A Different Halloween

Chapter 20

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Harry and Hermione were surprised to find a third child being placed at 'their' table for breakfast. On hearing that this was Harry's cousin who would be staying with them, Hermione introduced herself as she'd been taught. "Hello Dudley, I'm Hermione Jane Granger. Pleased to meet you." Hermione lent over and kissed him on the cheek.

Dudley didn't know who this strange creature was, he just knew she had come between him and his breakfast bowl. The toddler also couldn't resist the wavy brown locks that were now easily within his reach, Dudley grabbed a good handful and pulled.

Hermione let out a yell so Dudley pulled it again, only to find himself dumped out his chair and wearing three breakfasts. A crying Harry was clutching a crying Hermione while staring at his now crying cousin. Harry's "No hurt Hermi!" left no one in any doubt about what had happened here. In a matter of seconds, breakfast had turned into a war zone. A burst of accidental magic had left Dudley lying on the floor and covered with three plastic bowls worth of porridge, leaving the adults to deal with three crying children.

Lily's wand quickly had everything cleared up and she placed Dudley back into his chair before speaking to the child, Dudley Dursley was about to learn some new words. "Dudley, that was bad! It's wrong to pull hair, say sorry to Hermione."

Dudley was having trouble comprehending what was expected of him, words like bad, wrong and sorry were alien to the child. Lily switched her attention to Harry, hoping to set an example. "Harry, it was wrong to do that to Dudley. Say you're sorry."

Harry though was in a belligerent mood, "No hurt Hermi!"

Lily could only smile at her son, he was so like his father it was scary. "Yes darling and Dudley won't do it again. I need you not to do that again either, please say you're sorry."

Harry stared at the newcomer and decided to do what his mother asked. "Sorry!"

Dudley saw a new breakfast being set down by Emma to these two and quickly made the connection. He shouted "sorry!" to the whole house and a bowl appeared in front of him, everything else was forgotten for the moment.

Dan cleared his throat before speaking, "These two are very protective of each other, aren't they? Emma, I think we may have to reconsider sending Hermione to nursery school after Christmas. We can't really have other kids being blasted across the classroom if Hermione gets upset."

Lily was left to explain to the three marauders how Hermione had wrecked the clock while the wheels in her head were spinning with an idea. "Emma, I have three friends who all have children about the same age as Hermione and Harry. Our original plan was to share looking after the kids and allow us all the opportunity to work at least part time while they were growing up. If we included you and Hermione into the plan, it could be perfect."

Emma liked where this idea was going but wanted to be sure she understood. "Are you saying we each take a day per week to watch over all the children? It sounds good but only if we didn't have to drive over half the country dropping off and picking up kids."

Lily could only smile at her new friend, "Emma, we won't be driving anywhere. You've seen how we travel, James and I could take Hermione and the other mothers would drop their kids off when it was your turn. Alice has a son Neville who's exactly the same age as Harry, my friend Mary's daughter, also called Mary, is a couple of months older. Maia's daughter Luna is the youngest, she had her first birthday last month. It has always been my intention that Harry would attend primary school and this would get him used to other children, hopefully help with controlling his accidental magic as well."

Dan asked an obvious question, "Don't magical children go to primary school?"

James shook his head, "Most children are at least ten before their magic starts to settle down, therefore they go to school at eleven. Before that, it's usually homeschooling to prepare them for Hogwarts."

Dan thought the idea of having half-a-dozen children running about the house was wonderful and was trying to figure out if they could financially afford for him to take that day off as well.

Lily was now trying to keep Dudley from snatching the other two bowls, he'd finished first and obviously wanted more. She popped a piece of banana into his hand and he happily munched away at that. The boy was going to find a lot more fruit and a lot fewer biscuits and cakes in his diet from now on. Petunia apparently had given him whatever he wanted, this was something else she was going to have to wean Dudley off.

It didn't take Dan and Emma long to concur that both thought this daycare arrangement was way better than sending their daughter to a nursery. They were keen to meet the other children, and their parents.

Sirius and Remus headed out to search for news and discover if Augusta had answered their message. The Grangers and Potters would be staying close to home while they tried to integrate their new family member. Emma also pointed out that they were friends with the Jenkins who would be only too happy to let them look around their home if they were interested in buying.

They were currently having some play-time with the children before considering a visit for the afternoon. James was thinking that the muggle neighbourhood had kept his family safe while the dark lord was hunting for them, it would do now he'd been banished. He was also thinking that Harry going to primary school with Hermione would be highly desirable, in two days the kids had practically become inseparable. He imagined that there would have to be a room for her in their new house for Hermione, these two were really 'bestist' friends.

Lily hadn't been raised in the magical world or she would have understood the bonds that can form between magical children. Harry and Hermione would probably always be close and having them mixing with other children was something he wanted to do as soon as possible. James didn't want Dudley becoming an outsider and a bigger group would lessen the reliance Harry and Hermione were placing on each other.

James expected tears and tantrums of spectacular proportions when they eventually left the Grangers' home, hopefully moving next door would lessen the effect. He didn't think Lily would be returning to working for her charms mastery anytime soon, nothing against Professor Flitwick but neither Potter was ready to go anywhere near Hogwarts, or more specifically Dumbledore, for the foreseeable future.

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