Rose Dursley: The Girl Who Lived

20. Transfiguration Class

The next morning, Rose and Hermione went down to the Great Hall together for breakfast. Rose saw that Ron was sitting alone on the Gryffindor table. She wasn't ready to talk to him yet, so she kept her head down and walked past him. Then she went and sat down on the other end of the table.

Ron watched Rose walk past him, and he sighed. Hermione looked at Ron, and shrugged and mouthed sorry. Then she kept walking to sit down with Rose.

"Are you mad with Ron?" Hermione asked.

"No, I will talk to him. I just need a bit longer," said Rose.

"That's good. It sounds like it was a simple misunderstanding," said Hermione. "I mean, anyone could have got the wrong idea about you two being a couple."

"I don't know, I guess so," said Rose. "Maybe I should apologise to him for how I reacted?"

"Whatever you think is best," said Hermione.

Rose looked over at Ron and sighed. "Maybe tomorrow," she said.

~~~~~

The next day was Monday, and back to their normal lessons. Rose and Hermione had Transfiguration first, with Professor McGonagall. When they entered the classroom, Ron was already sitting in his usual place.

Rose paused when she saw Ron. They hadn't spoken since the Yule Ball, as Rose was still avoiding that conversation. Hermione gave Rose a nudge in the back as she walked past to her seat. When Rose looked round, Hermione urged her to sit down.

Rose took a deep breath, then sat down next to Ron. "Hey," she said.

"Hey," said Ron.

"You okay?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, you?" said Ron.

"Yeah," said Rose.

They sat quietly for a few more minutes.

Rose eventually turned to look at Ron. "I'm sorry," she said. "About the Ball. If there was any misunderstanding."

"No, it was my fault," said Ron. "I was the one who made the mistake."

"You're my best friend," said Rose. "And I do really care about you, just not in that way."

"Yeah, I got that," said Ron.

"It's not only you though," said Rose. "I'm not attracted to any boys."

"Oh, really?" said Ron. "What, none of them? Like, ever?"

"Well, no," said Rose.

Before they could talk about it any further, the door opened and Professor McGonagall walked in. The class went quiet as she walked through the room to her desk.

For the lesson, McGonagall taught them how to turn guineafowl into guinea pigs. They had varying degrees of success with this. By the end of the lesson, McGonagall had a large cage full of guinea pigs on her desk. Though a few of them still had feathers.

When the lesson ended, everyone packed away their books and started to leave. Rose was following Ron out the room, when she heard McGonagall calling out.

"Miss Dursley, could you stay behind?" she said.

Ron and Rose both stopped. "We'll catch up later," she said to him.

"Okay," said Ron, then he carried on out the door.

Rose slowly made her way back to her desk. She tried to think of what she had done to get in trouble. The lesson had gone okay, so it couldn't be that.

"You needn't look worried, Miss Dursley," said McGonagall. "You're not in any trouble."

Rose sighed with relief, and sat down at her desk. McGonagall took a chair from one of the other desks and sat down next to Rose.

"I merely wanted to have a little chat, just to see how you are doing," said McGonagall.

Rose shrugged. "I'm okay," she said.

"Good. Nothing bothering you?" said McGonagall. "Or anything you wanted to talk about?"

"Nope, not really," said Rose.

"I see," said McGonagall. "I noticed your outfit at the Yule Ball. You looked very smart."

"Oh, thanks," said Rose.

"Was there a reason why you wore that instead of a dress?" McGonagall asked.

"Err, I don't like dresses," said Rose.

"I see," said McGonagall.

McGonagall sat quietly thinking for a moment. Rose sat nervously waiting to see what she would ask next.

"Professor Dumbledore has never felt that sex education was something that should be taught here at Hogwarts," said McGonagall. "He thought the protective charms he set up would cover all those kinds of problems."

Rose stared down at her desk, unsure how she was supposed to respond to that information.

"But it is more than just sexual relations and reproduction that is taught in those classes," said McGonagall.

Rose blushed and stared intently at her desk.

"They would also cover different sexualities and gender identities," said McGonagall.

Rose looked up from her desk. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, I'm no expert, but I can try and explain it in the way I understand it all," said McGonagall. "Sex and gender are not the same thing. In part, gender is a social construct, if you know what I mean by that?"

"I have no idea," said Rose.

"Well, the sex you are born with does not necessarily define who you are as a person," said McGonagall. "Your gender is separate, and how you define it is about how you identify yourself."

Rose thought about what McGonagall was saying. It kind of made sense to her. She was a girl, but at the same time she didn't always fit in and act the same as other girls.

"When I saw what you wore to the Yule Ball, I thought it might be something you wanted to talk about," said McGonagall.

"Yeah, it's not something I thought about before," said Rose. "But I guess I always felt more comfortable around boys instead of girls. Like we have more in common."

"I see," said McGonagall.

This is what McGonagall had been afraid of. The spell that Dumbledore had done all those years ago had given Rose the body of a girl. But underneath that, she had not changed. Physically she was a girl, but emotionally she was still a boy.

McGonagall felt sick to her stomach when she realised the damage that they had done to the child. She had to go and see Dumbledore immediately.

"Well, perhaps that will give you something to think about," said McGonagall. "And if you want to talk another time, just come to my office."

"Okay. Thank you, Professor," said Rose.

"Right, well off you go then," said McGonagall. "You don't want to be too late for your next class."

Rose stood up and walked out of the room. McGonagall watched her go. As soon as Rose was out of sight, McGonagall rushed from the classroom and hurried along the corridor to the Headmaster's office.