This chapter edited as of February 2019.
Part One: Four
Caledonia's lips curled upward slightly during Divination class. Professor Trelawney was rambling about dreams and getting students to write out their dream and analyze them. Instead of paying attention to the lecture, she chose to read her letters in between the Divination book pages while sitting in the back of the class on the Slytherin side. She and Hermione had continued to write back and forth every day, telling each other the going on in Slytherin and Gryffindor houses and stuff on girl subjects that Caledonia wanted to know. She was beginning to understand why girls gossips and it was amusing.
It had been a couple of weeks since the change and Caledonia settled in her new life as a girl and learned quickly to get around in Slytherin house without attracting unwanted attention. She often found herself bickering with Pansy from time to time over trivial things, trading insults with her roommates, and getting hit on from Draco. Despite her vexation, it was like having a normal teen life.
Draco leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Letters from a boyfriend in Sicily?" He had taken upon himself to sit with her in every class they had together much to her chagrin. Unfortunately for Caledonia, it was every single class they had.
Adopting the infamous sneer from the said boy, she pushed him away bodily and snapped, "Personal space! Have you ever heard of it?"
He smirked, lazily leaning on the table and gazing at her, "It's not in my dictionary with the girls I find very pretty."
She felt her face go hot at the comment and rolled her eyes. "I think you're blind. All those girls you dated didn't fall in those categories." She gestured toward to Pansy, "And your girlfriend there, I think she's more dog than a girl."
He blinked, wondering he should be offended and glanced over his shoulder to Pansy, and he sneered slightly, "How would you know how many girls I dated? You've not been here very long. And I am not dating her!"
She leaned on her hand, bringing her face closer to him with a sly smile on her lips. "It gets around with the girls. I've heard stories about your performance in bed." She smirked as he flushed. "It was the part that turned me off," She wiggled her pinky finger, "So, back off, teeny-weenie." She bit her lips to prevent from laughing as the pinkness faded to pasty pale on his face and he scowled, turning away. The rumors were flying around in the Slytherin girl dormitory on how he was in bed, and most were very far-fetched that she suspected none were believable.
He growled under his breath and muttered some choice curses. He had believed he managed to get away without an insult but in the end received another one. He heard soft laugh behind his back and rolled his eyes and resumed with his assignment.
Caledonia went back to her letter, reading. She and Hermione decided to use a different alias in case their letters get intercepted. Professor Umbridge took it upon herself to start confiscating random letters after she heard rumors of students putting dung bomb in the mail. It was getting pretty bad around school with new rules and decrees.
Hermione never fails to relay in the letter how distraught Gryffindor was over Harry Potter's disappearance. It was as if the Gryffindor House's world had ended. But they managed with putting Ginny on the team as a new seeker and Ron as the keeper. However, the latter wasn't doing so well, and there were few incidents such as Katie Bell getting severe nosebleed and bickering among the teammates. Angelina became the new team captain was getting frustrated with everyone on the team.
Hermione had gotten herself several detentions already after arguing with Umbridge in DADA classes, objecting to the teacher's way of teaching and standing up against Umbridge. Caledonia had attempted to warn her and found it was futile and let it go, allowing Hermione to learn her lesson. Eventually, Hermione decided that something had to be done but wasn't sure what to do.
Caledonia looked over to Ron, struggling with his assignment in the front of the class and an idea came to her. She looked down and scribbled it in the letter. The bell rang, singling the end of the class and she got up, running out of the room like fire was upon her skirt. She made her way to the tower and bumped into Cho Chang. "Oh, sorry!"
Cho Chang looked at the new girl and smiled, "How are you finding Hogwarts?" She asked.
Caledonia blinked and smiled back, "Just fine. It's kinda lonely for me in the Slytherin house."
The Chinese girl nodded, "I figured that, seeing you're only hanging out with Tracey Davis and getting into a fight with Parkinson and her lackey. They're not easy to get along with."
"Yeah." Caledonia laughed softly. "I got letters to some friends back home to write to."
"Hey, I'm friends with Tracey, so why don't you hang out with us this weekend at Hogsmeade? Let us show you around." Cho suggested with a hopeful smile.
Caledonia pursed her lips in thought; she had planned to stay in Saturday to do her homework and catch up on some reading but then again, as Hermione suggested her to make friends across the houses. Nodding, "That sounds good. I do need to get some new clothes."
"Great! See you there this Saturday!" Cho perked up and waved as she hopped down the steps.
"Whew," Caledonia turned and went to the owl tower and mailed her letters out using school owls.
Two days later, Caledonia found herself in Hogsmeade with Tracey, walking down the street, popping into several shops. Cho Chang and Marietta came up to them and then started to introduce themselves. Soon enough, Luna Lovegood, the young Ravenclaw girl she had met on the train at the beginning of the year showed up with Ginny. Caledonia found herself being dragged to several stores with the group and ended up in Gladrags Wizardwear, browsing robes.
"Oh, this would look great on you," Tracey said as she held up a nice green dress robe to Caledonia. "It brings out your eyes!" Caledonia blushed and took a look at the dress, deciding she would buy a dress along with the other clothes she had picked out. "Why are you buying a lot of clothes?"
Quickly making an excuse on the spot, "I didn't bring a lot of my clothes from Sicily; they're not for the weather here." Everyone bought her excuses without question. She sighed in relief; she couldn't explain why she didn't have any clothes, to begin with except for Harry Potter's wardrobe which was packed and sent back to Grimmauld Place.
Ginny looked at the earrings and brought up some to her ears, "This looks great! I hope I could get some for Christmas."
"Yeah!" Marietta chimed in and picked up simple gold hoop earrings and held it up for Caledonia to see, "what do you think?"
She shrugged her shoulder. "I think you should go for this one." She pointed to simple golden earrings that have stars hanging on chains. "I think it looks good on you."
"You're right. Oh, this is perfect for you." Cho replied as she found a small hoop earring with green wire twisted around it. She reached over and brushed Caledonia's hair away and held it to her earlobe. "Just perfect… hey." She stopped, "you don't have piercings."
Grabbing her earlobe, Caledonia asked, "Piercings?"
Tracey came around and pointed out to her ear, "Holes in the ear for the earring. You should get them so you can wear earrings!"
"Uh, does it hurt?" Caledonia asked nervously.
Cho shook her head. "No, not the wizardly way. All you feel a little of a shock, and that's it. You should have two in each ear."
"And a nose piercing!" Marietta piped in.
Luna dreamily said, "I always found eyebrow piercing interesting, but it's not for me."
Ginny rolled her eyes, "That's a bit much."
Hermione walked up to them, "What's going on?" She asked. Ginny quickly explained, and Hermione turned to find Caledonia giving her a pleading look to help. "I think one is enough. If you feel comfortable, you could get a second one later on. This is pretty," she picked up the silver and green hoop earring up that Cho had picked up earlier.
Cho smiled, "Yeah, I thought so too."
Caledonia soon was ushered to the chair and called over the salesgirl and soon, her ears pierced and the silver and green hoops are hanging down from them, sparkling against the backdrop of her black hair. She reached up to play with them, "Feels weird." She said and smiled at the girls. "I guess I should pay for my clothes." She stood up and went over to the counter and paid for her clothes and pocked them after they were shrunk down to pocket-size. The girls went over to the Three Broomsticks for butterbeer and Hermione joined them.
"Caledonia," Hermione said as she sat next to the girl, "your idea is great! But how can I do it?"
"First, find out who will show up," Caledonia replied.
"Right. And I need a place where Umbridge won't find us."
"Try the Hogshead. No one would go there. The owner used to be part of the original Order." Caledonia whispered as the other girls started to return from ordering their drinks.
"Thanks, I couldn't have done it without you." Hermione replied and took her drink from Ginny while Tracey gave one to Caledonia and they went on chatting until it was time to return to Hogwarts."
Severus watched as the students filed into the great hall for dinner and spotted Caledonia walking in with Tracey, laughing over something. He watched her, noting that she was settling in without any problems (besides fending off Malfoy's advances and arguing with some girls). He was relieved that she has not gotten into any troubles with Umbridge or else he would have to save her neck every single time the toady witch come up with some kind of punishment. He had known Umbridge's punishment to be illegal after hearing some complaints from the students in his house.
He was still working on the antidote in his free time, searching and experimenting but had no luck so far. It was a strange sense of feeling; Harry Potter no longer was around, possibly for good. For the last four and a half year, watching his son endures trials and fight to survive, and he tried to keep him safe each time discreetly without exposing himself. To watch his son grow, wearing the mask of his former friend, James Potter, was difficult enough.
Then getting a letter from Harry, saying he had received his mother's letter. It was then he knew it was time but it was too late, he could never find himself step in as a father and take care of his son. It was too dangerous with Voldemort's return. It had hurt him so much to pretend he didn't care. He very much wanted to be a father to his son he had longed to raise. He curses Voldemort and Dumbledore for taking that away from him.
With the accident in Potion class, turning his son into a girl was another stab in the heart. It was something of pride for a father like himself to see his son on the road to manhood and carry on his family legacy. It was extremely difficult to watch Harry Potter to become a girl and take it in stride almost too quickly. He didn't like it. She reminded him so much of Lily that he found himself very unsure. Harry Potter was gone, and now, he has a daughter. He was at loss of what to do and unsure how to feel about it.
He watched as she pushed her hair back and a glint in her ear shone. He frowned. Dumbledore leaned over from where he sat, his eyes twinkling, "She seems to be settling in her role very nicely."
"Too easily," He muttered darkly. "What are those on her ears?" He asked.
"I believe it is called earrings. Those fashions young women taken to piercing their ears and wear dangling jewelry. I find them very fascinating, especially Luna Lovegood in Ravenclaw makes her own, and she makes strawberries or radishes. Fascinating." The old Headmaster ranted.
Severus waved his hand at Dumbledore in annoyance. "Yeah, yeah. I never gave her permission to get piercings."
"Oh, young girls at that age don't need permissions. It's common among her peers. I believe some of them had talked her into it."
Growling softly, he got up and made his way down the Slytherin table and stopped before his daughter. "See me after dinner in my office."
She blinked and looked up from her dinner to find Professor Snape looming over her with a dark look on his face. "Yes, Professor Snape." She replied and wondered what had chewed him to the bones as he left the Great Hall in dramatic flair, as he always does.
Caledonia stood before her father's desk, "You asked me to come here."
Severus looked up from the assignment he was correcting and gave the nod. He put them aside and asked, "What are those contraptions on your ears?"
Confused, she reached up to touch her earrings. "Earrings. Some of my friends suggested me to get them, saying they look good on me. I paid for them with my money, if that's what you are asking."
"No." He stood, leaning on his desk with palms down on it. "Don't you consider that there's a possibility you would be able to revert? That would make it much more difficult for you to transition back to your former self."
Caledonia frowned and crossed her arms, "I think it's who I am the one to decide on this matter. There's no way there's a cure, Dumbledore and yourself said so!" She failed her hand in a wild gesture, "I am staying as a girl. I happen to like it; it gives me a chance to be a normal person, to have a normal life." She almost shouted at him, tears filling her eyes but didn't spill.
He moved around the desk and sternly told her, "Normal life? You would never have a normal life." He snapped. "Inside you, you are still Harry Potter, and Voldemort is still after you. You are simply hiding behind a different mask, nothing more." He was nearly growling.
Her eyes met his dark eyes, and her face grew dark as she stood stock still. "You don't know how I feel and why would you care?" She said softly, and he felt a chill go up against his spine, a sense of foreboding. He then felt it in the air, almost crackling like electricity; she was building up wild power from anger. It was as Dumbledore had explained what happened at the end of last year. "It's not easy as it looks!" She exploded, and things started to levitate off the shelves and table around them, vibrating with the sheer force of power.
Severus's eyes widened slightly and tried to move to stop her but found himself frozen in a spot similar to the spell of Petrificius Totalus. He knew she was powerful but to witness it was an entirely different story, he was surprised that she could go as far as doing wandless magic. Seeing her eyes and her rage, it was clear she was unaware of what she was doing.
She continued to yell at him, and her hair began to fly wildly about her. "No one can understand me at all! All my life in the Dursley, I've been treated like a house elf, then to find out I am a wizard, and my parents killed by a dark lord and not in a car accident, what you think I have to deal with? Going to school and try to stay alive year after year because this stupid Dark Lord wants to kill me. Dumbledore's using me as a pawn, not telling me everything. You're always making me and my friends miserable in classes. Half of the time, I don't even know if you want to kill me or not. Then, bam!" At the last word, glasses around them shattered in explosions. "I find out that my father wasn't who I thought he was! And now I'm a girl!" She looked livid. "What am I supposed to do? What would you do if you were in my shoes!?" She screamed.
He stared at her as he took in her words. He never knew the implicitly of what she had suffered through — regretting his words and Dumbledore's actions toward Harry Potter. It was clear that Harry saw this as an escape from a life he had, and he had wrongfully attempted to prevent a chance of happiness and normalcy from his child.
Severus found himself freed from the binding spell and he took a step forward. "Caledonia." She wasn't showing any sign of calming down and too far gone in her rage. "Harry Potter, you better stop this instantly." He reached and grabbed her by the shoulders.
At the moment she was grabbed, she blinked and as if she was woken up, everything around them crashed to the floor. She jerked in surprise, and tears filled up in her eyes and biting her lips as she trembled under his hold trying hard to keep a straight face.
He sighed and brought her closer into an embrace, "Let it out." He said gruffly, but softly. She shook while standing still in his arms for a few moments before breaking down, crying into his jacket. "Let it out," He murmured as he carded his fingers through her long hair, smoothing it down. "You're right. No one can understand you at all. I apologize, and I was wrong."
After a few minutes of crying, she calmed down enough to wipe her face, and he drew her away, looking down at her. "Why have you been holding all of this in?" He brought them over to the chairs by the fireplace and sat her down, pouring her a glass of firewhiskey and handed it to her. It didn't matter now, she needed to talk it out or else she would be throwing off wild power at the wrong time and wrong place. It was undeniable that she was powerful.
Taking the glass, she drank the liquor and found herself warming up. She asked with a tiny voice, "Why are you so nice to me now?"
Severus was taken by surprise by the question and took a swig of his drink before answering. "There are sides of me that many do not know. I am not a very nice man, but for my family, I care. They are my responsibility." He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "It is necessary for you to talk out your troubles or else if you bottle them up, there no way of knowing when you will unleash the power again." He gestured to his office, "You made a mess."
Her eyes widened as she realized what he had meant and looked around to see broken glass shattered everywhere, papers, books were torn and wooden shelves splintered. Liquids and all kinds of things that once was in the glasses now laid on the floor in a colossal mess. "I'm sorry." Her cheek reddened and tears came again. "I did the same thing before, in Dumbledore office."
"I know. Now, answer my question, please." He said gently.
"Oh." She looked down into the amber liquid in her glass. "I never really have time to understand myself." She replied, looking up at him. "It's always like that, even as Harry Potter. From the start when I found out I was a wizard, it snowballed from there, trying to learn as much about being a wizard, dodge for my life every single day by some Dark Lord trying to kill me, and balance my school work on top of that." She exhaled before continuing, "Then, I suddenly become a girl and find out there's no cure. The next, I have to go back to school as a different person, and into a different House. I didn't have time to take it in and come to term with it. It's like trying to keep up day by day, school, study, trying to make friends, anything to not is Harry Potter. It's not easy. I don't know who I am anymore." She looked back down in her glass, studying the amber liquid.
Severus realized he and Dumbledore had made a mistake, by not allowing her to adapt to her change and come to term with herself. "I apologize." He stood up and took the glass from her and placed it away. "From now on, if you need to, come and talk to me."
She stared at him. "Sir?"
He turned to her. "I am your father; even no one else must know. I will try my best to be here and hear you out." He said gruffly. "I am not good at this."
"Thank you," She softly said as she stood up.
He sighed and touched her earrings lightly, "They look good on you." She touched them again and realized what had caused the whole mess and laughed softly under her breath. "It's not easy to accept my son to become a daughter." He told her. "Don't get me wrong; I have nothing against that. It's-" He trailed off, unsure how to explain.
Nodding, she replied. "Yeah, I am sure. It's weird and all that. I asked Hermione to help me; she's been helping me to learn things about girls."
"She knows?" His eyebrow rose, unsure if it was wise.
"Yeah, everything. She knows about you. I trust her; she's my best friend." She looked up. "She's the only one I can trust, and I need someone to tell me," She gestured to her body, "about this."
"I see. As much I prefer for no one else to know, Miss Granger is an exception." He said and looked over at the clock, the glass covering had shattered, but the clock was still ticking. "It's time for bed. I will take you back."
She nodded and winced slightly, feeling pain in her abdomen. He noticed this and asked, "What is it?"
"I'm sure it's nothing. I got a tummy ache. It'll go away when I sleep." She said softly, and they walked out of his office and together in silence made their way to the dormitory.
When they reached the Slytherin common room, he took hold of her shoulder, and she looked at him. "Any time, talk to me." He said seriously.
"Thank you." She said with a tired smile and went up the girl's stairs to her room.
Severus returned to his office and took out his wand; he waved it and muttered some spells, cleaning up the place and repairing broken glasses and things. He shook his head; he was going to have to replace a lot of ingredients that contained in the glass jars. But it didn't matter to him, and he went over to the fireplace and threw in green powder, "Grimmauld Place." Then stepped in, letting the green flame wash over him and he disappeared.
Sirius looked up to see Severus stepping in from the fireplace and asked, "What bring you here?"
The Potion Master made his way over to the chair across from Sirius and sat down, and replied, "Caledonia."
"Eh, what about her?"
"We all were making mistakes with Harry Potter, and now with her."
"What happened now?" Sirius asked, feeling for his longtime friend. It had been a relief not to pretend to hate each other anymore now that Caledonia knew the truth.
"She blew up my office." Severus snarled and grabbed the firewiskey from the table between the chairs where both men sat and took a swig. "She got her ears pierced today, and I didn't like it and told her." He took another swig, "she got upset, blowing everything to bits. Women hormones are unstable."
Sirius' eyes went wide, and he nodded, placing the book he was reading down. "I see. You didn't want her to be comfortable being a girl in case you find the cure. The reality, there's no cure unless you wait a thousand or so years. Accept it, she's a girl, and she's going to fall in love with a guy, marry him, have his babies and then die an old woman, grandmother or great-grandmother to some brood of kids. That is if she swings that way."
Severus closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the chair. "It's hard to accept that. I don't know what to do."
"Give her what she wanted the most right now. A family, be her father. I don't care if Voldemort is breathing down your neck. He doesn't know you got Harry Potter in your clutch. He thinks Harry Potter is somewhere hiding. Just forget about the boy-who-lived and pay attention to that girl. She writes to us, you know, and I can read between the lines, she's lonely and confused."
Severus took another swig of the liquor and settled in the chair, allowing his thought to stray. Sirius smirked and returned to the book he was reading.
Wiping her eyes dry, Caledonia entered her room. Pansy was gossiping with the other girls on her bed. Ignoring them, she went over to her desk and winced, folding over as the pain hit her abdomen and she bit back a cry. Her eyes watered as the pain wrenched her up inside and she quickly ran to the bathroom. Almost crying as the pain kept ripping her up, she made it to the shower and slid herself down the wall. She curled up and bit her lips as the pain tore through her.
Tracey came into the room and looked around and asked, "Have you seen Caledonia?"
Pansy shrugged, gestured to the door, "She just came in but ran out."
Puzzled, Tracey turned and went to search for Caledonia, wanting to know what's up with Professor Snape. She peered in the common room and asked around. A student said Caledonia never came down after she went up. Assuming she might have gone to the bathroom. She went into the bathroom and called, "Caledonia?" She heard soft crying from a shower stall. "Caledonia, is that you?" She went over to the private shower and reached out to pull it away but stopped.
"Don't. I… I … need Hermione. Get her."
Frowning, Tracey asked, "She's a Gryffindor. Why would you need her?"
"Just do it. My cloak…" Caledonia bit down another cry, "my invisibility cloak in the trunk, get Hermione."
Tracey nodded. "All right." She left and went back to their room and searched in Caledonia's trunk. She was surprised to find a very exquisite invisibility cloak. She ignored Pansy's demanding questions, wrapping the cloak in a shirt and left the room.
She hurried to the Gryffindor Tower and asked the Pink Lady to bring Hermione out. The Pink Lady eyed her suspiciously, and in a couple of minutes, Hermione came out. Tracey exhaled in relief, "Finally. Caledonia's asking for you. She won't let me see her. Here." She handed the cloak to Hermione and watched as Hermione slip the cloak on unfazed as if she had done this many times before. But pushing the questioning aside, she led Hermione back to Slytherin dorm and the bathroom unnoticed by the others.
"Caledonia, it's me, Hermione," Hermione said as she entered the bathroom. Luckily for her, there was no one in there and went over to the shower where Tracey pointed. "Tracey, maybe you should let me talk to her in private."
Tracey gave a dubious look, "Why would she want you?"
Caledonia snapped through the shower curtain, "Just get out of here."
Hermione gave sympathy look to Tracey and assured her, "It's all right, she might explain later."
"All right." Tracey relented and left.
"She's gone. What's wrong? You sound like you're in pain." Hermione reached over and pulled the curtain open and gasped softly, finding Caledonia curled up on the floor, hugging her knees. Blood was staining her legs and skirt.
"It hurts!" Caledonia cried softly, biting her lips. "Am I dying from the change?"
"Oh my," Hermione murmured and shook her head, knowing what was happening. "You're having your first period," she looked down to her friend's legs to find so much blood. "It seems your body never was given a chance to adapt to the female organs, especially during a hormonal time and just..." She reached over and pulled out a small bag from her pocket. "Good thing I carry this around." She pulled out several vials that looked too big for the small bag and set them down and reached in and pulled out a few other things. "Here, drink this. It will help with the pain." She handed a vial over.
Caledonia took it and drank it and felt better immediately as the pain subsided. "Is this what you all go through every month?" She groused as she sat up and winced at the amount of blood she was sitting in. She glanced over to find Hermione appearing to be unfazed by the horror scenery.
"It varies with every woman, some of them get it worse, some do not. I am sure it won't be like this again the next time but maybe less." She helped Caledonia up and muttered softly, "Let's get you cleaned up." She turned the shower on and adjusted the water to warm. "Come on; take those off, I'll ask Dobby to get you clean clothes." Caledonia nodded, feeling sore as she pulled her clothes off and looked down in horror as her underpants and skirt was completely soaked. Hermione saw her pale and reached over to grab her before she fell. "It's all right, it is normal. Get under the water." She took the clothes and called for Dobby.
The house elf showed up, and Hermione asked, "Can you get this cleaned and get clean pajamas for Caledonia?" Dobby gave a suspicious look to the shower stall where Caledonia was washing up. "For Miss Herminny, I will," Dobby replied and disappeared with a loud crack.
"You all right there?" Hermione asked.
"I guess if this is considered normal," Caledonia snapped lightly. "I did not know it would be so painful."
"Maybe for your first time. I got other potion for you." Hermione replied and handed a towel as the other girl stepped out then handed the vial. Dobby appeared and handed clean clothes to Hermione and then disappeared without a word. "Let's take you to the Hospital Wing and have Madame Pomfrey check you over to make sure you're all right."
Caledonia nodded as she got dressed and noticed her underpants had been lined with something and guessed it was the infamous pad that the girls often mentioned. She slipped it on and waited as Hermione covered herself with the cloak and they both left the bathroom.
"Everything looks normal now." Madame Pomfrey announced as Caledonia and Hermione sat together on the bed. "I'm glad you came here right away. With your body changing like that, you never know what would happen, sometimes magic is tricky, and you don't want any unwanted surprise. I am sure Hermione had explained to you about periods and what to do."
Caledonia nodded. "She did. What did you mean by looking normal now?"
The older witch peered over her spectacles to the young woman. "When you changed, your hormones and the magic signature was kind of jumbled, in between. But now, it seems it completely shifted, and you're settled in, female through and through, your brain is now producing the correct amount of hormones to go with the body you have now. It explains the painful bout of cramps you had."
Hermione frowned. "So, she's like, completely transformed?"
"That's one way of saying it. Now, you both better get back to the dorm before curfew starts. Delores Umbridge has been uptight lately." She muttered as she walked away, picking up trays from each bed as she went along.
Hermione smiled at the boy-turned-girl, "You did the right thing asking for me to come. Tracey will have been suspicious if she finds out this is your first period."
"Well, I got to come up with a story to tell her why I asked for you."
"True. Tell her you, uh, oh bloody hell," Hermione found herself at a loss.
"I'll think of something on the way back," Caledonia said as she hugged Hermione and they both separated path, returning to the dormitory.
Tracey looked up from her book on her bed to see Caledonia entering and noticed the other girl appeared slightly pale. "You all right?"
"Yeah, I am. I'll feel better after a good night sleep." She went over to her bed and put her cloak and shirt away in the trunk and slipped under her blanket.
Tracey got up and went to the other girl's bed and sat down, asking, "Why did you ask for Hermione?"
Whispering in a low voice, Caledonia replied, "I had a problem with my period, and I trust Hermione. She and I had been pen-pal for a long time before I came here. We met before Sicily years ago. We know we shouldn't show everyone we're friends because of our houses."
Tracey seems to accept the answer. "Yeah. It shouldn't matter which house you are in to be friend with someone." She smiled, "There's a boy I like in Gryffindor, and I wonder, do you think you could ask Granger to find out for me?"
Caledonia laughed and pushed Tracey off her bed. "I'll ask later. Let me sleep. I am tired and sore."
The other girl laughed and went to her bed and called, "Good night."
Hermione managed to pull Ron into helping her to set up a secret meeting and arranged it at Hogshead bar. To her surprise twenty-five other kids from three houses of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw showed up. Caledonia went to the meeting hidden under the cloak to observe.
She had a hard time giving the Slytherin the slip but got out by placing a distraction in the common room. Using Weasley Wizard Wheeze fireworks, setting it off, and she knew it would keep the Slytherin busy for a while giving her endless amusement to remember for a long time to come. She also had left a special new trick that the twins had created, making a small type of landscape in the area where she left it. She smirked to herself, once the Slytherin had gotten the fireworks under control, they would find themselves with a small waterfall, filling the room up with water. It would be a while before they manage to get rid of it.
She chuckled softly under her breath in memory of Draco going ballistic, screaming and accusing someone of allowing the Weasley in the Slytherin common room before she left. The memory would guarantee her a strong Patronus if she ever needed it.
The meeting went on about how the students didn't like Delores Umbridge's control of the school, her rules, and they wanted to learn practical magic that would be useful. They agreed to have a secret group to learn the practical defense, coming to term that they are on the brink of another war. Hermione had come up with the name, Dumbledore's Army and they were stuck on who would teach them.
"Harry knew all the magic for DADA," Rom bemoaned, missing his best friend. Caledonia cringed, feeling the stab of guilt and sadness, she had missed Ron's antics and friendship too.
"Yeah, he even knows how to do the Patronus Charm," Hermione added, realizing she missed a flaw; who would teach the group?
"Tell us; you two are the only one who knows Harry more than anyone. Tell us the truth." Cho Chang said, her voice almost quivering. "What happened last year?"
Ron and Hermione looked at each other, and they started to tell everything that happened in the first year, not to the fullest details up to the Triwizard tournament the year before.
"So, he-who-must-not-be-named is back for real?" Colin Creevy asked.
"Yes. And use his name, Voldemort." Hermione said and saw everyone cringe at the name, even Ron, and she slapped his arm. "It's just a name."
"Still, many of us are not easy saying it," Ron muttered as he rubbed his arm.
Caledonia leaned over and whispered in Hermione's ear. "You and Ron will teach the class, out of everyone, you two know more. I can help you before you teach them."
"Well, it seems, Ron and I are the best choice to do this," Hermione announced.
Ron snapped his head up, and his eyes went wide, "We? Uh, Hermione- why don't you do it? Leave me out of this. I am not good, you know."
Hermione made an annoyed noise. "Honestly Ron! You will help me teach them. We will practice before we teach."
"So, when will we start?" Terry Boot asked.
"I will contact you all when we are ready to start. I need to research a little more before we can begin."
The group agreed and started to leave the bar, leaving Ron and Hermione alone. Hermione turned to him, "Go on, and I'll be right along, I got to thank the owner."
"All right, I got Quidditch practice. See ya later." Ron left in a hurry.
"You did good," Caledonia said as she took the robe off and Hermione turned to her. "I'll help you with the lessons." She glanced to the window where she could see shadows of other students passing by through the grimy pane. "Watch out for some of the Ravenclaws, and I am not so sure about them."
"Good thing we have you in Slytherin." Hermione sighed as she sat down at the bar and accepted a dusty butterbeer from the bartender. "How are you feeling?" She gestured to Caledonia, hinting her recent incident.
"Oh. Better, the potion you gave me helped. You got to tell me what they are so I can get more of them." She sighed and rubbed her forehead where the scar was.
"Your scar hurting you?" Hermione leaned forward and brushed the hair aside and gasped softly, "it's red."
"I've been having nightmares. Voldemort had been rather nasty lately. Tracey tells me that I'm waking them up at night. I would find silencing charm on my curtain by morning."
"Do you think you should tell Professor Snape or Professor Dumbledore?"
Caledonia shook her head. "No. it's nothing new." She got up from the bar and thanked the bartender and wrapped the cloak around her shoulder disappearing. "You better get back. I'll walk with you, but I am going to take a walk around on the ground for a bit to clear my head."