I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.

Extended Family

Chapter 175 – Slowly Healing

Takes place after chapter 30, after Dahlia's day out and when she and the bunnies were still very little.

"Are you sure?" Katie asked. She looked at Harry and it was clear to see her reluctance as well as longing.

"I'm sure," Harry said, hugging her. "I can handle the bunnies. It'll only be for a few hours and I can watch over them and take care of them."

"To be fair, he did watch over the twins and Ollie when they got drunker than skunks and ended up sick," Angelina grinned. "And George turns into a bit of a baby when he gets really sick."

"Still, it is a bit much just for you," Alicia said, also looking reluctant and torn in equal measure.

"I can handle things," Harry repeated, smiling at the three women. "You three deserve a long day-trip to that spa in Paris. Hedwig should be back later and if things really go to pot, I'll contact one of our friends or family members, okay? Trust me."

"We do trust you," Katie said, poking Harry. "Just feel a bit bad leaving you with three very active babies by yourself."

"I solemnly swear to call you three if anything happens or I need you to come back," Harry said. "The bunnies will be perfectly fine and nothing will happen."

The women looked at each other. "Okay then," Alicia said at last. "Thank you, Baby Bird." They hugged him one by one and waved at him and their babies before leaving through the Floo. In a very short time, they were queuing up at the Portkey Hub at the Ministry of Magic, waiting for their turn to take a Portkey to Paris.

"I just realized, he really doesn't have anyone to call for backup," Angelina said, looking worried. "The twins are at a conference, Ollie is out of the country. Our families are all super busy and out of the normal places too."

"Luna is on a trip, Hermione is too, same with Daphne and Tracy," Katie sighed.

"Harry will…well he won't kill us if we decide not to go," Alicia said slowly. "But he did go through all this trouble in getting us the spa reservation and made the arrangements for us."

"It isn't a matter of trust, right? We do trust him," Katie said.

Angelina snorted. "No, it's a matter of being overwhelmed by the bunnies being the bunnies," Angelina said and the other two women smiled. "I love them but they are definitely handfuls, especially when they're together. They're barely past sluggie stage."

Katie nodded and took a deep breath. "But it's Harry. He won't let anything happen to them, he'll take extra good care of them."

"And they do behave the best with him," Alicia said with a fond smile.

"Let's just go and enjoy a break," Angelina said, throwing an arm around their shoulders. "Enjoy ourselves and relax. Then come back all rejuvenated and thank Harry for being the best."

"Yes, let's," Alicia said, relaxing and smiling.

"We're so lucky," Katie grinned.

-0-

"Alright then." Harry clapped his hands and looked down at Dahlia, Hailey, and Hadley. The three little girls gurgled and wiggled, looking up at him adoringly. Surprisingly, to some, the babies had not had any problems when their mothers left through the Floo. They had waved with Harry's help and were now looking up at him, smiling and making contented noises.

"I made sure to get most of the house stuff in order before today, so not much to do, so I can focus on caring for you three," Harry said. He spoke out loud, having read that babies liked to hear you talk as long as you did so in soothing voices. He sat down on the ground beside them. "What would you girls like to do?"

Dahlia climbed slowly up his side before snuggling in comfortably while Hadley crawled onto his lap and closed her eyes. Hailey waved stuffed bunnies at him, gurgling loudly and giggling when he took one from her.

"Guess we all want something a little different," Harry grinned. "No problem at all."

-0-

"Okay, I'll admit it, this is really nice," Angelina said with a sigh.

"You think Harry would send us to a bad spa?" Katie asked, not opening her eyes but raising an eyebrow at Angelina, or in the general direction of her.

"No," Angelina sniffed, "more like I'm not usually a spa-type gal. I like more active ways to relax."

The girls had arrived to a very nice spa retreat in Paris. Despite being in the city, the interior of the building had been lavishly decorated and enchanted to appear like a pastoral setting with grass floors and trees and flowers in abundance. A small creek even ran through the building and the floors, creating small waterfalls that made pleasant background noise.

Upon arrival, the girls had been given a place to change and store their things, and had a nice massage before subjected to other relaxing treatments involving balms and oils and aromas. Now they soaked in a bubbling magical jacuzzi, the water burbling around them and massaging them from the neck down. The air was pleasantly sweet and acrid in equal measure, with a floral undertone.

Angelina looked over and smiled. "This is up Alicia's alley though."

"I am very relaxed," Alicia said with a happy sigh, floating in the water. "I love this. I love Baby Bird so much." She opened an eye. "How did he get this for us? It feels very exclusive."

"The Delacours are patrons," Katie said with a big smile. "That and the owners are huge Quidditch fans and love Portree. Harry asked them for a reservation and sweetened the deal with some autographs, some paraphernalia, and some tickets for upcoming games."

"Finally, a reason for Quidditch," Alicia said dreamily, giggling at Angelina and Katie's scowls.

"Uh, how expensive is this place normally?" Angelina asked.

"Probably a lot," Katie said with a small wince. "He didn't say. Just that it was fine and we deserve it."

"We are here, no sense in letting guilt diminish our enjoyment," Alicia said, waving a languid hand.

"That's fair," Katie smiled.

-0-

Harry was starting to feel a little harried. The girls had behaved very well over all, but he was trying very hard to juggle them properly, figuratively and literally.

Hailey had refused to go down for her nap for the longest time, clinging to him more and more and even squabbling with Hadley who had wanted to nap, but nap on Harry. Dahlia had fussed when the other two cried and fought with each other and they were all crying and fussing in intervals.

He was able to carry one at a time, sparingly using magic to keep the other two moving, while trying to keep them happy. He also tried to get food going and was finding that trying to entertain three babies made that very difficult, even with magic.

He had finally managed to get them down for a nap and was cleaning up the mess that they accidently engineered in the kitchen when a sudden roar of thunder split the sky, shaking the house with the intensity of the sound. The sudden noise had woken the girls and frightened them, making them wail.

Harry ran to them, trying to soothe them and he stared out the window at the storm that was lashing the outside. Rain pelted the land and the wind howled as thunder roared and lightning flashed. "Where did this come from?!" Harry gasped as he tried to juggle the screaming babies, all reaching out for him.

"I hope Hedwig decided to stay in France too," Harry said, looking at the stormy sky with worry.

-0-

"Wait, what do you mean we can't go?!" Katie asked.

She, Angelina, and Alicia had left the spa and gone back to the French Ministry's Portkey Hub to leave after a long day and had discovered that the Portkeys have all been stopped. Not only that, the International Floos were also stopped.

"The storm has put a halt to international travel, I am afraid," the Ministry official said apologetically. "We had a report that the storm had caused several accidents with Portkeys, incoming and outgoing. It is a very big storm, preventing all international travel and even some local. We cannot allow it, I am afraid."

"We have to get home," Alicia said urgently. "This was supposed to be just a day trip!"

"Where is that?" the official asked.

"Britain," Angelina said.

"Impossible," the official said, wincing a little. "There is a very large storm there as well. We just had a report of a Portkey going there was knocked many miles off course. It is too dangerous."

"What do we do?" Angelina asked, looking at her friends.

"We will be providing accommodation and will inform you when it is safe to travel," the official said.

"Thank you, but we're worried because my husband is home with three little babies," Katie said.

"I am sure he is fine," the official said with a warm smile. "And it is important that you three are safe as well, yes?"

The women looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

-0-

"We're okay," Harry said, looking in his mirror. He had answered it when loud snowy owl barking could be heard over the thunder and rain and relaxed when he saw Katie in it. The intensity of the storms made the connection somewhat indistinct though and the images were fuzzy and the sound that came through was somewhat rough. "I'm glad you are too."

"We have to hunker down here," Katie said, looking at him with concern. "Are you and the girls okay?"

"We're really fine," Harry said, plastering a large smile on his face. "Don't worry. You have somewhere to stay? Do you need to get Fleur or Sebastian or Apolline? Or the others?"

"They gave us a nice hotel to stay in," Katie said. "Can you find someone to come help you? Want me to call someone?"

"I've got it, really. And the girls are just fine," Harry soothed. "We'll see you when you get back."

"Okay, call us if you need something," Katie said worriedly.

"Katie, love, don't worry," Harry said. His smile faded when Katie's image dissipated. The bunnies had clung to him even harder since the storm started, crying as loud as the storm above them. His nerves were on edge due to the storm as well, unwillingly thinking of Dementors and the chill that settled deep in his bones.

He did all he could to keep the girls from crying but nothing seemed to help. The storm seemed to penetrate silencing charms that he cast to try and blot out the sounds and while things were quieter to him, the storm continued to scare the girls. Curtains did not completely block out the lightning flashes and even with all the lights on and a fire in the hearth, the rain and gloom seemed to bite deep into the home.

The storm and the crying gnawed at the edges of his mind and his thoughts, forcing other memories to the surface. He gritted his teeth and tried to push them away, trying to entertain the girls, but nothing was improving their mood. Every so often he looked to the mirror and came close to calling someone, anyone, to come over to help but he knew the vast majority of their friends and family were busy, hence why he was doing this alone. He knew he probably could find someone, but it also meant a form of defeat to him. A loss of character. Something he was desperately, and stubbornly, trying to avoid.

"I'll be right back," he said to the three crying girls. He stepped into the kitchen and he gritted his teeth, still hearing them cry. As he walked past the mirror in the hall, he stopped. He turned pale, feeling the blood drain from his face as he looked into it again, eyes wide. For a moment, he saw a tiny boy, one with messy black hair and green eyes full of tears. He could hear him crying, wailing. Yet his cries were muffled and subdued, though no less full of pain and want.

Harry stared into the mirror, seeing himself there. He saw his own tears starting to run down his face and he pressed his forehead against the mirror, squeezing his eyes shut to not see the small boy with the lightning scar on his forehead, screaming.

His head came up when he heard the girls cry out loud once more. Except the crying had taken a new tone to it, something else. "I'm coming!" he shouted, momentarily forgetting his own pain and he rushed back into the sitting room. He aimed his wand, eyes seeking, searching for the source of their renewed crying.

When they saw him, the girls started to crawl on shaking legs and arms. They floundered and fell, cries subsiding just a little as they crawled and reached for him.

"What happened?!" he asked, scooping them up one by one. "What's wrong?!" He looked at them and noticed that when he held them, they were looking at him closely. They continued to cry, but no longer wailed with surprisingly loud voices and healthy lungs. They looked at him with wet eyes but they whimpered instead, no longer sobbing. They clung to him, looking at him in between burying their faces into his chest. Before they wriggled and squirmed as they gave vent to their emotions. Now they were still, pressing into him, making soft noises but still crying silently.

"Oh, my poor girls," Harry said softly, sinking down. He managed to rest against the couch and he held them to him as they murmured and burbled, making softer noises. As they stilled, he looked down at them, supporting the three of them in his arms.

"Look at you," he said first to Hadley. "You look just like your mum, but smile like your dad." He grinned as she smiled for the first time in hours, a giant smile on a tiny face. "Just like that! I always admired that the most about Captain. When he smiles, you can't help but know things will be okay." He brushed a lock of soft brown hair out of her face. "And you look around like your mum, eyes seeing everything."

"And you, you grin just like your dad and uncle," he said to Hailey, receiving another large smile. "So full of mischief and care. But you're definitely like your mum too! You're going to be tall and strong, just like her. The best at taking care of others."

He leaned his head down and Dahlia patted his cheeks clumsily, making soft noises as she looked up at him, green eyes meeting green eyes. "And you, beautiful like your mum," he whispered. "And you have my mum's eyes." He blinked as she patted his cheeks, patting at his tears. "Oh, just like her," he whispered.

He looked down at the three of them. "I love you so much," he said, voice trembling slightly. "I will always love you, no matter what. And even when or if you get sibs, I will still love you forever, as much as I will love them. My beautiful girls. Gosh, it's so easy to love all of you. Who wouldn't love you?!"

He rubbed his eyes, dashing away more tears, remembering words he heard from when he was younger. A new memory clawed to the surface of his mind and he let out a shuddering breath. Slowly, achingly, he began to sing. He sang a song without words, his voice rough and raw. He looked down at the babies and sang to them and they stopped crying. They looked up at him and their eyes slowly began to close. In a short time, they had fallen asleep, all three of them at the same time, lulled into slumber by his singing.

Long after they had fallen asleep, Harry continued to sing to them, driven on by the memory of that small boy who sang himself to sleep in the dark broom cupboard beneath the stairs, all alone.

Though, thankfully, he was no longer alone.

-0-

A crash and muffled cursing and shouting shocked Harry awake.

After the girls had fallen asleep, Harry managed to finish preparing their food and the girls woke to eat before going back to sleep. He had eaten his own late dinner and after deciding not to bother moving them, made himself comfortable sleeping beside them on the ground in the sitting room. During the night, the girls had wriggled onto him and he slept there, holding them against him securely. Vibrations in the floor had woken him and he had half-sat up and aimed with his wand while grasping for his glasses.

He looked at the sight through sleep-dusted eyes and with his brain still moving sluggishly, trying to process everything.

"Get off me you Amazonian brute!" Alicia shouted, squashed beneath Angelina and flailing.

"Give me a second! I got tangled in the bags, your bag too!" Angelina shouted back, trying to kick her way free from the bags that had gotten tangled during the Floo trip and had caused her to literally trip. She growled as Alicia hit her a few times with her hand and elbows. "Will you stop that!"

"Then get off of me! How have you gotten fatter?! I thought you were back to exercising!"

"Oh that's it, I'm going to really crush you now!"

"Shut up both of you!" Katie had come through the Floo and barely avoided her two best friends on the ground, nearly falling on them too. She managed to stay upright and she looked around the sitting room wildly before she saw Harry and the bunnies. She breathed a sigh of relief before noticing Harry sitting there, squinting and tilting his head. "Harry? Love? Are you okay?" she asked, rushing over.

Harry blinked slowly at her before yawning. He waved the wand a few times before he finally nodded. "There we go," he said sleepily. "Cast a lot of Silencing Spells to try and drown out the storm."

"Makes sense, are you okay?" Alicia asked, crawling over after kicking Angelina off of her.

"I'm okay," Harry said automatically, missing the collective snort from the women at how fast he responded. He blinked at them, waking up more. "Wow, it's early," he said, squinting at the clock.

"We asked them to alert us the second we could travel back," Angelina said, dusting her hands after having dragged Alicia back by her leg and rolled her through the soot at the hearth, her revenge from the kick. She looked down at the sleeping girls who slept in a small pile on Harry's chest, cooing at the sight. "How are they?"

"Exhausted," Harry said, looking down too. The girls were still sleeping deeply and completely limp on him, snuggled together. "They really didn't like the storm."

"I bet," Katie said sympathetically, waving her wand to clean Alicia up and to deflect the pillow she threw at Angelina's head. "We're here now. Want us to take them and you can get some decent sleep?"

Harry yawned and laid back down, holding the girls gently but firmly. "We're comfy," he said, already falling back asleep. "But I'm glad you're home."

"No place better to be," Katie said lovingly as she watched Harry fall asleep. He looked very relaxed this time and she sighed at the sight of him and the babies sleeping in a pile. Even the bunnies looked more relaxed with the women there.

"Hailey's a little snorer," Alicia said, smiling.

"And a cover hog of a bun," Angelina sighed happily, watching her daughter wriggle in her sleep.

"Let's let them rest," Katie said, tucking a blanket around them. "And we can take over when they wake up."

-0-

Hours later, Harry woke up surprisingly refreshed. He was still mildly tired physically, but his thoughts and emotions were clear comparatively. He had woken up alone but he could hear the women talking in the kitchen, so he was not worried. After a trip to the bathroom and changing clothes, he walked into the kitchen. "Good morning," he greeted.

"Morning Rabbit!" Angelina pulled him into a hug and kissed his cheek, smiling when Hailey squeaked in her arms, reaching out for him too.

"Good morning to you too," Harry said, picking Hailey up and kissing her cheeks, hugging her. "How was the spa?"

"Wonderful, thank you so much," Alicia said with a big smile.

"I actually enjoyed myself," Angelina grinned.

"That's good, I'm sorry the storm made you lot worry and ruin the end of it," Harry sighed.

"We were more worried about you, not worried you couldn't handle them," Katie said. "Three babies by yourself is a lot."

"We did okay," Harry said, picking up Dahlia and Hadley when they reached out for him and he held them comfortably together as they wiggled and giggled.

"Well it's our turn now," Angelina said. "You can do whatever you want today and you don't have to worry about a thing. Not even dinner, we got it all taken care of."

"Anything I want?" Harry asked, looking at them.

"Whatever you want," Alicia nodded. "Even if you want Katie to join you for something, we can handle it."

Harry turned thoughtful before nodding. "Okay. I know what I want to do."

"You know, we really should have seen this coming," Angelina remarked, looking into the sitting room and smiling a little while later.

Every blanket and sheet in the house were in use and a blanket castle was being constructed there. Harry was pinning the blankets and fabrics up with his hands, looking at the bunnies for approval, taking their flailing and burbling as direction and guidance. Hedwig had arrived and after a quick meal, joined in construction. Soon the castle was finished, complete with moat and drawbridge, and Harry and Hedwig were in the center, playing with the squealing Dahlia, Hadley, and Hailey.

"After watching them on his own all day and night, still wants to play with them," Alicia sighed lovingly.

"We're really lucky," Katie said, her eyes shining.

Harry heard her and smiled to himself as he looked down at the bunnies squealing with laughter as Hedwig cheeped and cooed at them.

He knew he was lucky too.

-0-0-0-

mike3308 - Probably one of the best years for him.

alix33 - Hedwig is very self aware.

Ghostwriter - She's the best owl that ever did owl.

poka - Hedwig really makes everything better, and her POV just makes things even more better somehow.

TheSphynx - It will always have that special part in my heart and my career.

HoneyBear84 - Thank you.

odonnellzoo99 - Probably one of her greatest strengths really, self awareness and confidence. It's kinda fun to remember that their feelings towards Cho, at least Hedwig's, is more antagonistic here compared to the other stories.

Clark959 - Thank you very much.