A Pint-sized Point of View

Eavesdropping

(A/N: A big thank you to my new beta Sort of Proud! Hopefully my chapters from now on will have less errors and more clarity :).)

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“Daddy!”

                Remus smiled as his daughter ran to him, picking her up and swinging her in his arms. He loved having a happy smile welcome him back from work every day (even if he already saw her frequently throughout the day).

                “Did you and Hermione find any good books?” he asked, carrying her into their quarters and depositing her on the couch so he could make some tea. He knew the house elves could do it for him, but he always found it a bit frivolous when he could simply do it himself.

                “Uh-huh,” Emma said, bouncing in her seat. “It’s really wicked, it has muggle stuff, and princesses, and dragons! Only the princesses don’t do much. They just sit there all dull and boring-like. But I guess they spent so much time making the knights cool, they didn’t have time to make the princesses do things. Do you think that there are girl-knights that save princes?”

                “I’m sure there are,” her dad answered. “So you’re reading muggle fairy tales? Are there any wizarding ones?”

                “Uh-huh, but they’re at the back of the book.”

                “Well when you get to them I’m sure there will be more interesting heroines.”

                Emma wrinkled her nose. “Heroine is bad for you Daddy.”

                Remus turned from his tea, brow furrowed. “I beg your pardon?”

                “Heroine is a drug. Drugs are bad,” Emma explained as if it were the most obvious fact in the world.

                Her dad’s jaw dropped. He opened and closed his mouth several times. “W-Where on Earth did you learn that!” he finally asked in a weak voice.

                “Celebrity drug rehab. It’s a show Marie used to watch a lot when she babysat me.”

                Marie was very lucky that Remus was at Hogwarts because he was sorely tempted to storm over to her house and tell her exactly what he thought of exposing his precious cub to such filth! He took a calming breath, reminding himself that she would have learned about such things in a few years anyway; at least she knew they were bad.

                “No Emma, not the drug. A heroine is a leading female character, like the girl version of a hero.”

                “That’s dumb. Why can’t they all just be heroes?”

                “Well they can… It’s just… I suppose it’s so that when you’re talking about a book, you can distinguish the lead’s gender. If the story started out ‘the young heroine,’ you’d automatically know the character was a girl.”

                Emma seemed satisfied with that answer, so Remus turned back to his tea. Emma watched him carefully, trying to decide how to phrase her next question. The whistle on the tea kettle sounded, and her dad began pouring himself a mug.

                “Hey Daddy? How are babies made?”

                Her Dad jumped, spilling scalding tea on his hand. He cursed loudly, and sprinted to the sink to wash it off. He turned the water off, but didn’t turn back around.