Harry Potter and the Power of Two

Encounters with Girls and Enemies

Holly was sitting on the edge of the bed in her room at the place they were staying. It was a small tavern called the Leaky Cauldron. It wasn't a bad place; Holly just missed the comforts of home.

She got up and crossed to the other side of the bedroom and looked at her reflection in the mirror above the wardrobe. Her eyes had bags under them and she looked far from her best. She assumed it was from the tiring week she had had.

The day Holly's family had left was her 15th birthday and in her opinion it had been the worst birthday ever. All that traveling and trying to find a place to stay until they could find a decent house.

Since then nothing much had happened. Holly's parents were out constantly on business and they hadn't shown her how to get into Diagon Alley behind the Leaky Cauldron so she couldn't at least go window shopping.

Thankfully, her parents weren't going anywhere today. They had promised to take her out shopping for her school supplies. She had received her letter from Hogwarts yesterday confirming her transfer and informing her of the required materials for fifth year students.

She couldn't wait until they got to Diagon Alley. She'd finally have something to keep her busy until the start of term.

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Harry, Ron, and Hermione were walking together through the streets of Diagon Alley. They were just about finished gathering their school supplies for the upcoming term. All they had left to buy were their textbooks at Flourish and Blotts.

They quickly gathered their books and squeezed into line. Harry couldn't help but think that there was an unusually large amount of people in the store. He figured that was the reason for the tingling sensation at the back of his mind that felt like someone was watching him.

However, as the three friends moved closer to the counter, this feeling didn't go away. He looked around to see if he could find the source of the tingling. He didn't see anyone staring at him. However, his eyes did fall on one particular person.

Harry spotted a girl who looked about his own age. He wondered why he hadn't noticed her before at school. She had red hair that fell loosely around her shoulders. She looked about an inch and half shorter than himself. He thought that she was incredibly pretty

Harry couldn't help but think that she looked familiar, but he knew it wasn't from school, so he was trying to figure out where he had seen her.

Deep in thought, Harry didn't realize he was staring at the strange girl. All of a sudden the girl turned and looked straight into Harry's eyes.

"Harry!"

"Huh?" Harry turned around to face his two friends.

"You're next, Harry," Hermione said.

"Oh, thanks," he replied.

Harry quickly paid for his things and the trio turned to leave the store. On the way out, Harry tried desperately to find that girl, with no luck. Hermione noticed Harry's searching look and asked him if he was all right.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he said trying to reassure her.

The three friends started to make their way out of Diagon Alley. Harry was deep in thought trying to make sense of the weird feeling he got when he saw that girl. There was just something about her. Could it be love? he thought. He wasn't sure, but he did know that whatever it was, there was some sort of connection between himself and that girl.

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The rest of Harry's summer flew by. It wasn't long before it was September the 1st, the start of term. This year, to Harry's great dismay, they arrived at King's Cross by way of Floo Powder.

When Harry stepped out of the fireplace and on to Platform 9 ¾, he was greeted with a pleasant and all to familiar sight. Students and parents were everywhere trying to load all of their belongings on to the school train. Harry was very excited that he was finally going back to Hogwarts after an extremely long summer of bad dreams and the Dursleys.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione climbed aboard the Hogwarts express and grabbed a compartment to themselves. Unfortunately, they weren't alone for very long.

The train had hardly pulled out of the station, when the door to their compartment slid open. Silhouetted in the doorway, stood the three people that the friends wanted to see the least. Harry's archenemy, Draco Malfoy, flanked by his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, who were each at least twice the size of their leader.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Ron said in disgust.

"For your information, Weasley, I don't want anything to do with you or your mudblood girlfriend," Malfoy spat. "It's Potter I'm here to see."

Harry couldn't take it much longer. "Well get it over with then," He said. "I don't want anything to do with you, either."

Malfoy's smirk flickered. Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles menacingly and made a noise that could have been called a growl. Malfoy held up his hand to silence them.

"You'd better be brave now, Potter," he sneered, "because when you're up against the Dark Lord again, you won't be as lucky as before. I guarantee it."

"I wouldn't be so brave yourself, Malfoy." Harry said. Now, if you would kindly leave us be."

Malfoy's wicked grin just grew at Harry's politeness. "No, I don't think we will. What do you think boys?"

Crabbe and Goyle both grunted and nodded in approval. Malfoy slowly and dramatically drew his wand from beneath his robes.

This really ticked Harry off. He finally got up out of his seat. As he had grown a couple inches over the summer, he easily towered over Malfoy. But Crabbe and Goyle were still another story.

"Harry, don't," Hermione pleaded. "He's not worth it."

"Of course not," Malfoy interrupted. "We wouldn't want to have our famous Harry Potter get hurt," he said in a voice surprisingly similar to Hermione's. "Come on, Potter. Or are you afraid."

Just as Malfoy finished Harry whipped out his wand and muttered a few well chosen words and before anyone knew what had happened, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were laying in a crumbled heap outside their compartment door.

"It never fails," Ron said. "That git always has to ruin a perfectly good train ride."

"You know, Harry. You really shouldn't have done that," Hermione said.

Harry just shrugged his shoulders, shut the door, and slumped back into his seat as he tried to enjoy the rest of the train ride.

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Holly closed her compartment door silently and slid back into her seat. She had chosen the compartment across the hall from Harry Potter's. She had still been too nervous too introduce herself before they boarded the train.

Just a little while ago she had finally screwed up the courage, but when she opened the door she found that there was already someone there.

A small boy with a pointed face and white blond hair was standing in the doorway flanked by two other boys who were easily twice his size. From the moment she saw them, Holly knew there was something about them she didn't like.

She was about to close the door but the mention of something about a mudblood caught her attention. She decided to listen in just for a little while.

Holly figured out that it was the small boy called Malfoy who was speaking. What a weird name, she thought.

Then finally she heard him speak. Holly heard Harry tell Malfoy off and she smiled inwardly. The next thing she heard made her blood run cold. Malfoy had threatened Harry, saying You-Know-Who would kill him! She couldn't believe it.

Lost in her thoughts, Holly didn't hear what was said next but she gasped out loud when the three students were blown out of the doorway and hit the wall next to her door. She waited a while before the door to Harry's compartment slid shut.

Sitting in her seat, Holly reflected on what had happened. What she had seen was amazing. Holly knew that she was good in school, but she doubted that she could perform magic like that. He must be really powerful, she thought. Maybe he could tutor me.

Holly settled into her pleasant fantasies of being tutored by the famous Harry Potter for the rest of the train ride.

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Phew! It's finally done. Sorry it took so long but with work and everything, I haven't had much time to write. However, I'm going to be writing more often from now on so hopefully Chapter 4 will be up soon. Don't forget to review with questions/comments/plot ideas/etc. Thanks and keep reading.

Kero.