Malfoy Child

Potions Accident

Boom!

The loud explosion startled everyone in the potions classroom, and many of the students shrieked or ducked for cover.

Harry allowed himself a moment of indignation when he realized that everyone immediately looked in his direction first, despite the fact the sound hadn't even come from his side of the room.

It was only moments, however, when everyone's horrified gaze was directed to the Slytherin side of the room—to a rapidly shrinking Draco Malfoy.

Snape had immediately flown into action and, with a couple flicks of his wand, he had abolished the blue goo from Malfoy's body and purged the entire area clean except for what was left in the cauldron.

Everyone in the room had come to a shocked standstill. Even Snape seemed to be frozen in place after the mess was clean, watching along with his students as Draco Malfoy's body shifted over the next thirty seconds until Draco was left standing as a small child in robes that were now enormous on him.

For a few seconds longer, the entire classroom was hung in silence. Draco lifted his head and stared fearfully at his classmates with huge silver eyes.

The horrified gazes of his classmates fell away into gales of laughter from most of those in the room. The Gryffindors, of course, thought it was hilarious that the Slytherin prince was finally getting what he deserved. And in a potions accident, of all things. Most felt Malfoy deserved it after all the grief he'd caused them in potions over the years.

Unfortunately for Draco, his Slytherin classmates were laughing hysterically as well. They seemed to think it was hilarious that their esteemed leader had been reduced to a child. No one ever said that Slytherins couldn't be cruel, even to one of their own.

There were only two people in the room who weren't laughing at Draco's plight. One was Snape, who had rushed to the small room off the classroom where he was recklessly going through a cabinet of potion vials.

The other person, who was still staring horrified at the small child, was none other than Harry Potter. As he continued to stare, Draco was starting to cry. Draco looked scared, lost and alone as the tears flowed silently down his cheeks. He hung his head and his hair swung forward, shielding him somewhat from the laughing faces.

Harry's mind was whirling at a furious pace as he tried to figure out exactly what was happening.

Harry had been hurt and alone during the long days and nights spent at the Dursleys over the past summer. It wasn't like he'd really had anything else to do at the Dursleys, and it had been a difficult thought process getting there, but he'd ended up spending a tremendous amount of time in his lonely days thinking about Draco Malfoy. In fact, he'd spent so much time thinking about him, that 'Malfoy' had become 'Draco' in his mind somewhere along the line.

As Harry stared at the small child, he was forcibly reminded of himself. How many times in his past had he stood in the middle of a group of people laughing at him, head bowed, silently crying as he did nothing but stand there in clothes that were too big for him? And no one had ever stood up for him. No one had offered him a hug or any kind of comfort. They'd simply continued to laugh and tease him, or turn away, fearful of helping him because of Dudley's, or even Vernon's, threats. So, he would simply stand there, scared and alone—just as Draco was now doing.

He thought about the plans he'd had to try to befriend Draco once the summer was over and they were back at Hogwarts. Not a single one of his many imagined scenarios had included Draco being suddenly turned into a small child.

Several more seconds passed as he desperately tried to pull his swirling thoughts together. The circumstances may have changed from his imagined scenarios, but the thought flashed through his mind that Draco seemed to actually need him, someone at least, to be his friend right now.