These Mystic Eyes
[Year 1, First Semester]
Ever since the car crash all those years ago, Harriet has been able to see 'death lines'. These lines appear as red glowing marks that crisscross a person's skin. So long as she traces them, she is able to kill anything that she sets her eyes on. Since her arrival at the castle, Harriet had desired to test her eyes upon one of the many ghosts which roamed the halls of Hogwarts. The chance to discover if she could kill the dead strangely excited her. Harriet's question had finally been answered yesterday during her interaction with nearly-headless Nick.
Sure enough, the 'death lines' had appeared across Nick's body. However, activating her power in his presence seemed to have completely ruined any further chances of talking to him as the ghost began to avoid her like the plague. That was fine with Harriet. It was not like people avoiding her was something new.
[Year 1, Second Semester]
Harriet strode through the flames and came face to face with Quirinus Quirrell. The Defence Against the Dark Arts professor stood in front of a full body length mirror. Snapping his fingers, Harriet was immediately bound by conjured rope.
'Master! I have the girl! What is my next step?' he shouted to the air. Harriet would have scoffed at Quirrell's words if not for the fact that he actually received a reply.
'Use the girl…' a voice hissed. Strangely enough, it seemed to be coming from Quirrell himself. With a flick of his wand, Harriet was pulled in front of the mirror. 'Potter, tell me, what do you see?'
Humoring the professor, Harriet was startled to see someone staring back at her. It was a bespectacled boy with messy black hair along with a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. What truly stunned her was the boy's vivid green eyes. They were the exact same shade as her own. The boy raised a finger to his lips before winking at Harriet. Turning back to Quirrell, she lied in a bored tone, 'I don't see anything you spineless fool.'
'Let me speak to her, Quirrell. Let me speak to her!' the voice demanded. Gulping in fear, Quirrell slowly began to remove his turban and revealed a second face on the back of his head.
'Harriet Potter,' the second face whispered, 'you were the one who left me in this sorry state. You shall pay for your sins against Lord Voldemort! Kill her!'
Quirrell obeyed the Dark Lord's command and lunged at Harriet, only to screech in pain as the hand which came in contact with her skin began to burn. Sneering at the two faced man, Harriet snarled, 'For a Dark Lord you're awfully stupid aren't you? Shouldn't the first thing you do be to check me for a wand? Incendio!'
Although the sparks that appeared at the tip of her wand were nothing like the fire Hermione conjured, it was enough to cause the ropes that bound her to catch fire. Wriggling free of her bounds, she stared down the abomination whose hands had been burnt to stumps. Activating her mystic eyes, Harriet raised an eyebrow as the usual 'death lines' were in the shape of handprints on Quirrell's face.
'You fancy yourself a god or something Voldemort? You probably ought to count your own sins before pointing fingers at me. Begone creature, you are no human to me.'
Letting her instincts take over, she ran towards the still screaming Quirrell and pressed her hands onto his face. The Defence Against the Dark Arts professor's screams reached an entirely new octave as his face began to burn just as his arms did.
'Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!' the voice of Voldemort continued to chant in the background. However, it was soon unable to speak for much longer as Quirrell's entire head was being reduced to ashes. A screeching wraith leapt from his body, quickly passing through the castle walls.
When Professor Dumbledore eventually entered the room, all he could find was the burnt up body of one Quirinus Quirrell and a bored Girl-Who-Lived.
[Year 2, Second Semester]
'I should have known Hagrid's 'help' would be anything but beneficial!' Harriet snarled as she raced through the Forbidden Forest. Despite his willingness to lend aid even when sentenced to Azkaban, having to face off against an entire nest of Acromantula was not something she wanted. All this to help Hermione…
Harriet shook her head, banishing any negative thoughts that continued to fester. She wanted to help the petrified Hermione as a friend, not as an obligation to the girl that has followed her around since first year. Good thing she came prepared for something like this. The Acromantula which were gaining on the Girl-Who-Lived ended up being met by a brilliant explosion that lit up the Forbidden Forest.
'Hope you like Dr Filibuster's Fireworks!' she whooped as she continued to run through the thick undergrowth. Surely the twins would not miss the two that she had 'borrowed' to prevent herself from dying. Yet, Harriet's good luck seemed to have come to an end when she tripped on some roots.
Her attempts to scramble to her feet were only met by an Acromantula pouncing onto her with its pincers snapping. Thankfully, the fireworks were not the only thing she had taken from the castle. A short sword, courtesy of one of the suits of armour in Hogwarts, plunged directly into the creature. The thrust killed it almost instantly, leaving Harriet drenched in its blood.
Rising to her feet, her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception was already actively plotting the 'death lines' of the remaining Acromantula that pursued her. Narrowing her eyes, another deadly dance with death began. While the Girl-Who-Lived was no monster hunter, her active lifestyle from running around the hills close to the orphanage and playing as Gryffindor's seeker in her second year made her rather agile. Soon, the bodies of Acromantula began to pile up on the ground.
The sharp snapping of pincers soon filled the air. More Acromantula had joined the initial wave and were beginning to surround Harriet. Even with the use of 'death lines', there was no way she could exterminate such a large swarm of giant spiders. Harriet began to assess the situation that had presented itself before her. Her second year spells were completely useless right now. The only other weapon she had on hand was the short sword she had taken and even her power would not be able to get her out of this situation.
Just then, she heard multiple objects streaking through the air along with the tell tale thrums of bowlines. Sure enough, most of the Acromantula crumpled to the ground with arrows protruding from various parts of their bodies. Harriet then heard the stamping of hooves. The bloody centaurs had come to her aid once more.
'Harbinger, what brings you back to the forest? Did you not say that one near death experience here was sufficient last year?' the closest centaur inquired.
'Well I didn't come here by bloody choice did I? Hagrid was the one who told me to come here to get some help! Besides, why do you lot call me a harbinger?' she shot back. As expected, none of them chose to reply to her.
'We need to get you out of the forest. You being here already aligned the stars towards death… We shall escort you back to Hagrid's hut girl. Please, for all our sakes, do not venture into her at night once more.'
With those last lines, the centaurs and Harriet spent the remainder of the walk back towards the castle in complete silence. At least she got what she came for. Before Aragog sent his family to attack Harriet, she had managed to ascertain that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets was a Basilisk.
[Year 2, Second Semester]
'Seriously? You're supposed to be Voldemort?' Harriet questioned as she stood before Tom Marvolo Riddle. Whatever that damned thing was, it claimed it originated from the small black diary on the ground. She had managed to confirm such a claim was true upon seeing the 'death lines' on the diary and the strange glowing line that linked it to Riddle.
Unlike the situation in the Forbidden Forest, the Girl-Who-Lived did not come prepared for this fight. Her original intention had been to convince some teachers to come down into the Chamber with her but only the bumbling idiot (Lockhart) was in the staffroom when she entered. To make matters worse, that damned ghost, Myrtle, had also managed to convince her to enter the Chamber like a fool by playing on her desire to avenge a petrified Hermione. She should have known something was wrong when a ghost had willingly talked to her.
'Were you the one who convinced that ghost to bring me here? I'm pretty impressed. No ghost would willingly talk to me under any circumstance. Whatever you threatened her with must have been good.' Harriet mused.
Smirking, Riddle raised his arms dramatically as he began to chant in parseltongue. The stone sculpture of Salazar Slytherin's head began to move its mouth to match the chanting. Lowering herself to a crouch, Harriet readied herself for whatever was to come. Sure enough, a hulking snake slithered out of Slytherin's mouth with its head easily brushing against the ceiling of the Chamber.
'I don't think you will be able to get out of this one!' Riddle spat before ordering the Basilisk to kill Harriet. The Girl-Who-Lived cursed as she immediately ducked out of the way of an incoming lunge from the King of Serpents. Even with her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, she did not possess any weapon to slay the damned thing. Yet, Harriet was resolved not to die in this dark and musty chamber.
Riddle lazily observed Harriet actively avoid making eye contact with the Basilisk as she dodged its attacks by observing the creature's reflection in the puddles which littered the Chamber. A sudden song began to fill the room. Slytherin's monster paused its attack on Harriet to focus on the bright red phoenix which soared into the chamber. With a cry, Fawkes dropped the sorting hat at her feet before clawing at one of the Basilisk's eyes.
Staring down at the ancient and wrinkled hat, Harriet moaned in despair, 'What the hell am I supposed to do with this, Dumbledore?'
[Year 3, Summer]
Harriet stared at the ceiling of her little room in the orphanage. Her third year at Hogwarts had certainly been eventful with her entanglement with the dementors, a werewolf and an escapee from Azkaban. Yet, both her first and second years at the school of witchcraft and wizardry could also be dubbed so.
Turning her head at the little beep from her alarm clock, she found that it was midnight. It was her fourteenth birthday. Harriet then heard a scratching at the window to find Hedwig along with two other owls waiting there expectantly. The Girl-Who-Lived was pleasantly surprised to find that they did not come empty handed (or was it clawed?). Hedwig had come with the usual present from Hermione which did not take a genius to identify it as a book. Instead, it was the other two owls which caught her attention.
Turning to the jet black owl, she found the package to be from her estranged godfather. Sirius Black had somehow managed to find a completely black owl (likely his idea of a joke) while on the run from the entire wizarding world. Harriet tore open the package to find a serrated knife that could allegedly open any lock, even enchanted ones. Staring at her reflection in the blade, she judged it to be a good blade before returning it to its sheath.
The final owl was a generic brown tawny owl. Taking the letter from its beak, Harriet mused, 'Who the hell sent me this? There's nothing written on the envelope apart from my damn name…'
Judging it as safe to open, the Girl-Who-Lived tore open the letter and cursed upon seeing its contents. There was only a singular photograph in the envelope and it depicted something Harriet would much rather forget. It was a picture of a young Harriet Lily Potter with bandages wrapped around her eyes as she laid on a hospital bed…
To be specific, it was a photo directly after the damned car crash which gave her these mystic eyes...
