All the legal stuff, summery and notes are on chapter one.
This chapter is un-beta'd.
centerMini-Moony- chapter Twenty-one
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Harry looked at the piece of paper in his hands one more time, just to make sure he got to the right place. He was currently standing in front of a large building down in east London, he was in the estates! And according to the address Carys had given him, this was where Aaron's mother was living! Harry wasn't a prejudice man- or at least he tried not to be, but he was disappointed. So much for the fantasy of the little suburban home with a couple of loving but scared parents who left their werewolf child on the doorstep of St. Mungo's in search of better life for him. Right now Harry was just happy that Aaron had no recollection of his former life.
Following the numbers on the doors he reached number 99. The flat was located on the sixth floor, which overlooked the concrete yard below. Harry thought it all rather depressing, but then again, he'd been living in the 'neat and rich' suburbs all his childhood and we all know how that turned out…
Taking a deep breath he braced himself and knocked on the door, cringing a little when loud shouts came from the other side. A moment later the door was opened by a young woman, who looked to be in her mid-twenties, balancing a toddler on her hip. She looked Harry up and down just as Harry racked his eyes over her. The woman had Aaron's nose, and eye colour.
"Yeah?" Harry pulled himself together and tried to smile,
"Are you Mrs. Fountain?" He asked, as politely as he could,
"Oi, that's Miss ta ya!" She snapped while blowing a bubble of her gum. Harry grinded his teeth, trying his best to ignore the awfully disturbing sound.
"Right, Miss Fountain? Denise?" The woman nodded and blew another bubble. Harry had to dig his nails into the palm of his hand to keep from reaching out and yanking that damned piece of gum from her mouth, "I'm here to talk about Aaron."
"Oh, not you too." Denise rolled her eyes and then sighed when Harry gave her a look, "There was this old hag who came here, wanted me to take the whelp back. I told her to sod off, didn't have anything to do with the boy since he was one year old!"
"Why is that?" Despite himself Harry discovered he was quite intrigued by Aaron's story. Even though he promised himself he wouldn't get involved and that he didn't care who where Aaron's birth parents and what their background was, he suddenly wanted to know everything Denise Fountain could tell him. Hopefully without the bloody chewing gum!
"Well, you see, his father and I, we were never really 'together'," She stared explaining, still standing at her doorway, still balancing the baby on her hip and still chewing her bloody gum. "I was his secretary ya know, I was only a temp really, me mum never wanted me to go and work in the City but hey- you get the best gigs there, not to mention fit blokes." She said with a wriggle of her eyebrows which made Harry want to roll his eyes. Gods, this was revolting!
"Anyway, long story short, when I found out I was up the duff with tha one, I told his da that I was planning on getting rid of it, but he wouldn't hear of it. See, I've already got a couple, I didn't really need anotha." She said while hoisting the baby higher on her hip. Harry could feel the start of a splitting headache behind his eyes, for the love of Merlin, what was she like?
"So, what happened?" Denise shrugged,
"Brian said he'd take him, said I had no right to finish my baby off like tha. He even said we should 'try and work it out' between us!" She snorted in dismiss, "What a knob! Like I'd do som'ing as barmy as that!" Harry tried to smile politely, but what he really wanted to do was claw the woman's eyes out- she was so bloody annoying!
"So, he took Aaron away?" Please, please, please let it be the case, Harry prayed silently.
"Yeah, at first he'd come by with him, saying 'Aaron needed to see his mother' and that sort of rot. But then I met Kevin and he put a stop to tha. Haven't seen the boy since then."
"And you… never wondered, I mean, didn't you want to see him?" Frankly, Harry was quite amazed that someone wouldn't want to see or have any connection to a child as adorable and sweet as Aaron, but meeting with Denise Fountain, he was actually glad she didn't.
"Nah, got a few more stashed back there," She laughed, "T'was a relief really." Harry nodded tightly and thanked her for her time. The woman looked like she was about to sneer at him but instead she walked back into the house and shut the door behind her. Shouts erupted from the flat almost immediately.
Harry shook his head and started the tedious route downstairs. Well, that was fucking waste of time! Looking at the piece of paper in hand again he sighed and looked around him, spotting a small alleyway between two buildings where he could slip in to apparate.
When he opened his eyes again Harry nearly wept with joy. This was much more like it! The small townhouse looked inviting enough, but it was the garden Harry could see running through the front and sides of the house that really made Harry smile. He could just bet there was a bigger portion of it round the back. Walking to the door he knocked, plastering on his biggest smile.
The door was answered by a child, with huge eyes and a bored expression. Harry judged her to be about nine or ten years old and briefly wondered how old Aaron's father should be.
"Hello. Can I please talk to your father?" The girl gave a dismissive snort,
"Brian!!" She shouted behind her shoulder, making Harry frown a little. Not his daughter then… A young man rushed to the door, crying,
"Alicia! Manners!" He tried to usher the girl back into the house but she slipped from under his arm and trudged back inside. The man smiled apologetically at Harry who was feeling the headache creeping up between his eyes again. He took a good look at Brian Hall- one thing was for sure- you couldn't claim he wasn't Aaron's father. It was more than a little disturbing to Harry. "May I help you?" He asked politely and Harry shook his head to gather his bearings.
"Yes, I'm here to talk about Aaron." The man looked into the house briefly before he stepped out, shutting the door behind him, forcing Harry to take a step back and stand lower on the stairs.
"Look," The man hissed, "I already said I'd take the child back, even though my fiancé is less than thrilled about it- what else do you want from me?"
"No!" Harry cried, "I'm not here to try and make him take him back- I'm here to try and convince you otherwise." The man looked puzzled and Harry smiled,
"My husband and I would like to adopt Aaron." Brian gave him a skeptical look,
"Why? You know what he is, right?" Harry nodded,
"Yes, I do. My husband is one as well." Brian contemplated what Harry was saying for a moment before he offered a tentative smile,
"I guess you better come inside then."
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A/N: I'm kinda basing my description of Aaron's mum's house on Rose Tyler's in 'Doctor Who'- mostly because I don't come from England and have no real way of knowing how these places look like (in the two times I've been to London we mostly stuck to the touristic places- fancy that…).
My cockney isn't too good. If you've got any cool phrases or words you know, I'd love to hear!
You know how in the movie 'Chicago' there's this scene where all the prisoners sing why they're in jail? Remember the girl who killed her husband because he was blowing up gums? I'm like that- I swear I could maim people who do that near me… All my friends have learned by now…
I'm sorry this chapter is so short, but the next one just kept going on and on and I had to break it down. Let's face it- Aaron's dad is the real story, not his trashy mother…