A few days later, a large brown screech owl swooped into the Weasley's kitchen while Harry and Ron were eating lunch.

It landed on the middle of the table knocking Ron's cup of pumpkin juice over onto his plate. Ron swore and attempted to shoo the owl away, but it merely ruffled it's fathers and stared at him coolly.

"Won't leave until it delivers it's sodding message," Ron growled, attempting to reach for the letter, but the owl quickly fluttered out of his reach and neatly dropped the letter onto Harry's lap.

Harry picked it up slightly puzzled, he didn't recognize the handwriting and he wasn't sure who exactly would be writing to him anyhow.

Oh yes, of course there were lots of people wanting to thank him for defeating Voldemort and all that, but protective wards had been put up around the Burrow so that only owls from people he and the Weasley's knew could enter.

The only owls Harry had gotten recently were from Hermione, and this old fashioned and scrawling cursive didn't remotely resemble her writing.

Curiously, he slit open the envelope and took out the piece of parchment.

"Dear Harry," the letter began.

"As I'm sure you are aware, you were appointed godfather of my grandson, Teddy Lupin, by his late parents, Remus and Nymphadora.

As such, I was wondering if I could trouble you to watch Teddy today at three o'clock as I have several errands I need to run in Diagon Alley, and I would prefer not to take him with me.

Kindly reply at your earliest convenience, and I will be happy to drop him off at the Burrow if you wish.

Sincerely,

Andromeda Tonks"

Harry scanned the letter over a few more times, slowly digesting it.

He had seen Teddy only twice before. The first time had been at Remus' and Tonks's funeral, where had had only dimly registered a wailing, magenta haired baby clutched in Mrs. Tonks arms, through his own haze of pain.

The second time he had seen Teddy was last week, Mrs. Tonks had come to the burrow for dinner, and Harry had actually held him, albeit cautiously, as he had been slightly afraid of dropping him.

He was eager to have a connection with his godson (could he really be a godfather? It still sounded strange to him, even after more then a month of those words floating around in his mind) but he had no experience in watching children.

The closest he had ever come to it was looking after Mrs. Figgs cats for five minutes on one of his forced visits to her house when he was ten, and this was only due to the fact that she had been busy chasing the mailman down the street trying to give him a letter before he continued on his route.

Besides, seeing Teddy was painful, he was so small, so innocent, and when he had looked up at Harry last week with Lupin's gray eyes, and a lavender thatch of hair sprouting out of his head strongly reminiscent of Tonks's hair color the first time Harry had met her, Harry had felt waves of guilt and sorrow threatening to engulf him.

Teddy was an incredibly poignant reminder of Lupin and Tonks, both so young, and so good, and Harry couldn't help but yet again feel guilty over two more beloved people that he had been unable to save.

In many ways, Teddy reminded him of himself, both orphaned as infants, he, like Harry, would never even know his parents. But maybe this was his chance to write a different ending to Teddy's story then how his own had turned out.

If Sirius had been a presence in his life since he was a baby, wouldn't everything have been different? Teddy also had a loving grandmother, which was much more then Harry could say about the Dursleys.

Maybe this was Mrs. Tonks's way of giving him an opening to be involved in Teddy's life, and if that was the case, he owed it to Remus and Tonks to take her up on it.

Right, he told himself firmly, this can't be much harder then the cats. And with that final thought in mind, he briefly scribbled a reply.

Promptly at three o'clock, a knock sounded on the Weasley's front door.

Harry leaped up from the armchair in the living room where he had been nervously tapping his fingers against the frayed edges of the seat, and went to answer it.

As soon as he had made up his mind about watching Teddy, he had informed Ron (who had been leaning over the table to read the letter over Harry's shoulder anyway), and then went to ask permission from Mrs. Weasley before he sent his reply.

She had immediately acquiesced but seemed slightly amused at the prospect. She had also been quick to assure Harry that she would be in the vicinity should he need her.

Ron and Ginny had also both agreed to help him.

Ron had generously shared all his knowledge about babies with Harry: "All I know is that they cry and somethings usually coming out of one end or another."

Ginny had seemed thoughtful, "of course I'll help you, but I've never looked after a baby so little, he's only about a month and a half old. You have to be extremely careful with babies that small." she gave Ron a pointed look.

All in all, they had done their best to prepare for the visit. They had brought down an old crib and some baby toys from the attic. Harry had also been busily removing all dangerous looking items from the floor when Ginny had seen him putting Mrs. Weasley's basket of knitting needles on top of the mantle and burst into laughter .

"He's only a month old!" she had said between giggles, "he's not crawling yet!"

"Well...better safe then sorry!" Harry replied, slightly defensively, he had been feeling like an exceedingly responsible godfather up until that point.

But now, the moment had arrived, and Harry quickly walked into the kitchen to answer the door.

He hesitantly opened it. Mrs. Tonks (or should he call her Andromeda? He had thus far avoided directly addressing her to circumvent this uncertainty) was standing on the stoop holding Teddy in her arms.

As with the first time he had seen her, Harry was subtly reminded of her resemblance to her sister, Bellatrix Lestrange, but every time he had seen her so far, he saw Bellatrix less and her own features more. She still had light brown hair like the first time he had met her last summer, but it was now liberally streaked with gray, and there were far more wrinkles around her care worn eyes.

She smiled at him, "Thank you so much for agreeing to watch Teddy. It's been so many years since I've had to look after a baby that I'd forgotten how exhausting it can be. Any breaks I can get are very much appreciated."

"Really it's no problem!" Harry was quick to reassure her as he stepped aside to allow her to come in, "I'm really glad that I'll be getting to spend some time with him!"

Mrs. Tonks carefully placed a sleeping Teddy in Harry's arms. His hair was light green today, and he looked incredibly tiny wrapped up in a thick fleecy blanket. Sensing his change in position, he squinched up his eyes for a moment, before inserting his fist into his mouth and beginning to suck on it. After another few moments, his breathing again evened out, signifying is return to sleep. Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"Right," said Mrs. Tonks, unslinging an extremely large bag from her shoulder. "Let me tell you everything you'll need to know for the next few hours."

"Teddy's bottle is in here," she said, pointing to a pocket on the outside of the bag, "I've placed a temperature regulating charm on it so you won't need to worry about warming it up or anything like that. He'll be due for a feeding when he wakes up from his nap. After you feed him, make sure to burp him. There's a cloth in the bag that you can put on your shoulder so you don't get your clothes dirty. He'll probably also need a diaper change at some point, you can find fresh diapers over here in the bag," she gestured, "as well as wipes and a changing pad. There's a pacifier for him in here, and if he gets fussy that might soothe him. I've also packed a rattle, an extra blanket, and extra clothes for him in case he needs it." she stopped at this point to give Harry a look, as if to make sure he was paying attention.

Harry's eyes had been steadily widening during this rapid-fire recitation of instructions. This seemed like it was going to be a fair bit more complicated then he had bargained for.

"um...okay," he replied.

"Well, I think I've covered just about everything then." she was still giving Harry a discerning look, as though trying to gauge if he could actually be trusted with her grandson, "do you have any questions?"

"...I guess not?" Harry had many, many questions, such as: how do you burp a baby? How do you fasten a diaper? And, how exactly were they going to make it through the next few hours? But he decided that asking questions such as these might further serve to put doubt in Mrs. Tonks's heart regarding his capability of watching Teddy, so he went with the safest route of denial.

"Well, Molly told me she'll be around, so make sure to ask her if you do end up having any questions." she said briskly, setting the bulging bag down on the nearest chair, which creaked ominously under its weight. "But I'm sure you'll do fine." this afterthought sounded slightly as though she was trying to reassure the both of them.

She planted a kiss on Teddy's forehead, smiled once more at Harry, and then stepped out the door, shutting it firmly behind her.

Harry stared down at his godson, still sleeping peacefully in his arms, maybe this wouldn't be as hard as he thought it would be?

He walked slowly and carefully into the parlor, arms tightly wrapped around Teddy (if he was being completely honest with himself, he was definitely still afraid of dropping him), and somehow managed to gently lower him into the waiting crib.

The parlor door slowly creaked open and Ron and Ginny's heads appeared around the edge of it. Harry pressed a finger to his lips and gestured at the sleeping baby. They nodded and quietly walked into the parlor.

"He's really darling," Ginny whispered, gazing fondly at the tiny slumbering face peeping out from the blankets.

"He's so little!" Ron seemed surprised at this revelation, as though he had forgotten there was ever a stage of life before childhood. "also," Ron continued in hushed tones, "I sent a letter to Hermione and she's coming over soon, she want to see Teddy!"

They had seen Hermione sporadically the past few days, sometimes only for a half an hour at a time. Her parents seemed to have taken it upon themselves to plan as many outings and activities for them to do together as possible, in some kind of attempt at healing their damaged relationship.

Hermione was taking it in stride, "I mean, at least they want to spend time with me." she had confided in Ron and Harry. But on the downside, it meant that she had been too busy running off to Shakespeare plays and antique dental instrument exhibits to spend much time at the Burrow. Seeing her would be quite nice, and maybe somewhere in her voracious reading she had come across a book about how to take care of babies, Harry thought hopefully.

They all quietly seated themselves around the crib. Ginny, absently flipping through an old copy of Quidditch Through the Ages, and Ron intently reading a Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook that he had found in Charlie's room, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Ron's interview with the auror department was scheduled for Monday, just three days away, and he seemed fairly certain that they would start shooting jinxes and curses at him the second he walked through the door to test how good he was, and the only way he'd be able to pass was by memorizing everything in the N.E.W.T. Level textbook.

Harry merely sat, watching Teddy as he slept. He seemed so peaceful and so small, and it somehow comforted Harry just to watch his tiny chest rise and fall as he dreamed.

It hadn't felt like much time had passed when Teddy's eyes fluttered open, once, twice, and then came to rest on Harry. Sensing that this was not his grandmother, his lower lip began to tremble, he scrunched up his little face, opened his mouth wide, and let out a piercing wail.

Harry quickly leaped up and attempted to lift him from the crib, but it was much easier to hold a sleeping baby then it was to hold one that was awake and squirming.

Teddy continued to bawl as though being murdered while Harry tried to shift him to a more comfortable position in his arms, all the while silently praying that he would stop crying. Everything seemed much more dire with a wailing baby in the background, and he didn't want Mrs. Weasley to give a bad report to Mrs. Tonks...

"Here, let me take him while you go fetch the bottle," Ginny had rapidly come over and was reaching out her arms invitingly.

"Thanks," Harry said gratefully, placing the kicking bundle into her arms and bounding into the kitchen to retrieve the bag.

Now, which pocket had she said the bottle was in? After several tries, he finally located it and sprinted back into the parlor, where Teddy was still screaming.

"There, there," Ginny was patting his back soothingly and rocking him from side to side as Harry raced back in and handed her the bottle.

She grasped Teddy firmly in her arms and put the bottle into his open, wailing mouth. The crying stopped nearly instantaneously.

Ron had been watching the entire scene with wide eyes, "how can something that little make that much noise?" he asked in a tone of wonderment.

Ginny merely rolled her eyes at him before smiling down at Teddy, who was now calmly sucking on the bottle.

Harry's racing heart had slightly slowed down from their first adventure in babysitting when Hermione walked into the parlor.

"Hello! I knocked on the door, but no one seemed to hear me..." at that moment, she zeroed in on Teddy in Ginny's arms.

"Oh my goodness!" she squealed in a tone of voice that Harry had probably never heard her use before, "he's adorable!"

She rushed over and plopped herself down next to Ginny, "who's a little darling? Teddy is, Teddy's a darling!" she crooned, leaning over and beaming it him. Teddy stared innocently back at her with his large, gray eyes, still content with his bottle.

Ron gave Harry a look clearly meant to signify, 'what exactly is it with girls and babies?', but Harry just shrugged his shoulders in response. Teddy was pretty adorable (how many babies have tiny button noses and fluorescent colored hair?) but he wasn't about to embarrass himself by tickling Teddy's toes and talking to him in the manner that Hermione and Ginny were currently exhibiting.

After Teddy's feeding, Hermione demonstrated to him how to properly burp Teddy ( 'no, no, not like that, I read a parenting book once and it clearly said to hold them like this when they're being burping...), and Ginny helped him change his diaper. All of this happened with Ron's running commentary on the sidelines ( 'that's really how you change a diaper? That's disgusting! People must be mental when they talk about the 'joy of parenting'!'), but it abruptly ended when Hermione shot him a glare.

After the shock of waking up from his nap and not finding his grandmother there, Teddy was generally in an affable mood. But there were several instances when he began to cry, and they could find no discernible reason for the cause.

"he's not hungry or tired and we just changed him!" said Hermione somewhat desperately, who was holding Teddy on one of these occasions, "I don't know what he could want!"

"Here, let me have a turn holding him, maybe I can help," said Ron in an awfully nonchalant tone of voice for someone who had thus far never held Teddy.

"Well...if you're sure," said Hermione tentatively.

"'course I am," Ron casually reached out his arms, scooped Teddy up, and began jiggling him awkwardly in the air. Hermione stayed standing standing next to him nervously jerking her arms slightly out whenever Ron's bouncing became too vociferous for her liking, as if to catch Teddy if he fell.

Within a minute or two, Teddy's cries had turned into soft gurgling, and he reached out a pudgy little hand, and grabbed onto Ron's nearest finger.

"See? I knew I'd be good with babies," said Ron happily.

Ginny smirked, "they can probably sense that you're someone on a similar emotional and intellectual level as them."

Hermione though had stopped waving her arms desperately through the air under Teddy every few moments, and instead gave Ron a proud smile, which he grinningly returned.

As the afternoon wound down, Mrs. Weasley poked her head in to check on them.

"Everything going all right?" she asked Harry, who was currently holding Teddy.

"Yeah, I think we're managing," he smiled at her.

"I'm so glad to hear it!" she smiled back at all of them, "I've just received a message from Andromeda that she'll be here soon to pick Teddy up."

The afternoon had gone at once both very slowly and very quickly, Harry reflected, as they put away the many objects they had taken out of the diaper bag throughout the course of Teddy's visit.

A few minutes later he heard a knock at the front door, and Mrs. Weasley opening it and greeting Mrs. Tonks. He was about to push through the parlor door with Teddy in his arms when he stopped short. He heard sniffling on the other side, as though someone was crying, and Mrs. Weasley saying "There, there," in a comforting tone of voice. Harry quickly backed away from the door, not wanting to intrude, but he heard Mrs. Tonks's next words anyway.

"I've just been putting their bank accounts in order," this was punctuated by more sniffling, "she was just so, so young. Only twenty-five, and she had so much to live for, I mean, Teddy was a month old!" Mrs. Tonks's voice cracked at this point, but she continued, "why couldn't she have stayed home like we agreed? Why did she have to throw herself into the middle of that battle? Didn't...didn't she love Teddy and I as much as she loved Remus?" she sounded slightly agonized.

"Of course she did," Mrs. Weasley's voice was full of sympathy and comfort and shared grief, as only a fellow mother who has lost a child can empathize, "she loved you and Teddy more than we'll ever know, and that was partly why she had to go to the battle. She wanted a world where Teddy can grow up safe and happy, a world where you don't have to live in fear for marrying a muggle-born. She wanted a better world then the one that currently existed, and a world like that sometimes needs to be fought for. But every minute of battle is worth it because there's a purpose,"

Harry had given up trying to quietly inch away from the door and was now listening intently to what Mrs. Weasley was saying. She was right, no one had died in vain, they had been able to create a better world. And even if it wasn't perfect, at least it was a work in progress, and that was miles ahead of where things had been before the end of the war. He looked down at Teddy, still protectively held in his arms, and he felt comforted at the sight of this baby who would grow up in the better world of their dreams.

He stepped closer to the door and listened for another moment, but he heard nothing more from the kitchen. Clearing his throat loudly he opened the door and stepped through it.

Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Tonks were sitting next to each other at the kitchen table, and aside from slightly red eyes, Mrs. Tonks seemed to have composed herself.

She smiled at the sight of Teddy, "and how was my little Teddy bear?" she asked Harry, gently lifting Teddy from his arms.

"He was excellent," Harry gathered up his courage to continue what he was trying to say, "do you think that maybe I could watch him about once or so a week?"

She was silent, and gave him a long look, her arms grasped shelteringly around Teddy.

"I mean, only if you feel comfortable with it," he added hastily, not wanting to force her into a decision.

"I think we can arrange that" she said slowly, a small smile slipping across her face. A moment later she added, "I'm sure something like this would have made Remus and Dora very happy."

"I hope so," Harry said quietly.

Later that night as Harry lay in bed, thinking about the day, he felt a quiet kind of happiness begin to fill him up whenever he thought about the time spent with Teddy. Yes, it had certainly been much harder then watching Mrs. Figgs cats, but it had also been much more rewarding, like when Teddy had bestowed a toothless smile upon them. Maybe there was something to this 'joy of parenthood' thing after all, was his last thought before he drifted peacefully off to sleep.