Disclaimer: Harry Potter by JKR. Riel and Sharyl are mine.

Method to My Madness

Chapter 3: In Plain Sight

"Pappy! Flowers!"

A five-year-old Harry Potter ran through the house into the living room, scattering flower petals around in excitement. The room was a cozy place. There was a small fire in the fireplace, and the walls were lined with naturally carved out shelves that were filled with books. At first, think that it was a very quiet and tidy place, but the flower petals haphazardly thrown around the room erased that image.

As Harry continued to jump around, a wizened old fairy walked in from a nearby hall way. With a quick glance at the state of the living room, the fairy sighed as he beckoned the girl over.

"Harry, come here."

Harry hopped down from the couch where she was currently jumping on. The child approached the fairy with a wide smile and held out a bouquet of flowers.

"Pappy! Flowers!" The child repeated as she pushed the flowers toward the old fairy.

The fairy looked down with a brief moment of sadness at the plucked flowers in Harry's hand before giving the girl a smile and thanking her. Then, looking out at the window, the fairy bellowed.

"Children!"

Two small lights streaked wildly inside the room and flashed, revealing two fairy children tangled together on the floor. Dirt streaked in their white hair and on their face. Their clothes were muddy and tattered, but the sheepish grin on their face and the mischievous glint in their golden eyes told a different story from their outward appearance. Before the old fairy could reprimand them, one quickly stood up and pointed at Harry.

"Grandpa! It was Harriet's fault! She wanted to pull the flowers. Sharyl and I tried to stop her but the witch pushed us into the mud, and you know how hard it is to clean mud off out wings, so when we tried to tackled her, Harry ran so we chased but then we slipped on a moss stone and stumbled into brambles, and you know how they snag, so then –"

"Enough, Gabriel." The old fairy cut in. "You were supposed to watch over Harry, but instead you and your brother got in even more trouble." He sighed.

The boy looked down, "Well we tried, but Harriet kept crying and Sharyl and I wanted to cheer her up so we took her to see the garden."

"Well intentions sometimes do not lead to positive results. You and your brother will regrow the garden." The fairy decided.

"But Grandpa, Harriet is the one that destroyed it." The child known as Gabriel complained. Harry giggled and Gabriel shot her a dark look. As they began shuffling outside, the other child, Sharyl, placed a hand on Gabriel's shoulder, drawing his attention away from Harry.

'"Riel, remember it's 'Harry' not 'Harriet' and 'he' not 'she', we can't let any outsiders know." His brother spoke softly. Gabriel tusked and nodded sulkily. The old fairy nodded approvingly at both children. After a few seconds in contemplation, he gave them a smile and pushed Harry towards them.

"Sharyl, Gabriel, how about this. Since Harry does share part of the blame, she will help you guys replant the garden but you both will have to teach her how to do it since she has never done it before. I will give you another chance to look after her."

"Yes Grandpa!" The two boys chorused before dragging Harry behind them. Gabriel grinned madly, but Sharyl just gave a smile. The old fairy's gaze followed the trio until they disappeared behind the house. Once he was certain the children were working, he turned back and quietly walked back into the hallway.

Meanwhile, Gabriel was thinking of different ways to make Harry suffer for all the things she had put him through. Certainly, a prank was in order, after all it was Harry's mess that they had to clean up. As the trio walked towards the garden, Gabriel noticed that Harry was running beside them wildly while Sharyl was mainly deeply engrossed in his own thoughts. Smiling mischievously, Gabriel elevated the ground before Harry slightly so that there was a small but sturdy rock in front of her.

Harry, not looking at where she was going in front of her, ran straight towards the rock, tripping on it in the process. Inwardly, Gabriel snickered at the way Harry fell face first towards the ground but he kept a mostly composed outward expression. Harry on the other hand, had scrapped her hands and knees when she fell. Once her position and the pain registered to her, Harry began wailing at the top of her lungs. Sharyl quickly ran over to Harry and threw a disapproving glance at Gabriel once he felt the residue fairy magic. Gabriel only shrugged nonchalantly in response.

"Riel, what if Grandpa hears her and we get into trouble again?" he hissed.

"Well, he deserved it." Gabriel replied stubbornly.

"Not if it hurts him." Sharyl retorted, "Apologize to Harry."

"Fine." Gabriel pouted and trudged over to Harry.

Harry was still crying, though softer and Gabriel stared at her face. When he thought about the prank, it seemed harmless enough, and certainly funny. However, it didn't exactly make him feel comfortable to see Harry sitting on the ground crying. Gabriel leaned over and planted a quick kiss on Harry's brow.

"I'm sorry Harry, I went too far." Turning to Sharyl, he asked, "You take care of the knees and I'll take care of the hands?"

Sharyl nodded, and the two proceeded to heal Harry's hands and knees respectively.

"Pretty flowers!" Harry exclaimed when the twin's golden magic surrounded her wounds. The twin's magic had a golden hue with soft tendrils at the end. Since both boys were keeping it in a ball shaped form in order to conveniently heal Harry, their magic resembled the daffodils that often grew on the outskirts of the village.

Harry giggled as the warmth of the healing magic tickled at her skin.

"Riel, Teach! Teach! Teach!" Harry began chanting animatedly as she reached her hands out towards Gabriel. Gabriel scrunched up his face into a frown, though the mischievous glint in his eyes revealed otherwise.

"No."

"But Riel, I want teach! Teach now!" The child pouted.

"No."

"Bad Riel." Harry sulked crossly. "Ignore bad Riel if Riel no teach." She crossed her arms and turned her head away from Riel. Gabriel dramatically pretended to be wounded.

"Oh! What shall I do? Harry won't talk to me." Gabriel fake-cried into his hands. "Well, I suppose I can only obey your wishes Harry." Gabriel dropped to his knees in front of a wide-eyed Harry.

"Your wish is my command, princess" He made an extravagant pose of bowing, one hand reaching out to Harry while another at his chest.

"Gabriel…" Sharyl warned.

"Tssk, Sharyl no one is here with us right now. And if the world doesn't treat her like the girl she deserves to be treated as, we can at least treat her like one." He retorted.

Sharyl responded with a long drawn out sigh, but remained silent looking at them with slight exasperation in his eyes. Seeing that his twin wasn't preparing to go on a long lecture about Harry's safety, Gabriel returned his attention to Harry. It wasn't that Harry's safety mattered less to him, in fact, he also worried about Harry's safety. But Harry was a child, and Harry should be able to play and be free before worrying about the reality of the magic and muggle world.

Harry grinned at the outstretched hand before bypassing the hand all together and launching herself at Gabriel. Surprised by the sudden attack, Gabriel toppled and fell from his kneeling position. Groaning, he blinked several times before his eyes focused on the exuberant child on top of him.

"Riel teach!" The child chirped. Gabriel groaned and Sharyl threw a smug smirk his way.

"Well, it seems that the princess has made her wish." He teased.

"Shut up." Gabriel huffed as he adjusted Harry and himself into a sitting position. Looking over the human child, Gabriel noticed small cuts in Harry's hand when she tackled him into the ground. Glancing over at the older twin, Gabriel sent him a contemplative glance.

"Sharyl, do you think we can teach Harry how to use healing magic?"

Sharyl shrugged. It was a known fact that fairies could use magic from birth. As magical creatures, the use of magic is instinctual to them. Harry however, was a human wizard and humans had their own healing magic. Grandpa never taught any human magic to them, and they followed the teachings of the fairies. In fact, throughout history, there hasn't been any attempt at teaching human fairy magic before. Putting aside the question of whether they could do it or not, fairy magic may even be harmful to Harry. After all, there was a reason that cross-species magic didn't mix right? Or perhaps magic was the same everywhere, and only the process of using magic was different? But then if they taught Harry fairy magic, would she still be able to use magic the human way? Sharyl groaned at all the implications. Grandpa didn't teach them any magical theory at all, they weren't at that level yet. However, he never indicated that it may be dangerous, but still …

"Sharyl?"

The voice broke him out of his thought and Sharyl was met with two pairs of expectant eyes. He blinked. Well, if anything goes wrong, Grandpa could fix it. Giving out another sigh at the other two's antics. Sharyl nodded resignedly.

"Fine. But I'm the one teaching her Gabriel, you can help out. Who knows what trouble you will cook up if you taught her." Gabriel pouted but gave a nod. Looking down at Harry who was still sitting beside Gabriel in the ground, Sharyl hoisted the girl up and checked her over for any other injuries. Satisfied with his inspection, Sharyl crouched down and examined Harry's hands.

"Harry, does this hurt?" he indicated to the cuts on her palms.

Harry nodded.

"Do you want to learn magic?" he asked.

Harry nodded again.

"Alright. I'm going to show you on the right hand, and you will try to copy me on your other hand okay?" Sharyl asked.

Harry smiled and nodded again. " Okay Sharyl." She agreed.

Sharyl carefully held her hand and gathered magic in the palm of his hands. His hands glowed and the same ball of light appeared and began healing Harry's hand. The girl giggled and attempted to mimic the fairy. Harry stared at her other hand, the one that still had cuts on it, and tried to make the glowing flower ball appear. When nothing happened, Harry stared harder, willing the magic to appear. Gabriel laughed at Harry's poor attempt to do magic, and Harry felt small prickles of tears gathering in her eyes at the continued lack of success. Noticing Harry's downcast face, Sharyl quickly jabbed an elbow in Gabriel's direction, abruptly and efficiently stopping him from making any more noise. Gabriel was about to confront his brother on his actions when he noticed the look on Harry's face and quickly sobered.

"Sorry princess, that's not how you do it." Gabriel apologized softly. "I didn't mean to laugh at you, but your face while concentrating was too funny."

"Try to think of something happy Harry." Sharyl suggested.

Harry blinked back the tears. "I can't do it Sharyl, don't know how to make flowers." The girl said sadly.

"Pain, pain fly away." Gabriel whispered as he blew at Harry's hand. "Did you know Harry, happiness takes the pain away. If you believe in yourself, you can do anything. Too many people limit themselves and their own potential with self-imposed limits. Don't ever limit yourself to the possible. Aim for the impossible"

Harry blinked. Despite of Gabriel and Sharyl being her playmates for most of her life, at times they would speak in sentences with big words, and other times they seemed like different people. But the general meaning and support from Gabriel's words came through and Harry refocused on her hand.

"Pain, pain fly away" She muttered softly. Nothing happened, but Harry wasn't about to give up. The five-year-old closed her eyes and thought about all the happy times in her like. The time when Gabriel and Sharyl made her a crown of flowers, the time they accidentally set Grandpa's beard on fire and they ran around the house with a howling grandpa after them, and in the deeper recess of her mind, Harry thought about the green eyed red hair lady who often sang to her in her dreams.

"Pain, pain fly away." Harry chanted and a small ball with silver tendrils formed on her hand. The girl gasped as she examined the magic healing her cuts in awe. Turning to the two fairies, the girl hugged both of them.

"Thank you Riel! Sharyl!" Harry exclaimed. Sharyl chucked as he petted Harry on her head.

"No problem princess." Gabriel laughed as he pinched Harry's cheek.

Harry swatted his hand away, and Gabriel laughed again, this time running his hand through her hair and messing it up before running. Harry growled before giving chase. Sharyl sighed before smiling softly and following them. As he walked, he noticed the two trampling over more garden flowers.

"Gabriel! Harry! Stop destroying more of the garden! We are supposed to fix it!" he yelled, now also giving chase to the two as the other comprehended his words and began running from Sharyl.

And another normal day passed.

A/N: Hey guys I'm back. I was feeling down throughout Christmas, but I had sufficient inspiration to update this chapter. Good news is that I have finished planning most of the plotline for this story, which is great. I have to say, time travel won't be happening for a while. I want Harry to know the evil Voldemort before going back, it will only make things so much better ^^. For anyone who is curious about Gabriel and Sharyl's age, just know that they are older than Harry, but are still considered children by fairy standards. Again, hope you enjoyed this. R&R.