A/N: Sorry it's taken me a while to update... I was a bit short on ideas so have been focussing on my other story.

I reference some things in this chapter that aren't in the books, they come from my idea of how DH ended/Remus and Tonks lived. I've been wanting to write the story that would be the 11 years before this, about the aftermath of the war where Remus and Tonks survived. I haven't done it yet because I'm already writing 2 other stories but I probably will have a stab at it soon.

Anyway, I hope you're still enjoying this story! Let me know what you think...

By the time December rolled around Teddy could hardly believe he'd nearly finished his first term. Some classes such as Charms and Potions were starting to die down already in favour of reviewing what they'd learnt so far that term. Herbology had to be called off completely for a week as some 4th years had gotten a little too excited about the upcoming holiday and set off some killer dung bombs in all the greenhouses. However, Politics class showed no sign of winding down.

Teddy wasn't sure how he felt about Politics class. Hermione had told him it was a new addition to the syllabus after the war, in attempt to ensure students were better informed about the way the wizarding world was run and what could go wrong when it wasn't run properly. However, their Politics Professor, Professor LaClair didn't seem to share Hermione's bright-eyed enthusiasm over the class. She was stern and formidable and seemed to take it all very seriously, but the class would pass uneventfully enough if you sat quietly and handed in your essays on time.

And that was how all the classes had gone as they'd learnt about how the Ministry of Magic was founded, it's different divisions, the role of the Minister of Magic, and the 6 different Mantra's of Ministry ruling.

However after learning all of this somewhat disinterestedly, Teddy found himself sat once again under Professor LaClair's stern eye, as him and each of his classmates was allocated a different Mantra of Ministry ruling to present at the end of the class on either the positives or negatives of. Teddy's piece of parchment allocating his topic flew towards him and he looked down to read, Viribus Imperium – Strength and Power of the Magical World: Positives.

Teddy sighed, wishing it could at least be partner work so he didn't have to do too much thinking, and opened his textbook to the correct page. Scanning it for any useful information his heart stopped as he read the list of Ministers of Magic who had adopted that mantra. The most recent read Pius Thicknesse, 1st August 1997 – 2nd May 1998. Teddy didn't need the dates of the war to remind him, he knew the name already.

He looked up towards the front of the classroom in horror. She couldn't really expect him to present to the class on the positives of the mantra of the Minister of Magic who'd been under Lord Voldemort's thumb.

He raised his hand but Professor LaClair was occupied by her reading and didn't notice. He cleared his throat, "Professor?"

She looked up, surprised that the hand belonged to someone other than Jessica Mantle, who liked to take every opportunity she could in this class to remind everyone that her parents worked for Magical Law Enforcement. Teddy thought this was stupid, they'd spent 2 weeks learning about the Minister of Magic and Teddy hadn't once mentioned that the current Minister of Magic had been round to their house for dinner on more than one occasion and that his mother referred to him as "Kings" or even "The King" when she was angry with him.

LaClair stood from her seat behind her desk and approached Teddy with narrowed eyes. When she was stood next to his desk he spoke, "um... I'm confused..."

"About?"

"What I'm meant to be presenting on"

Her eyes narrowed further and she read the slip of parchment with his presentation topic before looking back up at him. "Do you understand what the Viribus Imperium Mantra is?"

"Yes..."

"And do you understand what the word 'positives' means?"

Benji snickered from his seat beside him.

"Yes, but-"

"-well then I don't see what there is to be confused about" she responded waspishly before heading back to her desk as Teddy scowled after her.

Teddy sighed and looked back to his textbook, but all he could do was keep staring at the name Pius Thicknesse. He remembered the account of Bill and Fleur's wedding, how it had been cut short by the news that the Ministry had fallen, his parents and their friends had to fight off the Death Eaters and then spent hours being interrogated on his Godfather's whereabouts. What happened then? He tried to remember. Oh yeah, his parents had gone straight to Gran's house to check she was alright. Gran and Grandad (the one he was named after) had been interrogated too. And that was when it all got bad, really bad, Teddy remembered. All of that started when Pius Thicknesse became Minister of Magic, and it all ended with a battle that had nearly left him orphaned and had killed Uncle George's twin brother, along with a load of other people, a lot of whom were students at this very school.

Teddy became overcome with rage. How was this class supposed to help avoid the political mistakes that had led to the war if he was being asked to present the positives of the mantra which led to that war. The more he thought about it the more furious he became, it was completely ridiculous... and before he knew it, it was time to present and he had nothing on his parchment, only the rage in his head.

His nerves grew as he watched his classmates present in turn and then he was called up to the front. He stood up, an unpleasant knot forming in the pit of his stomach but as he stood and cleared his throat he remembered the statue of a phoenix that sat by their front door, he remembered the photo's his dad had in his study that even after all these years he still sometimes looked at somewhat forlornly. He remembered his mum ranting and raging about something at the Ministry and finishing with a "Mad-Eye would never have let this happen" before promptly bursting into tears. And he forgot his nerves, rediscovered his anger, cleared his throat again and spoke, "there are no positives to this mantra and anyone who could even suggest there are must be evil. The end."

On second thoughts, he maybe didn't need to add, 'the end' it sounded as though he'd planned this little speech which he hadn't at all. But the damage was done. 10 points from Hufflepuff, detention and a foot of parchment on his given presentation topic.

He was beyond raging now. Presenting a few bullet points was one thing, but a whole essay. He wouldn't do it, his parents wouldn't in his position, he was sure of it.

And so it was that the next lesson came around and Professor LaClair eyed him silently. When Teddy neither did nor said anything except look back defiantly she was forced to ask for the essay. He responded that he hadn't done it and she'd wordlessly taken out parchment and quill, scribbled something down before shoeing him out of the classroom to take her note to his Head of House.

Professor Hayward would understand, he thought, she was nice. But she didn't understand, not at all. In fact, she muttered something about her being in the middle of supervising a NEWT mock exam, followed by something about him being truly his mother's son, scribbled another note on the back of LaClair's note and sent him to... oh dear... his father.

But Dad would stick up for him because Dad was actually there. Professor LaClair wasn't, Professor Hayward wasn't but Dad was and Mum was and Harry was and his Dad would be proud of him for standing up to Professor LaClair… wrong again.

"You did what?"

Teddy could only look back at his father somewhat pathetically.

Remus sighed and Teddy felt that familiar sinking feeling he always felt when he "disappointed" his father. It wasn't like being in trouble with Mum, she'd yell and curse and wave her hands around and it was quite frankly terrifying but then it was all over quickly and she was grinning and joking again. It was that sigh of his father's who was usually so patient and understanding that cut deep.

"Care to explain this to me Teddy?"

And Teddy stuttered through his account of the events, somewhat ineloquently at first but as he spoke he became more sure of himself until he could feel the outrage bubbling up again. His father just listened on quietly until the outburst was over.

"It's stupid!" Teddy finished, "If they want to avoid it happening again then they should teach us why it's bad, not why it's good"

"You can't tell people what to think. You can only give them all the facts and let them decide for themselves"

"Still! Why are they actively encouraging us to find a reason why this is good?"

"Teddy, you're 11 years old. Do you really think that one homework assignment right now is going to tip someone to become the sort of person who'll aim to destroy the world as we know it?"

"Well I don't know, it has to start somewhere doesn't it?"

Remus sighed, "I don't pretend to know where evil comes from. But what I do know is this. Even Tom Riddle couldn't have caused even half the destruction he did if he'd had no followers"

"So?!"

"Soooo perhaps it's true that someone like Tom Riddle couldn't have been deterred no matter what he learned in school. However, do you think every single one of his followers was evil to the core? Because they weren't Teddy, I knew Death Eaters before they became Death Eaters. Ignorance leaves people vulnerable to being swayed by false facts and ideologies. If everyone knows the facts then they are stronger to stand up to people like Riddle"

"But if you encourage them to decide what's good about those ideologies then it'll sway them the wrong way"

"Unless you teach them to think about why it's good, why it's bad, and why all the other options are good and bad as well and then they can form an opinion they're confident in"

Teddy frowned, considering his fathers words. His thoughts were disrupted however as the fire place burst into emerald flames and his mother appeared before his very eyes.

"Hi darling sorry about that I... Oh, hey Teddy, what's up? You're not flunking Defence Against the Dark Arts are you cos that would be embarrassing!"

Remus looked at his son and raised his eyebrows inviting him to explain.

"Umm..." Teddy began, unable to look his mother in the eye, "no not Defence Against the Dark Arts... actually I did really well in my last essay didn't I Dad?"

His father said nothing, just raised his eyebrows again.

"What have you done Ted..?" His mother asked suspiciously.

"Why do you assume I've done something?"

"Well for starters look who your parents are. And secondly" she looked to the clock on the wall, " I know you love your dad, but you're not so uncool that you'd choose to hang out here instead of with your friends after class... unless I was wrong and you haven't actually inherited any of my coolness at all"

It was Teddy's turn to raise his eyebrows now at his mothers terribly inaccurate image of herself.

Remus sighed, "Teddy's caused a little trouble in politics class"

"I see..." his mother responded, moving to perch on the arm of her husbands chair. "What kind of trouble...?"

Remus looked at Teddy to invite him to continue and he grimaced but then began, "well, we've been learning about the different Ministry ruling mantras"

"Mhmm"

"And... we all got given a different one and had to present on either the positives or negatives of that goal..."

"Mmm?"

"And... mine was strength and power of the wizarding world..."

"Ok..."

"And I had to talk about the positives of that... as a main goal of the Ministry you know"

"Yeah..."

"Well... Professor LaClair said this was an opportunity for us to think for ourselves, about... about what's important and stuff"

"That's good..."

"Well... yeah... so I stood up and I gave my honest opinion"

"Right... and that is what?"

"That... there are no positives"

"Ah"

"Mmm" Remus spoke up now, "in fact I believe his exact words were, 'there are no positives and anyone who even suggests there are, must be evil. The end.'" He read off the slip from Professor LaClair.

"Hmm" came his mothers response.

"So he was given more time to come up with some ideas and was asked to write an essay instead."

"Mmm"

"But he refused to write it"

"I see. Care to explain your thinking behind this rather dramatic display?"

Teddy rolled his eyes, "as if you can lecture me on being dramatic"

"Teddy, don't speak to your mother like that" his Dad scolded as his mother glowered at him.

"I honestly don't understand why you're so upset about this Ted" his mum snapped, "if you can't handle this, how on earth are you going to cope when you learn about werewolves in Defence class?"

"Well learning the facts about werewolves is different. If we learn about why we should hate werewolves I'll react like this. No… I'll be worse, much worse"

"And you'll have my full permission to do so" his mother responded whilst Remus looked like he didn't know whether to feel touched or concerned. "But this isn't anything like that"

"But the last Minister who used that mantra was Pius Thicknesse"

"Well of course he was the last, but how many others used it before that who weren't being controlled by the reincarnation of evil itself?"

"That's irrelevant! How can I write about the positives of a type of Ministry that nearly left me orphaned at less than a month old?! I might have never known either of you! Hope, Sirius and Leo wouldn't even have existed. I thought you of all people would agree with me!"

"Sweetheart, I'm glad you understand that those were bad times. But the thing is, the assignment isn't to write about why Tom Riddle was good or why the war was good. The assignment is to write about the positives of a Ministry that prioritises the strength of the wizarding world."

"Which is exactly what Voldemort was doing"

"Tom Riddle" Dora emphasised the name, "was doing a lot more than that. Imagine if the Ministry prioritised the strength of the wizarding world but included muggle borns and half bloods and magical creatures as part of that. Can you see how that might have some positives?"

"No."

"Look Ted" his Mum's tone was short and brisk now and Teddy knew she was fed up, "what you have to realise is that not everything is about you or this family"

"Well clearly not!" He exploded, "If what the Ministry was doing meant so much to you that you'd happily run to your death when I was only just born!"

"Teddy" his father warned, but the damage was done.

"Look!" His mother's hair flashed scarlet in her rage, "we've always seen fit to be open and honest with you about where you came from and the history of this family. We thought that if we respected you and trusted you to be mature with that knowledge then you would rise to that. But clearly we were wrong. Just because your dad and I met in the Order of the bloody Phoenix, just because we were here at the Battle of Hogwarts, it does NOT mean that you are any more special than your classmates and you get to act all superior and like you know more. Because you weren't here Ted were you!? You didn't watch half your friends die and not sleep properly for years because you didn't know who was going to be next. You didn't have to go into hiding because you and your husband were on the Ministry's top 10 wanted list. You didn't stand around in Gran's living room after your husband had just run to his likely death. You didn't find those horrible letters that said husband left to you and your son because he thought he was going to die. You didn't run straight into this very castle dodging killing curse after killing curse to find said husband and bring him back to your son. You didn't fail to find said husband until the fighting was over only to then find him lying with all the fallen. You didn't have years of nightmares and waking up in a cold sweat thinking you were alone. You weren't afraid to leave the house still because even though it was over you couldn't shake the paranoia that someone would attack you. Have you experienced any of that Ted?! Have you!?"

He wanted to cry but all he could do was shake his head guiltily.

"Right. So if you haven't experienced any of that then you can go to your common room and write the damn assignment" and with that she picked up the box of floo powder on the mantelpiece a little too aggressively thus dropping it on the floor where it shattered somewhat dramatically. She positively growled in frustration but managed to scrape just enough powder off the floor to send her home, engulfed in green flames which made her look strangely Christmassy against the violent red hair.

His father, still looking cool and collected as ever if not a little contemplative, looked into the fireplace after her for a few moments before wordlessly taking out his wand and repairing the damage to the floo powder pot in one swift motion. He then turned his attention back to Teddy and pursed his lips a little before speaking in a quiet grave voice that was almost as terrifying as his mum's yelling. "Teddy, your mother has never quite gotten over the guilt she felt over leaving you that night. Please don't use that against her again, it isn't fair. For months she could hardly hold you without bursting into tears"

Teddy nodded and shifted uncomfortably as he stared at his shoes, "it's just... I know I wasn't there... but it's weird... imagining what my life could have been like, what it so nearly was"

"I know, I understand. But spending too much time dwelling on what ifs won't do us any good. We're here now alright, so let's just be grateful for that. If we live in the shadow of all that evil forever then they may as well have won"

Teddy nodded, he supposed probably his Dad did know best, he always did really.

"Good" Remus lightened up now, "if you need to run any ideas past me for your essay, I'll be in on Sunday for a bit alright?"

"Ok..."

"Now go on, I think I have some damage control to do at home, don't you?"

"Mmm" Teddy couldn't help but smile a little at the familiar family dynamic. "Sorry" he added as an afterthought.

"That's alright" Remus stood up and went over to embrace his son. When he pulled away, he kept his hands firmly on Teddy's shoulders and looked him in the eye. "I'm glad you have your own opinions and you think for yourself. But you need to learn to pick your battles, alright?"

Teddy nodded

"And I suspect there are no circumstances under which it is ever wise to insinuate your teacher is evil. In fact, I sincerely hope you're never in any situation in which it would even be true but if you are, how about you let me handle it?"

Teddy grimaced, "I should apologise for being disrespectful, shouldn't I?"

"I think that would be nice, yes" Remus nodded.