Healing the Broken

Chapter 43- The Funeral

Please read the end that is in bold.

Harry gathered up a small bag of items he thought they might need, and Hermione quietly eased Teddy from his bed and into her arms. It was still dark outside- around four in the morning. Harry shouldered the bag and met Hermione outside on the wooden porch.

As Hermione steps out into the cool summer air, she thinks about how sad she was despite the fact that she and Harry hadn't even known Andromeda that well. Sure, the three had grown close over the whole Teddy experience, and when the war had ended Andromeda was nothing short of kind to them.

Teddy made a noise in his sleep, and Hermione hoisted him up a little higher. "Is it safe for a one and a half year old to use side-along apparation?" She asks Harry, who was dabbing at his eyes with a tissue that Hermione had handed him.

He shrugs. "I dunno- aren't you supposed to be the one who knows everything?"

"Yes, but I haven't done much study on babies and what their bodies can handle, considering the fact that I've never had one." Hermione replies back, pushing some of Teddy's bright blue hair from his face.

"You will have one soon enough."

Hermione looks over at him, startled. "What on earth are you talking-"

But then Harry interrupts her hastily. "A conversation for a different time."

By the look on his face, Hermione can tell that he doesn't really feel like talking more about this subject, so she moves on. "Well, since we arne't one-hundred percent sure a baby can handle apparation, maybe we should just use the Knight Bus."

Harry's eyes light up at the memory of the two men, Ernie and Stan, whisking him away from the Dursleys. "That's a great idea. I wonder if Stan and Ernie are still there..."

He and Hermione stride out to the curb and stick out their wand arms.

Almost instantly, there's a loud whooshing noise, and a purple, triple decker bus is parked in front of them. The doors open and a man with acne scars and greasy hair climbs off the bus, and leans on the purple paint. "Welcome to the Knight Bus. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor for this evening." He says, not even glancing at them.

"It's been a while, Stan." Harry says.

This makes him look up. "Well, if it isn't 'arry Potter. 'S been a while, you're right. Lots o' things have happened, lots o' things." He says gravely. "But I'm glad to see that you're doing well- you even got yourself a wife, eh? And a kid?"

Harry turns beet red. "Er... I... no. This is Hermione, my girlfriend, and this is Teddy, my godson."

Stan tilts up his chin. "Godson, eh? Watchin' him for the parents?"

Harry pinches his lips together. "His parents are dead- so he's in our care." He takes out his bag of money. "Now it's been so long that I've forgotten. How much is it?"

~~~~~

They sat in a small huddle on the rocking beds that sat inside the Knight Bus. Stan and Ernie quietly conversed, and Hermione pressed her back against the wall, Teddy in her arms, and set her head carefully on Harry's shoulder. "It's going to be alright, Harry." She says softly.

Harry stares out the window, at the blurred shapes that passed by them, not even budging an inch when Ernie slammed on the braes to let an old woman climb aboard. "I know it is. I didn't really know Andromeda that well, but my heart still feels... sore. Like this dull, constant ache."