Chapter 25

It has been a few days since Harry, Joseph and Teddy moved into their new house. While it was an adjustment at first, everyone was getting used to it. Teddy was the one who took more time, but Joseph and Harry made things easier for him. After moving in, they spent the rest of the afternoon painting the young wizard's room. The day after, they all went shopping in the city, buying things they needed, and saw a movie before having dinner at Teddy's favourite fast food place.

The next day, the three males stayed at home. They spent the morning watching cartoons, had brunch, and flew in the afternoon. Joseph even ordered the latest model of the Nimbus the day before, though he flew at a leisurely speed while Harry and Teddy raced around the property. Teddy helped with dinner, and they ended up falling asleep on the couch while watching a movie in the lounge.

It was now the following day, and Joseph was working in the greenhouse when Teddy came in.

"Where's dad?" Teddy asked.

"He said he had something to do in London" Joseph replied as he placed three similar plants into the holes he just dug up. "He'll be back before lunch."

Teddy nodded and continued to watch Joseph. "Nan had plants like that growing in our garden. I even saw some of them in Aunt Cissy's garden."

"That's not surprising, given all the trouble you and Draco got into" Joseph chuckled. "This plant is called dittany, and it's used for its healing properties. You can pour the extract over wounds or eat the leaves by themselves, and they'll cure most minor injuries."

"That's cool. Dad did say you made potions" Teddy remarked. "Can I help you plant?"

"That's very nice of you, Teddy" Joseph said with a smile. "I would love the help."

Teddy nodded and went to put on gloves. "What should I plant first? Can I plant this one?"

Teddy began walking towards a group of plants that were further away from the others, and as soon as Joseph saw, he immediately got up and put himself between Teddy and the plants.

"No, I do not want you to go near any of the plants in this group" he said firmly, nearly shouting it.

"I'm sorry" Teddy apologised, looking down at the ground.

Joseph's face softened and he bent down on one knee to give Teddy a hug. "No, I'm sorry for reacting like that. I should've told you which plants you could handle."

Teddy nodded and hugged back. After a minute, the two began working. While they did, Teddy asked questions about the plants and their uses, and Joseph answered them. About ten minutes later their pants and shirts were dirty, and they were done.

"That was really fun" Teddy said with a smile. "Thank you for letting me help, and for answering all my questions."

"You're welcome Teddy" Joseph returned with a smile of his own. "Do you want to stay until I've finished with the others?"

Teddy nodded and watched as Joseph levitated the last group of plants towards the far end of the greenhouse.

"I'm sorry for scolding you earlier" Joseph said. "I told you I would keep a level head majority of the time, and the reason I didn't this time was because I was concerned for your safety."

"It's alright, I should've waited" Teddy said. "But why were you worried?"

"You shouldn't approach any plant you're unfamiliar with, no matter how similar they look to other plants you know" Joseph stated as he lowered the plants into their holes. "This one, for example, looks like lavender and the plant across it looks like any normal flower. They're aconite and foxglove, respectively. At first glance, they might seem harmless, but they are both highly poisonous."

"If they're that dangerous, why are you growing them here?" Teddy asked with wide eyes.

"Despite them being dangerous, they're ingredients in some of the best healing potions" Joseph answered. "You'd be surprised to learn that a lot of antidotes or healing potions have poisonous plants as ingredients."

"Why?"

"It's a very long and boring explanation, but think of it this way; let's say there's this Quidditch team and they're the best in the league, absolutely unbeatable. One of the players gets kicked off, and they join another team the following season. He then tells his new team and the other teams in the league about his old team's strengths, weaknesses and tactics. Then the previously unbeatable team was losing every match."

"If the old team didn't change up their tactics for the new season, then they really were going to be beaten" Teddy remarked. "Plus that guy should hope his new team doesn't kick him out. No one's going to let him join their team after he blabbed on his old team."

"You're right, but that wasn't the point" Joseph said as they took off their gloves.

"I know" Teddy said with a chuckle. "So because antidotes have poisons, they kinda know how the poison works and know how to get rid of it."

"That's right. You now know more about potions than Harry" Joseph said with a chuckle as he ruffled Teddy's hair.

Teddy laughed and the two males headed back into the house to get cleaned up. When Harry returned, he found the boys in the kitchen. Teddy immediately went to hug Harry, and began telling him what he and Joseph did that morning.

"Joseph even said I know more about potions than you now" Teddy said proudly.

"Well, that's a pretty low bar" Harry said with a chuckle, and moved to give Joseph a kiss on the cheek. "Sounds like you had a busy morning."

"Busy, but fun" Joseph returned, momentarily turning away from the stove to peck Harry on the lips. "What did you do in London?"

"Met up with Neville to discuss a few things about my lesson plan" Harry replied. "I was wondering if we should invite Professor McGonagall to the party."

"I'm alright with it if you are. I think it'd be beneficial for you to start interacting with her outside a professional setting."

Harry nodded and helped serve the food at the table in the corner of the kitchen. They were halfway through lunch when an owl arrived with a letter. Joseph went to retrieve it, putting a few galleons in the owl's pouch, and sat back down.

"It's from Jess and Louis" he said as he opened the envelope.

""Who're Jess and Louis?" Teddy asked.

"They're Joseph's friends from France" Harry replied. "What did they say?"

"They're just updating me on some stuff" Joseph replied. "Apparently Michel, Anna, Hector and a few other people have quit because of Albert, and are going to start a new apothecary together."

Harry looked up Joseph. "You're old boss's son? You told me that he was a nightmare, but I thought you were exaggerating things."

"You've heard the stories. And need I remind you that I grew up with Draco?"

"Are you saying he's worse than Draco in our first year?"

"I'm saying he's ten times worse than Draco in our first year." Harry chuckled while Teddy looked confused, making the two older men promise they'll explain later. "Jess also got some of her photos featured in an exhibit."

"Good for her. When I went through one of the albums, I thought a lot of her photos could be featured in a magazine."

"Louis will also be in England tomorrow for work. He said Draco owled him about the party, and that they can attend."

"That's great. I've missed them."

Joseph went to send a quick reply before the three males finished their lunch. Harry then spent the rest of the day with Teddy while Joseph prepared for the housewarming party.

"I can't believe you're making me do this" Draco stated.

"You're the one who volunteered to help" Joseph pointed out.

The two were riding in a cab through the city of Lancaster. They were heading to the supermarket to buy ingredients Joseph needed to make the food for the party.

"When I volunteered, I didn't think you'd drag me around the city to shop for the supplies," Draco said.

"We're not going around the city," Joseph said. "Everything we need will be at the supermarket."

Draco looked skeptically at his friend, but relented. Due to the abandoning of his belief in blood supremacy, and his friendship with Harry and Hermione, Draco has been exposed to several aspects of muggle life. He even has a T.V. in his room. Still, Joseph was worried that his friend would say or do anything that would attract unwanted attention. Since everyone else was busy, he really had no other choice, unless he wanted to carry several bags of food on his own. They arrived and as they entered the supermarket, Draco's eyes widened.

"Why is this place so big?" He asked.

"I guess at some point in history, muggles decided it was too inconvenient to go to several different shops to buy everything they needed" Joseph explained. "So they created a place where they could get anything and everything."

They both grabbed a trolley and Joseph led them down the aisles while Draco gawked and asked questions about several things. Joseph explained things as best as he could while finding the things they needed and keeping Draco from ramming into other shoppers with his trolley. He had just finished explaining to Draco that muggle instant meals were not truly instant, saying that anything that requires little to no effort and didn't take longer than five minutes to make was classified as instant to muggles, when they stopped in the middle of the snack aisle.

"We're nearly done, Harry just asked me to pick up Teddy's favourite cereal" Joseph explained. "Can you stay here while I go get them?"

"I don't see why I can't go with you" Draco said.

"Because it'll be much faster if I go get it on my own rather than having to maneuver our trolleys past other people" Joseph answered. "I'll only be a minute or two. Why don't you look around this aisle? Maybe you'll find something you actually like."

Draco sighed but agreed. After Joseph disappeared from sight, Draco walked down the aisle while checking the shelves. While most of them were enticing, Draco wanted the first muggle snack he picked on his own to be great or he might be put off all of them if he chooses a bad one. He was so focused that he didn't notice the wet floor sign.

"Careful!" Someone shouted.

Draco didn't have enough time to react. As soon as his foot made contact with the floor, he slipped. Draco shut his eyes, preparing for the pain that he was about to feel. But it never came. Instead, he felt two strong arms wrap around his chest from behind and pulled him back. After steadying himself, Draco opened his eyes and turned to find a tall male with a tanned complexion, brown hair and sky-blue eyes looking at him.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"I am" Draco replied, his heart was beating rapidly and his cheeks were blushing slightly. "Thank you."

"I was just doing my job" the other male said with a smile. "Plus my boss would've probably fired me if a customer slipped under my watch."

"I don't see why any employer would fire you. You're clearly one of the best workers here" Draco blurted out, blushing more when he realised what he had said. Thankfully, he was spared more embarrassment when Joseph arrived.

"Draco, is everything alright?" He asked.

"Everything is fine" Draco replied. "I nearly slipped but was saved by…"

"Damian" the worker answered. "And it was no trouble."

"Well, thank you again" Draco said. "We should get going Joseph. We still have a lot to do before tonight."

Draco didn't wait for a reply and headed back to where the trolleys were. Joseph thanked Damian again before following Draco back to the trolleys, finding his friend blushing.

"Not a word" the blonde said.

"I wasn't going to say anything" Joseph returned, and the two began pushing the trolleys towards the check-out counters.

"I made an absolute fool of myself, didn't I?" Draco asked.

"I can't say for sure since I didn't see what had happened. But Damian didn't seem to think so."

The blonde made a noise in response, and they finished their shopping and headed back to Joseph's place in silence.

"Thank you for coming with me" Joseph said as they entered the kitchen.

"You're welcome, and it was an enlightening experience" Draco returned. "You know, when you first showed me the house, I wondered why your kitchen was so big. After seeing the guest list, I saw why."

Joseph nodded as he cast a spell so things would put themselves away. "Even if we don't hold parties often, I expected we would always have a lot of company given that Harry's adoptive family is the Weasleys. Better to be prepared."

"I need to go home and take care of some things," Draco said, heading for the door. "I'll come back after lunch."

"Alright, see you then" Joseph said. "Say hello to Damian for me."

Draco stopped walking abruptly, but continued after a few seconds. Even though he didn't look back, Joseph knew the blond was blushing.

Nighttime arrived and the party was in full swing. The tables and bar were set up outside, lights were charmed to float around, and Harry and Joseph were talking to their guests while Teddy played with the other kids. Harry noticed that while Joseph was still more open than he used to be to people he just met, he was still acting a bit like his old self. He was worried at first, but Draco clarified that Joseph was just being a proper host. Harry nodded and went to get the door when the doorbell rang. Harry opened it to find Jess and Louis, and while he was happy to see them, the raven was surprised, shocked and confused.

"Harry, it's so good to see you again" Jess greeted as she hugged him.

"It's great to see you too" Harry returned. "But what happened to Louis.

Louis sighed while Jess chuckled. The other male was still the same save for the fact that his hair was now red. Not auburn, cherry or burgundy. But bright, neon red.

"We were drinking one night, I agreed to a stupid bet and failed" Louis summarised as Harry let them in.

Joseph arrived to see who was at the door, but stopped abruptly at seeing Louis's new look. "I always said you'd be sorted into Gryffindor, but I didn't think you'd take this much pride in it."

After another more detailed explanation and catching up quickly, Joseph and Harry led Jess and Louis around and introduced them to everyone, deciding to simply say he lost a bet to explain Louis's hair colour after the first couple introductions. They introduced Jess and Louis to Teddy last. While the young wizard was shy at first, Jess showed him some spells that she promised to teach him once he started studying in Hogwarts, and even though Louis hated his red hair, he hated it less when Teddy said he liked it and changed his hair into every colour he liked.

"Teddy's a sweetheart" Jess said as they walked to the buffet table. "And I can't believe you cooked every single thing here."

"Good to know I can still surprise you, the person who streaked through the Beauxbatons gardens in broad daylight" Joseph returned.

"Please tell me you did that because of a different bet" Harry said.

"It was, so now you know that Lou's red hair was just retribution" Jess said. "I had detention for two months because of that."

The rest of the night proceeded swimmingly; everyone enjoyed lively conversation, great food and excellent company. Narcissa and Lucius also attended the party, and while not everyone was not comfortable with Lucius yet, everyone remained civil. Thankfully, they were occupied with talking to Joseph's parents all night. It was about half past eight when things began dying down. A lot of people had left, and Joseph's parents had retired to one of the guest rooms in the house.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Joseph asked Harry as he sat next to the shorter male.

Harry nodded and rested his head on Joseph's shoulder. "How about you? You spent majority of the time going from one group of people to the next, checking on the food and drinks."

"Otherwise known as being a good host" Joseph returned, kissing Harry on the head. "I may have been a little tense, but that's just because I wanted things to go well. Other than when Jess told everyone about my drunken antics, I enjoyed myself."

Harry chuckled, but his attention was pulled away when he heard crying. At the table next to theirs, Ron and Hermione were trying to get Hugo to fall asleep.

"Sorry, he's being fussy tonight" Ron apologised.

"It's alright, I've lost count of how many nights of sleep I've lost thanks to Teddy" Harry said with a small smile.

"With Rosie, we stopped counting after a month" Ron said with a chuckle as he gently rocked his son.

"Luckily we have a trick that always works" Hermione said as she brought out her wand. "Expecto Patronum."

Hermione's patronus immediately took shape, and the otter began swimming through the air. Ron cast the spell and his patronus ran alongside Hermione's. Hugo slowly stopped crying to watch and was giggling now. Luna's hare, Seamus's fox, George's magpie and Harry's stag soon joined the other patronuses floating around, entertaining the kids. Even Jess and Louis cast the spell, making a hummingbird and lynx appear.

Harry then walked towards Joseph, who was smiling as he watched Teddy try to morph his face to some of the animals.

"You know" Harry began nervously when he sat down. "The day Umbridge found the DA, I was teaching the Patronus charm."

Joseph nodded, taking Harry's hand and squeezing it comfortingly. "I know it couldn't have been easy watching your friends use a blood quill."

"It wasn't, but that isn't what I hate most" Harry said. "What I hate most was that I blamed you for Umbridge finding us. Just because you weren't there, I didn't even try talking to you, and what's worse is that I even hurt you."

Joseph gently pulled Harry into a tight hug, wrapping one arm around the green-eyed male's waist while his other hand held Harry's tighter. Harry buried his face in Joseph's neck, and the other male whispered reassurances as he calmed down.

"Look, there's nothing we can do about the past" Joseph said. "What we can do is choose how we handle things going forward, and I know you'd never be that impulsive now."

Harry nodded, and the two males shared a short kiss. "I've always wondered what your corporeal patronus would be."

"You don't have to wonder, Joseph can conjure it now" Jess said as she approached. "I think you'll be quite surprised."

Joseph rolled his eyes, but took out his wand. "Expecto patronum."

The form of Joseph's patronus started out small, but quickly grew in size until it took the form of a lion.

"I love it" Harry said with a smile, kissing Joseph's cheek.

"Alright, you're officially being disowned by Slytherin!" Draco shouted from his seat, and Blaise, Theo and Pansy nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry, Gryffindor will gladly take you in" Harry said.

"No thank you" Joseph returned, kissing Harry's head when the shorter male pouted. "Nothing personal, it's just if I was in Gryffindor, I doubt I'd get a moment of peace to myself."

"At least no one will be able to say you didn't have an exciting life."

"I'm in a relationship with you and we're raising Teddy together. I think my life will be exciting enough as it is."

Harry smiled and rested his head on Joseph's shoulder, watching as the patronuses moved around, entertaining the children. The couple sat there silently until the end of the party, but they were both thinking the same thing; if tonight was a glimpse of what was to come in their life, it would definitely be an exciting and happy one.