"Take a seat, Mr Potter," McGonagall instructed, her lips pursed, and James did as he was told. Taking her own seat on the opposite side of the desk, she placed her elbows on the table and pressed her fingertips together, eyeing him through her spectacles. For a moment an awful silence stretched between them as she observed his facial expression and James swallowed anxiously.

"Professor, I didn't-!" he began, but McGonagall raised a hand to silence him.

"I gathered you were innocent from the moment I got my hands on one of these," she replied, raising the rosette in her hand, "It would be foolish for the culprit of this ridiculous prank to put their face on the cause of the problem." Tossing the rosette so that it skidded gracefully to a halt in front of James, she implied for him to glance over the ribbon with a short nod of the head.

"It seems, Mr Potter, that you have quite an avid fan club," she said sternly, "Tainted chocolate, contaminated perfume and now enchanted ribbons, all in the same week."

"I don't understand, Professor," James replied, "Almost all of the Gryffindor girls had a ribbon, and some from other houses. I thought all the girls that had rosettes would have turned into frogs?"

"It seems that a certain number of them purposefully made their way to specific people," McGonagall answered, "Presumably Mr Potter, all those frogs out there are rivalled with whoever tainted these rosettes. The ones that remain human are not a threat."
"So…so you're saying…?"
"Indeed. Whoever made these rosettes believes that those frogs are infatuated with you." It was in this instant that James had to stop himself from grinning as Sirius' voice erupted in his head with 'Lucky Git!' especially seeing as McGonagall was still trying to keep eye contact.

"Now, I know this must be flattering for you," she continued, her expression still stern, "But I must ask that you be extremely careful. This fan club of yours seems vicious; Mr Lupin and Mr Diggory were lucky that the perfume incident wasn't more serious than it was."
"Diggory?" James asked, "Amos Diggory was affected by Emmi's perfume?" That must have been why he and Emmi were acting so strangely in the corridor that night! Wow, that must have been awkward for Emmi to explain to Lily.
"Indeed he was Mr Potter," McGonagall answered, "Which just goes to show that these girls don't seem so care who they affect as long as they get what they want."

"I'll be careful professor," James nodded.

"Of course, this does mean that the match has been cancelled for today…despite how much I know you would have been looking forward to it after these…difficult few weeks," McGonagall hesitated, and James knew what she was insinuating. It had been no secret that James was absolutely besotted with Lily, his attempts at wooing her had been as grand and embarrassing enough for the entire school to know.

"I…understand, Professor," he replied quietly; this was an awkward topic for him to be discussing with his head of house, "Is it alright for me to leave now?"

"Not quite yet, Potter," She answered, "There's still the matter of the cure."

"The cure?" James asked, "How can I help?"
"To be perfectly honest, you're the only one who can do anything at all. This form of transfiguration requires an old cure…but it's the only one that seems to work."

"What do I have to do?" he asked curiously, "Donate a lock of my hair or something?"

"Actually Potter…you have to kiss them."

"Kiss them?" James gasped, "All of them?"

"All of them."

XXX

Entering the Hospital Wing, James stared longingly at the glorious sunshine spilling in through the large stone windows onto the crisp white hangings; this morning he would never have imagined spending the entire day kissing frogs instead of playing Quidditch.

"Right potter, you sit here…" McGonagall said, steering him by the shoulders onto one of the wooden chairs, "...and I will summon a different frog for you to…well you know what I mean…and then you will place them behind this screen in order for them to get dressed. "

"Get dressed?" James asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well of course Potter; frogs don't wear clothes after all," McGonagall said sternly.

"You…you mean they'll all be…?"

"Please try and control yourself, Mr Potter," McGonagall said, rolling her eyes, "These girls will undoubtedly be embarrassed by the whole affair which is why Madame Pomfrey will be here too providing hospital gowns to dress themselves in and calming beverages for the shock. You are to be mature about this, is that clear?"
"Yes Professor."

"There is to be no flirting."
"Yes Professor."

"You are to kiss them only once…and it must be on the mouth despite their appearance."
"Uh…yes Professor."
"And no suggestive comments of any sort."

"Yes Professor."

"Right…are we all set Poppy?"

"Yes Minerva," Madame Pomfrey nodded, heading towards her office to grab a few extra gowns, "Though Merlin knows these fans of Potter's can't be very good with spells seeing as they've all gone terribly wrong so far."
"Here's the first one Potter," McGonagall said and with a wave of her wand, a jar containing a single frog appeared in her hand. Unscrewing the lid, she gently tipped the frog into James' hands and the jar vanished within an instant. James eyed the frog, his stomach turning slightly at the sickly green colour, the warts, the slimy sensation against his skin, but remarkably the frog didn't struggle and stared right back at him, and for the first time, James realised that he may actually know the girl in his hands.

"Um…sorry about this," he shrugged and placed a tender kiss on the frog's mouth, ignoring the sticky slimy feeling. Suddenly the frog croaked and began to bubble.

"Put her down!" McGonagall demanded and James quickly did as he was told only for a tiny squeak to sound from behind the screen.

"Wh-what's going on?" came the recognisable voice of Valerie White, a Ravenclaw Slughorn often paired James with in potions class, as the gown draped on top of the screen was hurriedly pulled down.

"Take this," Madame Pomfrey demanded as Valerie tiptoed out from behind, "It'll make you feel better."

"Th-thanks," she mumbled, flushing a little red at the sight of James, her hand absentmindedly reaching for her lips and James didn't know whether to avoid eye contact or not. Once McGonagall had made sure that Valerie wasn't going to throw up or pass out or explode, she ushered her out of the room where one of her friends was waiting to escort her to the girls' dormitories for some 'much needed rest'.

"Ready for the next one Potter?" McGonagall asked and James nodded, taking the next one in his hands. This one was smaller than Valerie had been, with orange blotches on its back. Apologising once again for the awkwardness of the situation, James placed a soft kiss on the frog's slimy mouth and placed it behind the screen. Within an instant, the frog transformed into a fifth year James recognised purely due to the mass of curly ginger hair; this time however, due to the absence of its usual bows and various clips, it was a lot bushier than it normally was. Running her hands over her hair in order to smooth it down purely for James' benefit, she was once again checked by McGonagall and sent on her way, only for the professor to summon yet another frog for James to kiss. Eventually it became clear to James that each frog had strangely adapted certain features that matched its human appearance. For example, Harriet Nelson, a personal favourite of Sirius', had a rather poisonous appearance with a single baby blue streak down her back which matched the colour of her eyes when returned to her human self. Even stranger still, not all of the girls were as easy to cure as the others; some girls became a little queasy after swallowing Madame Pomfrey's potion, and some still kept a green tint when returned to their human selves only to be whisked away into a separate room.

"This is the last one before dinner," McGonagall said finally, handing James a very green looking frog, "Sorry Potter, but we can't have some girls stay as frogs overnight, you're going to have to carry on afterwards."
"It's alright, Professor," James sighed, "I understand." Looking at the particularly small frog in his hands, he was struck by the bold emerald green colour of its skin and sighed.

"Sorry about this," He said for what must have been the thousandth time, and kissed the frog tenderly on the lips before placing it behind the screen. Unlike the others, this girl gave a single gasp before falling completely silent, hastily pulling her hospital gown from the top of the screen.

"How are you feeling?" McGonagall asked, her eyes rapidly switching from James to the girl behind the screen, anxiously.

"Fine," came the familiar voice of Lily Evans and James' heart both leapt and sank at the same time. How typical; the only time he'd ever get to kiss Lily Evans and she was a frog. Appearing from behind the screen with her emerald eyes on the floor, she accepted a cup from Madame Pomfrey and sat on one of the beds.

"Do you feel able to go down to dinner or would you rather sleep?" The Professor asked and James found himself staring at the floor.

"I'm really hungry," Lily answered handing Madame Pomfrey the cup, "I'd rather go down to dinner."

"I see...well I didn't ask anyone to come and escort you because I thought Potter would be able to...but..." McGonagall said uncomfortably; she hadn't thought Lily would have been one to wear a James Potter rosette let alone the frog James himself had to escort, "Perhaps Alice would like to-"
"It's ok, Professor," Lily replied and James couldn't help but look up in surprise, "I wouldn't want to cause any trouble." McGonagall nodded and Lily slid of the end of the bed in her hospital gown, her red hair, normally tied in a ponytail now loose and ever-so-slightly wavy against her shoulders.

"Potter why don't you escort Miss Evans to wherever she needs to go," McGonagall suggested and James nodded as he followed Lily out of the Hospital Wing and into the corridor. They carried on in an awkward silence until Lily stopped suddenly in front of the grand staircase.

"I want to get dressed before dinner,"she said quietly, "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," James replied, a little surprised that she hadn't planned to ditch him as soon as they were out of McGonagall's sight. With a small smile, Lily nodded her thank you and led the way to the Gryffindor common room with James trailing behind in silence.

"I'm sorry about the Quidditch match," She said suddenly, "I know how passionate you are about it."
"I'm sure Amos is equally as disappointed," James replied quietly.

"I don't know..." Lily said almost inaudibly, "I...haven't seen him yet." The pair continued their walk in silence, neither one of them making eye contact with each other along the empty corridors.

"You must be thrilled," Lily said, breaking the silence again, "Not many people can boast having so many fans…especially ones that go to such extremities."

"It's a little creepy if I'm honest," he answered, "I really had no idea about them. McGonagall's told me to watch out for anything and everything; I'm going to miss not having to worry about what I eat or what I touch in case I fall madly in love with somebody I barely know."

"I guess you're just going to have to pick someone then," she replied, "And then they won't have anybody to compete for."

"Do you think so?"

"Well they can't go after you anymore if you're taken," Lily concluded, "Luckily for you, you could have any one you want…"

"You'd think so wouldn't you," James said quietly and Lily fell silent; she wished he wouldn't do that, but then James wasn't the type to pretend everything was perfect between them. Finally reaching the portrait of the Fat Lady, Lily mumbled the password and climbed into the common room.

"I'll wait for you," James said quietly, falling into one of the armchairs and Lily hurried up the stairs into the girls dormitories. Pulling off the hospital gown and changing into her robes, Lily fell face-first onto her bed.

Why did it have to be so difficult? Why couldn't Janie's love potion have worked properly or Emmi's perfumes have caused him to become completely infatuated with other girls? Why did Felicity's rosette have to backfire and turn her into a frog, forcing her to kiss him? Even if she had been turned into a frog that couldn't think or feel like a human being like some of the other girls would have sufficed, but no; she had to have questioned her relationship with Amos this morning. All of the girls' attempts at wooing James had to fail. She had to have been turned into a frog that could think and feel just like a human being. A frog that could feel the brief softness of James' lips against hers, possess the ability to recognise who he was despite the transformation, and somehow...still manage to enjoy it a little too much.

Author's note: Sorry for the delay, internet problems! I've actually had this on my computer for ages but couldn't put it up This story is really strange for me…normally I have a general gist of what the plot will be but with this one I'm just making it up as I go along so I'm sorry if it's a bit all over the place! Hope you like it, and as always please review! xxx