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“Lily!” James poked at his wife’s arm, as if that would wake her up faster. It was seven in the morning, a reasonable time for anyone to be up on a Friday, something their now one year old son had quickly understood, as James could hear the crib bars thumping against the wall between their bedroom and his. James had been up since four, which, thanks to nearly two years of marriage, he’d now found out was downright mean to expect of others. “Lily, get up!”
Her only response was a low groan. Lily was sprawled across her half of the bed, the sheets yanked over her shoulders but failing to cover her legs. Red hair was the only part of her visible on her pillow. “Five more minutes.” She grumbled.
“Fine.” James said, pouting like a small child denied his way. “I guess I’ll just go get Hari alone, and you can sleep maybe five more minutes before he starts screaming. Man, being woken up by a small child is the best thing. Might just let him crawl on into the bed and start pulling your hair again. Neat.”
There was another beat of silence, which was shortly filled by the rustling of the blankets. Narrowed green eyes peeked out at James. “You wouldn’t dare.” She grunted.
“I might not dare, sure, but someone else is very proud of his walking skills.” James shrugged, still doing his best to look innocent. “I wonder how much you’d enjoy that.” The slamming of the crib against the wall only got louder, now accompanied by a little boy’s voice screaming “Appa”, and James sighed. “Fine. I’ll go get him alone. Men’s journey or something. The two of us. Alone.”
Lily dropped her head back to the pillow in defeat before beginning the process of untangling her limbs from the blankets. Her hair was in an impressive state of disarray, and her sleep clothes were rumpled, but she only cast James a cursory glance as she clambered to her feet. “I’m up, I’m up.”
“I love you!” James nearly yelled, planting a kiss on her cheek before running to the doorway, hoping his son hadn’t broken anything yet. There was a reason they’d had to move the rocking chair last week, and James was hoping that, when they finally got to leave this place, no one would ask about the dent in the wall.
His wife followed at a more sedate pace, her bare feet quiet against the hardwood of the floor. “It’s too early to love anyone.” He heard her grumble from behind him.
James threw open the door to his son’s room and was met with an excited scream as Harry saw his parents enter. “Hey there, buddy. Nice night?”
“Appa! Amma!” Harry yelled, showing off all of his four teeth. “Up!”
“Sounds like a yes to me.” Lily smiled, leaning against the doorway.
“Yeah, definitely.” James said, lifting Harry out of the crib. Harry babbled happily, obviously glad to be out of the crib, and clung onto his father tightly. “Somebody’s enjoying himself already. Must know he’s the birthday boy.”
“Don’t tell him about that cake Molly said she’d bake.” Lily stepped forward to kiss Harry’s forehead. “He’d go mental.”
Harry planted a slobbery kiss on her cheek, once Lily had pulled away, and smiled even more widely at the mention of cake.
“The kid can’t even say his own name, but he knows the word cake. Incredible.” James laughed as Harry turned to him for kisses next. “Definitely ours.”
“Don’t leave the kid hanging.” Lily laughed, leaning against James’ shoulder in order to make faces at her son.
“Fine.” James planted a kiss on Harry’s cheek. “Are we done here?”
Harry pulled a face before kissing James’ cheek.
“Talking back to me already. Boy, I’m going to love you when you’re a teenager.” James groaned.
Harry, thoroughly occupied with trying to wiggle his way out of James’ grasp, thankfully ignored the insult.
“Uh oh!” Harry said, looking to Lily, waving his arms about. “Uh oh!”
“You know, if you wanted to go down, you could’ve told me.” James said, feigning anger. “Don’t have to get her involved.” Harry stuck his tongue out, spitting at James, who quickly put him down. “Alright, you do you. Go ahead.”
“It’s cause I’m the favorite parent.” Lily said seriously. She watched Harry toddle towards the door, pausing to stare up at his motionless parents.
“We’re coming, we’re coming.” James rushed forward to grab Harry’s hand, knowing he’d need help down the stairs. “Before we go, who wants to say sorry to Amma for waking her early?”
“Sorry!” Harry yelled, smiling brightly.
“Good boy.” James ruffled Harry’s hair. “Practice that one. It’ll come in handy.”
“Especially once you get married yourself, little man.” Lily ran a hand through her tangled hair as she followed her boys out into the hall. “But hopefully that doesn’t happen for a good long while.”
“Definitely wait on that one.” James said, and Harry nodded solemnly, pulling on James’ hand as he pointed to the stairs. “Right, you want to go. Come on, then.”
James led Harry to the stairs, intending to help him down them, but as soon as they reached the first step, Harry sat down hard, refusing to budge.
“Okay then, mister.” James said, picking Harry up again before making his way down the stairs. Harry seemed quite pleased to have gotten his way, slapping at James’ shoulders and head enthusiastically all the way down. “We’ll do it the baby way.”
“He’s going to make you do that for years to come. I can see it now.” Lily hummed as she trailed after them. “I’m going to make coffee. You want any?”
“Yeah. It’s going to be a loooong day.” James said, swatting Harry’s hands away from his glasses, which seemed to be his son’s new target. “You can’t have those! I need them!”
“Maybe he needs them too.” Lily mused. Suddenly her hands were joining Harry’s and she tugged them from James’ face. “Here you go, baby!” She placed them on her son’s tiny face. A laugh bubbled from her throat as he blinked behind the lenses.
“Well, we know which one of us is your favorite.” James grumbled. He was well aware his vision was terrible, a fact only supported by the fact that his son’s face was now just a brown blob with two green blobs in the top third. Harry grabbed at the glasses, trying to wear them as he’d seen James wear them, but eventually gave up and started poking the lenses experimentally.
“He’s smudging them up, in case you can’t see that.” Lily said as she turned towards the counter. She plugged in the coffee machine and began puttering around the kitchen.
“Not like I’m seeing much better now.” James, holding on tight to Harry with one hand, kept the other out in front of him to keep himself from ramming into the table. Once he’d found it, he set Harry down, and held out his hand for his glasses. “Hey, remember what we talked about yesterday, with Uncle Pads? Sharing?”
Harry looked confused for a second before grinning widely. “No!”
“You’re mean.” James said, snatching the glasses out of Harry’s hand to wipe them off on the end of the undershirt he’d worn to bed. “Appa needs these to see, kanna, they’re not a toy.”
Harry hadn’t even noticed they were gone yet, thankfully, and was happily trying to kick at one of the chairs that was now within his reach. His toes brushed the top of the chair, and he turned to James in surprise.
“Nice job.” James nodded and held out his hand for a high five, which Harry eagerly gave. “Don’t kick the chair more though, or Amma’ll get real angry.”
“Lies and slander.” She called over her shoulder. “You mess that chair up, Harry. Totally deserves it.”
Harry clapped before trying to kick the chair again.
“He’s going to be a terror someday.” James said, moving the chair just out of Harry’s reach. “I mean, not that he isn’t already. Can you watch him for a second? I’ll get some cereal out for him or something.”
“Sure thing.” Lily turned away from the brewing coffee in order to clap her hands. “Harry! Guess what!”
Harry hummed happily, clapping his hands to imitate Lily as James opened up one of the cupboards in search of cereal.
“It’s your birthday!” She reached out to gently poke his nose. “Do you know how old you are?”
Harry seemed surprised by being poked, frowning before reaching out to poke Lily’s finger with his own.
“Yeah, I’m not too good with numbers either.” Lily nodded. She reached out to pluck Harry up from the table, pressing another kiss to his chubby cheeks.
Harry patted her face, happy to be picked up, and James returned shortly with a bowl and a box of cereal, pouring a little bit in before pushing the bowl down the table to Lily. “Should we let him at it?”
“Nah, let’s just let him stare at it longingly until he starts to scream.” Lily hummed, even as she placed the toddler down into his high-chair.
“Alright, buddy.” James set the bowl of cereal down in front of his son as soon as Lily had strapped him into the high chair. “Go for it.”
Harry promptly grabbed the bowl and used it as a hat.
“Straight to Ravenclaw. I’m calling it.” James clapped slowly.
“Might as well break out the blue and bronze right now.” Lily agreed with a nod.
“Absolutely, I mean, first he figures out this walking thing, then he uses bowls as hats… A regular genius.”
Harry giggled happily, pulling the bowl down over his eyes. “Uh oh!”
“Uh oh.” Lily agreed. “You’re gonna start crying as soon as you get hungry, but look what you did to your cereal!”
Harry pulled the bowl off his head, staring into it as if he expected the cereal to still be there. Most of it was caught in his hair or had fallen into his seat, and he yelled in surprise when he found a couple pieces in his lap, holding one up for James and Lily to look at.
“Look at that!” James said, smiling brightly. “Not all is lost.”
Harry babbled happily before clumsily shoving a few of the pieces of cereal he’d found into his mouth.
“That’s it.” James grinned. “Look at him go.”
“Ravenclaw material after all.” Lily laughed. She moved to the counter and back again, holding out a chipped blue mug for James to take.
“Gets it from you.” James took the mug gratefully. "You're a right genius, you are."
“I wouldn’t have lasted a week in Ravenclaw.” Lily snorted. “And neither would you.”
“Me? In Ravenclaw?” James chuckled, shaking his head. “I’d have gone straight home. Wouldn’t you, Hari?”
Harry paused, as if thinking, before shoving another piece of cereal in his mouth. “No!”
“I don’t know if that’s ‘no, I’m going to Ravenclaw just to spite you’ or ‘no, I would die before betraying Gryffindor’, but I’ll take it.” James ruffled his son’s hair, picking a few pieces of cereal out of it before setting them into the bowl. Harry looked amazed when he saw more pieces in the bowl than there had been before, and James laughed. “Hey, look, magic.”
“What if we raised him on cheap muggle magic tricks?” Lily took a seat, her own mug held in pale hands. “Card tricks and vanishing bouquets and stuff. It’d totally freak out some of the older purebloods.”
“If they could, my parents would be rolling in their graves, might as well add Pads’ to the count.” James snorted. “His mum’d likely say something about an ancient bloodline and honor or something. Probably murder the cat to teach us a lesson. I didn’t pay much attention to her as a kid, as you can tell.”
“Pads!” Harry exclaimed happily.
“That’s right! Uncle Pads!” Lily cooed. “You’re gonna learn all sorts of fun muggle tricks and he’s going to get frustrated and confused.”
“Uh oh!” Harry clapped happily.
“Oh, so the pranking ban’s just on me, then.” James pulled a face before drinking some of the coffee. “This house is a den of hypocrisy and lies.”
“Lies!” Harry echoed, looking unduly enthusiastic, before holding out the empty bowl to Lily.
Lily took the bowl from Harry with an expression of false shock. “What? You aren’t hungry?”
“No!” Harry shook his head rapidly, looking quite disoriented for a second after he stopped.
“That’s my boy.” James patted his head. “Don’t do that too fast when you’re walking, alright? Or near stairs. Sometimes, your friends are mean and push you.”
“Pads!” Harry crowed.
“I don’t know if you’re saying that because I said friends or because you’re just ready to see him today, but that was a solid guess.” James sighed, shaking his head at his son. “Why does Sirius do these things?”
“Why do you wake up at the crack of dawn? It is a mystery.” Lily sighed happily into her half-empty mug of coffee.
“God calls. Nature calls. The kid screams.” James shrugged, downing the bit of coffee left in his mug before setting it down on the table. “I don’t know how I’m going to sleep through the night when he gets old enough to.” He looked to Harry, now trying to escape the high chair by fiddling with the buckles. “If. Not when. I take it back.”
“There’s always an if.” Lily said. “But he should at least get the chance to grow up.”
“Oh, he will.” James said, reaching over to ruffle Harry’s hair. Harry grinned gleefully, happy to be the center of attention. “No doubt about it.”