Chapter 17:
Ginny followed after Harry, walking quickly to catch up.
"Harry." He looked back at her, but didn't stop. She huffed, sprinting a little to catch up. She grabbed his arm, and he stopped.
"I'm sorry. I should have never come here." She saw the hurt in his eyes, and she pulled him in for a hug. They stood there, minutes passing, before, he heard someone approaching them.
"Dudley?" Ginny let go of him and stood by his side, getting her wand ready.
"Hey, um, I know my dad didn't say it, but, thanks." Harry narrowed his eyes, but nodded.
"That money is really going to help us a lot, even though we don't deserve it."
"You guys took me in when I was little. You do deserve it." He shook his head.
"No, we don't. We treated you like shit for years, and we shouldn't have. I'm really sorry for being such a jerk when we were younger." Harry smiled, and shook his head.
"Cousins are supposed to do that." He held out his hand, and Dudley shook it.
"Keep in touch, okay?" Dudley nodded, quickly glancing at Ginny.
"Are you two, actually married?" Ginny gave a slight smile, and nodded. Dudley looked back at his cousin.
"Well, I hope you two are happy together." He waved goodbye and went back into his house. Ginny grabbed Harry's hand, and she apparated.
"Ginny? And Harry? What a nice surprise, Teddy is here if you want to go babysit him for a while. I mean, play with him for a while." Mrs. Weasley was smiling as her daughter and son-in-law came in.
"Teddy? We would love to hang out with him for a while." Harry went inside to play while Ginny stayed in the kitchen to talk.
"Hey Teddy. Nice to see you again." The first time him and the baby had met, Harry noticed a few things about him. He looked like his dad, but had his mother's eyes. Then again, they changed within a few seconds of meeting him.
"Hawwy!" Harry smiled, and the baby changed his hair and eye color to match his.
"Playing with some toys I see?" Teddy smiled, handing him a toy dragon. Harry played dragons with him for a while, before Ginny came in to play.
"Hi Ginnee!" She smiled, picking him up. He squirmed and laughed before she set him down again. He looked up at her, and his hair turned to a deep red, his eyes staying the same.
"Mind if I play with you two?" Teddy laughed happily, enjoying all the attention.
"So, we're taking this little tyke for the week." Harry smiled, looking at him.
"Looks like you'll be coming with us. Before we head home, we have to get some food though." Teddy perked up when he heard food.
"Can we get pancakes?" Ginny looked surprised.
"Wow, I remember hearing stories about Ron not being able to say pancakes before he was four." Harry laughed, and Teddy's hair changed back to black. They packed up all of his toys, grabbed his bag and everything they needed for the week, and went outside. They said goodbye to Mrs. Weasley, before Ginny stopped.
"Hmm, maybe we should take a quick stop at home. We don't want to be walking around carrying all of these bags, huh?" They headed home, setting up Teddy in a bedroom, before the three of them headed out again. They went to Diagon Alley, Teddy being very excited with all of the loud noise and people.
"Hmm, maybe after lunch we can stop at Florean's for some ice cream?" Teddy grinned.
"Yes pwease! I wuve ice cweam!" Harry laughed.
"Well, if you wuve it that much I guess we should." They ate lunch, Teddy changing his appearance with every glance at a new person.
"He is a lot like Tonks." Harry nodded in agreement. The baby was laughing, changing his hair from bubble gum pink to electric blue. They finished up lunch, and headed out again. They walked around for a bit, before Teddy pointed to a toy shop.
"Dwaons!" Harry laughed, and Teddy changed his hair and eyes to look like Harry's again. Harry picked Teddy up, and the three went inside the store. They walked around, buying some toys that Teddy really wanted. As Harry paid, Ginny picked Teddy up.
"I can't wait 'till we get home so I can pway with the dwagons!" She laughed, and they walked outside again. They walked for a bit more, before Ginny stopped.
"Gin, you okay?" She shook her head and continued walking.
"It's nothing, just heard a weird clicking sound." They walked past George's shop, and Teddy was bouncing with excitement to go in. The store was crowded, but George saw them, and came over right away.
"Well, seems like you two have been busy." Ginny smiled and Harry laughed.
"Hi George!" George picked Teddy up.
"Hi Teddy, haven't seen you in a while. Glad you came by also. I have some brand new toys in." Teddy's eyes widened, and they went off to look at them. A little while later, they left, with another two bagful of toys.
"Ice cweam time?" Harry smiled.
"Sure, but we're gonna head home right after. I'm sure you want to play with all your new stuff, huh?" Teddy nodded, and they got some ice cream before heading home.
The next morning, Snowstorm was perched on the window sill, a paper and some letters attached to his legs. Harry took the letters, and Ginny took the paper, sitting down next to Teddy, who was eating some cereal while playing with a dragon.
"Harry, look at this." She pushed the paper into his hands, looking quite annoyed.
'The Daily Prophet' the title read, and the headline underneath made Harry groan.
"Oh no."
'The Boy Who Lives, Out With His Son?'
"Let me guess who it's by. Oh, I'm right, Rita Skeeter." Ginny huffed, looking at the paper like she was going to rip it up.
"That was what that clicking sound was yesterday. Her and her stupid camera!"
"Stoopid!" Teddy yelled, and laughed when he saw Harry grin.
"Well, what does it say?" Harry sighed, and began to read.
'Harry Potter, now 19, was out strolling with his wife, and possibly his son. The couple just got married in August, but no one knew that she might have been pregnant.'
Harry folded to paper up, standing up and throwing it out.
"Hey, I wanted to know what she said about me!" Harry shook his head, already having read past the part he said out loud.
"She called us a few names, tried to promote her new book that's coming out in a few months, and that's it." Ginny looked annoyed, and looked over at Teddy. He had the same expression on as her, and changed his hair to red and his eyes to hazel.
"Seems like you're making an impression on someone." Ginny smiled, and tousled his hair. The baby laughed, and held his arms up to let them know he wanted to get out of his chair.
"Hmm, before we can play some more, we should probably give you a bath." While Harry did that, Ginny sat and read the rest of the mail, all of it just some stuff about money and the new business. She had just finished and went to get another cup of coffee, when Hermione and Ron came in.
"Did you see the paper?" Ron looked like Ginny had, annoyed.
"Yeah, I saw it, but Harry read it." Hermione looked around.
"Where is Harry?" Ginny motioned towards the stairs.
"Giving Teddy a bath. He should be down in a few minutes." Ron huffed, walking over to the plate of bacon and eating it.
"Do you ever stop eating?" He rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, I just didn't have breakfast." Hermione laughed.
"Yes you did, and you had breakfast at my place, and now you're having some here." He waved her off.
"I'm growing, leave me alone."
"Yeah, but you aren't growing upwards anymore." Ginny and Hermione laughed, and Harry came down with a squeaky clean Teddy.
"Hello!" Teddy looked at Hermione, turning his hair brown.
"Hi Teddy." He smiled at them, and Harry put him in his chair.
"When did you two get here? And when did we run out of food?" Ron gave him a look, and Herrmione grinned.
"A couple of minutes ago. You read the paper, huh?" Harry nodded, walking over and grabbing some coffee.
"Teddy had his hair and eyes that way the whole day. Only time they changed was when he saw someone interesting." Teddy looked at Harry, changing his hair back.
"He seems to like it that way." Teddy laughed, and picked up his dragon.
"Can we go pway pwease?" Harry picked Teddy and his dragon up, and he brought him into the living room where all of his toys were. The four friends sat down, talking some more.
"I can't believe she's writing a book about you." Hermione look disgusted and angry, shaking her head.
"Well, what did you expect? She'll write lies and stories about people if that's what everyone wants." Hermione huffed, but changed the topic.
"How's the plans for the business going?" Harry smiled.
"Almost done. I just need to appoint a C.E.O to be able to handle the company. And, now that we're on the subject, I want you to do it." She looked surprised.
"Me? Harry, the goblins predicted that this business was going to grow about five times the size within a year. I can't do that." He shook his head.
"Hermione, you can do anything. You are one of the few people who are capable of doing it." She smiled, looking at Ron and Ginny.
"Fine, I'll do it. But if I mess up, I'll remind you that you wanted me to do this." He laughed, and they chatted for a bit more.
"So, how's the wedding planning going?" Ron shook his head and Hermione started talking.
"Oh well, I've decided on what flowers I want, just not sure which color. And I got a beautiful church to hold the ceremony in." As she talked more and more, Harry noticed how Ron zoned out. He poked his friend's shin with his foot, catching his attention. He looked up, boredom etched across his face.
"You should really listen to what your wife to be is saying." He whispered, and Ron rolled his eyes. After a while, Hermione got onto the topic of guests, which peaked Ron's interest.
"Well, I know one thing, and it's we aren't inviting Krum to our wedding." Hermione shook her head.
"Ron, he's a good friend, we still keep in touch."
"Keep in touch? You keep in touch with him?" Hermione was taken aback by his sudden outburst.
"Well, yes. As I said he is a dear friend." He huffed.
"A dear friend who probably snogged your face off at the ball."
"Ron, that was how many years ago? And for arguments sake, we did no such snogging. And if you want to get into that, I remember you and Lavender having a pretty good time after that quidditch game."
"Yeah, whatever. Let's just bring up all of my dead girlfriends!" Harry raised his eyebrows.
"How many girls have you dated that have died? Let's rephrase that, how many girls have you dated?" Ron shot him a look.
"Ron, I'm inviting him. Nothing happened between us, we're just friends."
"Just friends? Well, I guess me and Lavender can be called "just friends" even though we did a lot more then snog each other!" Hermione's expression changed.
"Real nice Ron." Hermione huffed and walked out, leaving Ron infuriated.
"You could have gone somewhere else with that mate." Yet another dirty look was shot towards Harry.
"Go apologize Ronald."
"I don't need to listen to my sister about relationships. If she wants to be angry let her be angry." Ginny raised her eyebrows.
"Sorry, who's happily married?" Ron huffed.
"I'm not apologizing" And with that, he walked out. Harry sighed, and Ginny looked at him.
"My brother is such a git." She said, walking inside.
Sorry about the short chapter (and my inability to keep a schedule) but chapter 18 is coming soon! Remember to follow, fav, and all that good stuff!