The child did not cry, as he stood on his wobbly, chubby legs, clad in his red snitch pyjamas his hands wrapped around the bars of the cot. He thought this was some joke, like his father always pulled, though he felt confusion as he babbled, and his mother did not stir from her sleep on the floor.
"Mamma!" He giggled, peering towards the floor, where his mother lay, her eyes wide open, though they were not filled with their usual adoration and kindness. "Dadda!" He looked towards the doorway, but his father did not appear.
He blinked, gazing into the darkness as far as his young eyes would allow. He couldn't see his father in the shadows, ready to jump and scare his mother like he often did, leaving her with a scream and then a laugh, her eyes twinkling.
His hands reached out into the darkness, speaking his intelligible toddler speak. He wanted the bubbles back, the bubbles his father had been making appear only some time before. He grabbed at the air, hoping they would appear. They didn't.
"Dadda!" His voice no longer laughed, his eyes filling with tears. His hand grabbed at the stuffed hippogriff in the cot beside him, that was really far too large for a toddlers toy. The toy did not provide the usual comfort, when his mother animated it and made it speak in a gruff, grumbly way.
"Mamma!"
He didn't understand why his parents would not come.
Harry Potter began to cry.