A/N: Hey everyone! Long time, no update... sorry about that. But Here's a new chappie! It's actually fairly long (Sorry? Not sure if that's really a bad thing) but I didn't like splitting it into two chapters like I originally planned so finally just decided to do it as one long chapter... but I hope you enjoy! Please let me know what you think about it :)
With Harry asleep in his bed, I make myself and Sirius some tea before returning to Teddy and Sirius in the living room.
"Hiya Papa!" Teddy says when I walk into the room, and he quickly adjusts so that I can sit next to him on the couch, I do so setting the tea down on the table.
"Hey kiddo," I respond carding my fingers through his hair. I look up and notice that the show we had been watching is over.
"Well, you still have a little time until bedtime, so why don't you go find a toy to play with quietly. But please try to keep your voice down, Harry is already asleep in bed," I say setting the boy down on his feet.
"You can play for half an hour than Papa or I will come get you for your bath," Sirius says as Teddy runs past and up the stairs to his room, before slamming the door shut. I cringe and sit in the silence straining for any sound from Harry's bedroom.
"Do you want me to go check on him?" Sirius asks me, taking his tea cup from the table beside me and joining me on the couch.
"No, I don't want to wake him. If you go in after the door slamming, I don't think he would just fall back asleep. Let's just wait and see what happens, he might not have even woken up."
We sit in a peaceful silence, just enjoying each other's company until Sirius gets up to go take Teddy to his bath. I can't help but be happy that I do not have to deal with Teddy's bath tonight. He has never been a huge fan of them, but recently he has become obsessed with playing in the bath. So much so, that it is near impossible to get him out of the tub.
"Remus, Teddy has requested you for story time tonight," Sirius says after some time has passed. I look up from the book I had been reading to see him grinning from ear to ear.
"Well! We better not keep him waiting!" I joke, setting my book down, and leading the way up the stairs.
I walk into Teddy's room to find him already tucked into bed with the book of Grimm Fairytales sitting on his lap. I grab the book before sitting down on the bed next to Teddy, while Sirius pulls the desk chair over to the bed before sitting down as well.
Teddy is still awake by the time I finish the story, but looking at the clock I notice that it is much past his bedtime, so no matter how much he begs I refuse to start another one. I set the book down on the bedside table before standing up.
"Goodnight pup, love you lots. If you need anything, come get me or Daddy," I say bending down to place a kiss on his forehead. Sirius follows suit, before turning off the lights and turning on the night light.
"Well, it's now or never I suppose," I say to Sirius walking out of Teddy's room and down to our new living room so I can floo over to my parents'. "Will you be alright here for a little while? I'll try not to be too long but who knows with my parents."
"Why don't you call over there and invite them here. I'll put on some tea and then we can both face your mother together. You know she is going to be upset that we didn't tell her we were considering adopting again," he says walking over to me and patting me on the back in a way that says he's glad he isn't me.
"Alright, but get out some of those chocolate covered biscuits my dad like. Got to butter up at least one of them, right?" I joke before heading over to the floo. I toss in some powder before kneeling and sticking my head into the flames.
"Hello Remus! Hope! Remus is here!" My dad calls for my mother, while standing from his chair where he had been sitting reading. He was probably just waiting for me to arrive. "I hope you aren't really planning on having this conversation with your mother through the floo. She has quite a few things to say to you," he says turning to me and raising an eyebrow.
"Actually, I was just stopping by to invite you over for a cup of tea. Sirius thought that would be the best. Plus then you can see a bit of our new house."
"Alright. Step back, I'll go find your mother and we will be right through," he says, so I tell him our new Floo location before pulling my head from the flames.
Sirius finishes making the tea, and carries the tray out to the living room, while I tidy up the blocks Harry and Teddy were playing with earlier.
"Sirius! Remus! I already love your house and I've only seen the living room," my mother says stepping through the flames and pulling Sirius into a hug before heading my way. As she hugs me, my father arrives and he gives Sirius a hug before reaching for me as well.
"Come, I'll show you the downstairs. You'll have to come back during the day sometime and get a tour of the upstairs. I know Teddy is going to want to show off his new bedroom," I say before leading them into the kitchen.
My mother loves the kitchen, just like I thought she would. She comments on how nice the wood cabinets are and the how large and open it is. I know it won't be long before she is over here baking cookies with the boys or cooking some sort of meal.
We then walk through the dining room, though there isn't much to see there, nor in the office space on the other side of the front door. I know Sirius will take over that space. He'll need it now that he is going to have to start grading papers and writing tests.
We then join Sirius in the living room, where I sit down next to Sirius on the couch and wait for my mom to say something. I know it is only a matter of time.
"So, tell us about you new boy," Dad says as a conversation starter.
So Sirius quickly starts in on the tale of how Harry entered our lives, and a bit about him as well, we've only had him for a day though so there isn't a whole bunch to say.
"And Teddy is fine with everything?" Mom asks, staring at me.
"Harry and Teddy are getting along great actually. So far there haven't been any issues but we know not to expect things to be like this forever. Tomorrow we plan on taking the boys shopping. Albus got Harry some new clothes and when the house elves moved us they seemed to have put some of Teddy's old things away in Harry's room as well. But he obviously needs some toys, and a new pair of shoes and maybe a jacket…" I trail off thinking of all of the random little things we should buy for Harry. I should start a list.
"You will both love him. We plan on starting Harry in pre-school in the fall while Teddy starts primary school. We thought since Teddy was going to go to school in Hogsmede we'd look into sending Harry to school near there as well. And then comes the task of sorting out our schedules with the boys'. There is still a lot to be done," Sirius says taking over.
"Well your mother and I would like to help in whatever way we can. We loved having Teddy over a couple of times a week last year, so if you need us to do that with Harry please don't hesitate to ask," my dad says smiling and reaching for a biscuit on the table. I am actually surprised he held out this long.
"Why didn't you tell us you were thinking of adopting again? You know we just want you to be happy and it seems that the two of you have put some thought into this, but I can't help but feel that this has all happened a bit quickly. I just worry about you boys," my mom says sending us a concerned look and I can't say I blame her for feeling this way.
It has happened very fast, and if it wasn't Harry I'd be feeling way more overwhelmed by everything. I am not saying that I am not stressed about it all, just that Harry makes it worth it. I know I am willing to do anything for that boy.
"It has happened quickly but I don't regret doing it. We didn't tell you we were looking to adopt because we weren't even sure that we wanted to. But then when we saw Harry we knew he was right for us. We couldn't leave him, and we ended up having to take him in a lot sooner than expected. But now we just need to let things settle and get back into routine," I say nervously hoping that my parent buy the little white lie that I have to tell.
Mom takes a moment before nodding her head, and I look up to see Dad watching the two of us, before he shrugs a shoulder and nods as well. Now that Mom knows a bit more about the situation I can tell she feels better knowing that we didn't purposefully leave her out. I know once she has had the time to see us all together, and knows that things are going to work out she will stop questioning all of it.
"You two are going to have to get some sibling photographs done soon so I can have pictures of my grandsons to show off!" she says with a smile, and I know everything is going to be alright.
My parents don't stay too much longer, knowing that we have two young boys upstairs that will be up in the morning whether we are ready for them or not. We both hug them goodbye and after Mom floos, Dad turns to us.
"I want you to know that your mother and I know that the two of you aren't telling the whole truth about this situation, but I trust that you have made the best decision. I just want you to remember that Hope and I will never judge you, so if you ever need someone to talk to we are here," he says before grabbing some floo powder and leaving.
Sirius and I share a long look before deciding to head to bed ourselves. It has been a long day, there is no need to add to it.
"AHHHHHH!" I jump up, startled awake by a loud wail. I turn to Sirius and see him in a similar state of panic.
"You check on Harry, I'll check on Teddy," he says, throwing himself out of bed, grabbing his wand and slipping on his slippers. I don't hesitate to follow.
I follow Sirius down the hall, passing him when he stops at Teddy's door.
"Harry?" I ask walking into the room, and turning on the lights to a low setting. If he is still asleep I don't want to startle him awake. I walk over to the bed to find it empty. "Harry?" I ask again, trying to stop myself from panicking. He has to still be in the house, the doors are warded to prevent the boys from wandering off on their own. That doesn't mean that I don't panic when I find his bed empty.
I quickly check under the bed before walking out of the room to check the bathroom. While walking back to Harry's room, I pass Sirius and Teddy in the hall.
"The scream woke him up. He asked to sleep in our room tonight," Sirius says, carrying a sleepy Ted in his arms. "I'm going to go lay him down in our bed, I'll be back shortly."
I nod my head, before heading back to Harry's room. Unlike before, I can now hear some soft sniffles. I follow them to the closet. I slowly open the door to find Harry curled up in a ball in the back corner, with his arms wrapped around himself, with tears streaming down his face.
"Hey Harry," I say softly, trying not to startle him. It isn't very successful though, because he still jerks back smacking the back of his head against the wall behind him which causes him to yelp in pain. Despite my earlier plan to wait until Harry came to me, I can't ignore his pain so move forward scooping him up and carrying him out of the closet.
I quickly notice that he has wet bottoms so I know to avoid the bed choosing instead to grab one of the blankets off of the bed and wrap him up before carrying downstairs. First I will calm him down a bit before throwing him into a bath to clean him up. I carry him out into the living room where Sirius is waiting for us with a cup of hot cocoa for the boy.
"Hey kiddo," he says softly, running his fingers through his hair, causing Harry to flinch away when he reaches a tender spot on the back of his head. Sirius looks up at me in confusion.
"He hit the back of his head on the closet wall. Will you put some pain relief potion in his cocoa? And maybe a little bit of a calming draught? He had an accident, so he is going to need a bath before we can put him back to bed," I explain softly, rubbing Harry's back to try and calm him though it only seems to make him cry harder.
Sirius quickly runs a diagnostic charm to make sure Harry's head isn't severely injured before adding the necessary potions to the cocoa and handing me the mug.
"Here kiddo," I say softly, moving the mug up towards his face but he only shirks away. "It's alright, it's just some hot cocoa. Come on now pup, it will make you feel better," I say trying to coax him into drinking it.
When I can't get him to drink it, Sirius takes Harry from my arms before sitting down on the couch with the boy on his lap. Harry is securely wrapped up in the blanket sitting with his back against Sirius' chest and his head on Sirius' shoulder. If the boy wasn't so upset, I would comment on how sweet the two of them look all snuggled together.
Sirius reaches for the cup of cocoa, before pressing it to the boy's lips. I watch as Harry takes a small sip. Upon realizing that it does in fact taste good, he eagerly drinks a bit more. Noticing that I am not needed I head back to Harry's room.
I quickly strip the sheets and blankets off of the bed, and throw them in the hamper to be dealt with tomorrow. I cast a quick scourgify on the mattress before putting a clean set of sheets and blankets on the bed. I then head into the bathroom, starting the bath before heading to mine and Sirius' room to check on Teddy.
"Hey kiddo, you still up?" I whisper softly sitting down next to him on the bed.
"Yeah, is Harry ok?" he asks me.
"He'll be alright. He just had a bad dream, and when he woke up he didn't know where he was and was very scared," I say pulling Teddy up onto my lap. We have more than one scared child tonight, and even though Teddy isn't acting upset I know he needs just as much love and comfort.
"Do you think he'd feel better if he had a plushy? Stripes always makes me feel better if I wake up from a bad dream. Especially cause I can tell him all about the dream and that always helps," he says, talking about his favorite stuffed dog that he has had since he was a babe. He sits, playing with the buttons on my shirt with said dog tucked safely under one arm.
"Maybe. We will have to buy him one when we go shopping," I say to him.
"I have lots of plushys. He can have Snuffles, I hardly ever play with him anyways. Do you think that'd help?"
"I don't know, why don't you go get Snuffles, while I go check on Daddy and Harry? Then you can ask Harry if he wants Snuffles," I say smiling down at the boy in my lap. He gives me a huge smile, happy to be able to help, before jumping off of my lap and hurrying down the hall to his room.
I walk back to the bathroom, finding Sirius quickly washing up Harry who still has tears falling down his face but seems a lot calmer. Though that could just be from the potion.
"How's it going in here?" I ask softly, so as not to startle Harry.
"Alright, can you go grab some clean pajamas for Harry? Then I can change him in here and we don't need to go back to his room till tomorrow. I don't want to set him off again," Sirius says turning to me. I nod my head and quickly do as I am asked. I pass Teddy in the hallway and tell him to head back to mine and Sirius' room.
Sirius and I quickly get Harry dressed in his clean pajamas, before Sirius scoops him up and carries him to our room. When Harry sees Teddy he seems to try to hide in Sirius' neck, and Sirius lets Harry try to calm himself down while sitting down on the bed. Teddy crawls over to them on the bed before sitting down next to Sirius and patting Harry on the back, and I can't help but grin to myself.
"It's ok Harry. I have bad dream sometimes too but Papa and Daddy always make it better. And hugging my stuffed dog, Stripes, helps too. I've got another stuffed dog, I thought maybe you could have him cause I know he gets lonely when I spend time with Stripes… his name is Snuffles cause when you hug him he makes this little huffing noise," Teddy says before holding out the small all black dog.
"I can keep him?" Harry asks Teddy softly, turning his head towards him. "And he's not broken or nothing? Are you sure?"
Teddy nods his head, before holding the dog a little closer to Harry. Harry hesitantly reaches out a hand before grabbing the stuffed dog and hugging him close.
"Alright, well I think that that is enough excitement for one night, don't you? How about we all try to get some sleep?" Sirius says standing up to pull the blankets back before laying down with Harry curled into his side, hugging his new plushy tightly against his chest.
I follow Sirius' lead and lay down on the other side of the bed, where Teddy quickly attaches himself to my side with his blue and white striped dog tucked in between us.