"What are you doing?" Tom asked looking away from the TV. He had turned his head to find Harry sitting cross-legged, sideways on the couch staring out into space.
"Trying to see where to put our tree," Harry responded.
"Our what?"
"Tree. Christmas tree," Harry said glancing at him. "I don't know where to put it."
"Why?" Tom asked looking around the vast hall, trying to see what Harry was, but couldn't.
"It's December Tom, Christmas is coming. We need a tree."
"We don't really need one, you know."
"Of course we do!" Harry admonished him, "Besides it's going to be Wynter's 1st Christmas, well actually 2nd, but still! And..." he stilled in realization and fell back onto the couch so he was lying down. "Oh god."
"What?" Tom asked slightly alarmed as Harry covered his face with his hands.
"The 13th. It's Wynter's birthday. She's going to be one."
Tom froze, "One?" he asked shocked.
"Yeah."
Tom slumped back and let the thought wash over him. His little girl was going to be a year old! He could hardly believe it. "Already?"
"I know, she's getting so big now," Harry commented looking at the baby monitor that was showing Wynter asleep in her crib, "Now we really need to get a tree."
"Where do you want to put it?" he asked, as the urge to make this the best Christmas ever took over him.
Harry sat up and grinned at him, knowing he was now on board. "I don't know. I was thinking over there by the staircase, but then it's blocking your desk. And if we put it on the other side it will block the bathroom. Or we could put it here by the window, but then we need to move the TV and the couches to make room..."
"Or..." Tom added thoughtfully, "We can put it right in the center."
"What do you mean?"
"We can move the couches and the table and just put it right in the center."
"Then what do we do with the couches?"
"We have magic, Harry. We can just shrink it for now and put it back later."
"Oh, yeah," Harry said sheepishly, but he sat up and looked at the sitting area and visualized the tree. "We can move the phone over to the table by the fireplace and use the entire area for the tree. How big do we get it though?"
"Big," Tom answered, "Biggest one we can find so we can see it up on the second floor."
Harry grinned. "Sounds like a plan."
xxx
Later that day after Wynter woke up from her nap, they went out shopping for a tree. It was quite different here in Australia with the sun beating down on them getting a tree, but it was a different experience. Wynter had no idea what was going on but had a lot of fun looking around at all the trees that were way bigger than she was. But eventually, they found the perfect fir tree to go into their living room. Thanks to magic, Tom was able to shrink it down and let Wynter hold it as they headed home.
"Tee!" Wynter exclaimed holding the small fir tree in her hands to show her mama.
"I see. It's a nice tree, huh, jelly bean."
"Ye!"
Harry laughed at her enthusiasm. "Too bad it's not snowing. It's so warm."
"The seasons are different here remember," Tom said using his wand to shrink the furniture in their sitting area and moving it to sit like a miniature set on the fireplace mantle. "It's snowing in London, yet over here it's a lot warmer. It's why most people here celebrate Christmas in July when it's cold."
"July, really?"
"Yes. Not that it stops them from celebrating in December as well."
"Two Christmas's! Yay!" Harry said cheerfully, lifting Wynter into the air and spinning. "Whee!"
"Eee!" she shrieked in delight.
Then Harry put her on the floor so she would watch them. "Can I have the tree?"
"Tee!" she exclaimed again and held it out.
"Thank you!"
Harry then placed the tree in the center of the holder Tom had placed there and with a flick of his wand made the tree grow back to its natural size. The tree they had picked out was wide and full and stood a good 24 feet. The top of the tree reached past the ceiling to the second floor just as they wanted it to. It was perfect.
"Ooooh," Wynter exclaimed staring up at the big tree now in the center of their house.
"It's big huh?" Harry asked.
"Ye," Wynter said in awe, her hands together as she stared up at it.
"Okay. Decorating time," Harry said, pulling out his wand. "Hmmm. Decorations, decorations," he murmured and visualized what he wanted. Little baubles formed at the end of his wand and floated in a line to hang on the tree. On the other side, Tom had his wand out and was doing the same.
Wynter clapped her hands and giggled in joy as she watched ornaments and garland zoom through the air and wrap around the tree. Within moments the tree was decorated with brightly colored lights and colored ornaments with a big star on the top.
"It's perfect," Harry said stepping back to take it in," Not bad for our first tree."
"I think so too," Tom agreed standing next to him.
"I just realized something," Harry said picking up Wynter so she could see, "It's all our house colors."
Tom looked up at the tree and did notice that the ornaments were Red, Gold, Green, and Silver. "Well, they are Christmas colors."
"True. Oh! I almost forgot.," Harry said pulling an ornament out of a small box he had placed on the table in front of the fireplace. "I got this last year." He held it out for Tom to see the inscription My First Christmas below a simple baby sculpture in pink. "She was only 2 weeks old when she had her first Christmas, but she doesn't remember it."
"She'll remember this one," Tom said looking down at Wynter's face full of awe as she stared at the decorated tree.
"Yes, she will," Harry agreed. "Wynter, want to help Daddy put this on the tree?"
"Tee?" Wynter asked pointing at it.
"Yes," Harry said handing her over to Tom with the ornament. Then stood back and watched with his camera at the ready as the two of them placed the ornament on the tree. "We need a family picture." He said as he took several pictures of the two of them.
"Do we have to?" Tom asked grudgingly.
"Yes. It's our first Christmas together as a family. We need to make memories," Harry said setting up the camera so the tree was in the shot. Setting the timer, Harry rushed to Tom's side as they held up Wynter between them "Wynter, smile!" After the picture was taken, Harry took a look, "Aw! Wynter what a big smile!" he exclaimed and showed Tom. Wynter was front and center showing off all four of her teeth in a bright smile.
"That is a good one," Tom admitted.
"Yup, I'm framing this one."
Harry took a few more pictures until Tom had enough and went to go sit down to read the paper while Harry and Wynter went around the living room adding more decorations to the fireplace mantel, the staircase, and around the ceiling until Harry was satisfied.
"You really went all out," Tom commented when Harry sat down with a sigh after placing Wynter amongst her toys.
"I may have gone a little overboard, but I had fun. I never had any say in regards to decorating and Hogwarts did everything themselves, so..." Harry shrugged. "I wanted it to be perfect."
"You didn't do this last year?"
"No. I had a tree and that's it. I was so out of it, Ron and Hermione had done the decorating while I had just laid there all bloated and exhausted. Then after Wynter was born it was all 2 am feedings and diaper changes. I didn't have the energy to do anything else."
"I see."
"But I have you here this year and I definitely have more energy. I am feeling the Christmas spirit! How about you?"
Tom thought about it."I am usually indifferent to any of the holidays," he admitted, "But this year is different. I guess some of your Christmas cheer is rubbing off on me...What are you doing?" Tom asked puzzled as Harry rubbed his head against his shoulder.
"Rubbing more cheer on you," Harry said simply and Tom just laughed.
xxx
Over the next few weeks, Harry went out shopping for Christmas presents and birthday gifts for both Tom and Wynter. Luckily there was a shopping district for Australian residence called Sunshine Plaza. When first looking at it, it was a regular shopping center with all Muggle shops, but down a certain road, only known to wizarding kind, was a second shopping district full of wizarding shops and oddities. Harry had been overjoyed when he had found out about it. He thought he would have to go to Diagon Alley with Wynter while she was sleeping since the time difference was a big one. He had not been looking forward to lugging her dead weight around. Not to mention, no one knew who he was at Sunshine Plaza, so he was free to browse without interruption. The only issue was that Wynter was with him and he couldn't hide what he was getting for her, not under her watchful eye.
Which was why Harry decided to leave Wynter at home with Tom, yet he couldn't bring himself to leave. Tom was currently distracting her by pushing her in her swing and she was having fun. All Harry had to do was go to the store and be right back...yet it was hard.
"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Harry asked for the third time.
"Yes. We'll be fine," Tom said again as he pushed Wynter in her swing in the backyard.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Harry. Now go before it gets too busy."
"Okay," Harry said fretting. "Okay. You contact me if anything happens. Hedwig will find me."
"I will. But everything will be fine. I got this," Tom said firmly.
"Okay. Bye sweetheart!" Harry said and started walking backward toward the door, taking in his daughter's smiling face.
"Ai, Mama!" Wynter said waving her fingers at him.
"I'll be back in a few hours," he told Tom.
"Take your time."
Harry gave him an uneasy smile and went inside and left the house. Leaving Wynter in Tom's care.
"Okay, princess. Just you and me." Tom said to a giggly Wynter as he pushed her again. "This shouldn't be too hard."
xxx
-Make her stop-
-I can't- Tom hissed back to his familiar. Wynter was currently sitting on the floor in the living room, having realized Harry was gone, crying her little head off. And boy did she have a set of lungs on her.
"Mama!!" Wynter wailed. She stopped for a second, sniffled, and took a deep breath, and continued to wail.
She had been fine for a while. Tom pushed her on her swing for a bit longer, then took her on her slide. She went down it a few times with Tom, then played in her sandpit. Until she wanted her Mama.
Tom had told her that he wasn't home, but she insisted on going inside to look for him. So they went inside and Wynter crawled around calling for Harry. When she didn't find him, she started getting worried, so Tom lied and said he was taking a nap upstairs so she wouldn't be so panicked. So Wynter went to the foot of the stairs and called for him. Tom had to stop her from climbing up them though. She had continued to make whimpering noises as she continued to look for Harry and call for him until she finally realized her Mama wasn't there. Once she came to that conclusion, she sat down and started screaming her head off and stayed like that for the past 10 minutes.
"Come on, Wynter. Stop that now," Tom reasoned. "There's no reason to cry. Don't you want to Daddy?"
"No! Mama!" Wynter yelled.
It stung a bit, but Tom didn't let it get to him. "Please stop crying," he pleaded. He had no idea what to do, Harry had always made it seem so easy.
-It hurts my ears- Nagini hissed ducking her head into her coils, to try to find some quiet.
-Then you try-
-I did. She doesn't want to play with me-
-Then what do I do?- Tom hissed at his familiar. He was at his wit's end. Really it was ridiculous. He was trying to overthrow the government and he was being done in by a crying baby.
-I think she got louder. Can't you put a spell on her to make her quiet?- Nagini asked.
-I would if she was someone else's kid, but she's mine. That would be cruel-
-Pick her up then- Nagini hissed at him.
-She doesn't want me-
-Do it anyway. Just make her stop-
Tom hesitated, then went to her and picked her up. Wynter pushed him away, still crying, but he held on and held her to his chest and started bouncing her as he had seen Harry do. "Shh. It's okay, sweetheart. It's okay. Mama will be right back."
"Mama," Wynter cried burrowing her hot face into his shoulder.
"I know you want Mama. But you just have to be patient. He just went to the store."
"Or?"
"Yes, the store. He's coming back."
"Ai o?"
"No, you can't go. We have to wait for Mama here. You can wait with Daddy. Is that okay?"
Wynter sniffed, but she stopped wailing, so that was a start. "Ye."
"Okay. Okay," Tom said continuing to bounce her. He looked around the room to try to find something to occupy her. "Want to watch TV with Daddy while we wait?"
"Mama ak?"
"Yes, Mama will come back before you know it."
"Oke," Wynter agreed.
Tom breathed a sigh of relief and turned on the TV to some cartoons and settled onto the couch with Wynter in his lap.
Harry come home soon.
xxx
"I'm back!" Harry called coming through the door laden with gifts a few hours later.
"Oh, thank god," Tom muttered as he continued to rub Wynter's back as she whimpered. She had been fine for a while watching TV but then she started to cry again. But now as Harry walked through the door, she perked up.
"Mama!" she called holding out her arms to him.
"Hi, jelly bean!" Harry cooed as he set his stuff down and took her from Tom, holding her close. "Oh, I missed you! That was the longest 3 hours of my life."
"Was that all?" Tom asked, "It felt longer."
"Really? How was she?"
"Okay...for a little bit, then she started crying."
"Aw. Did you miss me, Wynter?"
"Ye, Mama," Wynter murmured into his shoulder, she was clinging tight to him.
"I've heard of separation anxiety and she is usually fine. I thought she would be okay with you," Harry said rocking her in his arms.
"Apparently, not. Then again, you two are always together. Always have been."
"That's true. We haven't been apart since the day she was born, isn't that right, jelly bean," Harry said to Wynter and nuzzled her soft hair and she cooed back.
"Well, looks like you got everything you needed," Tom commented looking at the gift bags.
"Not everything. I am going to have to go somewhere else to find gifts for a few more people. But I think I went a little bit overboard with gifts for you know who."
"Me?" Tom asked with a playful grin.
"Haha," Harry mock laughed catching what he did there, "I may have something in there for you, but you will have to wait to get it."
"But you got me something?"
"Of course, I did," Harry said and moved away to put things away. So he didn't catch the excited smile that Tom had on his face. It was then that Tom was excited for Christmas for the first time in a long time.
xxx
Harry went into town two more times before he was done with Christmas shopping. Wynter complained each time and started to cry, but seemed to be used to it after the 3rd time when she realized her Mama would be back. Not to mention, Tom got rather good at calming her down and keeping her occupied.
But before they knew it, it was the 13th. Wynter's 1st birthday.
Harry spent most of the morning between showering Wynter with kisses and making her a small cake for her to stuff her face with later. Ron and Hermione were going to come over later to be there for their god-daughter as well, so he made a separate cake for the adults.
Wynter was busy crawling around with a big smile on her face. She didn't know exactly what was going on but she did know that something special was going on involving her. She also knew that she couldn't touch the presents under the tree, not that it kept her from trying.
"Ah, Ah!" Harry called out to Wynter as she made to grab the ribbon of a big box under the tree. "Don't touch that!" Wynter looked over at her mother then back at the bright curly ribbon and reached for it again. "Wynter! No! Tom grab her."
Wynter screeched and tried to crawl away, but Tom caught her. "What are you doing, princess? You know you can't open that yet." She just pointed at the gift indicating she wanted to open it. "You can't open those until Christmas, but there are some for you to open later, okay?"
"Oke!" she said finding interest in the buttons on his shirt.
"I know what we can do," Harry said as he put the finishing touches on the cake. "We can take her measurement."
Tom and Harry had talked it over about keeping track of how big she gets over the years. The Dursley's had done it for Dudley as he grew, though he never got to participate, and Harry wanted to do the same.
"Let's go see how big you got," Tom said setting her on her feet and holding onto her hands to make her walk over to the laundry room.
"Can you stand jelly bean?" Harry asked taking Wynter and placing her against the doorway, he let go of her to see if she would stay, but she started to pitch forward. "Oop!" Harry exclaimed catching her, "It's okay, Mama's got you."
"Mama!" she said excitedly and looked up at Tom to see what he was doing.
"Put your head down, sweetheart," Tom said leaning down to measure her.
It took some doing because she wouldn't stand still, but Harry was able to hold her still long enough for Tom to mark the doorway with her current height.
"Look at that," Harry said turning her around for her to see where Tom had made a line with Wynter- Age: 1 right above it. "That's how tall you are."
Wynter pointed at it and looked at Harry.
"Yes, that's you," he replied and she clapped her hands. "Yay!" he said clapping with her and hugged her from behind. "You've gotten so big!"
"Ig!" Wynter exclaimed.
"What's the verdict?" He asked Tom who was measuring the height.
"2 feet 3 inches," Tom determined as he put his tape measure away.
"2 feet? Really?" Harry asked in shock. "Wow. She really did grow a lot. She was 18 inches when she was born."
"Was she?" Tom asked.
"Yes. 7 pounds, 10 ounces, 18 inches long," Harry answered and gave Wynter's chubby cheeks more kisses.
Wynter bore a few kisses then pushed his face away, "No."
"No? No more?"
"No," she said again and struggled to be out down, which Harry did, and he went straight for the tree.
"And there she goes to the tree again."
"I got her," Tom said going after her, "Wynter no touching."
An hour later and the fireplace lit up indicating that someone wanted to go through. Tom had set up their floo system for Ron and Hermione to be able to come over, but it was restricted to only them and either Tom or Harry had to let them in. It was better than Harry having to go get them every time they wanted to come over, and Tom had fixed Harry's necklace so them tagging along wouldn't work anymore.
So Harry went over to the fireplace and pressed a switch on the mantle to open the floo and Ron and Hermione came through.
"Good Morning!" Ron announced, "Holy shit, that's a big tree."
"Morning? It's 5:30," Harry said and gave Ron a hug, "And yes it is a big tree. Nothing but the best. Right, Marque?"
"Of course," Tom said in his flawless French accent.
"Well, it might be late for you, but we just got up. It's still the morning of the 13th for us," Hermione said coming out behind Ron.
Harry gasped dramatically, "You're in the future!"
"Oh, stop it," Hermione said giving him a hug too. "I'm afraid we can't stay long. We have to get to work later."
"Okay, well I am glad you could make it."
"For Wynter. Always."
"Where's the birthday girl?" Ron called.
Wynter came around the couch when she heard them come and was making her way to them, "Uca!"
"There she is!" Ron said scooping her up and giving her a big hug, "Happy Birthday."
"Oh, she's so big already," Hermione said giving her a kiss, "Happy Birthday sweetheart."
"What do you say, jelly bean?" Harry asked and Wynter babbled something at them.
"You're welcome," Ron and Hermione both said.
"Hi Marque," Hermione said finally turning her attention to Tom.
"Hello again, Ms. Granger."
"Oh, please. It's Hermione. I brought your book back," she said holding it out to him.
"And?" Tom inquired, taking it.
"It was fascinating. I didn't know there were so many protection charms. Though I don't know if I would use all of them."
"Yes some of them do require some...sacrifices. But you do what you must to protect those you care about."
"I suppose so," Hermione agreed hesitantly.
"Anyway," Harry inputted, "You guys ready to party?"
"Oh yeah," Ron said, "We came bearing gifts."
"Yes, we did," Hermione said and resized a pile of gifts on the dining table that was in her pockets.
"Whoa!" Harry exclaimed, "That's way more than a few birthday gifts from you guys."
"It's a mix of Christmas and birthday gifts from us and others," Hermione explained.
"Others?" Tom asked.
"Yes. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Remus, Fred, and George..."
"Ah..." Harry said in awe as he gazed at them all.
"When we told them Wynter's birthday was today, we were suddenly flooded with gifts," Ron said.
"The festive paper is obviously yours, Wynter, and Marque's for Christmas. And the others with celebratory paper are birthday gifts for Wynter," Hermione explained.
Wynter pointed at the shiny paper and looked at Ron.
"Yeah, some of those are for you," he said to her and she clapped her hands excitedly.
"Okay, well," Harry said looking around, "Christmas presents under the tree and birthday gifts on the coffee table."
"On it," Ron said and passed Wynter to Hermione and started sorting the gifts.
"Is she standing yet?" Hermione asked lifting Wynter in the air and making her giggle, then sat her down on her lap as she made herself comfortable on the couch.
"Not quite," Harry said, "She can get herself up on her knees and try to reach something, but can't get her weight under her yet. I have a feeling it will be soon though."
"I can't wait, because after that..."
"Ugh. I don't want to think about it."
Hermione laughed and turned her attention to Wynter. "Are you chewing your fingers, Wynter?" she asked.
"No!" Wynter said adamantly and went back to sticking her fingers in her mouth.
Hermione looked at Harry in surprise, then back down at her, "That's a very strong no."
"No," Wynter said again softly around her fingers.
"She's feisty," Harry said proudly.
"Like her mother," Tom added.
"Hey! That's not true. Don't agree with them," he scolded Ron and Hermione as they nodded.
"You're only proving my point," Tom said.
"Shut up," Harry grumbled.
"Here," Hermione said handing Wynter a chew toy that had been sitting on the table, "Use this. Your poor fingers." Wynter just took the toy and put it into her mouth. "Does she do that a lot?"
"All the time," Tom replied, "With her teeth growing in she uses whatever she can get her hands on. Mostly it's her fingers."
"Poor thing," Hermione said smoothing Wynter's hair down.
"I'm going to go check on dinner," Harry said getting up to check the oven. "Oh! Should I make you guys something different? I know that this is breakfast for you."
"Oh no, you don't have to do that," Hermione protested.
"I'll just have breakfast for dinner," Ron said with a grin.
"He would too," Hermione said fondly.
"Oh, I know he would," Harry laughed. "Looks like this is done. Wash up, you guys. Wynter time to wash your hands!"
"An!" Wynter exclaimed.
"Have Auntie help you wash your hands."
"Aie. An!" Wynter said showing Hermione her hands.
"Okay, let's go wash your hands," she said and got up to head to the kitchen sink.
Tom went to the restroom to wash his hands and came out to see Hermione placing Wynter into her high chair and Ron and Harry hanging back by the kitchen island having a silent conversation that looked strange without either of them talking.
Harry nudged Ron and looked pointedly at Hermione then back to him. Ron shook his head. Harry sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes and gave him a look. Ron just shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. Harry glanced pointedly at the Christmas tree drawing Ron's attention. Ron smiled slightly and nodded. Harry grinned widely and nudged Ron on the shoulder hard enough to knock him slightly off balance.
"You better," Harry finally said.
"You guys coming?" Hermione asked as she finally got Wynter settled.
"Coming," Harry said, grabbing his casserole with oven mitts.
"Dadee, ssh an," Wynter said, showing Tom her clean hands.
"Are your hands clean, princesse?" Tom asked and Wynter looked at him strangely as she did when she heard his French accent.
"Whose hungry?" Harry announced as he brought the rest of the food to the table.
They all then settled in and ate the food Harry prepared and talked about casual events like work and what they were doing for the holidays. When they were done, Hermione helped Harry with the dishes while Tom and Ron entertained Wynter in front of the TV. But they were having a hard time keeping her away from the gifts sitting there on the table.
"I think we are going to have to open these soon," Ron said as he held onto Wynter as she tried to reach for her gifts.
"Okay, okay," Harry said as he came over and took Wynter from Ron and sat next to Tom while Hermione took her place next to Ron. "Ready to open your gifts?"
"Ye!" Wynter exclaimed.
"Okay," Harry said reaching for one of the gifts, "This one is from...Uncles Fred and George. Here open it." Wynter grabbed at the paper and scratched at it, but wasn't able to open it. So Harry opened one edge of the paper and showed her where to grab it. "Pull, pull!" Harry told her and she pulled it, the paper ripping open as she did so. Wynter looked up at Harry in surprise then tore it open some more. Soon they were surrounded by ripped paper and gifts from various people.
"This is awesome, guys. Thanks," Harry said holding a box with a potty trainer.
"You're welcome. I thought it would come in handy soon when you start potty training her," Hermione said.
"Yeah. We'll get on that as soon as she starts walking."
Harry sighed and looked at all the gifts around them; from toys to new clothes. "She got so much stuff. What am I going to do with all of it?"
"She still has the stuff under the tree," Tom commented.
"Oh god."
"Wynter will never want for nothing that's for sure," Hermione said.
"But I don't think she needs all the fancy toys to keep her happy. She is having a blast with that paper," Ron commented as he watched Wynter tear a piece of wrapping paper and laugh her head off.
"I know," Harry said looking down at her, "She's making such a mess!"
"Good thing we have magic to clean it up."
"So true," Harry agreed, "We'd be finding pieces for weeks." Harry shook his head and kissed the top of Wynter's head. "Who wants cake?"
"Oh! Me!" Ron said excitedly.
"Want some cake, Wynter?"
"Ak?"
"Yes. Some yummy cake," Harry said and picked her up.
They all headed to the dining table where Wynter was placed back in her high chair with her bib on. Harry placed her small cake in from of her with a big "1" candle in the center. When it was lit they all sang her "Happy Birthday." Wynter had no idea what was going on but she danced side to side with the song with a smile and tried to grab the hot candle, but Harry stopped her hands. Even Tom sang along as he filmed the special event with the camera.
"Yay!" They clapped as the song ended and Wynter clapped too.
"Can you blow out your candle?" Harry asked.
Wynter just reached for the cake and got some frosting on her hands. She put the digits into her mouth and immediately went back for more.
"Oh, I think she likes it," Ron said.
"Looks like it," Harry said and blew and took out the candle for her and let her have at it. "Dig in Wynter." And she did just that. Reaching in with both hands and getting a big handful of chocolate cake and stuffing it into her mouth. "Good?"
"Mmmm," Wynter only hummed.
"I think it's good," Harry said with a laugh. "You getting it?" He asked Tom.
"Every second," Tom replied as he recorded his daughter happily eating her birthday cake.
"I have another cake for us," Harry said as he headed to the kitchen.
"Oh good. I don't think she is going to leave anything for us," Ron said.
Harry served the cake and they sat and watched as Wynter devoured the small cake, well...she devoured most of it, the rest got all over her face and somehow in her hair.
"Oh my god, she's making such a mess!" Harry groaned.
"Oh leave her. It's her birthday," Ron said waving it off.
"You're not the one who has to give her a bath."
"No bat!" Wynter said as she squished the cake between her fingers, playing with it now.
"Ugh," Harry groaned again as she smeared it on her face. He looked at Tom, "You want to do it?"
"No," Tom said immediately, eying her.
"I do not envy you," Hermione said. "No, that's yours," she said to Wynter as she held out her chocolate-covered hands to her.
"Wait until you have your own, you will know my pain."
Hermione laughed."Well, sorry to eat and run, but we need to get going," she said picking up her empty plate to put in the sink.
"Already?" Harry asked as he cleaned a squirming Wynter's face.
"Yup," Ron said, "Off to work."
"Okay," Harry said, "Say goodbye to Auntie Hermione and Uncle Ron. They have to go," he told Wynter.
Wynter reached for Hermione and she was careful to avoid the chocolate parts as she gave her a kiss on the clean spots, "Oh, bye sweetheart. Happy Birthday! Mmm, you smell sweet."
"Yeah, she's going to the bath after this," Harry commented.
"No," Wynter said.
"Yes. No arguments. You have cake in your hair."
"Uca!" Wynter said as Ron came to say goodbye, "Bye-bye Wynter. You be good, okay?"
"Oke."
Hermione turned to Harry, "Just tell him," She whispered to him.
"Hermione," Harry sighed tiredly.
"Tell me what?" Tom asked right behind him, having heard them.
"Nothing," Harry said quickly, "Hermione is just being a pest."
"I'm just trying to do right by you."
"Well, this is not it," he said pointedly and Hermione shrugged her shoulders, giving up.
Ron and Hermione said the rest of their goodbyes and soon the house was empty and silent with only Wynter's fussing to be heard. While Tom cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, Harry headed upstairs to give Wynter a much-needed bath.
"There we go. All clean," Harry said as he finished buttoning her pajamas.
"Een," Wynter repeated.
Harry laughed, "Yes, squeaky clean." He sighed as he sat down in the rocking chair by the window and held Wynter against him. "You have a good day today? Yeah?" he asked as she nodded. "I can't believe you're one year old today. It seems just like yesterday that you were born," he whispered to her. "So small and soft. Well, you're still small and soft, just a bit bigger." He chuckled and played with her hands as she held onto his fingers. "So much happened this year, hasn't it. I found out I was pregnant, went into hiding, and then had you. Then your daddy found us and everything changed, didn't it. He became your daddy, we moved here, you started crawling and talking, and soon you'll be walking. Ugh, you're getting too big."
"Ig," Wynter said sleepily.
"Yes, you are a big girl now. But you'll always be my little jelly bean. I love you very, very much, you know that? Yes, I do. I always will. Don't you forget that," Harry said and kissed her on the forehead. Looking down at her, he realized she had fallen asleep. Harry smiled and kissed her again before getting up and placing her in her crib, pulling up the blankets to keep her warm. Turning around, he started when he saw Tom standing in the doorway. "How long have you been there?"
"Not long," Tom said stepping in and looking down at Wynter's sleeping form.
Harry smiled sheepishly, "I was just talking to her and she fell asleep."
"She's had a long day."
"Yeah, she has," Harry sighed and leaned his head against Tom's shoulder. "I wish she could be a day old again. She was so cute and tiny."
"Well, we can't turn back time..." At Harry wide-eyed look, he said. "No, we can't turn back time."
"I know, we can only go forward from here. She'll get so big and go off to school...she won't be my baby girl anymore."
"Okay, let's get you out of here before you start crying on me."
"I'm not crying," Harry said wiping under his eyes and allowing Tom to lead him from the room.
"I hope not, I'm not good with that type of thing."
"No. You are not."
"Now. Is there anything you want to tell me?"
"No, why?"
"Hermione seems to think you have something to tell me."
Harry rolled his eyes, "There's nothing to tell you."
"You sure?"
"Yes. I'm sure. Hermione's just trying to meddle."
"Okay," Tom said following him to the stairs. "...You're not pregnant are you?"
Harry stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to him in surprise, "What? No! No, I'm not pregnant."
"Okay. Just making sure."
"What made you think I was pregnant?" He asked heading down the staircase.
"It's just the first thing that came to mind."
Harry just laughed, "Believe me, if I was, I would tell you."
"You didn't last time," Tom commented.
"Well, things were different last time. You were trying to kill me remember?"
"I remember."
"Besides, it would be kind of hard to hide," Harry said gesturing to his stomach. Tom just hummed in agreement."Is it just me or do you seem disappointed."
"With what?"
"With me not being pregnant," Harry said sitting next to Tom on the couch.
Tom was silent for a moment. "I would not be against it if you were."
"I don't think I could handle another one. Wynter's a handful as it is...not that I would be...against it...either."
They both said nothing and sat in uneasy silence. They were not sure why they were having this discussion in the first place. It just wasn't something that they thought of, but now that it was there, they weren't sure what to do with it.
"I-I mean. Another child needs to be, you know, planned and the parents have to be..." Harry trailed off as he tried to grasp the words. "I mean, Wynter was an accident and she wasn't... it just, just happened," he said trying to fill the silence.
"True," Tom responded.
"B-Besides," Harry said uncomfortably, "If the Order found out I was pregnant again. And it had the same father as Wynter. That would be a big problem."
"Don't need that happening."
"No, we do not." Harry agreed and broke off into the uneasy silence. "How about a movie?" he suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Tom agreed quickly.
Harry put in a comedy DVD to try to lighten the air as they sat on opposite ends of the couch, deep in thought.
It just wasn't possible. It wasn't right to bring in another child into the world just because. To Harry, there had to be love between both parents for them to be able to bring a child into the world because they wanted it. That's not to say that they didn't want Wynter, of course, they did. But she was the reason things changed; before Tom and Harry had been at each other's throats trying to kill each other. There was no love. Well...there was on Harry's part, but it had to work both ways and that never was going to happen.
For Tom...things were just too complicated. Yes, there had been a brief moment of excitement when he had thought Harry was pregnant. He wasn't going to lie. But it was unreasonable. They shouldn't have another one simply because they could. Did he even really want another one? He had forced thoughts of a family aside a long time ago. And this thing with Harry was a fluke, good one, but a fluke nevertheless. But the thing that was still bugging him was that Harry was still hiding something from him. He might not be pregnant, but there was still something, something that Hermione knew. He didn't like secrets and he wanted to know what it was, but he knew Harry wouldn't say anything if he didn't want to unless he forced him, and that would not bode well for either of them. It may just set them back where they started.
They both sighed at the same time and then looked at each other and gave each other a slight smile. Then focused on the movie deciding to just leave it alone. For now.