Chapter 10:
Christmas morning was a hyper affair, Teddy has seen the giant pile of presents under the tree and a burst of magic escaped him, nothing dangerous he had just covered them all in glitter. Maybe in the logic of the little boys mind he wanted to make them as sparkly as the Christmas Tree. Alastor had even taken the day off, it had shocked Hermione because she had expected him to take a shift with the Aurors, but he had even put on a pair of reindeer horns. It seemed he wanted to make Teddy's Christmas a special one. Hermione had even gotten a picture of the four of them together standing in front of the tree, Teddy's hair cycling between the Christmas colors around him, his eyes a bright emerald green matching Harry's. He'd only just started being able to change his eyes in the last two days.
Even with a war going on out there, Hermione was glad to have these little instances of family bonding. She still hadn't told Harry that Alastor was her grandfather, she just really didn't know how to bring it up. It was something that was confusing even to her. Hermione was aware that Harry suspected something had shifted between her and Alastor, but she also knew he knew she saw Alastor as family. If he didn't know that much she would have told him everything, just to make sure when it came out she was pregnant he didn't jump to the wrong disgusting conclusion that she'd had an affair with Alastor, a conclusion she couldn't blame him for if she didn't open up to him.
"Harry just how much did you spoil Teddy?" she asked seeing more under the tree then had been there when she went to bed. Only Harry would hide last minute presents to make sure he wasn't given a lecture, even if she was asking her question now, he knew he could avoid the lecture for today since it was Christmas at least.
"Hey everything I bought was already under the tree last night, it's not like we don't have friends here, it's probably presents from everyone."
Alastor gave them both a look before he cast a complicated motion with his wand heading towards the tree, when nothing seemed to happen he gave a small half-smile. "Detection spell is clear, still don't open anything if you don't recognize the name of the sender. I'll do a more advanced spell over anything like that."
Had to love that Alastor was paranoid so much. It always just made her feel warm that he wanted to protect them from misfortune. Slowly they'd been making a better relationship and getting to know each other. Hermione had to heavily sensor herself, which made her feel terrible, but she reminded herself that it was to keep him safe.
Alastor's gift to Teddy was an animated Abraxan horse that was just big enough for Teddy to ride, it would trot around, fly, and had safety features spelled in to keep Teddy from falling off. It had taken them half an hour after Alastor had brought it out, not having wrapped it, for them to get Teddy to sit back down under the tree to open the rest of his presents. At least it was better then a toy broom, which Hermione was shocked Harry hadn't gotten Teddy.
Harry had gotten her a portable healer's kit knowing she had wanted one, Alastor brewing a lot more healing potions to add to the kit, she was certain he had pitched in to upgrade the kit since it was one with multiple compartments. Something Harry could have afforded back in their time, but was too expensive on just his trainee salary.
Harry had given Alastor a gag gift shirt saying beware the grump the back saying not even coffee could fix him. It had just made Alastor throw his head back in laughter. Of course his laughter had made Harry even more paranoid about Alastor's grumpiness and every time Alastor moved Harry's hand reached for his wand as if afraid he'd have to defend himself. Just from laughter, it had her in tears holding her stomach for a while.
Harry received dragonhide boots, gloves, and a holster from Alastor. All things that helped protect their wearer from danger. Hermione was certain there were more then the standard charms woven in. They were a custom made pair, it was clear from the high quality, she was just glad that Alastor was accepting Harry as a part of their family.
Dorea had sent a lot of clothing over for Teddy, Beedle the Bard just seeing the book gave Hermione so many different emotions, Dorea had even sent over a charmed night light to chase away bad dreams. Even sending an advanced healing book for Hermione it made her feel a little bad that she had still been avoiding meeting the Potters, but now that she knew she was pregnant it just made her want to avoid James even more. It meant the sweet older couple felt slighted, but Hermione had never really been the greatest at opening up to people or very trusting. She just was too afraid to own up to what she had done. To see Harry's reaction.
Shaking her head Hermione got rid of those thoughts. Thinking about how next Christmas she would have her own child sitting beside Teddy. She was only just a little over two months along and still hadn't seen a healer about her condition, although she had been taking pre-natal potions. Hermione was terrified of telling anyone she was pregnant. She knew just how badly unwed mothers were looked upon in the wizarding world, but she just didn't want to marry if it wasn't for love.
"You okay 'Mione?"
"Just thinking of those who aren't here this Christmas," she answered feeling a little bad knowing Harry would think of their friends and family in the future. Yet it was true she was thinking of her unborn child, not that Harry would know. It took a lot of will power to not allow her hand to caress her stomach where her child was currently growing, that would be one way to get out of actually saying she was pregnant. Although with how dense Harry was he probably wouldn't pick up on the significance of her action.
Giving her a sad look Harry pulled her into a side hug, whispering, "we're making things better. Nothing will ever be the same, but if we succeed everyone will be happy. That's all we could ever wish for."
"I know Harry."
Harry's POV
Harry was a bit sad that he'd only gotten yesterday with Hermione, she was on call for boxing day, but he could just be glad he hadn't missed spending Christmas with her, considering it was their first major holiday away from everyone. He had today off, so he was heading over to see Dorea and Charlus. Teddy was wearing one of the many outfits Dorea had sent over, a tiny set of blue wizarding robes, a bit formal, but Teddy kept summoning it this morning. His magic just seemed to flourish even at such a young age, Harry was just glad that Teddy would never grow up fearing his instances of magic like Harry had.
"Oh he looks precious," Dorea said with a brilliant smile as she opened the door. Teddy barrelling into her giving her a giant hug as he started to babble on about all of his Christmas gifts. "No Hermione again today?"
"She has work, we were lucky enough she had yesterday off to spend with us."
"I'm fairly certain I haven't crossed paths with her, but does she have a problem with us? Is that why she doesn't care to meet us?"
It hurt seeing Dorea look so upset, but this was one problem Harry couldn't solve. He wished there was something he could do, he had tried to convince Hermione to come along, but she always seemed to be too busy. Remembering something she had to do last minute if she said she was free and then Harry mentioned he was planning to go to the Potters. If he didn't think it would go horribly, plus she needed to be invited into the wards, Harry would have just ambushed her, bringing her to the Potters without explaining that was where they were headed.
"As far as I'm aware she has no issue with you personally. I really don't understand it Dorea, it truly could just be her healing apprenticeship. Hermione does have a one-track mind when it comes to learning. She'll spend time with Teddy at home, but she won't leave the house. She likes being close to her research if she has a sudden eureka moment."
"Would it be better if we went to your home to meet her?"
Now that everyone knew he lived with Mad-Eye it's not like there was anything stopping him from inviting others over as long as he got Mad-Eye's permission. Mad-Eye wouldn't want a ton of people knowing where he lived, but Harry was certain he wouldn't have a problem with the Potters knowing. Watching Charlus and Mad-Eye interact it was clear that the two were good friends.
"Probably would be the only way I can introduce you, but it will have to wait until after her upcoming exam. It's in the beginning of January, so not too much longer. I just don't want her biting your head off if we ambush her in study mode."
"If you're sure it's best. I'm sorry if I seem pushy, it's just she's a member of your family and I do wish to meet her. She did send both Charlus and I lovely homemade scarves."
"She does love to knit. Which is shocking because when we were growing up she didn't seem to be interested in things like that, but when she was 15 she just started learning how to knit. Back then her attempts were horrid, never thought she'd get so good. Thought it would be just one more tiny thing she isn't good at, so far the list only has chess and flying, can't get her on a broom or any other means of flying transport without her looking like she's going to pass out. Hermione knows enough to be able to do it in a pinch, but she's absolutely terrified of heights."
Dorea chuckled at that. "I'll be glad to finally meet her."
"Actually there was another reason I wanted to stop by, since Hermione's not in the Order and I don't want to take away her study time, would you and Charlus watch Teddy when I take my shifts in Diagon Alley? Other then Hermione and Mad-Eye, you two are the only ones I trust with him, it's going to be a lot of shifts, and Hermione's smart she'll realize as a Trainee I'm not being called in that frequently."
"Of course, Harry, Charlus and I will be delighted. We do love having a child running around the Manor again. I understand that we're in war, but I just want my son to have the same happiness we do. He might not want to bring a child into the world during the war, but James has always wanted a child. Until the war started picking up, he was lamenting that with Lily being so invested in her career that they wouldn't have children right away. He wanted her happiness as well. It's sad they didn't last truthfully; they always seemed a little too explosive together. It would have taken a lot of work for them to have a good enough foundation as a couple. Luckily they're staying friends. Lily has always been a sweet girl, I pray she and Severus have a happy life together."
It was still odd that his parents weren't together and never would be, but Harry had accepted it a long time ago. He just wanted those he loved to be happy, something he thought multiple times a day, he was hoping if he thought it enough it would become reality.
"She truly does seem happy with Snape."
"Speaking of happiness I'm only going to bring this up the once well we are alone, I promise I won't mention it again, but do you truly feel nothing for Sirius? It's just you seem to lean into him and then jolt yourself out of it, as if you believe you can't be with him. Life is so short, happiness and love make it worth while, of course you don't need romantic love in life to be happy, but life without any love is dull. Not that you lack other types of love, it's clear you love your family and friends fiercely. Sirius could make you happy if you let him, he's not just toying with you. If it was just a passing fancy he would have stopped trying a long time ago, finding solace in someone else, but he hasn't been in any kind of relationship since you two met."
Even Dorea wanted to meddle, not that Harry could blame her, Sirius was like a second son to her after all. He knew she just wanted those she cared for to be happy, it was something Harry had inherited from her. It was nice seeing things he had in common with the family he had never gotten to know.
It's just how could he explain why he couldn't give Sirius a chance to her. There was too much history with Sirius's future self, maybe Harry was putting too much stock into who Sirius could have been, but it still seemed odd. If they knew he would have been Sirius's godson, he couldn't believe that people would still be trying to set them up.
On the other hand, this Sirius was slightly younger than Harry, he had a light his godfather had lacked, a light that had been burnt out by Azkaban and losing everyone dear to him. He just brightened up any room he entered. Sirius just wanted to make everyone happy. No matter the cost to himself.
"It's complicated Dorea, something I can't really explain. Sirius is a great guy I'm not denying that it's just he's not the one for me." If that was true, why did it hurt so much saying it?
"The look on your face says the opposite Harry, I do hope you can work through whatever makes you think you don't deserve happiness."
AN: Shorter filler chapter, but it does have an important conversation. Hope you enjoy. I'm working on Chapter 11, but it's a more difficult chapter, so not sure if it will be up tomorrow or a bit later.
