"Nana!"
"Nana!"
"Nana!"
Harry Potter sighed putting down his quill. It was the millionth time this week it seemed his three-year-old godson woke up crying for his grandmother. It was hard on both of them.
Andromeda Tonks inexpediently passed away two months ago right before Teddy's birthday at just fifty years old. She had been struggling with cancer and it hadn't really taken a toll on her up until about a year ago.
Harry knew that he would have eventually had to take Teddy in full time but he didn't think it would be so soon. The doctors were saying she'd have at least seven or eight years left. By then Harry would be able to help Teddy through his Hogwarts years and adjust to wizarding society.
Taking in a toddler who was too young to understand death was a bit much; but Harry was determined to give the boy a normal life. Hell he had to fight tooth and nail with the Ministry of Children Social Services to get full custody just so he wouldn't end up in an orphanage.
Or even worse living under a staircase of distant relatives that didn't want anything to do with him. In Harry's case it was the Dursleys for Teddy it was the Blacks. Harry wasn't even sure if his godson inherited his father's werewolf tendencies and he hoped that wouldn't be an issue until at least puberty.
Harry took a deep breath and made his way to Teddy's room. The little boy was sitting up in bed rubbing his eyes and tears streamed down his chubby cheeks. It was almost two in the morning well past the child's bedtime.
"Edward Remus" Harry said softly sitting down next to him "do you have any idea what time it is?"
"Uncle Harry I want Nana" Teddy whispered
"I know you do but remember I told you Nana went to heaven"
"When is she coming back?"
As tired as Harry was his heart tugged at that question; Teddy was really expecting Andromeda to just walk into the Grimmauld Place to take him back home. The reality of that just was impossible.
"Teddy your grandmother isn't coming back"
"She doesn't love me anymore?"
"No Teddy" Harry said patiently "Nana loved you she never stopped loving you"
Harry paused for a minute to choose his word wisely
"Teddy when people die they don't come back"
"Not ever?"
"No"
"Nana is always going to be with you though I promise"
"How?"
"Right here" he said placing his hand on Teddy's chest "in your heart"
Teddy wrapped his chubby fingers around Harry's hand and Harry gave him a kiss on the forehead.
"Let's get you back to bed okay?"
"Okay"
Harry pulled back the blanket for Teddy to crawl under and the boy clutched his stuffed hippogriff to his chest. It was a gift he got for his birthday from aunt Hermione Granger. A stuffed hippogriff nicknamed Beaky; Harry smirked at the thought wondering where that name came from.
"Goodnight Teddy"
"Night Uncle Harry"
Harry was running out of time. The Ministry initially gave him the two months of parental leave to get Teddy adjusted to living with him but it was more than lenient since it was protocol for Aurors to be available at all times if possible.
Going back to work would be inevitable but who would watch Teddy? Surely a three year old shouldn't be left alone in the Grimmauld Place all by himself. The Dursleys always left Harry at home by himself at that age, which he was pretty sure, was child abuse but they didn't give a damn.
Kreacher and Winky had enough on their hands. Winky watched Teddy sometimes for a few hours and adored him while Kreacher kept his distance from the toddler. It wasn't that the old house elf didn't like children he just didn't have the patience for a child Teddy's age.
Harry supposed he could ask Molly Weasley to watch Teddy since she loved children and was always watching her granddaughter Victoire but things were a bit shaky due to his broken engagement with Ginny. The two of them were supposed to get married six months ago.
Harry even asked Andromeda if Teddy could be the ring bearer in the ceremony. Ron was going to be his best man and even Hermione was picked as maid of honor.
However it came to light that Ginny had been cheating on him four months even after he had proposed to her on the front page of the Daily Prophet with Dean Thomas.
Harry didn't like to dwell on Ginny but he was still hurt by it so needless to say his love life was non-existent. With stepping into the role of being Teddy's guardian; Harry wasn't even interested in putting himself out there.
His focus was Teddy and needless to say the little boy was going to be his focus for a long time to come.
"I'm sorry Shanks I need this chair"
The huge old fluffy orange tomcat swished his tail back and forth stubbornly. Hermione Granger chuckled as Crookshanks rolled over on his back in response too.
"Crookshanks I'm serious I'm doing some late spring cleaning"
"I believe there's a friend waiting for you in your favorite window"
The cat looked up to see a butterfly fluttering around at the glass of the window and he immediately jumped up to go and entertain himself.
When Hermione said late spring training she really meant early summer cleaning, as it was now the end of June.
Granger's Emporium for Voracious Readers had been up in running for a year now and business was doing okay for the most part. Hermione noticed that her two peak sales times were usually in August right when students were getting ready to go back to Hogwarts and in December for presents for the Christmas holiday.
Other than that despite being right in the middle of Diagon Alley Hermione didn't get a lot of traffic. Sure she had her regular customers but she wasn't surprised by her lack of popularity.
It didn't matter that she had a helping hand in bringing down the Dark Lord for good three years ago in the eyes of some witches and wizards Hermione would always be a Muggle.
A Mudblood.
Hermione was a grown woman now and she tried not to let it bother her but it still did from time to time. The Wizarding World was all she had now so conforming to a society that didn't really accept her was difficult; but she didn't belong in the Muggle world either.
Hermione bit her lower lip to keep from feeling sad about the latter thought.
"Mione!"
A smile graced her face when she saw the little boy who called for her. Teddy Lupin ran into the bookstore and made his way to his favorite adoptive aunt. He was so happy his hair turned from his signature turquoise colors to bright yellow a trait that he got from his mother.
A natural metamorphmagus.
"Teddy!" Hermione laughed scooping up the toddler "what are you doing here?"
"Uncle Harry!"
"Oh and where is Uncle Harry?"
Hermione smiled when she saw the boy's godfather come in closely behind slightly out of breath.
"Edward Remus what I have told you about walking off from me?" Harry scolded gently
"It's Mione Uncle Harry" the toddler insisted stubbornly wrapping his arms around Hermione's neck
"So it is" Harry agreed giving Hermione a wink "that still doesn't mean you walk away from me young man understood?"
"Yes" Teddy said reluctantly
"Teddy would you like to read a storybook?" Hermione asked, "I think your godfather wants to talk to me"
"Mother Goose!"
"Oh but Teddy you've already read that one thousands of times"
"Mother Goose Mione!"
There was no arguing with the three-year-old and he clapped his hands happily when Hermione took his favorite story from the bookshelf. As soon as Teddy settled down with the book his hair went back to its turquoise color. Crookshanks came down from the window and settled on the boy's lap.
"At least he likes to read," Hermione said "not a lot of children his age are interested"
"Well look at who is aunt is" Harry teased her a little "couldn't have asked for a better role model"
"Oh honestly Harry it's nothing" she said flattered "would you like some tea?"
"I'm fine" Harry insisted, "I don't want to take up too much of your time"
"It's fine I was just cleaning" she replied "you might as well as sit down Harry you know your godson likes to look at all the pictures for a long time"
Hermione watched Harry sit down across from her and noticed the look of concern and sadness on his face as he watched Teddy.
"What is it Harry?"
"It's Teddy" he said solemnly "he was crying for his grandmother last night"
"Oh I'm sorry"
"I don't know what to do" Harry admitted, "I've been explaining to him that Andromeda is always going to be with him but at the same time she's gone"
"Harry he's three years old" Hermione reasoned, "it's okay for him not to completely understand death"
"I know it's just what if he didn't have me?" Harry couldn't help asking, "he was almost sent to the orphanage he could be all alone right now"
Hermione noticed a stray tear fall from Harry's eye and she took his hand in hers
"How was I able to defeat Voldemort but I almost lost my godson to the system?"
"Harry look at me" Hermione said softly "please look at me"
Hermione could see the sadness and doubt in her friend's green eyes and she didn't like seeing that because she knew what strong person Harry was.
"Teddy does have you," she said gently but firmly "he has you and he's not alone"
"He needs an actual parent Hermione" Harry insisted "I'm not really cut out for that Andromeda is the one who really raised him; I only sent money every month"
"That was helping" Hermione said "Andromeda wanted you to also live your own life plus you and Ginny were about to get married-oh I'm sorry"
"It doesn't bother me" Harry insisted "I guess it's kind of a blessing really because Ginny was never really fond of Teddy anyway"
"Do you need help with Teddy?"
"Well I do have to get back to work soon" Harry said "I've already used up my parental leave to get Teddy used to living with me full time"
"I can watch him"
"Are you sure? He's quite a handful"
"What toddler isn't?" Hermione shrugged "in fact he's actually well behaved for me"
"You do spoil him he sleeps with that hippogriff you gave him every night"
"Good to know Beaky is serving his purpose" Hermione smiled "when are you going back to work?"
"Next Monday"
"So Teddy can stay with me during the day; he can be my little helper in the store"
"I'm an Auror Hermione you know I have to work overnight sometimes"
"Oh well he can spend the nights you work with me then or I can take him back to the Grimmauld Place if you like"
"That's going above and beyond I'm going to have to compensate you-"
"Harry it's fine we're friends or are you forgetting that?"
How could he forget that? This was the same young witch who stayed with him when he was at an ultimate low when they were searching for Horcruxes.
"Teddy will be fine I promise"
"I know he will"
Teddy shrieked in laughter as he turned the page to see Mother Goose fly across the sky with the children on her back.
"I'll have get him a new book to read eventually too"
"Come on now Vicky let's try eating the oatmeal instead of dumping it on your head"
Molly Weasley shook her head as little Victoire managed to get more of her breakfast on her head.
Arthur Weasley looked over his copy of the Daily Prophet and winked at his granddaughter and she burst into a fit of giggles.
"Honestly you spoil her Arthur!" Molly scolded her husband playfully "she'll be ruined when Bill and Fluer get back from Romania"
"I thought it was in my job description to as a grandfather to spoil my grandchild"
"Yes well I want to make sure she eats and isn't dressing herself in her food too"
This was the first time in almost twenty years that the Burrow felt so quiet and small. It was days like this that reminded Molly of the early days of her marriage to Arthur even down to the same breakfast scene when it was only baby Bill.
It was the ultimate goal of parenting though to have all your little birds leave the nest and live their own lives. Perhaps come back home with grandchildren to grace the home again.
In fact Victoire was in the high chair that was used by all the Weasley children as babies starting with her own father Bill.
Just as Molly was clearing the breakfast dishes off the table there was a knock at the door; which was odd because Bill and Fluer weren't due back until next week and then the rest of the boys were busy with work.
It was a Monday morning after all.
Molly opened the door to see her daughter Ginny with tears running down her face.
Arthur immediately put down the Daily Prophet and even little Victoire grew silent.
"Ginny dear are you alright? we haven't seen you in six months!" Molly exclaimed "I've sent owl after owl after owl!"
"Ginny what's wrong?" Arthur asked
"Do either of you know where Harry is?" she asked frantically
"Harry moved back to the Grimmauld Place with Teddy" Molly replied "Ginny what is this all about-"
"I'm pregnant!" she cried "and it's Harry's I know that for a fact!"
It wasn't until she said that did the parents looked down to see their daughter's protruding belly under her shirt.
Ginny Weasley looked about seven or eight months along