As the circular room became their new home, their bedroom assignments were as tight as they could be. Pillows were transfigured into beds and curtains were hung around them to give privacy. It wasn't so much a privacy issue, it was just you could hear everything someone was doing. Merlin knows Hermione seemed to have forgotten her silencing charms.

Molly didn't seem to hear, however. She put Harry and Ris on either side of Teddy's own room, and soon, the curtain between Ris and Teddy's became a doorway. She spent most of her time with Teddy and Harry, finding that Ron and Hermione had simply drifted away from her.

She supposed that was her fault, as she had been the one to leave. As Teddy grabbed ahold of Ris's diamond necklace, one she had had since birth, Harry's voice drifted across from them.

"Don't steal jewelery, Teddy. That's not very nice."

"Yes, it's not," Ris agreed, uncurling the little boy's hands. She stared at Teddy as his appearance changed to black hair and green eyes, announcing his godfather's arrival more than anything. "I thought you'd be hanging out with Ron or Ginny or Hermione," Ris mentioned.

"Ron and Hermione are doing Merlin knows what," Harry admitted. "Ginny and George are talking... So I guess that leaves you."

"If you want to hang out with Teddy, I suppose I can talk to Molly-"

"I can't hang out with you?"

Ris glanced up at him, "I didn't think you wanted to. Ginny won't talk to me, only the others. Ron and Hermione are just polite, but there are awkward silences. I was a fool to think I could just return and things would be the way they were. Everything's different now."

"And me?"

"I'm not quite sure," Ris admitted. "We don't have such a big gap. Perhaps it's because of Teddy." Harry glanced at Teddy, as if remembering he was there. The boy giggled as Harry's eyes remained on the boy. "But me leaving strained our friendships."

"Well, I don't think it did." Harry took Teddy from her arms, putting the child on his lap as he sat on the floor beside her. "How was your mom?"

Ris shrugged, "The same as-"

"Ma!"

Both godparents froze, their eyes connected, before they glanced at the now black-haired boy. His gray eyes, like Ris's own, stared at them. His lips opened once more, bright pink and shining. "Ma!" he cried.

Ris's breath left her in a swoosh, and she stared at the boy with... something akin to amazement. "Teddy... I'm not- I mean..."

Harry cleared his throat. "Did he just call you...?"

"He's too young to know what he's talking about," Ris insisted. "Right?" She glanced at Harry, begging for him to tell her she was right. "Wizarding children don't learn to formulate words until a year. They're advanced more than Muggle children, but-"

"Teddy," Harry said gently, to the boy in his lap. "What do you mean?"

"He can't answer you," Ris reminded him, not nastilly, but because he sounded as though he expected an answer. Their gaze didn't waver from Teddy and so suddenly, he cried yet again.

"Ma!"

"Ma," Ris repeated quietly. "Ma Ga Fa La?"

Harry gave her a funny look, but Teddy spoke, "La Sa Grom Ah!"

She relaxed slightly. "He's just making sounds," she told Harry carefully. "Good... If he was saying words, I don't know what I'd do... Tonks should be the one to hear this... She should be the one caring for him and watching him grow. Lupin should be teaching him how to play Quidditch and … and how to find a girl and-"

"They're gone," Harry answered quietly. "They can't be here for him. They chose us to take care of him."

Adamaris ran her hand through Teddy's now vibrant red hair. "We just have to make him understand, as best we can, that his parents were amazing people and they sacrificed their lives for a better future for him."

"They did," Harry agreed faintly.

"And," she continued, lightly. "Could you imagine what a nightmare he'd be if Tonks was teaching him how to do animal faces?"

Harry laughed suddenly, imagining it. "Yes, good thing he's with us, indeed. But, how was your mum?"

"Same as ever. She's fixing up the manor, renovating it," Ris shrugged. Her fingers went to her necklace, rubbing the diamond she had had since she was a small child. Bellatrix had gifted it to her, but it was far too beautiful to throw away because of the woman. "It looks spectacular."

"Does she know about Teddy?"

"Yes. I think if he met her, she'd calm down a bit. She's a little... detached. With Father in jail, Draco working tirelessly to pay off debts and get the Malfoy name back, she's left all by herself. With your permission, I'd like her to meet Teddy... If you don't want her to, of course, that's fine-"

"It is her nephew," Harry interrupted. "Not now, I don't think. When everything calms down, he should meet her."

"That sounds reasonable," Ris agreed quietly. She stood suddenly, taking Teddy from his arms. "Let's get you fed, my dear."

Teddy gurgled and gripped her hair, making her wince. Harry laughed, causing Ris to shoot him a traitorous glare, and she turned abruptly away from him. "Ada?" She glanced back in surprise at the nickname. It had been so long since she had been called Ada. "Thank you for coming back."

"Thank you for getting me," Adamaris replied simply. "I would have never known... and done something I regretted."

"Like marrying a vampire?" Harry said with a grin.

"I said regretted, not something stupid," Ris returned. She ran her hands along Teddy's back, relaxing him as she made her way to the kitchen area. "If I had chosen to stay, would you have let me stay, no questions asked?"

Harry snorted. "Please, I'm known for doing things that are stupid. Of course not. I probably would have made Hermione give you a big long lecture about how stupid it was and how you were going to get yourself killed, if you kept hanging out with them." Ris considered it. He probably would have. She shook up the bottle in the kitchenette's fridge, before casting a heating charm on it and pressing it against Teddy's lips. The boy sucked immediately. "Did he... make you happy?"

"Not... At first, I think so... but more happy he was making me forget... making me feel like a normal human being, not... who I really was." She shrugged lightly. "But he didn't make me happy, not as happy as I had been."

"Do you still love Keith?"

"Of course," Adamaris answered promptly, without any hesitation. "Just... my life isn't over, anymore, because he's gone. I... I'm not as heartbroken. I've learned to accept it over the years. That's the best you can do, I guess. But you always love your first love. Nothing ever really goes away from it."

**

She could hear the unmistakable sound of Hermione and Ron going at it, yet again. Ris sighed, getting off of her bed and heading towards the curtain seperating her and Teddy. She started in surprise at Harry already sitting by the crib, leaning into the crib as he stared down at the sleeping baby.

He didn't seem to notice her.

"Do you think if I shout they need a silencing spell, they'd be terribly annoyed?" Ris asked casually, but quietly, approaching him.

Harry snorted. "Go for it, but you might wake up Teddy."

She cast a silencing charm around the crib and stepped through the curtain, calling. "Bloody hell, Hermione. Use a bloody silencing charm or go shag in the snow." And then there was roaring laughter, familiar laughter, that she hadn't heard in well... years. George.

Abruptly the sounds stopped and Hermione appeared, red-faced, staring out of her curtain. "Adamaris Malfoy!"

"You're going to wake Teddy if you keep screaming," Ris winked. "Keep up the good work, Ron!" She turned, walking back towards the concealed baby, and smirked towards Harry. "And they say I'm not a Slytherin."

"You'd be bloody terrifying if you were." She didn't doubt it. "Probably Bellatrix by now."

The name of the woman made Adamaris's heart clench in absolute hatred. She hated that woman more than anything, and Bellatrix had despised her right back. "Yeah, Bellatrix," Ris agreed quietly, cancelling the silencing charm and sighing at the peaceful look on the baby's face. "Have you heard from Andromeda?"

"After all of the funerals and things... she's ... she needs a moment, I think. I mean, she lost her husband, daughter, and son-in-law all in about a few months-"

"Ted?" Ris whispered. Harry glanced at her. "Since when did Ted... die?"

"Caught by Snatchers when he went on the run... It wasn't safe for him to stay in their home - too many Death Eaters looking for them."

"You need to explain everything, now."

So Harry did. Absolutely everything the memories failed to touch on. Everything that could have possibly mattered. And she had never been so confused in her entire life. So many people were dead. And so many more were left heartbroken in their wake. So many more than she had expected. But that was war.

**

Grimmauld Place was cleared as safe, the Order returning to their homes and an anti-vampire charm cast to prevent Edward from returning. She didn't think he'd react this extremely to their break-up. Afterall, he was pretty level-headed... if not overprotective. Extremely so.

"Don't tell me that you are actually going to take him there," Ron said after a moment, Ris dressing Teddy in a light jacket and tying his shoes tightly onto his small feet - it wasn't as though he was walking, but it was the whole principle of the matter.

"Harry thinks it's a good idea, right, Harry?"

"It's her nephew... she saved my life... I mean," Harry shrugged, glancing towards the two as they got ready. "I don't see why it would be a problem-"

"How about the Dark Lord lived there for two bloody years," Ron pointed out.

"Three," Adamaris corrected absently. She winced as Ron used it for his argument. "Sorry." She pinched the child's cheeks, satisfied when he giggled. "The Ministry have placed enough wards on that place that they can't even get away with casting a hair drying charm. Do you know how distraught Mother was because her hair had to dry naturally? Very distraught, I assure you. She's not going to hurt Teddy."

"You don't know what she'll do!" Ron insisted. "She may have saved Harry, but that doesn't mean anything-"

"It's her nephew," she said slowly. "She won't-"

"And Bellatrix killed her own neice!" Ron cried. Ris winced, knowing that was true, too. "I don't like it, Harry."

"What do you suggest, Ron? Have her come here? The Order would throw fit over that-"

"Why does she even have to see him?" Ron cried. "Bloody hell, the poor kid just lost his parents-"

"Convince him later," Ris muttered to Harry. "I'm leaving while he's still ranting."

"Thanks," he said sarcastically. Ris gave him a bright smile, darting out into the beautiful morning light of London. A few raindrops fell, but it was nothing compared to the sun that was promised to come later. She walked towards the metro, which would take her to Kings Cross and then she could apparate to Malfoy Manor. She didn't want to apparate there directly. She imagined a lot of people were still watching the Manor. Teddy slept the entire trip, not bothered by the raindrops that threatened to fall on them, nor by the sounds of the train.

Muggles were strange creatures, quiet, seated with their hands typing away on little hand-held devices. Things that she didn't understand what they were.

And with the arrival at King's Cross, she apparated, her destination set on her home, and Teddy's aunt.