Bloody Hell!

Chapter Nine

Ron was still feeling bad for what happened to his best friend. It was two weeks since he changed Harry into a girl and he was still downcast. Harry will never forgive him for what happened. He just knew it. So, here he was, sitting in the Hospital wing, with Hermione, Luna, Neville, Ginny, professor Lupin, Snape, professor McGonagall and Dumbledore, waiting for Harry to wake up and realise that he was now a girl. I'm dead! He constantly thought. He flinched when he heard soft moaning coming from Harry's mouth. He looked up and saw his best friend slowly opening his eyes. Snape was at his side at the moment and he grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly, before saying, 'Harry, you're awake!'

Harry mumbled, 'I guess...' then shot upright, as he heard the sound of his voice. It wasn't deep anymore. It was soft and melodic. His eyes were wide open and he stared at Ron. Ron squirmed on his seat and was nervously playing with his robes.

'Ron!'

Harry flinched again. Ron looked meekly up at his best friend and whispered, 'Yes?'

Harry shook his head and said, 'The last thing I remember is you saying the incantation at Transfiguration wrong. Please tell me it's not true! Please tell me I'm not a girl!'

Ron dropped his head in his hands and murmured, 'I'm dead!'

Harry weakly chuckled and replied, 'No, not yet.'

Ron looked up again and begged, 'Please forgive me, Harry! I didn't mean to!'

Harry looked away and whispered, 'Don't call me Harry!'

'What?' asked Ron perplexed.

'Why shouldn't I call you Harry? It's your name!'

Harry weakly chuckled again and answered, 'Because it's a boy's name, not a girl's.'

Ron looked confused for a moment, and then something dawned in his eyes.

'Sorry,' he sheepishly said.

Harry waved him off with his... her hand, oh whatever, and then said, 'Could someone please help me to go to the bathroom? I don't feel all too well at the moment.'

Severus stood up and walked over to Harry, but Harry stopped him and said, 'Dad, as much as I want you to help me, I think it would be wiser if one of the girls helped me with it for now. I do have to ask them about girl things...'

Harry grimaced at his words, but liked the sound of his... her voice. She sighed and put her feet off the bed and stood up. She felt very dizzy, but Hermione's, Luna's and Ginny's arms came immediately and supported her. Harry looked at them and smiled gratefully. When they came to the bathroom, Harry closed her eyes and asked the girls, 'Could you please take me to the mirror, so I can see Ron's damage?'

All three of them giggled, and pulled her to the mirror. Harry then opened her eyes and gaped at what she saw. She still had black hair with red highlights, but it was longer and curly, not messy. Her eyes still had their emerald colour. However, they sparkled with innocence. Now, where did that come from? Harry asked herself. She blinked and watched her eyelashes, which were thicker, longer and curled up in a beautiful way. Her brows weren't so thick anymore and were elegantly placed above her eyes. She still had her dad's cheekbones and thin lips, but the lips were slightly fuller and if she pouted, it would look like she wanted to be kissed. I guess, I will have to get used to a girl mind, Harry thought. She then continued her way down and she almost jumped in the air when she saw something big on her chest. She heard the girls giggle again and asked them, 'Could you please stop giggling, and help me?'

Hermione was the first to stop giggling and said, 'Sorry, Gryffin. It's just; you looked at your breast, like you never saw a girl's breast in your life.'

'Not on me.' Harry grinned wickedly.

Ginny laughed and said, 'I know! But don't worry, they are perfect. Every girl wants to have the shape of your breasts.' Harry blushed, but Ginny ignored it and said, 'It isn't too big, it isn't too little, and it's the perfect size, which reminds me you will need a bra.'

Luna took over then, with her dreamy voice, 'And you will bleed once a month for a few days.'

Hermione scowled at her and said, 'Did you have to say that to her now, when she's still getting used to it?'

Harry stepped in front of Luna and said, 'Lynx come down! If I got that bleeding sooner, I would panic!'

They talked for a few more minutes; Hermione, Luna and Ginny reassuring Harry that everything will be all right and Harry watching her body from time to time. Then they walked out of the bathroom, seeing that the people in the Ward still waited for them. Harry sheepishly said, 'Sorry, I took so long. The girls here explained some things to me... about my new gender.' She sat on the bed and said, 'So, what will you call me from now on?'

Ron's eyes were in danger of falling out of their sockets, as he stuttered, 'W-What?'

Harry smirked and repeated herself, 'What will you call me from now on?'

Severus said, 'Well, we thought to ask you...'

Harry looked at him and asked, 'Are you okay with this?'

Severus smiled slightly and confessed, 'I must say, I am still a little confused, but I think I can get used to it. And yes, I'm okay with this. Mr Weasley here has already served a detention with Mr Filch yesterday, so I think that's the end of my punishment. Now it's your turn.'

Harry laughed and Severus smiled at the sound of it. She frowned for a moment and then said, 'I can't be Harry James Snape Potter anymore. Who will I be? Dad, help me!'

Snape grinned a little at the girl's pouting and said, 'I was thinking for the last few days and came up with these names: Harriet, Gabrielle, Lillian, Kiara and Theresa.'

Harry's brow rose up at the names. She said, 'Harriet for my previous name?'

Severus nodded.

'Lillian for my mother's name?'

'Her full name was Lily Felicity Evans. Lillian is a longer variant of the name Lily.'

Harry smiled slightly.

'Gabrielle...'

'Was your great-grandmother's name.'

'Theresa... also my great-grandmother's?'

Snape shook his head and answered, 'No, it just popped in my mind. But Kiara is the name of your other great-grandmother. My mother's mother.'

Harry again sunk in silence, mulling names over.

'Harriet Kiara it is then.'

~8~8~8~8~

The day on which Harriet would return to classes dawned sooner than she expected. Severus already brought her new uniform to her room, where she was relaxing. She stared at it for a moment and then put it on. She looked over to the mirror to see, how it stood on her. Seeing that it wasn't so bad, she sighed.

'I'm never going to get used to this!'

Severus chuckled and ruffled her hair. Harriet scowled up at him and Severus grinned. Harriet put on a wicked grin and pulled out her wand.

'If you don't stop grinning like a mad man, I'm going to curse you!'

Severus stopped the moment the words left her mouth and glared down at his daughter.

'This isn't the way a girl should talk,' he scolded her. Harriet turned her back on him and went over to the window.

'It's just so hard, Dad...'

Severus smiled softly and hugged her around her waist, saying,

'I know, Harriet. But you have lots of friends, who will be there for you and help you to adjust. However, you should be going now, your first Potions lesson should start soon.'

Harriet sighed again and groaned, 'Double Potions with Draco Malfoy! My day couldn't start better!'

Severus laughed at this and murmured, 'Well, since you know a lot about Potions from Lady Ravenclaw, it shouldn't be too hard for you to make a perfect potion...'

'Not if Malfoy puts something in it.'

Severus stared at his daughter.

'You saw what he did to me for the last five years! You just let him do it and took away the points of Gryffindor!'

Snape sighed, 'These are NEWT classes now, and I keep a better eye on my students in it. We should go.'

Harriet picked up her bag with Potion ingredients and left their quarters. When she arrived to the Potions classroom, she took a deep breath and opened the doors. She walked in and sat herself near Hermione. Just as she wanted to open her bag, she felt someone sneaking at her from behind. She took out her wand and pointed it at the intruder. She scowled. It was Malfoy. He watched her with interest.

'I never saw you before. Are you a transfer student?'

What?!? He thinks I'm a transfer student? Didn't Dumbledore tell the school what happened? Harriet thought.

'No, I'm not, Malfoy.'

Draco Malfoy seemed surprised at this answer, but composed himself and said, 'Well, who are you? I don't remember seeing you at Hogwarts before.'

Hermione snickered silently in her hands. Malfoy heard her and glared at her.

'What's so funny, Granger?'

Hermione calmly said, 'It's funny you don't recognize your arch nemesis.'

'My what?'

Hermione snickered again.

'Honestly, Malfoy. Don't you read? Arch nemesis means mortal enemy.'

Malfoy glared at her for a second and then turned his head back to Harriet. Just as he was about to say something, Snape thundered in the classroom, scowling at everyone, including Draco.

'May I ask, Mr Malfoy, what you are doing still standing, when I am in this classroom?'

Malfoy smirked and replied, 'Nothing, Professor; I was just about to go to my seat.'

He put his bag on the table behind Harriet and took out his potion ingredients. He whispered so quietly that Harriet had to strain her ears to hear him, 'I'm going to find out who you are, don't worry.'

Snape opened the register book and started reading the names. When he came to Harriet's name, he stopped, looked at her and said, 'Harriet Kiara Potter, I see you are well again, considering you are a girl now. I hope the transfiguration had something good in it. For example, making you able to get at least one potion right.'

He smirked and sent to his daughter, knowing she would receive the message.

'Sorry about that, but you know I have to be like that!'

When he saw Harriet slightly smile, he inwardly relaxed.

'Yeah, I know! Just don't be too much of a git.'

Snape had to strain himself not to laugh. Instead he glared at Harriet and finished reading the register list. Then he said, 'Today, I'll try and teach you how to brew a potion, which will change you in a person you admire the most. You can't choose. It's like a boggart. It's called the Potion of Souls. Here are the ingredients and instructions. The ingredients you don't have are in the storeroom. You have one hour. Start now!'

He sat at his desk then and glared at his students. Harriet pulled the necessary ingredients from her bag and went to retrieve the rest from the storeroom. She sat at her desk then, looked at her father and wandlessly conjured a shield no one save Snape and Hermione could enter. She carefully plucked the dead starling and crushed the feathers. Then she cut the claws of a manticore. She worked quietly and concentrated on the shield to keep it up. She didn't want Malfoy to ruin her first potion of the year. When she finished, the potion looked exactly like it should, and she even had fifteen minutes to spare. She carefully put the potion in several vials, making sure they had an unbreakable spell on them. She put some of the potion in a half-pint bottle, which she made sure won't break from the heat of the potion. She smiled slightly and stood up. She put the bottle in her pocket, cleaned the cauldron and grabbed the vials with her name on them. She stepped forward to her father's desk and waited for his acknowledge. Snape felt someone in front of his desk. He put his glare on and raised his head. He felt his eyebrows rising and asked, 'Miss Potter. May I find out, why you are standing here and not sitting at your table, making the potion I said to make?'

Harriet quirked her lips, replied, 'Yes, sir. But I finished the potion already. Here are the vials,' and gave him the vials with a violet potion.

Snape glanced at his class and said, 'I see that you managed to get the potion right this time. Put one vial here and take the other to your seat. You may start on your homework. It's two rolls of parchment. The first roll is about making the potion, its ingredients' properties, and the procedure. The second is on the person you changed into. You are to write about him or her.'

Harriet nodded and went back to her table. She peeked at Malfoy and saw, that he too was about to finish it. She sat and pulled the parchment out of her bag. She dipped the quill in her ink and started writing. When all of the students finished their potions, Snape said, 'Now, you try it. As I said before, you should change in the person you admire the most... As you finished first, you may be the first to drink your potion too, Miss Potter.'

Harriet grimaced at the taste of the potion and gulped it down in an instant. She felt warmth spreading through her body and closed her eyes. When the warmth stopped, she opened her eyes again and looked around herself. Snape had conjured the mirror and was standing near it, not looking at her. She stepped in front of that mirror, took a deep breath and looked. What she saw made her step back in surprise. It wasn't the person she expected to see.