Disclaimer: -insert usual JK is queen speal-
His Boy
Chapter Nineteen: Hermione's Birthday
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" Harry laughed as Sirius tossed him up in the air and then caught him as he came back down. He hugged him, laughing and shifting him to his hip as they continued to walked down the sidewalk of the blocks of suburban identical homes. It was September eighteenth, the day before Hermione's fifth birthday and they'd been invited over for a party to celebrate. Harry was quite excited. It was his first real birthday party aside from the ones the Dursleys had thrown for Dudley over the years, but he'd always been sent off for a 'nap' in the cupboard under the stairs when the other kids got there. "Paddy, is 'mione's odder friends gonna be there?"
"I think so, she invited her entire school class." Sirius smiled and rocked him slightly, enjoying the way Harry's smile widened at the idea of there being even more kids there. He was excited about seeing Hermione and had spoken of nothing else since he'd found out the other day that they were going to her house. "Ronnie and Ginny and Luna will be there as well."
"Hooray!" Harry threw his arms in the air, happy with this great news and then scrambled to be put down as they got to Hermione's front door. Sirius rang the bell and the door was opened by Hermione who seemed to have been watching out for people. She laughed, running to hug Harry and looking excited.
"Hi Harry!"
"Hi 'mione! I bringed you a present." Harry grinned proudly, pointing to the package in Sirius's hand. Hermione smiled and grabbed his hand, dragging him inside, Sirius following after them, the sound of children being loud hitting his ears almost as once. Hermione led them down the hallway and into a large hard wood playroom. There were mostly books here, but there were also plenty of toys that looked as though they'd been handled gently over the years.
"I'm going to go find your mommy. You guys have fun." Sirius stated, giving Harry's hair a ruffle and traipsing down the hallway to find Hermione's mum.
Harry smiled, looking around at all the other kids who had come for Hermione's birthday. She must have lots of friends at school, just like he did. Hermione held onto his hand and dragged him into the room where the kids seemed to be playing some sort of game that involved tapping each other on the head and running around in a circle… Harry knew this game! It was Duck, Duck, Goose. He'd played it at his school before.
"Harry! 'mione!" A flash of red hair announced the arrival of Ronnie and Ginny, closely followed by an over joyed Luna who immediately slid into a space in the circle of other kids. Ginny joined her, both giggling over something or other while Ronnie jumped up and down at his glee of seeing his friends again.
"Hi Ronnie!" Hermione beamed. "We're gonna play Duck Duck Goose."
"Yay!" Ronnie laughed, excited about the game and moved to sit down next to Ginny. Harry, sat between Ginny and Luna and Hermione moved to join them, sitting between Ronnie and another little girl who quickly glanced at her and shifted away.
"Ew, Her-heiny touched me!"
"Ewwww." Chorused almost the entire group of other kids. Hermione frowned, but didn't look surprised.
"Her-heiny, Her-heiny, nothing's grosser than Her-heiny." The little girl chanted, rising and swinging her hips in a sort of dance as she stuck her tongue out at Hermione who shifted closer to Ronnie. "I only came cause my mummy saids I hadda."
"Yeah!" A little boy this time, grimaced and stuck his tongue out at Hermione rudely. "Her-heiny, Her-heiny." He stood up and shook his bottom at her, egging all the other kids to do the same. Harry frowned, looking at Hermione who seemed close to tears by this point, but was trying very very hard not to shed them.
"STOP IT!" Ronnie's voice was louder than all of the others, his shout reminiscent of his mother's when it was dinner time and everyone was spread out throughout the house and yard at the Burrow. "STOOOOP IIIIIIT!"
"We dun gotta." A boy stepped forward, his tongue out, still dancing the Her-heiny dance. "We dun gotta do nothing you say!"
"Yes you do!" Ronnie stated right back, glaring as he rose to his feet. "Is 'mione's birthday, you're not allowed ta be mean ta her."
"We're gonna be mean if we wanna." The boy stated back.
"Then I'm gonna beat chu up." Ronnie glared back at him, stepping forward. He had seen his brothers handle things this way and felt that it was probably the best idea right now. He was taller than most of the other kids, it coming naturally, and the other boy seemed to back away a bit at this threat.
"You can't beat me up, I'll beat chu up first." The other boy stuck his tongue out, hands on his hips.
"Then yer gonna get a really long time out!" Harry stood up, joining with Ronnie, both of them standing in front of Hermione.
"Her-heeeeiny, Her-heeeiny, it's really big and shiiiiiny." The boy sing songed, waving his hands to get the other kids to join him again. Appearently they had several versions of their little song.
Ronnie's little ears got redder and redder, and then, before the other boy knew what had happened, he was being tackled to the floor. "Don't you dare call my 'mione names!" Ronnie yelled before Harry tugged at him.
"We should tell the growed ups." Harry didn't want Ronnie to get in trouble for hurting the other boy. Ronnie nodded, climbing off of the other boy who still looked startled that he'd actually been taken down.
"C'mon." Ronnie reached down and grabbed hold of Hermione's hand, dragging her up and towards the door. "C'mon. We dun gotta listen to these poopbrains."
Harry tugged at Ginny and Luna to get them to follow. He stuck his tongue out at the other kids who watched them go in shocked silence. Apparently no one had stood up to them before when it came to this situation. They followed after Ronnie and Hermione who went straight for the kitchen.
The adults were in here. Hermione's mommy and daddy, Sirius, Mr. Weasley, Tricia, and a few other mommies who belonged to the other kids back in the playroom. Ronnie marched right up to his father and tugged on his pantleg until he looked down.
"They was calling her names." He said, pointed to Hermione and then back at the playroom.
"Oh no, not again." Mr. Granger sighed and scooped his daughter up, hugging her close. "Sweetie, I thought you said the teachers made it stop."
"Y-yeah, but… there aren't any teachers in the playroom." Hermione sniffled, burying her face in her father's shoulder.
"Paddy, they was being really mean." Harry stated, sounding completely affronted. He did not like anyone picking on his friends, He had thought the kids from Hermione's school would be nice, but they weren't nice at all. They were mean, just like the kids at his old school.
"Well, Harry, you guys did the right thing by coming and telling us. Who started calling names?"
"B-b-bianca…" Hermione's shoulders shuddered and she wailed, able to do so now that she was surrounded by adults and friends she trusted.
"My Bianca?" One woman stood, looking quite shocked. "I highly doubt my daughter would cause such a disruption. She's about a good as gold."
"Well, we'll just have to talk to the others then." Mrs. Granger suggested. Whenever Hermione came home crying, she always named Bianca as the instigator. That child needed a serious time out and less spoiling as far as she was concerned.
"It was the girl with the pigtails." Ronnie stated. "The blonde one, with the big pink bows. And the boy with the green and blue shirt."
"You must be mistaken, sweetheart." Bianca's mum stated sweetly bending down to Ronnie's level.
"Well, how can he? He doesn't know the other children's names, he's a family friend." Mrs. Granger stated coldly, headed down the hallway towards the playroom. The others followed after her.
"Mommy! That boy pushed me!" The little boy who hard started the chanting wailed, running forward to cling to the legs of a harried looking woman who scooped him up.
"What did you do to make him do that, Nathan?" She asked, knowing full well that he was a trouble maker, no matter how much she loved him.
"Bianca, were you calling names?"
"Oh no Mummy, I wasn't. Nathan was." The little girl who had first called Hermione 'Her-heiny' beamed innocently up at her mother. "Hermione's lyyyying."
"No she isn't! 'mione never lies!" Harry glared at the Bianca, quite displeased. "You called her names and then everybody else called her names too. You needa time out."
"Nu uh! I dun get time outs, I'm a good girl!" Bianca stuck her tongue out at Harry. "You needs a time out for being dumb!"
"Harry's not dumb!" Ginny shouted, stomping forward and pushing Bianca before anyone could stop her.
"Ginny, we don't push." Mr. Weasley grabbed his daughter by the arm gently, tugging her away from Bianca. "Now apologise."
"No. She was mean first." Ginny glared at Bianca, her brown eyes full of fire.
"Ginny Weasley, it doesn't matter who did it first, you do not push people, is that understood?"
Ginny pouted, but nodded, grumbling to her little three year old self about meaniepoopheads who shouldn't be allowed to come to birthday parties if they were just going to make fun of the birthday girl.
"Come along Bianca, I'll not have you apologizing for something you didn't do." Bianca's mum stated simply, picking up her daughter who grinned down at them all so very smugly. Even with the word of several children, she wouldn't believe that her precious angel could do any wrong. The other parents watched her go, feeling sorry for the child who would never know how to treat others properly if she was never punished for treating them poorly, but such was the world of ignorance.
"Well, let's get back to the party then, shall we?" Mr. Granger asked, heading for the kitchen. "Everyone to the dining room for cake!" He called and there was a sudden stampeding of little feet, everyone wanting to be the first to the dining room so they could have some cake.
Hermione got to sit on the big chair at the end of the table while Mrs. Granger carried the large, pink frosted cake into the room, it's five candles glowing brightly. She set it down on the table in front of Hermione who beamed and then blew them out as soon as the happy birthday song had been sung. Mr. Granger helped her cut it up and hand it out, letting Hermione pick who got which piece.
"Alright everyone, finish up, we're doing games next. How about a little pin the tail on the donkey?"
"Donkey! Donkey!" Ginny gave a squeal as she danced about in a circle, having already eaten her plate clean just like the good little Weasley she was. She bolted from the room closely followed by a troop of other kids all intent on playing games.
In the backyard, Sirius helped tie blind folds around each child's head in turn, giving them all a chance to pin the tail in the correct spot without being able to see it. They let Hermione go first, seeing as it was her birthday after all, and she immediately missed the donkey's rear end and stabbed it right in the ear. She took off her blindfold and frowned. "I didn't get it right."
"That's otay, 'mione. Now he hassa earring." Ronnie smiled at her, patting her shoulder.
"Yeah." Hermione giggled, glad that Ronnie had pointed that out for her as opposed to continue feeling sad about not getting the tail in the right spot. She was happy now and it showed in the large smile on her face.
Harry clapped his hands together, watching as Ginny tagged the donkey with a tail to the nose and then Ronnie gave it a try, reaching out and feeling the mat. His hands found Hermione's tail and then moved his up a little, pinning it right on the other ear. He tore off his blindfold and then laughed. "Look! Now he has two earrings!"
"Yay!" Hermione laughed and danced around a bit.
"I missed!" The next child, a little boy called Henry whimpered, his eyes filling with tears as he stared at his misplaced tail.
"It's okay, Henry!" Hermione smiled at him kindly. "I didn't get it either."
"Me too." Harry nodded, pointing to where his own tail was positioned on the mat. "I didn't even get it on the donkey."
"Where did you all learn to be such good sports?" Mr. Granger beamed, quite astounded that so far, most of the four year olds hadn't whined about not getting the tail into the right spot.
"My Daddy says games are for fun, not just winning." Ronnie stated proudly, pointing to his dad who was over helping Jean put apples into a large bucket of water.
"Paddy says a same thing." Harry nodded in agreement, knowing that it made Padfoot happy when he listened to him. "'cept for Quidditch."
"Yeah." Ronnie agreed. "Quidditch is made for winning."
"Quidditch?" Mr. Granger looked mildly confused.
"It's a game. You play it on…"
"A field." Sirius cut in quickly, scooping up Harry before he could say anything else about the wizarding sport in front of a bunch of Muggles. "These two like to play their made up games. Something to do with a ball and a bunch of rules I don't understand, but that's how kids are."
Mr. Granger laughed, nodding his head, knowing exactly what Sirius meant. Hermione was always making up little games with her stuffed animals and books. "Oh yes, they're at that age. The other day I had a little boy come into my office for a cleaning and he was wearing a towel as a cape. Apparently, even super heroes don't like my metal scraper. Speaking of which, how are Harry's teeth doing?"
"They're excellent. Brushes and flosses every morning and night."
"Good good." Mr. Granger smiled. "At this age, it's not as worrisome since they're still just baby teeth, but once they get their adult teeth, that's when you've got to watch them like a hawk."
"Of course." Sirius nodded in agreement, knowing that if Harry ever managed to get a cavity, well… he'd just take him to the Healer and it'd be fixed up good as new with a simple anti-decay spell.
"Paddy!" Harry yelled, coming running over to Sirius, a bright red apple held high in his small hand, his face sopping wet. "Paddy! I did it! I got the apple!"
"Great job, Harry!" Sirius beamed, scooping him up.
"Oh Harry." Jean came hurrying over with a towel, laughing. "I tried to dry him off, but he was just too excited to show you." She pressed the towel over Harry's face gently, getting him cleaned up. Harry laughed, pushing at the towel.
"I got it! I GOT IT!" Henry laughed, spinning in a circle, holding up his apple like it was the greatest thing on the planet. He danced about, tripped on his shoelace, and before anyone could grab him, he fell backwards, butt first, into the apple dunking tub.
He sat there in shock for a moment, his eyes welling with tears.
"It's ok Henry." Hermione quickly grabbed one of his hands and gave him a tug. Ronnie grabbed the other and together, they managed to pull Henry out of the tu. He burst into tears, his clothes all wet.
"It's all right." Mr. Weasley tried to assure him as he picked him up off the ground, not even wincing at getting wet himself. Sirius hurried over as well, setting Harry down as Jean unfolded the large towel and got it wrapped around the four year old.
"Shush, Henry, it's all right. A little water never hurt anyone. Come inside now, I'll get you all cleaned up, hmm?" Jean took Henry and carried him into the house.
"Well then… who wants to o next?" Mr. Weasley asked, clapping his hands together and looking down at the group of pre schoolers. Hands were raised and the bobbing continued.
When Henry returned from the house, he was wearing a pair of jeans with a butterfly on the back and a blue shirt. It was the best Jean had been able to do, only having a girl.
"Henry's wearin' girl clothes!" Marco shouted, laughing and dancing about as he chewed away at his apple.
"None of that." Sirius snapped, patting Henry's head and offering him back his apple that had been left outside. Henry took it, his little cheeks turning a bit red at the remark.
"But he's a boy." Marco stated, looking not the least bit afraid that he'd been spoken to. He made faces at Henry.
"Come on." Harry stated adbruptly grabbing Ronnie's hand once the adults had turned their attention back to the bobbing apple.
"Where we going?" Ronnie asked curiously as they went up the back steps and into the house without being noticed. They traipsed through the house and up the stairs, Harry leading the way until they found Hermione's bedroom. "What're we doing?"
"Helping Henry." Harry stated simply as he tugged out a drawer in Hermione's dresser. He pulled out a green skirt and a purple t-shirt, chucking them to the floor before stripping off his own clothes. Ronnie's eyes widened as Harry began pulling on the shirt.
"Harry! We can't wear girl clothes! We're boys." He said quickly, looking around nervously.
"Paddy says friends help each odder. Now you gonna help Henry or not?"
Ronnie gulped and then sighed with a nod. He went to the closet and tugged down a very frilly pink dress he'd seen Hermione wearing once and had really actually thought was quite pretty… for girls clothes that was. He shucked off his own clothes and pulled the dress on over his head, getting a bit caught up in it halfway through. Harry helped him tug it down and, together, they managed to get it zipped up.
Harry looked around and grabbed a pair of Hermione's shoes, pulling them on and tossing some more to Ronnie who heaved another sigh, but pulled them on without another word. They peeked in the door mirror and Harry patted his head."Girls put stuff in they's hair."
"Yeah." Ronnie nodded, seeming a bit more willing now. He looked around and then pointed to a basket on the dresser that contained various hair clips, headbands, and scrunchies. He reached up and pulled it down, falling backwards and spilling the contents all over the floor. "Oh, lookit!" He laughed and held up a bow on a hair band. He wrapped it around his head as Harry fumbled with a clip, finally managing to get it locked in his hair by slamming it down on his head. He added a couple more for good measure and then they turned to look at eachother.
"Looking good Ronnie."
"Yeah." Ronnie grinned at him and they headed back down stairs and outside to join the party again.
Ronnie strutted proudly over to Marco and pushed him away from where he was poking fun at Henry again. "I'm wearing girls clothes too, Henry."
"Me too, Henry!" Harry added, running over, skirt flying. "See? We're all boys and we're pretty."
Henry beamed so brightly, Harry felt very happy that he'd put on girls clothes to help his new friend feel better.
"Those are mine." Hermione laughed, squealing excitedly at the fact that her friends were being silly.
"Harry, what in the name of Merlin…?" Sirius asked as he finally caught sight of the boys. Harry smiled up at him and stated, very plainly.
"Henry has to wear girl clothes, so we're wearing girl clothes too."
"I see that. You're a good friend, mate." Sirius laughed, hugging Harry proudly. His godson may be wearing girls clothes, but it was definitely for a good cause. Besides, it really didn't matter to him what Harry wore so long as he was happy, it was proper for the season, and covered where he needed to be covered.
"Hey… Hermione, can I wear some of your clothes too?" Marco asked after a minute, looking quite like he was feeling left out. Hermione seemed to ponder it over for a moment and then nodded.
"Ok. But you hasta wear what I pick."
"Ok." Marco smiled.
"I wanna wear some too!" Shouted a little boy called Anthony, his eyes widening at the idea of playing dress up. There was a murmuring of agreement from the rest of the group. Not wanting a mutiny on their hands, the adults herded the kids all inside to the play room where Jean brought down a couple of arm fuls of Hermione's clothes and set them on the floor for the kids to play with. Dresses and skirts were put on over shirts and pants. Hair accessories flew everywhere and soon, it was one of the most interesting looking bunches of children one had ever seen.
Sirius got out his camera, not wanting Remus to be completely left out. He was spending the day recovering from another full moon and, though he was a bit sad not to be able to go, he was glad for a bit of quiet in the house. Sirius made sure to take a lot of pictures, getting a really nice one of Hermione being hugged from either side by Harry and Ronnie, all prettied up. "Another one for the mantle, right next to the toe sucking one." He said to himself as he took it, knowing full well that, later in life, the pictures would probably embarrass the kids, but Sirius knew he'd have a blast telling the stories behind them.
The party flowed fairly easily after that. Hermione opened her gifts, squealing over an extra thick encyclopedia of dinosaurs that Harry had picked out for her, and then goodie bags were handed out as parents came to retrieve their children.
Jean placed a basket beside the door to help those who had played dress up, out of her daughter's clothes with ease. Most of the parents laughed when they saw their children all fancied up. Marco's father was not the least bit pleased.
"How dare you allow my son to put on a dress. He's a boy!" The man raged as he yanked the dress up and off of Marco and tossed it aside. "These are not the types of things that young impressionable minds should be taught as being ok. It leads to dangerous habits later!"
"I have absolutely nothing wrong with my son playing dress up." Henry's mother stated as she helped Henry put his now dry shirt back on. During dress up play, the little boy had exchanged his shirt and jeans for Hermione's sailor dress, saying that his favorite color was blue. "Children like to make believe. What were you pretending to be, Henry?"
"A ship captain, like Daddy!" Henry laughed, saluting her. She smiled.
"What about you, Marco?"
"I wassa fireman!" Marco grinned, pretending to hold up a hose. "See?" He held up the dress he'd been wearing. "It's red and long like a fireman's jacket!"
"There now, see? A fireman. Nothing wrong about that."
"Well I…" Marco's dad still didn't look convinced. He picked up his son and left without another word.
"Paddy, why was Marco's daddy so mad?" Harry asked a bit later as he tooted on his red kazoo, walking down the side walk next to Sirius.
"Some people think boys shouldn't do girl things, and girls shouldn't do boy things."
"But… I like playing dress up and girls like playing dress up, and I'm a boy. And Hermione likes dinosaurs better than dolls and she's a girl."
"That's very true Harry. It's ok for boys to like girl things and girls to like boy things."
"Would you love me if I liked all girl stuffs and no boy stuff?" Harry asked curiously, looking up at Padfoot, kazoo in his hand.
"Harry, I would love you even if you wanted to wear dresses all the time and play with baby dolls." Sirius smiled, swinging him up into his arms and hugging him. "I love you because you're you. You're Harry, and you're perfect just being Harry." Harry smiled, hugging his arms around Padfoot.
"You're perfect just being, Paddy too."
First, I would like to apologise for my very very long absence. I've had my hands full with a very energetic puppy, two fiesty kittens, and working the holiday season in retail. BUT, hopefully now, I shall have more time. I hope you all have a very lovely holiday season and enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed having the time to actually finish it. Please let me know what you thought.
With love, as always,
S.Q.O.
PS. The puppy's name is Luna and she has Ravenclaw colored eyes, and the kittens are dubbed Molly and Arthur-who-I-refuse-to-call-Michael-because-that's-my-brother's-name-and-my-mom-and-little-brother-are-effing-crazy.