[AN: Okay, this is the first chapter of my first long fanfic, so wish me luck! Anyway, this story occurs in some parallel universe where Voldemort is dead, but everybody else is alive. Ron and Hermione are not dating when the story starts (I won't tell you what happens at the end, lol) but Harry and Ginny are. Please excuse any OOCs that may occur along the way, and enjoy! If you review I'll give you a cookie! Love, May.]

Girl for a Month

Ch. 1: The Bet

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting under a big tree, facing the lake. Hermione was reading a book (no surprise there) and Harry was trying to finish his Transfiguration homework. Ron was supposed to do the same thing, only he was watching, open mouthed, a bunch of girls in bikinis feeding the giant squid pieces of toast. Hermione noticed this, and for some reason, it made her mad.

"Stop staring at this girls, it looks like it's the first time you saw toast," she said in her most irritated voice.

Ron turned around to face her. "What? Oh, Hermione. Didn't notice you there." He turned around again to continue staring at the girls.

Hermione sighed, and said, "C'mon Ron, we have to work on that partner thing for Charms."

"Can't we do that later?"

"No! Stop being so annoying!"

She pulled him all the way to the empty common room, while he tried to see the girls through the passing windows. It would have been quite humorous, except she was so mad.

"Oh, I can see them! – Now I can't – Now I can – Oh, Snape in a bikini! Biggest turnoff ever – Wait, why the hell in Snape wearing a bikini?"

And so on and so fourth. They finally reached the common room where Ron started to sit down in one of the chairs, when he noticed. "I can't remember any partner assignment in Charms – you just made that up!"

"Maybe," said Hermione, who was sitting down in one of her favorite chairs, in front of the fire, that was not burning due to the fact it was May and extremely hot. "But you shouldn't have stared at the girls like that. They are not entertainment for males, you know."

"They are when they wear a bikini!" he said, quite loudly; you couldn't see the girls through the windows here, which made him cranky.

"Anyway, being a girl is easy. Being a guy, now that's hard work."

Hermione did a weird laughing thing in a high-pitched voice. "Ha! Yeah right. How is being a guy harder then being a girl?"

"Think about it," said Ron, now getting into the argument with all his might. "To have these sexual tensions everywhere, and not being able to do anything about them? To try and act manly? To be the strongest, the scariest, the toughest, the – "he paused for dramatic effect – "The longest?"

Hermione sneered. "If what Lavender says is true, then the last one certainly is something to be worried about."

Ron's ears became red from embarrassment. "You know, you really shouldn't believe her on this one. I mean, she must still be mad at me and that's why she said it. Because it certainly isn't true. Not that I, umm, measure it. Or have any reason to worry about that... yeah…"

Hermione laughed again. "She did say that, though. Quite hilarious." Ron rolled his eyes. "Anyway, being a girl is way harder. You get your period once every month, along with cramps, stomach aches, and mood swings. Plus, girls worry so much more about their look, because society has it that girls have to be thin with big boobs and beautiful on the outside. With girls, most people don't care about their personality, which makes many beautiful, stupid and mean girls popular. Imagine having to watch everything to eat and count calories. No diary products or chocolate because of the pimples, no cake, no nothing. Plus you have to shave."

Ron shuddered. "Shave where?"

Hermione smiled with her lips pursed. "Everywhere."

"You won't survive a month as a girl," said Hermione at the same time Ron said, "You won't survive a month as a guy."

"Let's make it a bet," said Ron, smiling cunningly. "We can pretend to each be someone from the opposite sex, using Polyjuice Potion. We could take the hairs from some random Muggles or something. I don't want to pretend to be you, you are too smart for me."

Hermione smiled a little when he said she was smart, but she still stayed tough. "Okay. We can start making the potion right now, and when we go to Hogsmeade next month, we could Apparate to some Muggle street and take some hairs. What does the winner gets?"

Ron thought about it, and then declared, "The loser is the winner's slave for a whole week. They have to do anything and everything for that person."

"Okay," said Hermione, "The loser is the first one to give up. But what if both of us survive the month?"

"We are both each other slaves, then," he said. "One week you, one week me."

"Okay, deal." Said Hermione, and they shook hands, each smiling at the other in kind of an evil way. "Should we tell Harry?"

"Let's not," said Ron. "Let's say we are going to… Umm… Visit my great aunt because she's… Err… dead?..."

"Maybe going to die," said Hermione, thinking, "and I'm coming too because…"

"Because I need the mental support," said Ron, "Do you think Harry or Dumbledore will buy it? We will have to explain our absence and stuff."

"No, they probably won't," said Hermione, "But let's just try anyway. What do we have to lose? But first we will have to make the Polyjuice Potion."

"Let's do it!" said Ron, and they walked out of the common room together.

[AN: Please tell me if I made any grammar/spelling mistakes and stuff like that, and I'll give you a cookie if you review/favorite/make one-night stand love to this story. Love, May.]