Chapter II – Living Another's Life
The twins went to the library to get the book and left Harry and Ginny sitting next to each other in the common room. After ten minutes, Ginny said, "Harry stop squirming about, people are looking at you and they'll think there's something wrong with me."
Harry said, "You're body needs to hit the loo; and I don't think it will be able to wait for them to get back."
Ginny said, "Are you sure you can't wait?"
Harry said, "Your bladder is ready to burst; I have to go now."
She said, "Well, be sure to dry my quim thoroughly, I don't need to get a U.T.I. or have my roommates to think I wet my knickers. But don't you dare rub my parts, just pat me dry."
Harry looked at her and said, "I don't have to wipe; I told you I just have to cop a wazz, not a dump. And what's a U.T.I.?"
She said, "Harry, a girl still has to dry herself, but I told you just pat dry real good. If a girl doesn't keep her bits cleaned properly, she can get a U.T.I., or urinary tract infection that can be very painful and make her real sick."
I think the twins will be gone quite a while; I might as well take your body to the loo too. And we both might as well brush our teeth too and get ready for bed. All my things for cleansing my face are in the old brown case on the table near my bed."
Harry asked, "What do you mean all the things? Don't you just wash your face with soap?"
She answered, "No, regular soap will dry my skin."
She started to describe her nightly routine; but Harry said, "I really have to go; you can go over how you wash up when we get back."
He started up the girls' stairs waiting for the alarm to go off and throw him back off; but nothing happened. Either the castle's magic didn't realize he was a boy in a girl's body; or the castle was in on the twins prank and thought making a boy and girl switch bodies was funny.
He found the room for third-year girls with Ginny's name on the door, and then her bed and wardrobe. He hung up the robes she wore to the library because she suggested to him that it would be easier to sit on the bog without having to hold the robe up as he went.
He grabbed her kit and crossed to the third-years' girls' loo wearing the Muggle jeans and tee Ginny had on under her school robes. Just as he worried, Ginny's roommates were there in their nighties washing up; he tried not to look at them as he went into a stall.
One girl that Harry recognized as Sara White asked, "Ginny, why haven't you changed for bed? We agreed to talk about plans for the Yule Ball before going to sleep tonight."
The other girl, Mary Jameson said, "Just because Harry didn't ask you to the ball, does that mean you're not going to sleep in that Quidditch shirt of his that you took when he stayed at your house last summer?"
Harry thought, "That's what happened to my Quidditch shirt; I thought it was just lost somewhere in the mess in Ron's room."
Sara asked, "Ginny, are you planning on staying up late instead?"
From the stall, Ginny's voice answered, "Yeah, Fred and George want to talk to me about something; and they asked me to wait in the common room for them to get back. I had to go while I'm waiting; I'll wash up now and change into Harry's shirt later."
Mary said, "I don't know how those two brothers of yours can sneak out after curfew all the time without getting caught. Should we wait up for you so we can talk about the ball?"
Harry, who was standing in the stall hesitant to pull Ginny's jeans and knickers down, said, "No, I don't know how late I'll be; we can talk in the morning."
After the girls left for bed, Harry sighed, and not being able to hold it any longer, finally had to slid Ginny's jeans and knickers down, sit, and relieve himself. He used half a bog roll to pat dry since he didn't want to be the cause of her getting one of those U.T.I.'s.
As he patted dry, he sang the Hogwarts' school song in his mind to avoid thinking about what he was doing to Ginny's quim. Still, he felt a warm feeling start and grow in her body. He moaned, forced himself to stop, and pull her knickers and jeans up.
He washed her hands, and brushed her teeth; but decided not to wash her face until she finished telling him how to go about it the way she wanted. Then he returned to the common room.
Ginny had been in the boys' side before and knew where Harry's room was. She went to his bed, grabbed his kit, and went straight to the fourth-year's boys' loo hoping no one would be there, but there was. Seamus and Dean were washing up wearing nothing but boxer shorts; their night robes were hanging on hooks.
Dean said, "Hi Harry, why aren't you getting ready for bed?"
She answered, "Fred and George are up to something and asked me to wait for them in the common room. I had to cop a wazz and figured to brush, wash up and then go back down to wait for them."
Seamus said, "Don't stay up too late; you don't want to be tired tomorrow for the ball. You're such a lucky bloke, going with Parvati; she has the best body of any girl in our year."
Dean said, "Yeah, and guys say she loves to snog; if you play it right, I bet you can get in her knickers after the ball."
Seamus said, "Yeah, and Ron gets to go with her twin Padma; he's already in his bed and I bet he's wanking just thinking about being with her tomorrow."
Dean said, "He would be stupid to do that; he should save it for her tomorrow night. I bet she's willing to shag him. I hope Lavender wants to do more than snog; but I'm never as lucky as you Harry."
Ginny was furious hearing what the guys were saying about Parvati and Padma; and jealous thinking Harry might actually do more than give Parvati an after the ball thank you kiss.
Then she remembered if they didn't switch back to their own bodies, it might be her taking Parvati to the ball. Harry wouldn't get the chance to even kiss her much less do more.
She was more shocked and didn't know what to say when Dean said Harry was lucky.
Finally, remembering she was in Harry's body, she said, "Yeah Dean, you should be as lucky as me to have Voldemort trying to kill you all the time; and getting to do cool things like having to fight dragons."
Dean said, "Sorry Harry, I wasn't thinking straight, I guess I am a lot luckier than you; you deserve a break like going to the ball with Parvati. I hope she wants to shag your brains out."
The boys put their robes on and left; Ginny went into a stall. As the boys had been talking about Harry and Ron maybe shagging Parvati and Padma, it made her think about it and Ginny felt Harry's member twitching and stiffening. She felt terrible; she was a girl and didn't understand why talking about shagging other girls was making her feel this way.
She had seen her brothers' naked many times when they were all young, but not for more than three years now. Being raised on a farm, as children, they used to swim starkers in their pond; but since she turned ten, her mother insisted she wore a swimming suit and the boys all wear shorts when swimming.
With six brothers, she knew boys stood up to cop a wazz; a couple of times she had even accidentally walked in the loo and seen them doing it. But she never touched one of them, or any other boy's member of course. Now, standing in the stall, she couldn't bring herself to touch Harry's. Finally, she resigned herself to unzipping the jeans and having to hold it.
To her embarrassment, she imagined because it was stiff, she had trouble getting it out of the opening, and ended up fumbling around with it more than she thought she would have to. Then, when she finally got it out, she learned she couldn't aim it down into the bog, it wanted to point up.
She tried to remember how big her brothers were; it seemed to her Harry's member was larger than what she remembered about her brothers. She knew from her sex talk with her mother that a boy's member got bigger when he was excited; then she realized, they were all younger at the time, and none of her brothers' members had been stiff when she saw them.
She knew none of her roommates ever had sex; because, a few times, while sitting around in their room on a weekend talking about boys they fancied, her roommates brought up the subject. They asked her if she ever saw her brothers' or Harry's while he was living at the Burrow.
They all heard from older girls that sex hurt the first time, and that lead to discussing how big certain boys' members might be. She couldn't imagine letting any boy, even Harry, try and push something that big into her quim; it would have to hurt.
One of her roommates got all of them to promise, when any of them actually saw a boy's member, to tell all the others how big it was so they would all know what to expect when their first experience came. They even got Ginny to promise; but now she knew she would never be able to talk about this experience with anyone, girl or boy.
As all that went through her mind, she was stuck, she couldn't go with it stiff. It wouldn't soften while she was holding it, thinking about what Dean and Seamus said, and in her mind comparing the size of Harry to her brothers.
She tried to force herself to think about something else; she kept her mind on what she was going to do to Fred and George for putting her in this embarrassing situation. Eventually, with her mind occupied, without realizing it was happening, Harry's member softened and she discovered she was going.
When she was finished, she wondered if boys had to dry off like girls; then she remembered one time overhearing her brothers say after going, shaking it more than twice was wanking. That thought made it start twitching again, so she hurriedly shook it twice and pushed it back in the pants and zipped up.
After washing her hands, she carefully brushed Harry's teeth. She knew he didn't smile often, but when he did, he had a beautiful smile; and she wanted to be sure to take care of his teeth while they were in her care. When done, she went back to the common room.
Neither Harry nor the twins had returned yet, so she sat in the same divan and waited; five minutes later, Harry came down the girls' stairs and sat next to her. Neither said a word for several minutes; finally Ginny said, "That was so embarrassing, I am going to kill Fred and George; but not until the switch us back."
Harry giggled, then put his hand over his mouth. He said, "What was that, I never giggled before; that's something girls do."
Ginny said, "You are a girl; I do it sometimes and you're acting just like I do."
He said, "Not totally, your roommates were there in their nighties and seeing them sort of made me feel odd down here." He put his hand just below her navel then continued, "I got all warm here; I bet you don't act that way when you see your roommates in their nighties."
Ginny made a face and said, "No, other girls aren't my style; but you're a boy so I would think it would be normal for a boy's mind to react to seeing girls in nighties."
He said, "I have to confess, the guys sometimes talk about girls and I do get feelings; but not there, it sort of affects me in a different place."
She laughed and said, "Harry, you're in my body and it doesn't have that part; girls get that feeling just where you indicated. I guess your boy mind got excited like any boy would; but it caused my girl body to feel it like any girl does when excited.
A few minutes ago, I promised myself that I would never tell anyone about this; but since you were honest with me, I think it's only fair to tell you I had a similar feeling. Dean and Seamus were in their boxers washing up and talking about trying to shag their dates. They even said you might shag Parvati after the ball.
I couldn't help but think about what they were saying and your body reacted to it like I think boys normally do."
The thought of what she saw and felt his body do made Harry embarrassed; that made Ginny's body blush all over. He said, "I'm sorry you had to see and feel that."
She said, "It's not your fault Harry; I think it's actually my fault. It was my mind thinking about what Dean and Seamus said that made your body react that way. Are guys always so crude talking about shagging girls like that? Girls at least are less vulgar when they talk about what they want to do with their dates."
She sat quietly for a minute, then added, "They said Parvati likes to snog and might want to shag you after the ball. You're not really thinking about shagging Parvati; are you Harry?"
Again his mind made Ginny's face blush and he said, "Dean and Seamus are always talking about wanting to shag girls; but I don't think they ever did more than a quick kiss with anyone if that, and I know Ron and I haven't.
I told you earlier in the other room I never even kissed a girl. I don't even want to go to the ball; I didn't make any plans to do anything with Parvati after. And I still think I'll be a lousy date; I doubt Parvati will even want to kiss me much less shag."
Ginny thought to herself, "I'm glad." That thought cause her to make a smile appear on Harry's face.
Harry noticed and asked, "Ginny, did you really want to go to the ball with me?"
Now she was embarrassed and that made Harry's face blush. She said, "Yes. You know me better than any girl other than Hermione; and I know you better than any guy other than my brothers. All things considered, I just sort of thought it would be good to go with each other."
Harry said, "You're right, it would make sense. I'm sorry I didn't ask you. Tell you what, next time there's a ball, would you go with me?"
She smiled and said, "Sure Harry, I'd love to go to the next ball with you; just don't forget you asked."
He said, "I promise; next time I'm all yours."
The door opened and Fred and George entered carrying a large black leather bound book that looked to be ancient.
George said, "It took a while to get it; Filch was prowling around; so …"
Fred went on, "… we decided to bring it back so we could look it over."
They set the book on a table and Ginny and Harry went over to look at it.
Ginny said, "It's all in Latin; I didn't know you guys could read Latin."
Fred said, "What you don't know about us little sister; …"
George finished, "… keeps us from being blackmailed more often by you."
Ginny said, "Ha ha, I already have more than enough on you two to get what I want. Now find that curse and fix us."
Fred flipped pages and said, "Here it is; but we'll have to check our translation …"
George continued, "… to see where we made a mistake."
Fred said, "That will take time, maybe all night; so …"
George finished, "… unless you can read Latin, you both might as well go to sleep."
It was well after midnight, so they decided to sleep on the divan rather than going up and possibly waking their roommates so late.
It was seven when Hermione's voice asked, "Harry, Ginny, what's going on?"
Harry opened Ginny's eyes and said, "What a weird dream."
Hermione said, "Ginny, why are you and Harry sleeping together on the divan; and why are Fred and George sleeping at the table?"
Harry looked around and saw he had fallen asleep with Ginny's head on his body's lap. Ginny, in his body, had an arm over his shoulder; Fred and George were both snoring, their heads on the table, the book still open.
He shook Ginny awake and when she opened Harry's eyes and saw Hermione, she said, "Harry, I think we're in trouble."
Hermione's mouth opened, then she said, "Harry, why are you calling Ginny Harry?"
Harry said, "Ginny, I think we'll have to trust her; maybe she can help us."
Hermione said, "Why don't one of you start at the beginning with why you're both calling each other by the other's name."
Ginny, from Harry's body said, "I'm Ginny, Harry is in my body; the twins pulled some kind of prank on us last night that switched our bodies. We've been trying to get them to switch us back all night; but they don't know how."
Harry from Ginny's body said, "They told us the charm was only supposed to make us switch thoughts so I would know how Ginny felt about me asking Parvati to the ball instead of asking her.
Ginny said, "Something went wrong and we ended up switching bodies. And they told us it should only last an hour, but it's over ten hours now and we're still in the wrong bodies."
Hermione asked, "What is the name of this spell; it sounds like something dark that they shouldn't have been fooling around with."
Ginny said, "Well yeah, we agree they shouldn't have been fooling around with it; it put Harry and me in a more embarrassing situation than you could imagine. It's in that book; they were looking for what went wrong and must have fallen asleep."
Hermione slid the book away from Fred's hand and began reading the open page.
After ten minutes she said, "This is really dark magic; not a charm at all, more of a curse. This spell was meant to be used by an old dying witch or wizard as a way to stay alive by switching souls with a young healthy witch or wizard.
They young person's soul would be lost when the old body died; and the old dark person would have a young healthy body to continue for another lifetime. It sounds like something 'You Know Who' would do.
With all the talking, Fred and George woke and George said, "Hermione, what are you doing here?"
She said, "I'm hoping to fix your mistake and get Harry and Ginny back in their own bodies."
Fred said, "So I guess you know what happened."
She said, "Yes, I know what happened; now I need to find out why it happened and if it can be reversed. Did you two idiots make any notes about the curse that I can check?"
George handed them over and said, "This is our translation; of course the spell had to be done in Latin, but we made the translation so we would understand what should have happened."
Fred said, "We checked it over for hours last night, but …"
George went on, "… we can't find where we went wrong; …"
Fred picked up with, "… other than being stupid enough to do it in the first place."
Hermione sat down and began checking their translation against the original Latin. She said, "Bring me something to eat. If we're going to get Harry and Ginny fixed before the ball I can't take time to go to the great hall."
Fred, George, Ginny, and Harry went to eat while Hermione worked. When they got back with food for her, she was still going over the translation and began nibbling on food as she worked.
The twins went up to their room to catch up on some sleep they missed; Harry and Ginny had to go to the loo again, this time to cop a wazz and a dump. Being the second time for each of them, it was getting less embarrassing.
When they were done in the loo, they settled on the divan again. Hermione continued to work and eventually, hours later, the twins came back to ask if she made any progress.
She said, "Well, I found your mistake; but I can't find a way to reverse it, at least not yet."
Ginny asked, "What did they do wrong?"
Hermione said, "It was the basic nature of the spell they mistranslated. In the description of the spell, it says anima mea commutationem; which Fred and George translated to mean exchange minds or thoughts. It actually means exchange souls. It was an easy mistake to make, exchange thoughts is so similar, animo commutationem.
The problem is the curse was meant to be a one-way thing, so no counter spell is given. All I can think of is to do it again and hope your souls exchange again back to your own bodies."
Ginny said, "So let's do it now; so we can start getting ready for the Yule ball."
Hermione said, "We can't; at least until I get done going over the complete translation."
Harry asked, "Why, the curse worked for them once; what makes you think it won't work again?"
She said, "Part of the page is missing; at the end of the curse, the bottom of the last page was torn out of the book. It ends with a warning about reversing the curse after one …"
Ginny asked, "Reversing after one hour like the twins said?"
Hermione said, "I don't know, the word one is the last word left where the page is torn. It could be one hour, or one day, or one month; or it could be something like after one does some counter spell, or after one anything.
But if whoever wrote this though it was worth giving a warning about reversing the spell, I don't think it is safe to try until we know more about this warning.
Also, do any of you remember how every word of the curse was said exactly?"
Harry said, "No I don't, Fred and George didn't say anything out loud. It seemed like they had the spells on us before time and forcing us to kiss just triggered it."
Hermione said, "The spell calls for a touch to initiate it; I suppose Fred and George thought a kiss would be more romantic than a common touch by your hands."
George said, "Of course, it's a long complicated spell so we did it on each of you secretly over the past two days as you were sitting in here studying."
Fred said, "We knew you wouldn't sit still and be quiet if you knew we were doing it."
Hermione said, "So you made a mistake translating; what if you also mispronounced a word or words on Harry, Ginny, or both of them; that could have made a big difference on the result. If we don't do it exactly the same way to reverse it, who knows what such a dark spell might do."
Ginny asked, "Will you be able to reverse it in time for us to get ready for the ball?"
Hermione said, "No, with part of a page missing, we'll have to see if we can find the spell in another book without the page torn out. I have a date for the ball to you know; but what do you think is more important, making it to the ball, or getting you back into your own bodies."
Ginny said, "Can't we go to the ball somehow and change back when you're ready?"
Hermione said, "Ginny, you're in Harry's body. Do you really want to go with Parvati, dance with her, maybe have her kiss you?
What about you Harry, how would you feel about going with Neville and dancing with and maybe kissing him?"
Harry said, "I don't care about the ball at all; I've told Ginny I never wanted to go anyway."
Ginny said, "But you have to go; or rather I have to go in your body or McGonagall will kill you. And you did ask Parvati; she bought a dress, and she's looking forward to it. It will hurt her feelings if we don't carry it out; and it will hurt Neville's feelings too."
Hermione said, "I can't do any more without finding the missing warning; it's only noon we have a couple of hours before we have to start getting ready. Fred, George, and I can go to the library and look for another copy; maybe I'll be able to find it by then."
Harry and Ginny wanted to go and help search the library, but Hermione said, "Neither of you is good enough in Latin; and the more of us looking around, the more likely Madam Pince is to ask what we're doing. It's best if you two stay here."
Fred, George, and Hermione left; Harry and Ginny went back to sitting on the divan. They ignored friends that came and tried to talk with them making excuses until after two when Ron came over.
He said, "What's up with you two sitting together and talking all day? Everyone's wants to know why. Harry is supposed to be going to the ball with Parvati, not you Ginny; you're supposed to be going with Neville. Now everyone is saying they think you two are going together."
Ginny said, "Ron, the twins pranked us last night and we have a big problem; all we're doing is trying to figure out what we can do."
Ron asked, "What did they do to you?"
Harry said, "We don't want everyone to know; it will get Fred and George in trouble. Hermione figured out what went wrong and she's working on a solution. If she or the twins come up with something in the next two hours, everything will be back to normal; if not, we'll tell you about it."
Ron said, "If you won't tell me, I'll go ask Fred and George. Where are they?"
Ginny said, "In the library, Hermione too; they're looking for a way to reverse their prank. But they promised not to tell anyone what they did, not even you."
As soon as Ron walked away angry, Neville approached, also looking angry, and said, "Ginny, Harry, I think we need to talk about the ball tonight."