Finding Heather

Year 3 Chapter 1

Hello all and thank you for reading my fanfiction. This is a story I've wanted to write for a few years now after getting back into the world of lgbtq+ Harry Potter fanfiction. I used to read any story I could find where Harry, by any means possible, became a girl, because that's what I wanted to do. Well, years later I know now that I'm not transgender, but I still have a story I want to tell. This fanfiction will begin during Prisoner of Azkaban and, I certainly hope, will continue all the way through the end of Deathly Hallows, and maybe even beyond. It will adhere fairly closely to canon, at least the major plot points, with only some minor twisting of events or characters to adapt to Harry's growth. Most of the chapters, at least of this and the next book, will take place in between chapters or different events, but where I need to I will "overwrite" a canon chapter.My story begins in Harry's third year, shortly after the quidditch match against Hufflepuff when he loses his Nimbus 2000. I will attempt to notate at the start of each chapter where each chapter falls in the overall story, including any major plot points from the original canon I skipped over rewriting.Obviously the wonderful world of Harry Potter, along with all that comes with it are the property of JK Rowling.

Chapter One

Practice was terrible. It had been almost a week since Gryffindor lost to Hufflepuff and Wood was pushing the team harder than ever. Both of the Weasley twins had complained loudly that with the Christmas holidays between now and their next match, practicing was a waste of time. Harry personally agreed with them, but Wood wouldn't hear any of it. Worst of all for Harry was that without his Nimbus 2000, which had been destroyed by the Whomping Willow, he'd had to choose one of the old school brooms to fly on. For tonight's practice he'd been flying an old Shooting Star, which was about as close to his Nimbus as Hagrid was to a fairy princess. Disgusted and freezing he trooped back up to the castle with the rest of the team after returning the broom to its shed by the pitch and climbed the stairs back to Gryffindor Tower. The Common room was full of students doing their best to finish homework or gossiping about the latest news regarding Sirius Black. Harry saw Ron and Hermione sitting over by a window doing homework, and he waved to them before climbing the stairs to the boy's dormitory. He was very grateful to find it empty. Stripping off his wet quidditch robes he knelt down to his trunk to get a fresh change of clothes out and froze when he opened the lid. There, on the top layer of the trunk, where his freshly cleaned robes were always put was a Gryffindor girl's uniform. Harry slammed the lid shut so quickly in surprise he caught his thumb on the lip. Swearing loudly and looking around to make that sure that he was really alone he reopened the trunk slowly. Sure enough, that was a girl's uniform. Robes, sweater, shirt and tie, skirt, even the black tights, all neatly folded on top of his normal robes. He had no idea how it had come to be there and wondered if it were actually real. Tentatively reached out to pick up the sweater."Bloody hell, this is Lavender's" he whispered as he read the tag in the back of the neck. There on the little piece of cloth was "L. Brown. 3rd Year, Gryffindor."Harry's mind was racing. How did Lavender's uniform end up in his trunk? Had the castle made a mistake when it returned the laundry? Harry still didn't have a clue how that happened, or was this someone's idea of a prank? He quickly checked the rest of the freshly cleaned clothes that had been returned and did find the two sets of robes he had put into the laundry chute the day before folded under the girl's uniform. He grabbed one of his jumpers and a pair of jeans before closing the lid to the trunk and locking it. Panic started to rise inside of him. He dashed to the shower so he could get the grime of quidditch practice off of him and take time to think. He knew he couldn't just give the uniform back to Lavender, not only would he have to explain how he had gotten it, but also Lavender was one of the biggest gossips in the school. He didn't need her misunderstanding and telling everyone that Harry liked to steal girl's clothes. He could ask Hermione, he thought he toweled his hair dry, but that would still mean a very awkward conversation. Unbidden from the back of Harry's mind came a memory from when he was very young. Years ago, before he'd learned he was a wizard, he had been a small boy who had been given the chore of doing the laundry by his aunt and uncle. He had maybe been seven at the time, and so old enough that his Aunt had decided he needed to be more useful. He had been folding her clothes in the guest bedroom, listening to Dudley play a video game in his second bedroom, when he found a very soft dress of his aunts. He couldn't explain why but he really liked how it felt and even he thought it looked pretty when Aunt Petunia wore it. Harry remembered how he had walked over to the mirror in the corner of the room and held it up against his small body and wondered what it would feel like to wear a pretty dress like this. Over the weeks that followed, he had spent a lot of time looking at the pretty dresses and clothes that other girls who went to school with him wore and wished that he could wear them too. Then one night his Uncle had come home from work all in a rage and spent nearly half an hour ranting at dinner about "Those weirdo's". Now, his uncle used the term "weirdo", or worse, for anyone who didn't act "normal", but this rant was directed at the men who liked to dress as women. His words had rung in Harry's head that night, making him feel sad. Lying in his cupboard he had promised himself that he wouldn't ever think about being a girl or dressing pretty ever again. Staggering slightly as the memory and those feelings overwhelmed him, Harry pulled the towel off his head and looked at himself in the mirror. He was still rather scrawny no matter how much he piled on his plate during meal times. "I can't be all that different in size to Lavender" he thought, although he did notice two very distinct physical differences between them. He held up a hand to his hair, which even wet from the shower still stuck out in any direction but down and ran his fingers through it wondering how it might look if it was longer. Maybe he'd look girly if he did that. Through the closed bathroom door, Harry heard the door into the dormitory open and Seamus and Dean came walking in. Dean was trying to convince Seamus to give Football another chance. Harry dressed quickly and tried his best to quick walk back to his trunk to make sure it was locked without being too obvious about it. It was, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking about all the homework he had to do, including a rather nasty assignment from Snape, he made up his mind to keep Lavender's uniform hidden in his trunk until he could figure out what he wanted to do with it. He quickly picked up his bag and slipped down to the Common Room. That night, once everyone was fast asleep, he slipped out of bed and quietly moved the uniform underneath his invisibility cloak. He quickly forgot that it was there.