Chapter Text
In the early hours of the morning, just after Hallowe'en night, the quiet suburb of Little Whinging, was perfectly still. Hallowe'en decorations remained hung, sweet boxes sat outside of doors and just next to that, on the doorstep of Number 4 Privet Drive, laid a baby, swaddled in cloth, a letter tucked neatly against him.
Hallowe'en, being the celebration that it is, makes walking around at night in a mask rather easy; which often leads to an increase in crime, even in a perfectly normal neighbourhood like this. As such, it isn't surprising that a man walks down the street, face half-covered in a mask, walking warily to the end of the street. Before he could reach the end of the street however, a soft cry rang out from his left. Spooked, the man whips around to check his surroundings, so sure there had been no one there to sneak up on him, when he sees that small swaddle of blankets, resting on the doorstep of Number 4, Privet Drive.
Looking around again, Robbie wondered to himself, 'who would leave a baby here at this time?', when seeing nobody coming for the poor thing, he crept up the steps to the door and picked the small boy up into his arms, before he could decide on what to do, a shadow flitted across the other side of the road, another man stood, looking around warily, hands deep in his pockets; Robbie recognised him, of course, he's the man he's meant to be meeting here, so without thinking too much on it, he quickly moves to the other man, the exchange quick and efficient before they each moved off.
Robbie tries his hardest not to think on the fact he has a baby swaddled in his arms, but as he is walking back to the next neighbourhood over, he can't help but wonder what he is to do. Is it considered kidnapping? And if he goes to the police and admits where he found the boy, wouldn't they ask why he was there at such an hour? He wouldn't get himself caught, he can't, he needs that money! So what to do?
By the time he thinks up an answer he looks up to see he's arrived home, or well, his appartement, it's not very homey, but then again in the Fairfields, nothing is too homey. Robbie makes his way down the compact street, the strangely named ''Fairfields' is anything but fair', he thinks to himself, dilapidated cramped flats, crumbling roads, a drug deal happening around every corner, it's the worst place to bring a child; but it's too late for that now, he thinks as he comes up to to his door, unlocking it and closing it behind him, the 3 other occupants of the flat all up, in the kitchen is the row they're making is to be believed. He quickly kicks off his shoes, softly soothes the baby in his arms, who's stirring softly from the noise and heads into the kitchen.
The other 3 boys, are all sat around the table, eating takeout, arguing over what sounds like football, when Robbie clears his throat, "erm, guys?"
All three of them turn to look at Robbie, their mouths dropping wide as they realise what hes holding in his arms. "Robbie...", Sam trails off, clearing shocked, the other boys too stunned to speak.
"I just found him out there, on a doorstep, you should have heard him he's freezing cold, I couldn't just leave him there!" Robbie claimed defensively, his shoulders hunching slightly as he holds the child closer to his chest.
Jamie stands up and walks over to Robbie, "man, what?", he peers over Robbie's shoulder, looking at the small child, who has woken up from the small commotion, peering up at the men in confusion. "Damn, thats... that's actually a baby".
Alex, then also stands walking to them, "what are you going to do with a baby, though, Robbie? This isn't exactly the best place for a child, and we don't exactly know how to take care of it."
Robbie frowns, "well we've got him now, if I go back or hand him to the police they'll knick me for dealing i've no doubt, and I don't want him to freeze out there!"
Silence falls over them as they all look at the baby below them, said baby, rather unhappy with the audience seemingly, starts to kick up a fuss, whining and kicking his legs as best as he can whilst swaddled up. These sounds kick the men into action, and what a sight it is, watching 4 men, each barely 20 years old, tumble over each other to calm down a crying baby.
---
By the morning none of them have gotten much sleep. All 4 of them are sat on the worn sofa, reading the letter left in the swaddle, claiming this little boy, sat contentedly in Robbie's lap, curled up napping against his chest, is called Harry Potter. "Harry Potter, huh?", says Sam.
"It'll be really obvious he isn't any of ours you realise?", Jamie says. The rest of them frown slightly at his words.
Robbie looks down at Harry in thought, "he looks close enough to Alex to get away with it I reckon". Sam nods in agreement and Alex makes a noise in disagreement that gets ignored under Jamie's next words.
"Yeah, sure, but Alex isn't a Potter is he? If the kid's got a random surname it'll be dead obvious". That much is true, the others hadn't even thought that far, yet, the fact that they now have a child to look after playing too much on their minds to think coherently.
After a long silence, Robbie hesitantly asks "Could we just say he's got one of our surnames? He looks the most like Alex so maybe we could pass him off as Harry Harvey?".
Sam scoffs at that, "Harry Harvey? That's a shit name, no offence Alex."
"None taken man, plus, my mum would go nuts if I came home with a baby".
With that fact out in the air, the boys descend into silence again.
"Alright, so not Harry Harvey. I can't say Harry Elliot works well either, so I'm out of the running. That leaves you two" Sam sits back after his words, stretching then crossing his arms.
Jamie and Robbie look at each other thinking before Jamie says with a shrug, "I think Baudelaire works better than Gaskell does, dude". Sam and Alex nod in agreement. Robbie looks down at the little boy curled up against him and Jamie points out, "not to mention you were the one who found him and he's taken a shine to you."
Robbie nods slightly, "Harry Baudelaire... you're sure? It's a proper poncey name for around here, I get enough shit for it as it is, you want a baby to go through that?".
"Well according to that letter the kid's 1, so not really a baby, that's got to be a toddler by now. Besides, it isn't like you've got anyone who's going to go crazy about it, you don't talk to your parents anyways and you've not got a Mrs..." Robbie nods again slightly, lost in thought as he looks down at the child in his arms. What Alex said is true, even if more than a little bit pedantic.
"Run me through the plan again, how are we doing this?", Robbie asks whilst running his hand through Harry's hair, revealing the sharp bloody cut on his forehead. "A&E first, this cut looks pretty bad, then what?"
"Then we go and get him stuff, the food bank does shit for babies I think, maybe the charity shops for clothes and all that, swipe a few things whilst we're at it. It going to be difficult but well... we know what the system's like so we won't hand him over and he wouldn't have survived alone on the street overnight, so we'll have to make do."
---
Later that day
Robbie and Alex walk back into the flat, revealing a mess on the stairs that certainly wasn't there when they left and the sound of muffled bangs from upstairs, quickly followed by cursing. Alex quickly goes upstairs to see what the chaos is about as Robbie walks to the kitchen with Harry in his arms. The small boy is awake and clinging onto him, small tear tracks down his face, having just come back from A&E to get the cut stitched up, which should apparently heal without much of a scar. Robbie sets him down on the counter and heads to the fridge to find something for him to eat, as Alex comes through the kitchen door.
"They're setting shit up in your room, like a cot or something and they dropped it, nothings broken don't worry" Robbie nods, the group had split ways to get everything done they'd needed to, Alex and Robbie taking Harry to A&E and Sam and Jamie going to get him everything they might need from the charity shop nearby.
"Fair enough, must be what all the mess on the stairs is."
Alex nods, and goes over to Harry, picking him up, all of them were surprised by how quickly the young boy became relaxed around them, but no one would complain. The sound of the other two boys coming down the stairs rings out through the flat and as they push their way into the kitchen still arguing about who didn't follow the instructions for the cot right, Harry makes a disgruntled "bah" sound, causing all the boys turn to him.
"Oh my God, can he speak?"
"I didn't think he could speak, he's not said anything before!"
Robbie comes over and takes Harry from Alex's arms "Well hello, Mr, I didn't know you could speak", he looks over the top of Harry's head and asks the others, "When do kids start speaking?". The rest of them shrug, and Robbie sighs, "We really aren't prepared for this, are we?"
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