With a Girl Like You

Chapter 3 – A Mystery Called "Girl"

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. ^.~ R&R!

A big thank you to Victor Stillwater for the amazing review! ^.^ Makes me want to write even more!

[A/N: Just thought I'd butt in and let everyone know this lengthy chapter is mostly about Acacia Elcombe, and what the others think of her…R&R, and thanks for reading!]

Groaning as she rolled over, Acacia opened one eye. She shut it quickly, however, because a warm light was flooding in through her window. The Gryffindor dormitories were amazing. She had never been in a room with a more comfortable, relaxing atmosphere. Her bed was the usual four-poster, with red curtains and thick, warm blankets. She had always dreamed of having a four-poster; it was one of those little girl wishes that everyone had at one point in time.

But she wasn't a normal girl.

Noting the time (which was far too early for a Sunday), Acacia flopped onto her stomach and mashed her face into her pillow. For some reason, she got satisfaction in burrowing into the warmth and coziness of the pillow. "Crazy—that's what I am," she thought to herself sleepily.

Her thoughts wandered, and she found herself thinking about her family. Or, what had been her family. She had only two living relatives, and both were Muggles. Her last living magical relation was a very distantly related Uncle Black, who was imprisoned in Azkaban and supposedly at-large. She never knew him, of course, and he probably didn't even know they were related. Acacia spent years tracing her family, a sort of obsessed hobby. Her past was not a happy one.

"Damn them all," Acacia muttered groggily. She was still half-asleep, but she didn't care. Everyone else was still asleep.

Why would she say such a thing? That's a point to ponder, if there ever was one. The Elcombe family was a very prestigious wizarding family back in the day; Acacia couldn't keep her years straight, but she if she remembered correctly, her line traced back to the time of Godric Gryffindor and the other founders of Hogwarts.

The only problem? Well, was. The line ended—Acacia was the last living magical descendant of the entire line. The line began to splinter when her great great grandfather on her father's side married a muggle, and the problems ran from there. A little boy he loved and thought was his child was actually another muggle's. When he found out, his wife was as good as dead. So went the line of the muggles bearing the name of Elcombe.

There was a sister, but Acacia found it difficult to trace that line of descendants. The only relation was Uncle Black. The second brother had two children, a girl and a boy, but the girl got into an accident in the muggle world, which took her life. The son had three children, all boys. Two became aurors. Aged and elderly, they fought and died in attacks against Voldemort sixteen years ago. The last married a beautiful witch, Acacia's grandmother, and they had one son, Christopher James Elcombe, Acacia's father. Both Acacia's parents died in the fight against Voldemort, leaving their only daughter to the whims of the muggle world.

Acacia sighed loudly. She heard one of her dorm-mates moving around, and decided to be quieter. She lost her train of thought, however. In any case, her family history depressed her. Everything wrong seemed to happen in her life, and there wasn't anything she could do about it. One odd fact, though, was that she knew she was a witch, even if she did spend her first eight years in the muggle world. She didn't know how, but she did. Some man by the name of Reginald Kearns came and took her away from her foster parents, erasing their memories, and brought her to the wizarding world to stay with his family.

The change was rather traumatic for the little eight-year-old, but she pulled through. The Kearns family was very kind, and the ways of the magical world soon grew on her. Acacia attended a private witch academy from age ten to age fourteen, when "Uncle Reggie" decided that it was time to send her into a real wizarding school, Beauxbatons. Unfortunately for Uncle Reggie, he did not realize that his little Acie would not fit in. After a year, Acie came home, crying nearly every night. She burned her books and powder-blue robes, and refused to handle her wand. Aunt Evelyn, who had opposed the move from the beginning, suggested Hogwarts. Acacia took to this idea as a fish takes to water, and by the next year, she found herself in Dumbledore's office, going over all the facts and everything she needed to know before the new school year.

"ACACIA!" Her drapes were yanked back roughly. She saw Hermione's face floating before her, dark with anger. "Didn't you hear me?"

"Oops," Acacia thought to herself. "Um, sorry, Hermione. I guess I'm really tired."

"You're going to miss breakfast if you don't hurry. We'll meet you in the common room."

"No, that's all right. I'll make it down there myself—I still have to get ready and all."

Hermione just shook her head and sighed. "Okay. But tomorrow you can't be late, because we have classes. We're getting our schedules today at breakfast, anyway."
When Hermione left, Acacia groaned once again. If only they weren't passing out the schedules during breakfast! She didn't usually eat breakfast, and she didn't want to begin now. She was very sensitive about herself, and her self-esteem plummeted significantly while at Beauxbatons. One could almost say she had BDD, body dysmorphic disorder, but she refused to admit that she needed help. If she did, Dumbledore would most certainly send her away, as they had at Beauxbatons. (a/n: obviously, she doesn't know Dumbledore too well, does she?).

She finally forced herself to get up, performing a charm to straighten and curl her hair as it was the day before, and another charm to iron her black robe. Underneath, she wore the Hogwarts uniform, complete with Gryffindor colors. She grinned, looking at the red and gold. Every member of her family, except Uncle Black and a few valiant individuals, had been in Slytherin. This rift was another reason her family splintered. She sighed. "Why was every happy thought accompanied with a dark and depressing one?" she asked herself, eyeing her reflection in the full length-mirror attached to the wall. She didn't feel like wearing glasses, so she performed the vision correction charm, grabbed her bag and wand, and was out the door.

"There you are," Hermione said, pulling Acacia down onto the seat next to her. The girls sat across from the boys. Ron was looking a bit queasy since Neville Longbottom decided to sit next to him. On Harry's other side, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and then a few Gryffindor fifth-years completed the table.

"Where is everyone today?" Ginny asked across the table.

"Probably sleeping," Seamus answered. He pantomimed the sleep motion.

"I'd like to be sleeping," Neville muttered. He had already gotten his schedule and looked like he was going to cry.

"What's wrong, Neville?" Hermione asked. Neville handed her his schedule.

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed, running her finger through the week, reading rapidly.

"No, I don't want to know," Ron said flatly. Then he made a face. "Okay, so, what's wrong?"
Acacia laughed again, and Harry felt…he didn't know how he felt. Amazingly light-headed, lost…somewhere out there…WHOA! Snap out of it Harry, she's just laughing for goodness sakes…

Then Hermione declared, "We have three classes with Slytherin this year."

The entire table groaned. "Which ones?" Harry managed to ask.

"Triple Potions, which will take the majority of Monday and Wednesday morning, Care of Magical Creatures, and Extended Divination," Hermione replied. "Luckily, I will only have two classes with them, considering I will never put up with that fraud who calls herself Trelawney."

Ron smirked. "But you have an Arithmancy class."

This did not have the effect he was looking for, because Acacia suddenly sat up. "You're taking Arithmancy, too, Hermione?"

"Yes, and I have been for a few years now. It's a great class."

"I didn't want to take it at all, but I guess it won't be so bad if I'm not alone. You see, arithmancy was required at my old school, so I decided it would be best if I just continued my studies," Acacia explained.

Hermione looked violated. "Only because it was required? How awful! It's such a wonderful class! Maybe the teacher was bad at your school. Where did you go?"

Acacia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She knew she had said too much. "I went to a private witch academy, and transferred to another school before coming here," she said softly, trying to get Hermione to move on.

Harry noticed her discomfort (a/n: boy, he's noticing a whole lot more than that…hehehe), and tried to change the subject when the mail came in.

"Mail!" The entire table looked up expectantly.

Hermione grabbed two letters and the Daily Prophet from her owl, Ron a letter, and Ginny a small package. Neither Harry nor Acacia received any mail that day, except for their own schedules.

"No mail?" Acacia inquired.

Harry felt the blush once again. What was wrong with him?

"Nope. I usually don't get much mail, anyway."

"I don't suppose your aunt and uncle would ever send anything the wizard way," Acacia agreed. "I got a letter from my foster wizarding family yesterday, but I don't expect to get much more than that."

"Your foster wizarding family?"

Oops. Too much said, once again. "I used to live in the muggle world," she explained, hoping that her answer was adequate.

"Oh." Acacia could tell that it wasn't, but Harry didn't ask anything further on the matter.

"Which classes do we have together?"

Harry looked at his schedule. "We all have Triple Potions together on Monday and Wednesday, with the Slytherins." He made a face.

"And…let's see. Care of Magical Creatures on Friday, also with the Slytherins. Transfiguration Monday and Thursday, History of Magic on Wednesday and Friday, Charms and DADA on Tuesday and Thursday…wow, this year is really busy, isn't it?"

Harry was about to agree when Professor Dumbledore stood up.

"Attention please!" Professor McGonagall called.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to say a few things this morning. As usual, Quidditch tryouts will be in a few weeks. I would like the captains to get together with their teams later today to organize the tryouts. Please report your final decisions to me by the end of the day. Secondly, I will be hosting a Prefects and Head Girl and Boy meeting tomorrow afternoon. I also want to point out that no students are allowed to walk alone outside the grounds. I stress this because as you all know, you are only as safe as you want to be. Enjoy your day."

The entire hall began talking all at once.

Hermione finished reading an article in The Daily Prophet and glanced at the new girl. "Elcombe," she murmured to herself. Hadn't she read that name somewhere? She would have to look it up, in Hogwarts: A History later today. Acacia seemed like a nice person, but she had many secrets. Hermione thought she might be good for Harry, who refused to abandon his title of single.

Ron, however, found Acacia as beautiful as Harry did, and was not overjoyed to see that while he was reading a letter from Fred and George Weasley, his older twin brothers, the two had been talking. He couldn't quite grasp what was bothering him, though, and turned to Hermione.

"What do you think of Acacia?" he whispered, leaning across the now food-less table.

"I don't know what to think. She's rather mysterious."

Ginny heard her answer. "I agree," she said, quietly. "Do you suppose…never mind. Oh! I forgot my papers," she observed brightly, rushing away from the table. "I'll catch you guys later." Hermione caught a reddish tint creeping up her neck.

Ron eyed his sister. "What's wrong with her?"

Hermione just smiled and didn't answer. For once, they weren't arguing, and it was sort of nice for a change.

"Hey Ron, we'd better get out to the Quidditch pitch before all the other teams get there," Harry said, getting up. Hermione was rather irritated that the moment of peace ended so soon.

Ron's face lit up noticeably. "Quidditch! Okay, I need to grab my practice robes. Meet you out there, Capt'n." He ran out of the Great Hall, followed by Harry, who threw a last look Acacia and Hermione.

"Boys," Hermione huffed.

"It is Quidditch, anyway," Acacia laughed. "You don't enjoy flying?"

"Not as much as those two," Hermione replied, the disgusted look still on her face.

Acacia did not say anything for a while.

"Where did you transfer from?" Hermione asked, looking Acacia directly in the eye, startling the dark-haired girl.

"Oh! Well, I attended a private witches academy, and then…" she hesitated.

Suddenly, a shriek was heard throughout the hall and all the heads turned to the middle of the table, where a first-year Gryffindor was levitating, face down, about thirty feet in the air.

"Oh, no! It's started!" Acacia gasped, leaping up. She drew out her wand and shouted something. A stream of multi-colored lights issued forth, and the girl slowly descended. Hermione and Acacia rushed to her side. The girl's skin was milky white, and she was shaking uncontrollably.

"Accio blanket!" Hermione muttered. Acacia said something else, and the girl stopped shuddering. Some students stared at her warily and in disbelief. By this time, Professor McGonagall and several others had reached the small crowd, and Acacia disappeared through the doors. Hermione made to run after her, but Professor McGonagall ordered her to take the girl to the infirmary.

"What is wrong with that girl?" Hermione thought to herself. "How does she know so much, and what did she mean; it's started?" She left the poor little girl in the infirmary, where Madame Pomfrey was bustling about.

This required some heavy thinking and the help of the library.

A/N: So…how is it so far?

"Acacia" is a type of flower. A picture can be found here: http://www.junglephotos.com/plants/trees/acacias/acaciaflwr.html

In this chapter, I obviously included some half-developed opinions of Harry & co. on Acacia, but what are yours? All comments, again, are welcome, and very much appreciated!

Thanks for reading! PLEASE R&R!!!!!