Harry remained in bed, fuming and pouting. He had a perfectly good set of Omnioculars in his trunk that he could have used at the Quidditch match. Harry was so mad at what he had gotten himself into that he did not realize Tonks had sat on the bed next to him.
“What do you want to do Harry?” Harry looked at Tonks, disbelief in his eyes. Surely she had been told he was “sick.” Tonks waited for Harry to answer her, but decided to prompt him when he did not. “You don’t want to just sit in bed all day, do you? Look, I brought some coloring books and storybooks, if you want.” Harry starred at her, words failing him completely, wondering if she had babysat before.
“Or, do you know what’s really fun?” Tonks was more excited than Harry though she clearly wanted him to have fun too. Harry shrugged half-heartedly. “We could build a tent to play in! Watch!” Harry now knew Tonks had babysat before. She pulled out her wand and quickly conjured some plain, wooden chairs, positioning them close to each other but with a space where she and Harry could fit between. She then waved her wand at Ron’s bed and all the blankets flew across the room and draped themselves over the chairs.
“Come on now. Doesn’t that look fun?” Tonks was smiling brightly at Harry.
“I just want to be alone right now. I want to think about some things.”
“Ok. But if you need anything, let me know.” Tonks was still smiling but clearly no longer as enthusiastic. She left the room, leaving the blankets and chairs as they were. Harry began to organize his thoughts and focus on what he needed to learn, whatever it was. The trouble was his anger kept distracting him and the constant struggle against childish desires was exhausting. The toys at the foot of his bed kept looking more and more enticing.
Harry did not recall falling asleep, nor did he remember anything from that morning. The only thing he knew when he woke up was that he was afraid. He had awoke from a nightmare. A horrible shadow, there was no other way to describe it, had been chasing him. He never saw it, but only knew to run and not stop. When he could no longer run, he awoke, still afraid.
He did not scream or shout like with the prior dreams. He laid quite still in the now unfamiliar surroundings that were his and Ron’s room, whimpering and sobbing. He was not aware of anyone in the room.
Tonks was in fact there, reading the Daily Prophet. She had conjured another chair, one much more comfortable than those earlier. She lowered her newspaper when she heard Harry was finally awake again.
She walked slowly over to his bed in order to not startle him. “What’s wrong Harry?”
Harry quickly stood up on his bed and wrapped himself around her before he spoke, still crying. “I wan’ mommy,” he said, practically speaking in baby-talk.
“What did you say?” Tonks’ voice was full of confusion.
“Where’s Mrs. Weasley?” His voice sounded older now, but somehow restrained.
“That’s not what you said.”
“Ye-huh, I wan’ mommy.” Again, he spoke childishly.
“She won’t be home until tonight,” Tonks said, assuming he was still referring to Mrs. Weasley.
“No! I want mommy now!” Tonks squinted her eyes against his screams.
“If you’re not a good boy Harry, I won’t give you the surprise I have,” Tonks yelled, competing against the boy in her arms.
Harry’s reaction was immediate. “What surprise?”
“You have to wait until after lunch. Are you hungry?”
“Yeah!”
“What do you want to eat?”
Harry thought for a few seconds then yelled, “soup!”
“Alright, let’s go downstairs.” Tonks bent over to put Harry down, but he did not let go. She straightened up and went to leave, but stopped at the doorway. “Do you have to go potty first?”
“Uh … uh-huh.” Harry let go and fell to the floor, landing on his feet and dashed to the bathroom. When he returned, his pajamas were only partially zipped. He reached Tonks and held his arms outward, slightly above his head. Tonks reluctantly lifted him back into her arms and went to the kitchen. She put him down at the table and readjusted his pajamas before cooking lunch.
When Harry finished his soup, not without spilling some on the table, the kitchen was rich with the aromas of baking. “Go on upstairs Harry and I’ll bring your surprise up to you.” Harry scrambled up the steps at great speed. He was so excited that he slipped and fell twice, but he did not care.
Tonks found him a few minutes later, laying on the floor, playing with some action figures. He was staging a fight among them, plastic swords bouncing together. She was carrying a plate of fresh-baked, chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk for Harry. She set all of this on the bedside table and called Harry over. He still held two action figures, but dropped them upon seeing the cookies. He greedily snatched one from the plate and bit into it. He climbed onto his bed and continued to eat, crumbs collecting on the blanket.
Meanwhile, Tonks was rearranging the toys and some of the items she had brought. Harry began to stare at the storybook when she set it aside on the bed. “Do you want to read it,” Tonks asked, when she noticed him.
“Can you read it to me,” Harry asked hopefully.
“Of course I can,” Tonks replied cheerfully. She was no longer surprised by his behavior and had decided to just treat him like any child.
Harry hurriedly crawled up the bed and under his blanket. An urgent voice, deep within his mind, was telling him to act older. But this voice was only a whisper, drowned out by his active imagination.
Tonks sat next to Harry, as he snatched the second cookie from the plate. He had not touched the milk yet, but there were no other cookies. Tonks stayed above the blankets, but Harry leaned against her right side, ready to listen and look at the pictures. Tonks wrapped her right arm around Harry, both to support his head up and hold the book closer to him. Harry snuggled closer to her as Tonks began to read the children’s stories. The animated pictures were, of course, fascinating.
Harry so thoroughly enjoyed the first story that he pleaded for another. Even though he was becoming progressively drowsy, he continued to ask for more. By the fourth story, Tonks had decided to read the longest in the book, hoping it would finally satisfy him.
Harry was managing to stay awake, though he squirmed for a few minutes around the middle of the story. Tonks put it off as he needed to stretch as her own legs were becoming stiff. That is until she noticed a mild, somewhat familiar odor. It took her another few minutes to finally recall where she knew the scent from. When she did, Tonks suddenly realized why Harry had been squirming.
“Harry, do you have to go potty,” Tonks asked, laying the book aside.
“No.”
“Are you sure? It’s been a while since you last did.”
“I don’t have to,” Harry replied, becoming irritable.
“Did you already go in your pants?”
“N-no.” The quaver in his voice betrayed him. Tonks stood up and pulled Harry from the blankets. She laid him across the end of the bed and removed his pajamas. Harry’s Pull-Ups was noticeably soaked. Tonks sighed heavily and began to clean him.
“It’s a good thing you were still wearing this from last night.“ Once he was in dry underwear and back in his pajamas, Tonks sat Harry up and crouched next to him. “Why didn’t you tell me that you had to go?” Harry remained silent, just looking at her. “Did you know you had to go potty?” He nodded slowly. “So you did it on purpose?”
“No! I wanted to hear the story. I thought it was almost done.”
“Why didn’t you ask me to stop, so you could go?” Harry shrugged his shoulders. Tonks stood up, no longer in a good mood. “I should put you in a diaper.”
“No,” Harry whined, pleadingly.
“Why not? You just wet your pants on purpose.” She conjured a small, wooden chair in a corner. “Go sit in that chair until dinner.” Harry trudged to the corner and sat down. “I’m telling Mrs. Weasley what you did. We’ll let her decide what to do with you.” Tonks left the room and Harry was already bored.
Harry sat in the chair until Tonks carried him to dinner. When she brought him back upstairs, she let him play on his bed while cleaning the room. She returned the blankets to Ron’s bed and removed the conjured chairs. Then she began to pick up Harry’s toys that had been scattered across the floor.
The Weasleys and Hermione were still not back by nine that night. Tonks had left Harry to continue playing on his bed but returned now. “Harry, go get your bath.”
Harry made no indication he had heard her, so Tonks moved closer to the bed. “Harry! It’s bath time.”
“I don’t wanna. Can’t I play a little longer?”
“No, you know it’s almost your bedtime. Now, go take a bath.”
“No.” Before Harry could turn back to his toys, Tonks grabbed him and carried him into the bathroom. “I don’t want a bath.”
Tonks filled the bathtub for Harry and left him to bathe. “Make sure you clean everywhere, or I’ll send you back to do it again.” Harry sat the toys he was still holding on the floor and began to remove his clothes. He picked up the toys and climbed into the bath. The water was warm and quite comfortable and he played with his toys, sometimes submerging himself, sloping water onto the floor.
“Have you just been playing this whole time?” Tonks came back after fifteen minutes. “I thought you were a big boy Harry. I guess I was wrong.” Tonks banished the water on the floor, knelt next to the bathtub and grabbed the shampoo. “Alright, hold still so I can bathe you.”
Within fifteen minutes, Harry was dressed for bed and being tucked in, complaining loudly. “I’m not tired,” he whined, crankily. “Can’t I stay up longer?”
“No. I was told you were to be in bed by nine thirty and it’s after nine thirty.” Harry started to pout as Tonks turned off the lights and left.
The others were not back until nearly midnight. They found Tonks waiting for them in the kitchen when they came out of the fireplace. They were all excited about the long match they had just returned from.
“Alright you three,” Mrs. Weasley said to Ron, Hermione and Ginny, “get to bed. And Ron, don’t you dare wake Harry. How was everything Tonks? Harry didn’t give you too much trouble, did he?”
“Not too much. You should know that he was completely like a child today. I think Professor Dumbledore used too strong a spell.”
“What do you mean? What happened?”
“Well, he just wanted to do some things like little boys do. He wanted me to carry him and read to him. He seemed to be really having fun with those children’s toys and refused to bathe himself.”
“Really? Oh, the poor dear. He was fine this morning.”
“Yeah, I thought so too. But he took a nap after you left and woke up acting little. Oh, he wet his pants on purpose this afternoon too.”
“He did what?” Tonks went into the details of what happened. “Oh, I guess it was good he hadn’t changed yet. Well, thank you very much for watching him. Sorry for the trouble he gave you.”
“It wasn’t too much. I only thought you should know.” Tonks apparated with a small pop.
Mrs. Weasley went upstairs and stopped to check on Harry. Ron had just gotten into bed himself. Harry was laying peacefully on his back. His head was turned to the side and he was smiling, though it was barely visible as he was sucking his thumb again. She gently brushed the long, unruly hair from his face, thinking she really should cut it tomorrow. Harry did not move and Mrs. Weasley went to bed herself.
(I really liked some of the ideas I got after the last chapter. If you have any ideas for the story or thoughts about this and previous chapters, please put them in your reviews. Ideas MAY be used in later chapters but are not garuanteed to be used if submitted. (Example: Was Tonks' punishment and threat fair and justified? Don't limit your responses to just this example.))