The Frog Princess
A/N: This fic was written first and foremost for The Fairy Tales Challenge on the DAII forum. The classical fairy tale chosen was: The Frog Prince - Write about Transfiguration gone wrong between romantic partners.
This was also written for the Potions Club to collect the ingredient Fluxweed: Write about constant change. I know, I know, I took the literal interpretation. Still, the idea I do have for constant change is in the works, and I shall save it for when (and if) I get the ingredient again in my prompt listing.
Word count: 3507 words.
I tried something knew (or rather, not used very often in my writing) with this fic by writing first person. I'm not really sure I managed to get the correct tense in, however, so hopefully you like it anyway. I understand, too, that Lavender Brown is brave and a character often misunderstood (after all, she did participate in the Battle of Hogwarts). The only reason she is written as selfish/ self-absorbed here is because she is a love-struck teen, and I know a friend or two from high school that was similar in her thinking.
All feedback is welcome. Thank you for reading!
"Won-Won is such a babe. I mean, did you see him eating breakfast this morning? Who knew cereal could look that good?"
"Aha."
I could see that Parvati was getting tired of listening to my talk about Ron, her chocolate-brown eyes rolling for the fifth time that morning. Normally I would berate her for doing so, but I knew the reason she didn't want to listen to tales of mine and Ron's relationship. I mean, I wasn't completely clueless—the girl was clearly jealous. I couldn't very well yell at her for it; what kind of friend would I be if I did?
It was no secret that she fancied Ron; all of the girls did, really. Even Miss Know-it-all Granger did, running off and crying every time she saw us snogging. Most nights since Ron had declared his love for me she would come into the dormitory past curfew, her eyes red and puffy. I couldn't help repeating how good of a snogger Ron is to Parvati and Fay—which, believe me, he's just amazing at—whenever she entered. I had felt a little bad for her, but not as much as I did when it came to my best friend, whose lips were now pressed together as we walked. I needed to cheer her up.
"Well, that's enough about Ron for a minute," I said, ignoring whatever Parvati muttered under her breath. It sounded suspiciously like 'finally,' but I couldn't be sure. "Let's talk about your love-life. I've heard that Harry is single again. That awful Cho dumped him last year, so I'm sure if you, you know, fixed your hair or something he might consider—"
"Nice of you to join us, ladies," McGonagall interrupted our conversation as we entered the classroom.
I wasn't surprised to see that McGonagall's hair was swept up into its usual tight bun, and wondered if perhaps Parvati wasn't the only one who needed to change her hairstyle. One look at her stern face, however, and I realised that perhaps my impeccable makeover skills might be better off put to use at a later date. Following Parvati to our usual table and ignoring the glare Little Miss Priss sent us, I sat down.
"As I was saying, we are going to be continuing with human transfiguration these last few weeks. Keep in mind that what we practice today not only can be highly dangerous if not done right, but will be included in your NEWT exams—should you all manage to pass in the first place."
I rolled my eyes at Parvati as McGonagall said this, nudging her. The professor was absolutely obsessed with the exams; it was almost as if she had nothing better to do than warn us about them. I mean, I was a little nervous, but NEWTs were not until next year, and it wasn't like I actually needed to change my looks at all. What good would Transfiguration ever do for me? Hello, I was as perfect as a girl could get.
I turned my eyes back to the front as McGonagall cleared her throat. "To successfully complete today's lesson, you will be required to change five facial features. You can choose to play with colours, shapes, or, for those of you who are capable, may even venture into the features of other living creatures. Be warned though; none of you are registered Animagus, let alone accomplished Metamorphmagi, and should I find any of your actions bordering on utter idiocy, the consequences will be severe. Do you find something funny, Mr Macmillan?"
Turning in my seat, I could see Ernie's face burn bright red, his tongue receding back into his mouth. What a prat he was, pulling faces whilst the rest of us were trying to learn. The boy ought to learn how to show a teacher proper respect, especially my Head of House. I nodded as he mumbled an apology of sorts, shifting my attention to the front once more so I could hear the rest of McGonagall's instructions. A few rows ahead, Little Miss Teacher's Pet was doing the same.
"Well, then, I'll ask you to break up into pairs and go through the warm up exercises we've been doing recently; only one of you had managed to correctly change your eyebrows, and I'm hoping to see more this lesson," McGonagall continued. I scowled as she smiled at Hermione. Yep, definitely a teacher's pet. "Then, and only then, you may begin the task. Off you go."
Jumping out of my seat, I ran over to where Ron and Harry sat before anyone else—particularly a know-it-all brunette—could get to him. I knew that Parvati wouldn't mind; she could easily partner up with Fay or one of the Puffs. Some of them, at least, weren't so bad.
"Won-Won! Let's partner."
"Good luck, mate," Harry said, patting Ron's shoulder and going up the front to partner with Granger.
I turned to Ron, my head tilted. Why would he need luck? Was he nervous?
"Don't you worry, Wonny, I'll make sure we pass," I said, sitting down next to him. After all, it was my duty as his girlfriend to make him feel good. "Why don't you start, and I'll give you pointers."
"Lavender, I need to te—"
"No, no, I insist. Go on, I know you'll do an amazing job, love." I shook my head as he tried to make me go first, smiling. He was such a gentleman.
"Er, alright," he agreed.
I watched as his cheeks grew red, beautiful blue eyes blinking with uncertainty. What a cutie!
Glancing at me, he cleared his throat and held his wand to his face. "Erm, what's the incantation, again?"
Oh. What with the mound of homework the teachers have given me lately, let alone keeping a track of my social life, I had completely forgotten the spell McGonagall had taught us. It wasn't my fault; how did the professors expect us to remember everything all the time? They always put too much pressure on us.
Still, I was determined to show Ron that I was just as smart as his ex-best friend, and hurriedly pulled out my notebook. Flipping through it, and sighing at the numerous hearts encircling Ron's and my names—boy did his name look so good on paper next to mine. Finally, I found the page I was searching for and sighed again, this time in relief, as I saw what I needed.
"Alright, yep, too easy. You need to say, 'Transmutes' and point your wand at your nose." There, I was just as useful as Little Miss Perfect.
"Are you sure? Ok, here goes. Transmutes."
I squeezed my eyes shut as Ron pointed his wand at his nose, only to open them again to see the tip of his wand turning a bright yellow for a second. For a minute, I half expected a bang to occur, and certainly did not want to watch my man get blown up. I shouldn't have doubted him, for he was brilliant as always. Nothing bad happened with no singe marks in sight. It made a nice change of pace than partnering with Seamus, too.
"Well, what next?" Ron asked.
Smiling at him, I shut my book. I didn't need it to tell him what the next step was, unlike some people. "Now you need to wriggle your nose or something, and think about what you want to change."
Ron gave me a funny look when I said change and opened his mouth to speak, causing my heart to pound. Could he get any cuter? I knew that he was sometimes insecure, but the fact that he still wondered if he was good enough for me? Amazing. Of course, he could always alter that ghastly red hair, perhaps to a more suitable shade of brown, but I had grown used to it. The experience of running my fingers through it would've been the same anyway, no matter if he was blond, brunet, or ginger.
"Lavender, I—"
Pressing a finger to his lips, I shushed him. I needed to let him know that no matter what he looked like, he would always be my handsome man.
He closed his mouth under my touch, and I couldn't help but giggle as his breath tickled my hand. I pulled it away, watching as the tips of his ears burned red.
"Go on, Wonny, have a go before the spell wears off."
"Alright," he sighed. Closing his eyes, he screwed up his face.
His chin had little wiggly lines across it and the freckles seemed to pop as his nose twitched. How adorable. Nothing happened, however, and I sat back, crossing my arms.
"Well, did anything happen? I don't feel any different," Ron said, reaching a hand to his face.
"Nope." My heart broke seeing the disappointment flit across his eyes and I knew I had to make it better. Reaching for the mirror McGonagall had placed on each set of desks, I gave it to him. "Try again, and look into this."
He grabbed the mirror, a little too forcefully, and stared into it. I didn't have time to berate him for being so rude, gasping as little, glittery sparks began to flicker across his face. It was working! He was doing it! My heart was still throbbing, and to make sure that he did not stop, I began clapping.
"Come on, Ron, you can do it!"
The sparks danced past the mirror, becoming brighter and brighter. Then, all at once, they disappeared. Ron's eyes grew wide as he stared into the mirror, and I pulled it away so I could see what was the matter.
Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no. It couldn't be! My poor Wonny!
Ron lifted his hand to his face, tugging at the thick, grey moustached that had sprouted above his lip. It didn't budge. Ron tried again, this time wincing as he pulled too hard and several grey hairs fell into his hand.
Holding out his open palm to her, he cried, "Help me! Get this thing off!"
"Ew!" I pushed away his hand, keeping my fingers as far away from the stray hairs as possible.
"Quick! How do reverse this?" he asked, still pulling at the ugly, grey caterpillar on his lips.
"I don't know! Um, um, um, ah, eek!"
My eyes darted around, looking for someone to help. No one was paying us any attention. No one, except bloody Granger. A smile was on her lips as she glanced our way, brown eyes dancing. What a cow, no wonder Ron didn't want anything to do with her.
"Mr Weasley, will you kindly stop flapping your hands around like that? It will not do you any good. Miss Brown, I suggest you turn away from Miss Granger; it is not her fault this situation has occurred."
I jumped as McGonagall appeared next to us, not realising that she was still in the classroom. I mean, I knew that of course she would be, but she always seemed far too busy helping the more clueless students.
Thankfully, the professor knew what she was doing, and with a wave of a wand, sent the hairs of Ron's moustache retreating back into his skin. Yuck. Still, at least it was gone now, and I had seen what he would look like with one—there is absolutely no way he will be growing one when we get married.
The tips of Ron's ears remained bright red as he turned to me and said, "Your turn."
"Alright," I nodded, knowing it was for the best. My poor Ron, maybe I could cheer him up after such an awful experience? With new determination, I placed my wand at my nose and said, "Transmutes."
A tingle went through my nose for a minute, and I resisted the urge to scratch. No way would I do that in Ron's company.
"So, what should I do first?" I asked.
Ron's forehead wrinkled as he thought for a moment. I sighed, watching him; he was so cute when he was concentrating!
"Ok, maybe we should start with eyebrows, like we were supposed to," he finally said.
I smiled, suddenly feeling shy. I had a hidden talent of being able to wiggle my eyebrows up and down, but wasn't sure I wanted my boyfriend to see that. Moving my eyebrows might have been cute in the second year, but now it was just weird.
"Look away for a minute," I said.
Ron complied, after offering me the mirror. I considered using it, but glancing over at Teacher's Pet, who hadn't even picked the one on her desk up yet, I decided against it and pushed it away.
Ducking my head, I peeked up at Ron to check if he was looking before wiggling my eyebrows up and down. What colour should I do? They were one shade too light for my beautiful blonde locks, maybe I should make them darker? Yes, a nice light brown. I could feel them tingling, and looking up, I could see yellow sparkles dance before my eyes. Yay! It was working!
When the sensation stopped, I looked back up at Ron. He was smiling, and my heart lifted as I realised I had impressed him. Take that, Little Miss Perfect.
"Um, alright. Try changing your nose," he said, his smile widening.
I returned his grin, and closed my eyes. This time, I didn't care if he watched me—perhaps seeing it happen would impress him further. Concentrating, I tried to wiggle my nose. It was harder than I thought. Still, I continued moving it up and down, as though I was blowing my nose, or refraining from sneezing, and eventually I could feel it twitch. The tingling sensation came back, and when I reopened my eyes, it was to see the sparks fading.
It was funny though; unlike my brow, my nose felt stretched, wet and cold, as though it was running. I wasn't worried about the stretching, knowing my nose was rather petite, but I sincerely hoped it hadn't become snotty in the process, yet looking up at Ron's wide eyes, his smile wider than ever before, I knew it was alright. Yes! I had managed to cheer him up.
"Do something else!" he begged, tears of wonder beginning to form in his eyes.
I thought about it, wondering what else I could try. I wanted it to be original; something none of my peers would think of. Inspiration struck when I looked over at Dean, his tongue protruding from his lips in concentration as he tried to change his eye colour. Yep, that would do nicely.
Thinking of the piercing many of the seventh years sported, I flapped my tongue up and down. This time, red sparks darted around my mouth, and my tongue grew numb. Katie Bell's friend had said that her tongue felt that way, so once more, it didn't worry me.
Ron's sudden burst of laughter, however, did. Tears streamed down his eyes as he pointed at me, his breath coming out in great gasps. "Lav-Lav- oh, that is- Oh Merlin!" he choked out, clutching his stomach.
Wha—? Grabbing for the mirror, I check my appearance.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I knew everyone was now looking as I screamed, but I didn't care. My eyes burned as tears welled up in them, and I threw the mirror to the ground.
I was hideous! Absolutely hideous!
The room around me broke into laughter, and I buried my head into my hands. No, no, no, this could not be happening! My own breathing became tighter as I looked back up, scanning the room for McGonagall. Hurry, professor, over here!
"Miss Brown, please do calm down," she said, bending over Seamus and attending to his singed eyebrows. "I will be with you in a moment, but perhaps Miss Granger will help you in the meantime."
"Gladly," the cow said, the glee evident in her voice.
Great, just great. Of course she would be enjoying this! I scowled at her and folded my arms as she walked over. Ron had finally stopped laughing, wiping away his tears as Hermione came to stand in front of them. At least he had the sense not to laugh when she was here.
"Well, do you want me to fix this or not?" she asked, returning my scowl.
Ron smiled at her hopefully, but the girl ignored him, staring at me. A hint of a smile was still on her face, making me want to scream at her to leave. I knew better, though, and nodded; putting up with the cow was far better than staying in my current form.
"Ok. You're lucky, the cure to this is pretty easy. Have either of you heard of The Frog Prince before? Or the Swan Princess?"
I hiccoughed and shook my head, as did Ron. What was she going on about?
"Mmm, I see. I forgot you both grew up in Wizarding households," she said, ignoring Ron once more as he raised his eyebrow. "Well, they are Muggle fairy tales, and I believe they hold the key to fixing this little… mishap. It's simple, really, all you have to do is kiss."
Kiss? That was it? Well, that didn't seem so bad. I was an expert at snogging, and I knew Ron wouldn't mind if I was a bit slimier than usual.
Apparently, he did. Looking to Hermione, he squeaked, "Kiss her? But—"
I kicked him underneath the table, glaring at him. I was his girlfriend! He should want to kiss me no matter what.
He ignored me, however, and continued, "But she's a frog!"
The tears fell down my cheeks harder and I hid my face in my hands once more. He was right… well, sort of. Stupid, stupid spell! Instead of the desired light brown, my eyebrows were a lime green. My nose had indeed been stretched out and was a paler green with slits for nostrils. The worst of it was my tongue; it had thinned out and now darted out between my lips at random. At least I wasn't ribbiting or croaking. Yet.
The thought of going around the school croaking had my eyes flying open. Leaning in to Ron, I grabbed the front of his robes. My eyes locked onto his, and I pleaded with him to help.
Naturally, he soon complied. "Mione, isn't there another way?"
"Not really," Hermione said with a shrug.
"Ok, but Lavender, I need to speak to you after this about something."
What could be more important than this? Crashing my lips to his, I prevented him from saying anything else. Funnily enough, my new tongue seemed to know what it was doing, the thinness making it easier to lock onto his. I could feel Ron's mouth moving and held the kiss for another few seconds, just in case, before I pulled away.
Leaning back, all I could see was Ron's horror struck expression. No, no, no, it had to have worked! Sobs wracked my body, the air becoming thinner. My mind whirred around, a beeping ringing in my ears and the world began spinning. I didn't even bother wacking Ron for wiping a hand across his mouth, or yelling at Hermione for giggling.
"Miss Brown, do stop being so hysterical! This can be easily fixed."
The voice of my saviour broke into my thoughts, and soon my face tingled once more. Looking up and hiccoughing, I saw the end of McGonagall's wand pointing at my face.
"There, much better."
Lifting a shaking hand to my face, I felt my nose. It felt just a small and perky as I remembered it and let out a sigh. Poking out my tongue, I could see that the tip was back to normal and I could control its movements.
Leaping up, I wrapped my hands around the professor's waist. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"
I didn't care that she hesitantly pushed me away, hugging Ron instead. "I'm back, oh, isn't it good that I'm back, Wonny?"
"Ahem." McGonagall cleared her throat, and I let go. "As for the matter of attempting to transform into an animal without prior practice, I must dock ten points from Gryffindor." Then, without another word, she swept away.
"Now, what did you want to tell me, Won-Won?" I asked.
Miss Know-it-all looked rolled her eyes and walked away in a huff. I stared into Ron's eyes, smiling. He opened his mouth before closing it with a shake of his head. "Erm, it can wait."
My smile grew and I hugged him once more, releasing only as the lesson ended and Parvati walked up to me. Ron left to be with Harry once more, allowing me to link arms with my best friend and leave the classroom.
"I don't think I'll chase after Harry," she said, eyes on his retreating back.
I glanced at her. "Why ever not?"
"Well, he could be no match for Ron's, ahem, adept skills in Transfiguration. You're right though, you two really are meant for each other," Parvati laughed.