It was a cold and rainy autumn afternoon when Harry and Ron found themselves in the Gryffindor common room with nothing to do. Hermione and Ginny had gone to take a walk around the castle, and while complaining about Umbridge had entertained them for a while, they soon grew tired even of that.

"How about a chess match?" Ron said, stretching out on one of the couches and throwing bits of paper towards the burning fire.

"Maybe another night," Harry said with a sigh. "I wish we could go out and practice some quidditch."

"Not with this weather, and not while Umbridge is around. That hag, she's been acting as though she were Queen of Hogwarts ever since she became Headmaster. I hope Peeves gets her soon."

"Why so glum children?" George asked as he and Fred entered the common room, drenched from the rain outside, but with smiles on their faces. "We've just been throwing love letters around the corridors Filch wanders, addressed to him from Umbridge. It might give them both something better to do."

"Speaking of," Fred added, "Why don't you two ever go to a corner or behind a pillar with any of our beautiful Gryffindor ladies?"

"Or girls from any other house." George added. "I saw Pansy Parkinson giving you funny looks in the great Hall, Ron.

"Those weren't out of love, trust me." Ron kept on burning bits of paper, but Harry saw a frown on his face. "Plus, it's hard to tell when we can go talk to them; to get the timing right. Sometimes they get all catty. I must say we might be like foreigners when it comes to the female language."

"Hmmm," said Fred, "We might be able to help you with that. George and I have been playing around with disguising potions and charms since Polyjuice ingredients are hard to come by. We need them to make it hard for the school authorities to find us, you see."

"What do you mean?" Ron said sitting up on the couch.

"Well," his brother continued. "If you had long hair, and put on a nice dress and some makeup, I couldn't tell you apart from a sprightly girl!"

"Oh, quit babbling," said Ron.

"No, wait. Do you think it could work?" Harry said looking the the twins and ignoring Ron's gaping jaw.

"Are you joking?" Ron asked exasperated.

"Well, if we could get ourselves to look a bit like girls, we could infiltrate the girl's room for a bit to try and understand their minds a bit better."

Ron sighed.

"You're right," Harry said with resignation. "I think Hermione would rather let an elf cook her a meal than allow us to have a sleepover with her and her friends."

"A sleepover with Hermione?" Ron looked up with eyes wide like moons as the twins walked closer to him and Harry to talk over a plan.

"So this potion will make our hair grow?" Harry said holding a vial with a bubbling red liquid, like fizzy wine.

"Yes, and I can ask Angelina to let me borrow some clothes. She owes me a favor." George said.

"What about our faces?" Ron added.

"I can't help you with that, brother."

"No, you git. I mean, they might look at us and recognize us! Then what?"

"Aha, you see, then comes the magic of makeup," George said, using a voice a teacher might use on slow pupils. "A thing so wondrous, as Harry, who has lived with muggles can testify, I'm sure; one wonders how simple muggles' minds ever went about creating it."

"We might not look it," Fred chimed in, "but we have very steady hands. We will make your faces look a ton better! Neither of you can grow any facial hair yet, so you are already on the girly side - Ouch! Alright you dimwit, stop hitting me or we won't help you."

Harry thought that even if this was a horrible idea, at least it might prove to be a bit of fun. Since Umbridge had banned the Gryffindors from playing quidditch and taken away the one outlet Harry had, he had felt a lot more stressed recently. Besides, he thought he might also be able to analyze girls and pick up some tips that might help him with Cho.

After the change, when looking at himself in the mirror with a girl's clothing under his Gryffindor robes, Harry was more nervous than satisfied. His body did not look so curvy, as a girl's, but it also wasn't much different from the thin frame of aunt Petunia's, and she was after all, a girl. Perhaps these disguises would work. What did come as a surprise, once Fred and George were finished helping Ron and himself with their attire was his face. Neither he nor Ron had taken a single sip of Polyjuice potion, but they could barely recognize themselves.

The potion they had taken had grown their hair. Harry's fell like a straight black waterfall until the twins used a charm to layer it nicely around his face and down to the small of his back. Ron's was a wavy red mane that his brothers left long and wild. The twins gave both of them long bangs in order to cover their faces even more and help their disguise.

"Wow, Harry!" Ron said turning around after looking down at his own body, holding his fake breasts, which Fred and George had fashioned out of their own socks inside a bra borrowed from Angelina. Harry wondered what kind of favor she had owed them. "If I didn't know it was you I would say you look almost pretty!"

"I'm sorry, mate," said Harry unable to control his laughter. "Tall girls are not my type."

"Wait a second," Ron said squinting at his brothers, but not taking his hands away from his breasts. "If you think I'm going to clean your room at all this summer, or..."

"No payment," Fred said as he and George turned to leave. "We do like showing our appreciation from time to time." He grinned to Harry, who tried to look as confused as Ron was. He hadn't told his best friend about giving his Triwizard tournament reward to the twins the previous year.

"Oh wait, here's the final touch," he said slipping a piece of parchment into Harry's hand and waving a wand around it.

"What's that?" Ron asked.

"A handy letter from the school," George explained, " saying you too are decorators hired by Umbridge to help spruce up her office. I think you won't need it, though, with our gentle Gryffindor girls. Just tell the girls you got lost, I'm sure none of them would deny you a floor to sleep on." He winked at Harry before he and Fred disappeared behind the painting covering the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

"Those two are up to something," Ron said in a low voice.

"Come on, Ron, don't be paranoid. Okay, we have sometime before the night curfew so let's practice walking and talking in girly ways."

"As you wish, handsome," Ron said in a high voice, tip-toeing over to Harry and slapping a flirty hand on his arm.

"Let's tone it down a bit," Harry said.

They waited in the boy's room, hiding under their blankets, pretending to sleep like logs on their beds until everyone had gone to sleep. When they were sure none of their classmates were awake, they changed into their new clothes. The twins had given both of them a pair of flat shoes they had borrowed from Angelina, who was a tall girl, so they did not have trouble walking. Harry thought that Ron could swing his hips a little less, and Ron said Harry could move his a little more.

"You look like a robot that needs some oil!" Ron said showing his swaying pace as he walked from one side of the room to the other. "Like this, see?"

Harry tried to imitate him, but almost tripped on his own foot.

"All right," Ron said, "just swing your arms a bit, if anything that will make you look less stiff."

They managed to get a steady walk, if not fully woman-like, and they ascended the steps to the girl's dormitory. Harry was worried that the sensor in the stairs would know that they are boys and turn into a slide, tumbling them downwards again. Their long hair however, or the disguise that the twins had created worked well enough, for they soon stood at the door at the top of the stairs with not much mishap besides hair getting into their eyes and mouth.

They knocked on the door. After a moment of nervous waiting, they heard a rustle behind it. The door opened and Hermione Granger's sleepy face appeared at the threshold. She was wearing a long purple gown.

"Oh, hello," she said. Harry heard Ron gulp loudly.

"Hi," Harry said in a voice he hoped was high enough. "Sorry to disturb you, but we got lost in this maze of a castle and we can't find our way back to our quarters! A couple of handsome Gryffindor boys let us in - Henry and Rum I think their names were - and said we could sleep on the couches downstairs, but it's so scary down there in the dark! We were wondering if we could have more company..."

Hermione looked at both of them for a few seconds, squinting. Harry couldn't tell whether she was watching them that way out of suspicion or exhaustion. Before they could make an emergency exit however, Hermione smiled, stepped aside and welcomed them into the Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory.

Harry and Ron went in, their goggling eyes looking this way and that absorbing all that there was to see. They saw that the girls' dormitory in fact wasn't much different from the boys'. It was a bit neater perhaps, and did smelled nicer, yet even the poster selection was similar. It decorated the walls featuring handsome Quidditch players. Harry wondered whether the girls liked the player's team or his looks more.

"What were you doing around the castle at such late hours?" Hermione asked them. "Our new headmaster would have gotten furious if she found you."

She invited them to sit down on the carpeted floor, where she joined them.

"Actually," Harry began nervously. "We were hired to help decorate her office. She's horrendous!" he added quickly when he saw disgust spread on his friend's face. "She makes us work all day doing and re-doing the decorations. We can never please her!"

"I don't know how you can stand being in her company for so long." He heard Parvati Patil's voice as she got up from her bed and joined their circle on the floor. She wore pajamas similar to Hermione's, but dark red in color. "I would definitely go insane."

"She is ugly and unbearable!" Lavender Brown said. She sat next to Parvati and began playing with her hair. "She smells like poisonous daisies."Lavender's bed clothes were not much different from the first two they had seen, except for their length, the hem ended at the knees, showing silky calves beneath them. Harry saw Hermione roll her eyes.

"How long are you staying in Hogwarts?" Hermione asked. "What are your names?"

"I'm Petunia." Harry blurted out the first name that came to his head. "We are only here until tomorrow. We leave in the morning, and it could not be sooner. We were hiding from Umbridge tonight. She told us we had finished but she wanted to give us one last piece of her mind. We didn't care much for that, so we wandered around, and forgot the way back to our rooms."

Harry looked at Ron and elbowed him to speak.

"I'm… I'm…. Raquel!" Ron said a little too loudly. Harry thought he sounded proud of himself for having thought of a name so quickly.

"Shhh," Hermione leaned in close to them, so close they could smell her perfume. Harry had never noticed it before. It reminded him of a winter morning among the trees in the school grounds. He could feel Ron tense up next to him. "We have to be quiet, the other girls are fast asleep."

Harry looked to where Hermione had pointed. He could see mounds on top of the beds, rising and falling with the rhythm of deep breathing. He figured the bed with quidditch posters around it and a small toy bronze broom standing on the table beside it belonged to Angelina. He was grateful for her being asleep. She would have recognized her own clothes.

Only a few of the girls were still awake. These were Hermione, Parvati, Lavender and Romilda. Ginny too had woken up when they began talking and joined them as well. Her pajamas were a simple pair of striped pants and an old Chudley Cannon's T-shirt. Harry didn't notice when he smiled at that.

"So… sorry." Ron whispered, repositioning himself farther away from Hermione.

"You look very familiar," Ginny began. She peered at Ron's face first and then at Harry's; her eyes rested on his face for a while. "Do you have a brother who's a Hogwarts' student?" She asked Harry.

"Umm, no" Harry said. "All girls we are, in my family."

"Oh, that's a shame." Ginny said not taking her eyes away from his face.

"A big shame," Romilda said sitting to the other side of Harry. "A brother of yours would sure be a heartthrob. Your hair is so straight! Is it okay if I give you a braid?" Harry nodded, too surprised to do anything else.

"Oh, if Petunia had a brother, he'd probably be a skinny boy with messy hair. You don't want that!" Ron, or Raquel, Harry thought, laughed a high pitched laughter that made all the girls sit up straight. Ron patted his arm in good humor.

"It's a good thing you don't have a brother either," Harry said to Ron. "He would probably look like a red-headed troll."

Ron stopped laughing at once.

"I beg to differ," they heard Lavender say as she squeezed herself between Harry and Ron. I think a brother of yours would look rather nice." She giggled showing Ron a row of big teeth.

"It's funny," Parvati said. "Whenever the year starts and there are new girls, everyone is usually cold to them until we get to know them better. Well, except Hermione. It seems that the Gryffindor girls have warmed up to you two quite quickly."

"I do feel a strange sisterly love," Parvati said.

"I don't know what it is about these two," Lavender added. "They just give out a friendly aura, perhaps. I like you," she said to the two visitors. "I wish you could stay and remodel our dormitory!"

"Maybe we can come again!" Ron said. "We can ask the headmistress. The walls in here do look ghastly."

"No, we can't" said Harry, who found he was enjoying having his hair braided. He did not care for Romilda, whose black night robe showed even more skin than Lavender's, but her hands held his hair very gently. "We are not coming back to this part of the country, remember Raquel?"

"Oh, yes" said Ron, who looked like he wasn't paying attention. Lavender had begun to braid Ron's hair. Harry could see him sitting with his head tilted back, not moving a muscle. His eyes, however, never left Hermione.

"What are we going to do about your beds?" Parvati said. "We should go to sleep soon. Snape won't be happy if we walk into his class yawning tomorrow morning."

"That's easy," Hermione said. She stood up, and pointing her wand at her own bed she whispered "Cresco." Her hand moved as if she were pulling an invisible rope to make the bed elongate. "I can share my bed with one of you. Would any of you girls mind sharing your bed?"

All the girls sitting in the circle raised their hands. Lavender even let out a whimper of excitement.

"Sure," Ginny said bringing her hand to her mouth. "But let's sleep soon, please. I'm done for the day."

Hermione pointed her wand at Ginny's bed and extended it with with the same spell. "All done," she said.

"Well then," Romilda said. "All done here too. Good-night girls. It was nice meeting you two." As she stood up, she passed her hand through Harry's hair one last time. Harry closed his eyes, feeling a tinge of regret at her hand leaving.

"Good night then," said Lavender, not without disappointment in her voice. "Your hair is beautiful," she said to Ron. "You know… It actually looks a lot like Ginny's!"

"Huh, you're right..." Ginny said glancing at her brother. "I thought that shade of red was a Weasley trademark."

"A lot of people in my hometown up in Ireland have this hair," Ron answered. "It's nothing special."

"Let's go to bed, everyone," Hermione said in a tired voice. We don't want to witness an infuriated Snape. It wouldn't be a pretty picture. I'm sure Petunia and Raquel need a good rest too before their travels tomorrow."

Each of the girls stood, waved a sleepy good night to their friends and dragged themselves to bed. The only ones remaining were Hermione and Ginny.

"You can sleep with me Raquel," Hermione said. "Ginny can take Petunia."

"Or Petunia and I can share a bed," Harry suggested, after seeing Ron's eyes grow wide like eggs. "And Ginny and you can sleep together, if that's alright with you?"

"I don't want to leave my bed," Ginny protested. "It's already got a comfy spot with my shape on it. Oh, it doesn't matter! Come on, you two, we're only girls, we won't bite."

Ginny smiled to Harry and walked to her bed. Ron followed Hermione to hers with a what're-you-gonna-do shrug, but his eyes didn't leave Harry. Harry couldn't tell if Ron was elated or terrified.

Harry gave him a curt nod, shrugged his shoulders too, and lied down next to Ginny. He tried to place himself as close to the edge of the bed as he could. He could see Ron trying to do the same on Hermione's bed which was to the right of Ginny's.

The sound of owl's wings as they flew outside the castle were perfectly audible in the quiet night. The light of the moon came inside the girls' dormitory slanting through the windows and illuminating it with a pale light. Harry was not able to sleep. He wanted to be a gentleman and stay on his post at the farthest edge of the bed. Next to him, the slow sound of Ginny's breathing reached his ears; calm and steady, like the waves of a tired ocean. Harry turned his face to her and saw her hair covering her nose and mouth. He reached out with his hand and removed the hair from her face as gently as he could, so her breathing would not be disturbed. Ginny did not move at all.

Her face looked beautiful. Not beautiful, cute, Harry told himself. He felt an immense wave of affection swell in his chest. Looking at her so calm and defenseless, he felt he wanted to protect her. Like a big brother would protect his sister. I care for Ginny like a sister.

And yet, he did not want to take his eyes away from her. The dark red eyelashes and the rain of freckles went in complete harmony with the tone of her skin. He would have watched her all night, except a moaning sound came from behind him, from where Hermione's bed was.

He turned around and saw Ron, and then almost woke everyone up with a gust of loud laughter. Hermione had moved in her sleep and her arm now rested on Ron's chest. Ron looked at it as though it were a basilisk ready to attack him at any second.

"What do I do?" Ron mouthed to Harry looking horrified.

"Go to sleep!" Harry mouthed back. He knew they could do nothing now, but wait until the morning, when they could escape back to their own rooms. Snape would indeed be angry at them when he noticed their red eyes and sleep-deprived faces.

Hermione began to talk. Ron gasped, but Harry and he soon realized she was only talking in her sleep. Her head was easy to see as it lay in a high pillow. Her brow was furrowed and she looked upset. Harry couldn't understand what she was saying, but it sounded to him like she was trying to mumble incantations as fast as she could.

"I think she's having a nightmare," Harry said.

Ron didn't reply. He grasped Hermione's hand, the one touching his chest, lay on his side, and began stroking her head.

"There, there." He said in a low voice. "You are okay." Harry raised his eyebrows. He had not expected Ron to respond so quickly. He heard Ron whispering calming words to Hermione and stroking her head for a long while.

Harry thought he would be up all night, until the whistle of the wind outside and the rhythmic sound of Ginny's breathing next to his ears began to cast their spell on him. He soon felt himself drifting off. He thought he heard Ginny whisper his name - Harry, not Petunia - before he let sleep take him.

The next morning, Harry squinted as the bright sunlight coming through the arched window hit his eyes. He looked around, not sure of where he was until he saw Ginny curled up next to him and sat up suddenly as memories of the night before rushed into his head.

He looked to his right and saw Ron sitting up in bed, looking guilty, while Hermione was speaking to him.

"...and you can use the teacher's bathroom, I'm sure. I hope you don't have to meet Umbridge again. Maybe you can have breakfast at the great hall before departing?"

"Umm, we'll be fine without it, I think," Ron said. Harry noticed he tried to keep a high voice, although it cracked a couple of times. "We will just buy some food inside the train."

"Well, I hope you have a nice trip. I wish we could have gotten to know each other better."

"Yes, me too," Ron said and did not add anything else. He turned around to Harry, "Ready to go Petunia?"

Harry was confused for a second. "Oh, yes, yes!" he said, remembering his fake name. "You girls have been so sweet, we will never forget your kindness." Harry smiled to Hermione, feeling appreciation for her friendship. She had not hesitated to help a couple of strangers.

"Good-bye!" she said softly to both of them. The other girls in Gryffindor tower were still fast asleep.

Harry made as though to clean some dust away from Ginny's bed, but as he leaned down his hand reached her hair and he brushed it away from her face one last time before departing. Ron's sister was dear to him, although he knew he cared for her only as a brother would.

"She is so nice," Harry heard Ron mumble as the boys waved to Hermione and they marched back to their own rooms. They could hear Neville snoring, but they did not think much about their roommates. Ron lied down on his bed without saying another word. Harry thought he looked rather pensive.

He too wondered if they had learned much about girls. Harry and Ron did not talk about that strange night afterwards. Perhaps Ron was a bit embarrassed to have slept next to Hermione, and perhaps Harry had had some conflicting feelings as well. Did he now know something new that might help him with Cho? He wasn't sure. But from that day, he thought he rather liked freckles on a girl.