A drop here, a drop there (a one-shots/snippet book)

A Sense of Home 1-4 (Hp/WtNV drabbles)

"Hot chocolate it is, then!" She grinned and the child's lips twitched into a little smile.

3.

For as long as Harry can remember, weird things  had the tendency to happen around him. His teacher's hair turning blue, his hair that was shorn by Aunt Petunia growing back to normal overnight, the hideous sweater that was forced on him by his Aunt shrinking until it longer fit him. A lot of weird things happen around Harry, it's why his relatives called him freak and unnatural.

But this, this took the cake.

Harry now sat uneasily beside a kitchen island while the woman, who introduced herself as Nila...Nilaja?... and then told Harry to just call her "Nils" if he couldn't remember her name ("you don't have to call us Ma'am or Sir, or anything like that!"), was setting up an odd contraption and a glass container that she poured water in. The contraption looked like a metal candle now with a flame burning merrily on top of it, and the glass or plastic container is being held over it by a stand.

It was a weird stove and pot combination, and Harry is sitting in an unfamiliar kitchen after entering a weird door. And he's in America. Apparently. They certainly talked differently than what he's used to.

The man, Carlos, had been sent out by Nils to get cocoa or chocolate or anything resembling chocolate that doesn't have anything that "will poison anyone else from the rest of the world" because "the town is less likely to kill you than me, as long as you don't go running headlong to danger like a stupid person again," which made the man mumble something about being a scientist and Nils not being any better, which, in turn, caused Nils to throw a ball of crumpled paper at him on his way out.

Adults, in Harry's experience, don't throw crumpled paper at each other because it was "immature". Which made these two pretty weird, too. But not as weird as Harry, whose family had been damned by because of it.

...this situation just kept reminding him of the Dursleys. Harry winced at how angry they would be once he got back. If he ever will. He wondered how long he'll be imprisoned in his cupboard this time with only being given a piece of bread and a glass of water once per day.

The memory of the gnawing hunger that lasts until it settles into a dull emptiness made his hands tremble as he settled them into fists against his knees. He swallowed and bowed his head, trying not to think about how red his Uncle's face will look and how many times he'll swing the belt until all of Harry's limbs and his back are red and hurting and–

"Harry?" a gentle voice startled him from his thoughts. He flinched and looked up to see the woman kneeling in front of him again, and also giving him that nice, friendly smile...again.

No one had ever given Harry that smile before. He wished with all his heart that it lasts.

"We'll get you home back to your family, don't worry," Nils reassured, and Harry can't help but swallow the words that threatened to spill out. That he's scared about going back. That he...may not want to go back.

But he had nowhere else to go, so. Harry nodded once, weakly. Nils then got up to sit next to him, far enough that the proximity is not uncomfortable, but close enough to not make it look like she thinks he had the plague. But before she can say anything, Carlos came in holding a bag and he raised it triumphantly in their direction.

"Great!" Nils said cheerfully, then pointed at the boiling water. "Now, stat."

"But I'm your boss."

"We're also friends, and as friends this is a joint effort. So if you want to talk to little Harry here instead..."

Carlos rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine. You're better with children anyways." Harry almost feared that Carlos was angry at Nils, but they grinned at each other before Carlos set to working on his task.

"Now, while Carlos does his thing," Nils started from beside him, prompting him to look at her, "we can chat about where you're from and how we can get you home."

4.

The child's eyes moved between the two with wide eyes. "Stay? With-with you?"

"Yep!" Nilanjana replied with a bright grin.

"Like," Harry started hesitantly, shyly, "like a family?"

Carlos smiled. "Yeah, like a family. We have colleagues who I'm sure wouldn't mind pitching in, so you'll have a bigger family than before."

"We're not mother and father though," Nilanjana was quick to add, which made Carlos' eyes widen and quickly nod his agreement. But then she sent a smirk at the man even as she continued speaking to Harry. "But if you're okay with having two dads, there's Carlos and Cecil."

"Nilanjana!" Carlos squawked, blushing furiously. "But we-we're not-! We're not even married!"

"And you guys are so absolutely sickeningly sweet with each other that I'm wondering when I'll hear the wedding bells."

"We-we just started dating! Nils! Stop laughing!"

"When they do get married, I'll make sure they adopt you officially," Nils stage-whispered conspiratorially to Harry through her giggles, ignoring Carlos' spluttering.

They continued to go back and forth since the poor boy looked a little dazed and probably needed time to gather his thoughts back into himself. Not a word came from the child as she teased Carlos relentlessly, and then a small giggle came from beside her. Nilanjana let up on Carlos before her boss faints from all the blood in his head to glance at the Harry.

Harry looked a little mystified and surprised by the sound, and Nilanjana felt a flare of protective urge to gather him in a blanket and just hide him from the world. She raised her head to see something in Carlos eyes, that dark anger that she knew mirrored her own.

Yep, it's decided. They're keeping the kid.

Even if it's technically kidnapping, in a way.