The radio was blaring a Weird Sisters classic when Angelina opened the backdoor. Her husband was standing in the backyard stroking his beard in a thoughtful manner, a tent and all the rigging to go along with it laying in front of him, two sleeping bags and a couple pillows setting off to the side. Freddy was standing next to him, glancing between his father and the tent. It was her fault, she supposed, that George looked so determined and bamboozled in the first place.
She'd made the mistake of mentioning in front of Freddy how her dad had used to set up a tent for them out in his garden, and they'd camp out there during the summers. Immediately, he'd wanted to do the same thing. George had said that he'd set up a tent because he'd seen his dad do a million times. Angelina had laughed then, which in hindsight had been a mistake. She'd explained that she and her dad had been done things the Muggle way, foregoing magic. Well, George had taken that as a challenge and decided that he didn't need magic either. After all, how hard could putting up a simple tent be?
It turned out it was pretty fucking hard for him. He'd tried to set it up three times so far and had failed miserably.
"Want some help?" she asked as Roxanne toddled out onto the back porch.
"No," George called back never taking his eyes of the tent. He had that same look on his face that Angelina remembered from Potions class; like he was trying to figure out what made the tent tick.
Chuckling, Angelina stepped out on the porch, the door slamming shut behind her, and sat down on the steps. Roxanne toddled up to her, her chubby fist latching onto one of Angelina's braids. She'd had them redone last week. While Freddy had liked the change, Roxanne still wasn't sure what to make of them.
"Quit," Angelina said gently taking the braid from her daughter before she could stick it in her mouth. She picked Roxanne up and sat her on her lap before she could grab another one. She had on a pretty blue frock today, complete with ruffles and a white checkered print.
"Mama," Roxanne said, patting Angelina's face.
Roxie had been quick to learn words and ecstatic to repeat them back to people. Unlike Freddy, there was no distinction when it came to 'Mama' and 'Dada.' If she could say it, Roxanne happily repeated whatever was said to her.
"You're such a smart girl," Angelina cooed.
A whooshing sound had her glancing back out at her husband and watching as the tent collapsed in on itself. Even from the porch, Angelina could see the frustration rolling off George from the way he crossed his arms. Turning back to Roxanne, she hid her laughter.
"I think Daddy's having some trouble," she said.
"Dada," Roxanne repeated.
"Go on."
Angelina sat the little girl down in the grass and watched as she made her way over to George. When she reached him, Roxanne grabbed onto his pant leg and tugged. Delight rippled through Angelina as she watched George lean down to pick up her up. Nothing made George happier than being with his kids, and nothing made Angelina happier than watching him with them.
Roxanne happily cuddled into George's side as he continued to study the tent as if it would provide some prophetic vision on how he should go about putting it together. Shaking her head, she rose from spot on the steps and strode over to the rest of her family.
"You want me to give it a go?" she asked.
"I think I can manage," he said.
"I think Mummy should do it," Freddy interrupted, turning to face them. "You've already tried four times."
Angelina bit her lip to keep from laughing at her son's bluntness.
George grumbled while Angelina went work. The first mistake she noticed was that the poles weren't assembled correctly. Quickly, she detached the ones that weren't meant to be together and fixed them into the holes they were supposed to go into. Once that was done, she laid the tent out flat in the position she wanted it to go up in. Then she started to put the poles though the rings in the fabric. Angelina grabbed the small piece of plastic that was supposed to hold the two main poles together. Once she'd inserted the poles into that piece, she did the same to the poles on the back side of the tent. It was starting to look halfway decent, standing slightly upright. Angelina grabbed one corner of the tent and pressed the small metal stake through the eye hole and mashed it the rest of the way into the ground with her boot. She repeated this three more times. Once she was finished, she unzipped the tent flap and stepped back.
"All done," she said.
Freddy quickly dashed inside the tent without comment.
George sent her a half annoyed look.
Angelina responded by pecking his cheek.
"Take a look then," she said.
They both crouched down, and George peered inside the small empty tent. His mouth dropped open, and he turned to her swiftly.
"You slept in something like this as a child?" he asked.
"Yeah?"
"And you called it fun?"
Angelina snorted. "Yes."
"Fuck that shit," he muttered, reaching for his wand. Angelina sent him a glare for his language.
He waved his wand and the inside of the tent started to expand. More flaps appeared, do doubt leading to other rooms. The ceiling expanded at least another two feet. After levitating the two sleeping bags and pillows into the tent, George transfigured them into couches, beds, and an arm chair. They started to float back into the tent until they landed in a spot George deemed appropriate.
"Wow," Freddy said in awe.
Angelina gave him an incredulous look.
George sniffed. "I have a bad back."
"What a wimp," she muttered.