Chapter 12:
Family Tree
They spent the week before Christmas cozily, playing games and talking, sometimes piling up in the kitchen and listening to Lee Jordan on the Wizarding Wireless, doing his show, "Wizardwatch." According to Uncle Harry, it used to be called "Potterwatch," and Teddy's father had been a frequent guest on it, but now it had expanded. He still talked about politics-Lee had some words about some decision the Wizengamot had made about Azkaban, and none were "Happy Christmas"-but he'd added a lot of things to it over the years, including music, book reviews, and famous guests anonymously reading scenes from Muggle films in a segment called "Guess Stars." It was a great game for most people, but Teddy didn't think it was much of a challenge on the day Lee had Ron and Hermione reading from some adventure story. Of course, other people didn't have his first clue-Rosie and Hugo were visiting Uncle Harry on their own at the moment. Rosie and Al were tucked one under each of Teddy's arms while they listened (James was making a concerted effort to do the same with the squirming Lily and Hugo, but they didn't seem especially agreeable), and Rosie clapped her hands and said, "Mummy and Daddy!" Lee gave the audience half an hour to guess, then introduced Hermione, who argued with him about the Azkaban decision, which had something to do with allowing prisoners to send letters.
On Christmas Eve, Granny took Teddy caroling with her choir. They were raising money for famine relief in a country whose name Teddy couldn't pronounce, and had a folding board set up showing pictures of malnourished children there. This time, when James begged to come along, Teddy told him he could, as long as he was good. James managed a sedate and quiet air for nearly ten minutes before he climbed up on a crate the choir director had brought, looked at Teddy's music, and began earnestly mangling the carols with them.
By the time they'd set up at their last spot, at their church near Grimmauld Place, Bill's family must have arrived, because Victoire and Marie ran out to join them, dropping Muggle money into the jar and jumping in on the last song ("Joy to the World"). James ran to greet Victoire-Teddy was absurdly jealous that she got nearly as big a greeting as he had, even though James had seen her a lot more-then insisted on walking home holding one of Teddy's hands and one of Victoire's. They hoisted him over a snow-covered bench between them, of which he declared himself the king, then took him inside. By the time he'd finished telling the story to his parents and the others, he had half-convinced Teddy that they'd personally gone and magically fed the hungry children.
"There were a lot of them," James said, wide-eyed. "It was very sad. They were so tired they couldn't even move."
Uncle Harry smiled at him fondly. "That happens when you only see them in Muggle photographs, James."
Teddy convinced them to listen to "Weird Christmas," the show with the Weird Sisters where Donzo would be performing. It turned out to be a good hour, and Donzo didn't sing the stupid song he'd done this summer, instead coming up with a perfectly normal "O Holy Night." He also got to talk a bit, and said how much he loved Hogwarts, especially his House, Ravenclaw, and his friends in his year. A minute later, he dragged someone else on stage, who turned out to be Maurice Burke, who Donzo said had been hanging about rehearsals all week. Teddy was glad to hear this, as it seemed both of them were having a better holiday than either had expected.
After the show, the smaller children went to bed (Marie protesting at the top of her lungs to no avail) and the adults went to the drawing room, leaving Teddy and Victoire alone in the kitchen, playing hand after hand of Exploding Snap until they, too, were sent to their rooms to sleep. Teddy thought she'd got a lot more bearable since she'd turned ten. She'd only corrected him six times and complained about English food once.
Christmas morning was loud and boisterous, as family arrived and presents were opened with abandon. The adults, to save Kreacher cleaning, just Vanished the wrapping paper. Teddy got a book from Hermione and Ron called Fifty Simple Charms to Keep Yourself Amused, which featured useless but fun spells. Molly gave him a scarf, as she'd already sent the jumper (which he was wearing, along with all of the Weasleys), and Charlie gave him a complicated sort of exercise box for Checkmate, who was jumping around and scratching on it before he'd even finished unpacking it. Bill's family gave him a Shield Hat that was modified to include blocking physical attacks (as long as they weren't too determined); Bill winked-which was a sort of disturbing look for him-and said, "Just in case you happen to come across flying rocks somewhere." Granny gave him enough new clothes to cover one of the villages they'd raised money for, and Uncle Harry gave him a very handy pocket knife and advised him not to forget that he had it.
Arthur Weasley wasn't merely amused with Muggles and Minions, he wanted to be taught the game from the ground up, so Teddy spent the time until lunch teaching it to Arthur, Hermione, Sophie (who had played a similar game, except about magic for Muggles), George, Victoire, Fleur's sister Gabrielle, and Professor McGonagall, who'd arrived as the last presents were unwrapped. They'd just finished a sample tube crawl from the book (Professor McGonagall's character, an athlete, beat a mugger with a cricket bat) when Uncle Harry's Muggle cousin, Dudley Dursley, arrived.
Dudley made a point of awkwardly speaking to Teddy for a few minutes-he always did, without explanation, which made Teddy think it had something to do with his parents, though he couldn't imagine what-then watched the game for a while. He stayed through lunch, which was served as a buffet, with people finding a seat wherever they could, but left before the afternoon visits began with the arrival of Ernie and Susan Macmillan, who offered condolences to Teddy on not making it into Hufflepuff before sitting down to talk to Uncle Harry for a little while. Others came and went, nearly all of Dumbledore's Army as Teddy understood it (this was why Christmas was almost always spent at Uncle Harry's; it was a place for everyone to find everyone else). Parvati Patil, who Teddy privately thought the prettiest woman in the world, came with another new gentleman-friend, who she proceeded to ignore entirely as she watched the clock and gossiped until the doorbell rang and Professor Longbottom arrived (with Winky, who'd been invited separately), which appeared to be her goal, even though neither one seemed particularly happy to see the other, and Parvati left after a few stilted words.
Luna and her husband, who turned out to be called Rolf Scamander, were much better, and had brought along a furry little thing called a jackalope for the children to play with. Rolf kept an eye on the jackalope-which he said was just a baby-while Luna huddled up with Professor Longbottom and Aunt Ginny. After a while, when Teddy looked over, Aunt Ginny had left and it was just Luna and Professor Longbottom, both of them looking a bit sad, even though they were smiling and talking cheerfully. Then Teddy got distracted talking to Rolf, who turned out to know quite a lot about kappas and had heard all about Teddy's adventure with one. He seemed impressed that Teddy had known what they were and how to handle them. "Perhaps someday, during summer holidays, you'd like to join Luna and me to look for animals?" Teddy thought this sounded delightful, but also didn't want to spend the summer away from Granny now that he was away all year, so he said he'd think about it. After that, Rolf went off to sit with Luna, who perked up quite a lot, though Professor Longbottom didn't.
Teddy drifted over to Professor McGonagall until dinner, joining Granny, Hermione, and the Potter boys, who desperately wanted her to change into a cat for them. She did so to great applause, then Teddy asked her idly if a Metamorphmagus who became an Animagus could still change his appearance in animal form, and it became something of a debate, as no one could think of anyone who was both and had made the experiment. McGonagall said that she wasn't able to accomplish much magic as a cat; Hermione suggested that the Metamorphmagus magic was so intrinsic that it wouldn't be dependent on human form. Teddy was keen to try it, but McGonagall told him that-"unlike some Animagi"-he was to wait at least until he'd got an Outstanding O.W.L. in Transfiguration, and then to study and register properly. "And I assure you, Mr. Lupin, you will have lost interest in this pressing question by tomorrow, let alone five years from now." Granny was watching him suspiciously, and he had a feeling she'd be watching his books carefully over the next few years.
Several of the adults disappeared downstairs, and Teddy could hear the house groaning as they magically expanded the kitchen. When Aunt Ginny called them downstairs, they found it quite roomy and decorated with great aplomb. Two more tables had been Conjured, a long, low one for the children, and a smaller one for Kreacher and Winky, who couldn't very well be expected to eat at a full sized table, but were not to be treated as children because of their size. Both of them looked a little uncomfortable eating with humans, but warmed to it once they were allowed to actually serve the meal. Partway through the meal, Granny actually asked their permission to join them at their small table, and Teddy heard her asking Kreacher respectful questions about the Blacks. She even asked Winky about someone named Barty, who had been Regulus's friend at Hogwarts. Rosie Weasley found a piece of Charmed mistletoe, and got up to follow it around, kissing everyone it stopped at. Percy's daughter Nausicaa joined her.
Hermione and Ron and Bill and Fleur decided to stay for Boxing Day, after everyone else left, so the house remained pleasantly full, though Teddy noticed that Uncle Harry was starting to look alarmed at the size of the crowd, and wasn't surprised when he asked if he might borrow Dad's wand to go work on the Map. Teddy got it for him, and was happily surprised when he said, "You can join me, if you'd like."
"Thought you wanted to sneak off," Teddy said.
"I do. But I think I can still handle one person at a time." He grinned.
They got the Map and Keys out, and Uncle Harry opened the Latin dictionary Teddy had given him. "All right," he said. "Let's see what we can make of your dad's spells."
Not wanting to risk damage to the real Map, they tested the appearance spells on a fresh sheet of parchment. Neither of them could draw well enough to get the initial shapes of the house drawn, but the clumsy lines they made started to appear and disappear at Uncle Harry's command. James Potter's identity spells needed more than one person to cast them-they'd needed a boost from at least four people-so there was no chance to name the dots Uncle Harry managed to Conjure, not that they needed to, as they knew everyone.
Sirius's security spells were all explained in English, but neither Teddy nor Uncle Harry was at all certain how to pronounce them.
"That can be dangerous," Uncle Harry said. "I assume Professor Flitwick has mentioned-"
"-Wizard Baruffio," Teddy finished. "Was he even real, or did Flitwick make him up to talk about water buffaloes?"
"I have no idea."
Teddy looked at the stream of French spells and shook his head, then the most obvious thing in the world dawned on him. "Uncle Harry, may I tell anyone else about the Map?"
"That's your choice, Teddy. It's yours now. I don't think you'd want to take out an advertisement in the Daily Prophet about it, but if you think you can trust someone, I don't see why you shouldn't. Ron and Hermione know about it, and the Weasley twins gave it to me after they found it. I'm sure they'd shared it with Lee Jordan, too."
"Good," Teddy said, and ducked out of the room, ignoring Uncle Harry's rather puzzled look. He ran down the stairs quietly, avoiding the littler children, who were now playing a game of hide and seek, and found Victoire mooning about under the Charmed mistletoe Rosie had been following earlier. "Vicky," he whispered, trying not to catch anyone else's attention. "Come here."
She made a face at him over the name, but just said, "What?"
"Can you keep a secret? From everyone, I mean."
"What sort of secret? Are you doing something you oughtn't?"
"No. It's just... a secret. And I need your help with it."
"My help? What kind of help?"
Teddy shrugged and said, "Well, as it turns out, I need to learn French."
Teddy led the way back to Uncle Harry's office, and when they got there, Uncle Harry raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes. "Teddy," he said, "you never cease to surprise me."
"What do you mean?"
"Never mind. Have you told her?"
"Showing is easier," Teddy said, and pulled out the Map. He took it to Victoire. "This is the Marauder's Map," he said. "And it's a secret."
She looked at it. "Is this Hogwarts?" Teddy nodded, and Victoire took the Map, looking at it eagerly. "And these dots... with the names... there's Professor Flitwick, and Neville's there, too! Neville's right out in the greenhouses and Luna and Rolf are there with him. Is this real? Is this where people really are?"
"Yes."
"And there are Hagrid and Buckbeak!" She laughed, delighted. "But why do you need to learn French?"
Teddy brought over the Keys and explained about Sirius's French spells, dipping into Flitwick's first lecture to tell her about Wizard Baruffio.
"But you'll have to pretend you haven't heard it before when you get there," Uncle Harry told her.
Victoire nodded and scanned the spells, her eyes bright and wide. "These are simple," she said. "The words, of course. I don't really know how the spell works, but the words here-limite you must have guessed, that means that the spell is limited. Sometimes he uses lie, which is 'bind.' Je vous lie-he uses that to finish every other spell-just means 'I bind you.' What's he binding?"
"The Map," Teddy said. "To make sure no one else can change it. Only we're trying to figure out how to bind someone else into the group that's allowed to change it." He tapped one. "The English part says this is the spell for it. How do we say it?"
Victoire pronounced the spell easily, then Teddy tried it. She laughed. "It's French, Teddy, not Mermish. You don't need to make faces to pronounce it!"
Teddy exaggerated the faces he was making by morphing his mouth wider and his nostrils higher the second time he tried.
Victoire frowned. "Well, if you don't really want me to help, I'll just-"
"Sorry!"
"Let me see if I've got it," Uncle Harry said, then mangled the spell more than Teddy had.
Victoire didn't quite dare to tell an adult that he was speaking French, not Parseltongue, but she did shake her head sadly and coach him through it twice more, looking utterly without hope.
She finally declared herself satisfied with Uncle Harry's efforts, and he sat down to practice it while studying the theory behind it in English. Teddy and Victoire sat on the small leather sofa, sideways and cross-legged, with the Map between them.
"Where did this come from?" she asked.
"Our dads," Teddy said, nodding at Uncle Harry. "And Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. We think they wanted to bind other people to it."
The thought occurred to Teddy that Victoire might ask to be bound as well, which alarmed him, but she said, "It's a special thing, then, with your fathers. I'm glad to help. My maman and I have secrets, too. Well, my sisters know them."
Teddy was very tempted to ask what they were, as he was sure she intended, but didn't especially want to give her a chance to tell him that she was allowed her own secrets if she was meant to keep his.
Instead, they leaned over the Map together, watching the few dots in the school with interest. The ghosts were all in the dungeons, possibly having a Christmas, and Peeves was zooming around in Ravenclaw Tower, where three students were in the Common Room. Luna, Rolf, and Professor Longbottom had left the greenhouses, and seemed to be touring the grounds; as Teddy and Victoire watched, Hagrid's dot wandered across to join them, and Buckbeak moved very rapidly off the edge of the Map (Teddy guessed he was off his tether and flying free).
"Where do you live?" Victoire asked. "If I'm a Gryffindor, where will I be?"
Teddy found his level in Gryffindor Tower, then told her which years lived on the other floors. "You're two years behind me," he said, "so you'd be where the sixth years are now, as they'll leave just before you come."
Uncle Harry, at his desk, set the Keys down and said, "Well, Teddy, I can't find a place where it's necessary to state a name. Let's see if it's fooled by the wand."
"Can you bind yourself?" Teddy asked.
"No, it definitely can't be auto-cast. You'll need to test it. I'm sure that Victoire and I will be paying attention to something else if you happen to, just accidentally, speak Latin while holding a wand."
"Did I just get a pass on underage magic from the head of the Auror Division?"
"I don't know what you mean, Teddy." He raised Dad's wand, and said the Binding incantation.
Teddy didn't feel any different as he took Dad's wand back. He waited until Uncle Harry and Victoire were talking about the Weird Christmas concert, their backs carefully turned, then pointed the wand at the Marauder's Map and whispered "Reficio."
The result was sudden and catastrophic.
The lines on the Map melted away, swirling into meaninglessness, then formed the head of a wolf wearing an eye patch. Words appeared over its head, scratched to look like claw marks: "THIEF! WHO GOES THERE?"
"It's me, Teddy!" Teddy answered it aloud, but the wolf just snarled soundlessly, and the Map went blank.
Uncle Harry had turned at the sound of it. "What happened?"
"I think I erased it!"
"I doubt that," Uncle Harry said, then tapped it with his holly wand and swore that he was up to no good. The scrolling of "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs..." began, and he cleared it, then tried again with Dad's wand. The animals appeared as usual, apparently undisturbed by the previous accusation of wand theft. "Just one of their tricks."
"It still works, then?" Victoire asked, again looking over it, trying to see the dots.
"It does. I'll definitely need to find a way around Dad's Identity spell, though. I think this is the first time I've wished he was here just so that I could hire him."
Teddy grinned.
"Teddy, do you mind if I keep the wand for a few days, to see what I can do with this?"
"I can't use it anyway. I might find myself accidentally speaking Latin."
"Right. I really wish I'd talked to Lupin and Sirius about all of this, or they'd thought to bind me to it. That would make all of this a lot easier."
Victoire was still watching the Map, and Uncle Harry had actually handed it to her. She traced one dot or another with her finger, and said, "Could we play at this again tomorrow? I like this."
Teddy shook his head. "I can't. I'm going to see my mother's friends tomorrow. We're visiting Sanjiv."
"Again?"
"We go every year. You know that."
"But does he... know?"
"I don't know." Teddy squirmed and looked to Uncle Harry.
Uncle Harry looked thoughtful. "I don't, either," he said, "but the rest of the Dementor victims from the war gave up years ago. Sanjiv is still hanging on. Your grandmother and the Apcarnes visit a lot. That may mean something."
He didn't add Or nothing, but didn't need to. Teddy had gone to St. Mungo's every year since he was old enough to read the message on his birth scroll from the man who promised to teach him that friendship was the highest of callings, but the only change in Sanjiv McPherson since the day Dolores Umbridge had fed him to the Dementors was that his hair was going white as he lay still on the pillow, his unfocused eyes staring up at the ceiling. At the age of eight, Teddy had protested that he didn't want to go, that it was boring, but Granny had told him, in the coldest of her cold voices, that spending one hour a year in the service of someone who had saved his mother-"While you were inside her, Teddy, mind that"-wasn't too much to ask of anyone. So Teddy continued to visit the day after Christmas, and tell Sanjiv what was happening in his life, and then put it out of his mind as much as he could. He sometimes thought that Mum had got the better deal, just dying, but that felt like a horrible thought, so he tried not to think of that too often, either.
"I'll have to go home," Victoire said. "I could visit by myself if you need help again. I could use Floo powder."
"If it's all right with your parents, you're always welcome," Uncle Harry said.
There didn't seem to be anything more to do, and Uncle Harry was already frowning over the Identity spell again, so Victoire suggested that she really ought to go look after her younger sisters, and Teddy said that he'd promised Al, Rosie, and Artie a good story before bed. Uncle Harry kissed them both and sent them along.
In the corridor, before they reached the stairs, Victoire stopped and said, "I really will keep it secret."
"I know."
She smiled. "Thank you for telling me. I won't tell anyone when I get to Hogwarts, either."
Teddy shrugged. "You can borrow it sometimes, if you need it to do something with your friends."
"Won't you be my friend?" Victoire asked, alarmed.
"I mean, your friends outside the family."
"Oh," Victoire said, for some reason looking completely crushed, though Teddy had meant it to reassure her. "All right. Good night, then, Teddy." She moped down the stairs and scolded Marie, who had run out of a door off to the side, chasing a purple robe that had apparently been hiding in one of the wardrobes, and barreled into her sister without looking.
Teddy went looking for Al and Artie, who, with Rosie, had crawled into Kreacher's cupboard and were begging the old elf for stories of the past. (Al especially wanted anything about ghosts in the house.) Kreacher looked helplessly at Teddy, who nodded and took the children away.
Teddy woke up the day after Christmas to James pouncing on his camp bed. "Breakfast! Mummy's making breakfast for everyone, and there are eggs! And sausages! And all sorts of things! Mummy said to get you up before Al eats everything."
Teddy rolled groggily out of bed and made his way down to the kitchen, which smelled delicious. He loaded up a plate with everything he liked for breakfast (Hermione, who was feeding Hugo a bit of scrambled egg, looked at the pile with astonishment), then sat down with Marie and James, who seemed to be planning an adventure in the attic. Uncle Harry said a grown-up ought to go with them if they were going to play up there, and Bill volunteered. Granny said she might join them later, and have a peek around for her book, if it was all right with Uncle Harry (it was).
"Are you coming, Teddy?" Marie asked.
"No," Teddy said. "I have to visit someone today. My friend Frankie will be here at ten-thirty."
James, apparently getting used to him being around, didn't pester, but did promise to bring him any interesting treasure that he happened to find.
"Well," Bill said, "if you're going treasure hunting, you'll need the proper equipment." He waved his wand and Conjured several toy shovels, toy wands (these were carefully constructed to not channel any accidental magic), and two plastic shields meant to keep off dragon's breath. "There," he said, handing them to James and Marie, "just like mine, when I was off treasure-hunting."
James ate the rest of his breakfast wearing his shield on his left arm.
After he'd finished eating, Teddy wandered upstairs, following Granny, who'd disappeared with Kreacher. He found her in the drawing room with the elf, peering at the family tree. Victoire, who had apparently slipped out of the kitchen without Teddy noticing, was padding along after her, trying to look deeply serious.
Kreacher stopped at a spot on the tree and said, "This is where Miss Andromeda belongs, of course. Mistress..."
"Mistress was unwell," Granny said, as kindly as she could.
To Kreacher, Walburga Black-referred to in anyone else's presence as "Mad Auntie" or, more commonly, by names Teddy wasn't allowed to use-was called "unwell." Bellatrix Lestrange, who had killed Teddy's mother, wasn't accorded this euphemism, and Kreacher himself had come up with a way to deal with his memories of her, saying that "Nasty Miss Bella tricked Kreacher once." He now passed over her spot on the family tree with a wrinkling of his nose, but didn't make a comment. "And Master Sirius," he said.
"I know where Sirius and I are, Kreacher," Granny told him. "And Uncle Alphard. But do you know who belongs in these other spaces? And why Auntie burned them off?"
Kreacher frowned at some of the ancient burn marks. "Kreacher isn't sure," he said, then brightened. "But Miss Andromeda might ask the portraits!"
"Very good! Kreacher, would you be kind enough to send whatever portraits you pass on the way to Phineas Nigellus's, then call for Phineas to come from Hogwarts? I'd very much like to speak to him."
Kreacher hurried off, clearly happy to be about this business. He passed Teddy in the doorway and gave him what Teddy thought was meant to be a smile.
"Why are so many named for stars?" Victoire asked Granny, running her finger over the tapestry.
"It's one of the mysteries," Granny said. "I actually found the answer. I have to double-check it, though, before I polish off that chapter. Would you like to see where the Weasleys belong? I don't know all of the burn marks, but I know where Cedrella's was. She was your grandfather's grandmother."
Teddy coughed to let them know he was there, then came in, glancing at Granny's burn mark, as he usually did in here. He sometimes imagined being able to repair it, to see Granny's name come back, and have Granddad's appear beside it, then a line would come down and show Mum connected to Dad, and then, beneath them, his own name, in the same gold thread as everyone else's. But the tapestry, apparently, was unfixable. Surely, someone would have fixed it before now if it wasn't.
"Are you coming with us to St. Mungo's?" Teddy asked Granny.
She shook her head. "I sit with Sanjiv every day that I work. If he's hearing anything, I'm sure he's quite bored with my voice by now. Besides, aren't you going around with the Apcarnes after? Daffy mentioned something about looking at all the decorations at the Palace, and maybe catching a Muggle film. There's some Muggle money in my bag." She waved her wand, and her handbag flew in. She rooted around in it, then said quietly, "You may want to tread a bit carefully. Maddie's been working very hard lately, and last I knew, she was a little short-tempered."
Teddy frowned. This didn't seem like the Maddie he'd always known, whose temper was about as sharp as a stick of half-melted butter.
The Black family portraits began to arrive a moment later, and Granny was occupied with asking them questions. One portrait told her stiffly that she ought to have learned the answers to her questions before she abandoned the family, but most were intrigued by her plans to actually write the stories down. An Arcturus Black-Sirius and Regulus's grandfather-seemed to think that she meant to save the name from being erased, even if neither of his grandsons had taken the time out of their personal wars to find suitable wives. Teddy personally thought it would be a very long time before anyone forgot the Blacks, even if no one did have the name anymore.
The doorbell rang just before ten-thirty, and Teddy ran down, grabbing his winter cloak and calling a goodbye to Uncle Harry. Frankie was waiting on the front step, his father behind him, with Carny holding one hand from each of them. She grinned at Teddy and he saw that she'd lost two teeth.
"Hi," Teddy said, and looked behind them.
"Maddie's held up at work," Daffy said tightly, and Frankie shuffled his feet in the snow.
"Oh. I-"
"She'll join us at the hospital."
They set off together to the Muggle bus stop, and caught a route across town to the abandoned storefront that was the concealed entrance to St. Mungo's. "Visitors," Daffy said, and the mannequin let them in. They went up to the fourth floor without speaking, and a Healer let them into the Spell Damage ward.
A man with carefully curled white hair wandered out to them, smiling. "Hello and Happy Christmas!" he said.
"Hello, Gilderoy," Daffy said. "It's good to see you again."
"Have I seen you before?"
Teddy smiled at him. Poor old Lockhart had got as far as he was going to get-he remembered who he was, and how to write, but he never managed to remember visitors from one visit to the next. Granny said that he even forgot some of the Healers, if he didn't see them every day. "He's forgotten your grandfather," she'd said once. "I gave him a picture of the two of them in school, so he'd remember, and he always asks me who the nice fellow in it is."
Behind a curtain at the end of the ward, Teddy could hear Professor Longbottom's voice, but couldn't quite make out what he was saying. The sharp voice of his grandmother said, "Well, Alice, I told him that girl was never good enough for him, but..."
And then Daffy led them past another curtain, through a Muffling Charm, and there was Sanjiv, lying still on the bed where he'd been since Teddy was only a week old. Healers cleaned him and turned him so he wouldn't get sores and moved all of his limbs so they wouldn't curl up, so he looked like he was just sleeping deeply.
"Hey, Sanj," Daffy said. "It's me, Daffy. I brought the children. Frankie's thirteen, believe it or not. And Teddy's eleven!"
"I'm eight!" Carny announced, sitting on the bed and grabbing Sanjiv's hand happily. "I turned eight last month, and Daddy took me to see ice skaters who were dressed up like cats and had a swordfight. Mummy couldn't come, but then she let me stay at work with her the very next day and I got to play with a ghost!"
"Maddie's working on a way to help you," Daffy said. Teddy didn't think he looked very happy about this. "Go on, boys. Tell Sanj about Hogwarts."
Frankie and Teddy looked at one another awkwardly, then Frankie started the story of the Forest Guard and the kappa and detention with Professor Longbottom-they both looked over their shoulders toward the gap in the curtain to see if he was somehow listening through the Muffling Charm-and Muggles and Minions. Teddy took over to talk about being the only Gryffindor, and tell him about the other first years and Ruthless.
"Oh," Frankie said, finally having warmed to it, "tell him about that Slytherin girl-Higgs, isn't it?"
"Right," Teddy said. "Honoria Higgs. A right spoiled brat. But there's another one, a Muggle-born boy, who's just as bad, just the other direction. He's-"
Daffy looked up, and Teddy looked over his shoulder. Maddie was coming through, smiling faintly. "I'm sorry I'm late."
"We're used to it," Daffy said, and from the corner of his eye, Teddy saw Frankie flinch.
Maddie sighed and sat down beside Sanjiv, taking the hand that Carny wasn't holding. "I finally got clearance to transfer to the Identity Division," she told him (which surprised Teddy, as no one was meant to know exactly what the Unspeakables did). "I'll find where you are. I'm working on everything we know about Dementors and what happens... after."
Daffy shifted uncomfortably, then seemed to take on a heavy burden and put his hand on Maddie's shoulder. "If anyone can help," he said, "it's Mads. You know that."
"May we go to the tea shop?" Frankie asked.
Daffy nodded. "We'll pick you up there."
Frankie grabbed Teddy's arm and led him out, nearly walking into Professor Longbottom and his grandmother. Mrs. Longbottom looked at them in an irritated way, but Professor Longbottom said, "Let it be, Gran." He frowned at Frankie and said, "Come see me when you get back, if you'd like."
Frankie nodded, but kept moving, bringing Teddy along in his wake. He didn't speak until they'd got hot chocolate and biscuits and settled themselves in a red-velvet-lined booth with a Privacy Charm on it. "She worked on Christmas Day," he said.
Teddy wasn't sure what to say to this. "I-"
"They fought about it, but she thinks she's got some lead on things. Dad yelled at her and said she needed to accept it. She said it was an abomination and she never would. I never heard her say anything like that before. Dad started yelling about her trying to bring back the dead-he asked if she meant to bring back-" He stopped abruptly.
"My mum?"
Frankie nodded miserably. "Sorry. I didn't mean to say that. She's off on a tear, anyway, ever since they let her go to Identity. They weren't letting her for a long time. I'll bet they knew this would happen."
"Maybe she'll find something," Teddy said. "No one knows what happens after Dementors kiss someone. Well, to the part they eat anyway."
"I just wish they wouldn't fight about it. Dad just wanted her to spend some time with us, but..." He stirred his hot chocolate. "She promised to stay the rest of today. I hope they won't fight again. I don't like it."
Teddy looked down at his biscuits, not really wanting them, but picking crumbs off of them for something to do.
"So," Frankie said jovially, and Teddy looked up to find him smiling, as if he hadn't been upset only seconds ago, "what shall we do when we get back to Hogwarts? Sneak into Hogsmeade? Try to get further into the Forest? I think Roger wanted to see if we could find any of the spiders..."
Grateful for the change in subject, Teddy let him start to make grand plans for their next term, and they were both quite cheerful by the time Daffy, Maddie, and Carny came up to gather them. Daffy and Maddie seemed to have maintained their truce, and even held hands through the film they all went to see (a story about a spy who tried to make up for his bad deeds by helping the innocent). By the time they brought Teddy back to Uncle Harry's, he might have imagined the tension of the morning. Frankie clapped him on the shoulder and said they would sit together on the train going back.
The cousins had all left by the time Teddy got back, and the house seemed oddly empty. Victoire had left a note reminding him of everything he needed to remember about pronouncing French. Granny was still working with the family tree, now sitting on the floor with piles of notes around her, commanding several quills to take down names and dates. Uncle Harry had been called out on an emergency, though when he came back, he rolled his eyes and complained that Savage would declare an emergency if the weather forecast turned out to be wrong. Teddy thought he still looked troubled about something, and wasn't surprised at all when he retreated to his office for the rest of the evening, though he was surprised that Granny went to talk to him there. Teddy supposed they'd got used to talking to one another about work problems when Uncle Harry had still lived with them during his apprenticeship. After that, things returned to normal.
The day before Teddy was scheduled to go back to Hogwarts, he and Uncle Harry were having one last go at the Map. Teddy was poking at the dog's paw prints, trying to figure out where on the grounds they were, exactly, and idly said, "We never did find out if we could find your dad's things."
"True. I meant to look up how to say 'Potter' in Latin. I suppose we could look up Pettigrew, but I don't really want Wormtail's things." He Summoned the Latin dictionary, which had started to look well-thumbed indeed, and tapped it to open to the word "Potter," then shrugged and said, "I think this is right." He pointed Dad's wand at the deer and said, "Revelo Figularis."
The deer perked up and leapt gracefully over the Map, stopping here and there-James Potter seemed to have been fond of what Teddy suspected were more loose floor stones in the common room-leaving hoof-prints around the castle and on the grounds. Uncle Harry was smiling, then abruptly looked puzzled. Teddy looked down. The deer had stopped beside the lake, about where the White Tomb was now, though with the Map out of date, it didn't appear. After leaving that mark, it jumped into the Forbidden Forest and left a heavy print deep inside. It cast around a bit more, then jumped back to its place.
Uncle Harry blinked at this for a long time, and Teddy said, "What is it, Uncle Harry?"
"Something I need to think about quite carefully. Teddy, will you wait for another letter before you do anything with this? I want to keep the Map, but only for a few more days. I'll owl it back to you, I promise."
"All right."
"I wish I'd tried this a week ago. Oh, well. That's stuck in a broken Time Turner now. I'll get it back to you soon."
Teddy went to bed feeling excited about his return to Hogwarts and optimistic about the Map, now that Uncle Harry seemed to have something in mind. He dreamed of the castle. He was near the great outer wall, and glowing paw prints trailed off into the shadows. At the crest of a hill, lit by the full moon, was a thin, pale man, waiting for him. He smiled. It was Teddy's own smile, and knowledge flowed over Teddy like a summer wind.
"Dad!" he called, running up the hill.
Dad winked and handed him a golden key, which promptly faded into Teddy's hand and disappeared. "Some things are yours now, Teddy," he said.
"Is Mum with you? Are you together still? You're not fighting, are you?"
"We're together always, and there's no fighting. Your Mum is watching over you." He put his hands on Teddy's shoulders. They seemed to have no weight, but weren't cold and unpleasant like a ghost's. Teddy had never felt anything like them, and wanted them to stay there always. Dad was still smiling, but his face was very serious. "Find what's yours, Teddy. Find what was always meant for you." He faded away, and Teddy saw the gray stone wall of the castle behind him. The paw prints in the grass glowed brilliantly for a moment, then were gone.