Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
It was raining hard – were the heavens mourning today too? The dark clouds in the sky looked terrifying and it looked as if it was nearly evening but in reality it wasn't even noon yet. The occupants inside the house all looked tired and weary as if they hadn't slept all night. Every now and then someone would go out in the rain and come back some time later with their eyes swollen and red – they had gone to visit a loved one's grave.
Harry Potter, sitting in a corner of the room, shifted his gaze towards his currently blue-haired godson who was sitting quietly and playing with his stuffed werewolf. He sighed quietly, his eyes sweeping across the room cautiously, not wanting to draw attention to himself.
Even years later he still felt guilty for all the pain and sorrow that was part of everyone's life since the War, despite the amount of times people had told him otherwise.
Just then the front door opened and a minute later George and Angelina entered the living room, both with tear-stained faces. No doubt they had gone to visit Fred's grave.
Harry got up from his seat and, motioning for his godson to follow him, went towards the door. He could feel everyone's eyes on him but for once he didn't care. He walked out the main door, towards the Apparition point, picked Teddy up and vanished into thin air.
He reappeared a few seconds later in a graveyard where all those who died in the Battle of Hogwarts were buried. It wasn't raining here, though there were quite a few black clouds in the sky. There were rows of tombstones as far as the eye could see. It was still quite early and there weren't many people there, something Harry was thankful for.
He could see Hogwarts castle standing on the edge of a cliff, silhouetted against the dull, grey sky. How he longed to go inside and once again roam the many corridors, eat in the Great Hall, relax in the cosy common room without a single care in the world ...
As Harry went further in, he saw many tombstones with familiar names. The prospect of seeing the graves of the deceased was not made easy by the fact that he had known most of them.
Finally, after walking around for a couple of minutes he stopped next to a marble tombstone.
In Loving Memory Of
Remus John Lupin
Born: March 10, 1960
Died: May 2, 1998
Nymphadora Tonks Lupin
Born: December 4, 1973
Died: May 2, 1998
Those who love us never truly leave us
When Harry looked down, he saw a wreath of roses lying near the tombstone, still looking quite fresh. Andromeda was here not too long ago, he thought as he sat down close to the grave. It was so sad that they only spent a few months with their son and even those while in the midst of an ugly war.
Lost in his thoughts, Harry had almost forgotten about the little boy standing beside him. It wasn't until Teddy spoke that Harry remembered that he had his godson with him.
'Harry?' a perplexed little voice asked, interrupting Harry's chain of thoughts. 'Why are we here? What's this place? Harry?'
Harry bend down so that his face was level with Teddy's and looked straight into his eyes which had turned a brilliant green, not unlike Harry's own eye colour.
Looking into those gleaming emeralds, Harry decided what he had decided a long time ago, only he hadn't known it then.
'Teddy,' he spoke in a low voice. 'I'm going to tell you something.'
'What?' Teddy asked, his eyes wide in wonder. He looked hopefully at Harry. 'A story?'
'I – something like that.' Harry took a deep breath.
'Once there was a very bad man, who liked killing people. He made many people join him and support him. But there was a group of people who hated him. They wanted to fight him and finish him off.'
Harry could see Teddy's eyes grow wider and wider. He kept unintentionallly turning his hair from blue to green to red to brown to orange.
'Your parents, being, very, very brave, were in that group too. They also fought against the bad man. One day, there was a big battle.'
'When did this battle happen?' Teddy asked hurriedly.
'After you were born. A little after,' Harry answered. 'Well, your parents wanted to make the world a better place for you to live in. So they joined in the battle.'
Teddy sucked in his breath. His hair was still changing colours.
'A lot of good people died that night. Your parents ...' Harry's voice trailed off. He could sense tears in his eyes.
'Harry? Are you – crying?'
'Teddy-bear, it's okay to cry sometimes, about things like these.' Harry continued, 'While fighting the bad man and saving many other lives besides, your parents died.'
Harry stopped with a jolt and realised that Teddy's big, soulful eyes had thin tears leaking from them.
'The bad man – he – they died because of him? He – he killed them?'
'Yes ... I – yes.'
'But ...' Teddy raised his tear-stained face up at Harry. 'They didn't go because they didn't like me?'
'No, Teddy-bear!' Harry said, shocked. 'Of course not! They loved you so much! They never wanted to leave you. But, sometimes, bad things happen – and there's nothing we can do about them. You probably don't understand it now, but you will ... someday.'
'And – can Mum and Dad ... like, see me?'
'Yeah, they can. And I know they're so proud of you right now.' Harry ruffled Teddy's now purple hair.
'You're a great kid, Teddy. Just remember that.'
Saying that, he conjured up some flowers and handed them to Teddy, who laid them gently on his parents' graves.
And with that, Teddy grasped Harry's hand. They both Apparated back home.
A/N: Hey! So I know I'm supposed to be working on my story, 'At That Moment' but this little one-shot popped into my head and wouldn't leave so I decided to forgo learning my History test and write this instead.
I will complete 'At That Moment'. I'm not the kind of author who leaves her stories unfinished.
Anyway, enough rambling! Review? *puppy dog face*