Without You.

Chapter18: We'll find him

Holding a bowl of coffee in his hands, Harry smiled as he heard his son cooing while eating his breakfast. The sun was already shining in the sky but they had just got up. Severus and Draco had left early this morning, the first to join Hogwarts on this coming back day, the second to go to St. Mungo's to continue his internship. The two remaining Malfoy-Snape-Potters at the Manor had not deigned to get out of their cozy bed before ten o'clock. Then, by mutual agreement, Yolan and his father went down to the kitchen for breakfast.

Now they were eating quietly. Finally, quietly was a big word since Yolan put everywhere. But that pleased Harry. He loved to see him smile, laugh or babble about everything and anything. It made him feel good to see his son shine with joy. All the small cracks caused by her traumatic childhood closed slowly thanks to her luminous presence and the love of her lovers.

- When am I going to school? the boy hummed as he sucked his fingers full of spread.

Waited before the spectacle of his son fighting against his slice of bread, he smiled, his head bent a little to one side. What he could love. With all his heart. His angel was his ray of sunshine, the one that prevented him from sinking into loneliness and sadness. Because even if five years had passed since his rapes, his blows and Ash, he still woke up with a start. The nightmares had never really left him. They had become less numerous, less present, but they remained. Still and always. Since then, Harry had learned to deal with it. And now he was less affected. He thought of it less often, as he avoided thinking of the vengeance that Lucius would not fail to exercise.

Clearing his throat, he took the time to take a sip of coffee to recover and replied:

"Next week when it's back," he said quietly, glad his voice was not shaking.

- And today ? Are we going on Diagon Alley, as you promised to me? Take an ice cream?

- They say, "you promised me" not "you promised me".

Harry put down his bowl, crossed his hands on the edge of the table. In silence, he observed his little boy who always put his fingers in his mouth to clean them. Should he say something? To prevent him from sucking so his dirty fingers? If he had dared to do that at the Dursley's, Vernon would have hit him, imagining he had the right to access the spread.

But he was no longer at home, he was a responsible adult now, with a dependent child. And here he was safe, far from the people who had destroyed him in his childhood and with his family that he loved with all his heart. However, this kind of thinking was commonplace. He often wondered about how to raise his child. Did he do it correctly? Or was there too much to pass? Surely. But was it bad? Surely not.

- Exactly, my angel. We're going to go today, Harry promised again, leaning a little forward.

After licking the tip of his thumb, he rubbed the little cheek covered with Nutella®. He smiled softly. This carnage became usual when they released the spread. It was as if Yolan was taking pleasure in putting it everywhere. But it was touching. Especially when the glittering eyes rose to him with all the innocence that a child possessed.

Shots at the window made him jump and he hurried to turn to her. An infinite relief took him when he noticed the flying owl patting the glass of his beak. Harry stood up, opened the door and reached for the animal to come and rest. Not wasting time, he grabbed the letter the owl gave him and let it fly to the table where he stole a piece of toast.

The father looked for a moment at his son reaching out to stroke the animal's black feathers. He made sure that he was not going too hard, that he was not too rough or that the bird was not pinching him by allowing himself to be done before opening the letter.