How (Not) To Date a Gryffindor

Chapter 2

Tom woke up the next morning in the hospital wing. It wasn’t the first time he had to spend some time there, but Tom wasn’t very accident prone so he could still count the amount of times he’d been in the hospital wing on one hand and have a finger or two left over.

“Good morning,” Madam Pomfrey said as she came bustling over. She placed a potions vial on his nightstand. “Drink that, for your concussion. Afterwards you can get dressed and go back to classes.” Pomfrey turned away, but then stopped and looked at him over her shoulder. “Oh, and Professor Lupin asked me to tell you that you have detention with him this afternoon right after classes end.”

Oh, fuck. Tom remembered what had happened. He ran a tired hand down his face. Remus undoubtedly was going to tell Tom how disappointed he was in him, even if Tom hadn’t technically broken his promise.

Tom made it to the Great Hall just in time for breakfast. The whole student body was whispering about the discovery of Harriet Potter’s real gender. Well, everyone except the Gryffindors.

Harriet looked half her usual size as she sat squeezed between Granger and Weasley, head bent down as she poked at the food on her plate without ever taking a bite. Across from her sat Longbottom who was glaring around as though he was a mother bear eager to defend his cub against anyone foolish enough to come too close. The Weasley twins even looked utterly serious, mouths drawn in tight lines as they looked around the hall as though they were taking names for later retribution. The Weasley girl was having a shouting match with Smith at the Hufflepuff table concerning Harriet’s gender and she was about to go for her wand when McGonagall got up from her seat at the head table.

“Quiet down, quiet down!” McGonagall folded her hands in front of her while she gazed around the hall until most students had stopped their whispering. “Someone,” and here McGonagall gave the entire Slytherin table what could only be described as the evil eye, “has let slip some very personal information concerning Harriet Potter. I will now attempt to explain Ms Potter’s situation, so that you may all stop your inane gossiping about matters that do not concern you personally.” McGonagall inhaled a deep breath and continued, “Ms Potter is a girl who happened to be born in the body of a boy.” At this point McGonagall had to hold up a hand again to quiet everyone down again. “She is undergoing a potions regime to change her body to match her true gender, that of a girl. Currently the Ministry for Magic does not yet recognize transgender individuals, but I assure you that a lot of people are working very hard to change this. If anyone has any questions, you are welcome to talk to Madam Pomfrey or with your Head of House.”

After McGonagall sat down again, the whispering resumed, though this time they did, for the most part, take on a kinder tone as people wondered what it was like to change your gender through potions or while others discussed the political aspect of the whole situation.

Tom, in the meantime, didn’t even bother putting any food on his plate. He had no appetite to speak of.

He’d done this. Not directly, no, but he was the one to point Draco in the right direction. If Tom had kept his mouth shut he very much doubted Draco would have realized Harriet had a secret she was protecting in the first place. Perhaps down the line, once the Ministry got some laws changed, it might have become public knowledge, but at least then Harriet would have been able to come out at her own terms.

Tom was still terribly confused about the whole being born in a body of the wrong gender, if he was honest. He had heard of people dressing up as the opposite gender, mostly for a lark or for putting on a flamboyant musical number.