Brogan was glad for her father’s hand on her shoulder, her knees felt very wobbly and everyone’s faces were extremely serious.  They walked all the way to the infirmary and then straight through to Madam Pomfrey’s office.  Snape pushed her into a chair and then sat down next to her and took her hand.

Brogan figured she was dying.

“You’re not dying Miss Snape, or can I still call you Harry?” started Madam Pomfrey once she was behind her own desk.

Brogan managed a faint smile, “it’s best if you stick to Brogan or Miss Snape, it helps me stay in character.” Brogan’s voice cracked a little as she said that, thinking back to the night before but nobody asked.

“Alright then,” Madam Pomfrey smiled kindly, “we are here today because the Headmaster and a teacher became aware of a student being willfully neglected by his or her guardians.  Such knowledge needs to be reported and documented and followed up and all those things, would you like some tea Brogan?  or perhaps a calming draught?”

Brogan was very white and at the mention of the calming draught she pursed her lips and shook her head no.

“Alright then, let’s get this over with.  Since you have already been removed from the Dursley’s care and established residence with your father this is just documentation.  It will be sealed and placed on file but it need not cause any further upheaval, there won’t be any Daily Prophet headlines, okay?”

Brogan nodded, feeling slightly reassured.

“Of course there is also the matter of your newly restored sexuality.  I must say I am extremely disappointed that you and your father, mostly your father of course, felt it necessary to keep this from me.  I’m sure I could have assisted you in the adjustment, no offense to the house elf I understand has been meeting with you.”  Madam Pomfrey gave Snape such a glare that he was forced to fidget with his cuffs.

The Headmaster grinned slightly and Madam Pomfrey rounded on him as well, “You are his accomplice in all this, withholding medical care is on my list of neglectful charges; I could write up the two of you for it while I have the forms handy.  Don’t think for a moment that I wouldn’t.”

The righteous matron turned back to Brogan and struggled to get her kind smile back in place.  “Now dear, these gentlemen are permitted to be present while you answer my questions,” here she unfurled a scroll that rolled across the floor, “there are quite a few of them.  If you think it will go quicker without them we can of course ask them to leave.”

“What about my classes this afternoon?” asked Brogan trying to calculate how long exactly the scroll was.

“You will be excused of course, we have procrastinated enough with this and I refuse to put it off for a moment longer.  Plus if we’re lucky I think we might finish before your quidditch practice and I expect it will be most beneficial for your nerves if you’re able to go for a good fly after all this.”

“That’s certainly a goal worth shooting for, okay, let’s get this over with -and you’re right it will go much quicker without the guests.”

“Keep in mind that I will stop you if I think it’s necessary and ask for more explanation on some items if I think it beneficial.”

Brogan nodded still preferring the matron’s no nonsense ways.

Snape felt indignant that he was being asked to leave his own daughter like this but he knew better than to start blurting things out.  The matron had already threatened him with criminal charges for not reporting his suspicions after the occlumency lessons -which were of course themselves grounds for criminal charges in the matron’s opinion.

“Madam,” he started trying to be as reasonable as possible, “your concerns about my presence are all well founded, however my daughter and I are attempting to create familial bonds.  It has always been my intention to speak with Brogan about her childhood, I was just respectfully giving her time to adjust to more pressing changes.

It would spare Brogan if you could let me read her responses before you seal them.  That way I could get an overview without questioning her myself.”

“That would be fine with me Madam Pomfrey, I think it would be easier for both of us if it was in writing you know.”

“Very well,” allowed the matron, “you two are excused then.”

She and Brogan shared a smile, Brogan realized just then that the Headmaster had never uttered a word.

The questions took hours and then there was a physical exam: a deep, thorough, all-encompassing exam.  By the end of it Brogan was vibrating with the need to escape.  Madam Pomfrey kept her for a few more minutes while she went over her scroll one last time.  The abuse was mostly neglectful and not violent although the lack of nutrition troubled the matron greatly.  Brogan would be taking nutrient potions every morning for the rest of the year, and Severus would be brewing them in whatever damn flavor Brogan wanted Pomfrey decided.

It was fifteen minutes before practice and Pomfrey had just tucked her quill into its stand, Brogan was praying that meant they were done.  But no, she just folded her hands and started asking about nightmares and hormones.  She saw Brogan’s eyes flick to the late afternoon sun streaming in the window.  “I’m sorry, you shouldn’t be too late though.  I would let you leave if I thought you might come back on your own later.”

Brogan sighed, alas, but she didn’t argue with the shrewd assessment.  “The hormones seem to be settling out, I used to cry a lot more.  And incidentally Hermione Granger was horrified when she found out that I hadn’t seen you, she thought you would have been able to help with the adjustment.

Umm, Minksy -that’s the house elf, has been really great.  She taught me lots of charms and things to, you know, manage...  And she was easy to talk to because she was pretty calm about the whole thing, she never gets all ‘oh you poor dear how awful’ or anything.  I really think that part did in fact turn out well.

And the crying is getting better I think, I mean it’s sort of hard to tell because I’m always so tired and the situation is still really stressful so that kind of wears on me.  Last night, there’s a boy in Slytherin named Harry, and last night someone called to him and I was distracted with my homework so I whipped my head around to see who it was.  Trying to figure out who saw that and what they think now, that’s stressful you know, and I cried a bit about it last night but it was strange, it’s often strange. 

It’s like a stranger is crying and I have a Harry voice in my head that says things like, ‘oh really, at it again?’  or sometimes there will be a Hermione voice that says things like, ‘it releases this chemical thingy-bob -not that I’ve ever heard Hermione actually say thingy-bob, and you’ll feel better later.’ 

Which I guess is worrying in itself for the schizophrenia aspects but I like to think that it’s me getting better control or at least distance over the crying thing.  And honestly I’m just sort of trying to understand it and not really control or stop it because I think it’s immensely useful for preventing people from thinking I’m Harry Potter because nobody ever saw Harry cry.”

“Did Harry cry?  I know that’s a personal question but it isn’t the most personal I’ve asked you this afternoon.  You were very neglected, I can see that your aunt probably would not have responded to your tears, did you stop when you got no response?”

“When I was a boy I didn’t cry a whole lot, just when Sirius died really.”

“Hmmm,” said Madam Pomfrey.  “And what about the nightmares?  Your father came to see me earlier this year about those, are they still very disruptive, have you found anything that helps?”

“He and Draco made some potions for me to try, is that okay?  It isn’t abuse is it?  They meant well.”

“Your father is more than proficient as a potions master it’s safe for you to take anything he feels comfortable with you trying.”

“Oh good, it’s just that in the muggle world they have years of testing and stuff for medicines.  Well anyway none of the potions has helped much yet.  We tried a few of the meditation techniques too, I don’t know if you suggested them.  They worked well for me getting to sleep but they didn’t prevent the nightmares from coming.”

“Have you discussed with anybody what the dreams are about?”

“Yeah, well I used to do it more, I used to talk to Ron about them because our beds were next to each other.  My da usually gets up with me but it’s harder for me to talk to him, I think I’ll be able to at some point but we’re still getting used to each other.  It’s a little hard because we hated each other so much before.”

“Hate is a strong word Brogan and you need to remember that your da always tried to protect you.”

“I do try, like I said we’re working on it.”

“Okay, do you think talking to me again sometime would be beneficial?  I would like you to start on a few potions, perhaps you could come back in two weeks so I can follow up and we’ll schedule a bit of extra time for tea and talking?”

“That should be fine Madam Pomfrey.”

“Excellent, and now you must hurry and change for your practice.  Let me help you floo to your father’s chambers so you can save some time.”

Brogan felt emotionally pooped and it was a cold clear pleasure to fly like a demon and tire out her body too.  There were so many thoughts swirling in her head she could have flown to the moon and back or all the way around the world and still be seething over Snape and Dumbledore.  She hadn’t really thought before about wizards being able to fly around the world, sure the ocean crossing might suck but if you had a copilot and took turns napping on each other’s backs; and if you had an invisibility cloak for the muggles...  It seemed feasible and there would be no passports or baggage checks or expenses.  Magic was brilliant! 

Friends were brilliant too because Blaise shouted her name just in time for her to wake up and avoid a bludger that really would have nailed her.  She gave him a smile and shrugged as if to say, oops.  Draco, who was supposed to be practicing his passes with Blaise, zipped over to the naughty bludger and booted it with a rather nice move straight back at the numbskull who had dared to knock it near Brogan.

“Oi!” the poor beater shrieked, “she needs to stay awake in games too.”

Draco literally snarled at him.  Blaise flew over and whispered urgently to Draco, “Stop it!  They’re going to think she really is.”

“What?” said Brogan, she had flown up beside them and Blaise hadn’t noticed.

“Absolutely nothing,” they both chorused.

Brogan flipped them both off, even letting go of her broom to do it properly and zipped off.  She had just spotted the snitch near their team captain and she did an amazing bit of fancy flying to swoop over, dive straight down very close and then end up in a dead stop right next to him with the snitch fluttering casually in her hand caught only seconds ago.  She rolled it around a bit and then let it go again, “I’m so glad we’re having practice this afternoon.”  She gave him a quick grin and then she darted off again and caught the snitch easily.  Laughing back at Draco and Blaise and letting it go yet again.

Blaise had a look of complete awe on his face and Draco smiled at him shaking his head.  “Does anything really matter when she can fly like that for our team?”

“Maybe not,” Blaise answered, “but we’re talking after practice anyway.”

Draco sighed and nodded, he really wanted to go back to Snape’s quarters after practice and find out what the hell had happened this afternoon but Brogan seemed to be okay now and he didn’t want Blaise to get petulant or unhappy in any way.  He was pretty confident that Blaise liked Brogan enough, and Blaise’s family was neutral enough, that he could be told the truth and brought into their circle.  And if he guessed wrong he would just quickly stun Blaise and have Severus obliviate him.  It was nice to have a plan.

Brogan knew that Draco was probably bursting with questions and she would have liked to answer them but it was a relief to see him walk off with Blaise instead.  Brogan was the last one to leave the field because, as usual, she had let the snitch go one time too many; as the sky got darker and darker finding the damn thing got harder and harder but she kept telling herself that one more would be okay.  Now it was almost completely dark and she was squinting into the gloom for an invisible object.

It was getting darker and she suddenly remembered that Pansy was supposed to be coming over and her father would want to talk to her, he had probably already reviewed that whole stupid scroll.  And it was getting darker and she would probably miss dinner which would piss off Madam Pomfrey after she had been sort of okay that afternoon.   She sighed and wondered if she could stay out here forever flying around in the dark pretending to search for the snitch.

Then through the darkness she saw another person on a broom; they held up a wand and cast a lumos charm lighting up the whole pitch.  Brogan saw Ron’s face, he gave her a smile and after looking around pointed out where the snitch was for her.  Brogan caught it easily in the bright light and then flew back to Ron who let the charm fade out slowly.

They touched down together and Ron held her broomstick while she put the snitch away.  When she turned back to take her broom she had to smile at her patient silent friend.  “Dumbledore and Snape were suddenly legally obligated to report their concerns about how the Dursleys treated me and Pomfrey interrogated and poked me all afternoon.”

Ron’s face went from shocked to angry to rueful in just a few seconds,  “a day late and a sickle short huh?”

Brogan shrugged, “Yeah, since I’ve already been removed there isn’t anything else to do.  Well except Snape is going to read the whole report and then want to talk about it.”

“Don’t call him Snape like that,” Ron admonished, “and yeah he will but it will be good for you.”

He hugged her a bit, “there’s more,” Brogan announced in a watery voice.  “I’m pretty sure Pansy figured out that I’m Harry Potter and she’s coming over tonight.  I think Blaise figured it out too but Draco is talking to him. 

There’s a Slytherin named Harry and someone shouted for him last night and I whipped my head around.  So stupid, after all these weeks, to ruin it like that,” and she burst into tears.

Ron leaned down and hoisted her up in his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist automatically.  “Can you get Draco to talk to Pansy too?”

Brogan shrugged, “I don’t know, she came to me before lunch today.  If she wanted to talk to him I suppose she would have, I think it’s all part of that crush she had on him.”

“Oh, that should make your chat pleasant.”  Brogan nodded and Ron stood there leaning against the broom shed for a few more moments.  “Draco likes you now not Pansy.”  Brogan shrugged.  “And you like him.”  She shrugged again, or possibly wiped snot on his shoulder.  After a few more moments Ron continued, “will you be creeping up to the tower tonight?

“I just took some dreamless sleep on Saturday so Da won’t let me have more for another week or so.  But if you don’t want...”

“No, I want you to come and tell me more about your visit with Pomfrey.”  Brogan nodded into his shoulder.

“Ron, is it okay if we don’t mess around any more?  I think it was, not a mistake, but kind of me not really knowing what I was doing.”

“Yeah, I think we can be done with that.  It was nice but not worth those looks I got from Hermione -like I had boiled her cat or something.”

“Stop that, when you’re reasonable and mature it’s sexy and doesn’t help.  It’s right up there with being big and strong and kind.”

Ron laughed and pretended to drop her.  “Noooo, don’t be funny too!” she shrieked.

Brogan was in a good mood when she got to dinner.  Blaise seemed normal so that improved her mood too, right up until Draco began rattling off all the  assignments from the afternoon she had missed.

She had wanted to dash back to her rooms after dinner hoping to warn her father that Pansy might be stopping by but instead she had to follow Draco to the Slytherin common room and get copies of all his notes.  Not that Brogan had any intention of doing homework that night, she was tired from worrying all of last night and all she could think about was getting through the upcoming Slytherin intrigues and then sneaking home to Gryffindor.

It was depressing to realize that she was thinking of Gryffindor as home again, especially since Ron was the only one she could let see her there.  But her da had pissed her off so much today that she couldn’t even allow herself to think about it yet.

Draco pulled her into a corner and started unloading his bag so he could spread out and copy the notes she would need.  Brogan slumped down next to him, convincing herself it was a casual looking slump.  Draco carefully put his wand on the table and then placed his hand over it and incanted a a privacy charm.   He leaned over with the first page of notes and pointed at something on the page, “Blaise knows the truth, he allowed Severus to cast a charm on him so he won’t be able to tell anyone.”

“Like a secret keeper?” Brogan asked staring at the page but not seeing anything.

“Somewhat.” Draco answered, “What did Pomfrey want?”

Brogan sighed, “She asked about the Dursleys and started a file thing.”

Draco jerked his head over to look at her, concern flooding his features.  “What does that mean?”

“Nothing much, I’ve already been removed from their care so it was just paperwork really.”

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Not really, I’m trying not to think about it until I’m...” she faltered a bit and then spoke softer than ever despite the bubble of silence shielding them.  “Ron is my oldest and best friend and he helps me so much with like, processing these things, and we decided that we’re going to be just friends, you know.  Because he sort of likes Hermione and I sort of like you...”

“That’s fine.” Draco responded wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer to his chest. 

“Did you talk to Snape about Pansy?”  Brogan tried to stay on task.

Draco gave her a curious look when she said Snape but figured he probably deserved it somehow, “Yes but she hasn’t approached me yet.”

“No, she came to me before lunch.  She’s stopping by my room tonight with a new pair of earrings.”

“Hmmm,” said Draco and then he checked Brogan’s ears and cast the sterilizing charm.  Brogan rolled her eyes at him, muttering something about ‘bitten by an effing basilisk hardly think some earrings are going to kill me now...’

“Do you have any idea how my little rendezvous will go?” she asked Draco when he was done and she was finished glaring at him because her ears stung.

“I think she’ll be amenable to keeping the secret.  Slytherins love power and knowledge is power, hopefully your da will be home to cast that charm on her too.  If you think it will help let her know that Blaise agreed to the charm.”

“What were Blaise’s other choices?  obliviation?”

Draco didn’t answer.

“Draco, he’s your best friend!  You really would have done that?”

“Of course Princess, we promised to keep you safe.”

He didn’t expect the sadness that crossed her face when he said that.  “What about keeping you all safe?  I continue to do a crap job at that, if De- if certain people find out that I’ve been hiding out in the Slytherin common room all of you will be in danger.”

“Only because certain people are effing monsters and not because of you.  No matter what you do certain people will always be monsters and you can’t be responsible for that.”  He kissed her forehead; because he wanted to and because he couldn’t stand to see her so miserable.

“I don’t think I’ll make it through this year,” she sniffed packing up his notes.

“Sure you will, Pansy will be fine.  Severus will grovel for a while and figure out how to make you hats or mittens or something equally ridiculous and charming, you’ll win every quidditch match for us, you’ll make it.  No you won’t just make it or survive, you will kick ass all year long.”

Brogan snorted.  “You already are kicking ass, you have me as a boyfriend now.  Your grades are up, no doubt because my notes are better than Hermione’s.  We flattened Gryffindor and I’m sure that if you had been playing for them you would have just squeaked it out.

You never have to go back to that wretched aunt and uncle because you have a father who loves you.  Granted he has no idea how to show you, which is rather convenient because it means he buys you lots of stuff and lets you get away with everything.

Nobody has tried to kill you...”

“Unless you count that potion or the necklace.”

“No, we certainly don’t count that potion and the necklace was just coincidence.”

Brogan gave him a pitying sort of look, “there is no coincidence in my life Draco.”  She looked across the room and caught Pansy’s eye.  Draco canceled their privacy charm and stood up when Brogan did.  “You can try to sneak here tonight, or I could...”

“I need to talk to him about things and there isn’t any other time.  But maybe tomorrow?”  she felt like she should be more apologetic but she was too tired to work it up.  Instead she gave him a small smile and a peck on his cheek.  Then she walked over to Pansy and together they left.

Severus wasn’t home, Brogan could only hope he would show up soon.  She led Pansy to a couch in the sitting room and offered to call for tea.  Pansy declined and looked down at the hem of her skirt, she had lined it up neatly across her knees.

Brogan consciously tried to copy her pose and sit as neatly on the chair across from her, she felt stupid for trying and she was wearing jeans anyway -she had showered and changed after her practice that afternoon.

Pansy watched her for a moment and then said, “Don’t bother trying Potter.”

Brogan blushed but didn’t respond.

Pansy sighed and sat back a little, “Don’t feel so bad, Draco gave it away as much as you did.  It’s actually a relief for me, for as long as I’ve known him he’s been obsessed with Harry Potter.  He was devastated when you didn’t shake his hand on the train first year, he was a wreck watching that dragon attack you, all these years it’s been you you you.  He’s watched what you wear, what you eat, who you talk to; I think at some point he even stopped noticing he was doing it, it just became part of him.

So when Potter didn’t show up I thought I might finally get a chance.  But then he was suddenly in love with Snape’s daughter.”  She trailed off for a few minutes and Brogan shifted awkwardly but still didn’t know what to say.  “And most damning of all,” Pansy finally continued, “he hasn’t mentioned Potter at all this year.  That was what really got me thinking, it’s been most unlike Draco. 

I thought the only time he isn’t wondering where Potter is or what Potter is doing is when he knows.  So he must know where Potter is and what Potter’s doing, and there you were with dark hair and green eyes sitting practically on his lap.  No wonder Draco has been happier and more carefree than, maybe not forever, but years, definitely since fourth year.”

Brogan finally looked up, her eyes were glassy but she gave Pansy a smile.  “Well reasoned.” she admitted.

“Does it earn me the right to the full story?” Pansy asked archly.

“I guess that depends on what you’ll do with the full story, someone else figured it out recently and my da put a charm on him so he can’t tell others, would you consent to that charm as well?  I’m sure it isn’t too dangerous if my da would put it on a student and I think there would be benefits, for one you would get more of your Draco back.

He’s missed you, it’s been hard on him keeping something so big from his closest friends.  I know he would be relieved if you finally knew.”

Pansy smiled, “were you supposed to be in Slytherin all along?”

“Yes actually,” Brogan responded.  “Why don’t we get that tea and you can think about your decision while we wait for my da to show up?”  Brogan didn’t have the stomach to threaten Pansy with obliviation but she figured that Pansy was smart enough to know that Severus wouldn’t let her leave unless he had charmed her or obliviated her.

They shared their tea and Brogan told her about the potion Lily Evans had taken, how they had decided it was a good opportunity to keep her safe from the Dark Lord for a while.

Pansy was a lot less circumspect than Hermione or Luna or anyone had ever been, they ended up sitting quite cozily on the couch trying to figure out if Harry Potter had been gay or not.  It was a topic that Brogan had thought about a lot but she hadn’t been comfortable talking to any of her friends about it, Pansy turned out to be the perfect person though.  Pansy had been scrutinizing Harry for years trying to see if Draco’s crush would ever go anywhere.  They discussed Cho Chang in detail but neither mentioned Ron Weasley.

Brogan leaned back on the couch, her shoes were off and her feet were curled up underneath her, “you really think Dray would have made a move on me even if I was still male?”

Pansy had her mouth full of biscuit but she nodded emphatically.  “It wasn’t so much that he’s homosexual or heterosexual he’s Harry-sexual.  Not that you’re Harry anymore.”

“No, I get it.”  Brogan bit her own cookie and then she had to chew and swallow before she could continue, “he came on to me really quickly after the change, it must have been like Christmas for him.”

Pansy cackled a bit and then she went on, “you said it was like you were under a curse, I wonder if your magic was sending out damsel-in-distress vibes or something that got him so hooked.”

Brogan opened her mouth to tell Pansy about Luna’s magic theories but then thought better of it.  Pansy gave her a curious look and Brogan couldn’t think of anything else to say so she told her, “Luna Lovegood has her own sex magic theories.”

Pansy didn’t laugh she just got a fond sort of smile.  “Sometimes I wish I could get to know her better, I know it sounds mad but I have a cousin in Germany who’s the same kind of crazy and she’s so fun to be around.  And you know, how full of ourselves can we really be -it is magic after all.”

Brogan gave her a blinding smile in response, “Luna comes over all the time to study, we even had a sleepover once.  You can join us anytime you like, I mean it should be easy enough to spin it, you can even pretend you were upset she was here too the first time or something.”

“You’re much too good at this Brogan, it must drive Draco nutters.”

“It has been really liberating letting my inner Slytherin out.”

The door opened just then and her da stalked in, he almost froze at the sight of the two girls on the couch together with tea and biscuits.  Then he gave a most respectful nod to the pair, “It seems you have worked things out quite well together.”

Pansy stood up and faced her head of house, “we have sir but I would like you to perform the secrecy charm on me as well.  I have no intention of betraying Brogan but considering my family it would be best to take every precaution.”

“As you wish Miss Parkinson, I am most happy to have your allegiance.”

Brogan shook her head, Pansy had been speaking English before her da walked in and now they were like robots.  Parts of Slytherin still eluded her but she decided she didn’t need to follow all of their rules.

Pansy left shortly after the charm, Brogan was pleased to keep her night moving along but she was also terrified, maybe not terrified but uneasy, about being alone with her da.  Snape flicked his wand at the teapot and heated the water so he could pour himself a cup then he settled himself in the chair across from her.

“I regret not warning you about this afternoon’s proceedings.  I didn’t learn of them myself until that morning and Madam Pomfrey would not delay and allow me time to speak to you first.”

Brogan nodded woodenly and straightened up on the couch so she was sitting as primly as Pansy had been at first.

“Do you, or the headmaster, regret not reporting it years ago?”

Snape paled but he answered, “At first the headmaster believed the safety from the blood wards was paramount, and then we thought you might go live with your godfather, then we thought it didn’t really matter because you had left.  But we were thinking like chess players, we were not thinking beyond your physical safety.  A failing that has been my downfall more than once with you.”

Brogan nodded and wondered if there was more coming.

“Have you made arrangements to see Mr. Weasley this evening?”

Brogan blushed and nodded, it seemed ridiculous that she was discussing this with her father but she didn’t know what fucking else to do.  So intent was she on not meeting her father’s eyes that she startled when his hand was suddenly on her shoulder.  He had set his tea down and was awkwardly patting her, “We’ll figure out a better solution soon, in the meantime I shall bask in my glory of being the most progressive father ever.  Cool is something I had never consciously aspired to, and also,” here he peered around suspiciously and then leaned closer, “sometimes I like to imagine what James Potter’s face would be like if he knew I was letting his daughter go sleep in the boys dorm.”

If Snape had leaned over and said that sometimes he liked to wear frilly undergarments Brogan could not have been more surprised.  She looked up at him with an expression of perfect shock.  Snape shrugged, “I know it isn’t very mature or healthy I suppose, but it is amusing.”