Disclaimer: None of the characters that you recognize are mine. They belong to Ms. J K Rowling and not to me.
Author's Note: Thank you to everyone that read and/or reviewed this fic! I'll try to update as often as possible so it may be everyday or once a week!
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Dusty D, my new Beta Reader! You beta read this so fast and gave so many great suggestions! Thank you!
Want to Play Catch?
Chapter 3
"I don't wanna be old any more!" Little Ron wailed.
"Change me back!" Draco screamed.
Professor Snape looked slightly taken aback at the sudden mood change of the children. "Uh, let me rephrase," he began.
The crying stopped and the only sound heard was the kids sniffling once and a while.
"There is no antidote," he repeated and held up his hand as the chins began to wobble and the eyes began to tear. "But, the spell will wear off. You will turn into your normal selves in two to four weeks."
The tears forgotten, the children decided to yell in relief instead.
"Yay! I'm cured!" Ron cheered.
"I can go back to my house!" Hermione said, dancing around.
"Excuse me," Little Harry said softly, tugging at Dumbledore's robes. He was by far the quietest of the four. "But my Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia will be angry with me if I'm not there to set the table for dinner."
Dumbledore looked down at Harry, a little sadness in his eyes. "Not to fear, Harry. You will be returned intact with no time lost from when you left. This is correct, Severus?" He asked, looking at the Potions Master.
Snape swiftly nodded his head.
"So you see, Hermione, you will be returned right in the middle of your piano recital. And you Harry, will be home in plenty of time for dinner," Dumbledore said, patting Harry on the shoulder.
"Will we remember any of this?" Hermione questioned. "Being here, I mean?"
"No, you will not," Snape answered.
"So, what are we going to do for two to four weeks?" Draco questioned, lazily leaning back in his high black chair and making a move to put his tiny size two feet on Dumbledore's desk.
"Think carefully before you make that move, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore cautioned.
Draco thought for a moment and looked as if he was about to lay his feet on the oak tabletop anyway before placing them on the floor where they belonged.
"Excellent move, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore said with a smile. "And to answer your question, we'll keep you occupied here in the castle. You can attend a class, maybe fly with a student on a broom, and fill up on all the sweets you want. I guarantee these weeks will fly by and you will find yourself in familiar surroundings in no time."
By this time, the children had grown rather bored of Dumbledore's speech and were anxiously looking around for something to amuse themselves with.
"Would you like to go see a class now? I believe you are supposed to be with Professor McGonagall for Transfiguration," Dumbledore suggested, sensing their restlessness.
"Yeah!" Hermione agreed, her eyes bright. "I would love to learn all I can while I'm here."
"I don't know," Ron said slowly. "Can't we play with the brooms?"
"Can you really fly on a broom?" Harry asked in awe.
"Yes, it's fantastic!" Draco said, eager to input something. "I've been flying since I was three."
"Can we go flying?" Ron pleaded.
"After the class you may," Dumbledore said, looking at Hermione's look of disappointment about missing the class. "Trust me, you will get to try anything you want during your stay. I really think you should go to Professor McGonagall now so she can Transfigure your robes to fit you."
The children's robes were the same ones from when they were older and were many sizes to large on the youngsters.
"Oh, okay," Ron said, exhaling loudly. "If we must."
"Good. Before you go, I must caution you. Under no circumstances are any of you to leave this castle. There are some bad people out there who, if they knew what condition you were in, would take full advantage of that. You are safe as long as you are here so please, don't set foot outside these walls. Understand?" Dumbledore was in particular looking at Harry and nodded in acceptance when Harry said "I understand."
"Also, I know you, Ron and Draco, know about using owls to send letters to your family. You are not permitted to send anything telling about your condition as of yet. I don't want to letters falling into the wrong hands." Ron and Draco nodded while Hermione and Harry just looked at each other and shrugged.
"Thank you. Now, Professor Snape, would you pleases escort our guest to Professor McGonagall?" Dumbledore requested.
Snape looked with distaste at the four pairs of eyes staring at him. "As you wish," he said, clearly wishing he was elsewhere. "Come along, children. Keep up with me."
The kids had to practically run all the way to McGonagall's classroom to keep up with Snape's quick pace. "Here you go, Professor McGonagall," Snape said as he opened the door to her room. "These children will be with you."
"Oh my!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed. "Whatever happened?" She asked as she recognized three of her own House students and Draco Malfoy.
"They had an accident with their potion," Snape said dryly. "They'll turn back in two to four weeks. Good day," he said, quickly turning on his heel and leaving the doorway.
The class was silent once again as they saw their classmates as miniature replicas of the students they knew.
"Wow! Is that a wand?" The silence was broken by Hermione's look of astonishment at Lavender's wand that dangled from her relaxed hand.
"Can we do magic?" Ron asked.
"Yeah! That guy said we could do whatever we wanted as long as we're here," Draco said making as to take Parvati's wand from her.
"Now, now," Professor McGonagall said, getting her voice back after the shook of seeing her students so different. "You can watch. Look, I'll make those robes of yours smaller."
"Me first!" Ron said rushing up to the Professor.
"No way! She was talking to me," Draco exclaimed.
"I'll do Harry's and then Hermione's because they haven't fought," Professor McGonagall said reasonably. The four students watched in awe as she made all their robes their perfect size.
"Wow! I'm not tripping over them anymore!" Hermione said giddily.
"We'll have so much fun here!" Harry said, getting excited about the prospect of making actual friends and getting away from his horrid aunt and uncle.
"Yeah! Let me try to change something!" Ron said.
"No me!" Draco said and this time he took Neville's wand from his desk.
"Give it here!" Ron yelled.
And then they both proceeded to yank on the wand furiously.
"It's mine," Draco said through clenched teeth.
"No. It's. Not. "Ron yelled back.
A loud CRACK was heard and both boys fell backwards, each with a piece of Neville's wand. They had broken it in half.
"Good grief," McGonagall said. "This is going to be a long month,"
~
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