Shifting Perspectives

"Shifting Perspectives"

By Professor Mary

Chapter 3 Bumbling around...

Without yet opening her eyes, Hermione sat up in her bed and leisurely stretched. She reveled in the slow release of tension from the muscles at the top of her back. She yawned widely and then finally opened her eyes. Despite having already spent more than 12 hours in her temporary body, she still did a double take at seeing and then recognizing the long arms reaching out in front of her.

Somewhat haphazardly, she rolled out of bed and ambled towards her bathroom. She stood in front of her mirror and splashed cold water on her face, letting her hands linger on the sharply defined cheekbones. She looked into the mirror.

Ginny's words from dinner suddenly came back to her. She had also not noticed Malfoy as anything other than an annoying prat. But as she gazed at her reflection in the mirror, she recognized the validity of Ginny's appraisal. Malfoy was actually quite good looking. He had striking gray eyes and beautiful facial structure. She raised one hand and ran her fingers along the contours of the face. He had a strong jaw, too, she decided. His hair was just something all together different from her own- it was stick straight, rather fine, and incredibly soft. Even it its current state of "bed-headedness" it was still manageable. Whereas her own hair seemed to comprise numerous shades of browns, his hair was simply white-blond, perhaps silvery in the right light.

She leaned in closer to the mirror until she was only a few inches away from it. Not a single freckle- not a single blemish- heck, I can't even see any pores! she thought. Then she backed up, once again assessing the handsome face.

Hermione smiled at herself in the glass and then gasped at the reflection. She tried to remember if she'd ever seen him make an expression like the one she saw reflecting in the mirror. Malfoy should really smile more often, she thought. Then she relaxed her facial muscles and drew them up again in something that seemed to feel familiar. She saw her left eyebrow arch, her smooth forehead wrinkle a bit, and then her lips purse together. It was Malfoy's infamous smirk. How many times have I seen this face? she wondered.

She stuck out her tongue as far as it would go. She tried to roll it and was somewhat surprised when indeed she could- she wasn't able to roll her own tongue. She did it several more times before deciding that the whole thing was overrated. Then she took a big breath, closed her mouth, and puffed out her cheeks. Even with the beaver-cheek look, the Malfoy cheekbones jutted out. She exhaled. Taking a finger on each side of her mouth, she pulled her lips in several different directions just to see how it would look. After spending a few minutes trying to move her eyebrows independently- as well as her ears- she felt satisfied with her experimentations.

She then let her gaze lower onto her naked chest- which seemed oddly vacant. Giving in to an impulse, she scrunched her pectoral muscles together, flexing as hard as she could, and was pleasantly stunned with the resulting rippled texture. It made her feel less bare to see something where she no longer had breasts!

Then she turned around just a bit to see the fine lines of her shoulder muscles. She watched as a long thin muscle seemed to stand out from her neck as she slowly turned her face from the mirror. She looked down at the toned stomach and then pinched about a quarter of an inch of skin away from her waist. She took a deep breath and hunched over, trying to poke out her gut as far as possible. It didn't go very far.

She looked back in the mirror at her chest again. Then she noticed something glimmering in the light. Malfoy appeared to have a light dusting of blond hair on his chest. She ran her fingers through it, noting that it was a bit curly and just slightly coarser than the blond hair on her head. She rather felt like this was the neatest thing about his body so far (except for maybe the pectoral muscles!). She found that she wished he had a bit more hair on his chest. Looking back in the mirror, she thought, a bit more would be sexier! She let her hands trail down the little hair that he had. She noticed that his stomach merely had the soft fuzz that she herself had on her own body, too. From her reflection, she saw a little bit more hair just under her navel. It was slightly darker in color and seemed to grow thicker as it moved down her body. She quickly averted her gaze back to her face in the mirror.

She consciously swallowed to see her Adam's apple bob up and down. This made her giggle a bit.

Which made her giggle more-

No wonder Malfoy didn't like me giggling yesterday- I look ridiculous giggling! she thought. Yet she couldn't seem to stop- the incongruity of Malfoy giggling was too absurd. After a few minutes, she stopped. She knew that she had to get showered and down to breakfast.

She stepped away from the mirror and pulled down her boxers. She purposefully did not look down at the rest of her body- just as she purposefully did not want to catch a glimpse in the mirror. She couldn't really explain it- but she felt like it would be entirely inappropriate to see Malfoy's naked body. So she stepped into the shower.

The hot water was soothing as it pelted against her skin. She had already decided that Malfoy must work out regularly- probably Quidditch, she thought- and thus, was usually prone to sore muscles. Of course, her fall down the stairs the previous evening probably didn't help matters. Either way, it felt amazingly good to just stand there under the hot water.

She had slept extremely well- once she'd been able to get to sleep, that is. At first, she tossed and turned, unable to relax. Being the smart woman that she is- despite her current predicament of being stuck in a male's body- Hermione knew, without a doubt, why she was having trouble getting to sleep. However, she was rather nervous about going through with what would ease her frustrations and most likely put her right to sleep. After about a half an hour of sleeplessness, she finally gave in to her body's demands. Rather unsurprisingly, she had thought, it had been extremely easy and quick to take care of.

And also quite fantastic.

And a bit different from what she was used to.

As she stood under the hot water, thinking about her night, she felt the beginnings of arousal.

"Geez!" she muttered aloud. Why is it so difficult to just think without these urges taking over???? she wondered.

She quickly changed the temperature of her shower and felt some relief flood through her as the cold water seemed to dowse her body's overzealous reactions.

Not too far away from where Hermione was showering, Draco was attempting to wake up. He felt awful. His brain literally felt funny- actually, his head was throbbing, too. He felt like he just couldn't wake up. He'd been lying in bed for at least 30 minutes trying to find the will to get up. Finally, he was able to peel himself out from underneath the covers. He desperately hoped that a shower would get him going.

He strode past the mirror and walked directly into his shower, dropping his clothes along the way. He still hadn't been able to open both eyes at the same time. Once the hot water hit his face, he felt like he was just beginning to come out of a daze. The throbbing in his head was still present but at least his eyes were open.

He stood there for several long minutes trying to shake the feeling that he weighed a ton and was currently lodged in cement. It was only when he reached for his shampoo and then started to lather his hair that he was coherent enough to remember whose body he was wearing.

"I thought she said she was an earlier riser," he grumbled to himself.

His head was too foggy to care, though. It took all the strength he could muster to shampoo and condition his hair. And he muttered curses at the unruly tresses the entire time. Only his vanity kept him from leaving the shower without rinsing completely! He reached for a towel and wrapped it around his chest.

Then he stepped out and looked into the mirror over his sink. Granger's face looked back at him. Granger's wet hair was dripping all over him. Yet all he could think about was whether or not he should be using his own toothbrush.

Would she mind if I used my toothbrush? he thought stupidly. The thought of using someone else's toothbrush was totally disgusting to him. He knew that he'd need to replace his own if he was actually going to be sticking it inside of her mouth. It seemed to make sense to use her's. So he set his down on the sink and walked out of his bathroom.

He knocked on her bedroom door, still feeling as if what he really needed was to go back to bed rather than discuss toothbrushes with Granger.

"It's open," came a deep voice. Draco pushed the door open and was greeted with a tall handsome blond man- a tall handsome shirtless blond man. He swallowed.

"Er-" he started.

"What is it Malfoy? You're dripping all over the floor," Hermione said briskly as she buttoned the top of her trousers.

Draco took a deep breath and wondered if he had somehow unwittingly gotten drunk the night before and was now suffering a terrible hangover.

"Toothbrush... er- mine- ... do you want me to use...?" he trailed off helplessly.

Hermione looked at him for a long minute- her gray eyes taking in his desperate bedraggled and dripping appearance. She sighed and then pulled him inside her room. Somewhere deep in his hazy mind, he knew he should feel outraged at being manhandled by Granger... but alas, he hadn't the wherewithal.

"I think you are suffering from my caffeine addiction, Malfoy," she said with more than a little sympathy in her voice. She reached underneath her bed and brought out a shiny metallic can that she opened and then handed to him.

"Diet Coke?" he read aloud from the can. "Is this Muggle poison?" he asked lethargically.

"Sort of, I guess," she laughed. "Drink it- it'll hold you over until you can get some coffee."

Draco eyed her warily but decided that even being poisoned by Muggle potions was better than his current predicament. He tilted the can back and drank thirstily.

Less than five minutes later, Draco was feeling his humanity return. He had been sitting on Granger's bed, despondently waiting for the Diet Coke to kick in.

Meanwhile, Granger had crawled behind him on the bed with a vial of something that may have had "SleekEasy" written on the side. She alternated between putting great gobs of it through his wild curls, saying drying spells with her wand, and raking through the hair with a brush. Draco decided that it was extremely satisfying.

Finally, she seemed to be finished. Draco stood up and stretched, enjoying the recession of the throbbing headache as well as the relaxation from all the attention to his hair and scalp. He saw his himself reflected in the wardrobe mirror, clad only in a towel. He walked over to the mirror, turning around to see his hair. It really did look better. Draco realized that Granger must not usually do anything to it at all- yet she had fixed it for him.

He was glad. He really was quite vain about his hair, anyway- regardless of whether or not he was in his own body. Beyond his own reflection, he saw the tall blond boy still seated on the bed. Speaking of hair...

Draco turned around and walked back to his former body. Impulsively, he picked up Granger's brush and her hair cream. Taking just a tiny dollop of the gel, he ran it through the blond locks, putting it in his usual messy but perfect style. With some satisfaction, he noted that Granger seemed to be extremely surprised by his ministrations. He said nothing.

He stepped back and admired his own handiwork.

"You look very smug," Hermione said to him, as she got up from her bed. She took a few steps closer to him and reached for a shirt. He smirked back. He leaned over to push back a lock of blond hair, just to get it perfect, when it happened.

The towel that he'd been wearing- that he'd forgotten about- loosened and started to unravel. In those first few seconds, he didn't really think about it- after all, he wasn't used to wearing a towel that high anyway. But Granger noticed-

"Oh!" she screeched and her hands darted out to catch the towel and put it back where it was supposed to be. Draco realized then what was happening. Though he wasn't the most modest person, he instantly knew that he didn't want to be naked in Granger's body in front of her- that would be just too strange, he thought desperately, as he too reached up to catch the towel.

Two things seem to happen at once. Most of the towel was caught by Draco around his rib cage before it could fall to the floor. But Hermione had also caught a piece of it and was pressing what she had around a set of rather full and extremely bare breasts. She didn't pull back and Draco wondered inanely if she was trying to keep them covered. And if that's the case, is she covering them from my eyes or her's?

Hermione was gasping and still holding onto her body's breasts. Draco was just standing there, clutching his towel and feeling increasingly stupid- and also warm. Rather instantaneously, he had begun to notice those telltale rushes of warmth starting out from the center of his new body. He felt the flush in his cheeks and then noticed another set of reddening cheeks just inches away from him.

Someone was going to have to do something.

Granger appeared to be unable to think, he decided. Her gasping had at least stopped although she still seemed to be breathing rather shallowly. He took a deep breath and willed his tingly sensations to cease- or at least to decrease enough so that he could speak.

"Er-" he tried. He cleared his throat. Granger's gray eyes widened.

"Oh!" she said again. But this time, she pulled her hands away from the breasts. Draco pulled up his towel though he had noticed that Granger had continued to stare at his chest.

Hermione forced herself to turn around from her body. She would have to deal with her apparent attraction to herself at some other time, as well. For now, she reasoned, it would be enough to finish getting dressed and down to breakfast without having to take another cold shower!

She heard Malfoy clear his throat again. When she was certain that she'd calmed her body down, she turned back to him, and was very relieved to see that he'd readjusted his towel.

"Granger," he began in a high-pitched voice.

Hermione looked down at her bare feet as if they were the most interesting things she'd ever seen. She noticed that Malfoy's feet were, in truth, rather nice to look at.

"Granger, let us never speak of this again," Draco finally said.

Hermione nodded her head vigorously, not heeding how her styled locks were falling haphazardly around her head. Draco sighed, took a step closer, and with one hand firmly around his towel, lifted the other hand and ran it through the blond locks. Hermione finally looked up and met his brown eyes.

Funny, she thought, I never noticed how lovely my eyes are. They're not just brown at all- in fact, I see all these little specks...

Malfoy cleared his throat again, jolting Hermione out of staring into her own eyes. She turned away from him and looked for the rest of her clothing.

"I'm using your toothbrush," he said firmly as he headed into her bathroom. As he stood there, calmly brushing his teeth with Granger's toothbrush, his mind reeled with different thoughts, most prominent of which was: What the hell just happened?

Draco didn't look into his wardrobe mirror until after he was finished dressing. Though he didn't know it, he shared Hermione's convictions about the inappropriateness of seeing each other's naked bodies. If pressed, he would have said that he didn't want to be scarred for life by the image of a "Mudblood in the buff." But when he was honest with himself, he knew that he just couldn't shake the feeling that it would be wrong to take even a quick look.

Although he had noticed the breasts earlier. Accidentally, he assured himself.

He sighed and looked at his clothed appearance in the mirror. He made final adjustments to his robes, looked rather disdainfully at the Gryffindor tie, and then smoothed out the brown curls a bit with his hands.

As he stared at the girl's reflection, he remembered what Pansy had said about Granger's looks. As he continued to look, he decided that Pansy had been rather harsh. Granger's certainly not ugly, he conceded.

He looked around his room for her wristwatch, gathered his books, and then left for breakfast. He was relieved to see that Granger was already gone. He really wanted to be in denial of this morning's groping for the rest of his life.

Which didn't really explain why he kept thinking about the whole thing.

He took his seat next to the tall blue-eyed boy currently answering to the name of "Pansy," and reached for the urn of coffee.

"You don't drink coffee, Draco," she said, giving him a sharp look.

"And what did you do with the Mudblood's hair? It looks rather nice," she said, sounding somewhat surprised.

Draco said nothing but concentrated on the coffee. Pansy was, of course, right. He didn't drink coffee- in fact, he really didn't even like the smell of it. But as he poured himself a cup, he found that he was all but salivating. He may not like coffee but Granger's body was nearly in ecstasy just in anticipation. He looked at the black coffee and wondered if he should add anything to it.

Casually he looked up to see Granger looking directly at him, wearing his smirk, though absent any malice. She was holding a mug of coffee in her hands. She pointed to the sugar dish and the cream on her own table and then resumed whatever conversation she'd been having with Potter and Weasley. So he added a spoonful of sugar and quite a bit of cream to his coffee.

After he finished his second cup, he decided that nothing really could be better than coffee. He wondered how he'd gone his whole life without it thus far. Though being in Granger's body had been mostly traumatizing and he seriously doubted that any good would ever come of it, he resolved that taking up her coffee habit wouldn't be so bad.

As he was pouring himself a third cup, the post owls came soaring in. He looked up to see his own eagle owl headed his way carrying what looked to be a package and a letter. He took both from his owl, offered it some toast, and then pocketed his parcels. As he put them away, he saw the Malfoy crest on the outside of the scroll. Wonder what Lucius wants? he thought. Whatever it was, he was sure that he didn't want to read about it in the Great Hall.

It was only after his third cup that he felt his brain return to full capacity. Then he realized that his owl had known him- recognized him, despite being in Granger's body. Smart owl, he mused.

Pansy stood up and stretched luxuriously, which Draco thought was sort of inappropriate to do in public. But he refrained from saying anything and then wondered why.

"I think I'm going to miss this big body," she stated, her Irish accent a bit stronger than it had been the previous night.

"Why?" Draco asked, knowing that he could hardly wait to return to his own skin.

Pansy took a deep breath, puffing out her broad chest before answering.

"You know how long it took me to get to breakfast this morning?" she asked.

Draco looked her but shook his head. How the hell would I know that? he thought.

"No time at all. I didn't run or anything. I just walked at what felt like a normal pace. But no one got in my way. In fact, more than once people got out of my way," she paused at the look on his face. "No, not like they were scared- but they just sort of shifted out of the way... made room for me," she thought a bit more. "It seemed really natural to just be able to move at whatever pace I wanted to," she finished.

Draco considered her words. He felt that muddled feeling coming over his thought processes as if he could almost understand her point- as if he was so close.

"So you don't usually walk the way you want to?" he returned.

"No. And I'd never noticed, either," she said simply. She looked at Finnegan's watch. "You ready to go to DADA?"

Draco nodded and gathered up his belongings. He went to put his bag over his shoulder when Pansy grabbed it.

"Just let me," she smirked. "I want to do as much as I can before I have to be small again."

Draco nodded- he was no one to resist slave labor, after all- and followed the taller boy out of the Great Hall.

As the two walked the halls towards their class, Draco watched how Pansy was moving. Sure enough, no one really got in her way. She set her own pace and moved accordingly. It wasn't like she was plowing through bodies- it was far more subtle than that. He then noticed that something very similar seemed to be happening for other boys- certainly not all of them- but definitely the older ones or even just the taller ones. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Millicent Bulstrode, who was occupying her own body due to a botched potion- she also seemed to be able to move at her pace.

Interesting, he mused. He himself had to take twice as many strides to keep up with Pansy- something she had definitely noticed and seemed to enjoy.

When they got to their classroom, he took his usual seat next to her. They were right on time for class, so he didn't have but a minute or two to scan the room.

He saw the white blond head instantly, though. He realized that he must be kind of hard to miss. There was Granger, sitting at the front of the room, with perfect posture, her quills and parchment laid out neatly in front of her.

Professor Tonks looked around the room slowly, her eyes taking in different bodies seated in different places. Then she gave a big smile.

Draco wouldn't admit it to anyone but he quite liked Tonks' class. She knew her stuff. Plus, she was the only Metamorphmagus that he'd every come across. Currently, she was gazing at them from behind a mop of coarse gray hair. She appeared to be rather stooped and elderly. Also, she seemed to be a man today. Though Draco didn't mean to, he smiled. He'd seen her cross genders several times, but he realized that he now had a new found appreciation.

"So how is everyone enjoying their new skins?" Tonks boomed to the class of 7^th years.

Several people laughed and a few blushed.

"Today, we're going to talk a bit about disguises. What Professor Snape had you brew yesterday is just one mechanism of masking your true identity. It lasts a lot longer than the Polyjuice Potion but there are side effects that make the Potion of Perspective both undesirable and useful, depending on your needs. Professor Snape has already informed me that you know about the undesirable aspects of the potion. So I'm asking you to think about how could this potion be useful."

Instantly, the hand of a tall blond boy shot up.

"Miss Granger?"

"While the Potion of Perspective facilitates a body swap between two willing people, the result is certainly not a full swap. While the minds of the two are exchanged, it is what lingers that makes this potion both useful and undesirable. Some of the personality- say whatever is linked to that body's genetic code- remains within the body. So the person who now inhabits the body can more easily adopt the other person's mannerisms and personality. This is what makes it most useful as a disguise."

"Take 10 points for Gryffindor, Miss Granger, for that excellent explanation. In addition to genetics, the Potion of Perspective allows a person to experience the host body's muscular memory. This is different from genetically influenced behavior. Who can tell me more about this?"

Unsurprisingly, Granger had her long pale arm in the air. But Professor Tonks called upon the tall blue-eyed brunette boy sitting in the back.

"What I've noticed is that this body remembers certain kinds of movements. Without really thinking about it, I've found myself doing things in certain kinds of ways- things that I wouldn't otherwise do," Pansy finished. From around the middle of the room, a pug-faced girl was looking sharply at Pansy, worry evident on her face.

"Very good, Miss Parkinson. Ten points to Slytherin. Muscular memory happens when our behaviors shape our body. Probably the most interesting implication of the Potion of Perspective is that we are forced to think about how our genetic code interacts with our behavior. While many of you are no doubt experiencing lingering personality traits that have been determined by the other person's genes- you are also experiencing how a lifetime of behavior has influenced that person's body as well as his or her genetics," Tonks explained.

Draco looked around noting many glazed over expressions. Feeling a bit surprised with himself, he raised his hand.

"Mr. Malfoy?" Tonks said.

"So what you mean is that our choices- our behaviors- influence our genetics? I can see that, say in terms of someone being depressed and then eating a lot and then developing health issues as a result. The behaviors and choices play out on the body and can even cause a change in the genes," he reasoned.

"Excellent. Another ten points to Slytherin," Tonks said with a large crooked smile.

The rest of the class was spent discussing other magical means of disguise. Draco found that he was both disgusted with himself and also a bit proud for answering no less than four other questions in class. He also noticed that Granger still answered more times than he did. In light of all that they'd learned about the Potion of Perspective, he wondered about this. After all, he didn't usually willingly participate in class.

Ron and Harry, were the first ones out, and thus waited for Hermione in the hall after DADA. They had about 45 minutes before lunch.

"Shall we go to the library?" she asked when she joined them in the hall.

Both boys grimaced their answers.

"How about some flying practice?" Harry posed. A raven-haired head nodded in agreement before Hermione could answer.

"Have you completely forgotten that I don't fly?" she retorted.

"Hermione, what did we just learn in DADA? You may not be able to fly- but your body will know how to!" Harry pressed.

Hermione pursed her lips together and crossed her arms over her chest in defiance.

"Come on, 'Mione," Ron whined. "It'll be like practical research!" This was clearly the correct approach because Hermione's expression changed and she suddenly looked rather excited about the prospect of getting on a broomstick.

"Wait just a second, though. I'll be right back," Hermione said as she dashed back into the classroom.

Draco was just lifting his heavy schoolbag over his shoulder when Hermione found him.

"Malfoy, I have something to ask you," she began. She waited until his brown eyes were looking at her before she continued.

"What?" he snapped.

"I'd like to go flying with Harry and Ron for just a little bit before lunch. Since this is somewhat dangerous, I thought I should ask you before I head out. Is it okay with you?" she asked, her words coming in a rush.

Draco suddenly felt a bit giddy at the prospect of denying her something. He could plainly see that she wanted to do this. And he knew very well that she'd probably never be able to fly proficiently in her own body. As much as he wanted to forbid her from flying, he found that he just couldn't. Plus, he noticed with some amount of disgust, he actually felt thankful that she'd been thoughtful enough to ask in the first place.

He sighed and watched the expression in front of him quickly settle into disappointment.

"Sure- whatever, Granger. Just don't fall. I already need therapy from this experience- I don't want any physical damage!" he said. He was instantly treated to a dazzling smile and a squeeze on the arm before Granger ran off to join Potter and Weasley.

He had planned on studying in the Common room before lunch but now he couldn't suppress his curiosity about Granger's flying skills- especially after all that he'd heard in DADA. He wondered how much of his expertise on a broom was innate and how much of it could be attributed to muscular memory. So he followed the three at a distance.

A/N:

Next time: Can Hermione fly? Why is Draco such a voyeur these days? Will Ginny ask Hermione for anything else at lunch? And will everyone return to his/her rightful body?????? Stay tuned....

And thanks so much to my reviewers and readers! I appreciate your taking the time to leave me a few words...