(no subject)
Title: Dragon hunt
Author: apostrophe_ess
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JKR, I merely gain from playing these games in her playground.
Pairing/Character: James, Harry, and Lily Potter
Word Count: 642
Rating: G
Prompt: For potterverse100, number 51 - books. Prompt table here
Summary: When James is left babysitting, Lily never knows quite what she'll come home to.
Author's Notes: Thank you to manynames for reading out We're going on a bear hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury in the middle of Waterstones while I scribbled down the rhythms. Also thank you, and apologies, to the two authors whose idea I have shamelessly stolen.
Dragon hunt
“We’re going on a dragon hunt,
We’re going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day
We’re not scared.
Oh no! A maze!
A tall windy maze.
We can’t go over it.
We can’t go under it.
Oh no! We’ll have to go through it.
Left, right
Left, right
Left, right.
We’re going on a dragon hunt,
We’re going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day
We’re not scared.
Oh no! A lake!
A deep, dark lake.
We can’t go over it
We can’t go under it
Oh no! We’ll have to go through it.
Swim, swim
Swim, swim
Swim, swim
We’re going on a dragon hunt,
We’re going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day
We’re not scared.
Oh no! Snivellus!
A slimy, greasy snivellus
We can’t go near him
We don’t want to touch him.
Oh no! We’re going to have to hex him.
Clean hair
Short nose
White teeth
We’re going on a drag-”
“James!”
“Look Harry, mummy’s home. We’re having a story Lil, do you want to join in?”
“So I see,” replied Lily, who had when she’d come into the flat been quite impressed that James was reading to Harry. It made a change from the game with the dragons they usually played, and which if Harry was too tired sometimes made him grumpy and fractious.
“So, are you going to join in?”
Lily looked at the two of them. Sat on the floor, James had Harry sitting in between his legs. The book was in front of them and around them were placed all the things from the story, all charmed to jump into action at the right time. The dragon roared softly and breathed fire every time James mentioned it, the cauldron had bubbled when he’d said lake. She’d not seen how James had provided for the maze, and it had been all she could do not to laugh at the way one of Harry’s teddies had transformed from what was an ugly portrayal of Snape into something much nicer.
“I’m not sure,” Lily stated sitting down beside them, ” that we should be indoctrinating our son when the person in question is teaching at the school he’ll go to one day.”
“Aww, Lil,” James complained. “We were enjoying it. It’s our new favourite game, isn’t it Harry?”
Harry gurgled and pointed to the teddy, which Lily noticed, started to grow back some dark, greasy hair.
“Please tell me you did that, James.”
James grinned. “So, are you going to join in?”
“And it wasn’t Harry?”
“Come on, Lil. He’s a baby. He can’t do magic, can you Harry?”
Lily looked from James to Harry, and Harry to the teddy. Nothing happened.
“A tall mountain cave
One ridged back
Two glittering eyes
Big shiny scales
It’s a dragon!
Back past Snape,
Across the lake,
Through the maze.
Get to the front door, charm open the door,
Up the stairs, oh no forgot to charm shut the door.
Back down the stairs,
Back up the stairs.
Into the bedroom.
Into bed.
Under the covers.
We’re not going on a dragon hunt again”
“He likes books,” James said when they’d finished reading together and had time to laugh at the end.
“Yes!” Lily replied.
“Especially if they’re full of dark creatures, hmmmm Harry?”
“Yes,” Lily answered again. “You know, I never thought I’d come home and find you two reading together.”
“Ah, Lil, you do me down. Harry and I are going to be doing this for years. I can’t promise you’ll like the books we’ll read together in a decade or two though.”
“Maybe by then we’ll have a Harriet as well.”
“Maybe,” James agreed, his eyes glinting. “Perhaps Harry will go to bed soon and we can talk about that a bit more.”
“Perhaps,” Lily agreed. She’d like that too.
Author: apostrophe_ess
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JKR, I merely gain from playing these games in her playground.
Pairing/Character: James, Harry, and Lily Potter
Word Count: 642
Rating: G
Prompt: For potterverse100, number 51 - books. Prompt table here
Summary: When James is left babysitting, Lily never knows quite what she'll come home to.
Author's Notes: Thank you to manynames for reading out We're going on a bear hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury in the middle of Waterstones while I scribbled down the rhythms. Also thank you, and apologies, to the two authors whose idea I have shamelessly stolen.
Dragon hunt
“We’re going on a dragon hunt,
We’re going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day
We’re not scared.
Oh no! A maze!
A tall windy maze.
We can’t go over it.
We can’t go under it.
Oh no! We’ll have to go through it.
Left, right
Left, right
Left, right.
We’re going on a dragon hunt,
We’re going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day
We’re not scared.
Oh no! A lake!
A deep, dark lake.
We can’t go over it
We can’t go under it
Oh no! We’ll have to go through it.
Swim, swim
Swim, swim
Swim, swim
We’re going on a dragon hunt,
We’re going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day
We’re not scared.
Oh no! Snivellus!
A slimy, greasy snivellus
We can’t go near him
We don’t want to touch him.
Oh no! We’re going to have to hex him.
Clean hair
Short nose
White teeth
We’re going on a drag-”
“James!”
“Look Harry, mummy’s home. We’re having a story Lil, do you want to join in?”
“So I see,” replied Lily, who had when she’d come into the flat been quite impressed that James was reading to Harry. It made a change from the game with the dragons they usually played, and which if Harry was too tired sometimes made him grumpy and fractious.
“So, are you going to join in?”
Lily looked at the two of them. Sat on the floor, James had Harry sitting in between his legs. The book was in front of them and around them were placed all the things from the story, all charmed to jump into action at the right time. The dragon roared softly and breathed fire every time James mentioned it, the cauldron had bubbled when he’d said lake. She’d not seen how James had provided for the maze, and it had been all she could do not to laugh at the way one of Harry’s teddies had transformed from what was an ugly portrayal of Snape into something much nicer.
“I’m not sure,” Lily stated sitting down beside them, ” that we should be indoctrinating our son when the person in question is teaching at the school he’ll go to one day.”
“Aww, Lil,” James complained. “We were enjoying it. It’s our new favourite game, isn’t it Harry?”
Harry gurgled and pointed to the teddy, which Lily noticed, started to grow back some dark, greasy hair.
“Please tell me you did that, James.”
James grinned. “So, are you going to join in?”
“And it wasn’t Harry?”
“Come on, Lil. He’s a baby. He can’t do magic, can you Harry?”
Lily looked from James to Harry, and Harry to the teddy. Nothing happened.
“A tall mountain cave
One ridged back
Two glittering eyes
Big shiny scales
It’s a dragon!
Back past Snape,
Across the lake,
Through the maze.
Get to the front door, charm open the door,
Up the stairs, oh no forgot to charm shut the door.
Back down the stairs,
Back up the stairs.
Into the bedroom.
Into bed.
Under the covers.
We’re not going on a dragon hunt again”
“He likes books,” James said when they’d finished reading together and had time to laugh at the end.
“Yes!” Lily replied.
“Especially if they’re full of dark creatures, hmmmm Harry?”
“Yes,” Lily answered again. “You know, I never thought I’d come home and find you two reading together.”
“Ah, Lil, you do me down. Harry and I are going to be doing this for years. I can’t promise you’ll like the books we’ll read together in a decade or two though.”
“Maybe by then we’ll have a Harriet as well.”
“Maybe,” James agreed, his eyes glinting. “Perhaps Harry will go to bed soon and we can talk about that a bit more.”
“Perhaps,” Lily agreed. She’d like that too.