AUTHOR NOTE
Synopsis: This is a very lame variant that I will at some point revisit when I am feeling better. I was tired the day I wrote this as work was crazy, life was crazy and I wasn't. Regard this I guess as a pilot episode and the staff will revamp the show when we get a better budget. Even my wife regarded this as weak and lame. I'll do better next time.
DennisUD: Thanks this one sorta wrote itself as once we got rolling it was there.
OfficerDonNZ: Yep war is war and hell is hell and of the two war is worse. So it's always going to be dark.
N0wa5t3r: True the idea of the traditional blood drinking burst into flames vampire, or even the Bram Stoker's Dracula would be a tragedy and sad story if I wrote it. The cursed with cool vampires are the worst. We kill those for free. Glad the viral vampire idea worked out. It was a compromise between the two sorts. And yeah some would be freaked out, some would be excited, some would be ambivalent.
Secrets? There are no real secrets involved in this. As for the process or method or whatever you wanna call it I'm doing for this let me walk you through the entire thing I guess.
About a month ago I was driving and Rob Zombie's living dead girl came on the playlist. It got me thinking of how the folks would react if a character showed up living dead (I do a lot of driving the same roads after time you get to run on autopilot.) this got to thinking about what if a character changed into this how would that affect things. So we have the basis for the WHAT of the story. A character changes. Next was WHO changed. Harry? Nah he's the main character, he is trapped in Durzkaban, He probably isn't going to do anything too experimental that would wind up with him changing. Ron? Even less likely as he's not going to do an experiment as that would be too close to homework. So that leaves Hermione. She's a muggle-born living in a muggle house. She has an thirst for knowledge and doesn't mind homework. So now we have the WHO. Next is HOW well that flows from her muggleness. A microwave oven. It heats things by stimulating the molecules with EM radiation. Magical ingredients might not react well to that. So now we have the HOW. Last would be WHEN. Well 4th year they are old enough to have some interesting and naughty things happen. She is mature enough to be doing these kinds of experiments but still young enough to not realize that doing them unsupervised might be a bad idea. So We have WHO, WHAT, WHEN, HOW. Where is of course the platform and the train for the introduction as its the typical getting the band back together trope.
Now as for the ideas of all the changes I took a sheet of paper and wrote down the various basic ideas. Hulk, flash, fairy etc.. we've already seen. My wife threw some at me Timekeeper and some others here threw ideas. So I wound up with a list of around 80 ideas. I set several rules though.
Rule #1:Clothes will not shift. This helps with any naughty ideas or to reinforce that its a potion only affecting her body.
Rule#2: No changes that cannot handicap her more than what could be overcome by some basic accommodations.
Rule#3: Nothing that would preclude a relationship with Harry.
Rule#4: Nothing that didn't make sense in verse.
Beyond that its just thinking about how they would act or react based on their personalities and any changes that would be done as a result of her changes. I did bend the rules a bit for the Veela ones as they could have slipped into some very dark stuff but otherwise stayed mostly there.
So crossing out anything that didn't fit the criteria that narrowed the list to 64 changes that were unique and hopefully different. Then went through with the wife and crossed out anything that might not make a big enough change to make a compelling or interesting story. One idea that got tossed was she somehow winds up becoming a firefly or glowing or having breasts that glowed. My wife asked me honestly what kind of story that was going to be. I had to reply lame. So it got crossed. This reduced the list to only about 58 to 60 but other ideas get added if something that meets the criteria come in. But I don't do requests as I'm already busier than a one armed paper hanger. I'll probably be three days dead before i get everything done that AI'm already working on.
As for when I write I usually do a day ahead for the short stuff and over a week for the longer bigger more serious stories. That way my wife when she gets a chance can read over stuff point out stupid mistakes or other flaws and I get a chance to rewrite.
Anyhow hope that helps.
Hey you took the time to leave a review least I can do is thank you and respond.
September 1st 1994
Harry and Ron were chatting with Ginny when they saw Hermione come through the barrier onto 9 and ¾. She must have been running very late as the Weasley's had been early and still among the last to board the train.
Harry turned and watched her approach. She looked pretty and healthy today. Her hair was a deep chestnut brown instead of the more lighter shade he remembered but he remembered his aunt Petunia dying her hair to keep the grey away for her vanity. He figured Hermione for some reason had chosen to do that.
She came running up and hugged Harry tightly. "Oh my god guys. I'm so glad you survived that World Cup. I heard all about it and was so scared that you got killed or hurt." She kissed him on the throat.
"Not expelled." Harry joked not sure what to think of her lips having touched his throat.
"oh you prat." she said slapping him on the chest lightly. He stared at her in shock.
"What?"
"Your eyes Mione. They're green like mine."
"Shit. Sorry. I'll explain on the train okay." She said as she headed for the compartments.
Harry shrugged and followed her. Ron uncharacteristically silent as he watched her go.
=====xxxxx=====
Once they were settled she smiled and said, "Okay I'm going to confess something I bet you never expected me to say."
"You're adopted and really Harry's secret sister?" Ron asked hopefully.
"No. Uh NO. Why would you even say that?" Hermione asked in shock and disgust.
"Oh uh no reason. You just have the same exact color eyes as Harry does."
"Yeah that means I imprinted his pattern on mine."
"Hunh?" Both boys asked in confusion, looking at her blankly.
"Okay maybe if I explained from the beginning?"
Harry and Ron both nodded carefully and slowly.
"Okay well I was working on poly-juice. And I thought I'd use the microwave to cut down on some of the time. Well it worked sort of."
"What do you mean sort of?" Harry asked in concern. Remembering the time she spent as a cat. Afraid and embarrassed to show herself to anyone but him. And then only after he promised to never tell Ron anything about her appearance then. At least she hadn't asked him to make an oath.
"Well I can change shape and take on the appearance of someone else. The last person I've touched."
Harry got a surprise look of understanding. "Wait when you touched me on the platform. You did something and changed your eyes."
"Yeah. Let me explain how it works okay?"
"Yeah that's cool though. You look pretty with green eyes."
"Thanks I am kinda partial to green eyes."
Ron frowned and shook his head. Ginny felt a sudden sensation of being shoved to the side emotionally.
"So anyhow what do you mena you can shift?"
"Well the last person I touch their pattern I guess is the way they explained it is what I can shift into. Until I touch someone else and copy their pattern."
"Does it happen just from touching someone?" Ron asked in concern.
"No not anymore. When I first did it I was a mess. Literally. I had touched mom and shifted, lost my original form. Bits and pieces of me shifted and I mean that literally at one point I had one of my breasts, one of moms, different colored eyes, it was ugly."
"Wow. So you can shift into a copy of me now?"
"Yeah wanna see?"
"Sure."
Her form melted and shifted until Harry was staring at a copy of himself. "Whoa that's wicked."
Ginny grinned, "Holy crap. So uh how accurate is that?"
Hermione laughed, "Totally accurate. IF Harry and I stepped out and came back in the only way you could tell us apart is our clothes. If we were naked not even his own mom could tell just by looking."
Ginny licked her lip, "Oh really?" Looking back and forth between her friends.
Ron grunted, "Down Ginny. This is freaky. She's still Hermione even if she looks like Harry."
"Just like Harry." She said hungrily to Hermione's amusement.
"Do you mind? Come back to you please Herms."
"Why Ron I was thinking of charging admission to the showers in the girls dorms with this." She winked at Harry but he still wasn't sure with the new Hermione here."
Ginny laughed, "Maybe get Harry to join you and we charge them to play spot the differences."
"Yeah but if she looks and sounds exactly like me there aren't any."
"Oh I know but we'd have to examine you very very carefully to make sure."
Hermione shifted back to herself and frowned, Reaching under her shirt she put her breasts back in her bra cups to the amusement of Ginny as both boys looked then realized they were looking and almost injured themselves looking without looking.
"You know guys I have lost any nudity taboo I may have had. I had to spend a bit of time naked as I just couldn't hold a form for more than a few seconds at first."
"I thought you said you turned into your mom?"
"I did but she's just tall enough and wider hipped and stuff that my clothes don't fit her and her's don't really fit me. So I just said never mind and got rid of the clothes."
"Oh I bet your mum loved that." Ron snorted.
"She didn't care she has no body image problems or nudity taboo. We've gone to clothing optional beaches in France. And she's gone optional..."
"And your dad is okay with that?"
She shrugged, "He's happy the way she looks. Says that she makes him look richer as he has a trophy wife. You' have to figure out dad's sense of humor."
"So why are your eyes green in your normal form?"
"Because I take on one characteristics from the person I've got their pattern copied as. When I came in that was mom's hair color. I unfortunately don't get to choose. Its a bit random."
"Do Ginny." Harry said excitedly.
"I'm not a dolly wally Harry."
"Sorry do Ginny please?"
She shook her head and held her hand out. Ginny looked at it then took it. There was a brief flicker of Hermione's form and her breasts shrunk to the smaller ones of Ginny.
Looking down Hermione sighed, "Well bummer."
"Hey just go touch Lavender and they should inflate back up." Ron chuckled.
"Yeah or I might get her hair or her eyes its usually one of those three. Hair eyes or boobs."
"Oh man that sucks."
Hermione shrugged, "I will not be showing this off okay. So Harry can I go back to yours."
Harry held his hand out and she flickered and changed then her breasts inflated as her eyes shifted back to green."
"So how are you going to explain those?"
"Love Bond? Lavender will buy it and she'll tell everyone about it."
"Won't it be detectable?"
Ginny laughed, "Harry there is no such thing as a love bond. Only those who are truly romantic or goofy believe there is. But it'll make people not ask more serious questions and think she changed them with transfiguration or charms."
"Yeah. That makes sense." Hermione batted her eyelashes at him.
"Yeah so why would you want to tell people we had a love bond?"
"Well since I was hoping you'd be my boyfriend that would help explain that."
"Oh okay. Cool. Yeah sure. I'd like that."
Ginny sighed.
"Although I don't want to stop being your friend too Ginny, Ron."
"Oh okay." Ron settled back into the friendzone without complaint. Ginny was not as happy but she accepted it.
=====xxxxx=====
They chatted and talked for the ride Hermione shifting back and forth several times to show Ron and Ginny she could do it at will. Although she almost got caught as Harry when Draco came to be snarky. He saw Hermione's green eyes and her holding Harry's hand and almost got sick.
As they were walking up to the carriages Hermione whispered in her boyfriend's ear. "Harry how do you deal with this thing?"
He looked down and then at her in confusion.
"No I don't have it now but when I'm you I'm ALL you."
He shrugged, "I just do. Okay." He laughed.
=====xxxx====
Hermione and Harry enjoyed their relationship. She stood beside him during the time Ron had abandoned them. She danced with him at the Yule Ball and wound up under the lake.
She became closer to Harry and had made a real connection with him. He told her about his life at the Dursleys and how he kept getting sent back.
She touched Dumbledore and stole his pattern. Her blue eyes were rather sparkling.
After the third task she kept supporting him. Even if no one else did.
Harry was rescued from the Dursley's by Dumbledore and a strange brown haired witch. Due to this the Dementors showed up and ate the Dursleys to the consternation of Dumbledore. But he had to admit he had been outplayed and let Harry stay with Hermione who had recopied his pattern and was sporting brilliant green eyes again.
They formed a resistance against Umbridge. Hermione copying people in Dumbledore's army to make it look like they were in two places at the same time. Harry listened to her when she said it was a trap which let Dumbledore spring a trap on Voldemort. Without having to defend Harry as he was safe at Hogwarts with his friends and Sirius who had been sent to the school to keep Harry safe. Dumbledore did not hold back and although the Ministry was wrecked he captured Voldemort and his cronies. This let him retrieve the horcruxes at leisure and then told Harry about the prophecy and all he had to do was just toss everything through the veil. Harry was more than happy to do so and then get on with a normal yet fun life with Hermione.
She went to work as an Auror to help investigate fraud and abuse. Her shifting ability getting her put in the same division as Nymphadora Lupin.
Her kids all had a variation of the changing ability. One was a direct copy of her power, one was a metamorphmagus and one was a natural animagus of a cat.
Harry became a healer and enjoyed his life helping people. To the end of his days on this world.
Hermione and Harry and Ginny were very very close friends, even after she wound up marrying Neville.
