Hermione has managed to fish her book out of her bag and has been reading it for a while propped up on her knee while stroking Harry's hair. As she turns the page Harry speaks up.
"Hold up, I've not finished that page yet."
Feeling slightly amused as she remembered the times she'd done that to her dad while he was reading the newspaper, she ruffled Harry's hair a little.
"Feeling better?"
"Lots, thank you for sitting with me."
"It's ok, you needed it and you're my friend."
"Still thanks. What's the time?"
"I'm not sure, we could go down to the common room and find out."
Lavender pipes up from the other end of the dorm where she'd been chatting with Parvati. "It's five thirty. Are you doing ok sweety?"
Harry kneels up so that she can see them. "I'm doing a lot better thanks."
Lavender and Parvati get up and sit down on the end of his bed. Hermione sighs and puts her book away.
"What happened, if you ok talking about it?" Parvati asked.
"I'm not sure, I went down and suddenly Ron was there talking to me, then he Grabbed me and I froze and felt a little dizzy before following him to, I think he wanted to play chess. I think I remembered that he can't come up these stairs, so I ran and next thing I remember Hermione is holding me."
"Oh, Hun. If you ever want us to play bodyguard just come over." Lavender quickly leans over to give Harry a hug and freezes as she sees the panicked look in his eyes.
"She wants to give you a hug, is that ok?" Hermione says softly, to which Harry nods and Lavender moves more slowly and brings him into a hug.
"I'm so confused, I feel like a him right now even though I'm here in the girls dorm."
"That's ok, you were a boy for 11 years of you life weren't you."
"Yeh, but down in the infirmary I felt like a her."
"We'll figure it out, and you're one of us now." Parvati says.
Lavender bounces off the bed and runs to her trunk to grab a book, not noticing the way that Harry momentarily freezes. She comes back with a book and lays it on the bed.
"I know what we should do, you could grow your hair out, and then we can use some of these charms to style it. Then when you feel like you're a boy you can pull it back into these styles." She turns the book around and points at a couple of drawings along with the charms needed to get that look.
"And when you feel like a girl you can use a style like, this, no this one." Parvati joins in and soon they're discussing which styles would set off her eyes.
As the discussion continues she realises that she feels like she's a girl again and that she belongs. She slowly joins in the conversation and pulls Hermione into the conversation too, though she has to put her foot down and tell Hermione that she can't borrow the book, and get can't get her parents to buy her a copy, as it's something she can learn from Lav and Pav. While they're chatting Chirpy enjoys the attention and crawls all over them, begging scritches from each of the witches there.
45 minutes later Fay pops her head in to say that she Kellah, and Melissa are going down to dinner if they want to join them. They all head down to dinner and Harry starts crying on the way because she feels like she belongs, a round of hugs from all the girls and they finally make it down to Dinner.
Feeling bold, he heads over to the Hufflepuff table and approaches Susan and Hannah. "Hey Susan, Hannah, would you like to join us for dinner?" He indicates the table where the girls are sitting.
They look at the other girls "Is it ok to sit elsewhere?"
"You know I'm not sure, let me ask. Hermione! Is it ok for people to sit at other tables?"
Hermione pulls out the charter and has a look. "Oh, yeah, it's only a problem at feasts, the first day of term, and ceremonies."
"Yeh, it's all good."
Susan and Hannah look at the other girls around the table, and at some unseen signal they all move over to the Gryffindor table with her.
Harry look around the hall now that she's not worrying about being left out, or the strange things that happened last night. The teacher that collapsed isn't there, but she can see Hagrid with Nibbler, McGonagall, and the Headmaster that she recognises. As she looks down the row of teachers, the one wearing the turban turns to talk to the teacher in black and suddenly his scar flares in pain, clutching his hand to his head he shakes the dizziness away and goes back to the conversation for a while, he doesn't see the headmasters interest zero in on him and then look over to where he had been looking. When the dessert arrives she makes her excuses and heads over to the Ravenclaw table to invite Sue Li to join them, and then heads over to the Slytherin table where Daphne and Tracey are sitting. Looking at the stiff way everyone is sitting she decides that formality is probably the way to go.
"Miss Greengrass, Miss Davis, would you care to join us at the Gryffindor table where the girls are gathering." She indicates the group of girls.
"Hey scarhead, what makes you think they would even want to join you?" Draco pipes up before they can respond.
Quailing slightly, she takes courage from the fact that she can retreat to the group behind her. "I do not believe we have been introduced, I am Miss Harry Potter, heir to the house Potter."
"But you're a boy, and if you'd been paying attention you'd know I'm Draco Malfoy."
The teacher in black comes marching down the table, McGonagall not far behind.
"Potter, what is the meaning of this? Get back to your table."
"Potter is claiming to be a girl sir."
"And what sort of codswallop is that?" the teacher says pinning Harry with his gaze. Harry can't help but think back to the exam earlier and how uncomfortable the speculum was. The teachers face pales, and McGonagall speaks up smoothly behind him.
"That would be the sort of codswallop that's true, now is there a problem here?"
"But how can that be? Harry's supposed to be the boy-who-lived" Draco pipes up.
"If Miss Potter cares to share the how with you, I'm sure she'll do so, but until then I suggest you learn to keep a civil tongue."
"He is still standing at the wrong table." The teacher in black snarls.
"But Hermione looked it up in the charter, and it says we're allowed to sit at any table except during certain times." Harry quailed.
"I don't know as it does, as I don't recall ever reading the charter, but it's easy enough to check, are you coming Severus?" McGonagall walks over to the Gryffindor table followed by a surly Severus, and Harry. Daphne and Tracey share a look and stand up to follow as do a dozen other Slytherin students including Draco.
"Miss Granger, Harry says that you've read in the charter that students are allowed to sit at any table, can you substantiate this?"
Hermione looks up from a book she'd taken out while Harry wasn't there letting out a startled gasp.
"Oh, yes, Dad found a certified copy in the second-hand bookshop, it didn't look like it had been touched in years as it was covered in dust on the top shelf, we paid 50G for it, as Dad said that it was worth paying a lot of money to know the rules. Especially as the rules are so hard to find. Right, here we are." Babbling with nervousness she pulls out the charter and unrolls it to the relevant section before handing it to McGonagall.
"How is it that a mudblood is allowed a copy of the school charter?" Draco interjects
"That will be 5 points from Slytherin for bad language. Use that word again and it will be a detention. Now let's see. Yes this does appear to be a certified copy." She waves her wand over the seal and the crest of Hogwarts is projected onto the back of the scroll.
"And it does indeed say that, in which case 5 points to Gryffindor for promoting house unity." Carefully rolling the scroll back up she hands it back to Hermione.
"Thank you for letting me look at that, though I suggest that you keep it in a safe place rather than carrying it around, it's rather valuable and you wouldn't want it to be stolen or damaged. Though I wouldn't mind a copy of it at some point."
"Oh… Harry, when Hedwig gets here, do you think she'd mind taking this home with a letter and we can get Dad to photocopy it in the office." Harry nods in agreement.
McGonagall raise her voice momentarily "Gryffindors, can I remind you that we have a house meeting in 15 minutes, so if you're still eating can I suggest you hurry up."
"Harry, I'm sorry to take you away from your friends when we've just sorted stuff out, but I'd like to introduce you to Tonks while I remember." Harry reluctantly gets up and follows McGonagall.
McGonagall tactfully takes both Harry and Tonks into a side-chamber and explains that Harry is exhibiting some Metamorph like abilities, and would she mind mentoring her for the year between her NEWT studies. Once they're finished she leads them back to the hall and then goes up to the common room.
Apart from some snarky comments about this being the first house meeting they've ever had, the meeting goes well. It's explained to the whole house that Harry is Miss Potter and is now sleeping in the girls dorm. Hermione has a familiar that is invisible and eats magic, so double check your charms everyone. There is a right way and a wrong way to ask people to play with you, and in the future asking in the wrong way will initially see points lost, and a detention if it continues after that. She also reminds people that there's a difference between pranking and bullying, and if the victim isn't laughing you've probably crossed the line. Finally, there is a curfew, and it is enforced.
It takes Harry a couple of tries to get up to the dorm, as she must have changed at some point during dinner, but finally gets to bed, and goes to sleep happy, listening to the other girls chatting in the dark, or being hissed at because they're trying to sleep. It's different, but it's good.
Life at school falls into a routine, as it becomes apparent that Binns is monotonous, Flitwick is cheerful and a good teacher, McGonagall is overworked and a good teacher, Snape is grumpy and can't teach, Pomona is motherly and an expert in her field, and Quirrell is a terrible teacher for DADA, finally the Headmaster is absent.
Flying is fun, and fears can be conquered with the right support. Ron still tries to make friends with Harry and can't seem to understand that he is now a she. Draco gives up with trying to get a rise out of Harry after she laughs at him and asks if he thinks she's suicidal wanting to be out late for a Duel, Hermione then pointed out that until a matter of months ago, magic was a fairy tale too.
A photocopy of the charter is given to each house and McGonagall, though the one in Slytherin as an accident with the fire before the less bigoted members can prevent it, the Gryffindor one has pages missing, the Ravenclaw one was never available until Flitwick put his foot down and ruled that it had to stay in the common room, finally the Hufflepuff copy has food, drink and mud stains on it making some of the more popular sections very difficult to read.
The girls circle seems to become a regular thing, and every evening most of the first-year girls sit at one of the tables and just chat, no books allowed Hermione.
Lastly, most of the first year Gryffindors spend some time meditating in order to learn how to feel their magic after they see Harry and Hermione doing it. It moved into the common room after Neville asked if they could show him how to do it again.