4.0
I was a little disappointed that Harry and Ron didn't question my absence when I got back. Too many distractions I supposed. They'd discovered girls in force this year. Harry kept trailing after Cho like a lost puppy and Ron was quite incapable of maintaining eye contact with me longer than a few seconds without either turning red or sneaking peeks at my bosom - or some combination of the two. I would have thought he'd have noticed my chest missing if nothing else but I wasn't the only girl in the castle. I was pretty much the only one to willingly talk to him though. Thankfully Ron's new appreciation for misogynistic comments hadn't passed to Harry yet.
While slightly peeved that Harry felt Cho had something I didn't have, Ron's attentions annoyed me the most. From my travels and, for that matter, my time at Hogwarts, leers and more cultured examinations of my form were not unknown to me. Unfortunately with Ron I felt neither appreciative or angry, just a vague sense of pity for a little unmuscled and lazy boy pining for something he'd never have. I wasn't sure my feelings were justified or stemmed from a 'only wanting someone who doesn't want me' sort of thing. Or maybe I was just getting arrogant from being so much older and smarter than my peers.
Despite my romantic frustrations and a sociopathic DADA teacher that felt turning a student into a ferret was a good idea, Monday lifted my spirits considerably. After a long, tiresome brewing, my illegal polyjuice potion was finished. Infused with my own hairs preserved from before my animagus issues it should transform me back to my human form. Well, temporarily at least.
Filling a small water bottle with a portion of the potion I set the cauldron's stasis function to active for the rest. I was reluctant to take the first gulp, contemplating the risks as I headed back to the dorms. Once burned twice shy and all that. If I wasn't worried what he might do with my body I'd consider using Ron as a guinea pig. "I'm a gryffindor." I drew the curtains around my bed and swallowed a dose of potion that tasted even worse than I remembered.
"It's working!" It was a bit uncomfortable like I was being stuffed into too small a space but it was working! I let the invisibility cloak and glamours fall in time to see my lower body turn flesh-colored. I giggled and fell onto my bed as my shrinking hind-legs destroyed my balance. Seconds later I was practically purring as I discovered I had toes again, cute and wiggly little toes.
'Frikk, I am purring.' Upon finding my ears had shifted up my head and shifted into cat ears I immediately rushed to the bathroom. Perversely it was the sudden addition of a tail that kept me from losing my balance on only two legs. Reaching the mirror my fears were confirmed by two golden cat eyes staring back at me.
"Oh come on," I hissed. "I'm a good potion brewer. It should not be this hard to make a polyjuice potion." Technically the potion was perfect just like last time, it was just the application I had trouble with. I wasn't sure what caused the issue this time. It was possible that magic dwelled in hair for months like some drugs and poisoned. If so the hair I'd retrieved off my brush might still have been affected by the first polyjuice potion. If that was the case I was screwed since I'd added the hairs to the cauldron itself rather than a small portion like in second year. I'd have to brew a whole new pot if I wanted to fix it, and that assumed I could find some hair of mine that wasn't tainted with felinity. If it was some other reason I had no way of fixing it which meant I was also screwed.
At least I wasn't covered in fur like last time, save for that on my ears and tail. I was a much more human-looking catgirl this time around. I wondered if Crookshanks would come near me again now that I was like this. Alas, he'd probably just get freaked out and treat me like a panther. 'Hmm.' My eyes returned to their normal round shape as I calmed, gold darkening to a deep brown. My fangs were roughly the same as they were in my half-spider body and -
"Holy frikk. I'm thirteen again." Even though I was distracted by being part cat I had no idea how I missed that. Shorter, smaller breasts, somewhat annoyingly high-pitched voice if I got too worked up… I did not relish being thirteen again. Far from containing leftover magic, that hair might have actually been leftover from the polyjuice incident itself. Either that or the screwup had left such an imprint on me that any use of polyjuice would revert me back to this form.
My cat ears picked up the sound of girls coming up the staircase sooner than my human ones would have which was the only thing that saved me. Rushing back to my bed I threw my robes on over the oversized muggle clothes I was wearing. If my shorts fell off my once-again slender hips I'd be covered, but arguably more importantly the robes covered my tail. Barely remembering where it was I put on my pointed witch hat that only the pureblood girls wore regularly. My ears struggled against the confines but finally laid flat just as the girls funneled into the dorm. I tried to remain calm to keep my eyes from changing.
"Is that Hermione?" asked Parvati.
"It is! We caught her this time!" shouted Lavender. "I told you she's been using glamours to make herself look better."
"You're so right," said Abigail. "She looks like a little bushy-headed kid without them, doesn't she." That was a little much. Even before the time turner I was the oldest in the class which meant even as a fourth-year they weren't much older than my body was now.
"She won't try stealing Trevor from me once everyone finds out she's just a flat-chested wannabe." Like her B-cups were sooo impressive. And who the heck was Trevor, anyways? I didn't know if it was the shock or the younger body was affecting my self-control but my eyes were starting to burn. Whether it was tears or my eyes becoming feline again I didn't know but I kept them downcast, which unfortunately made me look more guilty than ever. The enforced calm I'd felt in my other body and the certitude I was better than them and they were all just jealous was rapidly tearing to shreds.
Lavender shot a charm at my clothes that painted the word 'Liar' on my hat. The other girls joined, adding 'Slut', 'Whore', and 'Tramp' to where my breasts used to be. This was the final straw that sent me running from the room. Through some stroke of luck I didn't trip over my ill-fitting robes until after I reached the bottom of the stairs. Still, as I picked myself up from the floor of the common room I wondered if death via stairs might have been merciful. Ever single witch and wizard in the common room was staring me. Oh god, Harry and Ron were there too.
I hiked up my robes, hands tight to my sides to keep the shorts from slipping. Not daring to look up again I rushed out of the common room as it exploded into accusations, gossip and assorted chitter-chatter, all about me. Even though my weak human legs burned with the effort I kept running all the way to the roof and leaped through the rift.
Once I was in Arda I kept moving though at a slower pace. I wasn't walking with any purpose in mind, I just needed to get a way. The spiders in the woods might have been nice company but I couldn't go there looking like this. Despite all the commotion I'd somehow kept ahold of the bottle full of polyjuice though now it felt like it was mocking me. All that work and all it had done was make everything so much worse.