23. Butterscotch, Banisters, and Broomsticks...

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Harry Potter. Buh-bye. Buh-bye. Moooooo! (Don't ask :P)

Parenting Class

Butterscotch, Banisters, and Broomsticks!

Author's Notes: I've had a stupendous, incredible, and brilliant (if I do say so) idea for this fic for you, the readers! See after the story in Author's Notes for more details!

Poll Results:

A. 16B. 5C. 29

C wins! It'll be half/half.

To say that Hermione and Draco fell madly in love with Butterscotch would an absolute exaggeration. It'd be more of Hermione and Draco instantly realized that life just got about ten times worse. Butterscotch was no angel, that much was obvious.

After Dumbledore had managed to pry Fawkes out of the puppy's mouth, Lupin had taken Harry and Butterscotch back to their room. And that's when the two teenagers first got to meet Butterscotch…

"Hermione!" Leviculus called, "Harry's here! With a visitor!"

The portrait swung open and Hermione dashed out, scooping Harry into her arms and giving him a hug. "I was so worried about you! I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Uncle Moony took care of me," Harry grinned. "He even bought me ice cream."

"Professor Lupin!" the girl exclaimed, giving the old D.A.D.A. teacher a hug as well. "It's been ages since I've seen you! How are you doing?"

"Quite well. And yourself?"

"I'm doing pretty good. Although I did get stuck in Divination this year…

Lupin chuckled. "And how's Defense going?"

Hermione shrugged. "It's all right. You're still the best professor we've ever had, though Professor Skura isn't so bad. A little strict and uptight, but he at least teaches us. Would you like to come in for a while?" she asked, gesturing at the room behind her.

"I've actually got to be going. Maybe some other time, perhaps?"

"All right. It was great seeing you again!"

As soon as Lupin was gone, a small golden blur came dashing around the corner (having been released from the body bind Lupin had put on him). Hermione screamed as it pounced up on her, bowling her over completely. Butterscotch, finding Hermione's headband, gave a playful growl and pulled it out of her hair and raced into the common room.

"That's Butterscotch," Harry bubbled happily, still sitting on Hermione's stomach. "He's my new dog."

Inside, screams sounded and Hermione jumped up and ran in, Harry trailing after. The Golden Retriever was prancing about the room, a stuffed dragon in his mouth with Draco chasing him and Ron watching in amusement. "GIVE IT BACK!" Draco yelled, lunging for the dog and missing. "IT ISN'T YOURS!"

Butterscotch dropped the animal and wagged his tail, waiting for Draco to get off the floor and chase him again. The enraged Slytherin, did so, and merely fell flat on the floor once again as the dog nimbly moved to the left. Losing interest in the dragon, Butterscotch trotted into the fireplace and began to roll around in the ashes, black clouds spreading over the room.

Hermione, thinking quickly, blew the smoke out of the common room, but not soon enough for it to leave completely. Soot stained the walls and covered the carpeting and occupants in the room. Especially Butterscotch. The once golden colored dog was now a dusty gray.

Before Draco could grab the pup and stop it from wreaking any more havoc, Butterscotch sped away and jumped on top of the sofa, leaving dirty paw prints all over the material. Grabbing one of the rainbow colored pillows, Butterscotch ripped it to pieces, feathers floating down.

"AAAACCCCCHHHHHOOOOOO!" Ron sneezed, as one of the feathers landed on his nose. The puppy, hearing the noise, leaped up on Ron and proceeded to lick the redhead all over his face.

"GOTCHA!" Draco cried, picking Butterscotch up in his arms. The dog immediately began to lick the blond, tongue making traces in the soot that covered Draco from head to toe.

"He likes you," Harry giggled. "Isn't he great?"

"Uhhh…" Hermione glanced around the room, looking at the damage. "He's probably just a little excited to be here…he'll calm down. We should probably give him a bath, huh?"

"Yup," Harry agreed. "I think Draco needs a bath too. He's all dirty."

"And that's my fault?" Draco grumbled, holding the dog away from him.

"Hermione! Ron's guardians are here," called Leviculus. "Shall I let them in?"

"Please do!"

Lavender and Terry entered a second later, blinking at the soot. "Did you decide to redecorate?" Terry asked.

"No," Hermione sighed. "Harry's new puppy got in the fireplace…and as you can tell, made quite a mess. How are your parents?" she queried.

"Just fine," Lavender smiled. "My mom is being released tomorrow morning and Terry's dad tonight. Their injuries looked worse then the doctors thought they were."

"I'm so glad," the Gryffindor cheered, hugging Lavender.

"Looks like you'll have your hands full…we'll take Ron and get going. Did he cause any trouble?"

Hermione and Draco exchanged glances. "As a matter of fact, he did. Here," Hermione said, placing a gigantic roll of parchment in Lavender's hands, "is a detailed report. Since breakfast we've had him sitting on the chair, although that didn't even keep him out of trouble. You can decide on his punishment as you wish after you read that. And here," she said, handing her a box, "is something of yours that I believe Ron 'borrowed'."

Lavender glared at Ron and he smiled innocently back. "You are in big trouble, Ronald Weasley," she growled. "Now let's go so I can figure out the best way for you to learn your lesson." Terry picked up the pouting child and left, Lavender following.

"Now what?" asked Draco, grimacing as Butterscotch continued to lick his face.

"We go give Butterscotch a bath. Come on Draco, bring him to the bathroom. Harry, come with me and we'll go get some shampoo."

Minutes later, everyone was gathered beside the bathtub, where Draco was holding Butterscotch in as he lathered shampoo in the grimy fur. "Bloody dog," he muttered as the puppy bit his hand while he tried to remove the collar. Hermione and Harry watched with interest as Draco continued to struggle with the collar before it finally slid off.

Just as he was preparing to dump a bucket of water over the puppy's head, Butterscotch jumped free of Draco's grasp and leaped out of the tub. Unfortunately, as he jumped out, his back legs collided with Draco and the Slytherin tumbled over the edge of the bathtub and into the water.

"Now Draco's getting a bath," Hermione laughed. Reaching over, she picked up the shampoo bottle and started to lather it into Draco's hair.

"Cut that out!" he growled, trying to shove her hands away.

"Come over here and help, Harry," Hermione grinned.

"But what about Butterscotch?"

"He's mostly clean and locked up in the room…nothing too bad can happen." So, Harry held out his hands and Hermione squirted more shampoo on them. By now, Draco had stopped moving and sat still, sighing at random moments and throwing death glares at a bar of soap, pretending it was Hermione.

"Close your eyes," Hermione instructed. "Harry, dump that water over his head." The small child complied and Draco let out a howl as freezing cold water hit him.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" he snarled, whirling around.

"Remember when I had a cold shower because of you? Now you get a small taste of that….one more bucket Harry."

"Oh no you don't…" Draco stood up and made to get out, but Hermione pushed him back down. But as she was doing so, she slipped on some of the water Butterscotch had splattered on the floor and fell in with Draco. "Mind getting off me?" he snapped, Hermione sitting on his stomach.

A gasp sounded from the door and Hermione turned to look since Draco couldn't see over the edge of the tub. "Hermione! Draco! You chose now? And in front of Harry? Aren't you two being naughty…"

Hermione's face turned bright red. "That is not what is happening! I fell in!"

Ginny smirked. "Sure you did."

"Ginny!" Harry squealed, racing over and wrapping his arms about her legs.

"And hello to you too," she smiled. "What are you all doing in here?"

"Trying to give Butterscotch a bath. But he got away so Hermione and I gave Draco a hair wash instead. But Hermione just fell in."

"Giving Draco a hair wash?" she repeated. "God, I wish I'd gotten here sooner. Although this will still make a decent picture." Pulling a camera from her book bag, she snapped a photo of a mortified looking Hermione, still bright red, sitting on a pouting Draco's stomach.

"GIVE THAT CAMERA TO ME RIGHT NOW, GINNY!" Hermione shrieked, scrambling out of the tub and racing towards her friend.

"Nope, it's mine," Ginny said, placing it back into her bag before Hermione could grab it. A look of puzzlement crossed her face a second later. "Who's Butterscotch?"

"Harry's new puppy. He picked him up in Diagon Alley today."

"You guys went to Diagon Alley?"

"No, just Harry did. A certain red headed troublemaker informed him that if he didn't get ice cream he'd die…and Harry decided to use Draco's floo powder to go. And he bought Butterscotch…but Lupin was keeping an eye on him. Dumbledore made sure Harry was safe."

"Butterscotch wouldn't happen to be a gold color, would he?" Ginny asked, twirling a strand of hair nervously about her finger.

"That's why I named him Butterscotch," Harry piped up. "He's gold like butterscotch."

"Well, the thing is," Ginny giggled uneasily, "is when I came in, since I still know the password, something went past me…and it looked gold."

"You mean that thing is loose in the castle," Draco cried, sitting up in the water.

"That's the general idea…"

"Butterscotch might get lost!" Harry sniffled, eyes watering up. "He'll get scared."

"It's not really the dog I'm worried about," Hermione said softly. "Let me go get changed into some dry clothes and then we'll all go look for him…we can only hope we aren't too late."

The group left a few minutes later, Hermione dragging a reluctant Draco behind her, the Slytherin protesting he didn't want to be anywhere near that thing. As the quartet rounded the corridor, they could only openly stare at the damage in the hall.

Students were sitting on the ground, slobber over their faces and ripped up books and broken ink bottles on the floor. "What happened?" Hermione asked, kneeling down next to a rather dazed Pansy who was clutching Neville to her like a teddy bear.

"A dog," she said, rising slowly to her feet and grimacing. "It just came out of nowhere and started to jump up on everybody…and destroy almost everything in sight. Blaise is off chasing it for the possession of his wand."

"He wasn't this bad when I got him," Harry whispered.

"You mean that's your dog?" Pansy cried in alarm. "I thought they weren't allowed at Hogwarts!"

"Dumbledore made an exception…" Draco muttered.

"Can we help look for him?" asked Neville, looking adoringly up at Pansy. "I liked the doggy."

Pansy looked at Neville's pleading face, to the students rising from the ground and nursing their bumps and bruises, back to Neville, then to the ripped up books, back to Neville, and sighed. "All right," she sighed. "Let's go help them find the dog."

"Thank you," Harry said softly.

"It's no problem," she said warmly.

The new group set off the hall, simply looking where there was damage and going in that direction. Ripped tapestries, pieces of armor, and scratched up stone were all rather good signs. In the distance, they could hear faint barking and cries of alarm.

"Does everyone have their wands?" asked Hermione, staring grimly down the corridor where the noises seemed to be issuing from.

"Yes," Draco and Pansy chorused.

"Kids?"

"Got him," Pansy replied, picking Neville up and setting him on her hip.

"Then let's go," shouted Hermione, taking off with Harry riding on her side. Racing down the hall, the group emerged into a landing on top of one of the staircases where Butterscotch was happily jumping up and licking Lavender, who had appeared on the scene.

Hermione grabbed the collar from Draco's hand (he'd been carrying it around) and pulled it over Butterscotch's head while the dog was busy trying to grab Lavender's hair band. Removing the leash from her waist, where she'd tied it like a belt, Hermione clipped it on and dragged Butterscotch backwards.

"Butterscotch!" Harry cheered, running over and hugging his puppy. "I'm so happy you're okay!" He broke into laughter a second later as the dog scrambled on top of him and began to lather his face with kisses.

"I am so sorry Hermione!" cried Lavender, pulling her friend into a hug. "And you too Draco!"

"What?" the Slytherin asked, slightly puzzled as Lavender pulling him into a hug as well.

"About the dolls. I read the report on the way back to our room, which we still haven't gotten to, and I'm so sorry! I didn't know he'd take them! Professor Trelawney"- here Hermione snorted but otherwise kept quiet- "gave them to me to practice with. And in the instructions it says that if the user does not like to be controlled, they simply have to say oblittero. It'll cancel the effect immediately and the doll won't do anything. I don't even know how he got in my trunk! I always keep it locked!"

While Pansy, Ginny and Hermione attempted to console Lavender, Blaise, Terry and Draco stood off to one side, conversing about quidditch, Ron snuck over to Harry, who was now sitting quietly next to his pet and scratching Butterscotch behind the ears.

"Did you get in trouble?" Harry asked as Ron sat down next to him.

"Loads," he grinned. "Lavender told me no dessert for a week but she doesn't know about the stuff stashed away in my bedroom. And I'm supposed to sit quietly during lessons, but they really can't make me. And I have to help clean the common room every night." Here he made a face. "I don't know how I'll get out of that one though."

Neville cam over and sat next to them quietly, petting Butterscotch who licked him upside his face.

"You shouldn't have taken them from her trunk," Harry reprimanded. "If I'd done that at my house, I would've been in really big trouble."

"Would your family not give you dessert?"

Harry shook his head. "They wouldn't give me anything. And they'd lock me up in my cupboard."

Ron's mouth dropped in horror. "You can come back to my house," he declared. "My mum would never do that! You can be like my brother! And we could team up on Fred and George!"

"My gran would let you come too!" Neville stated.

"Really? I could come stay with you guys?"

"Yup. I'm sure my mum wouldn't mind."

"Nor my gran."

"You're the best!" Harry exclaimed, hugging Ron and Neville tightly.

"Harry…can't…breathe," Ron gasped, Neville, nodding his head in agreement.

"Oh, sorry," Harry grinned sheepishly.

"Hey! Let's slide down the banisters!" suggested Ron. "I used to do that all the time at my house before it broke."

"It broke?" Harry repeated, looking over the edge of the landing at the very far way to the ground.

"Yeah, but this is stone. It shouldn't break. Come on? Do you want to try? It's really fun!"

"Is it dangerous? Can we get hurt?"

"Nah. As long as you put a leg on each side of the railing you'll be fine. I'll go down first if you want and you an follow."

"I'm scared of heights," said Neville softly. "I'm just going to go play with Butterscotch." The brown haired child edged away from the banister and sat down next to the puppy, petting him once more.

"Okay," Harry agreed slowly. "So it'll be like a roller coaster kinda, right? I went on one once because Uncle Vernon said Dudley needed something soft so he wouldn't hurt himself on the metal doors when we turned."

"What's a roller coaster?"

Draco, who heard the word, said, "a muggle amusement park ride that goes fast." With a pointed glare at Hermione he added, "very fast."

"Oh," Ron said. "Yeah, kinda like that I guess."

Digging one foot into the rough stone, Ron pulled himself on top of the smooth part and sat down. "See that curve right there?" he asked, pointing at a bend in the railing. "Wait until I get there then push off. Remember to grip the banister…you don't want to fall off."

Inching his way down, Ron slid down the incline and steadily began to go faster. With a cry of excitement, he went down a vertical drop and continued on his way. Harry was carefully positioning himself to go down when he heard Ron's excited yell…so did everyone else.

"Harry! No! Don't-" Hermione cried as Harry kicked off.

"Oh my God!" screamed Lavender, pointing at the staircase Harry and Ron had chosen to ride. "It's moving!"

"Don't panic," Terry advised, before he began to yell and run in circles. Lavender burst into sobs and covered her eyes.

"Levitate them!" cried Pansy, fumbling for her wand. Blaise shot his off but the spell missed, the children going too fast. "Move!" she shrieked, shooting off her own spell, also falling short.

A split-second later, Ron was airborne, flying hundreds of feet above the ground and rapidly descending. Hermione shot off slowing spells, all falling short of the plummeting redhead, now screaming in terror rather then excitement.

Far beneath Ron, a certain Potions professor was walking when he heard screaming, rapidly growing louder. Looking up, he saw a large black and red object before Ron fell exactly on top of Snape, knocking the teacher to the floor. Unfortunately, the group above couldn't see Snape and instead heard only a loud thud.

"HE HIT!" shrieked Pansy. "OH MERLIN! HE ACTUALLY FELL!"

Harry flew off the banister a moment later, and plunged downward as well. Snape, who was blinking open his eyes after the jarring impact, looked up just in time for Harry to fall on top of Ron, squishing the poor professor more. The group on the top of the stairs sprinted down, each praying that they two children would be okay.

'If he lived, I swear I'll break off his punishment and give him as many desserts as his stomach can hold. Just let him be okay.'

'If Harry or Ron died I will never forgive myself. If you could just make them be alive, I promise to purposely fail my next test and lose my perfect score.'

'Bloody idiots. I think Ron got stupider when he turned younger. If you both didn't die, by some miracle, I'll quit quidditch for a month and won't touch a broomstick for two.'

'I promise to never bite another living soul if they're both alive. Please, please, please, let them be alive.'

'WAAAAAHHHHHH! They can't be dead! I just met them! Why didn't I stop them?'

'Ruff?'

'I am so glad Pansy and I got the smart one of the three. But those two better be okay…I don't want to get thrown out.'

'They're okay…calm down. Oh Merlin! You better make them be okay! Otherwise I'll kick your bloody ass when (and if) I ever meet you. You hear me?'

'One of them is my boyfriend. The other is my brother. If one of them died…oh man, there's going to be hell to pay.'

While the frantic group ran overhead, Ron shook his head to clear it of the black spots. His eyes lighted on Snape, who was just starting to regain consciousness. "Oh Professor Scary!" he cried, "you saved us! We're alive!"

Harry sat gingerly up and slid off of Ron to the floor. "Thank you, Sir," he said softly, gratitude clear in his emerald eyes.

"Oh my God! You're okay! They're alive! Calm down everyone!" yelled Hermione, who was leading the procession. Ron slid off of Snape as well and the teacher carefully rose to his feet, wincing at the movement. "Thank you so much, Professor!" she sobbed, clutching Snape in a hug and breaking down completely. "Thank you!"

Snape patted her awkwardly on the back, still slightly dazed and not fully comprehending he was comforting a Gryffindor. Draco gently pulled her off of Snape and she latched onto him instead, now Draco the one stuck with the job of comforting.

"They're fine," he whispered, rubbing circle on her back. "Calm down Hermione, they're safe. Nothing bad happened."

Slowly, she nodded and wiped her eyes, though she still kept leaning against Draco. Harry came over and Draco picked him up in one arm, hugging the child to him, so Harry was now between both guardians. After Draco was certain Hermione had calmed down enough, he went over to his uncle, who was still teetering a little bit.

"You okay, Uncle Sev?" he asked, taking one of Snape's arms and placing it around his shoulders. "I'll help you get back to your office…I think you need to lie down." Snape nodded, little potions bottles still dancing around his head that only he could see. "I'm taking Uncle Sev to his office," Draco announced. "Hermione, why don't you and Harry head up to the room? I'll meet you in a few minutes."

Hermione gave a small nod and after hugging Ron tightly, having to check for herself that he was all right, made her way upstairs, Harry clutched to her and Butterscotch following. When Draco joined them a few minutes later, he found Hermione sitting on the couch, still hugging Harry and the dog curled up by Hermione's feet.

"I think you can let him go," Draco smiled, coming to sit down next to both of them. "How are you doing, Harry?" he asked, turning his attention to the child.

"A little sore," he admitted. "But Professor Snape saved me and Ron. I'm glad he was there…I was really scared."

"We were really scared too."

"I think I'm going to do some reading," Hermione announced. "How bout a story, Harry? That should help calm us down."

"Sure," he agreed, looking up at Hermione.

"Would it be all right if I went out and flew around for a bit?" asked Draco. 'I was just kidding about that promise thing…me, not fly? Never!'

"Yeah, go ahead. You could use a break."

Draco smiled and disappeared into his room, and exited a moment later with is Nimbus 2001 in hand. With a wave good-bye, he exited the room.

Harry and Hermione began a story but the child noticed how Hermione seemed to stop between words until she finally stopped talking. Looking up at her face, he realized she'd fallen asleep. "She must be really tired," he mused, scrambling out of her lap and gently easing her back onto a pillow. Running over to a cabinet, he took out a blanket and then brought it back and draped it over Hermione.

Going into his room, the child dug through his trunk until he found what he'd been wanting to test out for quite a while. The wood gleamed up at him, the gold, cursive writing on the handle shining brightly. "I wonder if it can really fly…" Putting on his jacket, Harry shouldered the broom (which happened to be about twice his height) and set off. But when he tried to get through the portrait, it wouldn't budge.

Backtracking, Harry went over to the large window that overlooked Hagrid's house. Lifting the latch, he was surprised when the window swung open. And to aid him, long branches of ivy were twined around the windowsill all the way to the ground.

Tentatively climbing out (a little miffed of heights after the earlier episode that day) Harry made his way down, the Firebolt clutched in one hand and the other gripping the vine. A few tense minutes later, his feet found the ground and Harry heaved a sigh of relief. Seeing the quidditch pitch, he made his way over, dragging the broomstick behind him.

Draco dismounted from his broom after a series of flips, blood pumping. Surveying the pitch, he was relieved that it was empty…having the court to himself was quite a rare occurrence. The blond squinted as a small figure entered and began trudging to the middle of the field.

Silver eyes widened in recognition. It was Harry! And he was preparing to mount the Firebolt! Jumping back on his broom, Draco sped across the stadium towards the tiny figure, now swinging one leg over the broomstick. He just managed to grab the very end bristles of the broom before he was suddenly swooped off his own broom and flying through the air, much faster then he'd ever experienced.

Harry shrieked in surprise at the speed and gripped the handle for dear life, eyes closed tightly. Draco gasped as he realized the were heading straight for the lake. Reaching forward, he managed to grasp a little more of the broom and then flipped his body to the right and they thankfully turned and headed back for the castle.

But as soon as Draco thought they were in the clear, he realized they weren't even close. Harry, in his fright, was leaning forward on the broom and they were going in a vertical dive straight for the ground! Once more Draco managed to maneuver the broom from his rather bad position.

For the next twenty minutes, they continued to do dips and twirls, Harry never noticing at all that Draco was on behind him. That is until Harry leaned back on the broom and it started to go incredibly fast in reverse. "HARRY!" Draco screamed, the child's ear now a little closer to his mouth.

Harry turned, and blinked in surprise. But his mouth formed an 'o' of horror as he looked beyond Draco. Draco turned to see what had made the child suddenly seem even more terrified then before. His answer? A wall of Hogwarts approaching at rapid speed straight behind them.

"This is going to hurt, isn't it?" he muttered to himself. A second later, Draco slammed against the stone and plummeted to the ground, dragging the broom and Harry down with him. He fell to the ground with a crash, Harry landing on top of him.

Quickly, the child scrambled off, face a mask of horror. "Draco?" he whispered, touching the Slytherin's face. "Don't move, okay? I'll go get the nurse!"

Racing off, Harry burst into the castle and charged up the steps to the Hospital wing; the one place in Hogwarts he knew how to get to by memory. "Mrs. Nurse!" he called, charging into the room. "You have to help! He's hurt really bad!"

"Who's hurt?" she asked gently, coming out of her office.

"Draco! He crashed into a wall! It was all my fault! I didn't think the broom would actually fly!"

"Draco again?" she sighed. "He and Miss Granger must be competing for who can get hurt or sick the most. Why don't you bring me to him? I'll see what I can do…"

Harry eagerly led the way out the wall where Draco had fallen, where by now a crowd had gathered. "Out of the way," Pomfrey ordered, pushing students out of her way. "And give him some room to breathe, for Merlin's sake!" Kneeling down next to the unconscious Slytherin she diagnosed him. "Suffering from a broken back, injury to the head, and bruising. Nothing I can't fix."

Whipping out her wand, the mediwitch cast a soft blue glow on Draco, the boy's face becoming less pained. "That healed the bones," she noted with pride. "But I do see at least a day in the hospital wing for Mr. Malfoy." Levitating Draco, she entered the school with Harry walking next to her and dragging his Firebolt and Draco's Nimbus 2001, which a student had kindly brought off the pitch.

As soon as Draco had been placed in a bed, Hermione came running in, face frantic. "There you are!" she cried, scooping Harry into her arms. "What happened?"

"I tried to fly…I didn't think it would actually go. And Draco got on the end of the broom…and he got hurt."

Hermione glanced at the Slytherin, eyes closed in a potion induced slumber. "Ah! There you are Miss Granger." Pomfrey came out of the back room, with several bottles in hand. "I was wondering when you were going to show up. Mr. Malfoy will be in here for about a day…he broke his back and I'm worried about a head injury. But he should be fine," she assured, seeing Hermione's face fill with fear. "Had a broom accident from what I understand."

"But he'll be okay?"

"Yes, after some rest."

"Then we'd better get going, huh Harry?" Giving Draco's hand a squeeze, Hermione looked around the room before she almost dropped Harry. "Oh no…"

"What?" Harry asked, also looking around the room.

"I brought Butterscotch with me," she said softly. "I didn't want him to ruin the room while we were gone. But he isn't here now."

"He's lost again?"

"You could say that." Barking was heard down the corridor accompanied with several cries of alarm. Hermione sighed. "Here we go again."

Author's Notes:

First things first. I feel like crap. I caught my dad/twin's cold (can't really tell who's) and I'm blowing my nose, sucking cough drops, and am huddled up in a blanket. All in all, I feel terrible. And then I had an English project that I worked on for 12 hours straight yesterday and then a few hours today and some during the week...so about 24 hours. Plus I've got some other homework I've gotta do still...I was thinking about not updating, but since I didn't update last week I figured I had to do so this week. So if the chapter wasn't up to par, I ish very very sorry.

One note on the last chapter. In the line 'But back to his current ice cream…finding ice cream for Ron.' the first ice cream should be the word mission. :P Told ya I didn't proofread.

Also, if you ever need to contact me and talk to me in person, go to the Dangerous Liasons site (link on my profile). There's a tagboard and I'm IcyPanther there. Of course, don't clutter up Ree's board with stuff (she's the owner of the site) but if you ever have a desperate question, you can get to me there!

Now, onto my stupdendous announcement/idea! I'm quite curious to see what all of you can come up with for PC. So I've made this challange. Read down for the rules and regulations.

About: This idea is where you write a story for Parenting Class. It can focus on any character you like! The only requirement is it must be your own work; no stealing from anyone else or using ideas already written. If this interests you, continue reading.

Rules: The rules are as follows. You must stick to them if you want to submit! Otherwise your entry will not be accepted.1. All entries must be 1200 words or less. I don't want the readers to spend all day reading them. :P2. The time era you can write these in is when Harry and Ron are little. You may not write about any events with Hermione as a little kid. In this era, you can focus on D/Hr, H/G, a specific little kid (like Terry or Neville), or any one you'd like. Even teachers (as long as they're their proper ages unless you're doing Professor Sprout as a little kid in Chapter Two)3. Your idea cannot turn any characters into little kids unless they are them currently. No little Ginny's, mini professors, or anything of the sort, kay?4. You must write about one event. For example, take this chapter. If you were to write one event, you'd either select the broomstick scene, the Butterscotch scene, or the banister. Only take one!5.All entries must be a PG-13 rating or lower. I don't want anything 'explicit' published on it. If I do get an entry like that, I will not put it up.6. No changing pairings. I don't want to see any D/H or B/G, kay? I made the pairings like this for a reason. If you would like to partner Ron with Pansy though, be my guest. n.n7. This must be your idea entirely. Copying is wrong and for cheaters, not honest people like you! -wink-

Submitting: Entires are due by March 19th, 2005. You can e-mail them to me at IcyPanther at yahoo .com (I can't put the at sign in :P) as either an attatchement or just the writing. But please, in the subject put something about PC, your username, or the contest. Please put your name on the entry! Otherwise I don't know who to give crediti too. I keep getting virus's sent to me by unknown people and I don't want to chance accidentally deleting your entry, savvy?

Voting: On March 20th, all of the entires will be on top of the real chapter. (I think that'd be chappie 25). All will be marked with a letter (A,B,C, etc.) and in your review you post which entry you liked the most. I'd like to ask that you don't vote for your own entry unless of course you think it's the absolute best. Majority wins. If there's a tie, I'll decided based on which I liked best.

Prize: Now, to get you motivated. The winner of this contest will be announced on March 26th, 2005. They will be displayed at the top of the page with a large dedication and some remarks people might have had about their entry. They will also be the proud owner of the one and only Ballerina Snape Plushie to treasure forever.