Unofficial Portkey Archive

Author's Note: - I would like to apologize for spelling and grammar mistakes in advance. Sorry for the long wait. Whosoever has been reading my fics, I haven't abandoned any of my stories. It's just taking some time, that's all.

Now about this fic, one of the episodes of Aladdin, `Sandswitch', inspires this. Hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer :- I do not own Harry Potter and anyone or anything related.

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I just don't believe I am so close to my dream. I have waited for so long to reach here. Just one more night and I will be there where I am supposed to be, with my dream man, Harry Potter. Before you start wasting your time guessing about who I am, let me tell you. I am Gloria Appleton (that doesn't mean I have eaten tons of apples…ha…ha).

Before anything else, let me brief you about my life. I am a 17-year-old Ravenclaw witch. Being a Ravenclaw, it's obvious that I am good at every subject, but I excel at potions, for which I am eternally grateful to my creator. For now, this talent of mine will help me get the love of my life.

I have seen Harry Potter from afar, but never alone. He's always with his two best friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. While Ronald is nice, the person I really dislike is Hermione Granger. You would like to know why. Because right now, as I am sharing my woes with you, she is not only Harry Potter's best friend, she has also become his girlfriend.

Had it been Ginny Weasley, Cho Chang, or any other girl, I would have competed against her for Harry's affections. But no, it has to be Hermione Granger, Harry's most trusted confidant and partner. Who could compete against that?

So I have found a new solution, Permuto Potion. I know as long as Hermione is in Harry's life, he will never notice me. Moreover, it's completely unfair. I have followed Harry's life for so long that I don't even remember since when I have been doing it. Over the years, I have learned everything about him. His favourite colour, favourite food, favourite subjects, favourite teachers, favourite broom, favourite weather, favourite place, I know everything. I mean it was all written in the book Harry Potter, a boy who lived and conquered by Rita Skeeter. Given the chance, I am sure I will prove to be a better friend and girlfriend than Hermione Granger. And I know for sure that Hermione, who love books as much as she loves Harry, have not read that book.

But Harry is blind where Hermione Granger is concerned and since I am a non-violent person by nature, I cannot harm Hermione to remove her from the picture.

For that, I had to find a solution through which I could have been with Harry and everyone would have been happy with that.

It took me ages but I finally found my answer.

One day I was in the library. While researching for my homework essay, I was looking for a transfiguration book. And guess what I found. It seemed like a storybook for children. But what it was doing there between transfigurations tomes was hard to guess. Interesting fact was that it didn't have Hogwarts crest on it. It might have belonged to a student who would have put it there by mistake.

When I looked inside the book, it had pictures of known magical creatures like Dragons and Hippogriffs, which I found a little odd. What was that book doing there? So I brought the book with me to my dorm. I was a little excited; what if it was a secret book, just like the evil diary Harry had destroyed in his second year.

(Maybe then, he would have saved me, he would have become my knight in the shining armour, and then he would have fallen in love with me.)

There were not many details in Rita Skeeter's book except that diary belonged to the Dark lord.

There were two other girls in my dorm. I waited until they left the dorm. I locked the door of the dorm and then I opened the book. I tried a few spells to reveal the true nature of the book but nothing happened. I did it for two days. I went through many books to find the correct spell and finally on third day, I managed to break the spell on the book. It was a potions book. That was where I found Permuto Potion.

I couldn't believe my luck. But as old saying went, desperate circumstances called for desperate measures. And I was a desperate girl with a desperate situation at my hand. I went through every detail about Permuto Potion. It had formula similar to that of Polyjuice potion, but it took two full moons to prepare it. Therefore, I got started straightaway.

Collecting the ingredients was not very difficult. Few were rare entities, so it took me a whole month to collect them all, and then to get started. I also needed a piece of Hermione's hair, which was a difficult, but somehow I managed it.

It was difficult to prepare the potion in secret. Almost every hideout in school was somebody's secret place. In the end I took help from a house-elf, Misty, who served Ravenclaw house. It took some coaxing on my part to convince her to help me, one of the few drawbacks of Hermione's presence in Harry's life and Hogwarts. Hogwarts had decided to acknowledge the house-elfs as official employees; hence, they were given all the rights and duties of a wage earner, similar to that of wizards and witches. House-elves were so horrified by the change that Headmistress McGonagall (As Dumbledore had retired after the war) had to order them to accept their change in status. As a result, I had to pay Misty a galleon for extra services. Even though she didn't want it, it was mandatory for her to take money for extra services. I told Misty that I needed the secret place to study. I requested, almost begged her that she didn't tell anyone about the secret place. And guess what, the trick worked, because as soon as I said please, Misty started hitting her head against the stone wall. She apologised again and again, incoherent words coming out of her mouth. Finally, she left, promising me that she will not mention about the secret place to anyone, which meant nobody was going to ask her.

Well I am sorry; I am getting distracted from the main course. So tonight, this potion will be finished and my dreams will come true. Tomorrow Harry Potter will be mine. Tomorrow Hermione Granger will be forgotten and in her place, there will be only one name Harry will remember, Gloria.

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Harry woke up with a start, sweating, and remnants of his nightmare still lingering at the perimeter of his consciousness. He wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt and got out of his bed. It was close to dawn, sky slowly turning from black to lighter grey shade. He walked over to the window and opened it. A cool breeze flittered through his unkempt hair. He took a deep breath and thought about one person whose presence in his life had made living worthwhile.

"Gloria," He whispered in the air. He frowned at the name, as if it was the first time he had said or heard the name. There was an odd sensation in his heart. It felt as though if something was not right, as though if something or someone was missing. He shook his head out of his musings and walked back towards the bed to get ready for upcoming Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Soon everyone was up and about.

"Hey Harry," Ron called Harry who was sitting on his bed, putting on his shoes.

"Yeah," Harry looked up at Ron who was ready for the match.

"Are you ready to leave?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, just let me tie my laces." Harry replied. He finished tying his shoelaces and got up from the bed. Soon they left the dormitory. Common room was crowded; everyone was excited about upcoming match. They reached the bottom stairs and stopped there.

"Where is," Ron stopped for a second, as though if he didn't know what he was saying.

"Gloria?" Ron said, perplexed, looking around.

Harry looked at his best friend. "You felt it too."

"What?" Ron asked looking at his best friend.

Harry simply shrugged in return. "I don't know, just that something feels strange."

Ron thought for a moment. "I think it's just nerves." He replied casually.

Harry nodded. "I think you're right."

Just then, Ginny joined them. "Are you guys ready for today's match?" She asked. She was also wearing her Quidditch robes.

"Yeah," Harry replied distractedly.

"There she is," Ron said, pointing towards the stairs leading to Girls dormitories.

Harry looked that way and saw her coming down the stairs. She looked at them and waved. She looked beautiful with her golden blond hair flowing down to her waist, clear blue eyes, lovely bow shaped mouth, and a slender figure. It looked like she had put extra efforts in her appearance for the day.

"Good morning, Harry," She said smiling. But her eyes looked anxious as though if she was afraid of something.

Harry smiled back, "Good morning, Gloria," He said.

Gloria looked into his eyes deeply and leaned towards him for a kiss.

Harry looked down at her kissable mouth, she was a vision for the sore eyes, yet something was off. He leaned down towards her, looking into her eyes. He was so close to her, just a hair's breadth distance between them. Gloria came forward to close the distance between them, when Harry immediately pulled back.

"No!" He almost shouted, pulling back. He closed his eyes, not understanding what was happening to him. "Sorry Gloria," Harry apologized to his girlfriend who looked hurt.

"What's wrong Harry?" She asked. She sounded close to tears, but Harry couldn't bring himself to rectify his mistake.

"Sorry Gloria, but I forgot to brush my teeth today." Harry said trying to hide his discomfort. He almost cringed at his stupid explanation. He avoided looking at Ron, not ready to face his puzzled expression.

Gloria's wounded expression cleared as she smiled at Harry. She seemed to accept his reasoning. "It's all right, Harry," She said.

Then before Harry could surmise her next action, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Good Morning," She whispered in his ear.

Harry simply smiled in return, feeling confused. What was happening to him?

Gloria turned to Weasley siblings, giving them her best charming smile.

"Good morning Ronald, Ginevra," She said.

Both of them looked back at her as though if she had lost her mind.

"Are you angry with me?" Ron asked warily.

"No, why?" Gloria asked, troubled.

"Are you feeling alright then?" Ginny asked thoughtfully.

"Yes, I am alright. But why are asking me this?" Gloria asked, troubled look not leaving her face.

Did they recognize her, she feared.

"You called us Ronald and Ginevra. You have never called me Ginevra before and you only call Ron, Ronald, when you are angry with him." Ginny explained, looking back curiously at the other girl.

"Oh," Gloria faked a smiled. She was saved from answering when Ron exclaimed loudly.

"It's time!" He startled everyone around him. Without further explanation, he walked towards the entrance hole, expecting others to follow him.

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Hermione Granger was proud of what she had achieved so far in her life of 18 years, yet she felt something was missing. She looked around her. She was in the Great Hall, eating her breakfast with her friends, Elena and Rachel. But her eyes kept roaming around the Great Hall, searching for something or…someone.

Since she had woken up that morning, she had been feeling agitated. Though she didn't understand why, since everything was more than alright in her life. That feeling had followed her all morning and now she was having difficulty keeping up with the conversation with her friends.

"Hermione," Somebody almost shouted in her ear, startling her from her musings.

"Sorry, what?" Hermione said as she looked at Elena who had an annoying look on her face.

"What's the matter with you? You didn't hear a thing I said." Elena said, irritated.

"Nothing," Hermione replied, distracted, "What were you saying?"

"Are you feeling alright?" Rachel asked concernedly.

"I was feeling a bit under the weather, but now I am alright." Hermione replied with a reassuring smile.

She tried her best to get involved into conversation. Soon everyone was moving towards the Quidditch pitch where match between Gryffindor and Slytherin was to take place. Although she was not interested in the match, she stayed there with her friends as, both teams walked out and match started. However, she wasn't aware that throughout the match her eyes followed only one player, a player in red and gold Gryffindor uniform, a player with messy hair and round spectacles.

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Author's Note :- So what do you think? Did you like it? Next part will be soon updated.

Please REVIEW and tell me what you think.

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