Draco was no stranger to nervousness by the time he headed for his first Charms class in October.
It was Monday. And, at the seventy two hour mark on the preceding Friday, Madam Pomfrey had informed him that it seemed like his magic was returning… rapidly. Ever since, as Granger had informed him during her study that he was a Raeth, he’d tried to do magic without his wand, when nobody was present to see- but been unsuccessful every time.
And that day, mere minutes before she sent him down to Charms, she informed him his magic seemed to have finished recovering in full, though it was a lot stronger and felt different than it used to. She’d advised him to be careful with his wand, but told him to go ahead and use it.
She’d also returned it to him- she’d been holding onto it in the Hospital Wing for him while he recovered.
He’d taken it… and, before he could pocket it, it had gone off, for lack of a better word. He’d have said it exploded, except it hadn’t been harmed. Both he and Madam Pomfrey had been thrown away from the blast- and, by some miracle, the wand had stayed in his hand. He’d folded briefly against the hard end of an empty bed, then fallen to the floor, landing on his face. He’d pocketed his wand and risen to help Madam Pomfrey… only to find out that Madam Pomfrey was already getting up herself.
She… hadn’t looked like she normally did. Her clothes were a bit singed. The skin around her right eye, and her entire right arm, had been turned to metal. He could see the numerous small metal pieces that comprised the skin in those locations shifting as she moved.
She’d been amused more than anything else, as she examined her arm, then she’d used a quick spell to turn it back to normal- and, once he’d mentioned the eye, the same spell plus a mirror to fix that.
He’d been immensely apologetic, but she’d waved it off, saying she’d have to experiment a little bit- apparently, she’d only disguised the metal, not truly changed it back. She’d smiled as she sent him down- and when he left, she was looking at various objects around the room, including her wand, as if they were new to her.
She hadn’t excused him from the practical component of Charms today. His hair was still long and silvery, and still done up under his hat.
He took a deep breath, glancing up at the clock over the door. He was almost ten minutes early this time.
He raised one hand, and knocked, before pushing the door open.
As he entered, Granger looked up. “Oh, Hi Draco! I noticed Madam Pomfrey didn’t send an excuse for you- that mean you’re fully recovered?”
He winced. “In… In theory. She said it felt different… then, when I picked up my wand, it… exploded all over her.”
Bonbon raised an eyebrow. “Exploded…? Sounds almost like a Crusader reaction.” She looked at Hermione.
Hermione shrugged, drawing her wand. “Mind if I take a peek?”
He walked closer. “Sure. It won’t… hurt anything, after all.”
Hermione grinned, putting the tip of her wand in her other hand as he got close and turned around for him to reach the back of his neck. That was where she liked doing her scan from during her study- the study he participated in, even if she silently excluded him from the magical experimentation portion.
He shuddered as he felt her spells activating. Funny, he couldn’t feel them before.
There was a pause.
“... Huh,” Hermione eventually muttered. “Something’s amplified your power to the extreme- and stirred it up, much like an Equestrian Raeth… Hmm… Yeah, looks almost like a cross between an Equestrian and a British Raeth. And yeah, if you try using your wand when it’s like this, you’ll get some… wild effects, probably none of them being what was intended.”
He winced. “Oh.”
“Yeah…” She muttered an incantation, and he felt something poke at… something inside him? “Feel that?”
He nodded. “Yeah?”
“That’s your magic- and what I’m looking at. See if you can calm it down- and don’t bother with your wand until you manage it, because it’ll only explode in your face.” She smiled. “And don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it, either.”
Draco didn’t see it coming… until he did. About two weeks after his magic had fully recovered, and one week after his visits to Madam Pomfrey were readjusted into a weekly affair because nothing was changing, he saw an argument quickly building next to him in the Slytherin common room. He’d gotten up early today, in an effort to get some Crabbe- and Goyle-free time to practice calming his magic the way Granger had shown him.
This was, of course, an argument between Equestrians. Apparently, during a game of Truth or Dare, one had dared another to steal his hat, and a third was trying to stop the girl that had taken the dare. Probably a good thing, since Crabbe and Goyle had just found him, and were lumbering over. Judging by their behavior, they were all Aethrs.
Overall, he had perhaps three seconds’ warning. The dare-taker evaded the other girl fairly easy, and dashed in to steal his hat. He snapped a hand up to hold onto his hat, praying that they would see blonde hair when it inevitably came off, but was a touch too late- he missed, and she made off with his hat.
Crabbe and Goyle both adjusted their trajectories to reclaim his hat- and, before he could get in a word edgewise, they’d tried to take it back… and the hat had been shredded in the process. Crabbe and Goyle then went wholesale on the stealer, while the other two girls moved in to try and stop them from killing her. He, still praying they saw blonde hair on top of his head instead of silver, exaggerated a sigh, stuck his nose in the air, and headed off towards the dormitories. As he went, he saw the last Equestrian in the room standing up on the other side of the room, the turquoise glow around her quill vanishing as she dropped it on the page, and heading in their direction.
He didn’t lower his nose, navigating by the estimated direction to the dormitories and the ceiling, until he reached the stairs. Fortunately, there weren’t any tables or chairs to get in his way- the previous night, a bunch of Equestrians had wanted to practice sparring, and had cleared a large area of the common room… which had remained clear in the morning.
… Funny, he could have sworn the spiral staircase wound the other way.
Once he got far enough up he was out of sight of the brawlers, he allowed his prayers to fall off, let out a huff of breath, and continued climbing. Something seemed to shift inside him when he did that, but he ignored it.
When he reached the landing, he made a quick glance around the room- yes, it was empty. He quickly located the first-year room, and walked briskly towards it. It was still too early in the day for either of the last two British Slytherin boys to be awake; even Crabbe and Goyle were early risers, but neither of those were. He’d have plenty of time to grab one of his spare hats, and perch it on his head, before they ever realized he was there.
He pushed the door open… and froze.
There were two girls in the room… and it didn’t look familiar.
He immediately withdrew, closing the door again, and took a deep breath. One had been in what he assumed was her pajamas, and the other her robes. The three other beds had the curtains drawn about them.
He took a deep breath.
Why were their girls in his dorm…?
Unless, of course, he’d walked up the wrong staircase.
Suddenly, the door into the seventh-year dorm opened, and a girl walked out of it. “Mornin’,” she greeted with a slight nod, before glancing at him again. “You might want to change into your robes before you head downstairs, by the way.” She walked past, towards the stairs. Right as she reached the top, a sound like a gong came from somewhere above him, and her hand flashed out in response to catch herself. She pulled herself back up onto the landing. “Huh, they’re early today.”
“Huh?” he asked, utterly confused. He was a boy, in the girl’s dormitory… and she didn’t even bat an eye at him. He froze again, as soon as the sound made it past his lips, keeping the words he’d been formulating from coming out.
It wasn’t his voice that came out.
“Mm? You don’t know? Huh, I thought everyone did. Well, since the crazy first-year schedules separate Crabbe and Goyle from Malfoy for most of the day, they keep searching for him whenever he’s not there- and they try coming up here at least twice a day. The stairs morph into a slide for a minute every time they try, though, so they never actually make it up here.” She shrugged. “I hope nothing too bad befell him- the last time they tried this early in the morning was when he was still bedridden in the Hospital Wing.”
“... Oh.” Again, it most definitely was not his voice.
She tilted her head. “Did… Did you get lost, or something?”
He made a quick evaluation of his choices… and resolved to nod meekly. At least that didn’t feel wrong.
“Ahh,” she muttered, coming closer, to guide him with one arm. Not unlike the way his father would ‘guide’ him, sometimes. “Well, the Equestrian dormitories are through this door. Anywhere beyond that, and you’ll have to either remember or find another Equestrian; I’m afraid I don’t know how it works in there.”
“Th-Thanks,” he managed, moving through the door she showed him to.
“Whelp, have a good day,” she smiled, and headed for the staircase again- which, he noticed, seemed to be becoming stairs again. He could hear the grinding of the stone sliding back into place.
He turned away, as if to head to one of the other doors out of this also empty room, and let the door close behind him.
As soon as it landed shut, he checked that the room was empty again, and whirled around to face it, and stare.
He was sure that girl thought he was a girl too!
Something flew over his shoulder, and fell against his chest. It was silver, with blue stripes- his hair. Funny, he had that tied up on the top of his head. He looked down.
And froze.
Just as the girl had suggested, he wasn’t wearing his robes.
Instead, he was a girl.
And he was wearing a deep, royal blue shirt, and a gleaming silver skirt.
He looked exactly like all the Equestrian girls did when they were doing their shopping in Diagon Alley.
He heard a doorknob rattle behind him, and whirled to face. If he looked like this, they certainly wouldn’t realize who he was- but he still had no idea what to do. He’d have to bluff hard enough to be able to stay up here somewhere until the common room downstairs emptied out, and he could sneak down and make his way to Madam Pomfrey without drawing attention.
It was the door with a 3 on it that started opening. His breath caught as his mind went on overdrive, trying to figure out what to do, hoping whoever was coming out of it would be friendly enough to help him even just a little bit.
Then the door swung open.
It was Diamond.
She walked out calmly, and headed for the door he was standing next to.
“Good morning,” she nodded to him, as she approached. She smiled. “Did you forget your robes, or something?” She didn’t stop to wait for him to answer, though, passing him towards the door.
“W-Wait!” he burst out, hope welling up in his chest like a balloon. “Diamond!”
She paused, turning to him. “Mm?”
“What… What happened to me?”
She blinked. “Come again?”