Christmas Eve, 1998

Neville Longbottom hovered, shame-faced, in Andromeda Tonks' hall, unable to look at the tall witch with the heavily hooded eyes who stood in front of him.

He had always said that Remus Lupin was the best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher he had ever had. He had respected the man enormously, and then fought alongside him in that last, tragic, victorious battle. And so, ever since Neville had heard about the existence of Teddy, and how the baby's circumstances so closely mirrored Neville's own, he had been anxious to meet him; he thought he could help. Circumstances had, however, until now, dictated otherwise. It had been difficult, in the immediate aftermath of the battle, to find five minutes to himself; Harry Potter had not been the only warrior to attract attention; the story of Neville Longbottom: snake-slayer had rather captured the public's imagination and there had been so many requests for interviews; everyone wanted a piece of him. There had been talk of a children's storybook. His grandmother had been delighted, and had required no persuasion to tell anyone who asked, about her grandson, the great war-hero, who was to be awarded the Order of Merlin, didn't they know? But for Neville, it had all been rather wearisome. Voldemort's downfall was of course something to be celebrated, but he had no desire to bask in glory when so many of his friends had fallen. He had turned down most of the interviews, but even just the act of telling Rita Skeeter where to go took effort.

He had attended Remus's funeral; it had been painful to see the three oak coffins being carried in; two draped in yellow and one in red, all that was left of his favourite teacher; an Auror Neville had met only once, on her last day on earth; and a man he had never known. He had expected to see Teddy at the funeral, but Mrs Tonks and the baby had not shown up; he had overheard a woman saying to Harry that the thought of attending had simply been too much for Andromeda to bear. Neville had instead found himself sitting outside the front steps of the church, attempting to comfort a sobbing fifteen year old muggle girl, who had what was clearly Nymphadora Tonks' old school scarf wrapped round her neck, unable to bring herself to enter the building.

And when the summer was over, Neville had found himself on the Auror training programme. He didn't believe that he would remain an Auror. It was what his grandmother wanted, of course, but he had finally realised that he was more than capable of choosing his own path in life. He had hesitated before accepting a place on the programme at all, but the Ministry were desperate; their ranks had been desperately depleted, and there was so much work to do to round up the Death-Eaters who were still at large, to prepare cases for trial, and to rebuild a department that would be respected. He had realised the value of the skills he would learn, and when Kingsley Shacklebolt had personally requested that he join, telling him the department would be lucky to have him, the deal was done. You didn't say "no" to Kingsley Shacklebolt. And there had been advantages to being in that line of work. Neville had personally been present when both Dolores Umbridge and the Lestrange brothers were apprehended. He had never imagined that work could be so satisfying.

Auror training was somewhat all-consuming. He had remained determined to visit Teddy, but Harry had warned him that Andromeda was rather emotionally fragile, and not really ready for visitors.

And now, finally, it was Christmas Eve and he was in Cambridge having gone with Harry on the visit he had been looking forward to for eight months and it had all gone horribly, horribly wrong.

It had been Harry's fault really. Harry tended to assume, having grown up with muggles, that he was generally worse informed about the magical community than Ron or Neville; so if Harry knew something, he worked on the presumption that his friends did too. In this case, he had taken it for granted that Neville already knew about Andromeda's heritage, and had therefore failed to warn him that she was the spitting image of her sister. Unfortunately, Neville hadn't known, which was why, when Andromeda had opened the door to the two boys, he had pulled out his wand.

He should have realised; should have noticed the wriggling baby clutching her front, but he had been acting on instinct. Her reactions had been quick, and she had disarmed him before he had had the chance to curse. Harry had quickly realised what had occurred, and had apologised profusely to both Andromeda and Neville with the words 'Neville, I thought you knew'.

She had invited them both in, and had cautiously handed Neville back his wand. But it had been the look on her face which Neville knew he would never forget; it wasn't one of anger, as he had expected; it was a simple look of unadulterated, unbearable hurt and pain, which was why Neville was now standing awkwardly in Andromeda's hall, looking at the floor and feeling too guilty to say a word or even move.

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.

'It's all right, you know. I'm long past being offended; I do understand; especially from you.'

'I'm so sorry Mrs Tonks; you have every right to be angry; I…'

'I get the impression Harry didn't warn you there was a family resemblance?'

'Family…?'

'She was my sister, Neville. We hadn't spoken since 1971, when I got engaged to Ted.'

'I didn't know. I just…'

'You were thinking of your parents. There's no need to apologise or make excuses to me. She destroyed a lot of lives, my sister. Including mine.

'And if it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one. Your friend Miss Granger reacted rather badly on meeting me too.'

Andromeda was speaking whilst bouncing Teddy on her hip, and trying to prevent him from eating her hair and sticking his fingers up her nose and in her eyes.

Would you like to hold him?'

'Yes,' said Neville with a grin. 'I would.'

Andromeda had erected a Christmas tree in her sitting room. The smell was wonderful, and the decorations beautiful. It was surrounded by a vast array of brightly wrapped presents. The effort that had gone into it would have been unthinkable for Andromeda a few months earlier. Harry had been visiting Andromeda regularly over the preceding months. She had come a long way since that first cold, guarded, stilted meeting in July. She had long lost her hostility, and seemed to appreciate Harry's visits. It had reached the stage where Teddy recognised Harry now, and babbled and gabbled and reached out excitedly when he saw his godfather. Ever since Andromeda had met up with Narcissa, her unnatural, cold detachment had vanished. It seemed Andromeda had learnt how to cry; in fact her eyes nowadays seemed to be permanently leaking; but this seemed healthier to Harry than the way things had been previously, and Harry was sure that this too would pass. And the change in her just in the past week had been remarkable. She seemed a lot more settled. There was a sadness in her eyes though, that Harry knew would never disappear; he had witnessed the same look in Molly.

Andromeda had learnt how to cry, and Teddy had learnt how to crawl. He was fast, too, and into everything. The two boys watched as the baby clambered on top of an ancient, soft, battered polar bear with a missing eye and a worn nose. The toy was as big as Teddy himself, and he seemed to be revelling in lying on top of it and grasping great chunks of its matted fur. He was letting out squeals of delight.

'The first time Remus and Dora met, she hit him over the head with that bear,' smiled Andromeda.

Harry looked at her in surprise.

'She was two and a half. Sirius had just run away from home, and he dragged Remus and your father along to mine for Christmas lunch. Remus made the mistake of referring to her as a baby and she got a bit offended. Somewhat ironically, he was defending her from Sirius's teasing at the time.'

'So then did…did you know my dad?'

'Not really, no; I only met him that once.'

She turned her attention back to Teddy, who was trying to use the polar bear as a support to stand up; he was not having much success; his hands kept sinking into the fur.

I don't think it will be long before he's walking, actually,' mused Andromeda. 'He's got the idea of standing up, but at the moment, he seems to realise he can still move more quickly by crawling.'

'He looks so much like Remus.'

'I know, but he's got Dora's dimples, right there,' she leant down and stroked Teddy's cheeks. 'And Merlin knows how he'll look when he works out he can change his appearance consciously.'

She scooped Teddy up and lifted him up over her head. He laughed uproariously.

'He's a very handsome little boy,' she said with adoration in her voice.

Neville smiled. It was a strange smile; one almost of relief.

'You're really proud of him, aren't you?'

'Naturally.' But then she paused, and her nose wrinkled. 'But I think you're going to have to excuse us for a minute.'

Later in the afternoon Andromeda was crouched down at the foot of the tree. She withdrew two parcels from below the tree.

'You know, I had a visit from one of your friends last week. A Dean Thomas?'

'Yes, we know him well.'

'Did you know? Had he ever said anything to you about…about Ted?'

In his time knowing Andromeda, Harry had noticed that "Ted" was always a reference to her husband, and "Teddy", or occasionally "Edward", to the baby.

'They travelled together, didn't they? During the war?'

'It wasn't just that. Dean told me a story. I had spent months believing that Bellatrix killed my Ted. She killed Dora, it made sense she'd been after my whole family.' She paused, evidently on the verge of tears, and took a deep breath. 'It wouldn't have been an easy death. I'd spent months worrying that Ted had died wandless; alone, and frightened; and helpless and in pain; I'd been having such terrible nightmares about it.' She paused. 'I shouldn't have told you that.'

'Go on, Mrs Tonks.'

'But he didn't. Mr Thomas told me. Ted and Dirk Cresswell, they saved Dean's life. The three of them were travelling with two goblins, and one of them forgot and said Voldemort's name, when it was taboo; they were surrounded by snatchers within seconds. The goblin Gornuk was killed instantly, but Ted and Dirk started firing curses and ordered Dean and Griphook to run. Dean told me he wanted to stand there and fight with them, it seemed quite important to him that I knew that, but that Ted shoved him away. Ted and Dirk sacrificed themselves to allow Dean and Griphook to escape. Dean said he'd told the story when he was precognosed for the official report on the war, and sure enough, Minister Shacklebolt arrived here four days ago, to tell me that Ted had been nominated for the Order of Merlin.'

'That's great, Andromeda. How do you feel?'

'Do I need to spell it out to you? My Ted didn't die in the dirt. He died on his feet; straight-backed and proud. I slept better after hearing that. After telling me that, Mr Thomas is welcome round here any time,' she smiled.

'Anyway, it's about time I gave you your Christmas presents.'

Neville was rather overwhelmed when she handed him a parcel. He hadn't been expecting anything. Andromeda noticed the surprise on his face.

'I believe you were of assistance to my niece at…at the funeral.' She said the word "funeral" very quickly, as if haste would help the word lose its sting. 'She told me all about it. She was very impressed with you. It's just something small, but think of it as a thank you.'

'Thanks, Mrs Tonks, that's really kind of you.'

Harry was handed a larger parcel.

'Now this is from Teddy, he insisted; it's absolutely nothing to do with me.'

Teddy was, at that point, sitting on Harry's lap. Harry laughed.

'Thanks, Champ,' he said, and he planted a kiss on the baby's head. The present was accompanied by a card, which he opened first. The front of the card was graced with a photograph of Harry holding Teddy, and the inside of the card read "To my godfather Harry, Merry Christmas, Lots of Love from" and at the bottom, was a small blue handprint.

'And this one,' said Andromeda, reaching under the tree again, 'is from me. It's really rather overdue, actually. I should have given it to you a long time ago. But please don't open it in front of me; I'm not sure I can handle seeing it again.'

Harry nodded, and placed the small, flat parcel in the pocket of his cloak.

'Are you going to your sister's for Christmas, Mrs Tonks?'

Andromeda raised an eyebrow.

'I don't think so,' she said silkily. 'I may be on speaking terms with Narcissa now, but I can think of a hundred things I'd rather be doing on Christmas Day than spending it making polite conversation with Lucius Malfoy. I want Teddy's first Christmas to be pleasant.'

Harry and Neville both laughed at this.

'I can sympathise there.'

'No, we're going to Ireland this evening; we're having a lovely Tonks family Christmas and Teddy's going to meet his Auntie Orla for the first time. She's been desperate to visit Teddy, but she's getting a little old for overseas apparation.'

Harry looked confused. 'Wait, so your husband had an Aunt who's a witch? I thought Ted was muggle-born?'

Andromeda smiled. 'Haven't I ever told you about Ted's grandparents?'

XXX

That night Harry withdrew Andromeda's Christmas present from his cloak. He opened the wrapping carefully to find a framed photograph. In the centre was Sirius, transformed into a great, black dog; on top of him, a very tiny girl, with her blonde hair in straggly bunches, that could only have been Tonks; she was grinning manically and looking absurd with a pair of large round glasses on her face. On her left was Remus looking slightly exasperated; and on her right was Harry's father, squinting and not quite looking at the camera, but sporting a pair of antlers on his head. It was such a merry scene it was almost possible to forget that everyone in the photograph was dead.

He placed the picture in pride of place in the sitting room of Grimmauld Place, and for months afterwards, proudly showed to it anyone who visited.

When Christmas was over, Harry went to the bookcase and drew out the photograph album that Hagrid had given him years ago. Teddy's card was lovingly pasted into the final page; because Teddy was family now.

THE END