Chapter 5

Playdates

Harry was so excited to start daycare. That night he was restless. Nothing would make him go to sleep. Not even after Sirius had read him six bedtime stories. Harry kept asking him questions about the daycare, and Sirius kept answering them.

"Will I make lots of friends?" he would ask. "Who's my teacher? Can we go now?"

It was two thirty in the morning when he had finally got Harry to bed. Too tired to go to his own room, he slept in the chair besides Harry's bed.

It felt like Sirius had just closed his eyes when he heard the alarm clock ringing in his room. He had sat it for five o' clock, because he had to be at work at six.

Sirius got to his feet and streched his legs, it was very uncomfortable to sleep in a chair. As, he streched he noticed one thing, Harry wasn't in his bed. In fact, Harry was no where to be seen.

"Harry?" he said looking around the room.

He headed out of the room. He looked in the other bedrooms, the bathrooms, the closets, the living room, and finally the kitchen. Harry was sitting at the table fully dressed and was finishing up his breakfast, a bowl of cereal and some orange juice. Harry looked up and saw Sirius standing in the kitchen door, looking in awe.

"I'm s'pose to be sleep, right?" Harry said timidly.

"How long have been up?"

Harry shrug. He didn't think it was to long, but the truth was he had woken up an hour before Sirius.

"I'm sorry." Harry said, but this time he didn't sound timid at all. Much more exited. "I couldn't sleep. I was just so excited about starting daycare."

"Understandable."

"I got washed, made breakfast. I even got dressed. Look!" he said as he spread his arms out wide, showing Sirius his clothes. He was wearing some blue jeans and a t shirt, which was placed on very neatly. Harry looked perfect except one thing.

"You've got your shoes on the wrong feet." Sirius said as he studied Harry down from head to toe.

"I knew that. I was just. . .uh. . .testing you."

Harry had arrived at the daycare five minutes before they opened. Harry was pacing back and forth, while Sirius sat on the ground waiting for Rachel.

Harry was so excited. He never been to a school before, and the only other friend he had was Sirius. That's when a sudden thought struck him. A terrifying thought. What if his classmates didn't like him? What if his teacher didn't like him?

Harry's excitement left him, and he lost the desire to pace, and went to go sit next to Sirius. Three minutes had went past when three people arrived at the school. It was a woman with red hair, and two kids, also with red hair. The woman was a plumped woman, with red hair and a kind face, she was pushing a stroller which held a young child. Walking beside her, and holding her hand was a boy with red hair and freckles. He too looked nervous.

"Hello." she said when she approached Sirius. "It's nice to know that I'm not the only one sitting out here today."

Sirius looked up at the woman. One look at her told him that she was the mother of one of his soon to be students. He might as well get to know the parents since he would be the man teaching thier students. Sirius stood up and extended his hand.

"Good morning, my name is Sirius Black." he said professionally. "I'm one of the teachers at the daycare. I work along side Ms. Jackson."

The woman shook his hand. "I'm Molly Weasley and this is Ronald Weasley. He'll be starting at this school today." she said gesturing to the boy, who had taken one step behind her.

"Oh, what luck. This is Harry. He's starting today too. Come say hi, Har."

Harry came to stand besides Sirius.

"Hi." he said shyly. "Nice to meet you." he then hid behind Sirius.

Molly and Sirius launched into a conversation about children. Harry and Ronald stayed behind their parents as they spoke. Neither of them making conversation. It was five minutes after six when Rachel arrived.

"I believe children are the future." Molly was saying.

"Yeah children are the future, but today belongs to me. We brought them into this world and we can take them out."

"Really, Mr. Black." said a voice from behind Sirius.

Sirius turned around and saw that Rachel was standing behind him, with a grin on her face. He didn't mean for her to have heard that.

"I was just kidding." said Sirius. "It was just a joke."

After saying good bye to Molly, Rachel, Sirius, Ronald, and Harry, went inside of the building. Harry and Ronald sat at the same table, where they were served breakfast, while Sirius and Rachel went into the kitchen for coffee.

It was seven thirty when all the kids had arrived and had breakfast, and eight o' clock when Rachel took the five year olds in the back, and Sirius kept the three and four year olds. He had about twenty one kids, which were all looking at him with beady eyes.

Sirius had managed to squeeze them all into three tables, and have their own personal space. Sirius picked up his attendence book, and began rollcall. The names, however, was not listed alphabetically.

"Ronald Weasley?"

"Here."

"Hermione Granger?"

"Here."

"Harry is here." he muttered.

"Draco. . .Malfoy." he said darkly.

"Here."

"Vincent Crabbe."

"Here."

"Gregory Goyle."

"Here."

"Pansy Parkinson?"

"Here."

"Lavender Brown?"

"Here."

"Pavarti and Padma Patil?"

"Here." said two twin girls.

"Seamus Finnagan?"

"Here."

"Neville Longbottom."

"Here." Neville had recieved a smile from Sirius.

"Dean Thomas?"

"Here."

"Katie Bell?"

"Here."

"Hannah Abott?"

"Here."

"Terry Boot?"

"Here."

"Susan Bones."

"Here."

"Justin Finch-Fletchley?"

"Here."

"Leanne?"

"Here."

"Roger Davies?"

"Here."

"And finally, Ernie Macmillian?"

"Here."

Sirius sat down the book and took another look around the classroom. They were still staring at him and looked as if they had moved a muscle. Did they not blink? Or were they some type of alien form. Which ever it was, these kids were not blinking, and kinda scared Sirius.

"Okay." he said. "Now that everyone is here, we can start. My name is Mr. Black, and I will be your teacher."

The class remained silent.

"Good morning class." he said, trying to make conversation.

"Good morning, Siwi- er, Mr. Black." said Harry.

Sirius had a sudden thought that the class was being so quiet because they were intimidated by him. They were used to Rachel and didn't know how strict he was. He needed to be careful, so they could relax around him.

"Let's get some work done." he said, still not getting no sign of intelligent movement. "How many of you know their colors?"

The class continued to stare. Harry looked around at his frighten classmates. What was they afraid of? Sirius was a kind man, even if he could be a little mean. Harry raised his hand, hoping to set an example for the class.

One by one, students started to raise their hand, until every hand was in the air. Sirius smiled at Harry and gave him a thumbs up.

Sirius walked over to a shelf which was filled with construction paper, writing paper, coloring utinsels, and other bits and pieces. Sirius located a plastic ziplock bag, which held circles made out of construction paper. Each circle was a different color, and on the back of the circle was the name of the color.

Sirius sat back down at his desk and faced the class.

"Can anyone tell me what this shape is?" said Sirius, reaching into the bag and pulling out a purple circle.

Hermione Granger raised her hand. "That's a circle." she said. "And it's purple."

"That's right. Good job." Sirius placed the purple circle on top of the desk, and pulled another out of the bag. "What color is this one?"

"I know that color." said Pavarti. "It's the color of our bathroom."

"Yeah." said her twin sister Padma. "That's blue."

"It sure is. What else is the color blue?"

The class was silent for a moment, then Ernie raised his hand.

"Your pants are blue." he said.

"Yes they are. Anything else?"

"The ocean is blue." said Seamus.

"Yes, the ocean is also blue. Ronald, what color is this?" he said, showing Ronald yet another circle.

Ronald hesitated. "That's black." he finally said.

After the class recognized colors, they worked on shapes, and then on numbers. By the time they counted to ten, by heart, Sirius had decided that the kids deserved a little recess.

He took them outside, where the five year olds were already playing on the slide and tire swing. Rachel was sitting on a milk crate, in the shade, under a tree. Sirius told his class to go play then he joined her.

"So how did the first few hours go?" she asked him, as he sat down on a crate.

"It was fine." he answered, watching the kids play. "There really smart."

There was a long awkward silence.

"So I've decided to make them spaghetti for lunch." said Rachel. "Is that all right?"

"Sure it's fine with me." he said, as he watched Harry show Ronald how to do a cartwheel. He attempted, but fell. "Can you make some garlic bread with it?"

"I love garlic bread and spaghetti." she replied.

Harry was having a great time at daycare. He was quite popular, and everyone seem to like him. Even the five year olds. Harry had made a ton of friends. In fact, there wasn't a moment when he was surrounded by a group of people. Everyone liked him and always wanted to sit next to him, and he came up with the best games to play during recess.

Weeks had gone by, and even the kids were getting used to Sirius. No longer did they stare at him as if he was some type of unknown creature.

Sirius and Rachel was also getting to know each other a little better. They had started talking about things outside of school. Rachel felt as if she could tell Sirius anything. This put Sirius in a bad position. The only friend he had was Harry. Since James and Lily, Harry's parents, had died, he found it hard to trust people. Although he was friendly towards them, he kept his distance. It was hard for him to trust another person, and he didn't want the pain he felt when his best friends died to come back.

It was in the four o' clock hour when dark storm clouds had drifted their way. Recess was cancelled so the kids were forced to play indoors. The daycare was very noisy due to all the children running around playing.

While Sirius filled out papers and his record book, the children played with puzzles, blocks, dolls, cars and trucks, and even in a playhouse.

Harry and his best friends Ronald and Hermione was sitting on the floor building a castle made of wooden blocks.

Harry was very creative for his age. He was good at coloring and painting, and he had a sense of musical talent to. He was very talented. Hermione was really smart. She was one of the first people who had advanced to writing her name on her own, rather than tracing it. Ronald, or Ron, as every one called him now, was really funny, but not as funny as his older brothers, Fred and George, who were identical twins.

Harry learned a lot about his two best friends, and in return, they learned a lot about him. They even looked past the part of staring at his forehead, and asking questions about his parents, or anything that would make him feel uncomfortable.

"We need something to place inside of the castle when we're done." said Harry. "I wish I had brought some of my toys with me. Then we could use my army men. I have twelve."

"Wow!" exclaimed Ron. "I only have one. I used to have two. My great aunt sent me one for my birthday once, but my baby sister, Ginny, swallowed it whole. Mom had to take her to the hospital afterwards and I had to stay with my dad and brothers. They're divorce."

"I can bring my Barbie doll. She can be the princess." said Hermione, who was paying no attention to the conversation.

Harry stared at Ron. He had just heard a word that he never heard before. "What does that mean?"

"A princess is a girl who -"

"I know what a princess is. It's the daughter of a king or queen." Harry said impatiently. "What does di...vorce mean?"

Ron continued building the castle. "I'm not exactly sure." he said placing the final block to the last tower. "But mom and dad don't live in the same house anymore. Hermione, do you know what divorce mean?"

Hermione looked up from the tower she was building. "It means that they are no longer married."

Harry knew that marriage had something to do with love, and wondered what could happen to stop two people from loving each other. He often wondered why him and Sirius wasn't married. They did love each other. Or did they?

"Why did they get a divorce?"

"I don't know. All I know is that Fred and George went to dad. Me and Ginny stayed with mom. And Percy, Bill, and Charlie, went to Canada to live with grandma."

"You're lucky." said Hermione. "You've got all those brothers and I'm an only child."

"So am I."

"Being an only child must be nice. What's it like?"

"Boring." answered Harry. "What's it like with brothers?"

"Well, it's never boring, but you do run out of room."

"Run out of room?" asked Harry. "How can you run out of room?"

"Before mom and dad got a divorce, we lived together in a small house. We had three bedrooms and it was nine of us. Mom, dad, and Ginny shared one room. Then it was Bill, Charlie, and Percy. And me, Fred, and George." Ron explained.

"I have my own room." Hermione said.

"Okay. Start cleaning up. It's story time." came Sirius's voice.

After they cleaned up. Sirius told them a story about a mountain explorer, and they played duck duck goose. When they were done it was time to go. At about five minutes to six, Ron, Harry, and Hermione was the only kids left.

They were sitting in the corner as Rachel and Sirius got there things together.

"Ask your parents if you could come to my house for a sleepover tomorrow." Harry said. "It can be like a playdate."

Just then two parents came in. One with bushy brown hair, Hermione's mother, and the other with red hair, Ron's mother. She was pushing a stroller.

Ron and Hermione ran up to give their parents a hug.

"Hello, Harry dear." said Molly, who adored Harry.

"Can we sleep over at Harry's house tomorrow? Please?" Hermione and Ron asked.

"Only if it's alright with Mr. Black."

"Sure, it's alright." Sirius said. "Ms. Jackson is coming over for tea tomorrow as well. Would you like to join us?"

"No thank you." said Hermione's mother. "I have to work."

"And Ginny has a check up." said Molly. "I'll be happy to drop Ron and Hermione off on my way to the doctor."

"That would be lovely." said Mrs. Granger.

After they signed there children out, they bidded everyone good bye, and the Weasleys and Grangers left the school.

"Okay, Har." said Sirius. "Got everything?"
"Uh-huh."

"Have a nice evening, Ms. Jackson."

"Bye Mr. Black. Bye Harry."

"Bye-Bye." said Harry, as he followed Sirius out of the door and towards home.

Harry was looking forward to tomorrow and his playdate.