-II-

"We won't look away, Severus. Nothing you could say will stop us from watching out for you and Harry," said Albus. "Are there other questions or worries we should discuss?"

Severus shook his head.

"Are you sure?" Poppy prodded.

"Yes" Severus announced.

"Would you like to talk in your room with Remus or would you prefer if we left so you can use the living room?" Albus asked.

Severus shrugged his shoulders. "My room is fine." Shyly, he looked over to Remus, who smiled at him reassuringly.

"Then off you go, my boys," Albus instructed, the famous twinkle prominent in his eyes.

-II-

"Severus, what's the problem?" Remus asked when Severus made no move to start the conversation for three minutes. They had gone into Severus' room and the boy had sat down on his bed with his eyes cast down on his hands in his lap.

"There is nobody here to stop you, so you can start mocking me now. I won't tell anyone," Severus said sadly.

Remus shook his head in pity. "I'm here to stop me, Severus. I would never mock you. I've grown up in many ways. I hope you will stop thinking like this and come to one of us teachers the moment someone starts to mock or bully you. You don't deserve something like that."

Severus just shook his head in despair. He knew that his school life would be a living hell. "Alastor promised to find another solution during the Christmas holiday. So I don't have to go to Hogwarts after then."

Remus looked skeptically. This was not a topic during their last two staff meetings. "Even if that is true, you don't need to let others bully you. Why are you so stubborn?"

"Because my life sucks, that's why!" Severus shouted and looked angrily at Remus.

"Language, Severus, but I prefer that you are now looking at me and communicating," Remus said.

"I... I taught them, Remus! Now I'm younger than them. They will hate me like they hated me as an adult, but now I can get in trouble with them. My magic...." Severus looked shocked at Remus. Why did he say so much? He was suddenly reminded of the fact that he still did not have his wand back. Panic rose up, and it must have started to show because Remus looked alarmed.

"Severus? Severus? Are you okay?" Remus asked and stood up from his chair.

Oh, no, he's realized that I don't have a wand, Severus thought in panic and crawled backwards.

Remus stopped abruptly when he saw Severus back away from him. He held his hands up for Severus to see them. "I'm not going to harm you, Severus. You are working yourself into a panic attack at the moment. Please calm down. Breathe calmly."

Severus shook his head to clear it. Again, only cotton wool was in his head and the stabbing pain came back. Pictures of Remus and the other Marauders tormenting him and of Remus as a werewolf came into his mind.

"Severus, please, you must calm down," Remus sent a Patronus to Poppy and sat down on the bed. Severus was shaking like a leaf. "Severus, are you in pain?" He touched the distressed boy's shoulder.

"It hurts," Severus whispered miserably, holding his head. "Make it stop," he pleaded.

Remus pulled Severus halfway onto his lap. "I called for Poppy. She will be here soon, Severus. Try to breathe calmly with me, okay? Come on, breathe in...and out...in and out...."

Severus tried to do what Remus told him. He tried to listen to the werewolf's heartbeat, but it was way to quick to be soothing.

Remus was relieved when Poppy and Alastor stormed into the room. He thought Alastor would take over, but the old man just positioned himself behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder for support. Poppy sat down in front of them on the bed and spoke with Severus.

"Severus, what's wrong?" Poppy asked professionally.

"Pictures...in my head. It hurts!" Severus stuttered.

"I can't give you another painkiller so soon after the last one, Severus. Try to think about something nice. What about brewing potions?" Poppy tried to distract Severus from the pain in hopes that one of the Healers would come quickly.

"Can't," Severus said miserably and started to sob.

Poppy grabbed Severus' hands when he started to claw at his hair. "Shhh...Severus, you are hurting yourself."

As if he didn't know that. It was his only hope to make the pain vanish. He fought against Poppy's hands. The pain had numbed all his communication abilities, and so he did not react when James came into the room and asked him a question. Only when soothing magic flowed into his body did he stop struggling against Poppy.

Severus tried hard to stop sobbing, especially when he realized whose lap he was on, but his efforts were in vain.

Remus again hoped that he could hand Severus over to someone else, but neither Poppy nor Healer Smith made any kind of move to accept his offer. They just ignored him.

James knew the man upon whose lap Severus sat, and he would definitely not take Severus out of the man's arms even though it would be much easier to send Healing magic. It would be good for both wizards to go through this together. "Better, Severus?"

Severus nodded. "Thank you, Healer Smith. I'm sorry."

"First, it's still James, and second, there is nothing to be sorry about. This can happen from time to time, and it isn't something be ashamed of," James explained.

"Albus told us," Severus said tiredly. "I'm a mental freak."

"You are not," James said sternly and looked at Poppy.

"Albus told the boys that there are more side effects to the potion, and I had no other chance to talk to them about it further," Poppy said guiltily. She leaned backwards thankfully when her husband scooped her close.

"Severus, the side effects do not appear often, and if they show up, they can be temporary," James stated. He would have a serious talk with the headmaster.

"I remember why De-Aging Potions are forbidden. Some people go insane, and some never mentally age," Severus said, surprised that those memories made it back to the surface.

James sighed. Why did this memory sorting attack have to reveal just that memory? It would be lost again in a few hours, but the new memory Severus had made just now would not. "You will not go insane, Severus. You will have a normal life and will grow up like any other twelve-year-old boy. The potion is out of your system now."

"You don't know for sure," Severus protested miserably.

"I know it, Severus, and I wouldn't tell you something like this if I was not absolutely certain about it. You will not go insane. You might have trouble regaining you magic. It will be a fight, not just a natural getting back of your past skills. The damage caused by Voldemort's actions was worse than the potion's. The potion...I fear the potion will have made you more vulnerable to emotional stress, Severus. These headaches and memory flashes are normal and will stop soon. I promise you that."

Severus looked hopefully at the Healer. His head felt much better already, and he couldn't remember what had triggered this whole scenario. It must have shown on his face because James addressed him again.

"Already forgotten what caused this attack?" James asked softly and cupped Severus' cheek to look directly into his eyes.

"That's scary," Severus whispered.

"It's a safety function of your mind, Severus. It's okay," the Healer assured.

Poppy grabbed Severus' hand and started to stroke it, not only to calm Severus but herself as well.

"How was the conversation going before the attack happened?" James asked Remus.

"Not so good. Severus is very scared about school, and I fear he won't tell anyone if he gets into trouble with one of the students," Remus said.

"That we can just wait for and watch closely," James exclaimed. "What about your indifferences?"

Remus looked down at Severus who, even though he was fully aware now, did not make any move to leave his lap. His arm was still drawn around Severus' waist. "He was open in the end and didn't avoid looking at me. I think-"

"I'm right here!" Severus protested.

James chuckled. "That's right. Sorry, I forgot. So how is your relationship with Professor Lupin?"

"I don't have a relationship with him," Severus said and drew a face.

Another chuckle from the Healer. "Of course not. What I meant was can you trust him enough not to bully you again?"

Severus nodded shyly and looked down. Seeing Remus' hand on his side did not help the blush that spread across his cheeks.

"Then one of the fears you had is settled down, right?" James asked.

Again, the black haired boy nodded. "I'm tired. Can I sleep for a while?"

"Of course," James said and stroked Severus' hair.

Remus loosened his grip and sat up from the bed to give Poppy and Alastor more room to tuck Severus in.

Alastor pulled Severus to the head of the bed, and Poppy changed his clothes into pajamas. "We will wake you for lunch, Severus," Poppy said and kissed his forehead. Before all the adults could leave the room, Severus was asleep.

 ____________

Harry sat down on his bed and stared at his feet. One sock had gone back to its original size and the other was still charmed to fit his small feet now.

"Do you want me to change it back?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded shyly.

"It's normal. These charms aren't made to hold for hours," Hermione explained.

"I know, Alastor told me. We're going shopping for clothes this afternoon," Harry said while staring at his socks. "Ehm...should I have known about this spell? I mean, did we learn it?"

Hermione threw a worried look over to Ron and noticed too late that Harry had looked up.

"I should have known about it, right?" Harry asked dejectedly.

"You will learn it all again, Harry," Hermione said, trying to sound cheerfully. "Remus said that all your memories are still there, but you have to sort them out and have to concentrate hard to remember some of them."

"Yeah, just great," Harry replied, depressed.

"Cheer up mate; you really give us one shock after another. First, we hear that you try to kill yourself, and then we hear that you defeated Voldyshorts without us, and now you blow up a cauldron with Snape and get yourself de-aged. You really are a handful," Ron said.

"You are not helping," Hermione scolded Ron when she saw Harry's guilty expression.

"There is nothing to worry about, Harry. We are still friends, and all our classmates give you their best regards. They all wanted to check on you, but only Ron and I were allowed to come. They changed the Heads of House now, so it is clear that Professor Snape won't be coming back to be Head of House for Slytherin. Professor Flitwick has taken over Slytherin. I think they didn't want to overburden Charlie, so Professor McGonagall is helping him with the Ravenclaws now, and Remus took over Gryffindor. Isn't that good news? Remus spoke with us all yesterday about the changes and what happened to you and Professor Snape. What were you brewing when it happened?"

Harry opened his mouth to answer, but he could not remember. Shocked, he looked at Hermione.

"It's okay, Harry. It wasn't important." Inwardly, she scolded herself for asking.

"It is important. Damn, I forgot things that are important," Harry said. His hands started to shake.

"Ehm...shall I get Madam Pomfrey?" Ron asked insecurely.

"No, I'm fine," Harry said and pressed his hands against his knees. "You don't need to stay my friends. I know it's awkward and you don't want to be seen hanging around with a second year."

"Are you crazy, mate? You could be five and we would still stay friends. Four years is nothing," Ron said, determined.

Harry breathed deeply. Ron could never hide his true feelings, and hearing him say these things so determined could only mean he meant them. Harry could not stop himself from hugging his friend.

Ron looked at Hermione, and she gestured for him to respond to the hug by hugging back. Awkwardly, he did so and after a few second it even felt good. A little bit as if he finally had the little brother he had always wished for.

"It's so confusing. I don't feel like the old Harry. I was cool, right?" He did not wait for an answer. "I don't think I will be able to be the friend you once had."

"Then we will sort out what kind of friends we can be now, but we will stay friends. Nothing can tear us apart, Harry," Ron said and ruffled Harry's hair. His heart made a jump when he saw Hermione's proud smile.

 _______________

When he entered the room, they were playing Exploding Snap. "Hey, how are you doing?" Remus asked.

"We are fine. Do you want to join our game, Remus?" Hermione asked. She was still surprised that they were allowed to call the Remus by his given names even though he was their Professor.

"Good idea," Remus said and sat down on the carpet with the kids. Harry looked happy, and Remus was relieved that at least Harry was not worrying himself sick about the whole situation.

"Will you tell me what you talked about with Severus?" Harry asked carefully.

At first, Remus was puzzled as to how Harry could know about his talk with Severus, but then he realized that Harry was referring to the meeting. "All I can say is that Severus decided that he wants to be re-Sorted. He will meet the Sorting Hat for his second time tomorrow before breakfast." When Remus turned to Ron and Hermione, he asked, "Have you two already told Harry about the changes to the Heads of House?"

"Yes, they did," Harry said enthusiastically. "It's so cool that you are our Head of House now!"

Remus smiled down at Harry. "I'm glad you are so excited. Wait until I have you in my office for getting into some kind of mischief."

They all laughed and then played cards until it was time for lunch.