A/N: This turned into a pretty angsty chapter compiled mostly of character development. Hope it's all right.

This is probably going to be the end of the every-day updates, at least for a while. I'm moving in a couple of weeks, so most of my time is probably going to be spent packing and such. I'm also going out of town for a few days coming up, so writing will definitely not happen as much as it has been.

Thanks again for the huge amount of support! It's definitely an incentive.

Life at Hogwarts calmed down rather significantly over the next few days, especially in comparison with the explosive first twenty-four hours. They were greeted in Charms Tuesday morning with a speech from Professor Flitwick, which was similar in content as had been Professor Everard's speech; it seemed that the Gryffindors had Charms with the Slytherins as well as Transfiguration. Teddy, Winnie and Oliver had Tuesday and Thursday afternoons off, for Defence Against the Dark Arts classes were still inexplicably suspended. This, along with Friday's already free afternoon, meant that lunch time usually signified the end of the day for the Gryffindors.

Wednesday morning was met with another History of Magic class, which gave Teddy the opportunity to speak with Julia a bit more. Julia had seemed wide-eyed and skittish throughout the entire conversation; Teddy expected she was having quite the experience in a house that didn't seem to acknowledge she was there. This made Teddy all the more determined to get her out of Hufflepuff, and he spent most of the class thinking up ways to help her, each one more unlikely than the last.

Transfiguration was easily Teddy's favourite course. Even Professor Everard had stated impressively, holding up the mothball that Teddy had at least managed to turn glassy and transparent, that he evidently had a natural talent for the subject. "Just like your mother," Everard had added under his breath so only Teddy could hear, which had made him turn such a shade of red that he had had to borrow Winnie's hat to cover his incorrigibly crimson hair.

As History of Magic was their only course together, Teddy didn't see much of Julia whatsoever until Friday morning, when he noticed her peer around the corner of the Potions dungeon and smile with relief at the sight of him, Oliver and Winnie sitting around a table. She scurried over, sank down into the empty seat and put her books clumsily down. "Was it me, or was the Charms homework--"

"Completely impossible?" Oliver interrupted. "Dear Julia, it wasn't you."

"Have you finished?" she asked desperately.

"No," the three of them replied in unison. "No particular hurry," Winnie added afterward. "We don't have Charms again until Tuesday."

"I've got it first thing Monday morning," Julia said gloomily, "and I can't for the life of me tell the difference between a swish and a flick. Every time I try, I get the name 'Flitwick' stuck in my head, and that confuses me more than anything else."

"Why?" Teddy asked, amused.

"It sounds like sort of a combination of 'flit' and 'swick' to me. Er... 'flick' and 'swish', I mean." She grinned sheepishly as her face reddened.

"I see what you mean," Oliver said, frowning pensively. "Flitwick, Flickswish, Swishflick, they're all the same, really. No wonder he got the job."

"Yes, I know, quiet down," Professor Wendall said absent-mindedly, speaking to no one in particular as she swept into the room. She wore her hair very short and had piercing eyes that gave you the impression you were being mechanically scanned. "Welcome to Potions, I'm Professor Wendall, take out your cauldrons, scales and textbooks and we'll get started."

Potions turned out to be a very fast-paced and complicated class. The Professor, though abrupt in her speech, was kind; when no one yielded the proper potion at the end of the class, she smiled, waved her wand once in the air to vanish the contents of everyone's cauldron, and said, "Now you know what to expect, study the same potion for homework and see you next week."

After lunch, Julia joined Teddy, Winnie and Oliver as they wandered out to the castle grounds. Winnie flopped down on a particularly green patch of grass and stared at the sky, limbs splayed every which way. "Thank Merlin it's the weekend," she breathed. "From this point forth, I am going to completely forget about my schoolwork."

Teddy grinned, sitting beside her. His hair adjusted to a more blonde colour to match the sun as he checked his watch. "I'd best head down to Hagrid's in a few minutes. You're all welcome to come if you wa--"

"'Course," Winnie said immediately. "I thought that was the plan all along."

Teddy grinned. "You guys coming too?" Oliver and Julia raised their eyebrows and each nodded with expressions that suggested that Teddy was crazy for even asking. The four of them promptly got up and sauntered down toward Hagrid's cabin.

Hagrid was outside fussing over his pumpkin patch. Early though it was in September, the pumpkins already had a hefty size to them; the vines were visibly creeping over one another, eager to find empty spaces in which to form new pumpkins. "Yeah, yer doin' well, aren't yeh?" he said fondly, patting one gently. "Yeh'll be grand by Hallowe'en, that's fer sure, McGonagall won' be disappointed."

"Hello, Hagrid," Teddy said lightly after exchanging amused glances with his friends. Hagrid jumped only slightly, but his landing was enough to send tremors through their feet. He turned with a shocked expression to Teddy.

"Don' sneak up on me like that," he said, though sounding perfectly cheerful to see them. "Coulda made me smash my pumpkins."

"Sorry," Teddy grinned. Hagrid clapped him on the shoulder and turned to the other three.

"Name's Hagrid," he boomed, holding out an enormous hand to each of them. They each introduced themselves in turn before Hagrid invited them into the single-room cabin. He held a large boarhound by the collar with one hand and put a brass kettle on the stove with the other as they sat hesitantly down around the table. "How's yer firs' week been?"

Everyone hesitated. "Busy," Teddy said finally.

"So I heard," Hagrid beamed. "McGonagall's got yer detention with me all set up, by the way."

"You're not serious?" A slow grin spread across Teddy's face.

"What, she hasn't told yeh yet? Bin a busy week for her too, I s'pose," he reasoned, placing a plate of rock cakes on the table. "Felt yer encounter with Filch was probably punishment enough, but knew she couldn't bend the rules just 'cause it was you. Sort of a happy compromise, innit?" The pair grinned at one another; Hagrid's expression quickly grew worried. "Don' tell her I told yeh that, though. We're both supposed to be stern authority figures, us teachers."

"Not a word," Teddy promised. He was careful not to look around at his friends; Julia had her head bowed, being the only one that knew Harry was his godfather and thus understanding the reference to any special attention; Oliver had his eyebrows raised, but decided it was probably a wizard thing he didn't quite understand yet. Winnie, on the other hand, was staring at him so pointedly that he could almost feel a pair of holes bore into his cheek. "Wish I knew why he acted like that, though," Teddy said hastily, hoping to get the subject away from himself.

"Ah, that's just Filch," Hagrid said, waving a great hand. "Had some issues with yer dad. Probably heard yer name at the Sorting an' made the connection."

"Because of who he was friends with?" Teddy prompted despite himself. This was not going in the direction he wanted it to, but he was curious.

"Well, partly, yeah," Hagrid said. "The lot of them were more'n a match for Filch and that ruddy cat of his. Filch couldn' stand it, and put them in detention for whatever he could catch them doin'. But," Hagrid went on, more slowly and delicately, not making eye contact, "Filch has prejudice toward some people that made yer dad an easy target."

"Oh." Teddy struggled to have that single syllable signify to Hagrid that he understood and also to give his friends the impression that he had no idea what Hagrid might mean. It worked, for the most part; Hagrid gave Teddy a fleeting smile as he poured tea, and he could feel the focus of Julia and Oliver's curiosity shift from Teddy to Hagrid. Winnie, on the other hand, continued to stare at Teddy with such intensity that he could actually feel a tingling sensation on his cheek where she was looking.

"Uh, Teddy, yer..." Hagrid said hesitantly, pointing at his face. "Yer face is... shifting."

Teddy slapped a hand to his face and felt a dent in his cheek. Winnie had actually succeeded in boring a hole in Teddy's face. This did not go unnoticed by Winnie; she looked positively amazed with herself before remembering that Teddy was a Metamorphmagus and slumped back down in her chair. Teddy rubbed his face hard; when he moved his hand away, his cheek was fully restored. "Cheers," he muttered to Hagrid, who nodded in return, sitting down.

"Hermione sends her regards," Hagrid said, fishing something out of his coat, "an' asked me to give yeh this."

"Oh, was she here?" he asked perhaps a bit too interestedly, trying to draw attention away from the parchment Hagrid was handing him with Harry's neat scrawl on the front as he shoved it hastily in his bag.

"Mm. Dealin' with the house-elf dispute." Teddy grinned knowingly. "No better candidate, eh? 'Course, soon as she went in, they threw her out. Literally. A bunch of 'em picked her up and threw her out the door. Said they wouldn' put up with a human being in their dwelling." Hagrid shook his head. "I like house-elves an' all, but they're an odd bunch, no doubt abou' that. Callin' Hogwarts their home but refusin' to work, when las' time I checked, working was what they liked to do. Very odd business, if yeh ask me."

Teddy raises his eyebrows. "You don't think--"

But Hagrid was already shaking his head. "Nothin' like tha'. A few members of the Order have already made sure, McGonagall included, and an Auror came to double-check. They're actin' of their own accord, all righ', but that doesn't mean they weren' convinced by someone looking to make Hogwarts a bit more... interestin'."

Teddy narrowed his eyes. "Do you know something, Hagrid?"

"If I did, I wouldn' be able to tell yeh," he said, looking at the ceiling. "It's bein' dealt with, don' worry. What you need to know is in Harry's letter, so--"

"Okay, that's it!" Winnie exclaimed, getting to her feet, eyes flashing. She pointed at Teddy so aggressively that he had to lean back to avoid being poked in the face. "First you know all the teachers--McGonagall, Hagrid, Flitwick--then there's a mention of the Order of the Phoenix, and..." Winnie's suspicious expression became punctuated with excitement. "And I remember something you said about McGonagall being at your godfather's house a lot... now you're in correspondence with a guy named Harry..." Winnie's eyes flashed with excitement as she stared at Teddy, whose hair went from blonde to black to red in the space of about thirty seconds. "Why didn't you tell me earlier that your godfather was Harry Potter?"

Teddy looked slowly at her, expression somewhere between accusatory and guilty. "Does it matter?"

Winnie's triumphant expression faltered. "I... of course not," she said, looking rather startled and sitting back down. "It's just... friends... tell each other these things, and... well... do you not trust us?"

"'Course I trust you, it wasn't a matter of that," Teddy clarified calmly. "Coming to school, meeting new people... if the first thing I said about myself is that I was half-raised by Harry Potter, how many people would get to know me for me rather than for Harry?"

"You didn' tell anyone?" Hagrid asked, blinking. Teddy couldn't tell if he was upset about this or not.

"He told me," Julia said in her small from her chair, glancing between Hagrid, Winnie and Teddy with wide eyes. "But we met at the station, and Mr. Potter was there to see him off. So I guess I noticed, really, more than he told."

"But yeh're... yeh're not ashamed," Hagrid asked with a quavering voice.

"Of course not," Teddy said, sharply enough for everyone to know he was insulted by such an accusation, but still speaking with a near-perfect calm. His hair, however, finally settled on jet black and, for the first time, he could feel his eyes turning colour. "I'm absolutely proud of who brought me up. But it's not normal by anyone's standards but my own. I don't have parents. They died at Hogwarts when I was a few months old. My grandmother and Harry are what I have. I'm not going to prance around feeling superior because someone famous raised me, because I'm no different because of it. To me, he's not famous. He's just Harry. I knew you'd react like this, so I decided to put it off until you knew me better and could handle the information. Last I checked, that wasn't a crime." He laid the last few words on with emphasis to show that he wasn't really impressed that Winnie thought this was such a big deal.

"Yeh are diff'rent 'cause he raised you," Hagrid said quietly after a long pause. "Yeh've inherited his modesty, an' that's a virtue all in itself."

They drank the rest of their tea in silence. Eventually the four of them bade goodbye to Hagrid and wandered back up to the castle. They started to walk through the Entrance Hall, but Teddy stopped short. "You go ahead," he said quietly to the other three. They exchanged glances, but agreed and ventured on ahead as he asked.

Teddy approached the nearest pillar curiously, running a hand over it. It was perfectly smooth, as though new, while the walls showed years and years of wear. Teddy looked around at the other pillars, which were seemingly holding up the ceiling. Some were similarly smooth, while others showed the slight flaws of age all the way up to the top.

The battle must have happened here.

Since he'd been old enough to understand that Death Eaters killed his parents, Teddy had had intense... fantasies, almost, about what the battle must have been like. In his imagination, flashes of light flew every which way; there were cries of pain and triumph at every turn. His parents stood back to back in the centre of a large room of stone, shooting spell after spell, Death Eaters flying through the pillars that ill-directed spells had chipped away at earlier in the battle, evil falling at the expertise of the magic his parents could yield. But eventually, one Death Eater was bound to get lucky, and then another; his parents collapsed, holding onto each other for dear life, which was no use because--

Teddy swallowed in an attempt to get rid of the lump that had formed in his throat and slid down against the nearest stone pillar, pulling out the letter Hagrid had given him as he did. He unfolded it slowly and read Harry's neat scrawl.

Theodore Remus Lupin, detention before classes even start! What can I even say to that?

Good work.
I only approve, mind, because you were worried about your friend. Next time, neither McGonagall nor I will be quite so pleased. Watch yourself; Filch isn't a pleasant man even when you haven't done anything wrong.

"Cheers, I got that much myself," Teddy muttered to himself.

Speaking of Julia, I've talked to McGonagall and she's looking into options, but if all else fails, she'll talk to Julia in a couple of weeks and something will be arranged. She's certainly proven herself as brave, so placement in Gryffindor is definitely an option, if that's what she wants. It might be best not to tell her this, though; if she does have to remain in Hufflepuff, it's probably best not to get her hopes up.

As for the prejudice you claim the Hat has developed, I'm sure it's entirely chalked up to the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry that you probably haven't fully encountered yet. Oddly enough, the fall of Voldemort actually seems to have increased the number of incidents between Gryffindors and Slytherins. The Hat figures that the fewer members of these houses there are, the fewer incidents will occur. The rivalry has sort of reached a plateau lately, so maybe it's right. I wouldn't worry about that. The Julia factor is definitely new, though.

I am warning you now, Teddy: do not engage with the Slytherins in any unfriendly business. The Death Eaters may not be gone, but they definitely aren't hiding in the form of students, so there is absolutely no reason to do so in the first place. Many Slytherins are top-notch people. I know I've told you this a lot of times, but it's as important as ever that you remember that. Do your best to keep your friends in check as well.

As for how McGonagall knew that it was Winnie's Ear: it sounds to me like she's picked up a few of Dumbledore's old tricks. Ha!

As for the food situation, the house-elves have apparently been convinced that they are being mistreated. Who has done the convincing remainss to be seen. The Imperius curse has been ruled out, though; I sent one of my team down just to make sure. I've got Kreacher on the inside, so I know more or less what's happening, although he is getting to be rather old so I'm not sure the bits about Winky kicking the other elves' shins are particularly important. We've got a couple of leads though so hopefully the situation will be solved soon. It's odd; much as I respect house-elves, they do tend to have a pretty much singular interest in working, so whoever convinced them to strike must have some pretty strong incentive.

Albus keeps pestering me to tell you that he thinks you should come back and live here, as it's been since July and he already forgets how to tie his shoes the way you taught him.

Take care and stay out of trouble. Write me if you need anything, as ever.

Love from
Harry, Ginny, James, Albus and Lily

Teddy read the letter over a few times before leaning back against the pillar and closing his eyes. Harry was indeed responsible for many of Teddy's traits, but he was a godfather. He was not quite a replacement. Teddy knew that Harry understood this as well; there was a slight distance between the two of them that Teddy knew didn't exist between Harry and his biological children.

"I see a lot of Remus in him," Teddy had overheard Harry say to Ginny one night when Teddy had come down for a glass of water, "and I can't change that, nor would I want to if I could. Sirius was a good part of my life, but he was never quite my father. It's the same way with Teddy and I. I love him like a son, I do, and if it had been up to me, I'd have adopted him instead of Dromeda, but she is his blood. His father lives on in him, not in me, and I know that we'll never quite be able to have the same relationship he and Remus would have."

Teddy had only been five, and the words had heavily upset him at the time, but it was true. Harry was his godfather. He was the closest thing to his father as he had, in a lot of respects...

But you only really feel him when you look in the mirror, came a voice from the back of Teddy's mind.

Teddy stood and looked around the hall again, taking a deep breath.

His godfather had defeated Voldemort in this very school.

His parents had died trying to help him defeat Voldemort in this very school.

He knew Voldemort was responsible, not Harry.

Honest, he did.

When he got back to the Gryffindor common room, Teddy threw the letter into the fire and decided to go to bed early.