It's What's Inside That Counts
Thanks for reading and for reviewing this story and another one of my stories I just completed, Bigger Than Us. For all you Draco/Hermione shipper fans, never fear. Another one is in the works!! So for now, enjoy this one. It was so much fun to create! Isn't that what fan fiction is all about?
Chapter 4- Him, Her
Hermione was startled when Professor Anderson came rushing through the door straight at her. She was further startled when the professor stopped in front of her, nose to nose peering into her eyes. She could see his nostrils flaring.
"P...professor?" she asked.
Suddenly Professor Anderson took hold of her arms, shook her and barked, "Miss Granger! Why?!"
She wrenched away from his grip, whipped out her wand and backed away. She took safety at the other side of the piano, her wand pointed at him.
"Why what? Hermione's in America!" she answered.
Minerva rushed in and saw the scene. Hermione saw her and gestured her wand at Professor Anderson. Both Harry and Professor Anderson both looked frantic.
"Professor McGonagall! I think Professor Anderson's flipped his lid!"
"Harry! Lower your wand! Professor, what are you doing? You're scaring him!" Minerva said sternly.
She lowered the wand, but still kept it at her side just in case.
"You have some explaining to do, Minerva," Professor Anderson said. "You said the Polyjuice potion worked, however..."
The opening and closing of front door was heard and Remus came into the parlor. "What's happened?" he asked.
"We were about to sit down and talk," Minerva said.
In the dining room, Minerva and Remus took seats at the table opposite each other. So did Harry and Professor Anderson. Hermione was uncomfortable under the scrutiny of Professor Anderson, who was looking at him carefully, occasionally with narrowed eyes.
"Um...professor, while I am...flattered by your attentions, my inclinations do not run toward males," Harry said.
"And you think mine do?" Professor Anderson drawled.
Harry blushed.
"Now Severus, there apparently has been a misunderstanding," Remus said.
"A misunderstanding?" Severus hissed.
"Severus?" Harry asked and looked at Professor Anderson with wide eyes. The room fell quiet.
Crickets chirping quiet.
"Yes, Severus. Severus Snape, former Potions professor at Hogwarts, at present Professor Patrick Anderson, former Auror and DADA professor," was Severus' reply.
Harry blinked a few times quickly, bit his lip and choked out a snicker that bubbled out into a full blown laugh.
"What, pray tell, amuses you, Miss Granger?" Severus drawled.
The laughing stopped and Harry looked at Remus and Minerva worriedly.
"Have no fear, Miss Granger, your stunt is safe with me. What I wish to know, is why," Severus stated.
Harry looked at Remus and Minerva. They nodded their heads in assent. Harry took a breath and spoke.
"Harry is my best friend, the best friend I ever had or will ever have. He is hope to our world, and if I can help keep that hope alive I will do anything for him, anything," Hermione said and gestured to herself, "including this. How happy was Voldemort when the Headmaster was killed?"
"Happy? Miss Granger, the Dark Lord was ecstatic," Severus said.
"Can you imagine how much more ecstatic he would be if he found about Harry's condition? His top two enemies gone?" Harry asked.
"I see your point," Severus said.
A hour and a couple of glasses of wine later, Severus and Harry were still at the dining room table, Severus taking careful notes as he asked Harry questions. He already had extensive notes of male-to-male transformation, but not female-to-male transformation.
"When this whole affair reaches what I hope is a favorable conclusion, I will need to submit my research about the modified Polyjuice potion," Severus said.
Realizing he was really talking to Hermione and not some dunderhead, he didn't have to dumb down the conversation.
"It tastes just as horrid as the original," Harry said.
"I do wonder why it would render you unconscious," Severus mused.
"It might have something to do with my feminine essence opposed to his...masculine...whatever," Harry said.
"Whatever?" Severus asked.
Harry pinched the bridge of her nose. "I am double-dipping in the sexual tension department, professor," Harry said and took another sip of wine.
"Please explain," Severus said.
"It's embarrassing," Harry replied.
"It can't be more embarrassing for me to have thought I desired Potter this past week," Severus said. "Or students calling me Auror Anderson."
Harry snorted.
"Sometimes progress is painful Miss Granger, but in this case, it has also been successful," Severus said.
"Successful maybe in your case Professor, but not mine, I'm a horrible bloke," Harry said and swished the wine around in the glass. "Harry, me, or both of us are going to be scarred for life."
"I'm curious as to why you would say that? More wine?" Severus offered. This could be educational as well as entertaining.
"That first night as Harry, I marveled at Harry's physical appearance and strength. I did fifty push-ups without breathing heavy. I can lug around a satchel full of books without straining my back. I stopped marveling at Harry's body the next morning."
He took a breath and continued.
"We women diddle with ourselves occasionally, but it seems I have to do it constantly or I'll explode," Harry said with a sigh. "I read about male physiology, but had no idea what men have to deal with."
"You are fortunate, Miss Granger to have knowledge of what we must endure for the sake of perpetuating the species," Severus said.
"It gets worse," Harry said. "I may have the body of a man, but the mind-the desires of a woman. My body reacts to my mind, so now a few boys at school ..." Harry said then stopped.
"A few boys at school what?" Severus prompted.
Harry took another sip of wine and cleared his throat.
"...think I fancy them. I mean, they think Harry fancies them," she finished lamely.
"I can see where that might present a problem," Severus said. "So, what young wizard has caught your eye?"
Harry mumbled something.
"Come again, I didn't catch that."
"Justin Finch-Fletchly," Harry said sadly. "The whole unrequited love thing, he never noticed me as Hermione, so even less now."
"He saw you everyday the past six years, you have almost all the same classes," Severus said. Harry shook his head.
"I wouldn't expect you to understand," Harry said and gestured for the bottle of wine. "No one will ever fall for me. Harry yes, Hermione-no."
Why on Earth would she say that? Severus wondered. Hermione was a force of nature, she just didn't know it. She answered his silent question.
"Everyone knows Hermione Granger as Harry's friend, Harry's bookworm know-it-all, bossy friend," she said. "I'm no great beauty Professor, and I don't try to be a know-it-all. I like to learn, and true learning is applying what knowledge you've acquired. No one seems to understand that."
"I can assure you that I do," Severus said sincerely. The girl thinks she's no great beauty? How wrong she is!
"My only friends are Harry, Ron and Ginny and the only boy who ever paid me any attention was Victor Krum," she said. "Isn't that sad? I have a grand total of 3 friends and the only boy who ever liked was from another continent," she said ruefully. "I apologize, I'm just feeling sorry for myself, I'll shut up now."
"It's quite alright Miss Granger, you have given me more than enough for my notes," Severus said.
"Glad I could help," she said with a hiccup.
"I believe you are staying here for the weekend?" Severus asked politely.
Harry nodded. "Remus and Professor McGonagall think it's best for me to get away from school on the weekends. Ron thinks I'm doing some kind of private Occlumency training or that I'm off with some girl; as long as I'm there for Quidditch, it's no big deal."
"Speaking of that, how do you plan to..." Severus started.
"...to play quidditch? That's easy, I won't be playing for long when they see me fly. I'll be kicked off the squad," Harry said with a laugh.
"So Slytherin has a chance at the cup this year?" Severus asked lightly.
After Hermione went to bed, Severus finished off the bottle of wine. He was thrilled that his potion was a success. The conversation with Hermione was enlightening. It seemed that the seemingly unflappable, beautiful, walking brain was in the midst of a confidence crisis. He couldn't wrap his brainhead around that. How could the most intelligent mind to come along in twenty years reside in one of the most popular wizards that ever lived, and lack confidence?
She is finally facing a problem with no solution in sight! Severus thought. And Fletchly? That whelp?
Fletchly was a good-looking enough young wizard, but in Severus' opinion dull as dirt and only slightly smarter. She needed a wizard who could appreciate her mind, her drive, the unique spirit that was Hermione Granger. Willing to literally exchange herself for her friend, to take on the role of Harry Potter and everything that came with it, without knowing the outcome, was certainly brave. That was a lot for him to say; bravery and heroics weren't big in his book, it just got people hurt. Hermione wasn't doing all this do be a hero; she was scared and worried and just trying to do the right thing.
Much like me.