AN: Just a little idea I had to get out there. It will remain all there is for a while. For the moment my priority is SotP. Have fun!

Love, Annabeth

Prologue – Bad Wake-Up Call

I am woken by a hand on my shoulder. I murmur and turn away but the hand follows, now shaking me less gently by the second. "Geh weg, Lisa. 'S zu früh." The hand stops moving, then disappears. I sigh and curl up on my side.

Something is very wrong, but my sleep-addled mind can't make out what. I curl up tighter, then stretch in an effort to wake up. I freeze.

My body feels different. Stronger, but with hundreds of tiny aches and pains. My hair is shorter, only just brushing my chin instead of my lower back. And my chest feels very strange.

I open my eyes for a moment and see red. The pillow beneath my cheek is red, the alarm clock on the nightstand is red, what I can see of the carpet is red, even the head of hair hovering above me is red. Other than the colour I can't make out anything beyond the first one or two meters in front of me.

Something creaks behind me and a gust of cold air hits my bare back. Oh, God, I'm not wearing a shirt and the red-head in front of me is a boy. I hastily pull up the blanket, and in the process discover that I'm only wearing boxers for sleep-wear. And my breasts have apparently turned into a dusting of black hair. I squeeze my eyes shut and pull my legs up again. Yup, complete sex-change overnight.

Two possibilities immediately come to mind; this could be a very vivid and bizarre dream, or I've switched bodies with some boy in my sleep. I fervently hope it's the former, if only because switching bodies would imply a boy waking up in my body. The very thought is horrifying.

I become aware of voices in front of me and open my eyes again. The boy has been joined by a girl a lot of brown hair.

I sit up, carefully keeping the blanket wrapped around me and trying to ignore the feel of my body. "Wer seid ihr? Und wo bin ich?" The two stare at me as if I've grown another head. Or as if you've turned into a boy, whispers a nasty voice in the back of mind, which sounds very much like my older sister Melanie. I direct a mental bitch! at her and stare back expectantly at the blurry pair before me.

"Harry? Are you okay, mate?" asks the boy. The girl hands me a pair of round glasses.

Just my luck that I'd wake up in some foreign country instead of two streets away. From the accent though, I suspect that I'm in Great Britain. "I don't think I am. Actually, I was hoping I was just dreaming. So, where am I? And who are you?" I still speak with that ugly German accent that I can't seem to get rid of.

The two exchange a long look, then the girl starts talking. "I'm Hermione and this is Ron. We're at Hogwarts, in Scotland. Harry, what's wrong with you?"

"This is going to sound completely insane, especially if you know this Harry." The name feels strange on my lips, unfamiliar so that I stumble over the letters, and yet like a life-long friend. "My name is Emma. I live with my family in Germany. And I was still a girl when I went to bed last night."

Translations:

Geh weg, Lisa. 'S zu früh. – Go away, Lisa. It's too early.

Wer seid ihr? Und wo bin ich? – Who are you? And where am I?