The Baby
Saturday, June 6th, 1998
Harry sank into a plush chair in the living room of 12 Grimmauld Place, he’d really need to move from here now that he had custody of Teddy, but it just hadn’t happened yet. All was well, at the moment, though. Teddy was asleep and clean and fed and Harry was doing about as well as possible. And he’d have a couple hours of peace and quiet to try and get done whatever could be.
Someone knocked on the front door.
Harry groaned and grumbled and considered staying sitting, but semi-agreeably stood, walked across the room and into the foyer, and opened the door, partially just so whoever wouldn’t knock again and wake Teddy.
It was Ginny Weasley, still sixteen just as Harry was still seventeen, not for long. She had a bundle in her arms, wrapped up in a turquoise blue blanket.
“Ginny?” Harry questioned, they hadn’t seen each other in over a month so he couldn’t imagine why she’d be here now, let alone with whatever that was.
“You have to take him.” She almost sobbed. “Please, I’m still at Hogwarts, I’ll have to redo sixth year, please, I can’t, please.”
“Ginny, who?” Harry shook his head. “No, wait, come in.”
Harry led the young girl into the living room and retook his seat, her in one just a couple feet away, still clutching the mystery bundle like her life depended on it.
“Ginny, who is ‘he’? What do you mean take him? What do you mean at all?”
Her breath shuddered and her arms shook, everything shook really, but she adjusted the bundle so he could see what was inside. A newborn.
“Ginny, that can’t be—is it, he, your mom’s or….”
“You know he isn’t, Harry.” She clutched the child tight again. “I knew it was a bad idea, we both did. But just one time we said, we were so sure nothing would happen. Just one time, before you had to leave. But something happened.”
“That’s—that’s my son, then?”
“I can’t care for him Harry, I can’t.” Ginny shook and forced back tears and didn’t quite succeed. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t. And I know you have Teddy, but—but he’s my baby. I can’t just let him go to anyone.”
“Of course you can’t, Gin. Of course you can’t care for him, of course you can’t give him to anyone. He’s my baby, Ginny. He’s my baby, he’s mine, and I—I’ll take him. Of course I’ll take him.”
“But, it’ll be too hard.” Ginny cried. “You have Teddy.”
“Nothing is too hard for my baby.” The truth was Harry really didn’t know how he could do it, but then he didn’t really have a choice, did he? Leave a girl who was still a couple months from seventeen, a couple years of school left, all alone with an infant? An impoverished girl at that? Not to mention him being his baby. So, he’d take the child and he’d do his best and…and that’s all he could do. “So—so what are we doing?”
Ginny looked up in shock. “What are we doing? I thought you were taking him.”
“I am.” He assured. “But, you’re still his mother….Let’s start there, do you want him to know?”
“He can?”
“Of course.”
“Then yes, yes please.”
“And do you want to see him? At Christmas, his birthday, whenever?”
Her eyes filled with tears again, and a couple spilled over. This was clearly more than she had ever dared to hope for. “Please.”
“And shall I call you his mommy?”
“Harry, I want you to do all the parenting. The custody, the diapers, the discipline, everything. I don’t—I can’t be his parent. Not ever, not in any way.”
“Neither could my parents, but they’re still my mom and dad.”
“Well, if that’s the case….I should like that very much, thank you.”
“Good, now more official business. Have you named him?”
“Not yet. I know you always wanted your first son to be named after your dad and godfather.”
“And yet my first son was named after his dad and granddad. And you can name this one too, I don’t mind. I’d like—I’d like some say in the matter, if I absolutely despise a name mostly, but otherwise, it’s all up to you.”
“Are you sure?”
“He’s your baby too, I want you to be able to do all for him you can. Not to make things easier on me, or even much for him, but for you.”
Ginny took a steading breath, that wasn’t very steady in of itself, before speaking. “Fred died and I don’t want to name him Fred especially since I know George wants to when he has a son, but I still want to honor Fred. So I was thinking Fabian. It’s George’s middle name, but who Fred was named for. One of mom’s brothers, died in the first war.”
“I love Fabian.” Harry answered honestly. “What about a middle?”
“That was harder because I know Sirius’s family did that space theme, but I also wanted to honor you. So I spent hours and hours reading astronomy books, even though I didn’t even think I’d get to name him, and I was thinking, well, I want the middle name to be: Haedus.”
“Fabian Haedus Potter?”
“Yes.”
“I think it’s perfect.”
Not able to continue this conversation dry-faced, Ginny moved on. “What else did you want to discuss?”
“Well, it was one thing really. Godparents. I’m Teddy’s godfather and Andromeda his godmother. So, if Fabian has godparents, it’d have to be anyone other than me and her.”
“I was thinking Ron and Hermione. Ron’s my brother and they’re both your best friends. Besides, I think Hermione would make an amazing guardian, Merlin forbid it be necessary.”
“I 100% agree.” Harry nodded. “Does he have anything yet?”
“No. Nothing but the blanket and the diaper he’s wearing. I just got out of hospital a couple hours ago, he was born the second. And I can’t afford anything.”
“I’ll dress him in Teddy’s clothes for the moment, then I’ll go shopping for everything….I don’t suppose you’d mine babysitting, just for five or so hours?”
“Please let me.”
Harry nodded and took the baby, not wasting a second to marvel, though he wanted to. There was much too much to do right now, and there’d be time later.