Hi guys, I'm going to apologise for the long time this has taken coming and also the extreme shortness of the chapter, but it seemed like a good place to stop. Comments would be lovely, I hope you all have nice Christmases! :)
JLF xx

Are You Coming?

Chapter 9

"Come on, Harry, this is simple, you did more than this yesterday!" Ron exclaimed as the two boys knelt in the long grass in the gardens of James' estate. Ron's eyes were full of excitement while Harry's were unsure.

"Maybe I won't be able to do it," Harry said slowly. "Maybe it wasn't me."

"But your dad said-" Ron said.

"Maybe he just said those things," Harry suggested but in his heart of hearts, Harry knew this couldn't be so; James wouldn't have said such nice things if he hadn't meant them. Sadly, that was the kind of person his father was.

"He didn't," the red-haired boy said quickly, refusing to let his friend become even more downhearted due to the relationship with his father.

Harry shrugged and returned his focus to Deer. Ron had convinced him that they should try more magic today and see if Harry could impress James again. It was early afternoon and the boys had just got back from school. James was at work and Eve had been left to watch over them. Currently, Harry was trying to get Deer to move, just like a real fawn. It hadn't gone well so far.

The truth was Harry wasn't sure how to. All he knew was that yesterday he had been desperate to stop Malfoy from hurting him and the magic had happened on its own. He wasn't sure if merely wanting Deer to come to life was enough to make it happen.

"Go on, Harry," Ron encouraged again.

Harry nodded slowly. "Okay," he said tentatively. He closed his eyes and wished and hoped and imagined Deer running across the long grass of the lawn. The felt hooves moved gracefully, his head was held high and his eyes gleamed with life.

When Harry opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Ron's eyes, full of surprise and awe. He followed the other boy's gaze in the direction of the forest, to see Deer gently loping away from them.

"I did it," he said quietly allowing a slight smile to spread across his face.

"Well done, Harry," Ron exclaimed as they followed the stuffed toy across the forest.

Harry's smile widened. "I actually did it!" he commented.

His green eyes followed Deer to the edge of the forest. Standing there gracefully was a large stag, the same stag Harry had seen a few days earlier, the night he had been attacked. The only difference was that last time Harry had seen the stag, he had been with his fawn and yet the fawn was nowhere to be seen. The beautiful little fawn, with a pale hide and snowdrop spots. He wondered if the stag was now very lonely, considering its child had gone or whether he was like Harry's father and wouldn't care very much.

Harry looked up once again and saw that Deer had fallen lifelessly to the ground while he had been distracted. He ran over and picked up the toy holding it to him. He turned and gave a slow sigh as he looked at Ron.

"Well, at least you did it," Ron said, "why don't you try again?"

"Yes!" Harry agreed, "and this time for longer." He had to impress his father again; he just couldn't allow him to disappear from his life.

It wasn't as hard for Harry to get Deer moving again the second time and soon the stuffed toy was trotting across the grass once again. The boys both laughed as they realised that Harry was once again successful.

Harry was once again distracted but this time by his father coming into view. James entered the estate by the front gate and walked up the path, obviously heading towards the house. He walked towards the boys after spotting them kneeling in the grass.

"What are you doing?" he asked, looking at Harry.

"We're practicing magic," Harry told him shyly.

"Yeah!" Ron said vociferously.

"I see," James said, obviously unimpressed or uninterested. He gave his son one final glance before carrying on his path up to the house.

Harry watched him walk away, looking disheartened. "I don't get it, he really liked it yesterday…"

Ron sighed, obviously unable to think of an answer to Harry's comment. "What does he do anyway? Always sitting in his office, shut up in the house?"

"Oh, I don't know," Harry replied, his head hung and his shoulders crumpled.

"Why don't you go and ask then?" Ron asked, grinning at him widely.

"Oh no, he won't want to be bothered-" Harry started to answer.

Ron cut him off, "parents like it when you ask questions, lots and lots of questions."

"Oh, right," Harry said, looking incredibly interested all of a sudden.

"Come on, I'll be right beside you," Ron encouraged, steering Harry towards the house. Harry dropped Deer in the hall way as the two boys bounced up the stairs.

Harry paused at the office door, before making his way to the desk where his father was working. He turned around and peered through the open door to notice that Ron was now standing at the top of the stairs and gesturing for Harry to start a conversation with James.

James looked down and looked at his son with beady hazel eyes.

"Umm, w-what are you doing?" Harry asked nervously.

"I'm writing a report," James told him, looking back down at his parchment.

"What's 'writing a report'?" Harry asked after a minute of consideration.

"It's… well… it's… it's- it's difficult to explain," James struggled.

Harry sighed. "Okay," he said, turning his back on his father and starting to make his retreat from the office.

"It's like a story," James tried, "a story that tells anyone who reads it what's happening in my work. "Who buys the magazine, where it is sold, who else produces things that are the same?"

"Alright," Harry said.

"Well, I have to go to the office," James said, rising from his seat and striding to the door.

"Oh okay," Harry said, looking disheartened once again.

James turned and paused in the doorway. "Are you coming?"

"Me? Of course," Harry asked, bounding after him.

Ron, standing a few metres down the corridor, just out of sight on a bend, grinned and chuckled to himself as he watched father and son walking away together.