The Initiation Mission

by MinxyRock

Willow Tredd does what she can to gain the respect and confidence of her superiors. It's her mission to win the guy and she takes her job seriously. A story if trial and error with a slight element of AU before the actual story begins, so be warned of th

Snap-shots of

Willow Tredd's Bogus Journey

#1.

The Mary Sue Headquarters

Mary Sue number T765 was sweating as she stood outside the door of the Mary Sue Exchange Commerce Office.

"Dear God, help us."

"Another newbie?"

"Yeah."

T765 could hear the board members talking about her through the heavy oaken door which was left ajar by the exquisite blond secretary. They did it to let the new Mary Sues know what the higher ranking members thought of them without having to look them in the eye: that they didn't like Mary Sues who didn't know what they were doing and liked having to interact with them even less.

"Urgh...fresh meat was never so unpleasant."

"Look at her file, Truman, there's nothing in it. See here..."

"I don't know how Thora manages to meet with these girls every day, all day...she's amazing."

T756 jumped when a buzzer on the secretary's phone trilled loudly. She pressed a button with one garnet lacquered nail and said in a sweet voice, "Yes Miss."

"Send the newbie in please, Miss Fritz," a tart, accented voice quipped from the speaker phone.

"Yes Miss Verde."

Beep.

"You may go in now Mary Sue," Dawn Frits, the secretary, said with a smile and a wink. As T765 walked past the desk the blond whispered, "Don't worry. They act like they don't like new Mary Sues but they love the opportunity of molding and shaping fresh material. You're lucky to be a Mary Sue of the Harry Potter realm, the most details go into them. Go on then."

T765 wondered if Dawn was genuinely nice but didn't have time to think too much on it. When she walked into the cold, brightly lit office she was tacked to the spot by six pairs of jewel-bright eyes. The Mary Sue swayed where she stood and distinctly heard an impatient urgh!

"Don't just stand there, step foreword please," snapped a Mary Sue T765 already knew to be Tango-Lynn Casey, head of the Commerce Office in the Harry Potter sanction.

"Let's see what we have here..." Tango-Lynn said. T765 was grateful for the cut and dry, no small talk way about the Mary Sue authorities.

"Your name for this mission is Willow Bernice Tredd." Tango Lynn's cornflower blue eyes zipped back and fourth over the assignment sheet. "Willow Tredd, 14 years old, black hair, golden eyes, went to Payton Harvard Academy of the Alternative Arts...yadda, yadda, you can read this for yourself...hidden in deep the Sequoia National Park due to some Governmental Wizarding-Muggle Alliance... rich parents decided it was time for a change and have a house built 20 miles south of Glasgow...yadda, yadda, yadda...not bad actually. You don't need a tragic past, no childhood trauma, or any real reason to start going to Hogwarts other than the fact that you moved to a newly built house in Scotland because your pureblood parents are that rich. Keep in mind that you are free to add or change any details to your own profile; we like creativity in this trade. Good deal here. Tanya-Bree, if you will..."

The head Mary Sue handed the folder woman with shining auburn curls and wide-set green eyes. She took a blue sheet from a small stack at her right and began reading from it in a rather bored sort of tone.

"Your particular mission, should you choose to accept it and keep it as is, is to gain the affections of two main characters in the Harry Potter realm's Book Four. Whom ever you choose, one of them should be Harry Potter himself - that kid always puts a sizable bonus on one's paycheck. Also, the more recognition you gain in the school, the bigger the bonus will be...just to let you know. You can gain more points through pretty much any means: being accurate in Divination, gaining the affections of more people than you were assigned to, beating Hermione Granger out in cleverness and then being humble about it...people love that, making Hermione look both stuck up and not as smart as everyone thought she was."

Tanya-Bree then looked up at Willow Treadd with cool indifference, "Still, this being your first time, I'd keep the mission simple if I were you; keep the year as easy as possible. If you succeed, you'll have plenty of time to learn how to multitask. Gizelle?"

Tanya-Bree then handed the buff-colored file folder to a woman who could be described in two words: Brazilian Beauty. Gizelle raised a yellow sheet for Willow Tredd to look at briefly before putting it in the new Mary Sue's folder.

"Fill this form out and take it to Brianna in the CT room just across the hall," Gizelle Verde said. She spoke in a tight, clipped manner, like she would rather be in any situation other than this one right here.

That was the tart voice from the speaker phone. T765 decided that she didn't like her very much but she supposed that this didn't matter. The cocoa-skinned woman continued.

"Then go to Character Development three doors down and on the right where you're image will be altered; Brianna will meet you at Transfer with more information..." Gizelle slid the file towards Willow Tredd and raised her eyebrows. "You may go now."

#2.

Willow Tredd

Willow Tredd clutched the folder to her indistinct (for now) chest and stumbled out of the office and into the large, brightly-lit lobby. She sat in a chair by the CT room and took the yellow sheet from her folder. In plain bold text at the top, the yellow sheet read Character Tweak Form. Willow frowned at the yellow paper in her lap: apparently one could tweak the appearance and behavior of the main characters (and herself) at will before going out on their mission.

Yeah, but do I realy want to do that? I mean, don't I want to know what they realy look like according to the mind of their maker?

Willow decided, yes, she did want them to be the way the author made them. So, in the space next to each name listed she wrote "As is" and felt rather proud of herself. Also, in the large rectangle labeled "Character Tendencies" Willow wrote "As they are" because she wanted them to act they way they normally would. Being a good Mary Sue meant going into the field and getting them to do what you wanted without any previous Tweaking; it was the mark of a professional and Mary Sue T765, now Willow Tredd on her first mission, wanted above all, to be a professional. She definitely wanted to be a Gryffindor though, and checked that box under the question Which House are you in?

So, feeling rather good about the situation, Willow crossed the hall and walked into a small, pastel colored office that smelled delicately of leather and roses. A petite brunette was sitting behind a desk, punching away neatly at a little pink Apple laptop. Willow cleared her throat and the woman, Brianna Willow assumed, looked up briefly and then continued on with the clackity-clackity-clack of typing with little pearl-colored fingernails.

"Brianna?"

"Eh."

Willow didn't know one was allowed to grunt like that in the Mary Sue Headquarters. She hoped Brianna wouldn't get in trouble for sounding so uncouth.

I won't tell anyone, she thought. "Uh, I filled out the Character Tweak form. Here it is."

"Yeah, I know...Mary Sue T765, most recent occupation Willow Tredd."

"First occupation," Willow said proudly and Brianna smirked.

"Yeah, I know that too." Brianna stopped her typing, moved her pearly-varnished finger over the little square on her lap top, hit another button and the machine next to her desk started printing. "I assume you, being new and all, have filled the CT Form out but haven't changed anything."

Willow's smile faltered a bit and she said, "Well I wanted to know what the characters were realy like in the fourth Harry Potter book."

Brianna pursed her pink lips. "Mmm, a novel approach. Well hand me that form, I'll send it to the Story Weavers and they'll incorporate it into the Harry Potter realm's literary fiber of Book Four. I'll see you after you've gotten your body and give you more details. Scoot along now."

#3.

The Real (and Fabulous) Willow Tredd

Well that wasn't so bad.

Willow walked down the bright hall and over to Character Development. The double doors were open and Willow could see bright flashes of different colored lights even before she entered the vast room. She crossed the threshold and was overwhelmed with excitement by what she saw. A huge room, the size of an opera house in New York City, all in white with at least eighty glass tubes coming from the ceiling and long winding lines of Mary Sues and Gary Stu's on their way to their assigned Fandoms. Willow stood in line and watched the beautiful people pass by with barely suppressed glee. She was about to become one of them.

Gaggles of people stepped into those glass tubes and in a flash of colored light came out outrageously gorgeous men, women, teenagers and preteens. These superhuman dreams would put the cat walks of New York, Paris, London and Milan combined to abrupt shame. Some were young, cherubic pre-teens, others older, sophisticated silver-foxes. A positively sumptuous 20-something man slinked by in a cloud of Michael for Men and Willow could only stare: low-slung jeans, a tight vintage Rolling Stone's T-shirt, sun-streaked hair and a discreet amount of eyeliner told Willow that this particular hunk of man-meat was on his way to seduce Dominic Monaghan in a LOTR realm of the RP slashy sort. Ah, pity he's gay...well, for now anyway...

"Next please!" a harassed looking little red head bawled at Willow and she quickle walked foreword to give the woman her Character Development information. The woman was standing behind a little pedestal with a key pad on it. She sniffed and took the paper, reading, "T765's first assignment...Willow Tredd, body make of the small and curvaceous type, black hair and golden eyes...yeah. Please step in through the little slot right there. Stand still please..."

Willow walked up to the glass tube and a slot slid open for Willow to walk through. She stood on the little red X and the opening slid shut. Willow waited. A sudden low humming vibrated the glass tube around her so hard that she was momentarily afraid that it might shatter with her inside of it. There was an intense queasiness in the pit of her stomach and suddenly the tube was filled with bright green light. Greasy waves of nausea threatened to overtake the Mary Sue and she squeezed her eyes shut to keep the room from spinning. Her whole body felt like it was being filled with hot sand, but as suddenly as everything started, it stopped. Willow opened her eyes and swayed a bit, feeling terribly disoriented. Like her vision was off, but she could see everything clearly.

Something about the room was different and for a few moments, she didn't know why. It suddenly occurred to her why things didn't look the way they should: she was looking at everything from a lower vantage point. Willow Tredd was much shorter now than she had been a few seconds ago and it was giving her a bit of vertigo. This was unreal.

"You can step out now," the red head said from behind her little pedestal, tossing her mane of red hair back, irritated with her job.

"Congratulations and good luck with your mission," she said dryly. "Next!"

Brianna was waiting for Willow outside of the Character Development room holding a thick book and a stack of papers stapled at the corner; it looked like, judging by the thickness, an analysis on Finnegans Wake. The new Mary Sue followed Brianna to the Launching Dock in the northern wing of the Mary Sue Headquarters. Brianna explained that a Launching Dock was a place where freshly made-over Mary Sues and Gary Stus were transported to their destination. Launching Dock HP4 would send Willow Tredd in to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Willow was excited but had allot of questions.

"So how will I fit in? I mean I don't know anything about the way things work in Scotland do I? Will someone tell me once I get there? Will I have a chance to study?"

Brianna huffed and shook her head, cutting Willow Tredd off with a look that she gave every new Mary Sue who was bursting with questions. "Don't they tell you newbies anything anymore? When you reach your destination you will already know everything you'll need to get by. According to your file you wen to Payton Harvard Academy for the Alternative Arts-"

"Alternative Arts? No witchcraft, no wizardry?"

Brianna snorted and shook her head. "No. It's more politically correct in Wizarding America, where Muggles and Wizards work more, you know, side by side. There's more cooperation between President Bush and Dino Florez, the head of the west coast's Ministry of Magic."

Willow, now shorter than Brianna, had to walk faster to keep up. "President Bush? But the time difference-"

"-hardly matters in our line of work. That's all there is to it. That's something you'll have to unlearn, such narrow-mindedness."

"I didn't mean to-"

"That's all right, I know what it's like. Sorry. Anyway, you come from Payton Harvard; an entire educational system that starts in preschool and ends in high school. Having gone to this school since you were three, you've got eleven years on Hogwarts, seeing as how magic is incorporated as early as the reading and writing; an excellent but discreet boarding school."

"So I won't have any trouble with the school work?"

"Not at all...what Mary Sue would?" Brianna handed Willow the stapled stack of paper as they walked, making their way towards Launching Dock HP4. "I suggest you read all of this when you get 'home.' It has your back ground information and your portfolio to give to Dumbledore when he receives you and your parents in his office."

"Right. But I'm not realy this person."

Brianna gave another sigh. "You will be this person when you reach your new house! You will have the memories, thoughts and feelings of this character when you get there. You'll remember things that happened to this character in her past and you'll react the way she would have reacted anyway."

"Did the Story Weavers create this character?"

"Thora did, then the Weavers fine tune it and incorporate it into the original story, or what ever version of the story the Mary Sue wants it to be. Don't worry, you'll be as well-rounded as one needs to be. Oh here -" Brianna handed Willow the book with a brown paper cover. "You'll want this and what ever you do, do not let anyone in the HP4 realm see what's inside."

Frowning, Willow opened the front cover and her jaw dropped when she read the title:

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

"You're kidding!"

"Hell no, I'm not kidding, you silly Mary Sue!"

"You want me to take this with me into the HP4 realm!"

"You'll need it if you want to stay in your toes, make accurate predictions in Divination and be in the right place at the right time...are you really going to let Parvati and Lavender walk through that porthole before you, when Harry's most desperate for a date? You have to know what place to sit in when the trio get on the train! You have to tell them about the tournament before anyone else! You have to tell Harry about what all that screeching from the egg means!"

"How am I supposed to do that?" Willow asked, becoming a little worried with the whole situation.

"Oh come on, that's easy. All you have to do is be in the Common room when Harry opens the egg during the Gryffindoor party. He'll open the egg, hear the shrieking and close it. They you say casually, but with a shudder, 'Oh, I hate Mermish above water!' then go 'Oops! Did I let that vital bit of info slip? Sorry I gave it away.' And when they ask you how you know what Mermish sounds like, all you have to say is, 'Well, I went to the beach allot back home.' You don't actually have to know what they are saying."

Willow stared in awe at the more experienced Mary Sue as they walked.

"...That's genius."

"You'll learn, T765, you'll learn."

"I'm Willow now."

"That you are. Ah, here we are!"

Willow and Brianna finally reached the end of a long hall way and found themselves standing in front of a steel door marked Launching Dock HP4. Brianna took a card out of her pocket and slid it through a machine next to the door. She then punched a few buttons and the door slid open with a hiss. It was pitch dark inside. Brianna took something out of the pocket of her leather blazer and waved it in front of Willow's face, as she was staring into the dark room.

"This is your communicator. It's a two-way communicator; you can contact me if you are in trouble and need to be pulled out or I'll contact you. I'll be watching you from time to time as to make sure I don't contact you during a class."

Brianna handed Willow a pearly, bubblegum pink compact with the curly silver initials MS on the top. "When I'm trying to contact you the mirror will turn into a screen. Don't loose it. Go on in."

Willow gulped and walked past Brianna into the cold dark. She couldn't see anything inside and her heart began to pump faster. The steel door slid shut and it was much louder on the inside. It closed with a bang and Willow jumped, her heart fluttering. Pitch black now.

She stood, trembling, book and papers clutched to her chest, by the closed door for what seemed like a long time before the room was suddenly flooded with an oily yellow light. She could now see a large red X on the floor in the middle of the room. Willow turned to her left and squinted at the light source; it was a large window and behind it was a small man at a set of controls. A second later Brianna appeared next to him and she leaned down to speak into a microphone.

"Stand on the X T765," her voice boomed and echoed through the empty concrete room and Willow did as she was told. "Mary Sue T765 now Willow Tredd, you are making your way into the Harry Potter realm of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Do you have any questions?"

Willow shook her head. Brianna smiled and nodded.

"Willow Tredd will be transported in three...two...one..."

Willow was blinded by the white, hot flood of light from above as a giant laser streamed down and she was nauseous once more.

'Willow writes,

This journal tells all truth and for that, I have to be careful and make sure that no one finds it. I remember people and places that T765 never knew and has never been to. It's like I'm remembering a past life that I've suddenly been made apart of once again. Leaps back and fourth through time, only not at all.

The Mary Sue in me cannot believe the way Willow Bernice Tredd lives; the way I'm living, now that I am her: richly in both the Wizarding and Muggle world, the House-elfs shine up and keep the cars lean. I catch myself doing and thinking things that I wouldn't otherwise think. Things bother me that didn't before and I feel certain ways that seem odd. I miss Philip, though it was a mutual break-up. We're still friends. I, Willow Tredd, know what he looks like but the Mary Sue in me wants a picture of him to look at and to hear his voice (in my ears and not just in my head) to confirm his existence in this world. I remember he had (has!) big blue eyes and he was short, but taller than I am. I wonder if he'll write to me. I wonder if Shannon will.

Well, now that I'm here, I better get used to being in this body and the core of this new character's life.

It's gray and misting outside, condensing on the marble balcony outside my room and dripping from the leafy, tropical plants that have been protected against the elements with a Climate Control charm.

My mother is beautiful; she's into Botany and ornamental Horticulture, growing plants that are cushioned by the Climate Control that surrounds each plant in our garden with the temperature and moisture it needs. Like an invisible green house in the middle of this gray country, one can feel the humidity when they put their hand near an Elephant Ear or the dry heat when I lean in to smell the gardenias, admire the oleanders. I think my mother's roses are the most beautiful in the world.

I'm kind of getting worried about the meeting with Dumbledore. I know that he's a good, understanding wizard and that he's nice to all of his students, but I'm still nervous.'

#4.

New Start for No Real Reason:

"Yaffayatwhityatyaffa?" Willow heard (or something like it) a bearded man say to what looked like a sailor as she passed them on the sidewalk.

...what the shit? Willow giggled and felt strange, thinking that she'd never understand completely. She was just glad that the question wasn't directed towards her when she made her first trip to Glasgow. Willow, though she will be fourteen in February, was holding her mother's hand. Brianna had been right about one thing: T765 was now Willow Tredd and Willow wasn't embarrassed to make it known that she loved her mother.

The Mary Sue thought it was wild that she had memories of things she herself wasn't actually there to experience. She remembered her classes and the friends she left behind in Payton Harvard and that she was once with a boy one year older than her named Philip Dennis; that she had a best friend named Shannon and that her house colors were silver, gray and black. She remembered her Psycology teacher telling her that the housing system in Payton Harvard was actualy modeled after that of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and that the head master of Hogwarts had been there for the new school's opening in 1650.

Willow and her parents went into town oftin and she felt that she was adjusting well, though it wasn't easy. The first time someone asked her, "Hooyamakinootthenwhen?" Willow felt her face burn to the roots of her hair and she shook her head in helpless puzzlement. Brianna should have told her what she was and wasn't capable of as a first time Mary Sue. Hadn't she said that she'd know everything she would need to get by?

At first, Willow Tredd could only let the initial wave of Glaswegian babble wash over her until they found out that she wasn't a local; people both on the street and in stores smiled indulgently and slowed it down for her. They were very accommodating and nice to Willow and she was thankful for it. She was also thankful that she was a fast learner and that, after a few trips into town with her parents, she had a better understanding of what was being said without looking too uncomprehending. Now, when someone asks, "Izzatsatetook?" she says weather the seat is taken or not.

It was four weeks before the start of term when Willow and her parents took a trip to Hogwarts. Dumbledore was a nice, understanding wizard that made them feel very comfortable in his round, airy office. The hat declared her a Gryffindor and she was given a brief overview of where her classes were, her list of required materials and a note to give to Madame Malkin, saying that she'd need her Gryffindor patches and tie right then.

Diagon Alley was quite an excursion. Up until then Willow had been spending allot of time in the Muggle world and it was exciting to be immersed in Wizarding culture. She already had a wand (9 inches of Giant Sequoia Redwood and high mountain unicorn hair) so she wandered about the shops; to the Apothecary to get her ingredients and the cauldron shop to get her pewter cauldron. She recognized many young people as Hogwarts students when she was in Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and even talked to a few of them; they had all been first years just getting their robes.

'Willow writes,

Well, hello Hogwarts Express and hello Trio! I made sure to sit halfway along the train and was pretty sure of what seat they would sit in because the compartments on all sides were full. Sure enough, here come the three people that I've been most anxious to see with my own eyes! Here come Harry, Ron and Hermione, looking for a seat to sit in and there's little ole' me, sitting by myself, and a fellow Gryffindor at that. Hermione does indeed have bushy brown hair due to frizzy curls, and it's brown-brown. Not light brown or dark blond; it's brown. Her summer tan is fresh with no freckles and she is a rather pretty girl, hair and initial demeanor aside. She doesn't give off that mousy impression because her personality is too strong for that kind of impassivity.

Ron towers over me and his nose isn't all that long; just kind of big and sharp on his angular, freckled face. His hair is straight and it is on the shaggy side. I think if the guy who plays him in the movies had more if a pointy nose instead of the little round one he's got, with a few more freckles and were a little bit taller, they would have nailed it.

And Harry? Well, he's taller than I am, but most people are, being in this body. His hair isn't jet black, but it's so dark brown that it looks black in anything other than full sunlight. Skinny, with an angular face, gangly feet and hands, but I'm pleased to announce to the world, that Harry Potter has a positively cute little mouth. A kind of Billy Boyd, heart-shaped bow of a mouth that's cute when sulky but lets you know that he has a killer smile without ever having to see it. What realy make's Harry stand out are his eyes; not just because they are green, but the fact that they are almond-shaped. Most people associate Harry Potter with having wide green eyes, black hair and a scar, but they never seem to express the fact that his eyes are almond-shaped. It gives him a kind of intense look that's always there. Emotional even. They kind of betray him.

They were hesitant, having never seen me before even though I'm a Gryffindor and not a first year. Hermione opened the door and poked her head in, "Hi, do you mind? Everywhere else is full."

Like I'm going to refuse! They stow their things and introduce themselves, nice, polite, curious. I refuse to look at Harry's scar and acknowledge him as a regular person. No double takes and no exclamations: I do this because I think he'll find that interesting. It'll make me stand apart from the crowd and I think it worked because he kept throwing me glances on the train. It was totally exciting to meet the people you've read about in the books, kind of like a dream that's realy come true. Seamus, Dean and Neville said hello and Seamus, a rather audacious and good-looking dude, gave me a wink. Cute! But then...

"For the first and last time in your life, Weasley," a snide voice cut into Ron and Neville's conversation. Another surprising thing? Draco Malfoy's voice is deeper than Tom Felton's.

I was kind of anxious to see Draco Malfoy as well and my, my, but does he look like Hitler's Chosen One. He's taller than Harry, but not much more in the way of bulk; he's a skinny one too. He was probably a sick kid with a coddling mother. His hair didn't have that bleached-yellow look and was more white than blond, and, as most platinum blondes, his skin was indeed very pale.

He drops Ron's dress robes and looks at me like he's just noticed I was there. I feel my insides twist; Malfoy's got this intimidating kind of steel-gray gaze. He demands to know who I am and the words kind of choke up in my mouth. Before he can ask me if I'm stupid or something, he's distracted by Ron snatching up his robes and telling Malfoy off.

Needless to say, it was an exciting day. And now? Now, I'm sitting in a Gryffindor bed with Parvati Patill to my right and Lavender Brown on the left. Hermione Granger is across from me and there's a girl in here than JK Rowling never made known in the books. Prunella Josh-Bracket (what a name!) is okay, if a little stiff; pureblood I'll wager. On the while, I think this is going to be a great year!'

#5.

This Shit Is Completely Bogous:

A very bad day, that's what this was. It was two months into the first term and Willow was not enjoying herself as much as she thought she would. The work wasn't hard: she just didn't like doing it. While the girls in her dorm were nice and curious about Willow's past, she felt like JK Rowling didn't put nearly enough emphasis on just how heinous people could be.

Willow cursed as she slid to her knees, books falling out of her bag. Someone thought it would be a riot to charm a patch of ice in the corridor. The fact that it was now melting didn't keep people, like Willow, from slipping in it. She was kneeling in a large puddle when Draco Malfoy stomped by and swung his foot sideways, sending a sheet of icy water at Willow as she scrambled to gather her books.

"Bad break Willie! Maybe next time you'll watch where you're going!" Malfoy called over his shoulder. Willow couldn't suppress her anger any more.

"Stop calling me Willie!" she yelled, whipping her wand out, pointing it at Malfoy's back.

"Miss Tredd!"

Damn it!

Willow lowered her wand and rose to her feet, face hot and eyes watering. She could hear Malfoy's satirical laughter down the corridor. That little shit; that hateful fuck-head! Draco Malfoy was just - oh, she should have made that sneering cunt less arrogant on her CT Form!

Professor McGonagall strode past several wide-eyed first years with her arms folded and gazed at Willow with gleaming beady eyes.

"Do mine eyes deceive me, Miss Tredd?" McGonagall asked without having to; it was obvious what Willow was doing to anyone who saw it. "Is it possible that you were about to do magic in the halls with the intent of doing Mr. Malfoy some significant bodily harm?"

"No ma'am," Willow muttered and fled to the Gryffindor tower, shoes squelching. She knew that no one accept for a teacher would blame her for cursing Malfoy and would probably applaud her because they hated him as well. Still, Willow was flustered, angry and frustrated with herself as she climbed the stairs. Thank God it was a Saturday and she could just stay here for the rest of the day.

No sooner did Willow shut the door of the empty 4th year dorm did the MS Communicator start vibrating in her pocket.

"Son of a bitch!" Willow snarled out loud. She felt like screaming and considered ignoring it but decided that if she ever wanted to work again, she couldn't. The thought of ending up like the snarling little red head behind the pedestal in Character Development made Willow take the pearly pink compact out and open it. The mirror flickered to life and the small, wavering face that stared up at Willow was pale with angry disbelief and even a smidgen of disgust.

"What the fuck is wrong with you! Are you trying to get pulled from this assignment?" Brianna's indignant voice squeaked from the compact's little screen. Willow quivered with rage.

"This is complete shit! What the hell kind of ass-face is Draco Malfoy anyway! His behavior isn't necessary! It can't always be like this!" Willow hissed into the little compact, glaring down at Brianna's small face; Willow wanted to smash this fucking compact. Brianna glared back.

"What did you expect! You chose to leave everything and everyone in the HP4 realm as is and now you have to work with it! A Mary Sue doesn't loose her temper, she chooses to be angry at the right time and do it stylishly, appropriately, righteously! Get out there and learn some self-control!"

The screen flickered out.

"Brianna!" Willow hissed.

But Brianna was gone and Willow was left with nothing but her own irate reflection. Willow snapped the MS communicator shut and shoved it into her pocket. She wanted to crush this damned pink compact - just smash it against the stone floor and then stomp on it - but then she'd be stuck here. Willow let out a harsh breath. She wouldn't let her temper get the better of her from now on.

T765 decided that next time, when she receives that CT Form, Malfoy was going to be a shrinking violet in Hufflepuff!

Later that night, Willow was lying in her red-drapped bed with the covers clutched tightly around her. It was unnecessarily cold in her dorm tonight and wondered if those House-elfs knew this and chose to do nothing about it. Maybe it was just her. She felt realy bad and lonley for some reason and thought about calling Brianna just to hear a familiar voice, one that she knew to be a real voice. Not that these people around her or the world she was in wasn't real enough...they were real enough to make her want to go home.

Willow sat up and considered her options for a moment. She knew this wasn't an emergency but reached for the pink compact that was on her dresser anyway. She took up her wand too, then closed the curtains completely around her bed. After a quiet Silencio, to make sure no one woke up to hear anything, Willow thought a bit more about an excuse to call Brianna.

She held it for a moment, icy cold in her hands, before opening it and pressing the middle of the magnifying mirror with her thumb. The screen blinked and she knew that Brianna's communicator was vibrating. After a few seconds the screen flickered on to reveal Brianna's pale, sleepy face.

"It's me," Willow said into

"What is it? What's wrong?"

After a moment, Willow thought up something that directly related to the incident with Malfoy that day and began ranting for no real reason.

"Brianna, I'm not graceful. Why am I not graceful, Brianna, aren't all Mary Sues naturally-"

"No," Brianna said flatly, without even asking if it was an emergency or not.

Willow stared at the little screen at a loss. She hadn't realy planned on having a conversation with Brianna. Then said weakly, "No? All Mary Sues aren't-"

"-Well you didn't take the time to specify how graceful you were; you didn't add anything to your profile, did you?"

"Er...no, I didn't," Willow said, feeling her face burning; this was something she never realy considered. Brianna sighed impatiently.

"You didn't add any details to your personal profile, so, you left allot of shit left to chance. You just filled it out and you were on your way!"

Brianna paused. Willow was beginning to feel realy stupid.

"Willow, you didn't have to leave straight away and I personally think you left too early. Most Mary Sues spend months, you hear me, months writing up the details to extend their profile. It's only a very experienced Mary Sue that can go in there and cast her spell without changing anything at all. The only ones I know of who can do that is Tango-Lynn Casey and, of course, the one and only Thora."

"I have to ask you, Brianna, who Thora is," Willow said, bracing herself for another "newbie' crack. She could hear one of her dorm mates mumble in her sleep. Hermione wasn't even back from the common room yet, working on something for professor Vector.

"Thora was one of the first Mary Sues; she was Mary Sue number A005 and the founder of the Anne Rice division in the Mary Sue Headquarters."

Willow grimaced; Lavender Brown snored in the bed next to hers. "Anne Rice? Are you kidding me?"

Brianna cracked a genuine smile, "No, I'm not. Thora saw the error in her ways and dropped it for the Harry Potter division." The commuting Mary Sues were silent for a moment, then Brianna said, "So yeah. The next time you receive a mission, you'll be sure to take your time with that Character Profile?"

"Oh, absolutely; cannon is so over rated. I realy starting to hate it here."

"Well, most adolescents do hate school. I'll see you when I see you."

Brianna said farewell and with that, the screen was dark.

'Willow writes,

I've never experienced such lonliness at night. Sometimes I just wish I could go home, and when I say home, I mean my real home. I know this is my first mission, but I don't know how much of a Mary Sue I'll turn out to be. Brianna said that it was hard the first time for everyone, but does it have to be this hard, this real?

But this is what I wanted, isn't it? To realy feel like a part of the world and experiance the characters as they are? Well, that's what I thought, but now I'm ready to fill that CT Form! It looks like I'm going to have to tough it out this year.'

#6

Only Slight Confusion:

Willow hurried down the dim corridor, not wanting to be late for Potions...God forbid anyone from Gryffindor be late for potions. Predictably, Harry and Draco were at it, only this time, it seemed to be about who was going with who to the ball - something Willow never thought she'd hear these two talking about.

"Don't bother, Potter, she's been asked," Malfoy said in passing.

"What would you know? By who?" Harry demanded.

Malfoy shrugged and shouldered past Hermione to join Crabbe and Goyle, "Go ahead, though; when it comes to you, Potter, I'm all for public humiliation. Go ahead."

Frowning, Willow joined Harry, Ron and Hermione in waiting for Snape to open the class rood doors; they were forever on his time, so it didn't matter that Snape was sometimes late to his own class. The only problem with this was that when ever Snape was late, he was usually in a foul mood. More so than usual.

"What was that all about?"

Ron looked awkward and picked at a callus on his hand. Hermione opened her mouth to explain, but with one look at Harry's expression, closed it again. Don't press him on it her expression read and she looked away.

Harry raked an irritated hand through his hair and shook his head. "Nothing really. Malfoy being a prat is all; annoying, you know."

That nothing/something left Harry in a sullen mood for the rest of the class.

Despite initial difficulties with culture, school work, shit-head peers and the weather, Willow was excited about the Yule Ball and, like many other girls in Hogwarts, made meticulous notes on what she was wearing and how her makeup would look. Would she be fashionably late or arrive with everyone else so they could all get a good look? Half of her mind was occupied with these thoughts while the other was consumed by a rather more serious matter. Willow was in a secluded corner of the library, facing the wall, and reading a very good book.

"'Harry - we've just got to grit our teeth and do it,' said Ron on Friday morning, in a tone that suggested they were planning the storming of an impenetrable fortress. 'When we get back to the common room tonight, we'll both have partners - agreed?'

'Er...okay,' Harry said.'"

Willow frowned down at the book in front of her.

Yeah, okay...but when is this going to happen? How will I know when to walk in?

Willow searched the parts before and after the section in question and found no clues as to the specific time other than that it was a Friday morning. Will Willow have to tail Ron and Harry every Friday morning in the weeks before Christmas in order to catch that conversation and insure that she walk through that portrait before Lavender and Parvati?

"Pretty much," she mumbled to herself, then sighed. Willow clutched the brown paper covered book tightly, ready to snap it shut should she hear anyone approach. She was always nervous when reading the Goblet of Fire. She couldn't imagine-

"Hi Willow," a girl called, startling Willow into snapping the book shut. Hermione was lugging her usual load of books in her over-stuffed bag with more dusty volumes in her arms. "I realy think I'm on a roll with S.P.E.W, I've just found - Oh, what's that?"

Hermione pointed at the book in Willow's hand as she lay her books on the table and dropped her bag into the chair next to hers.

"The Bible," Willow lied easily, shaking her nerves and opening it once again. Act natural. Normal.

Hermione's interest turned off like a light switch and was replaced by something close-kept and shuttered behind her eyes. "Oh."

It was easy for Willow to get along with Hermione because there were no power struggles in the relationship like that of the one between Hermione and Ron. Hermione talked and Willow listened with mild but attentive interest, just letting the talk of Troll Raids, Elf Rights and next year's exams just wash over her. For a girl portrayed in the books as practical and clever, with a clear, logical head on her shoulders, Willow was surprised at how readily Hermione confessed her problems.

And Hermione did have problems. Her hair bothered her and Ron bothered her but she didn't know how to address either matter without looking like a fool or a push-over in some way. She wasn't immune to being made fun of.

"If I changed my hair now, if I acted like I cared, people would notice and start talking about it. Oh, I can hear that Pansy Parkinson now!" Hermione said one day as they sat in their dorm; imitating Pansy's nasal voice, she stuck out her chest and flapped one limp hand, "'Oooh, what's this Granger? Finally got tired of that nasty bush and decided to do something about it?'"

Hermione let the air whoosh out of her lungs and she slumped a bit, looking down at her hands. "Who wants to deal with that? Who should have to deal with that? I realy hate Pansy and Malfoy but I wouldn't wish death on them, you know? I always wonder what goes through their heads."

Willow didn't have to feign interest or concern for Hermione in the times when she was being real with herself. She worried and wondered and felt hurt just like everyone else, even if she was less willing to show it. Hermione wondered if anyone would even allow her to suddenly adopt a role that was more sensitive and open. What would they think of her then, of her sudden change?

She worried about this especially now. Harry and Ron were at odds about Harry being the fourth Champion and she felt that if she started voicing her feelings as oftin as she wanted to, the trio might break up. Harry and Ron weren't talking to each other and Hermione was sick with both of them refusing to apologize to each other for being ridiculous.

Willow was a bit impassive during the whole thing, simply listening to whom ever she was with at the time vent their frustrations. Poor Ron admitted that he felt silly about being jealous, but the hell he's going to admit that to Harry any time soon, and Harry just didn't understand Ron's point of view, having never been shunted aside, by anyone other than the Dursleys, in his life. The Mary Sue put herself in a beautiful position by not pushing anyone too hard in any direction: the listener of the group always heard the confessions of the other members because they know they are guaranteed confidentiality and no judgment. Harry, Ron and Hermione were a group of three very strong personalities: they all needed to put their thoughts somewhere without risking a fight every time the opened their mouth. Willow, already knowing the out-come of this fray, simply told Hermione that it'd turn out all right in the end and.

Impassivity didn't work too well on Rita Skeeter though. Chalk it up to intimidation if you must, but Willow found herself incapable of saying anything when the abrasive woman was around. She didn't want to be portrayed in a bad light when Skeeter got her article published, so she didn't say anything. Skeeter lapped up, stretched, contorted and finally spat back out the idea of Harry being torn between a Muggle-born and a "mute" from the States. It was so ludicrous, the way Willow was portrayed in the article, that it was hard to get too upset over. Hermione, though, was beginning to get upset over the whole thing.

"I didn't think she'd drag you into it, but that woman would do anything for a story, made up or not," she fumed one morning, tossing the paper onto the table. Some how, Skeeter's rat-fink of a photographer managed to get pictures of Harry and Hermione on one of their walks around the lake.

Willow, of course, was secretly enjoying herself. After all, who wouldn't want to be portrayed as Harry Potter's love interest in a small follow-up article titled "Harry Potter and the Shy Lorelie"?

'Willow writes,

Things are realy looking up in this version of the HP4 sanction! It can't be denied that being in Rita Skeeter's little articles is more than cool. Everyone pays more attention to people who've gotten a little ink in the papers. Little kids, little first and second years come up to me and ask (trying to be as delicate as possible, it's so cute!) if I actually can't speak. They feel like they've descovered something when I show them that I can. They don't get what Rita Skeeter is about and wonder why she would cook up such a lie. I simply tell them that she's evil.'

#7.

Try as She Might:

Willow was in the common room early one Friday morning, waiting for Ron and Harry to come down. She worked on her dream diary, dropping specific hints here and there about future events: people were beginning to think of her as a bona fide Seer in Divination because the crystal gazing was so easy to fake and they did it as a regular class exercise. Willow began writing down vague but profound "predictions" that she could memorize and later use in class that were both attention-grabbing and slightly ominous.

"How do you actually see things like that?" Ron asked one day, peering intently into his own crystal ball from a table away. Willow was sharing a table with Neville. "I mean, are they visions?"

Willow had to think about it. Not because it was hard to explain but because she had to make it up. "Well, for me, anyway, I don't actually see anything in the ball. The ball itself is just a point to focus on to help clear away all thoughts. Once all the clutter is cleared is when the predictions come. Things that you have no reason thinking of just pops into your head, weird, obscure things; those are usually predictions."

Harry had been listening with Ron and looked impressed. "Maybe we just haven't been doing it right...it's not like Trelawney ever explained how to do it anyway." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, gazed once more into his crystal ball and feel silent.

Willow smiled to herself as she wrote in her dream diary, thinking back on this incident; her peers had no reason to figure Willow for a liar and they usually ate up anything she said. She remembered making one particular "predication" that had Harry gazing at her strangely all day. It was short and poetic but Willow knew that Harry, if not the Trio, got the message clearly.

Willow sat in the darkened class room and knew that most weren't even looking into their crystal ball: they were waiting for a prediction from her. If this didn't earn her notoriety points on her Mary Sue track record, nothing would. It took Willow fifteen minutes to come up with this little gem:

'An innocent man is on the run;

the godfather of a dead man's son-

The false Grim returns more than once.'

When Willow heard the small gasp from Harry (whom she and Ron were sitting with that day) across the table, one word sprung to mind: Brilliant.

The common room was slowly filling and Willow jotted down the last of her - er - prophetic dreams, when she heard the phrase she was waiting for:

"Harry - we've just got to grit our teeth and do it," Ron said determinedly as he and Harry came down from from the boy's dorm. Willow's heart leaped. "When we get back to the common room tonight, we'll both have partners - agreed?"

Harry looked as though he was both uncertain about this agreement and dreading the possible outcomes. "Er...okay."

Yes! Willow mentally jumped up and down in victory. Yes, yes, yes!

So it's today and she'll have to act. Willow left the common room feeling both nervous and extremely light. Now all she had to do was leave the table at dinner a little before Lavender and Parvati.

The whole day Willow thought about how her dress robes would look next to Harry's. She'd picked out a dreamy ensemble with a gold silk and lace bodice when her family took a trip to a wizarding community in Ireland, south of Limerick. Willow couldn't believe how alive and hopping the Wizarding population was in Ireland. Willow was left the with the distinct feeling that this was going to be the best time for her at Hogwarts. After all, green and gold went spectacularly together.

At dinner, Willow kept shooting glances at Lavender and Parvati a few seats down the table and jumped up when they did.

"I've just - I'll see you later," she said to Neville and quickly walked, almost running, out of the great hall to beat the two girls into the common room. When she passed them, she rounded the corner and walked a little slower up the stairs to the tower. Willow waited, pretending to be looking for something in her bag, when the two girls arrived at the portrait hole, still talking excitedly about something only they'd be interested in. She wanted to be there at just the right moment. And she was. Ginny passed her, on her way down to the great hall for a late dinner. Lavender and Parvati were behind her. The scene was about to unfold.

Ron was sitting by the fire, looking glum and Harry was standing up. Willow's heart was pounding as she made her way towards them, making as if she were on her way to the girl's dorm. She met Harry, smiling, looking inviting and open, knowing it would help.

"Hey Harry," she said: bright but casual. Perfect.

"Hey Willow," Harry said. He looked past her shoulder and said resolutely,"Parvati, will you go to the ball with me?"

Willow felt like she had been kicked in the stomach by someone wearing steel-toed boots and was swallowed by a haze that was void of sound and color. She stood there, dumb-struck with a high, thin ringing in her ears for a moment as Parvati and Lavender giggled.

Giggling.

The relentless giggling brought Willow out of the void of disbelief and was it was replaced by blood rushing past her ears and the sound of her own heart beat. She didn't need to hear anymore, she knew Parvati's answer and if she got out of there fast enough, she wouldn't have to go to the ball with Ron.

Willow liked Ron; but based on his future acts towards his Yule Ball date and the simple fact that it wasn't supposed to happen this way, Willow didn't want to go with anyone anymore.

It shouldn't have been like that; it shouldn't have happened! Why had Harry chosen Parvati over her? Willow was a fucking Mary Sue and by rights, Harry should have asked her. She had been there at the right fucking time! Why would he rather go with someone he always thought to be giggly and slightly silly over someone he got on realy well with, someone who was careful to not pass any kind of judgment over him? Someone who didn't goggle over his scar, didn't look at it even once, when they first met on the train? Didn't he respect that? Didn't he want to go with someone he knew he'd have a good time with?

These thoughts were driving Willow crazy as she walked up the girl's stair case. She felt as dark and hot-cold as a thunderhead readying itself to wreak havoc on a small coastal town. She was fighting tears, feeling stupid and, some how, feeling very betrayed. That's what made her feel stupid, this feeling of betrayal. It wasn't like Harry owed her anything or promised to go with her, but still; why did he ask her, what the hell went wrong back there? When Willow got into the dorm she barely registered that Hermione was already there.

She was already in her night gown and getting ready for bed. Hermione saw the look on Willow's face but didn't ask her what was wrong. Instead, she asked, "So are you all ready for the ball?"

The question was tentative and Willow had a feeling Hermione knew no one had asked her to the ball. She kicked off her shoes, got into bed without changing and pulled the covers up to her chin. "I don't want to go to the ball anymore," she said quietly, flat and dark.

Hermione wanted to ask why but didn't.

Willow avoided everyone at the ball. She arrived very late, walking down the empty corridor, her gold satin slippers making no sound. When she peeked around the large doorway into the great hall everyone was in the middle of dinner, eating and chattering to each other happily. She waited, standing in the hall, arms folded. Willow didn't want to go in while everyone was sitting down. She waited until the spotlights were on the dancing Champions when she decided to slip in, skirting the tables, along the wall. Everyone was standing around the dance floor, watching the Champions and their partners.

She sat at a back table and scowled down at her lap, swathed in shimmery creme tulle and hoped no one would see her. She didn't even know why she was there. Was this ball, this completely shitty situation, mandatory? She should have asked McGonagall.

Willow sat there for half an hour, looking out the dark window. Harry, bored with waiting for Parvati to come back and Percy's smug voice, spotted Willow against the wall in the back. Willow was looking out the window, by herself, and didn't see Harry stand with a look of slight concern. She wasn't crying or anything but her posture and lack if animated expression told him that she was very upset and wasn't trying to hide it. Harry made his way to her table and sat down.

"Hi Willow."

"Hey," Willow said dismissively, not looking at him and yet feeling bad. She shouldn't be mad at him. Not realy.

"Where's your date?"

Willow let her breath hiss through her nose and looked Harry square in the eye. "I don't have one."

"...What?"

"Nobody asked me," Willow said tightly and looked away, face burning. Silence. Willow sighed short and sharp, then shot a glance back at Harry.

Harry looked dismayed and shook his head. Then he said with a pained expression, "You mean...you haven't been asked? No one-"

"No, okay? Nobody was interested, you don't have to rub it-"

"Whoa, hey, hang on!" Harry cut in and leaned over close to look into Willow's down cast face. "Why then am I stuck with Parvati? Some git said you already had a partner!"

Willow's stomach did a flip-flop and she looked at Harry, astonished. "What! Who?"

Now Harry looked embarrassed and said with a lop-sided grin, "Well, Malfoy did."

Willow uttered a relieved laugh and felt a weight lift from her body; the air was clearing and it was such a good feeling. "And you believed him!"

"I know, I know!" Harry admitted, mock-miserably covering his face, then leaned back in his chair easily. "I should have know that he was talking out his arse."

Harry and Willow shared a chuckle and sat in happy silence for a few minutes, watching the others dance, laugh and goof off. Willow had to reflect on the way she had been acting. In all honesty, having read the 5th Harry Potter book back in the Mary Sue Headquarters, she knew what Harry would be like next year and didn't like him for it. She had already passed judgment on Harry, expecting him to be kind of stand-offish, surly and rash; she had expected him not to care much for other people's feelings and Willow realy regretted it, even though nobody knew this. Harry had surprised her with his caring and his concern. Willow was ridiculously surprised at his want for setting things right, especially between his friends and his sensitivity to their feelings. Had she really expected so little of him? Willow was sorry for that too. After a few minutes, Harry spoke. It didn't have to be said that Harry would have chosen someone else as a partner, but he said it anyway.

"You know I like Cho, right?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Well," Harry frowned and looked at the fairies hovering over the centerpiece, "I wanted to go to the ball with her, but I wanted to go with you too; maybe a little bit more even, because I was afraid of embarrassing myself in front of her and everyone else. I knew you wouldn't make me feel like an idiot."

Harry grinned a slightly shy grin, then looked serious again, continuing his little confession. "I like her allot, but I already knew that I'd have a good time going with someone I knew better, you know? I though I might embarrass her and myself in front of everyone because she made me nervous. At least, if I had to dance with you and messed up we could laugh it off together, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Willow said reassuringly and was so glad to hear all of this that she thought she might cry. She was realy impressed with him and felt silly for not already knowing it. Harry continued.

"So when we were waiting for Snape to open the door I was telling Ron that I thought it was about time that I ask you to the ball and Malfoy said you were already taken. That's about the time you walked up."

"...Whoa." Willow blinked at Harry in the dim lighting, remembering that instant and slumped back in her chair. The music and laughter had been reduced to white noise.

"I know," Harry nodded. "I was upset because it was getting down to the wire and I still hadn't asked anyone, so that left Cho."

"How'd it go?" Willow already knew exactly how it went, having read about it only a few days ago, but still. It was conversation with the main character and she was starting to like him again.

Harry snorted and put down the napkin he had been steadily ripping into small squares. "Awkwardly. On both parts, I might add."

"Heh. Well at least you had the guts to ask," Willow said, giving Harry a corny grin. "I'd have been a chicken and pined quietly I think."

Harry laughed in earnest at this, then sighed dramatically. "Well, now that I'm with Parvati I guess I should act like I'm waiting for her to get back. D'you want to sit with us by the dance floor?"

Willow didn't, not really. Everything was made up for and she was a bit worn out by nerves and lack of sleep. Also, she didn't want to keep Harry and Ron from doing what they would have done originally, which was go into the gardens and discover Hagrid's "secret."

"Y'know, I think I'll turn in," Willow said truthfully.

"Now? It's barely nine-thirty. You haven't danced with anyone; the Durmstrang boys will be disappointed!"

Willow cracked a smile and stood. "Yeah, but I didn't sleep last night, so I'm ready for it. You go on though or everyone will be disappointed."

"Heh. Well, okay. See you tomorrow." Harry stood and surprised Willow yet again by giving her a hug before making his way towards the dance floor.

'Willow writes,

I can't believe how hard I took that! I just honestly didn't think that he would reject me and technically, he didn't. I can take comfort in knowing that Harry Potter wanted to go the Yule Ball with me. He wanted to but was under the impression that I was already taken. Fucking Malfoy! As Thora as my witness, I will make him PAY the next time I'm out here! I'll make it this whole karma thing, let him know that he's paying for mistreating me in a past life! I'll make him believe it too.'

#8.

Expected Complications:

Poor Hermione was irate over Skeeter's article on Hagrid and let a string of commentary go in the privacy of the girl's 4th year dorm that left Parvati and Lavender wide eyed and unsure of Hermione's well being. Little did she know that Skeeter would raise her blood pressure yet again when she published the doozy about Harry being a complete nut case. Hagrid was "on leave" and the Slytherins were more smug than ever, especially Malfoy. He thought his input Skeeter used in her article was highly amusing; he already had a pretty good idea of the damage he was causing.

"...None of the mummies and daddies are going to like this at all...They'll be worried he'll eat their kids, ha, ha..."

Willow, having taken her turn with the unicorn already, was now standing with the boys; she sniffed and said indifferently, almost carelessly (because Malfoy didn't like to be ignored and hated being taken lightly), "You'd be the first to go, jerk."

"Shut up Tredd, you're mute, remember?" Draco spat.

"You-"

"Are you paying attention over there?" Professor Grubbly-Plank's boomed, ending the conversation then and there. Harry seethed quietly, fists shaking.

"She can't get away with this," Hermione muttered to herself one day in Herbology. She had taken to muttering this line to herself allot lately.

Willow shrugged. "I think the worst is on its way," she said, pruning her shrivel-fig plant carefully.

Ron plucked a small, wrinkled fig from it's branch, made sure professor Sprout was looking elsewhere and popped the little fruit into his mouth. After a moment, he said, "That's not a prediction, is it?"

"I'd hate to think so," Willow replied, dropping a hand-full of figs into a bucket next to her plant. Ron frowned.

"You'd - don't you know it?"

"Not exactly. Predictions aren't always recognized for what they are, you know? Allot of the time you can't tell you know something until it's already happened."

"Hind sight is 20/20 - that's a Muggle phrase!" Ron said, plucking off another fruit. "My dad says it when the twins get into it with mum for doing something stupid and they claim they didn't think it'd turn out the way it did."

"That makes sense," Harry said suddenly, eating a shrivel-fig from his own plant. "Trelawney made an accurate prediction last year and she didn't even know what she was saying."

"You lot shouldn't eat those," Hermione said, eyeing them from behind her fig plant. Her pruning sheers snapped and clacked in an irritated fashion. "Those are potions ingredients."

"Yeah, but they're plain old figs by themselves," Harry protested with a slightly indifferent tone; he didn't like the fact that she wouldn't stop saying how good a Care of Magical Creatures teacher Professor Grubbly-Plank was during Hagrid's absence.

"Besides," Ron said, "the skins are supposed to be really good for you...didn't you know that, Hermione?"

Hermione dodged the question and arched an eyebrow. "You studied, Ronald? What for?"

"Eh, I read a little - not that I study, mind you."

Harry chuckled, plucking a leaf from his shirt and let it fall to the green house floor. Getting back to the original subject, "Yeah...I think Skeeter has more up her sleeves too. But she's looking for a reaction from people. If nobody cared she wouldn't bother."

Willow was glad the Harry/Ron drama was over at least.

"No, don't think about it so much, Neville," Willow said in Charms. "Feel it in your mind and believe you can - whoops!" Willow ducked so Neville's cushion wouldn't hit her in the face.

"Sorry!" Neville said putting a hand over his eyes. His face was red and he sat his wand down on top of his book.

"It's okay, realy...but you think about it too much, too worried about procedure and accuracy," Willow said, taking Neville's wand and handing it back to him.

Hermione, who was stacking her cushions neatly into the box across the room, gave Willow a beady look that suggested she didn't totally agree with this sort of thinking. She didn't say anything, but Willow caught the overly-precise flick of her wrist that punctuated this private thought.

"You are a natural wizard, Neville," Willow said. "I think you try to follow the rules by the book and think about the results of your actions. How can the magic takes it's course if your mind is somewhere else?"

"But my mind is on the magic!" Neville protested, getting frustrated and sent another cushion bouncing off of the ceiling.

"Your mind is on the technicalities of the magic, you have to believe," Willow pressed gently.

Neville sighed but nodded his head. He knew what she was getting at, but didn't know how to do it. He was a sweet, intelligent boy who was nice to have around and good for cheering people up. But Neville was so uncomfortable in his own skin that the prospect of humiliation kept him guarded, making him fumble with nerves. He was an easy target because he'd rather deal with the embarrassment of getting picked on than standing up for himself and possibly being further humiliated by getting beaten up or worse, laughed at by onlookers. It wouldn't realy click for him until next year when Harry would take him and a bunch of other students under his wing. But Harry was busy talking to Ron and Hermione in a huddle and this told Willow that today was the day after he had his encounter with Moody and Snape after opening the egg in the prefect's bathroom. He kept throwing Willow glances that she couldn't interpret. Did he want to tell her too?

Her question was answered later that day, in Divination. Willow initiated the conversation of course.

"So, Harry," she said, sipping her tea with a slight grimace. She didn't like the taste of it without sugar; something which Trelawney didn't seem to believe in because it made her "rather excitable." Willow Tredd was a strong, black coffee drinker herself. "How's the egg coming? I hear you've figured half of it out."

"Who told you that?" Harry asked with a slight frown.

"Well I heard Hermione talking about it in Charms a little while ago," Willow said easily, telling the truth. She liked when she didn't have to lie to the people she now honestly thought of as her friends.

"Ergh, yeah, well...it's a song in Mermish, see, and it says something allong the lines of taking something of mine that I'll miss and I'll only have an hour to retrieve it."

"The question is," Ron added, "what is going to be taken and how will he get it back."

"It'll be under water, so-"

"You aren't broadening your minds, my dears!" Trelawney trilled emphatically, spreading her arms wide. "You must concentrate, must force yourself to release all other-"

"Anyway," Harry said when Trelawney was out of earshot, "It'll be underwater, so I have to figure out a way to breathe under water for an hour."

Ron stopped trying to decipher his of tea leaf blobs to give Willow a pointed/hopeful look that suggested he was thinking exactly what Harry was about to say.

"Haven't any suggestions, do you? And predictions of any kind, any Jedi mind tricks you could put over on one of the judges or other Champions."

He was only half-joking and didn't hide it.

Willow snorted into her tea and Ron looked confused by the Jedi remark. Willow thought Star Wars might be a series Ron would like if his dad ever got a really wild idea and took them all to the movies. It was time to turn on the Psychic!Sue charm.

"Hee! Eh, well...I dunno, I mean, I have an idea," Willow said, turning her cup over to let it drain and shrugged, hitting a tone of uncertain but knowing. Harry and Ron were looking on with rapt attention.

"What do you think? What do you know?" Ron asked eagerly and Harry nodded in encouragement. Having a teacher like Trelawney made her students eager for some real Seeing and Willow was only too happy to give them what they wanted.

"Well, you'll find the answer in time," Willow said but Harry wasn't completely comforted. "You won't embarrass yourself by showing up and not being able to do the challenge is all I'm saying...you still have to look for the answer."

Harry was still uncertain. She hadn't given him an answer that actually told him anything. Then he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms with a slightly hurt look. "You're holding out on me."

Willow felt a little dart of guilt shoot through her stomach. Harry was more intuitive than anyone would ever give him credit for. She leaned back in her own chair and thought about her options. Would it hurt to tell him, to just give him the answer? Did she want him to go through all of that stress about not finding the answer? No, she didn't.

But I don't have to give him the actual answer! It was just then that Willow remembered dear sweet Dobby. Dobby would find him and give him that ball of gillyweed no matter where he is that morning, weather in his dorm or in the library. Dobby would help him and make sure he had it no matter what. With that in mind...

"So you just won't tell me," Harry said flatly. "Look, I'm realy cutting it close as-"

"I know Harry, but the answer will come to you no matter what you do!" Willow cut in mid-rant and Harry closed his mouth, blinking in surprise. They had completely forgotten their tea leaves. "All I'm saying is that you could sit here and do nothing until the morning of the next challenge and the answer will come to you!" Willow could tell that Harry wanted to believe her.

"Are you sure?" Ron said, mystified.

Willow nodded sagely. "This is something that I'm positive of. You will be cutting it close, but no matter what, the answer will come in time. You don't realy have to do anything. As a matter of fact, don't do anything...just don't tell Hermione."

"Really!"

"Yeah. Just tell her you've got it completely figured out and not to worry about it anymore."

"...Willow, I'm trusting you on this one, I'm really-"

"Harry, have I ever steered you wrong?"

That smoothed the crease between Harry's eyebrows and he smiled a small, somewhat relieved smile. "No, you haven't. Okay."

But Harry wasn't exactly okay with this though. As the day of the next task drew closer, Harry became increasingly nervous. He did what Willow said and told Hermione that he had it cracked and to not bother him about it.

"It isn't something that can be practiced, so I just want to relax, okay?" Harry told Hermione to get her off of his back about not doing anything.

The more nervous Harry got the less he could concentrate on other things. He finally snapped the night before the second task and told Willow he was going to the library. He couldn't stand it, not knowing at all what he was going to do and he couldn't just sit here a second longer. Willow looked on as Harry rushed out of the common room with his book bag on a Sunday night and breathed a sight of relief. She was glad he was going to the library anyway because she just didn't know the outcome if Harry didn't go. Maybe Dobby wouldn't have found him in time and Harry would end up embarrassing himself out there more than he will when he takes the song seriously and tries to save all of the "captives."

'Willow writes,

Everything is unfolding spectacularly! Harry's in the library, working frantically, thinking he's really blown it this time, knowing he'll be humiliated to no end in the morning; he'll think that he's going to have to tell the judges that he won't be able to comlete the task and he's probably hating me right now...

but then Dobby will show up with the gillyweed, give it to Harry and the only thing he'll feel stupid or resentful towards is the fact that he ever doubted me. He'll realize that I was right all allong, once againe. Bonus points for bagging Harry, here I come!'

#9.

Something:

"I had panicked and went to the library at the last minute," Harry confided after returning from the lake. He was shivering with cold and the still, freezing air made his cheeks tingle. "and sure enough, the answer found me. I couldn't help it because I didn't know, you know? That was such a close thing, I thought I was going to die." Harry pulled the blanket tighter about his shoulders.

"Well, all's well that ends well, I guess," Willow said, standing with the little group of Champions and the returned mer-captives. Harry was feeling realy stupid for taking the song seriously. "It's okay, you know, being in the moment and all. Nobody told you that the song wasn't serious and Dumbledore did mentioning the death toll of previous tournaments the beginning of this year."

"Eh," Harry nodded, then shrugged. He did feel a little better.

"And besides," Willow said, leaning closer so no one else would hear, "who's to say that the other three didn't take it seriously? They wouldn't admit it, but I'm guessing they thought the same thing."

The next trip to Hogsmeade, Willow went alone. She was feeling more than a little bit irritable and needed multitudinous amounts of chocolate and fudge to see her through the next six days of cramps, pimples and bloating.

"Shit, shit, shit," Willow muttered as she slip-slided down the muddy slope and through the gates of Hogwarts to make her way to the little wizarding town.

Towards the end of the school year there was allot of rain and mugginess to attract those fucking midges and while the others were happy to see the sunshine, it was still muddy, hazy and Willow (a California girl if there ever was one) genuinely hated the humidity. Right now she just hoped that she'd fit into her jeans tomorrow because she was not going to wear those robes on a Sunday.

She made her way to Honeydukes on a mission, walking down the side walk that seemed annoyingly crowded with people. She entered the bustling shop and took a deep breath of the wonderful, comforting aroma of a place that makes and sells nothing but comfort food. Willow felt her spirits lifting as she carefully chose three kinds of chocolate and three kinds of fudge, fully intending to make herself sick when she got back to Hogwarts; knowing she'd regret it but not caring in the least at the present moment. Willow intended to go right back to the school but sat on a bench just outside the store, took the chunk of butterscotch-espresso marbled fudge from her bag and ate it all right there; the sheer satisfaction it brought was immediate - and immense.

She threw the wrapper in a trash can and made to go back to Hogwarts, but the fudge induced euphoria was short lived. Someone jarred her in passing and a hot flare of hormonal irritation immediately made Willow see red as she rounded on the culprit. Cedric Diggory threw his hands up.

"Oh, my fault! Wasn't looking where I was going," Cedric said, letting one hand drop and the other lay over his heart in an earnest gesture. "Sorry."

His soft, honest gray eyes made Willow want to bawl suddenly and she fought the loose-cannon feelings to nod, then shrug it off.

"Don't worry, it's no problem," Willow said, trying to be nonchalant about it. Cedric smiled brightly, openly and Willow knew that she wouldn't be let off any time soon.

"Willow, right? I'm Cedric; I know it's nearing the end of the school year but we've never actually met, you know, heh. You hang out with Harry, don't you? That Skeeter woman really has her stories down crooked, don't you think?"

They were standing in the middle of the walk way, people just walking around them. "Er yeah. As you can probably tell, I'm not a mute."

Cedric laughed bright and silvery, seeming to clear the sticky, clotted air around them. "Yes, I can see that! Are you and Harry realy going out? Well, not to pry or anything, but there's allot of speculation and all, since Skeeter's last article, you know."

"Me and Harry? No, we just hang out and talk allot. Lots of talking, but he does most of it." Willow hadn't known about the speculation part, but it made the Mary Sue in her perk up a bit...that's another thing she should have made mention of in her CT Form: NO PMS!

Cedric folded his arms in a "that's interesting" sort of way; shifting his weight to one foot, he tilted his head and said with a half-smile, "Really? I always pictured Harry to be a quiet sort."

Willow wiped the moisture from her upper lip and shrugged. "Well I think he knows that I understand the meaning of confidentiality. I like my friends to know that they can trust me and that I won't lie to him. That's all he's looking for, really."

"Yeah, I can imagine. And you, what d'you think of Hogwarts?"

Willow wiped at her forehead. It wasn't so much hot as it was soggy and the air seemed to be condensing on her skin, seeping through her clothing. She swatted at a fly. "Ah, it's pretty different from my old school and where I used to live. Everything is different though."

Cedric nodded. "Yeah, I heard of Payton Harvard through my dad's boss. I've never been to the US but I always wanted to see it, you know all the bigger cities and such. We don't hear much about the Wizarding communities over there, though, rather secretive. Say, are you busy? D'you want to get out of the sun?"

Willow thought she might cry again. "Yeah, actually, I would. You like fudge? I have chocolate too."

"Willow writes,

I wish...

I wish I had never met Cedric Diggory. Cho had the sniffles and didn't go to Hogsmeade that day. One iced tea and fizzy drink later, it was half way through our conversation about the Wizarding community in the US (and weather or not any movie stars were witches and wizards on the sly) that I realized my terrible mistake.

Cedric Diggory is like Tom Cruise: he's a happy and grateful guy who loves life and people. He has to stop and talk to absolutely everyone he meets and ask them about themselves and what they do. He loves the little first years and believes in mentoring them to steer them into the right path.

And he'll be dead in a little less than three weeks."

#10.

Unexpected Feelings:

It was a good thing Willow was one of those people who didn't need to study to pass an exam. As the day of the third task drew nearer, she found it hard to get anything done or concentrate. When presented with their weekly exercise of crystal gazing in Divination, Willow drew her lips into a thin line and shook her head, saying, "I don't know...I don't see anything."

She sat sullen and quiet, earning many exchanged looks of surprise. It just wasn't something they heard from her in Divination. Harry peered at her shrewdly, thinking she was holding back again. He meant to say, I think you just don't want to say what it is, but Trelawney spoke first.

The behavior seemed so out of place that Trelawney gave her a funny look that was a mixture of sympathetic understanding and quizzical concern. Without fanfare or exaggeration, she said, "You're troubled dear. Maybe you should see the nurse? It is much cooler in the hospital wing."

Another surprise: her dedication to the practice was flagging. Willow accepted, leaving the class without another word.

"What's with you lately?" Ron asked at lunch one day, chomping into a chicken sandwich.

"Nothing, why? Where's Harry and Hermione?"

Ron swallowed his bite of sandwich and held up a philosophical finger. "You're changing the subject - and coming from you, that means there's something wrong. Harry noticed too; wants to know what's going on."

"Are you his messenger now?"

"Yes."

A simple enough answer from Ronald Weasley, who was reasonable when he had to be. Why was he always portrayed as the tactless one, like the dumb boy side-kick? J.K.R seemed to just highlight those far-between instances. It was a small comfort to know that Ron wasn't like that all the time.

"So...?" Ron waved his hand in front of her face. Willow had lost herself in thought.

She sighed and took a bite of her own sandwich, speaking around the lump of turkey and cheese, "I dunno...the end of this year's just...making me nervous. I don't have a good feeling about it."

"Exams?" Ron guessed.

Willow jumped at this opportunity at an easy-out. "Yeah, I guess."

"But you're good at everything! Like Hermione but without the know-it-all manner!" Ron exclaimed. Then he became serious. "Maybe it's not you that you're worried about. Maybe it's every other pratt who won't pass their exams that you're feeling for. Like a sympathy pain or something like that!"

"Like all the tension in the air from other people?" Willow pressed helpfully. This was working.

"Yeah..." Ron's triumphant grin slid off of his face. His revolutionary discovery of Willow's complex mind suddenly got him worried. "Bloody hell...you don't think I'll fail, do you?"

"Nah, you'll pass just fine. But that doesn't mean you don't have to study."

Cedric's silvery-happy laughter and smiling gray eyes haunted her.

"What do you mean, you're not coming!" Harry demanded loudly and more angry than Willow thought he would be. They were sitting at the big evening feast and he said this loud enough to make most of the Gryffindor table look around startled.

"I just don't feel well, Harry," Willow said. It was the truth.

"You don't look sick to me," he said coldly, stabbing at the steak that he wasn't all that hungry for.

"Oh come now, Harry," Hermione chided, "it's not like you don't have all of our support."

"Yeah, fine," Harry muttered. He was quiet for a moment. "I just don't see why you can't sit it the stands like everyone else is all," he burst again, waving his fork. He wouldn't look at her and Willow frowned at his irritation. Ron and Hermione were frowning at him too.

"What's wrong with you, Harry?" Hermione asked. "She said she wasn't feeling-"

"All right, all right - sorry. It's the nerves talking. I just hoped that you'd be there to cheer me on is all. You're kind of lucky." Harry grinned a small, slightly embarrassed grin and Willow knew that it was all okay. She managed to grin back.

"Thanks...but I do have something to say before you go."

"What?"

Willow leaned in, "The answer to the riddle is 'Spider.'"

Dumbledore rose to his feet and asked that the champions follow Mr. Bagman to the stadium. Willow, who was sitting next to Harry, gave him a hug before he rose to join the other champions.

"Thanks," he said. "Feel better."

"Good luck."

Maybe if he already has the answer, he'll beat Cedric to the cup, Willow hoped as she made her way to the Gryffindor tower.

She woke suddenly not long after falling asleep and didn't know why. The room was silent and dark, perfect for sleep. But with the window opened next to her bed, she realized what had woken her: the distant screaming of many people on the quidditch pitch.

Willow didn't go see Harry in the Hospital wing. She wasn't there when Harry returned to the common room the evening after he met with Cedric's parents either. She was huddled in her bed, most of her things already packed, staring at the inside of her curtains. She wondered what course the book would have taken if she convinced Harry that she saw what would happen in one of her visions.

Those fucking visions. Willow curled onto her side thinking of how she was being such an inexcusable fraud, messing with these people, letting them hurt each other and themselves. A real Mary Sue wouldn't have allowed this. She gulped hard and squeezed her eyes shut; small tears rolling down her hot face. But Willow cried only a little, let herself cry a few tears over this; Mary Sue T765 wouldn't allow any more than this.

When Willow went down into the common room very early the next morning, Harry was there; alone, staring darkly into the deceptively cheery fire. His eyes were red and glassy, brows furrowed. Willow turned to go back up the stairs but his voice stopped her.

"Just tell me one thing, Willow," Harry said, looking up from the fire and over at her retreating back. She turned. "Did you know?" Harry stood slowly and Willow didn't want to look at him, didn't want him to see the guilty tears. He stood in front of her and peered down at her. "Did you know that Cedric was going to die? That Voldemort was coming back?"

His tone was neither angry or accusing but she was so very sorry. Of course she knew. She had read the book twice and then went back to check facts. Before being launched into this realm of reality, Mary Sue T765 knew what was going to happen and accepted it with the vaguely caring but detached manor of a doctor telling a patient they weren't familiar with that they had a life-threatening disease. There was no gravity behind this knowledge until she became involved with these people and had to watch them go through terrible and very real things that left her feeling guilty and sad and angry.

Harry took her tears the only way he could interpret them and stepped foreword, "I'm not pinning any of this on you, Willow, believe me when I say that," he added quickly. "There's no way I could do that, but...did you have any idea at all? I mean, I know your visions-"

(Willow was realy beginning to hate that word)

"-are vague and...hard to understand. But was there any hint?" Harry sounded lost, not knowing what he was looking for or why he was bringing this up.

Willow gulped and made a vague waving gesture with her hand and shrugged hopelessly. "I couldn't explain even if I tried. I can't - I don't know how -" the tears were flowing freely and she shook her head. Harry didn't know that I couldn't explain even if I tried really meant I didn't do anything to prevent this and I'm more sorry than you can ever know. She was a sick person for knowing what she knew and not doing anything about it. Willow was trying not to sob out loud, shaking with suppressed grief and burning guilt. Harry shook his head and closed the distance with a manner of tender purpose.

"No, no, it's okay. I'm sorry," Harry assured her with a hug and sighed heavily. "I don't even know what I'm getting at. I shouldn't have implied anything."

"Willow writes,

I never realized how timid I was. Instead of taking action and telling Harry what I knew about Cedric, I didn this passive-aggressive thing with telling him the answer to the riddle and only hoping it would get him to the cup first. I don't think anyone will be impressed with this back at the Mary Sue Headquarters, but I find it hard to care.

I feel so disgusting. It's one thing to read about the death of a character in a book. Getting to know them and find out how wonderful they are, then just letting them die when it probably wouldn't change the story at all is a completely different thing."

#11.

Home Again, Home Again:

Willow was quiet on the train. She didn't participate in the conversations about what actions Dumbledore might be taking against Voldemort. After a year of Willow merely listening and not saying much in the way of general conversation, they were used to her quiet, compatible company and Harry appreciated it after previous events. She was feeling kind of tired and mostly looked out the window. She thought to herself that, even though she was already a trusted part of their group, they realy could have been good friends if she were staying, if she were realy a part of this world and these people.

"Hey," Ron said and Willow took the cauldron cake he was offering.

"Thanks," Willow said and bit into the vaguely rice crispy-like cake, suddenly realizing that she was hungry.

"What's up?"

"Eh - just ready to go home."

Ron gave her a lop-sided grin and shook his head, "What a year, yeah?"

"Yeah. I'll say."

"It's not like this every year; not all the time, you know," He said suddenly, understanding lingering in his eyes. This wasn't exactly the truth and Ron didn't sound convinced. But it was this moment of shrewd clarity and understanding that made Willow feel better. Ron wasn't completely oblivious to other people's feelings; he wasn't always tactless and these fleeting moments let Willow in on a secret: once he shook his insecurities, Ron would one day be a very caring and understanding husband and father. She hoped he would find someone to give him that chance, Hermione or someone else.

Her parents looked, mildly concerned for Willow when they picked her up at Kings Cross. She was exhausted when she got home and decided that after dragging her trunk into the closet, she'd take a shower and then a nap.

When Willow opened the door to her closet and saw the void beyond, she instantaneously knew that it was all over. Amid the bright light and waves of nausea as she rocketed out of the fandom and back into Mary Sue reality, Willow Tredd was immensely sad she didn't get to say good bye to her parents.

Mary Sue number T765's eyes adjusted to the dim yellow light in Launching Deck HP4 and breathed a sigh of relief. She was relieved that, even though she remembered everything that she experienced the one year she went to Hogwarts as a 4th year student, the emotional involvement fell away, relieving her of the attachment she felt for the people she'd left behind.

Willow Tredd was no more. Mary Sue number T765 found herself back in the Mary Sue Exchange Commerce Office, squirming under Tango-Lynn Casey's unimpressed blue gaze.

"You didn't do very well, did you?"

"I - no ma'am, I didn't," T765 said truthfully. There was no point in pretending she thought he did well for a first try.

"But you did learn something, didn't you?" Gizelle inquired with raised eyebrows. This Mary Sue was T765's least favorite. But she did learn allot.

"Yes. I learned not to rush into things. And that it doesn't matter if you change the events or not. That you can drastically change everything about it and it won't matter because you can always go back and do it all over again."

"Amen to that and thank Thora you understand now," Tanya-Bree said, sparing T765 a small but genuine smile. "Usually a Mary Sue as fresh as you are would go off on some masturbatory speech about how much they've learned about their specific fandom and how much they loved it even though we already know how the whole thing went. You should be happy to know that a Mary Sue's very first mission doesn't go on their permanent record. This was only a test run to give you a feel for the Harry Potter realm. Do you have anything else to say?"

"I'd like to get a head start on my next assignment," T765 said; she wouldn't screw up this time. Leave the whole "As is" responses to the Professional Sues and their CT forms!

"I for one am pleasantly surprised," Tango-Lynn said. "It just so happens that we have an HP5 opening, if you feel up to the task of super angsty and moody Harry."

"Or you could take the newest two year assignment. A HP 4 and 5 combination will give you time to gain the confidence of the trio," Tanya-Bree interjected.

"I'd like that, Ma'am."

"Very good then, Sue," Tango-Lynn said, taking the thick folder from Tanya-Bree and gave it to Gizelle to hand to T765. "Now that you know what an untouched and unchanged realm is like, I don't expect to see you again a long time."

T765 clutched her folder of new opportunities tightly. "Yes Miss Casey."