Here After

by Kiamii

Chapter Four "Forgetting"

Warning: Flufff~ And since I'm sooo not familiar with British terms. I might say either term for the same thing. Sorry if I do. I'll try to get into the habit of the british term for it.

We have all forgotten more than we remember. - Proverb.

"Any luck?" Ron asked a few days later as he stepped through the floo alone. Ginny was at work, having gotten a job as a Quidditch instructor for children, leaving Harry home alone with Alex since it was his day off and his daughter was at muggle school. Ron found his best friend sitting on the floor in front of baby Alex who was wearing only his nappy, a pair of velcro sneakers, and a Gryffindor tee. The baby was looking annoyed and refused to stand up it seemed while Harry looked put out. The Auror captain looked up at Ron and stood up before he answered him.

"None. He refuses to talk and I've been at this for like a week it seems even though it's only been three days since we visited James and the others." Harry sighed.

"Teddy is coming over today, isn't he?" Ron suggested. Harry looked at his best friend and brother-in-law before his eyes lit up, finally given an idea to work with. Now all he had to do was wait for his godson to show up. He scooped Alex up into his arms and carried him to the kitchen. He sat Alex in the high chair and placed a sippy cup in front of the baby, looking at Ron while Alex clumsily picked up the cup and began to drink from it, trying his best not to spill though it was charmed to prevent much of a mess. The wonders of magic...

"When did you take him off the bottle?" Ron asked curiously.

"Just two days ago in fact, though I think I'm going to keep him on it only at night. It seems to comfort him. I tried to get him off last night and he ended up with a nightmare. Not sure of what though. He's only 14 months and I was 15 months old when my parents died so he wouldn't have seen their deaths." Harry explained as he checked to make sure Alex was alright with drinking the milk by himself. The two aurors talked about a new case that had arrived when the floor dinged and out stepped Teddy Lupin. Right at that moment, Alex dropped his cup to Harry's slight exasperation as he reached down to pick it up. Alex was staring at Teddy with pure astonishment on his face and luckily no one noticed this.

"`Wotcher Harry! Ron!" Teddy said cheerfully.

"Hey there Teddy," Harry laughed, lifted Alex up into his arms after casting a quick cleaning charm. Teddy paused, looking at the baby for a moment. Alex had thankfully stopped looking like Teddy had three heads when attention had turned to him. Inwardly the former teen was in shock at how much this boy looked like Remus Lupin. It had taken him by surprise and he wondered if he was Remus' kid or something. Then the mother was who? Could it be Tonks! They were dating last time he checked anyways.

"Woah, I was here a month ago and you suddenly pop out a fourth kid Harry?" Teddy asked, astonished.

"He's adopted and named Alex Potter," Harry retorted, grinning. Teddy raised his arms for the baby and Alex was handed over to the young adult. Alex found himself looking wide eyed at the man who looked very similar to Remus and he wondered where the man was. Then Teddy's hair changed to bright pink like Nymphadora Tonks normally had her hair startling Alex into bawling, unable to control the baby side of him like most of the time now. Teddy frowned as the baby wailed, puzzled as to why a trick that normally made babies giggle made this one cry. He ignored Harry and Ron's amused looks at his failure and he sat on the floor with the baby, bouncing him up and down. At first he thought, dreadfully, that the baby was in need of a change but after a reluctant check, found him dry. He looked baffled at the baby before he drew Alex close to his chest. After rubbing the baby's back gently, Alex finally calmed down, his thumb going into his mouth though Teddy stopped him at the last minute, looking to Harry who handed him a dark blue dummy he had taken to carrying one around whenever.

"Hey Teddy, why don't you be Alex's godfather," Harry spoke up. Teddy looked up, aghast and immensely surprised.

"Me! I can barely keep a plant alive!"

"I thought the same thing kid when your dad asked me," said Harry with a snort. Alex was distracted by the pendant around Teddy's neck and kept trying to grab it, pouting when Teddy pulled it back at the last second. Alex kicked his legs in protest and Teddy quirked an eyebrow at the baby, finally noting the stairs were not baby proofed. At Teddy's questioning stare, Harry elaborated that Alex was fourteen months old but refused walking and talking currently. He had only said a few words since Harry and Ron had found him apparently. Teddy looked at the baby again and stood up, putting him on the floor. He then took off his pendant and walked away, sitting on the floor and holding it up slightly. The baby's eyes followed the golden wolf moving its head next to a pixie looking person that floated around the wolf pendant.

"Careful there Teddy. He likes putting things in his mouth," warned Harry though he watched as the baby frowned, his dummy bobbing up and down as he stared at the pendant before the baby grabbed the couch next to him, trying his best to heave his small body up. The three men watched in fascination as the baby determinedly stood up finally, his legs wobbily.

"Come on Lex," Harry said encouragingly, using the nickname his eldest had given Alex.

"You wanted to see it right?" Teddy asked, a small smirk on his face. Alex looked to be scowling almost, which was amusing on a baby's face, before he let go of the couch, swaying for a moment before steadying himself as best as possible. He then clumsily took one step in front of him, followed by another. He was halfway through when he lost balance and fell, his dummy falling from his mouth and Alex having tears in his eyes, mostly looking frustrated. Surprisingly he didn't cry, though tears fell from his eyes in annoyance. Harry walked over to the baby and picked him up, frowning as Alex didn't burrow into his shoulder like he had taken to doing. Instead he bashed his small fist against Harry. The man looked a little surprised by his antics, seeing as Alex was normally very quiet.

"I think he's just tired maybe," Harry said as he lightly rocked the child in his arms, "but I might need to get him checked out to see how far he is set back and if anything had happened to him before we found him. That spell still gets me."

"Spell?" Teddy asked. Harry nodded.

"There was a spell on Alex when we found him and it seems to be the cause of an explosion in Surrey where he was." Harry explained as he tenderly wiped at the baby's tears. He had raised all three of his children equally with Ginny, so knew quite a lot about raising a child at the very least. Alex again kicked his legs around in displeasure causing Harry to look down at the baby.

"Want!" Alex cried, reaching his arms for the pendant. The three men were slightly surprised by the baby's demand and Teddy frowned before dangling the item above Alex.

"Did you guys buy any magically moving toys yet?" Teddy asked.

"I wasn't sure if he'd react well to them yet considering we had found him in a muggle neighborhood though he's magical so I had blocked the magic on most of the toys. Now I think I should. It seems he was very much surrounded by those types of toys." Harry stated as the baby giggled and cooed, his arms batting at the pendant happily. Harry smiled, glad to see Alex happier now and he wiggled a few fingers into the baby's tummy causing Alex to squeal in laughter.

"He's a fussy baby," Teddy commented.

"Normally he's unusually quiet." replied Ron as he ruffled Teddy's hair, grinning at his brother-in-law's godson who looked indignant. The young man withdrew his pendant and put it back around his neck.

"So James told us you were snogging a certain someone," teased Harry as he finally put the baby into the playpen, undoing the charm on a magical stuffy inside. The baby cooed at the hooting owl and began to poke the owl, smiling happily when the owl made noises at each poke. Teddy, meanwhile, turned bright red as he suffered his godfather's teasing about becoming part of the family. He poked his tongue out at Ron who had commented about Alex getting a playmate in the family at that rate and he smiled at the child in the playpen.

"It's not as if we had done i-"

Screeeech!

The owl had squawked seemingly indignant and the baby looked up innocently, having just pinched the owl's beak shut. Harry and Ron shared very amused grins while Teddy stared at the baby, baffled. The kid was certainly cunning, he decided. He rolled his eyes at the other two adults' laughter. He plucked the owl from the child and ignored the baby's glare. He was in the process of fiddling with the owl when he felt it pulled from his hands and watched in shock as it landed in the baby's hand, Alex hugging it.

"Mine!" Alex said, upset it seemed.

"Looks like someone is a powerful wizard," commented Harry as he picked Alex up from the contraption. The others nodded their agreement and Ron told the two he needed to get to work early to file paperwork. Teddy offered to go with Harry to pick up Hugo and Lily. After getting a pair of muggle jeans on Alex, Harry checked around the house for anything he needed. The auror thanked his godson and with Teddy's help, strapped Alex safely in the muggle style stroller considering it was quite a walk from the school to their home but they never took the car much, preferring the good outdoors. Alex kicked his legs around, his dummy back in his mouth, as he looked left and right at all the things around. He felt slightly sleepy since that morning, but he ignored that in favor of the very cute girls in front of him, stopping Harry as they cooed at Alex. After awhile though he began to feel very tired and, dare he say it even in his own head, cranky. He whined and began to tear up, causing Harry to hastily tell the girls goodbye, pulling a flirting Teddy with him, and hurry to the school where the two nine year olds were.

"Daddy!" Lily said happily, "What kept you?"

"A few girls thought Alex was irresistible. He's going to be a heart breaker when he's older, your brother," Harry said with a grin. Lily giggled and Hugo grabbed their bags, following his uncle along as they returned home. The two kids chattered around while Alex had grown very quiet, his dummy quietly being chewed on. Teddy looked at the child in concern and waited until they returned to the house to tell Harry. The auror frowned and picked Alex up, noting with worry that he was getting a little too warm for his liking.

"I think he's getting sick," Harry sighed as he brought Alex upstairs and into the nursery. He had forgotten that babies were more vulnerable to diseases and after a quick spell from Madam Pomfrey he had learned a few years back after James was born, he discovered it wasn't a muggle sickness. Bugger. That meant it was going to be more difficult. Harry had forgotten to buy childrens potions as well, which meant a trip to Diagon Alley and being the former Boy-Who-lived, now Man-who-conquered-Voldemort was difficult if you wanted to do some shopping. Kreacher was no longer alive, having died of old age when Lily was born and Hermione would kill him if he even thought about getting another house elf though he was tempted.

"Teddy!" Harry called, "Can you watch the kids for me? Ginny isn't due home until tonight because of the game and I need to go out and get something from the Alley."

"So you need me to watch the kids for a few hours," joked Teddy, knowing how hard it was for his godfather to get around in public. At least at Hogsmeade no one had made much of a fuss, because he had looked anywhere but at the general public and it might have had to do with a small notice-me-not charm around his family that day except for when they were in the Three Broomsticks and that only because no one bothered looking for him there at the time thankfully. Harry nodded guiltily and his godson laughed, telling him it was alright and that he'd handle everything, though Teddy really didn't know what he had just signed up for.

Magical babies with magical illnesses were not the most pleasant of things to happen, as he'd find out.

Author's Note: Hehehe I hope this was enjoyable. It's a little more of Harry of the past unable to control his baby side of him. A sick magical baby = chaos. Whoot! This is somehow easier to write than other stories. Anyways, you should review!