Chapter 03

• Diapers •

Nestled in the hills of Wales, miles from any other human contact, was a small villa. No roads or trails passed near it. It seemed lonely, forgotten, but it was not.

"Master Black is saying that we is to not tell anyone that Master Harry is here until Master Black says otherwise," a tiny elf said quietly to three elves assembled before him. They, in turn, would pass the information on to the other elves at the manor.

Though all of the elves were officially owned by the Potter family, they were still free-willed. Lily had insisted that any elf working for them was to be free to do as he or she chose, to even be paid should they need something for themselves. Of course, none of the elves had ever touched the money laid aside for them, but it was still there.

Potter Manor, like many wealthy wizard homes, openly welcomed elves to come live and work in their estates. Unlike most other families of magic, though, the Potters had a reputation in the elven community as good people that cared very much for each of elf working for them. More than a dozen currently resided there, some as a refuge, some having been born into the Potter house.

"They is truly gone then?" one of the elves asked sadly. Randy nodded, equally disheartened.

"But now we is in charge of the little Master until Master Black returns. We is to take good care of him and we is not to be telling no one he is here. We is to take care of the Manor too and not let no one else come and take it."

The three elves who had assembled nodded, then with a pop they were gone, leaving Randy alone.

Randy turned to a portrait on the wall. "Master," he said. "Your son, he is being left in our care."

The portrait, empty moments before, filled with a little boy not more than sixteen years of age. His unkempt black hair pointed in every direction and his brown eyes seemed to be filled with mischief. "Son?" he asked, surprised. "I have a son? I don't remember ever having one of those. Mind you, Sandra probably wouldn't tell me if something like that happened, but I always imagined Sirius would be the first one to get stuck with a son."

The little elf shook his head. "Master Black is his godfather, He is doing important things now and is telling us to take care of the young master."

"Right!" the portrait grinned. "Just like Sirius to put the weight of it on someone else's shoulders and then disappear. So this child, he was mine and Lily's then, was he? She was my wife last time I heard. I can't believe they banished me to this room, I was never that much trouble, just gave a few innocent orders to the house-elves."

Randy shook his head and walked away. There was no use in talking to the portrait of James; he was not the same Master Potter they knew now. He was much more reckless and hated responsibility.

A squeal interrupted Randy's musings, followed by the voices of several distraught elves. Randy hurried through the house toward the sounds.

"He is needing changed," one of the elves suggested as Randy entered the room. "It is because young ones is not knowing how to use the lavatory until they is taught."

"Then we is to teach him!" one of the other elves piped up.

The first shook his head. "They is not able to be learning such things for a while. The master must learn to walk first."

"We teach him to walk then!" the elf piped in again, eagerly trying to put in his two cents.

"How is we to change the master?" the closest elf to the squealing child asked, pinching his nose and making his high, squeaky voice even squeakier.

"I is once doing it," croaked an old voice.

The small crowd of elves parted, and a wizened elf, his chin covered in a scraggly-looking beard, stepped forward. He looked at the child struggling to right himself and then nodded. "We is needing a small cloth," he said and immediately two elves disappeared with a pop. "And a basin of water," he added. A third elf was gone a moment later.

The elf approached quietly, humming a weird melody, which quieted the baby. The elder spoke in a strange language and two more of the elves nodded, disappearing with simultaneous pops. The baby cooed and the diaper came off with a snap of the old elf's fingers. The baby giggled as the elf cleaned him and put on a new cloth diaper. "The master is clean," the elf said once he'd finished. The other elves of the house nodded to him.

It was the outspoken elf Pokey who said aloud what the other elves were thinking. "What else is we to do for the young master?" he questioned. None of the other elves had lived with a child and had not had to clean them or feed them. All they knew were things that they'd heard.

"How old is the child?" the old elf asked, staring curiously at the young master. Not even the elder, who'd been around a long, long time, even for an elf, could tell on sight a human child's age.

Randy, the one who knew the most about the child, stepped forward. Randy had actually been able to visit the child when the Potters were living in the small house in Godric's Hollow. "He is being born in the last day of July of the previous year. He is being almost sixteen months of age, Sophos. He is even knowing how to walk."

Sophos, the old elf who naturally seemed to be in charge of the other elves now, nodded. "Then he is needing to start being learned of many things."

The other elves listened as Sophos delegated jobs to each of them, some unrelated to the child. Each elf, though, had some job around the baby boy. Randy was glad he was made the Master's guardian, the one that would keep at the Master's side constantly.

• Updated 2004.08.17 •