A/N – I have never been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the last time I went to Disney World Florida was in 2008, so this is all from research and my brother's Facebook album ;) However, when I went to Florida, my dad spotted something being built and some brick work being put up – aye! They were building freaking Hogwarts! I kind of died when they announced the opening of it.
IMPORTANT: If you don't like Harry Potter and would get bored reading their time in the park, by all means, skip that part when you get to it.
What I love most about rivers is:
You can never step in the same river twice,
The water is always changing, always flowing,
But people, I guess, can't live like that,
We all must pay a price.
To be safe, we lose our chance of ever knowing,
What's around the riverbend,
Waiting just around the riverbend.
Just Around the Riverbend – 'Pocahontas'
Bella
"Edward, have you seen where I put the sun-," before I could finish my sentence, Edward had his finger to his lips, telling me to keep hushed and then made me follow him with the flicker of his hand. We snuck down the hallway, heading towards the kitchen and back garden but we came to a halt before entering the room. Listening carefully, I could just make out Draco talking elaborately either to himself or with someone else.
"I hash run dish…it biiiiig run an da-daddy hash run tooo…"
"Can you play songs on it?" The deep voice belongs to my step father, Phil. I can't remember ever seeing him around children as young as Draco, so I wasn't sure what his patience would be like. Seemingly, he acts well.
"Daaaaddy pays bush run nnn'it."
Edward and I both looked at each other, silently asking what he meant by that. Shrugging it off we decide to enter the room and see for ourselves. Phil is sitting on one side of the kitchen table with a portable keyboard before him; Draco is kneeling on the seat beside Phil, entertaining himself by pressing two of the ivory keys. The keyboard hadn't been switched on, so no noise came from his playing.
"Hey buddy, you okay?" Edward ruffled our son's hair, bending down to be on the same level, "what are you doing?"
"…Dad-daddyy…I hash run."
"We have a piano don't we?"
"Yeaaah…Dad-daddy pay bush run?"
"You want me to play the bus song?"
"Yeeeah."
"As long as that is okay with Grandpa Phil…?"
Phil stuck his arms out and slowly rose from the seat, "hey, yeah, be my guest. I need to start grilling the steaks anyway."
I wish I had my camera with me, to snap Draco's expression when Edward began to play the well-known tune. He literally had a sparkle in his eyes, and he shuffled his butt in excitement. We both sang the lyrics and I helped Draco with the hand movements to each verse.
"…The babies on the bus go: waah, waah, waah. Waah, waah, waah. Waah, waah, waah. The babies on the bus go: waah, waah, waah. All through the town…"
Of course, Edward being Edward, he couldn't walk away from the keyboard after only playing one song, and so gave us great renditions of other pieces, including 'House of the Rising Sun' by The Animals, 'The Show Must Go On' by Queen and some Pirates of the Caribbean songs, naturally; it is our favourite film after all. Out of all the Pirate songs he played, 'Up Is Down' and 'The Black Pearl' were my favourite two.
I sat in amazement – his hands flew up and down the keys and playing so many at a time, it's surprising how he didn't mess up. His left hand controlled the chords and sometimes the keys just needed a flick of the fingers and that was all it took to produce such a beautiful melody.
"Hey Bella," He stopped playing and turned his head to look at me, "how much does a Pirate spend to get his ear's pierced?"
"Um, I have no idea."
"A Buccaneer!"
"You can't arrr-gue with that!"
"Yeah, you ruined it."
Well…you smell! Ha, take that!
A look of deep concentration crossed Edward's face, it then broke into an evil smile and he looked in my direction…oh, God…He bounced his finger rhythmically on a black key near the top end of the keyboard. I didn't know which note it was, but it was quite deep sounding. It was a very quick paced rhythm, almost like tapping. He did this for a good thirty seconds before playing another two keys, spread apart and deeper than the first, all in the same rhythm. Call me slow, but I only understood what he was playing when using his right hand to start the melody.
"You're doing that on purpose!"
"What? Moi? Bella, I have no idea what you're on about."
"Eurgh! You know how much I hate 'Chariots of Fire'! In fact, it was you and your shitty friends who bullied me with it." Back then, during high school, being stuck in Gym class with Edward and his 'Merry Men' was Hell on earth. Whenever we ran laps or did anything faster than walking I always came last, and they would stand at the finish line, sound out the song and slow-motion run along-side me, sweating buckets and breathing like an Asthmatic.
So now I can't stand that song, simply because of the sheer humiliation it reminded me of.
Yet, old habits die hard and Edward is refusing to stop; still with the evil smile on his face.
"Edward, stop it, that's not funny."
"Oh, come on, Bell; I'm only playing with ya'."
"You bullied me with that song – I wouldn't say I was too keen to hear it."
He rubbed his hand roughly down his face. "For God's sake, I'd hardly call what we did 'bullying'. Teasing, yes, but not bullying."
"Think what you like – it always appears different to the victim."
Edward turned the keyboard off with an angry punch of a button. "For fucks sake, stop acting so fucking ridiculous."
"Hey! Watch your language. I can tell you're angry, so I'm going to take Draco out for a swim and you can join us when you can control your temper." How did our sweet moment turn into an argument? Sometimes I wonder whether there is one child in this family or two.
xxx
I was forced awake by a heart breaking cry shortly after four-thirty the following morning. Edward had his arm draped over my stomach and was snoring quietly into my shoulder. No matter how much we argue, we always came running back to one another, whether we're conscious or not.
Draco's cheeks were red and wet with tears, he mumbled my name through his crying, which had quietened down now that I was here. I don't know what had caused this, but I assumed it was a nightmare; you don't wake up in such a state otherwise. When I brought him into my arms, he grabbed onto my tank top straps and pulled himself close to me as well as doing best to move up my front.
So as to not wake Edward, I padded through to the kitchen and turned a couple side lights on, to make the place appear safer for Draco. I crossed my arms around his shaking body and rocked him soothingly.
"Don't cry, Poppet, it was just a dream. Mummy is here – I'll look after you." He rested his head against my chest; I stroked his hair off his forehead and then rubbed his arms. "Can you tell me what happened? Why are you crying?"
"A mooonster. Not nice."
"Was the monster scary?"
"Yeah."
"Do you want to hear a secret?"
"Ssh…"
"That's right; you can't tell anybody...but monsters are scared of mummies and daddies."
"Sc-scare…mommy."
"Yeah – mummies and daddies have a special monster spray that makes all the monsters disappear and the monster doesn't come back, because it knows that mummy and daddy will spray it again." A brilliant idea came into my head – it was perfect! "Shall we get the spray?" Draco only nodded. Crossing into the kitchen, I went to the fridge and slotted in the door cabinet was a little bottle of Evian mineral Facial Spray which Renee and Phil use to cool down in the Florida heat.
"I spray this around your bed and the scary monster will vanish. And if you ever feel scared, tell me or daddy and we'll get the spray. And you're a big boy, aren't you?"
"Daddy…daddy say I a big boy…I hash big boy bed."
"Exactly, and big boys don't need to be scared of monsters."
"Nnnnot scare."
"That's right, there's no reason to be scared."
I sprayed the area around his bed three times, telling Draco to say 'goodbye' to the monsters as we did so. I knelt by his bed, stroking his hair to soothe him back to sleep, I didn't get back to my bed until I was certain he wouldn't wake up.
"Is he okay?" Edward whispered when I was curling back under the covers.
"Yeah – he had a nightmare, but I sorted it."
I was just falling back to sleep when he spoke again. "I'm so sorry, Bella. I didn't mean to wind you up like I did earlier." He slipped his hand over my shoulder and stopped when his hand was cupping my cheek, stroking my jaw line with a thumb.
"It's okay – I was tired; I shouldn't have reacted like I did."
"Can you forgive me?"
"For what? You never did anything wrong, Ed'."
"Well, I'll probably fuck up somewhere in the near future – think of this forgiveness as a Get Out of Jail free card for later."
xxx
"Mummy! A rion!"
Our first day visiting the parks was spent at Disney's Animal Kingdom – allowing Draco the chance to see some of his favourite wild animals and to enjoy the jungle activities. Right now, we were on the Kilimanjaro Safaris Expedition. Having my son on a rickety, open-sided bus with only Edward's arms keeping him from falling out was not my idea of a relaxing ride, but I did my best to keep the smile on my face.
"A lion? Where?"
Yeah – where and how far away?
He shoved his arm out the side and pointed a stern finger into the grassy patch a safe distance away. "Dere! Dere!" Sure enough, spread out on the ground was a mighty, sand coloured lion, with his ginger mane adding to his powerful appearance, and a long tail that flicked from side to side every so often.
"Wow, Buddy, look at that." Edward had spotted another pride of lion, to the right of the one we were watching now. The biggest, strongest looking of the group yawned suddenly (that got the cameras clicking). Till then, I had underestimated just how big their mouths were and the teeth, my God, I would not like to get on the wrong side of that one. When the lion finished his yawn, it roared a little. Draco covered his ears and then giggled in excitement – I hadn't seen him this happy for ages; bouncing on Edward's lap, giggling and showing us everything he saw.
"What noise does a lion make, Draco?"
"Raaarrr!""
"Atta boy! Can you make the claws?" Edward put his hands up and bent his fingers slightly to make sharp talons. When Draco copied his father, they roared at one another and pretended to scratch the other with their claws. I slyly snapped a picture – it came out perfectly.
For the duration of the safari, we took many more pictures; some of the three of us, some just Draco and myself, and some just Edward and Draco. Our little boy smiled or looked intently at the wild animals, but Edward always made some childish face, like crossing his eyes and sticking out his tongue or flaring his nostrils, crossing his eyes and smiling like the Joker.
"You're so strange…"
"Takes one to know one…"
I couldn't argue with that.
xxx
"Aaaaaah! Aaaaaahh!"
Every person that walked past could not hide their subtle glances they gave my screaming son. Edward and I were perched on a side wall, with Draco strapped into his rented stroller, crying his eyes out and doing whatever he could to try and get free. He had been at this for the past twenty minutes, and the infuriating thing was we have no idea what triggered it. One minute we were happily walking to a Safari Mickey meet 'n' greet, Draco asked for a drink and the second Edward passed it over, he threw it to the ground and began to scream.
I was doing my best to ignore his screams and wait patiently for him to calm down, but the embarrassment you feel from this situation slowly over-runs whatever you were taught in the parental guidebook.
"Draco," Edward said sternly, "I want you to calm down and -,"
"Noooo! No, no Daddy."
"Buddy, stop-,"
"Noooooo!" A look, so chilling and full of hate, was passed from son to father. "I hatchu!"
"Oh, great, now he hates us. Could this day get any better?"
Edward turned his focus on me, and, also seemingly, his anger. "It could if you gave me a fucking hand."
Oooh, no he didn't. "Excuse me?" I slapped a palm onto my hot chest, "it's not my fault he's having a tantrum, so don't you dare treat me like the bad guy."
Ten minutes of screaming and angry sighs later, Edward had had enough. "Fuck it, let's go." He gathered all our stuff together, threw it in the bottom of the rented stroller and started to walk off without looking back at me. I had to run to catch up.
"Hey, hey, what are you doing?"
I hadn't seen him look so fed up and irritated in a long time. "Going home."
"What? Home? We spent a lot of money to have this day out and you're giving up after one tantrum?"
Edward stopped walking abruptly. Draco fell back in his seat from the force, but he didn't seem to notice and continued to scream.
"Fuck the tickets and fuck this holiday. We need to get him the fuck out of here but if you want to piss around with Mickey and all his fucking mates be my fucking guest."
I desperately wanted to tell him about the use of his language, but I valued my life.
Staff didn't bother to say thank you for returning the stroller, especially when Edward literally parked it at the entrance, grabbed Draco (much to his refusal) and left me to deal with all the paper work. It didn't take much to tell that he wanted nothing to do with anyone.
Thankfully, I caught up with them just before boarding the shuttle bus that takes you to your parking slot. By this point, Draco had turned to being physically violent, slapping Edward's face and kicking him where ever he could reach.
Edward snapped the second we got to our car. Grabbing Draco's wrist, he looked our son firmly in the eyes, "stop it." His voice alone had Draco break out of his tantrum, widen his eyes and start to cry again, but for an entirely different reason completely.
I saw red. How dare he?
I don't care that he's 'father'. I'm 'mother', and I've grown up to realise that you fear a momma bear when someone hurts her cubs.
"Have you lost your mind? Give him here."
I assured Draco that everything was okay, that I was there to protect him and helped him calm down into a sniffling mess. I didn't speak a word to Edward during our drive home. He seemed to get the hint that I was angry; leaving Draco and I to play and relax together whilst he shut himself away in our room.
Renee joined us outside, carrying a tray of refreshments and potato chips. She mentioned the elephant in the room…or, the patio. "You need to talk to him, dear."
I studied Draco's drawing process. "I don't have anything to say to him."
"I know you're angry," she sighed, "but you have plenty to say – what caused this mess for one thing. People mess up; it's what we're best at – especially when we're not thinking straight. I can tell how much he loves Draco from his expressions alone, and I doubt he feels proud of what happened, but by shutting yourself away also is adding to his guilt, and that's not fair. "
Damn, why must she speak so much sense?
"Unless I've been mistaken, Edward's never been a father before has he, Bella? This might be the first time he's felt that way during a tantrum, and he slipped up. Go and talk to him, and I promise you both will feel a million times better."
Considering everything that was said and told, I took Renee up on her deal.
Edward was seated on the end of our bed, hunched over and picking away at a sore on his thumb. I couldn't remember seeing that before, so I wondered whether it had been made now.
"What did we do wrong, Bella? Did we skip a section in the handbook? Why is he so disobedient?"
"I don't know…but we've entered The Terrible Twos 'n' Threes; it wasn't going to be plain sailing."
"But it hasn't been plain sailing since the day he was born!"
"That's because parenting isn't easy – it's not for the faint hearted – but, Edward, you need to remember that lowering yourself to their level won't help things – leave them to settle and self-soothe."
No-one spoke a word, until Edward broke the ice. "I'm really sorry, Bella."
"I know you are, but Draco is only little – two year olds do this thing – and I wasn't comfortable seeing you so harsh with him."
"I don't know what came over me. It was like I transformed into the incredible hulk and I can't remember what or why I did anything. I feel terrible – he's going to hate me now, and he looked up to me so much."
I pulled Edward's hand away, before he could manage to scratch his whole thumb off, and kept it sandwiched between mine. "He looks up to everybody; it's the way that he learns, but he's not old enough to understand why we're protective or stop him from doing things. Draco loves you and that won't change just because you took charge and spooked him a little."
It was a wee while before anyone spoke again. "Why are you so perfect?"
I scoffed. "Oooh, I'm nowhere near perfect; you just needed a confidence boost."
"So tomorrow, we'll try this again, then?"
"Duh! Don't you remember, Eds? We're taking Draco to Harry Potter world!"
xxx
The entrance to Hogsmead is straight ahead… I am in walking distance of the fictional world that Rowling created and my nerd self is about to claw its way out. Every little detail was perfect, from the snow-covered rooftops to chips in the brick walls. Even the shops (some that you can't go into) looked just as I had imagined. The window display in Honeydukes had an amazing Chocolate Frog display, and on the inside it only got better. The walls were painted almost a turquoise colour, with precise detail put into every statue, ornament and general appearance.
There are stalls for Butterbeer, Pumpkin Juice, and I passed a window that held an incredible Gilderoy Lockhart display. I snapped the best quality picture that my camera allows – Lockhart was an amazing character (granted, you only saw him for one book/movie) so I had to treasure this moment.
We decided to go on some of the rides, so headed towards the Dragon Challenge ride, and on the way, passed some pennants for the champions for the Triwizard Tournament; A large red banner saying 'Harry Potter' 'True Champion'; a delicate blue banner with a red heart and a white ribbon that said 'Fleur'; an upside down triangle with 'Cedric' written down the middle and black stars surrounding the name. I never spotted the one for Victor Krum, so I must have walked straight past it – or they didn't have one.
I loved how the soundtrack played loud and proud from speakers – if the scenery didn't put you in the mood, the music certainly did. Because Draco obviously couldn't go on the ride, I let Edward run off and enjoy it - also, when getting closer and closer, it started to haunt me; the red and blue track, both running at the same time inter-locking at certain places and sometimes looking like you're going to smash into the opponent – not my cup of tea.
Edward sent me a text before taking his seat, and told me where to look when the cart came whizzing past. I think I just caught his feet, but it went by too fast for me to tell for sure. Apparently when you walk closer to the front of the ride you passed some amazing memorabilia, like the flying car and the golden eggs that the dragons guard in the Triwizard Tournament.
Looming high above the rest of the park, the main attraction itself, Hogwarts stood tall and mighty; trees surrounding the base, and it looked, dare I say it, magical.
Hogwarts is actually a ride – not just a place to walk through like the Princess Castle – unfortunately, with no-one else to look after Draco, and if going separately would have meant waiting well over an hour each, we decided not to go on the ride, but enjoy the scenery instead. I wasn't overly bothered and I get more out of the things on sale and what you can interact with than the rides which you wait for ages and it's over in minutes.
Near the Flight of the Hippogriff ride, you could watch the Frog Choir – Draco much enjoyed that. Or you can have a wand 'chose' you in Ollivanders, before buying your own either in Owl Post or in Dervish and Banges. The guy pretending to be Ollivander is very entertaining, and made you laugh at certain parts during the show.
After getting our picture taken in front of The Hogwarts Express, we went to kill our bank balances by souvenir shopping. Edward and I spotted the same thing at the exact same time, looking at each other and smiling before heading over. There were row upon row of stuffed dragon toys; we had to remind Draco what they were before he reacted.
"A d'agon! Daddy, daddy, a d'agon!"
"I see that, buddy! Do you like the red one, or the grey one?"
"Eh…the red run!" Taking a red dragon off the shelf we passed it into his eager hands. Draco hugged it tight to his chest and then proceeded to show us both his new toy.
"That's badass, dude. Has it got a name?"
"Eh…Draco D'agon."
From another shop we bought a few key chains and a Slytherin mug – Edward begged me to let us get Draco a Slytherin robe, but I wasn't confident spending practically one-hundred bucks on a piece of material that I could make for free at home.
Leaving the magical world of Harry Potter, we took a detour to Dr Seuss World were Draco could enjoy some rides that were suitable for his age and not too scary including: the Caro-Seuss-el; One Fish, Two fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish; and The Cat in the Hat – which I thoroughly enjoyed; whirling through the brilliant novel and seeing Dr Seuss characters come to life. Thing 1 and Thing 2 skip around the place, taking the hats off of little children and doing funny butt shaking before giving it back.
Overall, we had a lovely day out (a lot better than yesterdays) and left the park shortly after three o'clock. I wanted nothing more than to sit in the back garden, soak my feet in my pool and knock back a chilling glass of wine (if my mother would allow me to have some).
Later that evening, with Draco fast asleep in bed, clutching Draco Dragon, Edward and I finished having dinner with Renee and Phil before going to bed ourselves. This was only the start of our Disney Park tours and already we wanted to become lazy assholes that sleep all day. Snuggling up, with my head on Edward's chest and his arm around my shoulders, I recall back everything that we did that day. "At least he was well behaved today," I think audibly.
"That's true; it makes everything so much easier."
I could feel my eye lids shut, but that didn't stop my mouth. "Do you think we'll come back here?"
"Yeah, I don't see why not. Perhaps in a few years when Draco is old enough for most of the rides and, fingers crossed, better behaved. You never know, there might be the four of us next time…"
I wonder where he's going with this…(sarcasm). "This your subtle attempt in asking to get me pregnant?"
Edward chuckled, "maybe…is it working?"
"Not at the moment."
"Aah...that's not a definite 'no'. I don't think we have anything to worry about. I love you, and whatever happens we deal with it as a team."
That was the first time he'd said those three words to me, and I wasn't sure whether he realised he had or not. Instead of questioning him on it, I grab the neck of his wife beater and pull myself up a bit so we meet in the middle. Trying to be as quiet as possible, but things are easier said than done. Luckily we stopped before the bed frame hit off the thin walls.
"I love you, too. You're right – we have nothing to worry about."
What's that well known saying…?
Oh yeah, famous last words.
xxx
A/N-IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ: The next chapter is the epilogue – yep, this is coming to an end :'( but I'm so excited to write it, so I'm literally starting right now.
I'll be having a Q&A at the end of the epilogue, so please ask me whatever you want to know – about this story, what my plans are, Draco…my life (within reason) and I'll answer them next time!
RosieRathbone.
