Rating : PG-13 Warning, mature issues. There is slash or sexual relations between two people of the same gender. If you are offended by this, please do not read this story. And please, if you're underage, respect the ratings and stay away. Thank you.

Notes : First of all, I'm sorry this has taken so long to come out... This is because I have sent the first 4 parts to be beta read, and the process is finally complete. So, check out the first 4 parts, there are some changes to them. Since there may be some problems occasionally with Fanfiction.net, I will also be posting my stories at Fiction Alley, It will be a little delayed there, however, as I am posting 2 chapters in one time over there. I am glad those reviewing seem to like the story so far... Thank you, guys, and keep on giving your comments. Right, on to answering questions...

1. Is it going to be Ron / Harry? Well, maybe... or maybe not... most probably not. But still, you never know. You'll find out in future chapters.

2. Are Sirius, Ron and Hermione going to find out about Harry? Hmmm... some will and some won't and that's all I will say. Don't want to give the story away. : )

3. Myk, you hit the nail on the head with your guess. : ) Stay tuned and do tell me when I reach that part whether I managed to pull it off and make it realistic.

4. What's Harry's female name going to be? It'll be out in the next few chapters.

5. Snape was rather fast when realizing it was Harry in the 3rd chapter... Yes, I'm aware of that... there is a reason why... parts of which are revealed in this chapter.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and not me, never has and probably never will

Part 5: Plots

McGonagall stepped out of the chamber, closing the door behind her. She spoke a word and the amulet embedded in the wall slowly rose to the surface, letting her pick it up and replace it around her neck. McGonagall turned around to make her way back up through the winding maze to Knockturn Alley. She shifted into her animagus form and made her way back to Diagon Alley. Once in Diagon Alley, she looked around until she spotted an empty alley where she could change back into her human form. She cast a quick cleaning charm over herself to get rid of the grime she swore she felt sticking all over her skin. She then strode into the street and headed for Flourish and Blotts to find Harry.

McGonagall entered Flourish and Blotts, which was full of people with stacks of books blocking part of her view of the crowd. She was craning her neck, trying to spot a small, auburn-haired girl in the crowd. Suddenly, she was startled by a voice in her ear. "Looking for something?" a very familiar voice purred in a low and velvety tone. McGonagall started at the sudden sound and just barely managed to keep herself from jumping out of her skin. Snape would be insufferably smug and smirking for the whole week if he got a reaction out of her.

"Now, Severus…" McGonagall started, turning around to face Snape and give him a piece of her mind. However, she trailed off, closing her mouth rather abruptly with a click as she noticed the rather sheepish looking Harry who she had been searching for, standing right next to him. McGonagall stared blankly at Harry in shock, her mind whirling wildly with all the implications. Snape looked like the cat that got the canary, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

"What… how?" McGonagall managed to get out faintly.

Snape positively… grinned, an expression on his face never seen before by most people. "That's for me to know and you to find out."

McGonagall looked faintly affronted. She huffed and gained her composure back quickly. "Well then, if there's nothing else, we should get back to Hogwarts." She marched out, Harry and Snape following behind, Snape still looking immensely pleased with himself. They all flooed back to Hogwarts.

~ ~ o ` o ~ ~

Harry dumped his bags down upon reaching his dorm, which was empty except for his presence and sorted out all of his purchases. Most of it consisted of clothing, which was sent to the house elves for cleaning before use. He flopped down on his bed and considered the most peculiar day he had had. First he had woken up to find himself changed into a girl thanks to a family curse no one had seen fit to tell him about. Although he could see why no one had thought it was necessary to tell him about it. The conditions of the curse were such that he would not have been expected to be afflicted with the curse. His mother would have to be related to the Potter line for him to get it. And since his mother had come from a Muggle family, it had seemed highly improbable that he would have the curse, but yet he did, as was evident now.

Harry frowned. There was something about the whole situation that seemed slightly off but he couldn't seem to put his finger on it. Professor Snape seemed to know more than he was letting on and he just couldn't accept the explanation that some relative somewhere up the line might have gone into Muggle society. That just seemed too… neat to be true.

Harry was sure that there was much more hidden beneath the surface, the only thing was, how would he dig it out?

~ ~ o ` o ~ ~

McGonagall strode up and down her office, frowning contemplatively. She was extremely curious how Snape had managed to figure out that Harry had turned into a girl. As far as she knew, only herself, Dumbledore and Pomfrey were aware of James predicament when he was in school. She could always ask him, but from the smug look on his face earlier, she didn't think he would explain it to her satisfaction. He had always liked keeping his secrets to himself and occasionally dropping maddening little hints. McGonagall shrugged. She would try anyway… and if he didn't tell her, well… all the more fun trying to squeeze it out of him.

McGonagall left her office for the staff room where she knew she would be able to find Snape having his dinner there. With only a few staff and students left at Hogwarts, they usually didn't use the Great Hall for meals, but normally had meals in their own rooms or dorms.

As expected, Snape was in his usual seat, reading a book whilst absently eating from the plate in front of him. He was so engrossed in the book he didn't even look up at her entrance. McGonagall sat herself down in a chair directly opposite him and waited. Ten minutes passed by and he didn't even look up from his book. She cleared her throat loudly, impatient with waiting.

"What do you want, woman?" Snape finally deigned to notice her existence.

"Where did you bump into Potter earlier at Diagon Alley?" McGonagall asked, deciding to lead up to what she wanted to know.

Snape huffed, "I'll have you know that he bumped into me with his usual tendency to be clumsy. He came hurtling around a corner with no regard as to who might be coming from the other side and sent all of my things flying all over the place. He was just fortunate none of those things were breakable."

"But how did you recognize him? It's not like he actually looked like his usual self."

Snape looked at her condescendingly, "Surely I am not blind. Even with Potter's… change, his features bear a certain resemblance. Since I know that he has no female relatives of his age, hence I concluded it must be Potter himself."

McGonagall arched an eyebrow and looked disbelieving, but choose not to push it any further.

Snape rose from his seat. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to retire to my quarters for some peace and quiet," he eyed McGonagall meaningfully and swept out of the room.

McGonagall tapped a finger on her lips speculatively. He had, as usual, given her something that was plausible; yet, one could tell that it was not the whole story. "Tight lipped old scrooge."

McGonagall straightened up and grinned positively fiendishly as a wonderful idea came to her on how she could get back at Snape and solve Harry's problem on explaining his female presence. "Hmmm, Mr. Potter, how would you like to be Professor Snape's daughter?" she cackled evilly, her laugh echoing around the empty staff room in a way that would have frightened even Snape had he been there to see her.

~ ~ o ` o ~ ~

Snape strode out of the staff room, mildly irritated at being disturbed from his book and yet pleased that he had managed to predict McGonagall's reaction correctly. She had come to probe his mind, suspicious of how he'd come by information only available to a limited few.

Snape smirked. Very few were aware of the fact that the Snape and Potter families were remotely related to each other, as the two families had kept it rather quiet and never mentioned it to any but family and close friends. His mother had told him about the curse when he was thirteen but he had thought it just an old story. At least until he had an encounter with James Potter, and found out that it was true after all.

Snape recalled one of the most… interesting events in his life, many years ago…

It had been a Hogsmeade weekend, which would usually be filled with frenzied activity on the week before by Potter and his cronies planning items to purchase for use in their pranks. However, they were more subdued than normal, with only Lupin and Pettigrew visible in class. Potter and Black were suspiciously absent and missing the entire week. This made Snape very suspicious. Surely they were not planning some new trick on the Slytherins? They did from time to time but they couldn't be so stupid as to do it now, when they could be caught and visiting privileges taken away?

Snape shrugged. You never knew with Gryffindors. The more rash ones tended to literally jump headfirst into hot soup without thinking of the consequences. Black was certainly one of those. Potter… well, Potter did have some degree of subtlety, but at times he seemed to just blindly follow Black's example and land into trouble as well. Being very curious, Snape decided to snoop around and find out what Black and Potter were up to.

He borrowed Malfoy's invisibility cloak in order to better stalk Potter and Black without them being aware of his presence. The week had passed without any unpleasant surprises for the Slytherins, which lead Snape to conclude that the two must be plotting to pull off whatever they had thought of during the weekend, when most of the students were at Hogsmeade. Snape had to admit that it would be an ideal opportunity. He planned to wait until most had left for Hogsmeade and then sneak into the Gryffindor dorm. He had managed to find out the week's password through waiting just outside the portrait to the dorm, wearing the invisibility cloak and spying on those who went in. However, in all that time, he never saw Black or Potter.

Snape waited patiently for most of the students to leave, making a loud and cheerful din as they did so. When most of them had left, leaving only a handful of students who were either unable to get permission or were simply not interested in going, he donned the invisibility cloak and slipped out quietly to the Gryffindor dorm. He gave the password to the portrait and slipped in.

What first hit him was the amount of red in the room. It seemed almost obscenely cheerful and perky. Ick. The common room was devoid of any human presence. Snape shrugged and headed for the boys sleeping quarters. Surprisingly, it was also empty. Snape frowned. Surely they couldn't be in the girls sleeping quarters? He looked anyway. It was also deserted. Snape headed back down to the common room. Potter and Black had not left for Hogsmeade, however, Lupin and Pettigrew had gone. Snape pursed his lips thoughtfully. Where else could they be? In a huge and old castle like Hogwarts, there were plenty of secret corridors and rooms, and he wouldn't even know where all of them were located much less be able to check in all of those.

Snape felt rather disconsolate. He could just feel in his bones that there was something suspicious about those two but he had not managed to sniff it out. He folded his arms and looked around, wondering what prank he could pull off on the Gryffindors to make up for his time wasted and yet not cast suspicion on himself. He was just about to cast an itching charm on the bedding when the portrait opened.

Snape immediately choose a nice dark corner to stand in where he could see everything. Even with an invisibility cloak on, he wouldn't want to be bumped into and give the game away. Standing in the middle of the room would bring about the necessity of moving around the room and making noise whilst doing so.

Black popped in and ran up to the sleeping quarters, checking the whole place. He then ran back down and opened the portrait again, "It's alright, there isn't a single soul around."

A girl suddenly appeared out of nowhere as she shed an invisibility cloak. She had reddish brown hair and a petite form. Snape assumed she was one of Black's countless girlfriends. But the thing was, where was Potter?

"It's a good thing they've all left for Hogsmeade. I was starting to get bored, cooped up in that room with nothing to do but homework," the girl said, sitting down in a chair. Her voice was vaguely familiar somehow.

Black grinned, "Yep, just your bad luck it had to be this week, huh? Or else we could have gone with Remus and Peter to Hogsmeade. The joke shop has this absolutely fabulous new trick that I've been dying to get."

The girl smiled, "Yes, well, there's always the next time. Anyway, I think the change back will be sometime tonight." Snape's ears perked up at that. Polyjuice? No, couldn't be, most students botched up the potion as it took extremely delicate skill and mastery. It was extremely expensive too and sales of it were recorded so they couldn't have purchased it either. If anything, it must be some kind of glamour.

Snape waited patiently and listened as the two chatted on inane matters. Suddenly, the girl clutched at her stomach, an expression of discomfort on her face. Black looked panicky at that action. "It's happening now?" he asked. The girl just nodded. Snape edged forward a little to see better what was happening.

The girl gasped and her features… rippled and changed in a way Snape had never seen before. Her hair shortened rapidly into her skull, changing into from reddish brown into black. Her features broadened out and rapidly transformed into a very familiar face. Potter. Snape barely managed to stifle his gasp of shock. Black immediately started fussing over Potter once the change was complete.

Snape watched the two make their way up to their beds and smiled slowly as he slipped silently out of the Gryffindor dorms. Now this was interesting. It would seem that cousin James was afflicted with the Potter curse. And all this time, he had thought it just a story… Ah, the possibilities…

Snape came back to the present with a start as Peeves cackled somewhere overhead and threw something at Mrs. Norris. He shook himself out of his musings and continued on to his chambers.

~ ~ o ` o ~ ~