Mama, I don't wanna cry
She is busy cutting up Harry's food into bite like pieces when Ron almost barrels into her back, red faced and heaving. His eyes are blown wide and panicked, so someone excuse her for immediately reaching conclusions that aren't logical, she just came straight from war, dammit!
Aiming her wand, always beside her, straight at the doorframe behind Ron, she shrieks "what?! What happened?!"
He heaves again, starring at her as if it's the first time "Are we abusing Harry?" He chokes out and the tension leaves her body like air does a deflated balloon, giving room to confusion and beffundlement.
"What?"
"Are we abusing Harry?" He repeats, slower but in no way more understandable.
A heavy silence fills the room and she arches one eyebrow in perplexity.
"You gotta elaborate, honey."
"We'll, we leave him no room for...anything! We treat him like a kid, I just helped him clean his teeth, for Merlin's sake! "
She sighs and turns down the heat in the oven, this is going to be a longer conversation, she thinks.
"Ron, he IS a kid." She starts slowly, best to explain in terms Ron can understand; focused on Harry.
"He is our age...?"
"Yes he is, but he is a seventeen year old that lived about a hundred horrible lifetimes." She tugs her arms into her hips and stares at Ron in expectancy. Then, her mind refocus on Harry as well and her tone turns sombre.
"He never had a childhood, we can't fault him to regress into easier times. The ones he never had."
"Regress?" He asks her and she turns to him.
"Ron what do we know about Harry's home live?"
"It was horrid! Those damn muggles didn't deserve him!"
"Yes but what about how he was as a child?"
"He never was.... one" he trails of and realization settles into his eyes.
"He is craving something he never had."
"Exactly! For once in his life he wants to be protected and loved without judgement, bur he does feel ashamed of it. So his mind found a solution, regressing him to behave like a child. A child's thoughts are easier to handle, there is rarely any space for shame in children. They play, they eat, they sleep. The responsibility falls onto those taking care of the child, the-"
"Caretakers", he interrupt, eyes blown wide. "Us. We take on these roles, don't we?"
"We'll, would you be willing to let someone else take care of Harr-?"
"No! No, Merlin's beard, no!"
"Good." She agrees, silently in her mind he adds that the first part of her plan is setting into motion way quicker than she thought. Now, she has Ron's support and with it it will be easy to help Harry settle into the role he was always meant to play; their precious baby boy.
If she focuses, she can almost hear the little giggles leaving his lips once the burden of the world left his shoulders.
"Shouldn't we inform Harry of this? It seems he does this subconsciously an-"
"Which is exactly why we should NOT tell him. Otherwise, he'd be too ashamed to let himself get taken care of, remember?"
In that exact moment, Harry waltzes in, ceasing all talks and they settle on the table, Ron awkwardly red in the face. She should have taught him how to be less suspicious, but thankfully Harry is the most oblivious lad to ever walk the earth. Yes, he can stitch together weird clues like Hagrid and the Dragonegg back in their first year, but whenever emotions are involved, Harry gets blind enough not even his glasses can save him.
They settle down to eat, the telly making noises in the background(they installed one in Grimmauld-place after their visit in St Mungos), Harry less quiet but not yet as talkative as he was before the war. Only this time, she needs to be the one to babble away since she can still see the thoughts spinning in Ron's head. She doesn't need to talk all that much because after a while Harry focuses on the telly, which she conveniently put on a child's movie called Mary Poppins.
As always, Harry only nibbles at his food, eating almost nothing in the process. It soothes her a little bit, it's like a reminder that Harry needs this, needs their love and affection so he learns to care for himself. And they will let him take as much time as necessary to learn that.
She weights the pros and cons and then decides to make Ron learn his first lesson today: she needs to make him realize just how much control they have over the raven.
She stares at Ron, maintains eye contact while she reaches across the table, to her left and takes Harry's fork in her hands.
"Harry, stop slouching. And give me that." Only then does she break eye contact with Ron, memorizing the shock mixed with amazement on his face, turning to Harry to feed him properly.
The boy doesn't care, too focused on the woman with the big bag taking care of children like a mother does.
She turns back to Ron, her plan settling even more into place once she sees the determined look in his eyes. He is fully on board with this.
Mary Poppins was a substitute mother for those children up to the point that their father realized what it takes to be the father his children needed. She was later on replaced by the father once more.
Ron and Hermione are no substitutes. There were no Lily and James for long enough that Harry can remember them anyways. They aren't replacing them, but more importantly, they won't be replaced. They will be Harry's first choice in everything; the ones he will go to when he is hurt, sad, angry, sleepy, happy.
And they will be here for him for everything, too.