Author's Note: I don't own Harry Potter. All characters belong to JK Rowling.

000000000000

"Potter, do you have an extra quill," asked Daphne Greengrass from the seat next to him that she'd taken in their DADA class. Since the start of eighth year, the professors had been making a point of integrating the Slytherins among the other houses during classes. He'd been half-expecting it to blow up in all their faces, but so far it'd been weirdly successful in that there had been a decrease in hexes and jinxes thrown at the Slytherins, especially those in eighth and seventh years.

The fact that it was a problem wasn't exactly a surprise to him once he'd seen it with his own eyes, but the Slytherins reaction hadn't been something he'd expected. None of the upper year Slytherins raised their own wands in response, even ones that had been bastards like Malfoy. They all stuck together or dodged but so far they were all lying low.

He'd mentioned it in passing to Hermione and Ron in the library once and was surprised when he heard a snort from behind him. He'd turned around to see Greengrass and asked, "What?"

She turned around to look at him and shrugged. "We all have our own reasons. Most of us know we've had it coming. And if you don't accept that answer, think of how people would react to one of us openly raising a wand to someone in another House after last year." Harry had gotten stories from Ginny, Neville and Luna about how a few Slytherin students, like Vincent Crabbe, had acted during the Carrows' time at Hogwarts and had to admit that she had a point. It'd just be an instinctive reaction at that point.

Soon after that conversation, Malcolm Baddock had ended up in the hospital wing with tusks growing out of his mouth and that was when McGonagall had put her foot down. That was when things like pairing off students from different houses for classes had started. That was when he'd gotten paired with her for the first time.

After the brief conversation in the library, he hadn't really expected much but Daphne Greengrass herself had turned out to be a nice surprise. For the majority of the time they'd been at school together, she'd had kind of a bad reputation outside of her own house; sarcastic and aloof, most of the students outside of Slytherin had written her off as stuck-up and cold. Things had apparently changed during the year he had been hunting Horcruxes, as by the time of eighth year she was a lot more friendly.

( He'd heard some things later, that she'd been one of the Slytherins who'd followed Slughorn into the final battle, but it wasn't something he'd ever spoken to her about. He figured last year wasn't something most people here wanted to talk about.)

The first time she'd moved her things over to this table, she said, "Potter. I'm sorry about...well, the last seven years between you and Slytherin house." That had certainly not what he'd been expecting either after what she'd said to him in the library. His face must have shown his confusion because she'd sighed, "Like I said, most of us know we were the bad guys. I never said I wasn't one of them."

He'd blinked at her. "I'm just surprised that you, specifically, are apologizing to me." Harry hadn't thought Slytherins were the type to apologize, firstly, and she hadn't even been one of the worst towards him or his friends. The worst he could say about her was that she'd been rude or snobby in the past. "I'd expect one from Malfoy or Parkinson-"

"Oh, I have no doubt they'll be apologizing. Draco might take a long while through." The expression on his face must have been something as she snorted. "No, really. A lot has changed since the war started." Something dark flickered in her blue eyes and her gaze unfocused, as if she was seeing something or someone else, but only for a moment. It happened so quickly he almost thought he'd imagined it, but they all had their nightmares from the war. "None of us are who we used to be anymore," she said softly.

Harry looked down at the table for a moment, thinking and then came to a decision. "Apology accepted from you at least." She smiled then, a real one and not the smirk he'd been used to seeing from her, and he felt he'd made the right choice. Then he noticed the Pride of Portree pin on her bag and wrinkled his nose. "Pride of Portree? Really?"

Her eyes lit up. "Oh and should I be supporting the Chudley Cannons like your friend?" They'd gotten into a friendly debate about teams until Flitwick called for order but they'd successfully broken the ice. After that conversations inside and outside of various classes had become normal for them. They were becoming friends, aside from one awkward incident on his part.

(He'd ended up pairing off with her in Herbology without even being asked. They hadn't talked much in the lesson, because it had been miserably hot inside the greenhouse and that was only made worse from having to fight a particularly stubborn and temperamental plant back into its flower pot. After they'd gotten it in and he had to avoid getting smacked in the face by said plant, he'd turned to her and said, "We're not a bad team." It was only than that he registered that she'd shed part of her uniform after the plant had cut into her right sleeve and he was getting more of a view of her than he'd previously had.

He might have stared. A little, non-creepy amount of staring. He didn't realize she'd answered back at first until she poked him in the arm. "See something you like, Potter?" she'd asked, a smirk playing on her lips.

He'd rolled his eyes. "Very original line, Greengrass."

Some emotion flickered in her eyes, but he wasn't sure what. It passed quick and she laughed, "I'll think of a better one next time." )

That had been during their most recent Herbology class and thankfully he hadn't made things awkward. Getting back to the present, he passed her a quill and she flashed him a smile that made his heart skip a beat. "Thanks, Potter."

They worked mostly in silence after that, though he could have sworn he felt her eyes on him more than once. Towards the end of the class, after they'd started packing up their bags, she'd asked him a question, "Are you and Weasele-er, Ginny Weasley still dating?"

His eyes had narrowed slightly at the insulting nickname she'd almost said, but chose not to comment on that as she had stopped herself in time. "No, we're not."

There was a beat of silence. "Are you seeing any-"

"Daphne, come on!" Tracey Davis called from the door of the DADA classroom, Pansy Parkinson standing because her. He blinked as he saw Parkinson narrow her eyes at Davis and smack her on the back of the head with a roll of parchment. "Ow, Pansy what was that-"

Greengrass had covered her face with her hand as Davis gasped. "Oh shite, it was going to be today?"

"Smooth, Tracy, very smooth," snapped Pansy.

Harry had to fight the urge to smile. He had no idea what was happening but the reactions between the three Slytherin girls were funny. "What's today?" he asked Greengrass, chuckling.

He meant it to be light, but she tensed in response. "Nothing. It's not important." She swung her bag over her shoulder and gave him a genuine, if rather forced looking smile. "See you around, Potter."

She strode towards the door without glancing back once. She ignored Tracy's hurried 'I'm sorry, Daph' but let Pansy link her arm around hers.

Harry felt oddly disappointed as he watched her disappear through the door.

000000000000000

He had a free period that afternoon and spent the latter part of it walking around the grounds. He waved at a few other people also out, and fell into a conversation with Dennis Creevey, but he still caught himself thinking about the last conversation with Greengrass. What had she wanted to ask him? He told himself there was no real point in dwelling on it, and he was already late for dinner anyway after talking with Dennis.

He'd just walked into the dining hall when something rolled onto one end of the Slytherin table and engulfed it in blue smoke. Harry was running to the table without thinking and didn't stop in time as someone else ran smack into him.

A very small someone.

"Woah," he exclaimed as a little girl ran into him and then crashed to the floor. His reflexes were good enough that he should have been able to catch her, but he was too startled at her appearance to do anything.

This girl was younger than any first year. Harry thought she couldn't be much older than five or six, but it was hard to tell since her long, brown hair was hiding most of her face. What he was really confused by was the fact that she was dressed in Hogwarts robes that were much too big on her; she looked like she was drowning in clothes. His eyes caught a green and silver tie practically hanging off the girl and he suddenly had a very bad feeling.

He was interrupted from that train of thought when he heard sniffling coming from the floor. Mentally cursing himself, he kneeled down in front of the girl and said softly, "Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?"

She shook her head, but didn't meet his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to run into you." Her voice was quiet, and she still sniffled at the end.

"That's okay. I'm fine, you're fine. Please don't cry-"

"I'm not crying!" she snapped, finally lifting her head to look at him. Despite her words, he could see watery blue eyes glaring out at him from behind a curtain of hair. "I'm not a b...b...b-baby." Her face had turned pink as she started stuttering on the last word; he might have found it cute if she didn't look so upset by it.

"My mistake," he said, pretending as if he hadn't heard her struggling on her last word. He looked up to see what else was happening around them and his eyes widened as he saw what looked like other children around this girl's age at the Slytherin table. He looked back at the girl to see that she was glancing around nervously, and looked like she was five seconds away from bolting again. "Hey don't worry about that, I'm sure it's fine. Hogwarts can get a bit crazy sometimes but the professors are handling it."

McGonagall was currently calling for order and Madam Pomfrey, Slughorn, and Hagrid were hurrying towards the table in the back. The prefects were trying to keep order among their own tables, but Harry could see students craning their heads to see, standing up and even trying to walk to the Slytherin table. Harry noticed Padma Patil grabbing the arm of a panicked looking brunette witch who'd stood up at the Ravenclaw table. The witch tried to jerk away from Padma, but Padma held on and started speaking to her quietly.

She blinked at him. "Hogwarts? But I'm not old enough."

Maybe not right now, but Harry had a bad feeling that she had been old enough just a few minutes ago. What the hell had happened to cause this? He was more concerned that it wasn't just a psychical change, since she was talking as if she didn't remember being any age other than the one she was at now.

"-here?" Harry blinked as he realized she'd been speaking. "I was home and….Tori!" She tried to push herself up off the floor; she actually got to her feet, took a step before he could stop her, and then tripped over the robes that were now much too big on her.

He was able to grab her in time to stop her from hitting the stone floor again. "Woah, be careful. Who's Tori?"

"My little sister! I was watching her and then I was here!" She wasn't really shouting but her voice had gotten higher and her bottom lip was trembling like she was holding back tears. "She's too little to be alone too long."

Harry knew some things now: whoever this girl was definitely had no memory of her correct age and life; Tori, who was most likely not little anymore (unless she'd gotten turned young again too, damn it), was probably at Hogwarts too. At least he hoped she was at Hogwarts and nothing had happened to her between this girl's last memory and now, which was a sad possibility thanks to the war. And finally: he needed a professor to deal with this right now.

Or Hermione.

Or someone not him anyway.

"I know you're worried," he said placatingly as the girl tried to wiggle out of his grasp. "But you don't know the layout of the castle and I don't want you getting lost. Let's get one of the professors they'll be able to help."

She was staring up at him but had stopped trying to break free of him. "I'll take you to one now," he continued. "Let me help you, please."

She nodded and he grinned at her; behind her hair, he could see her face turn pink again and she looked down at the floor. He let go of her to stand up himself -to her credit she stayed where she was now that he'd gotten her agreement - and then he scooped her up in his arms, causing her to squeal.

"Put me down!" She demanded as he carried her towards the Slytherin table. She was glaring up at him and, without the hair blocking her face, blushing fiercely. Now that he was seeing her face full on, he thought she looked familiar but couldn't place her, which he blamed fully on her current age. "I can w...w-"

She started sputtering as she got caught on another word and he said soothingly, "I know, I know, you're not a baby. You can walk, but it'll be faster if I carry you." She huffed and he chuckled despite himself. "Just pretend you're a princess and I'm your noble steed."

"Idiot," she said, but couldn't stop a giggle from escaping. Her little arm went around his neck and she buried her face in his shoulder.

"Ouch. My name is Harry," he said. He left off Potter because, if she was a pureblood (or even a halfblood) like he expected from the Slytherin tie, she'd know his story and expect Harry Potter to be around the same age as her.

"Daphne," she mumbled, face still buried in his shoulder.

He was very glad she wasn't looking at his face or the shocked expression might have worried her. This was Daphne Greengrass? His brain was trying to make sense of this girl and the one he was becoming friends with. The Greengrass he knew had a sort of quiet confidence to her whereas this girl seemed shy, more insecure. He'd never heard Greengrass stutter once either and he heard her just do so twice now within the span of around three minutes.

People changed, he reminded himself. And it could just be because of finding herself in an unfamiliar place with no idea how she got here. It's not like he knew her well enough to say either way.

As they got closer to the Slytherin table, Pomfrey looked up and started walking towards them. "I knew we were missing at least one. Here, let me take her and-"

"No!" exclaimed Daphne, throwing both arms around his neck. She was clinging on tightly to him now, making him think of a koala he'd seen a picture of once. "Don't leave, Harry," she said, sniffling again. "I don't know her." He was going to point out that she didn't know him either but was afraid she might cry if he did.

Harry looked helplessly at Pomfrey, who looked more amused at his reaction than anything else. "Alright, there's no need to be upset. Harry will stay." He opened his mouth to object and the mediwitch glared at him.

He closed his mouth.

Daphne relaxed against him again.

Slughorn and Hagrid were rounding up the kid-ified Slytherins -the affected were all seventh or eighth years he noticed, at least he thought they were - and Hagrid had basically scooped up most of them in his arms. "Follow me," said Pomfrey, who led the way to the hospital wing.

00000000000000

If Harry had hoped he'd be able to make a quick escape after getting the now tiny Greengrass to the hospital wing, he was sadly mistaken. Daphne's grip had not let up on him once and she was still holding on for dear life even after falling asleep thanks to a potion passed around to all the now little Slytherins. He leaned against the headboard, trying not to move, as Daphne had curled up on top of him.

He'd only meant to close his eyes for a few seconds but that soon turned into minutes and he was startled awake by the sound of a giggle. He saw the Ravenclaw girl who'd been arguing with Padma earlier; she was sitting on a chair next to the bed and was smirking down at Daphne. "I really wish I had a camera right now. This would make great blackmail material."

He frowned at her. "I'm sorry, but who are you?" Without realizing it, his arms had circled around Daphne as if protecting her.

"Astoria Greengrass," she answered, blinking at his reaction.

"You're Tori?" He looked closer at her and that was when he noticed the similarities: the same brown hair, almost the same shade of blue eyes, and he thought her nose might have been the same as Daphne's as well. But what did he know? Didn't most noses look similar?

The corners of her mouth twitched upwards. "Oh, has she mentioned me?" The way she said it was teasing, which gave him the idea that she wasn't talking about this version of Daphne.

He nodded down at the sleeping girl. "Daphne doesn't remember how old she is. She thought she was watching you and ended up here somehow. I got her to go with me by promising to help look for you."

"Oh, Daph." The teasing expression on Astoria's face vanished, replaced by something much softer and affectionate as she looked at her sister. "You always have to be the big sister don't you?"

Harry wouldn't say anything, but he was relieved that 'Tori' was alive and well. He would have hated it if whatever magic had caused this forced Greengrass to mourn her sister twice.

Astoria reached out a hand and tucked the strands of hair falling over Daphne's face behind her ear. Daphne made a mewling sound and moved in her sleep, but didn't wake up. "She's so cute like this, but I'm surprised she's this relaxed with you. I don't remember her being this comfortable with strangers as a kid. And it's not like she remembers fal-"

Astoria cut herself off suddenly, mouth clenching shut and her cheeks turning pink. Harry arched an eyebrow, intrigued by that reaction. "Doesn't remember what?"

"It's not important," she answered, not making eye contact with him. "Um, you can leave now if you want. She's out like a light and won't notice you going. I'll stay with her."

"Oh, sure." He felt reluctant to actually leave, thinking of how she'd clung onto him and pleaded with him to stay with her. Would she feel betrayed if she woke up to him gone? He then winced and hoped that Greengrass, whenever she was back to normal, wouldn't be embarrassed about this later. If she remembered any of this. Did he want her to remember any of this? He didn't know.

He must have been taking too long because Astoria gave him a smirk that reminded him very much of her older sister. "Its sweet of you to worry. But she'll be safe in the hospital wing and I'll be here until Madam Pomfrey kicks me out. I doubt she'll even wake up again tonight."

Inexplicably, he felt his cheeks redden at the look she was giving him and nodded. Gently, he moved Daphne from on top of him to lying on the bed; she whined and hugged the pillow to herself but remained asleep. Quietly, he stood from the bed, said goodbye to Astoria and left for Gryffindor Tower.

000000000000

"There you are Harry! Where've you been mate?" called Ron from the table he and Hermione sat with a Wizard's Chess set between them.

Harry sighed as he took the third chair. "I was helping with the Slytherins." He watched Ron's knight clobber one of Hermione's pieces over the head. "All the ones in our year were turned into little kids. It's mad."

Hermione wrinkled her nose. "McGonagall was furious. Some fourth years rigged whatever it was to go off during dinner. From what I heard, they weren't even expecting it to affect the Slytherins the way it did."

Harry thought of how disoriented and scared Greengrass had been after getting turned into a little kid and he felt a surge of protective anger. "If they didn't know how it affects people, they shouldn't have done it." It hadn't just been Greengrass who'd been upset either; they'd been put to bed because a few of them had been crying for their parents.

And not all of them still had families who would come get them if anything worse happened.

"No arguments there," agreed Hermione. "I thought after the war we'd all have grown up from stupid 'jokes' like this."

Ron shrugged. "I mean if some fourth years made it, it can't be that strong right. It'll probably wear off soon."

Harry really hoped so.

000000000

Notes: I really needed a sillier story as a kind of breather from my other angst-heavier stories, both of which should be updated soon. This is only planned to be around three chapters.

Missing but can't fit it in because it's all in Harry's POV: Daphne kicking herself for almost calling Ginny Weaselette.