Two days had passed and the brown-haired teen had showed no sign of letting up on his guilt ridden behaviour. He merely stayed in the greenhouse, tending to the plants. The teen didn't bother coming to meals and from what the group could tell from their observations of him, Neville hardly slept either.
Harry and Remus both tried to speak with the distressed boy, but neither were successful in bringing him out of his shell. The boy may have listened to what they said, but never really took it in. Never really thought that what they said could in fact be right. Neville would just continue what he was doing, ignoring all around him, never speaking, only taking care of his plants.
It was lunchtime, and the women sat in the living room, hardly touching their food while they observed their grieving friend through the window. Remus sat stiffly on a plush chair while Harry occupied the sofa. Severus had taken to the task of overseeing Mrs. Longbottom's Will, as Neville was not of age nor currently mentally capable of taking in the enormity of it all.
"He won't talk to me, Remus. He just won't." Harry said sadly as she watched Neville putter around in his greenhouse.
"He is still in mourning… His grandmother was the only person that he had left… I think that you know how that feels, Harry." Remus responded.
"I know. But… but I did end up talking about it in the end. With Neville and Luna. But Neville… he is just shutting everyone out."
"There are only three people here, Harry. Only you and myself have tried to get to the boy. Severus hasn't said anything to him."
Harry cast a wary glance towards the Potions professor that occupied the dining room, still pouring over various documents that he had been given by Darcy.
"Do you think that Severus would be willing to talk to him? Perhaps a less sympathetic ear would help him. Perhaps…"
"I will talk to him about it." Remus said. She leaned back in her chair, letting out a deep sigh. "For now, we need to figure out what to do with the two of you."
"You make us sound like cattle, you know." The ebony-haired girl stated.
Remus shot Harry an unamused look and then sighed once more, "You will have to go to Headquarters. I can't think of anything else at the moment. We will have to consult Dumbledore on this as well."
"Hmm." Was Harry's only response.
They sat in silence for a few moments until Neville came back into the house, shutting the door quietly behind him. He made his way to the living room and gazed upon the occupants of the room. Though he noted that they were there, he did not acknowledge their presence. He simply curled up on the other end of the couch, hugging a pillow tightly to his chest as he closed his eyes and prepared for a nap.
The girl cast a glance over at Neville, her expression worried yet annoyed at the same time. She could no longer stand the cold shouldering. It wounded her deeply. Especially after she thought that she and Neville were going a step farther in their relationship. They were now back to where they were in their first year. Existing in the same place and knowing only the basics of the other.
The young woman got up from her seat and left the room, her footsteps hurried and unsteady.
Remus let out a great sigh and then pushed herself out of the chair.
"Neville, Severus and I will be taking you and Harry to the Order's Headquarters today. You should go and pack up."
The brown-haired young man whipped his head in the direction of the tall tan-haired woman. He took in her presence for a moment and then nodded.
"Two angsty teenagers. Definitely not something that I wanted to have to deal with during summer vacation." Came Severus' voice.
The woman looked up and her honey eyes locked with the obsidian one's of her lover.
"It isn't really my ideal vacation either, but there is nothing that we can do about it. There is no way to change what has already happened."
Severus walked over to Remus and took her into an embrace. He stroked her hair soothingly and placed a small kiss on her neck.
"I want you to talk to him." Remus whispered.
"I figured that." Severus replied just as softly. He placed a soft kiss on Remus' lips and then broke from their embrace. "I will go see if they are ready."
((The Pretender))
After Neville had been given a slip of paper instructing him what to do so that he could see the Order of the Phoenix's Headquarters, the group entered the house, figuring that they would be stepping into a place of relaxation and silence.
How wrong they were.
"Do you have any brains at all, Ronald! You are still as daft as the day I met you! I told you time and time again that-"
"Hermione, please stop yelling, you are giving me a headache…"
"Filthy Mudbloods! Defiling my house!"
"Shut up you crazy bat! Nobody gives a shit about what you think!"
"Minerva! I would have thought that you would have better sense than to say something like that!"
Harry ogled at the sight before her. Hermione was yelling at Ron quite loudly, with a redheaded boy that looked about Ginny's age sitting quietly on the sidelines. McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley were also having a shouting match. All of this commotion had of course awakened Mrs. Black's portrait, who was cursing rather colorfully at the moment.
"What in Merlin's name is going on here!" Remus shouted above the din.
Everyone stopped, including the portrait, at the tone of the woman's voice. She sounded homicidal, her voice low and booming.
McGonagall stepped forward. "Ah, I see that you have brought Neville and Harry. Good job, Remus, Severus."
"Thank you, but I don't really care about that. Why on earth are you all screaming at each other?" Remus said. She placed her thumb and index finger on the bridge of her nose, gripping it slightly. She could feel the headache already sinking in. "And Molly, I thought that you, Arthur and the kids were visiting Charlie in Romania."
"We were, Remus, but we had to come back." The redheaded woman said.
"And why is this?" Severus added incredulously.
"Because of me."
The group turned to look at the redheaded boy that had been silent when Harry, Neville, Severus and Remus walked into the room.
"Who-" the tan-haired woman began.
"Ginny. It's Ginny." Hermione stepped in, crossing her arms across her chest and biting her bottom lip slightly. "She… He just woke up like this one morning. Just like Remus and Harry."
The ebony-haired girl could feel her jaw dropping slightly as she took in Ginny's new form. The boy had shoulder-blade length red hair, tied back elegantly with a brown hair tie. His face was a lot like Ron's, only softer and with more freckles around the nose. His blue eyes sparkled like sapphires, a characteristic that none of the Weasley clan held save for the only girl. Ginny had gained a few inches in his change. His frame was thin and lanky, taking directly from his father.
"Ginny?" Harry asked, her voice awed.
The boy nodded and then looked down.
"Say something."
The boy shook his head.
"Please?"
Another shake.
"Ginny, you are being childish. Humor the girl and say something." Hermione said, rolling her eyes fondly at the boy.
"Hiya, Harry."
Ginny's new voice was that of a sweet baritone. Smooth and clear, reminding Harry of a singer's voice.
"This is turning into an epidemic…" Remus muttered, collapsing onto the couch and taking in a deep breath. "I assume that you came to ask Dumbledore what he thought of this recent event?"
"Yes." Molly answered, "He said that I should just leave Ginny here. That it would be best to have all of those effected to stay at Grimmauld Place until things can either be sorted out or until school is back in session."
Severus snorted, "Then all of you will most likely be living here for the rest of your lives. That old fool has no idea what is going on, he just won't admit it."
Molly threw the Potions Professor a dirty look and then turned to Neville, her expression softening.
"I heard about your grandmother, Neville dear. I am so sorry."
Neville stared at the woman for a moment and then went back to staring at his bags. He stared longingly towards the stairs, clearly wanting to be out and away from all of the commotion.
Hermione surveyed Neville for a few moments and then figured out what he wanted. "There is a place for you upstairs. I will show you, Neville." She said, walking swiftly over to the boy and picking up one of his bags, shouldering it, and making her way briskly up the stairs. Neville followed obediently.
"Why is Granger here?" Severus asked.
"When she heard the news of Ginny's change, she demanded to be here to give moral support." Molly explained. "And Ron came with me because he wanted to see Hermione. I think that I will take him back to Romania though, there is too much friction between those two…"
The entire room nodded.
Minerva cleared her throat, "I will be staying here, so Molly, Severus, Remus, you can go if you want. I will have everything under control."
Remus shook her head, "I think that I should stay. Neville is having a lot of troubles with coping with the loss of his grandmother. I want to make sure that he will be all right."
"What Remmy means to say is that she wants to make sure that I talk to the child like I said I would." Severus added.
Conditions Met:
1. More than one character must have their gender switched.
2. They are switched involuntarily.
3. Snape gets somebody to love.
4. At least one person dies.