Harry awoke to the same cold floor of his prison cell. He lifted a hand to his head and winced. Why had he fallen asleep in such a weird position?

'I must have passed out from the Dementors... again.' Harry wanted to shake his head. One of these days he'll have to remember to crawl into the corner first. He slid a hand behind him to push himself up and gasped in surprise as his hand was cut open on a piece of jagged rock. His eyes whipped open and he looked around his ruined cell.

'When did this happen?' Harry wondered as he sat up, cradling his hand in his lap. He frowned. 'When did my cell get so big?' He looked down at his hand to tend to it when he realized that they were small and pudgy. Like a child's hands. Startled at this discovery, Harry stood and looked around. No sound came from the other cells. Not even the rustle of clothing or groan of nightmares ravishing a mind. Careful to step over the rubble with his now short legs in too long prisoner pants, Harry wandered down the hall. Everything was blown open and there were no more prisoners in this area.

An hour later Harry sat down on a staircase in the first level. There was nothing here! No guards, dementors, prisoners or corpses! Noticing that his hand was stinging, Harry made his way to the guards' office. He found some bandages and wrapped his hand crudely. Finding a robe, he removed the prisoner outfit and put it on instead; loving the feel of the soft fabric after the threadbare pieces of rug he used to be wearing. He drew the entire cloth close and snuggled it like a teddy bear. Harry sat in a corner of the room and thought deeply, crinkling his flawless forehead. So far, he had concluded that he was in his five or so year old body, yet he still had all of his memories other than those of last night.

Suddenly, the floo flashed and an extremely tall person landed on the other side of the desk in the middle of the room from Harry. Struck by a sudden and gripping fear at this strange person, Harry scurried under the desk as fast as his hands and knees could get him there. He wrapped the robe around his drawn up knees and peered out between his fringe and the robe. Had the person seen him? Why was he so afraid in the first place?

Hearing no movement for a few moments, Harry was just about to relax when a wand was stuck under his nose. Harry squeaked and froze, fearful to move. He felt warm lines flowing down his cheeks and his vision go blurry as a bright pink blob appeared in front of him.

The person gasped and a black clad body followed the wand and head in the back of the desk.

"Hello little boy," The voice crooned soothingly. "What's your name?"

Harry thought for a moment then decided that he didn't like this lady enough to tell her his name. "No." He sniffled defiantly. "Go 'way. "

The person hesitated and a man called out to see if she was alright. The lady made a motion with her hand then reached out to Harry again. "Come on, I'll take you somewhere safe, alright?"

Harry considered her hand for a moment. Could he trust her to take him away from this cold place of death and despair? He reached out and gingerly put his hand in hers. She smiled a blurry smile and lead Harry out from under the desk. He only came up to her mid thigh and Harry knew that he wouldn't have been able to escape the desk if he had tried. He was just too small to be on his own now, too young to function in the world without suspicion or rules blocking his way. Being short didn't help much either.

The lady led him out of the office and down the corridor. As she walked she spoke. "My name is Nymphadora Tonks, but you can call me Tonks for short. And I still don't know your name." She trailed off, leaving the question unsaid.

Harry dug around in his mind. What should he tell this 'Tonks' lady? Though the name sounded vaguely familiar, he shrugged it off, instead trying to keep up his charade that he wasn't a prisoner.

"My name is.... uhhh..." he looked around for some inspiration and only found the walls and cells. Spotting something on the floor he chirped, "Mousie! My name is Mousie...."

Tonks looked down at him, oh how he hated being short! Her eyebrow was raised in question. "Really now? How did you come across that name?"

Harry floundered. "Well... its reawey Sir Mousie the Magni... magnifew... the Magninfiesent but I thought tha' 'cause you have a short name I can too!" Harry declared, tripping over the large words on his under-used tongue.

Tonks giggled. "Well then, Sir Mousie the Magnificent, how about we go and get some hot chocolate? I know a place with really yummy-"

"Chocolate!" Harry squealed, bouncing up and down beside her. "I wuv chocolate!" he rushed forward, trying to pull her with him in excitement. They made their way down to the boats on the misty shore and climbed inside one, heading for the mainland, Harry focusing on the distant memory of warmth, love, and chocolate.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I know Tonks arrived by floo but I didn't want them to go back that way, needed them to walk some.