* The little bookworm *
It was a Wednesday afternoon when Harry flooed to the Granger-Weasleys' house to pick up the reports. Ron had been under the weather since the night before, and even though he had taken a PepperUp potion, Hermione insisted that he had to stay at home and rest. Harry brushed the powder off his cloak and looked at the little 4-year-old redhaired girl sat in an armchair with a book on her lap. He looked at her closely and realised he knew that book very well. It was a copy of 'Fantastic Beasts and where to find them' by Newt Scamander, the very same one that him, Ron and Hermione used in their very first year at Hogwarts. He was surprised that a girl of such a young age could read a book like that, but then he remembered she was Hermione's daughter. She had learnt how to read when she was 2. He looked at her again. Big brown eyes fixed on the book, eyebrows furrowed as she was trying to understand everything she was reading. She had the same expression Hermione had when she was concentrating on something.
"What you reading, pumpkin?" he asked.
The little girl startled and upped her head to him. She gave him a broad smile, got up, left the book on the chair, and flung her arms to him.
"Uncle Harry!" she shouted, hugging him tight. Harry picked her up and kissed her head.
"How's my beautiful niece doing?" he asked.
"Good. I was reading." she said.
"I can see that. Where did you find that book?" he asked.
"In mommy's office." she said matter-of-factly. Harry raised his eyebrows.
"Does mommy know you have that book?" he asked. Her cheeks turned pink and shook her head.
"Mommy's busy taking care of daddy. And I was bored of all my books." she said. Harry sat down in the armchair with little Belle on his lap and took the book.
"You know, me, your mommy and your daddy read this book when we were at Hogwarts." he said. Belle's eyes got bigger.
"Really?" she asked. He nodded.
"Have you seen any of these animals, uncle Harry?" she asked. Harry smiled and nodded. Belle smiled.
"Which ones?" she asked excitedly.
"Well, I once fought a Hungarian Horntail." Harry said remembering the first task of the Triwizard Tournament back in his fourth year.
"That's a dragon, right?" Belle asked, her eyes sparkling. Harry smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, that's a very dangerous dragon." he said as Belle nodded her head.
"So, what did you do?" she asked
"Well, my mission was to get a golden egg that the dragon was guarding, so I took my Firebolt and flew around the dragon until it was very dizzy and there I took the egg and flew away." he said as the little girl looked at him marvelled.
"Wow! That was so cool! Have you seen any others?" she asked.
"Well... I saw an hippogriff in third year. His name was Buckbeak and Hagrid let me ride him." he said. Belle just looked at him, even more excited than before.
"How did you ride an hippogriff, uncle Harry?" she asked.
"Well, we were..." Harry started before Hermione interrupted them.
"I thought I heard voices! What are you doing here, Harry?" she asked walking to them.
"Uncle Harry was telling me about the time he rode an hippogriff!" Belle said as Hermione noticed the book that Harry was holding. She took it from him.
"Where did you get this?" she asked.
"Your office. Someone got bored of her books." Harry said as Belle looked down at the floor and Hermione looked at her.
"Belle Granger-Weasley, you know you can't take things that don't belong to you, especially mommy's things." she said between upset and amused.
"I'm sorry, mommy." the little girl said in a small voice. Hermione sighed, went to them and kissed her daughter's head.
"What am I going to do with you, my little bookworm?" she asked, smiling. Belle looked up to her and smiled innocently.
"Give me more books!" she shouted. Hermione and Harry laughed.
"Next time you want a book, you ask mommy and daddy for it. You don't accio them without permission, got it?" Hermione asked. Belle nodded her head vigorously and Hermione gave her the book back.
"I'm here for the reports Ron took home the other night. I need to bring them to the office." Herry told Hermione.
"I'll go and get them." she said, then she went back upstairs.
"So... how did you ride that hippogriff, uncle Harry?" Belle asked again. Harry smiled.
"Well, it was our first lesson of Care of Magical Creatures and Hagrid encouraged me to pet him. When it seemed that the hippogriff liked me, Hagrid picked me up and sat me on the hippogriff's back, and there he spreaded his wings and flew away." he explained to the marvelled 4-year-old.
"I wanna ride one too!" she exclaimed as Hermione downed the stairs with the files in her hands.
"I trust you are not talking about flying on a dragon, baby." she said giving Harry the files.
"You rode a dragon too?" Belle asked, shocked, looking at her uncle Harry. He nodded.
"Your mommy, your daddy and I flew on one while we were escaping Gringotts." he said, then he turned to Hermione. "And actually, we were talking about Buckbeak. Thanks for the files, Mione. Gotta go. Tell Ron to feel better soon." he said. He kissed the little girl, sat her on the armchair and flooed back to the Ministry. Belle looked at her mom, expectant.
"You flew on a dragon, mommy?" she asked. Hermione sighed. 'Damn you, Potter.' she thought to herself.
"That's a story for another day, baby. How about we go to Flourish and Blotts to see if we can find a new book for you?" Hermione suggested. Belle's smile got wider and she ran to her mom. She was just like her. Nothing made her happier than a pile of new books to read.