Severus slowly stalked to the entrance of his rooms. Muttering the password, he entered, knowing that Lupin was right behind him. When the portrait closed behind them he moved over to his favorite seat and practically collapsed on it.
He really was getting to old for this.
He felt rather than saw Lupin move into the seat across from him. He could feel the fear radiating off the werewolf in waves.
"Honestly you can calm down. Nothing out of the ordinary happened."
Severus watched as Lupin started to calm down a little and immediately felt bad. Lupin loved Harry like a father and here he was demeaning what had happened like it was nothing.
Severus raised an eyebrow. Now he's starting to have feelings. Why was he feeling bad in the first place?
Suddenly he remembered the way Harry had looked as he started to grow. The scared look on his face as something beyond his control took over and made drastic changes. He shivered lightly as he thought about it.
'Oh. That's why.' He thought as he stared at Lupin for a moment.
Remus sat in the chair across from Severus, determined not to fidget. This was not the time to think of past meetings. Nor was it the time to let Severus's stare get to him. Harry was most likely in trouble after all. In danger! He had to get his mind off…
Remus decided to chance looking directly into Severus's eyes.
'Oh. Would you look at that. He's staring at me in that odd way again…' Remus quickly glanced back down. He knew he was fooling himself. Odd way…it was exactly how they stared at each other from across the Great Hall, all those many years ago.
Had time changed them so much? Yes, he supposed it did.
"I'm sure you're wondering what happened to Potter am I correct?"
Remus had to hold back the urge to throttle the man. That wouldn't look good no matter how he tried to explain it. As if he needed another reason for the man to hate him. "What happened? Is he alright? Tell me what's happening!"
Severus leaned back in his chair and almost sighed with relief. It felt good to sit down for a few minutes. "Potter's grown."
Remus's eyes widened. He almost leapt out of his chair in his excitement.
"He's back to his original age?! Why didn't you tell me that in the hallway?! We have to go see if he's alright!" he shouted.
"I should have phrased myself better. What I meant was Potter is no longer a 3 year old toddler. He's aged 4 years. As of right now he is 7. And no," Severus said as he raised his hand to stop the onslaught of chatter that was bound to come from the werewolf. Remus sure could be chatty when he wanted to be. "Neither I nor Albus have any idea how it happened. One minute he was drawing on some papers by my desk and the next…" Severus trailed off, deep in thought. Just exactly how did Harry age quite so fast? It had only been 3 days. And why only 4 years?
Remus bit his lip as the information sunk in. Poor Harry. To be aged suddenly without cause or reason…and he's still so young. He shook his head trying to clear his thoughts. "You'll fix it, right Severus?" Remus asked softly, looking up to stare into his dark eyes. They still reflected the same feelings. No matter how badly they both tried to hide it.
Severus got pulled out of his thoughts by the sudden trust in his abilities that he was sure Remus was going to be sprouting about at any moment. He was not waiting for very long.
"You're the best Potions Master in almost 50 years. You've been making revolutionary advances in everything you've got your hands in. You've even made my Wolfsbane potion taste better." Remus reached forward and grabbed Severus's hand. "If anyone can figure this out it's you."
Severus snatched his hand out of Remus's grasp. "I do not need you of all people to tell me this." He stood up and began pacing. "I know that I can figure this out. The question is do I have enough time?"
Remus just watched silently. He knew this had to be eating the man up inside. He saw how he treated Harry now. Those soft smiles when he thought no one was looking. Harry always did have a knack for making people fall in love with him. He smiled softly himself before remembering the incident he had stumbled upon just a few minutes earlier.
"So…Lucius will be stopping by at 8 o'clock. What was that all about anyway?"
Severus stiffened before turning around to face Remus dead on. He glared at the werewolf but it didn't even faze him, Remus leaning back in his chair and staring up at Severus with those puppy dog eyes.
Severus wanted to strangle his neck.
"What business is it of yours to question me? If you must know, Mr. Malfoy wanted to check on his son. And since I am his Head of House he's coming by to see me later so that we can discuss the-"
"You're lying."
Severus's mouth struggled not to drop open in complete shock. How on earth did he know that? What, he was a mind reader now?
He swept his robes around him and stomped over to his desk. Sitting down, he reached for his quill and started marking papers he had left from too many weeks before. He shouldn't be slacking like this over a kid. "I am not lying."
"You are." Remus stood up and slid his chair all the way over to the front of his desk. Sitting back down he stared at him for a moment before leaning forward on his arms. "I could always tell when you were lying Severus. The years haven't changed that much between us has it?"
Remus flinched as soon as the words escaped his mouth. So not the right thing to be saying right about now.
Severus threw his quill at the desk then pushed away from it, trying not to cause him bodily harm. "Oh but of course. Let's just pretend that horrible prank that almost ended my life never happened! Let's just go on about our lives, even though you never talked to me again! Treated me like I was some leper! Ha! If that isn't irony. You never lacked for friends. Or even someone to just talk to. 'Everyone talk to Remus. He's great! Always nice! So polite!' I hate for your feeble mind to try and come to terms with this but yes, things have definitely changed! And now, I have to try and find a way for your secondary godson to get his life back! So if you'll excuse me." And with a flick of his wand, Remus flew out of the chair and towards to exit.
Remus stumbled against the painting, staring at Severus with sad eyes all the while. He could beat himself up over what he said. When he noticed that Severus had went back to marking papers he slipped quietly out of his rooms. He figured it was time to go check on Harry anyway.
But he would be damned if he was going to let Lucius of all people visit Severus tonight. He had some people to talk to.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Running his hands through his oily hair, Severus tried to concentrate on grading the papers in front of him but…his students were just so stupid. These were simple, easy questions they had to answer and they couldn't even do that correctly.
Murmuring a spell that would have his quill to the grading for him, he got up and went into his kitchen. He needed any kind of liquor he could spare right now. Harry and his werewolf were going to drive him insane one of these days.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Albus sat in his office, pouring everything in his mind over what that list could mean. Yes, it seemed that these very powerful magicians, wizards, and witches alike had somehow, in one way or another, de-aged back into children. But somehow they reverted back to their original selves, no worse for wear. Without the use of a potion.
They had very powerful magical cores. Why, Merlin himself was on the list. Could that mean that Harry was just as powerful?
Fawkes raised his head and started whistling loudly. Albus blinked a bit wearily then looked up at Fawkes who quieted as soon as he caught his friend's attention.
"There's got to be a connection I'm not seeing here. Why, there are not even that many names on the list! What is it that I'm not seeing…?" Albus muttered mostly to himself. Fawkes stretched his wings out then flapped them a bit before gliding over to his desk. Albus just shoved half of the contents to the floor to make room for him. As Fawkes settled down, Albus gently laid a hand on his head and began to pet him softly.
He turned to look at him, twirling his special flavored quill around which he had been nibbling on for some time. "I don't suppose you know anything do you?" he joked.
Fawkes stared before leaning over the list, lightly tapping each name in seemingly random order with his beak. He settled back after tapping on 'Lyra Olivia Bradford', trilling softly as he looked at Albus.
He stared at sheet of parchment in front of him before marking next to the names, the order in which Fawkes had tapped them out. After marking Lyra's name he slowly drew his quill back to his face, as shock dawned onto his face. He looked at Fawkes who was busy cleaning out his feathers then stared back at the list before shooting up out of his seat like a madman.
"Fawkes! Dear friend you've done it again!!" Albus shouted before rushing out of the office. Fawkes watched him leave then flapped his wings again and settled down on the desk, curling himself around the list. His beak rested on Lyra Olivia Bradford's name as he drifted off to take a short nap.
