~Daisy Chains~

~Just Another Day in the Life of Ron Weasley~

By morning the entire school knew about Harry Potter's unfortunate transformation.

As Ron walked down the staircase leading to the Great Hall, yawning, Harry in tow, a great number of girls gathered around him. They wanted to stare and play with Harry and ask Ron questions about how he got the way he was ("Is it true--that thing about the potion, I mean?" "Yeah, didn't you brew it, Weasley?"). Ron flushed bright red and tried to detach the two of them, but Harry seemed to be enjoying the attention, and as long as none of the girls pinched his cheeks, he refused to be led away.

They (at last) did reach the Gryffindor table, where they were bombarded with questions by nearly everyone but Hermione.

"Where did ickle Harry sleep last night, eh, Weasley?" Seamus Finnigan finally asked, grinning most lecherously. "Enquiring minds want to know."

"Er..." Ron shifted uncomfortably, Harry on his lap since he was too short to reach the table when left to his own devices.

"With you, Ron?" Neville asked curiously, eyes still a bit droopy with sleep.

Before he could come up with a potentially unembarassing answer, Harry had dipped his hand in a bowl of porridge, squealing with glee. Hermione tutted and began the laborious task of cleaning him, in the process splattering Ron himself with the thick mess.

"Ugg, Hermione!" He complained. She gave him a pitying look but no other consolation.

He shook his head sadly and gave Seamus a pointed look. "Sleep with him? I can barely control him when he's awake..."

Dean Thomas, meanwhile, was sketching another picture of Harry, to Seamus's annoyance. "Oy, Dean, why're you so keen on drawing Harry?" The Irish boy asked peevishly. He'd been hoping his best friend would aid him in teasing Ron.

Dean smiled vaguely and said, "Ever heard of 'seize the moment', Seamus?"

"...No, not really."

"Nevermind, then."

"Aw, Dean, you're no fun."

"Harry!" Ron yelped and shoved the tiny Boy Who Lived (who had been having WAY too much fun with Ron's juice) into Hermione's arms, frantically wiping at his robes. Liquid stained them an even darker black then they were, and damnit, that juice had been cold! Seamus choked on his own juice, not even bothering to stifle his laughter (like Neville was trying to do). Ginny grinned at her brother from Hermione's right, tickling Harry so that he wiggled and laughed, oblivious to his best friend's discomfort.

"Aww, that's so adorable," Parvati sighed, letting Harry chew on her well- manicured nails, an action that made Ron's eyes pop--he had seen how she was if even one of those nails broke, and here she was, letting Harry (of all people) teeth on them.

'They've all gone bloody mad,' he thought bitterly. Sure, the kid was cute, but this was Harry, after all. Harry Potter, who was shy around girls and hated Malfoy and loved Quidditch.

No sooner had these thoughts suggested themselves then he was pulled up from his seat by the collar of his robes and hoisted around to face a very angry Quidditch Captain, one Alicia Spinnet. "Weasley--what happened to my Seeker?" She asked with a falsely calm voice. He trembled like a leaf in the wind for a moment before regaining his composure (heh, or not). He could see Fred and George entering the Great Hall behind Alicia and he gave them a pleading look which they ignored.

"Er...it was an accident?"

"Wrong answer, Weasley."

Ron had only ever seen Alicia Spinnet angry one or two times--mostly with matters having to do with Quidditch or...Harry, as in this instance. She was a relatively calm girl, but he certainly didn't enjoy the furious expression on her face now.

"He'll be back to normal in a week...or two."

"..." Spots of color appeared on her cheeks, and she fixed him with a death glare. "A week or two? A WEEK, or two, you say? Do you have any idea how much wasted time that is? The Season starts in a couple of weeks! And look at him! He's a shrimp with glasses! His Firebolt's taller than he is."

"Um. I'm sorry?" Ron smiled in what he hoped was a winning way.

"That's good to know, Weasley. But I have every intention of murdering you if I don't have my Seeker back in 'a week or two'."

"Duely noted...Can you let me go?"

Alicia sighed and disentangled herself from his robes, stalking off--most likely to burn off her anger via a nice, long Quidditch match against herself. She was known to do that.

Ron sighed in relief, then turned to glare at the twins, who had seated themselves a few places down near their friend, Lee Jordan. "Why didn't you help me?" he demanded, trying to ignore the fact that he probably would have ignored himself too--he was wet, sticky, and had transformed everyone's favorite hero into a halfpint kid who liked to spill things.

"Did you hear something?" Fred asked loudly.

"Probably the wind..." George replied just as loudly.

Ron huffed and sat down, staring at Harry crossly. This was all Harry's fault. Not really, but he felt better pretending it was.

As if his morning couldn't get any worse, Hermione bullied Ron into taking Harry with him to his Divination lesson (Hermione had Arithmancy, and she insisted that someone as noisy as Harry wouldn't be allowed in--though Ron pointed out that the same went for Divination, she ignored him and went on her way).

Professor Trelawny had a jolly good time predicting that Harry would trip and fall down a flight of stairs, stay a toddler forever, and/or meet up with You Know Who while having his diaper changed. Ron didn't take this very seriously--he knew Harry was (thank the Powers That Be) potty-trained.

Between classes, Harry somehow managed to smuggle a spider into his robes, and he let it go just as they entered Herbology--predictably, Ron freaked, Hermione scolded Harry, and there was a lot of much-unneeded pain for all three of them when Professor Sprout (who was having a very bad week, anyway- -it was That Time of the Month) yelled at them and threatened to give Ron and Hermione detentions.

Ron sulked all through Herbology, though he wasn't really angry at Harry. It was hard to be angry with someone who kissed your cheek and patted your hair as way of an apology. He was angry that Professor Sprout had reminded him of his upcoming detention--he wasn't sure what McGonagall was cooking up, but he was sure it was gruesome, whatever it was.

Lunch was relatively uneventful. Seamus and Ginny were thrilled when Hermione let them have a go at feeding Harry--he ate too much and threw up all over Seamus's robes, but other than that...

Next class was Potions. Harry, at first, refused to even go into the classroom, and after much pulling on Ron's part, they managed to get him in through the door and into his usual seat. Ron sighed. What had he done to deserve this?