Author's note: Thanks go out again to my wonderful beta Dragyn over at SIYE, who had to work really hard for this chapter. He deserves plenty of kudos for this.
May 23, 1998
The Burrow
It was not until everyone's feet hit the garden of the Burrow that Harry realized how tired he was. The day's events had been taxing and right after dinner Mrs. Weasley sent everyone to bed, with little protest. They would all need their energy for what was to come next.
First, Harry once again, recollected the past year - this time to the Weasleys. Harry knew they regarded him as family, and he in turn felt obligated to tell them most of what they had done. He did not, however, include the full effects of the locket on Ron. This task took place after dinner most days of the week, and was frequently interrupted by expressions of shock and amazement from everyone. There was also plenty of Mrs. Weasley's bone-crushing hugs, for which Harry had never felt more grateful for.
Then there were the funerals. His status as Saviour of the Wizarding World in the eyes of so many people meant he had been invited to seemingly all of the funerals that took place the week after the memorial ceremony at Hogwarts. However, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny knew that it would do Harry no good to actually go to all of them.
With Mrs. Weasley as a willing accomplice, they had been going through all the invitations and sending out notes declining most of them. For his part, Harry knew all this was going on, but didn't do anything to stop it. Just making it through the funerals he was going to would be hard enough.
The two funerals that stuck out the most in Harry's mind were Fred's the previous day, and Lupin and Tonks's the day prior. Lupin and Dora had been buried next to Ted Tonks; seeing all three in such close proximity had brought home how much Andromeda had lost in the war. At one point, she broke down and it took over half an hour before the funeral could resume.
Harry always thought of Remus and Sirius as the living links to the parents he had never known. He spent many hours in Grimmauld Place listening to Sirius tell stories about his parents. Lupin had done the same, although with far less frequency due to his missions for the Order. That connection was now lost forever. Harry could not help but feel like he had lost his parents all over again.
While most of the mourners had left, Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys had all lingered. So had Kingsley. They had been the ones closest to both Lupin and Tonks, and they all felt obligated to help Andromeda through her grief.
"She, she knew, I think, Dora did," she said, in between sobs. "Remus wasn't here when the call came, but she was. She knew it was a terrible risk to go, but she had to do what she had trained to do." She turned to face Kingsley. "It was Bella, wasn't it?" The acting Minister nodded. "I thought she might," she said, a touch of bitterness in her voice. "I'm told she burned me off the family tree herself. I was not surprised to hear she joined the Death Eaters. Thank... thank you, all of you."
She paused again. "Harry, Molly, two seconds, please?"
Harry, Andromeda, and Mrs. Weasley went to a smaller room while the others waited outside. Andromeda retrieved a large envelope from a nearby table with her wand and gave it to Harry.
"Remus wanted you to have this," she said. "I don't know what it is, but he told me to give it to you only if he died and Voldemort was defeated."
"Thanks," Harry said, not knowing what was inside.
"One more thing. You couldn't take Teddy for a few days, could you, Harry?" she asked. "I need some time to... think. If, of course, you would allow it, Molly."
"Of course, of course, that will be no problem, Andromeda. Perhaps you'd like to join us for Sunday lunch, then?"
The slightest hint of a smile crossed Andromeda's features and she replied, "I would be glad to."
With that, Molly and Harry took their leave and flooed back to the Burrow, Teddy quietly asleep in the latter's arms.
Fred's funeral the next day had been very different. There was no escaping the undercurrent of sadness, but there was also the feeling that Fred would not have wanted people feeling sad on his account. The funeral itself had been relatively quiet, but the wake and party that followed was another thing entirely.
The guest list had been varied, to say the least. Aside from the innumerable Weasley cousins, the other attendees included Kingsley, Professor McGonagall, the remaining members of the Order, most of the DA, and even the entire joke shop staff. The wake had, true to what Fred would surely have intended, been a celebration of his life.
Recollections of a life's worth of mischief were, as expected, plentiful: Professor Flitwick was telling everyone just why he thought the Portable Swamp had been so clever; Professor McGonagall was counting off just how many times she had to tell them off for their latest prank; Hagrid mentioned all the times he had caught the twins in the Forbidden Forest.
As the sun sank over the hills surrounding the Burrow, most of the adults headed home. Those who had remained were, without exception, either Fred's siblings (minus Bill and Percy), members of the DA, and some fellow Gryffindors. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were the last to leave, but not before Mr. Weasley had taken their own children, Hermione and Harry, aside.
"Molly and I," he said, "have a fair idea of what is about to happen. It may be hard to believe, but we were once your age, and made our share of mistakes as well. All I can say is, try not to make too big fools of yourselves. And please leave someone sober to carry you over to the fireplace. It's not safe to Disapparate when you've had one too many firewhiskies."
As Mr. Weasley had predicted, Oliver Wood, Lee Jordan, and Angelina Johnson had all brought with them large amounts of firewhisky. Soon after, the drinking started and along with it, the rather silly behavior.
Hermione may have been the smartest witch of her generation, but she didn't quite know her limits when it came to firewhisky. She had made the mistake of trying to keep up with Ron, who had a previously undiscovered ability to drink people under the table. (Harry would later find out that that trait was as characteristically Weasley as red hair.) She ended up unwittingly doing a good impersonation of Lavender Brown while sitting on Ron's lap.
The real Lavender, meanwhile, was engaged in what was best described as a three-way snog that included herself, her best friend Parvati Patil, and - Harry had to blink his eyes to make sure of what he was seeing - Neville.
Ginny, who had limited herself to butterbeer because she wasn't of age, noticed Harry looking in that direction, and distracted him the best way she knew how. With the agility of a natural Quidditch player she sat herself on Harry's lap and put her arms around his neck. "Stop staring at other people snogging and kiss your girlfriend, Potter," in a voice of mock disapproval.
Slowly, oblivious to the clapping and wolf-whistling all around (instigated in equal parts by Seamus and Dean,) they kissed. Harry and Ginny both wanted nothing more than to stay there, locked in a tight embrace, the taste of one's lips and mouth on the other, but there was a loud coughing noise from the other side of the tent. Somehow, Ron and Hermione, who up to now had been lost in a world of their own, also heard him and stopped.
"Look what you've done," George said, in a tone of mock frustration, slightly slurring his speech. "Now I'll have to work four times as hard, because there's two of you and only one of us left to do the vital work of taking the mickey out of Ickle Ronniekins and my baby sister, to boot."
Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione all gave George various hand gestures that could all be considered rather rude. Everyone laughed, including George.
The party went on for what seemed like hours, although Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were mostly oblivious to what was going on around them. It was not until after the members of the Gryffindor house Quidditch team began singing a fairly rude version of Weasley is our King that the party began to break up. The fact that more than half of the party couldn't stand on their own feet probably had something to do with it.
It took the combined efforts of Harry, Ginny, Charlie, and Luna, who were the four most sober people, quite some time to help everyone back to the Burrow. There, they could floo back to their respective homes, all with an adequate supply of Sobering Potion that was being handed to them by an exasperated and amused Mrs. Weasley. When everyone had either left or gone off to bed, she vanished the remaining Sobering Potion with her wand and went off to join her husband. "Arthur," she asked, "how did you know that-"
"Molly, I thought it would have been obvious. We can only imagine how difficult it's been for them all, between being guilty by association with Harry and having Death Eaters running things at Hogwarts," he said. "By comparison, those of us in the Order almost had it easy. They needed a chance to 'let off some steam', as I think the Muggles call it."
"I suppose you're right," Mrs. Weasley said. "They're not the only ones celebrating tonight," Mr. Weasley added, pointing with the quill in his hand towards the wireless. "It's like it when Voldemort first fell. Witches and wizards celebrating all over the country. The Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes," he wryly remarked, "will have even more work to do."
Mrs. Weasley had a thoughtful look on her face. "Before I forget, Arthur, I think it's time we both had the talk with Ron and Ginny. And, come to think of it, Harry and Hermione too."
"The talk?" he asked. She nodded. "This wouldn't have anything to do with what happened earlier tonight, would it, Molly?"
"Oh yes, yes it does," she answered. "Hermione was, how shall I say it, all over Ron. I'm sure nothing serious happened," she said, answering the unasked question, "but, well, you know how we were at their age. We must have found every broom closet in the castle by the time we graduated." She turned very slightly pink at the memory. "In any case, Arthur, whatever they may or may not be doing, it's better that they now how to protect themselves."
"Very well," Arthur agreed. "We'll deal with it tomorrow, Molly."
Hermione had never played Quidditch with bludgers, but she imagined that this was how getting hit by one felt. She had never had a headache this bad.
"Good morning," the all-too-chipper voice of Ginny said. "I thought you might not be up to breakfast with everyone else," pointing to a plate with bacon and eggs. "Oh, and don't forget this," she said, handing over a goblet full of purplish liquid. "Sobering Potion works on hangovers too. Or, at least, that's what Charlie told me."
"Did I-"
"Get utterly and completely drunk?"
"Oh Merlin," Hermione said, burying her head in her pillow. "Did I do something stupid, Ginny?"
"Well, you gave Lavender Brown a run for her money when it came to snogging in public."
Hermione groaned in complete and utter annoyance at herself. "Please tell me that's the most stupid thing I did last night."
"Nope. You snogged Ron right in front of Mum after you came into the house."
Ginny could not help but be amused at Hermione's reaction. She threw a pillow over her head so that only her ears were visible, but even those were turning red with embarrassment. "Relax, Hermione," she went on. "It's not like people didn't know the two of you were together now."
It was true. None of the four had been hiding their relationships, and the reactions of the inhabitants of the Burrow was always some variant of "What took you so long?"
"It probably means we'll get the talk from Mum, though. Ron and Harry will have theirs from Dad."
Hermione had to blink twice, not sure what Ginny was talking about. Then it hit her. "Uh, like the one Madam Pomfrey gives all the girls before sixth year?"
Ginny nodded. Even if some parents didn't completely approve, Hogwarts gave all female students some basic sex education in the sixth year. It was as much out of necessity as anything else. One couldn't place so many teenagers far away from home and not expect anything to happen. It had not been pleasant then, and it probably wouldn't be now. Hermione half wondered if she could find Harry's Invisibility Cloak and vanish under it for the next few hours.
The next day found Harry and Ginny together under the shade of a tree beside a pond that was not too far from the Burrow's informal Quidditch pitch. The previous day was not exactly one theywanted to relive: Mrs. Weasley had taken Ginny and Hermione out to the garden separately that afternoon, and Mr. Weasley had done the same for Ron and Harry, using instead the garage where the flying Ford Anglia had once been kept. It was hard to tell who was more embarrassed: Harry, Ron, Hermione,and Ginny - or Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
Dinner was somewhat quiet - Bill had already returned to Shell Cottage, and Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were all determinedly showing great interest in dinner instead of anything or anyone else. George, however, quickly realized what was going on, and tried to liven up the evening for all concerned.
Now, though, Harry and Ginny were getting to enjoy some valued time to themselves. They had not had much time to themselves at the Burrow, and now that the week of mourning was over they could spend as much time with each other as they wanted. Right now, Harry was lying on the grass, with Ginny's pet pygmy puff Arnold sleeping on his chest, with its owner curled up beside him.
As much as Harry would have liked to spend the entire day doing exactly nothing with Ginny, there was something to attend to. Andromeda was coming over for lunch, and he was pretty sure that she would ask about the package Lupin had left for him. He hadn't had the chance yet to look at it, but was curious as to what was inside it.
"Do you have any idea at all what's inside it, Harry?" Ginny asked.
Harry shrugged. Truth be told, he didn't have any clue at all. "Let's open it, then," she decided.
Harry pulled out his wand and silently cut the envelope open.
They saw that inside were several rolls of faded parchment, another sealed envelope, and a last piece of parchment that looked new. He pulled the new-looking parchment out and saw that it was a letter from Lupin, addressed to him.
Dear Harry,
If you are reading this, both Dora and I are dead, and Voldemort will have been defeated. Weknew that there was a good chance that both of us could die before the war was over. It was one of the reasons I thought, at first, that having a child was a mistake, but Dora made me see that I was wrong.
I never managed to tell you why I made you godfather to Teddy. I knew that more than anyone else, you would understand what Teddy's situation was. Sirius told me how you were raised by your aunt and uncle, and I am sure you will do everything you can to make sure Teddy's childhood is as different from yours as it can be. I am sure you will do well.
Someday, there will come a time when Teddy will ask about myself and Dora. Inside the envelope is another letter. When the time is right, please give it to Teddy. I know both you and Andromeda will do your best to explain what happened to us, but Teddy will want to hear it from us, no matter how indirectly.
As for what else is in the envelope, I think you shall find it interesting. When the Order left Grimmauld Place, I found this in Sirius's old bedroom. They are the notes we made when we created the Marauder's Map. While the map was, of course, intended to help us in our mischief-making, the branch of magic it involves is quite useful. I believe that something similar is behind the Weasley family clock, though I never got the chance to ask Arthur or Molly. In any case, I hope you will find them useful.
I only have one more thing to say to you, Harry. There will be a part of you that will feel that everyone's deaths - mine, Dora's, and the others that I am sure will take place - will be your fault. I understand why you will feel that way, but I ask you not to let your guilt consume you. When your parents died, I made the same mistake of blaming myself for what had happened. It took some time for me to see that I was wrong; that the blame for an evil deed always lies with the one who committed it. You did the best you could, and that is all that the rest of us had a right to ask of you.
Goodbye Harry. I am sure your parents would have been proud of the man their son has become.
Remus Lupin
Harry looked up from the letter towards the clear, cloudless sky. He could almost imagine his parents, Sirius, Lupin, Tonks, and even Fred looking down from far above. James and Sirius would be cheering Harry on whenever he was alone with Ginny, with Lily telling the two best friends off good-naturedly. Fred would be making faint protestations at Harry "taking their sister's innocence", while Remus and Tonks would be looking on with amusement at everyone else's immaturity.
Lupin had, of course, been right. He had been feeling those things, and while his brain told him that wasn't true the rest of him wasn't as sure. Seeing Lupin absolve him helped, in a way, the rest of him catch up to his head. Maybe now, Harry thought, he could look forward to a future not haunted by images of the past year.
Not just any future, he thought, looking over to Ginny. She had been reading the letter as well. She took Harry's free hand in hers, understanding written in her features. No words were necessary as one pair of vivid green eyes looked into another pair of bright brown ones.
Just then Errol, the Weasley family owl, swooped down and dropped a note beside Ginny. She picked it up and read quickly. "It's Mum," she said. "Lunch is about to start, and she's reminding us not to be late." She mentioned something about a few people coming over. Both Harry and Ginny knew that Molly Weasley's definition of "a few people" wasn't quite the same as everyone else.
"Looks like we've got to go," Harry said. With that, he stood up, raised Ginny to her feet with Arnold on her shoulder, and together they walked back to the Burrow.
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