Harry Potter and the Winters After the War

Chapter 17 - The Mission

As it turned out, the next time Ginny did see Harry was on Saturday, but even then he was late, arriving at Teddy’s party nearly an hour after everyone else.

            “Sorry,” he murmured into Ginny’s ear as he joined her in Andromeda’s crowded front room about a quarter till noon. Guests had been circulating, visiting with one another as Andromeda and Molly, with help from some of the other Weasleys, laid out foods for a buffet luncheon. There were tables scattered through the front room, kitchen, and of course the dining room, but there was simply not enough room to seat everyone at the same table anywhere in the house, and it was still too cold outside to serve lunch in the garden.

            “Oh there you are Harry!” Andromeda greeted him with a kiss to his cheek. “Just in time to get Teddy up from his nap! I wanted to be sure he had a good long one this morning so he’d be ready for the party.”

            Harry grinned. “Want to help me Ginny?”

            “Sure.”

            Hardly anyone noticed when the young couple disappeared up the stairs to the nursery, but absolutely everyone did when they returned. Harry stood in the doorway to the room, holding Teddy in his arms with Ginny by his side. Today Teddy was sporting black messy hair, his favorite style whenever he was with Harry, along with Harry’s emerald eyes, but the features of his actual face looked more like a small version of Remus than they had at any time since his birth. Teddy grinned at being the center of attention, but clung tightly to Harry’s shirt.

            “It’s okay Ted,” Harry assured him. “They’re all here to celebrate your birthday. You’re a year old today.”

            Teddy looked at Harry intently as though trying to absorb what Harry said, but his face cleared moments later, dismissing whatever it was as unimportant, and he turned his attention back to the crowd.

            “DaHa!” Teddy crowed to the room at large. “Da Ha, mine!” he said very clearly.

            “What is ‘DaHa’?” Mrs. Weasley asked Andromeda who stood beside her.

            “I don’t know,” Andromeda said. “But he says it regularly.”

            “It’s what he calls Harry,” Ron, who was standing beside them with Hermione, explained. “He’s been trying to call him ‘dad’, but Harry keeps trying to correct him to call him ‘Harry’, so they’ve compromised on ‘DaHa’.” Ron shrugged. “It makes sense, sort of.”

            Andromeda smiled broadly. “That explains it.” She turned to her grandson walking up to him while Harry held him. Teddy leaned in towards Harry as if to prevent his grandmother from taking him away.

            “Is this DaHa, Teddy?” Andromeda asked him as she patted Harry’s shoulder.

            “DaHa!” Teddy said emphatically grinning broadly. Then leaning towards Ginny he said, “Gin Gee!”

            Andromeda smiled at them. “Well it’s clear who his favorite people are. He only grunts at me.”

Harry felt a bit guilty at the news.

Andromeda laughed. “I’m not worried Harry. He’ll come up with something to call me eventually.”

The rest of the Weasleys and some of Andromeda’s friends and other family surged forward to say hello to Teddy, including a very pregnant Fleur. Harry looked at her in surprise.