Snape stared down at Hermione, his eyes unreadable. Draco stood smirking at Hermione in complete triumph. Hermione meanwhile, felt like throwing up at the look her professor was giving her. Swallowing, she nervously opened her mouth to speak. Snape quickly raised a hand to silence her before she could utter a word. Draco just smiled and stuck his tongue out at Hermione.
"Do explain yourself Mr. Malfoy." Snape said softly, his tone holding venom.
Draco opened his mouth to say exactly what happened when Hermione, in desperation, jumped at him, knocking him over. Draco yelped as Hermione yelled angrily at him, pinning him beneath her. Snape stared as the two mouse sized children began to struggle and hit one another in anger. He closed his eyes for a moment in attempts to rid himself of the migraine that had begun to form. As he allowed the struggle to go on, he heard tiny shouts of accusations and insults being flung toward each other. Enough was enough Snape thought and he slammed his hand down on the desk in order to gain their attention. To the kids the noise was like a gigantic gun shot, both of them yelped and jumped, turning large round eyes toward the potions master.
Hermione was still on top of Malfoy, straddling him and poised to strike. The two looked up at their professor, too terrified to move.
"I do not understand what is going on here, or what happened for that matter. However the two of you will explain yourselves to me this instant!" Snape hissed, glaring angrily down at both the children.
"IT WAS HER FAULT PROFESSO-OOOFF!" Draco was cut off as Hermione turned on him, punching him in the gut.
"SHUT UP YOU LIAR!" Hermione screeched desperately at him, punching him in the stomach again. He stared up at her, trying to fend her off, she was too busy trying to cover his mouth to keep him from speaking to care about what Snape thought. Soon enough neither of them were paying attention to Snape at all, to his annoyance. Reaching down with his hands Snape reached forward with one hand, using his index finger and thumb to grab Hermione by the scruff of her shirt, and plucked Hermione from Draco. With his other hand, Snape picked Draco up in the same manner. Both of them yelped in surprise and fear. Snape suspended them in the air for a few seconds (which felt like hours to them) and then gently lowered them back onto the desk top.
"You two will behave this instant! I am not going to help you if you continue to attack one another and ramble like idiots!" Snape spat. They both flinched at his tone and looked down at their shoes.
"One of you will explain what has happened this instant!" Snape glared sternly down at them. Neither of them spoke for a moment so Snape decided for them. "Mr. Malfoy, enlighten me."
Draco looked at Hermione, the initial shock of being grabbed over; he smirked and then looked back up at Snape. Hermione's eyes widened in horror as Draco opened his mouth to speak.
"Well you see sir, I was just headed to your office because I needed to speak with you about something when I saw this one" He pointed to Hermione "sneaking into your private stores, I wasn't sure what she was up too so I followed her. When I confronted her for stealing some of your ingredients she threw a potion at me. Some of it got on her as well and we both ended up fainting. When we woke up we were like this!" Draco explained.
Snape's eyes turned to Hermione who stared at Draco open mouthed.
"…Miss Granger…your side please." Hermione looked up and saw death in Snape's eyes.
"That….that's not true professor! I neve-I didn't…that's not what happened!" She squealed. "I…I…well.."
"Out with it Miss Granger." Snape growled angrily, his patience wearing thin.
Hermione looked up at him, her mouth opened as if to speak. Suddenly her mouth snapped shut and she whirled around and began sprinting away from Snape and Draco. Both Snape and Draco watched as Hermione fled. Snape's anger sparked, he allowed Hermione to run to the edge of the desk before standing and walking around the desk. Hermione skidded to a halt at the edge of the desk; she peered over while catching her breath. A shadow loomed over her suddenly, she looked up slowly to find Snape standing over her; he looked ten times larger now that he was no longer sitting. She scrambled backwards, spinning around and beginning to run the opposite direction. Snape reached down and slapped his hand down in front of her, blocking her escape. She yelped, jumping backwards she tripped over herself; falling down, she landed once again on her bum.
Hermione didn't take a moment to get her barring's, she simply leapt back up and ran in the direction that lay before her (and didn't have Snape's hand). She was once again stopped by Snape's gigantic hand, which came back down in front of her. She skidded, turned on heel and ran back toward Snape, not realizing where she was going.
Snape watched her, his anger had ebbed slightly at the amusing prospect that lay before him. Here he was, with a tiny Hermione Granger on his desk attempting to run away from him. He found it highly amusing to think that she believed she could actually get away. He kept placing his hand down in front of her to bar her escape. The look on her face was priceless.
Hermione ran back toward the edge of the desk, she didn't pay much attention to what was in front of her because she was too busy looking over her shoulder to keep an eye on Snape's hand. She didn't notice until it was too late that she was running straight at the edge of the desk. She suddenly felt suspended in air for a fraction of a second before she began falling; she had run straight off the edge of the desk. She was so shocked she couldn't even scream. Lucky for her however, Snape was standing right there and simply put his hand underneath her falling form, catching her with ease. Hermione grunted as she landed heavily on Snape's fleshy palm.
Rolling over and looking up at Snape, Hermione thought she might pee herself. Snape held his hand up high, allowing her to lie in his open palm. He glared angrily down at her, allowing her to tremble for a few moments before he finally spoke.
"Now that I have your undivided attention, explain to me what happened Miss Granger." Snape said slowly, dangerously.
Hermione couldn't take her eyes off him, she was terrified beyond belief. She glanced at Draco and saw a grin on his face. Taking a breath she opened her mouth to speak, realizing that there was no getting out of this.
"Well…sir…I did break into your store room…" Hermione blanched as Snape's eyebrow rose. "But I didn't throw the potion at Malfoy! Honest!" She said quickly. "I…he snuck up on me! He made me drop it all over me, he threatened to tell you what I did…so I...sort of tackled him and got the potion on him and then we both passed out. When we woke up...we were like this." Hermione stumbled over her explanation as Snape's face transformed into an expression of fury.
"You broke into my private stores, stole from me, and then smashed one of my potions and shrunk yourself as well as another Student!" Snape snarled angrily, glaring down at her. Hermione quaked with fear, unable to respond. "And you!" Snape looked at Draco, who jumped and looked up at him. Snape grabbed him too, holding him in his other hand causing Draco to begin shaking. "You were out past curfew and pursued Miss Granger when you should have come to get me instead. Do not think for a second neither of you are in trouble!"
Snape turned sharply and walked over to his store room, holding the children in separate hands, when he reached the door he deposited Draco into his other hand. Now both Hermione and Draco were in one of Snape's hands, pressed against each other because Snape was holding them in his fist. Opening the door, Snape walked in and straight back to the shelves that Hermione had gotten the supplies from. He looked around for a moment before putting the two miscreants down on the shelf and reaching for a bottle.
"Was this the potion you two spilled?" Snape asked holding up a green bottle.
"no sir…it was a purpleish color…it glowed too…" Hermione stammered. Snape's face darkened even more.
"You mean to tell me you dropped the only glowing potion in my stores and didn't think to tell me! That potion was extremely expensive Granger!" Snape snapped angrily.
Hermione looked completely ashamed of herself; she looked down at her feet. Draco flushed, embarrassed at being chastised by his favorite professor. Snape glared angrily down at them, completely seething at the fact that they had destroyed a rather expensive and difficult potion. They could guess on how mad he was because his grip on them tightened just enough to make them squirm for breath.
"I cannot believe that the two of you, my top students, would break into my private stores and begin throwing childish tantrums! You two may just be the most idiotic students I have ever had the misfortune of teaching!" Snape snapped down at them as he placed them on the shelf. When they were on solid ground, they backed away from him slightly.
Snape ignored them for a few moments as he began to search for something on his shelves. He turned his back on the two kids as he looked.
"Great going Malfoy, now he's going to turn us into potions ingredients!" Hermione hissed at the blonde boy.
"Me?! I did nothing but try and stop you! It was you who threw the potion all over yourself and then proceeded to put it on me!" Malfoy snapped back quietly.
The two began bickering quietly while Snape searched his stores for something in particular. When he finally found it, he placed the vial in his pocket and turned around to watch them argue. Luckily for them this time neither threw punches. Without speaking he walked back over to them and watched as they both looked up startled. He almost laughed as he reached down to pick them up, watching as they tried to flee from his gargantuan hands. He lifted them each easily by the scruff of their shirts before depositing them into his left palm. They bumped against each other with loud protests. Snape gave them a very scary look, one that told them to be quiet. Then he turned around and walked back into his office, where he roughly put them back on his desk. Snape sat down and stared at them intently for a few moments, he remained quiet the entire time. They stared nervously up at him, wondering what he was going to say and if he was going to yell at them more.
"The two of you are, as I have stated before, idiots. Miss Granger, you should not have been out of bed after curfew. You also should not have been sneaking through my private stores. I am sure you know that you have made many mistakes and broken many rules tonight so do not think that you will get off because you are now only a few inches tall." Snape glared down at Hermione, who began to tremble slightly beneath his gaze. "Do not think I have forgotten to find out just why you were breaking the rules either young lady."
Draco began sniggering at her, smiling slightly at her discomfort. That glee was short lived however, because Snape decided just then to turn his attention upon Draco.
"And you Mr. Malfoy, you know very well that you are in trouble as well young man." Draco blushed and then looked down at his feet. "You know very well that you should not have been out of bed either, no matter how important it was. Unless you are deathly ill, you should not have been wandering the halls. Secondly, you should have come to get me when you discovered what Miss Granger was doing. I would have dealt with her accordingly and we all could have avoided this mess…and expense…" Snape looked at him pointedly.
"Now then, the matter of getting you both back to your original size." Both children looked up at him hopefully. "I have not needed to make this particular antidote for a very long time. And because of this, I do not have the means of getting you both adequately returned to your primary state."
Both Hermione and Draco blinked in confusion before looking at one another questioningly.
"Meaning" Snape drawled "I do not have enough of the antidote to make you both large again. I need more time to make a second batch." This time he received the reaction he expected the first time.
Both Hermione and Draco took a moment to let this sink in, and then stared up at him with looks of dismay.
"Does that mean that you can only-" Hermione began but was promptly cut off.
"Make one of you big right now? Yes Miss Granger that is exactly what this means." Snape said simply.
"But…then who'll you change back professor?" Draco asked imploringly.
"That Mr. Malfoy, is exactly what I am trying to determine right now."
Immediately both children began arguing with him, trying to get him to choose them. He watched as they waved their hands desperately to get his attention. He allowed this to go on for a few moments before abruptly standing and turning to walk away from them. He opened the door next to one of his book shelves and disappeared for a few moments. Hermione and Draco blinked in surprise and stared after him, both had gone quiet once he had stood up.
Hermione swallowed nervously, looking at Draco questioningly.
"Where did he go? What's he going to do?" Hermione asked uncertainly.
"I don't know Granger…" Draco said quietly.
The door opened once again and Snape returned, striding over to the desk to stand in front of Hermione and Draco. Without saying anything he reached down for them both. Hermione's eyes widened as Snape's enormous fingers wrapped around her torso. She once again immediately began squirming around. Draco squeaked as Snape's hand grasped him. Remaining silent, Snape turned and walked toward the door he had just come from. With the two squirming kids, he entered the room and walked over to a different desk. This desk was an end table to a bed. Hermione and Draco stared in astonishment, both falling silent. Upon the table were two beds, each the right size for two shrunken kids. Both children stared at the makeshift sleeping area that Snape had made for them, both couldn't tear their eyes away from it. They were going to have to spend the night in the professor's private quarters?!
"Professor…what is this?" Draco asked nervously, dreading the answer.
"This Mr. Malfoy, is where the two of you will be sleeping tonight." Snape replied.
