Here After

by Kiamii

Chapter Two "Babyhood"

A child tells in the street what its father and mother say at home. - The Talmud

The sound of birds chirping in the background and soft glowing in the room was what Harry, or better known as Alex currently, woke up to. He blinked sleepily, his head turning left and right to find himself surrounded by bars much like the hospital crib. Alex's sleepiness cleared and he gently sat up, noting that the pain was gone. His arm was cleared of any bandages and that a faint scar was across his right wrist. He stood up and had to grasp the rails for balance. Looking around the room, he found that he was in a nursery of some sort. The walls were charmed blue with small white eagles flying around the room on the walls, a very dim sun and clouds drifted about. On the ceiling was similar to the morning sky and Alex was distracted for a moment before looking at the shelf next to the window that had a variety of items. There was a cupboard off to the side and Alex discovered a window behind him, above the crib he was in. He looked back in the crib as something caught his eye and he was about to reach for the stuffed rabbit in the crib when the door opened, snapping his older mind back in control.

"Looks like someone is awake," came a very gentle voice and Alex turned his head only to be taken aback as he saw the adult version of Ginny Weasley. As if it hadn't been bad enough to see the adult version of himself last time he was awake. Alex stood still as she walked over to him and lifted his small body up into her arms. She had a very kind touch, Alex noticed as she cuddled him to her. She patted him on his... bottom... and exclaimed that he was wet to Alex's pure horror. He began wiggling and idly guessed she must have mistook that for him wanting to be changed for she put him down on the light blue changing table and well... let's just say Alex suffered a full handful of minutes suffering his very first nappy change.

"Good as new sweetie," Ginny laughed and she dressed Alex in a red top with a pair of denim dungarees. Alex said nothing, feeling humiliated as it was. He was carried down to the kitchen and his eyes widened once more as they passed portraits. Some of them baffled Harry for there was the adult version of Ginny and him kissing, three children surrounding the couple in another, and he even saw Hermione and Ron with two kids! As Alex turned his head over Ginny's shoulder to gaze at the largest photo, he was slightly amused to see the Weasley family had populated like rabbits.

"So this is the little boy we found was it?" came a very familiar, if not deeper, voice that made Alex turn his head to. He was staring at a very much older version of his best friend and next to Ron was Hermione, even more stunning than she had been in her 6th year with them. Alex was handed over to Hermione who lifted him up in the air for a second, smiling at him and cooing, before she rested Alex in her arms. The boy, feeling a small urge to do so, reached up and tried to pull her unbelievably softer hair. It was curly in a ringlet style instead of the frizz he was used to, so it wasn't just the baby side of him wanting to do this really, though he would argue if asked that it was all his baby's side's fault.

"He's a quiet one isn't he?" asked Ron as the adults watched the baby tug Hermione's hair. Harry reached over just as Alex looked ready to pop her hair in his mouth, and took the baby from her, looking around before spotting the baby bag they had purchased. Looking inside, he produced a blue dummy and plopped it in the baby's mouth.

"He slept through the whole night except for a few nightmares he had," Harry answered as he bounced the child in his arms, "which was odd for me. I had a baby monitor on and everything, ready to enter the nursery in case he needed a bottle or change like James and Albus constantly wanted."

"Just because all of our children and Teddy were rowdy as babies doesn't mean all of them are," Ginny laughed as she pecked Harry on the cheek. Alex squirmed in Harry's arms until Harry sat him in the high chair. The Potter couple had pulled out Albus' old baby items and replaced quite a few. Their own tradition was that each baby they took care of had their own color. Teddy had been given orange, James had red, Albus had green, and Lily had purple. They had decided on blue for little Alex and had done little adjustments here and there to change up the nursery. Alex looked at Harry, seemingly confused, before the man tied a bib around Alex and summoned a bottle, giving it a very small heating charm to warm up the bottle to the right temperature. After checking, he gave Alex the bottle and the baby stared at him for a second before taking the bottle and sucking on it.

"He's very different from any baby we raised," Ginny stated and Harry nodded. An owl came through the customary built window, startling the baby into dropping his bottle and crying a little. Hermione went to soothe the child while Harry took the letter. Ron and Ginny, as always, read over his shoulder.

Hey mum and dad,

James was right for once. I made Slytherin and Rose made Ravenclaw. Thought I'd tell you that myself since Rose is probably too eager to get into those silly books. Hows Lily and Hugo? I miss everyone already but Hogwarts is great! I met Scorpius Malfoy and Kevin Ross who are both my roommates. They're not so bad and Scorpius tells me how his father and you hated each other in school. Is that true dad! Well also all the kids looked at me when I said you were my dad. Is your fame really that big still? That was like ages ago!

See you,

Albus S. Potter

"My little girl is a Ravenclaw, I knew it." Ron said with a shake of his head, "Now I can only depend on Hugo to get into Gryffindor."

"Ronald Weasley! You will not pressure our son into anything," Hermione chastised as she had finally calmed Alex down and got him drinking his bottle again. Ron grinned at his wife before excusing himself, claiming he needed to fetch Hugo from school and that he'd get Lily as well. Now that Alex looked, he could see the time on the wall read around 3pm. Had he really slept that long? He remembered waking up every now and then from a nightmare only to be soothed by a voice. Looking at the clock closer he could see the little hands like Molly Weasley's clock at home, and smiled.

"So Hugo and Lily both know we have a baby in the house right?" inquired Ginny as she lifted Alex up and patted his back. Alex didn't hear the answer as he let out a baby burp, surprising himself, and he blushed a little which thankfully went unnoticed. She untied the bib from his neck and put the boy in the playpen they had set up. Harry looked at the confused baby and chuckled. The three adults sat at the dining room table, talking about how Albus and Rose were doing before Ron came through the door with Lily and Hugo. The two were laughing about something and both ran to greet their mothers.

"How was school flower?" Harry asked as he pulled his little girl on his lap. Lily giggled and hugged her father, telling him all about her day. Hugo was telling his mother much the same thing and how happy he was they were in most of the same classes. Lily finished and finally took notice of the small baby in the playpen, looking at her curiously. She slid off her dad's lap and walked over to him, lighting up as she took in his appearance.

"He's adorable mummy! Are we keeping him!" she squealed as she knelt down and tickled the baby's tummy, evoking a small giggle.

"He's not a puppy honey," Harry laughed, "and he'll be staying here until we can find any living relatives of his. Speaking of which, I'll have to take him in for a blood test and such. Until then, please be nice to Alex. He's only about 14 months old."

"I will daddy!" Lily said eagerly as she stood up and excused herself, rushing upstairs to change out of her school uniform. Harry stood up telling them he needed to probably take Alex to the Auror department to find out who his blood parents were and the smaller details. He lifted a quiet Alex up and stepped into the floo after taking the baby bag from Ginny, calling out his destination after Ron saying he needed to get to work as well.

When he stepped out of the fireplace with Alex, he found the boy burying his head into his shoulder, obviously disliking the floor. He chuckled a little and bounced him around as Ron stepped out behind him. The two best friends took a few minutes to get Alex calm before walking towards their destination.

"Good afternoon Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley," greeted Auror Noble. The two nodded and Harry raised Alex up a little.

"We need a blood test on the little one here. He was the cause of the explosion in Surrey a day ago or so." Harry answered. The Auror nodded and led them inside to where a few others were running scans on items they found at the scene. After instructing them to place Alex on the table, he began to pull out a knife, making Alex whimper. Harry rubbed his back as best as he could, telling him he was only going to make a small cut, and soothed Alex as Auror Noble took the knife and very gently made a prick on his finger. He quickly let the blood drop into a vial before he sealed the wound just as Alex began to sniff, tears in his eyes. Harry lifted Alex up into his arms, rubbing his back once more until the baby was calm. As the Auror did his spell, the three looked at the results in shock.

Harry James Potter

Born July 31, 1980

Mother: Deceased

Father: Deceased

Living Blood Relatives: Petunia Dursley, Harry Potter

"What the hell?" Ron exclaimed.

"Are you sure you didn't take my blood," Harry said in surprise.

"No, and it says your name as Living Relatives. Do you think... he's you from the past? Before you got your scar sir?" Auror Noble said, just as stunned as the others. Alex was looking at the screen in surprise as well, noting that Aunt Petunia was still alive.

"I don't think so, time doesn't work like that... Maybe he could be but from... an alternate universe? Where's Hermione when you need her," Harry groaned. He rocked the baby in his arms subconsciously and frowned lightly.

"Him being here would make the whole time frame become unraveled. As it hasn't happened yet, I'm thinking he isn't from our time line." said the Auror. Harry nodded in agreement.

"Nobody can find out that he is... erm... another me. We should probably keep calling him Alex. It explains why he looks a little like me, but the hazel tint in his eyes and the slightly red tips in his hair is odd." Harry stated. He cast a small diagnostic spell on the baby and found him perfectly healthy, except it was noting something. A spell?

"Someone hit him with a spell..." Harry commented, "and I have a feeling that's what caused all of this. We'll have to examine this closely but until then, I'm going to adopt him magically. This way he'll be Alex Potter." The other two nodded and agreed to keep it a secret. As Auror Noble went to get the adoption papers so they could hurry the process along, Ron turned to Harry.

"Blimey mate, you always seem to be involved in the craziest things even now." Ron said. Harry grinned, rolling his eyes, before looking down at the silent child. He studied Alex closely, wondering if he had ever looked like that as a baby himself. He looked very similar to him now that he thought about it. His nose wrinkled slightly and Alex sneezed, evoking a smile from the man. Auror Noble returned soon enough and Harry passed Alex to Ron who held him as best as possible while Harry filled in the paper work.

"Name? Alexander Potter. Though I wonder where that blanket with the name Alex came from." Harry said aloud.

"There was a baby born in that house and the blanket did look very battered when we found him with it. Perhaps we should investigate if there was a baby named Alex there before," said Ron. Harry nodded and continued. He filled in the birth date as August 1, 2015 considering he didn't want others to know he was Harry. He named the Mother as Ginny and the Father as Harry. He also looked at Ron who instantly knew that look.

"Well I've already got James as my god kid. You named Neville Albus' godfather. Lily's godfather is George isn't that right? Name Alex's godfather as Charlie or Bill maybe. They'd be happy to you know." Ron suggested. Harry decided to leave it blank for now and he handed the adoption paper to the Auror before taking Alex back as the man did the correct spell that bound Alex as his adopted son.

"Welcome to the family little one," Harry whispered into Alex's ear as he couldn't help but think Alex would bring a whole lot of changes now.

Author's Note: Meh, felt like writing up Chapter Two already. Surprise? If I'm nice I'll write Chapter Three too! I don't have work for a few hours. Don't bother correcting my mistakes because I won't care unless it majorly impacts the story. It's Fluffy and for the record, this is the fault of a spell and Harry can't honestly control half of what he does as a baby, but he can try to control it. Review!