[Authors note: Wow! I didn't know it was possible to get that many reviews
on one single chapter! I got more reviews than I could've possibly imagined
in my wildest dreams! Oh my God, I love you all so incredibly much, you
have no idea!!! I thought I'd get, like, maybe a few...
This chapter got out awfully late, I know. Sorry about that, but my PC broke down (it always does).
I'll tell you this though, this chapter is absolutely horrible. I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I wrote this...
I would love to get as many reviews as I got on the first chapter, but I still won't ask you to review unless you actually like what I've written, and this chapter is truly awful...
I won't be able to read my reviews before about two weeks or something, because I'm going on a holiday (the easter holiday from Hell, I might add), but I'm already looking forward to read them! Especially if I get as many as I got last time!
Enjoy ^_^
Chapter. 2
-In the hospital wing...
"Well," said Madam Pomfrey, in a wanted-to-be-serious type of voice, as she clapped her hands together and turned to her audience, which consisted mainly of teachers, and a couple of students (three students, to be exact, but we'll get back to that), who was staring at her with quiet anticipation.
"After a serious examination," she began, "we have been able to draw certain conclutions..." She decided to pause at this point, just to create a dramatic effect. She *lived* for these dramatic moments. She was an *actress*, for pity's sake! How could they be so blind not to see it? Her fiery passion, her talent, her-
Someone in the back coughed, and the misunderstood actress realised she'd made her dramatic pause slightly too long.
"We know that he is about three years old," she continued quickly. "We know that he is in good shape. There's nothing physically wrong with him, and it seems the only thing the potion did to him was make him younger... Which is a good thing," she added, to those who were a bit slow on the uptake.
They were in the hospital wing.
Madam Pomfrey had been quite surprised to say the least when Draco Malfoy (if, perhaps, a bit reluctant) handed her the child and told her who it was.
Her eyes grew wider and wider, while her eyebrows sunk lower and lower, as Snape explained to her in a hurried mutter what had happened. By the time he was finished, her eyes were roughly the size of small dinner plates with a pair of black,bushy forests neatly placed overhead.
No one had been surprised when Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger (the first two, of the three, students who were listening to Madam Pomfrey) were allowed to come with Snape. After all, they were Harry's best friends, and it was, sort of, their duty to be there. Which made it seem even stranger than it usually would have seemed when Draco Malfoy (the third student, as if you hadn't already guessed) was allowed to come along, and stranger still, that he actually *wanted* to...
This was partly because he insisted on carrying the child all the way up by himself, and partly because little Harry had fallen asleep in his arms and no one was very keen on waking him up.
Nevertheless, Madam Pomfrey found herself falling completely in love with the little boy (for all you perverts out there who just got a real grose image in your head: I didn't mean it like that!). She thought he was absolutely adorable, and didn't let a moment pass without cuddling with him, or telling him, in a ridiculous Im-talking-to-a-baby-so-therefore-I- must-speak-like-one kind of voice, just how cute he was.
She never imagined how difficult it would be turning him back to normal. Even without her persistent, and rather annoying, inner voice, which kept telling her to keep Harry as a baby for as long as possible ("that way, I could watch him so that he doesn't run into trouble and gets himself hurt, like he always does.").
After some trying and failing, some more trying and some more failing, she realised that it might not be such an easy task after all, and that it might require some time, and furthermore some help!
Prof. McGonagall had been summoned right away, of course, being head of Gryffindor and all, and Snape hadn't been allowed to leave, so they made quite the merry gathering up there in the hospital wing.
However, neither of them were able to come up with a reasonable explanation of what might have happened, and how they might proceed in order to reverse the effect.
None of the three would ever admit it to each other, but the truth was that they had all been rather taken with the little miracle, and that they, sort of, wanted him to stay that way for a while.
Eventually, the only idea they'd come up with was to go fetch Dumbledore.
Unfortunately, Dumbledore was not in his office at that moment, and Ron, on the verge of panicking (is 'verge' even a word at all?), decided instead he'd go fetch as many of the other teachers as he could find in as short amount of time as possible, which turned out to be quite a few more teachers than he'd expected...
In the eman time, Madam Pomfrey had put little Harry in one of the vacant beds, along with all the soft blankets and fluffy pillows she could spare, in order for the little one to fall asleep. But it seemed he was in no mood to fall asleep. At least not anywhere that wasn't Draco Malfoy's arms.
He'd been a little suspicious about the new faces at first, but after a while he'd decided he quite approved of them and began to giggle and speak incomprehensive words at a furious speed.
For some reason, the only distinguishable word, which he, for some *other* reason, kept repeating, was: "Dwaycoh Maphoy!"
"Why does he keep *saying* that?" asked Ron trough gritted teeth, as he directed a particulary hateful scowl at the pale Slytherin, who, in return, raised a perfect (possibly plucked) eyebrow and smiled innocently (or rather, as innocently as it was possible for him to smile with one eyebrow raised).
"Because he *likes* me," Draco said, in an awfully annoying way which clearly suggested that, in *his* opinion, everyone who didn't agree with him were idiots, and that it was, in any case, quite obvious that he was infallible.
Ron, who happened to be one of these particular 'idiots', clenched his fists, but said nothing. He might have been an idiot seen from Draco's point of view, but, in spite of what he might think himself, Draco was *not* infallible, and Ron was, indeed, no fool. In fact he was quite clever. Clever enough to avoid fighting in the hospital wing with all the teachers present, anyway.
Hermione sent him a disaproving look. She couldn't believe how her befreckled friend could think of anything besides Harry at a time like this.
In the mean time, the beforementioned little boy was sitting upright in his bed, among the many pillows, staring curiously at all the teachers with his large, emerald eyes. For obvious reasons, they had all been just as fascinated with him as everybody else, and none of them quite seemed to be able to take their eyes off him.
"So the question now is," Madam Pomfrey continued, "what we're supposed to do with him in the mean time, until we find a cure."
"Oh, I don't reckon that will be necessary," came a voice from the door opening, and headmaster Dumbledore stepped dramatically out of the shadows. Well, he never actually *intended* to make a dramatic entrée, but that's how it is when you wear long robes.
"Dwaycoh Maphoy!" little Harry said, and giggled happily while tugging a lock of his thick dark hair.
"And hello to you too, Harry," Dumbledore chuckled. "I haven't seen you like this in quite a while, now."
He quickly became aware of that every head in the room were turned in his direction, and that each of these heads wore equally surprised and questioning expressions on their faces. He decided an explanation was needed.
"I think we should let Harry's body cure itself," he said, and lifted the little boy up in his surprisingly strong arms (after all, bowling is one of his hobbies...). Harry began to chirp cheerfully about something in a language only he could understand, while playing with Dumbledore's long, white beard, which he found incredibly interesting.
"He did swallow a potion, did he not?" Dumbledore continued, seemingly unbothered by the little boy. "It is bound to come out sooner or later, and while we're waiting, perhaps the students could watch him?"
The teachers exchanged aproving nods, and seemed to like the idea. It was, after all, the *only* idea anyone had been able to think of in almost two hours, and they felt they were quite ready to accept just about *any* idea.
"Oh, what a wonderful idea!" Madam Pomfrey said. "I think that would be a nice experience for them. To learn how to take care of a child. Perhaps they'd stop running around getting themselves in trouble all the time, then."
At this moment, Hermione grabbed Ron's hand. She whispered something to him, before quickly raising her hand, as though she was still in class.
"Yes, miss Granger?"
"Us, me and Ron I mean, we could watch Harry."
Again, each head in the room turned to look at Dumbledore, who didn't notice because Harry had chosen that moment to take off his half-moon spectacles and hit him in the face with them. Not maliciously, it just seemed to him like a really good idea (which it was, for reasons still undiscovered by modern Western science. So, naturally, I don't know these reasons either).
Dumbledore removed his spectacles gently from the child's small hand, glanced briefly at his audience, looked at the little one who was pouting his lips, realised everyone was looking at him and directed his attention back to the audience (all this happened in a very short time, or at least much shorter than it looks like when you write it down). He coughed. "Sorry, what?"
"Miss Granger asked you if it would be allright if she and young mr. Weasley here could watch little Harry Potter," said prof. McGonagall helpfully, but not without a slight disaproval in her voice (in fact, she rarely spoke without that slight disaproval in her voice. She just happened to be that sort of woman and couldn't help it anymore than Harry could help being related to aunt Petunia).
"Why, of course. Certainly," Dumbledore said absentmindedly, with his gaze focused on the little boy. "I expected they would. Classes are over for today anyway, so you might as well begin your lesson in baby sitting right away."
Hermione looked like she wanted to say something, but before she'd uttered a sound, a drawling voice from the corner asked politely: "excuse me, headmaster, but I would very much like to help mr.Weasley and miss Granger."
Later, everyone who had been in the room at that moment admitted they couldn't have been more surprised if prof. Snape had suddenly proclaimed he was engaged to the queen of England.
Prof. McGonagall looked at him as though he'd just grown another head and turned green all at once. An expression quite similar to that on everybody else's faces. Well, except Dumbledore's (because Dumbledore is never surprised by anything, because he already knows everything), and little Harry's (because he didn't understand what they were saying, or at least he didn't care).
"Would you like that Harry?" asked the old headmaster, obviously struggling not to burst out laughing. "Three baby sitters? What do you think of that?"
"Dwaycoh Maphoy!" Harry shrieked happily, while clapping his little hands in excitement.
Dumbledore chuckled, "I'll take that as a 'yes', then." He turned to Draco. "Well, it seems to be allright by him."
"I am delighted to hear that," Draco said smugly, with a beautifully nasty look at Ron, who in turn looked like he wanted to kill someone (preferably Draco Malfoy, but you already knew that).
"Aww, come *on*-" he began, but no one was listening to him.
"Albus," whispered prof. McGonagall in a low-pitched voice. "Please re- think your decisions now. Are you sure it would be... prudent... to let young mr. Malfoy-" "Minerva, I am absolutely confident with my decisions. Now, children," he said, and turned to the three students (Ron was clenching his fists, pretending it was Malfoy's throath. Hermione had layed a hand on his shoulder to keep him from turning his dreams into reality, and Malfoy was standing at a safe distance sticking out his tongue at the hot-headed Gryffindor.)
"I'm entrusting you a big responsibility," he said, as he put the little child carefully in Draco Malfoy's arms with a meaningful look. Harry, who instantly recognized the spiteful Slytherin, yawned peacefully and closed his eyes, as if getting ready for a nap.
"Be back before 1900 hours," Madam Pomfrey chimed in, before turning to the teacher staff. "Sho, sho, off you go," she said. "I've got work to do, and if I'm not much mistaken then so do you."
"Now, Severus," said Dumbledore quietly to the potion-master as they walked out of the infarmary, "what do you reckon will be the outcome of this?"
Snape was quiet for a moment (not his usual quietness, which tended to make people think of ice and snow and big, hairy beasts with too many sharp fangs which likes to hide in high grass and not flex a muscle until something soft and tender walks by), but an odd thoughtfulness, as though he was actually thinking... (enjoy it boys & girls, you won't be witnessing too many of these moments!)
"I think..." he said slowly, "that you have made a wise decision."
They continued to walk in silence, and no more was said between them. Snape didn't see the twinkle in the old headmaster's bright blue eyes...
In the mean time...
"I can't believe they're letting you near him!" Ron looked like he was just about ready to explode (but that might just be his hair, what do I know). He was staring at Draco with the same expression The Alien usually gets whenever it spots Sigourney Weaver.
Draco was staring back with the same expression he always got whenever he was near Weasley, Granger or Potter (or all three of them at once). Well, almost the same expression, anyway. He was looking awfully smug at the moment, and he usually didn't look very smug whenever he was near any member of the beforementioned posse (unless he'd just caused one of them some serious trouble, of course, or just avoided getting into any himself).
"Because, Weasley," he said slowly, as if he was explaining the facts of nature to a 4 year old, "they happen to *like* me."
The three freshly appointed baby sitters were still on their way (on their very *slow* way, I might add) out of the hospital wing. But just because they hadn't gotten very far, it didn't mean they hadn't learned a thing or two during these few, short seconds together...
They had, per example, realised how much they actually disliked each other. They had realised that Draco refused to let anyone but him hold the child, and that this annoyed Ron greatly. They had realised that Ron was having a bad day today, that Harry could speak incomprehensive words continiously for almost two minutes without drawing breath, and several other interesting things.
In other words: this was turning out to be a bit more complicated than expected, but nevertheless, rather interesting, and definetly informative.
"Yeah, you wish!" Ron muttered, but Draco didn't hear him.
Outside they were met with a body of curious students who had been standing right outside all the time with their ears pressed against the door to hear what was being said on the other side.
All the students instantly began to chatter all at once, which is exactly what students always do, because it's in their nature, sort of. Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan made good use of their elboes, knees and other body parts as they made their way over to the three baby sitters, and the baby.
"Is he going to be allright?" asked Dean, slightly short of breath. Hermione nodded. "Yeah, they're going to let him cure himself, sort of," Ron broke in. "And, in the mean time, we're his baby sitters!" "That's great!" Seamus said with a broad mischiveous grin, "you can teach him about the important things in life, before some pesky teacher stuffs his poor little head full of lies!"
"Yeah, wouldn't that be fun..." Ron muttered darkly. "But the thing is,"he paused to throw a nasty glance in Draco's direction, "that we're not the *only* baby sitters..." Seamus raised an eye-brow and traced Ron's glance with his eyes. They stopped at Draco. Who was, indeed, holding the little raven haired boy in his arms, and was looking exceptionally pleased with himself. Something dawned to him...
"You don't mean...?"
His unfinished question was answered by a nod, and the red head was looking more sombre than ever. "Yup. We'll probably be too busy keeping him alive to learn him anything at all."
Draco Malfoy knew they were talking about him. But frankly, he couldn't care less. He looked at the little boy in his arms with a strange softness in his pale eyes and a small smile crept unintentionally upon his lips. Harry had almost fallen asleep again, and didn't even seem to notice that everyone was staring at him (the truth was that he *did* notice that they were looking at *something*, but he'd looked *everywhere* without finding *anything* interesting to look at, and couldn't figure out for the life of him what they were staring at that was so incredibly interesting. Of course, nobody knew this, and therefore kept staring).
Draco quite enjoyed all the attention he was getting. Not that he didn't always enjoy being the center of attention, but this was a bit out of the ordinary, and therefore it was more enjoyable. The students were not as surprised as one might think to see Harry in his current condition (after all, each of these students had the power and ability to turn a hedgehog into one of those little pillows where you put your needles, and it took alot to actually surprise them), but to see him in Draco Malfoy's *arms*...! That was something!
"Aww, he's so cute!" said a blond girl from Hufflepuff (Hannah Abbot, as a matter of fact, but Draco didn't know that, because the Slytherins didn't take any classes together with the Hufflepuffs). "But," she looked curiously at Draco, "why are *you* holding him? I thought you two were enemies."
Draco shrugged (or at least he made it very clear that if he'd been able to he would have shrugged. It was a bit difficult when he was holding a baby). "We are," he said simply, before turning to his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, who he, for some reason, knew was standing behind him.
He opened his mouth to tell them something, though he wasn't quite sure what this might be, but shut it abruptly again when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Granger and Weasley were advancing on him. He was standing in the middle of a very large crowd of students who were all marvelling over the adorable little wonder in his arms (who used to be the world famous Harry Potter, and still was, only it wasn't quite the same), and therefore a bit difficult to reach.
On a sudden impulse he cleared his throath loudly and told everyone to make way for the other two baby sitters (later, he'd often lay awake at night, twisting and turning in his bed while wondering where that impulse had come from. Sadly, he never found out...).
Ron eyed him suspiciously, but said nothing.
"Er, maybe we should find him some clothes?" Hermione suggested, glancing uncomfortably at the students, who had stopped talking and were now watching the three (or rather six, if you count Crabbe, Goyle and Harry) in the middle. "You know, in his size."
Draco held Harry up and contemplated him skeptically. The little boy giggled excitedly (he seems to be doing that alot, huh? Oh well, he's a happy baby ^_^ ). His clothes were way too big for him, but fitted better than you'd expected, since Harry had never been a very big, burly boy. "Yeah, I suppose we should..."
I wish to thank all my reviewers! You have no idea how much each review is aprechiated! Some of you said some things I'd like to correct you on, and some of you had questions. They have been answered or corrected here:
(Lil Nami: BIG thank you to my first reviewer!) (pseudonym: thank you! And don't worry, if I get this many wonderful reviews each chapter, I'll definetly keep writing!) (arabian13: thank you! And you must remember that the Slytherins are also human. They're just kids. And believe me, I've seen people around babies, they're totally different and oh-so nice and sweet and 'aww'-ing and 'ooh'-ing all the time. It's really weird, the effect babies have on us...) (Lady FoxFire: thank you! Why nobody has baby Harry run around naked? Well, probably because they're afraid of being thought of as... ah, what's it called when you're sexually attracted to children? In my case, however, it's mostly because I wanted to share my opinion of Harry's choice of underwear with the world.) (Kugel: thank you! There are many of them? Oh, I didn't know that... I hope I'm not copying anything, because I don't mean to.) (Katherine aka Star: thank you for reviewing and thank you for your suggestions! I'll see what I can do!) (Aziraphael: thank you! I just had to add you here, because I am currently reading "Good omens" by Terry Pratchett myself. Read it boys and girls! You'll laugh like hell!) (sarah: thank you! And like I said, I had no idea there were other stories like this out there, and I'm so sorry if I stole somebody else's idea.) (Gil-Celeb: you reviewed twice, thank you so much, I'm flattered *blushes* I hope you liked this chapter as much as the first!) (siljin: thank you! Overused plot? I need to stay in more, and read fanfics... I honestly had no idea there were other stories like this. Well, actually there is a story with Draco turning into a baby, I read it a while ago, I think it's called "Draco's baby boom", but I can't remember for the life of me who wrote it. And I found one fic where Snape is turned into a teenager, but I don't remember the title of it, let alone who wrote it. Sorry, I'm a Harry worshipper *shrugs*) (Tess: thank you to my Norwegian e-pal!)
There, second chapter, what do you think? Should I continue?
This chapter got out awfully late, I know. Sorry about that, but my PC broke down (it always does).
I'll tell you this though, this chapter is absolutely horrible. I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I wrote this...
I would love to get as many reviews as I got on the first chapter, but I still won't ask you to review unless you actually like what I've written, and this chapter is truly awful...
I won't be able to read my reviews before about two weeks or something, because I'm going on a holiday (the easter holiday from Hell, I might add), but I'm already looking forward to read them! Especially if I get as many as I got last time!
Enjoy ^_^
Chapter. 2
-In the hospital wing...
"Well," said Madam Pomfrey, in a wanted-to-be-serious type of voice, as she clapped her hands together and turned to her audience, which consisted mainly of teachers, and a couple of students (three students, to be exact, but we'll get back to that), who was staring at her with quiet anticipation.
"After a serious examination," she began, "we have been able to draw certain conclutions..." She decided to pause at this point, just to create a dramatic effect. She *lived* for these dramatic moments. She was an *actress*, for pity's sake! How could they be so blind not to see it? Her fiery passion, her talent, her-
Someone in the back coughed, and the misunderstood actress realised she'd made her dramatic pause slightly too long.
"We know that he is about three years old," she continued quickly. "We know that he is in good shape. There's nothing physically wrong with him, and it seems the only thing the potion did to him was make him younger... Which is a good thing," she added, to those who were a bit slow on the uptake.
They were in the hospital wing.
Madam Pomfrey had been quite surprised to say the least when Draco Malfoy (if, perhaps, a bit reluctant) handed her the child and told her who it was.
Her eyes grew wider and wider, while her eyebrows sunk lower and lower, as Snape explained to her in a hurried mutter what had happened. By the time he was finished, her eyes were roughly the size of small dinner plates with a pair of black,bushy forests neatly placed overhead.
No one had been surprised when Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger (the first two, of the three, students who were listening to Madam Pomfrey) were allowed to come with Snape. After all, they were Harry's best friends, and it was, sort of, their duty to be there. Which made it seem even stranger than it usually would have seemed when Draco Malfoy (the third student, as if you hadn't already guessed) was allowed to come along, and stranger still, that he actually *wanted* to...
This was partly because he insisted on carrying the child all the way up by himself, and partly because little Harry had fallen asleep in his arms and no one was very keen on waking him up.
Nevertheless, Madam Pomfrey found herself falling completely in love with the little boy (for all you perverts out there who just got a real grose image in your head: I didn't mean it like that!). She thought he was absolutely adorable, and didn't let a moment pass without cuddling with him, or telling him, in a ridiculous Im-talking-to-a-baby-so-therefore-I- must-speak-like-one kind of voice, just how cute he was.
She never imagined how difficult it would be turning him back to normal. Even without her persistent, and rather annoying, inner voice, which kept telling her to keep Harry as a baby for as long as possible ("that way, I could watch him so that he doesn't run into trouble and gets himself hurt, like he always does.").
After some trying and failing, some more trying and some more failing, she realised that it might not be such an easy task after all, and that it might require some time, and furthermore some help!
Prof. McGonagall had been summoned right away, of course, being head of Gryffindor and all, and Snape hadn't been allowed to leave, so they made quite the merry gathering up there in the hospital wing.
However, neither of them were able to come up with a reasonable explanation of what might have happened, and how they might proceed in order to reverse the effect.
None of the three would ever admit it to each other, but the truth was that they had all been rather taken with the little miracle, and that they, sort of, wanted him to stay that way for a while.
Eventually, the only idea they'd come up with was to go fetch Dumbledore.
Unfortunately, Dumbledore was not in his office at that moment, and Ron, on the verge of panicking (is 'verge' even a word at all?), decided instead he'd go fetch as many of the other teachers as he could find in as short amount of time as possible, which turned out to be quite a few more teachers than he'd expected...
In the eman time, Madam Pomfrey had put little Harry in one of the vacant beds, along with all the soft blankets and fluffy pillows she could spare, in order for the little one to fall asleep. But it seemed he was in no mood to fall asleep. At least not anywhere that wasn't Draco Malfoy's arms.
He'd been a little suspicious about the new faces at first, but after a while he'd decided he quite approved of them and began to giggle and speak incomprehensive words at a furious speed.
For some reason, the only distinguishable word, which he, for some *other* reason, kept repeating, was: "Dwaycoh Maphoy!"
"Why does he keep *saying* that?" asked Ron trough gritted teeth, as he directed a particulary hateful scowl at the pale Slytherin, who, in return, raised a perfect (possibly plucked) eyebrow and smiled innocently (or rather, as innocently as it was possible for him to smile with one eyebrow raised).
"Because he *likes* me," Draco said, in an awfully annoying way which clearly suggested that, in *his* opinion, everyone who didn't agree with him were idiots, and that it was, in any case, quite obvious that he was infallible.
Ron, who happened to be one of these particular 'idiots', clenched his fists, but said nothing. He might have been an idiot seen from Draco's point of view, but, in spite of what he might think himself, Draco was *not* infallible, and Ron was, indeed, no fool. In fact he was quite clever. Clever enough to avoid fighting in the hospital wing with all the teachers present, anyway.
Hermione sent him a disaproving look. She couldn't believe how her befreckled friend could think of anything besides Harry at a time like this.
In the mean time, the beforementioned little boy was sitting upright in his bed, among the many pillows, staring curiously at all the teachers with his large, emerald eyes. For obvious reasons, they had all been just as fascinated with him as everybody else, and none of them quite seemed to be able to take their eyes off him.
"So the question now is," Madam Pomfrey continued, "what we're supposed to do with him in the mean time, until we find a cure."
"Oh, I don't reckon that will be necessary," came a voice from the door opening, and headmaster Dumbledore stepped dramatically out of the shadows. Well, he never actually *intended* to make a dramatic entrée, but that's how it is when you wear long robes.
"Dwaycoh Maphoy!" little Harry said, and giggled happily while tugging a lock of his thick dark hair.
"And hello to you too, Harry," Dumbledore chuckled. "I haven't seen you like this in quite a while, now."
He quickly became aware of that every head in the room were turned in his direction, and that each of these heads wore equally surprised and questioning expressions on their faces. He decided an explanation was needed.
"I think we should let Harry's body cure itself," he said, and lifted the little boy up in his surprisingly strong arms (after all, bowling is one of his hobbies...). Harry began to chirp cheerfully about something in a language only he could understand, while playing with Dumbledore's long, white beard, which he found incredibly interesting.
"He did swallow a potion, did he not?" Dumbledore continued, seemingly unbothered by the little boy. "It is bound to come out sooner or later, and while we're waiting, perhaps the students could watch him?"
The teachers exchanged aproving nods, and seemed to like the idea. It was, after all, the *only* idea anyone had been able to think of in almost two hours, and they felt they were quite ready to accept just about *any* idea.
"Oh, what a wonderful idea!" Madam Pomfrey said. "I think that would be a nice experience for them. To learn how to take care of a child. Perhaps they'd stop running around getting themselves in trouble all the time, then."
At this moment, Hermione grabbed Ron's hand. She whispered something to him, before quickly raising her hand, as though she was still in class.
"Yes, miss Granger?"
"Us, me and Ron I mean, we could watch Harry."
Again, each head in the room turned to look at Dumbledore, who didn't notice because Harry had chosen that moment to take off his half-moon spectacles and hit him in the face with them. Not maliciously, it just seemed to him like a really good idea (which it was, for reasons still undiscovered by modern Western science. So, naturally, I don't know these reasons either).
Dumbledore removed his spectacles gently from the child's small hand, glanced briefly at his audience, looked at the little one who was pouting his lips, realised everyone was looking at him and directed his attention back to the audience (all this happened in a very short time, or at least much shorter than it looks like when you write it down). He coughed. "Sorry, what?"
"Miss Granger asked you if it would be allright if she and young mr. Weasley here could watch little Harry Potter," said prof. McGonagall helpfully, but not without a slight disaproval in her voice (in fact, she rarely spoke without that slight disaproval in her voice. She just happened to be that sort of woman and couldn't help it anymore than Harry could help being related to aunt Petunia).
"Why, of course. Certainly," Dumbledore said absentmindedly, with his gaze focused on the little boy. "I expected they would. Classes are over for today anyway, so you might as well begin your lesson in baby sitting right away."
Hermione looked like she wanted to say something, but before she'd uttered a sound, a drawling voice from the corner asked politely: "excuse me, headmaster, but I would very much like to help mr.Weasley and miss Granger."
Later, everyone who had been in the room at that moment admitted they couldn't have been more surprised if prof. Snape had suddenly proclaimed he was engaged to the queen of England.
Prof. McGonagall looked at him as though he'd just grown another head and turned green all at once. An expression quite similar to that on everybody else's faces. Well, except Dumbledore's (because Dumbledore is never surprised by anything, because he already knows everything), and little Harry's (because he didn't understand what they were saying, or at least he didn't care).
"Would you like that Harry?" asked the old headmaster, obviously struggling not to burst out laughing. "Three baby sitters? What do you think of that?"
"Dwaycoh Maphoy!" Harry shrieked happily, while clapping his little hands in excitement.
Dumbledore chuckled, "I'll take that as a 'yes', then." He turned to Draco. "Well, it seems to be allright by him."
"I am delighted to hear that," Draco said smugly, with a beautifully nasty look at Ron, who in turn looked like he wanted to kill someone (preferably Draco Malfoy, but you already knew that).
"Aww, come *on*-" he began, but no one was listening to him.
"Albus," whispered prof. McGonagall in a low-pitched voice. "Please re- think your decisions now. Are you sure it would be... prudent... to let young mr. Malfoy-" "Minerva, I am absolutely confident with my decisions. Now, children," he said, and turned to the three students (Ron was clenching his fists, pretending it was Malfoy's throath. Hermione had layed a hand on his shoulder to keep him from turning his dreams into reality, and Malfoy was standing at a safe distance sticking out his tongue at the hot-headed Gryffindor.)
"I'm entrusting you a big responsibility," he said, as he put the little child carefully in Draco Malfoy's arms with a meaningful look. Harry, who instantly recognized the spiteful Slytherin, yawned peacefully and closed his eyes, as if getting ready for a nap.
"Be back before 1900 hours," Madam Pomfrey chimed in, before turning to the teacher staff. "Sho, sho, off you go," she said. "I've got work to do, and if I'm not much mistaken then so do you."
"Now, Severus," said Dumbledore quietly to the potion-master as they walked out of the infarmary, "what do you reckon will be the outcome of this?"
Snape was quiet for a moment (not his usual quietness, which tended to make people think of ice and snow and big, hairy beasts with too many sharp fangs which likes to hide in high grass and not flex a muscle until something soft and tender walks by), but an odd thoughtfulness, as though he was actually thinking... (enjoy it boys & girls, you won't be witnessing too many of these moments!)
"I think..." he said slowly, "that you have made a wise decision."
They continued to walk in silence, and no more was said between them. Snape didn't see the twinkle in the old headmaster's bright blue eyes...
In the mean time...
"I can't believe they're letting you near him!" Ron looked like he was just about ready to explode (but that might just be his hair, what do I know). He was staring at Draco with the same expression The Alien usually gets whenever it spots Sigourney Weaver.
Draco was staring back with the same expression he always got whenever he was near Weasley, Granger or Potter (or all three of them at once). Well, almost the same expression, anyway. He was looking awfully smug at the moment, and he usually didn't look very smug whenever he was near any member of the beforementioned posse (unless he'd just caused one of them some serious trouble, of course, or just avoided getting into any himself).
"Because, Weasley," he said slowly, as if he was explaining the facts of nature to a 4 year old, "they happen to *like* me."
The three freshly appointed baby sitters were still on their way (on their very *slow* way, I might add) out of the hospital wing. But just because they hadn't gotten very far, it didn't mean they hadn't learned a thing or two during these few, short seconds together...
They had, per example, realised how much they actually disliked each other. They had realised that Draco refused to let anyone but him hold the child, and that this annoyed Ron greatly. They had realised that Ron was having a bad day today, that Harry could speak incomprehensive words continiously for almost two minutes without drawing breath, and several other interesting things.
In other words: this was turning out to be a bit more complicated than expected, but nevertheless, rather interesting, and definetly informative.
"Yeah, you wish!" Ron muttered, but Draco didn't hear him.
Outside they were met with a body of curious students who had been standing right outside all the time with their ears pressed against the door to hear what was being said on the other side.
All the students instantly began to chatter all at once, which is exactly what students always do, because it's in their nature, sort of. Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan made good use of their elboes, knees and other body parts as they made their way over to the three baby sitters, and the baby.
"Is he going to be allright?" asked Dean, slightly short of breath. Hermione nodded. "Yeah, they're going to let him cure himself, sort of," Ron broke in. "And, in the mean time, we're his baby sitters!" "That's great!" Seamus said with a broad mischiveous grin, "you can teach him about the important things in life, before some pesky teacher stuffs his poor little head full of lies!"
"Yeah, wouldn't that be fun..." Ron muttered darkly. "But the thing is,"he paused to throw a nasty glance in Draco's direction, "that we're not the *only* baby sitters..." Seamus raised an eye-brow and traced Ron's glance with his eyes. They stopped at Draco. Who was, indeed, holding the little raven haired boy in his arms, and was looking exceptionally pleased with himself. Something dawned to him...
"You don't mean...?"
His unfinished question was answered by a nod, and the red head was looking more sombre than ever. "Yup. We'll probably be too busy keeping him alive to learn him anything at all."
Draco Malfoy knew they were talking about him. But frankly, he couldn't care less. He looked at the little boy in his arms with a strange softness in his pale eyes and a small smile crept unintentionally upon his lips. Harry had almost fallen asleep again, and didn't even seem to notice that everyone was staring at him (the truth was that he *did* notice that they were looking at *something*, but he'd looked *everywhere* without finding *anything* interesting to look at, and couldn't figure out for the life of him what they were staring at that was so incredibly interesting. Of course, nobody knew this, and therefore kept staring).
Draco quite enjoyed all the attention he was getting. Not that he didn't always enjoy being the center of attention, but this was a bit out of the ordinary, and therefore it was more enjoyable. The students were not as surprised as one might think to see Harry in his current condition (after all, each of these students had the power and ability to turn a hedgehog into one of those little pillows where you put your needles, and it took alot to actually surprise them), but to see him in Draco Malfoy's *arms*...! That was something!
"Aww, he's so cute!" said a blond girl from Hufflepuff (Hannah Abbot, as a matter of fact, but Draco didn't know that, because the Slytherins didn't take any classes together with the Hufflepuffs). "But," she looked curiously at Draco, "why are *you* holding him? I thought you two were enemies."
Draco shrugged (or at least he made it very clear that if he'd been able to he would have shrugged. It was a bit difficult when he was holding a baby). "We are," he said simply, before turning to his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, who he, for some reason, knew was standing behind him.
He opened his mouth to tell them something, though he wasn't quite sure what this might be, but shut it abruptly again when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Granger and Weasley were advancing on him. He was standing in the middle of a very large crowd of students who were all marvelling over the adorable little wonder in his arms (who used to be the world famous Harry Potter, and still was, only it wasn't quite the same), and therefore a bit difficult to reach.
On a sudden impulse he cleared his throath loudly and told everyone to make way for the other two baby sitters (later, he'd often lay awake at night, twisting and turning in his bed while wondering where that impulse had come from. Sadly, he never found out...).
Ron eyed him suspiciously, but said nothing.
"Er, maybe we should find him some clothes?" Hermione suggested, glancing uncomfortably at the students, who had stopped talking and were now watching the three (or rather six, if you count Crabbe, Goyle and Harry) in the middle. "You know, in his size."
Draco held Harry up and contemplated him skeptically. The little boy giggled excitedly (he seems to be doing that alot, huh? Oh well, he's a happy baby ^_^ ). His clothes were way too big for him, but fitted better than you'd expected, since Harry had never been a very big, burly boy. "Yeah, I suppose we should..."
I wish to thank all my reviewers! You have no idea how much each review is aprechiated! Some of you said some things I'd like to correct you on, and some of you had questions. They have been answered or corrected here:
(Lil Nami: BIG thank you to my first reviewer!) (pseudonym: thank you! And don't worry, if I get this many wonderful reviews each chapter, I'll definetly keep writing!) (arabian13: thank you! And you must remember that the Slytherins are also human. They're just kids. And believe me, I've seen people around babies, they're totally different and oh-so nice and sweet and 'aww'-ing and 'ooh'-ing all the time. It's really weird, the effect babies have on us...) (Lady FoxFire: thank you! Why nobody has baby Harry run around naked? Well, probably because they're afraid of being thought of as... ah, what's it called when you're sexually attracted to children? In my case, however, it's mostly because I wanted to share my opinion of Harry's choice of underwear with the world.) (Kugel: thank you! There are many of them? Oh, I didn't know that... I hope I'm not copying anything, because I don't mean to.) (Katherine aka Star: thank you for reviewing and thank you for your suggestions! I'll see what I can do!) (Aziraphael: thank you! I just had to add you here, because I am currently reading "Good omens" by Terry Pratchett myself. Read it boys and girls! You'll laugh like hell!) (sarah: thank you! And like I said, I had no idea there were other stories like this out there, and I'm so sorry if I stole somebody else's idea.) (Gil-Celeb: you reviewed twice, thank you so much, I'm flattered *blushes* I hope you liked this chapter as much as the first!) (siljin: thank you! Overused plot? I need to stay in more, and read fanfics... I honestly had no idea there were other stories like this. Well, actually there is a story with Draco turning into a baby, I read it a while ago, I think it's called "Draco's baby boom", but I can't remember for the life of me who wrote it. And I found one fic where Snape is turned into a teenager, but I don't remember the title of it, let alone who wrote it. Sorry, I'm a Harry worshipper *shrugs*) (Tess: thank you to my Norwegian e-pal!)
There, second chapter, what do you think? Should I continue?