Chapter 4 – Drowning

The following morning they started their research as planned. He was slightly surprised to see she could not only follow instructions provided by textbooks, but that she had ideas of her own as well. It was her idea to leave the boomslang skin out, because it could have too much influence compared to the part of the animal you wanted to be. Reluctantly he agreed she had a good point there, but argued the boomslang was needed in a shape-changing solution, as it shed its skin and changed shape. Their greatest problem was the lack of test subjects. Without a trained mediwitch in vicinity, both were reluctant to test any of it themselves. And as it was meant to change humans into animals, they couldn't try the actual effect of the potion on mice.

In the end, the girl offered to try the potion. He put some of it in a goblet and added one hair of the cat, Crookshanks as it was called fittingly. The girl looked slightly scared, but took the goblet and drained it. For a while, nothing happened.

Suddenly she started to shrink quickly, her legs and arms getting the same length. Her face, however, remained human and she grew neither fur nor tail. He cursed inwardly, while she was, understandably, on the verge of crying.

"What do we do now, Professor?" she asked in a high and squeaky voice that trembled with tears. He thought in silence and decided there was only one possible solution.

"A Mandrake Restoration Draught. Regrettably I haven't thought of preparing that, but it should be finished in about two days." He walked to the cupboard to get the ingredients. Swiftly and silently, he prepared the ingredients. She walked towards the bench where he was working and looked up pleadingly.

"Could you please lift me up, sir?" she asked. "I would like to know what you're doing." Of course, he thought, doing what she had asked him to do. She obviously didn't trust him anymore. It was awkward, lifting this creature, human in cat's shape. She looked like some photo's he had seen once, from some disastrous Muggle medicine, that made baby's being born with hands attached to the shoulders, without proper arms in between. He just hoped the mandrake would cure this, or he could never face Albus again. Not to speak of his own conscience, that had already enough to process. 

-^-^-

Two days later he checked the Draught and asserted it ready. He hadn't seen the girl – or cat – since he had prepared the ingredients. He assumed she had been too embarrassed to show herself and probably even too shocked too eat. Not wanting to have to explain to the house elf that she had to go and fetch a girl that had half changed into a cat, he decided to go himself. He bottled a dose of the Mandrake Restoration Draught and headed for her rooms. He knocked at the door and thought he heard a faint squealing voice say, "Come in." When he opened the door, he didn't see her at once, curled up as she was in one of the chairs by the fire. He cleared his throat.

"The Mandrake Restoration Draught is ready." He announced. "I thought you would want to take it as soon as possible." She jumped off the chair and stretched rather cat-like. Doubt and relief were trying to show on her incompatible features.

"Could you help me take that, sir?" she asked reluctantly. She had to hate asking him for a favour. She would probably have prepared the mandrake herself, had she physically been able to. He knelt down and held the phial before her. She smelled it and shivered. Then a determination came on her face and she swallowed the liquid he poured into her mouth.

It took only a split second to start working. Nonplussed, he watched her while she grew to normal, human proportions again. After a few seconds, she was standing before him, looking like she had done before the… accident. He realised, suddenly, he was still kneeling before her, now rather too close to be comfortable. There was no way for him to get up without touching her, and she would certainly not want that. He remained where he was, waiting for her to back away, get away from him as soon as she had the chance. She didn't, though. She raised a hand, tentatively, but thought the better of it and dropped it again.

"Er… thank you, sir." She finally said. His mind raced. She was half turned into a cat, by his doing, and now he had brewed a potion he wasn't even certain of that it would work, and now, while he was kneeling before her, she thanked him? He struggled to regain his composure and the control of his voice, but then asked in a polite, but cool, voice: "What would you be thanking me for, Miss Granger?" He regretted that his position prevented him from radiating his usual demeanour. It had its effect, somehow. While she stepped aside, he rose from his awkward pose and crossed his arms.

"I thank you for allowing me to get a human body again, instead of leaving me as half a cat, as I would think you capable of," she answered in a matching coldness.

"Miss Granger," he tried, "I would by no means leave you in that…" he hesitated, not wanting to insult her now.

"Oh, you wouldn't, would you? Glad to get rid of the nightmare of every teacher, always asking questions and giving answers. The most annoying student Hogwarts has hosted ever since… you, probably. It surprises me you didn't poison me before, it would have been easy enough, wouldn't it?" she interrupted. He started to loose his, already small, amount of patience.

"Yes, Miss Granger," he said coldly. "It would have been rather easy to poison you, and right now, I regret that I didn't. It would have been the perfect opportunity to leave this place. With you, the threat to the Dark Lord's existence, dead, I would be welcomed amongst his followers again."

"Well then, poison me, or use Avada Kedavra straight away, as you have done so many times before, Death Eater." She managed to spit out the last two words. "I can't imagine being killed worse than being forced to live in a house with you, anyway."

"How very…" he paused, sounding truly dangerous now. "…Gryffindor, Miss Granger." He continued. "Of course, I should have known. All Gryffindors would elect death over having to live with a Death Eater. Just like the Potters." He snapped.

"It was different with Harry's parents!" she protested. How would you know, girl, where you there? "Voldemort had come to kill their son! They saved his life, like his father saved yours!" A well-aimed, poisonous sting. He now voiced his previous thoughts.

"How would you know, girl?" letting the last word sound as an insult. "Where you there?" This one seemed to have a little impact on her.

"You know as well as I do that I wasn't there. But they told us, Professor Lupin and the Headmaster. They told us how Harry's father saved you from a full-grown werewolf. You had a life debt with him, you know?" Right into one of his sensitive spots.

"Of course I know. And I paid the debt, twice, for your information. The second time I saved the life of a Potter was when you so kindly set my robes on fire. The first time was when I told Dumbledore that the Potters were to be attacked. It was me who told the Dark Lord he had to go there on his own." He snapped, now truly enraged. "She was a Mudblood, like you."

"I understand you perfectly now. The only reason you let me in on your so-called research was to get a test subject. A worthless Mudblood, not much better than a guinea pig. You are a true Death Eater, whatever Dumbledore may think of you. And would you now be so kind as to leave my rooms? I believe we don't have to spend any time together." She said in a sneer he didn't think her capable of.

"Do you expect me to be dismissed like a student who has just got a reprimand, Miss Granger? I would like you not to forget our mutual positions, in which I was the superior, last time I checked."

"Very well, Professor" she said with emphasis on his title. "I will leave this room now. Would you please be so kind as to close the door after you have left?" she said, while turning towards the door with a swish of her robes.

"I hate the way you think you can throw my flaws into my face and get away with it," he sighed.