A/N: What's this? I've actually updated in a few months?! Well, since April, at least... Sorry for the long wait guys, I'd offer excuses... but I don't really have any that would sound sincere. Anyway, enjoy chapter 8!
Roses are red, violets are blue, I don't own Harry Potter, and neither do you! (unless you're J.K. Rowling)
Chapter 8: Waging War
The next few days were brutal to say the least. Mrs. Weasley pushed them all like a drill sergeant. She hovered viciously over their shoulders to guarantee that they were all putting absolutely one hundred and ten percent of their elbow grease into making the house shine like a new penny. At the end of each day, all of her soldiers were so worn that they barely had the energy to eat dinner before collapsing in bed.
Teddy was thankful for this. As long as the others were kept busy, it was making it near impossible for him and his cousins to be interrogated. He was confident that James and the others now knew the seriousness of keeping information about the future quiet, but they were only kids; there was always the chance that one of them would accidentally let something slip.
But Teddy wasn't stupid - lack of opportunity did not mean lack of intent. He had seen Harry muttering furiously with Ron and Hermione at the end of the kitchen table a few days afterward during dinner. Ron looked lost - Hermione sympathetic, but firm. Harry seemed increasingly frustrated, glancing frequently at Teddy. He knew that Hermione was relaying what Ginny had undoubtedly told her.
Even knowing his godfather's dangerously insatiable curiosity, Teddy couldn't help but feel guilty. Harry had always spoken of his fifth year with a kind of deep-seeded frustration. What with Dumbledore being more distant and secretive than ever and the Ministry dragging his name through the mud, it had arguably been his least favorite year at Hogwarts. Which is saying a lot, given that the others consisted of giant snakes, dementors, Death Eaters, and psychopathic murderers. Although, Dolores Umbridge is worse than all of those combined.
He wanted nothing more than to come clean - to sit down and tell Harry everything. Harry had enough people keeping secrets from him. But he knew what could happen. Even more troubling was that he didn't know what could happen. He couldn't risk the future he knew in an effort to create one he didn't. All he could do was wait for Harry to come and take all this responsibility off his shoulders.
His Harry, that is. Not that Harry. That Harry being the Harry at the other end of the table. He meant his Harry, the one back in 2018, the older one who knew how to be a father and a godfather and wasn't a fifteen year old kid.
Time travel sucked.
To make things worse, the Order was keeping a rather annoyingly close watch on Teddy. At least one interchangeable member seemed to find some excuse to preside in the same room as him at all times. Of all the time traveling guests, they clearly saw him as the greatest threat. That thought made Teddy scoff and amuse himself with ideas of what would happen when James decided to try to outdo him on that scale. At least Moody was being honest about it. Those rare times when he did drop by headquarters, he spent most of his time glaring at Teddy and muttering with Kingsley in the corner.
The other members, however, proved to be much better company, babysitting requirements or not. Some dropped by only briefly. He recognized a distinctly younger version of Minerva McGonagall, who looked especially bizarre in a Muggle dress. She glanced at his hair and smiled briefly before going to speak with Kingsley and Mr. Weasley. Bill and Mundungus joined them for a memorable afternoon during which Mundungus somehow managed to save Ron from being strangled by robes. (Which the twins could not resist cracking jokes about after they were certain that he was alright - "Ah, we can just see the epitaph now: 'Ronald Weasley - Death by Robes'.") Even Kinsley helped them haul the rubbish to the bins across the street. Snape, thankfully, was nowhere to be found.
Teddy saw his father again for the first time a few days after that first night. He was looking ill: his skin seemed to be stretching especially tightly over his cheekbones and there were dark circles under his eyes. Nonetheless, he greeted all of them warmly and pulled Harry into a hug. When his and Teddy's eyes met, Teddy detected a kind of uncertainty there, as though the elder was not sure how to react to his unknown son. He settled for a rather weak smile, which Teddy returned, before they turned as one and began warring with a particularly stubborn grandfather clock that kept spitting out clogs and bolts like artillery.
Afterwards, Remus left in rather a hurry. Teddy determined, after hearing James and the others talking about how great Remus was and how he'd helped them out with this or that, that his father was avoiding him. As grateful as he was for the lack of questions, he couldn't deny a pang of sadness at the notion.
Tonks, in contrast, seemed to go out of her way to join them. Her hair was always fashioned differently, but the wide grin on the heart shaped face remained the same. She always ended up working on the same project they were and almost always attempted to engage Teddy in conversation. He wished she wouldn't. He had enough to worry about without having to deal with his long dead mother dropping hinted questions as to who his mother was. He responded as vaguely as he could, ignoring the pain in his chest every time he saw her disappointed face whenever he attempted to make an escape. He had to continually remind himself that the past was not to be tampered with to prevent himself from breaking down into tears and telling her everything: her and his father's deaths, his life with Gran and the Potters, his beautiful girlfriend whom he knew she would get along marvelously with, his time at Hogwarts, just anything he could think of.
He forced himself to stop speaking to her for two whole days when he nearly called her 'mum'.
Sirius was almost always joining them, having grown up in the house and knowing what to expect. Of course, given that the other option was moping around in his mother's room with Buckbeak (who seemed to have recently developed 'cabin fever' and was tearing the place to shreds - much to Sirius's delight) and that the former option allowed him to spend much missed quality time with his godson, no one was surprised that he practically jumped at the chance to do productive work when Mrs. Weasley announced the emptying of the cabinets in the drawing room.
It was during that particular tackle that Teddy came face to face with something he would've given almost anything to avoid.
"Why won't this thing open?"
Turning around, Teddy froze stiff as his eyes found the thick gold locket in Ginny's hands. He recognized it immediately. Harry had always been very descriptive. The sly serpentine S on the front was a dead giveaway.
"Let me try," Fred snatched the locket from his sister's hands and attempted to pry it open. Teddy had to squash down the urge to grab it from his hands and chuck it in the fire.
"What's that?" Sirius looked up from a snuffbox that he was dumping in the rubbish.
"Locket. Bloody thing won't open." George, who had taken over from Fred, tossed it across the room and into the Marauder's hands. Sirius examined it closely.
"I don't recognize this…" he muttered, frowning.
"Could your parents have gotten it after you moved out?" Albus asked, making to lean forward to see it better. Teddy instinctively grasped his shoulder and pulled him back. Albus turned to glare at his god brother, before frowning in concern at the shade of pale his face had gone. Teddy shook his head slightly, silently imploring him not to speak.
"Maybe," Sirius said disinterestedly, not having noticed Teddy's odd reaction. He had his own go at opening the locket before giving up and chucking it in the rubbish bin without a second glance.
Teddy, however, never took his eyes off of it, staring at the unassuming piece of jewelry, gleaming innocently amongst so many other dark objects.
Even later, lying on the floor listening to the soft snores of his god siblings, Teddy felt a shudder go through him. He had completely forgotten, amidst everything else, that there was something in this house just as horrifying as the dangers that lay outside it. Although, in his defense, he had been more focused on trying to look after his family while staring his dead parents in the eyes and trying not to change the future.
He debated telling someone. Dumbledore would surely find out eventually. But then, it was Harry who figured it out. And only because of Dumbledore's death. Perhaps telling them now…
No. No changing the past. Especially for something as big as this. They needed to keep a low profile and let history run its course. They just needed to avoid Voldemort until they were able to go home.
The irony is, Teddy snorted as he turned onto his side in an attempt to get more comfortable, the safest place to hide from Lord Voldemort is next to his soul.
A/N: Boom. Yeah, so this is mostly a filler chapter, and I just had to mention the horcrux (for those of you whom are dunderheads whom I have the misfourtune to teach, spoiler alert, THE LOCKET WAS THE HORCRUX). Poor Teddy, though. I just feel like anyone in his position has a lot to stress about.
As for Remus and Tonks, they both really know deep down that they are Teddy's parents. That's why Tonks is trying to get to know Teddy and asking 'hinted questions'. Remus is mostly in denile because of the whole 'I'm a werewolf so I can't love or I'll ruin everyone I care about' thing. He'll come around. Eventually. I think.
I kind of feel like Teddy is turning out to be a more mature version of Harry, which makes sense given that he was raised by him. As for 2018, I mostly guesstimated the timeline. And guesstimated is totally a word, all you nay-sayers out there.
I promise you that more chapters are coming. I'm almost halfway done with the next two. But a quick survey;
1. How many of you would love to see a little Teddy/ Moony (werewolf Remus) fluffy bonding?
I have a plan to make it work, if you guys want it! And survey number two;
2. Should I involve Victoire somehow? Memory, dream, flashback, have her join them, anything?
Leave your responses. Also, if anyone has fun ideas for stuff they want me to include in later chapters let me know. I'll credit you to the idea!
Chapters are coming, but in the meantime, I posted another little one shot about something happening back in 2018. Nothing big, just a little Teddy/Victoire fluff to tie you guys over. Check it out, it's called 'Awaiting You'.
Reviews equal love!
