Family Reunion

Gibbs had somehow been kidnapped by his own sister and that irked him to no end. He and Rob had been pulled from their warm beds and taken to Diagon Alley at some ungodly hour just to hold Jen’s bags. He wasn’t particularly amused by this and the over-active pixie wouldn’t let either of them stop for coffee. So Gibbs was tired and irritable. He would have gladly gone back to bed but Jen wasn’t in any hurry to let him go, that much was obvious. He was just thankful that Jen had decided to slow down and go into Sparks. Gibbs happily collapsed into a seat at the head of the table. He ran a hand through his silver hair and smiled at Khaat. He looked over at the boy that Jen had introduced to him and nodded in greeting.

Khaat got up for something to drink and Gibbs glanced at his brother who seemed thoroughly engrossed in that pregnancy magazine. He rolled his eyes and got up. He slapped his brother behind the head and noted that Rob didn’t even notice. Gibbs hit him again and stood up. He looked over his shoulder at Jen who was sitting cleaning her gun and he rolled his eyes again. He couldn’t believe that, that was his family. He chuckled and walked into the kitchen where the scatter-brained cockney chef was busily making the soup of the day. He smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and looked up at him nervously.

“I’m looking for some coffee.” Gibbs said simply. The girl nodded and rushed around for a few moments. She returned to his side a minute or so later and held up a mug of his familiar brew. He smiled and took the mug from her. Gibbs kissed her on the cheek and left the kitchen. He breathed in the strong smell coming from the mug and sat down in his seat. He took a sip and looked at the Lupin boy. His eyebrows knitted together in frustration and turned to speak to the boy. “Who brought you up, then?”

Ted looked at the man who talked, who seemed to be the eldest of the three siblings "Well, I was raised by my aunt, Andromeda Tonks," he explained. "Though I usually lived in my godfathers house as well before he passed away.." he added, with a frown. He always frowned when he thought of his godfather. Besides his aunt, he had basically been the only family he had, well the only family he thought he had anyway.

Khaat said nothing. It would be like a Lestrange to not want a Lupin to want anyone to know where Teddy was hidden. She paused and spoke gently, "Ted, you have to understand. In those days, werewolves were not accepted by anyone. Even by animagus families. Your father clearly was not accepted by some people. I'm not sure your mother's family really ever approved of Remus. At least they never behaved as if they did. There are still members of her family that scoff at the name of Lupin. I have to say, I'm not surprised you didn't know we existed, just like we didn't know you did. Even now, werewolves still have a hard time existing without feeling like second class citizens. But back then, they were nearly downright outcasts. What set Remus apart was his friendship and loyalty to Dumbledore. Dumbledore knew well the kind of man your father was and he trusted him, not only iwth his life but with the lives of the people who meant the most to him in the world. "

"Ted, when Remus died, his things, well almost everything, was shipped back to my father. And my father gave most everything of Remus's to me because he and I were so close. Would...would you like to see some of his things? Get to know him a bit better? You're entitled to that, I think. He would want that. And I think I can answer just about anything you want to know about him. What I can't answer, I'm sure my father can. Whenever you want. When you're ready."

"He gave them to you?" Teddy echoed, again, a little annoyed. He knew of course, that his mothers side of the family hadn't liked his father much, but he didn't want to be reminded of that fact. And he didn't want Khaat to tell him that they had perhaps purposefully not told him about this side of his family. They were family, but Ted still didn't feel to close to her, in fact, he felt envious - or jealous - that she had been close to his father while he never even knew him.

"Okay, sure," he said, accepting her offer to show him some of his fathers things. It might make him sad and upset, but he wanted to see them anyway. "Can I ask you a question though? Were you there, or was your father there, when my parents died?"

"Ted," Khaat said softly, "I really do know how frustrated and angry you must feel. Believe me. But to answer your last question, no. I wasn't there when he was killed. He knew better than perhaps anyone the risk he was taking that day. He and your mother made every arrangement to keep you hidden and protected in case something went wrong. You were their first concern. They wanted you as far out of harm's way as they could get you. And, well, we never saw you again. And, he made sure I was deliberately kept away from the battle. He knew I would have gladly given my life for his, in a heartbeat. He knew I would most likely have been killed because we were up against some of the wizarding world's worst at that time. He couldn't shield us both, and he didn't want that for me. I was a lliability to him at my young age, and he knew it. He deliberately kept my father and me preoccupied so we could not be there. It was his style. To protect the ones he loved the most. Your mother refused to be left behind that day. It seems she saw right through him. She went along despite his efforts to shield her too. I am so very sorry. Believe me. There hasn't been one day since that terrible day that I haven't ached for him. I know how very much he loved you and how he never intended to die that day, although he knew it was a very strong possibility. The people who know me know how much I loved your father. You can ask any one of them if you like.

"Ted, I have so very much to tell you and to show you. I want you to know your father. I want you to know everything we know. The reason I was so close was merely because I knew him long before he fell in love with your mother. He believed, until he met her, that no one would want him because he was a werewolf. He felt like an outcast, and he was very lonely. It ate at him. And me, well, I was so much like him that he lived with us most of the time before he married your mother. He and I..spent a lot of time together. He thought, until you were born, that I might be as close he would ever have of having a child of his own. I am so very sorry I got to know him so well and you just were never given the time to get to know him. But I can show you so much. I can help you get to know him. We owe that to you. You just let me know when, and we'll do it. "

Khaat seemed to have read his mind, Ted knew he shouldn't be angry, or irritated actually, at the fact that Khaat knew his father so well, whereas he had never seen him, but it was hard not to be jealous. He didn't dislike her for it, but he sure felt envious. "Its OK, you don't have to be sorry, I don't know what your apologizing for anyway," Teddy replied. "I will avenge them eventually, thats my goal. But for now.. I'd like to see what you have of him. To be honest, it doesn't matter know how much I get to know him, as I will never talk to him or see him again, but I'd still like to see his past belongings," he said. They were rightfully his, after all.

"I would be honored to show you what we have," Khaat said. "Most of what we have are books, clothes, his cloak, his jazz records, a Victrola, his travelling trunk, his walking stick, his pocketwatch ,some photos, the things that meant the most to him. A few other small personal items. The things he specified in his will. He didn't have a chance to change it after he married your mother, so his things came to us.

"There are some special things he would want you to have, and we kept them in case the day ever came that we ever found you or heard from you. Your parents' wedding rings, for example. The vial he always carried with him that held his potion that kept him from changing--most of the time, anyway. His very favorite books.

"There are two large identical copies of his wizarding portrait. He had wanted to surprise your mother with one, and he left the other with us at our farm to be sure that there always was one in the Lupin family portrait collection that my father cares for. It just never happened that your mother ever got hers, so we kept it, unopened and in pristine condition. I'll be more than happy to give that one to you now. It rightfully is yours. I would really like to keep the other copy of his portrait that he meant for the family portrait collection, though. It is a bit more worn that the one he meant for your mother. We keep his things at my parents' place because they have more room, and because he spent so much time there before he married your mother.

"Ted, there may be a way for you to, well, meet him in a way. I have an idea. You can at least see some memories of him moving and talking and get an idea of what he was truly like. My mother and I are seers. We have a pensieve and we have a lot of our family's most precious memories stored there. Some of his too, I do believe. I will share with you anything I can think of that will help you get to know him.

"As for your parent's killers, well, your father was killed by Antonin Dolohov. Your mother was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange. As far as we know, Dolohov died in the Battle of Hogwarts. Bellatrix, however, is unfortunately alive and well. It would give me great pleasure to kill her. I share your desire to see them both gone off the face of the earth. If I ever find Dolohov is still alive, believe me, I'll ask you to join me in hunting him down and killing him. He is one man I would never have a problem in disposing of. I have no preference if you kill them or I do, so long as I get the pleasure of watching."

She looked at Ted, not intending to show in her eyes how much her deep love for Remus still was there, and how much she agreed with him that she wanted their killers dead, and that, by now, killing was just a necessary part of life in the current state of affairs in the wizarding world. It didn't bother her much anymore. If it had to be, then so be it. But she did fear that she had just betrayed herself to him-- not only her deep abiding love and loyalty to Remus, but also her mentality as the relentless warrior she had been raised almost fron infancy to be. She tried so hard to keep a lock on her heart, to keep certain things silent. But she felt like she had just slipped unintentionally. She took a large sip of her coffee and took hold of Rob's hand, squeezing it in a silent deep apology to him for opening old wounds between the two of them. She sighed deeply. Just having Rob there was relief for her. Steadied her. Brought her back to the present and how good her life was now. Reminded her the grief that once had nearly killed her was put away--for good. Reminded her how very deep and unquenchable her love for Rob was and that everything she wanted in her life was right here with her. Rob and Abbey. That was her life now. It was all that mattered.

Then she realized that she really had taken all of this far better than she used to. She remembered not long ago when dredging all this up would have been much too painful. Would have been still completely raw for her. Now it got a slight, momentary flicker of temper and that was all. That, and pure delight at finding Remus's son alive and well and finding he had become such a strong and capable young man. Remus and Tonks would have been so very, very proud of him, and Khaat wanted him to know that. Wanted him to have a sense of his parents' love for him. She didn't know if he knew that, in their time, the love that his parents had for each other and for him was the stuff that legends were made of--the type of love that everyone else wanted and could never find. The kind of love that, actually, never died. Somewhere inside, she knew Ted had their love with him, just like Harry had carried Lily and James' love. The seer in her could feel it--could almost see it. Her seer's senses felt it so strongly it was almost palpable for her. Yes, Ted Lupin had grown to become an exceptional young man, and she liked him.

Teddy listened to Khaat tell him all the objects that they still had of his father. He had of course, seen everything that had belonged to his mother when he was younger. It had been interesting and he had been very excited at that point to see them. But now, all those little items of his father, they didn't really matter, Teddy would never see him again, so seeing them would just make him even more sad. The objects that interested him especially were his photos and his books, as well as his parents wedding rings, it would be great to see those.

But his eyes lightened up when he heard of the portraits. Teddy knew that through portraits was one way a wizard could keep connection to this world, the other being becoming a ghost, which he knew his father would not do. But the thing was, the portrait was one way he could actually speak to his father. He knew that his mother didn't have one, and he hadn't known his father had a portrait. "That would be great Khaat, I would like it as soon as possible," he said warmly, smiling at her.

The memories? He didn't know if he could see them for now. He had seen one particular memory of his father, but nothing more. It hadn't been easy to watch it really. It had filled him with an odd mixture of feelings - joy and sadness. Both at the same time.

"I know who killed my parents, I know that much," he said sharply, though he hadn't intended to say it like that. "Someone took the pleasure of avenging my fathers death from me I guess, but I heard Bellatrix had a part to play in that as well. I'll avenge their deaths one day," he said quietly, though his face had suddenly darkened to reflect the werewolf inside him. "And if Dolohov is alive, its just better for me and worse for him I guess." He knew he couldn't defeat Bellatrix for now, she was way out of his league. But he was getting better, he was an auror after all.

She smiled. She understood his desire for the portrait all too well. She had spent hours, even days, after Remus's death, with that "damned thing" as her father had come to call it. At first, Khaat had not understood her father's anger about why she had been so attached to Remus's portrait. But it was the only way she could still talk to him that she knew then. And, for a long while, she had not known how much her father had sacrificed to keep her from dying simply out of her grief from his loss. She remembered those ugly, ugly days when she had laid in her room barely alive, begging her father to let her go join Remus. When grief had seemed boundless. When just taking a breath seemed like too much work and pointless. She'd lost time at Hogwarts from being that ill, but it had been excused. The headmaster had seemed to understand. At least, as far as she knew, Teddy had been spared from that. She didn't talk about that, well, hardly ever. She knew her father had told Rob, but she didn't think the others knew, nor needed to know. And she didn't think it would help Teddy to know. At least not now. Maybe someday, if it really had a point to tell him all that.

"I do understand your interest in the portrait. More than you know," she said softly, her deep love for Remus much too transparent at the moment. More than she liked. She hoped Rob understood it was merely love for Remus and not grief anymore. That, she was done with now. But her love for him, well, Khaat just didn't quit loving people. Her love remained. Always. And sometimes it made her vulnerable, although she didn't want to admit that either. "When we get done here, maybe you'll come to the farm with me, and I'll get it for you," Khaat said "And I'll show you my copy as well. It's in my rooms. Remus had a whole suite of rooms at my parent's house. I took over the rooms a couple years after I graduated from Hogwarts, but they haven't changed much. You can still feel his presence there just as it was when they were his. I would like you to see where he lived. Where he spent most of his time until he married your mom. And I do want you to meet my parents--your aunt and uncle. My father can tell you about their childhood and years at Hogwarts. I can pretty much tell you the rest. I cannot tell you how very glad I am to see you. Can I ask? Where are you staying? Do you have a place?"

Teddy nodded as he listened to her, sipping his tea while listening. He would definately like to meet his uncle, ask him several questions about his father, and why he had not found Teddy for all this time. " Well I don't have a place to be honest. I lived with my aunt until a year after graduation and I haven't had a permanent place since I left there," he explained. "I just rent flats and stay there, sometimes I stay at the Leaky Cauldron." He shrugged.