DON'T READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO.

AN: Chapter 20 (next chapter on track) will be up later tonight.

ANII: This is the final Prequel chapter. Please review?

The Prequel Part Three

The letters came the next day, they all bore TransAtlantic stamps so Harry didn't get to see Pigwidgeon.

Dear Harry,

I am so sorry I started with Ginny being pregnant. That confrontation wouldn't have been as bad if everyone hadn't started off yelling. If you need anything let me know, we will always be family.

All the Best,

Bill

Dear Harry,

You can't just drop that on us. Why didn't you tell us what was going on? On knew you were having trouble with the banks, but why did you have to leave? We could have come up with another solution. My parents will not come back to England and I can't undo what I did to them. Remember that you can always change your mind, you always have a home with us.

With Love,

Hermione

P.S. Don't be too hard on Ron, he will come around.

Dear Harry,

Am I happy you broke my daughter's heart and moved across the ocean rather than coming to us for help? No.

Harry, my sweet, you have no idea how much responsibility a child is. You're only seventeen, you haven't had a chance to figure out who you want to be. Andromeda can handle her grandson. Come home, Harry. If you have to take them in then bring them with you but running away from Britain will not help you get away from the nightmares.

As a mother who loves you, I beg that you come back home.

With Love,

Molly

Hi Harry,

If you need any help in America let me know. I know some people.

All the Best,

Charlie,

P.S. The Weasley clan will come around, just give them time.

Dear Harry,

You're doing the right thing.

Best of Luck,

Feorge an-

Dear Weasleys and Hermione, Harry wrote back.

I am sorry I sprang the news on you the way that I did. But I need to be here for my godson, I can't abandon him the way I was.

If you still want me to come to a dinner now and then as well as on holidays I'll come.

Love You All,

HP

Summer in Berkshire County was incredible. No wonder there were so many tourists and business people with second homes here. The days were mostly mild and the handful of hot days Harry jumped in the lake that was conveniently located just past his front lawn.

He liked swimming at night while Teddy was asleep. Harry kept the window open, the screen keeping the mosquitoes out but allowing Harry to hear if Teddy when he cried.

The people who lived here were almost abnormally friendly, it probably had something to do with them all having dogs, maybe one out of five houses didn't have a pet of some sort.

Some days Harry would go on short hikes, the forests were endless, trees, huge rocks, rivers, caves, and even waterfalls. Harry didn't bother staying on the path as he could always apparate back home. He saw a lot of squirrels and bunnies, but he really liked finding the deer and the foxes. The variety of birds was amazing, too. Alone in the woods, Harry had imagined it would be quiet, it wasn't. Insects chirped, birds sang songs on top of one another, calling and responding. One day Harry started mimicking them.

The state bird of Massachusetts was the Chickadee, a little beige and grey bird with white markings on their face and black caps. Despite their name, their call didn't sound like chick-a-dee, they sounded like, chick-a-ehn-ehn-ehn. Harry made that sound and the Chickadees fell quiet for a moment then called out to him. He was absurdly pleased with.

Yet with how beautiful Massachusetts was and how much Harry liked taking care of his little family, Molly was right about one thing, the nightmares didn't go away. No matter how hard he fought them or ran from them -the moment he slipped into sleep they swallowed him down. Keeping down food became a problem and he turned into a perpetual insomniac. At this rate, he worried about how he would do in school if he couldn't get more than three to four hours of sleep in a twenty-four hour period.

He began studying to get ahead. Studying helped a lot, focused his mind gave him something to interact with as Teddy the baby couldn't make full symbols yet, more like screeches and 'eh' noises and Mrs. Tonks spent her days communing silently with the lake as if she thought if she just willed it hard enough the water would rise and drown her where she stood.

Harry hid the kitchen knives after he used and washed them.

Harry exchanged a lot of letters with Professor Flitwick and Harry read charms books almost exclusively, tearing through contact at a pace that would do Hermione proud. It was when Harry asked Flitwick about wards that he got into Arithmancy. It was a new subject but it was like finding an old friend. Harry had always been good at math in primary school even as he dumbed down his tests answers because of the Dursleys. Harry enjoyed drawing the symbols and when he felt confident enough he began drawing with his wand the glowing lines were fascinating.

Summer ended too soon, three months pacing in a breeze. Harry accepted a dinner invite to the Weasleys, figuring it would be best to go before school started.

"Don't you have anything pink to wear?" Harry asked Mrs. Tonks as he sorted through her closest.

Ordinarily, he would consider this rude, but he did the woman's laundry, and fed her, and ensured she took showers on a semi-regular basis, looking through her stuff which he had packed and unpacked didn't seem like a big deal.

"I don't own pink," she said in a tone drier than the Sahara Desert.

"Well, I am guessing neither did Bellatrix, and I need you not to look like her."

"Our mother bought her a pink dress once," Mrs. Tonks said.

Harry raised a brow, "I somehow doubt that ended well."

An expression other than utter despair or emptiness almost crossed her face, "Bella almost set the house on fire. Mother would have killed her, but Bella was Father's favorite. She got away with everything."

"How about yellow?" Harry asked.

Harry grinned at the look she gave him.

She stood from her perch on the end of the bed and reached into the back of the closest revealing a baby-blue dress with layered skirts. It was light, airy, and girlish.

"Perfect!" Harry cheered.

Mrs. Tonks laid the dress on the bed and began taking off what she had on. She had absolutely no care if Harry was in the room when she was naked. She seemed to not care about her body, she treated it like it was a thing, a prison retaining and binding her in place.

Harry turned his back on her, looking out the second floor window as she undressed. He would need to get her zipper and brush out her hair so he didn't leave.

At least she wasn't slow about it. A few moments later she tapped his shoulder and he finished zipping up the dress and making sure the tag and hanger bands were tucked in. He sat her on the chair in front of her desk. The chair she used, the desk she didn't. Harry grabbed the brush and worked through her tangled curls. He usually did this when she had just got out of the shower as it frizzed when he brushed or even combed it was dry. But today he planned to braid it so the frizz wouldn't matter, in fact, pulled into a braid her black curls looked shiny Her braid stretched all the way down her back.

"Do you want to put on makeup?" Harry asked.

"No."

"Do you want me to try and put makeup on you?"

"No."

"You look like Wednesday from the Addams Family," Harry said.

No response. Perhaps she used up her talking points for the week.

Harry sighed and grabbed her hand leading her down stairs. Harry swung Teddy's bag over his shoulder and grabbed Teddy in his bulky baby carrier. He had put featherweight charms on both. Being a parent without magic must have been a pain.

Harry apparated his little family to the Weasleys.

Teddy announced their presence with a wailing cry. Harry let go of Mrs. Tonks's hand who drifted to a corner of the room like a dust bunny slipping under the furniture.

Harry had Teddy in his arms rocking him and rubbing his back when Hermione came into the room.

"Harry!" she exclaimed.

Her loud voice made Teddy -who had been calming down start wailing again.

"Inside voice, Hermione, we don't raise our voices at home," Harry said. He whispered, "Shhhh, Teddy, shhhhh, shhhh, you're okay. You're alright."

Teddy whacked his fist against Harry's chest but he quieted.

"Oh, you're good," Arthur said, smiling, "I was hopeless with the babies."

Molly's smile was more forced than her husband's but she kissed Harry's cheeks and cooed at Teddy. Teddy looked at the woman like she was an alien.

"I am cooking so I'll hold him later," she said, "Andromeda come help me in the kitchen."

Mrs. Tonks did a good impression of vampire, hiding in the corner from light.

"Andromeda?" Molly tried again, "Andromeda, come to the kitchen, tell me what it's like to have a baby again and what it is like raising Harry."

The look Mrs. Tonks gave the other woman was borderline panic. She took four quick steps until she was at Harry's elbow. She looked to Harry, a silent plea for help.

He met her scared brown eyes and Harry understood why she was afraid. Mrs. Tonks had been living like she was the one who had died, and if she were dead, if she was just living in a nightmare, if she didn't have to think, or feel, or face reality, then her daughter wasn't really dead. Nymphadora wasn't dead, she was just away, and Ted Tonks wasn't dead either, he would be coming home from St. Mungo's any day now. As long as she kept the baby healthy everything would be okay, everything would fall back the way it should be. Harry was the caretaker of that dream and if he made her face the truth, if he made her wake up neither of them was sure if she was strong enough to survive it.

"It was a rough night, Mrs. Weasley, Mrs. Tonks stayed up all night with Teddy," Harry lied. He had stayed up all night with Teddy, Mrs. Tonks had gotten her first night of complete sleep on the couch sleeping, her head resting on his shoulder. "I can help you in the kitchen if you like?"

"No, Harry dear, I need a woman's hands. Go sit down," Molly instructed.

Harry had to bite his tongue from calling Molly sexist. In her mind he was just a boy. Though if she was measuring him by Ron than he sort of understood. Ron had exactly zero skills with cooking. He could barely manage to roast a marshmallow without setting himself on fire. Much to Harry and Hermione's amusement during their camping adventures.

Hermione, Ron, Arthur, and Percy were the only ones in the living room. George and Ginny were elsewhere. Bill and Charlie had returned to their homes.

"So," Hermione said in a quiet town, "how's the baby? How's America?"

"The Berkshires are beautiful," Harry said with a smile. "I love living there."

"And the baby?" Percy asked.

Harry's smile was soft and genuine as he looked at the baby in his arms. They had settled to normal baby-blue. Teddy was quietly watching Harry like Harry was the shining star in his world when it was really the other way around. "Teddy is a life saver," Harry said.

Mrs. Tonks, who had attached herself to Harry's side, put a hand on the baby. If she was lost at sea then Teddy was her life boat.

Ron was lost, he had no idea what to say to Harry and no clue what to do about a baby. He felt like he should apologize to Harry, but as Harry was probably moving back to Britain after this year it wouldn't matter. They wouldn't stay in America, Tonks' mum looked miserable.

"Anything interesting going on?" Hermione asked.

"I've been reading," Harry said. "I got into Arithmancy, you were so right that it was a better subject than fortune telling."

Hermione's entire being lit up. Arithmancy got them through the time it took Molly to finish setting up for dinner, Percy joined in the scholarly debate. Ron and Arthur more or less zoned out.

Dinner was terrible. No subject was safe and Harry had to fend off any questions anyone directed at Mrs. Tonks. George joined them for dinner and he spent all of his meal with his eyes glued to his food, avoiding so much as looking in Mrs. Tonks's general direction. Harry had to stop eating his own meal to bottle feed Teddy. Molly tried to intervene which is when the down hill dinner tipped off the cliff.

"Here, Harry, let me do that while you eat your food," Molly said, getting up to take the baby, walking around the table to Harry.

The second Molly lifted Teddy, the baby went from fussing to shrieking. Full out baby sobs, like he was in pain. Worse, far worse, than the cry he used when Mrs. Tonks and Harry tried giving him baths in the big kitchen sink.

"Mrs. Weasley!" Harry shouted over Teddy's screaming, "It's alright I don't mind feeding him."

"No, no you're the guest-"

Teddy reached a new ear splitting octave.

Mrs. Tonks had her wand out pointed between Molly's eyes. "Give back my grandson," Mrs. Tonks said coldly, and it didn't matter that she was wearing a summer dress, or that her hair was breaded, or that she had married a muggleborn, Mrs. Tonks looked like the twin of her sister, Bellatrix Lestrange.

Harry snagged Teddy out of Molly's shocked grasp. Teddy's shrieking turned into sniffling hiccups. It made some sense that Teddy would have separation anxiety, Three quarters of his life, Harry and Mrs. Tonks were the only ones to ever hold him. And no matter what anyone said, losing your mother was hard, whether you were ten-years-old, or two-years-old, or one-month-old. It didn't matter that Teddy would never remember his birth mother. He still knew that the woman who had carried him, the woman's whose smell that had been imprinted on him was gone.

Harry stepped in front of Molly, Mrs. Tonks's wand pressing into his lightning bolt scar. She pulled her wand back, staggering back from him. He caught her around the waist with one arm as his other hand pressed Teddy to his shoulder, his head supported with Harry's hand. He was glad Teddy was still peanut sized. He waited for Mrs. Tonks to catch her balance before ushering her back into the room.

"Harry, wait," Molly called, "Don't go."

But Harry had already grabbed Teddy's bag and was making his way back into the living room for the carrier. He knew he was on a timeline, Mrs. Tonks was one word away from a meltdown and Harry wasn't sure what would happen but he couldn't allow to happen here.

He got the carriage and appreciated them back home, with a hasty bye, to the Weasleys and Hermione.

Mrs. Tonks ran up the steps, slamming the bathroom door behind her.

Harry sighed as he bounced on the balls of his feet trying to quiet the once again crying baby. After a minute or so Teddy had chilled out enough to accept his dinner. After fifteen minutes of eating and another fifteen of burping and rocking, he was asleep long enough for Harry to put him down in his crib.

Harry found Mrs. Tonks in the shower, the water so hot it was nearly scolding. She was still wearing her dress and her shoes and she was curled around herself, pressed into the corner of the wall.

Harry turned down the temperature of the water to pleasantly warm rather than practically boiling and took off everything but his pants. He got into the shower with her. He started on her braid first. He finger combed the strands and once she wasn't clutching so hard to her legs, he turned her back to him so he could shampoo and condition her hair. When he was done. He unzipped the dress and left her to finish up on her own.

Harry got changed into dry clothes in his own room before going downstairs to make tea.

Mrs. Tonks joined him sometime later. He had to remake her a pot of tea. She was dressed only in Ted's oversized bathrobe, hugging herself as if she could physically hold in the pain.

After she finished her first cup of tea and started on her second Harry said, "I start school tomorrow."

She said nothing.

"I'll be here for breakfast, lunch, and in the afternoon," Harry explained. "I am taking DADA, Charms, Arithmancy, Transfiguration, Potions, and Care of Magical Creatures. I am also a teaching assistant. I will not be able to be here every hour of every day. Do you understand that?"

Again she remained quiet.

Harry put Hermione's coin that used from fifth year on the table, he had matched it to a watch he wore and altered the numbers to colors. "If you change the color on your coin, I will see it, and come her admittedly, alright?"

She sipped her tea.

Harry slammed his fist on the table causing the china to rattle, "Damnit, Mrs. Tonks! Teddy needs you, needs both of us. I can't take care of him by myself and put food on the table. Tell me you can take care of him for a few hours of the day alone for five days a week while I am away."

She finished her tea and stood, saying only, "Goodnight, Harry." Mrs. Tonks went up to her bedroom and Harry let his head smash on the table. Harry didn't sleep a wink that night.

Harry's time at Ilvermorny slipped away like sand down a funnel. He stuck his nose in a book and avoided making friends, avoided talking to people, and would actively hide from the people who sought him out to talk about his life in Britain. He became the top student in all his classes with an ease that was beginning to frighten even him. Maybe that whole marked as the Dark Lord's equal had been more fact than poetry. He really didn't want to be the next Dumbledore.

Studying, practicing magic, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of Teddy as well as Mrs. Tonks was the only way he knew how to a teaching assistant involved homework in the form of grading other people's homework and tests. It was odious at times and Harry had to do a lot of research just to fact check ninety percent of the papers. He was appalled by the simplifications and the made up bull shit. He reached the point where he had to memorize the textbook so he could stop wasting time flipping through texts. Hermione would have made a great teacher.

Almost five weeks into his first semester at Ilvermorny Teddy almost gave Harry a heart attack. He had just flown back from school and had gone straight to Teddy's room to check on the baby who tended to wake up from his afternoon nap around this time.

Only in the crib there wasn't a baby, there was a puppy.

Harry screamed, "Teddy!" Reaching into the crib hoping against hope that Teddy was under the blankets.

He wasn't.

Harry grabbed the puppy, "Did you eat my son!?" He shook the puppy, not hard but with some energy, Harry was in full fight or flight mood. "Mrs. Tonks!" he screamed, "Teddy's gone! Someone has stolen Teddy!"

Mrs. Tonks had already been bolting up the steps at Harry's first scream slammed into him from behind almost pushing them into the crib with the puppy.

The puppy yipped, before sinking his teeth into Harry's thumb.

It was Harry's turn to yip. But the pain cleared his head. Harry looked again at the puppy and realized it was a wolf pup. A wolf. A werewolf. Remus had been a werewolf. Had Teddy inherited lycanthropy from his birth father? Tonight was the night was the full moon and even though it wasn't exactly night yet the moon had already risen in the sky.

"Teddy?" Harry asked as Mrs. Tonks ran into him, nearly tipping them both into the crib.

The wolf pup, with its sable-grey coat, yipped again, wagging his tail. His eyes were still baby blue, but one was a few shades darker than the other.

Harry petted Teddy's head, Teddy nuzzled him in return, licking the teeth marks on his hand.

"Oh, no," Harry said. "Do I have lycanthropy now? How am I supposed to stay healthy-"

Mrs. Tonks started laughing, wild and rich, she laughed. Harry gaped at her as she slipped to the floor, scooping Teddy up in her arms as she fell on her butt. Harry knelt by her and he wanted to say it wasn't funny but he had never seen her laugh before. Mrs. Tonks did not have a wide range of emotions, laughter was the last thing Harry would have expected.

Seeing her like this Harry couldn't help smiling too. He sank down to the floor with her. What did it matter if he caught lycanthropy? They would deal with it. Like they dealt with everything else.

"He ate Teddy," Mrs. Tonks managed between laughs.

Harry flushed and petted Teddy's soft fur, it was hard to say which version of him was cuter. Mrs. Tonks laughed and laughed until her mirth turned to tears and she began to sob. Sob as if she was trying to expel her heart.

Teddy wined, curling into his grandmother's lap. Harry wrapped his arms around them both. This was the first time he had seen or heard her cry. He held her as she fell apart. He rubbed her back like he did for Teddy when he cried.

"I'm here, Mrs. Tonks," Harry consoled, "I'm here."

"Dromeda," she said into his chest.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Andromeda, my name is Andromeda," she repeated as she clung to him and Teddy.

"We are going to be okay, Andromeda," Harry told her.

She closed her eyes, acknowledging to herself, to Harry, and to her grandson that neither Ted nor Nymphadora were coming back. That wasn't okay, that would never be okay, but they had each other and the three of them would find a way to make a life for themselves.

Amongst all the death and horror, Harry and Andromeda had Teddy, and if not for themselves but for him, they would live.

Story Notes and Recap:

Harry doesn't become a werewolf and they find a wizard from further West with Native American heritage who tells them that Teddy is Wolf blessed. Andromeda starts pulling her weight, she helps Harry recover from a lifetime of abuse, physically and emotionally.

Harry's fame and British accent, along with newfound height and good looks causes him no end of trouble with the students. He ends up taking a firm stance with being called Professor Potter. His looks do help him when he starts bar hopping in the cities when Teddy is older than two years, 'dating' exclusively No-Maj women.

Andromeda helps Harry get a Masters in Potions, like herself, though Harry is still strongest in DADA, Charms, and with wards. Harry is aware and wary of having the same magical strength as Dumbledore.

Teddy grows up homeschooled, exposed to both No-Maj and Magical children. Andromeda and Harry become falcon animgi when he is about three years old.

Ron, Hermione, and Harry hold on a tentative friendship.

Molly never really forgives Harry for leaving Britain and breaking her daughter's heart.

Ginny and Harry do not talk to each other outside of holidays.

Narcissa and Andromeda rebuild their bridges, during winter vacations in the south of France.

Luna, Bill, Charlie, and George have the easiest friendship with Harry in the seven years after the war.

Harry is one of the most beloved professors at Ilvermorny.

Harry loved his life, his son, and Andromeda before Fawkes kidnapped them.

Thus ends the Prequel.

AN: So that is the last of the prequel. Hope you enjoyed this segway, if you didn't, then I told you didn't need to read it.