2018

2018:

Harry could scarcely believe it possible, but he had now been married for 15 years, had three children, two of them school-age—and what was more, was 38 years old. Most surprising of all, however, was that Teddy (though he now preferred the more mature-sounding “Ted”) was now all but grown. He was twenty years old as of his last birthday, having graduated Hogwarts two years before with the highest honours the school could bestow, including the highest GPA in the history of the school.

Teddy was, in fact, all that Remus had been academically—Prefect, Head Boy … and even though Nymphadora Tonks had been no slouch in the brains department, it was the general consensus of all those close to Teddy that he had gotten his brains from his father and his looks (not to mention his shapechanging ability) from his mother.

Harry couldn't have been more proud of his godson, especially considering the fact that the boy was now an Apprentice Auror—and best of all, had earned his place in the Auror Academy without Harry using his influence to help him along. He had wanted to succeed or fail on his own merits, not Harry's.

Only after he had become an Apprentice Auror had Teddy allowed Harry to work with him. He even let Harry's children watch them work out, although Ginny had admonished him to make sure to cast Shield Charms in order to protect them in the event a spell went astray. But the thing Harry was proudest of was the way Teddy had gone about winning over Victoire (not to mention Bill and Fleur). The younger couple had, in fact, been engaged for the better part of the last year, ever since Victoire herself had graduated from Hogwarts. She had even decided to work toward becoming an Auror herself, if only so they could spend as much time together as possible.

Both of them seemed to pick up the necessary self-defense spells and fighting techniques with a speed that only Harry or Mad-Eye Moody could have equaled. Even Victoire's younger siblings, Dominique and Louis, treated Teddy like a member of the family. Of course, Harry knew it was the Weasley way, but warned the boy not to take it for granted because it could be withdrawn just as quickly as it had been given if he ever got out of line, especially regarding Victoire.

Harry recalled how he himself had finally managed to propose to Ginny shortly before finishing the Auror Academy and while still serving an Apprenticeship at the Ministry—now sixteen years in the past (he was now Head of the Auror Department). He had also been very thankful that Ginny had gotten her own flat at age eighteen while playing pro Quidditch upon her own graduation from Hogwarts. As a result, they had been able to spend several nights a week together, usually alternating between his and her flat.

However, he had hesitated to move in with her, mainly because Molly had an irritating tendency to either drop in unexpectedly or pop into the fire at an inopportune moment. The last thing he intended was to allow her to catch them in a compromising position. As it was, they had just been lucky that she had not caught them in bed together or going at it on the couch before the fire during their engagement.

If that had happened, Molly would not only have given them both seventeen shades of holy hell, she would probably have hexed his bits off—or one of Gin's brothers would have. The mere memory of her having killed Bellatrix Lestrange kept them from pushing the Weasley matriarch's fabled temper too far.

However, right now, what mattered was Teddy's own conduct regarding Victoire. He was immensely pleased that the boy had (so far, anyway) managed to keep his desires under control. Even though he had privately confessed to Harry that he and Victoire had engaged in some sexy love play on several occasions, he assured Harry that no actual sex had taken place. That could not have been easy for him, considering Victoire's Veela powers, but somehow Teddy had managed.

Of course, over the last few years, Harry had had a few other things on his mind … such as establishing himself as an Auror, maintaining a marriage and raising three children. Harry had especially admonished his oldest son, James II (now thirteen and a third-year at Hogwarts) not to tell the younger kids the secrets of the school before they started attending.

Even at that, he was pretty sure that only Teddy had actually listened to him, simply judging from the fear of being Sorted into Slytherin which young Albus had displayed when he had started school last fall. Only after Harry had assured his son that he could ask the Hat to Sort him into his preferred House did the boy relax. In fact, Harry was frankly convinced that James was probably not only channeling his prankster uncles Fred and George, but his equally prank-pulling namesake paternal grandfather.

It was sad that Moony and Dora could not see what a fine young man their son had turned out to be—everything any parent (or prospective in-law) could ask for—not only smart but personable and morally upstanding. Nor did it hurt that he had also been voted the best-looking male student in school in both his sixth and seventh years. Just as several girls in Hogwarts had once tried to lure Harry away from Ginny—the most notable being one Romilda Vane—a similar amount had attempted to lure Teddy away from Victoire. They had had no more success than Romilda, unfortunately for them. Nothing could stand up to the power of the Veela … and Teddy seemed to be a very willing victim of it. Harry also liked to think that his teachings had had at least a little to do with how Teddy had turned out, although he couldn't be sure just how much had actually sunk in.

Both he and Ginny had done all they could to be as good an example of how a marriage should be as they could manage … both publicly and privately. Harry also fully expected that he would be called upon to give advice even after Teddy had actually married Victoire, which was now only three months away. Both Teddy and Victoire would have birthdays in that span of time, though, so once the wedding day rolled around, they would be twenty-one and nineteen respectively.

At the moment, however, Harry was contemplating what steps to take in preparing for said wedding, since the plans for same were now well underway. Even so, he knew that it would take weeks, even with magic, to do everything Molly and Victoire's parents wanted to do to give the newlyweds a rousing send-off into married life.

In fact, that was where Gin was right now, along with Molly and Fleur, assisting Victoire in choosing her trousseau. Fleur had already embarrassed the girl with several very private talks regarding love and sex in marriage—how to keep a husband happy, both in and out of the bedroom … although he had no doubt that she would implement them the first chance she got after the wedding. Harry smiled wickedly as he considered what Victoire's libido must be like if she was anywhere near as insatiable as Ginny. If that was the case, Teddy would likely need a vacation from his honeymoon!

Harry and Ginny would act as surrogate parents for Teddy; the latter had chosen his closest friend, one Scorpius Malfoy, as his best man. Would wonders never cease! As for himself, he and Draco got on tolerably enough, although their relationship would never be the calibre of the one between himself, Ron and Hermione.

But he had already lived his life as best he could; his job now was to make sure that Teddy and Victoire had the happiest possible life together, both now and for as long as they both lived. Andromeda may have been Teddy's official guardian, but it was Harry who had provided the male influence the boy had needed while growing up. It was now up to Teddy to utilise their teachings and make the most of his life that he possibly could—and Harry intended to be there to see it all (or at least as much of it as was realistically possible).