Harry Potter Fanfiction - Oneshots

Harry's Doom and Toefunkys

Harry, haphazardly dressed, runs down the stairs, taking two at a time while simultaneously trying to button up his shirt with fumbling fingers. He has to stop on the landing because the fly on his trousers is stuck. Swearing colourfully, he gives it a few good jerks trying to pull it close, before giving up and taking out his wand to spell it free. Once that's dealt with, he proceeds to fly down the stairs, still swearing. He may also have cursed Reese Trentwell to the ninth circle of hell. He then has to curse some more when he realizes that his eight year old daughter is in the house and he's not being quiet in the least.

He has crossed the hall in a few strides and is fumbling with the floo powder ( 'fuck fuck shit fuck shit . . . ' and why can't he stop already? ) when Ginny almost gives him a heart attack when she touches his shoulder.

'Merlin's bloody bollocks, Ginny, don't sneak up on me like that!" He hisses viciously.

Ginny snorts and glances towards the floo powder now scattered on the floor. He had knocked the container out of its stand in his haste ( not fright, excuse you ).

'I have half a mind to hex some sense into you, Harry. Honestly, what are you so nervous about?' She says, looking up at him with her eyebrows scrunched together.

'I'm not nervous, I was just-'

'And no, you're not getting late either. You still have about,' she quickly casts a tempus charm, 'thirty six minutes before you're expected in class.'

'What!? Why didn't you tell me before?' Harry scowls and vanishes the floo powder from the floor. Now he'll have to Apparate to Hogsmeade and walk from there and that will just give him more time to fret about his upcoming doom ( alright, he might be exaggerating a bit ), something he wants to fervently avoid. He doesn't know why everyone is so sure this is going to go smoothly and perfectly and brilliantly, and it frustrates him when no one understands his trepidation about this.

'Why did I have to tell you at all? You are perfectly capable of casting a tempus on your own.' Ginny is talking softly now, straightening his collar and brushing lint from his clothes, her blue eyes wide and filled with compassion.

'Well, I might have been too busy thinking I was getting late and rushing about with everything.' Harry retorts, his voice soft too now.

'Harry, you idiot, calm down. This isn't something new, you've done this before. Just calm down, don't over think this.' Her hands slip down the length of his arms, close over both of his own hands and squeeze.

Harry closes his eyes, takes in a deep breath and lets it out in a loud whoosh. It doesn't really help clear his thoughts, but at least his heart is not beating at the speed of light now.

He smiles slowly at Ginny as opens his eyes.

'Alright, I'm calm. Would you, by any chance, have some tips for me?'

Harry is not prepared when she swipes at his head with a loud thwack. When did she even take away her hand?

'Ow!' He exclaims, rubbing his palm over the spot.

'No, I don't have any tips. What I have is a daughter in the kitchen who thinks her soul is going to sneak out of her body while she's sleeping through the gap in her teeth.' Ginny says, rolling her eyes before she bends down to retrieve the  floo powder container from the floor, 'Ooh, it's not empty,' and returns it to it's original place.

'That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.' Harry blinks, momentarily distracted.

'Hmm? No, I think the most ridiculous was the 'The toefunkys living on the top of my canopy bed are getting really hungry and are going to crawl down any day now to eat all the toes on my left foot'. I'm telling you, she left Luna behind by light years with that one.' She's smirking when she turns around to face him again.

Harry snorts.

'You're right. That was on a level of its own. But seriously though, we should just tell her she can sleep with us till summer when the boys get back. She is going to run out of excuses soon. And knowing our Lily, she's just going to brave sleeping in her room alone instead of just asking us if she could sleep with us. She's not that old yet that it would be embarrassing.' Harry says, starting towards the kitchen.

'Our daughter just holds a lot in her dignity. And no, I don't think she's going to run out of excuses. Her imagination runs wilder than a werewolf on a full moon night.' Ginny says this with mock annoyance, her fond smile giving her away.

Harry is smiling too, wide and bright, when he sees Lily from the doorway of the kitchen. She is sitting on a counter-top, munching on homemade cookies sent by Molly Weasley, the box of which resides on her lap. Her eyes are closed and she is shaking her head in time with the tune of the song being played softly on the radio beside her ( it's not the Weird Sisters, Harry is glad to note ). Her red bob-cut hair are swinging back and forth and so are her restless legs.

Harry's heart feels like its expanding, and he knows he has properly calmed down now.

Maybe everyone was right, maybe he was being silly. He is a good teacher, he knows that. And like Ginny said, this isn't the first time, and neither is it the second, for that matter. He has helped train new recruits for the Auror Corp loads of times, and he has always received praise and subsequent respect based solely on his own skills and not on the history-making accomplishments of nineteen years ago which had vital contributions of so many people, people who are sometimes forgotten in favor of himself and his being a literal icon.

But he just can't help himself sometimes, when he thinks about how the children he's now going to teach could be his adoring fans and how if he snaps at them and be petulant if they ask questions and make him uncomfortable, they might be disappointed by him because he didn't turn out to be the perfect hero of a man they expect him to be. How they might want to hear stories that are better left in the past and how they might want to touch his scar ( this oddity has happened so many times he doesn't even want to think about it ). About how they might overwhelm him and lead him to cowardly back out of this whole scheme. About how the resulting rumors and wild speculations may disturb him and his children. And just about how the constant limelight has led him to care too much about the opinion of the general public, and how totally ridiculous this is. Merlin but he can't help but be scared and nervous and anxious. He can't help but await his doom.

Although, Lily Luna, oblivious to the presence of her parents, does finally make him see a silver lining.

They're all kids.

And he, Harry Potter, has always been good with kids.