It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and though it was hot, there was a breeze. Lily smiled as she looked out the window. She couldn’t have wished for a more perfect day for her son’s first birthday.
All though she had planned only a small birthday tea for Harry, she still appreciated the nice day. As she looked out the window, she saw an owl approaching, carrying a very large package. Opening the window, she stepped back.
The large brown barn owl entered through the window easily. He flew to the table and dropped his package, hooted twice, and then flew right back out the window and quickly out of sight.
Lily pulled off the letter attached to the package. Opening it, she read;
My dearest Lily,
Here is Harry’s birthday present. I am sorry I cannot be there today but I am in the middle of something for the Order. I am sure you understand. Please give Harry my love and tell him I can’t wait to see him on this.
Tell Prongs everything is going according to plan I will be in touch soon. I may be able to take a trip up there soon with more information.
Besides, Harry needs someone who knows how to ride a broom and is good at Quidditch to teach him. We both know James doesn’t qualify for that job.
All my love,
Padfoot
Lily carefully folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope. Picking up the package, she went into the living room to give it to her son to open.
As she approached the living room doorway, she heard her son’s laughter, followed immediately by her husband’s. Smiling, she walked into the room. The sight that greeted her brought tears of pure happiness to her eyes.
Sitting on the floor, James was holding Harry above his head, gently shaking him from side to side. Harry was wriggling and laughing. His smile was as wide as his face and showed off the four tiny teeth he had so recently got in.
“James, we just got an owl from Padfoot, along with Harry’s birthday present.” Lily approached the pair as she spoke.
“Is everything alright?” James asked quickly, concern lacing his words.
“Yes, everything is fine. He is busy and can’t come up today. Here, read the letter yourself. There is a note in there for you.” Lily handed him the note as she sat on the floor.
James lowered Harry to the floor. Sitting Harry in front of his mother, James opened the letter to read for himself. Lily was wonderful, but sometimes she missed the subtle things in letters from Padfoot.
For example, in the letter that arrived a couple of weeks ago, Sirius had written about the usual things and inquired about the normal stuff. One of the sentences had asked him to go on a trip like the old days. Lily didn’t catch that Sirius was asking James to go on a mission, and to bring the Invisibility Cloak. James had had to write back and tell him that he couldn’t, that Dumbledore had borrowed the Cloak and so he was essentially stuck in the house. Lily had also missed the reference to the death of Benjy Fenwick; James had to give her the bad news himself later on.
The sound of ripping paper and Harry’s laughter broke through his thoughts of the past. Looking over at Harry, he realized what had caught his son’s attention. Sitting among the torn paper was a tiny toy broomstick. James smiled. "Leave it to Padfoot to find the perfect present," James thought.
“James, I’m not sure this is appropriate for a baby only a year old. He can barely walk. Maybe we should put it away for a little bit, until he is a bit older.” Lily reached her hand out to pick up the broomstick.
But before she could touch it, Harry had pushed himself unsteadily to his feet and grabbed hold of the handle. The toy broomstick immediately rose to the proper height for him to mount it. Without any help from either of his parents, Harry put the broomstick between his legs and took off.
Both Lily and James gasped in unison. Lily stood and started after Harry, but James reached out and took hold of her arm to stop her.
“Wait. He isn’t going to get hurt. Look, it only raises two feet off the ground. Besides, he seems to be handling it just fine. Look at him, Lily,” James’s voice held pride and awe, “just look at him go.”
Harry was flying around the living room, miraculously not hitting a single thing. Lily looked at James. He seemed to be in total awe of his child. Turning, she went into the kitchen to grab the camera from the counter where she had placed it this morning.
Hearing a knock at the front door, Lily left the kitchen and went to answer it. A very old woman stood on the doorstep. She was very tiny and stooped. Her hair was white as snow, very thin and wispy.
“Bathilda, come in. We just opened Harry’s present from his godfather. He sent him a toy broomstick.” Lily took hold of one of Bathilda’s hands and led her into the living room.
“Oh my, he is quite a little flyer, isn’t he?” Bathilda said as she watched Harry flying around the room.
“Here, watch this. Harry,” James called to his son, “catch the ball.” James threw a small ball a few feet in front of where Harry was headed. Harry immediately sped up on his broomstick and caught the ball. Smiling, he zoomed over to his father and dropped it into James’s lap.
Then spotting the cat, Harry started to chase after it.
Lily set the camera down on the end table, and turned to grab Harry from his broom. Just then there was a resounding crash as Harry, trying to avoid his mother, bumped into one of the end tables.
“James, stop laughing. It’s not funny. He is only a baby, for goodness sake. He has at least eleven years before he can play Quidditch,” Lily scolded James as she tried to catch Harry before he broke anything else.
He may only be a year old, but he was fast on his little broom. Even she could see that he was going to be just like his daddy, a Quidditch star.
“Lily, look at the way he follows the cat. He turns without even thinking about it. He‘s a natural,” James said, his pride in his son evident in his voice.
“James, since you think this is so funny, go stop your son. It is time to have some tea and he needs to eat some breakfast.” With these words, Lily stepped back to let James try to stop Harry.
No matter how fast James was, Harry, laughing uncontrollably, managed to slip right passed him. After a particularly near miss, Lily burst out laughing at James’s frustration over not being able to catch a one year old baby on a toy broomstick.
At that moment, there was a small flash of light, as Bathilda snapped a picture.
“I hope you don’t mind. I just thought someday Harry may enjoy seeing his father chasing after him, while his mother stood there laughing.” Bathilda smiled at the little family she had come to love.
“Harry,” Lily said in her most maternal voice, “come over here to Mummy. We can go have some tea and cake.” Lily knew if there was one thing that would get her son off the new broom, it was the promise of a treat.
Harry immediately flew over to his mum. He had a bit of a problem dismounting. James was there instantly to help him. He then scooped Harry up into his arms, and began praising his flying.
As Lily trailed behind them, she heard James explaining to Harry about Quidditch. She knew her son would one day be a great Quidditch player, perhaps even surpassing his father's talent at the game.
“Lily, do you know where that old snitch of mine is? I want to give it to Harry to play with. You are never too young to start practising.” James smiled at his wife.
Lily didn’t answer. She just shook her head in amazement and got out the makings for tea to go with their birthday cake.
The Torn Photograph by mudbloodproud
Chapter Notes: I wish to thank my wonderful betas, Kate (th_poet14), Alyssa ( harry4lif)