A/N: I thought I wouldn't continue. Now, I will. But very, very long lengths between chapters.
"Weird," Ron said, tossing back the covers of his four-poster. "So she's just living at Hogwarts, and her dad's one of your fan girls?"
Harry nodded, transferring a pile of robes from his bed to the chest at the end of it. "Yeah. Seems pretty ordinary. Her dad's a muggle-born, she's a muggle, her mum's a muggle-"
"That's really unusual," Ron commented, slipping into bed. "I mean, Dumbledore doesn't normally let muggles near the castle. I s'pose she counts as a Squib in some parts." He shrugged. "Probably part of the extra security. You know they're all going to be watching us this year. No sneaking into Hogsmede through the passageways." He grinned conspiratorially at Harry.
"I've still got permission," Harry reminded him, thinking of the slip Sirius had signed for him. "Tonks and Moody backed it up, they've worked something out so they can do some legal magic stuff in this world." He smiled, thinking of the pink haired Metamorphmagus. She'd been a little annoyed with the Dursleys over the summer, and kept making surprise visits, to check he was being fed enough.
"Yeah," Ron yawned, settling into bed. He made a disgusted expression. "Urgh. Snape tomorrow. Double Potions," then fell back against the pillows, rolled over, and went to sleep.
Harry looked around the dormitory happily, taking in every change. Hogwarts was home to him, more so than the Dursleys, or even the Order's headquarters. He'd refused to go back to Sirius's all summer, despite cajoling from Tonks. Mr Weasley had got better soon after the end of term, and he'd spent a week at Ron's, laughing at his friend's indignation over Ginny's current boyfriend. Voldemort had seemed very far away at the Burrow, except for the Daily Prophet articles showing scared faces, and terrified officials proclaiming the curfew to be mandatory now.
He rolled over, scrunched up his face in disgust at the idea of a Harry Potter 'fan girl', even if the said fan girl was in his mid forties, and fell asleep, forgetting everything until the next morning.
"That's really strange," Hermione commented, sprinkling sugar over her porridge the next morning. "I don't think non-magical people have ever lived on the grounds. Those anti-Muggle spells on the gates must have been dismantled briefly. It's quite interesting, if you think about it." Ron and Harry's expressions must have told her more than words could, just how un-interesting they thought it really was.
"Wonder what she does for meals?" Ron wondered, forking a piece of bacon up greedily. "I mean, teachers have the top table. Students are Sorted."
As if in answer to his question, two figures appeared in the doorway of the Great Hall. A tall, and fairly slim woman, in her late thirties, whose blonde hair was piled into a loose bun, made her way to the top table, and sat down beside the new professor, helped herself to some porridge, and that was that. Georgia, however, looked shyly around the hall, searching for a place to sit.
Unlike the previous day, she was now dressed in the students' black robes, and her thick hair was tied back neatly. She hovered on the verge of the Slytherin table, until a couple of jibes sent her across. Nearest to her was Gryffindor, and at the friendly invite from a couple of fifth years, gratefully, she sat down, only a few spaces away from the three.
"Budge up, Ron," called Ginny, sliding along the bench to make room for the new girl. Obediently, they moved further up.
"I'm Ginny," they heard Ginny explain, "And that's my brother further up. He's sixth year prefect for Gryffindor." Ron flushed, his freckles standing out lividly against the pink of his blush. Georgia nodded, tucking her hair behind her ears nervously. Her robe sleeves flapped at the wrists, much too big for her, they had a look of being made to do, sliding off her skinny frame, and occasionally dipping into her porridge. Her hair, they could now see, had been raked into a plait down her back, without it obscuring her face you could see the multitude of freckles dotting her skin. The only things fairly pretty about Georgia were her eyes, a hazel colour with gold-ish flecks when the light was right. They stood out in her face at the present time like a scared rabbit's.
"I'm Georgia," she tried to smile back. "Sorry about crashing your table. I missed the wake up call earlier, when I could have eaten breakfast with some of the earlier rising teachers, and Mum said I should just pick a table, and sit down in a hurry." She shuddered, her shoulders rising. "Some of them aren't very friendly." She risked a glance over her shoulder at the Slytherin table.
Ginny's puzzlement was evident. "What?"
Georgia's ears turned a delicate shade of pink. "Sorry. I'm doing it again. I'm not a witch, you see. Just an ordinary per.. muggle, I mean." She gave an awkward grin. "Still not used to the word. Up until last term I went to a normal school. We lived in Yorkshire, you see, then Dad heard about the job here, applied and Mum and I followed him. She's teaching me. Apparently there's a few classes I can watch," she smiled broadly now. "Mum's trying to bargain with Professor Snape to let us borrow the dungeons for Chemistry. That man seriously scares me," she pulled a face, pouring milk over her porridge. "Like an vampire or something."
"Or something," Harry and Ron exchanged glances. That their Potions master was a former Death Eater was a fact Dumbledore had asked them not to disclose to the rest of the school, in light of Voldemort's rise to power. Some students, not believing Dumbledore's word would think he was still a spy and cause trouble.
"Hello," Hermione extended a hand, and gave a friendly smile to Georgia. "I'm Hermione Granger. It's nice to meet you, even if it is a bit strange to meet a muggle in Hogwarts."
Georgia took her hand, and shook it. "Don't tell me about weird," she grinned back. "I'm in a wizard school. It's like something out of a book."
"How old are you?" Hermione asked, politely, biting her toast. Georgia swallowed her mouthful.
"Sixteen. I'm in your equivalent year group," she answered, a little apologetically. "I'll be joining some of you for some things."
"That'll be interesting," Hermione said encouragingly. She buttered another piece of toast. "I remember coming from the muggle world and finding out I was a witch. There's so many differences, aside from the culture. Half of the wizarding world has no idea what muggles are like."
"Yeah," Georgia agreed, but Harry could see, a little less happily. She climbed off the bench. "I'm not very hungry. See you around, possibly."
"That was strange," Ron commented, watching her go. Harry shook his head. He thought he knew what had happened. Georgia's difference to everyone at Hogwarts had struck home, past the excitement of being around magic. It was a feeling he knew all too well, as heads turned curiously from various tables to stare after the girl. Somehow, he knew that telling people what Georgia was feeling would not be helpful. Sympathy from people who were the reason for your embarrassment didn't comfort.
Hastily he changed the subject. "We'd better get ready for Snape's lesson. He might take fifty points from us if it's one of us that's late."
"Don't remind me," Ron groaned, and the three moved off to collect their books before the first lesson of the day.
A/N: This does revolve around Georgia a wee bit, but that's my claim for the Sue-title. I'm trying to keep the Mary Sue actions to a minimum. ^_^ Coming in next chapters... DADA with Professor Reynolds, a sit in from Georgia, and trouble from the Slytherins.