AN: So I'm not entirely happy with this chapter. I find myself debating on how I should alter Harriet's personality, if at all – more than I already have that is. Reviews on how the characters are shaping up are welcome at any time throughout the story.


Now is as good a time as any to point out that Harriet may very well be a little too attached to her coffee. It may not even be a stretch to imply she might be addicted or, at the very least, chemically dependent on the beverage. Wouldn't you be a little, and I do mean a very little, attached to your daily fix if it were the first thing remotely reminding you of home since who knows when?

More importantly, have you ever seen someone who may or may not be (but most definitely is) dependent on his or her coffee when someone else takes it away from them? Not a happy moment.

Harriet, as it happened, was now livid. Sputtering forgotten, she turned on the three strangers, eyes wide and full of accusation.

"How DARE YOU! Do you have any idea what you've DONE!"? Verbally assaulting uniformed personnel was perhaps not the best reaction to have when you're quite possibly an undocumented alien. Nonetheless, she indulged in the outburst. If nothing else, it was good stress relief.

The three people before her, all dressed in identical red uniforms, took a moment to be stunned before responding almost as poorly as Harriet. The only female in the group, a platinum blonde, became particularly defensive.

"Who do you think you are! And what are you doing sitting right where everyone can trip over you?" She was getting loud. "You're a hazard and - ."

"What'da mean hazard?! He clearly wasn't paying attention and fell over his own two feet!"

"If you hadn't assaulted him - !"

"Assaulted him! I was sitting, innocently catching my breath," which wasn't not true, "when your oblivious friend nearly kicked me in the face!" Her fists clenched at her sides as she visibly tried to calm herself. It seemed her magic was more inclined to react to her emotions here. She could feel it roiling under the surface of her skin.

The blonde's uninjured companion joined in from the side of his friend. "No one near about breaks their shoulder from just falling," he said through gritted teeth.

Harriet's eyes became fierce as she whipped her head around to stare at the male. "Are you a doctor?" She took his silence as a no - not that she'd really given him a chance to respond. "Then how would you know he nearly broke his shoulder?"

Without giving the man enough time to respond, she turned her fierce gaze directly on the offending partly. He was smartly still maintaining his silence.

"Did you break your shoulder? No, you didn't. Why? Because you would have been in a lot more pain and unable to move it properly." Now was also as good a time as any to start trying out the effectiveness of her spellwork. She cast a silent, wandless, diagnostic spell aimed at the guy's shoulder without raising a finger, followed in quick succession by an equally silent episkey – just in case. "As it is," she drawled sarcastically, "you're perfectly okay and suffering from nothing more than being embarrassed in front of your mates!" Not that her spell had told her as much. Harriet simply had an eye for assessing damage to the human, and not so human, body.

The boy/man in the red uniform had the decency to blush. Wincing slightly as he sat up properly, he tried to get his friends to back down. "It's true, Karen. I'm not hurt. I just landed wrong is all."

Karen didn't back down. She and Harriet had locked eyes, neither one willing to let the other 'win.' There was some debate as to whether this fiery streak came from her mother specifically or happened to just be one of those gryffindor traits she'd picked up at school. Either way, Harriet would continue multitasking.

Her war-honed survival instincts had kicked in once the woman had raised her voice (she looked human at any rate). One part actively sized up the threat from the three before her and warned her about the level of attention they were drawing from the sidelines.

Attention could be bad. However, the three in and of themselves didn't seem to pose an immediate threat. The uniform had to mean something, something that gave the girl a sense of entitlement. The clumsy, inattentive one, no more than 20 she guessed, seemed to expect Karen's behavior but wasn't interested in a fight. His brown eyed, brown haired companion, didn't seem more than mildly annoyed on behalf of his friend, who he'd already helped to his feet.

The part of Harriet still locked in a battle of wills couldn't resist the urge to speak. "If you're so concerned for him, why don't you actually try helping him then." Karen was nothing more than a ball of self-important, self-righteous, fake blonde hair dye wearing - Harriet forced herself to stop. A curious sensation passed over her as her magic felt like it was about to jinx something – or someone. 'Definitely got to watch my emotions then.'

The other two walked over quickly, almost bodily restraining Karen from answering with her fists. The coffee cup destroyer's unnamed friend spoke first. "Look, I'm sorry. If everyone's alright - " Harriet took the opportunity to also try a revised point me spell. She was looking for some form of identification, something she could modify. " – then, we can all just go about our way." He gave her an irritated look.

Once again, Harriet couldn't resist. "What about my cup!" What if they didn't have coffee? The man looked like he was about to let go of Karen's shoulder. By this point, she was practically growling at Harriet. None of them actually bothered to look at the object.

Harriet made a big show of taking a deep breath and trying to calm herself. The spell had found something and she wanted to move the item away before they noticed. 'Inside the coffee cup? What if they pick it up?' No, the chances of them offering were pretty low. The chances of anyone noticing the card's short trip into her cup while all eyes were on the theatrics? Even lower. She mentally summoned it.

"You know what, fine, whatever." Folding both hands across her chest, she sniffed in an irritated, overly self-important, manner before turning on her heel to retrieve the no longer empty cup.

There was a moment of general disbelief. Karen once again made as if to go after her before her companion pulled her back. "Come on, let's just help Carl get his things. Civilians aren't worth it."

Harriet waved a hand over her shoulder in a dismissive fashion, casually walking away from the trio. 'So the uniforms are military.' She took a moment to consider the results of her spells, 'or lack thereof.' The results were inconclusive at best. She hadn't received any feed back from the diagnostic spell but given how upset she'd been, it could've just been her lack of conviction. With the episkey spell, her anger shouldn't have mattered as much. Then again, it didn't necessarily heal soreness or mortifying embarrassment.

Suddenly, the silence registered. 'Why'd they stop moving? Why's so quiet?' Just as her head whipped around, the trio started moving again, along with the few onlookers who had been following the exchange.

The one named Carl sheepishly apologized to an only marginally annoyed Karen. "Sorry for knocking into you. I guess I just got carried away." The two guys started gathering up Karen's books and the other loose items strewn about. 'Whaa…'

"Really, Carl, you need to pay more attention." Harriet wasn't sure what to make of the exchange, so she continued to pretend to inspect the state of her cup from a short distance away. "One day you're gonna hurt someone."

"Oh don't be so mean to him. It's not like he hurt you or anyone else."

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Karen subconsciously attempt to flip her hair. Harriet never understood why girls with their hair up always tried to do that. Really, you're hair won't flip if it's bound to your head people!

Focus! She discreetly took a look around. No one was paying much attention to the trio or even her. Harriet sighed. She couldn't tell for sure but it almost seemed like they'd all been confunded. 'Maybe a variety of a notice-me-not?' If so, she would have to be more careful with her hand motions on top of her emotional control. She would also have to see if mentally saying the spell worked better or worse than strength of intent.

She continued to make her way towards an even less populated area. Remembering that red uniforms equaled some form of military service, she decided it would be best to find someplace where the uniforms were not. She emptied what she assumed was the identification card she'd summoned into her leather satchel. She would investigate it and transfer it to the mokeskin pouch hanging from her neck later. For now, she didn't want to draw any more attention to herself.

"Wait." Harriet halted. "I was not aware anyone at the Academy possessed such capabilities."

Merlin bless - now what?


And so it begins.