Christmas-Blues (III) [Chapter 217]

|I believe this should work…| Harry mused as he stared at the newly bought record player with a hint of pride. Charming any Muggle Technology to work around Magic wasn’t that hard, but the record player needed electricity to work and there was no electricity in the Malfoy Manor and it would be a pain in the ass to get electricity at the manor since the damn place wasn’t close to any Muggle civilizations.

So, he had to Charm the record player to work with ambient magic, and after working for hours on the record player, he finally accomplished the task, but before he could play anything on it, he needed to put it back. It didn’t even take him a minute to put back the record player and when he was done, he placed the record player on top of one of the shelves before carefully placing a record on the platter.

He turned on the record player and the record started to rotate, nodding his head at the sight, he lowered the tonearm on the record and the music started to play…

|So, what do you think?| Harry asked with a smile. To be honest, the song wasn’t much to his liking and he was doubtful that any of the other songs were going to be up to his tastes, but he didn’t mind putting up with it for hours every day if his Mom liked it.

|This is amazing, Hadrian!| Lily exclaimed happily. |It has been so long since I heard this song| Lily added in a longing tone before sighing in contentment. |Maybe, you should also get a telly| Lily suggested excitedly.

|Sorry Mom, but I don’t think I have the time to watch telly| Harry pointed out before he decided to sit down and start working on his Martial Arts. If nothing else, the song was quite calming, so it wasn’t going to be too distracting.

|You are right| Lily conceded glumly. |By the way, thank you, Hadrian. It is a really thoughtful gift| Lily said in a genuinely grateful tone before she finally decided to stop speaking and enjoy the music while Hadrian was working on his Martial Arts… Lily knew that she probably wouldn’t get any Mother of the Year awards, but just like any other mother was supposed to, she will do whatever is best for her son.

Even if it meant sharing him with other women…

~~Timeskip~~ (An hour later)

All of a sudden, Harry was broken out of his meditative state when Norton popped inside the room. The green mist surrounding Harry disappeared into thin air as he opened his eyes. “What happened, Norton?” Harry asked as he glanced toward the clock from the corner of his eyes. He was so engrossed in his training that he didn’t know how much time had passed, and he was glad to see that not much time had passed.

“Mistress Jacklyn is awake, Master Hadrian” Norton revealed and Harry gave the house elf a grateful look before he stood up. He had asked Norton to keep an eye on Jacklyn and the rest of the members who were injured during yesterday’s attack.

“What did the Healers say?” Harry asked.

“They be saying she is okay, but they be keeping her under observation for the day” Norton answered and Harry nodded his head in understanding.

“Thank you, Norton, you no longer need to keep an eye on Jacklyn but keep watching the others. I want to be informed when they wake up” Harry ordered and Norton left with a soft pop after he acknowledged the order with a nod of his head. After Norton was gone, Harry walked up to the record player and turned it off… He wanted his Mom to enjoy the music some more, but he had other places to be.

|Let’s see how Jacklyn is holding up| Lily said with a yawn. Even though Harry never told her, she could easily guess what he was planning to do.

|Yeah| Harry hummed in agreement before he opened a portal leading to the infirmary. He stepped through the portal and arrived right outside of the room where Jacklyn was being kept for observation. The portal closed behind him as he walked up to the door and knocked on it to gain Jacklyn’s attention, but surprisingly, he didn’t get any response even though he was certain that Jacklyn was awake.

So, he knocked again, but once again he didn’t get any response, so he decided to peer into the room. As expected he found Jacklyn lying in the bed, but she was trying to look anywhere else rather than the door… Harry could guess why she was acting like this, but there was no way he was going to let her wallow in self-pity. |Yeah, you need to knock some sense into her| Lily agreed with his line of thinking.

So, instead of wasting any more of his time standing at the door, Harry simply entered the room without bothering to get Jacklyn’s permission since she was giving him the silent treatment…

Harry arrived beside her bed and used his Magic to levitate a tool so that he could take a seat beside her bed. He sat down and clapped his hands… “So?” Harry asked in an eager tone, trying to break the silence. “Why am I getting the silent treatment?” He asked again when he didn’t receive any response from Jacklyn.

Jacklyn finally turned toward him only for him to notice the tears in her eyes… She quickly raised her hands and wiped them off, not wanting to show him any more weakness than she had already done… “I wanted to make you feel proud of me, you know. I wanted to show you that I can lead too, but I fucked up!” Jacklyn wailed before she started to chuckle in self-loathing.

“Yes, you did” Harry agreed with a nod of his head and even though Jacklyn slightly flinched at his words, there was acceptance in her eyes. “...But you aren’t the only one who fucked up the last night” Harry spoke up after a small pause, surprising her. “I never expected the Ministry forces to show up so quickly, nor was I expecting you guys to face such strong opposition” Harry admitted while giving her an understanding look.

“That fact is, we all fuck up from time to time… Even I am not perfect as it was proven yesterday, but we must learn from our mistakes so that we don’t repeat them” Harry said with a smile as he gave her hands a gentle and comforting squeeze.

Jacklyn didn’t know what to say after that, so she simply turned her gaze away from him. “By the way, I have received a letter from your father. He is really angry at me for getting you involved in my mess” Harry revealed with a chuckle before he took out two letters from his robes and handed them over to Jacklyn. Both of them were from her father, but one of them was addressed to him while the other one was addressed to Jacklyn.

“...Thank you and don’t worry, I will have my father know that I got involved with your mess on my own accord while you didn’t want to get me involved in any of this” Jacklyn assured him after she took a look at the letters.

“That won’t be necessary… He is your father and it's obvious that he loves you. If I was in his place then I wouldn’t be happy too…” Harry trailed off with a grin. Yes, he didn’t like anyone looking down at him, but he could let the man some leeway as he could only guess what the man was really going through. “By the way, Himera survived, you know” Harry revealed, shocking Jacklyn for the second time.

“What?! How?!” Jacklyn asked in an incredulous tone, but there was clearly a lot of relief and joy in her voice.

“I simply placed her head near her body and after waiting for some time, her head started to get reattached to her body” Harry explained with a shrug like it was no big deal. Jacklyn didn’t know what to say, so she simply breathed out in relief before she slumped down in her bed. “And for the record, she doesn’t blame you for what happened” Harry added before Jacklyn could start blaming herself once again.

“Thank you” Jacklyn straightened up a bit before she decided to thank him with a grateful look on her face.

“It’s no big deal… You are practically my family, so there is no way I am going to leave you to wallow in your self-pity” Harry assured her with a cheeky grin on his face before he decided to spend some more time with Jacklyn, but once again, he was interrupted by her.

“For whatever it’s worth, I am sorry, Harry” Jacklyn apologized, looking extremely saddened, but Harry quickly flicked her forehead, making her wince as she grabbed her forehead in pain.

“Don’t be sorry, be better” Harry stated firmly before she could complain about his act of violence. Jacklyn simply stared at him for the next few moments before she gave him a determined nod.

“Wanna play Snap?” Harry asked as Jacklyn wasn’t allowed to leave her bed for anything besides nature’s call.

“Yeah sure” Jacklyn happily agreed as playing Snap was much better than getting bored while she was confined to this infernal bed of hers…