The Body- Snatchers
Chapter 4: I am not Draco
Spinning. The feeling was so unexpected and violent that Draco did not even have time to be surprised. Then falling and plummeting into a black abyss that had not bottom. Screaming. Not his scream, but a woman's scream, high and piercing, the most terrifying and blood-curdling of any scream he'd heard. A horrible, squeezing sensation, and suddenly faces, swirling in a blur of colour above him.
"Mione?! Are you alright?" the ginger blob morphed into the features of Ron Weasley.
"Get off me, Weasley!" said Draco, shoving Ron away and getting to his feet. But he had not spoken with his own voice. Instead, he heard a shrill, girlish squeal that must belong to…
"Hermione! What's wrong with you?" Potter appeared in front of him.
Draco looked around wildly. He must be in Gryffindor tower. The room was full of students in red and gold ties, all staring at him, mouths gaping.
"What's going on?!" he shouted in the same girlish yelp.
"We'd better take her to the hospital wing," said Harry.
"C'mon, Hermione, Madam Pomfrey will know what's up," Ron said gently, holding Draco by the elbow and guiding him toward the portrait hole.
"Get. Off. Me. Weasley," Draco said, shaking, and wrenched his arm from Ron's grasp.
They walked in silence to the hospital wing. Draco's head was spinning. He looked down at his feet, enclosed in small, black shoes, legs covered in thick grey tights. A black skirt brushed just above his knees and between his legs… nothing. Under his white shirt and grey knitted school vest protruded two medium sized lumps. Something uncomfortable fitted with what felt rather like wire covered them. Bushy hair kept falling in his face and he pushed it back angrily. What was happening? Somehow he was in Granger's body. He hadn't drunk Polyjuice potion. He hadn't even done any magic. What was going on?
After what felt like an age, they reached the hospital wing.
"Potter, Weasley, Granger, what's the matter at this late hour?" asked Madam Pomfrey, sounding only a little cross.
"It's Hermione, Madam Pomfrey, she's acting strangely," Ron replied.
Abruptly, the doors of the hospital wing opened again, and in walked his own body, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.
"Madam Pomfrey," grunted Crabbe. "Draco's gone all funny."
"I'm Draco! I'm right here!" Draco finally blurted out.
"I beg your pardon?" exclaimed Madam Pomfrey, shocked.
"I'm Draco Malfoy," Draco retorted indignantly, although it lost its venom as he heard his small, timid voice form the words.
"He's right, Madam Pomfrey," he heard his own voice say. "I'm Hermione; he's got my body." She – he sounded shaken to the very core.
"Weasley, Potter, get Professor McGonagall. She'll want to know about this," said Madam Pomfrey quickly.
The boys left without a word.
"Now, Miss Grang-, Mr Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey turned to Draco. "What was the last thing you remember before being in Miss Granger's body?"
"I remember being in the Slytherin common room," he replied. "Granger had just attacked me in the library, and I…" he thought for a moment. "I wondered how awful it would be to be her."
"And I'm assuming you had thoughts to the same effect, Miss Granger?" Madam Pomfrey asked, looking at Granger.
She nodded silently.
Madam Pomfrey shook her head, and told him to take a seat on the bed closest to him to wait for Professor McGonagall.
Potter, Weasley and Professor McGonagall returned. McGonagall looked at him and Granger.
"I see," she said, brow furrowed.
She turned away to speak to Madam Pomfrey in hushed tones. When she turned back to the two students, she looked grave.
"Mr Malfoy and Miss Granger, I'm afraid you have stumbled upon a very random, rare and temperamental form of magic," she explained. "The human mind is extremely powerful, and even more so in young wizards. Some elements of magic, for example Leglimency and Occlumency, draw upon the mind's strengths and weaknesses. You have unknowingly formed a mental a link between you by dwelling on the possibility of being the other at the exact same moment. As this is an extraordinarily rare occurrence, I shall have to speak to Professor Dumbledore to see what can be done. Until then, you will return to your dormitories in those bodies; Miss Granger to Gryffindor Tower in Mr Malfoy's body and Mr Malfoy to the dungeons in Miss Granger's body." She sighed. "I am truly sorry for the both of you. This is going to be a strange and difficult experience."
"In her body?!" Malfoy sputtered. "For who knows how long?!"
McGonagall suddenly turned icy. "You will just have to make do Mr Malfoy! Now back to your dormitories all of you."
They left without a word.