Raising Hope {Fred Weasley}

Nappies and Naptime

If there was a favorite part to Fred's day besides waking up in the morning to see his wife sleeping beside him, it was enjoying a quick nap in the afternoon with Hope. Normally, around three o'clock, little Hope became fussy as she wanted her father's attention. The majority of the day, the child would spend in the company of her mother and whoever came to see her that particular day. But there was always an hour set aside where Fred would leave the shop and travel upstairs with Hope for a nap.

He had just finished with a customer when he heard the fussy grunting that Hope liked to give Eleanor when she wasn't pleased with her current situation. Hope's Uncle George was currently working in a corner, showing a first year Hogwarts students the art of Puking Pastilles as many students were off on Christmas break.

He walked over to where Eleanor was behind the counter with Verity, the two women chuckling over the face that Hope was giving them from where she was resting.

"That face..." Eleanor snorted. "So grumpy."

"I think it's time for someone to have a nap." Fred suggested as he reached the counter and peered down at his daughter.

Hope's head jerked up slightly as she looked in her father's direction, and immediately her lower lip trembled.

"Oh now, don't start fussing." Fred chuckled. "I'm coming to get you."

He slid over the counter and leaned down to pick her up from her carrier.

Suddenly, all three adults caught a whiff of what had actually made Hope irritated.

"Oh Fred, you're on nappy duty." Eleanor told him.

"But-"

"Fred, I'm always changing her, you can do this."

Fred held Hope away from him slightly, the two making eye contact as Fred grimaced. "Alright, we can do this. Come along, Hope."

Eleanor smiled as the father and daughter headed upstairs to the flat, Hope seemed content in her father's hold for the time being.

"She's such a daddy's girl, I swear."

The flat was quieter most days, even with a young baby sharing the space. George had moved out and moved in with Judith. Luckily, Judith's new flat rested over the Rosa Lee tea shop, as she had become the proud new owner. So, in reality, George only moved down the street from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, which was great for the brothers as it was incredibly hard for them to be far apart. It also helped that George did spend his majority of the time at the shop, so they were never apart for long.

Fred looked down at his daughter, who was still looking directly at him, her grumpy face returning.

Hope's Grumpy Face was one of Fred's mother's favorite things about Hope. The baby could go from babbling and cooing happily to the grumpy face in less than a second. Everyone called it her Grumpy Face but Fred secretly referred to it as Hope's Badger face.

It seemed Hope was taking more and more after Eleanor when it came to appearance and possibly personality wise. The dark hair was becoming lighter over the course of months and while it was still darker than Eleanor's, there was a very, very slim chance that Hope was going to be a red head. That left the eye color, it was still too soon to tell, but Fred was hoping that Hope would take after her mother with her eyes as well, not that he would complain if she ended up with beautiful brown.

Hope was an easy child to care for, normally she only became fussy when she needed changing or if she was extremely tired. Other than that, she was a happy baby, normally grinning or making happy noises.

It had been around two o' clock in the morning one evening when Hope had woken them up for a feeding. Whenever Eleanor got out of bed, Fred did as well, to help in anyway he could. Shortly after Hope was fed, Eleanor was ready to return the child to her crib. As soon as she placed her down, Hope let out a shrill little laugh that startled both parents.

Hope's First Laugh.

Her first and last laugh of the evening. The parents spent a great deal afterwards but nothing seemed to make Hope laugh, which also concerned her parents.

It was only until one day that Uncle George had arrived to the shop in the morning, his hair drenched from the storm taking place outside. He shook his hair as soon as he walked in and immediately Hope let out another laugh.

The new parents quickly urged George to continue shaking his head and he, of course, obliged as he continued shaking his head. Hope laughed until her uncle was dizzy and fell to the floor of the shop. But that only made her laugh even more.

"Alrighty, Hopey. We can do this, right?" Fred said. Eleanor had taken full responsibility when it came to changing Hope for the majority of the time.  Fred had only changed Hope's nappy when she was wet, but he was about to experience something completely new.

He opened up the nappy and immediately Hope kicked her little chubby legs in response to the cold air hitting her.

"Hey, hey! No kicking, we do not need anything to go anywhere!" Fred told her.

Hope cooed with a smile.

"See, I know you know what you're doing. You think just because you're a baby that I wouldn't suspect it. But I'm onto you, Hope." Fred said giving her little belly a poke. Hope let out a little squeal as Fred struggled to remove the destroyed nappy from the child and disposed it quickly.

"Goodness, what is your mother feeding you?"

Hope squirmed and babbled, not making it the easiest task for Fred to change her, but he finally got her into a fresh nappy and lifted her up from the changing table.

"I don't know about you..but I'm exhausted." he said with a smile.

Eleanor left the shop for a few minutes leaving George and Verity with customers, just to see how Fred was fairing with Hope's changing. She quietly climbed up the steps as she didn't hear Fred or Hope. A smile grew on her face as she walked into the flat and found Fred asleep on the sofa, sitting up, and Hope asleep on his chest, her head resting on his shoulder, and her little hand gripping onto her father's jumper.

"Well, aren't you two just precious?" Eleanor chuckled to herself before walking over and grabbing a knitted quilt from one of the armchairs. She opened it up and placed it over the sleeping two before quietly making her way out of the flat and back down to the shop.

A/N: Alrighty guys, so I decided with this book that you're going to see important times for Hope, ranging from her first word and so on, but it won't go in a constant timeline. So one chapter she'll be a couple of months, the next she'll be a year old or something depending on when that particular event occurred. It's just so you can see Hope's interaction with all the characters as she grows up.

Yup, so there you go. 

And one more thing, thank you to the readers who have been so supportive as of late...and also to the ones who have been supportive since the very beginning.  I'm sure a lot of you know that it's not easy writing and it's even harder to share your work with the world and receive negative comments. I try not to let it bother me, but I'm human..and I'm a human with a short temper, so it's incredibly easy to irk me and I've never had a problem with speaking my mind especially when I'm angry. Something I've been trying to work on for years but there are other factors that don't make it so easy for me to control it. Anyways, thank you all again for your kind words and messages. They truly mean a lot to me.