A/N:
All chapters subject to change
Gryffith: Okay, finally out. Why did you make us wait for the 15th review?
Cloe: Because I'm a stubborn ass, and I wanted 15 reviews. At least and we only just got that many, humph
Gryffith: Whatever, we got them. It's odd. We got like 140 hits for the Prologue and Ch 1, but only about 60 for Ch 2
Gryffith: I think you scared them off
Cloe: Humph
Gryffith: Hmph to you too. Anyway, we got them, and we're posting Chapter 3
Cloe: ::gives the readers a dark look:: You should be happy its out too, I was this close ::holds forefinger and thumb an inch apart:: from scraping the whole thing
Gryffith: You mean that I'd have written up to chapter 12 for nothing?
Gryffith: Oh well, some of those scenes were worth it! Just imagining them was fun.
Cloe: So here it is, tada and all the rot. Hope you enjoy it.
Gryffith: They'd better. I've revised that damn chapter so many times....
Cloe: ::grumble:: Oh yeah read 15 years and Back Again, its really good
Cloe: Yeah thats about it huh?
Gryffith: Yeah, I know about 15 Years and Back. I'm beta-reading it.
Cloe: I was telling *them* to read it, not *you*, you nitwit
Gryffith: And as for the reviewers, please review. Even if you just say, "I loved this chapter, write more" even if you don't mean it.
Gryffith: We like having big egos.
Gryffith: ::sticks tongue out at Cloe::
Cloe: ::grumble:: Don't you have somewhere to be?
Gryffith: ::mock grumble:: Don't you have something to post?
Cloe: If you'd stop answering me, I could post it.
Gryffith: Then why didn't you tell me not to answer you? Who else is going to? I mean, I'm the only other one here!
Cloe: Always have to get the last word, blah blah blah. Are you quite though?
Gryffith: Yes, because I have to leave in..oh...30 seconds.
Cloe: Good. Carry on and read, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone just skipped this anyway. Ah whatever.....

Disclaimer: Not ours, hers ::points at the Great JK Rowling::
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Guardian Angel from Hell
Chapter Three, A Screw up and the Begining

A Harry Potter FanFiction
By Gryffith and Cloe
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Chapter Three

Ron, Harry, and Hermione walked down the halls of Hogwarts on their way to the Gryffindor Common room. They had just come from a nasty Potions class again with the Slytherins and Harry had, again, been double-teamed by Draco Malfoy and Professor Snape.

"Really, Harry!" Hermione said, "You should be able to cope with them by now! You know they're never going to leave you alone."

Harry sighed, "Yeah, but Snape took off fifty points from Gryffindor. Why can't we just have potions with Hufflepuff or something?"

"I know!" Ron exclaimed, "I mean, it's as if Snape was out to get us!"

Hermione sniffed, "You would have to face the Slytherins sometime anyway, and the same with Professor Snape. And all of the teachers are cracking down on us for N.E.W.T.S and so we're prepared for You-Know-Who."

"Hermione," the redhead groaned, "You think that anything that has to do with the teachers and school and books is perfect."

Before Hermione could come up with a cunning retort, there was a loud bang followed by a thud as a girl landed on the stone floor in front of them clutching a broom. Ron gaped at the young woman's vivid purple hair and yellow eyes, Hermione stepped back involuntarily, and Harry ran forward to help her up. The girl's eyes closed in on Harry's helpful fingers and in response she quickly crawled back against the wall. Feeling the stone behind her blindly, the girl shifted her weight to her hands on the wall and stood. Her eyes inspected the trio, the pupils elevating up and down but mainly up considering that Hermione, the shortest of the three, was easily 4 inches taller than the girl. Hermione stepped back and bumped into Ron,

"Who-what are you?" Circe stared back at the three of them, confused. Her eyes grazed over Ron and Hermione, then rested on Harry.

"Great, just great," she dusted herself off briskly and arched a cavalier brow at Harry, "So I assume you are the famous Harry Potter then? Disappointing really; I expected you to be taller."

Hermione pulled her wand out and stepped forward, "Yes he's Harry Potter, and what business is it of yours? Who are you!?" Circe contemplated Hermione for a moment.

"Ms. Granger, aren't you? Strange, I never expected you to look like this," she appraised loftily. The girl tightened her grip on her wand an pointed it steadily at Circe's chest.

"Then what in the hell did you expect me to look like? And how did you know my name!"

"I know everything about you. At the present moment I know more about you than you could ever guess at. Now tell me what the date is."

Ron's mouth popped open before he could think,"It's the fifth of October. But how do you know about Harry and Hermione?" The young woman blinked, momentarily unbalanced.

"That close? Bit it's impossible to get this close…"

"What do you mean by *close *, who the hell are you, and why are you here?" Harry interrupted rudely.

She hesitated then replied, "Circe. My name is Circe." Harry started to say something, but Ron looked intrigued.

"You knew Hermione and Harry, do you know me?" Hermione now tried to say something, but Circe merely snorted contemptuously.

"You're the easiest of all, Ronald Weasley. Family resemblance can be truly remarkable can't it?" Circe remarked with unexpected, but quickly dismissed, tenderness, although she was only thinking of Bixby. Ron and Bix at this age were, aside from the braided ponytail and the earring, mirror images right down to the shades of brown in their gold-flecked eyes. Ron's face darkened at the second sentence, quenching the triumph he had felt at being recognized so easily.

"Who do you know? Bill? Percy?"

"Hardly. I wasn't thinking of any of your brothers. Especially not that windbag Percy." Circe snickered. Ron beamed, earning disgusted glances from his friends. Harry glared down the 6-inch difference to Circe's upturned face.

"You didn't answer my question. Who exactly are you, why are you here, and where are you from?"

"Did you apparate?" Ron added.

Hermione clucked her tongue, "How many times do I have to tell you, nobody can apparate in or out of Hogwarts."

The young woman raked the hallway with her eyes and jutted her right hip out with her arms folded across her chest. She examined the three students before her arrogantly, but in the next instant she grinned cheekily.

"I wondered if she was always like that. And as to why I didn't answer your question, I did. I answered one question and my name is Circe."

"Why are you here?" Harry repeated.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out…if you can."

"Where are you from?"

Circe grinned wolfishly, "I'm from right here. This school, this country."

"What do you mean?" Hermione demanded. The boys just gawked. Circe raised her eyes to the ceiling as if asking patience for god-she loved doing that. It made people so annoyed.

Then she considered each of them arrogantly, "Since it doesn't look like you'll be figuring this out anytime soon…"

"You're from the future, aren't you?" Hermione turned to Ron in dismay.

"But magic to go to the future hasn't been invented yet!"

The young woman yawned rudely, "20 points to Ron, he guessed right and 50 points from Hermione for such rotten logic. Your right, that kind of magic hasn't been invented at this time. But did I ever say I was from this time? I graduated in the year 2022."

"2022?"

"But you don't even look old enough to have graduated!"

"That's cause I'm smarter than you idiots." Hermione crossed her arms and sniffed huffily. Circe smirked and, putting hands on hips, posed insolently for the other girl.

"We don't like the thought that we're not the queen of smarts, now do we? What, you hoped that you invented the time magic? Well, tell ya what, you do. Anyway, can we go into a classroom that's not being used? I don't want to be caught be Old Mrs. Norris."

The boys nodded and Harry led the way into one of the many spare rooms. Circe followed them inside but as she crossed the threshold her broom banged on the stone frame, yet it didn't break or chip as Harry half expected it to.

"Okay then," the young woman went in further, transfigured a desk into a sofa, and plopped down into it.

"Harry, I don't want to be seen by anybody else, so can I borrow your invisibility cloak?"

Hermione's jaw dropped, "How did you know about that?"

"Ha! As if I didn't! Not many people do, though, so don't worry." Harry eyed her carefully, not very reassured by her audacious wink, and weighted the decision.

"Yeah, you can borrow it if I can see your broom. You let it bang on the stone as if it were a toy!"

She smirked, "It's a new model, even for my time. I charmed it to be indestructible because of my brothers, but I bought it because it's very light and maneuverable. It's not as fast as the latest, but those brooms are heavy and meant for serious traveling. The seekers of the various Quidditch teams favor this line, though. So, here it is. Can I borrow the cloak?" Harry nodded dumbly as he and Ron carefully and reverently examined her Flaring Zephyr.

Hermione let them worship the broom in silence for a while, but then she turned to Circe, "I know that you're here and everything, but why?"

"Well, technically it's a college exam. But this is an unstable time era, being a war and all, and I know for a fact that I should probably be somewhere in the sixteenth century or something. But…I should contact the HSM-"

"The who?"

"The HSM, the Head Sergeant Master. I should contact her and let her know that things are wacky, even if I'm not in mortal danger," Circe rolled her eyes.

As Hermione watched with fascination, the young woman dug in her purse and took out a metal box, covered completely with stamps, stickers, and lipstick, the size and shape of a muggle notebook and flipped the lid up to reveal a black screen in the lid and a touch pad of several buttons on the main part of the box. She balanced the box on her knee, drew her wand from its sheath, and touched the lid with its tip, causing the box to buzz and beep and the screen to crackle. The young woman waited a few moments, letting the device warm up, then jabbed a big red circle in upper right-hand corner of the touch pad. She stared at the screen expectantly, but all that happened was the black surface emitted a hissing noise…nothing.

Hermione cleared her throat. "You know, electronics have a habit of breaking or not working near or around Hogwarts." The young woman nodded reluctantly.

"I suppose the HSM will just have to wait. It's really a pity, because when I finally contact her, the same number of days will have passed…. One of her students arranged a policy so that people won't be so disoriented after they jump through the black hole. When is the next excursion to Hogsmeade, do you know?"

Ron glanced up from her broom and gazed at her with that odd, dreamy smile, "It's this weekend."

"Oh? And what's today?"

Hermione glared daggers at the redhead until he self-consciously returned his attention to the broom, "Today's Monday, Circe. So you'll have to wait a few days before you can check on your teacher." Circe shrugged.

"Fine with me, I guess. As I said, this will give me a chance to play some serious pranks. Harry, can I see your schedule? I wanna see who'll be getting' played."

Hermione sighed in disgust when her friend didn't even appear to have heard the newcomer and handed over her own schedule.

"We have the same schedules except for there. I have Arithmacy Thursday morning and they have Astrology on Thursday night. Otherwise it's the free day for the Gryffindor seventh years."

The young woman looked it over and grinned, "This is gonna be easy! I can't believe that some of the teachers I had were teaching this long ago! I mean Trelawney, oh, this is gonna be so much fun!"

"Circe, where are you going to sleep?" Ron glanced up again, faintly troubled.

"Oh, in that one cabin by the woods, of course!"

Hermione shook her head, "You can't. Hagrid lives there. He's the Care of Magical Creatures professor."

"The half-giant? Damn. Any of you guys know a place where I can hang out?"

"There's Moaning Myrtle's bathroom-"

"Ron, there is no way in hell that I am going to sleep in a bathroom, much less one where a blubbering ghost is sniffling in just the other stall."

"There's Dobby," Harry suggested. "He's one of the house elves here, but he's the only one who's paid. I'm sure they'd be willing to oblige…"

Circe's face clouded, "Dobby…I'm not so sure-"

"Why not?" Hermione demanded hands on hips.

"Oh, all right. I'd better go down there now…but Harry, can I have your cloak now?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. I'll go get it," and he dashed off down the hall. Hermione stared at the doorway through which he had disappeared.

"I wonder if he's going to write to Si-"

Circe's head swung sharply towards the girl, "Harry might write to Sirius Black? Oh…he really shouldn't do that."

"You know about Sirius-oh yeah, you're from the future. But why shouldn't he do that?" the girl puzzled.

"Oh, the less people who know about me the better."

"Oh?" the suspicious Hermione asked. Circe rolled her eyes.

"So there isn't a flux in the space/time continuum. Plus it really disorients people."

"Then why are you letting the house elves see you? I know that they aren't disoriented by much, but they could tell other people-"

Circe raised her eyebrow; "House-elves and gossips aren't the same thing. In fact, they are the exact opposite. I believe if you tell them not to say something, they will be under the imperious charm before they talk about it. Even then…. And besides, I believe a few of those elves will be loyal to me."

The girl started to ask why when Harry whirled in and tossed the young woman the cloak. She caught it reverently then put it on, "Can you see me?"

"No," Ron and Hermione chorused; Harry had eyes for nothing but the broom.

Harry did manage to glance at her when he held up a box, "This is a broomstick care kit; Hermione gave it to me for Christmas a few years ago. Do you mind if Ron and I try out your broom at the Quidditch field? We'll polish it all up afterwards, we promise!" She shrugged.
"Do whatever you want as long as nobody catches you on that new broom. It's a lot faster than anything you have and I don't want any questions asked about it."

"How can it be faster than a Firebolt?" Ron wondered cynically.

"By its makers having twenty-five years to modify it! What do you think they do all the time, twiddle their thumbs?" she snapped.

"Whatever…let's go down to the kitchens," Harry punched Ron before he could reply and walked out the door. The trio marched briskly down to the kitchens with their invisible shadow following them. As usual Dobby greeted Harry with his customary enthusiasm while the rest of the elves suspiciously edged away from Hermione.

Ron saw this and shouted, "Don't worry, Hermione isn't going to try to liberate you anymore!" Immediately the elves rushed about their business, apparently carefree and very friendly again.

Harry nodded his thanks to Ron-Hermione just looked on sulkily-and looked down at the elf staring raptly at him, "Dobby, I have a favor to ask you."

"Oh, so that's why's you sirs and miss is here!" Circe took this opportunity to shed the cloak, causing the green-eyed elf to gawk at her in amazement…and fear. The trio noticed Dobby's hanging jaw right away, though the boys didn't seem to see the tremors that had begun to shake through the elf's tiny frame.

At last, Harry cleared his throat, "Ahem. Yeah, Dobby, you've seen me come out of the invisibility cloak before. And Circe here is what the favor's about. I, ahem, need you to give her a place to sleep until the weekend, at least."

The big green eyes-like tennis balls really-turned from Harry to Circe, who mouthed, "shhh!" with a finger to her lips, and back again.

"I is…" Dobby's voice faltered. Circe, panicked, opened her purse and dug through it. There were the bottles of dye that Bixby's uncles had given her, some weird-smelling mushrooms that she had pinched off a South American friend her grandfather's, then a big ball of gold ribbon-when had she gotten that? -and there! Circe took her arm out of the bottomless purse clutching one of her ocher sashes, Hermione's eagle eyes seeing the glinting silver initials, and strode forward to kneel by the house elf. She held up the long scarf and let Dobby examine it at his leisure.

As he did so, she muttered under her breath, "I'll explain later."

When he nodded in response she took the sash and wrapped it around his head like a turban, letting his big pointed ears peek through. Circe avoided Dobby's confused eyes and stood up facing Harry.

"I believe we'll get along fine. And I thought you wanted to check out my broom at the Quidditch field?"

The boys needed no further excuse, but Hermione hung back a little, "Why are you so keen to get rid of us?"

"Because I like privacy! You gotta problem with that?"
to Dobby, "Well, do you like the turban?"

"But miss is a Malfoy!" Circe choked back a scoff, realizing that this was twenty-five years ago.

"I try not to remember that. I'm Draco's kid, but I'm nothin' like him or grandfather. Just, I know how much everyone here "trusts" the Malfoy family around here-about as far as they can throw them-and I don't want them to assume that I am just as evil as they all are."

Dobby hung his head; "Dobby will obey the miss."

"Do you like the sash?" Circe prodded him.

He smiled back and led her to see all the little beds that the elves slept in. Then he helped her push two unused beds together end to end and from there Circe transfigured them into one long couch. She pulled out a plain nightshift and crawled in the narrow bed, waiting for sleep. She sighed, wondering what had gone wrong to send her this close to Harry's death. Dr. Granger wouldn't be very happy to learn that she had already altered things in the past. Then there was Bixby. And Ron. She wasn't dating Bixby, and that was a pity to some extent. She wondered if Ron was free or already taken. Shrugging irritably at the turn of her thoughts, Circe closed her eyes and the surface of her eyelids wobbled as she began to dream.