(Potter born in 1990)

I do not own any characters apart from Amelia Potter; all belong to their respective owners.

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

13th June 1997, New Hampshire USA

Amelia Potter was excited by the prospect of going on holiday. She had never had any treats before, let alone be allowed on a holiday with her 'family'. They had always left her at home when they went elsewhere, but this was the most expensive one so far. She knew that Vernon had just made a big deal, and seemed in too good a mood to notice he was bringing her along, but she did not mind. She would be ignored in the end and she was fine with that. They were already two days into this holiday and she was having a good time. Of course, Vernon regretted bringing her along now, and she was not expecting to have anything to bring back from this trip, but at least they did not hit her as they did at home. 'Probably because there are too many people here' she thought.

She was particularly excited today. There were going to climb Mount Washington, or attempt to in the case of the Dursleys. She was nervous though. She did not think the Dursley's were going to try and climb it, but she did not care. She had been interested in many things before the first school report was sent home. She was interested in Music, Geography, and she was good at Maths. Then they hit her and locked her cupboard for a day. She did not excel at school after that, but she kept a healthy interest in her subjects. What had scared her most though was the talk she had with her 'Uncle' outside the car as they got in to drive.

"None of that freaky stuff girl or you will wish you had never been born when we get back. Got it?"

"Yes Vernon." She replied. She knew exactly what he meant, and did not really want to think about it at all.

It took over three hours to get to Mount Washington. They could have gone by a slightly shorter route, and missed most of the traffic but Dudley wanted to see the "big blue thing" he had seen on the map, so they took a five-mile diversion and got stuck for over forty minutes in various queues. Of course, she had read the map, and worked out it was five miles shorter the other way, but no one would listen to her, so she did not bother mentioning it. Of course, Vernon blamed the whole thing on her, going on about how she did not want to go, or that it was her freakiness that caused all the problems, but she did not bother listening to him after the first five minutes. Of course, she would of tried to tell him that she actually wanted to go to the mountain, and she wanted to climb it, but she didn't bother. There was no point really. He would not listen, and if he did, he would take it as an insult that she dared to backchat to him about something. When they finally got there, she loved the sight that was before her eyes. A beautiful sunshine was hanging over the summit of Mount Washington. It was too bad that she was not allowed a camera to take a picture of it, but of course, she was not even allowed near one, let alone allowed to take a picture with one. "Never know what freaky things you might do with a camera." Vernon had said.

Governor Bartlet was sitting in his office in Concord. So many meetings and a cocktail party to go to at the weekend. He needed a rest, and it was only midday. He sighed, and then called his secretary. "Mrs Landingham," he shouted, "What are my appointments."

"You have quite a few meetings with other members of ..."

"Cancel them; I'm going to Mount Washington." He said, already picking up his coat.

"But sir..."

"I don't care; tell them I wasn't feeling well. Tell them I have the plague; just get me out of it."

"Yes sir."

"Excellent." He said. Finally, something was going his way.

Of all the ways to waste time, they had to waste it eating. Amelia had waited nearly three hours for them to eat lunch, and they then admitted that they were only coming to eat, and not even going to attempt to climb the mountain at all. And of course, they had not bought her any food. No, if she wanted to have any food, she could wait until the hotel dinner that night. 'Please, the only reason I get any food at all is because it's a complementary thing assholes.' she thought, and just sat looking at the beautiful view of the mountain. She heard movement from behind her, and turned to see what she knew from the news to be the Governor of the state of New Hampshire. "Nice view isn't it?" He asked, and she was shocked to see the governor talking to her.

"It is. I just wish I had a camera." She finally replied, telling the truth completely, and she really did want something to remember it by.

"How about I take a few for you?"

"Would you? I don't want to be a nuisance or anything sir."

"It's quite alright, it will be no problem."

"Thank you sir." She beamed at him, she could not possibly say no to the Governor.

"Now then, do you want to be in them, or just have the Mountain in the picture?"

"One of each please."

"Okay then, would you like to go stand over there, and I'll take the one of you first." He said.

"Okay." She said, and went to stand in front of it.

After the pictures were taken, he started to walk the young girl back towards the main car park. He knew that there was a small photo processing shop there, and she really looked like she wanted those pictures. "Say, what's your name?"

"Amelia Lily Potter. I know who are, Mr. Governor."

"So Ms Potter, what brings you to this mountain?"

"Well, my Uncle, Aunt and Cousin decided to come here today, and instead of going to have look, turns out they just wanted to eat and go back, so I went off to have a better look."

"Well, did you know that the first recorded climbing of the mountain was in 1642?"

"No, but they don't really teach that at my school."

"They should, where do you go, I'll have a word with your teachers."

"I don't think you could, I go to St Peter's School in Surrey."

"Ahhh, English accent. Could not quite place it. Ah, here we are look." Bartlet said, and the place where they had both come from to go to the mountain, and where Amelia's so-called family were meant to be, was deserted.

"My uncle left without me. I didn't keep track of time."

"There there, Amelia, we'll get you back."

"No, don't send me back. Please." She said despairingly, looking at him.

"Why not?"

"I don't want to, please don't send me back."

"Okay, okay. But I have to make sure that your Uncle is not here. Where are you staying?"

"It depends, what's the time?"

"Let me see, it is, five to five."

"The flight is at six. They must have left as soon as I disappeared.

"Okay, I'll take you home Ms Potter. We'll get this sorted out."

"Thank you sir."

"No problem." He said. He could not believe her family would leave her behind. He had to contact her parents and inform them. He was sure that her parents would not stand for this sort of treatment. And if they did not care either, well, then he supposed he would take care of her.