Older Harry brought Younger Harry indoors tired but happy. As soon as the little boy was in Gryffindor tower again he caught sight of his new toys and wanted to play, hopping up and down even as Harry helped him struggle out of his snow suit.
When the older boy finished building up a warm, roaring fire in the common room fireplace, Younger Harry old looked up with great, pleading eyes. "Can I have another frog now, please?" he begged.
Lunch was not far off, but Harry figured he had been so little indulged as a child that it wouldn't hurt if he were spoiled for one day.
"I guess so. Not too many." The younger boy happily unwrapped his confection, purposefully watched it jump twice, and then caught it in his small hand. Once again, the entire frog was devoured in two bites. Younger Harry had chocolate all over his mouth: the child looked so cute sticky and happy that Older Harry was almost sorry to have to wash his face.
When his younger self was sufficiently clean, Harry settled into a chair by the fire and propped his chin on his hand, content to watch the person he had been be happy for a time. He thought his younger self would head straight to the miniature Hogwarts castle, but instead he went to the doll and wrapped it in its blanket before picking it up and cuddling it gently.
"I'm sorry I went away," Younger Harry apologized
to the toy. "I was just having
breakfast and going outside. I didn't
forget about you." He paused a
moment. "Don't be sad. You are a good baby. I'm not gonna leave you all by
yourself." Picking up the doll, he
walked over to Older Harry and plunked it into his lap. "You will take care of this baby for
me," the little boy said firmly.
"I have to go to work."
Older Harry was a touch embarrassed but held the doll obediently. "All right."
Satisfied, the younger boy went to play with the castle for a while, pointedly
leaving Snape in time-out while he played with McGonagall and Dumbledore and
two random students. Older Harry
watched the younger boy's play with interest.
The scenario seemed to involve Dumbledore as the father and McGonagall
as the mother of the two students, one of whom seemed to be constantly be
misbehaving while the other was always "good." Older Harry had a horrible suspicion about
who little Harry was thinking the "bad" child represented.
The Dumbledore figure was placed with the Good Child, and Younger Harry made his voice low and rumbling to imitate a grown man's voice. "You are a very good boy! Come with me and we will buy lots of presents for you!" The figures of the headmaster and student were shuffled aside, while they presumably "went shopping."
Younger Harry made McGonagall take the badly-behaved student by the arm, and then moved them to the secret passage.
"You are very bad," said the little boy,
pretending to be the voice of McGonagall.
"And now you will have to stay in here in the dark." He put the student in the secret passage,
alone and McGonagall back in her classroom letting her wander.
"No! No! Let me out! I'll be good!"
the little boy said in a desperate, high pitched voice, now pretending
to be the child trapped in the passageway.
"Please let me out of here!"
Older Harry was beginning to feel sick to his stomach watching his younger self play out his emotions in the Hogwarts figures. It was one thing to know that he had been treated poorly as a child; it was another thing all together to watch a little boy verbalize his hurt and fear.
Younger Harry suddenly picked up the trapped student and
began talking to it directly. "You
are not a bad boy. I'm going to
let you out of there now." The
student figure was brought out of the secret passage, then placed in the great
hall to eat.
Younger Harry was smiling as he sat back on his heels, watching the figures in
Hogwarts move about. He walked to Older
Harry and took his doll back.
"I'm back from work now. Thank you for watching my baby."
Older Harry handed the doll back silently.
He didn't really trust himself to speak.
Later in the day, after the two had eaten lunch, Older Harry suggested the two of them build a snowman. There wasn't quite enough snow on the ground yet so Harry cheated a little and thickened it up with his wand. The completed snowman was just about the funniest thing he had seen in a long time - its stick arms were out at odd angles, as if the were directing traffic, and the face made of rocks, which the younger boy had done, was only recognizable as a face because it was somewhere near the top of the pile of snow.
"It's beautiful!" Little Harry said happily. Older Harry could only agree.
Younger Harry began to yawn and rub his eyes and Older Harry, although he generally didn't have a clue about children in general, took this as an obvious sign that his younger counterpart needed a nap.
When the little boy was settled comfortably once again on Ron's bed, Harry looked thoughtfully down at the sleeping figure. It was odd. When Harry watched himself as a small child, he kept forgetting who it was. It could have been any little boy, really. The more he watched himself, the more he thought what a nice kid - what a normal (not a freak!) kid he'd been, and the angrier he became at the Dursleys' neglect.
Harry sighed. He and Little Harry would probably have time to go flying one more time, and then he would have to return himself to Privet Drive, whether he liked it or not.