Chapter Text
Harry was nearly vibrating out of his dad’s arms when they got to the great hall. He eyed his highchair set up at the top table but ignored it for reminding his dad, “Sit with Draco? And Hannah?” He made sure to mention the 7th year so his dad couldn’t get out of it.
His dad sighed once again, “Yes, Harry. Look, Draco and Blaise have saved both of your seats.”
Harry looked over to Draco, who was waving wildly at them and Blaise, who raised a hand when he saw Harry and Theo staring back.
His dad had no choice but to walk quickly over to the Slytherin table as Harry was pulling to get down. Thankfully, Draco was able to steady him before he actually fell out of his dad’s arms.
“Harry, you have to be careful you don’t fall!” Draco admonished gently while Harry grinned at him, taking the seat beside Draco. Theo sat on the other side with Blaise beside him. The seat on the other side of Harry was left open, and he could vaguely hear his dad saying to leave it for Hannah to sit there. Harry was okay with that. He loved Hannah, and having her sit beside him wasn’t going to be an issue.
He was eyeing up all the different lunch foods, ignoring the bib that was tied around his neck as he did so, only taking his eyes away from the treacle tart when his dad crouched down on his hunkers, touching Harry’s back to get his attention.
“Harry, I’m going to be sitting at the top table with Grandma and Grandpa. You can ask Draco or Hannah to bring you up whenever you want, okay?” he looked over at Theo, who was staring at him with wide eyes, “You too, Theo.”
“’ Kay Dad,” Harry said, not really paying attention until he saw the plate in front of him was the usual one that was up at the top table, already filled with crustless, triangle, ham and cheese sandwiches with cut up apples in the second section and a handful of veggie snacks in the third. Harry pouted at his dad, who was still crouching down beside him.
“Daddy, I wanted to pick my own lunch.” He whined, not happy with the turn of events. His dad raised a brow that usually sent students ducking for cover but had Harry just pouting even more.
“So you can have some of the treacle tart? I think not.” Harry’s chin began to wobble as he thought about the unfairness of it all until he heard his dad sigh once again. “How about this? If you can finish all of your sandwich and apple, Draco will serve you some treacle tart. Deal?”
Harry’s chin stopped its wobbling, and he threw his arms around his dad’s neck. “Thank you! Theo too?” He didn’t want his friend to be left out. Harry wasn’t sure if Theo liked treacle tart, but he was sure his dad would give his friend a treat as well.
“Theo too, or any other treat he may like. Not everyone loves it as much as you.” Severus said, giving Harry’s tummy a small tickle and earning a giggle out of his little boy.
“Okay. I’m going now. Be good for Draco, Blaise, and Hannah when she gets here. Come straight up to me if you need me. You too, Theo.” He said, giving Harry a kiss on the top of his head before heading up to the top table.
Harry watched him go, for some reason, his stomach twisting at watching his dad walk away. He didn’t like his dad walking away from him and had to bite his lip to keep it from wobbling. He could feel both Draco and Blaise staring at him, and he was determined to get through lunch by himself. He was a big boy! And big boys didn’t need their daddy’s to hold their hands.
Theo looked up at his dad as well, and he looked like he wanted to follow him even more than Harry did. Harry didn’t blame him. Theo was still nervous, and nobody made you feel safe like Daddy.
“C’mon, Harry. Time to eat your lunch so you can have some tart.” Draco encouraged, trying to distract him, Blaise doing the same with Theo. Both knew how important it was to Harry to be sitting by himself at lunch.
Harry nodded slowly, picking up one triangle and taking a small bite out of it, barely noticing Hannah sitting down on the other side of him or the conversation she and Draco had over his head. He wasn’t sure what felt so wrong about eating the sandwich. Harry usually loved ham and cheese sandwiches. It tasted funny to him, and he was having a hard time swallowing his food past the lump in his throat.
He looked over at Theo, who was outright refusing to eat his food, turning away from Blaise every time he brought the sandwich to his mouth. That wasn’t good. Theo really needed his food. Daddy said so that Theo was too skinny and needed all the food he could get. If he was refusing to eat, that wasn’t going to go well.
“Not hungry, Theo?” Harry asked softly, putting his own sandwich down. He could kind of see where he was coming from. They didn’t taste that nice, and Theo had the same lunch as Harry.
Theo shook his head and stared at Harry, communicating without saying anything. He wanted Harry’s daddy but didn’t want to go up by himself. Harry felt tears spring to his eyes as he thought about it. He missed his daddy, but he was a big boy! He should be able to stay at the lunch table without his dad’s help.
“Harry, it’s okay if you want your dad, you know,” Draco said softly to him as Harry tried to fight back the tears. “I’d love to see my dad if I could. You should spend as much time cuddling with him as you want. Want to know a secret?” Draco whispered, leaning into Harry as he sniffled. Harry nodded his head; he loved secrets.
“I think your dad misses you too.”
Harry gasped. His dad missed him? Oh no! His dad couldn’t be sad! “And Theo?” Harry whispered back.
“And Theo,” Draco confirmed, getting another gasp out of Harry. He and Theo would have to his dad a big hug to make him not sad.
“Guys, you enjoy your lunch. I’ll bring the little boys up to the top table.” Hannah said standing, Harry reached his arms up and went quickly to Hannah, happy to be going up to his dad.
Theo slid from his chair on crawled under the table, coming out the other side beside Draco, who rolled his eyes and lifted him the rest of the way. “You’re silly.” He said, and Theo smiled shyly, waving to him and Blaise, who waved back before taking Hannah’s hand.
They quickly made it to the top table, Severus taking Harry off of Hannah and sitting him on one knee with Theo occupying the other one, both cuddled in. Harry thought Theo may actually fall asleep once again.
“Thank you, Miss Murphy; they lasted longer than I thought.” He commented, running a hand through Harry’s hair and rubbing Theo’s back.
Hannah grinned, “They last seven minutes.”
“Hmm, six more minutes than I thought they would. Thank you for bringing them up to me. 10 points to Slytherin.”
Hannah grinned and saluted, waving her goodbye to Harry and Theo.
“I missed you, Daddy,” Harry whispered. Theo was not once again asleep, snuggled into Harry’s daddy.
“I missed you too, baby.”
Being a big boy was overrated anyway. Harry was precisely where he wanted to be, with his daddy.