Summary:
Hermione helps Harry search for a new name, with the prime target being the school library.
Notes:
Here we go! Time for young Harry to come into her own and flourish once more. No trigger warnings for this chapter, it's solid grade A fluff.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
December, 1997
" You got your mother in a whirl! She's not sure if you're a boy or a girl! " came the joyful but honestly rather poor singing from Harry and Hermione. " Hey babe, your hair's all right! Hey babe, let's go out tonight! " They weren't in sync, not with one another or the CD player, but they were having fun and that was what counted. Thanks to the glittering blue, red and yellow painting the room, Harry could 'see' relatively well and for perhaps the first time in her life, she was dancing. They weren't good at that either, a mess of limbs all askew, but again skill didn't matter. With the door to Hermione's room closed and the curtains drawn, Harry was wearing some of Hermione's old clothes - a uniform skirt that didn't fit her older sister anymore, some of her long socks and one of her t-shirts. She couldn't see herself, but Hermione said she looked nice and that was good enough for her.
" Rebel rebel! You torn your dress! Rebel rebel, your face is a mess! " Harry span, feeling the airflow shift around her legs as the skirt twirled. She fell to the bed, dizzy and giggling as Hermione tried to catch her. Winded by her attempts to dance and sing at once, she stopped trying to sing and wiggled back into a sitting position.
"You like this song, huh?" Hermione asked, turning it down a small bit to talk. Harry blushed as a smile filled her face and the line she liked so very much came up again.
" She's not sure if you're a boy or a girl ," Harry murmured whimsically. "Maybe one day I can go dancing like that. As me." Hermione smiled, or so she heard her signature exhalation of happiness as she plopped down beside her.
"One day, Harry. One day," she replied.
"Dun-dunno if I want to be called 'Harry' then though."
"Oh! Do you want to change your name?" Hermione asked, renewed excitement ringing through her words.
"Yeah, I just - I don't know what I want to be called though, I don't want to copy someone in class or something, that'd be weird," she said, thinking. "But I know I don't like 'Harry'." Hermione though, from how she was bouncing up and down on the bed, had clearly had an idea.
"Mum and dad got my name from a Greek princess, the daughter of King Menelaus of Sparta and Helen of Troy. Maybe we should look for another Greek princess with a name you like, that way we can have matching names!" Harry wasn't surprised that she remembered the details. "We should get a book out of the library on Greek myths tomorrow and take a look!" At this suggestion, Harry's mind was set alight with excitement.
"We'd be like twins!" she said, positively beaming.
"Yeah!" Hermione paused. "You'd be a princess," she said, knowingly. Unable to contain her excitement any longer, Harry wrapped her arms around herself with a tiny squeal of joy as Rebel Rebel concluded and the piano opening of Rock 'n' Roll With Me started up.
--
The next day, Harry spent the entire day veritably chewing her fingernails right down in anticipation. Given how often she heard Hermione tapping on her desk impatiently, she was looking forward to it too. When the lunchtime bell filled their ears with shrieking, both were out of their seats immediately, to the surprise of other students. The two siblings had always been the sort to stay behind and ask questions - occasionally only to be met with the snarky instruction to leave the teachers alone to their lunch. But today, they had a single destination; the school library. The two almost ran there, slowing down only in the knowledge that Harry would trip if they didn't. The two hurriedly put their bags into the lockers provided - they weren't allowed to take them in, for some reason - and rushed into the building. It didn't take long for Hermione, who had memorized the Dewey Decimal System, to find the relevant literature. She'd probably already read them, Harry supposed. After maybe twenty minutes, while Harry listened to her rambling on about different themes and history, Hermione produced two books - one for each of them to get out, as there was a limit of one - one on Greek history, and one on Greek myth. After being reminded to make sure they were returned after the Christmas holidays, the two stowed the treasured books in their bags and departed to their day, and Harry remained entirely distracted for the rest of class, wondering what names awaited her in those tomes.
--
"I don't know why these aren't in alphabetical order, but whatever. Let's see… Semele? Daughter of Cadmus, mother of the god Dionysus - oh, destroyed by Zeus. Bit mean of him. Don't know that you'd want to be called Scylla, I think I'll avoid the monsters for now?" Hermione asked, as Harry listened intently, cross legged on Hermione's bed.
"Yeah, no monsters please," Harry giggled.
"Okay, no monsters. Maia? One of the seven daughters of Atlas, turned into a star in the Pleiades constellation?" Harry was dubious about that one - she may have liked the idea of stars, but she'd never actually seen them so far as she could remember. "Phaedra? Daughter of Minos, wife of Theseus - oh dear, caused the death of her kid. Still, not a bad name, what do you think?" Harry thought.
"Maybe, we'll see what else there is first."
"Persephone? Beautiful goddess of fertility and Queen of the Underworld?"
"What's fertility?"
"Doesn't say, but she's pretty though!"
"It's a pretty name, definitely on the list." Hermione, who righteously objected to the folding of pages, bookmarked it with a piece of scrap paper.
"Penelope? Bit generic I think. Niobe - oh, Niobe's sad." She flipped through the pages, tutting. "A lot more boys than girls in here. Pass over the other book would you?" Finding it, she held it out for Hermione.
"Mnemosyne? Nah, I can spell it, but I don't think everyone else could."
"Why, how's it spelled?"
"M-N-E-M-O-S-Y-N-E"
"Oh dear. Yeah-yeah maybe not."
"Yeah. Hestia? Could be good, you could keep your old initials. Goddess of the hearth, sister of Zeus?"
"Ooo, I like that one. Hestia Granger, that can go-go on the list too," Harry said, sounding it out. "To-to-top-top-top of the list so far though."
"Ay, nice. I like it, sounds pretty. Let's see what else there is. Daphne? Again, little generic. N'aww, hello Cerberus. Astraea, goddess of justice?" She paused, flipping through pages. "Ooo, I think you'll like this one," Hermione said.
"What is it?"
"Ariadne; helped Theseus slay the Minotaur in the Labyrinth, also a princess like Hermione, granted immortality by Zeus, wife of Dionysus, actually a pretty popular figure. Also, sounds similar to your old name, and ends the same as mine!" Harry's mind lit up at that one. Hestia had been nice, but aside from also starting with an H there wasn't the resemblance to her old name, unlike Ariadne. And she had to admit, she liked the twinning of the -ne end. It was there with Persephone too, but Persephone had felt a bit off. Like the jumper, skirt and blouse she was right now wearing, Ariadne felt right.
"Ariadne Granger. I love it," Ariadne said. "Just gotta think of a middle name now. I could just change James to Jane?"
"I feel like Jane is a bit close to my middle name, Jean and Jane, I mean…" Hermione said, almost protectively. "James was your dad's name, right?" It took Ariadne a second to remember what had been on her birth certificate.
"Yeah, I think so, why?"
"Why not just swap parents, take your mum's name instead? Ariadne… Lily I think it was, Granger? Ariadne Lily Granger." It felt a bit clunky to Ariadne, but to be fair, Hermione's suggestion had merit.
--
18th of December, 1997
The girls had planned it for the better part of two weeks, and the night had finally come. Ariadne ate her dinner slowly, picking at it with little concern for the taste. Her heart was in her throat, her stomach was doing somersaults and she could have sworn her hands were shaking. Nevertheless, she got through it, waiting for Hermione to initiate the terrifying conversation as she gulped down the last of the orange juice in her glass.
"Dennie, that was excellent. Mind getting those plates for me, love? I only have so many hands." Valerie asked, standing up and picking up some of the cutlery.
"Sure thing babe-" Dennis said, before Hermione interrupted.
"Actually, Mum, Dad, would you mind sticking around for a second? I think Harry has something he'd like to say," Hermione announced, seeming to turn over to Ariadne. The spotlight was on her, and the butterflies in her stomach graduated to a flock of pterodactyls. She heard their parents sit down and put the plates, cups and cutlery down again.
"Sure, no problem. What is it Harry?" Dennis said. Ariadne pursed her lips and took a deep breath. Her speech was hesitant and measured, she didn't want to stammer here. She spoke slowly.
"Do you remember the clothes I was wearing when I first came here? The tops spec-if-ic-all-y? When I said that they were more comfortable, I didn't mean just phys-ic-all-y." She pushed through the words slowly and deliberately, knowing that failing to do so would result in repetitions. "They were more comfortable because they were girls' shirts."
She heard her mother exhale a breath she must have been holding.
"I- I'm… I'm…" she couldn't say it. The word wouldn't come, that word Hermione had found. She felt her sister's arm take hers.
"It's okay, do you want me to say it?" Ariadne nodded, closing her eyes but sensing no less. "Okay, I'll say it. Harry is transgender. She was born a boy, but has since found that she feels better as a girl. Is that all good?" Hermione asked, once again gently squeezing Ariadne's forearm. Once again, she nodded.
"That's- that's wonderful! That's - wow," Valerie exclaimed. "I wondered what the two of you were tiptoeing around so much for, is- is there something you'd rather be called than Harry?" Ariadne nodded, smiling now that her secret was out and accepted by her parents.
"Ariadne. Hermione said you got her name from a Greek princess, s-so-os-so we went to the library and found another one. A-and we switched my middle name from my old dad to my mum - Lily." Relief flooded over Ariadne as the topic shifted to the name she'd come to love hearing, once whispered by Hermione behind closed doors, now spoken aloud in freedom.
"Ariadne Lily Granger? That's beautiful. Whaddaya know Val, we got another daughter after all. Our two little princesses," Dennis said, clapping.
"Anyway, we'll leave you to it. Let's go get you changed, Ariadne," Hermione said, standing and starting to lead off. At their departure, Ariadne heard what she was sure was meant to be quiet, but she had better ears than that.
"Oh dear, we're gonna have to replace some Christmas presents, aren't we?" Dennis laughed.
Notes:
Short and sweet, this one. Boy, the number of times I kept calling her Ariadne before it was time was inhuman, even in the first chapter! No more wrapping my brain around new names and pronouns, we've got our gal.