AU: Some of the dialogue came directly from the book...

Chapter 10

Teddy studied everyone in the library during his lunchtime, looking for those in second, third, and fourth year. There were several of them, but there were only three of them with their sleeves rolled up. All three of them were Ravenclaws. Sadly, one of the Ravenclaws was a girl and another was already crossed off the list. However, Teddy managed to cross off second year student, Eddie Carmicheal. Progress on finding the new Dark Lord had slowed down since Halloween. It was now a lot colder outside and everyone was wearing long sleeves. Obviously, whoever it was did not go around the school with their sleeves rolled up.

With a tattoo like the one he had, it would be noticed, especially on one so young. Teddy decided to switch tactics. Instead of looking at those who had their sleeves rolled up, he looked at those who had their sleeves down, covering their arms. There are four of them, one from Gryffindor, one from Ravanclaw, and two from Slytherin. Instead of crossing their names off, Teddy circled them. This way he knew that they aren't off the list, but they were possibilities. He circled Cormac McLaggen, a fourth year Gryffindor, Jeremy Stretton from Ravanclaw, and Miles Bletchley, a fourth year, and Harper, a second year, from Slytherin.

There was nothing else he can do at the moment. He quickly looked at the time. He still had half an hour left 'til lunch was over. Teddy packed up his things and went to his Defense class, half an hour early. He desperately hoped his father was there today, and not Professor Snape. Potion class was tedious. Teddy made sure to sit in the back for once and he still wasn't cooled down from the Defense lesson. Seeing Professor Snape just made him angry all over again.

Teddy entered the Defense room and, too his relief, Professor Remus J. Lupin was standing at his desk feeding a hinkypunk in a glass tank. Teddy couldn't help but notice how ill his father looked. There were dark shadows under his eyes and he lost some weight, as his robes hang more loosely on his form.

Remus looked up when Teddy came in and smiled. "Teddy. You're here a lot more early than usual."

Teddy gave a small smile as he set his things down on his usual seat up front. He shrugged his shoulders. "I was done with lunch and there wasn't much else to do." He walked closer and stood next to his father, looking at the hinkypunk in the tank. "A lot of students are going to complain about Professor Snape." He looked at his father.

Remus nodded. "I expect so." He said closing the top of the tank. "Professor Snape is…hard to get along with." He said sending a faint understanding smile to him.

"My godfather said there must be a reason for it. That Professor Snape must have led a very hard life and he might be filled with guilt or anger at himself. That acting the way he acts was a way to push himself more than those around him." Teddy said.

Remus nodded in agreement. "That sounds just about right. He has done things in his past that he regrets and I would not be surprise if he is filled with guilt or self-anger." Remus leaned back on his desk, the tank sitting on top of the desk behind him. "But that is nothing you should be worried about."

"He tried to expose you, sir. We did a lesson on werewolves and he kept…kept talking about how far behind we were and how you are disorganized and went on about your grading system and how you are too easy on us. Then he went on and told us how to recognize and kill a werewolf, even told us to write an essay about it." Teddy complained.

Remus put a hand on Teddy shoulders to calm him down. "I thank you for your concern, Teddy. I'll talk to him. Right now I'm more worried about the essay he assigned." He certainly hoped no one caught on, as it was Severus's intention.

Teddy shook his head. "I don't think you have to worry about that, sir. I highly doubt any one really did and finished it. The only person I could think of that might have already finished it, is Hermione Granger. I wouldn't be surprise, Professor, if she caught on, but I don't think you have to worry about her. I'm pretty sure if Hermione realized then she would keep your secret. It's the quirk of being one of the students best teachers." Teddy finished saying with a grin.

Remus chuckled, feeling a bit overwhelmed at being so well liked to many people. The last time that happened was when he was attending Hogwarts as a student. "Did someone tell Professor Snape we haven't covered werewolves yet?" Remus asked.

Teddy nodded and gave him a look. "The whole class told him, but he just wouldn't listen to us. He just kept going on and on about how far behind we were and that we should know all about werewolves, as if we weren't in school to learn about stuff like that."

Remus chuckled lightly. "Don't worry about it, Teddy. I'll speak to him about it."

"Will you tell the Headmaster what he was trying to do?" Teddy asked, moving to take a seat on the top of one of the front row desks.

The professor shook his head. "I won't unless Professor Snape is being difficult with me when I speak to him."

By this point, the students started showing up for class and Teddy made his way back to his seat. A few minutes later most, if not all, of the students were there and, as predicted, they started to complain about Professor Snape.

"We don't know anything about werewolves…"

"… he said we were really behind…"

"…he wouldn't listen to us…"

"Don't worry." Remus said with a smiled kindly. "I'll speak to Professor Snape. You don't have to do the essay."

"Oh, no. I've already finished it!" Hermione sounded extremely disappointed.

Worried, that Hermione caught on, Remus and Teddy shared a look before Remus went on with the lesson. Starting with what a hinkypunk was.

At the end of the lesson, Teddy planned to stay and ask his father a question, but Professor Lupin asked for Harry to stay behind. To give them some privacy, Teddy waited at the back of the classroom. However, that didn't work so well. Teddy still had better hearing then most because of his werewolf genes. They were talking about the Quidditch game, but that quickly switched to the dementors.

"Did you hear about the dementors too?" Young Harry asked.

"Yes, I did. I don't think any of us have seen Professor Dumbledore that angry. They have been growing restless for some time, furious at his refusal to let them inside the grounds. I suppose they were the reason you fell?"

"Yes." There was a pause before Young Harry burst out, "Why? Why do they affect me like that? Am I just…"

"It has nothing to do with weakness. The dementors affect you worse than the others because there are horrors in your past that others don't…"

Teddy opened his textbook and started reading at a random spot, feeling slightly guilty at listening into such a private and personal conversation. It did give Teddy some insight on just how close his father and Harry were at the age of thirteen. His uncle said something about not being this close to Remus after this year. It made Teddy wonder why. Harry had confessed that he didn't even know why, it just happened and he didn't notice that it happened until Remus was gone from his life.

"…get near me…I can hear Voldemort murdering my mum." Harry was saying.

At some point this year, he would be hearing his father as well. Teddy turned back to whatever he was reading, trying to block out the conversation again. He didn't even know what he was reading, but it managed to work for a while. A sudden noise, however, brought Teddy attention back to the front. Remus' briefcase had almost fallen off the desk, but Remus managed to catch it before it hit the floor.

"Yes. Black must have found a way to fight them. I wouldn't have believed it possible. Dementors are supposed to drain a wizard of his powers if he is left with them too long…" Remus said, tightly. Teddy knew that Sirius Black was a sensitive subject for him, since they were once very, very good friends.

"You made that dementor on the train back off."

"There are…certain defenses one can use. But there was only one dementor on the train. The more there are, the more difficult it becomes to resist."

"What defenses? Can you teach me?"

"I don't pretend to be an expert at fighting dementors, Harry…quite the contrary…" Teddy snorted quietly. From what he heard about him from his godfather and his friends, Remus was quite good. He was just being modest. He had been told his father was an extremely modest person. He guessed they weren't lying. Teddy hoped to see his Patronus someday. The Patronus he did on the train wasn't a corporeal one. He bit his lip in thought. What would be his father's corporeal Patronus? A wolf? No, if it would have been a wolf just because he was a werewolf, then every werewolf's Patronus would be a wolf. A big dog or a stag? No, Harry's Patronus was a stag. Can someone have the same Patronus as another? Teddy couldn't remember if he read that anywhere. He didn't think they can, but he could be wrong. He should look that up at some point.

"…term, I'm afraid. I have a lot to do before the holidays. I chose a very inconvenient time to fall ill." Remus was saying, when Teddy tuned back into the conversation.

"Thank you, Professor." Young Harry said, gratefully.

"Alright now, Harry, off you go. I seem to have another student waiting to talk to me." He said, glancing at Teddy.

Once Harry left, Teddy approached the Defense Professor. "You wanted to speak to me, Teddy?"

Teddy nodded. "Yes, sir. I was just wondering if you wanted me to talk to Hermione to see if she knows and ask her to keep it a secret."

His father sighed as he thought. "I think I wish not to know or else I will get paranoid." A short pause. "However, it would paranoid me not knowing if she knew."

"I'll talk to her, sir. Then I'll tell you if everything is okay. I won't tell you if she knows or not." Teddy offered.

Remus smile softly. "It's up to you, Teddy, if you want to do that or not."

"I'll do it, sir." He would do it if not for a reason to talk to his young aunt. He was getting rather tired not having any friends yet. At least now he had a reason to talk to Hermione, maybe they'd become friends.

It took Teddy a few weeks to corner Hermione by herself in the library. She was in the back of the library doing the Transfiguration homework they received yesterday. Young Harry would be at Quidditch practice and no doubt Ron went with him to watch.

Teddy approached the table quietly and stood there awkwardly waiting for Hermione to notice him. When she didn't seem to sense his presence, Teddy stepped forward. "Ummm…hi, Hermione." He greeted nervously. It was…odd talking to her. She was one smart witch. If there was anyone he knew that can discover if he was lying or not, it was her. Would she suspect him so soon?

Hermione looked up from her homework, looking rather tired and overstressed. Her hair was in a messy bun, fizzy with little pieces of hair out of place. She had light bags under her eyes, but Teddy wouldn't be surprised if, by the end of the month, they were dark circles. "Oh, hello, Teddy." Although, she gave a statement her tone suggested otherwise. Teddy knew from her tone that she was silently asking him what he wanted.

Teddy took another step forward, until he was standing behind the empty sit next to her. "May I sit?" He asked, indicating to the chair. She nodded and he sat down, setting his bag down on the table in front of him. "I was wondering if you…well, how well you think you did on that werewolf essay Professor Snape assigned to us."

"Teddy, that was weeks ago." Hermione pointed out.

Teddy nodded. "I know. I…I was just…Well, never mind." He stuttered. It had been quite a while. Perhaps he should have taken that into consideration before approaching her. He should have known she would wonder why he was asking weeks afterwards. "May I do my homework here?" He asked instead.

Hermione nodded and watched as he pulled out his Transfiguration homework as well. She seemed to be thinking before putting her quill down. "How well?" She asked, bringing the topic of the werewolf essay back up. Teddy looked up and nodded. "I feel I did rather well on it. I wish Professor Lupin had us turn it in. I believe I would have gotten an O on it."

Teddy nodded. "Professor Lupin is quite the werewolf expert. He would have been able to easily tell who listened and did research to do the essay."

Hermione eyed him in thought. Her eyes narrowed. She leaned forward. "Did you do the essay?"

Teddy shook his head. "But I knew before Professor Snape assigned the essay just how well of an expert Professor Lupin is on werewolves."

She leaned even more close to him and whispered, "I didn't know someone else knew. You do know, don't you?"

Teddy leaned over as well and whispered back, "That he is a werewolf, yes. I was rather hoping you won't say anything to anyone. I don't want Professor Lupin to get sacked."

"Oh, for Pete's sake, Teddy. I've known for weeks and haven't said anything. Why on earth would I say anything now? The way the world treats werewolves is…is ghastly. It's horrid!" She said passionately. "Completely barbaric! Did you know that werewolves aren't allowed around young children, like infants? Not even their own!"

Teddy looked taken back. He did not know that. His father had him and was around him for a month before he died. Of course, they were in a middle of a war and the Ministry was taken over by Voldemort at the time. A werewolf around an infant would not be their top priority. "They aren't?" He questioned.

Hermione shook her head. "No. That's just wrong! That is why werewolves live in packs. If you belong to a pack then the likelihood of your child being born of two werewolves are high and the child would be a werewolf, or so they believe. If that be the case then they are allowed, the Ministry has no say over werewolf packs, but if a werewolf is a lone wolf, like Professor Lupin, and has a child with a non-werewolf, the Ministry would take the werewolf away from his or hers spouse and child. Isn't that just…wrong? It's an inhuman thing to do! Taking a parent away from a child!"

Teddy was still processing the information. The law must have changed after the second war, because that wasn't a law in the future. He knew it wasn't. He grew up knowing his father was a werewolf and done his research on it. Teddy even had a younger friend whose mother was a werewolf and father a wizard and the Ministry didn't take his mother away.

"Teddy?" Hermione's voice came back to him, bringing him out of his thoughts. "You alright? You seem…shocked over the information." She noted, eying him.

Teddy shook himself out of his thoughts and quickly nodded his head. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't know that." Pause. "Before my father died in the sec…in the war…" Teddy quickly saved himself from saying 'second war', realizing there was no second war yet. "He was a werewolf and my mother was not. I was with my parents the first month of my birth before Death Eaters killed them. I did not know having me was against the law." He said, not ashamed to admit his father was a werewolf. He was proud of his father. He had no reason to be ashamed. Plus, this was his Aunt Hermione who fought for equal rights for ALL magic creatures, even when she was a fifth year student.

Hermione took a minute to adjust to the information freely given to her. She could tell that he trusted her not to base her judgment on him because of who his father was. She wasn't going to let him down. "Having you wasn't against the law. Your father raising you would have been." She corrected. "But it's wrong. It shouldn't be like that at all. He should have been allowed to raise you."

Teddy nodded absentmindedly. He glanced down at Hermione's work for the first time and realized what he thought was her transfiguration homework…wasn't. "What are you doing?" He asked.

Hermione quickly covered her paper with her Transfiguration book and shrugged. "Just mapping out my schedule for the rest of the year."

"Map?" Teddy's eyes widen with realization. "Map!" He exclaimed, quickly standing up while shoving his homework back into his bag. "Sorry, I got to go…go talk to my godfather. Bye." He said quickly throwing his bag on his shoulders.

"Ah…bye?" Hermione responded, clearly confused by his actions and wondering if she should be offended.

Teddy gave one last wave before rushing out of the library. How can they be so stupid? How can they forgotten? He speed walked to Harry's private quarters. What were they going to do about the map?

Please review...The story "The Unknown Son" has been, thankfully, taken and posted by Protego Totalum for those who are interested!