Author's Note: FINALLY! This chapter is at last finished. So sorry that it's been quite a long while since I posted a new chapter, though I'd hoped/wished that I'd been done with this first section (Year 1) of the fanfiction a long time ago. Urgh! I absolutely HATE that I'm a slow writer. Anyway… please let me know of any errors and/or inconsistencies. Enjoy!

WARNING: Contains depictions of child nudity, corporal punishment: spankings.

Rated: Fiction M (I've given this chapter a Fiction M rating for obvious reasons. If you don't like it, don't read it!)


Chapter 15

Holiday at Hogwarts

Year 1 - Hogwarts Castle - Earth

As the month of December was steadily approaching, Harry and his friends were all happily looking forward to the upcoming holiday season, and luckily for Potter, he knew roughly everything that there was to know concerning Christmas Day; things such as giving and exchanging gifts, the tradition of burning a yule log, etc., thanks in part to Sirius' many stories that had been recounted to him over the years. One morning, however, while everyone was at breakfast down in the Great Hall, Ron unexpectedly received a brief letter from his mother, Molly, that made him slunk down low in his seat at the table with much apparent dread.

"Oh, no!" the redhead moaned loudly with irritable resentment.

"What's the matter, Ron?" asked Harry, looking a tad concerned.

"It's mum and dad. They're going off to Romania to visit with Charlie for the holidays," Ron informed his friends, who had apparently all gathered close together; wanting to know what the letter was about. "What's more, they're planning to bring Hermione here to the castle, and have us babysit her while they're away."

"Can't they ask either the Longbottoms or the Lovegoods to watch her?" the Padawan Learner inquired.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Neville immediately stated with regret upon hearing his friend's suggestion. "Mum, dad, and I would all most certainly love to look after her while the Weasley family's away, but I'm afraid we already have plans made."

Just then, one of the students from Hufflepuff House, who had introduced herself as Hannah Abbott to all four members of the group sometime earlier in the year during one of their classes together (which comprised of both Gryffindor as well as Hufflepuff students), had faintly overheard Ron say something that seemed to peek her interest; as she promptly got up from her seat and walked over to the redhead and politely inquired about what exactly it was that he had said in regards to the subject of babysitting.

"What does it matter to you, anyway?" Ron retorted somewhat snobbishly after reluctantly explaining the situation to her, thus making Hannah wince.

"Ron!" shouted Harry rather sharply at his friend. "Don't be so rude to her like that! She's only curious."

"She was eavesdropping in on our conversation, Harry," countered Weasley. "I'd say that's pretty rude, wouldn't you?"

"I'm so sorry, Ron!" the little girl instantly apologized, as she looked like she was coming close to breaking down. "I didn't mean to do it! Honest!"

"It's quite alright, Hannah," replied Harry at once in a gentle manner. "There's nothing to be sorry for. No harm done."

Abbott immediately relaxed at hearing the young Padawan's words and nodded with a grateful smile towards him. She then proceeded to tell the group that both she and the few Hufflepuff students who were going to be staying at the castle for the holidays would all like to watch over the 'baby' for Ron and the others, instead, which surprised not only Weasley, but Potter also.

"Ah, well, I suppose-" Ron started to say, before being abruptly cut off.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" exclaimed Hannah with overwhelming joy. She then ran back over to the Hufflepuff table and explained to the wrest of her classmates about what she had just now discussed with Ron, Harry, and the other Gryffindor students. And her classmates immediately urged her on to go directly to Professor Sprout in order to get her permission concerning the matter of wanting to babysit little Hermione themselves.

Neville immediately leaned over towards Ron, and asked "Shouldn't we have told her?"

"Told her what?" the redhead inquired back, looking a bit confused.

"About how old Hermione really is," said Longbottom, rather matter-of-factly. "Sooner or later, someone is bound to ask about her age."

Upon hearing this, Ron contemplated the notion for several seconds, before looking at Neville once more and instantly shaking his head. "Nah."

Sometime around a fortnight later, while Harry, Ron, Neville, and Parvati were all in the Great Hall eating breakfast one Saturday morning, a familiar sound was heard by the four friends as Hedwig came flying into the hall and promptly dropped a rather large brownish-coloured parcel that was tied-up with thick string (of which Harry had received from Sirius Black, as the young Padawan Learning had at last found some spare time to write to his godfather concerning all the events and goings on at Hogwarts, as well as the many experiences he'd had and people whom he had met before arriving at the school, but also the many lingering questions that he'd been wanting so desperately to ask Sirius regarding the issue with the Sorting Hat, the mysterious voice of some unknown baby inside his head, and more) onto the table; very nearly missing the spoon in Ron's bowl of oatmeal and splattering the redhead directly in the face with his food.

Potter instantly took hold of the package with both hands and placed it directly in front of him after gently moving his half-eaten plate of bacon, eggs, hash browns, and sausages off to the side; glancing down at the tag (which was also firmly secured to the bundle with a short piece of string) and smiling cheerfully to himself.

Almost immediately, the young Padawan Learner got up from his seat at the Gryffindor table and strode briskly, yet carefully, out of the hall with the parcel tucked somewhat tightly underneath his left arm and the half-eaten plate of breakfast food steadily balanced in the grip of his right palm.

Upon getting halfway between the Great Hall and the Gryffindor Tower, while in one of the corridors, Harry promptly sensed that he was in fact being closely followed. And he correctly anticipated that it was most likely Malfoy and his goons, Crabbe and Goyle, who in all likelihood, had been the ones shadowing him from the very moment he'd left the hall.

Thinking quickly, Harry sped-up his pace before swiftly as well as sharply rounding a corner into a smaller adjacent corridor that in turn led directly to the Grand Staircase. And after placing his half-eaten plate of food both very slowly and quietly down on the ground next to the corner wall, the young Padawan gently stood upright once more on his feet; keeping himself absolutely still and silent, patiently waiting and listening as Malfoy and his gang could be heard shuffling their feet as they gradually approached his position. But the little boy was ready for them, as he suddenly had an idea pop into his head.

As the three Slytherins came closer and closer towards the adjoining corridor, they all gave a loud and simultaneous shriek of complete surprise and confusion the instant they were promptly lifted clear off the ground and into the air only a couple feet by their ankles: all three sets of trousers and pants which the trio were wearing quite literally yanked up to their toes as a result, while their shirts fell down over their faces, thus exposing their bare butts as well as their privates.

Screaming and flailing their arms and legs about madly in a total panic, the three Slytherins tried everything they could think of to get themselves down, with no success. Then suddenly, without warning, the trio quite unexpectedly plopped face-down onto the cold hard stone flooring of the castle with a thud, which seemed to hurt a tad more than it initially should have.

Within a matter of seconds, however, all three Slytherins rather quite embarrassingly found themselves surrounded by a large crowd of students (all of them from every House), the vast majority of whom were laughing uncontrollably like wild hyenas at the very, VERY amusing (and perhaps even memorable) sight before them.

"Nice ass, Malfoy!" voiced Ron proudly over the chorus of jubilant laughter.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle immediately got to their feet and attempted to pull-up their trousers and pants again, only to find both to their great horror as well as humiliating shock and embarrassment, that all three boys were now standing almost completely butt naked for all the world to see, with only their socks and shoes still intact on their feet: the frantic and nonstop thrashing about of their limbs causing their loose garments to slip free and drop onto the floor around them.

**THWACK!…THWACK!…THWACK!**

All of a sudden, the three Slytherin boys momentarily leapt off the ground and squealed in pain before turning around to come face-to-face with a most angry looking Professor McGonagall, who stood over them with a wooden paddle in her hand, of which she had transfigured from her wand.

Malfoy immediately gulped with absolute fear and worry the minute he turned his head to see a rather visibly embarrassed and assuredly mad scowl on Professor Snape's face, with the Potions master lifting his arm and pointing in the direction of the entrance to the dungeons of the school.

"You three, in my office, AT ONCE!" he snarled with an unmistakably fuming rage at the three Slytherins.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle frantically reached for their clothes on the ground so as to quickly get themselves covered-up, but three more very firm swats on their nude backsides (this time delivered by Snape's own rough palm) prodded them to simply leave the robes and clothing behind on the floor right where they lay, and march their almost tender little hides down to the dungeon area of the Hogwarts castle to wait for the Potions master in his office, all while rubbing their now light rosy-coloured butt cheeks.

While all three Slytherin students turned around and rather begrudgingly strode through the crowd of other school pupils (who were all still laughing hysterically at their undressed appearance) and straight towards the dungeons, Malfoy gave a surprised jolt as he suddenly felt a hand pinch and then tap his exposed bum: glancing up to see a charming fifth-year student from Ravenclaw House, who was smiling down at him as the blond passed by her. And as the Slytherin trio sauntered towards the staircase, the Ravenclaw girl turned to look at her apparent circle of friends, who were themselves all giggling with sheer amusement as they watched Malfoy's cute little tush disappear out of sight.

Professor Snape, meanwhile, turned and went around the corner into the neighboring passageway; as he strongly suspected that someone was very close-by, either watching and/or listening to everything that had occurred - but Harry was already gone with his parcel and still half-eaten plate of food in hand - just moments before the large crowd had gathered to see what all the commotion was about. Grumbling irritably in frustration, the Potions master then took out his wand, and with a wave, caused the scattered clothing and robes that were still on the ground to completely vanish (only to have them reappear in his office for the Slytherin boys to get redressed - though not before Snape was finished with giving them a nice stern talking to, as well as deciding on their appropriate punishment, not mention giving the three little boys a few more spankings to boot), before grimly striding off towards the dungeons himself.

Fred and George, meanwhile, had quietly slipped away out of sight, and had both managed to get back to Gryffindor Tower and the Common Room just at the exact moment when Potter was entering through the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Hey, Harry!" the twins exclaimed in unison: causing the young Padawan to very nearly jump out of his skin, thus almost losing his plate of food and having it spill-out all over the Common Room rug and flooring.

"Love what you did to Malfoy and the others there, mate!" declared George.

"Truly, one of the best pranks ever! Absolutely ingenious!" Fred added gleefully.

"I was merely trying to lose them," stated Harry. "I wasn't intending to humiliate or embarrass them. Anyways, how did you two get back here before me?"

The twins both leaned in close to Potter so as to be able to talk in a faint whisper.

"That's our little secret, Harry," they softly murmured with a pair of mischievous grins.

Christmas was soon to come, as one morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake had frozen over solid, and on the one hand, the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Professor Quirrell around wherever he went, bouncing off the back of his turban.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, on the other hand, were all given extra harsh detention sentences for over a month, as well as having one-hundred House points each be lost due to what Professor Snape believed was not only their appallingly odious behavior, but also their abhorrent display of indecent exposure to the entire school. While fighting back tears, Draco tried rather desperately to explain what had really happened, and that he was absolutely certain that Potter had something to do with the incident, but unfortunately, to no avail.

Snape was positively livid at the whole situation, and wanted to hear "no feeble excuses" whatsoever from any of them on the subject matter. He had even briefly gone so far as to seriously consider having all three of the little boys expelled from Hogwarts School, but then opted to write a scathingly long letter to each one of their families, instead. And after receiving a response, Draco was positively horrified to learn that his own father, Lucius, was absolutely incensed by his son's behavior; vowing to go so far as to disown the blond outright if anything like that happened again. Not surprisingly, Crabbe and Goyle both received letters of a similar nature, which expressed their own family's disgust at them for what had transpired.

Meanwhile, over in the Hospital Wing, a still unconscious Percy Weasley finally began to slowly stir and then blink his eyes open after having spent roughly the last two months (the first several weeks of which were of being bandaged-up, with both his arms and legs slightly suspended in the air via slings) while laying out-cold in one of the beds.

"Hey, Ron," he slowly voiced in a quiet tone - as it was both a bit difficult and sore to talk properly - when he saw his youngest brother, along with Harry and Neville, who were all standing around his bed looking at him just minutes after he'd regained consciousness.

"Hey, Percy," replied Ron smiling. "How do you feel?"

"Painful," the redhead groaned bluntly. "What happened with the troll?"

Ron gestured over towards Harry with a brief glance. "Harry defeated it," he stated, before immediately correcting himself. "Well, he used a Levitation Charm on the troll's own club to knock it out, actually."

Percy simply nodded in reply to his little brother's comment.

After a little while, the three visitors were asked to leave the Hospital Wing by Madam Pomfrey so that her patient could rest, with Harry, Ron, and Neville all said their goodbyes to Percy before departing the ward and immediately making their way down to the castle grounds to meetup with Hagrid at his hut.

The half-giant, in question, had been slowly nursing a bunch of owls that had managed to fight their way through the stormy skies in order to deliver mail, both to and from the Hogwarts students and staff members alike, before they were well enough to fly off again. He had also accompanied Harry up to the third floor corridor to bring Fluffy either a nice tender and juicy reddish steak, a flavored dog bone, or even fresh dog biscuits (all of which had been physically enlarged in size using a Growing Charm with Hagrid's wand) on various occasions, yet only after they'd received Dumbledore's expressed approval.

Molly and Arthur Weasley, meanwhile, had taken the Hogwarts Express straight from Platform 9¾ (once they had received approval from the Headmaster), all the way to the school in order to drop-off Hermione as well as Ginny who apparently wanted to both go and see the castle for herself, but also to stay there for the holidays with Granger in case Ron and his brothers needed help taking care of the baby. Although, Molly strongly suspected that it had more-less something to do with Harry, instead.

Everyone in the Great Hall, who were either preparing to leave the castle and catch the train back to King's Cross Station or who were staying at Hogwarts for the holiday season, immediately turned to look over towards the entrance just as Arthur, Molly, and Ginny all walked into the hall: Molly gingerly carrying a dozing little Hermione on her hip, with a large diaper bag slung over her left shoulder; as the midget was quite surprisingly sound asleep, albeit with her head resting comfortably on Weasley's opposite shoulder and her tiny thumb plopped inside her mouth.

"Aww, she's so cute!" exclaimed Susan the instant she noticed Hermione in Molly's arms; with both her, as well as the few other Hufflepuff students who were staying at the castle, getting up from their places at the table and scampering over get a better glimpse at the little one, while also chattering amongst themselves over just how adorably cute she looked.

"Can- Can I hold her? Please?" asked Hannah in a most eager tone of voice while looking up at the redhead.

"Waaaaah‼ Waaah! Waaah! Waaah! Waaaaaaahhh‼"

Suddenly, without any warning, Hermione started to whimper and then scream and cry her beady little eyes out as a result of having just been brazenly woken-up from her peaceful sleep by the excited commotion of the Hufflepuff girls, who in turn were all cooing and awing with utter bliss over the mere sight of her.

"Great!" chided Ginny with a total sense of annoyance while rolling her eyes at what had just now happened. "You woke the baby!"

Molly immediately began gently rubbing and patting the little one on the back, while also softly whispering sweetly into Hermione's ear to calm her down. Susan then got a brilliant idea into her head, and politely asked Weasley if she could try something to help calm the baby down, to which Molly graciously obliged the child's request. The little girl very gently nudged Hermione to get her attention, and once the baby had slowly turned her head to look rather fearfully at Susan, the little girl started to play peekaboo with her, which to the Weasley's surprise after only just a minute or two of playing, actually seemed to be fairly quite amusing to the adorably innocent little cherub, considering the fact that she tended to be so very frightened of people that she didn't recognize.

After a short while, however, Arthur told his wife that they needed to leave for the train soon, as it was due to return to Platform 9¾ (as well as King's Cross Station in London) within the next thirty minutes or so.

Molly turned to her daughter, and upon handing her the diaper bag with all the necessary supplies, was also just about to hand over little Hermione to her when the baby started to fuss and whine all over again, while being unceremoniously passed to Ginny in order for both her and Arthur to take their leave.

"Pease, do go! Do go!" whined Hermione as she looked back at Molly with wide pleading eyes: her lower lip beginning to quiver and her eyes filling with huge tears while reaching out her little arms towards Molly. "Pease tay!"

"Don't worry, little one," Molly softly voiced to Hermione in a lovingly gentle tone. "We'll be back before you know it. Okay?" She then immediately as well as quite most affectionately kissed the little one's forehead with a soft and gentle touch of her lips, before doing the same on her daughter's cheek. Yet, the instant that Molly turned around to walk out of the Great Hall with her husband, the waterworks almost immediately started, as Hermione's eyes squinted and her face promptly scrunched itself up as she turned around to bury herself into Ginny's shoulder and began to bawl uncontrollably; with the little redhead gently cradling her closely, while also rubbing and patting her on the back to try and calm her down once again.