Heroes of a Different Kind
by Dream Painter

Summary Part I: Harry Potter was a famous celebrity in the Wizarding World. But Harry didn't want to be a celebrity, or a savior, or the Boy-Who-Lived – particularly since 'Harry' wasn't a boy, at all. AU

Author's Note: I hope you give this story a chance.

I have long been a fan of gender benders, so I suppose it was inevitable that I'd up writing one of these. As far as girl!Harry fics go, I know only that they exist, I have never read any of them, so the writing of this story is wholly unaffected by other such tales.

It is my intent to do a full-series retelling with this story, but we'll have to see how it goes. There will definitely be a logical conclusion, either way. Each year will be divided into parts which will have their own subtitle, as well as a new summary.

Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter do not belong to me. I hereby disclaim any possession of them.

PART I: A World Apart

Chapter One

0o0

Bright, green eyes opened to the sound of pounding at the door. A small hand reached out in search of the glasses resting on the bedside table.

"Are ya up, yet?" A rather whiny-sounding voice accompanied the insistent knocking, this time. "You gotta get up – you hafta make breakfast!"

"I'm up, already," snapped the room's occupant, throwing back the covers as she sat up.

The door opened and a blond-haired boy peeked around it. "I'm getting in the shower, then, Jamie-poo." He jerked out of the way with a laugh as a pillow was launched at him.

"I'd rather be Jamie-poo than Diddy-dums," retorted the girl loudly. She ran to the doorway as the boy disappeared into the bathroom. "And you'd better not burn the bacon when it's my birthday, Dudley Dursley!" she shouted after him.

A short while later, the two children were seated at the breakfast table with two adults. The first was a rather rotund man with a bushy mustache. At the moment, his expression was solemn and he was shaking his head as he read the paper. The other, a woman, was as thin as the man was round. She appeared to be very stern.

"Dudley, put some fruit on your plate," she was saying, presently.

"Aw, but mum!" Dudley whined. "It's my birthday."

"I don't care if it's the Queen's birthday. You will eat a balanced breakfast," she told him, then turned to the girl. "For heaven's sake, Jamie, eat your eggs and toast. I have no idea why you're so excited. It's not like you haven't been to the zoo, before."

"There's a new exhibit, this year," said Jamie, eyes bright with enthusiasm.

"New exhibit or not, you're not going anywhere until you've eaten. And drink your juice."

"Yes, Aunt Petunia."

Once breakfast was finished and Dudley's presents opened and put away ("There weren't as many as last year," Dudley had lamented. "You've nowhere to put them, anyway," Jamie had quipped.), they left for the zoo. The rest of the morning passed quickly, Dudley and Jamie taking turns mimicking the various animals or bickering as any two children who grew up together were wont to do.

It was after lunch that they went to the reptile house.

"You're not supposed to disturb them," Jamie told Dudley for the dozenth time as he tapped on the glass of the largest snake he could find.

"Your cousin's right," said Dudley's dad, Vernon. "Let's go over there, son. Looks like that snake is awake."

Dudley shot Jamie a glare and sulkily went to look at the other snake. Jamie stuck her tongue out at him, before turning back to the snoozing boa constrictor.

"Don't mind him," Jamie said. "He can sleep through anything, so it doesn't bother him if people knock on his walls."

The snake's eyes abruptly opened and it moved up and forward until it was eye-level with the girl.

"Can you hear me?" she asked, wonder spreading across her young face. As the snake nodded, the girl grinned excitedly. "You're from Brazil, aren't you? Did you like it there?"

The creature jabbed its tale at the plaque and Jamie saw the small print she hadn't read. "Oh... so, you were born here." Before she could say anything more, Dudley started to shout at the top of his lungs from a short distance away, causing her to jump in surprise.

"MUM! DAD! Look at this snake!" The boy hurried over, elbowing past Jamie to get right next to the glass.

Jamie stumbled as Dudley shoved his way in front of the boa constrictor. Tripping over her feet, she fell to the floor, scraping her palms on the concrete. Annoyed, palms stinging, the girl shot her cousin a glare as he leaned against the glass.

Suddenly, nothing was separating the large boy from the exhibit... or the snake from the reptile house.

"DUDLEY!" Jamie cried as she watched him topple into the water at the bottom of the tank. The boa slithered out onto the floor and people started to scream.

"Thanksss..."

Jamie's head jerked around, but she could not tell where the hissing voice had come from. She did spot her aunt, however.

"Aunt Tuney!" she shouted.

But Petunia and Vernon both were already hurrying over, even as the girl turned to try and help her cousin out of the tank.

"Up you get, lad," Vernon said, grabbing Dudley by the shoulders and pulling him out a minute later. He looked almost as scared as Dudley.

Petunia pressed Jamie protectively against her side. "What have I told you about bullying your cousin?" she demanded of Dudley, voice trembling.

"I wasn't bullying her!" Dudley denied, frightened and confused.

At the same time, Jamie exclaimed, "Dudley was looking at the snake when the glass disappeared!"

"Shh," her aunt hushed her, tapping her fingers against the girl's mouth. "Off to the car. We're leaving."

The zoo staff offered profuse apologies, but Aunt Petunia said that it was quite alright and, after accepting a towel for the soaked Dudley, rushed the four of them out to the parking lot. As they drove away, Jamie looked over at her cousin.

"I'm sorry, Dudley," she said quietly.

"Whatever are you sorry for?" Petunia demanded sharply, her plain features still drawn in concern.

"Well, the glass didn't just disappear on its own, did it?" reasoned Jamie. "I... I think it was me."

"Nonsense," contradicted the woman. "It has nothing to do with you."

"Then, where did it go?"

"I do not know. I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation."

"But, Aunt Tuney, the glass was there when -"

"Jamie Lynn Potter!" snapped Aunt Petunia. "Enough! You are a perfectly ordinary ten-year-old girl. You are not responsible for the glass disappearing."

Uncle Vernon peered solemnly at Jamie through the rear-view mirror, then exchanged a glance with his wife. "We'll go home and get Dudders dried off," he said, "then we can have a movie night in, maybe order some pizza. How does that sound?"

Dudley, who had been gazing wide-eyed between his mother and his cousin and back again, perked up at this. "Can we watch one of my new movies?"

"Of course, dear," Petunia responded with a smile as she turned back around. "I know you've wanted to see some of the movies we got for Dudley, too, Jamie. Doesn't that sound fun, dear?"

Jamie gave a small smile and nodded before looking out the window, once more, not entirely convinced she wasn't really at fault.

0o0o0

A month passed. Jamie and Dudley had both – for a time – forgotten the events at the zoo. Jamie was currently seated at the breakfast table, helping herself to some oatmeal with walnuts and brown sugar. Dudley entered the room, jabbing his cousin in the ribs with his Smelting stick.

"Ouch!" Jamie exclaimed, annoyed more than hurt. Dudley had been carrying the stupid thing around since he'd gotten his uniform and the girl had long since become fed up with his using it poke and prod at her. Snatching it from the boy's hand, she smacked him in the shoulder with it.

"HEY!" shouted Dudley, trying to snatch it back.

"Children," Uncle Vernon warned from behind his newspaper.

Aunt Petunia plucked the implement from Jamie's hand as she passed, setting it down on the kitchen counter before taking her seat at the table. "Both of you know better than to roughhouse at the table," she admonished.

"But Dudley poked me with that stupid stick!" protested Jamie.

"You're just jealous that you don't have one," accused Dudley.

"Oh, please. Like I'd want to wear your ugly uniform – the colors don't even match. The Emer uniform is so much better."

"Enough bickering!" interrupted Petunia. "Now, both of you, stop antagonizing your cousin and eat your breakfasts!"

Jamie was considering a second bowl of oatmeal and fruit, and Dudley, his fourth piece of toast, when a familiar clink from the hallway announced the arrival of the mail.

"Go get the mail, Dudley," his father told him.

"Jamie's not in the middle of eatin' anything," Dudley responded around a mouthful of toast.

"Jamie, the mail, please," said Vernon.

"Dudley's already eaten enough for all of us," the girl pouted, getting up, anyway. She shuffled through the short stack of mail, frowning down at an envelope made of thick, yellowish parchment.

"Anything for me?" Dudley demanded as she returned.

"No fines from the library," she responded, "you must have remembered to turn in your books."

The boy stuck his tongue out at her and she returned the gesture before passing everything but the strange envelope to her uncle.

"Do we know a Mr. H. Potter?" Jamie asked.

Uncle Vernon immediately brought down his paper and Aunt Petunia dropped her fork. Jamie looked back at them in surprise.

"Is he a relative of mine?" she questioned. Turning over the envelope, she broke the seal.

Petunia took it from her before she could pull out the letter. "How many times have you been told it's wrong to open letters that aren't addressed to you?"

"Well, maybe it was a mistake!" reasoned Jamie. "The name might be wrong, but that letter is addressed straight to my room! Maybe it was meant for me. Besides, I'm the only Potter that lives in this house."

"If it was s'posed to be for you, it'd say 'J. Potter', wouldn't it?" put in Dudley.

"Precisely," declared Vernon. "Well thought out, my boy."

Jamie scowled at Dudley as she retook her seat. "Well, who's H. Potter, then?" she wanted to know.

"Well, there certainly isn't one here, now, is there?" Aunt Petunia replied. "Certainly not anyone you would know."

Unsatisfied with this response, the girl slouched back in her chair, all thoughts of seconds gone.

0o0o0

The two cousins lay on the rug on Jamie's floor, shoulder to shoulder, their feet pointing in opposite directions. It was the middle of the night and both were meant to be in bed. Instead, they were up, talking in whispers while the adults slept.

"I can't believe they burned it," murmured the girl. "It's not like it actually belonged to anybody. That makes it alright to read, doesn't it?"

"I dunno," replied Dudley. "You'd think so."

"What if it was someone trying to reach my dad?" questioned Jamie. "Maybe they don't know he's dead."

"Can't be. Your dad's name is James, isn't it? Mum said you were named after him, remember?"

Jamie sighed. "That's right." The girl propped herself up on an elbow to look down at the boy's face. "Who do you think Mr. H. Potter is, then?"

"Maybe you have a brother?" Dudley suggested. "Mum and Dad couldn't keep you both, so they sent him away."

"That's ridiculous." Jamie laid back down and stared towards the ceiling. She couldn't see it in the dark without her glasses. "Aunt Tuney wouldn't send her own sister's child away. She and your dad would make things work, somehow. I know they would."

It was Dudley's turn to prop himself up to look down at her. "But don't you think, sometimes, the only reason they kept you is because you're a girl?" he asked. "Mum always said she'd hoped I'd be a girl, but I wasn't. They already had me and I was a boy. Maybe if you'd come along and been a boy, too, they wouldn't have liked you as much."

"Dudley Dursley, that is a horrible thing to say!" scolded Jamie.

The boy shrugged one shoulder. "Could be true, though," he pointed out.

Jamie turned her head away from him, lips pursed.

"Who do you think the letter was from, anyway?" Dudley continued, returning to his previous position on the rug.

"Envelope didn't say," Jamie replied, picturing the strange letter with its green ink and purple wax seal in her mind. "Guess we'll never find out."

0o0o0

"There's another one!" Dudley shouted from the hallway the next morning. "'Mr. H. Potter, Front Corner Bedroom, 4 Privet -'"

But Jamie had already jumped up from her chair and ran for the hall, her aunt and uncle close behind her. She grabbed the letter her cousin held out for her and started up the stairs. Unfortunately, Uncle Vernon caught her by the wrist before she could make it very far, gently prying it from her fingers.

"It's mine!" Jamie cried fiercely as he handed it to his wife. "'Front Corner Bedroom' – that's me! It's my letter and I want to read it!"

"Jamie Lynn," Aunt Petunia admonished sharply. "You mind your tone, young lady."

"But it is mine," the girl insisted pleadingly. "They wouldn't have sent the letter again if it were all a mistake. It's addressed to my bedroom – it has to be mine."

"That's quite enough. If you keep this up, you can do Dudley's chores right along with yours, this week."

The girl's face twisted into a mutinous expression and, for a moment, it seemed her aunt would have to carry through with her threat. After a moment, however, Jamie let out a frustrated huff and stomped up the stairs to her bedroom.

"Go, finish your breakfast, Dudley," Vernon spoke when he noticed the boy trying to peek at the envelope in his mother's hand. Dudley looked up at him sheepishly, then made his way back to the kitchen.

"What if they keep trying?" Petunia asked him once Dudley was out of sight. "I won't have her mixed up in all of that – I won't! It'd be my sister all over again." She blinked rapidly to rid herself of the moisture forming in her eyes.

"There, there, Pet," her husband soothed. "I'm sure they'll only try a few more times before they give up. Everything will turn out as it should, you'll see."

The woman nodded. "I suppose you're right," she said quietly.

0o0o0

It was Sunday and Jamie was in a foul mood. Dudley wisely kept his distance and had even gone so far as to stash his Smelting stick in his room for good measure.

More letters had come. First, three one day, then twelve the next, and at least a couple dozen the day after that. Jamie had even tried sneaking out to get the post before the mailman put it through the slot, but her aunt and uncle had outwitted her, so she still hadn't read a single line of the mysterious missive. It really irritated her because she hated not knowing things.

Now, it was Sunday, however, and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had allowed themselves to relax a bit. After all, mail didn't arrive on Sundays.

She was just wondering why, exactly, her aunt and uncle were so set against her reading it, when the sound of something pushing through the mail slot broke the quiet. Aunt Petunia immediately reached out to grab her arm, but Jamie was already up and racing for the entryway.

"Jamie!"

Jamie halted momentarily in surprise upon entering the hall. Letters were shooting out from the mail slot and fluttering through the air. The girl let out a laugh at how funny and extraordinary and marvelous it was when she remembered her goal. Snatching an envelope from the air, she jerked open the door to the cupboard under the stairs and hurried inside, pulling it shut behind her.

It was yanked open again a split-second later and her uncle plucked the letter from her hand.

"But Uncle Vernon!" she protested, frustrated tears springing to her eyes as she moved back out of the cupboard.

"Up to your room," her aunt cut in, taking her by the shoulders and steering her towards the stairs. "Right now, until we get this mess cleaned up."

"Aunt Tuney..."

"Now, Jamie Lynn, or you can forget the exhibit on Tuesday."

"It's just a stupid letter!" Jamie cried angrily, then made her way to her bedroom with enough noise for several children her size. Dudley made to go after her, but was stopped by his father, who held a hand out in front of him.

"What?" asked Dudley.

"Hand it over," Vernon said.

"Hand what over?"

"That letter you plan on giving to your cousin."

Sighing, Dudley obeyed. Once his parents were satisfied that he wasn't hiding any other letters, they allowed him to go up the stairs.

"Jamie?" The boy knocked quietly at her door.

"It's open!" Jamie snarled.

Dudley entered the room, closing the door behind him. When Jamie was nowhere to be seen, the boy felt his heart sink. She was under the bed and that meant one thing: Jamie was crying. Jamie hated people to see her cry – had since she was little – and so she always hid herself where no one could see her. At home, that meant facing the wall under her bed.

"You alright?" he asked.

"No, I'm not alright!" Jamie snapped, and Dudley could hear the tears in her voice, now. "I'm so mad, I could just scream! What's the big deal, anyway? Why won't they let me read the stupid letter?"

"Maybe, mum and dad think it's something that might hurt you," Dudley suggested.

There was silence for a moment, then a sniffle. "You mean, you don't think they're just being stupid?"

"Well, no. I mean, they read the first letter, didn't they?" The boy moved across the room and sat on the floor, his back against the bedpost. "Adults do a lot of funny things, but I don't think they'd work so hard to keep a letter from you over something stupid."

"Maybe you're right," Jamie conceded doubtfully. "I still don't like it!"

They fell quiet.

"Are you gonna come out from there?" the boy asked after a bit.

There was movement under the bed, then Jamie's head and shoulders appeared from beneath the frame. Her long black hair was a mess and her face was splotchy from crying. Tear bright green eyes met Dudley's blue gaze.

"Do you think I'm being silly?" queried the girl.

"Nah. I'd be the same way if it was me," Dudley assured her.

Jamie sniffled some more and pulled herself the rest of the way out from under her bed. "I just wanna know who it's from and who they're trying to contact."

"Me, too," her cousin agreed. "You really ought to stop crying, now, though. You're real ugly when you cry."

She slapped him on the leg and he responded with the appropriate amount of pain and outrage. Soon, they were both laughing and smiling again, the troublesome letters temporarily forgotten.

0o0

To be continued...

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