“Congratulations,” the mediwizard said, smiling up at Luka as she handed over his youngest child. The man took him carefully in his arms, having had his fair share of practice from his other three kids. “You’re a father again.”
Luka smiled at the words, knowing they were meant to be funny. Once you were a father, you were always a father, and Luka knew that as much as any other man who had held their child did. He made sure that the boy had his head supported, and then looked over at his wife.
“He’s beautiful,” Luka told her. “Just like all of the others.”
There was something different about this one, though. Luka couldn’t really put a finger on it. Whether it was the color of his eyes, or a little dimple that he had in his chin, something about him reminded Luka of someone he had known before.
While the woman got some sleep, exhausted from the labor, Luka held the baby boy and tried to figure out what exactly it was about him that seemed so familiar. He watched the baby sleep as well, unable to pinpoint it.
It had never felt like this before. All of his other children were like meeting someone new, and Luka liked that. This child was the only one who seemed a little different, like maybe there was something more to him than Luka had been able to notice before.
Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was just an inkling in the back of his mind, or a faint memory that was growing into being something more than that. Regardless, Luka knew that he wouldn’t be able to get it out of his mind until it really took hold and he was able to explain it.
It took him a few hours. He started going through people that he was in contact with a lot, thinking that maybe one of his coworkers or the regulars at the flower shop was the one that was striking his memory. No one fit, though. He thought about his family, and her family, and the kids that his children hung out with the most, thinking that maybe someone had the baby face that Luka was recognizing in his son’s eyes.
Still nothing. He thought about school, both his university years and their years at Hogwarts, but still no one seemed to stick out to him. Maybe he was being foolish. He couldn’t even define the thing that was making him have these thoughts, so maybe it was something dumb. Maybe he just looked like Antonio had as a child, and Luka was thinking back to that.
With that thought in mind, he carefully pulled out his phone, where he knew he could find all of the children’s baby pictures. Luka flipped through them, and when he came to the one that he knew was Antonio, he realized that he didn’t really look anything like him at all. Calla, Rosalia… same thing. They all had a lighter look to them, more like their mother, with happy expressions and features that made their faces seem to light up.
This child was different. Not in a way that Luka disliked, of course. It was more like this boy held something in his face that was beyond a child. Like there was something deeper there, almost like the look someone gets when you know that they’d really experienced life. It was a crazy thought for Luka to have, considering this child had barely lived at all, but it was the only way that he could explain it.
It was the next thought that came to him that answered his question. Luka wondered what kind of child would have such a look on their face, and he knew immediately.
When she woke up, Luka looked over at her, standing to his feet and walking so that he could hand their baby boy over. “I know what we need to name him,” he said, meeting her eyes so that she would no how serious he was.
When she asked what the name was, Luka cleared his throat, and found his voice was clearer than he expected it to be. “Giorgio.”
