10 Years Later
The snow in the air was thin. On the ground it was thick. A lone Robin swooped down to where it believed the garden path to be, where it was yesterday. Unfortunately, due to a heavy landing, the Robin ended up stuck for a short while in the snow, much to the enjoyment of the young boy standing on the window sill.
"Come on Teddy, get down from there it's still early. Nobody's coming for hours". Said a red-haired young girl, baby at her breast. "You'll do yourself a mischief".
"Can't you send Uncle Ron an owl and tell him to come now? I want my presents, he always gets me the best presents, remember he gave me his gloves that he wore for his first season as keeper for the Chudley Cannons?". Came Teddy Lupin's reply, accompanied by a wolfish frown.
Although he had not inherited his father's werewolf genes, he had gained the ability to transform animagus-style into a werewolf and then change his features and fur colour at will, which he was told was because his mother was a metamorph-magus and the combination of his two parents' abilities have made him a rather unique young wizard. This softened the blow somewhat when teased in the village by the other children about his father being "a scary monster". That and the fact that his godfather was 'the boy who lived' and said that he couldn't have defeated the dark Lord Voldemort without his father's help. That usually silenced the jeers but meant that Teddy had to relay the stories his godparents had told him about the great battles they had won. Even though he could tell that they never liked to talk about them, and that they only told him because they thought it was better to hear the truth than to hear somebody else's chinese whispered version, Teddy loved to hear how his parents were in the Order of the Phoenix with the hero, Harry Potter and were such good friends with him that before they died he had agreed to be his godfather. And what a godfather! The famous Harry Potter. Everywhere they went people would rush over to shake his hand and thank him and, in some extreme cases, run up to him, pick him up, and twirl him around before letting him down and hugging him. Although he always smiled when it happened, Teddy knew that Harry didn't enjoy the constant attention, as he always said: "the average man in the street just hears that I defeated Voldemort, they don't know all that I went through to do it, Teddy, or appreciate just how many people I lost".
"No Teddy I can't" replied Ginny. "And you may find out that this year that your favourite presents come from a little closer to home. I think Harry has something special for your first Christmas as a Hogwarts student".
Teddy's jaw dropped, his eyes wide with anticipation and a lupine smile spreading across his lips. "What is it?" he barked excitedly, "what is it? Oh, do tell me Ginny, please?"
"You know I'm not going to tell you now, you'll just have to wait a few more hours".
Refusing to be beaten so easily, Teddy changed tact. "Where is Harry now Ginny?" he asked with an uninterested air but looking at her with a sideways glance as he turned to feign looking out of the window again.
"He was called in to work early this morning, something about a cloaked figure being seen let into Hillary Fashcloth's Mugglewear shop in Diagon Alley the night before she was found dead. I imagine Harry has gone to interview the surrounding shopkeepers to see if he can get any leads, it's non-stop when you are an Auror, even if the world is a much nicer place since..." She turned away from her godson, well, Harry's godson, she was just the unwitting recipient of a child to look after as a result of Harry's popularity with the late Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin. But she loved Harry and that meant taking on lots of different 'situations' as he liked to jokingly call the trappings of fame. She was scared at first but her mother was great, looking after little Teddy while Harry and Ginny finished their final years at Hogwarts, which broke the record for the largest 7th year student count ever, there having been no exams the year the dark lord was defeated. Besides, she liked being a mum, and Harry was a wonderful father, she knew that this was because of the fact that he never got to do much with his parents, coupled with the treatment he received at the hands of the Dursleys. Which was another thing she thought, why had he invited them for Christmas? Was it really to extend the olive branch of peace and forgiveness? The letter Dudley had sent him a few days after the victory 10 years ago, delivered by owl no less, was sweet and they had got on swimmingly ever since but Vernon and Petunia had remained elusive until now. What was he hoping to acheive if, and she very much doubted they would, they actually turned up. To show them how to treat a child that is not your own? Maybe, but then no. Harry wouldn't invite them over if he expected there to be a strange atmosphere, he must truly believe they have changed as Dudley keeps telling him. Ginny decided she was thinking too much and decided to get out of the house for a while. "Come on Teddy, get your coat on, we're going for a walk around the village." She said smiling at the boy who had given her what she dreamed of earlier than she had ever expected it, a family with Harry Potter.
She twisted her wedding band on her finger and looked out the window at the snow falling in the square and jumped when Teddy tugged at her sleeve and asked, "You coming then?"
"Oh, sorry Teddy, yes ... of course. Do me a favour will you? Put Albus in the pram with James while I put my coat and wellies on dear." She asked politely while she handed him down the auburn-haired version of the, otherwise identical, twins she had given birth to just 18 months ago. She returned, knelt down to fasten the buttons on Teddy's winter coat, sttod up, opened the front door and steppped out into Godric's Hollow on Christmas day.
The whole Weasley Family was there for dinner, a joint effort between Ginny and her mother Molly who, despite being told repeatedly that it was under control, conjured what seemed like a years worth of food as soon as she had marched in the door and into the kitchen. It was the first Christmas for years that she wasn't having Christmas at The Burrow and she said she had gotten "itchy fingers", to which Ron had replied "I hope it's not contagous Mum!" To raucous laughter from Teddy, Ron and Hermione's two seven year old twins Freddy and Alastor, George, who had turned up wearing the same huge, self-flapping, tinsled, red ear that it snowed out of which he always wore for Christmas where his real ear had been before it had been blasted off by Snape, Harry and even Arthur allowed himself a small giggle until he was silenced by a glaring look from his wife.
After dinner, the presents were opened, Mrs Weasley had obviously been busy with her needles, because it appeaared that wooly jumpers were multiplying at an alarming rate. Ron and Hermione had gotten Albus and James toy broomsticks just like the one Harry had once seen a tiny version of himself whizzing about on in the same living room they were all sitting in now in an old photograph that his mother had sent to his godfather in thanks for buying it for him. They were already getting extensive use out of them, and tears had already flowed as their first broom accidents were experienced.
"Seen Neville or Luna lately Harry?" asked a rapidly approaching tipsy Ron.
"I bumped into Luna just this morning in Diagon Alley". Replied Harry, watching as James leapt off a chair, toy broom beneath his legs. "Her and Dean were looking for a cot for their baby when it finally gets here, did you know she's been pregnant for nearly ten months now? To be honest I suspect her of using some strangely concocted Snargaluff ointment or something. Neville is at Hogwarts for Christmas, I invited him to dinner but he said he had to pluck something and water his what's its".
"I always thought Neville and Luna would end up together" said Ron. "They were both always so...well... mental."
"Ron!" Exclaimed Hermione. "They were never mental. Just a little bit ...quirky."
"Quirky, mental, what's the difference?" asked Ron, grinning.
"Neville is too in love with his plants anyway" said Harry. "I'd be surprised if his head is ever turned by a girl, unless she is green and sprays puss at you when you touch her". Laughter filled the room as Harry pulled one last wrapped present from behind the sofa. "And now Teddy, time for your special present," he said as he passed the package to a young Teddy Lupin that looked ready to burst with excitement.
Teddy unwrapped the package with great care and anticipation. As the paper came away, something silvery glittered from within. "Your Invisibility Cloak?" Asked Teddy. "You're giving your cloak ... to me?"
"I don't need it anymore, I can make myself quite invisible without it," Harry replied with a smile. "It is usually passed down to the eldest son, or daughter if no son exists. You may not be my true son Teddy but when I told your father I would be your godfather, that meant that if anything happened to him and your mother then I would look after you and when you came into my care I promised myself that I would always treat you as a son. So there you are, look after it Teddy, it will prove very useful at Hogwarts and afterwards. The only condition is that you promise to never use it for anything underhand or dangerous, ok?" Harry looked into the boy's eyes in a way that left him in no doubt that this condition was a serious matter.
"I promise" said the boy looking steadfastly into his godfather's eyes. He couldn't believe what had just happened, he had no doubt that Harry and Ginny loved him as a son but never expected to be handed down family heirlooms when they had two children of their own to think about. Tears appeared in the corners of his eyes and began to trickle down his cheeks as he flung his arms around Harry and Ginny's necks "I love you!" he cried, setting half the room off crying with him, notably Molly who had brought out a large yellow hankerchief with a pattern of pink flowers all over it and was wailing into it whilst obviously thinking of Remus and Tonks and being cuddled by Arthur.
Ron and Hermione exchanged smiles before Harry, having been let go by Teddy, asked, "How's it going at the centre Hermione?" Ron rolled his eyes in a why did you have to ask kind of way. After the end of Voldemort, Percy Weasley had been appointed the new Minister of Magic at the advice of 'the great Harry Potter', and Harry had also given Percy some advice on a few things he thought should change in the magical world, insisting that Percy was under no obligation to listen to him but knowing that there was no way Percy could refuse the Boy Who Lived, especially as when asked to become Minister, Harry had declined and suggested him instead. One of the things Harry had suggested of Percy was that all House Elves should be freed and paid for their work and no longer be called House Elves but simply Elves. Although this had gone down badly at first, to the point where Harry had had to give an interview in the Daily Prophet to let everybody know it was his idea, "In the name of equality to all magical creatures," because Percy was on the verge of losing his job over the issue, over time it had become quite popular. However, out of the woodwork came many Elves who were now either freed by their owners who could not afford to pay them to do their housework or just wanted to get out of working for wizards altogether. The thing was, they weren't trained to do anything else so Hermione had set up a charity centre called S.T.R.I.K.E. (The Society For Trying To Reintegrate Intelligent Keen Elves) which employed people to have a careers chat and helped the elves with a plan of action to gain the skills necessary to move into a new field of work. Of course most chose to stay as they were even though they had been freed but gradually more and more Elves were beginning to leave their old employers and look for alternative lives in the world.
"Oh, I'm glad you brought it up, Harry," Said Hermione. "Guess who showed up today."
"Who?"
"Kreacher."
"Kreacher?" Harry said, astonished. "What's he doing there? I thought he was dead after we went back to Grimmauld Place and couldn't find him."
"So did I, Harry, but it turns out he came looking for us when Yaxley burst into the house, although he watched that dusty Ghoul thing Mad Eye left for Sna.. sorry, Severus scare him half to death first. But he couldn't find us, and soon he heard what had happened at Hogwarts and decided to await your arrival at the house, then of course he was freed by the ministry a few days later and packed himself off on holiday to Ibiza. He told me to tell you thank you and that if ever you need his assistance then all you have to do is summon him, I invited him round for dinner, I didn't think you would mind, but he says he has a family to spend Christmas with this year."
"What?" Cried Harry. "Kreacher?"
"That's why he was at the centre, he wanted to know if there was any way he could get permission to get married to Winky, they have children and everything. I couldn't find anything written down about Elf marriage so I sent you a memo Percy but it was late so I don't suppose you were in your office."
"No, no I wasn't Hermione but I'll look into it first thing next time I am. I see no reason, now that they are equals, that Elves shouldn't be married."
"Marvelous Percy, thank you. Kreacher will be pleased." Said Hermione smiling as she got up and hugged Percy, who was leaning against the wall, a glass of firewhiskey in his hand and a red hat on his head that fairies were dancing around the rim of, singing.
"Speaking of marriage," interjected Mr Weasley. "Did you hear that Horace and Minerva were forced to announce in The Hogs Head, that they were seeing each other."
"McGonagall and Slughorn? Ergh" said Ron laughing. "But seriously, how do they kiss? He is so round, how can she get anywhere near him, transfigure into a cat and sit on his belly?" Everyone laughed as Arthur continued with a disapproving look towards Ron that mirrored his thoughts. Ron had noticably put on a bit of weight himself recently and what with the ridiculous thick ginger moustache he now sported, didn't look too dissimilar to old Sluggy himself.
"Yes Ron and furthermore, Horace said that as it was in the open they may as well let everyone know that they are engaged also. By all accounts, Minerva didn't seem too pleased about the secret being out at first but apparently she was soon singing and dancing like the rest of them, it may have had something to do with all the free drinks Aberforth was giving them both"
"And," began Molly, "Minerva was telling me that night that Horace has lost a lot of weight since she banned him from eating all those crystalised pineapple things he used to devour like they were going out of fashion."
"I don't believe it," said Ron. "There is no way Horace would give up his creature comforts."
"What's that Ron?" Asked Hermione. "Still need convincing of the power of love do you?"
"Well... seeing as you put it like that" replied Ron, catching the many meanings laced within that question and deciding it was time to shut up. "I hope they find a lifetime of happiness together." He said with a shifty sideways glance at Hermione.
Harry was saying nothing on the matter, he was just revelling in all the love there seemed to be in the world these days. He smiled, Dumbledore would be proud, he thought, especially of all the unlikely partnerships that seemed to be forming. Harry got to his feet and went into the empty kitchen to get some more drinks. As he returned and set them on the table, the doorbell rang "I'll get it." He said and went to answer it. There on the doorstep, were the Dursleys, come for christmas.
"Er... sorry we're late b-... I mean... rather... Harry," Spluttered Vernon Dursley. "We got held up at the statue in the square, poor Petunia got quite emotional about it."
"Well she was my sister Vernon." Cut in Petunia, looking at Harry strangly. Vernon muttered something about it only being a war memorial and what that had to do with her sister.
"Hey Harry," said Dudley, waddling up the garden path, his arms cluttered with presents. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas all of you, come in." Harry held an arm out to usher them into the hallway. "Hang on, I always thought only magical people could see that statue."
"It appears not." Answered Petunia. And Harry thought he saw the slightest red gleam in her eyes as she said it. He shook his head. Of course not, he was seeing things.
Maybe not, because just then, for the first time in ten years, the lightening shaped scar on his forehead seared with pain.