Thanks for reading and commenting, you guys! Sorry it's taken so long. Been a little busy xD

Sorry the chapters seem rushed and stuff. I get in the habit of writing at the last minute.



Chapter Six :: The Request

What Hugo found was very old indeed. It looked about fifty years old, and well used. But the small red-headed boy was slightly more clued up than most children; he knew for sure that this was the map that his uncle and parents used to use when they were breaking the rules at Hogwarts. His mother hadn’t been a big fan of it, but Hugo didn’t care; he was just in awe of the fabled artefact. Finding it was like stumbling on long lost treasure.

Getting carried away, Hugo unfolded the thick parchment immediately and cleared his throat, about to say the magic words to open it when-

“Oh,” the boy deflated a little; he’d need a wand to look at the map. This bit of realisation made the boy more melancholy than he’d been all day, and he slumped back in the big chair, a tiny pout on his face. As he sank back into the cool and squishy chair cushion, the doorknob rattled. It wasn’t like in the movies, when the main character has oodles of time to cover their tracks and hide, no way. The door just swung open, and Harry stood in the doorway.

For a moment, both males stood still, slight shock written across both of their features. Hugo was terrified he’d angered his uncle, terrified he’d have to go home.

“I-” he started, but as soon as Harry smiled, he visibly relaxed.

“I’d wondered if one of them decided to nab it,” Harry began, strolling over, letting the door swing shut as he waved his wand, causing the lamps to switch on. Hugo, meanwhile, looked at the parchment, then back at his uncle… then back at the parchment again.

“Can we…?” he asked quietly, looking back at his uncle again, the hopeful expression visible all over his features. Harry only ruffled the boy’s hair in response, before lifting Hugo up with ease, sitting down on his chair, and placing the boy on one knee.

Looking at his nephew, Harry gave him a wink. “Of course we can… how else are we gonna find out what houses they’re in?” he asked, and Hugo was kind of stumped for a moment, until he realised that Harry wanted to check on their first year relatives.

Harry, meanwhile, was studying the man, having already ‘unlocked’ it, his stomach up in his throat. Truth be told, he was increasingly worried about Al; the boy still didn’t seem all that convinced about whether Slytherin was such a good house.

“Ah-ha!” he announced, pointing at a tiny speck on the map. Hugo had to lean reeeeeeally close to see it, but there was, indeed, sitting at the Gryffindor house table, a speck labelled ‘Albus Potter’.

Hugo was quite content to now look at the rest of the school, but Harry had other ideas and continued studying the map. Hugo thought he might be checking up on everyone else in the family, but then there was a triumphant noise from the older man again, and he pointed to a speck, this time at the Ravenclaw table. “There’s Rose.” And there she was indeed, seated beside Victoire Weasley.

Hugo was secretly ecstatic that his sister didn’t get into Gryffindor, and Harry must have seen the smile and misinterpreted it because he then said, “Told you they’d be fine.”

Or maybe he was speaking to himself; Hugo didn’t consider that.

“Now… why exactly were you in my office?”

… Ahh.

“Ahh…” Hugo began, looking uncertain. He stayed quiet for a moment, as if hoping the question would go away, but it didn’t… and in any case, it was a good way to start this conversation. “I was… looking for you.”

Looking up at Harry, Hugo was slightly puzzled to see the man moving his hand in a circular motion, like it was following it wheel, it said ‘yes, annnnnnd…?’ but Hugo didn’t know… Still, he went on anyway.

“I wanted to ask… about…” WHY was this so hard to say?! Hugo cursed himself internally and frowned, taking a deep breath beforrrrre… “Iwanttocomeandlivewithyou.”

Harry’s hand stopped in midair.

“What?”

Hugo just bit his lip, looking down at his feet. “Can I go to bed now?”

Without thinking, Harry kissed the top of Hugo’s head and hugged him close, before standing and carrying his nephew into his youngest son’s room. The boy was already dressed for bed, and Harry wordlessly lay the boy down and tucked him in with a little smile, and an odd look on his face. He bade the boy goodnight before leaving the room. Standing just outside the door, making plans to go and phone his best friend, Harry heard the unmistakeable sounds of Hugo sobbing.

…

Late that night, Harry sat, his wife across from him, best friends either side of him. They were all discussing Hugo… his best interests, his needs… and how best to resolve the situation they were in. Hugo hated home… he wanted to be here…

Strangely, Ron was taking it rather well. He had, at first, be jealous of the adoration Hugo showed Harry, but these days he had come to accept that Hugo needed special handling.

“Okay,” the red-head said slowly, reaching across the table to take Hermione’s hand, Hermione who looked as though she might burst into tears at any moment. “We weren’t expecting to have him go away for school for another couple of years… but this is the best way. Come on, Hermione. If he stayed with us he’d be at the baby-sitter’s all the time without his sister’s company. At least this way, neither Hugo nor Lily will be lonely. We work too much to be with him all the time…”

As he trailed off, Ron’s heart gave a guilty twinge. He wished he could have gone back and done this all again.

Slowly, very slowly, Hermione nodded.

“On the condition that… when Rose is home, so is Hugo. And at this school… I want him to talk to someone. We need to stop this… this obsession he has, before it gets serious,” she sighed, using her free hand to massage her temples. “Our boy… he has issues. I want to make everything better before he gets older and hormones decide to…”

Hermione stopped. She wanted to explain how Hugo always seemed so miserable, so much so that she’d worried how far that would go when he got older. This solution, though not the most desirable, was the best they could think of.

When all the official stuff was dealt with, the four friends spent until 1am discussing things like work and neighbours and the kids and all kinds of stuff, before the older two decided to leave. Both Ron and Hermione went up to give their sleeping son a small kiss, before bidding their older relatives goodbye and leaving.

…

The next morning dawned bright and early. Too early for one particular little girl.

Lily Potter was now miserable and headachey. She had to go back to school today, and her cousin got to stay here. It looked like there would be no way of staying home after her mother came in to tell the small girl to get ready, seeing through the ‘But I don’t feel goooood’ complaints almost straight away.

Because Harry had already left for work, Ginny had the job of waking up a grouchy and tousle-haired Hugo, coaxing him into getting dressed so they could walk Lily to school.

“I’m tiiiiiiiiired,” the boy whined as he fumbled with a shirt Ginny had laid out for him; presumably his stuff had arrived. “It’s too eeeeaaarrrrlyyyyy.”

Ginny only giggled slightly and left to take care of her daughter; making sure she ate breakfast and had her uniform on, which only left Hugo to go back to bed.

Five minutes before they were due to leave, Ginny was tugging her nephew out of bed, bribing him into getting dressed. It seemed nothing would work until…

“The sooner we leave, the sooner we can get back for me to give you the good news.”

That got Hugo up straight away. He was dressed and downstairs in a flash, tugging on his cousin’s arm to get her moving. With one more smile, Ginny led the way out of the house, ushering the children with her.

Hugo was excited. What kind of good news would this be?