Chapter Thirty-Five: As ordinary as can be

In June, Harry began to watch Malcolm. He wondered going in what do you do with a six month old. He had a good idea of what not to do, no hammering and no fire. Quickly they settled into a routine which typically included Harry and Malcolm in the basement, Mal in a bouncy chair or a activity chair and Harry hand building clay on the table or at the wheel as Mal babbled at him and Harry spoke back at the baby, giving him step by step instructions on what he was doing or singing at him, which led to Malcolm jabbering back at him or laughing. Then they would eat lunch and sit or lay on the floor in the library or first floor sitting room and Malcolm would hopefully have a nap.

One mid-morning Harry set Mal in his highchair, before getting his lunch ready. He defrosted one of the green cubes from the freezer on the stove, "Hmm Malcolm looks like your having green today." He leaned his head down and sniffed it, "Smells like broccoli, you like broccoli!"

Malcolm laughed at him.

He mixed up a bottle of formula as the broccoli cubes melted.

He realized this was the age, the first half year or so that he missed out on with Teddy. They visited occasionally, but as he was still struggling with a new life, they did not start spending lots of time consistently until after Teddy's first birthday. He remembered Ted being an easy baby like Malcolm, but with few long visits, what did he really know? The existence of Mal and baby Bradley still shocked Harry, his best mate and his best mate's sister who was also his Hogwarts sweetheart both having children! He is happy to enjoy his time with his wife as they settle into a hopefully long life together with their own children, someday, in the future. Being twenty-two he knew it was much too soon for his own kids, godsons to return to their parent's were great for now.

Harry is enjoying his days with Malcolm; it's relaxing as opposed to the chaos that is each semester in school, constant guidelines and deadlines. It is a nice easy flowing pattern, watching Malcolm until Lucy gets out of practice or games or Ron gets off work, whichever happens first, then working on his own work, planning out other projects, occasionally going on forays to junkyards and shops to pick up supplies he could acquire locally. Preparing dinner for Hermione, the time to actually cook! Sure Hermione is still going non-stop with summer courses, but they'll have their break in August. Nearly a month to relax, recharge and breathe before starting it all over once more for another year of school.

Harry thought about taking a year off, but thought again, that if he did, would he go back? There was still so much to learn! Not going back would mean experimentations on his own, some that other's have solved, other's that they haven't, of course he wouldn't know that without lots of research. Also he would be learning a whole other side of his media, the magical side, people were surely going to discover Harry back in the magical world with his starting school he was sure, but to learn more about his craft was surely worth it. The magical side of sculpture was sure to bring a whole new element, ideas and wonders he could apply, new techniques and challenges to explore! While daunting to think of his rusty charms and transfiguration skills, he figured it would be just like they say riding a bike after a long time would be like, well if he knew how to ride a bike, getting started and he's off.

""""""""""""""""""""

Harry lit the burner under the kettle on the stove and then ground up enough coffee beans for the day. He put the fresh grounds into the coffee pot and set it to begin dripping. Hmm, what do I want for breakfast? What would Hermione like? Well, waters going for oatmeal or tea. Toast. He pulled a loaf of bread from the cupboard above the coffee pot, grabbed a breadknife from the butcher's block on the refrigerator and cut off four slices from the loaf of some sort of whole-wheat grainy looking bread from a local bakery. He put two slices into the toaster and went back to the refrigerator for eggs. He pulled out a frying pan and started frying himself a couple of over easy eggs. Hermione came down just as the kettle began to whistle, "Morning love," She greeted.

"How would you like your eggs?" He replied in greeting as she reached in front of him and switched off the burner the kettle was on.

"Mmm, whatever your having," She yawned, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"Toast?" He asked as he plopped cooked eggs onto a plate, before starting two more.

Rather then replying she pulled out the two slices from the toaster and popped in two more. "Jam?"

"No. Do we have any orange juice?"

"Want a glass?"

"Please," He replied yawning. "Do you want oatmeal?"

"A bit I suppose."

"The waters ready for that, make me up some too?"

"What do you want in it?"

"What do we have?"

She opened a cupboard. "Almonds, dried cranberries and blueberries, honey, brown sugar."

"Oh, berries and nuts and a bit of honey."

"Okay." She made up two bowls of oatmeal and set them at the kitchen table with their drinks.

Harry brought over their plates of eggs and toast and sat down across from her.

"What's on your docket today?"

She yawned, "Oh, the normal, classes and filing at the internship. You?"

"Quality time with Mal and hoping to get a bit more done before he gets here."

"Your really having fun with him aren't you?"

"Would be more fun if Ron wasn't terrified he'd eat my clay then I could let him play with it."

"Harry, he's six months old, he'd eat it."

"Would it really hurt him, I'm pretty sure I ate more dirt then food as a toddler."

Hermione frowned at him, "But he doesn't have to."

"Have to? Grass doesn't taste too bad, Dudders was the one making me eat the dirt."

"I'm sure Mal will agree with the grass. His parent's probably would too, especially Ron, if he thought it'd help the Cannons win."

"Hey, they are approaching the five wins a season mark."

"Are there not thirty or so matches a season?"

"So, it is an improvement, remember how many years they were zero and thirty or so."

"No, and I don't think you do either."

"I don't, but I feel like I do, Ron is obsessed! I wonder which teams Sirius and Remus and Dad rooted for, do you remember if anyone ever mentioned?"

"Did that ever come up?"

"Not that I know of, not sure who there would be to ask anymore either."

"McGonagall or Hagrid perhaps?"

"Maybe, next time I make it up there I'll ask. When did I last make it up there?"

"Uh.. you and I both know that answer."

"Yeah. I wonder what ol'Dumblydore would think of what I'm doing now. Haha, no longer having to save the world, just able to be happy."

"I would hope he would support whatever made you content, alas what did we really know about our Headmaster?"

Harry shrugged. "Have you looked at my textured reliefs, yet?"

"Oh, so that's what your doing and that explains the stump in the backyard too?"

"Indeed it does," He grinned.

AN:*Harry's relief is from my own works, I did one before last term ended (of concrete) and am planning more in the fall, I'm endeavoring to print them.

Sorry for the delay and briefness, I am experiencing a down turn in inspiration; expect sporadic updates, hopefully I will write more and have a backlog again before my last semester begins. Harry's thoughts on his work are similar to my own. I have senior exhibition in the fall so will be going "balls to the wall" to create my best work possible, probably living on caffeine and granola bars again and then I am done with my BFA and am planning on applying to MFA programs, I'm unsure how much free time I will have till January. I'm also hoping to finally catch up on the HP movies, I last saw number 4, I'm behind.

Thanks for reading!