Happy Father's Day Harry
The sun shining through the window roused James and Teddy, who was camping out in his godbrother's room for the weekend. Together they went to get Albus and Lily before heading downstairs to the kitchen.
Seeing the little ones' excitement brought a sinking melancholy upon the teenage Metamorphmagus as he recalled the first Father's Day in his memory.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
He had been four years old and went to the Burrow for lunch like he and his grandmother Andromeda did every week. He watched the exchange of gifts to Arthur and Bill. When he thought he wouldn't be missed, he snuck out of the door and went to the orchard, where he and Victoire played and where Andromeda or Harry could find him if he wandered off. He climbed the tree to the first limb and sat there crying. He didn't have a dad or a mom. He had Andromeda to give Mother's Day presents to, but Father's Day…who did he have?
"Teddy, what are you doing?" Teddy turned his head and found Ginny looking at him with a concerned look on her face.
"Why don't I have someone to give Father's Day presents to?" Teddy asked, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Teddy…" Ginny sank into the chair next to him. "You had a dad who loved you very much. You know he died to make the world a better place for you to live in. There was a reason why your parents made Harry your godfather."
"Why?" Teddy asked looking at Ginny's smiling face.
"Harry's your godfather because Remus knew that if something happened to him and your mum that Harry would take care of you. You know, Harry grew up without a mum or dad."
"Really?" Teddy allowed Ginny to lift him out of the tree.
"He did." Ginny placed the four-year-old on her hip "But unlike you, he didn't have a bunch of people who loved him."
Teddy had a thought and asked Ginny if they could go to the village. Ginny said yes and went to get her purse and to tell Harry they'd be back in an hour.
They drove Harry and Ginny's car to the village and went to a gift shop. Teddy looked and looked and didn't couldn't find anything to give to Harry. Then Ginny found just the thing and bought it. Without anyone knowing, they Flooed back to her and Harry's house to add a little something and wrap it.
They returned to the Burrow five minutes later and Teddy went on the hunt for Harry. He found him in the back garden helping Ron put up the racquetball set Hermione and Ron had gotten Arthur for the previous Father's Day.
"Harry? Come here for a minute," Ginny called.
Harry obeyed, looking at his godson's smiling face jumping on his feet beside Ginny.
"How much sugar has he had?" Harry asked, eyeing Ginny suspiciously.
"Harry, Teddy has something for you," Ginny replied, smirking at his question.
Harry bent down to Teddy's level as the four-year-old handed him the wrapped gift.
"What's this?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Open it!" Teddy squealed.
Harry obeyed his godson's wish and unwrapped the box and opened it. He pulled out a picture frame with a picture of himself and Teddy. Ginny had taken it with a Muggle camera when they went to the zoo last summer. Teddy was on Harry's shoulders, a little souvenir cap on his ginger hair, his green eyes alight in a smile. Harry looked like a proud father, even though he was just a godfather.
"Thank you, Ted, I love it." Harry engulfed the still-bouncing four-year-old in a big warm hug.
"Harry, I also made you a card." Teddy handed Harry the handmade card. Teddy had made it at school, thinking he could give the card to Harry.
Ginny watched the exchange from a distance, tears welling up in her eyes. She knew the struggles Harry had faced growing up without parents and living with people who didn't love him. Teddy was a different story. He had people who loved him. Andromeda was getting older, sure, but Harry had promised her that he would take Teddy in the event of her death or when she could no longer care for him.
Harry looked at the handmade card with two stick figures on the front.
"This one's me," Teddy said, pointing to the small figure. "And this one's you."
Harry opened the card and inside in Ginny's handwriting, Teddy asked her to write…
"You're the closest thing to a dad I have. Love you."
Below it was another drawing this time with Ginny.
Molly and Andromeda watched Harry and Teddy from the lawn chairs on the far end of the yard, just close enough to watch the exchange from godson to godfather.
Harry hugged Teddy again "Thanks for the gift, Ted. This is going straight on my desk."
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Teddy smiled as he remembered still seeing the picture frame on Harry's desk, only the picture was different. Somehow Teddy would sneak in Harry's office, get the frame off his desk and change out the picture every year.
"Teddy?" Lily's voice broke Teddy away from his daydream.
"What's wrong pumpkin?" he asked, lifting the four-year-old in his arms.
"We didn't wake up Mummy," she replied.
"Let's me and you go and get Mummy." Teddy climbed the stairs and went to Harry and Ginny's bedroom.
Quietly, hoping not to wake up Harry, Lily walked to her Mummy's side of the bed.
"Mummy, wake up," she said, gently poking Ginny.
Ginny woke up to her daughter's eager face. "Is Daddy still asleep?" At Lily's nod, Ginny silently got out of bed without waking Harry.
She walked over to the bathroom where she washed her face, pulled her hair up in a ponytail and used the bathroom before going downstairs.
When she exited the bathroom, she found that Harry was still asleep. He had rolled from his side to his stomach in the time Ginny was in the bathroom. She smiled to herself, watching Harry sleep. He looked peaceful and younger when he slept. Ginny could watch him for hours.
Together Ginny, Lily, and Teddy went downstairs where they found James and Albus all ready with the ingredients.
"What are we making for Dad's breakfast?" Ginny asked, already knowing the answer.
"Eggs, bacon, and toast, with some sausage," James answered. It was Harry's favorite breakfast, mainly because it was quick to fix, especially when they were in a rush to get out the door, but also because he had developed an unquenchable savoring of these foods from all the years cooking them for the Dursleys.
Ginny and Albus started cracking eggs and rubbing the butter in the pan. Teddy and James poured some orange juice and Lily set the table.
As they worked, Ginny let her mind wander to the stories of Father's Day Harry told her. She knew before the kids and Teddy, holidays such as Mother's Day and Father's Day were difficult for him.
After the incident with Aunt Petunia and the handmade card, Harry didn't try it again. Even on Father's Day, when they made cards in class, he kept them in his backpack and never got them out until the end of the year, when they were thrown out amidst old spelling tests and history assignments. When he went to Hogwarts, he found a vacant corner every year and ignored all conversations that his friends and classmates had about Mother's Day and Father's Day.
He often cried himself to sleep those days, though he'd never admit it. He sent Sirius a card for Father's Day hoping it would make him not feel so alone in the world. It did, but only for a little bit.
Mother's Day after the war, Harry figured he did have a mother, but not a biological one. Molly Weasley was like a mother to him. She made sure he was fed, care for, and seen that he had what he needed.
Father's Day was no different. Arthur was a male role model and after Sirius died, stepped in and tried to fill the hole Sirius had left. Arthur, just like Molly, treated Harry like he was his own son, took him into their home no questions asked and was more of a father figure to Harry than he would ever know.
Arthur still had the screwdrivers that Harry got him that first Father's Day after the war.
Harry's relationship with Arthur and Molly was one that he didn't want to mess with, even though he dated and married their only daughter and youngest child.
Ginny remember when they started dating and Mother's Day and Father's Day came around. She found Harry in the corner of the Quidditch locker room, tears running down his face. He looked like a small five-year-old child instead of the sixteen, almost seventeen-year-old he was and yet the reminder that he was an orphan was evident each year.
But after the war, Harry was included in the gift giving on occasions such as Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthdays, and Christmas. Giving Arthur and Molly a gift on those occasions were Harry's way of saying thanks for giving him a place to stay and treating him like one of their own.
Ginny hummed to herself as she scrambled the eggs and soon had breakfast ready for the six of them. The kids all went upstairs, Ginny and Teddy trailing behind them. They did the same thing on Father's Day as they had on Mother's Day.
James went in first, followed by Albus and then Lily. They all walked to Harry's side of the bed. As one they jumped on the bed and on top of Harry and screamed, "Happy Father's Day!"
Unlike Ginny, Harry didn't move. He dug his head under the pillow and mumbled, "Five more minutes…"
Lily crawled onto Harry's back. Little did she know that their father was playing with them until his arm went behind him and pulled her off, snuggling her to him before grabbing the boys as they tried to run.
"Morning, monsters," he said to the boys and to Lily in his arms, he said, "Morning, princess."
"Morning, Dad," the boys chorused.
"Morning Daddy," Lily said at the same time as the boys.
Harry turned his attention to his teenaged godson. "Too old for tradition?" he asked.
Teddy shrugged. "I didn't want to hurt you – you're getting older."
Harry looked at his godson, shocked. "I'm not that old!" he replied with a playful glare.
"Okay, let's go downstairs before breakfast gets cold," Ginny intervened before an argument could break out. Harry went to the bathroom to allow himself five minutes before heading downstairs. He used the bathroom, washed his hands and wiped his face. When he exited the en-suite bathroom, Lily was waiting for him.
"You take your job way too seriously," Harry said to his daughter, picking her up and tickling her as their laughter filled the room. Together, father and daughter trekked downstairs to the kitchen where Harry was shooed to his seat.
Ginny had fixed plates for everyone, piled high with all the breakfast foods Harry loved most. As the family ate, Harry thought back to the first Father's Day as a biological Daddy. James had woke him up by pulling on his hair. Ginny had found the picture of Harry and James taken on the day James was born. The picture was of a smiling Harry looking at his newborn son. It now sat on Harry's desk in the home office, having been switched out for an up-to-date picture.
"Okay, now it's time to give Dad his gifts," Ginny announced.
One by one, the kids all ran out of the kitchen, up the stairs and in their rooms. It wasn't long until they returned to their seats in the kitchen.
Teddy went first. He handed a bag down the table, which James passed to his dad.
"I already know what one part is," Harry said with a smirk.
Since that Father's Day when Teddy was four, Harry would get an updated picture of himself and Teddy. This year's picture was the one taken after a Quidditch game at the Burrow. Ginny had taken the picture of the two of them on their brooms. It was charmed so that every so often, Teddy would tag Harry and take off flying with Harry right behind him.
The second part of Teddy's present was something new such as a quill or planner for Harry to use at work.
"This looks familiar," Harry stated pulling the quill out of the box.
"It's the same one I got for Ginny, except Ginny's was for a girl and this one reminded me of you."
Harry pulled out the card which read
"You're the closest thing to a dad I have. Thank you for always being there for me. I love you."
Teddy was now around the age Harry had been when he met Sirius for the first time. Granted Harry wasn't quite as old as Sirius was when he met Harry again when Harry was thirteen, almost fourteen, but it was a reality check for Harry.
"My turn!" James chimed. He handed Harry a partially wrapped package. Harry unwrapped it and discovered it was a book similar to Quidditch Through the Ages this one was Aurors Through the Ages.
"You're on page 38," Ginny supplied. Harry had gone down in history of being the youngest Auror and then the youngest Head Auror. Harry quickly scanned the page with his profile on it.
"Four pages," Harry stated. It started with his biography and then his history as an Auror.
"Do you like it, Dad?" James asked.
"I love it! Thanks, buddy." Harry ruffled his hair. James was the only one of their children to inherit Harry's messy black hair. Albus got his black hair but somehow missed the messy part.
James handed Harry the card, which looked like James made by hand. Inside he wrote:
"Happy Father's Day Dad. Love, James"
"My turn," Albus stated, passing his bag down to Harry.
"This isn't a scarf, is it?" Harry asked his six-year-old son. He had enough scarves as it was.
Albus shook his head. Harry dug into the bag and pulled out new Seeker gloves.
"I think the ones you use at the family games are the same ones you used at Hogwarts," Ginny stated.
"Thanks, Al." Harry ruffled his hair as well. He pulled out the card and it said:
"Happy Father's Day. Mummy said you needed new gloves. Love, Albus."
Lily handed her father a handmade picture of her and Harry. She knew that the next time she went with her mother to visit him at the Ministry, she would see the picture hanging on the wall.
"I thought you would like this, Daddy," she said as she handed him a half-wrapped package. Harry tore off the remaining paper to reveal a picture of him and Lily looking back at him. It was taken a few weeks ago when Harry and Ginny took the kids to the zoo. It was very much like that picture Teddy gave Harry when he was four, the same age Lily was now. She was on Harry's shoulders as Ginny took the picture of father and daughter.
"Thanks for the gifts, kids."
Ginny cleared her throat and in front of Harry, another package appeared. He pulled off the card that was attached to it.
"Harry, I don't think I say this enough but I love you. I'm proud of the hard work you've been in to ensure our children have a future and better life then what we did. You tell me you don't know what you did to deserve me. Well, I don't know what I did to deserve you. You're a great husband, I couldn't ask for a better father for our children and an (I'm sure Teddy agrees) wonderful godfather. You made my childhood dream come true when you asked me to marry you.
I love you, I hope you don't forget that. Love, Ginny."
Harry looked up at Ginny, not needing to say anything. He had known since he was twelve that Ginny's dream was to marry him. She was right about one thing and that was what kind of a husband, father, and godfather he was.
He opened the package and out came a new messenger bag he could use for work.
"That one you're using, it's looking like it's been repaired one too many times."
Harry chuckled, remembering that same line when he got new glasses. He got up and leaned into Ginny, giving her a kiss on the lips.
"Ew!" the kids all chorused.
"Okay, let's all go and get ready to head to the Burrow," Ginny said as she got up and waved her wand, sending the dishes to the sink to wash themselves.
They headed to the Burrow an hour later. Harry and Ginny had gotten Arthur a set of Muggle wrenches. Arthur liked building things the Muggle way sometimes. He'd built a tree house with his sons and son-in-law for the boys and a playhouse for the girls.
When lunch was over and the presents were given to Arthur, Harry and Teddy left, figuring they wouldn't be missed. Harry told Ginny where they were going and Teddy told Victoire that he'd been back later. Harry disapparated himself and Teddy to the graveyard where Remus and Tonks were buried. They walked until they came to the double headstone. Harry had helped Andromeda pick it out and pay for it.
"Teddy, I was actually a year younger than you when I met your dad. He was one of the bravest men I've known. He and my godfather and dad were all friends. They'd get into trouble, but they had each other's backs when they needed to. Ted, I grew up with people who didn't care about me. Everything up until I was eleven was a lie and then I learned about my parents and I found people who care for me and love me."
He looked at Teddy in the eye which at fourteen, he was able to do easily without bending over.
"When your dad made me your godfather, I promised myself and you that you wouldn't be treated the way I was and had to grow up the way I did. Ginny and I saw to it that you had what you needed, and then some." Harry paused to look at the black headstone that marked Andromeda's grave.
"We took you in when your Gran died. I wasn't going to allow you to go live with strangers. Your Gran knew this."
Harry paused and looked Teddy. He was looking at Remus and Tonks grave with a somber expression on his face.
"I used to cry myself to sleep the night before and the day of Mother's Day and Father's Day. I would find an empty corner at Hogwarts and almost grieve my parent's death like I would if it had just happened right then and there. I was jealous of those who had parents. Even at sixteen I crawled in a corner and cried because I didn't have parents."
"Why are you telling me this, Harry?" Teddy asked, not unkindly.
Harry planted his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Because Teddy, I know exactly what it's like to grow up without parents."
They stood at the grave another minute before they disapparated back to Godric's Hollow. Harry walked Teddy back to the house and alone he walked to the church, entered the kissing gate and walked until he found his parents grave. He remembered that Christmas during the Horcrux hunt when he and Hermione found this place. After the war was over and he was back together with Ginny, he brought her to meet them.
He looked at his parents' grave and sighed.
"Happy Father's Day, Dad." Harry wiped the few tears that escaped his eyes and left to return home. He paused as he entered the backyard, watching the kids and Ginny play. His life could have been different – much different – but he wouldn't change a thing.