At nineteen, Harry Potter never thought he'd spend this much time with washing applesauce out of his hair. Looking over his shoulder he glared playfully at babbling eighteen month old creature responsible for his current state. Teddy, the creature in question, and his godson just smiled his half-toothy smile at his godfather and banged his spoon in his bowl, splattering more applesauce everywhere. Harry just sighed and grabbed the wash cloth from the sink.
"Come here you," he said, moving the bowl away from Teddy and onto the counter, before, much to Teddy's displeasure, wiping the damp cloth over the little boys face and hands. By the time Harry had finished Teddy's hair had changed from a happy blue to a candy apple red that warned of a coming temper tantrum, but before he could get that far, Harry freed the boy of the high chair and placed him on the ground. Once free Teddy immediately toddled off to his toys in the living room.
Resigned, Harry rinsed out the cloth and continued on cleaning up the rest of the carnage of his godson's lunch, all the while listening to Teddy play in the next room over. He learned early on that as long as he could here the boy playing things were more or less okay, but as soon as things get quiet, thats when he should start worrying. The first lesson in this had come when Teddy had gone from loudly playing with his flying aeroplanes to quietly colouring on his bedroom walls. Unfortunately Harry hadn't realized until the one wall was filled with colourful squiggles.
When he had finished with the cleaning up, Harry looked at the clock on the wall. Ginny should be here soon he thought. Sure enough a quick knock came at the door before opening and Teddy squealed "GIGI!"
"TEDDY!" Harry heard her respond just as enthusiastically.
Walking into the living room Harry was greeted with the sight of Ginny, wearing her green and yellow track suit with the Holyhead Harpies logo on the back, holding Teddy and peppering the boys pudgy cheeks with kisses while he squirmed and laughed.
"What?" Harry asked. "No kisses for me?"
"Maybe if you were as cute as Teddy I'd be so inclined." She teased, walking over to give him a quick peck anyway.
"How'd practice go?"
"Alright," Ginny responded noncommittally, handing Teddy over so she could discard her quidditch.
"Did something happen?" Harry asked, noticing her tone.
She sighed, "Not really, it's just I've only been practicing with the team for a couple of months and with our first match next week I'm really feeling the pressure to play seamlessly with the other girls. Today was just especially tiring, that's all."
"Well we can just stay here today if you want? I'm sure Ron and Hermione would understand." commented Harry as he lead her to the kitchen so he could make her a cup of tea. Teddy was protesting at being carried so Harry put him down at let him run around his and Ginny's legs.
"No, No, it's been so long since we've all hung out and Hermione could use the down time more then me."
"She really has been stressed out, hasn't she?" Harry said, preparing the tea leaves while the kettle of water heated up on the stove top.
Ginny laughed darkly, "Some how I think she's gotten worse then she was during NEWTs, and I know you've heard plenty of stories, but trust me it was quite an experience to live through every day. It's a wonder Ron is still putting up with her."
Shortly after graduating Hogwarts in the spring with a complete set of O's on her NEWTs, Hermione was offered a job in the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures. She had immediately jumped into the job with the intention of improving the lives of all magical beings. Harry and Ron had immediately been thrown into flashbacks of SPEW and her one-woman attempt at making radical changes happen immediately. However much to the the two friends' relief Hermione has seemed to have adjusted her approach. So, even though she has lost none of her passion over the topic she has excepted that it would be best to start with small changes, build up reputations, and eradicate stigmas. That way making the bigger and important changes will become easier and less resented.
Right now Hermione was working on a proposal that a law should be passed forbidding the physical abuse of house-elves. If the head of her department approves her proposal Hermione will get to present it to the Wizengamot. If the Wizengamot votes to enact the law then Hermione will gain her first bit of credibility, but if they reject the proposal then she will be set further back than she had started. Because of all this, Hermione has been in a frenzy of looking up case studies and finding any shred of information that will prove her law to be the right and fair thing to do.
"Well he has been spending more time at the office lately," Harry supplied. "I mean, it's great for me. He keeps offering to do all the paperwork for our cases. But maybe we should get Hermione away from her work for a while. She can't treat every law proposal and alteration with the same vigour as NEWTs or she'll burn out before she's twenty-five."
Ginny was momentarily distracted by Teddy who was trying to climb up her leg in an attempt to be picked up. She bent over and hoisted the little boy up, tossing him in the air for a moment before catching him again and resting him on her hip sporting a new shade of bright yellow hair. "Exactly! So, what time are we meeting Ron and Hermione?"
"Ron said to meet them at the Memorial Community Pitch and Centre at three o'clock," the Kettle began to whistle and Harry removed it from the heat and poured the boiling water into the two mugs so the tea leaves could steep for a time. "Then we can go to dinner around five."
"Sounds good," Ginny said, bouncing Teddy on her hip a bit. "Right Teddy? You want to go fly with Arry and Gigi?"
"Fye!Fye!" Teddy agreed, clapping his hands excitedly.
They continued to talk while they drank their tea. Harry gave Teddy a cup of milk with spill-proof charm and one of Molly Weasley's oatmeal biscuits, keeping the toddler content while they discussed Ginny fast approaching first match as a professional quidditch player against the Tutshill Tornados. After his snack, Harry put Teddy down for a short nap so that when they left he would be rested and less likely to be cranky during their afternoon excursion.
"Is he down?" Ginny asked from kitchen sink where she was washing out their mugs. Coming up behind her Harry wrapped an arm around her slender waist, toned from hours of flying, using his free hand he grabbed the mug she had finished drying and placed above on the shelf.
"Yeah, his hair was shifting through the rainbow before I even turned the lights off."
She passed him the second mug to place on it's shelf before turning around in his arms and facing him. "You take him back to Andromeda in the morning right?"
"Yeah," Harry said with a tone of displeasure. "Ron and I have our shift at Azkaban tomorrow. Which means twelve hours of screaming taunts and threats."
"Just make sure you're careful," Ginny murmured, pressing her face against his chest and tightening her arms around his torso, also toned from hours of Auror training. "There's a lot of people in there who would love nothing more than to see you dead."
"I'm always careful," he said with a cocky grin.
Ginny pulled away to look Harry hard in the eye. "I'm serious Harry, not only about prison duty, but everything you do. You've been lucky so far, only a couple of minor injuries, but neither of us is so stupid to believe that this job will leave you as unscathed as that. So, be careful, and don't be needlessly reckless."
"I know Gin. I promise to always be careful. I'll even make sure Ron is as well." Harry said, sobered. "But what brought this on?"
A year and a half ago when Harry had accepted Kingsley's offer to become an Auror, everyone had known it would be a risky job. Especially with all the escaped Death Eaters that would have vendettas against Harry and everything he stood for, but it's what Harry knew he was meant to do, and a lot of his friends knew it as well. So the only one to argue when both Harry and Ron had announced their intentions was Mrs. Weasley, who was still grieving the loss of one of her sons. Harry didn't fault her for wanting them safe, but just like the horcrux hunt, it was something he knew he had to do.
Ginny was known to express concerns occasionally, despite her steadfast support of his career, but this just seemed a little out-of-the-blue to Harry.
"I don't know, I guess it just you and Ron have had so much good luck lately on all your cases that I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop."
Squeezing her tight to him, Harry kissed the top of her red mane and whispered. "You know I won't make you promises that are ultimately out of my hands, but I do promise to do my to keep both myself and Ron in one piece."
He could feel the rueful smile she pressed into his chest. "I guess that's all I can ask."
Leaning back again she pressed a lingering kiss to his lips, then said, "I'm gonna go get changed, why don't you get the brooms and pack Teddy's bag."
***
Half an hour later they had everything they would need for the rest of the day packed, including a bag with a change of clothes, extra nappies, and a few of Teddy's favourite toys. Currently Teddy was curled up on Ginny's hip, sucking on a pacifier. He was still a little groggy from having just woken up from his nap and he had the rosy cheeks and messy hair to prove it.
Harry's flat was in downtown London and they had decided to take a cab to the Leaky Cauldron. Disapparating and apparating weren't comfortable experiences for children, and using the Floo would be dangerous to do while holding all their things plus Teddy. They couldn't even take the tube because Teddy's hair was prone to change colours at any moment and would be more than a little suspicious to the muggles.
"Ready to go?" Harry asked, hoisting the broom bag holding his and Ginny's brooms over his one shoulder and Teddy's bag over the other.
Ginny was just placing a small visored cap on Teddy, which should be enough to keep the cabbies attention off of Teddy's visible hair. "Yeah, the cab just pulled up."
The taxi driver was a young man, maybe a few years older than Harry and Ginny with spiked hair that was lighter at the ends. He helped Harry put their bags in the boot, while Ginny got settled in the back seat with Teddy on her lap. The boy was getting more and more excited as he woke up more fully. Harry joined them in the back seat and the cabbie got behind the wheel and started the metre.
"To Charing Cross Road then?" he asked.
"Yeah," Harry confirmed. "I'll let you know where to stop."
The drive took about twenty minutes, and the cabbie, Eric, they learned his name was, was pretty chatty the whole way. Asking about where they were from, how long they'd lived in London, were they married, and how was their kid?
To the last question Harry explained, "Teddy's actual my godson, I'm just watching him for the weekend."
It happened a lot when Harry was with Teddy that people thought he was the boys father. Mostly in the muggle world however, since most of the wizarding world knew who Harry was and that Teddy was his godson. Though Rita Skeeter had tried to circulate rumours in the early weeks after the war when Harry could first be seen out with Teddy and Ginny that Teddy was in fact their biological child and that claiming Teddy to be his godson was just a rouse to hold onto his "wholesome hero image". The rumours had really gotten to Harry at the time since he was still feeling the raw edge that Remus and Tonk's deaths had left and he felt like they were being dishonoured by people believing them not to be Teddy's real parents. Luckily people quickly discredited these rumours when Teddy's metamorphagus state became more widely known.
"You can drop us off just up here. Thanks Eric."
Once they were out of the cab with all of their belongings, Harry paid Eric and he drove off to his next client. Teddy wanted to walk on his own, but the street was so busy that Harry convinced him to compromise by holding his hand as they navigated the heavy foot traffic the short distance to the Leaky Cauldron. As usual the muggle paid no attention to the pub which to them looked like a rundown old shop. Harry held the door open for Ginny and Teddy ran along ahead of them.
"Teddy! Don't run off!" Ginny called after the boy, rushing in after him. Walking had become a regal occurrence for Teddy a couple months ago, and it only took a blink before the boy had begun running everywhere he went. It had really taken an adjustment for Harry, who had grown used to the boy always staying more or less in the general vicinity of where he left him.
In the Leaky Cauldron Harry found Ginny just as she caught up to Teddy who had bolted to the bar where a bowl of peppermint toads was usual kept. He protested when Ginny pulled him away. "No, Teddy, those are for people who are eating here."
"It's okay Ginny," a voice from behind the bar said.
Hannah Abbot came up to where they were at the bar.
"Oh Hannah!" Ginny smiled. "How are you?"
"I'm great, I finally have settled in here, y'know? How are you? Oh, and you too Harry." she added seeing him behind Ginny.
Hannah had been in Harry's year at Hogwarts, but she was in Hufflepuff. Neither he or Ginny were super close friends with her but they'd all been in the DA together and Hannah had fought at the Battle at Hogwarts. She was a nice girl with generally a sunny disposition and Harry liked her well enough. About half a year ago Tom, the old Landlord of the Leaky Cauldron, had decided to retire and began to look to sell. Harry wasn't sure what made her want to do it, but Hannah had decided that she would want to run the pub, and apparently her mum and left her some money when she was killed back in their sixth year, so she used that to become the new landlady of the Leaky Cauldron.
"Gigi!" Teddy cried out, trying to bend out of her arms and reach the bowl of mints just out of reach.
Reaching into the bowl Hannah handed a sweet to Teddy who smiled happily before plopping it into his mouth.
"What do you say Ted?" prompted Harry.
"Tanks," was the now shy response.
"My he's grown a lot, hasn't he?"
"You're telling me!" Harry laughed. "I can barely keep track of him anymore."
Hannah smiled sweetly, "I bet. So, what are you guys up to?"
"We're actually on our way to meet Ron and Hermione at the Pitch to do some flying. Though we will probably be back here in a couple hours to get some dinner." Ginny explained, struggling with a slightly squirmy Teddy as the mint he just ate was evidently hoping around in his stomach.
"Ah well, don't let me keep you then. I'll be seeing you!"