Girls’ Changing Room – 8 – A Day in the Live by Maeryn Lamonte – Copyright © 2021 c

I’ve made a few minor changes (of little consequence) to the previous chapter. The afternoon spell practice now takes place in the training ground where I initially intended to put it (I doubt the whole school population – diminished as it is – would squeeze into any of the courtyards), and I’ve moved the location of Lori’s encounter with Raphael to the Middle Courtyard, otherwise being in the training ground would likely trigger her memory that she was expected to be there after lunch.

-oOo-
The library was the nearest and first place to start looking. It took Lori only seconds to reach it and without encountering any teachers. She slipped in as surreptitiously as she could and found her brother surrounded by books in the central reading area. She approached him quickly enough to earn a sharp glare from Madam Pince.

"Lye, you've got to help me," she hissed

He looked back confused. "I'm sorry, who are you?" he replied in a whisper suitable to their surroundings.

"The same person who gave you your oină bat and ball for Christmas. The same person you gave these earrings to.” She showed him her ear. She hadn’t taken the earrings off except to wash since Christmas day.

“Lori? What the…”

“No time, come with me quickly.” She grabbed her brother’s hand and led him outside. Binns’ classroom was nearby. She pulled him in and closed the door. As she’d hoped, no-one was there with the exception of the sleeping occupant of one of the cupboards — who was out of sight and snoring quietly.

“Okay,” Lysander said. “Explanation.”

“Anneka gave me a bottle of polyjuice potion for Christmas remember?”

“And this is who you become?”

“Not my first choice but I do have my reasons, which I don’t have time to go into. Right now I’m stuck like this until maybe around midnight tonight, and McGonagall’s expecting me out in the training ground in ten minutes to show everyone how to cast the Patronus charm.”

“You can cast a Patronus? Since when?”

“Since this morning, but that’s not the point. The point is I can’t go out there looking like this.”

The twin thing took over. Lysander’s eyes went wide. “Oh no, no way.”

“Lye please, there is no other way. We’ve done this sort of thing before.”

“Not since you’ve been wearing a skirt. Besides, how do you expect me to cast a Patronus?”

“I’ll show you. We have ten minutes and our twin thing. You’ll get it. It’s really not that hard.”

“So how come most wizards can’t do it?”

“I don’t think most wizards try hard enough. Besides, if you can’t do it, you can put it down to nerves. You’ll get laughed at a bit, but it’ll be my reputation that takes the hit.”

“Where am I going to get some of your clothes? Neither of us can get into your dorm looking like we do.”

Lori pulled her uniform out from its hiding place and Lysander groaned.

-oOo-

“I feel like a proper twit,” he said looking down at the skirt and tights covering the lower part of his body.

“You look like me, which is to say cute.” She pulled him over to a window which showed enough of a reflection.

“My hair’s different.”

Lori looked around. People were always leaving stuff in this classroom. A mixture of dulled senses and a desperate need to escape. She found a bobble hat on a coat hook beside the door.

“There. No-one will see your hair now, and it’s cold enough outside that nobody's going to question your wearing something like this.”

“So all you need to do is teach me the Patronus charm in, what, five minutes?”

“No problem.”

She took up the stance which Lysander copied exactly. She repeated what Professor Longbottom had told her pretty much word for word. Lysander nodded. She moved her wand in the correct form and shouted, “Expecto patronum.” The magnificent unicorn appeared and charged out through the blackboard. Again, Lysander copied. He could feel the way Lori inhabited the memory, embraced the feeling within it. He did the same.

Nothing happened.

“What memory did you choose?”

“That first day at the dragon sanctuary when that Norwegian Ridgeback flew over us. That was so awesome.”

“That should do it, but I think you’re feeling self-conscious about the clothes. No-one’s going to know it’s you Lye. Just abandon yourself to the memory. Don’t let anything from the here and now get in the way.”

He tried again. This time a small, bright silvery ball emerged and disappeared through the wall.

“Better,” Lori said. She listened to her twin’s intuition. “But I don’t think you expected it to work. Now you’ve seen that it does, so you know you can do it. Try one more time, but this time believe in yourself. I know you can do it; you need to know it just as much.”

Third time was the charm, literally. It was still nothing more than a ball of light, but it was bright, fizzing, rapid. Not as spectacular as Lori’s but impressive none-the-less.

“Brilliant. We’re out of time but that should do it. Try experimenting with different memories; you may find one that works better.”

“Won’t they be expecting a unicorn though?”

“Tell them you were practising and this is all that came out. It’ll work Lye. Hide your clothes here. No-one comes into Binns’ room unless they have to, so when you’re done, sneak back in here and change. Leave my clothes in the same place and no-one will have any idea.”

“You owe me big for this.”

“So big. Anything at all, no question. You go first. I’ll see you out there.”

“You’re not coming with me?”

“Don’t you think it’ll look a bit odd me hanging out with a gangly Slytherin girl?”

“So big.” He echoed Lori’s words, took a deep breath and ducked out into the corridor.

Lori counted to fifty and followed. Lysander was already standing in front of a group of interested students. She heard him say, “I’m a bit nervous so don’t expect much at first.” then he whipped through a perfect stance and execution and a bright fizzing ball emerged from the end of his wand.

His students were impressed but McGonagall gave him a suspicious look. “No unicorn, Lori?”

“It’s like I said professor, I’m a bit nervous.”

He started going through the students checking on their stance and leading them slowly through the wand action. He was a natural teacher, Lori thought proudly.

She gravitated towards another crowd where a Gryffindor boy was teaching the cheering charm. Thinking it might be useful, she joined the group and in next to no time she felt better than she had since returning to school. Anneka was still unconscious in her bed, Miss Mitchell was still dead, half the school population still hung under the threat of the mist surrounding them, but somehow the spell managed to fill her with a sense that everything would turn out right.

They rotated through the afternoon and eventually she found herself in Lysander’s group. She deliberately focused on less happy memories, but she could feel the power of the Patronus within her. Now that she’d cast it successfully several times, it swelled inside her, bursting to get out.

She took a break from her efforts, willing the feeling inside her to subside. She took the time to look at her brother, really to look at him for the first time in possibly forever. He was in his element teaching. He’d already successfully instructed at least a half dozen of his students to do what he hadn’t been able to manage fully himself, and Patronuses in their various animal forms pranced around the grounds. She saw him look across at her and suddenly a great smile spread across his face.

“Expecto patronum,” he yelled, abandoning himself totally to the cry. A flaming bird the size of a swan leapt from the end of his wand, shimmering with a silvery brilliance and shot across the grounds.

It was a glorious moment that Lori embraced as fully as her brother. In its own way, Lysander’s phoenix was just as magnificent as her own unicorn. The only thing that spoilt the moment was McGonagall looking sharply across at her brother.

Whatever she was thinking, for some reason she held it in. There wasn’t much time left of the afternoon and it seemed mere minutes later she called for an end to the afternoon’s exercise, declaring the rest of the afternoon as free time. She looked again at Lysander, opened her mouth to speak, then thought better of it and left the field herself.

Lori made her way back to Binns’ classroom and waited for her brother. She knew he had something he wanted to share. He was ten minutes in coming, and when he finally did fall through the door, he was wearing the biggest grin she had ever seen on him.

“I couldn’t get away. Everyone wanted to say thank you. I think I earned you some real kudos out there.”

“Does that mean I owe you even more?” She asked, smiling.

“No, I think we can say all debts are paid in full after that. Lori, I know what I want to do with my life.”

Lori waited, fully aware of what was coming.

“It wasn’t until most of the way through the afternoon that I realised how amazing it felt doing what I was doing. By comparison, the dragon thing was nothing. I looked over at you and I could feel what you were holding back and it was the same as the feeling bubbling up inside me. I knew I could do it, so I did.”

“Any idea why a phoenix?”

“I think it’s the way I see you, Lori. You’d better not tell anyone this, but you’re something of an inspiration. You are every bit the phoenix reborn from the ashes of your old life.”

“So how do you feel about the skirt?”

“No, that much I can do without.” He retrieved his clothes and began to change. “But as for the rest of it…”

“I guess that leaves you with just the one problem, Professor Scamander. What do you think you want to teach?”

“Well, charms feels a little frivolous. The Patronus charm is really a defence against the dark arts spell. We’ll see, I’ve got years of learning to do first before I make up my mind.” He stood up, feeling more comfortable in his own uniform. “Thanks sis, this really was the best experience ever.”

She reached down to hug him which felt weird. She didn’t quite have the heart to tell him that at the very least Professor McGonagall had seen through his disguise.

Once he was gone, she picked up her clothes which he’d left strewn across the floor. Why were boys so messy, she wondered? She folded them and put them away in their hiding place.

She relaxed for the first time since she’d drunk the polyjuice potion. She’d succeeded in extracting all the information Raph had to offer, she’d survived the afternoon. She didn’t have anything else she needed to do for the moment, except explore what it really felt like to be a girl.

She walked over to the window and focused on the reflection staring back at her. It felt odd to be wearing someone else’s face. She raised long, slender fingers and touched her cheek, her nose, her lips. Despite the spiteful words she’d shared with Hortensia earlier, she could see why Raph found the face looking back at her attractive. It was all angles and sharp lines, but it held the potential for real beauty. She felt Morgana’s self-consciousness at her present appearance and her hope of what it would grow into. Looks mattered so much to a girl. Being in between as she had been for so much of her life, she’d been able to see how it affected both sides of the gender divide. Older boys had this constant competitiveness in their peer interactions which extended even to whether or not they had a girlfriend and what she looked like. Boys could be ridiculed for something as petty as being seen with a girl who was less than good looking. Most girls seemed to have picked up on this to some extent and, as a result, tended to worry about their appearance because they wanted boys to like them.

It all seemed so unfair. She wondered if that was why so many more girls seemed to be hooking up with other girls. None of the mess and the smell. None of the superficial judgement. Someone who’d talk to you, who was sensitive to your moods, who was gentle. She thought about Anneka and felt a warmth flood through her. Anneka was more than a friend, and if she could feel about her like this when she was altogether a girl, maybe she should reconsider being more than friends.

Then something entirely new occurred to her. She stepped out of the history of magic classroom and started looking about her. She looked at the boys first, looking for anything approximating a spark. Then she looked at the girls and felt her emotions rising up. It was involuntary, a reaction that belonged to the body more than Lori’s mind. As herself she knew she felt no attraction to most of them, but in Morgana’s body she found them...

“Hey you.”

She jumped and spun to find herself face to face with someone almost her own height.

“Hey you yourself, gorgeous,” she said, unable to stop herself.

“Really?” Hortensia’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh wow, I forgot to mention that didn’t I? There’s a reason Morgana isn’t into Raph.”

“Is that why she’s always so standoffish?”

“Doesn’t want to encourage the guys, doesn’t trust herself around the girls. Pretty much.”

“That’s awful. How does she cope?”

“You are currently in the best position to know. By the way, I’d keep a really low profile for the rest of the day. Mugglewump is not best pleased with you. Where did you get the polyjuice potion?”

“You figured it out?”

“The need for Morgana’s hair, the cryptic comment about finding out what Raph knows. It took a while, but I got there. You look pretty good as a tall, gangly Slytherin.”

“Thanks I think. So where should I go to avoid our dark and moody potions professor?”

“Well, when he let me go after lunch he was heading for the Slytherin common room, so I’d advise against the dungeons. He didn’t come to the training session — probably too crowded for him — and now everyone’s free to do what they want my best guess is he’ll check out the Great Hall next, then the courtyards, then you know, all the usual student hangouts.”

“Probably best to go back into Binns’ classroom then.”

“No way, that’s so depressing in there. I doubt he’d think of looking in the library.”

“You think that’s better?”

“There are books on Azkaban. Loads of them. You never know, we may find out something new.”

Lori wasn’t so sure but being around Hortensia filled her with a warm fuzzy feeling. She felt oddly guilty about it, but there wasn’t anything better to do. They made their way there separately, not wishing to start any unfounded rumours. It was pretty much empty, offering a selection of tables. They chose one of the larger ones out in the open away from the shelves, which suited Lori very well.

They worked their way through pretty much every book the open section of the library had on the prison and learnt nothing new. They found a few doodles added in the margins, one of which looked a little like the Bloodstone to Lori, but nothing else on the page suggested why it had been drawn. In the end there wasn’t much to tie the shapeless rock to the formless doodle, so they pressed on.

It took them all the rest of the afternoon. They knew Mugglewump preferred to eat late, so they made their way to the Great Hall as soon as dinner was served — again separately. Lori had nearly finished hers when a shadow fell across the table.

“Perhaps you’d care to explain why you did not come to detention at lunchtime.”

“I had no intention of being alone with that crazy girl again, professor.”

“I would have been there.”

“With respect sir, you weren’t a lot of help last time.”

“I did separate you in the end.”

“Sure. She attacked me without provocation. She pulled my hair, nearly scratched my face and the best you could do was stupefy us both. Well, not twice in one day sir. If you don’t like it let’s talk to Professor McGonagall about it.”

“No. We’ll leave it for now, but you will be in my classroom at the beginning of your lunch hour tomorrow. The Skunk girl won’t be there, so you have no excuse. Refuse to turn up a second time and we will go and see Professor McGonagall. Are we clear on this, Miss Mulrose?”

“Yes sir.” She finished her meal and walked out of the Great Hall.

“That was nicely handled,” Hortensia said as she walked past.

“Are you trying to get us a reputation?”

“I don’t know, I could be into her if she was more like you. For now though, I was wondering what plans you had for the real Morgana. I gave her the sleeping draught at lunchtime, so she’ll be waking up about now.”

“Thanks for the reminder. I made enough for a couple of doses. Do you fancy helping me give her a nightcap?”

“Let’s do it.”

Morgana was only beginning to show signs of waking up when they got to her. The second draught went down easily enough.

“I feel a bit bad about letting her wake up here like this,” Lori said as she closed the cupboard door. “She’s going to have no idea how she ended up in there or why she’s suddenly awake in the small hours of the morning, and then she needs to know about her detention tomorrow.”

“Leave that to me,” Hortensia said with a very private smirk. “I’ll make sure she’s okay, but I’ll need some clothes for her.”

“Thanks, I’ll get you some. You know I’m beginning to think I made the right decision about you.”

“Only beginning?”

“I’ll see you in the morning. I don’t suppose you have any idea what the Slytherin password is?”

“No, but see if you can find Hannah Nagron or Maddy Pentwhistle. They’re two of your dorm mates. They’re also the ones who told me that Morgana was into girls. Hannah usually plays wizard chess in the courtyard after dinner.”

“You are such a mine of useful information.”

“And you’re pretty much the first friend I’ve had since I got here.”

“Your fault for looking in the wrong places then. See you in a bit.”

-oOo-

Lori knew Hannah from transfiguration class. She was a bright witch with a talent for the intricacies of changing one thing into another, which probably explained her interest in chess as well. She was where Hortensia had said she’d be. Hannah nodded a greeting and returned to her game. Lori watched from a distance until the other player’s king lay down, only to be beheaded by a pawn. Hannah reached across and shook hands with a Gryffindor two years her senior.

“All right Morgana?” she said walking across.

“More or less. I was wondering if you were heading back to the common room any time soon. I could use some company.”

“This isn’t…”

“No, of course not. You already told me you’re not interested.” Lori had seen the worried look in the girl’s eyes and made an educated guess. If Hannah knew about Morgana and was spreading the gossip, then it almost certainly meant she wasn’t of a similar mind.

“So!” Hannah fell into step beside Lori. “What did you think about that Scamander freak. who’d have thought he could cast a Patronus, let alone teach others to do it?”

“Yeah. Who else managed it?”

Hannah ran off a string of names only a few of which Lori recognised, then added, “I tried but couldn’t. No happy thoughts.”

“Sucks for you.”

“You?”

“Same, pretty much.”

“Sucks for both of us then. Here we are. Parseltongue.”

The painting opened and let them through. Lori followed Hannah to their shared dorm. Five occupied beds. Not tidy, not untidy either. Nightdresses laid across the ends of the beds. Only one of them would fit Morgana’s height and slenderness. She crossed the room and sat on her bed.

“So, what do you want to talk about?” Hannah asked.

“Oh, anything or nothing. Just felt like having some company.”

“I know what you mean. That stuff out there gives me the creeps. Shame about Lavender too. I liked her.”

Lori had no idea who Lavender was, but she suspected one of Slytherin’s rare half-bloods. The house boasted they’d not hosted a single Muggle born in more than a century.

“Voldemort was a half-blood wasn’t he?” she pondered. From the hiss at the other side of the room her speculation wasn’t welcome. “Just saying. This fog doesn’t discriminate. Who’s to say it won’t start on us next?”

“Listen Morgana. If that's what you want to talk about, find someone else. I’m not interested.”

Lori shrugged. “Sorry.” She managed to say the word without appearing to mean it. “I’m going to take a shower, then I’ll see if I can find anyone to talk to in the common room.” She picked out two changes of clothing and headed for the bathroom.

Clean skin and clean clothes did wonders for her mood, but by the time she made it into the common room it was empty. Which suited her fine since she didn't really want to talk with anyone. It was late but not yet too late to be out for a walk. She took the spare set of clothes to Hortensia — still keeping watch in Binns’ classroom — reclaimed her own and headed back to the dungeons. She couldn’t afford to be in the Slytherin common room when she changed back, so she found a dark corner in sight of the entrance portrait, cast felis sensorium on herself — hoping it wouldn’t affect the reverse transformation — and settled down to wait.

There wasn’t much else to do, so to pass time and keep herself awake she reflected on her experiences in Morgana's body, or rather with her own body resembling Morgana's.

The biggest difference she’d noticed was in her emotions, which surprised her because she'd been expecting it to be her physical change. Sure, there was the height thing and the long gangly limbs, but that had nothing to do with being a girl. She was aware of books feeling heavier, doors seeming stiffer, but again that could be because the girl whose body she'd chosen wasn't that strong. Certainly, there didn't seem to be a lot of space for muscle in the stick thin arms and legs. She'd also been aware of an itchy tenderness in her chest and a gap between her legs, the latter being the most significant physical difference.

But her feelings! They were all so much closer to the surface, so much more intense. The way her heart raced in the presence of certain girls. That indescribably awful feeling when Raphael was talking to her. She'd encouraged him for sure, but all the while she'd had to fight the most intense emotion she'd ever felt. She didn't know what it was but if she'd been asked to give it a name, it would probably have been, 'JUST GO AWAY!!!'. Then there was the fear that had almost swamped her when she'd realised she had no way of giving the Patronus lesson, and the equally overwhelming sense of relief when she'd found Lysander.

She wondered how girls coped with it, whether it became easier to handle with practice. Like steering a straight line through a storm, she mused, with giant waves pushing you in random directions all the time.

Anger felt different too. Not so much the slow burn and deep resolve to do battle with whatever had caused the rage, but more of a tendency towards hopelessness and despair. She’d met some girls who could be really vindictive though, so she suspected this was just a tendency in Morgana. It did make her wonder what it must feel like to face real cruelty feeling as she did, especially from someone you cared for, and the abyss that formed in her mind was too terrifying to contemplate.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of a cat. Not just any cat either; the markings around the eyes gave it away as McGonagall’s cat form. It looked in Lori’s direction and blinked briefly before turning towards a different shadowy corner, hiding so well even Lori’s enhanced senses couldn’t make her out.

They did let her know the moment the door to Slytherin opened, though. She didn’t see anything come through before it closed again, but she did catch the unmistakable scent of Raphael Maledicta. Following him by scent alone would be imprecise at best, and with McGonagall about perhaps she shouldn’t bother. She backed deeper into the shadows and waited.

"Axio amiculum obscuratio!" Professor McGonagall yelled, appearing in human form out of her shadowy corner and flourishing her wand. Raphael Maledicta also appeared very suddenly out of nowhere, but with considerably less grace. McGonagall continued in a more measured tone, "Going somewhere Mr Maledicta?"

"Er, what? How did you…?"

McGonagall held up the silvery folds of Maledicta’s invisibility cloak, now folded across her left arm. "Axio is most effective when the spell is spoken entirely in Latin, Mr Maledicta.” She gave a meaningful glance over towards Lori’s hiding place. “Calling for something which is your own, you can afford to be a little sloppy, but not if you are after an item that belongs to someone else, especially if it is magical. Amiculum obscuratio translates as invisibility cloak, or near enough.

“I would have hoped from our previous encounter that you might have learnt, items such as this are generally not permitted at Hogwarts. Certainly not without my prior knowledge and consent, and most assuredly not when they are used for theft."

"That is an outrageous accusation!" Maledicta said, perhaps not quite convincingly enough. "Theft of what?"

"Why don't we discuss that in my office. While we’re at it, you might indulge me by explaining what you think you’re doing outside your common room in your nightwear.” Unsurprisingly this consisted of a black silk dressing gown over black silk pyjamas. “After you, Mr Maledicta." McGonagall followed her prisoner towards the steps leading to the castle's ground floor and above.

It seemed evident that Raphael had been heading deeper into the dungeons, which meant he was almost certainly after the stone box and expected to find it in the same place. As for what McGonagall had said, the box was definitely magical and just as definitely not hers. She speculated that the words might have been intended for her, meaning it would be worth finding out what to call it in Latin just in case?

The classrooms all had English to Latin dictionaries and Mugglewump’s wasn’t too far away. Her cat ears informed her the coast was clear so she snuck in. A couple of minutes scanning through the dictionary told her the closest she could come to Bloodstone was sanguinum lapis and while there were several options for box, the most likely was either arca or capsa with cista coming a close third.

Lori slipped out of the classroom and made her way stealthily down into the dungeons. Her cat senses meant she could navigate the darkness with ease. Locked doors gave way to a whispered alohomora, and the one time Filch’s ghost came drifting through the walls, she felt her hackles rise seconds before, giving her just enough time to find a deep shadow to hide in before he made his appearance.

The problem was the wall he had drifted through led to the room with the box in it, and he had just gone back in.

She eased the door open a narrow crack and peered in through the gap. Filch was standing guard in front of the box and the ghostly form of his cat lay curled around it.

She left the door ajar, hoping she’d allowed a sufficiently large gap for the box to fit through. Retreating to her shadowy hiding place, she withdrew her wand and whispered, “Axio sanguinum lapis arca.”

Mrs Norris let out a decidedly feline squeal as the box lifted up and through her. Filch spun on the spot, trying to figure out what was happening. The box whizzed through the gap in the door while he was still spinning and flew straight into Lori’s hands, disappearing into the shadows a fraction of a second before Filch’s bandy legged gait brought him running through the wall.

“I know you’re there,” He shouted. “I’ll catch you, you’ll see.” He ran down the only corridor leading from the room. Mrs Norris’s face appeared in the gap in the door. She looked straight at Lori for a second then padded off down the corridor after the former caretaker.

Lori, breathing a sigh of relief, wondered if Filch’s evil cat had mistaken her for one of her own kind. She couldn’t really risk following them; the devious old ghost had a reputation for waiting inside the walls ready to pounce. Cold and damp as her hiding place was, she’d have to wait him out, either till he came back or until she estimated the new day had arrived and she had to move.

She was cold, much colder than she had ever been in her own body. She suspected it had something to do with Morgana’s slender frame having not the least amount of fat. It didn’t have much of anything in fact, which meant the cold went directly to her bones.

Looking for something to pass the time, she examined the box. It was heavy, like Raphael had said, and something of an awkward size and shape. It looked entirely ordinary, grey in colour and roughly cut. The metal bands around it that held the hinges were of brass, and as she’d spotted before, the one across the top bore the inscription ‘Blutstein’ in some archaic, germanic script.

‘So what does that make you Mr Ekrizdis?’ Lori thought, clenching her teeth to stop them chattering. ‘German? Austrian? Something from that part of the world certainly.’

It was no good. She couldn’t stay still any longer. If she didn’t move soon, she’d turn into an icicle. She made her way down the corridor as swiftly and silently as she could, trusting her cat instincts to warn her if Filch was near.

It didn’t work. She’d about reached the stairs up to the kitchen corridor when a ghostly form leapt out of the wall crying, “Gotcha, you filthy little… What the…?”

Filch’s arms went around her and through her. She stumbled through them feeling a deathly chill where they touched. She turned to look into Filch’s alarmed face.

“What are you?” He shouted.

It wouldn’t do to be standing here still when someone with corporeal arms responded to Filch’s noise. She ran for the stairs and up them with the old caretaker running close behind, yelling at the top of his lungs.

Lori leapt up stairs three at a time until she had no idea how high she’d come. Behind her, Filch wheezed along, asthmatic even in the afterlife, and fell behind. Lori searched for somewhere to hide, anywhere, though preferably somewhere with a warm bath and fresh clothes and…

Beside her the bricks rearrange themselves, transforming into a powder blue door with a familiar sign over the top. Well this time she definitely qualified. She ducked inside and closed the door behind her.

“Finite incantatem,” Lori said and felt her face rearrange. There was steam in the room which she found, after a quick search, emanating from a claw foot bath, two thirds filled with fragrant hot water. She needed no more invitation, stripped off her damp things and climbed in.

It was hot enough to hurt, but that didn’t stop her. If anything, being on the edge of pain made the experience more exquisite. She carefully arranged her hair to keep it out of the water and allowed herself to drowse as the floral scent entered her nostrils.

She woke to the sound of a quiet bell chiming. The water had cooled as it warmed her up and was just at the point of doing the opposite. She pulled herself out of the tub and a hovering towel wrapped itself around her. Her clothes lay on a chair, freshly laundered and pressed.

“Well, at least you’re really a girl.”

Lori spun to find the room completely changed. The bath had gone, as had the steam. What remained was a full-length mirror hanging from the wall and in it was the woman with the flame red hair.

“Actually, we’ve met before. I’m just borrowing someone else’s body.”

“Oh!” The syllable dripped with sudden distain. “So, you’ve found a way to belong here, have you?”

“This is temporary,” she replied politely. “Polyjuice potion only lasts a few hours. I’ll be changing back soon.” Lori changed the topic. “Why do I need you?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“This is the Room of Requirement. It’s supposed to give me what I need, and you’ve appeared to me twice. Why do I need you?”

“Maybe you need someone to tell you that you can’t be a girl.”

“No, I don’t think so. I know I am a girl where it matters. I rode a unicorn.”

“Yes, that other woman told me. Maybe it didn’t know…”

“She knew; the unicorn knew. I made sure. She knelt in front of me, and I asked if she was certain. She knew.”

“It still doesn’t prove anything…”

“Actually, it does, and the fact that you refuse to accept that tells me you don’t know what you’re talking about, or maybe you’re afraid to admit the truth.”

“You couldn’t possibly understand…”

“Well, there again you’re wrong. I mean like you say, I’ve found a way to belong, if only for a short while, and even though I’ve only spent a few short hours as an actual girl, I can imagine what it’s like when someone you care about, someone you thought cared about you, treats you like you’re worth nothing. I have a sense for how much it hurts, how helpless you feel, how tempting it is just to shut it all out along with everything else that reminds you of how bad it makes you feel.

“My great grandfather had a great love for creatures, especially magical ones. A lot of people used to think he was mad because so many of the creatures he cared for had a reputation for being violent and dangerous. My dad told me once that probably the single most impressionable thing his granddad said to him was, ‘before you have the right to pass judgement on any living thing, you must first spend a day inside its skin.’”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Last time we spoke you said you were sympathetic to people like me, but what do you really know about what it feels like to be me? You say that I’m not a real girl, that you don’t mind if I put on a dress, but I shouldn’t pretend to be something I’m not, but you don’t even stop to think how that makes me feel.

“I’ve spent most of my life believing the world was filled with people like you. Up until a few months ago I lived my life trying to be the person I appeared to be on the outside, but the only way I could do that was by shutting the real me away and pretending. It’s like wearing a pair of shoes that are a couple of sizes too small. They’re a bit uncomfortable at first, but you think you can get by, then the more you wear them, the more they hurt, and the more they hurt, the more even the thought of putting them on makes you want to scream.

“Until a few months ago, all I tried to do was be the person I believed people thought I ought to be, the sort of person that most people who look like me actually are. Until a few months ago I was so worried about the way people might react if I allowed the inner me out, that I kept her locked inside and tried to ignore her misery. I did it because people like you tell the world that people like me are wrong and we shouldn’t be allowed. I did it because I thought that everyone I knew and cared about felt the same way. Until a few months ago all I had to look forward to was a sort of half-life stuck between two worlds — a caterpillar that’s been told it can never be a butterfly.

“Then when I came here things changed. I didn’t have much of a choice about how they changed, but I found that a lot of what I thought was true, about the way my friends and family would react, was rubbish. The sorts of things people like you say are wrong, and you don’t even realise it because you’re so caught up in your own problems that you don’t take the time to imagine what it must be like to be someone like me.

“Like I said earlier, I’ve spent most of a day in the body of a girl. The feelings are a bit more intense and there are some obvious physical differences, but I don’t feel any more a girl for being like I am right now than I did before I took the polyjuice potion. You say that to be a girl you have to have been born with a girl’s body. I believe that where you are really a girl or a boy is in your heart and soul, and above all your mind.

“I suppose I should thank you for challenging my beliefs. You’ve made me think about them quite deeply, and maybe that’s what I needed and what you provided. I don’t think you can help me anymore, at least not until you’re prepared to question your own beliefs. If ever you are and would like to talk about it, I’ll be waiting on this side of the mirror.”

The woman faded from view leaving the tall, gaunt reflection of Morgana Mulrose. Lori turned away…

… to find the room changed again. This time it looked like a cosy room with a fireplace and wingback armchair. Books lined the walls and, looking a little out of place in one corner, stood the Mirror of Erised.

Lori wasn’t scared of it anymore. If anything, she was curious to see what would look back at her from its surface. She stepped in front of the mirror and saw Morgana Mulrose looking back with an uncharacteristic smile. Beside her Hortensia Skunk stood with her arm around Morgana’s waist and her head leaning on her shoulder. What she saw made Lori smile.

It didn’t last though. The same uncomfortable feeling that had accompanied her transformation into Morgana chose that moment to reappear. She managed to loosen the towels around her before her shorter but broader body reasserted itself.

Once it had, she turned back to the mirror where the pretty little girl version of herself looking back, also wrapped in towels. Lori smiled and the girl smiled back.

“I will find a way to be you one day,” she said quietly.

The girl in the mirror nodded and pointed behind herself at a bookshelf. Lori matched her steps as she walked back to it. Her reflection pointed at the second shelf from the top— a bit of a stretch for her small body, but within easy range of Lori’s slightly taller frame. She counted two books, three, no four books in from the end and pulled down two slim volumes. They were both covered in dust and one in particular definitely appeared to have seen better days.

Lori turned and found the exact same volumes on her own shelf. She removed them and turned back to the mirror. Girl Lori sat in the armchair, her legs dangling over the edge. The tattier of the two volumes lay on the table beside her and she was avidly reading the other.

Lori followed her reflection and sat. The tatty volume went to one side, and she read the cover of the remaining book.

“You and Your Patronus,” she read and opened the cover.

-oOo-

A ray of early morning sunshine roused her. She’d fallen asleep in the armchair with the book less than half read. Her girl self, still wrapped in towels, was standing close to the mirror holding the book open. She approached and tried to read, but the words were all backwards. She managed to decipher the page number and looked it up in her own copy.

“Arresto patronum,” she read out loud. “How to make your Patronus stop.”

The girl in the mirror nodded, smiling encouragingly. She had such a pretty smile it made Lori ache. She flipped through to just past the halfway point and turned the book again.

Once more Lori worked out the page number and looked it up in her own copy.

“Patronum invenire. Instruct your Patronus to seek out something hidden.”

Once more that pretty smile. She turned three more pages and showed the book again.

Lori looked up the third spell. “Patronum maximus. A spell of last resort. May I take this?”

The girl nodded, then tapped on the mirror as Lori turned towards the door. She pointed at Lori who looked down to find herself still wrapped in towels too. She searched for her bag and took her clothes from it, dressing quickly and putting Morgana’s in the bag. Again she turned towards the door and again was stopped by a tapping on the glass. This time the girl pointed at the tatty book she’d left on the table.

Lori picked it up and examined it. The cover was of roughly cured leather and blank. She opened it to a random page and found it filled with untidy handwriting — cramped and angular. It would take more time than she had right now to decipher. Sunrise in the Highlands in January meant she was already late for breakfast.

She thanked her reflection and made her way back through the door. Behind her the bricks rearranged themselves as she hurried down the stairs. Halfway down she passed Professor Mugglewump and Filch’s ghost going the other way. Filch was explaining in great depth what he had encountered the previous night. They ignored her.

Once in the Great Hall she spotted Hortensia sitting apart from the others with a dreamy look on her face. She went to join her, filling her plate with toast and jam as an overwhelming hunger took her.

“You look like you had a good night,” Lori said around a crunchy mouthful.

Hortensia nodded and indicated the Slytherin table where Morgana Mulrose sat in her usual spot, book in front of her, but eyes unfocused and a hint of a smile playing about her lips.

Lori didn’t have time to ask any more questions as Professor McGonagall took her place behind the lectern.

“Good morning everyone,” she announced as soon as the hall quieted. “There’s not a great deal of news to report today. I imagine some of you have already tried writing to your parents and will be aware that none of the owls currently in the owlery is willing to fly into the mist. Nor have there been any owls newly come into Hogwarts from the outside since school started. This has disappointed some of you, I know, but owls are known for their wisdom and I think we can take it as wise counsel that the mist is to be avoided.

“Our communication has not been completely cut off though. The Minister for Magic fire-talked with me last night and I have appraised him of our situation. The ministry has specialists surrounding the mist on the outside and Mr Shacklebolt assures me that he has his best people looking for a way to dispel it. He has instructed me,” she pursed her lips, biting down on her opinion of what she thought about the minister’s instructions, “to do nothing for the time being that might interfere with their efforts. Given the difficulty in communicating, he feels it would be counter-productive for us to seek a solution from the inside while they are doing the same from the outside. We are to sit tight and wait for them to find a way to us.

“So once again we shall arrange for you to take lessons in the morning and take part in a defensive spells practice session in the afternoon. As was the case yesterday, Professors Sprout, Flitwick, and Longbottom will be assisting Madam Pomfrey care for the sick. On that matter I am pleased to announce that there have been no new students succumb to the illness in the last twenty-four hours, and those already under Madam Pomfrey’s care are stabilised, more or less.

“Once again I will ask that students refrain from attempting to visit their friends in either the infirmary or the nursing stations set up in the dormitories. If you wish to help, you should leave your name in the box by the door and a member of the faculty will find you. Please be patient with us as I imagine there will be fewer teachers than volunteers and it will take us a while to get to you all.

“In the meantime, this morning the classes will be divided as follows. First lesson Gryffindor and Ravenclaw will spend with me looking at transfiguration while Hufflepuff and Slytherin will practice low level flying with Madam Hooch.”

“How come we get stuck with the Dufflepuffs again?” Hannah asked from the Slytherin table behind her.

“Miss Nagron, I would thank you to be more respectful towards your fellow students. Though to answer your question, it evens out class sizes since Hufflepuff have most students in the infirmary and Slytherin the fewest.

“One last announcement. There will be short service to commemorate Miss Mitchell shortly before this afternoon’s sessions. Those wishing to attend should come to the training ground fifteen minutes before the afternoon sessions are due to start.”

With the announcement over, Lori turned back to her friend whose grin widened just a little.

“After you left, I dressed Morgana in her clothes and sat her in the same seat she’d been using when we were in Binns’ lesson. When she woke up, I was all apologetic about what I’d done. I owned up to giving her a sleeping draught, but only so I had a chance to talk with her alone. I told her I must have overdone it because she slept all the way through till about four in the morning, maybe something to do with her being so thin, and I told her I fancied her.”

“You didn’t!”

“I did, because I realised yesterday after talking to you that I do. It turns out she’s kind of into me too. We spent the rest of the morning chatting and getting to know each other, then we came here for breakfast. We’re meeting up later to explore things a little further.”

“I’m happy for you. You told her about the detention?”

“Yeah. I told her I’d come with and maybe see if Mugglewump lets us off a little time if we show we’ve made up.”

“God luck with that!”

“Maybe, but at least we get to spend lunch together, even if Mugglewump has us checking inventory like he had me doing yesterday.”

“Any idea how I’m going to get these back to her?” Lori opened her bag to show Morgana’s clothes.

“Just drop them in the laundry. The house elves will sort them out.”

“Even the shoes?”

“They get chucked in all the time. Sometimes by accident, sometimes not.”

“Mum used to say her shoes went missing. Didn’t bother her much; she preferred going barefoot. Okay, I’m going to go do that now, then maybe practice my Patronus for a while. See you in Hooch’s class.”

Lori left, watching her friend exchange a dreamy glance with Morgana. Raphael was in for a major disappointment sometime soon.

Once Lori had dealt with Morgana’s clothes, she headed for Binns’ class where she pulled the Patronus book out of her bag and got to work. She practised casting expecto patronum and arresto patronum in quick succession until she’d mastered bringing the unicorn out and stopping it before it could chase off through the wall. Then ten minutes before the flying class was due to start, she hid the Bloodstone casket under Binns’ desk, brought out her Patronus and commanded it, “Patronum invenire sanguinum lapis arca.” A swish of her wand and an instant later the unicorn was standing knee deep in Binns’ desk, directly over the box.

It was enough. She dismissed the Patronus and turned to the last spell her mirror-self had shown her. It started off by saying, ‘Do not cast this spell unless you absolutely have to.’ She read through the stance and movements and practised them without speaking the words. It was as much as she could do, and she hoped she wouldn’t need it. She was about as ready as she could be.

She slipped out of the History of Magic class and joined the rest of Slytherin and Hufflepuff heading for the courtyard.

A strong hand caught hold of her left arm. “What did you tell her, freak?” Raphael hissed into her ear.

She tried stopping but Raph was that little bit stronger and bulkier than her so pulled her along without difficulty.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she responded. She tried to sound affronted, but she was scared and could hear it in her own voice.

“It had to be you,” he hissed. “It was you last time, so it has to be you this time.” He tried pulling her down a side corridor.

She drew her wand. “Relashio!” she snapped, and he spun away from her, landing a few feet down the corridor on his backside.

He climbed to his feet, shaking his hand to regain some feeling. The look in his eyes was pure murder.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said. “I don’t know what you’re up to and I don’t want to know. Now leave me alone!”

He moved in close, and she couldn’t help flinching. “So how come McGonagall was waiting for me outside the Slytherin common room last night?”

“At a guess you must have done something to tip her off. I certainly had nothing to do with it.” She turned and stalked away, keeping her wand at the ready.

He caught her up, glanced at the wand and decided not to chance his luck. “So how come you weren’t in your dorm last night?”

“How would you know that?”

“I heard Sprout talking about it to McGonagall. You and that Skunk girl, she said. You had to have something to do with it.”

“Look, I still have no idea what you’re talking about. As for Hortensia and me, mind your own business.”

She increased her pace and merged with a group of Hufflepuff girls, one of whom asked her how long she’d been able to cast a Patronus. Raphael stood fuming, choosing not to give chase.

Raph did as he’d been told and kept as far away from Lori as he could during flying practice. It helped that the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins naturally kept to themselves. Beyond that the class was as much of a non-event as usual.

She found a quiet corner during break and continued to study the Patronus book. There were all sorts of spells. A spell to make your Patronus carry a message, a spell to leave it guarding something or someone, a spell to combine your Patronus with someone else’s to make them both stronger. They were all way out of her league, especially the last one, and she was only too happy to have had the less complicated and more useful ones pointed out to her.

When the Clock-tower bell tolled, she joined Hortensia for the short trip to transfiguration class.

“Good morning class,” McGonagall started. “Today I’m going to introduce you to one of my favourite spells.” She pulled out her wand and traced a complicated pattern with it. “Avis,” she said quite firmly and with a loud bang, a spray of tiny, colourful birds emerged from the tip and flew about the room for half a minute before disappearing in multiple puffs of feathers.

Milicent Lattimer raised a tentative hand. “Professor, we haven’t done that much actual magic with Miss Mitchell. It’s all been theory, sort of.”

“Then it’s high time you did a little practical, don’t you think? As an added incentive, I’ll award ten house points each to the first five people to succeed. Now watch again as I go through the motions a little slower.”

Flushed with her recent success with the various Patronus charms, Lori threw herself into the lesson with all her mind and succeeded in being the first to cast the spell.

“Congratulations Lori Scamander,” Professor McGonagall beamed down at her. “Ten points to Hufflepuff, and on an unrelated matter,” her face turned stern, “I would very much like to see you at the end of the lesson if you don’t mind, so please be sure to stay back, won’t you?”