A Baby Wizard and His Cousin Harry- First Day of School with Duncan
It must have been seven in the morning when Harry woke up again. He stared at the golden room blankly for a moment before he realized where he was. Harry immediately looked around for Hermione and discovered that she had already gotten out of the room.
Harry stretched and leapt off the bed. He walked out of the bed room and found Hermione reading text books in their miniature living room. "How long have you been up, Hermione?"
Hermione put her book down for a second and scowled at him. "Shhh! Don't disturb me when I'm reading! I didn't study a bit last night and I'm trying to make up for it now."
"Hermione, stop reading for a bit, won't you? How's Duncan this morning?"
At the mention of Duncan's name, Hermione's expression softened a lot. "He's still asleep. He should be up soon. Actually, I'm going to check up on him now. Coming?"
Harry followed Hermione as she put down her book and walked into Duncan's room. "Why," exclaimed Hermione as she entered, "you are awake already! Why didn't you call for us?"
Duncan gurgled happily in the cradle. Harry smile as he saw the baby kicking his tiny feet and waving his little hands about.
"Aren't you a good boy?" Hermione cooed and picked up Duncan. "Aren't you a wee darling? You are a good, brave boy and doesn't cry all the time. Come and Hermione will change your nappy for you."
Harry watched Hermione changing Duncan's nappy at a distance. For some unknown reasons, Harry found himself loving to watch Hermione and Duncan together. Perhaps he just liked the motherly look Hermione always had when she's near Duncan. Or perhaps he could just feel the mother-son aura around Hermione and Duncan.
"Can you throw this out?" asked Hermione, in her hand was another used nappy. "We should go down for breakfast soon."
"Sure," Harry replied, not minding the stinky plastic thing in his hand at all.
A few minutes later, Harry and Hermione pushed Duncan into the Great Hall in the baby carriage. People still stared and giggled at their entrance. Maybe there are certain things that takes a lot longer for people to get use to then Harry had predicted.
"O'er 'ere!" Ron waved at them by the end of the long Gryffindor table. He was busy munching and swallowing food down his throat. "Where did you two stay last night?" Ron snorted as soon as he swallowed.
"Stop snorting," snapped Hermione, her eyebrows turned down furiously. "How many times do I have to tell you that? You can't do that in front of Duncan!"
Harry sat down and began to feed Duncan from his milk bottle. "Dumbledore gave us a suite just outside Gryffindor Tower. It's called 'Llyr' and it's behind the statue of Aphrodite. You must come and see it today. It's really cool."
"Which reminds me," said Hermione as she finished her breakfast quickly, "we must see Dumbledore now to sort a few things out about that room. Hurry up and eat. I'll finish feeding Duncan."
"What needs to be sort out?" Ron said with his eyebrows raised.
Hermione sniffed. "They made a terrible mistake when they prepared our suit. There was only one bed for the two of us."
The half munched toast dropped into the plat from Ron jaw. "What? You two slept together last night?"
"That is really disgusting, Ron," Hermione glares before answering the question. "Had to, hadn't we? Or else Harry would have to sleep on the cold floor," Hermione said dismissively.
Ron shook his head wildly. "I can't believe that! Hermione Granger let a boy sleep in the same bed as her! That is really something!"
Unfortunately, Ron's remark was a bit loud and was caught by the last person they wanted to spill this piece of information to.
Draco Malfoy's voice rang loudly in the Hall. "What? Weasley, are you joking when you said that those two," Malfoy gestured towards Harry and Hermione, "slept each other last night? I thought they said they would never do that. Well, well, well, so who's lying? Maybe that bastard is your child after all."
Every student in the Hall heard. Whispers and giggles traveled from one end of the Hall to the other. Hermione blushed furiously as Harry tightened his fists.
"Malfoy..." Harry growled.
"Harry, no!" Hermione seized Harry's sleeves and pulled him back. "That's the reaction he wants. Just ignore him. Come and see if we can catch Professor Dumbledore before class."
Hermione left the Hall with Duncan in the baby carriage in front of her. Harry gave Malfoy one last glare before following Hermione out.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Miss Granger, I'm very sorry about that," said Dumbledore after Hermione explained the situation they were in. "I must apologize for any uncomfort. I understand that it is indeed very ill-suited for two young people to sleep in the same bed. However, when Mr. Filch was moving our one and only spare bed to Llyr during the holiday, Peeves caused a great disturbance that couldn't be ignored. Mr. Filch put the bed down in a classroom as he rushed to join the rest of the staff in fixing the disturbance Peeves caused. After everything was fixed, Mr. Filch went back to the classroom for the bed, but Peeves shattered it while we were all busy cleaning up his mess. Unfortunately, the bed was grounded into powder and beyond repair. Thus we have no more bed for Harry until a new bed is made in a few months' time."
"But, Professor..." Hermione protested.
Dumbledore held up a hand to stop her. "I know what you are thinking, but please hear me out first. We have no more beds in Hogwarts. And we can't possibly transfigure something into a bed for the whole year either. Even Professor McGonagall's spell won't last that long. We won't know when the object might distransfigure itself. It may well be in the middle of the night and Harry could break his back over it. Therefore, you two will have to share the bed."
Harry couldn't believe his ears. "This is ridiculous! Just because Hermione is my best friend doesn't mean that it's all right for me to share her bed. That's just wrong!"
"I'm terrible sorry for the inconvenience. But there's nothing we can do."
"I understand your difficulty," said Hermione. "But, can we at least get another blanket? Surely we can transfigure a coat or something."
"That," smiled Dumbledore, "is definitely not a problem. Dobby will bring you another blanket tonight. Also, another matter of importance is the answer I received from the Ministry of Magic. After exam and re-exam the case, the Ministry decided to let Harry adopt the child after all. However, that is to be done only under one circumstance, as Harry is still in school. The Ministry asked to have another wizard or witch to adopt Duncan along with Harry. This will mean that the guardianship of Duncan will be split between two people and thus prevent Harry from making any foolish decisions on Duncan's behalf. So, Harry, as long as you can find a person to co-adopt Duncan with you, it wouldn't be a problem."
Harry and Hermione looked at each other and mutually agreed before Hermione volunteered to be the other guardian.
Dumbledore nodded and promised to pen that message to the Minister of Magic. "Now, let me have a look at Duncan before you go to class."
This, Harry thought as he followed Hermione out of Dunbledore's office with his head throbbing painfully, is going to be an extra long day.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The day, as Harry had predicted, had been disastrous. Duncan had cried in both of the morning classes, Transfiguration and Charms. Once for needing to change his nappy and once for being hungry. Professor Filtwick had been kind and forgiving as usual. He cast a few sympathetic glances at Harry and Hermione when the two of them had to excuse themselves from the class to change Duncan's nappy. Professor McGonagall's lips had been very thin when Duncan burst out crying during the middle of her lecture. She seemed to had tried very hard to keep herself from giving Harry and Hermione detention that day.
It was now lunch, Harry buried his face in his arms. It had only been half a day and he was already worn out. Judging by the look on Hermione's face, Harry dared say that she wasn't less tired. She must be very tired although she insisted that she was fine.
"Double Potion," moaned Ron beside him. "You are really going to get it, mate. Snape won't let you off that easily. And his bunch of Slytherins will tease you to death."
"I know," sighed Harry. Hermione had gone to the bath room and Duncan was asleep in his carriage. "I hope he won't wake up until Potion's finished. But that's not likely to happen though."
Potion was a nightmare. Much to Harry and Hermione's relief, Duncan was asleep most of the class. For the first half of the Potion, he did not make a noise. Even Snape's beady eyes were unable to pick out any faults of Duncan's to punish Harry or Hermione. Therefore, he was even grumpier that day.
Neville, being the unfortunate Potion-maker he was, melted a cauldron in the second half of the class. Normally, Snape would only take away points or, the very worse, give him a detention. However, Snape was in a very bad mood that day and yelled at the poor guy.
"Longbottom!" Snape screamed, deafened half of the class in result. "How many times do I have to tell you that you have to put in the exact amount of ingredients, not a drop more or a spoon less! A hundred points from Gryffindor and a week worth of detention!"
To Harry, Hermione and Ron horror, Duncan had been woken by Snape's scream. They watched in terror as Duncan's sleepy eyes opened angrily and his mouth widened in protest.
"No, no, no, no, no!" hissed Harry. "Don't cry!"
"Good boy, Duncan. Be a good boy. Good boys don't cry. Shh!" Hermione tried to calm the baby down but failed.
Ron got out his wand. He pointed his wand at the baby in attempt to shut him up. "Silenco! No wait! Silenca! Um.... Silander! No! What was that silencing charm we learnt years ago?"
Too late, Duncan began to cry and Snape snapped his head over to the Trio and the baby. "Potter! Granger! Weasley! How dare you let that little monster cry? Detention! Detention! Detention! Shut it up or Gryffindor will lose a hundred points per second while that monster cries!"
The three tried frantically to stop Duncan from crying. However, the more Snape shouted, the louder Duncan's cries became.
"One second! Two second! Three second!" counted Snape with a glee.
"Silencio!" Hermione silenced Duncan using a spell against her will. "Sorry, Duncan."
Snape turned up his nose. "Fifty points from Gryffindor." Every Gryffindor in the room groaned. It was the first day of the school and they had already lost fifty. "You three will also stay after class for some detention."
Harry protested. "Professor, Ron has nothing to do with this and he's Head Boy. You can't give him detention!"
Snape's face grew red with anger for forgetting that Head Boy doesn't get detentions. "Well, you and Granger are staying then!"
Before Harry could protest, the bell sounded and the class was over.
"You two, start scrubbing every inch of this dungeon. If I find a spot unscrubbed, I'll send you to Filch and he can do anything he'd like to you!" ordered Snape.
"Severus!" Dumbledore's voice saved Harry and Hermione from their fate. "You can't punish them for a baby's cries. You've already taken a lot of points off for that, you can't give them detentions as well. Don't punish them for Duncan again, Severus."
Snape gritted his teeth reluctantly as he said, "Yes, Headmaster. You are excused, Potter and Granger."
Harry and Hermione pulled Duncan out of the dungeon as fast as they could. "Hermione, I don't feel like dinner," said Harry when they reached the Great Hall. "I have a feeling that someone is in there telling the whole school about what happened in Potion with an over exaggerated version of it."
Hermione nodded. "Ok, you can grab us some food from Dobby later. Let's go back to Llyr and study. Merlin knows I'm exhausted from people's taunts and teases."
"Don't worry, they'll get use to this soon," comforted Harry. "Our classes will get better too as we get used to having a baby with us. We'll be fine."
"I do hope so," sighed Hermione.
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A/N: Sorry for not updating for so long. I know it's been a long wait, but I had really important exams in the last term. I hope you understand. Chapters should be coming more quickly now. Hopefully I can finish updating this story before my holiday is over. Again, really sorry for the delay.