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

A Sense of Home 5-10 (WtNV/HP)

"No, it's just..." Adults typically don't like being corrected or talked back to... but...he remembered her hand ruffling his hair, a cone of sweet ice cream melting in his mouth, a hat that now sat on his head, the bags full of new clothes sitting at their feet. "Where's the number one? You...you started at number two."

Nils smiled at him, amused and warm. "Oh? Why don't you check?"

So Harry took the little notebook and opened it to the first page. Only then he realized that the place Nils had been writing on earlier was the second page, and on the first page...

On the first page, in big, bold letters,

1. YOU ARE NOT A FREAK

Sure, they vehemently told him that after he told his story but-

The first in a list of important things to remember? A whole page dedicated to it?

His throat felt tight. He swallowed and blinked rapidly because his eyes are now also burning a little. It's getting a little hard to breath.

"Can I hug you? I want to hug you," Nils informed him. "Okay, I'm hugging you."

Harry let out a wobbly laugh as she did just that.

9.

There's a bush in front of the lab. It's green and looked normal enough, but it was also growing on the stone floor.

"Good morning."

Harry yelped, jumping back. The bush rustled, somehow conveying apologetic sheepishness. "Oh, sorry about that. I just didn't want to remove my disguise so early in my shift. Can you get Carlos the Scientist?"

"U-uh, sure." And then Harry was running to get the man.

"Carlosthere'satalkingbushinthefrontdoor!" Harry was normally not like this, since any type of behavior that isn't considered "proper" and polite would earn him a smack, but a few days where that wasn't the case had him more at ease with the people that took him in. And the talking bush doesn't seem harmful at that, so he's really excited.

Carlos put down his mug of coffee as he stood up, that look of curiosity that Harry is now starting to become familiar with glinting in his dark eyes. "Oh? What did it say?"

Harry paused, nose crinkling slightly in thought. He was too afraid and/or excited to properly pay attention. Something about a disguise and a shift...? Harry told Carlos this, and the scientist smiled, amused.

"Oh, that's a Secret Police officer. I'll go meet them. Wanna come?" he asked, to which Harry eagerly nodded in reply.

Harry followed Carlos to the front door and curiously listened in on the conversation. He was glad he did, because it turned out that the officer was there in regards to Harry's schooling.

The thought of going to school filled Harry with mild trepidation. He was new here, was adopted just a three days ago even, and the thought of going to school full of strangers...

"Harry?" He looked up to see Carlos with a questioning look on his face. "What do you think, you ready for school?"

Harry froze, mouth opening slightly. "Uhm-I-uh..." he trailed off, torn. He didn't want to go yet, but what did Carlos expect of him? Nils? Do they want Harry to go to school? Maybe Harry's presence around the lab is distracting them?

Carlos turned back to the officer with a smile and said, "He'll go to school when he's ready. Needs some time to adjust to a new place, you know how it is."

"I don't, actually," the officer quipped, "but understandable. Here are the requirements and some papers to sign, make sure you send your response by messenger snake when he's ready." A hand clad in black emerged from the mass of leaves to hand Carlos some papers.

Harry deflated in relief, a little guilty. He wondered whether Carlos actually wanted him to go to school, but just said not yet because Harry's reaction made say it.

Carlos now looked utterly engrossed with the papers, staring at it with narrowed and intense eyes, but he reached out to ruffle Harry's hair when he passed by. Harry stared at his back, eyes a little wide.

10.

Cecil scared Harry a little when he first met the man.

Oh, he knew who Cecil was, that he's Carlos' boyfriend (another thing that would've disgusted the Dursleys), that the deep, calming voice on the radio belonged to him, but...

The man was not tall, or short. He was not fat, and he was not thin either. He...had hair, Harry was pretty sure, and a nose. Cecil was completely average. Just average.

So average that Harry struggled to name a specific noteworthy detail about the man, his brain unable to form words even when he's looking at him directly. Does Cecil have black hair? White? Blonde? Does he have pale skin or tan or brown? Harry can't even tell if he's wearing glasses or not. That's what had scared him, this lack of understanding that seemed to have been forced upon his mind.

"Carlos!" The disconcertingly indescribable man cheerfully bounded towards Carlos and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Both had blushing smiles on their faces, and Harry slowly relaxed to let curiosity replace his previous feelings. "It's slow news today, so I brought you coffee!"

"Oh, you shouldn't have," Carlos said, receiving his coffee with a touched smile.

"I wanted to." Cecil's voice seemed almost richer in real life, a bit higher and brighter than his radio voice. Or maybe it's because he was talking to Carlos.

"Well, thank you, Cecil." And they exchanged a few words, all the while leaning slightly towards each other as they took sips from their coffee, hands intertwined against the table beside them. Harry hadn't seen Aunt and Uncle act this way towards each other. Then Cecil said, "Now, where's this little fella that one of you legally adopted and all of you metaphorically adopted?" and Harry ducked his head, blushing slightly. Carlos saw him and waved him over from where he had been peeking through the doorway.

Cecil's first words to him was, "Oh, my. You have absolutely beautiful eyes! Almost as beautiful as Carlos' perfect hair."

Harry, who had been listening to the radio and knew how much Cecil practically worshipped Carlos and his perfect hair, flushed. Carlos smacked Cecil's arm, but he was also a bit red in the face.

"Thank you," Harry replied quietly, before saying in a louder voice, "I like your voice."

"You listen to my show?!" Cecil exclaimed, looking absolutely delighted.

Cecil may have scared him (only a little!) at first, but Harry soon found it easy to feel at ease with the man. The odd thing with him being unable to be described took a bit more to get used to, but Harry eventually did.

Harry grinned up at the glow-in-the-dark stickers that Cecil had given him as a welcoming gift. Little stars of differing sizes splattered his walls and ceiling, with a single crescent moon stuck on the wall closest to the side of his bed. They shone with a faint silver glow instead of green, and Harry swore that they almost seemed to move as minutes passed, like the actual stars in the sky that give the illusion of movement due to the rotation of the earth (he may have been forbidden to get good grades by his relatives, but that doesn't mean he didn't pay attention in class).

Harry didn't know how long he sat curled up watching, but eventually he got tired enough to properly get under the covers and pass out, utterly content.

I love them. Cecil and Carlos? I love them. Rereading what I wrote after so long–augh, my heart.

I'm actually continuing this in AO3, I've posted more than the 10 I posted here. Same title and same username if anyone is interested ^-^