A/N So guys, sorry about the time between uploads, writers block is complete evil.
Also, any text in Italics is Su speaking silently
Su had cornered him after Angelina had made him see the truth. She silently made him sit down. The common-room was empty; it was only him and Su.
She gave him a look, which asked him "what's going on?"
Harry shrugged. "Did we do the right thing?" Harry asked, quickly.
Su shrugged, and gestured to herself. Harry interpreted that (correctly) as "we all survived…"
Su wrapped her arms around him. Harry flinched, before returning the affectionate gesture. It wasn't that he wasn't used to affection – Angelina and her friends had prepared him for this. So had Fay and Millie. Su just wasn't that friendly with anyone….
Su motioned towards an empty piece of parchment, and Harry nodded. Su began writing – and she explained why she didn't talk….
And Su began to tell him her story…
Su Li wasn't ever a normal girl.
Born in China, her father was a Charms author, and her mother studied Giants. European Giants were mostly destroyed by wizards during the Giant Wars – and thus, the last Giants in Europe (a number less than 300) distrust magic, and tend to hate wizards indiscriminately.
On the other hand, Giants in Asia had never faced this kind of genocide, and numbered in the tens of thousands. Asian Giants were also fairly tolerant of people and magic.
Su's mother had studied Giants, and spent months at a time living with Giant tribes. While they were not vicious in any way, they were somewhat clumsy – especially with humans, who were so much smaller than them. Giants are similar to a large dog around children – eager and boisterous, and unsure of their own strength. Su's mother often carried bruises and broken bones from accidents with the Giants.
While she was pregnant with Su, a Giant had knocked to the ground quite badly. The impact had damaged the brain of the developing child slightly. Specifically, this was in the "language" part of the brain. The incident may also be the cause of Su's lack of growth during her life.
Because of this, Su did not learn to speak until she was five. She seemed able to understand Chinese when her parents spoke to her – she often did as they asked – and she developed a love of children's books. She could understand and read Chinese perfectly, but her brain would not connect properly with her mouth.
The young child communicated mainly through rudimentary facial expressions – a certain expression would mean "hungry", and another may mean "leave me alone". The facial expressions matched the normal vocal range of someone her age, but were silent and allowed her to communicate with her parents somewhat.
When Su was seven, her older sister was killed by a Chinese Fireball – she had just begun a career at a dragon sanctuary, and one of the dragons went rogue. Less than a month later, Su lost her mother – she was killed accidentally by a Giant.
This devastated the seven year old and her father. Su stopped talking to people again, and began to rely on facial expressions. Su's father pulled them out of China, and they moved to a Wizarding village just on the border of Wales. Su thought her father blamed China for the death of his wife and his daughter – he stopped speaking Chinese altogether – even at home. Su had to learn a new language.
Again hampered by her slight brain damage, Su struggled to pick up English – she had received her Hogwarts letter at the age of eleven before she could be considered proficient in English. None-the-less, she lacked any type of accent – the damaged linkages between her brain and mouth blocked any influence that speaking Chinese may have had on her speaking English.
Su picked up reading English well before she could speak it – in fact, she was a rather an advanced reader for her age, especially considering she hadn't begun learning English until she was seven.
Her father's refusal to speak their native language, and her incapability to learn a new language quickly led to her expanding her basic visual method of communication. She had developed complex facial expressions and hand movements that were able to convey what she meant – quite similar to the way Muggle sign-language works. However, only her father could fully understand her until she came to Hogwarts.
And now Harry could understand her too. Su assumed that both she and Harry needed someone to be emotionally close to, being isolated for their childhood – which is why they bonded so quickly.
While Su was capable of speaking properly, she had essentially spent her entire life communicating in a non-verbal way, and it was a difficult habit to break. She found it far more natural to communicate through her expressions than through spoken language. On top of this, she felt spoken English was a huge achievement – the greatest thing she had accomplished.
She didn't want to waste her hard-earned words on people who didn't deserve them. So she didn't talk to anyone at Hogwarts, outside of occasional words whenever necessary.
After Su had finished writing, and Harry had read it, she tossed the paper on the fire.
November faded into December, and the First years were looking forward to the winter break on the whole. Harry didn't know of any other Gryffindors staying at the school over Christmas.
Most classes had become far more practical, with the first years learning many simple, everyday spells. Harry's extra classes with Professor Sinistra had developed – he was mastering several first and second year charms and spells – and as a result he was topping practical classes (Charms, Defence and Transfiguration). He'd even managed a brief smile from the stoic Professor Tenebris for casting the Stinging Hex first go – he didn't tell her that he had learnt it a month before.
Sinistra was a very good teacher – and Harry thought she might have been wasting time teaching Astronomy. She'd tell him which spells to practise in advance, and have him do them in front of her.
He was becoming rather attached to the young Professor – she was the first adult to show caring for him.
A dribble of water came out of Harry's wand. He looked at it disdainfully. He tried again, and got the same result.
"Focus, Harry…" came the soft, feminine voice of Professor Sinistra.
"Augumenti!" Harry tried again, and was blasted backwards across the room by the force of water coming from his wand. Harry landed awkwardly and completely out of breath.
Professor Sinistra clapped excitedly. "Well done, Harry! That's a third year spell!"
Harry nodded, still unable to talk. His head throbbed, trying to recover from the level of magic he had just cast. "I think we should call it a day – it's almost time for dinner" ordered the professor. She held out her hand and pulled Harry to his feet. As their hands touched, Harry felt a strange electric shiver run through his body, almost making him trip.
"You okay, Harry?"
"Fine, Professor. Probably just recovering still"
"Harry, it's Aurora. We aren't in class". Harry nodded in acceptance. "Make sure you rest tonight, okay?"
"Sure, Aurora," replied Harry, walking out of the classroom.
He headed downstairs for dinner, still trying to shake the feeling of over-exertion. His strange reaction when Aurora had grabbed his had made him feel unusually and unexplainably hopeless. Harry figured it was probably just a reacting to draining himself magically like that. He reached the Great Hall and fell heavily into a seat between Su and Fay, and sighed.
Su elbowed him in the rib, and then Fay started talking. "What's with you? Normally you come in every Thursday, yabbering on about whatever Sinistra showed you."
"Just tired," grunted Harry. Fay shrugged, and turned to Fred and George. They started talking in low, sinister voices. Harry grinned – trust Fay to take things at face value – he didn't think she would ever be serious. He had no such luck with Su, however. She sent him a questioning glance.
Harry shrugged. "Just overdid a spell a bit".
Su grimaced at him, and obviously didn't believe him, but she let it rest. She went back to playing with her food. The tiny Asian girl didn't ever eat much, but spent most of her time moving the food around anxiously.
Harry looked across at Angelina, who was flanked by Alicia and Katie as usual. The black girl had been withdrawn since Halloween, and had stubbornly refused to tell anyone why.
She grinned across at him. "Professor Sinistra worn you out, Harry?" she asked, adding a lewd wink.
"Something like that," replied Harry with a grin – he was far too used to Angelina, Alicia and Katie to be embarrassed.
"What's she got you doing now?"
"Augumenti," answered Harry with a shrug. "I did it…kinda… but it took a lot of effort."
Angelina flicked a potato at him with her fork "That isn't fair, we haven't learnt that yet!"
Harry shrugged apologetically. "Well, how are you going?" he asked, pointedly. Katie was distracted by her second-year friends, and Alicia had become engulfed in Fred, George and Fay's conversation, so Harry had taken the opportunity to question Angelina.
"I'm great, it's almost Christmas!" replied Angelina.
Harry responded with a sigh, and looked around for help. Su was focusing on her food, and Fay was looking at Fred and George in admiration. "You haven't been yourself since Halloween," argued Harry.
"It's fine, Harry – stop asking about it" Angelina replied, showing slight frustration – Harry had been questioning her whenever he had the chance. "And stop diverting attention from you and the lovely Astronomy Professor."
Harry blushed slightly – everyone was teasing him about his lessons with Aurora. "She's just teaching me extra spells!" replied the eleven-year-old, adamantly.
The rest of dinner consisted of Angelina teasing Harry about Professor Sinistra, and it wasn't until afterwards that Harry realised that Angelina had distracted him from asking her what was wrong.
Angelina retreated to her dormitory after dinner that night. She had changed drastically since her first Hogsmeade visit several weeks earlier. She was still the enthusiastic, outgoing girl that Harry had met on the train, but something in her had faded.
She couldn't tell anyone what happened. Nobody could ever know. She collapsed onto her bed, and hid herself under her blankets. Harry could read her better than anyone else, but she found herself wishing he would leave her alone.
Later that same night, Harry ascended the stairs to the dormitory behind Ethan. Harry hadn't gotten to know the boys in his year that well – spending most of his time with Fay, Su and Angelina, as well as seeing Millie secretly. Ethan, he had bonded with somewhat, but the tall boy spent most of his time with a group of Hufflepuff boys. Seamus and Dean were inseparable, and Simon had yet to say a single word to him (or anyone).
Harry took his time getting ready for bed, mulling over the last few weeks – the revelations about Su, the change in Angelina, the troll incident – the first year was feeling overwhelmed.
The rest of the dormitory was asleep when Harry crawled into bed, only to be disturbed by a bright light flashing through his window. Harry groaned and rolled out of bed again. Throwing on his clothes and his invisibility cloak, he left the common room. The Fat Lady didn't even twitch – she had become used to being opened by "nobody" at least once a week. She even knew it was Harry who was coming and going; the portrait had bought it up one evening when Harry was returning from dinner alone and visible. He didn't know how she knew, but the Fat Lady didn't seem to mind his breaking curfew.
He crept along the now-familiar path towards the Astronomy tower. He almost ran into trouble – literally. Professor Sinistra was pacing back and forth in front of the bizarre tapestry depicting a man being beaten to death by trolls in tutus, and Harry had to hug the opposite wall to get past her.
Harry wasn't entirely fazed by this odd behaviour of pacing a random corridor – the youngest Professor was prone to unusual behaviour. In their private lessons, she often switched from happy and flamboyant to moody and sour rapidly, without provocation. And she was still prone to staring at him for far too long. Harry still liked the quirky lady in spite of this.
He was startled, however, when he looked back and Aurora had disappeared. She couldn't have left the corridor that quickly. "Magic…" muttered Harry, shaking his head.
The rest of the trip to the Astronomy tower was uneventful, as Harry had learnt the corridors well enough to stay out of Filch's way.
There was a solid chill in the air on the top of the tower, as it would probably start snowing within a week. Harry sighed in relief as he stepped into Millie's Warming charm. They had persuaded Flitwick to teach them the third year spell after the nights started getting colder. Harry slid down next to the half-giant girl, swinging his feet over the edge of the tower – which was thankfully charmed to stop people falling off the edge. They sat silently for a while, watching the stars, as had become their routine.
"How are they?" Harry asked, finally – asking about the Slytherin girls.
"Oh fine. I think they've given up. Or I've stopped paying attention to them," replied Millie with a shrug. "Still have to listen to Pansy fawn over Nott though, it's sickening…" she continued with a grimace.
Harry smirked. Theodore Nott was a boy who resembled a rat, and had seemingly made it his mission to antagonise him. Harry disliked the boy, although had ignored him consistently since the train ride to school.
"That sounds disgusting".
"You've no idea. How's your dorm?"
"Still the same. Seamus and Dean won't shut up about sport. Pucey never says a word"
"Probably worried about being around you…" Millie replied with a shrug. Harry looked at her quizzically. "His parents were big supporters of Lestrange, both in Azkaban now," she explained, catching his confusion.
"Azkaban?" asked Harry.
"Magical prison, essentially". Harry nodded appreciated. Millie was always patient enough with his lack of magical knowledge.
"What do ya know about Simon then?" Harry was somewhat concerned – he had to share a dorm with the boy for the next seven years.
"Nothing really, but I don't think he's met his parents."
The conversation moved towards happy things as it usually did during their midnight meetings. They had originally bonded as both were orphans and both stood out a lot in public, but this barely featured in their conversations anymore. Their conversations always eventually ended as they both fell asleep on top of the tower – nobody bothered to patrol the top of the tower.
"Oww!" mumbled Harry, as Hedwig woke him by biting his ear. Absently patting the bird, he stretched his cramped muscles and made a mental note to ask Flitwick to teach him a Cushioning charm – the stone floor of the tower was uncomfortable, even within a Warming charm.
Harry shook Millie awake, and she sat up silently. Hedwig jumped onto her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek.
"Traitor…" mumbled Harry, which Hedwig replied with a sharp squawk.
The two children slowly walked down the stairs, so they could get back to their Common Rooms before anyone woke up.
"Staying for Christmas?" Millie asked, glancing at Harry.
Harry nodded. "Beats going to the Dursley's."
"I want to introduce to Hagrid over the holidays"
"The groundskeeper?" Harry questioned, slightly confused – he had had nothing to do with the oversized man – and he didn't know of any students who had.
"Yeah, he's…a friend." Millie explained. "Helped me a lot with being…ya know…me".
Harry nodded. "Sure thing." Millie was talking about the man in a tone of fondness that Harry hadn't heard her use for anyone else.
Seven hours earlier…
Aurora Sinistra walked into the Room of Requirement. She had found the room in her school-days, looking for a place to escape some of the worst of her fellow Slytherins. It was her oasis, her safe place and her training room.
The room was gloomy, and a large number of plastic humanoid figures appeared, and began to circle her.
She shot a Bone-Breaker at the practise dummy in front of her, and spun around, shooting Stunners swiftly and randomly, before nailing another dummy with a strong Reductor.
Hermione Granger sat at the end of Gryffindor table during breakfast. The girl was quite intelligent in many areas, and was trying her hardest to top her year. Since coming to Hogwarts, she hadn't really made friends, although most of the Hufflepuffs – especially Susan Bones – were rather nice to her.
On the other hand, she'd been bullied consistently by Theodore Nott and a bunch of Slytherins due to her heritage. She knew it wasn't only her – anyone with Muggle blood got the same treatment – but this only drove her to study harder.
She would show them how good a Muggleborn could be.
At the other end of the house table, Harry sat with Su, quietly (and in Su's case, silently) discussing their latest Defence assignment. Fay hadn't joined them again – she had been spending more and more time with the Weasley twins. She was with them so much that most of Gryffindor referred to her as the "third twin". Harry was somewhat disappointed by her absence – she was his first real friend. On the other hand, he had Su, and Angelina, and Millie, and couldn't be too upset.
"Tenebris really knows her stuff…" commented Harry – his admiration of his Defence Professor had steadily grown from the start of the year.
"But she expects too much from first years" replied Su, silently. "This assignment is too much".
Harry nodded, his mouth full of bacon.
"And where were you last night?" Harry jumped – unsure how Su knew he didn't sleep in the tower the night before. "The Fat Lady told me…" explained Su.
"I was seeing Millie," replied Harry, slowly.
Su nodded, but didn't answer.
At the same time - somewhere in the wilderness in Eastern Europe.
Bellatrix Lestrange awoke in her tent. As she had every day for the last ten years, she pulled out her wand, and waved it randomly.
Green and black sparks shot out of the end of her wand. She cackled, and grinned excitedly. It was the only bit of magic she had been able to perform since that night at Godric's Hollow.
True, it was the simplest piece of magic – something that all eleven year-olds can do without even trying – but it was a sign that her magic was returning to her.
For ten years, she'd been living with a group of Romani (gypsy). Travelling around Europe pretending to be a Seer to get money from Muggles. And leaving a trail of bodies behind her.
Since that night, she had killed over 400 Muggles, with her favourite knife. She'd never been caught, as she had never existed in the Muggle world, and you can't catch what doesn't exist.
But now her magic was returning. Soon, she would be able to return to the magical world and take her rightful place. Soon, she could kill the Potter child.
A/N - so this chapter didn't have a lot of depth, I was trying to move the story closer towards the action part of the first year. The next few chapters will discuss the Christmas holidays, and there will be a lot of things going on.
