The first of the series of one-shot sequels I promised for this story has just been posted under the title Harry Potter & a Life of Relative Normalcy. Be sure to check it out, what follows is a short preview:

"Muuuummmmmy!"

Little Harry wanted his mummy. Where was his mummy? She'd been standing right there a moment ago, kissing his forehead—and now she was gone.

"Muuuummmmmy!"

He wailed louder, ignoring the gentle shushing sound coming from across the room. It wasn't Mummy. Why wasn't she coming back? Had she been eaten up by the green light?

"Muuuummmmmy!"

He cried louder still, tears streaming down his face, in torrents. She always came back when he cried extra loud—almost always. Sometimes she sent daddy. Where was Daddy? Maybe Daddy would come.

"Daaaaadddddddy!"

He cried, batting his tiny fist ineffectually at the big arms that were trying to pick him up. He didn't want the strange grown-up that called himself Harry and looked a lot like Daddy but wasn't daddy. He wanted his real daddy. But, like Mummy, Daddy wasn't coming.

"Daaaaadddddddy!"

The older boy sunk down beside the distraught toddler, temporarily giving up on trying to calm him. Maybe if he let him cry long enough, he'd stop on his own? He was starting to think that he'd gotten the short end of the straw when he'd volunteered to babysit his younger self, to get out of shopping for textbooks.

When he'd returned from the Headmaster's office to find that Luna had convinced Lily to take them shopping for textbooks, immediately, he'd reacted on instinct. While resigned to the fact that he would have to study for and take his OWLS again, Lily and James were barely out of school and already had most, if not all, of the books they would need. So, his first thought, when faced with an unnecessary trip to the bookshop, was that he really didn't want to get stuck in a bookshop, with a former Head Girl and a Ravenclaw. Hermione alone had been bad enough, and she'd been a Gryffindor….

Instead, he'd offered to look after his younger self, suggesting that the two women should make an afternoon of it and have a, much deserved, girl's day out. After all, the best way to get a woman to do what you want was to let them think they were getting the longer end of the straw, and, really, how hard could it be to take care of a toddler?

How naïve he'd been. A few hours spent entertaining his younger self, in the presence of at least one of his parents and while he was already playing peacefully, was poor preparation for calming him down the moment he realized that neither of his parents were around. Mini-me had been crying since about ten seconds after Lily had stepped into the Floo, and he just wouldn't stop. Surely, no shopping trip could possibly be worse than this….