What If… Harry Potter

After consuming the polyjuice potion to complete the plan of interrogating Draco Malfoy, Harry felt sick. He ran to the bathroom stall and threw up, only for nothing to come up. He felt his body changing and he took off his glasses. He expected the height growth and the broader shoulders, since Crabbe was a big bloke. What Harry didn't expect were the boobs.

Harry tore off his tight shirt and stared down at the tops of fairly large breasts. He had no clue that Crabbe was actually a girl and he must have hid the huge things somehow. Unable to resist the temptation, Harry cupped them and gave them a tentative squeeze. His husky moan startled him and he let them go, even though the thrill he felt was somehow pleasing.

“Harry? Are you okay in there?” A male voice asked and he assumed it was Ron.

“Y-yeah, fine.” Harry's husky voice responded.

“You don't really sound like Crabbe.” Ron said.

Harry wasn't sure what to say to that, so he stripped off his pants and then gasped. Crabbe's willy was gone! He reached down and checked to see if it was somehow tucked underneath and rubbed the slit that was there. He couldn't stop the moan and the thrill seemed to go right up his spine and made him shiver.

“Harry?” Ron asked.

“I-I-I'm f-fine. Just f-fine.” Harry said and stopped touching himself down there. He didn't know what was going on and he didn't know what to do about that.

“G-guys, you... you should get changed and go on without me.” Hermione said with her own voice.

Harry recognized the scared tone in her voice and he grabbed the spare Slytherin robes and put them on. He was grateful that they were a bit roomy and he had no trouble with the underwear or the pants. The shirt rubbed a bit and he ignored the little tingles it gave him.

Once he was dressed, Harry left his cubicle and knocked on Hermione's. “Come on, Hermione. Open up.”

“No, I... everything's fine. I'm fine.” Hermione said.

Harry sighed and heard a manly gasp when Goyle came out of the third stall. He looked over and saw shock on Goyle's face. He ignored it and knocked on the stall door again.

“Just go on without me. You need to talk to Malfoy and...”

“If you don't open up, we're not going anywhere.” Harry said.

Hermione sighed and unlocked the stall door. It swung open and Harry's eyes widened at the Hermione Cat Person in front of him.

“There's a reason that polyjuice isn't used for cross-species transformations.” Hermione said and looked at Harry. “Apparently, I plucked a cat hair from... Millicent Bulstrode's... robes.”

“Hermione?” Harry asked when Hermione's cat eyes widened comically. “What is it?”

“You... you're Millicent Bulstrode.” Hermione said.

“What?” Harry asked and walked across the bathroom to look into the mirror above one of the broken sinks. To his shock, a fairly homely-looking and quite tall girl stared back at him. He actually had to duck a little to look into the mirror properly. “Bugger.”

“I think that means the mission's cancelled now.” Ron as Goyle said. He cross his arms and leaned against the wall, only to misjudge the boy's height and hit the wall harder than he should have and bounced off. He stumbled and uncrossed his arms to catch himself on the closed door of a stall, only for the door to easily open and he fell face first into the dirty toilet.

“It's definitely cancelled.” Hermione said as she came out of her cubicle and joined Harry as he stared into the mirror. “Look at my ears!”

“Look at her tail!” Moaning Myrtle said as she floated through the closest stall and laughed.

*

“There's nothing to do but wait for the time it's supposed to last and then I can start working on you, Miss Granger.” Madam Pomfrey said.

Hermione sighed and nodded.

“What about me?” Harry asked and motioned at his body.

“You don't have to worry, Mister Potter. There are rarely any complications for things like this.”

Harry glanced at Ron and then at Hermione. That was never a good thing to hear. Ever.

“I suspect when you grabbed Mister Crabbe's hair, you plucked Miss Bulstrode's hair instead.”

“How could that happen?” Hermione asked.

“Sharing the same brush.” Madam Pomfrey said and the trio couldn't see Crabbe ever using a brush.

Just before the hour ended, Ron and Harry laid down on beds and Hermione sat in a chair with a hole for her tail to fit through. Ron's body started to bubble and change. Harry's did as well and Hermione's barely moved.

After a few minutes, Goyle had changed back into Ron Weasley. That was the good news. The bad news was that Hermione only lost her huge whiskers, some body hair, and her tail only shrunk to half its size. The horrible news was that Harry's transformation finished... and he was still female.

“Oh, my.” Hermione whispered when she looked at him.

“What is it?” A soft feminine voice asked out of Harry's mouth. “Whoa, was that my voice?”

“He needs a mirror!” Hermione said to the stunned Madam Pomfrey.

“Hermione.” Harry said and he heard how nice her name sounded in his new voice. “Tell me what's wrong.”

“I... if I had a moment... to think.” Hermione whispered and took two deep breaths before she spoke. “I believe whatever happened, it made you stick halfway between two states of being.”

Harry frowned. “I don't know what that means.”

“I think I understand what she means.” Madam Pomfrey said and stood beside Harry's bed. “You were small and thin for your age before you took the potion.”

Harry blushed from embarrassment and he didn't admit that it was from abuse and malnutrition.

“Miss Bulstrode is a fairly large girl with big bones and is quite tall and muscular.” Madam Pomfrey said. “If we pick a spot between the two different bodies you've had within the last hour, then where your transformation is now would put you between them.”

Harry still didn't understand until Madam Pomfrey turned the handheld mirror around and Harry saw his face. Well, her face. It was definitely a female face. The flowing dark hair down to his shoulders looked naturally curly and the bright green eyes seemed to pop and stand out on the face. He could also still see clearly.

The cheekbones were both prominent and soft, the nose was thin and regal, and the lips were firm and slightly plump. It was like someone had taken his previous small face and Millicent's large face, and smashed them together and cut away all the bad parts to leave the best combination and made the rest become the most appealing aspects a person could have.

“I... I'm pretty.” Harry said and his slim fingers lightly touched his face in different spots.

“You really are!” Ron said, excitedly.

“Ron! Don't!” Hermione exclaimed as she saw Ron reach for Harry, only his hands were not going for a hug. Nope. They were going to check something else.

Harry let out an indignant squawk as his boobs were roughly grabbed. Tears formed in his eyes as he put all of his strength into the slap across Ron's face. Ron's head snapped to the side and the sound was loud in the quiet hospital wing.

“HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO ME!” Harry yelled and then made his hand into the shape of a grabbing claw. “Let's see how you like it!”

Before Ron could recover from the epic slap, Harry's hand had been shoved down between his legs and an unbelievable pain came from having his balls crushed in anger.

“OOOOOWWWOOOOO!” Ron howled and doubled over in pain as tears poured down his face.

“Maybe next time you'll think twice about doing something like that.” Harry said and wiped at his own tears. “They're really sore and I don't know what to do with them.”

Madam Pomfrey sighed at the exchange and used her wand on Harry. “You're going to have bruising and they will be sore for a few days.” She said and floated over a small jar of white cream. “Apply this twice a day for three days and you should be fine.”

“Madam Pomfrey? Should you treat him without fixing him first?” Hermione asked.

Harry caught his breath and more tears came from his eyes. “You want me to stay bruised for several weeks?”

Hermione realized what she said and sighed. “That's not what I meant, Harry. If she treats the new you, it might hamper her changing you back.”

Harry wasn't sure what to say to that.

Madam Pomfrey shrugged and cast a spell at Ron. She hovered over a pain potion and poured half of it into a cup for Harry and gave the rest to Ron. “I'll need some privacy to handle Mister Weasley's little bits.”

Neither Harry nor Hermione laughed at the implication. They both nodded and brought over the curtain wall and unfolded it to hide the bed from sight. Hermione sat down on the chair again and Harry sat on the bed beside it.

“How do you feel, Harry?” Hermione asked.

“Weird.” Harry said. “What about you?”

“I want to lick your face and clean the tears off of it for you.” Hermione said.

Harry blinked his eyes for a moment and then realized that's what cats would usually do. “Can I see your tongue?”

Hermione opened her mouth and her tongue was covered by large curved barbs like a cat's.

“Um... I think I'll pass. You'd take some of my skin off if you licked me with that.”

Hermione reached up and tried to touch her tongue, only to cough at having a pawed hand with long hair almost choke her. “Dammit.” She said and coughed, then she started licking the back of her hand and chewed on any loose hair she pulled off. “Stop sticking up, you stupid hair.”

Harry sat there and stared as Hermione pretty much groomed herself and then she started using the back of her hand to wipe at her own face. It was neat to see and also a little scary, because Harry could tell that she didn't realize she was doing it and it was all automatic.

Twenty minutes later, Madam Pomfrey moved the curtained divider aside and revealed a deeply sleeping Ron that wore pyjamas with little racing brooms on them. She put the divider around two beds and had both Harry and Hermione change out of their robes and into matching pyjamas.

Both Harry and Hermione saw the growing bruises on Harry's nice chest. Hermione fought down her jealousy that Harry had an actual chest after a single potion accident and she didn't have a training bra yet. She handed him the bruise cream and Harry quickly applied it with both a hiss of pain and a muffled moan.

Harry couldn't help touching the sensitive nipples while applying the cream and he blushed as he put on the pyjama top and it rubbed the nipples even more. They poked right out because the cloth was soft and tickled, and he had no idea how to stop that from happening.

Hermione touched his arm and Harry turned to look, only to see Hermione move her top and showed him that her nipples were poking, too. Harry looked at her face as she buttoned up and nodded, showed that he understood, and they climbed into their beds. Two dreamless sleep potions later and they were fast asleep.

*

Two weeks later, there was good news and horrible news. The good news was that Hermione was completely reverted from accidentally crossing herself with a cat. The horrible news was that Harry hadn't reacted to the polyjuice reversal treatment at all.

After calling in another healer from the hospital to check, they determined that there was nothing wrong and all polyjuice effects had been removed from both patients. As far as their magic spells could tell, Harry was now a girl and that was that.

“What if I took a polyjuice potion with a boy's hair in it?” Harry asked them.

“Absolutely not.” Both the healer and Madam Pomfrey said at the same time.

“If you have a similar reaction to the next dose as you did to the last one, you will be caught between this version of your body and whomever you choose to look like.” The healer said and Madam Pomfrey nodded. “You could become a mass of unrecognizable human flesh and lose all semblance of yourself.”

Harry stared at her in horror.

“Yes, I think you understand. You have been very lucky to revert to this state, because you could have lost all feelings in the still altered parts, because they don't contain your natural nerve endings.”

“I... I could feel numb... all the time and... and not... um...” Harry stopped talking and couldn't stop his blush. He had checked himself the last time he had been in the bathroom and he felt almost the same way as he had right after transforming.

The healer smiled in understanding. “As I said, you are very lucky to have completely functioning parts remaining.”

“Don't worry, Mister Potter... I mean, Miss Potter.” Madam Pomfrey said and Harry winced at the correction. “Before you leave, you will be given a detailed lesson that will be full of information that will help you adjust to living as a girl.”

Harry's look of horror returned.

Both healers gave her reassuring smiles. “Would you prefer to have your friend Miss Granger here with you to...”

“Yes!” Harry exclaimed.

Madam Pomfrey left the closed off area and came back with a normal-looking Hermione. What followed was a lot of hugging from his best friend, an extremely uncomfortable lesson on the differences between being a boy and being a girl, and then he was told that he would have to wear something to keep his new chest protrusions from becoming a problem.

*

Since Ron Weasley had been released from the hospital wing only a couple days after being admitted, he had spread the story as much as he could when everyone had returned from Christmas break. The entire school had been told that Harry Potter was now a girl and a complete bitch.

Fortunately, his description of Harry being an ugly harpy was so far from the truth that everyone expected to see a mousy little boy with tits. They had been fully prepared to roast the supposed Heir of Slytherin for his stupidity.

None of them expected to see a tall dark-haired beauty enter the Great Hall with Hermione. The normal ruckus of so many students eating and talking seemed to die a silent death as complete silence replaced it.

“I told you everyone would still think the worst of me.” Harry whispered to his only friend as everyone stared at them.

Hermione gave her friend an exasperated look before she huffed. “That's not hate and fear on their faces, Harry.”

Harry gave the people closest to them another look. “What is it, then?”

“Shock, surprise, and confusion.” Hermione said and sat down at the Griffindor table.

Harry sat beside her and felt relief that they were well away from Ron, especially because of the angry look on his face. Before he could comment on it or tell Ron to shove off, Professor McGonagall came over to them.

“Mister Po...” Minerva paused and held in her sigh. “Miss Potter, I have already arranged for you to change dorm rooms. Your bed is next to Miss Granger's and your things have been moved to your new accommodations.”

“WHAT?!?” Ron yelled and stood. “You can't do that! Harry's supposed to stay in the boy's dorm!”

The other Griffindors turned to look at the idiot. They didn't know that if Harry slept somewhere else, Ron would no longer have access to Harry's broom or his invisibility cloak.

Minerva gave him a particularly stern look. “Mister Weasley, it is against school policy for a girl to live in the boy's dorm.”

“But, he was a boy!” Ron said to defend his argument.

“If he was still a boy, I'm sure he would have stayed in the boy's dorm and...”

“No, I wouldn't.” Harry said in her soft feminine voice and everyone turned to look at her. “After Ron hurt me so much when he grabbed my... my... chest.” She said and his hands moved on their own as she reached up and gently cupped his breasts. “Even if I could be changed back into a boy, I never want to be anywhere near him ever again.”

“That's a little harsh.” Minerva said and her stern gaze changed to Harry.

“Then I hope he jumps on you and squeezes your boobs so hard that it leaves a bunch of bruises, too.” Harry said and gave her a stern look right back.

Ron suddenly had two redheaded twins on either side of him as the hall filled with people spreading the word.

“I think we need to have a talk with our little brother.” Fred said and clamped a hand on his left arm.

“We'll make sure to set him straight.” George said and clamped a hand on his right arm.

“No one should ever do that to someone else, boy or girl.” Both twins said and picked up a protesting Ron and started to drag him out of the Great Hall.

“Thank you, guys.” Harry said and her soft voice was full of gratitude.

The Weasley Twins gave her huge smiles in return and hauled Ron out of sight. Harry wasn't sure why those smiles made her feel a little warm inside. Was it because no one had ever really smiled at her before? Was it because she was now a girl and a friendly smile meant more to her than she thought? Or was it because she was unconsciously assigning female pronouns to herself?

Minerva glanced around and saw the expressions of approval on a lot of faces, so she let it go and returned to the head table. She would only step in if things became too out of hand, which was her standing policy and meant she rarely ever interfered.

When breakfast ended, Harry clung to Hermione's hand and cowered as the crowd of students tried their best to talk to her. Hermione yelled at them to leave them alone and no one listened. It wasn't until a tall Hufflepuff Prefect pushed through the crowd and stepped in front of Harry.

“You should all be ashamed of yourselves.” The handsome boy said.

“Come off it, Cedric! You're just as curious about it as we are!” An Asian girl almost shouted.

“Of course I am, Cho.” Cedric said and his calm face didn't change. “I just refuse to act like a pack of jackals trying to get a bite of the latest meal.”

“We're not jackals! We just...”

“...are verbally assaulting a girl because you're too ignorant to understand that you're scaring her.” Cedric interrupted and she closed her mouth. “What she's going through is none of your business.” His calm face changed to a glare. “It's none of your business. If she wants to talk about it, she will.”

“We just want to know...” Another girl started to ask.

“Every time you open your mouth to shout a question at her, the less likely she's going to tell you anything.” Cedric said and that shut them up. “She's not holding a press conference and you're not rabid reporters, so stop acting like it.”

None of them could deny that was how they were acting.

“Now shove off and leave her alone. You all need to get to class.” Cedric reminded them.

The crowd dispersed and moved off and gave pointed looks to both Cedric and the girl he was guarding. Before he could turn around and apologize for his fellow students, he saw there was a single first year girl standing there.

“Didn't you hear me?” Cedric asked her, slightly confused.

“Yes, I did.” The blonde girl said. “I'm Luna Lovegood, cub reporter for the Quibbler.”

“Oh.” Cedric said and didn't know what to say to get her to leave Harry alone.

“It's okay, Cedric. I agree with you. I was reporting on Harry's treatment and got caught in the thick of it instead of remaining off to the side like I usually do.” Luna said and gave him a bright smile. “Could you tell her that I'm completely impartial and request an interview about what's been happening to him? Being accused by the students and teachers of being a murdering bigot must have her panties in a twist.”

Harry made an odd sound and Hermione giggled. They both had a trying time the last week to get Harry used to wearing underwear without it bunching up on her when she walked. Her main complaint was that the cloth kept slipping between her butt cheeks and giving her a wedgie. Hermione didn't have the heart to tell Harry that her more rounded cheeks meant she would be adjusting her underwear a lot.

“I... ah... will pass that along.” Cedric said. His face was slightly red because he had just imagined seeing the now quite pretty Harry wearing only panties.

“Thank you.” Luna said and leaned slightly to the side to see Harry's own red face. “If you really are having that problem, you should talk to Professor Sinestra. She will understand your underwear predicament and can help you deal with it.”

Harry and Hermione looked surprised and Cedric's face went completely red.

“Try not to stare at her too much. She is quite a handsome witch, after all.” Luna said and gave them a casual wave and sauntered off without a care in the world.

“Did she... she didn't just...” Hermione whispered.

“Y-yeah, she did.” Harry said and her red face matched Cedric's.

“I'm sorry about my fellow Hufflepuffs, Harry. We're usually more friendly than that.” Cedric said without turning around.

“It's okay.” Harry said and managed to get her blush under control. “Thanks for your help, Cedric.”

Cedric got control of his own blush and turned around to look at her. “It's my... job.” He said and locked eyes with her. He had the immediate thought to give her a hug to comfort her and fought against it. The last thing Harry needed was someone else crowding her or invading her personal space.

“If that's true, you're the only one doing it.” Harry said, softly.

“It's true. None of the teachers are stepping in to stop all the rumors and accusations.” Hermione said. “It's disgraceful.”

Cedric sighed, because he couldn't refute that. “We're going to be late.”

“We have History of Magic, so it doesn't matter.” Harry said.

“Harry!” Hermione gasped.

“What? You only take notes that mark the book chapter and then do homework. It's not like we do anything but study the book for exams anyway.” Harry said with a shrug.

Cedric's eyes went right to Harry's unrestrained breasts as they jiggled inside her shirt. It didn't matter that she was only twelve and had just started puberty. They were large enough that she needed to wear a bra and she was definitely not wearing one. The nipples now poking out were a dead giveaway, too.

“Y-yes, we n-need to go.” Harry said, her blush back in full force.

Cedric blinked his eyes as the two girls practically ran away from him. “Bloody hell, I just messed that up completely.”

“Don't worry, Cedric.” Luna said from beside the wall and walked over to him. “Harry's more confused about this than you are.”

Cedric sighed and tried to fight off the erection his own puberty had given him. “I wanted to ease her concerns, not add to them.”

Luna patted his arm and started to walk away. “Harry's going to need our help from now on.”

“Our?” Cedric asked and followed her.

“With the way Harry reacted to both of us, I'm sure that there's room in her heart that we'll both fit.”

Cedric stumbled a bit at that statement and almost fell on his face. “E-excuse me?”

Luna giggled at him. “The best girlfriends and boyfriends usually start as friends first. You know each other's faults already and accept them.”

Cedric stared at her and Luna grabbed his arm to pull him around a corner instead of letting him walk into a stone wall. “You're only eleven! How do you know things like that?”

“I'm a Ravenclaw.” Luna said and her hand slid down to hold his.

Cedric glanced down at their clasped hands. “Luna, what...”

“I have a bit of a problem with wrackspurts.” Luna said and Cedric listened as she told him about her problems with invisible creatures and he immediately understood what she meant. He dropped her off at her Defense Against the Dark Arts class and went right to Professor Flitwick.

*

Boy-Who-Lived becomes Girl-Who-Teases By Rita Skeeter

In an odd potions accident, the fabled saviour of the wizarding world Harry Potter has been transformed into a sultry seductress! The boy-now-girl struts around Hogwarts Castle and shakes her newly grown breasts in the faces of the poor defenseless males of the student body.

It is a shameless display for any female to not wear a bra! They should show at least some common sense and decorum, like a normal girl would. There is even a confirmed rumor that one of the female professors modelled underwear for them and gave tips for how to entice the student population and to keep their attention!

Can the school handle another scandal surrounding the Girl-Who-Teases? Wasn't being a Parselmouth enough of an attention grab that Mister Potter had to become Miss Potter to keep it?

*

Harry was huddled in on herself on the toilet in the end stall of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and cried. Hermione stood beside her and couldn't really do anything except rub her friend's back while she had another crying fit that had become all too common since Harry had been changed into a girl.

“W-w-why?” Harry sobbed and wiped at her face. “Why won't they leave me alone?”

Hermione sighed and didn't say anything. She had been bullied as well and there was nothing they could do about it if the teachers wouldn't even acknowledge there was a problem. She knew what a lesbian was and if she was honest with herself, the thought did cross her mind once or twice.

Boys were icky for the most part, because out of all of the ones she knew, only Harry had been diligent with cleaning himself and smelled nice. Like a girl. Now that he was a girl, that smell had only become that much nicer. She didn't really have the urge to kiss her, even if she thought it would distract Harry from what was happening.

“I think you need to accept Luna's offer.” Hermione said instead of expressing her thoughts.

“Wh-what?” Harry lifted her head to look at her.

“I think getting the truth out there is better than letting everyone make their own stories up.”

“But... but, I... what do I say?” Harry asked and wiped at her tear-streaked face.

“Anything you want.” Hermione said. “I'm sure Luna will give it a... unique perspective.”

Harry barked a laugh, even though she was in the middle of an unreasonable crying fit. Being overly emotional was bad enough. The addition of cramps felt like they were tearing her insides up.

“She sees things a lot differently than we do. If we have her tell your story and get it out there, people might start to understand.” Hermione reassured him.

Just as Harry was going to agree, the bathroom door slammed open and running feet stopped in front of their stall. The stall door opened as a redheaded girl shrieked about leaving her alone and threw a small black book at them. She ran off an instant later and the bathroom door slammed closed.

Harry and Hermione stared at each other for a few seconds before they looked down at the black book on Harry's lap. It was completely blank for some reason and only had T.M. Riddle in gold lettering on the cover.

Their current problems were forgotten with this new thing to investigate and they both dove into it with a passion that no one could distract them from. Everyone else was ignored completely as they searched the library and eventually found a list of students that attended Hogwarts. The current year revealed no results, so they went back, and back, and all the way to fifty years ago.

“Hagrid went to school with Tom Marvolo Riddle.” Hermione said and showed Harry the list.

“Tom also received a special award to the school for catching the culprit that opened the Chamber of Secrets.” Harry said and showed her the list he had.

“You don't think...” Hermione started to say.

“I always wondered why Hagrid wasn't allowed to do magic, even though he's an adult.” Harry said.

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. “Let's finish this up and gather the rest of the evidence before we confront Hagrid.”

Harry nodded and they gathered up everything they could find out about Hagrid and Tom Riddle. It was not surprising to them when they discovered that Hagrid was expelled because he owned a Class Four restricted creature called an Acromantula. What was surprising was that Professor Dumbledore was the transfiguration teacher at the time and knew about it.

When confronted that afternoon over tea and rock cakes, Hagrid spewed the entire sordid affair and Harry cried for him. That set off Hagrid and Hermione couldn't stop her own tears, because they knew Hagrid was innocent. Acromantulas couldn't petrify people and only ate them. It also didn't come from the Chamber of Secrets and lived in the forest.

With this new information, Hermione wrote everything down, made copies of the evidence, and she and Harry went to McGonagall. Once again, the woman ignored their protests and took points from them for causing undue alarm during a crisis. Both Harry and Hermione gave her hate-filled glares.

“I was worried when you told me that your House will treat you like family that it would be the truth.” Harry said with venom in her voice, which surprised the old woman. “If your family treated their children like you treat us, it's no wonder that you are the last of them alive.”

Minerva gasped from shock and put a hand over her heart.

“Hermione's right. I'm going to give Luna an interview that's going to make her famous.” Harry said and picked up the pile of evidence. “Wait until the entire wizarding world finds out how the Girl-Who-Lived has been treated by her so-called family!”

Minerva was too stunned by the hate she felt from Harry to respond and didn't move until her office door closed. It took her several minutes before she shook herself and stood, straightened her tartan wrap, and strode out of her office to head to meet with the headmaster.

She needed to tell Albus about what just happened and get his advice about what to do next. The gargoyle stepped aside for her and she rode the constantly rising stars to the top and knocked on the door.

“Enter.” Albus said and Minerva entered the office, only to see Harry and Hermione glaring at him and their evidence scattered over the old man's desk.

“I was coming to warn you about this.” Minerva said, which was the worst thing she could have said.

“It's not just you that never listens. Even Hagrid told us to drop it.” Harry said, her voice sharp as a knife. “Let's go, Hermione. We are never getting any help from these people.”

Albus felt the blood drain from his face and Minerva felt another pain in her heart. Harry didn't bother picking up the scattered papers and took Hermione's hand as she led her out of the office. You could actually hear the anger as their shoes clacked on the stone floor.

“A-Albus, what... what...” Minerva whispered.

Albus took in a ragged breath and let out a sigh filled with sorrow. “I believe we just lost any trust we had from both of those students.”

Minerva opened her mouth to refute that, then realized he was right. Each and every time Harry had come to her, she always dismissed him and even gave him harsher punishments, because he was the boy-who-lived. Until that moment, she hadn't realized that she held him to an unfair and higher standard than all of her other students, which meant that she had failed him completely.

“What do we do?” Minerva asked.

Albus gave her a sad smile. “I am afraid that there is nothing we can do.”

Minerva couldn't give up like that, though. “What if we stop those rumors and...”

“It is much too late for that to make any difference, my friend. Much too late.” Albus said. “All we can do is hope that the howlers we receive won't explode before we can vanish them.”

Minerva let out her own sad sigh and left the office.

*

It wasn't a huge scandal that swept the wizarding world when everyone found out about Harry's upbringing. It did cause a lot of misunderstandings to be rectified when they all learned that Harry did not grow up as a wizard. His ignorance over their ways wasn't because he thought he was above such things, it was because he honestly had no one to tell him about them.

Of course, now that he was a girl, her emotional response to all of the apologies left her a blibbering wreck for over a week. The only group of people the truth didn't affect were Draco Malfoy and his friends as well as Severus Snape. Their almost ingrained hostility for Harry let them ignore that it was their fault he had such a horrible time at school and in classes.

At least, it was that way until the next potions class and Snape made a comment about Harry's inability to follow simple instructions and vanished the potion the girl had worked on for nearly two hours.

Harry burst out crying and covered her face with her hands, unable to stem the flow of tears. “It's y-your f-fault! You did this to me!” She shouted and cried and cried. “If you l-left me alone, I could do my work! You insult me and berate me and pick on me all the time and it's too much!”

“Mister Potter, that outburst has earned you a week of detentions.” Snape sneered.

“NO!” Harry yelled and wiped at her face. “You... you are a HORRIBLE person! I won't be near you any more! I hate you and you will never hurt me ever again!”

There was a brief flash of light and Snape slapped a hand over his left forearm. It wasn't because of the dark mark, though. It was the sign of a heart attack. The man's pale face couldn't pale further as he lost his strength and dropped to the floor of the classroom. He stared up at the bane of his existence and couldn't believe what had happened until he realized what it meant.

“You made me... break my vow.” Snape whispered and stopped talking as the life left his eyes.

There was complete silence for several seconds before Pansy Parkinson let out a shrill scream, yelled that she didn't want to be next, and ran from the room. It only took another two seconds before the other Slytherins realized what just happened and copied her yells as they ran out of the room, too. The other Griffindors didn't yell as they backed away and then ran as well.

Hermione looked down at the body of their potions professor and back at Harry. There wasn't anything she could say that would mitigate what was going to happen next, so she hugged her still crying friend. Harry desperately clung to her because she knew it was going to be a mess as well.

An hour later, a group of Aurors led by the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement arrived at the school and wasted no time interviewing the students to find out what happened. Once they had the incidentals out of the way, both Harry and Hermione had been brought to the headmaster's office.

After they gave their testimony and the Aurors wrote it all down, Harry couldn't keep herself from asking a question that was burning in her mind. “Can you tell me why you're here?”

Amelia Bones looked at him as if he was addled in the brain. “You just gave testimony about why.”

Harry shook her head and her long dark hair moved like water over her shoulders. “I meant why now? You didn't show up last year when a professor died.”

Amelia and the Aurors stiffened and all of them turned their heads as one to look right at Albus Dumbledore. The headmaster couldn't stop the sigh before it escaped.

“Why don't you enlighten me about what exactly happened here last year, Headmaster Dumbledore?” Amelia asked, her voice stern. “I would very much like to learn about it, since this is the first time I've heard of it.”

“The staff here are completely ambivalent about helping anyone, especially students, so I'm not surprised they didn't tell you.” Harry said and told her all about what happened and the Aurors wrote it all down.

When she was encouraged to talk about this year as well, Harry talked about the Chamber of Secrets and Salazar Slytherin's beast petrifying several students and that the teachers did nothing to stop it or stopped her from being ostracized for being a parselmouth. She even handed over a copy of their gathered evidence.

Amelia barely contained her anger at the headmaster as she glared at him. If looks could kill, like Harry's had at Professor Snape, Albus would have joined the dead man on the next great adventure.

“It seems that Severus Snape's death could have been easily prevented.” Amelia said through gritted teeth. “Some common sense would have done wonders for that abhorrent man.”

“You did know him.” Harry said and Amelia nodded.

“I had the displeasure.” Amelia said and looked at Dumbledore. “He wouldn't have been in that position if you had reported the very first petrification to the proper authorities and let the people with experience in such things handle the situation.”

Albus held in his sigh. “It would disrupt the school to have...”

“Of course it would!” Amelia spat and Dumbledore's eyes widened. “Making sure the students are safe from attack should be your first priority!”

“Amelia, I assure you that the safety of the student body is...”

“...ignored for your own petty reasons.” Amelia interrupted and stood. “I'll send for the Hogwarts Express immediately and will make the announcement at supper.”

“I don't believe that will be necessary.” Albus said. “I'm sure that everything can be handled quietly and...”

“Your opinion is no longer required, headmaster.” Amelia said. “It will be done and that's final.”

“What are you talking about?” Hermione asked.

Albus let his face lose the grandfatherly look. “The school will be closed until the creature is found.”

Harry started crying and tears ran down her cheeks. “No, I... I can't. I can't go there. I can't!”

“Go where?” Amelia asked.

Hermione hugged her friend as she had another crying fit. “To his abusive muggle relatives.”

“Excuse me?” Amelia frowned and looked at Dumbledore. “What is she talking about?”

“Here.” Hermione pulled out the edition of the Quibbler with Harry's story in it. She had taken to carrying a copy for times such as this.

Amelia's frown became more pronounced at the photo on the front and the title of the issue. “House Elf Blues of the Girl-Who-Lived.”

“The school might have to send her away; but, she is never going there, now that she's a girl.” Hermione said with steel in her voice. “If they could mistreat a boy like that, can you imagine what those horrible people will do to a girl?”

Albus Dumbledore let out the sigh he was holding. “Harry must return there to ensure his protection.”

“That's some weird protection if it never protects him.” Hermione said and rubbed Harry's back.

Harry cried on her shoulder and whispered an apology to her for always losing herself to crying like this. Hermione whispered back that it was okay and her hand went around her to hug her.

Albus didn't want to explain the blood wards he had erected, because they were quite illegal. “As long as Harry can call that place home, he will be protected from those that intend him harm.”

Harry let out a shaky laugh and lifted her head from Hermione's shoulder. “H-home? You think I call that place home?” She asked and wiped at her face. “I've never felt at home there and they hate me. They always have.”

“While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, while you are there he cannot hurt you.”

Harry stared at the headmaster as if he was speaking gibberish.

“Your aunt knows this. I explained what I had done in the letter I left with you on her doorstep. She knows that allowing you houseroom may well have kept you alive all these years.” Albus said.

“Poppycock!” Amelia exclaimed. “You're speaking as if Voldemort is still around!”

Harry nodded in agreement. Everything the headmaster just said made no sense.

Albus glanced at the Aurors and realized he had made a mistake. He let his own inner thoughts out when he hadn't wanted anyone to know what he had done. Before he could defend himself and his decisions, Hermione stood and dragged Harry with her.

“If your reasons to keep Harry inside an abusive home are to keep her safe, then Harry was right. We are not going to receive any help from idiots like you.” Hermione said and walked over to the door. “Don't be surprised if you see a letter from my parents.”

Amelia waited for the door to close to speak. “I think you better tell me what Miss Potter meant when she told us Severus Snape's final words.”

Albus let out another sigh. “He made a solemn vow to me to always protect Lily Potter's child.”

Amelia didn't say anything for a moment, then she barked a laugh. “What an idiot! He spent the better part of a year and a half verbally abusing that child!”

Albus didn't bother nodding in agreement. He had advised the man to curb his enthusiasm to get retribution on the boy... girl... for the father's mistakes, and he paid for it with his life.

*

The entire school population objected to essentially being kicked out of school for an undetermined amount of time while the creature that petrified students was dealt with. No one would tell them how long it would take or if they would have to repeat a year, which made a lot of the parents unhappy. They had already paid the year's tuition fees and there was no such thing as a refund.

The train ride back to London was tension filled, because Harry didn't know what she was going to do. She couldn't go home and she had nowhere to go. She didn't want to impose on her best friend for an indefinite period of time and had to try and figure out what to do with nowhere to live and no one to take care of her.

Hermione retrieved a cart for their trunks and the pair ignored everyone's scared reactions to Harry and made their way across the platform to go through to the muggle side. Hermione's parents were there and Harry let out a squeak of fright as Hermione's mother took her into a tight hug.

“MUM!” Hermione shouted and smacked her mother's arm and pushed her away from a now crying Harry. “STOP THAT!”

“Hermione!” Her father said angrily and raised his hand. Whether it was to hit her or as a sign to tell her to stop, made no difference.

“NO!” Harry shouted and a pulse of raw magic hit the man and he fell backwards onto the floor, unconscious.

“Greg!” Hermione's mother gasped and knelt beside him. The pain in her arm where Hermione hit her was forgotten for now.

Harry dropped to her knees and hugged herself as she cried and cried. “Stop it, stop it.”

“What's going on over here?” A train security guard asked as he rushed over.

Hermione was only surprised by what happened for a moment before she turned to the guard, her face hard. “My friend has been abused for years and my stupid mother knew that and thought it would be a grand old idea for a perfect stranger to hug the life out of her without even introducing herself!”

Hermione's mother caught her breath and then blushed from embarrassment. She had only wanted to reassure the girl and had traumatized her instead.

“I hit her arm and pushed her away and my father became angry and let his blood pressure get the better of him.” Hermione said. “He should be fine in a little while...”

“No, we'll send for an ambulance.” The guard said and took a radio off his belt. He called it in and looked at the still crying girl that looked on the edge of hysterics. Or past the edge. It was hard to tell.

Hermione didn't know what to do, considering they couldn't get away, use their wands, or could leave without her father.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry.” Harry whispered, over and over, and Hermione knelt beside her and hugged her.

The ambulance showed up ten minutes later and the paramedics checked Greg's vitals. At the pronouncement that his blood pressure was fine and he was just asleep, he was moved onto a stretcher. It took a lot of convincing by Hermione's mother to not take him to the hospital anyway, because of the kids, their trunks, and the car that couldn't be left there.

An hour later, Greg woke up and Hermione's mother Gina quickly explained what happened to cut off whatever he was going to say. She was in time and no one discovered that it was Harry's accidental magic that had caused it. Before they left the station, both Granger parents reassured the paramedics and the guard that it was the very first time it had happened and that they would check in with their family doctor.

The Grangers fell silent as they led a quiet Harry and Hermione to the parking lot and loaded the trunks into the boot of the large sedan. Gina drove, as she promised the guard, while Harry and Hermione climbed into the backseat and did their best to pretend that nothing had happened.

The drive seemed excessively long as they went to Hermione's home and Harry never once let her hand go. They both had been tense and nervous the entire time and Harry couldn't shake the feeling that even if she had wanted to stay at Hermione's place for the entire time it would take for the school to be declared safe, and possibly for the summer, it wasn't going to happen after that little scene.

The car came to a stop in the driveway of a nice two storey suburban home and Hermione went right over to the door of the house to open it. Harry went to the boot of the car to retrieve her trunk and avoided looking at Hermione's father when he opened the boot and took out both trunks. Harry grabbed the handle of hers and pretty much ran to the house as she dragged the trunk across the driveway.

The sound made all three Grangers wince and they felt bad about it, not realizing that Harry was never strong enough to carry it and always dragged it everywhere. Hermione waved Harry inside and as she passed, grabbed the other side of the trunk and helped carry it inside.

“The spare room is the first door at the top of the stairs on the left.” Hermione said and Harry went there. They put the trunk down and Hermione went back downstairs. It wasn't until she watched her father bring in her own trunk that she realized Harry hadn't come back downstairs with her. She sighed and led her father up to her room and dropped off the trunk.

When he left, Hermione knocked on the spare room's door and waited. There was no response, so she opened it and went inside. Harry was curled up on the bed and faced away from the door. Hermione didn't say anything as she closed the door, then she went over to the bed and climbed onto it behind her friend and laid down with her.

“I'm sorry.” Harry whispered through her tears. “I thought... he was going to hit you.”

“Harry.” Hermione said and then didn't know what to say. She wasn't sure, either. It had been the first time she had reacted like that to her mother's actions and she had scared herself at how vehement she was in protecting Harry, even from her own parents.

“He... he could have died.” Harry sobbed.

“No, Harry. You wouldn't have...” Hermione paused talking, because of what happened to Professor Snape. “My dad didn't vow anything to you, so you don't have to worry about that.”

Harry let out a sad whine and Hermione put an arm over her. She clung to it like a lifeline. “How... how can you do this? These emotions... all the time...”

“I think it's different if you grow up expecting it.” Gina said from the now open door. “Then again, when puberty hits, sometimes it's a lot harder than anyone can expect.”

“Harry's spent her life hiding how she feels, because she would be punished for speaking out. When she became a girl, all of that learned apathy seems to have lessened or disappeared.” Hermione said.

“Is... is that what happened?” Harry asked and hugged Hermione's arm. “It's not just... my time of the month?”

“Oh, damn.” Gina said with a sigh. “The both of you should stay here for now. We're ordering out for supper and I have a few things I need to talk to Greg about.”

“Okay, mum.” Hermione said and Harry nodded.

Gina closed the door and went downstairs to explain a few things to her angry husband.

“I could have told her that since you have a new body, you're suffering from bouts of accidental magic, too.” Hermione said.

“I... I guess...”

“Emotional stress causes outbursts, Harry. We both know that.” Hermione said.

Harry eased her hold on Hermione's arm and carefully rolled over to look into her friend's eyes. “Hermione, I... I can't apologize enough for...” Harry let out a sob and put an arm around her. “I'm such a mess!”

Hermione did the best thing she could in that situation. She laughed.

Harry blinked her eyes for a moment and Hermione wiped at her cheeks to clear the tears from her face.

“Harry, anyone would be a mess after what happened. It's not your fault.”

“But... but, I...”

“Not. Your. Fault.” Hermione said and her hand rested on Harry's pretty face. When she saw Harry's upset face change to look peaceful from that one little action, she made her decision. She moved close and placed a quick kiss right on Harry's lips.

Harry felt shock at the touch and stopped breathing as she stared at her best friend.

“Since you are no longer who you used to be, I think we need to come up with a better name than Harry, don't you?” Hermione asked.

“Wh-wh-what?” Harry asked and her slender fingertips lightly touched her own lips.

“It can't be Harriette, even if that lets me still call you Harry.” Hermione said and caressed Harry's cheek. “We can go to the local library and use the computer there to search for good names.”

“But... I... what about...” Harry stammered.

“I'll still call you Harry if you want.” Hermione said with a smile. “The name change is for all the idiots out there.”

“That... is definitely not you.” Harry said and blushed a little.

“Then we'll head out tomorrow while my parents are at work.” Hermione said. “We're in a muggle neighborhood and you don't look anything like you used to, so there's no danger at all about anyone recognizing you, even if a wizard dared to come anywhere near where muggles live.”

Harry had to laugh softly at that and nodded. To most wizards, muggles were to be avoided as much as possible.

“Do you want a hand unpacking?” Hermione asked.

Harry let out a sigh. “I don't think I'll be allowed to stay here for that long.”

Hermione wanted to refute that, then sighed herself. She wouldn't know what the situation was going to be like until she talked to her parents about what happened.

*

Gina hadn't gone downstairs at all and had stayed right there beside the spare room's closed door and had listened to everything her daughter and her friend had said, both before and after she had interrupted them to tell them to stay there in the room.

It was surprising to hear things without being filtered by a child's opinion of what their parents needed to know and what the truth was. She crept downstairs and went to the den where her husband sat with a glass of amber liquid with ice.

“Harry's on her first period.” Gina said and cut right to the heart of the matter.

Greg gave her a shocked look before he huffed and took another sip. “Okay.”

And that was it. The whole thing was explained with that simple statement and all was forgiven.

*

After an hour of searching at the library and the librarian recommending an extensive flower book, Harry and Hermione decided on Primrose for Harry's new name. She could be called Harry or Rose for short and both would apply. Hermione sent the name change forms into both the muggle and magical ministries and it would take a few weeks for the muggle one and a day for the magical one.

They spent the rest of the day checking the muggle education books they were both missing while in Hogwarts and they both enjoyed going through them and doing the questions on scrap paper. Of course, the reason it was fun was because they had chosen to do the extra work and it wasn't being forced upon them.

Harry also didn't have to hide how well he could do muggle subjects like he did in elementary school, which made Hermione that much happier. The two of them blew through the previous year's books as they worked together and discovered that when they didn't intentionally hold themselves back to stay near the same level as their peers, they truly excelled.

That evening, Gina checked their work and was impressed. As a supposed award for working so hard and staying busy all day and not wasting time, she took them out shopping. Greg begged off and the three girls went out for an evening of blitzing clothing stores.

Harry normally didn't like things like that and thought she still wouldn't, only to get caught up in both Hermione's and Gina's excitement about trying on new things to make them look pretty. She wasn't even embarrassed when they went into the lingerie shop to grab a few things that Professor Sinestra had recommended.

It took some time getting used to wearing such frilly things, especially with how different Harry was between her legs. Not having to pick her underwear out from between her cheeks was worth a little discomfort, though. Plus, a blushing Harry secretly admitted to herself that both her butt and Hermione's looked fantastic in a thong with a whale tail.

*

Hogwarts had been closed for the month of March before the Department of Magical Creatures finally called in an exotic monster expert to help them hunt. Newt Scamander and his son showed up and it only took them two days to investigate and discover Moaning Myrtle's bathroom was the chamber entrance when they talked to her about her death.

Myrtle told them about Harry and Hermione also talking to her about it and she missed having them to talk to, since they wanted to talk and not make fun of her or tease her. They were bullied just like her and she had been warned by the headmaster that she wasn't allowed to haunt their tormentors.

A quick inquiry sent to Amelia Bones confirmed this and they were sent a copy of the evidence that two second years had gathered back in January and no one had acted on it. The irrefutable proof that Hagrid was innocent had been ignored back then and ignored now, which meant the gameskeeper had been sent to Azkaban for no reason.

Thanks to the clues the students included in the evidence, both Newt and his son Rolf concluded that the creature was a snake, probably a basilisk, and that severe restrictions needed to be put into place to deal with the thing. After a thousand years of loneliness, it was probably insane and insanely powerful.

Amelia approved lethal force in all aspects and sent a squad of experienced Aurors to accompany the employees of the creature department. They used explosive spells to destroy the sinks and found the hidden pipe entrance and began the assault on the Chamber of Secrets.

They had nearly severed the creature's neck when it felt lethal damage and woke from its enchanted sleep to defend itself. Blasting and cutting spells flew all around the chamber as the snake fought. They had taken its eyes first, thankfully. They still suffered three deaths, ten grievous wounds, and Auror Moody had his wooden leg eaten. He was thankful it wasn't his good leg.

The Daily Prophet reported the entire debacle and also included the evidence that Harry Potter had been the one to first find it and had been ignored because he was now a girl. That hadn't been why and no one cared what the real reason was. The made up reason sounded much more plausible than the headmaster trying to cover everything up to save the reputation of the school.

*

Primrose 'Harry' Potter sat in the Bauxbaton's girl's dorm and stared at the Hogwarts notice that informed her that there was no point in only opening the school for two months before summer break, which meant they would all be repeating the year. She looked across the table at a smiling Hermione.

“Does that mean they ignored the notices your parents sent them?” Harry asked her in perfect French.

“I believe so.” Hermione responded in French as well. “We know that they ignored the requests to return tuition fees, even though we've been out of that school since February.”

Harry put the letter aside and started writing out another letter to the goblins. “I'll try again with the bank to see them reverse the charges.”

“Make sure to tell them that the school has already stolen the fees of hundreds of students.” Hermione said.

Harry softly laughed. “Can you give me a hand wording it properly? I know you're much better at it than I'll ever be.”

Hermione moved over to her side of the table and leaned against her. “I require an appropriate bribe.”

“Obviously.” Harry agreed and turned her head and puckered her lips.

Hermione grinned at her and they gave each other a peck on the lips. “Thank you.”

Harry put an arm around her waist. “I'm the one that needs to thank you.”

Hermione took over writing the letter. “Well, my ear is right there.”

Harry gave her a wide-eyed look and Hermione kept smiling. “Okay.” She said and leaned in close, paused as she thought about what to do, then she gave her earlobe a light kiss. When Hermione didn't react, she used her tongue a bit. When there was still nothing, she slipped her lips around it and suckled a little.

“Hmmm.” Hermione let out, despite trying to not react. She had wanted to see how far Harry would take things.

Harry didn't stop, though. It was oddly neat to make Hermione make sounds like that and she gave her earlobe a little bite. That earned a little squeak and Harry let it go and placed several soft kisses on it and moved down to her neck.

Hermione almost purred as Harry went quite a bit further than she expected. She would be fourteen in September and she wasn't surprised that her first kiss had been with her best friend. She turned her head to tell her that and her lips were caught. She let out a louder moan as Harry seemingly dove right into a snogging session, which completely distracted the both of them.

Several minutes later, the make-out session ended and they both had bright red faces. It wasn't because they were embarrassed, though. They both finally realized that they really liked each other and wanted to keep going. With a mutual unspoken agreement, they reached up to cup each other's faces and moved back together to continue.

*

It would take fifteen years before their adopted daughter found T.M. Riddle's diary buried at the bottom of Primrose's old school trunk.

“Oh, that old thing. We completely forgot about it.” Hermione said with a laugh and waved her wand in a complicated pattern. She tapped the thing and it glowed black.

“What is it, love?” Harry asked and gave their daughter a hug and a kiss on the top of her head.

“Dark magic.” Hermione said and used her wand to carve a series of runes into the cover of the book.

“Purging? Will that work?” Harry asked.

“If you charge it, dear.” Hermione said and finished before she handed it to her wife.

Harry took it and used her wand. She poured magic into the carvings and it glowed a gold color before there was a sound of splintering wood and the book let out a scream and a cloud of black smoke.

“I don't want to use it now.” Delphi said with disgust.

Both Harry and Hermione laughed and the now normal diary was tossed into the fireplace.