author's note-- 6-17-05 --I came back and decided to add a little. I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but I wanted to get it out there. --Adam


Harry's senses began to stir at the touch of something tickling his forehead. He could already tell, with what minimal consciousness he had regained, that his sleep had been rough; he felt tired. The tickling continued and Harry forced his eyes to part only slightly, as the light that greeted them burned.

Hermione Granger sat perched just to his side, apparently absorbed in tracing the small lightening bolt scar on his forehead with her finger. This immediately seemed odd to him, as he couldn't recall a time that Hermione had ever made much notice of it; rather she usually seemed to ignore it unless called to her attention. Further confusing to Harry was what she was doing in the boys' dormitory. Not that it was entirely unusual for her to do so, though Harry could at least attribute her past intrusions to something that she felt couldn't wait.

"Hermione," Harry mumbled, at which Hermione jumped as though stung and jerked her hand away. "Why are you in the boys' dormitory?"

Hermione seemed to consider the question before offering an uncomfortable smile, "I'm err, not Harry… You're in the- girl's dormitory."

It took Harry a few moments for the depth of Hermione's words to sink in, and then in an unpleasant flash the whole of the day before flooded back to him. He jerked up into a sitting position with a yelp, and glanced about frantically confirming his worst fears. He was no 'he' at all, he was in-fact a 'she'.

Harry sat transfixed as though paralyzed, while Hermione watched in silence as Harry came to terms yet again with her curse.

She was still a 'she'; it hadn't been a dream! She was in the girl's dormitory, sharing a room with Hermione, and suffering a detention ruthlessly devised by her most hated teacher, Snape!

Harry fell back into her pillow, with a painful sigh. It was all real, and she was stuck. She noticed Hermione still looking at her with a pitying look.

"It's the weekend then?" Harry finally asked.

"Yeah," Hermione answered simply. "Most of the students will be going to Hogsmeade today."

"Good I need something to take my mind off all this," Harry replied.

Hermione looked uncomfortable once more; "Actually you can't go, remember? Professor Umbridge banned you from going for the rest of the year."

Harry cursed aloud and rolled over in her bed. Hermione cast a reproachful look, "well your not just gonna stay in bed all weekend and mope?"

"Watch me," Harry retorted sourly. "Why'd you wake me up anyway, to gloat? I hope you and Ron have a real fun time."

Hermione's face darkened. "I'll have you know I had no intentions of visiting Hogsmeade this weekend!" She said angrily. "And I didn't wake you up!"

"Well I sure woke up when you were messin' with my scar."

Hermione drew up defensively, "I was… I was -not- messing with your scar!"

Harry bit her tongue to stop her next retort. She knew when Hermione had set herself to a lie she wasn't liable to budge from her story until she was good and ready. And Harry suddenly didn't feel it was worth fighting about.

"Well at any rate, I suppose I could sneak into Hogsmeade if I wanted." Harry thought aloud.

"Don't be silly Harry," Hermione remarked, appearing nevertheless relieved in the shift in topic. "You don't want to end up sleeping in the girls' dormitory for the rest of your time at Hogwarts."

Harry shrugged, " I dunno, I managed to snag a room almost all to myself within one night," She remarked bitterly reflecting on the previous nights events. "Might not be too bad!" Harry could tell Hermione could see through her sarcasm, but she looked worried at the remark all the same.

"Well since you -are- awake," Hermione switched topics once more. "It'd probably be best if we headed down to the Great Hall for some breakfast. I'm betting Ron is already in the common room waiting.

Harry nodded.

It didn't take Harry long to get ready, though Hermione did cast her a side-glance to notice she wasn't stripping beyond her boxers and undershirt. Harry had busied herself searching through her trunk for clothes when Hermione had finally asked, "Have you taken a bath since yesterday?" Harry's whole body tensed up at the question. She knew good and well why Hermione was asking her that, though she felt that question was borderline out of bounds. The only two Gryfindor washrooms were located in either dormitory, which meant that for Harry to have bathed, she would have had to do so as a girl.

"Er, no." Harry answered shyly.

"And what are you doing anyway?" Hermione asked immediately following Harry's answer. "Those clothes swallow you whole, you can barely keep them on." Harry looked down at the clothing that had once belonged to Dudley and was forced to admit she did look quite ridiculous, though with Hermione's interest in the matter, Harry only offered a shrug.

"You don't expect me to spend the weekend as a girl do you? They'll fit better when I can get some warm water."

"Well till then you best be careful, unless you feel like removing all doubt about just -how- female you've truly become." Harry blushed slightly at the mental image and then shook it from her mind.

"I'll be fine, I don't plan to leave the common-room till I get some warm water anyway."

Hermione still maintained an air of warning about her, but simply shrugged her indifference, "Don't come crying to me-" She sang softly as she turned to exit the room with Harry in tow.

True to Hermione's assumption, Ron was indeed waiting for them in the common room, looking a little anxious as Harry approached followed by Hermione. "Blimey Harry, is that you in there?" Ron had asked when taking note of Harry's oversized clothing. Harry gave Ron a narrowed look and took the cup of water from Hermione that she had acquired from the girls' washroom.

Harry glanced about noticing a minimal amount of students and inwardly shrugged, they were gonna have to get used to seeing this happen anyway. With that in mind Harry bent over and let the warm water slosh onto her head in such a way that her clothes remained dry. A small strange stretching feeling occurred and was gone as fast as Harry could notice it; And as she righted herself, 'she' was now a 'he'.

A few of the students around gave applause as though it had been a wonderful show, which Harry could only silently remark how they were all smart-asses.

That aside, Harry was feeling much better about things, He was a he, and had an entire weekend till he had to worry about the second half of Snape's punishment.

As they walked toward the Great Hall Harry noticed the stares and whispers were back once again following him wherever he went. After a few moments feeling entirely uncomfortable with himself, Harry turned a deaf ear to the chatter. He had had to endure this sort of treatment since his very first day at Hogwarts. Given the present direction of his life hewould probably endure it for it's remainder however long or short that might be.

It wasn't long before they reached the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryfindor table for their breakfast. Harry found his appetite had resurfaced with a vengeance since not having much at dinner the night before. He dug into the food in front of him and felt a small sense of satisfaction. As he ravenously made quick work of his breakfast he began to consider how he might spend the day. He fancied he might just hang around the school a bit, maybe visit Hagrid, and perhaps walk over to the quiditch stadium and watch some of the flyers that were sure to be taking advantage of what was sure to be a nice day.

Halfway through their meal the mail owls made their pass through the hall and Hermione received a copy of The Daily Prophet. Ron had asked if there was anything of interest, to which Hermione had replied there were only several more reports and speculations as to what Sirius and his recent fellow reunited death eaters were up to. Also mentioned were several eyewitness accounts of having seen one or more of the listed wizards. Hermione sighed, "Rubbish."

Harry and Ron agreed. Not much else was said as they finished their meal and finally Ron looked up from his plate at Harry, "So what do you reckon you're gonna do today?"

Harry shrugged, "It's been a few days since we've visited Hagrid, I thought we might see what he was up to." Ron nodded his approval while Hermione didn't comment.

As they stood up together to leave, their meal finally concluded, Harry felt a young first year Ravenclaw girl bump into him, the drink she was holding spilling onto him. Harry bit back her frustration knowing full well what this meant, and seeing her fears confirmed in Ron and Hermione's eyes. The young girl looked at Harry with saucer wide eyes, "I'm- I'm real sorry!" She said in a small almost frightened voice.

Harry wearily made to tell the young girl not to worry, but was interrupted by Ron, "Watch where you're going munchkin," he snarled. "Five points from Ravenclaw!"

"Ron!" Hermione snapped. "It was an accident and you know it! Five points -to- Ravenclaw!"

"She wasn't even paying attention to where she was going, five points -FROM- Ravenclaw!"

"That's no excuse to punish her! TEN points -TO- Ravenclaw!"

"TEN!" Ron exclaimed incredulously.

"Stop it you two!" Harry snapped, having noticed the young Ravenclaw begin to tremble. A few of the students who had noticed Harry's change were again exchanging whispered remarks and in some cases snickering. Some of the Ravenclaw's Harry noticed were on the verge of speaking up for the young girl, before Harry had interjected. She was just glad Malfoy seemed to be absent from the room. "Look it's alright, it wasn't your fault." Harry offered the young girl, who seemed to calm slightly from the sincerity of Harry's voice.

Wanting nothing more than to change back as soon as she could, Harry grabbed a hold of her pants to make sure they didn't slide off as she walked, and passed by the young girl to exit the hall. As she maintained the lead of their trio Harry felt a headache begin to build as Hermione and Ron continued to argue over who was abusing their power. Spotting the bathroom she had been looking for Harry entered in through the door without a backward glance leaving Ron and Hermione to stare after.

She came to a stop at the very sink she had entered into the chamber of secrets from three years past and sighed. She had chosen this bathroom as it was least likely to have anyone in it, and she could change without making another spectacle.

Why were things getting so complicated, she wondered silently? Eventually after you stacked enough things on top of each other, they'd all come crashing down. Harry wondered darkly when she'd finally crash… After a long while of losing herself in thought Harry finally turned one of the faucets on and waited as the water turned hot. As she did so Moaning Myrtle poked her head out of her stall seemingly surprised to see someone using her bathroom.

"Who are you?" Myrtle asked simply, her voice sounding as though she had only moments before been crying. Harry certainly wasn't ruling out the possibility.

Harry looked over at Myrtle and gave her a simple, "Hello Myrtle," and continued to test the water for warmth, hoping that perhaps Myrtle would lose interest.

It wasn't but only a minute more that Myrtle gave a small smile, "It's you isn't it Harry!" Harry was a bit surprised Myrtle had made the connection so easy. "I remember you said you couldn't come in here to visit me because this was a girl's bathroom. So you went and turned yourself into a girl to come see me then?" Harry was slightly stunned by the presumptuous conclusion.

"Er, not exactly Myrtle though, you might could attribute the fact that I am a girl to why I'm er- visiting you."

"Oh," Myrtle answered forming a somewhat pouty expression. "So why then are you a girl?"

"That's a bit complicated," Harry answered hesitantly.

"Myrtle has all day, all night, all year, all-," Myrtle began to explain.

"Er yes, Myrtle," Harry interrupted. "It was a potion of Hermione's," she explained.

"Oh I see," Myrtle answered, having already seen the effects of one of Hermione's potions three years prior. Hermione had turned herself into a cat-girl. Myrtle opened her mouth to inquire more but Harry was quick to head her off.

"Look Myrtle I'm kinda in a hurry, so…" Harry took a large scoop of the warm water with her hands and dumped it over her head, feeling the change. Myrtle seemed suddenly very interested in the change but Harry gave her no chance to speak further on it, "Well, bye then!" he said as he pushed his way out of the bathroom.

As Harry entered back into the hall he found Hermione and Ron apparently had agreed to disagree on the matter as neither appeared in a very pleasant mood. But at their cease of arguing, Harry found their mood quite pleasant to him. "So anyway," he said ignoring their current attitude toward each other. "Let's go ahead and head down to Hagrid's; hope he's not out!"

They exited the school onto the grounds to be greeted by a warm and sunny day. Harry was determined to make the best of this weekend before school started back and he had to spend an entire week in a girl's uniform. Just thinking about it was enough to dampen his day, so he quietly resolved not to.

He noticed as he skimmed the lake that the grounds seemed rather vacant, much like the school. It reminded him of holidays at Hogwarts, when most of the students go home to spend time with their families, a luxury he had never held in high regard. He could see a few students here or there, a few in the air over the stadium and a couple in the lake with the squid, but overall it felt very abandoned.

"Harry watch out!" Harry heard Hermione cry, but only too late. The squid from the lake had splashed one of it's tentacles down and Harry once again found herself cursing at her sudden rotten luck. "What is it with getting splashed with water all the time now! I can't possibly be -this- unlucky!"

Ron and Hermione stayed quiet as Harry vented her anger in a rather vulgar vernacular. Even Ron was caught blushing by Harry's startling vocabulary. Hermione's jaw dropped.

Kicking at the ground in anger, Harry spun on her heels and marched at twice her previous speed in the direction of Hagrid's hut. She would just get warm water there, she decided.

Ron and Hermione followed behind silently, their animosity toward the other forgotten in genuine concern for Harry. Harry half-walking, half-storming made a b-line for Hagrid's hut all the while remaining dangerously quiet.

As she finally reached the door, she wrapped loudly causing Fang inside to give a loud and booming bark in response. Only moments later Hagrid opened the door his giant form staring down at the three teenagers. "All righ' then Ron, Hermione, err.." Hagrid paused noticing Harry. "Whose this pretty frien've yours?" He asked with a smile.

"Please don't call me that," Harry answered weakly, as Hagrid stood aside and the three entered his hut.

"This is Harry, Hagrid." Hermione confided as Harry went to the sink to get some warm water.

"Oh," Hagrid remarked, his expression clearly indicating how odd he thought for a girl to be named Harry.

Ron and Hermione didn't fail to miss the expression, though it was Ron who clarified. "Harry you know; Harry Potter, Hagrid. It's him."

"Er, beg yer pardon?" Hagrid asked skeptically, catching sight of a very small feminine shoulder protruding out of the large neck hole of Harry's shirt.

"Hermione can fill you in," Harry said as she began to run the water. "She knows more about it than me anyway."

At this Hermione explained to Hagrid the events of the previous day, causing the half-giant to arch a rather suspiciously bruised eyebrow. "So yer sayin' then tha' Harry can turn into a girl or boy, jus' at the splash of som' water?"

"That's pretty much it," Hermione confirmed, glad to be finished with her explanation.

"Hagrid, how long does this take to warm anyway?" Harry asked holding her hand under the running water from the faucet.

"Oh er, Yer probably wan'in ter warm some up on th' stove. Water hasn' been comin' out very warm lately, must be somethin' wrong with th' pipes. " Hagrid said still casting Harry a somewhat unbelieving look.

"Since when, yesterday?" Harry mumbled under her breath, feeling things seemed to have been curiously against her as of late.

After setting a kettle on the stove, Hagrid turned to Harry with a questioning glance. "You uh, don' mind if I get a good look at ya' do ya', er Harry?"

Harry shrugged her indifference and walked over to stand underneath one of Hagrid's lamps. Hagrid peered down intently for a few moments into Harry's face, before finally admitting, yep that's definitely Harry's eyes starin' out from behin' those glasses; remin' me of his mam. And er, course the scars kinda' a giveaway too."

"Harry your soaked," Hermione noted. "What's going to happen if that's not dry after you change back? I mean, will cold soggy clothes, cause you to change right back?… Here," Hermione added and with a wave of her wand Harry felt her clothes immediately dry.

"Thanks," Harry said. She hadn't considered the possibility her clothes alone could change her, and in her haste she had forgotten the spell to dry clothes anyway.

Finally something that had been bugging her since the last time she had visited with Hagrid got the better of her and Harry decided to try again and ask him about it. "Er Hagrid," Harry asked cautiously. "Your looking a bit worse then when we were last here, what's been going on?"

"Don' kno' what yer' goin' on abou' Harry. Nothin' wors' then me normal cuts and bruises. Rough job I keep after all, righ'?"

Harry could sense Hagrid was intentionally keeping something from them but not knowing how else to approach the situation, she dropped the matter for the time being.

"I bet the water's probably warm enough now, Harry," Ron said as he pointed to the steam rising from the kettle's spout.

Harry rose to fetch the kettle and poured a bit of the warm water into a cup to check and make sure it wasn't scalding. After determining it to be fine Harry up ended the entire cup over her head, same as she had earlier in the Gryfindor common room, and after a fraction of a second Harry realized he was back to being a he again. It seemed the change was nearly instantaneous, possibly too fast for the eyes to catch. It occurred to him that he had two eyewitnesses who had seen him change each time to ask.

They didn't hang around much longer before saying their good-byes to Hagrid and excusing themselves out the front door. Harry took the lead again, this time not as hurried to reach his destination. "So er, what exactly does it look like when I change?" He asked hesitantly.

"I really couldn't tell you," Ron answered. "One second your one gender, the next your another. I mean sure the loss or gain in height is noticeable, but it's so quick it's almost like a trick of the eyes."

"He's right," Hermione confirmed. "I haven't actually been able to catch the change; just before or after. It seems like its instant.

Harry nodded; this was what he had figured to be the case. Still, he was glad he didn't look like some freak morphing between the two genders.

They walked casually the rest of the way to the quiditch field, discussing random rather unimportant things. It was a nice change to not have much of anything serious to discuss. Hermione droned on about their upcoming O.W.L.'s, causing Ron to yawn his interest, which gained him a nasty look from her.

Harry guessed he owed a bit of the lessening of tension to his curse. Nobody wanted to talk much about other bad things in his presence when he was currently so preoccupied with one big one.

Sighing weakly, he considered the morning so far. He had told Hermione he had no intention of remaining a girl all weekend, but so far he was finding it difficult to keep this promise. The best he could hope for was his luck this morning had been some fluke and that once his week was up, he could return to having a normal 'boys' life. How hard could it possibly be to avoid a little cold water? He hadn't had problems with it in the past.

They finally reached the quiditch field, which was nearly barren of activity Harry noted as they entered the stadium and made a slow ascent up one of the elevated sets of bleachers. Had his broom not been seized and locked away by that toad of a woman Umbridge, Harry could've easily seen such an open inviting field a wonderful opportunity to cut loose and leave his troubles behind for the air. As it stood though he would simply have to settle himself a spectator.

Katie Bell, who had apparently sacrificed a trip to hogsmeade, circled the field watching over a young second year gryffindor Harry thought might be named Natalie. It seemed Katie was giving some flying pointers to the young girl, and teaching her some of the basics of quiditch. Harry longed to be out there with the two, and could almost feel the rush of wind against his cheeks as he imagined himself chasing the snitch.

The morning dragged on slowly, Harry leaning quite comfortably onto the bench behind him, watching the two gryffindor's fly freely about the field. Hermione and Ron sat to either side of him in mutual silence, neither one evidencing much interest in the scene before them. Harry, at one point suggested it might have been better had they gone on to hogsmeade without him, to which both were quick to deny any such thing, though he could hear otherwise in their voices.

As the morning sun rose higher in the sky Harry began to feel quite drowsy. His sleep last night had been troubled, and with the weight of the many things that had happened recently on his mind it was nice to finally have a moments reprieve. Harry's felt his eyes slide shut and was asleep within moments.

He wasn't sure how long he slept, but in his dreams he was flying-- no broom or hippogryph, just him with the sky all to himself. When he finally awoke it was to the soft cool pelts of rain that had seemingly come from nowhere. Katie and Natalie were absent from the field while Ron and Hermione appeared to be missing as well.

He was alone in the stadium-- or rather -she-, just her and the rain. Harry sat a while letting the cool droplets bounce off her skin washing the sweat that had formed while she slept. It felt rather pleasant, she thought. Despite the hassle of yet again switching her gender, Harry found the rain almost welcome-- a small mirror into her emotions.

Still leaning against the bench behind her Harry tilted her head back to stare into the downpour. The gray clouds rushed quickly overhead but seemed curiously resolute to continue their mild onslaught, despite having had such a clear morning. Harry didn't mind. At least alone it didn't matter so much, and the rain was comfortable.

It wasn't until the rain seemed to calm that Harry finally picked herself from the bench and began her march back to the castle. She had grown hungry and felt it was probably nearing lunch anyway.

Once at the castle, Harry entered in through the entrance hall and into the great hall where she found a scattered few people having lunch. She had thought to take yet another detour to fetch some warm water but her hunger had gotten the best of her. She was going to have to spend a week like this anyway, might as well get used to the idea.

She found Ron and Hermione finishing their lunch and sat opposite them at the gryffindor table. Ron and Hermione shared a significant look as they both took note Harry was once again a girl. Harry dismissed their reaction; she wasn't in the mood for explanations. "You guy's didn't wake me," Harry finally said flatly as she dug into her lunch.

"We tried," Hermione said carefully.

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "Tried several times in-fact mate, you told us to go on without you."

"I did?" Harry asked. "I don't remember-"

"Well you were half asleep," Hermione answered.

Harry shrugged her indifference, and continued her meal in silence. After a few moments Hermione said, "Harry, I've been thinking-- Doesn't it seem a bit odd to you that Snape could impose a detention on you that directly involved your house?"

Harry looked up from her meal, but said nothing as she considered what it was Hermione had said.

"Hey yeah," Ron said. "How is it that ponce can ban you from the boys dormitory in gryffindor if he's not the house head?"

"Language Ron," Hermione said annoyed, before resuming her line of thought. "I think we should see professor McGonagall. She can't possibly have allowed this."

Harry, who still hadn't said a thing, suddenly felt a small measure of hope. Of course! McGonagall couldn't possibly know about this! She would set Snape Straight! But… The more Harry thought on it, the more one thing still didn't make sense to her, if not McGonagall, who had cast the spell barring her from the boys' dormitory?

This question plagued her thoughts as she, Ron, and Hermione marched their way to McgonaGall's office after lunch. She hadn't mentioned her fear to either, hoping she was somehow wrong. But despite her own constant assurances that she was somehow mistaken, she couldn't shake the idea that somehow McGonagall already knew about everything.

It wasn't long before the trio found themselves standing outside professor McGonagall's office and Harry rapped loudly against the door. "Come in," came a faint reply, to which Harry pushed the door open and the three stepped inside.

Professor McGonagall was sitting behind her desk working through some papers, when her eyes snapped up to meet the three's entrance. "So, er Potter," she hesitated, "Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Harry paused for a moment suddenly unsure how to progress before finally asking, "Professor, I was wondering if you had heard about Professor Snape's detention?"

"I certainly have Potter, and believe me if I had a say in this nonsense, it'd be put to a stop immediately. But as things stand, Umbridge is headmistress and I find myself virtually powerless in the matter."

"But Gryffindor is your house, isn't there something you can do? I mean he has me sleeping in the girls' dormitory."

Professor McGonagall suddenly seemed very tired, "That's not a part of your detention, Potter." She said flatly

Harry felt her spirit's lift. "So it was a lie then," Harry said relieved. "Professor Snape somehow put a spell in place banning me from the boys' dormitory."

"See that's what I was saying," Ron said cheerfully.

"You can undo his spell, right professor?" Harry asked.

Hermione's face darkened.

"You misunderstand me," Professor McGonagall, said. "Despite whatever Professor Snape may have implied, moving you to the girls' dormitory was not a punishment. It was an unfortunate necessity.

"What?" Harry said hollowly, feeling as though the ground had been ripped from beneath her feet.

"It wasn't an easy decision Potter, but we had to take the necessary precautions. What if you were splashed with cold water while in the boys' dorm? A girl sleeping in a room full of boy's simply will not do."

"What about the girl's dorm?" Harry protested. I could just as easily get splashed with warm water there."

"And the magic protecting that dorm from male intrusion will simply remove you from the dorm to the common room."

"Couldn't a spell just as easily be placed on the boy's dorm to have the same effects?"

"No Potter I'm afraid not. The situation was discussed at length already I'm afraid, and this was the decision reached. As long as you are cursed, you will remain in the girl's dorm."

"But that means this is permanent!" Harry protested.

"I'm sorry Potter, this was the decision reached and it is final, now if you will excuse me I have work to attend to."

Harry felt Hermione tug on her shirt, a gesture intended for her to follow, but Harry just couldn't accept it. This couldn't be it! She couldn't just roll over and take this! Was everyone mad! "This is madness!" She shouted in anger.

Mcgonagall's attention lifted again from her work, and despite her lips thinning, she seemed to sympathize. "I'm sorry Harry, but this has already been decided upon, and should you feel the need to hang about further, I'm sure I can find something for you to do to take your mind off of things."

Several retorts raced through Harry's mind but finally she let herself be pulled along by Hermione out the door, and back into the hallway.

Ron and Hermione stood silently waiting for Harry to say something. She was just getting so tired of this already. "Look," She finally said. "Just- just leave me alone for a while." Without a second glance, Harry turned and walked away from the two.