Simpler Times

Alice hummed as she slowly brought a pot of water to boil. She didn't often have the luxury of cooking dinner, but she had been allowed to leave work early that day. As Frank wasn't due home for another half hour, however, she wanted to time the food so that it would be nice and warm for him.

"All right, Neville," she told the chubby toddler seated at the table, "now Mummy is going to put the pasta in the water."

"Patta! Patta!" Neville repeated delightedly.

"That's right," she cooed, dropping the uncooked pasta into the pot. "We're having pasta. Yum!"

"'Um!" Neville echoed, a big smile plastered on his face.

Alice couldn't help but smile back. Her son was such a happy little boy, and he brought so much joy to her and Frank's lives. He made life seem a little less bleak, and they were both eternally grateful for that.

She busied herself now with making a red sauce for the pasta, stopping every so often to show Neville an ingredient or explain what she was doing in simple terms. She knew he couldn't understand most of what she was saying, but she enjoyed watching him try to mimic some of the words nonetheless.

"Tomato," she said, slowly and clearly, holding one up for him to see.

Neville gurgled something that sounded like "dough-ma-dough," and she laughed.

"Close enough," she said. A quick glance at the clock elicited a gasp. "Oh, love, Mummy's got to focus on the food now. We're running out of time — this needs to be done before Daddy gets home!"

Neville seemed especially excited about one word she had just spoken. His eyes lit up and he exclaimed, "Dada!"

Before long, the sauce was bubbling away on the stove, and just as she was pouring the sauce over the pasta, Alice heard the front door open, signalling that her husband was home.

"Alice?" he called.

"In the kitchen with Neville!" she called back.

Moments later, Frank appeared in the doorway, looking exhausted. As soon as he saw Alice, however, his face split into a wide grin.

"That smells delicious, love," he said, kissing her cheek. Then he turned to Neville and planted a kiss on his head. "And how's my little boy?"

"Dada!" Neville said happily.

"He's good," Alice answered, spooning the food into two dishes. "Augusta said he was a perfect angel, as always, and he's been in a very good mood since I got home."

She looked on as Frank swung their son into his arms and began to coo at him. It was always incredible to watch her Auror husband shed the horrors of whatever he had faced at work that day to be present with Neville. Alice didn't know how he did it. She knew firsthand how difficult it was to switch off the Auror persona, but Frank made it look easy. At least she had a good deal of time to perfect that art herself.

Or so she thought.

Word count: 501