A week after she's been freed from her petrification, Hermione screws up her courage and knocks on the door of her head of house.
"Come in."
As the door swings open, Hermione walks in, the letter in her hand held out as a shield, "I'm sorry to bother you professor, but I've got a letter from my parents for you."
Professor McGonagall looks up, "Miss Granger, I can't say I was expecting to see you. Or maybe I was expecting to see you last week."
Hermione smiles weakly as she hands over the letter, "Harry's been letting me borrow his… her notes."
The professor laughs, "I'm surprised you can understand them, I've heard many of my lions complaining about the fact they seem to be written in code."
Hermione nods, "If he hadn't been helping me learn to read them, I wouldn't be able to understand them."
"Hmm, mmm… Miss Granger, are you aware of the contents of this letter?"
Hermione nods, "I wrote to my parents when I woke up, as Harry can't go back to her old area, and I owe him my life."
Professor McGonagall purses her lips, "The Troll?"
Hermione nods, not trusting her voice not to give her away.
"I see. What about the fact that you live in the muggle world?"
Hermione pulls a pair of glasses with red lenses in them, "Her eyes glow green, so these will stop the light from passing through. When we get home, we'll be able to try other colours to try and give Harry as much colour vision as we can." She fishes around in her pocket again and pulls out a bit of card with a colour wheel on it, "See, mauve is a mixture of red and blue, so depending on how green Harry's eyes are, we could get very close to clear. Well, that's what mum and dad say anyway."
Professor McGonagall taps her finger on the desk as she thinks, coming to a decision she nods, "Miss Granger, may I keep these glasses. I will need to speak with Miss Potters magical guardian, and then we may need to do some work on the glasses to ensure that Miss Potter can't accidentally reveal that she is magical. Your parents say that they can deal with the teeth, but what about her hair?"
Hermione smiles widely, "White hair isn't unknown in the muggle world, so we probably don't actually need to do anything about it. If necessary, we could also put a little colour into the hair and make it look like it was deliberately bleached."
Professor McGonagall slowly blinks at Hermione as she tries to make sense of that statement, "I must confess that I'm not sure I understand what you mean by bleached, so I will take your word for it."
As the Professor turns back to her paperwork, Hermione stands there for a moment before she realises that the conversation is over.
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Poppy looks at the sunlight streaming in through the window onto Harry's head before shaking her head, "Well, if it wasn't for the fact you are sitting here during the daylight, I would have said that you were some sort of vampire. As it stands, you need human blood for sustenance, fresh pigs blood may do as well."
Harry pulls a blood fruit out of her bag, "There's a tree growing down in the chamber, and it had several of these on it. Could I eat these?"
Poppy takes the fruit and inspects it, "I'm not sure, I've never seen anything like this. I'd have to take it to Professor Sprout to investigate. Before we do that, I would like you to drink a blood replenishing potion. If that works, then we will ensure that you get a regular supply. Otherwise, we may need to give your hosts over the summer the same supply."
Harry nods, "I understand, do you know where I'm going to be living now?"
Poppy shakes her head, "That, young lady, is a question for the headmaster. Now, off with you, you have classes to get to."
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With a tired sigh, Albus looks up at the three staff members in front of him, "Thank you for coming, Minerva I believe that you requested this meeting?"
Minerva nods, "I did indeed, but first I think we should hear Poppy's diagnosis of the young Miss Potter."
Albus frowns, "I understand that she's a late changling, is there more that we need to worry about?"
Poppy nods, "Indeed, I showed the results of the diagnostics to a colleague without any context, and his response was that I should request for the DMCC to stake the patient before they go on a rampage. She is now vastly stronger than any witch or wizard, she requires blood to live, and shows a remarkable level of regeneration. While she cannot ingest blood replenishment potions, it doesn't stop them from being effective for her donors. There is a plant growing in location she changed that produces fruit that is compatible with her physiology, Pomona is still examining it in case we can get it to germinate."
Minerva nods, and takes out a letter and duplicates it for the headmaster, "Thank you Poppy, I was given this letter by Miss Granger shortly after she was released from her petrification. The lass claims to owe Harry her life, and so feels that this will help pay it back. They have also come up with an ingenious method for concealing Miss Potters glowing eyes, Filius, if you will?"
Filius nods and lifts up a pair of light purple glasses, "These glasses were originally red, however, after working with Miss Potter we have changed the appearance to one that she prefers after discovering that they could be charmed to be clear from one side. I subsequently applied a sticking charm to the arms, and an imperturbable charm to the frames and lenses to ensure that they cannot be broken or removed accidentally."
Albus plucks a lemon drop from the bowl on his desk and pops it in his mouth while he thinks. After a couple of minutes he looks back at the professors, "Am I to understand that you wish me to allow Harry to reside with the Grangers despite the protections on his current home?"
Minerva nods, "You said that they were blood protections, Miss Potter no longer shares the same blood with any of them."
Surprised Albus looks at Poppy, who nods, "Indeed, though it's not a normal part of the diagnostic process, we do check the parental relationships so that their records can be updated. Miss Potter is still a Potter, however physically, Lily is no longer her mother."
Albus glances over at some of the doodads that he has on his shelf, and sighs at the weakening movement of the one that monitors the wards, "What reasons do you have against sending Harry to her home, with the Dursleys, with those glasses."
Poppy is the first one to answer, "First and foremost, none of his relatives are magical, and so the blood replenishing potions won't work for them. Additionally, the only person that can get to the tree that produces the fruit she can eat is Harry herself."
Minerva grins as she takes over, "Even if you ignore that, her appearance is so strikingly different to before that nobody would believe she was Harry Potter. That's not even accounting for the fact that an attractive young woman has vastly different needs to the scrawny young man she was before. That's before even considering that her family may not even accept her as she is now. After all, have you even informed them of her change?"
Albus shuffles uncomfortably as he glances at the sheet of parchment with that particular task on it, as it sits depressingly close to the bottom of the pile of things he needs to deal with. Regrettably, Minerva's eyes follow his gaze and a snap of her wand has it flying over to her hand.
"Well I never, Albus you've known about this change for almost a month, and you still haven't done anything about informing Miss Potter's guardians. If it wasn't for the fact that she'd likely end up with Malfoy or Nott, before ending up in a ditch somewhere, I'd report you to the Ministry myself."
"I've had more important things to deal with, such as the board of governors." Even as he says it, Albus knows it sounds weak.
"More important than the child that is in your care specifically?"
"Minnie…"
"Don't Minnie me Albus, you know full well that being a magical guardian is more important than any other job you have. Even if they are all shouting at you to get things done."
"But I…"
Filius and Poppy stay silent as they see another side to both the headmaster and their colleague.
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"Miss Potter."
Harry looks up from her meal, sat beside Hermione, to see Professor McGonagall looming over Ron on the other side of the table, "Yes Professor?"
"I have here a copy of all of your new paperwork, now that your magical guardian has finally got it done. The ministry has updated your birth certificate, and also feminised your name. So officially you are now Harriet, though you can still be called Harry if you wish. There is also a passport here, though you will need to go to Globus Mundi Travel agents to get a photo placed in it."
Harry's eyes widen slightly as she takes the packet, curiously she starts to flick through it while the professor carries on, "Miss Granger, I have here a letter for your parents to sign, there's three additional copies, one for our records, one for the Ministry, and one for the Dursley's, Harry's previous guardians."
Harry's eyes snap up at that, "What about the Dursley's?"
"After investigating your home situation, your magical guardian has determined that you are too well known in your previous look to return there. Those forms are guardianship papers to grant Miss Granger's parents legal guardianship over you, in addition to the Dursleys."
Harry almost whispers, "I don't have to go back to my relatives?"
Professor McGonagall's eyes soften, "No Miss Potter, once those papers are signed and owled to the right people, the Granger family will be able to look after you."
Harry is out of her seat and about to drag Hermione with her, "Come on Hermione, we need to find Hedwig so that she can deliver the papers."
"Miss Potter! Sit down right now!" Professor McGonagall's whip crack voice stops her in her tracks. Sheepishly she sits back on the bench, "As I was going to continue saying, Miss Granger, we have already sent your parents a letter to inform them that we would like to take them up on their generous offer, pending approval from Harry's current guardians. As the Express leaves tomorrow, it was felt it would be wiser to have you give them over by hand, than to send them by owl. Not to mention that they wouldn't be able to owl off their copies until you got home anyway."
Harry slumps in her seat, "I'm sorry professor, I hadn't thought of that."
Ron carefully swallows his current mouthful of food, "Ere, mate, we'd have offered our home, but we're already booked for a holiday. Not sure I'd want to stay with Hermione though… ow!"
Ron cuts off as Professor McGonagall pinches his ear, "Mr Weasley, personal opinions like that should stay personal."
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They're almost at Kings Cross when Hermione looks at Harry, "Harry, um, do you think your mum would look after my trunk for me?"
Harry snaps out of her thoughts as she turns away from watching the buildings go past as they make their way through northern London, "Sorry, what was that?"
"Harry, are you ok?"
"Hermione, is this real? Am I really not going back to the Dursleys?"
"Yes it's real, you're coming home with me."
"Hermione, what's a normal family like?"
Hermione pulls the girl into a hug, "Oh, Harry you'll have plenty of time to find out. Though we're not exactly normal, but that's because of Mum and Dad's work."
"I'm not going to be called a freak am I?"
"No, no, never that. Mum and Dad are both Dentists and they work at Barts teaching hospital. This means that over the holidays they have a lot more time off than other parents. But during the term they work more than other parents. I never really saw them growing up, you know. Aunty Jane used to look after me after school, often into the night when they had to work late." Hermione shakes herself, "If you're lucky, we may even get to meet her, she's not actually my aunt, that's just what I called her. I'm babbling aren't I."
Harry slowly unscrunches herself, "No, you're fine. It just doesn't seem real."
Hermione nods, "It was a bit like that the first couple of days I was with your mum. But it's real. Do you think she'd mind looking after my trunk until we get home?"
Harry smirks at her, "Why don't you take it, and ask?"
"Harry, you know I can't do that yet."
"Only because you keep over thinking it. Even the 'sorting hat' thinks you should be able to do it now."
"Please Harry, I don't want to be dragging it around on the way home."
Harry's smirk fades as she sees the look on Hermione's face, "Ok, but you need to keep trying to get there. Even if you have no talent for sorcery, you should be able to do it a bit."
As the train slowly comes to a stop at Kings Cross, Harry pulls both trunks down, and collapses while she disappears to see her mother for a moment, taking the trunks with her.