Disclaimer: First, let me introduce myself. My real life name is Jesse, although I prefer Mira. I have an account on here I can't get onto, under the name PhantomWolfMira, and I have a few stories on there I will be re-uploading onto this account, and possibly adding sequels to. I got a lot of amazing reviews I never saw until just now, and they were awesome and actually made me cry a little, so I'm going to try and run with it. But this story has been in my head for awhile, and I have to go where the Train of Thought takes me.
After a lot of deliberation, I decided to write it pretty much entirely AU from the books. I just think it would be an insult to Ms. Rowling if I wrote an AU inside of her universe, and quite frankly, it would be very difficult to try to get things pretty word-for-word. I'm not going to go too far out there, but I want to deal with personal issues more than Voldemort issues, since it has been done so well already, so expect the unexpected. Basically I'm going to try to write it like the sixth book will take place in seventh year, and I'm starting with a blank slate
I'm also experimenting with an extremely omnipotent POV, jumping from Mimi's to Harry's and probably a few others as well. I'll try to make it very clear when I switch, let me know if I'm getting too complicated and confusing. Constructive criticism, as well as compliments, are always welcome. =]
Chapter 1
Harry Potter first saw her on the Platform while everyone was milling around before boarding the Hogwart's Express.
She was sitting cross-legged on a bench, sporting loose-fitting blue jeans and a simple grey t-shirt. Her hair was black as the night sky and flowed freely around her shoulders in soft waves, surrounding her slender, heart shaped face. Her skin was a nice shade of gold, sun-kissed but not orange, and her cheeks and lips were pink with life. Her eyes were hidden behind sunglasses so large, they took up almost her entire face. As he watched her, she lifted a burning cigarettes to her lips and took a deep pull.
"Who is that?" Hermione said in a slightly disgusted voice, as if the strange girl's appearance disgusted her. Ron looked around, slightly intrigued.
"First year?"
"She looks around our age," Harry said with a shrug. "Somehow I don't think so."
"Maybe she developed early?" Ron smirked.
"Oh! That must be the transfer student they told us about, Ron!" Hermione exclaimed as she elbowed him a little harder than necessary. "Oh, what was her name... Mimi! The girl they mentioned in the letters to the Prefects in the announcements."
"Oh yea," Ron glanced oddly at Harry. "Mimi."
"What?" Harry had noticed them exchange uneasy looks.
"Nothing, it's nothing," Ron rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Just- her last name's Black."
Harry rolled his eyes as a sudden stab of irritation hit him. "Come on, guys," he said bitterly. "It's a common last name. I'm not going to fall to pieces just because someone else has the same name."
"We know that!" Hermione said quickly. "I'm sorry, Harry. We should go introduce ourselves."
"Nice change of subject," Harry said dryly.
"Thank you." She winked at him. "Now, let's go."
Harry couldn't help but smile. He could be such an asshole sometimes, and his friends knew just how to handle him. He was grateful for that, and for them.
The girl- Mimi- looked up as they approached, watching them warily as she took another deep drag from her cigarette.
"Are you Mimi?" Hermione asked politely.
"Yea," she said hesitantly.
"Welcome to Hogwarts! I'm Ron, and this is Hermione. We're the Gryffindor Prefects." They shook hands swiftly. "And this is Harry Potter. He's our friend."
The girl trained her vision onto him. She grabbed her glasses with long, thin fingers and lowered them down her nose. Her eyes were some of the most vivid green he had ever seen, even in comparison to his own. They were a deep emerald around the iris, while the rest was a green he had only ever seen in the eyes of cats. A splash of gold surrounded the pupils, creating an oddly beautiful and altogether hypnotic combination. And as soon as he found himself lost in them, they were gone, hidden behind the sunglasses once again. She smiled at him.
"So you are," she said softly, offering a hand. "How do you do?"
He took it, clearing his throat, "I'm good, and yourself?"
"On a lovely day like this, a girl can't complain."
She had the strangest accent he had ever heard. Definitely some kind of Irish mixed with something else. He would have to ask her at some point.
The train whistle blew suddenly, and students began filing onto the train.
"D'you want to sit with us?" Harry offered eagerly, hoping she'd say yes.
"Umm," she hesitated for a split second. "Yea, sure. Why not."
They boarded the train, weaving through people who stared and whispered, until they found a friendly compartment. Ron and Hermione headed off to their Prefect's meeting, promising them they'd be back before they missed them, and Harry rolled his eyes at Mimi in amusement before pulling the compartment door open. Neville and Ginny grinned at them as they entered, and Luna actually hugged them both. Mimi stepped back nervously, seemingly unsure of how to handle the sudden affection, but Luna pulled her into a seat before she knew what was happening.
"I just knew there would be someone new this year," she was saying excitedly as Harry took a seat beside Neville. "I could feel it." She turned to Harry, suddenly serious. "How are you faring, Harry?"
"Fine," Harry cleared his throat uncomfortably. He glanced at Mimi nervously, not wanting to explain what Luna had meant by that, but she was gazing absently out the window.
"So, what's your story?" Luna trained her curious gaze back onto Mimi, who turned reluctantly from the window. "Where are you from?"
"Everywhere," she said with a wry grin. "I wanted to have a really thorough education, so I haven't really spent more than two years at any school. I moved to the US when I was seven and went to the Salem's Witches' Institute for my first year, moved back to Ireland and ended up going to Beauxbatons for my second and third year, and Durmstrang for my fourth and fifth. If everything goes according to plan, I'll finish up my schooling here at Hogwarts."
"Wow, that's pretty awesome," Harry said, "Don't you get fed up with moving around like that, though?"
She shrugged. "I dunno. I kind of like it. I suppose it gets a little old having to say good-bye to my friends, but I've learned so much. It's really been very beneficial."
"What's been your favorite school so far?" Neville asked.
Mimi thought this over for a second, a secretive smile tugging at her lips. "Probably Durmstrang."
"Really?" Neville seemed surprised. "Huh."
As the train rushed past mountains and trees for the better part of the afternoon, they had a light lunch of sweets from the trolley as they caught Mimi up on Hogwarts. When Ron and Hermione arrived around three in the afternoon from their Prefect's meeting, Hermione was happy to practically recite everything she had read in Hogwarts: A History, while Neville and Luna informed her about the crazier aspects of Hogwarts, such as killer plants and a class with magical animals that might just cut you in half if you looked at them the wrong way. By the time the sun began to set, Mimi felt as if she had already been to the castle.
They changed into their robes and gathered their trunks and owls together. Mimi didn't have an owl, but a tiny black kitten that had been sleeping in her robes the whole time. She had forgotten about it up until now, and pulled it from her pocket to make sure it was still breathing.
"He's a lazy little thing," she chucked after the kitten mewled disgruntledly, none too happy about being pulled from his hiding place. She let him crawl back inside, poking the tiny lump that had now appeared at her hip. "I knew I should have gotten an owl, but he was the runt. I'm a sucker for runts."
"Crookshanks will have a friend now!" Hermione said happily, turning away from them and pulling her robes over her head. Ron rolled his eyes.
"Or a snack," He muttered so Hermione couldn't hear. Mimi raised an eyebrow as the boys began to snicker.
"I'll tell you later," Harry muttered when Hermione sat back down.
"So, do you know if you're supposed to take the boats to the castle with the first years or the carriages with us?" she asked curiously.
"I'm not sure," Mimi frowned as she pulled out her Hogwarts letter. Luna peered over her shoulder and pointed at a spot somewhere along the middle of the parchment.
"It says to follow the regular students into the Great Hall and wait there for Professor McGonagall," she said. "So you'll ride in the carriages with us!"
"Thanks, Luna," Mimi said with a shy smile. "I should have figured as much. I'm probably much too big for the boats, anyway, if they're meant for first year's."
"Oh, bollocks," Neville laughed. "Hagrid rides in them just fine, and he's huge!"
"Hagrid, the Magical Creatures professor?" she racked her brain and recalled what they had said earlier about him.
"Yupp! He's a half giant, so he's pretty huge."
"A half giant?" Mimi thought about that one for a second, her eyes widening slightly. "Oh, god... Please tell me his mum was the giant."
"That would be yes."
"Oh, thank god," she put her hand on her heart as the boys roared with laughter. Ever Hermione looked vaguely amused, although slightly disgusted as well. "Must have been one hell of a relationship."
"Tell me about it," Ron choked, wiping tears from his eyes.
Out of curiosity, Mimi found herself asking, "Are there a lot of half-breeds like that at Hogwarts?"
"No," Harry said with a slight frown.
"We did have a werewolf for a Professor once, though," Luna said dreamily, not looking up from the copy of the Quibbler she had pulled out of her bag.
"That's pretty awesome," Mimi said, nodding approvingly. "I suppose you can say I'm used to a big mix of blood."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked curiously.
Mimi hesitated for a moment, but she knew it would have to come out sooner or later. They would most certainly notice the moment she did wandless magic.
"Well," she began slowly. "Not only did I go to a wide variety of schools, where half and 'other' breeds were more common, but I also am a Nimal, myself."
"A what?" Harry asked blankly, but the others seemed to know what she was talking about. Hermione actually squealed in interest.
"Really? I haven't read much about Nimals at all, just what I read in Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them, but, of course, that book doesn't hold much more than a basic overview."
Mimi was blushing, looking slightly uncomfortable now. She always hated telling people this, and wondered if maybe she should have let them find out on their own after all.
"Wait a second," Harry said a little irritably. "What is a Nimal?"
"It's a kind of shapeshifter," Hermione jumped in before Mimi could reply, and she was actually relieved. She didn't really enjoy talking about herself, so if someone else wanted to explain, she was all for it. "They can take the form of any type of animal, bug and even inanimate objects that you would find in nature. They can harness the power of most elements, and can use wandless and, in a lot of cases, spell-less magic!"
"That's pretty awesome," Harry said, now looking at her with awe and slight jealousy along with the rest of them. Mimi rolled her eyes.
"Yea, well, the grass is always greener on the other side."
"What do you mean?" Ron said emphatically. "The grass is freaking lush and perfect on your side."
"Just because someone has something special about them doesn't mean it instantly makes their life awesome," Mimi snapped, now thoroughly irritated. "Sure, I've got some cool aspects to my life, but I also have to worry about every time I get too emotionally compromised because something might explode or, in worst cases, a fucking tornado might touch down outside or something. Wandless magic is awesome, until you go to summon a teacup and send it hurtling toward your own head at the speed of light. And while shapeshifting is great, animal instinct isn't so fun. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to complain here. But don't automatically assume someone's life is perfect because they were dealt a certain hand." She sat back now, looking out the window. "Everyone has their demons."
Ron looked thoroughly cowed. He sputtered out an apology, but the anger was gone almost as quick as it had come, and Mimi smiled at him.
"You're not the first one who's told me I'm 'lucky'," she brushed it off. "And you certainly won't be the last."
They pulled into the station at Hogsmead at last. The sky was rapidly darkening as they stepped off the train, and Mimi's stomach was keeping up a constant stream of commentary, although she felt so nervous that she wasn't sure she could eat if she tried.
When they came to the carriages, Mimi stopped dead as she came across the strangest looking creatures she had ever seen in her life. She felt like she should have known the name of the odd, horse-like animals that sat patiently in the harness that molded around their skeletal bodies, but it had escaped her in shock.
"Can you see them, then?" Harry said when he noticed she had stopped.
Mimi snorted. "Of course I can see them, they're standing right in front of me."
"Yes, but those are Thestrals. Normally people can't see them unless they've seen someone die," Harry said quietly.
"Oh. Well, I can probably just see it because I'm a Nimal. We can see through most spells and enchantments, unless they're specifically directed toward us." The truth was, Mimi had watched her parents die, but she wanted to make the slightly pitying look Harry was directing at her go away. She hated pity. Besides, it wasn't like she had lied. She would have been able to see the creatures regardless.
"Oh," was all he said, and as his eyes followed the head of one of the Thestrals when it turned its head to groom itself, Mimi realized that Harry must have seen someone die if he could see them, too. In fact, if the stories she had heard were anything to go on, he had probably seen more than his share of people die already in his young life, and that made her sad.
But this was a boy destined to be tougher than most, and when he looked around and realized she was watching him, he grinned. Mimi grinned right back, suddenly glad to have become friends with Harry Potter.