What do you mean I'm a girl?!

Part 3: Encountering Snape

Snape was usually in two frames of mind about the school holidays. On one hand, he was slightly disappointed that his main source of entertainment, watching students squirm in his class was gone. On the other hand, he did enjoy the peace and quiet without cauldrons being blown up by pesky little horrors called children that had no idea how to appreciate the art of potions.

This blissful tranquillity allowed him free time to indulge in leisurely activities that he normally would not have the time for during the school term. Contrary to popular opinion, he was not tied to his cauldron all the time. He did enjoy going out to Hogsmeade for a drink or two, scowling at any students in the nearby vicinity and watching them turn pale and flee from him, with their little stubby legs scurrying away hurriedly. He had to resist the impulse to cackle evilly at the sight, it simply was not dignified and not at all in keeping with his carefully maintained image. He also used the free time to catch up with some of his old colleagues and discuss the latest innovations and breakthroughs, and indulge in a little swapping of tales. Snape loved visiting the bookstore to check out the latest books and went frequently, at least once a week. Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley usually stocked a wide range of selections and it was his most frequented bookstore.

Snape was bored. He had cleaned his classroom, arranged all his potion ingredients alphabetically, cleaned his bookshelf, sorted it and cleaned his quarters. Now he was bored stiff and restless. Dumbledore was gone on some mysterious mission for goodness knows how long; McGonagall would usually lock herself up in her office and glare at anyone who disturbed her unnecessarily. As for Sprout, she was always pottering around in the greenhouses, Hooch, Flitwick and Trelawney were gone on holiday, and Hagrid was as usual, fooling around with his ickle beasties. They were all occupied with something to do and he was extremely bored, not being able to disturb any of them.

Snape brightened up as he recalled that a particular book he had placed an order for would be arriving today. He flung on his cloak and tucked his coin bag in his robes. He patted his pocket and felt the familiar weight of his wand. Snape swept out of his room, locking the door behind him. He walked out to the edge of the apparation barriers then apparated to Diagon Alley. He popped into the Apothecary first; checking to see if the newt eyes and ginseng he had ordered had arrived. The store proprietor informed him that the ginseng had come but the newt eyes would only arrive next week. Snape nodded and told the owner to reserve some for him when he returned next week. He purchased some ginseng, a handful of brown fungus and some dried pine tree bark.

After he left the Apothecary, Snape headed to Flourish and Blotts. He was pleased to find that the book ordered earlier had indeed arrived. He picked it up and spent some time browsing through the other books. After quite a while, he stretched his neck, hearing his muscles protest audibly from the crick he had gotten after hours of peering down at books. He blinked with surprise at how much time had passed. He lugged the armful of books he had selected to the counter and paid for them. They were heavy and Snape briefly toyed with the idea of shrinking them but he had never been particularly gifted in that area and had not cast the spell at all since he left school so he decided against it. He cast a weightless charm on the bags and left the bookstore.

He was heading to the nearby pub to get a quick bite since he had missed lunch, and he had turned a corner when someone slammed into him. His bags went flying, their contents scattered all over the street. Snape was fuming when the shock of the sudden impact wore off. His nice, new books were thrown all over the street! He stooped and gathered his books quickly, examining them anxiously and was glad to find that there was not much damage aside from a few scratches and dents to the cover. It was fortunate that the street was not muddy or the books would have been ruined.

"Oh Merlin! I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking," a light, feminine voice broke into Snape's concentration.

Snape looked up at the unfortunate person, a young girl from the sound of her voice and put on his most ferocious scowl, the one he spent hours practicing in front of the mirror and was even able to make Death Eaters quail and cower at the sight of it. "Might I suggest you be more careful next time? I could have been carrying breakable items," he glared at the girl who was also picking up some of his books scattered further away. She looked up at him and her jaw dropped open in surprised recognition and then rapidly changed to a look of dread.

Snape looked her over carefully. She was a smallish sized girl with red brown hair and green eyes. She was somehow familiar, as if he had met her before, but Snape couldn't place her name. He normally took pride in being able to remember all of his students' names, whether they were still schooling or had long left Hogwarts. She was at the age where she would still be schooling but Snape simply couldn't ever remember seeing her in his classes. But yet she had recognized him and that particular look of dread was very familiar, he saw it all the time with the students he taught. He frowned and his forehead wrinkled up unconsciously in thought. The girl's features were very familiar... and the answer was just hovering at the edge of his mind...

Snape suddenly straightened up in shock as realization took hold in his mind. Those green eyes were extremely familiar and the face... "Potter?!" he gasped.

~ ~ o ' o ~ ~

After leaving Harry to continue shopping on his own, McGonagall strode hurriedly up the street and turned into an alleyway. After a while, a tabby cat with markings that looked remarkably like spectacles peered out cautiously from the alleyway before padding out into the street, its tail held up straight and high.

The cat wove skilfully between the legs of the numerous people walking up and down the busy street and turned into Knockturn Alley. The expression on the cat's face now could be described as extremely wary and it eyed all the passers-by suspiciously. The cat walked quickly, determined to get to its location as soon as possible.

The cat evaded a drunk and weaving wizard who was waving his hand blearily and shouting unintelligible words loudly and angrily. The cat shook its head and sniffed disapprovingly. It perked up, seeing its destination nearby and put on a burst of speed before turning into a small dingy pub.

Inside the pub it was hot and smelly and was filled with various unsavoury characters indulging in their preferred poison of various types of alcoholic drinks. The walls were grimy and dirty with scrawled graffiti on them. The cat scampered quickly under the tables to a small room at the back of the bar, not wanting to spend a moment longer in this place than absolutely necessary.

In the room, the cat stood still and morphed into a tall, stern looking woman with glasses. McGonagall looked disdainfully at her surroundings, turning her nose up fastidiously at the amount of dirt caked all over the walls and floor. She took out her wand and tapped a complicated pattern on the bricks of the wall in front of her, then stood back. There was a rumbling sound of stone shifting and the portion of the floor McGonagall had been standing on suddenly surged apart to open up and reveal a staircase leading downwards. She advanced down the staircase and the opening closed itself behind her.

~ ~ o ' o ~ ~

Oh Merlin... what did I do to deserve this? Harry silently pleaded. He felt doomed; sure that Snape would somehow discover his secret. His expression must have given away what he was feeling as Snape looked suspiciously at him. Harry watched with an increasing feeling of apprehension in his stomach, as Snape looked him over carefully, scrutinizing his features. He could almost see his Professor's mind working furiously over the puzzle, his forehead wrinkled up in thought.

Snape straightened abruptly with a look of shock on his features and exclaimed in surprise, "Potter?!"

Harry gulped audibly. It was just as he expected. Snape somehow seemed to draw the right conclusions from the scarce data offered where another person would dismiss it as too fanciful or preposterous. He made a feeble attempt to cover it up anyway. "Uh... I think you must have mistaken me for someone else..." he offered with a weak smile, edging backwards.

Snape's eyes narrowed and his gaze gleamed with the satisfaction of having caught his prey firmly in his trap. "Hah!" he barked, swooping up from his crouch to loom over Harry, "Lying again to a Professor, Potter? I'm sure that at least some detention would be in order for your dishonesty."

Harry scrambled up and thrust the books he was holding at Snape. "I don't know what you're talking about," he replied defiantly. Snape grabbed his books and stuffed them into his bag, then began circling around Harry like a predator circling its prey.

"Oh, really?" Snape queried. "I don't think so, Potter. There is no hiding your distinctly... unique features. No matter if you try to masquerade as a female, I can still spot you," he bared his teeth in a parody of a grin.

"I am not trying to pretend to be a girl! I got changed suddenly by a stupid curse!" Harry exclaimed angrily then flushed, realizing that he had just given himself away.

Snape smirked, "Oh? Well then, Mr. Potter, I'd be interested in hearing your explanation for sprinting around corners and knocking into people."

"It was an accident!! I already said I was sorry. It's not like I did it on purpose!" Harry grumped. The people passing by didn't even bother to look at them with a passing interest; they were so accustomed to seeing all sorts of odd sights daily that nothing short of an apocalypse could shock them. Only a few curious ones took a quick glance before deciding there was nothing of interest and moved on.

Snape's eyes narrowed speculatively. "Alright, I'll accept that it was an accident," he said calmly.

Harry's eyes almost bugged out with surprise. He never expected Snape to be reasonable, still half believing in the mindset of his earlier years where Snape was regarded as a harsh and unreasonable teacher that was biased towards the Slytherins.

"Oh..." Harry said weakly. "Uh..." he stuttered, struck speechless with shock and embarrassment. He couldn't imagine what would happen now that Snape knew he had turned into a girl. Would Snape reveal it the way he had with Lupin?

Snape arched an eyebrow, "I can see that you have retained your usual level of verbal fluency. At any rate, why are you wandering about Diagon Alley alone, even if you do not resemble your usual self currently? Surely you are aware that it is not safe to do so?"

"I know it's not safe. I came with Professor McGonagall but she had an urgent errand to run so she left me alone for a while. I'm supposed to meet her in half an hour's time at Flourish and Blotts," Harry explained.

Snape pondered it over, "Well then, seeing as there are no other Professors to supervise you, you can follow me. I haven't had my lunch yet, so a quick bite and we'll meet McGonagall at Flourish and Blotts in half an hour's time."

Snape checked his books, arranging them neatly in his bag and then beckoned Harry impatiently, "Don't dawdle, Potter, and move faster." Snape then strode off with Harry following closely behind.

~ ~ o ' o ~ ~

Part 4: McGonagall's Errand

McGonagall descended the narrow steps, a faint whitish light emitting from her wand illuminated the path before her. The steps wound around and were narrow and slippery, the walls covered with some kind of slimy substance that she didn't even want to think about touching. McGonagall just barely managed to keep from slipping a few times.

Finally, she reached the end of the steps and walked along a narrow passage that branched out into three different corridors. She picked the one on the far left and walked on. It also branched out in many different twists and turns, a very confusing maze that was all too easy to get lost. McGonagall made her way through the maze steadily, taking turns with the ease of practice.

She stopped at what seemed to be a dead end and fished out a circular amulet hanging from a chain around her neck. It fit nicely in the palm of her left hand. The face of the amulet showed a phoenix swooping about merrily and chasing flames. The back inscribed with strange, curling letters that glowed red gold when hit by light. McGonagall placed her right hand over the phoenix and uttered some words that made the amulet turn hot and glow. The heat was bearable to McGonagall but should another person touch the amulet, it would glow red-hot and burn the skin. McGonagall removed her hand to reveal that the face of the amulet had changed. The phoenix had gone, only to be replaced by a tabby cat washing its whiskers. This of course, was McGonagall's animagus form.

McGonagall pressed the amulet into the brick wall and it sunk into the wall easily until it was completely concealed from view. She stepped back and turned around, retracing her steps. When she had taken about ten steps, she stopped and pushed on two bricks located on the wall on her left. A door swung open silently and she stepped in, closing the door behind her.

The room behind the door was spacious and wide. McGonagall did not want to think about the amount of work and magical effort put into creating this system of secret passages and rooms. It had been created by an extremely paranoid wizard a few centuries ago who was very wealthy and more than a little mad. He had hired highly specialized wizards to build the rat's nest of passages and hidden rooms crisscrossing all over the place beneath what had been his family's ancestral dwelling. It was now Knockturn Alley, Diagon Alley as well as their surrounding areas.

Once the work was completed, the wizard had slowly killed off those workers as well as anyone who knew about it. No one had realized the actual state of affairs and some of those deaths were dismissed as being due to natural causes. So now nobody knew exactly how far these passages extended or how to uncover all of their secrets. There were plenty of deadly traps awaiting the unwary, scattered in various places. Somehow, knowledge about it had resurfaced again and now certain, safer parts were being used by the Order of the Phoenix.

The room or to more accurately describe it, chamber, McGonagall had entered was a bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom all mixed together. The various different rooms were partitioned off each other by the use of elegantly painted paper screens. The person who had furnished this chamber had had a fine appreciation of Oriental arts and cultures, which was reflected in the way the room was decorated. Silk paintings, elegantly crafted vases, sleek rosewood furniture, and many other exotic items had been placed strategically to enhance the beauty of the surroundings. When they had first found this chamber, amazingly, all of the items were still in a relatively good condition, if rather dusty. A few cleaning charms restored the chamber to its former splendour and it was now being occupied by one of their agents.

A dark haired, skinny wizard wandered out of the bathroom, wearing a blue bathrobe and towelling his hair dry. "You're late," he said dryly.

"I was a little preoccupied earlier, I had some... things to take care of," McGonagall retorted. "How can you be so sure that it was me coming in and not some Death Eater?"

"Well, there's the little manner of all those deadly traps scattered all over the rat's maze of corridors out there, not to mention that nifty little amulet without which the door cannot be opened. I'm sure any wandering Death Eater would have been fried to dust before getting in here," he replied flippantly. McGonagall opened her mouth to launch a tirade on how he should not assume mindlessly, and he broke in hastily before she could say anything, "And I could smell that it was you. After so many years of staying in my animagus form, my senses have gotten sharper and keener. Not as heightened as an actual dog's senses but better than a normal human."

McGonagall shut her mouth with a snap and opened it again almost immediately, "Still, Sirius, you shouldn't let your guard down. What if it had been some one polyjuiced into me? Or I could be a traitor, don't look at me like that, you of all people should understand better than most how the person most unlikely to do so can turn out to be a traitor. It could be a possibility."

Sirius's expression turned solemn, making him look older than his actual age. "I know," he said quietly, thinking about Peter, who had been one of the Marauders. He should have been, from all that they had gone through together, a lifelong friend. A friend through thick and thin, but instead had turned out to be a traitor, causing the deaths of James and Lily. "Still, Minerva, I have faith that you'd never be a traitor... If you'd wanted to sell my hide to Voldemort, you would have done that long ago when I was in school. We caused so much trouble for you as our Head of House that I'm surprised you didn't put us on permanent detention or expel us," a faint smile twitched the corners of his mouth.

McGonagall smiled, "After all those years looking after all of my five sisters children when they were babies and toddlers, you and your friends were just a bigger version of the babies I looked after as a young girl. You wouldn't believe the chaos that can be created by a few little babies."

"Ouch, babies... I always thought we were 'rabble-rousing mischief makers' and you compare us to babies..." Sirius winced.

McGonagall smirked. "Oh, no doubt you were a handful... but I've been through worse," she slipped her hand into her pocket and took out a box the size of a matchstick box. "I've brought the supplies you said you needed," she placed the small box on the ground and stepped back a distance before enlarging the small box into a huge crate.

Sirius stepped forward and opened the cover. "Oh, that's just what I wanted, thank you," and he started taking things out. McGonagall had brought food, clothing, medical supplies, healing potions, some books and puzzles to occupy the mind and his old wand. It was sitting right at the bottom, wrapped in a piece of cloth. Sirius stroked it lovingly, reunited after such a long time. "How did you get this?" he asked.

"Dumbledore managed it somehow, I'm not sure about all of the details, but he slipped it out. You'll have to ask him when he comes to visit."

"I will. You just missed Remus, actually; he came yesterday for a visit and stayed the night. I tried to get him to stay longer, but he muttered something about a mission and slipped out this morning. He brought quite a lot of food too, it's a good thing he cast some preservation charms on the food before leaving. I can do it for this batch now, since I've got my wand back..." Sirius stroked it lovingly. "Tell Dumbledore I'm very grateful."

McGonagall smiled, "Alright. How was your mission? Did you find out anything about what the Death Eaters are planning? They seem to be getting ready for something, but so far we haven't been able to find anything out."

Sirius scratched his head, "Well, there was a rather sticky moment when Crabbe tried to beat me with a big stick, the fellow has an aversion to dogs, can't understand why. Aside from that, I was out of sight for the most part and Lucius Malfoy and his toadies didn't notice me tailing them. I didn't get much out of them, they didn't talk much about whatever they're planning, but the strange thing is, they were visiting Muggle residential areas. From what I picked up, it almost sounded as if they were planning to buy a house in a huge Muggle populated area. It's so strange I'd never believe it... but Malfoy actually met a few real estate agents to negotiate on a buying price for a few houses."

"That's strange..." McGonagall looked interested. "It could be related."

"It most probably is. Can you imagine Malfoy buying a house in a Muggle neighbourhood of his own free will?" Sirius barked out a laugh.

McGonagall smiled, "I couldn't imagine that happening without Malfoy being forced kicking and screaming into doing so."

"And that's why it's definitely some kind of ploy."

"I'll let Dumbledore know."

"Hasn't Snape heard anything?" Sirius asked. A faint note of suspicion crept into his voice.

"No, he hasn't heard any specific details other than to be prepared for something big and it's not for lack of trying. Most of the Death Eaters are unaware of it; they seem to be kept in the dark and the specific details only available to a selected few. All we've managed to get is that they will be moving soon. So we're pushing all of our agents to find out as much as they can and before it's too late."

~ ~ o ' o ~ ~

Snape took a bite of the delicious turkey quiche he had ordered and watched unobtrusively as the girl across of him, Harry Potter, poked at the huge slice of chocolate cake sitting in front of him? Her? Snape preferred to think of Potter as he had always been, a boy with large spectacles and messy hair and who got into all sorts of trouble all the time. They were sitting at a table outside a small café they had come across, run by an elderly matron and served home made food.

"It's huge!" Potter said, his eyes opened wide, looking rather amazed at the size of one slice. The cake was moist and dark and coated generously with melted chocolate.

"Just eat it," Snape told him.

Potter took his advice and took a bite out of it. A look of pleasure crossed his face. "It's really good. The chocolate seems to melt in the mouth," he attacked the cake with gusto.

Snape's mouth twitched in amusement as he watched Potter eat the chocolate cake with a blissful look on his face, "Doesn't take much to make you happy, does it?"

Potter gave him a look, "For me, chocolate is one of life's greatest treasures. It's the best thing to perk up your day."

"I see. Well, to each their own. I find that most of the chocolates are too sweet. Only a few chocolates are to my taste. Your father, on the other hand, had an obsession with chocolates, I suppose that's where you got it," Snape said.

"I didn't know that," Potter said.

"Now you do. Although it seems that it is not the only thing you inherited from him."

Potter looked surprised and faintly enquiring, "Do you know about the curse, Professor? Professor McGonagall didn't tell me much about it."

"I had a first hand experience with it," Snape said dryly and saw Potter look confused. "It runs in the Potter bloodline, that much McGonagall would have told you," he looked at Potter, who nodded. "Well, it all started with Edmund Potter, your ancestor, about fourteen generations back. He was a rather... promiscuous person for those times. He had a wife from an arranged marriage and two children, twins but he had countless lovers of either gender in his bed. However, for all his fooling around, he was rather discreet about it, no need to rub it in his wife's face. After all, even if he didn't exactly love her, she was from a respectable and reputable family and he didn't want any scandal. Nevertheless, things changed when he met his wife's young male cousin... and was besotted with him. It got worse when the other man returned his attentions. From a sensible man, he started acting foolishly. The two started meeting all the time, openly, without caring about being seen, and eyes did see and tongues started to talk and gossip as they will. So his wife was furious at the scandal and demanded that the two break it off. He refused to do so and in a fit of anger and jealousy, she cursed him to become a woman since he was so infatuated with men. Somehow, he managed to alter the curse so that he would only become a woman for a few days every month, but unexpectedly, his son and all the males from his bloodline were also affected. No one knows if it was part of the original curse or a side effect from his alteration."

"So that's how it came about," Potter looked curious. "How do you know all that, Professor?"

"The girl from the pair of twins he had with his wife married my ancestor," Snape answered dryly.

Potter looked shocked, "Oh... er... um... so did the curse pass down your family?"

"Yes, it did, but it wore off over time since most of my family members didn't really marry any more Potters. It hasn't happened to any male in the Snape family for a long time, although, I think the possibility is still there. Hypothetically, for an example, if a Snape was to marry a Potter, the offspring produced would probably be afflicted with it."

"I see. That's why Professor McGonagall said my Mum must have been somehow related to the Potter bloodline for me to get it."

"Yes. That's correct since it only shows up in the Potter blood once in a while, and that's only when both parents have ties to the Potter line."

"That's odd; didn't my mother come from a Muggle family?"

"She did," Snape shrugged. "Who knows, perhaps some relative some where up the line married a Muggle and went into Muggle society, it happens sometimes."

"I guess," Potter didn't look convinced. "Thank you for telling me, Professor."

"You're welcome. Now finish your cake and we'll leave to meet McGonagall."

~ ~ o ' o ~ ~