Day care?
Harry stumbled out of bed, leveling a fond gaze at his child passed out in bed. It was good for her to get sleep, especially when considering the trying past few days. Though that could be said for all of them.
Returning from the Dursleys was so stressful, marked by exhaustion and starvation that tore up his magical core. He always spent so long recovering, magic forced to compensate for resources withheld from him. It was over now. He wouldn’t let it last any longer. How could he when he had Delphini? No. There was no fucking way anyone could force him to let go of his only child and return to a place where he had been tortured time and time gain. Never would he let his child come to the Dursleys, or within Dumbledores hand. He’d do anything if it meant his child could be safe.
With a longing look at the bed behind him, he left the room. There was still the matter of Delphini’s caretaking to be considered. Luckily Hermione and Ron were awake and chatting quietly, though it stopped upon his arrival.
Sighing, he threw himself down on the couch. “We’ve got to figure out what to do with Delphini when school starts again.”
“Oof.” Ron winced, scratching at his forehead. “I had forgotten about that.”
“I sure didn’t,” he sighed, scrubbing at his forehead. Why did adulting have to be so fucking hard?
“We’ll figure it out together.” The red head consoled.
“We’re a team.” She smiled. “And we’ll always have your back.”
“Damn, right!” Ron huffed, slapping his leg.
“I know.” Harry murmured, leaning his head back on the couch. “I guess I’m just worried about being a good parent to Delphi. I don’t want to fuck this up.”
“I don’t think you could ‘fuck up,’” She admonished. “You’ve only had Delphini for the last couple of days and she absolutely adores you. You’re trying your best, you have a support system, and you are capable of so much.”
“If anyone had to be a parent out of all of us,” the red head mused, “You’d probably be the best bet.”
“Why?”
“You have a great capacity for love, even when those you love don’t love you as you deserve.” Hermione said. “You can do this.”
“Yeah.” He nodded to himself. “I can do this.”
“What should we do next?” Ron asked, gaze turning serious. “Break ends in like four days and we can’t hide Delphini forever. We’ve gotten lucky with Dumbledore gone, but how the fuck are we going to do this?”
“Well, we’re going to have to introduce her to everyone, we can’t exactly keep her a secret.”
“I don’t think we necessarily introduce her to everyone.” Hermione pointed out. “We’ll have to introduce her to most of Griffyndor, and maybe a staff member who we trust?”
“‘Mione,” Ron groaned. “It’s Dumble’s staff, how can we trust any of them?”
“Well, if the enemy of my enemy is my friend, what about talking to Snape?” Hermione asked with a sly grin. “I’m sure considering his employer, he’d be rather eager to please you.”
Harry snorted. “While the thought is amusing, I don’t think that Snape’s truly picked a side.”
“Huh. You really think so?” The redhead asked.
“He’s a spy, no matter how you look at it.” He shrugged. “He has yet to play his cards and I doubt he will until he knows for certain which side will win.”
“Damn, Harry,” Ron swore. “That’s fucking deep.”
“Not quite the words I would use,” she sniffed. “But you make a good point.”
“So any other ideas?”
“Well, Pomfreys off the table because she should’ve done something about you years ago.” Hermione scowled. “So much for a medical oath.”
“Does that vein of thinking cancel McGonagel out too?” The dark haired boy asked.
“I mean, she should have noticed something was up with the Dursleys.” Ron shrugged. “So I kinda feel like we ought to avoid opening that can of worms if we can.”
“We may not have a choice,” She countered, brow furrowed. “She is our head of house.”
“Let’s burn that bridge when we get to it.” Harry said wryly, chapped lips twisting. “Who else can we think of?”
“Well the goblins are good, right?” Ron asked. “So what would you think about Flitwick?”
“Dude, really?” The other boy laughed, shaking his head.
“What?” He protested. “The goblins are these badass dudes who passive aggressively fuck with the Ministry of Magic, so it would make sense for him to have inherited some of that bad ass-ness.”
“That’s actually a good point.” Hermione admitted. “He was the duelling champion in his youth.”
“Told you!” The redhead grinned, elbowing his girlfriend. “Goblins are badass, and that includes Professor Flitwick.”
“I just feel like there’s no winning.” Harry said after a moment of silence. “Dumbledore’s a sheep in wolfs clothing and it’s hard to know what staff to trust. Any staff member I feel that I could trust also has ties to Dumbledore and sometimes I don’t know what to do.”
“Well, do you want to continue your education?” Hermione asked, the question uncharacteristic of her. “You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to.”
“What?” He reared back.
“If you feel like it’s not safe enough here, or you want to live with Delphini’s father, or if for whatever reason, you don’t want to stay here, it’s okay.” Hermione offered, a bittersweet look in her eyes.
“We’ll understand and support you either way.” Ron said, tossing an arm around Hermione. “Though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want you and Delphi to stay.”
“You’re family.” She said firmly. “And we’ll stick with you for everything. You want to leave, we’re with you. You want to stay, we’re with you.”
“I really love you guys.” He couldn’t deny it even if he tried. “I do want to try and stay, so maybe we can brainstorm other options?”
“Of course!” Ron nodded eagerly. “We of course want you to stay. We’ll follow you either way.”
“So one thing we could do is find someone outside of school to watch Delphini,” she offered, though it was hesitant. “I just don’t know who would be a good idea.”
“Well she most certainly can’t go stay with Sirius and Remus,” Harry snorted.
“I should hope not.”
“What about your mom, Ron?” She asked.
“I don’t know.” Ron hesitated. “I want to say yes, but I’m worried she’d rat us out to Dumbledore. I’d want to be completely sure and I don’t think that’s something we can figure out until our next break.”
“Okay,” Harry sighed. “So the next option is finding babysitters at Hogwarts, don’t you think?”
“Well the main ones are obviously going to be us three.” Ron paused before continuing hesitantly. “What would you think about Ginny and the twins helping out?”
“The more the merrier.” He huffed. “I was also thinking of asking Luna too. I don’t really know who else to ask, but if we find enough people with free periods Delphi will have company all day.”
“That could work.” Hermione inclined her head. “We just have to figure out specifics. So lets look at the schedule.”
“On Monday I’ll skip History of Magic and since I’m not taking Potions this year, I can watch Delphi for second and sixth period.” Harry said. “We’ll have to figure out what to do for the other class periods.”
“We’ll figure that part out later.” The redhead smiled wryly. “Let’s go over Tuesday. We’re going to need someone to watch her while we’re in DADA, but Harry can watch her during second period and I can watch her durig third period.”
“We’ll need to find someone to watch her while we’re in Transfiguration.” She added. “I’m free to watch her while you two are in Divination.”
“We can both watch her while you’re in Study of Ancient Runes.” Both boys gave her a shit eating grin.
“You better not get Harry or my niece in trouble,” Hermione warned.
“What?” Ron sputtered. “Why aren’t you telling Harry to keep me out of trouble?”
“I’m just that awesome,” The dark haired boy said, tossing his imaginary hair over his shoulder.
“Keep telling yourself that,” the other snickered. “Because this awesome bitch is going to be watching Delphi while you guys are in Astronomy.”
“That’s the easiest babysitting gig.” Harry shook his head in mock disapproval. “She’s going to be sleeping dude.”
“Hermione,” he whined. “Tell Harry to be nice to me.”
“Harry,” she sighed exasperatedly.
“Fiiiiiine.” He said before continuing. “So Wednesday. First period is an open period so we don’t have to worry about that, though we do need to find someone for DADA.”
“I can watch her while you guys are at Arithmacy,” Ron offered.
“Cool, I can watch her when you guys have Potions.” He ran a hand through his hair, grimicing at the knots caught on his fingers. “We just need someone to watch her during Charms and Transfiguration.”
“So, Thursdays.” Hermione sighed. “We’ll need someone to watch her when we’re in Charms. I’m assuming Ron will watch her when we’re in Arithmancy.”
“We’ll have to find someone for Herbology, Transfiguration, and Care of Magic.” Harry mused. “I’ve got Potions covered though.”
“Friday will be fun.” The redhead snorted. “We’ll need someone for the whole morning and Charms presuming Hermione’s chill with watching her while we’re in Divination.”
“Then we’ll watch Delphi while you’re in Ancient Runes.” Harry wrinkled his nose playfully.
“Don’t be an ass!” She laughed, pushing him.
“Ron, you’re my favorite now.” He teased before pushing her back, only to lean against the other boy.
“Keep lying to yourself.” Hermione sniffed. “On a completely unrelated note, Ron you’re on the couch tonight.”
“What?” He gasped. “How could you?”
“So mean.” Harry tsked. “So mean.”
“You’re a bad influence.” The redhead laughed before shoving him off the couch. “You’re getting me in trouble.”
“Nah.” He grinned. “You did that all on your own.”
“Fuck you.”
“Ew. You’re like my brother.”
“Ew. Not like that!” Ron shrieked. “What the fuck?”
“You walked into that one.” Hermione said dryly, shooting them a narrowed glance. “Let’s get back on track.”
“That might be a good idea.” He inclined his head. “I was thinking about introducing Ginny to Delphini first.”
“She’s getting pretty nosy anyways.” The redhead pointed out. “Might as well get it done and over with.”
“Plus, she’s the only one near our age who would connect Delphini to You-Know-Who.” Harry grimaced. “I’m pretty nervous about that to be honest.”
“You’ll be fine. She loves a good romance and I’m sure Delphini will win her over.” Hermoine waved dismissively. “It’ll work out.”
“Yeah.” He breathed. “It’ll work out.”