Five year old Harry Potter was sitting between his classmates Hermione and Draco in his lessons at the Hogwarts Playschool of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry was only half-heartedly listening to Amelia Bones, the Playschool teacher, as he was admiring the beautiful picture of flowers he had been painting during the entire day.

Finally, he heard the bell for the end of the lesson and excitedly grabbed Hermione’s arm. “Mione,” he whispered. “Don’t go home yet, you have to come with me on a date, today is Baltines day.”

“Baltines day?” the girl enquired, frowning. “Do you perhaps mean Valentine’s day?” she then asked, preparing herself to lecture her friend about the meaning, which in fact she wasn’t too sure about either.

“Yes, that’s it. Now, I must show you something,” Harry whispered eagerly and pulled his friend over to the library, their favourite place in the castle.

In the library, Harry motioned Hermione to sit down at a table and took the chair next to her. From his robe pocket he quickly produced the picture he had painted during the day, his fingers nervously playing with the edges of the rolled parchment. He summoned all his courage and presented the picture to his friend. Completely embarrassed, he averted his eyes to the floor, excitedly whispering, “For you, Mione, ‘cause I like you.”

“Oh, thank you, Harry, that’s a beautiful picture,” Hermione said happily. She stood up and placed a sloppy kiss on Harry’s cheek. “Now, have you discovered anything interesting in the library?” she enquired, glancing over at the restricted section.

Harry, who had remained stunned there for a moment, came back to reality and motioned the girl to follow him. Knowing the Healer’s password, which Madam Pomfrey normally used, Harry quickly opened the restricted section, leading Hermione to a shelf at the very end. “Look here,” he whispered, taking a tome off the shelf. “Here’s a potion, ‘Polyjuice Potion’. It says you only need a hair of what you want to transform into, and when you put it into the Potion you brewed and drink it you will transform. So maybe you take a hair of me when I’m a goat and then you can transform too and we can play together.”

“Oh, Harry, that’s brilliant. Let’s quickly copy the recipe and then we can ask Professor Snape if he can help us brew the potion,” Hermione agreed enthusiastically.

“There is no need to take a book out of the Restricted Section,” they suddenly heard a voice. Looking around frantically, they saw the Potions Professor standing a few meters away, giving them a menacing glare. “Maybe we should continue your ‘Date’,” he said, emphasizing the word ‘date’, “in my Potions lab,” the teacher suggested and led the way.

Down in the dungeons, Severus quickly Floo-called Hermione’s parents and Poppy, who had been Harry’s guardian since they took him away from the Dursleys and brought him to Hogwarts three years ago, to inform them that their children were currently in detention because they broke into the restricted section of the library and were contemplating brewing a dangerous potion. He then gave them a lecture on the meaning of the word ‘restricted’ before he taught them about the Polyjuice potion and its use, which the two children, who were very interested in potions and sometimes instructed by the professor, enjoyed immensely.

Finally, the children were allowed to help Severus prepare frogs eggs for a potion Severus had to brew for the Hospital wing. A few minutes into the task, the professor was called away because of a fight in the hall, and as soon as Severus had left the lab, Hermione stepped over to Harry, planting another kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, Harry, for the picture, for showing me the potion, and for preparing frogs eggs with me.” Looking at the happy twinkle in Harry’s eyes, she added, “I like you too, Harry.”

Harry gave his friend a hesitant smile and replied, “I like Baltines Day.”