Author's Note: This is a two-part series of vignettes that can be considered an omake of Tellur's Blue Magic, a Harry Potter/Mass Effect crossover that can be found on this site. There's also a bonus chapter to make this three chapters in total. Sadly, as of this writing, Tellur hasn't updated Blue Magic, which I quite recommend, since 2019 (not that I can talk about unfinished fan fiction). Tellur has been foreshadowing that Harry finds a way to transfigure himself into an Asari. This is one way it could happen. It will make the most sense if you've read Blue Magic, but you can probably still understand it if you are familiar with the background of the Mass Effect games. This is set starting summer after 3rd year for Harry and several hundred years before the first Mass Effect game for Liara.
Harry Potter and his friends were created by J.K. Rowling. Liara T'Soni and the rest of the Mass Effect setting were created by game developers working for BioWare. This is fan fiction written for fun and is based on the fan fiction piece Blue Magic by Tellur.
Harry sighed as he leaned back in the chair in his quarters on the Alexandria. He wished that Hermione could have come with them back to Thessia, but it just wasn't feasible. For one, they would be gone at least a month and her parents deserved some time with her after the two of them had spent most of the year at a boarding school. For another, Hermione's parents did not know about the Asari, and probably never would. They wouldn't understand why they couldn't contact Hermione while she was off world and they couldn't know that they would be off world.
On the upside, he would be able to see Aunt Benezia again in person, as well as Shiala and Skui. He might be able to even swing a visit with his old skyball teammates; he would just have to throw Liara under the bus for an explanation on why he couldn't rejoin the team. Not that he had a problem with that. Speaking of skyball, he was ecstatic for the now-traditional birthday outing to go see the Dobhars play. If he was lucky, it would be against the Pesidis again. He was also pleased about the chance to connect with Bob and Primus without the lag and bandwidth problems endemic to while he was on Earth. Even though it was possible to play with them on Earth as long as he wasn't at Hogwarts, he always felt like they were humoring him for friendship's sake due to the poor response time even the best Earth-side connection afforded.
His musing was interrupted by the intercom blaring, "Asari vessel Alexandria, heave to and prepare to be boarded under Council authority in regards to a special investigation." Liara or Tika must have broadcast the message so that he would know what was happening. The voice sounded Turian (or at least had the inflection that the translators gave to Turian voices).
Liara's response was also audible over the intercom. "Supposed Council vessel, I will need appropriate credentials in order to allow boarding. Credentials I doubt you have. If you don't have them, we will defend ourselves vigorously."
"Sending my credentials," the Turian responded
There was a pause while Liara received and verified credentials.
"Specter Garred Vakarian?" she exclaimed, shocked. After another pause, she said, "Very well. Standing by for boarding. Be advised that your actions will be recorded and submitted to the Asari Matriarchy for review."
"I'm aware, Dr. T'Soni, of the influence your family has," Vakarian answered wryly.
Harry's thoughts raced. Vakarian? Was this Specter related to Primus? Harry wracked his memory to figure out if he'd ever heard Primus's father's name. It could have been Garred. But why would Primus's father investigate them? Then there was the fact that he knew Liara's true family name. Was this about Liara's observation on Earth? Or, he shuddered, something to do with Medes? He tried to remember if he'd told Primus about Medes. He may have mentioned the name during the year-long preparation for the excursion, but he had certainly never told either Primus or Bob what had happened there.
He shuddered again. Either option was bad. The Council had the authority to either exile him from Earth or exile him to Earth. Neither of those options was palatable to him. If this was about Medes and what he had done there, it was likely worse. It meant that someone had found out about Magic and what it could do. He paled at the thought of Asari commandos or Turian marines invading Diagon Alley or Hogwarts. Specters had nearly unlimited authority in pursuing the Council's goals. It was true that they could be called into account later if the Council decided their actions were unjustified, but that was rare and would be cold comfort to Harry.
He glanced at his closet. Disguising himself as an Asari would take too long. He could get changed, but applying the makeup that made his skin blue would inevitably be sloppy with the time crunch. Maybe he could pretend to be sick? He shook his head—that would attract more attention, not less. Liara would try to delay things, but the longer she delayed him, the more suspicious the Specter would be.
His thoughts skittered to his godfather. If only he were an Animagus like Sirius and his father were. Liara and Benezia had forbidden him from pursuing being an Animagus until he was older. Even Hermione had scolded him about it when she found him reading books on the subject after they had met Sirius. He had agreed at the time, even as he'd wondered if it were possible to direct the process or if it were possible to become a sapient creature as one's Animagus form. Becoming an Asari Animagus would solve a lot of his problems—particularly the looming one.
His agitation mounted as he considered the possibility of trying to spontaneously change himself into an Asari like he'd changed those pirates into pigs on Medes. Intellectually, he knew it was foolish and risky, but he couldn't stand the thought of being separated from either Liara or Hermione. If the Specter found out about him, one of those two outcomes was likely. That didn't even consider the Specter sending people to Earth to "tie up loose ends." He started to hyperventilate.
He knew this would only work if his emotions were high. He focused on his anxiety and fear of losing his friends and new family. He gathered his will and focused on his love for his adopted family: Liara and Benezia, his worry for them, Hermione and his other Hogwarts friends. He focused on the image of Harria T'Soni/Hillis, his fake Asari persona. He felt his magic tingling under his skin. Change, he commanded his magic.
He felt his body stretch and compress. The feelings were centered around his shoulders, hips, and especially his skull. When it stopped, he felt tired and weak. A glance down his front was enough to show him that he was probably successful. His hands and arms were blue and his shirt was stretched by the swell of a small, but obvious pair of breasts. He raised his hands to his head and felt the tentacle-like crest of an Asari rather than his customary hair. He ran his hand down his sides and felt the gentle swell of his hips. Unable to restrain his curiosity, he pushed aside his sudden tiredness and ran to his mirror—noting the subtle change in his gait as he went.
The Asari in the mirror was more or less familiar to him. "She" looked a lot like the image he presented to the galaxy at large when outside of T'Soni controlled areas and when entertaining guests or on the extranet. What differences there were seemed to be that he looked older—probably around 40 or 50 by Asari standards—mid-way through the decades long Asari adolescence, which was older than people had assumed he was before. The other difference was subtle—his face has the appearance of a young Asari that could be a younger sister of Liara, whereas before he hadn't looked like her other than using the same skin color for his makeup and having a similar crest. He decided that he liked that and approved of what his subconscious had done. He thought he could easily look like Harria Hillis with a bit of judicious makeup usage—not unlike what Liara did when she went out in public as Liara Hillis.
'Liara?' he sent her subvocally, falling into the habit he had picked up at Hogwarts when speaking to her remotely.
'Yes, Harry?' she replied. 'I can only delay the Specter another 15 minutes. How soon before you are ready? I've sent a message to Mother, but that won't solve any of our immediate problems.'
He chuckled ruefully. 'I've managed to solve our most pressing issue with a bit of intentional accidental magic.'
'What did you DO, Harry James Potter?' she growled at him, 'and why does your voice sound funny?'
'Something pretty risky, but necessary,' he admitted.
She growled at him again.
'You know how you forbade me from trying to become an Animagus until I was older?' he hedged.
'You didn't!' she exclaimed.
'I did, with a bit of directed "accidental" magic,' he admitted. 'I sound different because I am different, physically at least. Harria T'Soni at your service, big sister.' He still didn't like the name Harria, but at least he could shorten it to his real name.
'Stay there and don't do anything else foolish. I'm on my way,' she commanded. 'Actually, do something foolish so we have an excuse for the Specter.'
Harry snorted in amusement. He quickly changed into his Asari clothes. They didn't fit perfectly, since they were sized to his human frame. However, he typically favored loose clothing styles, so it wasn't all that bad. He briefly wished he knew a sizing charm to make it perfect, but it wasn't in the first three years of the Hogwarts curriculum.
At least the Specter was a Turian so he wouldn't be as aware of Asari clothing styles. Harry himself, was waymore familiar with them than he ever wanted to be. At least Liara and Benezia had relented when he had refused what he thought of as the more "girly" or cutesy styles as he got older. When he was first on Thessia, he was attention starved enough to wear whatever they put him in. Clothing for 20-year-old Asari, which is what he had typically posed as, was distressingly like that for 8-year-old human girls. At least the Asari interaction with other species had introduced them to the concept of a "tomboy." Although to be fair, since Asari were mono-gendered they didn't subscribe to anything similar to human gender stereotypes. However, most Asari did subscribe to the maxim, "If you've got it, flaunt it." Luckily, there was enough variation in Asari culture that being shy or modest, wasn't that unusual. Not that Harry was body modest in the way most humans understood it after growing up on Thessia, but it was a useful affection to mimic in order to avoid the worst of the styles he didn't like.
While he was waiting for Liara to arrive at his room, he dumped the now-unneeded parts of his disguise (like his fake crest), his Earth clothes, and Wizarding gear into a secret compartment in his closet and pulled out his wand to cast a Notice-Me-Not Charm on it. That charm was also not in the early Hogwarts curriculum, but he had sought it out and practiced it because it was too useful. He stowed the wand back in his forearm holster and made sure his sleeves covered it.
Liara rushed into the room as he was finishing up. "Harry!" she exclaimed.
He turned to face her and she stopped, a strange expression on her face.
"Harry?" she repeated uncertainly.
"Yeah," he replied, smiling wryly. "It's me." Then he gave her an impish smile and twirled around. "How do I look?"
She approached him and held him by his shoulders at arm's length, looking into his eyes. "You look great. How do you feel?"
"A little tired, but otherwise fine."
"You look like a T'Soni," she said.
He looked at the floor and then glanced at her bashfully. "You don't mind?"
She drew him into a fierce hug. "Why would I mind? Mother will also be pleased—once she gets the stern disappointment at this foolish risk out of her system."
"It wasn't a foolish risk, Liara!" he exclaimed. "The Council can't find out about Earth and there was no time to get my makeup on properly."
'The Specter is boarding now,' Tika announced over their implanted coms.
"We'll discuss this later," she said. "If the Specter asks, you had a panic attack about us being boarded."
He pouted at her. "I'm not a little kid anymore."
She laughed. "With that face you just made at me? Besides, it's even true."
His pout grew. "Maybe, but not in the way you're making it sound."
She laughed again. "Consider this my revenge for worrying me."
Liara walked out of his room. "Do you think this guy is related to Primus? Vakarian is his family name too."
"Who knows?" Liara said switching from English to Asari. "I have no idea how widespread the various Turian family names are. Best to use Asari now. He probably knows how it sounds and we don't want him wondering what language we're speaking."
Most people ignored the actual sounds made when talking to other species and just listened to the omni-tool translation, but the cadence of the Asari language was completely different from English and most Specters were nothing if not observant.
XXXXXXX
Harry breathed a sigh of relief as the Specter, who actually was Primus's father, left the Alexandria.
By mutual agreement, none of the three said anything until Tika had scanned the ship for any bugs left behind.
"We're clear," the Quarian said after an extensive check.
All of them breathed a sigh of relief.
"That was odd," Liara said.
"It was like he stopped us just to interview his son's friend," Harry added.
"There was some subtle probing about Medes," Liara said, "but nothing that would get us into trouble. This visit could be considered an abuse of power, but nothing he would get censured for. The Council gives Specters incredible amounts of leeway."
Tika snorted in response. "That's the truth."
"There was something more to this, however," Liara said. "Specters don't just give away their identities for nothing. It probably has to do with Medes, but I don't know how he would have found out anything that happened there."
"What did happen on Medes?" Tika asked.
Liara explained about the archeological expedition, the pirates, and Harry's accidental magic, turning the pirates into pigs.
"Really? Wow, Harry," Tika commented. "Is that what you did here? I can tell you aren't wearing your disguise—your body shape is different enough from normal."
"Yes," Harry admitted. "Do you remember hearing about the Animagus transformation? I essentially managed a spontaneous, directed Animagus transformation—at least that's what I think I did."
"Speaking of which," Liara said, frowning at him, "no magic or biotics until we get you scanned to make sure the transformation didn't mess up your eezo network."
"We don't have anything on the ship that can detect the fine filaments of his eezo network," Tika commented.
"I know," Liara said. "which means you'll have to wait until we get to Thessia."
"I already did a bit of magic," Harry admitted. "I cast a notice-me-not charm on the secret compartment in my closet."
Liara sighed. "Okay, but no more."
"So I shouldn't try and change back?" he asked.
"Best not to," she said. "We need to know if you've messed yourself up first."
"What will we do if I have?" he wondered out loud.
"I don't know," she admitted.
XXXXXXX
Benezia was waiting for them when they exited the Alexandria at the T'Soni estate on Thessia.
"Greetings, Chatika'Zorah vas Paus. Be welcome to my home," she welcomed the Quarian formally.
"Thank you, Matriarch Benezia," Tika responded. "I'm happy to be here."
"Now, Harry," she said, turning to him. "Let me see what you've done to yourself."
She walked around him, looking at him from all angles before stopping in front of him and gently grasping his chin so that she could examine his face.
"You look like you could be Liara's sister," she mused.
Harry flushed. The Asari language didn't have gendered terms like most languages, but traditionally most terms were translated into other languages with the female flavor, so even though the word was closer to "sibling" than "sister" in actual meaning in that it could be substituted for "brother" when referring to other species, his mind still assigned it the feminine meaning. The only male-type word the Asari language did have—that wasn't a loanword not used for the Asari themselves—was "father" which simply applied to the second parent of an Asari, the one that didn't carry them to term, no matter what the actual gender of the parent. He was usually able to ignore any assumed female connotations after long practice of pretending to be an Asari, but the new situation was throwing him off.
"Don't worry about it, Harry," she said. "I'm touched that you care about us enough to make us appear to be family."
"You are family," he said, smiling shyly at her.
"I know," she said, returning his smile. "It's nice to be explicitly shown it, however." Her smile changed into a thoughtful look.
"We'll have to get you into the exam room as soon as everyone is settled and have Skui take a look at you."
Harry sighed. He knew it was coming.
"Harry will need the full exam, won't he mother?" Liara said teasingly, waggling her eyebrow marks at him.
Harry paled. He knew just enough to know that the full exam would be rather humiliating for him. As he was currently Asari, he technically had female anatomy—inasmuch as all healthy Asari of the appropriate age could become pregnant. The thought made him pale even further.
"Now don't worry, little sister," Liara teased. "It's something that every young Asari goes through. We need to make sure you're healthy." She was practically singing at the end.
XXXXXXX
The examination had necessitated filling Skui in on the full capabilities of Harry's magic. They had informed Shiala at the same, since she would be useful in training Harry on how to use his new body. Both Asari were shocked and amazed about what magic was able to do beyond that which standard biotics were able to do, but they both took it in stride.
The physical examination of his new body had been as uncomfortable and embarrassing as he had imagined, but ultimately it was over quickly with little fuss. The eezo scan revealed that Harry's Asari body had the same filament network that his human body did. His biotic and other implants, including his amp, were still in the correct places.
"There is some accumulation of eezo in certain places in Harry's body that may be an indication that he is beginning to develop the standard eezo nodules that are present in Asari and other biotic individuals, but it's too early to tell for sure," Skui said.
"What does this mean for me?" Harry asked.
"It may mean that the force that you will be able to bring to bear with your biotics may increase," she replied. "However, I can't say if these proto-nodules will remain if and when you turn back to human."
Harry frowned at the reminder that he didn't know if he could change back. "I should be able to change back," he said. "If nothing else, we can have Hermione cast the Animagus Reversion Spell on me when we return to Earth."
What followed was a battery of tests to see if Harry's biotics or magic had changed. As far as they could tell, both abilities were unchanged.
After that, Benezia allowed Harry to attempt to change back. He was disappointed when his first attempts failed, but unsurprised.
"Without the emotional impetus to change, it will take more focus and meditation," Liara reminded him.
He nodded in response, having read the same books. The Animagus transformation had always fascinated him, especially after he had learned that his father and his father's friends had done it.
XXXXXXX
The week following his return to Thessia was filled with meditating to try and turn back to a human, lessons with Shiala to find out the limits of his Asari body, and catching up with Bob and Primus. He talked with Benezia and Liara about telling Primus he had met his father. They decided to leave it up to him. Harry hadn't decided one way or the other.
Liara and Benezia also melded with him and began teaching him to meld. While his Asari body was past the developmental stage where he needed to meld with his mother, melding played a prominent role in Asari life and he needed to know how to do it. Some of it was instinctual, but the practice helped him gain confidence and proficiency in it. Doing so brought him closer to them and made him feel even more a part of the T'Soni family.
Seven days after his first attempt, Harry finally managed to turn back to a human. To his surprise, his human body didn't feel any more natural than his Asari body. Although, thinking about it, the books on the Animagus transformation had mentioned that the "animal" body would come with its own instincts and feel natural.
Being human again, meant more tests. The eezo scan confirmed that his eezo network and his implants were all normal.
"The accumulations that may be the beginnings of Element Zero nodules are still there—slightly thicker than when we measured them a week ago," Skui told them. "It's still too early to tell if they will develop into proper Asari-style nodules or not, but if they do, they will likely persist in his human form."
"Now you get to work on turning back into an Asari," Benezia told him. "It won't help if you can't do it on command."
He sighed, but knew she was correct.
It took him three days to turn into an Asari the second time. Within seven days of that, he could manage it as quickly as Sirius could turn into his dog Animagus form.
XXXXXXX
"I don't know if you realize this Harry," Benezia told him on his fourteenth birthday, "but there is essentially no documentation for you here on Thessia."
"I figured there wasn't much," he said, "but didn't you have to make some up for me to attend the extranet classes where I met Primus and Bob? I know that there would have been to attend school back on Earth."
She shook her head. "No, courses that lead to degrees or certifications have stricter identification requirements, but those classes were essentially social opportunities. They accepted 'Harria Hillis' without any fuss or documentation."
"Now that you can be an Asari at will, it opens up opportunities that your previous circumstances would not allow due to the potential scrutiny you would have been under. Liara and I wanted to know if you would like to become an official part of our family—to formalize the arrangement we already have."
"I would become Harry T'Soni for real?" he asked.
Both Asari women nodded.
"It would still probably be Harria formally in order to make it a more natural Asari name, but there's no reason you can't introduce yourself as Harri," Benezia said. "This also would only apply to Council space. On Earth, you would still of course be Harry Potter since there is no providence for the T'Soni name there."
"Your bloodwork as an Asari shows that you even have normal Asari DNA in that form," Liara added.
"However, your genetics are not closely related to ours, despite your close physical resemblance to us," Benezia said.
At his downcast look, she raised his chin gently and said, "Don't worry about that. It just means that I will be adopting you, if you'd like."
"Yes!" he exclaimed.
"The only caveat to this," Benezia said, "is that the official adoption paperwork will have to wait…"
"Wait!? Why?" he interjected.
"We aren't sure yet if your Asari form is aging like an Asari or a human…" Liara said.
"Oh."
"It would be awkward to adopt a 40-year-old adolescent, as you appear now, and then five years later have you appear to be 100 years old," explained Benezia. "Once you reach maturity or it's obvious that you're aging like an Asari we can file the paperwork."
"And if I appear to be a Matriarch by the time I'm actually 40 years old?" Harry asked.
"We'll handle that when and if it comes," Benezia said. "There are genetic problems that cause Asari to age quickly. They are rare, but exist."
"I hope it doesn't come to that," Liara said. "I want my little sister around for a long time."
Harry was again reminded of the difference in lifespan between an Asari and even a wizard.
"Me too," he said, "but you'll forgive me if I also hope that I'm not stuck at the kiddie table here on Thessia for the next 60 years."
XXXXXXX
The morning after Harry and Liara returned to Earth, he called Hermione on the telephone to let her know that they were back.
He had barely said "Hello" when Hermione said, "Harry, you're back! I'm coming right over," and hung up on him.
He shook his head and hung up the phone in bemusement. However, he began to worry about what she would say about his "directed accidental Animagus magic."
About five minutes later, he answered the door to Potter Hall and Hermione plowed into him. "Harry, I missed you so much!" she exclaimed as she hugged him tightly.
He felt his face flush and turned his head. "I was only gone just over a month."
She rolled her eyes as she let him go. "I still missed you. Tell me everything about your trip. How was Thessia?"
"It was great," he said. "I got to see the Dobhars play again. They won. It wasn't against the Pesidis, but it was still great."
Hermione rolled her eyes again. Skyball interested her as little as quidditch. Which is to say that she was only interested in it when he was playing.
"Surely you did something besides watch Skyball," she said.
As it turned out, the only thing that they had done besides go to Skyball on his birthday was study what his change had done and practice changing back and forth.
He turned his head and tried to think of something to say to that.
She grabbed his hand and pulled on it gently to get him to turn toward her. "Harry…" she growled. "What are you afraid to tell me."
"Well…" he said as he scratched the back of his head. "You remember my gaming buddy, Primus? The Turian?"
She nodded.
"It turns out his father is a Council Specter and wanted to interview me. He stopped and boarded our ship as we were approaching Asari space…"
"What!?" Hermione screeched. "That's an abuse of power!"
Harry shrugged. "He's a Specter. No one is going to censure him for it. They're the Council's Top Cops and Black Ops rolled into one. He's like a real-life James Bond with even less oversight than the movies. Liara thinks he might have been interested in a dig we were at a few years ago where we ran into some pirates."
At her interested look, he shook his head and said, "I can't tell you anything more about it, Hermione. I promised Aunt Benezia."
Hermione scowled. She really didn't like being told she couldn't learn about something. "Did he find out about you? Not being Asari, I mean."
He shook his head sheepishly.
"Something happened. Didn't it?"
"I may have done some directed accidental magic," he admitted.
She scrunched her nose cutely and chewed on her bottom lip. "Directed accidental magic? Like moving a book without a wand?"
He smirked at her. "A little more complicated than that, but yes."
She arched an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to explain.
Decided to rip the plaster off, as it were, he changed into his Asari form.
"Harria T'Soni, at your service, miss," he said cheerily and sketched an Asari bow.
XXXXXXX
Hermione gasped in shock as Harry changed into an Asari. Seeing her best friend looking so female was very strange, even after seeing pictures of him in dresses when he was younger and cared less about such things. She knew that Asari were not technically female in that they reproduced by "assisted parthenogenesis," but they certainly looked the part and were functionally female in many ways.
She wondered at the "directed accidental magic." He must have been pretty panicked in order to have accomplished it. She glanced at Liara who seemed relaxed—much more so than Harry, who seemed to be forcing a show of cheerfulness in order to cover up some nervousness. Liara's relaxation indicated that Harry was fine. If he were hurt or in danger due to the transformation, she'd be much less blasé. Harry must be expecting a scolding for attempting an unaided "Animagus" transformation. He must have already gotten one from Liara and possibly Benezia.
She frowned. "What got you so worried that you would attempt that? Unassisted Animagus transformations and similar human transfigurations can be dangerous."
Harry scowled. "I couldn't let the Council find out about me," she… he said. Harry was Harry, even as an Asari.
She gestured for him to continue.
"There are two likely outcomes of the Council finding a pre-spaceflight species on a spaceship: either they would banish me to Earth or, more likely, they would banish me from Earth. I would have to give up either my Asari friends or my Human friends, like you."
He looked so sad that she thought he might be on the verge of tears. She couldn't help but embrace him in a tight hug, which felt decidedly different than normal. She didn't have any close friends who were girls, so it was different. It wasn't even like hugging her mum, because her mother was taller and not as slender.
Harry scowled and pushed away. "No offense, Hermione, but hugging you like this is too new and too odd for me."
He changed back to his normal human form. He looked more composed than he had. She wondered if he felt emotions differently as an Asari or if the disconnect of the hug in his different body had allowed him to compose himself.
She hugged him again, trying not to cry at the thought of never seeing him again.
"It's alright, Hermione," he said. She could imagine him rolling his eyes in amusement. "It all worked out for the best." He patted her on the back.
She looked up and he smiled at her, excited. "I can even go out more on Thessia and other places without worrying about the makeup and not looking like an Asari anymore." He smiled wryly. He rubbed his upper lip. "I don't have to use a shaving spell every day yet, but it does make the makeup less believable."
Hermione snorted, but then she saddened. Would she see him at all during the summers? And what about when he graduated from Hogwarts?
Guessing what she was thinking about, he gently lifted her face from where it had drooped.
"Hey," he said. "We'll figure out how to make sure you can change into Asari too… If you want to…"
Liara cleared her throat and the two young humans released each other and turned to face her.
"I personally think it would be marvelous if Hermione was able to master transfiguration enough to become Asari at will," she said, "but I must insist that we approach it methodically and safely."
Both young adults flushed, not having realized that Liara had followed Harry into the foyer.
Hermione nodded her head. "Of course, Liara. No need to go running off halfcocked." She gave Harry a sidelong look with the tiniest hint of a smirk.
Harry rolled his eyes.