The Three of Us

THREE

"Come on, Teddy." Harry lifted his godson into his arms, "Let's get this over with...the sooner she kills me, the better." 

Teddy didn't react, instead he only continued to play with Harry's wand. And of course, if Harry had been aware that his wand was in the possession of a baby, he would have immediately taken it off of him, but the truth was he was too preoccupied with what he was going to tell Hermione. 

"Merlin, spare me." he muttered to himself before knocking on the door of Hermione's office, the one McGonagall had given her just a few days prior. 

"Come in." she called, and when Harry walked in, he wasn't surprised to see her head still buried in a book. 

Hogwarts: A History, of course.

"Morning, Hermione." he said, and she suddenly perked up once she had heard his voice. 

"Oh, Harry!" she said, standing up from her desk, and holding her arms out. At first, Harry had thought she was going for a hug, but then Teddy had reached for her, and he realized she was holding her arms out for him instead. 

"Oh, look how big you've gotten, Teddy!" she said, once the baby was in her arms. 

Harry smiled, seeing her with him. "Well I'm glad he's taken a liking to you." he said, taking a seat on her desk, "Because that's actually what I'm here to talk to you about." 

Hermione looked away from Teddy, and to Harry who was still smiling like an idiot. "Harry James Potter." she said, "What are you up to now?"

Harry shook his head innocently, "I don't know what you're talking about," he said. 

"Whenever you smile at me like that, it means you are up to no good." she said, "And that you are about to drag me into whatever mess you've made in order to fix it." 

"Look at that!" Harry laughed, "You really do know me so well!" 

Hermione side-eyed him, "Of course I do," she said, "Now, what do you want?" 

Harry faltered, not knowing the best way to phrase this next part. "Well, you see, I was wondering if maybe you would look after Teddy for me." 

"That's not so bad..." Hermione was surprised at how relatively simple of an ask this was, "For how long?" 

Harry shrugged, "Like a month...I don't know." he said. 

"A month!" shouted Hermione. "Are you serious?!"

"Yes, I need someone to watch him because Auror training will be insanely intense, and Andromeda can't because she's on a trip to the states right now." 

Hermione looked from Harry to Teddy, his hair now changing from blue to pink - the same pink as Nymphadora's used to be.

"Fine." Hermione said, "I do really like the little guy anyways."

Harry lit up. "Are you serious?" he asked,

"Yes, of course I am." Hermione said, "I just wish you wouldn't have sprung this on me so last minute." 

Harry hugged her, and kissed her on the cheek. "You couldn't have expected much else from me, now could you?" he said, smiling at her.

"No, I suppose not," said Hermione,  "I thought once maybe you'd mature out of your old ways but it seems like you will always be the same Harry."

"Don't make it sound like its a bad thing." Harry teased, with his famous lopsided sort of grin.

"Oh no, of course not." said Hermione smiling. "Besides I suppose I'm mature enough for the both of us." 

Harry's heart skipped a beat at hearing Hermione refer to them as an 'us'. It was a small thing and seemingly inconsequential to most, but Harry had really liked the way it sounded. 

"We make a good team." he said, after a moment.

Hermione smiled back at him, and then forced herself to look away. "I suppose I should let you get ready." she said, handing Harry's godson back to him. "I'll arrange for a crib to be put in my room in the meantime and let McGonagall know that he'll be staying for a while." 

"You really are the best, Mione." he said, kissing her on the cheek one last time. "I'll come back tomorrow to drop him off. Bye the now, Hermione."

"Goodbye Harry." she said, and watched as he disappeared out of her office door.