Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Title: The Poet's Wish
Author: ReadingRed
Beta: DukeBrymin
Chapter Five: The Potters
"Keep an eye on the boys. I'll be back." Harry told Ginny. She nodded with tears in her eyes. Ginny knew that he needed time alone to come to terms with what they had just discovered. Harry walked down the street aimlessly. He had to get away. The thought of possibly losing his son was killing him. What if it happened? What if by doing the right thing by saving Remus and Tonks he lost his son? Could he do it? Before he knew it he was at the playground near his childhood home. He had often come here as a child to escape Dudley and his gang. It was his safe haven.
"Watcher! Watcher! I need to speak to you! I need to know if I'll lose my son! Please." Harry dropped to his knees. He could feel the mulch digging into his skin but even that could not pull him out of his stupor. His heart was breaking from the thought of losing yet another loved one. He knew that if it happened that Teddy wouldn't really be gone, he would still be alive, he just wouldn't be Harry's son. That thought did little to soothe him. He knelt on the ground, head thrown back, tears pouring from his eyes.
"Please, Watcher, please." In that moment Harry Potter disappeared. In the blink of an eye he was back in the blank room standing across from the Watcher.
Immediately Harry started to question the Watcher.
"Watcher, I need to know. If Ginny and I change the past, if we save Tonks and Remus what will happen to Teddy? He's in the past, years before he will be born. When baby Teddy is born, my Teddy will be fifteen years old, I will have raised him for fifteen years, but then what? Will my Teddy disappear if Tonks and Remus are alive to raise him? Will one Teddy stay with me and baby Teddy be with Remus? What will happen to my son?" Harry looked to the Watcher for answers. The Watcher was silent for a minute and then he started to speak.
"Harry, what makes a person who they are?" the Watcher asked. Harry couldn't see Its face behind the pale hood, but he imagined it would look something like Dumbledore's during one of the many conversations when he had tried to guide Harry towards an answer.
"Umm, I don't know. I guess their memories, the things they experience in life, the people they meet, the ones they love all come together to make up who a person is," Harry answered just like he would if it really had been Dumbledore who had asked.
"Exactly. Your Teddy and Little Harry will be unlike anyone else. They won't be like the other versions of them. Little Harry will not grow up to be exactly like you, he won't come to the past and raise himself, he won't grow up missing James and Lily. Your Teddy will not be raised by Tonks and Remus, although if everything goes according to your plans one Teddy will. The situation I have put you in is different than the time travel forms you are familiar with. The forces that came together to move your family to the past are far greater than a mere time turner and as such it does not have the same pitfalls as some of the lesser forms of time travel. Your Teddy is free to become whoever he wants, he is your son. You don't have to worry about him disappearing."
The Watcher took a small pause to let Harry comprehend what he was saying before charging on. "Little Harry, on the other hand, will have to experience some of the same things you went through. He will have to vanquish Voldemort, for he is the one named in the prophecy, and even I am powerless against some things. Your family can help him along the way, but he must be the one to kill the Dark Lord. Just as you were once the one who had to kill him."
Harry nodded and then he was back in the park without even a goodbye from the Watcher. Harry stood, dusted off his knees, and went to get his family.
Back in the Dursleys' front lawn, Ginny was watching the boys play. Teddy was chasing Harry around the yard and both boys were having the time of their lives. Although their pasts were vastly different, this was the first time either one had been able to truly be a child. Ginny only wished Harry would return quickly so he could see it.
Little Harry let out a loud peal of laughter and turned around to chase Teddy. It concerned her that the boys were roughly the same size even though Teddy was about two years younger. Little Harry was so small for his age-Ginny knew that the Dursleys hadn't been feeding him nearly enough.
She had been with Harry for years and had heard many stories of his childhood, but to be here and see it firsthand was something entirely different. Ginny laughed when she realized she was much more like her mother than she ever cared to admit. Here she was plotting ways to get Little Harry back to the size he should be.
For now, though, Little Harry's small size came in handy. He and Teddy were evenly matched at their game of tag. As she watched them play, Ginny reflected on her life. She couldn't imagine her life without Teddy as her son. He and Harry really were her life. They were what kept her going after her family was killed. She lived for them and if Teddy were to be taken from her she didn't know what she would do. For now, though, she decided that she would go on as usual. Pushing the thoughts of possibly losing Teddy out of her head, she prayed that Harry would come back soon with a positive answer. Ginny was pulled out of her thoughts by the thumping sound of two little boys hitting the ground. Little Harry had caught up with Teddy and tackled him to the ground. Just at that moment Petunia Dursley came outside.
"Boy! What ARE you doing? Get off that child!" Petunia's face was red with anger as she shouted at Little Harry. When she saw Ginny watching she transformed into a Stepford wife. Perfecting the model housewife act by ignoring the boys and facing Ginny.
"Oh, hello. I'm Petunia Dursley. I am so sorry about my nephew, he's special. We try, my husband and I, but there's only so much we can do." She turned back to the boys. "Boy, up, now!" she grunted out through her clenched teeth. Harry jumped to his feet and backed away from Teddy.
"I'm sorry, Aunt Petunia, I was just playing with Teddy," Harry said with his head bowed. Ginny felt the anger rising up in her.
"Well I'm sure a nice little boy like him doesn't want to play with you," Petunia snarled. Harry's eyes started to water and Ginny could no longer contain her anger.
"Excuse me, but what gives you the right to say those things to a child? You should be ashamed of yourself. Harry, Teddy come here," she said and the boys rushed into her arms.
"Petunia," Ginny said sharply. "I'm afraid I haven't introduced myself. I'm Ginny, Ginny Potter." She knew that the name Potter would be recognized by Petunia as not only a relative of Harry's but as the name of a witch. Ginny watched as Petunia's face turned as white as her prized flowers.
"I thought there were no more Potters. That's why we had to take the boy in. It's the only reason we said yes. Why are you here?" Petunia asked, trying to save face by turning it around on Ginny.
"We're here for Harry," Harry's firm voice said from behind Ginny. Neither woman had heard him approach. Now that he was here Ginny felt herself relax and her hold on the boys loosen a bit.
"Petunia, I know how you treat Harry, I know what you let Vernon do to him-the beatings, the starvation, the emotional abuse-and I'm here to stop it. Harry is coming with us. You'll never see him again unless for some reason he decides to come back, like say, for revenge. Say your goodbyes now because you'll probably never see your sister's son again-you've lost the right to your family through your own deeds." Harry finished, setting one hand on Ginny's shoulder and the other on Harry's, a symbolic gesture showing Petunia that she was no longer a part of Harry's family. Petunia sniffed, tossed her nose in the air and turned her back on the Potters. She retreated into her home and the Potters were glad to be rid of her.
"Well, Harry, I guess you're coming with us today." Harry said. Little Harry smiled, not at all sad to be leaving.
"I guess you might be wondering who we are," Ginny said waiting for some kind of response from Little Harry. The boy nodded shyly. "Well, you already know some of our names. He's Teddy, I'm Ginny, and this is Harry," she said pointing to them each in turn. Before, she had been wary of Little Harry finding too many similarities between himself and… himself, but now she realized that very few children would ever imagine their older selves coming back to the past to rescue them, especially a child who had no knowledge of magic, and decided that it couldn't hurt for Little Harry to know Harry's name.
"You got the same name as me?" Little Harry asked, looking at Harry with an awed expression.
"Yes, I do little guy. You'll find that you and I have quite a lot in common," Harry said, echoing Ginny's mental argument.
Harry picked up Little Harry, and Ginny held Teddy, and the Potters walked away from Privet Drive never to return.