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Harry looked at the house in front of him with fondness. At first glance, it seemed to be quite a regular cottage-style house sitting right on the edge of a forest with smoke merrily puffing out of a chimney and several tools lined up next to the front door. Once you get closer however, the peculiar nature of the house becomes quite clear – everything was much bigger than it would be for an ordinary human.
When Harry walked up to the heavy wooden door, its handle was about the same height as his shoulder with a knocker right beside it. He carefully adjusted the bundle in his arms and made use of the knocker, its magically amplified sound echoing back at him from inside the house.
After several moments heavy footsteps could be heard coming closer and the door opened revealing a man almost twice as tall as Harry with wild, dark hair and a similarly wild beard. “Hello Hagrid,” Harry greeted one of his oldest friends with a smile.
As always most of Hagrid’s smile was hidden behind his beard, but Harry knew it to be big and welcoming. “Harry!”, he boomed, “it’s good teh see yeh. Come on in.” He stepped back and allowed Harry to walk past him into the house.
Inside it was warm and a fire was crackling merrily in the hearth, a stark contrast to the chilly autumn weather outside. For Harry, it always felt a bit like he was a small child walking into the house of a grown-up with the furnishings and utensils being much bigger to accommodate Hagrid.
The half giant immediately went to prepare a pot of tea while Harry took a seat on one of his soft leather armchairs. “How have yeh been, Harry? Are yeh actually supposed teh be out ‘n about?”, Hagrid asked as he swished his wand – still looking absolutely delighted to be able to do so – and floated the tea pot and cups over to the coffee table in front of the fire.
“It’s been a bit of an adjustment, and to be honest I can’t stay too long. Blaise is barely letting me out of his sight.” Harry shook his head with a small smile, quite used to the overprotective antics of his husband. “However, I wanted you to meet the newest addition to our family.”
Harry moved the blanket in his arm revealing the face of his two week old baby girl. Hagrid carefully stepped closer and leaned down to have a better look. She had mocha coloured skin and a tuft of thick black hair that Harry hoped wouldn’t turn out to be as unmanageable as his own. Swaddled in a warm sleeping bag and two blankets, she was sleeping peacefully.
“My, isn’t she precious?”, Hagrid said lowly. “But yeh didn’t have teh come all the way out here after jus’ givin’ birth, Harry.” The young man smiled and reached out to guide his friend’s hand, so his index finger was touching his daughter’s. Instinctually she grabbed on holding the tip of Hagrid’s finger with her much, much smaller hand.
Harry could practically see the half giant melt. “I wanted to tell you before we announce her name to the papers. Uncle Hagrid, meet Ruby Lilian Zabini-Potter.” It was still for a moment. And another. Then an almighty sob shook the man in front of him.
“Oh, Harry,” Hagrid said under tears taking out a handkerchief the size of a tablecloth and wiping his eyes. “Yeh didn’t… but why yeh…” Lost for words, Hagrid sat down on the other armchair blowing his nose noisily. The emotions on his face seemed to be warring between happiness and disbelief.
Harry gave him a minute to come to grips with the news, drinking his tea before he spoke. “You’ve always been a great friend to me, Hagrid and you’ve always been on my side. My daughter’s middle name honours her grandmother, but I wanted her to have her own name and it is inspired by the name of someone who is very dear to me.”
Harry’s words seemed to make Hagrid even more emotional, the half giant smiling widely with tears still trickling into his beard. “I’m… thank yeh, Harry. I’m honoured, I am,” Hagrid said, blowing his nose again. Harry stood up and walked over to lay his hand on Hagrid’s shoulder which he was able to reach now that his friend was sitting down.
“From the moment, I found out that I was pregnant, I knew what I wanted to call the baby if it was a girl and Blaise agreed with me. I’m sure you’ll teach her about friendship and kindness and being passionate about what you do, the way you taught me,” Harry said. A soft smile grew on his face as Hagrid didn’t even seem to be listening to him anymore, but instead started to look at the little girl in Harry’s arms adoringly.
Hagrid reached out and gently stroked Ruby’s stomach with one of his fingers. Ruby stirred slightly, opening and closing her mouth a few times before settling back down and continuing to sleep. Harry wished that he had brought a camera to capture that precious moment. Maybe there was a way to produce magical photographs from pensieve memories. He’d have to ask Hermione about that.
Just then, the bonding bracelet on Harry’s wrist began to warm telling him that Blaise was getting antsy. Gently Harry stepped back and wrapped the blanket more securely around his daughter. “I’m sorry, I wish we could catch up more, but I need to get back home. I don’t want Blaise to threaten me with bedrest again,” Harry smiled, and Hagrid chuckled lowly.
“No worries, Harry. Thank yeh fer stopping by and introducin’ me teh ..Ruby.” Hagrid said her name almost reverently like he still couldn’t quite believe it to be true. Now more than ever, Harry felt like he had made the right choice with her name. Few people had shown him loyalty the way Hagrid had since they first met and he wanted to honour that, honour their friendship.
“It was our pleasure, wasn’t it Ruby?”, he smiled down at the little girl before looking up again, ”thank you for the tea, Hagrid.” On the way to the door, Harry stopped and said, “oh, by the way, you’ll still receive a formal invitation, but I expect you to be there at her blessing during the winter solstice.”
Hagrid smiled widely and nodded. “O’ course, wouldn’t miss it,” he said, starting to sniffle again. They hugged conscious of the precious bundle between them and Hagrid accompanied Harry to the door. “Yeh take care of yer family now, Harry, and yeh know that yer always welcome teh come round fer a visit.”
“I know, you take care as well. I’ll write soon, I promise.” They said goodbye and Harry began the walk back to the ward line so he could call the Knight Bus. Such a short time after giving birth his magic was still a little haywire and he wasn’t allowed to apparate.
“That went well, didn’t it?”, he said to Ruby who of course couldn’t answer him, but reacted to her bearer’s voice with a soft sigh. Harry had a feeling that it hadn’t completely sunk in yet for his friend, that out of all the people in Harry’s life, he had decided to have Hagrid as her namesake. Harry expected a proverbial mountain of rock cakes to arrive in the next few days.
“Oh well, the gnomes seem to like them,” he thought aloud. Finally, he reached the ward line and held out his wand to call for the magical bus which as usual arrived within seconds. “Now to convince your papa that I really don’t need any more bedrest,” he said to Ruby as he spelled an armchair in place with a sticking charm and started his journey home.