Hermione waved to her parents, finally eager to go to school for a reason other than learning. In fact, there were a few reasons, but only one that mattered right now. That reason hadn't been visiting the Realm of Magic for a few days, the days that she'd been back from her holiday. She knew this because that's where she'd been spending her time. She was also slightly disappointed by the fact that she'd missed the opportunity to get the interface early.
Xingwei picked up on this and laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder as they looked for Susan, Hannah, Daphne, Tracy, and Neville. "Don't worry, I'm sure that he missed you just as much as you missed him. But it's likely that he's been kept very busy the last few days. After all, until last week he was the only one with the interface in the school."
"I know, but…", she didn't voice her feelings as she knew from what her parents had told her over the years, it was probably only a crush.
It didn't take them long to find her friends, and Justin, which meant that they would need to find a new carriage for Xingwei to sit in due to her tail. It didn't stop her from poking her head in though.
"Morning, no Susan?"
Hannah looks up, "No, she had to go back to school early. As her aunt had an unexpected training course to attend. The lucky bitch has the interface."
"But she wasn't involved in the accident."
"According to Susan, Professor Tonks got her back for something that happened in school. Which interacted with the Rite of Ascension and caused her to be forcibly inducted into the interface as well."
They chatted for a couple of minutes longer before Hermione moved on to find a compartment nearby.
Apart from a visit from Ron and Draco, her journey was quiet and uneventful, interspersed with visits from her friends. This allowed her time to continue studying her latest tome and practicing some of the spells – Such as Scruberoo, which she used on the seats of the compartment before she sat down.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
For Ron, returning to Hogwarts was a mixed blessing. With his newfound pathological aversion to being in anyway smelly, or in a smelly environment, in case a Troll gets him. Getting away from the Burrow is a good thing, as while his Mum tries her hardest, they do have a working orchard. Which means that dirt gets tracked in, which means he needed to clean it off him. He was slowly coming to realise that his days of lazing around and leaving the cleaning to the last minute were coming to a rather rapid close. On the downside, he'd finally got his bedroom clean and the last of the rat mess sorted out. Now he was going to be faced with his area in the dorm room. Scabbers was spending less and less time living in his pocket and more time living in his cage. A cage that he'd actually brought with him this time. As Scabbers pees too much for his state of mind to handle, as one whiff of pee and he's hurrying to get out of the clothes he's wearing. Though, he's learnt to do it in his bedroom at the end of his mothers wand.
He went up and down the train looking for a clean compartment, and the only one he found that looked completely clean had that girl from Hufflepuff in it. The really intelligent one. He asked her if he could sit there, and she chased him away with a scathing tongue lashing. Though he couldn't really remember what it is he's supposed to have done to her. He ends up using one of his spare robes to sit on during the journey.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Draco is another one who is having a difficult time on the train, though for very different reasons to Ron. After the debacle with the Whomping Willow, and the suggestion that he might be a kleptomanic, and the turning around of his duel attempt, coupled with the increased emphasis that the new head of house was putting on subtlety, his standing in his house was about as low as it could go. Then there was the talk that his mother and father had about Professor Tonks, which basically said, 'Do not do anything that will draw her attention to you. Her memory is legendarily long, and her payback extreme. Remember, Black by name and Black by nature. She was born and bred a Black, and out of all of us, was the one that embodied the ideals of Slytherin the most. Her marrying a muggleborn was deliberate have no doubt.'
He'd then got an eye-opening rundown on what being a Black meant for their society. He was slightly worried that he was supposed to be the heir to this family now. At least Tonks wasn't actually in the Black Family anymore.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Andromeda stands beside Pomona as they look over the Great Hall watching Albus and a very nervous Fawkes making some final adjustments to his throne.
"Do you think I should adjust my chair to be more ostentatious than his throne?"
Pomona snorts, "I'd have to check with Rolanda, as she's been here longer than Albus, but I don't think anyone has ever tried to."
With a smirk, she pictures the throne that Conan used in that Ted dragged her to see several years ago, with a flick of her wand a ball of light shoots out to hit her chair and turn it into a replica, complete with weapons leaning up against it. When that doesn't get a rise out of him, she pictures the floating throne of Skeletor from the more recent Masters of the Universe film, complete with eerie glowing red backing. She smirks when he panics at the sight of it and redoubles his efforts on his own throne.
"You're not going to sit on that are you?"
"Oh afterlife no, it looks far too uncomfortable. It should revert well before the evening meal. If not I'll revert it then. How are you getting on with your aspirations?"
"Oh, fine, I'm just working on getting my gardening skill up."
"What about your other aspirations?"
"I wanted to finish this one first."
"Did you read the text in the aspiration selection? You can switch aspirations whenever you want, and it keeps track of your progress on each. I've currently got the Fabulously wealthy one well in hand, Chief of Mischief is already on part 3, Spellcraft and Sorcery is already on 2, though becoming an acolyte is going to take a while. I'm on the second level of Freelance Botanist, and I'm looking for a good place around the lake to put a fishing sign from build mode so that I can get a good start on Angling Ace. Purveyor of Potions is again stuck on getting Acolyte, though I'm already on level 3 of Potions Master, and I should be on level 4 soon, and I'm on level 3 of Master Healer I'm pretty sure that doing a shift at St Mungo's will let me complete that one. Once I have, I've already worked out which bonus traits I want to buy. Though, you may want to look at buying a Potion of Youth if you don't see anything that you immediately want, as it will take you back to your twenties and thirties."
"What?"
"First lesson of Slytherin, find out what the rules are, that way you know when you're breaking them."
"Why?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, why have all of them on the go?"
"Why not? It's not like it's hard. I got my first mean action for part one of Chief of Mischief when I gave Amelia the Polyjuice potion. I got my last yesterday when I made Ted pregnant. I'm already disliked by more people than I can care to count. It seems like chain letters are easy to write, muggles will believe just about anything."
"Uh huh. Hey! Wait, don't even think about clogging the drains in Hufflepuff."
"Ok, I won't."
"Good, as I know how to add ingredients to drinks and food too, and make them escape most forms of detection."
"Yes, herbology would be good for that, wouldn't it."
Pomona just smirks at her.
"Anyway, just how important is keeping this a secret for the Hufflepuffs?"
"The interface isn't the secret."
"Hmm, true I suppose. It would be the new world wouldn't it."
Pomona just smiles again, "It's funny, probably the only two true Slytherins in the last 5 years, and they both sorted themselves into Hufflepuff."
"Makes you wonder what will happen next year, hmm?"
"Not really. What will be, will be. Even if you have to use a hammer sometimes. Did you know that the sorting hat is scared of female phoenixes?"
"I was there remember."
"Uh, uh, no you weren't. You were there at the sorting, not when I took it to the realm of magic for the first time. Solar took him off my head when I arrived and he was screaming, 'Not a Sun, Not a Sun, I'll be good.'"
"How did you manage to get the sorting hat then?"
"I read the rules.", she says before walking out of the Great Hall, leaving Andromeda to stare at her back.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
One thing that Harry wasn't expecting as he waited at the gate for the carriages to arrive with their friends, is a carriage door to open and him to be tackled to the floor by a flying Hermione.
"I missed you, you doofus. Why haven't you been going to the Realm of Magic?"
"I missed you too, and, er, I've been busy avoiding people after having to give the WooHoo talk."
"The what?" – Harry flushes bright red – "Is that anything like the sex talk?"
The red starts to travel down his neck, "You know you could have just escaped to your Aunts home. I met Sally-Anne there a couple of times."
"I was helping Professor Sprout with the greenhouses in disguise."
"How exactly could you disguise your self in such a way to avoid attention?"
"If you get up I'll show you once we get to a dresser."
Hermione scrambles to her feet and then drags him through the school to the Hufflepuff dorms where she stops at the changes there.
"Well, do you want to see. Or do you want to admire the redecorating that Professor Sprout has done?"
She leads him into their Dorm and stops again at the new doors.
"Oh, yeah, I needed to put a dresser in the hall here because we now have gender exclusionary doors on our rooms, and I got trapped inside when I first did this. One moment."
He wanders over to the chest of drawers and accesses the change sim option. Once there he switches his gender to female. Then she changes her outfit to one of the dresses that she borrowed from Hermione's wardrobe. Finally, she changes her hair to a deep red that flows in long locks down her back and over the right hand side of her face. Confirming the changes she turns to see Hermione's face. A Hermione that's now looking at her with an absolutely gobsmacked expression. Smiling she walks over and, with one finger, pushes her mouth closed.
"Come on, or we'll be late for the feast.", she then does a spin and changes into her school uniform.
Numbly, Hermione follows along behind the strange girl that's her best friend. As they sit down at the Hufflepuff table and Susan and Sally-Anne both start chatting with her as though they've known her for years, she breaks and starts laughing.
Harry meanwhile, is keeping an eye on the Chief of Mischief aspiration and smiles when it goes up two ticks.
Later in the meal, Draco comes over to the Hufflepuff table.
"I'm sorry to bother you, but have any of you seen Potter? I'd like to apologise to him and Longbottom for my deplorable behaviour earlier in the year."
Harry pipes up, "Apology accepted."
Draco rallies admirably with, "My apologies Miss, but I do not believe I have had the pleasure of meeting you before."
"Au Contrair Malfoy, you have met me before. Though not nearly as politely." She casually brushes her hair to one side, revealing scar on her forehead.
Draco scrambles back, and knocks into a student behind him, before tripping over and sprawling on the floor. This causes such a commotion that Professor Tonks rises from her chair, note not a throne, and walks around to see what's happening. When Professor Sprout joins her nearly all the eyes in the hall turn to the spectacle. Meaning that they missed Oliver, the Quidditch captain for Gryffindor, stand up, do a cocky salute, and then barf up a literal rainbow. Much to the disappointment of a pair of twins.
Andromeda looks over the scene with a critical eye, then at the red head, "Mr Potter I presume?"
"It's Miss at the moment, in all ways. But yes."
"I see, and this is why you've been so hard to find over the last few days?"
"May I ask how?"
"Dresser, but only for yourself."
"Ah, I see. I didn't think to try that. Thank you, and 5 points to Hufflepuff for a very effective disguise. Come on Draco, it's not like you've never heard of Polyjuice potion."
With a plausible explanation given, even if nobody said it was the explanation, a laugh goes around the room. Nymphadora on the other hand looks jealously down the table at Harry, as she feels like something has been taken from her.
Professor Sprout looks her up and down, "Miss Potter, while I approve of your deportment. You will need correct undergarments in the future. We will be visiting Diagon Alley and ensuring that you have a complete uniform. I trust that you will not be sleeping like this either?"
With a chagrined look, Harry nods, "Yes Professor. And no Professor, it wouldn't be fair on Neville for me to do that. It's why I put a dresser in the hallway."
"Very good, and you will need to spend time socialising like that so that the girls in your year can teach you how to care for your hair and nails correctly. As well as the correct social mores and etiquette becoming a young lady of your station. After all, they are very different to the rules you are used to living under."
"Oh fiddlesticks." He mutters under his breath.
"1 point from Hufflepuff for swearing at a Professor."
"Yes Professor." She flushes slightly, as Pomona wasn't supposed to hear that.
The rest of the meal was pure torture as the girls in her year started giving her tips about things that she wished she didn't know about. Even Hermione joined in on it, and she was a girl that usually distained feminine things.
Her torment didn't end there, as Neville, Justin, and the other boys all escaped to the dorms. Not her, no. She was caught up in the group of girls, and with Professors Sprout and Tonks following along, taken to the Hospital Wing for her female checkup.
It didn't help when Hermione said, "Try not to flinch when the speculum goes in, as they don't always remember to warm it up first." It didn't help that Sally-Anne was the only one that giggled when she said that, so she couldn't be sure if Hermione was joking or not.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Once they reached the Hospital Wing Harry was just about ready to bolt. But the two female Professors and all her friends around her precluded that as an option. So, she tremulously walked into the main ward, and swallowed hard as Madam Pomphrey came down the spiral staircase.
The ever cheerful Professor Sprout guided Harry forward with a gentle hand to her back, "Madam Pomphrey, as promised this is the young lady that has been helping me with the greenhouses over the last few days. As she so kindly deigned to attend the evening feast today I took the opportunity for her to receive her physical health check."
Madam Pomphrey looks Harry up and down with a disapproving look, "And does this student have a name?"
Professor Sprout smiles widely, "Why, this is Miss Potter."
"I don't believe we have a Miss Potter on the rolls."
"That's because we don't include pronouns on the rolls. Her name is Harry Potter."
"I see. Accidental magic?"
"No, just trying to escape an embarrassing situation using the interface."
"I see." – With a wave of her wand a screen pulls out from a corner and the spiral staircase spirals up into the ceiling – "Well, behind the screen with you and get undressed."
As Harry sidles behind the screen nervously, Madam Pomphrey looks at the assembled girls, "So what have you all been telling her that's got her shaking like that?"
Sally-Anne snorts, "Hermione warned her about speculums being cold."
"Oh dear. Miss Potter, there's nothing to worry about. I just need to see that your body is developing properly and then take a few scans for your file. Though I think you'll be the first student to ever have two separate files."
Harry shouts from behind the screen, "You ditches, you made me believe that this was going to be some major ordeal where I would be violated."
"Quite, but 1 point from Hufflepuff for inappropriate language."
"Oh testes."
"That's another point Miss Potter." Madam Pomphrey walks around the screen.
"Miss Potter, I told you to get undressed. Not change into whatever that is."
"I am undressed Miss, it's the modesty filter because I'm underage."
"Well, I'm your doctor, so I need to be able to see you. That's better, whatever you did make sure you do it in future for these checks."
"I didn't do anything!"
"Professor Tonks, would you mind coming around here to give your opinion?"
Harry blushes and tries to cover up as Andromeda came round, "Nope, she's fine, and all blurry. Something to add to the file on the interface then."
Madam Pomphrey nods, "It seems so, at least I now know to let the patient know that I'm their doctor and need to be able to see."
Andromeda laughs, "It probably only works because you are actually her doctor, and she sees you as such." She then goes back around the screen leaving them alone again.
"Well Miss Potter, it looks like you're developing properly. Though I'm somewhat worried about these scars. I've got your scans done, now what do you need to change back to your male form?"
Harry mumbles something that Madam Pomphrey can't make out, "What was that?"
"A wall or floor mirror, chest of drawers, or wardrobe."
"Oh good, it's something simple. I keep a floor mirror here because some conditions require that the patient can see themselves while I'm repairing the damage, one moment."
A full-length mirror floats out of her office and behind the screen, "Right Miss Potter, here you go."
Harry makes the changes needed to go back to his normal self.
"Very good Mr Potter. You're looking good too, though slightly underweight. Both of you show signs of early malnutrition. You can get dressed now."
Once he's dressed the screen is put away and the spiral stairs come down again. Madam Pomphrey walks over to one of the cabinets on the wall and takes out a potion.
"I want you to drink this now, and you'll get one at breakfast every morning for the next three weeks. Then I want you back here."
Harry focuses on the potion.
Nutrient Potion
Child: Partially Counteracts the effects of Toddler neglect
Teen: Partially Counteracts the effects of Toddler and Child neglect
Adult: Partially Counteracts the effects of a period of Malnutrition, does not affect Toddler or Child neglect.
He then takes the top off the potion and downs it in one mouthful, and promptly gags at the taste and texture.
"Well, off you go."
Harry re-joins the girls, and Hermione links her arm through his elbow, "This is perfect. I get a BFF and future BF in the same person."