Snow Harrie 5/6
Title: Snow Harrie 5/6
Author: Eriador117
Team:Snitch
Genre(s): Literary/Historical, Crossdressing/Genderbender
Prompt(s):Secrets and Lies
Rating/Warnings/Kinks: AU, sexual situations, crossdressing, genderbending, slash and het sex.
Word Count: approx. 16,600
Summary: Lily has always wanted a baby girl with hair as black as ebony, skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood...
Author Notes/Disclaimers/Betas Loosely based on Snow White with a side order of inspiration from The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling. JK Rowling owns the Potterverse, I just play in it from time to time.
Beta'd by Rakina, thanks so much! Lots of thanks to team_snitch for all their help in wrangling this bunny to something manageable and special thanks to our fearless leader, Joanwilder/Raewhit.



Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6


Snow Harrie Part Five

The months passed and Harrie found himself fitting in well with the seven members of the Weasley family. He was closest to Ron and Ginny, the three of them being around the same age and sometimes it was easy to forget, there in the warmth of the kitchen, that he was ever in any danger. All of the Weasleys were miners, even Ginny, and although Harrie himself had never liked all of the girlish pursuits at the castle, he found it strange that a woman would work in the diamond mines.

Harrie wanted to work to earn his keep too, but Bill and Charlie thought that it would be too dangerous for him to work in the mines. The other miners would be too curious about him, especially if he turned up in a dress like Ginny. So in the end it was agreed that while the others were out at work or away hunting, Harrie would keep the house and cook. Harrie felt much better now that he felt he was doing something to help.

One night, Ron had Harrie try on some of his clothes, but Harrie found the breeches too clinging and uncomfortable as he was so used to dresses and gowns. The shirt was all right, but Harry preferred to keep wearing a dress and not just because he was still pretending to be a woman – he just liked them better than trousers.

Most nights Harrie fell asleep as soon his head hit the pillow, he was so exhausted after all his hard work during the day. It was a different life from his royal status as the castle, but it was a good life and he enjoyed it. There was only one thing spoiling his idyll: he missed Severus and sometimes he just couldn't get to sleep wondering where Severus was and whether or not he knew Harrie was alive. Or had Severus given up hope and was even now arranging a marriage to someone else? Had someone else stolen Severus' heart? Harrie punched his pillows, his teeth bared. No one else could have Severus. Severus was his!

***

Harrie was out in the front yard, with the rugs hanging over a line as he beat the dust from them with a large beater, when he spotted another pedlar approaching. But this one was a young man of about thirty and so he relaxed a little when he realised it wasn't the same old woman as before.

"Hello, Mistress." He tipped his cap to him, brown eyes twinkling in the sun. "It's a fine morning, isn't it?"

Harrie nodded. The air was still quite warm for October and the sunlight was streaming down on them.

"What are you selling?" Harrie asked. Their stock of herbs was running rather low; he had intended on walking to the market later on, but the pedlar might have saved him a trip. "Do you have any sage?"

"It's your lucky day, I do indeed." The pedlar rummaged in his bag and lifted out a bunch of herbs for Harrie to inspect. Harrie sniffed at the sage, surprised at how fresh it was.

"How much?"

"For a girl as pretty as you, two pennies."

Harrie blushed at the compliment, even though he knew he wasn't a girl any longer. He dashed back to the cottage for his money pouch. Bill paid him every week for keeping the house, even though Harrie had protested that his room and board were payment enough.

"I have some new corsets; they're all the rage in the towns. Could I interest you in those?"

"Corsets? What are they?"

The pedlar rummaged through his bag again and brought out the item; it consisted of two parts tied together with laces. "The lady wears it and it accentuates her shape. Here, it would be better if I demonstrate on you."

The pedlar stood behind her and began lacing up the corset at the back. It felt a bit tight and Harrie was struggling for breath.

"No, I don't think I'd be interested. It feels far too tight," Harrie said, his words coming out in ragged gasps. "Stop! You're hurting me!"

But the pedlar didn't listen, he just kept tightening the laces until Harrie's vision swam with red dots and he sank to the ground.

***


Remus knelt in front of the scrying bowl, his body still except for the rapid rise and fall of his chest. Sweat was dripping down his face, but Remus seemed unaware of it. To Severus, the water in the bowl just looked like water, but then Severus had no magic to speak of so that was hardly surprising. The bowl was silver, carved with runes on the outside of it.

Severus had known from the first that when Sirius had returned with Harrie's horse and a heart in his saddlebag that the heart did not belong to his wife – or should it be husband? For a start, the heart was too big. Severus was an experienced hunter and he knew it belonged to a deer, not a human. But the Queen, much to Severus' horror, seemed ecstatic at being given the heart and learning the fact that her child was dead.

At long last, Remus gave a shuddering breath and the water in the bowl rippled as if a wind had blown across it. "I've found Harrie," Remus said, his voice hoarse with misuse. He'd been sitting in front of the bowl for most of the day. Severus rushed to get him some water and a selection of fruit. After scrying, Remus had no appetite for meat or bread, but he could take fruit.

"Harrie is living in the forest with the Weasleys."

"The Weasleys? That name sounds familiar," said Severus.

"Indeed. They were banished from Gryffindor a few years back for practicing sorcery."

"Is Harrie in danger from them?"

Remus sighed at his friend. "No, Severus. Not from them. Not all sorcerers are evil. Surely you have realised that by now?"

"Remus, forgive me. I do indeed know that, I am just worried for Harrie."

"As well you should be," agreed Remus. "I sensed no danger from the Weasleys, but there is a darkness surrounding the woods around their home. Something is watching them, waiting for its chance to strike."

Severus flung open the door to his chamber and instructed the servants to ready the horses. They had no time to lose.

***

"I'm sorry, Bill," Harrie said for what must have seemed the hundredth time.

"Haven't you the sense you were born with? Have you learned nothing from a poisoned comb? You could have died if these laces had stayed on you any longer! What possessed you to trust a stranger? Didn't the pedlar woman scare you enough?"

"But it wasn't her!" Harrie protested. "It was a man."

"But I bet it was the same person," Bill said ominously.

"What? How could it be the same person?"

"There are potions that can change a person's appearance. You cannot trust any stranger," Bill repeated. "There is someone out to kill you; you don't need to make it so easy for them!"

"I'm sorry," Harrie said again, his voice small. All he seemed to do was upset people and he wondered if perhaps he had outstayed his welcome at the Weasley cottage.

"Leave him alone," said Percy. "It was a mistake, we've all made them."

"That's true," said Fred.

"Aye," said his twin, George. "Harrie's learned his lesson, haven't you?"

Harrie nodded. "If you want me to leave, Bill, I will go."

Bill sighed and wrapped Harrie up in a hug. "No, Harrie. I'm sorry if that's what I made you think. I'm just worried about you, we all are. Don't you know how much we love you? You're one of the family now, Harrie. We just don't want to lose you."

"Oh." Harrie felt tears prickling the corners of his eyes. He'd never felt such a sense of belonging before, not even with his own mother and father. His mother had despaired that Harrie was never the young lady she had envisioned as her daughter, and Harrie had the impression that the only reason his father paid any attention to him at all was out of a sense of guilt. Had James known that Harrie had never really been a girl?

"I miss Severus," Harrie said softly.

"I know," Bill said, kissing the top of Harrie's head. "But it would be too dangerous
for you to go to him. As long as most people think you are dead, you will be a lot safer." Bill's words made sense, but they would bring little comfort when Harrie woke in the night to an empty bed.

"So what is the rule, Harrie?" Bill prodded again.

"Let no strangers into the house and accept nothing from them, even if I think it's safe."

"Good."

***

For the next month, Bill made Ron and Ginny stay at home with Harrie just to make sure that Harrie didn't slip up. At first Harrie resented their company, it felt like he was being treated like a child, but they probably resented being his babysitters as well so soon they all made the best of being stuck at the cottage together.

One day, after they had completed all their chores, they were just messing about enjoying a day of autumn sunshine. Ginny was lying on her back and staring up at the clouds, while Ron and Harrie were practicing sword fighting with Bill and Charlie's wooden practice swords.

"Are you hungry?" Ginny asked, distracting Harrie so that Ron was able to wrench the sword out of his hand. "I'll go and see if some of the apples are ready yet."

"Yeah," said Ron, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I could do with one."

Ginny went back to the house for a bowl before she headed into the orchard. It was a while before she returned, by that time Ron and Harrie were too tired to keep practicing, so they were sitting on the benches outside the cottage window. Ginny seemed to be walking funny when she returned, but Harrie assumed it was just because she had a bowl full of apples in her hands and so her bearing was different.

Ron dived into the bowl and bit into a bright green apple, the juice running down his chin. The green ones had always tasted a little bitter to Harrie and he tried to hide his disappointment considering the trouble Ginny had gone to collecting them.

Ginny smiled lopsidedly at Harrie. "I knew you liked the red ones best."

"Oh, thank you!" Harrie took the proffered red apple from Ginny's hand and bit into its sweet flesh. It tasted delicious and he smiled his thanks at Ginny again as he munched contentedly on it. Ginny's features started wavering in and out, as though Harrie was seeing her through ripples of water. Sounds around him were becoming distorted and Harrie felt his tongue swell in his mouth.

"What did you do?" Harrie asked, but all that emerged from his mouth was a strangled grunt. The world around him was dimming and Harrie struggled to breathe. In the shadows of the trees, Harrie saw his mother.

"Harrie!" Ron screamed just before Harrie's world went black.

Continue to Part Six