"James! Albus! Come here!" Ginny hollered from the kitchen. James came thundering down the hallway, closely followed by Albus, who totted quickly behind.
"What did they do now?" Harry asked, walking in through the front door, sliding his shoes off at the front door.
"Come see," Ginny yelled, pointing at the wall.
"I drew us mummy!" James exclaimed excitedly.
"Draw!" Albus repeated, vigorously nodding his head. He hadn't really contributed to the chaos of color scribbled all over the cream colored kitchen walls- he had really just watched as James drew with his new markers (curtesy of Uncle Charlie, who really didn't understand you can't give a four year old permanent magic markers)- and cheered in glee while his mother was using the bathroom.
"James! That was very bad! You don't draw on the walls!" Harry chastised. James began to whimper, his bottom lip quivering. Albus glanced at his brother, saw he was upset, and began to wail, although uncertain what for.
"Ginny, I'll let you talk to them, and I'll work on scrubbing this off," Harry offered, and Ginny shot him a look. He always tried to make it sound as if lecturing the kids was going to be the better end of the deal- often times it was not.
But this time, Ginny just smiled nodded. Harry looked a bit taken aback at the fact that she was not going argue with him about this, but the joke was on him: Ginny knew that Harry was going to spend quite some time trying to scrub it off.
But Ginny had the eraser that came with the box of markers, just in case something like this occurred.
"Okay. Boys, follow me. We are going to go have a talk about this," Ginny said brusquely. She headed up the stairs, both children following her cautiously.
Ginny walked into James' room, waving her wand at the rocking chair in the corner of the room that was currently being used as a base for some sort of fort, and sat down in it.
James took a seat on his toddler bed, and Albus glanced at him, then followed his brother's lead, folding his hands in his lap.
"James, Albus, why did you draw on the wall?"
"I drew us," James gave Ginny a sheepish grin and Ginny sighed, losing the stern look on her face.
"Listen, I love that you decided to draw our family, but on the wall is not a good place to do it. We've talked about this before," Ginny explained to him. "You have to use parchment- and blank parchment too, not Daddy's work notes."
"But we wanted to draw and we didn't know where the parchment was," James explained, "so we drew on the wall."
"Next time, ask me first James. We have plenty of extra. We also said that you're not allowed to keep those markers in your room," she raised an eyebrow at him.
"They weren't in my room mummy!" James exclaimed, throwing his hands up.
"Then where were they?"
"In Albus' room."
Ginny pinched the bridge of her nose. The only person who took things more literally than a four year old was a poltergeist. Both were equally as troublesome.
"Okay new rule for both of you. Any art supplies stay with me and Daddy at all times. If you want to do art, you have to ask, okay?"
"Okay mummy."
"Okay," Albus echoed, his eyes darting back and forth to follow the conversation.
"Alright then. No punishments this time, but if it happens again, there will be consequences, understand?"
Both boys nodded vigorously, and Ginny gave a single nod of acceptance.
"Now, you can go play now," she stood up and ruffled the boys' hair before they ran off. She stretched her arms up to the ceiling and let out a sigh, then headed downstairs to find Harry scrubbing and scrubbing the wall.
"Merlin Gin, what kind of markers were they using? I can't even get it off with magic!" Ginny smirked and pulled the eraser out of her pocket, swiping it across the soapy drawings. They disappeared immediately, and Harry gaped at her.
"There was an ERASER?" He exclaimed, dropping the sponge down into the bucket of soapy water.
"Yes, but I figured it would be more fun to watch you curse at a wall. Literally," she giggled.
Harry waved his wand at the wall and the suds disappeared, then he banished the soap and water away, shaking his head.
Ginny grabbed his hand and helped pull him to his feet, his knees cracking in protest.
"We are not having any more, agreed?" Ginny asked. She noticed the gray that had began peppering Harry's hair, despite his fairly young age. Stress over the years had taken a toll on him. Regardless, she still fell in love with his floppy mess of jet black hair, and she loved how the skin around his eyes crinkled when he laughed. He was still the handsome man she had fallen in love with years ago, and was still madly in love with now.
Harry, on the other hand, only saw the glow Ginny possessed. Her skin was smooth and perfect, and her hair was silky and long, still flaming red. He practically swooned every time she smiled and her eyes lit up with excitement. She was gorgeous, and he loved every bit of her.
"Oh, definitely not. Two is enough for me, thank you," Harry chuckled, pulling her close, her soft curves fitting perfectly against his muscular body.
"I love you," she whispered.
"I love you too," Harry responded, smiling as he gave her a gentle kiss. A scream echoed down the stairs, interrupting the mood of the moment.
Harry and Ginny both looked up the stairs, then back at each other, before both of their fingers flew to their noses.
"Nose goes!" The cried simultaneously, imitating the silly American tradition they had picked up when visiting a few years ago.
"Ha! I win!" Ginny cried. "I'll start on dinner, you deal with that."
Harry groaned and rolled his eyes. "Just once, I would like to win that game."
"Too slow!" Ginny exclaimed, back turned towards Harry as she flounced into the kitchen, hair flowing victoriously behind her.
"What's for dinner?" Harry asked, starting up the stairs towards the screams.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
There it was. Life as they knew it. Crazy, but Harry wouldn't trade it for anything.