Note: There's a lot of sitting around talking in this chapter...sorry about that! It will get more interesting though, I promise!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making any profit from this piece of writing.

11: A New Mystery

Extendable Ears were, Teddy was sure, quite possibly the most brilliant invention of the century.

However, despite this fact, wedging one underneath a door without drawing attention to one's self was decidedly less brilliant. Indeed, it took Teddy several minutes to persuade the rubbery contraption into the gap, and he began to wonder if, by the time he had it in place, his mother would have disappeared from the office via the floo.

As it was, when Teddy finally stooped to squint through the key hole, Extendable Ear at the ready, he found that Tonks was still there. She was sat upon the office chair, which was set aside from it's usual spot behind the desk. Remus stood side on before her, palms flat upon the desk behind him as he leaned back, gaze upon the ceiling.

"I think you're blowing this way out of proportion." the werewolf announced, which was seemingly not what his wife wanted to hear. Teddy watched her hands tighten around something scrunched up in her lap...a handkerchief, the child decided, before she looked up at Remus with wide, blotchy eyes.

"Do you know what I think, Remus?" she asked, voice an octave higher than usual. "I think we're going to be totally buggered when I get suspended from work and you get yourself locked up in Azkaban!"

"Kingsley isn't going to suspend you for something like this..."

"Are you bloody kidding me? It's probably going to end up all over tomorrow's Prophet, and Kingsley'll kick my arse for it!"

"That's ridiculous. I bet he's sitting in his office right now, laughing himself silly..."

"It's not funny!" Tonks snapped, slumping forwards to bury her face in her hands.
At this sudden outburst, Remus' gaze dropped from the ceiling and he reached to put a hand upon her shoulder.

"Okay, love." he murmured, voice much softer. "You're right, it's not."

"What's Teddy going to think?" she mumbled into her hands, fingers grasping at strands of mousy hair in agitation. "What was I thinking, anyway? Harry should've...should've talked some sense into me! You...you must think...I'm an idiot!"

"Never."
"You do...I know you do...you wouldn't have...have done it if it had been you! You'd not be such a...a bloody moron!"

Teddy watched his father reach to grasp both of her elbows before pulling her carefully up onto her feet, and she promptly slumped against him, her face buried in his shoulder.

"Yes, well," he murmured, wrapping his arms tightly around her, pressing a light kiss atop her head. "I happen to love my bloody moron of a wife. If she wasn't such a bloody moron, chances are she wouldn't be crazy enough to run through the middle of a full blown duel between a bunch of Aurors and Death Eaters in order to get to me. If she wasn't such a bloody moron, I'd probably be dead. Besides, we're all idiots where love and family are concerned, aren't we?"

"You still wouldn't have cursed him, though." Tonks insisted, drawing back to swipe at her eyes with a sleeve of her robes. "Admit it, you wouldn't touch a filthy hair on his head, no matter what rubbish he spouts." She stared up at him for a long moment until his expression, hidden from Teddy's view, caused her to snigger. "You liar!" she cried, misery momentarily forgotten as she slapped him rebukingly upon the arm. You didn't even get narked that time he bumped into us in the Leaky Cauldron!"

"Does that upset you?"

As Tonks frowned in consideration, Teddy was given a brief moment to wonder who they were referring to before the Head of Aurors offered her husband an exaggerated pout.

"Maybe..." she said, her gaze suddenly accusing.

"It wasn't my fault I had no idea what he was talking about." Remus protested with a shrug, causing her to draw back from him just enough to fold her arms across her chest.

"Maybe not, but you weren't even vaguely annoyed afterwards once I'd explained it to you! You didn't even care!" She jabbed a finger into his chest, and he caught hold of her hand in both of his own.

"Why should I care?" he asked mildly, and she wrenched her hand free in order to waggle her fingers in his face, candle light reflecting from the band of gold upon her finger.

"Because I'm your WIFE!" she exclaimed, clearly horrified by his careless:

"Well you weren't back then though, were you? I've no right to be upset about what went on back then, we'd never even met! If he'd been talking about something that had happened say...the previous day, for example...well, then I imagine I would be...unhappy."

"How unhappy?"

"Utterly devastated."

"Promise?"

"Of course. But as it happens he was talking about when you were at Hogwarts...now...my maths isn't perfect...but I'm pretty sure we got married a bit later on than that..."

Tonks reached to grasp the front of his robes, forehead coming to rest against his chest.

"You're a git." she muttered, and they both chuckled quietly to themselves.

There was a long pause as he gathered her up in his arms again, and she sighed heavily.

"I know I've been winding you up," he murmured after a moment, head bowed as his lips came to rest against her shoulder, causing Teddy to strain to make out his words. "But I do care, you know. And if you like, next I see him, no matter the circumstances...I'll hex his other one to match..."

As Teddy's mind raced at the countless possibilities of what his other one could be, Tonks dissolved into a fit of giggles, fists pounding pathetically against Remus' chest as she declared:

"I'll hex yours to match if you don't stop making me bloody laugh so much! This is meant to be serious!"

"It'll all blow over soon enough. Kingsley'll give you a slap on the wrists..."

"And a date to be in court, I bet."

"Well...maybe..."

"Remus!"

"Okay, okay. Kingsley'll haul you up in front of the Wizengamot, they'll grumble and look disapproving, tell you you're a disgrace to your profession..."

"Oh Merlin..."

"At which point you do not claim that Carrow-Smyth is a disgrace to his..."

"He doesn't have a profession, Remus, he sits behind a desk all day and glares at forms that people put down in front of him."

"You don't tell the Wizengamot that, either. You tell them you're terribly ashamed to have brought the Ministry into disrepute, and you hope your actions have not caused Carrow-Smyth any lasting injury..."

Tonks drew back again, eyes wide in mock horror as she asked:

"Are you trying to convince me to tell a bare faced lie in a court of law, Professor?"

"Then," Remus continued pointedly, ignoring her question, "we just hope for the best. The worst case scenario is they suspend you without pay and fine you for unprovoked assault..."

"It wasn't unprovoked!"

"...I end up in Azkaban for...a few weeks...a month, perhaps..."

"Minerva won't keep your salary that long..."

"No, she won't. She'll pay me a week or so, perhaps, but after that she'll split it between whoever covers my lessons. But we've savings enough to be getting on with..."
"You told Teddy we'd take him on a big holiday abroad this summer."

"I know I did."

"I'm not sure we'll manage it, you know. We owe that silly healer woman a ridiculous amount for her home visits since you've been out of hospital. Not that she deserves a single sickle of it, I mean I could've sat there and told you to breathe in and out, it's not Legilimency for Merlin's sake!"

"Mmm..."

"Then of course we've got this fine, and then there's the hole in the roof, it's probably doubled in size since I left for Cornwall, I told you we should've gotten it fixed earlier..."

"We'll manage..."

"Yes manage, love. I don't want to just manage though, do I? I want to take our son to...I don't know...Australia, Spain, Greece or somewhere! Not...some grotty seaside resort for five days, sorry Sweetheart, this is the best it's going to get this year because your moron of a mum got our holiday savings from the past three years taken away! This was supposed to be it, Remus, the Big Family Holiday! I bet we don't even get a holiday at all, Kingsley's never going to give me the time off now, is he?"

"I'm sure he will, he hasn't forgotten all the good things you've done recently. And don't worry, I'm certain the fine won't be quite that hefty..."

"It will if the Wizengamot have anything to do with it, Carrow-Smyth's got them wrapped around his little finger..." Tonks' complaint was cut off by a firm kiss upon her lips, and behind the door, Teddy made to jerk away from the keyhole, only for Remus to draw away again and endeavor:

"I'll take you and Teddy on holiday this summer, for two weeks, anywhere you like, just like we told him. I promise."

"Anywhere I like?"

"Of course. It's not going to be a problem, you're overreacting. Things are different these days, aren't they? We don't have the goblins taking money from the vault without warning to pay off debts, we finished paying your mother back once you were promoted, and we've set aside half my salary every year since I got a job..."

"That's supposed to be Teddy's."

"Merlin..." Remus released her and moved to drop down into a chair beside the fireplace. "I thought I was supposed to be the paranoid one."

Tonks shuffled after him, leaning against the back of the chair, arms draped upon his shoulders.

"I know..." she mumbled, frowning deeply. "Merlin, I sound ridiculous, don't I? It's just...I feel guilty...stupid..."

"It's only a bit of gold."

At this, Teddy watched her arms come to wrap around his neck, her face instantly brightening.

"To think I'd ever hear you say that to me." she murmured, chin coming to rest atop his head. "I got through that thick skull of yours, didn't I?"

He reached to prize her arms from around him, towing her around the chair to perch upon the arm. Guessing where things were headed, Teddy retreated from the keyhole. It was some time before he heard Tonks mumble:

"Remus?"

"Mm?"

"What if...what if they sack me?"

There was a long pause.

"Well..." Teddy heard Remus muse brightly. "If they sack you...which they won't, I suppose you would have ample time to come and visit me in Azkaban."

As Teddy wandered back to Gryffindor Tower, he was not entirely sure how he ought feel about his family's current predicament. For one thing, he was dreading the arrival of the post the next morning, where he was likely to be informed of all the gruesome details of his mother's encounter with Carrow-Smyth by the Daily Prophet. Worse still was the prospect of the rest of the school find out, too.

And yet he could not quite decide how his parents were feeling about the whole business. He had been sure that Tonks had been in tears to begin with, and yet by the time she disappeared into the floo, she and Remus had seemingly been treating the whole affair like some sort of elaborate joke.

Except their kiss goodbye, when they had suddenly sobered and stared intently at one another for what felt to Teddy like an eternity, each insisting that the other should be careful, and each promising to be exactly that.

Teddy was also left wondering how he had managed to spend his entire childhood in ignorant bliss of the state of the family finances. He was pretty sure the word "debt" had never been so much as uttered under the Lupins' roof, and he felt oddly foolish at his complete lack of awareness. It seemed somewhat obvious to him, when he thought about it, that his father must have survived on money from somewhere prior to his marriage, but he had always imagined the problem to have disappeared almost instantaneously.

Silly, he thought to himself as he climbed the steps towards the Fat Lady's portrait.

And this business about Tonks' time at Hogwarts...what was that all about?

Teddy truly regretted posing this question to Chester and Victoire some half an hour later as they resumed their places beside the common room fireplace.

"Maybe your mum and Carrow-Smyth...you know..."

Teddy hurled the cushion that he had set down upon his lap in Chester's direction, hitting him directly in the face.

"That's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard in my whole entire LIFE!" the Head of Aurors' son cried, face contorted in revulsion. "Have you got any idea how UGLY this man is? And...and for the love of Merlin, Ches, what is it with you and my mum's bloody love life?"

As Chester muttered irritably under his breath, throwing the cushion to the floor, Victoire had the nerve to point out:

"They're probably about the same age, you know. Your mum and Carrow-Smyth."

"What's your point?" Teddy snapped, shooting her a furious scowl which she apparently failed to notice.

"Well...people aren't always born ugly, you know. I mean...my dad wasn't born with scars all over his face now, was he?"

"Yes, Vic, but your dad doesn't look like a cross between a zombie and a scare crow, and he doesn't have a creepy boiled-egg eye! There's no way my mum would fancy him, not in a million years! That would be...just...horrible!"

"Oh grow up, Teddy Bear!" Victoire demanded, rolling her eyes at his squirming. "Honestly, you're acting like a baby! And anyway, it doesn't really matter what the connection between them is, does it? What really matters is finding out who the Child is!"

"Vic's right." Chester agreed as Victoire rose from her chair. "We need to figure out how to get a look at the Werewolf Registry...which is still a total mystery since she asked your dad such a pointless question..."

"It wasn't pointless!" Victoire insisted as the two boys got to their feet too, ready to head down to the Great Hall for dinner. "We now know that only people working in the Magical Law Enforcement Department, not the Auror Department, are investigating the prophecy. And you must know plenty of people who work there, Ted, your mum must speak with them all the time! Not to mention the Prophet's bound to mention the investigation somewhere."

"So...what's the plan, then?" Chester asked, frowning deeply, and Victoire gestured to Teddy with a triumphant hand gesture.

"We can figure out who's allowed in to view the Register...one of us is a metamorphmagus...what do you think the plan is, Chester?"

Chester's face lit up in realization as Victoire turned on her heel to lead the way towards the portrait hole. Teddy lagged behind a good few steps. He didn't think much of the plan, though not because it wasn't clever. He was much too preoccupied with the thought of the arrival of the Daily Prophet the next morning.