A birthday is the first of a 365 day trip around the sun
"Are there holidays in Wonderland?" Harry inquired casually as he failed to perform the shoulder roll of his hat that Hatter was attempting to teach him. "I've never seen a calendar anywhere so I could check myself but, no one seems to go on trips anywhere. They all just…work and drink the Queen's tea."
"Well, we do plenty of other things, and you've accompanied me on several trips around the city," Hatter supplied from where he was standing close by to observe Harry's progress, "but I have no idea what you mean by 'holiday' I'm afraid."
Harry paused as he bent to pick up his fallen hat and looked at his cousin in surprise. "Really? So…no one ever gets days off from work or takes umm, getaway trips then?"
"'Course they do," Hatter quipped, "Mind you going on said trips has…declined since the Teas became readily accessible but, with the exception of Tea Houses, shops in Wonderland are open at the owner's discretion. Well, unless the Queen herself fancies a visit and then you can bet those shops open only one day a week will suddenly find a surplus of time to run the floor."
The younger of the two cousins seemed to think upon this revelation for a minute before sitting down on Hatter's couch; all the while attempting to read into what Hatter wasn't saying with that statement. "So… the Queen has supreme control over everything, but especially the Tea Houses since it's how she keeps the people controlled…and they earn her money."
Hatter beamed proudly at his younger cousin, "Precisely, Little Potter."
"So there are no country wide events then?" Harry posed, "Like, umm, we don't celebrate the day the Queen of Hearts took over Wonderland?"
The older cousin shrugged dismissively and leaned back against his desk. "Suppose they might be years and years back, but now?" he shook his head, "It'd run too much of a reminder for the Resistance for what had been, and could bring those on the fence over to their side. As much as the Queen likes to pretend there's no Resistance at all, she has enough sense not to give them hope."
Harry could sort of understand what his cousin was explaining, but dropped the topic to press on with his original goal and hoped his cousin wouldn't pick up on it. "Well… what about birthdays?" he asked while attempting to appear nonchalant, "Do you at least celebrate those?"
Unfortunately for Harry, reading someone's body language had become second nature to Hatter over the years, and the lad had yet to perfect the ability to hide all his tells and subsequently, his true feelings if need be. This was something Hatter was progressively working on with the young boy of course as it was not a skill that could be gained overnight, and their survival could be dependent on a good bluff with the way they lived. Still, his young cousin had worked up to the information he wanted skillfully enough, so Hatter decided to wait and call him on his tell until after they were done.
"I imagine so," Hatter dismissively replied, "Remember those puff pastries I made for breakfast last week?" At Harry's nod Hatter continued, "That's cause Dormie took the day off to celebrate his birthday with his mum…I think."
"Oh!" the lad commented as his eyes widened in realization for a moment, "So when's your birthday then, and what do you do for it?"
Hatter shrugged as he shifted his weight against the desk slightly and crossed his arms, "Couldn't tell you as I've never known myself. I used to just have an unbirthday once a month just to make sure I had it covered." He smiled mischievously, "Occasionally I'd take two or three if it'd been a particularly horrible month of course. Why do you want to know anyway?"
Harry's face flushed red for a moment and he spoke at his shoes in a display of shyness that was becoming increasingly rare for the lad after several months of living with Hatter. "Well…it's sorta like what you mentioned with Dormie. Families celebrate each other's birthdays and I… I wanted to make sure I didn't miss yours," the blush fading from his cheeks now, Harry glanced up at his cousin, "Suppose it's kinda pointless though, yeah? You already said you don't know when it is, and I don't think it'd be as special if we did it every month."
A rush of affection at his cousin's desire to act like a family ran through Hatter at that comment, quickly followed by a pang of guilt. It was moments like these that reminded Hatter of not only what he'd lost at a young age, but how it left him at a loss when Harry seemed to expect some pre-established family behavior he'd observed and expected Hatter to fulfill right away. That first heartbroken expression when he hadn't done so was still ingrained in his mind. These moments hardly ever occurred anymore; which really made them that much more painful when they did. Pen had been right when they'd stayed up for a chat one night and he'd told Hatter that raising Harry would be a double edged sword in more ways than one.
Still, the warmth and happiness that he honestly felt they'd both gained by finding one another easily outweighed these bumps along the way to becoming a real family. Having some time ago accepted the fact that he couldn't deny Harry much of anything, Hatter smiled at himself as he devised the perfect solution for the both of them.
"How about you then? When's your birthday Little Potter?" he queried and Harry looked back up from his shoes with surprise and confusion.
"July 31st," he easily supplied, "though…I'm really not sure if months are the same here. It was weird enough just getting used to no weekends."
Hatter waved his hands dismissively, "They do, it's just time that's fickle is all. How about this though," he spoke as he walked over to sit on the couch next to Harry. "Let's celebrate me own with yours then, yeah? We'll go to Reggie's and have tea and cream cake 'till we can't remember our own names. How's that strike you?" he grinned encouragingly at his cousin while the lad's expressions cycled through surprise, excitement, and finally landed on wonderment; a horribly expensive emotion that Harry seemed to have by the bucketful still.
"You…you'd want to share a birthday with me? Really?"
Ruffling his young cousin's hair, Hatter continued to grin, "Can't imagine anyone else I'd rather share something with, can you?"
By now Hatter's was fairly certain face splitting grins were another family trait they shared.
"Now what's this entire hullabaloo about Hatty? It's not proper to take over a man's seating. The chairs have quite a temper you know," Reggie scolded as Hatter pushed him into the chair just left of the purple high wing-backed one the old hat maker typically started in at tea time. Another -much younger and shorter- figure resided in the chair sporting a face splitting grin under his tan top hat and shock of black hair that showed signs of it starting to curl around the brim in some places.
"It's mine and Hatter's birthdays Reggie," Harry said from his coveted seat, "That's why we weren't around last week." He only just managed not to say 'remember?' which he knew would lead his adoptive grandfather of sorts to launch into some tangent about memory.
The change in the hat marker's demeanor was instantaneous as his frustration flipped into elation. "Oh! An unbirthday party! How marvelous! The Queen honored me with a spot to sing at hers many years ago. Shall I share it with you?"
"Actually Reggie," Hatter jumped in before the elderly man could get started, "Today is just a regular birthday party for us. Not an unbirthday."
He calmly sat on Harry's right after pouring everyone their first round, while Reggie had swapped emotions once more. "That's just preposterous! It's nowhere near my birthday, and I won't have you pushing another one on me," Reggie proclaimed as he brandished his tea cup at the conman across the table from him; causing the contents to slosh around and spill over the sides. "I haggled time down to one a year as it is and I won't have you filling in for him."
"Fair enough," Hatter replied, "We'll just have one for Harry and myself then."
Reggie sighed dejectedly as her layered jam and butter with several biscuits on his plate before taking a bite of it, "Well, if you must I suppose, but why would you want to celebrate one? Not very exciting things, I mean, they don't even have a 'un' in the name!"
Looking over to see Harry was taking all of Reggie's comments in stride, he just smiled as he poised his own tea cup for a sip. "I've made cream cake."
"Splendid!" Reggie exclaimed with much enthusiasm once more, "Shall we get started then?"
Harry waited anxiously as he watched Hatter carefully open the gift from him. Much like last year they were celebrating their birthdays at Ambrose, and they had decided to take advantage of Reggie falling asleep in his tea to exchange gifts with one another. While Hatter had originally insisted that Harry should open his first as the younger of two, he couldn't wait any longer to see if Hatter would like what he'd picked and insisted the oldest go first this year. Jokingly adding that at his old age he may forget how to open the thing if they waited for Harry to go first. He'd celebrated an awful lot of unbirthdays before Harry showed up after all.
That remark had cost him a biscuit to the head (which he easily dodged) and the excruciatingly slow pace that his older cousin was now opening his gift.
A few minutes later when he'd finally taken the item out of the box, Hatter turned it around curiously a few times before calmly stating, "Brilliant. No doubt I've been in need of such a…interesting bit of technology." The younger cousin sighed dejectedly but didn't let the lack of enthusiasm get to him. He knew from his conversation with the shop owner he'd bought it at to expect something like this.
"It's a camera," Harry filled in, "You use it to take instant pictures of things you want to remember. I bought it at one of those shops that sells all the stuff they take from Oysters, and since the owner didn't know what it was I was able to haggle him down to a steal of a price for it. Maybe even less than it would normally cost on the other side of the glass."
Hatter smiled proudly at his younger cousin's development in negotiation skills before investigating his new possession with real interest this time. "Really? So I take it you know how this works then?" he posed as he turned the device around in his hands. Harry grinned before walking around to stand by Hatter and excitedly spent a few minutes explaining his little knowledge of how it worked.
"I picked this one specifically 'cause Dudley had one like it, and it develops the pictures as soon as you take them. They come out of this front slot here," he gestured to a thin slit on the bottom, "after you press this button on the top, but you'll want to look through the little window to make sure you're aiming proper, yeah? It can even tell when it's dark out, and it'll use the light on the top to send out a flash to light up the room."
At this remark a gleam shone in Hatter's eyes for a moment as they flickered to something behind Harry, but it was gone before he could ask, and his cousin had shoved Harry's gift at him to open now. "Well this is certainly tops, Little Potter, really brilliant! Now, why don't you go on? I want to see what you think before we officially declare mine as the best gift of the day."
Not wasting a moment, Harry ripped through the layer of brightly colored paper and opened the box within before looking at the contents with a degree of puzzlement. He pulled the top bit of fabric out to get a better look, "What are these?"
"That, my dear cousin, is a waistcoat," Hatter proclaimed with a knowing smile.
"Oh," Harry ineloquently replied, "Err not that I don't love it, but what's it for?"
The smile on Hatter's face grew slowly. "Well… blokes wear them to show off their trimmed figure for adoring ladies to fawn over of course. I know you've seen me where a few, yeah?" Now that he mentioned it, Harry did remember seeing him in one of these before, but was still at a loss as to why his cousin would buy him some and asked as much.
"What, you mean you weren't trying to chat up Vi last week when I saw you helping her carry trays on the floor?" Hatter's smile had finally become a full blown grin with that comment and Harry blushed furiously as he put the waistcoat back in its box.
"I was just trying to be helpful," he mumbled to the table, "We were really busy that day and-"
"And that dazzling smile she sent your way every few minutes as thanks had absolutely nothing to do with it I'm sure."
"Shut it," Harry commented with his face turning a darker shade of red as he gave Hatter a shove which just caused the older cousin to laugh loudly. Reggie twitched at the loud commotion, but remained asleep with his knocked over teacup dangling from his nose.
Both cousins smiled at the sight and the tension between them ebbed a bit as Hatter clarified his explanation, "Look, you know I'm just teasing ya, but it did make me realize you'll really be wanting to get that type of attention one day so this was just a spot of planning for the future. I can take them back and get ya some new shirts or somethin' if ya like."
"Umm, no, that's ok," a slightly bashful Harry replied as he clutched the gift box to his chest, "They're brilliant, really."
Hatter gave him a mischievous smile with a cocked eyebrow, but didn't tease the lad any more on it. Instead, he raised the camera in his gasp and asked, "What say you that we test out my present on ol' Reggie there? See if this nice bright flash can get him out of that bit of tea, yeah?
Harry had of course been the one to bring up what to do about their birthdays during those two weeks on the other side of the Looking Glass while they waited to hear from Alice and her mother Carol. The lad had first remarked upon the differences in the flow of time back on Earth when he'd started started living with Hatter as the length of time in a day fluctuated constantly in Wonderland, while it kept to a stead twenty four hours here. The time sync between the two worlds was so off that while it had been mid-July when they left Wonderland, it was currently the beginning of March on Earth. Harry had seemed indifferent to delaying his eleventh birthday a few months, but Hatter had grown fond of the holiday they shared and had proposed the unbirthday party instead. No gifts -they could save those for the relocated date- but lots of snacks and a good day of fun.
Thus, a few days after their reunion with Alice, the two cousins plus Alice and Robert were enjoying various sweets and party games that Alice had brought over to celebrate the pair's unbirthday.
The younger of the two was currently dominating in a game of Monopoly at the moment; much to Hatter's shame and Alice's merciless teasing. Alice had been the first to fold under the preteen's budding empire and it was that fact which Hatter reminded her left her no pedestal to preach from, but it was finally down Harry versus Robert and the couple had retreated to the kitchen for refreshments.
"It is seriously a bit scary if your young protégé ends up beating a group of adults that are at the very least, double his age," Alice quipped good humouredly as she retrieved a bottle from the fridge, "It also has me wondering just what exactly you've been teaching him for the last what… three years?"
"Something like that," Hatter shrugged off the question as he came to rest next to Alice, "Though I'm admittedly a bit surprised and proud that he's as decent at business as he is; even if it is just bits of paper." Alice smirked at his little joke before taking a sip of her drink, but remained quiet. "I mean, the lad's practically fallen asleep during some of his lessons with me about it, so I suppose I'll have to test if just sleeping on the words really does work as well as reading them here, yeah?" he smiled and she chuckled lightly.
There was a brief comfortable silence between the pair before Hatter turned to face her and spoke up once more, "Actually, since we have a mo' alone, there's something I wanted to ask you today."
"If you're asking me to go on an adventure to save a fairy tale kingdom, then I'm afraid I'm all booked up this week," Alice smiled mischievously, causing Hatter to grin in return.
"Well it's a good thing I only wanted to ask you to just go out with me instead then isn't it?" he inquired.
Alice went from being surprised to pleased in the span of two seconds as she set her drink down on the counter beside them. "When were you thinking?"
"Tomorrow night. Say seven. Sevenish?" Hatter smiled.
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Just over a day's notice is a bit late don't you think?"
"Did you have any plans for tomorrow night?"
The right corner of her lip twitched upward, "No…"
"Well then, it's not late notice is it?" he smiled knowingly as Alice's lips gave into the temptation and turned into a smile of her own.
"In that case, I'd love to."
Hatter grinned wide enough for Alice to see the dimple in his left cheek appear from her response, but as she opened her mouth to question him about where they would go, an excited shout from Harry came from the room right next to them. The couple exchanged looks of amusement as what sounded like Robert's voice filtered in afterward, with a touch of sadness, and they returned to the dinning table to see what all the fuss was about.
If it hadn't been for the fact that he'd been taking a moment's pause from writing his essay, Harry would have most likely jumped when the familiar warmth accompanied by a slight vibration started in his waistcoat pocket. Curious as to what he could have been sent, Harry discreetly set his fountain pen down and stood up to traverse the steps to his shared bedroom. He'd just made it beyond the group of chairs and couches when a voice from behind him spoke up.
"Where're you off to Harry?"
He pivoted slightly and smiled reassuringly at Hermione and their other friend sitting at the common room table. "Just off to grab something from my room. Won't be but a mo'." The pair nodded and didn't press for more as they went back to their own homework and Harry continued his journey up to his dorm. Closing the door as he entered, he walked past the other beds, absently thanking that it was empty, and opened his trunk at the foot of his bed. Flipping open the lid, he stuck two of his fingers in the small notch in the back side and pulled it down over the current contents to reveal a new interior that completely erased all signs of the previous items within. Opening the box at the bottom of the pile, Harry regarded the solitary envelope curiously before checking the room for anyone else once more before opening it. Typically he received mail from them late at night, but they'd just written him yesterday so a new letter so soon was a bit surprising.
There was a card inside and as he turned it over to look at the front, he smiled at the image of a cartoon mouse inside a cup of tea that greeted him as he read: It may just seem like any other day…
He opened the card.
But that doesn't mean you have to treat it like one!
Harry laughed loudly as the song 'A Very Merry Unbirthday' began playing once he'd fully opened the card and he saw the cartoon versions of the Mad Hatter, the Mad Hare, and Alice sitting -or dancing for the Wonderlanders- at a tea filled table. It was only then that he realized what day it was as he fondly read the words penned at the bottom in two sets of handwriting.
As he went back down to finish his essay for the night, if his two friends noticed his increased jovial attitude, neither of them commented on it.
A/N: Takes place during chapters 4 & 5 of Tumbling into Madness, before Curiouser & Curiouser, and (currently) a flash forward tease for later into Curiouser & Cruiouser. A brief glimpse into Hatter and Harry's lives as we see how they celebrate birthdays, and a few unbirthdays as well.
Just teeth rotting found family cuteness here. 💜
Also, before anyone possibly gets huffy about Harry's little crush on the waitress when he's ten, I just want to mention that it was just a simple boyhood crush. I hadn't really thought about it until someone suggested the idea to me (so credit goes to Sony Boy for implanting the idea), but living with Hatter exposed Harry to things most ten year olds probably don't see between just their parents often, and I don't imagine Hatter learned to be a bit more discreet about his 'relationships' for quite sometime. 😅 Even with that, I really do mean it as one of those 'she's pretty and sweet and paying me attention' types of crushes as opposed to something romantic. Poor kid has been attention starved for positive affection almost all his life after all.