5: A Present in Pictures
As a reward for doing well in school, Harry and Hermione Potter treat their daughters to a visit to a favourite Muggle leisure activity
Harry and Hermione Potter left the Apparition platforms at the Ysgol y Dewiniaeth gates and made their way down the sloping path to the school. The all girls witches academy was already thronging with other parents collecting their children, and many of them waved cheerily as the Potters joined the crowd. Hermione was scanning the mass for Mrs Longbottom, who was her particular friend, as Harry scouted for their daughters instead.
It was just happy coincidence that they found them stood together.
Mrs Longbottom was holding her new baby and talking to the teacher, Miss Morris, while her daughter Alison played happily with Sophie Potter, the eldest of Harry and Hermione's children. Little Celesca Potter was swaying around on the spot and singing to herself whilst trying to work out which monsters the clouds most looked like.
That was until she spotted Harry.
"Daddy!" she cried, running to him and wrapping herself around his thigh.
Harry scooped up the little blonde haired girl and hugged her tight. "Hey munchkin. Have a good day?"
"Daddy, I am not a munchkin," Celesca complained.
"You weren't a meatball either, but I still think you look like one," Harry teased, tickling his youngest daughter.
Hermione moved to Mrs Longbottom and gave her a hug. "Hi, Ennie. How's little Neville Jnr?"
"Trying," Enola Longbottom replied. "He's lately decided that sleep is for other babies. I was just telling Miss Morris, here, that I'm on the verge of giving him a sleeping draught!"
Hermione laughed, but she wasn't sure if Enola was joking or not. She did look very tired. Hermione turned to Miss Morris.
"Bore da, Miss Morris. "Sut wyt ti?"
"Da iawn, diolch," Miss Morris replied. "Ble mae'ch babi?"
"Gyda fy Mam," Hermione replied. "Nid yw'n cysgu chwaith!"
Both women laughed at that. Miss Morris nodded impressed. "Your Welsh is getting very good now, Mrs Potter. And your accent is improving too. A bit too Cardiff, for my Valleys roots liking, but still much better!"
"Thank you," Hermione laughed. "Sophie and Cesc babble away in Welsh so much at home I thought I'd better try and learn. I'm pretty sure I haven't mastered all their back chat yet, but I'm getting there!"
"Well, I have prepared Sophie's End of Term report," said Miss Morris. "Top of all her classes I'm happy to say. I will miss her when she goes to Hogwarts, that's for certain. Such a bright and pleasant young witch to teach. So eager to learn."
"She gets that from you, Min," said Harry, joining the group. "Bore da, Miss Morris."
"Bore da, Mr Potter," Miss Morris smiled. "And I look forward to getting this one next year."
She grinned at Celesca, who tucked shyly into Harry's shoulder. She was due to join the Upper Primary School in the next year and was not looking forward to it. Harry laughed at that.
"Well, Miss Morris, if you can manage to stun her to silence so easily, I insist you share the secret with me!" Harry joked. "This is the quietest she's been in three years!"
Hermione laughed as she came up and stroked her daughter's hair. "Come on then, let's get to London then."
"London?" Harry queried. "Why are we going to London?"
"You promised, Dad, don't you remember?" said Sophie, coming up with Alison. "You said that if I was top in all my classes at the end of the year you'd take me to London to watch a movie in the Odeon."
"Oh yes, I did, didn't I?" said Harry.
"You could have just done what that Betelgeuse man did," Celesca pointed out. "And made Sophie dance in the air. Not that she's a very good dancer."
"I'm the best dancer!" Sophie complained. "Better than you, anyway."
Celesca just poked her tongue at her sister safe, as she was, in the arms of her father.
"No, Daddy, a promise is a promise," said Hermione haughtily. "Besides, I've already made us a reservation in Chinatown. I have a hankering for Shredded Crispy Beef."
"Ooh, me too, Mummy!" Sophie cried, licking her lips. "And I'm going to have spring rolls and prawn crackers and noodles with beansprouts."
"You can have whatever you like, sweetie," Hermione beamed. "You've earned it."
"Ooh, can I have a cake that looks like a pig, too? They're my favourite."
"Won't you want popcorn in the cinema too?" asked Hermione. "You don't want to be too full."
"I wont be, Mummy, but I want a little bit of everything," said Sophie.
"Can I have popcorn too, Daddy," asked Celesca, sweetly. "When Nanny and Bampi Granger took me to see Frozen they wouldn't let me. I had to have sugar free lemon drops and they were just not the same!"
Harry laughed. "I'll buy you some popcorn. Just don't tell anyone, it'll be our secret."
Celesca beamed widely, and made Harry pinky swear on his promise.
An hour later saw the Potter family emerge from the Ministry of Magic Muggle exit and onto the streets of London. Harry and Hermione hadn't used The Leaky Cauldron exit in years, as almost everyone wanted to talk to them if they went to the old pub. They didn't mind so much, but it was hard enough to get little Celesca to stay quiet at the best of times, it was near impossible when everyone wanted to babble along with her.
So they found themselves in that part of Muggle London called Whitehall, and had to hop a few stops on the London Underground to reach Leicester Square. Celesca was like her Dad, and loved the underground train network. Her favourite bit was tapping the little plastic card onto the sensor to open the gate which led to the platform. Her Daddy called it an Oyster Card, which confused little Celesca, as it didn't look like an oyster. Come to think of it, she didn't know what an oyster actually looked like. It might be a sort of Muggle monster, which got Celesca all sorts of excited.
Because she loved monsters and was dying to meet a real one.
Once they had a fun ride on the underground train, they headed back up the stairs and onto the street. Hermione gripped Sophie's hand very tightly, while Harry cast a clever Rein Charm on Celesca, which meant she couldn't go more than three feet from him. This was because she was going through a phase of madly running in any direction she fancied, with not much mind for where she might be going.
This was fine at home, but if Celesca raced into a passing Red London Bus, then bounced off like a rubber ball on account of Harry's protective magic, it would give their secret away to everyone. And neither Mr or Mrs Potter wanted to have to explain that to the Men at the Ministry. They were getting tired of paying Magical Reversal Squad fines for such accidents.
Hermione didn't like the Rein Charm at all. "Harry, hold her hand, won't you? If she hits the end of the Charm and falls over, it will look suspicious."
"Relax, Min," Harry replied calmly. "Once Cesc falls the first time, she'll come grizzling to me. Then I'll kiss her scuffed knees better and she'll walk quietly by my side without prompting. Trust me, only reverse psychology will work with our little Seer."
Hermione shook her head in doubt. Sophie turned her haughty expression to her mother. "I wont run off, Mummy. I'll stay right here and be good."
"That's right, sweetie, you will," said Hermione firmly. "Because there are too many Muggles out here. I don't want to lose you. I'd miss you."
"You wont lose me, Mummy," said Sophie confidently, squeezing Hermione's hand. Then her eyes lit up. "Ooh, look, there's a sale at the Lego store. Can we..."
"No," Hermione cut her off brusquely. "But if you're very good, I'll let you pick a new set for your birthday."
"Ooh, will you!" Sophie chimed. "I'll be good, Mummy, I promise. I'll be the best."
The Chinatown dinner was very nice, and at the end of it all the Potters felt a little fatter than before they'd went in. Sophie and Celesca spent a good ten minutes discussing how fat Harry was getting, while Hermione whispered to him that all it meant was that there was simply more of him to love. Then Hermione and Sophie went to browse in the Lego store, while Harry and Celesca got an early look at the films being shown in the big cinema that night.
On the way, they passed a man doing magic in the street and Celesca dragged Harry to watch. There was a big crowd there, and most people clapped at the tricks, but Celesca was not impressed.
"Daddy, that isn't real magic, is it?" she asked, a cute little frown on her face.
"What makes you say that?" asked Harry.
"I can hear in his mind," said Celesca matter-of-factly. "He's hoping no-one can spot his false sleeve, or the trick bottom to his box. I'll go and tell him, I think."
"No you don't, Miss Potter," said Harry, yanking her back as she made to stomp away.
"But Daddy...he's cheating!"
Harry eyed her curiously. "I saw you playing Battleships with Sophie last night. You didn't miss a single one."
"Yes...and?" Celesca asked innocently.
"Did you read your sister's mind?"
Celesca shifted guiltily. "No, Daddy."
"Truth?"
"Truth."
"Pinky swear?" Harry smirked.
"Will you cut off my pinky if I lie?" Celesca queried.
"Yes," said Harry solemnly.
"That's not very nice, Daddy!" Celesca cried.
"Neither is using your special magic to win a game against your sister!" Harry laughed. "Now who was cheating?"
"But that was only a game," said Celesca blithely. "He's pretending for real."
"It cant be real, if its just pretend," said Harry, sagely. "But, how do you know he cant do magic for real? Maybe he's just doing a little bit, so he can make some money."
"But he's cheating," Celesca insisted. "I could show you, if you like."
"But maybe he's doing that on purpose, too," Harry pointed out. "Don't forget, I'm a magical policeman. If he was doing actual magic in front of Muggles, I could arrest him and send him to jail."
"So you think he's doing pretend magic, but making it look like real magic, only it's pretend?"
"Maybe," said Harry. "But he's not hurting anyone and it's fun to watch."
"Yes it is," Celesca agreed, nodding enthusiastically. "I suppose that's okay then. Come on, Daddy. We need to pick a film."
By the time Harry and Celesca reached the foyer of the giant Odeon in Leicester Square, Hermione and Sophie were already there. Harry frowned at Hermione, who had given in and bought Sophie a Lego Superheroes set.
"What?" Hermione queried in a whisper as the family unit reunited. "Miss Morris told me Sophie scored a hundred-and-twelve percent on one of her tests...that deserves a reward in my book."
Harry grinned at that. "Okay, you win. But I'm not dressing up as Spider-man again. Last time I looked like a Father For Justice and thought social services were going to come knocking on the door!"
Hermione laughed at that and gave Harry a swift, amorous peck on the cheek while Sophie's head was turned. She absolutely did not approve of her parents being so kissy-kissy in public. It was bad enough at home, where they could be found locked together more often than a pair of magnets.
"So, which film will it be girls?" Harry asked.
"Oh, look at that!" Sophie exclaimed. "Look, Daddy! They've made a film about you! It must be from where that horrible Squib, Miss Rowling, stole your life story notes from Rita Skeeter. Do you remember that, Daddy?"
"Yes, I remember," Harry frowned, crossly.
"Oh, look, Daddy!" little Celesca giggled wildly. "They've had to change your name, see, for the film...Larry Trotter and the Sorcerers Stone!"
"Sorcerer's stone?" Hermione scoffed. "What...don't they think people know what a philosopher is?"
"Larry Trotter!" Sophie continued to giggle.
Sophie and Celesca fell about in mad hysterics. They even tried out their names with the new surname...and decided it was too funny to dislike. Even Hermione grinned at it, as Harry silently fumed. Hermione stepped forward to read the flyer blurb about the film.
"Follow the magical adventures of Larry Trotter on his first year at Pigsboil School for Witches and Wizards. Join his friends, Bob Beasley and stuffy bookworm Jean Puckle," Stuffy bookworm? Honestly?, "as they battle the Dark forces of Lord VolAuVent. Fall in love as Larry meets his destined soulmate, Jenny Beasley -" no, sorry, kids. You are never seeing this movie."
Harry laughed out loud as Hermione scowled nastily, then tore up the flyer and stuffed it into the nearest bin.
"Good, Star Wars it is then!" Harry smirked.
Hermione rolled her eyes, but conceded. They approached the electronic ticket booth, and allowed Celesca - who was a tactile sort of child - to place the order onto the touch-screen, under Sophie's watchful eye. Then they moved onto the snack section, where Celesca got very upset and burst into tears at the Pick n Mix area. It was hard to make a fulfilling selection of sweets when you were only six, little, and could only reach the bottom shelf. Luckily, Harry cast a swift Obscuring Charm, floated Celesca to her choices, and watched as she giggled happily, doing loop-the-loops while reaching for some jelly crocodiles.
Then they entered the cinema and sat at the very back. Then Sophie turned to Harry as the trailers came on.
"Daddy...you know how Disney makes Star Wars and Frozen now?"
"I do," said Harry, mutinously.
"Well, does that mean that Elsa can fly the Millennium Falcon and Olaf can get a lightsaber, now?" she asked, curiously.
"Never say never, honey," Harry fumed. "Anything is possible in Star Wars: Episode 19: The Death of a Franchise."
"As long as there's no Jar Jar Binks in this one," Hermione moaned. "I will literally walk out, I swear to Merlin. I might prefer Larry Trotter to that rubbish!"
"Even with Jenny Beasley?" Harry teased.
"Shut up, Harry," Hermione grinned back. "No talking in the cinema."
"Yes, Mum," said Harry, before cuddling his daughters either side of him.