Disclaimer: I still don't own a thing. I don't own the characters, the plot, or the magic. If I had a mind as creative as that then I wouldn't be wasting my time writing fan fiction.

Author's Note: What plot? Well, yes, it is rather plot-less. Please forgive that. It is, however, full of Potter/Weasley family fluff. Thank you all who have reviewed this so far. I'm really terrible at replying to reviews, but I promise I'll work on that. This one is one I've been working on for awhile. I'm splitting it into four parts to keep each chapter at a read-able length. If you want to see something in particular, I am always open for ideas. Please keep your lovely feedback coming! I hope you enjoy.

HEAD OF HOUSE

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.

PART ONE

Harry cursed Ginny with every fiber in his being. What was she thinking when she left him like that? Surely Ginny wasn't that confident in Harry's skills to hold the fort down while his beautiful wife went to Scotland for a press conference. The redhead, Harry concluded, was out of her bloody mind! There was absolutely no other excuse, no other manageable reason, why Ginny would leave him as the head of household, with three young children and a brooding twelve year old godson.

'Oh, Teddy will be great help, I'm sure, Harry,' Ginny had said, as she had packed on the night previous to her departure. 'You know how much he adores our children. He'll love to help you out.'

If only Ginny's words had been accurate, then Harry might have managed to pull this 'Super Dad' thing off. He could send James and Al off with Teddy to play in the backyard, while he tended to his mischief-seeking daughter. His beautiful angelic daughter proved to be quite adventurous, now that she could walk on her own. Dear Lily needed constant supervision, because she got into everything!

Oh, Ginny was mental alright, leaving poor Harry with their two, four and five year old. One of which was recovering from the last of the chickenpox, which only made him irritable and impossible to deal with. Albus, when told he was not allowed to scratch, threw the biggest paddy Harry had ever seen in his entire life. That included all the years at Hogwarts spent with Ron! Harry always warned Ginny about sending them to Muggle preschools. He thought he would protect his children from the various Muggle diseases by letting them spend their time with Mrs. Weasley, or Hermione. But Ginny would hear none of it! It really should have been his wife to reap the rewards of the after-affects of Al's illness. Instead, it was Harry who got hit with it.

Ginny had left Harry with a 'grounded' James, who was not allowed to play with his neighborhood friends, or visit his cousins for a whole week! Some mischievous prank he had preformed had been carried out a bit too far, and Ginny had no choice but to punish him. Honestly, who was Ginevra Potter really punishing? It was Harry who had to deal with a cooped up, sulking James, while she merrily shipped herself off to another country!

Teddy had been in a right foul mood since he had stepped foot in the Potter house. Any hope of him helping out with the younger children had completely vanished when he saw this new display of attitude from his godson. If Ginny had been there, he might have had the chance to worm his way into Teddy's mind, and cheer him up a bit. But right now, Harry had his hands completely full! Surely he was going to die before the end of this.

Harry, legendary Boy-Who-Lived, was not prepared to take care of four children. If he hadn't been so stubborn, he would have enlisted the help of Hermione, or Ron. Any Weasley for that matter would have been wonderful, if they could help Harry take care of the children.

Yes, it was only three days, and two nights. Harry tried to reason with himself that it would be alright, because it wasn't that long. He learned very quickly, however, that two nights was an absolute nightmare, when dealing with four little people.

The more Harry thought about it, the more he thought he had been out of his mind when he wanted to have three children! Of course, he hadn't imagined Ginny's Quidditch career taking her to Scotland for a couple of nights. Damn it all! What in Merlin's name was Harry Potter going to do with James, Al, Lily and Teddy, while dear Ginny was away?

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Day One, Part One

"Daddy! Daddy!"

Harry's eyes cracked open, as he stared at the empty spot on the bed, sincerely missing his wife as two of his children jumped excitedly on the bed. Harry draped his hand over his eyes and stifled a groan, wishing to sleep later. Ginny was a saint, always getting up with the children in the morning, allowing Harry to get some more sleep. He wasn't used to early morning wake up calls from his beloved offspring.

"Mornin' Daddy!" Albus had wedged his way between James and Harry, his face inches away from his father's.

"Good morning, Al. James." Harry offered each a small nod of acknowledgement, the best he could summon at seven o'clock on a Saturday morning.

"Daddy, I'm hungry! What's for breakfast?"

The question from his oldest momentarily caught him off guard. Harry was a lousy cook. He burnt water, for Merlin's sake! Of course he would be expected to feed his kids, the act of actually doing so had completely slipped from his mind. Ginny was a wonderful cook, gaining all of those years of experience living at the Burrow as Mrs. Weasley's apprentice. So what exactly was Harry going to make his family for breakfast? That was a very good question.

"Yeah Daddy! What's for breakfast?!" Albus echoed his brother's words, a habit he had been picking up, much to James' dismay.

"Why don't we go downstairs and wait for Teddy and Lily to wake up, before we think about breakfast," Harry replied, thinking it was a smooth way to avoid the subject for the time being.

"But Daddy! I hungry!" Al's lower lip protruded in what Harry had to admit, was an impressive pout.

Harry felt himself cave and sighed, rolling out of bed. He grabbed his robe off of the single chair in the room, and wrapped it around himself quickly, before the little imps decided to take off and run downstairs without his supervision.

"Alright, alright! I'll get you something to eat!"

At this, two cheers whooped loudly through the house, as Harry placed his index finger over his mouth. Widening his eyes, Harry tried to his best to remain serious.

"Boys, Ted and Lils are still sleeping! You wouldn't want them to wake up, would you? They'd eat the yummy food all up on us!"

At that, Harry reached out his hands to his two sons, who each reflected the serious expression Harry wore on their own face. Harry tickled James, then Al, as the two of them twisted and squirmed to get out of Harry's tormenting grip.

"Stop Daddy, stop!" Al giggled, trying not to be too loud.

"Yeah Dad, stop it!" James said, before a mischievous glint formed in his eye. Glancing meaningfully at his brother, the tables turned, and Harry was soon at the mercy of James' and Albus' tickling fingers.

"Okay, okay, boys! I give!" His words were chocked with laughter as his sons finally stilled their fingers and slowly pulled their hands away from him.

Placing a hand on each son's head, Harry ruffled their hair playfully before gently nudging them ahead of him. He steered them out of the bedroom and down the hall, a hand on each of their backs. Stopping outside of Lily's room, he paused, making sure he heard no movement, before heading down the stairs that led to the kitchen.

Right, so he had to conjure something that was yummy and at least partially nutritious for his family. Harry took out a mixing bowl and opened the pantry doors, searching through the variously assorted colorful boxes in a desperate hope to find something easy to make. He began knocking boxes out of place, reading different labels, and tossing things aside, making the pantry a complete mess.

Harry stopped when he heard a big sigh heave from one of his boys. Turning around, slightly embarrassed at the lack in his ability to cook a meal, he faced a very annoyed, foot tapping James, and a more amused looking Albus.

"Daddy, Mommy sometimes lets us have ice cream for breakfast, if we've been extra good!" Albus claimed, bouncing on the balls of his feet with suppressed excitement.

At the comment, James rolled his eyes and glared at his father. "Can't we just eat something?" He asked, as his stomach let out a loud grumble.

Harry shook his head at Albus' comment and chuckled softly. "Al, I have lived with your mother for quite some time now, you know. I don't believe she would ever allow you to eat pure sugar at such an early hour in the morning," he lightly chided, winking at his son to take some of the edge out of the disappointment that would surely follow his statement.

Looking over at James, he clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes.

"Perhaps if you stopped complaining and helped poor Dad get breakfast ready, we could eat something," Harry replied nodding his head to the opened, slightly disheveled pantry. "Take a look in there and see if there is anything you want that would be suitable for a breakfast meal."

Following their father's directions, both boys dug through the pantry and each pulled out a different box of cereal, waving it proudly in their hands.

Harry wasted no time in collecting the boxes from his sons, and hastily poured the milk and cereal into three bowls, giving his sons directions to sit at the table and wait patiently. As he set the bowls onto the table, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs and smiled at his godson, who carried Lily in his arms.

"Morning," Teddy said as he handed Lily over to Harry, and took his godfather's seat at the table. "The munchkin was nearly pounding against her crib. I thought she broke it!"

Harry looked at Lily and smiled, tapping his finger against her nose tenderly, before glancing at his godson. "That bowl of cereal is yours, Ted," Harry nodded to his former bowl, and placed Lily into her highchair. There was no chance of him eating anything, until his battle of wills with Lily took place. She was not a breakfast eater, by any means.

"Uh, thanks," Teddy replied, following suit of James and Al and hungrily tucking into his cereal.

Harry nodded at Teddy with a smile, before turning to his beloved daughter. His eyes held some false pretense of hope, thinking that perhaps Lily would eat her breakfast without any fuss today, since Mummy wasn't here to enjoy the show. Lily loved to ruffle Ginny's feathers by flinging her breakfast everywhere, including her mother's work clothes.

"Okay Lil-bug, how about some Cheerios for breakfast this morning?"

The minute the question was out of his mouth, Lily crossed her arms over her chest and scowled, like the petulant toddler she was acting. Her face began to turn a slight shade of red and her head swung back and forth.

"NO!"

Lily's reply resounded through the large kitchen, bouncing off the walls, making each boy in turn stop eating to witness the tantrum.

"Lily…" Harry said, lowering his voice to make it sound firm, hoping his daughter would recognize that he meant business this morning.

"Panny-cakes!"

Lily smiled innocently at Harry, her little fist lightly hitting the plastic tray attached to her high chair for effect. Barely able to muffle a groan, Harry shook his head.

"We don't have pancakes, Lily. We have cheerios."

"NO!"

Once again, Lily's reply reverberated through the house, tears pooling in her eyes to follow her temperamental behavior. Harry mentally berated himself for asking her initially if she wanted Cheerios to eat. He should have known, from experience, that you told a two year old what to do and what to eat, rather than fight with them.

"Lily Luna, you will eat Cheerios for breakfast and that's the end of it!"

With that Harry placed his hands on his hips, surprising himself with the Ginny-like behavior. It seemed to have worked, however, and Lily's watery gaze lowered, the fight draining out of her. Walking over to the cabinet, Harry grabbed the box of Cheerios and took out a plastic pink bowl, Lily's favorite. He poured some into it, before heading back to Lily and landing it on the tray. His attention turned abruptly on to his three boys, who still sat with their mouths open, watching the scene enfold.

"Well, what are you staring at? Finish up with your breakfast!"

Crankily, Harry filled a bowl up for himself, taking it to the closest chair next to Lily, so he could supervise and eat at the same time. It wasn't even an hour into the first day, and he had already had about enough of this. As much as Harry Potter had been through, he found it extremely hard to pull a solo parental act.

Catching Lily playing with more Cheerios than she was eating, Harry placed his own bowl onto the table with a heavy sigh. Grabbing a fistful of the little round Cheerios, he took to hand feeding his youngest, exasperation on his face.

"C'mon Lily, just eat a few more. For Daddy, okay?"

Yes, he was pleading with a two year old.

"Done!" James called out, smiling sweetly at his father as he pushed his chair away from the table and shot up. Before he could make it up the stairs, Harry stopped him.

"Freeze, James!" Harry bellowed, his eyes narrowing at his son.

Pivoting around to face his father, James looked at him wearily. "Yes, Daddy?"

"I believe you have some cleaning up to do, son. Please bring your plate to the kitchen counter and push your chair in. Then, when you are done with that, you may go up to your room and get changed. Clear?"

"Yes, Daddy."

James sighed dejectedly before following his father's instructions, the chair's legs scraping against the wood with his quick effort to avoid getting into trouble.

"Good boy, James." Harry nodded his approval before placing another Cheerio into his daughter's unwilling mouth. He had to place his hand over her delicate lips, to stop her from spitting it back out at him.

"Swallow it, Lily."

"No more!"

"Five more."

"One!"

"Five."

"One!"

"Five."

"Two?"

"Four."

"Thwee?"

"Deal." Harry handed his daughter the promised three, keeping an eye on her to make sure she actually ate the now soggy mess of Cheerios.

Teddy had finished his cereal, along with Albus, and Harry watched all three boys head up the stairs to change out of their pajamas. He knew little Al would probably come down the stairs, in need of assistance. While James was extremely independent, Albus was more on the sensitive side. He didn't mind admitting that he was dependent on his parents still. After all, he was only four!

Seeing the Cheerios gone, Harry smiled lovingly at his daughter. "There, Lily. That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Lily thought for a minute before shaking her head, and showing Daddy a smile of her own. Her eyes searched on the counter for her cup, and she stretched her hands out to it.

"What do you want Lily?" Harry asked, knowing very well what she wanted, but wishing to hear it from Lily herself. She was getting much to old to be making simple hand gesture requests.

"Cuppy!"

Harry ran a hand over Lily's hair and stood, walking to the counter and grabbing the cup, before marching to the fridge and pulling out Lily's favorite juice. Ginny normally made Lily have milk with breakfast and reserved the juice for lunch time. But what his wife didn't know wouldn't hurt her. Besides, Harry knew the fight over breakfast could have been a lot worse.

Handing the sippy-cup over to his daugher, thundering footsteps on the staircase caught Harry's attention. Sure enough, a half clothed Albus came stumbling into the kitchen.

"Daddy, zip?"

Harry beckoned his youngest son over to him and proceeded to pull the zipper on Albus' favorite sweatshirt.

"All set, Al. Why don't you go on and work on that puzzle in the living room for a bit?"

While the weather was still nice enough for his children to play outside, Harry still hesitated to allow Albus out, as he was recovering from the chicken pox. Besides, Albus loved puzzles. Hermione had nearly bought out the muggle store of them. Al went through them so fast!

"Then if you're extra good, maybe I can teach you some more about Wizarding Chess!" A wink followed the bribe, as Harry knew how much Albus was looking forward to learning how to properly play. Ron and Harry had both taught him some basics, but Albus still struggled with the strategy concepts a bit.

"Okay, Daddy!" Albus happily wandered off to complete his puzzle, leaving a very satisfied Harry in his wake.

"Dadd-y!" Lily immediately caught Harry's attention and he lifted her out of the high chair, carrying her up the stairs and into her room.

"Okay, Princess. We'll get you dressed into your favorite dress."

While dresses were among the most hated article of clothing, there was one dress in particular that Lily enjoyed wearing. It was the only dress she allowed Ginny to put her in on most days. Harry wasted no time in cleaning Lily up and dressing her, before carrying her back downstairs.

"Why don't you see if you can help Al with his puzzle?"

Harry knew Albus enjoyed the company of his baby sister, even if he wouldn't openly admit it. While Lily couldn't really be much help with the puzzle, she liked to pick up the pieces and hand them to her brother, while he tried to work through it. If that didn't work, Harry figured he could always try and get her to color. Anything peaceful would be fine with Harry. Although knowing the Potter residence as he did, he doubted what the day held would be anything but peaceful.

Heading over to the sink, Harry busied himself with the dishes. He didn't know how Ginny did it. In fact, Harry was starting to hold a whole new appreciation for his magnificent wife. How she fed, dressed and cleaned all of their children every morning before he was even out of bed was completely beyond him. As he continued to wash each dish individually, choosing to do it the Muggle way, rather than spelling them, his two eldest wards came dashing down the stairs.

Teddy held his broom in his hand, a winter jacket already placed snugly over his body. James too had on a winter coat, bundled up to go outside. Throwing the dish cloth down on the counter, Harry sighed and shook his head.

"James, what do you think you are doing, young man?"

A sheepish look immediately fell across James' face as he instantly grew uncomfortable. Harry rarely ever called him 'young man', unless he was quite upset. Besides, being five, James didn't completely agree with the term.

"I was gonna fly, Daddy," James replied softly, shifting from foot to foot, behaving in a very uncharacteristic manner.

Harry almost capitulated into allowing James a reprieve. But then he remembered Ginny's anger towards their eldest son and his misbehavior from the week before. He thought better of it and made a decision that he knew would not sit well with James.

"I'm afraid that you're forgetting something very important here, James."

Knowing what his father was hinting at, James didn't mutter a reply, merely looked toward Teddy in a silent plead for help.

"Harry, it's just a little broom ride outside…"

"Teddy, I believe this issue is between James and I. I am also certain that it is a settled matter." Harry's voice held an authoritative tone that immediately made Teddy shut his mouth and nod his head.

"James, you are grounded. In case you have forgotten what that means, you cannot play outside. I will, however, allow you to play a game of Exploding Snap, if you promise me you will be careful and clean up your mess afterwards."

A small smile lit up James' face as he recognized his father's compromise. If Ginny had been the one in charge, she would have never let her son play Exploding Snap, especially not in the house.

"Thanks, Daddy!"

James ran off to his bedroom, to get the game he was rarely permitted to play. Harry turned back to Teddy who was slowly edging towards the front door.

"I would appreciate it if you would stay in the house today as well, Teddy. It's cold outside and I don't need you getting sick as well."

"That's not fair!"

Teddy ground out, fists clenching at his sides. Just because James was in trouble and Al was sick didn't mean he should have to stay cooped up in a house all day!

"Maybe not, Ted, but I'm not changing my mind."

Heaving an exasperated sigh, Teddy rolled his eyes dramatically, putting emphasis on a foot stomp in the process.

"Whatever."

Teddy attempted to run off up the stairs again, no doubt to hide back up in his room, when Harry gently pulled his arm.

"Is that any way to talk to your godfather, Ted?"

Harry asked, a look of mock hurt crossing his features. He knew something was going on with his godson and normally Harry was very good at reading Teddy. If he had a chance to sit down with Teddy and actually talk with him, then maybe they could sort out whatever it was that was bothering him.

"I know you want to go riding. After dinner, okay? How about we go sit down and you can tell me all about your first year? You haven't said much about it since you've been home."

Harry had a sneaking suspicion that whatever was bothering Teddy was Hogwarts related. A slow grin spread onto Teddy's face and he nodded, never passing up the chance to have an adult chat with Harry.

Placing a hand amiably on Teddy's shoulder, Harry guided them to the living room, watching his three children play, while taking a seat on the sofa. He pet the seat of the couch next to him and watched Teddy sit down.

He looked briefly at the clock that read noon. His children seemed content and happy. Maybe, just maybe, they could skip naps for the day. After all, Harry wouldn't want to ruin this brief moment of contentment that had seemed to ripple through the household.

Reviews from wonderful readers like you would be much appreciated!

Tell me if you hate it, or if you liked it.

I am also working on a few one-shots that focus more on Ron, Hermione, Rose and Hugo. I'll be posting them as soon as I'm done with this one.

xo Mur