Disclaimer: I don't own Harry potter related characters or any other
creations of Rowling. No infringement intended. No money being made.
Ok well Hi. You may call me MP, for that is the name everyone on the Harry Potter boards knows me as. I decided to start something a little less sensible than my usual fanfiction, and so this is it.
It does have a mature rating due to its adult theme. There is no excessive violence and as of yet it is undecided whether there will be any scenes of a sexual nature.
This is set in the sixth year, although it doesn't primarily focus around Harry and his struggle against the dark lord. This is a romance and so if you are looking for the sort of thing J.K.Rowling would write you have come to the wrong place.
Other than that I hope you Enjoy and Review.
Hermione sat on the floor with her legs crossed, The carpet was scratchy and mildly irritating to the skin for all but Hermione, who had spent hundreds of days over the years in that particular spot, until she had built up a resistance to it. Her eyes dancing over the pages of the book as she checked for the tenth time today that the potion had been done correctly. The image of these two pages that she had been slaving over for the last three weeks were burnt into her mind. Every time she closed her eyes they drifted into her vision, as though etched into her eyelids.
Fifty two and nine fourths...Yes...She had stirred it the right number of times. Seventy two degrees, except on Wednesdays... Yes... She had heated it to the right temperature. Exactly nines and twenty past the hour of lunch... She had added the Chimera essence at the right time of day. She had added exactly the right amount of everything else and as the Chimera essence glooped in with a satisfying "glurp" it turned the glowing lavender colour that indicated everything had gone right. This was the most complicated potion yet, and the fact it was illegal only added excitement to it. At true midnight the potion would be complete, with one final ingredient.
It was mid august and Hermione was sat in her bedroom. Normally she would have been reading several times through all her books. This year however marked the start of a new life, in her eyes at least. She would be starting her Newt course! Only doing seven subjects this year instead of the round eleven, meant more free time. Having read the few books she required for the sixteenth time through, she sought a new challenge. The Potions book was really something else though. It described potions beyond wonderment. Things that definitely shouldn't be shown to the younger students, and such amazements as to actually make Ron contemplate taking the course. They were difficult beyond anything Neville, or most wizards, could do. It was just the sort of thing the sixteen year old which loved to do.
With the damn ministry always getting in the way, flashing underage decree's and threats of expulsion it was a wonder she got all Outstanding's. She would as usual, have to make up for lost time once she got back to Hogwarts with her friends. Her wand lay untouched on her pine bedside table, gathering particles of dust that were brave enough to risk contact with the magical device. Instead Hermione, after a lot of investigation found that whilst the ministry monitored all the wands of underage witches and wizards, they had no control over the brewing of potions. It was illegal certainly, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.
It was in the form of the simmering concoction in the cauldron that sat in front of her that she stemmed her creative mind and made it just about bearable to not do magic. She slumped her head back in boredom against the giant teddy bear that sat in the corner of her room, and made an ideal makeshift chair. It was rather fluffy. Several hours she would have to wait until the moon reached its pinnacle and true twilight dawned for a fraction of a second before subsiding like a crashing wave. Once the final ingredient had been added the potion would be complete, and Hermione knew that if she could do this then she could do anything.
She pulled herself up form the position where she had been sitting for the last hour, and her knees gave a painful crack and she gave a long overdue stretch of her legs which had been crossed and were starting to go numb. She walked over to her tidy bed and noticed looked at Hedwig who had swooped in a few minutes ago, and had politely agreed, in owl terms, to wait until she had finished what she was doing before giving her the letter.
"What Have you got for me today?" she asked as she untied the letter that was bound to Wedwig's leg. She knew before she asked. She had received several letters over the holidays form Harry and unless someone had stolen Hedwig for their own mail delivery then this was another. As she looked down at the squarish writing scratched down with a quill she immediately recognised it as Harry's hand writing.
It wasn't that she had an awful lot to say to Harry. In fact it was quite the opposite. She had nothing to tell him. She was as clueless about Voldemort as he was, having not yet gone to Grimauld Place. The reason she often found herself sitting in the afternoon writing to Harry was because of Dumbledore. He has approached her and Ron at the end of term and asked them kindly if they would mind keeping in touch with Harry. Ron seemed a bit puzzled why, but Hermione who wasn't as thick as clotted cream, explained to Ron that with the loss of Sirius Harry was bound to be upset. The last thing she wanted was for Harry to do something stupid.
She carefully tore open the letter and began to scan it. The contents was pretty similar to what he usually said.
Hi Hermione
Thanks for the letter; it is nice to hear from you and Ron so much. Are you feeling at all nervous about things because at the moment I'm just sitting here twiddling my thumbs and doing lots of revising as you suggested. I don't know why but something tells me that I'm going to meet up with Voldemort again, and I have decided that this time I want to be ready to protect you guys. I don't know what I would do if something happened to either of you.
Our poor furry friend wrote to tell me that they will be picking me up on Monday to take me back home. I assume your going aren't you? If your parents say that they won't let you tell them that you will fail your exams and you won't love them.
I know what it feels to be Sirius now... I haven't left my house in six weeks. I think my legs are starting to turn to jelly. I don't know how he managed to stay there for six months. I suppose having your best friend around must help but even I don't think I would find it fun spending 6 months playing wizard chess and loosing against Ron.
Anyway see you soon. If you find out anything I don't know please owl me straight away. I am always home...
Harry.
Hermione smiled inwardly to herself. She always liked that he took the time to write to her. How he took probably the same care not to splash ink onto its creamy surface. Of course she knew that he replied partly through the fact that he had nothing better to do, but she preferred to ignore that part. It was good to hear that he was still revising, or at least pretending to revise. He probably knew it was better to lie to her and have so peace and quiet, rather than fending off the ten owls a day she would send otherwise. Still, if there was one thing that could make him actually do the learning then the death of his godfather was it. Watching Sirius been killed had hurt Harry. It had hurt them all of course, but Harry would be blaming himself. Thinking he was responsible. The worst part was that in a strange way he was right.
She placed the parchment down on her desk in between two mountains of books which blocked out two strips of summer evening sunlight from coming into the room. She glanced over at Hedwig who has taking a drink from the bowl of water she kept filled up in the corner of the room for tired owls to drink from. Hedwig didn't seem particularly concerned of what Hermione was doing which showed that Harry hadn't told her he wanted a prompt response.
"You can stay here for a bit." She said as the bird looked up slightly and gave a long stare such as to say yes, before turning back to the water.
She would have to think up some more stories to tell Harry. Dull ones. By making her life sound incredibly dull she hoped that Harry would think his excuse for a summer would seem better than it really was. Indeed it seemed to work as Harry often wrote with only slightly interesting stories such as how he burned the bacon and it made Dudley cry.
"Well looks like you have a job to do Hermione." She said to herself as she cast once last anxious glance at the potion next to the big bear. If staring would have speeded things up now Hermione probably would have gone blind from straining her eyes. Her parents would be home form work soon and they would start dinner. She probably had about an hour before she sat down at the table to eat. Still she liked to help out and spend time with her parents, even if it was doing boring things like peeling the potatoes. She only got to see them for a month or so every year and then she was whisked back off into the magical world.
Her life for the past five years seemed to have run like this, and she could practically recall the years like photo frames. Not seeing your parents for a year you really noticed things. Like dad's hair going greyer, and mum with her wrinkles by her eyes. Hermione loved her parents and through her limited time together with them each year she had come to appreciate them more than she used to. Sometimes she wasn't sure if Harry realised this. If he did know that she would sulk at the thought of leaving so soon. Of course he didn't but if he did then he wouldn't be Harry Potter, she said to herself with a small smile.
As long as he was there it was worth missing her parents. Being with Ron was fun in its own exhausting tiresome sense, and yet they always seemed to get into an argument over something which was completely his own fault. He always seemed to be laughing at her a bit. Harry didn't seem like that. Whilst he never told Ron off, she could somehow tell that he wasn't thinking bad things. It was like an unspoken peace between them. Probably the same kind between all good friends.
Later on Hermione would have to set up some elaborate equipment used for measuring twilight. According to the book this was one of the most important parts. It was only at full moon could the distant light from mars reflects off of the moon and give the correct astromagnetic balance. As Hermione sat down in the living room flicking through the tv channels, before stopping to watch the second half of count down, she asked herself something. "What will it be like to use the potion?" Well according to the book, or at least the lack of horrific diagrams, it was painless. Turning into a boy for a day. Now that was something. Spending all the time she did with Harry and Ron, she had once or twice wondered if she really had been intended a girl. Still she was very happy with things the way they were. Girls were fine and dandy in her eyes. A boy however... Well they always seemed to have this thing about looking several inches below your chin when they talk, and they always got exhausted and complained after going in a few shops.
She just wanted to try it for a day. See what she would look like; see how it felt to go round town as a boy. Do some of those things that boys apparently do, like have discussions about football and eat with their mouth open. She had even taken the liberty to pick out a set of nice boy clothes to wear. Heaven forbid she might be a boy, but she wasn't going to be the kind that walks round with a skirt on. Mind you, the Scottish seem to enjoy it. Maybe afterwards she would give the clothes to Harry. His looked as if they had been pried from a dog's mouth. She had gotten them in several sizes larger than she was, because as a boy she was bound to be several inches taller. The clothes in question were a pair of mens trousers, with the extra material at the front for... hem, stuff. A large white t-shirt with stripes running down it. Wow, she could imagine it would be great. The feeling of freedom. Not having things confine you. It would be like being naked only respectable.
She didn't need to buy any shoes because she already had some scruffy trainers; messy things seemed to be the fashion with boys. She hoped they fit otherwise she would have to pinch a pair of her fathers. This left one important detail. Of course the answer was boxer shorts. How could you live life as a boy without going all the way? It was every young boys dream. The day when he would finally upgrade from pants. At the moment she couldn't see what was so great about them, but she figured if they use that much extra material to make them then there must be something pretty amazing.
She could have tried to wearing them anytime, but of course this is Hermione Granger, and she isn't the kind of girl. The Only obstacle that now seemed to remain was her parents. It was going to be a tough subject to broach and of course she could see why. She had to try and say it without sounding weird. Surely she wasn't the only one who had ever wondered what it would be like to be as different as can be. To be the opposite gender. I mean someone a long time ago obviously took the time to create the potion. Her parents were always very cautious of magical things. Since they were dentists they were very sensible thinkers, and magic was far from sensible. It was about as insensible as boys, if that was possible.
A sound from the front door symbolised that her parents were home. She heard brief discussion before they walked into the living room where she was sat.
"Hello honey. What have you been up to? Lots of reading no doubt?" asked Michael Granger as he beamed at her proudly.
"Um yes daddy, some." Hermione responded as she turned the television off and turned to her parents. The conversation that would have to happen sooner or later wasn't going to be an easy one. She had been putting some thought into it, and whilst she would rather not explain wanting to be a boy for a day, it was better than doing it and having them find out later.
"Um, there is something I need to tell you two." Hermione said as she took a deep breath and got up from the chair. Her father displayed a slightly worried look as did her mother.
"You're not pregnant are you?" he asked sternly as he surveyed her carefully, almost expecting to see a bulge under her jumper. Hermione's eyes widened in shock.
"Dad! I can't believe you would say something like that. I'm only sixteen. Don't you trust me?" she asked slightly hurt. Michael was always very protective over his daughter.
"It's not that I don't trust you. It's just that I don't trust boys. I know what they are like when they are your age and I know that they only have one thing on their mind. They have a way with words." He said as though speaking form personal experience.
"NO. I told you that daddy." Hermione said as she stamped her foot. Her mother who had been quiet up until now turned to Michael.
"You need to give Hermione credit. She isn't the sort of girl to get into trouble. She is smarter than you give her credit for." Hermione who knew her parents too well, pressed on with the topic. She knew that if they got sidetracked then it would take forever to bring it back round to where she wanted.
"Now as I was saying. The thing I needed to talk to you about is that this summer, I have been, er, brewing a potion." Normally she would say what she wanted, but for some reason she found that when she was under her parents gaze, she forgot what she was going to say, and ended up stammering.
"Well there must be something important if you feel you need to tell us about it." Said her mother, who didn't miss a beat. "It isn't illegal or anything is it?"
"Yes, actually it is." Hermione responded in an innocent tone. It didn't do anything to make it seem alright to her parents, who suddenly seemed very worried.
"Why would you do something like that? You will get expelled!" he father flustered as he grabbed Hermione's shoulders and gave her a small shake. As if to get some sense into her
"It's ok. The ministry doesn't know about it and unless either of you tell them then they will never know. But yes, if you told them I would get expelled." She explained in a tone she hoped suggested the brewing of illegal potions was an every day occurrence.
"They wouldn't send you to that Azcabin would they?" Her mother asked as her eyebrows furrowed in worry.
"Well yeah I suppose they could do. But as long as they never know everything will be fine." Her parents exchanged looks that said they would let nothing on earth expel their little girl from school.
"So what does this potion that you made do?" Michael asked uncertainly.
"Well... It will turn me into a boy."
There were several moments of silence that followed this statement, broken only by the sound of misses Granger hitting the floor. She had just passed out. She awoke a minute later in the kitchen with Hermione and her husband looking over her. It took several minutes as she racked her brains trying to comprehend why she was there. Eventually they offered some help. "You fainted." Michael said simply as he checked to see if she had bumped her head during the fall. She gave them a funny look before nodding her head to show that it sounded right.
"Because I said I took a potion to turn me into a girl." Hermione finally added, because she was clearly not going to remember it on her own. Whilst she had not taken the potion yet, and it wouldn't even be finished until tonight, she felt that if they knew it was still sitting in her bedroom then they wouldn't allow it to stay there. They would probably wash it down the sink.
"Why would you want to do that to yourself?" Michelle asked as she stared with teary eyes at her daughter. "Aren't you happy the way you are? If it is because you are confused about your emotions and that you find yourself thinking girls are pretty then it is perfectly normal. There was no need to do something drastic." She wept as she looked at down at her hands. Hermione never thought her parents would feel this strongly about it. She had guessed that perhaps shouting would be involved, but not fainting or tears. This was an event she hadn't prepared for.
"No I'm fine the way I am, and no mum, I don't find girls attractive. Its just that the potion only lasts for a day and I thought it might be interesting..." she was cut off from continuing by her father who suddenly rounded on her.
"Only a day? You're certain of that." He said with a hope of plea in his voice. Michelle looked up with a tiny smile and dried her tears a little.
"Yes. I'm certain. It's just at the end of the year exam we will be tested on a potion and it can only be one of five so I thought I might as well get some practice, since this is one of the five. I really am fine the way I am, I don't want to be a boy. In fact I think I would probably hate it. I just wanted to see what it would be like for a day. I'm not funny in the head, you have to believe me. I was just a little curious, and if it helps my grades I'm sure you could understand."
She looked at her parents in turn; casting each one of them a childish smile that she knew helped her get her ways. Her Parents each exchanged mystified glances. They weren't entirely convinced. In fact they would rather she never drank any potion if possible, but they knew that wouldn't be the case.
"Well I guess I have always wondered what it would be like to have a son." Her father admitted with a shrug. Hermione inwardly lept for joy at her fathers approval. That is until she stopped for a moment, and gave a warning look at her Father.
"Daddy?"
"Oh yes of course I meant it was just mild curiosity. I wasn't suggesting I was displeased with the way you are. Your perfect in every way, and I'm pretty sure even if he did have loads more children they wouldn't be as good as you." He finished as he made sure there was no doubt in Hermione's mind that she was loved. She knew it of course, but having her parents tell her that was always nice.
After a lengthy discussion about Hermione's grand plan in which her parents managed to stop worrying so much and her mother managed to dry her tears.
"I still don't see why you had to do it now though." Her mother said as she started pulling out pots and pans ready for dinner. "Why couldn't you have waited till term had started?"
"Because there would be no where at school for me to practice a potion that takes so long to make." Hermione replied as she rolled her eyes.
"Yes but I'm sure you didn't have to do this so... Illegally! You never used to do things like this when you were younger. It is those Harry Potter and Ronald Measly boys isn't it? They are always getting into trouble. It's a bad influence on you.
"Mum if you are going to tell me who to be friends with..." Hermione said as she stopped washing some vegetables and glared angrily at her mother.
"No no no I'm not telling you to do anything. I was just saying my opinion."
"Well you don't know either of them. They are both great and I would never stop being friends just because they lack the ability to draw the line of where trouble should end." She said rather more curtly than she had intended.
"So if you have taken the potion already why is it you haven't changed?" Her father asked in the most conversational manner he could. "You, don't look different. Presumably you will be changing quite a bit, becoming taller and stuff?"
"Yes I should imagine so." Hermione said as she faltered on the ground of letting on that she didn't know everything about it. She hastily continued talking before her parents could dwell on it. "Yes well these things take time to come into affect. According to the book it will happen once I go to sleep." She lied. "Also if you wouldn't mind doing me a favour that would be good. If possible I would like my hair cut. I don't really want to be a boy with my hair, or end up having to tie it up under a cap or something."
"But we can't do that. Your hair wouldn't be able to grow back by the start of the school yeah and I can't imagine you would want to have it looking like a boys." Michelle said with a small laugh.
"You needn't worry about that. I have also made a hair restoring potion so I can undo it just like that." She said as she flashed her mother a smile as she put some cauliflower into a saucepan.
"Looks like she has put a lot of thought into this." Said Michael from the other side of the room where he had his head stuck in a cupboard. "What do you expect? This is Hermione!"
After a very eventful dinner had passed by Hermione helped clean the dishes and then excused herself off to the room to prepare the equipment needed to measure twilight. Her parents had agreed that they would tell no one, and so did Hermione. She wouldn't even tell Harry or Ron. Well she could perhaps tell them in a few years time. Ron would probably find it hilarious.
She pulled out a large black case from under her bed and carefully undid the several clips that held the items inside safe. She carefully lifted the lid, to reveal a set of delicately carved glass disks and rods. Each one cut to perfection, allowing the measurement of such precise things as a moon thousands of miles away. She removed what to the unlearned person would appear to be a pewter telescope. It did actually work like a telescope except the exact opposite way round. At allowed the moon to be pinpointed on a chart as a tiny circle of light. Even as she looked at it now she could see it was very slowly moving.
She positioned the astrological chart on her floor, and used a compass to make sure it was at exactly the right angle to true north. Her mouth had gone dry even though there were still several long hours until that flash of a second in which it could be done. She pulled a pencil case out of her school bag which sat at the base of her bedside table. From within she extracted a dozen rulers and protractors as she started sketching marks and lines across the paper until half an hour later she had a very messy chart, and one tiny dot that marked where the moonlight would need to fall.
Next she set about with the Chimera essence. It was a hard to acquire chemical and she actually had to venture into Knockturn alley to get it. She was glad that her parents were naïve as to the dangers involved because otherwise she wouldn't be sitting here now waiting for the potion. She had measured out the amount exactly to the drop. It was a strange clear substance that was odourless and colourless. It was lethal if taken not in a potion. The only way to distinguish it from water was that it was slightly thicker. It had a strange greasy silk texture to it. If it was knocked over on a desk it would probably spill for about a hundred or so meters, or a mile downhill.
She sat for several long hours. In her room. Twice her parents checked up on her to see if she was ok. More than anything they were curious about whether the transformation was complete. Hermione spent her time by replying to the letter that Harry had written her earlier. Next she decided to go to bed. Because the moment of true twilight wouldn't come until about one o'clock it meant that she would be very tired in the morning. Therefore she would wake up late and would have wasted a lot of valuable time doing boy things. Therefore by sleeping now she wouldn't have to sleep as much later.
She set her alarm to go off at half an hour intervals where she would wake up and quickly check to see how much further the dot of moonlight would have to go until it reached the pinpoint on the chart. On the seventh or so time she awoke and saw that it would only be about five minutes or so left until the big moment. It was dark outside her bedroom door and she couldn't hear any noise which meant her Parents had most likely gone to sleep.
For a few anxious minutes she waited. Sweaty palmed, gripping firmly the vial of Chimera essence. She was knelt on the scratchy carpet, hand carefully poised over the simmering cauldron. She noticed that as she moved the vial closer to the cauldron, the Calmera essence inside started to swirl until it was dancing round inside the glass tube like boiling water. She turned her attention back to the chart where there were now only about five millimetres separating the two points. Less than a minute now. She drew out a large magnifying glass before lowering it and peering closely with one eye.
Just four millimetres. With any luck the potion had been done correctly and everything would work. Three millimetres. According to the book if it works there should be a very definite indication. Two millimetres. Everything was balanced on the accuracy of her calculations. If the pencil had been to blunt the line wouldn't be accurate and she would get the wrong time. One millimetre. She didn't dare think of what would happen if the potion didn't work, as she begun to tilt the vial and said goodbye to her woman hood. Only a day. It would be back soon. And then it was there. The moon was on the dot and the vial was being emptied. Hermione looked away from the chart to the final ingredient which she was pouring. It was falling, cascading like a water fall. It seemed to move faster than gravity as it charged towards the mixture below. It lubricated the air on the way towards the simmering surface and Hermione cast a quick look up at the spectacularly full moon.
Not in her life had she seen a moon like it. Normally a full moon was a full moon but this was nothing at all like all those others. Whilst she only saw it for a second it was like a still photo being implanted into her mind. The sky was cloudless and the stars were bright. Everything about the moon could be seen. The way that it was darker in some areas that it was in others. Like a distorted face looking down on her. The tiny ring of darkness that seemed to surround the luminous disk. She felt she could even see the point of the original moon landing.
Then she returned to reality as the most silent of splashes was heard from in front of her. She looked down at the potion where a violent conflict seemed to be going on. With the shock waves spreading out from the centre a veil of darkness seemed to be pulled across it as it sunk from its bright colour into what appeared to be cool tar. This lasted only a second however as a second wave from the centre washed that away like the skin on custard. It was replaced by the most violent shade of yellow she had ever seen. Just looking at it seemed like staring at the sun itself, except that it was gentle on the eyes. The light that was washing over her and giving the room its sudden glow, made her feel happy inside from just looking at it. After several seconds however the colour began to fade. Like colours fades in the sun or paint washes away in the rain. She was rather surprised as a large bang erupted and caused a few drops to splash over the boundaries of the cauldron. Surely a noise like that would wake up her parents. A huge billow of smoke shot up into the air, before sinking back down to the ground where it hung like early morning mist. The potion was completed.
Hope you enjoyed the Chapter. In the next one it will really start to get into things. Hermione takes the potion and things get going. This was just meant to be a few hundred word introduction but worked its way from there.
Ok well Hi. You may call me MP, for that is the name everyone on the Harry Potter boards knows me as. I decided to start something a little less sensible than my usual fanfiction, and so this is it.
It does have a mature rating due to its adult theme. There is no excessive violence and as of yet it is undecided whether there will be any scenes of a sexual nature.
This is set in the sixth year, although it doesn't primarily focus around Harry and his struggle against the dark lord. This is a romance and so if you are looking for the sort of thing J.K.Rowling would write you have come to the wrong place.
Other than that I hope you Enjoy and Review.
Hermione sat on the floor with her legs crossed, The carpet was scratchy and mildly irritating to the skin for all but Hermione, who had spent hundreds of days over the years in that particular spot, until she had built up a resistance to it. Her eyes dancing over the pages of the book as she checked for the tenth time today that the potion had been done correctly. The image of these two pages that she had been slaving over for the last three weeks were burnt into her mind. Every time she closed her eyes they drifted into her vision, as though etched into her eyelids.
Fifty two and nine fourths...Yes...She had stirred it the right number of times. Seventy two degrees, except on Wednesdays... Yes... She had heated it to the right temperature. Exactly nines and twenty past the hour of lunch... She had added the Chimera essence at the right time of day. She had added exactly the right amount of everything else and as the Chimera essence glooped in with a satisfying "glurp" it turned the glowing lavender colour that indicated everything had gone right. This was the most complicated potion yet, and the fact it was illegal only added excitement to it. At true midnight the potion would be complete, with one final ingredient.
It was mid august and Hermione was sat in her bedroom. Normally she would have been reading several times through all her books. This year however marked the start of a new life, in her eyes at least. She would be starting her Newt course! Only doing seven subjects this year instead of the round eleven, meant more free time. Having read the few books she required for the sixteenth time through, she sought a new challenge. The Potions book was really something else though. It described potions beyond wonderment. Things that definitely shouldn't be shown to the younger students, and such amazements as to actually make Ron contemplate taking the course. They were difficult beyond anything Neville, or most wizards, could do. It was just the sort of thing the sixteen year old which loved to do.
With the damn ministry always getting in the way, flashing underage decree's and threats of expulsion it was a wonder she got all Outstanding's. She would as usual, have to make up for lost time once she got back to Hogwarts with her friends. Her wand lay untouched on her pine bedside table, gathering particles of dust that were brave enough to risk contact with the magical device. Instead Hermione, after a lot of investigation found that whilst the ministry monitored all the wands of underage witches and wizards, they had no control over the brewing of potions. It was illegal certainly, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.
It was in the form of the simmering concoction in the cauldron that sat in front of her that she stemmed her creative mind and made it just about bearable to not do magic. She slumped her head back in boredom against the giant teddy bear that sat in the corner of her room, and made an ideal makeshift chair. It was rather fluffy. Several hours she would have to wait until the moon reached its pinnacle and true twilight dawned for a fraction of a second before subsiding like a crashing wave. Once the final ingredient had been added the potion would be complete, and Hermione knew that if she could do this then she could do anything.
She pulled herself up form the position where she had been sitting for the last hour, and her knees gave a painful crack and she gave a long overdue stretch of her legs which had been crossed and were starting to go numb. She walked over to her tidy bed and noticed looked at Hedwig who had swooped in a few minutes ago, and had politely agreed, in owl terms, to wait until she had finished what she was doing before giving her the letter.
"What Have you got for me today?" she asked as she untied the letter that was bound to Wedwig's leg. She knew before she asked. She had received several letters over the holidays form Harry and unless someone had stolen Hedwig for their own mail delivery then this was another. As she looked down at the squarish writing scratched down with a quill she immediately recognised it as Harry's hand writing.
It wasn't that she had an awful lot to say to Harry. In fact it was quite the opposite. She had nothing to tell him. She was as clueless about Voldemort as he was, having not yet gone to Grimauld Place. The reason she often found herself sitting in the afternoon writing to Harry was because of Dumbledore. He has approached her and Ron at the end of term and asked them kindly if they would mind keeping in touch with Harry. Ron seemed a bit puzzled why, but Hermione who wasn't as thick as clotted cream, explained to Ron that with the loss of Sirius Harry was bound to be upset. The last thing she wanted was for Harry to do something stupid.
She carefully tore open the letter and began to scan it. The contents was pretty similar to what he usually said.
Hi Hermione
Thanks for the letter; it is nice to hear from you and Ron so much. Are you feeling at all nervous about things because at the moment I'm just sitting here twiddling my thumbs and doing lots of revising as you suggested. I don't know why but something tells me that I'm going to meet up with Voldemort again, and I have decided that this time I want to be ready to protect you guys. I don't know what I would do if something happened to either of you.
Our poor furry friend wrote to tell me that they will be picking me up on Monday to take me back home. I assume your going aren't you? If your parents say that they won't let you tell them that you will fail your exams and you won't love them.
I know what it feels to be Sirius now... I haven't left my house in six weeks. I think my legs are starting to turn to jelly. I don't know how he managed to stay there for six months. I suppose having your best friend around must help but even I don't think I would find it fun spending 6 months playing wizard chess and loosing against Ron.
Anyway see you soon. If you find out anything I don't know please owl me straight away. I am always home...
Harry.
Hermione smiled inwardly to herself. She always liked that he took the time to write to her. How he took probably the same care not to splash ink onto its creamy surface. Of course she knew that he replied partly through the fact that he had nothing better to do, but she preferred to ignore that part. It was good to hear that he was still revising, or at least pretending to revise. He probably knew it was better to lie to her and have so peace and quiet, rather than fending off the ten owls a day she would send otherwise. Still, if there was one thing that could make him actually do the learning then the death of his godfather was it. Watching Sirius been killed had hurt Harry. It had hurt them all of course, but Harry would be blaming himself. Thinking he was responsible. The worst part was that in a strange way he was right.
She placed the parchment down on her desk in between two mountains of books which blocked out two strips of summer evening sunlight from coming into the room. She glanced over at Hedwig who has taking a drink from the bowl of water she kept filled up in the corner of the room for tired owls to drink from. Hedwig didn't seem particularly concerned of what Hermione was doing which showed that Harry hadn't told her he wanted a prompt response.
"You can stay here for a bit." She said as the bird looked up slightly and gave a long stare such as to say yes, before turning back to the water.
She would have to think up some more stories to tell Harry. Dull ones. By making her life sound incredibly dull she hoped that Harry would think his excuse for a summer would seem better than it really was. Indeed it seemed to work as Harry often wrote with only slightly interesting stories such as how he burned the bacon and it made Dudley cry.
"Well looks like you have a job to do Hermione." She said to herself as she cast once last anxious glance at the potion next to the big bear. If staring would have speeded things up now Hermione probably would have gone blind from straining her eyes. Her parents would be home form work soon and they would start dinner. She probably had about an hour before she sat down at the table to eat. Still she liked to help out and spend time with her parents, even if it was doing boring things like peeling the potatoes. She only got to see them for a month or so every year and then she was whisked back off into the magical world.
Her life for the past five years seemed to have run like this, and she could practically recall the years like photo frames. Not seeing your parents for a year you really noticed things. Like dad's hair going greyer, and mum with her wrinkles by her eyes. Hermione loved her parents and through her limited time together with them each year she had come to appreciate them more than she used to. Sometimes she wasn't sure if Harry realised this. If he did know that she would sulk at the thought of leaving so soon. Of course he didn't but if he did then he wouldn't be Harry Potter, she said to herself with a small smile.
As long as he was there it was worth missing her parents. Being with Ron was fun in its own exhausting tiresome sense, and yet they always seemed to get into an argument over something which was completely his own fault. He always seemed to be laughing at her a bit. Harry didn't seem like that. Whilst he never told Ron off, she could somehow tell that he wasn't thinking bad things. It was like an unspoken peace between them. Probably the same kind between all good friends.
Later on Hermione would have to set up some elaborate equipment used for measuring twilight. According to the book this was one of the most important parts. It was only at full moon could the distant light from mars reflects off of the moon and give the correct astromagnetic balance. As Hermione sat down in the living room flicking through the tv channels, before stopping to watch the second half of count down, she asked herself something. "What will it be like to use the potion?" Well according to the book, or at least the lack of horrific diagrams, it was painless. Turning into a boy for a day. Now that was something. Spending all the time she did with Harry and Ron, she had once or twice wondered if she really had been intended a girl. Still she was very happy with things the way they were. Girls were fine and dandy in her eyes. A boy however... Well they always seemed to have this thing about looking several inches below your chin when they talk, and they always got exhausted and complained after going in a few shops.
She just wanted to try it for a day. See what she would look like; see how it felt to go round town as a boy. Do some of those things that boys apparently do, like have discussions about football and eat with their mouth open. She had even taken the liberty to pick out a set of nice boy clothes to wear. Heaven forbid she might be a boy, but she wasn't going to be the kind that walks round with a skirt on. Mind you, the Scottish seem to enjoy it. Maybe afterwards she would give the clothes to Harry. His looked as if they had been pried from a dog's mouth. She had gotten them in several sizes larger than she was, because as a boy she was bound to be several inches taller. The clothes in question were a pair of mens trousers, with the extra material at the front for... hem, stuff. A large white t-shirt with stripes running down it. Wow, she could imagine it would be great. The feeling of freedom. Not having things confine you. It would be like being naked only respectable.
She didn't need to buy any shoes because she already had some scruffy trainers; messy things seemed to be the fashion with boys. She hoped they fit otherwise she would have to pinch a pair of her fathers. This left one important detail. Of course the answer was boxer shorts. How could you live life as a boy without going all the way? It was every young boys dream. The day when he would finally upgrade from pants. At the moment she couldn't see what was so great about them, but she figured if they use that much extra material to make them then there must be something pretty amazing.
She could have tried to wearing them anytime, but of course this is Hermione Granger, and she isn't the kind of girl. The Only obstacle that now seemed to remain was her parents. It was going to be a tough subject to broach and of course she could see why. She had to try and say it without sounding weird. Surely she wasn't the only one who had ever wondered what it would be like to be as different as can be. To be the opposite gender. I mean someone a long time ago obviously took the time to create the potion. Her parents were always very cautious of magical things. Since they were dentists they were very sensible thinkers, and magic was far from sensible. It was about as insensible as boys, if that was possible.
A sound from the front door symbolised that her parents were home. She heard brief discussion before they walked into the living room where she was sat.
"Hello honey. What have you been up to? Lots of reading no doubt?" asked Michael Granger as he beamed at her proudly.
"Um yes daddy, some." Hermione responded as she turned the television off and turned to her parents. The conversation that would have to happen sooner or later wasn't going to be an easy one. She had been putting some thought into it, and whilst she would rather not explain wanting to be a boy for a day, it was better than doing it and having them find out later.
"Um, there is something I need to tell you two." Hermione said as she took a deep breath and got up from the chair. Her father displayed a slightly worried look as did her mother.
"You're not pregnant are you?" he asked sternly as he surveyed her carefully, almost expecting to see a bulge under her jumper. Hermione's eyes widened in shock.
"Dad! I can't believe you would say something like that. I'm only sixteen. Don't you trust me?" she asked slightly hurt. Michael was always very protective over his daughter.
"It's not that I don't trust you. It's just that I don't trust boys. I know what they are like when they are your age and I know that they only have one thing on their mind. They have a way with words." He said as though speaking form personal experience.
"NO. I told you that daddy." Hermione said as she stamped her foot. Her mother who had been quiet up until now turned to Michael.
"You need to give Hermione credit. She isn't the sort of girl to get into trouble. She is smarter than you give her credit for." Hermione who knew her parents too well, pressed on with the topic. She knew that if they got sidetracked then it would take forever to bring it back round to where she wanted.
"Now as I was saying. The thing I needed to talk to you about is that this summer, I have been, er, brewing a potion." Normally she would say what she wanted, but for some reason she found that when she was under her parents gaze, she forgot what she was going to say, and ended up stammering.
"Well there must be something important if you feel you need to tell us about it." Said her mother, who didn't miss a beat. "It isn't illegal or anything is it?"
"Yes, actually it is." Hermione responded in an innocent tone. It didn't do anything to make it seem alright to her parents, who suddenly seemed very worried.
"Why would you do something like that? You will get expelled!" he father flustered as he grabbed Hermione's shoulders and gave her a small shake. As if to get some sense into her
"It's ok. The ministry doesn't know about it and unless either of you tell them then they will never know. But yes, if you told them I would get expelled." She explained in a tone she hoped suggested the brewing of illegal potions was an every day occurrence.
"They wouldn't send you to that Azcabin would they?" Her mother asked as her eyebrows furrowed in worry.
"Well yeah I suppose they could do. But as long as they never know everything will be fine." Her parents exchanged looks that said they would let nothing on earth expel their little girl from school.
"So what does this potion that you made do?" Michael asked uncertainly.
"Well... It will turn me into a boy."
There were several moments of silence that followed this statement, broken only by the sound of misses Granger hitting the floor. She had just passed out. She awoke a minute later in the kitchen with Hermione and her husband looking over her. It took several minutes as she racked her brains trying to comprehend why she was there. Eventually they offered some help. "You fainted." Michael said simply as he checked to see if she had bumped her head during the fall. She gave them a funny look before nodding her head to show that it sounded right.
"Because I said I took a potion to turn me into a girl." Hermione finally added, because she was clearly not going to remember it on her own. Whilst she had not taken the potion yet, and it wouldn't even be finished until tonight, she felt that if they knew it was still sitting in her bedroom then they wouldn't allow it to stay there. They would probably wash it down the sink.
"Why would you want to do that to yourself?" Michelle asked as she stared with teary eyes at her daughter. "Aren't you happy the way you are? If it is because you are confused about your emotions and that you find yourself thinking girls are pretty then it is perfectly normal. There was no need to do something drastic." She wept as she looked at down at her hands. Hermione never thought her parents would feel this strongly about it. She had guessed that perhaps shouting would be involved, but not fainting or tears. This was an event she hadn't prepared for.
"No I'm fine the way I am, and no mum, I don't find girls attractive. Its just that the potion only lasts for a day and I thought it might be interesting..." she was cut off from continuing by her father who suddenly rounded on her.
"Only a day? You're certain of that." He said with a hope of plea in his voice. Michelle looked up with a tiny smile and dried her tears a little.
"Yes. I'm certain. It's just at the end of the year exam we will be tested on a potion and it can only be one of five so I thought I might as well get some practice, since this is one of the five. I really am fine the way I am, I don't want to be a boy. In fact I think I would probably hate it. I just wanted to see what it would be like for a day. I'm not funny in the head, you have to believe me. I was just a little curious, and if it helps my grades I'm sure you could understand."
She looked at her parents in turn; casting each one of them a childish smile that she knew helped her get her ways. Her Parents each exchanged mystified glances. They weren't entirely convinced. In fact they would rather she never drank any potion if possible, but they knew that wouldn't be the case.
"Well I guess I have always wondered what it would be like to have a son." Her father admitted with a shrug. Hermione inwardly lept for joy at her fathers approval. That is until she stopped for a moment, and gave a warning look at her Father.
"Daddy?"
"Oh yes of course I meant it was just mild curiosity. I wasn't suggesting I was displeased with the way you are. Your perfect in every way, and I'm pretty sure even if he did have loads more children they wouldn't be as good as you." He finished as he made sure there was no doubt in Hermione's mind that she was loved. She knew it of course, but having her parents tell her that was always nice.
After a lengthy discussion about Hermione's grand plan in which her parents managed to stop worrying so much and her mother managed to dry her tears.
"I still don't see why you had to do it now though." Her mother said as she started pulling out pots and pans ready for dinner. "Why couldn't you have waited till term had started?"
"Because there would be no where at school for me to practice a potion that takes so long to make." Hermione replied as she rolled her eyes.
"Yes but I'm sure you didn't have to do this so... Illegally! You never used to do things like this when you were younger. It is those Harry Potter and Ronald Measly boys isn't it? They are always getting into trouble. It's a bad influence on you.
"Mum if you are going to tell me who to be friends with..." Hermione said as she stopped washing some vegetables and glared angrily at her mother.
"No no no I'm not telling you to do anything. I was just saying my opinion."
"Well you don't know either of them. They are both great and I would never stop being friends just because they lack the ability to draw the line of where trouble should end." She said rather more curtly than she had intended.
"So if you have taken the potion already why is it you haven't changed?" Her father asked in the most conversational manner he could. "You, don't look different. Presumably you will be changing quite a bit, becoming taller and stuff?"
"Yes I should imagine so." Hermione said as she faltered on the ground of letting on that she didn't know everything about it. She hastily continued talking before her parents could dwell on it. "Yes well these things take time to come into affect. According to the book it will happen once I go to sleep." She lied. "Also if you wouldn't mind doing me a favour that would be good. If possible I would like my hair cut. I don't really want to be a boy with my hair, or end up having to tie it up under a cap or something."
"But we can't do that. Your hair wouldn't be able to grow back by the start of the school yeah and I can't imagine you would want to have it looking like a boys." Michelle said with a small laugh.
"You needn't worry about that. I have also made a hair restoring potion so I can undo it just like that." She said as she flashed her mother a smile as she put some cauliflower into a saucepan.
"Looks like she has put a lot of thought into this." Said Michael from the other side of the room where he had his head stuck in a cupboard. "What do you expect? This is Hermione!"
After a very eventful dinner had passed by Hermione helped clean the dishes and then excused herself off to the room to prepare the equipment needed to measure twilight. Her parents had agreed that they would tell no one, and so did Hermione. She wouldn't even tell Harry or Ron. Well she could perhaps tell them in a few years time. Ron would probably find it hilarious.
She pulled out a large black case from under her bed and carefully undid the several clips that held the items inside safe. She carefully lifted the lid, to reveal a set of delicately carved glass disks and rods. Each one cut to perfection, allowing the measurement of such precise things as a moon thousands of miles away. She removed what to the unlearned person would appear to be a pewter telescope. It did actually work like a telescope except the exact opposite way round. At allowed the moon to be pinpointed on a chart as a tiny circle of light. Even as she looked at it now she could see it was very slowly moving.
She positioned the astrological chart on her floor, and used a compass to make sure it was at exactly the right angle to true north. Her mouth had gone dry even though there were still several long hours until that flash of a second in which it could be done. She pulled a pencil case out of her school bag which sat at the base of her bedside table. From within she extracted a dozen rulers and protractors as she started sketching marks and lines across the paper until half an hour later she had a very messy chart, and one tiny dot that marked where the moonlight would need to fall.
Next she set about with the Chimera essence. It was a hard to acquire chemical and she actually had to venture into Knockturn alley to get it. She was glad that her parents were naïve as to the dangers involved because otherwise she wouldn't be sitting here now waiting for the potion. She had measured out the amount exactly to the drop. It was a strange clear substance that was odourless and colourless. It was lethal if taken not in a potion. The only way to distinguish it from water was that it was slightly thicker. It had a strange greasy silk texture to it. If it was knocked over on a desk it would probably spill for about a hundred or so meters, or a mile downhill.
She sat for several long hours. In her room. Twice her parents checked up on her to see if she was ok. More than anything they were curious about whether the transformation was complete. Hermione spent her time by replying to the letter that Harry had written her earlier. Next she decided to go to bed. Because the moment of true twilight wouldn't come until about one o'clock it meant that she would be very tired in the morning. Therefore she would wake up late and would have wasted a lot of valuable time doing boy things. Therefore by sleeping now she wouldn't have to sleep as much later.
She set her alarm to go off at half an hour intervals where she would wake up and quickly check to see how much further the dot of moonlight would have to go until it reached the pinpoint on the chart. On the seventh or so time she awoke and saw that it would only be about five minutes or so left until the big moment. It was dark outside her bedroom door and she couldn't hear any noise which meant her Parents had most likely gone to sleep.
For a few anxious minutes she waited. Sweaty palmed, gripping firmly the vial of Chimera essence. She was knelt on the scratchy carpet, hand carefully poised over the simmering cauldron. She noticed that as she moved the vial closer to the cauldron, the Calmera essence inside started to swirl until it was dancing round inside the glass tube like boiling water. She turned her attention back to the chart where there were now only about five millimetres separating the two points. Less than a minute now. She drew out a large magnifying glass before lowering it and peering closely with one eye.
Just four millimetres. With any luck the potion had been done correctly and everything would work. Three millimetres. According to the book if it works there should be a very definite indication. Two millimetres. Everything was balanced on the accuracy of her calculations. If the pencil had been to blunt the line wouldn't be accurate and she would get the wrong time. One millimetre. She didn't dare think of what would happen if the potion didn't work, as she begun to tilt the vial and said goodbye to her woman hood. Only a day. It would be back soon. And then it was there. The moon was on the dot and the vial was being emptied. Hermione looked away from the chart to the final ingredient which she was pouring. It was falling, cascading like a water fall. It seemed to move faster than gravity as it charged towards the mixture below. It lubricated the air on the way towards the simmering surface and Hermione cast a quick look up at the spectacularly full moon.
Not in her life had she seen a moon like it. Normally a full moon was a full moon but this was nothing at all like all those others. Whilst she only saw it for a second it was like a still photo being implanted into her mind. The sky was cloudless and the stars were bright. Everything about the moon could be seen. The way that it was darker in some areas that it was in others. Like a distorted face looking down on her. The tiny ring of darkness that seemed to surround the luminous disk. She felt she could even see the point of the original moon landing.
Then she returned to reality as the most silent of splashes was heard from in front of her. She looked down at the potion where a violent conflict seemed to be going on. With the shock waves spreading out from the centre a veil of darkness seemed to be pulled across it as it sunk from its bright colour into what appeared to be cool tar. This lasted only a second however as a second wave from the centre washed that away like the skin on custard. It was replaced by the most violent shade of yellow she had ever seen. Just looking at it seemed like staring at the sun itself, except that it was gentle on the eyes. The light that was washing over her and giving the room its sudden glow, made her feel happy inside from just looking at it. After several seconds however the colour began to fade. Like colours fades in the sun or paint washes away in the rain. She was rather surprised as a large bang erupted and caused a few drops to splash over the boundaries of the cauldron. Surely a noise like that would wake up her parents. A huge billow of smoke shot up into the air, before sinking back down to the ground where it hung like early morning mist. The potion was completed.
Hope you enjoyed the Chapter. In the next one it will really start to get into things. Hermione takes the potion and things get going. This was just meant to be a few hundred word introduction but worked its way from there.