A/N: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. This was written for MissSadieKane's competition, "It's a Boy Girl Thing – Competition".
Fred Weasley POV:
"Hey George, want to know what I found?" I asked my brother late one night in the Gryffindor Common Room.
His head perked up, attentive and ready to spring into action, "What is it?" he asked warily.
"Aw, don't be like that." I gently smacked him upside the head, "It'll be fun!"
"Well, what did you find then?" he asked, curiosity getting the best of him.
I glanced around he common room to make sure no one was in earshot. When I saw we were alone, I leaned towards him and beckoned for him to come closer. "The other day in Potions, Snape dropped a vial full of some weird liquid on the floor." I reached into my pocket and produced a small clear vial, full of a murky purple potion.
"What does it do?" George asked, not impressed by my discovery.
"I don't know. Want to find out?" I asked eagerly.
"Um, I don't know…" he trailed off, his brown eyes staring off into the distance.
"Don't be a spoilsport," I nagged, "What's the worst that could happen?"
"Death? Turning into a frog? Losing my ravishingly good looks?" he ran a hand through his shaggy mane of red hair.
"Oh come on, be realistic." I sighed, and went to open the small container.
"No Fred, don't!" George reached out his hand and put it on mine to stop me from opening it, "We have no idea what could happen. I mean, who knows what Snape could've wanted that potion for? I mean he isn't exactly the most trustworthy guy around. I mean, for all we know it could be something that kills you in the most painful way possible. I don't want you to take that chance." He looked at me pleadingly.
I exhaled slowly through my nose and kept my eyes downcast when I spoke. "What I do is none of your concern. I want to know what the potion is, and you will not be stopping me." When I looked at him I instantly regretted it. His eyes were filled with sadness and hurt I had never caused him before.
"What are you saying?" he asked, his voice cracking a little bit.
"I'm saying that you do not control me, and I can make my own decisions. Now are you going to try the potion with me or not?"
"Not. I don't feel like being killed tonight." He stood, and walked up the stairs on the left to our dormitory.
I watched him disappear upstairs before turning back to the purple liquid that had caused my brother so much distress. "Now what secrets do you hold?" I mused, lifting up to eye-level to examine it.
The fluid looked to be constantly in motion: swirling around ceaselessly in its container, faintly sparkling in the light of the dim fire burning feet away. When I swirled it around in its urn, it seemed quite thick and sludge-like. After momentarily examining the peculiar tonic, I opened the plastic lid with a faint pop and raised it to my lips.
My eyes darted around the room a final time before closing as I swallowed the first mouthful. I gagged slightly, but forced the concoction down my throat. It tasted like a mixture of rotting meats and mud, with uncomfortable chunks of something unidentifiable mixed in.
I pursed my lips and looked around for a cup of some sort. At last, I saw a silver goblet a student left on the table. I grabbed it, and took out my blackthorn wand. "Aguamenti" I whispered, and the goblet filled with water. I took a large swig of it, which washed most of the horrible taste out of my mouth. But, like any other respectable man would do (well in my opinion at least), I took another gulp of the foul-tasting potion and finished it off.
The water goblet was drained by the time I had finished the tonic, and I placed it back on the wooden table where I had found it. Unsure why I had just taken a horrible potion that was not necessary, I headed back upstairs to the boys' dormitory readying myself for sleep.
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The next morning, I awoke with the sun as per usual. I kicked off the covers, and went to change into my robes. My shirt came off, soon to be followed by my flannel pajama pants. That was when I noticed something unusual. I felt a strange weight on my head. Not very prominent, but still it was different. I reached up to my scalp to find a head of long, curly hair awaiting me. My eyes widened with shock as I ran the fingers of both hands through my new hair. What the Hell…? I ran over to the boys' bathroom, were they had a full-length mirror.
As I approached the mirror apprehensively, I was shocked to see what was standing there in my place. There was a girl that looked to be a year or two younger than I normally was, with long brown hair and smooth skin. She had brown, intelligent eyes, a petite frame, and a ski-slope nose. I raised my right hand, just to see the girl in the mirror do the same. I raised my other hand, only to have her copy my actions. This has got to be a joke. There's no way I'm… her. Panic began to set in as I realized what had happened. Oh no, no, no, no, no! I reached up to touch my face to find the same features illustrated in the mirror. My hands reached towards my waist, then my chest.
My eyebrows furrowed as my eyes searched the bathroom in vain to find something to help me with my predicament. How could this have happened? Suddenly I remembered what I had done the night before. The potion. My breathing intensified as I glanced at the girl in the mirror a final time. Wait a minute… I know this person. No, it can't be. Wait… Oh my God. I've turned into Ron's friend, Hermione Granger. This is not happening. No way. I knew that drinking the potion would be a little bad, but I never imagined this. I mean, of all of the people I could've morphed into, why her?
Well, I suppose that there's nothing I can do about it until the spell wears off… If it wears off. I took one last deep breath and walked out into the bedroom again. A few of my classmates were mumbling in their sleep and becoming restless, but no one had woken up yet.
I tiptoed to my bed, but stopped short and flinched when there was a massive creak in the floorboards, one that echoed off the walls. After a second of hesitation to make sure everyone was still asleep, I carried on with my venture across the dormitory.
"Mmm…" someone across the room mumbled in his sleep. A figure sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. "Hermione, is that you?" my brother Ron asked sleepily.
"Um, no. This is all just a dream. Go back to sleep." I responded, startled by his wake from slumber.
"What ever you say…" he mumbled, and collapsed back onto his pillow.
I inhaled deeply, and changed into my robes for the day. Then I walked to the door that led to the Common Room. The door gently creaked open, and I tiptoed down the stairs to the scarlet-and-gold clad room. There wasn't really anything to do, I figured, except wait until breakfast and hope that no one talks to me in my new form.
A thought suddenly hit me: What happened to the real Hermione, then? After a few minutes of worrying and wondering, I decided not to think about it. Worry never helps anything, after all. I checked my wristwatch, and saw that it was 5:23 in the morning. I would just wait down here until everyone was up, and then make as little eye contact with everyone as possible.
My eyes shut of their own accord, and I soon found myself in the land of sleep. I was having a strange dream about being chased by a giant radish, which changed into a hippogriff, then into the potion that I drank the previous night. Someone shaking me awake awaked me abruptly, and I opened my eyes to see none other than Harry Potter in front of me, with Ron behind him.
"We have a Potions exam due today, and we forgot all about it. Could you help us with it?" the green-eyed fourth year asked.
"What…?" I responded, momentarily forgetting about the effects of the potion I had drunk. "Oh, yeah, um, I don't know." I had finally come to my senses.
"Come on, please? You're our only hope! Snape'll kill us for sure if we turn it in late again." he looked pleadingly at me.
"I, um, need to go… uh, yeah. See you guys later." I rushed away before either of them had time to speak again.
The Common Room was filling up quickly, and there were about two-dozen students already milling about. I glanced around frantically, hoping to see either George (I would need to apologize to him after I explained everything) or Hermione (who may or may not be in my body.)
Soon, I found who I was looking for. There was someone sitting on the windowsill on the opposite side of the room as me. He had the same body as me, but was glancing around nervously, as if hoping that no one would come near. I began to approach him, and soon we were face-to-face.
"Hermione, is that you?" I whispered to her.
"Yes," she responded, "Are you Fred?"
"Yep, that's me." I replied. My voice sounded feminine in my ears, and it was very strange.
"What the hell happened? I've been freaking out all morning. Did you pull another stunt with George again? When will everything be back to normal?" he, or should I say she, started shooting out questions rapid-fire.
"Woah, slow down there." I told Hermione, "Well, to tell you the truth, I think I know why it's like this." I recounted what had happened the night before, leaving out the part about George and I getting into a fight.
"So this is all your fault then?" She sounded extremely cross with me, and I couldn't exactly blame her. I mean I did make her switch bodies with me, even though I had no idea that it would be the outcome. But even so, it was completely and entirely my fault.
I nodded, and then asked her, "So what are we going to do?"
She thought for a moment, the replied. "Well I suppose we just need to wait until the spell wears off…"
"But what if it doesn't ever wear off?" I was getting worried.
"That's a bridge we'll cross when we get there. But no telling anyone, okay? Just act like me and I'll act like you. Meet me back here at the end of the day and we'll go to Dumbledore's office together to explain what happened."
I nodded, and the two of us walked to the Great hall together for breakfast. When we reached the point where we needed to go sit at our usual places, she turned towards me. "Well I'll be seeing you later, then?" she asked. I nodded, and we parted ways.