At the Beginning With You [Harmione]

3. Dinner with the Weasleys

Life is a road
And I want to keep going
Love is a river
I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road
Now and forever
Wonderful journey

I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you

- 'At the Beginning' by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis from the movie Anastasia

  ❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾  

Coming downstairs, Harry noticed the bag that was left for him that Hermione had set at the foot of the stairs. Knowing exactly what the password that Lynch had told him meant, he picked up the bag and spoke the password. The latch holding the bag shut opened at once and Harry poured the contents out onto the coffee table in the living room. Sitting down on the couch, he began to look through the things Remus meant for Harry to have when he adopted Teddy. There wasn't much in there, just a few photos, a bottle plugged tightly with a cork, and three envelopes, two were addressed to Teddy, and instructed for him not to open them until his seventeenth birthday. The third letter was addressed to him, and upon opening it, Harry found a note from the former Marauder on the parchment.

Harry,

If you're reading this, then that means the worst has happened and 'Dora and I have died. But the bright side is, you're taking care of our son, and to tell you the truth, Harry, it makes me feel a hell of a lot better that you're taking care of him when we're gone. Yes, it saddens me that 'Dora and I will never see Teddy grow up, but at least he's in good hands. I know you'll do a good job raising him.

I've put some things together in this bag for you and for Teddy. There's a few pictures, so he knows what we looked like, two letters from 'Dora and me, I want you to make sure and give them to Ted on his seventeenth birthday. Also, there's a bottle of my memories so he can know what I was like. Most of them are my years at school and whatnot, so there are some stories you can tell him while he grows up. I know this isn't much, but I feel it's all you need from us. Anything else, you can do on your own. I have every faith in you.

Thank you again for taking my son in, Harry. It means the world to me that you did, I know there are probably some that would try to talk you out of it. I know you'll give him a good home, and raise him as your own. Make me, your father, and Sirius proud, and good luck.

Remus

Harry folded the letter back up and placed it in the envelope. A wave of sadness for the baby sleeping upstairs came over him. Ted would never know his parents, and despite all the things Harry could tell him about Remus and Tonks, it wouldn't be the same, just as it was never quite the same for Harry to hear about his parents.

There was the 'pop' of Apparation in the entryway two hours later; Hermione had come back with two plastic bags in her hands. Harry got up and followed her to the kitchen, where she set the bags on the table.

"I thought you said you were getting baby essentials?" Harry said, looking curiously at the lack of bags that Hermione brought back.

"I did."

"And it only filled two bags?" Hermione gave him an annoyed look.

"Well, I had to shrink and lighten them so I could carry them. Once they were smaller, I was able fit them into a normal sized bag. See?" Hermione pulled tiny replicas of full grocery bags out of the bigger ones, and enlarged all of them. The bags filled the table.

"Ok, again, Hermione, I thought you said you went to get the essentials?"

"These are the essentials, Harry. You're going to need all of this." Harry looked with surprise at all the baby stuff covering his kitchen table.

"Overwhelming, isn't it?" Hermione said, noticing his look.

"Just a tad," Harry said weakly.

"I didn't know for sure what to get when I left, so I stopped by the Burrow and asked Mrs. Weasley. She told me to get all of this stuff, and I also got the ingredients for the Wolfsbane potion, you're going to need that, and also some wizarding parenting books. Thought those would help. Oh, and Mrs. Weasley also said she wanted you to bring Teddy to dinner tomorrow night at six o'clock, she wants to see him. And she said she won't take 'no' for an answer."

"Alright."

"And I'll just help you put all of this away and then I'll leave. I'll be out of your hair in no time."

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah."

"Hermione, don't leave me alone here. Just stay at least for the first night. I need you." Hermione sighed.

"Alright, I'll stay, but you can't just always depend on me, Harry."

"I know, thank you." He closed the distance between the two of them and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek again. Hermione tensed up in shock and when Harry let go, her mouth was slightly open in surprise.

"What was that for?"

"For everything you've done for me, Hermione. Not just with Teddy, for everything. You've always been there, and I love you for it."

"You what?"

"Um, like a sister," Harry said quickly, having just realized what he said. Hermione started rummaging through the bags, a pink blush rising in her cheeks. She didn't reply to Harry's comment. In fact, they were both quite silent as they put things away, only talking when they had to. They didn't really talk the rest of the evening, they spent most of it in the living room reading (both were engrossed in the wizarding parenting books), only getting up to check on Teddy, who they found was a very good sleeper, something Hermione said Harry should be thankful for. It was a very awkward evening; Harry kept wishing he hadn't said anything earlier that evening.