Teddy, his hair still pink, smiled at Harry and made happy gurgling sounds as Harry carefully walked down the stairs with him. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he saw Kreacher shambling about collecting things for little Teddy.
“Kreacher,” Harry said.
Kreacher, bottle in one hand and a bag in the other, stopped to look at Harry, “Yes Master?”
“Could you also go to Teddy’s room and grab the stuffed toy in his crib, and some other toys, I’m sure he’ll want some of them to play with.”
“Certainly Master,” Kreacher replied, making his way back up the stairs.
Harry sat down on a sofa in the sitting room, as the setting sun shone through the windows, vaguely realizing it was the same room he had woken up in when he had first been here. As Teddy gurgled with glee, Harry started to glance around the room and spotted a picture on top of a desk that immediately caught his eye and, with Teddy secure in his arms, made his way over. The picture was of Tonks holding Teddy in what appeared to be a room at St. Mungo’s, a radiant smile on her face. At the side of the bed was Remus, looking tired and haggard, with a large smile plastered on his own wear-worn face.
A sad smile came to Harry’s face as he looked at the photograph. Looking down at Teddy he said, “I’m sorry Teddy. Sorry that your parents died because of me. One day you will be old enough to know what happened and I’m sure you will come to blame me just as much as I blame myself. In fact…” But Harry stopped as he heard Kreacher’s footsteps on the stairs.
“Kreacher has everything we will need, if Master is ready?”
A question came to Harry’s mind, “Will Teddy be alright if we Apparate?”
“He will be startled from the experience, but he will be fine.” Kreacher responded.
Harry nodded at Kreacher who, taking hold of his shirt, Apparated the three of them back to Hogwarts. As the darkness engulfed him, Harry started to see the faces of Remus and Tonks. The expressions on their faces were accusatory and, silently, Harry pleaded for their forgiveness. He would take care of Teddy and make sure nothing happened to him.
Suddenly, Harry found himself back at Hogwarts, in the Gryffindor Common Room with Teddy in his arms and Kreacher still holding on to his shirt. The sun was setting and its diminishing rays were not enough to brighten the empty room. Thankfully, a small fire was crackling in the hearth and Harry stared at it as if it offered him salvation. Looking at the light seemed to give him hope and he was grateful to whoever had started the fire and left it there.
Teddy started to whimper, his hair changing from pink to amber, diverting Harry’s attention from the light to the baby. “Shhh Teddy, it’s alright now.” Harry said, trying to reassure the startled baby. After a few minutes, Teddy started to laugh again and, once more, his hair changed to a bubblegum pink color.
Relieved that Teddy was happy again, Harry turned to Kreacher, “Kreacher, could you please find Ron and Hermione, tell them that I will be in my room, and then let the teachers know that Mrs. Tonks is on her way here?”
“Kreacher shall do so right away sir. Afterwards, Kreacher shall then bring you something to eat.”
“Thank you.”
Kreacher disapparated, leaving Harry alone with Teddy who had, once again, grabbed one of Harry’s fingers and was entertaining himself with it. Lowering his head towards Teddy, Harry started making faces as they made their way up the stairs. The baby was waving his arms, kicking out his little feet, and squealing with happiness as Harry started to wonder when he would be able to sleep. Suddenly Harry’s glasses came off and he looked at the obvious culprit, who was now waving them about playfully. Not bothering to reclaim his glasses Harry continued on to his room all the while entertaining Teddy.
Finally reaching his destination Harry opened the door and stepped into, what used to be, his room for the first time since last year. Without his glasses, everything was a blur but he could see the outline of his bed well enough. As he looked at the bed with blurred vision, he could see a small mound lying atop it. Recalling that Kreacher had told him that the room was prepared, Harry walked toward the bed wondering what it could be. As he got closer, a flowery scent, mingled with sweat and soot, reached his nose and he inhaled deeply. Only one person could smell so sweet to him. Though the thought brought him happiness and joy, it was now tinged with sadness and guilt.
As Harry neared the bed, he whispered, “Ginny?”
Editor’s Note: This is the shortest chapter I wrote so far for my fanfic Harry Potter and the Courtship of Ginny Weasley. I had started chapter six, but that is where I had left off when real life interfered and some of the story elements I had devised for this fanfic I had decided to use in an original work instead. But I think I will write a post discussing this story’s entire plot and where I had planned to take it.
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