chapter 16
The next morning Albus and Gellert were woken up by moving, then crying. He picks up the baby and rocks him “shh, oh you must be hungry” he says softly and gets out of bed, Gellert was already up and was coming in the room with a bottle. Albus smiles and takes the bottle “thank you” he kisses Gellert and gives the bottle to Newt.
Gellert kisses him back and hums “he was making noise when I woke up so I assumed he would be waking up soon” the blond looks at the boy and holds the bottle for him. Albus always manages to get him to bend to his wants and sometimes it’s good. He checks the boy's wounds and sees them slowly healing. “I also put some healing potion in the bottle.”
“Are you sure that’s safe?” Albus looks at Gellert. He didn’t know much about giving toddlers potions, they didn’t learn about it in school. He feels Gellert nod against his head and leans into him as the taller of the two wraps his arms around him. Albus smiles a bit and looks outside. It had snowed again over the night and he can’t help but think that it was a miracle that they found Newt when they did because there was no way he would’ve survived the night, it was a miracle that he survived out there in the winter at all. Albus wanted to stay like this forever, leaning against the love of his life quietly with their new baby constantly feeding..though one thing was missing. “Is Theseus up yet?” He looks at the taller of the two.
Gellert pulls him close and kisses his head “not that I heard when I went past his room” Gellert watches as Newt finishes his bottle and refills it after the boy starts crying. Newts hair, now fully dry, was fluffy looking like a mix between blond and auburn. He had a light scattering of freckles bound to grow darker the more he grew. He starts to rock them and hums as the baby falls asleep. “I'm going to hurt them eventually,” he says quietly. He lets Albus turn around in his hold and kiss him.
“No you will not” he says Gently “you aren’t a monster and you aren’t a curse, you're their father and I am right here to help” Albus goes to lay Newt in a pile of pillows and tucks him in with a blanket. He then goes to get a house elf to get a crib for the baby and sits down, pulling his love close “you’re an amazing father, you proved that with Theseus. And an amazing leader” Albus kisses him and laughs a bit when Gellert ends the kiss to kiss down his neck “no, we have a baby in the bed” he gently pushes the blonds head away.
Gellert gets back up and straightens out his shirt “I’m going to check on Theseus” he leaves the room with another kiss and goes to Theseus’ room. When he goes in the boy is just sitting up and he picks him up “good morning Theseus” he kisses his head and smooths the boys hair. Calls up for breakfast, helping the boy get dressed for the day.
As they eat breakfast Gellert hears crying down the hall “oh looks like your brother is getting fussy” he ruffles Theseus hair and finishes his food. As he pushes his plate away a house elf quickly grabs it and takes it away. “Why is Fawks pecking at the window?” Theseus asks when they head into Albus and Gellerts room.
Albus had set the crying baby down to open the window “I don’t know Theseus but it probably has something to do with Newt”. The Phoenix lands on the bed when the window is opened for him and he looks at the babe curiously again. Albus sits back on the bed and picks Newt up, who was entranced by the majestic bird.
Theseus smiles “his name is Newt!” He climbs on the bed “like the animal?” He looks at the little baby and smiles at him. Gellert sits with them and lets Fawks use his arm as a stand “it’s short for Newton, and I liked the name. Though the animal is very fitting too because it seems he like animals quite a bit already”
Albus kisses the baby’s head “maybe, why else would a little baby not be scared of a bird as big as Fawks.” He gets the bottle from the house elf that popped in and lets Newt drink. “You can hold him after he eats Theseus, then we have to go to town for baby things to make his nursery” he calms their excited older child. Checking on Newt who was drinking fast, the boy must’ve been starving since he could not get the right nutrition for however long he was out there. Albus looks up when Gellert gets up, watching as he walks to the closet to change out of his house clothes, “love we are just going to the nearby town you don’t have to change”
Gellert comes back out while fixing his tie “I want to, a leader is a public figure we should always look our best when we are out.” he kneels down and looks at Newt, letting the baby grab onto his suit jacket “ti ketten nagyon különleges fiúk vagytok” he whispers and lays his head on Albus’ knee. After a minute he huffs as Fawks sees fit to use his head as a stand “Albus your bird”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As they go into the town they are greeted mostly by smiles and some gifts, mostly for Theseus, and others wear surprised faces seeing the new baby with them. They quickly go into a shop as they are bombarded by questions, Albus smiles a bit and checks on Newt, who he was holding, and smiles “looks like someone is already popular.” They look around the store and Albus picks out some baby supplies, some blankets and bedding for a crib. He smiles as he sees out the corner of his eye Gellert helping Theseus pick out toys for Newt. Many toys and basic baby supplies that used to be hand made by families are now found in regular shops which was very convenient. They were able to buy some baby gowns and little clothes that looked like combinations that the muggles called rompers for crawling children, they looked so adorable and he couldn’t wait to see Newt in them.
As Albus puts the clothes and supplies in a bag he brought he goes over to Gellert and Theseus “oh those toys are adorable”. He lets Theseus place them in the bag and watches him run to find more. Albus smiles as he notices Gellert trying to take Newt “you know you can ask me, you don’t have to steal your own child” he gently hands Newt to him.
“I’m not stealing him, you’ve been holding him the entire morning. Let’s go look at bassinets” he kisses his cheek and looks at the things in the bag. Albus pays for the things there and covers Newt in the blankets more “we should go back and change him into warmer clothes then go to diagon alley” he suggests and calls Theseus back over to them so they can leave. They leave the town limits with people still following trying to ask them questions and then they apparate back to the castle. As the family of now four go up to the floor with their rooms on, Gellert opens the door. The door was close to their room but far enough away or when Newt gets older he would have some privacy from his parents. The room was empty but spacious with two windows, big enough for a lot of natural light to light the room, the floors had been enchanted to be a nice, soft cream colored carpet instead of the cold stone it was before; the walls were still stone but enchanted to have figures of different animals, both magical and un-magical, roaming around the bottom row of stones that was changed to be a green color. The only object in the room so far was a decent sized dresser and toy bin, the toy bin in a corner of the room, and the dresser along the wall opposite of the door about 2/3rds of the way down to the windows along the left side of the room. The last thing that was added to the room was thick curtains, obviously meant to keep light out and whatever onlookers there could be in the middle of the mountains away from the windows, the curtains themselves were a soft hydrangea blue.
Albus smiles as he walks around the room, Gellert having taken his bag to put the clothes and toys away, leaving out a blue and white “romper” with longer legs and some long socks and shoes to put on Newt. Albus sits on the floor to change Newt out of the regular baby clothes into the warmer ones and bundles him back in the blankets and smiles “an adorable baby boy to go with is adorable room” he picks Newt back up, he looks up and sees his lover laughing a bit to himself. Curious, he tilts his head in question to the heterochromic man, “what are you laughing about Gellert, he looks adorable.”
Gellert goes over and picks Theseus up, then wrapping his arm around Albus’ waist “just how you’ve been longing for Theseus to have a younger sibling then we come across this little bundle.” Gellert fixes Theseus’ jacket and kisses his head “I don’t think I nor Theseus have been inside Diagon Alley, I know you took me to that restaurant? There but I don’t remember going in” they walk outside, Gellerts arm still around Albus since the Irish man could apparate better to Diagon Alley, this was because Gellert had never been there before. After they apparate Albus checks on Newt “he takes apparting very well for a baby” he hums and smiles as Newt smiles looking at the sky. Albus looks up to see what he sees and sees some owls that got out of one of the stores, presumably, “oh do you like the owls Newt, they are very pretty aren't they?”
Gellert takes Theseus to get some lunch, Albus saying he’ll join them after he finds at least a bassinet for Newt. Albus finds a shop that looks like it has childrens furniture and goes inside finding a small baby section, he looks at the few options they have for bassinets and finds a shopkeeper “excuse me do you have any different colors or the skirt of this bassinet?”
The shopkeeper smiles “yes, let me get some samples” she takes out her wand and accios some small squares of fabric in different colors “these are our different colors, though our red is currently out of stock. A very popular color this year.” funny how with magic something could be ‘out of stock’ but sometimes the color is hard to replicate and the professionals need a break. A soft but vibrant yellow catches Albus’ eye and it reminds him of bumblebees, he gently takes the sample “this one is perfect, how much would it be?” The shopkeeper tells him the price and he nods, checking if they brought enough money and smiling. “I will be back later to buy it, I have some other things I need to get too.” he continues looking around after the shopkeeper leaves to do the rest of her work and checks on Newt too.
After Albus is finished looking around he goes to the leaky cauldron to find his other boys, finding them in a corner table and sitting with them. “I found an adorable bassinet that’s this beautiful yellow and it reminds me of bumblebees.” He takes a bite of Gellerts mashed potatoes and smiles, “how is your lunches?” Albus listens to Theseus talk about his lunch and how Gellert helped him pick it out and smiles more.
Gellert makes a bite of his mashed potatoes, peas, and meatloaf for Albus, “here why don’t you try?” He feeds Albus the fork full and looks down at a sleeping Newt, “someone is quite tired isn’t he?” Gellert looks back at Albus as he finishes chewing “Gellert we are in public in London, they still aren’t very open about us and our cause.” the auburn haired man says quietly. Gellert smiles a bit “have you not noticed the ‘notice me not’ charm I put around us?” He gives the rest of his food to Albus and takes Newt, gently so as not to wake him “I’d say he’s about a year old.”
As the family finishes eating, Gellert takes a bottle out of the back and warms it a bit with his hand, a subtle show of his power in magic, and after testing that it wasn’t too hot gave it to Newt for him to feed sleepily since the baby had just woken up and the first thing he did was cry for a bottle. Albus cleans Theseus’ face with a towel and smiles “there’s my clean and dashing young man.” Said boy smiles “can we get more stuff now?!” He was excited to have a new brother and wanted to help get a lot of stuff for him, though he was a little upset because his dad warned him that he won’t be able to play like him for a while. The family gets up and uncasts the charm when Newt is done with his bottle, now happily sucking on his blanket. As they head out of the Leaky cauldron Albus feels a familiar pang and looks around, not seeing who he thought was there. “Albus?” Gellert had noticed and was ready to do something if he needed, after a minute of them standing there, people started looking and Theseus started tugging on Albus’ trousers. Gellert gently shakes Albus out of whatever thought he was in “Albus you’re starting to worry your boys, it won’t do their mother good when they get home and Theseus starts rambling about you zoning out.” They had agreed a while ago that in places that still weren’t open to new ideas that Theseus would be shown as Albus’ son and Gellert as his friend.
Albus shakes his head when Gellert gets his attention and checks on Theseus, picking him up “did I scare you Theseus?” He hugs him close when the boy nods. He smiles as he hears some onlookers gushing over a father and his friend “babysitting” their kids, and how nice they were about giving their mother a day off, and how she must trust them a lot to handle shopping without her. All things he could laugh about but it would bring more attention to them. They walk into the store he was in before “this bassinet style but it would be in the yellow I was talking about, and better it's compatible with a rocking charm so it won’t violently rock with the charm on, but more so a soft rock that would put him to sleep.” Gellert nods and lets Albus talk about it while also looking at the bassinet, noting that it would be a beautiful color for a springtime pram.
As they keep looking for things Gellert finds a Pram that has detachable seating so they could switch out colors “we could get this with three colors, a basic black, a yellow to match the bedding for spring and summer, and a fall color.” he looks at Albus who looks over the pram and nods “and he’ll be able to move around in it when he’s a bit older, but not be able to fall out of it”.
As they talk about the pram Theseus finds some more toys he wants to show his fathers and runs into someone and falls “s-sorry…” the 8 year old looks up and make a noise, the man holding the toddler looks very similar to his father, but different enough that you can tell they are two very different people. Theseus’ quickly gets up and runs off, forgetting the toys “daddy, Apu!” He cries, scared, which alerts both of his fathers since he knows not to call Gellert Apu in places like this unless it was just him and Gellert together. Gellert quickly finds Theseus running to them and picks him up “hey, hey, Theseus its ok, what happened” he rocks the boy and holds him close, looking around for any threat that could be in the store.
Albus stands close to Gellert, keeping Newt between his chest and Gellerts side, also looking for threats when he feels that feeling again. That pull of family and that feeling of being watched, then he notices Aberforth walking out of the door quickly. Albus takes a breath and lets his out shakily “lets just buy these two and go home” he whispers, not wanting to be out anymore and definitely not in London. Gellert nods, knowing if Albus wanted to leave it meant he saw something or someone he didn’t want to be around. They paid for the bassinet and the pram with the inclusions then left, apparating back to the Austrian mountains and their home.
Gellert goes to put Theseus down for a nap “Shh, es ist ok, wir sind jetzt zu Hause, Kleines. Sie sind sicher, apu ist hier” he says softly and tucks him in. “how about you take a nap and when you wake up we can talk about what scared you ok” he kisses Theseus’ head when he nods and waits until the boy falls asleep. When he finds Albus rocking Newt clearly distressed, he gently takes Newt from him and kisses him “go lay down, I’ll set this up and lay Newt down for a nap” he watches as Albus slowly leaves the room to go to their own room.
Gellert lays Newt waves his hand, charming the bassinet to build itself then lays Newt in it, making sure he is ok if he moves around. After he shuts the curtains he goes to his and Albus’ room to lay with him. He lets Albus snuggle close to him “hey what happened at the shop?” he says softly and kisses his head. Albus closes his eyes and holds onto Gellert tightly “Aberforth was there…he left after Theseus started to freak out…” he hiccups “I stopped while we were leaving the leaky cauldron because I thought I felt someone watching me, then I saw him at the store.” he closes his eyes tighter trying not to cry, letting Gellert rub his back gently under his shirt. Gellert kisses his lover's head and holds him close, “we’re home now” he whispers and and closes his eyes, trying to calm his anger that bubbles up whenever that person is mentioned. He lets Albus fall asleep in his arms and pulls the covers over them, looks like he will be the only one not taking a mid-afternoon nap today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Over the next few months was hectic, with spring coming and Newt getting used to being around people, which led to lots of crying and windows being burst. Gellert and Albus had felt at ease enough that they wouldn’t need to constantly be around for fights not to break loose in the areas they have successfully merged, letting them spend more time together and at home. Theseus has taken his role as a big brother very well, Helping Newt calm down when he wanted to and playing with him. Everything was going well but Gellert could tell something was weighing on Albus’ mind, and in truth something had been on his mind too. About a month ago while giving Newt a bath he saw a vision in the water, it was of Albus surrounded by many children in school robes, he had the brightest smile he’s seen on his loves face. As the days fade by, Gellert could see it on Albus’ face, his smile slowly becoming smaller, his movements becoming lagged, his head being held closer to his own shoulder at night as they slept.
After another month Albus finally crashes and breaks down, he didn’t want to get out of bed and Gellert had to almost beg him to eat. Gellert takes care of the boys and when they are asleep he lays down with Albus “Mein Phönix, sprich mit mir?” he says softly into Albus’ hair “du weißt, dass ich es hasse, dich so zu sehen, und du hasst es, so zu sein.” Gellert smiles a bit as Albus looks at him for the first time in days.
Albus curls up more and looks away when he sees the blond smile “I’m just horrible at everything…” he whispers and closes his eyes again “Newt is always crying, it’s my fault…”. He makes a noise as Gellert forces his face up “Albus you are amazing at everything you do, you are kind, and patient, and caring,” Gellert kissing him “you see the good in everyone, you saved two little boys that love you. Newton just isn’t used to people we don’t know how long he was in the woods” Gellert lets Albus hide his head in his own chest. Albus hiccups “I’m also a freak, who couldn’t even protect my sister…”
Gellert holds him close “that night Isn’t your fault, you didn’t know she was downstairs, and that horrible Dotties man was aiming to kill you. It’s his fault…and mine for not getting her out of the way in time…” he says the last part quietly. That entire night was horrible, for the last, almost two years, he had been going over what he could’ve changed, what he could’ve done different to save both of them, Albus wouldn’t be in so much pain if he had only stepped in earlier; shut that idiot up earlier, lost his temper like he would’ve if anyone else had told him to stay out of something. Gellert was pulled out of his thoughts at something wet being wiped onto his face, he looked down as Albus, who instead of putting something on his face was wiping something off, he was crying, he hadn’t cried in a while.
“I never knew you blamed yourself..” Albus said softly, seeing Gellert crying he couldn’t help but press into his mind, see what he was thinking “you would’ve lost your temper?” Gellert moves and kisses his hand “I would’ve hurt you too” Gellert couldn’t live with himself if he ever hurt Albus, that much was already known since after the fight he couldn’t bear to be anywhere near him with the slight chance he might hate him.
After they talked for a bit, Gellert convinced Albus to take a bath with him and so they were. Albus leaning back against Gellerts chest and gellerts arms wrapped around his body. “How are the boys?” Albus finally asks and feels Gellert stop kissing along his shoulder. Gellert sighs and looks at him “Theseus is worried about you, he’s never seen you like this before. And I haven’t seen you this bad either” Gellert pulls Albus closer and looks intently at the water, a sign that he was getting another vision. “Gellert?” Albus looks back at him “what is this one about?”
Gellert kisses Albus “what would you have done for work if you hadn’t met me?” Albus tilts his head at the odd question “are you deflecting?” Gellert shakes his head and Albus hums “well…maybe a teacher…it doesn’t pay well at all but the reward is seeing kids excited to learn if you’re good at your job” He smiles a bit as he talks “but what does this have to do with your vision?”
“Would you still like to?”
“What?” Albus turns to look fully at him “Gellert if you’re deflecting it's a weird way to do it” Albus crosses his arms as Gellert laughs a bit, “No my love, I’m not deflecting, please answer my question.”
Albus leans on him again “maybe…” which was a yes definitely
Gellert pulls him closer “we are at a good place with our cause, this school year is almost through” he kisses Albus’ cheek “you should see if there's any openings at your school” he leans back so Albus’ arm doesn’t hit him as the red head quickly spins around again “you saw me teaching!” Gellert laughs a bit and nods “and the children loved you.