Love Lost and Found
Chapter 8:
"Don't worry Mrs. Tonks, Teddy is in good hands," Harry reassured his godson's grandmother.
"Harry, how many times must I tell you to call me Andromeda. I know he will be safe with you. Just remember…"
"I know, make sure he's fed and changed regularly," Harry interrupted. "Even if I can't figure it out, I'll have Ginny and Mrs. Weasley to help. They would be glad to help take care of the little guy. Go enjoy your afternoon off from taking care of the little guy."
Andromeda still looked a bit worried. Harry knew that it wasn't because she didn't trust him with her grandson. It was the fact that he was the only member of her family left. Her husband Ted had been killed by snatchers during Voldemort's reign. Her only daughter, Tonks, as well as her new son in law, Lupin, had been killed in the final battle at Hogwarts. Outside of her, Harry was the closest thing to family Teddy had.
Harry wanted desperately to be the godfather that Sirius could never be to him. Sirius had been locked in Azkaban when Harry was a child, only escaping during his third year. Even after his escape, the fact that he was on the run from the Ministry meant that he had been unable to provide much care to Harry. When the two of them had been at Grimmauld Place during fifth year, they had grown closer but that had been ripped away when Sirius fell through the veil. Remus had been the closest thing he had to family after that, and he was determined to pay him back by helping his son.
It took a few more minutes of reassurance, but finally Andromeda was placated enough to leave. She took one last look over her shoulder at Teddy before disapparating. The baby squirmed in his arms and looked up at him, his hair turning black as it did whenever Harry held him. He was constantly changing his hair color, as babies can't control their metamorphmagus powers. Whenever someone new picked him up, his hair would generally change to their hair color. Most times it would quickly switch again to some other color, usually something that caught his eye. Harry was the one person whose hair he mimicked the entire time he was held (although whenever he visited the burrow his hair was frequently Weasley red).
Harry turned and brought Teddy into the kitchen where Ginny and her mom were making bread. Ginny was a bid of a mess as flower had somehow made it onto her cheeks. She was still beautiful and her face broke into a smile as she saw the two of them.
"There he is!" she exclaimed in her baby voice. "Just give me a couple minutes to finish this dough and I will join you two in the sitting room."
"Sounds good," Harry replied. "This guy needs a change, he's stinky."
It was amazing how natural changing a diaper was to Harry now. His first time changing Teddy had been adventure. He had been amazed how much could come out of such a little human. That combined with the fact that Teddy liked to spray people led to quite the situation. Andromeda and Ginny had been no help. They had sat back and enjoyed Harry's misadventures, sharing amused looks and outright laughing at him.
Quickly changing the offending diaper, Harry sat on the couch with the baby. Entertaining him with one of his stuffed animals. This particular one was from Charlie so of course it was a dragon. He and Tonks had been friends at Hogwarts and her lost had hit him hard. When they last saw each other, he had promised to visit whenever he was in the country. He also told Harry to contact him if any help was needed taking care of the little guy.
Teddy giggle at the toy, grabbing at it with his pudgy hands. His attention was caught by movement coming from the kitchen. Ginny had completed the bread and had gotten the flower removed from her face. She came into the sitting room, sitting down next to him on the couch.
"Here, let me hold him for a bit," Ginny said. "I want some baby time. Would you mind getting a bottle? He's getting a bit fussy and I think he may be hungry."
Harry gently transferred Teddy to her arms before going to the kitchen to retrieve his bottle. When he came back into the room, Ginny was talking to the baby and making faces at him. Teddy's laughter made his heart expand and he smiled at the pair of them. Teddy noticed Harry and instantly his hair turned black. Ginny held her hand out for the bottle when he offered it. Teddy instantly latched on to the bottle once it was presented at him, Ginny cooing encouragement. Harry took in the scene before him, of Ginny feeding the currently raven haired child. The sight left him with a funny feeling in his stomach as well as thoughts of a possible future with her.
It was very early in the morning when Harry found himself creeping down the stairs of the Burrow. The nightmares that plagued him still occurred almost every night. Talking about them with Ginny had seemed to help a bit though. The stairs creaked just above the landing to her room. Cringing, Harry paused and listened for any noises that would tell him his prowling had disturbed someone. This particular dream had been especially awful and he just wanted to make sure that Ginny was safe in her bed. As quietly as he possibly could, he opened her door and looked in.
He could barely make out a Ginny sized lump on her bed, illuminated by the moonlight streaming through her window. Harry breathed a sigh of relief and eased her door shut, cringing again at the clicking the bolt made as it slid into place.
Knowing sleep would likely elude him yet again, he decided to go down to the sitting room to read a book. He had taken to doing this most nights when his dreams woke him early. Currently he was reading a muggle story that was a part of Mr. Weasley's collection. It was set in a magical world and the plot revolved around a ring and the quest to destroy it. The wizard in the story reminded him of Dumbledore and he found himself sympathizing with the main character. He and the character both carried heavy burdens they were tasked with destroying. The fact that they both wore it around their necks at one point sent shivers up his spine. He knew the feeling of having an evil presence whispering in ones mind and influencing your behavior.
He opened the book and began to read, barely making it through a page before a noise from the stairs disturbed him. The telltale squeak of the loose step told him someone was coming down. It was Ginny that came into his view as she reached the bottom step. She was dressed in shorts and a too small t-shirt that exposed a ribbon of skin across her stomach. Her hair was rumpled from sleep, falling in waves over her shoulders. She yawned slightly and rubbed her eyes as she made her way across the room towards him.
"Nightmares again?" she asked as she sat down on the couch next to him.
"Yeah," Harry replied." Sorry if I woke you. I just needed to see you, make sure you were still there."
"It's okay, I wasn't getting much sleep myself. I hate that we are like this. It's over now, it's in the past. Why are we both so haunted?"
"It hasn't been very long since everything ended, in the grand scheme of things. I'd been dealing with Tom since my first year at Hogwarts. It's been seven years of uncertainty, attacks, and stressful events. You've had it almost as bad."
"That's true. I guess I always imagined once it was over, we'd just move on with our lives. Be able to forget what had happened to us."
"I wish it were that simple."
Ginny scooted over on the couch and cuddled into Harry's side. Her head came to rest on his shoulder. The pair took comfort in just knowing the other was there for them for a few minutes before Ginny spoke again.
"Harry, your nightmares, what are they about?"
"Different things. All of them have Voldemort, but it's been mostly the forest. I see it happen, the flash of green. It's more clear than the nightmares I had of the first time. I guess because I can actually remember all of it. What are yours about?"
"The Department of Mysteries, the battle, but mostly the chamber. I almost always wind up back in the chamber. I felt so helpless down there, I hated it."
"Did you ever talk about it to anyone?"
"Yeah, that summer I talked to Bill. That helped, but what did the most good is Professor McGonagall. She is trained in therapy and I met with her every weekend my second year. It made me understand that nothing that happened was my fault."
"You still had nightmares though?"
"Off and on. The battle seems to have reactivated them. It was the first time I saw Tom since the chamber."
The two sat on the couch, contemplating about the nightmares. Harry had been dealing with them his whole life but the newer ones were unbearable. It was something they had to overcome before completely moving forward.
"Would it help if we went down into the chamber?" Harry asked. "Maybe seeing it and knowing there is nothing left that can hurt you would put your mind at ease."
Ginny gave off a small shudder before answering. "I don't know, it might. It's at least worth a shot. Where do most of your dreams take place?"
"The forest."
"If we're going to the site of my dreams, we should do yours as well. We should go into the forest and face the nightmares," Ginny stated with conviction in her voice.
"Oi! What the bloody hell is going on here!?"
Harry awoke slowly, his mind still slow from sleep. It took a few moments to realize that he was not in his camp bed in Ron's room. He also realized that he was not alone on the couch in the living room. Hair was covering his face and he didn't have to open his eyes to know it was red. Ginny was flush against his front, spooning against him. His arms were around her, one lying across her waist. Her shirt must have ridden up during the night as he could feel bare flesh beneath his hand. Realizing the predicament they were in, the pair leapt apart. Ginny almost fell to the ground but Harry was able to pull her back as he sat up.
Standing before them was Ron, his arms crossed with a disapproving look on his face. Behind him stood Hermione, their luggage sat on the ground beside them. Both looked tired from their journey, bags under their eyes and wrinkled clothes. This had happened when they arrived in Australia according to their letters. It took seven portkeys to travel halfway around the world. These long distance ones were much more strenuous than domestic ones. Australia was one of the furthest distance you could travel without having to break your trip up with a day of rest.
"Ron, Hermione, you're back!" Harry exclaimed. "We didn't know you were returning."
"Ron, I told you that owl didn't look reliable," Hermione said, exasperation evident in her voice.
"What? He reminded me of Errol," Ron replied.
"Exactly. Ugh, why do I put up with you?"
The two began to bicker about the situation. Harry and Ginny rolled their eyes at each other. The two of them being a couple hadn't changed their interactions at all.
"Oi, you two," Ginny interrupted. "Enough with the foreplay. Where are Hermione's parents?"
At Ginny's comment the pair turned red with embarrassment. It was a few moments before Hermione was able to speak.
"They will be home tomorrow. They are taking a flight back to London. We came back early as Ron doesn't have a muggle passport. I honestly should've gotten one before we left. We had to confound a police officer who wanted to see his travel papers."
"I'm glad they decided to come back," Harry said.
From the letters the Weasley family had received from Australia, Harry knew that Hermione's parents had debated staying there. They had become established down under and were hesitant to leave, even if that life wasn't their 'real' life.
"I am too," Hermione replied. "I think that they are largely doing it for my sake, so we can have a better relationship. One of the conditions of them returning is that I have to spend the summer with them. No magic either, they are still hurt that I used it against them."
"No magic? How will you get by?" Ginny asked.
"I lived the first eleven years of my life without magic, I can get by. The hardest part will be communication. It takes forever for muggle mail to get around. I've been trying to teach Ron how to use a telephone, but it's a struggle at best."
"Oi!" Ron called indignantly. "Can we get back to the fact that the two of you were sleeping together?"
"For your information, Ronald," Ginny replied with danger in her voice. "We were not sleeping together. We both woke up with nightmares and needed to talk. We must've drifted off at some point. The two of you have probably actually slept together."
The pair spluttered at the accusation, denying it vehemently. Their coloration told Harry that at least something had happened, even if they hadn't gone all the way. Deciding to leave it alone for now, he stood up and pulled his two best friends into a hug.
"I've missed you two," Harry said. "I'm glad you're back."
"We missed both of you as well," Hermione replied. "What have you been doing since we left?"
"Honestly not that much. Been trying to deal with nightmares. We both are usually woken by them."
"It's been awful some days," Ginny added. "We've taken naps almost everyday together. It's the only time we can get any sleep."
"I'm sorry guys," Hermione replied. "Ron and I had nightmares, but we talked about it together and that helped a lot."
"It did," Ron added, "I've only had a few nightmares since we had our discussion."
"We have been talking," Ginny replied. "The problem is it hasn't helped. Harry and I both aren't the best at talking. We prefer to do stuff that fixes the problem."
"That's why tomorrow Ginny and I are going back to Hogwarts. Both of the places we dream about the most are there. For Ginny, it's the Chamber of Secrets. For me, I always find myself back in the Forbidden Forest, in the clearing, where I… you know… died."
Hermione and Ron stiffened, their expressions full of concern.
"Would you like us to come with you?" Hermione gently asked.
"No," Ginny answered. "This is something we have to do together, just the two of us."
Ron and Hermione looked worried and exchanged a look. Harry felt the way they looked, but knew it was time for he and Ginny to face the nightmares at the places they originated from.
Author's Note: We have almost reached the end of this story. Two more chapters and an epilogue. It's been hard for me to write recently. With COVID still ongoing and other factors in my life keeping me from my loved ones, it's hard to write anything not depressing. My goal is to have this done before I move in April. These last two chapters should go faster as I am really excited about them. Oh, can someone suggest a title for this chapter? I can't come up with a good one.