Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter. This was written for September Amnesty for 2021 for the Froday Flash Fiction challenge, but it was written for the 11.03 challenge where one needed to use the words, safe, harbor, panic, warm and blue, but these words are in bold within the story.

Rabbit Hole

"Who is he?"

Richard stood in his mother's kitchen shifting Leo slightly to have a better grip on the small infant held in his arms while he held onto the small hand of his other son, Henry. When he left his home that morning to take his young son to his mother's place for the day, he didn't expect to walk into the kitchen and see a stranger standing there drying dishes for Eleanor Granger as she washed them, but she hummed a tune as if there was nothing out of the ordinary.

The boy—he looked no more than sixteen, but there was something haunting about the short black curls which cascaded around the young man's forehead. The young man's silver-colored eyes focused on the dishes he was drying, his posture stiff and the boy somehow managed to pull off looking prim and proper as he stood there, apparently not noticing Richard's presence.

Eleanor Granger turned as Richard closed the door as the young man's body suddenly spasm, almost losing his balance in the process. "Careful. You're still healing, remember."

The boy responded by humming an affirmative as Richard looked on skeptically, his young son clutched in his arms. "Who is he?"

"Oh! Hello Richard!" Which of course didn't answer his question of who the young man was, let alone the other questions scurrying through his head.

The young man looked up slower than Eleanor did, his head tilting slightly albeit in a stiff manner, his silver-gray eyes widening at the sight of Richard's two sons, but the boy's face lit up with excitement before blurting out. "Babies!"

Richard watched the young man move so he could get a better look at Leo, only to nearly fall over. Eleanor reached out, gently grabbing onto her arm to steady the young man. "Careful, Rabbit."

"Rabbit?" Richard swallowed, remembering how he'd plucked a letter addressed to someone named Rabbit from Olivia's hands a little after the New Year. Warning bells went off in that older brother head of his—he couldn't help but think there was some kind of innuendo to her describing the night as magical let alone some boy sharing himself with her. He'd brushed it aside as she insisted she wasn't likely to see him again and yet—

"That's the nickname Olivia gave him."

"Figures that it is him," Richard looked right at the young man who's silver-eyes were still focused on the "babies". He stared too long and Rabbit's attention turned to him, his mouth opening and his eyes darting around the kitchen as if he were uncomfortable making eye contact. "What's his actual name?"

"Your father and I decided to call him Sebastian Cesario Granger."

The weight of her words set into the gut of Richard's stomach and his throat tightened. His voice rose, making Henry look up at him in confusion while Leo protested. "Are you mad?"

"Quite."

Which, of course wasn't the response Richard expected, but then he didn't expect the sudden panic wash over Rabbit as he glanced around as if he wanted to dart away. He moved, almost falling again only for Eleanor Granger to hold up her hand.

"It's okay Rabbit. Richard's not mad at you." She smiled at Rabbit, speaking in a gentle voice, but when she turned to look at her eldest—Richard tensed up, one of his face muscles twitching at the sight of that look Eleanor Granger got whenever one of her kids over stepped.

"Can we talk about this?" Richard's voice strained, still looking at Rabbit—Sebastian, who still looked as if he wanted to flee the scene. The panic was real, yet felt misplaced.

"It won't change the fact Rabbit is a part of this family now." Eleanor reached out for a long sleeve of the turtleneck that Sebastian wore while his eyes continued darting around the room, as if to discourage him from darting away.

"That's not—" Richard looked right at Sebastian, wondering in his head what to think of the young man who was in his mind most certainly in a relationship with Olivia—a young man who was also now, according to their mother, their younger brother. "You didn't tell us. Any of us."

"It kind of just happened." Eleanor let out a sigh, still clutching onto Sebastian's sleeve.

"Obviously."

"And Hamlet already knows."

"You told Hamlet before me?"

"He was here when-" Eleanor paused, glancing down at Henry. The pause felt like forever, but then she turned to look at Rabbit. "Rabbit, would you like to hold Leo?" A crack appeared in Sebastian's panic, a flicker of excitement appearing on his face only to look at Richard, or more of at Richard right below the chin, as if he couldn't make eye contact with him. Her tone of voice changed. "That is okay? He is your younger brother now, after all."

"As if you're going to give me a choice?" Which didn't help things, Richard quickly realized as Sebastian's eyes went to the ground, looking dejected. Richard let go of Henry's hand, given the fact the child was safe in his grandparents home, but there was a squeal as Henry took up which resulted in Sebastian visibly flinching at the sound.

As Sebastian tried twisting, his balance faltering slightly while Eleanor held onto the sleeve, and Richard poked him in the forehead.

This in turn led to the positive result of Sebastian looking him in the eye, though Richard wasn't sure if this were a good thing as Sebastian seemed quite uncomfortable interacting with him, almost as if social interaction wasn't normal for him. "Learn very quickly, Sebastian, that you don't argue with mom."

"Maman," Sebastian muttered.

Which was concerning, the limited amount of vocabulary that Sebastian used. Richard sucked in his breath. "And—yes, you can hold Leo."

He would have handed Leo over to Sebastian, only Eleanor started tugging Sebastian towards the front room. The stiff, slow way that Sebastian walked certainly wasn't normal. "Let's get you seated on the couch so you can hold Leo, alright?" Sebastian glanced at the ground, yet Eleanor seemed used to his silence let alone interpreting that silence. "Oh! I've no doubt under normal circumstances you'd be able to hold Leo standing up, but you're still healing dear, so let's get you seated."

Which was the second time she mentioned Rabbit still healing.

They arrived in the front room and Richard saw Henry climbed onto the couch to sit on a spot covered by a rather large towel, quite pleased with himself. Eleanor smiled at the toddler. "Oh. That's where your Uncle Rabbit sits, Henry."

Henry glared, making Sebastian freeze. Sebastian, after all, wasn't Hamlet or Cassio Granger. "It's okay, Henry."

Richard noticed Sebastian watch the child, almost as if—he wanted to suddenly tell Henry that Sebastian was more frightened of him, yet the way he reacted in the kitchen made Richard think this would earn him another glare from his mother. Henry moved, and his mother helped Sebastian to sit down.

Which—Richard couldn't help but flinch at how stiffly Sebastian moved, let alone how they both favored the left side. "How?"

"That's one of the things we'll talk about in the kitchen away from the kiddos, and by that I mean Henry and Leo," Eleanor reached over and gently placed Leo into Sebastian's arms, explaining how to properly hold an infant.

Richard cleared his throat, having taken in too much about how difficult moving was for Sebastian. "Henry, be gentle with your Uncle Sebastian, okay? He's not feeling well, and I'm sure grandma doesn't want to, uh—"

"Right now Uncle Rabbit is very fragile like baby Leo is," Eleanor cooed, before heading back into the kitchen. She took a deep breath.

Richard pointed towards the front room. "So? What is that about? Was Hamlet here when that kid got injured? Is that what—"

"Oh. No. He was here when Rabbit showed up a bloody mess on our doorstep, but we almost lost him. He was torn up pretty bad, but your father and I—" Eleanor swallowed.

"Who is he? Do you even know who he is?"

"He's a friend of Olivia."

"Friend? You do realize those two have had sex with each other, right?"

Richard thought the look of surprise was because she didn't know, but then she said, "How did you know?"

He turned, resting his head against the wall and letting out a sigh, wondering how his parents could be okay with the whole thing. Of course, his mother was waiting for an answer and wouldn't let him get away with not answering. "I might have correctly inferred from the innuendo in a letter Olivia wrote him that I happened to get a look at. She said she didn't expect to see him again, this Rabbit person, yet here he is. And you and dad just went and adopted her boyfriend like that? It's madness. Pure madness."

"Actually…" Eleanor swallowed. "Technically, it's in-law and not adoption."

"Wait?" Richard pushed away from the wall, letting out a sigh. "You let them marry? Olivia's not finished her A-Levels, and he's like, what sixteen at most?"

"He's actually the same age as her. Well, his eighteenth is this summer."

"That's beside the point."

"It was to keep Rabbit safe, but he—" Eleanor sighed. "I'll be having a word with Olivia about it later."

"You're giving her a lecture and not him?"

"Oh, he already knows the ground rules. I was actually explaining that we don't want them to have sex until Olivia's passed her A-Levels which was when I found out that they had already—well, that is neither here or there."

"Neither—mom!" Richard's voice strained. "They've—"

"Shush. No over exciting the little ones or Rabbit," Eleanor glared.

"Sorry." Richard muttered, lowering his voice. "But you do know—"

"I explained as much to Rabbit, and he was very apologetic when I explained what one of the end results to having sex is."

Richard turned his head, looking at the living room in disbelief. He turned back, pointing a finger in the direction of the front room. "Are you telling me he didn't know where babies come from?"

"Stork was the word he used when I asked him if he knew." Eleanor pressed her lips together. "Which means it was Olivia who knew better, otherwise both of them would be on the receiving end of a lecture. And—could you not tell your father until I talk to him, not that I think he'll go off on Rabbit. Rabbit is—well, you've seen for yourself how he is."

"How he-" Richard looked at the ground, swallowing. "Is how he is because of the trauma from whatever happened, or—"

He didn't finish. Eleanor finished for him. "It could be the former, or the latter, even a combination of both. Probably both, but also—Richard, there's something you need to know. From what Olivia's told us, Rabbit grew up super sheltered, but that led him getting into the wrong crowd which led to what happened to him, to him showing up a bloody mess on our doorstep and us having to rush him to the clinic."

"Wrong crowd," Richard sighed. "This isn't going to come back and bite us in the butt is it?"

"Given the fact nobody's come looking for him?"

"And that's why you decided to give him a name." Richard rubbed his forehead. "You sure Olivia hasn't fallen for some bad boy? I mean, I saw his eyes, although briefly and he is quite the looker."

"That's not why. Goodness. Just get to know Rabbit. That child has a very warm heart, but people took advantage of him, of his naivity."

"So apparently to did Olivia," Richard muttered. He pinched the bridge of his nose wondering how their lives ended turned upside down like they were.

"I don't think Rabbit would quite agree with that, but it might not have even crossed her mind that he didn't know. As I said, her knowing better is why she's the one getting the lecture, not both."

"Okay. So where is he staying? He's not sleeping on the couch?"

"Oh. No. Currently he's staying in your father and my room so we can keep an eye on him at night while he continues healing."

"Look. I know this place is a safe harbor for him, but that's not okay. He needs his own room and not one with Olivia until after A-Levels, so—" Richard didn't hesitate. "My room. He can have my room. I mean, I moved out after I married and we've kids of our own, so—"

"Oh, well—you might have a bit of competition in that regard. Hamlet's also said he wants to give up his old for Rabbit, but he's awful fond of him already. It's rather hard not to become fond of Rabbit."

"You—we barely know him." He was getting drawn into the mad rabbit hole that Rabbit's appearance suddenly created in their lives.

"I know he's a young man with a very warm heart, but whoever his family is—was as he's ours now—they left a number on him. Sorry, I said, is definitely one of his vocabulary words, one you'll learn he's a habit of saying way to often for things he didn't do wrong, but there is some mother out there that didn't appreciate that gift they were given. And yes, I'm not pleased with Olivia going behind our backs, but this is about what is best for our Rabbit."

"It's still sinking in," Richard looked at the ground. "I mean, the innuendo in Olivia's was definitely not something I want to see my baby sister writing, like, ever. But mom, what if things don't work out between them."

She suddenly laughed. "I told Rabbit they're still both a part of this family, though things might be a bit awkward. I don't think it's going to end up like that. Oh, and don't underestimate his intelligence either, just because he's not super talkative and naive about certain things."

"Something you discovered?"

"Something Olivia talked to me about. From what she said, I am actually looking forward to when he finally feels comfortable talking around us, but I don't mind the one word responses either."

"So, I'm going to go and check in on them," Richard pointed to the living room. "I mean, this still feels weird." He walked into the room, Eleanor right behind him, only to stop in his tracks when he heard Sebastian speaking—more specifically, he was reading to Henry in a very low voice, getting one word out at a time.

"Oh my! So Olivia was right about you being able to manage to say more!" Eleanor blurted out.

Sebastian startled, Leo nestled in his arm, book resting on his lap as Henry leaned in being as gentle as a toddler could be. The reading stopped, and Sebastian swallowed. "Sorry. Sorry."

Which was what their mother meant by Sebastian over using the word, appologizing for things he didn't have to, almost as if—Richard smiled at him. "You don't have to apologize for reading to my kids. It's actually a good thing to read to kids when they're little like this."

"And you don't have to apologize for not saying more. I've told you before, to take your time getting used to using your words again, but that if you're more comfortable with using single words that is okay."

Sebastian hummed, rocking slightly rocking back and forth. It would definitely have to be something they would need to look into. He walked over and scooped Henry up into his arms and sat down, knowing he'd need to explain to his wife when he got home why it took so long to drop the kids off at his parents place for the day. "So, what are you doing kiddo?"

"Uncle Abby and Leo can't play with me."

"So you decided to have him read to you?" Richard watched Henry nod his head, but looking over at Sebastian it was quite obvious that the young man was more comfortable around the children. "So—regarding your current living arrangements." Sebastian's head jerked up, but the panic on his face was there, growing when Richard said, "You can't sleep in mom and dad's room forever, you know."

"Sorry. I'm sorry."

"No, no. Don't apologize. They want to keep an eye on you as you heal, but you really need your own room. Not Olivia's room, but your own." Richard noted how Sebastian titled his head in confusion at the mention of Olivia's room, as if that possibility hadn't crossed his mind and now he was wondering why Richard even brought it up. "The fact mom and dad are keeping an eye on you while you heal is to our advantage, as it means we can get something worked out."

The response was an affirmative hum.

"Do you—is there a certain color you'd want us to paint your room?" Which brought more confusion, a tilting of the head again. "I mean, do you have a favorite color?"

Sebastian didn't answer. Henry squirmed. "Red!"

Sebastian shook his head. He did not like red.

"Yellow."

Sebastian smiled, shaking his head again. He did not like yellow, but it didn't have the same level of dislike as red.

"Green!" Henry laughed, going through the street light colors.

This brought a heavy shaking of the head.

Richard sucked in his breath. "So you really dislike green then?" A thought crossed his mind. "You don't like Christmas."

Sebastian's face lit up and he let out a laugh, shaking his head and letting out another laugh.

"Pink!"

Sebastian raised an eyebrow, giving Henry a rather amused look.

"Purple."

Which simply brought up on a laugh.

"Blue!"

When Henry mentioned the word blue, Sebastian's face lit up and-

"Black."

Sebastian choked, not that Richard could blame him.

"No rooms painted black! It's too dark Henry, but blue it is. Blue is your favorite color." Richard watched Sebastian tilt his head in confusion. "You don't think so?"

Sebastian shrugged. He looked down at the book he'd been reading Henry yet didn't start reading. Things for the Granger family—they'd definitely changed.