Chapter One
Disclaimer: This is a work of my own fiction. The only thing that belongs to me is my OCs and the plot.
It's weird, you know, walking in someone else's shoes. And I don't mean that figuratively. I mean suddenly not having your friends, your reputation, your life. Everything changed in one night. You go to sleep as one person and wake up as another.
I guess I should mention that I'm not talking about body switching. It's more like…life switching. Like an alternate universe, where everything you've ever known is different.
My life used to be, well, not perfect, but I had no complaints. I had the best friends that anyone could have. I mean, really, thebest. All my hard work had paid off and I was finally Head Girl. Even if I had to hold the position alongside James Potter, that was just fine with me. At least he stopped asking me out and actually grew up for once. I was really looking forward to my seventh year at Hogwarts.
That was before I received the shock of my life.
I woke slowly. I felt very sluggish, the will to move was hard to find. When I opened the bed curtains, my first thought was that someone placed my bed on the opposite side of the room while I was asleep. This was not the case. As I looked around more, I realized that this was not even my dorm. The girls asleep in the other beds were not my friends. I recognized a few of the faces that I saw, but what I was seeing couldn't be right because they were Hufflepuffs.
I screwed my eyes shut, thinking that I wasn't fully awake yet but opened them again to find that I was still in the same room. How did I get here? Did I sleepwalk? It was a possibility; as Head Girl, I did have the passwords to all of the Houses.
But if I did sleepwalk, then where was the person whose bed I woke up in?
"Good morning, Lily." I jumped at the voice. "Did you sleep well?"
"Not—not too well actually," I finally stammered to Abby McKellen. She was sitting up in her bed, brushing through her long blonde hair. "I'm not quite sure how I got here."
"What do you mean?"
I gave her a confused look. "Here. In this dorm."
"I still don't understand. Do you not remember last night or something?"
"I don't know. I remember going to bed in my own room, but I woke up here."
Abby paused her brushing and scrutinized my face. "Are you all right, Lily?"
"No, that's what I'm telling you. I don't know what I'm doing here and I don't understand how you can be so calm about it."
"As far as I can tell, you were sleeping in your bed and now you're shouting and acting a bit mad, if I do say so myself," she sniffed. "I was just trying to be polite, you know. It's not as if I'm your friend or anything." With that she huffed and went into the bathroom.
I quickly got dressed and gathered all of my things—all of my stuff was here too?—and walked quickly to the Great Hall. I made a beeline to where I saw Marlene and Helen sitting.
"You have no idea the kind of morning I've had so far," I said, dropping to the seat across from them. "I don't know what's happened, but I may have blacked out or something last night because…" I trailed off. They were both exchanging glances with each other and looking at me strangely. "What's the matter with you two?"
"I don't mean to be rude," Marlene started. "But we're just wondering what you're doing here?"
"What do you mean?"
They exchanged another glance before Helen answered. "You do realize this is the Gryffindor table, right?"
"Yes," I responded, slowly. "I know that."
"Right. And you're a Hufflepuff."
I laughed. "No, I'm a Gryffindor." I had to do a double take at my uniform. "I guess I was in such a rush this morning that I didn't realize I put on the wrong uniform."
Marlene looked uncomfortable. "Lily, are you okay? I mean you're not drunk or something, right?"
"Drunk," I inquired in outrage. "What are you on about?"
"Well," she said, while looking even more uncomfortable. "You come over here blathering about blacking out and acting as if, well, as if we were friends."
"But we arefriends, all three of us, and we have been since first year!"
Now they both looked really worried, but before they could say anything more, someone behind me asked, "What's going on?"
The voice belonged to Gabby Maddox. She was standing there with a concerned look on her face. Marlene and Helen began to answer her, but I didn't hear any of it. I was staring at the Gryffindor robes that Gabby was wearing. Actually my attention was on the shiny Head Girl badge attached to it. What the bloody hell was going on here? She was the Hufflepuff and I was the Gryffindor and that was mybadge, not the other way around!
That's the moment I realized just how wrong everything was. This was way bigger than I had previously thought.
I interrupted whatever they were saying. "I'm sorry. I'm not feeling like myself today." I mechanically rose from my seat and sat down in a random seat at the Hufflepuff table, and watched as the three girls interacted like they were the best of friends. I didn't understand any of this. It was all switched around, like Gabby and I had swapped places.
But how could that be? What could cause that to happen? Was I in some sort of parallel universe?
I was ripped from my reverie in a panicked moment as everyone began to head out of the Great Hall to their classes. If I wasn't who I normally am, then what classes was I supposed to go to? I frantically searched through my bag for a schedule, but came up empty. Then a thought occurred to me. If Gabby was in my role, then I would be in hers. She was in my first two classes, Charms and Muggle Studies. After that, I guessed that I would have to go back to the Hufflepuff—I mean my— dorm and search for the blasted schedule.
Professor Flitwick tottered into the room greeting us and asking us to get settled. I looked over at where I usually sat and found Gabby, Marlene, and Helen there. The entrance of the Marauders caught my eyes. That was it! If anyone was to remember who I really am, it was bound to be Potter.
All of my hopes were dashed, however, as he sat down right next to Gabby and gave her a peck on the cheek. My eyes widened. The little chit has stolen my stalker too? Oh, this had to be fixed.
Flitwick called the class to order. He went over what was assigned for homework the night before, which I, of course, practiced before everything went topsy turvy. I was first to raise my hand when he asked for a student demonstration.
"Ah, yes, Miss Maddox. Will you please show us all the proper way to cast this charm?"
I watched in horror as she did it to perfection. In fact, I had the displeasure of having Flitwick completely ignore me in favor of Gabby. Every. Single. Time. That was the last straw. Not only did she steal my friends, my Head Girl position, my stalker, my life, she now had all of my answers in class. I did not care what kind of hell I had to go through, I would be me again. And soon, because it had just turned serious.