sapphire || fred weasley

fifty-eight

Fred let out a deep and husky grunt the moment the morning rays shined directly on his face. His entire body ached, especially his back. He squinted his eyes before opening them, letting them adjust to the bright natural light before he jolted from the sofa he didn't remember falling asleep on.

His mind felt blurry and disoriented. Panic coursing through every vein, muscle and bone in his body since Juliet was not asleep on his chest like she normally was.

"Juliet?!" Fred called out loudly again and again until he finally remembered where he was.

"Good, you're awake," Andromeda Tonks came down the stairs wearing an odd looking sling with a little bundle inside, Juliet's content face poking out of it. "Breakfast is already on the table."

"What time is it?" Fred rubbed his eyes as he followed Andromeda to the kitchen, smiling as Juliet cooed and entertained herself by playing with one of her fists.

"It's two in the afternoon," Andromeda replied. "Would you like coffee or tea?"

"Coffee would be fine, thank you," Fred said appreciatively and sat down, his mouth watering and eyes widening at the plate of food placed in front of him. "The last full English I had was the day of my wedding, my mum made it for me."

"I can make something else if you'd like," Andromeda sat down as well and conjured a bottle to feed Juliet.

"No Mrs Tonks, it's absolutely perfect," Fred grinned and began eating happily. "Thank you."

"You look terribly thin dear, you need to eat more," the older woman chuckled and served him another plate after he was finished, which he ate without complaint.

"It's been hard," he confessed. "With the taking care of her and trying to adapt I guess I just let myself go."

"It happens Fred, but it's not sustainable on the long term," Andromeda reproached. "The first thing that I'll help you with is a routine–"

"A routine?" he frowned as he sipped on his overly sweetened coffee. "What for?"

"A baby needs a routine Fred, and so do you," Andromeda replied. "She's as much a part of your life as you are hers. Establishing a routine will make things go easier for the both of you."

"How?"

"Night time feeding schedules will allow you to get some sleep dear–"

"I get sleep," Fred mumbled.

"The bags under your eyes say differently," she lifted her brow. "And so does the fact that you fell asleep last night in an instant and I had to levitate you to the sofa."

"Right," Fred nodded, cheeks turning slightly pink at the thought that he fell asleep on someone else's house as if he were a child. "What else should be in there besides the night feedings?"

"She's already one month old which means things will get slightly better and easier from here," Andromeda explained as she effortlessly burped Juliet who finished the bottle as fast as Fred finished his plate of food. "It looks like you know her pretty well by now so you should build up a routine based on her cues and needs.

"Right now since she's not crawling nor anything of the sort is not necessary that you bathe her everyday, three times a week should do the trick. With Dora, we used to bathe her at night because it helped her calm down and sleep better so you should try that as well dear."

"I've tried bathing her but she doesn't like it much," he muttered.

"Baby baths should be short, no longer than ten minutes because they'll get cold," she added. "We'll go out and get things that you're missing for her today, how does that sound?"