The World and Her Stars: One Shots

Pigtails

(Summer before Leo Malfoy goes to Hogwarts; about to go for a family outing to the shops; Baby Theo is only 2 months old; Draco is having a bit of a dilemma)

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ROSE POV

"You just part her hair down the middle after brushing it out," I demonstrated on Nora, who was become progressively more impatient, "And then you gather it all, make sure everything is smoothed out, and then you wrap the hair tie around it, and you're done." 

Draco looked at me with an expression of slight frustration and defeat. 

"You make it look a lot easier than it is." Draco huffed, "Why can't we use a charm again?" 

"Because she says it's too tight when I use a charm," I explained, smoothing out Nora's hair, "The last time I used a charm to do her hair, she laid down on the floor and refused to get up." 

I gave him a look, as we both knew who she got that from. 

"Leo is going to eat my pancakes!" Nora pouted, looking absolutely adorable in the dress I had picked out for her today. 

"Leo isn't going to eat your pancakes, darling." Draco pinched her chubby little cheek softly, which always made her giggle, "Are you sure you want pigtails today? I'm quite the expert braider." 

She crossed her arms and shook her head. She as completely too cute to take seriously. 

"Pigtails it is then..." Draco sighed, going back to brushing her hair before parting it again. 

Theo let out a cry in the other room from his bassinet, and I assumed that he was about ready to eat again. 

"You've got it, love." I kissed his cheek quickly and was off to coddle our crying son. 

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DRACO POV

Brush. Part down the middle. Gather. Smooth. Tie it up. 

Should be easy. 

Easy if my daughter wasn't wriggling around like a worm on pavement. 

"You excited to go to the shops today, love?" I asked, hoping conversation would tame her wiggles. 

"No." she answered with a pout. 

"And why not?" I asked, making a face at her in the mirror. 

She mimicked that face back at me, and my God did she look just like her mother. A spitting imagine. Apart from the eyes, of course. Looking into those was like looking directly into a mirror. 

"Mummy said I can't get any jelly-bees at the shops today." she grumbled as much as a young little girl could. She was more adorable than grumpy, but it was cute to see her try. 

Jelly-bees, in Nora's vocabulary, meant jelly beans. Rather than remember the names of things, she decided to put her own unique labels on things. 

Jellybeans were jelly-bees. Mittens were hand socks. Lifts were uppy-downs. Pillows were head holders. Wands were accios, because she constantly saw Rose and I using our wands to summon things from all over the house whilst juggling her and her brother.

It was all fun and games until one day she asked me where my accio was, and she summoned Leo's apple right out of his hand as he was about to take a bite. It was a complete accident, and honestly scared the hell out of her, Rose, and myself, so we made sure to be weary of Nora using spells to rename things. 

"The last time you got jelly-bees, dear, you tried to feed one to Theo." I raised my eyebrows at her in the mirror and she frowned. 

"He told me he wanted one." she looked right back at me, unimpressed. 

I shook my head and sighed, learning that arguing with mini Rose was only going to end with her pouting and me unable to keep a straight face. 

Luckily, my strategy to keep her still with conversation worked, and I finally managed to get the hair tie wrapped around the second pigtail. Her hair was long and dark brown, just like her mother's, and the faint smell of Rose's vanilla shampoo lingered in her hair. 

I straightened out her pigtails and made sure not a hair was out of place, although I know by the end of the day, and with her tendency to run and play until she was snoring, her hair would be absolutely wild in a matter of hours. 

But she liked her hair in pigtails, and I do anything my little girl wants. 

I bent down a bit and put my head next to hers as she smiled in the mirror at her pigtails. 

"Did I do good?" I asked, turning my head to actually look at her now. 

She nodded with that sweet smile of her mother's on her face, and I helped her off of the counter where she had been sitting. 

I crouched down as I lowered her back to the ground, and she threw her arms over my shoulders suddenly. 

"Thank you, daddy." 

"You're welcome, sweetheart." I smiled, patting her back as I soaked up every bit of the sweet father-daughter moment. 

One thing that is important to remember though...is that Nora is the daughter of two very cunning Slytherins. 

"Can you please get me jelly-bees today?" she whispered, her arms will wrapped around my neck. 

She drove a hard bargain, and new just how to butter me up. 

"Only if you don't try to feed them to Theo again." I whispered back, "And you can't tell your mum." 

She pulled away from our hug and clapped her hands together with a giddy smile of glee on her face. 

"Promise?" she looked at me, eyebrows raised, as if we were talking serious business. She held out her hand, pinky up, waiting for my response. 

I stuck my pinky out and wrapped it around hers. 

"Promise." I chuckled quietly, "Now go eat your pancakes, love, before Uncle Blaise gets here with Millie and the girls and eats them all."