Thank you so much everyone for being patient! This took much longer than I thought it would, but I have been so busy with school that I just haven't had the time to write. But right now it's Christmas break so we'll see, mabye I can squeak out another chapter by the time school starts up again ;) - Emma Lee14

KittyKatRox- Thanks, lol. I'm glad you liked it. Well i've got someone proofing it for me, but she's slacking a little latley ;) I got my sister to go over this one for me though, so it should have less errors.

emmablk1- Well since I never got my BETA's e-mail back hinthint I had Molly proof it over for me. See what I have to do when you forget about me? lol, j/k :)

mony-hp- lol, thanks :)

hpottersgirl- We read The Oddesy my freshman year in high school, it wasn't over the summer but it was in class. We didn't really read the entire thing, but I bought a copy of it and read it. Did you like it? I thought it was really good, especially considering the fact that it was written ages ago.

Merry Christmas yall! Thanks for reading :)

Gender Changing Toffees: Chapter Seven

Slytherin Prince or Gryffindor Teddy Bear?

As Draco Malfoy made his way to the great hall, he could not help but notice that every single male he walked past gawked at him. He felt like half the pre-pubescent guys ogling him were unclothing him with their nasty little minds as he walked by. Draco rolled his eyes and tugged at the front of his robes self consciously. Did he used to be like that? Unclothing girls in his mind as they walked by? He immediately regretted the question however. Of course he had. What did that make him now? A hypocrite? Draco made a mental promise that if he was ever to be returned to his original body, he would make it a point not to be such a perverted guy. Well, not so obviously anyways. Suddenly Draco heard someone calling his name. He slowed down and Hermione Granger ran up beside him, panting.

"What?" Draco asked the flustered girl. She looked like she had just ran a marathon. It took her a while, but Hermione eventually caught her breath.

"I forgot, you said you were going to the great hall, but we have to meet Professor Mcgonagall in her office, remember? I just wanted to remind you." she explained. Draco smacked his forehead in frustration.

"I completely forgot! Thanks Granger, she'd skin me alive if I missed that." he said. The old bat was not a lady to tolerate tardiness.

"Your welcome. I guess she wants to give you your schedule and stuff. Anyways, we might as well head over there now. It never hurts to be early." she said. Draco smiled slightly, thinking that he himself often liked to arrive at places early. The two continued down the hall together. Once they reached the office, they were not surprised to see their professor already there.

"Good morning Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger." Mcgonagall greeted. Hermione and Draco nodded their heads and said good morning to her before entering the room. She motioned for the two to take a seat.

"Now, I have Mr. Malfoys schedule prepared. All of his classes excluding Divination will be with you, Miss. Granger. During that period I believe you have Muggle History. You won't begin to attend class however until tomorrow. Today I want for you to catch Draco up on his assignments and get him prepared for class. It will be a kind of easy day for the both of you." Hermione began to object then but Mcgonagall waved her away , " Don't fret Miss. Granger, I assure you that I can get adequate notes and assignments from Mr. Potter or Mr. Weasley so you won't be behind. Now, tomorrow you will begin your classes. Draco you must act like Diana. Do not forget that you are no longer Slytherin. The last thing we need is for the students to suspect something is going on. The class you do not have with Miss. Granger, you have with Harry Potter. I am aware of the tension between you in the past but I fully expect you to behave. In fact, it might be best for the both of you if you befriended him. Do you both understand?" she finished. Both students nodded their heads solemnly. This was a reminder for them about just how different their lives were going to be. Hermione was also grateful that Mcgonagall didn't mention her previous visit this morning. Their professor smiled softly and motioned for them to stand.

"Good. Now, I have a meeting in five minutes with a certain female Weasley about a nasty Bat-Bogey hex she performed on her brother this morning. I will be here if you need to discuss anything else with me." she said, laughter dancing in her old wise eyes. Hermione knew she was amused about Ginny's hex on Ron. Hermione herself was, and she laughed as they left for the library, the only place they figured they could have a quiet atmosphere in which to study.

"Ginny hexed Ron!" Hermione laughed, sounding a bit mystified and pleased at the same time. Draco grinned and flicked his hair behind his shoulder. The long locks were quite bothersome and he was considering getting them cut.

"I know, I know, you've only said it eighteen times!" he said. Hermione smiled and shook her head.

"But I just cant believe it!" she squealed.

"Well I would have done it too, had she not gotten to him first. You know, I could have beaten him to a bloody pulp." he said.

"A little thing like you? Hardly." she smirked. Draco pretended to be offended and dropped his bags on the floor, causing both of them to halt.

"Would you like to see me try?" he challenged, flexing his nonexistent muscles jokingly. Hermione rolled her eyes at his false bravado.

"Later muscle boy, right now we have some hard core studying to do." she said. Draco chuckled and grabbed his bags from the floor. When they reached the library Hermione handed Madame Pince a letter signed by Mcgonagall saying that the two had permission to study in the library for the day. Pince barley even glanced at the letter before she ushered them in. After a warning to be quiet and speak in indoor voices, she left them. Inside it was nice and quiet, and Hermione immediately choose a seat near the back. When Draco asked why she choose this particular seat she just shrugged.

"I come here a lot, and when I do this is usually where I set. I like it because it's by the window and no one else seems to notice that it exists. It's nice to set her when you want to be alone or think about something and not want to be disturbed. I know it's silly but when I need somewhere to escape to, I come here." she explained. She looked terribly embarrassed and Draco had to smile.

"I understand what you mean." he said briefly. In fact he really did. When ever his father had been particularly cruel to him or his mother distant, he would go and set by himself in their garden. It was usually empty, his parents didn't care for it much and there was no need for a gardener as spells provided all the upkeep it needed. Like the library was for Hermione, the garden was to him. He smiled softly at this thought and Hermione couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking. She didn't ask however, instead opting for opening up Draco's book bag. She pulled out several large volumes as well as parchment, a quill, and ink and set them on the table.

"So where do you want to begin?" she asked. Draco eyed the books distastefully.

"How about I take a nap?" he asked. Hermione scowled lightheartedly and picked up 'Divination: Dreams and Visions' by Maeri Merichotti. She grimaced at the title.

"Why are you taking that class?" she questioned. Draco shrugged his shoulders and a sly grin spread across his face. Everyone had heard how Hermione had stood up to Trelawney in their third year. She cared less for that class than most people did for Snape's.

"I wanted a blow-off class. You know, one where I actually don't have to worry about trying too hard." he explained. Hermione frowned at him and tapped the cover of the book thoughtfully.

"But you're smart. Why the need for a blow-off class? You could take something more enriching." she said. Draco rolled his eyes and sighed. She sounded all to familiar.

"Now you sound like my father." he grumbled. Hermione laughed and asked him to elaborate.

"He's always pushing me to be perfect. To him there is no second, only first." Draco explained. Hermione nodded her head in understanding.

"Yeah, my parents are kind of like that. Everyone expects me to be on top of things and in control. Merlin forbid I do anything less than perfect." Draco wrinkled his nose and his gray eyes lit up almost teasingly.

"C'mon Granger, haven't you ever just wanted to tell he world to shove it? I hate being perfect. Sometimes I want to do badly just to see what everyone will say" he said. Hermione smiled shyly.

"Well sometimes. But I would never dare to. The idea of letting everyone down makes me not able to." she replied. Draco's eyes glittered with amusement and he had to bite back his tongue not to chuckle. It was just like her to say something like that.

"Do it. You know you want to. Just walk into Potions tomorrow and tell Snape to stick it where the sun don't shine" he teased. Hermione imagined the reaction of her cold teacher if she were to say that and laughed. He'd probably be terribly shocked then expel her.

"Why don't you do it." she challenged. Draco pretended to consider the idea then shook his head. No way could he ever do it. Their eyes met and they both sighed.

"Yeah right." They said simultaneously. Then they laughed at them having said it together.

"Well it's nice to know that I'm not the only one out there with such sadistic desires to fail." Hermione giggled. Draco laughed and took the Divination book from her, stuffing it back into his bag. He had a feeling they wouldn't be studying much today.

"Yeah" he said. It was kind of quiet after that until Hermione broke the silence with a question.

"Why don't you just stop trying? I mean, everyone knows…" she trailed off, aware that if she continued her statement it would only anger the Slytherin. Draco meanwhile was confused.

"What does everyone think?" he asked. Hermione shook her head.

"It's not my place to say." she said, embarrassed. She knew she shouldn't have brought it up. If she were to tell him it would probably offend him.

"Come on, don't give me that. I'm sure it's not like I haven't heard it before anyways." he pried. Hermione sighed and gave in. He was not going to give up until she told him.

"Everyone assumes that you're going to be a…death eater. Like your father." she finished. Draco's eyes darkened and he shifted in his chair uncomfortably. Hermione was afraid she had gone too far and began to apologize when he cut her off.

"No, it's ok. I should have known that was what they thought. Well I won't lie and say it isn't an option. But, despite what everyone thinks, I don't want to be the bastard he is." he said the words with such emotion that Hermione was shocked.

"I'm sorry." she said. Draco glared at her.

"Don't say that. I hate it when people feel sorry for me. So my dad's a sadistic bastard. That doesn't mean I have to be one also. It pisses me off that people just assume crap about me." he said furiously, "You know, I don't even want to be a fucking death eater. But everyone just knows that I will. I hear people saying all the time that I'm this hopeless cause."

"You don't want to be a death eater?" Hermione asked softly, surprised. Draco crossed his arms angrily and shook his head.

"No! But it's not like I have any choice in the matter." he spat.

"Why not?" she asked. She knew she was being nosey, but she actually… cared to know. Draco seemed shocked by the question, as if the answer was completely obvious.

"Because being a death eater doesn't require a choice. It's a inheritance, if you will. And if I ever even dared to voice a bit of uncertainty about it, my father would kill me. You can't run from it. There is no choice." he said blankly. Hermione shook her head. She didn't understand what he was saying. And Draco seemed equally confused, Hermione's question completely threw him off track.

"Draco, there is always a choice. It might not be easy. One might be preferable to the other, easier than the other. But there is always a choice." she said simply. Draco bit his right pinky nail uncomfortably.

"Whatever. Let's talk about something else, ok?" he asked. He didn't want to continue their conversation. He already felt like he had said too much. Hermione smiled awkwardly and said that they should probably start studying. Draco pulled out some Astrology homework and Hermione grabbed a packet of S.P.E.W information and for the next two hours or so they worked silently on their work. Eventually Draco got bored and titled his head to the side, trying to see what Hermione was working on. She looked up, annoyed.

"S.P.E.W." she said. She had noticed him staring and assumed he wondered what she was doing.

"Spew what?" Draco asked, confused. Hermione gawked at him. Hadn't he heard?

"S.P.E.W. Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare. I can't believe you haven't heard of it!" she exclaimed.

"Oh!" Draco laughed. Hermione wondered why he was laughing, but she was so relieved that the gloomy mood from earlier was gone that she smiled too.

"What are you reading?" she asked. Draco rolled his eyes and held up the book from earlier, a bored expression on his face.

"What kind of a name is Maeri Merichotti anyways? How do you even begin to pronounce it?" he questioned. Hermione laughed at his expression.

"Probably like Ma-ree Mer-i-shot-e." she said.

"Well then she shouldn't spell it all funny like that." he griped. For some reason that made Hermione think about a question she'd been meaning to ask him.

"Is it weird for you? I mean, seeing all your friends but them not recognizing you?" she wondered. Draco thought about it.

"Kind of. But, like you said, they don't really want to be my friends anyways." Hermione blushed and bit her lip.

"Did I really say that?" she asked. Draco nodded his head.

"I'm sorry." Hermione apologized.

"Don't be. It was all true. It just took me a while to realize it, that's all. I'm the one who should be sorry anyways. Been acting like git lately. Flirting with Weasley and all." he said. Hermione smiled and said it was ok. Then she said that they really should be getting to work. So with much protest, Draco took up one of his books and began a essay due in a few days. Hermione continued her notes on S.P.E.W. After a while her eye lids began to droop and she yawned. Before she realized what was happening she had drifted off to sleep.

Three hours later, Hermione awoke with a start. She had a lovely dream about someone riding on a broom with her after dark on the quidditch pitch, but she couldn't remember it. She then noticed where she was, and the time. It was nearly ten! They had been in there for hours! Hermione glanced at Draco to find him asleep as well, a half written essay in his lap. Hermione nudged him with her quill but all the blonde did was to moan and roll over. Annoyed, Hermione poked him harder. Draco awoke with a yelp and faced Hermione. For a minute it was just him staring at her, and there was something in her eyes that was so warm and so comforting that Draco wanted to hug Hermione. But the awkward moment quickly passed, Hermione not even having noticed it at all. She motioned for Draco to be quiet.

"We fell asleep, and it's about half an hour past dinner, we should go back." she whispered. Draco nodded his head feebly and agreed. Neither could really believe how fast the time had gone by. They gathered their things and exited the library. However they made a lot of noise, earning them a nasty look from Madame Pince. Draco winked at Hermione and the two began the walk back the great hall. Neither said anything, but although it was quiet, it was not a bad silence. In fact, it was a peaceful one. They walked like that for some time. Then Draco turned to Hermione, about to ask her how she planned to deal with Ron, when Hermione let out a squeak and her legs became entangled in her robes and she fell, crashing to the floor with an alarming force. She cried out in pain as her head smacked into the floor.

"Damnit!" she exclaimed, gritting her teeth in pain. Draco heard someone snickering from behind him and turned around angrily to confront the person, only to meet the cool brown eyes of Pansy Parkinson. Her arms were crossed, her wand dangling dangerously in her hand. Draco was sure she had jinxed Hermione to fall. She was sneering down at her and Draco felt heat rise to his face.

"What the hell did you do that for?" he snapped. Pansy raised her eyebrow and uncrossed her arms.

"You shouldn't talk that way to your betters, Gryffindor." she spat. Draco could not believe that Pansy was being so cold to him. Him, Draco Malfoy! Then he remembered that she didn't know it was him. She thought he was a stupid naive new student.

"She did nothing to you!" Draco shouted at her. He then bent down to help Hermione up and the girl took his hand thankfully. Pansy shrugged her shoulders in a careless way.

"She's a mudblood. Here mere existence is a problem for me." she said coolly. Draco reached for his wand and pulled it out, much to the surprise of both Pansy and Hermione.

"Take that back." he said. Pansy was surprised by his action but made no mention of it.

"You're new. So I'll forgive you for that. Take some advice girl, there are two kinds of people in this school; the right ones and the wrong ones. Don't associate with the other kind. The mudblood here isn't worth your time. Make friends with the right people and you wont have to deal with that trash anymore." she propositioned. Draco could practically feel the anger pumping through his veins.

"What, you think that just because she's a half-blood that you're better than her? Well you aren't. You might be pureblood but you're a bitch and you'll let half the Hufflepuff boys stick their hands up your shirt if they ask. Hermione is a kind person. She's smart, she has self-respect, and I'd take her over you any day. You're the trash, not her." he snapped. Pansy widened her eyes.

"Fine. But you just ruined the rest of your life here, I'll see to that." she said bitterly. Then she turned around and stalked off angrily. Draco smiled, noticing that she didn't bother to contradict his accusations of her being a slut and a bitch. How could she? It was true. He was reminded of Hermione's presence when she tapped his arm, bringing him back into reality.

"What?" he asked. Hermione shook her head, smiling softly.

"Thank you." she said. Draco shrugged his shoulders.

"No problem. She had it coming." he said. He noticed that Hermione was staring at him intently, a thought having obviously just occurred to her.

"What now?" he questioned.

"You've changed, Slytherin Prince." she said, a small smile playing about her lips. Draco raised his eyebrows.

"How do you figure that?"

"Well look at what you just did. You defend me to Pansy, and turned down her offer of friendship. It's kind of funny. You made the same offer to Harry once." she explained. Draco thought about it. Had he really made an offer similar to that to Potter? Yes, he had. In his first year he had offered Potter his friendship. But had he really changed? Draco found the thought that he had changed very unsettling. He was still the cold hearted Slytherin, wasn't he? He shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh." was all he said in reply. After that an awkward silence hung stiffly in the air. In silent mutual agreement, the duo began walking quietly to the great hall. Both had thoughts weighing heavily on their minds. They reached the hall to find it almost completely deserted. A few kids lingered eating, so Hermione and Draco took a seat at the Gryffindor table and eyed the left over's. Not much looked appetizing. Dirty plates spanned across the tables, bits of food and drink splattered about. Here and there a few pieces of recognizable food was seen, but it didn't look good. Hermione tried to ignore her growling stomach, but couldn't. An idea suddenly popped into her head and she grinned mischievously.

"Follow me." she told Draco. He'd been picking over the food on the table and turned to her confused.

"What?" he asked. She just smiled and motioned for him to follow her. And for some reason he did. After all, what else did he have to do but pick over disgusting leftovers? He stayed behind her as she winded her way to the main staircase, stopping only to open a seemingly random door on the right. He ducked in the entranced and closed the door behind him They followed the corridor that it opened to until they came to a painting of a bowl of fruit. Draco thought Hermione must have become completely bonkers. His fears were confirmed when she began to tickle- yes, tickle the pear in the portrait. Just as he was beginning to ask if this was some sort of an odd joke, the pear became a doorknob and Hermione twisted it, the painting opened up to reveal a large room with a great amass of pots, pants, tables, and one large fireplace. Draco stared in wonder and could only guess that this was the kitchen. House elves swarmed them as soon as they walked in, each one had the expression of a loyal dog. The one nearest to Hermione, whom was wearing a great many knitted hats, spoke to her. Draco faintly thought he recognized the elf.

"What can Dobby do for Miss. Hermione?" The elf asked in a squeaky voice. Hermione smiled at Dobby, whom Draco just now realized with horror was his old house elf.

"We missed dinner, do you have anything we might be able eat?" she asked. Dobby said that they in fact didn't have anything, but that they would happily make something for her and her friend. That's when the elf noticed Draco and gasped.

"Surely Miss. Hermione does not realize who she is with!" he exclaimed. Hermione frowned.

"This is Diana, the new exchange student ,Dobby." she lied. The house elf just shook his head and pointed a shaky finger at Draco.

"Dobby would recognize those eyes anywhere Miss. Granger! This is Draco Malfoy who you is with!" he exclaimed dramatically. Hermione sighed and decided to fess up.

"Yes, this is Draco. But Draco isn't as bad as his father. Dobby, he really is ok." she said. Dobby still looked nervously at Draco but seemed to accept Hermione's word for it. A question however burned incessantly at his mouth.

"How did Master Malfoy get like this?" he questioned. Draco began to answer when Hermione poked him. Apparently she thought it was best that she tell the story.

"There was an err- accident. Draco is stuck like this until we can work on a counter spell." she explained. Dobby squinted his eyes to look at Draco then nodded his little head.

"If Miss Granger says so." he said doubtfully. The little house elf then left, presumably to get food. He soon brought them several platters arrayed with delicious looking meals- too many really. There were at least ten, each one heaped with food. After pondering the selection, Draco selected two turkey legs, some mashed potatoes, and carrots. As he did so he was careful not to meet Dobby's eyes.

"Um, I'm sorry Dobby. I really, uh, am." he said. He felt bad for his mistreatment of the elf. True, he didn't abuse Dobby but he never intervened when Lucious had. Dobby's eyes filled with tears.

"Tis' alright, Master Draco. Dobby forgives." he said, his voice choked with emotion. To show that he forgave Draco, he added several sweets to both his and Hermione's platters. Before they were done eating, the pair had consumed more food than they would have thought humanly possible. As they left, Dobby and a few of the other elves invited them to come back again. Draco assured them that he would. Once him and Hermione entered the hall, Draco questioned her about her knowledge of the kitchens. The brunette smiled mysteriously.

"I learned it's location from a friend, that's all." she said. Draco was still curious but allowed her to keep her secret. Hermione didn't really want to rat on Fred and George and so had decided to keep their part in her knowledge of the location a secret. Hermione and Draco reached the common room quickly, as there were no students in the hallways to deal with. Although they were quick they still had to wake the Fat Lady, who turned out to be a very grouchy person when awoken. She ranted for a while about responsibility and mischief, but they made it inside as quietly as possible. The common room was deserted, everyone had already gone to bed. Hermione quietly set down her books and stretched happily. Draco admired her secretly for a minute, then she broke his daze.

"Gosh I'm tired. I'm going to go ahead and go to bed. You can stay up for a while longer or come up now." she said, then yawned. Draco said that he was pretty tired himself and that he'd go ahead and go to bed also. They walked quietly up the stairs, stepping extra lightly as to not wake Lavender or Parvati. Hermione immediately went to the bathroom to change; Draco just did it in the dorm. Everyone else was asleep, he figured, so it didn't matter. He then snuggled down into his bed, still careful to be quiet. He heard Hermione turn on one of the water faucets and patter around the bathroom. Girls sure did take forever in the bathroom, he thought. Eventually she emerged in her night gown and after checking to make sure that she wasn't going to set on Crookshanks, she laid down. A heavy silence hung stiffly in the air between them after that. Draco thought he should say something, but he didn't know what to say. Finally he decided to simply just tell her goodnight.

"Goodnight" he said awkwardly. Hermione smiled, her teeth illuminated in the dark. She had been wondering which one of them would break the silence first.

"Goodnight" she replied. She turned over and pulled her blanket closer to her. However sleep did not come easy. The actions of their day kept running through her mind.

Hermione hadn't realized it at the time, but when she had mentioned to Draco that he had made the same offer to Harry before, it showed just how much he had changed. True, they had only been 'friends' for a day or so, but he was really becoming a different person. She wondered what was going to happen when he was back to being himself, Draco Malfoy and not Diana Albert. Would he go back to referring to her as Mudblood? Hermione didn't want to admit it, but she was also beginning to sort of enjoy Draco's company. Unlike Harry or Ron, Draco understood what it was like to have the pressure of being perfect academically. She felt that, given the chance to know one another better, they could be friends. But did Hermione really want to be friends? And would they stay friends after his change? Hermione didn't know the answer to those questions. She sighed and rolled over. It was no use thinking so much, she needed sleep. After a while she began to drift off, not realizing that Draco was having a hard time sleeping as well.

Draco tossed in his bed. He couldn't get what Hermione had said about him changing out of his head. Had he really changed that much? What if, when he was a guy again, he was changed? What if he wasn't? He didn't know how he was going to be able to ever hate Hermione again after spending this much time with her. And there was more to it than that. Draco really liked talking to Hermione. Goyle and Crabbe were ok people, but he could not have an intelligent conversation with them. But he could with Hermione. She knew about books and history better than a pureblood witch did. She understood him in a way that no one had. Both were pressured by their parents to be perfect, and both had unrealistic images of perfection to strain to uphold. Even though Draco had tried ignoring it, he obviously had developed some unwanted feelings for her. Friendship, or more, Draco didn't know. But they complicated things. What it all boiled down to was; was Draco still the Slytherin Prince? Or was Hermione Granger slowly turning him into a Gryffindor Teddy Bear?