Chapter 15- Potions and Possession

"Can't you go any faster you stupid beaver? I have places to be."

"Malfoy, all I have to do is put this potion on a really high shelf and you'd never return to normal. One more crack out of you and..."

"Fine, take it easy Granger. Just joking," Malfoy held his hands up in defeat and backed away from the table where Hermione was working.

They had been in the deserted classroom for nearly half an hour but it seemed like ages to Harry. Harry was sitting by the window watching some first years throw rocks in the lake, attempting to provoke the giant squid. Ron was rocking back and forth in a chair watching Malfoy pace the room. Cassie was sitting in a corner absentmindedly braiding her hair.

"How much longer?" Harry asked, breaking the silence. He was getting impatient.

"Two more hours or so," Hermione replied, stirring the thing green liquid.

"Two more hours!? I'm gonna go bloody mad," Malfoy said jumping up and down. "Boil it faster! Turn up the heat! Do something to make it go now!"

"Somebody's cranky," Cassie muttered as she picked up Draco by the neck of his robes. "You need a nap."

"I do NOT need a nap! I need to be returned to my normal age so I can get the bloody hell out of here!"

"It's so cute to see you throw a tantrum," Cassie cooed as she dropped him and headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked.

"I'm getting some lunch."

"Great! I'll come with you!" He leaped off his chair and ran towards the door.

"I don't think so," Cassie put her hand up to stop him from running out into the hallway. "You can't just go out there. What do you think everyone will say?"

"But I'm hungry!" Ron griped.

"I'll bring back some sandwiches," Cassie said as she patted him on the head.

Harry heard his stomach growl. He looked up at the clock hanging above the teacher's desk. 'One o clock already? No wonder he was starving. He hadn't eaten a thing since breakfast that morning.'

"So which of you actually cast the age reducing charm?" Hermione asked after a few minutes of silence. All the four-year olds shrugged. Harry knew he had used Jelly Legs but he wasn't sure what Ron or Malfoy used.

"I hope it's not one of the charms that just wear off after a while. Otherwise, if you drink the aging potion you might become forty when the charm would've worn off," Hermione said.

Malfoy opened his mouth to argue with Hermione but Cassie came in carrying a platter of sandwiches. Harry, Ron and Malfoy nearly tackled her for the food.

"Get off of me!" She protested as they all jumped up trying to snatch the tray right out of her hands.

"Me first!" Harry demanded.

"No way Potter! I get first pick!" Malfoy opposed.

"I was the first one who said I was hungry!" Ron complained, waving his hands in the air as he jumped.

"I'm a Malfoy! I get what I want, when I want so shove off!" He pushed Ron and Harry out of the way and continued to claw at Cassie's robes.

"You little brat!" Ron yelled as he tackled Malfoy. They were locked in a brawl as they rolled around on the floor.

"Cassie. While they're busy, gimme the sandwiches," Harry begged, pulling at the edge of her robes. He was shocked when he heard the words come out of his mouth, he really sounded like a toddler. He started to wonder if the age reducing charm made you act the age that you became. But he didn't have time to think, he was hungry!

"Alright listen all you lousy tater-tots!!!" Cassie yelled. Ron and Draco stopped trying to choke each other and looked up at her in shock. "If this stupid age thing is going to make you act four then you're gonna have to try and fight against your childish urges. Now," she sighed, "Hermione's getting first pick of the sandwiches seeing as she's the one getting us out of this nightmare. Then Harry since he wasn't trying to commit murder. After that is Ron and you go last Draco since you were pushing."

"But it's not fair!" Draco lunged himself at Cassie's ankles. She dragged him along as she crossed the classroom towards Hermione. "Ron tackled me! You had to have seen that! And I don't wanna eat any sandwiches that have been touched by their filth! And I'm hungry!!"

"Either eat after everyone or don't eat at all," Cassie said as she passed the sandwiches to Hermione.

"You don't gotta be so fair all the time," Harry heard him grumble as he stormed off to the other side of the room.

After eating Harry felt much better about the whole situation. Now he wasn't tiny and hungry, but he found himself to be tiny and sleepy. Ron was too, Harry saw him yawning and straining to keep his eyes open.

"Well Hermione I think the little ones are t-i-r-e-d," Cassie said.

"Do you think we could get them to take a n-a-p?" Hermione asked.

"Hey! Just because we look four doesn't mean we can't spell!" Draco yelled.

"Then what did we say smart one?" Hermione snapped.

"You said you think we're hungry and you want us to take another sandwich," he eagerly proclaimed as he grabbed another sandwich off the platter.

Harry was exhausted now. 'Stupid four-year old metabolism,' he thought as he slowly felt sleepiness overcome him.

There was darkness. He was alone, at least he thought he was. There was somebody he had to find. A girl. She had what he needed. He just needed to get her to give it to him. He couldn't kill her, just get her to say those words. He saw her. She looked oddly familiar but Harry couldn't recognize her. All he knew was that he had to get to her. There was a white light coming from behind her. He grabbed her by the neck and tried to choke her, a weird satisfaction overcame him.

"HARRY!!!!" He woke with a start and was shocked to find him where he was. Cassie was lying on the floor clutching her neck and gasping for breath. He was standing over her; she was looking at him in fright.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you Potter?" Malfoy yelled, he started to back away slowly to the other side of the room. Everyone was far away from the two of them now. There was a long period of silence, which Harry used to try and figure out what they were talking about. He couldn't remember anything. He was in the room, and fell asleep and had another one of his weird dreams, and then...he woke up in this weird situation.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, breaking the silence.

"You...and then...it was...sinister...she was...and...oh," Hermione gasped from her corner where she was supposed to be brewing the potion. Harry was getting annoyed. She wasn't helping him, he needed answers fast. Why was everyone staring at him like he just committed murder?

"Harry," Ron said gently (which was extremely gentle seeing as he was four), "You kinda, I dunno, went crazy," he finished quickly. This didn't help much either. Now he was really annoyed.

"What!?" He asked again, much harsher than before.

"You tried to bloody murder her!" Draco yelled from his hiding spot behind a desk on the other side of the room. 'What a coward,' Harry thought. 'The day he joins the Dark side will be a sad day for their side indeed.' He was still confused. This must be some kind of a sick joke. He had been asleep the whole time, he didn't have the energy, power, or motive to try and kill Cassie.

"What?" When he asked this time it was somewhat gentler, more confusion than rage.

"You were asleep," Ron started to explain. "And then you were kinda sleep walking, you were moving really slowly, like you were hypnotized. And...you just..."

"YOU NEARLY BLOODY KILLED HER! I ALWAYS KNEW YOU WERE A FREAK! NOW I KNOW YOU'RE A FREAK WHO'S CAPAPBLE OF KILLING! WAIT TILL DUMBLEDORE FINDS OUT HIS GOLDEN BOY'S GONE EVEN MORE MAD THAN BEFORE!" Malfoy was yelling from behind the desk, his head disappeared behind it before Harry could even contemplate what he had said.

Harry still wasn't exactly clear on everything but from what they had just told him, he had apparently attacked Cassie in his sleep somehow.

"What?" He asked, this time it was filled with confusion and disbelief.

"Dumbledore..." Hermione whispered, she was still cowering in her corner of the room. "You have to go...it was Him...He made you..."

"Dumbledore made me?" Harry asked.

"No you git!" Ron said, approaching him now. "Something's going on with you and you should probably go see Dumbledore."

Now not only was Harry confused, he was angry. What did they mean something's going on with him? How could they possibly know anything when he didn't. He should know, it happened to him didn't it?

"Nothing's wrong with me," Harry said quite sternly. He didn't exactly agree with what he had just said but he didn't want all of them thinking he was some kind of lunatic.

"THERE'S SOMETHING VERY WRONG WITH YOU!!!" Malfoy accused and ducked behind the desk once more.

"Harry," Hermione whispered, apparently able to speak in full sentences again, "I think you should go see Dumbledore. Now."

"What? Even if there was something wrong with me I can't go now, I look like a..."

"Go under the cloak. I don't care what you look like right now but you need to see Dumbledore now move!"