This is an Alternate Universe Harry Potter fanfiction. The first major change is that Harry is a female, and her name is Johanna. Please do not complain in the comments about why Harry should be a boy. There are 744,000 thousand Harry Potter stories on this website, so if you do NOT want to read a story about a female Harry Potter, please leave and search for something else. There is no Tri-Wizard Tournament in this story. There will be conflict, which will be manufactured by me, but the Tri-Wizard Tournament is still a dangerous tournament that was cancelled ages ago because of the death count. There are 744,000 thousand Harry Potter stories on this website, so if you do NOT want to read a story about forth year without this tournament, please leave and search for something else.
Characters in this story are going to be out of character. Some of them may transition into this altered persona, others will appear this way from the beginning, and the changes and transitions will be explained slowly but surely throughout. Characters that will be out of character include Professor Snape, Neville Longbottom, Johanna Potter, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Blaize Zabini, Luna Lovegood, Professor Dumbledore and Ronald Weasley among many more. So if any of these characters cannot and would never develop any emotional maturity or other ground breaking changes in your eyes, then reading this may be hazardous to your health. There are 744,000 thousand Harry Potter stories on this website, so if you want to read a story with a one tone Ronald Weasley, overly antagonistic Draco Malfoy and timid Neville Longbottom, please leave and search for something else.
This will be an adventure story, and there will probably be romance. I have been deliberating on the pairings, and haven't come to a conclusion about them just yet, but I will be sure to post that information as soon as possible, because not everyone enjoys every pairing and that's understandable. What I can definitely tell you is that it will NOT be Draco/Johanna because I have a different idea about the direction their relationship will take on a strictly platonic level and I really want to explore it.
Disclaimer: I will say this very clearly, I do not own Harry Potter, except for a few of the books, and the characters do not belong to me. I'm just playing with them for the time being.
Notice: I'll probably be able to update this story once a week, maybe twice weekly if I have the time, but after this first chapter, I wont be able to post until around the 17th of July because I'll be away from internet.
The Woes of Cauldron Cleaning
"I'm actually quite shocked that it took us this long into the term to get a detention from Professor Snape, y'know."
Currently scrubbing the inside of one of the more worn cauldrons that was used for Potions Classes with Professor Snape on a weekly basis, Johanna Potter was serving her first detention, three weeks into her fourth year of school, with a sullen, downtrodden Neville Longbottom, who was opposite her in separate sink, scrubbing a cauldron of his own. When she didn't receive a response immediately, she flicked a few drops of water over at Neville, hoping to break him out of the self-imposed silence he'd decided he deserved as a secondary punishment.
He didn't even flinch when a few of the droplets landed on his already furrowed brow, and she sighed dramatically, glancing around to ensure that Professor Snape wasn't present, before throwing her torso over the opening of the sink, her hair hiding her face from view. When that provoked no response, she let out another loud, exaggerated sigh, before she started speaking to herself.
"Oh, I wish I had a friend I could talk to while I suffer through the arduous task of scrubbing cauldrons, but, alas! I am alone in this cold, cruel world. Forced to suffer in solitude, I'm not sure how much longer my heart can sustain my weak, friend-deprived body!"
Neville spared a glance over at the over dramatic Gryffindor he'd dragged into detention with him after he caused another Potions accident. He really wished he could drop the course but between in being a core OWL subject and his grandmother's overbearing and domineering personality, he'd never get the opportunity.
"When did you get the chance to start learning big words like arduous? You're always busy with Quidditch practice."
She grinned excitedly that she'd finally been able to coerce him into a small conversation, before frowning at the implied insult. Neville had returned from their holiday break after third year with a rather snarky back bone, which had thrilled very few, but had delighted both Hermione and Johanna. They fretted about Neville quite a bit since their first year at Hogwarts, and to see him responding to insults with thinly veiled retorts was immensely entertaining.
"I'll have you know that being friends with Hermione means that my vocabulary is quite developed, thank you very much."
She paused after speaking, turning down the last cauldron she'd just finished washing in the sink, before reaching over to touch his wrist, patting his arm gently.
"You know I don't blame you for the detention right? Even I didn't know that Asphodel would react with Salamander Blood in that way. This probably isn't as reassuring as it could be because I'm also terrible at Potions."
They'd been paired together for the first time in Potions Class and were tasked with creating the simple Wiggenweld Potion. It was a Beginner's Potion, and it had properties that made it a suitable antidote to the Draught of the Living Dead. Neville had misread one of the instructions, and had added Salamander Blood earlier than anticipated. The resulting explosion was mostly harmless, and no one was hurt. Everyone got drenched in the potion though, including Professor Snape, and this detention, along with three other consecutive ones over the course of the following days, was the outcome.
He placed his last, fully cleaned cauldron on under the sink, before wiping his hands against the fabric of his robe.
"I know that, but it doesn't really help my self-esteem when I blow up a cauldron almost every time I go to Potions Class. It doesn't matter how much Snape yells, or how much Hermione tries to help by criticizing me in her own delusional way, I don't think I'll ever be able to improve."
"Hermione is just.. she's just trying to help in the only way she knows how. She thinks if you throw enough books or words at a problem, it'll fix itself. It's why even though she has overall better grades than me in most subjects, if you compare our practical grades I usually perform better. She values practical education, but books win out every time, and if it's not in a book, she has a terribly difficult time understanding or believing in it. It's why she and Luna don't really get on at all."
She wiped her own hands against a damp cloth that was sitting on the edge of the sink, before pulling on her robes over the plain, white top and fitted jeans she usually wore to detention.
"Luna is awesome though, and if Hermione could be a little bit more objective about people being different, she'd earn another female friend for sure. She's always complaining about the females in our dorm, but she doesn't do much to understand their differences."
Johanna didn't really talk about Hermione often, because she usually got worked up during any conversation involving the other witch. Hermione was one of her closest friends, but as a person who grew up almost completely isolated by her relatives because of her perceived differences, she had a hard time understanding how Hermione could turn up her nose at their dorm mates because they enjoyed makeup and fashion magazines, or scoff whenever Luna started a conversation because she didn't believe in any of her creatures. Just a few years ago she didn't believe in magic either, so she didn't understand why she had such an issue with Luna and her ramblings.
Neville placed his hand on her shoulder, and she startled. She hadn't noticed him walking around to the other side of the sinks while she was thinking.
"Don't bother getting worked up about Hermione. It'll just upset you. Let's go find Professor Snape, and see if we can get something to eat from the kitchen, and maybe you can help me with the Defence Against the Dark Arts practical we were assigned?"
"Yeah, sure. I don't mind helping you, as long as you help me with the assignment about Flora we got from Professor Sprout. Flowers are awfully confusing, especially with all of the complicated names."
Neville agreed, and they both sought out Professor Snape to end their detention. After evaluating their work he waved them off, and they both made their way up into the castle, heading towards the kitchen to collect a few sandwiches and some tea. Johanna had a guilty pleasure for lavender tea, and Neville took great delight in telling her about the various medicinal qualities of lavender while she drank it. They finished up their late supper, and made it back to the Gryffindor Common Room roughly 20 minutes before curfew.
Jo didn't see Ron or Hermione anywhere in the Common Room, so she dragged Neville to an unoccupied table, where they started their assignments. Johanna made an actual effort to ignore the urge to toss her Herbology notes into the fireplace, and instead focused on actually listening to Neville as he explained the various properties of some random flower.
"Hey Neville, you think we can do this more often? My last Herbology grade was terrible and OWLs are next year, and I'd really rather not have Hermione on my case y'know?"
Hermione had been going on and on about OWLs ever since they picked their electives last year, criticizing her and Ron about the easy subjects they chose to pursue. She knew that Hermione thought she chose them because she was being lazy like Ron, but it turns out that its extremely difficult to break out of the habit of performing terribly to avoid being reprimanded by relatives. The Dursleys weren't even with her at Hogwarts and their influence on her life seemed to have exceedingly far-reaching effects. She didn't dare tell Hermione why she really chose Care of Magical Creatures or Divination. She didn't need to be sent on another crusade like last year.
"Yeah, we can. You've already helped me out a bunch with the DADA assignment and if I keep this up, my Gran may consider me less than a clumsy failure some time in the future."
She brushed away the morbid thoughts that had slowly been overtaking her mind, nodding in agreement.
She'd been right awful to Neville in first year during their escapade for the Philosopher's Stone, and he hadn't deserved it. Maybe now, three years after the incident, she could finally make up for it and be a better friend.
Alright so this chapter is pretty simple. This is just setting up the facets of Neville and Johanna's personality, and is also introducing us to their developing friendship.