(Untitled)

[wizard_howell]

Honestly, he's been making every attempt to be respectable but the problem with that, as he sees it, is that he is in fact in no way respectable. That's not to say that marriage and the title of Royal Wizard don't suit him; they do. It only means that every now and again he needs to dust off that little-used dab of silver paint on the doorknob to

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[gorgonfondness]

It's been a long time since Mia's seen Howl, nearly a year. The last time he saw her, she wasn't even showing.

When he sees her now, she's got a baby on her hip, grasping at her robe. The child is happily babbling, the one distinct syllable coming up over and over again being, "Da da da da da," when he's not laughing or blowing raspberries.

He's also wearing nothing but his nappy. Mia was just going to take him to his nursery to dress him after having play time and bath time with his father.

"Howl!" she says in pleased surprise when she sees him. "It's been far too long!"

"Da?" Cepheus questions.

[wizard_howell]

He looks from Mia to the baby, eyes wide in... well, not quite shock; he was the one, after all, who helped her to hear his heartbeat for the first time and that led to no end of misplaced trouble once he got back home for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with her or this pub.

"Apparently so," he has to acknowledge. "Has it really been that long? What a good-looking fellow you have there. What's his name?"

Soon enough this will be his lot in life. It's a good thing he's fond of children.

[gorgonfondness]

"His name is Cepheus," Mia says, brushing the baby's hair back. "And it has, long enough for him to be nearly four months old."

"Dada," Cepheus says.

"He's trying out his first words today," she adds with a bright smile. "He certainly surprised us, even though he's been trying to talk for a little while now. Draco's proud as a peacock."

The baby laughs and blows another raspberry.

[wizard_howell]

"Well, look at him. One would assume Draco's not the only proud one in the room. May I? I could use the practice." He practically raised Mari, although he knows Megan would beg to differ, but he's very good with children. Luckily.

"We've one on the way as well. But he's not due for a while." Or she, of course, but still, he's got more time to sneak in a bit of irresponsibility before the day comes when he'll have to buckle down and stop having quite as much fun.

[gorgonfondness]

"Oh, I'm over the Moon, to borrow a Blue Star phrase, but today is Draco's day to be proud. Today's a holiday called Father's Day and, incidentally, the anniversary of when Draco learned he would be a father."

She moves to carefully let Howl take Cepheus. The child, wide-eyed, is unsure of what's going on and reaches towards his mother with a sound of protest.

"Shhh, it's okay sweetheart," Mia says to that, holding his hand while he's in Howl's arms. "Howl is a friend."

He's still unsure and makes a little fuss. New people are all well and good, but they're meant to be seen from Mama's or Papa's safe arms.

"You and Sophie are expecting? How wonderful! The whole lot of it is so thrilling, in pretty much every way you can imagine."

[wizard_howell]

"Father's Day. We've got that in Wales." Not that his own father ever... but that's a story for a different day; he tucks Cepheus -- interesting name -- firmly into his arms, supporting him just the right way to maintain contact with the woman who's unquestionably the most important person in his young life. "I'm not much of a stranger to children; I've got a niece and nephew whom I adore unquestioningly." That applies to his niece, at least. "But yes, I'll pass on your words of excitement to Sophie once I'm back home.

In his arms, the baby settles enough so he can comfortably be rocked back and forth. "There, you see? I'm not so terrifying after all."

It looks as if the jury's still out on that statement.

[gorgonfondness]

"It was new to Draco when I brought it up to him last year, but his family doesn't tend to be overly affectionate. Or at least, that's what I thought until Cepheus was born. Seems a baby doesn't have to work too hard to bring out the doting grandparent even out of the most proper person."

Cepheus does calm down some. Mama's voice and hand helps and the rocking is nice.

Nice enough that he won't mind spitting up on Howl.

"Oh, sorry," Mia says, reaching in a pocket and getting out a burp cloth to clean them up. "No helping it just yet, I'm afraid."

And now that he's gotten that out of his system, he's giving Howl the owl-eye stare, his eyes so light and innocent.

[wizard_howell]

"Well, you are a big and active boy." There's no trouble cleaning up his jacket; all it will take is the touch of a fingertip. He'll wait, however, until he's no longer holding the child. Otherwise, it will simply be an exercise in repetition.

"They will go through that phase." Unlike some people, it doesn't put him off holding the baby. He could magic him right into not doing that, but there are some lines even he won't cross. "Tell me. How are you finding motherhood? It looks to agree with you beautifully."

He still can't believe how long it's been since that day they last sat down together. One ought to be ashamed, but he isn't. Time has a way of getting away from everybody, especially during a time of war. Thankfully, that much has settled down.

[gorgonfondness]

Mia doesn't blame him. Sometimes it just happens, especially in Milliways.

"And it will surely get worse before it gets better. He's been reaching for our food lately. We're starting to think about introducing baby foods to his diet sometime soon. I imagine it won't decrease the mess so much as make it messier."

The burp cloth is put on her shoulder, folded just so to prevent messing up her relatively clean clothes, and she strokes Cepheus's hair again.

"Well, that's one way to acquaint yourself with Mummy's friends, isn't it?"

[wizard_howell]

"It's an honor to be introduced in such a palpable way." Fondly, he pats the baby's head, humming quietly and unmusically beneath his breath. Cepheus looks up, eyes wide.

Perhaps he'd best not hum.

"Food already. Goodness, you and Draco must be so proud. I really will have to meet him one of these days. If it weren't for your son's presence here, I might think he's nothing more than a figment of your imagination."

He's only teasing, of course. "Whenever you're ready to take him back. I promise not to be insulted."

[gorgonfondness]

Mia laughs a bit.

"I'm sure he'll be around some time or another. This place is a blessing when we need a rest. As for food, I'm not rushing him into it, but he does seem interested. With any luck, I'll be able to fit baby cereal into his diet before Draco starts supplementing his meals with sweets."

[wizard_howell]

"A sensible approach to take. You can tell your husband I heartily approve of supplementing the meal with sweets. It's made me what I am."

He's teasing, of course. "Enough of this baby cereal, Dads spoiling the boys talk. Aside from that, tell me how you've been. And tell me about these fearsomely proper in-laws of yours. I don't believe I've heard tell of them yet." His hand draws little circles on Cepheus's back, soothing and soft.

This whole baby business isn't as hard as it makes itself out to be.

[gorgonfondness]

"I've been tired more often than not, but well. As you said, motherhood does agree with me quite well. I have been taking up paperwork for the Guild again, but classes are out for the summer. I'll probably take up teaching again in the autumn, possibly working every other day so Draco and I can trade off on watching Cepheus."

Mia softly giggles at the thought of her in-laws.

"Oh goodness, Lucius and Narcissa are something else. Pureblood magic family and proud of it. The very first words out of their mouths when Draco introduced me were about my own pedigree and saying that I was trash without one. Draco was less than pleased about that and didn't hesitate to remind them that, had I not supplied him with healing items, none of them might have been there to say as much. It took more than a little time for them to come around to tolerating me, much less willingly come to spend time with me."

[wizard_howell]

"Oh dear."

They sound rather horrible, but far be it for him to voice such an opinion without an invitation. "At least they got over it."

The first time he met Fanny, he was in less than decent shape. But they managed to get round that nicely enough, thankfully.

In his arms the baby wiggles and looks to his mama; he hands Cepheus back over. "Someone wants you. He's a good boy. Now, are they going to make a fuss about his... 'pedigree' as well? Or did they take one look at him and fall in love like most grandparents do?"

[gorgonfondness]

"They did. Four years without Draco visiting made something of a difference. Narcissa even chats with my mother and they get on pretty well."

Mia gladly takes Cepheus back, who grasps at his mother's robe but looks back to Howl all the same. That was weird for him, even though he's not really sure what weird is.

"Oh, even before that. We came to visit them during Christmas since travel isn't too hard if you do it through here. They took to the idea of becoming grandparents pretty well. After that, they came to visit us in February and stayed until after Cepheus was born, so we had some time to talk and really start to understand each other while Draco worked at his shop. Narcissa was even there with me to help during the birth. It meant a lot to me to know she cared that much. And she and Lucius just fell in love with Cepheus so fast, almost as fast as we did."

[wizard_howell]

Narcissa.

There's a woman running round out there named Narcissa.

Her parents must have been very cruel indeed. Then again, it all seems to have worked out beautifully, and the names are none of his business. "So long as everyone's getting on. I suppose we'll have that in-law visit to think about, at least with Sophie's mam." His own is gone now, but she wouldn't have understood his life any more than Megan does.