A/N: Yay! I got a reviewer! ::does happy reviewer dance, feeling special. Thank you for review! Much, much appreciated. Keep reading, and I'll keep writing!
*****
Alternate Identity: A Polyjuice Potion Story
Chapter Two: Quidditch Disaster
Luckily for these four, Harry had his Invisibility Cloak in the pocket of his robes. Since Ginny was in Harry's body and clothes, she retrieved it and they struggled to all fit underneath it. They removed it when they approached the Fat Lady.
"Dragon toes," Harry's voice whispered. They entered.
Ron, who was a little too tired of the body switching and whatnot, dragged Hermione's body up into the boys' dorm, where he was so accustomed to going. There were confused looks from the boys there (who had all switched beds, by the way, since most of them got a partner for the potion in their own dorm) when they saw Hermione's body standing in the doorway, who immediately closed the door when Ron realized where he was not supposed to be.
"Great job, Ron," Ron's body, controlled by Hermione, told Hermione's body, controlled by Ron, when it came back down the stairs from the boy's dorms. "Now everyone's going to think I came into the boys' dorm."
"No, they'll find out that you were supposed to have switched with Ginny, so they'll think that she came into the boys' dorm, just in Hermione's body," Hermione's voice replied.
"Actually, won't everyone be teasing Harry about going into the boys' dorm since he's in my body?" Ginny said inside Harry's body.
"No, because Ginny's supposed to take the potion and look like Hermione," Ron's voice explained.
"Shut up, we've got more important things to worry about," Hermione's voice said.
"Whatever," Ron's voice said. "We," a lanky arm indicated towards Harry's body and Ron's own, "have to go to the boys' dorms. You two go to the girls' dorms. When you fall asleep, be under the covers completely and maybe try to wake up first."
"How're we going to plan waking up first?" Ginny's small voice asked Hermione. Or Hermione's body, anyway, with Ron controlling it.
"No idea," Hermione's voice answered.
They, without having much else to do, bade eachother good night.
*****
Ron and Harry's bodies made it uneasily up the unfamiliar steps to the boys' dorms. Upon opening the door, they noticed the severe lack of organization in the room, which mostly affected Hermione.
"What are you two doing still up?" came the voice of Seamus from Dean's bed.
"Er, we had detention," Hermione's mind was quick to decide, explaining it from Ron's body.
"Who switched places with Hermione? Whoever it is, she just stepped in here for some reason."
"Er, probably looking for us. We were.. supposed to study," Harry's voice said. Harry's body turned to Ron's. "I'm going to wash up.. Harry," Harry's voice said. Ginny caught herself just in time.
Ginny, Harry's body, stepped into the boys' bathroom and did a double take in the mirror. She examined his eyes, fascinated. They were the first things that caught her attention. They were startlingly bright. After a closer examination as she checked for perhaps colored contact lenses, the kind Muggles used to change the color of their eyes but not correct the vision. She found none. Just bright green eyes. As green as.. As green as a fresh pickled toad, if not greener.
She backed away from the mirror, feeling stupid, but telling herself that no one was watching. She'd always had been so nervous around Harry, but now that she was actually inside the body of the person who made her face turn that particular shade of pink, nervousness was not really an option.
She controlled the body to lean towards the mirror again and she examined his scar under the softly tousled jet black bangs, slowly tracing the path of the crooked line with one finger. She prodded the prominent nose, unlike the one she was used to, which was more upturned and freckly.
She noted the absence of freckles and presence of hands larger than she was accustomed to with bony knuckles and stubby fingernails; Ginny also felt taller. She searched a disorganized cabinet and found a toothbrush with Harry's name on it, and proceeded to brush his teeth, wash his face, and let Hermione into the bathroom.
Hermione walked in. Lowering her new thicker red eyebrows, she poked the pointy nose. She found herself at least five inches taller than she was used to being, and noted the long arms and legs. Hermione was used to bushy brown hair, and found that Ron's hair was much shorter and straighter, easier to manage.
She rummaged around for a toothbrush marked "Ron", and, praying this one thing was not passed down from his brothers, brushed his teeth and washed up. She took Ron's body back to the dorm. After another change of clothes in which the two girls trapped in boys' bodies avoided looking downward, they went to bed.
*****
In the girls' dorms, something similar was happening; the same uneasy feeling taking over them as they went in a different path than the one they had been so used to. As soon as they opened the door, Crookshanks leaped forth and began rubbing against Hermione's leg, begging to be petted.
"Oh, go away," Hermione's voice said, moving her leg away, shooing Crookshanks. Offended, Crookshanks did as he was told.
They were asked where they had been and Ginny's voice answered that they were helping a professor. Satisfied with their response, the other girls resumed sleeping.
"I'm going to wash up," Hermione's voice said, yawning. Her body shuffled into the clean bathroom and adapted to not being as tall as Ron was. So this is what it was like, being a girl. He hadn't yet gotten used to it.
It required a new sort of balance for some reasons he couldn't quite put his finger on. He turned, and newly acquired anatomy subtly swung with him. Ah, that was the balance he couldn't quite put his finger on. And, out of respect for Hermione, he remained without putting a finger on it.
Feeling rather uneasy now, he opened a cabinet and found a brush labeled "Hermione" (among many other girly things he dare not touch) and attempted to get a few strokes through her hair. It was difficult. Unsuccessful, he returned the brush with hairs clinging to it to the cabinet and brushed her teeth.
While washing her face, he noted that it is difficult for girls to keep their hair back while doing things that required water. He returned to the dorm, parts of bushy hair wet.
"Go ahead.. Ginny," he said, catching himself. Or is it herself?
Ginny's body stepped into the bathroom, catching itself in the mirror. Examining with large brown eyes, Harry controlled her to lift a small section of straight red hair. It was soft and tidy, unlike the messy hair Harry was used to. He shifted the small body, getting used to his own subtle new balance.
He controlled the body, a bit shorter than the one he was used to, to lean towards the mirror. He tapped the skin below the hairline, which became a lingering touch, then a gentle stroke across the forehead. No scar. Just soft skin dotted with freckles.
He opened a cabinet, searching for Ginny's toothbrush, and he brushed her teeth when he found it and washed her freckled face. He came out of the bathroom. Hermione's body was already wearing her bedclothes, and Harry did his best to change with his eyes firmly shut. It had been about half an hour since his first dosage of potion, so he didn't have to worry about taking more.. the other girls will probably have fallen asleep by then.
Hermione and Ginny's bodies climbed into their beds, bidding eachother good night after a whisper to eachother about taking potion first thing in the morning.
*****
The next morning, Hermione was first awake in the boys' dorm, in her own body after a not-so-restful night mostly in the body of Ron. Quickly, she reached down to the side of her bed to where her flask of potion was kept and drank from it, ducking under the covers as the potion went to work, changing her back into Ron's body. She woke up Ginny, who had to take her potion as well.
"Wonder how Ron and Harry are doing," Ron's voice said worriedly.
"They're probably fine," Harry's voice answered as he put glasses over his green eyes, blinking. "And if someone were to see their true forms, they'd know to use a Memory Charm on the entire dorm."
Breakfast was havoc. Everyone was sitting where they normally went, but they were all in separate bodies. Interhouse partnerships were most confusing. Instead of four tidy sections each with their own colors, many people had switched with someone in a different house. Everyone was wearing a nametag that displayed the person they really were inside the body. Ginny's schedule was given to Hermione's body since she was in a separate year.
Harry's body had Ginny's mind inside it, but a nametag that displayed "Ronald Weasley". Ron's body had Hermione's mind inside it, and a nametag that stated "Harry Potter". Hermione's body had Ron's mind inside it, and a nametag that read "Virginia Weasley". Ginny's body had the mind of Harry inside it, along with a nametag that proclaimed "Hermione Granger". (A/N: Just in case people may be confused..)
"This is terrible. How could you want to stay like this?" Hermione's frantic voice asked Ron's body, with Hermione's mind in it, still against telling a teacher their mistake.
"It will be over soon," was all Ron could say. "Besides, it's too late to say anything. We'll be interrogated on why we didn't say anything earlier."
"And that's because you didn't want to!" Hermione's voice exclaimed.
"You're not the only one beginning to regret it," Ron's voice said, his face expression disgusted. "I'm so tall now I had to kneel just to see into the mirror in the bathroom."
"Yeah, well I'm so short I had to stand on the counter!" Hermione's voice retorted, her mouth curling into a frown.
"Stop arguing!" Harry's voice cut in quietly so they would not draw attention. "We don't have a choice of whether we want to tell or not now. Get used to it. Do you see Harry and I arguing?"
"We're doomed," Hermione's voice came, her bushy head in her hands. Her hand was pulled out of her hair to avoid tangling. "And yes, I tried to brush this wild hair this morning.."
This peeved Hermione in Ron's body quite a bit. "Well, I nearly stabbed someone with this nose.."
"You have to stop!" Ginny's voice said quietly. "Stop acting immature. No one needs to know that we messed up this assignment. Just lie low."
*****
Classes went all right. Ron, in Hermione's body, had to go to Ginny's classes. Nothing he hadn't seen before. Of course, he tuned out the lectures just as he had the year before. None of them normally spoke up in class anyway except for Hermione, and today Hermione in Ron's body was not up to doing much. As long as they didn't draw attention to themselves, they could get through it.
Right?
Three rough days later paid off as Saturday, March fifth arrived. Ah, a weekend. So convenient. No classes, just free time, but students were still required to take their potion and wear a nametag. Ginny, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were outside sitting under a tree. It was still chilly out, but there was no snow. They tried to keep things between them as least awkward as possible.
"What if we just stopped taking the potion?" Harry's voice asked. "Then we wouldn't have to face all the awkwardness because we'd be back to normal, but we'd just have to pretend to be the other person."
"Brilliant!" Ginny's voice said. "There's a big load off our shoulders."
"No, it isn't," Ron's voice came, correcting them. "Padma Patil and her partner tried that yesterday, didn't you hear? Now teachers are conducting tests, you know, performing a charm that lets them know whether or not potion is active inside you."
"That has to violate some sort of right we have," Hermione's voice grumbled.
"They either perform the charm or they just have you take a sip from your flask, which they make sure that you carry around all the time," Ron's voice finished.
"So we're still stuck like this," Hermione's voice declared to the body of Ginny.
"Mmyep," Ginny's voice answered boredly.
"Damn," Hermione's voice said matter-of-factly.
"Exactly!" Ginny's voice replied.
There were a few seconds of gloomy silence.
"There you are Harry! Been looking for you," a grinning Fred, who had just run over to them with his broomstick, said, facing Ron. "Care to try out your Seeker abilities in the body of our very own Ronniekins?"
Ron's eyes widened; Hermione's mind inside it was frantic. She would have to control Ron's body on a broomstick while pretending to be Harry, the star Quidditch player of the school. Wonderful.
"Shut up, Fred," the voice of Harry said. Ginny was quick to assume her position of Ron.
Fred's face grew serious and his free hand flew to his chest dramatically. "Why Ronald," he said. "I'm appalled. You can't tell your twin brothers apart?"
"No way," Harry's voice said, grinning. "They let you two switch?"
Fred grinned and pointed to his nametag, which stated 'George Weasley'. "Can't you read?" He turned back to Ron's body. "Come on Harry, the whole team's over there."
Hermione had never played Quidditch in her life. "Oh.. sorry, George, I haven't been feeling well.. You know, the potion and all.."
"Oh, come on," he said. "Just for a few minutes. How bad can it be?"
"Yeah, Harry," Hermione's voice said, Ron's mind inside it controlling her mouth forming a slight smirk. He was still angry at Hermione in his body about not letting them tell. "Go."
"Yeah, get your broom. Let's do it," George said.
"Look, he doesn't have to," Harry's voice began. Ginny was beginning to get nervous over this.
"No," Ron's voice said. "No, I will." Ron's eyes lowered into a glare directing straight towards Hermione's body, who was aching to see Hermione in Ron's body try to imitate Harry's flying. Ron's hand reached into his robes for the wand. "Accio Firebolt!"
A moment later, Harry's Firebolt zoomed out of a window and right into Ron's hand. He and George began walking towards the pitch, the other three heading to the stands.
*****
"I am dying to see this," Hermione's voice came after they'd climbed up the stairs to the stands, sitting on one side of the body of Harry.
"Why are you acting towards Hermione like that? I mean, I know you're angry at her, but this could trigger something bad," Ginny's voice piped up, sitting on the other side of Harry's body.
"She's the one who won't let us out of this! I mean, this next month is going to be hell. I know we're friends and stuff, but between the awkwardness of the other sex's body and pretending to be someone you're not.. it's just too much!" Hermione's voice exclaimed, her tone oozing with Ron-ness. "So if she wants to stay this way, she should at least know what she got us into. She will know that she made the wrong choice five minutes into this practice." Hermione's arms folded.
"She could get hurt," Harry's voice said worriedly. Ginny didn't want that. "What if she's knocked unconscious? That alone is bad enough, but then she can't take her potion, and she'll change back, and we'll be discovered soon enough if there's one Hermione in the Hospital Wing registered as Harry and another Hermione is roaming around school.."
"We'll figure out something, if, and I say if that should happen," Hermione's voice responded, though sounding a bit worried.
"Look, they're starting!" Ginny's voice said.
Indeed they were. Everyone, including Seamus (well, the body of him, anyway), who was the new Keeper, was up in the air. Everyone except for George and Hermione's mind in the body of Ron.
"I'm nervous," Ron's voice said worriedly. "I mean.. I'm used to being much shorter, and erm.. aerodynamic?"
"Nonsense," George said. "We're all in different bodies now, and we all won't be as good as we usually are. Except for me and Fred, that is."
"Right, right."
"So one of us'll have a golf ball to use instead of the Snitch. You won't know who, all right? Anyway, the person who has it will throw it at a random time, you're going to try and catch it. You focus on that. Meanwhile, us Beaters will be practicing with Bludgers, and the Chasers will be busy shooting the Quaffle at the Keeper. Got it?"
Ron's head numbly bobbed up and down in a nervous 'yes'.
"Right then. Mount your broom, and we'll begin." As soon as he said that, George reflexively mounted his broom and was off like a shot.
Hermione controlled Ron's body to take her time swinging one leg over the broom. She kicked off, wobbly, slowly getting used to controlling the broom, her two hands clamped tightly around the handle, while glancing around at the other players to perhaps catch them throwing the golf ball.
As Hermione moved higher, she felt Ron's hands tremble as the ground got further and further away. She felt quite odd, as if Ron's skin was trembling as well. Trembling all over. Very odd indeed..
"What the-- She's changing back!" Harry noticed from the stands, controlling Ginny's body to jump up.
"Oh please, take the potion Hermione," Ginny prayed, making Harry's body stand as well. Harry's body turned towards Ron, who was beginning to feel guilty in Hermione's body. "This is your fault!" she exclaimed. "We can't last a week keeping this potion a secret!" They all rose to get out of the stands, to perhaps help Hermione if something happened to her or if the others noticed her changing back.
Meanwhile in the air, Hermione gasped and realized her voice. She let one hand off the broom to get her flask off of her belt and the broom wobbled dangerously, nearly turning on its side. Hermione swooped lower, away from the rest of the group, and sped up.. Perhaps no one would notice she was turning into someone that was not Harry if all they could see was a blur far away from them.
"What d'you reckon Harry's doing?" Fred asked George as he squinted many feet downward, watching who he thought was Harry.
"Dunno," George said, peering down as well. "Probably just getting used to flying with someone else's body. Maybe Ron isn't that athletically coordinated."
She slowed herself enough to get some potion in her mouth, but quickened her pace immediately afterward again as she attempted to put the flask back on Ron's belt.
Meanwhile in the stands, her three friends were on their feet and making their way down to the pitch to put a Memory Charm on anyone who may have spotted her as Hermione.
"I think.. she's taken some potion!" Ginny's voice panted as they ran down the stairs to the pitch.
"Oh no-- looks like she's headed right for a goalpost!" Harry's voice said.
Ron-- Hermione's body, that is-- remained silent. Ron felt very guilty, knowing there was a possibility she could get hurt doing this.
Potion sloshed around in her mouth as she frantically tried to put the flask back, not looking ahead of herself. She choked down the potion and transformed, losing her balance and shaking the broom as she grew taller.
When she finally got the flask back, she looked up in time to see herself quickly flying towards a pole holding the goal up. She tried to make a sharp left turn to avoid the post, but the broom's inertia only made her skid into the pole while her broom was facing sideways.
It was a good twenty-five-foot fall to the ground, where Ron's body landed on the side, rolling onto his back as he made impact with the ground. The bodies of Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were the first to arrive there, the team landed immediately as well.
"I'm so sorry, I had no idea you'd really get hurt--" Hermione's voice was first to speak.
Ron's body breathed, but did not move, frozen on the ground. His eyes were shut.
"He's unconscious," George observed.
"No, really? You sure he's not sleeping?" Hermione's voice snapped sarcastically.
George chose to ignore that.
"We've got to get Harry to the Hospital Wing," Fred said, pulling out his wand and performing a charm so that Ron's body could levitate in the air as they'd lead it to Madam Pomfrey.
"Why don't you three take him?" the voice of Angelina (she must have switched with Katie Bell) asked, gesturing towards the bodies of Ginny, Harry, and Hermione. "It doesn't matter whether or not everyone goes, right?"
"Just get back to us later about him," Katie's voice said worriedly.
And so the three set off back to the school with a floating Ron's body beside them.
*****
"Bet you feel pretty guilty now, don't you?" Ginny controlled Harry's voice to ask, taunting Ron in Hermione's body. Of course, that's what a little sister does.
"Yes, I do, Gin, all right?" Hermione's voice shot back irritably. "We have to make sure she wakes up within the hour so that she can take her potion."
When they arrived at the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey started tutting, muttering how careless children are these days-- the usual things she said when a patient got injured in Quidditch. She guided the levitating body over to a bed and laid him down, pulling the curtain around the bed to examine where he had fallen.
Minutes later, the curtain opened and Madam Pomfrey stepped out.
"Well?" Hermione's voice asked.
"Oh, are you still here? Kind of you.. Well, he must have had a pretty bad fall.. Broken tibia, did something to his shoulder and his hip too, since he fell on his side.. Well, once he wakes up, I'll perform some charms and he'll be out of here by tomorrow, or tonight, if he's lucky," she diagnosed Ron's body.
"And, erm.. how long does it usually take for someone to regain consciousness?" Harry's voice asked.
"It depends. A few minutes, a few hours.. doesn't matter, though. I don't think teachers will take points away from him not drinking his potion because he's out cold."
The three glanced at eachother nervously.
"Madam Pomfrey, these are visiting hours, may we stay with Harry to see if he wakes up?" Hermione's voice asked.
"Very well, Miss Weasley. But not for very long."
They waited around his bed, not knowing how to wake up the passed out body of Ron. Hermione's body took a scrap of parchment out of a pocket in her robes, quickly borrowing Madam Pomfrey's quill and ink from her desk and scribbling on the parchment while Madam Pomfrey tended to another patient.
"What are you writing?" the voice of Ginny asked.
"Well, if worse comes to worse.."
The faces of Ginny and Harry peered over Hermione's shoulder to see what was being written. Hermione's neat handwriting scripted:
You're in the Hospital Wing. Take your potion before Madam Pomfrey notices you're awake.
"And we'll put this under the sheets, with the flask of potion," Hermione's voice finished up. "That way, if she wakes up in over an hour, she won't accidentally reveal herself."
"Good idea," Harry's voice complimented him.
They pulled the sheets over Ron's body, tucking the potion and paper away with him.
"Are you taking this a bit too seriously?" Harry's voice asked the body of Hermione.
"No, I'm not, I'm just taking proper precautions. With our luck, or lack thereof, we have to be careful, right?"
"Right. Our luck hasn't been so great lately," Ginny's voice agreed.
"Exactly. Watch, you just watch, she'll probably be out cold for days." And with that, they quietly left.
And with such perfect timing, the body of Ron stirred.
Just their luck, right?
*****
Another chapter gone! Review please...
*****
Alternate Identity: A Polyjuice Potion Story
Chapter Two: Quidditch Disaster
Luckily for these four, Harry had his Invisibility Cloak in the pocket of his robes. Since Ginny was in Harry's body and clothes, she retrieved it and they struggled to all fit underneath it. They removed it when they approached the Fat Lady.
"Dragon toes," Harry's voice whispered. They entered.
Ron, who was a little too tired of the body switching and whatnot, dragged Hermione's body up into the boys' dorm, where he was so accustomed to going. There were confused looks from the boys there (who had all switched beds, by the way, since most of them got a partner for the potion in their own dorm) when they saw Hermione's body standing in the doorway, who immediately closed the door when Ron realized where he was not supposed to be.
"Great job, Ron," Ron's body, controlled by Hermione, told Hermione's body, controlled by Ron, when it came back down the stairs from the boy's dorms. "Now everyone's going to think I came into the boys' dorm."
"No, they'll find out that you were supposed to have switched with Ginny, so they'll think that she came into the boys' dorm, just in Hermione's body," Hermione's voice replied.
"Actually, won't everyone be teasing Harry about going into the boys' dorm since he's in my body?" Ginny said inside Harry's body.
"No, because Ginny's supposed to take the potion and look like Hermione," Ron's voice explained.
"Shut up, we've got more important things to worry about," Hermione's voice said.
"Whatever," Ron's voice said. "We," a lanky arm indicated towards Harry's body and Ron's own, "have to go to the boys' dorms. You two go to the girls' dorms. When you fall asleep, be under the covers completely and maybe try to wake up first."
"How're we going to plan waking up first?" Ginny's small voice asked Hermione. Or Hermione's body, anyway, with Ron controlling it.
"No idea," Hermione's voice answered.
They, without having much else to do, bade eachother good night.
*****
Ron and Harry's bodies made it uneasily up the unfamiliar steps to the boys' dorms. Upon opening the door, they noticed the severe lack of organization in the room, which mostly affected Hermione.
"What are you two doing still up?" came the voice of Seamus from Dean's bed.
"Er, we had detention," Hermione's mind was quick to decide, explaining it from Ron's body.
"Who switched places with Hermione? Whoever it is, she just stepped in here for some reason."
"Er, probably looking for us. We were.. supposed to study," Harry's voice said. Harry's body turned to Ron's. "I'm going to wash up.. Harry," Harry's voice said. Ginny caught herself just in time.
Ginny, Harry's body, stepped into the boys' bathroom and did a double take in the mirror. She examined his eyes, fascinated. They were the first things that caught her attention. They were startlingly bright. After a closer examination as she checked for perhaps colored contact lenses, the kind Muggles used to change the color of their eyes but not correct the vision. She found none. Just bright green eyes. As green as.. As green as a fresh pickled toad, if not greener.
She backed away from the mirror, feeling stupid, but telling herself that no one was watching. She'd always had been so nervous around Harry, but now that she was actually inside the body of the person who made her face turn that particular shade of pink, nervousness was not really an option.
She controlled the body to lean towards the mirror again and she examined his scar under the softly tousled jet black bangs, slowly tracing the path of the crooked line with one finger. She prodded the prominent nose, unlike the one she was used to, which was more upturned and freckly.
She noted the absence of freckles and presence of hands larger than she was accustomed to with bony knuckles and stubby fingernails; Ginny also felt taller. She searched a disorganized cabinet and found a toothbrush with Harry's name on it, and proceeded to brush his teeth, wash his face, and let Hermione into the bathroom.
Hermione walked in. Lowering her new thicker red eyebrows, she poked the pointy nose. She found herself at least five inches taller than she was used to being, and noted the long arms and legs. Hermione was used to bushy brown hair, and found that Ron's hair was much shorter and straighter, easier to manage.
She rummaged around for a toothbrush marked "Ron", and, praying this one thing was not passed down from his brothers, brushed his teeth and washed up. She took Ron's body back to the dorm. After another change of clothes in which the two girls trapped in boys' bodies avoided looking downward, they went to bed.
*****
In the girls' dorms, something similar was happening; the same uneasy feeling taking over them as they went in a different path than the one they had been so used to. As soon as they opened the door, Crookshanks leaped forth and began rubbing against Hermione's leg, begging to be petted.
"Oh, go away," Hermione's voice said, moving her leg away, shooing Crookshanks. Offended, Crookshanks did as he was told.
They were asked where they had been and Ginny's voice answered that they were helping a professor. Satisfied with their response, the other girls resumed sleeping.
"I'm going to wash up," Hermione's voice said, yawning. Her body shuffled into the clean bathroom and adapted to not being as tall as Ron was. So this is what it was like, being a girl. He hadn't yet gotten used to it.
It required a new sort of balance for some reasons he couldn't quite put his finger on. He turned, and newly acquired anatomy subtly swung with him. Ah, that was the balance he couldn't quite put his finger on. And, out of respect for Hermione, he remained without putting a finger on it.
Feeling rather uneasy now, he opened a cabinet and found a brush labeled "Hermione" (among many other girly things he dare not touch) and attempted to get a few strokes through her hair. It was difficult. Unsuccessful, he returned the brush with hairs clinging to it to the cabinet and brushed her teeth.
While washing her face, he noted that it is difficult for girls to keep their hair back while doing things that required water. He returned to the dorm, parts of bushy hair wet.
"Go ahead.. Ginny," he said, catching himself. Or is it herself?
Ginny's body stepped into the bathroom, catching itself in the mirror. Examining with large brown eyes, Harry controlled her to lift a small section of straight red hair. It was soft and tidy, unlike the messy hair Harry was used to. He shifted the small body, getting used to his own subtle new balance.
He controlled the body, a bit shorter than the one he was used to, to lean towards the mirror. He tapped the skin below the hairline, which became a lingering touch, then a gentle stroke across the forehead. No scar. Just soft skin dotted with freckles.
He opened a cabinet, searching for Ginny's toothbrush, and he brushed her teeth when he found it and washed her freckled face. He came out of the bathroom. Hermione's body was already wearing her bedclothes, and Harry did his best to change with his eyes firmly shut. It had been about half an hour since his first dosage of potion, so he didn't have to worry about taking more.. the other girls will probably have fallen asleep by then.
Hermione and Ginny's bodies climbed into their beds, bidding eachother good night after a whisper to eachother about taking potion first thing in the morning.
*****
The next morning, Hermione was first awake in the boys' dorm, in her own body after a not-so-restful night mostly in the body of Ron. Quickly, she reached down to the side of her bed to where her flask of potion was kept and drank from it, ducking under the covers as the potion went to work, changing her back into Ron's body. She woke up Ginny, who had to take her potion as well.
"Wonder how Ron and Harry are doing," Ron's voice said worriedly.
"They're probably fine," Harry's voice answered as he put glasses over his green eyes, blinking. "And if someone were to see their true forms, they'd know to use a Memory Charm on the entire dorm."
Breakfast was havoc. Everyone was sitting where they normally went, but they were all in separate bodies. Interhouse partnerships were most confusing. Instead of four tidy sections each with their own colors, many people had switched with someone in a different house. Everyone was wearing a nametag that displayed the person they really were inside the body. Ginny's schedule was given to Hermione's body since she was in a separate year.
Harry's body had Ginny's mind inside it, but a nametag that displayed "Ronald Weasley". Ron's body had Hermione's mind inside it, and a nametag that stated "Harry Potter". Hermione's body had Ron's mind inside it, and a nametag that read "Virginia Weasley". Ginny's body had the mind of Harry inside it, along with a nametag that proclaimed "Hermione Granger". (A/N: Just in case people may be confused..)
"This is terrible. How could you want to stay like this?" Hermione's frantic voice asked Ron's body, with Hermione's mind in it, still against telling a teacher their mistake.
"It will be over soon," was all Ron could say. "Besides, it's too late to say anything. We'll be interrogated on why we didn't say anything earlier."
"And that's because you didn't want to!" Hermione's voice exclaimed.
"You're not the only one beginning to regret it," Ron's voice said, his face expression disgusted. "I'm so tall now I had to kneel just to see into the mirror in the bathroom."
"Yeah, well I'm so short I had to stand on the counter!" Hermione's voice retorted, her mouth curling into a frown.
"Stop arguing!" Harry's voice cut in quietly so they would not draw attention. "We don't have a choice of whether we want to tell or not now. Get used to it. Do you see Harry and I arguing?"
"We're doomed," Hermione's voice came, her bushy head in her hands. Her hand was pulled out of her hair to avoid tangling. "And yes, I tried to brush this wild hair this morning.."
This peeved Hermione in Ron's body quite a bit. "Well, I nearly stabbed someone with this nose.."
"You have to stop!" Ginny's voice said quietly. "Stop acting immature. No one needs to know that we messed up this assignment. Just lie low."
*****
Classes went all right. Ron, in Hermione's body, had to go to Ginny's classes. Nothing he hadn't seen before. Of course, he tuned out the lectures just as he had the year before. None of them normally spoke up in class anyway except for Hermione, and today Hermione in Ron's body was not up to doing much. As long as they didn't draw attention to themselves, they could get through it.
Right?
Three rough days later paid off as Saturday, March fifth arrived. Ah, a weekend. So convenient. No classes, just free time, but students were still required to take their potion and wear a nametag. Ginny, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were outside sitting under a tree. It was still chilly out, but there was no snow. They tried to keep things between them as least awkward as possible.
"What if we just stopped taking the potion?" Harry's voice asked. "Then we wouldn't have to face all the awkwardness because we'd be back to normal, but we'd just have to pretend to be the other person."
"Brilliant!" Ginny's voice said. "There's a big load off our shoulders."
"No, it isn't," Ron's voice came, correcting them. "Padma Patil and her partner tried that yesterday, didn't you hear? Now teachers are conducting tests, you know, performing a charm that lets them know whether or not potion is active inside you."
"That has to violate some sort of right we have," Hermione's voice grumbled.
"They either perform the charm or they just have you take a sip from your flask, which they make sure that you carry around all the time," Ron's voice finished.
"So we're still stuck like this," Hermione's voice declared to the body of Ginny.
"Mmyep," Ginny's voice answered boredly.
"Damn," Hermione's voice said matter-of-factly.
"Exactly!" Ginny's voice replied.
There were a few seconds of gloomy silence.
"There you are Harry! Been looking for you," a grinning Fred, who had just run over to them with his broomstick, said, facing Ron. "Care to try out your Seeker abilities in the body of our very own Ronniekins?"
Ron's eyes widened; Hermione's mind inside it was frantic. She would have to control Ron's body on a broomstick while pretending to be Harry, the star Quidditch player of the school. Wonderful.
"Shut up, Fred," the voice of Harry said. Ginny was quick to assume her position of Ron.
Fred's face grew serious and his free hand flew to his chest dramatically. "Why Ronald," he said. "I'm appalled. You can't tell your twin brothers apart?"
"No way," Harry's voice said, grinning. "They let you two switch?"
Fred grinned and pointed to his nametag, which stated 'George Weasley'. "Can't you read?" He turned back to Ron's body. "Come on Harry, the whole team's over there."
Hermione had never played Quidditch in her life. "Oh.. sorry, George, I haven't been feeling well.. You know, the potion and all.."
"Oh, come on," he said. "Just for a few minutes. How bad can it be?"
"Yeah, Harry," Hermione's voice said, Ron's mind inside it controlling her mouth forming a slight smirk. He was still angry at Hermione in his body about not letting them tell. "Go."
"Yeah, get your broom. Let's do it," George said.
"Look, he doesn't have to," Harry's voice began. Ginny was beginning to get nervous over this.
"No," Ron's voice said. "No, I will." Ron's eyes lowered into a glare directing straight towards Hermione's body, who was aching to see Hermione in Ron's body try to imitate Harry's flying. Ron's hand reached into his robes for the wand. "Accio Firebolt!"
A moment later, Harry's Firebolt zoomed out of a window and right into Ron's hand. He and George began walking towards the pitch, the other three heading to the stands.
*****
"I am dying to see this," Hermione's voice came after they'd climbed up the stairs to the stands, sitting on one side of the body of Harry.
"Why are you acting towards Hermione like that? I mean, I know you're angry at her, but this could trigger something bad," Ginny's voice piped up, sitting on the other side of Harry's body.
"She's the one who won't let us out of this! I mean, this next month is going to be hell. I know we're friends and stuff, but between the awkwardness of the other sex's body and pretending to be someone you're not.. it's just too much!" Hermione's voice exclaimed, her tone oozing with Ron-ness. "So if she wants to stay this way, she should at least know what she got us into. She will know that she made the wrong choice five minutes into this practice." Hermione's arms folded.
"She could get hurt," Harry's voice said worriedly. Ginny didn't want that. "What if she's knocked unconscious? That alone is bad enough, but then she can't take her potion, and she'll change back, and we'll be discovered soon enough if there's one Hermione in the Hospital Wing registered as Harry and another Hermione is roaming around school.."
"We'll figure out something, if, and I say if that should happen," Hermione's voice responded, though sounding a bit worried.
"Look, they're starting!" Ginny's voice said.
Indeed they were. Everyone, including Seamus (well, the body of him, anyway), who was the new Keeper, was up in the air. Everyone except for George and Hermione's mind in the body of Ron.
"I'm nervous," Ron's voice said worriedly. "I mean.. I'm used to being much shorter, and erm.. aerodynamic?"
"Nonsense," George said. "We're all in different bodies now, and we all won't be as good as we usually are. Except for me and Fred, that is."
"Right, right."
"So one of us'll have a golf ball to use instead of the Snitch. You won't know who, all right? Anyway, the person who has it will throw it at a random time, you're going to try and catch it. You focus on that. Meanwhile, us Beaters will be practicing with Bludgers, and the Chasers will be busy shooting the Quaffle at the Keeper. Got it?"
Ron's head numbly bobbed up and down in a nervous 'yes'.
"Right then. Mount your broom, and we'll begin." As soon as he said that, George reflexively mounted his broom and was off like a shot.
Hermione controlled Ron's body to take her time swinging one leg over the broom. She kicked off, wobbly, slowly getting used to controlling the broom, her two hands clamped tightly around the handle, while glancing around at the other players to perhaps catch them throwing the golf ball.
As Hermione moved higher, she felt Ron's hands tremble as the ground got further and further away. She felt quite odd, as if Ron's skin was trembling as well. Trembling all over. Very odd indeed..
"What the-- She's changing back!" Harry noticed from the stands, controlling Ginny's body to jump up.
"Oh please, take the potion Hermione," Ginny prayed, making Harry's body stand as well. Harry's body turned towards Ron, who was beginning to feel guilty in Hermione's body. "This is your fault!" she exclaimed. "We can't last a week keeping this potion a secret!" They all rose to get out of the stands, to perhaps help Hermione if something happened to her or if the others noticed her changing back.
Meanwhile in the air, Hermione gasped and realized her voice. She let one hand off the broom to get her flask off of her belt and the broom wobbled dangerously, nearly turning on its side. Hermione swooped lower, away from the rest of the group, and sped up.. Perhaps no one would notice she was turning into someone that was not Harry if all they could see was a blur far away from them.
"What d'you reckon Harry's doing?" Fred asked George as he squinted many feet downward, watching who he thought was Harry.
"Dunno," George said, peering down as well. "Probably just getting used to flying with someone else's body. Maybe Ron isn't that athletically coordinated."
She slowed herself enough to get some potion in her mouth, but quickened her pace immediately afterward again as she attempted to put the flask back on Ron's belt.
Meanwhile in the stands, her three friends were on their feet and making their way down to the pitch to put a Memory Charm on anyone who may have spotted her as Hermione.
"I think.. she's taken some potion!" Ginny's voice panted as they ran down the stairs to the pitch.
"Oh no-- looks like she's headed right for a goalpost!" Harry's voice said.
Ron-- Hermione's body, that is-- remained silent. Ron felt very guilty, knowing there was a possibility she could get hurt doing this.
Potion sloshed around in her mouth as she frantically tried to put the flask back, not looking ahead of herself. She choked down the potion and transformed, losing her balance and shaking the broom as she grew taller.
When she finally got the flask back, she looked up in time to see herself quickly flying towards a pole holding the goal up. She tried to make a sharp left turn to avoid the post, but the broom's inertia only made her skid into the pole while her broom was facing sideways.
It was a good twenty-five-foot fall to the ground, where Ron's body landed on the side, rolling onto his back as he made impact with the ground. The bodies of Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were the first to arrive there, the team landed immediately as well.
"I'm so sorry, I had no idea you'd really get hurt--" Hermione's voice was first to speak.
Ron's body breathed, but did not move, frozen on the ground. His eyes were shut.
"He's unconscious," George observed.
"No, really? You sure he's not sleeping?" Hermione's voice snapped sarcastically.
George chose to ignore that.
"We've got to get Harry to the Hospital Wing," Fred said, pulling out his wand and performing a charm so that Ron's body could levitate in the air as they'd lead it to Madam Pomfrey.
"Why don't you three take him?" the voice of Angelina (she must have switched with Katie Bell) asked, gesturing towards the bodies of Ginny, Harry, and Hermione. "It doesn't matter whether or not everyone goes, right?"
"Just get back to us later about him," Katie's voice said worriedly.
And so the three set off back to the school with a floating Ron's body beside them.
*****
"Bet you feel pretty guilty now, don't you?" Ginny controlled Harry's voice to ask, taunting Ron in Hermione's body. Of course, that's what a little sister does.
"Yes, I do, Gin, all right?" Hermione's voice shot back irritably. "We have to make sure she wakes up within the hour so that she can take her potion."
When they arrived at the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey started tutting, muttering how careless children are these days-- the usual things she said when a patient got injured in Quidditch. She guided the levitating body over to a bed and laid him down, pulling the curtain around the bed to examine where he had fallen.
Minutes later, the curtain opened and Madam Pomfrey stepped out.
"Well?" Hermione's voice asked.
"Oh, are you still here? Kind of you.. Well, he must have had a pretty bad fall.. Broken tibia, did something to his shoulder and his hip too, since he fell on his side.. Well, once he wakes up, I'll perform some charms and he'll be out of here by tomorrow, or tonight, if he's lucky," she diagnosed Ron's body.
"And, erm.. how long does it usually take for someone to regain consciousness?" Harry's voice asked.
"It depends. A few minutes, a few hours.. doesn't matter, though. I don't think teachers will take points away from him not drinking his potion because he's out cold."
The three glanced at eachother nervously.
"Madam Pomfrey, these are visiting hours, may we stay with Harry to see if he wakes up?" Hermione's voice asked.
"Very well, Miss Weasley. But not for very long."
They waited around his bed, not knowing how to wake up the passed out body of Ron. Hermione's body took a scrap of parchment out of a pocket in her robes, quickly borrowing Madam Pomfrey's quill and ink from her desk and scribbling on the parchment while Madam Pomfrey tended to another patient.
"What are you writing?" the voice of Ginny asked.
"Well, if worse comes to worse.."
The faces of Ginny and Harry peered over Hermione's shoulder to see what was being written. Hermione's neat handwriting scripted:
You're in the Hospital Wing. Take your potion before Madam Pomfrey notices you're awake.
"And we'll put this under the sheets, with the flask of potion," Hermione's voice finished up. "That way, if she wakes up in over an hour, she won't accidentally reveal herself."
"Good idea," Harry's voice complimented him.
They pulled the sheets over Ron's body, tucking the potion and paper away with him.
"Are you taking this a bit too seriously?" Harry's voice asked the body of Hermione.
"No, I'm not, I'm just taking proper precautions. With our luck, or lack thereof, we have to be careful, right?"
"Right. Our luck hasn't been so great lately," Ginny's voice agreed.
"Exactly. Watch, you just watch, she'll probably be out cold for days." And with that, they quietly left.
And with such perfect timing, the body of Ron stirred.
Just their luck, right?
*****
Another chapter gone! Review please...