Switching Places

The night before the Yule Ball, a prank played on Harry and Ginny by the twins goes wrong causing them to switch bodies.

Chapter I – The Curse

Harry Potter was worried. Actually that was nothing new, he had been worried about one thing or another for more than three years since he learned he was a wizard, and a Dark wizard called Voldemort wanted to kill him. By now, he was used to worrying about Voldemort; but tonight he had many other things to worry about.

Nearly two months ago, on Halloween night, his name came out of the Goblet of fire making him a champion in the Tri-Wizard Tournament; that worried him because he hadn't put his name in the goblet. He had been worrying for the past two months about who did put his name in, and why.

A month ago was the first task in the tournament, and he had to get past a dragon to get a clue for the second task. He worried about that from the day he first learned what he had to do until he finally accomplished the task.

For the past month, he worried about the clue he had concerning the second task. He hadn't even been able to figure out how a screeching noise could be a clue, much less actually figure out what the clue means.

For the past few weeks, he was worried about the Yule Ball. He was told, as a champion, he would have to go to a formal dance, with a girl, and dance with her in front of all the other students. He worried about that because he was only fourteen, he never asked a girl for a date before and didn't know how to approach a girl to ask; and if he did get a date, he didn't know how to dance.

For the past two days, since he got up the nerve to finally ask a girl, Parvati Patil, to go with him, he worried that she didn't realize he couldn't dance, that he didn't really want to go to the ball, and because of that, she most likely wouldn't have a good time.

But tonight, tonight he was really worried. Since he asked Parvati to the ball, he noticed that Fred and George Weasley had been watching him constantly; and they were whispering to each other as they watched him. Right now they were watching him and whispering, and he worried they were planning to do something to him.

The Weasley twins were his friends; but they were famous in school for pranking people. Most of their pranks were harmless fun, turning someone's hair green, or someone's face purple for a day. But if they were angry with someone, their pranks of revenge could be nasty.

Tonight, Harry was really, really, worried because he didn't know why they were watching him. He couldn't think of anything he had done to upset the twins; but tomorrow was the Yule Ball, even a minor prank tonight or tomorrow would be highly embarrassing if it hadn't worn off by tomorrow night.

He worried that tomorrow night he was already going to be embarrassed when everyone saw he couldn't dance. If he had to try and dance in front of everyone with a purple face or green hair; or worse, if Parvati backed out of their date because of the twin's prank, he'd die of the embarrassment.

Harry saw Fred get up and leave the common room; George looked at his watch like he was waiting for something. Ten minutes later, George got up and walked over to Harry. He said, "Harry, teammate, champion, friend, could you come out in the hall with me for a minute?"

Harry cautiously asked, "Why?"

George said, "Fred and I have a problem only you can help us with; it will only take a minute and we think you'll learn something important that will help you in the future."

Harry hesitated, he knew the twins wouldn't hurt him, at least not seriously; and if they wanted to prank him, he probably couldn't avoid it. He also knew the more he tried to avoid it, the more serious they would make the prank.

Reluctantly, he followed George into the hall and to the first room on the right. In the room, Fred was waiting with their younger sister Ginny.

Harry asked, "Ginny, do you know what this is all about?"

Ginny answered, "I was going to ask you. Fred was in the hall waiting for me when I came back from the library and said we needed to wait here for George; he never mentioned you."

George said, "It came to our attention Harry, that you insulted our little sister the other day, …"

Fred continued, "… and we think you need to understand how you hurt her feelings."

Harry panicked, if the twins thought he insulted and hurt Ginny, they could be planning a nasty prank on him. He said, "I didn't. I never hurt Ginny, I never would hurt Ginny."

Ginny was staring at the twins, she had no idea of what they were talking about; Harry never did anything to insult her. She had hoped he would ask her to the ball, and he didn't; that did hurt her feelings. But she could live with that, she was going to the ball with Neville anyway.

Before Ginny could say anything, Fred said, "Our source told us she heard Ron tell you to ask Ginny to the Yule Ball; …"

George finished, "… and you said you wouldn't go with her, then you asked Parvati."

Fred said, "We want you to know what you're missing Harry; …"

George looked up and said, "… so, since you are both standing under the mistletoe …"

Fred went on, "… it looks like you're going to have to kiss Ginny …"

George finished, "… and tell her you're sorry."

Ginny yelled, "No he doesn't! You prats got it backward. Ron did say for Harry to ask me to the ball; but I'm the one that said no because I already promised Neville to go with him. Besides, Ron had no business trying to set Harry and me up on a date."

Harry said, "I thought of asking Ginny a week ago, but never did because she's Ron's sister. I didn't think he'd like me asking her; you know how he gets about her since what happened in the Chamber of Secrets."

Ginny's face got all red and again she yelled, "Now you have insulted me Harry; do you think I'm Ron's property? Its bad enough he tries to give me orders. What makes you think that he gets to decide who can ask me for a date and who can't; or whom I can or can't go with?

I'll have you know, if you had the Bollocks to asked me to go to the dance before Neville did, I would have said yes; and Ron could sod off if he didn't like it.

Now, I'm going back to my room. I don't want you to apologize and I certainly don't want to kiss you. If you worry more about Ron's feelings than mine, go kiss him."

Ginny went to move, but couldn't; her feet seemed to be stuck to the floor."

George said, "We're afraid you will have to kiss."

Fred said, "We thought Harry might try to leave; so…"

George went on, "… we put a sticking charm on the floor as part of the plan."

Fred said, "It won't let either of you leave until you kiss."

Ginny pulled her wand and said, "Let me go right now or you'll both be sorry."

Fred and George backed away and Fred said, "Brother, I think we made a mistake; …"

George added, "… and we should go think about what we did before…"

Fred ran from the room and as he went, he said, "… before we end up fighting Bat-bogies."

George was right behind Fred, leaving Ginny and Harry stuck in place.

In the hall, Fred said, "Georgie, what do you think she'll do to us when she learns that after they kiss, the charm will cause her to start picking up Harry's thoughts and feelings?"

George said, "Whatever she plans on doing to us, when she learns Harry can pick up her thoughts and feelings, she'll think of something worse. What made you think it was a good idea to do this knowing each other's feelings spell anyway?"

Fred said, "It was your idea; you found the charm and said Harry should learn how Ginny feels about him."

George said, "You agreed, you thought we could make Ginny happy because if Harry knew how she felt about him, he would start to fancy her."

Fred said, "Maybe the charm won't work; it was fairly complex. If we made a mistake doing the charm and it doesn't make them swap thoughts and feelings, neither of them will know we planned more than just making them kiss."

George said, "Then let's hope we did something wrong; just making them kiss got her mad enough."

Still standing there stuck to the floor, Ginny said, "I'm going to make them pay for this; and you to Potter."

Now Harry turned red, he was angry and said, "What did I do? Ron's the one who said I should go with you; and you're the one that said no. I didn't have any say in the matter; in fact I never said one word."

Ginny glared at him and said, "I told you what you did; you treated me like I'm Ron's property. If you don't like me and didn't want to ask me to the ball, just admit it; you don't have to say you thought of asking me and then hide behind Ron to make an excuse for not asking me."

Harry said, "I do like you Ginny, I always liked you, as a friend; but ..."

She interrupted with, "You like me as a friend; but you like Parvati as a girlfriend, the kind of girlfriend to ask to a ball."

He said, "No, I don't like anyone as a girlfriend; I never even thought of having a girlfriend. Look Ginny, I don't want to go to this ball at all; I never thought of going to any dance. I don't even know how to dance.

But McGonagall is making me go, and making me bring a date. I guess because I don't want to go, I kept putting off asking any girl. I know I won't have any fun; I'll be a terrible date. If I asked you, you would have a lousy time; Parvati is going to have a lousy time."

Ginny said, "So you think you're doing me a favor by not asking me?"

Harry said, "Yeah, I am; you just don't know how I feel about this."

She said, "And you don't know how I feel either."

Harry said, "Okay, so let's agree to disagree. Now, it looks like we have to kiss, or stay stuck here. After we're free, if you want to go hex the crap out of Fred and George, I'm willing to help; so let's get this over, get free, and find them."

She said, "Just remember, I'm only kissing you to get free, and I never kissed a boy before; so when we get out of here, don't go telling other guys I'm a lousy kisser."

Harry said, "Don't worry, I never kissed a girl either; so don't you go telling the girls I'm a lousy kisser. Now let's get this over."

She put her hands behind her back, leaned toward him and closed her eyes. He leaned toward her, put a hand on the side of her head so he could fell where her face was before he closed his eyes. Both of them planned the shortest kiss possible, just enough to get free; but, when their lips touched, a purple light surrounded them and their lips locked together. Five seconds passed before the glow faded and they found they could separate their lips and their feet were free.

Ginny opened her eyes and saw herself as if she was looking into a mirror; she felt strange and said, "What did those gits do?"

Then she realized her voice was different, deeper and she looked down; she was in Harry's clothes; no, she was in Harry's body."

At the same time, Harry opened his eyes and saw his body across from where he was standing; he heard it say in his voice, "What did those gits do?"

He looked down at himself; but it wasn't him, he was looking down at Ginny's body."

They both screamed. Harry said, "What happened to us? I'm in your body and you're in my body."

Ginny said, "I'm not going to hex them, I'm going to kill them. I can't believe they would do a prank like this."

Harry said, "You'll have to get in line. They better be waiting in the hall to reverse it because we can't let everybody see us like this."

Ginny walked Harry's body to the door and looked up and down the hall. She came back and said, "They're gone; what are we going to do?"

Harry said, "We go looking for them and make them switch us back."

Ginny said, "Everyone will laugh at us; people will remember this prank for years. And if the Slytherins hear about it, we'll have to leave school, they'll never leave it go."

Harry said, "We can't let anyone know; you have to act like I do and I'll have to act like you do. It shouldn't be too hard to act like each other for a few minutes while we go to the common room and get them to come back here and reverse the charm."

Ginny said, "What if they're not in the common room?"

Harry said, "We check their dorm room, if they're not there, we sit together in the common room and wait for them to come back. We try not to talk to anyone; but if we have to, you know my friends and I know yours. Just try to act like me and say things like I would say them, I'll try to act and talk like you do."

Ginny said, "Easy enough for me, I can sit and brood in a funk like you do most of the time, ignoring other people and not talking at all; but you will have to be cheerful and talk with everyone that walks by. Do you think you can you be cheerful for an hour or two?"

Harry glared at her and said, "If you felt like I do with people saying you're a cheat and a liar, you wouldn't talk to them either."

Ginny answered, "I never said anything like that about you, I believe you didn't enter the tournament; but you ignore me, and Neville, and the others that believe in you too. You don't know how bad we feel when you treat us like that."

Harry knew she was right but couldn't admit it to her; he just said, "Let's go find Fred and George."

The twins weren't in the common room, so Harry and Ginny went to the sixth year boys' room and found them talking; nobody else was there, so Ginny, in Harry's body with Harry's voice, yelled at them, "Fix us, fix us right now or else I'll Bat-Bogie you to death."

Fred said, "I guess the charm worked, but why is Harry yelling, I figured Ginny would be the one to scream like that; Harry is usually quiet."

George said, "Harry, we just thought if you knew Ginny's thoughts and feelings about you, both of you would be happier."

Harry, in Ginny's body with Ginny's voice, said, "What the bloody hell are you two talking about?"

Fred said, "About our charm that lets both of you know the other's thoughts and feelings."

Ginny, in Harry's body, began laughing uncontrollably, and Harry, in Ginny's body with Ginny's voice, said, "You thought switching our bodies would make us happier? How stupid could you be?"

Fred and George looked at each other and George said, "What do you mean switching bodies?"

Ginny stopped laughing and said, "This is Harry's body, but I'm Ginny; and Harry's in my body. Your stupid prank made us switch bodies."

Fred said, "You're putting us on; you're angry so you decided to prank us back."

Ginny said, "Ask me something Harry couldn't know; something only you two and Ginny would know."

George said, "When Ginny was seven, we took her Harry Potter doll and accidentally ripped its head off; what did Ginny do?"

Ginny said, "I hexed both of you with mum's wand; you were both covered with boils and mum couldn't reverse my spell. After she fixed my doll, the next day, I reversed my hex."

Fred said, "It is Ginny. Georgie, I think we made a big mistake on the switching spell."

Ginny said, "You bet you made a big mistake; now fix it, fix it right now or you'll both wish 'You Know Who' was after you instead of me."

George said, "We don't know how; we found the spell in a book in the restricted section and this was the first time we tried it."

Fred continued, "It wasn't supposed to switch your bodies …"

George went on, "… only make each of you pick up the other's thoughts and feelings."

Harry, with Ginny's voice said, "Why would you want to do such a thing to us?"

Fred said, "Ginny is our favorite sister; and …"

Before he could finish, Ginny interrupted with, "I'm your only sister."

George ignored her interruption and picked right up on Fred's sentence with, "… she wanted to go to the ball with you."

Fred said, "She's fancied you for years."

Ginny yelled, "Shut up you two; isn't switching our bodies embarrassing enough without you telling him my private feelings?"

Harry said, "I'm sorry Ginny, if I knew you wanted to go with me I would have asked you; even though what I told you earlier is true, I think I'm going to be a lousy date.

Did you really have a Harry Potter doll when you were young?"

Ginny screamed, then said, "Fred, George fix us now so I can crawl off to my room and die of embarrassment."

Fred said, "From what we read, you should have just known each other's thoughts and feelings for an hour; then the charm would reverse by itself."

George said, "We'll have to look through the book and see if it gives a counter spell or other way to cancel it."

Ginny said, "Well, what are you waiting for, do it now."

George pointed his wand at Harry's body and said, "FiniteIncantatem." Then he asked, "Well?"

Ginny said, "Nothing, it didn't work."

Fred said, "Maybe we have to do it to both of you at the same time."

He pointed his wand at Ginny's body and said, "On three George. One, two, three."

Together they said, "Finite Incantatem."

Again Ginny said, "Still nothing; you have to try something else; get the book out."

George said, "We don't have the book here, we couldn't take it out….."

Fred added, "… it's in the restricted section, we just copied the spell."

George went on, "We'll go back tomorrow morning and look for a reversal spell …"

Fred finished, "… if you don't automatically return to normal by then."

Ginny asked, "And what are we supposed to do until tomorrow morning?"

Fred said, "Go to sleep, and in the morning …"

George said, "… let us know if nothing has changed."

Ginny said, "I can't go to my room in Harry's body; I think my roommates would notice."

Harry said, "Yeah, even Ron would notice if Ginny's body walked into our room and climbed into my bed."

Fred said, "No problem, Ginny you're in Harry's body, so you sleep in his bed; …"

George finished, "… and Harry, you're in Ginny's body so you sleep in her bed."

Harry said, "You want me to sleep in a room full of thirteen year-old girls running about in their nighties; they may not notice, but I would."

Fred said, "See Harry, your luck has changed already; …"

George said, "… yeah, getting to sleep in a room with four cute scantily clad girls …"

Fred said, "… and you don't even have to say thank you to us."

Ginny said, "Two girls, two of my roommates went home for the holidays, only two besides me were asked to the ball by an older boy."

Harry said, "Do you guys know how embarrassing this is; I'll have to change into Ginny's nightie, the other girls will notice if I try and sleep in these clothes."

Ginny said, "So, I'll have to change into your pajamas and sleep in the same room as my brother and three other boys."

Harry said, "I just thought of something worse; I'll have to use the girls' loo, and there'll be girls around."

Ginny said, "So, I'll have to use the boys' loo."

Then, after she thought about it, she said, "Ewh, ewh, ewh, when you have to use the bog you'll have to wipe my bits. Close your eyes when you do it, and Harry, you better not touch parts of my body for any other reason or enjoy it. And close your eyes when you change clothes too, don't you dare look at my body, or I'll kill you."

Fred and George started laughing until Ginny glared at them and said, "You think this is funny?"

George said, "I was just thinking of the mess he'll make if he has to go on the bog and wipe you bum all with his eyes closed."

Fred said, "And Harry won't just be embarrassed by looking at you body, he'll also see your roommates undress in front of him."

George continued, "Ginny, you'll have to take care of Harry's bodily needs too; and hold his member when you have to cop a wazz."

"Oh for Merlin's sake," Ginny said, "Can it get any worse?"

Harry said, "Yes it can, if we don't return to normal by tomorrow night, you'll have to take Parvati to the ball as your date and dance with her."

Ginny laughed and said, "And you'll have a date with Neville; I wonder if he'll want you to give him a thank you kiss after the dance?"

Harry thought about Neville kissing him and said, "I'll go get my invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map; we can't wait until tomorrow, you two have to go to the library right now and find that book."