AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well I did it. Chapter 13 was ready to be up on Monday and ff net is down. Darn it! Oh well it's up now (I have been graduating so 3 day delay). Anyway, I hope to be able to post chapter 14 next Monday, 6pm English time. (Monday 14th). Fingers crossed, I should be able to do it.
I graduated!! Cap and gown and fake scroll and everything. I was excited, and rather apprehensive too, but it was fun. And bloody hot – those robes aren't made for women. And grad ball had the Bootleg Beatles playing, which was cool.
Oh, quick apology: did you notice in the story Hermione was telling I messed up and forgot to name names. Anyway, it was meant to be a reference to the famous five but I forgot the names of the blokes and the dog. Anyone know? (No one mentioned it in reviews but it stood out when I was rereading the chapter. Oops!)
Oh, and review responses are at the end, along with a question from me to you.
Anyway, on with chapter thirteen.
Chapter Thirteen: Good Day Sunshine"No Harry, put the spoon down," Pansy shouted as Harry prepared to throw jam at Draco, though in all fairness it was purely in retaliation for the marmalade which was currently stuck in his own hair.
The Harry they were dealing with this morning was vastly different to the boy they had put to bed the night before. Waking up exactly where he should be, Draco by his side, Blaise and Seamus on the floor, had seamed to reassure the skittish child and he was a lot more lively and, more importantly, trusting than he had been yesterday. The result, however, was that the four adults were stuck running around after two highly energetic five year olds. It was only breakfast and already they were exhausted.
"Why can't we just sneak the damn potion into their drinks and go back to bed," Seamus moaned as he tried to get the cereal out of his hair while restraining Harry from continuing his food fight.
"I guess it can't be diluted or something," Blaise replied, grabbing the spoon off Draco, "ha, gotcha now," he shouted in triumph. Draco promptly stood on his chair and tipped the rest of his cereal over Blaise, grinning at Harry, who was hiding a giggle behind his hand as Hermione looked at them reproachfully.
"Draco! What do you think you're doing?"
"He started it," Draco pouted, pointing accusingly at Blaise, who blushed. This effectively silenced Hermione, for it was hard to try and regulate a fight which one of your own started. However, in Blaise's defence, the toast was aimed at Seamus, not Draco. It was just unfortunate that he was such a bad shot.
"Yes well be that as it may, you are going to be the bigger person," she gathered herself up, scowling at both boys, which only made them laugh harder, as Seamus was now pulling faces behind her back. "Plus, anymore of this and…and…I'll make you sit down in silence for an hour. Separately."
This threat was enough to ensure silence for a few minutes and Pansy quickly vanished the remainder of breakfast and turned to their two charges.
"Right, baths I think. Come on." With one small hand in each of hers she led the boys towards Hermione's room, only to find her way blocked.
"Oh no! There is no way you are giving them baths in my bathroom. Use Draco's."
"Have you seen his bathroom? No I guess you haven't. The hair care products in there are enough to kill a child, and anyway he'd know if we went in. He's so neat."
"So am I," Hermione spluttered indignantly, "and anyway, its his room. He should mess it up. If I get de-aged then we'll use my room. Not before."
"And we tell him what? We still don't know what we are going to do when they are returned to normal. Look we'll use your room. It's not like we can't use magic to clean it."
"Fine," she relented and they went into her room.
"Bloody hell," Pansy exclaimed when she saw the bathroom, "I see why you were a tad reluctant to let kids loose in here." Hermione's bathroom was amazing. It had a normal, albeit large, stand alone mugggle bath in one corner and a shower in the other. A window looked out onto the Quidditch field, with a selection of bubble baths and other accessories lined up on the window sill. All around the room candles were scattered, some were even levitating above the bath. But the centre piece of the room, and the thing that Hermione had been most concerned about was a wall long bookshelf filled with light reading. Well, light for Hermione anyway.
"Ok, now I want to be head girl," Pansy grinned, "this is amazing. And the candles, some sort of permanent levitation charm?"
"Yeah, I think so. Harry was messing about with charms last year and we suddenly realised that the things he was levitating we remaining there long after he'd finished with them. The clincher was when we returned after dinner and found Ron's chess pieces hanging in the air, yelling abuse at us for leaving them up there for so long."
"Potter did this?"
"Yup. He's not as hopeless at lessons as people think, he just…"
"Finds it too easy?"
"I was going to say he couldn't be bothered. What with Voldemort and all. But maybe there's something in that." At this point Hermione was reminded that they had forgotten the boys when she noticed them trying to grab the candles out of the air, the candles flying around out of their reach. "Hey, you two, stop that."
"Sorry Hermy," they chorused, not looking remotely contrite.
"Right, who wants the first bath?"
"Together," Draco demanded.
After a quick exchange of looks Pansy accented, "but you've got to be good. Ok?"
"Yes Pansy," again she received two not very convincing innocent looks but they let it pass.
***
It was one and a half hours later that a very wet Hermione and Pansy left the bathroom looking exhausted, two wet haired and laughing children in tow.
"Wet t-shirt competition 'Mione?" Seamus grinned. Too tired to answer, Hermione simply glowered, falling onto a sofa beside Pansy, who had already collapsed.
"They're evil. Your turn," Pansy muttered, resting her head back on the sofa and closing her eyes. Hermione beside her did the same.
"What did you do?" Blaise asked, unable to keep a slight hint of awe out of his voice.
"Nothing," Draco smiled innocently at the two adults still standing, while Harry laughed.
"We just had a water fight. Only they had their clothes on. And Hermy kept shrieking about her books. Then she fell in."
"Hermione fell in?" queried Seamus trying hard not to grin at the idea of the reserved Hermione catapulting headfirst into the bath, as her current appearance suggested had been the case.
"Oh yes," Harry grinned, "then Pansy did."
"Really. She just fell in, just like that."
"Yes. It was a shame. We felt bad," Draco added innocently.
"That brat pushed me in," Pansy muttered without raising her head.
"Which one?" Blaise tried to hide the grin that was spreading across his face.
"Does it matter? They're both clearly evil. Or possessed."
"Definitely possessed," Hermione added, before concluding in a more cheerful tone, "and now they're your problem."
"Well considering your truly appalling behaviour," Seamus began in a serious voice, "we are quite clearly going to have to celebrate. I'm so proud. So bad at such an early age."
"Brings a tear to my eye," added Blaise, sniffing.
Both Harry and Draco giggled at their antics before shrieking in laughter as Blaise and Seamus lunged at them, tickling for all they were worth. What followed was a battle of immense proportions as Harry and Draco climbed over chairs, under tables and even over Hermione and Pansy in an attempt to escape Seamus and Blaise.
These games only finished when the portrait opened and Snape and Lupin entered, along with a woman unknown to the Gryffindor's. Her identity was cleared up however, when Draco flung himself at her, crying, "Maman!"
***
Narcissa Malfoy was a truly beautiful woman, and totally unlike Hermione's memory of their meeting at the Quidditch World Cup in the summer before he fourth year. This Narcissa had her gold-blonde hair loose, falling around her face, curling slightly at the ends. She was wearing muggle jeans and t-shirt which made her look a lot younger than she could realistically could have been. But the real difference was in her face. As she bent down and picked up Draco her eyes sparkled and there was a happy smile on her face, creating an effect a million miles from the one created at their last meeting.
***
When Severus had owled her to say that Draco needed her Narcissa had dropped everything to be there for her son. The tale she had heard, however, she had barely credited, she could still not quite believe it even as she held the five year old version of her son in her arms.
"Draco, mon chéri, je me suis ennuyé de vous tellement
Draco, my darling, I've missed you so much," she whispered, reverting back into the French of her childhood as she hugged him to her.
"C'a seulement été une mère de jour," he returned in that same language, "bien que je ne me rappelle pas vraiment comment j'ai obtenu ici," he added, a puzzled look on his face.
"Bien, cela n'importe pas cher," Narcissa glossed over it, wondering exactly what she would say if pushed. "Vous avez fait quelques amis, par les regards de lui."
"Oui. Et j'ai trouvé mon Harry encore."
"Vous avez trouvé Harry?"
"Oh oui. Je me suis réveillé vers le haut dans une salle de classe et une pensée et un Blaise étaient là et alors j'ai entendu parler et j'ai vu Harry. Il s'est ennuyé de nous. Je ne le pense pas croit pourquoi nous avons dû aller. Et son cousin l'a blessé."
"Vous l'avez guéri?"
"Oui," Draco smiled proudly at this as his mother put him back on the floor. Slipping back into English he turned round slightly and beckoned to his friend, "Harry, it's only maman. You remember."
"Of course," he replied, moving into their family circle, feeling suddenly shy. This feeling did not last for long, for Narcissa picked him up, hugging him as she had Draco.
"Oh mon cher regard de Harry…oh combien de souhait de tall…I de grown…so de vous avez je pourrais avoir été là pour le ressembler de you…you tellement à votre père, plus ainsi tout le time…mais vous avez toujours des yeux de Lily," she brushed his fringe back out of his face as she said this last bit, "elle devrait avoir été ici pour vous, quelqu'un devrait avoir été …"
Tears were running down her face as she said this, but she gathered herself and put Harry down, kissing him on the forehead when Draco, pulling on her jeans said, "Maman, he doesn't understand you."
"Sorry Harry," she smiled at him.
"Come sit with us Tante 'Cissa," he smiled back, pulling her over to the sofa where Hermione and Pansy were sitting. "That's Hermy and Pansy. They're tired cus they got wet," he grinned as Narcissa raised one eyebrow at his description of events.
"Did you try giving them a bath Pansy," she chuckled.
"Yes. They should come with a warning note attached!"
"Yes, I remember. They were always very…energetic."
Snape, who could see Hermione was on the verge of turning into a question mark, so eager was she to bombard Narcissa with questions, quickly interjected at this point. "I thought that since Narcissa is here we would all have lunch together. Would you like that Draco?"
"Yes," he replied, looking as if all his Christmases had come at once. He had his mother, his god father and his best friend all in the same place at the same time and his father was nowhere to be seen. It was, he decided, a perfect day.
Harry too was pleased with the idea. He had taken to Remus Lupin instantly and moved over to his side now, reaching up and pulling him onto the sofa. "Sit with me."
***
Two hours laterThe two boys watched in amazed fascination as Snape rearranged the waiting room, creating a large, comfortable dining area to replace the sofas and tables which had adorned the room before.
Now a wooden dining table took up most of the room, nine chairs surrounding it. Music was playing softly in the background and with one more flick of the wrist the table was set.
"The house elves will deal with the food," Snape told them, "I talked to them earlier. One of them, Dobby I think his name was, could not do enough for me when I mentioned Potter's name."
"That sounds about right," Hermione explained, "Dobby is rather fond of Harry. He was your old house elf Mrs Malfoy. Harry freed him in our second year."
"Yes I remember," Narcissa smiled, remembering the fury on Lucius's face when he returned without Dobby. "And call me Narcissa, please. It's far more friendly. Shall we sit down?"
Once again Draco took charge, arranging people where he wanted them to sit, allowing no objections. Harry he obviously placed next to himself, with Remus on his other side, which earned him a smile from his godfather which helped over come the jealousy he still felt when Harry ignored him to talk to the older man. Snape he placed next to Remus, then followed Blaise, Seamus, Hermione and Pansy, with his mother in between Pansy and himself.
"Perfect," he smiled as he ordered Blaise to his seat, sitting himself next down next to Harry.
"You are so bossy," Harry teased, "anything else you want to change? Maybe the colour of the table cloth, perhaps, or with plates."
"Well, now that you mention it…" Draco began, only to be cut off by his mother.
"Everything is fine, I think. Oh, and here is dinner. It's ok Harry, that wasn't you," she smiled at the boy, who despite his experiences with last nights tea and breakfast that morning still had a panicked look on his face when the food materialised in front of him.
It was not until the end of the meal that Snape played his hand. Choosing his words carefully he turned to his godson, saying, "Draco, I was thinking that maybe you would like to show Harry the potions lab after lunch."
"Really Uncle Sev?" Draco was practically jumping out of his chair in excitement at the prospect and the two Gryffindor's bit back smiles. 'Maybe it's not sucking up to Snape,' Hermione mused, 'he actually likes potions. Fancy that!'
"Really Draco. I've got a few potions I want to test and you and Harry would make good guinea pigs."
"Cool. We want to go now, don't we Harry."
This was the real test and all three adults tried to look calm and collected as they awaited Harry's answer.
"Um…yeah," there was an uncertainty there, but no suspicion and they exchanged relieved glances.
***
The Potions LabHarry and Draco were sitting on Snape's desk, eagerly awaiting the next potion he would give them. So far he had turned Harry blue, turned Draco into a pig and caused both of them to levitate for two minutes.
"Ok, here's the next one. There's enough for two." He handed them two beakers and the boys drank quickly, pulling matching faces of disgust at the taste.
His audience watched in anticipation: surely he had given them the re-aging potion by now. The question was answered when both boys began glowing silver.
"What, exactly, is the point of that potion," Remus asked, eyeing the glowing boys curiously.
"None at all, really," Snape, to the shock of the four students, smiled at his mate, "it was a side effect of one of Longbottom's failures. But a potion is a potion and I tweaked it to achieve this. Its interesting though."
Harry and Draco certainly thought so, waving their arms around leaving trails of silver light in their wake. When the potion finally wore off they were clammering for more and Snape headed back into his cupboard, emerging moments later with two more beakers. The boys drank them eagerly and watched each other closely for any hint as to what the potion might do.
In unison the two began to grow quickly, ripping their too small clothes. It was a less alarming process than the de-aging had been and looked less painful. When all movement had finally stopped Snape walked cautiously towards the pair, praying that his assessment had been correct.
"Potter, Draco?" he inquired in a barely auidble whisper.
There was no answer.
He stepped closer and was about to shake Draco when both boys lifted their heads and looked about them, eyes finally meeting.
"Harry?" Draco began at the same time as Harry said "Draco?"
Then they slumped back down, unconscious.
END CHAPTER THIRTEENWell? What did you think?
Actually, I wrote that last line and thought 'hee hee, I'm so evil.'
Never mind, here are the review responses:
Vicki Kwik: you skipped chapters. Well fine…no, I'm glad you like it anyway, though if you don't like explanations then you may have problems cus they're coming up. Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing J
Schtoops: you are giving me such a big head (though, incidentally, my mortar board was still too big J). Yeah this was my first story and I see what you mean – the writing gets easier too! Please ask as many questions as you want – after all that praise I can't say no! You are SO flattering J
Rosandra May: thanks a lot.
Slice: yeah, I liked embarrassed Sev too *grin.* Thanks for reading and reviewing.
Torrent CloudChaser Silverfox: wow long name! 2003-07-04 12 Signed
I's likes, *giggles* it's cute. more soon please!
Kimmy: aw, thanks.
TigerBlak: two words…I know!
Yoink Daydurfurits: glad you like it. Thanks for reviewing.
ShaeLynn: yeah it was an interesting comination. As you see Narcissa has landed! Answers to questions: she's here, not sure how much she knows and so not telling!
Silver: thanks
Cassa-Andra: I actually can't help the hint dropping, it just falls in. Oh well, glad you like it J
Psychomek: hadn't thought of that but yeah that's so what Hermione's becoming!
Melissa: thanks. Really wanted to do the 'turned into children' thing and am glad it's seen as different.
Jade Maxwell: thanks for the dog info. Glad you liked the jealousy, I thought it would be so spoilt Draco that I had to include it.
NayNymic: hey, did you get my sencond e-mail? Kinda used your taking the potion comment – thanks for making me think of it. Yeah, I love MY Draco too. Ok, he's not mine.
Wintermoon: yeah, that was in prisoner of azkaban. I love that book so much and know it far to well! It's when Harry's head appears in Hogsmeade and 'no part of his body is allowed in Hogsmeade.' And again with the flattery – thanks *blushes* Hope you coped with the extra waitJ
Ice Lupus: me too, though there is talk of fan art *fingers crossed*
Oh and one more thing, do we know if Lily was older or younger than Petunia. Please tell me if you know for definite. Thanks.
See you next week,
Louise
PS – translation of what Narcissa and Draco said:
"It's only been a day mother," he returned in that same language, "though I don't really remember how I got here," he added, a puzzled look on his face.
"Well, that doesn't matter dear," Narcissa glossed over it, wondering exactly what she would say if pushed. "You made some friends, by the looks of it."
"Yes. And I found my Harry again."
"You found Harry."
"Oh yes. I…woke up in a classroom and Pansy and Blaise were there and then I heard talking and I saw Harry. He missed us. I don't think he believes why we had to go. And his cousin hurt him"
"Did you heal him."
"Yes,"
and then…
"Oh my dear Harry…oh look how much you've grown…so tall…I wish I could have been there for you…you look so much like your father, more so all the time…but still you have Lily's eyes," she brushed his fringe back out of his face as she said this last bit, "she should have been here for you, someone should have been…"