Note: Hello, remember me? Probably not, it's been ages...

Sorry to anybody who was waiting for an update, the computer I was writing this chapter on broke and I was waiting to see if it could be retrieved. It couldn't, so I have had to start from scratch!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J K Rowling owns it all.

3: A Policy of Honesty

Teddy watched his father lock the front door, with a look of bemusement at the countless muttered spells and wand movements.

"How many wards do we need?!" he asked impatiently, exasperated, at what he thought was severe paranoia. But something inside of him made Teddy's stomach jolt uncomfortably – things were bad indeed if Remus thought all this was necessary, the child thought worriedly.

At last Remus lead the way down the garden path, dragging Teddy's trunk behind him with one hand, the other inside his coat pocket where he had put his wand. They made their way down the deserted street towards the apparation point in an alleyway, away from the prying eyes of muggles. They halted just inside it's entrance and stood staring at the dustbins and crushed cardboard boxes that adorned the ground.

"Well?" Teddy asked after a sizeable pause. "What are we waiting for?"

"Harry owled this morning," Remus told him, tapping his fingers upon the trunk behind him impatiently. "Amongst...other things, he promised to come to Kings Cross with us, since your mother is...busy."

"Oh...that's cool," Teddy mumbled, but he felt a sense of dread creeping up on him. So, he needed an Auror to escort him to the station, he mused. Things had to be more than bad, they had to be terrible. Suddenly the gloomy alley seemed horribly foreboding. The boy shifted a little closer to his father's side. He wished they could go home.

"He's rather late," Remus observed. "He said he'd be right here..."

No sooner had the words left Remus' mouth there came the distinctive crack of somebody apparating. Teddy jumped, but the alleyway was still empty. Whoever it was must have appeared somewhere nearby.

"Dad..." Teddy said, voice dropping to a whisper, though he wasn't sure why. "Harry knows to always use the alley, doesn't he?"

"Sh!" the werewolf hissed, turning on his heel to face the street. "Be quiet..."

Teddy could hear footsteps.

"Dad...?" he whimpered, heart hammering in his chest.

"Get against the wall." Remus told him, sounding relatively calm. He had drawn his wand.

"What's happening..."

"Now, Teddy!" Remus gave him a firm push towards the wall.

The footsteps were getting closer....

"Don't move." Remus instructed, and with that he flattened himself up against the wall at Teddy's side, waiting.

The footsteps were slow – a casual stroll or a cautious creep? Teddy held his breath. A shadow loomed around the corner. And with that Remus leapt from his hiding place, wand thrust forward, only for his chosen spell to die on his lips as he found the tip of his wand pointing directly at the throat of one Harry James Potter.

For one stunned moment the two wizards merely stared at one another. Harry slowly held his hands up and raised an eyebrow in mock-defeat. Remus lowered his wand.

"As if you need my help!" Teddy heard the black haired Auror mutter with a grin. "Sorry to sneak up on you, Remus, Ginny was calling after me, James was screaming, I lost concentration and ended up on that muggle's doorstep over there." He made a vague hand gesture over his shoulder.

"No problem, Harry," Remus sounded relieved. "Thank you for coming."

Harry greeted Teddy cheerfully, but Teddy barely had time to reply as Remus took hold of his arm and the three of them, plus Teddy's trunk, disappeared with a crack.

They did not take the usual route to the station, Teddy noted. Instead they left the busy main streets and took a "short cut", as Harry called it, through a park. This only managed to panic Teddy more than ever. He couldn't stand it any longer, he had to know what was going on, how much danger there was, what was the true cause of it...

He stopped dead before a park bench and folded his arms across his chest.

"This is all to make sure the Death Eaters don't get me, isn't it?" he stated bluntly.

Remus and Harry stopped walking, the werewolf's shoulders visibly tensed. They glanced at one another before turning around the face the boy.

"What d'you mean, "so the Death Eaters don't get you"?" Harry asked with a deep frown. "I thought you liked parks, Teddy..."

An eruption of frustrated anger burst through him as Teddy scowled at his godfather's words. How could they pretend to know nothing?! How could they continue to be so secretive when their far too obvious plans were causing panic to cripple his nerves and leave him afraid and in the dark?!

"I read the paper!" He threw the revelation at them, triumphant at the sight of Harry's eyes widening and Remus' gaze dropping miserably to the floor in failure. Just to be extra clear Teddy added: "I took it out of the bin!" He dropped down onto the bench, glowering at the stunned pair of liars and announced: "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on!"

There was silence, broken only the the sound of rustling trees and a bird singing, as the two adults glanced at one another again.

"Well..." Harry said, his eyes pitying. "I'll...I'll leave you to it, shall I?" And with that he grabbed hold of Teddy's trunk and wheeled it off up the path, whistling to himself loudly.

Teddy watched Remus sigh heavily, reaching to rub his eyes before he slowly came to sit down beside his son upon the bench. Father and son sat in silence for a long moment, before Teddy asked:

"What's going on, Dad? Why couldn't Mum come with us today? Who's threatening her? Is it the Death Eaters? Why now? What's she done..."

"One question at a time, Teddy." Remus interrupted, leaning back in his seat as if settling down for a long conversation.

"Fine, who's after us?" Teddy held his breath, hoping that at last somebody was going to be honest with him.

"I don't know who's after us." Remus admitted rather unhelpfully, but he held Teddy's gaze and the child was sure that this was the truth. "Nobody is quite sure yet, the Aurors are working on it, though."

"D'you think it's Death Eaters?" Teddy asked worriedly, biting his lip in anticipation of the answer.

"Well...former Death Eaters, perhaps..." Remus said cautiously. "Of course there actually aren't any proper Death Eaters these days, not now Voldemort is gone. We don't have much to fear from them, not when they are no longer united."

"How do you know they aren't?" Teddy interrupted. "I mean technically the Order of the Phoenix has been disbanded and no longer exists, but you would all band together if you thought it necessary, right?"

"Of course we would. But the Death Eaters aren't like us, Teddy, they were bound together by loyalty to Voldemort, not loyalty to one another. They have no interest in others, only themselves as individuals."

"So...it's not them, then?"

Remus shrugged.

"It might be them, it might not be, but if it is you must remember that without Voldemort they are a different sort of enemy."

"Right. So why would these people...whoever they are...want to threaten Mum?"

"We don't know that for sure yet, either. But this all started after Rowle was arrested, so it would be logical to assume it has something to do with that."

"And this is why Mum is at work all the time, right?"

"That's right."

"Is she at the Ministry at the moment?"

There was a long pause as Remus' gaze dropped to the ground.

"I...hope so. I don't know where she is, I've not heard from her since she left home last night."

"But Kingsley or somebody has, right?"

Again there was silence.

"I'm sure they have." Remus said at last, though he didn't sound certain.

Teddy felt his mouth go dry and he hurriedly asked another question:

"Why would they threaten you and me too?"

Remus' expression was positively grim.

"Because they know where to hit your mother where it hurts the most." he said, and Teddy noticed that his hand had balled into a fist.

Teddy tried to keep his head down as he followed his father up the platform towards the waiting Hogwarts Express, but he could feel people's eyes upon him as he battled his way through the crowds.

"Everybody's staring!" he grumbled to Harry who was bringing up the rear with Teddy's trunk.

"Yes, at the Boy Who Lived. He's very famous." Remus reminded him, having overheard the complaint, and he was right, Teddy decided, but the people weren't staring at Harry because he was famous.

"Merlin, look at that!" a Hufflepuff girl with short black curls said, elbowing her friend in the ribs to get her attention. "They've got the Deputy Head of Aurors with them!"

"Ooh!" her friend gasped, openly staring at the passers-by. "They much be in real trouble!"

Teddy turned to scowl at them and they hastily turned their backs to him. They weren't the only ones to make comments.

"That poor boy..." one short, tubby witch clutching a baby to her chest murmured sadly.

"It's brave of them, isn't it? Still, they were in the Order of the Phoenix, it's no surprise..." a wizard dressed in long bottle green robes mused.

"I wonder where Mrs. Lupin is..." a Gryffindor student whispered to his Ravenclaw friend far too loudly.

"If that were me I don't think I could stand to send my Tabitha back to school just like that. I'd be far too worried..." another mother told the witch next to her.

Teddy gave up glaring at people and kept his gaze upon his shoes.

"It'll die down, don't worry Teddy." Harry assured him with a smile. "They'll get bored."

Teddy had his doubts, but he nodded as if he agreed. It was then that he heard somebody calling his name and he looked up to see his best friend and fellow Gryffindor Chester Burton waving frantically at him, hanging out of a train window. Teddy's spirits immediately lifted. Chester was a muggleborn and he did not bother to read the newspapers. He would not know anything about the death threats made against Teddy's family, he wouldn't stare and whisper behind Teddy's back. Teddy wondered what Chester would say when he found out about the Lupins' problems. Knowing Chester he would probably say that's bloody mental, Teddy mate, and that would be the end of it. There would not be any awkward questions.

Harry carefully levitated Teddy's trunk up into the train carriage and offered Teddy a grin.

"Well, I guess that's you here in one piece! I should probably get back to the Ministry, I left Ron in charge and he'll be less than pleased if I'm gone for too long, the office is in chaos."

"You get to leave people in charge?" Teddy asked, eyes widening at this information. "Isn't that my Mum's job?"

Harry gave a shrug.

"Well yeah, but I'm in charge whilst she's not there, and I left Ron in charge until Tonks or I get back..."

"You mean Mum isn't at the Ministry?" Teddy interrupted, causing Harry to frown.

"Not right now, no..."

"Why not?" Teddy felt worry creeping inside of him again.

"I dunno, Teddy, Kingsley sent her somewhere or something. I've not heard from her today."

"But somebody went with her, right? She's not on her own, is she?"

Harry opened his mouth to say something reassuring, before remembering their new found policy of honesty.

"I don't know." he admitted, biting his lip as Teddy began to look panicked.

It was then that the whistle was blown and the last of the students began to board the train.

"Well, thanks so much for everything, Harry, it was really good of you to come," Remus said hurriedly, reaching to shake Harry by the hand.

"You'll make sure somebody is with her, won't you Harry?" Teddy asked anxiously, but Harry did not answer.

"Say goodbye to Harry, Teddy." Remus told him, but Teddy merely stared pleadingly at the black haired Auror.

"I'll...I'll try and talk to Kingsley." Harry decided at last. "Have a good term, Teddy!"

"Promise you'll talk to Kingsley!"

"I'll try, I don't even know if he's at the Ministry either..."

"What do you mean you don't know if he's at the Ministry?! He's the bloody Minister for Magic!" Teddy cried, more panicked than ever, but Harry merely looked regretful.

"Get on the train, Teddy." Remus instructed firmly, giving him a nudge towards the train.

"But, wait..."

"There's no time, get on the train."

Reluctantly Teddy climbed up into the carriage and hurried to hang out a window.

"Send your patronus or something, Harry! Promise you'll make sure she's okay!" he called, but his voice was muffled by a second blast from the whistle and before Harry could reply there was a great hiss of steam and the train began to move. Teddy looked around for his father so that he could wave to him, but Remus appeared to have disappeared from the platform.

"Dad?!" Teddy called in confusion, only to jump as a voice beside him said:

"I'm right here." There was Remus, smiling at the surprised look upon his son's face.

"What're you doing?!" Teddy cried, causing the werewolf to chuckle.

"Professor McGonnogal suggested I take the train this year. Don't worry, I won't follow you around or anything of the sort. You won't even notice I'm here, I promise." And with one last smile the Defence Professor turned and headed to the opposite end of the train. Teddy sighed heavily before seizing hold of his trunk and dragging it towards the compartment door where Chester was waiting for him. The train rapidly gained speed and the two boys settled themselves down for the long journey back to school, eating sweets and chatting; Chester about his Christmas presents and Teddy about something all together more ominous.