Veritaserum

Disclaimer: -sigh- Now is this really needed? If I was J.K. Rowling I wouldn't have time to write fan fiction -laughs-

The room was dark, well at least it was at the moment, and it should have stayed dark throughout the night. If one knew the resident of the room, they would think that it would stay dark. Unlike one of her two best friends, Hermione Granger wasn't one to stay up all night reflecting. At least all of her friends wouldn't expect her to be lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling like she was doing at that very moment. She did this a lot actually. Just laid on her bed, usually around midnight (for it was highly improbable that her parents would be checking on her at this time of night), her covers tucked up around her chin and her honey brown eyes were trained on the mobile that hung above her bed. The Muggle toy would spin slowly, as if propelled by magic, but in reality, it was the gentle breeze that blew in from her window that made it move. As the mobile turned a small wolf would be bathed in moonlight for a moment before it would slide out of it and the next would get its 'bath'.

The young woman sighed closing her eyes; she hated being plagued with the thoughts that came at her during the silent hours of night. Contrary to what her friends believed, Hermione didn't much like being a know it all book worm. Well... she liked some aspects of it, but not the part where she had to spend hours in the library by herself. That part gave her virtually no free time. She wanted to be herself for once, but sadly she had a feeling that wouldn't be happening anytime soon, and she blamed that on the fact she was Muggle-born. She didn't blame her parents, oh no, the loyal girl loved her parents to death.

She blamed herself completely, since she was a child she had been fascinated with the more...frowned upon lifestyles. Between the ages of nine and ten she would routinely drag her mother to the mall. Truthfully, she had never much liked the crowded place, but she had absolutely loved watching the myriad of people that congregated there- the goths, punkers, ravers, and everything in between. They intrigued her; they always seemed so confident and open about who they were inside. She had always longed to be like that, not the stereotype, but she wanted to be secure about who she was and confident enough to let other people see the real her. If only there was a way to do it quickly, overnight preferably, that way her conservative parents couldn't object and try to stop her.

Suddenly, the young witch sat straight up in bed, the realization hitting her like a brick. She could change herself over night, she should have thought of it sooner. Jumping out of her bed she snatched her wand off the night table, thoughts running amok through her head. Before she had left Hogwarts she had asked Dumbledore for permission to use magic over the summer on her Advanced Transfiguration, Advanced Arithmancy, and Advanced Charms projects she was doing- she was going to be seventeen in September so she had thought a couple months ahead of time wouldn't hurt, especially if it was to do schoolwork. The headmaster had gladly obliged, promising that he would owl the ministry and tell them of his approval. At the time there had been that all knowing glint in the Headmaster's eye and Hermione had just dismissed it as Dumbledore being, well Dumbledore. Now, she realized that the old cook (and she used that term affectionately mind you), had known all along what she was going to do, even before her conscious self knew.

Shaking her head she stood in the middle of the room, quickly casting her infamous bluebell flame spell five times, then a hover spell so that five balls of blue flames were hanging around her room, sufficiently lighting it without alerting anyone outside that she was awake and moving around her room. That also reminded her that it would be better she not be heard, and so, with a flick of her wand and the soft word "Silencio" the room became sound proof to outside ears. Mentally, she thanked Merlin that Dumbledore had given her permission to use magic. Going to her window, she shut the curtains, she didn't need her Muggle neighbors to see that magic was being done in the house, that wouldn't bode well at all. Glancing around her room, she noticed that Crookshanks was nowhere to be found, and that saddened her a little. Hermione would have enjoyed the cat's company through the night.

Moving back towards the center of the room, Hermione stopped and took a deep breath. She knew now that once she sat down in front of the mirror, she would never be able to change her mind; she would have to push herself to finish what she had begun; which, of course, was to obliterate the façade she had created around herself and let her true personality be shown. She took one last deep breath and exhaled preparing herself before she moved to her vanity and sat down in front of it, her eyes closed. Imagining the looks on her two best friend's faces when they saw her new look, she laughed out loud, opened her eyes and stared into the mirror.

"This might actually be fun."

Grinning she ran her fingers through her hair, grabbing the tie that was holding it in a ponytail. The second the hair tie was pulled free her hair bounced back to its normal bushy and chaotic state. Shaking the tangled mane out a bit, she decided to try fixing it the Muggle way before trying magic, no reason to rely on the easy way right out of the gate. Picking up a brush she attempted to pull it through her hair, but the brush was promptly tangled in her matted locks and she glared at her reflection.

"Bloody hell."

Muttering she released the brush, letting it hang in her hair which wasn't all that comfortable really, the teeth were pulling at her scalp. Picking up her wand, she flicked her wrist, tapping her scalp gently, a spell tumbling from her lips.

"Mollipans Crines."

Her hair instantly relaxed against her scalp the brush falling to the ground with a thud. Laughing she ran her fingers through her hair multiple times, loving how her fingers just went right through the now silky locks. She could have just sat for hours doing such. Soon enough she snapped herself out of her hair stroking, removing her fingers and letting her now nearly waist length hair hang freely. Momentarily Hermione debated cutting it; she wasn't used to such long hair but then quickly dismissed the idea, the whole point was a dramatic change.

Staring into her mirror she pondered what to change next. She first wondered if she should change her eye colour, Muggles could do it with contacts, so surely she could do it with magic. Closing her eyes her mind swiftly rushed through the tons of spells and charms she had stored away. Deciding to use a colour changing spell and direct it to her eyes she opened them, a flicker of fear in their depths. The educated witch did realize that if she spoke even one syllable with the wrong enunciation she could blind herself permanently. She took a calming breath, her fear being replaced with a fierce determination as she made the simple wand movement and spoke the spell.

"Colui Cultumvis!" These words were almost yelled out because of her anxiety that she would enunciate the spell incorrectly.

Suddenly, the girl was left in complete darkness, her eyes useless. Starting to panic Hermione was about to jump up and stumble outside for help, but then slowly the blackness started to fade away. She froze immediately, half out of her chair half standing as she waited two long minutes for her eye sight to fully return, too scared to move. When it was completely restored she fell back into her chair, relief plainly written all over her face. She thanked Merlin for the second time that night that she could see, although what she saw shocked her. She had expected her eyes to become a pale violet color, she had seen eyes that were naturally that color in Muggles. Instead they were bright, almost neon, violet. Blinking multiple times, she stared into the mirror for a full minute before a smile tugged at her lips. She actually sort of liked the brightness of her eyes; it was very interesting to say the least. Getting more comfortable in her chair, she readied herself for an exciting night.

The now violet eyes of Hermione Granger slowly opened as she yawned and rolled over in bed not wanting to get up. She was extremely tired, she was up until four am messing with her looks and now it was only eight. Unfortunately, she knew she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. With a groan, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed so they touched the ground and she was sitting on the edge of her bed. Knowing that she wouldn't be in a good mood because of her tiredness she cast a cheering charm on herself which made her very happy very quickly.

Chuckling to herself she stood and opened her windows after extinguishing the bluebell flames. Enjoying the soft light they cast the young witch had decided to let them burn all night. Having already reversed the silencing charm on her room earlier that morning Hermione placed her wand back on the bedside table as she went to get dressed.

Pulling her favorite pair of jeans on she let her mind wander, she knew to finish becoming her self she would need to make a visit to Diagon Alley and Muggle London. Though before she did that, Hermione knew she needed to borrow money from someone, and the only person she knew that would let her borrow money was Harry. She would pay him back eventually, she just needed to go on an outing for a few things that day instead of waiting until her usual Diagon Alley trip that she took with her parents.

Grabbing a violet shirt that matched her eyes she pulled it over her head, before removing her hair from under the collar. Looking down she realized that she had grown since she last went shopping; the shirt she was wearing stopped a half inch or so above the top of her pants. About to reach and try and tug the shirt down to its normal position she stopped herself knowing that there was less than an inch of skin showing, if that, and that it was pretty normal for a shirt to be like hers.

Turning the young woman went to stand in front of the mirror that also served as her closet's sliding door. Looking herself over a smile lit up her face; she was pleased with the night's results. Running her fingers through her hair she admired the colour of it; which was now somewhere between the colours of ice blue and pale blue and there were two dark blue streaks framing her face. She had always loved the colour blue and she had decided that she liked the colour in her hair, she could always change it later if need be. Leaning forwards she tucked her hair behind her ears to check and make sure they weren't getting infected. The witch had painlessly given herself another piercing on the bottom of each earlobe and then a double on the cartilage of her left ear. The earrings, which used to be paperclips until they were transfigured, were just small studs, the two in her earlobes were sapphires, and the ones in her cartilage were an emerald and a ruby.

Moving her head away from the mirror she walked over to her desk and sat down grabbing a piece of parchment, and a quill. Twirling her quill in one hand she used the other to uncork her ink bottle as she debated the best way to ask Harry if she could borrow a substantial amount of money. She was just about to start writing when she got a much better idea. The Gryffindor would write to Dumbledore and ask if her fireplace could be temporarily connected to the floo network. She knew that the Headmaster would know exactly what for so she didn't mind making such a grand request.

Her quill scratched against the parchment, her writing was quick and neat. As she finished the letter she signed it with a flourish going to fold it up, but then she stopped and added a P.S. asking for a pouch of floo powder since she had none. Grabbing her wand, she tapped the parchment, performing a sealing charm, watching as the letter quickly sealed itself. About to stand and go downstairs to the kitchen where Cinna- the school owl she had been assigned for use over the summer- was kept, she paused getting another idea. Hermione sat back down grabbing another sheet of parchment. Writing quickly to Ron she asked if she could stay with the Weasleys for the rest of the summer. She didn't mention her new look, she wanted it to be a total surprise. Signing it with another flourish the witch grabbed her trusty wand once more and sealed the letter. Quickly she addressed each letter then picked them up and slipped them into her pocket. Walking downstairs her thoughts floated randomly thinking about nothing that was at all important, although there was a small smile on her face.

Walking into the kitchen she glanced around for her parents and found a note from her mother saying that she and her father and been called in on an emergency root canal and that they'd be home as soon as they could. Hermione laughed, it seemed things were going her way today. Looking around again, the witch spotted her beloved Crookshanks a smile gracing her face. Going over to the half kneazle she picked him up stroking the top of his head.

"Good morning, Crookshanks. I missed you last night I was going to have you give me your opinion on my new look as it was being made."

Laughing she let the cat rub his head against her neck and cheek as she walked over to Cinna. The cat and owl had gotten used to each other while they were at school so they didn't bother each other now, which was fortunate for Hermione. When she reached out to open Cinna's cage, Crookshanks climbed up to lay across her shoulders. This elicited an amused chuckle from the girl.

"Crooks, you're almost too big to be up there these days."

A smile still on her face she offered her arm to Cinna, who promptly moved onto it not making a sound. The owl was extremely quiet which was one reason she chose him to come home with her, she didn't really want to be kept up all night by hooting. Her left hand delved into her pocket taking the letters out and showing them to Cinna.

"One is going to Dumbledore at Hogwarts and the other is to go to Ron Weasley at the Burrow."

With a soft hoot Cinna took the letters in his beak and then flew out of the window flying towards Hogwarts.

A/N: Hah, I finally went back and revised this chapter. Hopefully it's better now. It's unbeta'd so I apologize for my murdering commas. Please R&R 3