So, despite being a die-hard LOTR fan---as seen by the copious amount of fan-fic I've done--- this little plot has been running in my head and now won't leave. So I present to you… my very first Harry Potter fan fiction!

Warnings: I've played with the story a bit. Yes, I know Dumbledore is dead and that Snape is gone. Big deal. That's why it's called 'fan' fiction. It's all in the mind of the fans. So nyaah.

Disclaimer: As always, none of these cool kids belong to me. Except Isolde. And she is cool. And mine. Everyone else is property of the immensely talented J.K Rowling.

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In My Eyes

Chapter 1: First Impressions

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Harry Potter had never been so happy in all of his sixteen years to see the crowded Platform Nine and Three Quarters. This past summer had been the worst one since he had began attending Hogwarts. His godfather Sirius was dead, and Hermione, Ron and Cho had all been too busy to write him very many letters. His contact with the wizarding world had been very limited indeed, and he had begun to suffer from symptoms of withdrawal. August couldn't have come any slower.

But now, here he was again, standing in the midst of an ever-growing crowd of students who were rushing about, saying goodbye to their families and trying to get all of their things in order to get on the train when it arrived. There were the Weasleys, being fussed over by their mother one last time before they left. Hermione was in the process of taking her ill-tempered cat, Crookshanks, from her father's arms while telling them a hurried goodbye. And then there was Cho Chang. His Cho. His girlfriend. She was standing beside him, her small hand slipped tightly into his.

However, something was wrong. Cho was nervous. She was never nervous. She was the coolest, calmest person he had ever met. In fact, he had never heard her raise her voice, not even on the Quidditch pitch. But she had been standing there for at least the last five minutes, if not longer, nervously tapping her foot and alternating her gaze between the large clock mounted on the wall and the rapidly growing crowd surrounding her.

Finally, she let out an exasperated sigh. "Where is she?" she mumbled in a worried tone, checking the clock yet again. "The train will be here in fifteen minutes. She can't stand to get somewhere any later than twenty minutes before she has to. No, this isn't like her at all!"

Harry frowned. "What are you talking about? Who is 'she'?"

But Cho wouldn't answer. She just continued to stare worriedly into the crowd, scanning each face that passed her by.

Cho had been telling Harry all summer how she couldn't wait to return to school for her sixth year, and how she had a surprise waiting for him on the first day back. He had been trying to coax hints out of her the entire, but had been unsuccessful. Whatever it was, Cho really wanted it to be a surprise. Now, however, it seemed as though her surprise was running late.

His eyes drifted to the clock that Cho had been watching relentlessly. There was eleven minutes left until the Hogwarts Express would be pulling into the station. He was about to suggest to Cho that the two of them get their carts and move closer so that they would be sure to get a compartment on the train that was free of people they had no desire to sit with when she suddenly leapt away from him with a happy shriek.

"Isolde!"

Harry could only blink as his girlfriend raced towards a girl that he had never seen before in his life who was looking around with a very lost look on her face and threw her arms around her. Harry could only surmise that this girl was the surprise that Cho had been waiting for.

He took a moment to study the newcomer as she and Cho happily reunited with one another, the girl looking extremely grateful to find a familiar face. She had long honey-blond hair that was gathered into millions of tiny braids that clicked together whenever she swung her head, and her eyes were the color of emeralds flecked with gold. Her skin was pale, though she seemed to have been spared the freckles that plagued every one of the Weasley children. Though Harry had never seen her before, she looked way too old to be a first year. His curiosity was piqued.

After a few more minutes of hugging and laughing, Cho returned to Harry's side beaming, the strange girl in tow. "Harry, I would like you to meet my best friend, Isolde O'Worley. Isolde, this is Harry Potter, my boyfriend."

The girl smiled as she reached out a hand, showing rows of perfectly white teeth. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you," she said in a soft voice that was tinted with a heavy Irish accent. "Cho's told me so much about you."

"I wish I could say the same," Harry said in an embarrassed tone of voice as he took her hand. "But I'm afraid that Cho---"

"---wanted to keep me a secret," she replied with a grin and a sparkle in her eyes. "She told me that's what she was planning. You'll just have to excuse her. She's strange like that."

"I can't help it!" the Ravenclaw replied with a pout. "You know as well as I do that I've been looking forward to this day for the past five years. Besides, this gives me a chance to show you off to all of those people who I've talked about you non-stop to."

Isolde smiled at Harry as she rolled her eyes. "Well, I suppose there are worse reputations I can have than Cho Chang's trophy friend."

This caused all three of them to burst into sudden laughter. Harry was already liking this new girl.

Right at that moment, a mournful whistle sounded, announcing the arrival of the Hogwarts Express, the train that would take them to Hogwarts.

Harry checked the clock again and smiled. Right on time. "So I take it Cho has explained everything to you, how it all works, since you're new to Hogwarts and all…" He let his statement hang in the air, hoping that she picked up on his implied question and offer an answer.

"Transfer," she answered simply with a smile. "And yes, Cho has explained everything to me. In detail. Quite a number of times. But thank you."

"Sure thing."

The next few moments were a blur to Harry. He got his cart full of luggage in line to be put on the train, making sure that his owl Hedwig had food and water and grabbing his carry-on. He said goodbye to Hermione's parents and Mrs. Weasley, who made a quick fuss over him before he could escape onto the train. Once onboard, he bid farewell to Ron and Hermione, who left to go sit with the rest of the prefects, before finding the compartment where Cho and Isolde had already settled and plopped down next to his girlfriend. "I don't think I've ever been so happy to be on the Express," he said in a relieved tone of voice.

Cho gave him a sympathetic smile and reached over to take his hand. "I imagine. I could tell by your letters that you were having a rough summer."

Harry let out a groan as he took off his glasses to rub his eyes with his free hand. "'Rough' doesn't even begin to describe my summer. It was positively rotten." He looked across the compartment at Isolde, who was sitting strait up, legs crossed, staring out the window. "I don't mean to pry, but where did you transfer from? I wasn't even aware that someone could transfer schools."

"Not very many people do transfer," Isolde explained. "In fact, I don't think there has been a transfer in quite some time. I come from a school in Ireland. I live in County Claire."

This caused Harry to frown. "Ireland? I didn't know there was a school in Ireland. I thought it was just the three."

"It's a private school. It's very small, exclusive. There are maybe sixty students there, with ten teachers." She gave him an embarrassed, almost apologetic smile. "I'm afraid my parents have quite a bit of money and influence."

"Oh." Harry blinked at this. "Then why did you decide to transfer to Hogwarts? I mean, isn't that an awfully long way away from home for you? And I would think that a private school would be… I dunno. Better?"

Isolde laughed. "Oh, it was the most boring place in the entire world! The teachers were strict, and nearly all of the students were stuck up, pretentious know-it-alls. I hardly had any friends at all. Besides, we had no Quidditch."

Harry brightened at the mention of his favorite sport. "So you play Quidditch?"

"Me? Oh no, no,no,no." Isolde shook her head, sending her millions of tiny braids clicking together. "I leave the actual playing to Cho. I just goof around, play a sort of 'backyard' Quidditch. I couldn't play on a real time if my life depended on it!"

"Don't believe a word she says," Cho chimed in with a protesting voice. "She's a pretty decent player, and she's wicked fast on a broom. I've been trying to convince her to try out for the Ravenclaw team all summer, but haven't had any luck so far."

Harry raised an eyebrow at this news. "You've already been sorted?"

The Irish girl nodded. "I cam up here for a day in the summer to get everything all straitened out. I must admit, I'd feel pretty out of place standing up there with all of those first years waiting to be sorted. Besides, that's their time to shine. I'm quite happy to blend into the background."

"I knew she's get into Ravenclaw," Cho said, beaming like a proud parent. "She's so smart. When we were younger, I'd always get angry because she would score higher than me on tests."

Harry couldn't help but grin. If Cho had been anything like she was now when she was a child, he could easily imagine what that had been like. The only thing that kept Cho and Hermione from being the best of friends was professional jealousy. Cho was smart, but Hermione was smarter. Though not so much smarter that she wouldn't spend hours studying for a Charms assignment simply on the basis that she wanted to score higher than Cho.

"Well, I must say that it really is an honor to finally get to meet you, Harry," Isolde said in her soft, lilting voice. "Thanks to Cho, I know everything about you. I also read the Daily Prophet" – here Harry closed his eyes and groaned, causing the Irish girl to grin – "though I learned long ago not to believe half of what they write."

"Thank goodness for that." Harry paused for a brief moment, then shrugged. "There's really not too much to me, especially if Cho has already given you my entire life history." He shot a quick wink at his girlfriend, who was blushing madly.

Here, Isolde's smile turned into a full-blown grin. "Well, Cho has been telling me that you're one of the greatest Quidditch players that Hogwarts has ever seen."

"Well, I uh…" Now it was Harry's turn to blush a deep scarlet as he pushed his glasses back up on his nose. "I wouldn't go so far as to say that."

Cho gave her boyfriend a smirk before turning back to her childhood friend, eyes twinkling. "Did I ever tell you about the time that Harry caught the snitch by swallowing it?"

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Harry hadn't realized how hungry he was until the snack cart begin making its rounds. At the sight of the piles of Chocolate Frogs and Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, his stomach let out a monstrous growl that he couldn't disguise, causing all three of the companions to laugh. Isolde bought a handful of the Chocolate Frogs, which she attacked with gusto while Cho and Harry looked on in amusement. "I just love these things!" she said around a full mouth. "We were only allowed to have them on holidays back at my old school."

Harry looked at her with wide eyes. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to only get to eat the treats a few times out of the year. "Wow. You weren't kidding when you said they were strict there."

"You have no idea," the new girl muttered.

The door to their compartment suddenly opened, and Ron and Hermione stepped in. Before anyone could exchange words of greeting, however, something large, black and furry landed squarely in Harry's lap, causing him to nearly drop his treacle tart in surprise.

Isolde couldn't help but laugh as the black cat deftly leapt from Harry's lap to land on hers. "Sorry about that. Causing trouble is his favorite pastime. I'm just glad he's not causing someone else trouble." She scratched the cat behind his ears, electing a contented purr from him. "Harry, I would like to introduce you to my other best friend. He was aptly named pickle, because he's always getting into some pickle or another."

"We wondered why he was following us down the corridor," Hermione said, plopping down next to Isolde. "Guess he knew we were coming to you. My cat does that sometimes." She promptly stuck out her hand. "I'm Hermione Granger. This is my, ah, boyfriend, Ron Weasley. We're the Gryffindor prefects."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Isolde said with a warm smile as she shook first Hermione's hand, then Ron's.

"I'm sorry that we can't stay to catch up," the red-headed boy said apologetically as Hermione stood once more. "We've got to patrol the train. But we just wanted to stop by and say hello, and that we'll talk more once we get back to Hogwarts."

"Sure thing," Harry said with a smile and a wave. "Thanks for stopping by."

Hermione and Ron waved in reply, then stepped out of the compartment before once again disappearing down the train's corridor.

Cho waited until she was sure they were out of earshot before bursting into giggles.

Harry turned to her, an amused look in his eyes. "What's so funny?"

"Hermione. She looks like she's just swallowed a whole glassful of curdled milk every time she introduces Ron to someone as her boyfriend."

Harry playfully punched her in the arm. "Hey now. Don't be so hard on her. If I remember correctly, you had a hard time calling me your boyfriend."

"I know. But that was for a completely different reason, and you know it. Hermione is just not the type of person to have a boyfriend. That's all."

"Just give her a little time. She'll get used to it. You'll see."

Isolde couldn't help but smile as she watched the couple mock fight while she absently scratched Pickle, who was lying in her lap, eyes closed, purring contentedly. It felt so good to see Cho happy once again.

Even though she lived a world away, Isolde had faithfully written to Cho every chance she got. And Cho had written her many letters in return, including the long, tear-stained letter that she had written about Cedric, the boy she had grown to care so much about who had died during the Triwizard Tournament.

Upon hearing this, Isolde wasted no time in packing up her things and telling her parents that she would be spending some time with Cho. Then she had stepped into the fireplace, threw down some Floo powder and was off.

For the next two weeks, Isolde never left her friend's side. Cho's parents were immensely grateful for the Irish girl's presence. Their daughter had grown distant, quiet, sad. She would rarely speak, and they could often hear her crying herself to sleep at night. They could only hope that Isolde would be able to bring back some of the daughter they had once known.

By the time Isolde left, Cho had begun resembling more of her old self, rather than a walking zombie. Isolde continued to visit her frequently during that summer, and did everything she could to comfort her dearest friend. But she had her doubts that Cho would ever be the same. She was only fourteen, and her heart had been broken. What kind of scars would that leave?

So it was with a happy heart that, not too long after school resumed, Cho's letters began to talk of a boy named Harry Potter. Of course, Isolde knew who Harry Potter was. Who in the wizarding world didn't? But Cho's letters didn't describe what it was like to be around the famous Boy Who Lived. These letters were filled with something different. Something much more personal.

At first, Cho's letters lashed out at Harry. In her heart, she had known that it was Lord Voldermort who had killed Cedric. But Harry was real. He was close. And he was someone she could blame, because he had lived, while Cedric had not.

It wasn't long before the tone of the letters began to change. Cho wanted to hate Harry, she really did. But she couldn't. Ever since school had started back, he had gone out of his way to be extra nice to her, to make sure that she was all right. He had apologized for Cedric's death over and over, saying how he would have given anything to save the Ravenclaw boy's life. It wasn't long after that that Cho's letters began to talk of how much she was beginning to like Harry. Then one day, she finally received the letter from Cho that said Harry had asked her out.

At first, Isolde had been worried. What if Harry was just doing this out of guilt or sympathy and really didn't care for Cho? What if he just ended up leaving her? At the age of fifteen, could she handle her heart being broken twice?

As time went on, however, she began to realize that her fears had been unfounded. Every letter from Cho had some new and wonderful thing that Harry had done or said. And when Isolde had saw her for the first time after she and Harry had begun dating, Cho was positively glowing. A year later, things seemed to still be perfect between the two.

And now that she had actually seen the two of them together, Isolde was very glad that it had been Harry Potter who had captured Cho's heart.

Pickle suddenly jumped to the floor from her lap, startling her back into reality. As she blinked back into awareness, she noticed that Cho now had her head resting on Harry's shoulder, and the sun had sunk a little farther than she had remembered.

Harry caught her eye and smiled at her. "Are you excited to be coming to Hogwarts?" he asked in a soft voice. "It sounds like it's going to be a lot different from your other school."

The Irish girl nodded enthusiastically. "I'm very excited about going to Hogwarts. I've always wanted to go to Hogwarts – not only was Cho there, but my mother went there as well – but my father refused. He wanted me to have a 'real' education, and was afraid that I would spend more time with my friends than I would studying if I came here."

"What made him change his mind?"

"Lots of begging and pleading." This came from Cho, which surprised Harry. He had thought that his girlfriend had fallen asleep. "Isolde was the head of her class back in Ireland. Even her professors had begun sending letters home saying there wasn't much else they could teach her. So she, her mother and myself all went to her father and began begging him to let her go to Hogwarts. After all, the main reason he had sent her to the private school was so she could get what he called a "proper" education. And since it was clear she had gotten that, we said it was time for her to go to a place where she could have more social interactions."

"I take it he gave in."

"He didn't have much of a choice," Isolde said with a laugh. "Think about it. If you had three very strong-willed women come up to you and start begging – and I do mean begging – you to do something, what would you have done?"

Harry had to nod. 'Point taken."

"I've been waiting my whole life for this," Isolde said in a soft voice. "Here I have friends, I have Quidditch and I can have some fun."

Cho started to say something, but was cut off by the mournful whistle of the Hogwarts Express blowing once more. When she turned to face her friend once more there was a smile there and her eyes were glittering.

"It looks like your wait is over," she said in an excited tone of voice. "We're here!"