A/N: A look into Kari's past, how she met Dean and what made her fall for him. It's an all flashback chapter :P

Sorry this is a week late but my last two weeks have been filled with crazy, hectic schedules and the fact that –for some reason- I don't like writing when my grandparents are here… weird.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, please don't sue me!


Luck of the Irish

Chapter the Eleventh


I like men who have a future and women who have a past

~Oscar Wilde


Late. She was desperately late and it was all because her idiotic brother had slept through two alarms and her near constant yelling for him to get moving. Sometimes she envied her brother's ability to sleep through anything. Kari would love to not notice the thunder storms when they occurred, waking her from her bed and paralysing her with fear. It would have been amazing to sleep through them without even noticing one thing. However, on her first day of Hogwarts, having her brother's sleeping make her nearly late for the train just infuriated Kari.

She had promised Seamus she would meet him before the train left in hopes of having a friendly face she could talk to while on the train. Kari had never had any problems making friends. She was very outgoing and, in her mind, generally pretty. People seemed to be drawn to her like moths to a light. She was simply uninformed about the people who attended Hogwarts –her brother had never been very chatty- and she wasn't sure how they would react to her. While all her pervious experience said she'd make friends in no time, there was always a possibility that there was someone at Hogwarts who was better at it than her and stole all possible friends. Having Seamus waiting for her ensured that she'd know at least one person and she wouldn't have to sit alone.

But if her brother didn't hurry up, she was sure Seamus would leave. He had to get on the train too. She wasn't that special that he would miss the train for her, though it would have been really sweet if he did.

Finally the family of four made it to King's Cross station and Kari took off like a rocket. Philip, her annoying older brother, was going into his fourth year at Hogwarts, and –having been dragged along to see him off each year- because of that Kari knew exactly where platform 9 ¾ was located. She pushed her trolley up to the wall, swivelled her head quickly around and then burst through the barrier.

She hurried along the nearly empty platform, simply looking for an unclogged entry way onto the train. With luck she'd get a compartment that didn't contain any creepy, smelly, or boring people. She was just about to turn towards the train and attempt to push her way past the few students who were standing by the door, saying their last few goodbyes when a sandy head crossed her vision. She hoped and prayed that her suspicions were correct and that Seamus had waited for her. She left her trolley, hoping her parents would retrieve it before someone went through her stuff and ran towards Seamus.

He turned in her direction –confirming her suspicions- and she was so overcome with joy that she couldn't help herself and embraced him in a tight hug. "Sorry I'm so late, but my stupid brother overslept. Shall we search for a seat?" Kari quickly prattled, gabbing Seamus' hand and steering him towards the train.

"I'd wait for my parents to catch up, but I'm sure my dad will spend at least twenty minutes saying goodbye to me and honestly we don't have that kind of time! We need to get seats! My brother said the train fills up early so I hope we can get some decent seats. It would be a supremely sucky way to start my year by sitting next to some guy who smells, or drools, or talks for hours about chess or Gobstones or something!" Kari prattled on as she took quick looks into each compartment they passed.

Suddenly, Seamus stopped and tugged Kari lightly on Kari's hand to ensure she stopped as well. She turned, confused by his actions, to face her first Hogwarts friend and was met by a slight smirk. "You don't have to worry about not getting a good compartment. A friend of mine was saving us seats. He's this way. Come on!" Seamus said, turning in the opposite direction and pulling Kari after him.

They walked about halfway back down the train, past where they had entered and stopped in front of a compartment door with the soft humming of conversation on the other side. Kari took a moment to envision Seamus' Gryffindor friends. She knew Harry Potter was in his house and took a moment to imagine meeting Harry Potter. She would sweep him off his feet with her good looks and quick wit and they would instantly become a couple that everyone at school talked about. She would have no issues with making friends; everyone would want to know the famous Harry Potter's girlfriend. An excited smile crossed the raven haired girl's face as Seamus pulled the door open and revealed two girls eagerly gossiping about teaching staff and a black skinned boy sitting across from them, reading something.

Kari's face fell. No Harry Potter. She racked her brain sure that Seamus had spoken of the infamous wizard several times over the summer. Why wasn't he sitting with Seamus? Kari was broken from her thoughts by Seamus' movement into the compartment. After being asked, through gestures, to sit down, Kari did apprehensively. She could tell that the two girls, who had immediately stopped talking when Kari walked in, didn't like her. She was also upset that she hadn't gotten the famous boy-who-lived, but was instead stuck with a muggle boy who enjoyed reading American comic books.

Her excitement for her first year of Hogwarts was quickly dissipating.


While her initial thoughts on Dean Thomas had been disappointment at the fact that he wasn't more famous, Kari didn't find anything wrong with him as a person. Being friends with Seamus, and wanting to spend time with him, meant also spending time with Dean. She quickly grew to see Dean as a friend and found herself enjoying his company, even if he wasn't Harry Potter.

Kari did get to meet Harry Potter later on that year. He was much quieter and humbler than Kari would have thought. Sadly, she hadn't been on her top form during that meeting: it had been early one Monday morning and Kari was just focused on not falling asleep in her bowl of porridge. Kari decided that her dreams of become Mrs. Harry Potter were much like her classmates and a complete waste of time.

She also ended making many friends, even without Harry's help. Most of the girls in her year instantly loved Kari and turned to her for all kinds of advice. Most of the male population of Ravenclaw, and even a few from other houses, enjoyed shamelessly flirting with the stunning beauty, but Kari always stalled their advances before they got too much further than simply flirting. She wasn't ready for a boyfriend. Not at eleven.

As a result, she began spending more and more time with Seamus and Dean, especially after her instillation of Tuesday night meetings. The two boys were her friends, and she only saw them like that, but they helped keep some of the more persistent boys at bay. She eventually even started hanging out with just Dean; she was particularly interested in the muggle world and could spend hours on end inquiring about everything from telephones to automobiles. Dean's world was absolutely fascinating to Kari.

On one particularly cold November day in Kari's third year –the year of the first Triwizard Tournament in a century- Kari and Dean sat alone in the library studying for their respective tests. They had long since exhausted many muggle topics and decided to take a break from Kari's discovery mission to learn more about each other. The conversation had wound through many paths –family, friends, and interests- and eventually ended up where many young adult conversations eventually ended. They were discussing relationships, what they found attractive in a partner, and –the most popular conversation at the time- who they were taking to the Yule Ball.

Dean sheepishly confessed that he hadn't asked anyone yet. He had been thinking of asking a few people, but since he wasn't overly interested in any particular girl at the moment, he wasn't sure who he should ask. Kari, who was a year too young to go to the Yule Ball, tried making subtle hints that Dean should ask her to go. That way she would be able to be there and Dean wouldn't look bad for not having a date.

However, much to Kari's chagrin, Dean didn't seem to pick up on her hints. She left the library very disappointed at her slowly evaporating chances to attend one of the biggest school run events of the decade. The raven haired Ravenclaw was so focused on her disappearing chances when she ran into the broad back of a reasonably tall male standing in the hall.

The force of the impact, combined with her very thin three inch heels, would have sent Kari crashing to the floor, if the male she had run into hadn't turned with wicked fast reflexes and caught Kari before her butt could contact the cold stone floor. "Excuse moi. Je suis très apologétique pour causer votre tomber. Je m'appelle Gabriel, et toi?"

Kari's face flamed red as she tried to come up with some response to this mysterious boy's words. He was by far the most gorgeous person Kari had ever met. He had medium length blonde hair that was effortless messed to create a slight dishevelled look. Kari was sure this blonde French man played Quidditch: she only knew Quidditch players that could move that quickly. And his voice, and the way he spoke. French was already a very romantic language and his voice, that deep, sexy baritone, just put it over the top.

"Hi. I'm Kari," she responded after a few minutes.


To be continued…


A/N: Part one of two… this chapter was getting a little on the lengthy side so I decided to split it up.

I greatly appreciate your feedback; tell me what you thought!

Oh, and my French is a little rusty but Gabriel said "Excuse me. I am very sorry for making you fall. My name is Gabriel, and you are?" – sorry if my grammar sucks :(