The Curse of Baby-Think-It-Over

The Curse of Baby-Think-It-Over

Prologue

It was the start of a new year at Hogwarts. Harry and all of his friends were in their sixth year. They were sitting in the Great Hall waiting for Dumbledore to make his annual announcements. The first years had already been sorted ands looks of terror rose upon their faces. Things were just like they should be. Finally, Dumbledore stood up. He quickly made his usual speech about the Forbidden Forest and the Quidditch try-outs. Then he raised his wand and the feast began.

"It feels so good to be back," said Hermione.

"I know what you mean," said Ron. "If I had to put up another day of seeing Ginny going mad without Harry, well, I don't think I could do it."

Hermione laughed. She looked over at Harry and Ginny. They had been going out since last year. They were sitting rather close and whispering things into each other's ears. They were giggling like three year olds.

"Oh, I wish Dumbledore would just hurry up and excuse us. I just have to go to the library!"

"Honestly, Hermione. What for?" said Ron.

"Well, I haven't been in there for a whole summer. I can about image how many new books are in there," she said smiling.

"It figures," muttered Ron.

Just at that moment, Dumbledore stood up.

"Oh thank God!" Hermione whispered.

"Well," started Dumbledore. "Another start of the term feast is gone. I would love to let you all go get settled in, but I do have one more announcement to make. I have had the honors to introduce something new to Hogwarts this year. Most of you, this will not affect. However, those of you who are in your sixth year, it may. Hogwarts has been chosen to participate in a type of Muggle study. It is to see how you, at your age, would react to taking care of a baby." He stopped for a moment for everyone to take this all in.

"What does he mean, 'taking care of a baby?'" said Ron anxiously to Hermione. "Do we have to go baby-sit a kid or something?"

"I don't know Ron, he has me puzzled," said Hermione. "What do you think Harry?"

"I have no clue," he replied. "Do you know, Ginny?"

"Well, I'm not in my sixth year yet, so whatever it is, I don't have to worry about it."

Dumbledore raised his hands and everyone was silent. "Now that I have given you time to ponder your thoughts about that, I will explain more about it. It is a project in which Muggle students take part in. You will take care of Baby-Think-It-Over. Now, I know you are all wondering what that might be. Well, I will tell you. It is a realistic looking doll. It acts like a real newborn baby. It cries. You feed it. You burp it. And, yes, Neville," he said looking at his panic-stricken face, "you will have to change its diaper. Now, as they are Muggles, they use electrical devices. We will not. We have had them transformed to keep track of all that goes on by magic. This project is to be taken seriously. It will count toward a major part of your final grade. It is meant to show what could happen if you get into a certain situation, which I hope none of you will after taking the baby for a night. Your head of house will discuss more of this tonight. If you have any questions, you may ask them. Now, I do not want to keep you any longer. Go, get settled in, and enjoy your year hear at Hogwarts."

Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny walked up to their Common Room together. All they were talking about was the baby. They couldn't believe Dumbledore was making them do this. They had no idea what it would be like.

"So, Harry," said Ginny. "You better take damn good care of this baby. I need to know what king of father you'd make one day."

Harry turned red. Ron and Hermione laughed. "Yeah, Harry," said Ron. "Who knows, maybe one day you two will be married and have kids of your own."

"Exactly. This will be a test, Harry. If you don't prove to be a perfect father, well...it just might be the end of us," she sarcastically.

"Ha ha," he said. "You couldn't resist me and you know it."

"Well...maybe you're right," she admitted. "I don't think I could resist you." She got a big smile on her face.

"Ok, you two, enough. Please," said Ron. He knew were this was going.

"Oh, fine, we'll save it for later," said Ginny, still smiling.

"Hey, where did Hermione go? She was just here a second ago," said Harry.

"I don't know," said Ron. "But I'm betting all the gold in Gringotts that she's in the library."

"Yeah, I'm with you there," agreed Harry.

"Well, I'm going to go and try to find her," said Ron. "I'll see you two later."

"Bye."

Ron walked over to the library. He hoped she was there. He had really missed her over the summer. Lately, he had been looking at her differently. She was more than just a friend. He could talk to her easily. He was developing feelings for her. He opened the library door. Sure enough, there she was, with her head in a book.

"I thought I'd find you here," he said smiling.

"Oh, Ron, you have got to read some of these! I have a bunch of books on this Baby-Think-It-Over doll. It is really interesting. It turns out that they just got these books in yesterday. They are fascinating!"

"Well, I've got all night. Tell me about them."

"Well, it's really simple. You will get either a boy or a girl. They are just like real babies. They cry at different times throughout the day and night. And when they do cry, you will have to touch your wand, and it has to be your wand, to its back on a certain spot. That's to let it know that you've realized something is wrong. Are you with me so far?"

"Yup. Keep going."

"Ok, when you've done that, you have to decide what exactly is wrong with it. You will have to carry a diaper bag with you. In it will be a diaper, a bottle, and of course, a blanket and clothes. If you put the bottle up to its mouth and it stops crying and makes a drinking sound, then you will have to hold it there until the baby stops drinking. Then after that, it might cry again, because you may need to burp it. You will have to pat it slightly on the back. If it isn't hungry, then it might need its diaper changed. If you remove a part of the diaper and the crying stops, then that's what is wrong with it. You will have to put another diaper on it. If they don't work, then it probably needs to be rocked. Just rock it slightly and the crying should stop. If none of those options work, then it is probably fussy and you cannot do anything about it. It will cry whenever and any one of these problems could be wrong with it. You will have to decide which one. That's basically all there is to it."

"Well, that sounds easy enough."

"It's not as easy as it looks. You really have to take care of it. It will monitor everything you do. You have to support its neck and if you don't, it will fall and it will cry even louder. You have to be very gentle with it or bad things could happen."

"I think I can handle it. I'm good at taking care of kids."

"I hope so."

"Well, I think we better get to our Common Room. I'm sure there will be a meeting tonight."

"Ok, but I have to go check out these books first." She stood up and piled up all eleven books in her arms.

"Hermione!"

"What?"

"Are you going to check out all of those books?"

"Why yes, of course."

"What if other students want to read about them? You said so yourself that those were all the books on the topic."

"Well...I suppose I could leave one."

Ron have her a look.

"Oh, fine I'll leave a couple."

He gave her another look.

"Well how many should I leave then?!"

"I think you only need to take one book with you."

"One?! How about three?"

"Two."

"Deal."

They went up together to check them out and then left for the Gryffindor Common Room.

* * *

Later that night, McGonagall called all of the sixth years, and anyone else who wanted to listen, to the Common Room.

"As you all know, this meeting is to discuss Baby-Think-It-Over. It is a requirement for all sixth year students."

Ron sat there, bored, as he listened to McGonagall talk about all the stuff he had already heard from Hermione. Finally, she began to talk about stuff he hadn't heard.

"Now that I have told you the basics about the baby, I will explain more about how long you will have it and things like that. Each person will have it for an entire weekend. You will come to me to get it after your last class on a given Friday. We will do a charm on the baby with your wand, so only that wand can be used. We don't want any cheaters here. Along with the baby, you will receive the diaper bag. In it of course will be the bottle and the extra diaper. You will also receive a blanket and a couple of baby outfits. On Monday morning, you will return it before your next class. Are there any questions?"

"Will we get to pick the gender of the baby?" asked Hermione.

"Unfortunately, no. A baby will be given at random," said McGonagall.

"Do we get to pick when we take care of it? I don't want to go first," said Neville.

"No, that will also be picked at random," she said.

"Can we name it?" asked Lavender excitedly.

"Of course. You will receive little birth certificates for each baby with their name on it. Just like a real one."

"When are we going to start all of this?" asked Harry.

"We will start in two weeks' time."

"When are we going to know who goes first and who has what baby?" asked Ron.

"You will be informed the week of. If you have any other questions, you can see me individually. Remember though, this is a big project. I know you may feel stupid caring for a doll, but trust me, this will be an experience of a lifetime. You may now leave."

* * *

The two weeks flew by. Baby-Think-It-Over was all anyone ever talked about. They couldn't wait to see what it would be like. On Thursday night, McGonagall told Ron to come to her office. Ron knew it only meant one thing: He would be the first person to take care of Baby-Think-It-Over.