Disclaimer: I own nothing. The Harry Potter characters and universe belong to others.

Synopsis: A seemingly harmless prank doesn't go over so well with the boy-who-lived. Drabble.

Note: This is a quick drabble I wrote to combat writers block a while back. It was going to be an experiment at writing humor, but there really isn't anything funny in what ended up coming out. That's how it goes I guess.

Just a Prank (Drabble)

Fred and George are going down.

That decision echos through Harry's embarrassed mind as he sits in the middle of the kitchen table, hearing laughter on all sides. If Harry thought about it objectively, he could see how being shrunk down to half his size while his voice rises so high he practically squeaks when he talks would be entertaining. But as he stares down at his small form and his clothes hanging loosely on his tiny frame, he's reminded so strongly of his childhood with the Dursleys that he can't find an iota of humor in the situation. Feeling the heat of tears prickling behind his eyes, he does his best to flee the kitchen, losing his pants in his haste to get out of the room and causing the laughter to rise up another notch.

In the hallway, he runs into a set of legs and falls backwards. Sitting on the ground is what allows him to crane his head back enough to meet the inquiring gaze of Professor Severus Snape. Harry stares at the man in silence for a long moment. A streak of warmth down his check only deepens his humiliation as he realizes the tears he was fighting back in the kitchen finally made their way to the surface.

"Mr. Potter," Snape's silky voice is oddly neutral while he says the boy's name. "Follow me."

Then he's striding down the hallways, slower than normal to allow the boy to keep up. They come to a stop in a rarely-used sitting room, too far out of the way for most of the residents to really bother with it. Snape sits down on a plush chair and Harry, after a slight hesitation, climbs up onto the couch right next to it.

"I'm guessing this was the handwork of the twin terrors?" The man finally asks, as his eyes drag up and down the boy's shrunken frame. Harry just nods, mouth pinched shut so as not to reveal his high-pitched voice. But when a coaster is transfigured into a blanket and magically arranged over the boy's frame – hiding the baggy shirt and covering the naked legs – Harry can't help but squeak, "Why?"

"It seems decidedly to be in poor taste," Snape admits with a sneer, though seeing as the man is glaring towards the door and not the boy himself, Harry gets a strange feeling that the anger is for once not aimed at himself.

"Sir?"

"I've seen enough of your mind to know that this prank is most likely a reminder of things I imagine you'd rather forget."

Harry thinks back on his Occlumency lessons. Snape has continued the lessons midway through Harry's sixth year, when the visions of Voldemort had become nearly debilitating. After several long screaming matches and several even longer months of plunging into Harry's mind, the two had finally become able to sit in each other's company without daydreaming about murdering each other. However, this is the first time Snape has ever acknowledged his awareness of the Dursleys's special brand of love and affection in conversation.

Though now that Harry thinks about how much of his neglected childhood Snape has witnessed in the last few months, something clicks in his mind. He'd wondered why he hadn't been sent back to Privet Drive this summer; Harry thinks that he may now know how that miracle came about. "You made sure I didn't go back there this summer." Harry's eyes are wide with the realization, though the high pitch of his voice masks the astonishment that would otherwise have been in his voice.

"Of course I did." Judging by Snape's expression as he says this, the dour man seems offended by Harry's surprise.

And then Harry starts laughing. Of all things, the dreaded Severus Snape has become the first adult in his life to not only do something about his living situation but also to make it seem like such an obvious decision. Several seconds into his laughing fit, his voice begins to deepen and then cuts off as disorientation strikes with a sudden growth spurt. It's altogether a really terrible feeling, and the boy's stomach rebels and he's leaning over the couch and barfing onto the ground before he even finishes returning to his full size.

The bile on the ground vanishes with a flick of Snape's wand.

After catching his breath, Harry looks up at the man and smiles. "Thank you sir."