Just Another Self Insert

by Seraphina Elias

A/U A group of six adult friends wake up at Hogwarts as first year students. Side note: If you don't want to actually spend time reading however many chapters of "this", then this might not be the fic for you. It's my first time writing HP fanfiction and the first time I've written or posted anything in a long time, so it's not perfect and probably not to everyone's taste.

11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

The students sat around Minerva's office, playing a round of Wizard Uno. It was similar to regular Uno, only the cards magically drew on their own. The professors had gone up to Hogwarts to meet with Dumbledore and the students had to follow along, just in case a Death Eater or twelve decided to show up while they were away.

"I was thinking," Rain started, "What if we just started actually trying to be good at spellcasting and potions?"

Preston looked puzzled, "What do you mean?"

"What if we started playing to our strengths?"

Sadie asked, "Like, only did what we're good at?"

Rain reached into the back pocket of the pants she was wearing and pulled out a piece of paper, "Sort of." She unfolded it, revealing everyone's marks for each class. "I've been tracking everyone's grades since we got here."

"How did you-"

"They don't guard them closely enough. That's not the point though."

"Then what is?" Liam inquired, almost annoyed.

"Each of us has something we're really good at. Like, impossibly good at, for being first years." She turned the paper around to show everyone, "Liam, you're a lot better than the rest of us at anything related to the Dark Arts. Emmett, you apparently are the best with potion making."

"What am I good at?" Ash interjected.

"Um… Flying. Apparently Madam Hooch wants you on the Quidditch team. Preston is also pretty great with flying. Sadie is better at Charms than the rest of us. I'm apparently our Herbology pro, which I don't understand."

Preston got overly excited as he said, "Yo, we can totally make those ageing potions now and finally be adults."

"I don't know," Rain protested, "We'll get into trouble if we start brewing potions without Snape's help."

"It'll be fine. I'll even take the blame for the whole thing, if we get caught."

Sadie shot up, "I'll get the cauldron."

Emmett sighed, "I guess I'll head to Snape's classroom with Sadie and get everything set up for brewing."

Preston headed out the door as he looked over his shoulder, "Rain, let's go get the ingredients. Ash can look out for us while Liam keeps a lookout for Sadie and Emmett."

The two groups parted ways to do what they needed to do. Sadie and Emmett had the brewing station set up and ready to go in record time. Rain and Preston had a bit more of a challenge trying to get the ingredients together. They couldn't let Snape know they'd been in his closet to get the supplies, so they had to duplicate anything they took. By the time they'd found each ingredient, duplicated them, and returned to Snape's classroom, almost twenty minutes had passed.

"It's about time!" Sadie said as they walked in. "We thought you'd gotten lost."

Preston scoffed, "You try finding these ingredients. Snape reorganized his inventory, so we had to look around to find everything."

"Yeah, he has it all organized by what type of ingredient it is," Rain clarified. She grimaced as she added, "It's kind of weird. I don't like it."

Emmett, who already had the water boiling, told them, "Well someone hurry up and drop in the newt spleen, then the banana."

"What about the unicorn horn?" Asked Ash.

"What about it?" Emmett returned.

Sadie tilted her head as she looked at the horn, "Does this recipe call for unicorn horn?"

Emmett shrugged, "I can't remember, but honestly, I'd rather put it in than leave it out. Worst case scenario, we end up immune to low grade poisons instead of ageing."

Liam commented, "Someone should have brought their textbook."

"Yeah, well we didn't know I was excelling at potions until a little bit ago, so forgive me for not remembering to bring it from home."

Emmett gestured for everyone to add the ingredients as he continued to stir the building water. Ash dropped in the banana, Preston dropped in the newt spleen, and Sadie put in the powdered unicorn horn. The liquid began to bubble even more and a sparkling smoke rose from the cauldron. The pearlescent green color wasn't exactly what they were expecting to see when they looked in at their brew, but neither was the smell.

"That's absolutely rank," Rain said as she fanned the unpleasant aroma from her face.

Emmett winced, "Yeah, well find me a way to make boiled newt spleen smell good." He turned his head to get a breath of fresh air before turning back and asking, "Who's the brave one that's going to be drinking this?"

They all replied in unison, "Straws."

Each of them found a stirring utensil from around the room. Four of them were the same size, two of them were shorter. Whoever got the shortest of the two other glass sticks would have to drink the potion to test it out and see if it worked. Sadie and Liam drew the shorter sticks, but Sadie's was much smaller, which meant that she would have to drink the potion. It took some encouragement, but she finally plugged her nose and took a large ladle and filled it to the brim, then gulped it down.

"Feel anything?" Rain asked.

"No." Sadie put her hands out and said, "I don't think it worked. Does this mean I'm just immune to poison now?"

Emmett shrugged, "Either that or you drank nasty smelling water for no reason. Are you sure you don't feel anything?"

"Yeah I'm sur-" She slowly began shrinking and said, "Oh god, guys, I think we did something wrong!"

Within a matter of seconds there was a pile of clothing where Sadie had been standing and a crying baby was laying in the middle of it. Everyone looked at each other in horror, not sure of what just happened. The potion they were trying to brew was supposed to age them forward by a decade or so, not age them backward. They scattered and began looking around the room for Snape's book, hoping to find a way to reverse it. Before they could locate it, the sound of the moody professor's voice calling for them sent all five of the students to stand in front of baby Sadie, who was still crying on the floor.

Snape entered the room and asked, "What are you all doing in here?" He approached the group and began pulling students back toward the door, "You were told to stay in the office. Where is-" He stopped at the sight of the baby on the ground. "Is that?" He looked from the cauldron to the group of students. His eyes widened and he commanded, "Stay here with this thing. I need to go get your mother."

He stormed out and Preston asked, "Did he just say 'your mother' in reference to Professor McGonagall?"

Liam nodded, "Yes he did."

"I don't think Snape likes babies," Rain pointed out. "He almost looked terrified. Anyone else want to turn themselves into a baby and make him cringe?"

"It may even confuse anyone out there trying to get to us, so I think we should do it," Ash pointed out.

The other five students wasted no time as they consumed the green liquid by the ladle, then sat in a circle as they waited for the transformation to take place. One by one they shrunk in size, leaving piles of clothes around them. Sadie had stopped crying shortly after Snape left, but the other five screaming babies got her to fuss some more, filling the hallways of Hogwarts with the sound of chaos and displeasure of the cold floor they were laying on.

The professors entered the room with Dumbledore within ten minutes after Snape first discovered Sadie. Minerva looked down at the babies laying on the floor, then reached down to pick up two of them, "I thought you said Sadie was turned into a baby. You never mentioned the other students."

Snape stood with his arms crossed from the door and told her, "That's because Sadie was the only baby when I left. They must have taken the potion, but didn't revert until I went to get you."

"What am I supposed to do with six newborn babies, Severus?" She handed both of them to Lupin, then bent down to pick up two more, handing them both to Sirius. "One, maybe, but six?"

Dumbledore reached down and picked Sadie up from the ground, "Well, you'll just have to look after them until we find out what they did and how to reverse it."

Sirius spoke up, "Easier said than done, I think. It looks like the cauldron is completely empty. Whatever they brewed, they drank all of it."

Minerva picked the last baby up off the ground and said, "Severus, I need you to figure out what they did and how to fix it. As much as I wanted to have a baby, I never intended to have to look after six of them at a time."

Sirius looked at her with a wide grin on his face, "I kind of like the little guys."

Dumbledore handed the baby he was holding over to his long time friend and told her, "I think they may be cold. Maybe take them home and get them wrapped up to stop the crying?"

"Yes... Um... Severus, if you could get the car for us, I would appreciate it."

"I'll do anything, just as long as I don't have to deal with them," He said as he pointed to the babies on his way out the door.

Minerva looked down at the two babies she was holding, "If they're going to be stuck like this long enough, we may need to take a trip to Diagon Alley."

Arthur and Molly Weasley entered the house from the fireplace and were immediately greeted by the sounds of wailing newborns. Minerva was pacing in the kitchen with Ash, Harry had shown up and offered to take Liam, Lupin was upstairs trying to rock Preston to sleep, while Sirius sat on the couch with Sadie in his lap, and Rain and Emmett laying on the corner cushion to his right.

"Well, hello," Arthur said, a bit surprised by what he was seeing. He turned to Minerva and asked, "I'm not one to judge on how many kids one person has, but you already have six children that are the same age, are you sure you want six more?"

Molly nudged him, "Arthur."

Minerva explained, "These are my six children. They decided to consume an aging potion that reverted them into babies."

Both Weasley's looked shocked. "Don't worry, Snape is working on how to reverse it," Sirius reassured them.

Molly walked over to the two babies that were laying next to Sirius and handed Rain to Arthur, while she tried to sooth Emmett. "How long have they been crying?" She asked.

Minerva looked at the grandfather clock and replied, "Almost two hours now. It took me a little longer than I care to admit to send you the letter. We had to deal with getting them warm and cozy first."

Mrs. Weasley laid the blanket that Emmett was wrapped in on the couch as she explained, "They like being swaddled. Minerva, if you'll come over here, please." The professor made her way from the kitchen and stood beside Molly, watching as she explained how to swaddle a baby. "If you are going out, you'll want to leave the top corner as it is and lay the baby down in the middle of the blanket. Take the right side, fold it over and tuck it under the baby's left side, but leave their arm out. Now take the bottom corner and fold it up, tucking it under the shoulder of the arm that's exposed. Now, fold the left corner of the blanket over and tuck it under the baby."

Minerva took the blanket covering Ash and laid it out on the couch. She began wrapping the baby, doing her best to make sure the blanket was tight enough to keep her bundled, but not so tight that she was uncomfortable. Despite the amount of wriggling that the youngest of the girls was doing, McGonagall managed to successfully swaddle a baby on her first go. She looked up to see Sirius attempting it, while an irritated Sadie tried to break free.

"She doesn't seem to like this very much," Sirius told them.

Molly passed Emmett to Arthur, then took Sadie from Sirius and told him, "Put the blanket down on the couch." Once the blanket was laid out, she returned the fussing newborn to him and said, "Now follow along with me." She said as she motioned for Authur to give Rain to her, causing the infant to cry.

"Shhh, it's okay," Sirius said to Sadie as he gently held her tiny hand between his thumb and index finger.

Molly put Rain's blanket down beside Sadie's and carefully laid the baby on top of it, "Follow my lead."

With the help of Minerva, Molly, and Arthur, Sirius was able to figure out the proper way to swaddle a baby. He picked up a securely wrapped Sadie and said, "That wasn't so hard. How do you feel about that little lady?" Sadie responded with a yawn and he concluded, "I think she's fine with it."

Lupin appeared at the top of the stairs and asked, "How did you get yours to stop crying?"

Harry called up to him, "Swaddling."

"What in the name of Merlin is 'swaddling'?"

Arthur answered, "It's when you wrap the baby up so they stop crying."

Lupin made a move toward the stairs and hurried down to the living room, "Alright, show me how to do this."

The blanket that was once wrapped around Sadie was beginning to come undone and Sirius said, "Actually, I think I've done something wrong."

Molly motioned for him to set the baby back down and try again and as she began, "I still can not believe that you don't know why to swaddle a baby."

"I've never been around a baby until recently."

Lupin approached as he told her, "To be fair, I don't know how to swaddle a baby. I didn't even know that was something you could do until just now."

Molly gave him a sympathetic look, "Of course now, why would you dear?"

Snape turned away to hide his grin while Minerva sat and ogled over Ash, leaving Sirius speechless. Harry and Lupin helped each other get the hang of how to wrap the babies up, with Molly standing over their shoulders to correct any mistakes. It took a few tries from Harry, but eventually all six of the babies were swaddled and drifting off to sleep. Minerva, Lupin, and Sirius breathed a sigh of relief as they all sat down on the couch.

Molly looked over at Harry and finally asked, "Harry, my dear, what are you doing here?"

"Oh," He responded as he looked from the baby he was holding, then to Minerva. "Well, you see, I was here to tell you that the social worker expedited the paperwork and she's dropping everything off with me tomorrow to have you sign it."

Minerva raised an eyebrow at him, "Tomorrow? That seemed awfully quick."

Harry nodded, "We may or may not have a few squibs helping us along."

Molly asked the other woman, "So you're officially adopting them?"

"Yes," McGonagall confirmed. "It would appear sooner, rather than later."

Sirius commented, "Well, hopefully they don't need to meet with us again. I don't know how we're going to explain the sudden lack of eleven year olds."

The front door opened behind them and Sirius announced, "There is no way to reserve the potion they made."

"What?" Minerva inquired, not sure she heard her partner correctly.

"The potion appears to be irreversible. I don't know how they did what they did, but I can not undo it. However, it appears as though they duplicated the ingredients, so the spell will eventually wear off. I don't know how long it will take, but eventually they will be eleven again."

"Is there a way to make the effects permanent?"

Snape let out a fake laugh, "You're insane. There's no way I am putting up with six screaming babies for the next however many years until you're ready to let them grow up."

Lupin shrugged, "They're not so bad once they stop crying." He looked over at Minerva who was caressing the side of Ash's face, "Besides, it looks like Minerva is enjoying this just as much as Sirius."

Minerva sighed, "Unfortunately I have to agree with Severus on this. We can't keep them this small forever."

"In any case, you will need to go to Diagon Alley and pick up a few things. You need a pram, formula, clothes, nappies, dummies, maybe a few hats if you plan to take them out in the sun," Molly informed her.

"They have shops that sell this stuff in Diagon Alley?" Sirius asked.

"Yes they do. In fact, Luna Lovegood just opened up her own shop next door to Gringotts. She has everything you'll need. If you'd like, I can take you tomorrow."

"That would be great," Minerva replied.

Sirius asked another question, "I can come, right?"

"I'll need help toting them around, so I would appreciate it."

Snape sat down at the farther end of the couch from anyone holding a baby. Without hesitation, Harry stood up and handed Liam over to him, "I should probably head out. I need to be up early tomorrow."

Snape reluctantly took the infant from Harry and uneasily sat, holding the baby away from him. Arthur and Molly weren't sure what to make of his reaction, while Harry, Lupin, and Sirius smirked. Minerva made him squirm for a few minutes before she took the baby from him. Molly and Arthur each gave back their babies a short time later and followed Harry's lead in returning home. As they disappeared into a cloud of smoke, Snape got up to fix himself a cup of tea.

"I don't know why you don't like them, Severus," Lupin started. "They aren't so bad when you get them calmed down."

"It's awfully quiet when they're not crying," Sirius pointed out. "Very strange to not have children yelling at each other or trying to ride their brooms in the house."

Minerva nodded, "Hopefully this means I don't have to worry about any of them getting hurt."

Snape turned to look at her, "I wouldn't get comfortable just yet. Rain has the uncanny ability to hurt herself without trying."

"Well, she'll just have to wait until tomorrow. I need to get some sleep if we're going shopping tomorrow."

"What are we going to do about the sleeping arrangements?" Asked Sirius.

Minerva smiled, "Looks like you and Severus can sleep out here. I'll conjure up a guard rail for your side of the bed and let them sleep with me tonight."

Snape rolled his eyes, "This should go well."

Molly Weasley led Minerva, Snape, Sirius, and Lupin down Diagon Alley. They each had a baby resting in a sling across their torso, except Minerva who had decided to keep Rain and Sadie close. The streets were loud and teaming with other magically inclined people, which made the babies a bit fussy. It wasn't until they stepped into Luna's shop that nearly all of them had settled and Minerva was able to deal with Rain's screaming.

"What's wrong?" Molly asked as she took Sadie and handed her to Sirius.

Minerva took the newborn out of the sling and replied, "I don't know."

Snape told them, "For the love of Merlin, she clearly has a sound sensitivity issue. She's autistic. It was probably far too loud for her outside and her brain doesn't know how to process all that sound."

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "How do you know this?"

"I did my reading. Didn't you?"

"Well of course, but I skimmed. I figured we would learn as we go with her since the first chapter told us every child is affected differently."

"You can't just learn as you go, Sirius."

Minerva spoke up, "She needs to be someplace quiet then."

Snape took Rain back from Sirius, despite his objection. He put the baby in the same sling, pulled it up around them, and pointed at it with his wand. Rain wriggled for a few seconds before settling down entirely. The rest of the professors and Molly looked at one another in confusion. Minerva tried to open the sling and look in on the baby, but Snape stopped her.

"I took away all the sound except your heartbeat and put Sadie in there to keep her company. If anything, it'll keep Sadie calm too. The thing spends most of her time screaming. I don't know how Rain didn't set her off."

"Severus, how did you know to do all this?" She asked.

"I told you, I did my reading."

"Hello everyone" A woman's voice interrupted. Luna Lovegood was standing in the middle of the store with her hand folded in front of her, "What brings you into the shop?"

Minerva smiled, "Luna Lovegood, how are you?"

"I'm doing well, thank you." She looked around at the infants being carried and asked, "Whose children are these?"

"Uh…Well, they're mine.. Luna." Minerva hesitated. "It's a long story, but they-"

"These are the students she's adopting, but they had a little mishap with an ageing potion," Molly explained. "Do you have the care package ready?"

Luna smiled, "Come with me Mrs. Weasley."

As the two women disappeared into the back of the shop, Sirius and Lupin looked around the shop, while Snape followed McGonagall to the front counter. Any time Rain or Sadie squirmed she would look in to make sure they weren't awake. Snape would peak in with her, but never said anything about either of them, leaving Minerva to gawk on her own. By the time Mrs. Weasley had reappeared with Luna and the collection of goods in tote, Sirius and Lupin had managed to snag a few things for the babies.

Molly thanked Luna as she set down a medium size box, then turned to Minerva and said, "Arthur, the kids, and I wanted to gift these items to you, seeing as you have so much to buy already. Arthur modified this pram for you so that you can fit all six of the children in it." Mrs. Weasley pulled out a buggy that had an oversized bassinet on top to lay them in. "There's also two cots, one for the boys and one for the girls, but they are in pieces in the box." She reached back in and pulled out a large diaper bag, "There's several bottles and cases of formula in here. There's also a month's supply of diapers for each baby."

"You didn't have to do this," Minerva started.

"Oh it was no problem. Everyone was so excited when we heard you needed baby items."

Minerva was taken aback, "Surely you didn't tell them I had a baby."

Molly chuckled, "Heaven's no. I told them about the mishap and that you needed to stop by and pick up a few things. The boys came in with Fleur and Luna to make sure you have everything you'll need for the first few weeks."

Sirius nodded at her, "Well that was very kind of them."

Luna walked toward the register and asked Sirius, "May I ring those up for you, sir?"

"Oh course, Miss Lovegood." He handed her the bundle of blankets and armfull of onesies he'd taken from the racks and shelves. "What are you up to nowadays, Luna?"

She smiled at him as she checked the prices of each item, "Oh, you know, a little bit of this and that. Mostly discovering new species of magical creatures, but there's a lot of down time."

Lupin handed over a few cases of dummies and said, "Two of the children were showing an interest in magical creatures before this happened."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. Rain and Sadie were actually spending their afternoons trying to lure in animals and whatnot from the forest. Minnie drew the line at Nifflers."

An amused giggle escaped Luna, "They managed to get a hold of a Niffler?"

Sirius shook his head, "Oh no, but they asked if they could have one and she told them no."

"If they ever are allowed a pet, I think they'd rather enjoy having a Kneazle."

Minerva jumped into the conversation and told Sirius, "Let me have Emmett so I can put him in the pram."

Sirius put his arms out and responded, "He's all yours."

"Thank you. Remus, would you be a dear and put Liam in?"

Luna handed a large bag with all the items inside it to Sirius and told him, "Good luck. I hope they don't put up too much of a fuss."

Sirius nodded at her as they began to walk out, "We'll see you around, Luna. Thank you for the pet suggestion."

Sirius walked into the room to find Snape laying back in the bed with Rain and Liam sleeping on his chest. "I thought you didn't want anything to do with them?"

"I don't," He started, "I just happen to know that if babies don't get the proper amount of attention, they turn into Jack the Ripper."

Sirius clutched Sadie closer to him and replied, "That's a bleak way to look at it."

"He's not wrong," Minerva said as she entered the room and handed Snape two bottles. "They don't do as well if you don't meet their needs. Rain apparently hates being put down and Liam needed a bit of love. I was busy preparing everyone's bottles, so I asked Severus to hold them for me."

"If you don't like them, then why are you rubbing their backs?" Challenged Sirius and he began stroking the back of Sadie's head.

"Because if I stop, they scream." He carefully sat up and laid Liam down in his lap while he fed Rain. "So why haven't you bonded with any of the other babies, except Sadie?"

"I have. In fact, I spent an hour with each of them after we got home. Sadie just happens to like me more than everyone else."

Minerva chuckled and she picked Ash up out of the crib to feed her, "Don't flatter yourself, Sirius. We all know Sadie likes you just as much as she likes Snape. The two of you are the only ones who can hold her without her screaming her head off. She still has crying fits, but at least they aren't as severe."

"By the way, did Madam Pomfrey ever get back to you about that?" Snape inquired.

"I take her in tomorrow to get looked at."

Sirius gently rested his cheek on the top of Sadie's head, "Hopefully she's not sick."

Minerva began to pace across the room while Ash ate, "According to the books I've read over the years, she would be letting us know as often as she could if there was any sort of problem. Her bowel movements would also be different."

"I think I can agree that anything is better than the blowout from earlier."

Snape glared at him, "Don't remind me."

They three of them sat and talked while they fed all six of the babies. Minerva paced the room, while Sirius stood in place swaying, and Sirius sat on the bed, feeding them two at a time. Once they were fed, the professors took turns burping, changing diapers, and then dressing them. Even though Snape and Sirius seemed to be enjoying themselves, Minerva wanted to be the one to put them to sleep before they all went to bed. She spent a few minutes rocking Liam and Ash, then Preston and Emmett, and finally Sadie and Rain.

Even after being rocked, though, Sadie wouldn't stop fussing and her mood was rubbing off on the only other baby who was awake. Snape didn't hesitate to take Rain from Minerva. Both she and Sirius watched on in disbelief as the man they'd known to be cold and bitter, began walking through the house trying to calm down a screaming newborn.

"Is he feeling alright?" Sirius asked his partner.

Minerva handed Sadie over to him as she replied, "I assume he's feeling just fine. It's a bit strange, but I suppose even the hardest heart can be melted by a baby."

"He's been like this all day," Lupin whispered as he stood just outside their bedroom door. "I caught him humming to Sadie."

"Humming? You're sure it was Severus?"

"Well, I interrupted him, so I would assume unless someone had consumed a polyjuice potion beforehand, that it was Snape."

They all heard Snape tell Rain, "Don't listen to them, they're jealous."

Not wanting to ruin the moment they were watching, Sirius lowered his voice a little more and whispered to Minerva, "You know, I was thinking about something. When they get back to being eleven, maybe we could get them a pet like they were wanting."

Minerva looked up at him, "They turned themselves into babies. I doubt that warrants a prize."

"I mean, they managed to brew something Snape couldn't reverse. I think that's pretty impressive. That's not why we should get them a pet, though. A pet would help keep them busy and might prevent another accident like this."

Lupin replied, "They're very curious children, so I don't doubt that we'll have further issues like this. Little bumps in the road though. A dog other than old Padfoot here might be nice."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Well I wasn't considering getting them a dog anyway. Luna Lovegood suggested getting them a Kneazle."

"Minnie, what do you say to another cat in the house?"

Minerva looked over her glasses at Lupin, "You think another cat in the house would bother me?"

Lupin shrugged, "I wasn't sure."

Sadie was still whimpering when Severus walked over with a less distraught Rain and told Minerva, "Let me see her and you can get Rain to sleep."

They made the trade off and Snape walked off, speaking to Sadie in a low tone as the infant began to cry over being moved. He made sure she was pulled up into a fetal position against his chest before grabbing one of the blankets that was draped over the back of the couch and wrapped it around her. Sirius and Lupin gave each other a look before returning to their rooms, Minerva following behind Sirius with a smile on her face.

"He seems to be enjoying himself. I don't think I've ever seen Snape like something before," Sirius told her as he got into bed.

Minerva got under the blankets in the center of the bed, laying Rain on her chest and pulling the comforter up to the baby's armpits, "He definitely hasn't been treating them like a disease."

"He didn't want to touch them yesterday. What happened?"

"I'm not sure." Minerva told him.

The pair laid in bed until Snape made his way to the room and put both of the girls into their crib next to Ash. Rather than get into bed right away, he checked on each baby to make sure they were all sound asleep before he walked over and turned off the ceiling lamp. All that lit the room were the candles Minerva had lit when the room went dark. Snape crawled into bed and almost as soon as he'd pulled the blanket over his shoulder, the sound of a small cry came from the boy's crib.

Sirius pulled himself out of bed as another cry came from the girl's crib, "I'll handle this."

Hermione and Molly showed up the following day to help bathe all six infants. Despite the amount of reading she'd done since the incident happened, she felt more comfortable having someone with experience there to help her. The opportunity to snuggle tiny bundles sounded better than sitting up at the castle, so Hermione had no problem tagging along when she ran into Mrs. Weasley just outside Dumbledore's office. Being an only child, she never got the chance to hold a baby and she would use any excuse for the experience.

"Alright, Minerva, just make sure the water isn't too hot, nor too cold, and support their necks." Molly took Preston from Hermione and removed his diaper before gently placing him in the right side of the sink. Seeing there was no fussing, she informed the professor, "Sometimes they might not like being bathed, but other times they do like Preston here and stay asleep."

"Alright," Minerva responded as she took the nappy off of Sadie. The baby wriggled and began to cry as Minerva dipped her into the water. "Please sit still, Sadie," Minerva pleaded.

"Here, you take Preston, I'll handle this little one," Molly told her as she put her left hand under Sadie's head while supporting Preston's with her right. As Sadie screamed at the women bathing them, Mrs. Weasley told her, "That's enough, let's get you washed up so Hermione can dry you off."

Sirius, who was looking over the two women's shoulders asked, "Hermione is drying them? I thought-"

Minerva looked over her shoulder, "Don't worry, you'll get to help too."

Molly cupped some water into her hand and poured it onto Sadie's head as she explained, "You can do this with a cup if you'd like, but I prefer using my hands. Just get their hair wet, then take some baby shampoo, and lather it." She began gently massaging Sadie's head, activating the suds from the viscous liquid. "Now, if they decide to move their-" She lifted up her hand to find that every bit of Sadie's dark locks had fallen out and clung to the soap. She addressed the multiple gasps in the room and assured everyone, "I'm sure it will grow back."

Sirius said in a quiet tone, "Her hair is all gone."

Minerva asked, "Are you sure she's alright?"

Molly nodded, "Minerva, I'm certain. Poppy would have known something was wrong when you took her in to be seen."

"I'm sorry, I've just never seen that happen before."

"I haven't either, but I've heard that it can, on occasion. Every baby is different, so she might be the only one to lose all her hair."

"She can join the other bald ones," Snape replied as he looked in the direction of the infants laying on a section of the counter that Sirius cast a cushioning charm on.

Lupin popped up from his room a few minutes later and announced, "According to this book, it's common for a baby to lose their hair. It will grow back eventually."

"Obviously, Remus. She wasn't bald as an eleven year old."

Molly rinsed off the baby, then motioned for Hermione to come take her. The teenager was happy to oblige as she wrapped Sadie up in a fluffy towel and made her way over to the couch. Once Minerva had finished bathing Preston, she took him and meandered over to Hermione to check on how she was handling the task of dressing a newborn. Sirius and Snape bathed Liam and Emmett, leaving Molly to bathe Ash and Rain with Remus.

"They're so small," Hermione commented as she sat back with Sadie resting on her shoulder.

Lupin finished diapering Rain and threw a blanket over her as he replied, "I think they're growing by the day. This one was definitely not this long yesterday."

Snape rolled his eyes, "They're supposed to grow."

"I know that. They just seem to be growing faster than I thought babies were supposed to."

Minerva stepped into the conversation, "I thought the same thing, Miss Granger." The blanket that was covering Sadie's bald head fell and she asked Snape, "Can you go get a few of the bonnets from the top drawer of their dresser?"

As he stood up, he asked, "What colors?"

"I don't think the colors matter. I just forgot to set them out before we gave them their baths."

Sadie arched her back as she stretched, reaching up to the top of her head with both of her hands. Hermione took it as a signal that the baby's head was cold and promptly placed the blanket up over her and said, "I'm sorry, Sadie. There you are."

"Where are the softer ones we picked up from Diagon Alley?" Severus called from the bedroom.

Sirius answered, "They're all in the wash."

"Alright." He reappeared and hurried over, handing over a small cap to everyone except Mrs. Weasley. "Rain gets fussy if you put the rougher fabrics on her. She has a full head of hair, so she should be fine as long as you keep her head covered with her blanket."

Molly looked impressed, "I must say, I didn't expect you to be the baby expert in the house."

He sat back and told her, "I'm not. I just don't want to listen to her scream."

"In any case, I'm impressed."

Minerva was about to add to the conversation when Liam spit up all over Sirius and caused the room to erupt into laughter. He held the baby away from him as if it were diseased as he marched to the sink to clean the both of them off. It wasn't the first time one of them had puked on him and it probably wouldn't be the last, but it still made him feel a bit queasy. Luckily, he hadn't fully dressed Liam yet, so all he had to do was wipe off his shirt and the baby's torso, mouth, and chin before returning to the circle. They sat and talked with one another until Molly had to take Hermione back to the school for dinner.

After they left, Severus decided to get started on dinner. He used a few charms to get the meal prepped and cooking while he helped Minerva prepare the bottles for all six infants. Lupin and Sirius stepped in to fix all four adults' plates. As they sat around the table and talked about their day, the babies babbled at each other, mimicking their caregivers. The sun had completely gone away by the time the dinner table was cleared and everyone began getting ready for bed. Lupin turned in first, followed by Snape, then Sirius, and finally Minerva after she got the final baby to sleep. The house fell silent, which was a nice change for the professors. They had a long few weeks of teaching ahead of them and they needed the rest.