A?N: Just a fun little idea that popped into my head.

Chapter 1

Hermione Granger sat at the desk in her room, putting the finishing touches on the last essay she was assigned over the summer. She dipped her quill in the bottle of ink for what she was sure would be the last time and completed the closing sentence of the essay, which was on the evolution of magical theory over the years. Hermione then placed her quill down and picked up the length of parchment she'd used and began to proofread the piece of homework. When she was finally satisfied that the essay was without errors, Hermione rolled up the parchment and tucked it safely into the schoolbag that was leaning against the side of her desk. Hermione breathed out deeply, relieved that she had completed all her summer assignments.

There came a knock at her closed door, and Hermione twisted around in her swivel chair to call out, "Come in!"

The door opened, and Hermione's mother, Catherine, poked her head inside. "Hermione, sweetie, come downstairs. Your cousins are due to arrive any minute now."

Hermione had almost forgotten. Today was the day that her three American cousins were coming to visit. Hermione's parents had agreed to keep them over the summer since they all wanted to visit London during their vacation. The last time Hermione had seen her cousins was before her first year at Hogwarts; that was five years ago, and they had all been about six years old. Hermione guessed that they were now eight or nine. And even though it probably meant spending less time with her best friends Harry and Ron this summer, Hermione was still looking forward to seeing her cousins again.

"Alright, I'm coming." Hermione got up from her seat and walked over to her door. She was wearing a corduroy casual jacket over a pink blouse, which went with the tight-fitting jeans on her legs. After stepping through and joining her mother, they both started to make their way down the main staircase.

"Oh, while I'm still thinking about it," Catherine said as they descended the stairway, "there'll be someone else visiting with your cousins."

"Who?" Hermione inquired curiously.

"One of their friends from school. Her name is Sara, and apparently she's become quite close with them. Sara's parents are taking a vacation of their own, and since that vacation had been planned in advance and since it's really a private vacation, Sara is staying with your Aunt Kate and Uncle Tom."

"And so Sara's visiting here too because she didn't want to be alone for the summer," Hermione finished for her mother. By this time, Hermione and her mom had reached the main level of their house.

Hermione's house was rather spacious, since her parents were high-ranking workers in the dental industry and were paid more than sufficient funds for their services. It was a two-story house, but contained larger rooms than the normal two-story house. It was located in a neighborhood of London that was home to a more wealthier class of people, although Hermione didn't particularly like to brag about it...especially to her friends at Hogwarts. She just wanted to fit in with other people her age, so Hermione had decided early on to keep the fact of her wealthiness to herself. Hermione and her mom found her father, Philip, waiting for them.

"Yes," Catherine said, answering her daughter's previous question. "But from what Kate has told me about her, Sara is a sweet girl, so I don't think we should worry about behavior problems." Kate was Catherine's English sister who had met and married an American who had once come to London on a business trip years ago. As a result, Kate had moved to America after they had gotten married, where they had three children together.

"And," said Philip, "you're going to have to look after them during the days, Hermione. Your mother and I will be at work, so we won't be here to look after them." Philip Granger was a well-built man, though not overly muscular. He had dark hair which was slowly starting to gray with age. Philip wore a refined wardrobe, mainly because of a profitable salary.

Hermione stared at her father, her mouth slightly agape. "Wait a minute! I have to babysit four...how old are they?"

"They're all eight," said Hermione's mother.

"I have to babysit four eight year-olds by myself for the entire summer?!"

"Well, you can invite your two friends Harry and Ron to help out if it proves too difficult. But since Jack, Cody and Anna seem so eager to see you again, I don't think they'll be much trouble."

Hermione nodded. If she could get the help of Harry and Ron if babysitting became too out of control, then she thought she could get through the summer well enough.

"So, when are they gonna get here?" Hermione asked.

Catherine checked her wristwatch. "Actually, they should be here any minute. They all flew here by themselves and a cab will be dropping them off. Now, your father and I will be here until about 2:00." The time was currently 11:34 in the morning. "We both have appointments scheduled all afternoon and probably won't be back until later tonight. Sorry for such the short notice, honey."

Hermione sighed inwardly, making sure not to show her mild displeasure at being entrusted with the task of babysitting so quickly. But nonetheless, she nodded. "Okay."

"So that means," Philip added, "that you may have to take care of dinner for your cousins tonight. Nothing too fancy, just make sure it's satisfying for eight year-olds."

Hermione did have some experience in cooking and could whip up a full meal if need be, but she thought that something like sandwiches or heat-up meals would be good enough for this first night. "Should I worry about a bedtime, then?"

"I would say no. We should be back in time to take care of that. But your primary concern should be to make sure that chaos doesn't break out. Being our daughter, sweetie, you know that we like to keep our house organized."

Hermione laughed along her parents at her father's little joke.

"Don't worry, dad. Nothing bad will happen on my watch."

"We have confidence in you." Her mother paused a moment. "But most importantly, your cousins don't know that you're a witch, so even though you're still underage, you can't resort to magic for assistance by any means."

"I know. And I'll tell Harry and Ron that if they do indeed come over."

Philip and Catherine nodded just as the front doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of Hermione's three cousins and their friend. Catherine went over to open the door and did so, revealing four kids. They all carried bags that no doubt carried their personal belongings and stepped over the threshold once Catherine Granger invited them in kindly.

Two of the children were boys, and the other two were girls. The boys, Jack and Cody, each had dark brown hair and wore T-shirts proclaiming their favorite sports teams. Jeans and sneakers completed their casual attire. The girls, Anna and Sara, also had basically the same outfits as well (dresses with checkered stockings) but different hair. Anna, Hermione's third cousin, had black and flowing hair while Sara sported dirty blonde. The girls each wore rather delightful expressions on their faces, and both boys had the usual kind but cool attitude-fueled looks about them.

Once they were all inside, the kids put their bags down to rest against the closest wall and came over to see Hermione.

"Hi, Hermione!"

"Hey, cousin."

"What's up?"

Hermione's cousins greeted her sweetly and then proceeded to giver her hugs. Sara, however, stood away from this and politely held out her hand for Hermione to shake; she did.

"Nice to finally meet you," she said. "Jack, Cody and Anna have all talked about you a lot."

"Really? Well, it's a pleasure to meet you as well, Sara. I'm sure we're all going to have fun this summer." Hermione tore her gaze away from Sara to smile down at her three cousins, who were all grouped around her.

By that time, Hermione's parents had retreated to the kitchen to prepare lunch for everyone. And in that one fleeting moment when nobody was looking directly into her face, a mischievous and plotting smile spread across Sara's face. And even though they weren't showing it, Sara knew that Jack, Cody and Anna all had the same thought running through their mind as well:

This is going to be a very enjoyable summer. Well, for them, at least.

Lunch had passed without a hitch, and after that, the next hour had been spent with Hermione spending some time catching up and her parents preparing to leave for work. At 2:00, Hermione's parents went to her room to give her a few last words of advice for the afternoon. After that, they departed from the house, leaving Hermione alone with Jack, Cody, Anna and Sara. So far, they had been fairly well-behaved, but Hermione certainly wasn't expecting what these kids were planning for her.

Hermione returned from the hallway to her room, where all four kids were relaxing. The guys were sitting on her bed casually while Anna occupied a chair by the window; Sara was sitting in another chair near Hermione's desk. Hermione walked over to her swivel desk chair and made to sit down in it, but immediately found herself crashing to the floor. As the kids laughed at this, Hermione pulled herself up and examined her chair. She simply shrugged, figuring that she must have just misjudged where it had been; she clearly hadn't seen Sara purposefully move it out from under her right at the last moment. Hermione then sat back down in the chair, but made sure to keep her eyes trained upon it as she did so.

"Hermione, what's this paper on your desk that says 'Magical Theory'?" asked Anna, who had gotten up from her seat.

"Oh," said Hermione as she swivelled around with her chair and grabbed up her essay, stuffing it inside her schoolbag. "Nothing. Just school stuff...for the school I go to. Homework." After making sure that everything related to her life at Hogwarts, especially her wand, was tucked safely away, Hermione turned back to her cousins and Sara. "So, what would you like to do?"

Right then, Jack and Cody shared a furtive glance of mischievous plotting and nodded to each other.

"How about play something?"

Hermione shrugged. "Sure. What do you want to play, then?"

"Hide and seek," said Cody.

"Alright." Since Hermione was of Muggle background, she was relatively familiar with the games and such that they had.

"We'll hide, you count."

"To what?"

"100. Now close your eyes."

Hermione did as she was told and her cousins as well as Sara went out of her room and began to roam the house. But as they did so, they all talked in conspiratorial whispers.

"Look what I got," said Anna as she held up a thin wooden stick: Hermione's wand. Evidently, it hadn't been as well hidden as Hermione had thought.

"Wicked!" said Jack, rubbing his hands together. "Hermione doesn't know about us having magical powers and that's why we're here for the summer. So now we can pull pranks on her and not worry about her using her wand for help."

"Are you sure about this? About pulling pranks on your cousin?" inquired Sara. "I know I helped talk you all into it, but I need to be sure that you're okay doing it."

"Yeah. I mean, it's not that we don't love her as a cousin, but you gotta admit...a whole summer with just her and us calls for some special fun. Now, if she tries to tell her parents about our pranks, we'll say that we'll blackmail her."

"How?"

"I'm still working on that."

And so, all four children set out to prepare the first prank.

Hermione finished counting, proclaimed the line "Ready or not...here I come!", and exited her room to begin the game. She combed through every room she could find, which eventually resulted in the finding of Jack, Cody and Anna; each of them had hidden in the spare bedroom, the kitchen and a closet. But Sara still remained to be found. So Hermione, accompanied by her three cousins, went to the rooms that Hermione had not checked yet. Each of her cousins knew exactly where Sara was waiting, but seeing as their first prank relied on Sara having the element of surprise, they kept quiet and let Hermione work her way to the final room: the bathroom.

Jack, Cody and Anna made sure to let Hermione go first and watched as she stopped in front of the bathroom door. Hermione's cousins had used her wand to put an enchantment over the integral item of the prank. They had actually been learning to develop their magical abilities ever since they found out about them and they were now at the point where they could use wands, mainly other people's since they didn't have their own yet. So, with mounting anticipation, they looked on eagerly as Hermione nudged the bathroom door open.

Once Hermione had stepped fully into the doorway, the prank that had been prepared for her immediately took place. Hermione stood rigid with shock as something thick and gooey came from above and covered her entire body within seconds. And when the substance seemed to have stopped pouring, another downpour started instantly. And when that second wave was complete, Hermione could do nothing but look down to see exactly what had been dumped all over her. The substance was thick and pasty white; oatmeal. Somehow her cousins had managed to cook it and set this trap for her.

"IMPEDIMENTA!" came the shout of one of her cousins.

Hermione felt her body go stiff from the spell, but she didn't fall over. That was because of something sticky beneath her bare feet. But the laughter of her cousins soon made the immobile Hermione refocus on the situation at hand. And soon, they were all gathering around their older cousin with triumphant expressions on their faces and clutched in Anna's right hand...was Hermione's wand. But that didn't make sense! Hermione's cousins didn't possess any magical talent...at least she didn't think so. Hermione moved the muscles of her face, thereby discovering that the jinx hadn't affected her face somehow.

"You little brats!" Hermione said through gritted teeth. "How...how did you get my wand and how can you use it?"

"Because we're witches and wizards, like you. That's why our parents sent us here for the summer. To let you teach us how to control it. Yeah right...we want to use it for fun. Like this." Anna indicated the oatmeal covering Hermione.

"Pranks like this aren't fun. They're cruel and juvenile."

"Come off it, Hermione. We're pretty much gonna be alone with you for the entire summer, so we need to find a way to pass the time."

Hermione wiped away some of the oatmeal from her eyes. "By pulling pranks on me?"

"We're used to doing it to our babysitters, and you're our babysitter for the whole summer."

"And what's to stop me from telling my parents about this?"

"We have your wand, so unless you want it destroyed, you won't say a thing."

Hermione stared evenly and unblinkingly at each of her cousins, searching for any indication of weakness on their part, but ultimately found none. She sighed. "Fine. But if you think you can just go about with these pranks -..."

"We can and we will. You see, we have the upper hand because we can do magic and you can't. So you're in for it."

"Why? What have I done?"

"We know the reason you haven't seen us in years is because you didn't want to. So, you're going to pay for you ignoring us."

Suddenly, there came the sound of the phones inside the house ringing. Hermione instinctively tried to move and answer it, but due to her current state, that was clearly not possible. Sighing, or doing something close to it, Hermione eyed one of her now mischievous cousins.

"Could you get that?" she asked in a perturbed voice.

"Sure," Anna replied cooly.

Anna exited the bathroom and made her way to the nearest phone and answered it. Hermione couldn't hear what Anna was saying, so she had no idea who was on the opposite end of the line; however, she had a good feeling that it was her parents.

After a few moments of quiet conversation, Anna returned to the bathroom with a broad smile on her face. Hermione now regarded Anna with a heightened sense of suspicion.

"What?"

"Oh, that was your mum," Anna began airily.

"And...?" Hermione prompted, almost impatiently.

"And they just got an emergency call from one of their American offices saying that they have to fly there immediately and attend some sort of conference."

Hermione felt her situation getting even worse by the minute. "Did they say how long?"

"Not specifically, but they did say that it would be quite a while."

"And they weren't curious why I didn't answer the phone?" inquired Hermione.

"I told then that you were in the bathroom and couldn't come to the phone at the moment which, quite literally, you can't."

"So it looks like it'll be just us for a while," Sara said in a mock-delighted tone.

"Get me out of this!" snapped Hermione suddenly.

"Alright."

Anna, who was the one holding Hermione's wand, flicked it towards Hermione, which lifted the body-bind jinx and allowed Hermione to lift her feet out of the sticky substance she was standing in. This caused her to stumble a bit in her attempt to regain her footing and Hermione managed to balance herself right as she became poised over this bathroom's bathtub, which was filled with oatmeal as well.

For the moment, Hermione thought she was in the clear, but she was soon proven wrong. Anna sneaked up behind Hermione, stifling her giggles, and used the tip of the wand to poke Hermione in the butt; this caused Anna's older cousin to lose her footing and go tumbling into the tub full of oatmeal.

After having been fully submerged in the thick white substance completely, Hermione pulled herself out of the tub and lay down upon the bathroom floor. Hermione did her best to hold in her anger as the group of younger kids surrounding her laughed heartily, and so she got up and trudged out of the bathroom and into her parents' bathroom in order to wash and change into a new set of clothes.

This is going to be a long summer, Hermione thought to herself.

The rest of the day passed with more pranks being pulled on Hermione, but these were more minor compared to the elaborate oatmeal prank. These particular pranks involved trip wires, tying Hermione to a chair, and putting stuff in her hair. Finally fed up with it all, Hermione decided that it was bedtime for all of them. After double-checking that her cousins did indeed clean up the oatmeal in the bathroom and making sure that they were in bed and not planning something, Hermione herself went to bed; she was downright exhausted.

Hermione fell asleep within minutes of hitting her soft bed, so she didn't notice her door cautiously creaking open a short while later. The cause of this quiet movement was Hermione's cousins and Sara, and each of them entered Hermione's room silently after making sure that their cousin was asleep.

They then put a sleeping charm over Hermione for extra measure, to ensure that she wouldn't suddenly awaken as they were doing what they were about to do. Next, the four mischievous children carried on in their setting up of the pranks that Hermione would wake up to in the morning.