Harry sat and blinked around at his surroundings, and quickly came to the conclusion that this wasn't Privet Drive, nor was it school. There was a big fire, with a big mantelpiece that looked very grand indeed, and the huge room that he was in had a nice, soft scarlet carpet. There were stairs everywhere, and Harry wondered where they went, though he knew better than to go exploring in a big place like this. He could get lost. He looked around some more and came across some big scarlet coloured sofas that looked very comfortable for a mid day nap.
Picking up his clothes from around him, he waddled over to the sofa, his black and scarlet clothes dragging along behind him. After a minutes awkward climbing, he managed to clamber up onto the squishy surface of the sofa without his clothes falling away from him, and slumped against the big squashy cushions, a big grin on his face. Yes, this was much more comfortable than the floor, and much better than his horrible old bed in the big cupboard under the stairs. He didn't like to sleep in there, he didn't really like small spaces very much.
Cuddling up to the cushions, he tried to bring his clothes up around him tighter, to keep him warm as he drifted off to sleep. The warmth of the fire was washing over him, making him feel very sleepy, and as he closed his eyes, for once, the last thing he thought of wasn't the pair of nasty red eyes of the bad man he dreamt about.
He had just nodded off, his head falling onto the soft scarlet cushion of the sofa, when all of a sudden, the room seemed to erupt around him. He could hear two very loud voices coming towards him, and he tried to bundle himself up as small as possible so they wouldn't see him.
The red haired man was back, and this time, he had brought a brown haired lady with him. She was tall and pretty looking, and looked much more friendly than the red haired man, with long curly hair and big brown eyes. Her face was smooth and inviting, and Harry felt like he liked this person more than the scary, loud red haired man. However, the brown haired girl was being very loud at the moment, she was shouting at the red haired man, who was backing away from her, looking very scared. Harry could understand why, he didn't like it when people shouted.
When she had finished, she gave a big sigh, and turned around to face Harry, who instinctively cowered away. He didn't want the lady to shout at him too. Fortunately she didn't, she just smiled at him kindly, and he didn't struggle to get away.
'Hello, Harry. Do you remember me?'
Politely, Harry shook his head and blinked at her. She had a nice, soft voice when she spoke and didn't shout. Harry liked it.
'Do you remember who he is?'
She pointed at the red haired man behind her, who was looking very shaken up, but much more friendly than he was earlier. Harry gave a little smile of recognition.
'He's the red man… he was scary. But he's not now.'
The lady gave a little laugh, while the red haired man looked insulted, but with a grin on his freckled face.
'Well, he's called Ron. And I'm Hermione.'
Smiling, Harry repeated her. 'Ron… and 'Mione.'
She smiled.
'So, Harry, how old are you?'
Harry moved a little closer, sitting up and grinning a little. He was beginning to enjoy himself here with these two people.
'I'm 5 and a half.'
She smiled again, and moved up onto the sofa to sit next to Harry, who sat politely next to her. The man called Ron took the seat opposite him, and smiled in a friendly way at him. Harry grinned back.
'Harry, do you know who Albus Dumbledore is?'
Harry gave a little giggle. He had never heard such a funny name. Grinning broadly, he shook his head. Mione laughed again, and Ron smiled.
'Well, we have to go to see him now. Would you like to come?'
He nodded, and made to slide off the sofa eagerly, however the lack of suitable clothes stopped him. He looked up at the two, his green eyes bright, and motioned to his baggy clothes. Mione smiled, which Harry took to mean that she understood.
'We'd better do a shrinking charm on those clothes…'
She opened up her long dress type coat, and took out a long thin piece of wood. Looking at it with a great deal of interest, he watched her as she held the stick up to his chest, and muttered a strange word. His mouth dropped open as he watched his clothes grow smaller and smaller, until they were the perfect fit for him, and looked back up at Mione in disbelief. She was smiling warmly at him, and over in the opposite seat, he could hear Ron chuckling softly.
'Well then, let's go see Professor Dumbledore, then shall we?'
He nodded and slid off the sofa, taking the hand which she out spread for him and they walked across the common room together, Ron trailing behind. As they reached the door-type thing, Harry paused, and turned around to face Ron, holding his hand up and grinning broadly. Ron looked wildly at Mione for a moment, and reassured by her smile, he grinned shyly and took Harry's hand.
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'What?!'
'Calm down, Ron! It's okay, we can look after Harry for a while, can't we?'
Ron looked around at Harry wildly, who backed away. He didn't like shouting, and this time, it looked as though he'd done something wrong. The man with the long silver beard smiled kindly at Harry.
'Mr Weasley, I do believe you're frightening our young Harry.'
Calming down slightly, Ron turned slowly around to Harry, and grinned, sticking a thumb up at him. On the way to the beard man's room, Ron had taught him 'thumbs up!' and Harry was quite glad of something to keep him occupied. He grinned back at Ron and shouted 'Thumbs up!'
Everyone chuckled softly.
'So, just for the week, you two will have to look after Harry…' The beard man was talking to Ron and Mione now, so Harry turned away and gazed up at the brightly coloured bird that was sitting on a perch next to the desk. It was a beautiful red and gold speckled bird, and it eyed Harry with a beady yet soothing yellow eye. Harry decided that he liked this bird. It made him feel good and brave to look at it.
'…a good thing that this week is Half term.' finished the beard man, who had been eyeing Harry with a smile as he watched the bright bird. Now, as he ended his conversation with Mione and Ron, he leaned down to talk to Harry.
'So, Harry, I hope you have fun this week with Ron and Hermione. They will be looking after you, so try to be a good boy for them.'
Harry looked up into the smiling face, and nodded eagerly. He liked the beard man a lot, he reminded him of someone he couldn't quite remember. He was broken from his thoughts however by being picked up by Mione, who propped him up on her arm and smiled.
'Come on then, Harry. Say goodbye to Professor Dumbledore!'
'Bye, Papa Dumbledore!'
He watched as Papa Dumbledore gave a wide smile, and patted him softly on the head.
'Bye, Harry, have fun.'