CHAPTER ELEVEN

Monday

Nico stopped short of the park. All the kids were there, including Thomas. He was easy to spot. All the other children were gathered around him.

His skin was shockingly pale, his face and body thin from clearly having been sick. A bright green and yellow bandana wrapped around his head hid his hair from sight. But what stood out most to Nico was the wheelchair. He had seen them before, more recently on their field trip to the zoo.

The sick boy reminded him of seeing his Grandfather in the hospital. The aura surrounding Thomas was a combination of light green and deep purple. It scared him because his Grandfather had equal halves of green and purple in his aura. Thomas, on the other hand, was a sliver of green with a deep purple majority.

Izzy came skipping over and took his hand.

"Thomas is here. Come meet him," she said, her free hand flying around in wide gestural signs.

Nico was hesitant, but allowed the older girl to pull him along. The other kids parted, allowing for the duo to stop in front of Thomas. His eyes sparkled at the sight of them.

"Hi," Thomas said in a small, raspy voice.

"H-Hi," Nico replied.

"I'm Thomas," he said, putting his hand out.

Nico reached out to lightly grasp the other boy's hand.

"I'm Nico," he replied.

Thomas smiled.

"I like your name," Thomas proclaimed.

Nico's nervousness melted away as a big grin spread across his own face.

"Thanks! I like your name, too!" Nico exclaimed.

From nearby, Harry smiled. He had sensed Nico's anxiety, but had stood back to let the kids do what kids do best.

And they didn't disappoint, Harry thought.

He let the kids have another minute to themselves before starting their activities for the day. They did their basic exercises with Harry assisting Thomas, but not allowing him to overdo it. They played a parachute game with a brightly, rainbow colored parachute. Each child grabbed an end. They moved it up and down, giggling with excitement at the big whoosh of air it sent up.

Their energy shot higher when Harry inflated a beach ball and threw it out onto the parachute. It was difficult for the children to keep the ball on the parachute. It went flying off many times with a child having to let go of the parachute and run to retrieve the ball. Once they calmed down a little bit, they were able to control the bounce of the ball a little better.

After a few minutes of this play, Harry caught the ball. Each child took a turn under the parachute with the colors coming down gently on them. Izzy pushed Thomas' wheelchair under the parachute for his turn. When the game was over, Harry sent the kids off on free play.

Rather than run and play on the playground, Nico sat talking with Thomas and Izzy. Harry observed them from his place under a shady tree. Really, he surveyed the entire group. However, his gaze always came back to his young charge to check in on him.

Tuesday

"Thomas was purple."

Harry looked up from his soup. He frowned as Nico took a huge spoonful of his own soup.

"Purple? Was that the only color?" Harry asked.

Nico shook his head.

"There was a little green, but I had a hard time seeing it. The purple was big and dark," Nico said.

Harry put his spoon down. It was clear the little boy felt bad, especially if he was bringing something up from yesterday. Harry recalled now that Nico had said his grandfather had turned half green, half purple. Nico put his spoon aside. He pushed his bowl to the side so he could lean forward to rest his elbows on the island.

"Izzy said Thomas is sick. Really sick," Nico said.

Harry suppressed his urge to sigh. Fortunately, he had spoken to Severus and Draco about Thomas. They already knew how sick the young boy was. They had trusted Harry to explain it to Nico so that he may understand. It spoke volumes to Harry they put that much trust in him.

"Izzy is right. Thomas is very sick and has been for a while. You see, Thomas has cancer," Harry answered.

Nico stared at him with wide eyes.

"I heard Papa say cancer…kills people," he said, the last part breaking off in a quiet, horrified tone.

Harry reached forward to pat his arm.

"Yes, it is true that cancer can take lives. But Thomas has had very good doctors working hard for him. The tumors he has – these little balls inside his body – can cause him pain and leave him very tired. You should know, though, that Thomas has beat this before. He was sick when he was only a few months old and the doctors caught the cancer early. This particular cancer is recurrent," Harry explained.

Nico brightened up at hearing that Thomas had beat this ugly thing but was left confused.

"Re..curr..nut?" Nico asked, scrunching his face up.

Harry smiled. "Re-cur-ent. That word is for cancer that was cured but came back."

"Oh."

The two sat in silence. Harry could see it in Nico's eyes as he processed everything. Finally, he spoke.

"Can cancer win?" Nico asked.

Harry understood the question for what it really was. What Nico was asking was if Thomas would die.

"It's important to take it one day at a time. Thomas has a good chance because his cancer is small and his doctors are wonderful at caring for him," Harry answered.

With that said, they returned to their lunch. When Harry stood to take the bowls, Nico stopped him with a question.

"Can Thomas stay on Friday, too?"

Harry was so surprised it took him a minute to process the question. Once he did, his face broke out in a grin.

"That's a nice thought. I'll ask Thomas' mom later. Okay?"

"Okay!"

Wednesday

A dice rolled across the table and landed face-up with four large dots. Nico reached out, placing his finger on each dot as he counted them out loud.

"One…two…three…four! Four!"

Harry nodded. He watched Nico count out four counters that were in the shape of small, plastic bears. Then he traced the number four in a tray of sand with his finger. He finished off with slapping his hand against Harry's while counting to four again.

They repeated this several times with different numbers. After math, Harry worked with Nico on his gross and fine motor skills.

Thursday

"Six." "Six."

"Seven." "Seven."

"Eight." "Eight."

"Nine." "Nine."

"Ten." "Ten."

Nico smiled as he shook his open hand with a small twist in front of his body. Harry praised him for his accuracy.

"What do you want to learn next?" Harry asked cheerfully.

Nico tapped his cheek with his pointer while squinting his face. Then he opened up his face and cheered, "Colors!"

Harry nodded. He showed Nico how to lay his left arm out with palm face up. He showed him how to take his right hand palm up. He moved his hand with fingers wiggling up from wrist to elbow above the other arm.

"That's green," Harry explained.

Nico reared his head back.

"Why?" he asked, confused.

Harry chuckled. He continued teaching the different colors to the young lad. Nico had expressed an interest in learning sign language so he could communicate even more with Izzy. So Thursday's were now to be language day.

Friday

Harry chuckled as the laughter of boys floated into the kitchen.

Thomas and Nico were having a wonderful time. Harry had set up sleeping arrangements in the living room for them. They had games, movies, and toys to entertain them. Cooper was right in the thick of it, enjoying the boys' company. Cecil was off sleeping in a dark corner somewhere.

He was working on some snacks for the boys. He smiled as he recalled his visit to the Thomas' family. His mother was overwhelmed with joy that Nico wanted to include her son. She had almost been in tears when Harry had arrived at the house with his request.

Harry hadn't said anything to Nico, but Thomas came from a wizarding family, too. Because of his illness, Thomas hadn't yet shown any signs of magic. He saw special healers who specialized in muggle diseases. In truth, it was believed that Thomas' magic was what helped the young child beat the cancer down.

Harry took the tray of snacks and carried it over to the living room. He found the boys watching cartoons which would explain the laughter.

"Snacks," he called.

Nico scrambled up from their pillow fort on the floor to take them from him. Harry lowered the tray so he could take it easily from him. He brought it down to the floor beside him and Thomas.

"Thank you, Mr. Harry!" Nico said.

"These taste great! Thanks!" Thomas added, taking a bite out of the snack.

"You're welcome, boys."

It was late in the evening when the boys finally fell asleep. They were curled up in their pillows on the floor. Harry covered them with the blankets and let Cooper out. For the night, he slept in the armchair.

In the middle of the night, Maisy popped in to check on all of them. The boys were okay, but she could tell Harry was uncomfortable in his chair. She tried to move him, but when he started stirring, she decided to leave him where he was. Instead, she cleaned up around the house and let the demon dog back in. She nodded her head in approval when the canine curled up beside Harry's chair.

The next morning, when Harry woke up, he found breakfast sitting out fresh and hot in the kitchen. He smiled as he whispered, "Thank you, Maisy." After waking up the boys and feeding them breakfast, Harry packed the boys up for when their families would pick them up.

The boys sat on pillows on the floor while drawing pictures at the coffee table. While Harry cleaned up in the kitchen, the boys talked. Nico revealed his uniqueness to Thomas.

"So you see colors around people?" Thomas asked, his head tilted to the side.

Nico's hair flicked into his face with his head bobbing up and down. He pushed it out of the way. He explained it as he drew a picture of the three of them. He had drawn green and purple around Thomas and a light green around Harry with no color around him.

"What's green?" Thomas asked, pointing to himself and Harry.

"It means good people!" Nico exclaimed.

Thomas grinned from ear to ear.

"But why do I have purple?" Thomas asked.

Nico explained about how his grandfather had been green, gotten sick, and then became the two colors.

"So I think it's for people who were sick but gots better," Nico explained.

"Cool!" Thomas cheered.

After they were done with their current drawings, they packed them away in their bags and started on new ones. Soon enough Thomas' mother showed up to get him. This time, she was prepared for Nico's hug and even planted a kiss on his head.

"Have a nice weekend, Nico," she told him.

Nico wished her the same. Thomas waved as his mom wheeled him out.

"Bye, Nico! See you Monday!"

Nico ran after him to wave back at the open front door.

"Bye Thomas!"

He kept waving until the car had left and he couldn't see it anymore. Nico was halfway through his third drawing when Severus showed up to pick him up.

"Papa!" Nico yelled, running to him.

Severus bent down to catch him and bring up in his arms to rest on his side. The little boy hugged his father tightly. He leaned back so he could his father's face.

"Did you and Daddy have fun at your party?" Nico asked.

Harry bit back a chuckle when he saw the grimace Severus tried yet failed to hide. At least from Harry.

"The Head of the Department talked forever and our wonderful Minister made an appearance. It was a…memorable night, son," Severus answered.

Harry winced. How Fudge was still Minister was anyone's guess. He finished sending Nico's things through the floo to home.

"Did you have a good time with your friend?" Severus asked.

"Uh huh! We had fun!" Nico said, bouncing up and down.

Severus patted his son on the back.

"You can tell us all about it after we get home," Severus told him.

Severus thanked Harry for watching Nico and wished him a good weekend. After they left, Harry collapsed on his couch. He threw an arm over his tired eyes and let out a gigantic sigh.

"I forgot how exhausting it can be taking care of little boys," Harry groaned.

He let out a short cough, but had to sit up when he hacked up a harder cough. Maisy immediately appeared next to him with a glass of water. He took it from her, sipped some water, and placed it down on the coffee table.

"Thanks, Maisy," he said.

Maisy nodded. "Harry Potter is to be needing a drink if he is to be coughing."

Harry agreed. "Just got something caught in my throat, I guess."

Maisy nodded again before disappearing. Harry sighed as he laid back down, curled on his side, and relaxed himself into a nap. He needed the rest before Monday rolled around.

END OF CHAPTER ELEVEN