Here After

by Kiamii

Chapter Nine "A Weasley Christmas"

Courage may be taught as a child is taught to speak - Euripides

The Potter family found themselves at the Burrow later that day, finding the entire Weasley clan there. Harry chuckled as Molly came to greet him and he set Alex on the floor. The toddler didn't exactly feel like getting squashed by the many people in the room and promptly grabbed Albus' hand to hide from them. Albus looked surprised before allowing Alex to do so, going back to what he was saying to James. Lily giggled and skipped off to go find Hugo. Arthur Weasley came over to greet his daughter and son-in-law happy. While the adults were talking, Alex tugged on Albus' hand to get his brother to look at him.

"A`bus p`ay Kiddit?" Alex asked, cocking his head to the side and pointing out the window at the kids flying outside. Albus and James shared a grin before James picked up Alex and they raced outside to join their cousins.

"Hey James! Albus! Glad of you to join us. You know the drill. Al and Lily on Roxanne's team and James on my team," called Fred. Both boys grabbed a broom from their very impressively updated broom shed courtesy of Ginny's former playing for a professional Quidditch team. James had thankfully put Alex on the ground and Rose, who wasn't much for flying, sat down with Alex as they played. The two teams split up, getting on their brooms and Alex looked up at the sky, interested to see how his future kids were at playing. Albus was in the seekers spot and James had taken up a chaser spot. Teddy was the other seeker interesting enough.

On Teddy's team was Victoire as keeper, Lily and James as chasers, and Molly and Fred as beaters. On Roxanne's team was Albus as seeker, Roxanne as keeper, Louis and Dominique as chasers, and Lucy and Hugo as beaters. It seemed the chasers had their siblings to work with each other. Alex peered at the group in interest, making a note of who was where before he settled against Rose to watch the game. It started out simple enough with James in the lead, his sister easily keeping up with him. James was about to aim for Victoire when a cunning move by Louis now had the ball heading for Roxanne who looked at Louis in determination. The boy smirked and turned so he looked as if he was aiming at the far right. As soon as Roxanne turned to block there, he threw it to the left, getting a goal in. He cheered loudly and Roxanne glared at her cousin.

"Potter has the ball! Oh he passed it to Potter. Splendid move!" was Rose's voice, doing a silly imitation of an announcer, "Now Weasley takes the ball! Oh! Weasley gets past Potter and Weasley fails to block it. Lupin's ream gets a point! So far 1-1."

"Oi! Stop with the Weasley and Potter thing! It's too confusing!" Albus yelled, though he was grinning. Rose pouted and cuddled Alex a little on her lap before resuming commentary. Eventually Alex spotted the snitch and he wondered if Teddy or Albus had spotted it yet. By the looks of it, they hadn't. He began to squirm in Rose's lap, unable to contain himself. Having not played Quidditch in a very long time due to Umbridge last year and the Triwizard Tournament the year before, he missed the feel of catching the snitch and he bounced in her arms until Teddy had spotted the snitch finally. Rose was commenting on how Alex seemed to have spotted it long before Teddy did, causing the cousins to grin and Teddy to scowl as he continued heading for the snitch with Albus hot on his trails. The two were neck to neck when the snitch flew straight downwards, heading for the ground at a 90 degree angle. Alex watched, amazed, as neither boy hesitated and dove for it. Teddy pulled up at the last second, Alex a split second before him, with Teddy catching the snitch. His team cheered as everyone flew down. Rose stood up, picking Alex up as well, and walked over to them.

"I really hope you don't make the team Al. You'll be one force to be reckoned with, with you in Slytherin," James was joking. Albus poked his tongue out at his brother and looked at Rose in confusion as she smirked.

"As agreed, the winners get to play with Alex for the day," Rose said, handing Alex to Teddy who smirked at James, Albus, and Lily's faces. They had missed the bet of course, which amused him to no end. Alex wiggled in Teddy's arms, confused until he had heard what she said. He wondered why they would make such a ridiculous bet until he decided he didn't care. He let Victoire and Molly coo over him as the losing team grumbled. He giggled when Victoire accidentally poked his side and, upon finding the boy ticklish, began to mercilessly tickle the baby. Alex squealed in laughter, squirming in Teddy's arms. The cousins watched in amusement, seeing the scene of Teddy holding Alex while Victoire tickled him to be adorable.

"That's a future couple right there. Married that is," teased Fred loudly.

"I certainly would hope Bill doesn't hear that," came a familiar voice and they all turned to see Charlie Weasley walking over to them with an amused grin.

"Uncle Charlie!" chorused the group as Victoire finally stopped tickling the toddler. Alex wiggled until Teddy put him down, letting the child toddle over to Charlie who picked him up with a chuckle. He announced that he had come outside to get them all since Molly had dinner ready. They were going to eat and then open presents. The group headed to the other side of the outside and Charlie set Alex in the high chair, buckling him in a little rougher than others considering he didn't have children. Alex giggled and kicked his legs around as he watched all of his family gather round at the enlarged table outside. Inwardly, he was amazed that he was included into this large and happy family, even more so that this would be his family in the future. Or if he ever went back really. As Molly tied a bib around his neck, he grew quiet. Did he even want to go back? What about Hermione and Ron? Was he giving up on his friends just because he was happy here? Maybe he could... spend a few years here before trying to go back. He blinked suddenly as a spoon was in front of his face and he realized James, grinning, had decided to hand feed him again. He cocked his head to the side before opening his mouth, accepting the food from his adopted brother. As he munched on the mashed potatoes, he looked again at Harry, seeing him laugh at something Roxanne was telling him.

Harry looked over as he felt that he was being watched. He saw his youngest looking at him curiously as James fed him his dinner.

"I have a feeling you're going to continue to baby him for the longest time," Charlie chuckled.

"You bet," Ginny said with a smile on her face, knowing that he was talking about her now adopted son. The adults, who were at the end of the table, noticed James feeding the baby and shared grins. Harry was happy that his son no longer cared if his family watched him take care of Alex. It was showing that James wasn't just a rambunctious teenager and he was glad for it. James cleaned up the baby with a laugh and ignored his cousin's cooing at Alex and him, lifting Alex up and placing him in his lap after he saw Molly coming over with a sippy cup of juice. Alex took it into his own hands and drank from it as James went to discuss a prank with Lucy while the others were distracted.

Dinner was soon finished and the Weasleys gathered around in the enlarged living room. Alex noticed there were slight things added to the room since the past, like the fact that the walls were expanded to make room for the large family. The adults all sat on the many couches while the children gathered on the floor. Alex was seated on Ginny's lap, which he had no qualms with anymore. He was quite happy to sit there and as she gave him his dummy, he held Babs in contentment, watching his cousins pass out presents while he was cuddled to Ginny's chest. He noticed he had a pile of his own stacked neatly with childish prints and he let a small shy smile appear as Ginny bounced him on her lap, pointing out in a soft whisper that he had a lot more presents than she did.

"`Lex pwesents?" Alex asked childishly.

"Those are your presents sweetie. Which one do you want to open?" Ginny encouraged after all the gifts had been passed out and it was the grandchildrens' turn to open their gifts while the adults watched. Alex looked at his presents and he reached out, grabbing - and failing - to grab the Quidditch designed one. Ginny took it for him and set it in front of him on her lap, holding his hands in hers as she worked on unwrapping it, letting Alex feel like he was doing it himself. Alex secretly told himself to work on his motor skills when he could. He let a large smile appear on his face as he saw a customary Weasley sweater in his size, the color being teal with a black A on it. Though to his curiosity there was more fabric and after letting Ginny pick it up, discovered he now had a pair of mittens, booties (as they were called apparently), and a hat with a top ball and little flaps on it. Lily whined that she wanted to see Alex in it and Alex wiggled in protest as Ginny undressed him in front of everyone until he was only in his diaper. He blushed a little as she pulled the sweater on him followed by the other items. The girls in the room all "awed" at the very adorable toddler. Alex didn't like being stared at and the outfit was cute and warm, but he didn't want to wear it in the warm house right now so he kicked his legs until Ginny changed him back into his original dungarees with the blue tee.

After that he mainly got children fantasy books, a lot of new toys and clothes, as well as little items here and there. They all spent their time chattering and thanking each other while Alex slid off Ginny's lap and toddled over to Fred and James. Fred looked at the baby in surprise while James simply held out his arms and let Alex come to him. Alex happily wrapped his arms around James' neck as the two boys talked about a prank they had pulled on a Slytherin fifth year and managed to get away with it. As they talked about Headmistress McGonagal, it hit Alex like a ton of bricks and his mouth fell open a little as he finally remembered why he had been fighting Severus Snape in the first place before being sent to the future.

Dumbledore had died. Snape had killed him.

And with that remembrance Alex began to cry to James and Fred's bewilderment.

Author's Note: Here are the positions and who it was played by for future reference.

Team One

Teddy - seeker

Victoire - keeper

James - chaser

Lily - chaser

Molly - beater

Fred - beater

Team two

Albus - seeker

Roxanne - keeper

Louis - chaser

Dominique - chaser

Lucy - beater

Hugo - beater

Sorry it took so long. School got caught up with me and my dad is also back in the hospital so I haven't had a lot of time to myself lately. Also Harry just came from the exact moment when Snape reveals he is the half-blood prince by the way. So he hadn't even come to terms that Dumbledore died until now and his baby body's first instinct is to cry. You'll see more of the 16-year-old Harry now, thinking while he tries to control his infantile actions. I figured this second part was as good as I could get it right now due to my circumstances, so sorry if it so short.