Disclaimers:

This story uses the universe and characters created by J.K. Rowling. I'm just playing around, not profit made.

The description of dormitories in the Slytherin dungeon has been borrowed from story "Flight of the Thestrals" by GD-7.

The idea of how the gender change works was noted in story "Home's the Farthest Way" by ReeraTheRed.

This story was inspired by art "The Other Side" by Lylith (hence the title! Green stands for color of Harry's eyes, not Slytherin robes). Search artisticalley dot org


Chapter 1

The Discovery

It was Saturday. No classes today, that means he could stay in bed a little bit longer. He probably had missed the breakfast already. By the feeling of mid-autumn sun rays on his pillow he was fairly sure it was late morning. He can stay in bed at least another hour and then be just in time for lunch. Wait, sun rays? There are no windows in the dungeons to let through any sun. Come to think of it, the pillow and bed sheets felt foreign and the air smelled clean, unnaturally clean. Draco slowly opened his eyes and his assumptions have been confirmed: he was in the hospital wing. He slowly brought his arms up to rub the sleep out of his eyes and tried to clear his mind. He had absolutely no recollections of the events that caused him to land in this bed.

"Do not move, dear." – came the nervous voice of Madame Pomfrey from the other side of the room as she noticed that her only patient was awake and scurried forward to his bed.

Draco continued rubbing his face desperately trying to remember what exactly happened.

"I said, do not move!" – Draco heard the suddenly stern voice of school mediwitch, and then felt her surprisingly strong hands on his arms, prying them off his face and securing them with invisible magical bindings just far enough from his body to prevent him from touching himself.

"What do you think you are doing, woman?" Now, this required some action, no Malfoy will be manhandled so unceremoniously even if it were medically necessary!

"Now, calm down, Mr. Malfoy. Do not try to move, I have secured your arms and legs, so you will only injure yourself. Calm down and I will go fetch Professor Snape and he will explain everything".

Now, Snape he could deal with. At least she wasn't suggesting bringing that old fool Dumbledore. But what is there to explain? Draco tried to move his legs unsuccessfully. Yes, he was indeed securely fastened as if he were to injure himself. He could not feel any bodily damage, though, and that brought him back to his original question – why was he in the hospital wing to begin with? Yelling will not yield any results as there was noone around, and if anyone were to hear him from the corridor it would be unsightly to be discovered yelling while tied to a hospital bed. He was a Malfoy after all, and therefore should be respected, even if his father has been unfortunate enough to have landed in Azkaban last June.

Finally, after what seemed like a very lengthy wait Snape strolled into the room, leaving the door open for out-of-breath and disheveled Madame Pomfrey that was following a few steps behind. It seemed that the fast pace has not had any effect on head of Slytherin House who impassively stood at the foot of Draco's bed, surveying his student with cool but curious gaze.

'Mr. Malfoy', he seemed to hesitate, 'Draco, due to an unusually blatant inadequacy of one infamous Mr. Potter in yesterday's Professor Slughorn's Potions class and subsequent clumsiness of one Mr. Weasley the potion that the earlier has been working on has been altered in unexpected manner and knocked over by the latter that resulted in exposing another student to the unknown concoction by skin absorption. This method of delivery had caused a gender change in the aforementioned student and the shock of transformation has sent the mind into unconsciousness. However, seeing that currently you are back with us and able to think clearly I am sure you have realized the significance of Potter's discovery, however accidental it was, and will therefore agree to further study the effects of the potion from subjective point of view, especially considering that neither I, nor Professor Slughorn have yet fully understood the reaction process to conceive an antidote. Unfortunately, this will include working closely with Mr. Potter to monitor those after-effects that will, I expect, result in multiple publications in various medi-wizard periodicals and allow you to be listed as the co-discoverer of this potion.'

'What? Potter!' Draco yelled when he finally processed the information.

'Draco', Snape continued in a softer tone, 'I understand your and Mr. Potter's mutual dislike' – he said the last word as if having a foul taste in his mouth – 'but this is for the sake of science, and it will make you famous for something other than your father's name'.

Somehow Snape has managed to release his bindings during his speech and Draco found himself sitting up, nervously clutching the bedsheets in his fists.

'Gender change in another student?' he said in mocking voice. 'And you are thinking I am worried about working with Potter. Merlin's beard, that's rich! I am a girl now, did that register?'

Draco could feel his cheeks flush. Wait, flush? I am sixteen, I don't flush! Oh, but I'm a girl, must be one of the effects of the potion.

'Under initial observation it seems that the potion altered more than just your body, Mr. Malfoy', Snape continued coldly as if he has not just been rudely interrupted by a student. He seemed to be able to read Draco's thoughts, or perhaps he was also interpreting Draco's facial reactions in a similar manner.

'The discovery of gender altering potion will become a turning point in modern studies of Potions and their applications to Transfiguration, it is an unheard of reaction. But it must be studied thoroughly and the best way is by recording ones observations after one has been subjected to the change. You have unwittingly become the first experimental subject and your notes will be instrumental in understanding the nature of such transformations.

'I have prepared this journal for you', he continued all business again, 'that will help you monitor any changes and you will devote an hour each day to discuss the findings with your co-investigator Mr. Potter. Your first meeting is today', he glanced at his watch, 'in an hour.' He paused. 'The investigators' meeting is for investigators alone.' He added, as if reading Draco's thoughts again. 'However, Professor Slughorn is allowed to provide guidance if you encounter difficulties with assessing the findings, and you are always free to turn to me as the head of your house at Hogwarts.

'You have one hour. Perhaps a few extra minutes considering Mr. Potter's tardiness', he sneered,' If I may suggest you use this time to organize your first thoughts and feelings – psychological and physiological. First findings are very important even if they are discredited by latter findings.

'I will send Miss Parkinson to assist you with some new clothing after the meeting,' He added as an after thought.'Good day, Mr. Malfoy.' And with a curt nod Snape left the hospital wing.

Draco sighed and laced his fingers through his hair. He sighed again; at least his hair was short. Right, he needed to write this down. He reached for the journal. His body felt different. Well, it was expected seeing that it was now a female body, he will have to study it. Surprisingly, the idea of freely exploring a female body didn't excite him as much as he expected it to. Will he have to write this down as well? Snape didn't say anything about sharing his recordings with Potter. He simply won't show the journal to his "co-investigator", he sneered. The idea of working with Potter didn't sound as appalling as he would have expected either. Perhaps this is another after-effect of the potion? He shrugged. Perhaps girls were mellower in nature. No need to analyze everything. Just write it down. Right, that's what he'll have to do. His book bag was right there and he fetched a quill and ink bottle from it. He paused to look at his hand holding the quill. He always kept his nails in impeccable condition - neatly trimmed, but not too short, true aristocratic nails. Now these well manicured nails were finishing gentle pale thin and long female fingers. 'I am female, every part of my body will have the female adjective in front of it', he observed. He'll need to write this down as well.

Draco felt the hospital door open and a figure in school uniform enter and slowly progress towards where his bed was. It seemed his side vision was better and he was noticing more things. Seeing Potter was nothing new. Same untidy slightly crimpled black robe, a bit too short and beginning to show ankles clad in worn trainers and mismatched socks; same unsure posture, same book back and clutching a journal similar to the one given to Draco by Snape in his left hand; same right hand that laced through the same messy hair and making it stay on end. Draco glanced up, same emerald green eyes behind those hideous round spectacles. Draco stared. He didn't know Potter had green eyes. He caught himself and looked down again.

'Well, hello Potter.' He said with his trademark sneer. But he had a feeling that it wasn't intimidating at all and based on Potter's suddenly downcast eyes and barely noticeable flush looked rather adorable.

'Do sit down', Draco royally motioned to a nearby chair, 'we don't want you to spend a whole hour on your feet and risk passing out due to all blood rushing out of your witless head'. This last statement for some reason seemed to make a strange effect on Potter. He blushed more, quickened his step, sat down on the chair, pulled a quill and ink bottle out of his bag that he left at the floor, glanced up, took a breath, seemed to collect himself and seemed to decide against verbal retaliation.

'Well, Malfoy, it seems we are stuck working together until Slughorn and Snape find a cure for you and they also seem to expect us to produce some kind of scientific study. I can assure you that I see no more pleasure in this that you do, so let's get to business and try to be at least civil to each other for this one hour a day. You can be as nasty to me as you want any other time, but we don't want to be blamed for lack of productivity and be forced to prolong these meetings.', He glanced up again from a spot somewhere below Draco's left elbow. 'Deal?'

He looked up again, waiting for response.

It made sense, Draco thought, just be civil to each other during the hour. Sure thing, but since when did Potter become sensible?

Draco nodded. 'Deal'. Draco reached out for a handshake out of habit. Potter's eyes rounded for a second and then he quickly shook and dropped Draco's hand, and pointedly looked away.

'Your shirt', he motioned in the direction to Draco's neck, 'it's… erm, you might want to close a few buttons.' he said very quickly. Then added, as if in apologetic explanation: 'you are a girl'.

Draco looked down mortified – his boy's shirt was buttoned up to the third button and obviously when he reached out for Potter's hand was showing way too much cleavage. Right, another thing to worry about now that he's got this female body.

The next hour passed in very awkward half conversation of broken sentences, some blushing (mostly his own part, Draco noted irritably; must be another girl thing), and furious scribbling in both journals.

Pansy's visit, Draco noted, was very educational. Having been with a number of girls in his life, Draco thought he had a fairly good idea on female wardrobe requirements. Obviously, he was very ignorant of some rather important details. Pansy brought some of her own robes with her: 'these will have to do until our next Hogsmeade weekend when you can buy your own' and some new underwear 'I always keep a few sets handy just in case, and to spice things up, you know', she added with a smirk.

It seemed that Pansy was trying to hold a professional front, but failed and found the whole situation rather humorous.

'Draco, dear, you look smashing as a girl. Quite a pity you'll have to be turned back. Do try not to break too many hearts. Oh, just look at this waist and these…'

'Pansy, I do appreciate the help, but please do try to keep your hands to yourself. I do like my personal space'. And it truly was so. Draco found that he wasn't welcoming of Pansy's touch. In fact, he found that he couldn't quite figure out the whole touching thing. He'll have to discuss it with… oh, right, with Potter, tomorrow.

Since there was nothing physically wrong with Draco, according to Madame Pomfrey he was 'A girl as healthy as any'; he was released from the hospital wing during dinner and instructed to go directly to his room. It was a rather good thing that Slytherin dungeons allowed for individual rooms for each student and were not segregated into girls and boys dormitories. It would have been quite awkward continuing to live among male roommates while having a rather attractive (if Draco himself said so!) female body, and girls might not feel comfortable sharing a room with a newly turned boy either. The headmaster was said to make a few announcements during dinner, that directed for anyone to leave Harry and Draco alone to their "study" and avoid any questioning regarding the scientific discovery that they were partnering on.


A/N This is my first story! Never thought I would write fanfiction, to tell you the truth. Constructive criticism is welcome.

I don't have a beta, so let me know if you would like to become one!

The updates will take me a while to post, so please be patient!