Copy Cat

"Bobby, stop!"

"Bobby, stop!"

"It's not funny!" Hermione pouted, almost in tears.

"It's not funny!" Bobby laughed wickedly.

"Mom!"

"Mom!"

"Bobby's doing it again!"

From upstairs there was the winding down of the vacuum cleaner then a tired, "Bobby! Stop teasing your little sister."

"I wasn't doing anything!"

"I swear, if you're not careful one of these days you're going to get stuck. Now leave your sister alone."

"Right, Mom." It wasn't his fault that the only fun around was tormenting his thirteen-year-old sister. I'd be no bother at all if only mom would let me go swimming at the quarry.

"You'll be sorry," Hermione said.

"You'll be sorry," Bobby smirked.

"I'm Hermione."

"I'm Hermione," Bobby repeated, looking very puzzled.

"I am a very pretty little girl. And I love to dress up in pretty things."

"I am a very pretty little girl," Bobby said, now sounding exactly like his sister. "And I love to dress up in pretty things."

"And kiss boys."

"And kiss boys."

"Glad to meet you, Hermione." Hermione grabbed her frightened brother by the hand and yanked him into her bedroom.

Two hours later when Bobby's transformation was complete Hermione led him out of her room, down the stairs and to the front door.

"Hermione?" her mother said, coming down the stairs.

"Yes, Mom."

"Who's your new friend?

Hermione smiled. "This is Hermione. She's just leaving. She's got to meet her new boyfriend at the mall."

"He's very lucky to have such a pretty one." Bobby's mom ran her hand through her son's curls. "It so nice to meet a girl who obviously loves being a girl."

"Tell her how you never ever want to be anything but a girlie girl."

"I never ever want to be anything but a girlie girl."

Bobby was stuck. Everything his little sister said he just had to say again. But it wasn't just that¾each word became for him a truth¾more than that a commandment that could never be broken or shaken.

The pretty young thing standing in ruffles, frills and curls did not look like a Bobby at all. Maybe there was a little bit of Bobby left¾facing a dark corner way in the back of his head.

"Hermione, have you seen your brother?"

"He said something about the quarry."

Bobby's mom shook her head and said, "I've warned that scamp a thousand times not to go swimming alone." Then she smiled at her son and went back upstairs.

"Goodbye, Bobby," Hermione smirked.

"Goodbye, Bobby." Then he stepped out the door and Hermione closed it behind him.

Hermione was right about almost everything.

Her brother was a pretty little girl now who just loved to dress up in anything pretty and pink.

But when Bobby finally got to the mall¾and got his boy kisses¾he wasn't sorry.

He wasn't sorry at all.