“Hello,” Raine smiled. It felt surreal to see Professor Xavier, plus baby, opening the back door of the house (a rather big, grand house) to greet her but very, very nice. “This must be Theodora!” she smiled. “Hi. Aren’t you cute? I think Summer’s kind of sleepy from the broom ride,” she added gesturing at the bundle that was papoosed to her chest with a shiny gold paisley shawl.
“Thanks for having us” she added anxiously, trying not to look around in evident awe at the house around her. It was big. A house-elf - an honest to Merlin, privately owned house-elf - had taken her broom when she landed, and was now asking for her cloak. It was hard to reconcile the evident wealth all around her with the humble, dirt covered professor that she knew and loved. He’d said it was his mother’s house, but still… he came from the kind of family that owned a house elf. Raine wondered what he’d told his mother about the visitors he was getting and whether she’d put sticking charms on all the drawers with the best cutlery in just in case. Not that Raine would ever steal but people made assumptions like that about people like her.
(In point of fact, Dorothea Xavier had put sticking charms on all the drawers, as well as all of the cabinets, that anyone up to about three feet tall could reach - but that had more to do with two babies being in her house than her guests’ background. She knew from prior experience that Theodora could get into more things than one might expect from a baby that was only just starting to crawl).
Raine tried to stifle a yawn. She’d been performing at a Christmas show the previous evening, and between that and the early morning for the playdate was rather tired, but she hadn’t wanted to pass up Professor Xavier’s suggestion to meet up.
She tapped the sling with her wand to release the knots and unbundle Summer, who was revealed to have a thin smattering of reddish-blonde hair. Although this was done gently, the change in position, along with temperature, and the fact the fact that they were no longer cruising gently along, served to make her stir. She fussed slightly, but calmed easily enough as Raine chatted to her.
“Hey there, sleepyhead,” Raine smiled at her. Summer was wearing a little cloak of her own in bright patchwork, which her auntie now unclipped to reveal a blue onesie covered in little yellow duckies. “We’ve come to play and make friends,” she told her. “I mean…. I’m not sure how much she’ll actually play,” she added to Professor Xavier. They were babies, after all. She wasn’t going to say that Summer didn’t do anything, because that wasn’t fair. She laughed and smiled and did all kinds of things that her family found cute, but it wasn’t exactly playing, not in a way that might be interesting for Theodora. Raine figured it was more that it was nice for her and Professor Xavier to see each other, and for him to meet Summer and her to meet Theodora. “I don’t know what she thinks of other babies. She’s not met many.”
“Neither has Dora,” Professor Xavier admitted. “That’s why I was so glad you and Summer could come visit. She gets to play with a lot of eleven to seventeen year olds, but we just don’t know know many other people with babies. Come,” he invited, leading his guests into the room his mother had set up as the playroom. He put Dora down in the middle of the floor, and she immediately took off at a fast crawl toward a purple dog. She gave it a hug and it played a snatch of melody. Dora laughed. She hugged it again. The music repeated.
“She loves music,” Professor Xavier observed fondly. “Feel free to sit anywhere,” he invited. There was a comfortable looking rocking chair and a poofy beanbag chair available but the professor just plopped himself down on the floor.
“Summer does too,” she responded, when Professor Xavier mentioned a love of music. Raine took a seat on the floor, keeping her niece on her lap. Summer had flinched slightly in her arms the first time the dog made a noise, but the repetition didn’t seem to bother her. Presumably it had just been the fact that it was new and unexpected. The baby was mouthing her own fingers and was either still considering what she thought of the music made by the purple dog and whether it was worthy of a smile, or perhaps was more focussed on the taste of her own hand as that was where her gaze seemed to rest but she seemed settled and happy. Raine wondered whether she should try to put her down with Dora. She wasn’t sure if it was considered rude not to, but she was also conscious of one thing that meant Summer was going to struggle to keep up… “She doesn’t crawl though” she admitted, and it was obvious from her voice that the fact Dora did was making her anxious.
“Dora only just started a couple weeks ago,” the professor said proudly. “But she’s already gotten very fast. And into everything.” He considered Summer. “I think Dora is a little older, isn’t she? She was born in June, so she’s just past six months. And all babies develop at their own pace. Dora, sweetie, come see our guest.” Dora ignored him entirely. “Well,” he shrugged at Raine, “she’s happy.” He rummaged through a bin of small chew toys, and offered one to Raine. “Would Summer like this?” Realizing a potential concern about a toy that spent much of its use being slobbered on by somebody else, he added quickly, “We cleaned all the chewy ones this morning.”
“Yeah. Summer’s birthday’s the start of August,” Raine confirmed. She was somewhat reassured by what Professor Xavier was saying, mostly because he was Professor Xavier, and more or less everything he said was encouraging and reassuring. The fact that Dora had totally ignored him had also helped a little bit. “Thanks,” she reached out and took the toy. “I think everything’s a chewy toy as far as she’s concerned,” she commented, pressing the sparkly blue flower into Summer’s unoccupied hand. The baby’s other hand came down to join it and both clutched the toy firmly for a moment before bringing it up to her mouth. “Mr Teddy gets very soggy ears, doesn’t he? And we have to use lots of drying charms, don’t we?” she smiled, her voice rising in pitch as she addressed Summer, her remarks accompanied by little tickles which got a happy gurgle. “That doesn’t sound like a big age difference,” she added, returning to their previous topic.
“For a baby, it is,” Professor Xavier disagreed gently. “A month and a half is a third of Summer’s whole life. A lot of development happens in just that little amount of time at this age. In a couple years, it’ll be a hardly noticeable difference but right now, it’s the difference between crawling everywhere and still being largely immobile. A month and a half ago, Dora was only starting to be able to roll herself over.”
“Oh. Yeah,” Raine nodded, when Professor Xavier pointed out that, to Summer, a month and a half was quite a long time. It sounded super obvious now he said it but Professor Xavier had always been good at explaining things that should have been obvious without making Raine feel like she was an idiot. “I dunno if Summer does that,” she added, regarding rolling over, “I mean, I guess she does… But I don’t get to spend loads of time with her. I try, and I like to but… Well, I’m not her mom.” She also wasn’t sure she’d have noticed something like rolling over, which seemed like such a basic, ordinary thing to do. She watched Dora who was sitting unsupported but demonstrating that six month olds still very much enjoyed chewing on their soft toys’ ears, too.
One particularly energetic chew sent the little girl toppling sideways, but this did not seem to phase her at all as she kept right on chewing the purple dog’s ears with a great intent and focus. “Should I read them a story?” the professor asked. “We’ve got a pretty good selection,” he added, pointing out the bookcase of children’s picture books beside where Raine was. “Right now, Dora seems to like eating her books more than looking at them, but she’ll usually come over when I start reading.”
“Yes?” Raine agreed to story time, her eyes roving over the shelf full of books with almost wary curiosity. She hadn’t ever thought about reading anything to Summer. She still seemed too small to really be interested. Though, judging by what Professor Xavier was saying, Dora was too. Or rather, her interest in putting the books in her mouth was at least equal to any other type of interest in them. Once Professor Xavier had chosen a book, Raine shuffled over, perching Summer on the knee nearest to the teacher, although she still seemed more intent on chewing the little blue flower than looking at his chosen book.
As the professor read, Dora crawled over and started trying to grab the book out of his hands. “When I’m done, you can eat it,” he promised her, then continued reading. It was a short book, so it didn’t take long before Dora was gnawing happily on the outer cover. “Hearing people talk helps them learn how language works,” he told Raine. “And reading exposes them to more vocabulary. They don’t understand any of it yet, but all words help them put together the puzzle that is English.”
“Right. Well…. We talk lots,” Raine assured him, “I mean… You taught Kyte for seven years. You know what he’s like. Imagine several of him in a room, and that’s my family. And everyone plays with her.” Summer had been well-behaved throughout the book, sitting calmly and not trying to grab it out of Professor Xavier’s hands. Not that he had seemed to mind that Dora had. “How do you know so much about all this? Like… what they’re meant to be doing, and what to do with her?” she asked. She supposed that, in some ways, it wasn’t surprising. He was Professor Xavier and she was used to him knowing things. But… things about plants and exams, not about babies. She had just thought that babies were babies, and they grew bigger and started doing things. But he seemed to be putting a lot more thought into it than that.
He just shrugged and grinned a little sheepishly. “Some of my parents told me, some my brother and his wife - they have three boys - told us. But most of it I read when I found out I was going to be a dad and panicked a little that I had no idea what I was doing. And, you know, teacher. I had to learn how to teach my own little girl or I wouldn’t be much of one.”
“Right,” Raine nodded. “I guess…. Maybe Summer’s mom knows that kind of stuff,” she added, though she sounded doubtful. “And, I mean, my mom’s around to help and she had all of us - we all learnt to walk and talk and everything,” she added, much more confidently. It was just… the later stuff. The school stuff that hadn’t really worked out. But she didn’t mention that, because she didn’t want Professor Xavier to think badly of her family (not, she suspected, that he would because he was too nice) and she knew that there were lots of things they did fine at. They just definitely did not have a lot of books. Not books for Summer to look at, and not to tell them how to teach her. It would be different for Summer though, she thought, stroking her hair fondly. Raine would make plans for her and teach her proper. And for now she was just a baby, and she would do the baby things in her own time, like Professor Xavier had said.
*
“Thanks for having us,” Raine smiled politely, as she slipped the sling back around Summer. The rest of the visit had passed very pleasantly. Summer hadn’t been interested in many of Dora’s toys, or even Dora herself really, but had politely chewed anything she’d been given, and been more animated when they’d done some singing, proving that she could giggle and coo bounce just as good as anyone. Raine hoped they could hang out again. Hopefully when they were a bit older - when a month and a half wasn’t such a big slice of Summer’s life - she’d be able to do the things Dora could and it’d be easier for them to play together. And, until they could, it was nice to just be around Professor Xavier, and to have someone a bit quieter and calmer than her family to talk to. Collecting her broom from the house elf, she waved both Xaviers a cheery goodbye, and set off, Summer already starting to nod off against her chest.