“I’ll see you in the Great Hall, Hailey,” Dora said, looking at her with an excited smile on her face as she stepped up and hugged her. “Now, remember, don’t fall in the lake and drown, and leave the giant squid alone. Okay, bye!”

Hailey stood there shocked for a moment, before shaking her head. “Wait… what?!” She shouted after Dora’s rapidly retreating back, moments before it vanished into the crowd of Hogwarts students. 

“First years! Come to me first years!”

A true giant of a man, holding a lantern and standing well above even the tallest of the kids that Hailey could see, was shouting above the noisy students departing the even noisier steam train. 

As thunder rumbled in the distance, Hailey sighed as she turned away from where Dora had gone. “I’m going to put some of that giggle dust she gave me for my birthday in her cereal in the morning,” she grumbled. 

“Come on. We have to go this way,” Hermione said, tugging Hailey’s arm in the direction of the voice. 

Hailey’s eyes went wide. “That’ll be Hagrid!” She exclaimed, suddenly remembering what Dora had told her. 

“Oh, the groundskeeper you told me about?”

Ron and Neville suddenly appeared behind them through the crowd as they made their way towards Hagrid, Hailey nodding to Hermione. “Oh yeah! My brothers told me about him,” Ron said excitedly. 

With nervous excitement, the four students arrived at the group of other kids roughly the same age, looking up anxiously at the giant man looming above them. 

As they stopped, Hailey saw that Hagrid was even bigger up close. He was wearing an overcoat that had far too many pockets in random places and an incredibly long and wild beard. Hagrid was muttering something to himself, looking at each student in turn. “Okay! Now that everyone is here, we can begin.” The giant pointed over his shoulder towards the castle in the distance. “First year’s get the pleasure of sailing across the lake in these little boats. But don’t worry, you just sit in them, they sail themselves. Now remember, four to a boat, no more than that. And no shoving or running, got it?” Hagrid’s voice was gruff with a fairly thick accent. 

After a brief pause, Hagrid spoke again, “Right, you lot. Let’s go.” Turning around quickly with his lantern swinging wildly and nearly hitting a black haired boy, Hagrid walked off at a fast pace, made even worse by the fact that he was so much taller than the students. 

Night had truly fallen and with the overcast sky, visibility was poor. Hailey pulled out her wand. “Lumos,” she whispered, smiling in delight as the tip of her wand lit up in a cool white light, revealing her surroundings. Hermione soon followed her example, with some of the other kids attempting the spell too. 

Pulling up short, Hailey nervously eyed the small boats docked along the pier. Seeing her hesitation, Hermione stepped up close to her. “Are you okay, Hailey?”

Shaking her head, Hailey leaned closer to Hermione. “I can’t swim. I never learned how.”

“It’s okay, we’ll just take our time, and be extra careful, okay? I won’t let you go for a single moment.”

Hailey nodded, giving Hermione a nervous smile and squeezed her offered hand gently. 

As Hailey, Hermione, Ron and Neville got into a boat together, Hailey desperately clung to her best friend, trying to steady her breathing and rapid heart rate.

True to her word, Hermione held Hailey’s hand the entire trip, then for a little while afterwards until her pulse normalised as they walked up the steps and into the castle. “Thanks, Hermione,” she whispered, giving Hermione’s hand a gentle squeeze. 

Hermione smiled. “You’re welcome.”

Hailey breathed in deep as she felt a strange sensation all around her. Magic. It had to be, she could feel it sinking into her like what happened when Dora or Andi hugged her. For a moment it was almost overwhelming, liking being fed for the first time after weeks of nothing. Or more like stepping into a warm room after being out in the cold all of your life. 

Hagrid left them standing near a staircase, in front of a very large, closed wooden doorway. After grumbling at them to stay there, he strode off. 

Someone, an extremely blonde haired boy snorted as he pointed a finger at Hagrid’s back. “I can’t believe that oaf is still working here,” he said, shaking his head as two overally large dark-haired boys flanked him, sniggering at his words. 

Hailey strode up to him, glaring at the boy. “Hey! That’s not a nice thing to say about someone you don’t even know!” 

The three boys stopped laughing, the smaller blonde one glared at her, and his companions cracked their knuckles threateningly. 

His voice was cold and haughty as he looked down at her. “What did you say to me?”

“Are you deaf as well as rude?” Hailey replied, trying to not roll her eyes. 

The boy crossed his arms. “Do you know who I am?”

Hailey finally relented and rolled her eyes. “How would I know that? First time I’ve had the misfortune to meet you.”

“I am Draco Malfoy. Not that I’d expect you to know anything about your betters.”

Immediately, Hailey’s expression went from determined to compassionate. “Oh, I’m so sorry. If you ever want to talk, know that you can always come to me, okay?”

Draco’s face went bright red with anger as he glared at her. “How dare you insult my family, mudblood!”

There was a collective gasp around the room from the students, with some giggling while others started shouting. Ron, unsurprisingly to Hailey, was one of the most adamant at yelling at Malfoy. 

Hailey spotted Professor McGonagall a moment later as she rounded a corner. “And, what exactly is going on here?” She said, looking at everyone sternly. 

“Malfoy called Hailey a mudblood, Professor,” Ron immediately shouted, just as Malfoy spoke up as well. 

“She insulted my family!”

Rolling her eyes, Hailey huffed. “I did not!”

“Enough! You will all conduct yourselves as Hogwarts students are meant to. With dignity and respect. Which also means that students will not insult one another.” McGonagall glared at Malfoy for a moment. “Now, if you have all finished, follow me.”

The Professor turned on her heels after glowering at everyone for a moment. Striding up to the door, McGonagall didn’t even stop as the door creaked open on its own with a loud bang. 

Hailey wasn’t alone in gasping out loud as she saw the Great Hall for the first time. The hall was massive, with four gigantic tables running parallel down the room. Hundreds of candles floated in the air, illuminating all of the students in black school robes with the colour accents of their house. She could see four flags hanging over each table. Each flag bore the house colour and emblem, and above them, Hailey could see the storm clouds high above the castle, the roof was enchanted to be see-through. 

At the far end of the room, Hailey could see another table that was elevated and positioned so the adults sitting there could see all of the students. A strangely dressed man in colourful robes with a long silver beard sat in the middle, a proud indulgent smile on his face. 

“That’s Dumbledore! Said to be the greatest wizard in the world!” Ron exclaimed to Neville – who nodded, pointing towards the colourfully dressed man as they walked down between the four tables, towards a stool with a very old hat sitting on it. Hailey frowned as she watched the man who had condemned her to a life of misery with her aunt and uncle. 

McGonagall stopped, leaving a distance between them and the teacher’s table, before she turned around and looked at the first years. “Now, children, when I call your name, you are to walk over to the stool and sit on it. I will place the Sorting Hat on your head, and it will place you in one of the four houses. The houses are separated by their colour and emblem, as you can see, each table has the flag of their respective house high above. Green is for Slytherin, Yellow for Hufflepuff, Purple for Ravenclaw, and Red for Gryffindor.

“Stay here until your name is called. After you have been sorted, go directly to your new house table and sit down. Is that clear?”

A half hearted chorus of, “Yes,” answered the professor. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she gave the group a stern look. “It is, yes, Professor McGonagall!”

A chorus of “Yes, Professor McGonagall” rang out as the entire group answered. 

Glancing at everyone for a moment more, McGonagall nodded her head, before turning on her heel and walking to the stool. Pulling out an old style scroll that appeared to be too big for her pocket, the Professor began to read from the list. 

“Abbot, Hannah!”

A red headed girl squeaked and gulped, and took a deep breath before she nervously walked up to Professor McGonagall. Minerva picked up the old ratty hat, and placed it on Hannah’s head as soon as she had settled herself. 

After several moments of almost dead silence as Hannah sat with her looking around nervously, while her head was completely swamped in the large hat, a rip opened up just above the bottom. “Hufflepuff!”

It called out, startling Hailey, before loud cheering could be heard coming from the Hufflepuff table. Hailey smiled as she saw Dora flashing her hair yellow and black, cheering louder than anyone else. Hailey gasped and clapped in excitement as Hannah’s robes changed to the Hufflepuff colours, she wasn’t the only one, as several others pointed and let out various noises of startlement or excitement. 

“Bones, Susan!”

A brown haired girl that reminded Hailey of Amelia stepped forward, clearly nervous but attempting to hide it and walked to the hat. After calling out, “Hufflepuff!” again, and the Hufflepuff table cheering once more, the sorting became smoother, as the first years gained confidence in the process. 

Eventually, after what felt like ages, Professor McGonagall called out, “Granger, Hermione!”

Hailey whispered hastily “You’ve got this,” before taking Hermione’s hand to give her encouragement. 

With a nervous squeak, Hermione squeezed Hailey’s hand tightly, before letting go and walking towards the stool. She had barely sat down with the hat before the rip opened again. “Ravenclaw!”

Cheering along with the Ravenclaws, Hailey felt a tension form as she began to worry that she’d be placed in Slytherin, or any house that her friend wasn’t. Ron had told them, backed up by Dora, that the Slytherin house had had more dark mages than any other house combined. She just wanted to be in the same house as Hermione. 

Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin and Neville went into Hufflepuff, looking dejected, after several more people were sorted into the various houses, Pansy Parkinson was called out and placed into Slytherin. Hailey’s stomach clenched and she felt like she had swallowed butterflies as it was apparent her name would be called soon. 

Patil, Parvati, Patil, Padma, Perks, Sally-Anne, were all called one by one. Until finally… 

“Potter, Hailey!”

Hailey took a deep breath and stepped forward. The entire hall had fallen silent, as she walked to the sorting hat. Refusing to look anywhere but where she was going, Hailey dimly registered Dumbledore leaning back in his seat, a look of confusion on his face. From up close, she could see he had a long nose with moon shaped glasses perched on top, his eyes twinkled as if he was moments away from contagious laughter. His whole look screamed pleasant and friendly. Too bad for him, she knew him for the snake he really was. 

Everything went dark as the sorting hat was placed on her head, and promptly slid down to cover her eyes. 

“Well now, this is a surprise. I have not had the pleasure, and challenge, of reading a mind of one such as you since the founding of Hogwarts.”

The words whispered into her mind, coming in and out of focus like when Hailey had had to find the correct channel for Uncle Vernon’s favourite radio station. 

Speaking quietly, Hailey replied. “Wait, you’ve sorted a Fae before, is that what you mean?”

A quiet chuckle whispered into her ear, and suddenly Hailey could feel foreign thoughts in her mind, like a hand sifting through a filing cabinet. Panicking at the sensation, she began to mentally flail at it. After the hat let out a pained grunt, the hand vanished. 

“Please, calm yourself, Hailey. That was me that you felt. It is how I find out which house to place you in.”

Hailey looked at her hands, or would have if she could have seen them. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. I felt something and panicked. Couldn’t you just ask me which house I want to go in?”

Another quiet chuckle sounded out, sounding more genuine than the last. “I could, but reading the mind is a far more accurate way of discovering which would be the best fit. Please, just relax and everything will be fine.”

Shivering at the memory of what the presence had felt like, Hailey shook her head. “Please, I just want to join my friend Hermione in Ravenclaw.”

Hailey was certain that the hat was just barely keeping contact as she felt a very light touch on her mind, bracing herself for the horrible sensation that never came, she started to relax. After what felt like several minutes, the hat finally responded. “Ravenclaw? Yes, I can see being a good fit for that lot. If that is your choice?” Hailey nodded vigorously. “Very well… Ravenclaw!” The last word had been shouted out as Hailey heard a hesitant cheer of her new house. Blinking as the hat was suddenly lifted up off of her head, Hailey looked down in amazement, her robes fluttering as if in a strong wind, before they rippled and changed from plain black to the Ravenclaw House colours. 

Slowly making her way to the table, Hailey noticed a hush as fall as McGonagall looked at the scroll again. 

“Rivers, Oliver!”

As she walked, she noticed a lot of students and some of the adults looked surprised, many glancing at her with confused expressions. Hailey noticed Dumbledore looked livid for a moment, before he hid it behind a friendly smile. 

Suddenly, Hailey was smothered in big bushy hair as Hermione jumped up from her seat and hugged her. “Hailey! We did it! We’re in Ravenclaw!” She squealed in excitement, jumping up and down as she hugged Hailey. 

Hailey sat on a bench seat as soon as Hermione let her go, noticing as she did so, many of the people on her table and every table, in fact were glancing at her oddly. 

Padma Patil, wearing Ravenclaw robes slid a little closer to Hailey’s left side, smiling at her and Hermione. Holding out her hand to shake, she greeted them. “Hi, I’m Padma Patil. You’re Hailey Potter, and Hermione Granger, correct?”

Shaking Padma’s hand, Hailey smiled at her warmly, before letting go and leaning back so Hermione could reach. “Yep! That’s me, err, us!” She said, blushing. 

Giggling, Padma shook Hermione’s hand, before her eyes widened as she saw Hailey’s scar. “Wow, so you’re actually really him, Harry Potter?”

Frowning, Hailey tried not to wince as she heard several gasps from Ravenclaws as they listened in, before they started whispering to each other. This was probably going to come up until she could convince the magical world that they were wrong about Hailey being the ‘Boy-Who-Lived’, especially the boy part. 

“My name is Hailey Potter, I am a girl. The doctors got my gender wrong at birth.”

Padma frowned, looking confused. “How can that happen?”

Hailey shrugged. “I’m not a doctor, but I don’t think they know how either. Basically, I was born in the wrong body.” She smiled happily at the table. “Thankfully, my body seems to be correcting itself.” Hailey had been getting some discomfort in her chest, hips and even some mild twinges in her groin and had thought she could see little bumps on her chest, although she thought the last one was probably just wishful thinking on her part. 

Another Ravenclaw, a blonde haired girl, spoke up with a look of utter fascination on her face. “Were you cursed? Or was your bloodline cursed? And how is your body correcting itself? How did you know your body was wrong?” Hailey lifted her hand up as the girl took in a breath, but before she could speak, Hermione spoke up. 

“It’s statistically improbable that it was a bloodline curse. Especially since muggles know about it too.”

A dark haired older girl looked at Hailey, her eyes widening in realisation. “Oh!”

The blonde girl turned to look at the dark haired one. “Yes? What is it, Penelope?”

Biting her bottom lip, Penelope glanced at Hailey with a guilty look on her. “I’m sorry, but I have to ask, are you… transgender?” She whispered the last word. 

Hailey nodded slowly. Her and Hermione had done their research on it over the last few weeks before school had started, and both had realised that her being famous meant that she couldn’t just come out and say she’s a girl without an explanation. 

They had discussed with Andi what to do, and she had mentioned several options, and had given Hailey the choice. The first was to claim that they had falsified her gender and name in order to protect her, but with Hailey’s physical struggle to even lie, that one was tenuous at best. The second one was to say as little as possible, and allow the magical community to formulate their own narrative, which Andi pointed out was extremely dangerous if they came to a negative conclusion, as is too often the case in muggle media involving people who were transgender. 

Hailey and Hermione and discovered a really nasty famous person that was extremely transphobic, and had been trying to convince everyone that being transgender was an excuse to prey on women. Which horrified them both, that someone could think that way. Hailey couldn’t help but wonder about people who thought that. 

The third and final option that Andi had put forth was for Hailey to tell the truth, in a way that formed a positive narrative for her. It wouldn’t pacify everyone of course, but hopefully enough that Hailey wouldn’t have too much issue with people. She had to laugh at that one, her whole life had been an issue to at least three people. This wasn’t going to be any different, except now she had friends and people who loved her. 

Unexpectedly, Penelope gave her a soft, encouraging smile. “My cousin is openly trans as well. He was so incredibly excited when his beard first started growing.” Her smile morphed into a fond one at whatever she was remembering. “I’m Penelope, by the way. Penelope Clearwater,” she said, offering her hand to Hailey to shake. 

Taking her hand and shaking it, Hailey replied, “Hailey, as you know,” she gave Penelope a small smile. 

Hermione and Padma both greeted Penelope as Hailey turned away, feeling a prickling on the back of her neck, like someone was staring at her intensely. Looking around, she saw the occasional glance or glare her way, but nothing that warranted what she was feeling. The feeling vanished the moment she looked up at the teacher’s table. Three separate men looked away from her the second she glanced their way. Professor Dumbledore was engaged in an in-depth discussion with a man wearing all black, with what appeared to be greasy black hair, nothing looking away from her at the same time. 

The third observer was a strange timid looking man wearing a purple turban, who peeked at her after a moment's hesitation. Dropping his gaze, Hailey looked away, only to see Dora showing off to a crowd of Hufflepuff’s with her animal features trick. Shaking her, Hailey grinned, as she saw the perfect moment for revenge from earlier for the lake comment, surreptitiously, she took out her wand and pointed it at Dora. “Titillatio,” she whispered. 

Dora’s reaction was immediate and more than Hailey could have imagined. She jerked and squealed, falling off of her seat, thankfully unharmed as she giggled like mad. Hailey was laughing too hard to continue the tickling spell that her sister herself had taught her, and it ended abruptly. Sitting up slowly, Dora glanced over and saw Hailey laughing with tears on her face. Glaring, Dora mouthed, “It’s on now, little girl,” as several of the people at her table helped her up. 

Smirking and poking her tongue out at her sister, Hailey turned back to her table, “What?” She asked, puzzled at all of the slack jawed looks on her fellow Ravenclaws. Hermione just sighed and facepalmed.