dementor daycare iii
a/n: y'all can blame ella for this, as she asked for it for gge.
It was a cold and blustery morning as Les and Barty began to get the daycare set up while Sev and Gel played in the corner, the latter regrettably not wearing his new overalls. Modesty sat at the table folding some programs for the guest speakers that would be coming in. Les had told her she didn't need to, but the fact remained that it did need doing and Modesty was quite proficient at doing so after years of leaflets. Seeing that Barty seemed to have everything under control, Les waited by the door to welcome parents there to drop off their children.
Ella passed her a still-very-asleep Draco, who she gave to Barty when Cam and Tassie arrived with Harry, Albie, Newt, Pickett, and the plush niffler. Maisie thrust a bag of supplies at Les while Amycus, who had been tasked with carrying his sister, tried unsuccessfully to put her down. Alecto calmed down only when Maisie produced her rice bag and one of her chew toys, then spent the next six minutes in conversation with her until Amycus reminded her that they would be late for their reservation. As soon as the couple was out the door, rice was everywhere.
When Dragon arrived with her own group, they split up almost as soon as they entered - Scabior ran off to play with the other little ones, Credence migrated over to Modesty, and Nagini found a shoe and began to chew on it. After her usual reminders to prevent Credence from exploding and Nagini from eating any shoes she hadn't brought with her, Dragon too left.
Once Dragon had left, everything was quiet for a while until the door opened again to reveal...
"Chastity!" Gellert said, abandoning his blocks and throwing himself at her leg, much to her confusion. She gave Les a look that said she had absolutely no idea what he was doing, so she had to step in.
"He's just saying hello, Chastity," Les told her as she removed Gellert and sent him to go play. "Though perhaps he'll soon learn a different way to do that. Our guest speakers should teach him all about minding his manners."
"Guest speakers?" Chastity questioned.
"Indeed. We've arranged for Walburga and Druella to come in and teach the children manners. They should be here any minute now, so why don't you help me get the children situated?"
-x-
Fifteen minutes passed, and though Les, Barty, and Chastity certainly tried, they had only managed to deposit Credence, Nagini, and Modesty on the rug. Alecto was more interested in building a rice tower that was by now almost as tall as she was, and there were little kids everywhere.
At one point, Chastity managed to capture Albie and set him next to Modesty, but when the small boy noticed his best friend Gellert was still running around, he jumped up immediately to join him. Draco, Severus, and Harry simply ran for it every time a grown-up came near. After another ten minutes, the only new addition was Newt, clutching his plush niffler and gleefully telling Modesty about how he had obtained his new bowtruckle, Pickett.
Walburga and Druella entered the daycare to find Les holding a flailing Gellert who was shrieking something about pants, Barty with Harry and Draco tucked under his arms like footballs, and an Albie that had allowed Chastity to recollect him but affixed himself to her every time she tried to put him down.
They were about to get everyone's attention when Alecto noticed them and started to cry. "But I don't want there to be sniffy old ladies!" she wailed.
Gellert too burst into tears, though he did it because he didn't want to wear pants. A few of the other small children started up as well, leaving the confused and slightly exasperated Credence, Nagini, Modesty, and Newt sitting in the middle of the chaos wondering why everyone else refused to behave.
In the end it took twenty minutes, a bag of shiny rice, a belt (which was used solely for Gellert pantlessness prevention reasons,) Harry talking and talking to Chastity while she tried to both listen politely and situate Severus at one time, leaflet-eating, and a guest appearance from Newt's plush niffler (which little Scabior attempted to snatch) to get everyone seated and ready for Walburga and Druella's presentation.
-x-
Walburga and Druella were accustomed to manners lectures, having given a fair amount previously, but at the same time their manners seminars were usually meant for adults. It was true that proper protocol was just as important if not more so for the younger population, but as they watched Alecto playing with shiny rice, Newt chewing on the tail of his plush niffler, and Gellert trying to rid himself of his belt so he could take off his pants, they weren't even sure where to begin.
Eventually, they settled on the programs. They could start with those. And since they had included on the back an outline of what they planned to address, it would run smoothly until the children began to stick them in their mouths.
"Modesty?" Les said, grasping the attention of the eldest of her children. "Would you be so kind as to retrieve your leaflets for Miss Walburga and Miss Druella?"
Modesty stood up and left to do what her mother had asked, returning a few moments later with an armful of neatly folded papers that she transferred to the speakers. Once each of the children had been given one, Druella began to speak.
"As the adults among us may know," she said, gesturing to Les, Barty, and Chastity, who had managed for now to wrangle the youngsters. "The use of proper manners is very important for a child to know. In fact, it is crucial you begin this lesson now, as you will need to implement these skills as you grow up."
"I've already grown up!" Alecto shrieked. "I'm twenty-four!"
Druella sniffed and continued with her speech. "Therefore, my love and I seek to help children such as yourselves to implement proper behavior as soon as we can. By doing this..."
She was cut off by a rustle from Draco as he stuffed his program into his mouth. "Don't eat the leaflets," Modesty gently reprimanded him. But the toddler refused to give up his impromptu snack until Chastity tugged it out of his hands and mouth.
"Druella," Walburga stated, eyes a clear sign of her disapproval of the scene in front of her. "Perhaps we ought to try a different approach."
-x-
In lieu of a simple lecture that they might have offered an adult audience, it was clear that the children would respond better to a more hands-on approach.
Les, having more experience with adopted children, was first to develop an idea when she spotted a play fork that Sev and Gel had left out. "Why don't we pretend they're at a restaurant?"
"With all due respect, Alessia," Druella said. "I fail to see how a game of pretend play will help them develop the manners skills they need."
This earned a knowing smile from Les. "Perhaps not. But I see it as a compromise that works for all of us. They'll get to play, you'll get to teach them manners, and Barty, Chastity, and I are going to supervise."
Druella and Walburga did have to admit that Les had a point. After a brief discussion, they gave Les their consent.
After all, what could go wrong with a simple pretend restaurant?
With another group, that might have been an appropriate question. But with the children in this daycare, it was closer to what wouldn't go wrong.
-x-
The "sniffy old ladies" supervised as Les and Barty conjured a few small tables for the children to be seated at. Five would be enough if not more than enough, Les decided. Barty surveyed the daycare cupboards and came up with a small menu. Chastity, with Modesty's help, looked after the children while this was going on, and except for Gellert still trying to lose his belt, they seemed to have it all under control.
It was only after it came time to sit down that the children revealed just how much they needed that manners training.
Albie and Gel sat across from each other "fow the gweater good," as they said, although within a few minutes Albie, who didn't have a belt, was coaxed into throwing his pants on the floor. Gellert grinned as his own accidental magic came to his assistance, loosening his belt and allowing him to finally get his pants off. Alecto, as always, tried to do the same, but Chastity stopped her while Les was tasked with redressing two pantless toddlers.
Once the clothes were replaced, Druella began to speak.
"Remember, children, this is as much a learning experience for you as it is a game," she said, looking pointedly at each of the daycare attendees. "You would do well to recall that."
Walburga caught Les' eye. "You may begin."
They started off with the table belonging to Credence, Modesty, and Nagini, who Druella observed minded their manners nicely (well, until they found out that Nagini had been chewing on a shoe.) Modesty told Barty that she didn't mind what he served her as long as it wasn't peas, and the other two echoed her sentiments.
"What's the deal with peas?" Barty questioned. "We never put them on the menu."
Les sighed. "Believe me, Barty dear, she's had enough peas for a lifetime."
And with that, they moved on to Albie and Gel.
Other than a brief incident in which Alecto demanded a plate of shiny cookies, which Les did not happen to have, the ordering portion went just fine.
While they waited for their food, a couple of tables began conversation (particularly that of Harry, which he shared with Draco and Severus) and Albie and Gel, fully clothed this time, resumed their talk about the greater good. Alecto looked around for something to chew on and decided on the plastic fork that had started the idea in the first place, which Les mentally reminded herself to wash off later. Even little Scabior refrained from snatching anything.
Credence and Modesty were talking to Nagini, but she was finding it harder and harder to pay attention. Situated atop Walburga's head was something that, if she looked at it just the right way, looked exactly like a pygmy puff, one of Nagini's favorite snacks. Before either of her tablemates could stop her, she had assumed her snake form and lunged for the puff.
Walburga let out a shriek as Nagini's fangs wound up in what was in fact her hair, prompting Barty to step forward and remove the serpent. Chastity offered her apologies to Walburga while Les returned Nagini to her seat and informed her that it was best to ask if something was a pygmy puff before attempting to eat it. In the ensuing chaos, Gellert came dangerously close to removing his pants again, and the adults of the group decided that everyone needed to be fed as soon as possible.
They thought everyone would stop getting into mischief if they had something to eat.
They were wrong.
-x-
Druella and Walburga were dismayed to learn that only Modesty, Nagini, and Credence understood, in their eyes, "proper table manners." The others, being toddlers, were happy to eat with their hands and smear their lunch all over their faces. At the very least, Alecto didn't make the mess that everyone expected, but she still saw fit to shovel her food into her mouth rather than simply insert it, which simply would not do.
"Alecto," Druella said. The younger woman glared up at her, which the elder pretended not to notice. "That is not the proper way to eat a meal, as you may remember. Surely you recall that you are to eat as though you are in proper company, not competing in a juvenile eating contest."
"Go away, you sniffy old lady!" was the response.
Druella pinched the bridge of her nose. "And that is not a proper response."
Alecto blinked. "Fine then. Please go away, Miss Druella."
There was most likely more Druella meant to say to her, but fortunately for Alecto, Newt spilled his milk and the "sniffy old lady" had to tend to that instead.
Once Albie and Gel realized they weren't getting a pantless lunch, they ate in relative peace, but they happened to finish before most of the others and had nothing to do. They'd ordered, they'd eaten, they'd been lectured by Walburga for eating with their hands, and what else was there to do?
They'd simply have to cause mischief in the way that only this particular band of children knew how.
-x-
It was easy to convince the younger children and Alecto, and as for the older ones, Gellert decided they wouldn't want to get involved anyway. Grinning, he picked up a half-eaten chicken nugget that had fallen to the floor, tossed it to Severus, and announced, "Food fight!"
The effects were instantaneous. The children who still had food left began to throw it at each other, at the walls, and at the grown-ups when they tried to intervene. Alecto managed to acquire her rice bag, and Chastity wound up with rice in her face when she tried to take it from her. All around them, children threw not just food but the accompanying plates, bowls, and utensils. At one point, Nagini attempted to intercept something flying her way before it hit Credence or Modesty, but she wasn't fast enough and the three of them were covered in sauce.
Severus giggled as he picked up the sauce-filled bowl from where it had landed. Les tried to grab her son before he made it to his destination, but she too was too slow. She could only watch in horror as the toddler poured it down the front of Druella's dress.
Les stammered an apology, but after the day's events, Druella and Walburga were unwilling to accept it. They stormed from the daycare, muttering something about this being what they got for trying to work with young children.
The grown-ups of the group surveyed the scene. There were eleven children that needed to be cleaned up and reprimanded in the half-hour before the parents began to arrive. Clearly, they would have to work quickly.
-x-
Even with the use of magic, it took a while to clean up everyone's hair, skin, and clothing. These problems weren't minimized by the fact that Newt refused to let his plush niffler go long enough for both of them to be washed, and Alecto thought the cleansing of her clothing was an excuse to take it off. By the time Barty managed to get Gellert back into his pants for the fourth time that day, they were left with seven minutes.
"I think you all know that what you did was most definitely wrong," Chastity told the children (with the exception of Credence's group, who Les ruled hadn't done anything wrong.)
"It was fun," offered Draco, to the general agreement of the other adopted children.
"It was almost as fun as a rice fight," commented Alecto, prompting Les to remember that she'd begun throwing her rice and hurriedly cleaned it up before Maisie got there.
Chastity blinked. "Perhaps so. But that doesn't make your behavior acceptable, and moving forward it would be best to remember that."
There were clearly more protests to be voiced, but they were silenced as Ella arrived and Draco attached himself to her leg.
"How was the presentation?" Ella asked as she tried, in vain, to convince Draco to get off so as not to impede her walk. "Did Draco behave himself?"
"There may have been...a bit of a food fight," Les admitted.
Ella's eyes found Alecto, but she was informed that Albie and Gel had been the ones to initiate it. After being assured that her son hadn't had much to do with it other than joining in later, she thanked Les, promised to be back, and left.
Harry was already telling Cam everything before Les even had time to say hello, leaving her free to move onto Tassie, who promised to speak with Albie about the disrobing and the food fight as she took her sons by the hand and started for the door. "That's all I ask," was Les' sendoff.
Maisie was next to arrive, and she was pounced upon by Alecto as soon as she got inside. Deciding it was easier to lie where Maisie was concerned, Les simply informed Maisie that her daughter had been an absolute angel. "Of course she was," Maisie said upon hearing this. "As always, aren't you, Alecto?"
Alecto nodded. "Mhm," she murmured as her mother took her by the hand and led her outside, promising her a fresh batch of shiny cookies when they got home.
Last to arrive was Dragon, who promptly asked how everything had gone.
"I'll admit Scabior tried to snatch a few things, and Nagini mistook something else for a pygmy puff, but it all went well until the food fight," Les told her. "Not to worry, though, only Scabior was involved. The others were kind of...caught in the crosshairs."
"It's okay," Credence said. "I'm used to being caught in the middle of things. Like a bowl of peas and the leaf machine."
In the time it took Les to suppress her urge to punch Mary Lou in the face, as was so often the case when either of those two items were mentioned, Modesty spoke up. "Also, Aunt Dragon, I thought you should know that no one began to nausea today."
"That is nice to hear, Modesty. Thank you," Dragon thanked Les for looking after her group before gathering them up and leaving as well.
Les took a look at those who remained. Sev and Gel were running around, but not at their usual pace, and their mother had reason to believe it would be naptime soon. Barty used his wand to clean up what had been thrown at the walls. Modesty was talking to Chastity about something...
Les sighed. She realized just how fortunate she was to have Chastity now. After all, it would take more than two pairs of hands to look after all those children.
i don't know.