For my first ever reviewer, lmill123 – I couldn't agree more.
A staff meetingRon and Hermione's argument came to an abrupt halt.
There, sitting where Harry had been was a shrimpy, black haired, green-eyed boy about the age of five. His hair was all over the place, his glasses were cello-taped together and his clothes that were at least two sizes to big had rips and tares in them.
They both stared. The boy looked around him in shock then looked apprehensively at the two teens in front of him.
"H-H-Harry?" Hermione asked, the first one to get over her shock. The small boy looked at her.
"Yes?" he said timidly.
Hermione looked at Ron in amazement, who raised his hands to rub his eyes. At the movement, young Harry winced, as if expecting to be hit. She saw this and scowled inwardly but put a smile on her face to keep him calm.
"Harry?" she said gently, kneeling down next to him while he leaned away from her. "How old are you?"
"Six" he whispered, still glancing between the red head who was staring at him and the girl with the scary smile.
"Would you mind coming with us? There's a person I'm sure would love to meet you." She said carefully.
"I-I-I can't. I have to clean the kitchen floor and the bathroom before uncle Vernon gets home, or I'm gonna be in trouble."
"It's ok Harry. How about we first go see Professor Dumbledore, then we'll help you with your chores?"
"O-okay" he said, preferring to stay with these two people in such a scary place.
Hermione stood up and took Harry's hand, leading him to Dumbledore's office, with Ron still numb with shock walking behind them.
They luckily did not meet any of the teachers patrolling the corridors, and Harry gazed around him in silence watching the moving painting in astonishment. He jumped a meter in the air when a staircase to the left of them moved, causing him to stay a lot closer to Hermione.
"Thank Merlin we haven't seen any ghosts" she thought, feeling the boy's hold on her hand tighten.
"Strawberry laces" Hermione stated once they got to the statues guarding Dumbledore's office (being a prefect she knew the password). The movement of the statues caused Harry to jump back a couple of steps, tumbling over Ron's feet. Quick as a flash Harry rolled into a ball, ready for the punishment but none came. He opened his eyes to find once again the teens were staring at him, and showed no hint of hitting him, though there was anger in the girl's eyes.
"It's alright mate," Ron said cheerfully. "Completely accidental. Why don't you hold my hand while we go on the escalator?"
Harry stood up carefully, ready to bolt at any time, and took hold of the lanky one's hand while stepping on to the moving staircase.
Albus Dumbledore quickly signed the letter and yelled "Enter". He placed the letter in an envelope and handed it to Fawkes who disappeared in a flash of flames. It was then he looked up to see Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger holding the hands of a very scared, familiar looking little boy.
"Oh dear" he said. "I should have known this would happen." The two youths stared at him then burst out –
"You knew this would happen?"
"What would happen?"
Dumbledore simply sighed and called Dobby to his office.
"Dobby, please take Harry to get something to eat and a glass of warm milk. Nothing too sugary at this time of night, of course." Dobby bowed and gently led a mute Harry to the kitchens.
Dumbledore then pointed his wand at his throat and said "Telecomulus". When he next spoke it was obvious he wasn't only being heard in the office.
"Faculty members, please report to my office as soon as possible. We have a slight problem." He ended the spell be saying "Finaleté" and looked at the prefects.
"I will explain once the faculty arrives. Please, sit." While Ron and Hermione sat, he created enough seats for all the staff. Within ten minutes all had arrived silently, sometimes in night clothes, shooting curious glances at the two who should be asleep by now.
"We have a problem." Dumbledore stated, watching each person in turn. "Before I explain, let me just give you a little history lesson. When Merlin was nineteen years old, quite a few stressful events happened to him, if you remember, causing three major meltdowns. At each time his subconscious turned him into a six-year-old child, for different lengths of time. This allowed the brain to recover and when Merlin returned to his normal state he was ready to return to work. A sort of forced sabbatical, if you will. From what you may have already gathered, I simply reply yes, Harry is currently six years old." The teachers stared at him in shock, while Ron ran his hand through his hair. Hermione however, was angry.
"YOU CALL THIS A SMALL PROBLEM? You KNEW this was going to happen!" she growled, standing up. "And yet you did it anyway! You knew he was powerful! You knew he was bound to be stressed! How could you now realise that Telepathy lessons, along with potions, metamorphmagus lessons, self-defence classes, and elementals lessons would leave hardly any time to breathe! Not to mention his normal classes and making him captain of the quidditch team! And not only that, do you not realise what he is like now, what he was like then? He curled into a ball when he fell over Ron, as if he was going to be attacked! How could you have left him to grow up with those people? Why did you put so much pressure on him?" Hermione came to the end of her rant almost in tears, to hear Harry come back into the office with Dobby.
Harry, seeing everyone in the room looking at him, winced and took a step back, but paused when he felt Dobby behind him. He was trapped.
"Harry?" said Dumbledore gently. "Could you come up here please?" he slowly made his way up to the desk, to find himself being placed on the mans lap, Harry's solemn face looking up into Albus' sad but twinkling eyes. He tensed as he was pulled into a hug, but allowed it as he had no choice.
"In answer to your questions Miss Granger," Dumbledore said gently. "Yes, I knew what could happen if Harry was to have become over stressed, but I assumed he would either be able to handle everything, or at least would talk to hid friends about it, but then it seems old habits die hard." Dumbledore looked down to find the thin boy had fallen asleep in his arms. "I made Harry captain so he could have a bit of fun, and I did not have a choice about what to do with Harry after his parents died. His aunt was his last remaining blood relative, and so would protect him from Voldemort as he was growing up." Hermione nodded in comprehension from her seat yet still felt anger at how Harry was treated at the Dursley's.
"Now," said Dumbledore, turning to the teachers. "From what I remember of Merlin's adventures, he remembered them as if he was in a dream, meaning that although consciously Harry is 6, 16 year old Harry is still there, watching through his eyes. And so, from my point of view, if you continue to teach him, Harry will, at least subconsciously, continue to learn. Just don't expect any homework just yet. He will return to normal when he has calmed down. Please look out for him, as I am sure some might want to take at chance at nobbling the Gryffindor's prize captain and seeker. You may now go back to your beds. Goodnight."
With that the teachers left, talking animatedly to each other, knowing what would be the first topic discussed at the staff meeting the next morning. Dumbledore stood up, careful not to wake the boy. With Ron and Hermione, he walked to Gryffindor tower with the light boy in his arms. "Too light." He thought silently to himself.
Hermione went to her own dorm when they arrived, and Dumbledore followed Ron to the boy's dorm. Harry was placed carefully on the bed, his trainers and socks removed, and clothes transfigured into pyjamas.
"Take care of him." Dumbledore whispered before disappearing down the stairs.
"Ron watched him go and looked at the sleeping child. "Oh Harry." He thought. "What have you done to yourself this time?" With that Ron crawled into bed, quickly changing into his pyjamas and falling into an exhausted sleep.
Wow. Long chapter, but then I wanted this part all together, so there you are. Please be nice if you review.