Lily rolled over, her eyelids heavy and sleep a temptress she could just nearly reach. 12:41. The brightly lit numbers on the alarm clock paired with the time it read made her regret being awake even more. But the door was open just a crack, letting in light from the hallway, and James hadn't come to bed yet. Against every ounce of her better judgment, she pushed herself off the bed and onto her feet. "One of these days I'll just get used to sleeping alone," Lily mumbled to herself. She shrugged on her dressing gown, shivering in the drafty old house, before padding down the steps to drag her husband back to bed.
"James?" she called softly as she entered the sitting room. It was dark, the thick curtains pulled closed and only a scant line of moonlight visible among the pitch blackness. "What're you doing—"
"Shhh! Don't wake him, please."
She moved further into the room, leaning over the back of the old sofa. James lay there, an oddly shaped bundle nestled against his chest. Lily couldn't help the soft chuckle that escaped her lips. When she spoke again, she matched James's near-silent whisper. "Think you can come up to bed without waking him?"
"Not worth the risk."
She was tempted to argue the point, but thought better of it. She leaned in closer, kissing the top of baby Harry's head softly, breathing in his smell - that miraculous smell of a baby with a freshly changed diaper and another few good hours of sleep ahead of him. "Definitely not worth it," she breathed, moving in against James's lips this time. The last thing either of them wanted to do was to was to attempt to get their three-month-old back to sleep. Best not push it.
"I'll stay down here the night, you go on up to bed, get some sleep."
Lily nodded, giving James one last kiss before making her way back into her bed alone. She knew there was going to come a day, far sooner than she'd like, where Harry was no baby and he wasn't falling asleep in James's arms. He'd be out in the real world, facing things that she wouldn't be able to protect him from. But these were worries for another day.
X
James watched Lily leave the sitting room, falling in love with her more and more each moment. He looked back down at his baby in his arms, wrapped snug in a blanket and breathing softly. James stroked his hair for a minute, holding his breath as baby Harry's eyes fluttered at the contact, letting the breath out slow as he gave a little snore and kept sleeping.
Harry looked so much like Lily sometimes – everyone said it was the other way around, but James saw what the rest didn't. The way he scrunches up his nose when they try to get him to eat spinach, the way he hums to himself while he plays, the way his eyebrow quirks up when you talk to him. The boy's Lily, through and through. He's got her smile, her eyes, her giggle.
James held him tighter, enjoying this time while he has it, with Harry so small and sweet. He pulls the blanket to cover them both better, and finds himself drifting off to sleep.
A/N:
Writing Club: Showtime 8 (father and son), Count your Buttons Character 2 (Harry Potter), Lyric Alley 2 (Left a crack open), Insane House Comp 929 (Parent and Child), 365 Prompts 4 (Falling asleep on the sofa), Seasonal: Elemental 2 (James/Lily), Gryffindor: Harry Potter, Dragons and Fanfic Writing Month: wc 555