Written for prompts: book and "mother reading a story."

WC: 317

In a nook near the fireplace, Ginny whispers in her child's ear as he curls into her lap.

She gently turns the pages, knowing how Albus loves the sound of rustling paper.

"Buscuit can run," she says, pointing at each word as she says it. "He chases a cat."

The pictures of a yellow dog come alive on the page in the dim light, and Albus sleepily snuggles closer to his mother's chest.

Albus has long memorized each sentence in all of the books in the Buscuit series. Ginny has taken care to keep them all on the lowest shelf of the bookshelf so Albus can reach them.

Sometimes she catches him reciting the books but turning the pages at the wrong time, giving away that he doesn't actually know how to read yet.

This corner, complete with a bean bag and old lamp, is where they read before bed.

"Buscuit hides under the shed," she says. "Why do you think Buscuit hiding under the shed, Albus?"

"I think the cats are scaring him," he replies, as if it's obvious. "Look." He points at the cats who are wiggling their tails in front of the opening where Buscuit slipped through. "It looks like they want to eat him."

"Oh no!" Ginny says with a dramatic gasp, even though she knows how Albus knows this story ends.

Albus's burbling giggle is Ginny's reward. She'd do anything for that giggle.

In the end, Ginny reads and Albus moves his lips silently, following along. The two of them, nestled under the blankets, are almost too comfortable to go to bed when it's over and Buscuit has finally made friends with the cats.

"Bedtime," Ginny says, though reluctantly.

Albus groans. "One more?"

Ginny gives him a stern look, but already she feels her heart melt a bit. "Bed."

"Please?"

Ginny sighs. "If you get to bed, I'll finish another story there."