Working Together

All canon characters belong to JKR.

I want to thank June for all of her help in making this read as well as it does. I appreciate all of your suggestions and help.

Chapter 2 – Working together

After the fumes had cleared from the room, the doors were automatically unwarded. Severus stormed out of the classroom – or rather, he began to storm out, only to fall again. This time, it wasn't because his robes were too long.

"Our feet are too small for our shoes!" he said in an accusing voice, as if someone had tampered with their shoes.

Hermione had to pull up her robes in order to see her feet. The shoelaces were still tied together, but she doubted she would get far like this.

Severus shook his head, cursing himself for taking this long to just shrink the garments and shoes. He pointed his wand at his shoes and robes and muttered a Reducio spell. The robes and the clothes underneath shrank to a perfect fit, as did his shoes. He looked over his shoulder towards Hermione and did the same for her. The last thing he needed was for her to fall all over him if she tripped.

"Thank you," Hermione said as she smiled. 'At least now I don't have to worry about falling on him if I trip,' she thought. She then snorted to herself, 'He'd really have puppies if I did that!'

He walked past the gaping students still standing in the hallway. Harry and Ron watch as the very angry six-year-old Potions master brushed past them, scowling and gripping his wand so hard that his knuckles were turning white.

Severus stopped abruptly and turned, then walked in front of the two young men. He began to raise his wand when they all heard a squeaky shout.

"Professor, no!" yelled Hermione as she clumsily struggled with her enormous bookbag.

Severus looked towards her, then back up at Harry and Ron.

"You two are so lucky I need to begin on the counter-potion, but I won't be this size forever," he growled and looked to Ron. "I won't bother to ask you what you did wrong, Mr. Weasley, as I doubt you would even know." Severus then continued on his way down the hall.

Hermione ran after him, finding it very hard to keep up in her own child-size body.

Harry and Ron stared at the two "children" hurrying down the hall, then looked at each other.

"Blimey, Harry. Mini-Snape is scarier than the full-grown version," said Ron.

"He's like a really pissed-off Chihuahua. Hermione is kind of cute, though." Harry patted Ron on the back as they walked away. They weren't worried about their friend; Snape and Hermione both had their knowledge of potions to help them. Besides, they figured Dumbledore would help Snape and Hermione get back to the right size.

"Professor, wait!" Hermione ran as fast as she could.

After several minutes Severus stopped and looked behind him.

"Miss Granger, I don't have time for the incessant amount of questions soon to be forthcoming from your mouth. I need to get back to Hogwarts." He looked down at himself. "Look at me. How am I going to explain this to Albus when he gets back to Hogwarts?"

"I can help you with the potion," Hermione said hopefully. "I'm sure we can do something to speed up the process. Perhaps instead of seven days we can cut down the development time."

Severus looked at her and scowled. He didn't need anybody's assistance, but as it stood, he was quite small. He might need an extra hand in the lab. He knew Albus would be busy taking over his classes.

"Very well, Miss Granger. Come along. Let's get to the Apparition point and leave this place."

They Apparated to the gates of Hogwarts. Severus didn't want to be seen by anyone, so he led Hermione to the edge of the forest where there was a hidden stone door within the pillars of the gates. They walked quietly down the dark corridor with only their wands to light the way. Quietly, that is, until Hermione began to feel something running across her feet.

"Eeek!" she screamed, then grabbed hold of Severus.

"Miss Granger, have you gone mad? Unhand me this instant!" he huffed as he struggled to loosen her grasp on him.

"But...there's something here. I just felt something run across my feet," she said, shaking.

"Well, of course you felt something. It's the rats!" Severus pried her arms from around his chest, and then once again gathered up his dignity. "Stop being so squeamish, Miss Granger. You have dissected rat livers, niffler brains, and newt eyes for years now. These are just ordinary rats!"

He hurried her along until they reached the end of the corridor. Severus held his arm up for her to stay back as he looked both ways into the hallway.

"All right, come on. We need to get to my lab. I can't have any of the students see me like this." They both ran down the hall until the doors to Severus' private rooms appeared. "I've got a private lab set up in my rooms. We can work in there with no fear of being interrupted. I'll have to see if the Headmaster is in his office. He needs to know what's happened." Severus looked up, then scowled.

"Damn!"

"What is it?" asked Hermione.

"I can't reach the stones I need to tap to get in." He looked at Hermione and arched his brow. "Unless..."

Hermione looked at him suspiciously. "Unless what?"

The next thing she knew, Hermione was unceremoniously shoved against the wall, and Severus was climbing on top of her shoulders.

"Hey," Hermione protested. "Watch your feet. You're pulling my hair!"

"Hold still, will you?" Severus teetered on Hermione's shoulders for a few seconds, then regained his balance. He tapped the stones that had several faint runes carved on them, and the door opened. He made a mental note to change his wards to something simpler. Something that would immediately recognize him and just open the door.

Severus hopped to the ground and motioned for Hermione to follow him. She did so, as she rolled her shoulders several times to get the circulation going. Severus had felt like a ton of bricks on her small six-year-old shoulders.

They entered his rooms as the door shut behind them. Severus led Hermione towards yet another dark hallway. As they walked down the hall, torches lit along the way. He pushed a large wood door open and they walked into his private lab. It was slightly smaller than the Potions classroom and had no desks, but other than that looked almost identical.

Severus walked to the bookcase that took up the entire far wall of the room. He looked up, and then grabbed a chair and dragged it to a spot on the edge of the bookcase. He stood on the chair and pulled out a book. He jumped down, and walked to a wooden stool and placed the book on top. He looked up at Hermione.

"Well, what are you waiting for, a formal invitation? Get over here." Even with his childish voice, he still sounded imposing.

"You know it wouldn't kill you to be polite. A simple 'please' works wonders." Hermione walked towards him with her hands on her hips.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Yes, mother."

They looked through the book until they came upon the counter-potion they needed.

"This is good," he said. "It seems that you were correct. We may be able to substitute some of these ingredients to accelerate the recovery process for us." He began to look for the ingredients they needed.

"We need a lower table, Miss Granger. Transfigure the stool for us into an appropriately-sized table." He then gave her an exaggerated smile. "Please."

Hermione shook her head as she cast the spells. He was impossible, she thought.

As soon as they had everything on the table, they began to chop, slice, stir and scrape. They were both skilled enough to adapt to the relatively large knives in their child-size hands. Soon a cauldron was set upon a short flame, and they began adding their ingredients. Severus took time to notice Hermione's technique. He admired the care she took to chop the ingredients carefully. Most students wound up with mush by the time they finished chopping something, but not her. Her ingredients were perfectly proportioned.

"I must see if the Headmaster is here. He needs to know about us."

Hermione nodded as Severus walked to the fireplace and called Albus.

"Albus," he called. There was no answer. "Albus, are you there?" he yelled.

After a few quiet moments, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore's head appeared.

"Hello, little boy. And who might you be?" asked Albus, amused.

Severus scowled.

"Albus, it's me! Severus!"

"Severus? Oh, dear. What in the name of Nimue's titties have you done to yourself?"

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I'll have another chapter up soon. I hope you enjoyed this one.

Thank you for reading.