Little Green Eyes

Epona

Rating: G
Genres: Romance, Humor
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 5
Published: 18/02/2005
Last Updated: 07/03/2005
Status: completed

When Ron mixes up his Age Potion with Harry's Pumpkin Juice, Harry gets turned into a five year old. What's going to happen to him now? Who's going to look after him? Guess it's left to Hermione again...

Chapters

1. The stuck up, greasy haired git!

2. Ron, Mione, and Papa Dumbledore.

3. Bedtime: Milk and Chase

4. Fudgy Bear

5. Where did Mione and Fudgy Bear go?

6. Interlude

7. Learning to Fly

1. The stuck up, greasy haired git!

Author’s Note: Okay… so I thought I’d have a bosh at writing again… I sort of gave up for a while, the portkey readers choice awards always seem to put me down, but meh… I’m gonna try it again methinks.

Now I warn you, this might turn out to be complete dribble. I have no plot idea in mind, I have no idea where this may go, but I’m hoping by the end of it, I’ll have a fic.

Okay, I’m just going with the whole Baby!Harry theme. I haven’t seen a good Baby!Harry fic for ages. I’m not saying this’ll be a good one either, but you know… haven’t written it yet… so we shall see.

Disclaimer: You know the gig, I own nothing. Well… I own this laptop… no wait… apparently I share that with Mum… Um… I own this coke can ring pull! There you go. So yeah, don’t sue me… all these characters and all things Harry Potter that you find in this fic are copyright to JK. Rowling.

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‘I don’t understand why he gave me a ‘T’ though! The stuck-up, greasy haired git!’

‘Ron, we were supposed to be brewing a Transparency potion. You brewed an Age Potion. Think about it.’

‘It’s not my fault I read the wrong page! I was sure he said page 163!’

‘He said 168. Honestly, Ron, you can’t blame everything on Snape.’

‘Whose side are you on, anyways!?!?’

Harry rolled his eyes and walked on in front, while behind him Hermione was busy giving a good telling off to Ron, much to his indignation. He couldn’t help but smile a little at Ron’s mistake, though he still hated the arrogant little sneer Snape didn’t try to suppress at it. He practically giggled when he gave Ron that ‘T’.

As they reached the Great Hall, the smell of Roast dinner wafted out of the doors towards them, causing them all to emit a little noise of appreciation. Harry was starving, he hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast this morning, having to hurriedly finish his Transfiguration essay under the disapproving nose of Hermione. He had tried to grab a piece of Toast while writing, but Hermione quickly proved her dislike of that idea when Harry’s parchment began to get butter all over it.

However, Ron decided that he didn’t like the idea of sitting in a Hall full of people in such a bad mood. He walked along, fuming silently until they reached the doors, then stopped, span around on his heel, announced that he wasn’t hungry, then marched off up a set of marble steps. Hermione sighed exasperatedly.

‘Honestly… If he wants to get in a huff over nothing….’

Sensing another Hermione rant coming on, Harry interrupted her, grinning slightly. How well he knew his best friends.

‘It’s okay, It’s okay… I’ll go after him. You just go have dinner okay? I’ll be back soon, hopefully with Ron…’

Admitting defeat, Hermione dropped her tense attitude and smiled gratefully at him.

‘Thanks. I’ll see you later then.’

With that, she turned and walked into the Hall, leaving a very hungry Harry to make his way up to the common room, stomach grumbling.

As he climbed through the portrait hole, expecting to see Ron pacing adamantly up and down the hearthrug, he was surprised to see that Ron was in fact sitting quietly by himself in front of the fire. Confused, Harry wildly half hoped this wasn’t one of those ‘break down and cry your eyes out’ moments, he wasn’t good at those, with either sex. Thinking he would take the male way out, he’d just clear this up quickly and drag Ron back down to dinner. With this plan in mind, he made his way to the sofa, leaning on the back of it and grinning down at Ron.

‘You alright, mate? Not like you to miss dinner.’

No answer. Harry inwardly sighed. It seemed like he’d have to take the long way round the situation.

‘Come on… what’s up?’

He swung around the side of the sofa to slump down next to Ron, who was looking very solemn.

‘It’s Hermione…’

Harry almost did a back-flip away from Ron. He had the feeling that this conversation was coming. Harry knew that Ron liked Hermione. Of course Ron was still taking the whole naïve attitude that no one knew, and no one was ever going to find out, but it hadn’t worked. Even Harry had seen it, and considering he was pretty dense at these things anyways, as he’d already admitted to himself, he took that to mean that it had been quite obvious.

‘I just… I wish she wouldn’t put me down like that. Doesn’t she think I feel bad enough as it is?’

‘Okay… maybe this isn’t going where I thought it would.’ thought Harry, almost daring to take a sigh of relief. He hadn’t wanted to talk to Ron about Hermione at all. He was afraid that Ron would ask him how he felt about Hermione, and if he was honest, he didn’t have a clue, he hadn‘t really thought about her like that, and he was willing himself not to. Ron being Ron, however, might have taken that to mean that he did like Hermione, and he didn’t want any misunderstandings.

‘Well… you know she only wants what’s best for us. She’s concerned about you, Ron, we all are. Wouldn’t you be worried if she hadn’t concentrated in class one day and got a ‘T’? I know I’d probably die of fright or something.’

This emitted a chuckle from Ron.

‘True.’

‘So… can we just forget this now? I’m starving, and thirsty. I want to go to dinner.’

‘Heh, well, I might stay here for a bit longer. You can go down if you want, Harry, I’ll be fine.’

Harry sighed inside again. This was harder than he thought it would be. He hated these complicated emotional dilemmas.

‘Nope. If you’re staying, I’m staying. I’ll just.. Get a drink here.’

He walked over to the table, where a flask of pumpkin juice that the House-elves had left for people who didn’t go down to dinner stood, and opened up the lid. As he went to take a swig, out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Ron jump up. He continued to drink however, until he realised that his pumpkin juice didn’t actually taste like Pumpkin Juice.

‘Ugh… I think this pumpkin juice is a little off… Urk…’

‘Harry! That’s my Age Potion!!!’

‘WHAT?!’

As soon as he’d said it, there came a sharp pain from somewhere in his chest, and he doubled over, the room seeming to get bigger. His eyes were becoming blurry and his hair seemed to be growing. His clothes suddenly seemed five sizes too big, and as he sank to the floor, he realised that he had no idea where he was. When the pain stopped, he had sunk to the floor, and was sitting, wide legged, blinking up at the strange red-haired man who was looking at him funnily. To his right lay a pair of black-framed glasses, which confused him slightly, and he was wondering why he was dressed in clothes that were far too big for him. Even Dudley wasn’t this big…

‘Sweet Merlin! Harry? Harry, are you alright?’

Harry jumped at the loud voice coming from the red-haired man. He didn’t like loud people, or when they moved suddenly near him. He always felt like they would hurt him. He merely cowered away and blinked.

‘Harry? How old are you?’

Harry moved even nearer away, still blinking up at the man with his big green eyes, feeling more and more scared by the second. However, if there was something his uncle had taught him, it was to answer when questioned, so he would not be rude.

‘I’m… I’m 5...’

‘Crap! Okay… uh… wait here, I’m going to get Hermione!’

With that, the man scrambled away, and Harry was left alone.

2. Ron, Mione, and Papa Dumbledore.

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.’

3. Bedtime: Milk and Chase

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.

4. Fudgy Bear

Author’s Notes: Hiya, thanks for all your reviews again. ^_^ Just to answer a few questions…

1. Yes, I am English. :P

2. The whole ‘Harry forgetting everything’ thing… maybe it is a bit AU? I don’t know. All I knows is, it wouldn’t fit in with my plot if he did remember everything. ; ) Plus keep in mind that Ron’s potion earned him a ‘T’ so I’m guessing it was a bad Age potion at that. Also note the word ‘Age’ not ‘Aging’ :P

3. There is no three. Well, I’m sure there was, but I can’t remember it. It just sounds good. Oh wait! There was a number three! Yes… I know the nickname ‘Mione’ might be annoying to read when it’s not actually Harry saying it, but the whole story is meant to be from 5 year old Harry’s point of view. So as far he knows, she is called Mione.

Oh… and Fudgy Bear is real. He’s my widdle Fudgy Bear that sits on my bed. *Hugs her Fudgy Bear*

Glad you’re all enjoying the story, anywho. So… onwards then, chaps!

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The next day was spent outside playing chase with Ron again, while Mione sat and watched the two of them, happy again. As Harry sprinted away from Ron, surprisingly fast for a 5 year old, he turned to Mione, who was sitting peacefully on the steps and waved. When she waved back, he would beam and carry on running, leaving a disbelieving and exhausted Ron behind him.

When it was time for a break, Harry sprinted over to Mione, coming to a skidding halt next to her, where she was laid out with all of her books and papers. Innocently, he sat down next to where she was working, and looked over all of her notes. They were full of very complicated-looking squiggles that he’d never seen before, not even in school and he was in the top reading class, he was proud to admit. When he asked her what they were, her reply was that they were ‘Ancient Runes’ and that they were used to find out secrets and codes.

‘Like a secret agent?’

Mione laughed. ‘No, not quite like that, Harry.’

‘Oh,’ he watched as she wrote down lots of the funny squiggles, and smiled. ‘You’re very clever, Mione.’

She turned her head to face him with a pretty smile, her eyes bright.

‘Thank you, Harry.’

They sat in silence for a while, Harry trying to keep quiet while Mione did her work. She had given him a scrap of funny paper and a pencil, which he began to draw on quietly. He decided to draw him, Mione and Ron all together, holding hands under a happy sun with him in the middle. After a while, he decided he’d finished, so he sat and watched Mione again for a while.

She was very pretty indeed, when she worked. Her brown curly hair fell over her face, hiding one eye, while the other was clearly focused on the page in front of her. Her eye lashes were long and very dark, and they framed her eye prettily. She didn’t wear make up, like his Aunt Petunia did, but Harry decided that she didn’t need to. He wished that Mione could look after him instead. He just wanted to be with her all the time.

After a moment of silently watching Mione work, Harry was startled from his thoughts by Ron flopping down beside him, accidentally causing half of Mione’s papers to blow up and become messed up. Harry jumped backwards in surprise as the papers flew everywhere, getting caught in the wind that was heading for the lake, as Mione jumped up with a cry, trying her best to scramble after them. He knew what would happen before they hit the water, fanning out along the surface of the lake. Watching as Mione chased after them, emitting a wail of anguish as the water spread through the paper, Harry saw Ron backing quickly away out of the corner of his eye. Harry soon found out why.

When Mione had finished desperately watching her work fall into the lake, she spun around and fixed Ron with a beady, angry looking eye. Harry backed away. He didn’t like it when people looked angry.

She marched over to the two of them, still looking at Ron angrily, as he too backed away cautiously. He seemed to be screwing up his face in anticipation. Harry did the same.

‘Ron Weasley! Do you know how LONG it took me to write those?! Do you even have ANY consideration for the amount of work I put into that?!’

Ron backed away even further as Harry watched the two of them. He didn’t like it when Mione shouted. Was it something he had done? Was it his fault? He began to cower away from the two as they started to argue. Their voices were rising and it scared him. Frightened, he started to sniffle.

Mione and Ron seemed not to notice him as tears begun to form in his large green eyes, of which fact Harry was relieved of. When he was at home, he had learnt never to let anyone see him cry. It just angered people even more, especially his uncle. He tried to stifle his sniffles and tears, but to see Ron and Mione fighting in such a way, and thinking that maybe it had been his own fault upset him quite a lot. The tears continued to fall and he could not muffle the loud sob that escaped him.

Upon hearing the subdued sob that Harry emitted, Ron and Mione froze, both staring at Harry as though he had suddenly popped out of the ground. He continued to cry as quietly as he could, though he knew he couldn’t hide the fact that there were tears in his eyes. He closed his eyes as tightly as he could, willing his eyes to dry up and the sniffles to stop and bringing a shaking hand to his face he wiped his eyes on his sleeve as hard as he could, as though that could stop the flow of tears.

After a split second however, he felt warm arms around him and he looked up into Mione’s kind and pretty face, which was smiling at him gently. He sniffled loudly.

‘D-did-did I do so-something wrong, Mione?’

He saw her eyes widen as she brought a soft hand up to stroke his hair, much like she had done the night before. This calmed him a little as the sniffles began to stop.

‘No, of course you didn’t, Harry! No, it wasn’t your fault… Ron was just being very stupid that’s all, and I’m a little angry at him. You didn’t do anything wrong, okay?’

Harry nodded and squeaked out a shaky ‘Okay…’ as Mione continued to hold him, rocking him back and forth softly, making gentle hushing noises to soothe him. As he hugged her tightly back, he spotted Ron marching back up to the castle in a huff. He could see the red of his ears even at a distance.

‘Is Ron okay, Mione? Was he upset too?’

Mione turned to look at Ron as well, though her expression grew harder and more angry-looking.

‘No. That’s just it, Harry. He wasn’t upset at all.’

‘And he should have been?’

‘Yes. He should have been.’

‘Did it make you upset, Mione?’

She turned her attention back to Harry, and with a softened smile, she nodded.

‘Yes… it did make me upset.’

At this answer Harry hugged her tighter, burying his face into her arm. He wanted to cheer Mione up again, and he did it the only way he knew how.

‘Mione, please don’t be upset. You’re very pretty and clever, and I never want you to leave me ever. I love you, Mione.’

Gasping, Mione pulled away from Harry, her eyes wide but not in shock, Harry realised. She was touched. He had made her feel better. He didn’t know how he knew it, but he was glad that he did, which made him grin broadly at her. She did the same.

‘I love you too, Harry.’

With that she drew him closer again, repeating the same rocking movement as before, hugging him as tight as she could.

‘You know… you might not remember this when you’re grown up again…’ she whispered to him, as they hugged closer, which was almost sending Harry off to sleep with the gentleness and the warmth of her body. ‘But I’ll love you then as well. More than you’ll ever know. I hope you remember this week, Harry,’ she paused, taking the chance to stroke his hair away from his face to look into his eyes. Harry blinked back at her, staring innocently into her deep brown eyes with a smile. ‘because I don’t think I could ever tell you face to face… when you’re grown up. But I want you to know it, and I want you to remember one week of your life when you weren’t bullied or teased. You deserve that.’

Harry frowned at her. He knew that at home he wasn’t treated very nicely, and he hated it. He never wanted to go back to that place now that he had met Mione and Ron and Papa Dumbledore. He felt like he belonged here, in this big old castle where the pictures on the wall moved and waved at him, where things happened on their own, like clothes shrinking and dragon toys moving. He wanted to stay here in Mione’s arms, where she could hold him and keep him safe.

‘Mione… I don’t want to go back home ever again. I hate it there.’

Her body tensed up. Gently, she pulled away from him and picked him up by his arms, sitting him softly on her lap, bringing her hands around to meet his. He held them tightly.

‘I know, Harry. I know you don’t like it there… ’

‘They hurt me, Mione. They never hug me like you do. They always shout at me and put me in a cupboard.’

‘Oh, Harry…’

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Several hours later and Harry was once again getting ready for bed. He had spent a good hour outside with Mione, talking about things like what he did at home, what his favourite things were, and just listening to her teach him things about the castle. He had now learnt that the castle was called Hogwarts, and it was a school for children who could do magic things. She had told him that he was one of these children, and when he was older, he would be able to come to this school again to learn how to use magic.

Now that he was warm inside and just about to get into bed, Harry felt very tired indeed. He’d had a long day playing chase and talking with Mione, and as they had talked, the air had taken a chilly turn. Now he was sitting in bed with a glass of milk that Mione had brought him, sniffling and yawning.

‘Here Harry, I’ve brought you something.’

Mione was sitting on the edge of his bed again, smiling and holding something behind her back. Harry looked curiously at her.

‘You know you told me that you’d never had a teddy bear before?’

‘Yes…’

‘Well, I’m going to let you borrow mine for a while. His name is Fudgy Bear.’

From behind her back she pulled out a large brown coloured bear, which seemed to be made completely out of fluff. It’s fur was as fluffy as cotton wool and around it’s neck was a large brown and gold ribbon. It’s face was almost covered by it’s downy chocolate-coloured fur, and from underneath shone two black button eyes, which peered at Harry pleasantly. Harry immediately fell in love with it.

‘Fudgy Bear!’

Mione laughed as she handed Fudgy Bear over to Harry, who instantly grabbed it and hugged it as tightly as he could. It was very soft and squishy, and he loved it.

‘Now you have to promise to take good care of Fudge… you will, won’t you?’

Harry nodded vigorously.

‘Right, well, come on then. Fudgy Bear is very tired, and I’m sure you are too, so let’s get you to sleep, okay?’

‘Okay.’

Beaming, Mione held up the covers so that Harry could slide underneath again, and once he was inside, she did the familiar task of making sure that there were no gaps in his blankets, also making sure that Fudgy Bears blankets were firmly in place too. After she was satisfied that no cold air could get in at all, she stood and leaned over Harry, her hand stroking away Harry’s bangs from his face. Gently, she planted a soft kiss on Harry’s cheek.

‘Goodnight, Little green eyes,’ she whispered, as Harry’s eyes began to droop so that they closed. ‘Remember, I love you.’

‘I love you too, Mione. Nuh-night.’

5. Where did Mione and Fudgy Bear go?

When Harry woke up the next morning, the first thing he heard were a lot of loud noises coming from downstairs. Hugging Fudgy Bear as tight as he could, he decided that he would be brave and go and see what was going on downstairs. Clumsily he stumbled out of his covers, climbed off the side of his bed and waddled over to the staircase.

As he opened the door the noises grew louder, and they seemed to echo all around him in the cold, dark staircase as he put one small foot on the stone step. Immediately, he withdrew it. The step was freezing cold. Looking down the steps, he heard the voices growing more and more angry, and his resolve grew stronger. If it was Mione and Ron shouting, he would go and cheer them up.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he tentatively plodded on down the steps, his green eyes darting around the cold, draughty staircase. Relieved, he reached the end of it and eagerly stepped onto the soft, warm scarlet carpet. The noises around him seemed ten times louder now, and he looked up at their source with wide blinking eyes.

‘You are SO inconsiderate, Ron!! You had NO regard whatsoever for my feelings yesterday!!’

‘What else did you want me to say, Hermione?! The only thing I can do is say sorry! What more do you want? Blood?’

‘Then you just buggered off, leaving me with Harry! He was upset Ron! He thought he’d done something wrong!’

‘Well, that’s not my fault! It was you shouting!’

As Harry waddled silently nearer to the two of them, he could see that Ron’s ears were burning red, as well as Mione’s face. He grabbed onto the side of the huge red sofa, tears forming in his eyes again. He hated it when people shouted, and he hated it when Mione and Ron were upset.

‘That’s not the point, Ron! You left me there to deal with it on my own!! Harry looks up to you at this age, you know he does! He thinks the world of you!’

‘Oh, come on, Hermione, how hard can it be to look after a five year old Harry?’

Mione immediately grew silent. Her face seemed to be getting redder, and Harry began to grow a little scared. Ron seemed to know that he’d said something wrong, as he began to back away as he always did when she was angry.

‘Fine,’ she said, her voice low again, but it filled Harry with the same worried feeling. ‘Fine. If you think it’s so easy to look after a five year old while having to deal with your idiotic actions, then you do it. You can look after Harry today. I have homework I now need to catch up on.’

With this statement, Harry let out a little worried groan. He wanted Mione with him as well as Ron, he didn’t want them to fall out.

Upon hearing him, Mione and Ron spun around to look at him, their eyes wide. He let out a little sniffle.

‘You can take care of this, Ron. I have to do my homework.’

Mione walked over to Harry and laid her soft hand on his forehead, smiling at him apologetically. Harry instantly threw his arms around her and hugged her.

‘I want Mione…’

‘I know, Harry, but I have a lot to do today. You’ll have lots of fun with Ron.’

Harry nodded gently and stepped away from Mione, looking up with sad eyes. She smiled kindly.

‘I’m sorry, Harry, I’ll still see you today, okay?’

‘Okay…’ He sniffled.

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The day wasn’t as fun as it was the day before, Harry thought as they sat on one of the red squishy sofas, Ron trying to teach Harry about broomsticks. Apparently, people flew on them and chased funny balls around a field, and it was a game. Harry didn’t want to play it. He wanted to sit with Mione and draw like he did yesterday.

He looked across at the other table, where she was sitting by herself, her notes all around her and sighed. She looked sad again. Her eyes weren’t as happy and glowing as they usually were, and she was writing very slowly like she didn’t really want to be writing at all. Harry wondered why she didn’t come and play with him and Ron.

‘You really like Hermione, don’t you, Harry?’

Harry looked back at Ron with startled eyes. He wasn’t exactly embarrassed that he liked Mione, but he didn’t really like talking about it to Ron. He felt his face go red.

‘Yes… She’s always really nice to me, and she’s pretty and clever. She makes me feel safe.’

Ron bowed his head and sighed, leaving a confused Harry to stare at him, blinking. Did he upset Ron now? Why was everyone getting so sad? He didn’t like it.

‘Ron…’ Harry tentatively shimmied forwards on the sofa, so that he was closer to Ron. He reached out and laid a small hand on Ron’s face, which made him turn his head slowly up to meet Harry’s. ’Did I make you sad?’

‘No, Harry. You didn’t make me sad… It’s not your fault really.’

‘But you are sad, aren’t you? Why are you sad?’

Shifting slightly, Ron turned to face Harry completely, so that they were both sitting cross legged, face to face. Harry put his hand down and blinked at Ron.

‘Because I like Mione. Like… um… like your Uncle likes your Aunt.’

Harry smiled. He knew that everything would get sorted out in the end. Mione and Ron weren’t really angry at each other, they were still friends, and they were very good friends if they were like his Aunt and Uncle. His Aunt and Uncle were such good friends that they sometimes did funny things together, like hugging and kissing. He didn’t really like the thought of Mione and Ron hugging and kissing, but if it made them happy, he would be happy too. However when he saw that Ron wasn’t smiling as well, his own faltered.

‘Why does that make you sad?’

Ron looked over to Mione, who glanced in his direction, narrowed her eyes and turned back to her work, scribbling hurriedly.

‘Because she doesn’t like me… like your Aunt likes your Uncle.’

‘Oh…’

He looked over at Mione with a wistful expression, with a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach. He began to wonder whether Mione did like anyone like his Aunt liked his Uncle, and why.

‘I can tell she likes someone else, Harry. And I think I know who it is too,’ Ron continued, as Harry turned his attention back to him. His ears had gone red, but his eyes were determined. ‘And… after this week… I’m beginning to see that they need her more than I do.’

‘Do they like her too?’

Ron grinned, though it was a sad grin, not like the ones he gave Harry when they did ‘Thumbs up.’

‘Yes, I think he loves her.’

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‘Come on, Harry! You really need to go to sleep now! If Hermione knew you were up at this time she would kill me!’

As the clock on his bedside table struck 9, Harry threw back his neatly tucked in covers, his expression angry and stubborn.

‘No!’

Ron sighed, which made Harry bad. He knew he wasn’t making this very fair on Ron. After all, Ron was only trying to make him go to sleep, so that he wouldn’t get too tired and then not be able to play any more. However, he would not go to sleep until his Fudgy Bear was back in his bed with him.

‘Fudgy Bear!’

‘I’m sorry, Harry, I don’t have the faintest idea what the hell you’re talking about!’

Harry slumped back into his pillows violently, his arms crossed and his face puffed up angrily. Where was his Fudgy Bear?

‘I want Fudgy Bear!’

‘Here’s Fudgy Bear, Harry.’

Both Ron and Harry’s head spun around to locate the source of the soft voice, and came across Mione, standing in the doorway, a tender smile on her face and Fudgy Bear firmly in her hands. Instantly, Harry held out his hands for his Fudgy Bear, which Mione brought over with a chuckle, much to Ron’s indignation.

‘How was I supposed to know what Fudgy Bear was? I thought he wanted some sweets or something…’

She laughed, and sat on the side of Harry’s bed gently, her eyes skimming across Harry’s face. He grinned at her adoringly.

‘It’s okay, Ron, I’ll tuck him in if you want.’

‘Oh, thank Merlin!’

With that, Ron jumped up, emitting a loud sigh which made Harry giggle slightly. He turned around and stuck his thumbs up at Harry.

‘I had a fun day today, Harry. Thumbs up!’

Harry beamed at him and stuck his own two small thumbs up in reply.

‘Thumbs up!’

Mione chuckled again as Ron grinned thankfully at her, turning for the door and sauntering wearily away. She then turned back to Harry, her eyes bright and happy once more.

‘So, did you have a good day today?’

Harry nodded. ’Uh huh, we talked about Quiddish and brooms and Snatches, and we talked about you and my Aunt and Uncle too!’

‘You talked about me?’

Harry nodded politely. He would not tell Mione what Ron said. After all, Ron had told him that it was their secret. Harry was good at keeping secrets. Mione seemed to know that it was a secret too, as she didn’t ask any further questions about it.

After a while, Mione told him it was time for sleep. It was way past Harry’s bedtime and he was feeling very tired indeed. As Mione held up the covers for him to slide underneath, he nearly didn’t even have the energy to move. From the moment his head hit the pillow his eyes drooped, and he was asleep.

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He was lying in a large wooden cot, above him a lot of shiny toys were hanging from a mobile, spinning around slowly. From his left was the sound of a beautiful voice, the most beautiful he had ever heard. It was a lady’s voice, and she was singing softly to him, the most wonderful song in the world. Harry felt so incredibly safe and warm, and so happy.

Her face suddenly swam in front of him, but he couldn’t actually see it. All he saw was light, but he did know that she had a pretty face. He also knew that she was smiling at him, and he smiled back, a funny little amused gurgle coming out of his mouth. She broke off her singing with sweet laughter.

‘Oh, Harry…’ she said, reaching down into the cot. Harry felt her hands slide underneath his body, and she picked him up with such gentleness, Harry thought he was floating. ‘Always remember, Harry… you’re my baby. You’ll always be my Little Green Eyes… I love you so much.’

‘Don’t talk like that, Lily…’

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw a black haired man with glasses appear at the lady’s side. He was smiling down at Harry happily, and Harry thought that he looked like the bravest and strongest man he had ever met. His face was also covered in a white light, but he didn’t seem to notice as he held his arms out to him, his throat emitting a strained little moan.

‘Da… daddy…’

They both gasped, and Harry grinned.

The scene suddenly changed.

He was sitting on the floor, his cot had fallen over and his room was messy. He looked over to his right and he saw his mother, her back to him, lying motionless beside him. Tears were in his eyes as he made to move towards her, but he was stopped by a cold, chilling hiss.

He froze and blinked up into the face that had caused his mother to fall to the floor with a shriek. It was covered in light as well, but from inside the light Harry could see two terrifyingly red eyes, both staring relentlessly at him. He let out a petrified sob.

‘Don’t worry, Harry,’ the man hissed, his voice sending shivers and chills through Harry’s body like ice. ‘You’ll be with your dear mud blood mother soon enough.’

Suddenly, Harry felt a gut-wrenching sense of foreboding in the pit of his stomach, and a split second later, all he saw was a flash of violently green light. His head felt like it had split open, the pain was unbearable. He heard a cold shriek from somewhere in the room, like someone had been stabbed or burnt alive. Yelling tearfully, Harry couldn’t take the pain anymore. His eyelids drooping, he passed out.

The scene swirled around dangerously, and the pain in Harry’s head stopped. His eyes opened again to a familiar scene.

He was watching the man with the cold voice and the red eyes again. He was pointing a stick of wood at a lady who was cowering underneath, crying and shaking madly. He hissed something Harry couldn’t quite hear at her, and she raised her head to meet his eyes, flinching. Harry audibly gasped, but no one heard him.

It was Mione.

It was all over in a matter of seconds. Harry heard the evil voice cry something about ‘Mudbloods’ and in a flash of green light, she was lying motionless on the floor as his mother had done before.

6. Interlude

This ain’t a chapter people.

Just to say….

Reason for not updating: I have an ending to this story, and it’s all ready to upload and everything. It’s just due to the enormous amount of feedback I got from this story, I feel like I wanna write more to it. So yeah. I can either post the ending which is, if I’m honest, kind of short, or I can carry on, but it might take a while.

You decide. J

-Ë þ ø ñ å

7. Learning to Fly

Authors Notes: Thank you all so much!! You’ve all given me really lovely reviews! I don’t think I’ve had ANY flames at all. I think I’mma label this my best story. Yep. There it is. Labelled. [BEST STORY] Lol.

Well, I’ve decided that I’m not going to carry on with this story… I think that if I keep adding waffle to it, it’ll get boring. So I’m going to carry on with the ending.

However I have re-written the ending so that it’s longer, and has a bit more to it. So I’m going to post it as two chapters, because it was quite long as one.

So thank you all for your such kind reviews, You’re all so nice. :P

Epona

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‘Mione! No!!! Ahhh!!’

Harry yelled in panic as he violently threw his covers off him and sat up in bed. Flailing around restlessly, he managed to get himself tangled up in his blanket, and with some furious swings of his arms, he slipped off the side of his bed and landed with a hard bump on the floor.

Sitting up, he poked his head out of the blanket and did the only thing he could think of. He cried and yelled and called for Mione.

After just a minute or two, the door at the opposite end of the dormitory flew open and Mione was running towards him, her face white and shocked. She instantly appeared at Harry’s side and bundled him up in her arms, as he cried into her chest, hiccupping and breathing heavily.

‘I- I had a nightmare!! Mione, I had a nightmare!

‘Shhh, it’s okay, Harry, its okay…’

‘The bad man!! He came and he hurt me!’

‘Shhh, calm down, Harry, it was just a dream!’

‘He hurt Mummy and Daddy!! He made them go away!’

‘What?’

She pulled away from him and looked into his deep green eyes, surprised and worried. He merely continued to rant and panic.

‘Then he hurt me, Mione!! He made green light hit me!!’

‘Harry…’

‘Then he hurt you!! He made the green light hurt you!!’

‘Oh, Harry…’

With that, he grabbed her forcefully and held onto her as tightly as he could, while she stroked his hair, making soothing noises.

‘Shh… it’s over now, Harry, it’s okay. Shh, come on now, baby…’

After a while, Harry felt himself calming down again, yet he couldn’t forget what he had seen. He was petrified of what had happened to his parents, and the pain that he felt when the bad man had tried to hurt him was unbearable. But when he saw Mione lying in the same way that his mother had, not moving and silent, his heart felt like it was broken.

He didn’t want to ever lose her. He didn’t want to ever see that happen to Mione. His Mione. He wanted to be with her, and make sure that she never got hurt like she did in his dream.

‘Mione…’ he sniffed, his tearful green eyes meeting hers with complete sincerity. ‘I don’t ever want you to get hurt… I want to stay with you forever.’

Her eyes filled with tears as she gave him a wistful, sad smile, and cradled his face with her soft, delicate hands. Harry shut his eyes and savoured the feeling of her hands on his skin, wishing that they could stay like this forever.

‘Harry… I promise you, that as long as I’m alive, I’ll stay with you. I’ll stay with you even in death, if you want me to.’ She gave a light chuckle, and sniffed. ‘I’ll come back and haunt you if you like.’

‘Yes please, Mione. I’d love that. I love you’

‘I love you too, Harry, with all my heart.’

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The day was much more fun than yesterday, Harry decided, as he, Mione and Ron walked down though the fields towards a large looking football pitch. Ron was carrying a large broomstick on his shoulder, and Harry was looking curiously up at it, as he walked hand in hand with Mione after him. He hadn’t left Mione alone all day, he wanted to be with her in case anything bad happened.

As they reached the pitch, Ron swung the broom from his shoulder and looked around at Harry, a grin spreading across his freckled face.

‘Hey, Harry, watch this!’

He swing his leg over the broom, and kicked his foot off the ground, sending a cloud of dust into the air. Squinting though it, Harry realised that Ron had gone.

‘Wha-?’

From above there came a yell, and Harry looked up to see Ron in the air, atop the broom, flying around in circles about their heads. Harry’s eyes grew wide.

‘Wow! Can I try?’

Mione gave a little noise of worry, and crouched down beside him.

‘Uh.. Harry, I’d feel more comfortable if you were to stay here… what if you fall off?’

‘Oh please, Mione! I won’t fall off! I promise!’

‘I’ll be there to catch him, Hermione…’

Ron had come back down to the ground, and was walking briskly towards them, the broomstick firmly in his hand.

‘I’m thinking,’ he said, as he reached Harry and Mione. ‘That if he remembers Flying, then he might remember Quidditch, which would be one step on the way back to normal, wouldn’t it?’

Harry didn’t really know what Ron was talking about, when he said ‘back to normal’, but at the moment, he was more preoccupied with flying. He jumped about excitedly and looked up at Mione with big green eyes.

‘Please, Mione? Please!!’

She sighed, a small smile fighting it’s way onto her face and she nodded warmly.

‘Okay… it’s fine by me then. But Ron, you’d better make sure you can catch him if he falls.’

‘Okay, Okay.’

‘YAY!’

Five minutes later, and Harry was sitting on top of the broom, which was presently hovering in mid air about half a metre from the ground, beaming. He wiggled his legs around, amazed at how free they felt, and giggled.

Ron and Mione chuckled softly, and he grinned at the two of them. This was wonderful.

‘Do you want to go a bit higher, Harry?’

‘Um… Ron… I don’t’ know…’

‘Oh, come on, Hermione… he’ll be fine!’

Ron stepped up to Harry and pushed the broom up a little higher, while Harry giggled some more.

‘There you go…. There… Wait!! Harry!!’

With a small kick of his legs, Harry accidentally soared away from Ron, who shouted after him. He immediately panicked, as the broom flew higher, and the ground seemed further away. Looking around, he saw Mione and Ron on the ground, Mione was staring up at him, her hands over her mouth, dancing around and looking very worried. Ron was running underneath him, his arms outstretched, in case Harry should fall.

As he turned his concentration back to the broom however, he felt a little calmer. This was nice… he felt like he knew how to fly this without Ron’s help. He felt like this was where he belonged, and for a moment he completely forgot about the other two, and grasped the broom handle tightly, turning it easily to the left.

Overjoyed at having manoeuvred the broom on his own without anyone’s help, he giggled loudly. The sound was muffled by the wind blowing against his face, pulling his bangs back and pushing against his rosy cheeks. This was easy.

He turned around in a complete circle, grinning at his own prowess, and flew calmly around for a while, glancing down at Mione and Ron, beaming. They looked back up at him, and they seemed to be speechless. Ron had stopped running around, and had instead started staring at Harry with his mouth open. Mione was watching Harry with her mouth slightly open, but with a soft smile, looking proud of him. He inwardly cheered.

However, just as he was about to go back down, from somewhere inside his stomach came a very sharp pain, which made him double over and whine. With a quick slip of the hands, the broom toppled upside down, and Harry was holding on tightly with his legs, his hands over his stomach and his face screwed up against the pain. His clothes were suddenly suffocating him.

As he continued to hold on, he could hear shouts and screams from Mione and Ron as he held tightly to his stomach. He knew he could hold on no longer, and with a moan of agony, his legs went limp, and all went black.

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He opened his eyes to dim sunlight, the sun hadn’t fully risen yet. It couldn’t have been more than four in the morning. He moaned softly. His body was aching horribly, he felt like he’d fell fifty feet from his Firebolt.

He made to stretch out, but realised that his arm was restricted by the size of his pyjama top. Confused as to why he was wearing a pyjama top at all, and why it was far too small for him, he tried to move, but found that he was wedged in by another person, who was also pinning down his other arm underneath them. Looking across, his eyes grew wide.

Hermione was sitting beside his bed, which, as he realised with some confusion, was in the Hospital Wing. Her head was lying on his arm, her own slim arm draped over him, which made his face burn red. In between them both lay a big brown teddy bear, with a pretty gold and brown ribbon tied neatly around it’s neck. For some reason, it reminded Harry of fudge.

‘Morning, Little Green Eyes…’

Startled, he looked around to see Hermione starting to stir, her eyes still closed but her breathing becoming more pronounced and faster. Petrified, he tried to move, but only succeeded in causing Hermione to go flying off the chair as he pulled his arm away.

‘Oh Merlin, I’m so sorry, Mione!’

‘Mione?’ he thought, confused. ‘Where the hell did that come from?’

‘Harry!’ she cried, as she picked herself up off the floor and flung her arms around him in a hug. ‘You’re back!’

‘Um… I wasn’t aware that I left…?’

She stepped back, her eyes and smile seeming to droop.

‘You… don’t remember?’

‘Remember what?’

She sighed and looked at her feet, and Harry could tell that she was upset, though he had no idea why. He looked at his pyjamas and wondered why they were so small, and was about to ask Hermione of it when she vigorously grabbed the big brown bear from the floor and held it in front of his face.

‘Harry, what does this remind you of?’

‘Fudge…’ was Harry’s immediate thought, though he was clueless as to the reason. He racked his brains trying to remember, and for some reason a very vague, unclear memory came to him of when he was five years old…

‘Fudgy Bear...?’

Hermione beamed at him as he looked at her, puzzled. Why did he just call this teddy ‘Fudgy Bear’? And how would Hermione know about something he knew when he was five?

‘Hermione… I don’t understand… what’s happening here?

She smiled, and sat back down beside him, her hand resting gently on his. Harry noticed it and willed his face not to burn. For some reason, he felt a little shy around her…

‘Harry… what’s the last thing you remember?’

Harry tried to remember. He had a fuzzy memory of Ron and him, sitting in the common room. They had been talking about Hermione, and Harry had taken a swig of Pumpkin Juice.

Wait… was it Pumpkin Juice?

‘Uh… I remember taking a drink from a flask in the common room…’ he mused, noticing Hermione smile at him from the corner of his eye. What was the matter with her? Why was she being all… ‘touchy-feely‘? He certainly didn’t mind it though. ‘Ron shouted something at me… wait…’

It clicked into place.

‘I drank Ron’s Age potion!?’

Hermione laughed, and continued to smile dreamily at him. He looked at her with confusion.

‘Yes, you did. And I’ve got to say, Harry, you are the cutest five year old I’ve ever met.’

Harry flushed.

‘Do you remember anything that happened?’

‘Uh… no… I…’

Now that she mentioned it, Harry couldn’t remember anything that had happened while he thought he had been asleep. He didn’t think he’d dreamt anything, yet there was something stirring in his memory, of a lady who he met when he was younger. She was very pretty, and had looked after him for a week while he was away from home. He had grown to be very fond of her, and once or twice, he could vaguely remember telling her that he loved her. He thought that maybe, even though he was only five years old at the time, that he might have indeed felt that strongly for her.

He broke from his thoughts to see Hermione smiling at him, and tried to remember the face of the lady in his memory. Brown hair… brown eyes… yes, she definitely had those. He also remembered that she had a pretty face, and rosy red lips, and the softest touch. He remembered what it felt like for her to brush away the bangs from his forehead, and the way she pressed her lips to his scar.

Absent-mindedly, he brought a hand to his forehead, which emitted a soft, quiet yet relieved sounding gasp from Hermione. He turned to look at her as she slowly brought her own hand to his forehead, much to the confusion of Harry.

However, as soon as she touched his skin with her soft, smooth hands, Harry knew that he had found the lady he loved.

Comprehension dawned on his face like a summer morning, as his own hand dropped disbelievingly back onto the bed, his mouth falling open. Hermione chuckled.

‘Now do you remember?’

He nodded gently, his mouth curving into a happy, disbelieving smile.

‘Mione… ‘

Slowly, she leaned towards him, her eyes fluttering daintily shut before she pressed her lips to his, and he lost himself as he kissed her back. He shut his own eyes and savoured the feel of her lips against his own, as she brought her hand down his head and across his cheek. He felt like he was home, with his Mione, where he belonged.

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Ron woke to the sound of feet thudding softly on the dormitory floor, and as he sat up and rubbed his eyes he pulled back the curtains of his four poster bed. Immediately he jumped with a yelp of surprise. Harry was sitting on his bed, fully grown, fully clothed in perfectly fitted robes, with a broad grin on his face, beaming at Ron. Slowly, he lifted his two thumbs in the air.

‘Thumbs up, man.’

Groggily, Ron chuckled and lifted his own thumbs in the air.

‘Thumbs up, dude.’