The Boy
Chapter 9: The Boy And Bella
Healing the little boy wasn't as easy as Healer Alberty made it sound. The Foundation for Rare Magical Diseases in Children were willing to help, but they had other children that also needed their help and because it was a case of first come, first serve…Needless to say Harry Potter was last in line.
As for a Curse Breaker healer….they would have to hire one from Gringotts bank where most Curse Breakers finds employment because of the salary they get and the training they must go through in order to perform at their best.
Sarah wasn't sure if she should even go to the goblins for this, though, it is the only way to help Harry to get rid of the soul-shard in his forehead. However, the goblins has a price for everything , which means they would ask more than Sarah can pay them just because they hold the key to Harry's freedom from the soul-shard.
She spoke to the Elders of the tribe about this and they asked her if there are other ways to help the boy. She told them the truth, that there wasn't as far as she knows, but that she would speak to other witches and wizards about helping the child without revealing his name of course. One of the elders, who are also a wizard, promised to do the same.
In the meantime, Harry was fed potions to help strengthen his core even though it is still half bound because Healer Alberty are afraid to unbind it while his core is brittle, though he had said before that the core must be unbound and then strengthened.
Sarah understood that even if she didn't like it that Harry still had to live with a half bound core that can still give him a lot of trouble if not watched carefully. The potions helped, though, if only a little.
Some good news was that the potion for his eyes seemed to work and Sarah are quite grateful for that even when it was a daily struggle to pour the few drops in his eyes every morning and evening. She would take his tantrums over having him suffer not seeing as, if not perfectly, well enough as he should without the help of glasses or contacts.
During this time Charlie was negotiating with his ex-wife to gain custody of Bella who, even if she is reluctant to come live in Forks, had agreed to it if only because she had no other choice. Renee wasn't the best of mothers and can't actually take care of her as well as she would have liked, so she just had to come live with Charlie until she was old enough to take care of herself, meaning when she is a teenager. Only then can it be decided if she can go live with Renee again. However, the decision won't be made in her early teens. Charlie isn't confident that she would be old enough then.
Harry had been rather excited when he heard about the possibility of his cousin coming to live with him and Charlie. He asked every morning when Bella will be arriving and he got very disappointed when the answer isn't satisfactory enough.
It was already two months into the new year that the elder from the reservation that is a wizard told Sarah about a retired Curse Breaker healer that lived on the Makah Reservation. Sarah and the elder went to see the witch and she negotiated a price that was affordable and luckily not as expensive as those under the employment of Gringotts would have asked for their services.
It was also in the new year that Bella finally arrived one day with Renee and a new boyfriend of Renee's. It was a Saturday and Harry was playing on the living room floor with toys, including his ever growing pile of stuffed toys when they arrived. He had acquired two more since he'd gotten Pafoo . One was a brown and gray wolf and the other a rain deer that reminded of the ones that pulled Santa's sleigh.
Charlie on the other hand were in the front yard washing his truck. He hadn't expected them so soon. Renee had told him over the phone that Anthony, her boyfriend, had car troubles, which clearly wasn't even true considering that the car they arrived in belongs to Anthony.
Renee and Anthony only stayed long enough to drop off Bella and her things and then they drove away without a backwards glance. Charlie looked on with pity as Bella waved at the retreating car, her arms holding onto a large pink teddy bear that looked brand new.
"Come let's get you and your things inside, kiddo," he said as he struggled with a couple of suitcases that were heavy.
Bella turned to look at him. "Will, Mommy be back soon?" she asked in a small voice.
"I don't know, Bella, maybe she'll come for a visit in a few weeks or so." Charlie doubted his own words as he spoke. Renee didn't have a child that held her back anymore. She can go anywhere she wanted without worrying about Bella.
Bella followed Charlie into the house and up the stairs to her room that still looked much the same as the last time she'd seen it. The quilt over the children's bed was new, though.
"Sarah made the quilt for you when she heard that you'll be coming to stay. Harry's gotten one too. His just have a bit more blue in it."
"Harry? Is he the boy Mommy talked about?"
Charlie looked at his little girl, nodding. "Yeah. He is in the living room if you wanna meet him."
"I have to unpack first. I packed my own things. Mommy doesn't know how to pack things. She'll just bundle them up and stuff. Then nothing fits."
Charlie suppressed a smile at the way she spoke in disdain about Renee. He also marveled at the way she spoke; sounding like she was fifteen instead of just five. He deduced that it is probably the way she had grown up, with a mother who is more childlike than she is.
Charlie mourned the fact that his little girl had to grow up quicker than other children because of a mother that didn't know how to take care of a small child.
She's an adult in a child's body and there is nothing Charlie can do to change that. It made him feel like an utter failure. He hoped that being around Harry will help her become the child she is supposed to be.
"Do you need any help?"
The little girl shook her head.
"Alright then, just call me if you change your mind."
She only nodded at that and he left the room, pausing at the door to look back at the girl who had started on unzipping her suitcases. He shook his head at that and continued on to downstairs where Harry still played with his toys unaware of the fact that Bella had finally arrived and that his life was about to change.
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"Who awe you?"
"Harry…." Charlie trailed off as Harry spoke to Bella in a way that could be taken as rude. "Don't you remember I told you that Bella is coming to live with us?"
"This Bella?"
"Yes, kid. This is Bella."
The little boy's face lit up like those twinkling fairy lights that some people liked to hang around mirrors or against headboards.
"Hewwo, Bella, I Hally." He held out a hand to her like he had seen the adults do.
The little girl eyed the small delicate hand for a moment before taking it. "Hello."
"Wanna pway?" Harry asked gesturing to his toys scattered on the living room floor.
"Um…sure." She gave Charlie a look that spoke volumes. She was unsure of playing with the little boy even if she already agreed to. Charlie made a gesture that could be interpreted as 'Go on'; she reluctantly took a seat on the floor and accepted Pafoo from the little boy.
Charlie smiled. He didn't think it would be so easy to get Bella to play with Harry. She's quite stubborn when she wants to be. It seemed that Harry is a real charmer even while he is so small.
Charlie watched the two children play while he carefully cleaned his gun, making sure that nothing dangerous lay around; the gun is already dangerous by itself, no need to add to it. At first, Bella looked uncomfortable, but in the end she played like any other child would while talking animatedly to Harry.
Later, when they were both in their beds and sound asleep, Charlie sat in the living room, thinking about the future that stretched out before them. He thought of the large task of raising two children on his own before him and hoped and prayed that somehow life would be okay for all three of them. Especially for Harry, who still had a long road ahead of him.
Time would only tell how life would be for them all, however, and Charlie knew that he would have to give it his all to keep his children safe, happy and healthy.
It was as he locked the front door and closed the curtains in the living room that the phone rang in the kitchen and a little bit of good news came his way. The witch from the Makah Reservation will help Harry on Monday, Billy informed him over the phone and that made him feel less troubled than he had before.
Now to get through the rest of the weekend, Charlie thought when he and Billy hung up after conversing about this and that after the big news reveal.
He needn't have even worried that the weekend would end up in disaster, though, because the next day he took Bella and Harry to go see his parents when it was a good day for the elderly couple and they wanted to share it with Charlie and the two children and nothing bad happened there.
It was Harry's first time meeting the two old people and Charlie felt slightly guilty for not bringing him to meet them sooner.
He got chastised for that by Marie, who could walk better today than any other day and she commandeered Bella and Harry's help in the kitchen to bake some cookies and other yummy goodness. The two children enjoyed it immensely. Harry didn't even shy away from helping with the cooking under Marie's watchful eye. She didn't want him to burn himself, nor cut himself.
Bella watched him also like a hawk while also helping with the cooking, scared that her new friend would get hurt. She acted like a big sister even though he was a few months older than her. If it was his smaller stature than hers, Charlie wasn't sure, but he delighted in the fact that she cared for Harry so quickly after knowing him for such a small amount of time. The saying, blood is thicker than water comes to mind. In this case it wasn't just an old worthless saying, it was the truth.
The day passed by with no trouble at all and by the time the three of them went home, they had containers full of leftovers and they were full. Harry actually were already half asleep in his car-seat, his arms holding onto an old teddy bear Marie had given to him when he asked Charlie for Tom. Unfortunately, Tom had been left home on accident and Harry had to be content with the nameless teddy bear. In the end, Harry grew attached to it and Marie said that he could have it as long as it was well looked after.
Charlie had laughed and told Marie that the teddy would probably end up in the washing machine at least two times a week and Marie had only smiled at that while ruffling the boy's hair in affection.
"Do you think we can visit them again next Sunday?" Bella asked as they drove home.
Charlie shrugged. "Maybe, if they feel well enough, Bell."
The little girl nodded, her hand absentmindedly stroking Harry's arm. She didn't speak again until they were home and she had to say goodnight to Charlie, who had laid Harry down in Harry's room.
"Goodnight, kiddo. Sweet dreams."
Bella wasn't sure that she would be having sweet dreams. Nightmares visited when they wanted to, after all, and there was nothing she could do about that, so why try? Luckily for her, no nightmare came to visit her that night and when Monday dawned bright and sunny, she took it as a good sign not knowing that a long and harsh day awaited her cousin.
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I procrastinated on this for days, writing a bit here and there. Hope you like it.