Shifting Perspectives

Loud knocking outside their Common room startled Hermione from her studying.

"Hermione! Come on! Let's go to dinner," came Harry's voice from behind the portrait. Hermione smiled, knowing that it was actually Ron who was in such a hurry to get to dinner.

"Coming," she said, once again unsettled by the deep rich tone of her "borrowed" voice. She stacked her books and scrolls neatly on her desk and then stood up without feeling too out of sorts. She was beginning to get the hang of her much larger body. She still swaggered quite a bit as she approached the swinging portrait.

"Ready?" Harry asked from the corridor. He gave the tall blond boy a large smile from a freckled face.

"Actually, I'm famished!" Hermione said, unconsciously rubbing her toned stomach. She looked back at Malfoy before exiting through the portrait door.

"Malfoy?" she asked. The bushy brown head snapped up from behind a stack of books. The delicate eyebrows were poised rather high in surprise at being politely addressed by Hermione.

"Er- " he began but then quickly recovered from his surprise. "What does it matter to you, Mudblood? You'll get your body back soon enough! And I personally don't want to watch myself sitting down with Potty and the Weasel!"

Hermione stepped back through the portrait door, her anger once again raging inside of her. Harry and Ron watched with growing apprehension from the hallway.

"You listen here, Ferret Boy. I'm sick of your elitist attitude. You may have noticed that I'm currently the one walking around with so-called Pure Blood - and you know what? It doesn't feel any different! So once and for all, you need to get over yourself and your racist ideologies!" she fumed.

Hermione watched as Malfoy calmly stood up from behind the desk and walked past her, all the while without saying a word and holding his head up high.

As soon as Malfoy stepped out of the portrait, Hermione picked up the closest object to her- a large stoneware lamp- and threw it against the wall.

"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, green eyes wide with surprise, as both he and Harry came through the portrait entrance.

"What is wrong with you?" Harry asked in a shocked voice.

Hermione looked at the shattered ceramic fragments littering the floor with satisfaction. She pulled her wand out of her robes and quickly muttered the spell to repair the lamp.

"That was really satiating. I don't know how to explain it," she sighed, looking at her two friends, "but that felt really good."

"I think I understand," Harry replied softly while Ron nodded his black-haired head.

"So, now can we go to dinner?" Ron asked, smiling.

The trio made their way to the Great Hall. Most of the students had already figured out that the 7^th Years would currently be occupying bodies other than their own. However, that didn't stop the whispers and head-turning when what, for all intents and purposes, looked like Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Draco Malfoy walked in and sat down together at Gryffindor table.

Hermione sat down next to Ginny and began heaping food onto her plate. She didn't look up until she reached for seconds.

"Hermione?" Ginny ventured. She had been watching the blond haired boy wolfing down food and playfully chatting with Harry and Ron.

"Yeah?" she returned, between bites.

"You make a much better-looking Malfoy," she said. Hermione choked on her pumpkin juice in response.

"Wh-What?" Hermione faltered.

"I mean- well, Malfoy always has that scowl on his face. But you don't- you're making his face smile and laugh and generally look pretty friendly. It's a good look for him," she reasoned.

"Are you saying that you're attracted to Malfoy?" Ron asked incredulously.

Ginny eyed the green-eyed boy to whom she was usually attracted.

"No- it's not that. I've actually never noticed Malfoy- but I find Malfoy's body to be attractive now that Hermione is within it," she explained as if it really was a simple concept.

Ron's disgust was flashing brightly from behind emerald green eyes.

"I can't believe that you'd even say that. Even if this is Hermione right now- still that's just plain weird and- and wrong!" Ron nearly yelled.

Harry chuckled as he worked out all of the implications of Ginny's pronouncements.

"It is an interesting thing to say, Ginny. Sounds like your perfect mate has a body like Malfoy's and a personality like Hermione's," he laughed, causing his freckled cheeks to flush just a bit.

"Well, what's wrong with that?" Ginny countered. "You know what else? You two are far more disturbing than Hermione and Malfoy switching..." she trailed off, suddenly blushing under the scrutiny of Harry and Ron.

Hermione listened to the discussion while she continued to eat. She knew that Ginny had had feelings for Harry- she supposed that the girl must be rather unsettled to know that her brother was currently inhabiting the body of her longtime crush. Then she let her gaze wonder to the red-haired girl sitting next to her. As surreptitiously as possible she allowed her eyes to rake over the girl. She noted Ginny's shiny red hair as it fell in long waves across her shoulders, and the creaminess of her complexion, as well as her welcoming curvaceousness. She was rather shocked to notice a spike in her own body temperature.

Hermione tried to steer her thoughts away from making judgmental assumptions about her sexuality- she told herself that she wanted to look at Ginny through Malfoy's eyes under the pretense of research.

After a few minutes, Ginny returned her gaze.

"Hermione!" she whispered.

Hermione's slate gray eyes opened a bit wider as she realized that she was indeed attracted to Ginny- that she, a girl who had not formally thought of herself as anything other than heterosexual- was unmistakably attracted to her female red-haired friend.

Ginny leaned over as if to whisper something into her ear. Doing so, she causally brushed her fingers over Hermione's arm. Hermione felt a hot tingle at the girl's contact- and again was aware that she was feeling new sensations for a girl she'd known, touched, and even shared sleeping quarters with for years!

"Hermione, you're staring at me," she whispered. Hermione managed a small nod at Ginny's observation. This resulted in soft giggles from the younger girl.

Hermione endeavored to return her attention to her food. As she continued eating, she tried to make sense of what was happening within her. She had always loved Ginny- but she was quite certain that she's never been attracted to the girl.

This is the work of the potion. This is a result of the lingering physicality of Malfoy, she mused. She wasn't afraid or ashamed of how she was feeling about her friend. Rather she found that she was deeply curious.

"Ginny?" she said hesitantly.

Ginny turned towards her closest girl friend with a sly smile.

"Yes, Hermione?" she answered.

"I'm rather curious about the effects of this potion..." she began.

"Hermione, I am, too," Ginny grinned.

"Care to join me in the library after dinner for a bit of research?" Hermione said, feeling a bit reckless, her mouth now set in a wide grin.

"Absolutely."

Hermione finished her dinner, waited for Ginny, and then the two left, oblivious to the silent glare following them from a set of rich brown eyes at the Slytherin table.

"Draco?" Pansy simpered. "Draco?"

"What?" he answered, whipping his head around and causing loads of brown curls to fly into Pansy's face.

"I was asking you a question," she began with just a trace of an Irish accent. "Do you want to study tonight?"

Draco eyed the tall blue-eyed boy thoughtfully. Pansy had switched bodies with Seamus Finnegan. He rather thought the change was for the better. Pansy was definitely not the most attractive girl.

"Yes. Why don't you come back to my Common room, Pansy," he returned, his full red lips curling into a smirk.

He was rewarded with Pansy's cruel laughter, recognizable even through the Irish boy's voice, and he knew that she understood the subtext of his suggestion.

"Interesting set of images," she sniggered. "I'll be there in about an hour."

Draco finished his dinner and left the Great Hall. He figured that he'd return to the Common room to complete his homework since he didn't intend to study with Pansy. However, the image of his body leaving with the youngest Weasley was still taunting him. He backtracked his steps and headed towards the library, where he was sure he'd find Granger.

Slipping silently through the stacks of books, he followed the sounds of giggles- one rather high-pitched and the other far lower and more husky. He supposed that that would be what he sounded like if he were to giggle- and thank God I don't! he thought.

He was surprised at how stealthy Granger's body could be as he sought them out. Her body was so much smaller and more compact than what he was used to. He found himself grudgingly admiring this particular quality.

He stopped suddenly when he finally reached the two he'd been looking for. He took a step back into the shadows and watched.

Hermione and Ginny had ended up in the older girl's favorite study spot- a rather out of the way alcove located far back in the magical theory section of the library. Hermione loved this particular space because no one- not even Madame Pince- ever ventured this far into the dusty old stacks.

"So tell me what it's like- and I want to hear everything, Hermione." Ginny demanded through her giggles.

"Well, there are two main things..." Hermione began. She stopped and furrowed her pale forehead.

"One, he has a terrible temper. I broke something earlier because I just couldn't rein it in!" she said.

"Oh! Did you want to hit anyone- or just break something?" Ginny asked.

"I definitely wanted to break something- I wanted to hear something crash. Malfoy had pissed me off- Malfoy in my body, that is. But I didn't want to hit him- or rather me- you know what I mean?" Hermione said confusedly.

"Yeah- I think so. This whole body-swap thing is really confusing- but really neat, too. So what's the second thing," she asked.

"Um... this is kind of embarrassing," Hermione said sheepishly. "But I think Malfoy really really likes girls. I don't know if he likes you, Ginny- but his body definitely has a reaction to you," she said.

Both Hermione and Ginny blushed and sat silently for a few minutes. Draco observed them, extremely curious as to where this would all end up. He was a bit surprised that he didn't feel angry at seeing himself apparently sitting with the Weaselette- his curiosity was just too overwhelming.

"Hermione, have you ever thought about me in - you know- that way?" Ginny whispered.

"No, Ginny. Actually, I've never been attracted to girls at all. You know I've only dated Victor in 3^rd year and then Ron in 6^th. There've been a few crushes here and there- but all of them were on boys," she explained. "So I think this reaction to you is because I'm experiencing Malfoy's sexual preferences."

"Well, Hermione," Ginny said slowly, thinking through all of the implications of Hermione's words. "Do you think that means that sexuality is really ingrained?"

"Hmmm... if it wasn't Snape who was reading our essays, I think that's what I'd write about. Perhaps being in Malfoy's body has just opened me up to new experiences- feelings that I might have had on my own anyway... or perhaps sexuality is determined by genetics. I'd always thought that it was some combination of both." Hermione jotted down a few notes before looking back at her friend.

From his lookout in the shadows, Draco pondered Hermione's statements. Though he'd never openly admit it, he rather agreed with her assessment of sexuality as being shaped by both biological and social factors. At the moment, though, he found himself more puzzled by Hermione's attraction to the Weasley girl- someone to whom he'd decidedly not been attracted.

"So how did you react to Harry and Ron switching?" Hermione asked.

"You, of all people, know how I feel about Harry. And for the record- Harry and Ron are totally freaking me out right now- I can't look at either one of them until they switch back- makes me feel weird." She paused. "But really, I meant what I said at dinner- I've never thought Malfoy was anything special until right now."

She raised a hand to one of Hermione's pale cheeks. "I think I'm having my own physical reaction," she finished.

Hermione felt as though Ginny had stroked her face with a cattle prod.

"I don't know how he even copes with all these hormones," she breathed. "I can hardly think straight- these physical urges are overwhelming."

Ginny giggled once more. Then she leaned in and put her hand on Hermione's long muscular thigh.

"Give in, Hermione. I don't mind at all- I told you- I am really curious, too."

Hermione took a deep ragged breath. Then she shifted closer to her friend.

She was much taller than Ginny. When she wrapped her long arms around the girl's waist and pulled her into an embrace, she had to tilt her head down to look into her eyes.

She looked into them for a long minute.

Draco held his breath in the shadows. He very much wanted Hermione to get on with it.

Hermione gently placed her lips onto Ginny's. She pressed them a bit harder and heard a tiny gasp from the girl even as she felt the girl's lips part. Hermione's tongue lightly swept across her lips and then darted into Ginny's mouth, seeking her tongue. Gently but with increasing pressure, Hermione kissed the girl. Hermione pulled the girl closer into her embrace and then only dimly realized she'd pulled the girl into her lap. Ginny pressed herself into Hermione's chest, wrapping her arms around the blond boy's head and letting her fingers trail though the locks of soft hair. Hermione moaned in pleasure at the touches.

"Oh!" Ginny gasped. Hermione pulled away and looked into the red head's bright blue eyes.

"Oh my!" Hermione said in response, knowing full well what had surprised Ginny.

"That is interesting," Ginny said, her sly smile returning, as she rotated her hips ever so slightly in Hermione's lap.

"Ginny!" Hermione breathed. "Don't do that! It's hindering my ability to think," she rasped.

Ginny giggled again. "Okay- but I'm just curious. I've never done anything quite like this- not with Dean or Roger or anyone- and it seems much safer to do this with you than with anyone else."

Hermione took a deep breath and then gently pushed Ginny out of her lap. Draco quietly hissed in disappointment.

"I understand, Ginny. Really I do. But I don't think we should explore much further- this isn't my body - and while a few kisses are harmless enough- anything else just wouldn't be appropriate." Hermione said, though not without a certain amount of frustration.

Ginny nodded her head and then gave Hermione's hand a squeeze. They both then unpacked their bags and began studying.

Draco drew a deep breath and raised a hand to his flushed cheeks. That was hot, he thought. He immediately berated himself for thinking such traitorous thoughts- thoughts that just didn't make sense. He'd never been attracted to the Weasley girl before- but he found the site of the two kissing to be tremendously arousing.

He leaned against the wall to ponder his state of arousal. In his own body, he could easily recognize the feelings. But in Granger's body, he had more difficulty. He felt a rush of warmth spreading out to his very fingertips and toes. It was only when he concentrated on the source- or rather the center- of those tingly rushes that he recognized the intoxicating feelings of desire.

He looked at Hermione's wristwatch. Pansy would be expecting him soon. As quietly as he came, he walked out of the library and headed to his Common room.

As Draco approached the Head Common room, he noticed the tall slender boy leaning against the wall.

"You're early," he said curtly, unable to properly understand his feelings of frustration.

"Bored," Pansy replied with a rather large yawn.

She picked up her books and followed Draco into the Common room. With some amusement, he watched at Pansy flopped on the couch in a manner similar to Granger's earlier pose.

Pansy seemed to be deliberately taking up as much space as possible, Draco decided. He sat on the couch directly across from her.

"Pansy, is Granger good-looking?" he said, without preamble.

"Take off the robes," she answered, boredom still evident in her voice.

Draco pulled off Granger's school robes without standing up.

"Well?" he said as he slowly crossed his shapely legs, arranging the shirt woolen skirt over them.

Pansy give him a long look with her blue eyes before responding, "No, definitely not."

"Are you sure?" he asked, somewhat surprised.

"Oh, yeah. I've always thought the Mudblood was ugly- why wouldn't I think that now?" she reasoned.

"So being in Finnegan's body doesn't change what you think of Granger?"

Pansy shook her head.

"What about towards girls in general?" he tried again.

"Not that I've noticed," she replied blandly. She sat upright then, a devious grin stretched out across her face.

"But look- if you want to play around- I'm game," she said craftily. "I've already inspected the goods..."

Draco sat silently for a few minutes, trying to think through his experiences in the library and Pansy's invitation to exploit the two Gryffindors' bodies. He'd already decided at dinner that Finnegan was nice looking. However, now as he let his gaze trail over the boy, he could tell that he wasn't attracted to him. But then, he wasn't usually attracted to Pansy, either. Perhaps it's more to do with her and not her body, he mused.

Not being attracted to Pansy hadn't prevented him from using her before, though. He wondered why tonight seemed different. Slowly, he came to realize that he definitely did not want to explore Pansy-in-Finnegan with Granger's body. He also recognized that he couldn't fully explain his reasoning. He had expected to be able to drum up the same physical feelings that he'd experienced in the library watching Granger and Weasley- those were interesting feelings worth exploring. As he looked at boy in front of him, he felt nothing.

"No, let's just finish our Potions assignment," he finally said. Pansy shrugged and took out her textbook and parchments.

"What will you write about, Draco?" she asked.

Draco looked at the notes he'd already made about his experiences. Then he remembered Granger's parting words to him before dinner.

"Do you feel unusual in that Half-Blood's body?" he asked.

Pansy snorted.

"I feel different in lots of different ways- like just finding my sense of balance in walking or eating or picking something up- and I can tell that my tongue wants to move differently when I talk- which I'm assuming is due to that damn accent. And I think that Finnegan must have been a fight or something recently cause I feel a bit sore in this arm. But I don't really feel like I'm in some alien's body, if that's what you mean."

Draco considered her words carefully. He was mildly impressed by the amount of thought she'd obviously already put into her answer.

"What about you? You're in a Mudblood now. Any difference?"

"Of course not," he answered quickly.

Pansy snickered, "But you've never bought any of that Blood crap anyway."

"Tell no one," he smirked.

"Is that what you'll write about then?" she posed.

"Nah- well, maybe I'll mention it. But I think I'll write about being calm," he said thoughtfully.

"Calm?"

"I think Granger's calm," he said simply.

"Okay. Calm. Fine." She paused, "I think I'll write about the accent and the physical stuff- like just moving and taking up space differently- like I have the right to be this big."

Draco looked down at his Potions notebook and thought about what Pansy had said. He called up an image from the previous evening's dinner. The dark haired girl was quite petite in her own body- probably about the same size as Granger. But as Draco continued to reflect, he realized that she seemed smaller than Granger- and far more diminutive than Finnegan. There was something else behind her words, he was sure. But the point remained elusive and he couldn't come to an understanding about having "the right to be big."

After another hour of quiet studying, Pansy left. Draco looked over his Potions essay once more. Indeed, he had written about being small and calm and yet easily flustered. All of those feelings were not part of his day-to-day experiences. He figured that would be enough for Professor Snape.

As he put his books away, he realized that he was waiting for Granger to return. He wanted to see her again- and when he completely honest with himself, he knew that he wanted to see if he would have those same intense physical feelings. He didn't have to wait much longer before she bounded into the room.

She said nothing when she came in. With purposeful long strides she walked towards her room. After a few minutes, she came back out and sat on the couch across from Draco.

"I trust you've been enjoying my body?" he queried innocently. He watched intently as a slow blush crept up the pale cheeks.

Hermione swallowed a breath. She had no answer for his question. She had been feeling rather guilty about her "research" with Ginny. As she sat across from her own body, she thought briefly about confessing.

Draco enjoyed the play of emotions crossing the face in front of him. He had long schooled himself in the art of being expressionless. Of course, he knew what had happened between Granger and Weasley- and he suspected that the Gryffindor would be feeling guilty about her actions.

"I've just been studying in the library," she finally croaked. He laughed at her, arching a beautifully shaped brown eye brow.

"Oh, me, too. Pansy was here earlier," he quipped.

The blond boy's face immediately clouded over.

"I trust that you have not done anything in my body?" she demanded, her voice rising.

Draco considered saying nothing and letting Hermione believe that he might have sullied her body. But for some reason, he found that he didn't want her to think that.

"No, we just studied, Granger. I don't know what you're worried about. I told you that I am disgusted at being trapped in your body- do you really think I'd do something like that with it?" he seethed.

He felt mildly satisfied as he saw her face soften in relief.

Hermione was relieved. She was tired despite feeling rather frustrated. She slumped forward, her elbows resting on her knees. She let her head fall into her hands and ran her fingers through her short blond locks. Without really thinking about it, she pressed her fingertips more firmly into her scalp, gently and effectively massaging the day's tensions away. Hermione was quite gratified by the whole experience- she really couldn't run her fingers through her own dense brown curls.

Draco watched in fascination as his body emitted a small sigh of pleasure. He knew exactly how nice it was to massage his own scalp- after all, it was a soothing delight he relished in when he was alone. To see it happening to his former body right in front of him was just interesting. Slowly, he became aware of the tingling desire heating up his body. A small smile played around his lips.

Finally, Hermione looked up. She was surprised to see the person across from her watching- watching and smiling. Since when does Malfoy smile at me? she wondered.

She didn't give it too much thought. Now that she was relaxed, she could think of more practical tasks.

"Malfoy, I'm going to need some clothes for tomorrow. We won't be switching back until right after lunch," she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

He nodded briskly at her words and then strode into his room. A few minutes later, he was back, with an armful of clothing. He set the clothes down on the couch next to her, an expectant look on his face. Hermione took the clothes to her room and then returned with her own stack of neatly folded garments.

"Is there anything I should know, Malfoy?" she asked briskly.

"Like what, Granger?" he replied, his own tone matching her's.

She raised an eyebrow at him and remained silent. She took great pleasure in watching Malfoy's embarrassment flush out on to his cheeks.

"Nothing. There's nothing," he said. "And you? Anything I should know?"

She laughed somewhat harshly. "I'm an early riser- my hair takes a lot of conditioner..." and then she leaned right down into his face, "and I think you should kept your hands to yourself."

Draco was a bit surprised to hear the malice in her voice.

"I could say the same to you, Granger," he turned and walked towards his room. "But then you'd never get to sleep," he said in the softest of whispers before closing his door.

But Hermione heard him. As she walked into her own room, she couldn't help but notice a warmth slowly spreading through her body.