Little Harry

Father figure

The next day Harry was practically bouncing with excitement, whether he was in his big headspace or little headspace, he couldn't tell because either way he was overjoyed by the fact he would be going shopping, for some clothes of his very own!

Yes, he had been with Hagrid to buy his school supplies, but this time, someone who he had actually spent time with offered to do something with him that he had only ever watched Dudley receive before, he could hardly believe someone wanted to do something... for him?!

So, that morning, he hopped out of bed just as the sun was beginning to rise. Having been awake for a while. He quickly changed in the bathroom, wearing his best (yet still scruffy and oversized) pair of jeans - with rips in them (not that they were brought like that) and green t-shirt.

He ran through the hall to the main room and settled himself on the sofa, in the centre of the room, opposite the fire, which was hissing and crackling still from the previous night. 

As he sat there, swinging his legs off the end of the couch, several of the care givers started to make their way to the main room, soon Autumn came out and spotted Harry waiting patiently for her. 

"Autumn!" Harry squealed. "I've been waiting all morning for you!" He exclaimed, jumping off the sofa, running and jumping into her arms. 

"Hello little one, how long have you been awake for then, hmm?" She asked, swinging him up onto her hip. 

"Well, when I woke up it was still dark, but then when it was light I got ready and came out here!" He chirped, practically buzzing with energy.

"Are you excited for today to go to Diagon Alley with Professor Snape?" 

"Yes, yes, yes! I could hardly sleep." He spoke, fidgeting in his chair as she sat him down and got him some breakfast. "Autumnnnn, I'm too excited to eat, when is Snape going to be here?" 

"Professor Snape, Harry. And I'm sure he will be here soon, it's 6:50 now and he said he will be here by 7:30." She said sitting down next to him. "And don't be silly, you need to eat something, you have a big day today, you'll need lots of energy so you don't get too tired."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About half an hour later, Autumn was crouched down in the corner of the little's main room beside a grouchy little boy who was refusing to eat anything still. 

"Harry, come on now, just eat a couple of the apple slices, Professor Snape will want you to eat something before you go, and he will be here in a minute. I would hate to tell him that you have been grumpy all morning." Harry only huffed in response and took the slice of apple she was holding out to him, nibbling on it slowly in annoyance. 

He still didn't understand why these people were all being so nice to him, he was offered food and snacks throughout the day and was able to read books and play with Lego's and many other toys (that weren't broken!) They seemed to actually care for him, but he didn't understand why. The only thing he was sure about was that they would use it against him if he took too much, played too much, or asked for too much. 

For those reasons Harry kept to himself a lot, spent many afternoons napping in the cosy corner and ate little amounts of food, he had coloured a few pictures and played with some of the toys that everyone else used when he was in his little headspace, but he never overstepped. He had grown up learning how to keep himself busy, tracing over the lines and shapes on the blankets or the walls with his finger, fogging up the window and drawing smiley faces and pictures, playing noughts and crosses with scraps of paper and a pencil and sleeping when he could.