Entry for the "Halloween Collection Competition" - prompt: 37. Mushy Peas

Entry for the "Chocolate Frog Card Club" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

(bronze) Dorcas Wellbeloved; Prompts: Help, Witches, Luck, Nourish

Entry for the "Crystals, Gemstones and Astronomy Challenge/Competition"

Crown Chakra, Seventh Chakra Intermediate: Write about someone who is sceptic (a person who is inclined to question or doubt accepted opinions). (600 words min)

Entry for "Gringotts Prompt Bank"

Dialogue/Inspo Prompts Proverbs:

English Proverbs:

3. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."

"Okay, Severus, you don't have to worry, I wrote you a list of things you should do with Abby and things that you should not do, I am sure you will be okay," Rolanda said as she pulled on her travelling cloak while handing her husband a piece of parchment. "If you should need any help..."
"I don't think I will. Thousands of witches with only half of your intelligence were able to take care of a baby, so I am pretty optimistic I will manage this. I don't need instructions."

Rolanda rolled her eyes about his arrogance and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"Good luck, have fun. Bye bye, Abby."

She caressed her baby daughters cheek before leaving the cottage to meet some of her friends from her days as a professional Quidditch player. Severus watched her disapparate before turning away from the kitchen window, looking at Abby who was seated in her highchair.

"Your mommy is odd sometimes, isn't she? We will have a nice day together, my princess. Now let us take a look on that ridiculous list she left us."

Severus held the parchment up with a sceptical expression while Abby squealed slightly.

1. Read Abby a fairytale, stories have proven to enhance a baby's development!

Severus looked from the parchment to Abby, who was paying more attention to the small figurine of a ballett dancer on top of the small music box that Minerva had gave to them as a gift, her short arms outstretched.

"Hm... you don't particularly look like you are interested in having me read a story to you," he smiled about her cuteness, seriously doubting that she was interested in fairytales – she was not even 7 months old and barely able to understand what people were saying to her. And what would it hurt if he spared her having to listen to him? Surely she would not turn out to be dumb if he did not read anything to her. He simply did not see the point in this and he was pretty sure that she was not interested in whether he told a story to her or not.

2. Play Mozart to her – classical music enhances the intelligence.

"Mozart?! My poor Abby, your mommy wants to torture you! The Weird Sisters seem more suited for you, my little princess."

Abby was still not paying attention to her father – the dancer figurine seemed to make her curious, and even more as Severus made the music box play with a flick of his wand. Baby Abby giggled and smiled as the melody of 'Swan Lake' was being played while the figurine, which was in a arabesque position, started to turn around its own axis.

"Oh, I was seriously hoping for you to be the rock music type. But well, let's see this as an experiment. But never say I forced you to listen to classical music."

3. For lunch, nourish her with mushy peas, no pudding, no sweets! These things are no good for her!

"Why should pudding be bad for you, sweety? You love it, and Albus always says you should eat what you want."

He walked over to the fridge Rolanda had bought shortly before Abby's birth and took the bowl of mushy peas out, which Rolanda had already prepared on the previous evening.

"Ugh, looks terrible. I really don't feel like this would be any good for you, but you mommy will have her reasons, I guess," Severus sighed as he looked at the content of the bowl while conjuring a small spoon. "Bon appetite, Abby... And remember, don't bite the hand that feeds you! The meal was your mothers idea, not mine!"

Abby wailed unwillingly and turned her head away from the spoon, her eyes again fixing on the turning figurine. Over the next minutes, Severus tried again and again to feed the peas to his daughter, but she refused to take even the tiniest mouthful, and he could not even take it amiss – he probably would have done the same.

"But you have to eat something, princess," Severus sighed, before giving the baby a knowing smile and changing the mushy peas against a bowl of vanilla pudding.

"Screw the peas, I want you to be happy about what you eat," he winked and was glad as Abby looked way more approving and ate every spoonful her father feeded to her. "This will be our secret, okay? And only tell your mother about this when I can prove that not sticking to the normal guidelines of parenting has not done anything wrong to you. Well, or when I have a headstart. Understood? Yees, that's my girl..."