The Great Hogwarts Body Switch

The grandfather clock chimed again, so loudly that all the owls in the Owlery flew away into the morning sky very dramatically.

And Harry Potter woke for the second time that day. He stretched his arms out and looked around and found that he was in the hallway, lying on the cold stone floor.

Wow, this is weird. Wasn’t I in the Great Hall? thought Harry. Quickly looking around, he found that lying next to him, just beginning to wake up, was Crabbe and Goyle. Harry quickly stood up and ran his hand through his hair.

Wait a second…

Harry was able to run his hand through his hair. This was unheard of! The famously unruly hair which had previously made him the cover story of Locks of Magic, the wizarding magazine dedicated to wizarding hair, several times. What was going on?

But the horror was still to come!

Harry looked down, only to see a shiny prefect badge on his robes. A shiny GREEN prefect badge. Conveniently located nearby was a floor-lenth mirror. Harry rushed over, only to receive the greatest shock of his life.

He was Draco Malfoy!

Well, of course he wasn’t REALLY him. Harry doubted that Draco realized how horrid his personality was.

“Although I can’t argue that this body of his is too bad,” he said, looking ‘himself’ up and down in the mirror. “But I wonder how much of him really compares to me…”

But just before Harry (Er- I mean Draco. Well, no, I guess it’s still Harry) checked out the ‘entire package’ he was stopped by a scream. From Goyle.

“What the hell is going on here?” Goyle, or the person in Goyle, started screaming again. Harry rushed over.

“Wait. You mean you’re not Goyle?”

Goyle looked at him with a mixture of shock, horror, and disgust. “Of course I’m not that idiotic oaf! I am Samuel Insington from Ravenclaw.”

Harry looked him up and down. “Well, you sure look like Goyle.”

Samuel rolled his eyes. “So you mean to say that you are Draco Malfoy then?”

Harry turned red, and then purple, and then rushed back to red all in a matter of moments. “H-How dare you say that! Malfoy is a pompous jerk, and I don’t personally consider myself one. I’m Harry. Harry Potter from Gryffindor! And do you have any idea what’s going on?”

Samuel shook his head just as ‘Crabbe’ stood up. They looked at him.

“And who are you suppose to be Crabbe? Or are you still the idiot you were before?” said Harry.

“I assure you Mr. Potter that I am neither an idiot nor Mr. Crabbe. I may be in a different body but I am still your head of house and I do believe I deserve some respect,” came the stately reply.

Elsewhere….

Ron woke up to find his joints a bit aching.

“Ack! Ow, I wonder what the hell that was?” Mrs. Norris pounced quickly on his stomach and proceeded to nuzzle his neck. This immediately removed all sleep from his mind and he jumped up.

“What happened to you, you stupid cat? Since when do you go up to students and start attacking them?”

Mrs. Norris looked quite offended and I’m sure that if she could talk, she would be asking Ron what crawled up his butt and bit him. Hesitant this time, Mrs. Norris walked up to Ron’s leg and looked up at him straight in the eyes. Ron stared back, amazed by what was happening. Suddently, she backed up and ran away, presumably to some dark corner where she could catch rats in peace. But Ron continued staring down.

Where had his robes gone? And when did he change his shoes? And since when did his bones ache? Why was he in Filch’s office?

All these questions were answered when Ron accidently looked in a smalled cracked mirror Filch kept. Ron was no longer Ron Weasley, youngest son of the Weasley family and best chess player in all of Hogwarts. He had become Filch. At this thought, he let out a bloodcurdling scream so loud that the door to his room swung open.

“What’s wrong person in Filch’s body?” said a short blond boy he knew by face but not by name.

Ron was surprised. “How did you know I wasn’t Filch?”

The blond boy said, “Duh, it seems like it’s happening to everyone. C’mon and let’s go find others.”

Ron thought for a moment. He was in Filch’s body. This boy was also in someone else’s body. Was everyone in someone else’s body. He had no idea what was going on. So he did what he always did when he didn’t know what was going on,

“Hermione! Where are you?”

*-*-*

Hermione had encountered her own little problem. She still had the same body-switching problem as before, but her problem was worse, much, much worse. Anyone who entered the Great Hall at that moment could swear that they saw Ron Weasley staring at his reflection in his gold plate like he was about to cry, laugh, and scream all at the same time.

*-*-*

Twenty minutes later, after everyone had gotten up, the panic began. Twenty minutes after the panic began, the students and faculty of Hogwarts had made themselves so tired by screaming and running in circles that all they could do was wordlessly wave their hands and feet in the air. It was finally decided that only one person would know what was happening,and that was Dumbledore. But where, or rather who, was Dumbledore. A group of students decided to run around the halls and classrooms of Hogwarts shouting “Dumbledore, Dumbledore, where are you?”

Eventually a first year Hufflepuff named Kevin was found. He did not look like Dumbledore. He did not smell like Dumbledore. But he spoke like him and that was enough for the group to believe him.

“Students, whoever you are, kindly gather everyone and bring them into the Great Hall. There seems to be a great mix-up and we must find a way to sort it out.”

Soon, everyone had been herded into the Great Hall, but no one cared to sit down. The debate in their minds was whether they should sit where they usually did or where their body usually did. Dumbledore, finally, while standing on a chair in order to look over the High Table, removed the tables with a flick of his wand and replaced them with wooden chairs.

“Now it seems that something has happened which was meant to cause great confusion. But thanks to all of your level-headedness that goal has not been achieved. While I was waiting for you to gather here, I had the time to discover some things. First of all, everyone seems to have switched minds randomly with someone else. Secondly, only your minds and personality are different. Everyone related to your body will remain the same. I am sure it would be much appreciated if you could tell the person who is housed in your body what your allergies are and so forth. I was not so lucky since I seem to be allergic to peanuts.”

Towards the back of the crowd a clear “Sorry!” could be heard.

“Not your fault Mr. Whitby. Moving on, I’m afraid that I will have to take a roll call now. When your name is called, please step forward and I will temporarily place Nomenia Appearosa which will appear over your heart upon whatever clothes you choose to wear. I will be starting with the teachers.”

The crowd waited anxiously. Dumbledore’s solution sounded like it could work out. How bad could this be?

“Professor Snape, please come first.”

Nothing happened. No one moved. Dumbledore looked around expectantly. Then slowly, step by step, Ginny Weasley stepped out of the crowd.

“Here I am, Headmaster.”