A Little Night Music

A loud wail pierced through the heavy summer silence in the master bedroom.  A moment later James Potter, voice rough with sleep, muttered "Whuzzat?" as he sat bolt upright in bed, looking around wildly.

Triumphantly, Lily Potter rolled over and informed her husband "Hah!  You moved first, you have to go take care of him."

James groaned, but swung his feet off the edge of the bed, grabbed his wand from the bedside table, and padded down the hall to the nursery where his one week old son was sobbing loudly, face red with exertion.  "What's all this fuss about, then?" he asked as he scooped the baby up, cradling him gently as he reached around to check his son's nappy.  Sure enough, the foul stench emitted when James peeled the nappy back revealed the source of the distress.

"Eugh.  No wonder you're in a foul mood.  I would be too if I smelled like that," James observed quietly, making his way over to the changing table.  Once there, he looked at the variety of powders, creams, and soft cloth nappies with slight bewilderment.  Lily had, of course, explained the proper way to change a nappy to him over and over again, but it was far to early for James' mind to dredge up the list of instructions.   Instead, he looked down at his young son and winked.

"Don't tell your mum what I'm doing, or we'll both be in trouble."  With that, he Banished the dirty nappy, cast a Cleaning Charm on his son's bum, and wrapped him quickly in a fresh cloth.  Within moments of being cleaned up, Harry was all smiles, and James grinned triumphantly back at him.  "It'll be our little secret, right Prongslet?  Right."

Lifting the baby to rest against his chest, James walked slowly over to the crib and placed his son gently inside, but Harry showed no sign of going back to sleep, and his face crumpled when James tried to put him down and walk away.  James sighed.

He tried singing to Harry.  He tried walking Harry around the room, telling stories in a low, rumbling voice that made Harry smile.  He tried sitting silently in the rocking chair.  But every time he tried to leave Harry in the crib and go back to bed, his face would wrinkle up and he would make a little protesting noise that James knew would soon turn into a full-blown yell.  Finally, he had had enough.

"Just this once, then," he muttered, then scooped the baby back up and wandered back down the hall to the bedroom where his wife was now sound asleep.  He climbed into bed, and positioned Harry gently on his chest.

The next morning, when Lily woke up, she was treated to the sight of her son and her husband laying next to her, still fast asleep.  They didn't wake up when she slipped out of bed and darted downstairs to grab the camera, and she raced back to the bedroom in just enough time to snap a picture before Harry woke up, and informed the world in no uncertain terms that it was time for breakfast.