~ Harry, Draco and Daniel's Rooms ~
"Peeves is in Daniel's bedroom again. I told him last time that if he did it again, he'd be thrown out of Hogwarts," Draco replied darkly. "I'll be back soon."
Draco kissed both Daniel and Harry before leaving the bathroom. Harry glanced down at Daniel, whose trusting silver eyes were gazing back up at him through wet lashes.
"Want to sing a song?" Harry asked him, hoping this would take his mind off whatever Peeves had done to upset him.
"Don't know any songs," came the solemn reply.
"Then I'll teach you one," Harry said, doing a good job of hiding his shock that Ginny and Lavender hadn't taught the children any music. "The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round all through the town."
Daniel was instantly captivated. He had a smile on his face as he listened to his Daddy sing him a song.
"Sing with me, Daniel," Harry instructed him, making sure to keep Daniel's body under the warm flowing water so he didn't get cold. "The wheels on the bus go round and round."
"Wheels on the bus go round 'n' round," Daniel sang, his voice trembling a little.
"Well done," Harry said, beaming at Daniel. He kissed his head again and snuggled his little body closer to his own. "That was beautiful."
"Daddy?" Daniel asked, his arms clinging to Harry's shoulders.
"Yes, sweetheart."
"What's a bus?"
Harry was horrified by Daniel's innocent question. He'd always imagined that when he had children that they would grow up with the best of both the wizard and muggle worlds. It was beginning to sound like Daniel had never left the wizarding world.
"A bus carries people from one place to another. Like a car," Harry said, knowing that this explanation was woefully inadequate for such a young child. The only way for him to understand what a bus was would be to actually show him.
"What's a car?"
Oh my god, Harry thought. He's probably never left Hogwarts, except to go to Hogsmeade or maybe Godric's Hollow. Harry wasn't sure if they'd gone home for the summers since he'd gone missing.
"We are going to have to go on some adventures," Harry told Daniel, grinning at his son. He noticed that Daniel had started shivering and he turned off the shower and stepped out to wrap Daniel up in a fluffy towel.
He was amused when Daniel suddenly chortled and shrugged off the towel in favour of chasing after his duck, which had tentatively appeared from behind the pile of Harry's clothes.
"Duck-duck-duck-duck," Daniel said, his face lighting up, tears forgotten.
"Who's this little guy?" Harry asked, reaching out to pick up the duck. It sat down on his palm and quacked as Daniel petted it.
"He's my duck," Daniel said proudly.
"What's his name?" Harry asked.
"Duck," Daniel said impatiently.
"Oh," Harry said, smiling. It was a strange feeling, holding the duck. It was obviously a plastic muggle one, but it moved and behaved just like a real duck. So, this was what Daniel had been chasing in that photo he'd seen.
"Cold, Daddy," Daniel said, trying to get closer to Harry's warm body.
Harry put the duck down and wrapped a towel around his waist. He picked up Daniel and headed in to Daniel's room.
He was embarrassed to find Albus and Sirius in there, along with Draco.
"Oh, sorry. Daniel was getting cold so we came in to get some clothes," Harry said, glancing around at them. He was shocked to see the room was a complete and utter mess. Peeves had done this?
Albus grinned at Daniel and tickled his tummy. "We're going to fix up your room, little man."
Daniel giggled and held out his arms towards Albus. "Grandpa-Grandpa-Grandpa-Grandpa!"
Albus took the little boy out of Harry's arms as Harry mouthed 'Grandpa' at Draco, who shrugged.
Harry looked at the clothes on the floor. He finally spotted a pair of dark green pyjamas over by the bed. Draco took pity on him, since he was only wearing a towel, and clambered over the mess to pick them up.
"Thanks," Harry said, accepting the pyjamas Draco held out to him. He glanced over at his son and was amused to see both Albus and Sirius fawning over the little boy who was clearly enjoying every minute of it.
"Er, I hate to interrupt, but I think I should get Daniel in some warm clothes," Harry said, grinning at the two older men.
"Sure," Sirius said, grinning back at him. "And if you've got some time free tomorrow afternoon, I'd really like to talk to you."
"Okay," Harry agreed. "I'll come by your room at about 4. Is that okay?"
"Sounds good," Sirius said warmly.
"You have to go with your Daddy now, gorgeous boy," Albus said, rubbing Daniel's nose with his. Harry raised an eyebrow at this but didn't comment.
"I think Daniel should sleep with us tonight," Draco said to Harry.
"I agree," Harry said. "I'll leave you guys to it then."
They all said goodbye to the two of them and resumed their conversation about restoring the room to its proper state and what should be done about Peeves.
Harry set Daniel down on his and Draco's bed and quickly dressed the shivering boy in his pyjamas. He discarded the towel and pulled on his own red silk pyjama bottoms. The two of them then crawled up to the head of the bed and snuggled down into the blankets. Harry was lying on his side, with Daniel curled up in his arms. The little boy yawned. It was pretty late by now and he'd had a busy day at Hogsmeade with Harry earlier.
"Wheels on bus go round," Daniel said sleepily, his eyes drifting closed although he was fighting against going to sleep.
Harry brushed Daniel's dark hair from his face in a repeated soothing gesture as he started singing softly. "The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round all through the town."
By the time he'd reached the end of the song, Daniel was asleep. Harry kept stroking his cheek, gazing at the innocent little face nestled in his arms. Harry sighed, trying to keep his eyes open so he could talk to Draco when he came in, but he had also had a big day and he fell asleep before Draco returned.
*
Finally, Albus and Sirius left. Draco was relieved to see them go. By now it was after midnight and he had classes to teach the next day.
Draco returned to the bedroom and was touched to see a large lump in the bed. This was the first time in two years that he'd entered his bedroom to find someone other than his son in his bed. Draco quietly changed into his pyjama pants and stood on his side of the bed.
They looked adorable. Daniel lying peacefully in his father's arms. Harry, asleep with a smile on his face, his posture showing that he would protect his son with his life, even from a meddlesome ghost.
Draco lifted up the blanket and slid into the bed. He scooted over closer to his son and husband. Harry's eyes opened and he smiled. Draco smiled back and leant over to kiss Harry softly.
"I'm glad you're back," Draco whispered.
"Me too," Harry whispered back.
TBC
A.N. I was startled (and amused) to see the conspiracy theories put forward in many reviews of the last chapter. Sorry to disappoint you, but it was Peeves. I don't know why I wrote that interlude. Inspiration struck and I wrote it. I think I was possessed….possibly by Peeves *grins*
And to Iljana – thank you for the compliment about my characterisation of the children. It did confirm my belief that I've written them too young as they are meant to be 2 years old and they remind you of a 1 year old but that's okay. I'd rather younger than older. I've read too many fics where their children are genius' by age 7 and they speak like grown ups. I prefer children to retain their innocence as long as possible. As for where I get my inspiration from – I am a primary school teacher so I deal with children on a day to day basis. Sometimes they'll surprise you with an insightful comment but usually, they're just kids. And that's the way they should be. Kids grow up way to fast these days.