Hermione's Secret

The bushy haired teen packed clothes and books into their trunk, then sighed as they sat on the edge of the bed. If somebody had looked, then that person would have said Hermione Granger was an attractive young lady. They would, however, be very wrong indeed – Hermione was actually a boy. If they had to swear in court, Hermione would be forced to admit that her real name was actually Herman. Herman had known from an early age that he was actually a girl, and – true to form, had read a number of books before talking to his parents. It had taken some time to get to grips with the idea, but they accepted this was not a passing something, and sought advice from medical friends. One consultant had identified Herman as having Gender Dysphasia, but had said that the boy was too young to start any kind of treatment. The only thing they could do was to dress their son as a girl and treat him as such. He had picked Hermione as his 'Alter ego' from one of his favourite books, and that had been it for some time – until the day that Hermione got her visit by a Hogwarts' teacher.

#

"Is Herman Granger in?" asked a tall woman in long robes and wearing a pointed hat.

"Who wants to know?" Hermione's mother had asked.

"My name is Professor McGonagall – Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If you do not mind, I'd like to come in and talk some more. I have things to tell you that had best not be overheard"

"You are not the only one" Hermione's mother had said.

"Hmm…" McGonagall thought the situation over carefully. "This is going to be a problem"

#

"Hermione, sweetheart!" her mother called from the landing. "Are you asleep?" and a long pause followed.

"Yes" Hermione smiled, then undressed and put on a nightgown for bed. She was thankful for the fact that magic would allow people to think she was a true girl until she was old enough to take a sex change operation. At Hogwarts, only the teaching staff knew – plus Pomfrey - knew of her true self, but each year became harder and harder to keep the secret from her friends. It was hard work when you shared a dorm room with two other girls, and Hermione had had a lucky escape the previous year when Lavender had spotted Hermione with two boxes of muggle pills – both had been labelled as Hormone Pills. The excuse had been that Hermione was low in certain hormones, but that she was allergic to the magical method of boosting the numbers. She didn't mind lying to most of her friends, but Harry was another matter entirely. Hermione felt attracted to him since the day they first met, but had never known if he held feelings for her too. What would happen if she told him that Hermione was not exactly 'factory standard', and was in fact a boy? She would have the occasional nightmare about a friendship ruined for the rest of their lives. Hermione had never bothered to tell Ron Weasley as he had been known to upset people by blabbing secrets. As she went to sleep, Hermione resolved to thrown caution to the winds and tell Harry the truth one day during the coming school year.

# # # # #

"So what did you do over the holidays?" asked Harry.

"Oh…" Hermione had been spending quite a bit of it going to various clinics around the country. "Going to museums, reading books – you know the sort of thing. Did spend a week skiing in Switzerland" she glanced out of the window. "What did you do?" she asked.

"I went rock climbing in south Wales, drove karts around a local circuit and celebrated my birthday by going out for a meal" Harry said.

"Really?"

"No" Harry grinned. "I spent most of the holiday trying to stay away from my relatives. On my birthday, Dudley kicked me in the back so hard I passed out from the pain. The Dursleys were able to get away by saying that I was playing rugby and that is how I got the bruises" his expression darkened for a few moments. Hermione felt sorry for Harry, and wished that there was something that could be done for him. Professor Dumbledore had said that he had to stay there so that Voldemort couldn't attack him, but it meant that Harry suffered physical, verbal and mental abuse every summer.

"Where is Ron?" asked Hermione, noticing that he hadn't appeared yet.

"Ron had an accident" said Ginny. "He'll meet us at Hogwarts" she went on to explain that Ron had slipped in the bathroom and cracked his head open. It wasn't anything serious, but he wouldn't be able to see them on the train and would go to Hogwarts directly from St Mungos. The friends talked about what they had done over the summer, but Hermione kept thinking of ways to explain what she really was to Harry. One thought bugged her for some time now, and that was that she fancied Harry - but she was a boy. Did that make him gay at all?

#

"Miss Granger" McGonagall called to Hermione as she walked to the stairs leading to the dorms.

"Yes, Professor?"

"Madam Pomfrey would like to see you at once" the deputy said.

"Yes, Professor" Hermione gave a loud sigh as she left the common room and headed to the hospital wing. Nothing was wrong, but Pomfrey wanted to give Hermione some potions that would suppress the male hormones in her body – in addition to those muggle pills.

"Ah, Miss Granger…" Pomfrey looked up from writing a letter. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"Alright" Hermione replied.

"Apart from the potions, I want to check your state of health" Pomfrey told her. "If you'd like to step behind the curtain and undress completely" and Hermione nodded and went behind the screens set up around a bed. The first time that she had had to undergo this examination, she had felt a freak for having a penis hanging between her legs, but Pomfrey had just treated her as another girl. Pomfrey was business like during the examination, but talked to Hermione to help take her mind off things. Once she was done, Hermione dressed, took the potions and went to Gryffindor tower to sleep.

A/N

Short, but sweet I'd say. This was created after seeing an idea by my good friend and comrade in all things Worst Witch - Lynnhallow in her story Secret. Its a good read, though a little bunched up last few chapters... Credit for the idea goes to her. We both tread where other Authors dare to go...

Stephanie

(In Total Charge while Pixel is off recharging his batteries)