Chapter 3
The sun was at its zenith as Harry and Kreacher made their way to the cozy looking two-storied house. Forcing himself to walk up to the front door, Harry slowly made his way with Kreacher following behind him.
With every step it seemed to get harder; the guilt weighing down upon his shoulders. As he passed a small flower garden he couldn’t help but wonder if Nymphadora Tonks had played there when she was a child.
Yet despite the short walk it felt like an eternity had passed as Harry finally reached the front door yet, at the same time, it wasn’t enough time for him to build up the courage to deliver such news to Tonks’ mother Andromeda. Yet he raised his hand, now clenched in a fist, poised to knock on the brown wooden door that led into the Tonks’ family home.
But Harry stood there, fist above his shoulder, waiting for the courage to come in which he could knock on the door. Kreacher, right there at his side, watched him silently as he waited for Harry to knock. After a minute had passed Harry, with butterflies churning in his stomach, finally willed himself to knock on the door.
“BOOM!”
“BOOM!”
“BOOM!”
Harry knocked three times and each knock sounded like a peal of thunder to his ears, shattering the peace and quiet of the neighborhood.
He stood there as he waited for Andromeda Tonks to answer his knocking and, after a few seconds, he could hear the sound of footsteps coming from behind the door.
The footsteps finally ceased and the door opened to reveal Andromeda Tonks whose countenance, Harry noticed, showed that she had been up all night most likely worrying about her daughter and son-in-law. Her light brown hair was in disarray, dark circles were under her eyes, and her face was creased with worry.
But seeing Harry standing there, Andromeda’s expression immediately turned to one of fear, “What has happened?”
Before he could answer Harry’s mouth suddenly went dry and he spoke in a barely audible whisper, “I’m so sorry….”
“No,” Andromeda said cutting Harry off, “No.”
She shook her head in an emphatic “No” as if she refused to believe what she knew Harry was about to say.
Harry could see the tears forming in Andromeda’s eyes as her face contorted with the effort of holding back the sobs.
Feeling the guilt continually weighing him down Harry tried to apologize again, “I’m so sorry Mrs.Tonks. It was all my fault they are both dead. If it hadn’t…”
“NO!” Andromeda cried out, cutting Harry off. The tears were streaming down her face now as she finally accepted that her daughter and son-in-law were both dead.
“Crack!”
Suddenly Mrs. Tonks Disapparated; shocking Harry.
Thinking that Andromeda had Apparated to the school Harry prepared to ask Kreacher to take him back to Hogwarts, when he suddenly heard crying coming from the house.
Andromeda had forgotten about Teddy!
“Kreacher follow me” Harry exclaimed as he ran into the house with Kreacher following closely behind him.
The two of them ran through the living room and up the staircase to the second floor. Reaching the top of the stairs Harry paused as he listened to hear which room the crying was coming from. After a couple of seconds he realized that the noise was coming from the room at the end of the hall. Quickly Harry ran through the room’s open door and entered with Kreacher beside him.
There, lying down on his back in the crib, was Teddy crying and waving his arms about, his tuft of brown hair flowing back and forth along with his head. As Harry stepped up to the crib, Teddy noticed him and immediately stopped crying.
Thrown off balance by Teddy’s sudden lack of crying Harry, not knowing what to do, just smiled at Teddy and waved. As he did this, a smile broke out on Teddy’s pudgy little face, while his hair turned from brown to bubblegum pink, and started holding out his arms to Harry.
As he started to reach for the baby Harry became uncertain, he didn’t know the first things about babies! Remembering that Kreacher was with him, he looked down and whispered, “Um, Kreacher? What am I supposed to do?” Harry hoped that Kreacher had the answer since he had been with the Black family before Sirius and Regulus had been born.
Kreacher whispered back, “Master should put one hand under the baby’s head, to support the neck, and then the other hand underneath his body to pick him up. Then hold him in your arms so that you give his entire body support.”
“Oh, right then.” Harry said, continuing to whisper as he reached for Teddy.
“Master Harry,” Kreacher whispered to him, “Kreacher wishes to know why we are whispering?”
Harry paused, his hands just a few inches away from Teddy, and looked back at Kreacher embarrassed by his whispering, “I didn’t want to startle him.”
Smiling, Kreacher whispered back, “He is not afraid of Master, you can talk normally.”
But before Harry could say anything else he felt something pulling on his finger. Looking down, he saw that Teddy had grabbed his forefinger and was waving it about. Smiling, Harry tenderly picked up Teddy while saying “It’s alright Teddy, I’m just going to pick you up and hold you.”
“You are doing fine, Master Harry, “Kreacher said encouragingly. “Remember to use your arm to support his body.”
Satisfied that he was holding Teddy properly, Harry returned his gaze to Kreacher, “Could you pack up some things that we will need for Teddy? I’m assuming that Mrs. Tonks Apparated to Hogsmeade and is making her way to Hogwarts right now. So it will take her awhile.”
“Certainly, Master Harry,” Kreacher replied as he left the room leaving Harry and the baby alone.
Left alone with Teddy, Harry was still feeling nervous. Teddy was so small and he was afraid of dropping the baby.
Suddenly Harry was struck with a thought. Was his dad this nervous when he went to pick up Harry for the first time? Looking down Harry thought that Teddy felt so light and fragile in his arms, making him wonder if he was holding Teddy correctly. But the happy expression on Teddy’s face assured Harry that he was holding him the right way.
Taking his gaze away from the baby, he started to look around the room. The walls of Teddy’s room were painted a light blue with pictures of all kinds of animals on it such as lions, tigers, and bears. Yet there were also other more magical creatures such as Unicorns and baby dragons. There was a mobile hanging above Teddy’s crib which had little pixies dangling from it as well.
Looking back into Teddy’s crib Harry noticed a stuffed werewolf and smiled at that. He could only assume that it had been Nymphadora Tonks’ idea to get that for Teddy and he was sure that Professor Lupin must have been annoyed at it.
As Harry continued to survey the room he turned to the dresser, beside the crib, and saw two pictures on top of it. One of the pictures contained Teddy’s parents who were both smiling a waving in the picture. The other picture, surprisingly, was of Harry in which he was also smiling and waving.
How they had gotten such a picture of him threw him until he remembered Colin Creevey who had taken tons of photographs of Harry. He too was dead now all thanks to Harry. Yet before his thoughts could go any further he shook his head to clear his mind of such thoughts and looked back at Teddy who was still smiling and making noises, his pink bubblegum colored hair bringing a smile to Harry’s face as he returned his look to the picture of himself.
“So that’s why you weren’t scared of me,” Harry wondered aloud. Looking back at Teddy, who was looking at Harry in return.
Feeling to need to introduce himself Harry continued, “Um…well…Hello Teddy. I’m your godfather Harry.”
