Chapter 7

In which Harriet almost gave people heart attacks on Halloween.

The 2nd of September passed with the announcement that the Divination Class will be put on hold until further notice. While the students around the Great Hall groaned, Harriet didn't really pay attention to the announcement because Divination was a third year's class, not first.

The prefects had distributed their timetables and she was highlighting the schedule with the markers she'd brought from home. Penelope and the other 5th year Ravenclaw Prefect who sat down with them, were there to answer any of their questions related to classes. They even distributed the map of Hogwarts to help them with the first day. Harriet put hers behind the clear cover of her organizer, along with the timetable, and finished her breakfast.

Their first class was Charms, she noted happily. It was nice to have their Head of House to introduce their first class in their Hogwarts Career and set the benchmark for the others. Soon, they all settled into a routine. In their free time, which is numerous for a first year, The Hogwarts Library became Harriet's favorite place to be. She loved to find any random book and curled up in the comfy couch in the corner to read it. The Public Library in Surrey only offered reading tables and microforms, that she had fun reading old reels of newspaper in, but a comfy couch trumped those.

She discovered a love of flying in their first flying class, which was attended by all Houses. She was happy that all of her friends are civil with each other. The only thing of note from that first class was that Weasley attempted to show off and was docked 5 points for disrupting the class. Madam Hooch had expressed strictly that they were lucky that the school had been given a new batch of brooms for classes. Had it been the old brooms, there would have been a few injuries the way they acted. Harriet smiled secretly to Draco, Daphne and Theo who looked at her gratefully.

The Defense Against the Dark Art class was interesting, as even when the teacher stuttered, he was knowledgeable and competent about his subject. Harriet's only complaint was that he stared at her too much and tended to have a nervous breakdown when she caught him on it. Rolling her eyes, she decided to sit behind to avoid further problems.

Potion, despite being told as the worst of the worst for anyone not Slytherin, was one of her favorite subjects. The Potion Professor often stared at her with a frown, but never called her on it. He had a constipated look upon his face when she handed him her first potion and had given her an outstanding with a sour look. Shrugging the strange occurrence as it was not unusual for her to be stared at, she headed to the Library.

Slowly, the date crawled, and suddenly it was time for Halloween. Not really feeling the need to celebrate her parents' deaths, she went to an early supper and decided to miss the Halloween feast, preferring to spend the evening in the solitude of her room reading her mum's journal. Her Aunt had given it to her before going to Hogwarts, saying that her mum started a diary after starting school, and it may give her closure and get the answers to some questions about her Mum.

She didn't know the chaos she had caused by staying quietly in her rooms with her parents' photos and the diary until someone rapped on the door frantically, and she opened it to the frantic faces of Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, and one of the Ravenclaw Prefects. Wiping her red rimmed eyes dry off the tears, she looked up at the professors immediately.

"Are you alright, my dear? " Professor Flitwick asked worriedly, staring at her tear tracks. Harriet nodded.

"I was just reading my Mum's diary. I mean, today is the anniversary of her death. My Aunt never really talked about them, but she gave me her diaries before I went here. Looking at her writings just made me realize that that's all I have of her and my Dad." She sniffled as she looked down at the photo in her hand. It was of her parents and baby her

The Professors looked at her pityingly.

"I'm so sorry my dear, don't be so upset. The ones that love us never really leave us, you know." Professor Dumbledore told her as Professor McGonagall sniffled.

"Actually, the reason why I'm so sad was not because of that. I know that. My Aunt told me that when we had a Parent Day at our Primary School and I asked why I didn't have a parent like my other friends. Even Dudley had parents, but they were my Aunt and Uncle. I've gotten over it." She shook her head. "I just… I just didn't know that my Dad was such an arrogant toe rag, and he's a bully. When Hagrid took me to Diagon's Alley, I thought he was a hero, my hero. But now i read that he bullied Mum and her best friend."

Harriet started crying again. As someone who was bullied when she was younger, she really doesn't tolerate bullies. Well, she forgave her family, but it was really hard when it was someone you looked up to.

"Oh" Professor McGonagall pulled her to a hug. " Ms. Potter, you have to understand that James was a boy who came from a prominent pure blood family. He had more confidence and zest of life than your Mum and her friend. Some of his… actions, shall we say, were meant to be just fun between friends. I should tell you that he and his friends are just pranking the others to make some laugh. To your Mum, who had the challenges of a muggleborn new to our world, those pranks might seem cruel and arrogant. He grew up later, of course, that's why Lily forgave him and accepted him."

Harriet nodded. "But it was still not nice when everyone laughed at her and her friend. Some of the pages detailed the humiliation and covered with tear tracks. I don't like to think of her crying"

Professor McGonagall smiled at her. "It is indeed, and it is always upsetting to think of your mother's tears no matter who you are and how old you are. Now that we have found you, do you need anything? Hot chocolate, maybe? We've sent all your classmates to their Houses because we had a troll invasion, so you have to stay inside. The elves had sent the feast to the Common Rooms, so if you'd like, you can either join the feast or have it delivered to you."

"A hot chocolate would be nice, Thank you. " The seventh year Prefect smiled at her and went to fetch her the drink.

"Now, don't cry too much. It's in the past, and your father has redeemed himself. I don't want you to be sick tomorrow." Professor McGonagall smoothed her hair fondly. "Your parents were in my House. Why don't I stay with you and tell you about them? Lily was my favorite student before. "

Professor Dumbledore looked at them and nodded approvingly. "We'll excuse ourselves to take care of the troll then. "

Professor Flitwick followed him out the door and out of the House.

On the other side of the castle, Severus Snape is conducting a stake out in front of the third floor's corridor, invisible to all eyes. He waited for his prey in the dark corner of the corridor and was utterly bored, until a familiar garlic smell, followed by a disheveled purple turban approached from the stairs.

Severus followed him closely, hearing him mutter to himself aloud, opened the door and promptly slammed it close in the face of Hagrid's prized Cerberus puppy. Severus shook his head at the dunderhead. The puppy wasn't even that close to the door, and it was sleeping. Well, it probably was awake now, considering that Quirrell was daft enough to slam the door.

The other Professor was so scared that he slid down the wall facing the door and started to cry. How he qualified as a DADA teacher is beyond Severus. That is, until he started sniveling, talked to himself, and a disembodied voice talked back. A familiar wheezing disembodied voice, that is.

Severus froze and stared at the DADA Professor as he stood back up and rushed to wherever he went, then shook his head and walked back to the dungeon, intent to go and inform Lucius of their errant Dark Lord living his secret ambition as a Hogwarts Teacher by possessing a teacher, in his chosen subject at that, only to find Dumbledore and Flitwick battling the troll in the girl's bathroom near the Charm corridor.

Severus rolled his eyes in exasperation as both the old and wizened professors did a series of complicated transfiguration (Dumbledore) and charms (Flitwick) to distract the troll. Granted that its hide is thick enough that curses and hexes didn't work, but this is a whole new level of ignorance. Sighing, he levitated a large chunk of stone debris from the destroyed bathroom and dropped it on the top of the troll.

Really, Wizards, not a drop of common sense.