Archive of Our Own ^beta

Harry stood in the wood aisle in the local DIY store with Teddy sitting in the little seat in their trolley. 

“You know, the internet made building your own deck sound easy.” He told Teddy. “But how are you supposed to choose what kind of wood to use?” 

“Red!” Teddy pointed at a reddish coloured wood. “So pretty.”

“That is a pretty colour.” He agreed.  

“Your kid has good taste.” A gruff voice from behind them startled Harry. 

On instinct, Harry turned swiftly, putting himself between the stranger and his son and reached for his wand. Thankfully he caught himself before he actually pulled out his wand. The last thing he wanted to do was break the statute of secrecy in his first month in America. 

“Whoa, it’s alright.” The stranger’s voice immediately gentled. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” He held up his hands so that Harry could see that they were empty. He was an older man, with greying hair but was rather well built and his eyes were a kind blue. He was unfairly attractive. 

“Sorry.” He mumbled and flushed with embarrassment. He hadn’t been that startled in a long while. He supposed that his and Teddy’s fleeing to America had awoken his war time instincts. Bloody British Wizards and their prejudice against creatures! So what if Teddy’s father, Remus, had been a werewolf? Teddy was four years old and had yet to transform into one on the full moon. Sure he liked to eat meat a little too much and got grumpy on the day of the full moon but otherwise he was a normal four year old!

“It’s alright.” The stranger repeated bringing Harry’s focus back to the now. “I overheard you and thought I could lend a hand, I do a lot of wood work in my spare time.” He explained. 

“And this red wood is a good choice for building a deck?” Harry allowed himself to relax a little. The man didn’t seem to be a threat currently although he held himself as if he could be. Maybe he was in the military? That was big in America right?

“For a deck, Redwood or Cedar.” He confirmed. “How big a deck are you planning on building? 

“Uh…” Harry pulled out the instructions that he printed off the internet. “This is what it is.” He held it out for the man. 

“Hmm.” He squinted at the writing. “You have a saw or a jigsaw to cut the wood to size?”

“Yes.” Harry lied, he planned to just use a cutting charm, that should be fine, right?”

“Nope!” Teddy ruined the lie. 

“Oh, your daddy is telling me lies?” The stranger smiled fondly at Teddy. 

“Uh huh!” 

“Traitor.” Harry pouted at his son and tickled his little legs. 

“No!!!” He squealed loudly. 

“Yes, you are.” Harry cooed but stopped tickling him. He didn’t want to trigger any accidental magic while in a shop filled with sharp objects. He planted a wet kiss on Teddy’s forehead before turning back to the helpful stranger. “I plan to ask my neighbours if they have one I can borrow, I don’t think I’ll be doing enough woodwork to make it a reasonable purchase and I don’t really fancy trying to keep it safe in a house with this little goblin.” 

“Not a goblin!” Teddy protested. 

“I don’t know, you do like shiny things.” 

“Shiny? Where?” Teddy heard his favourite word and started twisting his little body to try and find the ‘shiny’. 

Harry gave the stranger the ‘see what I mean’ look. 

“Ah.” He made a noise of understanding. “For a job of this size you’ll be better off ordering the wood to be sent to your house. You’ll need 144 lineal feet of the redwood plus extra for stairs and railings.” 

“Better to get too much than too little, right?” Harry sighed. That was a lot of wood. He would definitely have to get it delivered rather than just buy it and take it home in his car. 

The stranger gave a grunt and a nod in reply. 

“Well, thank you.” He told him honestly. “I probably would have ended up with far too little and the wrong type of wood.”

“It's fine.” The man shrugged away his thanks. “Just keep the little one away from the shiny nails.”

“SHINY” Teddy shrieked and slapped his hands on the trolley. Harry winced at the ear piercing noise and the looks that it gathered. 

“Will do.” He promised before turning to Teddy. “There isn’t anything shiny here, Ted.” 

“Shiny!”

“We don’t shout,” He scolded him gently. “You’ve been such a good boy today, don't ruin your streak now.” 

Teddy sighed as if Harry was being the unreasonable one.

“Such an attitude.” Harry couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’ve got your hands full with this one.” The stranger commented with clear amusement in his voice.

“Worth it though.” He tweaked Teddy’s nose. “But right now, I need to do some maths to figure out how much more wood to buy.”

“I recommend getting 160 linear feet of the redwood, that should be more than enough.”

“Thanks.” Harry gave him a relieved look. “I’m Harry and this is Teddy.”

“Jethro.” He held out his hand. 

Harry shook it and tried not to blush at the feeling of the hot, calloused hand pressed firmly to his. He was so bloody touch starved! He took his hand back as soon as it was polite to do so. 

Jethro’s smile was a little smug but didn’t point out his blush. “Oh and however many nails you think you need? Double it.” 

Harry nodded and then after glancing down at the list on his phone decided that since Jethro was being so helpful he might as well use him. “If you’re free could you help Teddy and I find the rest of the things on my list?”
“Sure.” Jethro easily agreed. 

Somehow asking Jethro to help find the rest of the things on his list led to Jethro helping build the deck to him basically building it by himself when Harry had to chase Teddy away from the ‘shiny toys’ that were being used to cut the wood. 

“Thank you for this.” Harry said once again as he handed Jethro a glass of water while the man was taking a break. 

“I don't mind.” Jethro repeated like he had each time that Harry had thanked him. “It's nice to work out in the sunshine instead of in my basement.” 

“Basement?” Harry asked as he reached over to drag Teddy back from where he was trying to sneak away to get up to mischief. 

“I'm building a boat in my basement.” 

“How do you get it out?” 

“Magic.” Jethro smirked. 

“MAGIC” Teddy yelled in response to hearing his second favourite word and instantly turned his hair blue and his eyes from green to yellow. He had taken the word as permission to use magic in the only way he knew how at his age. 

“Bloody hell, Teddy.” Harry was torn. He both wanted to bury his head in the sand and snatch his boy away from the kind man that had been so helpful but could now turn on them due to magic.

“Nice colours kid.” Jethro commented with wide eyes that darted between Teddy and Harry as if he was tempted to snatch him away. 

“Teddy likes his colours.” Harry said exasperated. “Though usually he knows better than to show other people.” He wondered how much he could get away with telling Jethro. 

Jethro seemed to relax a little. “If I say MACUSA…”

“I say ‘thank Merlin’!” Harry sat back down on the ground as his knees almost gave out in relief that he wouldn’t have to Obliviate his new friend, his new fit friend that Teddy liked and who liked Teddy and who maybe Harry could find himself liking.

“Magic!” Teddy demanded, having had enough of Harry ignoring him. 

 As they were in their fenced off back garden with a Muggle that was apparently in the know, Harry saw no reason to refuse him. He kept an eye on Jethro as he pulled out his wand. 

“What kind of magic do you want, Ted?” Harry asked him. 

“Prongs!” 

Of course his little Marauder wanted Harry’s flashiest spell but who was he to deny his kid? And part of him wanted to show off as well.

“Expecto Patronum!” From his wand burst a bright dazzling silver stag. It galloped around his back garden before returning to Harry when there was no danger found. 

“Prongs!” Teddy shrieked in joy and tried to pet the patronus. 

“Beautiful.” Jethro said breathlessly. When Harry looked over at the man he saw that he wasn’t looking at Prongs but at Harry. 

“So, you know about magic already?” Harry asked as he cancelled his spell. Teddy groaned in disappointment as Prongs dissipated. 

“I work with NCIS,” Jethro told him. “We solve crimes involving Naval personnel and our cases have crossed with MACUSA once or twice before.”  

“Well, I am just glad that Teddy didn’t break the law by showing off his Metamorphmagus skills.” 

“His what skill?” 

“Metamorphmagus skills.” Harry repeated patiently while conjuring a shiny ball to keep Teddy entertained. “It’s a talent he got from his mother, he can change anything about himself. Hair colour, length, texture, eye colour, shape and so on. He can change his skin colour, his height and if he truly takes after his mother he can give himself a duck bill.” He looked down at his blue haired boy fondly. “There is also a chance that if he unlocks his Animagus form he would be a wolf after his father Moony.” 

“Father?” Jethro looked a little overwhelmed but still interested. 

“Technically, Teddy is my godson.” Harry admitted. “But like me, his parents died before he was a baby. His Grandmother tried to look after him but she found it too difficult, he was too much like his mother, her daughter, for her to cope. So he came to me and I love him and I’m the only father he knows.” 

“I can tell that you’re doing a great job with him.” Jethro told him softly and reached across to hold his hand. 

“Thank you.” Harry felt ensnared by his blue eyes before he forced himself to look away. “Anyway, back to work with you.” He gave him a teasing smile. “I want my deck built before Christmas.” 

“Yessir.” Jethro gave him a salute before climbing to his feet. “I expect dinner in return though.” 

“How does spaghetti sound? It’s Teddy’s favourite.” 

“Spaghetti!” Teddy cheered. 

“Sounds great.” Jethro gave him another soft look that made his snidgets sprout in his stomach. 

Harry desperately hoped that Jethro was going to be in their lives for a long time to come.