4

Chapter 4 - Conspiracies

"Daddy, please! Please can't I keep her?"

"No," Harry said firmly.

"But Daddy-"

"Teddy, I will not have a job for the month. Where would you keep her?"

Teddy looked down sadly, running his hand over the kitten that arched into his hand. Its purring was loud and deep for such a tiny creature.

"Really, Mr. Peverell-" Lyall began, looking askance at the small ball of fur.

"No," Harry said again, "no, we will not impose on you any more than we already are. I am not going raise a kitten in a guest room."

"But Daddy, I'll take ca-"

"Will you now?" Harry asked skeptically, "Will you use a knife to cut up its food or give it medicine or-"

Teddy was crying now which made Lyall and Hagrid look as if they were about to go into a panic.

Harry sighed, "Perhaps…"

His son looked up at him, his hair turning a pale sherbet orange. His green eyes full of hope and the threat of waterworks. Teddy didn't ask for much, so this wasn't usual, but as Harry worked at a daycare, tears didn't break him. But even he was having trouble saying no to the tiny tuxedo kitten purring like a motor.

"Perhaps," he sighed, "Hagrid might be willing to care for her for a month and we can buy her when we return for the school year."

"Of course!" Hagrid said, sounding beyond relieved to see Teddy's smile return. "This will be good, Teddy, your little Regina isn't quite ready to leave her siblings yet."

Harry thought it was tactful that Hagrid didn't say mother. As an orphan himself, people had often brandished his lack of parents in his face. Kids were cruel, and even in daycare 'Teddy doesn't have a mommy' became an object of discussion.

Whoever said that kids were purely innocent angels, clearly had never raised one, or if they had they hadn't paid close enough attention. Kids were impressionable, curious, and limit testers.

Teddy hugged the kitten and kissed the top of its head.

Although, Harry supposed, Teddy would always be his little hero.

Gently placing 'Regina' back in her basic with the rest, Teddy proceeded to say goodbye to each and every one of the other kittens and the mama cat who looked as if she would murder all of her own babies if they tried to snag a drink from her inflamed underbelly. Though she raised her head for a pet from Teddy.

After this, he gave Hagrid a hug goodbye. Hagrid's arms engulfed him and for a moment it seemed he would be lost in the great black beard. But he emerged safely and went to Harry, lifting his arms in a pickup gesture, which Harry obligingly did so.

"Uncle Lye, is Remus going to be home?"

Lyall smiled, though sadness still lurked in his eyes, "Yes, your Cousin Remus will be home and so will your Aunt Hope."

Teddy smiled and rested his head on Harry's shoulder as they made their way to outskirts of the Hogwarts' wards.

"I really can't thank you enough," Harry said again.

"Nonsense, it will be good to have some family over, Hope is an only child, we don't have enough company, it shall be a welcomed change."

When they reached the disapperation point Lyall offered his hand which Harry took and together the three of them were flung through space.

The Lupin house was quite nice, and quite a bit bigger than Harry would have expected given Remus's near vagabond dress when he had known him.

A woman with long golden blonde hair greeted them at the door, her eyes were large and blue.

"Lyall," she began, sounding worried. Remus appeared at her shoulder and he looked equally concerned, but it was Remus who noticed the newcomers first.

Teddy began to wiggle and Harry put him down. He went running toward Remus and lifted his arms to be picked up.

Remus, looking rather confused, obeyed the silent demand as Lyall and Harry reached the steps.

"Hi," Teddy said, looking at Remus as if he would memorize his face.

Harry couldn't quite tell what his son was thinking, but whether or not he thought of Remus as his long lost father or a cousin, it was clear Teddy trusted this sandy-haired youth.

"You look like Mommy," he informed him.

Remus gave a half smile, "You must be Teddy."

"And you're Remus," Teddy grinned back, his features shifting so it was as if Remus was holding a mini-Remus.

"You're a metamorphmagus," he said, astounded.

Teddy nodded and patted Remus' cheek, "You're a werewolf."

The Lupins froze, three pairs of eyes shooting toward Harry, but Harry had eyes only for his son.

"Mommy was attacked by a werewolf too, that's why she wasn't so good at smiling."

Harry shut his eyes, his mind reeling. He hadn't told him that. Harry hadn't told Teddy anything about Naomi because Naomi had never existed before and Naomi was not Teddy's mother.

It was not as if he could have confused the stories of Nymphadora and the single, unknown origin photograph they had.

Nymphadora had never been attacked by a werewolf.

"Teddy," Harry said gently, "It isn't polite to talk about people getting attacked."

Teddy put a finger to his lips, "Secret?"

Remus nodded, putting a finger to his own lips, "Secret."

Teddy giggled.

"What's going on?" Hope asked.

Lyall coughed to clear his throat, "Hope, Remus, this is Mr. Henry Peverell and his and Naomi's son, Teddy. Teddy this is your Aunt Hope and your Cousin Remus."

"Please, Rell is fine," Harry said. "It is a pleasure to meet you both."

"Hi," Teddy said, waving to Hope.

Did it matter that they were in truth his grandparents and not his uncle and aunt? Not really, family was family, but it was a problem that he remembering things that they had never experienced.

Harry would get the goblins back in some non-lethal way for this, but when he discovered who was messing with his son's memories… there would be hell to pay. Whatever deviousness the goblins could concoct, Harry knew enough of their history to know that this type of magic was beyond. Which meant that there were more people, human or otherwise, conspire against him.

Just perfect.

Teddy was three years old, there was no telling how mind magic might affect him later on in life.

Remus looked a little stunned to be holding a small child, a small child who knew he was a werewolf while said child's father also knew he was a werewolf. As if catching Harry's train of thought he looked up at him with a question across his face.

Harry smiled, "You may not hold my son during the full moon, but then I was not inclined to think you would want to."

Remus' lips turned up into a rueful smile, "No, Sir."

"Well come on in for some tea," Hope said, "So, Rell, where are you from?"

Hope Howell Lupin was a breath of fresh air. She created a peace around her like a wave across a trodden beach. It was hard to be lost in sorrow or fear or rage as you watched her flit around a room, singing softly to herself.

She was both a musician and an artist, each room had a touch of her painted on to the wall. It took Harry an hour to realize there were magical, painted butterflies and other painted creatures that would flit from wall to wall, room to room. Hope had a piano in the living room adjacent to the kitchen. It would sometimes pick up on the tune she was singing a play along.

It reminded him a bit of the burrow, but instead of cheerful chaos, this home was like an oasis from reality.

Teddy had fallen asleep in Remus' arms by the time she served tea, and when Harry offered to take him, Remus only waved him away.

Whether as cousins or father and son, Harry was glad to see them bonding.

"Rell and his son will be staying with until the new school starts," Lyall said.

Harry sipped his tea before saying, "I will pay you back, Lyall, but we lost everything in the fire and the bank unsympathetic. They gave me enough to buy my own supplies but I will repay for the food and lodgings."

"No, it is our honor to have you. I have some of Remus' old things that should fit your little one. Merlin knows, they grow out of them so fast," Hope said.

Harry smiled, "If I could keep him little I would, but I love watching him grow as well, watching him discover new things."

"He won't tell anyone, will he?" Lyall interjected.

"No," Harry said, knowing what had the man so agitated from the moment Teddy greeted Remus. "He's young of course, and I shouldn't make promises, but he isn't comfortable talking to most people."

"He talks to us," Lyall argued, "he talked to Hagrid. Did he talk to the Blacks?"

Harry took a deep breath. "He-"

"This is my son's future."

"Dad, it's okay," Remus said softly as to not wake Teddy.

"No, it isn't," Lyall said, "Who tells a three year old that kind of secret?"

Harry leaned back in his seat, "We lived in a world where no one believes in magic and when my magical son asks why his mother had scars, I told him the truth. Nobody in our world would have believed or questioned it. It would have just been a wild make-believe story."

"You told him about my son."

"I told him about a family that I wasn't sure we would ever meet."

"You could have found us."

"Lyall," Hope chided.

Harry would have loved to say that twenty years in the future he hadn't even known his name much less known Naomi existed. But there was a part of him that was a part of this world now, and he answered with what Henry, not Harry, would have said:

"Naomi and I had one night together, and then she disappeared. She showed up nearly a year later the day Teddy was born. We got married that same day and we had six beautiful months together. I cared for Naomi, I may have even grown to love her. But she was terrified of her past, of her own shadow. I was nineteen when she left us, do forgive me if I didn't follow the social protocols of becoming a widower and a single father. Forgive me, if I put my son's well-being over poking into her past."

What followed was an awaked, tense silence.

Teddy woke up crying, Remus stiffened.

Calmly, Harry stood up and took his son in arms. He went into the guest room, shutting the door behind with a flex of his hand.

She debated with herself for a day. But decided that any half-blood who would send three of his followers, Abraxas Malfoy, and the Carrows after her -to put her under the Imperious and when that failed, try to beat her into submission, wasn't worth her silence.

Which is how Bellatrix Black found herself sitting in the center of the DMLE, waiting to speak with an Auror.

Shacklebolt opened the door to his office and looked surprised to see her.

She held onto that image as his self-assured demeanor took over and he greeted, "Bella Black, what in the world could have brought you to my office? I was under the impression you rather detested law enforcement."

She raised her chin, "Who in the world gave you your own office? I was under the impression you were still in training."

"Desperate times, love," he said charmingly, leaning against the door frame, "Besides, I may be young, but I'm good at what I do."

She knew that, she knew that all too well. Bella didn't let her thoughts show on her face. "Are you going to invite me in? Or am I too 'crazy' to be taken seriously?"

He merely smiled, stepping back to invite her in. She didn't know if she wanted to hex him or take him up against the wall like she had done at sixteen in the Slytherin dorms one Halloween Feast.

But she was here on business, and when she finished her account, Shacklebolt wasn't smiling, not at all.

Hope glared at her husband, "He isn't here for two hours, did you have to interrogate him?"

"He knows-"

"And he wasn't the least bit afraid."

"Was Aunt Naomi a werewolf too?" Remus asked talking as softly as he had done when his cousin had been in his arms. His little cousin that knew what he was and had been comfortable and not the least bit fearful of him.

"No," Lyall sighed, "But she was attacked and scratched up rather badly a few months after you."

"Badly enough that a child that young would ask?"

Hope and Lyall exchanged a look, and she said, "Naomi was hurt visibly enough so that she was scared to be seen in public. She left the wizarding world and gave up magic."

"We haven't heard from her in eleven years, Remus."

"And you are surprised that he didn't contact us?" he asked skeptically. Then another question occurred to him, "Wait, did he say he was nineteen when she died? That would make him what, twenty-one years old? He's really young, isn't he?"

"I suppose he is," Hope said, "Really Lyall, you mustn't be so hard on him."

He rubbed his eyes, "You're right, of course, I'll apologize to him."

The air between the Lupins and Harry remained tentative after that. Which was not surprising as Lyall was grieving and Harry was still attempting to find his footing.

Still trying to decide which reality his feet belonged in