The early fall sun blazed above, reminding Adelaide why fall was her favorite season as she ran down the hill past Markley. She was grateful it was Saturday and that it was a football game day which meant that the streets of Ann Arbor and the halls of U of M were quiet, as everyone and their mother were either at the stadium or inside watching the game. She had the Arb all to herself. Her feet began hitting the pavement to the beat of the music coming from her ear buds as they switched from hitting pavement to hitting the dirt paths of the Arboretum.

As Adelaide ran, she barely even noticed the music. Her mind was filled with everything. She could hardly believe they were already two and a half weeks into her last fall semester ever, assuming she didn't need to go to grad school which was looking like a better option every day. The semester was looking great for her though, her residents were really nice and fun to hang out with, her classes didn't seem all too difficult with the exception of Econ and she had just gotten her dream role in a musical, which was a huge feat. The University's musical theatre department is one of the top in the country and Adelaide isn't even in the musical theatre department and she still got the lead role. It is completely unheard of! She wouldn't complain though, 42nd Street is her favorite musical and she's never had a lead before but Peggy Sawyer is her dream role. It was going to be a busy semester with that, her 19 credit hours, and her two jobs – the ticket office and being a resident advisor – she wasn't sure she is gonna be able to fit in everything she wants to do before she leaves. There's a long list. She'll make it work though; she always manages somehow.

Adelaide turned down one of her "hidden paths". It wasn't really a hidden path but it was definitely a path less taken. She liked to call it off roading. It made her feel like she was in the country and that nothing else was happening or mattered. It made her feel almost like time stopped, or more like she existed outside of time or apart from it. Here, it didn't matter that she had hundreds of pages she's supposed to read for class or a community building activity (CBA) to plan for her hall; it was just her and nature. It was times when she was running that she most felt the power of God or whatever you want to believe in. The good Catholic girl in her made it to church every Sunday morning but that was only a formality. It was out in natural beauty, running when she felt mostly the presence. She felt it when she wasn't running too but she was frequently going on a run.

As she was rounding a bend in the path, and coming closer to the end of her run, she started returning to reality. Adelaide started making a mental list of all of the things she needed to get done and trying to prioritize them as she run past the fence separating the Arb from the graveyard. It didn't even register with her anymore that the graveyard existed or that it was kind of creepy. It had become just a part of the scenery like any other beautiful tree or flower bush. Yet she got a prickly feeling on the back of her neck like she was being watched. She turned her head but there was no one around. The alarm on her watch started beeping and she sped up in the direction of the entrance. Time to get back to the real world, and call her mom.

***

"I'm slipping into the lava. Trying to keep from going under…" Adelaide sang as loudly as she could, which is loud. She wasn't ashamed of the fact that she was almost 21 and but listened to the Jonas Brothers and watched the Disney Channel and had Disney Princess everything. But she did snap her mouth shut when she heard the knock at her door.

"Addie!" Yelled a female voice.

"I'm coming. Imma coming." Adelaide replied and ran to the door. "Geez impatient."

"Sorry, I didn't know if you could hear me." Kayla said, waltzing into the room.

"I could, I just wanted to, you know, put my shirt on first."

"That's acceptable I guess. Have you talked to the new guy yet?" She asked, pulling her light blonde hair into a pony tail.

"No. I knocked on his door when I got back from my run but he wasn't there. Or he didn't answer. Either way, no dice."

"Hm…well I hope he's not a weirdo or anything. And that he doesn't just stay in his room or go out with other friends all the time. It feels like the hall is a really good vibe going on this year." Kayla had lived on Adelaide's hall last year as well and they became best friends. The residents last year were rather independent and usually hung out with friends in other places, making their hall really quiet and boring. Kayla should have been on Res Staff with Addy this year, but for who knows what reason they didn't pick her.

"Yeah I know! I'm jazzed."

"Jazzed?"

"Shut up. I like it!" Addy replied defensively. She liked to use random words sometimes.

"Dork. What are you doing?"

"Right now? Talking to you and then you know finishing getting dressed and stuff." Addy replied.

"And then?"

"Then going to the dollar movie with Morgan." Addy replied. They had planned to see the Hannah Montana movie when it got to the dollar movie theater, since they were college kids who shouldn't really want to see it.

"Oh, kay. I was gonna invite you home for dinner." Kayla's family lives about ten to fifteen minutes away and frequently tells Kayla to bring friends home for dinner and to hang out.

"Aw no, next time! I love your family."

"Okay, well I'm gonna go then." Kayla said.

"Tell the fam I say hey." Addy said as Kayla walked out the door and shut it behind her. Addy finished getting ready. Grabbing her purse she headed out the door, almost locking herself out but catching the door at the last second when she realized she'd forgotten – really it happened at least once a week. When she came back out she saw a male she didn't recognize walking down the hall. He had messy black hair and he was walking toward the room of the new resident. Adelaide thought for a minute how to non-creepily get his attention and say hi. She decided just to go for it though and glided down the hall to catch him just as he was putting his card into the lock.

"Um…Harry?" She said meekly. He turned to look at her and his green eyes caught her right away, strikingly old-before-their-time behind his glasses.

"Er, yeah." He replied, utterly confused.

"Hi, I'm Adelaide." She replied, giving her small little wave. It was kinda an awkward thing but she always did it. She was actually always kinda a little awkward. "I'm your RA."

"RA?" He repeated quixotically.

"Resident Advisor. I live in the middle of the hall, 5560." She replied, surprised that he didn't know what an RA was as her sheet said he was 20 so he should be at least a sophomore. "I just wanted to say hello and welcome to 5th Palmer. If you need anything feel free to knock on my door. I'm pretty busy though so if I'm ever not there, come back later or leave me a note or facebook me or email me or text me or whatever. But I'm always happy to help. Are you new to U of M?"

"Er…yeah. I just transferred." Harry replied.

"Cool." Adelaide said. It was a little awkward and she could tell that he didn't want to really talk. She should really be on her way anyway. "Okay well, I'm heading out but like I said welcome, I'm here to help or to hang out, 5560 – stop by anytime. And –" she caught sight of a shape on his forehead. "Is that a lightning bolt?"

"What?" Harry reached up instinctively and touched his scar. "Oh, yeah. It's a scar."

"Cool." Addy responded. She was now officially creeping out her resident which is not a good way to start off the year. "Well, see ya later. It was nice meeting you."

"Yeah, you too." Harry replied. Addy disappeared down the hall and out the steps, glad to have at least made initial contact with her new resident. Just as she disappeared, Hermione and Ron reached Harry's room.

"Who was that?" Ron asked as the two came in and shut the door behind them.

"My RA. Do you guys have one?" Harry replied. The whole American university thing was very new.

"Yeah mate but mine's not nearly as cute as yours." Ron said. "Victoria – she got brassed off when I called her Vicky - gave me this lecture about respecting women and how she's really busy and doesn't have time to put up with trouble on the hall. I don't think she likes me very much."

"Mine was high. I'm fairly sure at least. He was really weird. Anyway, an RA is like a perfect or head boy and girl. They live in the dorm for free and make sure everyone is going okay and follows rules." Hermione piped in.

"What do you mean he was high? How do you know that?" Ron asked.

"I read about it before we got here Ron. We need to fit in and look like the normal American college kids, who would all know that. Did you not read the packets I gave you two on what to do and what not to do here?!" Hermione responded exasperatedly.

"What are we doing here anyway? I don't see how the University of Michigan is gonna help us find the last Horcrux." Ron scoffed.

"It's all we've got isn't it?" Hermione retorted. "Dumbledore left me the book on the University of Michigan and the book of children's stories for something and we've tried everything else."

Harry sat and listened to the two bickering but remained silent. He too wondered if they had made the right choice in coming here. It had been two years since Dumbledore had died and Voldemort had risen to power. They successfully destroyed all but two of the horcruxes, if Dumbledore was right about the number and yet they were stumped. They knew Nagini was one, however they didn't want to attempt getting rid of her until all the others had been taken care of. There was the ring, the goblet, the diary, the diadem, the locket – all destroyed. Just Nagini and one other thing left to destroy but what it was they still didn't know. Harry couldn't understand what the University of Michigan had to do with anything in the wizarding world at all and felt that perhaps Dumbledore had gone insane. How could a muggle university be housing a magical object serving as home to a piece of Voldemort's soul? It just didn't make sense. The one good thing about being here was the presence of food and bathrooms and beds and the lack of a need to hide. People here didn't know who he was nor would the Death Eaters be looking here for him. And right now, he was too tired to argue about it. All he wanted was to enjoy the nice, warm, dry, comfort of his own bed.

****

Author's Note: I DON'T OWN THE HARRY POTTER CHARACTERS OR STORYLINE CLEARLY! You should know that the wonderful and talented JK Rowling does. Anywho, this story takes place in the middle-ish of Book 7 (as you gathered) but I needed to change their ages a bit to fudge it and change a couple of things. You'll see what's going on eventually. Also, I'm real bad a British dialogue. This is all.