Bill couldn’t stay very long but he seemed satisfied once he saw Brogan again.  “Are you two going to be alright?  Do you want me to put a ward up so you’ll know if anyone comes up the stairs?”  He asked on his way out.

Ron thought about it, “that would be kind of reassuring but if Dad found out it would be hard to explain so we’d better pass.”

“Alright, just make sure you wake up early, you know how the twins are.”

Ron nodded and Brogan looked awkward and unhappy until Bill finally left and then she dove for Ron’s bed.  Ron laughed at her, “so you’re shy now?”

Ron went off to brush his teeth too and soon enough they were squeezed in to Ron’s bed together.  “What did you think of Harry?” Brogan asked when the lights were all out and the darkness made her brave.

“It was really strange, I don’t think I had realized how little your mannerisms and all changed before.  And Harry looked older, how did you manage that?”

“Oh that’s a great story!”  said Brogan and proceeded to brag a bit.

“That’s freaking amazing that he can age a hair.”

“Yeah, magic woo-hoo.”

“Anything else happen?”

“Mmm hmmm, but it’ll keep until you’re back and Hermione and Draco are around too.”

After a few moments Ron spoke up again, “You looked very feminine at Slug’s party.”

“Thanks, it was kind of fun dressing up -except for those shoes.”

“You pulled it off really well.”

“Hermione looked nice too, did you guys dance or anything?”

“Or anything?”

“Shut up and answer.”

“We didn’t dance but there was a good night kiss.”

“Excellent, good thing we practiced.”

“Now you shut up.”

“Ron, I think you’re beyond my best friend ever, I think you might be like a vital organ or something.”

“I know mate, come closer.”  and he dragged the girl so her head was on his chest and that was how they fell asleep.

That was pretty much what they looked like when Fred and George crept in too.  The twins were a little suspicious of Harry and his on the hour potion -which they had easily noticed; they had been quizzing Harry all night on things that only Harry would know and Harry had passed with flying colors, but still the every hour on the hour potion niggled.  So did Bill, full on member of the Order of the Phoenix, walking them to bed.

They lasted an hour with their curiosity and then they held a battle of the wills to see if they could last another hour so it was properly late for creeping about.  Finally they made their way up the stairs, stairs that were normally all sorts of creaky but they could manage silently in their sleep even before they were allowed to use their wands.  They noticed there was no ward and that gave them a moment of confusion, what was Bill doing then, but they pressed on anyway.

Wizardkind had grown so used to stupefy the spell that sometimes they forgot the other meaning, the more archaic and muggle one which meant to become motionless or senseless because of a great shock.  A great great shock such as discovering your little brother wrapped up with Severus Snape’s daughter in his childhood bed while his mother slept downstairs.  The twins froze and then crept closer, they saw two wands (one not Harry’s) on the nightstand and pushed them a little further away, they split up and flanked each side of the bed.  And then George reached out his hand and touched Ron’s shoulder.

“Ronnnnnn, Ronniekins,” Ron stirred a little, “Ron, there’s a girl in your bed.”

Ron tightened his arms around said girl and smiled sleepily at them, “we all guessed you guys would figure it out,” he whispered hoping Brogan would sleep on.

“Ron, is that Snape’s daughter?”  Ron nodded to Fred.

“Ron, is that our little Harriekins?”  Ron nodded to George.

The twins sat back to think on that, but they resumed their questioning quick enough.

“Bill knows?”  Ron nodded to Fred.

“Hermione knows?”  Ron nodded to George, “but not about the sleeping in the same bed part.”

“Are you both decently clad under there?”  Fred asked sternly.  Ron nodded.

“Well that seems a bit of a waste.” George remarked, but then he noticed Ron’s ears turning red.

“Oh wait a second, you’re both decently clad now -this time.”  Ron blushed harder.

“Well George,” Fred started, “imagine that Lee turned into a hot girl, you would totally do him at least once.”

“That is a fair point Fred, and we certainly are talking about a fetching specimen.”  They both looked down and noticed that Ron had been brushing Brogan’s hair back, her hair was dark and curly in the moonlight.  Ron had trouble getting it to stay behind her ear but once it was moved they could see the wide cheekbones and long eyelashes, her mouth was slightly puckered too as she dreamed.

“You should have seen her at this party last week, she had on these super high heels and this short black dress.  Man, at one point she was chewing out the Headmaster, I shit you not, I’m not sure why, but she was a vision.”

“Does she have a boyfriend?” asked George.

“Yeah, Draco effing Malfoy, she’s in Slytherin with the tosser.”

“That’s our Harry, nothing by halves.  And yet she’s in bed with you.”

Ron wriggled out from under Brogan and pulled the blankets higher to cover her.  Fred cast a light sleeping charm to keep her under, he wasn’t sure why but it seemed like Ron wanted her asleep.  Ron sat up and crossed his legs, “Harry always slept with me too.”

“Really mate?” asked George, getting more comfortable himself.  Fred looked up from where he was petting the blanket over Brogan.

“You remember the bars on Harry’s window, the Dursleys were evil.  And then all those things that happened to him at Hogwarts.  I mean really, a happy kid with a loving family wouldn’t be able to cope with all that and Harry never knew a loving family, he only had me.

He had nightmares and trouble sleeping ever since first year and, I don’t know, I guess I liked being able to protect or take care of him so I’d lay down with him and then we figured out that he didn’t have nightmares if I was there so it became more regular.  And then he became a girl but the nightmares didn’t magically disappear because of that, so, here we are.”

“How did he become Snape’s daughter?” George asked softly.

“Snape and Lily Evans, um you know, were together I guess but then I suppose because Snape was a Death Eater Harry’s mum decided to try and pass the baby off as James Potter’s so she took this potion.”

“It always starts with a potion,” commented Fred who was still rubbing his hand down Brogan’s arm.

“Yeah, so if their guess was right this potion was really wicked powerful and it actually made Harry into a boy so he would look more like James.  But then on Harry’s birthday this summer it wore off, and Bill was on guard that night so that’s how he knew and Dumbledore sent Snape to check it out too so that’s how he knew.  I guess they don’t have any real proof about the potion but it’s what they both came up with and it seems to make sense.”

“And now Harry is a little bit safer isn’t he?  Hiding in plain sight and all that.”  said Fred.

“Yeah but Ron said she’s in Slytherin, is that safe?” asked George.

“In Slytherin as the head’s daughter and the prince’s girlfriend, so I think she’s pretty safe.  And she’s their seeker too, they trounced us in the first match.  She’s hoping to get enough influence to keep the Slytherin kids neutral.”

“So Harry was always a girl?”

“I don’t know, he’s had some trouble adjusting.  Hermione said that there’s like these potions in our blood that are different for men and women and when Harry switched he was suddenly flooded with the woman potion; he cried all the effing time and, I kind of hate to say this because you know I kind of aided and abetted, but he was a bit of a slut for a while too.  But Poppy finally found out and got him on some potions that are making it better.”

“So who knows?” asked Fred.

“Loads of people, I don’t know why they aren’t telling our whole family.  Me, Hermione, Luna, Draco, Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson -but they’re under a secrecy oath with Snape, I’m not even sure who else.”

“It’s because of Ginny and mum I bet, Harry knows that Ginny has a crush on him and mum is rather entranced with the idea and he probably doesn’t want to disappoint them.  That’s my guess.” said Fred.

“Plus she would be bunking with Ginny and Fleur now instead of here with you.”

“Where does she sleep at school?”

“She has a room in Snape’s quarters, but she has an invisibility cloak that she uses to sneak out sometimes.  Snape and Draco are trying to make her a potion for the dreams too.  Snape is pretty cool about it all; well I mean what choice does he really have?

She’s so pathetic when she can’t sleep, and she’s dealing with so much shit; who could deny her?  It’s pretty awesome to watch him spoil her.”

“And you’re okay with her dating the ferret?”

Ron looked at Brogan and traced the side of her face, “I guess it’s a little painful, but he calls her princess and dotes on her so that helps.  There’s Hermione to consider too.” 

Ron drew a deep breath and added, “Brogan needs me to be her friend now.”

“Ronniekins, you’re so grown up.” marvelled one twin.

“And mature.” added the other.

“I think if she slept with us instead of you we could keep the bad dreams away twice as well.”

“Sure, everyone wants her now that she’s a hot chick, I liked her way back when she was just the bloody boy-who-lived.” Ron grumbled as he settled back down in bed.

The twins laughed and knew they were dismissed, they looked back once to see that Ron and Brogan were back in the same position as when they had first come in and Ron was dropping off to sleep already.

 

The twins were back bright and early the next morning though.  Ron had slipped out to visit the loo so, being wicked, they ran straight for the bed with Brogan still sleeping in it.  It was a tight squeeze even though Bill had enlarged the bed a bit but they managed to get in on either side of her, intent on getting even for the shock they had received last night.

Fred leaned over her head and called softly, “Harriekins, it’s Christmas.”

George was the one that was rewarded when sleepy luminous green eyes fixed on him and a slow smile spread across Brogan’s face.  “Merry Christmas George,” she said in a rough morning voice, and then she twisted around, “Merry Christmas Fred.”

“Why are you ruining all of our fun by not being shocked?” pouted Fred.

“Hmmph, after all the quizzing yesterday?  ‘Harry do you remember what sweater you were wearing when we gave you that second canary cream -it was a Thursday right, in October?’” Brogan said in a mocking voice.

“After the completely unsubtle ways you would look at the clock and then at each other every hour, you were even more useful than Ron in reminding me to take the potion.  I knew you twigged it.”  Brogan had one hand on George’s arm but her feet were pressed against Fred’s leg.

“It’s even more delicious that apparently you stopped by after I fell asleep last night and found me in bed with your brother.  Which I assume set your loins aflame with jealousy and that’s why you’re here now.  Too bad Poppy’s potion is working so well, a month ago you would have gotten a much more satisfying reaction.”

“More satisfying than this?” asked George wrapping his hand over Brogan’s, his voice cracking a bit.

“Much more.” Brogan answered, leaning over to brush her lips across his knuckles.

Ron walked in then, “Bloody hell Brogan, I thought you were on a potion for that.  You evil succubus.”

The Snape-like laughter coming from the vixen between them sent both twins scrambling for the door.

 

“That pretty much made this whole visit worthwhile.” Brogan remarked later as she psyched herself up to swallow the day’s first dose of polyjuice.

Ron rubbed her back, “I understand the deep psychological scarring you’re probably getting from doing this but,” Brogan looked at him and his face split into a grin, “we haven’t opened presents yet!”

Brogan snorted, “oh yeah, presents that makes it all worthwhile.”

Ron placed his hand on hers, “hold up a minute, you can open mine here.”

He dug under his bed and pulled out a lumpy package, he offered it with such a shy bashful smile that Brogan, for a moment, was afraid it would be all sappy and meaningful and she had forgotten to bring the potion from Pomfrey, the one that helped with the emotional wreck thing -which really was a grievous oversight considering...  With shaky hands Brogan opened the gift and found a quidditch t-shirt, the front had a pair of crossed brooms and the back said ‘I have 99 problems but a snitch ain’t one’.

“This is so effing true, isn’t it!?” she squealed in joy.

“I know, it was just completely perfect for you and I thought that, it’s Brogan-sized so you can wear it at school, but if Ginny sees you get it then you can’t really.  Right?

“You looked a little scared there for a moment mate, you thought it would be deep and meaningful and you were going to cry didn’t you?  Didn’t you?”

Brogan had to tackle him for that and she only felt a tiny bit bad when he whacked his head on the table leg.

 

The other gifts that morning were nice too.  Harry got a bit of a jolt when Remus Lupin showed up, he resolved to be quadruple as stealthy taking his potion with the Professor around and he took to shoving a candy cane in his mouth right after too, hoping to overwhelm any polyjuice breath.

Either it worked or Remus already knew and was playing along.  Either way Brogan was limp with relief after he left, apparently there wouldn’t be a Christmas showdown ruining the Weasleys’ day.  Not that the day was perfect, Percy wasn’t there and the twins were acting twice as boisterous to try and distract their mother, which was sweet but loud.  Really loud compared to quiet nights in her da’s quarters or the Slytherin common room. 

Despite having slept well with Ron the noise and hub bub and stress of being Harry again were wearing on Brogan and by the time they sat down to dinner her eyes were dry and her head was pounding.  Wearing the much-hated glasses again was a pain too she decided.

Bill had taken a seat next to Harry despite Fleur’s glares and a lot of odd looks from the rest of the family.  He placed a big hand on Harry’s shoulder and leaned over to talk in a soft voice to the obviously wilting boy.  “I’m not surprised this is too much and too loud for you, it isn’t what you’re used to anymore is it?”  Harry gave him a wry smile and shook his head no.

“After dinner I’ll get you back.”  Bill promised.

Half the people at the table were about to say something about Harry leaving early, or about Bill knowing where Harry had been, or about Bill of all people taking him when they were interrupted by a knock at the door.  Molly went to answer it and the whole house heard her shriek, “Percy!”

Needless to say the Weasleys abandoned ship and rushed to the door.  As shocking as Percy standing there with a mean little after thought of a gift was the sight of the new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, standing behind him.  A silent but heartfelt curse (starting with f and ending with k) was shared between Brogan, Ron and Bill.

It was either leaked somehow or a very shrewd guess that Harry might be here tonight and the minister had ridden in on Percy’s coat tails.  Molly had barely even registered his presence and Arthur was just opening his mouth when the minister actually reached out and grabbed Harry by his arm, “A moment if you please Mr. Potter, let’s leave the happy family to their little reunion.”

It had been about forty-five minutes since her last dose so Brogan nonchalantly took another swig of polyjuice as they reached the garden gate.  Her eyes scanned the surroundings while her head was tipped back, she could see Ron staring out the back door at her and since she couldn’t see Bill she assumed correctly he was disillusioned and closer.

The minister looked at her taking the potion and merely stared and waited.  Brogan toyed with saying nothing at all but she didn’t want to seem more petulant than necessary.  “I had a nasty case of dragon pox this summer and they were afraid I might be getting a cold so I’m on this to help prevent it.”  She glared and rubbed her arms a bit, in a ‘you know you might be killing the saviour of the wizarding world by dragging me out here in the cold’ sort of way.  The minister did not roll his eyes, no doubt that was part of the rigid self control which had gotten him the job, and cast a warming charm on the boy.

“So Mr. Potter, it’s my understanding that you have not returned to Hogwarts this year.”  No chit chat with this minister, Brogan liked him slightly better already.

“Do you concern yourself with the schooling decisions of every wizard in England sir?”

“No, of course not.  Just you Mr. Potter.”

Brogan shrugged, she couldn’t think of a good response to that.

“Your safety, because of your fame, has always been a concern at the ministry.”  He tried.

Brogan, just stared at him, there was nothing she could say to that without the risk of launching into her big list of magical creatures that have attacked me while at Hogwarts.

“But I see that you’re looking quite safe and sound.”  The minister kicked the garden post a bit and startled off the garden gnome that had been stealthily (or so it thought) approaching his boot.

“I’m also here to request a favor of you.” The Minister looked as humble as he could manage and Brogan tried to keep the frown off her face.  “People are worried about sending their children to Hogwarts, if it isn’t good enough or secure enough for you...  And they’re worried that you’ve left the country, that you aren’t working with the Ministry.”

“I’m not working with the Ministry.”  Brogan couldn’t stop herself from interrupting.  “And I haven’t heard about any other children not showing up for Hogwarts this year.”  she frowned, trying to think of any.

“Well, it hasn’t quite reached that point yet.  But the people want to know that you’re not abandoning them.”

“Why should what one boy chooses to do matter to the people?  Tell the people to mind their own damn business.  This was an ill-advised trip Minister, I suggest you don’t make the same mistake twice.”  and with that Brogan spun angrily on her heel and walked back to the house.  She would have stomped except she was repeating over and over in her head, don’t stomp -be cool, don’t stomp -be cool.

Percy had mashed potatoes in his hair when they passed each other at the door.  An extremely ill-advised trip indeed.

The rest of the meal was unsurprisingly awkward.  Only Ron seemed to be able to muster any enthusiasm for tucking in.  Brogan pushed her pudding around half-heartedly for a while, Bill kicked her under the table and she managed a faint smile before going back to playing with her fork.  Bill kicked her again, Fleur noticed -most of the family noticed because Brogan dropped her fork.  She picked it up and smiled faintly at everyone, ate a tiny spoonful so they would go back to their own meals and then, when it seemed safe, she looked over at Bill with a ‘what the hell?’ expression.  Bill looked at the clock, most of the hands were pointing to at home, oh wait, there was a real clock too.  Oh, it was time for another swig.

How stupid to have Bill, Ron, Fred and George all know but still have to take the nasty potion, ‘and who’s fault is that’ she asked herself.  But still, now seemed like the worst time ever to confess, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were clearly still thinking about Percy and it wasn’t like they needed her sexual reorientation to distract them. 

Brogan pushed back her chair figuring she could carry her plate to the kitchen and take her dose there.  She was just stowing the bottle and wiping off her lips with the sleeve of this year’s sweater when Ginny came in.

Somehow this was the first time they were alone together.  Ginny looked at Harry and Brogan recognized every bit of despair in her face, she opened her arms wide and Ginny flew into them.  ‘Fuck,’ she thought to herself as red hair invaded her mouth.  ‘What the hell am I doing?’

Ginny held on tight for a few moments and then looked up with glassy eyes, she unconsciously (at least Brogan hoped it was unconscious) licked her lips and looked at Harry’s lips thoughtfully.  ‘Oh my God Ron will kill me, and Ginny too when she finds out.’ Brogan thought desperately.  She took an awkward step back but left her hands loosely on Ginny’s shoulders.

“Ginny,  I...”  Brogan paused, “I can be a spare brother if you could ever imagine needing such a thing, but I’m sort of seeing someone now.”  She did not add, just like you are.

Ginny looked completely shocked for a second and then she shoved Harry in the shoulder, hard.  “Get out!  You are not.  You are completely hopeless with the opposite sex, how in Merlin’s beard could you be seeing someone?”

Brogan blushed furiously and tried a little fruitlessly not to get offended.  Ginny just laughed.

“It’s alright Harry, tell me about her.  What’s she like?”

“Blond,” Brogan started and then had no idea what else to say.

When it became really apparent Brogan had nothing else to contribute Ginny spoke up again, “well I guess blonde is better than another red head, I’d probably get wickedly jealous if you took up with another ginger.”

Brogan was saved by the sound of Ron’s laughter, he almost dropped the stack of plates he was carrying his shoulders were shaking so bad.  “Seriously Ron, your mum will kill you if you drop that pile.”  Brogan stopped blushing enough to yank half the plates away and carry them to the sink.

“So Harry finally confessed to you about his new squeeze huh?”  Ron asked Ginny as he dumped his stack.

“Yeah, but all he’s said is that she’s blonde.”

“Not even her name?”  Ron asked with a wicked gleam.

“I -I don’t think I should give you the name, it -it could be dangerous you know.  Word could get out and the Death Eaters wouldn’t be pleased.”

“Or rather they would be pleased, pleased to have another target, right?”  Ginny asked.

Brogan had meant what she said and she was being super careful with her pronouns for whatever perverse reason but she just let Ginny’s comment go, grateful that Ginny seemed to be accepting it and she wouldn’t have to make up a name.  She had been there once and it was definitely harder than it seemed.

Bill came in then, he was carrying a few bowls and Fleur was trailing behind him with many many more bowls and platters.  “Hey Harry,” Bill said, “I can take you back whenever you’re ready, I suppose you have to pack up and stuff first.”

“Oh yeah,” said Brogan, “I might need some help with getting all my gifts to fit in that duffel I brought.”

“I’ll send the twins upstairs then to shrink a few things.”  Bill offered as he dumped his bowls on the counter, leaving Fleur almost no room at all for her big pile.

Harry gave him a brilliant smile and scampered off with Ron, thrilled to be leaving Ginny’s interrogation.

 

Harry had received quite the haul of gifts from his first Weasley Family Christmas and Brogan was apprehensive about fitting them all in her bag but also what was she supposed to do with them, well most of it was books and dark arts stuff but she hugged her newest Weasley sweater to her, already missing it. 

“If you confessed to Ginny you know you could wear that at school, she’s the only one who would think anything.”

“I know but if I told Ginny then I’d feel bad for not telling Neville and then I’d feel bad about not telling Dean or Seamus and how could I tell them and not McGonagall and how could I tell her and not Hagrid and mate, I love Ginny -like a sister- but I’m not telling Hagrid; he can’t keep a secret to save his life.”

“Well, as long as you’ve thought about it I guess.  Actually have you told anyone or did they just figure it out?”

“I told Hermione, but that’s it I think.  With Draco I think he figured it out when I walked in the room but I had the bright eyes and my old haircut at the time -oh and I was wearing my old clothes too.  He actually fainted, it was pretty funny.  I don’t think I ever properly teased him for that.”

“Well that’s a tragedy, especially after the way he mocked you for fainting on the train, what was that -third year?”

“I try really hard not to remember all that stuff, it would be detrimental to my current situation, you know?”

“Your current situation?  Those times when he holds you to the wall and tries to suck out your tonsils?”

Brogan turned deep deep red, “yeah, those times.”

“Oh my god, he has done that?!”

“Shut up Ron, we’re packing.”

“Harry buddy, have you talked to Pomfrey about ‘charms’, you know ‘those charms’.”

“Shut up Ron, we’re packing.  And I’m not talking to Pomfrey about that, she knew my mum.”

“All the more...”

“You did not just say that!”

Ron realized what he had in fact just said and burst out laughing.  “Sorry, sorry, I swear I didn’t mean it like that.  But really, you should...”

“I talked to Minksy alright.”

“Minksy?  Who’s Minksy?”

“She’s a Malfoy elf, Draco got her to explain things to me.”  Brogan felt like her face would never ever stop burning.

“An elf?”

“Yes, now stop or I swear to God I’ll get your brothers to hex you.”

The twins arrived just then, Brogan was unbelievably grateful that the sex conversation, such as it was, had at least taken place before they showed up.

General rambunctiousness followed until Bill arrived and announced it was time for him to escort Harry back to his secure location.  “Wink, wink, nod, nod Bill old man.” said Fred.

Bill look confused for a brief moment and then he smiled broadly, “they know?” he asked.

“They figured it out,” groused Brogan.

“So all that subterfuge today and basically it’s just our parents and Ginny that don’t know?”

“Shut up Bill,” said Brogan.  “It’s complicated, Ron understands.”  and she threw herself at Ron, forgetting that she still looked like Harry Potter.

“Harry mate, this isn’t quite as effective when you look like Harry.”

“Oh yeah sorry, I guess I kind of got used to taking advantage of the cute factor.”  But she still stayed where she was with her/his arms wrapped around Ron’s torso.

“It’s alright.  I’m going to miss you too, you said you’re visiting Luna next week?”

“Yeah, for New Year’s Eve, if we invite you to tea will you and Ginny come?”

“Of course we will.”

“Good.”

“Alright, if that’s all settled we should get moving Harry, unless you want to take another dose?”

“Gah, no, I’ll go.  That stuff is vile, Barty Crouch was more insane than I thought if he took that slop every hour for a whole year.”

“Barty Crouch, what?”  asked George.

“I’ll fill you in later,” promised Ron.

 

They all thundered down the stairs together and Harry shook hands with Mr. Weasley and hugged Mrs. Weasley and Ginny and thanked them for his best Christmas ever, which made Bill and Fred and George and Ron’s eyes all go squinty and hard for a moment.  But then Bill cast a complicated sort of charm to disguise his words and threw down some floo powder and dragged Harry through.

Snape wasn’t in when they arrived, there was a note though to their mutual shock which said, ‘potions lab’.  And reading it they realized how Severus really didn’t need to leave notes about where he was when it was so obvious. 

“That charm was pretty cool,” Harry started dumping his bag down and wandering around the room.

“It was just so they wouldn’t hear me call out, Severus Snape’s quarters at Hogwarts”

“Yeah, I figured that.  I’m sorry for making you lie to your parents Bill.”

“It’s okay Brogan-Harry, you can’t imagine how many times I had to catch myself these last two days.”

“I didn’t think it would be that hard, boy equals Harry and girl equals Brogan...”

“Maybe it’s because I knew you as girl Harry for those few weeks, but it could also be because you didn’t change except for physically.  The smile was the same you know, stuff like that.

So, I know you hated the potion but was it fun being a boy again?  Reaching the top shelf in the cupboard and all that?”

“The glasses sucked, I had forgotten how much I hated them and how appallingly near-sighted I was.  And the, um, equipment change was difficult, well maybe not difficult just weird.  I kept sitting when I didn’t really need to. 

I forgot to bring the hormone potion too, I’m on a tiny dose now so it doesn’t really matter but it keeps me a bit more stable I think.  Actually it’s probably just a placebo now.  Oh my God, I’m babbling aren’t I?  Do you think that means it’s wearing off?  No, it wouldn’t be that because the potion never affected my personality like that, I think it means I’m relieved to be home.”

“I think that’s what it means too, I’m sorry you weren’t that comfortable at the Burrow.  You should have been.”

“It would have completely thrown people off,” Brogan waved away his concerns, “the world isn’t ready for a babbly Harry Potter.”

“Screw people, isn’t that what you told the minister?”

“Not in those exact words.  God that was scary, I thought he was going to demand to know who had custody of me or something, but then he started to piss me off and I decided the best defense was a good offense.”

“It was well done.  Ron said you chewed out the headmaster at a Christmas party too?”

Brogan flopped on the couch, “Yeah, he said some really dumb things.  He needs me to help with the war and he’s not very good at asking nicely or appropriately.  Not that there is an appropriate way to ask a sixteen year-old to fight a war for you.”

“No, I don’t think there is.”  Bill mused, walking over to flop on the couch near Brogan.  “Hey, are you alright?”

Harry had tipped over on his side and his legs were curling up even as his arms were wrapping around his torso.  After a shudder or two Brogan lay there, back in girl form.  She stayed as she was for a long moment, Bill wasn’t sure why so he started rubbing her arm.  Slowly the body relaxed and then she wriggled until her head was on Bill’s lap.

Her clothes were too big again, the sweater ridiculously so especially.  “I think Fleur sensed that our relationship had changed.”

Brogan’s voice startled Bill, he hadn’t been thinking about Fleur.  “I don’t want to mess up what you have with her,” Brogan continued even as she melted into the hands stroking her hair and rubbing her arm. 

“I was really needy before, I still am actually but I’m trying to work on it.  And it came out as kind of a succubus sort of situation with me trying to get all the men I could, build like a wall of protectors, and it was wrong of me.  I mean, I do get comfort from being near you but I’m going out with Draco now.  I’m choosing him, for now at least.

I’m still really young and confused, we’re not like betrothed or anything.  But leading on all the boys and flirting with everyone, hogging them all, that isn’t cool.”  Brogan had sat up as her speech got more impassioned.

“You’re right, I guess.  And I’m certainly old enough to know better than to go for someone so much younger.”

Brogan looked at him seriously, her face was serious but she was completely oblivious to how the sweater was hanging off her neck and how silly she looked in the too big clothes.  She shoved up the arms and they slid right back down, but dealing with clothes many sizes too big was something she had been doing all her life.

“I think you should talk to Fleur and tell her about what happened to me this summer.”  A floppy sleeve came up to stop him from interrupting, “your family is going to find out some day I’m sure.  If Fleur finds out in a bad way she might make assumptions.  You can make me sound as pathetic as I was and tell her how you were incredibly kind in coming round and being a friendly face while I adjusted to having Severus as my da.”

Bill looked at her seriously for a moment and then sighed.  “I think you’re right, she was losing patience with me and she definitely gathered there was something off about you.  She’s a powerful witch.”

“A rightful triwizard champion.”  Brogan noted remembering fondly some of that year.

“She could still be a spy though, infiltrating the family known to be closest to Harry Potter.”

“I suppose she could be, you can figure it out.  She’s working at Gringott’s, don’t they research their employees?  I’m sure you can figure it out, and if she isn’t a spy you should tell her something and you can make me sound really evil and needy if you want, just so long as she doesn’t hate you for something you haven’t done. 

She can be mad about other things though, you were rather distracted today and that was a really generous thing she did, being with your family instead of her own.  You ought to acknowledge that you know.”

Bill didn’t stay very long after that.