Finding Heather

Year 4 Chapter 13

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

Chapter Thirteen

Harry had never spent so much of his free time in the library. Despite making no headway, he didn't stop looking in book after book for the answer to his problem. Before he knew it, the Second Task was only a week away. The weekend before the task, Hermione arbitrarily decided that he needed a break. There was answer, she was sure of it, but Harry wouldn't be able to find it if he was too stressed to think straight. So, she and Ginny practically ordered Harry to come to Moaning Myrtles' bathroom for a girl session. Ginny then piped in, telling him to bring the sky-blue dress he hadn't worn yet along with the skirt that she had loaned him. She blushed when she told him that she wanted to see if he pulled it off better than she did. That morning he pulled on a bra under his jumper and set off for the bathroom alone after breakfast. Upon opening the door, he was amazed to see the change that the room had gone through. Once dilapidated and forlorn, the two girls had, with help from Dobby, Harry suspected, cleaned much of it, not enjoying spending time in a dirty toilet. The mirrors and sinks had been cleaned, the floors were dry and scrubbed, and the stall doors no longer hung at odd angles from their hinges. Myrtle didn't mind, since no one but them came in there still. Along with that Hermione had found a way to shrink some furniture she'd found in an old storeroom, so they had more to sit on than the usual benches. While she and Ginny were getting things set up, Harry stepped into his usual stall to change. Pulling his dress from his bag, he hung it on the small hook on the back of the door. It was called an A-line dress by Hermione, with two straps of fabric over the shoulders, and a neckline that was rather lower on his chest than any of his other clothes were. When he pulled it on over the stuffed bra, the socks were readily apparent. Sadly, not wanting to ruin the overall aesthetic of the dress, he pulled them back out and shoved them into his rucksack. Stepping out fully dressed, he was greeted by a loud wolf whistle from Ginny. As usual his first stop was to look in the mirror. He'd let his hair grow to his shoulder blades, the length he'd started preferring, and then did two small braids on the sides that he'd tied together in the back. The dress fit perfectly. It hugged his body until right about his waist, then flared out slightly and stopped just above his knees. Adjusting one of the straps of his bra so that I was hidden by the dress, Harry twirled so as to see the effect. "I see you've been shaving your legs." Said Hermione, gesturing at them. They were rather pale, as was expected, but also very slim and shapely."Yeah, truth be told I almost missed it, you know, when..." he broke off, thinking back to a few months ago."Just wait" they both said at the same time, laughing over his awkwardness, "until it starts to feel like a chore." Before Harry was allowed to sit, Ginny sent him back into the stall to put on the skirt. To Harry's delight both she and Hermione admitted that he did in fact pull it off better than Ginny did, having slightly longer legs than she did. "Remind me to let you borrow that when that Beauxbatons boy asks you out" teased Ginny though the stall door as Harry put the dress back on.Between the sinks and the first stall, three old armchairs and a small table had been placed in the small open space. Harry sat down in the closest, remembering to adjust the dress as he sat so it didn't ride up his legs. Out of a pocket, Hermione pulled out a small piece of parchment and slid it across the table to Harry. On it were a half dozen names."Those are the names Ginny and I thought up. What do you think?" she asked. Harry looked down the list, trying each one of them out in turn in his mind.EmilySarahLauraHeatherDanielleOliviaHe read through the list several times, discarding one after another. Eventually, only Heather and Emily remained."I like Heather" said Ginny when he told them the finalists."You mentioned to me that you think you'd like a flower name which I why I added it" Hermione added."Yeah, I did want one of those. Somehow I think that's how my mother would've named me if I'd been a girl.""Harry, you are a girl, at least partly." Said Ginny."I think I like Heather too" Harry decided, feeling his skin prickle at the sound of the name."Heather Potter" said Hermione, smiling at him. "Ooh, that's a really pretty name."Grinning back at them both, Heather threw the piece of paper into a waste basket nearby. Feeling even more like one of the girls now, Ginny decided it was time for him to get to dance like one. With Hermione taking on the role of the boy, she and Heather danced to a song Ginny hummed. It wasn't quite like in his dream, but it was a lot of fun. Afterwards both Ginny and Heather interrogated Hermione about her relationship with Krum. Heather had noticed that in the few times Hermione hadn't been studying or helping him, she had been seen with Krum.Sheepishly, Hermione confided in them that they had been on three, for lack of a better term, dates since the Yule Ball. Mostly it had just been walking by the lake, but for the last one, which had been a week ago, she'd taken him to the kitchens so they could eat alone. Outside of that he mostly spent time with her in the library."Sounds like this is getting serious." Giggled Ginny."I don't know about that; he mostly likes to watch me study." Hermione replied."What do you talk about?" asked Heather, who was very curious about what dating was like."He isn't particularly talkative. It's more of a physical thing." Hermione said, then at the realization of what she'd just said, not to mention both Ginny and Heather's eyebrows rocketing upwards, her face went bright red. She tried to backpedal her words but it was no use. For the rest of the afternoon Ginny and Heather kept finding opportunities to use the word physical, just so her face would go red again. After they were done picking on Hermione, Ginny turned to Heather and said, "so, who's your crush, Heather?" she seemed to be getting a lot of enjoyment from using his new name."What makes you think I have a crush?" asked Heather."Well for one thing I know you have one on Cedric, you told us so. And for another, we both saw you dancing with that boy at the Yule Ball." Ginny replied.Harry thought back to that night and how nice it had been dancing with him. It was true that boy had been very cute, but somehow he didn't sit right in Heather's mind for what he was looking for. He hadn't really put much thought into boys, certainly not the ones in his year."I dunno, I mean yeah Cedric is cute, but he's with Cho now.""Do you still like her?" asked Hermione."She's very pretty" Heather said, thinking. Now that he really thought about it, he had stopped seeing her as pretty in the way boys usually did. Looking back at the few times they had come across each other Heather remembered noting how Cho had done her hair, or if she was wearing any cute accessories, but there had been no real desire to be with her anymore."So, no crushes on any boys?" Ginny asked doggedly, not allowing the subject to change."Err, I mean not that I can think of." Heather stammered, truthfully. Ginny arched another eyebrow at him, but let it go. Once more Heather felt just how wonderful it was to not be Harry Potter. This feeling was enhanced even further now that he had a name to call his girl personality. It was really as though he was someone else. Worries about the second task faded away as they sat and talked, Heather constantly running her hands over the soft fabric of the dress. His attention was drawn at one point to his unstuffed bra, which did push his chest out slightly."Is there a spell that would let me grow these?" he asked suddenly, gesturing at his chest.Hermione looked at him, a small frown on her face. "I'm not sure. Do you want to grow them?" she asked."I dunno. I guess I'm just curious what they feel like." Said Heather."I can do some looking for you if you'd like. But if there is it's probably pretty advanced transfiguration." She replied.Heather felt slightly crestfallen at this, but hadn't really expected any different. "Thanks" he muttered, looking back down at his body. To distract himself, he pulled out a piece of parchment and started writing his new name. His handwriting had much improved over the year, and he added a small flourish to the H in Heather. Seeing what he was doing, the two girls grinned at each other. Changing back into his regular clothes, it felt as if I great weight resettled on his shoulders. The nervousness and stress about the task, which had been held at bay by being Heather, almost swallowed him in an instant. For the briefest of moments Harry almost debated pulling the dress back on and refusing to leave the sanctuary of the bathroom. With a force of will he made himself walk out the door and back into the corridor. Hiding in a bathroom was not how either Harry or Heather Potter dealt with problems. Every day of the next week was harder than the last. Harry continued to spend every evening in the library looking at book after book. It finally reached the point where he broke down crying from the stress in his dormitory the night before the task. He'd been in the library with Ron and Hermione when both of them had been summoned by Professor McGonagall, and neither of them had returned.He imagined himself walking down to the lake, sticking his head into the water and just shouting for the merpeople to return whatever they took. Beyond that, he was sure he didn't have a hope. For over an hour the tears ran down his face and into his pillow. The dormitory remained mercifully empty while he lay there. Eventually his tears subsided and he was able to resume some semblance of control over his fears. It was then that he finally noticed the creaking noise from outside of his bed curtains. Dobby was standing there, teetering back and forth between his feet. He had clearly heard Harry crying and hadn't wanted to disturb him."Dobby?" Harry said. "What are you doing here?""Harry Potter", and the little elf bowed, "Dobby has heard that you is sad, sir. Harry Potter's friend had told him that you isn't knowing how to get back your Weazey.""My what?""Your Weazey, sir. The one who gave Dobby his socks at Christmas.""You mean, they've taken Ron?" harry cried, sitting bolt upright in his bed."Yes, sir." Said Dobby, "his sister was the one who called Dobby and says to him that you's is sad and doesn't know how you is going to do it, sir.""Ginny said that to you?""She did, Harry Potter, sir. She asked Dobby, does he know a way, and Dobby remembers, sir. He was called to the staff room last week to take robes for washing, and he overheard two of the teachers talking about something called Gillyweed, sir. They was wondering if Harry Potter had thought of using it.""Gillyweed? I've never heard of it before." Harry said, astounded."Here, sir" squeaked Dobby handing him a slimy mass of what looked like tentacles. "Dobby got Harry Potter some from Professor Snape's stores.""You stole this from Snape?" Harry asked, not sure if he wanted this now or not."Yes, sir. Harry Potter must use it to get his Weazey back. Now Dobby must go, sir. He has to clean Ravenclaw tower tonight. Good luck, Harry Potter, sir."With another crack, Dobby vanished.Harry placed the small mass on his bedside table, then went to wash his hands. He wanted to feel relief at finally having an answer, but had no idea if this would work or not. He laid back down, resolving to ask Neville about it tomorrow before the task began. Eventually he drifted off to sleep, and for the first time in weeks, he slept peacefully.