Author's Notes:
Hi everyone! I hope you're all staying healthy and at home during this pandemic! I've personally been going absolutely stir crazy and have not been adjusting well to online classes. My dog, however, has absolutely been loving being a student of the Zoom School Of Law. She has joined in on every class I've had thus far! I hope you all like this next chapter. I'm not going to be doing too many more with Harry being this young. I'll be jumping around his childhood years to important moments and giving a lot of descriptive history until I get to year one.
Smallwjl: I'm glad you liked the chapter! I wanted something a little lighthearted given the world right now. Geekymom: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you liked the chapter!
Anyway, on to the story! Thank you for reading Ignoring Destiny!
Chapter Twelve: A Little Normality
Harry woke up and blinked several times, getting accustomed to his surroundings after his abrupt reentry to consciousness.
His room was still dim as the sun was rising and the curtains around his bed were still drawn. He cuddled his stuffed hippogriff closer, trying to drown out the dream that had woken him. He couldn't remember much as it was quickly fading but he could remember someone throwing him around. The person had been large with a beefy neck that he vaguely recognized as his Uncle Vernon even though he hadn't seen his uncle in nearly four months at this point.
Harry threw open the curtains around his bed and slid off, his bare little feet slamming to the cold floor. He quickly padded his way down the hall to the room next door and pushed the door open ajar.
The soft glow of sunlight spilled into the room from the open window as James snored lightly from his bed where he was cocooned under his blanket.
Harry quietly crept over to James' large bed and climbed in beside James and snuggled close, closing his eyes and falling back to sleep.
James woke abruptly a few hours later when a little foot hit him in the face. He blinked several times, clearing the sleep from his eyes before he untangled himself from his blanket and sat up. James smiled when he saw tiny Harry sleeping, sprawled out sideways on the bed. He simply covered Harry with the blanket and went to get a shower.
Once he was done, James went back over to his bed to check on Harry. He smiled as he looked at the small boy on his bed. When he caught sight of the green eyes staring back at him his heart skipped a beat.
"Oh, Harry, you're awake. You scared me there," James said.
Harry nodded at James, his eyes wide.
James ran his fingers through his hair and asked, "So why did you end up in my room, bud?"
"I had a bad dream," Harry replied.
James sat down next to Harry and said, "About what, Harry?"
Harry shrugged, "I don't remember now."
"Well I'm glad, then," James replied, "How about some breakfast?"
"Can we have pancakes?" Harry asked, smiling.
"Let's see if we can con Cirri into making some for us. Maybe she'll make her world-famous snickerdoodle pancakes!" James said as he picked Harry up and carried him out of the room.
"What are snickerdoodle pancakes?" Harry asked.
"Only the best pancakes ever! They taste like snickerdoodles, of course!" James replied.
After breakfast, Remus took Harry to the Manor library to practice his reading skills so James had a chance to read his mail and get some errands done without worrying about dragging Harry into the middle of a reporter flock. James was hoping to start figuring out what sort of job he wanted now that things had settled down. Really, he didn't need to get a job; he had enough money to last him several lifetimes, but he needed something to do with his time or he thought he would go crazy.
James started by sorting through the mail. They had several dozen letters sitting on the table from throughout the week. He had been putting off sorting it because, and to his displeasure his rationale had been correct, more than 90% of it was fan mail for Harry. why on earth people felt sending fan mail to a three-year-old who couldn't read yet, was beyond him. He pitched those letters almost immediately; they held no value.
The last few letters were worth keeping. One was from Scrimgeour inquiring whether James was interested in picking his auror training back up. James set that one aside, he hadn't decided yet.
James opened the next letter and was shocked at its contents.
Lord James Potter,
My name is Kalvin Warsh and I am the head recruiter for the quidditch team, Pride of Portree. During your last year at Hogwarts I had observed you playing the position of chaser for the Gryffindor team. At the time I had offered you a reserve spot on our team should that interest you and you declined our invitation due to the war and your recent marriage.
I hope I gave you enough time to adjust to reentering society after your long hospitalization and bringing your young son home before this letter arrived at your home. Now that the war is over I wanted to renew my offer from several years ago to obtain you as a reserve player for Portree, a position that could start as immediately as you wished.
I understand that you've been out of practice and that you most likely haven't been on a broom since before the fall of you-know-who however skills like yours never fade. We believe that with training you would be a starting player for our team within the next two years.
We would be more than happy to offer you a flexible schedule until that time and, once you move to a starting position, the ability to have flexibility for your individual training and practices as well as time off and as many season tickets as you would require for the duration of your career. We would also provide for you a practice broom as well as a competition broom and all equipment necessary for the upkeep (should you choose to do that yourself) or upkeep services for your brooms. We would also provide for you all equipment like gloves, uniform, shoes, etc. necessary and their replacements as necessary.
We offer a competitive wage of 100,000 galleons per year while on reserve and a bonus of 20,000 galleons upon promotion and an increase of 50,000 galleons per year for as long as you are a starting player.
I understand that this is a difficult decision. I will keep this offer open for the next month. If you have any questions or would like to accept our position please reach out via owl mail. Thank you for your consideration of flying Portree, we hope to have you as part of our Pride family!
Sincerely,
Kalvin Warsh
Just as James was finishing rereading the letter Sirius walked into the room and sprawled out on the couch, eating a pear.
"What'cha reading, Prongs?" Sirius asked between bites.
James stared at the letter and responded, "A letter from the head recruiter for the Pride of Portree quidditch team."
"What's he writing you for?" Sirius asked again.
"They want me on the team still," James replied.
"Right," Sirius said, "I remember they had mailed you back in 7th year. Didn't you turn them down?"
James nodded his head, "The war was going on and I had just married Lily—I couldn't commit to a career like that."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know."
James sighed and set the letter aside; he would look at it again later and really think about it. At least he had two career options at this point.
He looked back up at Sirius and asked, "So, are you going to stop being a lazy bum and get a job?"
Sirius shrugged, "I was thinking about finishing my auror training. But maybe I'll see if I can get a job a Zonko's; that would be pretty cool."
"I think either of those options would be really good for you," James said, shocked that Sirius had actually begun thinking about jobs, "I could see you as being a pretty badass auror, but I would understand if it left a bad taste in your mouth to join the ministry."
"Yeah. I mean, I'm not looking forward to having to work for the people who forced me into prison, but I also feel like they kind of owe me for their mistake. Plus, I could take the opportunity to put away the people who really do deserve it while making sure more people like me aren't wrongfully imprisoned," Sirius said seriously.
"I think that's a very positive outlook, Sirius," Remus said, surprisingly, from the doorway, "James, Harry wants to know if he can have a snack. It's nearly 5 though."
"Yeah, just something small. Or you can have Gus make him something for dinner, doesn't matter," James replied before turning to Sirius, "I agree with Remus, on this."
Sirius shrugged, "I have to talk to Scrimgeour before I can do anything."
James began opening the last letter in his pile as he responded, "Why don't you borrow our owl and mail him?"
Sirius simply shrugged and started flipping through his motorcycle magazine.
James sighed and looked down at the letter in his hands, there was no point in trying to talk to Sirius once he was done talking about something. He looked down at the letter in his hands and, not recognizing the handwriting, began reading.
Lord Potter,
I'm not sure if you remember me or not from the few times we interacted, but my name is Molly Weasley. I was several years ahead of you in school and did minimal work for the Order during the war.
I had run into Mr. Remus Lupin in Diagon Alley and we had spoke about how you had brought your son, Harry, home with you to live and you three were still adjusting to your new life together. He mentioned that you had hoped to find Harry some playmates his age but you weren't sure who had children his age. Remus mentioned that Harry had been visiting with Augusta's grandson, Neville, and that they got along well.
I don't mean to be too forward in offering this but I wanted to let you know that my home is always open to another child in need of a friend. I have seven children myself, five of whom are about Harry's age. I have the twins, Fred and George, who are 5, my son Ron who's just turned 4, and my daughter Ginny who's 2 and a half. Harry would be welcome to come any time he wanted to visit with the children. Really, after 7 what's one more?
If would ever like to have a play date, just floo me at the Burrow and we can set something up. And please let me know if there's anything I can do to help ease you and your family's transition. We don't have much but we will offer what we can.
Truly,
Molly Weasley
James smiled as he got up and walked to the kitchen in an attempt to find Remus. He found Remus and Harry sitting at the bar counter, Harry was eating some nuggets.
"I didn't realize you had run into Mrs. Weasley when you went to Diagon Alley last week," James said to Remus as he handed him the letter to read.
Remus read over the letter quickly while Harry made his dinosaur nuggets attack each other before eating one.
"Well, I didn't think she would contact you so quickly. I had mentioned in passing that we were hoping to find Harry some friends his age. She had mentioned that she had some children Harry's age and I had said that I was sure you would be interested in getting them together.
"They have a daughter? She must be the first girl born in the Weasley family in several generations! I bet Mr. Weasley dotes on her like crazy," Remus finished.
"Oh, I'm sure," James said before turning to Harry, "Harry, would you like to have a play date with a few kids your age?"
"Have I met them before?" Harry asked while he nibbled on a nugget.
James shook his head, "Not yet, bud. But they're nice kids and you'd get to go to their house like you do Neville's."
"I don't know," Harry said, "Can I take my toys?"
"All of them?" James asked.
Harry nodded.
"No," James replied, "you can't take all of your toys," Harry's face fell so James continued, "You could take one or two, though, if you wanted. Something small. No brooms!"
Harry thought for a moment but seemed to accept that compromise, "When can I go?"
"Let me talk to Mrs. Weasley and see when they're free, ok?" James replied.
"Ok, do that now," Harry said as he turned back to his nuggets.
James frowned, "Harry, that's not a nice way to say that. Can you please ask in a nicer way?"
Harry sighed, "Can you please ask now?"
"That's much better. I'll go floo Mrs. Weasley and talk to her about this, ok?"
Harry nodded and went back to playing with his nuggets as James left the kitchen to go use the fireplace in the library so he wasn't interrupted during the call.
James picked up a pinch of floo powder and threw it into the fireplace as he knelt down on the floor. He stuck his head into the fire and said, "The Burrow."
James saw everything spinning around him while his body remained still. It was an odd sensation but it ended quickly as his head settled in a fire place in an unfamiliar kitchen. He could see that it was a very homey house and that someone had begun dinner as a knife magically cut up vegetables on the table and a pan sautéing something on the stove.
"Hello?" James called to the empty room, "Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, it's James Potter! Are you home?"
James tried to look to his left as he heard footsteps growing closer. After a few moments a short, pudgy woman hurried into view of the flames. She had bright red hair and deep brown eyes. She knelt down in front of the fire to look James in the eyes.
"Hello, dear!" she said, "What do I owe this call?"
"Good evening, Mrs. Weasley, I hope I'm not interrupting or intruding," James said, "I just received your letter."
"Oh, I was worried it wouldn't arrive! No, you're not intruding at all. I was just getting the children ready for supper. Have you thought about whether you would like Harry to come over for a play date, then?" Molly asked.
James nodded, "Yes and I've talked to Harry about it. He seems pretty excited to meet your children. When would you like to have him over?"
Molly waved a hand at him, "Oh any time, Lord Potter. He's always welcome in our home. Why don't you drop him off sometime tomorrow to play?"
"That sounds great; it'll give me a chance to get caught up on stuff I need to do. Thank you, Mrs. Weasley. And, please, call me James. I'm not a huge fan of people using my title."
"Only if you call me Molly," Molly said, smiling, "Just floo him over whenever you're ready and then come back and pick him up before bed. I'm sure he'll get tuckered out quickly."
"Ok sounds good. We'll see you tomorrow," James pulled his head back out of the fireplace and went back into the kitchen to spend time with Harry.
~ID~
The next day Harry was bursting with excitement. He had dressed himself, rather haphazardly, and put his shoes on on the wrong feet, and gathered the three toys he wanted to take with him to the Weasleys'. He was both excited and scared to meet more kids his age; he had never had these many friends before now. He hoped that they liked him.
Harry ran down the stairs and into the kitchen for breakfast where Gus was making omelets on the stove. Harry wrinkled his nose at this but sat down anyway.
Gus turned around and saw Harry and began spooning something into a bowl, "Master Harry I is making you some oatmeal with cinnamon in it because I is knowing you is not liking the omelets I is making. Oatmeal is making you strong so eat all of it, ok?"
Gus placed the bowl of oatmeal in front of Harry as well as a glass of chocolate milk. Harry looked up at Gus, confused, and saw Gus wink at him.
"We is keeping this a secret, Master Harry. You is having a special day so I think you is able to be having chocolate milk today," Gus explained to Harry who smiled and quickly drank the milk and then began eating the oatmeal.
Harry was pleasantly surprised that he enjoyed the oatmeal more than he thought he would. The greyish color had been off-putting but the mixture was sweet and tasted of cinnamon and sugar. Harry ate the entire bowl and even asked for seconds. Gus had beamed at his request and happily spooned more into the bowl for Harry who then gulped that bowl down.
Now full, Harry couldn't wait to go to the Weasleys' house, but James wasn't up yet. It was only about 7 in the morning at this point because Harry had awoken so much earlier than the rest of the house.
Harry wandered around the house until he found the library. He walked in and looked at some of the books lining the shelves before tiptoeing over to the fireplace.
Harry peered into the container holding the floo powder and then looked around the room. It remained silent and motionless in the early morning air. Harry looked back at the floo powder and put his fingers into it and dug around, reveling in the feeling of the granules between his fingers; it felt so much like sand that Harry was sure that that's what it was.
He dug his hands in further, pulling some sand up into his hand and letting it slide back off and into the pot. Harry looked at the fireplace as he dipped his hands back into the container; he had used the floo with his dad a few times, he remembered that you're supposed to throw it in and then say where you were going. Would his dad really be upset if he, Harry, went to the Weasleys' a little earlier than expected? His dad might even congratulate him on being such a big boy.
Harry carefully picked up some of the floo powder and scrutinized it as it was pinched between his fingers. Then he looked at the fireplace and threw the powder in and watched as green flames burst into view. Harry walked towards the fire and said, "The Weasleys'," and began stepping into the fire.
Suddenly he was yanked away from the fireplace and the green flames were extinguished. He had never heard Sirius enter, and fear gripped his heart when he saw Sirius' face.
Sirius' eyes blazed with anger and fear as he asked, "What on earth were you doing, Harry? That's not some prank you can pull!"
Tears welled in Harry's eyes, "I was going to the Weasleys'. I'm being a big boy!"
"Harry," Sirius said as calmly as he could manage, "you never, and I mean never, take the floo by yourself. Do you know what happens if you don't use the floo exactly right?"
Harry shook his head, the tears spilling out and over his cheeks.
"You could end up somewhere you don't know, far away, and it's nearly impossible to track you down after that," Sirius said sternly.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Sir-rus," Harry cried.
Harry pushed his face into Sirius' shoulder as Sirius held him, crying. Sirius stiffened, unsure of what to do. The anger he felt was slowly ebbing, but hadn't completely faded. He worried about what he might do if it didn't go away.
Sirius stiffly patted Harry on the back for a moment before finally embracing the boy, putting his hand on Harry's head and stroking him softly.
"It's ok, BK. Just, don't do it again, ok?" Sirius said.
Harry looked up and wiped his eyes, "Are you doing to tell daddy?"
Sirius thought for a moment before answering, "We can keep this our secret, but you owe me. I'll need your quick fingers for some class A pranks I have planned," Sirius' eyes glinted mischievously.
Harry smiled and hugged his godfather before sliding off his lap, "Is dad awake, Uncle padfoot? I want to go to the Weasleys'!"
"I'm not sure, BK; why don't you go look?"
Harry grinned and ran off to find his dad who, by Harry's luck, had just rolled out of bed and come down the stairs.
James took in Harry's outfit, which was comprised of a pair of light green trousers, a bright yellow striped sweater, and open toed sandals, before saying, "Well, it looks like someone dressed himself today, huh?"
"Yeah! Do you like it?" Harry asked excitedly.
"I do! I love that you matched that yellow with green. It brings out your eyes," James said in a funny voice, "But maybe we should change your sandals to sneakers since you'll be running around at the Weasleys' today, huh?"
Harry frowned, tears welling in his eyes again, "But I like my sandals! Please?"
Sensing a tantrum brewing, James felt it was best to just give in on this one since Harry would most likely be pulling his sandals off to play anyway, "How about you put some socks on under the sandals so your toes don't get cold and I'll agree to let you wear them? Good compromise?"
"I guess so," Harry replied dejectedly.
"Why don't you go grab them while I eat breakfast. Did you eat yet?" James asked.
"Yeah. Gus made me oatmeal!" Harry said as he ran passed James back up the stairs, "It was yummy!"
"Alright then, see you in the kitchen!" James yelled as Harry disappeared out of sight.
James sighed and wandered into the kitchen and sat at the breakfast table next to Sirius.
"Morning," James said as he pulled a plate towards him and started loading it up with an omelet, bacon, and hashbrowns.
"Morning," Sirius replied solemnly.
James looked up at Sirius as he ate. He carefully chewed and swallowed his bite of eggs before saying, "What's up? Something happen? Did you find a grey hair this morning?"
Sirius' hand immediately shot to his hair where he ran his fingers through the black locks, "No! This head of hair shall forever be black, thank you."
James simply reached over and plucked a grey hair off of Sirius' shoulder and held it up to his friend, "Think not, old buddy, old pal. Check again."
Sirius paled and grabbed the grey hair, internally mourning the loss of color, "What even is life!"
James laughed, "Seriously, what's wrong?"
Sirius gave James a confused look and said, "I am Sirius."
James simply stared stonily at Sirius.
"Harry may have done something dangerous this morning that I can't tell you about because I promised him I wouldn't. He swears he won't do it again, though," Sirius said.
James paled, "What did he do?"
"I made a promise, Prongs; I don't break those and you know it," Sirius replied.
"I think I should know what dangerous thing my son did," James argued.
"Fine," Sirius said, "But you can't tell him you know. He already felt bad enough about it once he realized how dangerous it was."
"Fine," James said.
"He tried to floo to the Weasleys' by himself because he was so excited about his playdate. He thought he was showing us what a big boy he was by doing that," Sirius blurted out.
James' eyes bulged, "He did what?"
"Yeah. But once I explained to him about getting lost in the floo, he smartened up."
"Because that makes me feel so much better about it!" James yelled.
Sirius shrugged, "But—James I was worried. I was so angry at Harry. I—nothing happened. He calmed down and then went to find you but, what if I had done something? My parents—"
"Were nothing like you and you are nothing like them," James said, "You would never do what they did to Harry. Ever."
"But—" Sirius started.
"Never," James said with an air of finality just as Harry and Remus walked into the kitchen. Harry had put mismatched socks on his feet. They were purple and orange socks—one each for the Holy Head Harpies and the Chudley Cannons.
"Can we go yet?" Harry whined.
"Soon, little Prongs," James said as he finished up the last of his eggs.
Harry glanced quickly at Sirius who winked back. Harry smiled and sat next to his dad at the table.
"Can we go yet?" Harry asked again as he swung his legs back and forth.
"In a minute, Harry," James replied, annoyed, "If you keep asking you won't get to go at all."
Harry frowned but sat quietly until James had finished the remainder of his hash browns.
James turned to Sirius and Remus and asked, "Do you think 9 is too early?"
Remus shook his head, "Her kids are probably already awake and as excited as Harry. I say take him over now."
Sirius simply shrugged at James while he chowed down on his omelet.
"Alright, Harry, do you have your stuff?" James asked.
Harry nodded and held up his little backpack, "I'm bringing Hippo, exploding snap, and my chess set!"
"Those sound like excellent toys to bring," James said, smiling, "Let's head to the fireplace so we can floo over."
Harry frowned but followed his dad to the library.
James picked Harry up and held him as he threw the floo powder into the fireplace and said their destination. Just like that Harry left Potter Manor in a blur of colors.
End Notes:
Thank you for reading Ignoring Destiny! Please like, comment, and review!
