Written for Gardening lesson.
Extra prompts: action - working hard/ object - shovel
wc: 1150
"But Daaaaaad," His child whines at him "Why I can't have a cat?"
Sighing, he rubs his temple. Ever since he met Crookshanks, James keeps asking him to get a cat.
"James, I told you already. I don't think you're responsible enough to handle a cat."
He crosses his arms and pouts at him.
As Harry looks around his living room, he has an idea.
"You know what? Grab the shovel that's on the garage, please."
His son has a confused look on his face but complies with his request.
He returns a few minutes later with a shovel that's almost too big for him.
James watches as his dad open the drawer of his desk and takes a little package out of it.
With a hand on his shoulder, Harry guides his oldest outside, towards the garden.
"I don't want you to have a cat yet, because I don't think you truly comprehends what it's like to take care of a living thing." Taking the shovel from his hand, he starts to dig a hole in front of them. "So, this is what we're going to do."
As he finishes the hole, he opens the package and crouches in front of him.
"I'll give you these seeds and you'll have to plant them and take care of whatever this is. If you're able to do this, then I'll think about you having a cat."
James opens a brilliant smile and for a minute Harry considers to just give him the damn cat.
"Give it to me" He opens his small hand and the boy who lived deposits the seeds on it.
The little boy leaves the seeds on the hole and take the shovel from his hand. He covers it with the dirt and, after he finishes it, he smiles at him and Harry feels his love for him only grow.
"You'll see, Daddy."
.
"Daaaaaaaad,"
Harry puts his hand on his head. It's only the third day after he had that stupid idea and his son is about to drive him insane.
"How long do I have to wait?"
He's standing outside his door with a curious look on his face.
"You need to be patient. Just because you want to, doesn't mean that it's going to happen."
"But Dad,"
"Enough, James." He looks at his son with an angry look on his face. "I have a lot to do and I already told you that you need to wait. Understood?"
The boy nods and leaves the study.
Deciding to not feel bad about it, he returns to his work.
.
The next day, Harry spots his son crouched near the place where he planted the seed.
"James? What's wrong?"
"Oh, hi dad." He looks quickly at him and returns his gaze to his "work".
Harry crouches next to him and waits. Like him, his son is not good with words.
"Why it's taking so long?"
With a fond smile, he puts a hand on his shoulder.
"Because it takes time. You stayed in your mom's belly during 9 months before you were born. Things like these, they take time, and you need to be patient."
"And it'll be the same with my cat?"
"Well… Not exactly the same but yeah. You'll need to take care of it, and be patient with it."
His boy nods and they both stare at it for some time.
"Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"How did I end up on Mom's belly?"
"GINNY!"
.
"Did you water your plant yet?"
"No."
"Aren't you going to do it?"
The boy huffs and walks outside.
Shaking his head, Harry enters his room.
.
"James, you need to water your plant."
"But I don't want to."
"You have to."
"But I don't want to."
"Fine." Harry nods and leaves his child alone. "When it dies, it's on you."
.
"Look," he hears before he approaches his son "I don't want you to die, so can you please, well, don't die?"
Harry laughs and James throws him a nasty look.
"Rose told me that I have to talk to it to make it feel special. But it's only a plant."
"The point is," Harry picks the watering can and hands over to James "this plant is a living thing, boy. You need to care about it. Maybe not the same way that you care about me, or mom, or your brothers, but you need to be careful with it."
"But why?"
Sometimes Harry wonders if James is not Hermione's son. The boy is too curious, for Merlin's sake.
"Because everything that breathes is precious, James. Today is a plant, tomorrow may be your cat, or a dog, or whatever. I want you to learn how to be responsible, how to care, do you understand?"
"Yeah, Dad." He nods and pats the dirt in front of him. "I think I do."
"Good."
.
As he leaves to work the next day, he finds his oldest watering the plant and talking to it. He's working hard and Harry is truly considering the idea of handing him the cat.
He waves at him.
He waves back without taking his eyes of his rose.
.
A few months later, the rose that James planted is big and bright. His petals are red and it's in the middle of their garden, brightening the area around him.
On the other hand, James' not paying that much attention to it like before.
As he shares his concerns to his wife, Ginny's only answers is, "You won't do anything about it. Let him learn with his mistakes."
.
"DAD!"
He jumps as he hears his son screaming outside.
Running like he never did run before, he finds him crying in front of something.
"James? What's wrong?"
"It's dying! The rose is dying!"
Trying to calm his racing heart, he puts his hand on his son's head.
"Do you know why?"
He shakes his head.
"You weren't tending to the rose like before. And now, it's dying and you can't do a thing about it."
"But…"
"I'm sorry, James. But that's how life is."
"Can't you cast a spell and make it live again?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because you can't bring anyone back from the dead." He says, with a pang on his heart for an entirely different reason. "What you can do is try to do better next time, okay?"
He nods and looks at his rose again. "I'm sorry."
Harry smiles sadly at him. "I hope you learned your lesson, James."
"Yeah, I think I did."
"Good."
.
Two days later, he finds his son trying to dig a hole outside.
"What are you doing, James?"
"Well…" He pats his hand on his jeans "My rose died and I said to you that I needed to learn my lesson."
Harry nods, waiting for him to continue.
"This is me showing you that I did."
He laughs, because he can't think of anything better to do.