A/N – Welcome to my story, A Spell to Remember. This story has 23 chapters, plus an epilogue and an after the end piece, and updates will be on Tuesdays and Fridays. I have already wrote a short story concerning Harry and Draco swapping bodies, but as I'm sure my regular readers are aware I love using the same topics and giving them a twist, which is exactly what I have done here. This is a different and much longer body swap story. It is also not really a story for Ron fans. But for everyone else, I hope you enjoy it and I hope the issues with the site don't cause as many problems as they did while I was publishing my last story. Enjoy!
Prologue.
As he headed down from the quidditch stands with his best friends, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley couldn't help but scowl at the outpouring of praise that was going on around him. His fellow Gryffindors were all raving about the skills of the seeker who had just won the game against Ravenclaw for his team. It was bad enough that everyone was singing the praises of a rival player, but it was even worse when that player was a Slytherin. And not just any Slytherin, but the so called Slytherin Prince himself, Draco Malfoy.
"I can't believe this," he hissed to Harry and Hermione. "Just listen to everyone, you would think Malfoy won the game single-handed."
"He did," Harry replied with a shrug, not sounding at all bitter by the display his rival had put on. "I have to say, I agree with everyone else, Malfoy played a blinder today."
Ron frowned, not wanting to admit Harry was right. During the warm up, Slytherins keeper, Blaise Zabini, had injured himself and he'd had to be replaced by one of the reserve players. With it all being so last minute the reserve player hadn't been ready for the game and he'd played shockingly. Within ten minutes it was clear that Ravenclaw were going to amass a large score and the only way Slytherin were going to win was for Malfoy to catch the snitch before the opposition took too big of a lead. And that was exactly what he had done. As well as trying to keep his team motivated, and to encourage them to score a few goals of their own, he rang rings around his fellow seeker and when he did catch the snitch it was done in pretty spectacular fashion as he'd been almost upside down in order to cling onto the tiny golden ball.
Even if deep down, Ron knew Malfoy deserved the praise he was receiving, he still didn't like it. He didn't mind it when people treated Harry the same way when he'd had a good game. After all, Harry was his best friend, and in Ron's humble opinion, the best quidditch player the school had. But he saw no reason for people to be gushing over Malfoy the same way. They certainly never gushed over him, even when he had a good game. He'd never once received the sort of attention Malfoy was receiving.
Ron's jealousy over the attention Malfoy was receiving only intensified as over dinner he saw the way the Slytherins were treating him as some sort of god. By the next day, he was still seething as he and Harry headed into Hogsmeade to finish their Christmas shopping.
"I cannot stand the blond git," Ron admitted to Harry as they spotted the Slytherin in question wandering around the shops with Blaise, whose arm was still bandaged up following his injury.
"I used to feel the same way," Harry said.
"Used to, what happened?" Ron asked. To be honest he'd always been sure Harry shared his venomous dislike of the blond Slytherin.
"Life," Harry replied with a shrug. "I grew up and realised that just because we're two very different people that we don't have to hate each other. I guess it was different when we were younger and the threat of Voldemort still hung over us. After all, it was assumed the likes of Malfoy would be on his side. But then he killed himself trying to return and things changed. No-one had to pick sides."
Ron had to admit Harry was right and that things had changed since Voldemort's ill-fated attempt to return. Before that, the Slytherins had been very separate to the rest of the school and the general consensus was that when the time came they would all fight for the dark. But Voldemort's demise had changed all that, and these days the Slytherins were more like a proper part of the school. House rivalries were still fierce, but without the added addition of a potential war, inter-house friendships had begun to flourish. Now, it wasn't uncommon to see the Slytherins being friendly with people outside of their own house.
Although the biggest display of house unity came from the head students, which included Ron's best friend, Hermione, and annoyingly, Malfoy himself. Ron still wasn't impressed that the blond Slytherin had taken the prestigious position as Head Boy. He didn't like to admit that Malfoy was academically superior to everyone but Hermione. And he certainly didn't like to admit that Malfoy had more authority over the other students than Ron could ever hope to wield. It was just yet another area where Ron was outshone by the annoying blond Slytherin.
Shaking his head to dispel thoughts of Malfoy, Ron vowed not to let the blond wizard spoil his day. Instead, he threw himself into his Christmas shopping as he and Harry visited shop after shop, ticking off the list of presents they still had to buy. Unfortunately for Ron, shopping was never an experience he enjoyed as he always had to watch every galleon he spent, whereas Harry had a lot more freedom to buy whatever he wanted. Even worse for Ron was that in almost every shop they visited, Malfoy and Zabini turned up, and neither of the Slytherins seemed to have to think about money either.
By the time they visited the jewellers, Ron was well and truly fed up with the two Slytherins and he was dismayed when they entered the shop shortly after he and Harry had entered. By that point, Ron was virtually out of money, but he was helping Harry pick up something for Ginny.
"These are nice," Ron said, looking at a display of silver initial necklaces embedded with various coloured gems.
"They are," Harry said, looking at the 'G'. "Pricey though."
"Yeah, I guess," Ron agreed as they moved on.
Much to Ron's annoyance just after he and Harry had moved on from the necklaces, Zabini pointed them out to Malfoy. Without batting an eyelid, Malfoy announced he would buy two for his friends, Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass. While Harry focused on finding something for Ginny, Ron watched Malfoy casually buy two expensive necklaces for witches who were just his friends.
"Where to next?" Zabini asked, oblivious to the fact Ron was watching him and Draco.
"I want to visit that new lingerie shop," Malfoy answered with a smirk.
"I've told you before Draco, lingerie is a present for you, not your girlfriend," Zabini laughed.
"No, it's a present for us both," Draco countered as he and Zabini exited the shop.
While Harry picked a charm bracelet for Ginny, and paid for it, Ron morosely watched Malfoy and Zabini enter the lingerie shop across the street. He'd never been in the shop before as he didn't even have a girlfriend, let alone one he was serious enough about to buy sexy underwear for. But as always, it appeared Malfoy was one up on him and not only had a girlfriend, but had one who he was sleeping with and buying saucy lingerie for.
Feeling deflated, Ron suggested he and Harry call it a day, and since Harry had finished his shopping, he was more than happy to head back to Hogwarts. Luckily for Ron, the Slytherins weren't heading back to school so he didn't have to put up with Malfoy for any longer. Unluckily, he and Harry ended up walking behind two sixth year Slytherins, both of whom were gushing about how hot Malfoy was.
"Can you believe these two?" Ron hissed to Harry, gesturing to the giggling girls in front of him. "Do you think they're blind?"
"I can't see it myself, but it's a popular opinion," Harry shrugged. "I've heard plenty of girls gushing about how hot Malfoy is. Zabini is pretty popular with the witches as well."
By the time they arrived at the castle, Ron was well and truly fed up with listening to the girls gushing about Malfoy, and even occasionally Zabini. It seemed to Ron as though Malfoy had it all. Quidditch talent, plenty of money, Head Boy status, a girlfriend he was shagging and other witches drooling at the mere mention of his name. And then it hit Ron that he was jealous. Jealous of Draco Malfoy of all people.
...
The realisation that he was jealous of Malfoy hit Ron hard and he was still moping over it during the Christmas holidays. As much as he tried to convince himself he didn't need to be jealous of Draco, especially since he was pretty content with his life, it just didn't work and Ron couldn't help but dwell on all the things Malfoy had and he didn't.
His distraction with Malfoy led Ron to spend more time by himself than normal, and when his mother asked him to help sort out the attic, he was more than happy to oblige. And as it turned out, helping Molly proved to be exactly what Ron needed as he found an old spell book, and one of the spells allowed you to briefly experience someone else's life. For forty eight hours he could be someone else, and no-one would ever know.
"But could I do it?" he muttered to himself as he studied the book, which to be honest wasn't in the best condition, but it would serve Ron's purposes.
Not at all sure if he should use the book, Ron stashed it away under his bed, but he kept looking at the spell that would let him experience Malfoy's life. However, to enact the spell he needed something of the blond's, which meant he would have to wait until he returned to Hogwarts. Which meant, he had time to think about whether or not it was worth the risk to use the spell and get a chance to experience a life he never would.
By the time school returned in the new year, Ron had decided to use the spell and he was ready to go. All he needed was something belonging to Malfoy, and since he also needed something of his own to join together, he'd decided on using their school ties. And thanks to Hermione sharing dorms with the Slytherin in question, it was extremely easy for Ron to pay her a visit and snaffle Malfoy's tie when he spotted it lying on the back of the sofa.
Come the end of the first week back at school, Ron was ready to perform the spell and he'd chosen to do it on a Friday evening so he would be able to spend the whole weekend in Malfoy's life. Preparing the two ties and double checking he had everything, Ron was just about to begin the spell when Harry burst into the room, causing him to throw his duvet over the two ties and the old book.
"I'm going to be late," Harry declared, yanking off his jumper and throwing it towards his bed as he hurried towards the bathroom. "I promised Ginny we could do something tonight and I forgot. Could you do me a favour and head down and distract her. I'll only be ten minutes."
Happy to help Harry, Ron jumped off the bed, not noticing that as he did so, his tie slid onto the floor. As he exited the room, he also didn't notice that Harry was yanking his clothes off and throwing them blindly towards his bed, his tie missing completely and landing on Ron's bed instead.
After distracting Ginny until Harry arrived, Ron hurried back to the bedroom and using the two ties on his bed, he performed the spell that would give him a chance to experience life as Draco Malfoy. Once the spell was cast he knew it would take time to activate, but by his reckoning by the time he woke up in the morning, he would be Malfoy and he would get a chance to experience everything the blond had that he didn't.
"Perfect," he gloated, anxious for the spell to kick in and for his weekend to begin.
However, since he didn't want anyone to know what he had done, he hid the book and the two attached ties at the bottom of his trunk. He then picked up the clothes Harry had left strewn around the room, including the tie that was lying beside his bed. What he didn't know was that the tie he'd placed on Harry's bed didn't belong to his best friend at all. It was his tie, and Harry's was in his trunk, tied together with Malfoy's and embedded with the spell Ron had just cast.