The Boy Who Was A Girl:

Author's Notes: Thank you for the reviews! The encouragement and suggestions you gave me helped immensely, particularly T'Maia's recommendations. I'm finally using feminine pronouns, which is nice because I feel weird referring to a girl as he. Also, I invented a new word! A midwitch is a magical midwife. Just though I'd let you know that.

Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to J.K. Rowling. I'm merely borrowing them for the time being.

"NO! Leave me alone!" Draco howled, dodging the Full Body Bind her mother had cast in hopes of capturing her wayward child. "My hair's fine just the way it is! And I'm not wearing any bloody dresses!" The former boy dashed through the hallway and took a quick detour through one of the house elf corridors her mother was too tall to use.

"Come back here this instant, Draco! Draco!"

Ignoring her mother's calls, Draco ran quickly towards the North Wing of the mansion and ducked into an empty room. Draco had taken to wearing her old clothes from when she was a boy and binding her breasts with gauze, much to her mother's disapproval. Her hair was still short and Draco was determined that it would stay that way. She was refusing all attempts to turn her into a respectable Malfoy girl. Draco now loathed that phrase, if only because she'd heard it so many times.

Though, to her credit, Draco had finally accepted the fact that she really was female and that she was going to stay that way.

She'd been in denial for a whole week before Camilla had taken her to St. Mungo's where a specialist had looked her over and thoroughly examined her. Of course, Draco had complained the whole time, but that was only to be expected. The doctor, some trumped up mudblood with a degree from both a muggle and a magical university, had done a series of confusing tests and come up with a final result; Draco was one hundred percent female. Not only was the way she thought distinctly feminine (the doctor had mentioned something about patterns in her brain), but even her magic was different. Draco had been forced to get a new wand at Ollivander's since the old one felt strange and foreign in her hand and probably wouldn't have worked if she had been allowed to use it during the summer. The new wand was ten inches long and made of birch with a snidget feather core.

Even though she was a girl, Draco didn't want to have her hair grown out or wear stupid uncomfortable underwear. She didn't want to learn how to act like a polite young lady or how to walk in high heels. And she certainly wasn't going to change her name to something more feminine. Draco hated being a girl. Her breasts were always getting in the way in the most annoying fashion, hence the gauze. She always felt like something was missing when she walked and having her mother critiquing her boyish stride didn't help matters any. She was even scrawnier than she had been before and she'd never been very big for a boy either. Camilla and Narcissa were just trying to help, but their efforts only made things worse.

Draco had read the Daily Prophet. She knew she was being called The Girl Who Was a Boy and that she was the freak featured in the article 'Draco Malfoy's Magical Mistake'. She would have bet all the galleons in Gringotts that Weasley and Potter had cut out the articles and were laughing over them joyfully. At least there weren't any pictures or Draco would have died from the shame of it. Witch Weekly had even tried to contact her for an interview, but Camilla had put them in their place quickly enough. The Malfoy matriarch had a good deal of their stocks in her abundant portfolio and they were reluctant to offend her.

Halfway through the summer, Draco was still rebuffing the combined efforts of both Narcissa and Camilla. There had been several discussions of sending her off to a finishing school for girls until Draco became used to her new role in life, but it had been decided that Draco's magical education shouldn't suffer just because she had switched genders. Hogwarts was the very best wizarding school in England and Malfoys, no matter their sex, always demanded the best.

Being the daughter of Lucius Malfoy was a very different thing from being his son. Draco would still inherit the Malfoy estates and fortune, but she wasn't allowed to officially hold a political opinion or to work. Conversely enough, instead of being married off to Pansy Parkinson as previous arrangements had dictated before her change, now she was going to be allowed to choose her future husband herself as long as he met certain standards. This was mostly because now her upbringing was the responsibility of the Malfoy women and they were much more understanding about such matters.

Draco might have had to contend with a younger brother if it wasn't for the fact that Narcissa Malfoy was incapable of bearing any more children. Her mother's petite frame and slender hips were not suited to childbirth. In fact, she'd almost miscarried Draco two times and even with the help of the very best midwitch in Europe attending her every need Draco had still been born two months prematurely. As a baby, Draco's immune system hadn't been very strong and for a good portion of her infancy she was very ill. It was part of the reason why Draco had been so spoiled by her family and why Lucius tended to be a bit more lenient with his heir than he otherwise would be. And Camilla and Narcissa had been even worse when it came to disciplining Draco when she had been a little boy. Or rather not disciplining Draco.

Not that they let Draco run wild. Far from it, really. They seemed to have taken the task of turning Draco into a proper girl to heart. Draco did her required summer homework and was willing to do her school work when the time came, but she refused anything having to do with etiquette or femininity. Draco Malfoy might have been cursed to live out the rest of her life as a female, but she didn't have to act like some sort of delicate flower. Draco hated her new life and was hanging on tooth and nail to the tattered remnants of her old, and in her opinion better, one. Sighing, she took a seat near the window and stared outside at the lawn. A popping noise drew her attention away from the green landscape.

"Young Miss Malfoy?" The house elf asked hesitantly.

"What is it Gloomy?" Draco snapped.

The house elf blinked its bulbous eyes mournfully at her tone. "Mistress and the Missus asked Gloomy to tell you they is in the drawing room. Mistress is wanting me to tell you she is willing to make a deal."

The Slytherin sat up quickly. This was the first time either of the Malfoy women had offered to reconsider their ridiculous attempts to turn Draco into the perfect girl. "Really?"

"Yes, Miss."

Draco stood up quickly and made her way through the mansion towards her grandmother's drawing room. She entered warily, edging her way inside only far enough to see them so she could make a quick escape. Draco had dodged any number of crafty attempts to catch her previously and was still on her guard for another one. "Sit down, Draco. Please. We promise not to force you into anything."

Knowing her grandmother always made good on her promises, Draco closed the door behind her and took a seat in the spare armchair. "I'm here. What's the deal?"

Camilla smiled in a way that made Draco nervous. "I've realized that we've been going about this the wrong way. I know just how stubborn you can be, dear. You are a Malfoy after all. And in order to help you, we need your cooperation. So, I'm proposing a bit of bribery. How would you feel about a new Firebolt? Or perhaps tickets to the next Falmouth Falcons game?"

And Draco knew in that instant that she was doomed to live out the rest of her life as a 'respectable Malfoy girl'.

To Be Continued…

Constructive criticism and comments are more than welcome.