A/N:
FLUFF! I haven't really written a proper drabble before but this just kind of sprung into my head, and I didn't feel it would be particularly improved by more length - I like it as it is. Little bit of the soft-side of Mundungus as Harry's Daddy, based on the AU in my story Harry Potter: Scourge of Knockturn Alley.
Please review! Mundungus will come read you a bedtime story if you do! :D
Stories
When Harry was a baby it was easy. He could read him simple stories about colours and shapes. Stories without long words.
Then Harry got a bit older, and cheerfully coloured counting books weren't enough for him anymore. He wanted longer stories about magical creatures and their adventures. It was still manageable, and Harry didn't want him to read quickly anyway, so he struggled through, telling himself that the way he was carefully sounding out the words would help his son when he learnt to read himself.
But as his son grew, bedtime stories became something Mundungus dreaded. He started with the few books he had known as a child, tales from Beadle the Bard, or the Mischievous Muggle series. Stories he almost knew by heart anyway, so he hardly had to look at the words.
But he had run out of stories he knew, and Harry was bored of hearing the same tales over and over again. Mundungus cursed himself for not trying harder when he was younger to be better at reading. He had never planned on having a child, never wanted to have to read to anyone. Especially not this little boy, who was not yet disabused of the notion that Mundungus – his Daddy – was the greatest man in the world. He never wanted to lose that position in his boy's eyes.
So, here he was doing something he had never even considered before. He was hiring a tutor. Not for his son, but for him. If he could only learn to read, he might be able to teach Harry himself and keep his son's precious admiration for just a little longer.