A Budding Flower by Keikokin
Prequel to Emerald Dancer
Dedicated to littleroo27
Researched and beta’d by littleroo 27
It was an ordinary Saturday at Privet Drive. Harry had done weeding, planting and washed the car. The Dursley’s were headed out and, as Harry was seventeen years old, they decided if they gave him a long enough list of chores to do it would keep him out of trouble. Harry had to agree with their assessment, looking at the list that was as long as some of Dudley’s Christmas lists. After an hour of hard work he had made headway and was hoping to finish in time to have a go on Dudley’s newest anime game.
Checking the list, Harry saw he had to do Aunt Petunia’s laundry next. It wasn’t a very big pile, so he decided to toss his laundry in with it. After all, she’d never know. He didn’t often get the chance to do all his laundry at once so he stripped down to his boxers to do it. Halfway through the load he began to regret this idea. As was typical in England, it had clouded over and the temperature had dropped. He eagerly moved the clothes to the dryer when they were done, looking forward to toasty warm clean clothes.
He bustled about starting to get a bit warmer but was still chilled. Harry eyed the electric heaters, seriously contemplating breaking rule #87. That rule was “Don’t touch the heat, freak.” It would be hard to push it back and not have them know about it when they got home though. So Harry was happy to hear the dryer buzzer go off. Unfortunately, the only things dry were Aunt Petunia’s lighter weight clothes. After all, since Harry was still wearing Dudley’s cast-offs they took longer to dry, what with all the fabric it took to dress a baby elephant these days.
Holding up one of Aunt Petunia’s items, Harry thought it might be a robe. So he donned it and folded up her clothes, putting his own on for a bit longer. He took her clothes upstairs, setting them on the bed, when he saw himself in a mirror. His mouth dropped open to see it wasn’t a robe but a wrap around dress. The color was wanting, pink wasn’t the best tone for him. But he felt different in it. Not a bad different either, it was a pretty different, special even.
Harry had never once felt attractive or special. He smiled and did a bit of mock acting in front of the mirror as Aunt Petunia, almost falling over laughing as he did. Giving an experimental twirl, he had to admit he liked the feeling the dress gave him. He looked himself over carefully. Lots of the blokes in his year were very “manly” looking, but Harry wasn’t one of them. He’d known that for awhile. But now he understood what people meant by the expression “pretty boy”, as it was the image staring back at him.
Shaking his head at himself, he heard the dryer buzzer go off again. Very carefully, he folded the dress and laid it under one of the other items. He looked in the mirror again and was suddenly depressed. Frowning, he decided it was just one of those weird things and put it at the back of his mind, running downstairs eagerly for his own clothes.
Yet, all during the week he found himself criticizing his Aunt’s clothes. It was either a color that would look dreadful on him or a horrible cut. He had to admit, even to himself, that he had a real desire to wear a dress again, just to feel special. Harry wanted that feeling again, he had to have it!
The next weekend, since Harry had done so well on the list of chores, the Dursley’s couldn’t think of anything else for him to do, so when they went out they’d drop him off in town rather then letting him stay home alone with nothing to do. Harry was thrilled. He’d never been allowed in town before. So what if the Dursley’s didn’t want him along? It wasn’t as if he wanted to be with them either. He was so excited he had almost completely forgotten about the dress incident until he started to look in the windows of the stores. Spotting a store that claimed to cater to all lifestyles, Harry’s curiosity was peaked. Looking both ways he ducked into the store when no one was looking.
Clutching the bit of muggle money he’d earned by playing cards at school with Seamus, he looked over everything eagerly. Unfortunately, he realized he didn’t have the time to try anything on, but that didn’t stop him from running his fingers over the soft fabrics, touching the glittering high heels and looking eagerly at the wig selection.
“Hello love, did you need some help?” a voice asked him, causing him to jump in fear that it was someone he knew.
“Um,” Harry paled, looking down at his feet, realizing how shabby he looked after seeing the very well dressed saleswoman.
“My name is Monique, what’s yours, Ducky?” Monique chuckled and Harry felt better.
“H-H-Harry, is it okay I’m in here?” Harry looked around noticing for the first time everyone there was older than him.
“I thought it was your first time ducky. Tell you what, Harry. If you are even thinking about all this, you need a book to explain it all. Follow me, love.” Monique walked over to a small display where there were several books. She handed him one called “Art & illusion: A guide to Crossdressing” by JoAnn Roberts. “It makes a good starter book.”
“Um, is there any book that covers a bit of everything?” Harry asked meekly gesturing around the shop that carried not only women’s clothes for men but an assortment of toys, whips and items that frankly made Harry blush to look at. She gestured toward some other books with interesting titles such as: “On the Safe Edge: A Manual for SM Play”, “Different Loving: A Complete Exploration of the World of Sexual Dominance and Submission”, “Erotic Power: An Exploration of Dominance & Submission” and” The Master's Manual: A Handbook of Erotic Dominance.”
Seeing Harry’s embarrassment Monique picked up the first and last titles handing it to him. Harry paid for the books with a heated blush on his cheeks then wondered how he could hide it. He bit his lip then ran his fingers through his hair. Monique gasped. “Harry Potter?”
“Um, yeah, but how did you know?” Harry asked nervously. Monique winked and gave him a business card from behind the counter, which Harry read immediately.
The Purple Pimpernel
Catering to both
Wizarding Folk & Muggles
Of all lifestyles
Open M-Sat. 10 am “ 10 pm.
Harry looked up with a smile. “You won’t tell anyone will you?” Monique reached over with her long painted nails and flipped the card over.
All employees are under secrecy spells
For the ultimate in discretion
Patrons are subject to the same spell once they leave
Monique winked. “Here, let me take care of this for you,” with a tap of her wand, which was hidden up her sleeve, she gave the books a tap, reducing it to a size smaller than her palm. “There, just tap them saying ‘lifestyles’. It will make them resize and the print to reappear.”
Harry smiled with relief. He didn’t want Dudley to get his hands on this! “Thank you very much!”
When he left the shop Harry noticed the feeling of the secrecy spell. Feeling happier and less ‘weird,’ he walked down to where he was to meet the Dursley’s. He wondered if he could borrow any dresses at school, if he did decide to cross dress there. But in the meantime, he was going to have a lot of fun reading the books over the summer!
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