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Ginny was starting to slightly regret having come this far into the Forbidden Forest. Especially given that it was a moonless night and her Lumos was definitely not bright enough. However, she wanted to find out what it was that was running from her.

The creature had shown up at her window and had then proceeded to slither down the wall and start sliding towards one of the more deserted Apparition points near her house.

Concerned, she had sent a quick Patronus to Hermione and had followed the creature. An apparition and a few bad decisions later, here she was, in a part of the forest she had never explored, utterly and completely lost.

However, the one silver lining was that she could, in fact, see the creature standing right there, in front of her, and looking right at her. It appeared to be some sort of fae or pixie, with pale silver hair and skin of dark blue, glistening in the dappled moonlight.

When the creature spoke, it was a soft and quiet voice, which strangely seemed to echo and surround her with its lilt.

"Ginevra Weasley. I see your curiosity has triumphed." It paused. Ginny almost gasped. What was this creature and how did it know her name?

"I know many things I ought not to. Such as the fact that you have been far too reckless in coming here. I hoped you would. Did you know that no one may leave the Faewilds without a gift?"

Ginny swallowed. She did not like that smirk on the creature's face. It looked almost like a threat.

"You shall have yours, then, Ginevra, from my hands."

She frowned, not understanding what the Fae meant until she saw the tendrils of silver light escape its hands and weave its way towards her, while she stood frozen, held by an unspoken spell. The tendrils coiled around her, causing a burning feeling whenever they touched her skin. Before long, she felt it seeping into her, draining her strength until she could no longer support her own weight. Her eyes dropped closed, and her world went dark.

When she awoke, she was in her bed, tucked in warmly. The events of the night before were hazy in her mind as if they were meant to be forgotten. Had it been a dream? But it had felt so real…

She threw the covers open and realised she was still wearing her coat. The one she had been wearing last night, outside her house. So it had been real. How did I end up back here? What happened to the Fae? And what did it do to me? I remember it hurting like hell.

She sat on her bed, frowning and contemplating for a while, before realising that there was no point. She did not seem to be in pain anymore, and all her limbs appeared to be intact. Nothing obvious, then. Perhaps a nice cold bath will help clear my mind and wake me up. Besides, I do have to head to work in less than an hour.

The cold water hit her, and she expected it to wake her up, as it always did. Instead, to her surprise, she felt a strange sensation radiate throughout her body. It felt like a vestige of what she had felt, or thought she had felt when she had met the creature in her dream. She turned off the tap, stumbling slightly on her feet, almost toppling over. She felt somewhat more convinced that she hadn't dreamt up the whole thing. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. She looked down at herself.

The resulting shock caused her to crumple on the floor, confused and terrified. That creature had cursed her. It had done... something to her and now…

Her first instinct was to track down the creature (perhaps Hermione would know something about such Fae?) and then punch it in the face while demanding that it undo the curse. But if spending time with Hermione had taught her anything, it was that well thought out plans usually fared better. She, or he, as she would have to be called now, needed to figure out a plan.

He wrapped a towel around himself and went to stand by the mirror. His hair was still as long as it had been. His face, while it looked similar, had sharper angles now. He didn't look too different from his normal self, but he definitely looked more masculine.

He sighed. He could try to disguise himself as Ginny for work, but he doubted it'd work for people close to him. And he was very likely to bump into many of his former classmates at work. He picked up his wand and cast a quick Patronus about being sick, his deeper voice giving him an initial shock, and sent it on its way to a supervisor.

Then he proceeded to sit down on his bed and contemplate a solution. There had to be a way to reverse this strange curse, didn't there? He racked his brains for any spells that would solve it. The few standard curse removal and cleansing spells didn't work. He even tried to general counter-curses. All the spells he flung at himself did a grand total of nothing.

He sunk into the mattress further and held his head between his hands. Suddenly, a strange idea struck him. If cold water had turned her into him...what would warm water do? He turned to the glass of water at his bedside table and quickly cast a heating charm on it. Then, holding it carefully, he poured a few drops onto his hand. Immediately, the strange feeling returned, only this time, it spread more slowly. He turned to the mirror and saw the changes happen before his eyes, but this time, they were much slower. Evidently, the quantity of water did make a difference. To test that theory, he poured the rest of the water onto himself and immediately felt the now strangely familiar sensation more intensely.

Within a few seconds, she was Ginny again, and much relieved that she could switch back and forth if she had to. Suddenly, she felt a wave of tiredness overcome her. The switching to-and-fro seemed to have sapped her energy greatly. Before she knew it, she had fallen right back into her bed and drifted off.

She was woken by the sound of her door being thrown open. Through bleary eyes, she could tell that Hermione was standing at her doorway, looking concerned.

"What happened? Are you all right?" Hermione asked. "Harry told me you took the day off because you were sick. I got your message last night about some strange shadow at your window, but then you sent one saying it was nothing, so I assumed it was all right?"

Ginny took a deep breath, wondering how long she was going to have to hide it. She could tell Hermione right there, of course. And perhaps Hermione would find a nice counterspell or something to fix it. But the nagging voice at the back of her head that said, "but what if she can't?" Ginny did not want everything to change between them. Would Hermione still like her if she were a man? Would they still have a life together? It was the kind of nagging thought that had a way of getting under her skin and paralysing her.

"It was nothing. Some bad dreams and a bit of sleepwalking." Ginny winced internally even as she said it. She did not like to lie to Hermione. There was now a lump in her throat, full of guilt and sadness.

"All right, then," Hermione said, walking over and sitting on the edge of Ginny's bed. She didn't look entirely convinced, and for a minute, Ginny wondered if she was going to ask again. She did not know that she would be able to hold up to another round of questions, especially with Hermione's eyes looking at her so closely. Close enough to look at her...right through her... Instead, Hermione frowned concernedly. "You still look pale and tired. Are you sure everything's okay?"

Ginny nodded. She didn't feel nearly as tired as she had earlier, so she sat up, perhaps a bit too quickly, making herself slightly dizzy again. "I think taking the day off was a good idea," she said, trying to keep her voice strong.

Hermione smiled, putting a hand on Ginny's cheek. "Of course." Ginny wondered how that simple smile could make her so much happier and feel as though all her worries could melt away. Something she was terrified of losing.

She decided there was no reason she had to stay in from work just because of that stupid curse. Staying home with nothing to do made her uneasy and restless. It felt like giving in to the Fae's will. Why should she put her life on hold simply because some creature had decided to play a cruel prank on her? She could easily cast an Aguamenti at herself if she needed to, in an emergency. Besides, she might be able to sneak into the Ministry library on her break and look at some books on curse-breaking and Fae. While usually she hated to disappoint Hermione by breaking the rules set by her as the Minister, desperate times called for desperate measures. Measures that she needed to take for fear of Hermione leaving… No. She would not think of that.

She had managed to make it through about half of the week with no unfortunate incidents, whether related to the curse or otherwise, and she was feeling rather happy about it. The events of a few nights ago had started to slip away from her mind, consumed by the heavy workload she had to deal with, that had only piled up in the one day of her absence.

Unfortunately for her, being so preoccupied in her work also led to her absent-mindedly washing the dirt from some old paperwork off her hands with cold water in the washroom. She immediately felt the strange feeling come back, rendering her unable to gather enough strength to cast the Aguamenti , which was the thing closest to a counterspell that she had.

Realising she was in trouble, she quickly ran out, and ducked into the men's washroom nearby, hoping no one would be there. Her luck held, and she was alone in the bathroom when she walked into one of the stalls and waited for the transformation to complete.

The wave of tiredness hit him immediately after it was over, and as he stumbled out, he realised that he was no longer the only person in the room. There, near the sinks, stood Ron Weasley.

Ginny drew in a sharp breath. He should just try to slink away as quietly as possible. That was the only way out.

There was no need to be nervous, he told himself. Ron was not going to expect to see his sister here. He'd be fine.

He had almost made it to the door when Ron called out to him. "Oi, mate."

Ginny winced. He turned to Ron slowly, trying to keep as much of his face hidden as possible. "Yes?"

"Aren't you going to wash your hands?" Ron had a friendly smirk on his face. He was simply teasing a colleague.

He didn't know who it really was of course. Ginny breathed in. "Y-Yes, of course. Thanks," he said. The sound of his own voice surprised him. It sounded much deeper and there was a hesitance in his voice that was unfamiliar to his personality. He quietly walked up to the sink and washed his hand. Thankfully, the water here was cold too. He didn't know what he would have done if he had to turn again in front of Ron.

Speaking of Ron, he continued to stand a few meters away, and now he had a strange expression on his face. Ginny knew it meant he was confused, and trying to place where they had met before. It did not bode well.

"Do I know you? I don't think I've seen you around here before. Do you work on this floor?" he asked after a few moments.

The sound of the water flowing seemed to get louder for Ginny until it was ringing in his ears. "No, I work on the floor below. I was here to meet a friend," he managed.

"I may know this friend of yours, then. What's their name?" Ron pressed.

"Ginevra Weasley."

"Oh?" Ron's expression changed. "What did you say your name was, again?"

Oh no. He immediately realised it had been a mistake to say that. Ron was now even more curious, and he had no escape.

"You know," Ron said, more lightly, "if I didn't know better, I'd have said you were a Weasley, what with your hair and all." His tone was friendly on the surface, but Ginny knew he was probing for more information.

"I-" he began, but did not get far. Lying to Ron was far harder than it had been as children, ever since he had become an Auror. Ginny looked away, unable to meet his eyes.

They stood there awkwardly for a while, at a something of an impasse. Ginny couldn't leave, and Ron wouldn't.

Suddenly, he saw Ron's eyes widen, and immediately knew that he was in trouble. "Ginny?" he asked, his voice shaking.

Ginny nodded, hesitantly.

Over the next few minutes, the entire story was out, and Ron was staring in horror. "Are you sure you tried all the counterspells? Does Hermione know?"

"Yes, I did, and no, she doesn't," he replied. "I was...scared, of telling her."

"You need to then, Gin. Do I still call you Ginny, or?"

"Ginny is fine. And as for telling her… What if she doesn't like me anymore, Ron?"

At that moment, a wizard that neither of them was acquainted with, decided to walk into the washroom forcing both of them to pause their conversation and leave.

"Merlin knows that woman can be terrifying, Gin, but you need to tell her. She's your girlfriend!" Ron whispered indignantly, looking around to see that no one had heard them.

"I know, but-"

"No buts, she deserves to know." Ron shook his head slowly, and Ginny knew he thought he was giving great, sage, advice.

"Ron! I was looking for you! I need you to take a look at this case. Oh and this is…?"

Ron and Ginny had both gone completely pale. In front of them stood Hermione, holding out forms and parchments.

"Err, thanks Mione, will get to them soon as I'm done with my lunch break. This...this is Gerald. He's...err, a cousin of mine. Distant cousin." Ron tried very hard not to falter, and he succeeded at least partly.

"I should have known he was a Weasley!" Hermione smiled. She then turned to Ginny. "Gerald, lovely to meet you." She beamed at him, and Ginny tried very hard not to blush.

"Are you here to meet Ron and Ginny?" she continued. 'Gerald' nodded in response. "An honour to meet you, Minister Granger."

"Please, just Hermione will do."

Hermione put her bowl down on the table, looking up at Ginny. She frowned and tilted her head.

"Whatever made you come up with the name Gerald?" she asked.

Ginny jumped. "W-What? What do you mean?"

"I'm not a fool, you know."

Ginny sighed. "I do know. The brightest witch of our age…" she smiled sadly. "Gerald was Ron's creation, not mine."

Hermione nodded pensively. "What I don't understand is, why would you keep it from me?"

Ginny swallowed. This was a conversation she certainly did not want to have. But well, here they were. "I wasn't sure if you would still like me. Or want to be with me."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I don't care what you look like, you're still Ginny! What was it, anyway? A misfired spell? An old artefact?"

"A fairy creature," Ginny replied, explaining the whole story.

"I'm certain there are some counterspells somewhere in the library," Hermione said, once Ginny had finished talking. "Surely you could not have looked through the entire collection in such a short time?"

"I didn't, no," Ginny admitted. "But somewhere, about a quarter of the way in, I gave up."

"I could get some people to look into it, then. And ask some experts. I needn't even mention your name-" Hermione began, her hand going to her wand to send the Patroni.

"No," Ginny cut her off. "I...I prefer it this way. That's why I stopped. I like being able to switch between the two. There are times…" She paused to take a deep breath, unsure of how to continue.

"Ginny?"

"There are times when I feel more comfortable in one body than the other. And I don't mind this. Besides, countercurses to powerful spells often have side effects and complications. If...if you'd be okay with this continuing, I'd prefer to have it this way." She was shaking as she finished.

"Of course," Hermione smiled, the way she had done when she'd found Ginny lying on her bed. The same smile that could light up Ginny's world in a second. It told Ginny that no matter who she was or what she felt or looked like, she'd have Hermione next to her, and that was enough.

Notes: Written for the HPSudsfest 2020!

Prompt F4: Character A is hit with a curse: whenever they're splashed with cold water, their body turns into the opposite gender. When they're hit with warm water, they turn back to the other. Character B finds out somehow. (Basically, Ranma 1/2, but with Harry Potter characters instead)

Wordcount: 2906