Disclaimer: The fantastic characters that you are about to read about in my story solely belong to the magnificent and almighty J.K. Rowling. I just like to take the characters and twist them to my wills. Oh, if I owned them the things I would do (smirks)! The only thing of value I do own is a Pentium one laptop which the monitor doesn't even work so I have to hook it up to another one. The one I hook it up to turns blue at random and I have to beat it with my fist to turn it back to normal... Pathetic, huh? Well now enjoy the story and on with the show!
Raises Curtain
Chapter One: Meeting A Rose
Harry walked through the small amount of students that were quickly passing him by. 'Probably looking for their loved ones so they can say goodbye before they leave for school.' Harry thought surprised by the wave of bitterness that washed over him. 'C'mon Harry. You should be happy today. You're going back to school. Everyone would have wanted you to be happy.' Harry thought taking a deep breath.
By everyone, he meant Sirius, Professor Dumbledore, and his parents. He felt his heart throb in pain at the memory of Dumbledore, the death still fresh. He felt a wave of guilt wash over him and tears threaten to fall. He couldn't help but blame himself. So many people had died to save him, died because they loved him. Thinking about love his heart gave another painful throb.
Hogwarts had shut down their entire what would have been their final year. It took almost 10 whole months to find the Horocruxes, and one month to find Voldemort. Three months before the final battle Ginny and himself had gotten back together and had fallen deeply in love, or at least he had. Up until the final battle they had kept a steady relationship an then the night before the final battle they had made love. She had given him the push, strength, and love he needed to kill Voldemort.
Of course, all good things had to come to an end (he believed) when it came to Harry Potter and she broke up with him two weeks after that day. She had explained that she would rather have a brother sister relationship with him and really couldn't love him the way he wanted. She had apologized over and over as Harry's eyes flooded with tears and he walked from the room claiming he understood. He didn't want her to see she had hurt him but she knew she had.
They were still close and Harry and her were best friends just like he was with Hermione. Ginny had a new boyfriend and Harry was as happy for her, as happy as he could be, even if it was Seamus Finnigan. Everyone seemed to be pairing off these days to Harry's slight dismay. Bill and Fleur had married and were expecting twins. Tonks and Lupin were engaged and had set the date. Ginny and Seamus had started seeing each other a few days ago. Ron and Hermione had begun dating a week before the final battle. Fred had Angelina were married and George and Katie were tying the knot in June.
Harry had recently come to the conclusion that he would never be allowed to be truly happy and that he should move on with life. 'It's not like he would or could ever be normal, right?' Harry leaned against one of the platform pillars and watched the people around him. He was thirty minutes later since he had come from George's flat. The place he had been staying at with Ron and George since he left the Dursley's house. Voldemort wouldn't have thought of looking there so they stayed there to be safe. Harry let his eyes wander until they landed on someone Harry had definitely NEVER seen before.
She had headphones on and her head was lolling back in forth in time to the blaring music that even Harry could hear even though he was at least five feet away. She had long straight light brown hair and her eyes were closed. She had a very pretty face, which was a little covered under eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow and lip-gloss. It didn't look bad though. It actually looked really good on the girl. Around her neck hung a green beaded necklace with a green charm that looked like a frog or a turtle. She wore a black beater, which showed off the black rose tattoo on her left upper arm. The beater said in red letters, "Kiss Me I'm Punk!" She had on blue jeans and a clean pair of black and white high top converse chucks and to match black nail polish. She also had on a lot of black and red jelly bracelets on each wrist. Her belt stood out and in big bold letters on the buckle it read, 'CAUTION.'
As people walked by kids stared and parents hurried by the strange yet beautiful girl that was sitting on her trunk next to her midnight black owl. Suddenly her eyes snapped open and her eyes took Harry's breath away completely. He was surprised when he saw such bright colors, he couldn't decide if they were blue, green, or gold. She winked at him and he felt his mouth go dry for a few moments.
"Harry!" before Harry could properly see the person his view was blocked by a small mass of soft curly hair. Hermione pulled away and beamed at Harry, as did he. He turned around and was going to see if she was still there but she was gone.
"Where did she-?" he began but turned when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hi Ron. Hi Ginny," he said as she looked at his friends and felt his heart sting a little.
"Hey, mate!" Ron exclaimed as he put his arm around Hermione's shoulders. "Why did you leave so early this morning? When I woke up you were gone."
"Just got bored and I wanted to let you sleep in," Harry explained as they pushed there things towards the train. Harry keeping his eyes open for a sign of that girl.
"Harry! Harry, are you even listening? Harry look out!" If only he had been listening he wouldn't have ran into the compartment door.
"Bugger!" he cursed as he rubbed his forehead. He threw open the door and walked in.
"Harry is there something on your mind?" Hermione asked as they put their things in the luggage rack.
"I'm fine. I promise," he assured them, and then he noticed something. "Where's Ginny?
"Wow, you really must have not been listening," Ron, said chuckling slightly. "She's off to find Seamus and meet us in the Prefect compartment for the meeting."
"Oh," Harry simply said as he sat down a little sadden that he was going to be alone. "Hurry back."
Before the two walked out the door Hermione turned around and said, "I don't know how long the meeting will be they haven't picked the Head Boy or Girl. "
Harry looked out the window after they left and still could not get over the fact that Hermione and Ron were together. It's not that he minded it was just that things were different. He didn't get to see them as often and they acted differently around him. He knew they didn't mean to and that the only cause was because they were so in love. Harry hated to admit it but on the inside he was unbelievably jealous of his two best friends.
"Hello, can I sit with you?" Harry turned and was shocked to find himself face to face with 'the girl.' "Everywhere else is full."
"Sure," he said as he noticed her American accent. She began to pull her trunk with one hand and her birdcage in the other and almost tripped. "Let me help you," he said grabbing her trunk and hoisting it up into the luggage rack for her.
"Thanks," she said kindly holding out her hand. He took it with his own and shook it lightly to feel nothing but soft skin and electricity. When they pulled their hands away she spoke again. "I'm Alexandria Arabella Rose and you're, Harry James Potter, right?"
"Yeah, how did you know?" he asked knowing that his scar had vanished when he had ended Voldemort's poor excuse of a life.
"One of my best friends, Sammi, was completely obsessed with you and had posters of you on the walls in her room," she chuckled as she watched his cheeks blush crimson at the thought. "She never shut up about you! Always telling me random factoids about you, your middle name, favorite desert, your owl's name, and things of that nature," she said embarrassing him further.
"That's…um… nice, I think," he said as he sat down across from the already seated girl. "So, where did you used to go?"
"A boring little school called Cauldworths in Ohio. It was a boarding school like Hogwarts with about double the amount of kids going here," she said leaning back in he seat.
"What's America like?" Harry asked out of curiosity. "It's probably a lot better than here."
"I really don't know how to answer that. I've been living in the outskirts of London for the past week and I've only lived in America before that." She shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "It's really nice though. It's warmer than here and not as rainy."
"I bet you miss it, don't you?" he asked as he watched her eyes become a little pained and a passive expression molded into her features.
"I don't miss the actual place that much; I just miss everything that I had to leave behind. It's hard moving to another continent and leaving your friends and family behind," she said teary eyed. She sniffed and plastered a smile on her face and looked back at Harry.
"I'm sorry," Harry said at a lost for response. They kept up a steady conversation the entire trip up until the evening. Harry hadn't even began to wonder where Ron and Hermione where.
"So… What year are you in?"
"Between you and me I should be in my sixth year but I'm in my seventh," she said in a stage whisper.
"How did you manage that?" Harry asked. He remembered Hermione had had the offer but had chosen against it. Could someone else really be as smart as Hermione?
"Studying a lot I guess, natural talent they called it. Since I was switching schools I thought why not? They said I was the smartest student at my school and if I really wanted I could graduate. I decided just to skip a grade since it would make it easier and I would only have to be here a year," she said in explanation.
"That's amazing," Harry was astounded with this girl. "Some things must be bad though. Like everyone else being able to Apparate and you can't."
"Actually I was given permission by the Ministry before I came here so even though I'm 16 I can," she said smirking at his scandalized expression.
"That's not fair!" he exclaimed half-smiling. "You're so lucky! How did that work out?"
"I had to take extra qualifying tests and I had to practice a lot harder. My body had a lot more difficulty doing it seeing I was 15 at the time. I also had to sign a contract that stated I would use it responsible and I wouldn't abuse or show off my new skill," she said very business like. She sounded as if she went from being sixteen to thirty six. It was even better than Hermione.
"How do you do that?" Harry asked with a hint of amusement. "I've never heard someone your age sound so grown up."
"My dad was the Minister of Magic in the states for almost my whole life. I had to attend a lot of dinner parties at my house or in dinning halls along with behaving like a well brought up young adult of society," she said with an almost untraceable hint of bitterness. "When he wasn't home I had to deal with the house maids and butlers and an obnoxious eighteen year old brother."
"What about your mum?" Harry asked wondering why she hadn't mentioned her and had a feeling that it wasn't going to be good.
"This is where the plot thickens," she said with a sad smile. "She died of leukemia last year. She was such a strong witch, too. I always thought that if something ever happened to her it would be during her Auror field time but instead it was by a disease. A simple uncured disease. You would have thought that witches and wizards would have created a cure but not even magic can heal everything. Amazing isn't it? I always thought she was invincible but I guess I was shown how wrong I was." Harry watched as a sparkling tear slid down her pale cheek.
"I'm-I'm so sorry." He felt so bad for this girl that had somehow found a way into his heart and stabbing him with the painful knife of truth.
"Don't worry about it. Look at me I'm horrible aren't I? Here I am going on and on about my mother when you don't have either one of you parents." She wiped away the two tears that had found there way on her cheeks and smeared her eyeliner in the process.
"Of course not. You're anything but horrible…. And… um… you smeared your make-up."
She wiped under her eyes again and just made it worse. "Is that better?"
"Actually it's worse." He chuckled and sat by her. "Here, let me get it." He reached up and gently brushed the moisture and make-up away as chills went down his spine at contact. His hand slowly slid away and they smiled at each other for a moment.
"We need to change into our uniforms," he said glancing out the window noticing that it was getting a lot darker and that they would be at Hogwarts soon. Harry turned and opened his trunk and pulled out his clothes while he heard her mutter something behind him. With his robes in his hands he turned around and said, "What did you-Bloody Hell! How did you do that!"
Somehow she had already changed into her school robes in the duration of time Harry had been turned around. She just giggled and smiled. "I made a spell up in my third year so incase I slept in or something I could change my clothes into the uniform. It ends with a simple Finite Incantantum. I'll teach you it if it's our little secret."
"Of course. I won't tell a soul," he said raising his arm in the air as if to swear and oath.
She moved her wand in a figure eight position and said, "Reconstructo Uniformus Evanesco."
Harry watched in amazement as his clothes began to shift and change colors. Instead of his trainers, blue t-shirt, jeans, and jacket he was wearing his Hogwarts uniform. "This is absolutely brilliant! Now I'll never be late because I couldn't find a piece of my uniform."
She chuckled and looked at him with a bright smile. "Remember it only last four hours unless you take off the charm. It's mainly for use for one class and then you can change on a break or something," she said as they walked out of the compartment and off the train. She turned around and gave Harry that bright smile again. "Sorry Harry but I have to go. My letter said I had to get into the boats with the first years or something and get my Prefect badge from Professor McGonagall. Bye," she said waving and walking past him.
"Wait!" he yelled but when he turned around she was gone. She had to stop disappearing on him! And how was she already a prefect?
"Harry!" Hermione yelled coming towards him. "Who was that girl you were talking with? I've never seen her before. I've never seen anyone that looks like her at least."
Ron snorted and laughed. "She looked bonkers to me. I've never seen anyone dress like that."
"Her name's Alexandria," Harry said choosing to ignore Ron's rude comment.
"Alexandria?" Hermione asked looking a little agitated at the name. "Alexandria Rose?"
"Yeah, do you know her?" Harry asked confused.
"No but McGonagall said she was new and had to be sorted, also that she is a prefect. Also, since she wasn't there they couldn't announce the Head Boy or Girl. How can you be a prefect when you haven't even attended Hogwarts?" Hermione asked sounding annoyed with her. "I and everyone else had to work hard-"
"-Except for Malfoy-" Ron interjected.
"-for their position. I mean really does McGonagall think that's really fair to the rest of us?" Hermione finished as they climbed into a theastral drawn carriage. Students around them were gawking at the beautiful yet frightening animals. Almost everyone was able to see them now except for some of the younger years.
"I can understand why," Harry said gazing out the window. "I think she's the smartest witch I've ever met."
"What happened to me being the brightest witch of our age?" Hermione said and for once in her life accepting her title.
"Hermione come one! She skipped a grade, creates her own spells, and she could have already graduated if she wanted," Harry pointed out.
"He's got you their Hermione," Ron agreed earning a glare from Hermione. The rest of the ride was spent in silence.
Chapter One: Meeting A Rose
(A/N) Hello! Thanks for reading the first chapter! To all of you thanks for giving this story a shot! I worked really hard on this story and it will pick up in the next chapter! I hope you like it and keep reading! Please read and review! Here are random clips from the next chapter:
She sat down next to him and he accidentally blurted out, "Do you like Malfoy?"
She blinked and turned to him. "You mean Draco?" He nodded. "He seems like a pretty nice guy and I think we're already friends." He sighed. "I know you two don't see eye to eye-"
"Eye to eye? We don't see face to face really." Harry said bluntly.
Well there you go! The next chapter is going to be very…interesting. Help me please! Thanks to everyone who reads and reviews!
Quinn LeAnne
