Chapter Four:
OK so I know its been like a million years since I've last done anything to this story and I'm really sorry to those people that read this when I first wrote it and everything and have been all annoyed with me. :( I do have a live though and being in an art program isn't easy. But to all the new people, well I guess you're really lucky.
So thanks to all the people who voted and everything and I guess if you really wanted you could figure it out which was the winner, but if you don't really feel like going through all the review and counting them then I guess you'll just have to keep reading :) but upon reading this chapter you'll be able to see that I did a little bit of editing to the options because I'm the author and I can. So ha.
Alright enough of my rambling, here's the new chapter of the story.
That night after Mrs. Potter had tucked her in and left her to sleep in what was supposed to be her new room, Ginny thought of all that had happened to her that day. Just this morning she had been at the Burrow fighting with her brothers. Now here she was apparently in the past, sleeping in a bedroom far bigger than the one at the Burrow. Honestly Ginny was having a hard time understanding it all.
Despite all these thoughts swirling around inside her head, Ginny felt an overwhelming sense of loss. Even though they were the reason she was in the past, Ginny missed her family immensely. Even in her four year old mind she was able to understand that she would never trade her family for another one and that she wanted to go home right away.
She took the necklace that Mr. Potter had explained to her was a Time-Turner out from beneath her pajamas and looked at it curiously. She wondered if she began turning it again like she had before that she would be able to go home. All she knew was that she wanted to go home to be with her own Mummy and Daddy. So she began to turn the knobs in earnest all the while thinking about her brothers and how she loved them even though they teased her and made her cry. She thought about her Mummy and Daddy too and how she knew they loved her and thought she was special.
Ginny was eventually lost in her thoughts, but didn't fail to notice that slowly the Time-Tuner was beginning to glow like last time. She got excited and closed her eyes waiting for it to take her home.
She waited until it seemed like it wasn't going to do anything, but just when she opened her eyes she was already back in the Burrow's backyard where she had been when she found the necklace. Immediately Ginny was confused. Hadn't she just spent a whole day with the Potters? She had been in her pajamas that Mrs. Potter had given her. Now she was in the green dress she had been wearing.
Suddenly everything felt like a dream to her. She stood up and brushed off the back and front of her dress, noticing as she did so that she was no longer wearing the necklace.
'Did I just dream about all that then?' Ginny thought to herself as she looked around the tree for the Time-Turner. 'It must have been. It was a good dream though. That lady was so nice to me in it. And so was that boy that held my hand when I walked inside that big house. He had pretty green eyes. It's too bad I woke up.'
Ginny stood up and walked back to the Burrow. As she walked, she was excited to see her Mummy again as she missed her. She also wanted to play dolls with her today while her brothers were outside. So, Ginny began to run back inside to see her family again. She was so glad that she came home again. She loved all her brothers so much. They were the best. Maybe they would play with her today, but if they didn't, that was okay. She would play dolls with Mummy again. That was fine with her.
And so Ginny was left with an impression from then on from what she thought was a dream. She would always love her family and realize that even though she didn't like them sometimes, she would always love them, even when Fred and George would eventually charm her food into dirt exactly when she put her fork in her mouth.
With the Potters
Harry woke up the next day excited to play with his new brothers and his new sister. He still couldn't believe what had happened to him just two days ago. He was so excited that he was going to be adopted by the Potters. His new dad had said that he would get the papers finalized today and he would officially be their son. He couldn't believe it.
In Harry's excitement he threw off his blankets and ran down the hallway and down the stairs into the kitchen where he could hear Mum singing along to the radio as she made breakfast.
She turned around and smiled at him as soon as she heard him running into the kitchen.
"Harry," she cried putting her arms out so she could pick him up. When she had him perched on her hip, she gave him a wooden spoon and said, "Do you want to stir the batter?"
Harry smiled and nodded yes and eagerly began mixing the pancake batter in the bowl she was holding with her other arm.
Diane watched her little boy mix the concoction of ingredients with a smile on her face. Already she loved him with all her heart. She knew that he needed her and her husband to be the parents that he never had. He needed a family that would care for him a give him a home that loved him. She and her husband, and he boys would do that for him just as they had done it for Sirius the year before.
What concerned her however what that she was able to carry Harry with much more ease than with James or Sirius. He was noticeably lighter and smaller. He looked more like he was four than five. She wondered whether he had gotten enough food with whoever he was staying with before or whether just was in between growth spurts. She thought about all this while watching him happily stir and eventually resolved to take him to the family doctor tomorrow to have a check up.
'Come to think of it,' she thought to herself, ' James and Sirius need one as well after their recent bout of dragon pox. I'll just take them all together so harry doesn't feel nervous.'
She leaned over to kiss Harry on the cheek, and said, "OK Harry its all stirred up. Thanks honey."
"Your welcome Mummy," he smiled at her.
"Why don't you go wake up James and Sirius and Ginny and I'll finish making these pancakes for you," Diane said as she put Harry down. "How does that sound?"
"Great! Ill go get them," he yelled back at her excitedly as he ran away to get his brothers and sister.
She smiled to herself and turned back around, busying herself with breakfast.
–
Harry was all smiles as he raced back up the stairs toward Sirius's room. When he opened the door to his room, he crept inside when he saw Sirius was still asleep. He slowly walked towards his bed with a sly little grin on his face. When he was at the head of the bed, he slowly took a great deep breath and yelled, "PADFOOT WAKE UP!"
While he had been planning this little maneuver, he expected Sirius to react by sitting straight up and screaming. What actually happened was completely different to Harry's complete surprise.
While Sirius did scream in fright, he did not stop screaming when he saw it was only Harry. He continued to scream while he stood up on his bed and ran across the hall into James room who promptly woke up exactly the same way.
So Harry was left staring in shock as the two boys ran up and down the hall between their bed rooms screaming their lungs out. After a while Harry shrugged and joined them.
So when Diane reached the landing at the top of the stairs and saw what was going on she simple chuckled and went back down to the kitchen but not before saying, "Make sure you wake up Ginny to dears."
The screaming and running went on for a little while longer till the boys couldn't contain their laughter anymore and started giggling more than screaming.
When they had settled down James turned to Sirius and said, "Good one Padfoot. That was fun."
Sirius simply grinned smugly and said, "Glad you joined us Harry. It was more fun trying not to run into you and Prongs instead of just Prongsie."
"Yea that was fun." Harry said, still laughing a little. "Let's go wake up Ginny now though. I'm getting hungry and Mum's making pancakes for us."
When Harry said this they all looked at each other and grinned again. In unison they all took a deep breath and began screaming together as they ran into Ginny's room.
Their playful screams were cut short as soon as they saw that Ginny was not in her bed sleeping as she should have been. In her place was slightly rumpled sheets and the pajamas that she was wearing. On top of all this was the Time-Turner by which she had arrived in their backyard.
"MUM!" they all shouted in unison again while turning and running down the stairs trying not to fall.
"Mum, Ginny's not in her room! She's gone!" Sirius exclaimed when they got in the kitchen.
Diane paled and hurried up to Ginny's room to find what her boys were saying was true. The little girl that had shown up the same way Harry had yesterday was gone. She was simply not in her bed anymore. It didn't look like she had gotten out of bed and left or someone had taken her as the sheets and pajamas were positioned as if she had simply vanished. She saw the Time-Turner was also laying on top of the little girl's pajamas. Taking a closer look, she noticed that the sand that had been in the hourglass previously was missing. It hadn't been broken or anything, so Diane could think of no other reason for its being empty besides it had disappeared by magic as well. 'I did notice that Ginny looked a little sad at dinner. I'm sure she missed her family and tried to use the Time-Turner to go home. I'm sure that's what happened.'
Diane admittedly was a little sad at this. She had always wanted a little girl to cherish and love. She had finally gotten one with Ginny, but she understood that the Ginny needed her own parents and siblings instead of a new family.
Diane picked up the pajamas underneath the blankets and remade the bed. She turned around and saw that her boys were standing in the doorway looking at her with curious and worried expressions on their faces.
"Where is she," said Harry, his concern for Ginny coming out plainly.
"Let's go back into the kitchen and have breakfast and I'll tell you boys what happened."
As they sat down in their chairs and began eating the pancakes with copious amounts of maple syrup and strawberries, Diane spoke, "Ginny went home last night boys. That's why she's gone and wasn't in her bed last night. She must have used the Time-Turner again because she missed her family back home."
She continued speaking when she saw their sad and dejected faces looking up at her. "Don't be sad boys. I could tell last night that Ginny was sad and missed her family. This doesn't mean that she liked us any less. She just wanted to go home. Wouldn't you boys miss each other if the same thing happened to you."
She smiled when they all nodded to each other and her. "Good. Now make sure you boys eat all that up. I don't want to boys to get too tired from playing and making mischief today because were going to the doctor tomorrow for a check for all three of you." She smiled when she heard James and Sirius groan and looked at Harry who hadn't said anything.
"Have you ever been to the doctor Harry?" she asked him with a smile.
"Um no. But I have been to the school nurse before. She always gave me band-aids when I got cuts or something." Harry replied nervously. "What do I have to go to the doctor for? I'm not hurt or anything."
"Oh I know silly. I just want to make sure you're healthy. The doctor will give you some potions to keep you from getting sick. It won't scary or anything and I will be there with you the whole time and so will James and Sirius." Diane replied with a smile at his apprehension and James and Sirius nodded at her words.
Harry looked at them all one more time a little nervously, but finally said, "OK, I guess if you say so."
After this the day went by pretty quickly. The boys went outside to the playground and began swinging and falling with magic again. They played tag and pirates and bad guys and good guys.
When Harry finally went in for lunch he was surprised to see that in the dining there were some little books set on the table where they were going to eat.
When he sat down at his seat he looked at James and asked what they were for.
"Oh yea,after lunch Mum teaches us our letters and how to read and how to read. She also teaches us different stuff too but its always different," he replied to Harry before taking a bite of his turkey sand which.
Harry was excited to learn his letters and how to write his name and how to read. At his old school he would always get in trouble if the teacher liked him better than Dudley so he was always quiet and didn't participate in class. But here he didn't have to worry about that. He could be as smart as he wanted and they wouldn't care. He loved his new family.
When the boys were finished eating they all eagerly waited for their Mum to tell them what they were learning that day.
"OK, so since Harry has never learned his letters before, but you boys have already gotten to J, were going to start with learning the days of the week. Do any of you know what day of the week it is?" She asked them.
The boys took turns shaking their head at her at which point she said, "Today is Monday. Yesterday was Sunday. Sunday is the beginning of the week. The order of the days go, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Do you boys want to repeat that?"
They all were quick to try to repeat what their mother had said but the farthest they got was Mondnesday which they mistook for Tuesday. Diane laughed at their butchered attempt and helped them though it until they could all say it by themselves.
"OK so that means that since today is Monday that umm tomorrow is umm Tuesday?" Harry asked.
"Yes Harry very good, I was just going to ask that," Diane smiled at him. He was catching on quickly. She suspected that he never really participated very much in school, but she knew that with her teaching him with James and Sirius beside him he would learn quickly that school was fun and easy.
She only hoped that their trip to the doctor be equally as painless.
Thanks guys for sticking with this. I really am sorry it took me so long to update. Please review, it means a lot to me :)