Hi everyone! As some of you may have noticed I'm absolutely terrible with updates XD I've fully completed another instalment of this fic so you'll be getting that up pretty soon after this. This one took me an awfully long time to write and I'm very very grateful to my friend Fiona for editing this for me :) Anyway, onto the fic, I hope you all will enjoy this! :D

disclaimer: none of these characters are mine, they all belong to the amazing J.K Rowling.

It was one week before the first of September and the Potters found themselves bustling through Diagon Alley in search for the Weasleys. In a week's time Harry Potter was due to begin his first year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and over the past few days his parents had been guiding him through the street to gather the variety of items necessary to attend the school. Having purchased Harry's books and robes the day previous, all that was left for Harry to buy was an owl and a wand. James, with one hand on Harry's shoulder directing his son through the bustling street, spotted them first.

Over by the Owl Emporium Molly and Arthur Weasley stood with a handful of their seven children. Ron, a boy of Harry's age, was leaning against the window frame of the store staring in awe at something Fred and George had said. The twins in response were guffawing with Fred holding his stomach tight, bent double and George ruffling Ron's hair a little. To the side stood Percy who was talking avidly with his father about the ministry latest law on Boggarts, and sitting on the dusty ground glaring at her laces was Ginny. Staring at her shoes and kicking idly at the ground Ginny groaned. Why did she have to wait another whole year to go to Hogwarts? Now she was going to be home by herself with her parents. As much as she loved them she quite honestly felt like she was going to go insane.

"Ginny, will you get up please? Honestly, your dress!" Molly said in vain, attempting to get her ten year old daughter to stand up.

As Molly opened her mouth to implore her youngest child for the fifth time to get up, James materialised to their right having managed to guide his family towards the Weasleys. His family! Eleven years on since Harry's birth and James was still not over the fact he had a family of his own - A gorgeous wife and an enthusiastic, healthy child. James had never been gladder that the prophecy had not come true; it had predicted the deaths of either James and Lily or Alice and Frank Longbottom. Thankfully that did not happen and both he and Lily, and the Longbottoms, were all very much alive and were able to watch their children grow from bouncing little newborns to the hyperactive twerps they were today. It made James happy inside.

"How are you doing, Molly?" Lily asked as Harry raced forwards to join Ron, "How are Charlie and Bill getting on?"

"I'm good!" Molly responded, smiling down at Harry and Ron's excited chatter, "Charlie's just gotten his apprenticeship abroad, should've seen his face, all excited. And I swear if the rest of us hadn't been in the room he would've been jumping up and down. Bill's enjoying his time in Egypt. From what I've heard everything's going well over there. What about you? I hear St. Mungo's was busy last week with the dragon fire incident."

"Oh god yeah, that was absolutely manic. One man came in with a burn the shape of Australia across his back and another man was crying something chronic and all that he had done was bang his knee!" Lily exclaimed as she moved closer to Molly, allowing James to move through and go to Arthur.

"Ello Art', you good mate? Heard you got into a little bit of trouble at the ministry. We're grateful though" James said, giving Arthur a quick clap on the back.

"Oh it was nothing really. You think too much of me, you do. All I did was protest against that anti-werewolf campaign. The cheek of it! You'd think the ministry would learn, especially after what happened in the war ten years ago with all the support our side got from the werewolf security. There were more of us on the other side than there was of them! Preposterous, honestly!" Arthur said, his face nearly as red as his hair.

"Speaking of werewolves, how is Remus, James? I haven't seen him recently. Nor Sirius. Are they doing okay? How are they coping with the baby?" Molly asked as she finally managed to drag Ginny to her feet and began dusting off her daughter's dress.

"Yeah he's good - awfully grateful to you too by the way Arthur. We'll be seeing him and Remus later with baby Ted. They said they'll meet us at Florean's. No doubt Pads wants to stuff his face with the ice cream," James said, ending his speech with a chuckle.

"Remus is going to have to hold him back, I swear Sirius is worse than Harry sometimes when it comes to ice-cream," Lily said with a fond smile.

With an amused smile, Molly ushered her children and Harry into the Owl Emporium. As they made their way inside, she made sure to ask a few more questions about the new baby. It was great that Remus and Sirius had managed to find a surrogate in Sirius' work friend Cecelia. She hadn't wanted anything in return other than a right to visit the little baby. Who were Remus and Sirius to say no? All they had wanted was a child - through either adoption or surrogacy, they didn't mind.

"He's a beautiful little thing, such a sweetheart … Harry dear we said an owl not a snake, over to the left please. Anyway, yes Teddy is just a darling. They used a spell to mix their DNA you know, and Teddy is an absolute picture of the two. He has Remus' little nose and Sirius' eyes. Absolutely beautiful. Did you know Cecelia is a Metamorphmagus? I didn't, I just though she dyed her hair! But nope, and little Teddy has it too. His hair was bright blue last time we saw him. Although Remus did say that it's settled into his natural hair colour for now-"

"Breathe Lils," James said, laughing as Lily hit him in the arm goodnaturedly before they walked further into the shop.
To the far left, Harry seemed completely enamoured with a snowy white owl who was perched in the cage in front of him. Ron, who had apparently realised that Harry was very much distracted, had moved on to look at a rather small bouncy owl with Ginny. As the owl hurled itself at the cage door for the third time, chirping away, the redheaded girl burst into giggles.

"You want that one, huh Harry?" James asked, looking down at the price just below the large cage.

Harry nodded excitedly, and only mere seconds after James gave him a nod did Harry run as fast as his could to where Ron was standing. As Harry approached, smiling giddily about how he was going to get his first owl to himself, he overheard Ron stating that was even willing to share the owl with Ginny once she joined Hogwarts if his parents brought the little thing for him. Ron must really want that owl, Harry thought and nearly jumped for joy as Molly gave a begrudging nod to Ron. She began to search through her beaded handbag in search of any money she had spare - having already put what she needed for her children's books and robes away in a little coin purse.

"You're getting that one?" Harry asked, peering at the owl that zoomed around his cage happily.

"Uh yeah," Ron fiddled idly with his shirt and mumbled, "he's the cheapest one here and I know he isn't great, but-"

"Relax Ron, I like him," Harry said, grinning, swinging his arm around Ron for a second in an attempt to comfort him.

"You don't have to share him with me next year if you don't want," Ginny said helpfully, before a mischievous glint in her eye - uncanny to the twins' - appeared. "As long as you let me name him, of course."

"No way! I'm not letting you give my owl a name."

"Our owl unless you let me name him!"

Growling out a "fine", Ron took hold of the top of the owl's cage and brought him over to his parents. James and Lily were standing to the side of the till with Harry's owl having already being taken care of.

"So, what are you going to name him, champ? Elvendork?" James asked, lifting the cage up slightly to get a better look of the owl, which looked unimpressed.

"The owl's a she dad, and I was thinking of Hedwig, not Elvendork."

"Elvendork is a smashing name! If I'd had my way Elvendork would have been in your name somewhere-"

"He's got your name in there, there's no need for you to have Elvendork too," Lily interrupted, leading Harry towards the door so that they could wait for the Weasleys outside.

"-plus the name's unisex!" James continued, as if Lily had not spoken, "but Hedwig it is, I guess. Welcome to the family, Wiggy!"
Rolling his eyes, Harry leant against the window watching the street before him; it wasn't long until he saw a recognisable face amongst the crowd.

"Isn't that Neville?" he asked, pointing towards the small blonde boy being led by a tall thin man with balding dark hair and a petite blonde lady. Having obviously heard Harry's less than quiet question, Neville turned his head and caught a glimpse of the Potters standing outside the Owl Emporium. Giving Harry a quick wave and an awkward smile, Neville quickened his pace so that he could catch up with his parents. Soon enough, the three of them, laden with heavy bags, came walking through the crowd towards the Potters.

"Good afternoon," Alice said cheerily leaning over to give Lily a quick peck on the cheek.

"How are you doing, mate?" James asked Frank, clapping him on the back in a friendly gesture before pulling away with a grin.

He'd always felt a little sorry for Frank, the man having shared a room with him and the other Marauders for all seven years of their education. The stuff he had to put up with, it was a miracle the man was still standing.
Grinning back, Frank held up his bags. "We've just been shopping," he said, rather unnecessarily.

"Got almost everything for Nev here," Frank continued, "all that's left is a wand and perhaps a visit to Florean's. It's been a long day'"

Nodding along, Lily offered for herself, James and Harry to go with them to Ollivander's whilst the Weasleys went over to Madame Malkin's to get their robes fitted. Harry had gotten his done the day before so all he needed today was his books and wand. Just at that moment, the Weasleys began to file out of the store one by one.

"We're just going over to Ollivander's, Molly," Lily explained, waving her hand towards Alice and Frank.

"Okay, we'll just get the robes fitted. Nice to see both of you - Neville too. Are you coming to Florean's later? I understand that Remus and Sirius will be there with the baby," Molly said as she moved her children in the appropriate direction for the robe shop.

"We wouldn't miss it," Alice responded smiling. "It'll almost be like a reunion for the Order. Not that we don't see each other a lot anyway."
Molly nodded in response before she and Arthur disappeared with their multitude of children towards Madame Malkin's.

"Shall we?" James asked, moving Harry so that he was in sight. Sure, James was pretty easy going with most people, but eleven years on he was still as much of a mother bear as Lily was. If not more so.

Nodding in agreement, the Potters and Longbottoms made their way to Ollivander's wand shop. Lily and Alice were talking animatedly about what they had been doing since they had last seen each other. Over the course of a week, Alice had managed to get a promotion in her job with the Daily Prophet, and apparently Neville had been showing even more signs of magic. It had relieved Alice and Frank of any sort of panic, as up until the age of nine Neville had shown a very limited amount of magic. Unlike Harry, who had somehow made the entire living room float during a tantrum at age four, Neville had appeared rather ordinary in the wizarding sense. At first his parents had assumed that perhaps their son was a squib (nothing was wrong with that however, as they would love their son just the same with or without magic). But then as Neville hit ten years old he started showing more and more magic; setting fire to his grandmother's curtains, making the roof disappear, multiplying cupcakes until they filled up the entire table.

At the moment, Neville was walking in front of the parents with Harry beside him, discussing what houses they'd like to be a part of loudly.

"I'd like to be a Gryffindor just like mum and dad, but Hufflepuff wouldn't be too bad,' Neville said, picking at a thread on his shirt as they all rounded a corner.

"I dunno," Harry said, looking up at his friend, "I think I definitely want to be in Gryffindor. Hufflepuff wouldn't be terrible, or Ravenclaw I guess, but I want to be in Gryffindor real bad!" he continued as he picked up the pace.

"What do you think of Slytherin?" Neville asked, glancing behind quickly to see how far behind their parents were.
Harry paused for a second, he had never really put much thought into Slytherin. "I guess it wouldn't be the worst to be in Slytherin, there are tons of bad wizards from the other houses too so they weren't all from Slytherin. Mum says that Slytherin's just as good as Gryffindor so I dunno … I guess I just really want to be in Gryffindor!"
At that, the two stopped outside the wand shop and waited for their parents in a comfortable silence. Harry watched the parents get closer while Neville fiddled with his shirt.

"Okay kids, in we go," Frank said happily, shoving the two boys into the store lightly.

As they approached, Harry looked up at the ceiling in awe.

The shop was rather small, in the sense that it was cramped, the building itself was tiny, and incredibly thin. However, despite the limited space of the store, the walls were crammed with tiny wand boxes. The tatty cardboard boxes spilling out from every possible space and filling the walls up to the very top of the ceiling. The ceiling, that's what had Harry absolutely astonished. Despite the building being incredibly tiny from the outside, and rather cramped on the inside, there didn't seem to be a ceiling. The walls kept on climbing, reaching an impossible height from where a dusty chandelier hung as if by a charm. Harry shook his head, of course it was a charm - he'd lived his entire life in the wizarding world and yet he seemed to be acting like he'd never seen magic before.

He didn't need to have worried though, as he had turned his head towards Neville and saw his friend looking up with the same look of amazement on his face. James appeared behind Harry, shuffling his son further forwards so that Lily was able to make it inside. Upon noticing his son's dumbstruck face, James smirked.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" James said, glancing up at the walls. He remembered when he had first walked into Ollivander's with his own father and mother. The store exuded a type of charm (and not the magical kind) and beauty that meant that whoever ended up within the shop's walls couldn't help but admire it. No matter if they were born into a wizarding family or a muggle one, nobody could stride into the wand shop and not admire it.

"Mr Potter," a voice from behind the dusty desk brought James out of his reverie. James glanced up at Mr Ollivander who made his way forwards so that he was bending over the desk to look at the group.

"Mr James Potter, I remember the day you first came in here. Eleven inches, mahogany … you're treating it well I presume? And Miss Lily Evans, owner of a willow wood, 10 ¾ inches. Only you're not Miss Evans anymore, are you? And here must be your son. Harry Potter, I've been expecting you" Ollivander said, giving them a nod and a kind smile before turning around to get a wand box for Harry.

At Harry's nervous look James gave a chuckle. "Don't worry kid, he does that with everybody. I came in here with Pads one time because he had broken his wand and 'vander gave the same speech before ripping Sirius a new one!"

At James' comment Lily rolled her eyes and moved closer so that one of her hands rested on Harry's shoulder.

"It's okay, Harry, and remember, it's the wand that chooses the wizard," she said, giving her son a kind smile before smirking at James. She had obviously stolen the line he had wanted to say.
Before James could retort, Ollivander appeared before them once more and slid a nine inch wand of apple wood and dragon heartstring core in Harry's direction. As Harry picked up the box, Ollivander moved towards the Longbottoms.

"Mr Frank Longbottom, your wand seems to be in working order. Yours too Miss Alice Pe- ah, and this is your son. Yes, I know what to get for you already Neville," Ollivander said, tottering back over to the wands directly behind the desk.

Whilst Ollivander busied himself with finding Neville the perfect wand, Harry had opened up the lid of the box and held the wand awkwardly in his hand. Giving it a quick flick, mimicking the times his mother and father waved their wands, a vase nearby exploded and Harry quickly put it back down, deciding that perhaps that was not the wand he needed after all.

Ollivander, having turned round at the sharp sound of the vase exploding, chuckled. He handed Neville a cherry wood wand. As Neville clasped his hand around the wand there was a sudden warm glow that began to fill the room with a golden light. As soon as the glow receded, Neville found himself with Ollivander directly in front of him giving the blonde haired boy a warm smile.

"13 inches, cherry wood … extremely rare, with a single unicorn hair. Your wand will be most loyal and consistent in its magic," Ollivander said, handing over the wand box to Neville so that he could put his new wand away.

"Back to you, Mr Potter" Ollivander continued, grasping at a few more boxes and handing them to Harry one by one as various items in the room exploded or caught fire. As each wand was returned to its spot within the walls, Ollivander would mutter a "no, that's not right" or "not this one" and continue his work. Finally, the wand maker came across another wand.

"I wonder," he muttered, before handing it gently towards the dark haired boy.

With a kind smile aimed in his direction Harry raised the wand higher so that he could flick it in the direction of a precariously placed flower pot. As he raised it the room began to fill with that same golden light that it had done with Neville. As quick as it had come, it had gone.

"My oh my," Ollivander said, getting uncomfortably close to Harry, "how curious."

"Curious?" Harry asked, looking at Neville, then at his parents only to see them all looking as confused as he felt.

"Yes curious," Ollivander continued, "how curious is it that this wand, an 11 inch holly wood wand, would find its way to you Mr Potter."
At the confused look from Harry Ollivander continued.

"It is curious as within this wand lies a single phoenix feather. No two wands are the same, as no two unicorns are the same or no two phoenixes. Except this time. For the phoenix who gave a feather for your wand gave one other. A feather in a wand belonging to one of the most dangerous wizards of our times. A man who-"
At a loud cough from James and a glare from Lily. Ollivander stopped talking and gave a sympathetic smile.

"Ah, I see that I have spoken too much. That'll be seven galleons for each wand," he said with a smile before heading back behind the desk and sending the tried and failed wands zooming back into their appropriate places.

A little confused still, Harry gripped tightly to the box which now had his wand inside and refused to add it to their bag of shopping. Together as the two families headed out, Harry stuck close to Neville and quietly they discussed what had happened.

"There was definitely more that Ollivander man was going to say!" Harry whispered. He glanced back at the store curiously.

"Even my mum and dad got jumpy when he mentioned that wizard," Neville continued, having observed his parents go completely still and silent when Ollivander had started speaking about Harry's wand.

"Our parents aren't going to tell us," Harry said quietly.

"Probably not, but there has to be a good reason!" Neville tried to reason. The Longbottoms and Potters rounded a corner.

"I don't care," Harry declared under his breath, making sure only Neville could hear, "I'm going to find out! My mum and dad can't stop me doing that."

"They must be doing it because they have to, though, Harry," Neville continued, feeling slightly afraid of what adventure Harry would drag him on now. Harry was much braver than Neville and often Neville found himself being dragged unnecessarily along with the darker haired boy and Ronald Weasley. Despite Neville's reservations Harry was happy with Neville as his friend and refused Neville's half-hearted complaints knowing that in the end Neville often enjoyed their activities.

Harry rolled his eyes and was about to retort when he noticed the Weasleys standing gathered in a nearby corner. Pointing them out to his parents and the Longbottoms, Harry grabbed Neville's hand and pulled him over to where the Weasleys stood.

"Have a good time getting your wands, boys?" Mrs Weasley asked. Without even looking at the twins beside her she batted something slimy from their hands and continued to beam down at the two boys in front of her. Harry nodded excitedly before turning his attention to Ron and Ginny. The redheaded girl who had calmed down from the incident earlier in the day stood beside her brother giggling over a joke he had just told her.

"Hey Ron!" Harry greeted cheerfully. Neville gave an awkward smile and moved closer to Ginny, she was much easier to get on with than Ron, he felt.

"All right everyone!" James said, cheerfully calling everyone to attention, "Moony and Pads should be at Florean's with their freakishly blue haired baby." ("James!" Lily had chided, hiding a smile at her husband comment.) "We'll all head in that direction now. I suggest as we're a huge group we sit Moony and Pads with all the parents, and the kids can sit amongst themselves at other tables. Good? Good!"

With that he gave them all a grin and started walking in the direction of the ice-cream parlour, the owl cage swinging slightly in his hand.

~O~

Remus and Sirius had been sitting down at Florean's for perhaps five minutes before the stampede arrived. First to crash their few moments of peace was James, who stormed up to two of his best friends and proceeded to hug Sirius tightly before turning to Remus. Immediately afterwards he plopped himself down as near to Teddy as he could get and cooed at the sleeping baby whilst the rest of the Potters and the Longbottoms made themselves known. Lily chucked the bags of shopping beside the seat she would be taking and immediately rushed towards Remus, giving him a peck on the cheek. She hugged Sirius shortly too before joining her husband beside the little baby. Alice and Frank were a lot more reserved and opted more for a wave and a polite hug each before sitting down. The Weasleys were even more so, Arthur gave the couple a polite nod of the head before sitting down and Molly hugged them both quickly before sitting down herself allowing the rest to fawn over the baby.

The Weasley children didn't really comment much on the couple, giving an odd wave or grin as they made their way to their tables and seats. Neville gave Remus a quick hug (the werewolf having helped with the Longbottoms' discovery of Neville's wizardry) and waved at Sirius quickly before rushing to sit next to Ginny at her and Ron's small table near the parents. Harry on the other hand wasn't having a wave or a simple nod of the head and opted for a full on charge aimed at one Sirius Black. Running at his godfather the dark haired boy nearly knocked him flying and clung to him tightly before doing the same with Remus. He gave the pair a toothy grin and shot a smile in the direction of the slowly waking up Teddy before running over to his friends.

"So this is Teddy!" Molly said, cooing as Remus lifted the baby from the buggy and showed him off to the group. He had a little button nose which he had screwed up so that his pink face was wrinkled. Across his nose he had a splatter of freckles, a trait taken from Remus, and atop his head was a small amount of wispy blue curls.

"He's a beauty," Lily added, Teddy having curled round slightly so that his hand clung to Remus' jumper.

"He really is," Remus agreed, looking up at Sirius with such a look of pure happiness that it made the others question how they could ever know a time where the couple were not as gleeful as this. Surely there was not such a place as since Voldemort's defeat. The couple had shone brightly amongst other couples, never once did they seem to be overtly unhappy with one another, and never once did the couple fall completely apart. James looked at them again, with Remus receiving a chaste kiss from Sirius, and thought happily once again (as he had done every day since the war was won) that he was so very glad that Voldemort had not found a way to ruin all of this.

Thank you for reading! :) Please comment, criticism is welcome.

As a warning, I have two very conflicting headcanon's for Teddy so there may be one that conflicts with what I've written here. One is with Teddy being a baby during Harry's first year at Hogwarts, and another is with Teddy being a year younger than Harry and being friends with Ginny, Luna and Neville. If you'd like me to write something with Teddy being a year younger than Harry just tell me as right now I'm unsure whether I will.