It's one of those mornings were everything seems quiet. The house is still sleeping; his parents probably nestled together in the big bed, Lily in her cot, most likely with her feet on the pillow and her hair in a wild flaming mess around her head. Al's snoring lightly from the other side of the room, he's rolled into a tiny ball under the blankets, with only his head sticking out from under it. James's resting in his own bed, the only one awake.
He's trying to decide whether to go and wake his parents so they can make him breakfast or simply just go downstairs on his own to find something to eat. He could decide to stay in bed of course, maybe even try to fall asleep again, but he feels wide awake and hungry, so that's out. He slips he's feet out under the blanket, and into his slippers on the floor. Grabbing the sweater he wore last night he walks out of the room and down the hallway. He might as well just go to the kitchen on his own and see if there's anything he can make without help.
As we walks past Lilys door he hear her laugh, so he turns the knob to find her sitting in her bed, talking to the lion teddy she carry with her everywhere.
She laughs happily as she sees him in the door. "Jem, Jem"
"Morning Lils, do you wanna come downstairs?" He asks, as he walks to the bed. "We could make something to eat."
She grins at him behind the pacifier. "Morning Jem." He carefully helps her out of the bed and grabs the lion free hand, before walking towards the door. They get to the stairs and Lily grabs the banister with one hand, and starts to walk down slowly. Placing one onesie-clad foot on a step and carefully letting the other follow to the same landing. She throws the lion down the stairs laughing and grabs for James' hand with the one that's now free.
When they get to the kitchen James drags the stool from the corner by the window to the kitchen table and helps Lily climb it.
"So what do you want to eat?"
She looks at him, her face scrunched up. "Toast!" She exclaims happily, giggling.
"You can't get toast though, mom and dad's still sleeping. I think we got some oatmeal somewhere. Do you want oatmeal?" he asks.
She nods eagerly and keeps her eyes locked on him as he starts too look through the big cabinet besides the fridge.
"Here it is." He smiles, setting it down beside her chubby little hand on the counter.
"'ere is" she repeats satisfied grinning at him before getting down the stool walking right behind him to the fridge. He opens the door, scanning through the shelves and Lily stands right beside him watching his every move. When he grabs the milk from the shelves she laughs again. "'ere is" she says enthusiastically, clapping her hands.
"I'll get the bowls, do you want to get spoons?" he asks and she nods before running to the kitchen drawers. James gets two bowls and two glasses pouring milk into them.
"Spoon." She hands him two spoons an grabs the lion, she's left on the stool. He quickly pours some oatmeal in the bowls, letting the milk soak it. After topping it with a bit of sugar, he puts it all on the table. He helps Lily crawl into the highchair and sits down beside her, in the chair his father usually sits in.
They eat there oatmeal, with Lily babbling between each bite, singing randomly and laughing at him, when he joins her. When they're done he puts the dishes in the kitchen sink. Meanwhile Lily's toddled off so he goes to find her. He finds her standing in the couch under the window to the backyard. She's leaning over the back of the couch, looking out the window.
"Whatcha doing Lils?"
"Snow" She exclaims, pointing at the window. He gets to the couch, kneeing down beside her, and it is in fact snowing. It's late November, and it's already been snowing a lot. The garden's covered in a thick layer of snow, inviting and soft, like somebody put a big heavy blanket over the world.
"Pwetty."
"Yeah you're right Lily, it's very pretty." He smiles looking at the snow falling. They sit there for a while simply looking at the snow.
It's one of those mornings where everything is silent. Not a sound is to be heard in the house when Harry wakes up. Ginnys breathing in quietly and there is no sound from the outside, it's peaceful. The whole house seems asleep, and that's why Harry's very surprised to find both James' and Lily's beds empty. Usually the kids will either join them in their bed if they wake up early, or make too much noise for them to sleep through it. He walks downstairs checking both his and Ginny's offices on the way, he sticks his head into the dinningroom before entering the kitchen. It's empty, but he spots traces of a breakfast adventure in the sink, a bit of milk spilled on the counter, a handful of oatmeal on scattered over the floor and the stool in front of the counter.
He walks to the living room and finds them in the couch corner, nestled up against each other. Lily has a thumb in her mouth, the other hand resting on James arm. He's lying on his back with the lion right under his chin and one arm around Lily.
Harry stands there watching his children and he can't help but smile. He quickly goes to get the camera to be sure to capture this moment. He knows there'll be very few pictures of these two being silent together.
