Hi! Could you write Harry’s first words or something with baby or toddler harry? I love your fics with lily and James, <33
Thank you so much for this prompt! Baby Harry is the cutest thing in the world and I was so happy to write something about him!
Now, a needed disclaimer to warn that I’m no expert on babies and this below may be wrong, but it’s fluffy so please bear with me :)
____________
First word(s)
Harry is staring at him with pure innocence in his green eyes, not at all looking like he had just thrown in the floor the first bowl of food James had prepared for him. It’s a prankster, his son.
‘Now, come on, Harry, again it’s just you and me’, he says, offering his son the soup that Harry accepts, still somehow managing to mess all his mouth despite James’ careful precision. ‘Say “Dada”’.
Harry babbles unintelligibly.
‘“Dada”’. James opens his mouth, which Harry repeats. ‘Daaaaaah’.
But Harry just keeps opening his mouth, looking at the spoon in James’ hand.
‘I will exchange one spoonful for just one syllable, come on, Harry. Daaaaah!’.
Another happy babble. Harry clearly thinks he is just playing with him. James gives up for the moment. He’s been trying incessantly to get Harry to say “dada” for the past six days, but no luck so far.
After he finishes feeding Harry, he takes his son to the living room, sitting with him on the carpet where Harry’s plush toys are all tousled. Harry crawls immediately to take his stuffed deer, ignoring the other three animals around him, which always makes James feel a bit smug.
‘Yeah, see!’, he takes the deer, raising in Harry’s direction. ‘It’s like me! Dada!’.
‘Dah!’, Harry cries, taking the deer from James’ hand. He blinks at his son.
‘What? Say it again’.
Harry hugs his deer, ignoring him, and James picks him up.
‘Here, Harry. What’s this?’, he points to the deer. Harry babbles again, but his small hands let the deer fall to the ground.
‘Oh’, he looks surprised, looking at his bare hands and then for James’ arms, obviously in search of his toy. Then he opens his mouth. ‘Daaaaaaaahdaaaaaah’.
There is a hopeful smile on James’ face now.
‘What do you want?’
‘Daaaaahda!’
‘You said “Dada”? Yeah?’
‘Dada!’, Harry cries loudly now, his face close to crying, and James picks up hurriedly the deer on the floor. Harry beams right away, hugging the stuffed deer with fondness. ‘Dada’, he murmurs now, much happier.
James blinks fastly, feeling some tears in the corner of his eyes.
‘That’s right, Harry, that’s Dada too’, he whispers, kissing the top of his head, and taking Harry upstairs. ‘Lily!’, he sings. ‘You won’t believe what Harry’s first word is!’
____________
Three days earlier
‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star’, Lily sings softly, cradling Harry to make him sleep.
It’s the fifth lullaby she sings, but Harry doesn’t seem like he wants to sleep, despite being late in the night and that, in the past weeks, he had started following a sleeping schedule.
He is not crying, just watching her with those eyes that are a copy of hers. Lily tried everything. Feeding him, changing his diapers, singing every song he enjoys, and yet Harry keeps his eyes wide open.
Perhaps he can sense their stress lately. They’ve been locked inside the house for so long now; she loves their cottage, but if she was honest, she can’t stand its walls anymore. And James - poor James - is suffering even more. Her husband was made for open air, she knows, though he never complains to her.
They both know what’s at stake here and, looking at her peaceful son, Lily thinks it’s a fair price.
‘Why are you not sleeping, Harry?’, she asks in a soft voice. He usually sleeps easily when she rocks him. ‘Something bothering you?’
He just blinks at her. Lily wonders how much he understands of everything that’s going on.
‘You don’t have to worry. Mama is here for you. Mama will always protect you’. He puts his thumb on his mouth and Lily takes it as a sign that maybe sleep is coming for him. ‘Mama loves you’.
He takes out his thumb, raising his fat fists in the direction of her face. Lily allows him to grab her hair, despite knowing she will probably regret it when he refuses to let it go later.
‘Mama’, Harry whispers, smiling, and Lily stops, bewildered. Harry doesn’t look in the mood of saying anything else, because he closes his eyes lazily, still grabbing strands of her hair.
But Lily knows what she heard without a doubt. She was not as anxious for Harry to call her as much as James had been in the last three days, or even Sirius that insisted he should get Harry’s first word as his godfather, but there is something beautiful and amazing in the fact that Harry just called her.
It’s probably silly, but Harry knows who she is and this notion feels her heart with contentment and even more love for her precious baby.
She turns, already thinking of going to their room to tell James what Harry has just said, but she stops. James is really trying to get Harry to call him; he deserves this small moment of joy. And all Lily hopes is that Harry gets to call them Mom and Dad for many more years.
It’s not a competition of what word he says first.
So she puts Harry carefully on his cribble, arranging his blanket around him, and caresses softly his dark messy hair.
‘Sleep well, Harry. Mama is here’.
______________
Six days earlier
‘So, this is it, Harry, let’s talk seriously’.
Harry is sitting now, a feat he has improved since Sirius’ visit two weeks ago, watching him quietly.
‘I read this book about babies, you know’, Sirius continues, and Harry stares at him as if he can understand every word. ‘And it says that babies can start talking at ten months. And you are a smart kid, aren’t you?’.
Harry lets out a happy cry that’s more bubbles on his mouth than anything. Sirius takes it as a yes.
‘Now, most babies say silly things like calling their parents. Boooh! Boring. You are smarter than that! So I’m going to teach you a word much more important. Padfoot!’
Harry’s attention is diverted, not interested, and he crawls to pick up his toys. Sirius runs to give him the stuffed black dog.
‘Here!, take this. This is me, you see?’
Harry accepts the dog, though his eyes keep turning to the stag that Sirius knows is his favourite.
‘You really are Prongs’ son, aren’t you? But just between us, dogs are much cooler!’
And to prove his point, he turns briefly into his dog version, watching gladly as Harry babbles happily, his hands extended asking for him. Sirius allows Harry to feel his black fur before turning back.
Harry looks from him to the stuffed dog in his hands until he drops the stuffed dog.
‘Daw!’, he says, pointing to Sirius. ‘Daw!’
Sirius frowns, uncertainly. That sounds like a word, right?
‘You want to see Padfoot again?’
‘Daw!’
He turns again into the dog, laying down at Harry’s side, and Harry beams as he grabs the black fur.
‘Daw’, he cries, giggling, now coming on top of the dog to rest there as he enjoys doing.
A few seconds later, Sirius hears footsteps.
‘You know you’re wagging your tail, right, Padfoot?’, James calls him amusedly. Sirius indicates Harry with his head, and James picks his son up.
Sirius turns into a human again, a grin on his face.
‘James! You won’t believe it! He knows I am a dog! He called me a dog!’
‘You are more of a mongrel’, James says distractedly, teasingly, as he plays with Harry.
‘I am telling you! He just said his first word - dog!’
‘Dog? Why would he say it?’
‘It’s clearly his favourite word, duh’.
‘I will believe it when I hear it’, James rolls his eyes, and picks up the stuffed dog. ‘What’s this, Harry?’
Harry says a profusion on syllables, none of them clear.
‘He said it, I swear!’
‘Dog? D-O-G?’
‘Well. Not exactly, it’s more of a “daw”’.
‘Dah? He was probably trying to call me’.
‘No, daw!’.
‘Nice try, Padfoot’, says James, unworried and a little bit complacent. ‘But his first word will be “Dad”’.
‘It’s too late for that first word, I am telling you’.
‘Nah. He will call me, you’ll see’. James turns to Harry, tickling him until Harry giggles. ‘Now, Harry, say it. Daaaaaaahda’.
