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Chapter 3 - The gender scanner

There she was. Sitting in a waiting room at St. Mungo's. More nervous than she could ever recall being. Ok, maybe she was exaggerating a little, but still... Her heart was racing. And for Merlin's sake why would they turn on the heating in here?! It was hot enough as it was!

"Calm down! It's going to be fine!", Harry said with an encouraging smile.

All she could do was give him a pained expression in return.

Why on earth did she even listen to him? She wasn't ready for this. She hadn't thought this through yet. She didn't have enough information. How was she even going to explain this to the healer? She hadn't even talked to her parents about this yet. They 'd never talk to her again if she just decided something like this on her own again without consulting them first. Besides... they had a right to know. And what about her other friends? What about Ron? What if this would make her life even harder than it already was? What if...

"Hermione Granger"

She looked at Harry in panic.

"I can't... I"

"Come on man! I thought you were a Gryffindor!" Harry said with a grin and slightly punched her shoulder, something he hadn't done ever.

Suddenly Hermione smiled. Feeling a calmness and confidence she hadn't felt before.

"Thanks" she whispered as she left Harry sitting on the bench and followed the healer to his office.

She'd never been to St. Mungo's for a consult before. Sure she'd visited people here, but the only magical treatment she'd ever received was at the hospital wing at Hogwarts. She didn't really know what to expect.

The healer motioned her to sit on a chair across from his desk. His office looked fairly similar to that of the muggle doctor she used to go to when she was little. There were huge shelves filled with tons of old books, a large wooden desk and an old exam table behind her against the wall. There were also all kinds of gadgets she didn't recognize.

"I'm Healer Austin Rhys. How can I help you today Miss Granger?"

Here came the question she wasn't sure she wanted to answer.

"I... Uh..."

"Well?"

"I... I'm sorry... This is just kind of embarrassing..."

"Are you pregnant? Or do you think you might have a sexual disease?"

Hermione's eyes went wide and she turned beet red.

"No! No, merlin, no, that's not it!"

"Miss Granger... Would you like me to get a female healer for you? Would that make you feel more comfortable?"

"No, you're perfectly fine Healer Rhys... I just... I don't really know how to explain this to you."

Hermione hung her head in frustration.

"Take all the time you need, I'm here to help you." He said in a calm soothing voice.

Hermione looked up to him. He seemed younger than other healers she'd met before. Maybe in his mid thirties. A warm smile made the skin around his blue eyes wrinkle.

Ok, here goes nothing Hermione thought.

"I'm not comfortable with my body. I feel like I'm supposed to be male instead of female and it's been bothering me for about as long as I can remember. I don't know if there is a term for this sort of issue in the wizarding world, but muggles call it Gender Identity Disorder and I thought... I don't know. I just thought there might be something you can do about my situation."

When she didn't get an answer to her confession Hermione looked up from her lap to see a shocked expression on the healers face and instantly regretted her words. Fear bubbled up inside her, but there was anger as well. Anger at Harry for dragging her here, anger at herself for telling Harry, but most of all she was angry for admitting this to herself.

She got up and started moving towards the door, tears of shame in her eyes when Healer Rhys grabbed her around her wrist.

"Miss Granger, wait! Where are you going?"

"I'm sorry I bothered you with this, please forget what I said." Hermione said in a choked voice and tried to pull away, but the healer didn't let go.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have looked so stunned. I'm still pretty new at this. Please forgive me. Come, sit down. Let's talk about this."

The pleading look on his face cooled some of her anger and reluctantly she went back to her chair.

"The reason I'm so surprised is that the magical community has had a very simple way to prevent this type of thing for several centuries. Newborns usually undergo a series of routine tests including a gender scan. It's a simple spell healers use to determine whether the the babies gender matches its biological sex. If it doesn't it's relatively easy to cast a sex change spell because the baby is still so undeveloped. It happens in maybe 2% of child births here a St. Mungo's, but since it's basically an instant fix no one really mentions it. It isn't an issue adult wizards usually have to deal with unless they're muggle born, so it's very rare. Unfortunately, as an adult the treatment isn't quite as fast or easy, but I'm no expert in this field. I'll have to refer you to Healer Owain. He's the one that's responsible for sex change spells here at St. Mungo's, but first I'd like to send you to the neonatal ward for that scan spell. Just to confirm your suspicion, ok?"

Hermione was stunned. She didn't know what she had expected but it surely hadn't been this. By the time she'd leave St. Mungo's today she'd know. She'd know for sure if this was her brains twisted way to make her miserable when things should finally be easy, or if she was really never meant to be a girl. All of these feelings would finally be validated and no one would be able to say she was making things up. It was more than she could have hoped for.

Healer Rhys gave her a slip of paper with some directions and send a memo to the neonatal ward letting them know she was on her way. Then she stepped out of his office feeling more than just a little befuddled.