Want to Play Catch?

"Guess what!"

Little Hermione rushed into the Gryffindor Common Room, her fluffy hair a bit more wild than usual and her mocha eyes sparkling.

"What?" The three pint-sized students inquired, looking up from their twelfth game of Exploding Snap. It had already been twenty-four hours since their transformation and the four of them were finally settling in.

"I got a perfect score on my Arithmancy work!" She exclaimed, beaming at them.

"Wow," Ron said, his eyes widening. "I can't believe any teacher would be mean enough to give you work to do in class."

Hermione's smile faded. "Well, actually, I... you see... I insisted on doing the work. Professor Vector would hear nothing of it until I wouldn't stop asking her."

"Oh," Ron said, turning back around. "She's mental," he whispered to Draco and Harry. Harry looked up at Hermione and saw that look of

loneliness he had been all too accustomed to in the past five years. A wave of shame immediately washed over him. They hadn't given Hermione a fair chance. So what if she was a bit obsessed with books and school? Ron was just as passionate about Quiddich, but he wasn't isolated.

"Er - Hermione?" Harry began. "I think it's really great that you did so well in class today."

"Really?" She asked, her smile returning. Harry stared at her teeth. Honestly, he thought. How can they be so white?

"Yeah. I mean, I wish I went to class today too, instead of playing around all day," he said, crossing his fingers behind his back.

"Oh, you should have!" Hermione exclaimed, settling down next to him on the floor. "I learned loads of new stuff! I can't wait until I go here for real."

"You shouldn't be allowed in," Draco said coldly, speaking up for the first time since she entered.

"Why ever not?" Hermione asked, completely taken aback.

"You've got Muggle parents, right? They are non-magical," he said, elaborating after he saw her confused expression over the word 'Muggle.'

"Right," Hermione said slowly.

"Well, my father says you shouldn't be allowed any where near Hogwarts or Diagon Alley or any magical place for that matter," Draco said, looking much like the smirking sixteen-year-old Slytherin he would become.

Ron looked furiously at Draco. "How can you say that?" he demanded harshly. Apparently his quick temper had begun at a young age. "She's just as deserving as you to come here!"

"You're a Muggle-lover!" Draco screeched. "Muggle-lover! Muggle-lover!" he sang, dancing in a circle around the Exploding Snap cards.

"Shut up!" Ron yelled, his face flushing. "Or, I'll...I'll..."

"You'll what, Weasley?" Draco asked, in a taunting tone.

"I'll turn you into a toad!"

Draco found this to be the funniest thing ever. He began to hysterically laugh and resumed his song and dance. Ron, his face and ears now bright red, was content with just screaming "Shut up!" and "Stop it!" profusely.

"What is the meaning of this?" a voice demanded coldly, stopping Draco in his tracks.

"Umm, we were - uh...," Draco trailed off as he racked his brain for a likely story.

"That will be quite enough, Mr. Malfoy," Professor McGonagall said, her eyes narrowing. "I've come to collect you for a Potions lesson. Professor Snape is planning on informing the class exactly what went wrong with your potion and discussing the repercussions we will all be living with for a month. Now, come along."

Professor McGonagall's stern voice erased any form of protest the youngsters had even contemplated giving, and they quietly followed her to the dungeon, not making a peep.

"Now, behave yourselves," Professor McGonagall instructed as she opened the door to the Potions classroom and shooed them inside. Harry felt a pang of sadness as he saw her walk right back up the stairs, leaving him with the evil Professor Snape.

The four kids awkwardly stood in front of the closed door, unsure of what to do.

"We don't have all day, children. Take a seat, now!" Professor Snape said, glaring at them. The kids quickly scampered for four seats in the back of the room. The further they were away from this grease ball, the better.

"Today we will be discussing how three incompetent students can ruin the lives of others," Snape began. Neville Longbottom chose this moment to shakily raise his hand.

"What is it?" Snape hissed.

"Uh," Neville gulped. "Sir," he said, his voice quivering a bit. "I saw the whole thing happen and it wasn't Hermione, Ron, or Harry's fault. Draco Malfoy - "

"Enough!" Snape bellowed, cutting poor Neville off. "Whose potion was it that exploded, Mr. Longbottom?"

"Well, Harry's. But -"

"And who had the Belladonna in hand, Mr. Longbottom?" Snape asked, shooting daggers from his eyes.

"Well, I think Hermione did, Sir, but - "

"And who couldn't hold his hand still enough to correctly take the Belladonna without dropping it all into the cauldron, Mr. Longbottom?"

"Ron, but - "

"So, doesn't it seem like it is the Heroic Trio's fault? I know it's difficult to comprehend that they don't belong in shrines, bestowed with gifts and medals from everyone, but let us try! They are at fault here! Now, may I continue my lesson, Mr. Longbottom?" Snape sneered.

"Ok," Neville squeaked.

"As I was saying," Snape continued, shooting one more glare in Neville's direction. "The excess Belladonna caused the potion to behave incorrectly. Instead of simply giving them childhood memories, they turned into children. I do hope you are all copying this down," Snape practically yelled.

The dungeons rustled with the flurry of parchment and quills hastily scratching notes down. Hermione pulled out her own quill and parchment, painstakingly writing. Ron and Draco exchanged exasperated glances, and then quickly looked away, horrified that for once, they actually agreed.

"The four specimens were pulled from their time period," Snape continued, not waiting for anyone to get their materials. "And placed into ours. Yet, they will not loose any time. Do you understand? When we see our Sixth Years, these children will have been placed right back where they were, no time lost. The children will not remember any of these occurrences. Yet, our Sixth Years are essentially still with us right now. They could not have switched into the children's time period because the spell was only performed from this end. So, their minds are locked inside these... children," Snape said, a look of disgust dominating his face as he said the word 'children.' "Our Sixth Years are in a sort of dream state. They are just watching, through the children's eyes, everything that is happening. They cannot prevent anything from happening or initiate anything. They are merely observers and the children don't even know they are in their minds.

"Do, you mean our Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy will remember all of this?" Seamus asked, raising his hand.

"Very good, Mr. Finnigan. I'm glad to see at least one of the Gryffindors can understand the lesson," Professor Snape said, glaring as Neville was obviously struggling to write everything he said as well as absorb it mentally, failing miserably at both.

"So once the spell wears off, in approximately two to four weeks, our Sixth Years will recall everything that has happened to them as children. Also, the time it takes for one to revert to normal age is not necessarily the same for all. It could take Draco two weeks and Potter five. Now," Snape said, turning to the blackboard. "Here is a list of ingredients for the Enlarging Potion. Get to work. You four," Snape said, pointing to the kids in the back, all desperately trying to look like little angels with their hands folded on the table and attentive eyes watching Snape's every move. "Stay there and be quiet." The all nodded profusely, their little heads bobbing up and down.

The children sat there a full two minutes, not moving or talking before they became exceedingly bored. Ron began sighing extremely loudly and exaggeratedly. Draco leaned back in his chair and tapped the floor incessantly with his foot. Harry was hit with a sudden attack of the hiccups and spent most of his time trying to hiccup silently. And Hermione was concentrating hard on a drawing of a flower in the sunshine.

Snape was only a couple tables a head of them when his head suddenly turned to face them.

"I thought I said to be quiet," he said in a threatening low tone.

"But, Sir," Hermione said. "We aren't even talking."

"You're still making too much noise. If you so much as breathe loudly, I'll have you in detention for the rest of your young lives."

The classroom suddenly became so quiet, you could hear a pin drop, when all of a sudden -

"Hic!"

"Out!" Snape bellowed. "All four of you! And don't let me ever see you again."

The four kids didn't need to be told that twice. They practically flew out of the classroom, their faces as white as sheets. The dungeon door slammed behind them, the barred windows shaking madly.

"Wow," Harry said breathlessly once they had reached a safe amount of distance between them and the Potions class. "I hope we only - hic - have him as a teacher for one year."

"I'd prefer not to have him at all," Hermione said, shuddering slightly. "He gives me the creeps. And did you see how rude he was to Neville? He was only trying to stick up for us, after all. Snape didn't need to explode like that."

"Well, what are we going to do now?" Ron asked impatiently.

"I think I'm Snape's favorite student," Draco bragged, ignoring Ron's question. "Did you see how he defending me when that fat kid tried to blame your clumsiness on me?"

"Don't call Neville fat!" Hermione screamed, standing face to face with Malfoy.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Draco yelled back, just as violently.

"You're awful!"

"Thank you."

Hermione gave up the vocal argument and turned her back on Malfoy. "What do you two want to play?" she asked, pointedly ignoring the blonde.

"Stop fighting," Harry said quietly. "Look. We're all in this together. It's us against all the adults and teens. We can't fight because we can only count on each other here. We don't have anyone else. So, truce?"

Hermione and Draco glared at each other for a few moments before Hermione sighed and put out her hand. "Truce."

Draco nodded and put his hand on top of hers, followed by Ron and finally Harry.

"Okay. To the Hogwarts Midgets!" Harry shouted.

They all giggled. "That's stupid," Draco said, but without malice in his voice. "We should be the Hogwarts Terrors!"

"No! We're the Potions Gone Wrong Young'uns!" Hermione yelled.

"Ewwww. No way," Ron said, wrinkling his nose.

The four of them argued all the way back to the Gryffindor Common Room and found they couldn't agree on anything. And once they got in the Common Room, they couldn't decide what to play, opening an entirely new can of worms.

"Hey! Want to play catch?" Hermione asked loudly, after vetoing Exploding Snap and Wizards Chess.

"Sure!" Ron said. "Here! Catch!" He found an old glass ball on one of the tables and threw it to Hermione. This game lasted a few rounds until one of Ron's rather enthusiastic throws landed six feet to the right of Hermione.

CRASH!

"Oops!" Hermione said, looking at all the pieces on the floor.

"I didn't do it!" Ron said, a panicky note in his voice.

"It was you!"

"You're gonna be in trouble!"

"It wasn't me!"

"It was your idea!"

"You threw it!"

"You can't catch!"

A piercing scream tore across the Common Room, ending Ron and Hermione's feud.

"My crystal ball! How could you!" Lavender Brown tore into the portrait hole and stared in disbelief at the million pieces that once made up her crystal ball.

"It was specially imported from India! Now how am I going to pass Divination with my ball in pieces? Professor Trelawney said to watch out for you four!" Lavender cried.

"We're sorry," Hermione said softly.

"Yeah," the boys chorused.

"Just go to bed or something," she said. "I can't even look at you right now."

The four of them trooped upstairs. "You reckon she knows my mum?" Ron asked. "My mum says that all the time to me, Fred, and George."

"I don't know. I feel really bad though. Let's go quietly play something in your room," Hermione suggested.

"Okay."

And off they went, all hoping they wouldn't break anything else along the way.

~