Find Yourself

Goblins are harbingers of bad news. If Harry had any doubts of this before, he was now completely convinced of this statement. There was, however, something good that came out of the meeting, even if it was surrounded by lots of very unpleasant surprises.

Harry now knew that he was not only the Godfather of little Teddy, but also his Guardian. This changed a lot of things as it gave Harry something good to try for. A hope and a reason to try to get well, to do his best for Teddy. Naturally, it came with its own issues. Namely Andromeda. Tonk’s mother was not very keen on Harry visiting them. Now knowing that he actually was Teddy's legal Guardian, Harry assumed that the older witch was afraid that he would take Teddy away from her. This was not his intention of course, but he could understand where she was coming from.

The wizard was about to disapparate when he heard his name being called out by a quite familiar voice. He turned around just in time to catch a young blonde, who all but tackled him into a hug. “Luna!” He exclaimed happily. Luna was one of the few people who continued to write to him, even though with his work being what it was, he couldn't guarantee that they would meet very often.

“Hi, Harry.” She smiled happily. “I’m so glad I caught up to you. I thought your visit to Gringotts would take longer.” There was a questioning note in her voice, but as usual, Luna just knew things.

Things Harry had no desire to explain. So talking to Luna was much much easier in comparison with all the other people he would have to talk with in the near future. Namely, the Weasleys.

“Hey, Lunagirl.” He returned the smile, even though it was small and very strained in comparison. “I’ve missed you.”

For a few moments, they just stood in the middle of Diagon Alley with random people going about their own business all around them, just holding on to each other and enjoying the peaceful moment. After a while the blonde drew back, took her friend by the hand and started skipping down the Alley. Harry followed with an indulgent smile on his face. He had lots of problems to deal with and even more things to figure out, but at that moment, he just went after the brightly smiling witch that sometimes turned to face him and turned around to walk backwards, never once faulting in her tracks. This girl was like a balm on his heart; just being around Luna always calmed him.

Finally, they came to a stop near a toy shop. Harry looked at his companion with a raised eyebrow. “Is there something you would like to share?” She giggled and smacked him on the shoulder lightly. “Silly Harry. We’re here to meet someone.”

“Oh?” Harry had a feeling who the girl was talking about. He wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not, but he trusted Luna to not lead him astray.

“Yes, oh.” She replied. “Trust me, this is a good thing.”

Green eyes met hers and there was a gentle shine in them. “Of course I trust you.”

//With Andromeda//

Some days were better than others, and others certainly made her question why exactly she insisted on raising Teddy all by herself. She knew full well she wasn’t young anymore, but she couldn’t bring herself to admit that the boy would be better off with his Godfather. Of course, knowing that the young man was an Auror and was often sent on long-term undercover missions helped a lot. He wouldn’t be able to raise Teddy by himself. Especially not with Ginny Weasley as his wife. That was certainly one very determined young lady and Andromeda did not trust her one bit, not after some of the things she heard from her daughter.

Today Andromeda came to Diagon for some new toys for her grandson. The boy was growing after all and she thought four was old enough for some more complex things. She froze, however, when she almost ran into the man who was just on her mind.

“Good day, Andromeda.” He said with a hesitant smile.

“Harry.” Muttered Mrs. Tonks, though she would never admit to it. Muttering was just not in the habits of proper pureblood women. “What brings you to Diagon?”

The younger wizard looked awkwardly to the side as if avoiding eye-contact. “Kingsley gave me two weeks off. So I went to settle some things at Gringotts.”

This was not good. Gringotts meant Goblins and the Goblins definitely knew about the Guardianship. It was now Andromeda’s turn to study the people passing by as if they were the most interesting thing ever. “I see.”

It was only thanks to deeply ingrained training throughout her formative years that her voice reflected none of the turmoil within.

“I’m glad that you do.” If Harry showed a bit of an attitude at that moment, he thought he had every right to do so. “How could you not tell me?”

The witch grit her teeth. She knew she would have to have this conversation one day, however that did not mean that she was very eager to do it in the middle of Diagon Alley for any nosy person to see. With a casual flick of her wand, she erected some privacy wards.

“I have no desire to feature on the front page of the Daily Prophet.” She said in reply to the look she could see forming on his face. “I’m sorry if my not telling you has upset you, but I did what I thought was best for my grandson.”

She didn’t have any actual bad feelings towards Harry, she truly liked the young man. But in her mind she felt justified in keeping Teddy with her. Even if some days were pure hell because of it. “You barely ever have time to visit as it is, how do you expect to fare if I let you raise him yourself?”

Harry sputtered, shrugging helplessly. “I have a wife you know, she would have helped!”

The Black witch felt her confidence in her choice grow at the mention of the young Weasley girl. “Would she have?” She raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “And even if by some miracle did. I would not want him brought up by that scheming young chit. You said you went to Gringotts. Surely you must be aware of her transgressions by now.”

This made the wizard flinch a little, Andromeda sure was not going to pull her punches and he couldn’t say that he did not walk into this conversation of his own free will. He felt Luna’s hand running down his back slowly, doing her best to soothe him. She knew it would turn out okay, didn’t mean that the process of getting to the result would be painless though.

While Harry was having important conversations that would affect his life going forward, Ginny was back at the flat she shared with Harry. She thought that once they got married, they would live at the Potter Manor her mother and Dumbledore told her so much about. Much to Ginny’s disappointment, the grand Manor was not mentioned even once and Harry was completely content to just live in a rented apartment as if he was a regular person, not a Lord of an Ancient and Noble Family. It was plain strange. And yet, over the last two years of being married, she never once found a good way to bring it up. So she went back to the Burrow while Harry was away on missions, though of course once she got closer to one of her teammates, it presented other… opportunities.

For now, though, Ginevra focused on writing Harry yet another letter. She knew he had doubts about Molly’s explanation of the child’s coloring, but that was okay. Harry was her husband and he loved her. Everything would be okay. She just had to get him to come home. After that things would certainly work out. Right?

Very very far away, so far in fact that even time didn’t run the same, one William Weasley was reading a letter from his father.

“Anything interesting this time?” Charlie asked from where he and George were sprawled out on the couch.

Bill shrugged. “Well, kind of, depending on what you find interesting.”

“Do tell, brother dearest.” Drawled George in bemusement. “I can’t contain my curiosity.”

“Well, as you know. Ginny finally managed to marry Harry.” Here all three of the Weasleys living in Nevarah cringed slightly. None of them liked the idea of Harry being married to their sister, even if they didn’t quite know why. “And it looks like they’re about to have a kid.”

“Good for them, I suppose.” George couldn’t have sounded any less sure if he tried.

“Oh come on…” Charlie rolled his eyes. “I know you used to have a huge crush on him, but that was like twenty years ago.”

“I know, it’s not that.” The younger redhead sounded a little defensive. “It’s just… We all know how obsessed Ginny was with him. Who is to say she changed for the better?”

Charlie chuckled, “And who’s to say she hasn’t? Sounds to me like you’re just jealous.”

George huffed in mock offense and threw a pillow at his older brother. “Whatever you say, brother dearest.”

Bill picked up the letter and sprawled out on the couch, resting his head in George’s lap to keep him in place. “Lose interest in the letter, did you?”

“You wish.” Came a very quick retort. “Keep reading.”

Harry couldn’t believe it. Well, he could, but he really didn’t want to. As much as he trusted Luna, the encounter with Andromeda sure was harrowing. All he wanted to do at the moment was go home, flop down on the bed, and sleep. In all honesty, he felt like he could probably sleep a whole week without waking up if no one bothered him. And not being bothered by people was definitely not a luxury that Harry Potter possessed.

But again, he had things to do. He now had young Teddy to think about. The boy was now already four years old and in a way Harry considered this to be lucky. He wouldn’t have to worry about being up all hours of day and night, being woken up by the screams of a helpless newborn.

Please don’t misunderstand, Harry Potter loved children very much. But now with Andromeda’s help, he finally accepted the fact that he wouldn’t be able to successfully take care of an infant on his own. And it would have to be on his own, as he will not be staying married to Ginny if things were indeed the way he expected them to be. To find out for sure though he would have to finally talk to the woman face to face. And for Teddy’s sake, he would have to be firm in how he dealt with his spouse.

A loud crack announced the arrival of Kreacher. “Master wanted the post.” The creature said in a bland scratchy voice. “There is lots of mail waiting for Master.”

Harry sighed. As expected, a long nap was not in the cards for him at the moment. “Thank you, Kreacher.”

He gave the Elf a small smile and accepted the bundle of correspondence from his small hands. “How did you know where I was?”

The wizard asked, slightly curious. He didn’t know much about House Elves and how their magic worked. But being able to find a person as easily as they did it sounded amazing. Harry idly wondered if it was something he could learn. It would certainly make his job much easier.

Kreacher looked away. This was not a topic he particularly wanted to talk about. But his Master asked, so he would answer. “Since young Master asked, Kreacher will tell.” Green eyes widened as the young man realized that he potentially stumbled into a painful topic. He wanted to backtrack, but his curiosity was burning. “It is because Kreacher depends on Master’s magic to live.”

Harry’s eyes widened comically. This was not something he expected to hear.

“What?!” He exclaimed. With as hard as Hermione tried pushing for Elf rights during her House Elf Freedom campaign when they were at Hogwarts, what Kreacher was saying was unexpected to say the least.

“The curse needs the Master’s magic to help the House Elf live. If the House Elf has no Master for long, the curse will feed on the House Elf’s life force instead. So to survive, the House Elf must have a Master.” The creature’s eyes were completely empty of any emotion as he talked, staring straight through the wizard standing next to him, looking but not seeing.

Harry shivered. This sounded completely horrible, but at the same time, it made a lot of sense. He thought about how horrified Hogwarts House Elves were when Hermione kept trying to set them free. From a certain point of view, this was pretty much a murder attempt born out of sheer ignorance. The one word that stood out to Harry though, was ‘curse’. And if this really was a curse, then maybe, just maybe, there actually was something that could be done to help them. He owed it to Dobby. And even Kreacher, as he was proving to be a good Elf.

“Do you know what kind of curse it is?”

Kreacher gave him what could be called a patented Severus Snape special ‘are you a dunderhead’ look. “Is young Master being stupid? Too much time has passed since the casting of the curse. Kreacher doubts there is anyone alive who knows anything about it at this point.” The House Elf followed his statement with a very obvious eye roll.

“I understand. Let’s go home and take care of this pile of mail then.” Harry nodded, acknowledging the Elf’s response, even though in truth there were many and more questions he wanted to ask. Green eyes glittered as he made a mental note to try and look for more information on the topic. House Elves didn’t remember the details about their curse, but that did not mean that the Wizards were equally oblivious. Or at least Harry hoped that wasn’t the case.