The Boy
Chapter 11: The Boy, Time Going By…
Little Harry slept for two days straight before waking up after his horrible ordeal.
Charlie and especially Bella had been worried when he slept for so long. Pollara assured them that it was perfectly natural for someone like Harry to sleep like that. The fact that he woke up quicker than she thought was a surprise. He should have been out for a week.
As the rest of the months of the school year went by and summer was near, Harry became much more healthier and even though his core was still brittle, the traces of Infantile Core Deplete had all but disappeared from his system. That in itself was a bonus. Healer Alberty said so.
With a regiment of potions, the Brittle Core might be cured in time also, he was sure. Charlie and those in the know from La Push held out hope for that.
Summer came and Draco Malfoy made his entrance into their lives. He was a little spoilt platinum blonde boy who thought that his father could give him the moon if he asked for it. He and Bella bickered over everything and anything and Harry was left in the middle of it all, the little boy wanting to pull out every strand of his raven locks whenever they were at it.
Astor Malfoy came along with the child on Lucius Malfoy's orders, though the young attorney wanted to be somewhere on a beach instead of a rainy little town in the continental US. He wanted to kick himself for even opening his mouth about Harry Potter's whereabouts to his brother. He had broken client confidentiality with his big mouth and could lose his job if his superiors ever found out.
He spent his days watching over the little ones with Charlie, and went on little outings to keep the children out of trouble. Some days he had to watch them alone and on those days he also opted to take them on little outings, such as to Seattle's magical district where they were thoroughly awed by everything they saw.
On a weekend, Charlie took them all fishing and Draco seemed disgusted by the smelly fish and the waders he had to wear for the occasion. Harry on the other hand seemed to thrive, learning how to prepare bait and everything else there is to know about fishing.
He wore an orange top and with it dark green waders. He looked adorable and Charlie wanted to just hug him forever and ever. The feeling grew when he caught his first fish and Astor was asked to take a picture with a non-magical camera so that Charlie can hang the picture on the wall when it is developed and framed. Draco and Bella got their pictures taken also and that too would be going on the wall. There was even one of the two bickering rascals getting along.
Summer flew by quickly and soon the Malfoys said goodbye and soon enough Bella and Harry were getting ready for their first day of Elementary school. They would be attending the one in La Push with Rebecca, Rachel and Leah. Not to mention Harry's friends Jared Cameron and Benson Coleman.
Going from a small school to a big school was an experience that the children won't truly forget. There was suddenly more people than their little kindergarten had, had. They could make more friends and they could learn more things than they had at kindergarten.
Charlie was sad when Harry began speaking like Bella did, forming words better and speaking in full sentences. It showed that the little boy was growing up and soon enough he won't be the Harry Charlie had met at the Dursleys. Not that that is even a bad thing. It was actually a good thing because the Dursleys had been such horrible people.
Harry didn't just grow up in that department, though. He actually had become bigger and now stood in height with many children his age, which was safe to say, his special diet had helped him immensely. He was now a healthy growing child like any other and not that small weak child who needed better care than his Dursley relatives had given him.
Strangely enough, Petunia Dursley called Charlie one morning in autumn, asking if she and Dudley can visit for Christmas because Vernon won't be there. He would be in Germany for a conference on drills, which was boring and there was no place for Petunia and Dudley in the hotel where it is held.
Charlie was reluctant to let them visit him and his little family, thinking of how Dudley might bully his two little sweethearts. The decision was taken out of his hands when Renee and another new boyfriend of hers came to pick up Bella for a few weeks of the holidays and taking Harry with them also because Bella didn't want to go without him. Elmo, Renee's boyfriend had no problem with taking the boy also even though Renee were unhappy at having to care for another child that wasn't even hers.
Bella, the typical innocent child, had asked where Anthony was and Renee had grown bright red as she had helped Elmo place their luggage into the trunk of his car. It was obvious that Renee had gone through another relationship faster than Charlie can say witch.
Charlie called Petunia that evening to tell her that she and Dudley are welcome. In the end Petunia brought along a woman, that can only be Vernon's sister Marge for the holidays. She brought with her an ugly little bulldog that growled at Charlie whenever Charlie moved around. Not to mention, the slobber all over his clean floors.
Because of the extra guest, Charlie had to give up his room and sleep on the couch, Marge having taken up his room for herself and the dog. Charlie was sure that the dog would pee and poo in his room and he wouldn't ever get the smell out.
In the meantime, Harry and Bella had more fun with Elmo than with Renee, who lay in the sun more than spending time building sandcastles with two energetic children.
That caused a lot of strife between the couple because Renee felt like Elmo didn't spend enough time with her and Elmo wanted to know why she invited the children along when she wanted his attention to herself.
At the end of the holiday season, Renee and Elmo was history and Renee seemed to blame Harry more than she blamed Bella because Elmo seemed to have taken a liking to the boy. She wasn't aware that Elmo Hornwood is actually a wizard and knows that Harry is one also after seeing the small amount of accidental magic that the boy performed, though, that wasn't the reason why Elmo got along so well with the child. The child was just too likable and Elmo couldn't understand why Renee didn't like him at all.
Bella was glad to be back in Forks before New Year's Eve. Harry just wanted to eat more ice-cream and built sandcastles. That gave Elmo a good laugh and he promised to stay in touch; a promise that would be difficult to keep.
Fortunately, the three Dursleys went home before New Year's Eve, and the children came back to a house that wasn't a madhouse. It was clear, though, that Charlie had not enjoyed the holidays like them. He grumbled a lot about dogs that shouldn't be drinking whiskey and all that jazz.
New Year's came and went, and soon the children were back in school, learning all kinds of cool things while Charlie was back at work, catching criminals.
It was during this year that Harry joined all sorts of sports activities like baseball and soccer. Charlie and Bella were very proud of him and Bella were at every practice and game that she was able to attend. Harry also signed up with Bella for martial arts classes and a dance class, though they weren't really keen on it as much as they had been when they saw the advertisement in the window of a small studio near the diner. They did keep at it, though, because they didn't want to waste their father's money.
The children's lives were now busy from morning until the evenings and Charlie was glad that they had something to do while he worked. He oftentimes worried that he neglected them, which wasn't true. He was a normal working parent like many other single parents and the children didn't blame him.
It was when the spring flowers bloomed, that tragedy stroke; both Charlie's parents died peacefully in their sleep a month apart from an illness that Charlie knew nothing about. Sarah called it Dragon Pox and the Swan family was tested for it because it was contagious like the chicken pox that Harry caught later that year in the summer, though the former was dangerous and the latter looked like a common cold would to pneumonia.
It was a sad period for the little family of three, but by the end of summer they had to go back to their daily lives after taking a long vacation away from Forks. After all, life must go on no matter what happened and Charlie knew that. The children didn't, but like children do, they bounced back and became less sad as time went on.
Another Christmas arrived and this time Renee didn't come to invite Bella to spent time with her and another of her new boyfriends. Instead she send a present to the little girl and forgot about her. Charlie, feeling that it is unfair to Harry, bought the boy an extra present. It was a present that he could share because he truly loved to share things with friends and family. Bella and he had many days of fun with the coloring book and pencils.
So went another school year and summer were on them again. This summer, the children spend in La Push most days, playing with their friends and, in Harry's case, helped to paint Billy's fishing boat.
It was in the first week of summer that Harry met a new friend, a quiet boy named Paul Lahote who just moved from Tacoma to La Push with his father, a stern but friendly man who laughed a lot. Though, he also had a drinking problem and people talked about that a lot.
"People are just silly," Harry told Paul when the boys heard one lady at the store speak ill about Ruben Lahote, while the boys were there with Leah and Bella within earshot. The Lahote boy didn't say anything. He never really did when people said something bad about his father. It wasn't like he can do anything about it while he is but a little boy and they are adults.
Harry's eighth birthday was celebrated with a bonfire and stories from Billy that sounded too fantastical to be true. The children enjoyed the stories and Harry would find that when he got older, he would want to write fantastical stories of his own.
At the end of summer Harry went to third grade with a new friend who became friends with Jarred and Benson also.
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"Come on, Kids, homework first before you can go play," Sue Clearwater said to the children as she poured juice for them to go with some snacks she had made for them earlier before she went to pick them up from school.
"Momma, can we go to the beach today?" Leah asked as she and the others reluctantly pulled out their homework before setting up around the dining room table because it was larger than the kitchen table.
"Yes, Leah, if it doesn't rain."
The weather had been nice for a few days now and everyone and their cat enjoyed it.
"Awe, Aunty Sue," Harry complained, throwing his arms up into the air, "You jinxed it." His words were accompanied by the familiar sound of rain hitting the roof.
Sue shook her head, smiling. She placed a tray of plastic glasses. She didn't trust the kids with actual glass glasses. "Just do your homework, Harry." She looked at little Jacob Black, who was now also in school with the others. "Do you need any help, Jake?"
The boy shook his head. "No, Sue." He never called Sue, Aunty. It was only Bella, Harry and the twins. Sue didn't mind him not calling her his Aunty.
The children did their homework, only asking for help occasionally and once they were finished, the rain had thankfully stopped and they all bundled out of the house, running to Harry Clearwater's truck. Sue drove them to First Beach where there were already a few people running around. Most were teens, but there were a few younger children also.
Jarred came running towards Harry and soon the boys were kicking around a ball while the girls played in the sand with little five year old Seth helping them built pick up shells for Rebecca's sand crafted mermaid's tail.
Sue sat watching them from a blanket she'd brought along, her mind on that far away time when these little cuties will be all grown up. Will they still be as great friends as they are now? She wondered with a sad smile on her lips.
She would've loved to have them stay as young as they are now, but time was a fickle friend. It kicked you in the face no matter what. It went by so fast that when you blink, you'll miss something special.
She sighed, pushing such melancholic thoughts to the back of her mind and picked up a book she had brought along. The group stayed on the beach until sundown and then they went back to the Clearwaters , where Charlie, Billy and Sarah already waited with Harry Clearwater.
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Took a bit of time, but here it is.
