Chapter Twenty- Two

A/N: I OWN NOTHING FROM GLEE OR HARRY POTTER! Okay, so this is to be the last chapter of this story. DO NOT FRET! I've got a sequel and a Characters Read all planned out (the Characters Read would be reading this story).

Everyone done panicking? Good, now on with the story!

Teddy didn't know what to say. On the one hand, he could tell Harry everything but on the other, he didn't want to tell Harry anything.

"Just felt like it," Teddy shrugged, resting his hand on Moony. Harry shook his head and continued to look straight at the younger boy.

"Ted, I'm not buying it. If you 'just felt like it', you wouldn't have snuck out in the dead of night and you would have told your grandmother. Seeing as I woke up to your bed empty and Andromeda over here constantly, I know you did neither."

"How do you know?" Teddy shot back.

"You're talking to the man who's eldest son is making great headway in beating his Uncle George's record for most detentions served at Hogwarts," Harry said, an amused look gracing his face. "Come on Ted. You used to tell me everything until you went off to Hogwarts."

Teddy shrugged once more, unsure of what to say. Yeah, it'd be great to finally tell of the torment. But then it'd be getting into the brutal truth. That he'd let what those guys said get to him, that he let them chase him from Hogwarts.

"Ted?" Harry said gently, resting a hand on Teddy's knee. "Come on bud. You're not in trouble. Tell me, so I can talk McGonagall into letting you repeat your seventh year."

Teddy's head shot up at that. Harry rarely, if ever, used his fame for anything—except for him. And Vic.

"R-Really Harry?"

"Yeah. Just because I didn't go back for my NEWTS doesn't mean you should," Harry said with a smile. "Come on. You tell me your reason, and I'll give you the chocolate frog Al's been hiding in the kitchen."

Teddy's eyes grew wide. Despite the fact that he'd grown up, Teddy still had a huge soft spot for chocolate.

"Playing hardball now Mr. Prongslet?"

"Just doing what I need to, Mr. Moonlet," Harry shot back with his own nickname. They had been calling each other those nicknames since Teddy learned what had happened to his parents at age six. It felt right to Teddy in a way. Teddy took a big breath and looked straight at Harry.

"Bullies."

The one word took Harry from concerned parent to battle-ready Auror. Teddy wasn't joking that day in the Choir room when he said that Harry hated bullies.

"When?" Harry asked, and Teddy was almost afraid for the guys. Then he remembered that said guys had made his life a living hell for almost all his time at Hogwarts and he didn't feel so bad anymore.

"Since first year," Teddy said after a few moments of awkward and tense silence. He stared at his sheets and rested his head on his knee. "It started out to just be the older Slytherins, you know."

Harry nodded, showing that he did in fact know that most Slytherins went after Hufflepuffs more than any other house due to the fact that it was mistakenly known for the house that took the other houses' rejects.

"But then my powers started acting up. I couldn't control when my hair would change, which only added to their ammo," Teddy continued and it was like turning on a faucet. Everything he had ever wanted to tell Harry was coming out in spades—and he liked it.

"Why didn't you tell Neville?" Harry asked. "I'm sure he would have done something."

"I did," Teddy choked out, tears threatening to spill out of his golden brown eyes. "Whenever the harassment got to be too much, I'd go tell Neville or Dryden or Brown. It got better after I told, but a day later the bullies would be up to their same old tricks."

Harry looked at Teddy in shock, as if not daring to believe that the faculty of Hogwarts had known about the harassment and hadn't felt the need to inform him, or heck, even stop it!

"What did they do, Ted?" Harry asked, hoping beyond hope that his godson wasn't beaten. Sure, the verbal harassment would be just as bad, but knowing his godson had been beaten up constantly at Hogwarts and never felt safe enough to tell him…

"Mainly taunts about my parents," Teddy said, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "That was first year. Second year, it was mainly Slytherins knocking my books out of my hands, Ravenclaws wanting to know questions about DADA I couldn't possibly answer and then treat me like I was a Troll when I couldn't and…Gryffindors wanting me to make weird faces for them, taunting me about my powers at times when I refused."

"Not the Hufflepuffs?"

"No," Teddy shook his head. "They didn't add on to the bullying but they didn't help either. Those snakes made it so I didn't have any friends until Victorie showed up my Third Year."

"What about Olive Wood?" Harry asked. "You seem close to her."

"She's the exception," Teddy chuckled, remembering the day the two had met.

It was a regular day at Hogwarts for one Ted Remus Lupin, second year Hufflepuff. And by that, I mean he was getting his daily harassment from the Slytherins.

"Go cry to your mummy! Oh yeah, you can't!"

"Probably died in shame, having a freak like you for a son."

"OI!"

A new voice joined the fray, and Teddy looked up to see a second year Ravenclaw with a wand in her hand, a book under her arm, and a pissed off look in her eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"None of your business, Wood," the ringleader sneered. "Go back to your books. Your father must be proud—a bookworm instead of a Quidditch player."

"You're right," Wood glared right back at the older boy. "He is proud. Right more proud than I bet your parents are of you. Leave Lupin alone!"

"Or what?" another boy sneered. "You'll tell on us?"

Wood ignored the whine in the boy's voice and said in an even voice that would have warned the dumbest Troll to run. "No, but I will write to my father. You know how much he hates bullies. One might see the Slytherin Quidditch team get defective equipment next year."

That got the gang of six to scurry off nicely. Teddy was left looking at the petite blonde in shock.

"Thanks for that," he said once he finally got his voice back. Wood smiled at him.

"You do speak," she said, with a chuckle in her voice. "Here I thought you only spoke when called on."

"Not having anyone to talk to makes it difficult," Teddy grumbled.

"Well now you do," Wood smiled and held out her hand. "Olive Wood, daughter of Katie and Oliver Wood. Pleased to meet you."

Teddy chuckled at the intro and took the offered hand. "Nice to meet you Olive. Names Ted Lupin but my friends call me Teddy."

"Lunch is starting soon," Olive said with a smile. "Want to go eat in the Kitchens with me? I find it's better to read in there than in the Great Hall where—"

"Slytherins can steal your book at any time," Teddy nodded and followed Olive to the kitchens, where they were waited on by over-eager House elves. It looked to be the start of a beautiful friendship.

"Ted?" Harry snapped his fingers in front of his godson's face. "You okay?"

"Huh?" Teddy reverted to normal. "Oh, yeah Harry. I'm fine. Just lost in thought."

"So when did you start dating Victorie?" Harry asked with a sly smirk on his face and Teddy flushed a Gryffindor red. "Come on! You guys were painfully obvious. Only Bill was too thick to notice."

"Everyone knows!" Teddy squeaked.

"Yep," Harry nodded. "When were you guys going to come out to the family?"

"This year actually," Teddy chuckled and ran his hand through his hair. "Bill had that rule about Vic not being able to date until fifteen and so…."

"You wanted to wait to avoid Bill being mad at you," Harry finished. "Not surprising. Bill's scared some of my Aurors a time or twenty when they were caught checking Fleur out."

Teddy winced, remembering the looks some of the kids at McKinley would give Fleur during her brief stay at the muggle school and was thankful that Bill was not there.

"Ted," Harry looked straight at the younger boy. "Listen to me. Don't let those bullies win. Go back to Hogwarts with us, watch Olive graduate and then prove to them that you're the bigger man."

Teddy shook his head. "I don't think I can," he said in a soft voice.

From his spot, he could hear Harry sigh in exasperation. "Ted, you bought Tampons! You faced a girl at the scariest part of the month and came out ahead. Tell me you can't face a gaggle of Slytherins after that."

"I still hope Lily gets it when I'm not around," Teddy said, glaring at Harry for bringing the memory back up. But he understood what his godfather was saying and, surprisingly to him, he had a plan.

"Alright," he stood up with a smirk poised proudly on his face, "let's do this."

"There's the take-no-prisoners attitude I came to expect!" Harry said proudly and quickly cast a charm on Teddy. "To remove the tell-tale signs of crying," he said when Teddy shot him a quizzical look. "Gin would go off the deep end if she knew."

Teddy shuddered at that. Ginny sure was scary when she was angry.

000

Hogwarts stood majestic in the afternoon sun as Teddy approached. He had 'borrowed' a Hufflepuff cap and gown, and now he was looking for the Weasleys. He had a plan and he needed Victorie for it.

"Vic!" Teddy hissed from his spot behind a tree when he saw her. Victorie quickly ran upon hearing his voice.

"Ted, what are you doing here?" she asked with a smile.

"Graduating of course," Teddy said with a smirk, which turned into a smile as Victorie threw her arms around him. "Now, Vic, I want a plan to get back at those—"

"Gits?"

"That works," Teddy nodded at Victorie's suggestion. "So, here's what we'll do….."

0000

"…MR. LUPIN!" McGonagall exclaimed in shock as Teddy shot at her with a peashooter.

"Sorry Professor," Teddy smiled at her, surprising most as he rarely smiled at his time at Hogwarts. "I've just got an announcement to make."

He stood up and the entire group fell silent. Taking a shaky breath, he smiled and simply said, "I'm back."

The Weasleys were the first to break out into applause, followed by the staff. Teddy noticed that all the bullies didn't bother to applaud but what did he care? He was distracted by a rush of strawberry-blonde hair and all of a sudden, time stopped as Victorie kissed him right on the lips.

"OI!" he could hear Louis shout but for once, Teddy was in his own world of chocolate and cherries, of books and seawater, of steak and potatoes. Victorie was his missing puzzle piece—and no one could stop him from finally doing what he wanted to do all those years ago on the Astronomy tower.

"Mr. Weasley?" Ted, once he'd finished and separated for air, turned to Victorie's father. "Do I have your permission to date your daughter?"

Bill looked shocked for a moment and then burst out laughing. "After a performance like that, kid I could never say no."

Victorie smiled and kissed him again, this time on the cheek. The cherry on top of the ice cream that was his life at that moment was the look of shock on the face of every one who used to bully him while at Hogwarts.

"May we continue with the graduation?" McGonagall asked shortly but if one looked closely, one could see a glimmer of a smile. Teddy chuckled and nodded, one arm wrapped around Victorie, the other attached to the hand that was pilfering the chocolate frog from Harry's bag.