Hi all! Welcome to Chapter One of Water Worries. This is a story request from a lovely person called xxxRainLoverxxx, so credit to the idea goes to her. She is a very talented writer but unfortunately due to negative reviews she no longer likes to post her stories which is a true shame for everyone. This story is complete and is Thirteen Chapters long, updates should be weekly unless something drastic happens.
Summary: Harry has a fear of water, when his nightmares manage to get even Ron's attention Ron comes up with a plan for how to keep Harry's mind off the second task. What happens when they go too far? AU. Contains Spanking. No Slash.
Warning: Story contains parental spanking of a teenager, if this isn't your cup of tea, don't read it.
Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever, owned Harry Potter – as much as I'd like to I sadly do not. I did not make any money from this story, and I don't intend too. All characters and recognisable things belong to JK Rowling not me – as sad as that is for me.
~o~
Harry woke up with a jolt and a small scream of terror as he finally broke free of the nightmare and forced himself awake. His pyjamas were soaked in sweat, his heart felt like it was beating out of his chest, his breath came in harsh pants and his covers were twisted around his legs. His hand shot out to his bedside table, half reaching for the drawer to seek the comfort of his Godfather before he stopped himself. What was the point? There was nothing he could do, the task was coming, they had a good plan; he just needed to get over this stupid fear! Sirius wasn't exactly a morning person, and it was highly unlikely he'd even answer a mirror call at this time.
It had come as a shock to Harry when they'd gotten back to Platform 9 ¾ and there was no Uncle Vernon waiting there. Thankfully, Mrs Weasley had waited with him, wondering if his Uncle was just late. Eventually she'd said she would just take him back to The Burrow and write to Dumbledore, as they were beginning to attract a little too much attention, much to the delight of the rest of the Weasley kids. He'd spent the night at The Burrow, on the extra bed in Ron's room. Though Mrs Weasley had written to Dumbledore the previous night, it was nearly dinner time the next day before he finally arrived at The Burrow. After some polite talk, he finally explained that the Dursley's, mainly Vernon, were refusing point blank to allow Harry into the house. Mrs Weasley immediately opened her home to Harry, but Dumbledore explained he had already arranged alternative living arrangements for him, though he was sure Harry could visit again later.
Harry hadn't unpacked his trunk, not being certain of what was going to happen, and Dumbledore had used magic to summon anything left at the Dursleys of Harry's, so he simply handed him a feather, explaining, at Harry's very confused look, that it was a portkey. With a jerk to his naval Harry felt himself pulled out of The Burrow, a dizzying, jerking, and extremely disorienting uncertain length of time later, he found himself in a strange hallway. The huge black grim racing down the hall, pink tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth as he ran, made Harry laugh. Seeing his well-liked ex-Defence Against the Dark Arts professor slowly walking down the hall behind the dog produced a smile. The grim shifted into his escaped convict Godfather and instantly threw his arms around him, hugging him tightly, "welcome to Griffin's Lair," Sirius told Harry.
It had been the best summer Harry had ever had. He finally had parental figures that cared for him. When he'd suffered nightmares, due to being exposed to Dementors all year, Sirius had been there with a mug of hot chocolate and an ear to listen. He'd learnt that Griffin's Lair was a Potter property, as Sirius had never technically been convicted of his crimes the Goblins accepted him as having guardianship of Harry, so they were able to live in it. Dumbledore had put up multiple protective wards around it, so they were as safe as possible, though he strongly advised against leaving the wards.
When Ron had invited Harry to see the Quidditch World Cup, Harry had almost not wanted to go, he finally felt like he had an actual home that wasn't Hogwarts. It took a little convincing, but he eventually decided to go. It had been fantastic and both Remus and Sirius had been right, he would have regretted not going… up until the Death Eater activity of course. Before Remus had taken to him to catch the Hogwarts Express, Sirius had given him his Dad's old mirror, explaining it was one half of a set of paired mirrors and he had the other one and Harry was to use it to contact him whenever he needed, it was more secure than using owl post and even talking through the Floo, so long as he warded the area around him properly. Remus had taught him the spell muffliato and he used that whenever he used the mirror.
Harry flopped back down onto his pillows, trying to decide if it was worth attempting to get back to sleep or not, finally convincing himself he didn't need to call Sirius. It made him feel childish enough that he wanted to in the first place and besides, Sirius liked to ask what his nightmares were about, he would think him ridiculous if he explained he was scared to swim.
Ron heard Harry startle awake again, aware that his best friend had been having nightmares for almost a week now. Harry looked like hell and he'd woken himself up early trying to think of ways to help his best mate. "You alright mate?" He asked once Harry stopped sounding like he'd been running for his life and had flopped back onto his bed.
Harry startled at Ron's voice, shame welling up in him at the realisation that his friend knew he was having nightmares. "Merlin Ron. Are you trying to give me a heart attack? M'fine," he insisted, "just stressed about the task," he confessed reluctantly. Ron wasn't as demanding as Hermione, but he wouldn't accept that nothing at all was wrong if he'd noticed enough to ask. "They filled the lake with man eating sharks," he offered as an explanation, surely that was scary enough that Ron wouldn't push for more. His dream of just being unable to reach the surface and slowly drowning would undoubtably just be laughed off by Ron.
Ron wasn't entirely sure Harry was being truthful, it certainly sounded like something that would give him nightmares, and after having to face a dragon it was clear these tasks were deadly. He quickly weighed up whether or not it mattered if that was truly what Harry was worried about and if it actually changed his plans, before deciding that no it didn't matter and it changed nothing. "Harry, I've been thinking," he hedged.
Harry forced himself to laugh a little then, "did it hurt?" He teased.
Ron gave a much more normal laugh in return, "like I was hit with a bludger, I'm letting Hermione do all my thinking from now on," he returned.
Harry snorted in genuine amusement, "good plan." The grip of the nightmare finally fading, joking around with Ron making him feel lighter and able to push it into the back of his mind.
"I know, I came up with it," Ron grinned. He shook his head and reminded himself he was supposed to be approaching this topic seriously, "anyway, since we've actually got a plan and all I reckon all this stressing about the task isn't great for your health; we need to do something to distract you. I mean, we're normally so wrapped up in some kind of mystery that it actually feels odd to have an almost normal year," he continued gamely. "I reckon we need to have some real fun," he suggested.
Harry frowned in confusion, not sure what Ron was getting at, "what do you mean?"
Ron sighed to himself; this was the hard part. Harry hadn't exactly had a normal life, the Dursley's were right gits frankly; at The Burrow the way to blow off some steam was to throw a few pranks, play games, have fun, and, well, get up to mischief. Fred and George were the champions of trouble making, it was true, but even Bill and Charlie had thrown a prank or two when they needed to let off steam. "Like I said, normally we're too wrapped up in some kind of mystery, like the stone in our first year, then the Chamber in our second year, and Sirius and the dementors last year. I know we've got the Tournament this year, but you're as prepared as you can be, got a brilliant plan; so now we need to relax and the best way to do that is to have fun. That way we can focus on making plans for that, more than the many potential ways they could make this task even more stupid," he impassioned.
Harry found himself honestly impressed and intrigued by the idea, "that actually sounds good. Any ideas for what we could do?"
Ron grinned, glad Harry hadn't gotten upset or offended and seemed game for the plan, "we should start with something simple. A conjured bucket filled with water levitating over the doors to the Great Hall, neither of us is strong enough to make the bucket permanent, it'll disappear after not too long and whoever is underneath it at the time will get soaked."
Harry laughed, fully on board with the plan. They both got out of bed, showered, and dressed for the day before heading down to the Common Room where they practiced conjuring buckets, timing how long they lasted. Harry was declared the winner, being able to conjure the larger and sturdiest bucket that could last a whole five minutes. They got dressed and headed down to the Great Hall, waiting for it to start getting busy. Under Harry's invisibility cloak they hurried to the boy's bathroom, Harry conjuring the bucket and Ron quickly filling it with water, both carrying the surprisingly heavy bucket of water to the door. Ron levitated the bucket over the doors, Harry casting a light sticking charm to attach it to the wall and they waited.
It was just the perfect luck that Malfoy and his posse happened to be entering the Great Hall when the conjuration failed, and the water dropped onto their heads. Harry and Ron both slapped a hand over each other's mouths as Malfoy threw a tantrum worthy of a toddler demanding to know who had 'assaulted' him. When it because clear no one was going to answer him, the spoilt blonde stormed off back to his dorm to change, along with the rest of the Slytherins, with a venomously spat, "my Father will hear about this!"
Now the coast was clear, Harry and Ron took the cloak off, stuffing it back in Harry's bag, before they walked into the Great Hall laughing together. Fred and George slapped them both on the back, congratulating them on a well-executed prank, Ron spluttered and demanded to know how they knew it was them.
"Well now ickle Ronnikins, whilst the prank was excellently performed, your absence and sudden arrival were a little too coincidental, along with your obvious mirth," Fred pointed out.
"Indeed Gred, excellent observations my good fellow. My most esteemed brother is quite correct, if you had indeed just been innocently arriving at breakfast, it would have been quite impossible for you to have seen the simple but excellent prank. Ergo you are the pranksters," George added.
Ron grumbled, not truly upset and completely unable to keep the grin off his face, "you think it was good though?"
"Oh indeed, simple, but perfectly executed. Who knows, you keep this up and we may even be willing to admit we're related to you," Fred teased.
Harry laughed happily, his mind as far from the second task as it was possible to be.
Hermione gave both boys a slightly disapproving look, "did you target him?" She asked.
Ron grinned delightedly but shook his head, "nope, it was just a brilliant stroke of luck," he declared.
Harry nodded along with Ron, "he's right Hermione, it was a conjured bucket, we couldn't control who was under it when the conjuration failed," he assured her.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at both boys before giving a nod of acceptance, "fine. I still think there are other things you should be focused on, but…"
"Oh, stop it Hermione, it's just a bit of fun!" Ron interrupted her.
"Ah, I was wondering what version you did, at home we use a bit of spellotape attached to the bottom, but that would require balancing it on top of something" Ginny put in.
Hermione whipped around to look at Ginny, "what?"
Ginny had just taken a bite of toast so quickly chewed and swallowed, "Fred and George might be the reigning kings of pranks and mischief, but it can be a pretty fun free for all when we're all at home."
"You're no slouch at the game of pranking yourself little sister," George insisted.
Hermione looked between Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny waiting for one of them to insist they were joking, "you're serious?" She asked.
"Nope, that's my Dogfather," Harry quipped unable to help himself.
The four Weasley's all burst into laughter at that, Ron giving Harry a hearty slap on the back. For security reasons Dumbledore had informed the Weasley's of the truth about Sirius and that he was the one who Harry was going to be living with. Mrs Weasley had been incredibly reluctant to allow Harry to leave her home, especially given the Headmaster's not to stella track record when it came to placing Harry in suitable home environments. Only the fact that Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny were allowed to visit Griffin Lair, and Harry come and visit The Burrow swayed her into accepting the situation.
"Good one Harrykins!" Fred cheered.
Hermione let her head fall into her hands complaining about being surrounded by crazy people.
"Don't worry Hermione, the crazy is catching, you'll be just as mad as the rest of us soon enough," Ginny teased in a sweetly innocent voice. "Or you'll kill us all," she added with a nonchalant shrug.
Harry burst into laughter at that, smiling widely at the youngest Weasley. He had to admit, if Sirius hadn't advised him to ask a girl he already knew and thought of as a friend to the Yule Ball he probably never would have thought to ask Ginny. He had no regrets about asking her and had even had fun dancing, she had a wicked sense of humour and was definitely pretty. He couldn't have imagined having nearly as much fun with anyone else and she'd made what he thought was going to be a very unpleasant event, rather brilliant. It had stirred up some slightly confusing feelings, and he wasn't even completely sure he wanted to admit he had the beginnings of a crush on his best friend's younger sister; but looking into her bright eyes as they both laughed, that feeling of interest and attraction returned.
Something caught Harry's attention then and he turned his focus to the Head Table, seeing that the Headmaster was looking at him. When their eyes met, Dumbledore lifted his cup and tipped it slightly in his direction, giving him an amused nod.
"Did Dumbledore just…" George started.
"He did!" Fred insisted.
"Wicked," the twins chimed together.
~o~
So, there you go, Chapter One, please review to let me know what you thought. I really hope you enjoy this story as I certainly had a lot of fun writing it! A slice of Molly Weasley's Treacle tart for those who do review!