What do you mean I'm a girl?!

Part 1: Shocked

Harry stretched and got out of bed, his mind still fuzzy with sleep. He padded in his bare feet to the bathroom, not bothering to reach for his glasses. Normally, he wouldn't be able to do without his glasses, as there usually would be various articles of clothing, shoes, books plus assorted odds and ends scattered on the floor to trip up the unwary. However, it was the end of the year, and most of the students had left Hogwarts for their own homes in the holiday season.

Now Harry only shared the dorm with Neville, whose grandmother was currently visiting some relatives in Ireland. She had offered to take him along, but Neville wanted to spend the holidays with his newfound Hufflepuff girlfriend. Neville had changed greatly since his fifth year and with the onset of puberty, he was no longer as clumsy and nervous as he previously was. He had shot up greatly and lost quite some weight.

Harry's own puberty sometime after his sixteenth birthday had not brought many changes aside from his voice becoming slightly deeper and dreams that left him flushed and sweaty. The much hoped for height gain did not materialise as he only managed to grow a few inches and was still one of the shortest in his year.

Ever since Neville and his girlfriend had gotten together sometime in the middle of the sixth year, they seemed to be attached at the hip. Neville was usually out of the dorm all the time, so Harry didn't see much of him even though they were the only two Gryffindor students of their year who had stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays.

Professor Dumbledore had insisted that Harry stay at Hogwarts for his safety from Death Eater attacks after an episode in his fifth year. The Dursleys had left Harry alone at their home for over two months, and there had been an attack when the wards around the house were weakened. After that had happened, Harry now spent most of his time at Hogwarts since Dumbledore had finally lost his conviction that the Dursleys would take care of Harry.

Harry rather preferred it this way and he enjoyed having the whole dorm to himself. He yawned and groped for his toothbrush on the sink. As he stuck the brush into his mouth, he looked up into the mirror and what he saw made his jaw drop wide open. The toothbrush dropped out of suddenly nerveless fingers. The reflection in the mirror, even without his glasses, didn't look anything like him. He most definitely had not been a natural brunette and his hair was never that long.

Harry scrambled out of the bathroom and almost tripped over a slipper on the floor as he made a beeline for his glasses on his dresser. He grabbed the glasses, put them on and went back to the bathroom. He gawked at the reflection in the mirror with shock, not believing his eyes.

The reflection gawked back at him. It had long, flowing reddish brown hair that went past its shoulders to end somewhere below the shoulder blades. The face was his and yet subtly different. The only two familiar things were the jagged lightning shaped scar and the green eyes staring wildly. The most jarring thing was that the reflection staring out from the mirror at him was decidedly feminine!

~ ~ o 'o ~ ~

Harry sat on the cold floor of the bathroom and stared blankly off into space in shock. "I must be dreaming..." he pinched himself hard and yelped. "Alright, so it's not a dream. Maybe it's some kind of weird prank? The only trouble is there's no one around who would play a prank like that, Fred and George are at the Burrow."

Harry pushed himself up to his feet shakily and walked over to the mirror again. This time, looking at it without the initial shock colouring his perspective, he could see that he didn't really look that much different in his facial features. In fact, he now could pass as his own sister or a close relative, assuming he had one.

He cautiously peeked into his shirt, and hyperventilated again. When he managed to get his breathing under control again a few minutes later, he was more sensitive to the changes that had happened to his body. His waist was slimmer than it was previously and his hips more rounded. He also had breasts but they were not very obvious and were just two slight mounds under his shirt.

Harry was at a loss concerning what to do next. He breathed deeply and tried to calm his racing mind. He brushed his teeth and went through his daily morning routine. He was then faced with the problem of what to wear. His shirts were tight at the chest and his pants felt uncomfortable, too. He finally settled for some of Dudley's old hand-me-downs. The large sweater and pants were loose and baggy on his frame but at least it wasn't emphasizing certain parts of his body the way his normal clothes were.

He looked at the mirror and a strange yet familiar girl looked back at him, "I still can't believe it."

"What's there to believe, dearie?" the bathroom mirror asked curiously.

"I can't really explain it," Harry said. "I woke up this morning to find myself looking like this."

The mirror frowned, "Well, you could benefit with some better fitting clothes, but you're a very pretty girl so I don't really see the problem."

"Arrgh!!" Harry was extremely frustrated. He stormed out muttering to himself, "What do you mean I'm a girl?! Dumb mirror."

The mirror was left puzzled and faintly insulted, "There's nothing wrong with my eyesight, I have perfect 20/20 vision and that is most definitely a girl."

~ ~ o ' o ~ ~

Harry left the dorm and hesitated momentarily outside. Who could he turn to for help? Most of the professors had left for the holidays and the few who were left were not always in the castle. Harry hadn't seen Dumbledore at all for the past few days. He decided to head for Professor McGonagall's room and hope that she would be able to help him.

Harry stood outside Professor McGonagall's door and knocked on it. After a few knocks, McGonagall herself opened the door, "Yes, what do you want, child?"

"I'm Harry Potter, Professor."

McGonagall's eyebrows rose in amazement over the rim of her glasses. "Mr. Potter," her voice revealed the depth of her shock. Harry looked pleadingly at her, hoping she would be able to help him out of his predicament. "Well then, Mr. Potter, you'd better come in," she opened the door wider and beckoned him in. Harry went in and McGonagall closed the door behind him.

She motioned him towards one of the chairs before her desk, sitting down in her own chair. There was an uneasy moment of silence, which Harry broke by shifting uneasily in his chair and asking, "Umm... Professor, so would you know of any reason why I would wake up in the morning looking like this?"

McGonagall looked increasingly uncomfortable. "It's rather hard to explain, Potter," she paused and looked a little uncertain. "I am not very certain whether it is the actual cause of your... transformation, but it is the most plausible explanation. I do not know if you are aware of the fact that the Potters are one of the old Wizarding families?" she looked at him quizzically. Harry shook his head and plucked nervously at a bit of fluff on his sweater.

"Well, at any rate, the Potters are one of the old families, almost as far back as the Weasleys and the Malfoys. And as with most old Wizarding families, they have their... idiosyncrasies that are unique to their family alone. One of those quirks was a curse that affected only the male Potters. It would turn them into females every month for a number of days normally ranging from five to seven days, although it was possible to last for as long as fourteen days in rare cases."

"So I'm affected by this curse?" Harry queried worriedly.

"It would seem so, however, the problem is that it normally skips a few generations and only surfaces once in a while every third or fourth generation. This is due to the fact that most members of the family had been marrying Muggle-born witches and wizards and with all this mixing of blood, the potency of the curse had been diminished over the centuries. Your father was affected by this curse which is why I am extremely surprised to find that you were affected too. For you to be affected as well, your mother would have to be related to the Potter family. She would have to have a good amount of Potter blood for you to be affected by this curse."

"Oh," Harry was overwhelmed by the sudden inflow of information. "Uh... Professor? How long would this curse affect me? Would it stop after a few years?"

"I'm afraid not, Potter. You will have to go through the change every month of your life."

Harry's jaw dropped open in shock before he managed to gather his scattered wits and close his mouth. "Oh," he said weakly, stunned. He sat for a while, turning the situation over in his head.

McGonagall allowed him some time to slowly come to grips with the situation. "Well Potter, look at it as an opportunity. You can reveal this or not as you choose, although I think you would prefer not to, correct?" she looked at him and Harry nodded in confirmation. "Very well then, as I was saying, this could be an opportunity for you to escape the burden of being Harry Potter, even though it is only for a few days each month."

Harry felt a lifting of his spirits at her words. Possibilities reeled through his mind and for the first time he wasn't filled with dread at the predicament he was in. He smiled a little and asked, "But how would I be able to hide this from my classmates when classes start again?"

"Well, we will perhaps be able to come up with some extra classes for you every month to teach you about countering the Dark Arts. I'm sure that given your unique position, people would not be surprised by such a move. It would effectively allay any suspicions about your disappearance for a number of days each month. I'm sure the last thing you would need is the speculation of certain parties that you are a werewolf," a faint smile quirked around the edges of McGonagall's lips.

Harry smiled, finally confident that he would be able to pull this off successfully, "Thank you, Professor."

McGonagall smiled at him, her facial expression relaxing from her usual strictness. "You're welcome, Potter. I would suggest you purchase new clothes that fit you better at the present. If you would like to do so, I will be going to Diagon Alley later this afternoon and you may accompany me if you wish to do so."

"I'd love to go along!" Harry was ecstatic at the idea of being able to go out, as he had been restricted to the castle for the whole of his holidays. It was still wonderful compared to holidays with the Dursleys but he would still take any opportunity to get out of the castle, as it was a little boring after a while.

"Very well then, meet me here at two after your lunch," Professor McGonagall's eyes twinkled.

Harry left her office and headed off to the kitchens to coax some breakfast out of the house elves.

~ ~ o ' o ~ ~

Part 2: Diagon Alley

After lunch, Harry headed for Professor McGonagall's office as agreed earlier. He found her ready and waiting for him. "Mr. Potter. Shall we leave?" McGonagall asked.

Harry nodded and asked, "How will we be going there?"

"By Floo. Follow me and kindly do not wander off by yourself," McGonagall took a pinch of Floo powder and held out the box to Harry. He took a pinch from the box and watched as McGonagall replaced the box on the mantle. She then threw the powder in and said, "Diagon Alley." Harry did the same and felt the familiar lurch of travelling by the Floo. He jerked to a stop and coughed, brushing off the soot.

Professor McGonagall was beside him, looking as neat as ever without a hair out of place. She turned to him, "Our first stop will be Gringotts, you might need some money for your purchases and I need to make a withdrawal too."

After they had stopped at Gringotts and filled their purses, they headed for the shops. McGonagall took a look at the spectacles hanging loosely on his ears and pursed her lips. "I think you will need to replace those," and she led him to a shop that sold spectacles. It had a pair of disembodied eyeballs framed by a pair of spectacles hanging above the shop sign, Widfle's Wizarding Eyewear For All Occasions. The shop was well lit with assorted glasses displayed prominently in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

The elderly wizard behind the counter made Harry take a test to judge his eyesight that involved oddly coloured groups of circles with hidden words and numbers inside. He also had to read a chart that had letters that rapidly decreased in size the further down you read. At the very last row the letters were so tiny they almost could not be read clearly and they were also playing hide and seek! They would stay still for a while as Harry squinted and tried to make them out, and then just as he almost managed to decipher them they would disappear from sight only to reappear later. The wizard frowned and rapped on the chart with his wand, "Stop playing and stay still or I'll turn you a bright glaring pink later." The words reappeared with a squeak and the wizard harrumphed and gestured for Harry to continue with his test.

Once Harry had read the letters on the chart to the best of his ability, the wizard pulled out a pair of gold-framed glasses and put them on. He referred to a sheaf of papers and then looked up, "Well, young lady, you have two options. Your eyesight is correctable with magic; just a little tweaking of the eye muscles and it'll be as good as new. That's the first option and that is what I would recommend. The second option is to buy new glasses, of course. If you wear glasses, however, there is the possibility of your eyesight deteriorating further. On the other hand, it is much cheaper compared to having the correction."

Harry considered his options and thought it over. "How much would it be for the correction?"

The wizard named a rather hefty sum and Harry paid it, glad that he had thought to fill his coin bag to the brim back at Gringotts earlier. The wizard led Harry to a room where there was a reclining chair rather like the type a Muggle dentist would use; assorted equipment was placed neatly in a cupboard with glass doors. The wizard gestured for Harry to sit on the chair. He told Harry to keep his eyes open and then held his wand just hovering over Harry's pupils. He muttered a spell and made several slight movements with his wand. It took quite some time but when the wizard was finally done, Harry could see clearly without his glasses. He felt oddly naked and vulnerable without his specs and yet, at the same time, exhilarated as though a burden had been lifted from him.

They left the eyewear shop and McGonagall lead them to a small shop tucked away behind two other shops. It was so well concealed behind the other two shops that it would be possible to walk right past it and not notice it was there. Harry had never known about the existence of that shop even though he had walked right past it many times.

When Harry entered the shop and got a glimpse of the wares displayed in neat rows, he blushed furiously. McGonagall had taken him to a shop that was the Wizarding equivalent of Victoria's Secret! Rows and rows of delicate lingerie and lacy underwear were displayed and modelled by mannequins that posed flirtatiously and shifted into different poses from time to time.

McGonagall paused ahead of Harry and turned back to see what was holding him up. She shook her head and beckoned him forward impatiently. Harry scuttled over to McGonagall, his cheeks still flushed with embarrassment. McGonagall looked disapprovingly at him, "You do need the appropriate underwear, child." Harry just nodded meekly.

McGonagall searched through a rack of bras as Harry hung around behind her miserably. He tried to accept the fact that he was a girl now and therefore had a perfectly valid reason to be here. This was rather difficult due to the long ingrained male discomfiture when surrounded by rows and rows of lacy lingerie.

McGonagall held up a few bras and measured his chest before handing him a few different styles and sizes to try on. Harry headed for the changing room and bolted the door. He looked at the bras McGonagall had given him to try. There were a few plain cotton ones and some more fanciful looking ones with ribbons and lace. He had to give McGonagall credit for taste however; even the more fanciful ones were elegantly decorated and not gaudy.

Harry tried on the plain cotton ones first and put aside the few that felt comfortable from the rest. He then tried on one lacy creation that was cut lower compared to the cotton ones and turned around to look in the full-length mirror. The mirror wolf whistled and leered at Harry, "Woo-hoo, you look lovely, darling."

"Oh be quiet," Harry said irritably. He had to admit that the mirror had a point, it looked lovely on him, and it enhanced his looks and made him feel desirable. The silk felt lovely and cool on his skin, too. He set that aside with his pile to be purchased later and moved on to the next.

Some time later, he exited the changing room with a pile of bras that he liked. The ones that did not fit were replaced on the rack. He then selected some panties and paid for all his purchases. The sales witch packed all of them neatly into a carrier bag that was plain white except for the store logo discretely placed on the bottom.

After exiting the lingerie store, their next stop was a clothing store that specially catered to witches. Harry picked out shirts, blouses, sweaters, skirts, pants and even some dresses with McGonagall offering advice occasionally. Harry realized that he was having fun and actually enjoying himself shopping for new clothes. Time flew by quickly. Harry paid for all of his purchases and McGonagall shrunk all the bags for him so that it would be less cumbersome and awkward and Harry slipped the miniature bags into his pocket gratefully.

McGonagall suddenly realized with a start upon exiting the clothing store that she still had not completed her errand. "Oh my, I still haven't - " she shut her mouth abruptly, cutting off whatever she was going to say next. "I need to run an errand, and I don't have much time left," she looked sternly at Harry. "I'm sure you still have purchases to make, and I do need to complete my errand urgently. I will have to leave you to the rest of your shopping by yourself, do keep to the populated areas and be careful. I will meet you at Flourish and Blotts in two and a half hours time."

Harry nodded, trying not to look too happy at the thought of being able to wander around by himself. He felt a thrill of freedom at the prospect, "I'll be careful."

"I should hope so," McGonagall said tartly. "If anything happens get back to Hogwarts as fast as you can by any means possible," she looked sharply at Harry. "I'll meet you later." Harry nodded and watched as she left hurriedly.

Harry wondered what exactly was the errand McGonagall had to complete that had her in such a tizzy. His first year came to mind as he recalled Hagrid and the Philosopher's Stone and how Hagrid had been entrusted with bringing the stone back to Hogwarts. Surely one secret magical artifact with great allure to evil wizards was enough for one lifetime? McGonagall surely couldn't be on a similar errand, could she? Harry pushed the thoughts out of his mind for the moment and focused on planning how he would spend the next few hours while waiting for McGonagall.

Harry had received his list of required items and books for the next year but he hadn't brought it along as he planned to shop for those items together with Ron and Hermione when he next visited the Burrow in a few weeks time. He had fulfilled his main purpose of this trip, which was to purchase new clothing, however, he needed new shoes so he decided to purchase his shoes first then wander around and do a little sightseeing.

A few shops down the street was a shoe shop which Harry entered with the intention of purchasing a pair of shoes. There were all sorts of interesting shoes in the shop. A group of people; adult witches and wizards, teenagers and young children were gathered around a pair of red shoes that tapped and danced by themselves with no one wearing them. The shoes were touted as being able to make the clumsiest dancer light and fleet of foot. Harry joined the crowd to watch the red shoes dance for a while then a shiny golden pair that was sleek and had a pair of wings fluttering at the sides caught his attention. The shop owner said that it was modelled on the snitch and the wings were able to levitate the wearer for a period of time. Harry made a note to himself to ask Ron about his shoe size so he could buy him those as a gift for Christmas. The varieties of shoes offered were very attractive but Harry was looking for a sturdy pair for everyday use. Finally he settled on a sensible looking pair of black shoes that were soft and comfortable. Harry paid and headed out with his shoes in a bag then wandered over to the Quidditch shop.

Harry pressed his nose against the shop window and admired the sleek outline of the racing brooms displayed there. The sight still filled him with the same awe and wonder he had felt as an eleven year-old when he got his first glimpse of a broom and the heady feeling of new possibilities unfolding before him, with the awareness of magic and the realization that he was a wizard. Certainly his life had become much more interesting ever since he entered Hogwarts.

Harry glanced at his watch and saw that he had plenty of time left before McGonagall returned from her errand. He entered the shop, curious about what new products had arrived recently. He flipped through a few magazines and was looking at a new broom servicing kit when he heard two familiar voices behind him. He turned around and saw Seamus and Dean arguing passionately over something as they entered the store. Harry's first unthinking reaction was to wave at them but luckily for him, the two were so engrossed in their argument that they never noticed a strange girl waving at them or they assumed she was waving at someone else behind them. Harry froze abruptly, recalling that he didn't exactly look like himself presently. He scuttled behind a magazine stand and tried to calm himself down. While Seamus and Dean were generally nice people, he could depend on them to tease him mercilessly if they ever found out about his predicament.

Harry peeked out from behind the stand after a few minutes. He didn't spot the two anywhere nearby in the vicinity and so he edged out slowly. He looked around and spotted the two nearby, looking at one of the brooms on display. Harry watched the two stealthily; ready to jump behind the stand again if they looked in his direction. Time passed and the two didn't even glance in his direction, their attention enthralled by the sleek brooms. Harry started to feel a little foolish for his overreaction. He relaxed and puffed out a breath of air. After all, who would look at a smallish brunette girl and think of The Boy Who Lived? His fringe covered his infamous lightning shaped scar quite well and other than that there was nothing else to link him to Harry Potter. It struck him that this was the anonymity McGonagall had been talking about. He wasn't the famous Boy Who Lived, he was just a normal person. Harry smiled; feeling oddly freed from the normal expectations of people around him who only saw The Boy Who Lived and not his actual self.

He returned his attention to the broom servicing kit he had been looking at before Seamus and Dean had entered the shop. He browsed idly for a while until he was bored and then left the shop. Seamus and Dean were still there, their attention caught by something else. Harry strolled down the street, feeling light and merry. He had an hour left before he was to meet McGonagall at Flourish and Blotts and he decided to buy some sweets. He left the sweet shop with a bag filled with sweets, chocolates and other goodies. As he turned a corner, he bumped into a person coming from the other end. Harry managed to hold on to his bags firmly without his purchases flying onto the street but the other person wasn't so lucky. Books and assorted items scattered all over the street.

"Oh Merlin! I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking," Harry said, bending down and helping to pick up the stuff scattered on the ground.

The other person was gathering stuff rapidly and looked up with a scowl. "Might I suggest you be more careful next time? I could have been carrying breakable items," a familiar silky voice stated. Harry looked up to discover that he had just bumped into Professor Snape! Harry's eyes opened wide and his mouth dropped open with shock. The predominant thought running through his head was that Snape was going to be extremely annoyed with him. Oh Merlin... what did I do to deserve this? Harry silently pleaded.

~ ~ o ' o ~ ~