Hoggy Warty Day Care

* Hoggy Warty Day Care *

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"Okay, Ollie! You have fun with your little playmates, okay?" Mrs. Wood said, kissing her son on the forehead.

"Okie, Mummy!" Little Oliver chirped back, hugging his mother's knees.

His mum waved goodbye and left the door.

"Run along, Oliver. Go on!" a Minerva McGonagall said to him--about in her early thirties.

So Oliver toddled off, his toy broomstick dragging behind him.

But now the other children came into view--most of them around two or three--or even four!

Ollie blinked and tapped the nearest boy on the shoulder.

"AHHH!!" Oliver screamed, sticking his broomstick into the boy's stomach so he couldn't come any closer. "There's a capetillar on his face! A CAPETILLAR!" he said loudly in his high-pitched voice, pointing at the poor toddler accusingly.

"Oliver! Oliver! That's not a caterpillar, sweetie. That's just Viktor's eyebrow, okay? No need to be afraid," Minerva cooed soothingly.

He nodded, but a look of fear was still set on his face.

Viktor, however, sauntered off to a table and began to play with Play-Dough, leaving Ollie quite alone--but not for long.

He sat on the soft, carpeted floor, playing with his broomstick. "Vwoom! Vwoom! WHOOOSH!" he said, waving the toy around--before it got snatched up by someone else.

"Mine!" said a little girl in a snobby-ish tone. It was quite obvious that she was spoiled rotten.

"No, that's mine!" Oliver said, tugging on it. "Give it!" he hissed.

The girl known as Fleur let go and Oliver tumbled backwards. She turned her nose up and left him. Oliver wasn't exactly doing a great job of making new friends.

"You okay?" said another voice--yay, it was a boys'.

Ollie nodded and got up, rubbing his elbow. "Mmhmm..."

"Come sit at my table--we're making fingerpaints!" said the small red-headed boy, his face scrunched up with excitement.

Oliver's eyes lit up and he and the boy called Percy practically ran to the little yellow plastic table.

"Whatcha painting?" Oliver asked Percy, painting a picture of his own, using red and yellow paints.

"An owl," Percy said matter-of-factly. "What're you painting?"

"A Waffle!" Oliver said happily.

"What's a Waffle?" Percy inquired curiously.

"It's a--a ball--that's... red! And, and people toss it t'roo hoops!" Oliver said excitedly, eyes brightening up at the thought of it all.

Percy nodded but after a moment said, "Uh-oh..."

The two boys watched as green paint leaked off the table and onto the light blue carpet.

"I made a spilly!" Percy said almost apologetically, running off to go get Mrs. McGonagall, youn Oliver at his heels.

"Miss Mineva! Miss Mineva!" Percy and Oliver said, tugging at her skirt urgently, looking up at her. They didn't exactly get her name right, but Minerva smiled down at them upon hearing their calls.

"What is it, Percy? Oliver?"

"We made a spilly! A SPILLY!" Percy said, acting as if it were quite the emergency.

"Where is it Per--oh dear..."

She strode over to the mess, but now there was green paint in Fleur's hair. She burst into tears at the sight of Mrs. McGonagall.

"He did it! He put ze paint in my hair! He did it!' she screeched, bawling her eyes out, pointing to a little boy with black hair, his two front teeth missing.

"Now Marcus, why did you do a thing like that?"

Marcus smiled toothily at her, well, at least he tried to. (It was hard to smile toothily without the two front teeth.) "Because!"

Minerva sighed and picked up Marcus and said grinning, "Because, because, because!" and stuck his tongue out at Fleur.

"You've earned yourself a time-out, young man," Minerva said sternly to the little Flint boy, placing him in a pen. She went back to the wet paint and tapped it with her wand. The carpet was a nice blue again.

Soon it was snack-time. Mrs. McGonagall handed out napkins with four cookies each on them and a small cup of lemonade. The kids munched at them happily, but Marcus had to eat his in the Time-Out Pen.

Oliver sat with Percy, who was now joined by his little friend Penelope. He smiled at her and gave her half a cookie. "You want it. Pennelpoley?" he said, holding the cookie out under her nose.

She smiled bashfully and took it. "Tank you, Possy!" she exclaimed, eating it whole, managing to chew it and grin at him at the same time.

Oliver licked his lips and wiped his hands on his denim overalls. He got up, leaving his napkin and Styrofoam cup behind and went over to Viktor, leaving the two kids in "puppy love" behind.

"Sowwie," Oliver said shyly to him. "About the capetillar thingy."

Viktor Krum looked up at him and nodded silently, munching on a chocolate chip cookie.

"Vot is that?" Viktor asked Oliver, eyeing his broomstick toy.

"A bwoomstick!" Oliver said, surprised that Viktor even had to ask.

"Really? Vow! I have one too!" Viktor said cheerily, going off to go get his.

But they did not have time to actually play with their brooms. It was nappy-time, and the little children at Hoggy Warty Day Care crept into mini sleeping bags. Oliver was in between Viktor and Percy, then it was Marcus, Fleur and Penelope.

For a few minutes, the three boys could not sleep. They whispered animatedly about their homes and brothers and sisters and parents--anthing of the like. But first to drift off to sleep was Viktor, then Percy, and finally, Oliver.

Little Ollie dreamt of something... or was it someone? Someone much older than he. He was on a broomstick of his own, in a uniform, and holding a Quaffle. And even next to this person was another boy about eighteen, looking quite sulky, though lean and skinny. There was a black-haired young man with trollish teeth, then there was a red-head... tall, standing with an arm around a girl with bushy brown hair... a shorter girl, pretty... a kind face...

Oliver smiled in his sleep, dreaming his dreams of tomorrow...

"Oliver! C'mon, it's time to go," Mrs. Wood said, kneeling beside her son.

He opened his eyes drowsily, then, realizing who it was beside him, he sat up and said, "Mummy! Mummy! I've got so much to tell you!!"

She laughed and stood up. She ruffled his light brown hair and said, "Come, Ollie, it's time to go home. Daddy's there too."

Oliver beamed at his mum and scrambled to get up, grabbing his broomstick once more. He held his mother's hand as the left the small building. Oliver turned around to the other children and waved. "Bye, byee!" he chirped.

He looked up at his mum. "Mummy! I have so much to tell you about today!"

Mrs. Wood laughed. "All right--tell me all about it, Oliver."

Oliver Wood smiled up at his mum and launched into his story of his first day at day care.

When he was done, his mother said, "Sounds like you made a lot of new friends, Oliver!"

He nodded. "Do I get to come back, Mummy?" he asked eagerly.

"You go back to Hoggy Warty Day Care tomorrow."

And the delighted look on his face lasted well until he went to sleep, warm in his own bed, his toy broomstick on the pillow beside him.