♡ Be My Baby ♡

eight.

What fate didn't grant Harry (and the aesthetic of his possible memoir), he decides to give to his child. In summer, he makes the decision to have the baby at White Willow naturally, not at a hospital. Again, it's a controversial topic with everyone but he's made up his mind. So at the end of July, Harry settles in his old room at White Willow and returns to the old routine of his childhood summers. He has nothing to do but wait and he reads, reads, reads as if the books were to vanish from the Earth's surface. It's boiling, every day is so hot one wouldn't want to believe they're in England. It would've been bad normally but carrying around a few pounds of extra weight in his belly only makes the heat worse.

August 13th begins as a cold day, full of grey skies and rain. Harry wakes up early and starts reading the 1st edition copy of Pride and Prejudice he swiped from the closed-off cabinet in the library. But by midday, his baby fully decides to join in on the fun outside too. The house provides comfort to Harry during the ordeal because he knows he's home, he's gone through worse things within its walls, at least emotionally.

It takes a few exhaustingly painful hours but the sun is still up on the sky when he holds his daughter for the first time. He cries and kisses her a million times. The feeling of finally having his baby in his arms makes everything worth it. All the pain, the fights, the gossip. He knows he'll love her with all that he has and he will try his hardest not to ever let her down.

Harry can't sleep that night for whatever reason and those silent hours are when the reality truly hits him. He's a dad now. He has a daughter, his very own little human that he made with his body. Darlene is lying down in a nest near Harry on his bed, sleeping soundly. Harry starts playing with her little fingers carefully, as not to wake her. His heart could burst with the love he feels for her. Having her was the best decision of his life.

Darlene wakes up moments later, blinking her typical baby blue eyes at him. She doesn't cry, just grips his finger in her fist and Harry nearly does cry.

"Hi sweetheart," Harry whispers, kissing her forehead. "Are you feeling good? Are you hungry, tired?" Of course, Darlene doesn't answer him. Harry chuckles and caresses her cheek with his knuckle, the skin impossibly smooth. "You're so beautiful, angel. I'm so lucky to be your dad because I already know you're gonna be such a radiant girl. Not looks-wise, don't get me wrong. Well, that too, but you know what I mean." Harry breathes out a laugh, shaking his head at himself. "I hope you won't mind it will be just the two of us. I will love you so, so, so much, Darlene, you won't even notice you only have one dad. You'll have many aunts and uncles anyway. We'll have lots of fun, baby, don't worry," Harry kisses her forehead again and plucks her out of the nest. She coos a little at the change but promptly settles herself in Harry's arms. Harry manages to finally fall asleep a couple of minutes later, now with Darlene pressed against his chest. He likes to think he was subconsciously missing being with her as closely as possible.

Darlene is three days old when a flock of Harry's friends drives over from London to see her, like they're the bloody kings that came to see Jesus. They do bring gifts but it's sushi and Gucci baby clothes instead of myrrh. As expected, there is a fight about who will be the godparents but Harry shuts it down by saying he's not getting Darlene christened so they can all be the fairy godparents. The shock that their "baby had a whole baby" doesn't quite wear off. They also try to figure out who the baby daddy is but it's all in good fun. And Harry truly knows then, as he watches his best friends fuss over his daughter, that he made the right decision. He didn't have to look for love because the love was already there, just a different kind of love. And neither he nor his daughter won't ever have to worry about losing it.