Chapter 5

Babies and Boys

A small cloud of purple smoke flowed out of Rachel's wand and into the space in front of her. It just floated there for a moment, and then began to stretch. Rachel turned around to look at the pair behind her, whose cloud was a sick kind of green.

"Rachel, LOOK!" Paul exclaimed, nudging her back to their own purple mass. It had changed into what looked like a projection of a very small child, standing there in front of their desks. The image blinked in and out ever so often, but nevertheless was alarmingly realistic.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Rachel inquired, looking at Lupin.

"I guess we should, talk to it?" he suggested, and looked at the "child".

"Um, hi! We're your parents for the time being. I'm Paul, and er…..this is Rachel." He pointed at himself and then Rachel, seeing if the child would react. To their horror, it screwed up its face and began to cry. They nervously looked at each other, and Paul sped through his charms book, looking for anything that may help. Behind them, Xiashu was nervously prodding his projection, which seemed to be getting more and more angry. Professor Flitwick was sitting at, or rather on, his desk, looking extremely amused.

Rachel was suddenly struck by inspiration.

"Come here little one," she requested softly, and to their amazement the child approached and sat on Rachel's knee. She shrugged her shoulders and looked over at Lupin, who seemed to think she had it under control and had taken out his book.

"Oh don't you even think it about bucko!" Rachel warned, and kicked him on the shin.

The child laughed hysterically at Paul's pained expression.

"Oh you like that?" Rachel asked, and threw her notebook right at Paul's head. CLUNK.

The baby's giggles echoed through the class. Rachel was soon laughing too, and even Paul smiled. They played with their projection for the next hour, talking to it and playing peek-a-boo.

By the end of class, they seemed to be one of the only groups actually making any progress. Xiashu and Martha's was hiding under Professor Flitwick's desk, and Jim Bruggs' was staring blankly into space, picking his small nose. No great shock there; his "parents" had resumed their earlier activity.  In fact, the only group that was improving faster was the one in front of Rachel and Lupin. Their child appeared to be writing the alphabet on a piece of parchment.

"Poor kid," Rachel muttered, and cleaned up her scattered parchment. The projections marched into Flitwick's adjoining office when the bell rang, and the Ravenclaws rushed to lunch.

The Great Hall was nearly full, and Rachel joined Jackie, Cathy and Angelina at the Hufflepuff table. Rachel became nervously aware of the large amount of Stinksap still in her hair. The Hufflepuffs it turns out had had Charms first thing, and were coming along just as well it seemed with their projections.

"Our kid hates us," remarked Jackie, with a large frown. "The darn thing wouldn't stop crying, or alternatively farting, I don't know which is worse. Not like this one," she pointed at Will, "is much help anyway."

The girls, who giggled and rolled their eyes, didn't miss her smirk, but Will continued to stuff his face with all the food in reach. Once he realized they were all staring at him, he looked around guiltily.

"Whah?" he asked, spraying the girl in front of him with bits of his steak-and-kidney pudding. (a/n: personally this dish has always sounded extremely disgusting)

Just as Rachel was loading her plate with some treacle fudge, she felt a huge pressure on the top and sides of her head, as though a very heavy hat had been placed on it. As she bent down to get her mirror, Angelina and Jackie jumped up, grabbed her arms and pulled her out of the Hall. Everyone was laughing and pointing, and Rachel began to run. "What is it.. , what's wrong?" Rachel asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach. The pressure was increasing. Her friends looked at each other, unsure it seemed of what to say.

Rachel pulled out the mirror from her bag. She looked at her hair, which was growing rapidly to about 3 feet in height atop her head. Laughing and gawking spectators had rushed out of the hall, one even flashing a picture. As Angelina pounced him, Rachel's eyes filled with tears and she sprinted towards the Hospital Wing. She noticed a bright yellow sign on the door—

EATING LUNCH—BACK AT 1

With a look of utter despair, she slid down the wall and collapsed on the floor, drawing her knees up to her chest, and cried. She knew who must have done the engorgement charm—that Slytherin girl she had pushed out of the way in the Transfiguration corridor.

"It's not like I had much choice," she grumbled, "I was going to be late!"

 She heard someone walking down the hall, and hoped they would just ignore the stupid girl with hair now nearly 5 feet above her head. To her horror, the person sat down right next to her. She covered her face with her hands, but peeked slightly out of the corner of her eye. It was Paul.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked, turning away and holding back tears. She felt a sharp tap on the back of her head, and a muttered "Finite Incantantum". She let out a little gasp and turned to look at her reflection in the window. Her hair was back to normal!

"Oh, Paul!!" she exclaimed, and threw her arms around him in a hug. She held him tightly for a moment, and then pulled away, both of them blushing furiously. She began to turn around, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him. They were very close now; she could smell his musky cologne. He cupped her face in his hands, and with his thumbs wiped the tears off her cheeks. He leaned in towards her, their faces only inches away….