Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the associated characters. Do you think FF.n will let me off if I stop putting these up? After 94 stories and I'm-not-sure-how-many chapters, you'd think people will have gotten the message by now.

Summary: See Previous chapters.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Rain, rain, go away…

Why was it, Natasja wondered, that every time she didn't bother to bring an umbrella, she managed to get rained on. The weather predicted blue skies and warm weather, which was why the family had gone for a picnic in Hyde Park for Harry's birthday, only to get hit by a sun-shower on the way back to the subway. Worse still, it was Sunday, so most of the shops had closed up.

Finally spotting one that wasn't, the group of them darted in, five-year-old Denis clinging onto Henry's hand. Looking around, it turned out to be a herbalist shop, which tended to make Henry wince. There had been far too many times where there had been a mix up by the Ministry, who's higher ups tended to be incompetent enough that they couldn't tell the difference between Muggle herbalists, and Magical folk skirting the edge of the Statute of Secrecy.

Also, Herbology had never been Henry's best subject, and many of the non-magical plants looked far too much like the dangerous magical ones that he had fallen foul of in class.

He had made the mistake of telling his wife this, and while she was nice enough not to laugh too much, she still looked amused every time it happened. Luckily, any smart remarks were forestalled this time when a tall, dark-skinned woman entered, a boy Harry's age following her, most likely her son or nephew. "May I help you?"

She had the hint of an accent, which Natasja tried to place as Henry shook his head. "Sorry, we just ducked in to get out of the rain. I don't suppose you can tell us where might still be open for us to buy an umbrella?"

The woman shook her head, smiling sympathetically at the bedraggled trio. "No, but I was about to put on a pot of tea, and you're welcome to wait out the weather, if you like. It doesn't look like much more than a shower."

Natasja smiled in return. "Thank you. I'm Natasja Irons, and this is my husband, Henry, and our adopted son, Harry Potter-Irons. Also Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and Colin and Dennis Creevy."

The woman nodded. "Dianna Thomas, and this is my son, Dean. My daughters are out visiting relatives with my husband, so it's just us at the moment."

Dean waved up to Dennis, who requested to be put down, and the children barely waited for permission before running off to look at Dean's drawings of all kinds of monsters. With any luck, any accidental mention of magical creatures would be passed off as a particularly active imagination.

The adults, meanwhile, sat down with a cup of tea, one eye on the covered veranda. Mrs Thomas, as it turned out, was born in Argentina, but had moved here with her father and Bruja mother, from whom she had inherited the shop, when she was a child. She told them this with a challenging stare, giving the impression that too many people had become friends before finding out and laughing her away as a quack.

Henry knew the feeling, as he had started to form friendships with a number of people in his first year at Hogwarts, only for many of them to drop him when they discovered that he was a Muggleborn. He was about to say something when he glanced to where the children were playing and saw a number of balls floating in mid-air, acting a lot like bumper-cars as they tried to knock each other out of the air.

Natasja started frantically trying to think of an excuse, but Mrs Thomas only sighed. "I don't know what I'm going to do when he's old enough to need proper teaching. Most who claim to do magic these days are stage magicians or New Age idiots who only want to look impressive, but have no respect for the craft."

A large book shot through the cluster of balls, scattering them like nine-pins. Henry closed his eyes as Mrs Thomas raised an eyebrow. "That's new, though."

Natasja mentally cursed. It looked like certain people had been experimenting with doing accidental magic on purpose, and while they had all been told not to practise magic on their own (Natasja had caught Harry and Hermione flipping through one of Henry's Potion books, and extended it to 'magic', just in case), Neville was the only one to be actually told that it shouldn't be possible, so they had probably met with some measure of success. The Hogwarts Professors were really going to have fun with this lot. "No, it isn't." she looked at her husband. "Do you want to break them up, or shall I?"

Henry shot a meaningful glance at their Hostess, who looked faintly startled that they were so calm. Deciding that as Henry knew more about it, and was better at explaining this kind of thing, Natasja stood and went out, smiling to herself as she listened to her husband. "Actually, formal schooling might not be such an issue…"

She stood just outside the door, crossed her arms, and waited. When children were deliberately disobeying, they were always on the lookout for whoever had told them not to do it, and sure enough, it only took a few minutes for Neville to spot her and let out a yelp. Everyone looked to see what had startled him, and Natasja carefully caught the ball that had accidentally shot her way, inches away from slamming into her face hard enough to break something. "That is why we told you not to try anything by yourselves. What if that had been one of Dean's sisters, or if I hadn't caught it in time."

There were even worse things that could have happened, but stating personal potential consequences tended to get the message across more effectively. As expected, all six children looked horrified at the idea. Dennis immediately ran over, wrapping his arms around her leg. "We're sorry! We didn't mean to hurt anyone!"

Natasja pried him lose, patting his head. "I know you didn't, but when Uncle Henry and I tell you something, we usually have a very good reason. We told you not to play with magic unless we were there because we don't want there to be any accidents, do you understand?"

There were nods all around, but of course they didn't stay silent for long. Colin lasted all of ten seconds. "Did you see? Dean can make things fly and change colours just like we can! Isn't that so cool? Can he come and play with us sometimes?"

Dean didn't wait for her to reply. "I'll go ask Mum. She's always saying that she'll try to find someone who can teach me magic."

Harry grinned proudly. "We learn more than magic. Wait until you see what my mum can do with a skillet and a rolling pin."

Oh, dear.

hp

hp

hp

hp

A/N: Right, another chapter up. Sorry they're a bit short, and thanks to everyone who reviewed last time. Yes, I've introduced another Canon character, think of the potential. Don't worry, we're getting close to the Hogwarts years, and then we'll really start having fun.

If you liked it, go check out my other Harry Potter stories.

Also, a friend and I were discussing the 'romance' in the Twilight series. I thought nearly every pairing except Ben/Angela and Jess/Mike was sick, twisted and/or creepy, but she thought it was a love for the ages. (Yeah, I know, but we've been friends since age two, so I can't just drop her for her taste in books) I disagreed, and she challenged me to write a story to argue my points. If anyone wants to look at Nature's Kick Up The Backside to see if it works as an argument, I'd appreciate it.