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Character 1
Laurel Potter walked up to the grave of her old mentor. It had been a year since the downfall of Voldemort and still Laurel couldn't find peace in killing the man that had taken everything from her. Her parents, friends and future. It was all gone. The only thing that kept her going was the studying sessions that she put herself though. Laurel read anything that she could get her hands on and even started to practice using a sword. As first she had thought it was funny, but after practicing she had found that she was good with a blade and it kept her fit.
After Laurel had realized that fitness was a good way to avoid people she had gone to the muggle world and had signed to for hand-to-hand combat. Her teacher, Bill, had hated her at first, making her do extra drills but after he had watched Laurel fight he had a change of heart and helped Laurel to become a better fighter. It was a relief to be able to walk around in the muggle world and be treated like everyone else and Laurel would go there as often as she could.
And the hours she spent reading and practicing magic let her escape from the hordes of witches and wizards that still watched her every step, wanting to see the girl-who-defeated-the-dark-Lord. Even Ron and Hermione had started to treat her differently. At first they wanted her to come to public places with them so that they would be in the paper, the mighty friends of Laurel Potter. But now it was more. They didn't talk to her at all and instead pushed the cameras over to them themselves. Laurel didn't mind the fact that she was left alone but pitied her friends and how they had fallen to the life of fame and fortune.
Laurel laughed harshly to herself.
They only liked her for her title, power and looks. Laurel had turned into a beautiful young woman. She had grown her dark hair so that it ran halfway down her back and from working out so much she had gotten a toned body that was drop dead gorgeous. On top of that she had her famous lightning bolt scar and her bright green and blue eyes.
With a quick spell laurel put some flowers at the ground next the grave. Laurel wished that Dumbledore was still here. He would know what to do. He always did.
With a sign Laurel walked back up to the castle. Before entering she pulled out her invisibility cloak, covered herself with it and walked quietly to her room. Laurel didn't live at the school, thank god but had a permanent room for whenever she wished to stay at the castle. She never stayed for long and when she stayed she visited the old headmasters up in Dumbledore's office. For some reason the room didn't open up to anyone but Laurel, even Professor McGonagall couldn't gain access to the office. It seemed that the office would always be Dumbledore's. Laurel agreed with that. The school needed to remember that without Dumbledore they wouldn't be here. No one gave credit to him when it was Dumbledore that showed Laurel what she needed to know in order to defeat Voldemort. But the entire wizarding world saw only Laurel and her work.
Laurel came out of her thoughts when she realized that she was standing outside the headmaster's office. Her feet had carried her there without her realizing. The door opened itself for her and Laurel looked around at the unchanged room. All of Dumbledore's stuff was the same and most of the headmasters in the pictures were sleeping.
Laurel didn't know why she had come here. She hated talking to Dumbledore's picture on the wall. It might look and talk like Dumbledore but it wasn't and it never would be the real Dumbledore.
She was about to turn around and walk back to her room when something caught her eyes. Laurel had never seen this before, she would have remembered. The stone was sitting on the desk. It was a perfect oval shape that was a shinning shade of silver, almost like diamonds or a star. As she looked closer she saw that tiny veins were running along the stone. Puzzled Laurel picked up the stone.
Where had it come from. No one else could get into the office and Laurel hadn't put it on the desk.
Tired, Laurel put her cloak back on and walked back to her room. She would deal with the stone later.
Laurel's room was hidden from everyone, including Hermione and Ron. She didn't trust them anymore. Her room was located on the third floor behind a painting of a potions lab. Instead of telling the password to a person she whispered it into the cauldron. The potion in the cauldron bubbled and the door swung open to reveal a bright, open room. The walls were painted in bright white with big windows that looked out to the lake. The carpet was a soft gold and light brown furniture covered the place. The place had a bathroom and bedroom.
Laurel could have eaten at the staff table, which was never or have a house elf bring her food. The staff and students rarely saw Laurel and sometimes never knew she was staying at Hogwarts.
Laurel walked over to the light brown leather couch and put the stone in the corner, she didn't want it to fall and break. She was surprising attached to the stone for some reason.
Drained Laurel flopped onto the couch next to the stone and fell asleep.
~~Break~~
Laurel woke up early in the morning, wondering why she was lying on the couch when she saw the stone on the ground. She panicked for a second.
Had the stone cracked? Laurel bent down and examined the stone and sighed in relieve when she found no chips or cracks on the beautiful stone.
She caught the time on his watch and quickly put the stone back on the couch. After a quick shower Laurel grabbed her cloak and ran down the stair case. Why did she have to be on the third floor? Laurel ran all the way to the apparation point outside of Hogwarts before apparating to a gym in England. Bill wouldn't be happy if she was late for his lesson.
Laurel apparated in the ally next to the gym and looked around to make sure that no one had seen her. She then used wandless magic to unshrink the gym bag that was in her pocket and walked casually down the street to the gym.
"You're late. That's twenty pushups." Bill shouted before grabbing his water bottle.
Laurel groans and looked at her watch. She was two minutes late!
"But I was only two minutes late."
"So that's only twenty pushups. I can't wait till you're twenty minutes late. Now get started." He barked before going off to do something before they started.
It took only a couple of minutes before Laurel finished. She wasn't tired but knew that Bill wouldn't let her leave until she was sweating and bruised. Fun.
Bill came back seconds after Laurel finished and they started to stretch. Once that was done Laurel moved into a defensive position, waiting for Bill to make the first move.
Laurel relaxed as the familiar moves flowed through her body, blocking every one of Bills punches and kicks before taking the defense and striking out and kicking. Her leg hit its mark and Bill limbed back.
Laurel smirked at Bill before taking advantage of his distraction and striking again. Bill dodged this time which was what Laurel wanted. Before Bill saw it coming Laurel jumped closer and grabbed his neck, slamming him down onto the ground. Lucky the ground was padded or else he would have hell of a headache.
All in all that took about ten minutes, a new goal for Laurel.
"Smart punk. You're getting better but you need to attack more." Bill said, shaking his head as if getting rid of a fly buzzing around his head. Laurel laughed.
Laurel helped him up and walked over to her bag, taking out her water bottle. After quickly gulping down some water Laurel went back to the middle of the room and she and Bill spent that next hour going over new moves and techniques.
Laurel limbed back into the ally way that she had come from after the lesson and apparated back to Hogwarts. Before going back to her room Laurel walked up to the hospital wing, hoping that Poppy was there.
Poppy had become one of Laurel's friends after the war and she was the main reason that she came back to the school besides visiting Dumbledore's grave. Ever since Laurel had started to learn hand to hand combat she had needed healing potions. Poppy had become Laurel's personal healer and gave her regular checkups. With all the times that Laurel came to the wing she had started to confide in her and she would listen to her without question.
"Laurel! What did he do to you this time?" Poppy fused over her, checking her arms and legs for any injures before grabbing some potions which she all but forced fed her.
Laurel spluttered after drinking one vile tasting potion and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She just hoped she would never find out what was in the potion.
"I'm fine how, Poppy. I've got a new record to. It took me ten minutes to beat him." Laurel said, smiling.
"Ten minutes, then why do you still have so many injuries?" Poppy muttered as she went to grab another potion.
"Thanks for healing me but I've got to go have a shower and eat something."
Poppy gave her one worried look before letting her go. "If you need anything just come by."
"I'll come see you later if you don't have any students to heal."She said as she walked back to her room.
As soon as the door swung open Laurel checked to make sure the stone was fine. To her relief the stone was still all right.
Laurel grabbed her clean cloths and went into her bathroom. Laurel had turned the bath into a swimming pool-like tub with bath taps surrounding it. The bath taps all run differently-colored water, bubbles, and foam, just like the prefects bathroom.
Laurel turned on her favorite tapes and swam around in the almost too hot water, loosening up her tight muscles. Despite Poppy's potions they were always tight and stiff after a lesson with Bill.
Laurel floated around for awhile, thinking about the stone. It was like it had come to her on purpose and for some reason she felt like she needed to protect it from imaginary foes. But the stone was hard, harder that anything she had felt before and it didn't feel like a stone. It was almost alive. But that was stupid; a stone wouldn't be alive so it had to be something else. Maybe it was a gift from a secret admirer. She had had them before but to their disappointment she had returned the gifts with no note. Laurel had felt a bit guilty for it but had pushed the feeling away. They would get over it.
Maybe she should ask Dumbledore's portrait, he could know something. Yes, she would do that. Dumbledore should at least be able to give her some information on a stone that was in his office. In fact Dumbledore had probably put it there for her for some reason. He did work in mysteries ways.
Laurel groaned out loud. It was so obvious. Dumbledore. Why hadn't she thought of it before? Dumbledore had somehow had the stone appear at a certain time and knew that Laurel would find it and no one else could come into the office so the stone couldn't be taken.
Laurel changed into her black robes and grabbed her cloak and wand.
She cursed under her breath. It was lunch time for the students and they were all walking towards the great hall. Laurel swerved and moved quickly in the crowd but didn't hit anyone for which she was thankful. She didn't want any of the students wondering why they had been bumped into when there was no one there. But maybe Laurel was just being paranoid.
Laurel entered the room and walked up to the portrait looking at Dumbledore with a face that said "I know you're up to something".
Dumbledore smiled at her and motioned with his hand to sit down. Laurel took a sit but not the headmaster's seat. That one would never be sat on again.
"Laurel, what brings you up here again." with his old grandfatherly smile.
"You're up to something."Laurel said.
"What would give you that impression Laurel?"
"Don't play dumb with me. I know it was you that left the stone on the desk."Laurel would never talk to the real Dumbledore like that but this portrait wasn't real.
"I didn't leave the stone on the desk." Dumbledore said with serenity.
"Sure you didn't." Laurel said with clear sarcasm. "It just magiced itself to your desk then."
"Yes it did. But Laurel if something good comes into your life don't just question it, just be happy that it came to you."
"Look I'm sorry for saying that but it was in your office. What was I suppose to think."
"It's all right."
Embarrassed Laurel quickly left. Because she was already out she decided to go and visit Poppy.
Laurel spent hours talking to Poppy and occasionally hid in her office when a student came in. By the time Laurel was back up in her room in was dark. Her grumbling stomach brought her to the fact that she had forgotten to eat. With a big dinner that night Laurel went to bed and fell asleep.
~~Break~~
The warm rays of the sun on her back woke Laurel up the next morning. The air was cool with the warm sun and a nice change from the cold that penetrated the stones in the castle. It was too early for her so after closing the curtains Laurel went back to sleep.
Laurel woke up abruptly the next time. She listened carefully and heard a distinct squeak. Laurel rolled out of her bed and landed on her feet and grabbed her wand from the bed side table.
It sounded like some sort of animal that was making the noise. A mouse or something maybe. Laurel crept into the lounge room and turned the light on. Laurel couldn't see any animal so she listened for the noise again. When the squeak came again Laurel walked over to the couch where the stone sat. She put her ear to the stone and heard the squeak again from the stone. Something was inside the stone. No, egg.
Laurel watched as the egg rolled on the couch until it dropped to the floor. Cracks began to run down the silver stone. Laurel leaned closer, curiosity taking over.
Bit by bit pieces of the egg dropped to the ground and an animal burst from the egg.
Wonder shone on Laurel's face as she watched the little dragon squeak and try to get up. The dragon was a shinning silver colour like the egg but more beautiful. The creature was noble and graceful with bone white claws, fangs and spikes which ran down its back. The dragon tried to balance but it's to big wings were making it hard for the little creature.
Laurel smiled as she watched the dragon explore her room and laughed when it hit the couch, squeaking. The noise brought Laurel to the dragons attention and it took a step towards her. Laurel reached out with her right hand and touched the dragons head.
Cold pain shot through her and Laurel dropped to the floor, unconscious.
Ok Laurel does go to Eragon's world but in the next chapter. I didn't want Laurel to have to walk around with an egg and have everyone try and take it. Changed the story from Harry to Laurel because I wanted Eragon to fall in love with her. Hope you still like it.
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