This chapter's for Mikee, who requested it. Told you I'd try to put it in.

Chapter 14

Throughout the remaining weeks, some days seemed to speed by - blink and you've missed it - and others seemed to crawl.

During the days where Teddy Lupin would find himself climbing into bed after what felt like mere seconds since getting out of it, he thought about how much he loved Hogwarts, how he'd probably miss it when he went home for Christmas, miss his friends and his classes, and being able to do magic, and visiting Hagrid, and hearing Neville tell stories about his school days with Harry and Ron and everyone, his old war stories, at the end of every Herbology class, and seeing his parents' names every time he walked past the Memorial Plaque.

During the days where the minutes felt like hours, the hours like forever, he'd think about how much he missed Harry and Ginny and James and Albus and Lily and Victoire and everyone, how much he missed his pets, his room, his broomstick. And he'd urge the days to go faster.

And, of course, when they did, he'd think maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they went a little slower...

It was an annoying little cycle.

But then the last day was over, and he was going to bed, then to sleep, and then waking up from Ryan shaking him.

"Teddy. Come on. We've got to go in, like, twenty minutes." Ryan spoke loudly, and waited until Teddy sat up before moving away. He knew Teddy too well by now; left alone the boy was likely to just roll over and go back to sleep.

Groggily, Teddy rubbed the sleep from his eyes and swung his legs out of bed. He was unsurprised when he tripped over the sheets that had tangled around his legs, and only slightly annoyed that the guys in his dormitory laughed at him.

It was almost a part of his morning routine, almost as regular as brushing his teeth. He nearly always woke with the sheets and his legs tangled, and never remembered to check before standing up.

Despite Ryan's warnings that they'd miss the train, Teddy was all ready to go in twenty minutes, piling into the carriages with everyone else. And then he was on the train.

And then, hours later, he was at King's Cross, stumbling onto the platform and searching for his family.

And then he saw them. His face split into an almost painful grin, and he ran towards them, waving.

Halfway over, he tripped over something - he didn't know what, didn't stop to check, but thought it may have been his own feet - steadied himself before he hit the ground and threw himself at Harry.

"I guess you missed us then." Harry commented as Teddy released him and threw himself at Ginny instead.

"I really, really did." Teddy replied solemnly. It wasn't until he'd released Ginny that he saw Victoire, standing behind James and Al. With a strangled kind of yell, he dived at her, and the two of them clung to each other, jumping and spinning, Victoire shrieking and Teddy whooping.

"Come on. Let's get to the car." Harry said. "Teddy - Victoire - come on -"

But he had to wait until they'd worn themselves out. Grinning foolishly, Teddy let James and Al hug him, then they finally made their way out of the station and outside.

----

By the time Christmas Eve rolled around, a part of Teddy was seriously considering not going back to Hogwarts. He hadn't completely registered how much he missed them until he was back home, back with them.

When he mentioned to Harry that he wasn't sure if he wanted to go back, however, Harry looked at him very seriously.

"I understand that," - although in all honesty, he didn't, not really - "But I think if you stayed here, you'd miss Hogwarts just as much."

Thoughtfully, Teddy chewed his lip. Did he really never want to go back to the castle, never see his friends, or the memorial plaque, or the animals... "Maybe." He said finally.

"But if, at the end of the holidays, you really don't want to, you can stay." Harry said with a smile. Teddy grinned back.

----

Christmas morning was always fun. Rising early, the excitement and chaos of presents, going to the Burrow for the most crowded Christmas dinner in existence.

And arriving home, full and happy and a little sleepy.

Of course, Teddy was almost twelve, and he couldn't go to bed at the same time and James and Al and Lily, no matter how tired he was. It was a matter of pride. So he forced himself to stay awake, sat downstairs.

"I've got something for you." Harry said uncertainly, while Ginny was tucking the younger ones in. "A...kind of present. But if you don't want it yet, it'll wait."

"OK." Teddy said slowly, a little confused. Harry moved over to the cupboard, withdrew as small stone pensive that Teddy had seen but never touched.

"If you want...and if you don't it's OK...you can use this, you can - my memories...of your parents." Harry watched Teddy as he struggled to explain himself, and Teddy's mixed emotions were hard to read.

"I...yes." Teddy said finally. He was, in truth, a little afraid of what he'd see. But his curiosity outweighed his fear. He watched as Harry drew memory after memory out of his head with his wand, and watched as each was transferred to the little stone bowl. It was a fascinating substance.

"That's them all." Harry said. Or most of them, anyway. He wasn't going to show his last memory of them, the image of them, laid out and peaceful. And dead. "Are you ready?"

"Are you coming with me?" Teddy asked. He thought he hid the nervousness on his face, in his voice. He was wrong.

"Yes. Unless you don't want me to." When Teddy said nothing, Harry flicked a glance to the doorway, in which Ginny was stood. He met her eyes, smiled slightly. "We won't be too long." He murmured, then turned back to Teddy. "You go first."

"Ah..."

"I'll be right behind you." Harry assured him, and Teddy took a deep breath, moved forward. And disappeared face-first into the weird substance. "See you." Harry said to Ginny, and followed.

Teddy was on the floor, slowly getting to his feet. "You could've told me I'd land on something moving." He muttered, as the train jolted them. Harry couldn't help but smirk.

Then Teddy looked around the people in the compartment, his eyes travelling over a much younger Harry, Ron and Hermione. And then...

He was asleep. His mouth slightly open, sat in the corner. Teddy swallowed.

"My dad."

"First time I met him." Harry nodded. He watched as Teddy moved closer, ignoring the trio as he studied his father. "Teddy - just come back here a minute -" Harry grabbed Teddy's arm a second before the compartment when dark.

"This is where the dementor comes, right?" Teddy said. His voice wasn't quite steady. It was one thing, being told stories of your parents. It was another thing entirely to see the story unfold before your eyes.

"Yes." And Teddy watched as first Ginny, then Neville entered, his eyes straining through the darkness.

"Quiet." Teddy's heart jumped at the sound of his father's voice, and the sight of him holding a handful of flames. And he watched as his father moved forward, spoke to the dementor and shot a patronus at it, as Ginny shook violently in the corner, as Harry passed out and slid from his chair.

But none of that mattered to him, none of it registered. Teddy's attention was focused on his father...his father.

He listened as Remus spoke to Harry, offered out chocolate. He'd never heard his father's voice before, and yet somehow it seemed familiar...Stupid, he told himself. He hadn't heard the voice since he was weeks old, there was no way he could remember it.

"OK...we're changing..." Harry muttered, but Teddy had already noticed the shift in his surroundings...And now he was in a room he didn't recognise as the Hogwarts staff room, in the midst of a class full of thirteen and fourteen year olds.

"My first lesson with your dad." Harry told him, but Teddy barely heard, he was already seeking out his father in the crowd. And he found him, too.

This time, he watched the whole class with interest. He knew the story; Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville had all told him it at one time or another. But still...seeing it, hearing the voices, his dad's voice.

Next he saw one of Harry's anit-dementor lessons, and the event towards the end of Harry's third year...in the shrieking shack, where Remus and Sirius had explained everything...

Teddy smiled at the look on his father's face when he spoke of his friends, and cried out when Snape appeared - he'd forgotten that was going to happen - made a little growly noise when Snape bound his father, and smirked when Snape was knocked out. Harry may have told him Snape was really a good guy, really a brave hero, but that didn't mean he could tie up Teddy's dad like that, did it?

And then...

"You don't have to watch this - we can go to the next one -" Harry said quickly.

"No, I wanna see." Teddy replied firmly, and watched with baited breath as the clouds shifted as his father stiffened, changed.

He watched the werewolf with interest, horror, and a little bit of grief over the father he'd never know. Watched as Remus and Sirius fought, and with a rush of anger as the rat knocked out Ron and escaped.

Then everything changed again; Teddy found himself in an almost dark room.

"My old bedroom." Harry told him, and Teddy saw the guy on the bed; his godfather at fifteen. Then he heard the crash, and smiled when he realised what memory they were in.

"The first time you met my mum, right?" He asked excitedly, and Harry nodded.

Teddy followed the teenage Harry, and saw his mother...pale, violet haired, stood near his father...

Had she liked him even then? Had either of them known, as they stood looking at Harry, that in a few short years, they would marry, have a child, and die, leaving their only son with the boy in front of them?

No, they hadn't. Teddy knew they hadn't. If they had, he thought, would they have got together sooner? Had him sooner? Would he have had longer with his parents? Long enough to have a memory, just one memory of his own?

Teddy couldn't help but smile as he watched his mum in Harry's bedroom, changing her hair in the mirror, explaining what she was to Harry and helping him pack...she was just the kind of person, he thought, that made you want to smile.

And he smiled wider when they moved to Grimmauld Place and he watched his mother topple over the troll's leg, set of the screeches of Mrs Black.

His attention was diverted some what by Sirius.

"He looks different." He commented. "From that time in the Shrieking Shack...he looks...healthier." He decided.

"Yeah. He does." Harry murmured. There was something in his voice that alerted Teddy to the grief Harry still had for Sirius...and with a little jolt he realised that the man in front of him, yelling at the portrait, had less than a year left to live...

The next memory Teddy saw of his mother, however, she was mousy haired and miserable looking, stood looking down at sixteen-year-old Harry who was frozen on the floor with a broken nose.

He knew she was miserable because of the way she felt about Remus...because of Remus's rejection.

"She looks so sad." Teddy murmured.

"Yeah. She was." Harry replied, as they watched the two figures jump off of the train.

And then they were stood in the hospital wing, Bill, his face torn to pieces, laid unconscious, surrounded by some of his family, and Harry, and Hermione and McGonagall and Teddy's parents.

And he knew was going to happen, had heard all about it, and he watched them, an almost hungry expression on his face as he wished he could watch them both at the same time.

"You see!" Teddy was entranced by the look of aguish on his mum's face as she glared at his dad. "She still wants to marry him, even though he's been bitten. She doesn't care!"

"It's different," Remus replied, tense and quiet, avioding her eyes. "Bill will not be a full werewolf. The cases are completely -"

'But I don't care either, I don't care!' Teddy smiled a little as his mum seized the front of Lupin's robes and shook them. 'I've told you a million times..."

"And I've told you a million times that I am too old for you, too poor ... too dangerous..."

"He loved her too, though." Teddy murmured. "You can tell, you can see it."

Harry looked at them, looked at the way Remus spoke calmly, not looking at Tonks. "Tonks deserves somebody young and whole."

And Harry thought maybe, just maybe he saw what Teddy saw.

"Yeah. I guess you can."

----

They went through the only few memories Harry had left: the night Mad-Eye died, where Tonks had told him that they were married, where the couple had clung to each other after arriving at the Burrow. The way Tonks had glowed at Bill and Fleur's wedding.

And the day Teddy had been born.

"Look. See how happy he is?" Harry murmured, but Teddy barely heard him. His dad looked...almost crazy, as he grabbed hold of Harry, asked him to be godfather, as they celebrated, toasted to the baby Teddy had been.

But yes, he saw the happiness.

"And that's all." Harry murmured; the next thing Teddy knew he was back home, stood in the living room.

"Can I see...the night they..."

"No, Teddy." Harry said gently.

"Not them dead...I mean...At Hogwarts..."

"Teddy..." Harry murmured, and shook his head. It would do him no good to see them, worried and nervous, the Battle beginning, the people, people who had only minutes to live.

"OK. OK." Teddy muttered. "I...goodnight." And he turned and left the room.

"Is he OK?" Ginny asked, as Harry sat down.

"Maybe it wasn't my best idea." Harry sighed. "I just wanted him to see them properly, hear them...but maybe it just made him feel worse..."

It hadn't, though. As Teddy changed into his PJs, climbed into bed, he could still remember them; his mother, smiling, then sad, his father, trying to push her away to protect her, the two of them together, glad to find each other alive. And, of course, his dad's hysterical happiness at having a son.

The memories he'd been shown had destroyed insecurities he hadn't known he'd had. The memories had showed him that his parents had loved each other, had loved him.

And that, he thought, was the best present anyone could ever have given him.