I'm SO sorry that this took so long. The first and second reasons are finals week and revision issues that were pointed out to me that I needed to fix.
The final one is that I was feeling a bit unsure of this story after a review I received. It wasn't exactly a flame or overly mean and I think that is what made it so hard for me to dismiss. I lost my confidence. It took me quite a while to get over the review and plow on with my writing.
It read: "I do like it, though I think you've got too much going on with the avengers. I'm also finding Harri to be pretentious and I doubt anyone would take a letter saying what Clint and Bruce got seriously at all, especially with that beginning. Honestly I'd have left the whole thing with Bruce and Clint out. Tony and Jarvis maybe, but the rest is too distracting from the main point of the fic, which should be Hogwarts. Doing an Avengers thing should be a separate fic."
Now, I LOVE hearing what you guys think of my story but I want to make things clear, this is MY story. I have chosen to make this a CROSSOVER which means it will have other elements than just Hogwarts. I will gladly take suggestions for things but telling ME where MY story SHOULD focus is not the way that happens. I understand many people would like to hear more in depth parts of the Hogwarts happenings but that is not the way I want to play it, I have read to many fics that have focused fully on that and neglected the other part of the crossover until last minute making it seemed too forced, disjointed, or like a last minute decision. I thought I made it very clear through this story that the focus is going to be taking down Dumbledore in the long term and Harriet reconnecting with her family, I can't do that if I'm focused on retelling every single day of Harri's Hogwarts experience, something that is ALREADY rehashed a billion other times in a billion other stories. If that is what your looking for then this is NOT the story for you.
As for the other two things addressed in that review, Harri may seem a bit pretentious but I'm not attempting to make her out that way, she does have a bit of an attitude and she does have a bit more knowledge than others at this point but she is not infallible or perfect, she has her weak spots and those will show through as things start to pick up. The letters are a bit hard to believe but I decided that Harriet would go with the straight forward approach with her family members.
There we go, rant done.
All that being said, I'm not exactly happy with the outcome of this LONG chapter and will probably change a few things when I iron them out.
ENJOY!
Disclaimer in Chapter 1. Will add as needed.
The year was progressing relatively fast, but Harri was sure that it was mostly due to the fact that this was a rerun for her. After her relatively tame first day the weeks had flown by.
Every morning she went to the RoR to work out, she was getting back to where she was before and she was confident she would be able to save Bucky just before her birthday, no problem. Harri and the Marauders also took time every day to go down and talk with Samarra and Salazar, either in the morning or during lunch as evenings were saved for the twins. Salazar taught them all Parselmagic, despite their misgivings the Marauders all did well, so far being able to do half of the first year spells in their snake forms. Samarra taught the Marauders how to be true snakes like she promised while Harriet filled Salazar in on the rest of her story and he helped her fill out her plans and create more.
She excelled in class and, knowing the work in advance, she had managed to get all of her homework done for the first semester, only tweaking the work if for some reason it was changed. Harriet also joined her mates in pranking the other students, with their maps, Harri's training, and the Marauder's new 'sneaky snake abilities', as James had put it, they were able to pull off bigger and more widespread pranks. Snape hadn't really changed; however, he did take more time to study Harri. When he did choose to lash out at her Harri would simply raise an eyebrow at him and act amused, which she was.
They hadn't found anything about transfiguring werewolves yet, but Harri had yet to give up. She had moved to having elves from the Potter Manor bring her books from the library there, hoping the lest restricted books would hold the answer. In the mean time she snuck the snakes out the day of the full moon and claimed they were getting in some natural hunting. Then in the morning she would go and pick up the Marauders who would be curled up and sleeping in her bag.
When flying lessons began Harri allowed events to unfold exactly how they had before; her only regret was Neville had to get hurt, but she did her part, she saved his remebrall from Draco and "accidentally" caught Professor McGonagall's attention while flying. Oliver was ecstatic to have her on the team, especially after the conversations they had gotten into about it at the dinner table. Just like last time, Oliver had taken her out to the pitch before dinner and allowed her to practice with a real snitch. Harri had flown just as easily as always, relishing in the wind whipping past her as the Marauders cheered from the ground. Later, Oliver had walked with her to dinner and announced to the whole table that she was the new Gryffindor seeker. The twins had been excited, they carried her around the school on their shoulders for the next two days and had even showed up early for the first morning practice.
The rest the time passed uneventfully. Quirrel/Voldemort hadn't made a move, Dumbledore was just watching from afar, and even Harriet's bracelets reported no injuries from either of her brothers. All was going well. It was driving Harri slightly insane, she wasn't used to plans keeping on track. She was waiting for things to jump the rail and go careening off toward something that would surely make a huge explosion when hit.
Really all she needed to do was be patient.
The Marauders watched from Harriet's bed as she packed her over the shoulder bag with several of her weapons. They had veered from their routine for once this morning and they had yet to get a real answer as to why from Harriet. It was unnerving.
This morning she had slept in until well after the start of breakfast, being so used to her early morning habits they had all been up just before the other girls had awoken. Finally, Remus had woken her only to be met by grumbling and Harriet burying her head under her pillow. They had at first thought she was sick but after several minutes of fretting over her she had gotten fed up and rose to start her day.
Still she hadn't acted normally, she checked for monitoring spells before calling one of the Manor elves to bring them breakfast as she lounged on her bed. All three of them were worried and uncertain, even Sirius had eventually asked her if she was going to class. She had waved them off and said she was skipping History. Now, after she had gotten her uniform on and had pulled her hair up into a messy bun, she was arming herself. She had already attached a set of throwing knives to the back of her belt and disillusioned them as well as a pistol holstered on her right side with two extra clips. Now she was packing what she had told them at the manor where essentials into her bag; she had a taser, a polished chrome baseball bat, a MK18 rifle, Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, several dung bombs they had made the other day, emergency potions, several large bars of chocolate, and extra ammo.
Finally, James got fed up and he transformed back. He strode over to the door and with several quick wand movements locked it up tighter than Gringotts. He spun to Harriet, who was staring at him curiously, and gripped her shoulders, "What the hell is going on? You have to talk to us!"
Sirius transformed back as well and canceled Remus' transfiguration, "Please pup. We just want to know why you're acting all strange."
"And why you seem to think you need a fourth of your arsenal before you head out today." Remus added.
"It's Halloween." Harriet sighed.
Sirius and James traded confused looks and Remus frowned, "The day of the attack." Understanding dawned on the others faces while Remus continued to frown, "I understand being a bit out of it but why are you arming yourself to the teeth?"
Harri sighed and closed her trunk, "Halloween is when all the weird stuff happens. Sure it shows up during the year but Halloween is when it really hits. Originally I thought it was all Voldemort but even after he was gone it happened. Giant wasps controlled by an alien in New York one year, some ray gun that turned Tony evil the next, after that a portal from another universe spat out a male version of me who was the son of Sirius and Remus and was in a relationship with Voldemort, the list goes on." She twirled her bat idly, "It's just best that I'm prepared, even if all that ends up happening is the troll."
"Wow." James muttered, "I guess so."
Sirius looked to be fighting laughter, Harri lifted an eyebrow at him, "So who was the girl? Me or Moony?" He blurted, he drew himself up, "I bet I'd make a hot chick."
Harri grinned, "Neither, you were both male." She looked at Remus, "According to my counterpart, in that world male submissive werewolves could get pregnant by their mates." James burst into laughter as Remus and Sirius' faces went pale.
"But he's my brother?!" They both exclaimed as one, Sirius immediately turned to Remus and gave him a pout, "You mean you wouldn't want a kid with me?"
As the two squabbled James looked over to Harriet again and smiled softly, she had relaxed a bit though her eyes were still sad and her grip on her bat had yet to ease up. He walked over and drew her into a hug, "Just relax Princess, we're with you every step of the way." He murmured into her hair, "Besides, your mother wouldn't want you to be sad."
"Let's be honest." Sirius butted in, "Lily would want you to kick ass pup!" Remus nodded in agreement.
James smiled down at his daughter and very carefully conjured a small delicate lily made of silver, adding in the power necessary to make it permanent, before sliding it to rest behind her ear with a mild sticking charm. "She'll always be with us and we will never forget her but I know for a fact that she would come back and haunt us if we wasted all our lives mourning instead of living to our fullest." Harri gave him a slightly watery smile and wiped quickly at her eyes, "So you ready to go out and kick ass in your mother's honor?"
Harriet straightened and tightened her grip on her bat, "Yes." She sniffed and nodded, "Yeah, let's do this." She twirled her bat and slid it into her bag in on smooth movement then picked up the Marauders as soon as they returned to their snake forms. *Don't eat the chocolate Moony. It's bad for snakes.* she warned as she slid him into her bag, he grumbled his understanding. Harri let Sirius curled around her arm and her father around her neck. "Time to face the world I guess." She sighed, with a downward flick of her hand she broke all of her father's locks and wards from the door.
Just as she stepped from the portrait she ran into Hermione who was trying in enter. "Watch it!" Hermione snapped before looking up and seeing Harriet. "I'm so sorry Harriet! I didn't know it was you!"
Harri brushed exaggeratedly at her robes, "It's fine." She sighed, before moving around the other girl and walking off.
"Wait!" Hermione called, running after Harri when she didn't stop or slow. "Harriet! I was actually coming to find you!"
Harri glanced over at the traitor, "What do you want?"
"Are you alright? You weren't at breakfast or in History." Hermione questioned.
"Just having a bit of a lie in." Harri answered, it wasn't even a lie this time.
"But your always up before us!" Hermione exclaimed.
Harri gave a shrug, "I'm just not feeling it today."
"Why not?! It's Halloween! I figured you'd be excited for the feast tonight!"
In one fast motion Harri had Hermione shoved against the wall where the girl squeaked in alarm. Harriet let her magic flow up into her eyes so they glowed as she glared at the other Gryffindor, "This is the tenth anniversary of my parent's death at the hands of Voldemort. The tenth anniversary of me surviving while the rest of my family was ripped from me. Please oh please tell me what in Merlin's name I have to be excited about." She growled, at this point Hermione was pale and her eyes where wide and frightened. "A feast is what you want me to be excited about? You'll have to forgive me if a feast doesn't make up for those I have lost." She spun sharply, making her hair hit Hermione in the face before stalking off.
*Harriet are you alright?* James asked warily.
*I'm fine Dad.* she answered calmly.
*Right.* James muttered, eyeing her skeptically.
They attended herbology on time, Harriet ignoring Hermione who showed up several minutes late. The snakes particularly liked herbology because they could actively help Harriet in this class without the Professor getting mad. They could burrow into the soil to help her bring up the plant with the roots completely intact. It wasn't Harriet's favorite class but she did have fun in it, working in the soil was peaceful.
After herbology they made their way toward the great hall, but before they could enter Harri was grabbed by two serious looking red heads and drug off to an abandoned hallway. "Um, Fred, George? What's up?" Harri tried as they stood her against a wall.
That seemed to set them off, they started checking her over for injuries and asking questions frantically. "Are you alright?" "Why weren't you at breakfast?" "Are you sick?" "Are you hurt?"
Harri grabbed a hand from each twin and held them still, "I'm fine. I just slept in a bit then had one of the elves bring me breakfast. This day is just a bit hard for me."
The twins frowned before understanding filtered across their faces and they swept forward to hug her. "We didn't even think about that." George murmured into her hair.
"Of course you're going to be a bit out of it." Fred continued.
Harri sagged into the twins, "Thank you." she murmured.
"I guess you won't want to,"
"Go to the great hall to get stared at." The twins said.
Harri gave a soft snort, "Not really."
They shared a look over the top of her head and pulled away, they both offered her an arm, "May we escort you to the kitchens?" they asked jauntily.
"You may." Harriet gave a light laugh and threaded an arm through each of theirs, walking with them down to the kitchens. They ate in the kitchen with the house elves scurrying around preparing for the feast later.
Afterward the twins convinced Harriet to skip the rest of classes that day with them. She agreed but only on the condition that they went to the Room of Requirement to avoid getting caught. She led them up and summoned the room for them, focusing on a particularly strong memory before leading them into the room where they both stopped and stared with jaws dropped even the three snakes were looking around with interest. "We know you said it could be anything," Fred breathed.
"But what exactly is this?" George finished.
Harriet smiled as she looked around, "Like I said the Room of Requirement can be anything, you just have to focus. This is a special lab. The people who used the original version of this room used it to create the best pranks in the world."
"The Marauders?" the twins questioned, still taking in the room.
"The second generation of Marauders." Harri said softly, her father tightened his hold around her neck slightly in a sort of snake hug. She looked around the room that was so familiar yet so different. The Room of Requirement was powerful but even it couldn't pull up equipment that hadn't been invented yet, so the room looked a little barer than she was used too. It was spacious room with no windows, lit by strategically placed torches around the room. The wall directly across from the door was taken up completely by a potions station with shelves on either side of the already set up cauldron; the shelves to the left held a bunch of ingredients, perfectly preserved in glass jars, the shelves to the right held advanced potions texts ready to be used. Along the wall to the left was a table set up with arithmancy and magical theory texts as well as several spell detection and recorder orbs that would help test new spells. On the right wall was another station, this one filled with parchments and various other material as well as rune books and more magical theory texts. Finally, in the center was a large stone table with a glass top illuminated from underneath, on the top was elegant capital M in the middle of a maroon diamond across the top was a banner that held the words 'itinerarium maraudentium', then at the left point was a wolf print, the bottom point a deer print, and at the right point a dog print.
*That's awesome pup!* Sirius hissed excitedly from his spot in her bag.
Harri grinned at him and looked over to her mates who looked torn between going to the stations she knew were calling to them or looking more closely at the center table, "I can always call things back up later. I know you want to check out your stations."
"Our stations?" they questioned.
Harri winced at the slip but covered it quickly with a smile, "Despite the way you act I know you are both geniuses with areas of expertise all your own. George, you're wanting to go check out those arithmancy and theory books to see if it can help with your new spells and Fred I can practically see you drooling over the potion ingredients." She softened a bit at their bewildered looks and waved them off, "Go on, I'm going to play around with the runes a bit. We can meet at the middle table an hour and a half before the feast is supposed to start and we can go over the winter break plans." Their eyes lit up and they went off to explore their tables. Harri went over to her table and set her bag down; she plugged her earbuds into her phone, leaving only one bud in her ear and putting her music on shuffle before settling in to work.
*So what are you going to be working on cub?* Remus asked curiously.
*A couple more monitoring bracelets.* she answered as she pulled several strips of leather and small clasps from the drawer in the desk. *Clint and Bruce's are working perfectly and I want to have a couple more ready for the others when I get a chance to give it to them.* the snakes nodded and watched for a while as she worked and hummed along with the music, glancing back at her mates every so often to make sure they were okay.
*So what is the story behind this place?* James asked.
*When the tower was destroyed and we moved into the manor it was a huge change. The manor didn't really have anywhere suitable to be transformed into a specialized lab area, especially since we would have needed three, for Tony, Bruce, and ourselves.* Harriet said, her eyes not moving from the delicate runes she was burning into the leather. *So when we moved to LeFay castle and we had the space and I created all of us special labs. This was ours. We all three have our own specialties but we usually collaborate and have made some pretty awesome things working together. So one lab with a collaboration and planning space in the center as well as workstations for each of us was the way to go. Of course, the table top was in your guys' honor.*
*We're very honored pup.* Sirius said, she smiled at him briefly before going back to her bracelets. The snakes took to wondering around the room after a bit. Remus went over to watch Fred work and James went to help George who looked surprised when the snake used its tail to point out a few minor errors in his equations. Sirius had stayed with Harriet for a bit longer but eventually made his way over to the middle table and curled up over his paw print to nap.
It was only about fifteen minutes before they were going to stop when chimes filled the room. Harriet shot up in an instant and pulled Fred and Remus away from the table before throwing up a shield around the cauldron just seconds before it exploded. The failed potion dripped off the containment shield sluggishly even as the now bottomless cauldron span on the desk top. Fred scratched at the back of his head and offered Harriet and his twin a sheepish look, "Maybe that was a bit too much flobber worm mucus."
Harriet giggled and George grinned, "You think brother?"
"Where the chimes because of the potion?" Fred asked curiously as Harriet vanished the mess and the ruined cauldron.
Harri nodded, "One explosion with strange after effects too many led to the creation of a monitoring spell." She smiled at Fred, "Just enough time to step back and contain the explosion."
"I wonder why Snape wouldn't use something like that." George mused.
"It's not common knowledge. It was created by the second generation of Marauders and was never released to the public." Harri said truthfully.
The twins shared a smirk, "Maybe we can use it to get something from the git. He could really use that spell."
Harri gave a soft snort, "Slytherins." Both gave her looks of exaggerated offence that were ruined by the grins that spread over their faces. They decided it was enough for the day and packed up their stations, meeting in the center to finalize their plans for the holidays. Harriet had one prank she was saving as a surprise but she was helping the twins with their big prank as well as a few minor ones so they talked over the logistics of that.
When they finally went down to the feast they made it with minutes to spare, they sat down with Oliver and Lee and insinuated their way into the conversation without pause. When the feast began Harriet was tense with excitement. She had put the snakes in her bag and refused to allow them out so that when the news that there was a troll in the school came she wouldn't have to worry about them getting lost in the scuffle. She also was only picking at her food; she wasn't worried in the slightest but she knew better than to go into a potentially messy fight with a full stomach. Last time she had done that the Avengers had been fighting hoards of rabid squirrels that were being telepathically controlled by some idiot and when Cap had managed to knock him out the little creatures had exploded in a rain of blood and guts. Harriet had lost her lunch and had never again gone into battle with a full stomach, instead she carried around chocolate or power bars.
While Harri was deep in thought the twins had taken notice of her sparse eating and shared a frown, they could clearly see that she was waiting on something and they wondered if she had planned a prank without them. They carefully avoided the food that wasn't on Harri's plate while sneaking some meat to the snakes who were sticking out from her bag. It was while they were looking around for further evidence of Harriet's pranking genius that the doors flew open with a bang and Professor Quirrell ran in frantically, shocking the room into silence.
"TROLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!" Quirrell shouted as he raced halfway up the great hall, "Thought you ought to know." He said in a sort of high pitched whine before falling forward in a dead faint.
Harriet's eyes narrowed at the man even as everyone began to panic, "SILENCE!" came Dumbledore's voice, backed by a sonorous charm. The hall went silent once more and Dumbledore continued, "Please Prefects take your classmates back to your dorms and remain there until your heads of house come and inform you that it is safe."
The whole hall rose and made their way out, Harri subtly drawing back to the back of the pack, her mates right with her. "Harriet!" came a shout, Harri stopped in her tracks and frowned as Hermione ran up to her. She was supposed to be in the bathroom hiding from the troll at the moment, what was she doing here now? The bushy haired know-it-all stopped right in front of Harri, "Harriet, I can't find Lavender. She went to the restroom before Quirrell came into the Great Hall."
Manipulation or no? Manipulation or no? Can't exactly let Lavender die either way. Harriet thought, "Don't worry Hermione, I will go get her."
"I'll go with you!" the bookworm said determinedly.
Harriet shook her head, "No, I'll be fine. The troll is supposed to be in the dungeons anyway, I'll just go to the restrooms, get Lavender, and be right up."
"I still think…." Hermione began taking a step forward, Harriet cast a wandless wordless sticking charm to Hermione's arm even as she directed ice to form under the others foot. The girl toppled backward into one of the larger Gryffindor boys who was rushing frantically back toward the tower, now dragging a surprised Hermione with him.
"Well that's out of the way." Harri said, sweeping into another hall, heading right for the bathroom's she knew the troll would be in.
"That was hilarious Harriet!" George said.
"I don't think she knew what hit her." Fred chuckled.
Harri gave them a smirk, "She's just so clingy." They chuckled, following after her without question. They rounded a corner, then passed by the stairs where Harriet looked up to see Quirrell and Snape heading to the third floor, she frowned disapprovingly, "Stupid Quirrell," she grumbled under her breath, "letting a troll in for a distraction and endangering people. I hope Fluffy gets a chunk out of you this time instead of Snape." Behind her two redheads share a look as they took in the comment they weren't supposed to hear.
Harriet skidded around the final corner just in time to see Lavender register the troll as she came from the bathroom and let out a shriek. The troll locked onto the sound and headed toward the girl even as she ducked back into the bathroom. Harriet sprinted toward them but still didn't get there until after the troll had made it into the bathroom, as she entered the troll was trashing the stalls with one swing of his club. Lavender screamed and rolled under the sinks in an attempt to hide, "Lavender, calm down." Harriet called, "Panic won't help."
"You try not to panic when you're being swung at by a troll!" Lavender screamed, the troll roared back as if in answer. Harriet laughed but took out her wand just the troll raised its club over the sinks, with one flick of her wand the club turned to saw dust, coating the troll, the sinks, and Lavender in the dust. "Harriet!" Lavender shrieked, "Do you know how hard that will be to get out of my hair?!"
"I'm assuming it will be easier to get out of your hair than your own brain matter!" Harriet called, Lavender peaked out at her with a horror struck face. Harriet sent a stinging hex at the confused troll making it turn to her and roar, Harri stood her ground and glared at it, "Oh shut up!" she flicked her wand upward, "Levicorpus!" the troll immediately was hanging upside down by its ankles. Harri kept her magic and wand steady as the troll struggled in the grip of the jinx, "Lavender get over here quickly. This thing's heavy." The girl peaked out from under the sink and squeaked at the sight of the upside down troll, she ran over and ducked behind Harri. "Liberacorpus." Harriet intoned steadily, the troll crashed to the floor all of its weight slamming down onto its head and breaking its neck with a sick crack. Harri sighed and returned her wand to its holster, At least it was clean. She thought with a mental huff. She turned to Lavender, "You okay?"
"Yes." The girl said shakily, her eyes went to the still troll and she gasped, "Is it…?"
"Yes." Harriet said evenly, "I had only meant to knock it out but it seems that much weight caused its neck to snap." Lavender's hands flew to her mouth and her eyes went wide, Harri gave her an understanding look, "If you need to be sick I would suggest stepping out. The longer you look at it the worse it will be." The girl whirled and ran from the room, it was then that Harri noticed that the twins weren't with her. She frowned and made her way out of the room to see if they had stayed by the door but didn't find anything but Lavender throwing up on her knees by the wall.
"Miss. Potter! Miss. Brown!" came a stern voice. Harriet resisted her urge to frown as she saw just Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Pomphrey running toward them, she was expecting Snape to be there as well but he was nowhere to be seen.
Harri pasted on a worried look, "Professors! Thank goodness you're here!" Madame Pomphrey immediately rushed over to Lavender while Dumbledore and McGonagall stopped with Harri.
"What happened Miss. Potter? You were told to go to your dorm." McGonagall said with a frown.
Harri wrung her hands in a nervous manner, "Hermione told me that Lavender was in the bathroom when Professor Quirrell came to tell us about the troll so I came to tell her that we needed to go up to the dorm. Quirrell said that the troll was in the dungeons so I didn't think it would be up here but when I got to the hall it was following Lavender into the bathroom. I went in after them and managed to transfigure the troll's club into sawdust before it could smash Lavender with it. It turned toward me but I managed to use a spell to lift it off the ground so Lavender could get out from under the sinks. I went to set it down but I didn't realize how much it weighed and it landed on its head. Its neck broke and Lavender needed to be sick so we came out it the hall. Then you showed up."
McGonagall's eyebrows rose while Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily, "Well done my dear." Harri barely suppressed her glare, "You were very brave in taking on a troll to save a friend."
Harri scuffed her foot on the ground, seemingly embarrassed, "I didn't think the troll would be here but when it was I couldn't just leave my roommate to be attacked."
McGonagall kept her mouth a stern line, "Be that as it may it was reckless to face a troll alone. Ten points from Gryffindor." Harriet gave a resigned nod and ignored her father's grumbles on the subject.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "And twenty points to Gryffindor for showing the bravery your house is known for." Harri gave him a small smile, ignoring McGonagall's huff. "Now, I think you should be getting…."
Just then loud barking and vicious growls echoed down to them through the halls, Harriet froze when she felt the soul bond pull frantically and Glacia shrieking within her. That would explain where the twins and Snape are. Harri thought, her mind whirling in an attempt to think of ways to get to her mates quickly.
Dumbledore seemed to be the first to respond, "Miss. Potter, please return to your dorm this instant. Poppy, take Miss. Brown to the hospital wing, we may have further need of you there tonight." With that he and McGonagall were off, leaving Harri the perfect opportunity to slip into one of the secret passages.
*What's happening?* Sirius asked.
*This wasn't in your journal Princess.*
*Last time the twins didn't decided to follow Quirrell and Snape onto the third floor.* Harriet snapped as she conjured a cloak to hide her identity before flaming directly up to the third floor. Unfortunately, she landed a couple halls away, but she knew she would reach the door before McGonagall and Dumbledore. *They're in danger. I can feel it. Why didn't you tell me they had left us?*
*You were focusing on the troll.* James defended, *I didn't want you distracted while you went up against that thing.*
Harri let it go for now and rounded the last corner to the hall she needed, her eyes went wide and her heart nearly stopped at the sight before her. The door was definitely opened; Snape was laying knocked out on one side while Quirrell was laying bound in rope on the other staring with wide eyes at the focus of the scene. Fluffy was half emerged from the doorway, his three heads all bearing their teeth at the two frightened redheads caught between its huge paws. Fred and George were huddled together, their robes caught under the beasts claws, staring up at the dog in fear. Fluffy opened its mouths wide, intent on taking a bite out of the two.
Glacia screeched inside her and Harriet's eyes glowed with power, "No!" she shouted, Glacia's screech coming through in her voice. The three males who were still conscious looked over to her as she drew her wand and swept it around her in a wide arc, "Expecto Patronum!" Prongs burst from the end of her wand and raced at the Cerberus, the three headed dog scrambled back confusedly from the bright light that was charging it, growling and snarling. Harri darted forward as the Cerberus growled at Prongs who was standing in front of the twins defiantly, Harriet grabbed both twins by the backs of their robes and pulled them backward, calling on her phoenix strength so she would not falter. Before Harri could get the twins to their feet Fluffy got tired of watching Prongs and bit through the patronus in one move, effectively dissipating the spell. Harri stepped protectively in front of the twins, raised her wand toward the dog again as it moved toward them, and cast an overpowered shrinking charm. In an instant the three headed dog was the size of a Chihuahua and it yipped as its multiple heads threw the tiny body off balance.
That was the moment Dumbledore and McGonagall made their appearance, "What in the name of Merlin…" McGonagall began just as the Chihuahua Cerberus ran past her whimpering. Dumbledore looked to Harri, his eyes narrowing, attempting to figure out who was behind the hood. Harriet thanked the gods that she was blocking the twins from sight as she reached into her bag and pulled out some Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, she threw it on the floor and watched as darkness took over the room. She reached down and dragged the twins with her back the way she came, listening intently to Dumbledore and McGonagall attempting to clear the room without much luck.
"Who are you?" Fred demanded once they were in a clear corridor.
Harri ignored him as she thought hard about wanting a quick way to get to Gryffindor tower, "Hogwarts?" she called.
"Harriet?" George asked in surprise as a door appeared right next to them.
Harri banished the cloak, opened the door, and grinned at them, "In, quickly before we're caught."
Fred and George shook themselves out of their shock and jumped through the door, "Quirrell already saw us," George said.
"But, we managed to stun Snape from behind so he didn't." Fred informed her.
"Quirrell is already crazy and if we make it to the tower before them then they can't very well say you were there, can they?" Harri said with a grin. The twins laughed and followed her as they continued to walk through the long slanted hallway. They emerged from the door to find themselves just around the corner from the fat ladies painting, they got inside quickly and entered without many noticing them. They all sat in a quiet corner, relaxing, waiting for the inevitable, and Harriet staving off their questions for later.
Finally, the painting swung open and McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Quirrell stepped inside, they caught sight of the three and made their way over to them, every eye in the common room turning toward them. "Mr and Mr Weasley, I see you are here in the common room. How long have you been here?"
"Not too long Professor." Fred began.
"We realized Harriet hadn't been with the group and we went to find her." George said.
"When we did we returned here." Fred finished.
Dumbledore looked to Quirrell, "Are you sure it was the twins, Quirrell? You have just had a bit of a fright."
Quirrell's eyes hardened for just long enough for Harriet to pick up on it before he blinked and stuttered out, "M-maybe it-t wa-as not them. The-ey could no-ot have re-eached the tower bef-fore us if it whe-re."
Dumbledore nodded and turned to address the assembled house, "The troll has been taken care of by our very own Miss. Potter." The twins immediately looked to Harriet who was rolling her eyes at the pronouncement. "We are safe once more and you may venture out until curfew as usual. I will also have the house elves bring some of the interrupted feast up for you all to snack on. Good evening."
As soon as the Professors left the entire room converged on Harri and she drew her knees up to her chest in discomfort, the Marauders finally slipped from the bag and wrapped around both of her arms and her neck. The twins saw her discomfort and rescued her, they picked her up and carried her off, up to their room. The three snakes grumbled about it being inappropriate but Harriet ignored them, simply putting a silencing charm up around them when they set her on one of the beds and crawled up on either side of her.
"You were amazing back there." George said solemnly.
"Thank you for saving us." Fred murmured, both engulfed her in a hug and she returned it.
"You're welcome." Harri said softly into their shoulders, she pulled back and frowned at them, "Don't make a habit of needing saved though. I nearly had a heart attack seeing you two almost eaten by a Cerberus."
"No promises." They chuckled.
Harri rolled her eyes at them fondly. They spent the next couple hours question her about the troll and the spells she used that night, how she had made the door appear, and why she was so sure that Quirrell let the troll in. Harri told them what she could without giving too much away, going over the spells and the way to do each, she told them that Quirrell was possessed by someone and was attempting to get something that was hidden in the school. She also scolded them for going after him without information, which led to her having to save them in the first place, they tried to look properly chastised but it didn't work. Finally, around midnight they said good night to her and she walked back to her dorm.
Harriet flopped on her bed with a soft groan, she climbed into bed with her clothes and did a switching charm like every night after she had closed the curtains, she stowed her weapons in her bag to put away in the morning. The snakes curled up and she placed a heating charm on them before drifting off to sleep.
Harriet shot up when she felt a tug at her magic, without thinking she followed the tug, landing with a slight wobble but with her wand drawn and blue flames covering her non dominant arm. "Whassit?" she slurred sleepily, she yawned, "Jarvis?"
"Who the hell are you?" a voice demanded that was definitely not Jarvis.
Harriet blinked and looked over to see Tony standing among his computers, staring at her in disbelief. Harri looked over the billionaire, searching for injury or signs of spells before frowning, letting her flames dissipate, and looking toward the ceiling, "J? Tony seems to be alright. What's with the summons?"
"Apologies Miss. Potter." Jarvis said at once, "Mr. Stark has been pestering me to meet you. I did attempt to tell him that the summons was only for emergencies but he would not listen. I did also try to text you before-hand."
Harri sheathed her wand before rubbing at her eyes and nodding, "I didn't answer because I was asleep. Its fine." Harri turned to Tony who seemed startled that she was talking so easily with his A.I., "Hello Mr. Stark. My name is Harriet Rose Potter. Pleased to meet you." She held out her hand to the still shocked billionaire, he simply stared at it. Harri sighed and looked toward the ceiling again, "What time is it in Scotland?"
"It is currently 3:32 AM in Scotland." Jarvis replied.
Harriet groaned, "I'm so not awake enough for this meeting." A beep at her side alerted her to a bots presence and she smiled when she saw Dummy with a cup of coffee. She took it with a smile, "Why thank you Dummy. This is just what I need." The bot gave several proud chirps before rolling off. Harri sniffed the cup warily but found that other than being a little cold it was fine. She did a heating charm on the cup and took sip, eyeing Tony who seemed to be frozen. "Jarvis, he hasn't been down here too long, has he? The only other times I've seen him freeze like this is when he is overworked and his body has a bit of trouble catching up with his mind."
"Today he has only been down here ten hours. I think your arrival has stunned him beyond all reasoning for the moment." Jarvis said.
"Has he eaten?"
"Not since yesterday."
Harriet sighed and looked to the ceiling once more, "I'm going to summon a house elf and assign it to take care of Tony. They will stay out of sight but will make sure that food appears for him without prompting so hopefully he will eat better. Is that alright?"
"It would be much appreciated Miss Potter." Jarvis replied.
Harri nodded and thought about the current elves under her control, "Daisy." She called.
A young house elf dressed in an embroidered shift popped into existence at her feet and looked up at her with adoring eyes, "Lady LeFay be callin' Daisy?" Tony's eyes widen even further at the sight of the house elf and his mouth worked silently.
Harri smiled, she remembered this elf from the last time. She was relatively young but she had taken an immediate liking to Tony when they had moved to the castle, eventually Harri had assigned her as Tony's personal house elf. She just hoped that it went as well this time around. "Hello Daisy, I have a very important assignment for you." The elf looked ecstatic, she pointed to Tony and the elf looked over at him. "This is Tony. He is part of my family. He is very stubborn and sometimes forgets to eat or sleep so I want you to watch out for him alright?" Daisy nodded seriously, her eyes shining with determination as she took in the sight of her new charge, "Also, he works around uninformed muggles a lot, I want you to make sure you aren't seen by anyone other than him or myself alright?" Once again Daisy nodded, "Finally there is a head elf here named Jarvis, he can't be seen but he runs the house. I want you to do your new job but what he says goes alright?"
Daisy looked up at Harri, "Daisy be stayin' here or at the castle?"
Harri looked thoughtful, "Stay at the castle for now. Tony moves a lot and it will be better for you to have a base to work from. Use the castles resources."
"Yes Lady LeFay. He be needin' food now?" Daisy asked eagerly.
"Yes, he'll need a meal. Nothing too heavy but enough to fill him, he hasn't eaten all day." Harri replied. Daisy's eyes widened and she popped away quickly. Harriet turned to Tony, waiting patiently for him to come out of his frozen state. Like she had told Jarvis, she had seen this before. She knew trying to communicate with him when he was like this was a lost cause and it was best to just let him come out of it on his own. She pulled over one of Tony's extra rolling chairs and dropped into it to wait, just beginning to doze off when he came out of it.
"Who are you?! How did you appear in my workshop? What was with the blue fire?" Tony demanded all at once, startling Harri back into wakefulness.
Harri stood and smiled at him, "Hello Mr. Stark. I'm Harriet Rose Potter. It's nice to meet you." She held out her hand toward him and he shook it.
"Call me Tony." He said, almost automatically.
"Harri." She responded and he nodded. "Jarvis said you wished to meet me?"
Tony blinked again before nodding and crossing his arms over his chest, effectively hiding the arc reactor, "Yeah, I wanted to find out how you met Jarvis when I've never even seen you before and what you've said and done to make him and the bots act so crazy."
Harri frowned, "Crazy how?"
"Jarvis is drawing doodles all over my watches and suits and the bots dumped paint all over themselves!" Tony exclaimed.
Harri giggled before she could stop herself and she immediately slapped her hands over her mouth, "The bots did what?" she choked out.
"They dumped cans of house paint on each other because they wanted to change colors!" Tony said, a pout evident in his voice, "It took forever to clean up!"
Harriet fought her laughter as she choked out, "I'm so sorry, I didn't think they would do something like that."
Tony rolled his eyes, "You could at least attempt to sound really sorry." He mumbled, Harriet let out a snicker at that. He rolled his eyes and fixed her with a look, "So? What did you do to them? How did you even meet?"
Harri dropped back into the chair and crossed her legs primly, "I created holes in your firewall and then fixed them for about an hour in an attempt to catch Jarvis' attention. Then we talked for a bit and parted ways with him knowing how to call me and how to protect you from previously unknown elements. After that he summoned me like you saw earlier and I shared a bit more with him and the bots."
Tony's eyes narrowed, "What unknown elements? How would the doodles protect me?"
Harri grinned, "Magic. The doodles are runes designed to protect your tech from shutting down in the presence of magic and power it if need be, the other ones on your watches are meant to protect you from most minor jinxes and curses that could harm you."
"Magic." Tony deadpanned, "You expect me to believe your magic and the doodles will protect me from other magic." Harri gave him a soft smile and drew her wand, with a single flick pieces rose from the tables and began to orbit them. Tony's eyes went wide again as he took in the orbiting bits of equipment that seemed to be moving without any help at all, Jarvis pulled up an analysis right next to Tony and he looked at the readings in a desperate attempt to make sense of what was going on. "These readings are off the charts." He muttered, glancing from the screen to the floating equipment to Harri who was fiddling with a floating wrench nonchalantly. Harri waited patiently, she knew that Tony had a million questions he wanted to ask but her excitable brother, being warier and more paranoid since the cave, would go for the most important questions first. "Why come to Jarvis with this stuff?" Tony asked finally, "Why put so much effort into giving me access to things that will save me?" Harri's heart ached a bit when her brother drew into himself slightly, "What do you want form this?"
Harri contemplated how to answer, obviously she didn't want anything but her brother was used to people only wanting to protect him or be around him for his money or influence. Harriet decided to stand and set the equipment down gently, she tapped her wand against her free hand steadily as she focused on a memory. Loki had been teaching her illusions before the last war started and when it did the time they had free to practice such a complicated art was limited so she was nowhere near Loki's ability but she could make one duplicate of herself and she could make a copy of someone else as long as she didn't need them to do anything other than stand there.
"There are ways magic can bring a person back in time." Harri said vaguely, "I recently came back in time from a terrible future where the entirety of the family I created for myself was killed in a war. I want to change that future, keep my family safe, healthy, and happy." She waved her wand toward the clear space next to her and another Tony appeared, the one she was more familiar with. The Tony who was fourteen years older but with slight laugh lines, a healthier appearance, a grin on his face, and joy in his eyes. The Tony she remembered laughing with and working for hours with in the lab, the Tony that was her sarcastic, coffee addict, genius older brother. She looked back to the current Tony and gave him a soft smile, "This is my big brother. Anthony Edward Stark, also known as Ironman."
Harriet watched Tony take in the new information and look over his future self. She saw a strange mixture of wariness, skepticism, hope, and longing pass over Tony's face. Harriet bit her lip and looked back to the duplicate of her brother, Maybe I took the wrong approach. She thought worriedly. Plans to fix the misstep started to form in her mind as she smiled sadly at the illusion of her brother standing there in his standard greasy lab clothes, she wouldn't give up just because of this. She refused to.
"I always wanted a sister." Tony's voice interrupted her thoughts. Harri immediately spun to face him, her eyes wide with hope. Tony was smiling warmly at her, his stance and expression still a little unsure but the rest was dominated by the same hope Harriet held. Tony's smile turned into a big grin and his eyes lit up with the light Harriet recognized as his inner genius being presented with something new to analyze, "So little sis, tell me about magic."
So...the other universe where Harry is the son of Sirius and Remus and in a relationship with a Voldemort is a bit of a plug for one of my own stories. I'm working on writing more of it so I figured I'd throw it in there. Check out Hogwarts' Champion on AO3!
HA! Chihuahua Fluffy!
The story to cover up Quirrell seeing the twins is a bit thin but the man is currently being possessed by Voldemort and the Dark Lord will want answers before alerting Dumbles to the twins who would potentially bring up hearing that Quirrell was the one to let the troll in which would invite a potential investigation which none of them need.
Harriet asked Jarvis for the time instead of using the Tempus charm because I assume the uses the casters current place and gives that time. IDK just a theory.
Tony's a tad OOC but its been a while since I wrote him. Forgive me, I'm working on it.
Don't know what the readings are but be assured they are off the charts! lol, sirusly though I'm not 100% positive what it would be reading so instead of throwing out the completely wrong thing I'll just stick with readings.
'With the same hope Harri held.'... Poor Tony wants a family, people who are there for him and not just what he can offer financially and politically. He wants a family as much as Harri does.
Next Chapter, Riding Double! Have fun guessing!