Author's Notes –
I get that the dream sequences are rough, but sometimes dreams are that way.
The increased scrutiny that resulted from his apprentice breaking the jaw and several ribs of one Draco Malfoy did not sit well with Ranma. It did not help that the High Inquisitor had finally returned with the complete backing of the Ministry of Magic and the Hogwarts Board of Governors. Over the course of the past week there was not a single class that either the High or Junior Inquisitor was not in attendance. Still, they could only observe and not interfere with his classes.
"Was it appropriate for you to show them how to deal with a werewolf?" Delores asked, not even bothering to look up from her scroll.
"Have you ever had to deal with a werewolf after they were turned?" he deflected her question back at her.
"Why did you not focus on teaching them to identify the typical characteristics displayed by a werewolf?"
"Aside from agitation and a desire for raw flesh there are no true characteristics except when they transform."
"Are you saying that there are no telling characteristics?
"Such as a lack of civility and manners?"
She grinned, "Yes."
"Are you saying that you're a werewolf?"
She huffed indignantly, at the insinuation.
"So sorry," he said in a fake Asian accent. "I forgot that your civilization isn't even a thousand years old. What passes for 'civility' and good 'manners' is so different that it is like comparing a child with good manners to an adult with superb manners."
His not so subtle barbs were enough to irritate her but not drive her off. "There are many demi-human cultures that are older than yours. Werewolves aren't bad; there are just a few bad ones that give the rest a bad name. Sort of reminds me of you."
That drove her off, though he knew that she would be back for his next class.
The little free time he had though was dedicated to dealing with his impending nuptials as the weekend loomed on the horizon. It was a sign that things in Nerima were not static. There had been so much chaos in his short tenure there that he'd begun to think that he was responsible for it but after talking with Kasumi it had become clear that while he attracted more trouble, Nerima had always been a hotbed of chaotic events. How else to explain Kuno's declaration that only a someone who had bested Akane could date her or the daily attacks that she had endured before Ranma had arrived?
Chronologically, the first thing that occurred was the return trip of Genma, Soun, and Happosai. The fact that Soun had returned from said trip with a new bride had thrown the Tendo household into even worse disarray than anything that Ranma had brought about. His beautiful, pregnant bride had been a barkeep in some small village in Russia that the trio had stopped in on their way back to Japan. Genma and Soun proclaimed that she had used a love and fertility potion on the later, but Happosai had painted a different picture. The witch was younger than Kasumi, another fact that upset the girls.
Obviously Akane had taken the news the worst, resulting in her finally coming clean and coming out of the closet. To hear Kasumi explain it, Ranma's sex-changing curse had only added to her confusion while the antics of the hentai horde had only re-enforced her distain for males. Each of the daughters had broken down and ultimately opted to leave the house and dojo. Nabiki had taken a mysterious job abroad, and Kasumi had agreed to marry Ranma to uphold the family name and to get away from Nerima. Akane had also left to study abroad, opting to go to Southeast Asia to study other martial arts and discover who she really was.
The reason why the old crone had agreed to finally stop scheming to have Ranma marry Xiao-Hua was that she and Happosai had managed to broker a deal. It was important for both to ensure that their respective legacies and Ranma was the key to that. Happosai insisted on honoring the Saotome-Tendo marriage pact while Qiang-Long simply insisted that he father children with Shampoo. Ultimately the two had agreed that Ranma would marry Kasumi and that Xian-Hua would be his mistress. Any male children from either union would be taught the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu while any females would be trained in the Amazon traditions. The compromise was less than ideal, but when had any compromises ever make every party happy?
There were benefits to his marriage and affairs. With the Amazons supporting him, it had not taken much to convince the Musk and the Phoenix to support him, and each of the three ministries backed Happosai's claim that Ranma was a master of the art. As a recognized master he was able to take on apprentices even though he was teaching at Hogwarts. Despite the High and Junior Inquisitors' insistence they were not allowed to oversee his training sessions with his apprentices though he was not allowed to use his classes to recruit more apprentices. He was the red herring to distract those loyal to Minister Fudge while Qiang-Long used her decades of experience on the sly. While the High Inquisitor objected to his actions and took matters to Minister Fudge and his supporters, Qiang-Long was able to identify those who were clear supporters of the current Minister of Magic as she moved to gain the confidence of those who did not throw their lot in with him.
Of course the Ministry of Magic chose to see his appointment as Defense of the Dark Arts professor and the fact that he was allowed to train his students at Hogwarts as a sign that Dumbledore was trying to curry favor with several ministries in the Far East and by extension the Daily Prophet was pushing that angle. Still, it meant that there was only so much that the High Inquisitor could do about him as four ministries were backing him and any move against him could be construed as a slight against any of the other four foreign ministries.
Then again, the current administration had their hands full as external forces were probing and prodding it. There had been talk of how the administration had handled the incident following the championship match of the World Cup the previous summer, the unfortunate fatality during the supposedly safe Tri-Wizard Tournament and the fact that a fourth champion had been selected by the Goblet of Fire. Not to mention that word of Minister Fudge's abuse of power and authority was being spread through the Quibbler had gained traction once word of the fact that Harry Potter had to go before a full hearing before the Wizengrot for a simple issue of underage magic, that two dementors had attacked him to prompt his use of the Patronus Charm, and that the Ministry of Magic had not launched an investigation into the presence of the dementors had drawn outrage and thus additional scrutiny by many witches and wizards both within England and abroad.
Ranma knew that it was the elder who was behind that as she had the political savvy to navigate those currents and knew how to recognize the opportune time to let slip a tidbit of information that she had gleaned from someone. As a foreign dignitary she was able to plant a seed of doubt while also scouting for potential allies within the ministry who did not stand with either Fudge or Dumbledore.
"Professor."
He turned to the doorway, surprised that someone had stayed behind. The previous class had been the third year Gryffindor/Slytherin class, leaving him with half an hour before lunch and two hours before his next class, the sixth year Hufflepuff/Ravenclaws. It took him a second to recognize the young boy standing at the doorway who had clearly waited for the High Inquisitor to leave before he and his friends had come back to the classroom. That the boy was not from the previous class was a bit of a surprised. "Mr. Thomas, Mr. Finnigan; what can I do for you two?"
"Sir," the taller, darker skinned boy stepped into the classroom, "do you really believe that You-Know-Who has returned?"
It took a second for him to realize who they were talking about. "Voldemort?" Both boys flinched. "Why?"
The two friends exchanged a glance before Seamus shrugged, "I know that Harry says he's back, but"
"Does it matter?" he interjected. His deflection caught them off guard. "It doesn't matter to me if he is back or not. I'm here to teach you lot to defend yourselves from any possible threat to you and yours. If that threat is a dark wizard and his loyal followers, a cavern full of basilisks, or a mad mage wishing to turn you into a duck and serve you up as dinner, I will do my best to prepare you. What you choose to do is up to you.
"I can tell you that if he were back and he and his followers were threatening my loved ones, I would not stand by and just let him do what he wanted to."
He looked at the young men and sighed. They, like many others, were afraid. "I thought you guys were supposed to be the brave ones, but it's good that you aren't needlessly being brave. There's nothing wrong with being afraid, but do not let your fear overwhelm you. As Gryffindors, I would think that you would not let your fear deter you from doing the right thing."
"And what is the 'right thing', Professor?" Seamus asked.
"The right thing is finding out what is true and which are lies," he replied. "If you allow your fear to cloud your judgement then you've already proven that you don't belong in Gryffindor."
It felt strange for him to be the one lecturing someone else but after nearly a month he felt that he was getting a better hang of it. Still, he was only a few years older than they were. He could not imagine himself looking up to either Kuno that way simply because they were older than he.
X
"Always know where your center is," Sensei stated as he lead the group through another kata. "Never let yourself go too far from it. Know how your center shifts with relation to each move you take. Work within the limits of your boundaries and shift your center to cover the area that you need covered."
After word of Neville and Draco's duel had spread more students had shown an interest in apprenticing with their sensei, but none save for Harry Potter had made it past the initial training session. Ginny was glad.
From what her brother had told her Harry had slept fitfully the past week since he had started training with them. At first he had chalked it up to exhaustion, but then he noticed that Harry wasn't as exhausted as he had initially been after starting training.
Physically Harry had managed to catch up to the others despite starting after them. He was now lugging around seventy kilos along with Neville and Theodore while the girls were still struggling with forty.
"Feel the flow of your energy," Saotome Sensei said as he effortlessly launched himself from the wooden beam. Like a leaf in the wind he floated in the air before gently landing atop another, taller beam.
The formerly empty courtyard was filled with wooden beams or logs with one end buried into the ground. Their height was not uniform, and the distances between them varied, but that was the challenge for the six apprentices. The balls were also gone due to the dangers of one of them landing badly on the logs. Still, the logs were tricky enough as the size and number of buckets had increased yet again.
"No one path is correct," their sensei lectured as he landed before Ginny, forcing her to shift her weight and spring onto another log "but it can be wrong."
"You're just making that up!" Su shouted as she landed atop the walkway.
Their sensei smirked, "Hey, it sounded cooler in my head."
Ginny smirked as she landed then launched herself into the air. Though she did not know him well, she knew enough to know that he was annoyed by the return of the High Inquisitor and her constant presence in his Defense classes. It was only during the twice daily training sessions that he seemed to relax.
The five original apprentices were now at the point where they could talk while running and jumping if needed. With equal number of boys and girls, the restrictions for their runs had changed. In the mornings the girls were to run on their hands, could use the stairs, and did not have to bear weights while the boys could only use the wooden logs and had to still carry their weights. Things were reversed in the evenings.
"Know your limits," Sensei repeated as he sprang to catch Helen as she had apparently misjudged the height and distance she needed. They were all getting stronger, but they still made the mistake of overestimating their ability.
Gracefully he set her on the ground before leaping to intercept Ginny once again. They continued the routine until Sensei once again declared that the reservoir was full. Rather than just sparring and attempting to use the moves they'd learned from the katas, the newest element and challenge had been added. Three wooden practice dummies dubbed Mu, Ren, and Z provided the apprentices with something to practice against. Mu was the largest and most powerful of the three; Ren was the smallest and quickest; while Z was lanky and preferred grappling. Each provided a unique challenge to the apprentices regardless of the pairings that they faced.
The first day that the three had been added had been the day after Neville's duel with Malfoy. Saotome Sensei had ripped into the older Gyrffindor on his lack of technique and finesse as well as the holes in his defense. Still, he was mildly pleased with the outcome though he was upset that Neville hadn't been able to reign in the use of force and limit Draco's injures to mere bruises instead of a broken jaw and rib.
Neville had also admitted that his initial attack with the five kilo weight had been thrown off slightly by the blasting curse and that his second throw had been off (he had aimed to hit the Malfoy jewels) completely. Still, he'd managed to best the other boy without any spells and turned back years of teasing onto his antagonist.
Despite further displeasing Professor Snape, Neville had managed to earn quality marks on the potion that he'd brewed this past week. He was definitely benefiting from the clarity and calm that their master instilled in them.
The evening rinse came far too soon and did not last long enough for Ginny. Stealing a glance at Harry she knew that he felt the same. There was something about performing it out here that made it so much more effective than when she had tried to replicated it in the baths. Each of the others had come to the same conclusion, though Neville was still known to splash some water on his face before his potions classes.
"Sensei, why is this rinsing able to clarify our minds and bodies more than in the baths in Hogwarts?" she finally asked.
The buxom redhead before her could almost pass as a Weasley. Were it not for her violet eyes she would have passed for a Weasley. "It's because the water in Hogwarts is tainted by magic. Everything in Hogwarts is tainted by magic. This rinsing is designed to remove that taint and force your bodies to generate more chi."
"I thought chi was the body's natural energy?" Leave it to the Ravenclaw to question everything.
"It is. But when you use magic with a wand, you are using the magic of the wand's core to process the chi around you into mana for your spell. When your body is capable of doing it without a focus you become more powerful. Still, you'll eventually need to use a focus like a wand to tap your full potential."
"What's a focus?" Harry asked, clearly puzzled.
"A magical tool," Theodore replied. "As witches and wizards we're taught to use wands which are considered the most universal of focuses. Some cultures use staffs as well. The issue with wands and staffs is that they can be fickle. Some are better suited for some types of spells than others."
Their sensei nodded. "Ideally I would have taken you on before you began to use a focus, but since you already have a focus, the physical aspect of training will actually be quicker, it's the other part that will be tricky.
"But back to the original question – the rinse is just a rinse and is more about preparing you to endure a true Misogi. It's not something that I can explain – it's something that you'll have to experience for yourself."
With training for the day over, Ginny rushed to meet up with Michael in the great hall before dinner started. Since apprenticing under Sensei she had little time to spend with her boyfriend or her friends in general. After dinner she had Quidditch practice and as Michael was in a different house than she, she could not hang out with him in the common room after curfew.
Michael was approachable, had a good sense of humor, and witty. He had been the first boy to make her feel like she belonged somewhere. That had been something she'd failed to find in her first few years at Hogwarts. It had been Michael who had suggested that she try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team though she did not doubt that he would cheer for Ravenclaw when their houses/teams played each other.
Making the team though had changed things more than she realized. While Alicia and Katie were not always with her, they looked out for her. The other quidditch fans in the house gave her their respect and were more likely to greet her when they saw her whereas they had previously ignored her. The other girls in her dorm might chose to avoid her, but they were not likely to pick on her as they had done in the past two years.
Apprenticing under Sensei though had changed a lot. The six apprentices were very dissimilar as none of them had a common thread to bind them yet they seemed to be able to put aside their differences as they trained. She knew that Harry was still skeptical of Nott and she knew why.
The clever Slytherin had manipulated Draco into challenging Neville, but why she wasn't sure. While Theodore lacked the sheer bulk and muscle of Crabbe and Goyle, he was taller than both of them. Unlike the other Slytherins of their year he did not follow Draco blindly, though it was said that Theodore was the only one in their year that Draco viewed as an equal. Odd then that he had convinced Draco into getting his jaw broken.
Seeing several students in the corridor before them, Ginny focused her thoughts on herself. After a few turns she found herself in one of the outer rooms on the third floor. It was one of the larger rooms not designated as a classroom though it was often used by the students to house a club meeting. That there were no portraits in the room provided the students with a bit of privacy and there was the added benefit that there were bathrooms for the boys and girls nearby made the room one of the more frequently used rooms. Tonight it was simply a study lounge for the score of students that were present. Most were fifth years, though there were a few fourth and six years as well.
"I heard that some of the Eastern tribes capture magical animals and turn them into women," the Fat Friar stated.
"That's barbaric." Leave it to Hermione to be indignant about the mistreatment and subjugation of magical creatures.
"That tribe even created a way to lock the 'curse' so that the animal stayed a woman so that they could breed with it," the Hufflepuff ghost added.
Since word of her Sensei's connections to several foreign ministries had been leaked, there was much talk about the other ministries and the cultures and their practices. Ginny, along with Hermione and Su, had assumed that the disclosure and speculation of certain practices was meant to discredit those foreign powers so as to prevent anyone from flocking to Dumbledore's banner.
"I heard that once a pack of centaurs purposely fell into a spring that turned them into humans so that they could pass themselves off as wizards."
"It was actually a den of foxes," Ginny corrected as she claimed a seat next to Michael. "Sensei said that he searched for the spring after stumbling upon the tale as he thought it might relieve him of his curse.
"According to his story there was a village greatly troubled by some clever foxes that kept sneaking past their traps and killing their animals. A passing mage created a magical spring and threw the foxes into the spring, turning them into men."
"So that solved the problem?" Ron asked.
"Unfortunately not," Ginny sighed. "They turned out to be like most men and redirected their pursuit of chickens and cattle to women and spirits."
The girls snickered and giggled at the boys' expense.
"Why didn't he just drown the foxes?" Seamus asked.
Ginny shrugged, "I guess he valued life, even the lives of the animals."
"What happened to the spring?" Dean asked.
"Sensei said that the spring dried up and the magic faded."
"You were a guy for a bit, right Parvati?" Seamus asked as he turned towards the Patil twins. "You were too, right Padma?"
The twins nodded, "Yeah."
"How did it feel to be a guy?" Hermione finished asking.
"Well" Padma started.
"We weren't guys too long," Parvati finished. "I remember that I was taller, and my clothes didn't fit as well."
Everyone seemed to wait for more.
"That's about it," Padma shrugged.
The boys appeared to be disheartened.
"It'd probably feel like being someone else," Ron speculated, "like drinking poly-juice potion."
"Didn't you say that because of his curse, someone can't just take the poly-juice potion and turn into the professor?" Ginny turned to Hermione. "Why is that?"
"Well, it's because his transformation is a curse," the bright Gryffindor stated. "Technically, Professor Saotome falls into the demi-human category."
"Demi-human?" Dean repeated.
"We call them half-breeds, though demi-human isn't as derogatory. Anyways, because those cursed with lycanthropy are not human full time they fall into the 'demi' or 'semi' group along with centaurs and harpies. The poly-juice potion only works on human transformation so it wouldn't work on someone who is a demi-human or half-breed like say Hagrid or Fleur who is a quarter veela. The same would be true of anyone born of a human and magically transformed animal. Even though Professor Saotome's other form is that of a human female, he is technically not a full-human."
"Have you tried?" Ginny teased. She knew full well that Hermione had once transformed into a cat-hybrid as a result of a botched poly-juice potion when she had unknowingly used cat hair instead of hair from her intended target.
The other girl blinked. "No I haven't!"
"Wouldn't you want to see what it's like to be a girl for an hour?" Seamus asked as he turned towards Neville.
The tall fifth year shook his head, "I've already had feathers and grown a tail thanks to Fred and George, I rather like being me."
"I think you'd look great as a girl," Luna remarked, drawing several surprised looks from the others.
"I think it'd be easier being a bloke," Parvati stated. "Not having to squat or sit every time you go to the loo."
"Not even needing to go to the loo," Su added. "I've seen some of the boys sneak off the trail to find a tree before or after Care of Magical Creatures, I'm not stupid."
"Trying to catch a look, have you?" that was Terry Boot sitting up at the insinuation.
"Not much to look at," teased Michael.
"You're one to talk," Boot said as he glanced down then back up quickly.
Hermione shook her head, "Boys!?" The other girls sighed at the stupidity of the males.
"I dare you to be a girl for an hour." Anthony Goldstein was usually the most reserved of the fifth year Ravenclaw boys, but every once in a while he could surprise you as he just did to Michael and Terry.
"You do know that it takes a month to brew the Poly-juice potion, right?" Padma tried to defuse the situation. "We only just began brewing it in Potions."
"Right, so three hours then," Anthony smirked.
"What do I get when I complete it?" Terry shot back.
"You'll get a galleon an hour, but only if you last three or more hours," Anthony declared.
"Who are we going to use?" Terry asked as he eyed the gathered girls.
"I am not giving you my hair," Ginny insisted.
"I'm not letting you turn into me," Hermione stated. The other girls quickly nodded in agreement.
"You can use mine," Luna volunteered.
The boys took a moment to ponder her offer. They looked over Luna's long blond hair, slim and petite figure (which was well behind most of the other forth year girls in development), though she had a natural grace to her.
"Okay," Terry finally replied.
Ron glanced at Harry, "I'm not turning into a girl. Oh…, oh! I'm not going to pay you a galleon an hour just to be a girl for a few hours." Her brother seemed to deflate at that. "I'll pay you twenty galleons if you stay a girl the entire Hogsmead trip. But you have to dress like a girl and have Hermione and Ginny do your hair and make-up."
All eyes turned to Ron as the color was drained from his face.
"And when you fail to beat this challenge," Harry added before Ron could say anything "you'll have to take Padma on a proper date."
She'd only seen her brother's face turn such a deep shade of red a few times, though the sight was rather hilarious.
"We had a date scheduled," Ron blurted out, "but now you want me to be a girl while I'm supposed to be on a date with Padma."
All eyes shifted to the Ravenclaw Prefect and then back to Ron.
"As much as you'd all enjoy parading him around Hogsmead as a pretty girl, I rather like him as a bloke." Padma's face lacked the scarlet of Ron's, but it was clear that she was blushing.
"When did this happen?" Ginny interjected on behalf of Hermione.
"Who do you think set up these 'group study' sessions?" Ron shrugged. "Padma and I thought that it would be good for us all to do some inter-house bonding, I pitched the idea to Hermione, and because there are several prefects involved our Heads of House all thought it would be a good idea."
"And it gave us ample opportunity to spend time together," Padma added as she moved to sit closer to Ron "and spend time with our friends."
Dean and Seamus looked at Ron as though they'd just placed him on a higher pedestal.
"Ron told us how you" Parvati gestured at Harry "aren't one to talk much and how you sometimes feel uncomfortable around others because you're so used to your horrible cousin and his friends bullying you. Fred and George said that you're pretty quiet when you're visiting them, we got to thinking that you just needed to be around us all more.
"He also said that since we've been in classes together since first year we should have a better idea of who you are. But I pointed out to him that we really don't know you because you haven't really said much to us in the past four years. It's one thing for you boys to hang out since you share a dorm, but we're" she indicated the three Gryffindor fifth years "not like that."
"It's the best way for you to counter the image that the Ministry and the Daily Prophet are painting of you," Padma stated. "I get that you didn't have a choice in how everyone ignored you back in our first year as Wood kept you busy with Quidditch and then we all turned on you for losing us all those points. And in our second year most of us were afraid of you once we found out that you were a Parseltongue and thought that you were the Heir of Slytherin."
"I was petrified!" chimed Justin.
"So was I!" Hermione protested.
"But in our third and fourth yearss" the shorter of the Patil twins continued despite the interruptions "you were pretty distant. Ron told us it was because you were spending time training to defend yourself from Sirius Black and the dementors, or preparing for the trials of the Tri-Wizard Tournament."
"So this is your chance to just be around others." Ron's uneven smile spoke volumes of how afraid he was that Harry might turn on him for trying to get his best mate out of his shell.
"Thanks Ron," Harry said as he slugged the redhead in the shoulder. "I guess it is nice to actually have some people to hang out with. Now if only we had some food and drinks."
"Did someone say they wanted some food and drinks?" The sudden appearance of a house-elf in their midst startled a few of the gathered students as most were taught to think that a good house-elf was one that went unseen, especially at Hogwarts.
"Dobby," Harry sat up suddenly.
"Mister Potter." Wearing clean, new clothes the house-elf was not typical for its kind, though Hogwarts did keep a higher standard for them. "Can I get you something to eat or drink?"
"Pumpkin juice and some of the chicken and potatoes from dinner," Harry said.
With a snap of his fingers portions appeared before Harry on the table. Soon the other students were putting in their requests, listing items that had been served either at dinner or lunch.
"So, about the bet," Neville said as he topped his cup with water. "I think I could replicate Se-Professor Saotome's transformation spell." Now everyone turned to the tall Gryffindor. "He gave me a tag to study, but I haven't tried using it yet."
"Me either," Su added. "Sensei's already begun teaching the two of us how to create a spell tag. It's not as easy as it sounds. First you have to get clean materials and quality paper that can handle magical energy without being influenced by it, and then we have to make our own ink or paint and use a brush."
"Wouldn't using a wand be easier?" Seamus asked.
Neville shrugged, "It might, on some things, but there are limits to what wands can do. That's why there are so many other types of magic that don't involve wands. Alchemy, potions, incantations, and summoning are just the start. Then you have to also know the right patterns, when to use a pentagram, pentangle, circle, triangle and which way the triangle or pentagram is the top – not to mention that you have to know runes."
"Why didn't Sensei give me the spell tags?" Harry asked.
"Or me?" Ginny chimed in.
Again Neville shrugged, "You'll have to ask him. Maybe it's because you're not at that point yet or because you more attached to your wand? I don't know."
"He does say that we all move at our own pace," Su added. "I just got some paper, Neville got an actual tag."
"Let's see it then," Dean urged his friend and dormmate.
"Yeah," Terry added as he leaned over the table.
Slapping the tag onto Ron's arm, it seemed to Ginny as though Neville's hand were glowing. No, glowing was not right, more like radiating power. Still, nothing happened as the tag seemed to vanish.
"That's it?" Michael said as he eyed Ron.
Neville grabbed a cup of water and splashed Ron with it, triggering the transformation.
"Wicked!" exclaimed Anthony as he took in Ron's female form.
"Do we call you Ronda now?" Parvati teased.
"Get me a mirror!" His voice was several octaves higher. Ron's command was quickly answered as Lavender produced a mirror. "Blimey! I look gorgeous." Turning his face from side to side so that he could get a better view his hand slowly moved downward to explore his new body.
"Stand up so we can see better!" Dean demanded.
Ron did so. Not only was he taller in his female form, but his shirt threatened to burst at the seams while his jeans slipped down to from his waist to his hips, revealing that Ron preferred boxers.
"Blimey!" one of the boys exclaimed.
"You're not as pretty as Padma, but you're stacked better than any of the girls in our year," Michael said before glancing at Ginny.
"You'd best hope those run in the family," snickered Terry.
Ron gave himself a squeeze. "Blimey!"
Several girls blushed. Ron, or Ronda, was ample to say the least, and that was evident despite the fact that he wore a loose shirt and plan jeans.
A quick flash of light illuminated the room though it was focused on Ron. "Good shot Collin!"
Hermione quickly pulled Ron's hand away from his breast as the elder Creevy took aim with the camera.
"How long does this last?" Ron finally asked once Collin ran out of film.
"It only lasted one transformation on us," Lavender said as she eyed Ron. "If you had longer locks you'd be prettier. As they are now there isn't much you can do with them."
"Impervious!" Seamus shouted as he hit Ron with a water-repelling charm.
"What'd you do that for?" Padma demanded.
"Seamus and I will give you two galleons if you can stay a girl the rest of the night," Dean said as he laid the golden coins on the table. "That'll be just long enough for the spell to wear off."
"I am not sitting around all evening like this," Ron declared. "I'm likely to spill out at any moment."
"There aren't many girls that" she searched for the right words "size at Hogwarts and I doubt you'd want to take this to one of the professors."
"Maybe Bode," Anthony suggested.
"I am not wearing her clothes!" Ron protested.
"Well, since none of us can get into the Slytherin dorms that's not a problem," snickered Justin.
With a sigh Neville pulled out a robe from Ron's pack. "Here."
As a Prefect, Ron and Hermione, along with Terry and Padma, were expected to do the occasional rounds, usually in their house robes while everyone else could wear their casual clothes when they weren't in class.
"What am I going to wear underneath?" the taller redhead asked as he handled his school robes.
"What are you wearing underneath right now?" Harry teased.
"Shove off Harry."
"I never knew you were so bashful," Dean chuckled as Collin took another picture.
Only Ginny seemed to notice as Li snuck up behind the pair before tagging them. Catching her fellow apprentice's eye, she nodded slyly. "Aguamenti!" The boys, save for Neville, were splashed with water, transforming them all into female versions of themselves.
"Aw!" pouted Hannah as she glanced at Neville.
Susan turned to Su who simply shrugged, "I didn't get him. It seems his training is paying off."
The other boys turned on Neville in a flash, not even caring to get a grasp of the differences in their physiology.
The warm of the hearth filled the nearly vacant room. Hermione loved the peace and quiet of the tiny room as it gave her the privacy she desired. While the group study session had been nice, it was definitely not to her liking. She'd only gone there because Ron had insisted so much.
Ron. Her heart seemed to skip a beat at the mere thought of him. It had come as a surprise to her and everyone else that he'd been seeing Padma Patil. She stared at the fire, ignoring the book.
"Hermione?"
Startled, she turned only to find Ron's face mere inches from hers. "Wh-what are you doing?"
"It's almost time for rounds," the youngest Weasley son stated.
"Why don't you go with Padma?" She had not meant to sound so testy, but she couldn't help it.
"Are you alright?" The warmth of his hand was evident despite her sweater acting as a sort of barrier. "You feel hot."
He cupped her face in his hand, sending shivers through her body. She wanted to say something but words escaped her. Instead she settled for pressing her lips against his. Suddenly their hands were everywhere. Ron was straddling her in the chair as she ground her hips up at him.
"Ugh!" Warmth flowed from her as a wave of satisfaction rushed through her body.
Hermione's eyes opened. Immediately she sat up only to feel that warmth trickle down to her buttocks. She regretted the decision to go free-buffing but at the time it had been the sensible decision as her panties did not fit the same while she was in a male body. Lavender and Parvati hadn't said anything, and the glamour that they'd cast on themselves was enough to fool Fay and Eloise, but the fact remained that they could not wear their usual attire while transformed.
The dorm's heater provided little light for her but she knew that the others in her dorm were still asleep. Reaching out for her wand she pointed it at the soiled sheets. She was thankful that she was now able to perform the spell wordlessly as she did not want to wake her dormmates. The spell was enough to clean the sheets, but she felt dirty.
She slipped out of bed, feeling her cotton slip rubbing all the wrong parts. It was still there and it was standing at attention, making it all the more difficult for her to walk properly much less avoid bumping into things in the darkness.
Her heart was racing and she could feel herself flush with embarrassment and anger at the… at the what? It wasn't a regular bodily reaction, was it? Did Ron and Harry have to endure this every night? No, it couldn't be. Lavender and Parvati hadn't woken up as she had so it couldn't be something that all boys experienced. But why was this happening to her?
Lost in thought she reached the stairs and slid. The transformation was so thorough that it even fooled the enchanted stairs that were supposed to keep the boys from sneaking into the girls' dormitory. Landing on her rear, she rubbed it.
Unlike Ron who had dramatic differences in his male and female bodies, she had undergone little noticeable changes. Sure, she had hair on her chest, and she guess that she had less body fat as-opposed to more muscle, but she her frame had remained the same.
Grumbling, she gathered her things. As a Prefect she was allowed use of the special Prefects' bathrooms throughout the castle, though most of the Gryffindor Prefects tended to use the ones closest to the Gryffindor dormitories. Unwilling to risk bumping into one of the other Prefects, she opted to use one of the others.
"Hermione?" The voice was unfamiliar to her.
She spun around, hitting the other head against the edge of the table. "Uhh!"
"Sorry!" the shadowy figure rushed to her side. Strong hands gripped her shoulders, guiding her away from table.
"Neville?"
"Yeah?"
"How can you see in the dark?" She could feel her shoulder pressed against the tall boy-turned girl's bosom as he led her through the common room.
She could feel him shrug. "Training I guess." Different body or not, he was still Neville. "Where are you going at this time of night?"
"The loo," she muttered. She was glad for the darkness as it hid her blush.
"Ah." Clearly he knew what she'd experienced. "Sensei says that he had problems adjusting to his cursed form for a while - different center of gravity, range of motion – hormones. It took him a while to pick up on them, especially the last one. That's why he researched the spring that he fell into. He swears that in his female form he craves sweets and that they taste so much better."
With easy he led her out of the common room and through the corridors.
"Why are you up so early?" she finally asked.
"Couldn't sleep," he replied. "I thought Ron's snoring was bad, but it's worse now. I had to go sleep in the common room but then I heard someone hit the floor."
"Why didn't you just use a silencing charm around your four-poster?"
"Sensei doesn't want us to use magic when it's not necessary."
They walked in relative silence, ignoring the sleeping portraits and snoozing suits of armor. Though her eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness she clung to him. "You've changed."
He chuckled, "We've all changed."
She shook her head. "Not that, I mean you've changed since becoming his apprentice."
"Yeah." He sounded pleased.
She wanted to say that there was nothing wrong with the way he was, but she couldn't help but think that it wasn't so much that he was changing, just that he was growing up and maturing.
"I can't believe I let them convince me to do this," she muttered as they turned another corner.
"It's all in good fun," Neville said. "Besides, doesn't this give you a new perspective on things?"
"That's putting it mildly." Had it not been dark he would have seen her scowl.
"So, how does it feel to be a bloke?"