Time for chapter 4! No, the curse isn't found out… yet… maybe it is… okay, I haven't written the chapter yet so how can I know?
Disclaimer: I own… well, nothing. *Fails to bribe J.K. Rowling into handing him the rights to Harry Potter* Damn.
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Harry got off the Knight Bus, relieved to see that everybody was at Grimmauld Place. He had occupied himself with wondering why he couldn't see Hermione's Familiar this time, then believing that it was the same reason none of them could see Clover: their power had grown, thus they were able to conceal themselves more effectively.
The five of them walked into Grimmauld Place, Sirius' magically hidden family home, and Harry was immediately smothered in a bone-shattering hug from Molly Weasley.
"Mrs. Weasley… can't… breathe!" Molly drew back, before giving an almost identical performance to that of Remus mere minutes before.
"Harry James Potter, how dare you vanish for a whole month without telling us where you were! Did you have any idea how worried we were?!"
"Well if she could put two and two together one of you would have known where I was," Harry mumbled, instantly covering his mouth after he realized he hadn't meant to say that out loud.
"And who, pray tell, would that be: me, Hermione, or Ginny, since you oh so stupidly said she?" Molly, Ginny, and Hermione all had their hands on their hips, glaring venomously at Harry. He glanced his eyes over at Hermione, a confused expression instantly spreading across the girl's face.
"Wait, how could I have known where you were? I didn't see you all month!" Hermione yelled. "What kind of joke is this, Harry?"
"Would you kindly explain where that ice drake of yours went off to, Hermione?" Harry answered calmly, an expression of horror crossing Hermione's face.
"Ice drake?" Ron asked, bewildered. "Does that mean that—"
"Yes, Ronald," Ginny cut him off. "It does."
"Would you four please explain what you're talking about?" Remus cried out, confusion showing in his eyes.
The four teens didn't answer. Instead, they all went into a different room of Grimmauld Place, and Hermione placed a silencing charm on the door. She turned to the others. "Everybody, show your Familiar."
Harry held back a gasp as the ice drake appeared on Hermione's shoulder. Above Ginny's head, a small, blazing Pegasus came into being, and a storm hawk appeared on Ron's shoulder.
Clover, show yourself, Harry thought to his Familiar. Instantly, Clover appeared, a small water dragon by Harry's left shoulder.
"Well, now this is certainly interesting," Harry commented to the group, all somewhat shocked at seeing each other's Familiars. "Now, Hermione, can you guess how it is you saw me during that month?" Harry asked, fighting the blush rising to his face, as Hermione was busy figuring out his new secret.
"I know that look!" Ron interjected. "Harry only gets that look when he's hiding something really embarrassing! Am I right?" Hermione instantly understood the meaning, and all color faded from her face.
"Harry… you can't mean that… you were—"
"Don't laugh, Hermione. Bloody curse…"
"Would somebody please tell me what's going on? I'm sure Ginny would like to know too!" Ron demanded, stomping his foot on the ground.
"Harry, do you mean to tell me you're inflicted with a Gender Bender Curse?" Harry nodded, and all three of his friends' jaws dropped. "But, if that's true," Hermione continued, "how is it you're male right now?"
"It's temporarily reversible," Harry stated flatly as Clover came over to him and wrapped around his neck. He felt a surge go through his body as he transformed, and heard a gasp from all three of his friends. Clover unwound from the teen's neck, leaving a very angry Claire.
"You mean that Claire was Harry this whole time?" Hermione said, face completely white.
"Wait, does that mean Harry's actually a girl?" Ron questioned. Claire went over to her friend, and smacked him upside the head. "What was that for? You're just as moody as a normal girl!"
"Gee, Ron, I can't guess why," Ginny said, upset at her slightly sexist brother.
"No, Ron, I'm normally a boy, but contact with water turns me into a girl," Claire informed a group of startled teens. "I accidentally angered the Water Elemental Lord, and before I could explain myself she cursed me. Just imagine how I felt when I woke up and realized that I'd been turned into a girl," Claire said, grimacing at the memory.
"Glad it wasn't me," Ron said. "Instead, some old man appeared outside and told me he wanted me to be an Elemental."
"I started training to be one after my second year at Hogwarts," Ginny stated excitedly, before cringing under the death glares of three older teens. "Okay, I'm sorry I didn't tell you!"
"Ron, yours wasn't that bad. I just woke up one morning to see my Familiar there, and an old man who had frozen my room over." Everybody looked at Hermione like she was crazy. "What?"
"That Elemental Lord must have been one hell of a pervert," Claire said quietly. Ron paled as Ginny giggled. "What? None of you had it as bad as me; just think about the embarrassment I've been going through during the past month!"
"That's right," Hermione mulled quietly. "You probably had to buy a whole new wardrobe, learn what size undergarments you need, and… Har—er, Claire, please tell me you read about your newfound feminine needs, so I don't have to explain it to you?" Claire shook her head.
"What feminine needs?" Hermione and Ginny groaned before dragging their now female friend off for a slightly disgusting and hardly enlightening explanation.
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Ron had just finished explaining to everybody present (Remus, Sirius, Dumbledore, the rest of the Weasleys) about Elementals, Harry's curse, and anything else he found relevant when a very disgusted Harry burst through the doorway to the parlor.
"That is one conversation I'm now wishing I didn't have," Harry sputtered out as Hermione and Ginny came in, laughing their heads off at Harry's reaction to learning about his female form's needs. "Why me?"
"Because you shouldn't kick stones blindly in the dark, Mister Potter, or should I say Miss Lakeshore?" Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye, pointing his wand at Harry. "Aguamenti!" A small burst of water shot out of Dumbledore's wand, dowsing Harry as he felt the transformation take place. Everybody who hadn't already witnessed it gasped as they saw Claire standing in boy's clothes, dripping wet.
"Thanks a lot Dumbledore, now I need to go change!" Claire stormed off to her room, and came down five minutes later in girl's clothes, much to the amazement of Sirius.
"Harry, err, Claire, which gender are you going to be dating, boys or girls?"
"Sirius Black, get your head out of the gutter! Just because I turn into a girl upon contact with water doesn't mean I'm going to start dating boys! I'm only going to date girls, thank you very much." Sirius let out an audible sigh of relief.
"Thank god, I don't have to worry about you getting yourself pregnant."
"That's perverse, Sirius! Aguamenti!" Claire cast the spell wandless, and created her watery long sword. She ran over to Sirius, who jumped off the couch and morphed into his Animagus form just before Claire slashed it in two. "Get back here!"
Everybody else in the parlor merely laughed. Dumbledore broke the silence once everybody had had their fill of humor. "I will have to ask Harry whether I should reveal his Claire persona to the rest of the students in Hogwarts. I am also worried about these Elemental powers… if the Elemental Lords truly exist, then I most sincerely hope that Voldemort has not been approached by one of them." Everybody echoed Dumbledore's concern, as they waited for Claire to return from chasing a shaggy black dog around Grimmauld Place.
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Voldemort was brooding in his lair once again. Noxus, the Elemental Lord of Shadows, had not yet visited him. He had murdered twenty Muggles, another dozen Muggle-born wizards, and converted more wizards into Death Eaters. What was he doing wrong?
"The better question, Tom Riddle, is what aren't you doing enough of?" Voldemort stood up with snake-like reflexes, pointing his wand at the figure before relaxing upon seeing Noxus. "You still have not proven your worth, Tom Marvolo Riddle. Until I see what I am looking for in you, I can not bestow my power upon you. And at the rate you're going, you shall never see an inkling of the power of the shadows," Noxus stated, throwing his head back in laughter.
"How dare you mock me! Sectumsempra!" Noxus allowed himself to be hit by Voldemort's curse, and his body was torn to shreds. Voldemort's eyes widened as the very shadows themselves seemed to replenish and heal the wounds on the Elemental Lord's body.
"You still have much to learn, Tom. When I return next, if you have not proven your worth, I will have no other choice than to make you my subordinate so that I can take over the wizarding world myself." With that, Noxus vanished into the shadows again, his cackle echoing off the walls, leaving Voldemort staring blankly at the spot where once stood a being infinitesimally more powerful than he.