Whispers of a Raven by TheBlack'sResurgence

Chapter 23

"I think your daughter is calling for you," Narcissa mumbled sleepily.

Harry chuckled before kissing her on the cheek and sliding out of bed, the sound of the crying baby easily heard from the adjoining room. For one so small, she had quite the pair of lungs on her.

"It's okay, Dobby, I'll go to her," he assured the elf as he passed him on the landing.

Dobby nodded and returned to wherever he slept leaving Harry to perform his nightly duties. For as doting as his wife and elf were with little Helena, he seldom got time alone with the girl, but the early hours of the morning when she woke to be fed was his opportunity, and despite how tired he was, he wouldn't miss it.

"Alright, little one, Daddy's here," here he yawned as he carefully scooped her out of her basket.

At three months old, her resemblance to Narcissa was undeniable, though the emerald eyes she possessed were his, and as he met them, the baby smiled, reminding him of just why he dragged himself from the warmth of his bed to see her.

Some may call him biased, but she was adorable, a stubborn girl already when she did not want to be dressed or fed, but Harry would have her no other way. She was perfect and he had fallen in love all over again during the past weeks.

"Shall we get you fed?" he asked as he carried her towards where her bottles were kept under preservation charms, "and changed," he added, wrinkling his nose.

The girl merely stared at him, her eyes wide as though he was the most fascinating thing in the world. Harry often found himself wondering just what went through her mind when she looked at him but then she would smile again, and he found it no longer mattered.

His daughter was happy, and he couldn't ask for anything more.

Dealing with the soiled nappy the way Narcissa had taught him, he took care to dry and powder the girl who somehow looked rather proud of herself.

"Yeah, you find it amusing now," he muttered as he picked her up from the changing table, "but one day, daddy might need you to do the same for him when he's an old man and can't look after himself."

The girl's expression remained as it was, and the man shook his head amusedly.

"Ah, you won't look so smug when you're old enough to understand," he sighed as he took a seat in the nursing chair Narcissa had procured and placed the teat of the bottle between the little girl's lips who began suckling hungrily.

"You'll make yourself sick again," Harry warned, though his words fell on deaf ears.

The baby was feeding, and she no longer paid attention to him, but he hummed a lullaby of sorts to her as he pondered just how odd it was how life could change seemingly overnight.

Helena, though she arrived early, had been expected and something he and Narcissa had planned for. They had made the necessary adjustments and she nestled in nicely with the life they had cultivated for themselves.

The postponement of the Quidditch season, however, was not something that had been anticipated.

Harry had wondered what had happened to the rogue Dementors since the Hogsmeade attack. Without news of further incidents, he had assumed the Ministry had managed to place them back under their control, for what that was worth. It turns out they had simply been roaming the British Isles and had been drawn to the match between the Magpies and Tornados, the atmosphere proving too much for the creatures to ignore.