Moments
Thursday, 19 November 1998
It was those peaceful hours between dinner and bedtime when you know you don’t have to get anything done for the next day and Theo was curled up in an armchair half reading a book, half watching Harry play with Teddy on the plush carpet in the small sitting room on the top floor of the manor.
“Theo, look!” Harry called, grabbing Theo’s undivided attention.
Theo looked up to see Harry grinning and Teddy crawling toward him. He was slow and still partially dragging himself rather than fully crawling, but he was moving along just the same. Harry looked so happy that Theo thought he might spontaneously turn into Padfoot for a moment.
"Look at him go," he said, setting his book aside and moving over to sit next to Harry on the ground, “do you have the camera?”
“It’s somewhere,” Harry said, reaching out to put his arm around Theo’s waist, “but I don’t want it. We can view this memory other ways, I just want to live in it right now.”
“Sounds good to me,” Theo responded, turning to press a kiss to Harry’s cheek.
Theo was just soaking in every bit of the scene in front of him; Teddy’s hyper-focused expression, Harry’s grin and sweet voice, the evening light filtering through the windows. He wanted to preserve the memory in its entirety, so it’d be as clear as possible when he inevitably watched it again and again in a pensieve. Every bit of it was perfect, every bit of it was something Theo hadn’t thought he’d be allowed to have just a few short months ago.
He'd been falling for Harry for years and Teddy stole his heart immediately but being allowed to call them his, being allowed to call this his family was something unimaginable. He’d been afraid to fully claim them both, afraid that they were out of bounds but ever since Samhain when Remus had told him to stop holding back from love he’d been allowing himself to feel it all.
It wasn’t just a teenage love affair. It wasn’t something temporary or fleeting. It was a forever sort of love. The love they told in myths and write about in classics. Everyone said that when Harry loved, he loved hard, and Theo had seen that. He’d seen it in the way he forgave easily and in the way he’d never hesitated to put his life on the line and in the way he stepped up, no questions asked, and began raising Teddy as his own at only 18 and in how he opened his house to people he’d so recently seen as enemies.
Harry was a boy who’d been saved by his mother’s love who’d spent every day since putting as much love into the world as he could, even when no one was giving him any love back. He was the kind of person who appreciated every bit of care given and understood the power of kindness, who questioned any power he was given and refused to let it corrupt him. He was the sort of person who humanized deities and opposed darkness and battled demons, real and imagined, and still cared enough to know his friends’ favorite books.
And Teddy was joy made human.
He was full of energy and personality and Theo had no clue how Harry was ever going to send the kid to Muggle primary school if he didn’t stop cycling his hair through a dozen colors a day, but that was a problem for later.
Theo hadn’t had the opportunity to spend much time around babies, so he didn’t have anything really to compare Teddy to, but he was convinced that Teddy was the greatest baby to ever exist. He wasn’t quite 7 months old and was already crawling, which Theo knew was on the early end from all Harry’s parenting books he’d been reading every morning while Harry was training. It wouldn’t be long before he’d say his first word and then he’d start walking and Theo thanked whoever was listening that he’d get to be there for every minute of it.
“I love you,” Theo said, leaning his head on Harry’s shoulder and reaching out a hand so Teddy could grab his fingers.
“I love you too,” Harry responded, oblivious to Theo’s internal ramblings.
This, right here, was how Theo wanted to spend every day of the rest of his life.
* * *
Friday, 20 November 1998
“How is it November in England and the sun is out?” Theo said, looking out the window of the Lord’s reading room turned nursery while Harry was busy getting Teddy dressed.
“Not sure,” Harry responded with a laugh, “I know there are areas of the property with weather charms, though, so maybe we could spend some time outside?”
“Whatever you want, love, I’m just happy to have the weekend with you two.”
After Teddy was dressed, they went downstairs and had a quick breakfast. The elves were delighted that people were finally back in the house that had sat empty for so long.
“Hey, Daisy?” Harry said, getting the Head Elf’s attention, “what parts of the land are under climate charms again?”
“The area around the greenhouses,” Daisy started, counting off on her fingers, “the quidditch pitch, the South Garden, and the North stretch of the beach around the tower.”
“Alright, thank you,” Harry responded, turning to Theo, “what do you want to do today?”
“All I want is to be around you and Teddy,” Theo said, “you’re the one who decided to ditch Scotland and come here for the weekend, you’re in charge.”
“Alright,” Harry said with a laugh, “let’s bundle up and bring a bag so we can stash our coats when we get somewhere warm. I really just wand a weekend where I’m not worried about school or training or whatever insane shit Death’s dragged me into.”
They wandered around awhile before they ended up on the quidditch pitch where Harry pulled one of the Cleansweeps he’d bought for people to use for pickup games out of the shed and started flying around. Slytherin didn’t have another game until the spring season picked up in April, so he’d eased off on practices. Theo spread a blanket out on the grass and settled in to watch Harry fly and Teddy crawl. Between the climate charm over the pitch and the bright winter sun, it felt like a peaceful summer day which was more than welcome after months in the Scottish Highlands.
“Hi loves,” Harry greeted as he landed next to Teddy and Theo, “how’s my boy?”
“I’m great,” Theo responded with a cheeky grin, “Teddy’s alright too.”
Harry let out a laugh as he threw himself onto the ground, putting his head in Theo’s lap, “glad to hear it.”
Theo ran a hand through Harry’s curls and bent over to press a kiss to his forehead, “have you thought any about playing quidditch after school?”
“Not really,” Harry responded, “it’s a ton of travel and I don’t want to be away from Teddy or you that often.”
“We’d be able to figure it out if it’s something you really want to do, love.”
“I know that,” Harry said with a light sigh, turning his head so he could look up at Theo, “and thank you for saying that, I do love quidditch but I don’t think I’d be happy playing professionally.”
“What are you thinking of doing then? Not that you have to know right now.”
“Neville, Ron, and I have talked some and we’re thinking of going through Auror training.”
“Really? Didn’t Kingsley basically just offer you the jobs with no training?”
“He did,” Harry confirmed, “but even though we’ve been through a whole war and we’re all solid at defense and Neville and I have been training every single morning, it’s not the same as Auror training. We don’t know any of the rules or proper tactics and we don’t want to fuck around and put ourselves or anyone else in danger.”
“I honestly didn’t think you’d want to be an Auror.”
“I don’t think it’s my forever job,” Harry explained, “Nev’s the same way. Ron talks about working his way up and becoming Head Auror one day and I think that’s great, I think he could be the DMLE Director if he wanted. He’s smart and powerful and great with people but that’s his dream, not mine. I think going through Auror training and working in the field for a bit would be good experience and it'd feel good to help re-stabilize our community which is going to take some work over the next few years, but I really want to teach Defense.”
“But you don’t want to teach Defense until the Curse is broken,” Theo said, pinpointing Harry’s real concern.
“Yeah,” Harry responded, “and we’ve found the curse but, Theo, it’s going to take years to deal with. We had Bill and Ragnok look at the diagnostics and they estimated it’d be a five-year project if we don’t run into any issues. Bill said he’d seen cursed tombs in Egypt with less malignant magic. I’m not getting anywhere near that position until that thing is dealt with.”
“And if you’re an Auror you could train, work on your Defense Mastery, and maybe even take the post on a year-long contract before the curse is actually broken.”
“Exactly,” Harry responded, smiling at the fact that Theo could so accurately see his thought process.
“That’s a good idea, love,” Theo said, leaning over to press another kiss to Harry’s head.
“What’re you thinking of doing?”
“I want to do a Runes Mastery,” Theo told him, “it’s something I’ve always loved and I’m really good at it.”
“You really are, do you want to do curse breaking or teach or what?”
“I think it’d be cool to teach, Babbling’s getting older and I think she’ll want to retire in the next few years so I think could finish my Mastery and then apprentice under her for a year or two and be ready to take over the post.”
“That’d be amazing,” Harry said with a bright smile, “you’d love what we’ve been talking about with the board recently.”
“And what’s that?”
“We don’t have all the specifics ironed out, but we’ve been talking about adding more professors per subject and bringing back the full apprenticeship program.”
“Was that much money added to the budget with the opening of the founders’ accounts?”
“Yes, but also we’re expecting enrollment to increase over the next 15 or so years. Our class and a couple of years on either side are really small because of the first war with Tommy boy and there’ll probably be another lull in about a decade, but other than that class sizes should be growing so that’s more tuition money. Also, with the child welfare laws we’ve been working on we’ll hopefully be able to properly recruit more Muggleborns and get kids out of Muggle orphanages before the worst happens.”
“I haven’t looked over those notes yet,” Theo admitted, “are there really that many kids we’re missing?”
“It’s absurd,” Harry breathed out, subconsciously reaching out for Teddy, “I off-handedly mentioned the orphanage Tom Riddle grew up in to Susan and next thing I know the two of us are up to our necks in reports at the ministry. From what we can tell by comparing accidental magic reports, the Hogwarts book of admissions, and the Muggle records we were actually able to get our hands on, at least a dozen magical kids die or go missing every year. We talked to the Founders and luckily it’s less than what they saw in their day, mostly because of the Statute of Secrecy, but it's still too many.”
“What happens to them?”
“Some just go missing and we hope that they’re safe somewhere, some are hurt or killed, and some even turn into obscurials. It’s awful but there’s nowhere safe for magical children to go so even if the Ministry wants to intervene they haven’t really been able to, it’s not like they had enough staff at Hogwarts to let kids stay there until they were old enough for school and there’s no magical orphanage.”
“I really should read the notes you two put together,” Theo said, running a comforting hand down Harry’s back, “what’re you planning to do about it?”
“We’re razing Potter Cottage and building an orphanage,” Harry responded, voice hardly above a whisper.
“Godric’s Hallow?”
“Yeah.”
“Wait, then what’s happening to Malfoy Manor?”
“That’s going to be a werewolf sanctuary.”
“I thought that was Lupin Cottage?”
“Not enough land,” Harry explained, “but I’m going to open it for a couple people to stay until we can get Malfoy Manor fixed up and warded. I think we’re bringing the sanctuary up in February, I need to call the Black Coalition to Caucus before then so we can talk about funding methods…” he trailed off, shaking his head, “anyways, the Orphanage is going to be funded by the Malfoy vaults initially even though it’s going to be on Potter land.”
“When are you going to start building?”
“As soon as the plan is approved by the Wizengamot,” Harry responded, “you wanna hear the best part?”
“What’s that?”
“Turns out the death snitch and the sword he didn’t own wasn’t all Dumbledore left me.”
“What do you mean?”
“He left me the Dumbledore Cottage in Godric’s Hallow.”
“Doesn’t he have a living brother?”
“He does,” Harry confirmed, “Abe’s awesome. One hundred percent my favorite Dumbledore, he told Albus in no uncertain terms that he wanted nothing to do with that house so apparently the next best thing he could think of was to leave it to me.”
“What does this have to do with child welfare other than the fact that Albus Dumbledore wouldn’t know child welfare if it hit him in the face?”
Harry let out a wry laugh and shook his head, “the Dumbledore land borders the Potter land, so Aberforth and I decided we’d raze that cottage as well and build a primary school on the land. It’ll be a day school that anyone can send their kids to, but it’ll also be open to the kids who live in the orphanage. The current plan is to have it open for kids from ages five to ten.”
“That’s amazing, love,” Theo said, brushing the hair off Harry’s forehead, “you’re incredible, you know that right?”
“You haven’t heard the best part,” Harry said with a soft smile.
“And what’s that?”
“I think you’ll just have to wait for the Wizengamot meeting to find out,” Harry said, his smile turning teasing, “if you refuse to read the reports that Susan and I worked so hard to put together.”
“Oh, come on, love,” Theo said, pinching Harry’s side, “just tell me.”
“Oh, alright,” Harry said, sitting up and pulling Teddy onto his lap, “we’re calling the orphanage Lily’s House.”
“Really?”
“Really,” Harry responded, smile soft and voice quiet, “Susan and I asked the ward masters at Gringotts to go look over the house to start planning and it turns out that the blood wards that were at Privet Drive absolutely paled in comparison to what was left behind at Godric’s Hallow.”
“Do you mean wards your parents built, or…”
“Or.” Harry responded, expression a mix of grief and pride, “her sacrifice didn’t just attach to me. Nothing and no one that intends harm will get onto that property in one piece.”
“And the warders can preserve it?” Theo asked in no small amount of awe.
“Yeah,” Harry told him. “They can preserve it and build all the other wards off of it in some way. When they’re done it’ll be in the top three safest places in Magical Britain right alongside Hogwarts and Gringotts.”
“Then I think Lily’s House is the perfect name,” Theo said, pressing his lips over Harry’s right brow, right at the epicenter of his scar.
Harry leaned into the touch, pulled Teddy closer to his chest and relaxed in the warmth of love.
* * *
Saturday, 21 November 1998
“Hey, love?” Theo said, getting Harry’s attention after breakfast, “do you think we should go back to watch Ginny and Ron’s game?”
“Probably,” Harry said with a sigh, “I don’t want to leave though.”
“We can come back after the game if you want.”
“Maybe,” Harry said, leaning his head against Theo’s shoulder, “but there’ll probably be a party after the game no matter who wins.”
“Then we just head back to school, and we can plan to spend some time here over Yule break, how’s that?”
“This is why you’re the brains of the operation,” Harry said with a laugh, “I’ll go back our stuff up if you want to hang here with Ted for a bit?”
“Sounds good, love,” Theo said, pressing a quick kiss to Harry’s lips, “thank you.”
A half hour later they apparated to Hogwarts where Neville, Luna, Hermione, Draco, Pansy, and Blaise were sitting around Harry’s living room.
“Remembered there was a game today?” Pansy asked as they appeared.
“I love how I have to leave the country to find a moment of peace,” Harry responded, “what are you all doing here.”
“I don’t know about them but I’m winning the bet on when you’d show up,” Blaise said, holding out his hand to collect.
“By the way, Neville told Slughorn you weren’t in class because you ate a psychedelic mushroom while you were wandering through the forest as a dog,” Hermione informed him as she dropped a few sickles into Blaise’s open palm.
“Great,” Harry said with a sigh, “thanks for that one, Nev.”
“It was very creative,” Pansy said, patting Neville on the back.
Neville just shot Harry a grin and reached out for Teddy, “I’ll hold my godson while you get dressed. Put on some Gryffindor red for old time’s sake, Lord Slytherin.”
“How Gryffindor would it be if I were to stab Lord Gryffindor with the Sword of Gryffindor?” Harry responded, passing Teddy over.
“I think that might be more Slytherin,” Salazar said from his frame above the fireplace.
“Perfect, thanks Sal,” Harry said, very maturely sticking his tongue out at the portrait.
“You could always stab him with one of the Ravenclaw knives,” Luna said, “you know, house unity and all.”
“Great idea, Little Moon,” Harry said with a laugh.
“You all lead odd lives, you know that right?” Pansy said, looking between the trio.
“We’re aware,” Neville responded.
“Hey, are we bringing Teddy to the game or do you want me to floo call mum?” Draco asked from where he was sitting at Pansy’s feet.
“What’s the weather like?” Harry asked.
“Windy and it looks like it might rain.”
“Could you call Aunt Cissa then? I don’t want him to catch a cold.”
“Course,” Draco responded, crawling toward the fireplace.
“That was super elegant, Black,” Blaise said, laughing.
“Oh, shut it Zabini,” Draco huffed, reaching for the floo powder.
Theo rolled his eyes and pulled Harry into the bedroom to get changed, “can I -”
“Yes,” Harry interrupted, pulling his most well-worn Gryffindor Quidditch hoodie out of the wardrobe and tossing it to Theo.
“Thanks,” Theo said, grinning, “Merlin, I don’t know how I made it 17 years without Muggle clothes. Wizards need to rethink their definition of casual wear.”
“Jeans are an incredible invention,” Harry said with a laugh, “you want to borrow a jacket or are you going to put on a cloak over your jeans and hoodie?”
“Jacket please,” Theo responded as he looked over his shoes, “maybe I should buy some Muggle shoes too, I don’t really think dragonhide goes with this outfit.”
“Here,” Harry said, pulling out a pair of Timberland boots and passing them over, “I’ll get you your own pair for Yule.”
“Why would I need my own stuff when it’s so much more fun to steal yours?”
“Fine, I’ll get myself a second pair for Yule, how’s that?”
“Perfect,” Theo said, leaning over to smack a kiss against Harry’s cheek.
“Git,” Harry said, laughing lightly as he laced up his sneakers, “grab us both hats and gloves and I’ll go see if Draco got ahold of Cissa and Andi.”
“I’m stealing your Gryffindor scarf,” Theo responded as Harry left the room.
Harry entered the sitting room and found Kreacher standing next to Draco.
“Lord Black,” the elf greeted with a slight bow of his head, “Kreacher has many questions, but the most important is that Kreacher would like to know why Lord Black and Heir Black are wearing Gryffindor colors?” he asked, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
“Oi!” Neville said with a laugh, “Gryffindor is a great House, Kreacher.”
Kreacher just rolled his eyes at Neville and looked between Draco and Harry for an answer.
“I already told him it was for quidditch,” Draco said, “but I don’t think he likes that answer.”
“Would it help if I told you that I found this in Regulus’ closet?” Harry asked, gesturing to the jersey he was wearing.
“Why was your quidditch jersey in Regulus’ closet?” Hermione asked, looking at Harry in confusion.
“Not my jersey,” Harry responded, gesturing to the ‘6’ printed on the front.
“That’s a chaser jersey,” Draco pointed out.
“Wow, Draco, what would we do without your observational skills?”
Draco just huffed and crossed his arms.
“I will accept your Gryffindor colors because they were found in Master Reggie’s room,” Kreacher decided, “but Heir Black still hasn’t given me a proper answer.”
“Heir Black is wearing Gryffindor colors because he was afraid Lord Black would hit him with something if he wore Hufflepuff yellow instead,” Draco told Kreacher.
“Acceptable,” Kreacher decided after a moment before he turned back to Harry, “can Kreacher take Little Master Teddy now?”
“Sure,” Harry said, trying not to laugh, “thanks Kreacher, would you be able to ask Cissa and Andi if they’d like us to come for lunch tomorrow?”
“Oh,” Kreacher said, looking like he’d just remembered something, “Kreacher is supposed to tell Lord Black and Heir Black that they are supposed to come to Grimmauld Place tomorrow or face the wrath of the Black Sisters.”
“Guess we have lunch plans,” Harry said with a nod.
“Ready,” Theo said, stepping out of Harry’s room in a Gryffindor hoodie, Muggle jeans, a Muggle jacket, Muggle boots, and a Gryffindor scarf.
“He’s corrupted Lord Nott now,” Kreacher said with a long-suffering sigh, “Master Sirius would be so proud.”
“Thanks,” Harry responded with a grin.
“That was not a compliment,” Kreacher huffed as he carefully took Teddy from Neville and popped out of the room.
“I think he’s warming up to me,” Harry said once Kreacher was gone.
“I think the fact that he didn’t call you nasty or use a single slur was practically a declaration of love,” Hermione responded.
“Let’s go,” Blaise said, standing up and heading toward the door, “if I’m late Ginny will yell at me.”
“He’s not wrong,” Harry said, grabbing the hat and gloves Theo offered him, “let’s hurry up and save the man from the wrath of Ginny Weasley.”
The group left the tower and started walking across the grounds to the pitch. They crossed paths with Mary, Bill, and Fleur about halfway there.
“Nature is healing,” Bill said with a laugh, tugging lightly at Harry’s Gryffindor jersey.
“Yeah, yeah,” Harry said, shoving him away.
Bill slung his arm around Harry’s shoulders and looked at the front of his jersey, “is that Ginny’s?” he asked, confusion clear in his tone.
Before Harry could answer he felt a hand run lightly across his back, “James’,” Mary answered for him, “where’d you find that?”
“Regulus’ closet,” Harry said, smiling softly at her over his shoulder.
“Of course,” she said with a light laugh, “how’d you get all these snakes in maroon and gold?”
“Draco told Kreacher he did it to avoid any threats of violence from me, Theo just wanted a reason to steal my hoodie, Blaise has his own reasons, and I’m pretty sure Pansy just thinks she looks good in maroon.”
“Accurate,” Pansy said with a shrug.
Bill looked over at Blaise and studied him for a moment before he looked back at Harry and asked, “Gin?”
“Ask me no questions and I shall tell you no lies.”
“You need to spend less time with Fred and George,” Bill said, rolling his eyes as he turned back to Blaise, “she has seven brothers. I know curses you’d never even dream of, Charlie trains dragons, Percy is downright terrifying when provoked, and I don’t think I need to describe the threat of the Terror Twins, Ron, and Harry.”
“Yes sir,” Blaise said, swallowing loudly.
“I don’t mean that the seven brothers are the threat,” Bill continued, “all seven of us are terrified of her.”
“Message received,” Blaise said with a nod.
“You forgot to mention Hermione,” Neville chimed in.
“Oh, you mean the person who sucker punched Draco and trapped Rita Skeeter in a jar?” Harry asked conversationally.
“Didn’t she also lead Umbridge into a herd of rampaging centaurs?” Luna asked in a dreamy tone.
“Also, I’m pretty sure Fleur literally has claws,” Harry added.
“You forgot that I can light things on fire with my mind,” Fleur pointed out, linking her arm with Harry’s.
“Sweet Salazar,” Blaise muttered under his breath.
“Good luck, mate,” Draco said, patting him on the back.
“Is Ginny really that terrifying?” Mary asked, looking around the group, “she’s delightful in class.”
“She took out half the Hall of Prophecies with one Reducto at 14,” Neville responded.
“Ah,” Mary said with a nod, “I might need to get to know her better, she sounds like a good time.”
“The best,” Bill responded with a proud look.
“Is that…” Draco trailed off pointing toward the stands at the person sitting next to McGonagall.
“The Harpies’ coach?” Harry finished.
Neville let out a quiet whistle, “damn.”
“She has to be here for Ginny, right?” Hermione asked, “there aren’t any other female 7th or 8th years on either team, right?”
“Megan Jones plays but she’s a keeper and the Harpies just recruited a new reserve keeper,” Harry said, thinking through everything he’d heard about the team in recent months, “I think the only roster slot they have open is a chaser.”
“I think you’re right,” Draco responded, “go Ginny.”
They split off from Mary, Bill, and Fleur and sat together in the Gryffindor stands.
The game took nearly seven hours, and it started downpouring two hours in but in those seven hours Ginny put up 15 goals herself while Dean scored seven and Demelza scored four. Ron kept Hufflepuff to only 100 points. When Caroline caught the snitch it was 410-100, Gryffindor.
They watched as the Harpies coach nearly ran down to the field to talk to a soaking wet and brightly grinning Ginny and Harry found himself thinking that everything they’d all gone through to stop Voldemort was worth it to experience moments like this.