AN: Hello again! I would just like to say a big thank you to all of those who have favourited and alerted this fic. I'd also like to give a huge thank to Beth (RainThestral93) for being the first reviewer and her kind words - I'm glad there are people out there who are interested.

So here's the next instalment. This is basically set five years after the battle - James Potter II has just been born and Teddy is worried that he isn't loved any longer, so it's up to Hermione to comfort him. I had a little trouble with writing this as about 3/4's the way through my laptop decided to crash and not come back on. I'm getting my laptop back from the PC Doctors today but I had already managed to get this fic back on my mother's laptop via my Cloud account, however a bit of this chapter was lost so I had to try & rewrite it from memory - sorry if it's a tad dodgy because of this reason.

Warning: There is a tad bit of...suggestiveness between Ron and Hermione near the beginning - it's not overly descriptive but I'll rate this chapter M anyway.

Disclaimers: I don't own Harry Potter :(.

Reassurance

James Sirius Potter was born on the blustery morning of the 3rd December 2003. Both Harry and Ginny were happy that their first child was born healthy, without any sort of problems. They had thought it was fitting to name their little boy in memory of both Harry's father and godfather; it was plausible he would more than likely inherit their mischief. It was now Christmas Eve and all the family were gathered for the occasion and to properly celebrate the latest arrival. The women were gathered around Ginny, fussing over the little bundle of joy in her arms while the men were together, discussing such issues as Ministry matters and who was top of the Quidditch league.

"Oh Ginny, I know I keep saying it but he is so adorable," Hermione gushed. "He definitely looks the spitting image of Harry." Ginny smiled, the motherly glow still haloing around her.

"Mmm, he does. Although if you used Harry and adorable in the same sentence to his face, he would probably be forced to confund you." Hermione laughed, imagining the look on her best friend's face if she dared say such a thing. "By the way, thank you again for you and Ron agreeing to become James' godparents." Ginny said as she swept little strands of James' jet black hair out of his eyes.

"Thank you again for offering," Hermione beamed. "It's an honour."

"We couldn't think of anyone better, no offence to the rest of you." The group of women chuckled. "Although I warn you now, you dare let Ron turn him into a Cannons fan and I'll curse you."

"Consider it done," Hermione replied with mock seriousness as she looked over to her husband, who seemed to be defending his favourite Quidditch team at that very moment. Husband. She still loved to fawn over that term. The object of her affections caught her gaze and gave her a smile that was reserved for her only – it held all the love and adoration she knew he felt for her. She turned her attention back to the women, who hadn't noticed that she had been gazing elsewhere. "If you'll excuse me for a moment ladies, nature calls." The others chuckled lightly as she excused herself and made her way upstairs to the bathroom.

Hermione had reached the second floor of the Weasleys abnormally large house and was about to enter the bathroom, when a pair of warm hands grabbed her waist from behind and tugged her back into a very toned chest.

"Alone at last." the voice of her ruggedly handsome husband growled seductively as he lightly moved her untamed hair out of the way, leaving her neck bare so he had clear space to graze his lips against it. Hermione grinned; she should have he known would try something.

"Ron for goodness sake," she feigned sternly as he turned her around and backed her up against the wall. "Do you ever stop?" He grinned alluringly.

"Only in company." he answered and silenced her by planting his lips on top of hers. Ron and Hermione had only been married five months but they still acted like honeymooners, not being able to keep their hands off one another.

"Well I'm afraid you've failed to notice we are in your parents' house and the house is full of company."

"Yes, but they aren't here are they?" He indicated to the hallway they were located in and once again locked lips with hers. One of his hands moved from her waist and tangled itself in her hair as their kiss got more heated. He thought he had won her over until she pushed against his chest, forcing him to break their kiss.

"I am not doing this here, Ronald." Ugh oh, he thought, she's not giving up so easily, she called me Ronald.

"Bedroom then?" He is not going to give up, is he?

"No, Ronald!"

"Aww come on, Hermione. It's not like we haven't done...stuff in there before," he chuckled while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Hermione blushed at the memories of when her and Ron's relationship first started to turn serious...especially if they had forgotten a locking charm and people happened to barge in.

"No Ron. I'm going to the bathroom now." She tried to struggle out of his grasp but he kept a hold on her wrist.

"Or in there, I'm not fussy."

"No!" she giggled. "Look, I'm only putting a stop to your antics now...but I haven't said anything about later." She pressed the front of her body once again against his chest. "In our own home." She hooked her arms around his neck. "Where no-one can hear." Her lips were practically against his. "Or interrupt us." She stopped her teasing and crashed her lips against his. He wound his arms around her waist tightly, slightly lifting her off the floor. He set her back down when she finally broke the kiss to rest her forehead against his. "Now have I?"

"Tease!"

"Don't complain, Christmas is going to arrive a couple of hours early."

"I have definitely been a good boy this year!" She prised herself away from his embrace and backed towards the bathroom.

"Oh I wouldn't say that," she smirked and pointed towards the staircase. "Now get downstairs before everyone starts jumping to conclusions about where we've both disappeared to."

"Fine, but you realise that you won't be getting any sleep tonight, right?"

"Do I ever?" She blew him a kiss as she entered the bathroom and closed the door on him, letting out a hearty chuckle as she did so.

Hermione was making her way back from the bathroom, smiling to herself as she thought about spending her first Christmas with Ron as a married couple, when she heard a most peculiar noise: a quiet sniffling noise, which seemed to be coming from Molly's linen come cleaning cupboard. Curious as to what the noise was, hoping it wasn't a mouse, she opened the door. The top half of the cupboard consisted of a number of shelves, which were full to the brim with towels, spare sheets, duvet covers, pillowcases and various items of clothing. In the bottom half of the cupboard, huddled amongst a number of brooms, sweeping brushes and dustpans, was a very upset and distressed looking Teddy Lupin.

"Teddy!" she exclaimed. "Goodness, what are you doing cooped up in here?" Teddy kept his head buried in his arms and his shoulders shook from his rapid sobs. Hermione crouched down to his level and took his small arms in her hands, to move them from their position on his knees and in doing so, making him look upwards towards her. "What's wrong sweetheart?"

"Nobody loves me anymore, Aunt Hermione," he croaked. "Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny don't want me." Hermione shuffled around so she could sit down and picked Teddy up to sit him on her lap.

"Why would you say that, Teddy? Of course everyone loves you and Harry and Ginny will always want you in their lives – they love looking after you."

"But they have baby James now." So that was it. She was wondering when this would happen. She had noticed that since the arrival of little James, Teddy had not been his usual, bubbly self. He had, as of recent, been asking about his parents, reaching the age that he was questioning why they were not around anymore. It was a tricky subject to speak about, considering he was only five years old, so they had to tip-toe around the main topic and explain as simply as possible that his parents had passed away, fighting for his and everyone else's freedom. They told him that they had gone to another place, to live with the angels and the others they had lost along the way. He had misunderstood and thought they had abandoned him, not wanting him in their lives after all. They quickly carried on to tell him that they did want him, that they loved him with all their hearts and never wanted to leave him but they had been taken away by some very bad people. They promised him that when he was old enough to understand, they would explain properly why they were taken away, but he still had issues with believing his parents thinking he was a mistake. It was up to everyone, more so Harry and Ginny, to show him that he was loved unconditionally but then James had been born.

Teddy was used to new additions of his ever-growing, shall we say, 'adopted' family, after all Victoire was three years old and Dominique had just turned one. He had never had a problem with Bill's children but with James it was different – James was Harry and Ginny's child. While Ginny was pregnant, Teddy had seemed relatively alright with the fact that a new baby was on its way and was still allowed to stay at Harry's house as often as possible. Everything had changed however the moment Ginny had given birth – Teddy had hardly been allowed to go visit his godfather but instead had to spend the majority of his time at his grandmother's. That wasn't to say he didn't love his grandmother, he did, but he also loved spending a great deal of time with his young godfather, who always seemed to spare what time he had looking after Teddy. Now everything had changed and Teddy's five year old mind had only come to one conclusion: Harry did not want him any longer. It seemed that because Harry now had his own baby, there was no need for him to care for Teddy any longer, leaving him feeling rejected and unloved when it was obviously not the case.

"Oh Teddy," Hermione began sympathetically, knowing all he needed was a tad bit of reassurance. "Listen to me, okay? Harry and Ginny are going to be really busy with the new baby at the moment because a new born baby needs a lot of care and attention, especially the first few months." Teddy's eyes widened at the mention of the word months. "But that doesn't mean that they don't love you.

"It will take a while for the baby to feel comfortable in a new environment so they need this time to get used to having the baby around and I don't think Harry would want you to feel left out or uncared for if you were at the house."

"But it feels that way now," Teddy wept.

"I know it does Teddy, but it is not just for the baby's best intentions but yours as well. You are so loved by everyone Teddy, especially Harry and I'm sure it upsets him just as much that he hasn't got to see you recently." Teddy didn't look convinced. "You see, it also takes some time for parents to get used to looking after a baby. Harry was extremely nervous when your grandmother asked him to look after you for the first time."

"Really?" Hermione smiled knowing that this had seemed to gain his attention.

"Yes. He was worried that he would hurt you in some way."

"But he's never hurt me."

"No he hasn't but he had never looked after a baby before, you see and he had no idea what to do; babies are a big responsibility." Hermione could remember when Andromeda asked Harry to hold Teddy for the first time - it took at least forty-five minutes to convince him to do so for fear he was going to drop the tiny Metamorphmagus.

"Oh." She could almost see the wheels turning around in his mind.

"Even I was nervous the first time I held you."

"You never looked after a baby either?"

"Not before then, no and you were so little."

"But you did ok though?" Hermione laughed at his question.

"Yes I did luckily; I'm sure your gran would have kept me away if I didn't," she joked but Teddy made a squeak of discomfort and shuffled forward on her lap, tucking his head into her neck – she came to the conclusion that he wasn't too fond of the idea of possibly not knowing Hermione.

It was true that Hermione was nervous when she had gone to meet Teddy for the first time with Harry on Ron, not as nervous as Harry of course but her knowledge of babies was somewhat lacking and she hated that. However she was pleasantly surprised at how easy holding a baby was and how right it felt. She knew she shouldn't have thought such things at her age (then eighteen), especially as her relationship with Ron had only just begun, but she knew that in the future being a mother was something she would look forward to, especially with Ron being the father. Teddy had taken to her immediately, completely fascinated with her hair and would forever play with strands with his chubby fingers. His smile would always grow whenever she walked into the room and demanded (by waving his arms continuously) that he was passed to her. Since then, he always had a strong relationship with her, loving her kind personality and how she would always read to him. Harry had joked that Teddy admired her more than him but Hermione knew differently; Teddy was just as enthralled with his godfather and worshiped the ground he walked on.

"What about Uncle Ron?" Teddy asked after a moment of silence. "Did he do okay?" Hermione smiled fondly.

"Yes he did," she answered truthfully. "He was a bit more confident with kids though as he helped take care of Aunt Ginny when they were both at a young age."

"Nana Molly let him?" Teddy knew that Ron and Ginny were relatively close in age.

"Yes, she told me so – when he was about three she would let him help take care of Ginny, only when she or Papa Arthur were around though to watch him and as they got older, Ron would always try to keep an eye on her."

"So she wouldn't get hurt?"

"Yes," Hermione of course wasn't only talking about what she had heard from Molly when they were young children, but also what she had witnessed herself during their Hogwarts days when he would take the role of the protective brother. More often than not, Ginny would always show her disapproval of her brother always sticking his nose in her business but Hermione knew that deep down Ginny appreciated her brother looking out for her.

"But don't tell him I told you so though," Hermione's voice had now dropped to a whisper, as if she were telling Teddy a huge secret. "He likes to pretend that he and Ginny are not overly-friendly." Teddy giggled at this.

"Ok Aunt Hermione, I promise I won't tell," he answered heartily. "Does this mean I can be like Uncle Ron?"

"In what way sweetheart?" Hermione asked while she threaded her fingers through his hair soothingly, as it changed from a dull brown to his favourite shade of turquoise.

"Well he looked after Aunt Ginny when they were both small, so could I do that?"

"Of course Teddy, I think that the younger kids will look up to you when their a bit older (I think Victoire has already started to) because you are the oldest."

"Really?" Teddy asked in surprise.

"Really. You'll have a responsibility to look after them, and I think every child likes the chance to be in charge, don't they?" Teddy grinned widely, obviously liking the fact that he can be boss over the other kids. It then changed back to a slight frown.

"Do…do you think that Uncle Harry will let me look after James?"

"I think he would love it if you helped out Teddy," Hermione replied genuinely. "It would give him the chance to spend time with his two favourite boys.

"Never doubt that he loves you Teddy Lupin, you hold a very special place in his heart because you're a very special little boy." She kissed him lightly on the side of his head. "Now let's go back downstairs – Nana Molly has made her extra yummy Christmas cookies."

"Yay!" Teddy got up immediately and jumped out into the hallway. Hermione followed him, shutting the cupboard door behind her. Before he could make his way downstairs, Teddy turned around and leaped into Hermione's arms, taking her by surprise and hugging her tightly. She returned the gesture.

"I love you Aunt Hermione. You'll make a great mummy one day." Hermione was speechless but her heart warmed at the little boy's words.

"Th…thank you Teddy," she replied quietly. "I love you too." She let him down and as quickly as he had launched himself at her, he ran off downstairs towards the kitchen. "Don't eat too many of those cookies though," she called out as she followed him. "Too much sugar is not good for you."

Ron had been tucked into a corner, where neither his wife or his best friend's godson could see, throughout the whole conversation. He had headed back upstairs when he wondered what had been taking his wife so long in the bathroom. He'd thought perhaps, worriedly, that she had hurt herself or maybe she had reconsidered his offer to ravish her and was waiting for him in nothing but her underwear. So when he heard voices and discovered her consoling little Teddy in none other than his mother's linen cupboard, he remained quiet and hid himself so he could listen. Hermione would have called it eavesdropping if she had noticed him but he just saw it as mild curiosity. He then listened to the words of encouragement and love that Hermione had given and his heart soared. He always knew that Hermione would be the girl he'd want to marry and start a family with, but after witnessing this encounter, he really couldn't think of anyone better to mother his children. He held so much pride and admiration for her and he had now come to one conclusion: he was ready to have a baby.

"You're right Teddy," he whispered to himself with a smile on his face. "She's going to make one fantastic mummy."

AN: And that's the second one-shot over and done with. Just to be clear, Teddy is only calling Hermione, Harry, etc Aunt and Uncle (and likewise calling Molly and Arthur Nana Molly and Papa Arthur) because their a really close-nit 'family', so it's one of those situations where you call people Aunt even when their not - I'm sure you all do it. I'd really appreciate it if you could leave a review as I always like to hear what my readers think.

I'm also going to do a little bit of plugging and ask that if there's any Pirates of the Caribbean fans out there, to check out my fic Figure of the Past :).

Thank you all for reviewing and will try and update soon :).