History and Truth

Family History

"...that I am a werewolf. Just in case I am not around to tell you these things later, I will start at the beginning. That way you will not only know about me but some of your family history as well. Your Mom knows some of what I will write about but she never knew my parents much less my grandparents. They had all died by the time I started my 3rd year at Hogwarts."

Teddy had to stop to process that. "So my Dad was orphaned when he was a little older than I am now..." Teddy mumbled. "No wonder he worried about what would happen, He was orphaned. Harry was orphaned. And I ended up orphaned."

"I will tell you everything but in the order that I learned it. My hope is that by seeing it from my point of view will help you to have a better idea of who your father really is...your father. I like the sound of that, I'm going to be a father."

Teddy had to smile as he imagined his Dad sitting at a table somewhere writing this.

"I guess the very beginning is the fact that I was bitten by Greyback, a notorious werewolf when I was 4. I honestly don't remember much from before I was bitten. I woke up in the hospital and I remember hearing my parents arguing with healers. I eventually understood that they wanted my parents to either have me put down or send me off to a werewolf colony. My parents refused to do either of those. The next time I woke up a guy from the Regulation Office was in my room and branded me to complete my registration as a werewolf. I could give more details here but the thought of my child reading those details breaks my heart.

Suffice it to say my first transformation was horrible. I had no idea what was going on and I was a scared little boy. My parents had moved us to a different area and into a house with a basement. Friends of my dads who were Aurors helped to set the basement up to keep me in during my transformation. One set of my grandparents were muggle doctors and my mom was a healer so I had excellent care after but there was nothing to be done in those days to make the wolf less violent. Since I was locked up away from people to bite I would bite and claw at myself. By the time I went to school my body was covered in scars.

My other grandparents, my grandpa was an American muggle who decided to study in London. He eventually became a literature professor at a secondary school where he met my grandmother who was teaching voice and chorus at the same school. Although she was a witch, her love for music won out when planning her career. I include all of this to explain that due to my condition, my parents and grandparents put special emphasis on my education. I was taught both muggle and magic ways. I have dual citizenship in England and the US. Therefore you do as well. We made many trips to the US over the years which will come in to play much later in this story. For now I'll stop with this. Even though I had horrible transformations once a month I was a happy kid. I didn't know there was any other way to be than how I was raised."

Teddy looked up at the other two in amazement. "I'm a citizen of the US as well as the UK?"

"You're grandmother never told you?"

"In all honesty, I doubt she knows. She hates my Dad and has kept me from knowing very much about him at all."

"Why does she hate your Dad, Teddy?" Hannah asked.

"She blames my Dad for my Mom's death."

"But from what you just read your Dad didn't want her to fight."

"From what I can gather, if I'm honest, I think she hated him before that. I think she hated him for being a werewolf and for marrying my mom."

The other two didn't know what to say to that. Teddy looked out the window and noticed it was getting dark. He and the others dug in their trunks and pulled out their robes to change into. While he was digging Teddy pulled out the few pictures he had of his dad. Harry had given him these pictures. One of them was of his dad and Sirius Black. One was of the three of them together when he was a baby. It must have been taken weeks before they died. His mom had bubblegum pink hair in the picture. They looked happy.

One older picture was from when his dad had been a student at Hogwarts himself. He was with three other boys and a girl. They were probably in their 6th year from the look of it. The names on the back were 'James, Sirius, Peter, Lily and me'. This picture had actually been his Dad's. As he thought about what he had read and looked at the picture he realized James and Lily were Harry's parents before they were together and Peter was the guy that betrayed them all in a few short years.

"Teddy, man that mood ring of yours is all kinds of confused," he heard Seth say. He looked at his reflection and found his hair was a combination of colors all mixed in together. He handed Seth the picture of the 5 teens.

"That's them, Seth. The people we just read about. Harry's parents. Sirius and my Dad. And the guy that betrayed all of them."

"No wonder your hair is all mixed up. It's obvious which one is James," Seth said with a laugh in an effort to distract Teddy. "Actually, there's no doubt in my mind which one is your dad either, even if he is the one standing next to Harry's mom. You look like your Dad."

A short time later Hannah returned to their compartment. With all three of them changed, Seth asked if they could read more of the book. Teddy sat down and picked the book up and began to read...

"It has been a few days since I wrote in here. I have been writing this to give you when you are older in the hope that you will survive long enough for it to be needed. Right now I need to be honest and real with you. I have done something that is very stupid. Everyone that knows is very angry with me. I need you to know my heart is in the right place. I sincerely wish things could be different. I have never despised what I am more than I do right now..."

Teddy stopped reading. He looked up at the others who seemed as nervous as he felt. They felt the train start to slow down and knew they must almost be there. Reading would have to wait.