AN: Dudley is a good bloke but I did take a darker view of what the future would have been, but frankly both the epilogue and the Cursed Child, while enjoyable, never sat right with me. I just don't believe it was all that neat or that Harry would have understood his more 'normal' and 'outgoing' children over Albus Potter. I mean, Harry was friends with Luna, and you want me to believe that Harry wouldn't adore and do everything in his power to connect with his kids, especially the odd one out? Sorry, not buying it.
ANII: Not that good at writing romance...
Chapter 11
Saturday morning Harry was cooking breakfast for Sirius, Amelia, Kingsley, and Dora.
"You don't have to cook," Sirius said for maybe the fifth time. After last not the role of 'godfather' had finally sunk in. For all his looks Harry was not James and for all the horrors Sirius had been through in his life Harry's life made him feel spoiled. When he had run away at sixteen, Euphemia and Fleamont Potter had taken him in. When Harry ran away the Minister of Magic and the Headmaster had shown up and told him that he was required to go back the following summer. No one had ever asked why Harry hadn't wanted to go back. Sirius had never asked, not in so many words.
"I like cooking, Sirius, honestly, it doesn't bother me," Harry said.
"Did it bother you once?" Dora asked. She couldn't cook, in fact, her mother had forbidden her from the kitchen. Her father kept the knives well away from her and they used metal as opposed to glass or porcelain cups.
"As I wasn't allowed to eat the food I made most of the time, yeah it bothered me. Though cooking got easier once I didn't have to use a stool."
"How old were you when you first learned to cook?" Kingsley asked.
"Four."
"What!?" Amelia and Dora exclaimed in unison.
Harry distributed the bacon and the eggs. "The Dursleys were not the kindest human beings."
Kingsley was staring at Harry a little too hard.
Harry turned on him, "Something to say?"
"You turned out very well. Not many adults overcome their pasts as well as you seem to," Kingsley said.
Harry flushed a bit. Which Dora found endearing.
"Thanks, but I do still have my faults," Harry muttered, taking a seat between Dora and Sirius.
Breakfast passed and Sirius shooed Harry out of the dank house. "I can do the dishes. Dora, go with him, make sure he gets into the right sort of trouble," he said with a wink to his niece.
"The right sort of trouble?" Harry asked with a frown.
Dora blushed and pulled the wizard out of the house before Sirius could make any more pointed comments. She liked Harry, she didn't like that Sirius and her mum were set on her dating Harry. As she pulled Harry down the busy London streets she realized a date was exactly what would happen with just them wandering the city.
She slowed looking up to watch Harry studying the people around them. He looked up at the sky and seemed to half smile at the darker clouds as the wind picked up.
"Did you have plans for today?" she asked.
Harry turned that emerald gaze on her, her breath caught, "Nope, I'm all yours."
"Well- um, I-" she stuttered.
"Did you have plans for today, Nymphadora?"
"Don't- I'm-"
"Sorry, Dora," Harry corrected himself. "Your mother rarely, if ever refers to you as Dora."
"Nymphadora is a stupid name," Dora said, finally regaining the use of her speech.
"Nymphadora is an interesting name and a rather pretty one. Harry is neither, I can't tell you how many times people have called me Hairy Harry," he said. He rubbed a hand through his messy hair. The end result was much the same as it's original state.
"I can see how that would get old," she conceded.
"So did you have plans for today or errands to run?" Harry asked.
"Nope, I have today off, I was thinking I might go see Mum, but she said to, um-"
"Dromeda told you to keep an eye on me?" Harry supplied.
Dora's entire face flushed, her hair flashing pink, "Yeah, something like that." Her mother's phrasing had been more directive than that. "What do you want to do?"
Harry was staring off into the distance, his expression thoughtful, "How about… do you want to go to the British Museum? I've never been."
A museum? She wondered. "Sure but we will need to change clothes."
"I only bought new no-maj clothes for Teddy," Harry said.
"No-maj?"
"No magic, what Americans call muggles," he explained before grabbing a hold of her hand and walking towards one of the commercial areas of the city.
"Wait where are we going? Sirius might have something-"
Harry smiled at her, "I am newly rich, I don't mind picking up something new for the two of us."
Dora followed Harry through the crowd. The crowd parted before them -presumably for their odd attire, but Harry didn't give any indication that he heard or cared about people's whispering, pointing, or distasteful looks. Harry brought them into four shops before he found a store he liked. It wasn't the fanciest place but Dora didn't really want to look at the price tags on either.
Dora was staring at a floral dress that was primarily white with flowers in shades of pink, purple, and hints of baby blue and browns in it. It was almost old-fashioned with long sleeves and billowing skirts. It was a spring dress, but she was certain with a pair of stockings and boots it would be fine for all seasons.
"Do you want to try it on?" Harry asked.
"Um, I thought we were here for you?"
Harry shook his head, "A suit is a suit, no matter where you go." The store clerk behind him glared daggers at the back of Harry's head. "But this was the only store you seemed interested in. If I was wrong we can try somewhere else."
She smiled at him, "Nope, I'll try this one on." Dora grabbed her go to size and followed the still annoyed clerk to the changing room.
Harry picked out a two piece suit, it was a charcoal grey with a baby blue button down. He was trying to pick out a tie when Nymphadora emerged from the changing room. She took his breath away. Her straight bleached white hair framed her freckled face. Her sapphire blue eyes seemed to pull the bits of blue from the dress. If Harry were honest with himself, he prefered no-maj styles on women because they showed more skin. But Nymphadora made the long sleeved dress beautiful. Not that her dragon leather coat and cargo pants hadn't been interesting, but in a dress she was stunning.
"How do I look?" she asked, twilering, making the skirts whirl out like flower petals.
He had to swallow before answering, "You look lovely." The last word dipping into his native accent that he had worked hard at to erase in America.
She smiled at him, "You look good, too."
"Do you want to get it? I already told the clerk if you liked it we would walk out in the clothes."
"You don't have to buy this for me," she said looking for the tag, which Harry snagged off and hid in his palm. She rolled her eyes and redirected the conversation by asking, "What are you looking for?"
"A tie," he said, "Do you want an overcoat? It is a bit chilly."
She came closer to look over the ties, "No, I like the chill."
Harry bent to whisper in her ear, "The dress covers the arm sheath nicely."
She elbowed him in the side with a grin. She picked out a tie that was done in multi-grey with a depiction of stylized stag. "Is your patronus still a stag?" she asked as she looped it around his neck. She might not be a messy person but even she knew how to properly tie a tie, unlike her father.
"Is yours still a bunny or is a wolf now?" Harry asked, face too close as she finished the knot. There was something in his eyes that made the question more important than it should have been.
She blushed and turned away from him. Harry purchased their knew outfits. They left with their robes in a bag. He pulled her into an alley for a moment to shrink the bag and pocket it. He offered her his arm. Taking his arm in hers, they walked the streets as a couple.
Harry was a very serious man, Dora noted as they walked through the halls of fantastical art. Even though Harry was quiet by nature he wasn't gloomy like Remus. Harry held himself like a man used to controlling his emotions, his burdens, and content to observe everything around him at distance. Dora had always prided herself on making people laugh. Remus's soft smiles had meant the world to her. She wanted to know what Harry's smile looked like when he was feeling true amusement rather than smiling out of politeness.
"'Colossal Granite Head of Amenhotep III,'" Harry read from the museum label.
"Erm," Dora grunted.
Harry shot a look at her and he almost choked on a cough.
"What?" She ask, dropping her voice a few actives and drawing the word out. Her forehead had flattened and shielded her eyes while her lips and nose had broadened like the statue.
Harry put a hand to his mouth and turned his back on her, striding into the next gallery. She broke him on the next portrait painting they came across, sporting a pair of blue cross eyed, a bubble nose, and powdered cheeks.
She didn't get a soft smile she got a great big belly laugh.
Several people hushed him. He pinched his nose to true and subdue it but Tonks copied another portrait. And he ended up blowing his cheeks out before snorting with laughter. He hugged her to hide her face when the security guards.
Dora buried her face in Harry's chest as he shook from suppressed laughter as he apologized to the security for being disruptive. Underneath the smell of the suit, he smelled like wind and rain and her mother's jasmine flower soup.
By the time they left the museum Harry had himself mostly under control once more while Dora was all but skipping beside him, her smile radiant.
Harry smiled at her, she was beautiful and despite the ongoing war and his near constant worry for Teddy, for Dromeda, for Sirius, and everyone else, she had managed to make him laugh. Made him want to laugh.
They went out to lunch at a little coffee shop. The table was small and they watched the rain on pouring down on the outside world. They talked about little things. Harry, knowing that she had just broken up with Remus did not push. He restrained himself from flirting with this wonderful little hurricane of energy and personality. In the last seven years, he had never met someone he would have wanted to bring into the life he'd made for himself. Never wanted a woman's prolonged affections or to get to know them better. But as Harry listened to Nymphadora talk about her job and her opinions he found himself wishing he could stay in this moment of time forever.
Harry listened to her, engaged her in conversation. As a trained auror she hadn't lost her awareness of the people around her and she could tell that Harry had not either, but he didn't let that distract him from what she was saying. She didn't question him about his life, finding that he was more likely to slip in stories naturally about Teddy and her mother if she didn't pry. It was interesting being with a man her own age. He didn't look down at her as if she were some adorable talisman against age. He looked at her the way a man notices a sexy and sophisticated woman. Dora would never be either of those things, sure she was pretty, and if she wanted to force it she could make herself beautiful, but sophisticated was off the table. Yet Harry made her feel like an equal, sure he had experienced more horrible things than she ever would and he was a father, but underneath it all, he was also Harry, just Harry.
It was late afternoon by the time they returned to Sirius house. Harry started on early dinner. When they were all done eating Sirius suggested a game of exploding snap. Amelia and Kingsley grinned at Sirius's innocent face as Harry and Dora agreed to play.
This would be Harry's first time playing exploding snap with adult wizards Dromeda notwithstanding. He found that fire whiskey with four people that ignored any semblance of rules made exploding snap an intriguingly dangerous game. Mrs. Black's portrait left them alone after Sirius blew fire in her face, almost scorching the portrait. Kingsley's bombing laugh, Amelia's giggling, and Sirius's barking set Harry and Dora into their own peels of laughter. It was a good night.
Kingsley, Amelia, and Sirius left Harry and Dora asleep on the couch. Dora's cheek resting on Harry's chest as the slept off the liquor. It was a good end to a good day.
TEN DEATH EATERS FOUND DEAD IN THERE CELLS. FRANK AND ALICE LONGBOTTOM REVIVED FROM THEIR INSANITY. NO SUSPECTS FOR THE DEATH EATER MURDERS. CURE TO INSANITY UNKNOWN. LORD POTTER RESPONSABLE? LORD POTTER GIVES NO COMMENT. MINISTER FUDGE NO COMMENT. HEADMASTER DUMBLEDORE NO COMMENT. HIGH INQUISITOR REPORTS LORD POTTER'S FAILURE AS PROFESSOR WHILE PARENTS ARE SAYING THEIR CHILDREN HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE INTERESTED IN LEARNING. IS A TIME TRAVELER A FIT PROFESSOR? LORD POTTER CLAIMS TO HAVE TAUGHT AT ILVERMORNY. ILVERMORNY NO COMMENT. LUCIUS AND NARCISSA MALFOY MISSING.
The headlines of the Daily Prophet came in an endless stream over the last two weeks, confusing the public, making them think, making them wonder, making them fear. What Lord Potter had forgotten was the inherent chaos and panic that came with change. Lord Voldemort was all too happy to take advantage of the Ministry's lack of leadership, of the public's doubt in their saviors the Great Albus and the Time Traveler. True, Lucius had deserted him, but Voldemort was not without his resources, not without his followers. And there were ways to stir the pot without over turning the apple cart.
Voldemort performed six gruesome murders; Elphias Doge, Ulick Gamp, Brunhilde Stokke, Ellert Hawkworth, Griselda Marchbanks, and Tiberius Ogden. Voldemort had killed them in such a way that he would not be admittley suspect. Greyback's claws did nicely in slicing the elders into scarlet ribbons. None of them were strong enough to survive the change, Lord Hawkworth the only one living long enough to partially change. Voldemort kept their bodies for a number of days. So that Sunday morning, the earliest employees had to go into immediate crisis management as they attempted to reclaim the half-dozen, rooting, shredded bodies from the muggle police. The photographs of the mangled bodies of some of the most respected people in Wizarding Britain would haunt their society for years to come. To Voldemort, the people he had killed were useless pawns, on the verge of retirement their deaths meant nothing in the day to day scheme of the Ministry, but to their society, well they would be looking for someone to blame.
Voldemort could think of no one better but the mysterious Time Traveler that could not be accounted for over the weekend.
AN: The last bit was for all of you who don't like fluff and are wondering if Harry is just going to breeze over this war. Just a reminder, Harry's been in the past for about two weeks now. Hermione, Ron, Remus, Snape, Umbridge, and Albus will have more time to evolve or screw up further. But I don't want to rush it. Thank you to my reviewers!
