Girly Boy

Character(s): Hermione Granger & Poppy Pomfrey

Waking up was a process. She had to actually fight the arms of sleep to let her move out of the in-between land of dream and wakefulness to open her eyes to the sunlight of the day. But even after she was sitting up and blinking her eyes to acclimate herself to the day's light, she felt like she was in a fog.

Bringing a hand to rub at her cheek, she was made aware in a very distant way that her face felt scratchy. Sort of like how her dad's face felt when she'd accept a kiss from him. It didn't take much longer to realize that she wasn't in her dorm, but in the infirmary. A frown tugging at her lips, she turned to slip out of the bed she was in.

"Madam Pomfrey?" she called.

Hermione touched her throat. It too was scratchy like her cheek and there was a lump. Rocketing to her feet so quickly that she nearly lost balance, Hermione shouted once more, "Madam Pomfrey!"

Finally, the nurse appeared. "Miss Granger!" she rebuked. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"What's wrong with me? Where's a mirror?" Hermione demanded as she started to run her hands over the rest of her body and realize that many things were missing.

An uneasy set coming to her features, Madam Pomfrey said, "Miss Granger, dear, why don't you take a seat? I'll get you a mirror in the meantime."

"What happened to me?" she demanded again, flinching at the timber of her own bellow.

The woman narrowed her eyes fiercely and commanded once more, "Sit! I will make you, if I must, Miss Granger!"

Reluctantly, Hermione sat back down.

Nodding in satisfaction, the woman turned her back on Hermione and went to a tabletop nearby. Picking up what had to be a mirror, she approached with the reflective side pressed to her chest. "Now, Miss Granger, before I hand you the mirror, may I ask you a question or two?"

Hermione wanted to say no. She wanted to demand that the mirror be handed over. But she didn't. Instead, she did the polite thing and agreed to the questioning. "Yes, it's okay," she answered.

Brows relaxing marginally, Madam Pomfrey smiled. "Thank you, dear," she said. "Now, do you remember what you were doing before you woke up here?"

"I was-" Hermione paused. She wasn't actually sure. Everything past Transfiguration was quite muddled. Vaguely, she recalled walking with Ron and Harry when they were stopped by - Malfoy? Yes, Malfoy. It had to be him. Then there had been wands raised and she had-

"Malfoy came to goad Harry and when I tried to step in-between them he cast a spell. Is that why I feel odd? Did his spell do something to me?"

Madam Pomfrey gave an unhappy snort. "More like it did something to both of you. I'm sure the boy will learn his lesson about casting half-remembered spells after this one," she muttered.

Giving the nurse a quizzical look, Hermione stretched out her hand. "May I have the mirror?"

"Be aware, dear, this might be quite...shocking to you. I'm surprised the scream Mister Malfoy unleashed upon my infirmary didn't wake you an hour ago."

Pursing her lips, Hermione replied, "Yes, well, I think whatever the spell did made me very tired. I'm still tired even..."

"Poor dear," the woman clucked. "I'll let you rest here a little longer if you wish after this."

Hermione gave a relieved smile. "Thank you, Madam Pomfrey. That might be nice."

"Now, again, this might be quite shocking..." the woman warned her as she finally handed Hermione the mirror.

Taking it with eager fingers, Hermione wasted no time in looking into its reflective surface. What she saw left her completely speechless. Instead of seeing the usual round cheeks, fine eyebrows and petite nose she was used to, Hermione saw the face of someone that could have been her brother. His eyebrows were heavy like her fathers, his jaw broad and nose long. The only thing she'd dare to call feminine about his highly masculine face would be his eyelashes. They were thicker and darker than her own - almost unfairly so - and Hermione could barely stand it.

This wasn't her face!

Startled from her revere by a gentle hand upon her knee, Hermione looked over to the sympathetic face of Madam Pomfrey. "I'm sorry, dear. The spell is a gender-switching spell, you see. Something concocted ages ago by an angry wife, the story goes. This spell will last at least a month, unfortunately."

"A month? Why that long?" Hermione asked unhappily.

Sighing, the woman took back the mirror and turned her back on Hermione as she set it aside. "As I explained to Mister Malfoy, we will have to wait at least a month as that's usually how long a woman has between her monthlies. This spell, as I said, was concocted by an angry wife who wanted to make her husband understand all the troubles a woman goes through...including that time of the month."

"Oh, poor Malfoy," Hermione murmured. Usually she had little sympathy for the likes of him, but it was bad enough as a girl to go through the monthlies, for someone who was actually supposed to be a boy? She could just barely imagine the horror he would feel when it happened. The wrongness of it all.

Lips twitching, Madam Pomfrey agreed. "Yes, you are quite right," she replied. "He was very upset as it was when he left. But he wasn't willing to stay here, either. I suppose he's likely gone back to his dorm. Oh, I think we will have to talk to Dumbledore. Boys aren't allowed in the girls' dorm and I imagine without help you won't be able to get into yours..."

"Can we do that now?" Hermione begged. "I'd really just like to go lie down in my bed for a while..."

Patting her knee once more, Madam Pomfrey got up. "Of course, dear. I'll go speak with the Headmaster, you just wait here."

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," she muttered in reply before laying back down.

Bringing her hands together over her now very flat stomach, Hermione linked her hairy fingers together and took a deep breath. This was going to be a very long month, she knew. While it was going to be nowhere near as terrible as Malfoy's, Hermione still saw a very an difficult time ahead.

As of right now, her biggest worry was how her dormmates were going to take her being a boy. Unluckily for Hermione, they tended to be far from rational and somehow, she just knew they were going to protest her staying there even though she was still a girl in mind.

Turning onto her side, Hermione brought her hands to her face and moaned into them, "How is this my life?"

So scratch the angst chapter. This idea came to me very suddenly and I liked it quite a bit more than what I had planned. All in all, I figure this chapter's more amusing than anything else.

One more chapter to go after this!

Thanks for reading and please review :)