It was a few days after the battle had ended. Everyone was rebuilding their lives, losses hung heavy on the shoulders of the bereaved.
Harry was standing at the door of Andromeda Tonks' house.
Shivers ran down his spine as he remembered months before hand, being hurried inside the same house after narrowly escaping Voldemort in the skies, aboard Sirius' motorbike with Hagrid. Ted and Remus and Nymphadora had been alive then. He felt a surge of guilt, but shook it off as the door opened.
Andromeda welcomed him in and led him into the living room, and before his eyes even adjusted to the light, he spotted the tiny blue haired baby, sprawled on a shawl on the ground, grabbing at his toes and waving his chubby arms in the air. Teddy gurgled as Harry kneeled down and watched his godson.
"Pick him up!"
"I can't. I mean, I don't know how,"
"It's easy…"
Andromeda slipped her hands around her grandson and scooped him into her arms, resting his head in the crook of her elbow and rocking him gently.
She passed him over to Harry and he gingerly took the tiny form in his arms.
He slipped a hand under his head to support him as if it was instinctive.
The baby cooed and Harry leaned in and embraced his godson.
He realized his hands were shaking and before he knew it hot tears were streaking down his face. He couldn't help it.
He sobbed softly but the baby just looked quizzically at him.
"I'll keep you safe, Teddy," He whispered.
Hope surged within Harry as he rocked him rhythmically.
Before he knew it, Teddy was asleep and his godfather sighed, making to place him back in Andromeda's arms to be carried upstairs.
"No." She said, and smiled warmly. "You can do it."
He carried the baby and quietly laid him in his cot, before noticing a picture hanging above it. Remus and Tonks wedding photo.
He wiped away tears in frustration at his own emotions.
"Your Mum and Dad are watching us right now Ted." He said quietly, putting a blanket around his little godson.
That was the first night Harry put Teddy to bed. It certainly wasn't the last.