Author's Note: Thank you for all the great reviews! ^_^ I hadn't realised no one had done a 5-year old Harry story with Harry's point of view… guess I hadn't read them all then… lol. To answer a few questions:
1. No there's not any real reason for Harry's age. I picked 5 because it's not too young and not too old. Plus, as much as I don't like small children and babies, even I have to admit that 5 is a very cute age.
2. My name, Epona, is in Zelda yes, but the reason why I chose it as my name is because my real name, Rhiannon, is the Welsh for Epona. Epona was a Celtic goddess of horses and swallows, and Rhiannon is her welsh counterpart.
Well, that's that. Hope you enjoy this chapter. ^_^
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As Harry entered the big scarlet room again, Mione and Ron seemed to want to leave it again as quickly as possible. Harry could understand why; there were lots of people about. He wondered if Ron and Mione didn't like crowds either. He had always preferred to be by himself when he was at school or at home, he didn't like to play with Dudley and his friends, because they always ended up hurting him. He didn't think he would get hurt here, of course, because he had Mione and Ron here to look after him, but he still got the same uneasy feeling that came whenever he was around a large crowd.
They tried to walk quickly through the room, keeping out of the way of the other people. Harry shot a glance at them as they rushed by, they seemed very bouncy and loud. There were a few ladies over on the sofa Harry had been dozing on earlier, and they were chatting and giggling loudly, waving their hands around in the air energetically. Harry wondered whether they were playing the 'trying to fly like a bird' game.
On the floor in front of the large fire sat two men, one sandy-haired and freckly, the other dark haired and lanky. They were playing a board game that Harry had played once in school; Chess. As he was whisked away up one of the dark staircases, he saw one of the men jump up in victory and whoop. Harry shut his eyes tightly. He hated loud noises.
As they reached the top of the cold dark staircase, Ron made to open a large wooden door as Harry looked around. He was glad he didn't go exploring in here earlier, it was chilly and there was hardly any light. Ron finally opened the door, and light came spilling through the gap, which relieved Harry slightly.
They all rushed inside, and Ron immediately shut the door behind them, taking a quick glance outside to make sure no one followed them. Mione made her way to a large, comfortable looking bed with curtains around it, and set Harry down softly on the squashy quilt, where he sat silently and politely. He was keeping his promise to Papa Dumbledore to be good. He looked around at the table next to the bed, and his eyes widened. On the surface of the table, a tiny little lizard type thing with wings was languidly lying on it's back, it's tail lazily waving around in mid air, smoke coming out of it's nostrils. Harry watched with a grin as it blew a couple of smoke rings, then curled over and settled down to sleep.
'That's a Hungarian Horntail, Harry,' Mione told him kindly, picking it up and bringing it closer to him. 'It's a dragon.'
He took the dragon from Mione with a curious smile, and tried to repeat what she had taught him. 'Hungry Horntail…'
Both Ron and Mione laughed, looking at him with amused smiles, which Harry returned, happy that he made them laugh. He liked it when they smiled at him.
'So, what do you want to do, Harry?' Ron asked, grinning. Harry grinned back and stuck up his thumbs, which he reciprocated with a chuckle. 'Thumbs up.'
'It's pretty late, actually, Ron. Maybe we should get him to bed?'
'Aw, come on, Mione, it's only 8 o'clock!' Ron sat down on the bed next to Harry and gave her a pleading expression, which Harry immediately imitated. 'Can't he stay up a little longer?'
Seeing Ron plead with Mione, Harry grinned. He really liked Ron, and thought that he was rather cool and really quite funny. If Ron was pleading with Mione, then he would too.
'Please, Mione?'
She looked at him, startled yet amused, a motherly grin spreading across her face. Harry smiled. He liked it when Mione smiled. It made him feel nice and safe and warm inside.
'No,' she replied, in a kind but firm manner, which Harry would immediately obey. 'You've had a long day, Harry, it's time you got some sleep. We can play tomorrow. And you, Ron Weasley! You should know better!'
She grinned at him then scowled at Ron, who held his hands up huffily and was about to protest when Harry interrupted him.
'Mione, will you and Ron tuck me in?'
They both stopped, and looked down at Harry, Mione with a soft expression, Ron with mild indignation at being interrupted. He blinked back up at them with hopeful eyes. He'd never been tucked in before, but when he was at home, if he laid very still and silent in his cupboard and didn't even breathe, he could hear Dudley being tucked in every night by his Aunt Petunia. Harry knew that Aunt Petunia was the only person properly related to him, but she still didn't feel like she was a part of Harry's proper family, especially when she spent half of her time trying to ignore Harry, the other half trying to teach him how to do the housework. Harry didn't really like her very much, but he preferred her to Dudley and his Uncle, because she reminded him of his mother.
'Of course we will, Harry,' Mione smiled, looking pointedly at Ron, who was looking clueless. 'Come on, Ron'll help you into bed, and I'll get you a drink, okay?'
Harry smiled as sweetly as he could back at her as his way of a thank you.
After ten minutes of shrinking clothes, and fitting Harry into his newly shrunken Pyjamas, Ron and Harry were lying on the bed, with Harry giggling at Ron, who was worn out from trying to get him into his bed clothes. They had just had a great deal of fun playing chase, where Harry would run away from Ron as he held out a pair of blue pyjama bottoms, trying to get Harry to take off his clothes. Now that the game was over however, Harry was sitting up in bed, a large grin on his face and trying to suppress a giggle.
A moment later Mione returned, a glass of milk in her hand. She walked over to Harry's bedside, where she took in the sight of Ron sprawled across Harry's bed, almost asleep himself, and Harry sitting up, almost bouncing out of bed. Rolling her eyes exasperatedly, she smiled and shoved Ron roughly to wake him up. Harry laughed.
'Come on, you were meant to be putting Harry to bed, not falling asleep your self.'
'Yeah, well… he decided that going to bed normally was boring.'
She shook her head, smiling, and turned to Harry with the glass of milk.
'Here, Harry. Drink this up, eh?'
Obediently, Harry drank up. By the time he'd finished, Ron was on his own bed, sleeping soundly, and beginning to snore. Harry began to laugh again. He was enjoying himself.
Still smiling, Mione sat down on the edge of Harry's bed and lifted the covers gently so that Harry could slide underneath. Once he was right under the covers, she tucked him in tightly and made sure there weren't any gaps in his blankets, then sat back so that he could face her, his cheeks flushed and his eyelids beginning to droop. Her expression softened.
'You know, Harry… I never knew you could be so… I don't know… cute, I suppose,' she whispered softly to him as she stroked his longish black hair softly, pushing away the bangs that fell over his face. Harry was too tired to smile, but inwardly, he was beaming. 'You have a certain… innocence as a child that seems to have been taken away from you as a teenager… I know that when you grow back up, I'm going to miss it.'
Harry opened his eyes to glance at her, she was looking down at his blankets, though her hand was still stroking Harry's hair. She seemed sad. He didn't like to see her sad, because her smile went away, and Harry much preferred it when she smiled.
Sitting up slowly, he took her hand in both of his own, and smiled at her as she looked up at him, surprised. Her hand was very soft and warm, and it made Harry feel calm and happy to hold it. He wanted to make Mione feel the same way, so he tried to think of something to say to make her glad too.
'Mione? Are you sad?'
'No… no I'm not sad.'
'Mione… You know, you're very pretty. I don't want to go home. I want to stay here with you…'
Horrified, Harry started when he saw tears forming in her eyes. He thought he had made her upset again, however instead of crying, Mione wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly, kissing the top of his head lightly. Harry smiled to himself and wrapped his somewhat smaller arms around as much of her as possible. He'd never had a hug before, but he decided he liked hugs. If all hugs were like this, then he wanted a lot more of them. This one was warm and safe and cosy, he didn't want her to let go.
'You're so sweet, Harry… Now come on, let's go to sleep now…'
Smiling, she tucked Harry in again, so that he was as comfortable as before, and bent over him to kiss the lightning shaped scar on his forehead. He felt his eyes droop as he watched her face above his own, and the last thing he saw was her smile.