A/N: Well, things are coming along well. I have two more reviews! Thanks to eedoe for another review, and to L&A also. I will try to make things less confusing.. I hope you like this chapter!
*****
Alternate Identity: A Polyjuice Potion Story
Chapter Three: Return of a Lovely Person
Confused, feeling the rustle of paper underneath the sheets, Ron's body sat up, reaching for the letter. Pain exploded in his left shoulder, hip and leg, and Hermione inside of Ron's body groaned.
"Oh are you up already? Good," Madam Pomfrey said. She performed a charm on him. "You are to stay until dinner, Mr. Potter," she continued. "You're lucky you weren't damaged any worse than that. Now lie back down. Rest."
Hermione did as she was told, controlling Ron's long form to slink beneath the sheets, examining the paper.
You're in the Hospital Wing. Take your potion before Madam Pomfrey notices you're awake.
Ron's eyes narrowed, confused, looking at a freckled hand. She was still in the correct body.. But what time was it? She searched for a clock, finding one above the door. She had only just taken her potion. She put the paper in Ron's robes. She couldn't fall asleep.. not here, at least. She'd wait it out.
*****
The bodies of Harry, Ginny, and Hermione spent most of the rest of the day in the Common Room, coming out to visit Hermione just before dinner, to make sure her potion had been taken.
They entered the Hospital Wing to see Ron's body sitting up in a bed, and they were relieved.
"How are you doing?" Hermione's body was first to speak as it rushed up to Ron's body.
"I'm fine," Ron's voice said. "I'll be out of here in a few hours."
"I'm.. I'm really, really sorry, Hermione," Hermione's voice came out oozing with honest guilt.
Ron's mouth curled into a small smile and looked down. "It's OK.. It was just because I didn't take my potion that I crashed.." He looked up. "I was wrong. We should have went straight to Dumbledore."
There was a silence. Hermione seldom admitted she was wrong.
There was a click and a blinding flash of a camera and the four of them immediately saw colored spots in front of their eyes. They heard a familiar voice through the spots.
"That was a lovely picture. We'll use it for the paper, darling, get it to print. I'll do the interview, right? Lovely."
"Rita.. Skeeter?" Ron's voice asked, rubbing his eyes.
"That's right," she said, taking a seat on Ron's bed. "I heard Hogwarts is attempting this outrageous experiment with Polyjuice Potion, and I haven't caught up with my friend Harry in a while, and well, I'm going to interview you for tomorrow's Daily Prophet. You and whoever you switched with." She took out parchment and a quill using ruby red claws. She didn't wand to cross with Hermione after being captured by her in the form of a beetle.
"Er.. I'm Ron Weasley," Ginny said in the body of Harry. "I switched with Harry."
"Right. Lovely. So, first question. Harry," she said, gesturing towards Ron, "What is the--"
"You know, I'd rather not be interviewed," Ron's voice said, Hermione controlling it.
"Tell you what. I'll meet you both after dinner, all right? In your Common Room, understand?" Rita asked.
"Dumbledore won't let you in," Harry's voice said.
"Yes he will," Rita countered. "As long as I take accurate notes, he said."
"Fine," Ron's body said. "I'll be out of here by then."
"Lovely," Rita said, standing up. A small vial of clear liquid fell out of her pocket and clinked against the floor. She hurriedly scooped it up. "See you then!" And she left.
"You're going to let her interview you?" Ginny's voice asked. "Are you crazy?"
"If Dumbledore let her in, and allowed her to get into the Common Room, I think it'd be all right, don't you?" Ron's voice asked.
*****
After dinner, Hermione in Ron's body was released from the Hospital Wing, feeling a lot better. In the Common Room, as promised, was Rita Skeeter.
Harry and Ron's bodies had Ginny and Hermione inside them. Since Rita did not know this, she expected to get answers from Harry and Ron. Ginny and Hermione's bodies, with Harry and Ron inside them, came to the Common Room with them but went right to bed instead of sticking around for the interview.
Hermione stepped into the bathroom and found Parvati and Lavender in their school uniforms each holding a razor and rinsing it out in the sink.
"What're you doing?" Ron in Hermione's body asked.
"What does it look like?" Lavender asked, motioning towards the razors.
"What did you--" Hermione's voice began, before her eyes glanced down at their fresh calves below the skirt. "Oh." Trying hard not to go red, Ron's mind in Hermione's body looked away. Ron controlled Hermione to open a cabinet and fetch a toothbrush.
"You should too," Parvati said, glancing down at the calves of Hermione.
"No, I don't need to," Ron said a little too quickly.
"It looks bad."
"Would you mind your own business? My razors are all.. er.. blunt."
"What, you use Muggle razors?" Parvati asked.
"No."
"But magic razors don't get blunt," Lavender pointed out.
"Oh," Ron said. "Right. Er.. right. I will then. When you clear out."
They soon left and Ron took out a bottle labeled "Shaving Potion" from the cabinet, and then a razor from a bag with Hermione's name on it. Hesitantly, he set a foot on the closed toilet and poured some of the stuff over the calf. He slowly spread it out, nervously, with one finger.
Realizing he was taking too long, he quickly used the whole hand to smear the potion all over as fast as possible, feeling oddly guilty touching a leg that didn't belong to him. A girl's leg. Hermione's leg. Hermione's leg that was in need of a quick shave. The potion sunk into the skin, and the skin was dry, but very soft. Hesitantly, he removed the cover from the razor and set it down near the ankle, dragging it up. However, he pressed a little too hard and saw a small glisten of blood before he felt the sting.
"Ow! Bloody razor," Ron said under his breath. His words were literal.
He rinsed it out in the sink and tried again, this time from a different spot on the leg, dragging it especially slowly. Someone opening the door abruptly startled him and he jumped, the razor cutting Hermione's leg again.
"Ow!" Ron said, louder this time, taking his foot off the toilet and turning to see who entered. It was the body of Ginny.
"What.. what are you doing to Hermione's legs?" Harry inside Ginny's body asked curiously.
"Er.. shaving them," Ron said matter-of-factly.
"Did she ask you to?" Harry asked him.
"No..."
"Oh she didn't?" Harry said using Ginny's voice with a chuckle. "Then why, exactly, are you..?"
"Oh, sick!" Hermione's voice half-shouted, throwing the razor into the sink. "Harry, don't think that. Parvati and Lavender pressured me to. I was going to stop," he explained, motioning towards the two nicks in her leg with blood slowly dribbling out of them.
Harry smirked. "You had better," Ginny's voice said, taking a wand out from her pocket. Harry controlled her to do a charm that made the two cuts disappear. "That is, before you did any real damage that couldn't be repaired just like that."
Hermione and Ginny's bodies washed their faces and brushed teeth before going to bed quickly, before Parvati and Lavender said anything else.
*****
While this was happening, the interview was commencing in the Common Room.
"Ah, you're here!" Rita said, grinning as the bodies of Harry and Ron sat in armchairs across from her. "Lovely. Thirsty?" she asked, holding out two goblets of pumpkin juice.
"Thanks," Harry and Ron's voices said uncertainly. They hesitated, holding the goblets, but took a small sip each after seeing Rita drink from a goblet of juice identical to theirs. It didn't taste odd, and they were thirsty..
Rita took a small empty vial off of the tray the drinks were on and placed it in her pocket. The rest of the Common Room was empty; everyone else had gone to bed.
"So," Rita said, taking out her parchment and quill again, smiling as she saw the bodies of Harry and Ron loosen up quite a bit. "You," she said, tapping Harry's body on the shoulder. "You're Ron. Tell me a bit about what it's like being stuck in Harry's body."
"Oh, I suppose it's all right," Ginny said. A feeling washed over her, she just wanted to spill her feelings and thoughts straight out of her mouth. Rita Skeeter must have put Veritaserum in their potions! There was no way of stopping it; words were pouring out of her mouth faster than her brain could stop them. She continued. "But it's kind of odd, you know? I mean, I really like him a lot. I've always really fancied him like that with him since we met."
"Is that so?" Rita said, almost dropping her paper and quill in surprise and excitement. She scrawled down words quickly. Her Veritaserum had worked, but she hadn't expected Ron Weasley to tell her he fell for Harry Potter. Unbeknownst to her, this was not Ron who was speaking to her, but Ginny Weasley. "Tell me more!"
"Well, I didn't tell that many people, but some of them, like Hermione and my brothers, noticed. He is a hero, after all, ever so charming, and modest! Do you see these eyes?" Ginny asked inside of Harry's body, taking off the glasses.
"They are very charming indeed," Rita said, still shocked at confessions she was getting. "Erm.. Harry, let's move on to you. How do you feel about Ron?.. I mean, being in his body and all?"
"Erm, it's quite different from what I expected," Hermione in Ron's body confessed. "He's quite taller than I'm used to being.."
"Right, right, that's lovely dear; now how do you feel about what Ron here has just confessed? How do you feel about Ron?" Rita Skeeter asked excitedly and impatiently, quill quickly scrawling notes on her paper.
"Ron? Hm. Last year, I think he wanted to go to the Yule Ball with me. He got angry when I went with someone else, and later we argued about it. I finally said that if he wanted to go with me, he should have asked me straight off instead of waiting and having me as a last resort," Hermione in Ron's body recalled.
"Oh really? And if he were to ask you, what would you say?" Rita asked.
Ron's lips curled into a small smile. "Yeah, I'd go with him. I'd actually be pretty flattered if he asked."
"Lovely," Rita said, grinning as she scrawled down the response. "Well.. that was an amazing interview, boys, we simply must do it again sometime. Thank you for your time, I'll be leaving now." And she hurriedly left.
Minutes later, the Veritaserum wore off and Hermione in Ron's body was able to speak to Ginny in Harry's body again.
"Oh no," Ron's voice said, covering his face in large freckled hands. "What have we done? It's all over now!"
"What do you mean we?" Harry's voice asked miserably. "It was all me. How could I have fallen for that?"
"Don't worry," Ron's voice said. Hermione was attempting to calm down. "We'll.. have to tell the truth. First thing tomorrow, we go right to Dumbledore."
"Harry and Ron will be so angry," Harry's voice said. "We made them sound like.. like they were.. Ugh, when the paper arrives tomorrow, everyone in Hogwarts will think the worst."
"Not just Hogwarts," Ron's voice added. "All of the Daily Prophet readers will too! All of the wizarding world.. We have no choice. We have to tell."
"But not now, it's past curfew.. first thing tomorrow, after we see Harry and Ron, right?" Ginny in Harry's body asked.
"Right," Hermione answered. And they headed for their dormitory, hearts pounding and stomachs full of butterflies.
*****
A/N: Review, s'il vous plait! Thank yooou.
*****
Alternate Identity: A Polyjuice Potion Story
Chapter Three: Return of a Lovely Person
Confused, feeling the rustle of paper underneath the sheets, Ron's body sat up, reaching for the letter. Pain exploded in his left shoulder, hip and leg, and Hermione inside of Ron's body groaned.
"Oh are you up already? Good," Madam Pomfrey said. She performed a charm on him. "You are to stay until dinner, Mr. Potter," she continued. "You're lucky you weren't damaged any worse than that. Now lie back down. Rest."
Hermione did as she was told, controlling Ron's long form to slink beneath the sheets, examining the paper.
You're in the Hospital Wing. Take your potion before Madam Pomfrey notices you're awake.
Ron's eyes narrowed, confused, looking at a freckled hand. She was still in the correct body.. But what time was it? She searched for a clock, finding one above the door. She had only just taken her potion. She put the paper in Ron's robes. She couldn't fall asleep.. not here, at least. She'd wait it out.
*****
The bodies of Harry, Ginny, and Hermione spent most of the rest of the day in the Common Room, coming out to visit Hermione just before dinner, to make sure her potion had been taken.
They entered the Hospital Wing to see Ron's body sitting up in a bed, and they were relieved.
"How are you doing?" Hermione's body was first to speak as it rushed up to Ron's body.
"I'm fine," Ron's voice said. "I'll be out of here in a few hours."
"I'm.. I'm really, really sorry, Hermione," Hermione's voice came out oozing with honest guilt.
Ron's mouth curled into a small smile and looked down. "It's OK.. It was just because I didn't take my potion that I crashed.." He looked up. "I was wrong. We should have went straight to Dumbledore."
There was a silence. Hermione seldom admitted she was wrong.
There was a click and a blinding flash of a camera and the four of them immediately saw colored spots in front of their eyes. They heard a familiar voice through the spots.
"That was a lovely picture. We'll use it for the paper, darling, get it to print. I'll do the interview, right? Lovely."
"Rita.. Skeeter?" Ron's voice asked, rubbing his eyes.
"That's right," she said, taking a seat on Ron's bed. "I heard Hogwarts is attempting this outrageous experiment with Polyjuice Potion, and I haven't caught up with my friend Harry in a while, and well, I'm going to interview you for tomorrow's Daily Prophet. You and whoever you switched with." She took out parchment and a quill using ruby red claws. She didn't wand to cross with Hermione after being captured by her in the form of a beetle.
"Er.. I'm Ron Weasley," Ginny said in the body of Harry. "I switched with Harry."
"Right. Lovely. So, first question. Harry," she said, gesturing towards Ron, "What is the--"
"You know, I'd rather not be interviewed," Ron's voice said, Hermione controlling it.
"Tell you what. I'll meet you both after dinner, all right? In your Common Room, understand?" Rita asked.
"Dumbledore won't let you in," Harry's voice said.
"Yes he will," Rita countered. "As long as I take accurate notes, he said."
"Fine," Ron's body said. "I'll be out of here by then."
"Lovely," Rita said, standing up. A small vial of clear liquid fell out of her pocket and clinked against the floor. She hurriedly scooped it up. "See you then!" And she left.
"You're going to let her interview you?" Ginny's voice asked. "Are you crazy?"
"If Dumbledore let her in, and allowed her to get into the Common Room, I think it'd be all right, don't you?" Ron's voice asked.
*****
After dinner, Hermione in Ron's body was released from the Hospital Wing, feeling a lot better. In the Common Room, as promised, was Rita Skeeter.
Harry and Ron's bodies had Ginny and Hermione inside them. Since Rita did not know this, she expected to get answers from Harry and Ron. Ginny and Hermione's bodies, with Harry and Ron inside them, came to the Common Room with them but went right to bed instead of sticking around for the interview.
Hermione stepped into the bathroom and found Parvati and Lavender in their school uniforms each holding a razor and rinsing it out in the sink.
"What're you doing?" Ron in Hermione's body asked.
"What does it look like?" Lavender asked, motioning towards the razors.
"What did you--" Hermione's voice began, before her eyes glanced down at their fresh calves below the skirt. "Oh." Trying hard not to go red, Ron's mind in Hermione's body looked away. Ron controlled Hermione to open a cabinet and fetch a toothbrush.
"You should too," Parvati said, glancing down at the calves of Hermione.
"No, I don't need to," Ron said a little too quickly.
"It looks bad."
"Would you mind your own business? My razors are all.. er.. blunt."
"What, you use Muggle razors?" Parvati asked.
"No."
"But magic razors don't get blunt," Lavender pointed out.
"Oh," Ron said. "Right. Er.. right. I will then. When you clear out."
They soon left and Ron took out a bottle labeled "Shaving Potion" from the cabinet, and then a razor from a bag with Hermione's name on it. Hesitantly, he set a foot on the closed toilet and poured some of the stuff over the calf. He slowly spread it out, nervously, with one finger.
Realizing he was taking too long, he quickly used the whole hand to smear the potion all over as fast as possible, feeling oddly guilty touching a leg that didn't belong to him. A girl's leg. Hermione's leg. Hermione's leg that was in need of a quick shave. The potion sunk into the skin, and the skin was dry, but very soft. Hesitantly, he removed the cover from the razor and set it down near the ankle, dragging it up. However, he pressed a little too hard and saw a small glisten of blood before he felt the sting.
"Ow! Bloody razor," Ron said under his breath. His words were literal.
He rinsed it out in the sink and tried again, this time from a different spot on the leg, dragging it especially slowly. Someone opening the door abruptly startled him and he jumped, the razor cutting Hermione's leg again.
"Ow!" Ron said, louder this time, taking his foot off the toilet and turning to see who entered. It was the body of Ginny.
"What.. what are you doing to Hermione's legs?" Harry inside Ginny's body asked curiously.
"Er.. shaving them," Ron said matter-of-factly.
"Did she ask you to?" Harry asked him.
"No..."
"Oh she didn't?" Harry said using Ginny's voice with a chuckle. "Then why, exactly, are you..?"
"Oh, sick!" Hermione's voice half-shouted, throwing the razor into the sink. "Harry, don't think that. Parvati and Lavender pressured me to. I was going to stop," he explained, motioning towards the two nicks in her leg with blood slowly dribbling out of them.
Harry smirked. "You had better," Ginny's voice said, taking a wand out from her pocket. Harry controlled her to do a charm that made the two cuts disappear. "That is, before you did any real damage that couldn't be repaired just like that."
Hermione and Ginny's bodies washed their faces and brushed teeth before going to bed quickly, before Parvati and Lavender said anything else.
*****
While this was happening, the interview was commencing in the Common Room.
"Ah, you're here!" Rita said, grinning as the bodies of Harry and Ron sat in armchairs across from her. "Lovely. Thirsty?" she asked, holding out two goblets of pumpkin juice.
"Thanks," Harry and Ron's voices said uncertainly. They hesitated, holding the goblets, but took a small sip each after seeing Rita drink from a goblet of juice identical to theirs. It didn't taste odd, and they were thirsty..
Rita took a small empty vial off of the tray the drinks were on and placed it in her pocket. The rest of the Common Room was empty; everyone else had gone to bed.
"So," Rita said, taking out her parchment and quill again, smiling as she saw the bodies of Harry and Ron loosen up quite a bit. "You," she said, tapping Harry's body on the shoulder. "You're Ron. Tell me a bit about what it's like being stuck in Harry's body."
"Oh, I suppose it's all right," Ginny said. A feeling washed over her, she just wanted to spill her feelings and thoughts straight out of her mouth. Rita Skeeter must have put Veritaserum in their potions! There was no way of stopping it; words were pouring out of her mouth faster than her brain could stop them. She continued. "But it's kind of odd, you know? I mean, I really like him a lot. I've always really fancied him like that with him since we met."
"Is that so?" Rita said, almost dropping her paper and quill in surprise and excitement. She scrawled down words quickly. Her Veritaserum had worked, but she hadn't expected Ron Weasley to tell her he fell for Harry Potter. Unbeknownst to her, this was not Ron who was speaking to her, but Ginny Weasley. "Tell me more!"
"Well, I didn't tell that many people, but some of them, like Hermione and my brothers, noticed. He is a hero, after all, ever so charming, and modest! Do you see these eyes?" Ginny asked inside of Harry's body, taking off the glasses.
"They are very charming indeed," Rita said, still shocked at confessions she was getting. "Erm.. Harry, let's move on to you. How do you feel about Ron?.. I mean, being in his body and all?"
"Erm, it's quite different from what I expected," Hermione in Ron's body confessed. "He's quite taller than I'm used to being.."
"Right, right, that's lovely dear; now how do you feel about what Ron here has just confessed? How do you feel about Ron?" Rita Skeeter asked excitedly and impatiently, quill quickly scrawling notes on her paper.
"Ron? Hm. Last year, I think he wanted to go to the Yule Ball with me. He got angry when I went with someone else, and later we argued about it. I finally said that if he wanted to go with me, he should have asked me straight off instead of waiting and having me as a last resort," Hermione in Ron's body recalled.
"Oh really? And if he were to ask you, what would you say?" Rita asked.
Ron's lips curled into a small smile. "Yeah, I'd go with him. I'd actually be pretty flattered if he asked."
"Lovely," Rita said, grinning as she scrawled down the response. "Well.. that was an amazing interview, boys, we simply must do it again sometime. Thank you for your time, I'll be leaving now." And she hurriedly left.
Minutes later, the Veritaserum wore off and Hermione in Ron's body was able to speak to Ginny in Harry's body again.
"Oh no," Ron's voice said, covering his face in large freckled hands. "What have we done? It's all over now!"
"What do you mean we?" Harry's voice asked miserably. "It was all me. How could I have fallen for that?"
"Don't worry," Ron's voice said. Hermione was attempting to calm down. "We'll.. have to tell the truth. First thing tomorrow, we go right to Dumbledore."
"Harry and Ron will be so angry," Harry's voice said. "We made them sound like.. like they were.. Ugh, when the paper arrives tomorrow, everyone in Hogwarts will think the worst."
"Not just Hogwarts," Ron's voice added. "All of the Daily Prophet readers will too! All of the wizarding world.. We have no choice. We have to tell."
"But not now, it's past curfew.. first thing tomorrow, after we see Harry and Ron, right?" Ginny in Harry's body asked.
"Right," Hermione answered. And they headed for their dormitory, hearts pounding and stomachs full of butterflies.
*****
A/N: Review, s'il vous plait! Thank yooou.