solo backdated The first week being a big brother

The evening of the 31st July
Edward and his parents had returned home and Ed's mother prepared his favourite dish: Tomato soup with alphabet pasta. A dish he had not eaten in a long time. It was not something that was served at Hogwarts, even though the food they had there was very good. But the alphabet pasta had been Edward's favourite since kindergarten. And now that he got the little baby sister, he somehow felt like he also wanted to be little and be cared for again.

The baby was sleeping. It had been crying the whole taxi ride and Edward was still exhausted from the ride, so he was very thankful that Leah was finally back to sleep and he had his parents to himself.
"So, Edward, how did the second half of the school year go? And how was Quidditch? You never actually wrote about it in your letters. Was it so bad?"
Edward shook his head and with a glow in his eyes and a big grin on his mouth he told his parents what he had been keeping a secret from them for the past months:
"I caught the snitch and we won! In my first match!" It was exactly because of those reactions that he had not told them before. The jaws of both of his parents dropped to the ground. Soup running out of his father's mouth as he had forgotten that he just took a spoon full. Then his mother cheered, sprang up and hugged him. That was rather unexpected. But then his dad did the same thing, which was rather expected.

"That's my son!" his dad cheered. "Well done, Edward! I am so proud of you!" And also his mother kissed him on the cheek and added "Congratulations, my darling! Another victorious Foxe. And you did not bother writing us that earlier?" She winked at him, clearly it was relating to his outburst on the platform earlier. Edward blushed. "Well, writing a letter about this is just not the same as celebrating with you right away, isn't it? I wanted to wait to tell you directly." He did not talk about the other game. The one where they lost and he was not in top shape. But he did like to share the details of the winning game.

After some hours of talking, he got to bed, tired but after all happy again. He was looking forward to getting to know his little sister in the next weeks. Too short of a time actually, before he had to get back to school again.

1st August
"Ed? Edward? Don't you want to get up and have breakfast? The voice of his mother carried upstairs to his room. The night was rough. The baby had been crying every few hours and Ed who was not used to it was a bit annoyed. He looked at his alarm clock. Already 11 am. He yawned and stretched, got up and shuffled down the stairs. His hair was messier than usual.

"Morning, mom" he mumbled as he sat down at the kitchen table. "Edward. It's almost midday. Come on, get ready and dressed before breakfast." Edward groaned and shuffled back upstairs to get dressed and come back. "Can we somehow mute her at night?" and he pointed his head toward his little sister, now sleeping like a little saint in her cradle.
"Oh no, darling, why didn't you say earlier? We must have forgotten to put a charm at your room. I will do that immediately. Of course we can not mute Leah but indeed we can charm your room, so you won't be disturbed again." His mother hurried upstairs and he had some breakfast, watching his sister. How can something so tiny make so much noise? But he smiled at the cuteness and watched the cradle softly moving. That must be very calming and cozy. He also wished his bed was gently moving him to sleep at night. Why do they even stop and not having this built into every bed? he wondered, while mindlessly stuffing some toast into his mouth.

When he was finished, he just wanted to enjoy his holidays by reading some books as he had been doing all those years before but.. his mother had other plans.

"Great, are you finished? Then you can help me in the garden. We need to degnome it again but I also have to look after Leah, so please, Edward, take some of the gloves, you know which. And I'll meet you outside."
He sighed. Gardening. He hated it.

3rd August
After two days of garden work and houshold tasks that his mother put on him, now that she had other duties with caring for his sister and being exhausted quickly, Edward hoped that he could finally spend some time with his books.

In fact, he put his alarm to an hour befor everyone got up, made breakfast for everyone to discover later and then snuck up to the attic where they had a small private library. Judging from the small layer of dust, nobody had been here since Christmas, when he had been here last time. To later calm his mother, he first took some time to dust off the shelves, manually of course, like all the other household tasks he had to do without magic. They would not allow him to use his wand, even had locked it away. His parents said, he wasn't allowed to use it outside Hogwarts, and there was a trace on him to check whether underaged wizards used magic. Edward wondered, how he was supposed to learn for school but his parents did not argue with him and so all he could do was learn theory and do housework manual.

After some time being absorbed in a Charms book, he heard his mother. "Ed? Edward? Where are you?" Her voice came closer and then she poked her head through the door. "Ah, there you are! Edward, I have been looking everywhere.. oohhh. You dusted off the shelves! Oh, Ed, you are such a lovely boy. And I have seen the breakfast. Thank you, darling." She hugged him. "I have to do some shopping. I'll be back in a few hours. Enjoy your books. Wait, what are you even reading there? That's a Charms book for Fifth years." And she elegantly withdrew the book from his hands. Edward protested but he had no chance. "I am sure we have plenty of other books at your level, Edward. But remember, no magic, young man!"
Of course, he was only reading. How could he do magic without his wand? But now a small rebellion was bubbling up in him and he was looking for a new interesting book. At best one that was above his level. Like the one his mother just took from him. Why wasn't he even allowed to read it? As if that would do any harm.
But he did not find any books that were way above his level. As if the bookshelves were bewitched. Oh, maybe they were. Maybe his mom did something before she went away.

Edward sighed and then settled with another book. This time it was on magical herbs and plants.

5th August
It was the weekend and after a week of rain, the sun came finally through again. It was a hot summer day and Edward woke up early. He enjoyed the silence that was now on his room and as he did not hear anyone when slightly opening the door, he continued reading the plant book until his dad poked his head through the door.

"Ahh, Edward. You are already awake. Don't you want to join us for breakfast? Today, I've got a surprise for you." Edward was curious right away and jumped up from his reading corner. "Surprise? What a surprise?" But his father had already gone downstairs, so Edward eagerly followed.
"Good morning, mom." He kissed her cheek. "Good morning, baby Leah" and he bent down to kiss his sister on the tiny forehead.

"Are you ready, Ed?" his father grinned to him. "Ready for what?" But his father still wasn't telling him but just went towards the fireplace and lit a fire. Edward was confused. Wait, what? It's summer, it's hot outside even though it was still rather early. Why did his dad light up a fire? His dad laughed as Edward must have made a very funny face. "Haha, son. You have never used the floo network before." "The what??! I don't want to get the flu and what has that to do with the fireplace?" His dad laughed again. "Not the flu. The floo network. Just stand close to me, Ed." And he stepped into the fire. Edward screamed but his dad did not catch fire but was waving to Edward that he should follow and stand next to him. What? Going into the flames? And why wasn't his dad burning? "Come on, Edward. It's special flames. They won't hurt you. Look I also don't burn. It's just getting quite warm, so let's hurry." Hesitantly, Edward took a few steps forward and when sure that it wasn't hurting, stepped beside his dad. He saw his mother wave at them. "Have fun, you two!" and his dad said: "Diagon Alley" while throwing some powder into the fire, which lit up green and the next thing Edward felt was as if he was falling but his dad held him tight. His stomach turned around and then it was gone and they stepped outside the fireplace in a bookstore. And he remembered. It was Flourish and Blotts. THE bookstore at Diagon Alley and his favourite place to be as they were shopping for his last school year. "Now that wasn't too bad, was it? Welcome again to Diagon Alley, Edward. Let's do the shopping for your second year at Hogwarts. And what better place to start than with books. And we'll cover potions and other stuff later." Edwards eyes glowed with happiness. "Oh that's such a great surprise, Dad! And can we also go to the Quidditch shop later? And have some ice cream? It's such a lovely day today." His dad laughed so loud that some of the other customers shhed him. "Of course, Edward! Today is our day. Let's do all those things... Just don't tell mom too much about it, okay?"

And they had an awesome day at Diagon Alley, bought his school supplies for the second year, some Quidditch stuff he surely didn't need but which was just cool to show off just a tiny bit. And Edward got the biggest ice cream sundae he ever had. All the anger he had felt at the beginning of the week, all the worries that he wasn't important to his parents anymore, were gone.