The Story of Teddy Lupin

Chapter 2: The Adventure Begins

Teddy awoke early that morning. It was September 1st. He could have gone back to sleep for another hour or so, but he was too nervous to fall asleep again. So instead he made his way down to the kitchen to see about getting some breakfast for himself. When he got downstairs though he stumbled through the kitchen door to find Ginny sitting at the table nursing a cup of tea. Teddy stopped in the door way feeling as if he had been caught.

"Oh. Ginny."

Ginny looked up surprised to see Teddy up so early. He was not an early riser. In fact, he thoroughly enjoyed having a nice lie in when Harry and Ginny or his Gran would allow it.

"Oh Teddy, I'm sorry did I wake you?"

"No. I woke up a bit ago and couldn't fall back asleep. Please tell me you don't get up this early every day. I don't know how you could stand it."

"Ah. No I usually don't. I'm in the same boat as you I'm afraid. Couldn't go back to sleep. Would you like some hot chocolate Teddy?"

"Yes please."

Ginny stood to get his hot chocolate. When she returned to the table with it Teddy smiled in thanks and took a sip still looking at Ginny.

"Why couldn't you go back to sleep Ginny?"

"Oh you know. Sending my first baby off to school", she said as she reached over to run a hand over Teddy's head.

"I'm not really a baby anymore though am I?"

Ginny sighed, "no I guess you're not. But still. I'm a mum. Mums always see their children as the babies they started out as. Even once they're adults and have their own families. Look at my mum for instance."

Teddy mulled this over in his head for a moment then said, "yeah I guess that makes sense."

Ginny looked at Teddy for a bit before saying, "why couldn't you go back to sleep this morning Teddy? You excited?"

Teddy grumbled a bit and shrugged his shoulders.

"You know. I was nervous my first day. Don't get me wrong, I was really excited too. But when the day finally arrived I was nervous. I was afraid I wouldn't make any friends. I hoped I could hang out with Ron and Harry. And Harry probably would've been fine with it, but who wants their baby sister tagging along everywhere? So I understand why Ron didn't hang out with me. But it definitely did not help my nerves. And while I will admit it took me longer than I thought it would to make friends, I did end up making great friends eventually. And once I made those friends I didn't care what anyone else said or thought anymore. It takes everyone time to make friends."

Teddy nodded.

Ginny stood and got ready to leave the kitchen. When she passed Teddy she gently rubbed his back saying, "when you finish your hot chocolate why don't you go on and get ready. When you come back down I'll have breakfast for you."

With that they both left the kitchen to go get ready for the day.

To Teddy's surprise Harry and Ginny brought James, Al, and Lily with them to the train station. Not that he minded of course. It took his mind off being nervous by carrying Al around on his back and having a chat with James about when he would be back. James was sad he was leaving. At the last minute Harry pulled Teddy aside and left the boys with Ginny and Lily. Harry knelt down in front of Teddy so he could look him in the eye causing Teddy to squirm a little.

"Still nervous?"

"I'll be fine."

Harry patted Teddy on the shoulder before saying, "it's alright to be nervous, but I promise you'll be fine. Just give it some time and you'll probably end up loving it there just as much as I did."

"We'll see", Teddy sighed in response.

Harry stood back up to walk Teddy over to the train, having already put his trunk on a while ago. Giving Teddy's shoulder one last squeeze he ushered Teddy on board and reminded him which compartment they had put his trunk in.

Once Teddy was on the train he walked slowly to the compartment. When he got there he saw that it was empty, so he sat by the window so he could wave to Harry and Ginny. Then, just as the train started to pull away from the platform a small boy with black hair came stumbling into the compartment stopping short when he saw Teddy. The two made eye contact for a brief moment before the other boy cleared his throat and said, "mind if I sit in here?"

Teddy just shook his head so the boy came in and started struggling to put his trunk away. Seeing that the boy would not be able to do it on his own Teddy stood and helped him. When the trunk was finally stowed they flopped down on to the seats. The boy held his hand out and said, "I'm Lee by the way".

Teddy shook the boy's hand and said, "Teddy".

"Thanks for helping me with my trunk."

"No problem."

The boys sat in silence for a while until the snack trolley came round. They both got up and picked out a few different candies for themselves before paying and sitting back down. They both immediately started in on their candy eating in silence until Lee said (in between bites), "my mum would kill me if she knew I was eating all this candy before I even looked at the lunch she packed for me".

Teddy laughed, "yea. My gran would kill me too. But I don't think Harry or Ginny would mind."

Lee studied Teddy for a few moments before quietly asking, "what about your mum and dad?"

Teddy sighed. He knew he would have to explain his family eventually, he just didn't think it would be this soon. "My mum and dad died in the battle of Hogwarts in 1998. My gran and Harry and Ginny raised me. Harry's my godfather."

Lee swallowed, he hadn't been expecting that response. "So does that make Ginny your godmother then?"

"I guess. No one really calls her that. But it fits."

They continued eating their sweets for a few more minutes before Lee said, "I'm sorry I'm being so nosey, and you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but who were your parents?"

Teddy looked at Lee carefully trying to decide if he was going to be one of those people who still thought badly of werewolves. Deciding there was no way to know without saying anything he plunged in. "Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Lupin. Her maiden name was Tonks."

"Blimey. My mum's talked about your dad before. He used to be a professor at Hogwarts right. He taught Defense against the Dark Arts. My mum had him her 3rd or 4th year I think she said."

"Yeah. He taught Harry and Ginny too."

"Cool. I'm sorry about your parents though. That must be hard."

"Sometimes. But I don't really remember them so it makes it easier to not miss them. That's not to say that I don't miss them, because I do miss them. But at least I have my gran and Harry and Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys. Its more than Harry had growing up."

Lee sat up in his seat more, "wait a minute. The Weasleys?! Ginny Weasley? So that means your godfather is Harry Potter?"

Teddy nodded. He had never seen someone react like this when they found out who his family was.

Lee continued, "my mum was in school with Harry and several Weasleys. She was in Ravenclaw while they were in Gryffindor. But one year Harry formed a secret club to help teach Defensive spells because they had some horrid Defense against the Dark Arts professor at the time. She was in it with Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, and Hermione. There were other students too of course, but that's all the Weasleys. She said Hermione married Ron."

Teddy leaned forward a bit, "what's your mum's name?"

"Cho. Her maiden name is Chang."

"Hmm. I'll have to ask Harry about her. I've seen the picture of Dumbledore's Army and Harry told me who everyone was. I remember her being in it."

The two continued chatting easily all the way to the school. They talked about their families, what they were looking forward to about Hogwarts, what house they thought they would be in, and so on. When they finally got to school Teddy was starting to think that maybe he had already found a friend. They clambered off the train and over to where Hagrid was waiting for all the first years and Teddy made his way to front so he could say hi. He pulled Lee along with him. When they got closer to Hagrid Teddy waved. Hagrid patted Teddy on the shoulder and said, "Teddy! Glad ye'r finally here. You'll ride in a boat with me."

Teddy stumbled a little under Hagrid's hand and righted himself before saying, "great!"

Hagrid looked down again, "and who's this fella?"

Teddy smiled, "this is my friend Lee."

"Nice te meet ya Lee. You can ride in my boat too."

Lee smiled in response.

When they finally made it to the castle, Hagrid ushered them all out of the boats and into the castle where Neville Longbottom was waiting for them. Again Teddy made his way to the front of the pack so he could say hi to Neville. When Lee saw Teddy wave at Neville and Neville smile in return he nudged Teddy with his elbow, "Do you know him too?"

Teddy nodded, "yeah. He went to school with Harry and Ginny. He was in the same year as Harry in Gryffindor."

"And how do you know Hagrid?"

"He was here when Harry was. Taught Care of Magical Creatures. And he was the grounds keeper."

"Wow."

Neville said a few things to them about how the sorting would go and then he led them into the Great Hall. All the other students were sitting at their house tables waiting somewhat patiently for the sorting to take place. Neville had them all gather around in front of the sorting hat and pulled out a scroll with a list of names on it. He started to call them one by one having each first year come sit on a stool and he would sit the hat on their head. For some students the sorting hat would call out their house immediately, for others he took time to consider all options. When Teddy's name was finally called he slowly made his way up to the stool. Neville sat the sorting hat on his head and the hat started talking to Teddy.

"Well well well. Your family has an interesting background. Your grandmother was a slytherin and your grandfather was a hufflepuff like your mum. But your dad was a Gryffindor like your godfather and all the Weasley family. You are brave enough for Gryffindor, and loyal enough for hufflepuff, and cunning enough for slytherin. Hmmm. Where to put you?"

Teddy listened intently while the sorting hat said his piece. He knew he could say something to the sorting hat about where he wanted to be, Harry had told him he could. But he decided to just wait and see what the sorting hat decided without his input.

The sorting hat continued it's deliberation for a bit longer before finally calling out "Hufflepuff!"

Teddy jumped down from the stool and made his way over to the hufflepuff table. Settling in he waited for Lee to be sorted, silently hoping he would be put in hufflepuff too. When Lee's name was finally called the sorting hat didn't take quite as long to decide with Lee as he had for Teddy, but he still took his time. Then finally the sorting hat called out "Hufflepuff!"

Lee made his way to the table and sat down next to Teddy high fiving him as he did so. Teddy was so happy Lee was in the same house as him.

The next day Teddy wrote a letter to Harry and Ginny and a letter to his gran telling them he had been sorted into hufflepuff. He was sure they would all be okay with that. After sending his letters out with his owl Moony he made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast before he had to make his way over to his first class, charms.

By the end of the first week at Hogwarts Teddy had settled into a rhythm. Eating meals with Lee and usually walking with him to and from classes since they had all the same classes. And since hufflepuffs took classes with ravenclaws he only ran into slytherins in the Great Hall or sometimes between classes. And unfortunately he had already come in contact with one of those who had been taught that blood status mattered. William Greengrass. He was a first year student as well, but he could be very nasty. He ran into Teddy on the third day of school. Literally ran into him knocking them both to the ground. Teddy got a little flustered and his hair changed color. This is what gave him away to William. When William got back up he shoved Teddy back down to the floor while saying, "stay down dog. Dogs do not walk on two legs." Then he turned to walk away. Before he got very far he turned and threw a wadded up piece of parchment a little past Teddy and yelled, "fetch!" Then stormed off with his friends laughing. Lee helped Teddy to his feet.

"Just ignore him mate."

"Wanker", Teddy mumbled before heading in the direction of the potions classroom with Lee.

This behavior from Greengrass continued everyday. Sometimes he would howl at Teddy when he saw him enter the Great Hall, or bark at him between classes. It only ever turned to words of insult when there was a bigger audience, but without professors around of course. As the weeks turned into months Teddy had gotten quite used to ignoring Greengrass and his friends. So long as he still had Lee as a friend he could deal with Greengrass. Lee didn't think of him, or his dad, as anything other than a wizard. He did write to Harry about it though after it had been going on for a little over a month.

Dear Harry,

I seem to have found a student who believes in blood status. And he knows dad was a werewolf. So he has taken to making dog/wolf jokes around me. Even howling or barking when he sees me. He doesn't say much, its mostly the howling. But Lee is really great about it. He helps me ignore Greengrass when he acts like a git. Sorry. But like I said, I've learned to ignore him. I just thought I'd tell you about it anyways. Please don't tell gran though. Don't want to upset her. Anyways, other than that everything here is fine. You were right, I made a friend and now I'm happy I'm here. Thanks Harry.

Love,

Teddy

When Harry came downstairs to get breakfast ready while Ginny was getting the children up he saw Teddy's owl sitting on the owl perch they keep in the kitchen. Giving Moony some owl treats and water he took the letter from his leg and then the owl flew off. Harry read the letter after he started breakfast. By the time Ginny and the kids came downstairs breakfast was done and Harry was furious. Of course Harry has certain tells that make it obvious when he is mad, he runs his hand threw his hair and the back of his neck turns blotchy red and he tends to pace. So when Ginny noticed this she sat the kids at the table to eat and dragged Harry into the living room. Turning to look at Harry Ginny said, "what's wrong?"

Harry raked his hand threw his hair again and looked at Ginny. "How do you know something's wrong?"

"Harry, how long have I known you? I think I can pick up on your tells and figure out how you're feeling love."

"Oh. Right. I got a letter from Teddy. Someone is bullying him. I was afraid this would happen. And so was he, he told me when we bought his things for school. I have half a mind to go up there myself."

"Harry, you can't go up there. That would make it worse I'm sure. Who is it?"

"A Greengrass kid. Of course it would be. Astoria Greengrass married Malfoy. Her family would have to be just as bad if they would marry into his family. If I can't go up there what should I do instead?"
Ginny hugged Harry and said into his chest, "is Teddy handling it okay? Did he sound upset by it?"

"No", Harry mumbled.

"Well that's good. In that case I would just write back to him and be encouraging. Tell him how you handled bullies in school. Or actually, tell him how I handled bullies seeing as how you dueled Malfoy and nearly killed him. Might not want Teddy doing that." Ginny stifled her laugh against Harry's chest.

"Oh and you're so much better? Sending bat bogey hexes at anyone that gets in your way."

Ginny slapped his arm. "Okay, so maybe don't tell him how either of us handled bullies. Just encourage him to not let it bother him and to focus on his studies and friends."

"Yeah alright."

What Harry didn't tell Ginny was that he was going to write to Neville. He knew he would tell him not to, but he felt he should. So that night he wrote back to Teddy saying what Ginny told him to. Then he wrote to Neville, explaining the situation. Harry hoped Neville would be able to do something about it.

On Halloween Greengrass and his friends sought Teddy out. Greengrass had been called in to Professor Longbottom's office the day before and given a detention for bullying Teddy. But he knew the only way a professor would know is if the dog told someone. So today he would teach the dog a trick. How to beg. But first he needed to find him.

Lee and Teddy were making their way down to the Great Hall when Greengrass and his friends came out of nowhere blocking their path. They had been running late so no one else was in the corridor when they were stopped. The slytherins circled Teddy and Lee with William Greengrass in the front facing Teddy.

"So you ran whimpering to Professor Longbottom about my harmless jokes did you? Well that was a mistake."

Teddy looked at Greengrass for a second then said, "no, I didn't tell him."

"Well you must have told someone. How else would he have known."

"Harry", Teddy whispered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."
"So you told your godfather. Well I'll teach you not to go barking to anyone again, won't we boys?"

The other slytherins murmured their agreement. Then Greengrass snapped his fingers and two boys grabbed Lee and two boys grabbed Teddy. Greengrass punched Teddy hard in the face then looked him square in the eye and said, "I'll let you and your side kick go when you beg me to. I'm sure you know how to beg, it is a common trick that seems quite easy for dogs, of all breeds, to grasp."

Just when Greengrass was about to punch Teddy again another boy came out of nowhere and tackled Teddy to the ground. He was followed quickly by Headmistress McGonagall and Professor Longbottom. The boys let go of Teddy and Lee when they saw them coming and tried to run, but Minerva isn't the Headmistress for no reason. She easily put up a shield charm and blocked their path, then rounded them all up and took them to her office, calling over her shoulder "Professor Longbottom please come with me."

He nodded and turned to the third boy saying, "thank you Wood. Would you mind helping Teddy to the hospital wing please?"

"Of course Professor."

Then Neville turned and ran after McGonagall. Lee helped Teddy up and looked at the other boy, "Wood. You're a ravenclaw right?"

"Yeah. First name's Neil."

"Right. Sorry. I should have known that since we have classes together."

"Nah that's okay. I don't know everyone's names either. But I heard Greengrass bragging to his friends saying what he had in store for Lupin and most of my friends said to leave it be, but I couldn't."

Teddy sighed, "Well thanks for helping. I was not about to beg him to do anything. I'm fine now though, I don't think I need the hospital wing."

Lee looked at him with a slight frown on his face. "Mate, you're nose is bleeding and it looks crooked. I think its broken."

"Ugh! Bloody git. Cant believe he punched me. If his minions hadn't been holding me back he wouldn't have been able to make contact. And if he had I would have hit the wanker back so hard he'd have hit the floor."

Wood laughed, "come on lets get you to the hospital wing then. Madam Pomfrey'll fix you right up."

So the three of them headed for the hospital wing in relative silence. And Neil was right, she did fix his nose pretty effortlessly. And from then on the three were pretty inseparable. If Neil was there the other two weren't far behind. They started sitting together in their classes too. Even if Neil was in ravenclaw, its not as if you can only be friends with people in your house. So they could often be found doing their homework together last minute in the library, goofing off around the castle, and eating together.

Then came Christmas. Teddy realized that Harry had been right, he loved it there. Greengrass hadn't bothered him since Halloween and he had two best friends. He was even doing pretty good in his classes. Well, except for potions. He always seemed to struggle with that class. But nevertheless, he was enjoying himself to the point he knew he would miss it and his friends when he went home for the holiday.

When it finally came time to go home the boys sat together on the train talking about what their families did for Christmas. They were in awe of the Weasleys Christmas because of how large it was.

A/N: I'm still getting the hang of this whole writing thing. I think this chapter is better than the first. Please note (as I'm sure everyone knows) these characters are not mine but J.K. Rowling's. I found her Weasley family tree that she did of the next generation so that's where I'm getting those characters. I always see people putting this statement in their author note so I figured it was better to be safe than sorry and go on and put it in mine too. I hope you like the story so far.