➣ 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝟔 “𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙨”
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The first weeks of November flowed without issue or crisis, and Nicolás finally found respite to focus on his personal advanced studies and the work sent by his Castelobruxo professors, all of this while still finding time to spend with either Cedric, Caelum, Harry, or any of his friends.
He also dedicated a considerable amount of time reading Obliviating: A Guide on Memory Charms, a book he took from the Restricted Section of the Library—because, having your dad as a Hogwarts teacher had its perks, didn’t it?
He wasn’t sure why he chose that book, but seeing the cover gave him a hunch, and well, the whole Lockhart business from the year before was enough for his father to budge and sign the permission.
Sadly for Cedric, the Hufflepuff team’s Chasers were still recovering from a pretty ugly flu by the time their match against Ravenclaw came. The match went on for almost three hours, with Ravenclaw mercilessly scoring, and Hufflepuff’s Keeper, poor Alec, barely keeping up.
In the end, with all his strategies tarnished, Cedric had no other option but to rush and catch the Snitch before the other Ravenclaw Seeker, Zhang Mei, did. And he did it, catching the Snitch and finishing the match, even if it meant giving the victory to Ravenclaw.
Nicolás noted Caelum still seemed to be sleep-deprived. The dark circles around his eyes would be more noticeable some days, other days, he would be very noisy, as usual, and then, others he would be silent and almost lost in thought. And still, he didn't feel comfortable telling Nicolás what afflicted his nights and haunted his dreams.
Nicolás tried for the last two months to take it out of his mouth, but Caelum refused to explain anything beyond “It’s nightmares,” which is very worrying, considering Caelum hasn’t had nightmares since he and his mother left Colombia to come back to the UK, years prior.
On even worse notes, it came to Nicolás’ notice what Harry called ‘The Hippogriff Incident,’ which happened in his year’s first Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid.
According to Harry, it had been a very weird incident. One moment, he was speaking with his friends, as usual, the next, Draco Malfoy wanted to speak with him, the boy apologized for his patronizing the years before, which left a very confused Harry—almost as confused as Hermione and Ron.
Then, the class went on as normal with Hagrid, who offered Harry as tribute for Buckbeak, the Hippogriff. Harry, making use of everything Nicolás taught him back in the Cardona Magical Creature Reserve, easily presented himself to the Hippogriff, who even let him have a ride on its back.
Then, as everyone else was getting to meet the other Hippogriffs, Draco started to argue with one of his housemates, Blaise Zabini, and everything ended up with Zabini shouting insults at Buckbeak, which sent the creature on a rampage, and hurting Draco’s arm.
Nicolás knew what happened later because of Dorian. As Draco was hurt, Lucius Malfoy decided to take presumptuous legal action, demanding for Buckbeak to be put down, even if Draco begged him not to—this last thing was what made Dorian even more furious towards Lucius, his godfather.
Ever since, Nicolás has been in close contact with his mother and Abu Pedro. Given that both of them had seats in the Wizengamot, and his mother was the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, she was making special efforts to present a convincing case for the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, which was going just fine.
They would have to wait until the upcoming year for the final hearing, during which they would present a very easy solution: taking Buckbeak to the family reserve in Colombia. They already had a whole herd of over fifteen Hippogriffs, anyway.
The last thing to come to Nicolás radar, was his father agreeing on starting a Patronus training for Harry once the Christmas break was over. They would all be in Colombia for the holidays, and Remus always refused to spend them working. That was exciting, Nicolás would probably drop to the floor sobbing his poor heart out if Harry’s Patronus was, as his father’s, a stag, or, as his mother’s, a doe.
•─────⋅☾☽⋅─────•
Fred and George Weasley were the last ones to leave the Charms classroom after class. By the time they walked out, the entire hall was mysteriously vacant, not a single soul to be seen.
“How do you think the girls would react when the little Frog Spawn Soap we let in their lavatory finally spawns?” asked George, a diabolical glint in his eyes.
“Oh, it'll be delightfully, I bet,” retorted Fred, matching his twin.
“I still think we should put Bulbadox powder in Towler’s pajamas,” George grunted.
“Well, I think it was a very uncalled and poor reaction to Caelum, but for now, the Stink Pellets in his trunk will suffice.”
Suddenly, Fred, who was walking a step ahead, came to a halt, stretching his arm to stop George. There was... something, or... someone. He could feel it in the hairs of his nape.
“What—”
“Don’t you feel like someone’s—”
But before he could finish, two magically summoned blindfolds wrapped around their heads, preventing them from seeing anything but black.
Both of them turned sharply, taking out their wands — maniacally pointing everywhere — only for the wands to be snatched from their hands by magic a second later, a soft chuckle reverberating in the hall.
“Who are you?!”
“Show your face!”
“When we catch you—”
And before Fred could finish threatening an innocent wall, his and George’s bodies moved, or more accurately, they were propelled to the side. As if moved by a strong torrent of wind, they flew through a door and into an empty classroom.
Blowing the tip of his wand with a large smirk, he walked into the classroom after the twins, hearing them scream a bunch of obscenities their mother wouldn't be proud of — wanker, git, tosser, and daft were among Nicolás’ favorite British insults.
They both yelped when the door was shut closed.
Once the silence reigned, it only took a few wand flicks to have both twins tied to two chairs in front of him. Both twins were screaming and trying — and failing — to break free. He had to bite his lips so as to not laugh.
“Wait until I break free—”
“Shut up George! I’m going to—”
And with another flick of his wand, both blindfolds vanished from the twins’ heads. Both blinked repeatedly, trying to adjust to the new light.
“Just wait, you damned — Nicolás?” both Fred and George looked at him flabbergasted.
“Hello, my dear gents,” Nicolás greeted them, a large smirk still on his face.
“What in the bloody hell is this?!” George demanded. Curiously, Fred seemed worlds more composed than his twin, giving Nicolás a more analytical look.
“You didn’t find another way to get our attention, did you?” Fred asked, calmer but clearly still shaken.
“What can I say? The two of you are very busy men,” Nicolás shrugged. "Can't blame a guy for making his move."
Fred smirked. “You see, we are men of business.”
“That's what I wanted to hear! You see, I have just the mission for you,” Nicolás said, very pleased with himself.
“Is this a bloody joke?” George said, color coming back to his face.
“Shut up George!” Fred hissed. “What’s in it for us?” he asked, looking back at Nicolás with a smirk.
“Now, that’s what I’m talking about!” Nicolás smirked. “Georgie, you need to step up in the business,” he added, receiving an unimpressed deadpanned look.
“What do you want, Nicolás?” George asked with a sigh, now resigned. “And I’ve told you not to call me Georgie!” he whined.
“It’s very simple, in fact. I take it, you remember this very useful tool you guys graced me with?” said Nicolás, taking out the Marauder’s Map from his uniform. “What you need to do is very simple. You see, there’s one last trip to Hogsmeade before the Christmas break, and Harry was forbidden from going, so, the two of you will be in charge of the special delivery of the map to him and you will tell him how to get there.”
Fred pretended to think for a moment, before looking back at his twin, “Okay, but, George, did you hear what’s in here for us? I certainly haven’t,” said Fred, his smirk growing, equaling Nicolás’.
“There may or may not be a bag with twenty Galleons of spare in my trunk that I’ll be more than glad to give you, of course, according to your performance.”
The moment the words left Nicolás’ mouth, their eyes shined as if they were seeing God himself or something.
“Count us in,” Fred sealed the deal, with George nodding at his side.
With a flick of his wand, Nicolás unbounded the twins from their chairs, and they both stood up massaging their wrists.
“I still don’t get why you couldn’t talk to us like any normal person,” George whined, giving Nicolás a dirty look.
“Where would the fun be in that, Georgie?” Nicolás teased. George rolled his eyes, hating that nickname.
“Let the man do business on his way, George,” Fred snapped in a whisper. George rolled his eyes again at their antics.
Nicolás threw them their wands, alongside the map, which Fred grabbed.
“It’s always a pleasure to make deals with you, good gents. Now, I would suggest taking Harry to a secluded space to hand him the map.”
“So, you no longer need it?” George asked.
“As a matter of fact, I made a copy for personal use, of course,” Nicolás shrugged.
“What?!” both twins screamed at the same time. “What do you mean a copy?!”
Nicolás rolled his eyes. “I already told you. My dad made about fifty percent of the work with the original one, it was not that hard. But that’s not the matter, make sure to keep your end of the deal,
and who knows, perhaps those twenty Galleons will be the foundations to that prank shop you dream of so often.”
“Bet your ass they will,” Fred replied with a smirk.
“I’ll see you guys around,” Nicolás said at the door frame. “Can't promise you’ll see me first,” he joked before walking away, leaving the twins alone in the room with their annoyed groans.
•─────⋅☾☽⋅─────•
“And how the hell do you know it was Regulus?” Caelum pressed.
“It's not that hard of a deduction, Cae,” Nicolás sighed.
For the last weeks, Caelum has been in an awful mood. It was obviously because he’s been sleeping like shit, so Nicolás did his best to not give in when he got all moody and decided to take it out on him.
Nicolás needed, at best, twenty minutes to figure out who had been the man in Caelum’s overly persistent nightmare. Caelum, who had suffered the awful nightmare still couldn’t grasp his fingers around the fact.
“First of all, it’s obviously someone related to you, you said he looked like you, but it wasn’t you. Did you look at the portraits when we were in Grimmauld Place?” Nicolas asked. Caelum shook his head. “Your family has like some of the most annoyingly persistent genes I’ve ever seen; you all look too much alike. Besides, there was a portrait of Uncle Sirius and Regulus, and at that age, you and Regulus could’ve passed as twins.”
“I think you’re exaggerating,” Caelum replied with a frown.
“Seriously? Kreacher literally threw himself at your feet because he thought you were Regulus.” Nicolás rolled his eyes.
"Because he was kinda delirious," Caelum rolled his eyes in response. Very mature.
"The little guy probably helped raise Regulus, give him some credit," Nicolás tried to negotiate, earning only an exasperated sigh from his cousin.
“Then what?” Caelum asked.
Nicolás gave him a deadpan look.
“You not only had a vision of what were probably the last minutes of your uncle’s existence when we were in Grimmauld Place — which, creepy, by the way — but now you also have dreams — no, sorry — nightmares, you have nightmares about the cave, which, by the way, is the exact same cave Milo showed me last summer.”
For the last few months, ever since they came back to start the new school year, Caelum has been mercilessly stoned by relentless nightmares in his sleep. And it sucked because, in their younger years, it was so easy to simply jump into each other’s bed and share their cousinly comfort but being sorted into completely different houses made it so complicated.
The whole nightmare business Nicolás has known from the beginning, but in front of Caelum’s refusal to speak, Nicolás chose not to pester him with his mother-hen mode — as Caelum loved to call it.
Of course, in the first weeks, it was very obvious something was wrong. With Caelum appearing to class with black circles under his eyes, or his poor performance in simple spells they’ve known for years. But again, this was also the year of their OWLs. At first, Nicolás chose to think it was because of that; that Caelum was simply over-studying.
They decided to meet, at least, once a week by the lake’s shore, and up until today, Caelum had refused to elaborate on anything beyond having some nightmares.
But the whole thing of Caelum’s accidental magic—which ended up with his Gryffindor dorm completely flooded—, was what Nicolás needed to say, enough is enough.
“Nico, his face had scars. His arms had scars. I think I even saw the Dark Mark tattooed on his forearm,” Caelum said in a resigned voice. “I heard Kreacher screaming for him, pleading him to not do it, why would he do it?”
Nicolás sighed, unsure of which approach would be the wisest.
“Joining Voldemort or provoking his own demise by getting drowned by Inferi?” he finally asked, trying to enlighten the mood.
“Are you joking about this?” Caelum replied, almost snapping at him. Nicolás simply raised his hands in surrender, choosing not to give in to a pointless discussion with a grumpy Caelum. He simply had to look at his cousin's tired countenance. He sighed.
Being an expert Legilimens came in very handy for these kinds of situations. Nicolás was able to get in Caelum’s mind—with his explicit consent, of course—, and live in first person the big nightmare Caelum's dreamt night after night.
He saw with exclusivity of detail the cave, he felt it all the way. The stone path, Kreacher’s desperate cries, the altar with the potion—one he wasn’t able to identify still—, and lastly, the locket, Slytherin’s Locket, resting in the basin. This, of course, before Caelum was dragged to the water by the Inferi.
It was still a little disconcerting the image of Regulus Black screaming for Caelum to wake up. The two of them were very alike, apart from their age difference, of course.
But there was something that didn’t make any sense. According to everyone, Regulus died in 1981, a few months before the Potters were murdered by Voldemort.
The point is, he was twenty when he died, and the Regulus in Caelum’s dream, seemed to be of their parents’ age, as he was only one year younger than them.
All in all, there were details that didn’t make much sense.
“Sorry,” Caelum sighed at Nicolás’ silence. “I didn’t mean to snap at you,” he added, passing his hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Hey, it’s okay, I get it. If I was having nightmares about my deceased uncle dying, I would be snappy too, you know,” Nicolás tried to joke, bumping their shoulders together. He was rewarded with a small smile from his cousin.
“Nah, you’re a softy, you couldn’t snap,” Caelum retorted, pushing Nicolás with his elbow, before looking back at the Black Lake.
“Hey! I have it in me,” Nicolás acted offended, kicking Caelum’s leg.
“Oh, please, you cried when the Fairies of the reserve teamed up to beat the Pixies’ annoying asses,” replied Caelum, rolling his eyes.
“Because it wasn’t fair! There were almost three Fairies for each Pixie,” Nicolás tried to argue while laughing.
“Oh, my God, you’re so Hufflepuff-coded, I should have seen it,” Caelum cracked with a laugh.
“Oi! Don’t call my house softies,” Nicolás replied, hitting Caelum’s arm.
“I’m not! Truly! I just thought for a second, that you’d end up in Ravenclaw,” Caelum reflected, still giggling.
“I thought so, too, with me being a bookworm and stuff. But I’d felt more than welcome in Hufflepuff.”
“I’m glad,” Caelum said. “I also heard that having Cedric Diggory sleeping in your bed has helped,” he added with a sly smirk.
Nicolás choked. “Who— who told you about that?”
Caelum snorted, rolling his eyes. “Oh, please, as if Cedric would ever shut up about you.” He looked back at his cousin, whose cheeks were slightly blushing. “How’s that going, anyway? You and Ced?”
“It’s good, you know. Natural. I told you we talked over the summer, and, I don’t know, we're not trying to walk the path anyone wants to lay down for us, it just — it moves the way it needs to, we just let ourselves go with the flow, you know.”
“I’m glad,” said Caelum with a gentle smile.
Nicolas smiled, “Have you spoken with—”
“Shut up,” Caelum cut him, his cheeks reddening.
“Rude, I was just wondering if you have told—”
“There’s nothing to tell, really,” Caelum prompted, pleading Nicolás to shut up with his puppy eyes.
Nicolás shook his head, those two idiots were harder than a hit from a Bludger, and they both played Quidditch.
“What do you think of your dreams?” Nicolás asked, choosing to have mercy on his cousin and change the topic. “I mean, the nightmares.”
“I don’t know, I just — it really feels like he’s trying to tell me something,” replied Caelum.
“Regulus?”
“Yeah.”
"And what do you think he wants to tell you?"
"Well, your guess is as mine," Caelum shrugged.
“And, do you think we could find it?” Nicolás asked.
“Find what? The cave? Not with Kreacher refusing to tell us,” Caelum grumbled.
“And, what if you — no, no, forget it. I hate it when people impose their orders on house elves,” Nicolas said with disgust, the whole house-elf subjugation disgusted him as much as the rest of his family.
“Yeah, me too.”
“What do you think of Huǒ Yì Hǔ?” Nicolás suddenly asked, prompting Caelum to confusion.
“What’s she got to do with anything?”
Nicolás rolled his eyes. “She’s a Zouwu, you bugger. They can Apparate. Newt told me of the time he used one to Apparate out of the French Ministry of Magic.”
“But the Ministries buildings have tons of anti-apparition charms,” Caelum said.
“I know! And the Zouwu still went over them. Just like the Hogwarts house elves can Apparate inside the castle, despite the castle's anti-apparition charms,” Nicolás added.
“I still don’t get your point,” Caelum said, scratching the side of his head.
"Not particularly bright, are you?" Nicolás huffed, exasperated. "What if we can show her the cave, and she can Apparate us in there?”
“And how are we supposed to do that?”
“Well, Legilimency isn’t supposed to work on magical creatures, but lucky for us, it does for me. Maybe it has to do with the family’s gift, but that’s how Milo showed me his precognitive sights,” Nicolás said thoughtfully. “I’m a Legilimens, an Animagus, and I have the family gift, I think we’ll figure it out, one way or the other,” Nicolás said, perhaps a bit overconfident.
Caelum seemed to think for a moment. “Well, it is worth the shot, isn’t it?”
•─────⋅☾☽⋅─────•
Two books for DADA and one book for charms from the library, two books he borrowed from Nicolás—Merlin bless his notes—, and another one for Care of Magical Creatures he also borrowed from Nicolás; he counted in his mind, making sure not to have left any behind as he made his way to his dorm.
He needed to stay ahead on his studies as Nicolás' birthday had been two weeks ago, and everyone in the house was more than ecstatic with the mini theater they had created in the common room.
Now, once every week, on Saturday night, for a small fee, anyone could enjoy up to three hours of a randomly picked muggle film with popcorn, soda, and candies. It had been tedious to build, but not really hard.
Nicolás' parents had gotten him a CRT Projector from a muggle brand called Sony with loudspeakers, and Cedric had saved enough money to buy something called a VCR, which was connected to the projector and read the VHS films. Caelum and Harry had bought him almost twenty VHS films.
Needless is to say that the whole business was running smoothly, and even Professor Sprout and Flitwick would join them.
“Are you ready for our date?” Nicolás asked the moment Cedric opened the door.
Caught out of the blue, Cedric came to an abrupt halt as his mind made sense of Nicolás' words, and the books fell from his hands, scattering at his feet.
And, oh, Nicolás was a sight to sore eyes, standing there, nonchalant, as if he didn't hold the power to ruin Cedric's life if he ever considered asking it.
“D-date?” Cedric stammered. “Like – like me and you?”
They had never been on a date, even if it had been four months ever since they started to... date? Were they dating? Because they both agreed not to hurry and stress over some tag, but what were they then? He would like to think they were dating, as Nicolás had made it overly clear they were exclusive, but... maybe they did need the tag after all, at least to put Cedric's mind at ease.
Nicolás smiled at him, a bit confused, “Well, obviously,” he said, waving his hand and making Cedric’s books levitate from the floor to his bed. “That’s what boyfriends do, isn’t it?” he added with a pensive expression. “That’s what Amelia told me. I remember Mom and Dad also mentioned it.”
And oh well, didn't that answer his question?
Cedric looked at him wide-eyed and gaping for seconds before coughing. There was no way in the world for him to fight off the smugness that quickly crept up his chest, because Nicolás was his boyfriend, that was probably the most he ever dared to dream for them, and it was right there, in front of him, so lovely and willing.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. I actually came to get ready, it’s pretty cold,” Cedric said in the most confident and relaxed tone he could muster, trying to ignore the way his heart seemed to be fighting its way out of his chest, or how sweaty his palms got in half a second.
He passed Nicolás on the way to his own clothes, before stopping behind him, “You look lovely, by the way.”
With red cheeks, Nicolás laughed. “I know, right? I still think I look pretty Ravenclaw, but I love this cardigan,” Nicolás said, looking at the piece of clothing. It was a deep and soft blue-hued cardigan with tons of silver stars of all sizes.
And it only made sense, even if he was a Hufflepuff through and through, Nicolás had a brain that put any Ravenclaw to shame.
Quickly, Cedric took off his uniform, putting on a black tank top with a denim jacket on top, black pants, and baby blue Converse.
"Oh well, but don't you look dazzling?" Nicolás flattered him with a wide grin.
With a shy smile, and cheeks just as red as Nicolás’, Cedric took him by the hand, walking out of their common room and searching for the main door where all the other students were getting ready for Hogsmeade.
In the corner of his eyes, he saw the Weasley twins grabbing Harry and taking him — or rather kidnapping him — inside, for whatever reason he was sure he didn't want to know.
The walk to Hogsmeade was always a calm one, especially in December, in plain winter, with pristine white landscapes. The snow on the road made everything feel right out of a dream, perfect enough to make a painting—if either of them had any talent for art, that is. He should get a muggle camera for next year, he was sure Willow, with her artistic prowess, would make good use of a couple of well-taken photos.
But no matter how chilling the breeze was, or that it was softly snowing, the warmth that emanated from the point where his and Nicolás' hands touched — right where their fingers eagerly intertwined like life-long companions —, was enough; enough to conquer all coldness, enough to fill any hollowing gap in his existence, and enough to vanquish all negative thought or emotion.
Looking down at Nicolás, Cedric finally understood how artists picked their muses—not that he was an artist of any kind. His ink-black hair was decorated by a woven layer of snowflakes and the tanned skin of his face was slightly blushing. As he laughed at a small rabbit who fell into a pile of snow, his nose wrinkled and his eyes came close to being two lines. Dear Merlin, how he loved that eye smile.
“So,” Cedric started in a soft voice. He didn’t need Nicolás to know how, with every step closer to Hogsmeade, the more nervous he got. Because, fuck, Nicolás asked him out! I mean, he didn’t ask, at all, but wasn’t that beautiful? Nicolás didn’t even think about asking, assuming it was only natural for them to have dates. It was the kind of natural and flowing existence Cedric dreamed about. “What do you want to do?” he decided to ask. “We could go to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, or perhaps you'd rather go to The Three Broomsticks?”
“Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop? I never took you for the cheesy type,” Nicolás retorted with a big smile, appreciating how Cedric’s cheeks got redder, and not for the cold. “But nope, we’re heading to Honeydukes for a few things, and then you’ll just have to trust me.”
“What things?” Cedric asked.
“If I tell you, it won't be a surprise anymore!” Nicolás laughed, softly pushing Cedric by his large shoulder. “It would ruin all the fun!”
“Oh, — oh, okay, Mr. Fun,” Cedric joked, seeing Nicolás pout, pinching his boyfriend's cheek. “It got to my attention how you kidnapped the Weasley Twins.”
“I think kidnapping is a very heavy word, Ced,” Nicolás defended himself. “I only took them by surprise and unwillingly moved them to another space.”
“You blinded them and bound them to chairs,” Cedric deadpanned.
“Well, they wouldn’t stop bitching about it, give me a break!” Nicolás laughed. “Now, you just need to stop being noisy about our date, just follow me, and be handsome, but I don’t think that’ll be an issue, will it?”
This side of Nicolás was different but just as familiar as any other. The way he so freely flirted and made that kind of comment sent the Unicorns in Cedric's stomach into an eager gallop.
In their conversation, they had fallen to a slower pace, making them the last to arrive at Hogsmeade.
The small village somehow managed to always retain a certain ethereal feeling to it, amidst the modern world, it was like a time machine, taking you back to when times seemed simpler.
Among all the snow and the sea of students and villagers, they could still see Willow arm in arm with Lilith, moving towards The Three Broomsticks, Alec scratching the back of his head and with very red cheeks as Amelia handed him a bag of candies. Aurora, Ruby, and Amara were all on a bench, laughing loudly.
On the other side of the street, Dorian was with Draco inside Spintwitches Sporting Needs, probably buying something for him as an early Christmas present. The Weasley twins were, among a small crowd, making a Butterbeer drinking contest inside The Three Broomsticks.
They snaked around the village streets until they reached Honeydukes, the cold was left behind, as the place had quite a few people, mainly most of the third years, Hermione and Ron included.
With a smirk, Nicolás approached them from behind, hearing their conversation.
“Ugh, no, Harry won’t want one of those, they’re for vampires, I expect,” Hermione was saying.
“How about these?” said Ron, shoving a jar of Cockroach Clusters under Hermione’s nose.
“Definitely not,” said Nicolás with a disgusted face.
“Nico!” squealed Hermione.
“Harry's more of a chocolate guy,” he added, grabbing a package of Choco-Loco, and a box of Chocoballs. “What do you think, Little One?” Nicolás asked, looking to his right, seemingly speaking to the very air.
“I like both,” confirmed Harry's voice, from nowhere, before peeking his head out of the Invisibility Cloak, a big goofy smile on his face.
“Harry!” squealed Hermione. “What are you doing here? How — how did you—?”
“Wow!” said Ron, looking very impressed, “you’ve learned to Apparate!”
“‘Course I haven’t,” said Harry.
“How did you know he was here?” Hermione asked Nicolás, looking at him suspiciously.
“Mione, this is my Little One,” Nicolás said, ruffling Harry's hair. “I know where he's all the time.”
“Wait, what? For real?” asked Harry wide-eyed.
Nicolás smiled, “You don't want to know the answer to that,” he said, making Harry's messy hair even messier, before leaving a kiss on top of the boy’s head, “Make sure not to get caught.”
He grabbed Cedric's hand and retreated with a cryptic smile towards another aisle.
Fifteen minutes later, they walked out of the candy shop with a bag of candies, and Nicolás guided Cedric into a more secluded area of the village, a park. At this point of the winter, nobody wanted to risk freezing their asses. Nobody except for Nicolás and Cedric, of course.
Taking out his wand, Nicolás vanished the snow from a circle spot, and dried the place, before calling out, “Whisker!”
After a loud popping sound next to them, the house elf manifested, wearing a long fluffy coat and a nightcap—without a doubt, made by Nicolás' grandmother. A large picnic basket floated in front of him, heat could be felt coming out of it, alongside delicious aromas.
“Whisker came, Mr. Nicolás. And he brought what you requested,” the house elf said eagerly, before snapping his fingers, and a large carpet appeared on the floor, covering the small dry spot Nicolás cleared.
“Thank you, Whisker! Did you—?”
“Whisker took pastries for himself, sir! Twinkly, and Fizzlet did too! Even Kreacher took some of what Mrs. Angela baked for you,” the small creature responded eagerly, probably still tasting the sugar.
Nicolás laughed, petting Whisker’s head. “Thank you so much, Whisker, you can go, don’t torture yourself in this cold.”
“Whisker is always happy to help Mr. Nicolás,” the house elf said beaming, before snapping his finger and Disapparating away, back into the heavenly warmth of the country house.
Silently and still gaping, Cedric helped Nicolás set the picnic on the carpet.
“He said Mrs. Angela baked this?” Cedric asked.
Nicolás beamed widely. “Yes, Ced, my grandmother prepared the food for our date. She’s the best cook I’ve ever met, but don’t tell my mom that.”
“Don’t I know? No one’s surpassed her muffins. Not even in Diagon Alley!” Cedric answered, eagerly taking out the food from the basket.
The basket was full of so many things. From muffins to cupcakes, from cut fruit to vegetable stew with chicken, and the icing on the cake: Arroz con Leche y Natilla con Buñuelos, the most Colombian Christmas desserts ever.
It’s completely unnecessary to explain what happened over the following three hours. They didn’t need the Hot-Air Charm—not that they didn’t use it—to keep the warmth inside their little bubble.
•─────⋅☾☽⋅─────•
“Come on, Little One! Don’t be such a drama queen!” Nicolás said with a laugh, looking down at Harry.
“It’s not dramatics! I’m melting into the floor!” the boy whined. He was sprawled on his back on the floor, in front of a fan giving its all. He was shirtless and barefoot, and Nicolás could see the sweat covering his body. But, oh well, welcome to Christmases in Colombia, where instead of snow angels, you make sweat angels on the floor.
"Welcome to Christmas in dear Colombia," someone whined from the floor.
On the other side of the room, Caelum was just like Harry, but with the tip of his wand pointing at himself, and constantly muttering, “Ventus,” making soft currents of air come out of his wand.
“I’m sure you’ll live,” Nicolás rolled his eyes, throwing a pair of shoes, socks, and a shirt for Harry to wear. “You promised to accompany me on my round, now move, we’ll be feeding the Hippogriffs. I heard you had quite the connection with them.”
Harry was sitting by the time Nicolás opened the door, “You have like ten minutes before I leave,” the older boy added, walking towards the storage in the backyard, where everything necessary for the care of their creatures was stored.
Fifteen minutes later they were walking towards the clearing in the forest where the Hippogriff herd rested, the boxes with food levitating behind them. By now, after each mating season, the herd that started with five, was of seventeen now, not counting the ones they had given to other reserves. They were all majestic, some fully white, others black or brown, and others a mix of all.
And it was true, Harry was good with them. He quickly learned not to fear them, and simply be humbled by their mere existence, as the Cardona family was with every single creature in their reserve.
After about two hours, once the Hipoggriffs' stomachs were sated, they made a stroll around the forest before stopping by the lake, where, by instinct, Nicolás searched for the well-wore bench he and Caelum used to spend hours in when they were younger. All while Harry still ranted about Draco and Buckbeak.
“But it’s ridiculous, isn’t it? Why would you put a creature as prideful as Draco in front of a Hippogriff?”
“Wait, did you just call Draco a creature?” Nicolas said chuckling. Harry’s face turned red, and not by the heat of the reserve, nor the scorching sun.
“Well, I – it doesn’t matter! That’s not the point, at all!”
Nicolás chuckled more, ruffling Harry’s hair. “Well, Dorian tells me that Draco’s been getting better at, you know, not being a total git, I trust that’s accurate?”
Harry shrugged, trying to appear disinterested. “I don’t know, he’s been off my back all year, but his father still wants to kill Buckbeak!”
“Well, yes, but you can’t blame someone for their parents’ actions, can you?” Nicolás asked, Harry tried to argue but didn’t come up with anything. “He’s doing his best, I even heard he apologized to Hermione.”
Harry nodded. “Yeah, she seemed very taken aback by that, we all were, really.”
“I think you guys should give him a chance, perhaps at the end, you’ll be surprised.”
Harry didn’t seem to agree much with Nicolás’ words but didn’t argue either. Looking out at the lake, as the Giant Squid’s tentacles, reached for a little bit of the sun's heat, Nicolás’ mind took him to the past.
“You know,” he said after a few minutes of silence, “this used to be my favorite place of solitude in the reserve, sometimes Caelum would come with me, but I generally came alone, to this very same bench,” he continued, eyes glued on the dancing reflection on the water surface. “I actually used to come and cry for you.”
“Cry? For… me?” asked Harry.
“Yeah, we only met you for most of a year. We were barely three years old, but still, Caelum and I promised ourselves to protect you before everything was taken from us. Before Voldemort destroyed our family.”
Harry seemed to be thinking his next words very hard. And he spoke softly.
“I – can I ask you something? I’ve been – I’ve been thinking… and I don’t want to sound ungrateful – because I appreciate everything you guys have done for me! But… why… why didn’t you come for me sooner?”
And Nicolás was taken back to all he saw at the Dursleys, and all Harry suffered. The cupboard under the stairs, how skinny Harry was, how disgustingly used and big were all his hand-me-down clothes.
And he was taken back to how much Harry cried after being welcomed into the first place he could finally call home, of having his own bedroom, or on Christmas, or how much he enjoyed the Flower’s Festival, and also, to how Harry still seemed to not take the food on his plate for granted, and his chest ached.
“I’ve been asking myself that for so many years. Caelum and I argued with everyone for months about that… We… we tried to; you know… but nobody knew where the Dursleys lived, only one person did.
“Your grandparents — they were all dead… Aunt Lily’s parents, they lived in a town, Cokeworth I think it was, but that wretch of an aunt of yours left years prior. She and your mom never spoke, so not even she knew for sure where she lived.
“My dad went a few times, but between his illness, and grief, he never found anything. Aunt María lost her husband, and Caelum lost his father too. My mom, like everyone else, lost all her friends in the war. We… we were in no condition to demand the answers out of Dumbledore.”
“Du-Dumbledore?” Harry asked, looking aghast.
Nicolás nodded. “Dumbledore was the one who decided to not let you come with us, even so far from the UK, where you’d be safe. He was the one who took you to your aunt, he hid everything, every piece of information, from us. He has so much political power, we… we simply needed to leave, come back here, back home, and rebuild. It wasn’t until last year that we could actually demand from him.”
“But, why?” asked Harry.
“Little One, Dumbledore is not who you think he is, I don’t – I don’t want to dictate your perception of him, you need to do it on your own, but Dumbledore is not the kind to simply do things for the heck of it, you know? He’s a strategist, he doesn’t see people, he sees pawns in his chess game to move how he sees fit, and that’s it.”
“Do you remember what I told you about the Fidelius Charm?” asked Nicolás.
“The one to hide a house?” retorted Harry.
“Yeah, that one. Dumbledore used that one on the Dursley’s house, that’s why we couldn’t find you,” concluded Nicolás, as Harry gaped.
Brushing his knees, Nicolás stood up, trying to blink away the wet blurriness that took over his sight. He gestured for Harry to follow him.
“Come on, I really don’t want to start crying,” Nicolás said, walking with Harry at his side. He put an arm over the boy’s shoulder who moved closer to his chest, “I didn’t have time last summer to introduce you to Huǒ Yì Hǔ.”
“And what’s that?” asked Harry.
“It’s Chinese, it means Fire Wing Tiger, she’s a Zouwu,” retorted Nicolás. “They’re like massive cats with lion manes. They can even Apparate.”
And the rest of the afternoon went on with Nicolás showing Harry some of his favorite places inside the reserve before they had to go back home to shower and open their Christmas presents.
Of course, Harry would’ve never expected to receive another Firebolt after crashing and destroying the last one; he would, however, deny, until his dying breath, the high-pitched squeal that came out of his throat.
⋆｡°✩°｡⋆
Author's note
so, yes, jkr sucks at anything related to representation and to me is just offensive to have your only asian character names Cho Chang, so, in here, she'll be named Zhang Mei, which is Chinese.
Alsoo, the date?? it was adorable and I love it! and I hope to be writing much more of them together :)
little spoiler: next update, we'll be exploring the cave! finally! I've been so excited about that chapter and I loved the result!
Finally, yes, I don't know if you guys noticed this before, but this fanfic will have a pretty heavy Dumbledore bashing, so, buckle up I guess
- 𝐣. 𝐟. 𝐜. 🐼💜