"Daddy?" A little voice called into the dark room. "Daddy?" The voice called again. Harry stirred a little hearing the quiet yet high voice. He turned over and grabbed his glasses off of the nightstand and sat up.
"Daddy?" Harry, now half awake, realized what was going on.
"Lily? Are you okay, Sweetie?" Harry asked into the darkness.
"Uh, uh." Lily's voice whispered again. Harry pushed his covers to the side hoping not to disturb his wife, Ginny. And made his way to the door. The stream of moonlight from the window lit the room enough so that he could see where the little, four year old was.
"Lil, what happened?" He said squatting in front of his daughter. Instead of an answer, Lily started to sob and let tears fall down her cheek. She took two small steps and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and nuzzled her face into his shoulder. Harry wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. "Lily, its okay, Sweetie. I've got you."
There was still no answer. Harry sighed, and walked out of the room, and carried Lily back to her bedroom. He turned the lights on, once he got there, and placed her on her little bed.
"Lily, what happened?" Harry asked sitting at the foot of her bed.
"A scawy monster is twying to find me." She said with more tears falling down her cheeks.
"What kind of monster?"
"A weally big, gween, and scawey monster."
"What did he do?"
"I don't know yet. He's...He's…in the cwoset." She said whispering. Harry nodded and turned to go see what was in her closet. He turned back around, before opening the doors and told her,
"You might want to go under the covers. You don't know what this monster will do." Lily nodded and crawled under the covers with her stuffed, purple cat in her left arm. Harry faced the doors of the closet and slowly opened them. He heard a small gasp come from the little girl behind him. Lily had hid under the covers trying not to look.
Once he opened the closet, He saw a big, stuffed, green snake on the floor. Harry sighed, and rolled his eyes. He knew exactly who it belonged to.
"Lily, look, it's only Slimey." Harry said picking the toy up from the ground. Lily peeked up from under her pink covers and gasped.
"How did he get hewe?" Lily asked curiously.
"I think your brother was trying to be funny." Harry said setting the toy out side of the bedroom door.
"Did Jamsie put him in hewe?" Lily asked disbelieving and astonished.
"I think so. But don't you worry, I think we can get Jamsie back." Lily grinned a little but then her face turned confused.
"What's a matter now, Lil?" Harry asked concerned. Lily's face reminded him of when Ginny is trying to think something out for herself.
"Well, now I can't sweep." Lily said crossing her arms. Harry nodded and thought for a moment.
"Do you want to hear a story?" Lily's eyes brightened. And she snuggled more into her bed.
"Well, once upon a time, there lived a girl, who was supposively the prettiest girl in the world, in a magical palace. She lived with her mother and father, who were the king and queen, and her two older brothers, both who were princes."
"Like me!"
"Yes, just like you." Harry said laughing at his daughter's excitement, "One prince was known for his brains. He knew the right things to say, and knew exactly what to do. The other prince was known to be a trouble maker. He'd play pranks on the villagers and would humiliate the kingdom's servants."
"That sounds like Jamsie!" Lily said quietly, sniggering.
"I know. But every time the prince would play a prank, the princess would straighten him out."
"How?"
"Well, sometimes, the princess would scare him, sometimes she'd play a practical joke on him, and sometimes, she would give him a bet."
"What kind of bet?"
"Well, after the prince played a joke on her, by turning her hair green, she bet him that he couldn't climb a tree. If he could, he would be able to have access to all the supplies he needed for his pranks, but if he couldn't he'd have to serve her for a month."
"An entire month?" Lily asked amazed.
"Yes, an entire month. He, of course, agreed and set out for the highest tree he could find. Once there he looked back at the princess and said, 'I'm looking forward to those prank supplies' and started to climb up the tree. But, because of his selfish behavior, he forgot that he was afraid of heights." Lily gasped, "And he didn't know how to come back down form the tree. All of the villagers that came to watch laughed at him as he stood on a branch of the tree calling for help. The princess laughed and led the villagers back to the castle for a feast."
"But what happened to the pwince?" Lily asked with her eye lids slowly got heavier.
"Well, many say that he got down by the help of a colony of squirrels, but in all truths, he stayed up there for eternity and never came back down." Lily was now subtly snoring. He leaned down and kissed her forehead and turned off the light.
It was morning and Ginny and Harry were in the kitchen making the family pancakes. The kids had gone out to the back yard for some strange reason that neither of them could guess. Well, not until Albus came rushing in panicking.
"What's wrong, Albus?" Ginny asked worried. Albus took a deep breath before speaking.
"It's James,…Lily betted…Climbed a tree…can't get down." He said before running back out the back door.
"Oh no." Harry said distressed.
"What?"
"Lily bet James he couldn't climb a tree, and he agreed. He can't get back down."
"How do you know?" Harry looked at his wife hesitantly. "Harry, did you give her the idea to do that?"
"It was a bedtime story." Harry defended.
"Oh, you've got to be joking." She said bitterly before the couple ran after their son.
