Harry leaned against the doorway and watched his youngest son playing with the lego on the floor. He loved these times, when it was calm and the little nipper was happy. Ashley wasn't like the others. Quiet and shy was in his nature and he hated it when it was noisy so he spent most of his time at the park. Harry found it hard to talk to him sometimes. But he wished that he could.
Ashley could hear his dad behind him and wished he would come and talk to him. Dad was dad though and he was always kept on his toes by his big brother Jamie. He liked it at the park, particularly under the slide where it was cool during the day. Sometimes he saw big boys on the monkey bars but they were even taller than dad! He wasn't going to go on the monkey bars.
Loved as he was in the family he often felt left out. Not because he had light hair or even because he had blue eyes but because he was quiet. He found James' pranks annoying and mean. Albus' arguments and questions endless and Lily's whining and teasing pointless. It didn't mean he didn't love them though. He just wished they could be quieter sometimes.
A huge crash came from the upstairs room, Ashley winced and Harry sighed. "James!" he yelled "You'd better not be doing what I think you're doing young man!" before running up to sort his eldest. James always took up the most time. Especially when he was about to make progress with Ashley. Harry wondered whether he had planned it to be that way or not.
In this James is 9, Albus is 8, Lily is 6 and Ashley is 4 1/2