Ch. 3
Later that evening, after a full day of shopping, the three arrived home to see Sirius laying as Padfoot on an enlarged divan in the drawing room cuddled up protecting Teddy from falling, both sound asleep and even snoring in stereo. They each backed out of the drawing room and down to the kitchen before they all burst into laughter.
"Oh that was so c-c-ute." Hermione said between laughs.
"I-I-I want a ca-camera" Harry added.
"R-Remus would n-n-never let him f-f-orget that." Tonks supplied
"I see you found Master Dogfather with Master Harry's Godson." Dobby said with a wide grin as he came around from the icebox. As he did, he snapped his fingers and there was a photo of the scene. "I tooks a picture. I thoughts yous might likes it." He smiled as he handed it to Harry.
"We've got to enlarge it and frame it." Tonks grinned. "We can put it in the entrance hall of the new house."
"That's brilliant Tonks." Harry agreed
"What's brilliant?" Sirius asked as he and Teddy came in. Harry handed the picture to Sirius.
"Eh. That's awesome." Sirius grinned. "He got my best side too." He turned into Padfoot and showed off the side in the picture. Turning back, he just laughed. "Yeah, James and Remy would love that shot."
"Dinners be served momentarily." Dobby said as he smiled indulgently at his wonderful family. He was so happy with his new life sometimes it was hard to contain himself.
Thursday 7 May 1998
On Thursday, Harry woke up with Ted but he was definitely less talkative. He had spent most of the evening and into the night polishing and practicing his speech for the funeral today.
"Well, kiddo, we're going to say goodbye to your dad today. I'm so sorry you won't grow up with him but we'll all be here to help you. You can come to us with anything you need. Just ask your mum." He told his godson. "Sirius and I already take care of you part of the night so she can get as much rest as she needs. We'll be here no matter what little man." He promised as he burped Teddy.
"Is he ready for me?" Asked Tonks with forced cheer.
"Yeah. Are you ready for today?"
Tonks' smile disappeared as she took her boy. "How can I be ready to admit I'm never going to see my husband again?" She asked, her eyes taking on a dead quality Harry had only glimpsed briefly when she thought no one was watching.
"I can't imagine that." Harry said honestly as he hugged her.
HP
The new family portkeyed to the funeral home in Godric's Hollow at 8.50 that morning. Both Hermione and Harry noticed that it was right next to the church his parents were buried in. They saw 3 tents erected in the graveyard, one near his parents' gravesite.
"That must be Moony's" Harry said, motioning to it.
"Probably." Hermione agreed as she wrapped her arms around him. As they walked into the funeral home, they realised the main room looked more like a church than a funeral home in the muggle world. Instead of it being a large room that's decorated in neutral colors, it had stained glass windows depicting people and events important to the magical world.
A few minutes later, everyone began streaming in. People like McGonagall, Kingsley, the Weasleys, Professor Flitwick, Neville and his Grandmother, Luna, Xeno, the Tonkses and many others sat down in the seats.
Hermione took Teddy from Tonks as she leaned into her mum. The Funeral Director said a few words about Remus, then Sirius got up to give the Eulogy.
"I met Remus on the train to Hogwarts at 11 years old. He, James, and I became more than best friends, we became brothers. Over our infamous years there, we were known as an absolute menace to our Professors, especially our Head of House Professor McGonagall. With as many detentions as we received, Remus always got the fewest. For a while this confused us, until we realised that he seemed never to be a suspect. He made the point in, I think it was fourth year, that he had a reputation as being the smart, shy kid by the Professors so it was hard to catch him, while we were loud and boisterous. We didn't mind though. If he wasn't in detention, he was working on new prank ideas, so it worked." He smiled at the unlady-like snort McGonagall gave at that. Over the next 10-20 minutes Sirius talked about how they all bonded, how they seemed to separate because of the war and how they met up at Hogwarts in Harry's third year. "When I found out Mooney was a Professor, I laughed for a good 20 minutes. Only he, the studious one, would voluntarily go back to school." Everyone laughed at the shiver Sirius made. Sirius continued talking about how Remus kept his spirits up while he was a fugitive, how he finally gave into Tonks "And just married the bloody girl! When they found out they were pregnant, he was terrified but happy." He told of Remus first holding Teddy and deciding on Harry as Godfather. "The last conversation we had was walking into the castle that night. We promised each other that whoever lived would take care of Teddy, Tonks and Harry like they were their own. He was my brother in all ways except blood and I will miss him for the rest of my life. But I will honor that promise, as I know he would have in my place, until the end of days." At this he walked from the podium. He finally began to cry as Harry and he hugged and he sat down next to Tonks.
Harry, his face glistening with tears already shed, took the podium. "As most of you know, I grew up knowing nothing about my parents until Hogwarts. It was then that I learned I looked like my father with my mum's eyes. That all changed third year when I met Remus. He started to fill in the facts about my parents: who they were, what they were like. He was my first contact that actually knew my parents and was willing to share them with me. He was a very kind, caring man that I was fortunate to have in my life these last almost five years. It was his tutelage that led me to be able to perform a corporeal Patronus at thirteen. Yes he was that good a teacher." He responded to the gasps of the audience. "Over these last years, I have been blessed to know such an amazing man. When I found out he married Tonks I was ecstatic. You could see he was truly happy. When he showed up at Shell Cottage a few weeks ago telling us about Teddy-well ecstatic doesn't quite cover it. It was as though he looked 10 years younger. When he named me Godfather to his child," he paused to stop himself from crying. Damn it, he'd made it this far, he wasn't going to cry now. "I was so incredibly honored I couldn't believe it. Teddy, Tonks, Sirius and I will all miss him in different ways but we will raise Teddy to know what an amazing man his dad was." He finished. As he came down, he saw Hermione give Ted to Sirius as she stood up to hug Harry and let him cry. As they sat down, the Director exhorted everyone to follow him out to the graveyard where they interred his ashes next to James and Lily.
They then went back to the Funeral Home where a nice brunch was served and people began to talk about him. Sirius, Harry, Hermione, Tonks, and Teddy all sat down and ate to some degree. However, many people came up to share their stories of Remus.
At one point, Neville, Augusta, and Luna came over. "I think my fondest memory of Professor Lupin was the boggart incident that year." He, Harry and Hermione all started to laugh.
"What happened?" Augusta asked
"I told him my greatest fear was Snape and, unlike most people, he didn't laugh. He just said something like 'he is pretty scary isn't he.'" Everyone burst out laughing, which woke Teddy as Augusta reached to take him.
"You know, he told me last year that he chose you first because he wanted to give you confidence." Tonks volunteered.
"Well, it did." Neville chuckled.
"He loved teaching." Sirius sighed.
"I was having trouble that year in Defence and Charms. He ended up tutoring me in both." Luna said.
"I didn't know that." Harry said.
"He loved all those tutoring sessions." Sirius continued. "I remember when we decided to get you those books your fifth year Harry. He went into overdrive trying to find the best books to buy. He was so happy you liked teaching."
After a little while they said goodbye and others came and went for another hour or two, taking possession of Teddy for a while each.
At around noon, the little family apparated home and ended up in the drawing room. Teddy had been put in his cot and the adults were finally alone.
"Merlin was that hard." Sirius sighed.
"Yeah and we've got two more tomorrow morning." Harry said with his eyes closed and head on Hermione's shoulder.
"Those won't be as draining though." Hermione replied.
"Who are they?" Tonks asked.
"Colin and Lavender"
"Then we're off to get your parents on Saturday." Harry grimaced.
"Why that look?" Hermione asked sharply.
"I'm about to meet your dad after spending nearly a year in a tent with you. Not only that but I'm coming as not your friend but as your boyfriend. And I know he owns a lot of torture devices. He is a dentist."
"You can kill Voldemort, the worst Dark Lord in forever, but not face Daddy?" Hermione burst out laughing as she reached over and hugged him. "You are so cute sometimes."
"And you're making fun of me." Harry said mock petulantly.
"Meeting the parents…always disturbing." Sirius laughed. "James was absolutely terrified to meet Lily's parents. Lily had to apparate him there because he was so nervous, she was afraid he'd splinch himself."
"Did they like him?" Harry asked curiously.
"Oh, they got along great. Lily's dad and James talked football and Quidditch a lot that weekend from what I heard." Sirius smiled fondly. "Moony and I gave him such a hard time when he got back. It was fun."
"Okay." Tonks said. "I'm going to go to sleep while Teddy lets me."
"I think I will too." Hermione agreed as she took Harry's hand and they went upstairs.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Sirius yelled at them. Harry gave him the two-fingered salute but he wasn't in the room for Padfoot to see.
"None of that." Hermione chuckled.
"Night Tonks." Harry said as she continued up the stairs. They walked into his room. "Wanna sleep here?" He asked as he transfigured his clothes into pajamas.
"Sure." She did the same and laid on the bed. They spooned together on top of the covers and fell asleep almost instantly. They were really tired.
HP
While everyone else was sleeping, Sirius was feeling like a caged animal. He had to physically do something, so he left Grimmauld to go for a walk. On his walk, the images of the last few weeks went through his mind.
Two weeks and one day ago, he was sitting with a very pregnant, very grumpy Dora and a very ecstatic, very alive Moony. They were just relaxing while Dora kept complaining of her back hurting. It seemed these pains were coming very regularly to Sirius.
It wasn't until about nine that night that he understood what was going on. "Dora, the back spasms have been coming every 10 minutes, now they're every eight." Sirius said. "I think you're in labor." He laughed at the shocked look on her face.
"I can't be. These are just fake labor pains." Tonks replied a little hysterically.
"I was there when Lils went into labor. It started off that way too."
"Really?" Moony asked agitatedly.
"Yes. Maybe you should call your mum Dora?" Sirius suggested. After that is was a blur for Sirius until he got to see Moony finally hold his own son. The look of pride is something Sirius had only seen once before—on James the night Harry was born.
Now they were both dead and he had to figure out how to live without them but with their sons. It should be Remus or James alive. They'd know how to handle this. They were the fathers after all.
Now he needed to take charge and be the adult he had always pretended not to be. What was best for his new little family? Well, getting out of Grimmauld as fast as possible would be good for everyone, especially Tonks. Having made that decision, he apparated from a deserted alleyway.
HP
At Grimmauld, Harry woke up slowly. Getting his glasses, he looked at the clock: 4.30 in the afternoon. He looked over and saw Hermione cuddled into him. He could feel every part of her body along his. Just simply thinking about it made him hard.
He took a deep breath and tried to calm the hormones racing through his bloodstream. Gods she beautiful. And smart and loyal and clever and sexy and strong-willed and sexy. And I love her so much I can't even put it into words. I can't imagine my life without her by my side. She can't possibly want me that way. That's not my luck, he thought, resigned to the fact that she wouldn't want him long term.
"What's wrong, love?" She asked looking up at him.
Better get this over with so we can build some friendship out of the ashes, he thought, better to be honest with her now than hurt her later. "I was just laying here thinking how beautiful and smart you are and that there was no way you would ever want me as a long-term boyfriend or husband. I'm thinking maybe we should break up now so we can remain friends. It seems the logical thing to do." He said quickly, it was hurting to say it all.
She stood up and as he got into a sitting position, he noticed the anger on her face and the tension radiating from her body. What? I'm trying to save our friendship? He thought. "So you're telling me you don't want me now?" she said coldly
"It's not that." He exclaimed frantically. "It's that I know you could do a lot better than me and you need that chance. . . And I still want us to be friends afterward"
Oh my. He's scared too. That's what this is about, she mentally sighed. Now how do I deal with this? "Well, what if I don't want anyone 'better'. What if I just want my Harry?"
"For good?" He asked hopefully.
"If you'll have me." She smiled as she sat on his lap. "As long as you don't try and break up with me again." She added sternly.
"Oh. I'll have you." He grabbed her waist and brought her to the bed underneath him as he spent quite a while showing her how much of her he would have. They stopped quickly as a knock was heard at their door. They both jumped up, pulling at their disheveled clothes in the process. "Come in." He raised his voice.
The door opened to Tonks and Teddy in the doorway. "Could you take Teddy while I take a shower?" she pleaded.
"Of course." Hermione came over to take the little bundle.
HP
That evening, after dinner, the family was sitting in the drawing room. Teddy was on the floor playing in his bouncer.
"Did you get that at a muggle store?" Hermione asked Tonks.
"Yeah. I was wandering London and I walked into a shop that had them. Teddy loves it." She smiled at her son.
"While you were all asleep, I went to the real estate office and got the keys to the house." Sirius said, holding out the keys.
"How did you do that? It takes at least a month for a person to move in." Hermione asked.
"Magic. Or at least the magic of money." Sirius grinned. "I thought that while we were at the funerals tomorrow, Dobby could bring the essentials to the new place, then Tonks could decorate while we're in Australia."
"Sure." Tonks smiled. "So this is our last night here. Great!"
"I'm planning on selling this place and only taking the bedroom furniture in our rooms and the library. So Dora, you're going to have to buy all new stuff. I'm picking up a credit card for each of you that will be good at muggle or wizarding stores tomorrow." He held up his hand at the sudden cacophony of voices that assaulted him. "Please listen. I want to make sure that you each have a back up card to use in case you misplace your own money. It's just for emergencies and whatever we agree on as a family."
"Okay." Hermione sighed as she plopped back into her seat. She was the most vociferous in her objections. "I just don't want to rely on anyone. I have my own savings."
"I understand." Sirius smiled at how much of an independent streak Hermione had—just like Lily 'I can spend my own money, thank you very much' Evans.
After dinner and some playing with Teddy, everyone headed off to their own beds.
That night Harry had a nightmare and couldn't get back to sleep. He ended up with Teddy in his bed after Sirius gave him the bottle for the three or four o'clock feeding.
Harry brought Teddy to his room, summoned the nappy and all the 'crap', as Harry'd begun to think of it, that went along with changing a baby's nappy and changed the kid. Then he lit the fireplace, conjured a rocking chair and sat to feed Teddy. After Teddy burped, they both fell asleep next to the fire—Teddy curled on Harry's shoulder.
Friday 8 May 1998
Of course, a few hours later Teddy woke up and tried to wiggle around. Harry woke up and caught him from falling. "No no there, little man. Don't scare your Goddaddy like that!" He sighed as he stood up to change the little guy. Teddy started to whimper as he got changed "Sorry Ted. Got to change you. Otherwise you'll stink. And you don't want that do you?"
He sat down to feed Ted and thought he might be looking for a breast because he kept nuzzling into Harry. "Aren't we all kiddo." He laughed. "You'll understand when you're older. Girls' breasts are fun when you're my age—they're just food to you now but just wait." He told Teddy.
"What are you telling my son about breasts?" Tonks asked mock sternly.
"N-N-Nothing Tonks." Harry stared guiltily at the mother of his Godson. Tonks burst out laughing as she conjured a rocker and sat next to Harry. They just sat there for a while enjoying just entertaining the baby.
HP
Later that morning, they all attended Colin and Lavender's funerals. Colin's was in his hometown where everyone tried to dress as muggles. He was muggleborn, so there were loads of muggles there. It was a very solemn affair.
Lavender's was at Godric's Hollow as well. It was a very pretty service with Parvati giving a small speech about her best friend.
After the services, they went to a pub in Godric's Hollow for lunch. "Those were both very nice services." Tonks said as she fed Teddy.
"Yes they were. I'm really going to miss Lavender next year. She was always so boisterous and happy. She was just too gossipy for me." Hermione sighed.
They talked about the two students throughout the meal. As they left, Sirius suggested. "Why don't we go to the new house now? Dobby should have brought our stuff there already. I talked to him this morning and he said it wouldn't take too long."
"Okay." Harry returned as they went to an alley and disapparated to the entrance hall of the new house. He began to laugh as he noticed the 1m by 2m photo of Padfoot and Teddy on the wall. "Dobby!" He called through his laughter. A second later Dobby popped in. Harry simply pointed to the picture and forced the words "Thank you, my friend." Out of his mouth. Dobby just smiled as everyone else figured out what had Harry so fussed and were laughing too.
It was nice when your family appreciated you, Dobby believed
They spent the next few hours just getting used to the new house. Teddy woke up as Harry and Tonks were walking around the pool together. "Here ya go Godfather." Tonks grinned as she handed him out of the papoose she was wearing him in.
"You're really taking advantage of the fact there are so many people to care for him. Just fob him off to one of us why don't you?" Harry laughed at the mock affronted look she had.
"Well, if you're willing to help, what kind of mum would I be to deny it?" She laughed as Harry and Teddy started cooing at each other. "Let's go check out one of the other houses here." They continued to talk about what was going to happen in the ministry in the next few weeks. "By the time I get back to work in August, the ministry will have changed drastically. I mean Kingsley as Minister? He's not nearly corrupt enough!"
"Well, we're trying to change that. We don't want Teddy here to have to fight another Blood War. He's already lost too much in this one." Harry looked down at his baby Godson. "I just wish I could change how Hogwarts teaches." He sighed.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, a muggleborn just gets thrown to the wolves when they're sent to Hogwarts. They're visited by the school on their birthday, told they're wizards or witches, told how to get to Diagon Alley, how to get on Platform 9 ¾, given a book list and told to go at it. While purebloods already know all these things. I just think we need to educate the muggleborns more about how to navigate the wizarding world."
"What are you suggesting? I've never really thought of it that way." She said thoughtfully
"That's because you were raised in this world. I'm thinking of a class for first years about this stuff. I don't know. I'm just nervous that if we don't integrate them more into this world, we'll lose them." He bounced Teddy as he walked in the door of the first small house.
HP
While Tonks and Harry were out at the other house, Sirius and Hermione were in the main house choosing bedrooms. As they had discussed, Hermione, Sirius and Harry would choose bedrooms on the first floor while Tonks would get the rooms on the second floor with a nursery.
Hermione chose a corner en suite with windows on two sides for plenty of light. It also led out to the balcony. As she was drawing up plans for her room, Sirius came in and sat on the floor with her, looking at her designs.
"These are good Hermione. These drawings are very specific." Sirius complimented.
"I want to make sure Tonks knows what to buy me for this room, so I thought I'd draw it out. When is Dobby bringing in our current furniture from Grimmauld?"
"He's already brought mine and it's put up." He smiled at the astonished look on her face as she stood.
"Dobby?" He popped in. "Can you please bring my furniture in soon?"
"Of course Miss Grangy." He disappeared and a few seconds later he popped back in with everything. "Where shall I put these?" They spent the next few minutes arranging the room the way Hermione wanted. After it was done, all three went to the kitchen where there was the table from Grimmauld.
"Dobby, please sit down." Hermione asked.
Dobby climbed up onto a chair but was a little nervous. "What can I do for you Miss Grangy?"
"First, my name is Hermione. Can you please call me that?"
"Her-mine-ee?" He asked a little uncertainly.
"Exactly Dobby. Thank you." Hermione beamed at him and he beamed back. "I understand that in my fourth and fifth years, when I was making all those hats for the House Elves at Hogwarts, that I was really upsetting them." At this statement, Dobby nodded his head so fast, Sirius got a little worried but laughed when Dobby fell to the ground dizzy.
"Okay Dobby. We get it. Calm down." Sirius said between laughs. Dobby calmed down immediately. Hermione just gave Sirius a look and he calmed down too.
"So can you tell me the history of your people so I might understand. I still want to help but I'm unsure how and I'd like to know how this happened."
Dobby thought for a minute. "We don'ts talk about this all that muches." He began. "I was tolds by my grandpappy that we used to gets our magic from the earth. We came out of the forests when the Druids were dying out to see if wes could helps. We continued living outside the forests when the Invaders came. When one of the first armies came, there were magic users we interacted with. One was named Avitus. He bound all elves to him through dark magic. Because our magic is intertwined, once he bound one of us, he bound all of us to him. Then he used other dark magic to cut our source of magic, the earth, and make us use only human magic. If we wanted to live, we needed magic. Taking away our magic would kill us, so many of us bound ourselves to magic users. Over time, we forgot how to use most earth magic, except for things our masters need us to do. We learned that Avitus didn't bound all our magic, just most."
"Like apparating inside the castle?" She asked.
"Yes. But we mainly draw on our master's magic."
"Then why are you not dead?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know. I knows I'm better in tune with my earth magic. When the Great Harry Potter Sir freed me, I expected to die but ats least I is free before that happens." He smiled happily.
"So if you can't be freed from wizards, do you want to be treated better by them? Is that how I can help?" Hermione prompted.
"Yes Miss Her-mine-ee. That would be very helpful." He then got up. "I must start dinner." He said.
"Wait Dobby." Sirius replied. "I need you to do me a favour. We're leaving for Australia tomorrow. Dora is going to be here with Teddy. She's going to be decorating the house and property. Would you please help her? Don't let her do it all on her own because she will try."
"Of course. She needs her rest with the new baby. Don't worrys, I won't let her do more than she can." Dobby answered. "I'll even stay in the nursery to help at night."
"Thank you, my friend."
That evening, everyone ate dinner in a contemplative silence, then went up to pack. After dinner, Harry chose the room next to Hermione's and his stuff was moved in.
Saturday 9 May 1998
The next morning was a regular morning, even if it was in a new house. Teddy was with Sirius, Harry got up with him and Tonks took him so Harry could dress.
It was 7.30 when they all came down to eat. By 8.45, they were all packed and talking in the entrance hall.
"I don't want you to stress yourself this week Dora. You need to take care of Teddy first. We can always take a while to decorate the house later." Sirius said as he hugged his cousin.
"I know. Mum's already decided she's coming by every night. I'm not a child. I've lived on my own before." She sighed at Sirius' overprotectiveness. It was nearly as bad as Remus'.
"You've never had a baby alone before." Harry defended. "We're just worried."
"I'll floocall you a few times. Just go!" she said exasperatedly. They all grabbed the portkey and whirled away. "Finally, they're gone!" she sighed dramatically as she and Ted went up to their rooms.