Chapter 2: A new life
Harry lay awake looking at the curtains hanging above his bed. Apparently Malfoy had been transferred to a different school by his parents but he couldn't stop thinking about the other possibility. Had Voldemort gotten him? Then there was Zoë. A smile crept onto his face at the thought of her. She was something else. During dinner Hermione had gotten onto the topic of 'what do you want to be when you grow up'. Zoë's answer had been immediate and so sure. She was going to be a healer, and that was that. He still found the cold glare she had given Seamus amusing when he asked if that was like a medi witch. Apparently it wasn't and Zoë had refused to speak to him the rest of the night. He never did get the chance to discover what the real difference between a healer and a medi witch was because Hermione had suggested that Zoë volunteer at the Hospital Wing to get some experience and Zoë had jumped on that topic. They had discussed it the rest of the night and nobody could get a word in edge wish. There had been no doubt in Harry's mind that she would become a healer after seeing her face when she was talking with Hermione. There had been a look on her face of someone who knew what they wanted to do and wasn't going to let anything stand in there way. Harry only wished that he could find something to do for the rest of his life that he was that passionate about. Sighing Harry rolled on to his side and finally drifted off to sleep.
When Zoë woke the next morning it was to the still unfamiliar sight of the Gryffindor dorm room. Sighing she get out of bed and grabbed some jeans and a long-sleeved shirt and headed into the bathroom. 45 minutes later she emerged and headed down to the common room only to find Harry and Hermione were that only ones awake; which really that odd seeing as it was around 6:45 on a Sunday morning.
"Hey Zoë." Hermione greeted. "How are you this morning?"
"Good morning Hermione, Harry. I'm fine."
Harry smiled at Zoë and greeted her warmly as well. "So what are we going to do today?"
"Umm, I was wondering if we could go to the Hospital wing sometime today."
Hermione smiled brightly at this request. "See Harry, at least she listens to my ideas. You should try it sometime."
"But 'Mione your ideas always take the fun out of life."
"Come on Zoë I'll take you to the Hospital Wing." Hermione grabbed Zoë's hand and dragged the girl towards the Fat lady's portrait. Harry hurried after them.
"Say Zoë you never did explain what is so different about a healer last night." Harry observed.
"Oh … Ummm… how do I explain? Anyone can be a medi witch, right? All you have to do is put the time in and study. It's like any other job. But healers are special. Every healer is born with the ability to naturally heal themselves. Any thing that can cause the body pain will be, almost, instantly healed by the person's magic. But if you are strong enough it is possible to transfer your healing magic into others so that their wounds are healed. However it takes A LOT of magical and physical strength to do this." A far away look came on Zoë face. "Ever since I was a little girl and I discovered that, just like the stories that my grandmother would tell me, I could heal myself I've wanted to be a healer. But the problem is I don't have proper training and there's no one alive who has the strength to be a healer. I did find some books that have been very helpful this summer also I've finally reached a high enough level in my magical strength where I can affect the outside world with my personal healing magic. However I still can't do much with it. I need to strengthen my magic more and study more."
"Wow that sounds amazing." Hermione said.
"So does that mean that if you were to get hurt the wound would heal completely, instantly?"
"Yep."
"Was it because of your magical inheritance that you got enough strength to do that?"
"No, I'm still 16 my birthday is November 7th." Seeing Hermione and Harry staring at her she asked. "What?"
"Nothing." Hermione said quickly. "I just thought that you had already been through your maturation."
Seeing the Hospital wing up ahead the conversation was put on hold as they entered.
"Mr. Potter. What could have possible happened that would land you in here so soon." Madame Pomfrey scowled at the boy. Harry gave her a charming smile and completely unfazed replied.
"For once I'm proud to report that nothing is wrong with me. I just figure that since I knew the way here so well I would show my friend the way. She was quite anxious to meet you."
Giving Harry a suspicious glance she turned her attention over to the unknown girl by Harry's side. "How may I help you Miss…?"
"Morrison. I'm Zoë Morrison. And I was wondering if it was possible to volunteer in the hospital wing?"
A thoughtful look passed over Madame Pomfrey's face. "Are you interested in becoming a Medi Witch."
"Sort of, I'm trying to train myself as a healer."
Madame Pomfrey's eyes bugged and she took a long hard look at the small girl before her before rushing forward and dragging her into the office at the far corner of the hospital wing. Harry and Hermione made themselves comfortable as they waited for Zoë to be finished. After about ten minutes of waiting and excited looking Zoë emerged and quickly walked over to them.
"This is going to be so awesome. Madame Pomfrey said that along with helping in the hospital she would also teach me beginner healing skills and help me experiment with me healing abilities. I can't wait to start."
Zoë's eyes were practically glowing with excitement and Harry and Hermione were smiling at there new friends happiness.
The three of them decided to just head to the Great Hall for breakfast instead of heading back to the common room. They were about half way there when a voice called out.
"Well, well if it isn't little Zoë Morrison."
Spinning around Zoë quickly spotted the figure behind them and with a cry of Blaise she ran up to the Slytherin boy and embraced him tightly. Harry and Hermione looked on shocked. How on earth did Zoë know Zambini.
A smiling Zoë pulled the Slytherin over to where the two Gryffindors stood.
"Harry, Hermione this is Blaise Zambini. He is that friend that I told you about."
Blaise looked over the two people in front of him before turning to his friend. He was the only person to know Draco's secret, besides his parents of course. They had been friends growing up. Back when Zoë had still been allowed to be her self, a girl, and not have to act like a boy. He was over joyed that she had finally managed to break the spell on her even if it did happen by accident.
"So what are you doing in this part of the castle? You're not hurt are you?" Yes he was extremely protective of Zoë. Since both of them were the only child in there family they had decided way back when they were 7 that they would be brother and sister. And Blaise took to his role as older brother very well. Meaning that he was usually an over protective pain in the ass; but a loveable pain in the ass.
"No, Blaise, I'm not hurt." Zoë rolled her eyes at him before a look of excitement returned to her face. "Hermione came up with the most brilliant idea ever, I'm now helping Madame Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing and she said that she would help me discover what I can do and how I can improve my healing magic."
"Damn Zoë remind me never to get hurt. I still remember what you did to those animals,"
"Hey! I helped them better then you ever could."
"Ya but that does not mean that it was a pretty sight." He replied jokingly. Or course in reality Zoë had only taken in a few stray pets and spoiled them rotten but that didn't stop the "brotherly" teasing that Blaise put her through. He had explained to her one time that if he was going to be her brother then he was going to enjoy all the benefits.
Unfortunately she still loved him no matter what; it was really a pain in the ass. However along with that teasing Blaise also did his best to look after her even when she was still
"Draco" and they remained very close.
Harry and Hermione looked at the two with a little amusement and confusion. Zoë was a Gryffindor and Blaise was a Slytherin instant problem. However it didn't seem to matter as Blaise just moved on to tease Zoë about the house that she had gotten into. There was no malice or underlining hatred that is always present whenever the two houses interacted. It was very interesting to watch and to Harry, who hated the inter-house fighting, it was really comforting to see that it was possible for the two houses to get along even on such a small scale. It had to prove that all the Slytherins weren't dark-lord-followers-to-be; didn't it?
The walk to the great hall was entertaining and enlightening. Harry and Hermione heard about how Zoë and Blaise had known each other since they were five and they also got to learn more about the mysterious dark haired Slytherin. All in all it was a great walk and no one was all that sorry that Ron wasn't there because he would have spoiled everything with his complaints and unjustified anger and hatred. Of course the red head would never know that any of this took place for he was fast asleep and would remain that way until it got too hard for him to ignore his stomach.
The foursome parted ways at the doors to the great hall with Blaise heading over to the Slytherin table.
"Hey Zoë, I'm not sure if this is to forward of me. But did Blaise go through the change on his birthday." Hermione asked cautiously. She still wasn't all that sure about the interaction between them. But she also found herself very curious about Zoë Slytherin friend.
"Yup!"
"Do you know what he is?" This came from Harry.
An unrecognizable look came over Zoë's face and she gave Hermione a bright smile. "A Tuatha De Danaan."
This caused Hermione to start chocking on her drink. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I am."
"My god what are the chances of two people becoming Tuatha De Danaan at the same time."
"Haven't you learned yet 'Mione. Everything happens for a reason."
Casting Harry a quick playful glare conversation resumed as normal and just when the three of them were about to leave Ron arrived. After taking one quick glance at his attire and the look on his face it was easy to tell that he had just gotten out of bed only minutes before coming down to eat.
"Honestly Ron couldn't you have tried to make your self more presentable before coming down. You look like you slept in those clothes." Hermione asked glancing him over. Ron, in an amazing impersonation of Crabbe and Goyle, grunted at Hermione and dug into the food he had piled onto his plate. Sighing Zoë got comfortable on the bench when she realized that they wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.
The weekend passed quickly and believe it or not Zoë quickly found herself warming up to life in Gryffindor but she would always be a Slytherin at heart. And no matter what anyone else said decorating an entire tower with red and gold was enough to make anyone go blind; especially and a sunny day.
As luck would have it Zoë had all the same classes as Harry and Hermione, as she did when she was Draco, so she was able to sit with Hermione in her classes and stay as far away form the weasel as she could. No matter how mush she pretended to hate Harry and Hermione her hatred for Weasely was real.
Monday. A glorious day. The sun was shining the birds were singing, all the furry critters were doing what they do best and the Gryffindor 6th years were sitting in transfigurations waiting to be dismissed so that they could go to lunch. Zoë was sitting at the front of the class with Hermione staring blankly at the bard her hand moving automatically taking down notes that her brain wasn't really processing. All in all it was a typical transfiguration lesson for her. She didn't mean to be disrespectful or anything it was just that she hadn't learned anything new in this class in… well ever. Everything that was being taught was a common practice in her home and she had been able to pick it up over the span of her life. This of course had been the source of many problems in the past seeing as how she had never really listened in class and gotten caught on many occasion. Hens she had refined the fine art of half listening. After ten more minutes of this slow painful torture the class was finally dismissed and they were free! At least until after lunch.
"Hey Hermione can I copy your notes?" Ron asked during lunch as usual. It had become a ritual. Ron would ask Hermione would say no and this would go on for a few minutes. Ending with Hermione giving in so Ron would just be quite. It seemed that today would be no different.
"No Ron, you may not copy my notes." She replied more from habit than anything else.
"Fine." Turing to face Zoë who was buried in a healing book that Madame Pomfrey had given, thus not paying attention, he ask her the same question.
Distractedly Zoë handed over her notes to Ron with no care as to what she was really doing. As everyone would find out fast enough Zoë went off into her own little world when ever she started doing anything that related to healing and often ignored the world around her.
Ron tosses Hermione a victorious grin and grabbed Zoë's notes. He casually whipped his hands off on his shirt and flipped through the parchment until he found where she had actually written. A confused look passed over his face as he looked over the notes.
"What the bloody hell is this?"
"There my notes."
"You're joking, this is nothing but a bunch of gibberish. If you didn't want me to use your notes you could have just said so."
"Alright I don't want you to use my notes."
Harry stated coughing in attempt to hide his laughter and Hermione rescued Zoë's notes from an enraged Ron. Looking at the parchment she recognized the style of the writing even if she couldn't read it.
"It's not gibberish, Ron. It's French."
"Why, the hell, would anyone write there notes in French?"
"Oh I don't know Ron, maybe it's because there from France."
"Good book?" Harry asked quietly, lest he draw the attention of the squabbling duo.
"One of the best I've read. It's all about poisons and how to recognize, detect and treat them. Right now it's describing how a poison would affect the look of flesh wounds."
Harry looked at the small girl amused.
"What are they fighting about?"
"Well it started about your notes but I'm not sure how far they gotten."
"Why on earth would they be fighting over my notes?"
"Ron couldn't read them."
"Of course he can't read them I wrote in French."
"Yes well that's what they are fighting over. Say is French your first or second language?"
"It's my first. Although I've spent quite a lot of time in English speaking places so it's not that hard to switch back and fourth."
Harry nodded at Zoë before he checked his watch. They had been at it for almost ten minutes. It was a good thing that they didn't have any more classes today. It seemed as if they were on a role and there was no sign of them slowing down. It took another 5 minutes for Hermione to become absolutely fed up with Ron and storm out of the Great Hall.
"And that would be our cue to leave."
September passed quickly and Zoë found herself quickly adapting to life at Hogwarts as a Gryffindor. However there were two things that she desperately wished she could change. When the rest of the Gryffindors had found out about her friendship with Blaise they were extremely angry and stubbornly set in there ways. So while she still saw Blaise everyday it wasn't as it used to be and she found herself missing Blaise a lot. The second thing that she wished she could change is Professor Snape's attitude towards the Gryffindors. She love potions and always would however she found it very hard not to hold her tong at some of the things he had said to her. It also hurt. She had always trusted him and looked up to him. She also found herself a lot more sympatric towards Neville and she started paring up with him in class and with her heal all of their potions had been completed perfectly.
Currently she and Neville were in their final stages of their potion and all that was left was to stir the potion.
"Slower, Neville you don't want the potion to mix together to fast otherwise it will be ruined." Neville gave her a grateful smile and slowed down his stirring while Zoë set about cleaning up their workspace and returning unused ingredients to the front of the room. The Slytherins used this time to go and harass Neville all the wile adding a little something extra to the potion. Fortunately Zoë had managed to see what was put in the potion. Unfortunately in happened to be bats wing which was extremely volatile when mixed with the potion they were making even at this late stage. All she had time to do was scream for everyone to duck before it exploded.
It took seconds for Snape to descend on Neville like a vampire on an open wound.
"I had hoped, Mr. Longbottem that you were improving in my class. However it seems that you have once again proven how imbecilic you really are. No one has ever managed to blow up this potion from just stirring it."
"Professor it wasn't…" Zoë tried to explain.
"Quiet Miss Morrison."
"But it wasn't his fault. He…"
"I said be quiet!"
"Not until you listen. It wasn't…"
"Miss Morrison be quite!" Snape roared, looking murderous. This only caused Zoë to loose her temper as well. She was really hurt over the way Snape had been treating her and she finally able to truly see what the Gryffindors had been complaining about for years. She exploded back at him completely forgetting to speak English.
"Non! Je ne serai pas tranquille. Vous n'êtes rien seulement un sur grand tyran qui chasse sur ceux à apeuré pour les défendre selves. Ce n'était pas sa faute et si vous aviez jamais semblé passé votre propre haine vous verriez comme vraiment abusif vous êtes!"
(Translation: No! I will not be quiet. You are nothing but an over grown bully who preys on those to scared to stand up for them selves. This was not his fault, and if you ever looked past your own hatred you would see how truly abusive you are!) (A/N so sorry if this is so wrong I got it translated off the web so my apologies to anyone if they understand French and this is so wrong but the translation is what I wanted to say)
"DETENTION MISS MORRISON!"
"ALLEZ À ENFER!" (Go to hell!)
There was a deadly quiet that encompassed the room; even the Slytherins didn't dare to be the first one to break it. Finally, after it seemed as if a life time had passed, Snape spoke again in a deadly low voice that seemed to fill the entire room.
"I hope you enjoy the woods Miss Morrison," He spat. "for you shall be taking a little walk tonight."
"You can't send her in there by herself Professor!" Harry almost shouted, rising from his chair.
"Then you will join her Potter!" He half snarled half yelled. "Get out of my classroom!"
No one wasted any time following that order as all the students, both Gryffindor and Slytherin alike, practically sprinted to the door.
So tell me what you think!