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When Harry had first figured out that he had accidentally landed in 1975 after whatever happened in the Time Room of the Department of Mysteries, he would have never expected to feel so relaxed there. And yet, for the first time in his life, Harry found himself not simply surviving, but flourishing.
The Unspeakables who had found him after his involuntary time jump had set him up with a fake identity (Harry Collins, half-blood) and a disguise so that he wouldn’t look like a copy of his father. After hearing about his disastrous fifth year, they decided that he should just repeat his O.W.L. year. Harry was sorted into Gryffindor once again and after a couple weeks the novelty of a transfer student wore off, and most people lost interest again. Without the whole school’s eyes on him, Harry found studying not only much easier, but almost pleasant. For once not struggling, Harry found himself becoming more confident in himself, which in turn affected his personality, letting him become much more nonchalant and – in the words of others – charming.
Harry mostly kept to himself, though some of his housemates insisted on befriending him. He was on passingly good terms with the Marauders – and what a joy it was for him to finally meet his parents – as well as his last roommate, Frank Longbottom. However, the person who really insisted on becoming Harry’s friend was his mother.
Adults had always told Harry one of two things about his mother: That he had her eyes, and that she had been incredibly kind to the people around her. What everyone neglected to tell him, was that she was just as much of a disaster at fifteen as anyone else, and that her kindness much more resembled naivete.
This much was made apparent when she tried to get Harry to study with her and her best friend – who just so happened to be Severus Snape. Severus Snape, who Harry had hated ever since his first school year. Severus Snape, who clearly came from an abusive household, was bullied by the Marauders – Harry tried to get them to stop, to no avail – and rejected any semblance of kindness directed at him, except from Lily. Harry had very quickly learned that trying to help the Slytherin whenever he was being harassed by the Marauders was a monumentally stupid thing to do, because it enraged Snape and nullified any chance at polite conversation the two could have had. After trying for three weeks to get them to do so, even stubborn Lily had to admit defeat.
Fifth year passed in a flash, and for once Harry wasn’t even dreading the summer, since he would be able to stay with one of the Unspeakables. He had felt confident during all of his exams and had learned a ton during the year simply by reading more in the solitude of the library, for once in his life undisturbed. It was in the library that Lily found him a while after their last O.W.L. exam. She had left the castle to look for Snape a bit earlier, intent on enjoying the sun. Now she looked absolutely furious.
“What happened?”, Harry asked, closing his book, because he’d rather listen to her rant than be distracted by her huffing for the next couple of hours.
“That- that bastard! I can’t believe him- her!”, she exclaimed, lowering her voice when Madam Pince shot her an icy glare.
“You’ve lost me”, Harry admitted. “Who are we talking about?”
“Severus!”, she hissed. “Called me a mudblood when I just wanted to help hi- her!”
“What’s with the change in pronouns?”, Harry inquired.
Lily gasped, leaning forward intently. “That’s the worst of it!”, she insisted. “Potter and Black were goofing around again” – Harry refrained from pointing out that what his father and godfather were usually doing was far worse than ‘goofing around’ – “and they had Severus hung up upside down. That’s why I wanted to help. And then they took off- her underwear as a prank and turns out Severus is a girl! She was just pretending to be a boy this whole time! I don’t even know what her real name is! Can you believe it?!”
“Not really, no”, Harry murmured with a frown, picking his book back up if only so that his hands were occupied, and he wouldn’t end up doing something monumentally stupid like drawing his wand. Could it really be that his mother, who people made out to be practically a saint, was transphobic? But no, he decided as Lily went on, uncaring of the fact that Harry wasn’t really listening anymore. She was probably just hurt that Snape hadn’t ever told her.
Harry had gone to bed with that spark of hope, only to be bitterly disappointed the next morning. During breakfast Dumbledore had gotten to his feet for an announcement and said: “In light of yesterday’s… slight altercation” – and what was it with people playing down bullying in this time! – “I want to point out that Mr. Snape wishes to be addressed as male and referred to by using the pronouns he and him.”
With those words he sat back down again, essentially ignoring as all hell broke loose, just like everyone else. Still, Lily’s voice was very much distinguishable when she sniffed and said: “Well, I wish to get an O in all of my O.W.L.s, but I guess we can’t always get what we want. Snape can certainly refer to herself however she wants, but I don’t need to change the way I speak just because she’d rather be a man.”
Several people nodded approvingly. When Snape got up and left the hall, shoulders tight with tension, derisive looks followed him all of the way. Harry had to swallow back bile.
The following eight days until they stepped back onto the Hogwarts Express and all went their separate ways were excruciating. The headmaster may have held a short speech and – like the rest of the staff – might use the correct name and pronouns for Snape, but none of them said anything when the Slytherin was constantly misgendered, and none of them did anything when he was attacked in the corridors again and again.
Harry had tried to approach Snape exactly once, but the Slytherin had practically fled. It was, perhaps, not so surprising, considering the circumstances. Harry hadn’t yet been able to muster up the courage to say something in Snape’s defence, so he simply kept his mouth shut for now. However, with his mother repeatedly coming to find Harry and sticking to his side whenever she wasn’t with her roommates, that meant that everyone assumed his stance towards trans people was the same as hers. Never mind the fact that Harry had been feeling ill near constantly since the beginning of that whole mess, only even by thinking about what Snape must be going through.
Finally, though, the school year was over, and Harry descended the Hogwarts Express hurriedly, eager to get away from everyone on it. The Unspeakable he would live with for the summer – a kind woman who went by Holly, though Harry knew it wasn’t her actual name – was waiting for him on the muggle side of the train station, dressed impeccably.
“How was your school year?”, she asked warmly as they were driving out of London, stuck in traffic.
“Enjoyable, until it turned into a fucking nightmare”, Harry groused. “So, the same as every goddamn year. With the difference that I wasn’t the centre of attention for once.”
“What happened, then?”, she asked, sparing him a short look as she turned left.
“One of my classmates got outed as trans”, Harry explained, before he realised what he had just said and sent Holly a wary look.
“Oh, poor dear”, she just muttered, however, and that was apparently all it took for Harry.
“I know! It’s horrible. And I genuinely thought the wizarding world would be better about these kinds of things than the muggle world, what with the fact that magic probably makes it much easier to transition! But no, seems like they actually enjoy having another thing to be bigoted about! And you know the worst thing?! I don’t even like Snape! We’ve hated each other for years in my time, he was always horrible to me, and it’s gotten no better in this time! Which means he would probably just yell at me should I try to stand up for him, and I hate it. And- and-”, at this point Harry gasped for air, only just realising that he was crying.
“M-my m-mother, who everyone always made sure to point out how nice she was, and who’s supposed to be his best friend? She’s the most vocal in the whole school about how she won’t treat Snape like a guy ‘j-just because he fancies himself one’, and about how ‘uncomfortable’ it makes her to be around him. How is it fair that when I finally get a chance to meet the parents I’ve mourned my whole life, it turns out that one is a bully and both of them are transphobes?”
Holly didn’t say anything for a while, giving Harry the chance to calm himself down and wipe away the tears.
“It’s not fair”, she agreed. “Not at all. The question is, what do you intend to do about it?”
She obviously expected a proper answer to that, so Harry took the time to actually think about it. Eventually he asked: “Is it illegal to transfigure someone’s body without their consent?”
Holly smirked – a smirk that made Harry think she had been in Slytherin when she was at Hogwarts. “It is if you get caught. What did you want to do?”
“Well”, Harry explained with a shrug, “I thought if I could transfigure some people into the opposite gender, then treat them the exact same way they treat Snape to let them experience what it feels like, that would hopefully teach them a lesson.”
“It’s a good plan”, Holly told him as she stopped the car in front of an unassuming, yet cozy looking, house a bit outside of London. “And as it just so happens, I work in the Department of Mysteries, and one of my colleagues specialises in disguises of all kinds that – very importantly – can only be dispelled if you now exactly how they’ve been applied. And they’re nearly impossible to spot.”
“You’re gonna help me break the law?”, Harry gaped.
“Ah, you being in this time at all is already incredibly illegal – not that you did it on purpose – and the reason you are is because you broke into the Department of Mysteries – which is even more illegal. What’s a little vigilantism like this in comparison?”, Holly asked cheerfully. Harry laughed.
They did, in fact, go through with the whole thing. Holly’s colleague – who introduced themself as Rowan and had apparently been responsible for Harry’s disguise as well – seemed more than happy to help.
“It’s one of my best inventions”, they told Harry with a crooked grin the first time they showed the whole thing off. “See this little thing?”
The thing in question was a metal orb, maybe the size of Harry’s thumb nail.
“We can tell it exactly what we want someone to look like, and it will do the whole job”, Rowan explained. “Once it finds its intended target, it will shrink and attach itself to them, so it will look like nothing more than a skin mole. There’s a spell to give each of these a target, and a specific spell to remove them again. Now! Do you have pictures of the people you want to affect, and can you tell me what they’re supposed to look like?”
Harry did, of course, not have pictures, but he was able to provide Rowan with some memories which featured everyone he planned on doing this to. He just said that they were supposed to look like the opposite gender and let Rowan do their thing.
By the end of summer – which had been nice and calm for once – Harry was presented with five orbs, which he carefully put in his pocket on the first of September. Holly once again drove him to King’s Cross, making him promise to update her about everything.
Once in the train, Harry started to set everything in motion. The orbs had been modified to include a time delay – specified by the caster – to make it harder to trace anything back to Harry, and he planned on everyone transforming the first morning back.
Lily came to find him halfway through the ride, after she was done with her prefect duties. She didn’t mention Snape, though she came close a couple of times while telling Harry about her summer, always stopping awkwardly. Harry - pretending to read – just hummed every now and then. At some point, while Lily was particularly invested in what she was saying and didn’t pay much attention to Harry, he made the first orb float towards her, and then muttered the spell. The redhead never noticed the – now much smaller – orb which made its way to her neck and attached itself there, almost completely hidden by her hair.
The other four orbs Harry sent off that night in the dorm, the spell casting unheard with the ruckus the others were making. All four orbs successfully found their targets, and Harry went to sleep with a satisfied smile.
The next morning at breakfast, Harry sat with Frank. It was not an unusual thing to do, since Neville’s father was one of the best students when it came to Defence, much like Harry himself, and they would often discuss spells. Harry took care to keep his hands visible at all time, so that nobody could later accuse him of having drawn his wand under the table. It also helped that he had never been to the kitchens in this time, so he couldn’t have bribed the house elves to put something in someone’s food either.
It was towards the end of breakfast that there were four faint pops as one after the other of the Marauders suddenly became a girl. The hall erupted in laughter, people obviously believing that the four pranksters were responsible for the changes. Harry took a moment to admire Rowan’s impeccable work, chuckling to himself.
In midst of the whole commotion, almost no one noticed when a fifth pop sounded, and Lily Evans turned into a boy. At least until she practically screeched and shot up, unleashing her temper on the Marauders.
“What did you do?!”, she yelled at James, voice still surprisingly high, despite the changes to it. “Undo it, right now!”
“That wasn’t us!”, James defended himself frantically. “I have no idea who did this, I swear!”
As they continued bickering – looking ready to draw their wands on each other – the noise in the Great Hall rose further, until Dumbledore stepped in and got everyone to shut up.
“Miss Evans, Messrs. Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew; if you could report in the infirmary, I’m sure Madam Pomfrey can set you to rights in no time.” With those words he also left the Great Hall, presumably to go to the infirmary as well.
The Marauders and Lily were of course the talk of the day, even though none of them was present during any of their classes. Harry bid his time and suppressed the urge to laugh as he went through his day.
By the time dinner rolled around and everyone was already eating, the five Gryffindors entered the Great Hall, still looking the same as they had in the morning, although now either much angrier, or more anxious.
Dumbledore got up to address everyone: “Attacking fellow students like this is a serious offense, and one that I can not take lightly. This is especially the case when – like with those five – the transformations can’t simply be dispelled, despite several accomplished witches and wizards trying. If anyone has any knowledge of who is responsible for this, I ask them to step forward or – if they fear retribution – approach a professor or staff member in private. If the perpetrator should come forth of their own volition, I might be able to lessen the punishment.”
Harry, who knew that Snape had been the target for attacks ever since his first year and had never been defended like this, nearly dropped his jaw in disbelief. A student had gone through something similar to this – though never permanent – for years, but as soon as it was the Gryffindors who became the target, it was handled as if it was the gravest offense possible. Oh, never mind the Slytherin who nearly dies because of a ‘prank’ – who cares about him! Still, Harry took a deep breath in through his nose and unclenched his fists, so that by the time Frank turned back to him, he looked as calm as ever.
It was when they got back to the common room, after most of the younger years had already retired, that Harry set the main part of his plan in motion, relying on Hogwarts’ famous rumour mill to assist him.
Lily was sitting with her dormmates catching up on course work, although she was a bit more silent and subdued than usually, clearly uncomfortable in her male body. The Marauders were sitting in their normal seats in the centre of the room, and as per usual, most eyes were on them. For once, though, they clearly didn’t feel comfortable with it, and so before long Remus told the others: “Come on, let’s go to bed.”
They all got up and started walking towards the stairs to the boy’s dormitories, which was when Harry stood up and exclaimed in a voice that easily carried: “You want to sleep in our dorm?!”
Silence descended upon the common room, everyone desperate for more drama and listening intently.
“Where else would we sleep?”, Sirius asked icily.
Harry shrugged. “I don’t know, but I, for one, do not feel comfortable with a whole bunch of girls in my dorm.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”, Lily asked sharply.
“Exactly what I said. They’re clearly girls, so they shouldn’t be in the boys’ dormitory, shouldn’t they?”
Harry was a bit surprised when a spell flew at him, not having expected someone to actually draw their wand. Still, he managed to deflect the spell, sending it upwards to the ceiling to keep it away from any bystanders. For the next couple of minutes Harry focused fully on defending himself, starting to care a little less about his housemates when three of the Marauders and Lily were all shooting spells at him. Everyone else would have to defend themselves if a stray spell came their direction.
Before long, the portrait hole opened, and in stepped McGonagall, followed by a fourth year. “What’s going on here?”, she asked firmly, mouth a very thin line.
“Collins tried to throw us out of our dorm!”, Sirius was quick to accuse.
McGonagall’s mouth thinned even further. “Mr. Collins?”
Harry raised his arms placatingly and – in his calmest voice – said: “I simply pointed out that I don’t feel comfortable rooming with four girls. They took offense to that and attacked me.”
“All five of you”, McGonagall told them firmly, “with me to the headmaster. Miss Evans, you might as well come along.”
Then she swiped a look around the common room and told one of the seventh-year prefects: “Miss Vance, if you could join us as a witness?”
With that, all eight of them filed out of the room and walked in silence to Dumbledore’s office. Harry easily ignored the genderswapped students glaring at him.
“Minerva”, Dumbledore greeted their head of house with a wary glance at the group.
“There was an altercation between those five”, McGonagall said, gesturing towards the Marauders and Harry. “Since it has to do with their current… predicament, I thought it prudent to bring Miss Evans along. Miss Vance is here as a neutral party who witnessed everything.”
“I see”, said Dumbledore, conjuring up enough chairs for everyone and gesturing for them to sit. “In that case, Miss Vance, if you could give us a short rapport about what happened?”
“Of course, headmaster”, she agreed. “We were all just sitting in the common room, and I think the Marauders decided to go to bed because they were standing at the foot of the stairs when Collins also got up and confronted them about how he didn’t want to sleep in the same dorm as them. Things escalated after Pettigrew threw the first spell at Collins. Collins, I should mention, only attacked them with words, and used his wand only to deflect and protect himself. And I don’t think you saw, Professor McGonagall, but Lily also shot off a spell or two…”, the prefect trailed off with a slightly apologetic look towards Harry’s mother, who ignored the older prefect.
“Thank you, Miss Vance”, Dumbledore said. “Now, I understand that you were upset by Mr. Collins’ words but hexing someone isn’t the proper response to that. I guess in light of the circumstances, we can let you off with a warning.”
Harry clenched his fists, because of course they got off with a warning, never mind the fact that some of the curses they had used could have landed Harry in the infirmary if he hadn’t been able to protect himself against them.
“Mr. Collins, if you could explain what your issue is with those four sleeping in the sixth-year boys’ dorm?”
“Well, they’re clearly not boys, are they?”, Harry said, keeping his voice calm and face straight despite the absolute bullshit that he was spouting. “Forgive me if I don’t feel comfortable with four girls sleeping in the same room as me.”
“They’ve been cursed”, Dumbledore said in a gentle but nonetheless firm voice. “They’re not actually girls.”
“They might have been cursed, but until this matter has been resolved, they are girls. Their bodies are those of girls, and biology doesn’t lie”, Harry insisted. The words were almost exactly things that Lily had thrown at Snape after he had been outed, although Harry hadn’t been there for that particular interaction.
“What are you-”, Lily started, before asking incredulously: “Are you on Snape’s side?!”
“Of course not”, Harry said deliberately slow. “People like you just make me… uncomfortable.”
This time the words were an exact quote of something she had used, and Lily flushed in anger.
“Professor!”, she exclaimed, turning to look at Dumbledore. “He’s doing all of this – stirring up drama and attacking us – to defend Snape!”
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Are you suggesting that Mr. Collins was the one to curse you and your companions, Miss Evans?”
“You know what, I wouldn’t really be surprised, with how he’s been acting ever since it happened!”
“I would never do something like this to any friends of mine!”, Harry defended himself vehemently, for the first time allowing an emotion to enter his voice.
“Why would Miss Evans suspect it, then?”, the headmaster wondered.
“I don’t know”, Harry said, pretending to visibly calm himself down. “I admit that I have been avoiding Lily since the… incident, but it’s not because I did it, it’s just because I didn’t really know how to act around him.”
Lily gasped. “I’m not a him!”
Harry cocked his head at her and calmly said: “You look like a guy despite what you feel you are, so it makes sense for me to refer to you as one. It’s not really disrespectful, and you can’t expect me to change the way I talk just for something like this.”
Once again, the words he used were things Lily and others had said to Snape, suddenly thrown back at her.
“You say you wouldn’t be comfortable with someone in the body of a girl sleeping in the same room as you, Mr. Collins”, Dumbledore tried to get the conversation back on track. “Does that mean you would be alright with Miss Evans sleeping in the same room?”
Harry shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind, especially considering I don’t know if the stairs to the girls’ dormitories would even let him up.”
“Excuse you, they do!”, Lily said sharply, an expression one her face which looked much less dignified as a boy than it did with her usual face. “Which tells you that I am, in fact, a girl!”
“Though I dread to sound like a broken record player”, Harry said easily, “your body says something else.”
“Children”, Dumbledore directed their attention back to him, though his condescending tone made all of them bristle. “It seems clear to me that you can not reach an agreement, and I believe it might be safer for everyone if you would not need to sleep in the same dorm anymore. However, since it would be much more of a hassle to move four people than one, I suggest that Mr. Collins moves into the seventh-year dorm for now.”
His tone clearly suggested that he expected Harry to protest at the fact that he had to leave the dorm, but he simply nodded and said: “That sounds reasonable. Thank you, headmaster.”
“Very well”, Dumbledore sighed. “Off you all go, then.”
The Marauders and Lily practically stormed out of the room, with Vance following at a more sedate place. McGonagall vanished the excess chairs and gestured for Harry to proceed her out of the door.
“Mr. Collins”, Dumbledore’s voice stopped him right before he stepped over the threshold. Harry turned to look back at the headmaster, whose hands were steepled and who looked very serious. “I hope for your sake that you were not lying about not being responsible for this whole situation.”
“Of course not, headmaster”, Harry promised. “I meant what I said, I would never do something like that to my friends. It would be unnecessary and cruel.”
He neglected to say that he no longer considered any of the five Gryffindors his friends. He also didn’t mention that he very much thought this necessary, and while he did think it a bit cruel, didn’t particularly care.
“Alright”, Dumbledore relented. “Good night, Mr. Collins. Minerva.”
They both returned the sentiment and then finally left the headmaster’s office. As they were walking towards Gryffindor tower, McGonagall suddenly said: “You have been a wonderful addition to my house, Mr. Collins, but sometimes I feel like you have been sorted into the wrong house.”
Harry turned his most innocent gaze on her. “Professor?”
She looked back, and her eyes were thoughtful. “I don’t doubt for a minute that every word you said back there was the truth. However, I also know that you never actually denied having anything to do with the changes in your housemates, no matter what your words may have implied.”
“Are you calling me a Slytherin, Professor?”, Harry wondered, widening his eyes some more.
McGonagall looked away, but not before Harry saw the slightest twitch to her lips. “Why would I?”, she said, despite what her words just implied. “That public display earlier certainly didn’t seem very Slytherin.”
“Thank you”, Harry told her primly as they came to a stop before the portrait of the Fat Lady.
She snorted. “Go to bed, Mr. Collins.”
The dorm was empty when Harry entered it to pack his stuff. The mess around it suggested that the Marauders had tried to go through his stuff before he got back, and then likely left once they noticed they weren’t able to. Harry made a mental note to thank Holly again for the book on warding that she had gotten him for his birthday.
By the time Harry was unpacking his things in the seventh-year dorm – which he would share with four other guys, two of which were Fabian and Gideon Prewett – all of Gryffindor already seemed to know exactly what had happened. It was all factual too, which told Harry that it had been Vance who immediately spilled the beans upon returning to the tower. He also didn’t doubt that by the next morning, all of Hogwarts would know about it.
Harry was, of course, right with that assessment. Some people – who Harry made a mental note to stay away from – came up to him and congratulated him on standing up for himself. A not insignificant part of the Hogwarts population, though, had apparently come to the same conclusion McGonagall had: Harry had likely been the one to curse the Gryffindors, and his behaviour towards them was clearly in support of Snape. Of course, there was still not a single bit of evidence towards Harry. Some people had lied and said they had seen him cast a spell the other morning, but much more people attested to the fact that he couldn’t have. Harry was also pretty sure that Dumbledore had watched at least one memory in which he had been visible throughout the whole breakfast, which cemented his alibi.
Harry merrily continued misgendering the Marauders and Lily, and generally kept his distance from them on account of ‘not wanting to socialise with people like them’ – by which Harry meant bigots if someone had bothered to ask.
It was a bit over three weeks after the beginning of term, when Harry was lounging outside in a courtyard that was usually deserted, that Snape found him. Harry didn’t say anything, conscious of the fact that the Slytherin would probably immediately leave if Harry said the wrong thing. Instead, he simply continued reading his Charms’ book, taking notes every now and then.
Eventually, Snape broke the silence by asking: “What’s your deal?”
Harry just raised a questioning eyebrow.
“You’ve been running around for weeks, telling everyone who wants to listen about how uncomfortable Lily, Potter, and his cronies make you. Hell, you never hesitate to say any of it to their faces, either.”
“I’m aware of all that”, Harry told the Slytherin with a slightly provocative grin. “Since, you know, I am the one doing those things, as you so helpfully pointed out.”
Snape sneered, the action bringing a wistful smile to Harry’s face. “You’ve never said a single word about me. Whenever someone brings me up, you deflect. So, what’s your deal? Were you – as the rumours suggest – the one to do this to them, and this is all part of some twisted plan, or are you actually as much of a transphobic piece of shit as you seem to be?”
The question startled a laugh from Harry. “Good Merlin, Snape, I hope you don’t talk like this to the Slytherin purebloods. Their poor hearts would probably give out.”
“Just answer the question, Collins”, Snape growled, though there was a faint blush raising in his cheeks.
“What do you think, Snape?”, Harry asked instead. “Am I some evil mastermind, or am I an asshole?”
Snape considered him for a moment. “You don’t care for blood status, you don’t care for house rivalries, I know that there’s a whole group of first and second years that you help with homework and console when they’re homesick. You’re good at defence – better than everyone else in our year – but you don’t hold it over anyone’s head, to a point where many people don’t even realise it.”
The Slytherin let those words hang in the air.
“Damn”, Harry said. “You make me sound like a saint.”
“Are you saying you’re not?”
“Tell me one person in this school who is”, Harry challenged. “One person.”
Snape opened his mouth, then closed it again. Harry went back to his homework.
“So, are you saying you were the one who hexed Lily and the others?”, the Slytherin asked after a while.
“I never said that”, Harry responded easily, long since used to this game of avoidance.
“You never outright denied it either”, Snape told him surly. “Are you aware that some other Slytherins think you should have been sorted into our house?”
Harry outright laughed at that. “Funny. McGonagall said the same thing.”
“McGonagall said you should have been a Slytherin?”
“Well, she heavily implied it”, Harry amended.
They lapsed into silence after that, both focusing on homework, though not before Harry heard Snape mutter: “I’m beginning to think they’re right.”
After that, it became common for Snape to join Harry in the courtyard. As September bled into October and Snape started becoming Severus in Harry’s mind (he had started laughing hysterically the first time he thought it, but had since become used to it), they migrated to an abandoned classroom to escape the cold.
It was six weeks after that first encounter that Harry was once again on his way to their classroom, when he stumbled upon an unexpected sight. Out of the way, in an empty corridor (void of any portraits, thank Merlin) were the Marauders, though they were lacking Pettigrew. Sirius was slumped on the ground, face buried in trembling hands and slim shoulders shaking. Crouched in front of him were Remus and James, the former with a hand on Sirius’ knee.
“Padfoot”, James said insistently, and despite how quiet his voice was, it carried easily in the empty corridor. “We don’t care if you feel like a woman sometimes, okay? It doesn't matter, we will always love you, no matter what, because you’re our friend. You’re the closest thing to a brother- sister- dammit, sibling that I have, Siri. I’ll never abandon or hate you.”
Harry must have made some sort of noise, because all three of them whirled around to face him. Remus and James drew their wands and stood protectively in front of Sirius, who cowered.
“You, ah, forgot to put up privacy charms”, Harry stuttered out, before he turned on his heals and rounded the corner again, intent on getting away before someone tried to hex him.
Later that day, when Harry was on his way to lunch (a bit late), he was joined by Sirius out of nowhere. His sudden appearance suggested that he had used the map to find Harry.
“Are you going to tell anyone?”, he asked. His tone was light, though Harry, who knew his godfather even in a different body and at a different age, noticed the nervous twitching of a finger, the forced edge to the polite smile Sirius was wearing.
“No, that would be cruel”, he assured the other teen.
“And treating us like you do because of this curse isn’t?”, Sirius wondered.
Harry stopped at the bottom of the grand staircase, turning to look at him. “I don’t know, was it?”
Sirius sighed. “I guess it did teach me a lesson”, he admitted, the words tainted with bitterness before he shook himself out of it and cheerfully asked: “So, were you the one to curse us?”
“I told you before, I wouldn’t do that to friends.”
“Are we friends, though?”, Sirius questioned with a wry smile, showing his Slytherin side that he usually fought to keep down.
Harry considered his godfather for a long moment before he gave him a tentative smile and said: “We can be.”
Sirius threw an arm around Harry’s shoulders with a laugh and steered him into the Great Hall, uncaring of everyone’s eyes on them.
After lunch Severus stormed into their classroom with eyes blazing and heatedly demanded: “What were you doing with Black?!”
Harry looked up from his book calmly and said: “We’ve reached an understanding.”
Then he continued to ignore the Slytherin’s questioning, refusing to interact with him while he was simply throwing around accusations and not listening to anything Harry was saying. When Severus noticed that Harry wasn’t paying attention, he stormed out and didn’t return.
The next morning, Sirius Black woke up in his normal body, sporting one mole less than he had for the past two months. He threw Harry a blinding smile at breakfast, which was accompanied by thoughtful looks from James and Remus, as well as a suspicious one from Pettigrew.
It took four days for Severus to come back to the classroom, and when he did it was with the words: “Does your ‘understanding’ with Black have anything to do with the fact that they’ve stopped coming after me and don’t misgender me any longer?”
Harry looked up, genuinely surprised. “They’re connected, I guess”, he admitted. “Though their change in heart was not my doing.”
“You’re going to take your secrets to the grave, aren’t you?”, Severus grumbled, but didn’t ask anymore questions when Harry simply flashed him a smile.
It was the middle of November, and three of five cursed students were back to normal. Pettigrew – of his own volition, it seemed – started spending part of his time away from the other three Marauders. Harry was also reasonably sure that the rat animagus didn’t know about Sirius’ gender identity crisis. Harry started talking to Sirius, Remus, and James again, and people were debating if it was because they were not cursed any longer, or if they were not cursed any longer because he got on with them again. Severus continued being a piece of work about Harry’s friendship with the Marauders, and if it was not about them, then he was complaining about Harry’s potion skills. Harry bore it all with a laugh and a snarky reply always on hand.
It took another month until Harry overheard Lily using the correct pronouns for Severus while talking to her friends. He gave her back her own body, knowing that this was the best he could hope for. Severus seemed to realise why she was back to normal, but if he ever sought her out to talk, Harry didn’t hear about it.
It was in January that Harry got a letter from Holly, saying that they had finally found a way to send him back to his time. Harry silently packed everything, spent one last afternoon with his Gryffindor friends, even managed to hold a civil conversation with Lily for once, and then went to meet with Severus like every day.
“I’m leaving”, he announced quietly after a couple of minutes.
“What do you mean, leaving?”, the Slytherin questioned sharply.
“Exactly what I’m saying”, Harry said with a slightly mournful smile. “I wish I could tell you more. Really, I probably shouldn’t even tell you this much, but I didn’t think it would be fair if I just disappeared on you.”
Severus twirled his quill around between nimble fingers and didn’t look at Harry. “What about Pettigrew?”
“He’ll wake up in his own body”, Harry said, even if he didn’t like that he had to stop his little experiment.
“If he turns back the moment you leave, people will take that as confirmation that it was you who cursed them”, Severus gave to think. “They might actually start looking for you. I don’t know if you’re aware, but I think there have been private detectives investigating for a while now.”
Harry gave him a wide smile and said: “Let them. They won’t find me.”
Severus gave Harry a Look at his confidence, but wisely didn’t question it.
When they parted ways that evening, Severus offered Harry a clipped “Thank you”, and the Gryffindor grinned happily, knowing that gratitude from Severus Snape was a rare thing to receive.
It was four in the morning when Harry deactivated and summoned the last of the five orbs he had brought to Hogwarts with him. He put it in the trunk with the others, shrunk everything so it would fit in his pocket, and left the room with a sad look towards the sleeping Prewett twins.
The forest and lake were shrouded in thick fog, and the castle was completely dark, although the grounds were illuminated by the light of the waning moon. Harry took a thestral to get to the Department of Mysteries, like he and his friends did in the time that he left behind and would now return to, simply with one and a half years more experience.
Holly was the only one around, the Ministry otherwise deserted at the early hour – probably a conscious choice on side of the Unspeakables. Harry gave her the trunk with everything he owned in this time and hugged her. She made him stand in the middle of a circle of sand and glass and gave him a glass orb to hold. With a last smile, Holly spoke a long spell, and the room dissolved around Harry.