Epilogue.

Disclaimer : Nothing belongs to me. Some spoilers for The Deathly Hallows.

Once a year, since before he can remember, Teddy Lupin makes the same journey. When he was little he rode upon the shoulders of "uncle" Harry or Ron, when he was older traversed the low hill with his hand in his grandmother's, but always the offering he carried was the same.

A handful of daisies picked from the verge at the bottom of the cemetery. Slightly battered flowers that seemed a little paltry next to the wreaths of everlasting roses and lilies that had been left as tributes for those who had fallen in the last battle against Voldemort, but an offering nonetheless. A private joke that was the only one that he had an opportunity to share with his parents.

He can't remember them, although when he was younger he tried to dredge up any memory true or false that could provide a clue as to what they had been like. In photographs his mum is always smiling, giggling, eyes bright as she poses for the camera. She would have hugged him a lot, Teddy thinks. She would have been the coolest mum standing on platform nine and three quarters with her bright hair and rock band t-shirts. Plus she had been an auror, and aurors were the best - everyone knew that, especially since Harry Potter joined them.

And then there is his dad. At first he had looked at the photos of him and his mum together and was confused. They looked so different - different ages, different ways of dressing ; his dad looked tired even when he was smiling, while his mum never looked anything but thrilled to be alive. It took long hours of studying their photos when he was lonely or unhappy to work it out. They were like the jigsaw pieces that Grandma Andromeda had in her attic. Grandad Ted, his namesake, had liked them and he had played with the funny nonmagical games a couple of times. Sometimes bits that looked completely different fitted together and once they were then you couldn't imagine how you could have missed seeing it before. Fleur and Bill shouldn't be together either - she's gorgeous and he looks like he lost a fight with a muggle lawnmower, but they fit together too, and now they are Bill-and-Fleur, just as his parents must once have been Remus-and-Tonks.

"Aunt" Hermione says that he has his dad's eyes - when he's not playing around that is. Being a metamorphagus certainly has its benefits, especially now he is older. The whole "you're not my type" line certainly doesn't cause him any worries when chatting up the opposite sex, much to James and Albus' amusement. But wait until they're older, he thinks sometimes. They'll be begging him for tips then. Being yourself is all well and good, but it's much more fun to be anything you choose to be, although Teddy is careful not to take it too far: he knows who he is and despite trying out a rainbow of hair colours he generally sticks to what nature gave him. Brown hair, brown eyes and a nose that is still wonky from being hit by a rogue bludger when he was ten years old.

Despite unspoken worries that he had nonetheless picked up upon, none of his father's werewolf traits had made themselves known. Teddy isn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. Werewolf legislation has come a long way since the bigoted views of his father's time, but while he admires the rather heroic Bill Weasley, he's not sure that he wants the once a month mood swings that come with it, and since Bill isn't even a full werewolf it's probably best that he himself has never demonstrated any lupine characteristics. Nonetheless it would have been a link to his father, despite the fact that Remus Lupin was not at all comfortable with his condition from what others have told him.

Trying not to bruise the flowers, Teddy carefully split in half the handful of daisies that he carried up to his parents' graves. There were daisies in the vase next to his mothers bed in the photos that showed him as a newborn baby, his dad's face almost as pink with pride as his mother's hair. There was a daisy chain sliding over his mum's right eye as she giggled and stuck her tongue out in the picture on his wall, and so, Teddy has decided, daisies would be his token. His signature so that his parents knew that he had been thinking of them and could look down and know that he had said hello. With a whispered "goodbye", he turned and walked down the cemetery path, the breeze lifting his indigo hair, his hands jammed in his jacket pockets. At the bottom of the hill Andromeda waited patiently, and giving her a smile he took her hand as they prepared to apparate side by side. He might be orphaned but he was not alone, and while his parents might lie side by side in the cemetery, a part of them lived on, and he would do his best to honour them.

A/N I wrote "Daisies" ages ago - infact Remus and Tonks was the first fanfic pairing that I ever wrote, so this is my goodbye to that pairing. I wish it could have been a "happy ever after," but I'm not going to go against canon. Feedback is appreciated :)