The Stubborn Old Headmaster

4

Harry just could not sleep. Finally, he made a decision. 'I'll just go and find Aunt Minerva or Aunt Poppy. It can't be that hard to find them.' Quietly scrambling out of the bed, he rushed to the door, but it wouldn't budge, so he finally opened it with a thought of 'Alohomora', like he did with his cupboard, and then he stepped out into the cold dungeons. He remembered that the old man with the white beard should not see him, so he was very careful not to be detected by anyone. 'Maybe if I see someone, I should ask where I can find them,' he thought, getting very tired after running around for so long, but unfortunately, there was not anyone whom he could ask.

While Severus was searching the dungeons, Harry was running around Gryffindor tower. He even found the door of Minerva's private quarters, where he had spent a weekend last month. However, the wizard in the portrait told him that Minerva was in the hospital wing.

The portrait asked Harry, after seeing the tears in the young boy's eyes, "Would you like me to tell you how to get there?" On Harry's tearful nod, he gave him directions to find the hospital wing.

Severus had just passed in front of the hospital wing that normally lay quiet at this time of the year and headed towards the Astronomy tower.

Meanwhile, Harry fell over Mrs. Norris who had lazily been sleeping in the middle of the hall. Totally frightened, Harry scrambled back onto his feet and ran as fast as his small legs could carry him. Completely knackered, he opened the door to the hospital wing, frantically searching for Minerva. He was just about to give up, when he spotted the person he was looking for lying in a bed in a small room.

Harry climbed onto the bed and lay down next to his aunt and tried to get under the warm cover, noticing that Minerva did not wake up but brought her arm around him cuddling him close. Harry happily snuggled deeper into her arm, his dragon safely tucked under his arm and his thumb in his mouth. 'Oh, thank Merlin I've found her, and this bed is so warm. I'm so tired,' was all he could think before he fell into an exhausted sleep.

ハリーと頑固な校長先生

When Poppy entered the room the next morning to check on her friend, she was dismayed to see the little boy in her friend's arms. She carefully pulled Harry out of Minerva's strong embrace, ignoring the child's whimpering, and scooped him up onto her arms, taking him over into her private quarters, where she put the obvious worn out child in her own bed. Then she contacted Severus through the Floo, who told her that he had spent half the night looking for Harry until he had given up at four o'clock in the morning. Shaking her head in annoyance, Poppy promised to take care of Harry for the rest of the day and ordered Severus to come to fetch Harry after dinner in time to take him back to his relatives'.

Harry slept until lunchtime.

When Minerva woke up, she excitedly told her friend, "Oh Poppy, I had such a nice dream. Harry came in the middle of the night to cuddle with me and sleep in my arms until the morning. Can you imagine how much I miss him? It's strange how much I have gotten used to him being around during the past few weeks. I love him as if he was my own child." Seeing her friend smirk, she added, "I know it was only a fevered dream, but it felt so real. Where's Harry, Poppy? Is he all right? Is he with Rolanda?"

Poppy sighed. "No, Minerva, Rolanda is sick as well. Harry was with Severus."

Minerva's eyes widened in horror, and she crawled out of bed, mumbling, "I must…"

"The only thing you must do is lie down there and rest so that you can take care of Harry again next weekend. Harry is fine, and at the moment he's asleep in my bed," Poppy interrupted her in a no-nonsense voice.

Harry was glad that he could spend the afternoon together with Poppy. He showed Poppy how well he had learned to write during the week and was commended very much. However, Poppy also had a very stern talk with Harry. "Harry, what you did wasn't nice. You ran away from Uncle Severus' quarters, and he spent almost the whole night searching all over the castle for you. Don't you think he was very worried that something bad had happened to you, hmm?"