Shifting Perspectives

"Shifting Perspectives"

By Professor Mary

Chapter 9 Inter-House Unity ?

Hermione finished buttoning her shirt, deciding to forgo the dark green jumper. Even at this early hour, the sunshine beaming through the multi-paned window was threatening to scorch whatever it touched. She hoped she'd be able to get out in it at some point today. To have such a hot day this late in the season was a sure sign of the advancing cold weather. She knew it was probably the last decent day for a long long time. She sighed, as she walked over to her window, adjusting her green and silver tie.

The knock on her door came just as expected. Even if Malfoy remembered that he didn't have to wash his loads of brown curls today, she had suspected that he'd show up for the coffee alone. With a swish of her wand and the appropriate charm, the coffee set appeared on her little table.

"Morning, Malfoy," she said as she opened her door.

She grinned at the sleepy-eyed girl who was standing in her doorway. Though Malfoy was fully dressed (again Hermione was thankful!), he appeared to be holding a wad of woolen tights.

"Do you have coffee?" Draco nearly slurred the words. He hadn't had any of the Muggle Diet Coke this morning. He was so out of it that he felt like he deserved a medal for just being dressed.

"Of course. Please come in," Hermione said graciously with a smile twitching around her lips.

Draco grunted in return, following his nose to the delightful aroma of fresh coffee. Though he could barely keep his eyes open, he'd already taken note of Granger's self-satisfied face at the door. If he'd been more alert, he was sure that he would have kicked her shins - just for being so damn awake. He hated energetic people this early in the morning.

While Granger was pouring his first cup, he pulled out a sheet of parchment on which he'd copied the assessment results of their Potion of Perspective. When she handed him the coffee, he gestured to the parchment.

Hermione picked up the results and read them as she sipped from her own steaming mug. After several minutes of reading and re-reading, she sighed and put the paper down.

"Malfoy? Why is the standardization percentage still perfect?" she asked thoughtfully.

Draco looked at her resentfully, wondering how she had the nerve to ask him to think before the second cup of coffee. He gave her a half-hearted sneer in return.

"Fine, Malfoy. Drink your drug. I understand," she said, amused.

She pulled out her own daily planner and began skimming the day's activities.

"I don't have a real break today until after dinner," she said, mostly to herself. "And I imagine whatever time I have, I'll need to use to help Pansy get her aerobics class together. But tonight, after dinner, I can work on this in the library." She scribbled several notes throughout the day's entry.

Then she made a copy of the results and left the parchment on the table for Draco to collect. The two sat in what - surprisingly - passed for companionable silence.

"I think it's going to be a warm day," Hermione said, after a while.

Draco gave her a suspicious look. Since he was finally feeling awake, he was becoming aware of the fact that he was sitting in Granger's room, for all intents and purposes, just hanging out. Their "business" was finished. He realized that he could have taken his coffee and left already. He sighed, mollified with the knowledge that at least no one else knew and then quickly resolved not to make a habit out of sharing his mornings with Granger.

"About that... I don't want to wear these today. It's going to be too hot," he said, holding out the woolen hosiery. He was more than a bit taken aback when Granger giggled and thus, sputtered with coffee in her mouth.

"Sure, hold on just a minute," she said, still chuckling. She rummaged through her dresser and then returned with a set of short thin socks.

"Will these do?" she asked in a teasing tone.

"Yes," he muttered in reply, taking the socks.

Draco reconsidered kicking her in the shins. No one had any business being so smug this early in the morning! He realized that the only thing holding him back from violence was that he didn't hit girls- even girls who currently inhabited boys' bodies. He consoled himself with the thought that Granger didn't know how fortunate she was that he was still a man of principle.

As he slipped his small feet out of Granger's shoes, he shrieked in alarm.

"What the hell is all this?" he asked, pointing vaguely at his legs.

Hermione looked over, too far away to even guess to whatever he might be referring.

"What?"

"I knew that something was wrong - I thought my sheets were scratchy," he whined. "But it's your legs! They're - well, they're prickly!" he said in an irritated voice.

Hermione couldn't even attempt to smother her giggles. She had to set down her coffee so she could enjoy the full body experience of laughing at the - incredibly adorable - if outraged face in front of her.

Draco was fuming. He did not understand what could possibly be so funny as to warrant such a display. He resolved right then that whenever he did return to his own body, he would never allow it to - so uncontrollably - giggle again. It was disgusting.

"Granger, what do I do about this? A Shaving Charm?"

"No - no," she said, between giggles. "A Shaving Charm is too time-consuming... it's really only good for small areas, like the face," she explained, as her laughing subsided. "No, I think you should just forget about dealing with this right now - and later today, I'll show you how to take care of it, okay?"

"There is no way I'm going to endure these prickly legs for another minute. Now, fix it!" he demanded.

This seemed to sit off another round of guffaws but he kept silent as it did appear that Granger was going to acquiesce to his demands.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this, Malfoy?" Hermione asked, as she pulled out her waxing supplies.

Draco refrained from answering, settling for giving her an insolent glare instead.

Hermione spent several minutes setting up a bowl of hot wax, warm water, and then a third bowl for the essence of murlap. After placing the bowls, the applicator, and some clean cloths around the floor, she knelt down at Malfoy's feet.

Hermione took a moment to think about her situation. While she still found Malfoy's apparent abhorrence for "prickly legs" to be amusing, she was now feeling a bit anxious in her next task. She assumed he was clueless about waxing because he hadn't yet said anything in recognition of what was about to happen. After years of yanking up her body hair with hot wax, Hermione had developed an appreciation for the procedure. She rather relished the sensual feel of the heated wax and even liked the fleetingly exquisite pain of the actual hair removal, itself. As she looked at the wary expression of the girl setting before her, she wondered what Malfoy would make of the whole procedure. She resolved to try to make it as comfortable as possible.

"Now, put your foot right here," she said gently, guiding the flat of his foot onto the top of her thigh. The she rolled back the hem of his skirt several inches above his knees. With a warm wet cloth, she massaged his leg, from ankle up to mid-thigh. She took her time, hoping to relax him as much as possible- at least that's what she told herself. But as she slowly squeezed and rubbed her way up, she allowed herself to enjoy the soft musculature and pleasing aesthetics of her former legs.

Draco was leaning over in his seat, watching her closely. He suspected that whatever was about to happen was some kind of Muggle foolishness- he'd never seen his mother or any other girl do anything like this before. Though Granger's ministrations were rather gentle and even soothing, he was also feeling a bit uncomfortable. The whole thing seemed to be just a little too ... intimate. However, the heat of the morning and Granger's soft touches threatened to lull him into a sort of complacency.

After Granger finished washing one leg, she began applying the hot wax. He watched as she scooped up a large dollop of the amber-colored wax and then spread it on to his leg. She made quick work of smoothing out the stuff - stretching and tugging at it to cover his skin. At first, Draco was startled by the odd feeling of the rapidly hardening material. But the heat combined with the thickness of the wax made for a rather calming experience. As she applied wax to the rest of his leg, he leaned back into the chair and tried to just enjoy himself.

He looked down at her expectantly when she seemed to be finished applying the wax. He almost returned the hesitant smile that she was giving him-- he felt that relaxed.

"Malfoy? Would you please hand me your wand?" Granger asked. He sat up in his chair, feeling a bit defensive by the unanticipated question.

"Why?"

"Malfoy, please just give it to me. I'm just going to put it over here, see? Right here behind me."

"Fine," he huffed. But he handed her his wand and sank back in his chair.

"Malfoy, this may - er - sting just a little. But I promise I'll make it fast," she said, giving him a sympathetic smile.

"Whatever," he said lazily.

Without further ado, Hermione gave a mighty tug on the first strip of wax and thus, ripped the hair from Malfoy's leg.

Draco shrieked in terror and pulled his leg away from Granger - all thoughts of not hitting girls flying right out the window.

"What the hell are you doing? What the hell is all this stuff on my leg? What kind of Muggle torture is this?" he gasped furiously.

"Malfoy, sit down and give me your leg," Hermione said firmly. She dipped a fresh cloth in the essence of murlap.

"This will make your skin feel much better, I promise. But you have to let me finish ... you're the one who wanted smooth legs, you know."

Draco glared hard at her but resignedly put his leg back on her thigh. She wiped the cloth over his leg and then blew on the freshly waxed skin. He was quite surprised that his skin felt wonderful after that.

"Okay, Malfoy. I'm going to do another strip now," she warned.

Draco closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. This time she pulled on the wax with one hand but then immediately followed with the murlap-soaked cloth. The sudden juxtaposition of pain and pleasure was jarring -- but not as unwelcome as he would have thought. After the fifth strip came up, Draco found that the whole experience was becoming oddly satisfying. There was something rather compelling about the noise of the wax being ripped off. And Granger's hands worked fast- pulling on the wax and then applying the soothing murlap -- it was ... sensual.

He had leaned back in the chair, his eyes closed and willed his body to relax. He didn't even open them when he felt Granger's cool hands draw both of his feet to rest on her thighs. He heard a light sloshing sound and then felt wet fingers - wet from the murlap, he guessed -- kneed and rub his skin. After a few minutes of this, the now dry hands just caressed his legs. Without meaning to, he let out a low moan of pleasure.

The moan startled Hermione back into reality and she quickly wretched her hands away from his legs. She was thankful that Malfoy's eyes were still closed and that he couldn't see the traitorous blush that she felt staining her cheeks. Hormones! She gently pushed his feet from her thighs and started to clean up the small mess that they'd made.

Draco slowly opened his eyes and felt like he coming out of a trance. He was surprised at how quickly the entire thing went. As soon as Granger left the room, he let his hands caress his now smooth legs. Though the skin was still a little pink, he was impressed by how silky his legs both looked and felt. Languidly, he ran his hands up from his ankles to above his knees. When his hands reached his mid-thighs, he abruptly stopped.

"Granger, why did you stop here?" he asked.

"Oh, I never wax all the way up- at least not during the winter. The hair is too fine anyway. I'm sure it won't bother you much," she explained, her husky voice trailing in from her bathroom.

"But you do in the summer?" he asked confusedly.

"Er- don't worry about that, Malfoy. If we don't get back to our normal bodies by summer, I'm sure we'll have bigger problems than you needing a bikini wax," she finished.

"Bikini wax?" Draco muttered to himself, as he grabbed his wand and then slipped on the socks that Granger had given him earlier.

Hermione walked back in as Malfoy was admiring himself in her mirror. He had pulled his skirt up just a little bit and seemed to be inspecting his shiny smooth legs. She couldn't help but to grin at the sight. He can be quite a cutie, she thought. Then she promptly chided herself for such a weird thought. I do not think Malfoy is cute! she reminded herself. She decided to ignore the other more complicated aspects of that thought, including that Malfoy was a girl at the moment, specifically a girl everyone else called "Hermione Granger."

"Well, er- thanks," Draco said, as he turned from the mirror to face the tall blond boy in front of him. Without another word, he walked out of her room.

Hermione sighed, and tried to banish any hormone-influenced thoughts from her mind. She packed her books and parchments together and then headed down to breakfast.

It was only when she saw the (cute!) brunette again, sitting between her two best friends that she realized she'd forgotten to tell him about the boomslang skin.

*****

Hermione walked back towards the Muggle Studies section of the library. She was surprised to see Pansy already there waiting for her.

"Draco. I didn't even know there was a Muggle Studies section. Interesting..." Pansy said, her excitement leaking through her sarcasm.

Hermione snorted, "Of course, there's a Muggle Studies section- there's an entire Muggle Studies curricula, Pansy."

This was clearly news to the dark haired Slytherin witch.

"Whatever. As long as I can figure out aerobics," she retorted, pulling randomly at titles from the "Muggle Daily Habits" shelf.

Hermione scanned the shelves while the other girl peered confusedly at a large pictorial volume entitled Grooming Habits of Muggle Women.

Hermione had pulled out several different books on Muggle exercise before she gave a high pitched squeal.

"Draco?" Pansy said, as she looked somewhat concernedly at Hermione.

Hermione waved her off because she could honestly think of nothing to say that would justify Draco Malfoy getting excited about finding an old VHS copy of Jane Fonda's Classic Workouts.

So she grabbed Pansy's hand and pulled the other girl into a media room. Though not often used, the Hogwarts library did have a working television and a VCR- all magically enhanced, of course. Hermione closed the door to the little room, and then popped in the dusty old tape. She tried to explain the workings of the video recorder to Pansy who was more interested in the remote control than anything Hermione was saying. Immediately, images of one very toned-for-her-age Jane Fonda appeared- soon she was sweating, jumping, reaching, and generally moving very quickly in place to loud and bad music.

Pansy was transfixed.

After several minutes, Hermione turned off the tape.

"Well?"

"Oh, Draco... Draco. You know how some people feel like they've been... well, you know - called - called to do something. This might be it for me, Draco. This might be what I'm supposed to do!"

Hermione felt like she deserved a medal for not even cracking a smile at Pansy's completely authentic outburst.

"I see," she said slowly.

"Well, let's get you some more books and you'll be ready for that life-calling, then," Hermione said, pulling the girl out of the room.

"But Draco, I need to see the rest of that - er- what did you call it? Veedeeo?" Pansy whimpered.

"You can watch it later, Pansy. We've got to get to lunch really soon," Hermione said as she flipped through a few of the exercise books.

"How can you talk about lunch? This is something far bigger, Draco - this could be liberating for the entire Wizarding World!"

Hermione didn't for a minute underestimate the conviction of the wild-eyed girl standing next to her. Instead she sought to distract her. Ever since she'd taken residence in Malfoy's body, skipping meals - even for the sake of acquiring new knowledge - was no longer an option.

"Here, look through these," she said, passing over three different books which featured aerobics, as well as weight-lifting and yoga.

"And you can come back later and watch the rest of the video. But look at the books, too. You'll get a better understanding of what aerobics classes are like as well as what people wear - you know, the practical aspects," Hermione offered.

Pansy took the books with a sense of reverence.

"How did you know about all this, Draco? You never mentioned aerobics before..." Pansy trailed off as she packed the books into her bag.

"Er - I asked Hermione ... Granger," Hermione said quickly.

"Oh... yeah- figures."

Pansy seemed satisfied so Hermione didn't offer any further explanation.

"By the way, Snape is setting up a room for the class. He'll be sending you an owl to confirm the location as well as its availability, Pansy. Soon, you're going to be the Jane Fonda of Hogwarts!" Hermione teased, though really she felt a surge of pride for the other girl.

As the two walked towards the entrance of the library, Pansy grew quiet.

"Draco, I think aerobics should be for everyone. Not just Slytherins," she said firmly.

"You seem to feel very strongly about this," Hermione stated, biting her bottom lip to keep from chuckling.

"I do. And I don't care what anyone else thinks- this is my Mission."

With that Pansy squared her petite shoulders and actually seemed just a tad bit bigger already - at least, in Hermione's opinion.

Just at the door of the library, Hermione remembered that she'd wanted to pick up a particular Potions text.

"Go on, Pansy. I forgot something - I'll meet you there," Hermione said as she waved to her unlikely friend.

A quick look at Malfoy's pocketwatch assured her that she was going to be late for lunch. She found the book, Enhancing Potions for the Advanced Brewer, relatively quickly. She'd read it before a few years back. She thought it'd be good start for trying to understand the specifics of the salamander blood in their Potion.

Since she was late, the halls were relatively empty. She indulged in reading and walking at the same time, usually a rather dangerous habit in times of normal corridor activity - what with masses of students, moving staircases, and rowdy suits of armor. By the time she reached the Great Hall, she had finally found the section on adding salamander blood to specific potions. She was completely enthralled in her reading and only marginally aware of where she was going.

She didn't look up from her book until she sat down.

And when she did look up, she looked right into the bright blue eyes of Ginny Weasley.

As no one said anything - actually no one was saying anything at all in the entire Great Hall - Hermione proceeded to give her friend a huge smile.

"Hi Ginny," she said, reaching for a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Er- uh- Hi Draco," Ginny responded with a slow smile.

Hermione choked on her juice and put away her book. Only then did she chance to look around at her tablemates - the Gryffindors. She also became aware of the eerie silence that hung heavily in the Hall.

"You don't mind, do you Ginny?" she asked cautiously.

Ginny seemed to hesitate for the smallest fraction of a second. She saw her friend's eyes shift quickly to the person to her left- Harry Potter - and then to the person to her right - the person she knew to be Draco Malfoy. Then she looked back at Hermione.

"Sure, why not?" Ginny said, with a hint of the sly grin that made Hermione's insides burn just a little.

"Thanks." Hermione reached for the large salad bowl, still painfully cognizant of the awkward silence around her.

"Never had you pegged as a salad-eater, Malfoy," came a genial voice from Hermione's right.

Hermione briefly turned towards the brown-eyed girl whose legs she waxed just hours ago. Malfoy was sitting so close to her that she could smell traces of the sweet murlap even over the hefty aroma of the luncheon. She felt the blood begin to rise in her cheeks as she remembered stroking his smooth skin. She wondered if the massage counted as groping - for if that was the case, she'd actually groped Malfoy twice now. She forced herself to look away from Malfoy and instead locked eyes with the girl she'd snogged senseless several times now. She felt her blush intensify. Finally she resorted to listing the steps of the Polyjuice Potion since it had saved her the night before. It wasn't long before her tenuous facade of normalcy returned.

"Salads, er- they're good for you... But I guess you know that already, seeing as your parents are dentists," she returned, feeling grateful that Malfoy was willing to play along with her incredible blunder.

"Right."

"So, Draco," Ginny started, sly grin more firmly in place, "I had fun last night."

When both Harry and Ron choked on their respective food and drink, Hermione allowed herself to chuckle a bit at her situation.

"Me, too, Ginny. So how did the Transfiguration demonstration go today? You mentioned that you were feeling a bit nervous," Hermione said, hoping that her desperate stab at conversation wouldn't go amiss.

And it didn't. Ginny seemed perfectly willing to continue most of what they'd already talked about last night. Again, Hermione was careful to not be too Hermione-ish, or so she hoped. She was rather thankful that Malfoy seemed to put some amount of effort into keeping the conversation afloat, too. But mostly, she was very proud of her boys - though neither Harry nor Ron had directly spoken to her, they hadn't hexed her, either.

Despite starting with a salad, Hermione's lunch turned out to be rather heavy. Who was she to turn down steak and kidney pie?

"I sure could go for some coffee," she mumbled. No sooner had the words left her mouth than an elegant coffee set appeared before her on the table. She could practically hear Malfoy salivating.

"Mmmm... coffee," he said, making both Hermione and Ginny smile broadly.

Hermione grabbed two of the mugs. She made quick work of pouring coffee and adding cream and sugar for Malfoy. She gently pushed the cup towards him.

"Ginny?" she asked, gesturing towards the empty cups. The redhead declined graciously.

"Anyone else?" she asked, finally braving the two sulking boys sitting next to her.

A tentative, "Yes, please," came from the other side of Ron.

"Cream, sugar?" she asked Neville, who was eyeing her warily.

"No, black is fine, er - thanks, Malfoy," he replied.

She handed the coffee to Ron to give to Neville. Ron didn't meet her eyes but again, as she reminded herself, he didn't throw the scalding liquid back at her, either.

"You hav-haven't been anywhere near Greenhouse 5, have you, Malfoy?" Neville asked in a faltering voice.

Before she could answer, she felt a sharp jab in her right side. She wondered if Malfoy wanted her to agree or disagree.

"Er- No, Longbottom. I haven't..." she said as she poured her own cup of coffee.

As she indulged in her hot drink, she looked up, finally drawing her gaze to the Slytherin table. Pansy looked up, too, a smirk twisting through her features, and gave her a small wave. Hermione took that as her escape cue.

"Well, thank you all for allowing me to lunch with you," she said, giving Harry, Ron, Neville, Malfoy, and lastly, Ginny, a smile.

"I'll just finish my coffee with my Housemates."

"You do that, Malfoy," she heard Ron say softly. She stymied a laugh and settled for a smirk, instead.

"You're welcome to join us again, Draco," Ginny said sweetly, though Hermione noticed that she was mostly looking at Harry as she said this.

"Thanks, Ginny. See you later."

Amongst avid whispers, she walked over to Slytherin table. She sat down next to Pansy and Crabbe.

"What the hell was that about?" Pansy asked, though her tone implied curiosity more than anything else.

Hermione saw that several of the Seventh Years were openly looking at her, awaiting her response. Many others were actively listening while trying not to appear so.

"Oh, you know... Inter-House Unity," she said simply.

"Brilliant, Draco," Blaise said, giving her a rather devious smile. "Just brilliant. Quite the set-up you've left for the rest of us."

"Inter-House Unity," Crabbe repeated slowly.

Hermione could hear the phrase filtering down the table. She smiled into her coffee.

Little did she know that the same phrase was making its way around the Gryffindor table.

"Inter-House Unity?" Ron sputtered. "You think Inter-House Unity explains why Malfoy sat with us - like it was normal???"

"Yeah... plus, he flirted with Ginny," Harry said, in tones of both incredulity and annoyance.

Draco smiled. He couldn't have planned Granger's slip-up any better himself. Harry was clearly beside himself with all the attention that Ginny both gave and received from their unexpected lunch date. And Ginny seemed to realize that a little flirtation on her part with Granger would indeed get Harry's attention. As any good Slytherin, he decided to work the situation to his advantage.

"Haven't I told you both that he's changed?" Draco asked with a smirk.

"Numerous times, Hermione," Harry answered, still exasperated. "But I never thought to believe you..."

"Yeah, I thought you'd just tackled Malfoy like you did SPEW or something," Ron replied.

Draco was surprised to find that the redhead's analogy of himself to Granger's preposterous campaign to liberate House Elves made him laugh rather than want to curse.

"Well, I think he's hardly to be compared to a House Elf," he began. "But, I've had quite a bit of time to get to know him, I guess you could say, and I think he's all right. We all just got off on the wrong foot."

"The wrong foot? His father is a Death Eater," Harry hissed into his ear.

Draco turned sharply to look directly into the other boy's bright green eyes.

"He's not his father, Harry."

"He's still a bigot," Harry replied.

"Well, that's what he's been working on. He can't change who his father is... but he can change who he is," Draco said simply.

"He doesn't deserve your faith, Hermione," Ron said with finality.

Draco didn't respond but thought about the boy's words for the rest of the day.

****

After nearly a week of being in Malfoy's body, Hermione was still completely thrown off by looking into the mirror. It was just plain strange to see those gray eyes look back at her. As she waited for the others to get into place behind her, she took a few minutes to stretch her long limbs. The image of the tall lean blond haired boy looking back at her, mirroring her movements was so bizarre that she nearly lost her balance. Not for the first time, she wondered how she was going to get through the next hour.

Pansy was standing at the front of the room, impatiently tapping her foot. She was dressed in a resplendent purple spandex leotard with matching tights - Jane Fonda would have been proud. Indeed, Pansy transfigured her stretchy outfit based on the image of Fonda, herself. Hermione tore her eyes away from her own body to look at the rest of her fellow exercisers.

The House Elves had done a great job with the room. Pansy had evidently called for a consultation and brought along the Muggle exercise books with her. Thus, Hermione and about fifty other students and even a few faculty were about to exercise in a huge bright room completely walled with mirrors. Of course, the Elves might have overdone it just a bit, since there were mirrors on the ceiling, as well.

Hermione had helped Pansy spread the word about her aerobics classes. She hadn't for a minute thought that the other girl would have allowed her to back out of any part --so she had embraced her role as Pansy's assistant with the kind of gusto that she would have applied to any of Harry and Ron's shenanigans.

Interestingly, the response had been mixed. Of course, Muggle-borns and most Half-Bloods knew what aerobics were all about. However, most Muggle-borns and many Half-Bloods didn't trust Pansy Parkinson as far as they could throw her. The Slytherins and most Pure Bloods had no idea about aerobics, but the Slytherins at least knew they were obligated to support their Housemate.

That's where Malfoy had come in. Hermione had convinced him to jump on the aerobics bandwagon. At first, he'd stubbornly refused - after all, as a Pure Blood, he really didn't know anything about Muggle exercise and wanted to keep it that way. But Hermione was resourceful. She reminded him that she not only controlled his access to manageable hair but also to his morning coffee. After that, he'd been decidedly more agreeable about the subject, though he still slipped and said "arabics" from time to time. But for appearances' sake, Hogwarts' Head Girl was openly supporting Pansy Parkinson's aerobics classes.

Thus, Hermione looked out into the classroom to see an odd mix of the Houses. Many Slytherins were there- Hermione saw Blaise standing only a few feet behind Malfoy. He was openly staring at the oblivious brown haired girl. She thought perhaps he should wipe the drool off of his ugly chin and then wondered where her mean attitude had come from.

But several of her old Housemates were in attendance, too. She'd expected to see Ginny, but was impressed to see that Malfoy had also dragged along Ron, Harry, and Neville. She repressed the urge to give them a wave in greeting.

Of their little group, only Harry and Malfoy were correctly dressed. Malfoy was wearing Hermione's own aerobics clothing. She'd had her mother send her gym clothes only the day before. So Malfoy was also ensconced in a tight-fitting shiny spandex outfit. She thought it fit him rather nicely... And Harry was wearing an old pair of shorts and a t-shirt. However, Ginny and Neville were awkwardly dressed in older loose fitting robes while Ron was wearing parts of his Quidditch uniform. Clearly, they didn't know about the entire genre of Muggle work-out clothing!

As Hermione continued to scan the room, she realized that the only properly dressed students were the Muggle-borns and Half-Bloods. The Pure-Bloods were all wearing a wacky hodgepodge of robs and loose trousers. Not only did they look out of place, but they also seemed to know it. The irony was not at all lost on Hermione.

Only this morning, she had transfigured some of Malfoy's clothes into a nice set of jogging pants and a fitted t-shirt. As her gaze returned to her form in the mirror, she complimented herself on her excellent transfiguration skills, sense of style, and lithe muscular body... lithe??? Where did that come from? she thought. But Pansy's shrill voice interrupted her thoughts.

Pansy pointed her wand at her throat, "Sonorus."

"This is aerobics. Those of you who know me, know that this is a very serious endeavor. I will not tolerate any interruptions - in here, you're mine. You leave your petty House rivalries and any other nonsense at the door. In my class, everyone gives his or her best effort. None of this "girls can't do this" or "boys don't do that" crap. Are we clear?"

Only silence met her words.

"I said, are we clear?" she bellowed.

"We're clear!" came the chorused response.

"Right then," she said. Then she turned around to face the mirrors in the front. With a quick flick of her wand, extremely loud and fast paced music filled the room.

Pansy was as merciless as any drill sergeant. But she had all the makings of a great aerobics instructor, too. She explained each of the steps quickly and clearly and always kept in time with the obnoxious music. Hermione was quite proud.

She was also feeling quite breathless. She had assumed that Malfoy's body was in fairly decent shape. But Pansy was literally kicking her ass. She was so caught up in controlling her long limbs that she spared little thought for the welfare of her peers.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw mounds of swishing purple fabrics fluttering in time to the horrendous music. As she struggled to keep up with Pansy's frenzied moves, she turned and was greeted by the spectacle of Albus Dumbledore performing a rather impressive set of lunges.

Finally, Pansy slowed down her routine and then led everyone to the floor for stretches. As Hermione sank back on her heels, a squashy green floor mat and a cool flask of water appeared directly in front of her. She decided right then that magical aerobics classes were an improvement from their Muggle counterparts.

Hermione continued to lie on her mat even after she heard Pansy dismiss her class. She felt wiped out. She kept her eyes closed so she wouldn't have to see the disconcerting image of her masculine body peering down at her from the ceiling. She overheard Dumbledore congratulating Pansy on a good class. He even had a few music recommendations! Hermione chuckled to herself.

After a few minutes, Hermione rolled over onto her side. In the mirror, she could see that several students had remained on the floor, too - probably struggling with just basic movements at this point. Pansy, however, was standing in the front of the room, like a queen, with splotches of sweat regally darkening her purple spandex. She had her hands on her hips and the most delightful look of self-satisfaction on her face.

Hermione watched as the dark haired girl took a deep breath and walked over to where some students were still sprawled out on the floor. She stopped at one figure - Hermione didn't know who it was. She could only see two feet and a heap of robes from her vantage. She saw Pansy extend a petite arm to the prone figure and then proceed to hoist the other person up to a standing position.

Neville!

Hermione bit her bottom lip in amusement. She couldn't hear what they were saying but Pansy seemed to be laughing and pointing at Neville's sweaty loose robes. Neville was blushing furiously but then he nodded at something that Pansy must have said. She turned from him then and seemed to be heading towards where Hermione was still lying. That's when she saw the shy smile slowly emerge on Neville's face.

Pansy sat down next to Hermione.

"Well?" she asked, her black eyes full of triumph.

"You are fantastic, Pansy Parkinson. Fantastic." And Hermione meant it.