Note: It's a bit short, but I wanted the next part all in one chapter! I hope you enjoy it all the same!

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

19: For All Our Sakes

The following day turned out to be worse than the one before it by far, indeed within half an hour of being shaken awake Teddy became convinced that it was quite possibly one of the worst days of his entire life.

It was precisely 7am when Teddy was awoken by a hand shaking him by the shoulder and as he groggily opened his eyes the young Gryffindor heard his father's voice insisting:

"Wake up, Theodore."

Teddy screwed his eyes shut and opened his mouth to mumble a protest at his rude awakening, when a second voice made his eyes snap open and he sat bolt upright in bed.

"Hurry up, I don't have all day for this!"

As Teddy's horrified gaze came to rest upon the black-cloaked figure of Artemis Carrow-Smyth standing in the doorway of his dormitory, beside his bed Remus glanced over at the other wizard in order to tell him:

"We'll be ready in five minutes."

Carrow-Smyth's gaze in return was one of deepest resentment.

"Would you rather me have you arrested, Professor Lupin? Or will you cooperate fully with the Ministry as you so graciously promised this morning?"

As Teddy felt his heart begin to pound in his chest in alarm, around the room the other students were gradually beginning to wake up and witness the invasion of their dormitory.

"Professor Lupin? What's going on?"

"Who's he?"

Remus seemed somewhat oblivious to the questions being directed at him as he told Carrow-Smyth:

"I've agreed to be questioned before a court of my own free will, you have absolutely no right whatsoever to threaten to arrest me. I do not appreciate your scare mongering in front of my son. My wife may feel disinclined to lodge formal complaints against you, but I can assure you that in that respect she and I do not see entirely eye to eye." As a frosty silence descended over the room, the werewolf turned back to his son and instructed: "Get out of bed."

Numbly, Teddy reached to throw back the covers and scramble out of bed. As he hurried to open his trunk with fumbling fingers to search for clothes, Remus told him:

"Get dressed and come downstairs, we'll wait for you there."

"What's going on?" Teddy finally managed to ask as Carrow-Smyth gave an impatient huff.

"I'll explain once you come downstairs." Remus told him, gaze wandering to the staring faces of the other Gryffindor boys. And with that, the professor turned and disappeared out of the door, Carrow-Smyth stalking after him.

There was momentary silence before the room burst into conversation.

"What in Merlin's name was all that about..."

"Ha! Did you see the look on that bastard's face?"

"Who does he think he is, acting all high and mighty..."

"Yeah well Lupin just verbally battered him..."

"He looked pissed off!"

Hands trembling, Teddy rushed to unbutton the front of his pyjamas as he heard some soft thump of Chester flopping down onto his vacated bed.

"Ted?"

As he shrugged off his pyjamas and snatched up a t shirt, Teddy turned to regard his best friend grimly.

"I think Dad's in trouble." the metamorphmagus murmured, and Chester bit his lip in consideration.

"I dunno, Teddy mate, he said he hadn't been arrested, he said he was allowing the Ministry to question him of his own free will..."

"Well that's bloody stupid of him, isn't it? Carrow-Smyth HATES him, Ches!"

"But it looks good, doesn't it? Volunteering like that?"

Teddy shook his head despairingly.

"I don't know what he thinks he's doing," he said as he snatched up a pair of jeans. "But I do know one thing. We're running out of time. We have to find the Child."

When Teddy made a slow, reluctant descent of the stairs to the common room a few minutes later, he paused halfway when he heard a distinctly strained, formal conversation going on just around the corner.

"I must say, this is all very sudden, Professor."

"It is. But we have discussed the situation and have decided that this is what is best for Theodore."

"I see. And Tonks...agrees with you entirely?"

"Of course."

"You surprise me. I was under the impression from our numerous conversations together that she was dead against you risking a trip to Azkaban."

"I see no risk. We have nothing to hide."

"There is always a risk. Have you considered what would happen to your son, should the Ministry rule against him?"

Teddy felt something in his stomach clench at the question. Against...him?

"We have considered all of the possibilities, yes. Even those not even remotely likely."

"I can't imagine how difficult that would be for you, to lose a child, or indeed for him to lose his parents."

"Indeed. But one must consider, Mr. Carrow-Smyth, that even Voldemort and his Death Eaters failed to take me away from my son. And if he didn't manage it, I seriously doubt that I shall allow the Ministry of Magic to do so, either."

At that moment, Teddy stepped around the corner and down the final few steps into the common room, finding the two adults stood somewhat impatiently by the portrait hole.

"We shall just drop in on the Headmistress briefly, before we leave." Carrow-Smyth told the two Lupins as Teddy shuffled up to Remus' side, and with that the man lead the way out of Gryffindor Tower.

"What's going on, Dad?" Teddy asked as they set off down a staircase, the Fat Lady staring after them in silent curiosity. "What have you done?"

"I think it is more of a case of what I haven't done, Teddy." Remus said, surprising the boy with a small smile. "Your mother and I have decided that the three of us should submit ourselves for questioning by the Ministry, to prove that we have nothing whatsoever to do with Moirai Cantrall's prophecy, or indeed the attacks that have been going on."

Teddy pursed his lips together against protest for many long minutes until they came to a halt outside of the entrance to the Headmistress' office, whereupon Carrow-Smyth was permitted to enter, leaving the other two alone. As soon as Carrow-Smyth was out of sight, Teddy rounded on his father with wide, panicked eyes.

"Dad, I don't think this is a good idea!"

Remus reached to lay a reassuring hand upon the boy's shoulder.

"I'm sure everything will turn out just fine, Ted..."

"No, Dad! No it won't! That man up there, he HATES you! He hates you, he's going to get us into such trouble!"

"Listen to me, Teddy." Remus said, voice much too calm as far as the child was concerned. "We don't have much choice in the matter. The Ministry are going to ask questions whether we like it or not, we're just choosing to show a bit more willing, that's all. Your mother and I have been up half the night discussing it. It's better this way, Ted. It's better that we are seen to cooperate like this. And before you know it this whole entire mess will be over with..."

"It's because of him and Mum, isn't it?" Teddy cried, eyes wide in a mixture of horror and fury. "You're mad with him, aren't you? You just...you just want to get one up on him in front of the Wizengamot or...or something! Well it's crazy, Dad! It's crazy, he's got half the Wizengamot in his pocket, he'll eat you for breakfast!"

"Don't be bloody ridiculous, Teddy!" Remus snapped, turning away to stare impatiently at the end of the corridor, and Teddy bit his lip at the realisation that he had hit a raw nerve, for he could not recall the last time that his father had sworn in front of him, let alone at him without even seeming to realise his blunder. Now the child came to think of it, Remus did look a little on the strained side. His face was pale and as he stood with one hand shoved into the pocket of his robes Teddy could see through the material that the hand was clenched into a tight fist. The werewolf reached to rake a hand through his hair, rocking back on his heels before he turned back to fix Teddy with a firm look.

"Listen to me, Teddy." he said, voice low enough that Teddy could only just hear it. "All of those things your mother and I tell you, about werewolves and...and how we should hold our heads high...I want you to...to not think about...about any of that."

Teddy stared at him in complete and utter incomprehension.

"What...?"

"Do you remember what happened that summer when you were three? When it was full moon and your mother forgot to sound proof the room downstairs?"

"Dad...stop it..."

"You cried for hours, Ted, you thought I was dying. I scared you half to death, and you cried every full moon for for five months, I'd drop you round to Harry's and you'd cling to me when I tried to leave..."
"Dad..."

"You said Don't let Daddy leave, Harry. He'll die. And do you remember how your mother and I would argue when you were younger, when I couldn't get a job? Do you remember?"

"Yes, but..."

"And I'm always ill every month, when you are home and Mum is at work you run around after me all day and it's boring and you shouldn't have the worry."

"I don't mind..."

"And there's always that thought, in the back of your head, just like your mother. You both wonder when you go to bed those nights, are the wards set, are they going to work, was the Wolfsbane brewed correctly..."

"Dad, seriously, stop it..."

"I need you to remember all of those things, Teddy. And I need you to remember whose fault they are."

"Greyback's."

"No, mine. They're my fault, Teddy."

"No!"

"Remember it and believe it, Ted. I was selfish, I chose to have a family, that makes all of those things my fault."

"But Dad...!"

"Blame me, Theodore. For all our sakes."

Teddy opened his mouth to protest furiously, to point out just how appalled Tonks would be to hear Remus insist such awful things, to complain that he didn't understand why he should suddenly come to believe such rubbish, but it was at that moment that Carrow-Smyth reappeared and so the boy kept his mouth firmly shut.

The subsequent journey to the Ministry of Magic was made in stony silence. Teddy's mind continuously raced to try and make sense of all that Remus had told him, but he found laying blame upon his father difficult to say the least, in fact he was sure that he could not even consider it. It had hurt, Teddy realised, to hear such words, it was painful, it made Teddy angry...

"Wotcher, Teddy love."

At the sound of his mother's voice, Teddy was snapped from his thoughts and he blinked himself back to reality just in time to feel Tonks' arms lock tightly around him.

"Don't be worried, Sweetheart." the child heard her whisper into her hair as he bent to press a kiss atop his head. "Just remember what Dad said and tell them the truth."

When the Head of Aurors drew away from him in favour of throwing her arms around her husband's neck, Teddy found himself stood in the corridor outside of the Ministry courts. He vaguely wondered why he barely remembered how he had gotten there, his mind felt numb, slow...

He turned slowly around to look at his parents, watching as Tonks released her hold upon Remus in order to reach to straighten the front of his robes with a small frown.

"I'm glad it'll all be over with." Teddy heard her murmur, before she leaned forward to press a lingering kiss to his lips. Behind them, Carrow-Smyth seemed to be unsure of quite where to look. Had he not been so nervous, Teddy might have looked smug.

"Stop provoking him." the boy heard Remus murmur a moment later when they finally broke apart, and Teddy saw her lips curve into a smile before leaning to kiss the werewolf again. Remus permitted the briefest of kisses before reaching to prise her away from him, battling against a smile until both parents turned their attention back to Teddy.

"Remember," Tonks said, reaching to smooth the boy's hair. "Speak nice and clearly, won't you? It'll be over before you know it, then Dad can take us for ice cream!"

"Just tell them the truth, Ted. That's all there is to it."

And, with those parting words from his parents, the door behind Teddy creaked open and before he could say anything at all he found Carrow-Smyth at his side, reaching to lay a hand upon the child's shoulder.

And so it was that Teddy found himself being led into the courtroom, desperately attempting to ignore the assault of nerves that were twisting his stomach into knots.