Though only a gentle, uphill slope, Teddy dragged his feet. 'D'you want me to carry you?' Harry asked.

'Um, yeah,' Teddy said.

Harry knelt down, and Teddy jumped on his back. 'No sleeping, okay? There's no naps at big school.'

'I'm just resting my legs,' Teddy replied confidently.

They started walking again, climbing up into the woodland, following the meandering path. A little more than a minute later, snoring sounded out. Laura looked at Harry, and he looked at her, and they shared a quiet chuckle. Harry left him to sleep.

So they kept walking, and she tried to organise the morning in her memory. A lot had happened in its own, subtle way. She'd met Fleur and Bill and rather liked them, seeming not too different from Hermione and Ron in a lot of ways, and Bill even reminded her of Harry a bit. Bill had said they'd all spent a lot of time together, so it wasn't unexpected they'd have some similarities. Victoire had certainly left an adorable impression—Laura didn't know how a toddler could run so fast with such pudgy legs.

While she'd only spoken a little with Arthur, he seemed kind enough and—as Harry had warned—did have a fascination with Muggles, or at least technology. Hermione had talked about computers before, and Ron practically fell asleep, and that seemed the more normal response from witches and wizards.

Then, there had been Molly, and Laura didn't really want to think about it. She wasn't sure what she'd done, but she also thought she was being too sensitive. Molly hadn't said or done anything rude. It wasn't like everyone had to so readily accept her and welcome her either. Compared to what Harry had gone through with her mother, Laura thought she got off lightly.

She felt silly for being hurt over something as small as being asked not to sit next to Harry. But, it stung, that little bit, reminding her of who she was: no one special.

Breaking the silence, Harry said, 'I'm sorry about Molly.'

'Oh no,' Laura said, lowering her head. 'I should be, I mean, if I just sat in the right chair, it wouldn't have been awkward.'

'She didn't want us sitting next to each other.'

Laura bit her lip, having thought as much.

'Bill will have a word with her, otherwise I'll talk to her.'

'No, it's fine, you really don't have to,' Laura said, feeling terrible.

Harry came to a stop, and she did too, turning towards him. 'You don't look fine.'

She had no answer for that.

After a moment, he started walking again, and so did she. Then, he said, 'She's a lovely woman, really, and stubborn. Sometimes, she gets a bit overprotective too. No one's perfect. But that doesn't mean she can act like that.'

'It's not that big of a deal,' Laura said weakly.

He sighed, and they returned to silence for a while. 'You told your mum off when I met her.'

'That was different,' she said, though she hoped he wouldn't ask her how.

'You wanted me to feel at home. So, let me ask you, did you feel at home?'

Once more, she had no answer she wanted to give, feeling herself try and shrink away from the question. If only she'd just waited and sat down after Molly, none of this would have happened, she thought. It didn't matter any more. She wanted it to, to just go away.

He bumped her, bringing her out of her thoughts. As they kept walking, his arm bumped against hers, again and again. She didn't know if it was what he wanted, but she wanted to, so she pinched his shirt in lieu of holding his hand.

'I know you're being polite and don't want to talk badly about her, but, if there's a problem, we can only fix it if we talk about it. So, I'm not trying to upset you, it's just, I want you to know you didn't do anything wrong.'

That was what he said, but she had to ask herself if she believed him. She was his girlfriend, so of course he'd take her side and tell her it wasn't her fault. 'Would you tell me if I did?'

'Yeah. Will you tell me if I'm ever being stupid?'

Smiling, she said, 'Yes.' Everything wasn't magically better, but, she felt, it was getting there.

'So, Bill and Fleur liked you, yeah?'

'Um, I liked them.'

Harry laughed gently. 'That's good. What d'you think about coming to George's party?'

'It's a little sudden,' she said, padding her thoughts. 'I've not met him yet, so I'm not sure if I should.'

'Well, it's up to you. It should just be all the Weasleys and their partners, and the babies. Nothing too wild.'

'Do you want me to come?' she asked, getting a step ahead so she could see his face.

He smiled, a warm look on his face that she loved. 'There's no rush,' he said, and she believed him.

Nearly tripping over from a root, she turned her attention back to the path in front—Harry couldn't exactly catch her while carrying Teddy on his back, after all. Her thoughts wandering back to Fleur and Bill, she got stuck on a question. 'Babies can't Apparate or use the Floo, can they?'

'Nah. Bill and Fleur drive up.'

'Oh. And Teddy?'

'Well, he could Floo, but it's not the safest thing. Andromeda brings him down on a train usually. I didn't know when we'd finish today, though, so I'll be taking him back to London.'

She nodded and, a thought occurring to her, she checked her pockets for her purse. Opening it up, she did have some change. 'Mind if I join you on the train?'

'It's a bit slower than the Floo,' he said.

Humming, she let go of his shirt and held her hands together behind her back. 'I'm not in a rush.'