so, I guess you guys didn't manage to rescue Sirius? I don't want to be right, but..." trailed of Teddy, in a much more sombre tone. Harry shook his head.

"No, that wasn't the reason why Siri – why Sirius died," he said, to Teddy's astonishment.

"But – I don't get it."

"Nor did I. Sirius wasn't there," he continued bitterly. "He had never been. I dreamed it. But Death Eaters were."

"They wanted Harry to retrieve a prophecy for them. It turned into a fight, and then the Order turned up."

"The Order?"

"Oh, have we not told you?"

"Nope."

"The Order of the Phoenix was a secret group set up by Dumbledore during the First Wizarding War, in order to fight Voldemort."

"It turned up just in time, and won the Battle of the Department of mysteries. But Sirius was killed during it by a Death Eater. Then You-know-who turned up and duelled with Dumbledore, but disapparated when the ministry came to see what all the commotion was about."

"So did the ministry believe you?"

"Yes. The only good thing that came out of this was that Fudge saw You-know-who, and kind of had to admit that he was back."

"And Dumbledore told you some things."

"I wouldn't exactly call that good, Ginny."

"What did Dumbledore tell you?"

"He told me the reason my parents died."

"You already knew that. Because Voldemort killed them," said Teddy simply.

"Well, yes. But he killed them because of a prophecy, made before I was born. You-know-who heard this part of the prophecy.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies."

"So, you?"

"Not necessarily. It could have been Nev – Professor Longbottom."

"Neville!"

"Yes, Neville. But don't tell him. I haven't, and I'm not planning to either."

"Okay."

"There was a second part to it that You-know-who never heard. I, however, have.

'And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not, and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survive.'"

"Does that mean what I thought it meant?"

"I'm afraid it does." Harry stared out of the window, and Teddy followed his gaze.

"So you really did have to kill him."

"I always had to. Professor Dumbledore explained this to me in 6th year. Vol – You-know-who – would continue to hunt me down and try to kill me, because he believed in the prophecy. So I would have to in self-defence. But even if I hadn't heard the prophecy, because of the complete mess he's made of my life – because of mum, dad, Cedric, Sirius especially – I would, as I told Professor Dumbledore, I would want him finished, and I'd want to do it myself."

"Obviously."

"What did you just say?"

"Obviously. I don't think I need expand. What else happened in 6th? You almost had a quiet year, why was it so quiet? And had you two started to go out together yet? Or was there anyone else?"

Harry decided to start. "Yes, Ginny and I went out for a couple of months or so, but not before she-"

"Hold it right there, Harry Potter, or I'll tell Teddy about the Cho fiasco."

"You wouldn't. Neither of your boyfriends were that bad, anyway. Apart from the fact they were your boyfriends, obviously."

"Hey!" said Teddy. "I'd like to hear both these stories. Who's 'Cho'?"

"Urgh," groaned Harry. "I suppose 'a girl' would not be a sufficient answer for Your Highness?"

"You supposed right," relied Teddy, with a cheeky grin.

"She was a pretty girl – not as pretty as Ginny, of course – who was in 6th year. I was in 5th year at the time. I'd liked her for a while, and we went out on a Hogsmeade weekend-"

"- And he, very tactfully, asked her if it was ok if he went to meet Hermione at the Three Broomsticks."

"So? Hermione's his friend."

Ginny muttered something under her breath which sounded suspiciously like 'boys'.

"That's what I thought, Ted. But she started to go on about other boys, and then she began crying and asking me about Cedric."

"Why? That's a bit odd."

"He was her last boyfriend."

"Oh." Teddy could not think of anything else to say, "Oh."

"And then it got really awkward, and she stormed out. Hermione explained to me later that she was jealous and wanted to find out if I liked her or not. Why she couldn't have just asked beats me. Girls."

"Oi!" shouted Ginny, and whacked him lightly round the head, "Careful!"

"Okay, so what was Aunt Ginny doing when you were with Cho, then?" asked Teddy.

"Dating a boy."

"No, you were dating a Kneazle. I want the details."

"You're sounding like a girl," laughed Harry, the quickly moved his hand to the back of his head where Ginny had whacked him again. "That hurt!"

"I guess I've been spending too much time with Vic and Dom," said Teddy, ruefully.

"Hmm," said Harry.

"I dated a boy named Michael Corner from the end of 3rd to the end of 4th year," said Ginny.

"Not Mr. Corner from Corner's Corner Shop in Diagon Alley?" asked Teddy.

"The very same."

"Ick," said Teddy, and Harry voiced his agreement.

"Then from the end of 4th and for most of 5th I went out with Dean Thomas. Then at the end of 5th I was with Harry."

"Okay, okay, that's enough details. Other 6th year events?"

"I had private lessons with Dumbledore every so often."

"Really? What about? Voldemort?" Harry flinched.

"Yeah, pretty much. I learnt about his past, and also about his immortality."

"Voldemort was immortal? How on Earth did you kill him if he was immortal, Uncle Harry?"

"Being immortal doesn't mean you are unable to be killed. Basically –"

"You need to understand now, Ted," Ginny cut in, "that what we're about to tell you is really, really dark magic. And where Voldemort is concerned, it is highly confidential. You are not to repeat this to anyone."

"Not even –"

"Anyone. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Aunt Ginny."

"Good. Would you like to continue, Harry?"

"Yes please. You-know-who created some objects called horcruxes."

"Horcruxes?"

"Don't interrupt, please, Ted. I know you're interested, and I don't blame you, but I am going to explain everything you don't know."

"Alright." Teddy looked down at his hands, then up into the green-eyed gaze of his godfather.

"A horcrux is an object that encases part of your soul. You cannot die completely if your soul hasn't been destroyed. That's the reason why You-know-who was able to come back after the killing curse rebounded on him. You-know-who made not only one, but several horcruxes."

"How do you make a horcrux?"

"I cannot tell you that, Ted. I wouldn't want to, anyway, but it is a ministry-protected secret. They don't want another Vol- You-know-who."

"Okay, so, did you destroy them all?"

"That, Teddy, would be going into my 7th year," he smiled to himself, "and I'd rather we did this chronologically if you don't want me to miss anything out."

"Okay." Teddy looked disappointed for a minute, then realised he's probably hear the tale before the weekend was over, and in any case, there were probably other cool things in Harry's 6th year.

"What was the most surprising event that year?" he asked.

"I'd have to say either, oh, I'm not sure. Either Ron confessing his love for Romilda Vane, or Ron getting poisoned. Both on his birthday. Probably the latter."

"Uncle Ron got poisoned? How – what – in Hogwarts? I can't believe that," Teddy said. "Well, at least, I couldn't if I hadn't heard about the last 5 years of your school life," he added.

"Well, our potions master gave Ron an antidote... I'd better start from the beginning, really. A girl called Romilda Vane gave me some chocolates at Christmas, but Hermione warned me that there was probably a love potion in them, so I chucked them under my bed. Somehow, on Ron's birthday they got mixed up with his pile of stuff, so he ate them. He was completely besotted with Romilda, which was quite funny, except he gave me a black eye for 'insulting' her. I took him to the potions master to ask for an antidote, and he recovered almost instantaneously. Then Professor Slughorn decided to celebrate by pouring us all a glass of mead. Ron drank it straight away, and was promptly poisoned. Luckily, Slughorn had a bezoar in the room, or Ron wouldn't be here." He said the last bit grimly.

"Wow, that's some birthday. Poor Uncle Ron," said Teddy.

"It certainly was an eventful one," replied Harry.

"Did you carry the DA on through 6th year?" asked Teddy.

"No, seeing as we had a competent defence teacher, even if we didn't like him. And that's reminded me of something else I haven't told you – I was made Quidditch Captain!"

"Cool!" said Teddy. "Who was in your team – anyone I know?"

"Well, Ginny and Ron for starters. Ron was keeper, Ginny chaser. The other chasers were Demelza Robins and Katie Bell, whom you've probably heard of. She now plays for Puddlemere United."

"Seriously? She and Oliver Wood are like, legends!" exclaimed Teddy excitedly, a Puddlemere fan himself.

"Oliver Wood was the keeper during my first three years of being on the team."

"No way! That is so cool. Why haven't you told me before. I'm jealous." Harry laughed.

"The beaters of '96 – '97 were Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote. I was seeker. We won the first match easily, lost the second dismally as Ron was still recovering from being poisoned, and the substitute keeper knocked me out with a bludger."

"He was a keeper."

"Yes."

"And he knocked you out with a bludger."

"Yes, with the bat he took off Peakes."

"What an idiot."

"Teddy!" Ginny admonished, but then thought better of it, "I agree." Teddy sniggered.

"And that makes three," quipped Harry, causing the other two to stare at him, "What? Hey, I'm a poet and I don't know it."

"Are you... quite okay... Uncle Harry?" asked Teddy in between fits of giggles, but then remembered that he didn't know the outcome of the Quidditch championship.

"And? Your last match? How far behind were you?"

"The Hufflepuff match – the disaster – put us down by around 300 points. So, obviously, we had to win by that amount when we were playing Ravenclaw."

"And guess who got put in detention the morning of the match?" Ginny said.

"You didn't, surely," said Teddy disbelievingly.

"No, I didn't, but your godfather did."

Teddy gaped. "But...what did you do for a seeker. Uncle Harry was apparently the best one at Hogwarts in his time."

"Doesn't mean there aren't others who can still do the job," smiled Ginny. "I was the seeker, and Dean Thomas, my ex by this time, was the replacement chaser."

"Did you win the match?" he asked.

"Yes," replied Ginny.

"By how much?"

"Two..." Teddy groaned.

"...Three hundred and ten points."

"You won the cup? Great! I knew you could do it."

"Uh, Ted, you do know this happened twelve years ago, right?"

"Yeah, so? You still captained Gryffindor to victory. What about 7th year Quidditch. I assume you were still captain, yes?"

"Um, actually, no. There wasn't actually any quidditch. Well, I don't think there was."

"What do you mean, you don't think so? You were at school there."

"6th year, Ted, 6th year. 7th year is for after dinner, at this rate."

"Oh, um, okay. End of 6th?"

"Dumbledore died. That's pretty much it."

"Okay, 7th now."

"Wait, you don't want to hear how he dies or the events leading up to his death? Not that I'm dying to tell you or anything, but I'm surprised you're not more inquisitive."

"To be honest, I'm not really interested. Unless you're included. I know he was a really good wizard, and you all liked him, but he's just a name in a history book to me."

"I was involved."

"Oh. What happened?"

"Changed your mind now then?"

"Yeah. Luckily for you, you are not just a name in history. I wanted to hear about you, and I'd like to hear what I suppose, now I come to think of it, what made your year unquiet."

"Quite so. Dumbledore and I went looking for a horcrux. We found it but to get it Dumbledore had to drink some sort of potion – not quite a poison, but close to it. We got the locket, for that was the horcrux, and apparated back to Hogwarts. V-You-know-who's mark was over the castle, so we hurried back. I had my invisibility cloak on. To cut a long story short Malfoy – a student recently turned Death Eater – disarmed Dumbledore, and was supposed to kill him. He couldn't though; he was only the same age as me, a teenager. Then Snape came up and killed Dumbledore. We were on the astronomy tower and he...fell off."

"I'm so sorry. What were Dumbledore's last words?"

"They were, I believe, along the lines of 'Severus, please'."

"Who was Severus?"

"Snape."

"What, so he – wait, Severus? As in Al's middle name?"

"Yes."

"That's – I don't know what that is. Sick. Twisted. You named your son after Dumbledore, and his murderer?"

"Yes. But Ted, that seriously isn't the whole story. I stick to what I say; Snape was the bravest man I ever knew. Wait till you hear the rest of it. Now, I think its dinner time."

Teddy gave a curt nod and strode towards the door. Then he turned, and walked back to Harry.

"Are you going to come down and eat?" he asked.

"No, we're not. We'll go over to Ron and Hermione's to check up on the kids, but we'll be back at seven, if that's ok."

"Um, actually, could we stop? And do 7th year tomorrow. I really want to hear about this but I can wait. And I need to clear my head again." Harry nodded, and Ginny scooped Teddy into a hug.

"We understand. So, see you at ten tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, that works." He eased out of Ginny's embrace and hugged Harry tightly. "And you will come back, won't you?"

"Sure thing, Ted," Harry replied. A few minutes later, Teddy was ravenously tucking into his tea, and Harry and Ginny were at Ron and Hermione's, just beginning to recount what had happened that day...

Ok, so, longest chapter so far, I believe. Sorry it took ages, again.

I'm at a loss as to what to do next. I'm either going to do another filler, if you'd like to read what happened at Ron and Hermione's, or what Teddy does next, as break, or I can go straight into the next morning and the retelling of 7th year. It's your call. Just drop a review, and say what you'd like, and I'll take the majority Any other suggestions are also welcome...

Thank you for keeping up with me for so long, especially those who have alerted or favourited (or both!) this story. Also to my faithful beta, Scolander. But I'm afraid it will probably be another longish wait for the next chapter – I haven't even started on it yet. Hopefuly not as long as the last one but, you never know. I apologise in advance...