Prank Potion with Consequences - Or Maybe Not Just a Prank?
by Healer Pomfrey

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

Suddenly, Harry found himself in a small stone room. He saw Voldemort and half a dozen Death Eaters sitting around a dark, wooden table.

"Malfoy," Voldemort addressed the group, "seeing that Severus is not amongst us tonight, I take it that your son managed to de-age all the Hogwarts teachers. Is that correct?"

"Yes my Lord," Malfoy replied with pride swinging in his voice. "Everyone but Hagrid and that Squib have been de-aged, and Potter is the only student remaining at Hogwarts over the holidays."

"Very well," Voldemort acknowledged. "This is the optimal time for us to attack the castle and for me to kill Potter for good. We're going to attack tomorrow evening, when the children will be in bed."

After a few minutes, the meeting ended, and Harry found himself back in his dormitory.

HP

'He's going to attack tomorrow evening,' he thought, when he suddenly felt his stomach revolt. He hurried to the bathroom just in time for his stomach to get rid of its sparse contents. 'I hope it's only because of the vision and not the stomach flu,' he thought. 'Anyway, we still have to practise a lot tomorrow. I'll ask Filch to take Umbridge tomorrow. He can make her do some chores within the castle.'

Unfortunately, during the night, Harry had to run to the bathroom every now and then, and by the morning, he was knew that he had caught the stomach flu from the children. Misty and Poppy instructed him to remain in bed; however, knowing that they had to practise the spell and that he also wanted to speak with Filch once again, Harry refused vehemently. He helped the children dress themselves, gave them the aging potion and brought them into the Great Hall for breakfast, before he excused himself for a few minutes.

To his relief, he did not have to search for the caretaker but found him in his office.

"Voldemort is going to attack this evening," he informed the spy, who gave him a curious look. "I had a vision last night," he admitted, before he asked, "Do you have access to a Pensieve?"

"No, but if you allow me to cast a Legilimency spell?" Filch queried, causing Harry to nod and look into the man's eyes.

"Thank you Mr. Potter," the caretaker said after observing the memory. "This will put at least Mr. Malfoy and his son into Azkaban. I'll contact my division. They'll all be here in the castle to assist if the need arises tonight. I still suggest that you proceed with our plan."

"Yes, that's what I intend to do," Harry said hurriedly, knowing that he'd have to run to the bathroom again within a minute. "Sorry sir, can you take Umbridge today for the day?"

"Yes," Filch replied in understanding.

"I'll fetch her," Harry said and hurried away, managing to reach the toilets near the Great Hall just in time. A few minutes later, he brought a badly protesting five-year-old to the caretaker. "Today, you will help Mr. Filch clean the castle," he instructed her in a firm voice.

"Yes, I need someone to help me clean all the bathrooms," Filch said, pressing some Muggle cleaning tools into the girl's hands.

"Thank you Mr. Filch. I'll collect her in time for dinner," Harry said and excused himself.

HP

Back in the Great Hall, he had a stern conversation with the others, during which he explained about his vision and how he intended to vanquish Voldemort with the children's help. "Does everyone want to help, or is there anyone, who'd prefer to remain in the Gryffindor tower during the attack?" he finally queried, quirking an eyebrow.

"Me," Sybill spoke up in a small, frightened voice. "Although I know that you'll get rid of him for good tonight."

"That's all right, Sybill. Then you will stay in the common room together with Dolores. No, there's no need to worry," he said, soothingly, seeing the girl's terrified look at the mentioning of Dolores. "I'll cast a sleeping spell on her, so that she'll sleep through the whole event."

"Thank you," Sybill said, gratefully.

"Where do you intend for us to cast the spell?" Severus suddenly enquired, causing Harry to give Severus and Albus a questioning look.

"I thought that the Great Hall was the best, don't you think so?" he asked.

"Yes," the two boys agreed, simultaneously, making a small smile play on Harry's lips.

During the following hour, Harry and the seven children practised their spells, before he decided to end the practice, not wanting the children to become magically exhausted.

"Tonight, we'll just remain here in the Great Hall after dinner, except for Dolores and Sybill, whom I'll take to Gryffindor. Mr. Filch is going to warn us, when anyone arrives on the grounds, and there will also some people from the Ministry of Magic present on the grounds tonight in case that we need help," he explained to the children.

Suddenly, a hand found itself on his forehead. It was small, and it was cold. "Harry, you're ill and belong into bed," Poppy spoke up in a stern voice. "We're not babies anymore, and Dolores isn't with us, so we'll be able to play in the playground just by ourselves."

"All right," Harry agreed, feeling bad enough to listen to the Healer's words. He spent most of the day in bed, except for the times, when he had to run to the bathroom to throw up.

Sometimes, he woke up to Poppy or Minerva sitting on the edge of his bed bathing his flushed face with cold cloths. "Thank you so much," he told the girls, "but it's all right. I'm fine. Go and play or take a rest, so that you'll be well rested for tonight."

"We will Harry, don't worry about us," Minerva replied in a firm voice. "You have to get well quickly, so you'll be all right tonight."

'They're so cute,' Harry thought, giving the girls a genuine smile.

HP

It was still early afternoon, when Tipsy suddenly stood in front of Harry's bed. "Master Harry, wake up. Voldemort is arriving with a huge group of Death Eaters. Mr. Filch said to tell you that he's going to keep Mistress Dolores busy for the time being."

'Oh no,' Harry thought, horrified, as he thanked the elf and looked at his wrist watch. He jumped out of his bed, threw his robes over and gulped down a fever reducing potion, before he hurried down to the common room and informed the children.

"We'll just do it from here," he decided, handing out the wands to the children, which he had kept in his robe pocket. Together with the children, he looked through the window, realising that Tipsy had told the truth. It would not take more than two minutes, before Voldemort was going to reach the entrance doors.

"Now," he instructed the children. He stood in front of the group, waved his wand and spoke the incantation together with them, even if his spell would not take effect. However, the children succeeded in casting it properly, and an instant later, they felt the castle raise into the air. "Stop, that's enough," he told the children, causing them to let sink their wands.

Once again, the group hurried to the windows and observed Voldemort and his Death Eaters stare at the floating castle in confusion.

"You will stay here," Harry instructed the children, before he left the common room, instructing the Fat Lady to let none of the children out or anyone else in before his return. He hurried down to the entrance hall, where he found Mr. Filch along with a group of wizards, whom Filch introduced as his colleagues from the Department of Magical Mysteries. His eyes fell on a big screen on one side of the hall, which showed Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

"Master, we might be able to reach the dungeons," they could hear Lucius Malfoy address Voldemort, causing Voldemort and a huge group of Death Eaters to proceed.

"Now they're under the castle," Filch hissed and, together with Harry, began to speak the incantation, which he had taught Harry a few days ago.

A mere minute later, Hogwarts was firmly standing on her usual spot, burying dozens of evil wizards and witches below. 'Thank Merlin,' Harry thought, feeling the pain in his scar, which he had sensed ever since Voldemort had come closer, vanish completely.

"What are we going to do with the Death Eaters, who're still outside?" he asked, worried that some of them might somehow find their way into the castle, even if Filch had firmly secured the entrance doors.

"The complete Auror body of the Ministry has been waiting for them at Hogsmeade. They're going to give them Portkeys to Azkaban within the next few minutes," one of Filch's colleagues informed him, smirking.

"Am I still needed?" Harry queried, still not feeling overly well.

"No Mr. Potter. You vanquished Voldemort; that's what we needed you to do. Everything else we're going to leave to the Aurors," Filch told him, giving him an encouraging look.

"I did not," Harry replied, grimly. "You cast the spell together with me."

"I only did that to strengthen your spell, and as you know, no one must know about it," Filch said in a firm voice, causing his colleagues to nod in agreement.

Seeing on the screen how the Aurors surrounded and captured the remaining few dozens of Death Eaters, Harry sighed in relief and slowly returned to Gryffindor.

"It's done. Voldemort is dead," he informed the children, who immediately ran over and stood in a circle around him.

"I have to inform the Minister," Albus spoke up in his high, childish voice, making Harry chuckle.

"No need Albus, several Aurors are still on the grounds, getting rid of the remaining Death Eaters, and I'm sure that they'll alert the Minister of Magic about what happened here today."

However, the four-year-old Headmaster could not be convinced. "Minerva we must..."

No one was going to hear what they must, as Severus chose that instant to speak up. "Albus, leave Harry in peace. He did what the magical world wanted from him, and that suffices. Neither he, nor you, nor Minerva or anyone else owes anything to anyone."

"Exactly," five-year-old Poppy threw in, sternly. "Now Harry, go back to bed. We'll manage to keep Albus on his toes."

Harry followed the advice, knowing that - at least as long as Dolores was still being occupied by Filch - he could trust the children to peacefully play together or occupy themselves quietly. However, he had not considered how mischievous Albus was. Harry woke up to Minerva's and Poppy's excited whispering.

"We're sorry to disturb you Harry, but you have to come down to the common room," Poppy informed him, lightly shaking his shoulder.

"Albus got a chocolate frog from Fawkes or somewhere and cast a duplicating charm on it," Minerva added.

"Oh no," Harry groaned, well able to imagine how the common room looked like. He grabbed his glasses and his wand, holding on to the wall for an instant to let a bout of dizziness pass, before he made his way to the common room.

Several hundred chocolate frogs were already occupying the common room on the carpet, on the sofas, the window sills - just everywhere. Each of them were doing one jump, before they exploded into five new chocolate frogs, which repeated the procedure.

"Finite Incantatem," Harry shouted, glaring at the de-aged Headmaster, who was sitting in front of the fireplace, happily trying to catch the jumping frogs, putting them into his mouth before they could explode. "If it wasn't Christmas Eve, I'd send you to bed without dinner," Harry said, reproachfully, causing Minerva and Poppy to nod their concurrence. He quickly cast a Scourgify spell at the chocolate frogs, before he pointed his wand at the small mischief-maker.

The whole group began to laugh, when Albus suddenly found himself dressed in red robes with a very long, white beard.

"Santa Clause," Severus commented, dryly.

"It suits you really well," Minerva said, chuckling.

"You're not nice, Harry," Albus complained, pouting. "I'm only four, and I love sweets, but you don't give me any."

"Uh oh poor Albus," Minerva and Poppy said, sympathetically; however, from their expressions it became clear that they were enjoying the situation greatly.

"Oh well, it should wear off in twenty-four hours," Harry informed the boy, inefficiently trying to suppress a grin, when Albus walked over to him, stumbling over his beard on the way.

HP

However, this should not remain the last prank being played on this Christmas Eve. In spite of feeling miserable, Harry had accompanied the children to the Great Hall for dinner and afterwards given everyone a bath as usual. However, when all children finally were in bed and he let himself sink on his bed in absolute relief, dozens of toy torpedos went off. 'Oh no, just leave me in peace,' he thought in annoyance, turning to the wall, only to realise that with each movement further toy torpedos were activated. Not feeling well enough to deal with the matter, Harry just grabbed his wand and returned to the common room, where he lay down on the sofa in front of the fireplace.

Unbeknownst to the boy, Severus called Misty and alerted her to the situation, and the Healer elf popped into the common room and gently covered Harry with a thick blanket, before she laid her hand on his cheek to help him recover with her healing magic.

HP

In the morning, Harry noticed in surprise that Severus was standing closely next to him, while he cuddled with each of the children, spelling the aging potion into their systems.

'Do Dolores next,' the boy thought to him, after Harry had aged Poppy up to six first.

Harry obeyed, knowing that Severus had to have his reason for such a request, and when the girl, who to his surprise cuddled with him like everyone else, was aged up to six, the boy continued the telepathic conversation.

'It was Dolores,' he finally informed him. 'I did Legilimency on her. She put the toy torpedos into your bed last night.'

Harry gave the boy an unobtrusive nod, before he asked, "Now Sevvy next?"

Only after everyone was aged up to five respectively six years, Harry helped the children to dress in outfits of their likings, exceptionally even putting robes over their attire, as it was Christmas day. However, neither Albus nor Dolores were allowed to choose their own outfits. Albus was again going to wear the clothes that Harry had made for him the previous day, and vehemently protesting Dolores was put into a green one-piece with green robes on top of it.

"Change that," she demanded, angrily, attacking Harry with her fists.

"No," Harry replied simply.

"You're mean," she growled, kicking her feet against him.

"And what are you?" he asked back. "I really needed my sleep last night, but you saw fit to put toy torpedos into my bed?"

"No, wasn't me," she replied, pouting.

"Oh yes, I know for a fact that it was you," he gave back, feeling encouraged by Severus', Minerva's and Poppy's nodding. "All right, who's next?" he asked, clearly finishing his conversation with Dolores.

HP

Before he took the children to the Great Hall for Christmas breakfast, he motioned them to take their cuddly toys with them for once, receiving strange looks from Minerva and Severus.

On the first day of the de-aging, he had conjured stuffed animals for each of the children, and, unbeknownst to the children, he had made a choice of clothes for the animals to give to the children for Christmas. 'At least during the evenings, when they have their children's minds, they can play with them,' he thought, having observed Minerva play with her stuffed cat and Severus with his lynx multiple times, while the children were waiting for their turn to get their bath. Albus was even cuddling his stuffed phoenix during the day.

As expected, the children eyed him sceptically, when they first opened their gifts, but later, when they returned to Gryffindor after a huge snowball fight in the fresh snow, they excitedly played with them, dressing their animals over and over.

HP

'Thank Merlin I finally got over that stupid stomach flu,' Harry thought, when he was lying in bed that evening. 'Tomorrow, they're going to be seven, well, apart from Minerva, Pomona, Severus and Albus, and it's only four or five more days before Tonks and Shacklebolt are going to come to take Dolores with them. Ah, I really can't wait.'

Even on Christmas day, when everyone had been peacefully playing with their toys, Dolores had begun small fights with everyone including Harry, not bothering to play with her stuffed toad. Other than that, it had been a peaceful day for everyone - maybe with the exception of Albus, since the five-year-old continuously managed to stumble over his long beard. Only while they walked to the Great Hall and back, Harry had taken pity on him and levitated the beard for him to prevent the child from getting hurt at the staircases.

HP

When Harry woke up in the morning, feeling refreshed after a quiet night, he found himself alone in the dormitory. 'Where is everyone?' he mused, trailing down to the common room in concern. However, the common room as well as the girls' dormitory were as deserted as the boys' dormitory.

'I'm sure it's Dolores' doing again,' Harry thought in annoyance and called Dobby for help.

Dobby popped away only to return an instant later. "Harry Potter must comes with me," he said, shaking his head in apparent annoyance.

Knowing better than to ask the elf, Harry quickly grabbed Dobby's hand and allowed himself to be popped away - to the third year boys' dormitory, as he realised in surprise. The first thing that came into his view was Albus pointing his hand at Dolores, casting a stunning spell at the girl.

"Albus..." Harry spoke up in surprise and confusion.

"No, that was the best he could do," Minerva immediately began to explain. "Dolores again managed to get a wand and cast spells at all of us. She also locked the door so that we couldn't get away."

"Why didn't you call a house-elf?" Harry asked, incredulously, realising from the shocked faces that no one had had their older selves' minds, before he had arrived. "Is anyone hurt?" he queried, letting his eyes wander over the subdued group.

"Yes," Poppy spoke up in a grim voice. "I think she used a dark spell on Severus. He seems to be in a lot of pain. Plus she used the Expelliarmus spell on several of us, making us crash into the wall over there. I'll call Misty and ask her to check on everyone. So sorry that I can't help."

"No need to be sorry," Harry said in a soothing voice, before he called out for Misty, who arrived promptly and began to check on the children.

A few minutes later, she poured potions into the children's systems, before she put Dolores into a body-bind spell. "Master Harry, I ask you to brew a potion, which ages the girl up to seventeen right away. I can't tolerate a child here, who casts dark spells at the other children."

"All right," Harry replied, staring at the Healer elf in relief. "Severus, are you well enough to come with me and tell me what exactly to do?"

"Yes of course, but I suggest that we all take the aging potion first," the five-year-old replied. "I'll be better able to assist you with a six-year-old body than now."

Poppy, Misty and Albus decided to leave Dolores where she was, stunned and in a body-binding spell until Harry and Severus were going to brew the aging potion for her after breakfast.

"Harry, contact Tonks and Shacklebolt and ask them to come here during the morning, so that they can take her and her aging potion with them," Albus instructed the older boy, who immediately began to write a letter to the Aurors.

HP

Three hours later, the two Aurors arrived and, after hearing what had happened in the morning, asked Harry to spell the aging potion into her system, before they apparated away with the now seventeen-year-old, who was - as usual - vehemently protesting in a faint attempt to escape her deserved punishment.

"Thank Merlin," Minerva said aloud what everyone else including Harry was thinking.

HP

The following days passed relatively uneventfully. All children asked the house-elves to bring their books or other belongings to the Gryffindor common room, and in the evenings, when everyone became tired and was feeling childish, they just played together. Since Dolores had been taken away and, as Tonks assured him in a letter, had been taken to Azkaban, the children barely ever fought with each other but got along well. Harry slightly relaxed and took the time to work on his holiday assignments.

'One could almost think they get along too well,' he thought one afternoon, when he had taken the group out for a walk around the lake in the snow. Not only ten-year-old Albus and Minerva walked close together around the lake by themselves, but also eleven-year-old Poppy and ten-year-old Severus had separated from the group and were animatedly talking and laughing.

"Harry," Severus' voice suddenly pulled Harry out of his thoughts. "You know that we're going to be very busy tomorrow and the day after, right?"

"With the brewing of the aging potion you mean?" Harry queried, quirking an eyebrow at the younger boy.

"Yes," Severus replied, clearing his throat. "Well, tomorrow, we only need the potion that ages everyone to eleven and then the one for everyone to become seventeen; however, the day after, everyone needs a separate potion. I'll assist or I can just brew the potions of course."

"Oh by the way," Poppy threw in, seemingly hesitating. "Tomorrow, I'm not going to take the potion to become seventeen. I'm going to wait for Sevvy."

"And?" Severus added, smirking, causing Harry to look at the friends in amusement.

"Oh well, since you're going to brew a potion for Sevvy to become thirty-five again, I think I'm going to take the same potion. So it would be nice if you could make the double amount of it."

"You're going to remain thirty-five?" Harry blurted out in surprise, smiling broadly upon hearing the reply. "Congrats Poppy and Sevvy, I'm really happy for the two of you." Glancing at the other couple walking around the lake, he mumbled, "So I'm probably guessing correctly that Albus wants to be aged up to Minerva's age."

"Probably," Poppy agreed, laughing.

However, that evening, when everyone was playing and talking together in the common room, all children together made a different decision.

"Let's just all become thirty-five," Albus suddenly suggested. "We've been getting along so well here, it'll just be more fun for all of us if we can remain the same age all together."

Everyone agreed, smiling mischievously.

"Very well," Severus spoke up, smirking. "Harry and I are going to brew the potion for all of you, however, under one condition."

Seeing that his de-aged colleagues as well as Harry looked at him in expectation, he explained, "Albus, you have to allow me to become Harry's guardian. During the last week, I witnessed so many of his nightmares about his atrocious relatives that I have to insist that you allow him to remain at Hogwarts from now on."

The other ten-year-old remained thoughtful for an instant, before he agreed. "Well, since Voldemort is gone, there's no reason why Harry would have to stay with the Dursleys anymore. You may become his guardian - provided that this is what Harry wants," Albus added, giving Harry a questioning look.

"One moment," Severus threw in. "Just so you know Harry, if I am going to become your guardian, it means you're going to live together with Poppy and me during the holidays."

"I'd love that," Harry replied, grinning upon seeing the children stare at Poppy and Sevvy in disbelief.

HP

At the welcoming feast on Sunday evening, all students looked at the Head table in shock. Not only were most of the teachers much younger than they remembered them, but they were all wearing sparkling green hair, and the Headmaster had got rid of his long, white beard.

"I see..."

"... you have raised them well," the twins whispered to Harry.

"I think so," Harry replied, smirking, just when the Potions Master strode behind the Gryffindor table.

"Mr. Potter, please come to my office right after dinner to speak about your punishment for spelling an unauthorized prank potion into your teachers' systems."

"No sir, you know exactly that they deserved it," Harry replied, smirking.

"Yes, everyone but Poppy and myself," the teacher admitted. "That's why the two of us would like to speak with you tonight."

"All right," Harry agreed, grinning. 'I'm really happy,' he thought. 'Looking after the toddlers for two weeks was absolutely worth it, considering that Umbridge is gone, I don't have to return to the Dursleys ever again, and I've gained two very nice guardians.'

The End

Thank you so much for your kind support throughout this story!