“Hey Maddy! Check out this neat letter I got!”
A discomforting shiver went down her spine at that name, she hated it. She had no idea why, but her name never had seem to fit. “I told you to call me Madds, dad, you know I don’t like when you call me that…” She had always felt that she was born into the wrong gender, but her body was female, and so was she.
“Right sorry” her dad said placatingly.
“Anyway, are you going to open it?”
Madeline asked, curious as to what was in such a strange parcel.
“Yeah, wanna watch?” Said her father, with all the excitement of a kid on the first night of Chanukah.
“Sure!” She replied, mirroring his enthusiasm as she moved from her chair to peer curiously over his shoulder.
He looked at the front of the envelope with the spidery green writing, and slowly turned it over, carefully removed the wax seal with a sharp knife and set it aside. He slid his thumb underneath the flap and opened it. The thick parchment pleasing to feel, and he paused to thumb the fancy paper. Madds was nearly vibrating with anticipation, “Dad, are you going to read the letter?” She asked, trying to hint at him to get moving.
“Hmm? Oh yeah! Sorry maddy-s…” He pulls out the letter, and reads it to himself.
‘To the parent of a Madeline grey, she does not know quite yet, and tell her not, but she is not a she. She would be much happier as a he, and will only accept this if she figures this out herself. She has been invited to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, send back an owl by no later than…’ Mr grey stopped reading, he was very confused, and quickly hid the letter from Madeline’s prying eyes.
“Nothing special, just a trick letter from a fake magic school, they really went all out on paper huh.” He said to diffuse tension.
Madeline blinked once, shrugged and went off to read her book on advanced mathematics and quantum theory. Quite a genius that one.
Several days later, Madeline received her own letter, and discarded it immediately. It continued until about the 1000th one, however accompanying the letter was one Rubius Hagrid, so she and her dad sent back an owl confirming her enrollment, with a mention of concern for madelines continued study in the fields of math and science. A letter was received not ten days after they sent the first letter, acknowledging those concerns, and arranging accommodations for her interests. She and her dad then packed up and went to London to find the leaky cauldron, and, once the correct permutation of bricks were tapped, they entered diagon alley. Gazing in awe at the strange world they stepped into, Madeline and her father quickly got her school supplies and ticket to Hogwarts. Once school started, after dealing with the sorting hat who was very very strange, Madeline was more and more uncomfortable in her own skin, hating her soft girlish face, and long flowing black hair. She loved how long and thick her lashes were, and how they framed her bright green eyes that always shine with an intelligent curiosity that usually got her into trouble, but hated how people always commented on how feminine they were.
After a few weeks of school she overheard several upperclassmen talking about something that she had never heard of before: the fact that you don’t have to stay with the body you were born with, that it was in fact possible to be born into the wrong body. She stopped dead, and immediately turned around staring at the upperclassmen with shock on her face.
They didn’t notice her until she was three feet from their circle, “yes?” They asked confused, why was a first year looking at them like that?
“Is it true?” Madds asked, awestruck, the possibilities flying around her head.
“Is what true?” The hufflepuff asked.
“Can you be born into the wrong gender, the wrong body? For real?” She questioned breathlessly, hoping that she hadn’t misheard. The other students looked amused, and they were all smiling, they all sat on the curved bench that was set into the nearby wall and gestured for her to do the same, she did, facing them.
The Slytherin was the first to talk, “yeah, that’s what happened to me. When I was born, I was perfectly healthy, but when I was growing up I knew something wasn’t right, my body was the wrong gender for my brain.” The green clad student continued, “so I talked to my parents and we got it fixed. Now my body matches what my brain thinks it should be.” The other students nod and pat the student that spokes back.
“Is there a name for that?” Madds wondered aloud, curiously.
The hufflepuff answered this question, “yeah! It’s called being transgendered” and the Slytherin and Gryffindor nodded, humming their assent. At this moment though the bell rang, causing them all to yelp and race to class. But before they parted ways, they all have madds a way to talk to them again.
She couldn’t concentrate during transfiguration that day, and caused a huge mess, prompting professor McGonagal to ask her to stay after class to talk.
“What is the matter ms grey? You’re never this distracted!” The woman commented aghast as her star pupil cleared up fragments of the book she had been instructed to turn into a glass and back again, flinching at the title.
“Did you know that you could be born into a body that’s the wrong gender?” Madds asked her professor, “cause I didn’t…”
“Madeline, what are you talking about? How is this relevant to the matter at hand?” McGonagal asked, confused as to why this was being shared, and why do you keep flinching at your own name!“
"I, uh… I think I may be transgendered…” Madds continued, in a small voice, her hands pausing as they hovered over a shard of paper that had a drawing of full body transfiguration. “I don’t think that I’m a girl professor… But, my body is… What do I do?” Madeline turned her bright green eyes towards her head of house.
“Let’s get you to madam pomfrey.” McGonagal said succinctly, “my classroom is hardly a place for this. Reparo!” The last bit was directed at the book fragments that weren’t yet gathered, making them all move single file until the book was whole again. Together, they both went towards the medicine wing.
“Minerva, what’s wrong?” The plump nurse asks as the professor walks through the door with madds in tow, “What is it?”
“Young Madeline has a bit of a dilemma, I’ll let her tell you.” McGonagal said, gesturing madds forward and giving her shoulder an in outraging squeeze.
She steeled herself, gathering her breath to squeak out these words; “I think I’m transgendered…”
“Well that’s an easy enough fix”, madam pomfrey informs the first year, “first of all, what will your new name be, assuming you want to transition. Think hard now, as this will most likely be your name for the rest of your life. Also, sit on it for a while. Try out names, try out the pronouns. If you feel better having done so, come back, I’ll start you on the potions to change your gender.” The kindly nurse stated, “now go to bed, it’s getting late.”
Madds went to bed confused but feeling better than, he, had felt in a while. When he woke up, it was still dark out, and he had come to a decision. Sneaking quietly into the bathroom, he took his wand and cut off his hair. He took a shower, got dressed and went to the great hall without waking his friends. His changed appearance drew stares and cries from those who noticed. Madds felt his ears burning, and quickly sat at the Gryffindor table. As he ate, his friends came in, and stared. They came up to him and ran through the normal questions, why? Why? Why? And why? And then informed him that it looked nice, though “you look like a boy now”. He couldn’t have been happier. For two days he wondered about his name, he hated Madeline, maddy and madds, but couldn’t think of something to call himself. So he asked his friends.
Approaching them in the common room, he tried to ask nonchalantly, “Hey guys? If I was a guy, what would my name be?” They looked at him a bit funny.
“Why?” They asked.
“Because,” he answered, “I’m curious.”
“Hmm that’s hard, you could be a Peter, or a Michael.” One of his friends, Clara, supplied.
“Or a Charles or Charlemagne…” Another one, Lucy, piped in.
“Maybe a Sam, or Samuel, Samson or samandriel…” Clara added.
“Max, maybe Maximilian…” His third friend, Tessa, offered.
He stared at Tessa, “I like that one.”
They all looked confused, “why did you want to know again?” Clara asked.
He shrugged, “cause I need a new name. I don’t like Madeline.”
“Why not? It’s a good name.” Tessa questioned, still in the dark about his new found gender.
“Cause it’s a girls name that’s why,” the newly named Maximilian stated matter of factly.
They looked at him, glanced at each other and said in sinc, “but you are a girl.” he scowled in response.
“Nope, I’m transgendered. I’ve been stuck in the wrong body my entire life,” Max explained, “my brain knows that I should be a boy, but my body isn’t a Boys body.”
They all furrowed their eyebrows, and max started to panic, what if he lost their friendship? Then Lucy spoke, “that explains a lot,” She said as the others nodded, “but why didn’t you told us earlier, and why aren’t you in the boys dorms?” The blond haired Gryffindor questioned.
“I didnt know it was a possibility until 3 days ago. And I haven’t transitioned yet, so I have to stay in the dorm I was assigned until McGonagal figures out what to do.”
They all nodded, satisfied. “So do you want us to use he pronouns and call you max?” Clara asked for clarification. He nodded and they all agreed to try their hardest.
The next couple months went by achingly slowly. Max wanted to be damn sure he wouldn’t change his mind, and he didn’t. Everyone except for a few bigots were accepting, and whenever there were slip ups, people apologized profusely and then corrected themselves. Which honestly max could do without, but at least they corrected themselves. After max had made sure of his decision he was in his third year and nothing had changed. But he knew puberty was just around the corner and that mustn’t happen, he went to madam pomfrey, and told her of his decision.
“Excuse me, madam pomfrey?” The boy called softly into the medical wing.
“Yes mr grey?” The nurse asked as she came bustling out from her office.
“Can, uh… Can we start the potions for the gender change?” He asked softly. And she smiled.
“Yes of course. It will take a month to brew, and you will have to take it every day until your body is fully changed. During your treatment, you will sleep in a private room in your dormitory. After your treatment, it is unnecessary to continue to take ten potion, although some people do to make sure that they are fully developed. It is not pleasant, and it is a long process, sometimes it takes years to accomplish the change you want, so it may be a while. I’ll get Snape started on it right away.” And with that she scuttled off to the potions master to inform him of his new duties.
When he took his first dose, he was surprised, instead of tasting bad as he had expected, it tasted like the rose tea his mom had made him before she had left for work everyday. He hadn’t thought about the tea for years, as it brought up sad memories of the day she had passed. She had forgotten to make him his tea, and rushed to work in the rain, skidding and driving off a bridge. Tears slid down his face as he sipped the potion quietly.
“What’s wrong? It shouldn’t taste that awful…” Madam pomfrey commented, concerned.
“It reminded me of my mom,” he explained, “she died five years ago.” The nurse left him alone after that.
The changes weren’t noticeable at first, his bone structure changing slightly, and as his friends went through puberty making them more womanly, he went through full bodily changes to correct his meat suit and at times it was painful. For a period of six months, he was bedridden as his body either ejected or absorbed the parts he didn’t need anymore. It was not pleasant, and he was almost never in good enough shape to receive visitors, but the student body gave him cards and candies and presents for after his ordeal was done. He was in his fourth year, and even through the pain he was able to finish at the top in all his classes. The summer before his fifth year he started to grow the proper genitalia, as the first set had finally been fully purged. It was weird, and he wasn’t sure if he liked it, but by his sixth year, he was more comfortable than he had ever been in his old body. And at seventh year he was progressed enough to stop taking the rose potions. And god damn was he happy, Lucy, Clara, and Tessa couldn’t be prouder. And his boyfriend was soon to become his fiancé, but that’s another story.
