By the time Harry returns to Ginny's room, the sun has turned a light pink. He leaves the water on the table for her, but decides any attempt to get back in bed would wake her and decides to head back downstairs to sit on the front porch. Watching the sunrise always calmed his mind, however brief the reprieve it was welcome.
As he makes his way down the stairs he finds Hermione at the kitchen. Her hair is a wild tangle and her cheeks flushed pink. She looks tired but all too alert at the same time. He recognizes that look from their time on the run.
"Oh, Harry good morning. Tea?" Hermione asks, flustered by his sudden appearance.\
She self consciously tries to smooth her hair down, the nest on her head remains despite her efforts. Harry nods and pulls two mugs down from the cabinet for them.
"You too really need to remember to cast the silencing charm before you and Ron…Well, you know," Harry confronts her, self consciously.
Hermione blushes a deep red and begins to stutter her reply as Harry takes the steaming mug from her hands. He lets her find her words as he leads them outside to the rocking chairs overlooking the front garden. A few of the garden gnomes are snoozing in flower beds, half eaten vegetables lay by their sides.
A flustered Hermione finally replies, "I am so sorry, Harry. I keep telling Ron we need to be quiet, but in the moment…It's hard to remember."
Harry rolls his eyes.
"Hermione, just cast it at the same time as the protection spell and you won't forget anymore," Harry admonishes.
"It's what Ginny and I do, and you've never heard us, right?"
Hermione's eyes widen. "You and Ginny are...active?"
Harry sighs and says, little condescendingly, "Yes, something we keep private like the act is meant to be. Give it a try, alright?"
Hermione's blush deepens. She looks down at her mug instead of making eye contact.
"Hermione," Harry says sharply, turning his body towards hers. They had spent so much time together that he knew her silence meant she was hiding something.
"Tell me you are being safe. We are eighteen years old," Harry says, horrified.
"Of course, I've been taking a potion after we… Well, you know," she replies quickly.
"Good," Harry remarks in relief.
He notices the tension in her body. She looks on edge, her foot bouncing.
"What's wrong," Harry asks, his sharp tone turning gentile. His green eyes sear the side of her face and Hermione's brown eyes finally meet his green ones.
"You know I love Ron, right?" she asks.
"Of course."
"Well," Hermione starts hesitantly, "He's already talking about marriage and starting a family. Says he doesn't want to wait, that he wants a big family just like his. But Harry, I want to go back to school. I want to finish my studies, I want to help with our government's reform. There are so many things I want to do, but I can't if we follow the path Ron wants."
Harry opens his mouth, then closes it, realizing he doesn't know what to say. He's shocked by this news, they are so young, and Ron had never mentioned wanting marriage and kids anytime soon. He'd barely been able to admit his feelings for Hermione to begin with and now he wanted to get married and start popping out kids?
"Maybe he's rushing because of Fred, he's not thinking straight," Harry suggests, concern in his voice.
"Can you talk to him? He won't listen to me. Every time I tell him to slow down he gets angry. Then we fight, then we…" Hermione trails off.
Harry cringes at the mental picture, but agrees.
"Yeah, I'll speak with him."
Harry tiptoes into Ron's room and lays down on the camp bed that was set up for him in the corner. He hasn't used the cot since Molly and Arthur had left with George. Ron's snores falter as the creaking of the camp bed wakes him.
"Harry?" he asks, rubbing his eyes and propping himself up on one elbow.
"Yeah, it's me. Sorry, thought you'd be up since I just left Hermione," answers Harry.
"I'm going to ask her to marry me, Harry," Ron volunteers, unprompted.
Harry's mouth drops. It's not like he thought Hermione was lying earlier, but he thought that Ron might give it more time before discussing it with him.
"You're going to ask her to marry you? Ron, shouldn't you ask her to be your girlfriend first?"
Ron sits up straight, and shoots Harry a scathing look.
"Yeah, cause that's worked out great for us in the past. First her and Krum, then me and Lavender...Harry, I'm going to spend the rest of my life with her. Why go through all the formalities first?"
Harry laughs, "Ron, you can't keep faulting her for choosing Krum fourth year. You tried to ask her out by saying 'Hermione, you're a girl.' Remember?"
Ron hops out of bed grabbing some trousers, angrily yanking them on.
"Yeah well she is one!"
"Ron, we're so young. There's so much to be done. Maybe just hold off for a bit, yeah? Take the time to know each other outside of the war. We've been fighting since we were 11. We don't know ourselves outside of it," Harry advises his friend, earnestly.
"You saying you don't think we'll last?" Ron shoots back, tense.
"Not at all. I just think you're rushing something that is best savored with time, that's all," Harry replies, bluntly.
Ron grunts.
"I'll think about it. Not like Lupin and Tonks dated before. They just knew too. Speaking of, are you ready to see Andromeda and Teddy today?"
Harry is silent for a moment before replying.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
Andromeda, like many others, lost everything to You Know Who. Her husband Teddy was killed by Death Eaters a few months before the battle. After giving birth to her grandson, her daughter Nymphadora and son-in-law Remus had died in the battle. All she had left of her family was her husbands name sake, little Teddy Lupin. After Remus and Tonks joint funeral, Harry promised her that he'd visit in order to keep their memory alive. Andromeda barely got the chance to get to know Remus, but she just loved the way her daughter's happiness radiated while with him. Andromeda had never seen anything like it. Harry believed he was the reason that Andromeda would never see that love in her daughter's eyes again. Everyday it got harder to move on knowing that.
Harry coughs as he steps out of the fireplace at the Tonks residence. He brushes ash from his clothes before looking up to see a very cozy looking living room decorated with Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff colors.
Harry chuckles, "Maybe Teddy will be a Gryffindor. You'll have collected the whole set."
Andromeda Tonks smiles up at him from a vibrant overstuffed chair in the far corner of the living room.
"Might be one of the first wizarding families to ever manage it. Harry, I'm so glad you made it. I'd get up to greet you but…" she trails off, nodding to her lap where baby Teddy lays fast asleep.
"Oh, no worries," Harry whispers as he tiptoes to the couch next to her.
As he sits, Harry smiles at the peaceful baby.
"He's beautiful," Harry say, a wave of melancholy washing over him.
Andromeda smiles, "He reminds me of Nymphadora when she was this age. Her hair was changing all the time."
They didn't speak for a while as they watched Teddy's hair slowly change shades. After some time, his hair went back to brown and no longer changed. Andromeda carefully lifts herself off the chair, gently placing Teddy in the wooden crib by her side.
"It's the only way I know he's in a deep sleep, when his hair stops changing," she explains, looking down at Teddy with so much love Harry's heart might shatter.
"How are you doing?" Harry asks hesitantly, already knowing the answer.
Andromeda looks up at him sadly.
"As well as I can be. I miss my husband and my daughter. I miss the life that was stolen from us," she replies, her eyes filling her tears as she continues to watch her grandson.
"Harry, I wanted you to come because Remus and Dora left something for you in the event they didn't make it out of the war," Andromeda says, gesturing for Harry to follow her to the kitchen. The door swings behind them as she strides over to a cabinet that has an all too familiar glow coming from the inside.
"They left me their memories?" Harry asks, following her to the pensive and peering in. On the shelf behind them are dozens of vials filled with memories.
"Well, they're for Teddy too, when he's old enough to ask questions about his parents. I might need your help organizing them, Dora was never good with details like that and it seems these vials are all scattered and out of order," Andromeda replies laughing.
She hands him a few random vials of memories to go through.
"I'll give you some privacy. Take your time," Andromeda says, heading back to the living room.
Alone in the kitchen, Harry takes a deep breath,and as he had done time and time again with Dumbledore, he dips his face into the pensive.