Chapter Three – Transfiguration Mishap

Professor McGonagall had been waiting patiently for her seventh year students to arrive. Harry and Faith walked in to take their seats, but the two of them could only sit front-and-centre, as the seats had already filled to capacity. When the roll was taken, Professor McGonagall smiled warmly and said, "Welcome to Gryffindor, Miss Richardson."

The class went rather well until they were to practice the most difficult branch of Human Transfiguration - Cloning. McGonagall had set an essay, but only a foot long, on the benefits that this branch of Transfiguration had in Auror training. Many of her Transfiguration students wished to become Aurors and this was one requirement Harry was planning on passing with flying colours. Although he did not care much for cloning…he'd had enough trouble with the Polyjuice Potion in becoming Goyle in his second year…he was not disappointed to find that they were going to be working with a partner.

After taking a few complex notes and handing in their completed essays, each student was paired up with the person beside whom they were sitting…as instructed by Professor McGonagall. Both Harry and Faith looked at each other and smiled before beginning their lesson. Harry noticed little things about Faith…other than her gorgeous violet eyes…that set his heart aflutter. She had these inch-long, perfectly manicured fingernails…the French variety…each one sporting a violet jewel at the tip. Her flawless complexion seemed carved out of the finest porcelain gold could buy and her eyebrows twitched slightly as she waited for Harry to finish staring at her. He wasn't able to hear Faith calling him until she waved her hand in his face.

"Well, are you ready to practice, Harry?" she asked, "I've been calling your name for the past five minutes. Are you all right?"

Faith's concern was genuine and Harry couldn't help but blush, "I'm fine," he said, trying to hide the nervousness he felt as he sat beside her, "I was just admiring your fingernails. I've never seen jewels on anyone's nails before. It's very pretty." Harry gazed into her eyes as he complimented her. Faith smiled warmly, "Thanks," she replied, "It took me all summer to grow them. Normally I just file them down because I play the piano and the clicking noise drives me up the wall, but I've quit playing since my godfather died. I used to play for him all of the time and now…"

Her voice trailed off. She blinked and bit her lower lip to fight away the tears. Harry's face fell. He didn't mean to upset her and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to…I mean…I'm sorry about your godfather. I'm sure he was a great man."

Faith nodded and said, "Thanks," she said, a stray tear had found itself on her cheek and she quickly brushed it away, "I miss him a lot. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," said Harry, "It's my fault. I shouldn't have said anything."

Nodding again, Faith opened her copy of Advanced Transfiguration to the middle of the book, page two hundred and forty-five, where they were to recite the incantation, "Clonicorpus!" which worked similarly to the Polyjuice Potion. It caused the person on which the spell was being cast, to resemble the caster for at least two hours if cast properly. However should the caster make a slight mispronunciation, the effects of the spell would wear off on various parts of the body at different times.

Harry went first. Faith cast the spell, "Clonocorpus!" pointing her wand directly at Harry's heart. At first, Harry didn't feel anything happening, but a few seconds later, Harry looked down and saw that he had grown breasts and hair. Harry felt very odd. Moments ago he was a boy and now he had a girl's body. He quickly brushed his hand over a breast, but decided not to linger. It was too much for him.

Faith looked curiously at her cloned body and slapped Harry's hand away anyway, "Harry!" she chastised, "I didn't think you were like that!" However, her eyes betrayed her as she looked like she was enjoying this.

"I'm sorry, Faith," he said in what was her voice, "I don't know what came over me. This is all so…"

"Weird?" she offered. Harry nodded, "It's normal, I think. Want to clone me?"

Harry nodded and recited the spell, "Clonicorpus!" and Faith's body looked exactly like Harry's. They both felt weird. Here they were as each other, but they were themselves inside. It was like something out of a corny Disney movie…about two people switching bodies because of something that one person wished. This wasn't one of those times. A split second later, Faith realized something. Frantically, she began flipping through her book.

"Uh-oh!" she exclaimed, in Harry's voice when she had found the page.

"What?" asked Harry, paranoid, "Didn't I do it right?"

"You did," said Faith, scanning the book, "But I didn't!"

Harry's jaw dropped. Here he was, thinking that he was partnered up with the smartest person in the entire school…when she just told him she had messed up! Harry's knees were turning to jelly as he tried to fight the dizziness. His head was spinning and he collapsed in his chair. He was exhausted but in no pain. Just the initial shock gave Harry the feeling of being sick, "What?" he asked groggily, "What do you mean, you didn't? You're the smartest person in the class and you tell me you didn't do it right? How am I supposed to trust you?"

"Mistakes happen, Harry," she said, "I think I did it right, only I said "Clono" instead of "Cloni" and now you're stuck being me for a week. I'm really sorry, Harry."

Faith sat down and began to sob. She buried her head in her hands. Harry tried to console her, but she was sobbing so badly her shoulders shook and he couldn't find a way to place a hand on her shoulder. Finally, Professor McGonagall saw Faith shaking and inquired about what had happened.

Harry explained everything to Professor McGonagall…leaving out the small little detail of him trying to touch one of Faith's breasts…who listened patiently. Faith had calmed down enough for Professor McGonagall to lay a hand on her shoulder, "There, there, child," she comforted, "We'll get this sorted out within the week. You'll be normal in a couple of hours. Perhaps you will be more careful next time, Miss Richardson. Accidents happen, but if you mess up again in my class, you will find that you will have no choice but to drop this class. We cannot afford very many mishaps like this. Please accompany Mr Potter to the Hospital wing. You are excused from classes for the time being, but you must report to me for detention each night that Mr Potter is still you. Are we clear?"

"P-p-perfectly, Professor," said Faith, sputtering as she tried to catch her breath, "I underst-t-tand. I will t-try t-t-to b-be more c-careful. I p-promise."

Harry and Faith went down the hall and found themselves face-to-face with Peeves the Poltergest.

"Why it's Potty and Faithy!" he cackled, "My, my, my, wait till Peevesy tells the ickle sevens that Potty is a crybaby. Everybody will make fun of him."

Apparently Peeves thought Faith was Harry, "Watch out, Peeves," said Harry, trying to make up an excuse for Peeves to leave, so he tried to mimic Faith's voice as best he could, "I don't think Professor McGonagall would appreciate you making fun of Harry. Besides, he's still mourning Dumbledore's death. He still thinks it's his fault."

Peeves' mouth began to quiver, "Headmaster Dumbledore was a great man, he let me stay here despite complaints from the other ghosts. I'm going to miss him too."

Luckily, Peeves began to sob silently and he slunk away, into a portrait of a very thin grey-haired old man holding a pitchfork and his wife with similar expressions of boredom on their faces. Harry had sworn he'd seen that portrait before, but he couldn't place it. Without thinking, he took Faith's hand and led her to the hospital wing.

Faith immediately stopped and took her hand away from Harry's, "Look, Harry," she said, "I'm not usually emotional like this. I've just got a lot on my mind right now that don't even have anything to do with school, so I'd much rather talk about something other than what we've just been talking about."

Harry concluded that Faith wasn't making sense at all and he just smiled, "I think Madam Pomfrey can help you anyway. I'll let her examine me to determine how long I'll be staying like this. I didn't expect this to happen, but even if this only lasts a few days, it will be worth spending the time to get to know you."

Faith smiled weakly and shrugged, "We'll see. Let's just get you better."

Madam Pomfrey knew instantly what had gone wrong, and tried to make Harry as comfortable as possible by fluffing his pillows and fussing over the angle of the bed. Satisfied, she left them for a minute to get something from her storage cupboards.

"What do you suppose she's going to do?" asked Harry, "I'm sure this thing will wear off eventually. I'm not even sure I know how to act like a girl."

Faith burst into laughter, "This, coming from a guy who tried to touch my breasts just a couple of seconds into the transformation," she looked sternly at him, but she was laughing too hard, "Sorry, I tend to make jokes when something more serious is at hand. I'll teach you if you like. First of all, we'll have to move you in to my dormitory. When I change back into myself, that is."

Harry's eyes widened. He was going to be sleeping in the girls' dormitory? How lucky could he get? Faith was beautiful. He couldn't wait to spend some time alone with her…just to get to know her better. Since Harry wasn't going to be attending classes, this was the perfect opportunity to ask her about the Horcruxes.