Dunderhead - A Harry Potter story: Snape becomes Harry's mentor

Chapter 26: HOSPITAL WING

Everything that happened following the event was suppressed into a dark corner of Severus' mind, hopefully never to be released again. Severus had checked that Potter was not hurt in any other way apart from the obvious predicament of his infantile body. Whether his teenage mind was still intact was not yet known to Severus but, hoping that it was, Severus told Potter to 'stay there or face my displeasure', as he stood up and looked around the classroom.

Some small bundles of robes were scattered on the floor, under the wooden desks and chairs, and students stood every few paces apart from them, regarding the black masses with uncertainty. Ron Weasley was the first to bend down and lift an article of clothing to find a mass of bushy brown hair.

"Hermione!" He gasped.

Severus snarled as he saw a tiny Hermione Granger climb carefully out of her black school cloak. She was swamped by the high button up school shirt she had been wearing but the tie had stretched out of the collar as she had shrunk and it sat at her feet in a long tendril, like a snake. She looked up at Ron and any hope that the students would have kept their minds despite the transformation vanished when Granger began to cry, evidently not recognising her friend or the strange place in which she found herself.

"Pick it up, Weasley!" Severus barked at Ron.

"She's a she!" Ron retorted, but he bent down and gingerly picked his friend up.

The rest of the students who remained unhurt followed Ron's example and searched through the piles of school robes under the desks and chairs. Severus found Neville in a heap of his clothes, not far from Potter's. He extricated the boy from them and found that Neville seemed to have fallen asleep in the process of his change. For that Severus was grateful: the rising noise of children crying had begun to reach a crescendo.

"Everyone who has found a child, follow me!" Severus ordered over the cacophony of sound.

Ron hurried over with Hermione clutching his neck in a vicelike grip. He was followed by Parkinson, holding Draco Malfoy, and the red haired girl who had dutifully plucked Neville from the floor. Severus relaxed a fraction when he saw that it was only three other students who had been changed. There was some irony to the fact that Draco had been affected by his own foolish actions but Severus comforted himself with the thought that the embarrassment for the boy would be punishment enough when he was reverted back to his older self. Severus did not allow himself to wonder whether the effects might be permanent.

"Where's Potter?" He demanded, seeing that the boy was not being carried by one of the students.

"He's where you left him, Professor." The red-haired girl spoke up pointedly.

Severus glared at her but moved to the back of the classroom to the first pair of robes that he had looked under. He was unnerved to find that Potter really had stayed where he had left him, although the boy had moved slightly further under the desk. His black hair fell over his eyes but, from Severus' low angle, the bright green eyes could still be seen. The overall impression was like light from beneath a rock, Severus thought distractedly.

"Come here Potter." He said resignedly. The boy hurried to Snape's outstretched arms, looking slightly fatalistic. Severus wondered whether Potter alone had retained his more adult mind, such was the uncomfortable look on the boy's face as he was picked up. Severus mused that it would not be the first time that Potter had been an exception to something like this.

Severus awkwardly held the young Harry Potter and it crossed his mind that he had thought that small children were supposed to feel sort of fleshy and rounded. Potter felt sharp. He was not pleasant to pick up. Severus grimaced slightly as he walked over to the small line of students, each carrying a child. He looked around at the rest of the class and glared at them. Let one of them laugh, he dared them. But no one even smirked, they all seemed to be in a state of shock.