A/N: You people confuse me, first you beg for some news from Charlotte and then when I give you some you review telling me how much you hate her? I understand that there are some mixed feelings here and I hope they will be resolved by the time the story is over.
Any way, thanks to everyone who did review, even if it was just to say how much you hated Charlotte, but really guys, you can't blame her for doing what she thought would make her happy. Or I can't at least, but maybe that's because I know how the story ends. Enjoy!
Nights were the hardest for James. They were when he was able to rest enough to think and that was never a good thing. He thought of Charlotte a lot at night-pinned for her really-and when he did it was harder in the morning to pretend like he'd had a perfect night.
Although, tonight was different. Lily had moved out almost immediately after she finished Hogwarts and it wasn't long before Albus followed. So now with all this extra room in the house Amber's little bed had been moved into Lily's old bedroom.
He was proud that she had taken the news so well when Ginny had suggested it. Even though she was three she was excited to be getting her own room, she called it an adventure, though she couldn't say it right so it sounded more like, "adbenture."
And at the time he was excited too, after three years of sharing his room with a loud and messy baby-who took up most of the room with her toys, clothes, and bed-he was finally getting his room back.
But after he and Harry had moved all of her things to her new room James was struck by how bare his room looked. He knew that this was the way it had been before Amber had come along and taken over his life and his space. But that was only the beginning of the changes he would feel that day.
After they had gotten everything into Amber's new room she looked so happy. She immediately began to decorate her room by retrieving all of the pictures that she had drawn over that last few years, pictures that James had littered the walls of his room with, and pinned them on her walls. James had let her, thinking that he could put the Quidditch posters that he use to have on his walls back up. But the empty walls made the room look even more empty and James didn't put his posters back up, preferring to steal one of Amber's drawings (which he thought was of him and her riding broomsticks, but it could have been two dogs) and hang it up.
When he had tucked her into her new bed in her newly decorated bedroom she was exhausted, she had a little night light that cast flying broomsticks on the walls and she watched them as she drifted to sleep before he even finished the story he was reading to her. He had contemplated sleeping on the floor, dreading going back to his empty room which now looked like no one had lived in it for years without all of Amber's things strewn everywhere. But he knew that she would want to do her adventure alone. So, keeping that in mind, James went back to his room.
It was just across the hall but the walk seemed unbearably long. He didn't turn on the light as he got ready for bed, thinking that if he didn't see the empty room he could pretend that Amber was still there. But the fact that he didn't step on a toy was a dead giveaway.
He left the door open for the first time since he was seven, just in case.
Try as he might James couldn't get to sleep without the familiar steady breathing of Amber a few feet away from him. He missed hearing her little snore and the rustle of her bed sheets as she tossed during the night.
Why did Ginny have to suggest such a thing! Amber was three for Gods sake; she wasn't ready to make such a drastic change in her life! Well, he wasn't, but it was the same thing!
James kicked out in his frustration with himself. It wasn't fair; he had wanted Amber to grow up so that he wouldn't have to constantly take care of her. But now that it was happening he didn't want it to. What had gotten into him? Since when was he so divided on an issue? Kids grow up and there was nothing he could do about Amber getting older.
Why did this make him feel worse, it was supposed to comfort him! He wasn't the first parent whose kids had out grown them. That happened to everyone eventually, but why did it have to happen with Amber so quickly? Was this the beginning of a fast transaction into her adolescent years? He hoped it wasn't that fast, he didn't know what he'd do when she went to Hogwarts or brought her first boyfriend home.
He started to hyperventilate at the very thought.
He sat up in his bed and tried to make himself calm down. She was only three; it would be eight more years before she left him for Hogwarts and if she ever brought a boy home to meet him he knew exactly what he'd do. He'd take the boy aside and tell him, while fingering his wand, that he didn't mind going to Azkaban.
Laying back down James heard one of the best sounds that he had ever heard. Rain followed closely by thunder. He could even see a flash of lightning through the window. He smiled to himself; Amber was always restless during a thunderstorm. It was only a matter of time now.
There was another lightning flash, more thunder and the rain pounded loudly on the roof. James noticed a shadow standing in the doorway. He eagerly sat up again, "Did the storm scare you?" he asked Amber, who stood illuminated in the doorway. Her eyes were wide in fright and she clutched a small stuffed unicorn to her chest. "No," she denied.
James smirked, "Then why are you up?"
"Because," she stated for an answer. James had learnt a while ago not to ask, "because why," which would just confuse her and lead to another, "because."
"Well," James said slowly, pretending to think about it, "if you wanted to sleep in your old room tonight then I don't see anything wrong with it."
As soon as she got the invitation Amber made a beeline across the now clean floor and climbed awkwardly up onto James' bed, with help from James of course. She snuggled up against his chest. "Daddy, will it be OK if I come to sleep with you if I get scared?" she asked, looking up at him with her big hazel eyes.
James couldn't help but smile. "I think that would be alright," he allowed, "now go to sleep, Amber."
Amber obediently lay her head on James' pillow and shut her eyes, "'Night, daddy," she whispered with her eyes still closed. "I love you."
"I love you too Amber," James said, lying down beside her. He knew that eventually Amber would grow up and need him less and less until she didn't need him anymore but he would have to be content with the time he got and enjoy it until then.
A/N: I had to put that part with Amber's "because" answer in there cuz my little sister use to do that to me all the time when she was that age and it annoyed me to no end!
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