"Look, there, the boy with brown hair, that's him...Teddy Lupin...the godson of Harry Potter..."

"Does it look like there's anything wrong with him to you?"

"Hey Teddy, can you change your hair colour?"

Teddy was relieved as he ducked into the Charms classroom. He had taken to changing his appearance as he walked down the corridors to avoid being noticed, but unfortunately it just meant that the rest of the school were becoming used to his alternative guises. At least the other first years knew him a little and had been a lot less obtrusive than the rest of the school.

He had been doing so well, had managed a whole term of talking vaguely about his life at home and avoiding saying anything incriminating that no one had suspected that there was anything unusual about him at all. Then, that stupid article had come out and ruined everything!

It had all began when Teddy came out of his dormitory one morning and saw Neville perusing the various offerings on the notice board. The sight of a Professor in the common room was unusual enough, but seeing Gryffindor's head of house in the Hufflepuff Basement only indicated one thing to Teddy; something was wrong and it concerned him.

"Professor Longbottom?"

"Ah, Teddy. I've been waiting for you...don't worry, everyone's fine," Neville quickly reassured. "There's just something you should see before you go down for breakfast." A slight blush appeared in his cheeks as he steered Teddy out of the common room and towards his office. "I don't suppose you've noticed the features Rita Skeeter has been slipping into The Prophet recently, about the DA members?"

Teddy nodded. Obviously lacking a good story to get her teeth into, 'that vile woman' (as Ginny and Hermione called her) had spent the last few months filtering occasional character portraits into The Prophet, following up the achievements and life choices of the members of Dumbledore's Army in the most scathing fashion. George and Ron had been having a good laugh about it at Christmas, but from overhearing Harry talking, Teddy knew that others, including Neville's wife Hannah, hadn't been able to take it so lightly.

Teddy was feeling decidedly nervous as Neville offered him a seat and thrust a newspaper into his hands.

"You'd better take a look at this."

Noticing the headline, 'Dumbledore's Army: The Next Generation', Teddy felt his heart rate increase as he began to read.

'So who will make up the next generation of great witches and wizards? The next decade will see the children of many Dumbledore's Army members pass through Hogwarts; will they live up to the legacies of their parents?

James Potter, first born son of our saviour Harry Potter and his wife, ex Harpies star Ginny, will definitely be one to watch...

"She writes about you on the next page," Neville interrupted flatly.

Hands trembling, Teddy flicked his eyes over pictures of Albus, Lily, Rose and Hugo before turning the page to see his own face staring back at him.

"Harry thought it best you saw exactly what she'd written," Neville qualified, "but I can read it or summarise it for you, if you'd prefer?"

"No it's okay, I'll read it."

Teddy forced himself to concentrate on the poisonous text that flooded the page in front of him.

'Although not a blood relative, Potter's godson, Teddy Lupin, son of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks (both lost in the Battle of Hogwarts) is currently in his first year at Hogwarts. Becoming an orphan at less than a month old, one can quickly draw parallels between Teddy and his famous godfather. Unlike Harry however, who spent his early years suffering at the hands of Muggle relatives, it seems Teddy has grown up showered with affection from his godfather. An anonymous source at the Auror office commented that: "Harry is always taking time off to see the boy and regularly leaves early because he is having him round for dinner. If fact, he treats him better than his own children". Could it be that our hero still feels guilty for the death of Lupin's parents? You may recall that they were only present at Hogwarts because Potter summoned them to support his cause. One can only assume that poor Teddy is still struggling to cope with his traumatic beginnings; in fact so little has been seen of him in the public eye that one wonders how well adjusted he is to everyday life? Rumours suggest that he possesses the metamorphmagus skills of his mother, although in light of other family traits, this could be considered a blessing. Unfortunately, no one at Hogwarts would comment on Teddy's progress at the school so far, personally, mentally or academically.'

Teddy dropped the paper to the floor, horrified. "But how...why...what is all of that?"

"She obviously wasn't getting a good enough rise out of what she was writing about the DA," Neville spat bitterly. "Enough people know what we're up to. She can't embellish the truth too much. You on the other hand..."

"But she says I'm not well adjusted to everyday life! Everyone's going to think I'm crazy!"

"Anyone who knows you knows you're not crazy Teddy. The rest of the world knows that Rita Skeeter writes absolute codswallop. Not many people will take her seriously."

"Not many isn't everyone..."

"True, but those people aren't worth worrying about. Did you see what she wrote about me?" He ruffled about in his drawer, pulling out a previous edition of the paper. "'Neville Longbottom, failed Auror and notably one of the worst students Hogwarts ever saw, is now trying to teach our future generation the merits of the useless subject of Herbology.'"

Teddy pulled a face.

"If anyone took her seriously, there would have been a heap of complaints arriving on my desk. I haven't had one. People trust Harry, he's their hero, they trust Hermione who is out there making the world a better place, for some reason they even trust me; Rita Skeeter will never have the influence she used to because she's done too much damage to the people who really matter."

Just then, Neville's fireplace began to glow and a familiar figure stepped out.

Before he had even realised what he was doing, Teddy had leapt across the room so that Harry's arms could gather him into a hug.

Harry knelt down to face him, his green eyes sincere. "I am so sorry Teddy, I never expected anything like this to happen. I thought if you were hardly ever seen in public with me, then you would be safe from all of this ridiculous attention. I should have known that was too much to hope for."

Neville gave a dry laugh. "To think we once wished we were all famous like you Harry!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "What did I always tell you?"

"How's Ginny taken it?" Neville asked, almost nervously. "Not well, I imagine."

"She's absolutely fuming. It's been bad enough with the others; you saw how she was the other day after what they said about Hannah. Now she's started writing for The Prophet, she thought they'd show her a bit of allegiance. But now the kids have been brought into it, not that it said anything much about them to be fair, poor Teddy has got the worst of it...her and Hermione have gone down there now. I'm almost glad I had a reason to come up here. Even Ron knows better than to try and cross the two of them together. Saying that, it's a good job we had to leave him with the kids; if he'd have gone as well the whole office would have been blown to smithereens by now. Have you ever noticed how much more dangerous Auror training can make someone?"

Teddy felt an enormous sense of relief that Harry had come to see him rather than going to blow up the Daily Prophet headquarters. Rita Skeeter really hadn't thought about the effects this article could cause, had she?

Neville glanced at his watch. "Right, I've got to go and teach my NEWT students about the uselessness of Herbology. Feel free to stay in my office; I bet the house elves will bring you some breakfast up Teddy, you must be starving. I'll catch you in a bit."

As he and Harry munched their way through a rather impressive breakfast, Teddy almost convinced himself that this was just a normal day and that right now, all across the castle, other students weren't whispering about crazy, unhinged Teddy Lupin, spoilt godson of Harry Potter and inheritor of unknown, unwanted traits. After their plates were cleared however, Teddy reluctantly picked the paper back up again and read through it again.

"Is everyone going to work out about my dad? About being a werewolf?"

Harry ran his hand through his hair, thinking. "I shouldn't think so, not unless someone already had an idea about it in the first place. She isn't allowed to publish anything like that. That's something you can thank Hermione for. A privacy act, so that personal conditions can't be revealed by the press. The comment is too vague for anyone to take much from it. They'll probably assume she's talking about your mother's family links to dark magic."

The comment didn't really reassure Teddy. He knew that as soon as he walked out of this office, everything would be different. All those months of trying to be normal had been wiped away; suddenly everyone would look at him and see an entirely different person. Harry had always made it very clear that fame wasn't all it was cracked up to be and after hearing some of his stories, Teddy had always been convinced that he didn't want to experience life in the spotlight.

"How do you cope with it? Loads of people write about you, and Rita Skeeter has said loads of horrible things. You never let it bother you."

Harry smiled grimly. "It used to bother me a lot, when I was younger. I guess you get used to it. You just have to learn that the people that write these things don't know you, they don't know the truth, they are just trying to create attention for themselves. It's the opinions of your friends and family that matter."

"That's what Neville said."

"And that, Teddy, is why you're very lucky to have him here keeping an eye on you."

The increase in noise in the hallway indicated that the current lessons were over. A few minutes later the door to the office opened and Neville walked in, followed by three others.

An unexpected, familiar voice quickly drew Teddy's attention. "Guess what Teddy, you're famous, everyone is –"

Josh stopped in his tracks, eyes wide and mouth open.

Teddy caught Harry's wink before he stepped forwards.

"You must be Joshua. Teddy has told me lots about you." He shook the young boy's hand. "And Aiden...and Matthew?" He turned to the one boy who seemed completely unphased at his being there.

"They wanted to make sure you were alright, Teddy." Neville supplied. "Raced down to the greenhouse to make sure I hadn't sent you home for being a delinquent. Promised they'd keep an extra special eye on you, just as long as you were allowed to stay."

All four boys blushed.

"Everyone wants to know if you're really a metamorphmagus. We didn't say anything of course, didn't know if you'd want us to, and there's a fair few people asking if you can get them Harry Potter's autograph..."

Aiden glanced sideways at Joshua, who turned an even deeper shade of red.

"...but nobody thinks that your mental mate, don't worry."

Teddy felt a little of the weight life from his shoulders. He wasn't naive enough to think that this would all be forgotten about in a couple of days and he knew that whatever the others said, there would be some students who would seize the opportunity to exploit it, but the fact that his friends were there to stand by him was at least a start.

Just then, the fireplace began to glow again, this time the face of Neville's wife Hannah appearing between the flames.

"Er Harry, I think it might be a good idea for you to make your way to the Ministry. Ron's just called by to say that Ginny has been escorted from the building for unlawful behaviour, he's just off to the Auror office to try and smooth things over until you can get there..." A loud crash suddenly sounded behind Hannah, making her wince. "Oh, and I've got your children here by the way, they're just... helping... out in the pub. Should I try and see if Molly will take them?"

Harry turned a funny shade of grey. "Yes, thanks Hannah. I'll catch you later."

Another crash sounded and the floating head vanished.

"Teddy, I'll call in a bit and make sure things are okay. Neville will do a grand job of keeping things in order here until then."

He turned and clapped his friend on the back, before giving Teddy one final hug and disappearing into the flames.

...

A/N: Apologies first of all for the ridiculously long wait for an update. Real life got too chaotic unfortunately. This chapter didn't quite go where I wanted it to, and I think it's perhaps a little too random, but I really wanted Teddy's friends to find out about Harry and this was the way that stuck. That said, my beloved Charlie Weasley will be popping up soon, so I promise to be much more inspired!

A note on canon and the progression of this story: I am a real stickler for staying true to canon when writing fics, however I am going to break my own rules and twist things slightly for the sake of this story. This chapter was somewhat inspired by Rita Skeeter's comments about Dumbledore's Army in her Quidditch World Cup commentary, however I feel like anyone in Harry Potter's circle of friends would immediately become of interest to her in the years since the war and while she was busy collecting information for her book on Dumbledore's Army, she may well have felt compelled to create a few sparks of discontent along the way.

With regard to the relationship between Teddy and Victoire at that point, I feel that there is a lot for the two of them to work out before they get to the romantic stages of things. I read the final chapter of DH as it being quite a shock to James that the two of them are snogging, not as if it's something they've been doing for three years, so for the sake of this fic, if I get that far ahead in time, there won't be any romance between them until Teddy has left Hogwarts. However after a few more chapters I will be jumping ahead to Teddy's later years at Hogwarts when he really starts to gain more of an identity for himself, which is where all of my initial ideas for this fic started out. Wow, that was a really long ramble. I will go now and concentrate on writing important things!