Forever Family

Chapter 23

Publish Date: 11/29/18

The next morning couldn't come quickly enough for Harry. He'd been tossing and turning in bed all night, thinking about work. What was the news going to be on Roberts? What was Kingsley going to tell them? His thoughts were interrupted when Ginny came walking down the stairs, a sleepy Teddy in tow.

"Hey, love. You're up early." Ginny poured Teddy a glass of milk and made him a quick plate of breakfast and they sat down at the table.

Harry shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."

Ginny, sensing Harry's restlessness, came over and wrapped his arms around him. She gave Harry quick, reassuring kiss before returning to her seat at the table.

"Hey, it'll be okay. Kingsley would never let a Death Eater stay at the Ministry, you know that."

"I know. I just—I s'pose I thought I'd seen enough Death Eaters. I thought they were gone." Harry sighed. "Never mind. I don't want to spend the whole day worrying about this."

Ginny nodded in agreement. "'Course. Ted, we're gonna go somewhere with Uncle Ron today. Any place you wanna go?"

Teddy thought for a moment, chewing his food. His face brightened as he came up with an idea. "I wanna go to the Muggle world!"

Harry and Ginny thought it over. "Sure, that sounds good. We did promise we'd take you." Teddy grinned. A few moments later, Ron knocked on the door.

"Hey, Harry and Ginny." Ron smiled sleepily. Teddy bounded into the doorway, wrapping Ron in a hug as big as his little arms could manage. "Hey, Teddy! Are you ready to go on an adventure today?"

"Yes!" Teddy beamed. "Harry and Ginny said we could go see the Muggle world!"

"Well, that sounds brilliant."

The group got ready quickly, much to Teddy's delight. His breakfast lay abandoned at the table where he left it to go hug Ron.

"Almost ready, Ted," said Ginny as she pulled her hair into a messy bun. Soon, they were all ready to go.

The group of four Apparated to a secluded alley in Muggle London. Once they were all ready, they slipped into the crowd and began walking.

"Ginny?" Teddy was holding onto Ginny's hand while walking. "I'm hungry."

"You just ate, Teddy."

"I know. But I'm hungry again." Teddy stated this as if it were the most simple thing in the world.

"I could use some food, too. Why don't we find somewhere to eat?" Ron suggested.

"Hey, what about that cafe that 'Mione showed us a while ago? We could eat there," Harry shrugged. Teddy seemed enthralled by the idea of going to a cafe, so the adults searched for it. Eventually, they found the cafe that they were looking for.

"Here it is, Teddy," Ginny grinned as Teddy bounced excitedly. "Ready to go in?"

"Yes!"

Once again, they were greeted by the smell of coffee and pastries. The cafe was considerably less crowded in the morning.

"Alright, who knows what they want? I'm ready to make an order." Harry, who had the best knowledge of Muggle currency, would be placing the order for all of them. He got everyone's choices and quickly placed the order for the group.

The food had come out rather quickly. Teddy had gotten a huge cinnamon roll, and a tall glass of chocolate milk. Harry and Ginny each got a muffin, and Ron had gotten a chocolate pastry.

"How are you enjoying your food, Teddy?" Ginny asked. Teddy didn't respond for several more moments. His attention was on his food, as he had never had a cinnamon roll before. Harry smiled with amusement.

"It seems like he's a little preoccupied right now, Gin."

"Yes, I think so, too," Ginny smirked. "I guess he wouldn't notice of we did...this." Ginny swiftly took Teddy's glass of chocolate milk from beside his plate, and held it under the table.

"Hey!" Teddy looked up to see his milk gone. "Where did my milk go?"

"I dunno, Ted," Ron grinned. "Maybe the Nargles took it." While Teddy was busy trying to figure out what Nargles were, Ginny returned the milk to the table.

The group spent a few more minutes in the cafe, before finishing their food and stepping out into the cool autumn air.

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The rest of their day in the Muggle world was fun, but uneventful. Teddy got tired around 4 PM, and Harry and Ginny decided to take him home. Ron, who would be eating dinner with the Potters, was in the living room playing with Teddy.

Ginny heard a knock on the door, and opened it to reveal Hermione, who had just gotten back from work.

"Hey, Ginny! How was your day?"

"It was good, thanks." Ginny opened the door further to let Hermione in. Ron and Harry greeted Hermione as well.

"What do you think, Harry? Did they succeed in distracting you from work?" Hermione smiled as she set her bags down.

"Yeah, I s'pose so." Harry had to admit—they did do a pretty good job at distracting him.

"That's good, then."

Once 6 o'clock rolled around, Harry and Ginny set dinner out on the table. Dinner was filled with casual conversation and laughs. It passed eventually, but not before Ginny surprised Harry with some treacle tart. Harry kissed her and whispered a 'thanks' on her lips. The evening drew on.

Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were sitting at the kitchen table after putting Teddy to bed. Holding steaming mugs of tea and talking, they were all pretty relaxed. This was interrupted by an owl tapping at the window.

Harry collected the letter from the owl. "It's from the Ministry!"

Everyone crowded around the letter, but they let Harry read it. His eyes scanned the page.

"What's the news?" Ron asked nervously.

"We were right. Roberts was a supporter of Voldemort. He was working with the attacker."

"Merlin," Ginny breathed. They were silent for a moment as they let Harry read the letter.

"Harry?" Hermione asked, prompting him for updates. Harry looked up at his friends.

"He's going to Azkaban." Silence.

"What's the Ministry going to do now?" Hermione asked. Ginny and Ron nodded in agreement. Harry explained that they had fired Roberts.

"Well, who's gonna be Head Auror now?" Ginny asked. She watched as Harry's eyes scanned the last line of the page. His eyes widened as he got to the end of the letter.

"I am."

A/N: Hey guys! What'd you think of this chapter? I feel like the ending propelled the story forward. Tell me what you thought in the comments. Thanks for reading! 💛
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