James' eyes fluttered open, his senses slow to adjust from sleep to wakefulness. It was the middle of the night and he could barely see Lily lying next to him, a black silhouette in the darkness, but he could easily hear what had awoken him; Harry was crying in the adjacent room, not yet upset enough to be wailing but letting out small, sniffling cries. Gently extracting his hand from Lily's, having fallen asleep with their fingers laced together, James reached for his glasses on the bed side table and quietly slipped out of bed, avoiding the creakiest floorboards as he padded into Harry's room.
When he saw his dad, Harry stopped crying. He was lying amidst a bundle of blankets, one of them tangled around his feet, and his flailing fists had caught the mobile hanging above him so that dragons and hippogriffs swooped around his head. He held out his arms and gurgled happily as James bent over the cot to pick him up. "What's the matter, kiddo?" James asked softly, sitting down in the armchair by the window and standing Harry up in his lap, holding him under the arms to support him. "Couldn't sleep?"
Harry giggled and grabbed James' glasses, yanking them towards him before he lost his balance and wobbled backwards. "Hey," James murmured as he steadied his son. He gently pried Harry's hand from the glasses and pushed them back up his nose. "It's time for sleep, little guy, not for breaking daddy's glasses."
After trying and failing to reach the glasses again, Harry curled his tiny hands around James' fingers instead. James smiled and coaxed Harry into lying down in his lap, undoing his nappy with his free hand and checking it. "Well, this isn't a nappy situation. I guess you were just lonely, huh?"
Harry opened his mouth in a wide smile, a bubble of spit forming between his lips and then popping. James rubbed the spit away with his finger and tried to wipe it on his pyjama bottoms, but Harry grabbed his fingers first. Raising his eyebrows, James said, "You know, I am going to need my hands back. I've had them for a long time and I'm quite attached to them."
Harry was already drifting back to sleep, his eyes falling closed, so it was easy for James to pull his fingers free. He wrapped his arms securely around Harry and stood up, carrying him back to the cot and tucking a red tartan blanket around him. He kissed him on his forehead, underneath tufty black hair that was already growing in all directions. But when he tried to go back to his room, Harry let out a distressed cry and James turned back around. "You want me to stay, kiddo?"
Smiling, he returned to the cot and lay down on the floor next to it, threading his arm through the bars so Harry could hold on to his finger. The two of them lay there together for a long time, James whispering stories to him, and it was difficult to say who fell asleep first.
When Lily woke up the next morning, sun was shining in through the corners of the blinds, illuminating the room with a soft, golden light. It was almost 10am, the latest Lily had slept in a long time, and for a minute she was confused by the lack of noise and empty bed beside her.
The last few days had been tough. With James out late meeting with Dumbledore, and Harry up even later, refusing to settle down - the extra sleep had certainly been welcome.
Slipping out of bed she pulled on a dressing gown, wondering why James had gotten up so early without waking her. She walked past the slightly ajar door to Harry's room and down the stairs, only to find the living room and kitchen completely empty.
"James?"
She tried the back door, thinking James may have taken Harry out into the garden, but it was still locked and the keys were in the fruit bowl where she'd left them the night before.
Panicking slightly, Lily dashed back up the stairs to Harry's room, stopping in the doorway and letting out a huge sigh of relief.
Harry was awake alright, sat up in his cot with one chubby fist wrapped around the wooden bars. He was looking down towards the floor and giggling softly at his father, who was resting his head on a large stuffed phoenix and snoring.
"James," Lily said in the kind of sing-song voice she usually reserved for their son. "James, time to wake up."
James stirred slightly, twisting around on the floor, which looked very uncomfortable, before sitting bolt upright.
"Where am I?" he asked groggily, looking from Lily to Harry in confusion. "Oh."
"You seem to be asleep on the floor," Lily replied, walking over to him as he stood up. "Would you care to tell me why that might be?"
"Heard this little man crying in the night," James shrugged, reaching down to pick Harry up. "He wanted some company."
"Is that right?" Lily asked, letting Harry grab the belt of her dressing gown as James held him.
"I knew you needed the rest," he added, taking Lily's hand in his own. "I was telling him all about the passages at Hogwarts, and the time Sirius got stuck in the one on the third floor."
She smiled and shook her head, ruffling Harry's hair as he started to suck on the fabric of her dressing gown.
"My boys," she laughed, "always up to something."
Harry gurgled between them, fidgeting in James' arms before he let out a loud, unhappy wail.
"I think he needs changing," James frowned, wrinkling his nose. "Can you do it?"
"This is why I love you," Lily sighed and took her son from James with a roll of her eyes. "It's the little things you do for me, like all the dirty nappies."
"I love you too," James grinned, kissing the side of her cheek. "And you're welcome for the lie in!"
He backed quietly out of the room, leaving Lily to take care of their son while he went to put on some clean clothes.
"Like I said," Lily mumbled to Harry as she reached for the baby powder on the nearby shelf, "it's the little things."