A/N: I am terrible about forgetting these before I upload chapters. I do not own anything in the HP universe, so don't sue me. Seriously, I barely have enough to pay rent, so go sue someone else.

Thank you to those who reviewed! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Right, a walk. A walk with his dead parents in the Forbidden Forest. There was nothing odd about that, nothing out of place or threatening in any sense. No, this couldn't possibly be dark magic and the twelve-year-old should follow it without question. Despite acknowledging the danger in the situation, trying to quell the uneasiness settling in his stomach, Teddy grabbed the ring lying at his feet and held it tightly in his fist. Regardless of whether this was evil at work, he had his parents, if only for a moment.

He didn't care what the man said; if this were real in any sense, he wanted them to stay with him forever. He didn't want to acknowledge they were gone or understand that they no longer belonged to this world. They belonged with him; according to Teddy, that was all that should matter.

He nodded toward his parents and began the slow trek through the forest, feeling oddly protected from the creatures that called its darkness home. As a wolf howled in the distance, Remus looked up and noted the state of the moon, giving a little chuckle. "I haven't been out like this in a full moon in years…Since before I was your age," he told Teddy with a smile.

"You're not going to change, are you?" the boy asked, his father showing him a look of confusion for a brief moment.

"No," he finally answered. "No, as I said I am not truly back and, therefore, not truly bound by the former physical conditions that affected me when I was alive."

"Then, that's better isn't it? You don't have to change now and you're here. And you, Mum. Gran would want to see you. It's better this way, right? We can be a family again." Though Remus did not feel whole, did not feel human, his heart ached terribly as his son pleaded with them to stay. Life, however, was not that simple. If possible, death was even less so.

Kneeling on the soft earth beneath him, Remus held his son gently at the shoulders, giving them each a little squeeze in hopes that his words may make more sense at the touch. "Son," he started, the word feeling both foreign and familiar as it left his lips. "I wish I could stay with you. We both do, but we don't belong here. Life, once it's gone, cannot be replaced, no matter how close you come. This isn't our home anymore. Teddy, you must understand this…"

His father's words burned in his ears. Did he not want to be with him? Was that why he had left him at his grandmothers? What about his mother? Had she left him too out of a desire to die with her husband rather than live with her son? He felt the anger boiling inside of him, his preteen hormones overriding any sense of rationality as he aimed a shove toward the pair of them. His palms dug into their sides and attempted to either drive them away or simply push them down, his ears ringing as the injustice of the situation clouded any shroud of level-headedness.

"I don't have to do anything!" he yelled, his jaw set as his nostrils began to flair. "Just like you didn't have to leave but you did it anyway! You didn't have to fight but you just felt like it, and now you're both dead! Why didn't either of you want to stay with me?! Why did you leave me with Gran and never come back?! Why did you have to fight when the war didn't have anything to do with you?! You just had me, and you couldn't stay?!"

He was rambling; he felt it as his tone began to rip at his throat and his stomach turned. However, part of him didn't care as years of pent-up frustration drove their way to the surface, exploding out of the boy like a series of Weasley fireworks. He could see the hurt in his parents' faces but he found he cared little for that at the moment- they were the ones that left, not him. Of course, he had been an infant and only knew vague highlights of the final Battle at Hogwarts that claimed his parents' lives, but he figured he knew enough. They were gone, he was still there, and that was all that mattered.

"Teddy, darling," came his mother as she slowly crept forward, as if unsure whether or not he would bite should she advance too quickly. "We never wanted to leave you. This was never our intention. We loved you, always have and always will. Please believe me when I say that to you."

The boy watched as her hair turned a sad grayish blue, his own eyes transforming into a cloudy gray at the sight. In spite of the swelling anger, the hurt written on her face panged at his heart terribly, forcing his heart to slow and the fire in his chest to weaken.

A moment of silence passed that stretched into what felt like hours, the sound of crickets nearby and centaurs at a distance made Teddy distinctly aware of the tension in the air and the reality of the situation. At long lass, he brought his sad eyes back up to look at his parents, and the lack of anger or even disappointment made him feel worse. They simply looked upset, sad. He had caused that. He had caused his dead parents grief, and he felt sick at the thought.

"How much do you know of what happened that night?" Remus asked, Teddy chancing a glance back up at him before giving him a shrug.

"A little. Harry told me some over the years but said I was too young to know the details. Just said you two fought bad guys, really, and died heroes' deaths or something. I know he's telling the truth, but-"

"But you wonder why we chose to fight than to stay behind?" Tonks asked, a gentle thumb brushing against her son's cheek as he gave a slight nod.

"It was not a decision we took lightly," the werewolf voiced as he gestured with his head for them to continue moving. Teddy once more felt the cool air breeze past him, cooling his nerves as his father continued. "We were aware of the dangers if we fought, but that was always true, even before your birth. We joined the Order of the Phoenix knowing what could happen to us, and we took that risk understanding that we were doing what we had to do to make a better world for your generation and generations after. When you came, that desire, that need to make the world safe increased tenfold as we thought of what might happen to you if we didn't do our part. We knew, no matter what happened, that you would be taken care of. What we did not know was who would die in our place if we chose not to fight."

Teddy hung his head as his father continued, trying to will away the tears as confusion, sadness, and the still-shell of anger swirled in the pit of his stomach. It still wasn't fair, he still didn't understand, but it wasn't his parents fault. Well, not completely. He just wished he had known them, knew what traits he shared with them and the kind of people they were. What were their favorite foods? What music did they listen to? These thoughts caused him to swallow rather bitterly, unsure of how to voice his feelings.

"I want to show you something," Remus said suddenly, Teddy momentarily forgetting the throbbing illness inside, watching as his mother nodded encouragingly. "We think you might need this. Oh, and don't worry- Hagrid will understand."

What his father meant by either, he was unsure of. All Teddy knew was they were heading further and further out of the Forbidden Forest, though not quite toward the castle. The Whomping willow grew larger and more menacing as they moved toward it. Teddy once more wondered if some dark art was at work and if he was being abducted, never to be heard from again because of that sinister cracked stone and its illusions.