Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The unease in the Madrigal household was obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes.  The once happy and excited family of a few days prior was unrecognizable.  Now there was tension in every member of the family, and none more so than the little girl in the middle of it all.  Mirable was a wreck after her failed ceremony, no one had seen the little girl in the three days that had passed since that night.  And while the rest of the family was quick to assure the village that she was okay, that didn't make the glaring problem disappear.  That the gift promised to the youngest's Madrigal on her fifth birthday had disappeared before her very eyes.

This led to Alma standing outside the nursery, trying to think of the best way to comfort her nieta.  Realizing that nothing was going to come to her by just standing outside, she knocked softly on the door.  The quiet sniffles inside paused for a moment but no voice beckoned her entry.  With a quick prayer for her late husband for help through this she cracked the door open just enough to peek inside.

"Mirabel?"  Alma asked the bundle of blankets that covered her youngest granddaughter.  "Can I come in?"

The little girl hiding under her covers nodded and gave another loud sniffle.  The blankets shifted and big brown eyes, red with tears stared up at her.  "Abuela?"

She had seen a lot of terrible things in her lifetime.  But nothing had felt so wrong as seeing her nieta, normally so full of light and joy, looking so sad.  In another world, in another time, this would have been the decline in her family.  Alma would shoved the families youngest away, look for answers that made things worse, and torn her family apart.  But here and now, Alma just wanted to comfort her granddaughter.

So she bundled up the little girl and showered her with assurances that her family loved her, gift or no gift.  That she would always be special and just as much as everyone else in her family.  That the world must have planned bigger things for her.  Little did she know how right she was.

-x-

Mirabel was bored.  Sure she lived in a magic house that was alive, and her family all had amazing gifts beyond her wildest imagination, but somehow she was still bored.  Isa and Dolores had gone out for a girls day, and Camilo was with Tia and Tio Felix for today.  Luisa had promised to play with her when she got back but that would take forever.  She had elected not to go to the town square with Mama today,  the last time she went she had been cornered by a bunch of bullies who said mean things until Isa arrived and threatened to put roses in uncomfortable places.  And Abuela and Papi were both out, who knows where.

This left Mira with one remaining option, so she jogged up the little stairs to her Tio Bruno's room.  She didn't bother knocking and he wouldn't hear her unless he was at the bottom of his room.  Instead she stood at his sand curtain and bellowed inside.

"Tio!  Tio Bruno!  I'm bored!"  She listened as her voice echoed off the cave-like walls, then  giggled and shouted again, "Echo!"  And again her voice bounced off the walls before disappearing.

"Mirabel?  I'm sorry Sobrina I can't come down and play right now, you'll have to wait until I'm finished."  Her uncle's voice echoed from the top of the thousands of stairs, she gave a loud huff and shouted "okay!"  Before making her way back out of her uncle's room, shaking some sand off her shoes.

Well if no one was going to play with her she'd just have to make her own fun.  So she bounced outside and made her way to the edge of the forest nearest to Casita.  Here she found a stick and played an epic duel of defending her home against intruders.  But fighting off invaders takes a lot of energy so she curled up under a tree.  Before she knew it she had drifted off to sleep in the shade of the tree's.

Her dream was a weird one, she wasn't in Casita but she was definitely in a house.  But it looked so dull and lifeless she wondered how anyone lived in it at all.  She walked through the house until she heard crying coming from a little door under the staircase.  When she tried to open it it didn't budge, then she noticed the little sliding bolt keeping the door locked.  Once she had pulled it free, she opened the door.  Inside was a boy around her age, with messy black hair.

"Why are you crying?"  Mirabel asked the strange boy in the closet.  "Are you okay?"

The boy startled and jolted up to look at her, "who are you?"

"I'm Mirabel.  Who are you?"  She asked, while taking in his appearance.  He was as white as a sheet and had big green eyes that looked out behind round glasses.

"I'm Harry. But-how did you get in?  My aunt and uncle went out for the day."  The boy - Harry asked her in a whisper.

"I don't know. I was outside Casita playing when I got sleepy, and then I was here."  She sat down just outside the door "do you live in here, it's very small?"

Harry nodded and poked his head out of the little doorway, glancing around.  The same way Camilo and her did when they were trying to get away with something.  But why would Harry need to get away with leaving his tiny room in his own home?

"Aunt Petunia says they don't have enough space but my cousin Dudley has two whole extra rooms!  And they won't even let me have one!"  Harry said in a weird mix of caution and annoyance.  Suddenly to Mirable sleeping in the nursery sounded far more appealing.  Compared to Harry who slept in a tiny closet.  Just then Harry's stomach rumbled, he wrapped his arms around his stomach and pulled his knees to his chest making a whining noise.

"Oh, are you hungry?"  Mirabel ruffled through her pockets and pulled out an arepa her mama had given her this morning, and she had taken with her as a snack.  "Here you go, my mama made this for me but you can have it."

Harry looked completely stunned at this offer, much to Mirabel's confusion.  But he hesitantly took the arpea and took a bite, and gasped.  Mirabel hadn't noticed before but there was a big bruise on Harry's arm that had healed with the magic of her mama's cooking.  Harry quickly shoved the rest of the food in his mouth and swallowed, almost without chewing at all.

But he seemed to regret this choice as he immediately broke out in tears.  So Mirabel did what all of her family did for her when she was sad and wrapped him in a big hug.  For a second she thought she had messed up as Harry seemed to start crying more at this but he soon leaned into the hug and wrapped his arms around Mirable in return.  Mirabel sat hugging the strange boy in the closet until she suddenly jolted awake to the sound of her Tio calling for her.

"Here Tio!"  She stumbled out of the brush and ran over to be scooped up by her favorite tio.

"There you are Mariposita!  And here I thought you went to find someone better to play with!"  They started making their way back towards Casita.

"I made a new friend Tio!"  She said eagerly, excited to tell him about her adventures in the strange house with the boy behind the little door.

"Really?  Who was this new friend?"  She rushed in front of her tio and started walking backwards to face him while she talked.

"His name is Harry!  He lived in a little room under the stairs of his tio and tias house!  He had black and hair and glasses like mine!"  She beamed while rambling about her adventures.

Bruno could only assume that this was an imaginary friend as Mira had come wandering out of the woods and there was no one named Harry anywhere nearby.  But suddenly his youngest sobrina's face turned sour and serious.  "You know Tio I don't think Harry was very happy.  His room was tiny!  And there was a lock on it from the outside!  And he was crying, so I gave him a hug and an arepa but he cried more after that."

Choosing to ignore those red flags for the moment he slowed his pace to hear the rest.  

"And he had a big bruise on his arm, but mama's food fixed it right away!  But for some reason he was still sad."

"Well, if you see him again you'll just have to cheer him up."  With that his niece got a determined look on her face and nodded before running back into Casita.

-x-

Harry woke up with a shock to hear Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon coming back in and for a second he thought they were going to open the door and let him out.  Instead they walked straight past and Dudley made a face at him through the slots before following his parents to watch the television.  Leaving Harry alone to think about the weird dream he had just had.

A girl with glasses and wild curls had unlocked the door to the cupboard, and talked to him.  She seemed just as confused as he was, and had seemed sympathetic.  It was a nice dream, it was nice to imagine having a friend that no one else knew about who could sneak him food and she had even hugged him.  But he was still locked in the cupboard so Mirabel couldn't be real, besides there was no way she could have gotten into the house in the first place.

Harry was content to have believed it to be a nice dream when he suddenly caught a glance at his arm.  Where a once large purple bruise, courtesy of Uncle Vernon throwing him in the cupboard, now was nothing but smooth pale skin.  He marveled at how the bruise had seemed to disappear in mere hours, when he noticed how his stomach wasn't wracking with hunger as much as it had been.  And there was the faintest taste of cheese in his mouth.

He gasped at what this meant.  The dream had been real, which meant someone had actually come in and been nice and fed and hugged him.  That he wasn't completely alone.  That meant Mirabel was real, and she had come to see him!  Harry had made a friend!

Chapter Text

Soon Mirabel discovered that she could visit Harry almost every night if she wanted too.  If she thought about him before bed she would find herself magically brought to the boring house and could see Harry.  Mirabel quickly realized that Harry got hungry alot, his stomach always seemed to be empty.  She knew Camilo had a really fast met-bowl-sim, whatever that meant, but he was always sneaking snacks so maybe Harry was the same.  So every night after dinner she would sneak a few arepa or treats from her mama into her pockets and kept them in a basket next to her bed.  Each time when she appeared in what she now knew was house #4, again whatever that meant, she would have her basket and her and Harry would have a picnic in his cupboard.

Mirabel always wondered why he was so hesitant to leave the small space but maybe Harry just liked the small room.  On the rare occasion that she convinced him to show her around the rest of the house she had gotten to see what Harry's mean Tio and Tia were like.  He had pointed at a picture on a shelf showing a very large man and a very skinny lady.  Even though they were smiling Mirabel thought that both looked like they had smelled something bad.  And she had not failed to see all the pictures of Harry's huge primo.  Who Harry had (rather accurately in her opinion) called a zit in human form.

While Harry had seemed reluctant to tell her about his family and what he did with them, he was overjoyed to hear anything she had to tell him of the Encanto.  When she first tried to explain where she came from he seemed confused, so she decided to start where Abuela had, with the story of how they got their magic.

"So a really long time ago when my Mami, Tia Pepa and Tio Bruno had just been born, some mean men forced my Abuelo and Abuela to leave their home.  And so they left with a bunch of other people to try and find a new place to call home."  She gestured wildly with her hands as she talked.  "But the mean men had followed them and began chasing after the already weary travelers."

Harry gasped and pulled his blanket tighter around his head, green eyes wide with anticipation.  "The villains were closing in, so my Abuelo Pedro stepped forward to protect his family!"  Mirabel was proud to tell of Abuelo's bravery.  "But they didn't stop and Abuelo Pedro was- lost."

"no…"  Harry whispered, looking close to tears and he aggressively rubbed at his eyes under his glasses.

"But!  In our darkest moment, my family was blessed with a miracle!  And Abuela's candle became a magic candle that won't ever go out!  And it made a new home for her and the travelers who had so recently lost everything.  Our Encanto!"

"our encanto" He parrots back.

"And when my Mami and her hermano and hermana turned five, they got a magic door and a super special gift for each of them.  Tia Pepa can change the weather based on her feelings, mi mama can heal people with her food, and my Tio can look into the future!"

"Wow!  So that's why the food you gave me healed my bruise, cause your mama made it?"  Harry asked, playing with the cookie she had brought with her.  Mirabel nodded, "yes and when each of their babies turned 5…"

"They got magic too?"  Harry's eyes were the size of saucers, as he leaned forward as if he would miss part of the story if he was physically too far away on the other side of the tiny closet.

"Uh-huh!  Mi hermana mayor can make the most beautiful flowers and my prima can hear anything in the Encanto if she wants!  Lulu is the strongest person ever, and Camilo can turn into anybody!"

"So cool!  It must be so fun in your family, I wish I could meet your Mama and thank her for the food, it helps alot!"

"I'll tell her for you."  Mirabel looked thoughtful for a moment, "So, you never told what your mama and papa are like.  And why do you live with your Aunt and Uncle?"

Harry suddenly got a very strange look on his face, then looked very sad.  "My mum and dad are dead.  Aunt Petunia said that they were drunk and got into an accident, it gave me my scar and killed them both."  Harry had started tearing up, so Mirabel held onto his hand, "Dudley once told me that someone dumped me on the doorstep one night.  That's why my aunt and uncle hate me, someone left me without so much as an explanation.  My mom and aunt apparently didn't get along and then she wasn't given a choice in taking me in."

"Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon said I'm a burden that was forced onto them but I can't do anything about it.  I can't leave, I have no friends, no other family.  I'd be alone, more than I am now!"  He sobbed, while Mirabel pulled out her handkerchief.

"Well, you're not completely alone.  You have me now!"  She reassured to the best of her ability.

Harry sniffled, "Mirabel can you promise me something?"

"Okay…"

Harry turned to her, "I need you to promise me your real, not some figment in my head.  Cause right now you're all I have."

"I promise.  I promise I'm real and that you'll always have me."  She patted his hand again but soon felt the little tug she got whenever she was ready to wake up.  "I have to go, but I'll tell mama that you like her cooking!"

Harry sniffed one last time but abruptly woke up, alone I'm his cupboard.  With a dirty handkerchief in his hand.  The initials MM were embroidered into the corner.

-x-

Mirabel was on a mission this morning, she woke up extra early to run down to mama and give her Harry's message then rushed up to her Abuela's room.  She knocked but quickly opened the door without an answer, and rushed over to get some cuddles from her Abuela.

" *yawn* Good morning Mirabel.  Someone is up early."

She wriggled around until she was facing her grandmother and Alma was equal parts confused and amused by the very serious look on her nieta's face.  "Abuela there's a problem and I don't know what to do.  And you're the smartest person in the whole world, so you gotta help me!"

She chuckled at the little girl's enthusiasm, "Alright Mira, what's this big problem?"

Mirabel took a deep breath, "I have a friend and he's really nice but his Tio and Tia are very mean to him.  They don't let him have a room, and they say he's a burden and make him very sad.  And Harry told me last night that his Mami and Papi are dead so he can't go anywhere else.  I just don't know how to help him, he says he's all alone but I don't know how to fix that!"

Whatever she had been expecting it wasn't that.  Bruno had come forward with his concerns about the strange behaviors and life of Mirabel's imaginary friend but clearly things had escalated.

"I- I wanna tell him that if he wants another home- that- well he can come and live here.  But- I don't- I don't…"

"Well,"  Alma said slowly, processing what she had just been told, "if he is indeed as nice as you say, and he really isn't happy where he is.  Then yes your friend can come and live here.  And if he ever does, he can come live in Casita with us?  How does that sound?"

Mirabel's eyes lit up with excitement.  "Really Abuela?  Harry can come live with us!"

"Yes, I don't see why not."  What problems could inviting a five years old imaginary friend cause?

-x-

Harry had spent the last few months getting to know Mirable.  And he could very easily say she was his best friend, and the nicest person on the planet.  She always brought him treats and gave him hugs and told him amazing stories of what her family was like.  Mira was the only person who ever looked happy to see him.  And in turn he was always ecstatic to see her.

Today was rather uneventful as Mira hadn't visited him the night before and he was stuck cleaning the house.  He was in the process of trying to lug the hoover up the stairs when it happened, his foot got tangled in the cord and he went tumbling down the stairs, heavy vacuum following.  The crash was deafening but Harry barely heard it over the cacophony of noise in his head.  His head bounced on the tile and there was a pop in his wrist as things got fuzzy.  His vision was blurry (had he lost his glasses?)  and there was a loud ringing that kept fading in and out of his ears.  Faintly he heard yelling-

Warning Warning Waring

"-roken---last time--estroy-!  -at me-lking-boy!"

There was a sharp pain in his rib and distantly he thought that someone had kicked him.  Whether it was Uncle Vernon or Dudley he couldn't tell, he just knew someone had kicked him, more than once.  Then someone gripped him roughly by the hair and dragged him to his cupboard, he didn't even have the strength to struggle.  He heard the door slam and drifted faintly until his brain started to focus again and the ringing disappeared from his ears.  Unfortunately with the loss of loose consciousness he began to feel the pain from where he had fallen, and something wet and sticky on his face.  He reached with the hand that hurt less and dug Mira's handkerchief out of its hiding place.  He sobbed as the pain rolled over him, he wanted Mirabel, he wanted to see her and smile and talk.

 End of Content warning

He wished with all his heart that he could be with her instead, in her magic world where people were kind and loving.  He wanted his best friend to come in with a smile on her face and tell him that everything would be okay and that he was living with her instead.

Harry Wished.

Then *crack*  darkness

Chapter Text

Mirabel was taking a walk with her sisters, or well- her sisters were walking and she intermittently walked and was carried.  Look, Luisa carrying her on her shoulders made her feel tall, okay?  Isa was pointing at different plants and explaining what they were.  Abuela had insisted they have time to play and relax, so every few mornings they had no chores.  Naturally they were spending it with Mirabel.

"And it's poisonous so you have to be very careful but sometimes the most beautiful things are the most deadly."  Isabella explained, pointing at a peach colored flower that hung down from a large bush.  She said the name but Mirabel had no hope of pronouncing it.

"Kinda like you Isa," Luisa said grinning.

"Hardy har har."  Isa rolled her eyes but couldn't stop herself from smiling as well.

"I wanna walk now."  Mirabel said and Luisa promptly reached up and pulled her off her shoulders.  "You're super scary when you wanna be Isa."

"Only when I have to be."  Isabella conceded.

A loud crack sounded and ten paces in front of them a body tumbled from thin air.  The girls froze at the sudden appearance and Isabella shoved her hermanas behind her.  Peeking from behind her Mirabel recognized a mess of black hair and oversized clothes.

“Harry!”  She cried running from behind Isabella and charging towards her friend.  She groaned weekly.

“Mira- Mira is th-t y’.”  Bleary green eyes looked back at her, tears trailing down pale cheeks.  Something red was running from his hair.  “Hur’s.”

“Harry.  You're gonna be okay.”  She said, panicking at the sight of blood.  “Isa- Isa he’s really-”

“Mira, it’ll be okay.  Luisa can you-”  Isabella hugged her youngest sister, Luisa already figured out what Isabella was asking and carefully picked up the child.

Harry whimpered weakley at being moved and Luisa noticed the large swell to his wrist and carefully placed it over his chest to hopefully not jostle it too much.  Isabella scooped up Mirabel, tears running down the 5 year olds face, and the two girls started running back to Casita.

When the house came in view Casita sensed the urgency and opened the doors directing the girls into the sitting room.  Luisa carefully set down Harry and rushed to the kitchen to get something for him.  Mirabel practically jumped out of Isabella’s arms and ran over to her friend.

“Harry.  You're okay.”  She said, taking the hand that didn’t look as hurt and squeezing it reassuringly.

Luisa came back in and Isabella took the arepa from her, directing her to go into towns and find their mama.  Also calling out for Dolores to find Abuela and come back to Casita, since they had an emergency.  Turning Isabella saw her sister shaking and crying, trying to keep calm while her friend was hurt, and currently dazed and barely conscious.

Taking a deep breath, she moved to the couch and kneeled next to the two.  “Mira, Lu is gonna get Mama.  But I need you to go get Tio Bruno from his tower, okay?  I’ll help Harry and make sure he eats.  Go get Tio, please Mira.”

Mirabel shook all over and her lip wobbled but she nodded, giving Harry’s hand a last squeeze and promising to return soon she ran off towards their uncle's room.  Isabella took another deep breath and turned her attention towards the bleeding 5 year old.

“Harry, right?  Mira told me a bit about you, and I’m sure she’s talked about us, Mira likes to talk about everyone and everything.  I’m Isabella, her big sister.  I know that it hurts but I need you to eat this okay, it’ll help okay.  Just a few bites and then you can go to sleep.”  She said, hand shaking slightly she held the arepa up for him.  He mumbled weakley.  “Please, for me.  For Mira.  Please Harry.”

Finally the kid took a small bite, he choked slightly when he swallowed but ultimately he did eat.  The healing magic took effect immediately, and the swelling of his wrist began to fade.  After that Harry managed to take a few more bites, before finally he finished the Arepa.

“Wer’s Mir-bl”  He asked.

“She’s getting our Uncle,”  Isabella told him, and Harry for some reason flinched at the word Uncle.  She corrected.  “Our Tio.  She ran to get our tio and then she’ll be back.  Any minute.”

As if on queue Mirabel ran back into the room, dragging Bruno by the arm before releasing him and sprinting back over to Harry.  Bruno stared at the kid, healed but still covered in blood.

Isa gestured back out of the room and her and Bruno stepped back into the courtyard, keeping Mirabel and Harry in sight.

“Colibríta, what's happening?  Who is that?”  He asked, looking at his niece who looked horribly shaken.

“Mirabel's imaginary friend.  He’s real.  We were walking and he just- appeared.  There was a loud crack and he just fell out of thin air- from nowhere!  And he was bleeding and his arm was all swollen.  He was hurt real bad.  I got him to eat one of Mama’s arepa’s, Lu went to get her.”  Isabella said shakily.

For the love of- she was 11 and had just seen a kid half dead and had to save him.

“Isabella, niña, go get changed okay?  I’ll handle this till the others are back.  You did really good Colibríta.”  He told her, giving his shaking niece a hug.  “Go get changed.”

She mumbled some form of affirmation and hurried to her room.

He went back in and turned his attention to his other sobrina, who was holding tightly to one of the kids hands and quietly telling him that everything would be okay.

“Mirabel.” he said, resting a hand on his niece's shoulder.  “It’ll be okay Mirabel.”

“I- I know.  I’m just making sure Harry does.”  She insisted, still shaking all over.  There was no distracting her with something else then.

“Come here kid.”  He picked her up and sat down, Mirabel in his lap, right next to Harry so Mirabel could still reach him.  “He’ll be okay.  Isa gave him an arepa, and you know Juil can heal anything.  He just needs to sleep okay?  You’ll be right here when he wakes up.”

Mirabel finally broke, turning and burying her face in Brunos ruana, sobbing.  “Why is- why’d they hurt him tio?”

“Because sometimes people are bad, and they hurt people who don’t deserve it.”  He told her.  “But it’ll be okay.”

“Promise?”  She said, peeking at him.

“Promise.”  He told her and gave her a tight hug.  “You and I will make sure, right?”

“Abuela- she said he could stay with us.  Do you think he will?”  she asked.

“Oh absolutely, I mean I can’t think of a better family to take care of a kid who can teleport, can you?”  He said, earning a small giggle from the 5 year old.  But the little girl had finally run out of steam after the intensity of the afternoon.

She started drifting to sleep and Bruno carefully lifted her from his lap and set her in his previously occupied spot.  Mirabel mumbled a sleepy thank you and curled up around a pillow.

There was noise from the courtyard and Burno quickly left and held up a finger to his mouth so the family would know to be quiet.  He didn't want to wake up either child.

"Luisa, you should probably go shower.  Dolores, can you help her with the tub?"  Abuela said, more than a little disturbed at the trace amounts of blood on the 8 year old.  Both nodded and went upstairs

"Where's Mira?"  Camilo asked.  "Is she okay?  I wanna see her!'

"She's just fine, Camaleón."  Bruno reassured him.  "But I have a super special mission for you before you can go see her.  You remember where the spare sheets are?"

"Yeah, in the closet down the hall."  The five year old said very seriously, after all his Tio was giving him an important job.

"I need you to go get some sheets and put them on your old bed in the nursery okay?  We're gonna have a guest in there for a bit so he needs somewhere to sleep."  He glanced at the parents, asking for volunteers to help him, because the boy could barely make his own bed, much less change sheets.

"How bout' I help you Milo."  Augustin offered, catching on.

"Yeah!  We'll get it done super quick, because I'm super fast and you're super tall.  Come on Tio."  And Camilo charged down the hall towards the linen closet.

"When you're done, go check on Isabella, I think she's a little in shock about everything."  He whispered.

Augustin nodded and followed the excited five year old.  The rest of the adults closed their circle again and moved a little further from the sitting room, but still close enough to hear if anything was wrong.

"What's going on?  Dolores just said there was an emergency."  Pepa asked.

"You know Mirabel's imaginary friend that she talks about.  The one that sleeps in the tiny room and always seems hurt and hungry?  Well not so imaginary and he apparently teleported in front of the girls while knocking on death's door."  Bruno said, gesturing to the other room.  "He's asleep in the sitting room, Isa got him to eat but he's still covered in blood.  Mirabel is in there too."

"So Harry is a real person?  I mean a guess that assuages some fears we had about Mirabel's mental health but it adds a whole new host of concerns.  Namely that it sounds like he's being abused."  Alma said, thinking again about all the different weird things Mirabel had said about her friend that had caused concern. "And if he teleported…"

"Then he's magic."  Felix concluded.  "We know now that there are other people with magic, and possibly that they aren't treated well because of it."

"That poor boy."  Julieta said, eager to go and make sure that things were okay.  Both with this new niño and with her youngest daughter.  "What do we do now?"

"Mama, Mirabel said that you told her Harry could live here right?"  Bruno asked.

"Yes, but at the time we still thought he was all a dream.  I don't know if we're the best people to handle this."  Alma thought harder.  "For now it is probably best that he stays though.  If he has been abused up until now some things might need more than one healing.  And not to mention he's probably scared out of his mind and the only person he'll know is Mirabel.  Yes, he'll stay here for now."

"Good cause Camilo wouldn't want his special mission to be for nothing."  Felix joked trying to pull them from the somber mood, if just slightly.

"I'll check on them.  And then Isabella, and Luisa.”  Julieta rushed over to the sitting room.

“Tio! We did it!”  Camlio cheered from the second floor.

“We should move them.  And do something about the blood.”  Alma said.

“I’ll help.”  Felix followed Julieta, Pepa right behind him.

“This is going to be rough.”  She said,  “For more than the first time I wish we had a therapist in Encanto.”

“It’s not like we can bring one in.  ‘Hello, would you be willing to move away from all your friends and family to live in a remote village and deal with the physiological issues of the magic family that runs the place?’  That would go well.”  Bruno sighed.

“Your attempts to hide your stress with humor has not escaped me.  You handled things until we got home.”  Alma assured her son.

“More like Isabella handled things.”  He mumbled.

“Can you not self-depreciate for one compliment?”  She begged.

“Let’s focus on the kids' issues first?”  Bruno asked.

“I shouldn’t have let it get to the point that we all had issues in the first place.”  Alma had started realizing both how co-dependent the village was becoming, and how that had affected her family.  Mirabel not getting a gift was the wake up call that made her realize they were practically strangling the magic they relied on so much.  Now she was sure though, Mirabels ceremony hadn’t failed, she just was meant for something else.

“You're doing a lot better.”  Bruno reminded her.

“It took me 40 years, that's too long to do better.”  She insisted.

“Can you not self-depreciate for one compliment?”  He parroted back.

“You said Isabella did good.”  Alma said, looking towards her oldest granddaughter's room.

The subject change was far from subtle.  Bruno realized that he got a lot more in personality from his mother than he thought.

“She took charge.”  He started giving a run down of the events.

Chapter Text

Dumbledore had received no less than 8 owls from Arabella Figg within a week.  She had expressed many concerns over Harry’s treatment for the past 5 years but within this week she had been beside herself.  Convinced that Harry had either run away or died.

Dumbledore knew Harry wasn’t dead, he had multiple ways of ensuring this.  But Harry running away was a problem, Lily’s wards wouldn’t be able to protect him if he left.  So Dumbledore finally decided it was high time to at least check that Harry was still there.  If not he’d just have to track him down and bring him home, if he was then he could tell Arabella to stop worrying and don’t owl him for false alarms.

Thus he was standing in front of Number 4 Privet Drive for the first time in almost 5 years.  Immediately he cast a spell to check the wards.  It- well it didn’t bode well…

While the wards were still in place they had clearly not been renewed by Harry’s presence in a few days.  Logically this could happen if they had just gone on vacation for a few days, but with Arabella’s warning he made haste to the front door.

Knocking resulted in a few moments of silence before Vernon Dursley yanked the door open and barked what he wanted.  The man promptly paled at the sight of who was at the door, Dumbledore took a glance into the home.  Petunia Dusely seemed to be cleaning the floors at the base of the stairs.

“What do you think you're doing here?  What if you’ve been seen?”  He hissed angrily.

“I assure you I took precautions and can not be seen.  I am here to enquire after Harry.”  He said, faux calm expression and tone doing nothing to calm the fuming man.

“Well he’s not here.  The little freak is gone.”  Vernon Dursley huffed.

“What do you mean?  When did he disappear?”  Dumbledore asked urgently.  “What have you done to find him?”

“Freak fell down the stairs and destroyed the hoover.  Could care less where he ended up, if you find him don’t bring him back.”

“When.”  He demanded.

“Week ago.”  Vernon went to close the door.

“Vernon there’s no getting them out.”  Petunia complained and Dumbledore stopped the door from closing to take a closer look at what she was trying to clean.

Blood.

“Goodbye.”  Vernon grunted, urging the door closed.  “Don’t ever bother us again.”

The door slammed closed.

Dumbledore stood staring at the door.  He had known that Harry’s relatives maybe weren't the best people, but they were so eager to let him possibly die.  He wouldn’t be returning Harry here once he found him.  He’d find a wizard family to take him in, the weasleys perhaps.  It wasn’t ideal, it changes a lot of plans but the wards would do nothing to keep Harry safe if the people inside would be the ones to kill him.

Rushing to Arabella’s house he promptly had her call the police, she told them she was concerned for one of the neighbor boys safety.  The officers came and of course saw the blood, and found the multiple signs of abuse in the household.  The Dursleys were taken away in handcuffs for child abuse and possible murder.  Their son wailed as he was taken in a different police car, most likely to be checked for signs of abuse and placed with a temporary guardian.

Dumbledore didn’t care to follow the cases of the Dursleys after that.  He never found out that they were both convicted of child abuse and the Murder of Harry James Potter.  He never found out that their 5 year old son was placed into a foster family when his aunt was deemed unsuitable to care for him.  He never found out that Dudley grew up to realize that his parents were evil people who got his cousin killed, and became a better person under his newly adopted family's guidance.  

Dumbledore never found out about any of it.  But it still happened.

+x+

Harry woke up slowly, which was a rarity since he was so used to the sharp rap of Aunt Petunia on the cupboard or Dudley running down the stairs shaking his tiny rooms.  But he woke up slowly, head still pounding but less than when he fell asleep.

He felt something wet on his face.  Why was his face wet?  There was light pressure and the wet thing moved away, something had been touching his face but it was gone now.

He grumbled confused, trying to squint his eyes open but everything was blurry, were his glasses off?

“You waking up kiddo?”  Someone asked.  It didn’t sound like anyone he knew.

“Wha…”  Harry squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again trying to force some of the blurriness away.

“You're okay niño.”  The voice said, and Harry could make out a large amount of green, not the scary that he saw in his nightmare right before he woke up, or the vibrant green of his eyes, but the kind of green that he saw in pictures of parks with large grassy fields to run in.  All of the parks near him didn’t have grass, or the grass was all brown even in spring.

“Hur’s”  He slurred.

“I’m sorry.  My sister is making something that will hopefully help with your head.”  The voice reassured him.

Why did his head hurt?  The more he thought about the more memories resurfaced, tears welled up in his eyes.  Oh gosh he died didn’t he?  Uncle Vernon finally killed him like he had threatened in the past.

“No no no.  You're okay, you're okay.  You’re not there anymore, I promise.”  The voice reassured and Harry just sobbed more.

“Wan- Mira.”  He wanted his friend.

“Mirabel is right here, oh- she’s asleep.  Um- Uh, can I pick you up?”

“Mira-”  He sobbed.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”  And warm hands carefully scooped him up and Harry whimpered at the movement, burying his face in the green whatever that was holding him.  “Here you go, here's Mira.  Look.”  

He turned his head barely and saw a blur of dark hair and brown skin and he whined reaching a hand towards his friend.  Mira wasn’t supposed to be dead too!  Maybe he was just a ghost and that's why he could see her, that would be better.  At least then Mirabel would be okay.

The green settled him next to Mirabel and he grabbed onto her, the other hand still fisted in the green fabric that had been holding him.  He kept crying but was quieter, no one liked it when he cried, much less if he was loud about it.

“It’ll be okay.  Go back to sleep kiddo,”  The voice said, and he tightened his grip on the green to make sure it wouldn't leave.  But he was so exhausted he barely lasted another minute before falling back asleep.

Julieta came up a minute later to see her brother holding very still as a five year old clung to his ruana for dear life.  Mirabel had at some point wrapped an arm around her friend and he had curled up into a little ball.

‘What do I do?’  Bruno mouthed.

“Let him have it.”  Julieta whispered, shrugging.  “Or sit there.”

Bruno very carefully twisted out of his ruana and Julieta really wished she had a camera, because her brother silently trying to free himself without waking the child was absolutely adorable.  Honestly she had the best hermanito.

Finally free he went back to sitting, this time on the floor leaning against Mirabel's night stand.  Almost as if keeping watch.  “If he wakes up again I’ll call you, he said his head hurts still.”

“You do that.  I have a few lighter broths made up since we don’t know if he can stomach anything heavier.”  She nodded and slipped back out of the nursery.

“Sleep well kid.”  Bruno mumbled.

Harry just pulled on the ruana until it mostly covered him, using it as a blanket.

+x+

“Harry?”  Someone was shaking him.

“Shh.. No Mariposita.  Let him sleep.”  A vaguely familiar voice said.

“But Tio-”

“No Buts.  He’s been through a lot and right now he needs sleep.” The voice said.

The shaking stopped and he heard a pouty huff.

He knew that huff.  “Mrra?”  He mumbled.

“Harry?  You awake?”  oh it was Mirabel.  He was with Mirabel.

“Mirabel?”  He blinked his eyes open and tried to take in his surroundings.  He was laying on a really soft bed and had a blanket over him.  Mirabel was peering at him from where she was on her knees next to him.

“You are awake!”  Mirabel cheered but quieted at Harry’s flinch at the volume.  “Where are your glasses?”

“I don- know.”  He mumbled, scooching closer and shoving his face in Mirabel’s skirt.

“Niño do you think you can eat something before going back to sleep?”  And Harry jumped, having forgotten that there was another person here.  They sounded like an adult, adults didn’t like Harry.

“Who are you?”  He twisted to see the other person looking up only to adjust his view as the adult was actually sitting on the ground.

“Harry, this is my Uncle.”  Mirabel said.

Bruno saw Harry flinch hard at the word ‘Uncle’ and noted that.  If that word was a trigger they should avoid it.

“I’m Mirabel’s Tio,”  He said, noticing that Harry had no such reaction to the second term.  That was good, they primarily used the terms anyway so they would be less likely to slip up.  “My name is Bruno.”

“hello.”  he said weakly.  Mriabel had told him all about her family, including her Tio Bruno.  But he knew people often treated their family very differently than how they treated Harry.  He wasn’t sure that them being nice to Mirabel would extend to him as well.

“Hi Harry.  Mirabel told us a lot about you.  I’m really sorry you got hurt, do you think you can eat something?”  He asked.

“Is it like- like the stuff Mira brings.  The- magic stuff?”  He asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, it's mi hermanas food.  It heals.”  He nodded, seemingly unbothered by Harry asking questions.  “She made some soup if you feel up to eating it.”

That sounded really good, he noticed that his stomach was starting to cramp again.  The food Mirabel usually brought always sat heavy in his stomach and sometimes he threw up later because of it.  But it always made the pain in his stomach go away for a bit, and made all of his bruises go away.

Harry nodded.

“Alright.  I’m gonna go tell Juli, Mira’s mama.  You and Mirabel can talk, I’m sure you’ve got a lot of questions.”  With that Bruno carefully got up, making sure to leave plenty of space between him and the kids in case it scarred Harry.  He shut the door behind him.

Harry held his breath till Mirabel's Uncle left and then waited a few seconds to make sure he wasn't going to come back in.  Then he turned to his friend.  “Mirabel?  Where are we?”

“We're in Casita.  Casita, this is Harry, say Hola.”  Mirabel said and he watched in astonishment as the shutters of Mirabel's window opened by themselves as if waving.

“Wow.”  Harry said in wonder.  “H-hello Casita.”

Casita bounced the tiles on the sill happily.

“Mira am I really- I’m actually here?  With you?”  He asked, squeezing her hand as if to check if she was real.  “This isn’t a dream right?”

“No.  I was awake when you came.  I don’t know how you got here but you were really hurt.  Isa gave you some of Mama's food though, so you're not hurt anymore!”  She said happily, squeezing his hand back.

“She’s your sister right?”  He confirmed.

“Sí, mi hermana mayor.”  She said sitting criss-cross on her bed.  “This is my room, or well It’s the nursery, but Abuela said we can make it feel more like my room since I’ll be staying in here.  She thinks Casita is really tired from all the magic so I don’t have a magic room, but maybe one day.  But Tio said that you can stay here with me so it’ll be our room!”

“Wow.”  Harry had never had a real bedroom, but now he was getting to sleep on a real bed and share a room with his best friend.  He pointed at the other bed in the room.  “Is that my bed?”  

“Yep, and we can get you blankets, and covers in any color you want.  And!  And, I think If I move my toy chest to the foot of my bed then you can have your own nightstand.”  Mirabel excitedly told him about  her different plans to give him more space.

Harry listened while looking around the room.  The bed he was using had a cream colored comforter and two big pillows, two!  Mirabel’s bed was similar but her comforter was a blue-ish teal color that he had grown to associate with Mirabel.  Though the blanket he currently had was green, and really small.

“That's my Tio’s ruana.  You kinda stole it.”  Mirabel said, taking it and holding it up.  It looked like a poncho, Aunt Petunia said that they looked tacky but Harry thought they looked warm.  He immediately wished he hadn't done something stupid like steal one from Mirabel's uncle.  He was going to be in so much trouble for that.

Oh gosh, he had just gotten here and he was already messing it up.  They were going to throw him out or send him back or-

The door opened and a kind looking woman entered holding a tray, a slightly older girl with long black hair followed her in and shut the door.

“Isa!”  Mirabel held up her arms and the girl came over and scooped up Mirabel and spun her around.  Mirabel giggled madly until Isabella set her back down and sat on the edge of the bed.  “Harry, this is Isa and my Mama!”

“Nice to finally meet you Harry.”  Julieta said “Mirabel tells me you're quite the fan of my cooking.  I have some lunch for you two if you feel up to eating.”

“Thank you ma’am.  For all the food, a-and this food.  Thank you.”  He stuttered, looking down because his aunt didn’t like looking him in the eyes.

“You’re very welcome, I’m glad you liked it.  How about I leave this with you?”  She set down the tray on the nightstand.

“Can I sit with you for a while?”  Isabella asked from where she had sat silently at the edge of the bed.

Harry looked between Mirabel, Julieta, and Isabella.

“You can say no.”  She added.

“You can stay.”  Harry decided.  Mirabel obviously trusted her sister, and Isabella had allegedly been the one to heal him.

Isabella smiled and Mirabel took this opportunity to fall into her sister's lap and start begging for flowers.  Isabella just gave a small sigh and smiled while conjuring flowers from nothing into her hand.  Harry stared in wonder as Mirabel began clumsily trying to tie them into a flower crown.

Julieta smiled at them and turned to leave.

“W-wait.”  Harry stuttered immediately looking down.  Still he held up the- ruana?  Is that what Mirabel called it?  Regardless he held it up.  “Can you give this back to Mr. Bruno.  I’m sorry for taking it, I didn’t realize until-  I’m sorry.”

Julieta just gave him a patient smile and took it from him.  “I’ll give it back.  And don’t worry about apologizing, mi hermanito didn’t mind.”

Harry didn’t look up and just shrugged.

Deciding it would probably be best to drop it Julieta left to go find her brother.

“Mira you still have to eat your lunch, you can finish your flower crown.”  Isabelle gently reminded her sister.

“But Isaaaa…”  She whined.

“Food first.”  Isabella insisted.

Mirabel huffed but climbed out of her sister's lap, clambering over to grab her bowl of soup, handing the other one to Harry.  He carefully took it and sat trying to ensure he didn’t spill anything on Mirabel’s bed.

The soup was delicious, Harry was tempted to forgo the spoon and just drink straight from the bowl but didn’t.  No one wanted a slob in their house.  As he ate he felt his headache start to fade.

“Do you have a favorite flower Harry?”  Isabella asked as she leaned back against the wall.

Harry hadn’t really thought about it before.  He didn’t like a lot of the plants in Aunt Petunia's garden.  They were always stiff and trimmed, and so boring to look at.  Maybe.

“I think I like lilies.”  He said, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon hated lilies but someone apparently sent them every year.

“Hmm.  And do you have a favorite color?”  Isabella asked.  “Mira slow down, you’ll choke.”

Mirabel stuck her tongue out at the sister but did slow down from where she had been rushing.

“I like green.”  Harry mumbled.

“Alright let's see.”  Isabella waved her hands and an assortment of flowers appeared in her hands.  She set them in her lap and began weaving them together.  “Lilies of course.  Marigolds for inner light and strength.  Cosmos, orange for healing, white for innocence.  And clovers to tie it together with some good luck.”

Placing the clover in the vines Isabella offered Harry the flower crown.  Harry just stared at the offered gift, Mirabel took the initiative to take it from Isabella and place it on his head.  It settled in his hair, not too tight but it didn’t slide around either.

“Th-thank you.”  He said, reaching up and carefully feeling the soft petals of the flowers.

“And here, you can have this one just by itself.”  She said making one last lily, bigger than the ones she used in the crown and handed it to him.

“I- Thank you.  Thank you.”  He said carefully holding the flower.  Quietly he mumbled something that Isabella barely caught.  “my momma's name was lily.”

“That's really sweet.”  Isabella said.

“My favorite flowers are Hello-tope.”  Mirabel said proudly.

“You mean heliotrope.”  Isabella gently corrected.  Then whispered.  “Can you guys keep a secret?”

Mirabel nodded eagerly, Harry nodded too but slower.

“My favorite flowers aren't really flowers.  They're really just weeds but they have flowers on them.  And when they spread their seeds they look really fluffy.”  Isabella whispered as if she had just told them some big secret.

“Why don’t you grow them?”  Harry asked.

“I do sometimes but they’re really delicate and they spread a lot.  There would be weeds everywhere if I grew them all the time and then there wouldn't be space for all the other flowers.”  Isabella said, shrugging.  “I have some in my room, they’re great for making wishes.”

“Wishes?”  Mriabel said wide eyed.

“Mmhm, here look.”  Isabella conjured three dandelions, and they rapidly aged from yellow flowers to their puffed cotton ball shape.  She handed them each one and went over to open the window.  The two kids quietly followed behind her.  “You think really hard about your wish, then you tell the flower.  But don’t let anyone else hear.”

Mirabel and Harry looked at each other before cupping their hands around the flowers and whispering something.  Isabella did the same.

“Now you blow on them to make all the seeds fly away, and they take the wish with them.” 

“How does that make the wish come true?”  Mirabel asked.

“Not sure, ready?”  She said opening the shutters and blowing on the dandelion causing the seeds to catch the breeze and fly off.   Harry and Mirabel copied her.

“I’ve gotta go, I have a few chores to finish. It was nice to actually meet you, Harry.”  She said, dropping the stem out the window, then slipping back out of the room.

Dolores was five feet away and immediately fell into step with her.  “He’s less nervous now.  Both because he’s alone with Mirabel and because I think he likes you more than with either of the adults he’s met.”

“You're snooping.”  Isabella said mockingly.  Dolores would insist up and down that she doesn’t like getting involved in gossip.  Truthfully she just likes to keep the gossip to herself and sometimes tell Tio since he tended to have his own gossip about the future.  Isabella was so jealous not that she’s admit it.

“I’m concerned.”  She said before quieting.  “You know when you did the whole Dandelion wish thing?”

“It was less than two minutes ago, what about it?”  Isabella asked.

“They both wished for the same thing.”  Dolores said and the two girls shared a look before moving on.  It wasn’t hard to guess what they wished for.

Chapter Text

Harry had begun warming up to the family slowly.  And by the family they mean the kids, as he had only really let himself relax when there were no adults present.  Isabella had managed to break down some sort of barrier and he had begun to open up to the youngest Madrigals, so long as Mirabel was with him that is.

He had taken to wearing the flower crown Isabella gave him, and she replaced the flowers whenever they began to wither.  Camilo had shown immense restraint and lasted all of 12 hours before entering the nursery with an armful of clothes.

“Tia said that you didn’t have clothes that fit super well, so you can borrow mine until we can get you new ones!”  He said holding up a light brown shirt and black slacks.

Harry had carefully taken the clothes.  “Thank you.  You don’t- I don’t need new clothes.”

“Sure you do.  You need to have clothes that fit and that you like.”  Mirabel said.  “I’ll wait outside so you can change.”

“You’ll be right outside though right?”  Harry asked, voice wavering with concern.

“Yeah of course.  Um, I’ll talk the whole time so you know I’m still there.  Come on Cami.”

Mirabel shut the door and immediately started talking about a dress she had seen in town, how it had a gradient skirt that made it look like the ocean.  Camilo added the occasional comment but Mirabel rarely took a break for more than breathing.

“I’m done.”  Harry said, as loudly as he dared through the door.

Both Madrigals came back in and Camilo sat down on the floor while Mirabel sat on her desk, legs swinging.  Harry had returned to his spot curled up on Mirabel’s bed, he tended to just cycle between that spot and the other bed in the room.  Harry still struggled with grasping that it was his now.

“What should we play?”  Camilo asked.

“Princesas y Caballeros?”  Mirabel suggested.

“How do you play that?”  Harry asked.

“It’s easy, you can be the princess first, or prince I guess.  Cami can be the knight and I can be a dragon.”  Mirabel said, she handed him a pillow “Here, the bed can be your castle.  Now Cami is going to try and save you from the dragon- that's me.”

“I wish we had swords.  It’s way more fun like that.”  Camilo mumbled.

Harry still didn’t quite understand the game by the time Camilo allegedly saved him but he had fun occasionally throwing pillows to ‘help in the fight’ while he was still in the castle.

A quiet knock on the door ended the game.

“Come in!”  Mirabrel cheered from her spot buried under a pillow.

Dolores peeked her head in “It’s about lunch time.  I was wondering if you three wanted to join Isa, Lu, and I for a picnic.

Harry hadn’t left Mirabel’s room for more than bathroom breaks since arriving in Casita.  It was more than a little nerve wracking but Harry didn’t want to hold Mirabel and Camilo back from spending time with their siblings.  

Maybe it would be nice to spend some time outside.

+x+

“Where are all the kids?”  Augustin asked, seeing only the adults at the table for lunch.

“Having a picnic.”  Julieta said.  “Harry is with them.”

“I’m glad he’s going outside.”  Alma nodded.  “He’s been cooped up in that room, and while I understand why she sticks with him I’m sure Mirabel is excited to get out again.  That girl can’t sit still to save her life.”

“So that's where the kids are.  So where Bruno?”  Augustin asked, the rest of the room turned to look at his seat.

“He was here a minute ago, how did none of us see him leave?”  Pepa asked, peeking into the hallway to see if she could spot her brother,

“He’s a sneaky one.”  Felix shrugged.  “He might just be in the bathroom.”

“I’m going to go check.”  Pepa stood and went to move around the table, and promptly jammed her foot on the table leg.  “Ah!  Son of a-”

“Language!”  Alma shouted.

Pepa fell to the floor dramatically grabbing her foot as thunder flashed outside and rain hit the area immediately around Casita.  “Why can’t I curse?  It’s not like any of the niños are here to hear it?”

“No but your daughter can.”  Alma freminded.

“Oh Dolores had heard way worse I guarantee!”  Pepa fumed while her husband helped her up and Juleita handed her a slice of bread that she had made previously.  “She’d curse like a sailor if she wanted.”

“That doesn’t mean we need to encourage it.”  Alma said, but couldn’t stop herself from imagining her neita’s potential vocabulary being used on some poor soul.

The rain had cleared almost as soon as it had started, being just a flash of pain and frustration.  Bruno walked back into the kitchen holding an armful of umbrellas that were dripping.  He dropped them unceremoniously in the umbrella stand.

“What were you doing?”  Pepa huffed, falling back into her seat.

“Brought the kids umbrellas, didn’t want them getting soaked.”  he explained.

“You could have just told me I would have stubbed my toe!  Jerk.”  she threw the last bit of her bread at him.

“Ah yes.  So you could hurt your foot kicking me while I’m down.  As you took it so well the last time I told you it would rain.”  He rolled his eyes and laid his head on the table.  “I am so out of shape.”

“You ran, didn't you.”  Felix said, trying not to laugh at his brother- in-law's predicament.

“Hate you all.  All of you.  Not the kids though.”  Bruno said without raising his head from the table.

“Should we talk while there are no young ears to overhear us?”  Alma suggested.

“Good a time as any.”  Augustin agreed.

“I guess I’ll start.”  Juleit said, sitting in her seat.  “I’ve gone over the symptoms of repeated starvation.  From the small amounts he’s been eating it’s pretty likely.  I have recipes for lighter foods so we can hopefully build up his appetite again.”

“The library doesn’t have much on abuse victims and recovery.  We're flying blind in that department, we can ask the traders to look for information when they next leave but that will take a while.”  Augustin said, shaking his head.  The Encanto had been lucky enough to not have any abuse cases  in its time, at least known ones.  But that also meant they had little to nothing when it came to knowledge on such things.

“Before Camlio left he said Harry acted weird at the idea of us buying him clothes.  With that and the clothes he showed up in not fitting I think it’s safe to assume he didn’t have much that was his.  He treats the flowers Isabella gives him like their gold and looks about ready to cry whenever she gives him a new one.”  Felix added.

“While it’s probably best to have him pick out the majority of his necessities, I think we should definitely get him some of his own clothes soon.  Enough to last until he feels up for shopping.”  Alma nodded.  “Can I ask you two to do that?”  

Pepa and Felix nodded, maybe they could at least get his favorite color and work with that.

“Bruno, you’ve had the most interactions with him since he got here.  Anything?”  ALam asked.

Bruno raised his head and moved his hand in a so-so motion.  “Most interaction meaning like 4?  All of which were short?  I guess- he started panicking when he first woke up until he found Mirabel.  He’s always squinting and Mirabel mentioned he wore glasses before so he probably left them wherever he was.”

“The word ‘uncle’ seemed to be a trigger word and ‘aunt’ probably would have a similar reaction.  But he didn’t react when I said Tio so that's easy enough to make sure we stick to.  Just now he flinched at the thunder, so loud noises?  But he didn’t seem all that bothered by the rain; he actually stuck his hand out to feel it for a second.  Maybe it was just familiarity?  I’m still not quite sure what his accent is, but I mean, how many places does it not rain?”

“That’s more than we had before hermano.”  Juliet said, giving him a hug.

“I guess.”  He shrugged.

“So we have some sort of direction.”  Alma said.  “We may be out of our depth but we're figuring it out.  Thank you, all of you for all the work you’ve put in.  I know this is a rather stressful situation.”  Alma told her kids gratefully.

“Mama we're home!”  Dolroes called, ensuring they stopped before any of the kids heard.

“Hi mija.”  She called and they all turned to peer out to the courtyard.  The sight made them all smile.

Lusia was walking happily with Mirabel and Camilo under each arm, both were giggling madly covered in dirt.  Sitting on her broad shoulders was a far more clean Harry who was holding on carefully as to not accidentally fall and to not pull Luisa hair on accident.  A newer flower crown sat on his head and Camilo's poncho was thrown over his shoulders, no doubt removed before the messiness began.

“Mira and Cami decided to play in the mud.  And I didn’t want Harry to feel left out.”  She explained before starting upstairs towards the bathroom.  Harry gave them a sheepish smile and small wave which the adults returned.

“I should get them a change of clothes.”  Felix jumped up to do just that.

“Those kids are miracle workers.”  Alma smiled.

Chapter Text

Harry was starting to get brave enough to wander Casita, but never without Mirabel nearby.  Today though she apparently had something to do first thing in the morning.  So Harry’s plan was to sit in Mirabel's room until she came back.

Dolores was keeping an ear out just in case something went amiss. Harry sounded like he was sitting still, not asleep as his heart rate and breathing didn’t even out like it should.  He was just sitting there, not moving.

She knocked on the door to the nursery.

“Um- Mirabel’s not here.”  A quiet voice said from the other side of the door.

“I know.  I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out.”  She said, still through the door.

“Oh um.  You can come in.”

Dolores opened the door.

“Your hair ‘s down.”  Harry commented.  As expected he was sitting on the room's spare bed knees curled up to his chest.  His flower crown was on the nightstand and he was spinning a lily between his fingers.

“I wanted to wear dutch braids today, I was wondering if you could help me.”  She held up a bag with her products and styling tools.

“I don't- um.”  He spun the flower between his fingers again.

“Know how to braid?  It’s okay, I just need you to hand me the stuff while I do it.  Then I can show you how to braid hair.  Only if you want to though.”  She finished.

“I do!.  Um- yes, I wanna help.”  He said, jumping at his own loud voice before immediately quieting down.

“Okay.  Here, I’ll tell you what I need.”  She layed out each item on the bed and explained what they were for.  Then she began working through her curls asking Harry for her product or comb before finally tying off the braids.

“You're really pretty.”  Harry said, giving her the last hair tie.

“Thank you.  Do you want me to show you how to braid now?"  She asked.

He nodded and Dolores looked around for something easier to use.  Spotting a ball of string from some nebulous project Mirbael had planned gave her exactly what she needed.  Hopefully Mira wouldn't mind if she took a bit.

Clipping a few lengths of string she tied them to a coat hanger and held up her masterpiece.

"We can use this, it'll be easier than hair. At least while you learn the basics.”  She started weaving the thin strands together.  Showing him which goes over and under.  After watching her do it a few times, Harry took the string and clumsily began copying her moments.  It took two restarts, but in the end he had a slightly sloppy but recognizable braid.

“I did it?”  he asked, looking at the string .

“Yep.”  She tied the end in a knot to hold it in place.

“It doesn't look like yours though.”  He said rubbing his fingers on the braid to examine the texture.  Maybe they should get Harry one of those fidget things she saw in town, he seemed less worried whenever he was able to get his hands on something.

“Yeah but that's because hair is different.  I start my braids up at the top and add more hair as I go, so it's smaller at the base and wider in the middle.  Yours is the same amount of string, see?”  She pointed to the different spots.

“Why do you put the stuff in your hair?”  Harry asked.

“Cause my hair is really curly like my papa's, it won't stay in the braid the way I want it to by itself.  So I use a few different hair products depending on how I wear my hair.  When I just put it up with my scarf I don’t have to bother.”  She shrugged.

“My hair is always messy, Aunt Petunia tried to cut it off one time but it just grew back overnight.  I can’t get it to sit down..”  He tugged on his black strands in frustration.

“Hmm.  Maybe you just need to try a different way of styling it?  Or if you grow it out you can braid it or tie it up so it stays out of your face.”  Dolores suggested.

“Would you- would you braid it please?”  He asked hopefully.

Dolores was fairly sure this was the first thing Harry actually asked for something, outside of the one time he tried to ask Tia if she could hand him a glass for water.  Key word being tried.  So the obvious answer was-  “Of course.  I can braid it now but they might be kind of short.”

“Really?”  His eyes filled with joy.

“Yeah, let me go get another hair tie.”  She hurried to the bathroom and Casita bounced a few over and a few hair clips.  “Good thinking, gracias casita.”

She hurried back into the nursery and held up her bounty happily.

“Casita thought you might like some clips too, we can put them in the braids.  You can decide whether or not you want to use them, or which ones, while I brush your hair.”  Once he nodded she sat down on the bed and began brushing Harry’s hair out.  Despite its wild nature, Harry’s hair wasn’t too tangled or matted.

Maybe whatever magic grew his hair back overnight also kept it from getting ruined despite his mistreatment.  She wished that wasn’t something she had to wonder.

Once she was sure that all the tangles were out she began plating the hair, taking special care not to tug too hard but also making sure that the hair wouldn’t just fall out.  Once the first braid was done Harry gave her the first hair tie and hesitantly held up a few bronze clips shaped like stars.  She clipped them into place, a bit out of order but who was she to make Harry wait?

When the next braid was done she held up a hand mirror she had swiped from the bathrooms and Harry’s eyes lit up at the sight of his now kempt hair.  Fingers carefully running over the star shaped clips that he could see.

“Thank you!”  He said happily and his face broke into a wide smile.

“I’m glad you like it.  You look great.”  She tilted her head slightly as a sound peaked her notice.  “I think Mirabel is headed back.”

“Can I keep my hair like this?”  He asked.  “I wanna show Mira.”

“Of course, you can leave it up as long as you want.  Just take the clips out when you go to sleep so they don't poke your head.”  She cautioned.  She had the painful experience of waking up only to realize there was a bobby pin left in her hair that had poked at her scalp all night, leaving her head irritated.

“Thank you so much.”  He said again, grin not leaving his face.

“Harry!”  Mirabel burst into the room with her usual force and only gave a moment's pause at finding Dolores there too before flinging herself at her friend to give him a hug.

“Look Look!  Dolores did my hair!”  He said turning a bit so she could see the back.

“Wow!”  She marveld.  “Can you do my hair too Lola?”

Dolroes gave her littlest cousin an amused look.  “You hate having your hair up.  You said and I quote, ‘It pulls on my hair and doesn't bounce anymore.’  Why do you want it braided now?”

“Because then Harry and I can match!”  She exclaimed.  “Please Lola?”

“How about I give you a small braid instead, then it won't be tight but you can still match?”  She compromised.

“Okay!”  Mirael cheered.  “Can it be in the front so I can see it?”

“Sure Bell.  But you have to sit still until I finish.”  She egan weaving a small braid in her cousin's hair, just above her ear.  Still out of the way since it wouldn’t hang in front of her face.  

“Watcha doing?”  Mirabel asked, peering at the string tied to a hanger that Harry was attempting to rebraid.

“Harry and I were practicing braiding. I hope you don't mind but I had to use some of your sting.”  Dolores explained, finishing the braid off with a smaller hair tie and another star clip.

“Oh- Oh.  I have an idea!” Mirabel scrambled off the bed and pulled her craft box from under the bed.  Retrieving a box she opened it to show a plethora of round beads in all sorts of colors.  “We can make bracelets.”

Somewhere else Dolores heard someone calling for her.  From the sounds of it Camilo had been pranking someone and had accidentally let loose their chickens.  They needed someone to come and get him so they could gather the birds back up.  He seemed intent on turning into an even smaller child to try and ride one of the roosters like a horse.

“You two have fun.  I have to go get Cami, he loosed the chickens again.”  She said hurrying out the door.

Mirabel said a cheery goodbye which Harry mimicked then went back to cutting the strings.  “Here you can braid them and I’ll put the beads on.”

“Harry tied the strings to the hanger the way Dolores had and began braiding the new threads together, only needing to restart once this time.

“So Harry, I've been thinking.”  Mirabel started. Threading a magenta bead followed by white and light blue.  “I like you living here, and us sharing a room and everything.”

“I like it here too.  Your family is really nice, and I get to spend time with you.”  He nodded.

“So I think you should stay here.  Like forever, or at least until we're big.”  Mirabel talked excitedly while threading beads.  Blue, Indigo, Purple.

“I’d like that.  But- I mean.  I don’t wanna impose anymore than I already have.”  Turquoise, Forest Green, Burgundy.

“You wouldn't be.  Everyone already likes you and I think they’ll want you to stay as long as you want to as well.  But anyway, here’s what I think.”  Butterscotch, Amber, Gold.  Mirabel tied off the last bead and held it up happily before gesturing for Harry's wrist.  “I think that we should adopt you.”

Harry paused.  “What do you mean?”

“I mean that we should adopt you, then you get to be part of the family!  And we can be siblings, or cousins but we can still be brother and sister.”  She explained.

Harry thought about it.  He liked Mriabels family a lot, they were quite frankly the nicest people in existence.  They never got frustrated when we couldn’t quite express what he wanted too, they just waited patiently or tried to help him figure it out.  They never yelled or locked him up, sure he never left Mirabel's room but not because they wouldn’t let him.  In fact they seemed happy wherever he did decide to leave, just because they got to see him.

He didn’t know what being adopted would be like; he didn't know what it was like to have someone who liked him being around until Mirabel.  He didn’t think the Dursleys were ever his family, not if family was supposed to be like what Mirabel had.  If he did have a family he would want them to be just like the Madrigals.

“Okay.”  He agreed.  And it was easy to get the words out.

“Really?”  Mirabel asked, a smile stretching across her face.

“Yes.”  He said with more certainty than he had ever had in his life.

“Yay!  This is great.”  She flung her arms around Harry and he hugged her back.

“But um- who would adopt me?”  Harry asked.  He didn’t know much about adoption but he was pretty sure it couldn't be the entire family.

“Don’t worry, I already have a whole plan.”  She tied the bracelet to his wrist then started the second one, switching the turquoise bead for spring green.

“Okay.”  Whatever plan Mirabel had he trusted it.  His best friend had yet to lead him wrong.

+x+

“Mirabel.  What's all this?”  Alma asked as her youngest nieta pulled her into the sitting room.  There she found her children and Augustin all sitting on different pieces of furniture.  There was also a large blackboard, a soap box, and a truly massive stack of papers.

“She got you too huh?”  Pepa asked from her spot in an armchair.

“What do you mean?”  Almas said as Mirabel pushed her to one of the couches next to Bruno.

“She dragged all of us in here, and Casita wont let us leave.”  Bruno supplied, sipping a glass of iced tea.  “Whatever plan she has, were stuck until it's done.”

“Tio you were supposed to wait until everyone was here before you started on the refreshments!”  Mirabel chastised.

“You dragged me in here an hour ago kid.”  He reminded.

“It took a while to find Abuela!”  She refuted.

“Your right, not your fault.  Sorry for drinking your tea before I was supposed to.”  Bruno apologized before the five year olds fury was unleashed on him.

“Oh good she got you all.”  Felix said from the hall.  Camilo was helping Harry with his shoes, also borrowed.  “Have fun Mira.”

“Why is he exempt?”  Augustin questioned.

“Two reasons Gus.”  Felix held up two fingers.  “One, I’m taking Harry clothes shopping and to get a prescription from the optometrist.  Two, I’ve already heard the presentation, I helped with it.  Who do you think got her the blackboard and all the printer paper?”

“Presentation?”  Alam asked.

“Yep!”  Mriabel cheered and Alma noticed that she had put on one of her nicer dresses and had her  hair up. 

“Enjoy the next hour and a half.”  Felix told them, walking out the door, Camilo held Harry’s hand and they both waved before following.

“Hour and a half?”  Julieta said shocked, while Pepa mumbled something like traitor.

“Attention please!  I want to thank you all for coming!”  She said climbing on top of the soap box and grabbing a stick from the black board,  Casita angled some of the lights so that she would be the main focus of the room.

“Mira, you kidnapped us.”  Julieta said.

“Please, there will be time for questions and comments at the end.  Help yourself to any refreshments.”

“What if I have to use the bathroom during this?”  Pepa raised her hand.

Mirabel just ignored that statement and grabbed the stack of papers, separating them into packets and handing them to her Tia to pass around.

Glancing at the title, Pepas face broke into a smile and she put her hand down.  “Nevermind.  I can wait.”

She passed the other packets to Alma who snorted and handed them to her son.

‘Why Bruno Should Adopt Harry’  By: Mirabel Madrigal, was proudly displayed on the front.

Bruno froze up and Juleita had to lean over and take the other packets since he clearly wasn’t going to pass them himself.

“Now to begin.”

+x+

Harry had spent a little bit in the optometrist's chair, holding up different lenses until they found the right prescription. The man said that it would take a bit for him to make the right lenses but He could choose his frames now.

He had to hold them really close to his face to see what they looked like.  Finally though he picked up a pair that had a similar shape to his old ones.  They looked black at first but when he held them up to the light they were actually blue.

“I like these ones.”  He said holding them up.  Felix smiled, not that Harry could see it very well.

“Good choice.”  Felix paid the optometrist and he told them the lenses will be done soon but he could wear a pair that was close but not his exact prescription now if he wanted.  Harry had to admit he did want things to be more clear, everything was so blurry.

“Okay.”  he said, hoping that it wouldn’t cost them anything extra.

So equipped with a pair of glasses that didn’t quite make everything clear but were far better than his normal eyes they began clothes shopping.

Harry notices that most of the Madrigals wore a lot of the same colors, it made identifying everyone far easier.  But Harry wasn’t sure what color he would wear, even if he was adopted, so he gravitated towards more neutral colors.  Creams and browns felt safer than the grays and black that he got from Dudley, but he also found a few dark blue and green shirts he liked.

He had been told before they set out that he wasn’t being a bother by needing clothes and Camilo and Felix reminded him everytime he tried to put something back before even trying it on.

After trying on more clothes than he thought he’d own in a lifetime they left with 12 shirts, 4 long pairs of pants, 5 pairs of shorts, and a handful of undergarments.  Next they got him his own sandals and two pairs of shoes, one brown one black.

Next Camilo dragged them into the toy store.  Harry hadn’t any toys with his aunt and uncle and at school Dudley tended to steal whatever he was playing with.  So he kind of awkwardly picked up different things unsure of how to use them.  Finally though he picked up a plush toy that looked like a rabbit.  It was the size of a real rabbit and the fabric was almost like fur, the fibers short but soft.

“You should get it.”  Harry jumped in shock, turning he found Dolores and Luisa standing next to him.

“We all have plushes, Cami’s is a chameleon, mine's a unicorn, Lola’s is a cat- um what was Isa’s?”  Lusia turned to her cousin

“Isabella has a dog, Mirabel has a parrot.”  Dolores said.  “His name is Jose.”

“Yeah, so we all have them.  So you should get one.”  Luisa concluded, then she noticed Camilo about to knock down a carefully stacked pile of blocks and hurried over to stop him.

Harry looked back at the rabbit, brown fur and button eyes.  “Her name is Cassey.”  He decided.

“That's a good name.”  Dolores said and she handed him something small, it was a cube but when he took it he found it had a bunch of hinges and flipped around to make a long rectangle, before it flipped again a different way and became a cube again.  “It’s an infinity cube, it’s for fidgeting.”

“Fidgeting?”  He asked, flipping the hinges around again.

“When you can’t quite sit still, you play with your hands.”  Dolores explained.

Harry immediately stopped, both his Aunt and Uncle and his teacher hated when he couldn’t sit still.  He hadn’t realized he had started doing it again but it must have been obvious if others had noticed.

“It’s not bad.  I just thought you might like something that you can fidget with.”  Dolores quickly told him after seeing his reaction.

“Oh,”  He said but he didn’t start flipping the cube around again, instead digging his finger into the plushie.

“Come on, they have a few puzzles over here, maybe you’ll like those?”  They wandered to the wall of puzzles.  Harry ended up finding one that had a really pretty picture and not too many pieces.

He carefully walked up to the counter and the cashier smiled at him.  Not that he was aware but the citizens of Encanto had heard about the young boy the Madrigals had taken in.  They were all sympathetic because, while they hadn’t been told directly, the rumors of the Madrigals researching child abuse and recovery had spoken numbers.

“It’s on the house.”  She told him.

Felix offered to pay but the woman just waved him off, “Nah, you all helped us rebuild after that fire.  It’s the least we can do, all of you pick something out.”

Camilo immediately held up a soccer ball, Dolores picked out a puzzle of her own and Luisa held up a doll.

Felix and Luisa grabbed the bags of toys as they all made their way back towards Casita.  Luisa stopped them one more time so Harry could pick out a blanket, he got a dark red one.

At last after a long day of shopping they began heading back to the house.

+x+

Bruno had his head in his hands by the time Mirabel had finished.  Alma was rubbing soothing circles on her son's back.

Augustin was busy praising his daughter's amazing persuasive skills and bragging about how she could make a politician cry.  Julieta was looking amused between her husband and brother and Pepa had finally taken that bathroom break.

“Abuela did I do something wrong?'” Mriabel asked.

“No.  You didn’t”  She assured her youngest granddaughter.

“Why is Tio upset then?”  She asked.

“I don’t think he’s upset about anything you said.  I think he’s upset he got called out.”  She explained.

“Oooh, like when Isabella says something we all know but weren’t gonna say?”  She asked.

“Exactly like that.”  Pepa confirmed re-entering the room.  “Come on hermano, we all knew you got attached to the kid.”

“I can’t be a parent though.  I don’t know how.  It should be one of you.”  He said.

“Why shouldn't you be a parent?  Let's face it Hermano, you’ve always wanted niños, if there was an orphanage here you would have cleared it out.”  Pepa said sitting, next to her brother and laying a hand on his back.  “We all like Harry but he needs someone who can give him their full attention.”

“What if I’m not enough?  He’s already had such a hard life, what if I can’t be everything he’ll need.  What if it just gets worse?”

“Mirabel, can you head upstairs for a bit?”  Julieta asked her youngest and Mirabel looked between her mom and uncle before nodding and running back upstairs.  She sat across from her siblings and mother.  “Harry has gone through more in five years than anyone should have to deal with in their whole lifetime.  Those people hurt him and the best we can do is try and put the pieces back together the best we can.  And I know that you would stop at nothing to help him.”

“Maybe you can’t handle it on your own, maybe you can’t be everything he’ll need.  But you don’t have to be, you’ve got us to help.  You wanna adopt that kid and we want you both happy.  We’ll do anything to get you there okay.”  She told her brother.

“It’s only fair, you helped raise all of our kids, it’s why you're their favorite Tio.”  Pepa added.

Augustin just nodded, yeah he knew that was true.  Felix might complain about it though.

“I am about to adopt a kid.”  Bruno said, like he was trying to make himself believe it.  “Mirabel found a psychic pen-pal and I am about to adopt the kid that teleported here half dead.”

“You should probably go tell her that.”  Alma suggested.

Moving on auto pilot he headed up to the nursery, the second he knocked Mirabel threw the door open.

“I’m sorry Tio I shouldn’t have ‘called you out,’ I know Dolores got really upset when Isa did that.  I should have talked to you before or-”

“Mirabel, I'm going to adopt Harry.”  He cut her off and fell back to sitting, this time on the floor.

“You are!?”  Mirabel cheered tackling him in a hug, finally jump starting his brain.

“You laid out at least 50 reasons why I should, I don't think I can argue with it.”  He said, hugging his niece.  “You're devious, you know?”

“I’m not sure what that means but I think it's good.”  Mirabel shrugged.  “I asked the Library lady about the adoption paper and she said the Encanto hasn’t used them before but her husband would know what to draft up and he can make it legal even outside the Encanto.”

“You really planned out this entire thing.”  He gave her another squeeze.  “Are you even sure Harry wants to be adopted?”

“He does, I didn’t tell him who I was asking just in case you said you couldn’t.  But he knows that he wants to stay.”  Mirabel nodded.  “And he’s gonna be my brother, even if we’re technically cousins.”

“I think that's a good idea.”  He ruffled her hair.  “Are you okay with still sharing a room?”

“I don’t wanna split rooms!  I missed having Cami in here, it’s too quiet now.”  Mirabel huffed.

“Well then we have everything settled, except for one thing.  I still have to ask if Harry wants me to adopt him.”  Bruno felt himself worrying all over again.

“You're gonna be a good dad.”  Mriabel said confidently.

“Thanks Mira.”

“Any time Tio.”

+x+

Harry knew that whatever weird plan Mirabel had was happening today.  It’s why she didn’t go with them, Camilo offering to go so that he still had someone more familiar around.

It really shouldn’t have made all the older Madrigals plus Mira and Isabella waiting in the courtyard so nerve wracking.  But it was anyway.

What if they decided they didn’t want to adopt him?  What if this was when they decided they couldn’t afford to have him around anymore?  He knew they were nice but adults were weird sometimes.

Mirabel did her normal hug tackle and didn’t seem upset which was a good sign.  But when she let go she ran back over to her mom.  Luisa went to join them and Felix and his children went to stand with Pepa.

There was a tense few seconds before Senora Madrigal rolled her eyes and shoved her son forward.

Shooting a quick glare his mothers way he re-focused on Harry.  Kneeling down so they could make eye contact Bruno took a deep breath.

“Look kid.  I’ll be honest, I don’t know what I’m doing.  I have no idea how to be a parent, but I wanna try and learn.  So if you're willing to give me that chance, then I promise I’ll do my best.  I promise that I’ll never stop caring about you, not until the day I die.”

Harry was crying, he had taught himself to cry quietly because people didn’t like when he made a lot of noise just because he was upset.  Today he wasn’t upset though so he wasn’t sure why he was crying.

He couldn’t get his mouth to open so he just nodded.

“Yeah?”  Bruno asked.

Harry just nodded more and did a Mirabel classic hug, throwing yourself at a person and hoping they catch you by hugging back.

“You're okay niño.”  Bruno hugged the kid who was currently soaking his shoulder.

“ ‘m sorry na- sure why ‘m’ crying.”  Harry mumbled.

“Sometimes people cry when they're happy.”  He explained.

“ r’ly happy.”  Harry hugged him tighter.

“Me too mijo.  Me too.”  Bruno hugged his son.

+x+

The next morning Bruno signed the adoption papers, Harry beaming the entire day.  Alma managed to snap a picture of the exact moment.

That next night they celebrated the newest addition to the Madrigal family, and Harry called Bruno dad.

One year later Mirabel and Harry, ready to celebrate their shared birthday, found two gold door knobs in their room and a large glowing door waiting for them outside.  The glowing double doors showed an older Mirabel and Harry, hand in hand and grinning with what could only be called victory in their open eyes.

Six years later they receive an unexpected (and unwelcome) visitor.