Disclaimer: Please see first chapter.

Chapter Nine: Revenge is so Sweet!

Lily

While Rei and Maggie were out talking to Rosemerta at the Three Broomsticks , Lily was laying in bed reading about the Gender Bender potion in greater detail. Lily took out a fresh piece of parchment and started making a list of ingredients. The boomslang and the snailtail berries were going to be hard to get. Students can't just order powerful ingredients like those. The other things wouldn't be nearly as tricky. 'Maybe Minerva will have some ideas about how to get these without us getting kicked out of school.' thought Lily to herself, making a mental note to ask her in the morning. 'This potion might also take awhile…. and we'll have to somehow make a fire of 324 degrees exactly.' By this time Lily's head was starting to hurt from being up for so long and so late, not to mention trying to figure out all the details of the potion, which was now looking more complicated than Lily originally thought. Lily folded the parchment and put it in her nightstand along with the book, turned the light off, and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning Lily woke up feeling much more refreshed than she expected. She went down to the common room to find very few people there, so she continued onto the Great Hall. Minerva was already there eating oatmeal and reading her Transfiguration book.

"Hey Min!" said Lily, taking the seat next to her.

"Oh hey…" said Minerva, barely looking up from her book.

"What's so interesting?"

"I'm reading about the Animagi. You know, people turning into animals. It's extremely interesting."

"Are you even learning about that in class now?"

"Well, no… but it's in this book so I started reading and just can't put it down."

"Oookay, well, listen," said Lily lowering her voice, "we need to figure out how we can get a hold of boomslang and snailtail berries. Also, we need to find a way to make a 324 degree fire to boil the potion in for 2 days."

"We can do that in Myrtle's bathroom," said Maggie, sitting down next to them with Rei.

Rei sighed and glanced at Maggie. They both looked tired, but happy. "I can do the fire bit." Over the summer, Rei's mom taught her how to increase the heat in her fire. Fairy fire was normally about 297 degrees so 324 shouldn't be too big a change.

"How?" asked Lily and Minerva. Neither of them had read a spell about fire degrees yet.

Rei looked around to see who could hear. "I'll tell you when we get to the bathroom."

Lily glanced at her friend. What was going on? And who was Myrtle?

A few hours later…

"Ooooohh!" sobbed a see-through girl with pigtails. "Why did you wait so long to see me, Maggieeee?" she wailed.

"I was in classes, Myrtle," Maggie sighed, exasperated already.

"You just don't like me anymore!" Myrtle screamed and then went down the toilet.

Rei looked stunned. "That was… special."

Lily couldn't help it. She giggled. "Myrtle is a ghost?"

Maggie nodded and lowered her voice. "A lot of people have taken to calling her Moaning Myrtle because, well, you saw. She's kind of nice when she's in a good mood. Anyway, no one really comes down here because it's impossible to use the loo when someone is crying in your ear."

Nodding, Lily took out the potions book. "Ok, so Rei, what is this about the fire?"

After an encouraging nod from Maggie, Rei took a deep breath and told Minerva and Lily her secret. "But, Rei, that's nothing to be ashamed of!" Lily said in shock.

Minerva, however, nodded. "There are some in the Wizarding World who aren't receptive to non-humans learning magic, or having any rights at all. I understand why Rei didn't want to tell us."

Frowning, Lily flipped the potions book open. How could there be so much prejudice in such a wonderful world? She guessed that the prejudice was the downside to everything else. It just didn't make sense to her. She and Rei, a Muggle born and a fairy, were two of the best in the First Year class. A lot of the Pure Bloods they knew were having trouble keeping up. It just wasn't fair that a lot of people were against them.

Maggie

"We cannot just ask Breaux to help us! She is a teacher after all." Minerva was saying to Maggie as they walked to Transfiguration. "It's not like she's best friends with Slughorn anyway. He seems to disapprove of her."

"Well then, we'll just have to come up with our own diversi... wait! Isn't that little get-together of Slughorn's tonight?" asked Maggie in an excited whisper.

"Yes, but, but, I hate going to those things!" complained Minerva. "Look, I know it's weird and most of the other people there are admittedly a bit creepy, but it's our best chance to snag something while he's not so alert and watching our every move like in class."

"You're right. Ok, we'll both go. But I will be the one stealing and YOU will be the one making small talk with those stuck-up prats!" hissed Minerva. Maggie simply rolled her eyes as Professor McGonagall walked in and started class. Later that night Maggie and Minerva walked down to Slughorn's classroom to join in the festivities of the "Slug Club." Maggie wore a black long sleeved dress that stopped just above her knees while Minerva wore a dark green dress that was ankle length. When they reached the door they nodded at each other and went inside to find the classroom transformed into the usual Slug Club garb. The desks had been replaced with plush chairs and couches with little tables scattered around and a roaring fire in the hearth. Lucius Malfoy was standing by the fire talking to another Slytherin boy. He glared as Maggie and Minerva walked in. The girls glared right back and made their way to Slughorn to announce their presence.

"Ah! My two favorite Gryffindor girls!" Said Slughorn when he saw them. The girls grinned, asked how he was doing, and let him talk about a new potion he had just invented. During this little exchange Minerva excused herself to seemingly talk to someone else. Maggie saw her weave her way through the cliques of people. Minerva has a great way of going unnoticed when she wants to, thought Maggie to herself as she saw Minerva slip into the back of the room out of sight. Slughorn finished about his potion and started to turn away, but Maggie hadn't seen Minerva come back out yet, so she quickly asked Slughorn what he thought of the recent controversy over black-bottomed cauldrons. After what seemed like an eternity Minerva emerged from the back and slipped, again unnoticed, back into the midst of the party. Sighing with relief, Maggie cut off Slughorn, "Oh, sorry I'm really thirsty. I'm going to get some punch." She quickly made her way to Minerva who winked at her immediately. Smiling Maggie helped herself to some cauldron cakes and pumpkin juice. 'Maybe this prank will go more smoothly than we thought.' she said to herself.

It was at that moment when Maggie noticed that Severus Snape was there. She left Minerva's side and went to rescue Severus from Lucius Malfoy, who seemed to be making his way toward Snape, with some other Slytherins following. She drug Snape back over to Minerva saying, "Look who I found!"

"Hey, he hardly ever invites first years," Minerva said, smiling.

Snape flushed and said something along the lines of, "I did really well in class." The other Slytherins positioned themselves near enough so that the Gryffindor girls and Snape could hear what they were saying.

A tall boy with brown hair was telling Malfoy, "Who cares if they're in Gryffindor? They're pure blooded and far from bad looking."

Malfoy looked disgusted. "But they hang out with that Mudblood girl, Evans."

Three pairs of eyes turned to slits. Maggie and Snape actually turned around, while Minerva seemed to be having an intense battle with herself to stay calm. Snape had his wand out, but Maggie, drink in hand, walked right up to Lucius Malfoy and tripped causing him to fall over, into the food table. "Oh! I am so sorry. I'm such a klutz!" she exclaimed with a smile sweet enough to cause cavities.

Malfoy looked flabbergasted as he got up and tried to remove the pumpkin juice stains and food remnants from his robes. "You did that on purpose!" He said, taking out his wand.

"What's all this?" Slughorn said, coming over.

"She attacked me!" Malfoy said, pointing at Maggie.

Maggie's eyes got wide. "Professor, I tripped! Look, I even hurt my ankle," She moved toward Minerva and Severus, limping.

Slughorn helped Malfoy up and said, "Of course you did!" Slughorn had made it well known among the staff that Maggie Mirranoy and Minerva McGongall were two of the sweetest, most innocent students he had ever taught. "Minerva, Severus, help Maggie to the hospital wing, will you?" He took out his wand and with a sweep the table was back to normal. He tried cleaning Malfoy's robes, but nothing seemed to come off. "You may want to go and change, Lucius."

Maggie, flanked by Severus and Minerva, left the room. As soon as they rounded the corner, Maggie stopped limping. "What a git!" she said, almost spitting in rage. "I tried to kick him in the face, but the angle of the fall was off!"

Severus looked upset. "I don't understand all this. I didn't think the prejudice would be bad at Hogwarts. I figured once Lily got here and showed them all how brilliant she is, it would stop."

"It never really ends. My mom has been complaining about it for years," Minerva said with a sigh.

"Which of you put the sticking spell on Malfoy's robes?" Maggie asked after a minute of silence.

"Me," said Minerva and Severus at the same time. Both looked at the other and laughed.

Maggie giggled. "That's why Slughorn couldn't get it off."

Minerva

After she and Maggie said goodbye to Severus, Minerva heard two male voices call her. Minerva closed her eyes, disappointed that she and Maggie couldn't run immediately to the other girls and throw all the potion ingredients together. She opened her eyes and turned to see Sean and John running towards her.

"HA! I won!" shouted Sean to John as he reached the girls first.

John scoffed, "Only because you started first and THEN told me we were racing!"

As the boys continued bickering Maggie jumped in, "HEY! Why don't you tell us why you're here so that we can get on with our lives?"

John looked suspicious, "Why? What's so important?"

"Nothing. We're just.. busy.. with girl stuff," emphasized Minerva.

The guys immediately shut up and said that Minerva's mom had requested her presence. "Right now?" whined Minerva.

"Yes. She was quite serious." nodded Sean.

So Minerva said goodbye to her friends and went upstairs to her mother's room. She ran into Bruce on the way. He didn't know what this was about either, so they tried guessing as they continued to the big maple wood door hidden behind a tapestry of Queen Windila the Wise, the last benevolent ruler of the Wizarding world. "Ladies first." gestured Bruce as Minerva rolled her eyes at him, said 'pork chops' to the tapestry, and opened the door. Inside was an entryway with paintings of Bruce, Minerva, and their mother, which Minerva always shook her head at for being front and center. Beyond that was an elegant, yet lived in room decorated in cool blues and greens. Isobel McGonagall was sitting at a small desk in a corner of the room.

She glanced up when they entered and smiled, "Good. You're both here. I have something important to discuss with you."

"Did someone die?" asked Bruce.

"NO!" said Isobel, shocked. "This is about a new addition to our family..." Isobel started.

Minerva and Bruce exchanged horrified glances. "Oh hell! You're pregnant? What the hell, Mom? I didn't even know you were seeing someone! And what a bad influence on us!"

Isobel looked as if she might smack her son, but instead just put her hand over his mouth. "I most certainly am not pregnant! You should know me better than that!"

"Really, Bruce. Geez." said Minerva, shaking her head at him.

"Sorry." Bruce apologized sheepishly.

Isobel glared at him, then started again, "Now, you both know about Maggie's mother. And you might know that we have not been able to locate any living relatives... so I filled out some papers, and with Dumbledore's recommendation, the Ministry of Magic has agreed to let me adopt Maggie officially. Are you two going to be okay with that?"

Bruce shrugged, "Whatever, she's with Minerva 24/7 anyway. No big diff."

Minerva was beside herself. She couldn't believe her mother was so great. All she could do was give her mom the biggest hug possible. Maggie would be so much better off with them than in some foster care system.

Isobel hugged her daughter back, "I'm glad you agree. Now go tell her!" Minerva nodded and ran off, hearing her mother say, "Now as for you young man..." But she didn't stop to hear Bruce get a good talking to about his outburst. Instead, she ran straight up to the Gryffindor Common Room, glanced around for Maggie, and upon finding her, ran up behind the chair she was sitting at, and hugged her.

"What's up?" asked Maggie looking startled.

Minerva grinned. She couldn't help it. She and Maggie were going to be sisters officially! "My mum is going to adopt you!"

"You, you're serious?" asked Maggie, looking like she didn't dare to believe it.

"She told me and Bruce just now!"

Maggie stood up with a squeal and soon she and Minerva were hugging, jumping and laughing. After a minute, both of them noticed Rei and Lily were suddenly jumping up and down with them. "What are we so happy about?" asked Rei.

"My mum is adopting Maggie!" said Minerva.

"I'm loved!" exclaimed Maggie at the same time.

Rei and Lily grinned. "That's so great!" They said together.

"I know!" said Maggie and Minerva.

The four girls then made their way to the bathroom to begin preparing for their sweet, sweet revenge. "This is going to make them never mess with us again!" cackled Rei, looking very cliché as she stirred the cauldron. The other girls giggled. Rei was wearing her witch's hat and had a speck of something on her nose that made them think of a wart. "What?" asked Rei.

"Dirt on your nose," laughed Minerva.

Maggie leaned over the cauldron. "Looks like this is all we can do for tonight. It has to stew for about nine hours."

"So, we should be good to go by dinner tomorrow," Lily said excitedly.

"That's the plan," smirked Minerva. Bending the rules, and your rivals' genders, was turning out to be quite fun.

Looking thoughtful, Rei said, "I'll come by in between classes tomorrow and make sure the fire is keeping the right temperature." Everyone agreed and they finally went to bed, dreams of screaming boy-girls filling their heads.

Rei

As it turned out, the Universe seemed very intent on Rei not checking the bathroom between every class. The first time she tried to go she was with Lily and they got caught up talking to Snape for about 10 minutes. Rei only had three minutes to check the fire. The second time, she was accosted by Sirius, James, and Remus, demanding to know why she was acting so "sketchy". It took her a good fifteen minutes before she finally said it was her "time of the month" and then ran away. She only had one minute to check the fire. The temperature was low, so she was late to Potions. Luckily, Professor Slughorn didn't seem to care. He was too busy raving over Snape's potion from last week.

"Why I've never seen such a young student make this potion as well as Severus! It's just marvelous! Look at the fine purple tinge!" Rei noticed Snape looking quite pleased with himself as she silently slid into her seat next to Lily.

"We haven't started anything yet, he's been going over the potion from last week for a good 10 minutes," whispered Lily.

Slughorn finally stopped praising Snape and started writing instructions for the day on the board. Meanwhile, James and Sirius had taken to shooting spitballs at the back of Snape's head. Lily rolled her eyes. Rei could tell she was getting angry.

"Don't worry. We'll get them back for everything they've done this year tonight!" whispered Rei.

Lily smiled evilly in the boys direction. Right after their last class of the day Rei and Lily went straight to the bathroom and found Maggie and Minerva already there. "It looks great!" grinned Maggie as the other two came over.

Rei checked the fire. It seemed to be just fine after her last tune up. "Ok, so this should be finished in about 20 minutes. So I'll be "late" for dinner so as to not arouse suspicion." started Maggie.

"Hold on," interrupted Lily, "exactly how are we going to switch the glasses without anyone noticing?"

Minerva suddenly beamed, "Oh! Why didn't I think of this before? I'll be the one who's late and I'll get Gibbit, my house elf buddy, to magic the potion up to the boys plates! You'll just have to let me know exactly where they're sitting."

"Brilliant! I can give you their seats! I come and go from the Great Hall all the time, so that won't be unusual," exclaimed Rei

. Rei, Lily, and Maggie then headed up to the Great Hall, leaving Minerva to divvy up the potion and go to the kitchens. The three girls took their seats and took careful notice of where James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sitting. As Rei gazed at Remus she almost hated to do this to him, but then again, he was in cahoots with the others.. Maggie passed Rei a piece of parchment with the locations of the boys' seats drawn on it. Rei carefully slid it into her robes and then bounded up from the table like she usually did at least once per meal. No one took notice. Rei walked swiftly down the hall and found Minerva "reading a book" by the painting of the fruit. When she heard Rei approach, Minerva glanced up and down the hall, shut her book, and tickled the pear.

The painting opened right as Rei stepped up to it. Once inside the house elves all gathered around them, asking them if they needed anything. "Well, can you do us a favor without telling anyone?" asked Minerva sweetly.

Some of the house elves looked nervous at this, but one rather short elf with huge ears came directly to Minerva and said, "Anything for you Ms. McGonagall ma'am."

"Oh, thank you Gibbet! I knew I could count on you!" said Minerva patting Gibbet on the back. She pulled out four little vials as Rei handed over the table drawing and quickly explained what she wanted Gibbet to do. Gibbet didn't seem to mind doing this and didn't even seem suspicious of their motives. He assured them that it would be done instantly.

"Actually, could you wait about 15 minutes and then do it?" smiled Rei. Gibbet obliged and the girls left and nearly ran to the Great Hall laughing the whole way. The girls walked in together and took their seats beside Lily and Maggie.

"Five minutes till show time." whispered Minerva as she hungrily grabbed three different dishes of food. The girls all tried to act normal, but none could resist flicking glances toward the boys every few seconds. Five minutes came and went without the boys noticing anything unusual. Then Peter leaned back in his chair with his hand on his stomach. The other three started looking slightly ill as well. All four stood and exited the Great Hall doubling over. Rei grinned excitedly at the other girls, who nodded and grinned back. They slowly rose and walked out as well to see if they could witness their genius plan in action.

The boys made it to the portrait of the Fat Lady in front of the Gryffindor Common room. All four looked like they were having bad stomach cramps. "Remus, what's wrong with your face?" demanded Sirius, his voice rising an octave.

"My face? Look at yours!" Remus retorted, voice also rising in pitch.

"Uh, guys?" Peter said, his voice unusually high. "It's all your faces." Indeed, the boys faces were becoming less defined, looking definitely more girlish than usual.

"Man, I don't know what we ate, but my chest hurts now too!" whined James.

Remus was looking amused now. "That's probably because you're growing breasts."

Sirius, James and Peter all balked as they looked down at themselves. Remus alone seemed to be unperturbed. "Oh for Merlin's sake! We're turning into girls! This is humiliating!" Sirius yelled. Around the corner, Maggie and Minerva exchanged a satisfied grin. Lily and Rei high-fived and then gave a thumbs up to their cohorts.

James rounded on Remus. "Why are you not panicking?"

"Well, I can say with some accuracy, that I am a much prettier girl than you," Remus said. James stared at him for a full minute before he realized that Remus was joking. "Look, it's got to be a potion or a spell. It's reversible."

"We can't very well get a professor to reverse it! I don't want anyone to see me like this!" squealed Peter.

Sirius sat on the floor. "This will ruin my reputation! I am supposed to be a man! Or a boy at least! Why would someone pick on us like this?"

James and Remus stared at Sirius. This was a side of him they had never seen before. They chalked it up to "girl emotions" and ignored him. "Oh," James said, staring off into space. "I bet it was the girls. Probably Maggie and Rei. They're definitely evil enough. Minerva and Lily are too innocent."

"Well, theoretically, it was only Rei and Lily because we played a prank on them, not Minerva and Maggie." Remus mused.

"This is seriously advanced magic! They're only first years. Maggie and Minerva had to help them out!" Sirius wailed. "I don't wanna be a girl! I wanna be a boy! I've been a boy for eleven years and that can't just change! I'll have to get a whole new wardrobe!"

"I agree with Sirius!" whined Peter.

Remus and James just sighed. "Ok, we have to go to a professor," Remus said.

"Fine, but we can't tell them who we think did this. I will not be humiliated by a bunch a of girls!" James turned on his heel and the four girls quickly hid behind a couple statues as the boys walked down the corridor past them.

Maggie began to laugh as soon as the boys were out of earshot. "The antidote takes two weeks to prepare!"

"That makes it even better!" exclaimed Lily, glad to have finally gotten back at the boys.

Rei grinned. This was great! Now, the boys would leave them alone, at least for the rest of the year.