Hello everybody! Here's Chapter Two- finished it faster than I planned...
*Chapter Two: Harry's Hopelessness*
That night, it took Harry a long time to fall asleep. And it wasn't because he was wondering about how he would defeat Voldemort. It wasn't because he was worrying about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that he would meet in two days. It wasn't even because he was worrying about the mysterious person who had visited him during dinner.
No, Harry Potter was lying awake because he was thinking about Miranda Raie.
He'd never expected to feel the way he did about a Slytherin. About a Slytherin he'd never even met! But Ron had been right at dinner. Harry definitely fancied Miranda. He couldn't get her face out of his mind. He wondered when he'd get to meet her. He thought about that until around midnight, when Harry finally managed to fall asleep.
But his sleep was short lived, because Harry had only been asleep for twenty minutes before a scream split the silence. Harry, along with all the other boys in his room, sprang out of bed and grabbed his wand.
"It came from outside!" cried Ron, rushing to the window. The four others crowded around him, peering down at the grounds.
"Do you see anything?" asked Neville Longbottom, his voice squeaking in terror.
"No." responded Seamus.
"Hold on a second." Harry said. "Do you hear that?"
"What?" asked Dean.
"Sh. Listen!" Harry frantically gestured for them to be quiet. He could hear something coming from across the grounds. It was a soft voice, singing!
"What's singing have to do with that scream we heard?" asked Ron.
"Think Ron. We are inside, and the scream came from outside and we still heard it. Whoever is singing had to have heard the scream... so why wouldn't they be running to help?" supplied Harry, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "So obviously whoever is singing must have caused the scream, or was the one screaming.
"Er, maybe they were singing too loudly to hear?" suggested Dean.
"You don't really think that's possible, do you? They'd have to have been singing louder than physically possible in order not to hear it. And we would have heard the singing before the scream in that case!" The boys spun around when they heard Hermione.
"When did you get here?" sputtered Ron.
"Well, I heard the scream and I figured that I couldn't do anything by myself and Parvati and Lavender are no use whatsoever so I came here!" Hermione said, looking a little offended. Then her cheeks reddened a little and she glanced away. "Er, maybe you guys should put some robes on?"
Harry looked down and realized that the five of them had been standing in nothing but their boxers. They quickly fumbled to pull on whichever robe lay closest to them. When the guys finished, the six students crowded around the window again.
"Hey, the singing's stopped!" remarked Ron.
"Yeah, but look, someone's walking up to the school, look!" Neville pointed toward a clump of shadows.
"I'm seeing two people, how about you?" said Seamus, peering harder at the shadows.
"Yeah." Harry looked closer. "Does one of them look like a blonde to you?" The others nodded their affirmation. "Malfoy?"
"Most likely. Who else could it be?" asked Hermione.
"Could be that Jonathan guy." suggested Dean.
"Yeah, could be. Somebody run down to the fifth year's room and check if he's there." said Ron.
"I thought he was a sixth year!" said Hermione.
"He is, but we don't have any room in this dorm for another student." muttered Seamus.
"Oh." Was all that Hermione said.
"So, is anyone going?" asked Ron a few seconds later.
"Not now, I'm trying to see who else is there." said Dean, leaning forward.
"I can't tell. He has his hood up and it is covering his face. Looks shorter than Malfoy though, don't you think?" asked Hermione.
"Don't assume its Malfoy, could be-" Ron started, but Hermione cut him off.
"It's not Jonathan. I talked to him for a while in the Common Room before bed. He isn't the type to be walking around in the middle of the night. And he definitely isn't the type to sing." Hermione replied defensively.
"Neither is Malfoy." Ron scoffed.
"Look, guys, it doesn't matter." Neville interrupted. "We need to find out if there's anything wrong. Remember- someone screamed."
"Right. So what do we do?" asked Seamus. Again, Harry looked up to find everyone's eyes on him. Sighing, he stepped away from them. Why do I always have to be the leader? He wondered to himself.
"Harry? Any ideas?" Ron asked.
"Er- maybe we should just wait and ask a professor in the morning. After all, I wouldn't want to play the hero." He added with a bit of scorn in his voice.
"Harry, this is different, this is happening right now, and we all heard it- " started Hermione, but Harry cut her off by raising a hand.
"No, its okay, really- I don't care what's going on. I don't want to get involved this year." Harry said, walking over to his bed.
"B-But Harry- that isn't exactly your choice. I mean, come on, we have to do something!" protested Ron.
"No, I don't want to. I have my own problems." Harry said crossly. Hermione scowled and walked over so that she was standing in front of Harry.
"I've had enough of this attitude. Now, snap out of it! Be the Harry we know, or I shall have to snap you out of it myself." Hermione stated fiercely. Harry looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"Oh? And just how are you going to do that?" He sat down on his bed. "You won't do anything. And I-" Harry was cut off by Hermione's fist coming out and punching him right in his mouth, effectively cutting off whatever it was he'd been trying to say. Outraged, Harry jumped to his feet.
"What the bloody hell was that for?" he bellowed, showing his temper for the first time in months.
"Er, Hermione, I know you're trying to bring back Harry's personality and all, but couldn't you have left this part behind?" asked Ron tentatively. Harry whirled to face him, eyes flashing.
"What are you talking about?" Harry stepped toward Ron. Neville, Dean, and Seamus backed across the room, intently watching the Trio.
"Harry, you've been locked up in your own little world all summer! We just wanted to bring you back to reality." said Hermione. Harry stared at her.
"Bring me back to reality? Are you listening to yourself? I'm living reality. I'm right there. Sirius is dead and Voldemort-" Harry broke off with a sharp glance at the three spectators. "I'm very much in reality, Hermione."
"Yes, that way, but what about being yourself? Talking to us? You've barely spoken at all! And now you just want to ignore it when someone might be hurt?" Hermione paused, slightly out of breath, and then added in a soft voice. "We just want our friend back." Harry looked at her for a full minute, and then turned to Ron.
"You think that too?" He asked. Ron hesitated.
"Er, well... yeah." Harry sighed.
"Alright then. I suppose I have been a bit unsocial." He stated. Hermione smirked.
"More than a little! You've been acting like a perfect stranger." She smiled slightly, and was relieved when Harry gave her a soft grin in response.
"Yeah, well, I still don't think we should do anything right now. It's the middle of the night, and we wouldn't even know where to begin. The grounds are huge." Harry said. After a moment, Ron and Hermione agreed with him.
"You're right. We wouldn't find anything. We'll know if anything happens." Hermione concluded. "Well then, gentlemen, I'll just be off now." She sailed out of the room, and the boys climbed back into their beds.
Ron felt considerably happier. He'd wanted to confront Harry all evening, ever since Harry had gone straight up to bed after dinner. Now Ron thought that maybe things would be different. Still thinking about his friends, Ron fell asleep without much thought as to the reason for strange scream.
~*~*~
It was a very tired group of Gryffindors that made their way into the Great Hall the next morning for breakfast. Draco smirked over at the sixth year boys, who seemed to look extremely tired. Stifling a yawn, he faced Miranda again, and tried to listen to what she was saying. He felt dead on his feet. The Gryffindors hadn't been the only ones up at odd hours last night.
"Malfoy, are you even listening to me?" snapped Miranda, causing Draco to look at her guiltily.
"Er, sort of?" he offered, looking sheepish.
"I was just saying that maybe you aren't cut out for the type of work that we were doing last night... it might be a bit too, how should I put it? Too challenging for someone like you." Miranda smirked at him.
"Someone like me? What do you mean? I was doing an excellent job last night. I followed all the instructions perfectly, and it'll be done by Saturday night!" Draco protested, offended by the girl's comment.
"Just making sure you were really listening Draco, relax. Anyway, while Saturday is good and everything, I do need something else accomplished before we can use the potion." Miranda shot him an evil glance. "Mind you, we'd be stealing..." 'Breaking the rules is so much fun'. She thought to herself. But before she could tell Draco exactly what they needed to steal, Dumbledore rose to his feet and called for their attention.
"It seems that many of you might have heard a suspicious scream last night." He paused as the students nodded. "Right, well, don't worry about that. You see, it seems that our Divinations teacher made the mistake of incorrectly communicating with the, er, spirits. You see, she borrowed a book from the restricted section of the library and it just happened to be the wrong book. Sadly, the book she chose emits a very loud scream whenever opened... I'm sure you understand how something like that might happen..." Dumbledore's voice trailed off and Draco was surprised to notice that the Headmaster seemed to be holding back laughter.
"My point, students, is that there was no danger or trouble at all last night. Just to clarify." Draco snickered as Dumbledore sat down.
"Maybe Trelawney did grab the wrong book, but that probably wasn't the scream most students heard last night." He whispered into Miranda's ear. She grinned impishly at him.
"No, but that story definitely smoothes things over for us, now doesn't it?" The two of them smirked. Pansy Parkinson looked across the table and scowled at them, wishing she could hear what they were saying. Since when had they started acting like life long friends? She thought crossly.
Across the Hall, the Gryffindors were excitedly talking about Dumbledore's announcement. Or rather, they were making fun of their professor. The Trio laughed loudly together, Harry finally out of his depressing 'quiet-mode'.
"That's so perfect. Trelawney got the wrong book! It figures she'd do something like that!" said Ron.
"Can you imagine what the look on her face must have been when the book started screaming?" Harry asked, laughing at the mental image of their professor. He imagined that her already huge-looking eyes would have at least doubled in size. Even Hermione, who normally did not approve of making fun of their teachers, had to add to this conversation.
"I'll bet she started babbling about predicting something like that would happen. 'Headmaster, you wouldn't believe it, but just yesterday I felt a connection tell me that a simple mistake would awake the worry of many children'." Hermione mimicked the voice of the professor she hated.
Still laughing, the three left the Great Hall and headed toward their first class, Charms. Professor Flitwick's class was always interesting, and all three of them enjoyed trying to turn the feathers in front of them invisible.
"Hey, I did it!" cried Ron at one point, looking extremely pleased with himself. Hermione looked over at him sympathetically.
"Actually Ron, you didn't. The wind just blew the feather off the desk. Its just there, by your feet." Ron scowled and plucked the feather from the ground.
"Now class, invisibility isn't really complicated in itself. But there are many different alterations of it. For example, instead of turning yourself invisible, you could simply make just one finger disappear, or perhaps make yourself completely invisible except for one ear. The possibilities really are quite fascinating! We will be spending all of September learning this talent." Flitwick smiled up at them.
"Excuse me, Professor, but, what else will we be learning this year?" This question came from Jonathan, the student from Beauxbatons. "You see, we studied invisibility last year, and I was just wondering..." But Jonathan's voice trailed off as Flitwick scrambled over to him.
"Yes, yes, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang both teach this lesson a year earlier than Hogwarts, but that is our only difference. Come now, if you've studied this already, please give us an example." Flitwick urged, but Jonathan looked down, blushing.
"Oh, I was, er, never very good at Charms, sir. I-I don't think showing you would be a very good idea." He mumbled.
"Nonsense. Go on."
"Well, alright..." Jonathan raised his wand and aimed at the feather in front of him. Instead of it turning invisible, the light of magic from Jonathan's wand seemed to curve out and land on Flitwick. Surprised, he gave a high squeak. That was the only response from him that the students witnessed, because Jonathan had indeed turned him invisible.
"Oh, wow. I've never actually made anything invisible before! Sorry Professor." He mumbled.
"Oh, no problem at all Jonathan. I'll just say the counter-charm..." Harry watched as Flitwick's wand rose from his desk and waved about the air, emitting sparks as Flitwick preformed the spell. Nothing happened.
"Er, Jonathan, are you sure you didn't put some type of locking charm on your spell? Because I'm finding it rather impossible to fix this." said Flitwick's voice. Jonathan shrugged.
"To be honest, I'm not really sure what I did. But you are invisible, so do I get credit?" Jonathan asked tentatively.
"Ah, yes, yes, don't worry lad. I'll just, ah, I'll just go visit the Headmaster, shall I? Get a little help." Harry watched as a black wizard's hat floated from the desk and seemed to settle over what must have been the professor's head. "Er, Miss Granger, you're the prefect, right?" She nodded. "You'll be in charge while I'm gone." With that, the hat left the room.
For a moment, the students sat in stunned silence, and then excited chatter started up. The Trio made there way over to Jonathan, who was resting his head in his hands.
"That was bloody brilliant!" proclaimed Ron.
"Yeah, nobody's ever put a charm on a teacher before!" said Harry. Jonathan looked up, surprised.
"Really? I've done it at least five times back at Beauxbatons."
"Amazing. What did you do?" asked Ron eagerly.
"Er, well... once I set Madame Maxine's cloak on fire." Jonathan mumbled. Hermione gaped at him.
"You did? What did she say?"
"She didn't say much of anything." Jonathan said, grinning mischievously.
"She didn't?" commented Harry, confused. The Madame Maxine that he knew wouldn't let something like that go without some type of reprimand.
"She just ran screeching down the hall. She then publicly scolded me during dinner, and I served detention for the next month."
"The next month?" said Hermione. "B-But you didn't even do it on purpose!"
"Tell her that. I guess embarrassing her is worth the same punishment- intentional or not." Jonathan shrugged. "Anyway, I've had about enough excitement for one day. Which class is next?"
"Transfiguration, but don't worry. We won't have to do anything in class- McGonagall will spend the whole time instructing us on class rules and protocol." said Hermione, smiling at his look of relief. She found herself confirming her conclusions from the night before. Jonathan would never be out breaking the rules. He probably didn't have a devious bone in him- he was too busy getting things wrong.
~*~*~
The Trio was walking away from their Transfiguration class, happy to be free of class for the rest of the afternoon, when Harry suddenly grabbed both of the others' hands and pulled them back around the corner.
"Yikes! Harry what're you doing?" protested Hermione, disengaging her arm from Harry's grasp.
"It's, it's that girl! She's standing in the next hallway!" Harry whispered; his eyes wide.
"What girl?" asked Hermione, starting forward, but Harry grabbed her and pulled her back again.
"No, stay back, be quiet!" he ordered.
"Honestly Harry, what is going on?" demanded Hermione.
"It must be the girl from Durmstrang! Harry fancies her, you know." said Ron.
"I do not fancy her. I just, you know, I'm a little nervous to meet her is all." Harry said quietly, while a deep red flushed onto his cheeks.
"Well, if you don't fancy her, then why would you be nervous?" asked Ron smugly.
"Because- because she's not from here and I want to be sure to give her a good first impression of us." Harry stammered.
"You mean a good first impression of you." Ron insisted.
"No- of us Gryffindors! No doubt Malfoy has filled her head with a bunch of insults!" Harry said, peeking around the corner. He saw her standing next to the stairs, looking around her at the bustle of activity in the hallway.
"Well, she's never going to get any impression if we don't introduce ourselves." Hermione proclaimed. "Besides, we can't stand here waiting until she leaves."
"Exactly, so let's go." Ron agreed. The two of them started around the corner, but soon realized that Harry wasn't with them. Turning around, they walked back to find Harry in the oddest position. He was kneeling on the floor by the window, twisting his head around and squinting.
"Really Harry, what are you doing?" cried Hermione, throwing up her hands. Harry jumped and turned sheepish eyes toward them.
"I was, you know, trying to see my reflection in the window, but its daytime and you have to find the right angle and-" Harry stammered, but Ron interrupted him.
"Why were trying to look at yourself? You look the same as you always do!" Harry blushed at his tone.
"Er- I was just making sure that I- you know..." He looked at Hermione, hoping she'd jump in and save him from having to admit it, but she just folded her arms across her chest and waited.
"Oh fine! I was making sure I looked okay- that my hair wasn't sticking up too bad and that I didn't have anything on my face!" Harry said, turning his back on Ron distressed look.
"You really are acting like Ginny did! You're acting like a lovesick little girl!" Ron cried, but Harry whirled around.
"I am not acting like a little girl." He hissed at them. Hermione's look told him that she was not impressed with his answer.
"Oh really, then how would you describe your actions?" she asked.
"I- I was just being sure that I made a good impression. Y-You wouldn't be making a good impression for the Gryffindor House if you showed up with food in your mouth or something!" Harry protested. Hermione shrugged and turned away.
"Whatever you say. But can we please go now? The sooner we meet her, the sooner we can do something more, er, interesting than this." Hermione whirled around and started around the corner. Ron and Harry followed behind her as she marched up to Miranda.
"Hello. I'm Hermione Granger." She held out her hand. Miranda turned and studied her for a second, as if judging whether the bushy-haired, petite girl was worth her time. After a second she smiled and grasped Hermione's hand.
"Miranda Raie. Pleasure." Miranda turned to Harry and Ron expectantly. "And you are?"
"Ron Weasley." Ron offered his hand, and Miranda took it, still grinning. She looked to Harry, but he suddenly found that he couldn't say anything. Hermione watched as Miranda frowned uncertainly and shot a glance at Ron.
"This is our friend, Harry Potter." supplied Ron, when he realized that Harry wouldn't be speaking anytime soon. Ron watched as his friend slowly took Miranda's outstretched hand and blushed a little.
"Er, so... you three are in Gryffindor?" Miranda asked, looking to Hermione. She nodded.
"Yeah, were in our sixth year." Harry managed to say, surprising himself when his voice didn't come out high and squeaky.
"I figured as much. You are the three I've read about?" asked Miranda.
"Uh, read about? Probably not. Harry's the only one in books..." Ron answered, looking a bit confused.
"Oh, not in books! I mean in the papers and magazines. Stuff about your current lives and accomplishments! Didn't you know that you three are a very famous Trio?" Miranda grinned at them, and Harry felt a strange warmth in his chest.
"We- I- we didn't know that we were famous! Not the three of us. Harry's famous, not me or Hermione." answered Ron.
"But you are famous. Ever since the Ministry came out with the information about You-Know-Who's return, they've been doing research on Harry and they discovered your little group. They wrote about all your heroics from your first years at Hogwarts." Miranda looked at them in excitement, her face expressing that she was impressed with their accomplishments. Harry felt extremely happy that Miranda thought what they'd done was interesting.
"Well, it's not that interesting really. Voldemort's back now, so there's no reason for them to write about our attempts to stop him before." Hermione said, blushing a little from Miranda's going on about their greatness.
"You said You-Know-Who's name! I'm surprised." remarked Miranda, her happy grin disappearing. Hermione turned to her with an exasperated look on her face.
"How many times are we going to go over this with you Slytherins? Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself!" she said. Miranda studied her for a second
"That's an interesting philosophy Hermione..." Harry stared at Miranda in shock. 'Did she just agree with Hermione?' he wondered.
"But you're wrong." Miranda finished. 'Ah, of course, agreeing with us would have been the impossible .She was in Slytherin.' he thought with a sigh.
"So you disagree?" asked Ron.
"You heard me." she stated. Ron frowned and stumbled on, apparently upset.
"B-But Dumbledore told us that!" Ron stammered stupidly. Miranda sighed and crossed her arms, looking almost sad.
"Even Dumbledore can't always be right, Ron. Not all the time." She sighed again, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"You see, names have certain powers attached to them. Especially evil names. Voicing them, even if you don't have fear, can be extremely foolish." Miranda explained. Harry looked over at Hermione and Ron, then back at Miranda.
"But surely Dumbledore would know about that." Harry frowned. It wasn't like Dumbledore to forget something as important as a magical name.
"Most wizards don't believe in the magic of names. Dumbledore has probably never seen proof. I have. I believe in it." Miranda leaned back against the stone wall.
"What proof?" asked Hermione, curious to find out more about this girl who challenged Dumbledore's word.
"I'd rather we talked about something more pleasant, if you don't mind. Surely you can understand that such proof might not be a very joyful topic?" Miranda asked; her expression pained. Harry felt himself nodding in agreement.
"Yes, let's talk about something else then." He suggested. There was a slight pause as they glanced at each other. The three Gryffindors weren't used to discussing things with a Slytherin. 'But she's not really a Slytherin.' Harry thought to himself. 'She was just put there because she's from Durmstrang.'
"How do you like Hogwarts?" he asked, trying to start a conversation.
"It is... very big." Miranda said, smiling a little. "I can't even begin to guess where I am right now."
"Would you like a tour?" asked Ron eagerly, earning him a scowl from Harry. Was it just him, or did Ron seem a little too eager to spend time with Miranda?
"A tour would be lovely, if you don't mind." Miranda looked at Hermione. The bushy-haired girl bit her lip for a second, in indecision. Eventually she nodded and plastered a smile onto her face.
"No problem at all. We'd love to show you around." Hermione offered. Ron smiled broadly and flung his arms around both their shoulders.
"Great! Hermione will be an awesome guide for you! She knows everything!" Ron proclaimed steering the two girls down the hallway. Harry followed them, feeling a little sulky. Ron's attitude worried him. Ron couldn't possible fancy Miranda too, could he?
~*~*~
Well, that's Chapter Two! Hope you liked it! But then, if you did, you could tell me... I think you know what I'm hinting at. Anyways, I'll work on Chapter 3 and see what happens... byebye
*Chapter Two: Harry's Hopelessness*
That night, it took Harry a long time to fall asleep. And it wasn't because he was wondering about how he would defeat Voldemort. It wasn't because he was worrying about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that he would meet in two days. It wasn't even because he was worrying about the mysterious person who had visited him during dinner.
No, Harry Potter was lying awake because he was thinking about Miranda Raie.
He'd never expected to feel the way he did about a Slytherin. About a Slytherin he'd never even met! But Ron had been right at dinner. Harry definitely fancied Miranda. He couldn't get her face out of his mind. He wondered when he'd get to meet her. He thought about that until around midnight, when Harry finally managed to fall asleep.
But his sleep was short lived, because Harry had only been asleep for twenty minutes before a scream split the silence. Harry, along with all the other boys in his room, sprang out of bed and grabbed his wand.
"It came from outside!" cried Ron, rushing to the window. The four others crowded around him, peering down at the grounds.
"Do you see anything?" asked Neville Longbottom, his voice squeaking in terror.
"No." responded Seamus.
"Hold on a second." Harry said. "Do you hear that?"
"What?" asked Dean.
"Sh. Listen!" Harry frantically gestured for them to be quiet. He could hear something coming from across the grounds. It was a soft voice, singing!
"What's singing have to do with that scream we heard?" asked Ron.
"Think Ron. We are inside, and the scream came from outside and we still heard it. Whoever is singing had to have heard the scream... so why wouldn't they be running to help?" supplied Harry, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "So obviously whoever is singing must have caused the scream, or was the one screaming.
"Er, maybe they were singing too loudly to hear?" suggested Dean.
"You don't really think that's possible, do you? They'd have to have been singing louder than physically possible in order not to hear it. And we would have heard the singing before the scream in that case!" The boys spun around when they heard Hermione.
"When did you get here?" sputtered Ron.
"Well, I heard the scream and I figured that I couldn't do anything by myself and Parvati and Lavender are no use whatsoever so I came here!" Hermione said, looking a little offended. Then her cheeks reddened a little and she glanced away. "Er, maybe you guys should put some robes on?"
Harry looked down and realized that the five of them had been standing in nothing but their boxers. They quickly fumbled to pull on whichever robe lay closest to them. When the guys finished, the six students crowded around the window again.
"Hey, the singing's stopped!" remarked Ron.
"Yeah, but look, someone's walking up to the school, look!" Neville pointed toward a clump of shadows.
"I'm seeing two people, how about you?" said Seamus, peering harder at the shadows.
"Yeah." Harry looked closer. "Does one of them look like a blonde to you?" The others nodded their affirmation. "Malfoy?"
"Most likely. Who else could it be?" asked Hermione.
"Could be that Jonathan guy." suggested Dean.
"Yeah, could be. Somebody run down to the fifth year's room and check if he's there." said Ron.
"I thought he was a sixth year!" said Hermione.
"He is, but we don't have any room in this dorm for another student." muttered Seamus.
"Oh." Was all that Hermione said.
"So, is anyone going?" asked Ron a few seconds later.
"Not now, I'm trying to see who else is there." said Dean, leaning forward.
"I can't tell. He has his hood up and it is covering his face. Looks shorter than Malfoy though, don't you think?" asked Hermione.
"Don't assume its Malfoy, could be-" Ron started, but Hermione cut him off.
"It's not Jonathan. I talked to him for a while in the Common Room before bed. He isn't the type to be walking around in the middle of the night. And he definitely isn't the type to sing." Hermione replied defensively.
"Neither is Malfoy." Ron scoffed.
"Look, guys, it doesn't matter." Neville interrupted. "We need to find out if there's anything wrong. Remember- someone screamed."
"Right. So what do we do?" asked Seamus. Again, Harry looked up to find everyone's eyes on him. Sighing, he stepped away from them. Why do I always have to be the leader? He wondered to himself.
"Harry? Any ideas?" Ron asked.
"Er- maybe we should just wait and ask a professor in the morning. After all, I wouldn't want to play the hero." He added with a bit of scorn in his voice.
"Harry, this is different, this is happening right now, and we all heard it- " started Hermione, but Harry cut her off by raising a hand.
"No, its okay, really- I don't care what's going on. I don't want to get involved this year." Harry said, walking over to his bed.
"B-But Harry- that isn't exactly your choice. I mean, come on, we have to do something!" protested Ron.
"No, I don't want to. I have my own problems." Harry said crossly. Hermione scowled and walked over so that she was standing in front of Harry.
"I've had enough of this attitude. Now, snap out of it! Be the Harry we know, or I shall have to snap you out of it myself." Hermione stated fiercely. Harry looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"Oh? And just how are you going to do that?" He sat down on his bed. "You won't do anything. And I-" Harry was cut off by Hermione's fist coming out and punching him right in his mouth, effectively cutting off whatever it was he'd been trying to say. Outraged, Harry jumped to his feet.
"What the bloody hell was that for?" he bellowed, showing his temper for the first time in months.
"Er, Hermione, I know you're trying to bring back Harry's personality and all, but couldn't you have left this part behind?" asked Ron tentatively. Harry whirled to face him, eyes flashing.
"What are you talking about?" Harry stepped toward Ron. Neville, Dean, and Seamus backed across the room, intently watching the Trio.
"Harry, you've been locked up in your own little world all summer! We just wanted to bring you back to reality." said Hermione. Harry stared at her.
"Bring me back to reality? Are you listening to yourself? I'm living reality. I'm right there. Sirius is dead and Voldemort-" Harry broke off with a sharp glance at the three spectators. "I'm very much in reality, Hermione."
"Yes, that way, but what about being yourself? Talking to us? You've barely spoken at all! And now you just want to ignore it when someone might be hurt?" Hermione paused, slightly out of breath, and then added in a soft voice. "We just want our friend back." Harry looked at her for a full minute, and then turned to Ron.
"You think that too?" He asked. Ron hesitated.
"Er, well... yeah." Harry sighed.
"Alright then. I suppose I have been a bit unsocial." He stated. Hermione smirked.
"More than a little! You've been acting like a perfect stranger." She smiled slightly, and was relieved when Harry gave her a soft grin in response.
"Yeah, well, I still don't think we should do anything right now. It's the middle of the night, and we wouldn't even know where to begin. The grounds are huge." Harry said. After a moment, Ron and Hermione agreed with him.
"You're right. We wouldn't find anything. We'll know if anything happens." Hermione concluded. "Well then, gentlemen, I'll just be off now." She sailed out of the room, and the boys climbed back into their beds.
Ron felt considerably happier. He'd wanted to confront Harry all evening, ever since Harry had gone straight up to bed after dinner. Now Ron thought that maybe things would be different. Still thinking about his friends, Ron fell asleep without much thought as to the reason for strange scream.
~*~*~
It was a very tired group of Gryffindors that made their way into the Great Hall the next morning for breakfast. Draco smirked over at the sixth year boys, who seemed to look extremely tired. Stifling a yawn, he faced Miranda again, and tried to listen to what she was saying. He felt dead on his feet. The Gryffindors hadn't been the only ones up at odd hours last night.
"Malfoy, are you even listening to me?" snapped Miranda, causing Draco to look at her guiltily.
"Er, sort of?" he offered, looking sheepish.
"I was just saying that maybe you aren't cut out for the type of work that we were doing last night... it might be a bit too, how should I put it? Too challenging for someone like you." Miranda smirked at him.
"Someone like me? What do you mean? I was doing an excellent job last night. I followed all the instructions perfectly, and it'll be done by Saturday night!" Draco protested, offended by the girl's comment.
"Just making sure you were really listening Draco, relax. Anyway, while Saturday is good and everything, I do need something else accomplished before we can use the potion." Miranda shot him an evil glance. "Mind you, we'd be stealing..." 'Breaking the rules is so much fun'. She thought to herself. But before she could tell Draco exactly what they needed to steal, Dumbledore rose to his feet and called for their attention.
"It seems that many of you might have heard a suspicious scream last night." He paused as the students nodded. "Right, well, don't worry about that. You see, it seems that our Divinations teacher made the mistake of incorrectly communicating with the, er, spirits. You see, she borrowed a book from the restricted section of the library and it just happened to be the wrong book. Sadly, the book she chose emits a very loud scream whenever opened... I'm sure you understand how something like that might happen..." Dumbledore's voice trailed off and Draco was surprised to notice that the Headmaster seemed to be holding back laughter.
"My point, students, is that there was no danger or trouble at all last night. Just to clarify." Draco snickered as Dumbledore sat down.
"Maybe Trelawney did grab the wrong book, but that probably wasn't the scream most students heard last night." He whispered into Miranda's ear. She grinned impishly at him.
"No, but that story definitely smoothes things over for us, now doesn't it?" The two of them smirked. Pansy Parkinson looked across the table and scowled at them, wishing she could hear what they were saying. Since when had they started acting like life long friends? She thought crossly.
Across the Hall, the Gryffindors were excitedly talking about Dumbledore's announcement. Or rather, they were making fun of their professor. The Trio laughed loudly together, Harry finally out of his depressing 'quiet-mode'.
"That's so perfect. Trelawney got the wrong book! It figures she'd do something like that!" said Ron.
"Can you imagine what the look on her face must have been when the book started screaming?" Harry asked, laughing at the mental image of their professor. He imagined that her already huge-looking eyes would have at least doubled in size. Even Hermione, who normally did not approve of making fun of their teachers, had to add to this conversation.
"I'll bet she started babbling about predicting something like that would happen. 'Headmaster, you wouldn't believe it, but just yesterday I felt a connection tell me that a simple mistake would awake the worry of many children'." Hermione mimicked the voice of the professor she hated.
Still laughing, the three left the Great Hall and headed toward their first class, Charms. Professor Flitwick's class was always interesting, and all three of them enjoyed trying to turn the feathers in front of them invisible.
"Hey, I did it!" cried Ron at one point, looking extremely pleased with himself. Hermione looked over at him sympathetically.
"Actually Ron, you didn't. The wind just blew the feather off the desk. Its just there, by your feet." Ron scowled and plucked the feather from the ground.
"Now class, invisibility isn't really complicated in itself. But there are many different alterations of it. For example, instead of turning yourself invisible, you could simply make just one finger disappear, or perhaps make yourself completely invisible except for one ear. The possibilities really are quite fascinating! We will be spending all of September learning this talent." Flitwick smiled up at them.
"Excuse me, Professor, but, what else will we be learning this year?" This question came from Jonathan, the student from Beauxbatons. "You see, we studied invisibility last year, and I was just wondering..." But Jonathan's voice trailed off as Flitwick scrambled over to him.
"Yes, yes, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang both teach this lesson a year earlier than Hogwarts, but that is our only difference. Come now, if you've studied this already, please give us an example." Flitwick urged, but Jonathan looked down, blushing.
"Oh, I was, er, never very good at Charms, sir. I-I don't think showing you would be a very good idea." He mumbled.
"Nonsense. Go on."
"Well, alright..." Jonathan raised his wand and aimed at the feather in front of him. Instead of it turning invisible, the light of magic from Jonathan's wand seemed to curve out and land on Flitwick. Surprised, he gave a high squeak. That was the only response from him that the students witnessed, because Jonathan had indeed turned him invisible.
"Oh, wow. I've never actually made anything invisible before! Sorry Professor." He mumbled.
"Oh, no problem at all Jonathan. I'll just say the counter-charm..." Harry watched as Flitwick's wand rose from his desk and waved about the air, emitting sparks as Flitwick preformed the spell. Nothing happened.
"Er, Jonathan, are you sure you didn't put some type of locking charm on your spell? Because I'm finding it rather impossible to fix this." said Flitwick's voice. Jonathan shrugged.
"To be honest, I'm not really sure what I did. But you are invisible, so do I get credit?" Jonathan asked tentatively.
"Ah, yes, yes, don't worry lad. I'll just, ah, I'll just go visit the Headmaster, shall I? Get a little help." Harry watched as a black wizard's hat floated from the desk and seemed to settle over what must have been the professor's head. "Er, Miss Granger, you're the prefect, right?" She nodded. "You'll be in charge while I'm gone." With that, the hat left the room.
For a moment, the students sat in stunned silence, and then excited chatter started up. The Trio made there way over to Jonathan, who was resting his head in his hands.
"That was bloody brilliant!" proclaimed Ron.
"Yeah, nobody's ever put a charm on a teacher before!" said Harry. Jonathan looked up, surprised.
"Really? I've done it at least five times back at Beauxbatons."
"Amazing. What did you do?" asked Ron eagerly.
"Er, well... once I set Madame Maxine's cloak on fire." Jonathan mumbled. Hermione gaped at him.
"You did? What did she say?"
"She didn't say much of anything." Jonathan said, grinning mischievously.
"She didn't?" commented Harry, confused. The Madame Maxine that he knew wouldn't let something like that go without some type of reprimand.
"She just ran screeching down the hall. She then publicly scolded me during dinner, and I served detention for the next month."
"The next month?" said Hermione. "B-But you didn't even do it on purpose!"
"Tell her that. I guess embarrassing her is worth the same punishment- intentional or not." Jonathan shrugged. "Anyway, I've had about enough excitement for one day. Which class is next?"
"Transfiguration, but don't worry. We won't have to do anything in class- McGonagall will spend the whole time instructing us on class rules and protocol." said Hermione, smiling at his look of relief. She found herself confirming her conclusions from the night before. Jonathan would never be out breaking the rules. He probably didn't have a devious bone in him- he was too busy getting things wrong.
~*~*~
The Trio was walking away from their Transfiguration class, happy to be free of class for the rest of the afternoon, when Harry suddenly grabbed both of the others' hands and pulled them back around the corner.
"Yikes! Harry what're you doing?" protested Hermione, disengaging her arm from Harry's grasp.
"It's, it's that girl! She's standing in the next hallway!" Harry whispered; his eyes wide.
"What girl?" asked Hermione, starting forward, but Harry grabbed her and pulled her back again.
"No, stay back, be quiet!" he ordered.
"Honestly Harry, what is going on?" demanded Hermione.
"It must be the girl from Durmstrang! Harry fancies her, you know." said Ron.
"I do not fancy her. I just, you know, I'm a little nervous to meet her is all." Harry said quietly, while a deep red flushed onto his cheeks.
"Well, if you don't fancy her, then why would you be nervous?" asked Ron smugly.
"Because- because she's not from here and I want to be sure to give her a good first impression of us." Harry stammered.
"You mean a good first impression of you." Ron insisted.
"No- of us Gryffindors! No doubt Malfoy has filled her head with a bunch of insults!" Harry said, peeking around the corner. He saw her standing next to the stairs, looking around her at the bustle of activity in the hallway.
"Well, she's never going to get any impression if we don't introduce ourselves." Hermione proclaimed. "Besides, we can't stand here waiting until she leaves."
"Exactly, so let's go." Ron agreed. The two of them started around the corner, but soon realized that Harry wasn't with them. Turning around, they walked back to find Harry in the oddest position. He was kneeling on the floor by the window, twisting his head around and squinting.
"Really Harry, what are you doing?" cried Hermione, throwing up her hands. Harry jumped and turned sheepish eyes toward them.
"I was, you know, trying to see my reflection in the window, but its daytime and you have to find the right angle and-" Harry stammered, but Ron interrupted him.
"Why were trying to look at yourself? You look the same as you always do!" Harry blushed at his tone.
"Er- I was just making sure that I- you know..." He looked at Hermione, hoping she'd jump in and save him from having to admit it, but she just folded her arms across her chest and waited.
"Oh fine! I was making sure I looked okay- that my hair wasn't sticking up too bad and that I didn't have anything on my face!" Harry said, turning his back on Ron distressed look.
"You really are acting like Ginny did! You're acting like a lovesick little girl!" Ron cried, but Harry whirled around.
"I am not acting like a little girl." He hissed at them. Hermione's look told him that she was not impressed with his answer.
"Oh really, then how would you describe your actions?" she asked.
"I- I was just being sure that I made a good impression. Y-You wouldn't be making a good impression for the Gryffindor House if you showed up with food in your mouth or something!" Harry protested. Hermione shrugged and turned away.
"Whatever you say. But can we please go now? The sooner we meet her, the sooner we can do something more, er, interesting than this." Hermione whirled around and started around the corner. Ron and Harry followed behind her as she marched up to Miranda.
"Hello. I'm Hermione Granger." She held out her hand. Miranda turned and studied her for a second, as if judging whether the bushy-haired, petite girl was worth her time. After a second she smiled and grasped Hermione's hand.
"Miranda Raie. Pleasure." Miranda turned to Harry and Ron expectantly. "And you are?"
"Ron Weasley." Ron offered his hand, and Miranda took it, still grinning. She looked to Harry, but he suddenly found that he couldn't say anything. Hermione watched as Miranda frowned uncertainly and shot a glance at Ron.
"This is our friend, Harry Potter." supplied Ron, when he realized that Harry wouldn't be speaking anytime soon. Ron watched as his friend slowly took Miranda's outstretched hand and blushed a little.
"Er, so... you three are in Gryffindor?" Miranda asked, looking to Hermione. She nodded.
"Yeah, were in our sixth year." Harry managed to say, surprising himself when his voice didn't come out high and squeaky.
"I figured as much. You are the three I've read about?" asked Miranda.
"Uh, read about? Probably not. Harry's the only one in books..." Ron answered, looking a bit confused.
"Oh, not in books! I mean in the papers and magazines. Stuff about your current lives and accomplishments! Didn't you know that you three are a very famous Trio?" Miranda grinned at them, and Harry felt a strange warmth in his chest.
"We- I- we didn't know that we were famous! Not the three of us. Harry's famous, not me or Hermione." answered Ron.
"But you are famous. Ever since the Ministry came out with the information about You-Know-Who's return, they've been doing research on Harry and they discovered your little group. They wrote about all your heroics from your first years at Hogwarts." Miranda looked at them in excitement, her face expressing that she was impressed with their accomplishments. Harry felt extremely happy that Miranda thought what they'd done was interesting.
"Well, it's not that interesting really. Voldemort's back now, so there's no reason for them to write about our attempts to stop him before." Hermione said, blushing a little from Miranda's going on about their greatness.
"You said You-Know-Who's name! I'm surprised." remarked Miranda, her happy grin disappearing. Hermione turned to her with an exasperated look on her face.
"How many times are we going to go over this with you Slytherins? Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself!" she said. Miranda studied her for a second
"That's an interesting philosophy Hermione..." Harry stared at Miranda in shock. 'Did she just agree with Hermione?' he wondered.
"But you're wrong." Miranda finished. 'Ah, of course, agreeing with us would have been the impossible .She was in Slytherin.' he thought with a sigh.
"So you disagree?" asked Ron.
"You heard me." she stated. Ron frowned and stumbled on, apparently upset.
"B-But Dumbledore told us that!" Ron stammered stupidly. Miranda sighed and crossed her arms, looking almost sad.
"Even Dumbledore can't always be right, Ron. Not all the time." She sighed again, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"You see, names have certain powers attached to them. Especially evil names. Voicing them, even if you don't have fear, can be extremely foolish." Miranda explained. Harry looked over at Hermione and Ron, then back at Miranda.
"But surely Dumbledore would know about that." Harry frowned. It wasn't like Dumbledore to forget something as important as a magical name.
"Most wizards don't believe in the magic of names. Dumbledore has probably never seen proof. I have. I believe in it." Miranda leaned back against the stone wall.
"What proof?" asked Hermione, curious to find out more about this girl who challenged Dumbledore's word.
"I'd rather we talked about something more pleasant, if you don't mind. Surely you can understand that such proof might not be a very joyful topic?" Miranda asked; her expression pained. Harry felt himself nodding in agreement.
"Yes, let's talk about something else then." He suggested. There was a slight pause as they glanced at each other. The three Gryffindors weren't used to discussing things with a Slytherin. 'But she's not really a Slytherin.' Harry thought to himself. 'She was just put there because she's from Durmstrang.'
"How do you like Hogwarts?" he asked, trying to start a conversation.
"It is... very big." Miranda said, smiling a little. "I can't even begin to guess where I am right now."
"Would you like a tour?" asked Ron eagerly, earning him a scowl from Harry. Was it just him, or did Ron seem a little too eager to spend time with Miranda?
"A tour would be lovely, if you don't mind." Miranda looked at Hermione. The bushy-haired girl bit her lip for a second, in indecision. Eventually she nodded and plastered a smile onto her face.
"No problem at all. We'd love to show you around." Hermione offered. Ron smiled broadly and flung his arms around both their shoulders.
"Great! Hermione will be an awesome guide for you! She knows everything!" Ron proclaimed steering the two girls down the hallway. Harry followed them, feeling a little sulky. Ron's attitude worried him. Ron couldn't possible fancy Miranda too, could he?
~*~*~
Well, that's Chapter Two! Hope you liked it! But then, if you did, you could tell me... I think you know what I'm hinting at. Anyways, I'll work on Chapter 3 and see what happens... byebye