Babysitting my three year old boyfriend: part 3
The last day of the De Aging potion. Will they make it through another day of shenanigans? Stick around and find out!
Wednesday morning found Hermione, again, waking up to find little Scabior sitting on her chest, patiently waiting for her to open her eyes. He climbed under the covers again and snuggled up to her before falling back asleep. She looked at her alarm, once again he had timed it perfectly. She had two hours to snuggle with him before she had to get up for work. She smiled, held him tightly and drifted back to sleep.
Two hours later, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Parvati, Ron, Annemarie and Andromeda were sitting at the table. Teddy Lupin wasn't awake yet, neither was Grace and Ron had woken Parvati up, much in the same manner as Scabior had Hermione. Parvati was already dressed for work. They were all waiting to see how long it took Hermione to wake up and get ready. Some days she was right on time, other days she barely made it down in time to run out the door.
They heard the water turn on upstairs. Parvati looked at the clock. "Looks like today will be an on time day." Unaware of what was really going on upstairs, they continued eating breakfast. Harry set out a plate of pancakes for Scabior and packed a sandwich for Hermione's lunch. If he didn't send food with her, he suspected she didn't even bother to eat at work.
Meanwhile, in Hermione's room, Scabior had woken up first. Going to the end of the bed, he climbed down the same trunk he'd climbed up to reach the bed. Waiting for her to wake up again, he wandered around the room. He pulled all the drawers out and scattered her underwear and clothes out on the floor. Finding the same pair of knickers again, he smiled and stuck them back on his head. He saw her makeup on the low dressing table. He started opening bottles and sniffing everything. Pretty soon, he discovered that he could actually draw with the lipsticks and foundation. The mascara got smeared all across the mirror. The powders were used as finishing touches on the artwork he put all along her walls.
Picking up a bra, he looked it all over, wondering what she used it for. He slung it around and noticed it looped. Going to the wardrobe, he looped one end over the door knob. He could just reach it, standing on his tip toes. Losing his balance, he hung onto the bra as it swung him around. Chuckling, he amused himself quite a few minutes, looping different ones over the knob and swinging on them. Suddenly, his eyes lit on the curtains, more specifically the curtain rods. He pushed her stool over to the wall, threw one end of a bra straight up and caught the rod on the first try. Hanging on the other end, he grinned as he was really swinging now. He dropped to the floor and kept exploring.
After using her makeup to decorate the wall and amusing himself with her bras, he went to the bathroom. He opened up the cabinets and discovered the boxes underneath. He pulled one open and saw some weird toys. He couldn't figure out if they were supposed to be boats or what. He pulled a few apart, to see what the inside of them looked like. He pulled another box out and opened what looked to him like bandages. They weren't rough and scruffy, though. They were soft and squishy. He peeled a strip of paper off the back and shrugged. Then he realized the middle of the bandage was sticky. He stuck it to the wall. It stayed. His eyes lit up as he started ripping all the bandages open and sticking them all around the bathroom wall. He picked up one of the little boat looking things to throw it away and dropped it into the toilet where, he quickly discovered, it floated. He ripped all of them open and tossed them into the sink, where he turned on the water.
Tossing the boat from the toilet into the sink, he climbed up and opened all her shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotions bottles. He turned them over and emptied them into the toilet. He used her toothpaste as homemade paint and painted her a pretty picture on the vanity mirror. He heard a purring sound. Looking down, he saw Crookshanks. He climbed down to pet the cat and remembered something that his Myla said. "You tink, Cwooks. You need a baff." Before poor Crookshanks knew what was happening, Scabior had lifted the big cat and dropped him into the toilet bowl! Crookshanks yowled for help.
Downstairs, they quickly realized that Hermione was taking longer than she needed to. But the water was running. That's when they remembered that she wasn't the only one up there. Scabior might be distracting her again. But it shouldn't be this long of a distraction, surely?
They all rushed upstairs, Ginny grabbed the camera impulsively. As they cracked the door to her room, they could hear a voice, not voices, A voice from the bathroom and it definitely wasn't Hermione. As the door swung open, Harry clapped his hand over his mouth. When the others crept in, they saw why.
Every one of her drawers were emptied out. Some of her bras had evidently been used as climbing gear because they were over the ends of the curtain rods and door knobs on the wardrobe. Her makeup had been used to draw all over the walls and her perfume bottles were all empty. Ginny was photographing it all. They went to the bathroom door and Harry couldn't hold back any longer. He burst out laughing and ran out of the room. The bathroom was plastered with pads, all round the bottom of the wall and tampons clogged in the overflowing sink. There were more drawings on the mirror, with toothpaste this time. And there, in the middle of everything, was little Scabior. He was wearing a pair of her frilly pink knickers on his head as he washed Crookshanks in the toilet bowl, singing to himself, "Wishy wash the kitta cat, wishy wash the kitta cat!" Poor Crookshanks was loudly complaining to the world but unable to pull away from the child. Ron started laughing loudly as he hopped over and started helping him 'wash' the cat. Parvati went to the bed to wake up Hermione.
"Hermione, sweetie, you might want to see this." Hermione opened her eyes. "What? Parvati? What's going on?" just then she heard Crookshanks caterwauling from the bathroom. "CROOKS! What's wrong with Crooks?!" she jumped up and dashed to the bathroom.
As she showed up in the door, Scabior turned around. "Tuwpwise, Myla! Kitta cat clean now, don't tink no mowe!" Hermione sank weakly to her heels and she helplessly burst out laughing. Her pads and tampons were destroyed, as was all her bathroom toiletries. She turned her head enough to see the 'artwork' on her wall. No doubt, that had taken all her makeup. Her adorable little boyfriend was wearing her underwear on his head! And he'd given her grouchy ass cat a bath! She held her arms out and Scabior quickly ran to her. "Oh, sweetheart, thank you. You've cheered me up more than you even know, thank you!"
She got up, picking him up in the process, and went to find some work clothes. Knowing this was the last day he'd be little, she was sorely tempted to lay out of work and spend the day with him. Tonight Greyback would be here to take him until after the full moon. Meeting Parvati's eyes, she realized the other girl also wanted to stay with Ron, but was already dressed for work. She set Scabior down and told him there was pancakes downstairs if he was hungry. Scabior dashed towards the door but stopped and hugged his mother on the way. She led him out of the room and took him downstairs.
Glancing around her room, she and Parvati burst out laughing and used their wands to clean most of the mess up. She would need to sponge the walls to get them clean. She thought she might have some emergency toiletries in her beaded bag so she just threw her hair into a simple twist and she was ready.
Once downstairs, she realized she was once again running late. She grabbed her lunch and started towards the door. Scabior jumped out of his chair and brought her another pancake to eat. She hugged him, kissed his cheeks and told him she'd be back later to play with him. Ron offered Parvati one of his pancakes again. Parvati hugged him and told him to 'be a good boy and don't be fighting with Scabior anymore.'
Harry led the way as they departed for work. Ron was almost done with his breakfast, Scabior was halfway through his stack. Teddy and Grace had just started their stacks. Molly came through the Floo and joined them. As they watched the children eat, she suggested they bring the children to the Burrow for the day. Apparently, there was a sizable Muggle playground down the road and the children might enjoy it.
With their plans made, the grownups set about gathering everything they would need for transporting a five year old, three toddlers and an infant. They didn't bother packing any lunch, knowing Molly would insist that they have lunch at the Burrow. They did pack snacks to tide them over before lunch and until they came back to Grimmauld Place for supper.
Annemarie had to calm down a clearly unhappy Scabior after he was told his holster belt had been put away for safekeeping. "Mum, want my belt, want it, mum!" he sobbed. It broke her heart to tell him no. He ran out of the room and hid from her. They all pitched in to hunt for the child and they finally found him under Hermione's bed, his sad little face still tearstained. He was finally coaxed out after they told him they'd see if Harry would allow him to have his belt back. But he would have to be the best behaved little boy in the world, no tantrums, no back talk and mostly importantly, no fighting with Ron and maybe, just maybe Harry would see fit to let him have his belt back.
They headed to the Burrow and Ginny visited with her father and George for a few moments bore they went to the playground. Ron pulled Scabior upstairs and showed off his room. They played with Ron's toys until Ginny and Annemarie came up to lead them to the playground. As they walked down the long driveway, Scabior was delighted to see the garden gnomes. Ron told him, if they had time, he would teach him how to throw them out of the garden. Scabior skipped excitedly and told his mum that he was going to learn how to 'de gnome' a garden. She listened intently as he and Ron discussed the best way to throw a gnome. Ron told him they might be able to capture them by the arms but gnomes were fast. Personally, he liked latching onto their ears and dragging them to the fence, where he would them throw them over. Scabior was very much looking forward to 'fighting the gnomes.'
They reached the playground. The first piece of equipment Ron and Scabior ran for was the slide. Scabior had never been on one. Ron told him to stay right behind him, going up the ladder. At the top, he stood to one side and had Scabior sit down. Then he sat down behind him, wrapped his arms around the younger child and pushed off. Scabior was simultaneously terrified and thrilled going down the slide. Fortunately, Ginny had guessed where Ron would go first and led Annemarie to the bottom. They waited and caught the boys as they reached the end of the slide. Then Ron led him to the merry go round. They rode it often enough that they were dizzy headed by the time they returned to the Burrow for lunch. After lunch, they went back to Grimmauld Place. The children had run themselves ragged at the playground so they went down for naps.
Upon waking up, Ginny had a brilliant stroke of genius. Hermione had recently brought in a telly and figured out how to make it work. She had also charmed a VCR to work. Then she, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Parvati would sit in the drawing room sometimes, watching muggle movies. She had some children's movies in there, as well, for Teddy to watch. It was one of these that Ginny put in the player as she settled the children in there until supper.
When Hermione came through the Floo, the children came running. "Ah, babies!" she squealed happily. "Babies, everywhere!" They laughed as Ron whispered to them. Gunny, Andromeda and Annemarie watched curiously, they formed a circle around Hermione and Parvati. Ron started it off. "Roasty, toast the princess, roasty toast the princess!" he yelped and ran off. Next it was Scabior, Teddy and Grace's turn. "Woasty, toast the pwincess, woasty toast the pwincess!" they also yelped and ran off.
Hermione burst out laughing. "You let them watch the second Lion King movie, didn't you?" she knew exactly what they had watched and exactly which scene they had just acted out. Ginny and the others were laughing as well, glad Hermione wasn't upset.
They told her today had actually been a relatively quiet day for the children. The only mischief today had been Ron and Scabior plotting the best way to de gnome the garden at the Burrow. They told her and Harry, laughingly, that Scabior, for one, had been bribed to be on his best behavior with the promise that Harry might release his holster belt in return. Harry raised an eyebrow at that news.
Sure enough, a little while later, Harry felt a tug at his pants. It was Scabior, "Hawwy, can I have my belt back? I been a good boy. Mum and Ginny say to ask you. Can I, Hawwy, can I have it back now? I pwomise, I won't thwow my knife at Won anymowe, I pwomise, Hawwy!"
Harry bit his lip to keep from laughing. "You promise, you'll keep being a good boy? No fighting with Ron or the others? No back talk, no tantrums?" the little boy nodded earnestly, staring at him hopefully. "Ok, I'll go get it." Scabior smiled and ran to hug Hermione's leg. "Myla, Hawwy say I can have my belt back now! I gots to be a good boy, though!"
Hermione hugged him back. "Yay, good for you!" she smiled into his hair. She lifted him onto the table in the drawing room and they waited for Harry. He came back, holding the little holster belt. They had already intended to put the belt back on him. She and Parvati had their counter potions brewed. As soon as he and Ron drunk them, they'd be laying down as children and waking back up as their older selves.
She and Parvati put Ron and Scabior on each of the couches and explained that they needed them to test a new drink for them. It wouldn't taste bad, they just needed them to say how they felt about it. The little boys downed the drink. They had lined it with pumpkin juice so they wouldn't suspect anything. They gave it a seal of approval, then started yawning. They fell asleep at the same time.
Hermione had to admit, she was going to miss baby Scabior but she was definitely ready to have big Scabior on the way back. She and Parvati stood back and watched as their boyfriends went from a five and three year old back to their grown up selves. They left them on the couches to sleep it off.
In the kitchen, Ginny, Harry, Andromeda and Annemarie were waiting for them. "Well, are they awake yet?" Harry asked. He had already asked them if they should tell Scabior why he now had short hair. Whether to let him think he'd chopped it off on his own or whether to let him know Ron had goaded him into it. For that matter, they were wondering if he and Ron would remember anything they had done as kids and, if they did, would Ron himself confess to causing him to cut his hair off.
They heard a groan from the doorway, looking up to see Ron stumble into the kitchen. He wandered over and sat down next to Parvati, kissing her absently. "Well, how did it go?" he asked curiously.
"Do you remember anything from the past couple of days, Ron?" they asked.
"Ugh, let's see. Oh, no!" he moaned. "Hermione, we wrecked your bathroom downstairs! I think we might have stolen cookies? And," he sat up alertly. "Bloody hell, he threw a knife and book at me, Hermione! It was my fault, though, I was teasing him about his hair."
They were laughing as he spoke. This led Ron to realize something more had happened. "Bloody hell, what did he do?!"
"He chopped it off, all but his braid." Hermione spoke. "I barely managed to catch him before he chopped it off, too."
Ron goggled as he stared, open mouthed. "So, he's not going to be the long haired Snatcher anymore. Now he's short haired, but for his braid?"
They nodded. He groaned loudly. "Oh, Merlin, he'll kill me!" they laughed again.
Hermione went to check on Scabior. He was still asleep. She got a book, ironically, the same book he'd slung at Ron the previous day. She settled down at his feet and opened her book. She'd only been reading for ten minutes when he began stirring around. She leaned over him as he opened his eyes. He grabbed her by the hair, pulled her down and kissed her. She hummed contently. He sat up slowly.
"Do you remember anything from the past couple of days?" she asked. He wrinkled his brow as he thought, then slowly shook his head. She hadn't thought he would, seeing as he'd been only three. "You were quite the mischievous little devil, you, Ron and Teddy."
"Warned you, didn't I?" he chuckled. Hermione had to smile. He had, indeed, warned them.
"Before you go into the kitchen, I need to let you know something." She out her arms around him. "I used fresh lavender in my potion as opposed to Parvati using dried lavender in her potion. So, um, Ron actually was five but you went younger. Your mum thinks you were about three and let me just say, you were the most adorable little boy!"
He smiled winningly at her. As they spoke, he'd shifted her around to sit on his lap. "Anything else? I'm sure I got in trouble, at least a couple of times." He knew himself too well. She giggled. "Well, don't expect Crookshanks to be too friendly for a few days, you sort of gave him a bath this morning!"
Scabior covered his eyes and grinned sheepishly. Hermione stood up and pulled him up. "Also, you might want to go look in the bathroom mirror. It doesn't look bad, we got it trimmed evenly but still it might shock you for a while." His grin faded. "What?"
As he processed what she'd just said, he reached up to run his fingers through his hair, as usual. She watched him fearfully. She knew the exact second he realized it. He ran his fingers back, then froze, his eyes shot wide. He ran into the bathroom.
In the kitchen, they were waiting for the explosion. They heard them quietly talking, then he ran to the bathroom. A split second later, there was an outraged howl of horrified anger from the bathroom. "AAAAAAHHHH! Bloody hell! What the hell happened here?!"
They couldn't help it. They all burst into laughter. He sounded so horrified at having short hair. Annemarie had hoped he wouldn't take the loss of his hair too bad.
"I'm a freak, a bald headed freak! They're all gonna make fun of me! I won't have any fur!" he screamed in frustration. At that moment, Fenrir and Mary came through the Floo. Harry waved them over to the table and explained the situation.
Hermione had followed him to the bathroom. "Scabior? It doesn't look bad at all, I promise." He was staring, horrified at his own reflection. There was a knock at the door. Them it opened, revealing Fen. Scabior whipped around. "FEN! Look at me! I'm a bald headed freak! I won't have any fur tomorrow night! They're all gonna make fun of me!" he sounded perilously close to crying. Fen smiled and pulled him close. "No, they won't, pup. It's not that short, don't worry, you'll still have fur."
"You promise?" Scabior asked, uncertainty.
"I promise." Fen said firmly. "Come on, Mary's in the kitchen visiting Alex and Grace before we go. She'll enjoy see you with short hair. It'll remind her of when you were younger."
Scabior obediently followed Fenrir back to the kitchen, looping his arm around Hermione's waist and pulling her with him. He kissed her on the temple right before they went through the door. Mary looked up and smiled. "Scabior, you look like the sweet little child Fenrir first brought me." She got up, walked around the table and gave her foster son a tight hug. She pulled him down to her and kissed him on the forehead. "I see you kept this one, though." She teased, flipping at his red braid. He smiled at her.
They visited a few moments longer, then Scabior went for his bag. Hermione followed him upstairs. They held each other tightly. "Don't worry, beautiful. I'll be back before you know it."
"Friday evening, right? We don't have to go to the Riot, we'll stay in, watch movies and relax." Hermione suggested. "Friday evening, I'll be here, darling."
They went back down. With a last hug and kiss, Scabior released Hermione and followed Fenrir and Mary through the Floo.
Ok, peeps. De Aging potion experiment is finished! Grown up Scabior is back!
