Harribel second year.
Fem! Harry is Tia Harribel's Reincarnation. Inspired in part by 'Waiting in Sin' by jehricosPhantom. Mostly with the aspect of Harriet being a Pseudo-Shinigami/Arrancar, with her Zanpakuto being Tiburon. Features Genre-savviness from Harribel, Manipulative! Dumbledore.
Thank you so very much for the Review, Favourite, and/or Alerting. It is really encouraging to me to keep writing.
Well, I have an idea of how to re-incorporate bleach into the plot, but you won't see anything about it until the next chapter, and then at the end of the fourth.
About how often I will update, if I can I will try to get out a chapter every 4 - 8 weeks, because, as you have probably noticed, the chapters are obscenely long. Especially for my standards.
I have gone back and changed chapter one, the only really big change is that I incorporated the reviewer's comments about Quidditch, in short, Tia dislikes it, and has a one year contract with McGonagall, which the aftereffects of will form part of the conflict in this book/chapter.
Review responses:
To everyone who read, faved, alert+'d or review the story, Thank you all!
Candinaru25: thanks for the review. When I originally chose to write a fanfiction around this style the main character was Nnoitra Gilga, I changed it, obviously. Or harry would be in prison for assault and mass murder before he got to 11.
AsterBlake333: yes, I am planning for her to use her powers to accomplish stuff harry struggled with. I would like to say more but it would spoil the story I have planned.
Ultima-Owner: I suppose so, I don't plan to have Harribel kill (that person ulquiorra kills in 'Waiting in Sin'). But I do look forward to writing the power struggle.
Thebigmoose: I did, but it seems that they didn't convert into the ODT format from Word. I should go back and put them in… thanks for the criticism. They are in now.
xXxOtAkU-444xXx: Great to hear!
Anon: Thanks.
TheBlackSeaReaper: you're welcome, I will try to update ASAP.
Asredwer: Tiburon needs to put her through a training regime! I agree that she would try to get stronger physically. I already view her as the strongest female character in bleach both in power and character, apart from possibly Yoruichi. I also agree that I don't think Harribel would care about Quidditch; I've edited that part out and just plan to leave it from the series. Thanks for the criticism and long review.
10th Squad 3rd Seat: no, I haven't read or seen Black Butler… I might look it up now though. Good luck with getting the Lieutenant to do any paperwork at all!
God of all: thanks for the review and fave author.
Zaralann: I hope so too, by the time this chapter is posted I should have already started on prisoner of Azkaban. I already have an idea that uses a twist on a common bleach/hp crossover storyline.
Acolyte of the blood Moon: totally agree, I've gone back and changed it.
Black Ace 0: Thank You!
FemRobin is FemHarry: I totally agree with that, and it was kind of touched on during the wedding in DH when harry talks to Elphias Doge and he tells harry not to let anything taint his memories of Dumbledore. They don't want to think that it is so, so they convince themselves. But by the end of the book, Harry now understands, but can't get himself off the Xanatos roulette so he merely accepts his fate. As for the compliment: thank you!
Le Chasseur: It shall be a curb-stomp battle of un-epic proportions. As for why she played Quidditch if it made her sick… let's just say that she used nausea potions.
Anyway, don't like = don't Read.
"I am talking"
'I am thinking'
"Speaking in Espanol"(translations at the end of chapter)
'writing'
"Zanpakuto Speaking"
{-Begin! -}
"Excuse me, but just what the hell are you?" Tia Harribel asked the thing that was jumping up and down on her bed. She, as a former Espada, was used to dealing with strange things, but this was just ridiculous.
"Dobby, miss. I am Dobby the house elf." the house elf said as it starred at Tia out of large green eyes. She really should be used to this sort of thing happening to her, as she was playing the part of her reincarnation: a witch named Harriet Potter. Who was also famous…
"And you are here because….?" She asked.
"Harriet Potter must not go back to Hogwarts!" the great bat ears flapped about.
"Why?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"There is a plot, Miss Potter." The eyes quivered as the elf said this.
"So, you think that I will be safer here?" crazy elf… "Are you crazy?"
"Miss Potter is too precious to lose! Dobby must stop you from going back to School!"
'Oh hell no! You did not just call me "precious"' she thought.
"I don't think you understand, I have to go back to Hogwarts. It's the only place I have friends." Tia was still trying to keep her anger in check. 'That I can tell anyone about.' She added to Tiburon, her sword, in her head.
"I understand." He replied simply
"Friends who don't even write to Miss Potter?" it was true, she hadn't received even one letter from either Ron or Hermione.
"How do you know that they haven't been…?" she asked the elf, but then she caught on, catching on, thought 'SONNOVA…!' "Give them back, Dobby." She held out her hand to receive the letters the elf was obviously hiding somewhere, as a cold fury seeped into her voice. Dobby seemed to shrink slightly.
"Only if Miss Potter promises not to go back to Hogwarts!" the elf's fear evident.
"What's to stop me from saying yes just to get the letters and then going to Hogwarts anyway?" this seemed to stump the elf, it was evident that it had been trying to trick her into a magic promise that she would have to keep. Tia's hand closed around the small humanoid's neck in its moment of hesitation. Then the elf vanished from her hand.
"Miss Potter must not go back to Hogwarts! If she will not promise, then Dobby will have to use other means!" The Voice was coming from the door to her bedroom, the one that lead to the rest of the house; that lead to the dining room, where the Dursleys were Discussing business. Tia turned around, and saw that the house elf was dashing out of the doorway. The former Espada was already in pursuit. Dobby had cleared the stairs are Harribel leapt the last 6 with ease. The house elf was in the kitchen, somehow levitating the pudding that petunia had spent all afternoon working on.
"Dobby! Get back here!" Tia whispered urgently.
It didn't work.
{-}
Tia Harribel looked through barred windows at the moon outside. Three days had passed since the pudding incident, and Harribel had since put the time of her starvation to use by talking with Tiburon and trying to exercise. Without the sword's company she was sure she would have gone mad. She was just about to go to sleep; however, fate seemed to have other ideas.
If Ron Weasley was fate, that is.
He was watching Harribel through the window.
"What are you? Some kind of perverted vampire?"
Somewhere near Ottery St Catchpole, Cedric Digory sneezed.
{-}
Flying car seemed an amusing way to travel at first, however, the Weasley twins, Fred and George didn't seem to be very good pilots. Tia was surprised that she hadn't needed to vomit out the window by the time Ron said he could see their house. It was a lopsided wooden shack, with bits stuck on, here and there. Harribel would think it could be viewed as some sort of modern art. What couldn't now days? The beginnings of sunrise had begun to peek over the horizon as the car landed. Tia followed the three Weasleys towards the house, which seemed to be called 'The Burrow'.
"Now, we need to be quiet." Fred or George said. "The plan is…"
"That we all go back inside" the other said, "and when Ron comes down for breakfast…"
"He says, 'Look who turned up in the night!'" the first one finished. Harribel severely doubted that this would work. Her doubts were confirmed when she saw a sabre tooth tiger advancing across the yard towards the four kids.
"Where. Have. You. Been?" Mrs Weasley nearly shouted, punctuating each word with a stride across the yard.
{-}
Harribel was sweating slightly as the last of the gnomes were thrown over the hedge.
"You should probably focus on honing your physical fitness." Tiburon said in her head.
'I can't help but agree, that took more effort than it should have.' She thought. There was a clattering inside the house and the Weasley twins and Ron turned to look at each other.
"Dad's home." Said a twin, and Tia followed the red haired trio into the kitchen/dining room area of the house. Mr Weasley was leaning against the bench, sipping tea and talking about raids.
{-}
Tia's face smacked against the stone floor. She staggered up, using the fireplace to support herself. When the pain had somewhat receded from her nose, she began to observe the shop. A glass case held a shrivelled hand on a cushion, and another held a necklace of opals and dirty silver. The windows were thick with grime, which was nothing compared to the bottles of blood and eyeballs that littered the shelves. But what she could see through them made her sure that the street outside was definitely not Diagon Alley. Szayal Aporro and Aaroniero would have been right at home in the shop. It was obvious that visitors to here would be looking for something more ominous than a few normal potion ingredients. She started making her way to the door, brushing soot off her clothes when she saw the blond head of Draco Malfoy peering through the grimy glass. Harribel looked hurriedly for a place to hide, and noticed a cabinet that held a similar visage to that of a person. Hoping that it wouldn't be a replica of the fake 'iron maiden' torture device, she opened the door and ducked inside; It wasn't.
"Everyone thinks she's so smart, with her scar and her broomstick." The Slytherin said as he entered the shop, a taller blond man, obviously his father following.
"You have told me this at least two dozen times already. Ahh, Borgin." The father had noticed a greasy haired man scuttle out from the back room.
{-}
"Guess who I saw in Borgin and Burkes." Tia said to Ron and Hermione as they exited Gringotts. After exiting the dark shop Hagrid had found her and steered her back to Diagon alley to re-join the Weasleys. "Malfoy and his father."
"Did Lucius buy anything?" Mr Weasley asked, suddenly interested.
"No, he was selling." Tia replied over her shoulder to the balding man.
"So he's worried," grim satisfaction permeated his voice. "I'd love to get Malfoy for something."
"Be careful, Arthur." Mrs Weasley said sharply, as they stopped in front of Ollivander's wand shop. They agreed to split up from there, with Mr and Mrs Weasley accompanying Ginny, the only Weasley Daughter, whom Tia shared a room with, to buy robes and a wand. The others separated, with instructions from the Weasley Matriarch to meet at the book shop, 'Flourish and Blotts' in an hour.
{-}
"We actually get to meet him!" Hermione squee'd as she read the sign outside of 'Flourish and Blotts'.
GILDEROY LOCKHART
Will be signing copies of his autobiography
'Magical Me'
From 12:30 – 4:30
The crowd around the trio seemed to be made up mostly of witches around Mrs Weasley's age. A wizard near the shop door was trying to keep them in an orderly line, and failing miserably. The rest of the Weasleys and Hermione's parents came up behind the trio.
"Oh, there you are." Mrs Weasley said, craning her neck over the crowd while patting her hair. Gilderoy Lockhart came into view, wearing robes of periwinkle blue and a smile so cheesy it would have made the even the moon cringe. A photographer pushed past Ron, making him let out a cry as his foot was stepped on. Lockhart heard him and looked up, past Ron to Tia.
"That can't be Harriet Potter, can it?" the crowd parted as Lockhart dived through and grabbed Tia's forearm. She was dragged forward. Harribel's face burned as her hand was shaken for the photographer, who was clicking away madly. "Smile, Harriet, together you and I are worth the front page."
{-}
The crowd eventually thinned and Tia was released from the vice-grip of Lockhart, who had also just revealed that he would be the new defence against the dark arts teacher at Hogwarts. The Weasley group was about to exit the shop when…
"Bet you loved that, didn't you potter." Draco Malfoy sneered from the doorframe. "Famous Harriet Potter can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page!"
"Leave her alone, she didn't want all that." Ginny said as she stepped in front of Tia.
"Look at that Potter, got yourself a girlfriend." Malfoy said, and Ginny turned as scarlet as her hair. Tia merely starred with a stoic expression at Malfoy as she stepped up to him.
"This is number two, I believe." The former Arrancar said, and Draco's eyes widened as he saw Harribel's open hand flying towards his cheek. A sharp crack echoed through the crowd as Tia's hierro enhanced palm broke Malfoy's jaw. She had regained the power to harden her skin earlier in the holidays when Dudley's gang had cornered two days after she had returned.
"How dare you assault my son?" Lucius Malfoy had burst into the shop and was pointing his wand at Tia, who was still calm. Mr Weasley, sensing trouble had come to the rescue.
"I'm sure it was merely an accident." Mr Weasley said.
"Of, course Weasley, supporting violence and being a disgrace to the name of Wizard, I hope they're paying you well for it." He pulled a book from Ginny's cauldron and turned it over in his hand. "Judging from the state of this, obviously not. It probably cost your wages for the month, all you're worth I expect." Mr Weasley seemed to fly at Malfoy's father, tackling him into a bookshelf, books falling around them.
"Gett'im dad!" the Weasleys twins cried.
{-}
When the rival fathers emerged from the collapsed bookshelf Malfoy slipped the potion book back in Ginny's cauldron. Tia couldn't help but notice a strange aura coming from the book. She didn't really know how to describe it, but if she had to it would be like a rotten segment of fruit.
{-}
On their last evening at the burrow, Mrs Weasley conjured up a magnificent feast with all the children's favourites, including a rather tasty kingfish. The Dursleys, before this summer, had never starved Tia, and she was deeply grateful that the hunger she had felt as a hollow was greatly lessened. But sometimes, it seemed, after she had just eaten, she was still starving. That did not happen this day though, and for that she was extremely grateful. Fred and George rounded off the evening with an extraordinary display of Filibuster Fireworks.
{-}
Ron and Tia were speeding towards the barrier between the platforms. They were about to pass the barrier when.
CRASH!
They had smashed against the barrier, Tia was flung over the chart and actually chipped the bricks. A guard, alerted by the noise, marched over to the crash site.
"What do you think you're doin'?" Tia and Ron jumped to their feet.
"Sorry, lost control of the trolley." Ron said nervously. The guard moved off as the duo piled their trunks and packages back on their carts. Why had the gateway sealed itself?
"Perhaps we should go and wait by the car." Tia said. Ron's face lit up.
"Harriet! The car!" Ron's face was shining with the light of adventure. "We can fly it to Hogwarts."
"No, I am not flying in that thing again!" she said, and Ron's face fell.
{-}
"Thank you again, professor McGonagall." Tia said as she and Ron were escorted into the entrance hall by the slightly frustrated transfiguration teacher. After sending Tia's owl Hedwig to the school explaining the situation, the professor had found the pair outside King's Cross and taken them back to Hogwarts via Side-along apparition.
{-}
Tia's first class with Lockhart was terrible. He was an utterly incompetent buffoon who was extremely vain and arrogant. The class started with a written exam, with some of the least relevant questions to the subject. For example:
1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?
22. In which year did Gilderoy Lockhart turn down the position of Minister for Magic and why?
'Oh, that's legit!' Tia though sarcastically.
Right over three whole pages until…
54. When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday and what is his ideal present?
After half an hour, Lockhart walked around the class collecting the quizzes manually, which was odd, because most other teachers summoned them and put out a covered glass case on his desk. The container was rattling slightly and making odd pinging noises, as if something was Ricocheting around inside.
"I am here to teach you to combat the darkest creatures known to man, when I reveal this case, your practical lesson will begin." The showman grabbed the cloth on top of the case and pulled. Inside the glass were several little blue creatures, they were all spinning like tops against the glass. "Billywigs!"
(AN: all the information about billywigs was from my copy of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them', but Lockhart is incompetent so expect him to make mistakes!)
"The Billywig is an insect native to New Zealand, and as such, was very difficult to import, consider this a treat!" he reached towards the case door. "Your first lesson is to re-capture the Billywigs." He opened the door and stood back as what looked like an azure hued rainbow shot out of the case. In seconds, the class had either run from the room, was hiding under the desks, or floating on the ceiling due to Billywig stings. Tia Harribel, however, due to her hierro, was not under the levitation effects of Billywig venom and was trying in vain to swat the extremely quick bugs out of the air. The bell rung, and after fishing Neville down from the ceiling, the four Gryffindors swiftly exited the room, leaving Lockhart to take care of the AUSTRALIAN insects.
{-}
Tia was being shaken awake by someone; she looked up and saw Angelina Johnson, one of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
"Whassamater?" Harribel said sleepily, noticing the dark skinned girl was in Quidditch robes.
"Quidditch practise, Oliver sent me."
"Well you can tell Oliver that he can go find a new seeker." Tia attempted to turn back over, but Angelina grabbed her shoulder.
"What? Why?" she seemed both angry and puzzled.
"I had a one year contract with McGonagall, now can I please get some sleep?" and so, Angelina headed off to the common room to explain the bad news. Tia had almost settled back down, when an alarm went off. She grabbed her wand and a dressing gown and exited the dormitory, to see the stairs had slanted to form a smooth ramp. Sliding down, she braced herself for the impact. Before using the slide's momentum to vault over Oliver Wood, who was curled in a ball clutching his knee.
"I said NO! Oliver!" she yelled.
{-}
Knowing Gryffindor in general would probably hate her by lunch time, she decided to get some homework done before going down to breakfast. She might have been able to sit down and sample some rather appetising looking kippers, if not for Hermione telling her that Ron had gone down to watch her and the team practice Quidditch, and didn't realise that, even though her punishment year was up, not everyone was fanatically devoted to the sport.
Tia and Hermione found him, and the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams gathered in an argument in the middle of the pitch. The Slytherin team boasted several new brooms. When the two girls arrived next to the angry mob, Ron saw them.
"Why aren't you playing Quidditch?" he and Malfoy blurted out. Malfoy continued, "So, are you scared, Potter? I would probably not fly either if I were you."
"Because she doesn't want to, and doesn't have to play Quidditch." Hermione interjected, while the Slytherin and Gryffindor teams minus Malfoy both looked on, metaphorically sweat dropping at being excluded from the conversation before Draco Malfoy stepped up again. He was wearing Quidditch robes; both Tia and Hermione adding two and two and figured out Malfoy's father had bribed the school.
"Why wouldn't someone want to play Quidditch? And stay out of it, filthy mudblood."
{-}
"You, Ron Weasley, are an idiot." The former Espada told a slug-vomiting Ron in Hagrid's hut later that day. "You should probably remember that I'm the one that was formerly playing Quidditch before you go around failing to curse Malfoy."
"So," Hagrid tried to skip the conversation past sport. "Why'd you try to curse Malfoy?" Ron emerged from puking long enough to say…
"He called her 'mudblood,' Hagrid." He ducked back under the table to resume his vomiting of slugs.
{-}
The Halloween feast, although extraordinary, seemed to be an almost subdued affair. At least 90% of Gryffindor was angry at her quitting Quidditch. What made it worse is that it also converged with another one of Tia's bouts of hunger. As such, she left the feast early. She had just climbed two levels of the grand staircase when she heard it. A voice.
"Rip… tear… kill…" the voice had started to fade into the distance, without realising, Tia started to run after it. She had reached a corridor near one of the girl's bathrooms when the voice vanished. But that was when she saw the writing on the wall, the cat hanging from a torch bracket and heard the sound of hundreds of approaching footsteps.
{-}
Only Hermione wholly stood by her, Ron was still upset about Quidditch, but even so, he followed the two girls to investigate the girl's bathroom near to where the bloody message had warned about the Chamber of Secrets.
"There was water on the floor that night; where else would it have come from?" Hermione reasoned.
"That is true, but who could it be?" Tia asked. "Who is the heir of slytherin?"
"Let's see, who do we know who thinks all muggle-borns are scum?" Ron said sarcastically.
"I doubt that Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin, he would have been boasting about it." Hermione said.
"But even so, we need to be sure." Ron said.
"You shouldn't let your feelings cloud your judgement Ronald." Harribel said. "But even so, there is a distinct possibility that the Slytherin common room may hold some answers."
{-}
They soon started to work on the polyjuice potion, which would change them, for one hour, into exact replicas of Slytherins. Nothing disrupted their attempts until the first Quidditch match of the year, Tia was mildly interested with who they had replaced her with, and saw that Oliver, angry and confused by Tia quitting, had chosen a burly third year to play seeker in his absentmindedness.
"tch." She said, leaning back into her seat and watching the snitch hover two meters below Malfoy. But that was when it happened. A bludger came speeding into the stands, heading directly for her. With no way out, and no time to draw her wand; she stood and drew back her fist focussing her reiatsu into her knuckles and punched. The ball cracked in half with a shower of dark purple sparks and fell, unmoving, to the ground.
Teachers started swarming around her; she looked up and saw a blond headed DADA teacher grabbing her arm.
"Oh, her arm must be broken." He said, probably not even bothering to check.
"No, I'm fine!" Tia said, trying to pull her arm out of the grip of Lockhart.
"Doesn't know what she's saying!" Lockhart drew his wand and pointed it at her arm. It glowed bright purple.
{-}
A few minutes later, she was in the hospital wing with 33 less bones in her arm than usual.
"You're in for a rough night, Potter." Said Madam Pomfrey, the matron, as she set down a skeleton shaped bottle labelled 'Skele-grow' and a pair of pyjamas next to her bed in the hospital wing. Tia was still silently fuming. Ron waited outside as Hermione helped her into the Pyjamas.
"How can you still stick up for Lockhart now Hermione?" Ron called from outside the curtain.
"Anyone can make a mistake," Hermione answered. "And it doesn't hurt anymore, does it Harriet?"
"It didn't hurt in the first place, and it doesn't do anything else either now!" she swung herself into bed and accepted a tumbler of skele-grow from the matron, who went to get some towels. The potion tasted horrible; there was no other way to describe it.
"I think the match is still going on… boy, that McLaggen is a really bad seeker!" Ron said, looking over towards the Quidditch pitch from out the window. Madam Pomfrey bustled back over.
"OUT, OUT, OUT! This girl has thirty three bones to regrow!" she pushed Ron and Hermione from the hospital wings and shut the door.
{-}
Tia woke up in the middle of the night, with an arm that felt to be full of large splinters. She suddenly became aware of the reason she had awoken, and made a grab for the house elf that was dabbing her forehead with a damp cloth. It leapt back.
"Get off, Dobby!" a tear exited the elf's eye as it watched Tia through the darkness.
"Harriet Potter came back to school!" Dobby's tennis ball like eyes gleamed through the darkness. "Ahh miss! Why didn't you heed my warning? Why did Miss Potter not go home when she missed the train?"
"You stopped the barrier?" Harribel said, sighing. "And I suppose it was you who jinxed that bludger, to kill me as well?"
"Not kill you, miss. Never kill you!" Dobby said. "Dobby only wanted Harriet injured enough to be sent home, young master was always talking about you playing quiddity…" He was cut off as a commotion sounded outside the hall. The elf vanished, and Tia lay down and pretended to be asleep. Dumbledore and McGonagall entered the hospital wing, carrying what looked like a statue.
{-}
Tia Harribel woke up the next morning with a fully healed, if a bit stiff, arm. She glanced over the petrified first year, his half melted camera still slightly smoking, as she exited the hospital wing.
{-}
A few weeks later, an interesting notice appeared on the Gryffindor noticeboard.
"They're starting a duelling club!" Seamus Finnegan said, pointing at the notice. "First meeting's tonight! I wouldn't mind duelling lessons, might come in handy some day!"
"I doubt that Slytherin's monster could duel…" Tia said quietly, but not quietly enough apparently, as several heads turned towards her, muttering about how 'she would know'.
Mentally cursing herself for a lack of tact, Tia stalked her way to the portrait hole and left the common room.
{-}
"Why am I here?" Harribel asked Hermione, as they crowded around the duelling platform in the centre of the great hall. Hermione didn't seem to be listening; she was just staring at the doors of the hall, where an incompetent blonde was shrugging of a purple cloak like a boxing champ. Lockhart walked up on stage and threw his cloak to the fan girls.
"Professor Dumbledore has given me permission to start up this little duelling club, to defend yourself; as I have done on countless occasions." He said, before beckoning off to the side of the stage. Snape stepped up. "My assistant, we will give a demonstration of duelling. But don't worry; you'll still have your potions master when I'm done with him."
The Professors took their places at either end of the stage and aimed their wands at one another after bowing.
"And we begin in: 3…2…1… GO!" Lockhart yelled.
"Expelliarmus!" Snape cast quickly, Lockhart's wand instantly blasted upwards and away from his hand.
"This is a joke…" Harribel growled, she started to push through the crowd and out of the hall. Snape had seen her apparently, because then he said…
"Potter! Up on stage, now!" Tia made her way up the wooden steps. "You and…" he paused, looking around the hall for a second. "…Malfoy will be the first two duel partners." Malfoy swaggered up to the stage.
The two faced each other from across the stage, the audience perfectly silent.
"3…2…1…" Lockhart called, but Malfoy didn't wait for 'go' though, as he cried a spell.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" he cast, Tia dodged to the side.
"Petrificus Totalus!" she shouted, sending the curse shooting towards Malfoy. He then blocked and then cast another spell.
"Serpensortia!" a viper shot from the end of Malfoy's wand and impacted on the wooden floor. It flailed around wildly for a second and then righted itself and began to slither back towards Malfoy. Tia darted forwards and snatched the snake from the ground, thumb and forefinger of her left hand pressing on the top and bottom of its jaw. Malfoy seemed shocked by this action, and as such, didn't see when the second full body bind curse rocketed towards him. Tia turned and marched towards the exit. The hall immediately broke out in whispers. The viper started to coil around her arm as she exited the great hall, and it had relaxed to her body heat by the time they exited the entrance hall into the grounds. She sat down on the grass and released the viper; it slithered off her arm and curled up next to her leg.
"Go ahead, leave." She said softly.
"I cannnnnnnot…" the snake said. "Eeeven ifff I could, I wouldn't lasssssst long." Its head dipped.
"Oh, right…" she realised, "you're a conjured animal. I'm sorry." The snake was dissolving into nothingness before her eyes. A small amount of ash was caught by the wind; the thin trail of dust seemed to slither away in the sky, before diffusing and vanishing from view.
It was then when she realised something else, Ron and Hermione had followed her from the great hall. They sat down on either side of her. Hermione's robes seemed a bit ruffled, like she had been tripped.
"You didn't say you were a Parselmouth." Ron said.
"I didn't know there was anything strange about being able to talk to snakes." she said. "If that's what you're referring to."
"It's a dark art!" Ron-idiot said. "Salazar Slytherin was one! Are you sure you're not his heir?"
"That's ridiculous, Ronald." Hermione defended her friend.
If this got out, undoubtedly the support for the theory of her being the heir of Slytherin would multiply.
{-}
And multiply it did.
It turned out a Hufflepuff, Justin Finch-Fletchley, had also followed Ron and Hermione out of the great hall and overheard the conversation. His entire house had known by morning, and by breakfast it seemed that the dark haired wizard had some kind of guard made of people from all four houses.
"They seem to think that I would want revenge for him revealing my secret." Tia said, taking some extra time than usual to eat the fish burger she was eating. The grounds seemed to have been covered in snow overnight, and Herbology was cancelled.
The corridors leading up to the library were deserted, perhaps now she could try to finish that potions essay she had been putting off for a week. All thought of the essay vanished from her mind as she rounded the next corner. Justin Finch-Fletchly had been petrified, along with Nearly Headless Nick, he was in colour, and seemed to be paralysed as well. The thing that really alarmed her was the chain coming from his chest. The Hogwarts ghosts didn't have usually have chains; she walked slowly forwards, reaching for the chain.
The moment she touched the chain, hunger stronger than anything she had experienced in this life caused her knees to buckle. She sat on the floor for a few seconds, trying to restrain herself. A door to the right opened suddenly and peeves shot out. He seemed to hesitate when he saw the scene for a few seconds before…
"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Ohhhh sh…" Tia started to say before the corridor was filled with the sound of doors crashing open and hurried footsteps.
{-}
The office walls seemed to be lined with portraits and the many tables were covered in whirring, puffing and blinking silver instruments. A large red and gold bird sat on a perch to the side of a large desk and the school sorting hat sat on top of a bookshelf. All in all, it was a rather overwhelming sight. Tia Harribel walked over to the bird, and was rather alarmed when it burst into flames.
"A shame you had to see him on a burning day, Harriet." Said a voice from behind her. She turned to see Dumbledore entering the office; the wizard walked over to the desk and sat down, motioning for Tia to do the same. She did so. "Fawkes is a phoenix; they burst into flame when it is their time to die and are reborn." There was silence for about a minute.
"Is there anything that you want to tell me?" he asked softly. Her mind flashed briefly through some memories. Several reminding her uncomfortably of how similar the professor looked to the first squad captain of the Soul Society.
"No sir."
{-}
Christmas morning was cold and white. There was some good news however, Ron seemed to have given up trying to convince her to play Quidditch again, and admitted in the Christmas card that he had returned a copy of the book 'The Joys of Quidditch' at the last minute and bribed the Twins to smuggle in some extra sweets from their traditional Christmas midnight journey to the village of Hogsmeade. A slightly less good thing was that the polyjuice potion was finished, according to Hermione.
She raised an eyebrow as she entered the 'magnificent' great hall. The ice crystals dripping of the trees grimly reminded her of Hitsugaya; the captain who would have killed her had Wonderweiss not been present. When she exited the great hall after dinner with Ron and Hermione they hid behind a statue. Hermione passed a small cupcake to Ron.
"Don't eat that." She whispered, holding Ron's wrist to stop him from eating it. "I filled it with some sleeping draft…" she trailed off as Tia noticed Crabbe and Goyle exit the hall. She sighed and shook her head as she dodged around the statue and fell into step behind the Slytherin trolls. Hermione and Ron ducked around the statue just in time to see the two Slytherins crumple unconscious. Tia ripped out a few of Crabbe's hairs and handed them to Ron after they dragged them into a cupboard. Hermione grabbed Crabbe's shoes and they sprinted up to the bathroom they wear brewing the potion in. Three tumblers already stood on the sinks and a bag of Slytherin robes was in the corner.
"Wait." Ron said, a puzzled expression coming over his face, "whose hair are you using?"
"Millicent Bulstrode." Hermione said. "When she tripped me as we were leaving the Duelling club is got this off her robes." She held up a brown hair.
"Daphne Greengrass." Tia said. "She left her hairbrush in a bathroom one day." She reached into her pocket and extracted a silver comb inlaid with emeralds. They added the hair to the potions, Ron's turned a grey-ish colour; Hermione's a sickly yellow, while Tia's turned Fluoro green. They picked up theirs and drank.
"blargh!" Ron said after swallowing, and he dropped the potion as he and Hermione ran to separate toilet stalls.
{-}
"I told you he wasn't the heir of Slytherin!" Harribel was nearly yelling as they re-entered the silent yet flooded bathroom an hour later.
"But he was dumb enough to tell us about the drawing room secret compartment!" Ron snapped back. "And he fell for the excuse for why Goyle wasn't there."
"It was an extremely believable excuse, him overeating…" she muttered and went to comfort a still cat-girl-like Hermione.
But when she reached the stall, she paused. There was a small black book under the door.
'That wasn't here when we left Hermione crying…' Tia thought, as she bent down and picked up the book 'wait, crying? Oh…' she straightened up and opened the door.
"What're you…?" Ron asked as he stepped up behind her and saw Hermione. The witch turned cat-girl was as still as a statue, she was petrified. The book propped on her knees was opened at a torn out page, the entry for bogarts visible.
{-}
In the commotion surrounding Hermione's petrification, Harribel almost forgot about the book she had picked up in the bathroom. Well, she forgot until that night, and took the opportunity to examine it. The black cover, date and name told her that it was a diary that, fifty years ago, belonged to someone named T. M. Riddle. The dry pages crackled as she turned them.
"Dry? But that's impossible." She said softly to herself. She took out a quill and some ink and placed a drop on one of the pages. It quivered for a moment and then it soaked into the parchment like veins were sucking it away. She tried writing something.
'Hello?'The ink soaked into the pages again.
'Hello. Who is this?'The ink soaked right back. Thinking for a moment about an answer, Tia dipped her quill back into the inkpot.
'I am Sosuke Aisen'. She lied.
'Are you at Hogwarts Sosuke?' The slanted ink bled out.
'Yes, but there are people being attacked'. She wrote simply. This diary had a strange feeling about it, and was obviously more complex than it would seem. 'Hopefully I can draw some information out of it.' She thought.
'Do you know about the chamber of secrets?'She wrote, as the diary remained unwritten.
'Yes'the answer came quickly, 'they told us it was just a legend, but in my fifth year the chamber was opened and muggleborns were attacked, until I brought the culprit to justice. They gave me a shiny shield for my effort, and told me to never speak of it again'
'That was sudden' Tia thought, and wote one last word.
'Who?' The ink seemed to pause before it oozed back out, to show a name that Tia was not expecting.
'Rubeus Hagrid.'
{-}
It just didn't make sense.
If Hagrid was responsible for the attacks, then why was he still at Hogwarts? Furthermore, why were they, the students, still there if a monster was going around killing people? That is why, at breakfast the next day, Tia Harribel was mentally debating with herself whether or not to visit Hagrid and ask him about the chamber. In the end she decided to talk to him later that day. Hermione was still a petrified catgirl in the hospital wing and the addition of a Ravenclaw prefect to the statue ridden infirmary only increased the worry of the teachers. It didn't help her mood when she realized that someone had broken into her dormitory and taken the diary of Tom Riddle. At least they could've taken the Lockhart books as well.
{-}
Tia knocked on the door to Hagrid's cabin in the grounds, hastily pulling the invisibility cloak off herself just before he opened the door. Ron wasn't with her, of course. He wasn't tactful enough for this.
"Harrie'" he said, lowering a bolted crossbow as he opened the door. "I'll make e' some tea."
"Err. No thanks." Tia still dreaded the brown liquid from all the times Aizen had made the Espada drink it. She took a seat. "Hagrid, I would like to ask some questions…"
"is it abou' the chamber?" he said, facing the fire.
"Yes." Tia said, slightly raising her eyes. "I wanted to know if you knew about the monster inside the chamber."
{-}
As she left the hut, she realised she had made the right decision to not bring Ron, the talk with Hagrid had been extremely laconic and succinct. Although Hagrid didn't know exactly what the monster was, Hagrid knew that it was feared by the acromantula, giant spiders; that explained the small arachnid's scurrying around recently. Something that Tia had also found out was that, the last time someone died because of the real monster; it had been in a bathroom. She had left soon after, only barely dodging around Dumbledore and a man in a Bowler hat as they exited the entrance hall.
{-}
It was nearly a week from that night when Tia realised that something was very wrong. Hagrid hadn't turned up to breakfast or dinner at any time, and was not to be found in his cabin either. When she heard the news about what happened to him from McGonagall, being sent to prison even though he was obviously not guilty, she decided to skip history of magic, and visit Hermione in the hospital wing, before researching what acromantula feared.
{-}
"Damn the library!" Ron said as he read the note that Hermione had been holding, they had just found out on their way back from the hospital wing that Ginny, Ron's younger sister, had been taken. "We need to get to the chamber now! You said you were pretty sure you knew where it was right?"
"I can't help but agree, it seems that the teachers aren't exactly eager to take advice from students, hopefully myrtle will co-operate." She said, turning around a corner towards the girl's bathroom and running into Gilderoy Lockhart.
"Well, well, well…" the professor had an uneasy expression on his face, trying to hide an overstuffed trio of suitcases behind him, and failing miserably. "I'll just let you go on with what you're doing."
"Nope!" Tia said, grabbing the hapless DADA teacher's collar and dragging him with them.
{-}
Myrtle had been quite co-operative, and the trio of Tia Harribel, Ron Weasley, plus the incompetent (now disarmed) Gilderoy Lockhart soon were sliding down a pipe into the chamber of secrets. They crashed out onto numerous rat skeletons one after another, with Tia recovering first. She stood up to see that Lockhart seemed to have fainted. Ron stood up, his wand clutched loosely at his side. Ron walked over to Lockhart.
"Ha!" he laughed, "the idiot's fainted!" then, Lockhart started to move.
"Ron, get away!" Lockhart had been playing possum, and Harribel realised too late. Lockhart had snatched Ron's wand and was pointing it directly at them.
"Underestimated me, didn't you?" he said, brushing some dirt of his robes.
"Superiority complex I see." Tia said, trying to focus her reiatsu around Lockhart's location. She needed to stall him though. "You didn't really do all the things in those books, did you?"
"Of course not!" he said, flicking his hair back, wand still trained on the two.
"You made it up?" Ron yelled incredulously.
"No, not really his style I'd say." Tia said, still focussing her reiatsu.
"Quite correct, I tracked down those wizards and witches who did the deeds, made them tell me how they'd done it, and then I erased their memories." Lockhart started to circle over towards the pipe exit. "If there is one thing I pride myself on, it's my memory charms."
"And let me guess, you're going to do the same to us?" Tia said.
"Also correct, say goodbye to your memories! OBLIVIA…!" His words were cut short, however as the spiritual pressure around him spiked, and he fainted in a flash of light. The unfinished spell shooting up to the ceiling then hitting the collapsing professor. A deep rumble echoed around the tunnel.
"Cave in!" Tia yelled, "Run!" they both dodged.
{-}
The chamber of secrets was a rather less grim place than she had been expecting. Giant stone snakes coiled around pillars lining the sides of the hall, emeralds glinting in their eyes and fangs of polished ivory. It was the statue at the end of the chamber that was the most impressive. A giant face made of stone obscured the far wall, with green fires lit in the eye sockets. (AN: basically the chamber from the films with different pillars and no pool of water).
A body lay just before the face; the red hair fanning out from her head told Tia that it was indeed Ginny Weasley clutching the diary of Tom Riddle, but she was not alone.
"Tom Riddle, I presume." Tia said to the apparition of a Slytherin 6th year, as she strode across the chamber, completely ignoring the Weasley and holstering her wand in her back pocket. "I'm afraid I'll have to relieve you of your unconsential accomplice."
"I don't think so; whoever you are…" the apparition said.
"My name is Harriet Potter." Tia said, then, just for the sake of his reaction, added. "But I am known to you as Sosuke Aisen." Riddle didn't blush, but a pink tinge had appeared in his cheeks to show his embarrassment. "My question is… what are you?"
"Smarter than you look, Potter." Riddle said. "But I have a question as well, how did a mere baby manage to defeat the greatest sorcerer in the world?"
"Ahh." Tia said, a realisation coming over her. "You're a piece of Voldemort's soul? Ha… Well, Dumbledore says I survived because of love, but frankly, I don't give a damn and you have no need to know." Riddle drew a wand from inside his robes.
"Although listening to the troubles and tribulations of an eleven year old girl was extremely dull, in return I gained power from the young Weasley." Riddle chuckled, his outline wavering. "You should have heard her talk about her mother's plan… but eventually I was able to possess her, and made her open the chamber of secrets. It was all going to plan until she tried to flush it away after the basilisk petrified that mudblood."
"So you forced her down to the chamber." Tia heard stirrings in the back of the chamber, behind the statue.
"But I tire of this conversation, I shall call the basilisk now, and you shall die." Riddle's voice changed then, to a hissing and rasping tongue. "Speak to me Slytherin, Greatest of the Hogwarts four." The mouth of the stone face started to open, rather slowly when there was a cry from the opposite end. A scarlet blur appeared and raced to land on Tia's shoulder. It was Fawkes the phoenix, and it appeared to be carrying a bundle of black cloth.
"That's the old sorting hat…" Riddle murmured as Tia took the bundle from the bird. She looked at the flaming bird that sat on her shoulder; its eyes seemed to be asking her something. Taking a wild guess, she put the hat on her head and…
'Bang!' a sword dropped on top of her head. It slid out from under the black cloth and was caught by Harribel in her right hand.
"That's the sword of Gryffindor!" Riddle shouted with a gleam in his eyes. "But even so, it will not save you from the basilisk!" the mouth of the statue was almost open. It was then when Tia threw away the ruby encrusted blade to her right. Riddle blinked with shock. Why would she give up her one advantage, pitiful as it was?
"I don't need that sword." Her hand was still held out, and it appeared that grey mist was congregating.
'Ready Tiburon?' Tia asked her Zanpakuto in her head.
'Yes.' The spirit answered back, and the mist shot together to form the shape of a hollow, short broadsword with a purple wrapped around the handle and a guard that extended to three small loops.
"What is this magic?" Riddle shouted as the mouth of the statue fully opened. Tia drew back her arm as if she would lunge, blue energy started to gather in the hollow of the sword. A spined head started to poke from the statue's mouth.
"It isn't! OLA AZUL!" Tiburon glowed blue and Harribel thrust it forwards, the blue energy kept going and slammed into the basilisk's head, cutting it in half. Blood and venom mixed in ropes that slid to the floor and pooled.
"No!" Riddle shouted. Tia relaxed and walked back over to riddle and the Weasley. The former Arrancar kicked the book from her hands to the floor. "NO! What are you doing!" Riddle lunged but stopped with a jerk when Tia Harribel thrust Tiburon through the cover. Ink squirted from the book. Riddle was shrieking. Tia picked up the skewered book with the sword and plunged it into the pile of blood and venom. The piece of Voldemort's soul that was tom Riddle evaporated, its shrieks dissipating until the only sounds were Tia and Ginny's breathing and the slow drip of blood and venom.
{-}
'At least we semi deserved those points' Tia thought, as the 150 points Dumbledore awarded her and Ron for finding the chamber of secrets easily won Gryffindor the house cup. After an explanation given to McGonagall, Dumbledore, Mr and Mrs Weasley; Lucius Malfoy had shown up with, of all people, Dobby the house elf. A short argument had ensued, after which, Tia had managed to trick Malfoy into freeing Dobby. Hermione and the other petrification victims had been cured, how they were able to administer the potion to nearly headless nick she didn't know. Hermione was currently debating with Ron and Tia how she would explain to her parents about the cat ears and tail between mouthfuls of milk. Being frozen for several months didn't stop metabolism apparently.
'For some reason, Dumbledore thinks he can make me into a hero' Tia thought, quickly grabbing the last piece of battered hake that Hermione was eyeing.
'Most likely so you can defeat voldemort,' Tia heard Tiburon say in her mind. 'I think it is safe to assume that he knows about our guest.' Referring to the barnacle-like apparition of voldemort in Harribel's inner world.
'No doubt he'll somehow try to persuade us into self-sacrifice.' Tia reasoned. 'But when that day comes… well, I have no intention of dying again anytime soon.'
{-}
Yes, I turned Hermione into a catgirl. So sue me. Actually, don't. I wouldn't be able to afford it.
I have a fairly good idea of the plot for PoA, but I have exams coming up so there may be a small gap. Also, if you find any spelling or Grammar mistakes, P.M. me and I'll fix it up. I'm kind of a grammar Nazi, if you haven't noticed already.
Also, check out my profile to vote in the poll as to whether and when Harribel should reveal her past to Ron and Hermione.
So far the results are:
3:YES, When arrives at Grimmauld place in OOTP
3: No, definitely not.
2: yes. Unsure of when
2:No.
1: Meh, indifference.
0: YES, end of OOTP
0: YES, end of HBP
0: YES, before Ron runs away in DH
0: YES, other, PM me
Thanks to everyone who voted!
Oh! And if there are any artists out there, I and going to be holding a contest on deviant art! The artwork must have something to do with this story, so P.M. me a link to your entry at Theta74 dot Deviantart dot com; First prize is an OC appearance as a soul reaper! Second is a Death Eater. Third is a Student. If there are no entries then I will probably adjust accordingly.