HALCYON ⟶ James Potter

Chapter Twenty-One

"How about this one, Harry?"

"Um, no."

Renata let out a heavy sigh as she sat back on the floor of Harry's room in front of the small bookshelf. For the last twenty minutes or so, she had been going through the assortment of Harry's books trying to find a bedtime story to read, but Harry didn't seem to be in the mood for any of them. Not that Renata could blame him but he was making bedtime rather difficult as he couldn't settle on any of the options. However, since Renata and James rotated between reading a story to him every night before bed or sometimes even two stories, Harry had heard all of them before.

Already tucked in his bed with his glasses off to the side, Harry had his hands gripping his blanket lightly as he waited for Renata to pull out another option. But she was hesitant to do so because she didn't have any fresh material to give him. Pushing herself up, she made her way over and sat beside him on the bed, running her hand through the front of his hair.

"I don't know what to tell you, sweetheart, but we've read every single one of your books to you," she said, " it looks like we're going to have to get some new ones. Why don't you go pick one out, even just for tonight and tomorrow we'll go out and buy some new ones."

There was a little huff of disappointment that escaped Harry, showing off that he was pretty much a very spoiled little boy, but he climbed out of bed and made his way over to the bookshelf. For a minute or so, he squinted at the titles although he could barely read them, he was familiar enough with the covers to make a decision. When he finally selected one, he made his way back, placing the book in Renata's lap and then crawling under his covers once more.

The grumpy look on his expression was met with a scolding glare from his mother as she warned him silently not to come across as bratty. Harry was a fortunate little boy and while James and Renata wanted to shower him with love, Renata was beginning to see little signs that Harry expected things when he wanted them and they were usually given into rather quickly. She couldn't put the sole blame on anyone as she had taken part in it too.

James had told her stories about his childhood since he was the only child in the household, his parents had given him anything he had ever asked for. They couldn't bring themselves to say no, and while James had turned out to be an amazing man, he did admit to being a bit of spoilt brat when he was younger as well. It seemed he had fallen into the same trap as well, doing the same thing for his son that his parents had done for him.

And admittedly, Renata had fallen into the similar trap. Even though her upbringing was far from one of being showered with affection and gifts, it was the opposite that made her want to give Harry everything she didn't have. But maybe the two of them were giving too much too fast and Harry expected nothing less.

After reading Harry the selected bedtime story, Renata kissed his forehead and the promise of sleep wasn't that far off for Harry. As the lantern was placed out, Harry was sound asleep as Renata made her way out of the room. James had said goodnight to Harry before he and Renata had left the living room and as she travelled downstairs, he was sitting with a cup of something warm in front of the fire.