Quidditch League | Season Nine | Holyhead Harpies | Round Seven | Chaser One

Word Count: 1288

A/N: Thanks once again to my awesome teammates for beta-ing!

Prompt: Write about an Herbology incident.

Optional Prompts: Hogwarts Hospital Wing; "You're doing it all wrong!"; rivals

Call the Babysitter

Albus Dumbledore was a man of great patience. He took pride in always managing to keep a calm, cool demeanor when dealing with students and faculty alike. He always did his best to sort through their problems, help feuding parties find a compromisable solution, and send them on their way with a cheery smile and positive attitude.

What he wasn't prepared for, however, was to be faced with his Deputy Headmistress and Potions Master, who were arguing, yelling really, at the top of their lungs.

Especially since they'd both seemed to have been de-aged to teenagers.

"My fault? My fault?" Minerva screeched, outraged she jabbed an elegantly long finger at Severus, who had just claimed the whole situation was the result of Minerva's stubbornness.

"Minerva, please." Albus adopted the most soothing tone he could muster, but the pair were really starting to get on his nerves. He'd watched them both grow up, he had known them since their first days at Hogwarts., But to have them both here, before him, as children, at the same time, seemed to stretch his patience more thinly than usual.

"Why don't you both take a breath—"

"You were the one who egged the Weasley boys on, Severus!"

"I did no such thing!"

"Yes you did, and you know it! You had to push them over the edge, didn't you?"

"Minerva, Severus, please, calm down so we can figure this out." Albus waited with his hands clasped and placed gently on the desk in front of him, until both teenagers stopped ranting long enough for him to get a word in.

"Let me get this straight," he said. "You both happened to walk in on Pomona as she was busy with a class, and the Weasley Twins blew something up—?"

"A plant, yes," said Severus.

"A rare form of mimbulus mimbletonia, to be exact," Minerva clarified. Severus shot her a look of pure hatred.

"—and somehow you and – Rolanda, was it? – managed to de-age yourselves back to fourteen years old?"

"How exciting you make it sound," Severus said dryly. This time, Albus and Minerva gave him the death glare.

Minerva turned back to Albus, who was still waiting to confirm what little information he'd managed to gather. "Well, not exactly. Why don't I start from the beginning?"

"Oh, goody, a lecture."

"Severus, let her speak."

Minerva threw a polite nod in Albus' direction, and then she began her tale.

2 hours earlier…

Minerva glowered at Severus through her square-shaped glasses. "Why on earth would you need to speak with the Weasley Twins?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.

Severus returned her look. "Not that it's any of your business, Minerva, but, since you insist on knowing, I have some points that need deducting as I neglected to do so earlier."

"But why must you speak to them in person? Not that I want points deducted from Gryffindor, but surely you can perform the deduction from wherever you choose, or simply, do the adult thing and wait until class has ended."

Severus smirked. "Ah, always so curious." Then, without another word, he began to walk away from her, heading towards the Herbology classroom.

Minerva hurried to catch up. Pomona was teaching a class. She couldn't possibly just barge in, much like Severus seemed to be doing.

Nevertheless, Severus went right on ahead with his mission, and the door slammed behind him. He surveyed the classroom, grinning with pleasure at how terrified the young students looked.

"Mr. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, so nice to see the both of you here."

"Are we in the wrong class?" the first twin asked jokingly. "'Cause I don't remember having Potions today. Do we have Potions, George?"

"Nope," replied his brother. "Maybe it's Snape who's in the wrong class. Did you get lost again?" he asked Severus.

Minerva watched from the doorway. Severus seemed to be keeping his calm, though, she knew from experience, the Twins were enough to drive any sane teacher crazy.

"I interrupted Professor Sprout's class today for an important matter, Mr. and Mr. Weasley. It appears I've forgotten to remove the points you lost earlier this morning."

Severus didn't see one boy wink to the other, but Minerva did.

"What d'you reckon, Fred?" George grinned at his brother. "Does Snape need to be taught a good lesson?"

"All day," said Fred, "Any day."

"Poppy, be careful."

"Does it hurt?"

"No."

"Then let me—"

"You're doing it all wrong!"

Poppy Pomfrey stepped back in defeat. "Fine then, you do it!" she said to Minerva, who was stubbornly refusing the bandages the medi-witch was trying to wrap around her wrist.

She and Severus had come storming in moments before, with footsteps so thunderous Poppy thought the floor would break beneath them. Rolanda was quick to follow, with shrieks out, "You'll never guess what happened! You'll never guess what happened!"

The odd markings on Minerva's hand were an easy fix, of course, despite their odd shape: a simple little squiggle, but with a line running through the center.

That wasn't the odd part.

The odd part, though Poppy was still having a hard time believing it, all three teachers appeared no older than fourteen.

Explanations had been given, of course: the Weasley Twins had pulled a stunt in Herbology Greenhouse aimed at Severus which Minerva had attempted to block, yet it still ended up affecting both of them. Rolanda had spotted them as they made their way to the Hospital Wing (Pomona demanded they be examined) and eagerly ran back into the classroom to get the boys to "do her," as well.

And, like the silly children they were, Fred and George had complied.

"Ooh, what does this do?"

Poppy turned to see Rolanda shaking a box of pills.

"Ro, quit it."

To her relief, Rolanda put the box down (albeit none too gently) and sat back down on the bed closest to her. She and Minerva looked exactly how Poppy remembered them during their school years, as did Severus, but all three women had watched him grow as a young teenager so it wasn't quite the same.

"I don't know what to do," Poppy said finally, after many attempts to reverse the so-called prank.

"Seriously? You don't know what to do?" Rolanda bounded over to the other girls, resembling a toddler who just found out the joys of pure, processed sugar.

"I do need help sometimes," Poppy fired back. She loved her friend, but Rolanda could be oh-so-annoying at the worst of times.

"How old are you? Fifty-something? Don't they fire people for not knowing stuff at that point?"

"Shut up, Ro, you're not helping."

"Is she always this annoying?" Severus asked from the other side of the room.

Minerva sighed, without glancing at him. "Unfortunately, yes."

"...And, wisely, Poppy suggested we ought to see what you had to say. So here we are."

"Well," Albus huffed. The teenagers – Merlin, he couldn't wrap his head around saying that – had spun an interesting tale. "That was certainly something. Remind me to give the Weasley Boys a talking-to."

"But what about us?" Severus whined, although he wasn't one for complaining. "We can't stay children forever."

"Right, right, of course." Albus scratched his chin thoughtfully. "You know, I have something that might do the trick."

He got up from his seat and walked over to the shelf, where he reached in and pulled out a small vial.

"Here. Give some to Rolanda on your way out."

Minerva took it, and Severus said, "This had better work."

"Oh, I'm certain it will. But you had better change your tone, Severus," Albus teased. "I might just have to call the babysitter."

Words could not describe the force of Severus' glare.