Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and I based the fic off of IcyPanther's Parenting Class. (With her permission!) It's really good and I definitely suggest it!

This entire fan fiction is dedicated to my older sister. I hope that you like it, even though you don't like fan fiction. Happy Hanukah mi hermana!

Omigosh, thanks to all my reviewers! Your answers to my poll were really interesting, and I enjoyed learning what people prefer. Thanks again to: RandomSlytherin (once again, thanks for reviewing even though you usually don't), QHLuver (thanks so much for pointing out my mistake, gosh was I embarassed -grin- I worked extra hard to correct mistakes I found in this chapter!), iheartblackdogsirius, caramary, pretzel.in.an.egg (omg I love this name...), and vya for reviewing!!! Totally made my day and I loved the explanations you guys gave for your poll answers! And getting the reviews encouraged me to start this chapter sooner so I would think more about it!

My answer for the poll was kinda A/B/D. I used to review EVERYTHING I read, but now I honestly do not have time to. So, if I'm reading a multi-chapter story, I will review it, and I usually review the oneshots I read. But only if I really really liked them or have time.

POLL!!!! And I know someone is going to say AGAIN? but I have another POLL at the end of the chapter. SO PLEASE ANSWER THE POLL!

If anyone thinks this chapter is nuts, there's a reason. I wrote this chapter when I had just eaten 38 pieces of gelt (chocolate coins) and had been reading some of Opalish's stuff. I swear, her stuff makes me crack up, which isn't such a good thing if you don't want melted chocolate and spit going everywhere. Ewww…

However, now I have a bad cold and feel soooooooooooooo sick. Ick, my throat is killing me and I keep losing my voice. -tears- But I drink loads of tea, so I hope my cold will be gone soon!

Sorry for talking so much, enjoy the chapter!

Kids Say The Darndest Things

CHAPTER EIGHT: Sugar Quill, Anyone?

"Leah…."

No response.

"Leah…"

A quiet groan.

"Are you hung over or something? 'Cause I can go ask Uncle Sev to bring some potion for you…"

"Draco…It's bloody four o'clock in the morning! I've had four hours of sleep!"

Draco grinned and bounced lightly from his perch on the end of Leah's bed. "So? I'm not sleepy."

"Draco…we left the kitchens last night at nine. It took me two hours to get all the food and dye out of your hair, and then get you in bed, and then I had to spend my time scouring my hair to get all the stuff out of it. And then I had to finish an essay for Transfiguration and then get to bed…And you woke me up why? Wait! Is something wrong?" Leah sat up quickly, sleep effectively gone from her system.

Draco giggled. "Nope! Your hair is sticking up!"

She groaned again quietly, and then rubbed her face before replying, "I'll brush it. I promise."

"And comb mine! Actually, could you get the comb out first? And tell me a story!"

Leah cracked up. "P-please don't t-tell me you got it stuck again!" she choked out as the blond pouted up at her. Now fully awake and alert, she noticed the comb sticking out from the hair on the back of his head. "Fine, I'll help. Come over here, squirt."

Draco crawled over the covers to nestle into the warm space left by Leah's head on the pillow. Leah reached around his head and slowly began working the knots out as she whispered a fairy tale that her father would read out of a book before bed when she was a kid.

"Many years ago there was a grand emperor who was so fond of clothes that he spent all his money on them. Every hour of the day he changed his clothes.

"Whether he was inspecting his soldiers, going to the theater or taking a walk, the real reason he went was to show off his new clothes…"

About thirty minutes later, Draco sat captivated by the tale as Leah slowly unbraided her own hair, brushed it, and then braided it again. She smiled at his complete and total attention, and finished the tale with flourish, using different voices to show who was speaking. "'Indeed, there are no clothes at all!' everyone exclaimed at last.

"The emperor then felt extremely foolish for he realized that they were quite right. However, he held his head up high and continued until the end of the procession.

"The attendants continued respectfully carrying the train that did not exist, until at last they were once again safely inside the palace.

"And do you know? The emperor was never quite so vain about his clothes after that!

"And so, squirt, the moral of that story is not to be too superficial, because you never know just how humiliated you might get!"

Draco giggled. "I like that story! The emperor got new clothes every day! Daddy always says that everything should be bought in excess, but I don't think he'd approve of that!" Draco then clambered into Leah's lap, announced "I'm sleepy!" and promptly went back to sleep.

Leah stared down at the boy. Lifting him up slowly to tuck him under the covers, she muttered, "Silly kid…" and then climbed out of bed to go take a shower, for she forgot that it was only around 4:30 in the morning. Oh well, the early bird gets the worm, right? In her case, she got the hot water.

O.o o.O O.o o.O

"Leah, I honestly don't understand why you are so tired." Missy stated calmly as the two girls walked but feet behind Harry and Hermione, the four having left their charges under Seamus and Dean's watchful eyes. Pansy and Draco had been whining about wanting to have a play date, and once Dean had seen the bags under Leah's eyes, he immediately agreed so that the twins could have a break. And Harry and Hermione just coerced Seamus into agreeing so that they could take a break from the prankster named Ron.

"Ask Draco. Actually, I'll tell you. The little twerp woke me up at four because he wasn't sleepy and then demanded that I release his hair from the grip of an evil comb and tell him a story at the same time. And he had the audacity to laugh at me because my hair was sticking up." Leah hmphed loudly, glaring morosely at the floor as she stumbled along the hall.

"So Malfoy has taken a shine to you, huh?" Harry glanced back over his shoulder as he grinned widely.

"Yes. And it's your fault." Leah pouted, now glaring blearily at Harry as he stuck out his tongue at her.

Missy raised an eyebrow. "His fault? Why?"

Leah sighed, ignoring Hermione's questioning glance. "Ever since Harry compared Draco and I and said that we're like siblings and Draco asked me to be his older sister and I said yes, Draco has been acting like a little brother. Meaning that it is okay to wake me up at ungodly hours because that's what little brothers do." Leah paused. "Or maybe he does that because he respects Missy and won't do it to her. And Blaise sleeps like a rock. Guess I was his first choice for someone to annoy…"

Harry smirked. "So it's not my fault then?"

Shrugging, Leah said blandly, "Nope, guess it's mine. Sorry." Harry shrugged, showing that he honestly didn't care and patted Leah on the head in sympathy.

Hermione paused for a moment, and then asked, "Have you two started the journal for Snape's class?"

Leah and Missy froze mid-step. Looks of horror rose on their faces as they slowly comprehended what she had just asked. 'During this class, you will keep a small journal about the child in your care, recording their responses to their environment, to other child, to other students, as well as how you think the potion may have affected their 'childhood...' Leah and Missy shrieked, "OH MY GOD! We haven't written anything!"

Missy reached over to Leah's head, plucked a hair out, and transfigured it into a black notebook, ignoring Leah's yelp of pain as she quickly scribbled down a three page entry about their first week and about the kids. Hermione and Harry exchanged looks of resignation and waited as Missy wrote and Leah listed off things that Missy had to remember to write.

When Missy stood up and slipped the journal into her bag with a small grin in Leah's direction, Hermione sighed. "Now that we have that taken care of, I'd like tell you guys that a Hogsmeade weekend is coming up, though I don't know what weekend it is exactly. I suppose the Headmaster will let us bring the kids. Do you guys want to arrange anything?"

Missy nodded. "I think that's a good idea. What do you two recommend?"

Before Harry or Hermione could reply, Leah asked, "What's Hogsmeade?"

The other three students simultaneously slapped their foreheads.

8D 8D 8D 8D 8D 8D

"-And then Leah told me a story that was really funny about some king that walked around in his underpants or something and then I fell asleep again and then I woke up when Leah made me get dressed for breakfast and then I got to go eat really really good cream of wheat and then Dobby came to visit me after breakfast and then Leah and Missy brought me and Blaise to class with them and then I got to see Uncle Sev and then I got to go to Transfiguration class where the professor changed into a cat and then I got yelled at because I pulled the cat's tail and then I got candy from Leah to make me stop crying because the cat lady scared me and then I got to go to Pansy's where Seamus and Dean played with me and Blaise and Pansy and Ron and then Ron clogged the sink using paper towels and then the bathroom flooded and then Filch and his cat came to help Dean unclog the sink and the short Charms professor came in to help clear away the mess and then-"

Leah reached over to cover Draco's mouth. "Draco, tell Harry about your day later, okay? And breathe please. Can't have you passing out on us."

Draco smiled and then shoveled some food into his mouth while Harry snickered into his cup. 'Draco talks way too much' he thought as he resumed stuffing food into his mouth. 'Wonder if he'll do that when he gets big again.' Smirking, Harry shook his head. 'Probably not. Besides, knowing Malfoy, he'll probably talk about something that isn't so funny…Have to admit, hearing every detail of his day can be kinda weird…'

After swallowing another bite of food, Draco opened his mouth to say, "And then Filch's kitty stepped on me and Pansy got angry 'cause it left hair on her favorite shirt and then Seamus had to calm her down and then we started planning her wedding and then she decided that she wasn't going to have a wedding that she and Seamus should just elope when she's old enough and then Seamus told her that they'll talk about it when she's older and then Ron said that he was going to marry Daphne so that they could have food fights all the time and then Dean said that that's not what being married is about and then Pansy and I were talking and we decided that we want to go to Hogsmeade. Harry, do you know if we can go?"

Harry looked up at the change of subject, his fork halfway to his mouth. "Uhhh…I'm not sure Draco. Depends on what Dumbledore says."

Draco frowned petulantly and said, "Well, Pansy really wants some chocolate frogs and I have a hankering for some sugar quills. We want to go."

Slightly panicking at Draco's indignant and pouty tone and saying the first thing that came to mind, Harry answered quickly, "Ask Leah."

The horrified look on Leah's face was well worth the scolding he knew he'd get as Draco began bugging Leah, asking her incessantly when they would be going to Hogsmeade and when he could buy sugar quills.

: P : P : P : P

Four days later…

"Leah, when are we going to Hogsmeade?"

"Don't know Draco."

"…Leah, when are we going to Hogsmeade and when can I get my sugar quills?"

"…Don't know Draco."

"…Leah…when are we going to Hogsmeade so that I can get sugar quills?"

"I honestly don't know Draco."

"Leaaaaahhhhh! When! Are! We! Going! To! HOGSMEADE?" Draco grabbed onto the end of Leah's ponytail and tugged hard as he demanded an answer.

"GAH! Harry, get your butt over here now and tell him that I don't know!" Leah wailed as Draco asked for the fifteen hundredth and thirtieth time when they could go to Hogsmeade and when he could get sugar quills, as the stash that Dean had surrendered to him were gone in minutes.

"Uh…Draco? We really don't know when we can go to Hogsmeade…Students can't just go when they please."

Draco grinned up at Harry, who was staring at him over his four foot long Potions essay with bleary, tired eyes. Draco had been sitting at the table in their dorm with Hermione, Harry, Missy and Leah for the past forty minutes as they struggled to finish their homework. "Okay." With that, the little blond boy scooted off the chair and skipped over to the corner where Ron and Blaise were playing quietly.

Leah stared after him. "Thank Merlin…"

"Actually, I think you mean 'Thank Harry,'" Hermione muttered as she started scribbling down the last paragraph of her essay. "He is the one who made Draco stop."

"…I have such loving friends." Leah muttered back as sarcastically as she could. "It only took four days for someone to get the runt to stop…Perhaps he'll start saying something other than that to me. He's been giving me the silent treatment except for when he's shouting that he doesn't want a bath or that he wants to go to Hogsmeade."

Harry smiled. "Why are you complaining? It built character!" He laughed as Leah pulled at her hair and went to smack him before Missy held her back. "Kidding! Kidding!"

Sniffing delicately, Leah muttered aloud, "I do wonder when we can go, though."

Hermione looked up from her essay again. "Perhaps we can go soon. I don't think Draco, or you for that matter, can last much longer."

"Well, I know the first place I'm going to when we get there." Missy announced as she rolled up her finished essay.

Hermione looked over at her, disgruntled that the shy girl had finished her essay already. As Missy pulled out the black journal to write her seventh entry in the past four days, Hermione asked, "Where?"

Missy grinned slightly evilly. Looking over at Leah, who grinned back as she rolled up her completed essay, the two said together, "Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes."

With that, Harry and Hermione knew that Hogwarts was doomed.

T.T T.T T.T T.T

The next day…

Harry stared down at his plate drowsily as he played with the food he had haphazardly scooped out to eat. Ron had not been feeling well the night before, and had woken Harry up so that he would sit with him in the bathroom. Hermione had taken one shift, but Ron was scared that Hermione would think it was really gross if he puked all over her. So, Harry had stayed up most of the night comforting the small redhead, who had started crying when Harry fell asleep.

Leah plopped down next to Harry cheerfully, with an armful of a very talkative Draco now sitting in her lap. Draco had decided that treating Leah to the silent treatment for four days except for asking when they would go to Hogsmeade had not been effective, so he now was pouring out anything and everything that came to mind like he usually did.

"Why so glum, chum?" Leah asked as she grabbed a cup to pour some juice out for Draco, and then spooned some food onto a plate.

Harry glared gloomily at her as he fingered his cup of hot, caffeine-filled tea. "Ron kept me up all night 'cause he didn't feel so good."

Leah nodded in understanding. "Blaise woke Missy up at three because he didn't feel good either. I think there might be a small bug going around."

Draco nodded too. "I didn't feel good a few days ago, so I woke Leah up."

Leah looked quizzically down at the blond boy. "No you didn't. You never woke me up because you weren't feeling good."

Draco shook his head, and Leah and Harry shrugged, not understanding what the boy was talking about. "I woke you up early and made you tell me a story. That's what Dobby always does when I'm sick. You told me the story about the king and his clothes."

Leah's eyes widened in understanding. "Draco! You never said you didn't feel well. You just said you had a comb stuck in your hair! And that you weren't sleepy!"

Draco shrugged. "I never say when I'm sick. I don't like to think about it, and stories distract me. So I have people tell me stories."

Harry shook his head in amusement as Leah began pampering Draco, convinced that she should take extra good care of him because he had been sick.

Hermione said, "Perhaps we should take all the kids to Madame Pomfrey. She can check them over and give us all some Pepper-Up Potion."

The caretakers nodded, in complete agreement. None of them wanted to get sick, or be stuck with a sick child.

Owls began pouring into the Great Hall, and many of the students looked up as to see if they had any mail. Draco jumped off Leah's lap to sit with Pansy as Hermione paid the owl that carried her newspaper and began reading, voluntarily passing the funnies section to Ron, who had never seen them before that week. The Daily Prophet had finally given in to publishing a small page of funnies, and had their muggleborn reporters pick out the best comics to print. Ron was fascinated with them, and laughed hysterically even if he didn't understand the joke.

Harry watched as a tawny owl with a white face landed gracefully between Missy and Leah, carrying a letter in its small claws. Missy glanced at the letter, removed it from the owl, and slit open the wax to read the missive. When she was finished, she passed it to Leah, who glanced at the small seal on the wax from the envelope and then read the letter. Harry couldn't tell what either girl was thinking as they read the letter, for both had good poker faces on.

Harry picked up the envelope to examine the wax seal. He made out a curled up wolf with a phoenix rising behind it just as he heard Leah giggle quietly. Looking at her face, he saw a small glimpse of relief flow across it as she told the caretakers near them, "I must say, we have some good news to share" as she grinned.

AN: Okies, that's chappie numero ocho. Like?

Whoot! Going well. I like. Kind of a cliffhanger, which I love to do though I suck at making them.

The story that Leah tells Draco comes from A Treasury of Fairy Tales, the tale called "The Emperor's New Clothes" by Hans Christian Anderson. I made up the moral. The book comes from my childhood when my dad would read to us. It seemed like an appropriate story to tell.

More unabashed polling!!!! Hemhem...When you review, you prefer the author to...

A) Answer the review personally

B) Answer your review in the next chapter

C) Just say thanks for reviewing in the author's note

D) Don't particularly care if they answer/ Hate it when they reply 'cause who cares what they have to say (please specify in your answer...sorry)

E) Find that you are very disgruntled if the person does NOT answer, as you have taken the time out of your busy schedule to review their story

Once again, this poll is for all readers! And if anyone is wondering, I'm totally type A/E. I take time to read and comment on a story, the writer should totally write back! So, even if someone tells me they are type D, I'll respond anyways because I like to return the courtesy.

REVIEW FOR ME! I love you all, even those who don't but I'd really appreciate feedback!

Thanks to TamX2 for beta-ing and letting me use her as a base for Missy's character…

MWAHs to y'all!