AN: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed thus far, I am glad to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter. As I said in my last note the story will now start to progress past the time frame that it has been locked into for the past several chapters and onto the greater story. I am still searching for one or two Betas for both this story "Forever" and the alternate version "Forever Always", I would like to find someone willing to work on both at the same time, but I do understand that this will potentially be a momentous task. If you or anyone you know may be interested and up for the task PM me and we can discuss the details. Anyway, back to the show shall we.

Harry awoke with a start, looking about the dark room as he sat up. Looking at the clock above the desk he sighed, it was only four in the morning. Something was off however, he was not in his bedroom but Hermione's. He didn't understand, he had not come to her room last night or spent any time with her.

He sighed and slipped to the end of the bed, reaching over to the nightstand for his glasses but paused when he realized that they were not there. He shrugged and stood, figuring that they must still be in his room he made his way toward the door. He was just passing a mirror she had put up on the wall when he froze at his reflection.

WHAT! He yelped as he stood staring as Hermione stared back at him. He raised a hand and watched as her own left hand mirrored his right in the reflection.

Looking down he realized that he was not staring at his own clothes or indeed his own body, her night shirt stopping just above his bare knees. Confused and slightly panicked he ran from the room and across the dark common area into his own bedroom where he saw himself sound asleep in his bed.

This is...He shook his head and crossed over to the room, realizing for the first time that he could see without his glasses as he reached down and gently shook himself.

"Hermione, are you there?" He called, stunned into momentary silence again as it was her voice instead of his own that called out the words.

His body thrashed and jolted upright as it awoke. "Harry what th-!" He stared up at himself as his own voice came from his lips as she spoke. "WHAT!"

"I don't know, I just woke up and found myself in your body." He said as he settled down on the bed next to her.

She frowned, the features of his face contorting in a very Hermioneish way. "You're eyesight is awful." She said as she began to search for his glasses. "Really awful."

He laughed and reached over to the nightstand to pick them up and handed them to her. "I wouldn't really know, I've worn them since I was five I think." He said with a shrug.

She placed the round glasses he was so used to seeing through on his face and blinked a few times to adjust her vision. "What the hell is this about?" She said as she threw the covers off revealing his boxers. "And this!"

He looked down and laughed at the tent in his boxers, clearly his morning problem was not something she had expected. "Go use the restroom and it will go down." He suggested, trying to ease her tension.

"Use the restroom?" She asked and he could feel how the idea frightened her. "I..."

"It's easier than you think." He said as he smiled gently. "You just stand at the urinal and let it go, just make sure you aim right or you'll piss everywhere."

"Harry, I've never had to stand to pee before." She said, giving him a somewhat startled stare.

"Oh?" He asked, clearly he hadn't thought of this. "Then...h-how?"

"Girls sit down silly." She said rolling her eyes as she stood and, grabbing him by the hand, lead the way to the bathroom that they had added to his room despite the large one that they all shared.

"If I'm going to deal with this I can't have that distracting me." She said as she made her way over to the urinal he had requested. "So...walk me through this please."

He laughed and talked her through the essentials before settling on the commode while he waited for her to finish. Once she was finished, having at least gotten the basics down, she washed her hands and they returned to his room. Settling on the foot of the bed they stared at each other without speaking for several moments.

"Well...this is new." She said finally, breaking the silence. "I wonder if this is something to do with the Bond."

"I don't know, you tell me." He said with a sigh. "Is...is there anything in any of the books?"

She shook her head. "Not that I've read about." She said with a frown, tapping her chin with her finger as he saw all of the various passages she had been reading over the past couple of weeks. "Talking in our minds yes, sharing each others knowledge yes, swapping bodies no haven't covered that one yet."

He frowned, surely there had to be something on this somewhere. "So...maybe we should speak with Professor Flitwick."

She jumped up. "That's a great idea, he may at least know how to undo this if nothing else." She said with a frown as she looked at the clock. "Shit, it's too early to go down. Curfew hasn't lifted yet and breakfast isn't for another hour and a half."

"Well then we'll just have to wait, when curfew breaks we can head down and see him." He said with a shrug.

"You-you mean j-just walk through the Castle in each other's body?" She asked, staring at him with panic in her eyes and he could feel her apprehension.

"Oh...shit, I didn't think of that." He said with a frown.

"Yeah, I don't wear pants." She said as she suddenly sent him an image of her school skirt.

"Fucking hell!" He shrieked, realizing that he'd be wearing a skirt when he put on her uniform. "No!"

She laughed. "Sorry Harry, I don't like slacks unless I have to." She said and sighed. "It's going to be an interesting day today isn't it?"

He blinked at her. "I am not wearing a skirt!"

She burst into a fit of the giggles, which sounded very weird coming from him as she tried to regain herself. Finally spluttering she looked at him incredulously. "You can take on a Basilisk but you won't wear a skirt, that-that's funny."

He frowned. "I think I'd rather be facing that thing down again then have to worry about half my legs hanging out of my clothes, and what if-if someone..."

"Looked up your skirt?" She asked, smirking as she let a few images of boys having done just that to her. "It's common Harry, boys will be...well, boys."

He sighed and then they both realized that there really was nothing else that could be done at the moment. "You'll have to teach me how to put on a bra I guess."

She smiled and laughed. "That's easy enough." She said with a sigh. "And here I was thinking about swapping to wearing heels today."

He frowned. "You already wear...fuuuck." He groaned as he realized that she didn't wear flats but had already been wearing smaller heels for the past year. "I'm gonna break my neck today."

She laughed again, a few images passing through his mind of her own self learning to walk in them. Albeit I was much younger than we are now the first time I wore them.

He sighed. "You know, I'm glad I am not a girl." He said realizing just how much easier men really did have it.

"Yes." She said pointedly. "You all do have it much easier, but no time to waste, lets get you dressed so that I can do so and then we can wait in the common room until it's time to go find Flitwick.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Hermione took his hand again as the exited the quarters at exactly five thirty, luckily the others had not come out of their rooms yet which at least meant that for now only they know what was going on. She had only been down to Flitwick's office a few times but she remembered easily enough how to get there.

"Keep me steady." He hissed in her ear as he was still trying to figure out how to work in what he kept calling in his head her deathtraps.

"Just hold onto my arm." She said, trying to guide him as best as she could .

Really he was doing quite well, all things considering, for wearing women's clothing for the firs time. Luckily unless someone were to actually speak directly to either one of them they would not notice what was going on. She was surprised to see only a few other students making their way down the stairs as they walked.

I doubt anyone will actually try to speak to us this early. She said as she continued to guide him down the stairs, trying to keep him steady as best she could he was only wearing two inch heels how was he this clumsy.

I've never worn heels before remember, I'm a seeker not a cross-dresser! She laughed, slapping a hand to her mouth as the sound escaped her. Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. She said and sighed, this was really going to be quite the day if they were stuck like this for too much longer.

She sighed as they rounded the corner onto the Second Floor a few minutes later and saw their quarry walking toward them. Thank heavens. He said as they caught the attention of the tiny Professor.

"Ah, good morning Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger." Flitwick said as he stopped just a few feet away from them looking up at them with a gentle smile. "I hope you are both having a good morning?"

She smiled down at him. "Er, Professor." She said, his voice sounding uncertain coming from her. "May we have a word with you in private?"

"Certainly Mr. Potter, if you will follow me." He said turning and leading them back up the passage. "My office is just around the corner."

He lead them around the corner and stopped at a door they had passed several times just three doors down from the Charms classroom. He tapped the handle with his wand and ushered them inside, joining them as he closed the door behind them.

"How can I help?" He asked as he looked from one to the other of them and then settled to stare up at them.

"Professor." She began again. "We seem to have a slight problem this morning, you see I am Hermione."

Flitwick blinked up at her and frowned. "I see...so the rumors were true then."

"Rumors Professor?" He asked as he stared down at the older man with a frown.

"Yes, there have been rumors that those with a Soul Bond could in fact swap bodies." He said with a frown. "Though it's never been confirmed before now."

Hermione raised an eyebrow as she looked at him puzzled. "I see, do you know a way that we can swap back?"

Flitwick shook his head. "I'm afraid not, I would assume that all you would have to do is think about it and just like when you share each others thoughts and senses, you would maneuver back into your own bodies."

"Why didn't I think of that?" She said, smacking herself in the forehead as she looked pointedly at him. "Well, let's give it a try Harry."

She could feel him already concentrating on the task with all his energy. She joined him and she could feel the shift as she tried to enter her own body again. Just as she though they were going to get it she felt a snap and fell back into his body again.

"Dammit!" He yelped as she rubbed her head from the strain the exercise had caused. "I cannot go to classes like this!"

Flitwick smiled softly and sighed. "Perhaps it may take a little work, how did you end up this way?"

"I woke up in her body, as soon as I realized I was not me I went and woke her up." He said with a frown. "After we discussed what to do the obvious choice was to come and speak with you we decided."

Flitwick smiled. "I see, well I am glad that you thought I could help." He said with a frown as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I think you two will have to figure this out on your own though."

Hermione groaned. "Well I think we were onto something with the idea of mentally trying to shift." She said with a frown. "I did feel us starting to swap, but then it became too much of a strain and we fell back into our current body."

He nodded. "Relaxation and clear thinking is going to be the best way to go about this." Flitwick said with a smile. "Why don't you two take the day off from classes and try to relax, maybe after a while you will just shift on your own."

Hermione stared at him in horror. "T-take the day off?" She asked, that was a terrible idea and their grades were bound to suffer. "But-"

"It's only a suggestion." Flitwick said as he shrugged. "I guess you could go on with your day as normal, but until you relax and allow the shift to happen without straining you may be stuck for a while."

"Hermione!" Harry shrieked and she could feel his sheer horror at the idea of spending an entire day like this if they did not swap back sooner.

She smiled and gently took his hand in her own, reaching over to cup his cheek with her now calloused hand. "It'll be fine, we can figure this out together Harry." She said softly, her own trepidation spilling into him as she allowed him to feel how she felt about the idea as well. "We can't miss classes love."

He sighed. "Fine." He said as he deflated. "But I am not speaking to anyone unless I have to."

"What about Ron?" She asked, mentally reminding him that Ron would want to speak with him today and that would definitely require him to speak to him since it was him that Ron would be speaking to not her.

"Shit." He said and together they laughed despite the rising panic she could feel from him at their current state of affairs.

"Well then." Flitwick said with a grin. "I guess you two best get down to breakfast, I am sure your friends and fiances and wife will be searching for you soon enough."

Harry groaned but they left the Professor, him still clutching onto her arm as they made their way down to the Great Hall. It was already starting to pack with students when they arrived, they could see that the others had already arrived and were seated at the Gryffindor table despite the fact that Padma and Susan both still belonged in other houses.

As they settled down beside the others Ron looked over to her and yawned. "Morning Harry." He said as he greeted what he thought was him.

"Good morning." Harry said instinctively, realizing too late that he had done so instead of allowing Hermione to do it.

"Morning Hermione." Ron said as he grinned over at him. "I wonder what we'll be covering in Care of Magical Creatures today."

"I have no idea Ron." She said as she began to pile her usual preferred breakfast onto the plate before her. " I am sure Hagrid will have something fun planned though."

"Hermione did you finish your Ancient Runes translation last night?" Daphne asked as she looked up from the paper in front of her.

"Yes I did why?" She asked, before she too realized she had answered.

Daphne stared at her. "I was asking Hermione, Harry." She said as she looked at him.

"Er..." He said with a grimace.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "It's a long story, but I am Hermione." She said and the entire group looked at the two of them dumbfounded.

"Y-you...what!" Ron barked as others around the table turned to start at him, grumbling in their morning stupor.

"She is." Harry said with a frown. "We'll explain later, lets finish breakfast and get the hell out of here."

The others all looked at them as if they had lost their minds before quickly doing as instructed. It was only about thirty minutes later that they were all marching back up to the private quarters.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"And that pretty much sums it up." Harry said as he stopped pacing before them all, smoothing out the skirt as he fidgeted where he stood still in her body.

"So-so you mean to tell us that you woke up in her body?" Ron asked, a dumbfounded smile on his lips. "Wicked."

"No, it's not." Harry interjected barely beating Hermione to the punch as she slapped Ron's arm. "It's not at all, I have to wear a skirt!"

The girls all burst into laughter and Ron guffawed loudly as they all sat on the couches and armchairs of the common area. Harry could feel his cheeks burning as he eyed them before sighing.

"From what we understand apparently this is something that individuals with a Soul Bond can do." Hermione said as she regained herself and took over the pseudo lesson. "We can revert back, but first we are going to have to relax and allow it to happen. We can't force it, we already tried that."

The others all stared at the two of them and collectively the girls all sighed. "Well, zis ees going to be eenteresting." Alexandrine said with a grin. "I 'ave always wondered what eet would be like to be een a boy's body."

Harry frowned at her. "What?"

She laughed. "I'm joking 'Arry." She said with a sigh. "Don't worry, we'll 'elp you get adjusted to zis, oui?"

The others all nodded their agreement. "Well until this gets sorted I guess that means that the marriages will be a awkward and the relationships too."

The others all raised their eyebrows at him. "Why would that be awkward Harry?" Daphne asked with a frown. "We'll just be spending more time with you than usual, now that you'll be able to accompany us places that boys normally can't go."

"HEY!" Hermione called with a shriek of her own. "That means that I have to use the boys lavatory."

All of the other girls grimaced as they clearly had the mental image in their heads now. "Thanks, I didn't need that this early." Daphne said with a smirk. "You'll be fine, you'll have Ron there to help you, right Weasley?"

Ron coughed but nodded his head. "Uh s-sure." He said and they could see his face turning bright red. "Sure I'll help you."

"It's settled then." Ginny said as she stood and crossed over to him. "We'll make sure he keeps everything normal Hermione, don't worry."

She nodded. "Thanks, but hopefully we'll end up swapping back to normal before the end of the day.