Title Change! Previously "Take Our Time". Beta read by Courtney!

At first, Harry lay in confusion. Every day following the war, he woke the same, unable to understand why he felt comfortable and warm, surrounded by noise. Even after a few months, everything in him couldn't believe that the fight was over. Harry immediately found his wand and gave it a lazy wave. His glasses, from an unknown location on the bedside table, flew in front of his face and gently settled themselves on the bridge of his nose. Once able to bring the room into focus, he sat bolt upright, his back flush against the wall. Standing in front of him loomed Ron.

"Morning," Ron greeted. He then slowly raised both hands in surrender, a sad ghost of a smile on his lips.

Harry lowered his wand and mumbled a sorry to Ron. Though it would have been Ron's fault if he'd gotten stunned to the other side of the room.

"What is it?" Harry asked trying to shake off his racing pulse and the general irritability Ron's jump scare had caused him.

"Bad dreams, mate?" Ron lowered his arms. "You were talking in your sleep again."

"Was I?" Harry asked genuinely. He couldn't remember having dreamed at all.

"Are they getting better then?" Ron asked as he took a seat on his bed opposite Harry's.

"They're still there, but yeah, I guess. I'm not waking up sweating in terror anymore."

Harry and Ron shared a significant look. Harry knew that they were both thinking the same thing. Harry's night terrors may never be as bad as they used to be since the piece of Voldemort's soul was no longer inside him. He didn't give voice to that thought and Ron was tactful enough not to say anything either. Ron rubbed his palms on his jeans, a concern washing over him.

"What else, Ron?" Harry asked.

"We were getting worried. It's almost midday. People will start arriving soon. Mum and Ginny sent me up here to check on you."

Then Harry remembered what that day was going to be. The sounds that had woken him fell to the background, distorted and muted. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and didn't answer Ron's question.

"I'll be down soon."

Ron stood and made his way tentatively to the door. "Right, Mum wanted me to remind you that you'll be expected to say a few words."

Harry looked up at his friend blankly.

"You don't have to of course, but you know, she thought... I mean you won't be the only one speaking."

"Thanks, Ron. Has Hermione arrived yet?"

Now Ron looked troubled for an entirely different reason. "No. She was supposed to be here in time to help mum and Ginny, but no word from her yet."

"I wouldn't worry," Harry reassured his friend quickly. "Muggle travel can be very unpredictable. She and her parents probably got held up at the airport for a few hours."

"That's normal, that is?"

"Happens all the time," Harry assured him.

"Right."

"I'll be down soon," Harry repeated.

Ron nodded and left. Harry could hear him thundering all the way down the stairs.

After today, two and a half months after the Battle of Hogwarts, the last of the funerals would be concluded.

Personally, Harry had gone to as many as he could. Those who had died at Hogwarts had raised their wands protecting him. He went to their funerals as a way of saying thank you and goodbye. Thank-you to both the families and the deceased, and goodbye to the one who had laid down their lives, paying the ultimate price. Many of the families didn't bother him as they had their own grief to deal with. Harry was grateful for this. He went, paid his respects, said goodbye to those he had known as schoolmates and members of the Order, and left before his own grief could overwhelm him.

The times that parents and friends crowded him, thanking him for all he had done for the ones they had lost, for his fight, saying how honored they were to have him there, was always too much to bear. After these encounters, the darkness he had hoped would have left when the piece of Voldemort's soul within him had died, came back to claim him. It was always a few days before he could shake the need to be completely isolated. None of the Weasley's said a word against his behavior. They understood. They were all still grieving as well.

Today, would be the last burial for those who had died during the battle and it was someone Harry knew well. With this goodbye, Harry knew he would never be done saying farewell to those who had lost their lives in the battle, but it would be the last time he felt pulled to make a public appearance to do so. Setting his wand back down on the side table, he rose, showered and dressed, and then steeled himself as he descended the stairs into another long day.

The first thing Harry noticed was the food. It was everywhere. On every available surface in the kitchen, many of the tables in the living room, some of the platters were not only holding their assigned food, but other platters of food as well, some were magicked to float above others, and on top of it all, by the way Molly was still marching around the kitchen, more food was in the process of being made.

"Ah, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said loudly as she turned and spotted him at the bottom of the stairs, "Help yourself, dear, you must be starving."

Harry was very hungry. The last few days he'd had back to back funerals to attend and hadn't given much thought to eating in the time between them all. Harry moved up to the counter and grabbed a few meat pies to munch on as his eyes continued roaming over the many options available.

"Mrs. Weasley, all of this isn't going to Andromeda's is it?"

At that moment, Ginny turned from a corner of the kitchen Harry had not noticed over the mountains of food.

"I think the bird got slightly overcooked, Mum, but people should still be able to eat it fine," Ginny announced as she set the platter down on top of another. The dish immediately started to float above the one below, leaving enough room for people to comfortably grab at the grub underneath.

"Hi, Harry," Ginny addressed him, not fully managing to smile. Harry wasn't sure when the laughter would return to them all. He hated not seeing Ginny's smile.

"Hi." Harry tried to finish chewing so he could say more, but Ginny had turned her attention back to the task at hand.

"Of course not," Molly addressed him, answering the question he had asked before Ginny's announcement about the burnt bird, "only a few dishes will be going with us." She scanned over the piles of food and Harry saw her shoulders sink a little. He was sure she was only just then taking in exactly how much she had made. "This is for everyone who will be returning here."

Harry nodded. Molly frowned.

"It does seem like too much doesn't it?"

In the days that followed the war, any one of them had been in danger of bursting into tears or running from the room. They had all slowly stopped feeling the need to cry so violently, even though the sadness would still be there for a while yet. Molly had been the last to subdue her tears. Harry had seen if often enough, in moments like these, they were ready to fall without warning. Harry, seeing this was where she was headed, tried to get out in front of her. There would be enough tears from all of them later. There was no need to jump the gun.

"Of course not, Mrs. Weasley. Most of this will get eaten and people will be grateful to take some with them, I'm sure," Harry paused as Molly continued to look on over the food. "Why don't you take a break? We'll need to leave soon. You can go have a nap, freshen yourself up. You've done so much already."

As if she had been waiting for an excuse to stop, Molly deflated in front of him. She walked over to him, making sure to stay clear of the edges of the counters so nothing came tumbling off the tops, and placed a hand on his cheek.

"You're sweet. I think I will go have a lie-down."

She turned and was up the stairs before Harry could respond. He set the second pie he had been holding back onto the platter untouched. His stomach didn't feel that hungry anymore.

"Thank you, Harry." Ginny sighed as she set another platter on the overfull counter. "She's been up since dawn."

Harry pointed to all the food. "I believe you."

Ginny came up to his side and pulled him into a hug. He knew she was trying to comfort him. From anybody else he wouldn't have wanted the comfort, but he would never complain where Ginny was concerned. Harry hugged her back, relaxing into the embrace. Their grief flowed between them like a current or a wind Harry could feel. Ginny's to his. His to Ginny's and back again. Each giving and taking as the other needed, carrying the burden, if only for a moment, so the other didn't have to. They stayed like that, Harry burying his nose in Ginny's hair and inhaling slowly. He pulled away, his emotions threatening to run away from him. Two months he had lived with the knowledge that Remus was dead, Tonks at his side. Two months he grieved for the friend he had and the man he had just begun to know. Today Remus would be laid to rest beside his wife.

The mass funerals that had taken place over the last month were ending for the many who had lost their lives. This was the one Harry had been unable to face right away, for many reasons. He had spent several days mostly sleeping. He, Ron, and Hermione all had. Then he had launched himself into helping Molly with Fred's funeral. Though she and Mr. Weasley had protested at first, Harry had remained resolute in his decision to handle all the expenses for the burial. Ginny was the one who had finally convinced them to allow Harry this one small thing. Then he had attended as many funerals as he could for the Fallen Fifty from that first wave of attacks. Though he couldn't make it to all of them. St. Mungo's had been holding Remus for him. The entirety of the Order was helping with arrangements and expenses for Remus, however, it had been a unanimous and unspoken agreement that Harry was to have final say in all the final decisions.

Andromeda had wanted Tonks and Remus buried together at the same time, but Harry had not been able to hand him over so soon. Tonks had been one of the first to be buried after the war along with Fred. Though Harry agreed that Remus' final resting place should be beside his wife, on Andromeda's own land, Tonks had been laid to rest before him and had been waiting for her husband's return since.

When the time for Remus' burial had come, they all stood in Andromeda's kitchen, along with other members of the Order and various friends and acquaintances that Remus had known. Harry gazed at the gathered silently. Apart from the Order, he didn't know anybody else assembled there. Like his parents, Sirius, Fred, Dumbledore, and countless others, it had taken their deaths for Harry to realize he didn't know anyone as well as he should, as well as he had thought he did. The exceptions being Ron and Hermione. A hand squeezed his own. He looked down past his right shoulder to see Ginny staring up at him, trying to offer him comfort. Still deep in thought, he frowned at her. Even Ginny he did not know well enough. He had grown up around her since he was twelve, had fallen in love with her when he was sixteen. He knew her beauty, her power, but apart from that he didn't know much about the smaller workings that made up her.

Harry turned back to the crowd. Remus. The last of James' friends from his school days were gone. His last link to his parents and to Sirius was gone. Their paths had ended badly for all of them. In many ways, what he and his friends had gone through could be compared to his parents' time at Hogwarts and their experiences fighting in the war, but unlike them, they had found a better future.

Harry heard a cry. He turned his head to see Andromeda bobbing Teddy in her arms. He had only seen the baby once before. When they had last been at Andromeda's to say goodbye to Tonks. Harry remembered what Remus had told him in the forest, right before Harry had offered himself to Voldemort. Teddy would grow up loved with all the true knowledge of who his parents were and why they died.

People were milling around telling stories. Harry stood on the outside of different conversations, listening in but never participating. The few memories he had of Remus he wanted to keep for himself. A part of him felt that if he were to share what he knew, then the memory would start to fade, and he didn't want to lose the little bit of information he had.

He wanted to hold Teddy and to have a conversation with Andromeda about Teddy's future, about what Remus wanted the boy to know, but there would be time later for the details. Now they were all moving out to the expansive yard, squished together around Tonks' grave and the newly laid to rest Remus' in preparation. An officiator had been brought out to honor Remus, and the friends he'd had, but other than that, the ceremony had been kept small.

Only a few people spoke. Harry among them. Remus' past ran deep with his own. The time they had known each other was just as rich as their entwining past. Remus was his professor, his friend, and his family. He would carry on the ideals and the values Remus had taught him directly and indirectly by being the kind, just man Harry had known him to be. Just as Remus had been a part of his life, he would be a part of Teddy's, helping to keep the baby's father alive for the child as he knew Remus had wanted. Harry had to pause several times to collect the right words for his feelings and the truths he knew needed to be spoken.

When he was done, he moved to the back of the crowd, not wanting the company of anyone in that moment. He thought he had been ready to send Remus off. Harry had thought he would be able to grieve and move on the way he had been able to do with Sirius. Maybe it was the fact that this time there was an actual body to bury or that Remus was in fact the last link to his past. Whatever it was, Harry found he could not bear it and he didn't want witnesses to his grief anymore. When he found his way to the back of the crowd and the last looks had been given to him, he threw his invisibility cloak over himself, something he had not stopped carrying with him after the end of the war. He did not run from the crowd.

Harry did not leave Andromeda's. Instead, he made his way back to the front and stood beside Remus' headstone, watching all the others. Ron looked around for him but soon gave up and returned with the others to the house. Ginny gave up less easily. She walked through the crowd once. Twice. Three times before conceding that he was not among the others. Then finally, he was alone. He sat on the ground leaning against the headstone, closed his eyes, and ruminated on his and Remus' time together and on the last words Remus had ever spoken to him.

Soon the noise level from the house grew more and more quiet. Harry got to his feet and made his way toward the back door. Pulling off the cloak and carefully stowing the garment back into his pocket, Harry reentered the house. The only remaining guests were the Weasley clan. They all turned as one as Harry entered the house. He nodded at them but didn't say anything.

"We were just about to head out, Harry, dear." Mrs. Weasley stated.

Harry looked from all of them to Teddy and Andromeda. He knew once he left Andromeda's house that day, the rest of his life would demand attention and he had no reason to put it off any longer. There were still threats out there that needed to be eliminated. There were tons of protocols and unanswered questions that needed putting right. In this post Voldemort world, it was better for him to start learning where his place was in the new era. His bigger purpose had been fulfilled, but he could still be of use. Starting, with the baby in that very room.

"You all go on ahead." His tone had taken on the authority he had found when putting his decisions at Shell Cottage into action. "I'll catch up with you in a bit."

The last few weeks he, Ron, and Hermione had finally begun to unstick themselves from each other, daring to let the others out of their sight for increasing amounts of time. Those first few months, they could not stand to be even a room apart from each other. Where one went, the other two followed, even if it meant waiting around or going on unnecessary errands. Hermione had eventually felt comfortable enough to enlist Kingsley's help in her parents' return. The healing of their memories and the return trip would be traumatic and stressful enough for the muggles without Harry and Ron tagging along. Though Ron had tried longer than Harry to convince Hermione to allow him to go with her.

The assembled all nodded. Only Ron, and Ginny hesitated. Eventually, Ron nodded too. Harry had spoken to him offhandedly about Teddy. Ron understood his reasons for wanting to speak with Andromeda. Ginny looked positively defiant.

"I think someone should stay with you, Harry."

She wasn't asking, but neither was Harry. "I'll be alright Ginny. You go on ahead with the rest." He nodded to them all and one by one they disapparated, Ginny holding on to her mother's arm. Despite being nearly seventeen, she had not been able to study the art of apparition in her sixth year due to the low leadership quality at Hogwarts.

Harry held out his arms, offering to take Teddy from Andromeda. "Have a seat, you've been standing since we got here."

She handed Teddy over, made tea for the both of them, and then sat down in a comfy chair. Harry sat opposite her, balancing Teddy in his arms. Soon he would be able to sit up on his own and be a bit more active in his play time. Harry stared down at the baby for a few minutes, switching from thinking he looked more like Remus one minute and then changing his mind and favoring Tonks.

"Harry, I know Remus and Tonks named you godfather," Andromeda began. Harry looked up at her and nodded to show he was paying attention before looking back down at Teddy. "Remus also warned me that you might want to... take care of him." She said the last shakily.

"Of course, I will help take care of him, Andromeda. Anything you need."

Andromeda wrung her hands in her lap and watched as Harry cocooned his godson. "So, you wouldn't want to keep him round the clock?"

Her meaning took a moment to sink in. Harry looked back up at her seriously.

"Remus," Harry began, but he was cut off.

Andromeda scooted to the edge of her seat. The worry plain on her face. "You are of age and as godfather you have every claim to him. In many cases like this, you would be a court's preferred guardian. I would understand if you were to claim him, but I am capable. Nymphadora was my only child..."

"Andromeda," Harry said firmly. He scooted forward, taking great care not to jostle Teddy too much. "Remus wanted me as godfather, knowing I would give Teddy every attention and opportunities I had and hoped for from my own godfather. I'm only seventeen. I am in a position to help you financially, but I know nothing about raising a baby full time. I only ask that you allow me all the time with him I am able."

Andromeda smiled tearfully. Harry stood and gave Teddy back to her after nuzzling the baby's head for a moment.

"Of course, Harry. You'll always be welcome here, anytime."

"Thank you. If you don't mind, I'll be going now."

With his heart both heavy and full, Harry disapparated back to the Burrow already mentally planning his next visit with Teddy. Once home, Harry arrived to find the food all claimed by members of the Order who had stopped by to raise a glass to their fallen brother. The rest had been put away. Ginny and Ron sat in the living room each lost to their own thoughts. Ginny was stroking Crookshanks, staring at the wall, though Harry knew she wasn't studying the decor. Ron was rereading an old letter from Hermione.

Harry checked the time and realized just how late Hermione was. His gaze moved from the clock back to Ron who was watching him. They understood each other perfectly. Ron jumped to his feet and handed Harry the letter he had been reading. Harry had read it before. It was the last letter Hermione had sent them, the one stating her date and time of arrival. Something was wrong. Hermione was never late.