Disclaimer: Anything you recognise from the Harry Potter-verse is the property of J.K. Rowling. I make no money from this. No faeries were harmed in the writing of this story!

Summary: Hermione and Ron discover their dilemma, and search for a solution.

Chapter One – A Great Discovery

Hermione gave a large stretch as the alarm woke her. She rubbed her eyes free of sleep dust and reached out to stroke Crookshanks. When her hand just connected with the blankets, she frowned and opened her eyes to look for him.

She saw no fat ginger cat. What she did see, however, was a rather large hand. This hand was connected to a rather burly looking arm covered in freckles and some downy ginger hair. What was really worrying was that this arm was somehow connected to her shoulder. But not her usual shoulder – not a shoulder clad in white cotton or flannel pyjamas. This was a bare shoulder, leading to a bare, male torso, leading to…

"Oh my goodness," Hermione gasped. She also had a very male voice. "Oh, no, this isn't right at all…"

Ron smiled widely as he felt something soft and pleasant stroke against his cheek. He shifted slightly to better accommodate this sensual something, as it moved to stroke his throat. He reached to stroke back, and was surprised to feel a clawed paw bat his hand.

His eyes snapped open. "Ouch! What was that for?" The sentence trailed off as Ron came face-to-face with a large, grumpy looking ginger cat.

"Oh. Hello, Crookshanks. Did Hermione kick you out for the night again?" There are many who believe that cats can make facial expressions, and if these people are right then at this point Crookshanks raised an eyebrow. "Well, it's morning so if you want any breakfast I'd get back to Hermione's room."

Ron looked up and expected to see the inside canopy of his bed. What he saw instead was rather surprising. He saw a room painted powder blue, with cream curtains, an incredibly tidy desk and a large oak wardrobe.

"OK, this isn't my room." Ron leapt from the bed as though it had shocked him and stared at it. Looking at the room from this angle he recognised it a little better, but still stood glancing feverishly about him. He then caught sight of the full-length mirror, and made a double take.

He walked towards it slowly, reaching a hand forward to touch his reflection. "And that is not my body!"

Ron stared in awe at the long, braided hair, the big green eyes, and the slender frame. It was a figure he recognised well, but it didn't belong in a mirror – not one in front of his eyes. "But…but…how?"

There was a sharp knock on the door. "No! Wait!" The door opened anyway and in walked his body, dressed in jeans and a Weasley family jumper.

"Ron, get dressed, I haven't got time or patience for arguments." Ron's body was marching around the room, finding clothes and throwing them at him.

"Wait…Hermione?"

"No time for questions either. Just sling those on."

Ron-in-Hermione's-body stood frowning for a moment, before springing into action. He pulled the jeans up hurriedly without looking down, then pulled the nightgown up over his head. This made him pause. "Hermione?"

"Yes, Ron, you have breasts, stop trying to pretend that you've never seen a pair before."

Ron gave a shrug that didn't quite look right in this form, and pulled a T-shirt on. "Right. Now what?"

Ron's own eyes looked him up and down, with a deep frown. "OK. You'll do. Just follow me."

S/he turned round and walked purposefully out of the door again. Ron gave another shrug and followed her. "Where are we going?"

Hermione sighed, waiting for Ron to catch up at the portrait hole. "That's another thing. Please don't talk unless you have to. It's too strange hearing my voice not coming from me. And to answer your question, we're going to see Dumbledore. He'll know what to do."

Ron nodded and followed, keeping his head down and hoping no one would notice that he was walking strangely due to missing vital parts. "What happened, then? I mean, I went to bed last night just like normal, then woke up in the wrong bed…"

"And the wrong body? I don't know. Believe me, if I did I'd be back where I belong by now. It seems to be just us, though. Everyone else in the dorm seemed to be in the right body and everything."

The pair drew level with the stone gargoyle. "Fizzing Whizzbies," said Hermione, and the gargoyle hopped to one side. They stepped through the archway and mounted the spiralling staircase.

As they climbed higher and higher, they began to hear voices from the chamber above. There were three distinct, male voices in exaggerated conversation.

"It must be found, Remus. There are no two ways about it."

"I have been trying, Headmaster, but she is a water fey. She could have easily disappeared into a pipe or down a toilet."

"Perhaps it would be wise to employ the castle ghosts, Headmaster. It is about time they made themselves useful."

"I do believe you may be onto something, Severus."

"Why?" Whispered Ron rather loudly. "Why, of all the people in Dumbledore's office, when I happen to have accidentally slipped into a girl's body, does Snape have to be there?"

Hermione smirked silently at the ground. "Just lucky, I suppose." Before Ron could make any further comment, she knocked briskly on the door.

There was a moment's silence from within, then Dumbledore's voice, "Enter."

Hermione pushed the door open and walked in, with Ron traipsing behind her. "Ah, Mr Weasley, Miss Granger."

"Sorry to interrupt, Headmaster, but we have something urgent that we need to talk to you about." Hermione glanced apologetically at Professor Lupin.

"Quite alright. I do believe you may have something to do with what we were discussing - if I am not mistaken, Miss Granger?"

Hermione smiled weakly, and glanced back at Ron. "We seem to have…well, that is…"

"Hermione's taken my body, and I don't know why, and I don't know how, but I do know I'd quite like to stop being a girl."

"Exquisitely put, Mr Weasley. I believe Professor Snape may have some input on this occasion."

Snape smirked and folded his arms. "On the contrary, Headmaster," he said. "I do not believe I have any potions for reversing fairy spells. Furthermore, I am under the opinion that people deserve exactly what they wish for."

"I didn't wish to be plonked into Hermione!" Exclaimed Ron.

"Neither of us did. At least not directly," Hermione added.

"What exactly did you wish for, Hermione?"

"Last night, I…had a fight with a…friend. I wished I could understand what went on in a boy's head. This wasn't quite what I had in mind." Hermione looked at the ground, knowing that her cheeks were burning.

"Me too," Ron added. "That is, I wanted to know what made women go nuts. Didn't think anyone was actually taking notice."

"A wonderful thing about the fey. Very sensitive hearing." Snape looked rather too smug for Ron's liking.

"Very nosy, too. But then, I would think it is part of the job description," Dumbledore smiled good-naturedly. "Now then. If, as Professor Snape says, there is no potion for such a thing as this, then we must simply do it the difficult way. The fairy must be caught, and made to grant the wish that everything be as it was."

"But why don't we just wish from here? You said faeries were good listeners," Ron asked.

"Selective hearing," answered Professor Lupin. "They only really hear what they want to hear. If only one of you had wished, the fairy would have probably ignored you. But both of you together would have been too much to resist."

"And I can see why." Professor Snape was wearing his smug face again. To Ron, this was a face that said 'I have my dangly bits and you don't'. To Hermione, it said 'I know exactly what the personal hygiene of a sixteen year old boy is, and you have to put up with it'. Both found it particularly annoying.

"So what do we do until the fairy's caught?" Ron asked.

"Firstly, I think it best that no one know that you have switched. Knowledge that there is a loose fairy in the school would cause havoc, and a lot of danger. Wishes have a nasty habit of backfiring, as you have both discovered. Any further wish disasters will be dealt with as and when they happen. Wards have been placed around the school building, so it cannot escape. We shall simply have to wait until it is found. Teachers will be informed of your switch, so you needn't worry too much about switched study programmes. Other than that, I do not think there is much we can do, but wait."

Dumbledore's speech ended on a very final note. Ron and Hermione looked at each other, before chorusing "Thank you, Headmaster," and exiting through the large oak doors.

As soon as the doors had once again closed behind them, they both turned to scowl at each other.

"This is all your fault!"

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