Raising Hope {Fred Weasley}

Bedtime Battles

While Hope was an easy baby the majority of the time, making Eleanor and Fred feel incredibly lucky, there was one thing that they struggled with as Hope grew older. The child refused to sleep in her crib and had become a master at escaping her crib and her home to crawl into bed with her parents during the night. Normally, she would start off the night crying waiting for her parents to come pick her up out of the crib, but since the parents were trying to break her of the habit of climbing into bed with them, they would enter the room to see if she was okay and then leave her to sleep.

Hope didn't cry for long once she realized it wasn't getting her anywhere, so she resorted to using her other skills. She was a fairly balanced climber and using all over her strength, she would pull herself up and over the barricade of the crib and slowly ease herself over the side before dropping to the floor. The first time she did it, things didn't go according to plan, which resulted in her hurting her leg and making her cry.

She grew smarter from her mistakes and eventually developed the idea of throwing her pillows out of her crib onto the floor, before she climbed out. Once she reached the floor, she realized she was much faster crawling, so she would crawl out of her bedroom and towards her parents' room. Usually, her parents were asleep but if she heard them talking, she would wait until they went quiet and the light turned off.

Once the coast was clear, she would crawl into the room and pull herself onto the bed snuggling her way in between her parents. Sometimes the two would wake up, other times Hope would remain between the two during the entire night and sleep peacefully until the morning.

But enough was enough especially for Fred as he awoke one morning to falling off the bed. He sat up on the floor to find Eleanor nearly about to fall off the other side of the bed, while Hope was sprawled out in the middle.

"Ellie..." Fred picked himself up off the floor and walked over to his wife's bedside. "Ellie.." he shook her gently until her eyes fluttered open.

'Hmmm? What's wrong?" Eleanor asked lifting her head up.

"That. That's what's wrong." Fred pointed to Hope. Eleanor rolled over to see Hope asleep in the bed comfortably.

"Cheeky little devil." Eleanor chuckled.

"It's not funny. Trust me, I know funny and this is not it." Fred grumbled as he rubbed his backside.

"Poor Freddie.." Eleanor pouted at him before sitting up in bed. "Well, what do you want to do about it?"

Fred glanced down at his sleeping daughter before a smile played on his face. 

"I know exactly what we're going to do about it. From this day forward, Hope Weasley, you're sleeping in your own bed."

Hope's eyes opened and she looked at her father.

"No."

The next night, Hope was placed in her crib, both of her parents giving her kisses and wishing her a good night before they turned the light off and left the room. Hope saw their bedroom light turn off and the house was quiet, meaning an early night for her parents. She waited patiently in her crib for several minutes before she started throwing her pillows onto the ground in preparation of her escape.

Little did Hope know that her parents were all ready for her to venture out of the room.

She reached the floor, falling onto her pillows gracefully before crawling out of the room, she made it out into the living room area and was just about to crawl into her parents bedroom when the light turned on, revealing her parents sitting at the edge of their bed looking at her.

Her mother's arms were folded over her chest and her father worse a triumphant grin on his face as she was caught in the act.

Trying to win them over and get out of trouble by smiling at them, she soon realized that it wasn't going to work. Especially when her father lifted her up and brought her back to the room. She cried in protest, kicking her legs and moving her arms about nearly striking her father in the face several times. 

Fred didn't falter as he placed her in the crib and left the room.

She let out screams and banged her hands against the crib but no one came for her in the room. 

No matter how many times she left the crib during the night, Fred or Eleanor brought her right back into the room, placed her in the crib and said nothing to her.

It was a process but by five in the morning, Eleanor and Fred were camping out in the living room waiting for their daughter to venture out again. It had been a solid hour since Hope's last attempt and they figured she had finally given up and fallen asleep. 

The two were completely exhausted and with Fred leaning against Eleanor, the two fell asleep.

Minutes later, Hope poked her head out and saw the two asleep. She walked over to them, climbed onto the sofa and fell asleep against her father's side.

A little triumphant smile just like her father's clear on her face.