Witch Switch

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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Author's Note: - Sorry for the delay guys. Now I am back with the second chapter. Hope you like it. I apologize for the spelling and grammar mistakes in advance.

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

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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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“He looks so hot,” Rachel said dreamily, looking at the Quidditch ground.

Hermione looked at her friend. “Who are you talking about?” She asked.

“Harry Potter, who else,” Rachel replied, still looking at the ground.

Hermione frowned. She looked down at the Quidditch ground where Gryffindors were celebrating their win against the Slytherins. Hermione could see the boy with messy haired head, laughing and hugging his friends. She had this strange urge to look into his eyes. She was sure she knew the colour of his eyes; she just couldn't recall that at the moment.

She kept on looking as a blonde-haired girl walked towards Harry Potter and tapped him on the shoulder. Harry turned around and smiled widely. Even though Hermione's view was not very clear from her seat in the stands, she was sure that smile was not one of his happiest and she didn't know why she felt that way. She continued to look down at the couple as Harry pulled the girl into his arms and hugged her. Hermione immediately looked away as a wave of sadness passed through her.

“Let's go. Everyone's leaving.” Hermione said abruptly, as she made to leave the stands. What she didn't realize was that a certain someone with messy hair and emerald green eyes was looking at her.

“Yeah, come on,” Elena said, pulling Rachel along with her.

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Harry was content with the day. Gryffindors had won the match against Slytherins. They had a celebration party in the common room. Everyone was cheering for them. His girlfriend was there with him sharing those moments with him. With the feeling of contentedness, there was also a very subtle feeling of hollowness that would not go away, no matter how much he tried to ignore it.

On the top of it, he couldn't get that girl with brown hair out of his mind. He had first seen her during the match against Slytherins, and second time, when he had entered in the Great Hall during the dinnertime. But honest to god, it didn't feel the first or second time. Moreover, in the Great Hall she was looking back at him. It was just for a fleeting moment, and then she quickly looked away, as though if she wasn't aware of his presence at all.

Later on throughout the dinner, he couldn't stop his eyes from drifting towards that girl again and again. She felt familiar, like she belonged…..with him.

He felt guilty for thinking about another girl when his girlfriend was sitting right next to him. He tried very hard keeping up with the conversation with his girlfriend. She did most of the talking, speaking something about Christmas ball. Fortunately, she didn't notice his concentration drifting from their conversation.

Furthermore, the day appeared to be one of the strangest days of the year. First, when he entered the Gryffindor common room with Gloria after dinner, Crookshanks, Gloria's pet cat, pounced on his owner angrily and then scurried away from the common room. Secondly, Gloria didn't recognize her cat and just called him `she is a wild beast'.

At the moment, Harry and Gloria were sitting on the couch in front of the fire, relaxing as Ron prattled on about the match.

Gloria was sitting very close to a very uncomfortable Harry, resting her head on his shoulder. Harry wanted to get up and run away. But he also knew his actions would hurt Gloria and she didn't deserve it.

Harry was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't hear Gloria calling his name.

“Harry,” Gloria called again, a little loudly this time.

“Yeah,” Harry said, disconcerted.

“Let's go for a walk.” Gloria whispered in his ear.

Harry looked into Gloria's eyes; she was looking back at him expectantly. Then he looked at Ron and Ginny who were arguing about something.

“Please Harry,” Gloria said entreatingly, “We still have some time before the curfew time.” She added as Harry checked his watch to see the time.

“It's almost past curfew time, Gloria.” Harry said, “Oh, I just forgot. You are the head girl. We have free rein to roam around the school.” He said teasingly.

Gloria looked shocked for a moment. “Yes,” She said nervously, pulling back from Harry.

“Do you have patrolling duties tonight?” Harry asked, confused, also a little relieved that she was at some distance now.

“Umm…n..no, I don't.” Gloria said smiling, looking anywhere but at Harry.

If Harry was doubtful, he didn't mention it.

“Come on, let's go.” Gloria said enthusiastically, recovering from her momentary relapse.

“Okay, let's go.” Harry said standing up and pulling Gloria along with him. He led her towards the exit and soon they were on the grounds enjoying the quiet of the night.

However, to Gloria's discontentment, Ron soon joined them with his girlfriend, Lavender Brown.

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Hermione was feeling sick. That was the only thing she could surmise about how she was feeling, since she had seen Harry Potter sitting on the Gryffindor table with his over attentive girlfriend. There was only that one brief moment when he had looked at her, after which she had looked away, unable to meet his intense gaze. She had wanted to look at him again, but she had been afraid her friends would have noticed and questioned her.

Anyways somehow, dinner passed, but with an agonizingly slow speed, at least that's how Hermione felt. She just wanted to get out of the Great Hall and go back to her dormitory.

After dinner was finished, Hermione along with her friends made her way towards the Ravenclaw common room and sat there for some time with others. After some chitchat, she left for the bed, making an excuse of drowsiness. She didn't bother to change, just pulled off her shoes and fell in her bed, and closed the drapes. She also cast a silencing charm so that others won't disturb her.

Soon she fell into a fitful sleep, bizarre dreams disturbing her where she was kissing Harry Potter. It felt real, taste of his lips, touch of his fingers on her skin, her body pressed against his hard length, words he was breathing in her ear, reaction of her body to his touches. Everything felt so real that Hermione almost cried in pleasure, as her body's intense reaction woke her up abruptly.

“Oh god!” Hermione whispered loudly. She was sweating. She rubbed her face and brought herself into sitting position. She took a deep breath trying to control her rapidly beating heart.

Slowly she opened the curtains and found dormitory obscured in darkness. Everyone was sleeping. It was a strange feeling that the dormitory that she had shared with her friends for so many years didn't feel like her own dormitory. Even her bed didn't feel like she had slept in it for last six years.

She checked the time on the bedside clock. It was half past 11. She got out of her bed slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible.

Picking up her shoes, she crept out of the dormitory cautiously. Common room was deserted and fire was dim in the hearth. She wanted to get out of the tower. She felt as though if she was invading other's territory.

She walked towards the entrance hole and then got out of there. It was the first time she was out of the Ravenclaw tower after the curfew time. However, she felt as if she had done it many times before.

She meandered around, keeping in mind to avoid anyone on patrolling duties. She didn't realize when she reached to the owlery. She didn't own an owl, so she didn't need to come to the owlery very often. However, her feet automatically brought her there. She was surprised, but at ease with her surroundings. There were few owls coming and going and some were dozing around.

Hermione closed the door behind her and walked over to the window. With a glowing Hogwarts under the moonlight, view was magnificent. She kept on looking for some time and was startled when an owl landed on her shoulder.

Hermione turned her head to see a snowy white owl perched on her right shoulder, looking back at her with sharp amber eyes. Hermione smiled and raised her hand to touch the owl. Owl nibbled at her fingers affectionately.

Hermione laughed as owl started nibbling at her ear. She turned to look at window as owl flew and sat on the windowsill.

“You're such a beautiful owl.” Hermione said smiling as she ran her fingers over owl's body. Owl closed his eyes in contentment.

Hermione was once again surprized when she heard a meow sound from the corner of the room. She turned and looked towards the corner where light from the window didn't reach.

A very big, ginger coloured cat appeared out of the darkness, staring at Hermione curiously, at least that's what Hermione thought was the expression of cat's face. Even though the cat was peculiar with bow-legged figure and squashed head, it was a very endearing creature. Furthermore, it felt familiar, actually both owl and cat, felt familiar.

Cat prowled towards Hermione and rubbed her body against her leg.

Hermione bent down and picked up the cat in her arms. Cat snuggled into her and purred cheerfully. Hermione rubbed her cheek against cat's fur.

“Looks like I have made friends with an owl and a cat tonight.” Hermione said, speaking to herself. Cat in Hermione's arms turned its head to look at the owl.

For a moment, Hermione felt as though if the cat and the owl were having a silent conversation, for they continued to look at each other.

“Do you two know each other?” She mused out loud and then she felt stupid for voicing her thoughts, as though if owl and cat were going to answer her.

“They know each other.” A deep voice spoke form behind Hermione.

Hermione almost dropped the cat and swirled around in panic. Cat made an annoyed sound, but stayed in Hermione's arms.

Hermione couldn't believe her luck. Harry Potter was standing right in front of her. He was there with his girlfriend, his best friend, and another girl.

“Hi,” Hermione said tentatively, her eyes not straying from Harry.

“Hi, I am Harry Potter.” Harry replied.

“And that's my owl Hedwig.” Harry said pointing towards snowy white owl, (also to avoid an uncomfortable silence).

“Oh well, he's a beautiful owl and I am Hermione Granger.” Hermione replied.

Harry smiled, “He's not a he, he's a she. I mean she's she, not a he.” He suddenly laughed at his silliness.

“I mean,” He started again, but was interrupted when Hermione started laughing. Harry seemed spellbound by how melodious she sounded.

“I get it. He is a she, and her name is Hedwig.” Hermione said.

“Yeah,” Harry nodded, his eyes focused on her lips. He quickly looked away before anyone could notice.

“What's the name of this cat?” Hermione asked, as she ran her fingers through cat's fur.

“He's Crookshanks.” Harry replied immediately, stressing on he, still unable to take his eyes off Hermione.

Ron coughed behind him, breaking his absorption. Harry turned and gestured others to enter the room. He stepped aside to give others space to enter the owlery.

“This is Gloria, my girlfriend.” Harry said gesturing towards the blonde, “my best friend, Ron and his girlfriend Lavender.” He finished introducing redhead and another blonde-haired girl.

“H…Hi,” Hermione said a little clumsily.

“Hi,” Lavender was the only one who replied. Gloria looked restless and Ron was looking at Hermione peculiarly.

“So does Crookshanks belong to you as well?” Hermione asked Harry, trying to break uneasiness in the room.

“No, it belongs to Gloria.” It was Ron who answered the question.

“You can give him to me.” Gloria said, moving forward to take Crookshanks from Hermione. But she stopped when Crookshanks hissed at her. He jumped to attack Gloria but Ron caught hold of him in between. He immediately dropped Crookshanks, who turned on him and rumbled angrily.

“He's a monster,” Ron said irately. He raised his leg to kick the cat who in return looked ready to attack him with his claws.

“Hey!” Hermione said angrily, “Don't you dare kick Crookshanks.”

She looked angry. “That stupid cat was going to attack Gloria.” Ron said.

Just then, cat once again turned to Gloria who squeaked and stepped away from others.

“Crookshanks, calm down,” Hermione called in a commandeering voice as Lavender walked to Gloria and put a comforting arm around her.

Crookshanks gave a dirty look to Gloria and stalked back towards where Hermione was standing. Hedwig flew to Harry, nipped at his ear tenderly, and then flew out of the window, disappearing into the dark sky.

“Looks like even Hedwig was getting bored of this stupid creature's drama,” Ron said mockingly.

“Ron,” Harry said warningly.

“Ron is right. Crookshanks attacked Gloria. He is not right in his mind.” Lavender added, agreeing with Ron.

“Crookshanks is not stupid. He is very intelligent.” Hermione defended the bandy-legged cat.

“How did you do it?” Harry asked unexpectedly, looking amazed.

“What?” Hermione asked, confused.

“Crookshanks is always wary around strangers.” Harry said, “But with you he's like he belongs to you, and not Gloria.”

Hermione looked uncomfortable. “Well, I don't know what to say.” Hermione replied shrugging her shoulders.

“I am telling you Harry, that cat is mental, just like his owner.” Ron said frustrated.

“You mean to say that Gloria is mental.” Lavender asked baffled.

“No, that's not what I am saying.” Ron almost screamed with annoyance, “I mean that,” He went quiet, not quite knowing what was he going to say.

However, before Ron could speak further, Gloria spoke.

“I think we should leave now. We have already made enough noise and we are lucky that nobody has come up here at owlery yet. And if Filch found us here even I won't be able to save all of us from detention.” She said looking stressed.

“Hey, are you alright?” Harry asked looking tenderly at his girlfriend.

“Yeah, let's go.” Gloria replied with a smile.

In that moment, Hermione wanted Harry to look at her the way he was looking at Gloria. She absolutely wanted to be at Gloria's place, in Harry's life, in his heart.

God! She was really going mental.

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Author's Note :- So what do you think? Please let me know through your reviews.

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