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”Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!”
The song started as it always did on his birthday. With the clear voice of Hermione starting the song while the others chipped in following her melody. Harry looked over the room and took note of all his family members. There were days when Harry was still in awe of getting to have these wonderful people in his life. His wife caught Harry's wandering gaze and smiled at him. Her hair was shorter than it had been in previous years. She said that it got in the way of her work when she let it get too long these days.
While the kids had been younger she had started cutting her hair above her chin. After the first few times of Lily pulling chunks of thick brown hair out from Hermione's head, her hair had magically gotten shorter one day. Harry liked the change. He loved Hermione's hair no matter what it looked like. His hands had spent so many years getting tangled in it that simply the touch of its texture still filled him with excitement and love.
As he held his wife's gaze he drank in all of her features. The small lines that had started to form around her eyes from how often a smile was on her face. The twinkle in her brown eyes that had only gotten brighter over time. The shadows of the war had taken a long time to fade from both their stares, but they did eventually. Harry looked at her and saw the woman that she had become, and yet he could also see the eleven-year-old girl that she had been, so eager to save the world. To save him.
He owed his entire wonderful life to that little eleven-year-old. Hermione had befriended Harry and given him a soft place to fall since he was a small child. Since the death of his parents, she had been the first to hug him. The first to make him feel safe. The first to see him as Harry and not as the Boy-Who-Lived.
She had been there when his life was on the line, she had stayed by his side when the entire world seemed to be on the line. It was one thing to be told you had to do something, it was another to willingly choose it. For that, Harry had always insisted that Hermione was much braver than he. Hermione had changed his entire life during those years and the only reason that he was sitting in this chair at all was because of her.
His gaze fell on his daughter. The princess of his life. The moment he had held her in his arms for the first time, he had felt his life turn on its head. Everything about him changed direction in one moment. Even though she was about to enter sixth year, she would always be his little girl.
His brave, daring, loving, little girl.
"Dad?" Lily had asked peeking her head into the study. Harry had been trying to get some work done for a side project he was helping Hermione with, but he put his quill down when he heard his daughter's voice.
"Yes, dear?" Harry said as he turned around leaving the ink to dry.
"Can I talk to you?" She asked almost timidly. It was rare to see Lily trepidatious about something. Her confident tone usually carried to everyone in the room with clear precision. Lily Potter was a mix of her parents if there ever was one. She was a wonder to him in every way.
"Of course princess," Harry said warmly.
She stepped into the room and slowly closed the door behind her. Harry almost raised an eyebrow before he stopped himself, he didn't want to give her the impression that he noticed what she had done. She wanted to speak in private, Harry composed himself mentally. Tried to flip through the playbook of what his daughter's life had been like this summer, he didn't want to be caught without an answer if he could help it.
She took a deep breath, her brown eyes met him and she steadied herself. "How did you know that mum was the woman you wanted to be with?" She stammered, "I mean I've heard all the stories, everyone has, it's in our school books for goodness sake, but...that's just the story. How did you know?" Lily asked imploringly and hesitant at the same time.
"Well so much for being prepared." Harry thought to himself ruefully.
"Well, it was hardly a normal time. The world was pretty different back then, it kind of changes the way you see things." Harry said, having a tough time trying to explain what he was thinking.
"I mean, I wouldn't call the world right now normal either," Lily said, looking like she was getting more comfortable and confident in the conversation.
"That is unfortunately true. This time there isn't anyone to fight though," Harry said wistfully for a moment. He wished there was something he could do, but some things were bigger than what magic could fix. "Back then it was hard not to fall in love with the person willing to sacrifice their lives to be with you. Your mother was a special kind of crazy back then," Harry smiled.
"That's what I thought you were going to say." A tear slipped down her face all of a sudden and she bit her lip in a way that made her for a moment look just like her mother.
"Lily, sweetheart, what happened?" Harry said as he started to feel anxious.
"Nicholas' father passed away last night. And he's all alone trying to take care of his younger brother and study for his summer exams, and figure out how to pay their bills...it all fell on him and he's lost and I and ... and ...." she burst into tears, flowing forward into her father's arms.
Harry folded his little girl into his arms and hugged her close, letting her cry into his chest. His soothing sounds helped dry the tears after a few moments in a way that only a father's voice could do.
"I'm so very sorry that happened to Nick's father. Jonathan was a good man," Harry said when she pulled away.
Nick and Lily had started dating over a year ago after being friends at Hogwarts. Nick was a first-blood so Lily was the one to show him into the magical world and they had been friends ever since. When they had come home from school last year they were dating and Lily seemed to bloom into a different woman overnight. Harry had always liked Nick and they had had plenty of dinners and weekend barbeques with his family. Hermione's parents had lived through it spoke at great lengths about the hilarity that was raising a toddler first-blood. But most importantly, Nick treated his daughter with respect and love.
A few months ago, Jonathan had caught the virus that had been sweeping around the world. On top of being a single dad, the virus had made everything worse. Doctors from every corner of the world were all coming together to try to stop the pandemic from engulfing everything. Magical Healers and non-magical healers alike found themselves working together to try to stop it. For the most part, the magical world was insulated from these kinds of things, but that wasn’t the case now. There wasn’t a cure non-magical or magical that worked on this virus. The mortality rate was lower against magicals but that was due to more sterile environments due to magic. Where the virus had come from was still speculation even though this had been going on for over 8 months.
Magical society was falling apart just as much as the non-magical side was and no one had come up with a cure or an answer. When Lily said that times were strange now was an understatement. Harry had seen the looks on people's faces before, the hunched shoulders, the darting eyes. People were afraid again and Harry hated it. Lily didn’t like it either.
In this case, there was nothing that the Potters could do to help Jonathan and they had all talked about it at length over the last few months.
"What does this have to do with your mother though sweetie?" Harry asked.
"Well, I know it's risky, and I know that I could get sick...but I want to be with Nick right now. And I think it is important that he has someone with him and help with his little brother. He needs me and I can't be there for him because of this fucking virus!" Lily panted and gasped through her frustration and pain. "And even if it means I might get sick or die or something, I want to be with him anyway. Does that count as putting your life on the line for them?"
Harry stared at his baby girl bewildered beyond belief. In an entire lifetime, he couldn't have predicted this question.
"Yes, it does. I am," Harry paused, finding himself overcome with emotions. "so very proud of your bravery and love."
"I do love him."
"I know."
Harry thought for a moment. And then another moment. "Well let's go," Harry said and he slapped his thighs and stood from the desk.
Lily looked at him like he had frogs crawling out of his ears. "Go where?"
"To Nick's house. It will be easier to pack his things and move them here. Just because the Headmistress has a soft spot for you and lets you do magic during the summertimes still doesn't mean you can go around flaunting it." Harry said smiling down at his daughter.
She was brimming with tears and hope.
"You're right honey, he shouldn't be alone right now. Even when it was just the three of them, they were having a tough time after Emily left. You are the perfect person to help him, and here is the perfect place to do it. We can all help take care of Matthew and he can focus on school work. You can ask the headmistress he can postpone the exam." Matthew was a cute kid, still a few years away from Hogwarts. Jonathan had his hands full raising both kids by himself after his wife had left him, but he had done a damn good job anyways.
"Thank you, daddy," she hugged him again "He needs me, and with the way the world is right now, I don't want to waste time being apart from him like this."
"Then let's get moving."
Harry snapped himself back to the present. Nick and Matthew were sitting next to Lily also looking around the table with smiles on their faces. It had been a few months of having Nick in the house and it had been wonderful. He had seen his daughter grow so much and he couldn't be more proud. Matthew tucked himself between his brother and Lily. The little boy had started quiet, there were many mornings that he had come downstairs to find the little boy sitting next to the fireplace with his knees pulled close. It had broken Harry's heart, he knew that feeling so well.
“Matthew?” Harry asked in the dim morning light. The fire was lit, despite Harry knowing that he had put the fire out before he had gone to bed.
The little boy looked up. "I'm sorry if I woke you, Mr. Potter." He looked at his feet and curled tighter in on himself.
"You didn't wake me, I like being up early. You ok pal?" Harry asked, feeling stupid as he did so. The boy's father had died a few weeks ago, of course, he wasn't alright.
“It’s mommy’s birthday today,” he said in an impossibly small voice.
Very far from alright.
“I’m so sorry Matthew, you must miss her terribly,” Harry said walking over to the wall and putting his back against it and sliding down to the floor. He didn’t want to ask the boy to move from the safe space he made for himself.
“Sometimes she wasn’t always nice, but when I was little, she would hold me when I had nightmares,” Matthew said quietly.
Emily had gone through a phase where she had a drinking and substance problem, demons from her past were just too much to handle unaided. Jonathan had tried to get her help, but despite everything he did it hadn’t worked. She had been arrested on some drug charges and hadn’t been allowed to see the kids again after that. The situation had gotten ugly before the family was torn apart five years ago. They had finally started to fully recover from it when Jonathan got sick.
“Why did daddy have to die too?” The boy couldn’t contain himself any longer and burst into tears. Harry scooped the boy up nearly instantly and held him while he cried. Harry’s heart broke because not only was he hurting for this little boy, but he could feel his pain reflected at him. No parents.
“You know, I grew up without parents either,” Harry said. Since they were a non-magical family the only reason that Nick knew of Harry’s status in the magical world was through Hogwarts. Matthew didn’t know how similar they were in this moment.
“You did?”
“Yeah, they died when I was very little. Someone took them away from me. But I didn’t have them around either and it was hard.”
“Were you scared?” Matthew asked curiously.
“All the time,” Harry laughed. “But then I met my friends and things started to get better. Mrs. Potter was one of my first friends ever.”
“You didn’t have friends?!” the little boy gasped astonished.
“Nope, it was pretty lonely. You’re really lucky to have your brother you know,” Harry wasn’t sure if his attempt to get Matthew to see a bright side for a few minutes was going to work.
"And Ms. Lily," Matthew said, a smile forming at the corners of his mouth.
"Ms. Lily eh?" Harry said, incredibly amused.
“She sings to me at night when I have nightmares now,” He paused for a moment while Harry’s jaw fell a bit. “Her voice is nicer than mommy’s was.”
His darling daughter had not wasted a second of time in jumping in to help her boyfriend and this little boy. She had changed everything about her routine and life to make room for helping these people she cared about to be safe and healthy mentally and physically. So much of Hermione was shining through that girl every day and it blew Harry's mind.
“Can you tell me a story, I don’t want to go back to bed.”
"Hmmm, let me think." Harry pondered for a moment. Maybe he could give the boy a little hope that things could get better. If you just meet the right friend...
“Once there was there was a little boy with no parents just like you, and he lived in a cupboard under the stairs....”
Nick caught his eye and smiled as well. Leaning close to Lily. He was so good to Lily that Harry couldn't help but like the lad. After raising Teddy, Harry was somewhat versed in what teenage boys went through, but Nick was an exception. He was responsible and driven. Focused and intense. Whatever life threw at him, he kept moving. One eye was always on his brother, watching over the younger child like a hawk. The years where their mother had not been well having taught him to be wary at all times. Again, another thing Harry hated seeing in a child.
Lily and he had been friends for so long that it was no surprise when Lily had come home with the news that Nick had finally asked her out. Harry was pretty excited about it. He knew the value of dating a close friend.
Harry sat on the edge of his daughter's bed, tossing a small box in the air over and over again, catching it without issue. A few times he made it float back down to his hand, but other than that, the steady up and down motion of the box never changed.
After a few minutes, as predicted, Lily came into the room with her purse and Nick a few steps behind her. They had just left the house a few minutes ago to go shopping and then have a nice lunch together. The two of them had been together for a few months and Harry was picking up the signs. He wasn't thrilled about the conversation he was about to have, but he steeled himself. He had gotten through it with Teddy and he could do it again.
"Did you guys forget something?" Harry asked from the bed, spinning the box now in his hand on its corner. It spun to a halt on the palm of his hand, clearly displaying a Roman warrior, helmet, and spear. Harry grimaced and covered up the word "ribbed" with his thumb. He didn't want to know all that much more than he already did.
"oh fuck." Nick muttered.
"Presumably," Harry responded flatly.
"Dad!" Lily yelped.
"Yes?" He spun the box a few more times and then tossed it to Nick who caught it awkwardly. The pale faces of the teens did give Harry a jolt of amusement. He squashed it down, right now was not the time for amusement. He could retell the story to Hermione later and she would get a kick out of it.
"Is this really what you are using?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, uh..." Nick started.
"See son, now you are in a pickle. Which answer are you going to go with?" Harry asked.
Nick locked eyes with Harry and then his posture changed. "Yes, we are using those, we hadn't gotten a chance to speak to anyone about a potion. Lily says they are more effective." His back straight, he didn't let his voice waver. Harry gave him credit for that. He might have been sorted into Hufflepuff, but he had stones.
"I'll make sure you have the potion by the weekend. Can you do me a favor and control yourself until then?" Harry asked, wincing at what he was saying.
They both nodded. Harry was pretty sure that this experience was going to keep them chaste for a few days all on its own, but still.
Harry nodded back and they turned to leave. Lily stepped out of the doorway and turned around to find Nick froze in place and the door slowly shutting in front of her. Harry again held back his grin. This flare for the dramatic was fun. He knew the answers to most of the questions he was about to ask, but he wanted to make sure to do it right anyway.
"Nicholas. Let's have a chat."
"Do you treat her with respect?" Harry asked, coming out of the gate strong.
"I try every day."
"Do you love her?" Harry knew the answer to this too. He'd been watching them for years, them officially dating meant so little in his eyes. They had feelings for each other for as long as they had been at Hogwarts.
"I think I have for a long time."
"And if, that little slip of plastic didn't work?" Harry asked, giving the box a meaningful nod.
"Then I would be here for every second of it. My mom effectively walked out on us, I would never do that to my kid. Ever."
Harry studied him. He spoke with certainty and honesty. Harry didn't have to use any mind magics to know the young man was telling him the truth.
"Ok then. Good enough for me. You're a good kid Nick. Hermione only speaks highly of you when you are at school and you have spent tons of time here in the summers. I know you care for Lily," Harry smiled, finally letting the kid off the hook.
"Thanks, Mr. Potter, that means a lot," Nick said and turned to leave the room.
The door still didn't budge. "Oh and Nick, remember that when you read about Death Eaters and Voldemort in your texts books, do keep in mind that my wife and I were the ones that killed most of them when we were seventeen. Imagine how much we have learned since then. Just, you know, food for thought." Harry grinned with pure sadistic pleasure for a moment. The look of stark terror on the boy's face was worth all the galleons in his vault.
When the door finally did open and reveal a very angry Lily with her wand out, Harry could only laugh and laugh.
His eyes moved to his next child at the table. His little Star. Sirius was a curious boy, excited to hit his first year of Hogwarts, but nervous at the same time. He was a quiet kid that took after his mother much more than Harry. When he was young, he had been frustrated that Harry could not spend every waking hour reading to him different things Sirius wanted to learn, so he taught himself to read with the help of his sister after bedtime. If Harry had known that his son was going to grow up to be the spitting image of his mother, he wouldn't have named him after such a prankster. The boy was sweet to the core and had a generous heart, sometimes even more than Hermione.
Hermione was sitting in her chair next to the fire. Harry was the opposite of her and they were both reading. From time to time, they liked to go back to the old times and sit together in front of a fire and read something. Occasionally they would share comments, but primarily they enjoyed the company that came with reading in the same room as someone.
A shuffle from the hall alerted the couple that someone was approaching despite the late hour. Sirius slipped into the room and looked around till he found the eyes of his mother. Sliding along the floor rapidly the eight-year-old seemed to apparate into his mother's arms. Hermione had outreached her arms the moment she had seen him, the little furrow of concern between his eyes alerting her.
"What's wrong son?" Harry asked. Sirius wiggled in his mother's arms until he was nestled in her embrace and peeked at him through shaggy black hair.
"I was reading again," Sirius said in a small voice.
Hermione sighed and hugged him close. "Oh son, why do you do this to yourself?" she whispered.
"I wanted to know why you and Daddy have those medals. It says for being brave, but not why..." Sirius said. "And I wanted to know why you had to be so brave."
"Did you read Aunt Luna's book even though I asked you not to?" Harry asked softly. He wasn't accusing the boy, he just wanted to know what he was working with on the 'upset scale'.
Sirius just nodded with teary eyes.
"What part upset you, honey?" Hermione asked, seeming to know how to cut right to the heart of the matter with their son.
"They...they are people too. THEY WERE JUST PEOPLE!" He burst out at Harry. "Why did the bad people kill all the first-bloods? Matthew is my friend! I love mommy's parents! Why did they get killed...." He started to cry and turned into his mother's chest. The boy's heart was bursting trying to understand the cruelty that Harry still couldn't get his mind around.
"Oh son," Harry breathed and dropped to his knees next to his wife's chair to throw an arm over his little Star. "You're so right, sometimes people just hate something or someone because they are different. It scares them," Harry tried to explain something so critically important and yet so nebulous.
"I don't want someone to take away my friends like they took yours away Daddy," Sirius whispered. Luna had not been graphic, but she had been truthful about how dreadful some of the events had been during the war. No doubt reading about people who were no longer with them, but still resided in small pictures on the wall was difficult.
"We won't let them take anyone away son, you're mother and I worked hard to make it go away."
"Then why didn't it work?"
Harry blinked. Hermione blinked. They looked at each other and blinked. Sirius blinked at both of them. Silence.
"What do you mean hon?" Hermione asked cautiously. Her hair fell in front of her profile as she leaned down to talk softly to her son and kiss the top of his head.
"I heard Lily and Nick talking about how someone called him a name when they were shopping," Sirius whispered. "It was the bad word," he said in even a lower whisper.
"Lily didn't tell me about that, you Hermione?" She shook her head in response.
"Don't they understand what happened when you and mommy were brave? Why didn't it work."
Harry was filled with sadness for the boy. Tensions had started growing again. The virus causing chaos for the world had put pressure on so many things. The virus was primarily a concern for non-magicals as magicals rarely died from it. The few cases though of magicals dying from it were swiftly blamed on first-bloods 'bringing in' the virus somehow. It was all absolute trash and propaganda, but it was working. Slowly the tide of things had been turning, looking back towards segregation rather than working together to find a cure. It wasn't a complete surprise to Harry that this topic was coming up again.
"Sometimes, like now, when there are a lot of people who are scared, they need something to blame to feel better," Hermione said, trying to word the answer correctly.
"If people are scared, then I need to be brave like you and mommy. I want to help like you did," Sirius said, his face perking up a little bit.
"Well, what do you want to do to help?" Harry asked, internally excited that his little boy wanted to reach out and help others because of this, he was his mother's boy through and through.
After a pensive moment or two, "Matthew said his daddy couldn't always buy food for them. His daddy was scared to go and get it, can I go shopping for people?" he asked.
"Hmm, that might be a little tough to do all that shopping, there is a place that delivers food to people who need it though, what if we brought them food?" Hermione suggested.
"Yeah, that would work! We could ask people to bring us food to give them!" Sirius bubbled but then his face fell, "but no one goes outside anymore."
"Well, we can ask people to leave it outside on their porch and then we can pick it up and donate it? How does that sound?" Hermione suggested. Harry let his wife and son figure this out between their brilliant minds.
"Yes! Thank you, mommy! I want to be brave like you did. It doesn't matter if you can do magic or not, they are my friends too," Sirius said adamantly.
"Sounds wonderful, I'll help you with some flyers in the morning. Get some sleep baby." Hermione cooed.
"Love you little Star, I'll see you in the morning," Harry said to his son as he was extricating himself from his mother's arms.
He wrapped Harry in a tight hug, "Love you Daddy, thank you for being brave."
Harry kissed his son on the top of his head and Sirius scampered away, sliding on the hardwood floor as he zipped out of the room.
"I didn't know that Lily and Nick were having those issues," Harry said to Hermione as they heard the patter of footsteps above them and a closing door.
Hermione heaved a sigh, sunk in her chair, and closed her eyes. "It's like they are having the opposite problem we did."
"I hate that this is all happening again. It doesn't seem fair, we did work hard those years," Harry said sadly.
"We did, but I think the fight is just starting. Let's see how things go when September rolls around," Hermione said.
Harry nodded. "Such a loving little boy," he said still marveling at the compassion of his son.
"He learned from the best," Hermione said back with a smile.
"Yeah, you!" Harry laughed and leaned over to kiss his wife.
His son was wearing big round glasses that made his eyes look even bigger than they already did. Sirius's bright shining smile made his heart burst every time he saw it.
Harry's slow turn around the table came to Teddy. A grown man now. He wore his normal features today. Much like his mother before him, he had a very constant set of features that he liked to change. His hair color changed constantly, and so did the color of his beard. His days at Hogwarts had been spent making mischief that his father would have been proud of. When Lily had been born Teddy had loved changing his appearance to make her laugh. He had been every bit of an older brother to Lily that Harry had hoped for.
Harry's head buzzed. He was tired, he was sore, he was cranky, he was hungry, he needed to be changed...he blinked a few times. He didn't need to be changed, the baby needed to be changed. His feet started moving again, now finally remembering where he was going. Teddy was crying again.
The last year had been a whirlwind for so many reasons. Just a few weeks ago they had celebrated the first anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry had more or less demanded it to be a holiday across all of magical Britain. The fact that he had been the one to kill the bastard did grant him some perks now and again.
Sadly Andromeda had passed away a few weeks before the anniversary. Her heart had just been broken too many times through the war to keep going. Harry and Hermione had been there with her when she had finally passed. In the months following the war, Andromeda had moved in with him at Grimmauld Place so that way he could be close to Teddy and Andi wouldn't be alone. Taking care of Teddy was difficult, but with training to be an Auror, Andi was still doing most of the heavy lifting.
Hermione, of course, lived there as well. They had clung close to one another after the war, as they had in the tent, and as they had since they had met really. The grief and sadness that they all had to face in the calm that was called 'victory' were immeasurable and Harry didn't think he could have done it without Hermione.
Hermione was busy studying for her NEWTs. Even she couldn't bear the idea of going back to classes there with the memories that fresh. It seemed like returning to a nightmare. She opted to take the tests at the ministry and be done with it. And Harry was working on getting into the Academy. Kingsley, of course, had offered him a spot right away, but Harry had refused. The last thing he wanted was to start his career by cutting in line like that.
Over the months though, Andi's health had declined. She was tired. She was lonely. She missed her husband, and her daughter, and her son in law, and even her sisters. Hermione passed her tests and started working some odd jobs helping Hogwarts get back up and running, but she was also spending more and more time taking care of Teddy. They formed a kind of family for a while, hidden away while they grieved.
In her final days, she had asked Harry if he was going to take care of Teddy. Harry had responded to that by jotting a quick note on a piece of parchment and sending it on its way informing the ministry that he quit. And so a few weeks go, Harry had become a stay at home Dad. Hermione had so much she still wanted to do in the world, so much she had to give. Harry, however, was honestly glad for the excuse not to go into the academy. The more he had read the books and trained, he thought about how much it felt like the war to him. Like the training was keeping him a soldier. By the time that Andi had gotten sick and passed, Harry had been looking for an excuse to get out.
Harry finally arrived in the small bedroom at the end of the hall. He had gone and fetched nappies from the bathroom before heading to the nursery.
When he got down to the end of the hall, he realized in his haze that Teddy had since stopped crying. Harry looked around confused and then approached the room. The sight he found made his heart nearly burst.
Hermione was kneeling on the ground hovering over baby Teddy who was now wearing a changed diaper and batting playfully at Hermione's dangling hair. His stuffed Wolf that Harry had bought for him for his birthday sat next to him. It was a small grey wolf with a small enchanted orb hanging above it that looked like a glowing moon that doubled as a nightlight. Hermione had charmed it for him so that if you squeezed it, it would howl "I love Yoooouuuuuu" in a comical way. Harry liked to think that it was his way of always keeping Remus's memory with little Teddy.
Hermione was trying to wriggle his onesie down over his head and blowing raspberries on his tummy at the same time, hence the giggles and laughter replacing the sound of cries in the air. Harry stood stock-still in the middle of the hallway, holding baby power in one hand and a diaper in the other, watching in mesmerized wonder at the woman before him.
This was the woman that loved him enough to follow him nearly the grave multiple times. She had helped him with the war, she had been with him every step of the way, no matter what life threw at them, she had been there. Even now, when through no connection of her own, she was helping him raise this baby. He had never felt more love for two people in his entire life.
Harry reached into the pocket of his night robes and grasped his wand. He hadn't ever stopped carrying it around with him after the war, he didn't know that he ever would. With a silent flick, he summoned something from his room as it zipped down the hall he stepped into the room and fell to his knees next to Hermione, the baby powder and diaper falling from his hands as he caught the object.
Hermione gasped in surprise at Harry's sudden entrance. Teddy cooed at him and his hair shifted to black almost instantly after seeing his godfather. With a puff of baby powder still floating in the air, a dirty diaper on the floor, and only lit by the light of a small stuffed wolf, Harry knelt.
Extending his hands forward, "Hermione, I was waiting for the right time or something, but I don't think there ever will be a more right time than this moment right now. I love you so much, will you marry me?"
With mussed hair, tired eyes, a shirt covered in baby powder, Harry had never seen someone more beautiful. "Oh Harry, yes. Of course, yes." She smiled and launched a hug around him now crying. Teddy seemed to think the entire thing was hilarious and started laughing like a crazed person.
The night ended with the three of them curled in Harry and Hermione's bed. Harry fell asleep that night with his family in his arms and had never felt more at peace in his entire life.
As the birthday song came to a close Harry smiled around the room, caught in that moment of awkwardness while others sang to you. He again met the eyes of the people around him. His children were growing, he was happy.
He closed his eyes and blew out his candles, all 40 of them in one go.
“What did you wish for Dad?” Teddy asked after the clapping died down.
“Just some wool socks,” Harry said with a twinkle in his eye.