Harry had always found cooking his favourite way to express his love and care towards his family, as he had never been great with words. If anything good had come out of his years with the Dursleys, it was the fact that by seventeen, Harry had been a brilliant cook of his age. He had been responsible in cooking the Dursleys' food since age seven and during the summer holidays in his few years of Hogwarts, one of his very few pleasures in the Muggles' house when he could not be left alone had been to experiment with new recipes. Cooking was something he had done forever, so of course it would come natural and easy to him. However, having grown up cooking the Muggle way, it was the one thing that he had continued to prefer doing the Muggle way. Of course, he would speed up cooking time with a few charms and all, but cooking by hands had always felt more personal for Harry.
Harry could not help looking out from the kitchen to steal glances of the living room whenever he could while preparing his five-course meal, a special treat to welcome his children home. Albus laughing and goofing around with his siblings at home was quite a sight to behold. For the past few years, Albus had tended to spend all his time at home inside his own room that mealtimes had been the only precious moments in a day for Harry to see his middle child. There were certainly quite a few silver linings to the Slytherin boys' adventure, Albus finally coming out of his shell and being comfortable in his own skin as a Slytherin Potter definitely counted. When Harry returned his attentions to his soup, he was humming (poorly, turned out music was Harry Potter's one big weakness) to himself.
Dinner was a huge success. The courses were so well-received that everyone had requested second helping for one thing or another, a rare feat given Albus had always tried to look as miserable as he could at the dining table for the past three years and Lily was at the age when she would start to worry about eating too much and would feel the needs to "resist temptation". In addition, Albus was in a pretty good mood tonight, he had helped Ginny set the table, had not appeared bothered by Lily's nagging, and surprisingly, he had even complimented Harry on the food.
Harry had been hoping to have a talk with Albus tonight but by the time they had cleared the plates, it was kind of late and he could tell Albus was exhausted from the long train ride. He knocked on his door, intending to briefly wish him good night.
"Come in." Albus' voice seemed to have come from a distance.
Harry opened the door to find his son busy writing a letter on his desk at the end of the room, what there was for Albus to write to Scorpius after being away from him for less than five hours he had no idea.
Albus turned as he sensed Harry coming in, his face unreadable but at least not angry. "Oh, dad." Perhaps the boy was expecting his mother, his brother or his sister… basically anyone but Harry. He seemed to have realised that his greeting might have come off as a bit rude as he awkwardly amended, "I mean, hi dad."
"There are a lot of things that I would like to talk about with you, Albus." Albus' face had turned wary immediately, "but I guess tonight isn't a good time for that. You must be very tired. For now I just want to say, it's great to have you back, son."
His face softened and replied, "It actually does feel good to be back, for the first time in a long while." This was the most he had let on about his feelings in front of Harry in forever. For what could have been seconds or minutes, the father and son just looked at each other. It was actually rather nice and not uncomfortable.
"Well, I will leave you to your letter then. Goodnight Albus." Even though Harry had said that, his legs seemed to refuse to move. Albus nodded but then got confused when Harry continued to just stare at him.
His legs had acted quicker than he thought, one moment he was still staring at his son's confused face, the next he found his arms wrapped around a very stunned-looking boy. While he had been staring at this face that looked so similar to his own a moment earlier, he had been painfully reminded of those sleepless nights when he had been so afraid that Albus had been lost forever. Harry was now panicking in the inside, he had indeed wanted to hug the boy a lot, but had not meant to act so rashly at all. What if Albus found this repulsive and was going to shake him off and yell at him, erasing all the hard-earned progress from the past two months.
To Harry's immense relief, Albus awkwardly but not repulsively patted him in his back. Since witnessing his grandparents' murder first-handedly, Albus seemed to have developed sort of a soft spot for his dad. He seemed to able to sympathise for the first time what it truly meant for Harry to have grown up without his parents. Back then he would have acted all irritated whenever Harry mentioned his childhood and how fortunate Albus had been growing up in a loving household, now he seemed to be able to see his grandparents and Harry's younger self as real people instead of characters from his old family history, and respected them as so.
Albus gave an embarrassed cough after the hug had gone on for a full minute longer than he would have liked, Harry got the hint and pulled away. A sheepish smile on Harry's face as he searched his son's face for reactions. The boy was trying to looking away from him nervously, he looked embarrassed but not annoyed. At last he looked up at him and attempted an awkward smile, it meant the world to Harry that Albus was trying at all.
To avoid any further embarrassment, Harry said, "I've missed you so much, Albus. I love you, my son.", then promptly closed the door before getting emotional and outstaying his welcome.
Harry had meant to spend more time with his children before Christmas but his week had been extraordinary hectic with raids, trials and tedious meetings that as Head of Department, he could not excuse himself from. Everyone had been keen on solving all the bigger and more urgent troubles before Christmas to make sure that the holiday would be a peaceful one to regain the goodwill from the public, especially after how Delphi had turned the people against the Ministry. At least his children, including Albus, seemed to be having a fun and relaxing winter break as far as he knew.
Albus had grown a lot as a wizard over the past four months. After more than three years, he had finally mastered flying on a broomstick. Harry could still remember the anxiousness he had felt when he had first started in Hogwarts. He had been so worried that he would not be anything people had expected him to be or that he would make a fool of himself by falling on his butt in his first flying lesson, so he truly did appreciate the determination it must have taken his boy to forget the humiliations he had endured to conquer his fear in flying. He had desperately wanted to tell Albus how proud he had been but had resisted for fear that Albus, who had grown up to the story about how Harry had managed to catch a Remembrall falling in midair the first time he had ever mounted a broomstick, might take it as irony. Still, it had come as a surprise to hear that Albus had joined James, Teddy and his cousins for a flight in the country the other day, despite the bitter cold. Even James, a seasoned Chaser, had complimented that Albus had managed to keep his balance remarkably well when it had gotten windy.
Ginny always took their children to visit Diagon Alley two days before Christmas to pick out Christmas presents, a visit Albus had opted out for two years. So when Albus had, contrary to her expectations, said yes, she had been absolutely delighted. When Harry finally flooed home that night after a very long day at the office, he was treated with the charming sight of a fully and colourfully decorated home with his exhausted but contented family laughing and chatting with butterbeers in their hands by the fireplace. It was simple yet absolutely beautiful, something he would never ever take for granted again.
Due to the enormous size of their extended family and circle of friends, the Potters always had their work cut out for them in wrapping presents and writing Christmas greetings. It had become a Potter holiday tradition for all to sit at the dining table to prepare the presents and cards the morning before Christmas (except for the ones among themselves of course). At least as adults, Harry and Ginny could use magic to get the more tedious tasks done. James and Lily would usually look up with jealousy or beg their parents to wrap their presents for them while painstakingly going through their twenty or so presents.
For the past two years, Albus had made quite a show to sit down to wrap his one present when Harry had asked him to join them, then promptly got up and left despite his parents' protests. Harry could feel his heart warmed when he saw Albus sitting down with his small pile of presents, sharing a good-natured smile with his family. It appeared that Albus had bought presents for not only Scorpius, but also Rose, Teddy, Neville, his grandparents, and surprisingly… Draco Malfoy. He seemed to have gained a deeper appreciation for his maternal grandparents following Godric's Hollow. Moreover, he was really taking his time to write a lot for each Christmas greeting. Within four-month-time, he had changed so much from the boy who would stay away from anything sentimental. While it still took him way less time to prepare all of his presents compared with everyone else, he volunteered to help Ginny and Lily with their wrapping and decorating afterwards instead of leaving immediately.
It was well into the afternoon when Harry finally got his chance to have his long overdue conversation with Albus.
A/N: By now I have realised that in order for me to write a Harry/Scorpius story, there's bound to be A LOT of Harry/Albus as Albus is a bridge between Harry and Scorpius. I have to confess Harry/Albus parts were among some of my least favourite parts in the HPCC script so it's a pleasant surprise that I have been able to enjoy writing my H/A parts quite a lot myself. At least Harry had learnt his lessons by now, so it makes sense that Harry would be able to get along much better with his son.
Again, thank you for all the follows and comments, as a newer fanfic writer and one who writes in her second language, all the support means so much to me.