Life From the Start

Chapter 6: Day Three: The Change

Sunday morning found Draco and Harry both in the playroom. They had just finished breakfast and today, Harry did not throw any food at the blond. Draco saw that as progress; the baby actually remembered what happened yesterday. Currently, Harry was sitting in the middle of the room, stuffed farm animals were scattered around him. There was a mooing cow, a pink pig, a sheep, a chicken with a small chick following it, a horse, and last but not least, Dacky. Draco thought the stuffed dragon looked out of place along with the farm animals, but Harry insisted to have Dacky with him.

Harry took hold of the cow and started moving it around. Well, zooming it around was more like it since Harry was making ‘whooshing’ noises. Draco chuckled when the baby tried to aim the cow at Draco’s folded legs; Harry threw it at the blond and the cow bounced off of Draco’s knee and toppled to the ground. Draco picked it up and set the cow on his lap; he watched with fascination as Harry toddled over to him.

“Mine.” Harry pointed at the cow and pouted at Draco.

Draco smiled and brushed the head of the stuffed animal on Harry’s chubby cheeks. The toddler giggled and tried to grab the cow from Draco. The blond let Harry and the brunet immediately planted a wet kiss on the cow’s nose. As Draco let go, Harry cradled the mooing cow to his chest and sighed. His round green eyes looked up at Draco and the older teen patted his folded legs. Harry squealed and set the cow aside and climbed clumsily onto Draco’s lap.

“You’re a good baby today,” Draco cooed, his arms wrapped around Harry’s small body; he then realized he just cooed at the baby but shrugged. Draco hated to admit it, but during the past two days, he turned soft. Not a lot, but enough.

Harry gurgled and placed his hands on Draco’s face; the Slytherin leaned forward and rubbed the tip of his nose on Harry’s. The toddler squeezed his eyes shut due to the blond hair brushing his eyes; Harry giggled and let Draco have his way.

“You know, I like you much better this way,” Draco whispered and smiled when Harry tried to pull him closer. “Before, all we ever do was fight.”

“Dway tis!” Harry burbled and puckered his small lips.

Draco shook his head in amusement and planted a small kiss on Harry’s cheek. The baby squealed happily and attempted to return the favor. Draco laughed and brushed the raven locks away from Harry’s eyes.

“No wet kisses remember?”

Harry stopped pulling and just like what his guardian told him, he placed a small, soft kiss on Draco’s cheeks.

“No wets!” Harry said proudly; Draco nodded and tickled Harry’s tummy. Harry laughed and tried to squirm away from Draco’s hold but the teen held on tight.

“No escaping the tickle monster, Harry!” Draco said, making faces at the toddler. He laid the wriggling and laughing child on the carpet ground to continue his assault, all the while careful not to hurt the baby.

Draco propped himself up by planting his left elbow on the carpet, his hand cradling his head. His body was curved slightly and his right hand was skimming across Harry’s rounded tummy. The baby was red in the face but was still laughing merrily and rolling away from Draco’s fingers. The blond chuckled and used his hand to pull the baby back towards him. Harry’s green eyes popped open—they were closed while Draco was tickling him—and tears of mirth swam in them. Draco looked down and brushed the tears away. Harry cooed and reached up to grasp Draco’s hand. While the older let the toddler play with his hand, a knock sounded at the front door—or portrait if you will. Draco looked away and strained his ears; another knock sounded, this time it was louder. Malfoy sighed and made a sad face at Harry; the brunet giggled and tried to pull Draco’s hand down to cover his small face. Draco laughed audibly when he discovered that his hand was almost wide enough to cover Harry’s face.

“No more playing for now Harry, somebody’s here to see us.” Draco said gently and pried his hand away from Harry’s grip. He sat up and picked up the toddler. “Let’s go see who it is shall we?”

Harry smiled and nodded before he threw himself into Draco’s chest. Draco rolled his eyes and stood up—baby and all—with some difficulty. He walked to the portrait just as another knock sounded. Draco pushed the painting outward and peeked out. His grey eyes met the ones of his Potions Professor.

“Draco, what took you so long to open a goddamn door?” Snape snarled; in his hand was a small vial of green liquid. Draco eyed it and looked back at his professor.

“Sorry sir, Harry and I were… uh playing.” Draco muttered; his cheeks turned pink and he opened the portrait wider so Snape could walk in. Severus sneered at the teen before walking ahead. Draco grumbled and closed the portrait.

He led Severus to the living portion of the private quarters and they all sat down—Harry sitting on Draco’s lap. Snape smirked when Harry automatically snuggled deeper into Draco.

“Seems like Potter has grown attached to you,” Severus observed, his lips curved in a thin smile, “Any troubles?”

Malfoy absently held Harry tighter and shook his head. “No sir, everything’s fine… besides the fact Harry is still a baby.”

“Well, that can change.” Snape said, placing the bottle of green liquid onto the coffee table. “I made the first batch of antidote. Took me awhile to figure it out, but I have it.”

“Is that… going to make Harry back into a seventeen year old?” Draco asked. Inside, a feeling of dread was taking place. He had wanted more time with the de-aged Potter. But now…

“No. As I said before, from one to seventeen is too big of a change. What I have now is to turn Mr. Potter to a three year old.”

“Three? So… does that mean… he’ll stay a toddler for awhile?” Draco asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

Snape sneered and leaned back against the sofa. “Until I finish with the next batch that is. Are you starting to like Potter? It seems like you’re growing attach to him as well.”

‘Damn Snape for being so observant.’

“… Yeah. He’s not too bad when he’s a kid.” Draco mumbled; Harry looked up at his guardian and graced him with a wide smile. Draco couldn’t help but return it. “Harry’s totally different… I want to get to know him… it’s not like he’ll remember any of this when he’s back to normal… So why not?”

“There’s a chance he might Draco,” Snape sighed; Draco scowled at his Potions Professor.

“It doesn’t matter. I-I like taking care of him.”

Severus scoffed, “You will say otherwise later on. Three year olds are annoying little brats.”

Draco heaved Harry until the baby was standing on his thighs; Harry grinned and pressed his forehead against Draco’s. The blond took his opportunity to rub noses with Harry. Severus watched as Malfoy poured out his affections. He shook his head and stood up from the sofa. Draco glanced up when he felt the movement and stood up as well, not wanting to be rude. Harry turned his head to the side and peered at the all-black clothed man and sniffed; he turned away and pressed his face into the crook of Draco’s neck. Draco patted Harry’s back comfortingly.

“Give him the potion before he goes to sleep,” Snape instructed, “I tried to make it as tasteless as possible so hopefully Potter wouldn’t spit any of it back out; you can mix it with baby formula if you want. The change will happen overnight and by tomorrow morning he should look like a three year old child.”

“Alright…” Draco said, following Snape to the portrait.

Severus stepped outside and turned around to look down at his student. Draco waited wearily for Snape to talk.

“I know what’s happening,” Snape started, “You’re doing all this because you don’t exactly hate Potter… Am I correct?”

Draco looked away and refused to answer. That alone was enough for Snape.

“Draco… he might be accepting you and it seems like he loves you as well. But you know that Potter doesn’t have any of his previous memories as of now. He doesn’t know you were his enemy. Right now, Potter sees you as a father figure, a friend.” Severus paused and placed a hand on Draco’s shoulder.

The blond turned to look at him but remained silent. When Harry’s head was under his chin, Draco moved his head until his cheek was pressed on top of Harry’s mop of hair. He closed his eyes and breathed in the baby’s scent.

“I know that Professor… But--”

Snape removed his hand and took a step back. “When this is all over, when Potter is back to normal, everything you’ve done for him might disappear. It’s possible nothing that happened now will remain. When that happens, you’re the one that’s going to end up being hurt, not him.”

When Draco failed to say anything, Severus sighed and turned to walk down the hall, leaving Draco alone. The blond silently retreated back inside the private rooms; Harry had noticed the downtrodden look on his guardian’s face and was now trying to make Draco look at him.

“Dway?” Harry said softly; the blond looked down and smiled lightly. “Sad?”

Draco cupped Harry’s face and shook his head, “No Harry, I’m not.” The baby nodded and snuggled back into Draco’s neck.

Malfoy went to the coffee table and picked up the vial. He looked at it then at Harry who was still snuggling into him. Draco held the vial tighter, almost to the point of breaking the glass bottle. He wanted to break it. Draco wanted nothing more than to have Harry stay in his baby state a bit longer. But now, things were about to change. This potion was the first step of Harry aging back. But still, Harry will still be a child, and his old memories were still at bay. Draco sighed and tucked the vial into his pocket. He sat down on the sofa and bounced Harry lightly, making the baby giggle.

Harry then looked up at him, tilted his head to the side and blinked. Malfoy chuckled and pressed Harry back into the crook of his neck; Harry happily let the blond do so.

“I’ll miss you when this is all over.” Draco whispered. “But you don’t need to know that.”

HPDMHPDM

The day went by, and before long, it was nighttime. Dinner went smoothly—Harry no longer wanted to throw any food at Draco’s face. Seeing how Harry had been a good baby, Draco even called a house elf to bring dessert—chocolate pudding. After finishing his own bowl, Draco began the task of feeding it to baby Harry. By the time Draco was finished feeding, the entire portion of Harry’s bottom half of his face was covered with chocolate pudding. Draco chuckled and used Harry’s bib to wipe the remnants of the pudding from Harry’s chin.

Bath time had always been a hassle for Draco. First of all, Harry would wrestle around. He simply didn’t like taking his clothes off. Second, once Harry was in the water, it meant Draco getting drenched with soapy water and getting hit by the baby’s splashes. But, that also meant making Harry a clean baby. The drying part wasn’t too bad, dressing the baby wasn’t bad either. After getting Harry settled inside the cot, Draco promised that he would finish his shower quickly and come back. Harry whimpered and tried to hold on to Draco’s shirt, but after much persuasion, Harry let Draco have his shower.

Now, baby and teen were both sitting—Harry was sitting between Draco’s legs—on Draco’s bed. It was almost time for Harry to sleep; ten minutes ago Draco had asked an elf to bring him a baby bottle. Harry had picked up the habit of drinking milk right before he went to sleep. This was a good thing or else Draco didn’t know how to feed Harry the potion. Taking off the rubber nipple, Draco poured the contents of the glass vial into the warm formula. He placed the nipple back on and shook the baby bottle a few times. Without question, Harry took the nipple in his mouth when Draco presented it to him. The blond let go of the bottle when he saw that Harry could hold it himself.

“Hopefully it didn’t make the milk taste bad…” Draco muttered as Harry suckled. By the looks of Harry’s face, the milk was fine.

After Harry drank all the milk, he gave the bottle back to the teen; Draco took it away and set it aside. Just as he was about to pick Harry up, a green light emitted from the toddler’s body and Harry promptly lost consciousness. Draco gasped and picked Harry up, cuddling him close to his chest.

“Oh Merlin… Harry?” Draco asked worriedly and bounced the bundle in his arm. Harry’s head lolled, his lips parted and a soft snore came out. Draco released a sigh of relief and got off his bed. “Snape must have put some sleeping potion in the antidote.”

The Slytherin walked to Harry’s cot and placed the baby gently inside. Draco smoothed his hand over Harry’s pajamas; it was bigger than the romper suits. Actually, Draco had found all of Harry’s baby clothes gone. In their place were bigger shirts, shoes, pants, hats, gloves, jackets, pajamas, socks, and whatever apparel were left—all that would fit a three year old. Draco guessed that Snape had informed the Headmaster so that he could magically replace all the baby’s clothes. Winter was coming and Draco was glad there were scarves and jackets for the toddler now.

“I have to bring you to class tomorrow… I hope you’re not one of those cranky three year olds.” Draco muttered; he pulled the blanket higher and tucked it under Harry’s chin. “And the first class is Potions… Your friends would want to see you.”

Harry scrunched up his eyebrows and turned to his side and continued to sleep undisturbed. With one last pat on Harry’s head, Draco pulled the bars that surrounded the cot up and went back to his own bed. He lay down with a groan, anticipating the events that were to happen once classes start tomorrow.

HPDMHPDM

“Wakey wakey Dway! It’s mornin’!”

“Huh wha…” Draco said groggily and opened his eyes slowly.

Sunlight poured through the window by his bed; it was painful for a second before his eyes adjusted to the sudden light. Draco sat up, his blanket rolled off his torso and pooled above his groin. Rubbing his eyes with his knuckles, he let out a huge yawn and smacked his lips for good measure. He squint his eyes and scratched his head, making his blond tresses messier.

“Dway… I want out…”

“Hold on Harry… I--” Draco started then paused… Was Harry speaking in sentences?!

His head turned so fast Draco was sure he heard his neck snapped. The blond winced and rubbed the back of his neck. Inside the cot was an older looking Harry. His raven locks were longer, almost touching the small shoulders. They were sticking up in twenty different directions; it almost looked like how Harry’s hair was when he was his normal age. Draco also noticed that Harry wasn’t as chubby anymore, although the toddler’s cheeks were still a bit rounded. Malfoy got off his bed and padded over to the cot; Harry smiled brightly and held up his arms, asking to be picked up.

“You sleeps too long Dway,” Harry giggled, “I yells and yells but you still sleeping. Like a baby.”

Draco growled playfully and picked the toddler up; he held Harry above his head and spun around in circles. Harry laughed and kicked while being spun in the air. After five spins, Draco lowered the young child and smiled. Harry smiled right back at him and leaned in to kiss Draco on the cheek.

“Some things never change,” Draco chuckled and placed the three year old on the ground. He stuck out his hand and Harry took it. “Let’s go brush our teeth and freshen ourselves up. I have classes today, Harry.” Draco started walking to the bathroom, with little Harry in tow.

“Classes? I go with?” Harry asked, skipping behind the teen. Draco chuckled and nodded, opening the door to the bathroom. “Yay!”

Draco rolled his eyes and picked up Harry again; he plopped the child down on the bathroom counter. Harry sat very still, his legs dangling on the edge. Draco opened the medicine cabinet and found a very small toothbrush for Harry and a tube of children’s toothpaste. He popped open the tube and squeezed a small amount of toothpaste on the brush. It was orange flavored. Malfoy put the tube next to the sink and handed the small toothbrush to the waiting Harry.

“Do you know how to brush your teeth? Or do I have to show you?”

“I can do it! I knows how.” Harry said proudly, “But I need to see the mir… mirra…” Harry scowled and turned to his head to the back and pointed at the mirror.

“The mirror?” Draco asked.

Harry nodded and Draco laughed, helping Harry to stand on the counter so that now he was facing the mirror. Harry thanked the blond and stuck the purple toothbrush into his mouth. He curled back his lips, bared his teeth and started brushing. Draco tried not to laugh at the toddler when the white foam of the toothpaste covered the perimeter of Harry’s mouth.

“Harry, spit out the extra foam.” Draco told the toddler; Harry stopped brushing and narrowed his eyes at his reflection. He pointed at the reflection and poked where his mouth was.

“I wooks like Santy Claus!” Harry giggled and bent down over the sink to spit out the excess foam.

Half an hour later, Harry had successfully brushed his teeth, washed his face, changed his clothes (with the help of Draco), and flattened his hair. Draco was also done freshening himself and was ready to leave for his classes. Once again, he took Harry’s hand and they both walked back outside to their room. Malfoy had already packed his school things and was good to go. Not knowing if there would be any ‘emergencies’ happening, Draco also packed some clean clothes for Harry—pants, shirts, underwear, and some cloths. Satisfied, he took his school bag and Harry’s bag and left the bedroom, with Harry skipping behind happily.

Their breakfast was simple. Each had a glass of milk, a plate with scrambled eggs, hams, and sausage, although everything on Harry’s plate was cut into even pieces. Draco ate slowly while Harry jabbed his fork into every piece in sight. More than once Draco had to tell Harry to slow down or else the toddler would choke. Harry listened to his guardian without question, his mind vaguely remembered how he had to stay inside the playpen when he didn’t listen. Draco smirked when Harry gently poked into a sausage piece.

‘He’s not that bad as a three year old… but things might change later on.’

After Draco was done, he dabbed his mouth with a napkin and folded it, placing it next to the empty plate.

“Are you finished Harry?”

Harry dropped his fork with a clatter and grinned at Draco. He picked up his napkin and rubbed his mouth with it.

“I done!” Harry said, throwing down the napkin onto the table. Draco laughed softly and took Harry out of his highchair.

“Ready to go? I want to get to class early.” Draco bent down a bit to speak to the toddler; Harry nodded enthusiastically and grabbed Draco’s hand, pulling the teen to the front portrait.

“Let’s go wight now. I wants to see your classes Dway!” Harry said as he tried to push the painting open. Draco rolled his eyes and helped the toddler with the door. When it was opened, Harry hopped out with Draco following behind.

Harry laughed and squealed as he hopped, skipped, and ran in front of Draco. Of course, he was never too far way since Draco warned him not to. Sometimes he would stop and wait until Draco would catch up before skipping away again. Draco laughed a couple of times when Harry stopped to say hello to the paintings on the wall of Hogwarts. Students passed by and paused to look at the hyper Harry. Draco ignored them and walked right by, pretending he didn’t see their stares. When Harry skipped past the hallway to the dungeons, Draco had to go after the toddler to steer Harry back.

“Okay, no more running, we’re almost there.” Draco told the now tired Harry. The brunet smiled and nodded, unable to say anything because he was out of breath.

“Dway’s… class?” Harry questioned breathlessly. Draco took Harry’s left hand and led the toddler to Snape’s classroom.

“Yes, it’s Potions.”

“Wat’s Poshuns?”

Draco frowned and tried to think up a way to explain to the three year old, but came up blank. It would take way to long to explain in a way Harry would understand.

“I’ll tell you when you’re older, Harry.”

“Kay.” Harry said and walked closer to Draco’s side.

Since he was half an hour early—it was only eight o’ clock—Draco was the only one outside the heavy metal doors. Harry cowered behind Draco’s legs, his hands wrapped tightly around Draco’s trousers.

“It looks scawy…” Harry mumbled; Draco patted the top of Harry’s head.

“It’s okay Harry; come on, let’s go in.” Draco pushed the heavy doors open and took Harry’s hand again, taking him inside.

Severus Snape was sitting behind his desk and he looked up when he heard the doors opening. He smirked when he found one Draco Malfoy with a tiny Harry Potter hiding behind the blonde’s legs.

“Good morning, Draco.” Severus looked at Harry who was peeking behind Draco’s leg. “And you too, Potter.”

“Good morning, sir.” Draco said politely; he pulled Harry away from his trousers and made the brunet stand next to him instead. “Say good morning to Professor Snape, Harry.”

Harry looked up briefly at the Potions Master and waved; Snape nodded in greeting.

“Good mornin’ Po-Pwo…vesir Sna-Snaps…” Harry frowned and tugged Draco’s hand; Malfoy looked down at Harry questioningly; he was trying so hard not to laugh.

“What is it Harry?” Draco cleared his throat to drown out the oncoming chuckle.

Severus was just looking quite amused and angry at the same time.

“I no say his name… too hard.” Harry whined, “Can I call ‘im Snapey?” Harry grinned adoringly. Draco closed his eyes and groaned.

Snapey?!

Oh dear.

HPDMHPDM

A/N: Aww! Little Harry is so darn adorable!! :D Hope you liked this chapter as well :) Thanks for reading! ^_~