Summary: Harry Potter knew something was going to go wrong when, as a punishment, Snape made him test an uncompleted ageing potion. Something always goes wrong. And he was right.

NOTE! This is not a new chapter, for all who have already read this. Unfortunately I made a rather large mistake in this chapter that I had to correct that one of my reviewers was good enough to point out to me. So, I have fixed it! For all who had read this chapter and wondered what it was, I mixed up the basic principal of time with the "little hand" and the "big hand".

A/N; Wow, I can't believe I'm up to chapter seventeen already.I am so proud of this chapter! It's the longest yet, I think! I hope its satisfactory and that everyone likes it; let me know! This chapter is actually a celebration for the fact that I've just started University -dances- I'm going to have fun now until the work starts piling up!

I was musing on this story the other day (bear with me, this is one of my usual random, rambling thoughts) and I was thinking how much the story has changed. Of course, as I have gotten older, I have gotten a little more descriptive in my writing and (well, i feel, anyway) better, and I have noticed the change particularly in this story. When I first uploaded it I didn't think anyone would like it and I felt awful after I put it up because I thought it was horrible. Just goes to show we're our own worst critic, hmmm? I never thought I'd be sitting at over 200 reviews by chapter 17!

Anyway, that is enough of my rambling today. Onwards with the story and enjoy!

Chapter Seventeen; Winter Wonderland

It is widely believed that the innate magic that most runes possess can perform miracles when used and drawn out properly. For example the rune "heal" would, if it were used well, be enough to bring a person back from the brink of death without the use of the full spell and runes. The user's magic, too, has a profound effect on these runes and…

Hermione was startled from her reading by the feeling of someone tugging on the sleeve of her long-sleeved shirt. She knew immediately who it was; Harry had taken to pulling on people's sleeves or, if he couldn't reach, pants leg in order to get attention.

It was a difference from the usual exuberance of the child that bounced into the room and announced his presence in the noisiest way possible. Tearing her mind away from such thoughts, she looked down at the smiling, eager young boy.

"Good morning, Harry, you've slept late," Hermione said, reaching out a hand to ruffle his hair. "Where's Ron?"

"Still sleeping," Harry said, quite solemnly, before ruining the effect by giggling.

Hermione looked at him, highly amused.

"You're also very cheerful," she noted. "Any particular reason?"

Harry's green eyes picked up at her through his black fringe, the way he had started doing when he wanted to ask them for something. She smiled encouragingly.

"It's snowing," he confided to her as though it were a secret.

"Yes, it started last night," Hermione said, knowing where he was going with this. "Do you want to go out later?"

Harry's entire demeanour brightened and he nodded eagerly.

"Well, we will after lunch," she said. "Ron hasn't gotten up yet and I'd like to finish this book, the one I told you I had to read for Ancient Runes."

"Okay," said Harry, and then he grinned as a sudden idea came to him. "I'll go wake up Ron!"

Before she could stop him he took off, scrambling up the long staircase. Moments later she heard a door open and grinned to herself.

3… 2… 1…

Ron's yell of shock echoed throughout the entire tower. Not long after Harry bounded down the stairs again, looking uncommonly smug. He made his way to Hermione and bounced onto the armchair beside her.

"Ron's up now," he announced, causing the few people in the Common Room to laugh.

"I heard," Hermione said wryly.

"So can we go outside soon?" Harry asked excitedly.

"What time is it?" Hermione asked patiently.

Harry moved to grab her wrist in order to look at her watch and then hesitated. When she just smiled at him, took hold of her wrist with surprisingly gentle hands and looked at the clock face.

He titled his head sideways and frowned at the clock. How was one supposed to go about telling the time anyway?

Hermione just watched him before her mouth formed a soft 'o'. Harry was four years old, he wouldn't be able to tell the time! She felt like kicking herself as she smiled apologetically at Harry.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I forgot you don't know how to tell the time," she said. "Just always remember that the small hand," she pointed it out, "is the hour, the big hand," she pointed to it, "is the minutes and this little red one is the seconds." When Harry looked at her, utterly confused, she laughed. "Don't worry, we'll work on that later. The time is eleven o'clock."

Harry's face fell. Eleven o'clock was nowhere near lunch time. A whole hour away! He pouted slightly, but instead of complaining like Hermione half expected him to do, he scrambled up onto the couch beside her and settled for staring at her watch, apparently content to watch an hour slip away.

Oh, no you don't, thought Hermione, purposely moving her watch so that it was covered and snapped her book closed. Looked like she wouldn't be finishing it today after all.

"Let's go see if Ron is up," she suggested, tucking her book back into her bag and holding out her hand to Harry.

Harry looked warily at the stairs, which made her a little worried. How exactly had Harry woken Ron? It had to be good, else Harry wouldn't look nervous.

"Don't worry, Ron won't be too mad," Hermione said, grabbing his hand and leading him over to the stairs. He'll just grumble and be a little annoyed."

Looking a little relieved Harry followed her more willingly as they made their way up the stairs to the sixth year boys' dormitory. The door was still open from when Harry had left through it.

Ron was sitting in his bed, grumpily wringing out his sodden pyjamas. Hermione stifled a snicker.

"You're looking a little wet, Ron," she said, leaning against the doorway as Harry peeked at Ron from behind her legs, her lips twitching.

Ron merely grunted, scowling both at Hermione and their joint charge. Harry was looking fairly apologetic which was completely ruined by the mischievous look in his green eyes.

"Well, you better hurry up and get up," Hermione said. "We're going to go down to lunch in an hour and then we're going to take Harry outside."

"And if I don't want to go outside?" Ron groused, but he nevertheless slipped out of bed and grabbed his clothes before he stalked to the bathroom.

"Don't worry, his bark is worse than his bite," was the last thing he heard before he snapped the door closed.

Harry giggled, though he wasn't entirely sure what it meant. From the way Hermione was smiling, however, he knew it had to be funny. It was her expression that prompted his amusement more than anything else.

"'Mione, what do we do in the snow?" he asked innocently.

"Well, you can make snow angels," Hermione said with a reminiscing smile. She had created snow angels all the time as a girl and had taught Harry how to do it when they became friends. "Or we can build a snowman. Or we can throw snowballs at each other."

At the last one Harry's face went blank.

"Why throw snowballs?" he asked, genuinely puzzled.

"It doesn't hurt," Hermione assured him, seeing him relax. "It's just wet and cold. And it's a lot of fun for a game."

"Can we make a snow man and angels?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Sure," said Hermione as the bathroom door opened again. "Just wait and see."

HPHGRWHPHGRW

Time simply flew by before Hermione found herself leading a thoroughly rugged up Harry outside with Ron holding onto his other hand. Almost as soon as they were outside, however, Ron gave a whoop and rushed away, looking like an oversized child. Hermione and Harry just watched, amused.

"Alright, Harry, what first?" she asked. "Snow angels?"

Harry grinned and nodded eagerly. He couldn't wait to see these snow angels! He wondered why they were made?

So caught in his thoughts he almost didn't notice Hermione fall backwards onto the soft snow, and he just blinked down at her, puzzled.

"'Mione?" he asked.

When she began waving her arms and her legs in the snow, he knew something had to be wrong with her. What was she doing?

Finally she jumped away and Harry's face widened. There, in the snow, was what very much looked like an angel imprinted in the snow. He gazed up at Hermione in awe.

"That," Hermione said with relish, "is how you make a snow angels."

"Can I try?" Harry asked in delight and positively quivered in excitement when she nodded.

He flopped down in the snow and clumsily moved his arms and legs. When he was done he was suddenly struck with the problem that he couldn't get up without ruining it.

Hermione chuckled as Harry slowly sat up and looked around to try and figure out a solution to his obvious dilemma. Just like he had done when she had shown him the first time.

So, as she watched, it was an eleven year old Harry she saw stand carefully and jumped clean of the angel, looking pleased and triumphant, not the four year. She blinked and Harry was small again, grinning broadly.

"I did it, 'Mione!" he crowed.

"Well done," Hermione said. "Why don't we do some more later; I feel like making a snow man."

Harry was very enthusiastic about making the strange man that was made out of snow. Hermione laughed at him and asked him to make some little black buttons for his "coat" if he could while she conjured a carrot for a nose.

Eventually Ron came and helped too. Together the three of them rolled and patted snow and stuck twigs on for arms and buttons for the front, eyes and mouth. When they stepped back and surveyed their work Hermione frowned. There was something missing.

She grinned and with a few twitches of her wand the snow man was wearing a hat and a scarf. With another twist he started waving to them.

Harry, who had not seen her wave her wand, felt his jaw drop open. They had created a real person? Wow!

"Great work," Ron commented.

They made a few more snow angels before the two older students led a wide-eyed, still excited Harry back into the castle from his first ever joyous trip into the snow. He was so excited he could barely sit still at dinner.

"What did you feed him?" Ginny asked dryly. "Dare I ask?"

"We took him out in the snow," Hermione said with a small laugh. "He's just excited about it, I don't think he's ever been out in the snow before."

"Next time we go out we can have a snowball fight," Ron said with a grin after he had swallowed his mouthful of food.

Ginny laughed and smiled down fondly at Harry, who was drinking clumsily from his goblet contentedly.

"Looking forward to Christmas, Harry?" she asked.

Harry's eyes widened almost comically before he smiled shyly.

"Does Santa come here?" he asked.

"Yes," said Hermione. "And he brings lots of presents to good little boys and girls; I think you've been very good this year."

Hermione hadn't known it was possible for his eyes to get any wider.

"Really?" he almost whispered.

"Yes," said Hermione with a nod.

Harry smiled and drunk some more pumpkin juice, pleased and excited and even more contented than before. Did 'Mione mean Santa would really come to him this year?

He hoped so.

HPHGRWHPHGRW

It was a long time after snores filled the dormitory that little Harry awoke with a start, sitting upright in bed. He shivered as the blankets fell and he felt the chill that permeated the room. Why did he wake up?

And then he saw it. It looked like a rain storm, only it was snow instead of rain. His mouth dropping he slipped out of bed and padded over to the window, climbing up onto the windowsill so that he could see out it.

Snow flicked past the window as though it were in a desperate hurry to go somewhere else. There was so much snow now and it was all blowing around really fast!

Suddenly he thought of something and he looked down at the grounds. Easily he picked out a dark shape standing all alone in the middle of the grounds, facing the elements alone. Harry's eyes widened in horror. Simon was going to get buried!

He scrambled down off the ledge and made his way over to where Ron had dropped his warm snow clothes. He frowned as he looked at the many jumpers before just pulling on his shoes, leaving them unlaced as he didn't know how to do them up anyway, struggling into his coat and then, as an after thought, put on the really cool wizard's cloak he loved wearing.

Feeling he was all set he started to march toward the door before hurrying back and jamming his hat onto his head so his head didn't get to cold. Then he quietly snuck out of the dormitory and down the stairs.

He had been out of the tower so many times now that he knew exactly where the exit was, and soon he had scrambled out the portrait hole and was leaving the snoring fat lady behind, her picture hanging open slightly.

It was very late at night and very dark so there were no patrols. Even the teachers had given up long ago and gone to bed. Harry, of course, wasn't to know there even was patrols, so when he got to the Entrance Hall with no problems he didn't think anything of it.

The first thing that hit him when he opened one of the front doors a little was the cold. A blast of freezing, icy air. He recoiled and was about to go back when he remembered Simon the snowman, standing out there all alone and probably being buried right at that moment.

Squaring his little shoulders he plunged into the night, determined to save his friend.

HPHGRWHPHGRW

At first it was not immediately obvious that something was wrong when the few residents of Gryffindor Tower woke up the next morning. When Ron woke and saw some of yesterday's clothing items missing he assumed Harry had gone down to Hermione. And, of course, Hermione assumed that Harry was still upstairs with Ron.

It wasn't until they met and they realised that neither of them had Harry that they realised something was very wrong indeed.

"What do you mean he wasn't in his bed?" Hermione asked, her voice rising.

"He just wasn't!" Ron exclaimed. "I woke up and I thought he was with you!"

"Well he obviously isn't so where is he?" Hermione demanded.

"I don't know!"

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked, descending the stairs. "I can hear you too all the way up in the girls' dormitories."

"Harry's gone," Ron and Hermione shouted in unison and turned to one another angrily. "And it's your fault!"

"My fault?" Ron asked incredulously. "How is it my fault?"

"Let's see," snarled Hermione. "Harry was in your dormitory… why weren't you keep a better eye on him? Why didn't you wait until he was definitely asleep?"

"He was definitely asleep when I went to bed!" Ron said exasperatedly. "He…"

"Hey, wait!" Ginny shouted, holding up her hands when both sixth years turned to glare at her. "Let me get this straight. Harry's missing and you two are standing her arguing about it?"

That simply sentence hit home. Ron's mouth dropped open and Hermione reeled back as they looked at one another in shock. What were theydoing? They had to find Harry!

Without another word they raced out of the portrait hole. Ginny frowned and rolled her eyes in frustration before following them, hoping that Harry was okay.

"Where would he be?" she asked, panting as she tried to keep up with the wings Harry's carers seemed to have suddenly been given.

"Outside," Hermione said without hesitation. "He would have gone to see the snowman – I think he thought it was real."

Ginny grabbed their arms and they all jerked to a shock. The younger red-head stared at them in horror.

"You two might not realise because you probably went to sleep straight away, but there was a blizzard last night," she said.

"A blizzard?" Hermione asked, her jaw dropping. "I didn't even hear it!"

"But it might have woken Harry up if he's never seen or heard one before," Ginny said with a frown. "And if he thinks this snowman was real…"

"He would have gone to it to try and help it," Hermione said heavily. "Harry and his hero tendencies… come on, I hope he's okay."

They took off again. The halls were virtually empty as it was the Christmas holiday and a Sunday. Most people would likely still me in bed.

It was when they opened the double doors that they realised none of them had the appropriate clothes on to go outside. Hermione bit her lip and twisted her wand with a muttered incantation and they were suddenly all as warm as though they had a few layers of clothing on.

"A simple warming charm," Hermione explained.

They drudged out, their shoes sinking deep into the fresh snow. They could see the half buried snowman out on the field, still waving though the twig arm, which looked a little loose and jerky.

"We built the snowman yesterday and I made him wave to Harry, but I forgot to take the Charm off," Hermione said as they made their way over to the white figure. "But Harry was amazed by it. I'm not sure he realised that I did magic, though."

"He is only four, Hermione," Ginny said pointedly. "There's a fair few things you can get past four years olds if they aren't paying attention."

Hermione flushed at the reminded of her own thoughts just yesterday. No, he wasn't sixteen anymore and she had to remember that. He was just a four year old child and she had to treat him as such, not like her best friend.

As they got closer they could see a strange little red dome at the base of the snowman. Snow had crept up its walls as though it were a little igloo in the midst of being built, but they could still see the roof of the down.

Carefully they trudged over to it and peered inside. To their amazement there was Harry, curled up with a contented look as he slept beneath the zone, protected only by a coat, a flimsy cloak and his woollen hat.

"How's he doing that?" Ron asked blankly.

A moment later he found himself falling face first into the snow beside him when his sister and Hermione pushed him over in exasperation. Spluttering and blinking the snow off his eyelashes, he glared at the two entirely unapologetic girls.

"Harry," Ginny called gently, tapping on the surprisingly solid dome. "Harry, wake up."

Harry's eyes fluttered open and he yawned widely as he sat up, stretching a little. He was still in his pyjamas, though Hermione was pleased to see that he had at least put shoes on.

The first thing Harry saw as he rubbed sleep in his eyes was three faces peering through his red shield. He blinked up at them and looked beyond them at the steadily rising sun.

Uh oh…

"Harry, put this shield down right now and come out of there," Hermione said sternly.

Sheepishly Harry scrambled to do as she said. He looked over at Simon and was dismayed to find that he was half-buried.

"Oh no, Simon!" he cried.

"Simon?" Ron and Hermione chorused as Ginny hid a smile in her hand.

"The snowman," Harry said, pointing. "He's buried."

"Simon?" Hermione asked weakly again, apparently trying to come to terms with the fact that Harry had named their snowman.

Harry looked at her oddly.

"The snowman," he repeated.

Ginny couldn't suppress a giggle as she knelt in the snow beside Harry and looked him in the eyes with as much seriousness as she could muster.

"Harry, you scared us this morning," she said. "You shouldn't come out here without one of us or without asking."

"But Simon was getting hurt," Harry said, his eyes looking uncomfortably glassy.

"Simon is just a snowman," Ginny said gently. "Hermione used magic to make him wave."

Harry processed this for a moment or two before he blushed.

"Sorry," he murmured, looking at his feet.

"Just don't do it again," Hermione said, leaning down and picking him up. She had pleased to find that he had been getting heavier as he ate better. "You scared us very much."

"I promise," Harry said. "Can we make Simon again?"

"Later," Hermione said, exchanging a look with Ron. "I think Ron wants a snowball fight first. But, for now, let's get you inside before you catch a cold for Christmas!"

Harry suddenly looked anxious.

"Will Santa still come?" he asked.

"Yep," confirmed Hermione as they began moving back to the castle. "And he'll bring lots of presents for you to open and then we can have dinner in the Great Hall and maybe you'll be able to even help with the decorating."

Harry beamed, earlier misgivings immediately forgotten. He would love to help with the decorations and have a Christmas dinner and open presents.

But, most of all, he decided that he very much wanted to see Santa.

Coming soon; Chapter Eighteen; Christmas Time is Here - Now that he is sure Santa is coming to him, Harry is determined to see him and thank him for bringing his presents. Ron and Hermione try everything from cajoling to a sleep potion, but Harry refuses to be fooled. So what will his two guardians do to keep him from realising the "truth"?

Thanks to;

The Midnight Poster, Freja Lercke-Falkenborg, SilentWhisperWolf, maraudersbanana, deitarion/SSolkolow, ladywatertiger, Marauder Madness, Dragonmaster, Lady Bahiya, akuma-chan0326, spacecatdet, ChipmonkOnSpeed, wolfawaken, stag-star, Aria Dragoncrest, Little Miss Elizabeth, nabiki, DeathlyPhoenix, iluvchocs, Sakurabound, Your Hogwarts Secrets, Wonderbee31, taz, hittocerebattosai, Chi Vayne andLily

It was a record! 25 reviews for one chapter! I almost had a heart attack. I didn't realise me story was so popular!

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to review, I loved them all!

Note;I have decided (thank you Little Miss Elizabeth, who gave me the idea!) that I will change the ageing a little. Instead of a jump from 4 to 8 to 16, the pattern shall be thus; 2, 4, 6, 10, 16. And because I'm evil, I'm going to ask you all to guess what this pattern is now. -grins- I liked it because there are more ages before the Hogwarts years, which is what I originally wanted. House points for those who get it! And, speaking of that, a fair few people got the last one;

Gryffindor-

Slytherin- 10

Hufflepuff- 10

Ravenclaw- 10

-pouts- more than three people got it, but most forgot to put a House!

Anyway, before I forget, an interesting point was brought up in a recent review from Chapter Three. Mainly that what Harry did by transfiguring Black wasn't as magnificent as I made it out to be and there are a few examples that says it's been done before i.e. McGonagall transfiguring her desk into a pig. I do realise this - now, at least - however I am just go to pretend it was magnificent and all that and I hope you can all pretend with me? -puppy dog eyes- I feel a bit stupid now for forgetting all that, but I do agree it was amazing that Harry transfigured a mushroom into a dog (that stays a dog, mind you) at two without a wand. Anyway, it's done and it's part of the plot so it's all good!