120 year old baby
The next morning Harry was up and ready before his alarm clock went off. Reaching over the sleeping toddler next to him, Harry picked up his dark round glasses and gazed at the clock, it was 7.23. Turning off the alarm, Harry slowly slid his arm out from under little Albus so as not to wake him and rose, as gently as he could, from under the warm covers of his Gryffindor bed.
Looking over, Harry saw that Ron was not in his. Finding this a little odd Harry turned towards his trunk at the end of his bed and picked out some clean clothes and bathroom equipment for both him and Albus before moving towards the bathroom.
A few minutes later Harry was dressed and ready for the day ahead. Seeing that it was almost time for breakfast, Harry moved over to where young Albus lay sleeping.
Bending low next to him, Harry began to coo. "Albus, albus wake up sweet its Harry" while shaking the boy softly. Harry thought about what happened the day before. He had made up his mind that there would be no more arguing between them all and that, in time he would tell McGonagall what Albus had said about Malfoy the day before. "Albus, come on, time to get up now".
Slowly Albus turned where he lay and opened his eyes, looking for a moment confused. When he saw Harry however, his eyes suddenly became alert. Seeing the boy suddenly look worried Harry began to try and clam him down. "It's ok Albus, I'm sorry that I frightened you yesterday, I didn't mean it ok?" seeing the boy nod his small head, made Him smile. Harry then moved to pick up the boy. "come on its time to get up now and have some breakfast". Picking up the silent toddler from under the covers, Harry took him to the bathroom to get him ready for the day.
"Morning Harry, hello Albus, did you sleep well? Asked Hermione when they joined her in the Gryffindor common room. "Yea" was all Albus could muster before yawing aloud. Smiling at him Hermione placed a little kiss on his head before moving towards the portrait door. "Hey where's Ron this morning? Asked Harry as they climbed out.
Hermione continued to walk forward "Oh, He's with Angelina, she wanted to talk with him early this morning so he went down with her" said Hermione. Harry noticed that she was clearly not happy with something, but decided not to ask what, not this early anyway.
In no time at all they were at the heavy double doors of the great hall. Preparing to enter, Harry re-adjusting Albus in his arms, making them both more comfortable. Walking in, Harry glared again at all the students that dared to look in their direction, many of them, he noticed, turned back round quickly before meeting his eyes. However there was one that continued to stare at them all the way to their seats. Draco.
Glaring as hard as he could back at him, Harry noticed that Draco was smirking in his direction, and then, much to Harry's discomfort, made the cutting motion across his neck disturbingly before turning away. Fearing what was going on there, Harry quickened his pace to their table and placed Albus in his chair at the front of the hall next to the staff table. Saying good morning to Professor McGonagall, Harry set about sorting Albus out something to eat.
Before Harry could ponder Draco odd behaviour further, Ron came striding in and sat down in a hump next to Hermione, whom glared at him, and quickly reached for the nearest dish of bacon.
"Bloody hell, she's such a pain in the butt, I swear, if I don't drop dead of exhaustion at the end of the day she'll cripple me, anyway what are you going to do about Albus while were practicing Harry?"
Wondering what Ron meant, Harry asked what he was talking about. "Come on Harry, surely you haven't forgot that we have Quidditch practice today, she's already had me do some practice already". he said, while reaching for the plate of eggs. "Don't you remember Angelina telling us that will start practicing this week?"
"Oh Honestly Ron, I just can't believe it, Angelina knows that we all have to look after Albus today and every other day, how can you put Quidditch before our headmaster?" said Hermione looking annoyed, before continuing. "If you ask me, I think its really foolish of Angelina to start Quidditch practice so early in the year, especially when she knows what we've got to do"
"Oh come on Hermione" said Ron, now looking annoyed. "We've looked after the rug rat for a whole week now, especially Harry and me, its high time we had a bit of a break for a few hours, don't you agree Harry?"
Harry didn't say anything at first. He had forgotten Quidditch practice was on that day. Damn it, he thought, he had been so busy looking after Albus that he had pushed all thought of Quidditch from his mind. Looking down at the small boy, he saw that he was eating happily away at his toast, now not noticing the little disagreement between them. "I had forgotten about it" he admitted, "What time is practice today through?" he asked looking directly at Ron and avoiding Hermione's annoyed look.
"At 3.40 this afternoon" answered Ron with a gob full of Bacon and eggs. Harry nodded at him before turning his attention back to Draco's behaviour. What was going on with him? Why did he do that sign at us? Has he told his father about Albus? What is he planning? Does he know something we don't? Does Voldemort know?
Harry suddenly felt a tug on his left arm, startling him out of his disturbing thoughts. Looking down he saw that Albus was looking at him. "I aw fimished now Hawee" he said, looking pleased with himself. Smiling down at him, Harry wiped his face before picking him up and joining the other two whom were getting up to leave themselves.
However as they almost reached the doors, Draco and his cronies pushed past them on their way out. Giving them all, particularly the small boy, an evil look. Feeling Albus shiver in his arms and tighten his small hands on his shoulders, made Harry feel very worried indeed.
What was Draco smirking at? Why did he do that sign earlier?
Deciding that he couldn't put his fear off any longer, he addressed his two best mates. "Hey guys, look there is something I have to tell you". Ron and Hermione both turned at the same time to look at Harry and noticed with concern that Harry was looking more worried than ever they had seen him before.
Thanks to Hermione's quick thinking, she managed to come up a decent excuse for why Harry, Ron and Herself could not be in class at that point. Harry was feeling grateful that it was Charms Class and not potions this time since Professor Snape would never have let them miss his class. Hermione had pretended that Albus was feeling a little bit ill, and we needed to take him to the hospital wing.
Understanding our fake situation Professor Flitwick squeaked a happy "not at all Miss Granger, make sure you all take care of him then".
Deciding on the best place to tell his friends what was going on, Harry marched his way up to Gryffindor tower. Once they had settled down and had Albus playing with some colour-changing crayons, Harry began to tell them what he saw Draco signal in their direction when they walked in and what he did when they walked out.
Once he had finished he sat back, feeling a little better that he had told them. Watching them closely he saw that Hermione was biting her lip with worry while looking at Albus protectively. At the same time Ron was starring at the floor with his mouth slightly open, looking very aggravated.
"Oh, that little slimy git" said Ron suddenly "you wait till I get my hands on him, I'll ring his bloody neck, then I'll…" Ron made a few violent hand gestures along with his explanations.
"Ronald!" exclaimed Hermione seeing what he was doing. "I don't think that doing that would do any good". Ron stopped what he was doing, but continued to look irritated.
"Well we've got to tell Professor McGonagall now for sure" said Hermione at last. "After what Draco did yesterday to him and what Albus said as well, we have to tell her" Harry noticed that she was looking determinedly at him now. Harry nodded at her, finally making a decision.
"Alright, we'll go to McGonagall, but not now" Seeing that Hermione was going to protest, Harry finished his explanation. "Look Hermione, we can't tell her yet, I know this sounds stupid, but what if Malfoy was just making that signal to scare us? You know how bad his lot are, perhaps he just wanted us to think he was going to do something, or that he knew something, a hand gesture is not enough evidence of a threat to take to McGonagall"
Hermione was looking irritated now. Again she went to retort but this time Ron cut her off. "He's right Hermione, I mean we know Malfoy is a bloody git and an idiot, but even he's not so stupid as to try and hurt Albus here at Hogwarts, especially when were with him twenty/four seven". Hermione still didn't seem happy with out explanations. She wasn't even looking at us now. Instead she was gazing over at Albus, watching him play with little roaring Gryffindor lion.
It occurred to Harry at that moment that she had been acting very motherly towards Albus over the last few days. Perhaps this is what happens with all girls when their around young kids, he thought. Not for one moment realising how he had been acting around the boy as well.
Sensing that she wasn't going to agree with him and Ron yet, Harry made one final attempt to sway her. "Look Hermione, I promise that if Malfoy does or says just one more thing about Albus, then we'll go and tell her everything ok?" Slowly she lifted her eyes off of Albus and turned to Harry sternly.
After a moment she spoke, "Alright Harry, well wait until he does something else, but I don't care how small a thing it is, if he so much as looks at him, then I'm straight to McGonagall, ok" Seeing that she was dead firm with this Harry agreed.
After what seemed like hours, they all heard the bell go for lunch. "Right" said Ron, jumping up from his chair smiling. "lets go and get some food now, I feel so hungry I could eat a hippogriff, then after that, we've got Quidditch practice, and you know how annoyed Angelina gets when were late".
"Right come on guys, stop messing around Fred, George and come over here,…… right now this is it guys,…. I've decided that we should train extra early this year, we have to win the cup, I know we can,….. now Ron I want you to concentrate on blocking your left ring, you really need to work on that, and the rest of you,……. make sure you practice your areas to your full ability, ok lets go"
Once Angelina's speech was done, the team walked out, brooms in hand, carrying the Quidditch supplies. Harry mounted his broom, as did all but Angelina and kicked off from the ground. Feeling the sudden rush of wind through his hair, Harry felt again that fantastic feeling of freedom overcome him.
The sky was clear of clouds at this point, with patches of dark sky creeping in over them. Harry looked down and saw that Hermione was sitting in the middle of the stands, with little Albus on her lab, cheering on the team. Harry could see that Albus was bouncing up and down on Hermione's lap, clearly enjoying what he was seeing.
Harry smiled down at him from high up on his broom. Suddenly feeling more relaxed about the worries before, he started to look for the golden snitch. Zooming in and out of the bludgers, beaters, the quaffle and cheaters, Harry suddenly noticed a speck of Gold right in front of Albus.
Harry readied himself to excel forward, but before he moved an inch he saw something else within the stands. Squinting as hard as he could he realised it was a person. Harry couldn't see their face from this distance, but knew who it was in a second. Feeling fear suddenly wash over him, Harry called out to Hermione to look behind her.
The wind was picking up its speed, which inevitably carried Harry's voice from Hermione. Seeing that the figure was getting closer to them, he tried again. "Hermione, look behind you" yelled Harry. Other members of the group were now stopping in mid-air wondering what he was yelling.
"HERMIONE, WATCH OUT" he screamed into the air. But she didn't hear. Suddenly he saw the dark figure take out his wand right behind her and Albus.
Out of a feeling of sudden panic, Harry leaned right over his broomstick and flew directly at them as fast as he could. Everyone had stopped and looked at what was going on at this point. Harry saw that the figure was right behind Albus now. Harry was closing in on them, he would be between Albus and this person in seconds.
Suddenly out of nowhere, something hits him hard on the head, knocking the air out of him. Harry felt himself fall off his broomstick and land on the pitch with a dull thud.
With the last seconds of consciousness, Harry saw that members of the team has started to land near him. Hermione was holding Albus, trying to comfort the frightened child. And the dark figure disappear out of the stands.
I am sooooo sorry for taking so long, so many problems and delays, computer breakdown, holiday, rubbish exams.
I have my next chapter all set out and ready so i promise i won't take so long next time.
Pls lots of reviews.
Cheers
