A/N: House: Hufflepuff | Category: Short Story | Prompt: "Hello. I knew your Dad," | Word Count: 1278

It was mid-December, and for the first time, Teddy Lupin found himself at the annual Ministry Christmas Gala. He had thought it would be an exciting party, but it was proving to be quite a dull affair. They had been there for nearly two hours, and Teddy was dying to get out of there. He had come with Harry and Ginny, but Harry was being passed around the room by several boring-looking adults, and Ginny had left Teddy for a moment to use the loo after instructing him to stay close to people he knew. He was headed towards Ron when a loud voice caught his attention.

"Teddy Lupin!"

Teddy looked up at the man standing before him, startled. He did not recognize the time-weathered face or beady, bespectacled eyes that were intently fixed upon his face. He fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Hello," he offered uncertainly.

"Hello. I knew your Dad," the man began. Teddy rose his eyebrows, startled, but the man continued, "My name is Horace Slughorn, but, please, call me Horace. Yes, I knew both of your parents, actually. Very fine people; quite the heroes! I actually taught your father when he was not much older than you are now!"

He puffed his chest out as he said this, and something about his tone irritated Teddy. He scratched the side of his nose as he wracked his brain for something to say.

"Oh," he said lamely, "That's nice. I think my Godfather has mentioned you before," he added, but he regretted it immediately as Slughorn's eyes brightened and his smile grew impossibly wider.

"Ah, yes, your Godfather! Of course, my good friend, Harry Potter," Slughorn said delightedly. Some heads turned towards his voice, which had risen considerably as he spoke of Harry.

Teddy bit back a groan, and he began to search the room for someone to save him. Spread throughout the room were various Weasleys and family friends, along with many others he had never seen before. Victoire stood patiently by her parents as they chatted with friends, although he could tell she was bored by the way she twirled her hair around her finger. He exchanged a smile with her as their eyes met before resuming his search.

He vaguely registered Slughorn's enthusiastic speech about Harry and kept his smile in place, nodding occasionally as his eyes wandered. Eventually he found the person he was looking for. As if she knew he was looking, she turned and looked first at him, then at Slughorn, and back to him. She gave him a sympathetic look and determinedly made her way over to them, her mouth set in a firm line.

"Horace, so good to see you!" she greeted cheerfully, but Teddy wasn't fooled. He knew his Godmother well enough to know that she was not, in fact, pleased to see Slughorn.

"Ginny Potter, what a delight it is to see you!" he nearly shouted. "I was just telling young Teddy here about how I knew his parents and Harry, of course." Ginny's eyes narrowed at this.

"How nice," she replied. To a passer-by, she would have sounded perfectly pleasant, but Teddy could hear the annoyed undertones to her voice. "I was just coming to get him. We should be getting home soon." Teddy brightened at this, although Slughorn looked as though he had been mortally wounded.

"Oh, no, stay! I haven't had a chance to catch up with you and Harry for ages!" he lamented. Ginny smiled sympathetically as she searched the room, presumably for Harry.

"I'm afraid we can't. We need to get James and Al from my parents and put them to bed. Al gets quite fussy when he doesn't go to bed on time—ah, there's Harry," she said, beckoning him over. Teddy followed her gaze and saw his Godfather walking towards them. Harry grimaced when he caught sight of their company, but quickly smiled as Slughorn turned to greet him.

"Harry, m'boy! It has been too long!"

"Not long enough," Harry muttered under his breath so that only Teddy and Ginny could hear, causing them both to laugh, although Ginny had the grace to cover it with a laugh.

"What was that?" Slughorn asked, looking between them bemusedly.

"Oh, just a bit of an inside joke," Harry said, clapping him on the shoulder. "I wish we could stay to chat, but we really should get going."

Teddy grabbed Ginny's hand and tugged gently. She placed her hand atop his head and he sighed and leaned into her, preparing himself for all the boring goodbyes they would have to make.

An hour later, they returned to the Potters' house with James and Albus. Molly and Arthur had fussed over the toddlers, not wanting them to leave, but Harry and Ginny had eventually persuaded the elder Weasleys to let them take the exhausted boys home.

Ginny, who held a sleeping Albus, started up the stairs, Harry following behind her with James. "Teddy, why don't you come help me with James, then we can get you settled," Harry called over his shoulder.

Teddy rushed up the stairs after Harry and followed him into James' room. Harry placed the three-year-old into his bed and pulled a soft green blanket around him. James yawned and closed his eyes.

"Night, Daddy. Night, Teddy," he mumbled, already half-asleep.

"Goodnight, James. I love you," Harry said, leaning down to kiss the boy's forehead.

"Night, Jamie," Teddy whispered as he followed Harry into the hallway.

They walked together into Teddy's room. While Teddy lived with his grandmother, he spent quite a bit of time at the Potters', so they had done up a room just for him when they bought the house. The walls were bright blue, his favorite color, and pictures and posters hung throughout the room.

He climbed into bed and Harry perched on the edge. "So, I see you've met Slughorn," Harry began.

"He said he knew my parents," Teddy confided, then paused.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. A lot of people say that. They say how they were great and heroes. It's nice, I guess…but, I dunno, it's kind of…," he trailed off, not exactly sure how to explain how he was feeling.

"Strange? Confusing?" Harry offered, a look of understanding on his face.

"Yeah. I guess you used to hear that, too, right? About your parents?" Teddy asked.

"Yeah. Still do, sometimes," he paused to examine Teddy's face. "You know, it's okay to be tired of hearing it. Merlin knows, I was, at times." Teddy looked up at him.

"How'd you know? It's not that I don't like hearing about them…it's just, it kind of sneaks up on me, sometimes, and I never really knew them…," he trailed off, his brow furrowed.

"I know because I've been through it, too. I understand how you're feeling, and I know how confusing it is. The people who talk about them mean well—they just want to share with you how wonderful your parents were. They just don't understand how strange it can be for you to hear."

"Yeah…usually it's okay, but that man was weird. He sounded like he was bragging or something." Harry laughed.

"That's Slughorn, for you. He likes to be connected to important people—and your parents were," Harry explained. "If he bothers you again, just come get me and I'll distract him. Deal?" he asked.

"Deal," Teddy replied, yawning.

"Now, off to bed with you," Harry said, watching as Teddy got under the covers.

"Night, Harry, and thanks."

"Good night, Teddy. You know you can talk to me any time," Harry said, turning off the lights with a flick of his wand and shutting the door behind him.