Something He Never Had
By: Mischief-Manager06Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter…unfortunately. All that belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own the plot…that's it. Yeah.
Summary: AU 5th year. Harry is staying at Hogwarts for summer vacation. Professors McGonagal, Dumbledore, Snape, and Madame Pomfrey are there as well. After making an accident while brewing a potion, Professor Snape is turned into a five year old. Dumbledore makes the wise decision of choosing someone to be the deaged man's guardian. Who does he choose? Harry, of course. The teen's not too thrilled about the idea…but what happens when he starts to feel attached to the potion's master?
A/N: Okay. I really, reallyhope everyone likes this story. It's the first piece of fan fiction I've written, so I'm sorry if it's horrible. Please review…flames are welcome…they might be ignored…but they're welcome.
Chapter One: A Deaged Potion's MasterHarry Potter clamored out of the entrance to the Gryffindor common room and headed to the Great Hall, practically skipping. He was three weeks into summer vacation, which had, so far, been going great. Just two weeks after he returned to the Dursley's, Professor Dumbledore had shown up in the backyard, scaring Aunt Petunia, who had been spying on the neighbors, half to death.
Harry had hoped that the old wizard was there to take him to the Burrow where he would spend the rest of the summer. Unfortunately, the Weasley family was visiting Ron's older brother, Charlie, in Romania. Hermione was traveling as well, and Sirius and Remus were tending to important business for Dumbledore. The headmaster had, however, given Harry the option of staying with the Dursley's or coming to Hogwarts. Naturally, the fifteen year old had immediately replied that he could be packed in five minutes…he managed to complete the task in four though. After a quick goodbye to his er, ever-so-caring relatives, the two had taken a portkey to Hogwarts.
As he entered the huge dining hall, Harry surveyed the room quickly before taking his usualseat in front of Dumbledore and diagonal from McGonagal. He was disappointed to see that Madam Pomfrey wasn't there. He had become quite fond of the nurse, and they had both taken to having in depth discussions aboutdifferent methods of magical healing, which Harry found interesting. Getting over his disappointment, he greeted the two professors that were there.
"Good morning Albus," he said cheerfully "Minerva."
The first few days after his arrival, both of them and Pomfrey (he now called her Poppy) had insisted that Harry call them by their first names.
"Good morning, Harry," Minerva and Albus replied simultaneously.
As Harry piled food onto his plate, he noticed, relieved and happily surprised, that the only other staff member that had stayed at the school wasn't there. Professor Snape was spending his vacation at Hogwarts, too, and he was the only adult there that Harry hadn't gotten close to. In fact, he'd grown to dislike the potion's master even more, if that was possible. Thankfully, the man had seemed to try his hardest to avoid the teenager, and vice versa.
Taking his mind off the greasy git, Harry enjoyed a nice breakfast with Albus and Minerva, chatting about this and that. They alwayskept the conversation light at meals.For those short periods of times, Harry couldget his mind off the fact that, only a few weeks ago, a raging, maniacal, evil, andcruelmurderer had risen from the dead and wasnow after his blood.
Harry finished breakfast, and just as he was getting up to leave, thinking of going out to the Quidditch pitch, Albus called him back.
"Harry," the aged wizard said, "I would be eternally grateful if you would be so kind as to do me a favor."
He had a strange look in his twinkling blue eyes. Harry knew that look. He also had a good idea of what was coming. Please don't ask me to go get Snape, he thought silently.
"I need to see Severus about something. Would you go get him please?"
Crap.
"Oh, sure Albus. I'll go get him," Harry mumbled.
Turning, once again, to leave, he caught Minerva's glance and gave her a look as if to say Why must my day be ruined like this? She admonished him with aslight glare,but he saw the corners of her mouth quirk up just a little bit.
Harry made the trek down to the dungeons as slowly as possible. As he finally entered the dark, damp hallway that led to Snapes's classroom, he began talking to himself. He did that quite a lot when he was annoyed…or mad…or nervous…or bored.
"Who wants a classroom down in the dungeons anyway?" he muttered under his breath. "I mean, they're dark, dingy, gross, cold, and they stink. There are plenty of other available rooms that have a much more amiable atmosphere. Snape's room is almost as bad as Treylawney's. At least her's has windows. Then again, I suppose it fits his character. Slimy, depressing, and creepy."
By the time Harry finished his rant, he had reached the classroom of doom. (Dun Dun DUN!) He knocked on the door a couple of times, and received no answer. He tried again, and got the same results. After a good five minutes, he decided just to walk in.
"Professor Snape, Albus— oh Merlin!" he cried upon entering the classroom, which was in complete disarray.
The walls were covered in a suspicious looking orange liquid, shelves were hanging lopsided, and jars were broken. Harry surveyed the room in shock, and tried to find Professor Snape. He didn't see him, and made his way over the source of what he supposed was a badly brewed potion: a smoking cauldron in the corner. He was inspecting what little of the potion was left, when he spotted something leaning against one of the desks. Walking over to it, he realized that it was a pile of robes. There was some sort of lump underneath them, and they were covered in little spots of the orange substance. Tentatively, Harry reached out and lifted the folds of the robes. He finally uncovered the lump, and when he saw what it was, his eyes almost bulged out of his head.
"Bloddy hell!" he whispered, horrified.
Lying there, obviously unconscious, was a boy. Harry estimated that he was about five years old. He had soft, shaggy black hair that came just to the middle of his ears. His face was thin and extremely pale, and his expression…his expression was oddly familiar. Harry's eyes grew even bigger, if possible, and he gasped as he realized who the kid was. The smirk that was placed on that face was unmistakable. This was Professor Snape.
Oh no! Harry thought frantically. What do I do? Think, think, think…Albus! Of course. He'll know what to do! He was in the process of picking up the boy, but thought better of it as he eyed the orange potion splattered on the robes. He definitely didn't want to know what it would do to him. So, taking out his wand and muttering a quick "Mobilicorpus", he hurried towards Albus' office, Snape's body floating behind him. By the time he reached the gargoyle, he was completely out of breath.
"C-chocolate Frogs," he panted, hopind that Albus hadn't changed the password without telling him...again.
The gargoyle leapt aside, and Harry went up the spiraling staircase to the big doors that led to the office. In his haste, he forgot politeness, and burst in the room. Albus was sitting at his desk, bent over a pile of papers, quill in hand. He didn't look up as the pair entered.
"Ah, Severus," he mumbled, scribbling something down, "I see Harry brought you my message. Please have a seat. I'll only be a moment my boy."
"Um, Albus," Harry began nervously, "we have a bit of a problem."
At the sound of the teen's voice, Albus looked up questioningly.When he saw the unconscious child hovering behind Harry, he dropped the quill he was holding, and simply stared at the boy in shock. Since the headmaster seemed to be rather speechless, Harry decided to explain what happened.
"You see sir, I went to his classroom and he didn't answer when I knocked," he said, and Albus, getting over his shock, nodded at him to continue. "Well, I decided to go ahead in, and the room was a complete disaster. Things were broken, and there was a lot of orange potion on the walls. Sna-I mean Professor Snape was laying next to a cauldron, covered in the potion. From what I can tell, he accidentally deaged himself."
Albus looked thoughtful as Harry finished his explanation. After a few minutes of silence, he suddenly clapped his hands together and jumped up, practically scaring Harry senseless.
"Well, there's only one solution I can think of, and that's to take him to Poppy. I'm quite sure she'll be able to find out what happened to the potion he was making," he said, his expression half amused half worried. "Let's go. We haven't a minute to lose. This could be serious."
"Albus, I'm sorry. I just don't know what this potion is," Poppy said apologetically.
The nurse had examined Snape twice, and both times she hadn't come up with anything.
"It's okay Poppy. You did your best," Albus sighed. "Can you at least tell us if the potion could be harmful to Severus in any way?"
He looked down at the sleeping child in concern. Severus had grown to be like a son to him, and if anything bad happened to the man...
"I don't think so, but nothing's impossible," Poppy replied. "The way I see it, you have two options. We can research and try to find the cure, or we can just wait until the potion wears off. If this potion is the same as most deaging potions, judging by the amount he got on him, that should be around Christmas."
Albus mulled the choices over. He looked over at Harry, who had been forced to stay by Poppy. She wanted to check him to make sure he hadn't ingested any of the potion.An ideamade its way intoAlbus's brain. Nodding decisively, he turned back to the nurse.
"Poppy, I believe it is best to just let the potion run its course. Severus will remain a child, and we'll all help take care of him," Albus paused here, to, once again,look down at the five-year-old fondly. "However, one person will be his official guardian. I would take on the roll, but I'm afraid I'm too busy to give the child the proper care he needs."
Turning to Harry, Albus smiled at the teen, who had resorted to cleaning his glasses as a way to stop his boredom.
"So," he cried brightly, "that job will go to Harry."
Well…that certainly got Harry's attention.
End of Chapter One
A/N: Well, there's chapter one. I hope you liked it. It seemed boring to me as I wrote it, but I think the story will get more exciting in the following chapters. Sorry it took so long to finish it. I've been kind of busy…and I tend to procrastinate. Review please! I'll give you pie! Thanks
Chapter Two-- How does Harry react to being named guardian? Also, a secret about Snape is revealed that just might change Harry's thoughts about him.