The Other Side (Seamus/Hermione)

Paradiso

I've had this staring at me, one chapter left, in fact, like FOUR PAGES left for YEARS.

This will be the year I finish some of my stories that are so close to being done. And hey, I'm one story closer than I was on that list before.

Never again will this be on my WIP list. Whew!

There is a very small group of you that have read/enjoyed this, so to those of you, hope you like the last installment!

It was two weeks after everyone returned that Seamus woke her at 8 am.

"Hermione, wake up..." He whispered quietly in her ear. She rolled over, groaning, digging herself into the slight stubble of his beard.

"Stop," She moaned, "It's too early to be waking up, especially on my day off..."

"But I have a surprise," Seamus' voice quivered with excitement. Hermione blearily sat up.

"What sort of surprise?"

"Well, get up, and you'll see."

Hermione begrudgingly got up and opened her chest of drawers to pick out a pair of jeans and a shirt. Seamus coughed.

"How about this?" He asked, holding up a light cotton floral dress. It was fancier than anything else she'd ever wear.

"What's going on?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Just put the darn dress on, 'Mione."

She complied but watched his every move, careful.

Someone knocked on their door.

"Come on in, Eponine," Seamus said, and slowly, the door opened to reveal one of the French ladies, a year or two younger than Hermione.

"She ready?" The girl asked.

"What is going on, Seamus?"

"We're going out," Seamus said, clapping his hands.

"Out?"

"Out! I told you about this!"

Vaguely, Hermione recalled him mentioning it before or after sex...the timeline was a bit cloudly, and it had been weeks ago.

"I didn't think you were serious," Hermione said, blinking.

"She's ready," Seamus said, jerking a thumb toward her in response, "Eponine is the best. Literally, you won't be able to tell it's you when you look in the mirror! Totally spell-proof too, it takes mad skills to undo this magic!"

Epoine grabbed Hermione's shoulders, but Hermione hesitated.

"Seamus," Hemione turned, "I'm not sure I think this is-,"

"Done," Eponine announced suddenly and Hermione gave her a hard look. She couldn't have done it already, not when there wasn't even a whisper of words or anything! Seamus saw her dubious expression because he passed a hand mirror to her.

Hermione held it up, and her face was not her own. She gingerly touched her cheeks, flushed and red, and her nails traveled up all over, feeling every inch. This was crazy, she decided. When she'd done the polyjuice, both times, she'd still felt herself underneath it all. There had been a glimmer of magic that was Hermione's. But here? She couldn't, so if she just took a deep breath she could forget who she was and she was just this new person, someone with stick-straight hair and eyes that were nearly too wide for her face and lush lips.

"Wow," She breathed.

She turned and stumbled back. Epoine took her hands off of Seamus' shoulders, but he didn't look like Seamus at all anymore. He looked like some random person.