Note: It's been forever! I am taking time to make sure that all three stories get updated, since it's all been a bit focused on the Meet the... stories! Sorry about that, my bad!

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

20: Trickery and Whimpered Plea

As he sat upon the hard wooden chair in the middle of the courtroom, Teddy felt his stomach twisting into sickening knots as the witches and wizards of the Wizengamot stared at him in silence. He felt so petrified that he barely noticed the man sat behind the judge's desk rise to his feet.

"For court records, please state your full name." the grim faced wizard said.

For a long moment, Teddy didn't say a word. He was much too busy attempting to calm his nerves, recalling that he had done this sort of thing before, that it really wasn't that difficult...

Except last time he had not been speaking in his own defense, and the grim faced wizard hadn't been grim at all, he had been Minister Shacklebolt who had shot him encouraging smiles every few minutes.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Teddy drew in a deep breath.

"Theodore Remus Lupin."

"And you are the son of Remus John Lupin, and Nymphadora Andromeda Lupin?"

"Y...yes."

"Your father is a werewolf, is he not?"

"Yes...yes he is."

"And are you aware that under Ministry legislation werewolves are classified as dark creatures?

"Yes I am."

There was a pause in the relentless questioning so that the judge could scribble something down upon the parchment in front of him. Teddy wondered what he was writing, the small action made the boy feel more nervous than ever. The man put down his quill again and leant forward, staring down at Teddy with scrutinizing eyes.

"I wonder, Theodore," he said, as Teddy attempted not to squirm under his gaze, "if you would please tell the court about your relationship with your father."

When Teddy only managed to stare rather blankly back at him, the judge tried:

"Let me ask you this, then: How do you feel about your father's...condition?"

Had it not been for Remus' unsettling words some short while beforehand, Teddy might have found this an easy question to answer. He pursed his lips together for a long moment, worried that he might say something drastically wrong, before deciding:

"Sad. It makes me sad."

"And why is that?"

Teddy frowned a little, wondering quite where he ought begin.

"Well..." he mumbled, only to pause to silently remind himself to speak up. "Well, it makes Dad ill...a lot. He gets very tired around full moon, and the transformations are...painful. I...I don't like that...I don't like to think of him hurting."

"I see." the judge said, voice still dull as if he were rather disinterested. "And how do other people react when they find out about your father's lycanthropy?"

"They can be quite cruel, I suppose." Teddy recalled, frown deepening at the thought of Carrow-Smyth and Orion Lynch. But then he thought of the Order of the Phoenix and his father's other friends and he hastily added: "But not all of them. I mean...not everybody hates werewolves...Mum married Dad, after all, and...um...and Albus Dumbledore gave him a place at Hogwarts and a job..."

"How do you feel about those cruel people?" the judge asked, and Teddy wondered if he had even heard half of what he had just said. He tried not to feel unnerved by the judge's selective hearing, and drew breath to admit just how unfair the world was, only to suddenly stop himself.

This, he suddenly realised, as the collective stare of the Wizengamot eyed him impatiently, was what Remus had been talking about.

Blame me, for all our sakes...

Don't blame anybody else.

Because surely the Child, who was apparently destined to bring ruin to those who accepted his father not, felt hatred towards anybody who showed prejudice against werewolves...

And surely the Child would adore his father above all else, and see no fault in him at all...

"People can't help being ignorant." Teddy decided, attempting to shrug carelessly. "And...and maybe they're right, about some things..."

"What things would those be?" the judge asked, sounding mildly surprised, and Teddy drew in a deep, calming breath, ready to babble mindlessly about any potentially bad thing he could claim about his father, but as he glanced nervously around the court room, he caught sight of somebody slipping into a seat in the spectators' gallery.

Teddy Lupin met his mother's gaze for only the briefest of moments, and his resolve was instantly rocked to the core.

She'll know I don't really feel that way, he tried to assure himself, immediately turning away from her...won't she?

What if she didn't?

It didn't matter, he'd just have to worry about it later...

"Well..." Teddy said, drawing in another deep breath. "Werewolves they...they don't make the best parents ever."

"And why is that?"

"They're dangerous...obviously. And...um...and it's not fair, I...I shouldn't have to worry about...about Dad being sick..." Once he had started, Teddy was quite hurt by just how easily the words flowed out of his mouth, and he kept his gaze fixated upon his shoes. "I used to think, when I was little, that he might...might die, or...or that he might leave Mum and I...because...because well before Mum got promoted, when Dad was unemployed, we didn't have much money to spare. And they'd argue a lot, about...about money and...and stuff. And it's rubbish having a father who's sick all the time, when Mum's at work after full moon I have to look after him and I hate it, I hate it because I don't like seeing him like that, and it's like I have to be grown up...when I'm not. It's...it's all a bit selfish of him, really, having a family. I love him dearly, but...but that's the truth."

Mindless mumbling over with, he dared a glance back in his mother's direction. She was staring at him with wide, horrified eyes. Teddy quickly looked away again.

"I see." the judge said, in the same bored tone that made Teddy wonder if he really did see at all. "Now, your father was a member of the Order of the Phoenix, wasn't he?"

"Yes, he was." Teddy nodded a little warily, not at all sure why this was relevant at all.

"He did some very brave and important work during the War, didn't he?"

"Yes...that's right."

"You must be very proud of him."

"Very, very proud." Teddy agreed, sitting a little straighter in his chair and hoping that he might have redeemed himself in his mother's eyes, if only a little.

"It's remarkable, don't you think," the judge continued, as Teddy felt an odd urge to smile from the swell of pride inside of him, "that he was so willing to make sacrifices for the Wizarding community, despite their dislike of people like him. That's terribly unjust, don't you think?"

"Yes." Teddy decided, nodding his head again, only to halt abruptly when he realised his mistake.

Oh Merlin, he thought in panic, no, I meant no...

"I see." the judge said again, and Teddy felt a few whispers amongst the members of the Wizengamot.

"But...but they're ignorant, like...like I said before!" the werewolf's son announced hurriedly, heart hammering in his chest. "And...and Dad says that's not their fault. Just because they don't understand doesn't mean they deserved what...what Voldemort did to them! The...the Order of the Phoenix didn't fight against the Death Eaters so that people could thank them for it, they...they did it because...because..."

"We've heard quite enough, thank you." the judge announced, much to the child's horror. "You may leave the courtroom."

"But..." Teddy began, only for the man to shuffle his papers and announce:

"Next to stand please, Artemis."

And with that, Carrow-Smyth strode down the wooden steps from his seat, and Teddy found a firm hand upon his shoulder, pulling him to his feet and marching him towards the door.

He barely had the change to open his mouth to announce to Remus that he had made a horrible mistake, before Carrow-Smyth had smugly informed the waiting werewolf:

"You're next."

As Remus rose from his seat upon a stone bench and, without so much as a glance at his son, strode towards the courtroom door, both Teddy and Carrow-Smyth were distracted by the sound of pounding footsteps upon stone and they turned to see Tonks skidding to a halt at the bottom of the spiral staircase that led to the spectators' seats.

"That," she snapped furiously as Teddy hurried to throw his arms around her, "was a bloody disgrace, Artemis!"

"I don't know what you mean." Carrow-Smyth told her, sounding distinctly smug, and the Head of Aurors' hair darkened to crimson.

"How much gold did you put in his pocket?" she demanded to know, hugging her son tightly. "How much does it cost these days to have a judge trick a SCHOOLBOY into speaking in your favour?"

"I did no such thing..."

"Liar! Well you can give up looking smug, the Wizengamot aren't that bloody stupid! You ought be ashamed of yourself, Merlin help poor Elijah! He doesn't stand a chance in the world with only you to guide him!"

A rather odd expression passed across Carrow-Smyth's face at this finally attack upon him, and Teddy couldn't help but think that his mother had hit a raw nerve. The blonde haired wizard took a long moment to find his voice, and when he spoke, he sounded distinctly shaken.

"I...I always do what is best for Elijah. Always! N...no matter what!"

"I can see that." Tonks said coldly, releasing Teddy so that she could rest a hand upon his shoulder instead. "It's just a shame that you have absolutely no idea what is best for him at all."

"How can you claim to know what is best for my boy?" Carrow-Smyth asked, voice still shaky. "You don't even know what's best for your own!"

As the man abruptly turned and shuffled off towards the courtroom door, Tonks heaved a heavy sigh, shaking her head.

"C'mon, Teddy love." she said, turning in the opposite direction and leading the boy slowly down the corridor. "Let's go get a drink or something."

"What was that all about?" Teddy wanted to know, but Tonks only told him:

"Nothing much."

It was some two hours later that the Wizengamot had finished quizzing both of Teddy's parents and the three Lupins were permitted to go home. According to his mother, no certain conclusion had been reached, but Teddy was sure that both she and Remus were optimistic. They settled on spending the remainder of the day at home, and that Remus and Teddy would return to Hogwarts in the morning. By the time Tonks was shooing him upstairs to go to bed, Teddy found the optimism had rubbed off on him. Tonks was surely right, the Wizengamot weren't stupid, they would spot his slip of the tongue, Carrow-Smyth's little plan was sure to fail. Then everything would go back to normal...

It was eleven o'clock at night when Teddy's world was turned upside down yet again, and it started with somebody hammering their fist urgently upon the front door, jolting Teddy awake from dreams of Quidditch glory. Next, Teddy heard the sound of the door of his parents' bedroom opening and hurried footsteps sounded on the stairs.

The young Gryffindor threw the covers off of him and he scrambled out of bed, heart pounding in anticipation as he crept to his bedroom door and slipped out onto the landing.

He could hear a strange, strangled sobbing noise coming from the hallway below, and he held his breath in worry at the thought of who might be making such a noise. He reached the top of the stairs and carefully peered around the corner and down towards the hallway, so as not to be seen...

And there stood Artemis Carrow-Smyth, his hands clasping desperately at the front of Teddy's mother's dressing gown as his shoulders shuddered with great wailing sobs.

The boy watched with wide eyes as Tonks stumbled a little and the wizard's weight slumped against her, before she reached to throw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

"Shhhh..." Teddy heard her whisper, as Carrow-Smyth buried his face in her shoulder. "It's alright, Art, it's alright...just...just calm down..."

The wailing wizard drew away from her shoulder just far enough so that he could stare at her with imploring, watery eyes.

"Please..." Teddy heard him whimper, gripping her arms so hard that Teddy saw her flinch. "Please, Dora! I...I'm begging you, please! Please help me!"