Unofficial Portkey Archive

Author's note: - Apologizing in advance for grammar and spelling mistakes.

Disclaimer: - I don't own Harry Potter and anyone or anything related.

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"Good night, Hermione, sleep well." He said with a smile and closed the door.

Hermione smiled dreamily. She was happy that Harry was smiling again.

"Good night, Harry," She whispered into the room and made her way towards the bathroom to change out of her work clothes.

Teddy Time

Hermione was awake; however, she was anxious to open her eyes. She nestled her nose in the pillow where she could breathe in the familiar cologne of her best friend. It'd been a long time since she had thought of him this way. First thing, her heart wished to see this morning was the mischievous emerald-green eyes of her best friend, just like on the Sunday morning three weeks back. She slowly opened her eyes and felt the disappointment settling in her heart, for the reason that her eyes met the white ceiling of the room instead of the emerald green eyes of her best friend.

Hermione sighed with discontent. Taking the last whiff of Harry's scent in his pillow, she pulled herself out of the bed. She groaned as she realized that she was running late. Alarm clock on the nightstand was showing 7:45 AM, and she had to report at the Ministry by 8:30 AM. She walked towards the bathroom and after taking care of her morning rituals, she walked out of the room.

She found Harry in the kitchen. He had almost finished making the breakfast.

"Good morning," Hermione said walking into the kitchen.

Harry looked startled for a moment and then he smiled as his eyes fell on Hermione.

"Good morning," He replied as he put the pancakes in the plate.

"Breakfast is almost ready. Why don't…" Harry started, but Hermione interrupted him.

"Sorry Harry, but I can't stay for the breakfast. I have to report at the Ministry by 8:30." Hermione said apologetically.

"It's all right Hermione." Harry replied with a smile in an attempt to hide his disappointment.

Hermione found herself trapped in a catch-22 situation. After last night, she didn't want to leave Harry alone, but due to some urgent work, she had to go to Ministry as well.

"How are you feeling, Harry?" Hermione asked tentatively, afraid of the answer she might get from him.

"I am feeling good, Hermione. You don't have to worry about me every second of your life." Harry said to Hermione, and chuckled, thinking that worrying about others, especially him, was one of her endearing and yet an annoying characteristic that she could not get rid of.

"Just shut up, Harry," Hermione chastised lightly, hitting him playfully on the shoulder.

"So, are you going to see Teddy today?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I was thinking of spending the whole day with him." Harry replied, as he moved to wash his hands in the washbasin on the other side of the kitchen. After wiping his hands with a towel, he turned back to look at Hermione, who was looking deep in thought.

Hermione looked at Harry realizing that he had stopped talking and was looking at her curiously. Suddenly a thought occurred in her mind.

"Why don't you bring Teddy to Leaky Cauldron? I'll join both of you there. We can have lunch together." Hermione said excitedly. She also wanted to meet Teddy. It'd been quite some time since the last time she met him.

"Sure, why not? Teddy would love to meet you." Harry replied with a smile and walked out of the kitchen, gesturing Hermione to follow him.

"I miss him too." Hermione replied as she walked out of the kitchen.

They walked into the living room and Harry sat on the couch while Hermione remained standing. Harry took her hand and pulled her next to him on the couch.

"What time would be appropriate for you?" Harry asked.

"Hmm…I think 1:30 would be appropriate. It will be the lunchtime at Ministry. What do you think?" Hermione asked.

"That would do." Harry agreed.

"Great," Hermione said excitedly, "Then, I'll meet you both at Leaky Cauldron at 1:30." She concluded. Harry merely nodded.

Hermione got up from the couch. "I should better go or I would get late." She said hastily and walked towards the entrance. Harry followed her.

"Bye Harry," Hermione said stepping out of the apartment.

"Bye," Harry said and closed the door as Hermione left.

After Hermione left, Harry went back to the living room and flooed to Andromeda, Teddy's grandmother, to ask if he could come over to meet his godson. After getting a happy approval from the other side, he went back to the kitchen and tried to eat some breakfast, but he wasn't feeling hungry. Finally, he gave up and breakfast vanished with a flick of his wand. Then, he walked out of the kitchen and made his way towards his bedroom. He took a quick shower, dressed up, and left the apartment to meet his favorite and the only godson, Teddy Lupin.

Teddy had been overjoyed to see Harry. He adored his godfather and loved to spend time with him. Firstly, Harry took him to Hogwarts. Teddy enjoyed the place and most of the Hogwarts staff loved him as well. Harry took him for a broom ride on the Quidditch pitch, and after roaming around the Hogwarts, Harry and Teddy went to Hogsmeade to have some fun time. There he took Teddy to Zonko's Joke Shop and Honeydukes Sweetshop, and for some strange reason, the Shrieking Shack fascinated Teddy very much. On the other hand, maybe not so strange, shack was made for his father after all.

Soon it was the noontime and Teddy wanted to visit Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, which suited Harry just fine as later they had to meet Hermione for lunch in Leaky Cauldron.

"Harry, Teddy" Fred said acknowledging Harry and Teddy's presence as they entered the shop.

"Hello Uncle Fred," Teddy said excitedly.

"And now I am already feeling old." Fred said dramatically putting both his hands on his chest. Teddy started laughing while Harry simply smiled at his friend's antics.

"Now Teddy, you should never bother an old man." Harry chided in a mock stern voice.

"Hey," Fred said indignantly, then he started laughing, and soon Harry and Teddy started laughing as well.

"Where's George?" Harry asked.

"He's in the lab." Fred said gesturing towards the backside of the shop, "Working on some new products,"

"So what brings you here?" Fred asked.

"I am spending the day with Teddy. Teddy loves your shop so we decided to make a visit here,." Harry answered while Teddy was busy looking around the shop.

"Fred, send Elena in the lab." George shouted from the back of the shop.

"Elena is busy." Fred shouted back making Harry chuckle and forcing Teddy cover his ears with both his hands.

"Sorry Teddy," George said apologetically, "Ever since Snape blasted his ear, he pretends that his hearing power is low and speaks as though if he's shouting." He added with a chuckle.

"You didn't attend the dinner at Burrow last Sunday and missed the whole show. Mum had invited Snape as well and you won't believe he actually came." Fred said in a laughing voice.

Harry didn't look very surprise. Since the war had ended his former potion teacher had changed a lot. He had even learned to smile, even though it looked like he was in pain.

"George sat next to him and kept talking to him the whole time he sat there, practically shouting in his ear." Fred continued.

Harry and Fred shared a good laugh at this as a bemused Teddy stared at his companions, trying to figure out why they were laughing.

"Well, I must say you have come on a right time." George said in a loud voice, coming from the back of the shop and stood next to his brother.

"We are developing some new products. We would like you to see them and if you want to offer help, we wouldn't mind testing them on you." He added with a chuckle.

Harry just rolled his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but Elena, who worked at the shop for twins, interrupted him.

"Hey," Elena said as she came and stood next to George. Elena was a brunette with shoulder length hair, blue eyes, and an attractive slender body. She had started working for twins a couple of months back. She was still looking for a job when Hermione had introduced her to George at a Ministry Ball. George was completely smitten with her on the first sight and offered the job at the shop. "Elena, just the person I was looking for." George said in a soft voice, bringing his voice level back to normal.

"Awe! Somebody has a crush on a girl." Fred teased in a singsong voice. Harry was surprised seeing that George had turned red because of teasing, probably for the first time in his life.

"Oh shut up, Fred." Elena chided gently, even though her cheeks also had turned a light shade of pink. She turned her attention to Harry and Teddy.

"Hi Harry," She said nicely.

"Hey Elena, how are you doing?" Harry asked in a friendly voice.

"Oh, I am doing great. And, how's our little Teddy?" Elena said looking at Teddy who was looking back at her with indignation, his hair turning red in color, surely a sign of his bad mood.

"I am not little anymore. I am five year old now." Teddy said in a proud voice.

Four adults laughed at this. "I am so sorry, big Teddy. Forgive my mistake." Elena said with an apologetic smile.

"Okay," Teddy said with a wide smile and reached for Elena. Elena quickly picked him in her arms, tickling him and making him laugh uncontrollably. She looked at Harry as Teddy settled comfortably in her arms.

"So, how's Hermione doing? I haven't seen her for quite some time now." Elena asked.

"She's doing fine. She has been promoted to the post of Deputy Head of her department." Harry said.

"That's great, Harry. I will go and see her this Sunday. Maybe I'll be able to convince her to throw a party to celebrate her promotion." Elena said with a chuckle.

They chatted for some time until Teddy got bored and insisted that he wanted to see rest of the shop.

"You know, why don't you guys show Harry our new products and I'll show Teddy around the shop." Elena suggested looking towards twins.

"Sure, why not." Fred replied without difficulty.

Harry checked his watch. It was close to 1:30. He decided to leave the shop with Teddy. Harry and twins made their way to front of the shop. Teddy was already there with Elena, who was holding something in her hand, showing it to an excited Teddy.

Teddy was excited to meet Hermione. After saying goodbye to twins and Elena, Harry and Teddy left the shop and walked towards Leaky Cauldron. There, they both sat on a table waiting for Hermione.

Only five minutes had passed, when Harry felt somebody tapping on his shoulder. He turned his face to look who it was.

"Hermione," Harry said with a wide smile. He got up from his seat and hugged his best friend. Hermione smiled and hugged him back.

"Well, I am impressed Mr. Potter, you have made it right on time." Hermione said amusedly as she took her seat on the round table. Harry tried to look offended, but then he simply laughed in return.

"Hey Teddy," Hermione said grinning at the young boy. She opened her arms and Teddy immediately jumped in her embrace. Hermione hugged him lovingly and settled him on her lap.

"Hello Herm-Own-Ninny," Teddy said looking pleased with himself. Hermione looked appalled, and then her face turned red eliciting a hearty laugh from Harry.

"Where did you learn this name?" Hermione asked trying to keep her voice down. Even though, she had a pretty good idea about who must have taught Teddy to call her Herm-Own-Ninny, she wanted to confirm her suspicions.

Teddy always had difficulty in pronouncing Hermione's name. Usually he called her Hermy. However, this time it was something that Hermione had heard from the Bulgarian seeker, Viktor Krum.

"Ron," Teddy answered innocently unaware of a fuming Herm-own-ninny, who was ready to unleash her wrath on her other best friend, Ronald Weasley.

"The next time I see him, I am going to turn him into a slug and fed him to Malfoy." Hermione muttered heatedly.

Harry started laughing remembering his second year when Ron was forced to vomit slugs from his mouth due to the malfunctioning of his broken wand. When he reminded Hermione of the incident, she too started laughing with him. Hermione narrated the whole incident to a bemused Teddy making him laugh nonstop. She even suggested Teddy to ask Ron about it whenever he would meet him next time.

While Hermione talked to Teddy about how he was doing with his studies and other things in his life, Harry simply sat there staring at them with a smile on his lips.

"What would you like to eat?" Harry interrupted after some time. Both Teddy and Hermione looked at Harry in surprise, remembering that they had a third companion with them.

After placing the order with Tom, the barman, Harry came back to the table where Hermione and Teddy were sitting.

"How are you feeling, Harry?" Hermione asked as Harry sat in his chair.

"Better," Harry simply replied.

"So how it's going at work? You know, with your promotion and all other stuff," Harry asked changing the course of conversation. Hermione realized what he was doing, but let it go.

Teddy was sitting quietly and trying to understand what two of his most favorite adults were talking about, as they were looking serious.

"Last few weeks have been very hectic. As soon as Scamander comes back, I am going to take a short break from the work." Hermione said contemplatively.

Harry chuckled at her response. "What have you done to Hermione Granger? Break word is not there in her vocabulary." he said in a laughing voice. He quickly shut up realizing that Hermione was looking at him with narrowed eyes. "However, a break would be good for you. Then, we can enjoy the free time together as I am also, you know, sort of on a vacation." He said in an attempt to cool down Hermione's temper.

Hermione just laughed, bringing forth a smile from her best friend in return.

"Are you on vacation?" Teddy asked, his wide innocent eyes staring at Harry. However, before Harry could answer, Tom brought their food on the table.

"Here's your order." Tom said as he started putting dishes on the table.

"Hey Tom, how are you?" Hermione asked with a sincere smile.

Tom smiled at her in return. "I am fine, Hermione. It's nice to have three of you here." He answered back politely, "Enjoy your meal." He said and then left to look after his other customers.

"I want to eat ice-cream." Teddy said in his childish voice as one of the waiters removed the empty dishes from the table.

Harry looked at Hermione. "How much time do you have before you have to return to the Ministry?" He asked.

Hermione checked the time. It showed 2:05 PM. She had to return to the Ministry by 2:30 PM.

"I still have some time." She replied, "Let's go to Florean's ice-cream parlour, he serves the best." Teddy nodded eagerly, agreeing with what Hermione said.

"Ok then, let's go." Harry said grinning at his best friend and godson.

After paying for the bill, three of them made their way to Diagon , Hermione, and Teddy were sitting outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, eating their ice creams and chatting in general, most of their talk revolved around Teddy and Hogwarts. Harry was sitting on one side and Teddy and Hermione were sitting in front of him. They were busy talking when somebody interrupted them.

"Hi Hermione," a soft voice spoke from behind Harry. Harry stiffened recognizing the voice. Shocked expression on Hermione's face made it very much clear that it was the same person, Harry was thinking about.

"Hi Ginny," Hermione said trying to sound cheerful and stood up to greet her friend. Harry also stood up and turned around to face Ginny.

"Hi Harry," Ginny said tentatively. "Hi," Harry replied with an unreadable expression on his face. It was the first time he was meeting her, ever since the day he had confessed his feelings to her and she had said no to him.

Atmosphere was getting uncomfortable. Hermione stepped forward and stood close to Harry. She understood what he must have been feeling. It was not easy to talk to the person for whom you had unrequited feelings. Without thinking, she took Harry's hand in her own and squeezed it for reassuring him that he was not alone. She felt Harry squeezing her hand in return.

Ginny's eyes fell on their joined hands. Something flashed in her eyes, her posture faltered slightly, but she quickly recovered bringing a charming smile on her lips.

"You are having a free day?" She asked Hermione.

"Oh no, it's lunch time at Ministry right now. I have to go back by 2:30." Hermione explained. Ginny nodded. She opened her mouth to speak, and just then, Roger Davies decided to join them.

"Here you are, sweetheart. I have been looking for you all over the place." He said to Ginny and wrapped his left arm around her shoulder.

"Hi Harry, Hermione, it's nice to see you guys." Roger said cheerfully extending his free hand towards Harry for a shake.

Harry shook his hand and replied with a smile, "It's nice to see you too, Roger."

"Same here," Hermione said shaking Roger's hand.

Four of them looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

"Would you like to join us?" Harry asked Ginny and her boyfriend, breaking the uncomfortable silence between four of them. However, before Ginny could reply Roger started speaking.

"Thanks for the offer, Harry, but we have to go somewhere else. I hope you don't mind." Roger replied with an apologetic smile.

Ginny was feeling more and more anxious as Harry didn't reply immediately.

"Don't worry about it." Harry replied genuinely. Hermione sighed in relief observing that Harry had his emotions under control.

"Well darling, we better get going or we would be late." Roger said looking at his girlfriend.

"Sure." Ginny replied with a smile.

Harry and Hermione said their goodbyes as Roger and Ginny left. They both stood in silence staring at the retreating back of Ginny and Roger, and oblivious to all the tension and awkward circumstances taking place between the adults, little Teddy continued eating and savoring the taste of his favorite chocolate flavored ice-cream with a dreamy expression on his face.

Author's note: - So what do you think of this chapter? Please tell me through your REVIEWS.

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