Finding Heather

Year 4 Chapter 11

Author's notes: I took some liberties with the prefect's bathroom in this chapter. It never made sense to me for this bathroom to have this giant pool, but no different toilets between the genders for changing. Just stalls along one wall.

Harry Potter and everything magical in his world belongs to JK Rowling, not me.

Chapter Eleven

Harry, like most of the castle, slept late on Boxing Day. He'd collapsed into bed at one o'clock in the morning, barely getting his robes off before passing out. Everything about last night had been amazing, until he and Ron had gone for their walk in the garden. Diving into a bush to listen in on Snape and Karkaroff, they'd also overheard Hagrid admitting to Madame Maxime that he was half giant. They'd tried to sneak away and not hear any more, but Hagrid's voice has a way of carrying a great distance.
From the sound of it he was the only one awake in his dormitory, and so felt safe enough reaching through his curtains to retrieve his diary and a quill.Monday, December 26, 1994.Dear Diary,Last night was the Yule Ball, and I went with Pavarti Patil. She looked absolutely stunning in her robes. I was honestly envious of how she looked. We danced for hours and had a great time. As it turns out, she has figured out that there is a chance I like boys as well as girls. Thankfully she has no issue with this, but I doubt that would be the overwhelming feeling of everyone. At one point she and I got separated, and I ended up dancing with a very tall boy from Beauxbatons. He was a very skillful dancer, and according to Pavarti everyone else in hall saw us. Just when I thought the school was done talking about me.Hermione went with Victor Krum, and seemed to have a good time. Hopefully she, Ginny, and I can sneak away soon and chat about our various evenings. The Common Room was full of sleepy faces who looked too tired to say much of anything when he finally left the warmth of his bed and came downstairs. Yawns filled the air as friends described to each other the night's events, while eager younger students listened jealously. Hermione was curled in a chair by the fire, her hair returned to it's bushy state, and seemed in very good spirits. To Harry's surprise, Ron appeared to be cheerful as well on seeing Hermione. There had been some worry that seeing her with Krum had upset him. After a late breakfast the three of them decided it was time to head for the library and start attacking the homework they had left alone during the first few days of break.In the midst of a particularly mind-numbing assignment for Professor Trelawney, Harry's mind wandered back to what he had overheard in the garden. As a way of bringing it up, he began asking Ron how things had gone with Padma last night. "It didn't seem like you two were having a good time at first. I saw you almost dragging her off the floor." Harry had opened with."I know," Ron replied quietly, "Well, at first I wasn't happy with I saw Hermione with Krum. On top of that wearing those dreadful robes really put me off. Padma was nice though, probably nicer than I deserved, and sat there with me. Eventually we started talking.""What did you talk about?" Harry asked curiously. Ron had never been much of a conversationalist, outside of the few subjects he was interested in anyway."Turns out she's a fan of Quidditch. I guess I never figured that most Ravenclaws liked Quidditch that much." Ron said."Why shouldn't they be? They do have a pretty good team after all." Harry replied"It just never occurred to me before. She's a Holyhead Harpies fan, and gave me some grief over supporting the Cannons." Ron's team was the Chudley Cannons, worst team in the league. "So, you two bonded over Quidditch?" Harry asked."Yeah, after a while she was able to convince me my robes weren't all that bad." Ron added, "And from there we just kept talking until I asked her to dance again."Their conversation was cut short just then as Madam Pince shuffled by, shushing them for making too much noise. It had been interesting to hear Ron talk that way about someone. If Harry had had to guess who, if anyone, Ron would end up with, Padma Patil would probably not have been anywhere near the top of the list. On the other hand, he thought, they'd never really had any classes with her, so that assumption wasn't based on anything too solid.While they sat at the Gryffindor Table for lunch, Harry felt as the swirling emotions in the hall flowed around him. There was still a good deal of excited chattering and laughter. Hermione had excused herself to go sit with Krum as soon as he had arrived, leaving Harry and Ron alone. Many sets of eyes followed Hermione as she walked to where Krum stood, Harry noticed. There was a tap on his shoulder and he turned to see Cedric standing over him, Cho on his arm."Can I have a word, Harry?" he asked."Sure." said Harry and followed him out to the Entrance Hall. Once off to the side of the double doors, Cedric muttered quietly to him. "If you haven't already figured it out, take a bath with your egg.""A bath?" Harry asked, not sure if Cedric was having him on or not."Yeah, just take your egg and mull things over in the hot water. Use the prefects Bathroom, the password is pine fresh." With that, Cedric turned and led Cho off up the Marble Staircase. She sent him a friendly wave, which he returned, before they vanished from sight.Returning to his food, he saw that Ron had been rejoined by a very pink Hermione. They both shared his dim view on this particular clue."What kind of rubbish hint is that?" asked Ron."I wonder how a bath will help you solve it." Said Hermione.Deciding they were all done with lunch, Ron surprised them by excusing himself and wandering over to the Ravenclaw table. As casually as they could, Harry and Hermione watched as he sat down next to Padma Patil and start a conversation with her."I think I'm gonna try it, Cedric's hint, I mean" said Harry as they climbed the stairs."Ooh. When do you think you're going to do it?" Hermione asked. "Why not tonight?" Harry suggested. "If you want you can come with me under the cloak.""Hmm. No, I don't think so Harry. After what happened last year when we got caught, I don't want to risk it again."Once everyone had gone to bed that night, Harry quietly tiptoed out of the dormitory under his Invisibility Cloak with the Marauder's Map. Over one shoulder was his rucksack, crammed full with his golden egg and a good variety of clothes to dress in. This being his first chance to dress up by himself, he wanted to make an evening of it. The corridors were empty and he made it to the fifth floor without incident. When he gave the door the password and stepped inside, his first thought was that being a prefect certainly had its perks. The room was rectangular and larger than some classrooms. In the middle of the floor was a large tub the size of a pool with several dozen taps of various shapes and sizes positioned around the edges. Along one wall were two doors, and next to them was a shelf full of fluffy towels and bars of soap.Walking over to the two doors, Harry saw one was marked Boys and the other, Girls. Pushing open the girl's door, he poked his head in and saw a bathroom laid out much as Moaning Myrtle's was three floors below. A small thrill filled his chest when he closed the door behind him and started getting ready. It wasn't as though being in a girl's bathroom was a new experience for him, but somehow this felt more special that Myrtle's dingy toilet.Moving over to a mirror, He deftly cast the hair growth charm watching his hair shoot out until it brushed his shoulders, then braded it into a plait. From there he stripped out of his pajamas and pulled out the purple swimsuit he had asked Hermione to buy for him on their shopping trip. It looked far too small for him as he held it up in front of his body. Unsure if he was supposed to wear underwear under it, he opted not too and began pulling the tight but stretchy fabric up his legs. As he wriggled into it he was amazed how it clung to every piece of his body. Satisfied with his reflection, he left the toilet with his egg and grabbed a towel off the shelf. Not sure what each one did, Harry started off all of the taps, filling the air with enough scents to put his usual girly aroma to shame. When the water had reached the top of the pool, which didn't take nearly as long as Harry thought it should have, he sat down at the edge, sliding his legs in before lowering the rest of his body into the warm water.He'd never been swimming as a kid, as the Dursley's never took him anywhere fun. So he wasn't sure how boys swim trunks felt in the water, but he was enjoying suit he had on. It clung to his body, caressing his skin with every movement he made. After a few laps he swum over to his egg, which he'd left on a towel at the edge of the pool with the Marauder's Map. Not entirely convinced he was doing the right thing; he opened the egg. Just as it had before a horrific wailing noise burst from it, echoing loudly off the walls. Slamming it shut he grabbed the map with his wet hands, checking to see if anyone was heading his way."Put it in the water" said a voice behind him. Turning Harry saw Moaning Myrtle floating up by a stained-glass window of a sleeping mermaid, smiling down at him."Myrtle, what are you doing here?" he spluttered. "And how long have you been watching me.""Sometimes I visit other bathrooms, I like this one. And don't worry, I didn't see anything. I see you're back to being a girl.""You knew about that?" he asked."Of course," Myrtle giggled, "I was in the u-bend of the toilet when you were talking that day." She started to float away from the window down towards where he held on to the side of the pool."Well, yeah I am." He said simply."I'm glad." She said, stopping next to him. "You make a pretty girl, I'm almost jealous."Feeling somewhat uncomfortable, Harry shifted the conversation."Myrtle, you said to put it in the water?"She nodded, the smile growing. Carefully, Harry picked up the egg and slid under the water with it. Instead of a scream, a song was playing. Emerging from the water, Harry blinked and tried to remember everything he'd just heard. It took nearly half an hour, and two more listening's of the song, before he figured it out. He'd have to go into the Black Lake and rescue something from the Merpeople. Shortly after he figured all of that out, Myrtle left him alone to think. He did a few more laps of the pool, racking his brain. He'd have to talk to Hermione tomorrow about how to survive under water for an hour. Feeling as though he'd had enough of the water for now, even if he was still loving how the swimsuit felt on his skin, he pulled himself out of the water and grabbed the towel from the floor. Wrapping it around his waist, smiling in memory of the first time Hermione had ever admonished him for not wearing his towel properly as a girl, Harry returned to the bathroom and began drying off. Not ready for the night to end yet, he rolled the wet swimsuit into the towel and pulled out fresh underwear and the padding for his bra. Once done he extracted tonight's outfit, his grey t shirt and purple jumper from the day Ginny had first seen him, paired with a denim skirt she had recently loaned him that stopped just over mid thigh. His bruise had almost completely faded, with only the slightest discoloration to mark where it had been. Deciding not to waste time with makeup, Harry stuffed the towel and swimsuit into his bag along with his pajamas and left the toilet, diary in hand. Back out in the pool sized tub room, Harry saw a circle of armchairs over to side the of the room under the windows he hadn't noticed beforehand. The room was still warm from the bath he had drawn, and he settled into one of the armchairs, tucking his legs under himself. For the next two hours he sat there, pulling out a jar of sky-blue polish and doing his nails, then idly writing in his diary while they dried. He reveled in how feminine he felt, the skirt leaving almost all of his legs revealed to the open air. He ensured that it covered everything it needed too, inspecting it from all angles in one of the mirrors. Finally, when his watched beeped one o'clock in the morning, Harry sadly packed his clothes back into his rucksack, shrunk his hair, and vanished the nail polish. Checking the map under the cloak, he left the bathroom, hoping he'd get a chance to get back in here one day.