~*~ Hiya! Gee! For once, I don't have anything to say! lol… well, except maybe that this chapter is kind of important, but not… It's kinda like a filler, but more than that…meh… never mind… lol! ^_^ Anyhoo! I hope you like it! ENJOY! ~*~
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Meanwhile, Professor Mitchell was making her way down the Fourth floor corridor, after leaving Sirius' room. She was walking fast and didn't seem to be in a very good mood. As she stormed down hallway after hallway, making her way to her own room, she bumped into someone. It was Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry sir, Professor." She nodded to both teachers. "Is everything alright, Miss Mitchell?" Dumbledore asked her, seeing the disgruntled expression that she wore. "No sir. Everything's fine," she told them shrugging away her distress. "You wouldn't have happened to see any students or unwanted visitors around, have you?" Professor McGonagall asked pressingly. "Minerva…" Dumbledore said quietly. He gave both women a kind smile. "No, I'm sorry… Why? Has something gone wrong?" she asked a very faint note of panic in her voice. "Well, there's been a break-in in Gryffindor Tower… Four students found the portrait hanging open, and one of them found that a box of their belongings had been rummaged through." Minerva told her, disapproval clearly dripping off her every word. Professor Mitchell looked shocked. "When did this happen?" she asked quickly. "Nearly half an hour ago…" Dumbledore told her, "But the matter has been seen to and taken care of, I assure you." Miss Mitchell nodded and sighed. "Well, I'm off to bed then… See you in the morning sir, Minerva." She said as she bowed ever so slightly and continued to her room…
The rest of Gryffindor Tower had, of course been notified about the happenings of the night before. They were all told to keep their eyes open for anything unusual, and that they were tell a teacher immediately, should something happen again. Harry and his friends thought this was going a bit over-board, but it wasn't their place to say anything. "Has this happened before?" Hailey asked curiously that afternoon, as they sat working on their homework. "Actually" Harry said, "It has. In our third year, when they thought that Sirius was an escaped convict, he supposedly broke into Gryffindor Tower." Hailey looked a bit surprised, "Sirius?" she asked. They nodded. "Yeah, and the Fat Lady's still terrified of it… It's an awful fright for her, every time he walks past…" Ron added to the story. "Why what happened?" Hailey asked, sounding eager. Ron perked up at the question. It was his chance to tell his story again. "Well, it all started when the Fat Lady wouldn't let him in without the password. They assumed he was trying to get at Harry. But anyway, when she refused to let him in, he tore her canvas apart." Hailey's mouth was hanging open slightly, obviously not believing that her own Godfather could have done such a thing. "After that the Fat Lady wouldn't come back to her portrait, so they hired Sir Codogen, to take over." Hermionie continued. Ron scowled slightly at Hermionie, for cutting in on his story. "Yeah, and Neville had asked Sir Codogen for the weeks passwords, so he wouldn't forget, but he lost the paper he'd written them on and Sirius got a hold of it. So he went and told the portrait the passwords and that got him in the tower." Harry continued. Now Ron was glaring at Harry. This was supposed to be his story! So, he jumped in before anyone else could, seeing as his major part was next. "So, he got into Gryffindor Tower and came into our dorm. And he must have been looking for Harry and thought that my bed was his, because I heard a ripping noise, and when I woke up to see what it was, Sirius was standing over me holding a knife!" Ron said, reliving the moment in his head as he told Hailey. Hailey was nearly speechless. "S-Sirius did that? Well, I'd imagine it was only to warn you, Harry… I know the rest of the story, with Pettigrew and all…" She told them. She had heard from Dumbledore, when he had contacted her about coming to Hogwarts.
Sirius, of course was also informed of the break-in. He had confronted Hailey about her belongings being searched through and such, and told her that he'd keep watch. This made Hailey feel better, but she was beginning to feel a bit smothered. Infact, even after a few days, teachers and friends that she made since she'd been there, had been telling her they would watch out for her. It carried on like this for nearly a week, when she'd had it. A girl from Ravenclaw she had made friends with from Arithmancy came up to her and told her that she had herd what happened and that she'd "be on the look-out for anyone who looked suspicious." Hailey made an exasperated noise and threw her arms up in frustration. "What is wrong with you people?!" she said loudly as they stopped in the Entrance Hall. Several students passing by stopped and looked to see what was going on. 'P-Pardon?" the girl asked weakly. "I've had it up to here, with people coming up to me and saying Oh I'll watch out for you, I'll do this for you, blah, blah, blah… It's - no - big – thing." She said pronouncing every word. "Nothing was taken and no one was hurt! So why is everybody making a big deal out of it?" she asked, with a small aggravated laugh. Silence followed her little outburst. "Umm… Sorry about that…" Harry told the girl, who now looked slightly offended. Harry put his arm around Hailey's shoulders and steered her way from the small but growing crowed. Ron and Hermione followed quietly behind while Harry took his sister down and empty corridor, where he stopped her. "Hailey?!" Harry said looking surprised but sympathetically at her. "What's gotten into you?" he asked her. Hailey directed her glance to the ground and sighed. "I don't know…" she said quietly. She slid down the wall to the floor and held her head in her hands. "I just don't like it when people commiserate over my problems… it brings back bad memories…" she said as she stared sadly at the floor. "What do you mean?" Harry asked kneeling down in front her.
"The family I was living with had a son, and we were really close… he was like a brother to me…" Harry looked a bit hurt at this. Hailey noticed, and she added "But he knew I already had a brother. He was like substitute, until I could meet you, Harry. Well, he was more of, um…well… it's not important what he was like to me. What I'm trying to say is that we were really close. Anyway, last year, when there was the whole ordeal with the deatheaters at the Quidditch World Cup, there was also an attack where we were. And Greg just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time…" Hailey sniffled and wiped briskly at her eyes, trying to stop the tears. "He was killed then?" Hermione asked sadly. "Worse. Not only was he killed, but tortured before he died and tortured more, even after they'd killed him…" A single tear mad its way down her cheek and disappeared in the corner of her lips. "Oh Hailey…" Harry said sitting down from his keeling position. He placed his hand on her shoulder, comfortingly. "Everyone kept coming up to me to tell me that they were there for me and that they would watch out for me… I mean, I'm not saying I didn't appreciate their condolences, but I just wish that people would leave me alone to deal with things by myself…" She trailed off. No one knew what to say. They hadn't known anything about her loss, in fact, they didn't know very much at all about the family she was living with. They sat for a while in the empty hallway, until they were rudely disturbed. Malfoy came strolling down the corridor, Crabbe and Goyle tagging along like a couple of lost puppies. "Quite a scene you made down their Potter," he sneered as he walked up to them. "Go away Malfoy!" Hermione grumbled. Malfoy gave her a look of utmost disgust and snapped back, "No one asked you to speak! You atrocious little Mudblood!" He looked somewhat pleased at the uproar it caused. Harry, Ron and Hailey jumped to their feet. Hermione followed suit, to try and stop the fight that was bound to happen. But before she could say anything, Hailey stepped forward, raised her fist and pounded Malfoy right on the nose. He fell back into Crabbe and grabbed his nose in pain. "Don't you ever call her that again!" she hissed. Malfoy was at a loss for words. He brushed off his robes, and with one last glare, stalked away.
"Wow Hailey!" Ron said, turning around to face her. "That was great!" She smiled warmly at him, and turned to Hermione. "Are you OK? She asked her. Hermione nodded, "Are you? I mean… you know…" she watched as Hailey took a deep breath and ran her hand through her hair. "Yeah, I'm fine… But I don't really want to talk about anymore, if you don't mind… I just don't like reliving the past…" She smiled again and they started back to their common room.
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~*~ PLEASE REVIEW!! Thnx! :o) ~*~
**Authors Note! Thanks a billion to my few reviewers! It means a lot to me, it rally does! ^_^ Okiez! I'll have the next chappie out in a bit… I've already started writing it actually! Oh and "To my Readers/Reviewers:"
Shadow (anonymous) – umm…Harry probably won't start "training" for a while… I'd say, give it a few more chapters… ^_^
k00lgirl1808 – Hey! Thnx a bunch for coming bye! And thnx for the BUMPS!! ^_^
me*:) (anonymous) – Thnx for the advice! See, I did know about the starting a new paragraph when someone new starts talking and all, but I've just never taken the time to fix it… that's all! ^_^ And I'm glad you like Hailey! I wasn't sure if people would like having a new character… hehe! Thnx again! ^_~