AN: Sorry I kept you guys waiting so long. I'm sure I've mentioned before that I attend University, right? Well, I just had finals and they didn't leave me with any time to update. I'm on summer time now, though, and updates will be back to normal

Also- I really hope you guys don't hate me too much for what I'm about to pull in this chapter… but, well, I just love him too much not to bring him back ;)

400 reviews? Holy Cricket!

Anyways, you guys rock, as always. And now I will not keep you from seeing Hermione's glorious plan unfold any longer.

Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine.

October 10th

Hermione:

Everything was set up.

Well, almost everything. But to be quite honest she didn't really think that convincing Peeves to go and cause a spot of trouble would be all that difficult, and on the off chance that he did indeed say no, well, a handy spell that Professor Lupin had taught them during third year would end up coming in handy.

Hermione looked herself over in the mirror one last time, attempting to soothe her nerves and assure herself that she did indeed look at least a little bit presentable. She had been surprised to find that since she had lost so much weight during the last year, the dress robes that she had worn to the Yule Ball in fourth year still fit her quite well. Unfortunately there was not much that could be done for the rest of her appearance. Since she had spent so much time on planning, there was no time left to make her hair as sleek and shiny as it had been back then, and had instead opted to put it in a bun. At least that way it was still something different than normal. Her eyes flicked to the scars on her face and neck, lingering on the one given her by Bellatrix for only a moment longer than normal before rolling her eyes and heading out the door. She would never be anything special, but at least her robes were nice.

She picked up the Marauder's Map she searched for Peeves, only to find that her luck was in. He was bouncing about one of the rooms down by the kitchen- convincing him to simply move down the hall a bit shouldn't be much of a challenge. When the thrum of the wards on the bathroom went up, Hermione quietly left her room and snuck out the portrait.

Although she told herself that she was sneaking so much so that she wouldn't be caught, she knew the real reason was that she didn't want to have another encounter with Malfoy. The pair had been doing quite well avoiding one another. So well, in fact, that they no longer even discussed Head duties with one another, choosing instead to operate through other people. Was it the smartest decision? No. But the longer they could put off a confrontation, the happier they both would be.

At least she hoped they would. They occasional moments when she was caught staring at him, or vice versa, tried to convince her otherwise.

Lucky for her, there was no one in the common room, nor did she meet anyone as she walked the halls to her destination. Before she knew it, she was outside the door and could clearly hear Peeves bouncing around inside. The strange thing was that it sounded like he might be talking to someone… or singing obscene things to himself. But since Peeves never really spoke to anyone, she dismissed it and opened the door. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw, though.

Peeves was indeed having a conversation with someone whilst he bounded around the room.

She was rooted to the spot, her jaw hung open, and a small squeak escaped her mouth, because right in front of her, was the ghost of Fred Weasley.

"Er… 'Ello Hermione!" Fred said brightly, giving a small wave in her direction.

Hermione fainted as Peeves cackled.

OooOooOooOooOooOooOooO

Something was poking her in the ribs. Hard. That same something was also blowing in her ear quite gleefully.

"C'mon Peevsie, not so rough. You can keep blowing in her ear, but when she whips her wand at you don't come wailing to me," Fred said.

Fred.

Fred.

Even as the blowing in her ear stopped and the pokes in her side were done a bit more softly, Hermione's eyes shot open and she jumped to her feet, struggling to find the right words.

She knew she should be thrilled, she knew it. But all she could feel was anger- because how long had he been here without telling anyone? Molly still cried herself to sleep every night and the only thing George could ever talk about was how badly he felt he needed to go back to Hogwarts-wait.

All summer they had thought that George wanting to go back to Hogwarts meant that he wanted to go and sit zombie-like at the spot where Fred fell, but maybe he was being pulled by the connected of his twin? Could he really know, on some level, that Fred wasn't gone? Had they, by refusing to allow George to go back to Hogwarts, actually been causing George even more pain? But what about when George found out that Fred was a ghost? Is a ghost brother better than no brother? Or would everything-

Peeves was blowing in her ear again.

She left her thoughts and once again paid attention to her surroundings, flapping a hand at Peeves to get him to back off. To her surprise, he did. It took Hermione a moment to realize that tears were streaming down her face.

"Why?" she finally managed to croak out. He was smart- he'd figure out what she meant.

"I don't know how to face them like this… I'm just not ready yet… But I couldn't just leave him, Hermione, you know that," he told her, looking for all the world like George had been looking since Fred had died. He began pacing now, palms over his face. "What was I supposed to do? J-just go on and leave Georgie here by himself? Who would run the shop with him? Who would tell him that he needs to man up and ask Angelina to go with him? W-who would be there to let him know that everything was alright when he woke up in the middle of the night screaming? Who would tell him that he was being a prat? No one! There was no way I could do that to him. No. I go to the other side with Georgie or I do not go at all. But what happens when they see me like this? What if me being a ghost just isn't good enough? Or worst yet, what about if me hanging around all ghostlike does nothing but hurt everybody even more? I just… I can't…"

Hermione looked at her friend as sorrow choked her throat. What she wouldn't give to be able to take his pain away, but she couldn't. She couldn't even offer him something as simple as physical comfort, but a moment later she learned that she didn't need to. Peeves had moved next to Fred, and then did something that she had never in her life expected to see.

Peeves drew Fred into his arms and held him until his shakes stopped; looking the most solemn that she had ever seen the poltergeist.

"I'm glad that you here, Fred. We've all missed you so much," Hermione whispered as Fred drew himself from the poltergeist's grasp.

"Sorry you found out like this. I plan to tell everyone, but, I just haven't figured out how, yet. To be honest, I kind of thought Georgie would feel me somehow and come himself, but…" he sighed. The look of disappointment on his face was enough to make her heart break all over again.

"He has. Felt you, I mean," she told him. "All he ever talks about is how badly he needs to come back to Hogwarts. No one will let him, though, we all thought that he… well. We thought he had gone mad with grief, to be honest."

Fred flinched a little at that before looking up at Hermione, his face a silent plea.

"I'll write him and tell him to come here, but not to tell Molly. I doubt he'll need more of an excuse than that… I'll write him tonight," she promised.

"Thank you," the relief colored his voice as he spoke. "I just- he needs to know first. And I truly am sorry you found out like this, and you've no idea how wonderful it is to see you Hermione, but might I ask what in the name of Merlin you were coming into this lovely deserted classroom for? Not a secret rendezvous, I hope. Thought, I must admit, Peevsie here has been telling me some very interesting things…"

"Peeves? Peeves has been telling you things?" she asked, not quite understanding this strange relationship between ghost and poltergeist.

"Yep! See, since no one knows that I'm here, Peevsie here has been going out and about, bringing me all the juiciest gossip, and for my part I give him some of the prank ideas that George and I never got around to doing. You have, however, completely sidestepped the question I asked you," he said. Fred raised his eyebrows and waited.

"So I'm guessing that lovely artwork on the House tables was your idea, was it?" she asked, curiosity winning out over her mission because suddenly the fact that the paint on the House tables was refusing to come off or be covered with anything made much more sense now than it had before.

"Yes, one of my more serious ideas. I have to leave hints for you, you know. For when the time comes. Now, what were you doing coming here when there is a rather lovely little celebration feast about to go on upstairs?"

"Hints? Hints for what-"

"Hermione."

"Oh, fine, but I'm only dropping this because I'm almost out of time and I fully intend on tracking you down and demanding that you explain everything to me later. I was here because I needed a favor from Peeves," she informed him, cross that things were being kept from her. Next thing she knew she had a face full of an upside down poltergeist.

"Me? Frizzy Head Girl wants something from little Peevsie?" he asked. There was a malicious glint in his eye that worried her a little bit, but it was now or never because she was about to be late as it was.

"Yes. I need you to go and cause a bit of trouble in the kitchen for a few minutes. Create a distraction, if you please."

His eyes narrowed slightly. "What's in it for me?"

Hermione was about to answer when Fred piped up behind them. "This wouldn't have anything to do with those who attacked Dean, now would it?"

"Yes," she nodded to Fred. Or, well, she tried to, since Peeves was still currently hovering in front of her face.

"Peeves mate, do it. You were talking about how you wanted to tickle the ickle elvsies the other day anyway."

Before she knew it, Peeves had nodded, blown a raspberry in her face, and disappeared through the wall, leaving only her and Fred alone in the room. Hermione, unsure of what to say, offered him a small smile and went to leave, but a spot of cold on her shoulder stopped her.

She turned to see Fred smiling at her.

"Thank you," he said.

Then he had vanished, and Hermione was sprinting so that she wouldn't be late to dinner, casting charms on her face to hide that she had been crying as she went.

OooOooOooOooOooOooOooOooO

The lecture that was written all over Pansy, Blaise, and Dean's faces was, thankfully, interrupted by the arrival of the Headmistress. Slowly the Great Hall grew silent, and Hermione was able to catch her breath.

She had arrived and found her seat without a second to spare, and by the looks of it all of her friends had been worried sick over her whereabouts, fearing that there had been another attack. But they would see. In the next few minutes they would know exactly what it was she had been doing, though she fully expected to be forced to explain how she did it, later.

Hermione was a huge bundle of nerves as she waited for the speech to begin. Why couldn't they just get it over with? What was taking so long? The more she sat there and thought, the more questions popped into her mind and soon she was working herself into quite a state. So many things could have gone wrong with the potion; it was possible that it hadn't been brewed correctly- despite the fact that she had checked it over twenty times for accuracy. So lost was she, being traumatized by her own thoughts, that it took her a moment to realize that someone was poking her hand with a spoon, trying to get her attention.

From the angle the poke was coming from, it had to have been done by the person who was sitting in front of her, but there was only ever one person who sat in front of her…

Malfoy was staring at her intently, his sharp grey eyes tinted with a modicum of concern as he looked her over. When Hermione looked at him, her breath caught a little bit. He had done nothing spectacular to his hair, or his face, but she had never though it possible for something as simple as dress robes to make such a difference in appearance. His were black velvet, somewhat similar to those he had worn during fourth year, the difference being the silver embroidery along the edges. The effect made him look softer, somehow. More like the person she had caught a glimpse of at the lake and again in their bathroom. The effect of his coloring with the black velvet of his robes it was… stunning, to say the least. For some completely irrational reason it made her wish that she had done something special with her hair or something, which made absolutely no sense whatsoever because she had no interest in Malfoy other than to keep him as far away from her person as possible.

So why did the concern in his eyes comfort her? It just didn't make any sense.

The sound of students standing brought Hermione back to her senses, and she realized that she had been openly staring at Malfoy for the entirety of McGonagall's speech! Her eyes widened and she shot to her feet as quickly as she could, catching Malfoy's eye in the process. A smirk graced his lips and he had raised a single eyebrow, Hermione did her best to fight the blush that threatened to consume her.

Honestly. As if her relationship with Malfoy wasn't complicated enough as it was, she had to go and ogle him!

"-now if you would all please raise your goblets with me in a toast to Hogwarts completion!" the Headmistress announced as she regally lifted her goblet out to them all.

The motion was mimicked by every student and faculty member in the Hall, and Hermione's heart pounded in her chest as everybody raised their goblets to their lips and took a drink. Her nerves were coiled so tightly at this point that the anticipation of what was about to happen was physically hurting her and beads of sweat were breaking onto her forehead. Her breath came more quickly as she counted in her mind…

Three…

Two…

One…

Screams filled the Great Hall as Nicolai, Zane, Astoria, Dramera, Zacharias, Mikhail, and Clarissa clutched their chests in horror. Their faces changed, the pitches of the screams altered. Hair lengths changed, heights moved, girths shrunk and enlarged- the only thing that remained the same on the shift students were the tears streaming down their faces and the masks of abject terror claiming their shifting features.

Where before had stood four boys and three girls now stood four girls and three boys. The potion had worked, their sexes had changed, and the first sounds of laughter began to fill the Hall and broke the eerie silence that had fallen into place once the shifting started.

Hermione's shoulders relaxed and a satisfied smile claimed her lips.

Draco:

He couldn't believe it. It was genius; it was perfect, it was absolutely mad.

Draco looked over at Granger and saw that she no longer looked wound up so tightly that she was going to explode at any moment. No, now she was smiling and glaring at her victims, clearly enjoying their red faces, ill-fitting robes, and cries of outrage.

McGonagall was attempting to call for order, but the students were having none of it. The bastards finally grew tired of their humiliation and went running out of the Hall. They were moving clumsily, clearly not used to their new bodies and completely befuddled as to what had happened. Madame Pomfrey went running out after them, brandishing her wand at the hysterical students in order to get them to let her though. There was movement in front of him; Granger was wiggling her wand a bit in the direction of their goblets, most likely vanishing the potion they held inside them. Once she had finished with that, ignoring the incredulous and awestruck expressions being thrown her way by Pansy, Dean, Blaise and, most likely, himself.

Next thing he knew, Granger was trying to grab his attention. He looked at her, doing his best to ignore the strangeness between them, and saw her pointing her Head Girl badge and looking at him significantly.

Oh. Right. He needed to try and take control of this situation and not be laughing his ass off.

One thing he knew, though, one thing that was dangerous to admit to himself because of everything that had been happening between them, was that Hermione Granger now had his respect. Not that he didn't respect her for everything she had endured and accomplished during the war, but that was a different kind of respect. That was the respect that you would give to a soldier. But what she had earned from him then was the type of respect that was given to the person, not the soldier.

And respecting Granger would do nothing other than get him into a whole world of trouble.

Draco wondered when he would be hearing back from the Father Weasley as he and Granger wiped the grins off of their faces and attempted to help McGonagall gain order in the Great Hall. It was no easy feat, but eventually the laughter died down and was replaced by flushed and gleeful expressions sported by nearly all of the students.

Nearly all because in the crowd he had seen one particularly pale and pained grimace, worn by Daphne Greengrass.