A week later.
That afternoon, Murphy was discussing a newly invented potion with Autumn Zhang.
"You mean this polyjuice potion can't turn someone into someone else but can change the drinker's gender?"
Murphy was amazed. "How did this happen?"
"It was entirely accidental..." Autumn Zhang seemed a bit embarrassed. "We were following your suggestion to experiment with animal transformations. Our subjects were fish and mice, easily obtainable..."
"But during one experiment, we accidentally dropped some fish eggs into the potion. Later, we added the hair of a male mouse and fed it to another mouse, which not only changed its appearance but turned from male to female, even though the donor mouse was also male..."
"We were curious, so we conducted many experiments and found it was the fish eggs that caused it."
"Drinking the potion with just fish eggs has no effect, but adding tissue from the same species, regardless of the individual's gender, causes the drinker to change to the opposite gender... Boys turn into girls, girls into boys... as if they were always like that..."
"Strangely, the added same-species tissue seems to just activate the potion and doesn't transfer individual characteristics. The mice only underwent a gender change but retained their own features, like fur color, scars, etc..."
"What kind of fish eggs were used?" Murphy was curious.
"Rainbow trout, I think?" the girl said.
Many fish can change gender, like male clownfish becoming female after the only female in the group dies, continuing the lineage. Rainbow trout eggs can hatch into different genders under varying conditions.
Perhaps it was this factor that turned the polyjuice potion into a gender-swapping potion.
"Is this change permanent?" Murphy asked.
"From our observations, the effect seems long-lasting. We haven't seen any signs of it naturally wearing off. It might be permanent."
Normally, the effects of polyjuice potions wear off, but in some exceptional cases, such as the drinker's death or incorrect cross-species primary ingredients, the change can become irreversible.
This gender-swapping potion seems to be a similar kind of mishap.
"Either way, this is a fascinating discovery. Do you plan to continue researching it?"
Autumn Zhang shook her head. "No, we think this potion isn't very useful and could just bring embarrassment to wizards. Although animal tests didn't show problems, we haven't tested it on humans and don't know the potential adverse effects..."
They were still talking when Hermione rushed in, panicked, "Autumn, Harry... something's happened to Harry. Madam Pomfrey wants to ask you about that potion..."
"What's going on?" Murphy asked.
"Professor Murphy," Hermione said with a mix of panic and amusement, "Harry... Harry has turned into a girl..."
...
Murphy hurried to the infirmary.
Harry was placed in a separate room. When Murphy entered, the patient was hiding under the covers.
Tom and Ron were there too, both seemingly finding the situation amusing.
Madam Pomfrey was trying to pull off Harry's blanket, "Oh, child, I've seen stranger cases than yours. You've just turned into a girl, not a monster. Come on, let me see."
"No..." came a soft girl's voice from under the blanket. She sounded close to tears, "Please, Madam Pomfrey, I'll be fine on my own, just give me some time."
"Is that you, Harry?" Autumn Zhang asked in shock. "How did you..."
She turned to Hermione, "What color was the label on the polyjuice potion you borrowed the other day?"
"Uh, I think... orange..." Hermione said. "Katie Bell gave it to me."
Katie Bell, a second-year Gryffindor student, was in the same group as Autumn Zhang.
"Oh, my god." Autumn covered her mouth, "Careless Katie, she gave you the gender-swapping potion. She didn't check the label properly..."
In fact, the potion was almost invented by this girl – it was she who accidentally added water containing trout eggs into the polyjuice potion, turning it into a gender-swapping potion...
"Harry," Autumn approached the bed, "you didn't drink a regular polyjuice potion. It's a strange potion we accidentally made. We don't know how it will affect humans. Can I see you?"
Harry remained silent for a while, then finally pulled down the blanket from his head.
"Oh." Murphy almost laughed.
"Wow." Autumn also gasped, "You've really turned into a girl, so cute."
Harry still wore his round glasses, but his face was rounder, his skin smoother and paler, and perhaps from embarrassment, his cheeks were flushed. His black ear-length hair lay softly on his cheeks, the tips of his ears red.
"Wow," Ron exclaimed, too. Initially busy with the chaos, he hadn't observed closely. Now, he thought the girl version of Harry was quite cute.
Harry looked at them weakly, "Don't laugh, okay?"
But Hermione couldn't help it, "Pff, Harry, you're so cute, cuter than when you were a boy. Don't change back!"
"Hermione!" Harry got a bit angry, but even his anger seemed soft.
"Oh, my god," Madam Pomfrey was also shocked, holding Harry's face and examining it, "Incredible. Apart from the black hair, you look just like your mother did as a child."
Harry was astonished, taking a mirror to look at himself, "Did my mom look like this when she was little?"
He felt moved yet a bit weird. His mom had been this small?
"I need to examine you..." Madam Pomfrey said, glancing at everyone in the room, "Out, all of you, give the patient some space."
After a while, Madam Pomfrey called Murphy and Autumn back into the room.
"His physical condition is fine, but he's definitely turned into a girl," Madam Pomfrey told Harry. "Despite the magical world's countless potions, this one is special. Why did you drink polyjuice potion, anyway?"
"I... I..." Harry didn't know how to lie, but Madam Pomfrey didn't seem too concerned about this, "Never mind, curiosity gets the better of us sometimes. What's important is what to do next."
She looked at Autumn, "Did you invent it?"
"I'm sorry, Madam Pomfrey. We didn't expect things to turn out this way." Autumn apologized sincerely and also to Harry, "I'm sorry, Harry."
"How long does it last?"
"It seems... maybe... permanent..."
"Oh, no..." Harry whimpered softly.
"If there are no other side effects, I'm not sure how to treat it..." Madam Pomfrey seemed troubled, looking at Harry, "Child, are you sure you don't want to be a girl?"
"Of course not!" Harry was shocked. "Absolutely not!"
"Okay..." Madam Pomfrey pondered, "I need to think about what to do..."
"Madam Pomfrey," Murphy suddenly said, "This is a transfiguration potion effect. Maybe a strong antidote could alleviate the symptoms. Professor Snape should be able to help with this. Why not let him take a look at Harry too?"
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