"Life goes on, it always will." – Me

A/N: I'm sure that I'm not the only who's curious as to what happened in the nineteen years between the last chapter of the Deathly Hallows and the Epilogue. You have no idea how much I want to read that story, but I figured that the only one able to write the exact story that I want to read is me. So here it is! Those lost nineteen year!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

Harrowing the Dragon

Chapter One

Boy Who Lived With a Baby

Voldemort was dead. He had been dead for nearly two months. But it seemed as though no one had really relaxed. Security measures were still around every house. Witches and wizards all over the world still felt the need to look out for their Muggle neighbors and friends. It was as though no one wanted to get their hopes like they had last time.

It was better, in most people's minds, to expect the worst and eventually be pleasantly surprised.

Harry Potter was not one of those people. You would imagine that The Boy Who Lived, the person who vanquished the Dark Lord, the hero of the entire wizarding world would have been all over the media. That he would he have joined a Quidditch team or had started Auror training. But Harry Potter himself, disagreed.

You may be wondering why Harry declined Kingsley's generous offer to go straight into Auror training, without any testing before hand. And why he refused Hermione's offer to stay with her, her mother and her father, who had just gotten back from Australia. Or better yet why Harry even said no to the Weasley's when they asked him to move in with them at the Burrow until things settled down.

The reason for all of this was also the reason that Harry could not sleep. He had often daydreamed of a time when his mind would be fully his own. And he would not have to worry about nightmares of murders or torturing. He had always thought that he would be able to sleep well once Voldemort had died. But little Teddy Lupin seemed to disagree.

Harry insisted on raising Teddy. Tonks and Remus wanted it that way. They would not have made him godfather if they did not. And with them gone, Harry thought it only fitting that he take over the roll of father for the little guy.

Now, we all know the throngs of crap that Harry had managed to survive up to that point. He fought off a deranged professor, killed a massive snake monster, freed a felon while out running a werewolf, fought the Dark Lord in graveyard, fought the Dark Lord in his own mind, witnessed the death of his mentor, and finally brought an end to the Dark Lord that started it all. But never, not ever, did Harry think he could be bested by a baby.

He spent the week after Voldemort's death at Hogwarts. He was not sure he was ready to move on. But when Andromeda visited the school with his godson in her arms Harry felt a wealth of responsibility fall down on him. Andromeda assured him over and over again that she was more than capable and more than willing to raise the child herself, but Harry would not hear it.

So, he bought a massive flat, out fitted it with everything he thought he and the baby might need and moved in. It went well for the first few hours. Harry and Teddy played. And soon to Harry's horror he started getting bored with the child. When Harry realized this was happening, he panicked.

He scoped up the baby and Disapparated in hopes of finding the best mother he knew. Molly Weasley did her best to soothe Harry's worries. She gave him a great many pointers on how to be a better father for the baby and again asked him to move in with the child.

But Harry refused. He insisted that parenting was something he had to learn on his own. But he could not get over his fears of screwing up his father's best friend's kid. And he sure as hell was not going to let anyone else be at fault if Teddy turned out wrong.

As can be assumed Hermione told Harry he was being stupid. In her good opinion Harry ought to have let Andromeda raise Teddy. She asserted that, "Andromeda's already lost her husband and her daughter, Harry. It's almost as though you're taking her grandson away from her, as well!"

But Harry was not having any of that. Besides, the only people to spend more time at Harry's flat than Andromeda were Ron, Hermione. There was no way that Harry would cut Andromeda out of her grandson's life. He knew what it felt like to have no family that really cared about you, and he did not want that for his godson. He made sure that Andromeda knew that.

He even had a room in his flat set up for her. Just in case she wanted to stay over.

But at the moment, that was not the problem. The problem was that little Teddy would not stop crying. Harry tried to feed him. But that was not it. Harry tried to change his nappy, but it was clean. Harry tried everything, but the baby could not be consoled.

Harry had spent the whole day at Andromeda's and could not bare the thought of go to her now, in the middle of the bloody night. And every time he went to the Weasley's they always pressured him into staying for a few days. At one point it got so bad that he had to sneak out.

But it was getting bad and Harry could tell that Teddy was getting upset. Whenever that baby's hair changed color more than three times in less than fifteen minutes Harry knew that he was in for a long night. He could not help thinking that when Teddy cried like this what he really wanted were his parents and that was the one thing that Harry could not give him.

The small boy's hair flashed neon green then faded to a deep blue and Harry had had enough. He pulled the sobbing child into his arms and Disapparated. He landed gracefully in front of the Burrow and made his way up to the door. He argued with himself all the way there.

But if Harry had learned anything his two months as a father, it was that asking for help was the least of his worries. There was nothing more humbling then wiping another human being's bottom clean.

When Harry got to the door it opened for him. "Come on in, mate," Ron said, yawning.

"How did you know we were here?" Harry whispered.

"Andromeda Flooed, said you might be having trouble with the little guy tonight, so mum made me sleep on the couch, just in case," Ron said.

"He just won't stop crying," Harry said, frustrated.

"I know, mate. I'll go get mum." Ron left Harry in the living room to go get his mother. Harry collapsed onto the coach and snuggled the still sobbing Teddy into his chest.

Molly bustled out of her room in her nightgown. "Oh Harry!" She picked Teddy out of Harry's arms. "I wish you would just stay here! It would be so much easier."

Harry ignored this. He was becoming exceedingly good at not acknowledging Hermione and Mrs. Weasley's berating of his life style. Instead of responding, he just stroked his godson's maroon hair and worried, silently, about what could possibly be best for the boy.

"He's just getting fussy, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said. She held up under his armpits and cooed at him. Ron looked a bit disgusted. "Needs a bit of consoling if I do say so myself. Why don't you get some rest on the couch here and I'll take care of this."

"No, Mrs. Weasley!" Harry said, exasperated and tired. "I have to know how to do this! I can't be coming over here every night because I don't know how to take care of my- my- my- godson."

Over the last two months Harry had been trying almost none stop to call Teddy his son. Because by law Teddy was his son. He just could not seem to wrap his head around it. He was only seventeen! No one should have to feel responsible for a child at seventeen. But Harry had thought long and hard about it and came to only one conclusion. If he could bear the responsibility of saving the entire wizarding world, he could take care of a baby.

But it was becoming clearer everyday that he was just not ready for a baby.

"Harry, you've done quite enough for one night," Mrs. Weasley said, shortly. "Do much more and you won't get any sleep."

"What about you?" Harry demanded.

"I've had seven children, in all of those years since Bill came home, how much sleep do you think I've gotten?" Harry had no response to that. So, he let Mrs. Weasley take Teddy into her room and leaned back into the coach.

"Why can't I stay in your room?" Harry asked. Ron plopped down next to Harry and sighed.

"George is staying in my room now," he said. "I don't reckon he wanted to stay in his old room. Too many memories of Fred."

"Oh."

"It's just as well, I think. Percy's been staying in their room. Said he wanted to feel close to his baby brother. So, it works out. It's just nice to have the whole family around. Well, most of the family."

"Yeah." Harry thought hard for a new topic. Thinking about Fred and all of the others who gave up their lives made Harry sad. And he was already tired, and exasperated, he did not need to be sad on top of all of that. "So, is Hermione around?" Even in the darkened room Harry could see Ron's cheeks go red. "So she is then?"

"She's staying in Ginny's room. I think she's still nervous, you know."

"She's not the only one."

"Well, not everyone saw it first hand."

"Hermione did." Figuring that there was no way Ron was going to convince Harry otherwise, he let it be. Harry was beginning to get uncomfortable with the silence that descended between them. "So, how much snogging have you got up to?"

"Harry!" Ron yelled quite affronted.

"Honestly, you two!" Hermione snapped walking into the living room. She pulled her dressing robe closer around her body and sat down next to Ron. "How your dormmates at school slept at all is beyond me."

"What're you doing up? I thought you fell asleep hours ago," Ron asked.

"Well, Ronald, it's rather hard to sleep when your boyfriend's sitting on the side of the bed watching you," she said. Ron turned red and Harry snickered.

"Oh."

"Anyway I couldn't get to sleep after you left. So, I decided to wait up for when the delicate tones of Teddy's sobbing announced your presences." It was Ron's turned to snicker and Harry's turn to sigh. "Andromeda knows that baby well."

"I know what you're getting at and you can stop now. Teddy is my- my- my- my responsibility," Harry finished with sigh.

"You can't even call him your son!" Hermione said indignantly.

"What do you expect of me?! I'm seventeen!"

"Yes, you're seventeen trying to take care of a child barely three months old. I hate to say it, Harry, but when it comes to dark wizards there's no one better than you, but parenting doesn't seem to be something you're cut out for." Harry gave her a defeated look.

"That was below the belt, Hermione," Ron mumbled.

"I'm sorry, but it's-"

"If you two don't mind, I'd like some sleep," Harry said, drowning out the last of Hermione's sentence.

"Sure, Harry. We'll see you in the morning." Ron grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her up.

"You know I only want the best for you, Harry," Hermione said as Ron tried to pull her out of the room.

"And I only want the best for Teddy." But they were both already gone.

----

The most wonderful smell welcomed Harry the next morning. It was the scent of fleshly grown flowers after a spring rain and Harry could not imagine anything more pleasant to wake up to.

"Ginny," he mumbled, still half asleep.

"Well, it's good to know you're thinking about me in your sleep at least," Ginny snapped. Despite her tone of voice she smiled at how positively disgruntled Harry looked as he searched for his glasses.

"I'm just busy with Teddy, is all. Don't mean a thing by it." Harry pawed all over the place for his glasses, but could not seem to find them. Ginny sighed, took pity on him and pulled his glasses off the top of his head and handed them to him. He gave her a sheepish grin.

"You're so cute," Ginny whispered. She grabbed his cheeks and laid a searing kiss on his lips. Harry could not think of the last time anyone had called him cute, but to be honest he did not really care at the moment. All that matter were Ginny's sweet, soft lips moving ever so seductively beneath his. He lost his hands in her hair, willing her to move closer to him.

Just as Harry started really enjoying himself, he heard the unmistakable wail of a waking Teddy Lupin. Very reluctantly he pulled away.

"I have to-" he began.

"I know," she said, cutting him off. "I just miss you so much."

"I miss you, too."

"Maybe if I moved in with you," she suggested. Harry look stunned at the thought.

"Ginny, you're underage!" he yelled.

"Not for long!" she yelled back.

"Ginny, you have school in the fall. Besides the fact that your mother'd never let you, and even if she did, your brothers would kill me," Harry said, as calmly as he could manage.

"Harry, I don't care about any of that. I just want to be with you. I could help you raise Teddy. Make it more like a family," she insisted. Harry paused for a moment.

"You don't know how wonderful that all sounds. But I'm not even sure how much longer Teddy's going to be living with me," Harry said. He absentmindedly ran a hand through his hair.

"What do you mean?" She asked this in that gentle Ginny voice that had inspired Harry many a times to tell her exactly what she wanted to hear.

"I'm not cut out for parenting."

"How would you know that? You've hardly been doing it for two months," she said.

"That's what Hermione said. And we all know that Hermione's always right," Harry said, looking very put down.

"Well, I think that's a load of bollocks. The All Knowing Hermione told me that I was being silly when I said I that I love you and that someday you'd love me too. Granted I was twelve when I said it, but still. She was too blind to see how much Ron fancied her. And then didn't she not believe you a couple of years ago when you said Malfoy was up to something? That doesn't sound like girl who's right about everything to me," Ginny said.

"I suppose you're right. But I haven't got just me to worry about!" Harry said, frustrated. "I need to think about what's best for Teddy. And maybe growing up with someone who hasn't full matured as father isn't the best idea. I'm just not cut out for kids. Kidding myself thinking I could be a proper father. Probably never have kids," Harry mumbled the last bit but Ginny caught it.

"Don't say that, Harry. Maybe it's something you grow into. Maybe being a good father is something you'll be better at when you're older."

"But I have a baby now! I need to be better at it now!" Harry said.

"Okay, maybe you're right. But for, Merlin's sake, Harry you could let someone more experienced take the brunt of the responsibility," she said. "There's no shame in letting other people help."

"What do you think I'm doing here, Ginny? Asking your mother for help."

"That's not what I meant. I've seen the way Andromeda looks at Teddy. She wants that baby. As a memory of her husband and her daughter. And it's not like you wouldn't be part of his life! You could be the kindly older brother, that takes care of Teddy sometimes, but lets grandma play mummy most of the time," Ginny suggested.

"Maybe it's you who's the know it all," Harry muttered. Ginny smiled. "I just feel like, if I give him to Andromeda, I'm giving up on him. He's my dad's best friend's son, he's the last link I have to any of them. The only thing that's left of any of them."

"Now, that's not true either. You've got your memories and always the love that they had for you. Teddy needs you to make the right choice for him. And I reckon the best thing you can do for him is let his grandmother bring him up right. You saw how well she did by Tonks." Harry smiled at Ginny.

"You're right. You know you're right." Harry reached out and kissed Ginny firmly on the lips. Yet again they were broken apart by a crying baby. Harry pulled away, placed a hand on Ginny's cheek and said, "Hold that thought."