Changes
Harry Potter was sitting in his room in Little Whinging, Surrey. His mood had been down ever since Sirius had fallen behind the veil only months ago. Now the heat was doing anything but helping him. Hagrid, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, and even Neville were now sending him letters every day to make sure he was all right. Mrs. Weasley continuously sent him fudge and other treats and letters with tear stains on them. Harry had had enough of fudge, so now he was just giving it to Dudley who had no objections. He sighed as he remembered that he still had to write - everyone.
He rolled off of his bed and took out a piece of parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink. He sighed as he began to write:
Ron,
Everything's basically fine here. Congratulate your dad on his new TV. Don't let him fix it, he won't put it back right, no offense. Hey, why don't you Weasleys just combine your letters and save parchment, ink, Pig's energy, and the time it takes for me to read each of your letters? No, my scar's been just peachy, Ron, just a few twinges of pain. Knew you and Mione were going to go out eventually. Wasn't going to pass through my seventh year without at least seeing you two kiss. Ha ha. Yeah, it's not really all that funny when you start to think that you two will be snogging every other minute. Thanks, now I'm going to have nightmares. Really awful ones. Ah well. Nothing new to me, eh?
Can't wait 'till school. More piteous looks. Perfect. More muttering. Great. More tears from your mum. Wonderful. More people thinking that I've lost it. Whoop dee do. I'll just skip my way right on down to St. Mungo's to visit Lockhart and stay there, getting more and more autographs within every passing minute. That's what most people want. Why don't I just give it to them? Or better yet, I could kill myself. At least Voldemort would be happy. Hey, maybe your mum would stop crying then, huh? Dumbledore wouldn't have to worry about me anymore. You could find a real best friend. The Order wouldn't have to worry about me. I wouldn't endanger anyone else's life. I'd even be with my mum and dad. No more Dudley. No more Dursleys ever, actually. Hmm. That's the only other time that I've ever thought about that. And that was in our third year when… Well, you know.
I'd even be with him then. I'd be with everyone who ever actually cared for me. I know your mum's going to say that she cared for me, and she did, and she makes really good fudge, just ask Dudley. But that's just not the same. What do you reckon would be the best way to do it? Drown myself? Hang myself? Nah, I don't want to suffer all that much. Maybe I should cut myself. I know the best way to do it is to hit a vein in your throat, but if I go too deeply and puncture my windpipe I'd suffocate, which I don't want to do. Hmm. Maybe a few good, deep cuts on my wrists would do it. Or over-dose on pills. That's a nice way to do it. Lock myself in the bathroom and down a few bottles of pills. Merlin knows Uncle Vernon has enough of them.
Merlin, Ron, I'm tired. I've been tired all summer, although it's only been a few weeks. No matter how much I sleep I always wake up tired. Ah well. That'll all change in a little bit. I hope your mum feels better with the whole menopause thing. I looked what it was up in the World Book. I could have gone a whole lifetime without knowing that they had a mucous membrane. Yeah, you wouldn't think that they'd put pictures of all of that in there, would you? They did. Very graphic pictures. Pictures that would make Neville start to cry. Then again, Snape makes Neville cry, which is actually kind of funny. Thank Bill for the rock C.Ds, they're awesome. I like Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody best. It's all slow and sad and about how a guy kills himself but feels bad for his mother and then it gets all weird and quick and I lobe it. Wait, no, not lobe, love. Sorry, I'm just really tired. I'm going to save Hedwig's strength, don't want her out in this weather. I'll Floo it to you from the kitchen stove. You can do that, right? Well, hope so. If not, well, I'm just writing to Mr. Nobody now, aren't I? HI, MR. NOBODY!
Aherm. Tell Hagrid I'm sorry and that I let him down. Tell your mum not to cry and that she shouldn't because I'm saving your lives. Make sure Hermione and Ginny don't cry either. I don't want to upset anyone. If anyone starts to get sad or depressed, just tell them that I'm with my parents and Sirius now. Tell them that I'm where I want to be and that I don't have to deal with all of these things anymore. Tell Dumbledore that I'm sorry he wasted his time on me, along with all of the other professors. Except for Snape. Tell him to go jump into the Amazon River starky. There are piranha in there, you know, mate. Fun fun for him. Oh yeah. I want you to have my Firebolt. I also want you to have my fortune in Gringott's. I won't be needing it now, and your family isn't that well money wise. Make sure that Fred and George keep making joke type like things and candies or whatever. Have a good life, mate.
Harry
There. That was simple enough. That way they knew what he was going to do. And that way they'd know before he did it. Harry didn't know why, but it just felt like they had to know before he did it. He took out a small, cloth bag filled with Floo Powder. He rolled up the piece of parchment and held it together with a single paperclip. He reached into a pocket of his suitcase and pulled out his key allowing him to get money from the wizarding bank. He attached it securely to the parchment and went down the stairs and into the kitchen. He turned the front burner on as high as he could and wondered if the paper would get burnt or not, depending on the order he did things. Normally a person was already in the fireplace before saying anything. Hopefully this would work.
"The Burrow," Harry said clearly before dropping the Floor Powder into the flame just before the parchment. The parchment seemed to slowly fade away and Harry smiled once he had realized it worked. He turned the burner off and saw all three Dursleys looking at him as if he were mad.
"What are you doing?" inquired Uncle Vernon.
"Telling the wizarding world that I intend to kill myself today. What are you doing?" Harry said calmly, walking over to where the knives were kept.
"Yeah right. You don't have the guts to even think about it. You're too afraid to even -" Dudley said, smirking just before Harry picked up a knife and cut himself with it.
"You listen here, boy, you put that knife down right now or else -" Uncle Vernon started, but Harry cut him off.
"Or else what? You'll take away dinner for a week? I won't need dinner when I'm dead, you know!" Harry yelled before dodging the whale they call Dudley and running up the stairs. He had set the knife down on the counter so the Dursleys didn't follow him. He ran up to the bathroom and took a long bit of toilet paper and pressed it hard against his new wound. He didn't want to die that way. He had decided that it would be too painful and it would take to long. Before he would know it, the Weasleys would be there and they'd ruin his whole plan. He opened the medicine cabinet just above the sink. He looked at a few bottles of pills before he found the strongest ones. Harry smiled at the label which read; 1000 MG: DO NOT TAKE MORE THAN ONE. Harry popped off the top and grabbed one of the wimpy paper cups that Aunt Petunia had put inside of the bathroom. He filled it to the top with water and popped a few of the giant sized pills into his mouth. He chased them down with the entire cup of water and did this for a while until the bottle of pills was finally empty.
Harry sighed and sat down on the toilet, glad that it was almost over. He kind of felt sick, but more relaxed then anything. He smiled to himself. No more pain for anyone. Sure, they'd be sad for a little while, but they'd get over it. And they'd all be safe because they no longer had to worry about Harry getting into trouble. His mum and dad and Sirius would make sure that he didn't get in trouble now.
Harry's head began to hurt a bit and at first he thought that he should take some aspirin. He laughed at this thought. He had just taken some pills, why not more? Nah, at least they should be able to know what he decided to do it with. He suddenly felt like he should lie down. Hmm, I'm really tired. I might as well just lay down and go to sleep right here. I hope Dudley doesn't come in here and step on me. Why didn't they ever clean the ceiling? I wonder what Hagrid's going to say. I wonder what 'Mione's going to say. Snape'll probably leap for joy. I hope Hagrid doesn't cry. He'd drown them.
He began to feel very tired and began to feel more and more sick. Maybe I shouldn't have taken so many. Ugghh, I think I might throw up. I hope I die before that happens. He turned over onto his side and decided that the floor was not comfortable at all. He got up, moaning, and decided to lay down in the tub. Then he decided that the light was too bright and shut the curtain. Now this is nice. Kind of chilly, but hey, it goes up perfectly for my head. Hmm. I really would have thought that it would be a whole lot different to die. Hey, I'm breathing differently. Kind of slower. Really slower. Ah well. I'm getting tired anyways.
Harry turned onto his side so his back was facing the curtain and closed his eyes and fell asleep.
A cool hand was rubbing his back and he liked it very much. Harry felt the cool hand leave his back and felt it once more against his face. He gently rubbed his cheek against it, feeling very tired still.
"Good morning, dear," said a gentle voice quietly. Harry slowly opened his eyes and a woman helped him put on his glasses. "There you are, dearie, now you an actually see me." At first, all Harry had saw was red hair and instantly thought - hoped that it was his mum. But when he heard her voice and saw her face he realized that it wasn't her. He didn't even know this woman.
"Who are you?" Harry asked, slurring his words slightly.
"I'm Hallie Calson, dear, I was assisting during your surgery." Harry's mind wasn't rightly functioning yet.
"What? I didn't have any surgery," he said, still waking up.
"You did, but you most certainly wouldn't remember it. You were very much unconscious when they brought you here," chuckled the woman. "You had to have your stomach pumped, dear. But don't you worry about that just yet, dearie, you just get comfortable again and I'll bring you up something to eat, okay? But right now, all you have to do is stay comfy and content and kind of awake. Well, unless you're still sleepy. Then you can go to sleep. Mind that your visitors would probably be a bit upset, seeing as they've been here all through the night." Harry moaned at the thought of dealing with everyone.
"Why?" he asked her before she left.
"Why what, dear?" she asked kindly back.
"Why couldn't you have let me die? I knew what I was doing, I nearly had it. Then you had to come ruin all my plans," Harry said a bit bitterly. She simply shrugged.
"Sorry, dear, but I don't think that death is much of a plan when you're only sixteen. Besides, I was on shift and I refuse to have someone mess up my record by dying," she said, flashing a smile at him before she left.
Suddenly, the door opened a peek and Ron slid into the room very quietly. He went over to the farthest chair in the room and didn't say anything for a long while. Finally, he sighed. "Mum's really worried about you now."
"Yeah, well, she wouldn't be worried about me if you guys would have let me go on with it," Harry said vulgarly. Ron sighed and looked down at his hands.
"We couldn't. Mate, Hermione and Ginny were in tears as soon as they read the first few words. You never write that everything is fine there. It's always something with that whale or the whale's father or the horse. Besides, we'd be out a Seeker this year," Ron said, trying to make the conversation lighter. Harry didn't even move. "Yeah, well, you know how I am with words and whatnot. I got the shortest straw, you see. Well, no, that's not entirely true. You see, Neville was here, too, and he got the shortest straw, but we were all afraid that he'd say something to mess it up so I had to go.
"Well, how're you feeling, mate?" Ron went on, trying to get Harry to talk more.
"I'd be better had some things not happened," he said, not looking at Ron. Ron sighed loudly and got up.
"Well, Harry, I'm so sorry for saving your life! I just thought that - well, your parents wouldn't be too pleased with the way you went and also that there isn't a better guy in the world! So sorry for being your friend, my lord," he said before storming out of the room and slamming the door behind him.
Harry now sat alone in the white room. He didn't want to be alone, but he didn't want to be with people either. He knew that everyone would just think him a coward for trying to kill himself.
The door opened again, and Harry pretended to be asleep. He felt someone sit down.
"Harry, I know you're awake," came Lupin's calm voice.
Harry peeked one eye open. "Crap. How did you know?" "Well, it could be that Ron just came out complaining that you'd turned into a completely different person. I'm not a psychiatrist, but I'm quite sure that there's something going on up there to make you want to end your life," said Lupin.
"It doesn't matter. It didn't work, and now Dumbledore is going to have everyone watching me every second of every day so I can't try it again," Harry said bitterly. Lupin shrugged.
"I dunno about that, Harry. For a while, yes, that may be how things will go, but after a while he'll call us off and let you have your peace and quiet. You should have seen how pale Dumbledore had gotten once we had found out. You chose an excellent time to send it, as there was an Order meeting taking place," Lupin said, sighing.
"Crap. Mrs. Weasley didn't cry, did she?" Harry said, turning around so he could see Lupin. Lupin chuckled.
"It was a bit of a tie between her and Hagrid," he laughed, making Harry have to work to hold back his laughter. "Just between you and me, I think Hagrid nearly drown us."
"I was thinking about that earlier yesterday. I was hoping that he wasn't going to cry," Harry said, sighing.
"Well, you see, Hagrid is kind of - don't you dare tell him that I said this - but he's kind of, er, girly. But in a really manly way," Lupin said, making Harry laugh out loud. Lupin chuckled as well. "Well, you know that as soon as you look at him he's a real man, but then he starts to cry and, well…"
"I never realized that you were such an evil little man," Harry laughed.
"I am not evil! I just tell the truth," Lupin said, turning pink.
"Yeah, but you tell the mean truth!" Harry protested. He shrugged.
"Hey, I was one of the Marauders, remember?" he said, sighing.
"Guess you're the only one left now, huh?" Harry said, thrown back into his depressed self. Harry was expecting Lupin to try to cheer him up.
"Well, guess I am. Merlin, I've never really thought about it that way before. Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Prongs. Well, it kind of goes in order, now doesn't it. Prongs went first, and Wormtail was the one who did it. Then Padfoot, leaving only Moony to linger in their memories. Even when it was just Padfoot and me, I'd think about who would be the next to go. I hoped beyond hope that it'd be me," Lupin said, starting to talk to mostly just himself.
"So, you're suicidal?" Harry asked, his eyes wide at how such a quiet man would want to die. Lupin looked up and chuckled.
"No, no, no, Harry. You see, the thought of me having to live without my friends for the rest of my life is too unbearable. No one would be there to talk to me, to play pranks on me, to flick my nose and make me look like a fool, to force me to kiss a girl… Merlin, I could go on all day. But you see, Harry, I didn't want to be the one who suffered alone. But I was stupid," Lupin scoffed. "What am I saying, was. Finally, I realized that I was being selfish because I wanted myself to die, yes, but the thing I would be running from would land onto Padfoot. And just the thought of harming my friends makes me all - er…" Lupin said, looking for the right word. Harry looked down at his hand and saw his hand begin to shake.
"Twitchy?" he finished, making Lupin look at him oddly and the down at his hand. He laughed.
"Ah, yes. Would you look at that? I'm twitchy and it's really quite amusing! Wow, look at it go," Lupin said, making Harry laugh out loud. "Hey, don't laugh at my stupidity, I'm special! My momma says I'm special!" Lupin said, making Harry howl with laughter.
"You're so weird," Harry said after catching his breath.
"You have no idea," Lupin said, making Harry laugh again.
"I never actually thought that you were actually, cool. I thought that you were occasionally cool, but not like this kind of cool," Harry said, chuckling.
"So what? I'm not cool anymore? Or am I cool just now? Or was I cool before now and I just didn't know it? It's a mystery," Lupin said, making Harry chuckle. "The point I'm trying to make, Harry, is that you can't be unhappy forever. And you can't go around trying to kill yourself, either. And you just simply couldn't have waited for a few more days? Hagrid was going to tell you that he was going to go adopt a kid from an orphanage! Geez, you ruined it for the poor chap. Ah well. He was hoping that the lot of us would help him choose the right one."
"What? Hagrid wants to be a dad? I kind of pictured him more of the babying mummy type," Harry said, thinking this over.
"Just curious, why did you try to do yourself in both was? I mean, pills and cutting?" Lupin asked, looking at the floor. Harry looked at him oddly for a moment.
"Oh! You mean this?" Harry asked, putting his now-bandaged arm up. Lupin nodded after he had looked up. "Oh, no, that wasn't my plan. I just did it because Dudley was telling me that I wasn't brave enough to kill myself. Soon as I cut myself, that shut him up right away. He looked like he was going to wet himself."
"Ah. Well, brace yourself, Harry, I'm going to let in the whole group. Prepare for hugs and crying," Lupin said, getting to his feet after patting Harry's knee bracingly. He opened the door and spoke to the people on the other side. Instantly, Lupin was pushed down by a red-haired woman with menopause. Harry soon found himself in a forest of red hair.
"You - poor - baby!" Mrs. Weasley sobbed, squeezing him. It was only at this time that he realized that his stomach was hurting very badly.
"Ow, Mrs. Weasley, I like my organs. Please let me keep them, don't make them squish out of me," Harry said, trying to find an exit from the forest. Mrs. Weasley instantly let go of Harry and began fussing over him.
"Poor darling, it's all right, you're okay. Don't worry, you're okay," she fretted, gently tucking him in and giving him gentle hugs and kisses on the forehead. All the while, Harry was simply trying to get her attention.
"Mrs. Weasley… Mrs. Weasley… Mrs. Weasley, please… I'll pay you, Mrs. Weasley… Please? Mr. Weasley, save me?" Harry said through the forest of hair. Mr. Weasley went over and began to pull Mrs. Weasley off of Harry.
"Come on, Molly, dear, let Harry breathe. Come on, love, come here. Molly, come here!" he said, struggling to get Mrs. Weasley off of him.
"He - needs - love!" she said, clinging onto Harry.
"I - need - air!"
"Mum, stop being weird. I know it's kind of hard for you, but just try, will you?" said Fred, and instantly Mrs. Weasley stopped and started at him.
"Run, Fred, run!" Harry said quickly, and Fred took his advice.
"Don't you dare run from me, Fredrick Arthur Weasley!" Mrs. Weasley said, striding over to him.
"Run, boy, run!" said Mr. Weasley, pushing him out of the door.
"Where?!" Fred asked, coming back through the door.
"The men's room! The men's room!" Harry said quickly.
"I've been in there before! I've seen what you lot have to hide and trust me, it isn't all that flattering towards you!" Mrs. Weasley said, tailing Fred. She shut the door behind her.
"Well that's something you see, well, basically every day now, but ah well," Mr. Weasleys said sighing. "So, Harry, how're you feeling?"
"I just got my stomach pumped and your wife just tried to squeeze all of my organs out. Pretty good, actually," Harry said, chuckling slightly. "Tired as hell, though."
"I'd expect so," chuckled Hagrid. "Molly gives pretty rough hugs."
All of a sudden, the door opened, and in hurried a small girl, who looked to be about two years of age. She had bright blond hair and green eyes. Giggling, she toddled about until -
"Owie!" the little girl said. She'd fallen over Hagrid's foot. Hagrid looked completely horrified.
"Oh, sorry, little tyke, sorry. Are you okay? Are yeh sure? Yer at the right place ter get an owie," Hagrid said concernedly, helping the toddler to her feet.
"Tank 'oo," she said, and ran about until she hurried over to the corner, smiling.
The door opened again. This time, a much older girl entered. She had blue-green eyes and brown hair that went down to her shoulders. She had tan skin and didn't completely look like a normal girl, but Harry dared not say anything.
"Oh, I'm sorry. But I think I lost a little monster in here somewhere," she quickly apologized.
"Not at all," Lupin said with a smile toward the little girl.
"Come on, Kaylee, time for bathy," said the older girl.
"No!" protested the little girl as she ran behind Dumbledore. He chuckled as he bent over and picked her up.
"Now, now, my dear, good little girls have to take their baths to be good little girls. Um, that didn't make any sense, did it?" Dumbledore said, getting a shake of the head from the little girl. "In short, take your bath, please, sweetie."
"'Kay," the little girl said, making the older one sigh.
"All right, Kaylee, we need to get our priorities together, okay? You'll listen to someone who you've never even seen before, but you won't listen to the person who takes care of you? Somehow I think I'm just being used," she said, getting chuckles from the room.
"Like a tissue," Kaylee replied, smiling at the older girl. More chuckles were heard.
"All right, little miss, you need to have an issue tissue because no matter how much you're trying to charm these people, they aren't going to save you from your bath," the older one said, sighing.
"B-But, dey wove me! Dey w-wouldn't let me g-get da baff!" said the little girl, making more chuckles heard.
"They don't love you. They think you're a weird little nuisance who's afraid of the tub. Come on, you weirdo, before we both get in trouble," the older girl said, giving her bottom a tap so she'd get moving through the door. "Hup to, small one."
"Excuse me, but - er, you don't work here, do you?" Harry asked, feeling himself start to blush.
"Oh no. I'm turning sixteen in two weeks, so I really can't works here yet. Also the fact that I've never even touched a wand before would make me incapable of being a Healer," the girl said, smiling pleasantly.
"Why haven't you even touched a wand? Haven't you ever gone to a wizarding school? Or if you didn't then at least your parents would teach you," Hermione said, looking curious. The girl chuckled.
"Well, first off my parents dumped me in an orphanage before they could even name me, so I doubt that they're going to come teach me magic," the girl said, making Hermione's eyes go wide.
"Merlin, I'm so, very sorry! I didn't mean to -" she started but the girl shook her head.
"No, no, it's fine. Besides, you can't miss what you can't remember, right?" the girl said, smiling. Harry could tell that it was a hollow smile, he'd been using the same smile ever since a few months ago. "But in short, no headmaster would want me in their school."
"Why? If you're a real prankster or something then you could probably go to Hogwarts. Fred and George were twin pranksters, and now they own a joke shop! Well, then again, they dropped out of school, so…" Harry said, thinking about this. The girl laughed.
"Thanks for your concern, Harry, but that's not it. Though I do love the occasional pranks and being at Hogwarts where the Weasley twins actually found all of the secret passageways and pulled every trick there is would be quite breathtaking, but as I said, no one would want me in school," the girl said, sighing as if that was something that she really wanted.
"Albus, surely she can -" started McGonagall.
"I'd be more than happy to except you to Hogwarts, my dear, but if you've not even a wand then you wouldn't know all that the other students would. How about this? Me and the other professors will take out all of the tests we're doing for all of the grades and pour all of the questions into one very large, exhausting test? If you get a good enough score, then you can come to Hogwarts. Mind that you have less than three months to learn all of this information," Dumbledore said, the twinkle bright in his eyes. The girl shook her head.
"Sorry, sir, but I just don't have enough time. I have to take care of all of the others at the orphanage and there's still Muggle school and everything else in the world. I'd really love to, but I simply don't have the time," the girl said, catching Kaylee before she ran out the door. "Nope, no, no no, Kaylee, you're still getting your bath today. You don't want to be a stinky little girl, now do you?"
Just then, the loudspeaker came on. "Iris Hazel, please come to the Information Desk, you have to do some paperwork. Iris Hazel to the Information Desk."
Harry was looking up at the ceiling when the announcement was on. When he looked down he saw that the girl had large, odd things coming from her head. They were where her ears were supposed to be. They looked kind of like Dobby's ears. The girl blushed when she realized that everyone was staring at her. She quickly left, her face completely red. Harry was released from the hospital a few days later, and he was now more miserable than usual. Everyone was constantly watching him. They'd never give him two minutes rest from talking to him. Even when he went out of the Burrow for a walk or something, someone would always insist on coming, even after he had told them that he'd rather be alone. Mrs. Weasley had made sure to take all of the medicines out of the house and made Mr. Weasley lock up all the knives and round off every corner. At the moment, Ron and Hermione were going on about school and meaningless things. Harry wasn't really listening anymore. He would simply nod if they stopped and looked at him.
"What do you think about Lupin teaching again, Harry?" Hermione asked, and she and Ron both looked at him intently.
"Uh huh," Harry replied, not listening.
"Harry! Do you even know what we're talking about?" Hermione said, chuckling a bit.
"Uh huh."
"Then what is it?" Hermione said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Uh huh."
"Uggghhh! Ron, go give Harry a swirly, maybe that'll wake him up a bit! Why don't you two go out flying or something? I have to work on getting Hagrid's new class book open. It's worse than the Monster Book of Monsters. It had teeth even on the spine! It's horrid. I'm going to go tell Mrs. Weasley to keep the bandages handy while you two go fly about on your brooms," Hermione said, getting up. Harry sighed and got up with Ron and went to go get their brooms. Harry wasn't feeling like doing anything again. Since Sirius had died, he had always felt like that. Harry went up with Ron and got their brooms.
"Oh, you boys aren't going out, are you? I know Hagrid will be really disappointed when he finds out that you boys won't be able to help him decide which baby he wants to take back - er, to his hut. Merlin, that is just not right! A baby can't grow up in a hut, it's not right!" Mrs. Weasley said, sighing. "He's in the kitchen, boys, now if you'll excuse me, I have to go clean something." Harry and Ron ran into the kitchen and found Hagrid sitting at the table, looking quite excited.
"Hi Harry, hi Ron," he said. Harry noticed that Hagrid had obviously tried to look nice. It seemed to be a reverse effect, however. Hagrid had tried combing his mane, which had ended up with some spots very fluffy while the others were just very snarly. He'd kept on his normal clothes, and Harry decided this was a very good thing as he was suddenly reminded of the big hairy yellow tuxedo that he'd tried to impress Madam Maxime with.
"You look - er - nice, Hagrid," Ron said. Hagrid grinned. What he didn't know, however, was that Ron had his fingers crossed beneath his back.
"Thanks. I'm jus' so excited. The lady tha' runs the orphanage says she really likes me. A really nice person, she is. An' it's right good o' her ter let me take one o' the kids. I reckon not many people would like me havin' a kid o' my own, 'cause of, well, what I am," Hagrid said happily.
Just then, Hermione walked inside the kitchen and set the new Care of Magical Creatures book on the table. She'd used two belts to hold it down.
She smiled at Hagrid. "I'm really happy for you, Hagrid, but I wonder if you really know what you're getting yourself into," she said.
"Hermione, I'm tickled tha' yer so concerned, but I've handled a baby dragon, a three-headed dog, Aragog, and Grawp. A kid shouldn' be all tha' hard," Hagrid chuckled.
Mrs. Weasley walked in and began cleaning. "Oh, Hagrid, dear, a child is nothing like a mon-, erm, I mean, a pet. They need much more attention and love. Old Molly will help you," she said, gently patting his hand.
"And you'll need to stay off the mead, Hagrid," added Hermione.
"Yeah, o' course. I'll only have a sip if the tyke is asleep or summat," Hagrid said solemnly.
Harry Potter was sitting in his room in Little Whinging, Surrey. His mood had been down ever since Sirius had fallen behind the veil only months ago. Now the heat was doing anything but helping him. Hagrid, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, and even Neville were now sending him letters every day to make sure he was all right. Mrs. Weasley continuously sent him fudge and other treats and letters with tear stains on them. Harry had had enough of fudge, so now he was just giving it to Dudley who had no objections. He sighed as he remembered that he still had to write - everyone.
He rolled off of his bed and took out a piece of parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink. He sighed as he began to write:
Ron,
Everything's basically fine here. Congratulate your dad on his new TV. Don't let him fix it, he won't put it back right, no offense. Hey, why don't you Weasleys just combine your letters and save parchment, ink, Pig's energy, and the time it takes for me to read each of your letters? No, my scar's been just peachy, Ron, just a few twinges of pain. Knew you and Mione were going to go out eventually. Wasn't going to pass through my seventh year without at least seeing you two kiss. Ha ha. Yeah, it's not really all that funny when you start to think that you two will be snogging every other minute. Thanks, now I'm going to have nightmares. Really awful ones. Ah well. Nothing new to me, eh?
Can't wait 'till school. More piteous looks. Perfect. More muttering. Great. More tears from your mum. Wonderful. More people thinking that I've lost it. Whoop dee do. I'll just skip my way right on down to St. Mungo's to visit Lockhart and stay there, getting more and more autographs within every passing minute. That's what most people want. Why don't I just give it to them? Or better yet, I could kill myself. At least Voldemort would be happy. Hey, maybe your mum would stop crying then, huh? Dumbledore wouldn't have to worry about me anymore. You could find a real best friend. The Order wouldn't have to worry about me. I wouldn't endanger anyone else's life. I'd even be with my mum and dad. No more Dudley. No more Dursleys ever, actually. Hmm. That's the only other time that I've ever thought about that. And that was in our third year when… Well, you know.
I'd even be with him then. I'd be with everyone who ever actually cared for me. I know your mum's going to say that she cared for me, and she did, and she makes really good fudge, just ask Dudley. But that's just not the same. What do you reckon would be the best way to do it? Drown myself? Hang myself? Nah, I don't want to suffer all that much. Maybe I should cut myself. I know the best way to do it is to hit a vein in your throat, but if I go too deeply and puncture my windpipe I'd suffocate, which I don't want to do. Hmm. Maybe a few good, deep cuts on my wrists would do it. Or over-dose on pills. That's a nice way to do it. Lock myself in the bathroom and down a few bottles of pills. Merlin knows Uncle Vernon has enough of them.
Merlin, Ron, I'm tired. I've been tired all summer, although it's only been a few weeks. No matter how much I sleep I always wake up tired. Ah well. That'll all change in a little bit. I hope your mum feels better with the whole menopause thing. I looked what it was up in the World Book. I could have gone a whole lifetime without knowing that they had a mucous membrane. Yeah, you wouldn't think that they'd put pictures of all of that in there, would you? They did. Very graphic pictures. Pictures that would make Neville start to cry. Then again, Snape makes Neville cry, which is actually kind of funny. Thank Bill for the rock C.Ds, they're awesome. I like Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody best. It's all slow and sad and about how a guy kills himself but feels bad for his mother and then it gets all weird and quick and I lobe it. Wait, no, not lobe, love. Sorry, I'm just really tired. I'm going to save Hedwig's strength, don't want her out in this weather. I'll Floo it to you from the kitchen stove. You can do that, right? Well, hope so. If not, well, I'm just writing to Mr. Nobody now, aren't I? HI, MR. NOBODY!
Aherm. Tell Hagrid I'm sorry and that I let him down. Tell your mum not to cry and that she shouldn't because I'm saving your lives. Make sure Hermione and Ginny don't cry either. I don't want to upset anyone. If anyone starts to get sad or depressed, just tell them that I'm with my parents and Sirius now. Tell them that I'm where I want to be and that I don't have to deal with all of these things anymore. Tell Dumbledore that I'm sorry he wasted his time on me, along with all of the other professors. Except for Snape. Tell him to go jump into the Amazon River starky. There are piranha in there, you know, mate. Fun fun for him. Oh yeah. I want you to have my Firebolt. I also want you to have my fortune in Gringott's. I won't be needing it now, and your family isn't that well money wise. Make sure that Fred and George keep making joke type like things and candies or whatever. Have a good life, mate.
Harry
There. That was simple enough. That way they knew what he was going to do. And that way they'd know before he did it. Harry didn't know why, but it just felt like they had to know before he did it. He took out a small, cloth bag filled with Floo Powder. He rolled up the piece of parchment and held it together with a single paperclip. He reached into a pocket of his suitcase and pulled out his key allowing him to get money from the wizarding bank. He attached it securely to the parchment and went down the stairs and into the kitchen. He turned the front burner on as high as he could and wondered if the paper would get burnt or not, depending on the order he did things. Normally a person was already in the fireplace before saying anything. Hopefully this would work.
"The Burrow," Harry said clearly before dropping the Floor Powder into the flame just before the parchment. The parchment seemed to slowly fade away and Harry smiled once he had realized it worked. He turned the burner off and saw all three Dursleys looking at him as if he were mad.
"What are you doing?" inquired Uncle Vernon.
"Telling the wizarding world that I intend to kill myself today. What are you doing?" Harry said calmly, walking over to where the knives were kept.
"Yeah right. You don't have the guts to even think about it. You're too afraid to even -" Dudley said, smirking just before Harry picked up a knife and cut himself with it.
"You listen here, boy, you put that knife down right now or else -" Uncle Vernon started, but Harry cut him off.
"Or else what? You'll take away dinner for a week? I won't need dinner when I'm dead, you know!" Harry yelled before dodging the whale they call Dudley and running up the stairs. He had set the knife down on the counter so the Dursleys didn't follow him. He ran up to the bathroom and took a long bit of toilet paper and pressed it hard against his new wound. He didn't want to die that way. He had decided that it would be too painful and it would take to long. Before he would know it, the Weasleys would be there and they'd ruin his whole plan. He opened the medicine cabinet just above the sink. He looked at a few bottles of pills before he found the strongest ones. Harry smiled at the label which read; 1000 MG: DO NOT TAKE MORE THAN ONE. Harry popped off the top and grabbed one of the wimpy paper cups that Aunt Petunia had put inside of the bathroom. He filled it to the top with water and popped a few of the giant sized pills into his mouth. He chased them down with the entire cup of water and did this for a while until the bottle of pills was finally empty.
Harry sighed and sat down on the toilet, glad that it was almost over. He kind of felt sick, but more relaxed then anything. He smiled to himself. No more pain for anyone. Sure, they'd be sad for a little while, but they'd get over it. And they'd all be safe because they no longer had to worry about Harry getting into trouble. His mum and dad and Sirius would make sure that he didn't get in trouble now.
Harry's head began to hurt a bit and at first he thought that he should take some aspirin. He laughed at this thought. He had just taken some pills, why not more? Nah, at least they should be able to know what he decided to do it with. He suddenly felt like he should lie down. Hmm, I'm really tired. I might as well just lay down and go to sleep right here. I hope Dudley doesn't come in here and step on me. Why didn't they ever clean the ceiling? I wonder what Hagrid's going to say. I wonder what 'Mione's going to say. Snape'll probably leap for joy. I hope Hagrid doesn't cry. He'd drown them.
He began to feel very tired and began to feel more and more sick. Maybe I shouldn't have taken so many. Ugghh, I think I might throw up. I hope I die before that happens. He turned over onto his side and decided that the floor was not comfortable at all. He got up, moaning, and decided to lay down in the tub. Then he decided that the light was too bright and shut the curtain. Now this is nice. Kind of chilly, but hey, it goes up perfectly for my head. Hmm. I really would have thought that it would be a whole lot different to die. Hey, I'm breathing differently. Kind of slower. Really slower. Ah well. I'm getting tired anyways.
Harry turned onto his side so his back was facing the curtain and closed his eyes and fell asleep.
A cool hand was rubbing his back and he liked it very much. Harry felt the cool hand leave his back and felt it once more against his face. He gently rubbed his cheek against it, feeling very tired still.
"Good morning, dear," said a gentle voice quietly. Harry slowly opened his eyes and a woman helped him put on his glasses. "There you are, dearie, now you an actually see me." At first, all Harry had saw was red hair and instantly thought - hoped that it was his mum. But when he heard her voice and saw her face he realized that it wasn't her. He didn't even know this woman.
"Who are you?" Harry asked, slurring his words slightly.
"I'm Hallie Calson, dear, I was assisting during your surgery." Harry's mind wasn't rightly functioning yet.
"What? I didn't have any surgery," he said, still waking up.
"You did, but you most certainly wouldn't remember it. You were very much unconscious when they brought you here," chuckled the woman. "You had to have your stomach pumped, dear. But don't you worry about that just yet, dearie, you just get comfortable again and I'll bring you up something to eat, okay? But right now, all you have to do is stay comfy and content and kind of awake. Well, unless you're still sleepy. Then you can go to sleep. Mind that your visitors would probably be a bit upset, seeing as they've been here all through the night." Harry moaned at the thought of dealing with everyone.
"Why?" he asked her before she left.
"Why what, dear?" she asked kindly back.
"Why couldn't you have let me die? I knew what I was doing, I nearly had it. Then you had to come ruin all my plans," Harry said a bit bitterly. She simply shrugged.
"Sorry, dear, but I don't think that death is much of a plan when you're only sixteen. Besides, I was on shift and I refuse to have someone mess up my record by dying," she said, flashing a smile at him before she left.
Suddenly, the door opened a peek and Ron slid into the room very quietly. He went over to the farthest chair in the room and didn't say anything for a long while. Finally, he sighed. "Mum's really worried about you now."
"Yeah, well, she wouldn't be worried about me if you guys would have let me go on with it," Harry said vulgarly. Ron sighed and looked down at his hands.
"We couldn't. Mate, Hermione and Ginny were in tears as soon as they read the first few words. You never write that everything is fine there. It's always something with that whale or the whale's father or the horse. Besides, we'd be out a Seeker this year," Ron said, trying to make the conversation lighter. Harry didn't even move. "Yeah, well, you know how I am with words and whatnot. I got the shortest straw, you see. Well, no, that's not entirely true. You see, Neville was here, too, and he got the shortest straw, but we were all afraid that he'd say something to mess it up so I had to go.
"Well, how're you feeling, mate?" Ron went on, trying to get Harry to talk more.
"I'd be better had some things not happened," he said, not looking at Ron. Ron sighed loudly and got up.
"Well, Harry, I'm so sorry for saving your life! I just thought that - well, your parents wouldn't be too pleased with the way you went and also that there isn't a better guy in the world! So sorry for being your friend, my lord," he said before storming out of the room and slamming the door behind him.
Harry now sat alone in the white room. He didn't want to be alone, but he didn't want to be with people either. He knew that everyone would just think him a coward for trying to kill himself.
The door opened again, and Harry pretended to be asleep. He felt someone sit down.
"Harry, I know you're awake," came Lupin's calm voice.
Harry peeked one eye open. "Crap. How did you know?" "Well, it could be that Ron just came out complaining that you'd turned into a completely different person. I'm not a psychiatrist, but I'm quite sure that there's something going on up there to make you want to end your life," said Lupin.
"It doesn't matter. It didn't work, and now Dumbledore is going to have everyone watching me every second of every day so I can't try it again," Harry said bitterly. Lupin shrugged.
"I dunno about that, Harry. For a while, yes, that may be how things will go, but after a while he'll call us off and let you have your peace and quiet. You should have seen how pale Dumbledore had gotten once we had found out. You chose an excellent time to send it, as there was an Order meeting taking place," Lupin said, sighing.
"Crap. Mrs. Weasley didn't cry, did she?" Harry said, turning around so he could see Lupin. Lupin chuckled.
"It was a bit of a tie between her and Hagrid," he laughed, making Harry have to work to hold back his laughter. "Just between you and me, I think Hagrid nearly drown us."
"I was thinking about that earlier yesterday. I was hoping that he wasn't going to cry," Harry said, sighing.
"Well, you see, Hagrid is kind of - don't you dare tell him that I said this - but he's kind of, er, girly. But in a really manly way," Lupin said, making Harry laugh out loud. Lupin chuckled as well. "Well, you know that as soon as you look at him he's a real man, but then he starts to cry and, well…"
"I never realized that you were such an evil little man," Harry laughed.
"I am not evil! I just tell the truth," Lupin said, turning pink.
"Yeah, but you tell the mean truth!" Harry protested. He shrugged.
"Hey, I was one of the Marauders, remember?" he said, sighing.
"Guess you're the only one left now, huh?" Harry said, thrown back into his depressed self. Harry was expecting Lupin to try to cheer him up.
"Well, guess I am. Merlin, I've never really thought about it that way before. Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Prongs. Well, it kind of goes in order, now doesn't it. Prongs went first, and Wormtail was the one who did it. Then Padfoot, leaving only Moony to linger in their memories. Even when it was just Padfoot and me, I'd think about who would be the next to go. I hoped beyond hope that it'd be me," Lupin said, starting to talk to mostly just himself.
"So, you're suicidal?" Harry asked, his eyes wide at how such a quiet man would want to die. Lupin looked up and chuckled.
"No, no, no, Harry. You see, the thought of me having to live without my friends for the rest of my life is too unbearable. No one would be there to talk to me, to play pranks on me, to flick my nose and make me look like a fool, to force me to kiss a girl… Merlin, I could go on all day. But you see, Harry, I didn't want to be the one who suffered alone. But I was stupid," Lupin scoffed. "What am I saying, was. Finally, I realized that I was being selfish because I wanted myself to die, yes, but the thing I would be running from would land onto Padfoot. And just the thought of harming my friends makes me all - er…" Lupin said, looking for the right word. Harry looked down at his hand and saw his hand begin to shake.
"Twitchy?" he finished, making Lupin look at him oddly and the down at his hand. He laughed.
"Ah, yes. Would you look at that? I'm twitchy and it's really quite amusing! Wow, look at it go," Lupin said, making Harry laugh out loud. "Hey, don't laugh at my stupidity, I'm special! My momma says I'm special!" Lupin said, making Harry howl with laughter.
"You're so weird," Harry said after catching his breath.
"You have no idea," Lupin said, making Harry laugh again.
"I never actually thought that you were actually, cool. I thought that you were occasionally cool, but not like this kind of cool," Harry said, chuckling.
"So what? I'm not cool anymore? Or am I cool just now? Or was I cool before now and I just didn't know it? It's a mystery," Lupin said, making Harry chuckle. "The point I'm trying to make, Harry, is that you can't be unhappy forever. And you can't go around trying to kill yourself, either. And you just simply couldn't have waited for a few more days? Hagrid was going to tell you that he was going to go adopt a kid from an orphanage! Geez, you ruined it for the poor chap. Ah well. He was hoping that the lot of us would help him choose the right one."
"What? Hagrid wants to be a dad? I kind of pictured him more of the babying mummy type," Harry said, thinking this over.
"Just curious, why did you try to do yourself in both was? I mean, pills and cutting?" Lupin asked, looking at the floor. Harry looked at him oddly for a moment.
"Oh! You mean this?" Harry asked, putting his now-bandaged arm up. Lupin nodded after he had looked up. "Oh, no, that wasn't my plan. I just did it because Dudley was telling me that I wasn't brave enough to kill myself. Soon as I cut myself, that shut him up right away. He looked like he was going to wet himself."
"Ah. Well, brace yourself, Harry, I'm going to let in the whole group. Prepare for hugs and crying," Lupin said, getting to his feet after patting Harry's knee bracingly. He opened the door and spoke to the people on the other side. Instantly, Lupin was pushed down by a red-haired woman with menopause. Harry soon found himself in a forest of red hair.
"You - poor - baby!" Mrs. Weasley sobbed, squeezing him. It was only at this time that he realized that his stomach was hurting very badly.
"Ow, Mrs. Weasley, I like my organs. Please let me keep them, don't make them squish out of me," Harry said, trying to find an exit from the forest. Mrs. Weasley instantly let go of Harry and began fussing over him.
"Poor darling, it's all right, you're okay. Don't worry, you're okay," she fretted, gently tucking him in and giving him gentle hugs and kisses on the forehead. All the while, Harry was simply trying to get her attention.
"Mrs. Weasley… Mrs. Weasley… Mrs. Weasley, please… I'll pay you, Mrs. Weasley… Please? Mr. Weasley, save me?" Harry said through the forest of hair. Mr. Weasley went over and began to pull Mrs. Weasley off of Harry.
"Come on, Molly, dear, let Harry breathe. Come on, love, come here. Molly, come here!" he said, struggling to get Mrs. Weasley off of him.
"He - needs - love!" she said, clinging onto Harry.
"I - need - air!"
"Mum, stop being weird. I know it's kind of hard for you, but just try, will you?" said Fred, and instantly Mrs. Weasley stopped and started at him.
"Run, Fred, run!" Harry said quickly, and Fred took his advice.
"Don't you dare run from me, Fredrick Arthur Weasley!" Mrs. Weasley said, striding over to him.
"Run, boy, run!" said Mr. Weasley, pushing him out of the door.
"Where?!" Fred asked, coming back through the door.
"The men's room! The men's room!" Harry said quickly.
"I've been in there before! I've seen what you lot have to hide and trust me, it isn't all that flattering towards you!" Mrs. Weasley said, tailing Fred. She shut the door behind her.
"Well that's something you see, well, basically every day now, but ah well," Mr. Weasleys said sighing. "So, Harry, how're you feeling?"
"I just got my stomach pumped and your wife just tried to squeeze all of my organs out. Pretty good, actually," Harry said, chuckling slightly. "Tired as hell, though."
"I'd expect so," chuckled Hagrid. "Molly gives pretty rough hugs."
All of a sudden, the door opened, and in hurried a small girl, who looked to be about two years of age. She had bright blond hair and green eyes. Giggling, she toddled about until -
"Owie!" the little girl said. She'd fallen over Hagrid's foot. Hagrid looked completely horrified.
"Oh, sorry, little tyke, sorry. Are you okay? Are yeh sure? Yer at the right place ter get an owie," Hagrid said concernedly, helping the toddler to her feet.
"Tank 'oo," she said, and ran about until she hurried over to the corner, smiling.
The door opened again. This time, a much older girl entered. She had blue-green eyes and brown hair that went down to her shoulders. She had tan skin and didn't completely look like a normal girl, but Harry dared not say anything.
"Oh, I'm sorry. But I think I lost a little monster in here somewhere," she quickly apologized.
"Not at all," Lupin said with a smile toward the little girl.
"Come on, Kaylee, time for bathy," said the older girl.
"No!" protested the little girl as she ran behind Dumbledore. He chuckled as he bent over and picked her up.
"Now, now, my dear, good little girls have to take their baths to be good little girls. Um, that didn't make any sense, did it?" Dumbledore said, getting a shake of the head from the little girl. "In short, take your bath, please, sweetie."
"'Kay," the little girl said, making the older one sigh.
"All right, Kaylee, we need to get our priorities together, okay? You'll listen to someone who you've never even seen before, but you won't listen to the person who takes care of you? Somehow I think I'm just being used," she said, getting chuckles from the room.
"Like a tissue," Kaylee replied, smiling at the older girl. More chuckles were heard.
"All right, little miss, you need to have an issue tissue because no matter how much you're trying to charm these people, they aren't going to save you from your bath," the older one said, sighing.
"B-But, dey wove me! Dey w-wouldn't let me g-get da baff!" said the little girl, making more chuckles heard.
"They don't love you. They think you're a weird little nuisance who's afraid of the tub. Come on, you weirdo, before we both get in trouble," the older girl said, giving her bottom a tap so she'd get moving through the door. "Hup to, small one."
"Excuse me, but - er, you don't work here, do you?" Harry asked, feeling himself start to blush.
"Oh no. I'm turning sixteen in two weeks, so I really can't works here yet. Also the fact that I've never even touched a wand before would make me incapable of being a Healer," the girl said, smiling pleasantly.
"Why haven't you even touched a wand? Haven't you ever gone to a wizarding school? Or if you didn't then at least your parents would teach you," Hermione said, looking curious. The girl chuckled.
"Well, first off my parents dumped me in an orphanage before they could even name me, so I doubt that they're going to come teach me magic," the girl said, making Hermione's eyes go wide.
"Merlin, I'm so, very sorry! I didn't mean to -" she started but the girl shook her head.
"No, no, it's fine. Besides, you can't miss what you can't remember, right?" the girl said, smiling. Harry could tell that it was a hollow smile, he'd been using the same smile ever since a few months ago. "But in short, no headmaster would want me in their school."
"Why? If you're a real prankster or something then you could probably go to Hogwarts. Fred and George were twin pranksters, and now they own a joke shop! Well, then again, they dropped out of school, so…" Harry said, thinking about this. The girl laughed.
"Thanks for your concern, Harry, but that's not it. Though I do love the occasional pranks and being at Hogwarts where the Weasley twins actually found all of the secret passageways and pulled every trick there is would be quite breathtaking, but as I said, no one would want me in school," the girl said, sighing as if that was something that she really wanted.
"Albus, surely she can -" started McGonagall.
"I'd be more than happy to except you to Hogwarts, my dear, but if you've not even a wand then you wouldn't know all that the other students would. How about this? Me and the other professors will take out all of the tests we're doing for all of the grades and pour all of the questions into one very large, exhausting test? If you get a good enough score, then you can come to Hogwarts. Mind that you have less than three months to learn all of this information," Dumbledore said, the twinkle bright in his eyes. The girl shook her head.
"Sorry, sir, but I just don't have enough time. I have to take care of all of the others at the orphanage and there's still Muggle school and everything else in the world. I'd really love to, but I simply don't have the time," the girl said, catching Kaylee before she ran out the door. "Nope, no, no no, Kaylee, you're still getting your bath today. You don't want to be a stinky little girl, now do you?"
Just then, the loudspeaker came on. "Iris Hazel, please come to the Information Desk, you have to do some paperwork. Iris Hazel to the Information Desk."
Harry was looking up at the ceiling when the announcement was on. When he looked down he saw that the girl had large, odd things coming from her head. They were where her ears were supposed to be. They looked kind of like Dobby's ears. The girl blushed when she realized that everyone was staring at her. She quickly left, her face completely red. Harry was released from the hospital a few days later, and he was now more miserable than usual. Everyone was constantly watching him. They'd never give him two minutes rest from talking to him. Even when he went out of the Burrow for a walk or something, someone would always insist on coming, even after he had told them that he'd rather be alone. Mrs. Weasley had made sure to take all of the medicines out of the house and made Mr. Weasley lock up all the knives and round off every corner. At the moment, Ron and Hermione were going on about school and meaningless things. Harry wasn't really listening anymore. He would simply nod if they stopped and looked at him.
"What do you think about Lupin teaching again, Harry?" Hermione asked, and she and Ron both looked at him intently.
"Uh huh," Harry replied, not listening.
"Harry! Do you even know what we're talking about?" Hermione said, chuckling a bit.
"Uh huh."
"Then what is it?" Hermione said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Uh huh."
"Uggghhh! Ron, go give Harry a swirly, maybe that'll wake him up a bit! Why don't you two go out flying or something? I have to work on getting Hagrid's new class book open. It's worse than the Monster Book of Monsters. It had teeth even on the spine! It's horrid. I'm going to go tell Mrs. Weasley to keep the bandages handy while you two go fly about on your brooms," Hermione said, getting up. Harry sighed and got up with Ron and went to go get their brooms. Harry wasn't feeling like doing anything again. Since Sirius had died, he had always felt like that. Harry went up with Ron and got their brooms.
"Oh, you boys aren't going out, are you? I know Hagrid will be really disappointed when he finds out that you boys won't be able to help him decide which baby he wants to take back - er, to his hut. Merlin, that is just not right! A baby can't grow up in a hut, it's not right!" Mrs. Weasley said, sighing. "He's in the kitchen, boys, now if you'll excuse me, I have to go clean something." Harry and Ron ran into the kitchen and found Hagrid sitting at the table, looking quite excited.
"Hi Harry, hi Ron," he said. Harry noticed that Hagrid had obviously tried to look nice. It seemed to be a reverse effect, however. Hagrid had tried combing his mane, which had ended up with some spots very fluffy while the others were just very snarly. He'd kept on his normal clothes, and Harry decided this was a very good thing as he was suddenly reminded of the big hairy yellow tuxedo that he'd tried to impress Madam Maxime with.
"You look - er - nice, Hagrid," Ron said. Hagrid grinned. What he didn't know, however, was that Ron had his fingers crossed beneath his back.
"Thanks. I'm jus' so excited. The lady tha' runs the orphanage says she really likes me. A really nice person, she is. An' it's right good o' her ter let me take one o' the kids. I reckon not many people would like me havin' a kid o' my own, 'cause of, well, what I am," Hagrid said happily.
Just then, Hermione walked inside the kitchen and set the new Care of Magical Creatures book on the table. She'd used two belts to hold it down.
She smiled at Hagrid. "I'm really happy for you, Hagrid, but I wonder if you really know what you're getting yourself into," she said.
"Hermione, I'm tickled tha' yer so concerned, but I've handled a baby dragon, a three-headed dog, Aragog, and Grawp. A kid shouldn' be all tha' hard," Hagrid chuckled.
Mrs. Weasley walked in and began cleaning. "Oh, Hagrid, dear, a child is nothing like a mon-, erm, I mean, a pet. They need much more attention and love. Old Molly will help you," she said, gently patting his hand.
"And you'll need to stay off the mead, Hagrid," added Hermione.
"Yeah, o' course. I'll only have a sip if the tyke is asleep or summat," Hagrid said solemnly.