Chapter 1

"Happy Birthday Her… mione," Harry's enthusiastic statement came to a halt when he noticed the morose expression on his best friend's face, and her general demeanour. "Hermione, what's wrong?" he finally asked, as he approached her.

Both were up early, Hermione usually out of habit and while the same held true for Harry, recently it was because his hand was still driving him mad, itching after his detentions with the pink menace, Professor Umbridge. However, this particular morning, on Hermione's sixteenth birthday, all was obviously not well with her. Her infamous bushy hair, usually tied back, was pulled forward covering her forehead and ears completely. But it was the frightened look in her eyes as she looked at him and the slight quiver of her lips, that got to him.

Harry carefully pulled her into a tight hug in an effort to soothe her, and after only a few moments she returned it. Holding her like this it was easy for him to notice that she was shaking like a leaf, "Hermione, please tell me what's wrong," he spoke quietly into her ear as they stood there. "I can help."

Hermione just intensified her embrace. "Please, but not here."

"Did anybody hurt you?" Harry had rarely seen her in this condition. In fact, the only time she had held him this tightly, in obvious fear, was when they had rescued Buckbeak at the end of their third year. She had never taken to flying with quite the enthusiasm he had.

"Not here," she repeated, her voice a little more steady, though she didn't let up on her embrace. "I think…" She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself again, and lessened her vice-like grip on Harry. "I need to see Madame Pomfrey, Harry."

"Something did happen then?" Harry pulled away a little, so he could look at her face.

She just nodded and let go of Harry for a moment, using the now free hand to brush away her hair, Harry could only stare at the small sharply pointed horns that adorned the sides of her forehead, followed by the slightly pointed ears as she finished lifting her hair.

"Who…" he asked, as he quenched the urge to touch them, to see if they were real, he trusted her enough to know that she had already made sure of that.

"I don't know," she answered as she let the hair fall back to cover the new facial features.

"You are right, we have to see Pomfrey. Come," he said the last part with almost a growl, as he pulled out of the embrace and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the Gryffindor common room exit. He was seething inside at yet another attack on one of his friends, but revenge had to wait, first they had to fix this.

Hermione let out a slight squeak at the sudden pull, half satisfied that he was going to help her, and half annoyed at his split second, let's take charge mentality.

#

Madam Pomfrey was startled out of her morning routines, when the main infirmary doors were opened with a loud bang and two familiar faces rushed in. Or rather, Harry rushed in, with Hermione appearing to be dragged along behind him.

"Mr Potter, what's going on here?" she demanded of the apparent instigator of the morning's disruption. At first glance, neither of the two students looked like they were injured, but knowing Harry, he wouldn't barge into her domain like this, unless there was an emergency, or one of his friends were in trouble. Besides, this was a school for Wizards and looks could at times be deceiving.

It was Harry who answered her, while he led Hermione to the enclosed corner of the infirmary, simply stating, "Someone has hexed Hermione, again," obviously upset. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself before continuing. "Please look at her."

He let go of Hermione's hand, turning around to give her some privacy while allowing Pomfrey some room to perform her duties, but she was having none of that, "Please stay Harry, at least for now."

"Are you sure?"

She just nodded in response, and Harry sat down next to her on bed he had just placed her on, not really sure what to do now.

Pomfrey approached the bed, and quickly became busy casting the usual basic diagnostic spells while asking "Miss Granger, what is the problem?"

Slowly Hermione pulled back her hair, once again revealing the two small horns, followed moments later by the pointed ears.

"Oh, Merlin!" was the only thing Pomfrey said before casting more complex diagnostics spells, some silent, some muttered under her breath. The teens looked at her, both wondering at the increasingly confused and frustrated look on her face. This continued for close to ten minutes, with brief moments of silence, where the increasingly frustrated Mediwitch would stop to think, before continuing with ever more complex wand movements and spells. Under any other circumstance, Hermione would have loved to have been the observer, if only to try to learn something new, however in this case she was too busy worrying about the apparent lack of progress from Madame Pomfrey.

"If you two will excuse me for a few moment," Pomfrey suddenly said, after a particularly long pause in her casting, "I'll be right back."

While both teens were taken aback by Madam Pomfrey's unusually abrupt behaviour, they didn't have to wait for long before she was back, scowling even more deeply, while flipping through a thick volume. Finally, she just sighed deeply and placed the book at the foot of the bed. "Hermione, how do you feel?"

"How do I feel?" Hermione looked at the Mediwitch, trying to figure out what exactly she was being asked. "You mean if I'm feeling violated, or if I'm feeling fine, despite these?" she asked, while pointing at her horns.

"The second," Pomfrey replied.

She didn't reply right away. "Physically I'm actually feeling fine. Better than fine, really." She took a deep breath, before continuing. "But I still feel violated. Why would anyone do this to me?" Her voice was starting to shake a bit at this point. "It seems a bit specific, and I've never heard of any hex or curse to make someone look like this. Whatever this is."

And in a way she was right, Harry contemplated, most school level hexes and curses that had a full or even just a partial bodily transformation in them, tended to use existing creatures as a model. Case in point was certain prank candies, and Moody's transfiguration of Draco into a ferret the previous year. Most of all, apart form Polyjuice of course, most transformational hexes he could think of, had a very short duration as well.

Pomfrey scowled a bit at that. "Sadly, neither have I, but here is the problem: I'm detecting absolutely no enchantments, hexes or curses on you. At least none that I can detect, and no Polyjuice either, in case you were wondering. However..." she trailed off, deep in thought, while studying Hermione closely.

"What is it, Madam Pomfrey?" Harry asked impatiently, after quite a long silence.

"Maybe I should talk to the Headmaster first, he might..."

She was interrupted by Hermione who had dealt enough with teachers trying to evade a difficult question. "Madam Pomfrey, please, what aren't you telling us?" the tone of Hermione's voice was almost pleading.

"Hermione, every spell I tried, tells me there is nothing wrong with you." Pomfrey finally said, "If I didn't know better, I'd say that this is your natural form." Both Harry and Hermione looked at the Mediwitch incredulously, but didn't get time to ask any questions before she continued. "I know this might sound ridiculous, and maybe a bit crass, but are you sure you weren't adopted?"

The dual shouted "WHAT?" was loud enough to be heard well outside the infirmary; luckily only a few busy house elves heard it, but even then, their ears perked up at the voice. Deep down, they recognised… something.

Back in the infirmary, both teens were staring at Pomfrey, as if she had grown a few more heads. "What do you mean, am I adopted?" Hermione finally asked. "I'm definitely not adopted!"

"It's just that, mu spells tell me you aren't human at all." Pomfrey started to explain. "I ran all the tests I could think of, and they tell me that those are a natural part of your body." She gestured at her horns as she said the last part.

"But you've treated her before, and never mentioned anything." Harry put in.

"I know, and that is what has me so confused about this." Pomfrey sighed. "If you don't mind staying here for the rest of the day, I'll see if I can talk to some contacts I have at St. Mungo's."

"Can Harry stay here as well, please?" Hermione begged.

Harry perked up at that suggestion, "Well, we have double DADA before lunch, after that I have divination and finally we have double charms. I think we can manage those on our own for today."

"I'm not sure..." Pomfrey trailed off. Looking at the two teens, they were obviously both pretty shaken up from what she had just told them. And experience had shown her, far too often, that either were very good at supporting the other while in her infirmary. Finally she relented, and nodded. "All right, but please be quiet. I'll make something up for the... For Umbridge, I don't like for her to start snooping around here."

"Thanks, Madam Pomfrey," the teens replied in unison.

As Pomfrey left them alone, they started talking quietly, while going over the charms lessons. Luckily Harry had already packed his books for the day before meeting Hermione in their common room not even an hour earlier.

Several hours later, after having studied ahead quite a bit at Hermione's insistence, and having deflected the occasional questions from several of their friends, Hermione began to squirm a bit, trying to scratch her back.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. It's just my back. It's itching something fierce," she replied while attempting to play a the contortionist, trying to reach a spot between her shoulder blades.

Harry immediately tried to help her out by starting to scratch the spot she seemed to be aiming for, and stopped, frozen in place. "Hermione, what's this on your back?"

"What?" she replied.

"There's a pair of lumps on your back. Why didn't you tell Madam Pomfrey?"

"I didn't know!" she protested.

"Wait here, I'll bring her right back," Harry immediately said. "This could be important." and left before Hermione could object, or point out that the last statement was rather obvious. She didn't have to wait long before Harry was back at her side only a few moments later. "Madam Pomfrey will be here in a couple of minutes, she was on the Floo with someone at St. Mungo's when I barged into her office."

"Barged?" Hermione asked, arching an eyebrow accusingly, though smiling.

"Yeah. I'll probably have to apologise for that later."

Their private moment was interrupted by Madam Pomfrey, and joined by two unfamiliar faces. "Don't worry about that Mr Potter, just remember to knock next time." she said calmly. "I'd like you to meet two of my friends. Madam Thistle," she gestured at the eldest of the two, "my Mistress when I studied at St. Mungo's, and Madam Dewie, she specialises in treating the darker and more obscure hexes and curses, which can often be harder to detect." Both of the witches bowed slightly as they were introduced.

"I think I'd better step outside then." Harry began, while looking at Hermione, "if you are going to... well..." He stammered to a halt, blushing furiously at the notion of Hermione disrobing.

"It's OK Harry, thanks for being here so far."

Harry nodded, though he really didn't want to leave her alone. "I'll be right back. Is there anything you need from your room?"

"Not really, except my books of course, if you don't mind?"

"I'll get them. Don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I can." He replied, starting towards the infirmary entrance.

He was interrupted by Madam Thistle. "There's no need to hurry, Mr Potter, this may take quite a while."

Harry nodded back in acknowledgement, before hurrying out of the infirmary, still at a brisk pace. He managed to get all the way to the Gryffindor common room without incident, before he realised that with all of the students at class, and therefore none of the girls available in the common room, he really had no way of getting to Hermione's books. Instead he sprinted up the stairs to his own room, and started to pack those of his books they had in common. Almost as an afterthought, he also added his father's invisibility cloak to his bag, along with the Marauders map.

Having time to spare, he immediately put the map to use, plotting a quick course to the library; If he couldn't get to Hermione's own books, maybe he could find some there. Besides, he wanted to look up some old books about rare or mystical creatures.

#

He almost made it to the library, before he was stopped by the Weasley twins, who ignored his protests and pulled him into an empty classroom.

"Look who's out of class, Fred," the first twin said.

"We are, George." the other twin, replied.

George looked at his twin in mock annoyance. "Besides us."

"True."

Both turned to look at Harry, and Fred continued. "So, what are you doing in such a hurry?"

Harry pushed himself away from the twins. "Stop that. I have to get to the library." He hissed out in annoyance, he really didn't have time to play their games at this time.

"Oh, testy today." George put in, then suddenly their demeanour changed from their usual jovial attitude, to something Harry had never actually seen from the twins; They became deadly serious. "How can we help. We heard about Hermione, but nobody have been allowed to see her."

Harry was trying to figure out what was going on. The twins were never serious, ever, and he was trying to figure out if they were just trying to set him up for another prank. Their serious demeanour didn't change, though, and Harry finally relented.

"We think someone might have hexed her, we just can't figure out with what, or to what for that matter." Harry looked at the twins sternly, "I'm sorry, but I can't really tell you much more than that, it's not my story to tell, and I owe it to Hermione to keep this to ourselves. She's terrified of what certain houses may do should they see her now." He looked at the twins sternly. "And I have to say that I understand that."

The twins looked at each other for a few moments, almost as if they were communicating silently. It was George who broke the silence. "And Madam Pomfrey couldn't figure it out? Let alone reverse it?" He sounded almost incredulous.

"She called in a few friends from St. Mungo's, they are looking at her now." Harry replied impatiently. "Sorry, but I really need to get to the library, Hermione need her books."

Though they remained serious, they still cracked a wide smile, and said in perfect unison. "Well, why didn't you just say so?" Fred looked at George, "Please check if the hallway is clear."

"Wait, I have the map with me." Harry interrupted them.

Their usual mischievous look returned in an instant. "Well, what are you waiting for then," they exclaimed in unison, with a wide smile.

It was a good thing they did wait, as they'd have run head first into Mr Filch if they had left the classroom at that moment. While they waited for the hall to clear, the twins kept asking questions, and Harry tried to avoid answering the more detailed of them.

"What can you tell us about Hermione?" they wanted to know.

"All I know is that it's some form of transformation, or transfiguration, but Madam Pomfrey says it's nothing she has ever seen before, and that she can't detect any spells of curses that might have caused it." Harry sighed. "She even picked up a very old book, I didn't see which, and yet that apparently didn't tell her anything either."

"So she was cursed into something else?" Fred asked.

"Not someone else?" George finished.

Harry looked confused. "Does that make a difference?"

"Of course it does," the twins replied. "But I think we can rule out Polyjuice, you've already spent the entire morning with her, it would have worn off by now."

"Not quite true," Harry stopped himself. He wasn't sure if they knew about the cat problem in their second year. He wasn't that lucky though.

"That's right, you found out about that little problem in your second year." Fred smirked, "wicket prank that."

"Ron told you." Harry sighed.

"We made him." the twins replied proudly. George continued. "We may have noticed that he was trying to avoid telling us something. We told him that we'd transfigure his Chudley Cannons pictures into Holyhead Harpies. He gave in right away."

"Mum had us de-gnome the garden for a month over that one." Fred finished looking slightly upset at that, though only for a few moments.

"It's not Polyjuice either, Madam Pomfrey already ruled that out." Harry looked at the map. "The hall is clear. We better leave before classes are finished."

Fred stopped him. "We need a plan, Harry. Madam Pince will know something is up if we all go in there together."

Making a swift decision, he reached into his bag and pulled out his invisibility cloak. "I'm not sure both of you will fit under this."

The twins looked at the cloak in awe. They of course knew about it, but to be allowed to use it. Harry could almost hear their thoughts of the endless possibilities, as they were racing through their minds. Their planning was interrupted by Harry, though. "I'll want it back right away, we might need it later," at their mock pouts, the added, "for Hermione."

As it turned out, the twins could barely fit under the cloak together, but well enough to be able to sneak in and out of the library while Harry kept Madam Pince busy getting the books Hermione was missing, as well as a few on advanced transfiguration she might be interested in, especially considering her current condition.

Meanwhile the twins was sneaking into the restricted section, looking for old books on mythical creatures. Harry didn't make their task easy though, as he kept refusing to give them enough details to look for. In the end, he had relented and mentioned the pointed ears. There was no way he was about to tell them about the horns though, for some reason he had a feeling that even they might take that the wrong way, if only for a short while. While most of his house mates had come around to his side of things after the Tri-Wizard tournament fiasco, it was still a sore spot for him that they could all turn on him that fast. It's not paranoia if they really are after you.

The visit to the library took a lot longer than they had thought it would, mainly because the twins had a hard time finding any books that might help them. As it was, they ended up grabbing a few on ancient creatures in general, and they left at the last possible moment, as Harry was running out of thinks to ask Madam Pince, to keep her distracted from hearing he twins in the restricted section, and later them leaving.

Back in the unused classroom, they quickly handed over their loot to Harry before leaving for their next class.

Harry ended up sitting in the classroom for a little under half an hour, before the Map told him the hall had cleared of any students rushing to and from classes. Not one to waste time while he waited, he sat down and spent the time leafing through the books the twins had managed to grab on their way out of the library, it was about the same time he decided that it might be a good time to talk to his godfather for advice, as he was seriously considering pulling a few of the nastier pranks on the twins. The books were written in Latin, and the illustrations they contained didn't provide anything useful on their own.

And they forgot to give him back the cloak.

#

Upon entering the infirmary, he couldn't help but overhear the muffled voices coming from behind the door to Madam Pomfrey's office. He quickly, yet quietly moved to Hermione's bed to give her the books, but she appeared to be fast asleep. Considering how upset she had been earlier, he decided to not to try to wake her up.

Ever curious, he hoped his entrance hadn't been noticed and closed the curtains behind him before sneaking towards the door to better overhear what was being said.

"Madam Pomfrey" came Dumbledore's unmistakable voice, though it had an edge to it he had only rarely heard. He was upset, if not outright angry. "I'm still saying that you should have called me first. This is a serious matter, and I can't help think what will happen to Miss Granger once this gets out."

"And again, how was that supposed to help the poor girl?" came Madam Pomfrey's testy reply. "I've never seen anything like it before, and as you well know, I've treated just about every kind of hex or curse these children have been able to come up with."

"But what if this gets out?" Dumbledore replied, "You should think of the damage it could do to our reputation."

"OUR reputation?" Harry had never known Madam Pomfrey to screech, let alone at the Headmaster, but that was close to it. "What about HER reputation? Those horns and wings makes for a frightful visage, one that most of the children here will be hard pressed not to equate to some of the darker figures from history and various stories."

Wings? Harry startled at that revelation, and he had to agree with Madam Pomfrey, horns didn't exactly have the best reputation, especially not when mounted on a human forehead. He hoped she didn't have cloven feet to match, and it took all of his willpower he not run over and check for himself.

"I'm sorry, I of course meant her reputation. But it's all the more reason to hide her until we can figure this out." Dumbledore replied firmly. He took a deep breath before sighing deeply. "Poppy. Please be reasonable, and don't call in any more people without talking to me first. It is imperative that we don't call any attention to those three, considering the situation at the Ministry. Minister Fudge will grab any opportunity to stop us from fighting Volde...You-know-who."

The office descended into silence for a long time, and Harry began to wonder when his Gryffindor bravery would give out, having him disappear behind the curtain hiding one of his best friends. Sadly, he wanted to know more, and with the reluctance to talk, and now Dumbledore's interference, he had doubts they would be told anything useful, even if they asked. He snorted silently, make that especially if they asked.

It was Dumbledore that broke the silence. "Did they at least give you anything useful?"

"They didn't, they both came to the same conclusions I had already reached; That this doesn't look like a curse at all. At least not from what we can tell."

"There had to be something." Dumbledore replied after a few short moments. "I can't believe this is permanent."

Harry startled at that. It couldn't be permanent, could it?

"Which is why I needed to talk to the Department of Mysteries, Headmaster." Poppy replied right away. "The Unspeakables are said to have the most extensive collection of books on this matter. We need all the help we can get."

"Are you sure this, whatever happened to her, won't cancel itself out."

"I'm as certain as I can be, if anything, it's getting worse."

Harry barely managed to keep quiet when he was startled by something heavy, a book from the sound of it, hitting the floor in the office.

"Worse?"

"Worse!" came Madam Pomfrey's response. "The horns are still growing larger, noticeable so in just the first hour after she came in. The same with the wings. Then there's her face and eyes, as you saw yourself."

"That is what I don't understand about this curse..."

"But." Madam Pomfrey tried to interrupt.

"No, it has to be a curse. It can't be anything else." Dumbledore replied firmly, before finishing his sentence. "A normal transfiguration or other transforming curse or potion would be nearly instant, not work like this."

"That's why I'm telling you it can't be a curse, nothing we are familiar with works like this." Pomfrey replied. "Even the Twin's blasted Canary Creams work much faster, and that is inarguably a far more comprehensive transformation."

"And you think the Unspeakables might know something?" Dumbledore asked after a few moments of contemplation. "But it is still a dangerous risk to take, Poppy. If word of this reaches Fudge..." He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't have to. Both Madam Pomfrey, and Harry knew all too well how the Ministry, and Umbridge would react; Not at all favourably for Hermione.

"She agreed to take that risk, Headmaster, besides the Unspeakables don't answer to Fudge from what I'm told."

Another deep sigh could be heard from the Headmaster. "I'll contact them as soon as I get to my office. In the mean time, lets see if we can disguise her new features. It will only be a temporary solution I'm afraid, as the charms would have to be applied quite often."

"I know. Trust me, I know." Madam Pomfrey finally admitted. "Can't we send her home for a few days, till we figure this out?" she tried, "If only for her own safety."

"NO." Dumbledore almost shouted. "That would probably make it much worse. Her looking like that, among Muggles?"

"You are right, I didn't think of that."

"There may be another way, but lets hold that until we know if we can apply the disguise," came Dumbledore's reply, right next to the door.

Harry didn't hear any more than that, as he hurried to Hermione's bed, and just in time, as the door opened, and the two occupants stepped out. He had to admit that Madam Pomfrey had been right, the changes in Hermione was nothing short of astonishing. He couldn't see the wings she had mentioned, but the facial structure had changed a lot, with far more sharply defined cheekbones, than they had been earlier that day. And the horns had also grown to almost half a foot in length, curving backwards, with a slight spiral shape. He couldn't help himself, and gently reached out to touch the base of the horns, and almost fell off the bed when her eyes snapped open, looking directly into his.