The Houses Competition, Round 4 - 90s Nostalgia
House: Ravenclaw
Class: Divination
Category: Drabble
Prompts Chosen: The Rugrats: [Genre] Friendship
Fandom: HPVerse
Stacked with: THC; MC4A
Individual Challenge(s): Reader; Cinematic; Historics; In a Flash; Bucket Listing; Outer Limit; Fuzzy Socks; Lunar Era; Feeding; Small Fry; Tossed Chum; Professor MC; Bi Bi Bi; Changed; Rainbow Connection; Magical MC; Hogwarts MC
Representation(s): Toddler Harry
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenge(s): SIN (Lovely Coconuts) Second Verse (Not a Lamp; White Dress; Found Family; Nontraditional; Odd Feathers; Mouth of Babes)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenge(s):
Word Count: 946
Warnings/Trigger Warnings: None Apply
Disclaimer/Author's Note: Canon Divergence, 90s baby Harry, no war
Beta: Queen, Bea Weasley
oOoOo
Lily always loved listening to her four year old son play when he had friends over. It was usually only Neville, as she and Alice had remained close friends after Hogwarts, but Harry could get into some mischief, even with the much more subdued and anxious Neville. Like the Muggle show Harry sometimes watched on the telly, Neville was Chuckie to Harry's Tommy. When Severus and Remus brought their girls to play dates, Luna and Raven were like the group's Phil and Lil. They'd be here later, but for now, Harry was certainly running the show.
"Let's play Blue's Clues," Harry declared, lifting the top of his easel-turned-table to rummage for a notebook and crayon. "Do you want to be Blue or Steve?"
Neville hesitated. "But Blue is a dog."
"Then I can be Blue!" Harry declared. "But that means I can't talk, I can only bark. And you have to write down all my clues in the Handy Dandy Notebook." He handed the items to a puzzled-looking Neville.
Harry fell onto his knees and barked. Lily and Alice laughed.
"Harry, you should make sure Neville actually wants to play that game. He might not know as much about Blue's Clues as you do."
Harry answered with a bark before turning around in a circle.
"It's okay Miss Lily, I can play. I think."
Harry barked, and then crawled as fast as he could into the next room.
With a seemingly resigned sigh, Neville followed after him.
With the children off playing, Lily and Alice sat back to enjoy catching up over a cuppa. That is, until it was far too quiet.
The two women found themselves in Harry's playroom assessing the damage. Little blue handprints (made with Merlin knows what) were printed clearly on various things, but splashes of blue were scattered all over the room. Harry was sitting in front of Neville on his hands and knees, his tongue hanging out of his mouth like a puppy.
Lily gasped when she saw him. "Harry, love, I think you might be taking this game a little too seriously." Harry only barked.
Neville, who was now in a green striped shirt, that Harry had likely coerced him into wearing, pouted over the notebook. Unlike Harry, Neville was still holding on to his baby cheeks and Lily found his little pout endearing, especially next to her son's dog imitation. "I can't figure out the clues!"
"Maybe we can help," Alice offered. "Can you show us what you drew?"
They both squat down to be on the childrens' level, each of them looking over one of Neville's shoulders.
He flipped back to his first page and pointed to the drawing. "This is a pumpkin." He flipped the page. "This is a...um." He glanced up and looked around the room, trying to refresh his memory. "This is a glass." He flipped the page one more time. "And this is...I think it's a drawing. With four people on it."
Harry barked again and spun in a circle on his hands and knees.
"A pumpkin, a glass, and a drawing," Lily listed, looking around the room for Harry's handprints. She found them on a drawing that had been hung on the wall above the toy shelf. The drawing had been labeled with her husband's handwriting so each bubble person on the paper had a name underneath it: Harry, Neville, Raven, and Luna.
Lily was pretty sure she'd figured out what Harry's Blue Clues meant but the teacher in her wanted Neville to try to figure it out on his own.
"Look closely at the drawing, Nev. What do you see?"
Neville walked over to the drawing on the wall with puppy Harry hot on his heels. "It's four people. Us and the twins."
"Your friends?"
Neville turned around to face the two grown ups, a smile on his face. "Yeah!"
"So, what do you think Harry–" An angry bark interrupted. "Sorry, Blue might want to do with their friends, a pumpkin, and a glass?
Alice chimed in. "What do you do with a glass?"
"Drink stuff!"
"So what might you drink with pumpkin?"
Neville looked over at Harry who was watching him expectantly. "Pumpkin juice?"
Harry panted happily, then yipped and clapped his hands.
"So, it sounds like Blue wants to have pumpkin juice with his friends."
Harry nodded, not very puppy-like.
Lily laughed. She had to, or else she'd cry, given the mess her son had made. "Uncles Remus and Severus will be here with the girls shortly. So, why don't we clean up the playroom and then we can go get our pumpkin juice ready?"
She pulled her wand out of her dress and waved it, cleaning up as much of the blue as she could.
"Okay! Extra cinnamon in mine, please!" Harry requested, finally breaking character. Lily had never liked straight pumpkin juice, so she made it for the kids the same way she made it for herself: a blend of apple juice with pumpkin juice with a cinnamon topping.
Harry and Neville haphazardly cleaned under Alice's watch while Lily prepared snack. A knock on the door brought everyone to the kitchen.
Lily let them in through the front door and they joined the others in the kitchen, all four of the threenagers sitting at Harry's table.
Lily could see Severus had his lips pursed tightly, trying not to grin. "I'm not sure if you are aware, Lily, but your spawn is blue."
She groaned. "I know, Sev. It was accidental magic. And I'm hoping he'll eventually turn himself back. Harry takes pretend play very seriously."
Harry finished a sip of his pumpkin juice and barked.