Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter
A/N - Well, here we are. I have finally finished chapter five! I'm sorry it took so long, but my muse decided to go on a bit of a holiday whenI got bombarded with all my homework. Anyway, Enjoy!
Chapter Five
Sugar High
To Hermione and Ginny's great relief Harry seemed to have decided that now was not the time to test the boundaries. Obviously the fear of being chucked in the cupboard and locked in had not yet diminished.
Another three days passed without incident and without any magic on Harry's part. Finally, on Saturday, Ron came up with the idea to take the two-year-old down to visit Hagrid.
"It will do Harry some good to get fresh air," Ron said. "And we haven't gone down since the accident. Hagrid will love to see Harry now."
After Hermione agreed Ron enthusiastically bounded up the stairs to the boys' dormitories, Harry giggling happily in his arms. Obviously Harry was not the only one who needed fresh air.
Sometime later they knocked loudly on the door of Hagrid's hut and were greeted by loud barking from Fang. The grinning half-giant opened the door.
"Hello!" Hagrid said with a smile. "I was wondering when you were going to come and visit me!"
"We've been a bit busy," said Hermione, struggling to hold Harry, who was trying to wriggle out of her grasp.
"Starting to be a bit of a handful?" asked Hagrid, ushering them inside so Hermione could set Harry down on his feet.
"You could say that," grinned Ron. "He isn't too bad, he hasn't had a tantrum yet, thankfully. The closest he got was when Hermione tried to take him to the hospital wing."
Hagrid laughed at that.
"Shoulda seen that one," he said, chuckling.
Meanwhile Harry's attention had been diverted to Hagrid's large bed. As Hermione watched he got down on hands and knees and crawled underneath.
"Harry," she said warningly. "Come out from under the bed please."
"No," said Harry stubbornly.
Hermione scowled.
"Now," she ordered.
"No!"
Before Hermione could lunge forward and drag the two-year-old out from under the bed Hagrid stepped forwards and knelt down, bending over so he could see Harry.
"Why don't you want to come out Harry?" asked Hagrid.
Harry moved further back so he was almost unseeable in the darkness, but Hagrid saw his eyes flick briefly to the large boarhound. Hagrid nodded in comprehension.
"Fang won't hurt you," Hagrid said gently. "I know 'e's big 'n all, but 'e wouldn't hurt a fly!"
Harry met Hagrid's eyes for a moment before crawling forwards and allowing Hagrid to pick him up, keeping an eye of Fang, who was being petted by Ron.
"Big dog," said Harry, clutching the front of Hagrid's shirt in a death grip.
"Very big dog," Hagrid agreed. "Have you seen other big dogs?"
"Yeah," Harry said, looking up. "Near auntie's house. Uncle says big dogs are mean. He says they eat bad boys!"
He buried his face in Hagrid's shirt while Ron and Hermione looked on in bewilderment. Hagrid's face turned stormy.
"Ruddy muggles," he growled. "I think it's time someone paid them a visit."
"We should let Dumbledore handle them," Hermione said, obviously worrying over what Hagrid would do to Harry's relatives.
Hagrid rolled his eyes, but handed Harry to Ron and nodded reluctantly.
"Fine," he growled. "I'll ask him about it later."
Hermione smiled at him, a tinge of relief on her face.
"What animals are we going to be studying Hagrid?" asked Ron.
"Eh?" asked Hagrid, thrown by the change in topic.
"In Care of Magical Creatures?" Ron prompted (A/N – I know in the real book they don't do this subject, but it is relevant for the plot.)
"Oh," said Hagrid. "Next lesson I was thinkin' about bringing in some salamanders."
Ron and Hermione shared an alarmed look.
"I have an area set up for Harry too," Hagrid continued. "I had Professor Dumbledore ward it and everything so the creatures can't get in."
Hermione and Ron grinned in relief and asked Hagrid more questions about his subject, which he answered with relish.
Hermione and Ron entered the Great Hall tiredly. It had been a long day, especially with Harry being so difficult now. The trudged over to Gryffindor table and sat down heavily.
"Harry getting to be a bigger burden then you thought?" asked Ginny with a laugh.
"I just wish we had a few hours away from him," sighed Ron, and surprisingly Hermione nodded wearily.
"I think you got your wish," said Ginny, starting to frown.
"Why?" asked Hermione uncomprehendingly.
"Well, where if he?"
Hermione and Ron looked around. Ron cursed. Harry was nowhere to be found.
"I can't believe we forgot about him!" moaned Hermione as they jumped up and ran back to the kitchens, where they had last been with him, talking to the house elves.
"It's not out fault Hermione," Ron tried to sooth, then thought about it. "Okay, so it is. But we were tired!"
They burst through the painting concealing the kitchen and stopped in horror.
Harry was running, shrieking happily, around the tables, one after the other and back again. He face was covered in chocolate. A weary house elf came up to him.
"Oh good, you has come back to get little Harry Potter," it said, looking exhausted. Then it started running as Harry barrelled towards it, chasing it.
"He's been chasing us around," said another house elf, panting. "This why dinner is not yet served."
From above them they could hear restless mutterings. Then Dumbledore spoke.
"I have just got word that there appears to be a… disturbance of the smaller kind in the kitchen, running rampage," he said, the humour evident in his voice. "Dinner will be here shortly."
"How much chocolate has he had?" asked Hermione quickly.
"A lot," came the answer before the house elf was chased away by Harry too.
"Harry!" Hermione called. "Please come here!"
Surprisingly Harry immediately changed his path and ran up to Hermione. She caught him as he jumped into her arms and she quickly took him out, hearing a collective sigh of relief from the house elves.
"I think it'll be a long time before we get you any more chocolate," Ron groaned as they walked up to the Great Hall.
Everyone laughed as the tired teens and bouncing two-year-old entered the hall. Mrs Weasley made as if to stand up, but Dumbledore said something and she pursed her lips and stayed. Harry allowed the two of them to strap him into his high chair and put some of the newly appeared food on his plate.
Hermione and Ron were just thinking that Harry was behaving exceptionally well when Harry scooped up a handful of mashed potatoes and threw it, hitting Seamus in the face. Harry squealed in delight.
"Harry," moaned Ron as Harry took aim and fired again, this time hitting Denis Creevy.
"Fun!" he said, hitting Neville with a gooey mixture.
"Stop," commanded Hermione, catching one of Harry's hands. "Food is for eating, not throwing.
Harry took the lid off of his drink and, before she could move, poured it over Hermione's head, saturating her in pumpkin juice. Then he flung his peas at Ron and his meat landed in Ginny's lap.
It seemed then that Harry had no more ammo and they could eat in peace, for Hermione, fuming because of the pumpkin juice, had already decided Harry would get nothing more to eat for that, not that he needed it after the chocolate. However, they were very much mistaken.
Every plate in Gryffindor for some reason, decided that they were going to fly up and chuck the owner's dinner in their faces. Harry just laughed as they all spluttered and wiped their dinner's off their faces. Snape sneered down at him and got his dinner in his face too.
Suddenly, without warning, Harry's tray clicked off and Harry slipped out of his seat, to the floor, and began crawling under the table. Finding it boring just going to the one table he went to Slytherin table, causing havoc as he went by knocking people over and causing plates to over turn with magic. He was like a mini-Peeves.
"I hate chocolate," said Ron, banging his head on the table.
Then Dumbledore's goblet decided to upturn itself on the headmaster's head, obviously without Harry having specifically told it to, but he knew it had been him because he had frozen at the front of Slytherin table and was staring. The whole hall fell silent.
"Uh oh," Harry whispered.
"Uh oh is right young man," said Dumbledore in a stern voice as he stood, quite the sight in his pumpkin juice drenched robes and hair.
Harry crawled out from under the table and stared properly up at the headmaster. His eyes were still wide, showing he was still suffering from too much sugar and would be impossible to get to sleep that night, but he knew when he had crossed the line.
"I think we need to talk about the rules Mr Potter," said Dumbledore. "At dinner we behave ourselves. We do not throw food, or make the plates and cups throw food at people. We do not crawl under the table and push people over. And we certainly do not let our carers get in such a state. Do you understand?"
Harry scrambled to his feet and looked down at the floor, nodding.
"Now, I suggest you go and sit quietly at Gryffindor table."
Harry ran back to Ron and Hermione. His cheeks were flushed with shame and his eyes were apologetic. Then he waved his arm and suddenly the tables and people were clean of his missiles.
"Thank you Harry," said the now-clean Dumbledore, sitting down again as Harry scrambled up into his high chair with everyone watching him.
Slowly talk started again. And then people started laughing about what had just happened, even the Slytherins. Ginny grinned at Harry and Ron laughed while Hermione struggled against a smile. Even Dumbledore was smiling now and Harry looked incredibly relieved.
"Sorry 'Mione and Won," he said abashedly.
"It's alright Harry," sighed Hermione, picking him up and depositing him in her lap. "We shouldn't have left you in the kitchens where you had access to house elves, and through them, sugar."
"No," said Harry, shaking his head. "I eat chocolate. Not sugar."
"Sugar is in chocolate," explained Hermione.
Harry thought about this for a moment, his brain's gears working furiously.
"Sugar in lollies?" he asked.
"Yes."
"No sugar in vegies?"
"That's right."
"Sugar is good!" Harry declared, but, by the groans around them, the students disagreed with them, at least when Harry was under the influence of said sugar.
"It's bad for teeth," Hermione said.
"What happens?" asked Harry.
"Your teeth rot and they fall out and they don't grow back," said Hermione.
Harry looked horrified. He clapped his hands over his mouth.
"Teeth fall out?" he asked, terrified, his voice slightly muffled.
"Yes," nodded Hermione.
"Sugar bad!" Harry said, eyes wide.
Hermione nodded gravely and winked at Ron, who stifled a laugh at how Hermione was working on Harry's young, impressionable mind.
When dinner was finished they made a relatively quiet journey to the Tower, Harry pointing out various animals in the pictures and asking what they were. Hermione answered cheerfully, in her element of teaching people things.
They knew that they would not get Harry to sleep that night so they set him in an armchair as they settled to do their homework.
"What do you think Ginny should see in her crystal ball tomorrow that Trelawney will believe?" Ron asked Harry thoughtfully, not really expecting him to answer the question.
Harry got an evil smile that just looked wrong on his innocent face.
"The grim!" he said excitedly.
Ron blinked and Hermione laughed.
"It appears some things stay with him," she giggled. "And he knows the right way to rile up that old fraud!"
Ron chuckled and made a mental note to tell Ginny to do that for him tomorrow and started his Charms homework.
"This is so boring," he complained after fifteen minutes, being careful not to swear in front of Harry (he had gotten more reprimandings for that from Harry then he had ever gotten from Hermione).
"Ron," warned Hermione. "If you do it now, than it will be done."
"Yeah Won," said Harry, nodding, though Hermione didn't think he really understood the situation.
"Shut it Harry," Ron scowled. "You are such a hypocrite."
Harry giggled and fell silent.
At about ten o'clock Harry finally fell into an exhausted sleep and Ron and Hermione sighed in relief. Today had been a tiring day.
"Hey, Hermione?"
Hermione looked up to see Lavender, Parvati and a few other girls standing there, smiling at her.
"What is it Lavender?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"We heard what you and Ron said about a break at dinner, so we came up with an idea," said Parvati. "We even ran it by Ginny and she said she would help us. But we wondered if we could take Harry for the day tomorrow."
Hermione blinked and yawned.
"Do you know how to properly look after him?" she managed sternly.
Lavender nodded and so did the other girls.
"You won't lose him?" asked Hermione.
"Of course not," said Lavender. "We'll take good care of him."
Hermione looked at the sleeping Harry thoughtfully. As much as her instinct was telling her to keep him close, she knew she and Ron needed a break or they would be soon having a nervous breakdown. Lavender and her friends were offering the perfect release for the day, or at least a few hours…
"Alright," she said finally. "But you must give him back when we come for him, and please don't let us forget him, alright?"
"We promise Hermione," said Lavender solemnly.
The girls said their goodnights and went up to their respective dormitories. Hermione sighed and prodded Ron awake.
"Ron," she said when he had woken. "Lavender and some other girls are going to look after Harry for us tomorrow before we collapse. Is that alright?"
"Good idea," said Ron in relief. "Just as long as they give him back."
"Ginny will make sure they do," Hermione assured him.
They two of them said goodnight and headed up to their rooms, Harry sleeping soundly on Ron's shoulder. Ron carefully put Harry in his crib and looked around for a moment, taking in everything. There was a chest of drawers that had small yellow ducks painted all over a light blue background. There was a small bookshelf for children's books. Harry himself had changed the colour of his bed posts the same blue as the chest of drawers. Black was sleeping at the end of Harry's bed and the bear, which was the first toy Harry had ever played with, was now being hugged by the sleeping Harry, who was sucking his thumb. By now used to this event (when he had first seen Harry do it he had stared for a good ten minutes) he continued looking. The toy chest had been moved from Dumbledore's office to the end of Harry's bed and he liked playing with the toys in there. A dog basket and bowls for food and drink were beside the bookshelf, though the basket was rarely used. Harry's trunk had obviously been stored somewhere because it was nowhere to be seen. It looked like a mini-nursery. The picture was completed by a big picture of frolicking kittens above Harry's bed.
Ron smiled as he looked down at his best friend. He walked over to his own bed, changed, and got in. He took one last look at Harry through the bars of the crib and fell asleep, his last thought being that he was glad the girls were taking the young boy tomorrow.
In the next chapter - How will Harry react to finding out that his 'carers' need a break... from him? How will Harry face his first, terrifying adventure, that he hadn't even meant to have, as a toddler while in the care of people with no common sense? Look out for 'In the Hands of Giggling Girls'!
A/N - Did you like the chapter? Hate it? Let me know!
Thanks to - momocolady, Satan Junior, Fancyfree, imgonnadie, FairyQilan
There was a request from FairyQilan. I'll make sure to add that to the story when he hits that stage. It should be fun!