They took Severus to the potions lab after his nap.
Harry and Hermione smiled happily. "Hello, Sir, mrs Weasley, hi Sevvy. Are you going to help us?"
Severus nodded. "I will help make poshions."
Harry grinned. "I'm glad, Sevvy, we'll do much better if you help us. Your cauldron and ingredients are over there, on the table. Remember what we told you?"
Severus nodded. "Do not touch Hawwy and Hemenees things."
"Or any of the other bottles in the lab," Hermione said, handing him some harmless ingredients from the shelves; sweeteners, cornstarch, dried flowers.
"Here, these you can use." She smiled at him. "Wouldn't know what we'd do without you, Sevvy."
Molly and Albus kissed him and left quickly, not wanting to draw out the goodbyes too long. Severus pouted just a moment but brightened up quickly when Harry let him add some ingredients to the antidote he was brewing. They all worked quietly for a while, Severus occasionally asking for more ingredients. They had given him some empty potions vials (unbreakable charm on them) to store his 'potions'. After a while, though, Severus had filled all his vials and Harry and Hermione were busy with their own potions. He looked around. He wasn't allowed to touch anything, but the potions on the shelves looked so interesting. He slowly reached for them…
"SEVERUS!" Hermione's voice came. Uh oh. Caught.
Hermione came over. "Why are you doing that? We told you not to touch any of our stuff?" Severus blinked. "Bottles full. Only wanted to look…"
Hermione sighed. "Come here. Some of these potions are dangerous. I'll get you more bottles but don't touch our stuff again, you hear me? If you want anything, just ask." She returned to her cauldron after depositing several more bottles on Severus' desk. Severus sulked. The real potions on the shelves looked so much nicer then his own.
Hermione had returned to work. Harry was on the other end of the room, tending to the mandrakes. The potions were simmering nicely. Severus was about to drink some highly poisonous stuff she had forbidden him to touch. She was running out of Hellebore…
WAIT! Severus was WHAT? She turned around to see him uncork the bottle.
"SEVERUS! NO!" he started and dropped the vial. A quick 'evanesco' and it was gone. Hermione trembled.
"Oh dear sweet Merlin, please don't let him remember this once he's back to normal," she pleaded, as she walked over, grabbed the three year old potions master by the arm and firmly slapped his backside. He yelped and glared at her. Harry, who had looked up from his work at Hermione's first scream, turned around to hide a grin when Severus sulkily rubbed the sore spot.
Hermione dragged him to a chair in the corner, turned it to face the wall and planted him on it. "You are going to stay there until Albus returns to pick you up," she said, in a voice so much like McGonagalls' at her worst that even Harry shuddered. She walked back to her cauldron, shaking slightly.
Harry smirked. "Don't you think it's a bit cruel, making him sit down after a slap like that?" Hermione collapsed on a chair and tried to hold back tears. "Oh Harry, I was nearly too late. He could have…"
Harry patted her hand awkwardly. "But he didn't, 'Mione. We'll just have to watch him closer, now that we know we can't trust him to obey."
Albus Dumbledore walked into the potions lab happily, twirling his brand new wand. What he saw suggested the afternoon hadn't gone very well.
Severus was sitting on a chair in the corner, his toys had been cleaned away. Hermione was bottling antidote with trembling hands, while Harry was sorting out ingredients, clearly staying near Severus to keep an eye on him. The teens looked up when he entered.
\"Hermione? Harry? Is everything ok?" he asked, worried.
Hermione shook her head. "I'm sorry headmaster. We…we forbade him several times to touch the potions but he did anyway. The second time he had uncorked a bottle of poison, and I was just in time to get rid of it. I was so upset I slapped him."
Dumbledore paled. "SEVERUS!" he bellowed.
Severus came walking towards them, still sulking. "She hit me," he complained, "it huwt." Dumbledore looked at him sternly. "Why did Hermione hit you, Severus?"
The potions master turned crimson and stared at the floor. "Well?" the headmaster said. "Because I looked at the poshion." Severus admitted guiltily.
"Only looked at it, Severus?" Dumbledore pressed.
Fidgeting nervously, Severus had to admit "No, I took it."
"Harry and Hermione told you several times you were not allowed to touch their things. Had you forgotten?"
Severus' face suggested he was wishing the earth would open and swallow him. "No," he whispered, "just wanted to look…"
Dumbledore grabbed his shoulder firmly and pushed him towards Hermione. "You are going to apologise to Hermione for disobeying her, young man, and then you are going straight to bed after supper without a story."
Squirming, Severus looked up at Hermione a bit frightful. "Sowwy Hemenee."
Hermione nodded. Dumbledore gave him a slight push. "Wait for me by the door."
He turned to the other two. "When is it safe to give him the antidote?" he asked.
Hermione and Harry exchanged glances. "It's Tuesday now, but he's doing much better, clearly…I'd say tomorrow afternoon, after his nap when he's nice and rested."
Dumbledore smiled. "Very well done, you two. Thank you again for all your efforts. Oh and Hermione," he said, teasingly, "how much have you been pleading this afternoon that he wouldn't remember what happened when he's grown up again?" The twinkle was back in his eyes.
Hermione blushed slightly. "All the time," she admitted.
Dumbledore had taken his charge up to the tower, fed him a quick supper and had sent him directly to bed. He shuddered when he thought what could have happened. Sighing, he got to work on the letters the owls had brought in during his absence. When he went into the living room an hour later to get a drink, he heard noise coming from the bedroom. Sobs.
He walked in to see a crying potions master laying stomach down on the bed, head in his arms. He took pity on him and sat down on the bed.
"Severus." The body stilled in an attempt to hold back the sobs.
"Severus, roll over so I can see you."
A very wet face was turned towards him. "I was bad, Ablus, Hemenee an' Hawwy an' you is all mad at me."
Dumbledore decided it wouldn't do to lie. "Yes, we are very mad at you. You were told you weren't allowed to touch any other potion except your own and you disobeyed Hermione. When you promised you wouldn't."
Severus nodded, a choked sob escaped. "So you don' love me now," he concluded resignedly, sounding lost.
Dumbledore pulled him on his lap. "We do love you, Severus. That we're mad at you because you were naughty doesn't mean we don't love you. We always love you, when you're good and when you're bad. When we are mad at you and punish you we do that because we love you, too. You see, that potion you took, it was very dangerous, it would have hurt you very much. That's why you aren't allowed to touch them. And when you disobey us, like you did this afternoon, we have to punish you. But we will always, always love you, no matter what you do."
Severus nodded, relieved. Dumbledore gave him another hug. "You gave us such a fright, Sevvy, we would be so sad if anything happened to you, our precious boy."
Severus put his thumb in his mouth and relaxed against Albus, resting his head on the headmasters shoulder. Albus still loved him even when he'd been bad. Everything was fine in his world.
The next day, Dumbledore, the teens and Minerva spent a lot of time with Severus, playing, running over the grounds…all the things they would not be able to do anymore after that afternoon.
"I'm going to miss him," Hermione sighed sadly, as they walked up to the professors, watching Severus rolling a pingpongball for the kitten, "We're not even sure if he'll keep the cat."
Harry nodded in agreement. "I think we'll just have to get used to the idea that the friend we have now will be gone after today. Professor Snape will probably be very angry at us. But we'll miss Sevvy…"
The adults sighed, not knowing what to say.
Severus ran over when he saw Harry and Hermione. "Hemenee, Hawwy, you not mad at me annymowe?" he asked, shyly.
They smiled. "No, Sevvy, we're not mad anymore."
They were totally taken aback when the potions master threw himself into their arms. They awkwardly patted his back. "It's ok, Sevvy, we love you too."
Severus was put to bed with a lot of cuddles and kisses and stories by all four of them. If he was surprised at all the attention he didn't show it, merely enjoyed it greatly. When he was finally asleep the four stayed in the bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed or on the sofa, watching him sleep.
Minerva suddenly grinned mischievously. "I haven't had time to show you this before, but I've made something…thanks to Hermione," she added.
Pulling a book from her pocket, she showed them. It was the photo album Hermione had sent Severus for Christmas, now filled with all the photos Minerva had taken over the past two and a half weeks. A photo of Severus asleep, thumb in his mouth, lion held tightly in his arms. They grinned, because the live person at that moment was doing exactly that. A photo of Severus on the swing Hagrid made, being pushed by the headmaster. Severus playing with the kitten. Christmas. Severus sitting curled up next to Albus on the couch, listening to a story the headmaster was reading, his head resting on the older wizards shoulder. With Harry and Hermione in the potions lab, and out in the snow, making a snowman.
Albus discreetly wiped away a tear before saying cheerfully "You do know that we'll all need to go into hiding when he sees this, don't you?"
Harry and Hermione had gone to get the potion. Minerva smiled sadly. "It's gonna be harder on them, Albus. We'll still have Severus, if grown up and more…hmmm…assertive…but they will loose their friend completely."
Albus traced the edges of the photoalbum with his finger. "Maybe, Minerva, but I have hope still for a miracle…"
When Severus woke up, he was washed, cuddled some more, and installed on the couch next to the headmaster. He looked up at them expectantly.
"Sevvy," Dumbledore began, "Do you remember when we talked about the bad potion Horace made you drink?"
Severus nodded. "Howace was bad, snakeman was bad too."
Albus nodded. "Yes, Sevvy. But you see, Harry and Hermione have been working very hard to find a potion to make it better so the bad potion Horace gave you won't hurt you. And they did it, they have made the good potion."
Severus looked at Harry and Hermione and smiled. "Thank you Hawwy and Hemenee," he said. They smiled at him, trying to suppress tears. Then they hugged him and handed Dumbledore the vial, who poured it in a glass with some juice. "Here, Sevvy, you need to drink this."
Severus drank obediently and sighed. "Feel sleepy," he said, and rested his head against Dumbledore.
"That's supposed to happen," Harry said, "The mandrakes did that too. Apparently it's easier for the brain to make the adjustment when asleep. We added a bit of sleeping potion, because normal sleep isn't enough. It wears off in about ten minutes and then he should be back to normal."
Hermione wiped away a tear. "Maybe we should go, Harry, I doubt he will want to see us when he wakes up."
Dumbledore shook his head. "No, Hermione, stay. He won't be pleased but I want him to know it was you two who have helped him, I don't care if he'll be angry or not."
"Will he remember these past weeks?" Minerva asked.
Hermione shrugged. "That is the one thing we don't know. We've tried to find out, test it, but we just couldn't get anything conclusive."
Nearly fifteen minutes later Severus opened his eyes. The four people in the room watched him intently. It took him a while to focus on his surroundings.
"What are you all staring at?" he asked, growling. He saw a mixture of relief and sadness on all four faces.
"What happened?" he wanted to know, as he sat up straight.
"Horace forced you to drink a de aging potion. Your mind was reduced to three years old. It seems Horace has joined the ranks of the Death Eaters. Harry and Hermione managed to brew an antidote over the holidays." Dumbledore summarized neatly.
Severus looked around, still a bit confused. "My mind was three years old…?" he wondered, face screwed up in thought. Then his eyes opened widely and he turned on the headmaster. "Headmaster, where have I been staying then?" but he clearly already suspected the answer.
"With me, Severus," Dumbledore calmly replied, "Minerva and I have been looking after you." At the mention of Minerva Severus turned his head and looked at the witch. He looked horrified and bolted from the office.
"Actually, that went a lot better then I expected," Dumbledore said to the three unnerved people at his desk. "I expected at least screaming, throwing of furniture and attempts to deduct points from all four of us."
Minerva snickered suddenly. "I thought he WASN'T three years old anymore…?" Then she became serious. "Albus, what are we going to do now?"
The teens were looked at the desk, where the photo album lay, sadly remembering the good times they had. Albus saw them and his heart hurt for them. "We'll let him cool off in his dungeons for now," he said, "And tonight I will go see how he's doing and try to talk to him."