Disclaimer: I own nothing; it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.


CHAPTER TWO

It had been a week since Hermione or Tonks had seen Harry. According to Dumbledore he's been around plenty, helping Nicholas move out and Harry move in. Apparently even Tonks got to say goodbye to Nicholas and asked her to pass on his well wishes to Hermione. Hermione's frustrated huffs left Tonks wondering if maybe Hermione had the hots for the older man. Of course 'older' seems a bit insufficient to describe that difference in age.

One night the two staff members camped out in the hallway leading to the DADA office. Unsurprisingly they were unable to locate Harry and were frustrated to hear Albus inform them that they just missed him at breakfast.

Ginny was going to help them try and trap him today. The three girls were fairly certain he was in his staff quarters at the moment and were debating the best way to finally nail him down and get him talking to them.

"Why not just put sleeping spells on all the corridors around here?" Ginny asked.

Hermione shrugged. "I'm not sure he uses the corridors. He could just be Potty-popping all over the castle. And he might spot those."

Tonks frowned. "None of the elves would let us slip anything in his food would they?"

Ginny shook her head. "Apprentice Dobby wouldn't let something like that past him."

Hermione sighed. "We cannot contact him at all. He's completely avoiding us, even though every other staff member has run into him and talked to him."

Tonks was thinking deeply. "I'm remembering in the muggle Superman movies, Lois would just fall off a building or a waterfall to bring her cheeky git around to save her. So who wants me to push them off the Astronomy Tower?"

Hermione and Ginny just looked at each other and shook their heads at Tonks' suggestion. Hermione added, "If you remember in the movie, Tonks, I'm pretty sure she fell in the waterfall, got soaked, nearly drowned, and it didn't work."

Tonks responded with a small "oh."

"Could we put glue everywhere until he gets stuck? Once we get a hold of him we can guilt him into meeting us more regularly." Ginny suggested.

"What if we tried sending him a note with an owl?" a new voice suggested.

Hermione shook her head. "That's too obvi- HARRY!"

Harry smiled as his bellowing friend. "Hermy!"

Ginny and Tonks both lunged for Harry to grab him in a hug, though they did bounce back at first smacking into his body.

"Where have you been?" an indignant Hermione yelled. Though it was unsure whether she was indignant that he had been avoiding them, or that she was having to wait her turn to hug him.

"Umm…moving in. Figuring out how to teach. Talking to Albus and the rest of the staff. Where have you been?" Harry explained releasing Tonks and Ginny and giving Hermione a hug.

"Looking for you!" the three ladies said in unison.

"Aww" Harry smiled. "My wenches miss me."

"Oi!" Tonks interrupted. "Be nice. We've just been wanting to see you."

Harry's eyes twinkled. "So I gathered. Nicholas seemed to think it would be in my best interests to avoid you for a little while. Although he was quite taken with your breasts, Hermione and was trying to determine if there were levels of perfection. I inquired about when he saw them and he explained that Neville showed him." Harry shook his head and asked, "What on earth has become of the innocent girl I used to go to school with!"

Hermione went red with a mix of embarrassment and anger. "Shush you! He's a dirty old man with an adolescent mind."

Ginny and Tonks were a bit shocked to hear no denials of this unnamed incident from Hermione.

Harry looked surprised. "Good lord Hermione. He's older than most dirt and you're crushing like a first year."

Hermione's inability to say any of the things she kept wanting to left her standing their struggling to make sounds with her mouth. This only assured Ginny and Tonks of the truth of poor deviant Hermione's feelings.

"Do you want me to hurt you, Harry?" Hermione managed to say without unclenching her teeth.

Harry smiled. "Certainly not until we've agreed on a safe word." This had the desired effect of silencing one girl's fuming and two other girls' laughter as they all considered that statement and found themselves a bit flustered.

"Man you three are easy." Harry added. "But seriously, I thought I could use a trip out of the castle, and decided an appearance in public might make the next year a bit easier. And I thought you all might like to join me."

Ginny and Tonks quickly hooked an arm through one of Harry's and assumed their positions on either side. Harry saw the frustration on Hermione's face and somehow always felt a bit more childish around these ladies. With a smile, a bloody visceral arm exploded out of Harry's stomach and the hand opened towards Hermione. "Did you want to hold my arm too, Hermione?"

Hermione paled a bit and stepped back. "No, I think I'll just wait my turn for a proper arm thank you." Hermione turned around and the four headed on out of Hogwarts.

The illusion disappeared from Harry's gaping wound of a stomach. As they walked Harry stage whispered to Ginny and Tonks. "Isn't that cute? She's waiting on great Grandpappy Nicky to offer her a proper arm."

Hermione whipped around and cast a bright orange hex Harry's way. The two girls next to him jumped startled, but Harry barely moved as a ring appeared in front of him and swallowed up the curse.

"Are we going to behave now?" Harry asked as though scolding a bad dog.

Hermione snarled but nodded. "Where'd that spell go anyway?"

Harry shrugged and said "Potions classroom. I just send most extra spells to fly around in there." Harry continued walking without his escorts who were smiling at the thought of random hexes flying into the Potions instructors. "For the sake of peace, let's avoid the holding arms part ladies. Besides, we're off to scout out the main competition for my wenches' hearts."

Ginny pursed her lips curiously, "Malfoy?"

Harry just made a pained face, while Hermione went up to Ginny and slapped her soundly across the cheek. Tonks was watching them a bit curiously.

"What did you do that for?" Ginny exclaimed.

"Ginny! Listen to yourself!" Hermione explained, "You remember our promise in my sixth year."

"What?" Ginny smartly replied.

Harry and Tonks looked at each other sheepishly and continued to watch.

"You remember," Hermione continued. "We promised each other that if we ever found ourselves attracted to Malfoy, it'd be up to us to smack the crazy out of the other."

"But that was because we thought he was an evil git!" Ginny cried.

Harry added, "He is a git. Just not the genocide-loving mortal enemy sort of evil git. More the bloody annoying ponce type."

Tonks and Hermione nodded with Harry's assessment.

"Fine," Ginny said with a roll of her eyes. "Forget the git. So who is the competition for your wenches' hearts?"

"Stop calling us wenches!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Can we at least keep moving people?" Tonks asked tired of standing around.

"Yeah," Harry said. "Why are we walking anyway? Come here." And with a firm hold on all three of the girls he quickly popped them away to reappear in the foyer of St. Mungo's. The three girls were a bit disoriented at the quick change of surroundings.

"A little more warning next time, please," Hermione asked as she steadied herself.

Harry shrugged. "Sorry. Never tried popping more than one other person before. Good to know three is easy enough. As for the competition, it's been a while since I saw Simon, and figured if I'm out in the public now I owed him a visit."

The three girls all let out little coos thinking of Simon. And their caring immature source of transportation too. Harry just rolled his eyes and led the way through the halls to the new permanent children's wing. A few quick discussions and Harry had managed to get clearance to take Simon out for the afternoon and dinner. They arrived at Simon's room and found him playing with two Harry Potter action figures. Harry quickly silenced the girls from any comment with a vicious stare. Particularly since Simon was playing a wedding and the bride and groom were both Harry Potter. Hermione seemed to find this funnier than the others but hadn't attracted Simon's attention yet.

Finally Harry cleared his throat and asked, "Am I interrupting something?"

Simon, who was presiding over the wedding, paused and looked up. His face was surprised and he blurted out "Harry? Uncle Poncy!" Before dropping his action figures and running up to hug the young man.

"How are you doing, Simon?" Harry asked.

"I'm bored, Uncle Poncy." Simon explained before hugging the rest of his guests. "Hiya Aunt Ginny, Aunt Tonky, Aunt Hermy. What're you guys doing here?"

"We wanted to see you Simon!" Ginny responded hugging him back. "You feeling up to hanging out with us this afternoon? We'll try not to be boring."

"Of course I'm up for it! What are we going to do?" Simon exclaimed with glee. He was holding his arms up towards his Uncle Poncy apparently expecting to be picked up. Harry obliged him and threw Simon up on his shoulders.

"What do you want to do, Simon? It's up to you." Harry said as they walked out of St. Mungo's. Simon was smiling and loving the view of the world from Harry Potter's shoulders.

"Can we go to Diagon Alley first? And then maybe do some flying?" An excited young man said. "Remember, Uncle Poncy, you promised to take me flying."

Harry laughed. "I know I did. I can show you the Quidditch Pitch at Hogwarts and we can fly there. But first Diagon Alley. Ladies, if you would please place a hand on me." Harry paused for a second. "Aunt Tonky, I meant above the waist." A blush, a movement, and the group of five disappeared from St. Mungo's and reappeared in a familiar back room of The Leaky Cauldron.

"Did you want to walk now, Simon?" Harry asked the young boy on his shoulders.

"No thanks, Uncle Poncy. I was wanting to show the world that I get to ride on Harry Potter." Simon explained. The three ladies all reacted on instinct and sent jealous stares towards Simon before catching onto the innocence of the child.

Harry grumbled a bit while the three ladies with them chuckled. "Fine. But don't blame me if you end up on the cover of Witches Weekly."

"Do you really think so?" Simon asked excitedly. The only response was louder laughter from the girls as they walked out after greeting Tom, and made their way to the brick wall in back.

"Here Simon, you can use this wand and tap the brick to open the alleyway. If you're going to be freeloading a ride up top, you can at least make yourself useful." Harry explained handing a wand to the young boy.

They paused waiting for Simon who wasn't making any movements towards the brick. "Do you know which brick it is, Simon?"

Simon nodded quietly. "Yeah, but Nurse Ratched told me I shouldn't use any magic. It's dangerous for me because there's something wrong about mine."

Harry nodded. "Alright if your nurse says so you should probably listen to her. Why don't you just instead push the brick like a button?"

Simon did as he was told and was shocked to see that it worked and the archway opened up to reveal the bustling street. "Whoa! I thought you was messing with me, Uncle Poncy." Simon looked around at the magical alley he liked so much. Harry was just standing there letting Simon enjoy his time out when the boy in question ordered out, "Whaddya waiting for? Onward march!"

Harry and the three ladies chuckled at the nine year old and led the way through the alley. It took almost five whole seconds before somewhere yelled out "Harry Potter!" and the crowds around them began to swell. Simon was loving the attention. Harry, when prompted for an autograph smartly responded. "Nope no autographs from me. You can have my assistant Simon give you one though." Harry looked upwards at the boy on his shoulders. "Simon? Think you can sign my name for me?" He nodded happily and proceeded to try and sign "Uncle Poncy" for the admiring fan. When after three minutes Simon was still working on it, they had managed to ensure no more requests for autographs for their constitutional in the alley. The fans continued to swarm much to Harry's discomfort, but he wasn't about to deny this to Simon. After about fifteen minutes in which they hadn't actually moved any further down the alley, Simon raised his voice. "Alright people, that's enough! I gotta keep my Uncle Poncy in line! So get out of our way!" He punctuated this with slaps to the top of Harry's head.

Harry was more than happy to extend his magic a little and clear them a path. "Nice work, Simon. Why don't we head on down to the end of the alley and then go to Hogwarts and fly for a little while?"

Simon nodded his agreement, and the group of five continued their leisurely walk down the alley. They continued attracting the crowds and there were a few reporters and photographers yelling out questions that the group ignored. When they were a good block past Gringotts, Simon spoke up. "Okay. Let's go fly now."

Harry just looked at the girls who happily placed hands on Harry and they disappeared with a pop and reappeared right outside the broom shed by the Quidditch Pitch.

"Wow!" Simon said as he saw Hogwarts for the first time. Harry sent a message to Hogwarts and she responded by doing her best to welcome Simon.

Ginny, Tonks, and Hermione all noticed the castle seemed to almost glow with warmth of home and began wondering how in the heck Harry had managed that.

"Yep, that's Hogwarts. I was thinking you might want to go out for dinner, but if you like instead we can eat up there and give you a brief tour of the school."

Simon smiled. "I wanna see the castle! The healers tell me I probably won't get to go to Hogwarts but I'm still working on them."

"Sounds like a plan," Harry said setting Simon down. "Hey, how was your party at Malfoy Manor?"

Simon was walking on his own now and frowned a bit. "It hasn't happened yet."

"It hasn't? Why not?" Hermione asked.

"Because Mr. Malfoy keeps ignoring me! I've sent him dozens of letters and even asked a couple of nurses to try and talk to him for me."

The air around Harry became electric. "He what! That arrogant… excuse me for a second." Harry stopped moving and closed his eyes in concentration. He put his index finger on the middle of his forehead and began tracing slow circles around his head. On the third pass, he stopped on the back right side of his head and turned his body. He wrapped his hand around an invisible thread of magic and gave it a yank. With a loud crack, Draco Malfoy appeared next to them all with a loud yelp. He was holding a teddy bear in one hand, and was rubbing his arm where Tibbles was located quite furiously. "Crikey Potter. I forgot you can do that. Oh sheesh. Through Hogwarts wards to. That makes me feel safe."

The complete lack of emotion on Harry's face and thick tension in the air made Malfoy pause and think hard. He looked at his other two co-workers, Tonks and Hermione, and saw them frowning at him too. "Aw crud. What did I do now? Whatever it was I'm sorry."

Harry remained stoic and coldly asked, "Why are you ignoring Simon's attempts to contact you to set up his party at Malfoy Manor?"

Draco furrowed his brow. "Simon?" Finally the pieces came together. "Oh right! The charity auction. Man, you had me scared for a minute there."

Harry remained calm and arched an eyebrow. "Is there something else I should know about?" He laced his words with magic to make him sound even more imposing.

Draco cringed. "Err… no. I mean… I don't think." He was having troubles and was still rubbing at Tibbles on his arm, who seemed to be particularly itchy. "Aw knock it off, Potter. You're freaking me out here."

The girls had never seen Draco act so, well… human. Harry was enjoying this quite a bit, and was continuing on with it mainly for Simon's benefit. He maintained his intent stare at Draco.

"For the love of Merlin, Potter. Just Legilimens my whole life and stop staring at me like that." Draco pleaded.

Harry smiled a bit finally. "You want me to read your mind? You've been around Severus too much. You don't even fight back anymore. It takes the fun out of it."

Draco smirked at him. "I take the battles I can win, and make sure the ones I lose aren't fun for the winner." He shrugged. "And you're going to turn down this opportunity to glean all my wicked plans for you this year?"

Harry waved him off with a confident smile. "You're too certain that I haven't already."

Draco looked at Harry closely and saw a smirk that told very little. His arm started itching like crazy. He smacked himself there mumbling "Bad Tibbles."

"Anyways, Draco. You're here to explain why you haven't thrown a party yet as well as make all the necessary plans to rectify this mistake." Harry stated as fact.

"Right," Draco said. He turned to Simon, "I'm sorry Simon. I was so busy with my new job at Hogwarts I haven't even checked most of my unsolicited mail."

Ginny smiled and pointed out. "Well aren't you lucky that it's summer now."

Draco rolled his eyes and drawled, "Brilliant observation, Weaslette—Yeowch!" He was slapping Tibbles again.

"Play nice." Harry warned.

"Sorry," Draco said with the enthusiasm of a dementor. "Very well, Simon. What would you like? When? How many and who?"

Simon who had begun clinging to his Uncle Poncy and Aunt Tonky stepped forward now and said. "I want a party for everyone in my ward." He added after a brief pause and encouraging smile from his friends, "And my Uncle Poncy and Aunts Tonky, Aunts Hermy, and Aunts Ginny. And it won't be boring!"

Draco smiled at the young boy's demands. "Not boring? That could be tricky with all those Aunts there."

Harry smiled at getting an invitation. "I think I can help make sure it's not too boring."

Draco winced. "Oh lord. Potter around children his mental age. I'm going to need some stronger safety wards, aren't I?"

Harry smiled at Draco now. "I'd love to see you come up with some wards to stop me." He smirked challengingly at Draco. "But how about this Malfoy: The Saturday after next. Next weekend is the full moon, so if there are any young werewolves, they will be back to normal health by then. You set it all up. And you will make this fun. I expect some good entertainment for children. Games, prizes, cake, and perhaps ponies or something similar."

"Ponies? You want ponies?" Draco was aghast.

Harry maintained eye contact with Draco. "Simon, do you want ponies?"

Simon cheered. "Yeah! Ponies!" Simon pumped his fist and added, "But not if the dragons are going to eat them."

Harry snorted and turned to Simon. "I like you're thinking." He was chuckling and turned back to Draco. "Did you get all that, Malfoy?"

Draco was just looking at Simon in shock. He shook his head and turned back to Harry. "Yeah. I'm not too certain on the dragons but I'll see what I can do and come up with something. You might have to sign off as an honorary wrangler to get away with having dangerous beasts around sick children."

Simon now noticed the teddy bear still in Draco's hand. "Is that for me?" he asked innocently.

Draco only now caught on to the fact that he had brought Mr. Hendrick Von Snarglepuss the Third with him. He gulped uneasily and looked at the curious witches and cute young boy. "Err yeah… of course. I mean who else would it be for." Draco finished with a nervous laugh.

Simon smiled brightly and reached for the teddy.

Draco was very reluctantly holding it out for Simon, but he was not letting go.

Tonks, Hermione, and Ginny were all watching Draco struggle with wide eyes.

Harry sighed to himself and said "Hold on, Simon. Let me double check that he's not giving you anything cursed. These Slytherins can be crafty." With a roll of his eyes Harry took the teddy and subtly duplicated it. He held the original behind his back and handed the duplicate to Simon. "It's clean. And you might want to give your new bear a name."

While Simon was checking out his new teddy bear, Harry was turning the original into a portkey. With his back to Draco, Harry flipped him his teddy bear and said, "See ya later, Draco. Tell Salazar when you need my help setting up the party." Just as he finished, Draco caught Mr. Hendrick Von Snarglepuss the Third and disappeared from the Quidditch Pitch.

It was probably for the best that Draco disappeared then, because Simon just yelled out, "I'm going to call my new bear Harry!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Let's get a broom and go flying."

The three ladies were still standing there in quiet shock. Draco Malfoy was not quite the same person around Harry as he was around everyone else. They were reevaluating their opinion of him. Hermione looked over and saw Ginny's eyes were still wide and glazed over a bit. Hermione responded quickly and began slapping her. "Get that crazy out of there, Ginny!"