Dream to Me

Saturday, 31 October 1998

Cedric stood in the shadows outside the kitchen at Grimmauld Place, waiting for Harry to call him. He wouldn’t just appear, especially not when he wasn’t sure who could see him and who couldn’t. Death had told him that one day Harry would call, and Cedric would answer, so he waited.

“Would you like me to take Teddy?” he heard Hermione ask. He hadn’t been able to see Harry much in the past few months. Up until the final battle he could see him pretty much whenever he wanted, it was like he was constantly on Harry’s mind. But something had changed. It wasn’t a bad thing, it felt like Harry was finally allowing himself to move on. All this to say, this was the first he’d heard of Teddy. He heard Hermione continue, “and you could go up to your room to talk to him?”

“Would you?” Harry asked, looking relieved. Cedric saw the bags under his eyes and how deeply exhausted Harry looked for how early in the day it was, “thank you,” he said to Hermione as he passed a baby over.

That must be Teddy, Cedric thought, smiling at the sight of the little boy. He was adorable, maybe 6 months old with messy brown curls and beautiful brown eyes, freckles across his nose and perfect chubby cheeks. Cedric watched as Teddy grinned at Hermione and wrapped one of his hands around the fingers of the hand she offered him.

Then his attention was drawn by Theodore Nott stepping up to Harry with eyes so full of love it made Cedric’s breath catch, “do you want to do this alone?” he asked.

“For now,” Harry responded, stepping up to Nott and pulling him into a tight hug, “I love you,” he whispered, and Cedric understood. Maybe something else, some greater knowledge had allowed Harry to move past his grief, but this, the knowledge that he could be loved and cared for even without Cedric there must have been what allowed him to truly move on. Cedric watched as Harry kissed Nott softly and pressed their foreheads together.

“I love you too,” Nott whispered back, pressing another soft kiss to Harry’s lips, “I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Who’s he…” Ron started to ask before Cedric saw him pause for a second to think, “oh, okay.”

“Let’s eat,” Hermione said, clearing her throat as Harry walked out of the kitchen and toward the stairs. Cedric followed behind and heard Hermione say, “he’ll be back in a bit and then we can all talk to whomever,” as he left the kitchen behind.

Cedric followed as Harry headed up four flights of stairs before finally turning and entering a bedroom. Cedric looked around and realized this was the master suite meaning Harry must’ve claimed the Potter Lordship. Cedric had beat himself up several times over the years for forgetting to mention that particular facet of Harry’s status to him, it would’ve helped him in so many ways but alas. He looked around trying to figure out what felt off about the house and then he saw the seal on the wall above the bed, this wasn’t a Potter property.

Cedric was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of Harry throwing himself onto the bed and throwing one of his arms over his eyes, “I know you’re there, Pretty Boy.”

Cedric smiled and walked across the room, laying down on the bed next to Harry and turning his head so he could look at the man his last love had grown into.

“Hey, H.”

Harry sucked in a breath and rubbed his hands over his eyes before sighing and turning his head to look at Cedric. Green met gray and Harry couldn’t hold his tears back any longer, “Ced,” he breathed out, his voice breaking.

“You grew up, Lover Boy.”

“You didn’t.”

“That’s alright,” Cedric said, reaching his hand out to hold Harry’s.

Harry intertwined their fingers and squeezed Cedric’s hand, tears rolling down his cheeks as he just stared at Cedric in silence, reveling at the sight of him.

“It’s alright, Harry,” Cedric said, running his thumb across the back of Harry’s hand in an attempt to soothe him.

“It’s been so long,” Harry said, his voice soft.

“I know, I’ve been waiting.”

“Why didn’t you come in the forest when I called?”

“Death said it wasn’t time.”

“Death is a right arse.”

Cedric laughed and Harry smiled, committing that sound to memory.

“In the graveyard,” Cedric said, looking straight into Harry’s eyes, “Death told me that one day you would call, and I would answer, and it was the easiest agreement I’d ever made. I’ll always answer your call, my love, but that day in the forest wasn’t my time or place, that was for your parents, and I knew I could wait to see you.”

“I’ve missed you.”

“I know,” Cedric said, reaching his other hand over to run his thumb along Harry’s cheek. Harry’s eyes fluttered shut. “I know, Harry, I heard you every time you talked to me, I saw you every time you thought about me.”

“I was so angry.”

“I know.”

“I hated you.”

“I know.”

“But I loved you too, I still do.”

“I know, Harry, I know that, and I love you too. I’ll never stop.”

“My sun, my moon, and all my stars.”

“My sun, my moon, my stars, Lover Boy.”

“Tell me about your little family, I saw them downstairs.”

“You mean Theo and Teddy?” Harry asked, a soft smile lighting up his face.

Cedric smiled at the sight. The look of Harry happy and in love, he’d been worried he’d never see that look again, “yeah, I want to hear about them.”

“Teddy is Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks’ son but they both died during the final battle, and I was named his godfather,” Harry explained.

“So, you adopted him?” Cedric asked before answering for himself, “of course you did.”

“I did,” Harry confirmed with a grin, “he’s my little boy and I love him more than anything.”

“How old is he?”

“Six months,” Harry said with a proud smile, “his birthday is the 26^th of April.”

“Did you fully adopt him? Like blood adopt him?”

“I did.”

“What’s his full name?” Cedric asked, wanting to know everything about this little boy who’d made his Harry this happy.

“Edward Remus Hadrian Lupin Potter,” Harry answered, “quite the mouthful but not nearly as ridiculous as my full name.”

“So, you have a full name then?” Cedric asked with a laugh.

“I do,” Harry confirmed, grinning, “it’s even more insane than Dumbledore’s, Hadrian James Arcturus Ignotus Peverell Potter Black Slytherin.”

“Did you just say Slytherin?”

“I did.”

“So, you really were the Heir of Slytherin?”

“You know you’re not even remotely the first person who’s made that joke,” Harry said, smiling and rolling his eyes, “yes I was actually the Heir of Slytherin and, fun fact, I was and am a true heir while Tommy boy was not.”

“Wow,” Cedric said, “just another thing you beat Voldemort at.”

Harry laughed and squeezed Cedric’s hand, “yeah I really was a thorn in his side.”

“Isn’t one of Dumbledore’s middle names Brian?”

“Yeah.”

“At least you’ve got cooler names than that.”

“That’s exactly what I said!” Harry exclaimed, laughing, “and I think my names are pretty cool, there’s just a lot of them.”

“Your full name makes you sound rather official.”

“Oh, I’m super official,” Harry said with a mock-serious nod of his head, “you’re talking to the Lord of Houses Peverell, Potter, Black, and Slytherin, Head of the Black Coalition and Bitch of Susan Bones as she orchestrates a hostile takeover of our government.”

Cedric let out a laugh at that, imagining Susan Bones taking over the government before he looked at Harry’s face and realized he was entirely serious, “dear Merlin, what have you lot been up to?”

“We control the Wizengamot and I’m pretty sure the median age of the body dropped to like 21 when we all joined.”

“You control the Wizengamot?”

“Pretty much,” Harry confirmed, “we only have to lobby for like 4 votes to get anything passed.”

“Woah,” Cedric said, “you lot are going to make some big changes.”

“We sure are,” Harry said with a proud smile, “some good changes, I think.”

“How’s it been working with my dad?”

Harry rolled his eyes, but his smile didn’t drop entirely, a marked improvement from the last time Cedric had seen Harry and his father interact, “he stopped openly hating me at some point in the last few years,” Harry said, “we are not friends, but Matthew has decided I’m alright, so I guess that’s a win. We mostly send Hannah to deal with your dad, but he nodded at me during our last meeting, so I think we’re practically best friends now.”

“Ah the saga of Harry Potter and Amos Diggory continues,” Cedric said with a laugh, “have you seen my mum?”

“I’ve seen your mum far more than I’ve seen your dad.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Nev’s parents are in her ward,” Harry said, “I see her almost every time we go visit and I’ve stopped by just to see her a few times as well. She’s doing good.”

Cedric’s smile got even brighter, “that makes me so happy. Now, tell me about Theodore Nott. I’ve got to hear how the son of the original Death Eater ended up raising a kid with Harry Potter.”

“He sort of just snuck up on me,” Harry said with a soft smile, “after the war ended, Andromeda and Teddy moved in here with me, this is the Black Townhouse by the way, and after a week or two she asked if we could reach out to Narcissa, which led to Narcissa and Draco moving in. Draco renounced the Malfoy name, they’re both Blacks now. I named Draco my heir for the Black family, actually, and with Draco came basically the rest of Slytherin House.”

“So, you were entirely surrounded by snakes?”

“I basically kidnapped Neville so I wasn’t alone,” Harry said with a light laugh, “though I should mention I’m actually a Slytherin now, the castle re-sorted me when we showed up for school this year.”

“I saw you in green robes when you walked by the boat house a couple weeks ago,” Cedric said, “threw me off for a minute but I’ve always said you look good in green.”

“You said that one time,” Harry said lightly shoving Cedric’s head, “anyways, all the Slytherins invaded, and everyone acted like Theo was this total mystery, but I understood him right away. He’s so much like me and it was like how I felt with you, you know, like anything I told him was safe?”

“I know what you mean,” Cedric said, his voice soft, “I’m glad you found that again, you deserve it.”

“I think I’m finally realizing that I do,” Harry said, looking up at the ceiling, “there’s so much I haven’t told him yet but not because I’m keeping it from him or because I don’t want to burden him, because something about him makes me feel like I’m not and never will be a burden, but just because there’s so much and I can’t talk 24 hours a day. We only officially started dating at the beginning of the school year, but we’d been circling around each other since they all moved in back in July. I guess he'd had a crush on me during school, but we’d never actually talked before. I don’t know, he makes me feel like I don’t have to be anything or anyone other than Harry. He doesn’t expect anything of me. And Teddy loves him which was absolutely a selling point."

"You love him?"

"I do,” Harry confirmed, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before turning to look at Cedric again, “I’ve never stopped loving you,” he said, drinking in the sight of his first love after years of only seeing him in nightmares, feeling rather guilty at the admission.

“I know,” Cedric replied, “but that doesn’t mean you don’t love Theo and that you don’t love the life you’ve built. You can still mourn the life you lost; we lost. I don’t know,” he said, smiling softly with a fond look in his eyes, “maybe mourning our chance makes you appreciate this one more.”

Harry thought that over for a while, remembering nights of whispered conversations and dreams for the future. He’d only been 14 then. He hadn’t yet watched someone die, he hadn’t yet fought a war and died himself. He hadn’t truly met Theo, Teddy hadn’t been born, he hadn’t known about Regulus or Horcruxes or the Peverells. He had no clue what responsibility awaited him. He’d been young and in love and, in spite of everyone who’d tried to drag him down, a dreamer.

“That’s one thing you never understood,” Harry said, “I appreciate every chance, I always have.”

“You’re right,” Cedric responded, taking a moment to really look at the Harry who now lay beside him. They were the same height now and Harry was a year older than Cedric had ever been. He wasn’t that too short, too skinny young boy who’d been shoved into a tournament he’d never wanted to be a part of. He was a young man who’d fought a war and walked to his death, who clawed his way back and built a family and stepped up to the responsibility of being a Lord and a Founder’s Heir. He was a father. Cedric didn’t know this Harry, he never would. And, maybe, he’d never truly known Harry at all, “Theo understands though?”

“He does,” Harry confirmed, though it was clear he didn’t want to compare the two, “he understands more than most.”

“Good,” was all Cedric had said, “then let him love you.”

“I will.”

Cedric took a deep breath and studied Harry’s face before turning to look at the ceiling again, “so how’d you end up Lord Black? Sirius?”

Harry accepted the change in conversation, squeezing Cedric’s hand before turning to look at the ceiling himself, “no, actually, Regulus.”

“I don’t know much about him.”

“He’s my dad, actually.”

Cedric looked at Harry in open shock, “I’m sorry, did you just say he’s your dad?”

“I’ve got two dads and a mum,” Harry said, turning and smiling at Cedric’s shocked expression, “found out this summer that I’m extra orphaned.”

“Was he Sirius’ brother?”

“Yeah,” Harry confirmed, “his younger brother, he dated my dad, James, at school and they broke up when he was forced to take the Dark Mark when he turned 16 and James started dating Lily but they made up at the end of mum and dad’s 7^th year and all started dating each other and then they got married, James and Lily in public and to Regulus in secret and then they found out about me and Regulus gave James a blood adoption potion and then disappeared. He died on New Years Eve 1979.”

“Seven months before you were born.”

“Yeah,” Harry said with a sad smile, “he was the first person who discovered horcruxes actually, which I’m sure you know about because I spent half that stupid hunt thinking about you.”

“Yeah I watched most of that year happen,” Cedric confirmed, “did he die in that cave Dumbledore dragged you to?”

“Right in one, Pretty Boy.”

“Go me,” Cedric said with a light laugh, “what do you know about him?”

“He was a Slytherin, a Seeker, super smart and incredibly kind, I met his shade when I went back to the cave with Death which is a long story, the main points of which are that I can banish inferi and send spirits to rest, and then I spoke to him again this morning. I might look a lot like James, but I think I maybe act more like Regulus.”

“I’m sure you’re a perfect mix of all three of them and a lot yourself as well.”

Harry smiled at that, “thank you.”

Cedric took a moment to just look at Harry. His Harry who’d bled and fought and died to save the people he loves, who jumped at the chance to adopt his godson and give him the life Harry himself should’ve had, who loved hard despite never being given love as a child. His beautiful, beautiful Harry with raven curls and bright green eyes and honeyed skin, tall and strong and scared and perfect.

“I love you, Harry,” he said, “and I am so thankful you’re finally happy.”

“I love you too, Ced.”

“I’m going to go,” Cedric said, “but just remember, whenever you call, I’ll answer.”

“I know.”

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, when his eyes fluttered open he was alone.

* * *

Cedric talked to Hannah and Susan and Ernie and Justin and all the while he was watching Theodore Nott, waiting until he was alone. Finally, a little after 11:00, he saw him standing alone, no one, dead or alive, claiming his time.

Cedric thought this through one more time and decided to just follow through.

“Nott,” Cedric greeted, stepping out of the shadows and standing in front of Harry’s boyfriend.

“Diggory,” he responded, his expression stuck somewhere between scared and amused.

“Thanks for loving him.”

“He deserves to be loved.”

“Thanks for letting him love you,” Cedric said, “he told me you two are a lot alike so I’m sure that was the harder part.”

“You’ve got me there,” Nott said with a half-smile, “but he’s mine and I’m his and I’ll love him as long as I breathe, and I’ll love him after that.”

“Then we’re one in the same.”

“Call me Theo, then.”

“Cedric.”

“Alright, Cedric,” Theo said with a grin, “you should know that Harry and his grandparents are looking at us like we’ve lost our minds.”

Cedric laughed lightly but didn’t turn around quite yet, “I’ll leave you now, but just know that I’m happy he has you.”

“And I’m happy he had you.”

Cedric sent Theo one last smile before turning over his shoulder to look at Harry.

He shot him a smile and a wink and mouthed, “my sun, my moon, and all my stars,” and stepped into the shadows to wait until his love called again.