Say Snitch

I disclaim all that is recognized as belonging to JK Rowling. I just write this up for fun, just like how you read this for fun.

Ever wonder about what Harry's first word was? With a Marauder as a father, it could have been just about anything; Lily really shouldn't have been that surprised with what came out of her sweet little angel's mouth.

Based in my AU, but all you truly need to know is that Keena (Blacktip) is James' foster sister, Sirius' girlfriend and Harry's godmother.

Enjoy!

James' Point of View:

"Go on, Harry, say snitch," I encouraged my year-old son as he played with a plush toy version of the aforementioned ball.

Well almost, one year old. It was nearing the end of July, anyway. Lily and I had been stuck in this house for far too long in my opinion. If Harry hadn't been here, I would surely have gone mad by now. As it was, I was only a little bit mad at the moment.

"Come on, Harry, say snitch!"

"Again, Prongs?" I looked up and Harry let out a shriek of delight at the sight of Moony and Blacktip as they came into the living room, the former wiping soot off of his cloak. "I thought you wanted his first word to be 'Quidditch'," Moony continued while my sister rolled her eyes.

"I decided Lily was right," I shrugged. "It's much too long of a word."

"So you decided to go with 'snitch' instead?" Blacktip laughed at me, her blue eyes sparkling with amusement. "My poor little godson is going to be so confused!"

She leaned over and scooped Harry up into her arms, spinning the two of them around and laughing as he giggled madly. I rolled my eyes and sat up, rubbing my neck.

"Is Lily still holding out for him to say 'mama' first?" Moony asked as Blacktip finally lowered my son to rest on her hip.

"Yeah," I waved a hand in dismissal. "But I still think he'll say something Quidditch related first."

"You haven't even seen him on a broom yet!" Blacktip laughed, taking a seat on the couch while Moony sat down beside them.

"Don't have to," I argued, grinning at her. "He's a Potter, isn't he?"

Harry let out a stream of babble at this and we all smiled at him.

"Any word from Padfoot?" I asked the two of them.

My sister and my friend exchanged weary looks.

"Nothing," Blacktip said sadly. "But the mission is supposed to be secret after all," she sighed and ran a hand through her dark hair. "I just wish he wasn't going to miss Harry's birthday."

"Just think how mad he'll be if he misses the little Prongling's first word!" Moony added, grinning slightly and nudging Blacktip until she smiled at him.

Harry shrieked out another bit of babble and we looked at him again.

"Come on Harry," Blacktip grinned. "Say snitch," she gave me a look as she said it.

Harry frowned at her and repeated something back in his baby babble.

"Go on, Harry," Moony tried. "Snitch, say snitch, Harry."

More baby babble from my son.

"Where's Lily at, James?" Blacktip asked as Moony continued trying with Harry.

"She upstairs sleeping; Harry stayed awake all night last night and she had the last nappy shift," I answered with a shrug. "Don't know what kept him up, though. He wasn't unhappy."

"Maybe you let him sleep too long yesterday?" Moony offered.

"Maybe," I allowed, leaning forward so that I was eye-level with Harry. "Go on, son, say snitch!"

He giggled at me and waved his plush snitch around in the air.

"That's right, Harry, snitch," I laughed, pointing at the toy. "Can you say snitch?"

"The 's' is probably too hard," Moony said, shaking his head as Harry let out another stream of babble.

"Go on, baby, say snitch," I continued, pointedly ignoring Moony.

More baby babble and then, "Bitch."

I stared at my son in shock.

Moony snorted and Blacktip started giggling, trying to cover her mouth with one hand.

Harry looked around at the three of us and noticed Moony and Blacktip's faces before looking back at me again.

"Bitch!" he crowed.

Moony and Blacktip lost control and now Harry was laughing along with them, screaming the one word he knew loudly, much to their pleasure and my horror.

"No, Harry, no," I moaned, covering my face with my hands.

"Oh, Prongs, Lily is going to kill you," Moony laughed, hardly able to get the words out.

Blacktip could only laugh at my predicament.

"What am I going to tell her?" I asked, glancing behind me at the stairs where I feared my wife would be coming to slaughter me from any moment.

"Maybe he'll stop saying it," Moony suggested weakly.

"Yeah, just like how full moons are going to stop showing up every month," Blacktip laughed.

I sighed in relief when Harry returned to only using his baby babble.

"Maybe she won't notice," I said, feeling my shoulders sag in relief.

"What won't I notice?" I jumped and turned at the sound of my wife's exhausted voice. "Oh, hello Keena, Remus, how are you?"

"Very good," Blacktip grinned, her eyes flicking towards me for a moment. "We heard you had a rough night?"

"Yes, Harry wouldn't be put down for more than twenty minutes at a time," she yawned, stretching her arms out for a moment. She came down the stairs and sat down in the rocking chair next to the fireplace. "How was your night, Keena? Did you and Remus find what you were looking for?"

"Yes, we managed it," she nodded. "So you'll be stuck with me here again until Dumbledore wants something else from me."

I sighed in relief; having my sister around would surely calm Lily's temper at least a little bit. Or at least, she would be able to reverse any hexes that my wife was likely to hand out to me in the very near future.

"What's wrong, James?" Lily narrowed her eyes at me when Blacktip and Moony started snickering again.

"Nothing, oh love of my life, why?" I asked, trying for charm, failing when Harry started baby babbling again.

Lily opened her mouth to reply when suddenly—

"Bitch!"

Blacktip and Moony's snickering cut off abruptly at the look on my wife's face.

Harry started chanting again and with every repetition of the word, Lily's face gained more and more colour.

Moony hastily excused himself, hurrying through the fireplace, and Blacktip carried Harry away up to his nursery, both of them abandoning me to my wife's ever-growing fury.

"JAMES POTTER!"


Harry's birthday came and went, an explosion of frosting notwithstanding, and August saw the return of my best friend from his mission. He had gotten a little battered from the mission and Dumbledore had thought to give him a bit of time off before starting him on the next one. Course, that didn't let him off from his Auror duties, but that didn't seem to bother Padfoot any. As a result, he came to eat dinner at Godric's Hollow most nights.

I could tell that he and Blacktip had hit another rough patch in their relationship, but I wisely didn't mention this to Lily. Aside from probably already knowing it, she was still angry with me over Harry's first word. He had a few more now, which were, thankfully, much more respectable. I was a bit tweaked when he said 'mama' before 'dada' but Blacktip had only laughed at me when I told her that.

Anyway, the two of them were sitting diagonal from one another tonight. She was across from Harry while he was next to him. Lily sat on Harry's other side and I was opposite her. Dinner was quiet, which meant that Padfoot had had a bad day at work and that none of Lily and Blacktip's experimenting had gone right in the basement had gone right. For me, it meant that Harry had still not said 'snitch'. I sighed and stabbed at my plate, angry that my complaint didn't seem as valid as the other three.

"So, has the Prongsling been talking long?" Padfoot asked, breaking the silence.

"About a month now," Blacktip answered when Lily glared at me and I didn't answer.

"A month? That's before you wrote that letter to me, Lily," he accused, looking at my wife with hurt in his eyes. "You promised you'd tell me the moment he said something!"

She transferred her glare from me to my best friend without a second thought.

Padfoot blinked at her, gulped and then turned to face me.

"Merlin, what did he say?" he muttered, not noticing how Lily's glare was only increasing.

She and I exchanged a glance and I looked down at my plate.

"Well, he didn't say 'snitch', that's for certain."

Short, sweet, and to the point! I hope you liked it!

:-D