O-Shaped Cereal
Last night was… interesting, Harry thought. Being able to comfort Draco in one of his fits was a rare gift that held something of significance to Harry. And to learn more about him, and what goes on in his head…
Harry glided his razor around his chin and down his neck.
Hearing that Draco worries about Harry’s safety made Harry feel- well... He doesn't want Draco to feel the need to worry, truly. Especially not on top of everything else, but the sentiment also stirred up a warmth in him. Harry liked it, liked being cared about.
He ran the razor through the water of the tap.
Harry knows he has people in his life that care for him: Ron, Hermione, all of the Weasley’s, all of his friends, really. It’s just not quite the same. But the last thing he wants is for it to be a source of distress for Draco.
Speaking of, Harry pretended not to notice the sliver of white-blond hair that he could see off the edge of the mirror’s reflection. Why Draco was standing in a corner, watching Harry shave, he did not know. He figured that, from Draco’s angle, he likely didn’t realize that Harry could see him.
Harry made another pass at his chin, down his neck, observing the trail of clear skin that it left behind.
He wants very badly to snog the daylights out of Draco. Unfortunately, Draco said that they cannot be together. And, well, Harry can’t go against him. It’s incorrect. And maybe this is better for him, anyway. There’s just too much going on for Harry to add the pressure of attraction and the desire to do things such as snog. Draco is right in stopping things, actually, as much as it hurts Harry to acknowledge.
Draco walked away after another few swipes of the chin. Harry continued to shave, very decidedly ignoring the mild feeling of disappointment that he got knowing that Draco left the area.
They can’t be together, anyway. There are far too many reasons why it’s a bad idea. Draco was stronger than Harry in that regard, he supposed.
Earlier, during breakfast, Harry had to hold back the urge to ask Draco about whether his magic was better today. Harry had tried to assure him last night that maybe he was simply tired, but he knew that Draco saw right through it. Tiredness might affect a young child, but a fully practiced and learned wizard? Harry wondered what was wrong. Absently, he thought of the year that Tonks was sans metamorphmagus abilities. He wondered if something like that may be happening to Draco. He did not want to bring it up, though, especially because he noticed Draco was doing markedly less with his wand, today. Draco was actually being quite odd today, now that Harry thought of it. At one point, Harry watched him sit on his hands with a supremely frustrated expression about him. Harry doesn’t know why, and he did not ask, because it might lead him to doing something stupid, like hold him, again.
Harry wondered if Draco was thinking about him as much as Harry was.
Harry startled at the sound of apparition, nicking his chin at the last swipe. John had arrived to take over for him tonight. He rinsed his face.
“Hello, Draco. Out of your room, I see! It’s a lovely day out.”
“As lovely as it may appear, it’s bloody freezing.” Harry chuckled inwardly at Draco’s response. The heat was, regrettably, still not fixed. Harry wondered if it would ever be fixed, at this point. Though the lack of heat does make it slightly easier to approach Draco with the idea of being close to each other. Something you can’t do anymore, Harry told himself.
“Well, yes, I- is Harry about?”
“He’s in the restroom. Should be out soon.” Harry heard the sound of footsteps. He opened the door to say hello and goodbye. Afterall, he had a godson to be with.
As soon as Harry arrived at the cream-coloured Willow Buds, he could feel the anticipation of seeing Teddy again building.
That was quickly squashed when the door to the center was blasted off its hinges by a force, revealing Teddy, red-faced and having an absolute fit, being levitated with a shield out to the waiting room by a witch in blue healer robes that Harry had never seen before. Her hair was in disarray and she looked tired. Harry stiffened.
“What happened? Put him down.” Harry Looked to Teddy, taking a tentative step forward. He couldn’t help the flare of anger that arose within him towards the mind-healer. He didn’t like to see Teddy upset. The mind-healer dropped her shield, floating Teddy gently to the ground. As soon as he touched down, Harry kneeled in front of him, making eye contact. Harry watched as Teddy gulped down several breaths, before breaking into hysterics again. Harry flinched at the sudden loudness. He glanced up at the healer, who looked herself about to cry, even beneath her professional demeanour. Harry forced himself to take a deep breath, then focused again on Teddy, wondering if his godson would accept a hug.
“It’s not been a very good day. Hannah flooed in sick. He wouldn’t stop asking for her. Didn’t want to listen to me- I’m sure you understand. But also…” Flooed in sick? The day after having a rather heated argument with Neville? But his mind swiftly left that topic as the witch revealed Teddy’s plush penguin, which was singed rather severely, half of its head gone and stuffing falling out. The witch began to speak again. “I would have fixed it but then he was yelling and screaming and furniture was flying and then you arrived and-” Harry stood, taking the plush and repairing it wandlessley with ease. He nodded at the mind-healer, then kneeled back down to Teddy. He put a gentle hand on his godson’s shoulder.
“Hey, Ted, look… would you like your penguin?” Harry held it out to him. Teddy took several more ragged breaths, using his hands to stand himself with a wobble. He grasped at the plush, then, to Harry’s surprise, crashed into him, clasping Harry’s clothing and attempting to wrap his legs around Harry’s torso. Harry registered this as an attempt to be carried, and he obliged without hesitation. He stood with Teddy in his arms, who gripped the plush penguin tight between them.
“I’m sorry that today wasn’t very good. Hopefully after some rest at home Ted will do better,” the mind healer tried. “I’m sure it goes without saying that I couldn’t get much done today. But, he did ask for and eat an entire yoghurt today! He did so very slowly, but we were extremely proud of him all the same.”
Even as Harry’s heart clenched for his godson, he could feel the pride blooming in his chest. “That’s wonderful.”
“We also would like to discuss a future meeting with his primary caretaker about an evaluation on his behavior plan,” she began. “I don’t know much because I’m only covering for the day, but contact Mary, and she can help you make arrangements.”
“Okay,” Harry nodded, passing his hand along Teddy’s back, hearing his tiny sniffles and the faint sound of him sucking his thumb. “Thank you Miss…”
“Jones. And thank you, Mister Potter.” She turned to try and meet Teddy’s eyes. “Goodbye, Teddy. I’ll see you around.” She sighed. Harry took Teddy’s backpack from her arm and made his leave, his mind straying back to the topic of Hannah, and having been sick. Maybe Neville knows something.... I do hope all is well.
Teddy was mostly calm once they were at Harry’s flat. First, Harry placed the backpack down on the floor, then he moved to put Teddy down. Teddy, however, clung tightly to Harry, who was now bent over awkwardly as Teddy hung from his clothes. He stood back up before Teddy could get the chance to fall.
“Okay, er…” Harry hugged Teddy closely. “We can sit down together, then. How about that?” He walked to the sofa, not really expecting any sort of response. He settled into the cushioned seat, feeling the weight of Teddy settle on his chest. The boy mewled slightly, adjusting himself and shifting so the back of his head was against the crook of Harry’s neck.
They sat like that for something akin to ten or twelve minutes. Harry did not dare move until Teddy did, sitting up on Harry’s lap, then climbing down from him, penguin still firmly in his arms, and going to his backpack. Harry followed suit, opening the bag and emptying it of its toys for Teddy, who grabbed at a small cardboard book with two brown rabbits on it. Harry smiled softly, deciding that now was probably the best opportunity to give a quick call to Neville while Teddy played. Then, Teddy could have his bath.
Neville’s face appeared through the bright green flames not a moment after Harry called for “Professor Longbottom’s office, Hogwarts.” Feeling a touch odd as he did, because Neville was his friend, and now he’s a professor at Hogwarts.
“Harry! How are you?”
“All good, Neville. How about you? I, er. I saw you and Hannah arguing at church yesterday, and today she flooed in sick from work. Just wanted to check in.”
Neville cringed. “Yeah. It’s… We kind of… split, yesterday.” Harry couldn’t help his eyebrows disappearing into his hairline at that. Neville continued hurriedly. “The argument was about… well, really, everything and nothing…. It's a long story… I was planning on telling Ron on Friday night at the Three Broomsticks. I know you rarely go to those, but er, yeah. I can’t say I know why Hannah flooed in sick, but it might be because of that- hey, listen, Harry. You’re welcome to join Ron at Pub night. I think he plans on bringing Hermione along this time, too. And We’ll talk all about it then. For now, I’ve got a lot of papers to grade, what with the Holiday break nearly starting… I’ve got to go now. Say hi to Teddy for me, yeah? Bye now.”
Harry could barely get a word in about Neville and Hannah, let alone get the chance to ask how Neville knew about Teddy. Then Harry thought it was likely from Hannah, or, much more likely, from Ron or Hermione. It really shouldn’t have been any sort of surprise. With a sigh, he stood up from the fireplace and turned to Teddy.
“Alright, let’s say we have a bath, yeah?”
Teddy most certainly did not want to have a bath today.
Harry sat hunched over next to the tub, soaked through his clothes from head to toe in water and soap suds, taking deep breaths to calm down from his agitation. Teddy was also soaked, but also hovering, of his own accord, over the filled bathtub with his hair a deep red, scowling at Harry. His soap bottle was shrunk down to the size of a paperclip at the bottom of the tub. Harry had been trying (and failing) to give him a bath for the better part of an hour.
Harry honestly wondered if Hermione would even notice he just fed Teddy and put him to bed without any further attempts at washing him.
She probably would, knowing her.
However, Harry found that, at this moment, he couldn’t be arsed about it. He scrubbed at his eyes, blinking away tiredness, and turned to Teddy, who had risen slowly upwards and was now tapping his feet curiously against the ceiling as he continued to hover.
“How about we skip the bath for today? No bath. I just need you to come down from there…” Teddy’s hair changed from flaming red to a duller burnt orange. He also began to lower himself. Harry sighed.
It took about 5 minutes of convincing before Teddy did lower himself enough for Harry to reach out and grab him.
Harry decided it might be good of him to ask Teddy what he wanted for dinner, seeing as he was not having a very good day. He put carrots, celery, an apple, O-cereal, and (because it didn’t hurt to offer) some yoghurt in front of Teddy and asked him what he wanted. He didn’t miss how the burnt orange of his hair turned back to its more commonly sported teal.
Teddy and Harry both ate O-shaped cereal with apple bits for dinner, though Harry had it with some milk and Teddy had it dry. They did this while watching cartoons on Harry's muggle telly. Harry found himself rather engrossed by the adventures of Elmo the red puppet and his friends. Certainly more so than Teddy, who had been rather taken by the programme at first, until he fell asleep beside Harry, a single cereal piece in his tiny fist. Harry continued to watch the show until it ended for more adult-friendly programming, and so Harry took that as his cue to begin Teddy’s nighttime routine. Carefully, so as not to wake Teddy, he moved from his spot on the sofa, accioing a cushion to replace him. Then, he grabbed Teddy’s mostly-empty bowl from his lap, and his own completely empty bowl from the coffee table, and set them to wash on their own with magic, so that he could pick up Teddy’s toys and turn off the telly.
Teddy awoke a bit later, when Harry tried to lift him up from his position on the sofa, blinking bleary-eyed, his cheek red from the spot that had been against the cushion.
“Ah, sorry you woke up, Ted,” Harry whispered. The flat’s lights had already been turned off, the soft glow of a lumos being the only thing keeping them from pure darkness. “It’s bedtime. Let’s get to bed.”
Teddy yawned and got himself up, automatically reaching for Harry’s hand and grasping it- well, two of his fingers, more like- and they padded off to the bedroom together, but not before Teddy stopped at his bag, digging around for something. Harry waited, wondering if he might have to tell his godson that it was no time for toys. Teddy fished out the same cardboard book from earlier, with the two brown rabbits at the front, then went back to Harry, looking up at him and holding the book out.
Harry took the book. “Do you want me to read it to you?”
Teddy nodded, and then made a face that Harry began to recognize as his “trying to speak’’ face, screwed up in effort. Harry cut it off, not interested in having Teddy struggle, especially not when he’s had such a day, and was half-asleep as it is. He quickly responded. “We’ll read it in the room. Come on....”
In the room, Harry gestured towards Teddy’s smaller bed beside Harry’s. The teal-haired boy went right around it, though, and began to hoist himself up onto Harry’s bed. Harry opened his mouth to protest, but then decided that he didn’t really care. The boy wasn’t even three, anyway. And Harry would be lying if he didn’t say that he remembered one-too-many instances where he’d wanted to curl up in bed with his parents to keep him safe, instead of his dingy, dark, and dirty cupboard. He crawled into bed right alongside Teddy, and used his wand to cast a barrier around the bed, so that there would be no chance of Teddy falling, even if Harry knew it wasn’t likely.
Teddy found Harry as he settled in and bodily slammed himself against the book that Harry was holding to his chest, letting out a small giggle. Harry couldn’t help but return the laugh.
“Alright, yes, yes. I’m going. Just let me get comfortable,” he responded. Teddy wormed himself between Harry’s arm and his torso, resting his head on Harry’s shoulder and putting his thumb in his mouth, looking up at the book as Harry read the cover.
Guess How Much I Love You
Harry read it aloud, and, with a glance down to see his godson was paying attention, he opened it.
“Little Nutbrown Hare, who was going to bed, held on tight to Big Nutbrown Hare’s very long ears. He wanted to be sure that Big Nutbrown Hare was listening. ‘Guess how much I love you,’ he said.”
Teddy giggled. Harry could feel him smiling even around his thumb, and in his periphery, he saw Teddy’s hair turning from teal to black and slightly curly, just like Harry’s. He continued to read.
“This much,’ said Little Nutbrown Hare, stretching out his arms as wide as they could go…”
—-----
Harry was startled into waking by the shimmer and glow of Ron’s terrier patronus. He shot up in bed, his heart pounding.
Not now, he groaned inwardly, glancing towards Teddy, who was asleep, curled up on the other side of the bed, his hair still the spitting image of his godfather’s. I’ve got Teddy. What time even is it?
“It’s happened again. ‘Mione is on her way over to the floo for Teddy. Come over to these coordinates.”
Harry scrambled for his wand as Ron’s voice spoke through the patronus, (and Harry; worried that it was so loud that it might wake Teddy, though maybe it was just the fact that he himself was still trying to fully wake up) snatched it from the bedside table sent an accio at a notepad in his working robes. He quickly scribbled down the place he was meant to go, and from the other side of the wall, he heard his floo roar to life. He quickly turned to Teddy, letting out a sigh of relief to see that he was still blissfully asleep. Hastily and as quietly as possible, he crawled out of bed. Simultaneously removing his shirt and reaching an arm out to catch his uniform, which he wandlessly and wordlessly sent flying towards him, he went out to greet Hermione, one arm already going into his uniform.
“You go on ahead, I’ll keep an eye on Teddy,” she spoke urgently, hugging her sleeping robes tiger around herself with a shiver. “The team’s already gone over.”
“Thanks,” he responded. “I’ll be back to get him ready for the center.”
“He’s due to wake in about an hour and a half. I can do that if need be,” Hermione responded with a yawn, pulling Harry in for a quick hug.
“I know, but I’d like to be there regardless. I’ll see you in a bit. He’s sleeping in my bed. Feel free to sleep as well.”
Harry was apparating within two minutes of that, right in front of what looked to be a storm cellar next to what Harry assumes used to be someone’s countryside home. The land was barren save for old, incomplete bits of wooden fencing, The remnant of the house, and said storm cellar. The winter wind blew across, making Harry shiver. He walked through the open doors to the cellar, announcing his arrival to Ron and Mordecai.
The body was already covered with layers and layers of magic when Harry descended. It didn’t stop the smell from making Harry’s stomach lurch. Ron appeared from the side, holding a camera.
“Mate, you’ll never believe who the bastard got this time.” He held the camera up to his face and took a snapshot of the wall, where Harry found the now-familiar christogram in blood.
Then Mordecai. “He’s actually helped us out with this one. It’s Rodolphus Lestrange.”