This is the first round of the finals! YAY! Every position got a sentence they had to put into their story, without changing it. Mine (as Beater 2) was 'It was gross at the beginning, but you kind of get used to it...'

Prompts:

1. (word) blush

14. (style) first person present tense

And now: Enjoy reading! :D


The Baby Business

„I don't know about you, but I think your mother is downright evil sometimes." I scowl as I hear my wife open the front door, laughing all the way through the hallway and greeting someone who sounds suspiciously like Sirius, who of course doesn't hesitate in joining her laughter. Harry looks at me with his big green eyes and reaches out towards me, grasping hold of my finger. "You're on my side, right, buddy? You're not as evil as those who call themselves our loving family, are you?"

Harry blinks and pulls my hand towards his little mouth, obviously wanting to suck at my finger. "Uh-uh," I say and tickle his baby belly, causing him to laugh his adorable baby laughter. "No drooling on Daddy, you hear me? First we got to change you. Otherwise your Mummy won't be happy with me. And we don't want that, now do we?"

Pulling my hand gently out of my son's fist, I start tugging at the diaper, dreading what I'll find in it. "I hope you behaved," I mutter as, with a firm tug, the diaper fell from his waist, presenting his achievement in all its glory. "Holy shit!" I yelp – a big mistake. I inhale a gust of the odour of the diaper's content and start retching. Harry, having a blast, starts giggling in earnest, completely unfazed by the toxic cloud enveloping him. The stuffed stag he's swinging through the air in obvious glee comes within dangerous proximity of the dirty diaper, nearly catapulting its contents through the room.

"Oh, watch out," I yell, grabbing hold of the flying fluffy missile. Harry grumbles. I sigh. "Oh, alright." I roll my eyes as Harry starts swinging the toy through the air again. "You look like you're going to be a beater someday. I sincerely hope I'm wrong about this…" I mumble, tugging the offensive item out from under him and throw it into a nearby bin. I grab his little feet – not without tickling them first, of course – and lift his bum up into the air to be cleaned properly.

"Of course, he'll be a beater. He'll take after his good old godfather, won't you, Harry?" A mad cackle from the direction of the door causes me to yelp and jump, nearly dragging my son off the changing table. I whirl around and glare at a laughing Sirius, who is clutching his side.

"He'll be a chaser like his father," I say, ignoring the embarrassingly non-manly scream that nobody will ever hear coming out of my mouth ever again, and turn back to my son, holding on to that last bit of dignity my ability to ignore my friend's behaviour brought me. The blush that Sirius is giggling about doesn't exist. I do not blush. I am a Potter. Harry giggles and claps his hands enthusiastically. "And you'll be amazing at it, as well." Reaching into the small cupboard under the table's surface, I look for something clean for Harry to wear. Finding the diapers and rompers, I look up only to see Harry on his way to the edge of the table, in all his natural glory, in order to get to his scowling godfather, who's currently eyeing the bin's contents.

"This is downright disgusting," he exclaims, not seeing my naked son trying to reach him. I raise a brow. "How can you do stuff like that?" He bows down and takes a sniff. Retching, he takes a hurried step back. His eyes travel to his godson, who is sitting on the changing table, his head cocked to one side, his plush toy tightly hugged to his baby chest, with newly found respect. "How does someone as cute and innocent as you even manage to produce something as disgusting and revolting as this?" He scratches his chin and turns to me, ignoring the amused expression on my face. "How do you deal with that?"

"It was gross at the beginning, but you kind of get used to it..." I say as I take hold of my squirming son and lay him back down. "It's not that big of a deal anymore, you know?"

"Are you sure about that?" Asks a melodic voice from the door I know only too well. Harry squeals delighted. "It didn't sound like that when I had to threaten you with cleaning the bathroom Muggle style." She smirks as I put down a fresh diaper next to our son. "Have you cleaned him?"

I close my eyes and sigh. "Of course, I've cleaned him. And that was blackmail, I'll have you know."

"I call it 'the right motivation'." Lily laughs.

Taking a deep breath, I straighten my back and look her straight into those beautiful sparkling emerald eyes of hers that I'm so fond of. Oh, I could just walk over there and forget all about Sirius and Harry and… I blink. One glance towards Harry tells me that I'm not very believable at the moment. The big toothy grin and the continuous giggle are a dead giveaway. But…! Manning up, I turn back towards by wife and my supposedly best friend, who is currently laughing his head off, although he does have the decency of trying to hide it and take another deep breath. "Harry likes it more when you do the whole changing business, you know? That way he doesn't have to compete with anyone."

Lily snorts very attractively. "Compete? With whom?"

Now Sirius can't hold it anymore and bursts out laughing. Harry, being the little, adorable traitor that he is, chimes right in, joining his godfather in the mad cackling. I glare at my son, only succeeding in making him laugh even louder, having no idea what is going on around him, but being happy about having an excuse to laugh at his father anyway. I sigh. Nobody takes me seriously anymore. Not even my toddler son.

"Aww, look at that blush," Lily coos and strolls over to me in order to make me feel better, because she just is this person, who loves seeing people around her happy and content, although I swear she has a devil streak in that personality of hers. I open my mouth to tell her that I'm man enough to digest their taunts, when she reaches around me and kisses my son's cheek, mine staying painfully kiss-less. I pout.

Lily runs her hand through my hair swiftly and leans against Harry's cot, hip resting against the wooden railing. "I'll just say one word; responsibilities. You're a father now, James; have been for little over a year now. You'll have to learn how to deal with not so pleasant stuff sooner or later. Why not sooner?"

"I am a responsible father, Harry just doesn't tell you," I wink at her flirtingly and turn around to my son, who is still lying on the changing table in all his natural glory. Just as I raise the diaper and reach forward to lift his bum up from the table's surface, I see a jet of yellowish liquid shoot towards me and onto my shirt, successfully wetting it and making me look even more like an idiot. I scowl down at my giggling son, who is clapping his hands enthusiastically.

How much I just love my family.


I hope you liked it! Please leave a comment. I love reading and answering them. It makes my day :D

Word count: 1218

See ya!