Dumbledore had to stop making his way to the lower levels as those he called for began arriving. Dubban, the head house-elf was the first by his side. The elderly house-elf was shocked to see the condition the place was in. He had had been born at Hogwarts about two centuries ago*, and had never seen anything of the sort before. He listened carefully to the Headmaster’s instructions and immediately set his house-elves to work. He himself tried to pop* to the Potions workroom, and managed to get inside but it was in ruins and complete darkness. There was barely enough space for him to remain standing in there, and he was not among the tallest house-elves. He popped back to the Headmaster’s side to inform him of what he found. Dubban had heard very faint labored breathing, but somehow it just did not seem right.

The Headmaster wanted the house-elves to start working in the room, the faint breathing indicated that Severus was alive, and the urgent need to get him out of there. There was not enough space for more than one house-elf, so Dubban chose one of his more experienced elves and had her working at slowly clearing enough space for more of them and to reinforce whatever structures remained of the destroyed dungeon.

For everyone’s sake Albus had to push his worry for the Potions Master, and distract himself with calming and directing the shocked professors into clearing a path to the lower areas. He needed to be strong for them, no matter how much he felt like digging with his own hands -if need be- to search for the vitriolic younger wizard, whom he loved like a son. They all were frankly worried about their co-worker. Despite the appearances, and Severus’s usually sour disposition; he was appreciated and respected by his colleagues. And although the Potions Master would not be caught dead admitting it, the old wizard knew it was mutual.

Even after four hours of hard work, they had not really made much progress. Filius was hard pressed to cast charms strong enough to provide support for the weakened ceiling as they cleared their way. At one point the floor of one of the kitchen’s storerooms –located above the section they were working on- came crashing down on them. Kendra* Vector had the presence of mind to cast a shield and Minerva to transfigure the falling debris into feathers, but none had been fast enough to keep two of the house-elves from getting trapped under the rocks, unfortunately, one of them died. His death cast a somber shadow over all of them. After that, the progress slowed even more, although the resolve to find Severus strengthened.

After almost eight hours of non-stop work, one of the four house-elves that had laboriously managed to get into the potions workroom finally had some good news to report. There was now enough space to take one of the Professors inside, they had yet to find Professor Snape -as they had not finished cleaning all the rubbish- and because the faint sound of breathing was, strangely, very difficult to place. Dumbledore himself volunteered to be transported to the room; the house-elf grabbed a hold of him and took the old wizard to the dungeon.

The Headmaster barely recognized the place they were in, and it only served to increase his worry for Severus. There really was no place where a grown wizard could be trapped under; most of the rubble and what was left of the furniture and equipment had already been removed from the middle of the room. The odd labored breathing kept resonating strangely and he searched the place with his eyes until he located -at the back of the room near the fireplace- an upturned and extremely battered cauldron that still was half buried in the debris.

The cauldron was one of the largest –if not THE largest- Severus had in his stores, and he usually occupied it to brew the infirmary supplies. Albus knew that so soon after the summer break started his Potions Master was not going to work on school business. In that Snape was quite predictable. So the thing should have been stored somewhere else. Unless, whatever it was that he was brewing, had been required in great amounts by Voldemort. The thing was large enough that a grown man of Severus size could fit in it, although, it was a very tight fit. There was the slight chance he had been able to hide under it when the structure collapsed.

Albus directed the house-elves to remove the debris that still covered the cauldron, they found it was battered beyond recognition in some parts but it had held strong, with only a couple of small holes and tears that allowed some air inside. After about 30 minutes of careful work they managed to clear the area and Albus removed it. To his surprise there was no grown wizard trapped inside. His dark robes and wand were there, but instead of Severus Snape there was a very small child.

“My dear boy, what have you done to yourself now?” Albus inquired even if he knew he would not be getting an answer from the unconscious infant; who appeared –at first sight- to be in a terrible condition.

Albus carefully covered the naked and battered baby with the dark robes, and picked him up. With most of the wards down, the headmaster decided it would be best to apparate out of the place. He went straight to the infirmary and called for Madame Pomfrey who was there having just finished checking her stores and making an inventory of what was lost in the explosion. Her ‘domains’ had suffered more than just a little dust and debris from the ceiling and walls. A few of the cabinets where she stored her potions were upturned, and not all of the vials in there had unbreakable charms.

“Dear Merlin Albus!” She exclaimed when she saw him come in carrying the child. “Is… is that Severus? Minerva said he was the cause of the explosion.”

“It all points out to this child being him Poppy,” he responded and deposited the infant on the bed she signaled. “There was no one else in the potions workroom, and he was under that big cauldron Severus uses to brew your supplies for the school year. Can you get him back to normal?”

“I don’t know yet, it will depend on what he was working on, let me check him over. He does not look good,” was her response as she began casting diagnostic spells.

Working with a Potions Master -and a few generations of students- that loved to do research and experiment had given Madame Pomfrey a lot of experience in the area of potions accidents. In some cases she had even been called to aid the medi-wizards at St. Mungos, when they were not able to solve a problem. She had, in fact, developed more than a few spells that helped her identify the type of potion used and/or the majority of the ingredients so she could undo the effects. So the medi-witch had been fairly confident that she would be able to return Severus to his real age, despite her words to the Headmaster.

At first she cast the spells that would tell her what the baby’s physical condition was; as the most pressing issue was to heal him. The child had a couple of cracked ribs, and one of his little arms was broken, those were marked as recent and the lapse of time since they were inflicted matched the time elapsed since the explosion. But there were other injuries that were not easily explainable and that were slightly older. There were bruises on his little arms -finger shaped ones- his legs, and his face. His bottom had a ring shaped mark, that was clearly the result of a burn with hot water and he was suffering from a severe case of diaper rash that seemed untreated for some time. On top of that, despite the infant appearing to be around three or four months, she found out he was seven –almost eight- and suffering from malnutrition. A more specific spell diagnosed that the baby had the ‘failure to thrive syndrome’, and that without proper attention and loving care he would die soon.

Poppy did not like the conclusion her diagnostic spells indicated. Severus had been a neglected and abused baby. She had suspected he had been an abused child when he was a student, but she had not been able to provide concrete proof and Severus had stubbornly refused to speak about it. The condition she found him in proved beyond reasonable doubt that he suspicions had been right on target. She was also able to confirm that he was indeed Severus Snape, and that he had de-aged himself in a bout of uncontrollable magic.

The medi-witch did not like what she was reading in her diagnosis parchments. She could deal with de-aging caused by potions, charms or even transfigurations. But she had no way to reverse a de-aging caused by an uncontrollable bout of magic. This worried her, since she knew the Potions Master was too controlled in both emotions and his own magic, had been even before he arrived to Hogwarts as a ten year old, to be a victim of something like that. Poppy could find, and did, probable causes for it. Something terrified Severus to the point of whishing to return to an age when he felt safe. It was then that she discovered that he would have de-aged himself until he was a fetus in his mother’s womb, which would have killed him, if something had not stopped him. After working non-stop on the infant for two hours, she finally came out to talk to Albus and Minerva, who had joined him.

“You don’t look happy Poppy, is everything all right with Severus?” Minerva commented upon seeing the medi-witch’s tired and serious expression.

“It depends…” she began and gestured for them to move to her office. Once inside and with everyone seated she suggested that Albus cast some locking and silencing spells. “I was able to heal most of his physical injuries and those that remain are not life threatening, and should heal on their on in about a week.”

“Were you able to age him back?” Albus inquired.

“No, and frankly I don’t know of anyone who could…”

“But… surely you can have an antidote brewed, de-aging by a potions accident has happened before; and you’ve been able to return them to their right ages.” Minerva stated worried.

“It was not a potion that turned him into a baby. In fact, it was the potion that stopped him from de-aging as far back as the time he was inside his mother’s womb. And that’s something strange as I can’t really detect more than that of the potion, no ingredients, and no other effects.”

“What? But… that shouldn’t be!” Minerva was clearly aghast. What had Severus been working on that left barely any traces? All his potion experiments before did, just in case something like the accident of this afternoon happened, and he needed Poppy to help him deal with the effects of the potion.

“No, it shouldn’t. That’s a precaution he always took with new potions.” The medi-witch agreed.

“So, did you find a possible reason that made him return to that young age?” Albus inquired.

“Yes and you are barely going to believe it. It was a bout of uncontrolled magic…”

“Uncontrolled magic and Severus don’t fit in the same sentence Poppy! Of all the children I have taught in my career as a teacher he is the only one that never had one such episode since he came to Hogwarts!”

“I know Minerva, believe me, I know. I’m not sure what happened but something frightened him to the point of needing to feel safe.”

“And he only felt safe in his mother’s womb? That’s… that’s…”

“You know his parents did not love him Minerva,” Albus finally spoke. “They would not have been nurturing.”

“That’s an understatement Albus! They were downright abusive; those injuries that have to heal on their own were caused by mishandling him.”

“Is there anything we can do to have him back?”

“I really don’t know Albus, but if it’s any consolation he has all of his memories intact, although not accessible to his infant self. For all that I know he’ll have to grow back the hard lengthy way, year by year. At the moment, he is seven months old.”