Second chances

"Teddy who?" James questioned, not lowering his wand. Teddy hesitated. On one hand, he needed these boys to trust him if he was going to continue with his plan but on the other hand, revealing his last name now did not seem like a good idea. He could use a fake name but the only one that was coming to mind was Potter and that was still not a good idea. Then he had another idea.

"Black. Teddy Black. Hello cousin" Teddy waved to Sirius. The look he got in return told him his plan did not work.

"I don't remember there being a constellation called Teddy" Remus stated the obvious. Teddy cursed himself in his head; he forgot the Black family was notorious for giving their children names of constellations.

"That's because there isn't. Unless a new constellation has been named that I was not aware of" Sirius glanced at Remus before going back to watching Teddy.

"Okay fine! I'm from the future and I can't tell you my name because you know, I'm from the future. Happy now?" Teddy admitted. Remus looked at his friends and shrugged, lowering his wand and putting it back in his pocket. Sirius quickly fastened his by using it to hold his long hair in a bun. James tucked his in his belt loop and Peter slipped his wand up his sleeve. Teddy glared at him, remembering what he had been told by Harry and by the books at school. He did not like this man.

"Why is he glaring at me?" Peter wondered. Teddy didn't look away from the rat.

"Because he's from the future, he knows stuff" Sirius shrugged.

"Maybe he has a beef with you because of his family" James suggested, sitting back down. Remus guided Teddy to the armchair in the corner, insisting that he sit.

"Yeah, something like that. I know stuff and if I am correct, you have all graduated already, so you know exactly what you did" Teddy agreed, slowly sitting down. Peter turned pale and nervously cast a look at his friends. He didn't know how much the kid in front of him knew but he didn't like the way Teddy said that.

"Anyways! What year is it?" Teddy wondered.

"1977. What year are you from?" Sirius answered excitedly. He had never met someone from the future.

"I'd rather not say. It's very, very far in the future I am afraid. About thirty years or so" Teddy admitted.

"How did you manage to time travel thirty years in the past?" James was curious. Like Sirius, and Remus and Peter also as well as just about any student at Hogwarts, former and current, he had never seen a time traveler. He knew it was possible, thanks to Lily insisting that he study things that were not required in classes, but the idea of it was still absurd to him. Teddy fished something out of his pocket and held it up.

"It's a time turner. My godfather has one in the drawer of his study. His friend, the Minister is my aunt and she insisted her friends all have one. Of course that's not really a good idea when you have multiple kids under the age of thirteen in one house but, I'm sure he'll know that now" Teddy's smile seemed to fade as the reality of what he had done set in.

"Oh merlin, he's going to kill me when I go back" Teddy realized. James, Remus, Peter and Sirius ignored that lost comment.

"Who's your godfather? Why don't you live with your parents?" Peter questioned. Teddy had vowed to ignore any question the blonde asked him but this was not one he could do so, especially since the other three were clearly expecting an answer.

"They died in the second wizarding war. My godfather's dad was the best friend of my dad so it only made sense. My parents had a deep connection with my godfather and I know there was no one else they trusted to raise me. I was only a week old so I don't remember them much" Teddy pulled his knees up to his chest, curling in on himself.

"There's a reason you came back to this specific year, yes?" Sirius guessed. Teddy broke out of his shell but he didn't change the way he was sitting.

"Yes and no. I came to change something that will alter events of time and perhaps save my godfather's parents, their friends and hopefully my parents too. I just need to change one thing but I don't think it will be easy and I messed up the time. I was supposed to go back one more year. I would ask you for help but you all might not want to, for personal reasons" Teddy moved to stand up. James figured something out then but he didn't say it. He wanted to make sure he was right before raising accusations.

"You can't alter time. If there is one thing I know about time travel, it is that for everything changed in the past, something takes its place. The most common reason for time travel is bringing back dead ones but in return for every person you bring back, someone just as close to you will take their place" Remus warned. Teddy stared at him, wide eyed. He had not known that. He realized he should have done more research before setting out on a crazy journey but it was too late for that.

"That's not why I'm here" Teddy lied. James looked at the time, right as Teddy yawned widely. The somber atmosphere lightened a little bit.

"I can set him up in the nursery. Lily should be back soon from her girls' night and I'll explain that we'll have a visitor for tonight" James stood up. Remus knew that meant it was time to leave and held his hand out for Sirius, who gladly accepted. Teddy watched the interaction with interest. Perhaps there was more going on than he had realized. Peter was the first one out the door.

"Perhaps he should come with us. I don't think Lily would like having someone in her baby's nursery and Sirius and I have plenty of room" Remus offered. Teddy wanted to spend time with his dad and figure out more about what Remus had been like but the look on James' face told him he didn't have much of a choice on the matter.

"It'll be alright. I want to talk to the kid, besides he's tired and too young to be used to apparating" James pointed out. Remus nodded; knowing his friend was right and took his leave with Sirius. They disappeared in the dark with a flash of light. Teddy looked at James, waiting to know where he was staying.

"My girlfriend won't be home for a while and I have a few questions" James motioned for Teddy to follow him upstairs. The kid did so hesitantly. He knew this was Harry's dad but he didn't know much else about James and wasn't sure if the man could be trusted. James pulled out a photo album with moving pictures. Teddy recognized some of the pictures form portraits in Hogwarts but a lot of them were strangers to see him. One of them caught his eye and he pointed at it, making James stop. A sad smile spread over the man's face.

"Regulus. That was Sirius' brother. He was a year younger than us and quite the handful. I only knew him for a few years but those were some interesting years" James explained without being asked. Teddy could tell there was so much more to the Marauders than maybe even Harry knew. The look in James' eyes told him everything.

"What happened to him?" Teddy was almost scared to ask.

"He died" James said bluntly. Teddy wasn't surprised, he had traveled to the wrong year and he had known that. He was too late. James seemed to remember the main reason he wanted to talk to Teddy and he flipped through the album until he came to a picture of four boys, smiling and laughing with their arms around each other.

"Do you know who these four are?" James pointed to them. Teddy looked at the picture. One of them looked like him and another looked like a young Harry.

"That's me and that's Harry when he was younger" Teddy answered without thinking. James nodded, he had his answer. He closed the book slowly. Teddy screwed his eyes shut, realizing what he had said.

"Shit" Teddy sighed and looked at James. The man was staring at him, confusion in his eyes.

"Who are you? The truth this time" James demanded. Teddy realized there was no lie he could tell this time.

"Fine, my name is Teddy. That much was true and I am a descendant of the Black family on my mom's side. My mother is Nymphadora Tonks and my father is Remus Lupin" Teddy confessed. James had figured as much. The resemblance between his friend and the boy in front of him was unmistakable.

"And?" James waited. There was more and he knew it.

"My godfather is Harry Potter" Teddy knew what James was waiting for. James nodded again.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place?" James wondered. Teddy sat back down again.

"I wanted you guys to trust me but I didn't know how well any of you would react if I told you who I really was. I mean, I didn't think dad would be all joyful and accepting if I told him his son from the future had traveled back thirty years" Teddy pointed out.

"Yeah, Remus probably wouldn't have liked that. But seriously, why are you here? There must be some reason and I'm guessing it has something to do with us. And why you glared at Peter every time you looked at him" James reminded Teddy. The boy sighed and gave up.

"I can't tell you that but I am going to fix everything that happened. Too many lives were lost because of one man and I am going to fix that" Teddy promised. James gave him a look of understanding.

"You can't fix someone else's mistakes and you shouldn't try. Like Remus said, bringing back someone from the dead will only be replaced by the lives of someone else close to you. Whoever it is your trying to save, someone from the future that you are close to will pay the price for it. Ask yourself if it's really worth that" James made Teddy think. A door opened downstairs and James slipped the album back on the bookshelf.

"I want you to meet my girlfriend and then I think it's time we call it a night. I know you must be tired from an exciting day" James insisted. Teddy nodded and followed him blindly.

"Lily, we'll have a guest for tonight. He's from the future, how exciting is that?!" James attached himself to the woman the moment he saw her. Teddy could see Harry in her, it was the eyes and the way she held herself. Everything else came from James.

"Hello" Lily held a hand out to Teddy. He shook her hand, lingering for a moment before putting both hands behind him. Lily smiled brightly as she turned to James.

"How long will you be staying?" She questioned after a moment. Teddy didn't know how to answer that but luckily he didn't have to.

"He has some business to attend to and things to do but until it is time for him to go back to the future, I think he will stay here. I was thinking we could set up a bed in the nursery for the time being since it's unused" James suggested. Lily gave Teddy a strange look, obviously wondering why he didn't answer but she didn't question it. Teddy appreciated that much. He didn't feel like trying to explain that he was Remus' future son and he was here to save Regulus, Lily and James from death.

"Of course he can stay. We can transfigure the crib into a regular bed" Lily nodded and left, with James trailing after her. Teddy followed at a distance, wondering where the nursery was. Lily stopped to point him to a room and transfigured some pajamas for him, letting him into the room. She changed the bed and then left. Teddy sat on the bed, taking a deep breath to process everything that had happened.

1. He almost got grounded
2.He snuck into Harry's office, stole a time turner, the marauders map and a picture from his godfather
3.He time traveled thirty two years in the past, two years less than he had intended
4.And now he was staying in the house of his godfather's parents! And they didn't even know the fate that awaited them if he didn't stop it

This was the worst and best, most exciting thing Teddy had ever done and it was overwhelming him. If Harry could talk to him right now, Teddy figured there would either be no words or just yelling. If Harry or Ginny ever found out what he was doing, Teddy would never, ever be leaving his room again. He would be in so much trouble but it was worth it. At least he hoped so.