"Are you sure about this, Pansy?" Hermione stared at the stranger in the mirror as Pansy grinned and pocketed her wand.
"Of course I'm sure. Hey you said you wanted to be someone else for once didn't you? Here's your chance! It's only temporary, you may as well have fun with it!"
Classes had let out and everyone else was getting ready for dinner. Pansy and Hermione had met in the girls bathroom outside of the potions lab where Pansy had cast a charm on Hermione to change her appearance.
"I've heard the other girls in my dorm cast spell after spell for their hair and make up and believe it or not, to make their boobs bigger." Pansy laughed at this. "But you only used one and I'm totally different! What spell was that? I've never heard it." Hermione tested her reflection, turning this way and that. Pansy watched as Hermione shook out long black tresses and tested out longer legs. She bent at her thinner, leaner waist and stretched. She flexed her long elegant fingers and inspected her long nails, then stared expectantly at Pansy through nearly black eyes and long dark lashes.
"It's a spell that allows a person's inner beauty to come out. It was created by my grandmother to help her children deal with being 'late bloomers'. It also has the hilarious effect of making hateful but beautiful people look as disgusting as they act. The only reason I haven't used it on Draco yet is because his looks really are all he has going for him. Poor thing would just die without them." Hermione laughed and looked back at the mirror.
"It looks familiar..."
"Not it, Hermione, that's you! The real you, hidden beneath all the insecurity and doubt. You're strong, beautiful, and a force of nature. Don't you forget that when the spell wears off."
"When's that exactly?"
"Until you fall asleep."
Hermione nodded. "I like it. But I can't place the feeling that.. I don't know, is it normal to feel like my original appearance was all wrong, and this is how it should have always been?"
Pansy smiled inwardly, thinking that this was the begining to the true success of her plan. "Hmm.. I don't know. Being that it's a family spell I don't have much to base an answer off of. Hey, so that potion Professor Snape had us study up on this morning?"
"Yeah?"
"We'll have to brew and test it tomorrow. Are you going to be okay?"
"Maybe..I don't know. But I have to try."
"Oh! That reminds me, I completely forgot, here!"
Pansy dug through her bag and pulled out the lavender anxiety potion that Severus had given her. She'd forgotten about it in her relaxed state.
"This might help you get through the lesson if you feel like you can't deal. It's for anxiety."
"Thank you! Where did you get this?"
Pansy shrugged. "My uncle gave me a few after my parents died."
Hermione leaned against the sink and stared at the vial in her hands. "You're lucky to have someone that cares about you still around."
"Yeah, I can't deny that. I'd be lost without him. My uncle is the one that gave me the journals and helped me see my parents the way they really were."
Hermione nodded sadly. "I wish I had some family somewhere."
"Even though that would mean you'd never known about them? Like they were some big secret?"
"If they cared for me...yeah."
Pansy took this as an extremely good sign and handed Hermione a Slytherin robe. "Come on. Everyone will be at dinner now."
Hermione nodded and pushed herself away from the sinks as she put the robe over her school clothes. She couldn't deny that she felt amazing in her new body. Luckily they didn't meet anyone along the way to Pansy's room or to the room of requirements. Hermione paced back and forth in front of the wall until a door appeared. When they pushed through, they found a cozy room with a large plush couch, a reading lamp, a tray of food and a tray of hot chocolate.
"Whoa." Pansy said. "Nice!"
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
I sometimes feel like I could easily play a bigger role in the changing of the times than my peers lead me to believe. When I imagine myself in the midst of the coming war, I think of a silent, strong, wild force that works beneath the surface of all things to drive the evil down. This is more than a fleeting fantasy. Every time I hear the ugly blood supremacy the spews from my aunt's mouth, and I have to pretend to agree, I think, 'I could do it. I'm already lying to their faces, I could take it a step further.'
I know that my brother is a good man and he has always been supportive of my thoughts and feelings. Perhaps I can confide in him about this as well..
A sudden chime from the corner of the room startled the girls as they were lost in the pages of Pansy's mother's first journal. Hermione looked up to find a grandfather clock had materialized and began chiming that it was well passed midnight.
"Shit! I can't believe we lost track of time like that!" Hermione bolted upright.
"Yeah, if we don't get to bed now we'll never have the energy to get through potions!" Pansy was excited to get through the class and get her plan fully under way.
They packed up the journals and left the room, both praying they weren't caught out of bed after hours.
