Hermione was happy. Very, very happy. Extremely so.
How often would Draco come to ask her for a favor?
And besides, she got to watch little Harry. Which meant she got to gloat AND hang with her best friend, who she hadn't seen in almost 3 days. Or was it 4? Either way it didn't matter. She was going to have fun.
As soon as she got him to stop crying.
"Harry! What's the matter?" Hermione almost felt like crying herself. He had been crying for almost 2 hours straight.
Everything was fine until 20 minutes after Draco left them in the Great Hall. Harry had come to the conclusion that Draco wasn't going to come back for him. And nothing she could do, say, think, or even magically appear, would make him believe any different.
"Oh Harry. Draco is going to come back for you! He wouldn't just leave you. Even he's not that cruel…I think."
Harry had cried himself into a sore throat so all he could now was just hiccup. Loudly.
Those loud gasping hiccups that make you cringe.
Hermione was at her wit's end. And THAT was saying a whole lot. Considering she was the smartest student Hogwarts had seen in almost 3 decades.
But she really didn't know what to do. And it was breaking her heart to hear Harry cry like this.
Everyone else in the Den of Lions were either away visiting family or at Hogsmeade for the day. So that meant no one was there. Except for the remaining Weasleys, and Dean, the rest of the House was gone.
That also meant she was alone in this matter.
"Dwaco!! I want Dwaco!!" Harry hiccupped and cried.
Who knew Harry could be such a brat?
"HARRY!"
Harry closed his mouth and looked wide eyed at a red Hermione.
She blew a strand of hair out of her face. Finally.
"He will come back for you. But while he's gone I need you to be a good boy for me, just like Draco said. You wouldn't wanna disobey him would you?"
Harry shook his head quickly.
"Then stop crying. It's making me feel bad." Hermione sighed and rubbed her forehead a little.
She jumped a little when she felt another hand on her forehead. She looked up and saw Harry's small hand resting against her head. He looked sad. "Sowwy Brownie. Me didn't mean to make you sad. I be good from now on." Harry said with a nod of his head. With that he went down onto the floor and started to play with his pants.
"Why are you calling me Brownie?" Hermione asked confused.
"Cause of the color of you hair. It pretty brown. Looks like brownies!!" Harry giggled as he nibbled on his finger.
Hermione giggled a bit before she looked at the clock on the wall. It was only 11:47 a.m. She grinned as she thought of an idea.
"Hey do you wanna go see the grounds?"
Harry tilted his head. "The gwounds? What's that?"
Hermione grinned more as she stood up and reached for his hand as he got up off the floor.
"Let's go see shall we?"
---------
Dumbledore had found what he was looking for. It was a sheet of paper.
A long sheet of paper.
It had a list of names on it. Names from people all over the world, from different time periods. And though the paper was long the list of names was not.
In actuality it was only about 7 names.
Don't ask why those names are on a long sheet of paper.
Dumbledore sat down in his huge chair and stroked his beard. He stared at the names long and hard. It was a list of names of the people who had reverted back to their adult form without the aid of a potion or any kind of magic to help them.
Who knew these accidents occurred before? And yet they can't be prevented.
"What a strange thing Fawkes."
Fawkes looked up from cleaning itself and trilled lightly.
"I wanted them to use the potion to make Harry his rightful age again. But alas it seems as if he does not need it." He said as he took a quill and added Harry's name to the list.
For it was a list of names, the people who reverted back on their own magical abilities. And every last one of them were powerful in their own right.
And at the top of the list was Merlin's name.
And right underneath that was Salazar Slytherin.
---------
A man was sitting on the couch in Severus' potions room. With his long and wildly shaggy brown hair he looked unhealthy. It could have been the yellow glow from his skin as well. That couldn't have been healthy either.
He was nervous as he stared at Severus. Severus just stared back with a bored look in his eye.
"You need the potion right?"
The man nodded. He was so jumpy that his knees were almost knocking against the desk in front of him.
Severus leaned back against his chair with a smirk on his face.
"And here I thought you were going to try to go without it."
The man spoke, his voice raspy since his throat was sore.
"You know I can't do that Severus. That would risk people getting hurt. You know that I will not do that."
Severus just smirked wider. "Oh just this once can you please?"
The man slammed his hands down on the desk. "Do you think this is a game Severus? It's not! Give me the potion! You know I need it!"
Severus' eyes stopped glowing with mirth and narrowed in disgust. "A game? Oh no Remus, I for one know that this is not a game." He reached into a drawer and pulled a long-necked bottle filled with his Wolfsbane Potion. "Come and fetch it from me."
Remus looked crestfallen. "Just hand it to me! I don't have that much longer!"
Severus rolled his eyes. "Nonsense. You have all the time in the world. I know for a fact that the moon isn't full for another 3 days. Now come over here and fetch for it like a good dog."
"I refuse to lower myself just so you can have your fun."
He turned to walk back out the door when he stopped. He couldn't move. He knew as well as Severus that he could not leave without that bottle. He slowly turned towards Severus who was swinging the bottle back and forth gently in front of him.
"Well?"
Remus sighed and walked back over towards the evil man with the precious goods in his grasp and began leaning down on his desk, his shirt sliding up his stomach.
The things he did for this man's amusement. And his potion.
---------
Draco wandered the long halls of Hogwarts, looking for any sign of Dumbledore. Sev had sent him on an impossible mission. He could still remember what he had told him to do.
--"I want you to find Albus and tell him that I need more ingredients for my potion. If he is to ever want the Golden Boy back to his normal self then had better get them for me."
"But why can't you just get them yourself?" Draco had asked.
"Seeing as how I can't leave this bloody office I need someone else to do it for me. And I will not allow you into Knockturn Alley Yes I know you've been there with your father but you will not go there by yourself. Not with the Dark Lord's spies everywhere."
Draco nodded but in his mind he was rolling his eyes. What was he 4?
"So go find him for me. If I know Albus he'll be in his office. The password is-"
Draco held up a finger. "Let me guess. Lemon drops?"
Severus gave a slight roll of his eyes. "Astonishingly not. It's 'Lemon Sherbert.'"
"Had something to do with lemons of course. Disgusting flavor that is."--
So Draco had been sent off with the annoying task of searching for a man who most of the time did not like to be found. He was just as much a prankster as Peeves was.
"Can you just imagine how irritating that is?" He spoke softly to himself as he made his way to the Headmasters Office.
Very irritating.
He got to the gargoyle and stared at it before sighing and saying the password.
"Lemon sherbet."
And the gargoyle hopped out of the way, happily as you please, and made way for Draco to get into his office.
Once in there Draco looked in and saw a mess. Papers everywhere, books falling off tables and desks, lamps bent at odd angles and a huge chair that looked like it had been well sat in.
"Headmaster? Are you in here?"
He carefully stepped into the office and was real careful not to touch anything.
He didn't want to catch anything.
Draco looked all over the round office for a sign that he had at least been there but nothing. Nada. Just a huge mess that really needed to be cleaned and a small plate of lemon drops.
"Eww Disgusting things." Draco shuddered. He moved towards Dumbledore's desk and that's when he noticed a piece of paper sticking out among the rest. Perhaps because it was at least 6 ft long. But he wanted to know what it was and pulled on it.
And as the paper was moved the rest of the papers came flying with it. Knocking Draco to the floor with its massive weight.
He shoved some papers out of the way and sat up, his robes ruffled and his hair mussed. With a very pissed look on his face.
"Bloody Headmaster. Needs to clean his office so people don't drown in this mess." He muttered to himself as he attempted to stand up.
Note the word attempted.
Every time he tried he would step on a slip of paper and fall back down, right into the mess which was only accumulating in size.
Damn the Headmaster.
"Where the bloody hell is he?!" Draco snarled.
"Why I'm right here young Mr. Malfoy. And I must say you're doing a very good job of cleaning my office for me. Merlin knows I should have gotten around to it sooner but…"
Draco whirled around at the sound of Dumbledore's voice and grabbed onto the desk in front of him to keep his balance.
"When did you get here?" Draco asked, confused that he hadn't heard the man coming.
Dumbledore went around the other side of his desk and picked up the long sheet of paper that Draco had grabbed before. With a tap of his wand, which also appeared from nowhere, he muttered something and it rolled back up and slipped into one of the many pockets of his robe.
"I just arrived. Fawkes had mentioned that someone was in my office and that they needed to speak with me, very urgently if I remember correctly. Was that you Mr. Malfoy?"
Draco nodded as he finally regained his balance. "Yes it was me! I've been caught in your mess since I arrived here. What do you mean 'Thank you for cleaning your office?' This is NOT clean! And who is Fawkes?"
"Why Fawkes is my phoenix. And he's been behind you the entire time." Dumbledore spoke softly.
Draco turned and noticed the MASSIVE, huge bird just sitting there on his perch. He gave Draco a look and flapped his wings a couple of times.
"Oh. I hadn't seen him there."
Dumbledore nodded and sat down in his huge chair. "With very good reason. You weren't looking for him. So therefore you couldn't see him. But all is well. So tell me what is it you wish to see me for?"
Draco brushed off his robes and patted his hair down. "I've come to ask you something. Professor Snape needs more ingredients for his potion. The one to restore Ha- I mean, Potter to his natural state. He won't let me go get them and he needs to watch the other potions that he's making so he was wondering if you could send someone for him to go get them."
"Very well. Hagrid will be here shortly and when he arrives I shall tell him to get them for him. What exactly is it he needs?"
Draco went to tell him but nothing came out of his open mouth. So he looked rather funny sitting there with his mouth open and dumb look on his face. Dumbledore chuckled.
"Let me guess. Severus forgot to tell you."
Draco nodded as a light blush stained his cheeks. He would get his godfather for making him look like an idiot in front of the Headmaster.
Well maybe you haven't noticed but you already did. With the falling and papers flying and all.
'Shut up.'
"No matter. I shall send Hagrid down there and he'll get them from Severus himself. Now if that was all Mr. Malfoy?"
He nodded and headed towards the door.
Dumbledore nodded his head in Draco's direction. Then went back to writing something on his papers. Draco left the room and went back downstairs, heading towards Severus' Potions Lab.
"That man is very weird. Very weird indeed."
Don't we all know it.
----------
Remus had gotten the potion he needed from Severus. Through some very embarrassing ways for him and amusing to Severus. Now he was sitting in the corner with a sulking look on his face and his bottled Wolfsbane nestled in his hands. He looked ready to tear off anyone's hand if they came near.
"I can't believe you made me do that."
Severus snorted as he stirred the potion in front of him. After seven more clockwise turns he pulled out the ladle and set it aside. Then he moved over to his work desk and started tidying up. "Is there any reason why you're still here? I gave you your potion. What else do you need from me? A hug perhaps? A kiss?"
Remus blushed and ignored those last two parts. "I'm waiting to see my honorary godson if it's ok with you. Not that I need to explain myself to you. I haven't seen him lately and wanted to give him a visit."
"Ah and here I thought you only came because you missed me."
Remus stared at Severus. "You're really sick you know that?"
Severus smirked as he turned around to face him. "It's part of my charm."
Remus ignored him again.
"Well anyway I've come to see him and you can't make me leave."
"And just how do you know he's here? He could be anywhere in this castle. Go try the Gryffindor rooms. You know he hardly ever leaves his Lions Den nowadays."
Remus got up and put his potion in his pocket. "What do you mean? Your hiding something from me aren't you?"
Severus took an empty bottle and set it near the cooling potion. He reached for his ladle and started spooning some into it. "Why I have no idea what you mean."
Just before Remus could open his mouth to challenge him Draco came bursting through the door.
With a small Harry following behind him.
"Hey Sev! You will not believe the day I had today! You sent me on a wild goose chase you know and-" Draco stopped short when he noticed the wild man just standing there, looking at Harry with a shocked look on his face.
Harry noticed him too and stared right back.
"Hey Sevvie. Who is dat? Huh?" Harry questioned as he pulled on Severus' robes, never once taking his eyes off the man.
Draco just looked and moved to stand in front of Harry in case the man was dangerous.
Severus sighed and patted Harry on his head. "This Harry is-"
"Harry!?" Remus cried as he dropped to his knees in front of Harry.
Harry's eyes grew big as he stared at him. His mouth started to tremble and he reached for the man.
"Moony!!"
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