The Morning After

by Nikki Little

Chapter 1: "Return of the Bedwetter"

I am an idiot. I am a bloody idiot. What, might you ask, did I do that was so awful? Well, for one thing, I learned never to mindlessly answer questions again. Some questions are simply best left unanswered. It doesn't matter if it was your best friends who asked them. The morning after my encounter with the shapeshifter who pretended to be Ginny, Hermione, Hermione from fifteen years in the future, and finally Cho, Ron asked what I was doing outside in the reeds in the middle of the night. It appears that one of the sleepers had awoken. I am an idiot.

We had all just finished breakfast, and Hermione, Ginny, and Ron were all on the sofa opposite me in a love seat. Perfect position for a grilling.

"So what were you doing out in the reeds in the middle of the night?" asked Ron.

"I heard what I thought was a voice and I went to investigate," I said.

"That's it? That's all? Did you find anything?" asked Ron.

"I found Ginny. At least, it looked like Ginny."

"And...?" Ron looked at me expectantly.

I squirmed. I looked at the ceiling. I sighed. I even stared at Ginny hoping she would see that I was in distress and find some way to get me off the hook. No dice. Ginny was as interested in finding out what happened, as well.

"And...?" Ginny looked at me expectantly. I looked over at Hermione.

"Don't look at me, Harry Potter! You dug this ditch for yourself." Hermione wasn't feeling merciful.

"Trust me, Hermione. You don't want me to spill the beans about what happened last night. You'll be happier if you don't know."

"Now I've got to know. Spill it." Hermione leaned forward propping her chin on a fist.

"Spill, spill, spill!" chanted the threesome.

"It was a shapeshifter. She looked like Ginny. She gave me the kind of smooch that makes you think your back is in an ice locker while your front is roasting on a spit over an open flame. It was fantastic. Second-best kiss I ever got in my life."

"Oho! The plot thickens! That means the shapeshifter took the form of more than one girl. So who was the next girl?" asked Hermione.

"Wait! The shapeshifter who looked like me gave you only the second-best kiss you've ever gotten? Who gave you the best?" Ginny was giving me the stink-eye.

"Next, the shapeshifter took the form of Hermione and gave me the third-best kiss I've ever gotten. She did, however, leap on me and wrap her arms around me like an octopus. That was interesting." I started to pray silently.

"That means there's another girl," said Ron. "So tell who the next girl was." Ron was now leaning on his chin like Hermione.

"The fourth girl was Cho, who didn't kiss me. She just put her arms on my shoulders and told me that she was my true love and always had been. She taunted me for not recognizing her."

"You skipped one." Hermione was eyeing me with increasing suspicion.

I sighed. I was trapped. I didn't know what to do. You would think that I would have had enough sense to say that I had to go to the bathroom. Even that simple idea fled me. I answered.

The third girl was Hermione from fifteen years in the future who gave me the best kiss I ever got in my life. It was fantastic. I had chills and sweats from it all night.

Ginny looked aghast. "Ewwww!"

Ron looked at Hermione. "In fifteen years, Hermione will be thirty-one years old and you're sixteen. Hermione, that makes you a child-molester!"

"Don't look at me! I didn't do it! It was the shapeshifter!" Hermione was now looking a little defensive. I offered in a prayer to give up playing spin-the-bottle with the two girls from India who had been dates for Ron and me to a formal the previous year if I could get out of this unscathed.

"Hey! How did the shapeshifter know what I look like in fifteen years?" asked Hermione.

Uh, oh.

"Harry!" Hermione was insistent.

"I asked her and she said to just trust her. She said she was sure." I'm pretty sure I wet myself at that point.

"So what did I look like fifteen years from now?" Hermione demanded.

Increasingly conspicuous became the puddle in the floor I was making.

End of Chapter 1

This story is based on the characters created by J. K. Rowling who owns the copyrights.