The characters and universe of Harry Potter are the sole property of J. K. Rowling and her licensees.
Darling Girl
By
Eric Thorson and Balthazar Kwiatkowski
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Chapter Two: Who's Your Daddy?
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Remus woke up with a start. It took a few moments before he remembered what was troubling him. He thought about the events of the day before, and the things he recalled worried him. He remembered it all starting when Harry's owl arrived with a letter for Dumbledore from Harry's aunt during a staff meeting. It said that something had happened to Harry, and there was a mysterious girl unconscious on his bed. After they brought girl back to Hogwarts, everybody thought that she might be a Death Eater plant and Harry could have been missing for days, if not years.
Remus' worries were relieved and then found another focus when he returned to his suite and found a letter addressed to him from Lily Potter, or rather from Lily Snape. It turned out that Lily had never married James Potter at all, but had instead married Severus Snape right after school had finished. That had been the first shock, but by no means the smallest one. The letter had gone on to say that Lily had been pregnant before she moved in with James and that Harry was not James' son, or even Harry. Lily's only child was born a girl, Lilith, Snape's daughter. It went on to explain how, to protect Snape's cover among the Death Eater's, Lily had pretended to be married to James Potter, and transfigured her daughter into her son, since James couldn't have daughter's due to a family curse.
It was so hard for him to take in. His whole worldview had changed. The child that he had seen as the only part of his friends that he had left, the only reminder of what he had once had, was not the son of the brother he had never had. She was the daughter of his soul sister and one of his greatest rivals. As he thought about the changes his world had undergone, a voice at the back of head kept shouting 'if you think you have it bad, think about what that poor child will be going through when she wakes up.' Swearing to himself, Remus surged out of his bed and got dressed as quickly as possible, then froze when he thought of something else. "How am I going to convince Albus and Severus? Lily did too good a job of convincing the world that Harry was James' son." He muttered to himself, slumping back onto his bed.
He thought about the problem for several minutes, discarding idea after idea before he remembered the letter sitting on his dressing table. Remus quickly got out of bed, looked
through the letter again to be sure that it said the same things that it had the night before, then rushed from the room, hoping he had the chance to tell Dumbledore about it before they used the Progenitor Potion on Lilith. He ran most of the way to Dumbledore's office, shouting the password and running up the stairs two at a time.
"Professor Dumbledore." Remus called out when he entered the room and saw him standing near his desk. Dumbledore looked up in surprise.
"Remus, good morning, what can I help you with." Dumbledore replied with a smile.
"I have some information about the girl for you to see before we use the Progenitor Potion on her." Remus said.
"I can't imagine what, but we have decided to use the Progenitor Potion on her immediately and Severus should be here shortly with the finished potion." Dumbledore said. "While we wait for Severus, why don't you give this information you have."
Remus was going to pull out the letter and show it to Dumbledore when Snape burst into the room and strode towards Dumbledore and Lupin with scowl on his face.
"It's not possible!" Snape almost shouted out at the top of his lungs.
"Please quiet yourself Severus, there are people still sleeping in this castle." Dumbledore asked him. "What is not possible, Severus?"
"According to that woman, the girl is a relation of mine." Snape replied after taking a few breaths to calm him.
"A relation you say?" Dumbledore said. "I thought you were the last of your family."
"I may be able to help there." Remus said taking the letter from his pocket.
"What would you know about this, wolf?" Snape snarled dismissively, and then turned back to Dumbledore. "We need to have this matter cleared up quickly before the Dark Lord hears of it. This could be the death of the both of us. If the Dark Lord were to discover that I had living relations, and lied about them, he would not stop until the girl was brought before him and I had explained myself. "
"As I was about to show Dumbledore here, I found a letter last night that should clarify all of this." Remus said and pulled the letter out and made to hand it over to Dumbledore, but Snape snatched it out of his hands and threw it to the floor.
"Shall we stop wasting time with this nonsense and find out who this girl actually is." Snape stormed out of the room with the vial of Progenitor Potion clenched tightly in his fist. Lupin and Dumbledore followed him to the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey, who looked outraged at the intrusion into her domain, met them.
"What is going on?" She demanded. "What is the meaning of all this noise?"
Snape ignored her, and took the girls hand from where it was lying outside her quilt. Ignoring Madam Pomfrey's protest, he drew a lancet from within his robes and pricked her finger, dropping several drops of her blood into the clear potion in the vial. Swirling it three times to the left and then once to the right, he drew a pure white quill from within his robes and then set a sheet of unbleached parchment on the bed side table. After dipping the quill in the now black potion, he nodded to Professor Dumbledore who drew his wand from inside his sleeve.
"Revello Progenitus." Dumbledore said, making a writing motion over the white quill. The quill rose to a writing position, and began to move over the parchment. Stopping to dip itself in the potion vial several times, it continued down the parchment, drawing a pedigree chart and inserting names into each position. This continued for almost five minutes before the quill flared incandescently along with the remains of the potion, and both vanished, leaving behind a metallic imprint at the bottom of the parchment. Professor Snape snatched the sheet up and began reading it, then froze, dropping the parchment before collapsing to the floor in a faint.
"Goodness, what could have affected Severus so greatly?" Madame Pomfrey exclaimed, levitating the fallen professor to the sofa along one wall. After checking his vital signs, she turned back to the others as Lupin lifted the parchment and handed it to Professor Dumbledore. As the headmaster read the pedigree chart, his eyebrows climbed his forehead until they had almost disappeared under his hat. Madame Pomfrey noticed that his eyes were twinkling merrily. "What does it say Albus?"
"Lilith Andromeda Amaranthys Snape is the daughter of Lily Evans Snape and Severus Saridius Lazarius Snape," the Headmaster replied, his eyes twinkling violently. "It appears that many of us were under a number of misapprehensions."
"Wait… did you say 'Lily Snape'?" Professor McGonagall demanded, overcoming her shock. "Lily would never… she could never…"
"It would appear that she would, and in fact did, marry Severus. She also seems to have been married to him when this young lady was born, as this parchment would have another name on it if she had been married to James Potter."
"But how is this possible? What about Harry?" McGonagall continued, still in shock. "Albus what about the boy that we knew for the last five years, where is he?"
"Lying in the bed before us, Minerva, if a little changed from the last time we saw him." Dumbledore indicated the girl lying in the bed. "We shall have to wait for Severus to recover to learn more about how this came to be however."
"He should have regained conscious by now," Madame Pomfrey sounded concerned as she moved back to Snape's bedside. Passing her wand over his still form, she frowned and drew a pin from her hair, surprising everyone by jabbing Snape with it. The Potions Master erupted from the bed, diving to the other side with a roar of pain as the Medi-witch smirked at him.
"That will teach you to pretend unconsciousness in my hospital wing, Severus Snape." Madame Pomfrey growled out, completely indifferent to the glare Snape was sending her way. "Now would you care to explain how your daughter happens to have Lily Evans as her mother?" Before Snape could begin his explanation, the shape on the bed started moving.
"Ugh, what happened?" a soft voice asked, sounding extremely confused.
"Ah, it seems our patient is waking up." Dumbledore said motioning for the adults to be quiet before turning to the girl. "We will have to discuss this at a later time."
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Harry slowly woke up to a throbbing on the right side of his head. He groaned a little in pain and brought his hand up to the sore spot, trying to remember what caused it. Then, the memories of the previous day started slowly coming back to him. His Aunt and Uncle were yelling at him for accidentally changing his hair color, his illness from earlier, and then the sudden wrenching pain and the blood, though he could not remember where the blood came from. As he thought about it, trying to remember, he heard shouting, realized that he was not alone, and decided to see who was shouting. When he saw the ceiling above him, he knew something was wrong. He was not in his bedroom at his Aunt's house as he should be. He was in the hospital wing in Hogwarts. Something odd was going on, but he could not figure out what it was. That was when he realized that he could see the ceiling clearly, without his glasses.
Looking around wildly, Harry sat up a little too quickly, and collapsed back into the hospital bed, but not before he noticed the Headmaster. "Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked in confusion. "What happened? What am I doing here?"
"Good morning child, how are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked, smiling in reassurance.
"My head hurts, but other than that I feel okay I guess." Harry replied, looking around in confusion. "Why am I at Hogwarts?"
"We were wondering if you could tell us how you came to be on Privet Drive. Who are you child?"
"What do you mean, Professor? I live there… you said I have to stay there every summer." Harry looked around when he heard a gasp, catching sight of Professor McGonagall, who was staring at him. "What's going on, Professor?"
"Child, many things have changed. Can you tell me what the last thing you can remember is?" Professor Dumbledore sat in the bedside chair, smiling encouragingly.
"I don't really know what you want to hear, Professor. I was at my Aunt's house and weird stuff started happening. After a while, I started to feel sick, so I decided to take a nap. It was only getting worse though, so I went to the bathroom and … and …" Dawning horror flashed across the girl's face as her eyes went wide. He remembered what had happened and sat up quickly, grabbing his lap to confirm what he feared. With that confirmation, he looked down, noticing to the first time the strange weight on his chest. Shakily bringing his hands up, he cupped the bulges his or rather her chest. That was when he realized that the breasts that he was looking at belonged to him.
"What happened to me?" Harry exclaimed in shock, grabbing Professor Dumbledore by the front of his robes. "Why am I a girl?"
"Please, calm down child, and we will explain what we know." Dumbledore said taking Harry's hands gently from his robes.
"Calm down? Look at me! I'm a girl!" Harry yelled indicating her chest.
"We can see that Harry, but we need you to calm down so that we can explain what we think may have happened to you."
Harry was, quite reasonably, having difficulty calming down, so Madame Pomfrey had her take a Calming Draught to speed up the process. While they were waiting, Snape got fed up
with the way the people in the room seemed to be fawning on Potter and stormed out of the room. When Harry was calmed enough, Dumbledore handed the girl a mirror so she could see what she looked like. Harry took it and looked at her reflection for the first time. Her image in the mirror looked vaguely familiar, and a few moments later, she recognized the image she was looking at.
"I look like my mother." Harry whispered then turned to the professors desperately. "Why do I look like my mother?"
"We were wondering the same thing." Dumbledore said with a reassuring smile when Harry looked at him confusion. "From what we have been able to discover, this is what you are supposed to look like."
"What I'm supposed to look like? In case you haven't noticed professor, I'm a girl right now. How could this possibly be the way I'm supposed to look? I'm a guy! I'm Harry Potter!" Harry glared at the headmaster, who was grinning at her, and then slumped back on her bed.
"How did I get to Hogwarts?" She asked quietly.
"The owner of the house where you were found sent a message to me and an associate and I went to investigate." Professor Dumbledore explained. When we saw your condition, we discussed our options and decided to bring you here."
"Aunt Petunia sent a message to you? How… she sent Hedwig? Are we talking about the same woman who screams at me every time I even let my owl out to hunt?" Harry asked with disbelief plain in her voice. Dumbledore could no longer avoid the conclusion that this girl at least firmly believed that she was Harry Potter and sighed
"Yes, Harry, she did, and before you ask, she is also the only one there who knows of your changed appearance. She kept you hidden from your Uncle and cousin until we removed you from the house." Dumbledore replied, his eyes twinkling when he heard Harry sigh in relief at Dumbledore's acceptance.
"What is going on? Is there some way we can break this spell I'm under?"
"Harry, as far as Madame Pomfrey and I have been able to tell, you are not under a spell of any kind."
"But how is that possible Professor? How can I be a girl when I've been a boy for as long as I can remember? I mean, if I'm really a girl, what's my name? It cannot be Harry… unless my
mum named me Harriet. Please tell me that my name isn't Harriet!" Harry's horror at the idea was obvious.
"I shall allow Remus and Poppy to explain what we have discovered to you. However, I can say that your given name is not Harriet, but rather Lilith." Professor Dumbledore smiled when Lilith repeated her name several times. He glanced at the other adults in the room before he continued. "Now, I must leave you in these, rather capable hand, while I speak to Professor Snape." Dumbledore said, nodding to the others, and then leaving.
Dumbledore walked out of the room and Lilith turned to face Remus and Madame Pomfrey. After a few moments of silence, she cleared her throat and asked her first question, "How is this possible?"
"Well my dear, from the evidence we have, you have been under the effects of a number of gender-switching charms, as well as several potions, for a very long time." Madame Pomfrey began. "Normally, a spell of this nature would not last very long, perhaps a week at most, but the potions must have prolonged the effects."
"I would say so," Lilith replied with a smirk that made Remus gasp. "What is it Remus?"
"How could I not have seen it before? You act just like him." Lilith looked at him questioningly, and Remus elaborated. "You looked a lot like your father just then."
"My father?" Lilith looked at herself in the mirror, trying to see what Remus meant. "I can't see it."
Madame Pomfrey glared at Remus, but he ignored her and continued. "The only person I have ever seen smirk like that was Severus Snape."
"And what does that have to do with me?" Lilith asked before a horrified look crossed her face. "No, please no… he can't be… mum would never… she couldn't have…" Madame Pomfrey glared at Remus again and tried to calm the girl down, realizing how much this must be affecting Lilith for her to react this violently when still under effects of the Calming Draught.
"While I would have preferred to tell you in a less abrupt manner…" Pomfrey started telling her what she had found. She explained the spell residue and other indicators she found, that Lilith had recently been under several gender-switching spells combined with a number of blood based mimetic potions until very recently. She also told her that the spell was breaking down, canceling the remaining potion effects. The thing that shocked Lilith the most though, was when Madame Pomfrey explained the Progenitor Potion and the results of it.
"So I'm not really a Potter, I'm a Snape? How is that even possible? My mom married James Potter. Are you telling me my mom was sleeping around with Snape?" Lilith accused angrily.
"Now before you start with that line of thought, I have a letter you might want to read." Lupin said and handed Lilith the letter and saw as Lilith read it several times before looking at Lupin in shock.
"So, I was really born a girl and my mom really married Professor Snape and not my da … James Potter. My mom did all of this to me in order to protect Snape while he was undercover. And my name is Lilith and not Harry?" Harry or rather Lilith said as she then took a few deep breaths to calm herself again.
"You are being rather calm about all this," Lupin said, watching her closely.
"I think I'm still under the influence of the Calming Draught, or I would probably be freaking out about now." Lilith replied.
"I see," Lupin nodded. "Well, this parchment shows who you and your parents are. It's what we got after we used the Progenitor Potion on you."
Lupin handed that parchment over to Lilith, who looked down at the parchment, and saw 'her' name at the top followed by 'her' parents' names. Lilith set the parchment on the table next to the bed and lay back down.
"Can I have some time to myself to think about all of this?" Lilith asked.
"Okay, but if you need any of us, just call." Lupin said.
"All right." Lilith said as Lupin and Pomfrey left Lilith to her thoughts, a little worried what was going through her mind.
Dumbledore found Snape pacing around his classroom deep in thought. Dumbledore just stood there until Snape realized that he was not alone.
"What do you want?" Snape asked.
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"Just checking to see how you are doing after finding out about everything." Dumbledore replied.
"How do you think I feel?" Snape snapped at Dumbledore. "I just find out that my wife, who I thought cheated on me with my worst enemy didn't, and that the Potter boy who I have been treating like scum is really the daughter I never new I had."
"I was simply asking because I had noticed that there was a memory charm on you, a very powerful one that could not be detected with either Occlumency or Legilimency."
"A memory charm? And if it can't be detected with Legilimency, how did you find it?"
"The type of charm I am detecting requires certain triggers to release it. I believe that, due to recent events, the memory charm is weakening. It should not be long before you remember what it is blocking. But right now we should meet up with everyone and discuss what we are going to do with your daughter."
"Very well, but we will discuss this later."
As they walked toward Dumbledore's office, Snape's thoughts went to the girl in the hospital wing. He sighed as he realized that there would be many adjustments to their relationship in the near future.
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Authors' note: After nearly four years, we are back with the second installment. The next three are already written, just needing a little polishing before we post them. For those of you looking forward to more of our other stories, Harry Potter and the Wild Stallion is currently undergoing a massive revision, being rewritten from the beginning. Ranma Saotome, Galaxy Police Officer is also being rewritten, mainly because the original was based on a bad understanding of the first episode of Tenchi Muyo: GXP. Eric now owns the entire series, and this circumstance has greatly improved the story. We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we did writing it. So enjoy, be strong and fight for the good.