Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and settings belong to J.K. Rowling.
An accidental de-aging during the golden trio's fifth year. Enjoy!
"Ugh, it's not fair that we have that cow Umbridge for Defense and Snape for Potions," Ron groaned as he, Harry, and Hermione walked down the first-floor corridor of Hogwarts. "Two miserable professors. What's next? Filch as a teacher?"
Harry laughed. "Merlin, that's all we need."
"Umbridge is unacceptable as a professor," Hermione huffed. "We aren't learning anything about Defence. What is going to happen when we take our O.W.L.s? We won't be prepared at all!"
"Of course, we're learning something. We're learning that I am a horrible, no-good liar," Harry said sarcastically. His fifth year at Hogwarts had certainly started out difficult. First the dementor attack, almost getting expelled, and now he had yet another professor who hated him. And this one was insane, making him write lines with a blood quill. That was something his friends didn't know, however. They would insist he tell McGonagall or Dumbledore and Harry wouldn't give Umbridge the satisfaction of him complaining to them. He could handle some pain, he just had to keep his hand glamoured.
"The people who matter believe you about Voldemort being back," Hermione said gently.
Ron winced. "Don't say the name."
"And Professor Snape is, well...He's never been pleasant," Hermione continued with a shrug. "Nothing new there."
"He's a git," Harry muttered. Snape had hated him from the moment he had entered Hogwarts and it was getting old. He had never done anything to the man except look like James Potter.
"Maybe Umbridge and Snape should get together," Ron suggested with a snicker.
"Oh Merlin, can you imagine?" Hermione giggled.
"I don't know, Snape didn't seem to like her when she inspected Potions," Harry said with a chuckle. It had been fun to see Snape turn his hate onto someone other than him.
The three of them were still laughing when they almost crashed into Draco Malfoy.
"Watch it, losers!" Draco snapped as he stumbled back a few steps.
"You watch it!" Harry snapped back, glaring at him. Malfoy. Another git.
"Hey, I have an idea. How about Malfoy and Umbridge as a couple?" Ron grinned.
Harry burst into laughter.
"What? Have you gone mental?" Draco asked in disgust. He glared at them as they exchanged looks and broke into more laughter. It was hard to admit to himself, but he was jealous of them. They had a real friendship. Weasley and Granger were loyal to Potter, the golden boy. He didn't know what it was like to have a real friendship like that. Okay, and so he was especially jealous of Potter. Famous, survived encounters with trolls, basilisk, and the dark lord. It was impressive and yet Potter had had the nerve to reject his offer of friendship.
"Do you mind moving out of the way, Malfoy?" Harry asked impatiently.
"The three of you think you're so great," Draco sneered. "Strutting around this castle-"
"Strutting? Us? That's you, Malfoy," Harry scoffed. "You think you're so important because of your daddy."
"At least I have one," Draco smirked. He narrowed his eyes when he saw Weasley go for his wand. He whipped his own out. "Have something to say, Weasel?" He taunted.
"I sure do, you bloody git," Ron snarled.
"Stop, put your wands away!" Hermione hissed, glancing around the corridor.
"Just ignore him," Harry said to Ron.
"Yeah, listen to the boy who seeks attention," Draco sneered. "The poor little orphan that nobody loves." He smirked. "And nobody believes," he added maliciously.
Harry now had his wand out and even Hermione was slowly removing hers from her sleeve.
"Oops, did I hit a nerve?" Draco asked innocently.
"What is going on here?" McGonagall demanded as she and Snape both turned the corner. "Are you four about to duel? It's against the rules." She scolded.
"Your lions don't care about the rules," Snape drawled, although he was glaring at Draco.
"Neither does your snake, apparently," McGonagall said dryly. She sighed. "Ten points from each of you."
"And a detention," Snape added. "I have some potions that are needed for the infirmary. They should be easy enough for even Potter and Weasley to handle."
Harry and Ron scowled at him and Snape scowled right back.
"I have detention? But it's their fault," Draco whined.
"What? You are such a liar!" Hermione snapped at him.
"Detention for all four of you," Snape repeated. He glared at Draco. "You, Mr. Malfoy, deserve it for losing Slytherin ten points. My classroom after dinner." He told the four teenagers.
"You're a prat, you know that?" Ron said to Draco. "Just because you have money doesn't give you the right -"
"I have every right," Draco interrupted. He smirked. "I'm better than you."
"Did Daddy dearest tell you that?" Harry now smirked. "Is he enjoying having his master back?"
Draco pointed his wand again. "You little -"
"Enough!" Snape snapped at them, his dark eyes flashing dangerously. "Put your wand away, Malfoy, before I take points from you myself. Are you becoming a Gryffindor, being this reckless?"
Draco flushed.
McGonagall glared at Snape. "Well, really!" She huffed at him.
"Am I wrong?" Snape asked her innocently.
McGonagall eyed her lions for a moment. "Well..."
"Exactly."
HP
After dinner, the trio trudged to the dungeons and entered their potions classroom where Snape was already waiting for them. Draco entered the room a moment later, a scowl on his face.
"Burn-healing paste and Murtlap Essence should be easy enough for you four to do," Snape said coldly. "I need to step out so go ahead and get started. I expect these to be done correctly, they are for the infirmary. If you mess up, I'll assign another detention."
He then left them to their potion making and at first, they worked in silence. Until Draco threw an ingredient into Harry's potion. Then the war started.
"Stop that!" Hermione hissed as Harry and Ron retaliated by throwing various ingredients into Draco's cauldron. The blonde quickly responded by sending more into theirs. "This is dangerous!" She protested.
"You worry too much," Ron dismissed her concerns.
"He started it," Harry added.
"Professor Snape will be back soon, do you want to risk getting another detention?" Hermione asked in exasperation.
"He gives them to us even when we don't deserve them," Harry shrugged as he picked out the ingredients Draco had thrown in their cauldron. "So it doesn't matter."
"What a shock, the golden boy doesn't care about getting into trouble," Draco sneered from his side of the table.
"Shut up blondie!" Harry shot back, causing Ron to snicker.
Draco glared at him.
"How about all three of you shut up?" Hermione suggested.
Draco sneered at her. "Who said you could talk, you filthy little -"
"Shut your mouth!" Harry pointed his wand at Draco and cast a Silencio on the haughty blonde.
Draco tried talking and gave them a dirty look as he fumbled for his wand and pointed it at his throat.
"Expelliarmus!" Ron caught Draco's wand gleefully. "Ah, now we can work in peace." He sighed happily.
"Ron," Hermione started to scold but then she erupted into giggles at the blonde's furious-looking face.
Harry was laughing. "Brilliant."
"You better give his wand back before Professor Snape returns," Hermione warned them a few moments later as she stirred her cauldron.
"But he's so much better like this," Ron complained.
"I agree but she's right," Harry held out his hand and took the wand from Ron, handing it back to Draco. "Finite."
Draco snatched his wand, his silver eyes flashing in anger. "How dare you? You just wait until -"
"My father hears about this," Harry, Ron, and Hermione all finished together.
Seething, Draco returned to his cauldron.
"I think we are almost done," Hermione said a few minutes later. "We just need to add the -"
Splash!
"Malfoy, you prat!" Hermione shouted as she tried to remove the ingredient that he had thrown into the cauldron. Smoke was beginning to emerge from the cauldron.
"Here, I'll get it," Ron said, reaching in.
"No, I will," Harry said, trying to push him away from the smoking cauldron.
Draco ambled over, a grin on his face. "Problem?" He asked innocently.
Hermione spun around to face him. "What was it you threw in there Malfoy? Don't you know how dangerous it can be to -"
Boom!
The room was filled with fumes as the cauldron exploded and Hermione and Draco, who were standing furthest from it were thrown back into the back wall, landing in a heap.
"Oh Merlin," Hermione whispered as she raised herself and looked at the mess in the room.
"Ugh," Draco rubbed the back of his head. "What happened?" He got up slowly, absently holding his hand out to help Hermione up.
Hermione stared at his hand in shock but accepted his assistance. "The potion...what did you throw in our cauldron?" She asked angrily as she got to her feet.
"Nothing that would cause this," Draco insisted.
Hermione paled and spun around. "Harry! Ron!" She hurried over to where they had been standing and stared dumbfounded at what she saw.
Draco joined her and after staring in shock for a moment, began laughing.
Two toddlers in oversized clothes were sitting on the floor. One had fire-red hair and blue eyes and the other had raven hair and green eyes as well as a lightning bolt scar on his forehead.
While Ron was looking up at them curiously, Harry was regarding them a little fearfully.
"Me Ron," Ron said as he stood up, his now overlarge shirt hanging off of him.
"Hi Ron," Hermione said weakly. "Are feeling okay? Do you hurt anywhere?"
Ron shook his head as he struggled to walk in his shirt. He reached down to pick up a piece of broken glass.
"I don't think so, Weasley," Draco smirked as he levitated the toddler away from the broken glass. Ron squealed with delight as he was lowered to the other side of the room. He pointed his wand to do the same to Potter but paused when the small boy flinched as he lifted his wand.
"Harry," Hermione stepped forward slowly. "It's okay, he's not going to hurt you. Do you want to fly through the air like Ron did?"
Harry stared at her for a moment before nodding slowly. It had looked like fun...
Rolling his eyes, Draco levitated Harry away from the mess on the floor.
"What happened here?!"
Hermione and Draco spun around to face a furious-looking Professor Snape. He looked at the mess on the floor and his eyes darkened. "Answer me!" He snarled.
"Our potion exploded sir," Hermione said nervously.
"Obviously. Why did it explode?" Snape asked as stared at his ruined cauldron, trying to figure out what the dunderheads had done. Suddenly he looked up. "Where are Potter and Weasley? If they left I will -"
Draco coughed. "Over there, sir." He pointed to the corner of the room where Harry was sitting quietly and Ron was happily ripping pages out of a book he had found.
Snape stared in horror at the two toddlers before whirling around on his two older students. "Explain yourselves!"
Hermione folded her arms and looked at Draco pointedly.
"It wasn't my fault," Draco protested. "None of the ingredients I threw in your cauldron would have caused this!"
"Well, obviously it did!" Hermione snapped.
Draco was about to snap back at her when he caught sight of his Head of House glaring at him. With a wince, he realized he had admitted to throwing ingredients. "They were harmless." He said weakly.
"It is never harmless to throw ingredients into a potion where they don't belong," Snape hissed.
"They were doing it to me," Draco defended himself.
"You started it!" Hermione protested.
"Be quiet Miss Granger!" Snape said as he stalked over to the toddlers. "Weasley, stop that at once!" He snapped at the little boy.
Ron froze, his little hand about to tear another page out of the potions book. He stared up at Snape with wide eyes and then began wailing.
"Professor Snape, he's just a baby," Hermione said as she walked over to him and knelt down. "It's okay Ron. But you shouldn't destroy books." She gently pried the text out of his hands.
"Mine!" Ron continued wailing.
Snape was about to snap at the boy again when he caught sight of Potter, who was watching him with wide emerald eyes. He paused, those eyes always had a way of disarming him. "Well, Potter? Are you happy with yourself?" He sneered.
Harry just blinked at him.
Snape sighed. "All right. We need to get them to Madam Pomfrey and then I will come back here and see if I can figure out what you did to cause this."
"It wasn't my-" Draco started to say.
"Mr. Malfoy, right now I don't care." Snape interrupted. "Pick them up and carry them to the infirmary using my floo."
Hermione scooped Ron up, patting his back softly.
Draco stared at Snape in horror. "I'm not carrying Potter!"
"Oh?" Snape asked dangerously.
"Harry might be wary of him anyway," Hermione interjected. "He thought Malfoy was going to hit him with his wand."
"Which I wasn't," Draco hurried to say. "I don't know why the prat thought that anyway."
Snape noticed the sad look pass over Granger's face before she headed to his floo. "I'll come back for Harry." She said over her shoulder.
"Oh honestly," Snape scooped up Potter, who gave a surprised eep and threw his arms around Snape's neck, holding tight. "Try not to choke me," Snape muttered.
Poppy looked at them in shock when they came through her floo. "My goodness, whose children are those?"
Hermione set Ron down on a cot, trying to get him to let go of her hair. "Ouch! Ron, let go."
"Ron Weasley?" Poppy's mouth dropped open as she realized who the other boy was. "Harry Potter?" She gasped.
"Stay there and don't move," Snape ordered Harry after setting him down on a cot.
"Kay," Harry said softly.
"Severus, what in the world happened?" Poppy demanded to know.
Snape ran his hand through his hair, his mind frantically thinking about what could have caused this. "There was a...slight dilemma during their detention." He said finally.
TBC: