Hide and Seek

The Houses Competition:

House: Ravenclaw

Class: Charms

Category: Standard

Prompt: Hiding

Word count (story only, including POV changes): 1354

Word Count (including A/N): 1390

Thanks to Andy, Ayden and Isi for beta'ing

[Harry POV]

Harry sat in his study drinking a glass of brandy, procrastinating. His boss was holding a press conference in two days' time, and he wanted Harry to make a speech to the press. Harry speech was supposed to be about the mass murderer he'd just caught. Harry knew he should get to it, knowing he only had a couple of days to complete the task. But he really wasn't looking forward to it, and he wanted to hex his senior for deciding this was a good idea.

"Daddy, please can we play hide-and-seek?" his five-year-old, Lily, asked him sweetly, interrupting his procrastination.

"Alright, princess. Just for an hour, though. I need to prepare this speech for a conference I have in a couple of days." Harry nodded, glancing at the clock. He did need to work on his speech, but he thought it could wait. It would only be for an hour, maybe two, and he'd welcome any reason for delaying it a little longer.

He had, after all, been very busy of late, and hadn't had much time to play his daughter's favourite game: hide-and-seek. She seemed to have a love for hiding, which was why she loved playing the game so much.

"Yay! Cool! You're it, Dad!" Lily said, tapping Harry on the arm.

Lily jumped up and down excitedly, seemingly happy that he was going to play with her. He hadn't played with her for ages, and he played hide-and-seek the best, apparently; even better than Ginny. Lily kept saying Harry was the best, much to Ginny's annoyance and 'Harry's amusement.

"Aww, why do I have to be it all the time?" he groaned playfully.

"Because you're older!" Lily giggled. "You have to count to forty before you come and find me, okay? I have a great spot to hide! You'll never find me! And–"

"Stop, or you'll give it away," Harry said, chuckling lightly. He recalled previous times when she had given her spot away. He then added, "There's no fun in hiding when you give it away! "

"I guess. I'm going to hide now, okay? Ready? Remember, forty! You only waited 'til twenty last time," Lily giggled. She was unable to control her fit of giggles – she was such a giggly child.

"Yes, I'm ready. One," Harry said, covering his eyes.

[Lily POV]

"Yay!" Lily screamed, running off. He heard her running up the stairs, making a terrible din as she ran. Lily slowed down upon reaching the landing, and then crept off to her hiding place so Harry would not hear her.

She entered her parent's bedroom, a place she would go to after a nightmare. She knew her parents had a spacious bed, with lots of room underneath it, as well as some trunks and boxes. All the better for hiding under when playing hide-and-seek, though this only occurred to her today.

She climbed underneath the head of the bed to hide, giggling as she found herself with her back against the wall. He would never find her here, especially if she kept quiet: which was easier said than done. Lily was conflicted though. As much as she didn't want to be found, it would get boring after a while if she sat here for too long.

She thought again about how much she loved playing with her dad. He was so much more fun to play with than her brothers who kept finding her quickly. They made the game boring; whereas dad made it much more fun. This was why Lily waited until her mum, James and Albus were out of the house before asking him to play, just so the boys couldn't join in, they always spoiled the game, and it was more fun without them. It never occurred to her that her dad may pretend to not to find her. He would search other places first then come back. While she never thought of it, that was what occurred.

[Harry POV]

Meanwhile downstairs, Harry called out loudly, "Forty!"

He stood up from his favourite chair and walked out of his study. While upstairs was spacious, his search had been narrowed down to there. He had heard Lily stomp up there like a herd of Hippogriffs just before, then she quietened down. He thought she could have then come back down, but he doubted it.

But, he thought, she was clever, so she may have been practising and working on illusions to trick him.

Lily was not very good at hiding, despite her obsession with it. She was always practising, but she never improved: or, to be exact, she never found better hiding spots. Harry wondered why she was so obsessed with the activity. He knew from the other two children kids often decided they wanted a job, and they would tell everyone so.

Very quickly Harry started to realise that Lily had stepped up her attempts at hiding. He hadn't found her, and it was past the usual amount of time in which he normally found her. He was impressed and proud of her.

However, Harry started to get worried when he didn't find her after an hour had passed. By now he had searched the entire upper floor multiple times, and was now making good progress with the ground floor. He had only a few places left to search. If he didn't find her soon, he'd risk angering Ginny when he explained to her that he had lost their daughter in their own house and had no idea where she was.

"Lily? Lily! You have fooled me, I'm stumped and I can't find you! Where are you?" Harry called tiredly. "Your mum will be home soon, and I need to do some work."

"In here!" Lily called from his bedroom.

How did I miss her? Harry thought, walking upstairs to his bedroom.

"Lily?" Harry called, looking around the room after entering it.

"Over here!" Lily cried. It sounded like it had come from under the bed.

"Huh?" Harry asked, getting down onto all fours, and crawling under. "Lumos."

He waved his wand around, moving things and looking around to find his daughter. He finally found her right at the back, curled up against the wall. She smiled at him and waved. "You found me!" She giggled brightly.

"Very good, Lily," Harry said coming out from under the bed. "Will you come out now? But be careful: don't want to whack our heads now, do we?"

"Yes, daddy!" Lily said, crawling out.

"Very good spot to hide, but I don't know why I couldn't see you under there: it's not like I didn't check," Harry said in mock-upset.

"I was hiding behind some trunks, that's why," Lily said cheerfully.

"Can I ask you why you like hiding so much?" Harry asked as they headed towards the stairs.

"Simple! I want to be a spy when I grow up!" Lily declared.

"Harry! Lily! We're back!" Ginny called from the living room.

"Mummy!" Lily cried, running ahead, leaving Harry in the dust. Harry shook his head and laughed: he loved his kids and their antics.

But he had been right, the mystery of his daughter's love of hiding was solved. She wanted to be a spy, not that he had the heart to tell her that hiding did not have a large part in a spy's life. While he severely doubted it, Lily may become one, but he wasn't sure. She could lose interest in the coming years, like so many children do with their 'dream' jobs. James and Albus had been like that. James had wanted to be an Auror (like himself) at one point, but not anymore. Albus wanted to be a lawyer once, and now he wanted to work as a Curse Breaker at Gringotts like his uncle Bill.

Harry smiled as he entered the living room, seeing Lily, Albus and James already chatting away. Whatever Lily, or any of them really, wanted to become, from a monarch to a spy, to the Hogwarts Caretaker, he would support them all the way.

He then walked over and greeted his wife.