Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins, and I'm not J.K. Rowling, therefore the Hunger Games Trilogy and Harry Potter do not belong to me.
Chapter 3
"So, what's the plan for today?" Finnick asked as he bounded down the stairs of the overly-crowded house.
"I don't know what the girls have planned," Harry began, looking up from the frying pan full of bacon (the best thing in the universe) "But Gale, Vick, Rory and I are going to show you and Felix around the District." He continued, placing a mug of coffee in front of the other man.
"Didn't you tell him the plan yesterday?" Katniss asked, entering the kitchen.
"Yeah, but Finnick's memory is fading. That's what happens when you get old after all." Harry said, looking completely serious.
"But I'm only twenty-four!" Finnick protested, glaring mildly at Harry.
"I know! Most people live for seventy-five years though, so your life is 1/3 over!" Harry said.
"Harry, stop scaring Uncle Finnick." Posy said.
"At least one person in this house likes me," Finnick muttered.
"Aw, it's okay Finnick. Prim loves you." Katniss said, spoiling her sister's crush.
"Katniss, stop trying to make me feel better," Finnick said, rubbing his temples.
"Fine, grumpy butt." Katniss snapped, placing a bowl of yogurt with fruit in front of Posy.
"It's not his butt that's grumpy, Katniss. It's the rest of him." Gale said, walking into the kitchen, his hair glistening with the water droplets left over from his shower.
"Is it pick on Finnick day or something?" He asked.
"Nope, that's next Tuesday." Vick replied as he joined his family in the kitchen.
"Don't be mean to the guest." Apolline said, grabbing herself a cup of coffee.
"Save it for Tuesday," Hazelle added, smiling at her sons.
"If this is how it is in this household every day, remind me not to visit often." Finnick muttered, adding a few sugar cubes to the bitter drink.
"That's fine; we'll just visit you at your house. Make it a little more interesting." Rory said before taking another bite of bacon.
"Why do you people hate me?" Finnick asked.
"Because we looooove you, Uncle Finnick." Posy said, taking a bite of yogurt.
"Don't even think about it," Prim snapped at Gale, Rory and Vick. They were about to make a comment on just how much she loved Finnick. The whole family burst out laughing.
"So, where are Felix and Aelia?" Finnick asked.
"Getting ready for the day," Harry responded. He had taught the two how to do some of their own make-up, so the non-glamour work could be done without Harry's assistance.
"No we're not," Rue said in her well-practiced District Four accent.
"We were marking 'pick on Finnick day' on the calendar." Dylan said, using the same accent.
"I cannot catch a break," Finnick muttered.
*Page break*
"So, let's tour the Seam first, then we'll go to the meadow, and over to town. After that, we can get some dinner at the Hob."
"What's the Hob?" Finnick asked.
Sensing a long and illegal explanation, Harry set up confusion wards around the group so that anyone that saw or heard the group wouldn't recognise the people talking, or the words being spoken.
"District Twelve's black market," Gale began.
"Katniss and I used to go hunting in the woods between Districts Twelve and Thirteen, and some of the game we caught was sold or traded at the Hob. Greasy Sae's beef stew is actually wild dog stew, and the wild dog is courtesy of me and Katniss."
"You guys eat wild dog?" Dylan asked. That hadn't come up on the list of things people in Twelve ate.
"It's meat, isn't it?" Harry asked rhetorically.
"Don't worry, she ran out of wild dog a few weeks ago. Now it's wild turkey. That's easy enough for anybody to get." Gale said.
"How are they going to catch a wild turkey?" Finnick asked. He knew for a fact that snare and weapon training wasn't standard in Twelve.
"You wait for one to come close and stab it in the eye with a stick." Gale said.
"Or you throw a kitchen cleaver at its neck." Harry said.
"That's Sae's favourite way of killing them. Instant death and it makes them easier to gut," Gale said, pretending not to notice Finnick and Dylan's wide eyes.
"So, this is my old house," Gale said as they reached his home.
"How did a family of six fit in there?" Finnick asked, looking at the small house (more like a shack) in surprise.
"There were only ever five of us at a time. Mom was pregnant with Posy when Dad died." Gale explained.
"Oh, sorry," Finnick said, feeling bad about bringing the subject of Gale's dead father up.
"It's fine, you didn't know," Gale said, leading them inside. A thin layer of dust covered everything that hadn't been removed. Everything with sentimental value was in Harry's house, ready to be moved to the big house.
"So, this is the average home in District Twelve?" Dylan asked, sweeping up a bit of dust with his finger.
"For the miners it is. The homes in town are bigger and further from the mines, so they don't get as much of this coal dust." Gale said. It was close to the truth. His family had more kids than average, so they weren't financially well off at all. If it weren't for hunting and trading at the hob, Gale's whole family would be dead and he knew it.
He didn't say this to Dylan and Finnick though.
"So," Harry said, clapping his hands together. "I think we can skip the Everdeens' house, since it's pretty much the same as this one, so let's move on to my house." he finished, pulling their guest and his 'son's' attention away from Gale.
Dylan had already been to Harry's house, so Harry led Finnick around his house.
"So, what are you going to do with the place now?" Finnick asked, looking around the home that was now filled with the Hawthornes' and Everdeens' things.
"I might rent it out or something; maybe sell it to a newlywed couple." Harry replied. He hadn't really thought about what he'd do with it.
"I guess I could use it for storage too," Harry said as an afterthought.
They met up with Gale and Dylan outside of the house once Finnick's tour of the house was done.
"So Harry, I noticed you don't have any pictures of your other family," Finnick said as they made their way to the meadow.
"Yeah, I don't have many. The ones I've seen are missing though," Harry said, looking down at his shoes. He missed his friends from England a lot, and without the pictures it was even harder.
"Maybe they're locked up in a trunk somewhere," Dylan said, having no idea that he was right.
"They are, bud. The problem is that the trunk is missing. It had almost all of my things in it, but now it's gone."
"Is that what you and Katniss have been working on? Finding the location of the trunk and getting it back?" Gale asked. Whenever he asked Katniss about the matter, she would tell him that it was Harry's business and that it wasn't her place to tell.
"That's exactly what we've been working on," Harry said as they reached the meadow.
"Wow," Dylan whispered. "We didn't have anything like this in Three," He said, taking in the sight of the multicolour wildflowers and the tall green grass blowing in the wind. Beyond the meadow was the forest, outside of Twelve.
"The grass looks kind of like waves," Finnick said as he looked around the meadow.
"The supposedly electric fence between the meadow and the forest is the edge of District Twelve. There's a hole that Katniss and I used to go through so we could hunt." Gale explained, pointing to the broken, mangled old fence.
"Supposedly electric?" Finnick asked.
"Yeah, electricity here is spotty at best. The only time it's guaranteed is when there's going to be a mandatory viewing of something the Capitol thinks is important. The only places that are guaranteed power are Victor's Village and the Hob." Gale explained.
"How does the Hob get power?" Dylan asked.
"Haymitch had been 'donating' his electricity since he moved into Victor's Village." Harry said with a smirk. Haymitch got all of his booze from the Hob, so keeping it in power was pretty important to him.
"Let's head to town, I want to go to the bakery." Harry said suddenly, as if suddenly remembering something. He wanted to see the baker, whom had basically made him art of the family after a few trips to the bakery. Apparently the baker and his wife had always wanted a large family, but none of their three sons had gotten married yet, so they decided to bring the chances up by bringing Harry into the family. They now had Harry, the Everdeens and the Hawthornes as well as the 'Castellans'.
"You know, you have to be the only guy I know with three living families," Gale said as they walked into town.
"How did you get so many parents?" Finnick asked.
"Well, I'll officially be Apolline's son-in-law as soon as the Capitol votes on Katniss's dress, and Hazelle has unofficially adopted me. The Mellark family has pretty much done the same." Harry said.
"The Mellarks?" Finnick asked.
"The baker, his wife and their three sons." Gale said, remembering his days back in school. He was the same age as the middle son, Reed.
"So I have three grandmas, a grandpa, seven uncles and two aunts." Dylan asked.
"What?" Finnick asked, not having known about the entire family dynamic.
"Harry's my new dad, and Katniss is my new mom, therefore I have a sister in Aelia, two aunts: Prim and Posy, seven uncles: Gale, Vick, Rory, the baker's three sons and you, three grandmas: Apolline, Hazelle and the baker's wife, and one grandpa: the baker." Dylan said.
"And a partridge in a pear tree," Harry said, mostly to himself. The others heard though, so Harry had to explain himself.
"It's part of a Christmas carol that was popular a few hundred years ago. It was about the twelve days leading up to and including Christmas. On the first day, there was a partridge in a pear tree. You add eleven other things on, and every line ends in 'and a partridge in a pear tree'." Harry said, trying to explain. He really needed to stop making references to his time.
"What's with you and the weird references? First the detective one, and not the Christmas one." Finnick asked.
"I was born in 1980 and my parents were killed by an evil wizard, and when I was eleven I started going to a school for magic. I was almost killed several times between the ages of eleven and seventeen and I finally defeated the evil wizard. Then, I joined the magical police force but my roommate decided to curse me as I teleported to work and I ended up here, in the future." Harry said. Gale laughed at how blunt Harry was being. The truth was so ridiculous that everyone would take it as a joke.
"Fine, don't tell us." Finnick muttered as he sent a slight glare at Gale, who clearly knew something he didn't.
Harry smirked knowingly at Gale. He looked over to his son, who was looking at him curiously. Dylan knew that his dad had some secret that he wasn't sharing, but he couldn't help but wonder whether his dad had just given him a clue.
Harry knew what his son was thinking, because he knew that if he was in Dylan's shoes, he'd be thinking the same thing. He sent his son a small nod, and bent down to whisper to him, since Finnick's attention was now on Gale, who was turning an odd shade of purple.
"I'll tell you and your sister tonight,"
Dylan nodded in understanding. He didn't understand why Uncle Finnick couldn't know his dad's secret, but If Dad didn't want to tell him, or didn't think he was ready yet, then that was up to him.
They followed the main road into town, going past the three homes in the Seam. The group didn't pay them much thought though. To Finnick, they were a symbol showing just how much the Capitol shunned and forgot about the people in District Twelve. He intended to help his new family in every way possible, and they had told him about how District Twelve was like one giant extended family. Gale, Harry and Dylan had all lived there though, so they had no real reason to give the places a second thought as they walked past.
They reached the town just in time to have lunch with the baker's family. Peeta was happy to see Harry, even if he had been disappointed when he realised that he would never be with Katniss, even if she had won the Hunger Games without Harry. He had quickly moved on and asked Delly Cartwright out, having known for quite a while that she was pretty much in love with him. The baker's wife, Isla, was practically planning their wedding after only two weeks of dating.
This brought a whole lot of teasing from his older brothers, Basil and Reed. Whenever they did this, he just pointed out the fact that he at least had a girlfriend, where the other two didn't.
"Harry dear!" Isla said happily, coming into the shop from upstairs. She had been watching one of the few Capitol programs people in the Districts bothered to watch. It was about Katniss and Harry's wedding. It showed all of the different colour schemes they were considering, the locations, as well as hosted a contest so that the public could vote on Katniss's dress and Harry's tuxedo.
"Hello, Isla." Harry said happily, hugging the petit woman. She was a good foot shorter than him, and very thin around the waist. She had a habit of giving the stale food the family usually ate to the community home, which resulted in her family being almost as underweight as the families in the Seam.
"It's wonderful to see you again, dear. You too Gale," She said, letting go of Harry and going over to hug Gale.
"And you brought your friends!" Isla exclaimed happily, letting go of Gale. She went over and pinched both 'Felix' and Finnick's cheeks.
"Nice to meet you, ma'am." Finnick said, rubbing his cheek.
"Oh no, none of that ma'am stuff. Call me Isla, dear." She said, not caring that she had just pinched the cheek of an experienced killer.
"Ah, Mr. Odair, Mr. Castellan. I see you've met my wife." The baker said in an apologetic tone.
"Harry, Gale, it's wonderful to see you two again." He said, hugging the boys.
Over lunch, Isla doted on 'Felix', while Harry sat back and laughed at the picture. He knew he should probably intervene, but seeing it happen to someone else was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Gale and Finnick spoke to Basil and Reed about various pranks they had pulled, and the baker (Whose name even Harry had yet to learn) simply smiled at the scene in front of him. Peeta was away, eating lunch with Delly's family, but with that small exception, his whole family was gathered around the table for the first time in weeks.
An hour later, Harry promised that he'd bring 'Aelia' and Katniss by sometime soon so that Isla could meet her new 'grandbaby'.
The rest of the tour around town was fairly uneventful, if you 'forgot' about Finnick being chased around by fan girls." By the time Harry and Gale had intervened, the poor man was winded, and half his clothing was gone. His jacket, shirt, sunglasses and one of his shoes were now in the girls' clutches. Finnick had wanted to buy replacements, but the Hob was less than a ten minute walk away, so Finnick just ditched his other shoe and followed the others to the black marketplace.
"You owe me replacements for those," Finnick told Harry as they entered the building. Nobody paid them any special attention, as they were used to Haymitch bringing his victor friends.
"Go find some replacements with Gale, Felix and I will go order some food from Greasy Sae." Harry said, handing Gale some money.
Harry was instantly greeted with a hug by the cook, who had clearly missed her favourite supplier.
"Don't you ever disappear on me like that again boy. You hear me? I had to go back to serving wild dog and turkey while you were gone, 'cause that's all Gale could catch while you were off protectin' your little lady." Sae told him. She had a fake glare fixed on her face, and her arms were crossed over her chest, giving him the full 'I'm pissed and you bloody well know why' look.
"I thought you said she didn't serve wild dog anymore!" Dylan said, glaring slightly at his dad.
"Gale told you she ran out," Harry mumbled, ordering four bowls of 'chicken' soup.
"Gale also says he had a pet unicorn named Kevin." Dylan pointed out.
"Ah yes, the summer of morphling," Sae said, looking off into the distance with a dreamy look plastered onto her face.
"The what?" Dylan asked. He really needed to get up to speed.
"Gale can tell you. I wasn't in Twelve yet when it happened." Harry told his son.
Finnick and Gale arrived at Sae's area a few minutes later, Finnick's shirt and shoes having been replaced.
"What was the summer of morphling?" Dylan asked, as the group at their dinner.
Gale happily explained how a truck delivering cases or morphling had crashed, resulting in morphling-contaminated water for an entire summer. Of course, everyone ended up high on the opiate, for the entire summer. It had taken Capitol scientists months to figure out why everyone was high, and almost as long to finally get the opiate out of the water.
It was almost midnight when the four finally went home. They'd had fun with all of the black market regulars, and they were now caught up on the things they'd missed.
Harry carried Dylan on his back the whole way home, despite the fact that the boy wasn't that much lighter than Katniss. Katniss wasn't heavy, but carrying a hundred pounds for half an hour wasn't something he wanted to do again anytime soon.
He tucked his son into bed quickly and quietly, placing a small kiss on his forehead, just like he'd seen fathers on TV do when saying goodnight. He went to Rue's room and picked her blankets up off the floor, placing them back on his sleeping daughter. He placed a kiss on her forehead too, before going back to the room he shared with Gale and Dylan for the night.
Author's note: Sorry for the long wait! I really didn't mean for this update to take so long, but I have limited access to my laptop, since my mom had been borrowing it and STILL has to buy her own. I made this chapter extra long to make up for the wait though, so read and review!