Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything relating to JKRowling.
Summary: Harriet Driscoll is a transfer student from Noctar Academy, attending Hogwarts as a Gryffindor for her first and final. As a memento of her time at Noctar, the librarian has sent her a book: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. As a new classmate and friend of the main character's parents, what is Harriet supposed to do?
Note: I don't know if it matters to anyone else, but I have this idea in my head of what my characters look like, and I feel like it's worth mentioning here. Lily Olivia Evans is Isla Fisher. Harriett Johanna Driscoll is Rachel McAdams (Time Traveler's Wife or Family Stone), Marigold Dawn Burns is Hayden Panettiere, Rachel Raven Wyatt is Odette Yustman (You Again), and Gemma Celeste Ingram is Taylor Momsen (before she had platinum blonde hair). American Schools: Nadova (Nevada), Whooshsky (Wyoming), Misinnipso (Missouri), Noctar (North Carolina)
Second Note: Please review! Thanks
Chapter One. The Nightmare of the Seventh Year Memento
There were times when Harriett Driscoll really missed Noctar Academy. One of these times was now. At 4am. On the second Monday of classes in September. Why was the brunet transfer student awake at such an ungodly hour? It was partly because at the wonderful, magical school called Hogwarts, she lived in the same room as four other girls. The other part was that one of said roommates just screamed bloody murder in her sleep, jolting Harriet and two of the other roommates awake and toppling the third off her bed. In the first few seconds none of the girls could move at the sight of pale Gemma sobbing on her bed, but then, in the bed on Harriett's left, her most easily irritated roommate released her wrath: "What The BLEEDING HELL is WRONG With You?"
Oh the lovely, calming voice of Rachel; perfect for a wakeup call, except not. Harriett, who couldn't see anything without her glasses or contacts on (not that it would help, as no one was inclined to turn a light on either), scrunched her eyes and tried to wipe the sleep away so she could at least make out the blurry figures in the room. Stretching her memory back to what color pajamas they each wore, Harriett pieced together that Marigold (wearing pink) had been able to dislodge herself from her blankets and had walked over to Gemma's bed along with Lily (wearing yellow). Harriett and Rachel remained in their beds, looking on with opposite expressions. Harriett wasn't especially close to Gemma, and, to be honest was a little uncomfortable in the position of giving comfort or receiving it; she looked at Gemma with pity and exhaustion. Rachel had lived with the three girls presently sitting on Gemma's bed for six, going on seven, years, and, as far as she was concerned, thought that they should know better than to disrupt her sleep; she looked at Gemma annoyed and exhausted. Harriett could see Rachel's expression and rolled her eyes. Harriet and Rachel hadn't hit it off as roommates, and the chances that they were going to be best friends by the end of the year seemed unlikely. The root of the problem was that Harriett thought Rachel was spoiled, naturally judgmental, and too easily angered; although Marigold claimed that Rachel had redeeming features, even she couldn't deny that Harriett's description was right. Lily told Harriett that she would get used to Rachel in time, but Lily was the type of girl who was nice to everyone (well, almost everyone) whether they deserved it or not.
Lily Evans, Marigold Burns, Rachel Wyatt and Gemma Ingram; those are the names of the girls Harriett was living with. Like her, they were all in their seventh year at Hogwarts. Unlike her, they had been at the school together since they were eleven. Harriett had just transferred from Noctar Academy, an all-year, all-girl school for magic in North Carolina. Other than her disagreements with Rachel (and not having her own room) Harriett had no trouble getting into the grove of Hogwarts. It wasn't, after all, the first time she had transferred schools. Before she had been at Noctar she had learned magic at Whooshsky in Wyoming. Come to think of it, I lived in a double there but my roommate ended up leaving after a month to go to another school. So I had a single there, too. Before Whooshsky, she had been to multiple muggle schools and shared a room with stuffed animals that were mute.
"Well, Ingram?" Gemma sniffled, somewhat pathetically, unable to speak. Harriett without really thinking about the possible consequences of her actions threw her pillow in Rachel's reddening face: "Lay off, Wyatt. She didn't scream just to piss you off, and you yelling at her aren't going to magically make her stop crying." Rachel cast her glare at Harriett, who yawned widely.
"I was sleeping!"
"So were the rest of us, Rachel. It's not Gemma's fault she had a nightmare." Lily had turned to face Wyatt; Harriet managed to find her glasses in time to see Lily's green eyes flashing a bit.
"Sorry, you guys." Gemma Ingram's soft voice. Harriett shook her head at the poor girl, wondering to herself why Gemma was placed in Gryffindor, because, not to be mean, but Harriett hadn't seen a hint of courage or bravery since they'd met. She was nice enough, but often seen spacing out and shying away from confrontation. When Harriett had moved into the room, Lily and Marigold had to introduce Gemma to her, even though Gemma was the first person Harriet had encountered. Rachel was a pain, but at least she was fierce. Marigold wrapped Gemma into a hug, and gave a quick laugh: "Don't apologize for things that you can't control." Marigold was always hugging and laughing; Harriett had never seen her go a whole three hours without giving someone a hug or a smile. She scared me half to death when she just hugged me out of nowhere and for no reason. Harriett had never had a roommate or a friend hug her as a way of greeting.
"Want to tell us what your nightmare was about? Might make it easier to sleep." Please say no, Harriett thought to herself even though she was the one who asked her about the nightmare. I don't actually want to hear about your nightmare; it'll just give me bad dreams. The smiles on Lily and Marigold's face, indicating that she has earned something like a brownie point with them, made Harriett not completely regret having asked about the dream.
"Are you sure?" Gemma's voice quivered and Harriett nodded, hoping no one could sense her reluctance to listen. "Well, I don't really remember all of it, but it was really scary." Gemma turned out to be the worst story teller that Harriett had ever heard, resulting in Harriett zoning in and out and nodding when she thought it might be appropriate, but remaining silent throughout. Harriett used their short time acquaintance and her well intentioned question to appease any guilt she felt over a lack of attention. After talking for about fifteen minutes, she was interrupted by the sound of Wyatt snoring and she seemed to notice how tired the rest of us looked. "I feel better now."
"Are you sure, Gem?" Marigold yawned loudly.
"Will you be able to sleep?" Lily caught the yawning sickness in the middle of her question and then passed it to Harriet and Gemma.
"Yah, I'll be fine."
"Lovely. Lily could you toss me my pillow. The Snoring Princess still has it."
Marigold giggled quietly: "The face she made when you threw it at her was great."
Lily tickled Rachel so she'd release the pillow, and threw it back while Harriet responded sleepily to Marigold: "Mission complete. Night, all."
"Goodnight, Harriet."
"Night, Driscoll."
"See you in the morning."
That's the one thing I love about rooming with people, they always tell you goodnight. It's nice.
"Miss Driscoll?"
"Nightmare. Import. Ant book."
"Miss Driscoll, are you sleeping in my class?"
"Can't remember. Zero say.
"Harriet."
" 'un more minute. Two secs."
"MISS DRISCOLL!"
"Not guilty. What I do?" The words flew out of Harriett's mouth and a few of the students in the class snorted. It took her a few seconds to realize that those people weren't in her bedroom, as she was definitely not in her bedroom. She closed my eyes tightly, trying to clear her head. Where the hell am I?
"Thank you, Miss Driscoll, for returning to class." McGonagall. I fell asleep in McGonagall's class. Damn it! "I hope I didn't interrupt anything important while you dreamt." Harriett could feel red climbing into her cheeks as she spoke, and, as testament to Harriett not being a morning person, due to the fact she lacked a filter when she was first woken up, Harriett said something to McGonagall that was incredibly stupid: "No worries, Minnie."
The guy sitting behind Harriet laughed, although it sounded strangely like the bark. "Nothing out of you, Mr. Black." The distraction gave Harriett a chance to realize what she had just said.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, Professor. I-I didn't mean it the way it came out. I mean you weren't interrupting anything." There was snorting from behind and Harriett saw McGonagall's eyebrows raise with the degrees of heat on her face. "I mean…um, I didn't mean to fall asleep last night, I mean in your class. I don't really know…what…happened. And I, apparently, can't think straight right now." And more giggles erupted from the class. Please let the floor swallow me whole so I won't keep talking.
"Professor, it's not her fault." Harriet recognized Lily's voice on my left. "One of our roommates kept us up late last night, so all of us are a little sleep deprived." Ah, and then she remembered. The Princess of Snore. She didn't get any more sleep after 4am. Harriett turned her head to Lily, intending to mouth thank you to her, but her filter-less thoughts had a better idea: "Wow, Lily, you look awful." Marigold's giggled loudly on Harriett's right, and, instinctively turning to face her led to another comment: "You, too Marigold. Do I look as bad as the two of you?" Marigold laughed louder at me and nodding quickly. "Awwww. I don't wanna look badly. Already can't see." More people in the class started laughing. Damn, damn, damn. Stop talking, Harriett!
"Here drink this." Lily sat a thermos out in front of me.
"What's that Evans?" A guy from one row back, whose name Harriett couldn't quiet remember right then, asked.
"The only thing that will snap her back to reality, Potter. Caffeine."
"I like caffeine. I like the name Potter, too. It's got a pretty ring to it." What the hell?
"Less talking, more drinking!" Lily put Harriett's hand around the thermos, and pulled it up to her face so that she'd stop talking. Harriett swallowed the carbonated drink and felt her brain engage with the filter between thoughts and words. "Have you now returned to the land of the fully functioning, Miss Driscoll?"
"Yes, mama. Sorry about that." I am so dead.
"Come to my office after your classes, Miss Driscoll. The rest of you are dismissed. Don't forget that you have an essay do on Wednesday. No exceptions."
"Yes, mama." Harriet packed up her empty notes, trying not to look at any of the other students as they passed by her desk. Marigold gave a sympathetic smile.
"Sorry, I would have woken you up beforehand, but to tell you the truth I think I dozed off too. I woke up when she asked if you were sleeping. Lily tried to nudge you awake, I don't think she was fully paying attention either though. You're really funny when you're just waking up though."
"You talk in your sleep, too. You said something about importing an ant book, not being guilty and zero say. I can't believe you asked us if you looked as badly as we did." Lily smiled amused, and tried to straighten her red pony tail.
"Yah, thanks for that."
"Sorry. I really can't get my brain to separate observations from things that I want to say in the first five minutes of me being awake, so usually anything that comes to mind comes up before I can stop it."
"I'll take that as a compliment then." The Potter boy came up, with a sideways grin and two other guys next to him.
"I don't know if you can actually take credit for having a name with a ring to it. I'm pretty sure that's circumstantial. If not, then personal preference." The Potter boy kept his grin, but Harriett saw his eyes travel left, until Marigold gasped and became the center of attention by saying: "Oh my goodness, you haven't been introduced. And you're in the same house." Harriett blinked as she thought about her first night at Hogwarts; she had gotten sick beforehand so she had to skip it. The headmaster sorted her in his office once she was released from the hospital wing and by then she was rushing around the school trying to figure out where all of her classes were and catching up with the summer classwork that she didn't have time to do, since she technically never had a summer to do it in. Other than my roommates, I really hadn't met anyone else though they'd tried to point out people and name them. "James Potter is the Head Boy to Lily's Head Girl. Nobody make a face at that! James is also Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain."
"Hi! Sorry for calling you out in class like that. What position do you play?"
"I'm a Chaser. We've had a good team set up for the last few years, but a lot of the team graduated last year. So it's going to be a challenge this year." Did his eyes just light up at the word 'challenge'?
"Do you play?" The guy with black waving hair, standing on the right of James asked with a smile that strangely mirrored the one James wore.
"I played on a Quidditch team when I was at Whooshsky, but when I transferred to Noctar there wasn't a Quidditch team to join. Flying lessons, but no Quidditch."
"So this isn't your first time transferring?" The boy of the left of James had light brown hair, a couple cuts on his face, and a concerned look in his eyes. Those kinds of cuts look familiar…
"Hogwarts will be the sixth school I've gone to. My parents moved around a lot when I was a kid. It's not so bad, though. I've seen a lot of different places and I've never really felt like I didn't belong somewhere before. My dad told mom that the family's motto should be 'where ever I lay my hat is home'. It's an old song that he'd sing and dance to." The concerned look was still in his eye, but Harriet was used to that look by now. There was always someone who thought she had it bad. Before they could clomp onto her life and ask more questions she directed their attention elsewhere. "Are the two of you related?" She said, pointing at James and the other black haired boy who looked a little taken aback. "The two of you have the same smile." The identical smiles came out, as if on cue.
"Wow. Their smiles are similar." Lily whispered to herself before clearing her throat. Is it my imagination or did James' smile get bigger?
"I take it by everyone's reaction that you aren't related."
"Sorry, I got lost in the conversations. That's Sirius Black, if you are going to develop a crush on him, I should warn you now that he has a fan club, and they will come after you if you start dating him."
"You're joking, right?" Sirius winced: "Ouch."
"Not like that. I meant that people don't have fan clubs. Unless they are famous for something."
"These three men are Hogwarts' celebrities."
"Don't feed their ego, Marigold."
"Aww, but Lily-flower."
"Don't start, Black! I haven't had an argument with any of you in a week. That's a new record and I want to see how long it'll go."
"Yes, Lily-flower." Lily's eyes flashed and Harriett decided to intervene before something happened.
"Am I going to get introduced to the third part of the party?"
"Oh, right! Sorry. I keep getting distracted. This is Remus Lupin. He's got a fan club, too." This seemed like news to him and his two friends, and none of them really knew how to respond. "If you come to the Quidditch games or end up playing on the team, Remus is the one that does commentary. And now you can thank me for introducing you to the most popular boys at school."
"It's nice to meet you. I'm, in case you haven't heard my name enough in class today, Harriet Driscoll."
"Well Harriett Driscoll," Sirius walked closer to her desk, "can I ask you a couple of questions?"
"…sure."
"Harriet Driscoll, can I call you Harry?" Harriett blinked and looked at Lily who rolled her eyes as if to say 'And here we go."
"Um, that's fine."
"Alright, Harry. Question one—"
"Actually, you're on four now."
"Oh. Question four, what's your sign?" Remus closed his eyes as if in pain while James shook his head. Marigold and Lily snorted amused.
"The one that says 'stop'?" Sirius barked out another laugh: "I like you, Harry. Congratulations for passing the 'I'm-Not-Going-To-Be-Your-Fan-Girl' Quiz. That being said," Sirius turned to his amused friends and asked, "can we go eat now?"
"Sure, Sirius. It was nice meeting you, Harriet. See you around, Marigold. Bye, Lily." Sirius and Remus waved as they left the classroom.
"They seem nice."
"You should have been here a couple years before." Lily answered darkly, but Marigold snorted.
"So they aren't nice?"
"Oh, come on Lily. They aren't that bad. I think they are rather funny."
"In the rule breaking, cocky sort of way: Yes."
"Give up, Lily. Admit that you like James and go out with him already. He might surprise you."
"Never. I'll never ever date James Potter."
"You know, if you add Lily before it, Potter has an even prettier ring to it."
"Driscoll!"
Harriett didn't sleep through anymore classes, or, for that matter, her meeting with Professor McGonagall who agreed to let her off with a warning this one time. Harriett didn't like that people gave her special treatment when they feel sorry for her (Remus and McGonagall seem sure that being transferred from multiple schools is worth some leniency with my behavior), but that doesn't mean she was above accepting it. Luckily, McGonagall hadn't heard Harriett call her Minnie though, or she might not have been so lenient. McGonagall didn't call Harriett into her office to tell her she was off the hook though. The professor called her into her office so that Harriett's old head of house, Professor Miser, could make his own sympathetic gesture. It's custom for seventh year students at Noctar to pick one book from the school library, which is a building all by itself and several stories high, to take with you as a momentum of your time in school. Since Harriett's transfer had been kind of sudden (it wasn't until two weeks beforehand that she or any of her teachers were informed that she was being transferred), and she had exams the day last year's seniors had picked out there book, Professor Miser had the librarian pick out a book for Harriett to make up for her missing her senior year there. The librarian had been out sick the week Harriett had to leave, so Professor Miser couldn't give it to her before she left. I guess I worry more people than I thought I did, Harriet couldn't help but think after McGonagall confessed that she was friends with some of my old teachers and they had inquired about my transition. When Professor Miser found out that McGonagall was Harriett's new head of house, he asked her to deliver the book. McGongall's words as she handed over the wrapped book were; "The staff and students at your old school seem to think highly of you." Harriett wanted to ask why, but thought she might get more sympathetic glances. What am I suppose to say to that though? "Thank you, Professor McGonagall."
Harriett decided to wait to unwrap the book when she got back to her room. The librarian and she had never hit it off really well, so it was going to be interesting opening something that she picked out for her. "Oi, Driscoll!" Harriett lifted her head to see a smiling Sirius Black walking down the staircase she was about to walk up. "Are you coming to dinner? I'll walk you down."
"Thanks, but I think I'll pass."
"Mad that I'm not going to let you be in my fan club?" He's got a nice laugh. Do all dogs have nice laughs? Very stupid question. Do not ask it.
"I feel completely rejected, and now I can't bear the thought of facing a great hall worth of people who surely, by now, must know that you have cast me aside like an old boat."
"Cast boat, very funny. You should have answered the question right."
"Is a pickup line technically a question?"
"Only if you answer it wrong."
"Ah, now I get it. Well, in any case, I think I'm going to skip on eating with everyone tonight."
"Lots of homework to do?"
"No, well yes, I do, but no that's not the reason I'm staying back. On that subject though, could I borrow your notes for transfiguration? I'd ask Lily or Marigold, but they were both really tired, so I don't know how good their notes will be."
"Sure thing. Can I bring them to you after dinner?"
"That would be great."
"Alright then…" He's hesitating. And he's standing right in front of me. Is he expecting me to move out of his way or something?
"Yes, Sirius?"
"Obvious I've got more to say, is it?"
"Just a little. You're voice gives it away. Go ahead and ask."
"Do you want me to bring you back some food from the kitchens? You probably shouldn't skip meals. I could give it to Lily-flower or one of the other girls." Harriett felt the ends of her lips kick up when he said Lily-flower.
"You call her Lily-flower even when she's not around?"
"It's a habit. I started it when James began to ask her out and she rejected him. Repeatedly. Used to do it to tick her off, now it's just a part of her name." He seems pretty happy with himself. Did something good happen to him today?
"I thought I caught some eyeing going on. Why'd she reject him?" His face darkened a little and Harriett couldn't help but blink at how the frown transformed his face. Not necessarily in a bad way, but it did transform it.
"It's complicated. I think I know why, but…" She opened her mouth to tell him he didn't have to explain if he didn't want when he started again. "James has been in love with her for ages. I don't think he's ever going to stop." He hesitated for a second, like he wasn't sure if he was breaking a best friend code by speaking. "He used to ask her at least twice a week to go on a date with him, but she never let in. We've been back over a week now and he hasn't even asked her once. I'm sure he still loves her, but I'm a little worried that he's give in to the idea that she's never going to give him a chance and has accepted the idea that it's always going to be a one-sided love."
"You and James have been friends for a long time."
"Since first year it's been me, James and Remus. And Peter. You haven't met him yet, he's not in advanced transfiguration."
"Maybe he thinks Lily will give him a chance if he backs off. Talking from experience, being bombarded weekly by a guy you don't like is irritating and you start to forget any good qualities he has." That doesn't constitute as a lie does it? I mean I'm pretty sure Jason has no redeeming qualities for me to forget in the first place….
"Hmm." Harriett smiled, trying to push back her thoughts about Jason and finish making her way to the dorm.
"I'll take you up on the offer of food though. I'll probably be hungry later on and it occurs to me that I don't know where the kitchen actually is here."
"Maybe if you answer the next pickup line I throw your way right, I tell you where it is."
"Or I could just go looking for it myself. Only time will tell."
"Speaking of time, you'd better get going. The staircases will probably start moving soon." He stepped to the right to let Harriett pass by.
"Thanks, Sirius."
"Bye, Hattie." She stopped on the same step as him and looked at him curiously.
"What happened to calling me Harry?"
"James told me that he wanted to name is first son Harry." Harriett laughed at the comment.
"Harry Potter does have a nice ring to it." Did his eyes just flicker?
"Hattie it is then."
Harriett had gotten almost halfway through the first chapter when Lily came into the room, and Harriett almost ran to give her a hug. She would have had she been able to move. "Hey, you feel okay? Sirius told us you were skipping dinner, but that he was going to bring something back for you." Harriett couldn't say anything. Everything felt frozen inside, like she'd been stuck in a freezer and the ice in her veins had not melted yet. "Harriett? Everything okay?" No. No its not. Why? Why? Why?
"Lily?"
"Yah?" She looked at Harriett with concern. She's concerned for me? She'd sad for me. Why? This isn't fair. Why?
"Do you have any siblings?"
"Uh…yah. An older sister. Her names Petunia. Why?" Harriett could feel the tears gathering in her eyes as the last thing separating her mind from accepting the truth was put to an end. Damn it, no! Why? Why? "What's wrong? Harriett?" Everything. It's all wrong.
"Um-Nothing. Nothing at all. I just wondered." You're dead, Lily. You and James are dead.
"Harriett…"
"Don't mind me, Lily. It's just that time of month and I'm a little emotional is all." Why? Why? Why them? Why me? Why?
"I take it you're not going to be in the mood to eat in the common room. I think Potter, Sirius and Remus wanted to introduce you to more people tonight."
"I…"
"You're not. I'll tell them you aren't feeling well. It's not like you don't live here. We can introduce you later on."
"LILY-FLOWER. HATTIE!" Sirius bellowed from below. And Lily rolled her eyes.
"Potter and Sirius must be back with the food. I take it you are now Hattie?"
"Harry is going to be James' son's name."
"Is it now?" Yes. "Well, I guess on this one thing Potter and I can agree. Harry is nice name, I've always like it. I had an uncle named Harry. He was great, he gave me a compass and a map when I was nine and told me to plan an adventure." She smiled, hoping that Harriett would smile back. "I'll go get the food and bring it to you."
"Thanks, Lily." She smiled before walking to the door. "Lily?" She stopped at the door.
"Yah, Harriet?"
"His name is James." She blinked and looked for a second like she wanted to argue. Harriett gulped, "Please." That Lily nodded, even reluctantly, meant to Harriett that she was looking pretty pathetic. While she was downstairs excusing her from their impromptu welcome party, Harriett took the book and hid it under a pile of clothes in her trunk.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Why did the librarian give this to me? Why did I have to learn about the premature deaths of people I had just met? Why them? Why me? What am I going to do?