The Next Morning:
Severus Snape woke up in an apathetic mood. He slid out of bed and stretched. Then paused.
"Something's not right," the man muttered. He felt. . . shorter, and his voice sounded. . . wrong. Severus padded to his mirror --
"Well, look at that!" The mirror exclaimed. "You look better than you have in years!"
--and looked. His trademark frown had disappeared. With trembling fingers , he touched his face. "What happened to me?" He stared at his reflection. He fingered his nose which still stood prominently, but was no longer as crooked. His yellow chipped teeth had turned a lighter shade, and his greasy, lanky, black hair, wasn't really. . . oily.
"Oh dear Merlin," he whispered, "is everything about me gone?" He sneered at the mirror. Well, he thought, not everything.
He stared at the mirror again, and groaned. "Dear Merlin! I have to teach classes on Monday! I can't let my students see this! Me looking like a teeny bopper!" He paused, and said suddenly, "this is Potter's fault. I'm not sure how he's done it, but it's always Potter's fault! I've warned Albus! I've told him! He cuts that boy too much slack, and now look what has happened! I need to speak to Albus, now!"
Severus quickly threw on some clothes and opened the door, sticking his head out, praying that he wouldn't run into any other teachers walking past. Not hearing or seeing anyone, he quickly made his way down the hall, and balked when he heard a scream. "Noooo!" the voice wailed.
McGonagall.
He hesitated. As much as he wanted to get Potter into trouble, his curiosity of seeing if Minerva suffered the same fate as him washed over the man. Severus knocked on the door.
"Minerva?" He reluctantly called out.
"Severus? Is that you?" a female voice replied. "I'm not. . . I'm not feeling well."
"Your voice sounds --"
"My voice. . . I have a cold! Yes, but what's that have to do with anything? Could you please tell Albus that I doubt I will be able to teach classes for the next few weeks? Actually, I doubt that I'll be able -- oh, never mind. I'll come out ." Severus heard the door unlock and watch it open slowly. A woman in her mid 20s stood before him, tugging at her blond strands of hair. Her blue eyes widened, filled with worry. "Look at me!" she exclaimed.
That's when Severus realized that the woman before him was his co worker. Severus gave her a grim look. "Minerva, I only have one thing to say about all of this."
"What's that?"
"In some way, this is all Potter's fault."
~~~~~
Neville had never felt so good. He was not sure why, but when he jumped out of bed, to get ready for his day at Hogsmeade, he had a feeling that things would be going in his way for a change.
The boy walked into the bathroom, and stared at the mirror, his head tilted to the left. He was standing a little straighter, some of the baby fat that used to cause him to be the brunt of jokes, seemed to have disappeared. Not disappear, actually. More like. . . transformed into muscle. The New and Improved Neville Longbottom
"Crikey," he whispered. Then he paused. Crikey? Neville thought, that doesn't sound like something the new and improved me would say. He pondered for a few moments, staring at his reflection. Then, he left the bathroom, and walked over to the foot of his bed where his trunk was stashed. Neville opened it and scrounged around for his robes. And sighed. The same old robes.
"I need something different," he decided. "Something other than the clothes I wear everyday." He looked around and his eyes stopped upon the resting Dean Thomas. He walked over to the boy, remembering that Dean had recently taken a trip to the States over summer vacation to meet family and had showed him some of the clothing his cousins wore. He dropped down next to the boy and shook him roughly. "Yo, dawg. Can I barrow some of your Muggle clothes?"
Dean cracked open one sleepy eye. "Yea . . . take whatcha' wan'..." he dozed off.
Neville crawled over to the trunk which was engraved with D.T. and opened it. He grinned and quickly put on the clothes. Then the boy left the room and swaggered down the steps where a group of third year girls sat giggling to each other. As he slid out the common room door, he said one word to the girls:
"Yo."
The girls stared after him. One girl, shock evident on her face exclaimed, "was that Neville?"
Upstairs in the boys dormitory, Dean sat up suddenly. "Did Neville just call me a dog?" Shrugging, he laid back down.
~~~~~
Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way down to the Great Hall early for breakfast. The girl walked a bit in front of her friends as she wanted to get to the library as soon as she finished eating. She rounded a corner.
"I hate him. Malfoy is such a git," Ron insisted to Harry as they neared the corner, "He really should have gone to Durmstang. The little Death Eater wanker!" he was cut off by a gasp, and Hermione hurtled back towards him.
"Ron," she said, "now don't panic --"
"What? What?" Ron replied, instantly panicking. "Is You Know Who attacking?!"
Harry touched his scar which was not tingling. "My scar doesn't hurt, so it can't be Voldemort."
"Oh, it isn't that," Hermione said, playing with her hair. "You know what, let's skip breakfast in the Great Hall." She grabbed Ron's arm. "We can stuff ourselves with candy at Hogsmeade and then eat ice cream at --"
"Sounds like a great idea, but I want to go into the Great Hall first." Ron gave the girl a look and pulled away. "C'mon, Harry." The red head pulled on his friend's arm, and they disappeared behind the corner.
Hermione sighed and shook her head. " Five...four...three...two...one.."
"AAAHHHHH!"
Both boys stumbled back. They were followed by a dishevelled haired Ginny, who was involved in a frenzied kiss with ... Gregory Goyle.
"Oh sweet Merlin!" Ron cried. "Ginny, what are you doing?!"
Ginny broke away from the Slytherin. "Oh, hullo Ron. How are you doing?"
Ron emitted a long squeak, his eyes bulging. Hermione, who had been fluttering behind the boys, turned to the younger girl. "What Ron is trying to say is, Ginny, what do you think your doing?!"
Ron nodded at Hermione and let out another squeal. Hermione continued in a matter of fact voice. "Your brother would also like you to know: That person you're currently snogging as if there was no tomorrow is not only a Slytherin, but one of Malfoy's lackeys." Ron let out a short yelp. Hermione patted him on the arm. "You're welcome, Ron."
Ginny looked from the Trio to Goyle who stood silently, a large grin spread across his face. "How are you able to understand my brother?" she asked the older girl.
"Oh," Hermione stated with a wave of her hand, "with Ron going into spasms because of McGonagall's homework, Malfoy being a git, Hagrid's creatures, and Snape being, well, Snape, you get to understand."
Ginny shrugged. "Oh, al right. Well, last night I heard Neville come into the common room, but before I could get down, he had already left for his dormitory. I decided to rest by the fireplace for a bit and talk to Bootsy --"
"That rabbit again," Hermione muttered.
"-- and the rabbit bit me. I decided to go see if I could find something about catching diseases from rabbits. I love Bootsy and all, but a creature that Lavender and Parvati found, well... Anyway, on my way I met Gregory," she turned to the boy next to her and a dreamy look came upon her face. Ron silently choked, "and found out he was on his way to the kitchen. For some reason I was compelled to talk to him. Greggy poo is such a good listener." She kissed Goyle on the nose. "Well, good bye. Greg and I have some... important things to do today, isn't that right?"
Everyone's attention turned to the Slytherin who screwed up his face in concentration. "Yeah," he grunted. Ginny sighed contentedly and Ron stamped his foot, squealing as if he were going through torture as his younger sibling and her boyfriend walked away.
Harry, who had been silent the entire time, herded a still squeaking, rather weakly, Ron and Hermione who had a smug "I knew you should've listened to me" look on her face into the hall. Ron suddenly pulled away from Harry and turned to face his best friend, a serious look upon his face. He gave the dark haired boy a pleading look.
"Please tell me I didn't just see that."
"..."
"Harry?"
"..."
"Er, Harry. Hullo?"
"Ginny..."
"I didn't see that did I? They were not snogging. It was just my imagination, right?"
"Well-"
"It. Was. All. In. My. Mind. Right?"
"Er... Right..."
~~~~~
Lavender and Pavarti stared at Bootsy who was hopping around the room, sniffing the furniture. Parvati turned to her friend.
"Does he look a bit. . .fatter than yesterday?"
