Minerva McGonagall frowned in concentration as she regarded the parchment before her. Surely her explanation of the process of turning an inanimate object into an animate one had not been that confusing? Obviously this student had not understood the point of the lecture, and had not taken the time to check the text. She was extremely glad for Hagrid's sake as keeper of the grounds that this had only been a written exercise and not a practical application. She started from her reverie as a knock sounded at her office door.
"Come"
The door opened swiftly yet silently to reveal Professor Snape's bat-like presence looming in the doorway.
"Have you a moment Minerva?"
"Certainly Severus, do come in." she said cordially.
It wasn't until Snape fully entered the room and approached the desk that McGonagall realized that he wasn't alone, Harry was bobbing along in the taller man's wake like a small boat following after a larger ship.
"Why Harry, I didn't see you there. Is there something wrong?" She questioned, concerned that Harry had somehow managed to earn yet another detention from Snape, quite forgetting for the moment the relationship between the two.
"No Professor, I just um." Harry tapered off, unsure of how to put his question.
"Minerva, we were wondering if you knew of any way to remove the charm that Lily put on Harry." Snape inserted calmly.
McGonagall regarded the two before her desk in surprise.
"I see. The problem of course is that we don't know what spell Lily used. In fact, it's entirely possible that she invented the one she used just for this particular application," She paused, eyes narrowed in consideration.
"Then I'll just have to wait until it wears off." Harry said, his shoulders slumping in discouragement.
"Now, now, I'm not ready to admit defeat that quickly Harry." She said briskly. "There are plenty of avenues of research that may turn up the right spell. However, I don't have the time to investigate them all. But I think I may know who can help us." She ended looking at Harry knowingly.
Harry stared blankly back for a minute as his brain scrambled to come up with the person his professor was alluding to.
"Hermione" he shouted!
"Exactly! Miss Granger already knows about the situation, and she's one of the best students I've had in years, possibly since Lily. I can tell her what type of spells to look for, and I'm sure she can winnow through the volumes of books to find what we need, particularly if you help her."
"I'm sure Ron and Ginny would be willing to help too."
"Just how many people have you told about the situation?" Severus asked with some trepidation.
"Erm, well, Ron and Hermione of course, and then Ginny somehow got involved, and, well, the twins know..."
"Bloody great. At this rate the whole wizarding world will know before Christmas." He said in resignation.
"I'm sorry, they more or less figured it out on their own, and well, they've not told anyone."
"May I suggest that you come back tomorrow after classes with Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley and we'll get started." McGonagall interrupted. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I do have some grading to complete."
Before they knew it both Severus and Harry found themselves outside the door.
"Well then, Harry, I think you should return to Gryffindor tower for now, talk to Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley. Do try not to let the rest of the tower know what's going on though." Snape turned to look at Harry, surprising him in the middle of a yawn. "And perhaps to bed?" He said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes sir." Harry turned and trudged off toward his dorm, throwing a "Goodnight sir" over his shoulder as he went.
~So far so good~ Severus thought as he trod back toward his own domain. At least they'd managed to get through this evening without too much friction.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
As Harry climbed through the portrait hole he noticed that the common room was relatively empty. Hermione, Ginny, and Ron were sitting in the corner of the room closest to the door to the boy's rooms, obviously waiting for him to return. He walked over to them quietly, and sat down.
"Well, how did it go Harry?" Ron asked, leaning forward.
"Surprisingly well. We actually managed to have a conversation," Harry said, settling into a comfortable chair and yawning widely. "Actually, I need to ask you for help."
The portrait hole suddenly creaked open, revealing Fred and George. It was hard to ignore the purple smoke gently wafting from their robes as they walked swiftly toward the door to their rooms and disappeared upstairs. A moment later the sound of the boy's showers turning on could clearly be heard.
"Wonder what that was all about," Ron mused.
"I expect they were at their experimenting again," Hermione surmised, obviously torn between amusement and annoyance. "What sort of help do you need, Harry?"
"I asked Professor Snape if there was any way to remove the spell that's made me look like James Potter." Harry paused as his friends looked at him in some surprise. "I'm tired of looking in the mirror and not knowing what, or who, I'll see," he said looking down at his hands.
"Oh, Harry," Hermione whispered.
"Anyway, he took me to see McGonagall tonight, and we asked her about it. She said that while we don't know what spell my mother used, we might be able to find it if we do some research. During the school year she doesn't have the time to do much looking, so she suggested that you might be willing to help."
"Of course I'll help Harry!" Hermione was obviously excited at the prospect of new research.
"You can count on me, mate," Ron said.
"You're not leaving me out!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Great! McGonagall wants to see us tomorrow after classes so that she can describe what we're looking for," Harry yawned again, his short night's sleep the evening before was beginning to catch up with him.
"Right, then, we'll just wait until we talk with her tomorrow." Hermione said. "I think I'll go up to bed, see you in the morning."
"Me too," Ron rubbed his eyes tiredly as he stood up. "Coming Harry?"
"Go on, I'll be there in a minute," Harry watched Hermione and Ron leave through their respective doors before turning to Ginny. "Do you want my shoes now, or will you trust me to stay in tonight?"
Ginny looked at him narrowly before saying, "Are you planning on sneaking out?"
"No," he said as another yawn overtook him.
"Right, I'll trust you tonight, but don't make me regret it," she said as she turned toward the girl's dorm.
Harry watched as she went through the door and could faintly hear Hermione's voice saying, "What was all that about shoes?"
He shook his head as he went upstairs. He was definitely going to have to get a second pair at the next Hogsmead trip!
The next day's classes crawled at a snails pace as the quartet waited for their meeting with Professor McGonagall. Hermione, Ron and Harry pelted out of their last class of the day, herbology, and ran at top speed to the door. Ginny was waiting just inside and they managed to make it to McGonagall's office without getting any points taken off for running in the halls.
Hermione knocked softly on the door and opened it when the professor bade them come in.
"Please sit down. Before we start searching through spell books, you need to know what you are looking for. The charm we are looking for will have several distinct characteristics. It will be long lasting but not permanent. It will alter the appearance and the form, but not the essence of the person. It will most likely be a spell of transference, imparting the characteristics of one person or animal to another of the same species. It will most likely be a rather gentle spell, causing little in the way of side effects at the time of application, I don't believe Lily would have been willing to use a charm that risked her child's health. Do you have any questions to this point?" McGonagall paused and looked at them. Hermione's hand rose. "Yes, Miss Granger?"
"Is it possible that we could be looking for more than one spell?" she asked, brow furrowed.
"Very good Miss Granger, you are absolutely correct. However, it would be best to eliminate the chance of there being one specific charm that would fulfill all the requirements. Now, I believe we will make faster progress if you split up. I have many books on charms which are not in the library. I am willing to let you look through them, but I must ask that they not leave this room. Miss Granger and Miss Weasley may look through them while Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley look in the library."
Hermione looked overjoyed at the thought of being able to look through the professor's books, while Ron looked resigned to being in the library.
"You may begin your search after dinner, but be sure you don't let your other studies slide. Especially you, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter. Remember you have your O.W.L.S. this year!"
The following days settled into a somewhat dreary routine. The four students would suffer through classes during the day, hurry to complete their homework in the early evening, and shuffle off to do research at night. Harry in particular found the routine to be wearing. For some reason he hadn't expected it to take more than a few days to locate and implement the anti-charm, so as the days and weeks passed by, he became more and more discouraged.
It was nearly a month before they found the first clue, although they didn't recognize it as such when they found it. Hermione had been sitting over a particularly dusty tome muttering darkly at it when she sat up abruptly and said "Of course!"
"What Hermione?" Ginny said lifting her face from the book she was examining. "Did you find something?"
"I found a spell that will change a person's appearance," she said in great excitement!
"Wonderful," Ginny exclaimed as she moved next to Hermione.
"Oh no!" Hermione wailed. "This is useless! It's permanent! We've been looking for a month, and we're no nearer to finding a solution than we were at the beginning!"
Ginny sat down on the bench next to Hermione and put her arm around her. "That's not true! You've found a spell that transforms a person, I found one that will change a person's appearance for a few hours, and Harry and Ron found one that could lengthen the duration of another spell and one that dampened side effects. If we could find some way to string them all together we'd have our solution!"
"I know, I've thought of that before, but I just don't see how these spells will combine. I've tried everything that Professor McGonagall has suggested and nothing seems to work!"
Both girls turned around as Harry and Ron entered the office.
"We're knocking off for the night," Ron said. "Harry fell asleep on top of his book."
"We both did. Did you find anything?" he asked hopefully.
"No," Hermione sighed defetedly. "Let me get my bag."
Hermione continued to mutter abstract thought as they meandered through the hallways toward home.
"Any luck, dears?" the fat lady asked as they trudged up to her.
"No," they chorused.
"I'm sure it will come," she said. "Password please."
"Red griffin," Ginny said.
"Thank God someone's finally come!" they heard as they entered the common room.
Turning swiftly they saw the unexpected site of Neville walking backwards on his hands toward them.
"Neville, what happened?" Ginny gasped, wide-eyed at the sight.
"Draco and his goons caught me on they way back from detention with Snape. Can you help me?" he continued hopefully.
Ron and Harry immediately hurried over to counteract the curse, while Hermione, unnoticed by the others, had a very far away expression on her face.
"I've got it!" she said loudly, catching everyone's attention.
"What, Hermione?" Ron asked, helping Neville to his feet.
"I think I've figured out our problem! I need to go find McGonagall!" she exclaimed as she ran back through the portrait hole.
Harry, Ginny and Ron looked at each other in bewilderment, and then decided to wait where they were for Hermione to return.