Harry was sitting in Teddy's room, rocking his sleeping godson. He had offered to put the infant down for a nap, but now he just didn't want to put the boy down. Teddy looked like both Remus and Tonks and his presence was helping to ease the loss of his friends. He couldn't wait until Teddy was old enough to start understanding the stories that Harry often told him when he rocked the baby. "I'll never let you end up somewhere like the Dursleys, little man," he told the sleeping baby. "And if something happens to me, you'll have a big family that will take care of you. You'll never be unloved, Teddy."
There was a soft knock on the door and Harry turned to see Severus standing in the doorway. "You were never unloved Harry."
The younger man nodded. "I know that now, but before Hogwarts..."
"I wish we could have told you before..."
"I understand, sir. I really do."
Severus nodded. "Camille and I are going to take Aurora to Diagon Alley. Since she doesn't care about flying I told her that I would buy her an owl when she got ready to start Hogwarts. We decided to get all of her shopping done now. Would you like to come with us?"
"Sure," Harry said, standing and carefully tucking Teddy into his bed. "I should probably get a few things if I'm going to go back this year."
"You'll need dress robes too. We are planning another ball at Christmas."
He turned to look at his godfather. "They aren't planning another Tri-Wizard Tournament are they?"
"Not to my knowledge. If I had my way, they'd never do that again."
"Good," Harry replied with a nod. "Mother replaced my dress robes when she bought all those other clothes a few weeks ago, but I have considered getting another owl and I do need some parchment and other things. And I should go get my trunk from the Weasleys."
"Come with us to Diagon Alley and then you can go to the Weasleys."
Harry nodded. "Are you taking Katie Beth as well?"
"Yes. She's never been and she'll enjoy it."
Half an hour later the small group Flooed into the Leaky Cauldron and made their way through the passage into Diagon Alley. They stopped first at Madam Malkin's where both Harry and Aurora were measured for new school robes. Harry hadn't thought about returning to Hogwarts and he wasn't really sure what had happened to his old ones, though he supposed that they might not fit any longer as he had grown a couple inches since the beginning of his sixth year.
"If I'm going to be staying in Slytherin, will I be wearing a Slytherin patch?" Harry asked Severus.
Severus lifted his daughter, who was getting antsy, onto his hip. "I hadn't really considered it. My suggestion would be to wear both patches. You are still Gryffindor, but you are being...adopted...by the Slytherins."
"Adopted by the Slytherins. I like that idea," Harry replied. "I guess the Hat knew what it was doing when it wanted to put me there in the first place."
"Had you been Sorted into my House, things would have been much different. I would have been able to protect you much better than I did and I could have been more open about it."
Harry sighed. "It's alright, Uncle Sev. What happened, happened. We can't go back and change it, no matter how hard we wish. You did the best that you could."
Once finished at Madam Malkin's, they bought Aurora's cauldron and potions kit and then decided to break for lunch. Harry looked over at Severus and Camille. Severus was looking into Camille's eyes as if the two of them were communicating in a way that only the two of them understood. "I'll take the girls to get something to eat and then we'll go see George and Ron. You two can go have lunch by yourselves."
Severus turned to look at him. "Harry..."
"We insist," Harry responded, lifting his goddaughter onto his hip. "Don't we Katie-bug?"
The tiny raven-haired girl nodded. "We want to go with Uncle Harry."
Severus shook his head. "Alright. We'll meet the three of you at Eyelops at one."
Harry nodded and headed to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch. After eating, he took them to Weasley Wizarding Wheezes and they were greeted by Harry's old Gryffindor team mate, Angelina Johnson. Harry knew that she had dated Fred at some point toward the end of their time at Hogwarts.
The young woman pulled him into a tight hug. "Harry, it's good to see you."
"It's good to see you too, Angelina. What are you doing here?" he asked her.
"I needed something to do to keep busy," she said sadly. "So I offered my help to George and Ron. I've been helping Ron mind the shop while George does some inventing, though occasionally George lets me help in his lab."
He gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
"Who do you have with you?" she asked, changing the subject.
Harry looked down at Aurora, with the dark hair and gray eyes of the Black side of the family, and smiled at his sister. He hadn't considered it before, but he was glad that he wasn't the only one that didn't have the typical Malfoy blond hair. "Did you read the Prophet?" He asked her. When Angelina nodded, he continued. "The older one here is my little sister Aurora Malfoy. And this other little angel," he said, lifting Katie Beth into his arms again. "Is Katie Beth Tyler and she's Professor Snape's daughter."
"Snape has a daughter?" Angelina asked, her eyes wide.
"He hid his wife and daughter to protect them because of his spying," Harry told her, as Katie Beth rested her head against his shoulder. He kissed her forehead. "Girls, this is Angelina, one of my friends from Hogwarts. We played Quidditch together."
"It's nice to meet you," Aurora said politely while Katie Beth just smiled shyly.
Angelina smiled. "It's nice to meet you both." She held out a little pink Pygmy Puff to Katie Beth.
"Can I, Uncle Harry?" the little girl asked, looking up at her godfather.
"You may. My friend Ginny has one that she named Arnold," he told her.
Katie Beth took the little Pygmy Puff and cuddled it close. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Angelina replied before addressing Harry again. "George is upstairs. You can go on up."
He nodded and put Katie Beth down. "Can they stay down here with you?"
"Of course. I'll show Aurora the Skiving Snackboxes. She looks to be about Hogwarts age."
"I start this fall," Aurora told her.
As soon as Angelina had them occupied, Harry slipped upstairs to see George. He found his old friend just sitting at one of the worktables that they had set up. "Hey George," he said, sitting across the table .
"Heya Harry," George replied.
"How are you doing?"
George sighed. "If Ron and Angelina hadn't offered to help, I wouldn't have even opened back up. I'm not sure that I can do this without him. It's like...it's like part of me is missing, Harry."
"The two of you have done everything together. All of your memories involve him."
George nodded and stared at him for a moment. "How are the Malfoys treating you?" he asked, changing the subject.
"It was rough at first," Harry told his old friend. "But it's getting better. I'm actually enjoying being an older brother. And Draco and I...understand each other, I guess. Sometimes we don't even need words to understand what the other is thinking. Snape's not as bad as everyone thinks. Narcissa...well, she tends to smother a bit...almost as bad as your mum."
At that George smiled a bit. "What about Lucius? How are you getting on with him?"
"Better every day. There are a lot of things that we have to work through. But...after James and Lily died, James' ancestral home was sold. Lucius bought it to save it for me. He gave me the deed the other day. I'm still not really sure what to think."
"You look happy."
"I am, George...I finally have a family. But even though I've been restored to my rightful family, I will always consider your family as my first real family. Your family has been there for me since that first day in King's Cross. And I'm grateful."
"We Weasleys boys talked it over a long time ago and decided that you were one of us. That's the reason we came to get you in Dad's flying car. After that Mum and Dad talked to Dumbledore about making you part of the family officially, but he wouldn't go for it. But we decided that a bunch of papers did matter. You were a Weasley and Weasleys stick together...well, except for Percy, but the way some of us figure it, he was left out in the garden and Mum and Dad took pity on him."
Harry couldn't help but laugh and after a moment, George joined him. The younger man smiled, glad to hear his friend...his brother...laughing again.