Categories > Books > Harry Potter > A Reason to Live
Baby's Day Out
5 reviewsTen years after the second war ended, harry finds his reason to go on.
5Moving
AN: for all of you who have been begging me to name the little girl i've decided to be nice and give you her name a chapter earlier than i had planed.
and just for Nautilus, i added the 'Mommy scene' you requested also. thank you for the good idea,
and lasly, i haven't been to Lenix Square in over 8 years, so if the chick-fil-a is gone now, i'm sorry... and i don't care they still ate there.
***
Baby's Day Out
Harry woke up a little over four hours later with a baby sitting happily on his back cooing and giggling as she played with his hair. He groaned and shifted so he could see the clock, 12:51. He looked back over his shoulder as the child began to bounce and saw Hedwig flying into the room. He managed to extricate himself out from under the girl and dressed for the day. He looked at her clothes and decided to just leave her in the still-too-big-even-though-he-had-shrunk-it t-shirt, and her diaper.
He decided to write out a list of things he needed and things he needed to know before calling Tom. To that end he grabbed a pad of paper and a pen and took the little girl to the living room. He sat her on the floor in front of the TV and found a show about lions in Africa that he deemed interesting enough to hold her attention for awhile.
Setting down at the table he began his list.
Things she needs:
clothes, toys, food, car seat, stroller, diapers, diaper bag, potty training stuff, bath stuff,
As he listed things he realised he live in a one bedroom apartment. She could sleep with him for a while, but would soon need her own room. That meant he needed a new place. He rubbed his eyes. He would have to get in touch with Silvertin. He turned to the next page of paper and summoned his seal and wax. As the letter kit hit his hand he realized that he had done more magic in the past day than in the whole of the past ten years. Shaking his head he began his letter to Silvertin.
Account Manager Silvertin
Gringotts Bank
Diagon Alley, London
Silvertin,
Recent events have made it necessary for me to have access to a large sum of money posthaste. I need to purchase and furnish a home in the next month. If you could make arrangements with all due speed I would be most grateful.
May your vaults always be full,
Harry Potter.
Sealing the letter, he called Hedwig to him. "Take this to Silvertin at Gringotts in London, girl." Hedwig hooted and flew out the open window.
He checked on the girl, who was busy walking around the coffee table and knocking everything off of it and into the floor. Apparently the lion show wasn't as interesting as he'd hoped. He turned his attention back to the list.
What I need to know:
When will she potty train?
When will she speak?
What is her name?
What does she eat?
His attention was pulled away at the sound of glass breaking and the little girl crying. She had knocked a picture frame off of his entertainment center and had cut her hand. He rushed to her fixing the glass in the picture frame as he when and picked her up. He quickly healed her arm and hand as he soothed her trying to get her to stop crying. Briefly he wondered how muggles managed when they couldn't just heal the bumps and scratches.
He managed to get her to stop crying, but she refused to be put down. Walking to the table he added how do I child-proof my house to his list, shoved it in his pocket, and went to call Tom.
It took him a moment to figure out how to hold a child and the phone at the same time, but he figured it out.
"Hello?" a girl's voice answered.
"Hey, this is Harry, I work with your dad. Can I talk to him?" Harry answered as he shifted and sat with the girl on this lap.
"Sure, hold on." There was a brief pause, then he heard "DAD, SOME GUY'S ON THE PHONE FOR YOU" yelled on the other end.
"Hello" Tom said as he picked up the phone.
"Hey Tom, it's Harry. What are you and the girls doing this afternoon? I need a really big favor."
***
Harry didn't explain much to Tom over the phone, just that he wanted to take him and the girls shopping and he'd explain when he picked them up. So Tom got his girls ready to go and they waited for Harry to get there. Whatever Tom had expected it was not for Harry to show up at his door with a baby asking if he still had a car seat he could barrow for the day.
Tom moved out of the way and Harry walked in. As soon as Shannon as Harry with a baby she rushed to him and said, "Can I hold her?"
"If she'll go to you, sure. She's been adamant about not letting go of me though so..." he trailed off as Shannon held her arms out and the little girl gladly went to her. "Well alright then. Why don't you keep her entertained while I talk to your dad?"
Shannon and Tanya cooed over the little girl as if she were a new toy while Harry and Tom sat on the couch on the other side of the room.
"Harry." Tom began, "since when do you have a kid?"
"Since last night." Harry answered. "Look there's a lot I can't tell you, some because I don't know and others because it's not safe to. This is what I can tell you, she was abandoned in an ally near my apartment. I found her last night and this is the first time she's let me go since I picked her up. A guy from Social Services can to pick her up and she would have none of it. I agreed to keep her for a time. I'm gonna tell he tomorrow when I meet him again that I'll adopt her. But Tom, I have no clue what I need to get her I don't even know what to feed her. They gave me a jar of some goopy stuff at the hospital the she picked at. That was about 7 hour ago so I know she's hungry. I was hoping you and the girls could..." Harry was interrupted by an ear piercing scream.
"MAMA...mama." He jumped up and ran to the little girl scooping her up and gently rubbing her head where she had hit it to heal the ache. The little girl continued to wail and beg for her mother as Harry rocked her back and forth humming softly. When she quited he looked down to she that she was asleep.
"You won't have any problems, Harry. You're a natural." Tom told him after watching the display.
***
After Tom had dug through the attic and found an old car seat, they loaded us and headed to the mall. Before they had even gotten out of the subdivision they had to pull over so Harry and Shannon could switch seats, putting Harry in the back to attempt to quite the distraught child that had woken up when the car started to move.
After arriving at Lenox Square they headed first to the eatery. Harry opted for Chick-fil-A nuggets that could be broken into small pieces for his new charge and a sandwich for himself.
After they had all gotten settled Tanya asked Harry. "You never told us her name, Mr. Evans, what is it?"
Harry himed and haughed for a moment before confessing, "I don't know."
Shannon look puzzled. "How can you not know?"
Harry explained the same story that he had told Tom, finishing, "She's not old enough to tell me her name." He got a sad faraway look in his eyes before he said, "I had thought about calling her Evie."
"Evie? Why Evie." Questioned Tanya.
"It's short for Guinevere. A dear friend of mine was named Ginevra, which is also a form of Guinevere. I was kind of thinking of naming Evie after her." Harry explained.
Tom gave Harry a piercing look. "She's the one you told us about, isn't she? The one who died; the reason you moved to the states in the first place."
Harry just nodded. The rest of the meal was quite. Finishing up, Shannon offered to take care of Harry's trash while he saw to Evie.
***
The day passed in a flurry of bags and boxes. Harry just amused Evie and talked to Tom, while Tom's two girls ravaged through shop after shop picking out everything from a bathing suit with built in floaties to elaborate electronic toys designed to stimulate brain activity in infants. Harry just quietly paid for everything they picked out; his only objections was the red, white and blue Polly Flanders hoop dress Shannon claimed would be perfect for the fourth.
Tom watched his girls flit about busting Harry's bank account with mild concern. He knew what bartenders made. It was enough to meet bills and maybe have a little fun on, but the kind of money Harry was shoveling out sure wasn't in the budget.
When they left the fifth store he decided it was time to speak up. "That's enough girls. I'm sure you've put enough of a dent in Mr. Evans' wallet as it is."
"Thier fine Tom." Harry waved him off. "I still need my own car seat and a stroller, at least. The rest I can get after the move."
"Yeah!" both girls yelled in unison as they headed to the nearest baby supply store.
Tom watched his girls go pick out the items Harry had requested. He stopped Harry just inside the shop. "Harry. The Move?"
"Well I can't stay in a one bedroom apartment with a little girl, now can I? She's going to need her own room. I figured I'd buy a house since I have to move anyway." Harry answered his friend, shifting the now sleeping said little girl from one side to the other.
"Harry, I don't want to be rude buddy, but I know what we make at Buck's and it ain't enough to cover this shopping spree, much less a new house. Where's this money comin' from? You're not sellin' on the side are you?" Tom was a little worried for his friend. Buck had never allowed drugs or dealers in his bar and Jim was no different.
Harry sighed. "No Tom, I'm no dealer you know that. I guess it's a fair question though since I've never shared much of my past with any of you."
Tom nodded, glad that the money was coming from a painful past that Harry just hadn't told them about, instead of from his friend peddling drugs.
Harry sighed again. He couldn't really tell him where the money was coming from since it was all coming from the magical world, but he figured some muggle equivalency would work just as well. Shifting Evie again, he began.
"I had my reasons for leaving Tom, and yes, Ginny's death was a big part of it. Please don't make me go into to much detail. Suffice it to say that I come from money, titled lord of the realm and all that. When I left England I put all my assets in trust. I worked here because I wanted nothing here to remind me of my past, and that was plenty for just me. But, now I need that money again; or rather, she needs that money. I contacted my financier last night. Those funds will be available to me tomorrow. Yes I'm buying on credit today, but it's not going to put me out."
Tom was quite for a moment. "You're a Lord?"
Harry chuckled, "Something like that."
"Wow! So are you gonna stay at Buck's now?"
Harry shrugged. "I really don't know Tom. I'd like to, but we'll have to see. I'll have to cut back on my hours at least."
About that time Tanya yelled for them to come to the checkout lane. Harry headed that way digging out his wallet, and Tom waited at the door with Harry's bags.
***
When Harry and Evie got home, Harry made himself a sandwich and pulled little pieces of ham and bread off for Evie. He magically directed all the things they had bought to their places. Evie giggled as she watched the things fly around the room. Harry felt a moment's regret that he would have to stifle his magic again. Now that he had started using it again, he had remembered how much he loved it. But, his whole world was muggle now, all his friends and now Evie. He couldn't risk her saying the wrong thing to the wrong person and exposing him.
He had managed to hide from the magical world this long only because he hadn't been using magic. The ministries had no way to track him since he no longer used a wand, but to rely too much on magic was to risk exposure.
His tasks completed, Harry pulled a new nightgown over Evie's head and then spelling them both clean, they went to bed.
and just for Nautilus, i added the 'Mommy scene' you requested also. thank you for the good idea,
and lasly, i haven't been to Lenix Square in over 8 years, so if the chick-fil-a is gone now, i'm sorry... and i don't care they still ate there.
***
Baby's Day Out
Harry woke up a little over four hours later with a baby sitting happily on his back cooing and giggling as she played with his hair. He groaned and shifted so he could see the clock, 12:51. He looked back over his shoulder as the child began to bounce and saw Hedwig flying into the room. He managed to extricate himself out from under the girl and dressed for the day. He looked at her clothes and decided to just leave her in the still-too-big-even-though-he-had-shrunk-it t-shirt, and her diaper.
He decided to write out a list of things he needed and things he needed to know before calling Tom. To that end he grabbed a pad of paper and a pen and took the little girl to the living room. He sat her on the floor in front of the TV and found a show about lions in Africa that he deemed interesting enough to hold her attention for awhile.
Setting down at the table he began his list.
Things she needs:
clothes, toys, food, car seat, stroller, diapers, diaper bag, potty training stuff, bath stuff,
As he listed things he realised he live in a one bedroom apartment. She could sleep with him for a while, but would soon need her own room. That meant he needed a new place. He rubbed his eyes. He would have to get in touch with Silvertin. He turned to the next page of paper and summoned his seal and wax. As the letter kit hit his hand he realized that he had done more magic in the past day than in the whole of the past ten years. Shaking his head he began his letter to Silvertin.
Account Manager Silvertin
Gringotts Bank
Diagon Alley, London
Silvertin,
Recent events have made it necessary for me to have access to a large sum of money posthaste. I need to purchase and furnish a home in the next month. If you could make arrangements with all due speed I would be most grateful.
May your vaults always be full,
Harry Potter.
Sealing the letter, he called Hedwig to him. "Take this to Silvertin at Gringotts in London, girl." Hedwig hooted and flew out the open window.
He checked on the girl, who was busy walking around the coffee table and knocking everything off of it and into the floor. Apparently the lion show wasn't as interesting as he'd hoped. He turned his attention back to the list.
What I need to know:
When will she potty train?
When will she speak?
What is her name?
What does she eat?
His attention was pulled away at the sound of glass breaking and the little girl crying. She had knocked a picture frame off of his entertainment center and had cut her hand. He rushed to her fixing the glass in the picture frame as he when and picked her up. He quickly healed her arm and hand as he soothed her trying to get her to stop crying. Briefly he wondered how muggles managed when they couldn't just heal the bumps and scratches.
He managed to get her to stop crying, but she refused to be put down. Walking to the table he added how do I child-proof my house to his list, shoved it in his pocket, and went to call Tom.
It took him a moment to figure out how to hold a child and the phone at the same time, but he figured it out.
"Hello?" a girl's voice answered.
"Hey, this is Harry, I work with your dad. Can I talk to him?" Harry answered as he shifted and sat with the girl on this lap.
"Sure, hold on." There was a brief pause, then he heard "DAD, SOME GUY'S ON THE PHONE FOR YOU" yelled on the other end.
"Hello" Tom said as he picked up the phone.
"Hey Tom, it's Harry. What are you and the girls doing this afternoon? I need a really big favor."
***
Harry didn't explain much to Tom over the phone, just that he wanted to take him and the girls shopping and he'd explain when he picked them up. So Tom got his girls ready to go and they waited for Harry to get there. Whatever Tom had expected it was not for Harry to show up at his door with a baby asking if he still had a car seat he could barrow for the day.
Tom moved out of the way and Harry walked in. As soon as Shannon as Harry with a baby she rushed to him and said, "Can I hold her?"
"If she'll go to you, sure. She's been adamant about not letting go of me though so..." he trailed off as Shannon held her arms out and the little girl gladly went to her. "Well alright then. Why don't you keep her entertained while I talk to your dad?"
Shannon and Tanya cooed over the little girl as if she were a new toy while Harry and Tom sat on the couch on the other side of the room.
"Harry." Tom began, "since when do you have a kid?"
"Since last night." Harry answered. "Look there's a lot I can't tell you, some because I don't know and others because it's not safe to. This is what I can tell you, she was abandoned in an ally near my apartment. I found her last night and this is the first time she's let me go since I picked her up. A guy from Social Services can to pick her up and she would have none of it. I agreed to keep her for a time. I'm gonna tell he tomorrow when I meet him again that I'll adopt her. But Tom, I have no clue what I need to get her I don't even know what to feed her. They gave me a jar of some goopy stuff at the hospital the she picked at. That was about 7 hour ago so I know she's hungry. I was hoping you and the girls could..." Harry was interrupted by an ear piercing scream.
"MAMA...mama." He jumped up and ran to the little girl scooping her up and gently rubbing her head where she had hit it to heal the ache. The little girl continued to wail and beg for her mother as Harry rocked her back and forth humming softly. When she quited he looked down to she that she was asleep.
"You won't have any problems, Harry. You're a natural." Tom told him after watching the display.
***
After Tom had dug through the attic and found an old car seat, they loaded us and headed to the mall. Before they had even gotten out of the subdivision they had to pull over so Harry and Shannon could switch seats, putting Harry in the back to attempt to quite the distraught child that had woken up when the car started to move.
After arriving at Lenox Square they headed first to the eatery. Harry opted for Chick-fil-A nuggets that could be broken into small pieces for his new charge and a sandwich for himself.
After they had all gotten settled Tanya asked Harry. "You never told us her name, Mr. Evans, what is it?"
Harry himed and haughed for a moment before confessing, "I don't know."
Shannon look puzzled. "How can you not know?"
Harry explained the same story that he had told Tom, finishing, "She's not old enough to tell me her name." He got a sad faraway look in his eyes before he said, "I had thought about calling her Evie."
"Evie? Why Evie." Questioned Tanya.
"It's short for Guinevere. A dear friend of mine was named Ginevra, which is also a form of Guinevere. I was kind of thinking of naming Evie after her." Harry explained.
Tom gave Harry a piercing look. "She's the one you told us about, isn't she? The one who died; the reason you moved to the states in the first place."
Harry just nodded. The rest of the meal was quite. Finishing up, Shannon offered to take care of Harry's trash while he saw to Evie.
***
The day passed in a flurry of bags and boxes. Harry just amused Evie and talked to Tom, while Tom's two girls ravaged through shop after shop picking out everything from a bathing suit with built in floaties to elaborate electronic toys designed to stimulate brain activity in infants. Harry just quietly paid for everything they picked out; his only objections was the red, white and blue Polly Flanders hoop dress Shannon claimed would be perfect for the fourth.
Tom watched his girls flit about busting Harry's bank account with mild concern. He knew what bartenders made. It was enough to meet bills and maybe have a little fun on, but the kind of money Harry was shoveling out sure wasn't in the budget.
When they left the fifth store he decided it was time to speak up. "That's enough girls. I'm sure you've put enough of a dent in Mr. Evans' wallet as it is."
"Thier fine Tom." Harry waved him off. "I still need my own car seat and a stroller, at least. The rest I can get after the move."
"Yeah!" both girls yelled in unison as they headed to the nearest baby supply store.
Tom watched his girls go pick out the items Harry had requested. He stopped Harry just inside the shop. "Harry. The Move?"
"Well I can't stay in a one bedroom apartment with a little girl, now can I? She's going to need her own room. I figured I'd buy a house since I have to move anyway." Harry answered his friend, shifting the now sleeping said little girl from one side to the other.
"Harry, I don't want to be rude buddy, but I know what we make at Buck's and it ain't enough to cover this shopping spree, much less a new house. Where's this money comin' from? You're not sellin' on the side are you?" Tom was a little worried for his friend. Buck had never allowed drugs or dealers in his bar and Jim was no different.
Harry sighed. "No Tom, I'm no dealer you know that. I guess it's a fair question though since I've never shared much of my past with any of you."
Tom nodded, glad that the money was coming from a painful past that Harry just hadn't told them about, instead of from his friend peddling drugs.
Harry sighed again. He couldn't really tell him where the money was coming from since it was all coming from the magical world, but he figured some muggle equivalency would work just as well. Shifting Evie again, he began.
"I had my reasons for leaving Tom, and yes, Ginny's death was a big part of it. Please don't make me go into to much detail. Suffice it to say that I come from money, titled lord of the realm and all that. When I left England I put all my assets in trust. I worked here because I wanted nothing here to remind me of my past, and that was plenty for just me. But, now I need that money again; or rather, she needs that money. I contacted my financier last night. Those funds will be available to me tomorrow. Yes I'm buying on credit today, but it's not going to put me out."
Tom was quite for a moment. "You're a Lord?"
Harry chuckled, "Something like that."
"Wow! So are you gonna stay at Buck's now?"
Harry shrugged. "I really don't know Tom. I'd like to, but we'll have to see. I'll have to cut back on my hours at least."
About that time Tanya yelled for them to come to the checkout lane. Harry headed that way digging out his wallet, and Tom waited at the door with Harry's bags.
***
When Harry and Evie got home, Harry made himself a sandwich and pulled little pieces of ham and bread off for Evie. He magically directed all the things they had bought to their places. Evie giggled as she watched the things fly around the room. Harry felt a moment's regret that he would have to stifle his magic again. Now that he had started using it again, he had remembered how much he loved it. But, his whole world was muggle now, all his friends and now Evie. He couldn't risk her saying the wrong thing to the wrong person and exposing him.
He had managed to hide from the magical world this long only because he hadn't been using magic. The ministries had no way to track him since he no longer used a wand, but to rely too much on magic was to risk exposure.
His tasks completed, Harry pulled a new nightgown over Evie's head and then spelling them both clean, they went to bed.
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