Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Leaves, tickles and laugh

The sun was shining, beams of light peered through the window, gleaming strands of bright red hair. Ginny sat at Harry's office, the only place at the Potter household where she could get some silence to work. A piece of parchment, sat half-written at the desk, while the woman played with a quill. She was just searching for the right word to scribble down when she heard it.

"YAY!" the redhead recognized her younger son's voice. From his tone she presumed it was something really fun, Albus sounded amused.

"Why can't they keep quiet for a moment or so?" Ginny left out a sigh, rubbing her temples. This was why she had to come to Harry's office in the first place. Her children couldn't stay silent for more than a few minutes. "I have to finish this article..." she mumbled as she walked towards the window, just to see three kids looking at what appeared to be a pile of dry leaves, probably gathered around the garden, as it was sprinkled with those.

"It's my turn now! Get off the way Al!" yelled James, running to throw himself onto the pile. Leaves flew in every direction and James partially disappeared under the pile. Giggling, he appeared amid the leaves, shook them out of his clothes, much like a dog, and started to gather them again to reform the pile.

"I'm next!" said the little redheaded girl, Lily, who reminded Ginny much of herself. Playing with her older brothers, trying to look independent and fearless. She directed herself to the pile, her hair floating as she ran. With a thump she fell onto the leaves. But unlike James, she didn't appear right away, which seemed to worry James and Albus. "Oh they are so overprotective of their little sister" Ginny couldn't imagine how it would be when little Lily found a boyfriend.

"Lils?" both her brothers asked, worried of her absence.

"Got ya!" Lily said chuckling as she appeared amid the leaves, sprinkling them over the ground. Then she started ridding her hair and clothes of those autumn leaves. Just as she was taking a leaf from her hair, James looked at Albus with a devious smile. Oh, Ginny knew her boys too well to know that meant nothing good. Then both boys threw a devious look at Lily.

"TICKLING WAR!" Albus shouted and he and James ran after Lily. They caught her not long after the beginning of the pursuit. She was younger and didn't run as fast as them, so near a tree she just surrendered and stopped running, knowing it would be useless.

Ginny's ears were filled with a pleasant laugh, her little girl's laugh, the one she loved so much to hear. That was then accompanied by James' and Albus' laughs, the three of them just having a bunch of fun. Ginny couldn't help a smile to form in her lips.

"Oh...can...you...just...stop...now?" asked the little one almost uncomprehendingly in between laughs. She was bending over her stomach, not being able to laugh any more.

"No!" yelled James and Albus. Little time afterwards, the boys couldn't keep that up anymore, so the three kids sighed and laid on the ground, recovering from the war. Lily sat up and put her back against the tree, picking leaves and throwing them at her brothers. Typical Lily Luna teasing.

All of a sudden, they heard a crack sound, Lily's looked up, her chocolate-brown eyes glowed. She beamed and yelled "DAD!" Then she got up bluntly and ran towards Harry, who had just apparated from work.

"Hey there!" Harry said, beaming as she hugged his legs. He bent himself and gave his daughter a tight hug. Taking a leaf off her now messy hair.

Before he could question the origins of the leaf, he looked in their house direction and spotted two black blurs. James' and Albus' messy hair, an inheritance of the Potters, that was what he spotted. The boys came running, most likely racing each other, and both hugged the man, who had already let go of Lily.

"Easy James, Al!" Harry said, tumbling backwards. Those two could destroy a house together if they ever had a chance.

"How was work dad?" James asked excitedly, tugging at Harry's cloak as the man adjusted his glasses. "Did you beat bad wizards dad?" asked Albus eagerly, "Oh those muggle movies they watch at Ron's house are making them too creative" Harry thought. As Hermione was muggle-born she wanted both Rose and Hugo to have contact with both the magical and the muggle worlds, so they watched muggle movies, read muggle stories and did other muggle stuff. They hanged out a lot at each other's house so his children often watched those movies.

"Oh, work was great guys!" he said giggling. Then he turned his head to face his son's emerald-green eyes "No bad wizards though Al"

"Too bad!" replied the young boy wistfully, crossing his hands on his chest.

"So, what were you three up to? I bet these leaves haven't magically got in your hair" he said pointing to the boys' hair, tangled with cracked leaves.

James pointed at the previous big pile of leaves, that now was nothing more than what they had all over the garden "We were jumping on a pile of leaves! It was wicked!" he said euphorically.

"We made the pile ourselves with the leaves that fell from the trees!" said a proud Lily "Every time we jumped we had to set them in place again, though. That was the boring part" Harry laughed at this statement. This reminded him of a long-term friend of his that happened to be Lily's uncle.

"We had to come outside because mum needed to work, and according to her, we can't stay quiet longer than a minute" Albus smiled. "I guess that's true" he put his hands on his pockets and a devious smile formed on James' lips "And since we came outside we decided to have some fun!" Albus finished.

"And I pulled a prank on them!" Lily said, pointing at her brothers, stifling a laugh.

"That led to a tickling war!" Albus said enthusiastically.

"You know how Lily never stands a chance on those, right dad?" James added.

"Wow, sounds fun!" Harry replied "And yes, I know it. But you know who doesn't stand a chance when I am part of that war?" he said, ginning mischievously.

"Who?" they chorused, playing along.

"Hm, let's see..." he said, a finger on his lips, pretending to be thinking "You three!" he declared grinning and then shouted "TICKLING WAR!"

Harry started tickling Lily, and James and Al tickled him. After a while, Ginny couldn't tell who was tickling who. She was still looking through the window, beaming. She had already forgotten that article. James somehow managed to get rid of the tickles for a while, and looked up, his freckled cheeks reddened.

"Hey mum! Come down here! We need another soldier against dad!" James called her.

"You know what? That article can wait" she said to herself, got down the stairs and strode outside with a smile on her face. As she approached her family leaves flew from beneath her feet.

"So, who's ready for the tickling monster?"

And there stood the Potters, in the yard, among leaves, tickles and laugh.

A/N: So, I hope you enjoyed this family fluff! It is my first story, so feel free to review telling me what you think. Also, I apologize for any mistakes as English is not my first language.