Disclaimer - I do not own any of the charcaters, or the places that the characters happen to be in, in this story. That honour is bestowed onlyupon J.K Rowling.

Chapter One

A Small Accident

What is the meaning of normal?

Many people would define it as being within the perimeters that society sets. Anything outside these perimeters is considered abnormal.

Harry Potter is one person that would be considered to be outside these perimeters, simply because so many odd things seem to happen to him. No one, not even he, could deny that he was not normal, even though he did wish that he was. From the moment his parents had died, to this very day, Harry's life had been filled with many odd happenings. The now-sixteen-year-old was resigned to this fact, but it didn't mean that he liked it.

"Harry, wait up!"

Harry stopped in the middle of the long hallway and turned around to see a girl with bushy brown hair running to catch up with him. Finally she skidded to a stop beside him and he raised his eyebrows at her.

"What's got you in such a rush Hermione?" he asked.

Hermione Granger glared at him and, when she had caught her breath, she stood up straight, an anxious expression on her face.

"You shouldn't have walked out of class like that," she said reprovingly.

"He shouldn't have insulted me like that," Harry retorted, continuing to walk with Hermione falling into step beside him.

Professor Severus Snape, the nastiest teacher at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, had it in for Harry and took vindictive pleasure in insulting him and anyone close to him. Harry had finally cracked and barely five minutes previously and stood up, packed his bag, and walked out of Potions, the class Snape taught.

"Well, at least I know he's going to let you back into class," said Hermione gloomily.

Harry opened his mouth to ask 'why?', but then shut it, deciding that he didn't really want to know the answer.

"Where's Ron?" he asked instead.

Hermione shot him an annoyed side-long glance.

"After you left he yelled at Snape," she said. "He's talking to the professor about his detention now."

"Am I going to get detention?"

"No, but you are going to be punished."

"Okay Hermione," said Harry, irritated, stopping in the hallway and pushing his glasses back up his nose. "What do you know that I don't?"

"ProfessorSnape'sgoingtomakeyoutestyourageingsolutionnextlesson," Hermione said in a rush, obviously relieved to say it.

"Slowly," said Harry.

"Professor Snape is going to make you test your ageing solution next lesson," said Hermione and watched as Harry's emerald eyes darkened somewhat.

They stood like that it silence for a moment as Hermione watched him anxiously from her brown eyes. Finally Harry huffed and pushed his messy black hair out of his eyes, exposing the lightning bolt scar for a brief moment.

"Do I look like I should care?" he asked, continuing to walk again. "I did my potion carefully and it looks about the same colour as yours."

"Actually, it looks exactly the same colour," said Hermione.

"There! See? Nothing to worry about," said Harry confidently.

"But, Harry, I missed one of the instructions on the board."

Harry stopped again and stared at her. She stopped too, wringing her hands in her anxiety.

"What?" he asked.

"I missed an instruction. There was one last step to the potion that I didn't see because of all the smoke in the dungeon. Obviously you missed it too."

"Snape is going to make me drink a botched potion?" asked Harry incredulously.

"Umm… yes, it looks like it," said Hermione.

"Harry! Hermione!"

The two Gryffindors turned and saw the red-headed Ron Weasley dash up the now empty corridor as everyone went into the Great Hall for lunch.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked when he reached them. "Nice of you to wait and all, but it is lunch time."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Actually I was just telling Harry about his punishment and how we both destroyed our potions by not doing the last step," said Hermione.

"Oh yeah, that," said Ron, waving his hand as though to say it was nothing to worry about. "I'm sure there's nothing to worry about Hermione. It's probably all in your mind."

"It is not!" retorted Hermione. "I actually saw the line that I missed as I left the classroom!"

Ron shook his head bemusedly.

"Just drop it," said Harry with a sigh. "We'll see if something terrible happens tomorrow morning, won't we? No use arguing about it."

Hermione and Ron dropped the argument immediately and followed Harry in silence back to the Great Hall for a quick lunch.

"What do you have to do for detention?" asked Harry when they were sitting at the long table.

"Oh, Hermione told you about that did she?" asked Ron, surprised. "Well, he didn't actually say. He just yelled at me for a little while for yelling at him and then told me I would serve detention. But he forgot to mention when and where."

"He'll probably call you tonight," said Harry, feeling more cheerful again, like he had been that morning. "Last minute sort of thing, you know."

"Thanks Harry," said Ron, scowling.

"At least I can prepare for what I have to do," said Harry, smiling slightly. "I'm sure nothing too bad will happen. Potion probably won't even work!"

Someone came and sat down opposite Ron and Hermione and next to Harry. She smiled at all three of them and flicked her long red hair out of her face.

"Hi," said Ginny Weasley cheerfully. "How are you all?"

"Pretty good," said Harry with a smile lighting up his face while Ron and Hermione, unbeknownst to him, let smirks appear on their faces.

"That's good," said Ginny, helping herself to some food. "What did you have last?"

"Potions," said Harry with a scowl. "And I walked out of potions…"

"Again?" said Ginny reprovingly. "I'm surprised Snape lets you back in his class."

"Technically he can't do anything," said Harry, ignoring his lunch completely. "Because he's the one that provokes me in the first place. But that doesn't mean he doesn't get to think of a nasty punishment. I have to test my botched ageing solution tomorrow morning."

"Nasty," said Ginny, biting into her sandwich, chewing and swallowing. "Aren't you going to eat Harry?"

"What? Oh, I'm not that hungry. I might go for a walk."

Harry got up, waved goodbye to the three of them, picked up his bag, and walked out of the Great Hall. Once in the Entrance Hall he headed straight for the large double front doors and exited the castle. He walked swiftly down to the lake and, when he reached it, he breathed a sigh of relief, dumped his back at the base of the tree, and sat down.

There was so much to think about. A month of school had only gone by, but it seemed like it was much longer then that.

Harry started as three people suddenly sat down beside him and he looked around to see Hermione, Ron and Ginny looking at him somewhat defiantly.

"So much for a walk," said Ron. "Why did you come out here?"

"I just wanted to think," said Harry. "But it doesn't really matter now. How angry is Snape exactly?"

"Really angry," said Ron. "I think it's more the shock that you aren't either retorting or staying silent anymore, but just walking away, even in his own class. 'Course the bitter old git…"

"Ron!" said Hermione reproachfully.

"…the bitter old git should have expected something like this to happen," continued Ron as though there had been no interruption.

Hermione scowled but decided to let the subject drop as there wasn't really much she could do about it since Ron wasn't going to listen to her anyway. Harry and Ginny just sat there, fighting furiously to contain laughter.

Harry found that he started dragging his feet on the way to potions the next morning, which surprised even himself. Surely he wasn't dreading this lesson that much?

"Come on Harry!" Hermione said for what seemed the millionth time. "We'll be late!"

Harry sighed and made an extreme effort to pick up his pace a lot. Soon he found himself jogging alongside his two best friends in a desperate, but futile, attempt to get to class on time.

"Late I see," sneered the tall, bat-like professor with black robes and hair as they rushed into the classroom. "Ten points from Gryffindor each for your tardiness."

Harry scowled, but didn't comment, as the bell had rung barely ten seconds previously. He put his bag down on the floor, but before he could sit Professor Snape held up a vial with a potion in it.

"Mr Potter here decided that he was going to leave class early once more, without my permission," said Snape, the triumph in his voice evident. "Though, as the bell only rang five minutes later, I was unable to give him detention, I have thought of a sufficient enough punishment. Mr Potter will drink the ageing solution he had thought he had finished yesterday morning."

Snape uncorked the vial and handed it to Harry with something close to a smile on his face. Harry looked at the vial with dread curling in his stomach as the Slytherin's looked on eagerly and the Gryffindor's watched anxiously.

He could, of course, refuse to drink the potion, but who knew what other horrors Snape would have in store for him? Harry looked up and met Snape's eyes.

"Well Potter?" said Snape. "We are all waiting. Are you going to drink the potion or not? Or do you think your own potion skills so abysmal that something terribly wrong will happen?"

"I'm not really sure I see the point in drinking a potion that isn't completed, which means something is going to happen," said Harry.

Snape sneered.

"Potter, stop procrastinating and drink it."

"Why don't you?" asked Harry, his eyes narrowing. "You seem to have a lot of confidence in my abilities."

Snape glared at him fiercely and didn't answer for a moment. When he did, however, there was a deadly chill in his voice.

"Drink the potion. Now."

Harry looked apprehensively at the potion once more and sighed resignedly before putting it to his lips and draining the vial of every last drop.

Everyone watched either eagerly or apprehensively as Harry swallowed the potion and then stood. Nothing happened. The Gryffindor's, along with Harry, were about to breath a sigh of relief when unbelievable pain struck Harry's stomach and he doubled-over, clutching his stomach and breathing as though winded.

There was complete silence as Harry fell to his knees, feeling pain in every region of his body. Suddenly Hermione screamed as Harry, robes and all, began getting smaller and smaller, still very much in pain.

Finally they could see that the pain had stopped and Harry, no taller then a toddler, was hiding his face in his robes. He appeared to be shaking slightly.

"Harry?" said Hermione cautiously, approaching.

There was no response and she knelt down beside him and pulled the robe away. She and the whole class gasped in shock and horror as Harry gazed up at Hermione with large fear-filled green eyes.

Nothing more then a toddler.

A/N - Here is the first chapter of a story that is not spoken about on my user page, but oneI have been working on for ages, inspired by my cousin, who is a toddler. She's so cute!

Also, thank you to all those who reviewed on Baking Trouble, it made me feel so good to know people actually like whatI write! I hope you all like this story too!