"However I can help," Harry said. He had come to Andromeda Tonks' home on a whim, and now he hoped it wasn't a bad one.
Andromeda smiled at him, making Harry relax. "Thank you," she said. "It's hard, you know. You aren't supposed to outlive your kid …"
"I don't know," Harry said. "But I can imagine."
"Remus was a good man, too," she said. "I knew him long before he met Dora. When he was friends with Sirius." A smile ghosted her lips. "Your parents and their friends were really special."
Harry spent a lot of time at Andromeda's over those next few years, watching Teddy grow up. They leaned on each other, depended on each other almost as much as Harry depended on Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. He watched Teddy's first steps, and sat with him on the anniversary of his parents' deaths, as Remus had once done for him. He was there on Teddy's birthday, the big one, the one on which he received a letter inviting him to attend Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
XXX
Teddy Lupin had thought he was ready to go to school. Now, standing on Platform 9 3/4 surrounded by strangers, he wasn't so sure. Strangers, that is, except for his grandmother and godfather, who had come to see him off. As his grandmother drifted off to speak with someone she knew, Harry took him aside. "How are you feeling, Teddy?"
"I'm ok," he said. He rubbed the back of his neck, like he always did when he was nervous.
"You know, I didn't know a single soul going to Hogwarts," Harry said. "And I made some really incredible friends there. Your parents did, too."
"Mr. Weasley," he said, referring to Charlie, who had been Tonks' friend at school.
"Yes, and so many other people," Harry said. "Your dad and my dad were really close."
"I know," Teddy said. He had heard this all before.
"It's ok to be nervous," Harry said. "Look, I want you to have this." Harry took a small book – a photo album – out of his bag and handed it to Teddy. "I reached out to some of your parents' old friends and I just thought – for you to bring them with you, you know?" Teddy opened the book to the front page. Remus and Tonks waved up at him, smiling brightly. He turned the page, and there was another photo of his father, surrounded by three boys, one of whom looked just like Harry.
Harry rambled on, "Someone did something like this for me and –" Teddy shut the book then, and wrapped his arms around Harry as tightly as he could. "Thank you," he said. Harry held him tight, happy, at least, that he could give Teddy this.
On the Hogwarts Express, having found a compartment to himself for a moment, he opened the book again. His parents waved at him again. Teddy waved back.