Sixth chapter
“Tom, would you come with me to the study after dinner?”
“Sure.” His son looked up with eyes sparking with curiosity. At dinner, he threw him glances every once in a while, puzzling over his surprise.
What warmed Harry´s heart was that never once did Tom look fearful. Since they talked about different methods of raising children and Harry told him that he did not believe in corporal punishment, Tom had lost his last bit of apprehension. Sometimes he was cheeky, sometimes angry, sometimes he stomped his foot in frustration or ran into his room in disappointment. What had been a quietly calculating mind before was now a slightly impulsive youngster with a bit of a superiority complex.
They went up to the study after dinner and Tom seemed to become impatient on the way. “What are we gonna do? Did we get a new order? Did someone apply?”
“Today it´s not about the company.” Harry opened the study and let Tom in. He had taken to locking it since a guest had wandered in here at the birthday party. “I have another surprise.”
“Good or bad?” Even though he asked that, Tom grinned.
“It depends on you, I guess.” Harry pointed him at the settee on which Tom normally sat reading a book or counting things. “I got a letter this morning from the school I told you about.”
“The one I´ll go to now? Or the one my mom went to?”
“The one your mom went to. One of the teachers is friend of mine and I asked him about your mother. He sent this back.” He gave the letter to Tom.
That one read it aloud: “I wanted to teach Care for Magical Creatures but alas, they made me a teachers for Charms and Transfiguration. Is it a magic school, Dad?”
Oh damn. He should have thought about that before. The cat was out of the bag, it seemed. He whispered: “Yes, it is. That is why it is secret. Never tell anyone.”
“Okay.” He continued reading. The great thing about young kids: They believed in magic. “She was a rather unremarkable Slytherin. What is a Slytherin?”
“They have a house system because it´s a boarding school. They have four houses. Slytherin is the house for cunning and ambitious people.”
“So you would have been a Slytherin.” Tom nodded. “Me too.”
Did he give off the vibe of being cunning and ambitious? Really? He always thought that the hat had wanted to put him in Slytherin because of Voldemort´s soul … uh, it was a bit strange to think about the fact that he had carried a part of this boy´s soul for all of his youth.
Tom had continued reading: “Most of her peers mocked her for her run-down wardrobe and her unfortunate looks. She had one bad eye that squinted and crooked teeth. She did not speak much. Dad, my mom sounds like one of the beggars in downtown London.”
“She was no beauty, it happens. She gave birth to a very handsome son though. It´s not important how she looked.” Well, it was a bit but … he should not be so superficial.
“I thought it might be domestic abuse – what is that?”
Maybe he should not have given him the letter. This was a bit much to explain. How to go about it? “Do you remember how I told you that some parents believe in corporal punishment?”
“Yeah … that´s not abuse, is it?”
“No. But sometimes such parents hit their children even if they did nothing. Then it is not punishment, it´s abuse.”
“Oh … so my grandparents on both side weren´t good people.”
“Again, it is just speculation. We do not know the truth. It might be something different.” Most likely not, so Harry knew that he wasn´t very convincing.
“I think her parents wanted her to be courted but being a sullen and plain girl, she was unable to draw attention to herself. What is courting?”
“They wanted her to find a husband at school.”
“But my father wasn´t at that school, right?”
“Right. She met him in her hometown.”
“Did her parents want her to have a magic husband?” Damn, the boy was fast. How did such a plain woman bore such a handsome and quick-witted child? If the boys father was the same, no wonder his parents did not make him marry her.
“I believe so. The Gaunts are the last heirs of Slytherin, it´s a noble bloodline full of highly skilled wizards and witches. They most likely wanted her to marry a wizard from another old bloodline.”
“But she was very ugly.” It sounded like Tom was just stating a fact. “So she took someone without magic instead … do you think she bewitched him?”
“That is possible.” He knew for a fact that she did but he would not tell Tom that about his mother. “It would have been a despicable act though. Forcing yourself on someone like that, it´s ...” Rape? Yes, it was. Rape and enslavement. No wonder Tom´s father walked out on her. “It´s the same as being a boss. Having power means having responsibility. One should not use their powers to hurt or domineer or intimidate.”
“Hm … I have to think about that.” Tom stared into space for a moment before taking up the letter again. “What happened to the father? Who knows?” He huffed in annoyance. “One day I´ll ask him and find out what my mother did and why he left her. But if she really bewitched him to be with her against his will, I think I understand why he did not want to marry her.” That were a lot of long sentences for a boy this small.
Every time Harry heard him speak, he was amazed how well he had adapted to this high-born way of speaking. Tom did not stutter, did not mispronounce, he did not even speak short sentences. He had a classy way of talking and most sentences felt thought through. He would be a great conversationalist once he was older. He was already reading enough books to have a few topics he could speak about.
After reading the post scriptum, Tom looked up at him inquisitively and Harry gave him the photography. It was a black and white one printed of yellowish paper with Merope barely moving. Except for the robes it could have been a photo for prison entrance. She neither smiled nor winked nor blinked in it. She was ugly and did nothing to make herself more inviting in any way.
Tom stared at the picture and finally lay it upside down onto the small end table. “She is … ugly.”
Should he deny that? There really was no denying that. She was. Were there any good points about her? “Professor Dumbledore said that she was good at potions. She must have been intelligent.”
“And cunning and ambitious. Did she become a potioneer? Is that a job?”
“A potions master. I think she might have done that but she fell in love with your father and had you right after school.”
“So she died a few months after this was taken.” Tom put a finger on the back of the photography. “That´s a sad and short life. It sounds neither cunning nor ambitious.”
Harry secretly feared that viciousness and haughtiness had put her in Slytherin rather than the other attributes. Every house had their dark side. Gryffindor had arrogance and stupidity as well as a high tendency to breaking rules.
“Again, one should not judge before one does not know the whole truth.”
“I don´t think I´ll ever know the whole truth.” There were tears glistening in Tom´s eyes. “The more I know, the more I despise my blood family. I don´t think I want to know more. I don´t want to meet my father, I don´t want to meet any grandparents.” He looked up at Harry. “Can´t I be Tom Horten? I don´t want to be Tom Riddle.”
There was a pang of feelings in Harry´s breast, some good, some bad. Sadness was hovering over all of them. What a sad life. Tom only wanted to belong. Not to anyone, but to Harry. To someone he liked, he loved. Harry understood that perfectly. All those nights he had dreamed that someday someone would show up that wanted him. Some long-forgotten uncle, a fairy godmother, a grandmother with a house full of cats. He would have moved in with Mrs. Figg if she had wanted him. A wealthy dad with hugs and playmates would have been his ultimate dream and could only be topped by a loving mother.
But Riddle was his family name. He had a father out there, another wealthy aristocrat, and this time he hopefully would not seek him out to kill him. He might have a chance to meet his family one day and be a part of them. But not if he changed his name.
“You don´t want me?” Tom asked aghast.
“What? Heavens, no, you are my son. I was just thinking.” Harry finally pulled the boy onto his lap and hugged him. “Of course you can have my name. I just thought that it might be good to keep the Riddle name if you want to be part of their family one day. I don´t want to keep you from them forever, just until you are able to protect yourself. They might not like the fact that you changed your name. It might even be the reason they turn you out.”
“If they don´t like me because of my name, I don´t think I need them.” Tom upped his nose, a haughty expression on this chubby boy´s face.
“You are awfully young to make such a decision.”
“Oliver Twist was as young as I when he decided to live on the streets.” The boy crossed his arms. “I can decide on my name.”
“Alright, young man.” It would also prevent a lot of abuse from classmates finding out that Tom was adopted, had a history of poverty and famish and only got to be a young lord by happenstance. “Then I will inquire how to change your name to mine.”
Tom just grinned his Cheshire cat smile and hugged him hard. Hopefully it was the right decision. It was so easy to go wrong somewhere on the way. Harry tried to have faith.
Changing one´s name was a hard process. As a British citizen, it was not hard at all. But in 1916 there was a law that forbid foreigners from changing their names in Britain. Tom was no foreigner but Harry had no proof of that. He needed the birth records for a formal adoption with a name change. What was even more curious in his opinion was that adoption only became legal in 1926. It also meant that even the major had no idea how to do it and had asked him to go to the London authorities.
So when he went to London with their wares and drove by the orphanage after concluding his business. The old building looked as decrepit as before, a part of the roof carved in even more after the rains and snow of winter. The nuns kindly asked for money, sorry about the fact that the rains and the Thames and whatnot else regularly destroyed their records. An older nun wrote a note that she had been there when Merope Gaunt gave birth to Tom Vorlost Riddle on December 24th in 1926 and that said child had been adopted by him. She sent him to the birth record office to try and get a copy of the record they had filled back then.
Said office did not seem to be in high demand, maybe because the clerk was a jerk. It took over two hours to find the record and quite a bit of money to get a copy. Harry finally decided to look for a hotel and continue tomorrow because the ride and the bureaucracy had tired him out. He was just exiting the records building when a fine looking gentleman exclaimed: “Grenmore, is that you? I haven´t seen you in months!”
“Ah, I have been busy. It´s good to see you.” They shook hands but no spark of recognition ignited. “How are you doing?”
“As well as can be expected. How long are you in town?”
“Just until tomorrow. I was thinking about retiring for the day, it was long and exhausting.”
“Oh bugger, it´s only four p.m., that is no time to go home like an old man. How about a drink? We can speak about our old days!” Judging by his looks, the man was a bit older than Grenmore. Maybe an old friend from the army?
“Ah, I fear I have to decline. I have to rise early tomorrow.”
“How come? You did not take back that resignation now, did you?” The man actually seemed concerned, maybe he had been a good friend.
“No, not at all. I started a business, it´s going well. I also adopted a young boy as my son. I have to finish the paperwork with the authorities tomorrow.”
“Oho, a son.” His look was somewhere between impressed and spooked. “Who would have thought, the great general Grenmore Horten decides to become a parent … I hope your wife is a lovely, cheerful thing. You´ll ruin a boy with your somber moods and the humor of a dead cat.” He must have been a really good friend to insult him to his face like that. “Oh, don´t look at me like that, you know it´s true. People fear you, Grenmore. They have reason to.”
“I changed those last few months.” Authoritative and intimidating? Harry was not enough of an actor for that. “I can play on a carpet, make cooing noises and weather a temper tantrum.”
The other man laughed wholeheartedly and said: “You even found your humor!”
“It´s important to laugh about things, even oneself, when raising a child.”
“Sounds like you studied a book on parenting. That´s so you, Grenmore.” The man lay a hand on Harry´s shoulder. “Come on, one drink? I´ll even drive you to your hotel if you don´t feel like it.”
“In my car?”
“Of course in your car. I am no high and mighty general that can buy a car. But I could feel great for a moment by driving yours!”
“Do you have a license?”
“I was your driver once, you know? You think the army would let me drive you without a license?”
“Maybe.” Harry shrugged his shoulders. “That´s the thing though … my memory is kind of hazy. I keep forgetting things. I know that we are good friends but I don´t even remember your name.”
“Really?” The man stopped in his tracks, the laughter falling from his lips into a dead silence. “Oh, that´s … that … have you seen a doctor?”
“Yes. They think it´s permanent but it should not get any worse. I can remember new memories.”
“That must suck.” What a sentence for a gentleman in upper London. “So … anyway, my name is Edgar.”
“Nice to meet you again, Edgar.”
“I was your second in command, your trustee, your driver, your friend … well, a lot of things really.” Sadness had come over him and made Edgar lower his gaze. “Do you remember any of that?”
“No, I am sorry.”
“Do you think … no, forget it.” The man shook his head. “I guess that´s a theme. You forget. I am not even sure if I should believe you.” He snorted. “Really, you forgot my birthday, you forgot our anniversary, you forgot about every important thing we ever had and now you conveniently forgot about me completely.”
Oh … that sounded more like an ex-lover. Had Grenmore Horten been a homosexual? As a general? He was pretty sure the army would flay him alive for that.
“Were you the reason I quit?” Maybe he should use this opportunity.
“Are you serious?” Edgar´s gaze was pained. “You really forgot?”
“I am sorry I did not write all these months. I did not remember you. It´s not only you, it´s most of my time with the army.”
“You just forgot all the blood and the gore and the friends we lost and went to play house. Great.” Edgar sighed deeply. “I am sorry. You made it clear you did not want further contact with me. I just thought … well, one can try. I miss you, Gren.”
“I miss having a confidante. I don´t even remember my friends, Edgar.” Harry felt slightly nauseous about using this man´s feelings but this was hitting gold. “I don´t remember my family. I am too afraid to ask because I don´t want people to know and treat me like a nutcase. Do I even have family?”
“Shit, Gren.” Edgar took a step near, raised his hand but stopped the motion. There weren´t many people around but this was still out in the open. “You have amnesia.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Damn it.” He seemed to think for a moment. “How about this: I´ll drive you to a nice hotel a bit out of town and we do have that talk about old times? I´ll tell you about your life.”
“I do get why the me before had feelings for you.”
“Really?” Edgar looked rather shell-shocked at hearing this? “You … mean that?” His breath was shaky. “The old you would never have said that.”
“The old me seemed to have been an asshole.” Harry smiled encouragingly. “Just … I don´t remember you, okay? Don´t expect to rekindle an old flame.”
“No, that´s … don´t worry, I understand. I am basically a stranger for you.” Even though he said that, Edgar´s eyes glistened with tears. “Where did you park your car?”
“Over there. Come on.” Harry surrendered his keys to the man and went to sit in the passenger seat. This was taking a jump but Edgar seemed trustworthy. His intuition had not failed him most of the time. He had lived through a war, just not the one Edgar knew.
The other man started the car and pulled onto the road. He was silent until the traffic grew lighter. “It was the peace. I mean, why you quit. You could not stand the peace.”
“Why that? Peace is a happy time.”
“It is … the old Gren just wasn´t suited to live happily ever after.”
Harry snorted. “There is no happily ever after. War always looms on the horizon.”
“You used to say that, yes.” Edgar seemed highly-strung. “But you were disappointed it never broke out.”
“There will be another war soon and I plan on enjoying the time I have until then.”
“Before, the things you enjoyed were war and maybe sex. You weren´t the emotional type.”
“That is what you liked?” Harry raised an eyebrow.
“I liked your intellect, your ruthlessness and your single-minded focus. Especially on me.” Edgar grinned a wolf-like smile full of teeth. It sounded like they had had great sex but nothing else.
“I guess I am different now.”
“I gathered. You seem mellow. More blunted blade than sharp steel.”
“I learned to enjoy peace, I guess.” Did he? Had he lost his edge? Ginny and the kids had been good for him but some nights, he remembered the constant fear, the highs of adrenaline, sparkly curses flying against his shields. Always running for his life, a desperate and wild fight for survival. Would he have to live through the same again?
They fell silent again. Edgar pulled up in front of a homely inn, a tavern with four to six rooms maximum. He even took Harry´s suitcase without much ado and held the door open for him. Edgar seemed to have been something like a personal assistant, a dedicated and hard-working man. For someone like him to look up to Grenmore Horten, the body he owned now must have been a formidable man. Harry felt a pang of guilt. What had happened to the soul that had inhabited this body? Where was he gone? Had he been world-weary enough that it had fled this body?
The owner greeted them with a smile and a hearty: “Good to see you two lads back. It´s been a couple years, ain´t it?”
“Sure was, Arnie. Same old?”
“I´ve got a good one, wait a moment.” The man, that had been manning the tavern bar, rummaged behind it and pulled out a bottle of amber liquid. “Ain´t this a beauty?”
“You´re the best!”
“Want it all?”
“Definitely. Glasses and keys and we´ll be on our way.”
“There you go.” He put everything on the counter.
Edgar gave him some money before taking the whiskey but Harry stopped him and carried the whiskey and glasses himself.
“Ah, sweet on him for once? It´s about time.” It wasn´t a glare but the owner seemed a bit hostile when it came to Harry.
“Arnie”, Edgar snarled in a warning.
“Not my business, I know, lad. Not at all.” The owner held up both hands.
“Thank you, Arnie”, Harry said, nodded to him and looked at Edgar to bring them to their room. They went up some stairs before he dared to ask. “Was this a place you went with me to … well?”
“Arnie is a good soul. We´re friends. Please excuse him, he never approved of … Gren.” Edgar did not look at him, he just continued to a door and opened it with the key. “The important thing is that he knows to stay quiet. We sometimes met people here for secret meetings.”
“It is not advisable to put so much trust in one man. Knowing secret contacts and ruinous information regarding our work relationship, it would be a disaster if he fell into enemy hands or decided to denounce us.”
Edgar who had already proceeded into the room shuddered. His gaze was pained when he turned around and said: “That is exactly what you said before.”
“It is common sense.” Harry put down the whiskey and glasses. “You screen out and going by the rumors you know who squealed.”
In a flash, Edgar had one arm around Harry, kissed him and closed the door behind them with one hand. That for not rekindling an old flame. Harry sighed in annoyance into the kiss and put a hand on Edgar´s upper body to disengage.
“I´m sorry.” That one slumped into himself. “I am so sorry. I know you said … it was just too much of a reminder. I love you so much, Gren.”
“For what it is worth, I am sorry to disappoint you. Maybe it was a bad idea to choose a place full of memories.”
“I´d hoped you would remember something.” Edgar sighed and sat down by the table to pour whiskey. “This was the only place we had where you did not have to gag me. This was where I saw you most relaxed.”
“Sounds like the old Gren liked you.” Harry sat down as well. “Listen, Edgar … I know that it hurts but your Gren is gone. I haven´t been able to remember anything for six months. My lips don´t remember, my body does not remember. The sooner you can accept it, the less it will hurt.”
“Right now it hurts like hell.” Edgar certainly looked like it. He downed a glass of whiskey.
“Easy there.” Harry pulled the bottle out of reach. “Alcohol should be savored.”
“I don´t know how often I told you that. You listened less and less.”
“Well, I am sober. So don´t fall prey to it yourself.” Harry tried a sip. It really was good whiskey. “Tell me about us. When did me meet?”
“1917.” Edgar closed his eyes for a moment. “You had been with the army since 1913. You climbed the ranks, mostly because our men were dying like flies. You weren´t liked by your soldiers but you were feared. You shot down every man that ran from the enemy. When my group was sent to join yours, your men thought about mutiny.”
“Lovely.” Grenmore Horten sounded like a sane Voldemort. Oh the joy.
“I was placed as your second in command, so I told the men I would speak with you. I thought you would murder me when I told you the situation. First me, then one man after another, asking if anyone had anything to say.” Edgar smiled like that was a good memory. “I had never met a man this intense and fierce. I fell in love with you that night.”
“So Gren … I did not kill you?”
“You fucked me against a wall and told me to talk down our men for a week because they would not live longer than that anyway. You were right. Five days later, most of them died in a bombardment. You saved my life twice that night. I stuck like glue to you ever since.”
“It was fourteen years between the war and my retirement. You said I grew disappointed?”
“You were promoted again and again. It was meetings, planning, espionage. Stocking up again after the war, installing defense mechanisms, training new recruits. We were busy at first. Then there were no new projects, just the same old. Some exciting rumors sometimes but never anything concrete. The markets crashed, famine raged, they tore down what we had build. We argued again and again but they sent the troops home, stopped maintaining the defenses. You were too fierce for politics, they called you a bloodthirsty animal. You grew more and more resentful and started drinking too much. You became rough with me, so … when you decided to quit and leave me, I didn´t stop you. I hurt all over.”
“I am sorry about that.”
“It feels like you weren´t the one doing it. Maybe this amnesia is a blessing. It´s like you have a second chance. I had hoped you would write me after calming down and finding something to do with your life.”
“You´d really take back a man that hurt you like that in self-destruction?”
“Maybe.” Edgar shrugged with a shoulder. “Probably.” He grabbed the whiskey and Harry let him. “Gren was all I knew. I went to the army to run from my sexuality. He was my first, I wanted him to be my last. It´s been fifteen years, you know?”
“How old are you now?”
“34. You are 38 by the way. Your birthday is April 23th.”
“I found my passport. I also found a house at my address in Bath.”
“Oh, the mansion? Is your mother still alive?” Edgar looked up with a smile. He savored the alcohol this time.
“If she lived there, then the answer is no. There was a maid that only knew me.”
“You fired all your servants? Poor Henry. Your butler had been a good man. But true, you never liked them much. You would never say why but you were full of resentment. I always thought your father might have been abusive and you resented them for not helping.”
“We´ll never know now, so your guess is as good as any.” Grenmore´s life sounded far from happy. Maybe he really had been world-weary when Harry took his body. He should have appreciated this young man more. Maybe you had to die once to really enjoy life.
“So your mother is dead. Your father was a soldier too, he died in World War I. You have a sister that became a nun. She lives in a cloister up in Scotland and has cut ties with the family.”
“Sounds like a happy family.” Harry sighed. “So there is no one I have to think of.”
“You said that you have your own family now? That was fast.” Edgar watched him, his eyes heavy with anguish.
“I did not marry. I don´t think I´ll ever be able to.” Even though it was for different reasons than Edgar thought. This way at least, no woman would ever show up claiming to be a fiancee, having born a child by him or anything else. “I adopted a five-year-old boy from an orphanage when I came looking for workers for a factory.”
Edgar blinked in surprise which lowered the anguish by miles. “I don´t even know where to start asking. You opened a factory?”
“Sewing uniforms for the army. I employ a lot of youths whose parents died in the famine.” Or through other means, he never asked. “Right now it´s one boy and five girls. I plan on hiring one or two adults as well. They need a few more role-models than just Margret and me. Margret is my maid, she is seventeen. The boy, Richard, doubles as the gardener. The girls help around the house when they are off work. I started with half a day of work and half a day of school and housework. Now that all can read and write, they work half a day, do their chores in the house and have the rest off.”
“Wow … from demon general to a goody-two-shoes boss. Those are splendid working conditions for a bunch of orphans. You even schooled them.”
“They are humans, same as we are. They should have the same opportunities in life than we have. Being a seamstress is good work but it´s not for everyone. I want them to have choices. I could be drafted back in every day, I want them cared for.”
“True enough.” Edgar sighed deeply. “They might hate you but in wartime they would order you back within a blink of an eye. You are one of the best.”
“Where would they place me? I have a home to come back to now.”
Edgar saddened, his gaze turning down. “There´s no place for you but the front. You did not make friends in the higher offices, Gren. Even your title of general … I don´t think they would keep you here. They would send you back out, claiming they needed someone with the troops.”
“I feared that.” Harry closed his eyes. So World War II was waiting for him here. “Will you be with me again?”
“Nothing would keep me from your side, Gren.” Edgar lay a hand on his.
“Even if I don´t sleep with you?” Harry felt a bit uncomfortable with the gesture but he never had a problem with Charlie´s hugs, so why would he flinch from Edgar´s touches? It wasn´t like the man would try to force himself on him.
“Yeah. Even without sex, we are a great team. Fifteen years of working together, you know? I miss your snarky comments.”
“Maybe you won´t like them once you have nothing to take the edge off afterwards?”
“Gren, I tried to leave you so often, it never worked. This time as well, I could not forget about you. I tried to sleep with others, it just doesn´t work. It´s you or no one.”
“Edgar, really, we won´t go back to the way we were before. I mean it. Please don´t hurt yourself like this.” Because Harry could not do that. He loved Ginny. Even if he never saw her again, she was the only one for him. Maybe it was the same with Edgar and Gren. Why would he disregard Edgar like this when he felt the same? For Harry, it was Ginny or no one. For Edgar, this person was Grenmore Horten.
Edgar just smiled at him and Harry sighed.
“Anything else you´d like to know?”
“Just if you can think of something I still need to know. Old enemies, other ex-lovers, a slighted ex-fiancee. Money I owe or lend, businesses or houses I need to maintain.”
“If there were other ex-lovers, I´d kill you.” Edgar grinned like a wolf again. He had a nice exterior but his core was steel. Unbending and unyielding, Grenmore Horten had been fortunate to find such a partner. “The enemies are more than I can even tell you about. You have slighted and offended about anyone you ever worked with. They wanted to expel you often enough but in the end, they never dared.” The smile mellowed a bit. “I have no idea about your money, we never talked about that. Mine went to my sister, yours to your mother. We only lived with the barest minimum mostly. We had a flat in London but canceled that when you decided to end it. So there is only your mansion and my sister´s house. You gifted everything in our flat to me. I have a few things that belong to you, some honor medals you scoffed at, stuff like that. I also own your uniforms.”
“My factory can sew new uniforms for me if they were needed. Just like my old self, I don´t value medals. So keep my stuff or throw it out, that´s your prerogative.”
“You really are the same at heart.” Edgar supported his head with one arm. “This new you isn´t too bad either. Not as fascinating but a lot more approachable.”
“Still not interested, Edgar.” Harry sighed. He really felt for this man. He would do anything to have Ginny back with him. “I think I´ll go to sleep soon. It´s late now and I have to do the paperwork tomorrow.”
“May I accompany you? I was always the one to do the talking. Diplomacy is not your forte.”
“Don´t you have work?”
“I quit the army with you. It´s a theme, you know?”
Harry just shook his head with a fond smile. “Are you planning on following me home?”
“I just may.” Edgar grinned. “I still haven´t asked about that son of yours. He must be a mini-wolf to meet your criteria for a good son.”
“He´s a snake. Charming until he strikes. My pride and joy.”
“I can´t wait to meet him.” Edgar stared at the bottle of whiskey. “You won´t let me sleep here, will you?”
“You may book another room.”
“Pity.” He got up and walked a few steps. “Okay, I am steady enough for driving. I´ll take your car and join you for breakfast again tomorrow? Let´s say eight o´clock?”
“Please don´t have an accident. You had two glasses of whiskey. You are not fit for driving.”
“You could always fuck me to burn through the alcohol.”
Harry just shook his head.
“Oh well. Then I´ll have to take the road.” Edgar blew him a kiss and took his coat. He turned to the door but froze for a second. “Gren?”
“Edgar?”
“You´ll be here tomorrow, right?”
“Where would I be without my car? It´s a sensible move to assure my compliance.” His tone was light though. Edgar was very likable. Even if they would not be lovers, Harry was sure they could be good friends.
“Just … don´t leave me again, okay?” Edgar hunched in on himself. “I´ll go before I´ll get even more pathetic.” Without waiting for a reply, he left the room and closed the door after him.
Harry just closed his eyes in pain.
He missed Ginny. So much.
