Period Troubles

After Harry asked Hermione what she meant by girl stuff, Hermione looked exasperated and took Harry by the hand, leading her back to the dormitory.

"Take your trousers off." Hermione's voice echoed through the empty bathroom.

Harry's fingers froze at her waistband.

Ever since being reborn, she had deliberately ignored the changes in her body.

Every day, she mechanically put on her school robes, closed her eyes when she bathed, and even refused to wear the little underpants with cute bows that Aunt Petunia had stuffed into her suitcase.

"Hurry up," Hermione said, stamping her foot impatiently. "The blood's going to dry!"

...What blood? What was going to dry?

Harry finally realized what Hermione meant, and the tips of her ears burned red.

Although she knew rationally that she and Hermione were now the same sex, her memories of having been male for nearly twenty years before her rebirth made her uncomfortable all over. The tiled walls of the bathroom were as cold as ice in winter, yet she was covered in sweat.

"I... I'll do it myself." Harry grabbed the clean clothes and practically fled into a stall.

"Wait!" Hermione suddenly called after her, her brown eyes wide. "You didn't bring any sanitary pads?"

"Sanitary what?" Harry blinked blankly.

The two girls stared at each other.

Hermione's expression went from shock to confusion, finally settling on a kind of helpless pity.

She let out a long sigh and rummaged through her suitcase.

"Listen." Hermione pressed a pink package into her hands, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Stick this to your knickers and change it every four hours." Her instructions were detailed enough to make Harry blush. "It might hurt a little the first time. Drink some hot chocolate."

Harry nodded mechanically, her head buzzing.

When she finally stood alone in the stall, the icy tiles pressed against her burning back. Her fingers trembled as she undid her trouser button. The bloodstains had dried brown.

Harry stared at the sanitary pad in her hand. Ridiculous cartoon flowers decorated the wrapper.

When she finally shuffled out of the stall, Hermione handed her a steaming cup of cocoa. Harry sat down stiffly, her legs pressed together unnaturally. The little pad felt like a branding iron, constantly reminding her of the changes in her body. Worse still, unfamiliar cramps came in waves from her lower abdomen.

"You'll get used to it." Hermione patted her shoulder, her voice suddenly gentle. "My mum said this is part of becoming a woman..."

"Stop!" Harry sprang to her feet, knocking over the cocoa.

The brown liquid spread across the floor, looking just like the bloodstains in the Forbidden Forest.

Hermione stepped back in surprise.

Only then did Harry realize she had lost her composure, but she simply couldn't explain it-how could she tell her friend that she was going through an absurd identity crisis? That she hadn't always been a girl, but had once been a boy?

Harry stared at her reflection in the glass: messy red hair, wrists that were too slender... She abruptly looked away.

"Thank you." In the end, she couldn't explain and could only say stiffly, "I'm going to change my trousers."

After changing her trousers, Harry, exhausted in both body and mind, flung herself onto the bed.

When she jolted awake from a muddled sleep and threw back the covers, the glaring dark red stains on the hem of her light-colored pajamas and the bedsheet made her gasp. An unfamiliar cramp spread from her lower abdomen to her lower back, nearly bringing her to her knees.

"You need to learn to use magical tampons." Hermione's voice came from the doorway. She was already dressed, with thick textbooks in her arms. She set down a small cloth bag embroidered with violets. "There are instructions inside."

Harry opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

She hadn't felt this helpless even when facing Dementors in her previous life. Hermione considerately said nothing more and gently closed the door.

The dormitory was frighteningly quiet. Harry stared at her hands.

These hands had once held the Sword of Gryffindor, and now they trembled as they clutched a package of feminine products.

It took her three tries to cast the cleaning spell successfully. The drops of water splashed on the floor reflected her distorted image.

The sunlight in the Great Hall hurt her eyes.

Harry mechanically stuffed bread into her mouth, then suddenly noticed someone looking at her from the Slytherin table. She looked over instinctively and saw Draco Malfoy staring at her. The moment she raised her head, his gray-blue eyes darted away in a panic, but the tips of his ears turned red before her eyes.

He must have asked someone he knew about periods!

Harry stabbed her fork viciously into a sausage.

Ron dropped a mint into his Pumpkin Juice. "By the way, the whole school knows you've got your period. Malfoy came over this morning and had a row with us. He said he'd come to bring you brown sugar and ginger, and that girls in eastern countries drink it when they're on their periods. Merlin, you have no idea. It smelled almost as bad as Snape's potions."

Harry's face instantly turned redder than Ron's hair.

She swore she would hit a Bludger into Malfoy's face at the next Quidditch Match.

The Potions Class dungeon was colder and damper than usual.

As Harry added Porcupine Quills to her Swelling Solution, a sharp pain suddenly shot through her abdomen, and she accidentally knocked over her mortar. Snape strode quickly to her desk, the wind from his black robes snuffing out the flame beneath her cauldron.

He stared at Harry's pale lips for two seconds, then waved his wand and summoned a steaming cup of cocoa.

Harry looked up in confusion and met his obsidian eyes. Snape's expression was as gloomy as ever, but the lines around his mouth seemed to have softened.

"Drink it," he said stiffly.

Harry held the warm cup, steam fogging her glasses.

She was in an absolutely foul mood.

At that moment, it suddenly occurred to her that perhaps the worst part of being reborn as a girl wasn't the monthly trouble, but that the whole world would know she had it.

When the bell rang, half the cocoa was still left.

Harry was surprised to find that her cramps had eased considerably.

After Potions Class, Harry slowly packed her schoolbag.

Although the cramps in her abdomen had eased somewhat, she could still feel an irritating, dull ache with every step.

Hermione considerately carried half her books for her, and the three of them made their way slowly along the dungeon corridor.

"Do you want to get some painkillers from the Hospital Wing?" Hermione asked quietly.

"No." Harry gritted her teeth and shook her head. She really didn't want to draw any more attention over this.

As they rounded a corner, a flash of platinum suddenly caught her eye. Draco Malfoy was leaning alone by a window, apparently waiting for someone. At the sight of Harry and her companions, he instinctively straightened up, his gray-blue eyes quickly sweeping over Harry's pale face.

"Potter." He drew out the word. "The bloodstain on your trousers last night was from your period, wasn't it?"

Ron immediately stepped in front of Harry. "What's it to you, Malfoy?"

Unexpectedly, Draco didn't retort. His gaze lingered on Harry for a second before he suddenly pulled a small paper packet from his pocket and tossed it to her.

"Ginger candy from Crabbe's little sister," he said, feigning nonchalance. "Apparently it helps with... er... stomachaches."

Harry caught the packet in a daze. When her fingertips touched it, the tips of Draco's ears turned red before her eyes.

He hurriedly turned and left.