Harry's Role in the Nativity Play

Harry's Role in the Nativity Play

"I have an idea," Hermione suddenly blurted out, pulling Harry and Ron out of their musings.

"Can't you be quiet for a moment when we try to play Chess?" Ron growled in annoyance, while Harry threw her an absentminded glance.

"What idea?" he queried.

"We could ask all the other students, who are going to remain over the holidays if they want to participate in a nativity play for Christmas this year," Hermione suggested. "I'll go and ask McGonagall if we may do such a play."

"That's a good idea," Harry agreed, groaning as Ron moved his queen, taking away his last knight.

"We could do it outside on the grounds and use thestrals, unicorns, and hippogriffs instead of the sheep and whatever they use in the Muggle version," Hermione elaborated, finally getting Ron's attention as well.

"All right, Mione, you and I could be Maria and Joseph, and Harry and Hagrid could be the shepherds," Ron threw in excitedly.

"No, I'm going to play Baby Jesus," Harry mumbled dryly, causing Hermione to snort.

The Headmistress agreed to the suggestion coming from her favourite seventh year students and even suggested they could do the play in one part of the Great Hall, which Hagrid could prepare accordingly. "Provided that Hagrid believes he'll be able to lead the unicorns and the other animals into the Great Hall," McGonagall added pensively.

"We can go and ask him right away," Hermione suggested eagerly. "We'll have to begin practising soon anyway, considering that Christmas Eve is on Wednesday next week, so that we only have a week. I'll write the text for our play tonight, so we can begin practising tomorrow."

"Very well, Ms. Granger. I will make an announcement at breakfast. Shall I ask everyone, who remains in the castle over the holidays, to meet in the Great Hall after dinner tomorrow?"

"That's a good idea, Professor. Thank you so much," Hermione gave back gratefully, before she ushered her friends out of the Headmistress' office.

"Mione, Ron, would you mind going to see Hagrid alone? I'm tired and I'd like to go to bed early," Harry queried, sounding a bit hesitant.

"Of course, mate," Ron replied, while Hermione threw him a concerned look.

"Are you feeling all right, Harry?" she asked gently.

"I'm fine, I'm just tired and have a headache," Harry gave back and returned to his dormitory, climbing into his bed, where he lay awake, deep in thoughts for several hours. In the morning, he got up very early and sat down in the common room, parchment and his quill in front of him.

"Are you doing homework that early in the morning?" Hermione wondered, coming down the stairs from the girls' dormitories.

"Well, I went to bed early yesterday," Harry explained, carefully sliding the parchment he had just finished writing back into his school bag. "You're up early too, Mione."

"I have to finish the text for the nativity play. Would you be so kind and read it over for me, Harry?"

"Of course," Harry said smiling, reaching out for the small bunch of parchments, and engrossed himself in the reading. "I think that sounds good," he finally commented, handing the parchments back. "Do you know how many students are going to remain here over the holidays?"

"No Harry, but we'll know tonight. Do you still have a headache?" she queried, observing him with a concerned expression.

"Yes, but it's all right. I'm glad we've only two days left until the holidays," Harry gave back.

Hermione let out a deep sigh. "Yes, but remember we have that Potions class today, which is going to last all afternoon, because we have to brew the de-aging potion that Snape wants us to brew as a test. I wished it was already evening."

That's right," Harry sighed, feeling her nervousness spread over to him.

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A few hours later, Harry was sitting next to Hermione in their Potions NEWT class, diligently preparing the ingredients for his potion. After vanquishing Voldemort, Harry had been fully concentrating on his studies and had become very good at Potions. Therefore, he knew exactly what he was supposed to do and competently added the ingredients, oblivious to the fact that Hermione as well as the teacher were watching him in concern, because he seemed distracted and was fiercely rubbing his forehead every now and then.

'Thank God it's finished,' Harry thought, absentmindedly watching the light green liquid simmer in the black cauldron as he rubbed his forehead again. 'This headache is getting unnerving,' he mused, wondering if he was getting sick.

"What are you waiting for, Potter? Bottle your potion," the professor all of a sudden barked at Harry, pulling him out of his reverie.

Harry jumped up startled, causing his cauldron to tilt over, so the potion spilled out all over the boy.

"Harry!" Hermione blurted out, watching in horror as her friend vanished from the sight, ending up as a small bundle covered by a pile of robes.

"Such a dunderhead," the professor growled, banishing the spilled potion with a flick of his wand.

"I don't think that Harry is such a dunderhead, Professor," Hermione replied as quietly as she could manage. "At least he was able to brew his potion flawlessly." With that, she knelt down on the floor, pulling a small baby with black hair and green eyes out of the pile of robes. "Hello Harry," she cooed, quickly wrapping his naked body into his robes.

"Professor, do you have the antidote ready?" she queried businesslike, causing the teacher to raise an eyebrow.

"An antidote to a de-aging potion is something very dangerous. I can only make an antidote when I know exactly how many months a person is to be aged, and I need Madam Pomfrey's consent if I want to give a baby a potion." Severus turned to the students, who were watching them with interest. "Place a bottle of your potion on my desk and leave the room," he ordered them sharply. "Ms. Granger, take your dunderhead of a friend and accompany me to the Headmistress," he told Hermione, who quickly gathered their bags with her free hand and followed the teacher out of the classroom.

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McGonagall took Harry from Hermione, sighing when she quickly conjured a nappy as well as a light blue jumpsuit, which was covered by tiny green dragons that let out small roaring sounds from time to time.

Snape smirked, raising an eyebrow at the Headmistress. "Not very Gryffindorish now, is it?"

"One would think either of you was grown up enough to conjure a nappy and some clothes for the baby," McGonagall gave back sternly. "What happened?"

Hermione quickly filled her in, causing the Headmistress to frown. She turned to the fireplace and called Madam Pomfrey over, asking her to check on the baby, who was whimpering and shivering all the time.

Pomfrey waved her wand over the child several times, before she turned to Hermione, frowning. "He is six months and twenty-three days old, and he is running a slight temperature, although I'm not sure why. Ms. Granger, did Mr. Potter tell you that he was feeling unwell, before he was de-aged?"

Hermione thought for a moment. "He told me that he had a headache, and yesterday he went to bed shortly after dinner, because he was tired and had a headache."

"Maybe he is coming down with something. Anyway, I'm afraid that you can't age him back at the moment because of his temperature. Shall I take him with me and look after him until he can be aged back to seventeen?"

"No, please, may I look after Harry?" Hermione blurted out, throwing the Mediwitch and the Headmistress a pleading look.

McGonagall let out a small sigh. "I suggest that you and Mr. Weasley move into my guest quarters over the holidays. It has two bedrooms, and we can ask the house elves to equip one with a crib and everything else you'll need to live there with Harry. If you stayed in my guest quarters, I could also look after him if you wanted to go out without taking him with you all the time."

"Thank you so much, Professor," Hermione agreed gratefully, listening when Minerva instructed Dobby to fetch Hermione's and Harry's luggage and to order Ron to come to her office immediately.

While Pomfrey and Snape left the room together, debating which potion Severus should brew for the baby's fever, Minerva led Hermione and Ron to her guest rooms, carrying a sleeping Harry in her arms. She gently laid the baby into the crib, before she advised Hermione and Ron, "Well, now you can practise to be parents for a while. You may think of me as of his grandmother, and you may call me anytime when you need me. I suggest that you make yourself comfortable here. Dinner is going to begin in forty-five minutes, and I expect you in the Great Hall. Dobby will bring you bottles with milk for Harry. You only have to call him when Harry is hungry."

"Thank you, Professor, for everything," Hermione replied gratefully, feeling very much reassured by the fact that her favourite professor was staying nearby and offered to help with the baby.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

After dinner, the fifteen students, who were going to remain in the castle over the holidays, met at the Gryffindor table, where Hermione handed them a copy of the text for the nativity play and assigned each of them a role.

"And I thought Harry was going to play a shepherd with me," Hagrid said disappointed, causing everyone to laugh.

"Well, he joked yesterday that he wanted to play Baby Jesus, so maybe we should let the joke come true and put him into the crib on Christmas Eve," Hermione replied dryly. "Hagrid, Marcus, Brian, and George will play the shepherds with you," she added, pointing to a group of three Hufflepuff fifth year students.

"And in order to make sure that you won't be the only teacher to participate in our play, Madam Pomfrey has agreed to play the archangel Gabriel," Ron threw in, causing everyone to smile at the giant, who gave the Mediwitch an appreciative nod.

It took about an hour, before all the roles were filled, and Hermione told everyone to meet on the next day at the same time in order to practise. "Please don't forget to learn your roles by tomorrow," she admonished the others, before she dismissed them and took Harry back from the Headmistress, who had been watching their practice with amusement.

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Hermione and Ron returned to their new rooms, followed by Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey. The Mediwitch examined the baby, waving her wand over the child several times. "He is still running a temperature, but I can't find anything wrong. He could be coming down with something, or he could be teething. However, hearing that he wasn't completely well before the de-aging, I don't think that it has anything to do with his teeth. Please come to see me in the morning before breakfast, and don't worry if he sleeps all the time. Probably he isn't feeling well enough to be awake for a longer time."

During the next few days, Harry slept a lot. He only cried when his nappy needed to be changed, and once he whimpered during the night when his headache became unbearable, but Madam Pomfrey quickly realized what was wrong and gave him a mild pain relieving potion that helped him feel better. When Hermione changed his nappy or fed him his bottle, he was alert and his tiny fingers played with anything they could reach. Whenever he opened his emerald green eyes, he looked into Hermione's brown eyes, smiling contentedly. He also smiled at Minerva, who sometimes looked after Harry to give Hermione and Ron time to study without being disturbed. One day however, Minerva hurriedly passed him over to Severus in order to answer the Floo, and Harry began to kick his feet and silently cry immediately.

"It's as if he still had his memories," Minerva told Hermione at dinner, before she asked Harry, who was lying in Hermione's arm, lazily drinking his milk, in a soft voice, "Harry, do you remember us from before you were de-aged?"

The baby continued to suck his bottle but turned his eyes to Minerva, blinking once.

"Was that blink an answer, sweetie?" Minerva cooed, causing Harry to blink again. So you know who I am, and that's why you protested when I gave you to Professor Snape. Is that correct?"

Harry blinked, causing Minerva and Hermione to exchange an exasperated glance.

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On Christmas Eve after dinner, the students gathered at the side of the Great Hall, which Hagrid had prepared for the play. While Hagrid and the three Hufflepuff students, who were the shepherds, gathered the unicorns, thestrals, and the hippogriff, Hermione once more changed Harry's nappy and gently placed him in the crib for the play.

"Harry, you know that you're playing the main role in our nativity game, don't you, sweetie? Please be such a good child as you always are. All right?" Looking at the baby, Hermione noticed that a small smile played on his lips.

Unfortunately, his baby instincts kicked in when one of the three wise men leaned over him, bringing frankincense with him. He struggled to sit up, wailing loud at the strange scent of the frankincense that made him cough and feel uncomfortable. Hermione as Maria quickly interrupted her play and told Ron, "I'm sorry, Joseph, I have to take our child out of the crib quickly. I think he's a bit frightened at the sight of our unknown guests."

For the rest of the play, Baby Jesus remained on his mother's arms, smiling contentedly as he drifted off to sleep.

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On Christmas morning, the five Ravenclaw students were missing for breakfast, and when the other students began to head outside for a snowman building contest, Professor Flitwick told the Headmistress that he had searched for them all over Ravenclaw but couldn't find them.

"Are you sure that they went to Hogsmeade, Filius? Hermione, does Harry still have the Marauders' map?" Minerva turned to the girl, who was just trying to gently force Harry's legs into a warm snowsuit, which was difficult, because Harry tried to pull away all the time in an attempt to grab one of the branches of the near-by Christmas tree.

"Yes, it should be in his school bag," the girl answered in confusion, surprised that the Headmistress knew about the map.

"Harry showed it to me during the war, and he taught me the passwords," Minerva explained gently, before she left the Great Hall with Professor Flitwick in tow.

Ron finally helped Hermione, and together they managed to get Harry ready to head outside. They sat Harry in the snow and began to build a snowman, observing how Harry tried to crawl on the snow. However, all of a sudden, Dobby appeared in front of them, bowing deeply.

"Headmistress McGonagall is sendings Dobby to tells Mistress Hermione to comes to her office immediately," Dobby explained excitedly, causing Hermione to frown.

"Do you know why?" Hermione queried gently.

"No, Dobby is not knows," he replied, letting his huge ears drop so they touched the floor. "Dobby is also told to calls Mistress Pomfrey and Master Snape, Mistress Hermione," Dobby said, before he popped away.

Hermione picked Harry up, sighing. "All right, Ronald. Let's go."

"She didn't ask for me, Mione. You should go and see what she wants, but I'm going to stay here," Ron replied, his voiced laced with a bout of jealousy.

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

When Hermione entered McGonagall's office, Pomfrey and Snape were already occupying the comfortable chairs.

"Please excuse my tardiness," Hermione apologized politely, while she took a seat and tried to take Harry out of the snowsuit, throwing the Potions Master a grateful look when he helped pull the snowsuit off the baby.

"You're not late, my dear. Professor Snape and I have the advantage that we can use the Hogwarts internal Floo network," Madam Pomfrey replied in a soft voice, gently holding out her hands to take Harry.

Knowing that Harry obviously liked the Mediwitch, because he always greeted her with a smile, Hermione handed the baby over, before she turned her attention to the Headmistress.

Professor McGonagall, who wore an extremely serious expression, cleared her throat. "A short while ago, I looked in Harry's school bag in search for the Marauders' Map. I found the map, thank you, Hermione. However, I also found something else." She picked up a small parchment from her desk and began to read aloud.

'Dear friends, I'm sorry for being a burden to you by de-aging myself. However, I had a crappy childhood, and now since I fulfilled my task by killing the Dark Lord, I'd love to grow up anew and have a better, peaceful life. I'd like to be raised at Hogwarts, which will be my home forever, by Hermione (with or without Ron), Professor McGonagall, or Madam Pomfrey. I'd be delighted if you could make the Weasley twins my godparents. I love you all, and I hope very much that you can understand me and will help me. Have a good Christmas time and please give me a children's book for Christmas since I never had one. Harry.'

Hermione looked at a teary-eyed Minerva, who let the parchment sink into her lap. "It was not an accident," she breathed, an unbelieving expression on her face. "It was no joke when he told us he'd play Baby Jesus on the nativity play instead of a shepherd. He was already planning it at that time. Professor, I'd like to raise him. I'm already seventeen, and since you kindly offered me the position as new Transfiguration teacher from next year onwards, I'll be living at Hogwarts too, so all of his requirements are fulfilled. May I raise him? And would you be willing to become his grandmother, aunt, and uncle?" she queried, glancing from McGonagall to Pomfrey and Snape.

Minerva gently took the baby from Poppy, smiling at the small face. "Of course we're willing to become your new family and to give you a better childhood this time around. And with a family out of professors you'll probably receive more books than you'll like, Harry," she told him in a soothing voice, observing how a small smile of happiness appeared on Harry's face.

The End

I'm not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes or help me to correct them.

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.