Return To Innocence

Return to Innocence
Chapter 3 - The DADA Professor

The weather outside was slightly chilly and the morning sky was sparse with cirrus clouds. A light mist that hung in the air earlier had settled to dew on the foliage of leaves. The place, where the two student had met when the supposed 'potion of youth' fell on them, was still littered with shards of glass and there were patches of brown earth, especially concentrated where most of the shards were. Snape knelt down to examine the ground.

"Was it already like this before both of you were soaked in the potion?" Snape gestured towards the brown patches.

Draco, who was leaning against the tower's wall, answered lazily, "Well, it wasn't like this before the incident. The grass just vanished some time after the potion fell upon it, I suppose."

"Most interesting," Dumbledore commented. Then he looked up to the sky. "And the owl which carried this package was flying around the vicinity?" Without waiting for a response, the Headmaster continued, "In that case, we must find out which owls have been sent from here or to here at this time. As for now, Severus-" Snape straightened. "-there is really no such potion that can reverse ages?"

"None, Headmaster."

Dumbledore looked thoughtfully at both students. "Well then... what you both can do now is to go to your lessons as usual." Both boys opened their mouths to object, but before either of them could protest, Dumbledore raised a hand to silence them. "Let me remind you both that you are having your O.W.L.s this year."

Harry cringed a little at the reminder, while his brain raced for anything that might help him in this situation and recalled the Age-Line used in the Triwizard Tournament. He then remembered the potion the Weasley twins tried to use to sneak pass the line. "But Professor Dumbledore, what about using the Aging Potion?"

"I think you both will be fine without the potion, Potter. If I recall my Potions accurately, most potions have effects that are not permanent. You won't remain this young forever."

And what if it happened that this potion was not one of those temporary potions? The dark haired boy thought worriedly.

The Head of Slytherin House nodded. "Quite right. I only have a low supply of the Aging Potion in my stores and it is tedious to make more."

"But they can't see me like this," The flaxen haired boy spoke in a huff.

"Headmaster, if I might suggest," Snape intervened before Dumbledore could say a word. "That the both of them take the potion only when they cannot handle the classes in their current forms. There would be more than enough potion then, and I don't want them to cause a havoc in my class, especially when they're of this size. Potter might accidentally spill some of his brew."

Harry bit his lower lip in anger. He didn't understand why that greasy git keep putting him under a bad light. He didn't even recall being that careless in Potions class. He bit his lip even harder when Draco piped up, "That's true." Then the Slytherin shot a smirk at him. The Gryffindor balled up his fists, showing a remarkable restraint in refraining from hitting the other boy in his face just to wipe that smirk off.

"Very well then. You two had better go for your next class. In the meantime, I will go and track the owls that were active last night."

"But sir! What if.. Vold- I mean, You-Know-Who" Harry broke off. He knew he couldn't remain in this body. If Voldemort struck, he would be at a disadvantage. His younger and skinnier body would not be able to take the impact of any curses the Dark Lord might throw at him. Especially if Voldemort learnt of Harry's current disabilities and took advantage of it. Some of the Slytherins would tell their Death-Eater parents. Maybe the Malfoys were already aware of his situation, if Draco had owled them about their situation earlier this morning.

Snape snorted. "Potter, he can't reach you if you are in Hogwarts. And when I say in Hogwarts, I mean not running around the school grounds at the dead of night."

"Professor Snape is right, Harry Potter. Oh dear, look at the time, you two had better hurry for your next class."

"Well, go on! It's my class you're having next." The Potions Master promptly shoved them, especially Harry, towards the school entrance. "Come on, Malfoy. We'll drop by the stores first for the Aging Potion."

Oh, fate is cruel, Harry thought miserably.

***

The bell rang, indicating a change of lessons. The Gryffindors hurried from the Transfigurations classroom to the dungeons, having some fear of being late for Double Potions. They sighed in relief -rather loudly- when they realised that the Potions Master was not there yet.

"Hey, Potter has been missing all morning. You've any idea what happened to him?" Dean asked Ron. Ron shook his head, unsure if he should tell them of his friend's situation. Instead, he commented that Harry wasn't feeling quite well this morning.

"Even Malfoy's missing," Hermione pointed out. "See Crabbe and Goyle? They're here but he's not. That's a little unusual. Malfoy is hardly ever late for his lessons."

"Yeah, not when he's Snape's favourite pet," Ron said just audible enough for the Slytherins to hear.

Crabbe and Goyle directed menacing looks at the redhead when they heard their leader's name being mentioned. "And somebody's jealous of that, right?" Goyle retorted and the Slytherins voiced their agreements.

Ron exclaimed with an incredible look on his face, "Me? Jealous of a little ferret?" to which Hermione tried to discourage him from taunting anymore, lest Professor Snape walk in and deduct points from their house. Her attempt was lost as the other Gryffindors cheered in support of Ron.

"Maybe our Malfoy has just beaten up Pothead," Millicent Bulstrode scoffed, joining in the argument.

The male students in Gryffindor banged their fists against the tables and stood up. The male Slytherins did like-wise and they stared at each other, seething in rage to protect their own house hero. Hermione, Parvati, Lavender and the other Gryffindor females smiled weakly at each other, with a look that said "boys will be boys". The atmosphere was tense and rigid and Hermione hoped Snape would arrive before a full-scale war broke out. Snape did arrived in the nick of time and made his presence known by threatening to deduct points from both houses.

As the whole class settled down, with some exchange of heated glares amongst students of both houses, Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter walked into class. Hermione and Ron's eyes widened when they saw that Harry was now back to his original self. Harry took his usual seat next to Ron.

"So what happened?" Ron asked his best friend. "McGonagall changed you back?"

Harry sighed glumly. "Snape gave us some Aging Potion which should last us for these two periods. After that, I'll turn back to my younger self. Will tell you more later."

Ron patted Harry on the back. "Wait, what do you mean by 'last us'?"

"Malfoy's also affected," came the dull reply.

"So that explains his absence! That mean's he's also sort of like you, right? A kid?"

"I'm not a kid but Malfoy sure acts like one. Anyway, yes, he's also trapped in a child's body."

"Wicked! That means he won't be able to be as intimidating as before."

"Wouldn't count on it."

"Weasley, Potter, I'm sure the two of you can carry on with your private discussion after this two periods. Ten points from Gryffindor," Snape said coldly while several Slytherins smirked in their direction. Without losing a beat, he added, "And it'll be twenty points if you two continue talking."

***

It was a seemingly long class with Professor Snape (like most Double Potions were). The Potions Master barked at Longbottom for messing up his potions for the umpteenth time, snapped at Thomas for throwing wads of tissue at a Slytherin student, even though the Slytherin student was the one who instigated it, and reprimanded a few more students, all Gryffindors, not surprisingly. A total of eighty points were deducted from the Gryffindor house and every Gryffindor student dreaded the whole two periods. When the bell rang, the Gryffindors were practically ready to bolt out of class. Snape dismissed them, but called Harry and Draco back.

"We'll wait for you outside," Ron informed Harry as he and Hermione left the class.

Harry waited in his seat, expecting the Potions Master to say something. He fidgeted and looked at the teacher's desk. Snape seemed to be busy marking some assignments. He wondered why he was kept behind, along with Draco Malfoy.

"Professor Snape?" Draco asked politely.

"What is it, Malfoy?" said Snape, without looking up from the script he was marking.

"Is there any reason why.. I'm here?" Harry thought he could almost hear the "with Potter" when Draco shot a look at the Gryffindor student with disdain.

Snape put down his pen and looked at his student straight in the eye. "The Aging Potion, Malfoy. The effects will wear off soon and I doubt you would want to unexpectedly find yourself in a heap of clothes out there."

Sure enough, as soon as Professor Snape finished his sentence, the Gryffindor suddenly felt nauseated. He glanced at his arch-rival and saw that Draco was also undergoing the transformation right now. The world blacked out, but Harry found out that was because he was now under his clothes.

Great, now I'll have to walk around school draped in school robes, Harry thought as he tried to struggle out of his clothes.

"Use the shrinking spell, Malfoy." Harry heard Snape's tired voice through the fabric. Harry wanted to bang his head against the floor for not thinking of using the shrinking charm before. Hermione would be so disappointed in him if she knew, and then, most likely, start reminding him that education is an essential. He heard Draco, who was somewhere nearby, respond "Yes, Professor" and mutter the shrinking spell. The Gryffindor groped around for his wand to do the same. When the clothes shrank to fit his body, the Gryffindor grabbed his books and stumbled out of the dungeons, trying to balance the books in his hands. Draco followed cautiously, peeping into the corridor to see if the coast was clear.

The look on Ron's face was a mixture of surprise and amusement. In an incredulous voice, the redhead went, "Malfoy?" and earned a look of annoyance from Draco. Crabbe and Goyle, who had also decided to stay to wait for Draco, dropped their muffins (they were hungry while waiting for him).

Goyle stammered, "Draco, I thought you'd changed back."

"Well, no, you git, I did not. Let's go, I'll tell you two about it later." The boy gritted his teeth as he ignored Weasley's laughter. The Slytherin trio walked off.

"That was priceless," Ron grinned. "I wish he'd turned into a pig or something. That would be so much better."

Hermione remarked, "Ron, if he did, Harry would have been a pig too."

Harry grinned at the both of them. "As long as you both recognise me and no one tries to cook me, I don't think I'd be bothered much."

"Oh Harry, you look so adorable." Hermione hugged him, surprising Harry with her unexpected action and causing him to drop his books. "So Dumbledore's letting you attend classes as usual? Do they have any idea how long the effects will last? I've been looking through some of my Potions text and History text, but there was no mention of such a potion. The Youth potion, that is. Anyway," Hermione released him and picked up his books. "You are coming to lunch with us, aren't you?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm not sure I want to do so, being in this body and all."

"Well, no one knows how long you're going to be in that form, so you might as well just let them know now?"

"Ron's right, you know," Hermione piped up. "Better now, so that the excitement will wear off sooner. Besides, I don't think you'll be in any danger here, especially with Dumbledore around."

"All right then." Harry took his books from Hermione and the trio made their way to the Great Hall for lunch. Along the way, they passed by the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. When Dumbledore introduced the new DADA Professor, everyone in the school was a little surprised at a female taking on the position, as teaching DADA seemed like a taxing job. There had been much talk about her, about whether she would be like the previous Professors, only having the job for a year before being discovered as being one of Voldemort's minions, or being something as dangerous as a werewolf, or perhaps a fraud like Gilderoy Lockhart, in Harry's second year at Hogwarts.

The female Professor seemed to be in a rush, striding at a fast pace with a few books in her hand. The trio turned their heads slightly, curious as to where she was going. It turned out that she was probably seeking Professor Snape, as she turned to disappear into the Dungeons.

***

Going to the Great Hall to eat wasn't as bad as Harry thought it would be-- in fact, it was very much worse, in his opinion. He had expected quiet stares and gaping mouths from at least half of the student population. However, it seemed that only a quarter did that. Another twenty-five percent of the population, mostly from the Ravenclaw house, assumed that it was nothing much and went back to their own food and talk. The Slytherins snickered amongst themselves and one of them yelled, "Feeling small today, Potter?", earning loud guffaws from their own table and a glare from Ron. Yet, that was not the worst part of the whole episode.

As Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table, some of the females from his house smiled at him from across the table. He could hear the females going "how cute!" for almost every bite of his lunch. It was unbearable to eat and be watched at the same time. Even Alicia came up to him and called him "adorable". He was sure that if he didn't leave the table soon enough, she would be pulling his cheeks, because she certainly seemed intent of doing so. And might have done so if the boy had not dropped his wand on the floor and made some excuse of picking it up. He never had his cheeks pulled before, and didn't want to break that record now. However, he had seen Dudley's cheeks being pulled wide by visiting relatives (mostly by his middle-aged aunts) before, and it did not look like what he would like to go through himself.

The Boy-Who-Lived left the table immediately after wolfing down his meal, which was rather hard to do so as the table was higher than usual with his current small-sized body.

"Do you think he will be all right?" A worried Hermione asked Ron. She was sitting opposite Harry and had seen how awkward he had felt.

"With all that attention?" The redhead said while chewing his food.

***

Later that day, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was apologetic for her tardiness. Harry wondered if it was because of Snape, and he shuddered at the fleeting thought of anyone going out with the Potions Master. While Snape appeared to be the most undesirable Professor in the school, Professor Caulsworth (as she had introduced herself earlier) was, relatively, more pleasing to one's eyes. There were many speculations of her age, and most of them lay between late twenties to early thirties. Her chestnut brown hair was in one thick braid that reached slightly below her shoulders. She twirled her wand and floated some handouts to everyone.

"I understand that you've had no DADA lessons for the past two weeks, and today's lesson will be my first with your class." The new Professor surveyed the class, as though trying to gather information on what the pupils in her class would be like. Her eyes stopped in Harry's direction, her iridescent blue irises seemed to pierce through him. "Aren't you a tad too young to be..." Then realisation dawned in her eyes. "You must be Potter. Harry Potter?"

"Yes, Professor. I-"

"No need for explanations. I've already heard it from the other Professors," Professor Caulsworth smiled understandingly as she turned to address the class. "Well, everyone, just read the paper you've received as I mark your attendance."

His scar tingled slightly, and he sub-consciously reached his hand to his forehead to rub it as he read the handout. The tingle seemed to spread from the scar to his head, and he felt as if his whole head had gone numb. A hand laid on Harry's shoulder and the pain fled, almost as immediately as it came.

"You okay, Harry?" Ron's concerned face then swam into view. Harry blinked, and nodded, in the corner of his eyes - if they did not deceive him - he caught the DADA professor looking at him before hastily diverting her eyes back to the class.

***