A/N: thanks to those who reviewed. i hadn't planned to post until Sunday, but I finished early and thought i would post it now.


CHAPTER 4-

"So. First, introductions," she said. "I'll start them off. My name is Hazel Loraine Potter and I am the Girl-Who-Lived."

Edward POV-

"The Girl-Who-Lived?" I asked.

"Yup!" she popped the 'p.' "Stupid monikers. It just had be that. No, it couldn't be something with more of a warning? Something like, I dunno, the Girl-Who-Gets-Everybody-Who-Loves-Her-Killed?" She continued to mutter in that vein, everyone exchanging glances over her head, until she was interrupted.

"Stop it," Jasper said, shocking everybody. He almost never initiated a conversation, least of all with people he had only just met. "Stop."

She glanced at him and he stood, stepping closer to her.

"You helped me," he said. "Let me help you now."

She looked wide-eyed and confused. "Help me how?"

"I'm an Empath. I can feel what you feel," he explained. "You're filled up with so much guilt, and grief, and self-hate that it's a wonder you haven't gone insane by now. Let me help," he pleaded.

"It was you," she said, realization dawning. "That day in the courtyard. I thought someone was trying to imperius me."

He looked a little confused, but continued. "I can help you. Just let me?"

She hesitated, then nodded. "Okay."

My family and I watched in amazement as Jasper initiated contact with a human for the first time since he had become a part of the Cullens. He held her hands firmly in his, channeling calmness into her.

The girl with the bushy hair continued the introductions. First was her, Hermione. She seemed kinda smart, good with the written word at least. Then were the twins, Fred and George, the werewolf and the other godfather, Remus and Sirius, and the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Next were Alice, Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie. I went last.

When Hazel was sufficiently calm, she sat back down beside me. It was finally time to get the ball rolling, so to speak.

Hazel POV-

"Hermione, look at me. Please," I begged. "I didn't want to worry you."

She glared at me. "About my parents being tortured? How could you keep this from me"

"I remembered they were in Australia for that convention," I said desperately. I felt Jasper take my hand and calm me again. "I knew it couldn't be them, Hermione. Please?!"

She took a deep breath. "Okay, I get it. I'm sorry, it's just…"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," I muttered darkly.

I sighed.

After we finished sorting through what I had seen, Dumbledore took his leave. It was time for me to relive my past. I stood and moved over to the pensieve, tapping the runes etched into the sides of the bowl so that the memories would play above it.

Concentrating on what I wanted to show them, I touched my wand to my temple and pulled away the silver soup, as Alice called it.

"Siri? Moony?" I asked before I dropped them in. "Are you sure you wanna watch this?"

They exchanged a look, then nodded. "We have to know."

"Okay," I released the memories, stirring them into the basin. "Very little of this is pleasant, though."

With that, I sat back beside Edward and hugged my knees to my chest, watching as my life played out over the pensieve.

Edward POV-

The scene started in a little house. It had no color and no mess. It just didn't look lived in. We watched as a little girl came running into the room. She had auburn hair and golden eyes and looked about six or seven.

"Look, Auntie," she called. A horse-faced woman with dull hair looked up, disgust was written across her features. "Look what I can do!"

The little girl, Hazel, concentrated and her hair was purple. Then it was pink. Before it could once more be changed, she was weeping. Her aunt had hit her with her magazine.

I growled and the vampire in me wanted to rip the woman to pieces. How dared she hurt Hazel?

The little girl was dragged into the hallway, towards the stairs. She was shoved into the cupboard and locked in, her aunt yelling the entire time. "You are to remain in your cupboard for a week. No food and no drink, until you know how not to be a freak."

The scene shifted to a rundown park where the same little girl was being chased by a fat pig and his friends. They were shouting about Hazel Hunting and how they would beat her nice and good when they finally caught her.

Now we were watching as the house was inundated by owls. The family within finally had enough and dragged her around for a while until they ended up in a shack on some rock. They were in the middle of some lake. Little Hazel was lying on the floor, her head of now honey-colored curls pillowed on her arms. She rested beneath a thin moth-eaten blanket, drawing something into the dirt around her.

She started singing to herself and when she blew out the candles on her impromptu cake, a loud crash resounded throughout the house. We watched as the gentle giant defended the little lady and explained to her about a wonderful world, filled with amazing things, and a school for her to attend. Her wide eyes shifted through a myriad of colors as she listened to the marvels of her new life.

The scene changed again and this time we were watching the same little girl bounce around the shops picking out her supplies. We watched as she entered the wand shop, as she looked for her books, and as she was fitted for robes. We watched as she sat for ice cream, awaiting her gentle giant friend, and as she was approached by a young boy.

He was perhaps two years her senior and he looked like a younger version of the Cedric I had seen in her memories that first day in the courtyard. They began to talk and it was clear they were soon going to be the best of friends.

We watched that same little girl drag around a heavy trunk and ask two boys, twins, for help. There were introductions ("Blimey!-Are you really-Hazel Potter?-Do you really- have the scar?" "Yes and yes." She pulled down her shirt slightly and above her heart was a small lightning shaped scar. "Wicked!") and new friendships formed.

The scenes shifted again and we watched as she fought her way through life. We watched the flying lesson and the fight against the troll, when Cedric and Hazel went after a distraught Hermione. We observed her first Quidditch game and saw them work through the mystery of the Sorcerer's Stone.

I was in awe of her. She was brilliant, amazing. But every time she even so much as looked like she was in danger my non-beating heart clenched and I wanted to bundle her up and lock her safely up in a tower somewhere.

The scenes continued from there. Before second year, Cedric came and rescued her when she wasn't writing back to him. He came on his broom late on the eve of her birthday, helping her sneak downstairs to retrieve her things from beneath the stairs. They clambered onto their brooms and flew off until they were safely at his house, her trunk between them the whole way. She was happy that summer. She had gained a brother and his parents treated her wonderfully, as if she were their own daughter.

School started again and I watched as the students turned their backs on her. There were students being paralyzed left and right. It broke my heart to see her as her friends were attacked and frozen in the same manner, first Hermione, then Cedric. The school finally figured out she was innocent and tried to curry favor with her once more. It disgusted me.

I held my breath as I watched her sneak down to the Chamber of Secrets. She didn't even know who was down there, only that a student had been taken. As the scene played out and the huge snake came into view, I grabbed her and dragged her onto my lap. I held her tight as she shook with sobs.

She was so happy when Hermione and Cedric were back to normal and she introduced them to Ron. She stated simply that she saved him from the snake and Tom Marvolo Riddle and just like that, the trio became a quartet.

That summer was better until her uncle's sister came for a visit. She fled to Cedric's house. She stayed there for the remainder of the summer, happy once again. Then she got the news about Sirius Black. I watched her encounter with dementors on the train and I wanted to weep when I first saw that beautiful silver phoenix shoot out of her wand and I wanted to cheer when she captured Peter Pettigrew. With her godfather now innocent, she was taken away from her relatives.

All was fine until Halloween. That was when her name came out of the Goblet of Fire. She and Cedric trained together and it was amazing to see how much she progressed. She was happy apart from the Tournament. Then Ron screwed it up. ("Hey, you're a girl! You can come with me. That way no one tells you anything when you show up alone!" "For your information, Ronald, I happen to have a date." "Look, you don't have to lie. Just because no one has asked you-" he was cut off by her hand across his face.)

It took my breath away when she appeared on the arm of her date, even if I was a tad envious of him. She looked so beautiful. Turns out that Ron ended up alone that night while she danced with an international sports star. She and Hermione, who had gone with their friend Neville, had had lots of fun. Then Ron screwed it up, again. His comment about her only opening her legs for Seekers was a low blow. The night ended with her in tears and him with a bloody nose and broken jaw, courtesy of Cedric (her best friend/brother) and Krum (her date).

Things took a turn for the worse when the articles came out. They had taken Ron's words about her…promiscuity to heart. She withdrew into herself and it wasn't until closer to the third task that she was opening up again. Then she and Cedric took the Cup together.

She cried harder when Cedric was killed. I almost crushed her with how tightly I was holding her. It hurt to sit and watch as she was tortured. In a way I was glad that Cedric had gone quickly, because there was no way she would have remained sane if she saw him under that torture curse.

The memories ended shortly after that and I just sat there holding her until she stopped shaking.

Hazel POV-

I clutched Edward's shirt tightly. I'm sure I looked absolutely pitiful at that moment, but there was no way I was moving. Edward didn't seem about to let go either. I could feel his arms holding me to him. It was fierce enough that I would have been unable to wriggle free had I tried, but not hard enough to bruise my skin.

"Hazel," I heard Sirius calling to me. "Hazel, look at me."

My head moved and I met the eyes of my godfather. "You have to know none of that was your fault. Cedric-"

"Is dead!" I screamed. "Because of me. If I had just taken the Cup like he said-"

"Stop!" he shouted. "Shut up. I never want to hear anything like that from you again. There is nobody to blame but You-Know-Who."

"It's Voldemort," I corrected. "Fear of the name will only create fear of the thing itself. You saw the Chamber; its not even his real name. Call him Voldemort. Or, call him Riddle."

He looked in my eyes and I stared back, unblinking. Finally, he nodded.

I sniffled once more, realizing where I was. Looking up at Edward, I saw him watching me with concern. "Thank you," I said. I pushed away from his embrace and, though he seemed reluctant, he released me. Sitting back beside him, I turned to Jasper. "I'm sorry you have to feel this," I apologized, gesturing to myself.

"Amazing!" Rosalie exclaimed. "You're so selfless. You are the one who had to live through all that, yet you're apologizing because he had to feel your emotions!"

"Must be the saving people thing," I heard Hermione grumble.

"I do not have a saving people thing!"

Everybody laughed at that, because I so clearly did.


A/N: Plz. review. i love input and flames and bad opinions are welcome, though i prefer constructive criticism. PM me with any questions and suggestions. 4, gBee