To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is you
I found a reason to show
A side of me you didn't know
A reason for all that I do
And the reason is you
-Hoobastank, The Reason
Chapter One: The Switch
"Potter, go away!"
Seventeen year old Lily Evans was in Care of Magical Creatures, trying to pay attention to Professor Kettleburn talk and talk about Grindylows. But with James Potter and his crew right behind her, that was humanly impossible.
"Go out with me and I will." James hissed, poking Lily in the back. Lily scowled.
"I will not!" Lily yelled, stomping her foot.
"Miss Evans, is something wrong?" Professor Kettleburn asked sternly. Lily turned a light pink color and muttered,
"No, professor." James and Sirius snickered behind the reddening Lily. When Professor Kettleburn turned back to his lesson, Lily turned around and stepped on James's foot. Hard. Really hard.
"OUCH!" James said in a loud whisper, clutching his foot. Sirius just snickered even louder. Lily turned back to the lesson, her arms crossed and a death glare on her face.
"James Potter is so immature." Lily mumbled grumpily in the common room. Her best friend, Hazel Parsley, was next to her, scribbling away loudly on piece of parchment. "Probably writing more love notes to Black." Lily thought. She giggled at the thought of this. Hazel, along with many other girls at Hogwarts, was head over heels in love with Sirius Black. She had been writing mysterious love notes for him ever since the fifth year, leaving them on his desk in Transfiguration every Friday. He would read them, pass them on to James, and they would both have a good laugh.
"What was that you said, Lily?" Hazel asked, looking up from her almost-full parchment.
"James Potter is so immature." Lily repeated a bit louder. Hazel rolled her eyes. Lily had been saying that ever since James starting bothering her in their first year. Every night in the common room, it was "Potter makes me sick," or "He deserves to eat frog droppings." Today, it was "James Potter is so immature."
"Do you think Sirius likes spaghetti?" Hazel asked absent-mindedly a few moments later. It was Lily's turn to roll her eyes.
"What do you think? Everytime we have a meal, him and his double stuff their faces with whatever is at arm's length." Lily said coolly. Hazel frowned. She hated it when Lily insulted Sirius. Lily just fixed her Head Girl badge and looked down at her pile of homework.
Lily was Head Girl, a dream she had ever since her first year. But her dream had been turned into a nightmare when none other than James Potter had been picked as Head Boy.
"I'm going to bed." Lily said simply, getting up from the cushy common room chair and stretching. She was going to bed early since they had a full day ahead. Double potions (groan), double History of Magic (zzzzzzzz), double Care of Magical Creatures (mosquito!), and double Transfiguration (oof!). She sauntered up to her dormitory and threw herself on her bed.
"Hey, Sirius, look at that! Hes-ko-lo- Es-ko-mo." James read slowly. He was flipping through a spell book he bought at Hogsmeade: Spells Your Friends will Never Forget.
"What does it do?" Sirius asked. He, James, Remus, and Peter were in the boy's dormitory, getting ready for bed.
"Supposedly, it turns their hair white." James said, glancing down at the page. That's when he noticed another spell there.
"Nabakza Ressoral." James muttered. "The jealousy spell. It makes the target jealous of the spell caster in every way."
James Potter grinned devilishly. "Lily Evans, you're mine." He thought excitedly. He began to laugh, laugh evilly, menacingly, maniacally, until--
"James, mate, why are you laughing maniacally?" Sirius inquired, looking up from his four-poster bed. James immediately stopped laughing like a lunatic.
"No reason." he said shortly. Sirius nodded to show he understood.
"Turn to page 624 and complete the potion on the page. I'm pairing you up." Professor Salandar snapped. He was the potions master of the school. "Black and Snape."
Sirius's eyes bugged out and he groaned, "Professor, please, I'll wash the toilets, just don't put me through that kind of punishment!"
"Go to your partner, Black." Professor Salandar said shortly and sternly. Sirius scowled and scooted over a couple of seats, next to a greasy haired Severus Snape. Hazel frowned. She, of course, had been hoping she could be partners with Sirius. Professor Salandar continued,
"Parsley and Longbottom." Hazel's reaction was somewhat like Sirius's, except she didn't offer to clean the toilets. She sighed and sat down next to Frank Longbottom and took out her potions supplies.
"Abbott and Trombas." Ronald Abbott and Derek Trombas scooted next to each other. Derek looked revolted at the idea of pairing up with a Gryffindor, seeing as he was a slytherin. "Lupin and Pettigrew." Professor Salandar continued. Remus and Peter grinned and didn't move, since they were already sitting next to each other. This continued until what Lily was dreading and what James was hoping for came up,
"Potter and Evans." Professor Salandar said smoothly. James smirked, Lily scowled, and Sirius chuckled. Lily didn't want to protest, knowing the horrible things Professor Salandar could do to students. James opened his mouth to say something to Lily, but she cut him off.
"Shut it, Potter." she said coldly. She took out her supplies and she and James got to work.
"Hey, Evans," James started. Lily let out air through her nose. She hated it when James called her Evans.
"What?" she said shortly.
"What's that?" James pointed to nothing on the wall, but Lily looked up.
"Where?" she asked dumbly. James swiftly whipped out his wand and whispered,
"Nabakza Ressoral."
The world seemed to stop. Lily's eyes froze like green ice and James couldn't move. There was no sound around them. No one seemed to be there. There was violent flash of pink light, a flash of blue light, and the world moved on. But James and Lily weren't moving.
They had fainted.
Sirius was the first to notice. He slipped over to his best friend's table, pretending to wash his hands because of Snape's greasiness, and poked James in the back. When James did nothing, he poked Lily and got the same. He looked at them both with a confused expression and whipped out his wand.
"Ennervate." he whispered, pointing to the two of them. When he was sure their eyes were open, he ran back to his seat.
Lily Evans opened her eyes to find herself looking at herself.
"Wha--?" she said sleepily. She sat up. She was in potions class. Yes, she remembered that. She was paired up with Potter. Oh, yes, she remembered that all right. But James wasn't there. She was there. But if that was her, what was she?
James Potter opened his eyes, expecting to see Lily Evans there, glaring at him as usual while they were doing their potion, but found himself to be looking at...him. He was looking at him.
"Bloody hell!" he said. "That's not my voice!" he thought anxiously, "That's Lily's voice! The spell-- what happened?"
"Potter?" Lily asked, looking uncertainly at her body. "Whoa!" she thought, "That was so not my voice!"
"It didn't work!" James exclaimed. Lily raised an eyebrow.
"How is it YOU actually understand something before I do? What is going on?!" Lily questioned angrily.
"NO TALKING!" Professor Salandar roared, "Five points from Gryffindor, Potter."
Lily looked at James, eyebrows still raised. He shook his head and wrote on a piece of scrap parchment, "I'll explain in Binn's class."
As soon as they were out of the classroom, Lily rounded on James.
"WHAT is going on?!" Lily hissed as she and James hurried to Binn's class.
"Well, I found this spell in this book to make people jealous of others, and I wanted to make you jealous of me and I guess, I dunno, something went wrong." James said quickly. Lily stared at him in awe.
"So what now? I don't want to be you! I don't know HOW to be you!" Lily said madly.
"Well, I know how to be you. I just have to be perfect." James said rather shyly. Lily scowled.
"First you get me into this mess, and then you try to flirt with me? You're worse than I thought!" she said exasperatedly. "As soon as class is over, I'm going to Professor Dumbledore's office and you're coming with me!"
James nodded obediently.
In Professor Binn's class........
"James, what were you and Lily taking about? Did she finally give in?" Sirius said softly as they took their seats. Lily had to sit with Sirius, Remus, and Peter while James sat with Hazel, and Lily's other friend, Molly.
"We were uh-- talking about our potion." Lily said shortly.
"Well, it's good to see you're finally taking your studies seriously." Remus commented happily. Lily nodded and lay her head down on her desk, trying her best to not have to talk to James's friends.
Over with James.....
"Now, you guys, we have to get out of class as soon as it ends and up to the castle right after Care of Magical Creatures class so I can leave the notes on Sirius's desk before he gets there." Hazel whispered. James had to keep himself from laughing. "So Parsley is the one who has been leaving those notes on Sirius's desk! Wait till he hears this!" he thought evilly.
Red-haired Molly rolled her eyes. James settled his head on his desk and started to drift off to sleep, just as he had done every class before then. But--
"Lily, what are you doing? You've got to take your notes!" Molly said, poking James in the back. He or her or however you want to say it lifted his head up and groaned groggily. He scowled as he retrieved one of Lily's quills and opened her half filled notebook. He noticed a little heart in the front with someone's name in it. This of course interested him. He looked at it, trying to read the messy writing. "She must've written this years ago, her handwriting is terrible." James said mentally, squinting at the paper. When he couldn't figure it out for another ten minutes, he gave up and starting scribbling down notes.
Back with Lily....
As usual, Lily was taking notes in even the dullest class. She opened James's backpack and retrieved a folder filled with parchment. This folder had writing all over it. Little snitches and hearts with her name in it decorated it. She could feel herself turning red looking at it.
"Now, does anyone know how the goblin war began?" Professor Binns asked in his monotone voice. "Ms. Evans?"
James lifted his head at the sound of Lily's name.
"Ms. Evans?" Professor Binns repeated. James just seemed to realize that Professor Binns thought he was Lily and he answered,
"Uh, well.. this um, this goblin, he uh, he was mean. And he, uh---he---" James looked over at the real Lily for help. She was hiding her head. "In embarresment." James thought, angry with himself.
"I don't know, professor." he finished lamely. Professor Binns frowned and finished his lesson. As soon as class was over, Lily detached herself from Sirius, Remus, and Peter.
"Nice going." Lily said coldly. James frowned.
"I tried. Just 'cause we switched places doesn't mean I have your brains." James retaliated. Lily just crossed her arms and stormed ahead of James. She bumped right into Sirius, Remus, and Peter.
"What's wrong with you?" Peter asked, noticing the way Lily had a scowl on her face. Lily was about to say "Potter problems." as she had done so many times to her friends, but that annoying little voice in her head told her everyone thought she was James.
"Lily." Lily said shortly. Sirius sighed.
"Will you get over her? Read between the lines, Prongs. She hates you." Sirius said wisely.
"No, she doesn't!" Lily said without thinking. Did I just say that I didn't hate James---no! Let me rephrase that: Did I just say I didn't hate Potter? Lily thought anxiously.
"Where's this attitude coming from? You're always sulking about how Lily hates you soooo much." Remus said, with emphasis on the word 'hate'.
"I am?" Lily asked. Sirius looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"What's with you?" he asked. Lily just shrugged.
Back to James....
"Lily what's wrong?" Hazel asked, giving James a concerned look. James just shook his head and thought "What have I gotten her into?"
"Potter problems?" Her and Molly said together. James raised her eyebrows. He realized they were waiting for an answer and he nodded.
"You should just make it loud and clear: you don't want to go out with him." Molly said. James frowned, shrugged and turned to Professor Kettleburn. Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Lily had just arrived. James longed to go and sit next to his friends, but he was in Lily's body. He knew it was out of the question.
"Now, today we will be learning about the Lobalug...." Professor Kettleburn droned on and on as James dreamt of Lily. Her face, her hands, her eyes...
"C'mon let's go!" Hazel's voice broke James's trail of thoughts.
"Yes, Lily?" James said absent-mindedly. Hazel and Molly looked at her oddly.
"Umm day dreams." James said, trying to cover up. Hazel and Molly just rolled their eyes and dragged James up to Transfiguration. They were the first ones there and Hazel casually glided past Sirius's desk and dropped a wad of parchment on his desk. James snickered silently.
He settled himself in Lily's seat and waited for the class to begin.
"Hey look, your secret admirer struck again." Remus said, nodding to the wad of papers on Sirius's desk. As he, Sirius, Peter, and Lily took their seats, Lily feeling odd in the back of the room, Sirius opened the parchment. He chuckled and handed it to Lily.
Sirius,
I love you so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so much! Your dazzling smiling, silky smooth black hair, your ---" Lily didn't get to read on. Professor McGonagal consficated the note. Lily watched helplessly as Hazel's face turned the color of Molly's hair. Professor McGonagal glanced at the note and turned to Hazel.
"Ms. Parsley, this is your writing. Take this note and I never want to see it again." Professor McGonagal said. Hazel, if possible, turned even more red, and muttered a, "Yes, professor." as McGonagal handed her the note. Sirius also turned a light shade of pink.
"Hazel Parsley?" he said disbelievingly under his breath. James laughed inside, seeing his big tough-guy best friend turn pink.
To both James's and Lily's relief, Transfiguration ended soon. But Professor McGonagal told them to stay after for a minute.
"Professor Dumbledore wants to see you both before dinner. He's going to introduce you both to the Head Dorms where you both will be sleeping. The password to his office is Berties Botts." Professor McGonagal said. Lily sulked. "Sharing a common room with Potter is tough enough..." she thought to herself. James nodded and they both walked to Dumbledore's office in silence. James tried many times to talk to Lily, but backed out each time he tried. They finally reached the office after several minutes of unbearable silence.
"Bertie Botts." Lily said grudgingly. When in professor Dumbledore's office, James immediately sat down in an armchair and Lily followed suit. They started to argue about what happened in Transfiguration and Hazel's note. They were so busy arguing (James smirked slyly the entire time) that they didn't notice Professor Dumbledore enter. He sat in his chair silently and not until Lily looked up and noticed him standing there and stomped on James's foot did they cease.
"Now, you have come to discuss your new dorms, I presume." Dumbledore said. Lily and James nodded. "Well, there is no reason to discuss it. It's right next to the Gryffindor common room. It has a common room of it's own and two bedrooms and a bathroom for you both. The password is Hunky-dory. Now, I suggest you both hurry down to dinner. Unless," he eyed the two of them carefully, "you have anything else to discuss?"
Lily nodded vigorously and said,
"Professor, James over here did a spell that went wrong on me and now I'm stuck in his body." she said in a rush. Professor Dumbledore's mouth twitched into a smile.
"I see. Mr. Potter, what exactly did you say?" Dumbledore inquired.
"Exactly what the book said: Nabakza Ressoral!" James said defensively.
"Is that exactly how you said it?" Dumbledore asked calmly. James nodded and Dumbledore laughed.
"Apparently, you didn't read the fine print. You are supposed to trill your r's or else you're saying a completely different spell." Dumbledore said, chuckling. Lily gave James the worst glare yet.
"How do we reverse it, professor?" Lily asked, trying her best not to kick and scream like a five year old.
"On a full moon, come to my office at midnight. It will only take a few minutes." Dumbledore explained. James's mind went right to Remus.
"A full moon? I won't be able-- I--" but one look from Lily made him shut up and Dumbledore dismissed them.
They sauntered out of the office and Lily paused.
"Aren't you coming to dinner?" James asked. Lily shook her head.
"I'm going to the dorm. I'm not hungry." she said shortly. She turned around and walked away silently.
James couldn't help but wish he could go along with her.