- A/N – I know, it's cliché, but what can I say? Hannah is so cute and I
love writing this. I love writing about a kick-a** character. This chapter
explains that. Because of her courage, I had to put her in Gryffindor even
with the exception of her Slytherin-like sarcasm. So here goes…
Chapter Six
Hannah's eyes fluttered open.
"Oh, yes it's morning!" she leaped out of bed and ran to the open window. It was sunshiny morning and there was not a cloud in the sky.
"It's a sign," she sighed, gazing at the magnificent towers against the ethereal blue.
She put on her black Hogwarts robes and left before anyone was awake. Checking her watch, she saw it only 7 A.M.
"Oh, well, more time to explore." She shrugged and crept into the common room. There were shelves and shelves of books along the walls and Hannah gleefully picked one off the shelf. She expected Great Expectations or Hamlet, but the book she drew was called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Intrigued, she flipped through the book and spent the next hour reading wonderingly about Mackled Malaclaws and demiguises, unicorns and snidgets and before she knew it everyone was passing her to the Great Hall for breakfast. She hopped up, throwing the book on the chair.
In the Great Hall, Hannah sat in her usual morning reverie with her chin propped in her hand and her elbow on the table. She began murmuring Shakespeare unconsciously.
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds,
Admit impediments
Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
Oh no—
"What?"
"What?"
"What's wrong?"
Hannah shook her head softly and turned her brown eyes on a girl with dark skin and dark hair.
"Oh, um, nothing."
"Lavender."
"Where?"
"No, I'm Lavender. Lavender Brown."
Kicking herself mentally, Hannah shook hands, introducing herself.
"I've heard of you. Hermione's got a lot to say about you."
"What is she saying?" Hannah's brown eyes got more brown and darker.
"You wouldn't want to know."
"Yes I would. Tell me." Hannah's cheeks blushed a deep crimson.
"Well, she said you were a bossy know-it-all."
"Speak for yourself." Hannah muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing, nothing. What else?"
"That you talk to yourself and you come up with the strangest things like the Tomorrow Road or something."
"The Tomorrow Road is not strange. It's beautiful. But I cannot deny that I do talk to myself sometimes, when I have nobody else to talk to."
Lavender seemed a little surprised at this weird muggle girl and turned away to talk to Parvati.
Hannah narrowed her eyes and returned to her cereal. All of a sudden a fluttering of wings came from the ceiling. Hannah looked up and gasped.
"Mail's here!" one of the Weasley brothers shouted. Probably hundreds of owls flew into the hall carrying letters, newspapers and packages.
"That's incredible!" Hannah said. Then she noticed a large tawny owl fly its way down towards her, dropping a little package to her, then perching on the brim of one of the bowls of fruit, dipping her beak in.
Excitedly, Hannah ripped off the paper. Inside there was a small round ball, clear as crystal. There was note beside it.
"Dearest Hannah, (it read)
I know you have a habit of forgetting things. This object is called a Remembrall. When you've forgotten something, it glows red. I find it very handy when I go shopping in Diagon Alley. It's small enough, I believe to fit in your pocket or simply in the palm of your hand.
Sally and I miss you very much. Like you asked, the peonies are blossoming nicely on the Tomorrow Road and the roses on the Yesterday Road have never looked prettier. I go through there every night and think of you, hoping you're having a good time at your new school. Have fun and be safe and don't forget to write to
Your mother"
Hannah smiled at the note and looked back at the Remembrall. She took it in her hand and red smoke appeared in it.
"Uh, oh." Trying to remember what she had forgotten, a hand snatched the Remembrall away. She whirled around and saw the Malfoy kid she had met in Madame Malkin's shop.
"Having fun?" he asked, a smirk on his face.
"Oh, lots of fun…till you arrived." Hannah tried to grab the ball back, which was still glowing scarlet.
"And what's this you've got here?" he held up the Remembrall.
"It's a Remembrall AND it's mine!" she reached for it again. He pulled away and then gave it to her.
"Okay, okay, chill." he walked away. Hannah exhaled and finished her breakfast with a hurry.
~**~
"This class will not be using silly waving of wands and such. In potions, you will learn to control the mind and ensnare the senses, maybe even put a stopper in death." Professor Snape said slowly, circling his desk. "Though ones who choose to daydream, Miss Rosenfeld!"
Hannah snapped back to attention from imagining what it would be like to control someone's mind with a sip of a potion.
"S-sorry," she whispered.
"Better pay attention, miss, or you will not find this an easy class."
"I was paying attention, sir."
"Excuse me?" Snape twisted around from beginning to write on the blackboard.
"I said I was paying attention. I was imagining what it would be like to control someone and to manipulate them however you want."
"Indeed, Miss Rosenfeld. Do you think you are above rules and regulations by going on about what is in that brain of yours?"
"Not at all. You're misunderstanding me completely—
"—Oh am I?" Snape interrupted. "We're missing valuable class time over you, now please keep your mouth shut or I will resort to taking points off Gryffindor!"
"Sorry, sir." There was giggle from the front and Hannah glared at Hermione's bushy head. She made a face at Hermione, which Snape mistakenly took it for him.
"MISS Rosenfeld!" Snape yelled and Hannah jumped, "Five points from Gryffindor for your cheek."
Hannah's mouth dropped in shock.
"But that's not fair!" she said back. There was a silence in the room and everyone seemed to be holding their breath.
"Miss Rosenfeld, if you intend to stay in this class, you'd better start acting like a student of I will be forced to give you a detention on the very first day!"
Hannah gulped and raised her eyebrows, sinking low in her seat. The rest of the class she did not speak a word.
~**~
"Flying lessons!" Hannah exclaimed, hurrying with her book bag out of lunch, "the quidditch pitch. What on earth is quidditch?"
"You don't know what quidditch is?" Harry's red head friend appeared on the side of her, "What kind of witch are you?"
"Um, I didn't know I was a witch until a few months ago. I don't anything about wizards at all."
"You have a lot of catching up to do, if you don't even know what quidditch is."
"Thanks for the friendly advice." Hannah rolled her eyes. They were joined by Harry halfway across the grounds. The quidditch pitch was huge and oval- shaped. Stands were positioned on all sides, except for the opening they entered through.
Madame Hooch, the flying teacher, quickly set them beside brooms and told to hold their right hand over the broom and say UP! really loud.
"UP!" Hannah shouted, but her broom just rolled over. Hermione, next to her, was trying the same thing and the broom just quivered a bit.
"UP! You stupid broom!" Hannah yelled at it, but it didn't move. Frustrated, she picked it up herself and swung her leg over it, waiting.
Then, Professor McGonagall walked over to Madame Hooch, talking privately. Madame Hooch nodded, then said to the class,
"I have to leave for a moment, but if any of you get on your brooms, you'll be out of here before you can say, 'quidditch'."
With that, she left. Hannah watched them disappear and eagerly rose above the ground a bit and came back down.
"Whoa, that was cool! I'm doing that again!" Hannah rose up higher.
"Hannah, get down! You'll get us all in trouble! You already have today!" Hermione's voice echoed from the ground.
"Who cares?"
"Do you want to get kicked out?" Hermione shouted back. Hannah did a wild turn and settled to the ground.
"That was so exhilarating! The whoosh, the wind, the swoop!" Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, look what I have. Your little Remembrall, Hannah."
"Malfoy, give it here!" Harry stepped forward before Hannah had time to speak. Angry, she walked in front of Harry and held out a hand.
"Give it to me by the count of three, Malfoy. One…two—
"No, I think I'll take somewhere for you to find. Like up here!" Malfoy jumped on his broom and soared high towards the stands, circling above them. Hannah grabbed her broom but Harry was up there faster.
"Give it here Malfoy!" he yelled from the air. Hannah raised her eyebrows, but stayed on the ground.
"You want it, come and get it then!" Malfoy threw it up about thirty feet. Hannah watched Harry as he kept his eye on the falling Remembrall. He zoomed towards it and caught it, right before toppling onto the soft ground. Hannah's mouth dropped.
"HARRY POTTER!" Professor McGonagall was walking swiftly up the slope.
"Come with me, Potter," she said and they disappeared behind the wall. Hannah bit her lip.
"Oops." she muttered.
"Aren't you going to tell her it was your fault?" Hermione came up to her.
"It wasn't my fault!"
"Yes, it was. You didn't have to let Harry get the blame for flying when you were flying yourself and he was only flying out of good deed at least."
"Oh, go away." Hannah turned away. Maybe Hogwarts wasn't as much fun as she thought.
For the next few days, things didn't improve. Hannah was so different from the others that nobody took her small, imaginative self for weakness.
One afternoon, after lunch, when classes were finished, Hannah decided to take a walk around the lake. It was hot and muggy for September, so she wanted to cool off. As she stepped down onto the grass, a ball rolled by her feet. It was little and soft. She picked it up, looking around to see who had thrown it. Ron and Harry were playing catch with Ron's brothers. Eagerly, she shouted at them.
"Can I play?"
The brothers looked at the small girl and then at each other. She saw one of the taller ones shake their heads.
"Um, We already started and besides you might get hurt."
"I won't get hurt!" she shouted back.
"Yeah, but…you're…uh…a girl." Ron's voice faded away. Hannah's anger came back in a whoosh. She dropped her things and threw that special curve ball Melanie had taught her years ago when they had decided to play catch in Mrs. Foster's backyard. Ron caught it hard in his hand in shock. He dropped the ball and massaged his wrist.
Hannah came marching over, thinking all those summers of learning to throw definitely paid off. It was revenge time. She faced Ron, coming up to his chest. She looked up to his face defiantly.
"Don't you ever call me a girl! Ever!" Ron's eyes widened. One of the older boys chuckled and said, "You heard her Ronnie-boy. Come on, let her play!"
"O-okay." he stuttered staring at Hannah in amazement.
"Thank you," she said and pulled up her robe sleeves.
Chapter Six
Hannah's eyes fluttered open.
"Oh, yes it's morning!" she leaped out of bed and ran to the open window. It was sunshiny morning and there was not a cloud in the sky.
"It's a sign," she sighed, gazing at the magnificent towers against the ethereal blue.
She put on her black Hogwarts robes and left before anyone was awake. Checking her watch, she saw it only 7 A.M.
"Oh, well, more time to explore." She shrugged and crept into the common room. There were shelves and shelves of books along the walls and Hannah gleefully picked one off the shelf. She expected Great Expectations or Hamlet, but the book she drew was called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Intrigued, she flipped through the book and spent the next hour reading wonderingly about Mackled Malaclaws and demiguises, unicorns and snidgets and before she knew it everyone was passing her to the Great Hall for breakfast. She hopped up, throwing the book on the chair.
In the Great Hall, Hannah sat in her usual morning reverie with her chin propped in her hand and her elbow on the table. She began murmuring Shakespeare unconsciously.
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds,
Admit impediments
Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
Oh no—
"What?"
"What?"
"What's wrong?"
Hannah shook her head softly and turned her brown eyes on a girl with dark skin and dark hair.
"Oh, um, nothing."
"Lavender."
"Where?"
"No, I'm Lavender. Lavender Brown."
Kicking herself mentally, Hannah shook hands, introducing herself.
"I've heard of you. Hermione's got a lot to say about you."
"What is she saying?" Hannah's brown eyes got more brown and darker.
"You wouldn't want to know."
"Yes I would. Tell me." Hannah's cheeks blushed a deep crimson.
"Well, she said you were a bossy know-it-all."
"Speak for yourself." Hannah muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing, nothing. What else?"
"That you talk to yourself and you come up with the strangest things like the Tomorrow Road or something."
"The Tomorrow Road is not strange. It's beautiful. But I cannot deny that I do talk to myself sometimes, when I have nobody else to talk to."
Lavender seemed a little surprised at this weird muggle girl and turned away to talk to Parvati.
Hannah narrowed her eyes and returned to her cereal. All of a sudden a fluttering of wings came from the ceiling. Hannah looked up and gasped.
"Mail's here!" one of the Weasley brothers shouted. Probably hundreds of owls flew into the hall carrying letters, newspapers and packages.
"That's incredible!" Hannah said. Then she noticed a large tawny owl fly its way down towards her, dropping a little package to her, then perching on the brim of one of the bowls of fruit, dipping her beak in.
Excitedly, Hannah ripped off the paper. Inside there was a small round ball, clear as crystal. There was note beside it.
"Dearest Hannah, (it read)
I know you have a habit of forgetting things. This object is called a Remembrall. When you've forgotten something, it glows red. I find it very handy when I go shopping in Diagon Alley. It's small enough, I believe to fit in your pocket or simply in the palm of your hand.
Sally and I miss you very much. Like you asked, the peonies are blossoming nicely on the Tomorrow Road and the roses on the Yesterday Road have never looked prettier. I go through there every night and think of you, hoping you're having a good time at your new school. Have fun and be safe and don't forget to write to
Your mother"
Hannah smiled at the note and looked back at the Remembrall. She took it in her hand and red smoke appeared in it.
"Uh, oh." Trying to remember what she had forgotten, a hand snatched the Remembrall away. She whirled around and saw the Malfoy kid she had met in Madame Malkin's shop.
"Having fun?" he asked, a smirk on his face.
"Oh, lots of fun…till you arrived." Hannah tried to grab the ball back, which was still glowing scarlet.
"And what's this you've got here?" he held up the Remembrall.
"It's a Remembrall AND it's mine!" she reached for it again. He pulled away and then gave it to her.
"Okay, okay, chill." he walked away. Hannah exhaled and finished her breakfast with a hurry.
~**~
"This class will not be using silly waving of wands and such. In potions, you will learn to control the mind and ensnare the senses, maybe even put a stopper in death." Professor Snape said slowly, circling his desk. "Though ones who choose to daydream, Miss Rosenfeld!"
Hannah snapped back to attention from imagining what it would be like to control someone's mind with a sip of a potion.
"S-sorry," she whispered.
"Better pay attention, miss, or you will not find this an easy class."
"I was paying attention, sir."
"Excuse me?" Snape twisted around from beginning to write on the blackboard.
"I said I was paying attention. I was imagining what it would be like to control someone and to manipulate them however you want."
"Indeed, Miss Rosenfeld. Do you think you are above rules and regulations by going on about what is in that brain of yours?"
"Not at all. You're misunderstanding me completely—
"—Oh am I?" Snape interrupted. "We're missing valuable class time over you, now please keep your mouth shut or I will resort to taking points off Gryffindor!"
"Sorry, sir." There was giggle from the front and Hannah glared at Hermione's bushy head. She made a face at Hermione, which Snape mistakenly took it for him.
"MISS Rosenfeld!" Snape yelled and Hannah jumped, "Five points from Gryffindor for your cheek."
Hannah's mouth dropped in shock.
"But that's not fair!" she said back. There was a silence in the room and everyone seemed to be holding their breath.
"Miss Rosenfeld, if you intend to stay in this class, you'd better start acting like a student of I will be forced to give you a detention on the very first day!"
Hannah gulped and raised her eyebrows, sinking low in her seat. The rest of the class she did not speak a word.
~**~
"Flying lessons!" Hannah exclaimed, hurrying with her book bag out of lunch, "the quidditch pitch. What on earth is quidditch?"
"You don't know what quidditch is?" Harry's red head friend appeared on the side of her, "What kind of witch are you?"
"Um, I didn't know I was a witch until a few months ago. I don't anything about wizards at all."
"You have a lot of catching up to do, if you don't even know what quidditch is."
"Thanks for the friendly advice." Hannah rolled her eyes. They were joined by Harry halfway across the grounds. The quidditch pitch was huge and oval- shaped. Stands were positioned on all sides, except for the opening they entered through.
Madame Hooch, the flying teacher, quickly set them beside brooms and told to hold their right hand over the broom and say UP! really loud.
"UP!" Hannah shouted, but her broom just rolled over. Hermione, next to her, was trying the same thing and the broom just quivered a bit.
"UP! You stupid broom!" Hannah yelled at it, but it didn't move. Frustrated, she picked it up herself and swung her leg over it, waiting.
Then, Professor McGonagall walked over to Madame Hooch, talking privately. Madame Hooch nodded, then said to the class,
"I have to leave for a moment, but if any of you get on your brooms, you'll be out of here before you can say, 'quidditch'."
With that, she left. Hannah watched them disappear and eagerly rose above the ground a bit and came back down.
"Whoa, that was cool! I'm doing that again!" Hannah rose up higher.
"Hannah, get down! You'll get us all in trouble! You already have today!" Hermione's voice echoed from the ground.
"Who cares?"
"Do you want to get kicked out?" Hermione shouted back. Hannah did a wild turn and settled to the ground.
"That was so exhilarating! The whoosh, the wind, the swoop!" Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, look what I have. Your little Remembrall, Hannah."
"Malfoy, give it here!" Harry stepped forward before Hannah had time to speak. Angry, she walked in front of Harry and held out a hand.
"Give it to me by the count of three, Malfoy. One…two—
"No, I think I'll take somewhere for you to find. Like up here!" Malfoy jumped on his broom and soared high towards the stands, circling above them. Hannah grabbed her broom but Harry was up there faster.
"Give it here Malfoy!" he yelled from the air. Hannah raised her eyebrows, but stayed on the ground.
"You want it, come and get it then!" Malfoy threw it up about thirty feet. Hannah watched Harry as he kept his eye on the falling Remembrall. He zoomed towards it and caught it, right before toppling onto the soft ground. Hannah's mouth dropped.
"HARRY POTTER!" Professor McGonagall was walking swiftly up the slope.
"Come with me, Potter," she said and they disappeared behind the wall. Hannah bit her lip.
"Oops." she muttered.
"Aren't you going to tell her it was your fault?" Hermione came up to her.
"It wasn't my fault!"
"Yes, it was. You didn't have to let Harry get the blame for flying when you were flying yourself and he was only flying out of good deed at least."
"Oh, go away." Hannah turned away. Maybe Hogwarts wasn't as much fun as she thought.
For the next few days, things didn't improve. Hannah was so different from the others that nobody took her small, imaginative self for weakness.
One afternoon, after lunch, when classes were finished, Hannah decided to take a walk around the lake. It was hot and muggy for September, so she wanted to cool off. As she stepped down onto the grass, a ball rolled by her feet. It was little and soft. She picked it up, looking around to see who had thrown it. Ron and Harry were playing catch with Ron's brothers. Eagerly, she shouted at them.
"Can I play?"
The brothers looked at the small girl and then at each other. She saw one of the taller ones shake their heads.
"Um, We already started and besides you might get hurt."
"I won't get hurt!" she shouted back.
"Yeah, but…you're…uh…a girl." Ron's voice faded away. Hannah's anger came back in a whoosh. She dropped her things and threw that special curve ball Melanie had taught her years ago when they had decided to play catch in Mrs. Foster's backyard. Ron caught it hard in his hand in shock. He dropped the ball and massaged his wrist.
Hannah came marching over, thinking all those summers of learning to throw definitely paid off. It was revenge time. She faced Ron, coming up to his chest. She looked up to his face defiantly.
"Don't you ever call me a girl! Ever!" Ron's eyes widened. One of the older boys chuckled and said, "You heard her Ronnie-boy. Come on, let her play!"
"O-okay." he stuttered staring at Hannah in amazement.
"Thank you," she said and pulled up her robe sleeves.
