Where is that blasted boy, he thought as he placed the last of the unused potions ingredients back in the student supply closet. He had just finished a sixth-year potions class in which they had been tasked with brewing Draught of Living Death, an incredibly complex potion that the Professor knew would not be helped by the presence of 5-year-old Harry. In consultation with the Headmaster, and at the agreement of the other professors, it had been decided that Harry would divide his time among the professors as they taught. It had not been a particularly amicable discussion between Professor Snape and the Headmaster.
"She is more than willing to have Harry sit in transfiguration with the second years this morning" Professor Dumbledore had patiently explained when the young potions professor had entered his office in what could only be described as a panic.
Professor Snape scoffed at this. Of course, Minerva would offer to watch the child, likely stocking up on copious amounts of chocolate frogs as they spoke, in hopes of returning Harry to him on a pronounced sugar high. "And when he is returned to me with the energy of a Cornish pixie?" the man sighed, slumping into the armchair across from the Headmasters desk.
"Minerva is quite capable of giving the child an appropriate amount of sugar, my boy" the headmaster returned with a smile. He had hardly expected the potions professor to take so easily to the child, nor to show such concerns about Harry being watched by the other professors.
"Her capabilities are not under question, Albus" he returned, his forehead a sea of lines "however I will allow it for today and should the child be returned without injury, we can revisit the permanence of these arrangements" he finished.
"Very well".
"Snape!" the child shouted with a smile, causing the man to look up from his desk in surprise as the little boy came running into his classroom. Dare he say it, he had quite missed the boy's company during their first official morning apart.
"Hello Harry" turning towards the child, scanning his face for any evidence of chocolate residue that might indicate an early onset sugar rush. "Have we had a productive morning thus far?"
Productive? The child thought in silence. Well, he had done quite a lot during his time with Professor McGonagall and the second years. It had started out well, tailed off a little in the middle, and the less said about the end the better in his opinion.
"Well, I should hope you have something to show for the last hour" the man continued, stacking his papers on the desk as the child stared back at him. Now he was sure something untoward had occurred, given the child's silence. "Come" he added, moving towards the door to their chambers as he gestured for the child to follow "you can relay the events of your morning over a spot of tea".
Harry took his usual position on the couch as Snape re-entered the room and took his seat in the armchair. A silent wave of his wand had a cup of tea in front of himself and Harry, whilst an assortment of biscuits appeared on the table. Despite the tray of biscuits now being a staple during their teatime, Snape had noticed that the child never took one of his own accord, instead waiting for the Professor to offer him one.
"You may pick two biscuits, Harry, however I expect them not to ruin your lunch in a few hours' time" the man spoke softly, waving towards the plate of biscuits and watching the small smile grace the boy's face.
"Thank you" he smiled back coyly, choosing a jammie dodger and a bourbon cream. Harry had never tried them before coming to live with Snape, though he had often watched his Aunt and Dudley indulge in them. When he had watched Dudley choosing a jammie dodger, he had tried to imagine what one might taste like. "I like this one" he spoke through a mouthful of biscuit.
"Chew and swallow before complimenting your food" the man spoke in disgust, before softening his expression at the look of hurt that shadowed across the child's face. "Perhaps I should add some more of those to our order when we next visit the muggle shops" he added, if only so that the child would smile again and stop looking so forlorn.
The child smiled back at him, nodding as he took a second bite of his biscuit, evidently attempting to savour the two he had been granted. "Now, tell me, how did you get along with Professor McGonagall this morning?" the Professor pressed, a pointed look at the child.
"It was good at first…"
"Last lesson I explained that we would be attempting to transfigure a beetle into a button" the Professor spoke to her class of second years, with a quick glance to the youngest occupant of the room. "I should hope that we will not have a repeat of last year, when we turned matches into needles" she continued, studying the class closely before her gaze focused on the redhead in question, "Yes, Mr Weasley?" she asked.
"Yes ma'am" the boy responded with a smirk, before winking at the small boy grinning back at him from the front of the class.
Professor McGonagall continued, introducing the objectives of the lesson, and instructing the students to collect what they needed from the supply of beetles. As she did so, she noticed a small hand raised in the air.
"Shall I get my beetle too?" the child asked innocently as the Professor walked towards the desk he had been instructed to sit at. Harry had been given a maths worksheet, with strict orders from the Potions Professor that it be completed. Minerva had been the one to suggest that the child split his time between the professors. She had advised Albus that it would give Severus some much needed respite but really, she hoped to get to know the child herself and provide him some much needed socialisation.
"I'm afraid you're a bit young for transfiguration" she told the child gently as she moved the worksheet towards the child. "Professor Snape has given you some work to complete, hasn't he?" she pointed at the sheet which the child had evidently taken no interest in.
"I don't think he'll mind if I transfillar something" the child noted, pointedly looking away from his worksheet and over to where the students were collecting their beetles.
"No, I shan't think so" she smiled back, "however, I think he'll mind if your maths work isn't completed" she added as the child looked hopefully towards the beetles before looking back at his worksheet.
Harry sighed dramatically as he lifted his pencil and scanned the first question. 'What is 5+6', well that was an easy one! He had done that just the other day when Snape had made him calculate how long it would be until he got to go to Hogwarts. As the child went to write his answer, he thought about what it would be like when he was a student at Hogwarts. He wouldn't have to do silly old maths; he'd get to turn beetles into buttons and make skin-melting potions. Snape had warned him that some potions were super dangerous and could melt all your skin off before you even knew the potion had touched you. Harry wondered what anyone would want with a potion like that!
"What you doing Charlie?" the child asked, peeking over the desk to watch the ginger-haired boy waving his wand over the beetle with little change. Harry had been told to stay at his desk, but he was growing quite restless.
"Hey kid" Charlie smiled back, content on ignoring the frustrating task in favour of catching up with the little squirt. "So, you're with the second years now, yeah?" he asked, adding "what house are you in?" with a laugh at the child's eager nod.
"umm" Harry responded uncertainly. Lots of Professors had said that he was a Gryffindor through and through, just like his parents had been. He liked the idea of being like them, but then there was Snape. Snape was the head of Slytherin House, and Harry thought it might be nice to be there so he could stay with Snape. "Maybe I can be a Gryfferin?" the child asked innocently, too young, and new to the wizarding world to appreciate the conflict between his chosen Houses.
"I can't see why you couldn't be" his friend answered reassuringly. "Well Harry, you got any Gryfferin tips on how I can get this beetle to become a button?" he asked.
Harry thought about what he had heard Snape say to one of the first year Slytherins who had come to him, concerned at their spellcasting. "Snape says you have to annuncidate" the child advised in a serious tone, an expectant look as he encouraged the older boy to try again.
"Mutobuprestis" Charlie tried again taking the child's advice, though when nothing happened, he gave the child a half smile. "Guess I should stick to flying, eh?" he laughed as he watched his study partner successfully transform his beetle to a button "Go on, mate! Well done".
As the pair remained distracted, now discussing the latest quidditch strategy, neither saw the small boy take a gentle hold of Charlie's beetle and carry it back to his own chair.
"Hi little beetle" the child spoke softly "my name is Harry" he whispered to it, lest the beetle think him rude for manhandling him without the appropriate introductions. "I know you might not want to be a button, but if I can make you a button then Professor McGonagall can make you a beetle again" the child continued. He was not sure how he could turn the beetle into a button when he didn't have one of those wands that everybody else had. Snape said he couldn't touch one until he was 11, so he would have to do without. Snape had said that the magic was in Harry, so Harry didn't see why he needed a stick to use what was already his. 'I wish this beetle could be a button' the child thought strongly, closing his eyes as he waved a hand over the beetle on his desk. He was terribly surprised then, when he opened his eyes to see a button in place of the beetle. Grabbing the button, Harry ran back over to the desk where Charlie had been.
"Calm down mate, you'll find it eventually" Ben Copper, his partner laughed as Charlie frantically sought out the little beetle he had lost.
"You tell that to McGonagall when she puts me in detention for Gryffindors first game back" the redhead muttered back as he fell to his hands and knees, scanning the floor for his misplaced bug.
"Watcha looking for?" the small child whispered as he too crouched down to where his friend was, wondering if the boy was playing some kind of game that he could join.
"Not now Harry" the redhead responded, with a quick glance at the Professor to ensure she hadn't cottoned on to the fact that he had lost the little bug. "McGonagall'll kill me" he added with a sigh, collapsing back into his chair as he stood from the ground.
"Why?" Harry asked a mixture of confused and concerned. Professor McGonagall did not seem like the scary murdering type. He placed the button on his friends' desk and glanced over to Ben, Charlie's partner, as if he might better understand what his friend was talking about.
"Where did you get this?" Charlie asked slowly as he picked up the button the child had placed in front of him.
"From you, silly" the boy answered in response "Gary didn't mind becoming a button, but I think he needs help getting back".
"Gary?" Charlie asked in confusion "did you turn my beetle into a button Harry?" he added, his partner laughing next to him.
"A 5-year-old does, in a minute, what you couldn't in the whole hour" his partner laughed the words out, stopping only when Charlie applied a firm nudge to the laughing boys side.
The problem was, however, that the incantation to turn the button back into a beetle wasn't working. Charlie had tried, Ben had tried, hell even Harry had tried. Charlie had asked Harry, in all seriousness, how he had managed to transfigure the beetle in the first place, but Harry was insistent that he had just wished it to happen. The trio spent the best part of 15 minutes trying to turn the button back into a beetle but alas, they had no success.
"Class, I would like you to return your beetles back to the jar on my desk" the Professor called out "by now they should have both been transformed into buttons and back into their beetle state" she added.
"What are you gonna do Charlie?" Ben asked as he stood up, his beetle held gently in his hand.
Charlie didn't respond, he was trying to think of a way out of this. He could stage a distraction, something so large and disruptive that McGonagall would pay no mind to the beetles being returned to her. Yes, that could work a treat.
"Mr Weasley" he heard her voice call across the classroom as he sunk deeper into his seat "I have yet to receive your beetle". The professor was well aware that something was going on, she could see the youngest occupant stood close to the second-year redhead rather than by his maths work.
"Yes Professor, I'll bring it over now" he spoke as he took the button off the desk and began walking towards the professor. "I'm afraid I can't seem to turn him back into a beetle" he added innocently, as he placed the button on the desk in front of her.
"The incantation was too difficult?" the Professor asked, glancing at the boy over the rim of her glasses.
"Something like that" he muttered in response, sending a glare to his partner who was silently giggling from his position over at their shared desk.
Minerva shot the boy a stern glare as she attempted the incantation with no luck. "Is this your latest display of entertainment then?" she asked, a tone of disappointment in her voice.
"entertainment professor?" the boy asked, feigning no knowledge of why the button might be giving his professor some difficulties.
"You have given me an ordinary button, Mr Weasley, not a transfigured beetle" she explained. "I must say, I am impressed that you managed to source a button so alike the ones transfigured today, but I must implore you to take your studies more seriously" she continued. "William has shown quite the commitment to his fourth year, and I do not wish to have to inform your mother that your own commitments are in stark contrast".
Charlie almost rolled his eyes at the mention of Bill. Bill, the kid who had caused enough trouble in his first three years at Hogwarts that of course he had calmed down by fourth year. He probably didn't have anything left in him to give. "It really was a beetle Professor" the boy insisted, hesitant to explain how it had become a button, and totally unable to explain why it couldn't return to said state.
"Then please, Mr Weasley" she began, as she took a beetle from the jar on her desk "show me how you transfigured your first one so that we might see about countering the spell".
"You see Professor" the boy began, "I have a feeling it might not work the same way this time".
Professor McGonagall ignored the boy's words, placing a fresh beetle in front of her student as she gave him an expectant look. She was met with a somewhat pained expression that she couldn't quite contextualise. Just as she prepared to tell the boy, once again, to go ahead and transfigure the wriggling beetle, she spied a hesitant Harry lurking a few feet away, shuffling in place. "Is there something you need Harry?" she asked the small child, concerned that perhaps he needed to go the toilet but was too shy to say.
"Charlie didn't make Gary a button, I did" the child said quietly, walking over to stare intently at the button that remained on Professor McGonagall's desk.
"A likely story" she returned; the sarcasm lost on Harry but felt by the redhead who smiled softly at Harry. Of course, the transfiguration professor wouldn't believe a 5-year-old to be capable of mastering a second-year spell, even if he was Harry Potter. "Harry" she sighed, turning to the young boy with a soft expression "it is very important that when you're in my classroom, you let the older students concentrate on their work", she added, before focusing her gaze on the older boy "and Mr Weasley, Harry is five and I expect a certain level of distraction" she paused, giving him a much sterner look over her glasses "you, however, are not far shy of 13, and I expect better".
"Yes ma'am" he answered with sincerity, relieved that the usually stern professor hadn't begun threatening to dock points yet, or worse, stop him playing in the next match.
"Yes mam" Harry echoed, copying the older boy who appeared to have done what Professor McGonagall wanted.
"and I think Gary might still be a button" the child sighed, tears welling in his eyes as he looked back up at Snape, mouth downturned in sadness.
"Professor McGonagall could not undo your spell?" the professor asked in return, his interest peaked at the mention of the child performing intentional magic. Magic was not rare to see in children of Harry's age, in fact most had exhibited at least some magic by that age. No, what was interesting was that Harry's magic had done what he had wanted it to do. Most children his age could only exhibit theirs accidentally, when experiencing heightened emotions.
"She did try" came the soft response.
"What spell did you use to turn this beetle…" Snape began.
"Gary" the child interrupted softly to correct the man, lest he think that Gary wasn't worthy of a name just because he was destined to a lifetime of being a button.
"Gary" the man repeated through gritted teeth before sighing. "What spell did you use to turn this Gary into a button?" he continued.
"I don't know" Harry answered truthfully, blinking at the man in surprise. "I told you, I just wished real hard that he would be a button" he added before continuing woefully "but I never asked him if he wanted to be one."
"Come here, child" the man gestured, feeling his heartstrings tug at how guilty the child looked. Honestly, over a beetle! The child was quite the empath to be so concerned over a beetle that might be stuck as a button. As though the beetle would have led a long and fruitful life in its role as a transfiguration classroom resource.
Harry shuffled over to the professor, rubbing his eyes of the unfallen tears that had gathered as he had been telling the man about Gary. Harry exclaimed in surprise when the professor leaned forward to pick him up, setting him on his knee as he studied the child's face. "Am I right to think that you did not mean to leave Gary stuck in button form?" the man asked softly.
"Uh huh" the child agreed with a small nod, "I thought cos all the others came back, that Gary would too" he added regretfully.
"But when Professor McGonagall used her spell, it did not work?" he sought clarity on the boy's issue once again.
Harry only nodded in response.
"And did you tell Professor McGonagall how Gary came to be a button?" the man asked knowingly, fairly confident that he now knew how to go about turning the damn button back into beetle form.
"I did try" he answered softly. He had tried, in all fairness, but Professor McGonagall hadn't accepted the explanation in the slightest, she firmly thought it to be a Weasley prank.
"Come" the man spoke as he lifted the child off of his lap, stood him on his feet, and rose from his place in the armchair. "We will pay Gary a visit and see about fixing this mistake, hmm?" he asked, as he began moving towards their front door which led out into the castle.
"Minerva" the Potions Professor greeted as he entered her classroom following her call to enter.
"Severus, Harry" she greeted both, "I assume you have come to collect the forgotten maths worksheet?" she asked, glancing from Harry to Severus.
At the mention of the worksheet, Harry gulped. He had entirely forgotten Snape's orders to complete the worksheet whilst he was with Professor McGonagall. It had been a contingent of their visiting the playground later in the afternoon once Snape had finished teaching.
"Oh yes, that too" the man noted as he approached his colleague, spying the very normal looking button that was resting on the witch's desk. "I believe I have uncovered the truth behind a beetle to button mishap that occurred during your morning class" he added.
"Please Severus, enlighten me" she responded in somewhat amusement, now more assured that young Harry had an emerging character not unlike his father, and that perhaps this was a Potter rather than a Weasley prank.
Professor Snape did not respond, he silently picked up the small button and place it at the centre of the Professor's desk before gesturing the child over. Kneeling down, he whispered in the child's ear "it was not an incantation that turned this beetle into a bug, it was your wish. Therefore, you cannot rely on a spell to turn it back into a button, you must wish for it to happen just as you did last time". He could not pretend to know how wish magic worked, and he did not believe it to even exist. What he did believe to be occurring was much more significant, and he pondered it as he watched the child's face take on a serious expression before his eyes closed.
Harry concentrated really hard as he imagined the button transforming back into Gary. He felt really bad that his wish had made Gary stuck, and he hoped that his wish was powerful enough to get Gary back again. As he wished, just as he had last time, Harry felt a little buzz go through himself that he couldn't quite describe. Peeking one eye open to glance down at where the button had been the child beamed, exclaiming "Gary! You're back"
The two professors shared knowing glances as they both smiled back at the child, they would need to discuss this with Albus later. "Minerva, I bid you a good morning and shall see you this evening in the Hall" the man bid his goodbye's as he prepared to return to their quarters.
"Please can I keep him Snape?" the child asked softly, cradling Gary the beetle in his cupped palms.
"What on earth do you want with a beetle?" he asked in genuine surprise. A beetle could hardly be considered a pet. The boy couldn't hug it, or pet it, or interact with it much in any way at all.
"He's one of my friends" Harry responded with sincerity, "and he doesn't wanna live in that jar no more" the child added more quietly, with a disapproving glance at Professor McGonagall.
"Minerva, can you spare Gary the beetle?" the man sighed, looking at the witch and almost daring her to laugh. She almost did, before schooling her expression if only to spare Severus the embarrassment.
"I think I can spare just the one" she told the small boy who smiled at her softly before turning to the stern potions professor with an ear-splitting grin.
"Look Snape!" he exclaimed in excitement, "I have a pet!".
"Yes" the man answered with some trepidation "well he will be your responsibility to care for, you will make sure he is fed and" here he paused, for he did not know what else a beetle needed "and cared for" he added with a nod.
