These roads never seemed so long
Since your paper heart stopped beating leaving me suddenly alone
Will daybreak ever come?

Paperthin Hymn by Anberlin

With the sun beating down across the miles of sand, a soft, dry wind whipped through the dunes, splashing up grains of sand. A small campsite stuck out bluntly in the sea of white dirt. The wizards surrounding it were all engrossed in their own activities around a tiny fire they had billowing smoke into the sky. Several men were shouting through their cigars as they placed bets for their current round of cards while another small group was smoking, taking swigs of whiskey and tequila between breaths as they chuckled and exchanged words peacefully. All in all, they all hadn't shaved in days and were smoking or drinking or both, some nursing their sunburns while others reveled in the deep tan they had acquired and they were all wearing nothing but shorts, some of them wearing shirts that were unbuttoned, flapping in the wind.

Teddy Lupin was perched on a crate away from the unit, his eyes scanning the dessert. He was one of the few that had opted to keep a shirt, though his white short sleeved shirt was unbuttoned. He wiped his hands on his khaki shorts, dust caked onto the fabric already. He had been sitting out here for weeks with the rest of his unit, guarding the stop along the route that the South African President of Magic was supposed to be traveling through within the next few days. While they all sat around enjoying one another's company, no one was really complaining about the easy job, though they complained rather loudly about doing nothing in the dessert and not some cushy town in civilization.

"Ay, Lupin." Teddy turned to see his friend Devin approaching his spot. Devin had acquired the darkest, rusty brown tan in the weeks they had spent in the dessert, matching his dark brown hair and eyes. He had abandoned his shirt all together and had on blinding white shorts, a pair he had clearly not worn yet, considering the number of dust spots was practically zero.

He slid onto the crate beside Teddy, elbowing his friend. "Mate, you have been downright depressing lately, what's up?"

"Devin, we went to school together, so I like you. Which is why I want you to leave me the hell alone," Teddy sighed, agitated.

"Look, Teddy, I know the last year or two have had you in quite a slump, first you and Vic split and then you start getting all moody and irritated randomly. You always start out strong doing something, and we start thinking you're back to normal and then you pull shit like this."

Teddy grunted in response. He didn't want to discuss what people were shrieking about in regards to his well-being. He was perfectly fine. He wasn't dying or in danger of offing himself. He had an incredible job and a great family…so why was he so miserable?

It seemed like it had started when he and Victoire ended things, but it had started before that and the break-up was a result of it, not a cause. To be truthful, Teddy had no idea why he had gone downhill so fast. It had just happened. One day things just didn't seem so great and he couldn't bring himself to really be happy like he used to be. Something just always felt missing in his life.

"Going to say something in English there, mate?"

"What?" Teddy's head shot up to see Devin shaking his head, laughing under his breath.

"You were mumbling on in French. I hate it when you randomly switch languages. You and Harry are awful about that, you know?"

Teddy shrugged, grateful to discuss anything but his feelings. "We learned so many different languages so fast I guess we just sort of forget sometimes."

Devin nodded. "It used to drive us crazy when you and Vic, and even Jamie would ramble on in French at Hogwarts," he sighed, not talking for several minutes. "Come on, it's starting to get dark and the temperature is going to drop below freezing soon."

"In a minute." Teddy looked back up at the sky, watching the sunset. He pulled off his hat, tugging at it anxiously with his hands.

"Lupin!"

Both Devin and Teddy turned around at the shouts. Their commander, Leif Gerent was waving them over as he walked towards them, shouting, "There's a message for you! What's your relation to Harry Potter?"

Teddy felt the blood drain from his face; Harry was injured.

***

Harry rolled over, wincing at the sharp stabs of pain coming from his back. It was healing quickly and soon he would have nothing but a few scars where the bullets entered his skin at strange angles. He looked over to see Ginny watching him intently with red eyes.

"Hey," he murmured, reaching his hand out and letting it rest on her face, his fingers winding into her hair as he stroked her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

"I love you," she whispered, inching a bit closer to him.

"Don't be like that." He shook his head gently.

"What?"

"Don't act like I'm dying."

"But you are."

"So?" Harry pulled her to him so she was on top of him. "I want the next year to be so completely normal, it's boring. I don't want everyone to be on edge about whether I'll fall over dead in front of them at any moment. In fact, part of me doesn't want to tell anyone about this," He finished slowly.

Ginny pulled away from his face slightly. "We have to tell the kids, this isn't exactly something you can hide from them, Harry, they have a right to know. I understand not wanting to tell the rest of the family for a little while, but the kids and Ron and Hermione and Teddy all need to know."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. We'll tell the kids today, okay? And then we'll deal with the rest of the family when I'm ready, deal?"

Ginny nodded, resting her chin on his chest. She pressed several sweet kisses to his skin and soon he pulled her face up to meet his. He knew she wasn't going to be accepting about the situation right away, if she ever did, but he knew she would always support him. Right now, though, his only concern was the incredible feeling that came with kissing Ginny. He felt her hands move to his shorts, pulling them down as he matched her movements by removing her shirt.

Harry flipped them over, moving from her lips to her neck and allowing his hands to run all down her body, causing her to let out a few familiar sounds of pleasure that never failed to please him as well.

"OH, PLEASE STOP!"

Harry's head whipped around his wife's head to see Teddy standing in the doorway, a hand clapped over his eyes. His skin was deeply tanned, slightly sunburned even and Harry found only one question on his mind.

"Why aren't you in the dessert?" He handed Ginny back her shirt, slightly disappointed they had been interrupted, and found his own shorts.

"Well, I was called in because a certain relation of mine was supposedly injured, but you're apparently not too injured if you're still up to shag your wife," Teddy retorted.

"Yeah, well who wouldn't? And you can open your eyes again." Harry slid out of bed to greet his godson with a hug.

"So you did get hurt?" Teddy examined the large bandage wrapped around Harry's entire torso. "What happened?"

"Twelve bullets in the back," Ginny answered dryly, now sitting up comfortably in bed.

"Cool, did Clark give you the rounds?"

Harry chuckled, "Let's get some breakfast, are you hungry?"

"Yeah, been tired of having beer and stale cereal for breakfast."

Harry smiled, walking to his closet. "Go and grab some clean clothes from your room and we'll go out. It's been a while since we've had some bonding time."

"We'll tell the kids at dinner?" Ginny's voice was nearly a whisper as she spoke the moment Teddy had exited the room.

Pulling on his jeans and buckling his belt, Harry nodded. "I think that would be best. I kind of think Teddy has a right to know before they do being as old as he is. I figure I'll tell Teddy at breakfast, Ron and Hermione at lunch and the kids at dinner. I'd like to get it done in one day to make things a bit easier and faster. Sooner they know, the sooner I can convince them everything's fine."

"No."

Harry looked up; Ginny's gaze was fierce and he could tell she was near tears again. "It's not fine, Harry, and it never will be fine."

Enveloping her in a hug, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, breathing in the sweet scent of her long hair. "I'll be back in an hour or so."

Giving her hand a final squeeze, he walked out of their room and made his way downstairs, where Teddy was eating an apple in the kitchen.

"Couldn't wait, huh?" Harry joked, swiping the apple core from his hand and tossing it into the rubbish bin.

"Told you I was hungry," Teddy shrugged. "Can we go to that diner?"

"Sure," Harry nodded, turning on the spot.

They appeared in an alleyway and emerged out onto the sidewalk right beside a small diner, half filled with people. Harry held open the door as his godson brushed past him, a slight smile flickering on his face as they stepped inside the maple scented diner.

"Nothing for me, thanks." Harry smiled at the waitress as she walked away.

Teddy was staring down at the menu, his eyes scanning the shiny card, but Harry knew he wasn't really reading it, he always knew with Teddy, a fact Teddy rarely failed to recognize.

"So, are you going to tell me the bad news?" Teddy questioned, not looking up.

"You always did have a talent for sensing things."

"I think it's the whole part-wolf thing." Teddy glanced up briefly, his eyes darting back down quickly.

"So, are you going to actually talk to me about what's been going on with you lately?"

"That's not why we're here, Harry, I know it."

Harry sighed, gazing around at the unfamiliar faces around them before speaking to his godson in a low voice, in clear French, "No it's not, but I'm not sure if you're in any place to hear bad news. Now, while the rest of the family believes it's about Victoire, I know better. I talked to her and she confirmed my suspicions. Why did you run away, Teddy?"

Teddy shoved his menu away and stared at his godfather as if he was an angry seventeen-year-old again. After several minutes he finally answered, taking Harry's cue and speaking in French, "I don't know."

"When I was fifteen I was…an angry person. I wanted nothing to do with anyone and nobody was there for me in my mind. Ginny was the only person to throw it in my face and yell back." He paused for a moment, taking a sip of his coffee. "I lost Sirius that year."

Teddy's expression softened. He had heard Harry's entire story more times than anyone else and it never failed to make him appreciate his godfather and everything he had done for Teddy. He listened patiently, feeling a seed of guilt plant inside his chest.

"Maybe I do need help, but I honestly don't want it," Teddy muttered, looking up at Harry who nodded.

"I need you right now, Teddy. I need you to be strong for me."

"Harry, what's going on?"

Harry sighed, ripping apart a napkin. "About three weeks ago I was working a mission in Brazil. My guide, Tomas, and I were traveling through a section of the Amazon with a team of about ten, Hunter Bradshire and Jolene Hammock among them.

"We came to a river, a small stream breaking off of the main river, and across it was a site of ruins which is what we were looking for. A wizard was in search of a rare stone believed to have magical properties similar to the Sorcerer's Stone, though much less powerful. Being leader of the team, I went in first with Hunter watching my back."

He stopped, taking a deep breath. "I followed every precaution and listened to every gut feeling and used my instinct just as always, but…There were a series of traps, and I missed one. I made it to the center room where the stone was set at the top of pyramid structure. The moment I climbed the last step, I was sent flying, and all I could see was this gray light enveloping me.

"When I returned to England, I had them run every test possible on me. I had begun to develop painful headaches, bouts of confusion and was constantly feeling as if I had just endured the Cruciatus Curse for a solid five minutes. I spent days going from specialist to specialist. I went to France and Germany and Italy and the U.S. No one could figure out what was wrong, except that there was a strange magic infecting my body, something no one had seen before.

"Finally, I went to an old wizard in Wales. He was nearly unknown, but one of the Healers had told me he knew everything magical, and that he was as crazy as Dumbledore. I went to see him and he really was as insane as Dumbledore…Anyways, he did something rather unusual, he sent me to a muggle hospital and told me to come back after they figured out what was wrong.

"He had a contact at the hospital, so the doctor was extremely private and well aware of who I was. I spent a few hours there and then Dr. Wicket told me the news." He looked up at Teddy with a sad smile, "Brain Tumor."

"Cancer?"

Harry nodded, his sad little smile still intact. Teddy leaned back in the booth, is lips parted slightly in shock as his eyes searched the diner frantically, as if one of the Londoners eating breakfast was a brain specialist. He couldn't possibly be sick from cancer, only muggles develop that disease.

As if reading his mind, Harry answered, "The curse was designed to create a build-up of…bad magic to form. It's really a complex curse that no one's heard of before really. Its intention is to bring a great wizard down through something as pitiful as a muggle illness," he chuckled.

Teddy couldn't believe it; his godfather was dying.