Upon waking up in the bathroom, I didn't at once remember how I had gotten there, but when I did, I groaned in frustration. As many of you might know, I had for a long time been the smallest boy in my year and this, obviously, annoyed me to no end. Before the summer vacation I had finally experienced one of the much fabled 'growth spurts' and was now standing at an impressive 5'6. When I first noticed it, it was the happiest day of my life. Well, except maybe the time back in fifth year when Sirius was freed of all charges and Aunt Marge's dog Ripper died of blood clot a week later. I celebrated for a month after that one. Anyway, back to the growing. I had, as I said, grown quite a bit the last year. Quite a bit after my standards that is, and I was thrilled. Then I woke up one morning and from going one step forward, I had suddenly gone two steps back. To say that I was less than pleased would be an understatement. And I also knew exactly what to blame for my abrupt change too.Magic.
This strange force had taken it as its personal task to screw up my life, and I had no doubt it was the culprit behind this horrible occurrence as well. I mean, how many Muggles wake up one morning suddenly looking more feminine than Gilderoy Lockhart in a frilly dress? No one I'd ever heard of, that's for sure. Fortunately, most things magic are wont to be reversible, and that was the straw of grass my drowning self was clinging to. A way to change me back. And luckily, I knew just the person to contact. Sirius Black.
Ever since my not-as-criminal-as-everyone-thought godfather, Sirius Black, was freed of all charges concerning the murder of thirteen Muggles and the wizard Peter Pettigrew, who was in fact very much alive thank you very much, he had done everything in his power to be as big a part of my life as possible. He showered me in gifts and bad advice and he even had a house bought out in the country so that I could come live with him. Unfortunately Dumbledore vetoed that idea due to something about security wards, but suffice to say, my godfather was dealing with major guilt problems and would do anything for me. It came in really handy at times.
When I left Hogwarts to stay with the Dursleys Dumbledore had said I would be able to visit Sirius after my birthday, and keeping the last few hours in mind, I made the wise decision that the day of my birthday was after my birthday enough. I desperately needed to get away to someone who could tell me what was going on. Of course, I hardly expected Sirius to be able to tell me anything, the poor bloke hadn't laid eyes on a book since the day he went to prison, but as luck would have it, Sirius didn't live alone. Oh no, he was happily engaged in a partnership with the love of his life, Remus Lupin. And Remus knew a thing or two or ten about everything it was necessary to know about. And a couple of other things too. My point being, Remus could help me. And Sirius, well, Sirius could cook. Or not. Uhm, Sirius could, well, sit in a corner and look pretty.
Anyway, after making the decision to flee the Dursley residence, I made my way over to my room to send Hedwig with a letter to Sirius. I had just let her out the window when the most peculiar thing happened to me. It was as if I was suddenly flooded by feelings. Feelings that weren't even mine. I felt sadness, agony, confusion and impatience, all rolled into one. They weren't especially strong, but it still made me freak out. You would too if you suddenly felt a rush of emotions you didn't recognize having felt in the first place. I at once put it on my to-ask-Remus list together with the painful experience the night before and the change of appearance. Oh, and the score of the last Cannons game.
The rest of the afternoon I spent packing, unpacking and repacking again in a sort of mad ritual. Yes, I know it sounds stupid, but I just couldn't decide whether to put my books easily accessible on the top of the trunk, or on the bottom where I wouldn't have to look at them for the rest of the summer. A nasty dilemma, I assure you, but they ended up on the bottom. I had, after all, already done my transfiguration essay. Or most of it anyway.
After what seemed like an eternity of packing, I was ready to go and was sitting expectantly at the bottom of the stairs. I had gotten a letter from Sirius saying they'd pick me up at five o'clock sharp, but it was already five minutes over. Drumming my fingers against the wall, I furrowed my brow in irritation. "Where is that blasted godfather? If he's not here in ten minutes, I'll –" but fortunately for him, Sirius chose that exact moment to ring the doorbell. I slammed the door open and threw myself around his neck in a bone crushing hug. "Took you long enough!" I mumbled against his shoulder.
"Sorry, green eyes, Remus was driving and we got stuck in traffic." Sirius laughed and held me close.
"Hey!" exclaimed our favourite werewolf indignantly. "Are you implying that it was my driving that got us stuck?"
"Well, if you had gone a little faster we wouldn't –" But what they wouldn't we will never know, because I chose that exact moment to dislodge myself from Sirius, and he stopped talking in favour of doing a great impression of a fish on land. "Damn Salazar to all hells! What in the name of Circe happened to you!"
"I was hoping you could tell me," I grumbled, feeling slightly annoyed and even more self-conscious than usual.
"You, you, Gods Harry, you look like a bloody –"
"Girl, yes, I know." I growled, my face probably showing just how pleased I was with that particular change.
"It's not so bad, Harry," smiled Remus. Trust Remus to try and make everything better. "You certainly look different, but different is not necessarily bad. I happen to think you've turned into a very beautiful young man, isn't that right Sirius?" He nudged Sirius hard in the ribs, and after shooting the werewolf a nasty glare the black haired man nodded.
"Of course you don't look like a girl, Har! I mean, you certainly have certain male attributes, and though you do have a bit more curves – ow! Remus, stop hitting me! Damn, now, as I was saying, you look a bit more curvy, but in a very male way. Ehm, you still have a flat chest, broad shoulders and all the muscles you're supposed to, you just don't look as, eh, sharp edged and defined as most other guys. You're kind of more soft. Uhm, but that's a good thing! Totally, I always wished I looked soft. Oh, and plenty of guys have long hair and pouted lips and long, dark eyelashes. Don't you worry, there's nothing girly about you at all. Not a thing."
Of course, at this I raised a very sceptical eyebrow and I was rewarded a slight blush from my darling godfather. He really should work on his lying skills, I knew I looked like a girl, there was no need to try and soften the blow.
"Ok, so maybe you do look a tad bit girly, but I'm sure we can fix it and turn you back in no time! You just leave it to ol' Pads and Moony, they'll get the job done." Sirius said, grinning a bit for the effect of it.
"Absolutely, Harry, we'll find out what brought on this change. I do think it is rather fascinating myself. Did it happen abruptly, or over time?" added Remus.
"Well, seeing as I didn't look like this yesterday, I would say it happened rather abruptly."
"Ooh, that's interesting. And the night of your birthday too, did you notice it happening or did you just wake up like this?" Remus' eyes were lit up with curiosity in a way I had seen only in one other person, Hermione.
"Oh, I felt it alright. It hurt like bloody hell." I shuddered a bit at the memory of the night before.
"Pain, you say. Remarkable. And have you noticed any other changes? I mean, not physical ones?"
"Well, now that you mention it, after I had written that letter to you guys the strangest thing happened. I was overcome by these feelings that didn't belong to me. Almost as if I was feeling someone else's emotions. Weird, eh?"
"Hm, yes, very peculiar indeed, but I have a suspicion as to what might have happened to you. I'll have to check it out though. Maybe if I look in Powers You Never Knew You Had and What To Do With Them Now You've Wised Up, and then cross-reference with Important Modern Magical Discoveries and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and maybe then…" Remus continued mumbling book titles to himself and Sirius shook his head despairingly.
"Now you've gone and done it, you've gotten him into research mode," he sighed deeply. "He'll never rest until he's solved this mystery of yours. Well, it's nothing to do about it, come on, kiddo, let's get you home. Remus will sort this mess out." And with that he led the way to the car, closely followed by a very relieved me.