PROLOGUE

The Dursley's expected to be awakened in the middle of the night by an toddler's screams. After all, they had a thirteen month old son who made it impossible to sleep through the night due to his uncontrolable temper tantrums. This particular night, they heard screaming at two in the morning. Mrs. Petunia Dursley stood out of bed and put her hand on her head attempting to rub the headache away. She walked briskly down the hallway, her white nightgown waving behind her as if she was some sort of ghost or angel sent down to care for crying children. When she opened the door to her son Dudley's nursery, however, she saw the boy fast asleep. She sighed and listened harder to the screams. They sounded close, but now that she really listened to them, they were definately not Dudley's screams. Petunia turned on the hall light and wondered down the stairs. Each step she took seemed to take her closer to the screaming. She furrowed her brow in confusion as her hand touched the brass door handle to her front door. She hesitated. If it was not her Dudley screaming, it was not her problem, she thought. But still, something made her turn the handle and push to door open. What it revealed made her swear under her breath.

A child had been left on her doorstep.

She picked up the baby and saw a note, but it was too dark on her unlit porch for her to see the writing, so she carried the child inside and tried to sooth it by boucing it lightly in her arms. Once inside, she opened the note and collapsed on the floor in sobs of her own. The child in her arms was her nephew, her sister's son. The soul survivor of an attack on their family. She heard Vernon Dursley, her husband, running down the stairs to check on her, but she didn't care. Two words kept running through her head repeatedly. Lily. Dead. Lily. Dead. No. Those words did not belong together. It was her husband who read the entirety of the note, and he was not pleased. It took an hour for Pentunia to calm down enough for the man to read her the note aloud.

"Dear Mr. And Mrs. Dursley," he began, his hand latched onto his wife's shoulder while her hands held the child. "I regret to inform you that Mrs. Dursley's sister, Lily Potter, and Her husband, James Potter, passed away this Halloween night, murdered by a dark Wizard who called himself 'The Dark Lord'. This man attempted to kill their son, Harry Potter born 31 July 1980, and failed. As you are his last living reletives, I thought it best to place him in your care. Please note that it would be best if none knew of this child's existance in your home. There may still be some searching for him and they may come after you and your family if they get word that he is there. Do not let anyone know that there is another boy in your home, as they may question where he came from and you do not want people to be asking questions. Once again, I do believe that this would be in the best interest of you and the child. If anyone saw him on your doorstep, simply state that you took the child to child services. Make sure that as the boy grows he is not seen. When he is old enough he will be taken from you and sent to Hogwarts to begin his magical education and you will not have to worry about hiding him any longer. I apologize if this is any inconvenience to you.

Sincerely, Albus Dumbledore."

The couple stared at the boy, Harry Potter, in disgust. But not disgust at the boy, disgust at the letter.

"Keep him a secret. Don't let him be seen. How would we do that Vernon? There are windows in every room in the house. We can't very well become hermits and block out all light now can we?" Petunia seemed to be distracting herself from her greif by attempting to come up with a solution on how to raise her nephew. She looked at him lovingly over the plain white blanket he was wrapped in. She had known that her sister had a child for she and her sister had communicated regularly through the mail up until Petunia herself had given birth. If this letter was correct that meant that Harry was one month younger than Dudley. Petunia wished she had continued contact with her sister, but she had been too scared to let the owls around her Dudders. She thought they might carry disease or hurt him with their talons. She had planned to rekindle contact as soon as Dudley entered pre-school and gave her a time to write when he was not around, but now she would never get that chance.

"I don't know, Dear." He Responded, looking at the child in sadness. He couldn't imagine all he had lost, even if he was too young to understand it yet. "But this letter said his life could be in danger. We may have to...no...we WILL have to keep him hidden. At any cost. It's the only way to keep him alive."

And thus began Harry Potter's first year with the Dursley's as an infant locked in a cupboard. The Dursley's, Petunia Dursley in particular, spent nights awake in tears at the way they had to treat the child, but agreed with Vernon that it was the best way to keep him alive. And in her mind, a nephew she kept in the cupboard was better than a dead nephew. Still, every night she asked her sister for forgiveness at his treatment. "At least he is safe, Lily. We are keeping him safe." She would whisper to herself while staring at the ceiling and silently crying.

When Harry turned two, Petunia began to notice striking differences between him and Dudley. Dudley, who was still as spoiled as ever, had taken to fallowing Vernon at every opportunity. He would demand a coffee mug when his father was drinking coffee. Petunia would take a mug and fill it with juice, watching with interest as Dudley mimicked is father's every move. Harry, however, had taken to following Petunia. He would pretend to clean when she cleaned and cook when she cooked. It was odd, Petunia had to amdit, but Harry was an odd child. She thought nothing of it.

Then she found the letter.

She had been cleaning out the attic when she found an old box of important papers. She bagan looking through them when she came across two unopened letters from Lily. She remembered getting them. The first one had been delivered to her when Dudley was a week old, and she had been too disctracted to remember to open it. The second one was delivered on Harry's birthday and was no doubt supposed to inform Petunia of Harry's birth. With a heavy heart, she began to read.

"Dear Sister,

James is mad at me again because I keep referring to our baby as a 'her'. But I just feel that it is a girl. I was thinking of the name Harriette but James won't even listen to any girl names. He is convinced that I am pregnant with a special baby from a prophecy that was made a couple months ago, and since that prophecy uses male pronouns he won't listen. I pray that my baby is not the child of the prophecy for I would never want a life so full of danger for my child. James simply wants the fame of being the father of the great Wizard who defeated the Dark Lord. I wish you and Vernon the best and I expect news of my dear nephew soon!

Love Always, Lily.

At the end of her letter she was openly sobbing. Her poor sister had prayed for anything but the reality of what happened. It made the reality of how she treated her nephew so much more real. Her hands were shaking as she reached for the next letter. She tried not to get tears on it but as the first tear drop hit the old parchment she let herself cry freely.

Dear Sister,

James has no idea what he has done to us. My dead Harriette was born today and he took her from me before I even had a chance to hold her. He changed her, Tuny. He gave her something, some poiton I had never heard of. And then she cried. She screamed for hours. When I got to hold her again she was a boy. James insisted she had been born a boy and that he hadn't given her anything. But I SAW it. I SAW her before she was taken away and she was a girl. And I SAW the potion that he gave her. He thought I wasn't paying attention but I saw him pooring red liquid into a bottle mere seconds after her birth. He keeps telling me that I am crazy but I know what he has done. He had doomed us all.

Love always, Lily

Petunia's breath caught in her throat. She folded the letter and went downstairs to find Vernon watching the two boys. Silently, she handed him the letter and reached for Harry. She would have to figure out if Lily was correct or if she had imagined what she wanted to see. She knew who she had to contact.

Memories from her childhood came flooding her and she remembered Lily's best friend, Severus. She would have to find him some how as he was the only person she knew she could trust in the wizarding world. Petunia remembered going school shopping with the two of them once when she was fourteen. She had entered an abandoned building that was actually a pub. All she had to do was find that building and hope the magical pub was still there. She walked out the door without a word while Vernon was staring back and forth between the letter and his nephew.

Two hours of searching and seven abandoned buildings later, Petunia Dursley was standing in the pub she remembered from her childhood. She walked up to the man behind the counter with a letter in hand.

"Hello, I need to get this letter sent but I have no owl." She said. She remembered her sister's Hogwarts letter always being delivered by owl and her friends mailing her over the summer by owl. She hoped that was still how the Wizarding World functioned.

The man looked at her and shrugged. "Use mine." He said, whistling to call a brown bird which flew down from the upstairs area which Petunia had never noticed before. She nodded her thanks as the bird took the letter and headed towards where ever Severus Snape was now. Then she turned and left. heading back home and hoping Severus didn't still hate her.

Severus Snape was not easily surprised. When an unknown owl dropped a letter on his desk in the middle of class, he was only slightly startled. The class looked up and he sneered at them, hoping his look alone would be enough to get them to continue their potions. It was. He reached for the letter, eyes widening as he started to read.

Dear Severus Snape,

I do hope you remember me. I am Petunia Evans, now Dursley. Lily's sister. I have come across some disturbing information in a letter that I had never opened from my sister and I need the guidence of a wizard to help me discover if the information in the letter was in fact genuine. I would appreciate if you could come help me and put our childhood rivalry for Lily's attention aside. She will always be my sister and your best friend. Our adress is enclosed should you decide to provide your assistance.

Petunia Dursley.

And then Severus Snape canceled classes for the rest of the day for the first time in history and went directly to the Dursely residence. He arrived less that five minutes after Petunia returned from sending the letter and she hadn't even been able to tell Vernon that she had contacted him.

The three adults sat in the living room and stared at the letter.

"Is it even possible, Severus? Does this even exist?" Petunia asked. Severus nodded.

"Yes, it is possible. The potion does exist and it is red as Lily described. But it's banned because it uses blood magic and is extremely painful to the child." Snape said as the toddling Harry entered the room and climbed into his aunts lap. Severus was shocked when he looked into his eyes and saw nothing but Lily. "The potion would still be in his system if he took it. The potion changes the physical DNA of the child and it stays embedded in their DNA til they die. Give me a hair sample and I shall run some tests." He said. Petunia took sniped a bit of hair from the back of his head and put it in a baggy for Severus.

"Severus, what would happen if the potion was brewed incorrectly? Could this affect Harry in the long run?" She asked, wringing her hands nervously and watching the boy pretend one of Dudley's action figures was a baby.

"Well, I assume the physical transformation was completed?" Severus asked. Pentunia nodded so Severus continued. "Then, if the potion was in fact brewed incorrectly, Harry would probably still act and think like a girl." Severus said. The two looked over at the boy who was currently telling the action figure that, "he was his mummy." and trying to wrap in up in a blanket like a baby would be.

As Severus left, Vernon approached Petunia with a curious look in his eye. "We have to keep the boy hidden for his protection, right Pet?" He asked. Petunia nodded but didn't take her eyes off her nephew who was pretending to bottle feed to action figure. "But if there is no boy, why keep the girl hidden? They are looking for Harry Potter. Not Harriette Dursley." Vernon said. Then it clicked in Petunia's head of what he was saying. They had no reason to hide a girl. No one was looking for a girl. They were looking for a boy who never existed.

"We should wait, though. Wait for Harry to tell us that he is a girl. We need to be certain." And they nodded, hopefully for the first time since Harry had been with them that he may get to have a better life. A week letter they got a letter from Severus stating that the potion had, in fact been used. Harry Potter was born Harriette Potter. So then they waited for Harry to tell them he was a girl.

It happened on his fourth birthday. He was in his cupboard and heard his aunt walk by slowly. She opened the door and handed him a piece of a cake she had made.

"This is for your birthday." She said, watching the boy look at it with sadness.

"That isn't what I want for my birthday." he answered crawling back into a corner. Petunia rolled her eyes. She admitted that it hurt her to always buy things for Dudley when she could never buy anything for Harry. Dudley always got to go to a toy store and pick out whatever he wanted on his birthday and Harry wasn't even allowed to be in the living room until night time.

"What do you want, then?" She said quickly. She probably came off as mean, but she was just mad at herself.

"I want to be a girl." Harry said. And then his aunt pulled him into a hug and began sobbing on relief. One week later, Harry Potter did not exist.

The neighbors, however, noticed that the Dursleys had adopted a little girl. Harriette, they said her name was Harriette Dursley.

Harriette didn't understand why her family had moved her out of the cupboard and into Dudley's play room. "Well, that little cupboard just isn't fit for a little lady, now is it?" Her unlce said. Harriette didn't complain. Her room was painted pink and filled with dolls and dresses. For the first time since she could remember, she felt happy and at home.

Severus immediately started working on a cure for the potion that James Potter had forced upon his daughter. He visited the Dursley's regularly and Harriette had taken to calling him, "Uncle Sev" just as his godson Draco does.

When Harriette showed signs of Magic, it was praised. After all, no one was looking for a magical little girl. And when Dudley began picking on Harriette, The Dursleys put a stop to it immediately. "Remember son, your cousin is a bit more delicate than you are." Vernon said. Dudley nodded and told his friends they weren't allowed to pick on his cousin anymore. After all, she was a lady and they were men. They had to protect her if anyone else picked on her! When the Dursleys officially adopted Harriette, they had her name changed to Harriette Potter-Dursley. That way she still had a bit of Lily in her name, but she would officially be a Dursley and a true member of their family.

And When Harriette got a Hogwarts letter which was still adressed to a "Mr. Harry Potter", the Dursleys encouragingly told Harriette that it must have been a problem with paperwork and she would have to inform them of her true name when she got there.

Severus had yet to find a cure to the mistake that James Potter had made, but he was giving Harriette potions to let her develop as a female anyway so that no one would question anything. So when Harriette stepped onto the train to go to Hogwarts, she looked for the boy that Uncle Sev had told her to find, the boy named Draco, and prepared for the next stages of her life.