Harry Potter and the Crystal of Dreams.
You couldn't help but like Shannon Parks. Honest, blunt, funny-she spoke her mind and didn't care what people thought of her. At fifteen she was short and small with greyish teal eyes and dark brown hair cut into a layered bob that framed her oval face. Her coral pink lips nearly always curved into a smile and she was always ready to tell a joke and cheer up people. She had a tendancy to say the most innapropriate things at the worst of times, but everyone forgave her.
She went to the Carnia Academy of Magic in northern Italy, where she lived with her father, step-mother, and half-sister, although she was Irish. They had emmigrated due to her father's job when Shannon was ten.
Then there was another change in her father's job. They would have to move back to England, which Shannon didn't mind too much, even though she'd miss her friends. She'd have to start a new school however-Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
~*~*~*~*~
Harry put the phone down and walked into the kitchen where his only remaining family sat eating breakfast. His obnoxious cousin Dudley was still on a diet that all of them were having to follow (well, Harry wasn't, he'd cheated by getting his friends to send him food via owl post again). It had begun to work a bit-two chins had disappeared, and he could now fit more comfortably on a chair.
His Uncle Vernon was reading the newspaper, grumbling about some young vandals who had torched a building in the next town. Obviously the lack of food had stretched his fine temper to almost breaking point, and Harry was often shouted at for the least of things-sitting in the worng chair, or being around the family too much, or looking in the wrong way at someone. Aunt Petunia was washing up whilst peering out of the window although no neighbours were out yet (it being only eight o'clock in the morning) to spy on.
However, Harry had a weapon-once again, if ever they refused to let him go out with his friends, he would just threaten to write to Sirius, his wrongly-accused godfather who was still on the run from Azkaban the wizard prison. They still thought that he was a mass-murderer, as it had slipped Harry's mind to tell them that Sirius Black was, in fact, innocent, and that guilty Peter Pettigrew was working for Voldemort, the wizard that had killed Harry's parents when he was a baby, and had left him to be brought up by the Dursleys.
Harry cleared his throat. No effect. He decided to speak.
"Er...that was my friend Hermione on the phone. She said that she and her parents would pick me up and take me to buy my school stuff later. Can I go?"
Vernon grunted. "Get you out of the way. I hope they're coming in the normal way?"
"Yeah, Hermione's dad can drive a car."
The silence that followed was uncomfortable, so Harry left to go up to his room. He had told Hermione that even if his aunt and uncle didn't want him to go, they could still pick him up. They were punctual, arriving at ten o'clock exactly.
"Hi Harry!" Hermione said as Harry climbed in. He grinned at her and Ron as he sat down.
"Hello Harry," said Mrs. Granger, who looked quite like Hermione but with sleek blonde hair.
"Hi."
He could see Aunt Petunia glancing out from behind the net curtain and waved sarcastically as the car sped off.
Harry hadn't been to Diagon Alley for two years, and he was happy to be back. They wandered around buying books and robes and potions ingredients, talking about what actions Dumbledore might be taking against Voldemort, and what the new DADA might be like, and various other topics. Eventually, when they had brought all they needed to, they decided to buy ice-creams at Florian Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. The mid-afternoon sun beat down heavily on them as they dawdled over.
Inside it was cool and quite dark, their eyes taking a while to adjust to the light. A few tables were occupied by gossping groups of witches or debating gatherings of wizards. Leaning against the marble-topped counter was a dark-haired girl of about their age, talking to Fortescue whilst a smaller child clung to her, sitting on her hip. She was the only one in the cue, so they got behind her.
"...I'll have strawberry, and what do you want Hannah?" she was saying, her voice a mixture of accents.
The younger girl, who was about four or five, reached up and whispered something into the teenagers ear. She laughed and said, "O.K baby. That'll be two strawberry cones please."
"Coming right up." Fortescue bustled off to get the order. The girl prised the kid off her hip.
"Come on baby, you can't eat whilst I carry you around." She said, struggling to make her stand up. Eventually, she did as she was told, but she still hovered very close to her. She took the cone the older one passed to her and began to lick it happily as she payed.
"What do you say Hannah?"
She looked up with round, dark eyes. "Thankyou!" she lisped. They both laughed, and the first girl took her free hand as she led her out. She smiled at the trio as she passed them. "Hiya."
They were about to go outside, when suddenly the door opened. Hannah's little hand was knocked back, and the pink ice cream flew down her dungarees. The person who had opened it came in. It was Vincent Crabbe, one of the trio's enemies. The older girl was furious.
"Look what you've done to my sister!" she thundered, making everyone look round at them. Hannah was crying by now, lamenting over the cone on the floor.
Crabbe grunted and glared down at her. She might have been smaller but she was no less powerful. He tried to push past, but she stepped in front of him.
"Apologise at once to her."
Crabbe stared down at her blankly. She repeated, slowly and dangerously. "I said, apologise to her at once. Now!"
Crabbe looked shocked and embarrassed at being threatened by a starnger half his stature. He mumbled something, then walked out again. The girl knealt beside her sister and wiped away her tears.
"Please stop crying baby, I'll get you a new ice cream, come on girl." She got up and led her over to the counter again, in the cue. Fotescue quickly made up another ice cream, flicking his wand to clear up the mess on the floor and child. He passed it over and refused to let her pay him. She thanked him and they walked out.
Harry stared after her. He'd know if he'd seen her before, but she didn't go to Hogwarts. She was so pretty, with those huge fierce eyes, and that lovely dark hair...
Ron waved a hand in front of his face. "Yoohoo? Earth to Harry?" Hermione giggled.
"What?" Harry muttered, digruntled.
"I said, what ice cream did you want?"
When they got outside, they saw her again with the little girl, both sitting on a low wall eating their ice creams. Hannah had pink goo all over her face and hands, and was licking it happily off. As there was nowhere else to sit (the tables all being full), they sat next to her. She looked over.
"Hiya, you were in the parlour, weren't you?" she asked.
They nodded. "Do you go to Hogwarts?"
"Yeah." Said Harry.
"Oh cool, I'm starting in September. What year are you guys in?"
"We're going to be in the fifth year."
"You don't look like a first year," Hermione told her.
"That's 'cause I'm not. I'm fifteen, I'll be in your year. I'm a transfer from Italy."
"I didn't know we did exchanges."
"I think your headmaster said I was the first. Oh, sorry, I forgot. My name's Shannon, and this is my sister Hannah."
"I'm Ron, that's Hermione, and that's Harry."
Harry hoped that her eyes wouldn't start boring straight through his fringe to his lightning scar, but they didn't. They locked into his and she smiled.
"I'm pleased to meet you all. What's Hogwarts like?"
They sat there for at least half an hour, telling Shannon their experiances and teachers, and the houses.
"Hope I'm not in Slytherin!" she said, blowing upwards to ruffle her fluffy finge. "It sounds dreadful!"
"It is," said Harry.
"Shannon Parks! Get here now!"
She looked up guiltily to see a woman of about twenty-seven who looked Italian with her raven-black hair tied up in a chic twirl and tall, slender figure running towards them. Hannah jumped off the wall and toddled over to her, and was scooped up in her arms.
"Si, Julianna?" Shannon asked, her voice defensive. The woman, Julianna, began to complain to herhalf in English and half in a foreign language they didn't understand. Shannon averted her eyes and yawned boredly, before defending herself valiantly. Eventually, she turned back to her new friends.
"Sorry guys, I've gotta go. Something about worrying Dad sick and all that by being out with Hannah too long. Anyways, see ya on 1st September!" She got up and followed Julianna to the Leaky Cauldron.
"C'mon Harry, we'd better go ourselves," said Hermione, as she and Ron stood up. "We'd better go ourselves, my parents will be waiting."
Harry got up and followed his two best friends along Diagon Alley. Something told him this year was going to be interesting...
*****
Harry approached his uncle and aunt warily in the living room that night, and cleared his throat loudly. This time they started and looked up.
"Back are you?" Vernon grunted. "Well, what do you want?"
"Erm, will you take me to King's Cross on 1st September so I can catch the train?" Remembering his manners, he added a strained, "Please."
"And what will happen if I refuse?"
"Uh...well, I don't think Sirius would be too pleased..."
He needed to say no more. "ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT, WE'LL GIVE YOU A LIFT TO THE DAMN STATION!" Vernon roared, jumping to his feet.
Harry nodded. "Thank you." He went out of the room, and as he mounted the stairs, he heard Aunt Petunia pouring her husband a large brandy to calm his nerves.
*****
OK, what did you think? As you can see, I couldn't be bothered with any of that 'because Harry Potter was a wizard' clap trap, so I just bunged down a load of stuff. THIS IS NOT A MARY SUE STORY! Mary Sues are sweet, charming and tactful. And, er, Shannon's not.
PS. Please review. Thanx. I reallly appreciate it. Wow, just what you always wanted, to be appreciated by some maniac shap shifter! (See my profile)
You couldn't help but like Shannon Parks. Honest, blunt, funny-she spoke her mind and didn't care what people thought of her. At fifteen she was short and small with greyish teal eyes and dark brown hair cut into a layered bob that framed her oval face. Her coral pink lips nearly always curved into a smile and she was always ready to tell a joke and cheer up people. She had a tendancy to say the most innapropriate things at the worst of times, but everyone forgave her.
She went to the Carnia Academy of Magic in northern Italy, where she lived with her father, step-mother, and half-sister, although she was Irish. They had emmigrated due to her father's job when Shannon was ten.
Then there was another change in her father's job. They would have to move back to England, which Shannon didn't mind too much, even though she'd miss her friends. She'd have to start a new school however-Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
~*~*~*~*~
Harry put the phone down and walked into the kitchen where his only remaining family sat eating breakfast. His obnoxious cousin Dudley was still on a diet that all of them were having to follow (well, Harry wasn't, he'd cheated by getting his friends to send him food via owl post again). It had begun to work a bit-two chins had disappeared, and he could now fit more comfortably on a chair.
His Uncle Vernon was reading the newspaper, grumbling about some young vandals who had torched a building in the next town. Obviously the lack of food had stretched his fine temper to almost breaking point, and Harry was often shouted at for the least of things-sitting in the worng chair, or being around the family too much, or looking in the wrong way at someone. Aunt Petunia was washing up whilst peering out of the window although no neighbours were out yet (it being only eight o'clock in the morning) to spy on.
However, Harry had a weapon-once again, if ever they refused to let him go out with his friends, he would just threaten to write to Sirius, his wrongly-accused godfather who was still on the run from Azkaban the wizard prison. They still thought that he was a mass-murderer, as it had slipped Harry's mind to tell them that Sirius Black was, in fact, innocent, and that guilty Peter Pettigrew was working for Voldemort, the wizard that had killed Harry's parents when he was a baby, and had left him to be brought up by the Dursleys.
Harry cleared his throat. No effect. He decided to speak.
"Er...that was my friend Hermione on the phone. She said that she and her parents would pick me up and take me to buy my school stuff later. Can I go?"
Vernon grunted. "Get you out of the way. I hope they're coming in the normal way?"
"Yeah, Hermione's dad can drive a car."
The silence that followed was uncomfortable, so Harry left to go up to his room. He had told Hermione that even if his aunt and uncle didn't want him to go, they could still pick him up. They were punctual, arriving at ten o'clock exactly.
"Hi Harry!" Hermione said as Harry climbed in. He grinned at her and Ron as he sat down.
"Hello Harry," said Mrs. Granger, who looked quite like Hermione but with sleek blonde hair.
"Hi."
He could see Aunt Petunia glancing out from behind the net curtain and waved sarcastically as the car sped off.
Harry hadn't been to Diagon Alley for two years, and he was happy to be back. They wandered around buying books and robes and potions ingredients, talking about what actions Dumbledore might be taking against Voldemort, and what the new DADA might be like, and various other topics. Eventually, when they had brought all they needed to, they decided to buy ice-creams at Florian Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. The mid-afternoon sun beat down heavily on them as they dawdled over.
Inside it was cool and quite dark, their eyes taking a while to adjust to the light. A few tables were occupied by gossping groups of witches or debating gatherings of wizards. Leaning against the marble-topped counter was a dark-haired girl of about their age, talking to Fortescue whilst a smaller child clung to her, sitting on her hip. She was the only one in the cue, so they got behind her.
"...I'll have strawberry, and what do you want Hannah?" she was saying, her voice a mixture of accents.
The younger girl, who was about four or five, reached up and whispered something into the teenagers ear. She laughed and said, "O.K baby. That'll be two strawberry cones please."
"Coming right up." Fortescue bustled off to get the order. The girl prised the kid off her hip.
"Come on baby, you can't eat whilst I carry you around." She said, struggling to make her stand up. Eventually, she did as she was told, but she still hovered very close to her. She took the cone the older one passed to her and began to lick it happily as she payed.
"What do you say Hannah?"
She looked up with round, dark eyes. "Thankyou!" she lisped. They both laughed, and the first girl took her free hand as she led her out. She smiled at the trio as she passed them. "Hiya."
They were about to go outside, when suddenly the door opened. Hannah's little hand was knocked back, and the pink ice cream flew down her dungarees. The person who had opened it came in. It was Vincent Crabbe, one of the trio's enemies. The older girl was furious.
"Look what you've done to my sister!" she thundered, making everyone look round at them. Hannah was crying by now, lamenting over the cone on the floor.
Crabbe grunted and glared down at her. She might have been smaller but she was no less powerful. He tried to push past, but she stepped in front of him.
"Apologise at once to her."
Crabbe stared down at her blankly. She repeated, slowly and dangerously. "I said, apologise to her at once. Now!"
Crabbe looked shocked and embarrassed at being threatened by a starnger half his stature. He mumbled something, then walked out again. The girl knealt beside her sister and wiped away her tears.
"Please stop crying baby, I'll get you a new ice cream, come on girl." She got up and led her over to the counter again, in the cue. Fotescue quickly made up another ice cream, flicking his wand to clear up the mess on the floor and child. He passed it over and refused to let her pay him. She thanked him and they walked out.
Harry stared after her. He'd know if he'd seen her before, but she didn't go to Hogwarts. She was so pretty, with those huge fierce eyes, and that lovely dark hair...
Ron waved a hand in front of his face. "Yoohoo? Earth to Harry?" Hermione giggled.
"What?" Harry muttered, digruntled.
"I said, what ice cream did you want?"
When they got outside, they saw her again with the little girl, both sitting on a low wall eating their ice creams. Hannah had pink goo all over her face and hands, and was licking it happily off. As there was nowhere else to sit (the tables all being full), they sat next to her. She looked over.
"Hiya, you were in the parlour, weren't you?" she asked.
They nodded. "Do you go to Hogwarts?"
"Yeah." Said Harry.
"Oh cool, I'm starting in September. What year are you guys in?"
"We're going to be in the fifth year."
"You don't look like a first year," Hermione told her.
"That's 'cause I'm not. I'm fifteen, I'll be in your year. I'm a transfer from Italy."
"I didn't know we did exchanges."
"I think your headmaster said I was the first. Oh, sorry, I forgot. My name's Shannon, and this is my sister Hannah."
"I'm Ron, that's Hermione, and that's Harry."
Harry hoped that her eyes wouldn't start boring straight through his fringe to his lightning scar, but they didn't. They locked into his and she smiled.
"I'm pleased to meet you all. What's Hogwarts like?"
They sat there for at least half an hour, telling Shannon their experiances and teachers, and the houses.
"Hope I'm not in Slytherin!" she said, blowing upwards to ruffle her fluffy finge. "It sounds dreadful!"
"It is," said Harry.
"Shannon Parks! Get here now!"
She looked up guiltily to see a woman of about twenty-seven who looked Italian with her raven-black hair tied up in a chic twirl and tall, slender figure running towards them. Hannah jumped off the wall and toddled over to her, and was scooped up in her arms.
"Si, Julianna?" Shannon asked, her voice defensive. The woman, Julianna, began to complain to herhalf in English and half in a foreign language they didn't understand. Shannon averted her eyes and yawned boredly, before defending herself valiantly. Eventually, she turned back to her new friends.
"Sorry guys, I've gotta go. Something about worrying Dad sick and all that by being out with Hannah too long. Anyways, see ya on 1st September!" She got up and followed Julianna to the Leaky Cauldron.
"C'mon Harry, we'd better go ourselves," said Hermione, as she and Ron stood up. "We'd better go ourselves, my parents will be waiting."
Harry got up and followed his two best friends along Diagon Alley. Something told him this year was going to be interesting...
*****
Harry approached his uncle and aunt warily in the living room that night, and cleared his throat loudly. This time they started and looked up.
"Back are you?" Vernon grunted. "Well, what do you want?"
"Erm, will you take me to King's Cross on 1st September so I can catch the train?" Remembering his manners, he added a strained, "Please."
"And what will happen if I refuse?"
"Uh...well, I don't think Sirius would be too pleased..."
He needed to say no more. "ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT, WE'LL GIVE YOU A LIFT TO THE DAMN STATION!" Vernon roared, jumping to his feet.
Harry nodded. "Thank you." He went out of the room, and as he mounted the stairs, he heard Aunt Petunia pouring her husband a large brandy to calm his nerves.
*****
OK, what did you think? As you can see, I couldn't be bothered with any of that 'because Harry Potter was a wizard' clap trap, so I just bunged down a load of stuff. THIS IS NOT A MARY SUE STORY! Mary Sues are sweet, charming and tactful. And, er, Shannon's not.
PS. Please review. Thanx. I reallly appreciate it. Wow, just what you always wanted, to be appreciated by some maniac shap shifter! (See my profile)