Knocking on Harry's door, it occurred to Laura that she'd come to see him three Saturdays in a row. But, that didn't worry her. When she'd popped in for a bit on Tuesday, he'd looked as happy as ever to have her over, chatting about the plants and when they'd be harvested and what ones he'd tried so far. Infectious enthusiasm, she'd thought.
Opening the door, he wasted no time getting her inside.
'I hope this cold snap stops,' he said, a shiver running through him. 'I wanted to grow my pumpkins until Halloween, but if there's gonna be frost….'
She smiled in sympathy. 'Hagrid grew giant pumpkins, didn't he? Maybe he used magic to keep them safe?'
'Yeah. I'll see if I can ask him soon.'
She hung up her coat, finding the cottage rather toasty. After the something of a mishap last weekend, she'd come a little later, and managed to skip the whole freezing part. Still, she huddled close to the fire in the lounge. So hot her hands and face tingled, but she held her ground for a little longer, before retreating to a couch.
While she shuffled around in place, digging herself into the cushions, he took her order and prepared some tea in the kitchen. By the time he returned, she'd covered herself in a blanket too.
'Thank you.'
He chuckled as he sat down, stretching his feet out towards the fire. They hadn't come up before, but the motion drew her eyes to them, and she noticed that, well, his socks looked a little strange, beyond just being rather thick wool. She didn't quite find the courage to ask.
Her thoughts wandered around from there, until a question came to mind. 'Do you always have plans for Saturday mornings, or did I just get unlucky last week?'
'Yup,' he said. 'I look after my godson for a couple of hours every morning.'
'Really? That's nice of you.'
He smiled, though she couldn't quite tell what it meant, other than looking off. 'You don't know anything,' he said, more muttering to himself than speaking aloud, before catching himself. 'Sorry, I meant: you've not heard anything about him, right?'
Though it surprised her, she didn't take the misspoken words to heart. She softly shook her head. 'No, nothing at all.'
His smile looked more familiar hearing that. After a few seconds pause, he continued speaking. 'His name's Edward, but we call him Teddy. Three-and-a-half years old. Chats a lot, but also likes running around.'
Then, his gaze lowered, and the warmth in his expression seemed to leave.
'He's an orphan, from the Battle of Hogwarts, so his grandmother is raising him. I'm not good for much, but I take him out to give her a break. Try to tire him out too.'
She didn't know what to say, word after word escaping her as she tried to put together something more than a generic phrase.
'A real handful when he gets going, but I love him. He's my family.'
Still lost, she felt she needed to say, well, anything. Hoping she wasn't about to say the wrong thing, she spoke up. 'He's lucky to have a godfather who cares about him so much.'
The smile returned to him, though the kind of distant one. 'I had a good role model.'
She wanted to ask what he meant, but the strange look dissuaded her, leaving her even more out of her depth. In a moment of clarity, she re-remembered who she was talking to, and who he had lost. She only knew of his parents, but there were probably others. No, she thought, definitely others.
For her, the war had been scary. For him, it had been a lot more than that. Hogwarts had sheltered her from the worst of it even after the war had ended.
She couldn't understand what he felt. But, feeling the need to try and reach him, she leant over, and stretched out.
'What're you doing?'
'I'm trying to reassure you, but you're too far away.'
Chuckling softly, he lifted his arm, moving a hand to the armrest closer to her. Finally able to reach, she rested her hand on top of his and gently squeezed it. He didn't say anything, but he turned his hand around, and squeezed her hand back.
Larger than hers, she noticed, and rough. Calloused from the digging and similar, she thought, or maybe his Quidditch days.
It seemed like a lifetime ago that she had watched him fly, and like a different Harry too. That Harry had been a small speck in the sky. She hadn't known any of the rules or anything like that, but she was expected to support the Hufflepuff team, and she did. Though, thinking about it, she only watched him once—it had been, for better or worse, a memorable game.
He pulled back his hand, her fingertips trailing across his palm. 'I've also got two nieces. I think… do you remember Fleur? Fleur Delacour?'
'Oh, um, she was the Beauxbatons champion?'
'She married Ron's oldest brother, Bill, and they have a baby girl. One-and-a-half. Then, the third oldest Weasley brother, Percy, just had a daughter last month. He married a lady he met at the ministry, Audrey Nuttley.
'Bill and Fleur's girl plays with Teddy sometimes. She can't say much yet, but she can say "Arry".'
Laura melted a bit. 'Aw, that's so sweet. What's her name?'
'Victoire,' he said, adding a touch of a French accent to the name. 'And her newborn cousin is Molly, after her grandma.'
'It's gonna be nice for them to have cousins growing up,' she said. 'Friends to play with, and aunties and uncles to visit.'
He smiled, scratching the back of his head. 'Yeah. The future's bright.'
