birthday ficlet for my maple.
it's not exactly breaking the drought, but it's a trickle. and it's for you, dear one.
Title: All By Herself
Author: mrsquizzical
Words: 740
For: maple_mahogany
Ship: Trio
Rating: Gen
Summary: Sometimes you need help to do something all by yourself.
Thankyou: leviathan0999 for looking this over for me.
Author's Notes: written in the "All That They Had Not Lost" universe.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MAPLE.
~*~
ALL BY HERSELF
~*~
"Harry."
Charlotte was trying to be very quiet. She thought it should be okay, since Harry always woke up quickly. It would have been completely hopeless trying to get Daddy to help her without waking Mummy as well. He would groan and roll over and complain for a while, and he never really opened his eyes until she was sitting on his tummy.
"Harry!"
Harry opened his eyes and she handed him his glasses, held very carefully by the arm bits not the glasses bits which made them all smudgy and then he'd smile a tight smile and remind her to please hold them by the arm bits, so that was what she was doing.
"Thanks, Charles," he muttered and slid them on. He turned over to look at her Mummy and Daddy, asleep in the bed next to him. "What's up?"
"I need your help. Downstairs." Charlotte pointed towards the stairs.
"What time--"
"It's half six. I'm--" Charlotte peered over as Mummy started to stretch. She mouthed the rest of the sentence-- "mak-ing break-fast."
Harry rubbed his eyes - poking his fingers up underneath the glass. "'K. just let me--" He waved his hand towards the bathroom and sat up, scratching a hand through his hair.
Charlotte tiptoed back out of the room, and down the stairs. She climbed up onto one of the kitchen chairs and knelt on it, resting her head patiently (as patiently as she could because honestly Harry was taking forever!) on her folded arms on the table.
She had been up, alone in the quiet house, for almost an hour and not made any noise. Any loud noises, anyway. She'd gotten the pretty tray, and laid the nice cloth on it (the one with the lacy edges that had belonged to Granny Granger who had died before Charlotte was born), and found Mummy's favourite pretty plates and cup. There was a little dish of marmalade with a silver spoon in it. There was a pat of butter, a dear little jug of milk, and of course some flowers and a piece of paper with Charlotte's very best letters spelling out "Happy Birthday Mummy".
It looked very nice. But there was a problem.
It was very difficult to make toast and tea when you weren't old enough to do magic by yourself, so she'd had to use cold water for the tea and the toast was actually bread. She was rather worried that it wasn't actually a good breakfast at all and certainly not good enough for a Special Birthday Breakfast, so in the end she had decided to let Harry help her rather than do it all absolutely by herself. Charlotte was sure that Harry would let her say she'd done it herself, because he was always very good about that sort of thing.
Footsteps were padding down the steps, so Charlotte hopped down from the chair and bounced over to the hallway. Harry was carrying her little sister, Miranda, on his hip.
"Look who else wanted to help," he smiled at her.
Charlotte frowned at him. "Harry. Babies can't help. They make a mess and don't do things properly."
Harry didn't laugh at her (he never did), just looked thoughtful and serious (because this was serious) and suggested, "Maybe she could do a drawing for Mum. What do you think?"
Charlotte considered this idea and then nodded. She knelt down and pulled the crayon basket out from under the sideboard and set some paper up next to it. Harry plonked Miranda down on the floor, pressing a quick kiss to her dark head as he did so. The little girl reached straight for the purple crayon and started to fill the page with swoops of colour.
It didn't take long for Harry to heat the water and make a pot of tea, but Charlotte was hopping impatiently on one foot by the time the toast was cut up (into triangles) and balanced in the silver toast rack.
It took a while for Charlotte to get to the top of the stairs, holding both of the drawings (she had decided it wasn't too babyish for her to make one for Mummy as well, especially since it was her Birthday) and standing behind Miranda as she crept up, one step at a time. Harry followed behind, carrying the tray.
When they got to the door, he stopped and smiled down at her. She hesitated for a moment, holding Miranda's hand.
"You did a great job, Charles. Mum will love her birthday surprise."
Charlotte beamed back at Harry. She really hoped so.
~*~
Title: All By Herself
Author: mrsquizzical
Words: 740
For: maple_mahogany
Ship: Trio
Rating: Gen
Summary: Sometimes you need help to do something all by yourself.
Thankyou: leviathan0999 for looking this over for me.
Author's Notes: written in the "All That They Had Not Lost" universe.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MAPLE.
~*~
ALL BY HERSELF
~*~
"Harry."
Charlotte was trying to be very quiet. She thought it should be okay, since Harry always woke up quickly. It would have been completely hopeless trying to get Daddy to help her without waking Mummy as well. He would groan and roll over and complain for a while, and he never really opened his eyes until she was sitting on his tummy.
"Harry!"
Harry opened his eyes and she handed him his glasses, held very carefully by the arm bits not the glasses bits which made them all smudgy and then he'd smile a tight smile and remind her to please hold them by the arm bits, so that was what she was doing.
"Thanks, Charles," he muttered and slid them on. He turned over to look at her Mummy and Daddy, asleep in the bed next to him. "What's up?"
"I need your help. Downstairs." Charlotte pointed towards the stairs.
"What time--"
"It's half six. I'm--" Charlotte peered over as Mummy started to stretch. She mouthed the rest of the sentence-- "mak-ing break-fast."
Harry rubbed his eyes - poking his fingers up underneath the glass. "'K. just let me--" He waved his hand towards the bathroom and sat up, scratching a hand through his hair.
Charlotte tiptoed back out of the room, and down the stairs. She climbed up onto one of the kitchen chairs and knelt on it, resting her head patiently (as patiently as she could because honestly Harry was taking forever!) on her folded arms on the table.
She had been up, alone in the quiet house, for almost an hour and not made any noise. Any loud noises, anyway. She'd gotten the pretty tray, and laid the nice cloth on it (the one with the lacy edges that had belonged to Granny Granger who had died before Charlotte was born), and found Mummy's favourite pretty plates and cup. There was a little dish of marmalade with a silver spoon in it. There was a pat of butter, a dear little jug of milk, and of course some flowers and a piece of paper with Charlotte's very best letters spelling out "Happy Birthday Mummy".
It looked very nice. But there was a problem.
It was very difficult to make toast and tea when you weren't old enough to do magic by yourself, so she'd had to use cold water for the tea and the toast was actually bread. She was rather worried that it wasn't actually a good breakfast at all and certainly not good enough for a Special Birthday Breakfast, so in the end she had decided to let Harry help her rather than do it all absolutely by herself. Charlotte was sure that Harry would let her say she'd done it herself, because he was always very good about that sort of thing.
Footsteps were padding down the steps, so Charlotte hopped down from the chair and bounced over to the hallway. Harry was carrying her little sister, Miranda, on his hip.
"Look who else wanted to help," he smiled at her.
Charlotte frowned at him. "Harry. Babies can't help. They make a mess and don't do things properly."
Harry didn't laugh at her (he never did), just looked thoughtful and serious (because this was serious) and suggested, "Maybe she could do a drawing for Mum. What do you think?"
Charlotte considered this idea and then nodded. She knelt down and pulled the crayon basket out from under the sideboard and set some paper up next to it. Harry plonked Miranda down on the floor, pressing a quick kiss to her dark head as he did so. The little girl reached straight for the purple crayon and started to fill the page with swoops of colour.
It didn't take long for Harry to heat the water and make a pot of tea, but Charlotte was hopping impatiently on one foot by the time the toast was cut up (into triangles) and balanced in the silver toast rack.
It took a while for Charlotte to get to the top of the stairs, holding both of the drawings (she had decided it wasn't too babyish for her to make one for Mummy as well, especially since it was her Birthday) and standing behind Miranda as she crept up, one step at a time. Harry followed behind, carrying the tray.
When they got to the door, he stopped and smiled down at her. She hesitated for a moment, holding Miranda's hand.
"You did a great job, Charles. Mum will love her birthday surprise."
Charlotte beamed back at Harry. She really hoped so.
~*~