NABC 64 Adventures In Babysitting
64 Adventures In Babysitting
64 Adventures In Babysitting
November 30, 1981 was a date to remember. It was the day I received my very first fan mail. By first, I meant there were 136 letters and various packages in the castle's mail room. Both the butler named Butter and the maid named Moppy were ecstatic to have so much work to do. They cleaned and checked each letter and package and put aside the ones that had curses and portkeys.
I nodded at their diligence and told Butter to put them in a box to be sent to Auror Amelia Bones at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, since she was the only one not swayed by bribes or the pure blood mentality of superiority. I would add my own name to the box in a letter that thanked her for working to keep myself and others safe. In crayon, of course.
A lot of the cleared letters were thanks from witches and wizards for ridding the world of Voldemort. Surprisingly, there were two marriage proposals. The first one was from the Parkinson Family that I burned without responding to. If she was anything like she was in canon, Draco could have her all to himself.
The second proposal was from Greengrass family, since their negotiations with the Malfoy family had fallen through and they still wanted both the protection of a strong family name and the gold it would bring into their lives.
“I can't believe they actually admitted that they're selling their daughter! Ha ha!” I said and put it aside.
I knew it would be for Astoria, their second daughter. She was inflicted with their family's blood curse and was pretty much a throwaway daughter for them to marry off, because their eldest Daphne was the Greengrass Heiress and would need to keep the family name.
“Maybe I could pop by and give her a quick healing?” I asked myself, rhetorically.
I pushed that thought aside and went back to work. A lot of the letters didn't require an answer, so I would make up a form letter and would sign it with my own name in crayon. People always appreciated a personal touch, even if I was only 16 months old.
The first package I opened was a small one and had a pair of women's underwear inside. They weren't even lacy or anything, just plain white. Thankfully, they were clean and weren't stained. The note inside said she would wait for me to grow up, so she could add a few special stains to them.
I chuckled and put the note aside and thought about pranking her. I could send her a clean nappy back with a note saying she'll need it by the time I was old enough for her. I looked over at Butter and he gave me the same happy look back. That made my decision for me and I made a note of it and set the package aside.
The next package didn't have a name on it and it had a cake and homemade fudge inside. I immediately suspected it and waved Moppy over. She checked the food and it had potions inside keyed for loyalty to Albus Dumbledore in the cake and the Weasley family in the fudge.
I made note of them and added it to the pile to go to the DMLE. I was sure nothing would come of it, though. It wasn't like it was illegal to potion people with things like loyalty and love potions. I wondered if I could get something like that introduced in the Wizengamot and added it to the note to send to Amelia.
There were several stuffed toys and letters with genuine wishes for my health and happiness. Those would get a personal letter of thanks and maybe even a photo. I made another note to have one of the house elves buy a wizarding camera to start taking publicity photos. Like Gilderoy Lockhart would say in 12 years, celebrity is as celebrity does.
I laughed at that and hugged the plush kneazle, set it back in the box, and put it in the small pile of things that required personal letters. It was the last of the mail and I looked around at everything and wondered what was missing. After a few minutes of thinking about it, I realized what it was.
There was nothing from the friends and family of my parents.
There were no letters from Remus Lupin, my supposed honorary uncle. I knew he was a werewolf; but, it's been a month since Voldemort's defeat and there was nothing. Did Dumbledore interfere with that? It was a question I couldn't answer, since the mail redirect ward on my amulet was still keyed to Tom Riddle.
There was also nothing from my godmother, Alice Longbottom. I suppose that was understandable, since she had a baby to take care of and they had been attacked recently. But, and this was a big but, why wasn't she trying to find out where I was or who was raising me if she wasn't? Everyone knew that Sirius Black was in prison for killing Pettigrew, so my godfather wasn't raising me, either.
That gave me the idea I should pay Alice a visit to check her for potions and compulsions. I could also stop off at a particularly spooky prison for a visit, too.
“Nanny?” I asked and the house elf popped in front of me. “Where are Petunia and Dudley?”
“Mummy and little one sleeps in the nursery.” Nanny answered.Yôur favorite stories at novelhall.com
I smiled. “Perfect. Keep them that way until lunch. They both need the rest and I'm going out again.”
Nanny nodded and popped away. She popped right back and took my hand to lead me out of the mail room and back to my own. She helped me get changed into my noble outfit, cape and all, and then handed me my father's invisibility cloak.
“Great idea. This saves me from using too much magic. Thanks.” I said and put the cloak on. I left the hood down for now and we went down the hallway to the teleportation room. “I'll be back as soon as I can.”
“Donts bees tiring out too fast.” Nanny said and ran her little hands over the expensive cape before she stepped back out of the way.
“I'll be careful this time. I know my physical limits now.” I promised and she beamed a smile at me. I put a bit of magic into the teleportation circle and disappeared in a flash of light.
The Longbottom Manor was a stately old mansion and was well maintained, even though vines grew everywhere over the first floor's outside walls. I chuckled at the obvious green thumb the family had and that Augusta would have ignored in the future to get Neville into Griffindor.
I cast magic detection and found three magicals inside the house. One older woman, one younger woman, and a baby. Thankfully, Alice was within my spell range and I cast a diagnostic spell at her. It wouldn't be as detailed as if I was touching her, though.
I tucked my face by her ear and whispered. “Come back later?”
Andromeda nodded and looked at her cousin. She tried a few more times to speak his name and sighed, motioned to the guard, and we left the top level of the prison to go back down to the ground floor. She thanked the man for his help when he held the door open for her. The Auror smiled and nodded to her, bid her a good day, and closed the door behind us.
“That was scary!” Nymphadora said with a shiver as we walked down the road.
“It was terrifying and you were very brave to face it like you did.” Andromeda praised her and turned her head slightly to look at me. “It didn't bother you at all, did it Harry?”
I beamed a smile at her and tried to do my pose. “I, Harry Potter, best Harry Potter!”
Andromeda barked a laugh and Nymphadora giggled.
“Proof!” I said and took out the letter.
Andromeda came to a stop and held me carefully as she read the document that made the warden back off and let us in. She looked a little stunned at the wording and the blanket permission to visit the prison whenever I wanted. She looked at it, at me, and back at it.
“Go Christmas?” I asked and she sucked in a sharp breath. “Turkey for Pafoo.”
Andromeda closed her eyes for several seconds and her breathing evened out. She nodded and handed me the letter back. I put it away and she continued to walk with Nymphadora holding her hand, only she was more restrained by it instead of comforted by it.
We rode the ferry back to the mainland and the man gave Andromeda a wide smile and showed off a few rotted teeth. She didn't say anything and just flashed her wedding ring as she passed the man. He shrugged and sat back on his chair to wait for the next person to show up. We walked a short ways and Andromeda came to a stop to hug Nymphadora to her side.
“I hate this part.” Nymphadora said and held on tightly as she held her breath and closed her eyes.
I did the same thing and we apparated from there to appear in the backyard of a modest house in a rural suburb. Nymphadora made a gagging sound for a second, realized Andromeda wasn't holding her, and ran off like a racehorse out of the gate.
Andromeda laughed at her reaction and started to walk inside the house, then she paused and turned her head slightly to look at me still sitting on her hip and hugged to her side. She had apparently forgotten I was along for the ride and looked like she didn't know what to do with me.
“Andi funny.” I giggled my baby laugh. “Harry down.”
Andromeda looked conflicted about that for a moment and put me down.
I didn't run off like she expected and I reached up and patted her thigh. “Be back Chrissy day.”
Andromeda nodded and I walked off a few feet, waved, and teleported to the other side of her house and put up the hood of my invisibility cloak. I heard her shout and used magic detection to watch her search the backyard for me. She gave up after a few minutes and went inside.
I walked around the house to the backyard again and cast a notice-me-not on the back corner of the yard and quickly made a teleportation circle. I added the location coordinates to the others and used it to go back home to my castle. I let out a laugh at pulling a great prank and walked out of the room, still invisible, in case Petunia was around. She wasn't, so I went to my room to change.
I created more rolls of expensive cloth in different colors for the elves and Nanny popped in and scooped them up. She beamed a smile at me and popped away. I chuckled at that and started to undress. Nanny popped back in and helped me, quick as can be, and she popped me downstairs to hand me off to a happy Petunia. She hugged me, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and sat me in a high chair next to Dudley.
“ICE CREAM!” Dudley yelled when the bowls appeared in front of us. He let out a scream as he dug his beefy hands into the frozen treat. That didn't stop him from scooping it into his mouth, though.
I shook my head at him and held my hand out to the table. One of the spoons jumped to my hand and I started carefully using it. It took me a minute and two mouthfuls of chocolate ice cream to realize I was being stared at. I lifted my gaze from my bowl at saw Vernon and Petunia with shocked looks on their faces.
I couldn't resist doing what I did next. I scooped up a bit of ice cream, took aim, and flicked the spoon at Petunia. The bit of ice cream flew across the table and went right into her mouth. She jerked as if slapped and stared at me even harder as she swallowed.
“GOAALLL!” I said and put my little arms up into the air.
“GOAALLL!” Dudley copied me and giggled a baby laugh.
Vernon made an odd sound and his body shook slightly. He did it again and I was stunned. It was something I had never heard from him before or ever expected to hear.
It was a laugh. Vernon actually laughed. Petunia smacked his arm and he laughed again, leaned over to kiss her cheek, and went back to eating his ice cream. She shook her head at him, gave me a pointed look, and started eating hers as well.