"What time are kids supposed to go to bed?" Harry whispered to Draco. He glanced at his watch, which read "6:45." It was a long time since he was a kid, and he doubted that his childhood was anything like a normal one, including what time he went to bed.
"It depends on the age." Draco responded, "From what I've read, for a three to six-year-old, anywhere between six and eight is a proper bedtime. She seems to be getting a little tired, though." He noted as Fiona yawned. "Today must have been a big day for her. In fact, I'm even starting to get tired myself. I might have to go to bed soon."
Harry chuckled. "Don't fall asleep on me here, we still haven't answered most of the letters." He said, referring to the ones that were still in their room.
"Well let them go unanswered, I'm sure that my mom won't apparate in here demanding why we haven't answered her within one day."
"No, but Percy might."
"No he wouldn't, you're being ridiculous." Draco snorted.
"I know he wouldn't, I'm just joking around. Really, the two of us should get some sleep, especially if we want to get going tomorrow. We don't have that many days until I have to be back at work." Harry reminded him. The Department had been kind enough to give him time off in order to get to know his daughter a little bit more. He looked over at Fiona, who was intently watching their owl.
The girl had spent most of her day looking around the house, trying to figure out what to make of it. The house was nice, she thought. It was much different than her own one, but she considered that to be a good thing. It was a lot smaller, which meant there were a lot fewer places to hide, but she wasn't sure if she would need those anymore. Even if she did need to hide sometimes, she was sure that she would find a good place. The best places were the hardest to find, so it was almost good that she didn't find any decent places yet.
Fiona liked her room, too. She liked the light blue color that her walls were painted. Her room at her old house was painted "off-white," as her mother put it. It made no difference to her, it was white, and it was boring. Her room there wasn't really her own, though. She wasn't really allowed to decorate it or move things around. Her mother like things a certain way, she always used to say, and she didn't want Fiona messing anything up. Her favorite part of the new room, though, was the stuffed bear that was on the bed. She used to have stuffed animals at her old house too until her father took them away when she was five. Suddenly, they were "too childish" for her. That's when her parents started to have more "expectations" was the word they said.
Fiona reached out her hand to touch the owl that was perched up on the windowsill. One of the men, the one with the glasses and funny smile, had told her that she was a barn owl. Harry, he said his name was, had told her that the owl's name was Klara. Klara seemed to be a friendly owl, and Fiona liked that she let her pet her. She smiled as the owl hooted and hopped around.
She turned around to see the two men were watching her. They seemed like nice people. The blonde man, Draco, treated her in a way that she wasn't used to, like how she felt matter. And Harry, he had spoken to her kindly. She didn't know that adults could even be this nice. It almost made her nervous, what would happen when she made them mad when she didn't meet their "expectations?" She fidgeted with her fingers nervously. Surely there had to be something wrong with them, didn't there? Even if Draco had let her have two cupcakes, there had to be something mean about him, didn't there?
She felt another wave of sleepiness rush over her. She held her hand up to her mouth and yawned. After all of the excitement of today, she was starting to feel tired.
"Are you ready to go to bed?" Harry asked her, "You look a little tired." He walked over to the girl and knelt down beside her.
Fiona nodded as she held back yet another yawn. She stood up and gave Klara one last goodnight pat.
"Come on, then, why don't we go get ready for bed?" He held out his hand.
Fiona took his hand, and let him lead her up the stairs and into her room.
Harry opened one of the drawers to her dresser, "We have a couple of pajamas in here, you can choose which ones you like." He said. He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Fiona scanned the drawer. There were three different sets of pajamas. She picked out a sky blue set that had puppies on them. It had a short sleeve top and long pants. Once she had changed, she opened the door of her room, where Harry was waiting.
The man smiled, "Those were my favorite, too." He then watched as she brushed her teeth and two returned to her room.
Harry kneeled next to the bed as Fiona climbed into it. "Do you want a bedtime story, or do you just want to go to bed?" He asked her.
The girl nodded, a story could be a nice thing to hear. Maybe it would even make it easier for her to fall asleep.
"Okay, well." Harry cleared his throat, "Once Upon A Time there was a little mouse named Millie..."
As Harry began to spin his story, Fiona grew more and more tired. Eventually, she closed her eyes. She drifted off to sleep to the sound of the young man's voice.
"...and Millie the mouse returned home once again. The End." Harry whispered as his story came to an end. He smiled down at the little girl, who had fallen asleep towards the end of it. Careful to not wake her, he stood and turned off the light. Pausing at the door, he looked back at Fiona. He could get used to this, the life of being a father. He shut the door behind him, smiling the whole time as he got ready for bed.
