The rest of the night was spent, reading, playing with Harry or on the game console. Just a relaxing night after a stressful day.
The next day was cold and bitter, matching Hydrus's mood. He was right; he had nightmares of the carnage all night. He probably got two hours of sleep. He went and gathered the awake Harry and took him to the kitchen, this time making pancakes, which should be easy on his churning tummy.
Today was Saturday, so Sirius didn't have to go to the clinic. Hydrus figured he would have to teach the man how to drive a car, since it would be dangerous for the motorcycle soon. He'd ask him when he woke up. He was going to try and get them to use non-magical means of transportation, since CCTV cameras would be going up on all the streets in the future.
The dogmen stumbled into the kitchen, as usual, awoken by the aroma of breakfast.
"No meat?" Remus asked, piling his plate with pancakes and grabbing the syrup.
"Not today," was the succinct answer.
The werewolf looked up and noticed Hydrus was still a little pale, so he just nodded his head and added more to his plate.
Sirius was still drinking his first cup of coffee, so he just served himself some of the breakfast and tried to wake up more.
"Are you going to tell us what happened to make you so squeamish?" Remus asked gently.
"Yeah, when Harry goes down for his nap," Hydrus answered, and went back to his own meal.
The rest of the breakfast was eaten in silence. When the table was cleared Hydrus excused himself to write some letters. He typed up a letter for each family that he knew about, telling them that their family member was dead, how they died, where they could find the remains and left them unsigned. He would send Bellatrix's to Arcturus. He printed them out and tucked them away to post later. He'd have to go to the Alley to get them sent off. He still had plenty of non-magical disguises in his pocketspace. This way there would be no tracing them back to him.
He went and joined the family. He sat with Harry and tried to get him to say the colors of his toys. Harry got 'lue' and 'ed' right, most of the time; it was still a work in progress. After a half an hour of that, he told the other two he had an errand to run and he'd be back before lunch.
With a blonde wig and blue contacts, he posted the letters, got that feeling of being watched again (which was weird, because he was in disguise) and hurried home, making sure to remove the wig and contacts before entering the house. Everyone was still in the living room doing what they always did. Harry saw him come in and immediately waddled to him, held up his arms and demanded, "Up".
"Hey, Prongslet, you ready for lunch?" Hydrus asked as he settled the toddler on his hip and tickled his chin.
"Cheese," was the giggling response.
"You're as bad as Remus with chocolate," he mock growled at the tot and tickled him again.
"Are you feeling better?" Remus asked as he joined them.
Hydrus walked to the kitchen, put Harry in his highchair and started pulling stuff for a salad. "Yeah, I do. That errand I ran helped."
Remus went to the pantry and got Harry some jarred toddler food—spaghetti. Harry upon seeing it started to demand cheese. Remus gently talked the toddler into eating the pasta; he was really good at that. They had read that too much cheese might not be good for him, so Hydrus was insistent that they attempt to get him to like other foods.
Hydrus finished the salad and made some roast beef sandwiches and called Sirius in. They ate a nice meal and talked of nonessential things.
"Hey, Sirius, do you know how to drive?" Hydrus asked. "The motorcycle isn't going to be safe soon, if you ever get it back from Hagrid," he explained at the quizzical look. "I don't remember if I told you this, but the government is going to start putting up more of those CCTV cameras on the main streets, so Apparating is not a good idea."
"Well, it's been awhile, so I might need a refresher. Lily taught us the summer of sixth year," Sirius said rubbing his chin. "Do you think we should warn the Ministry about those cameras?"
"I'll write them an anonymous letter soon. I might just casually drop the newspaper articles in the Alley. If I remember correctly there was a lot of protest about them," the immortal said and then turned to the werewolf. "What about you, Remus, do you drive?"
"I was not around that summer, so, no, I do not know how to drive," Remus answered.
"Do you want to learn? We can get another car for you two. With Padfoot having daily sessions, it might be better," Hydrus suggested. "Sirius can buy his own, now that he is all Lorded up."
"Don't remind me," Sirius groaned and went back to his meal. Then he realized what Hydrus said and perked up, thinking about all the wicked sports cars he'd seen on the telly.
"Do not get too carried away, Padfoot. Remember you have a child to care for," Remus reprimanded gently.
Sirius waved it away. "I can get more than one," he said, still dreaming.
"So how about it, Remus, you want to learn?" Hydrus asked again.
"Sounds like it would be a good idea."
"Alright after our talk, I'll take you out and show you the basics." With that everyone returned to their meal. When they were finished Remus took Harry to get cleaned and down for his nap. He then joined the other men in the living room.
"So, what happened to put you off your food," Sirius all but demanded, tired of waiting.
....
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