a/n own nothing in this world
September 1991
"Tell me it's true. Please tell me it's true," Ascella said squeezing in next to Harry on the Gryffindor bench at dinner.
"Tell you what is true," Harry hedged, but he was grinning. He knew exactly what she was talking about.
"It is isn't it?! I knew it!" she said excitedly. "Can't wait to see Malfoy's face when he hears," she continued ruefully stabbing a pork chop onto her plate. Ron nodded in agreement looking equally in awe of Harry.
"We all thought for sure McGonagall was going to expel him," he said through a mouthful of potatoes. They both proceeded to tell her just what had happened, right up to the part where Harry became the youngest Quidditch player in a century. They swore her to secrecy about the last part; apparently Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor team, wanted to keep it on the down low, which explained why half the school already suspected it. They also told her about the duel Malfoy had challenged Harry to.
"Blimey. You're flying lesson was certainly more entertaining than mine. The most entertaining thing that happened was when Ernie MacMillan from Hufflepuff got smacked in the face by his broom. Mind you he was going on and on about technique and how it was really good for us to learn flying. I was about ready to hit him myself... Also about the duel, be careful. I wouldn't put it past Malfoy to be just trying to lure you out after hours."
Soon after the twins came down to congratulate Harry and Ascella took the opportunity to catch up with Boot who she'd noticed leaving the Great Hall. It had become clear to Ascella that while she was incredibly smart and excelled at all of her classes with minimal effort (except Herbology, green thumb she did not have), she was just not cut out for answering riddles. The couple of times she'd tried on her own, she always answered too literally and was locked out until another student either exited or could answer the question correctly. Her way around this had been to pack everything she'd need for a day and then always head to the tower with someone after dinner. That someone had more often than not turned out to be Terry Boot. Partially because he almost always got the riddle right the first time and partially because he was about the nicest person she had ever met and as such didn't mind her using him to gain entrance to the common room, despite the fact that they rarely interacted otherwise. He was closer to Micheal Corner and Anthony Goldstein than Aaron Morag and Kevin Entwhistle.
The next day at dinner found Ascella in a right mood. She slammed her bag on the table next to a surprised Harry and Ron, and slumped onto the bench angrily.
"Bad day," Harry asked mildly. She pouted at him.
"I swear Snape is out for my blood," she said miserably blowing her bangs out of her face. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a sweaty ponytail. She'd just come from the worst Potions lesson ever.
"As bad as Harry?" Ron asked.
"I don't know. Does he give you zeros when your potion is perfect?" she asked Harry.
"Er, no," he replied. "But my potions aren't perfect."
"Ah, that must be my problem then," she said sarcastically. Harry sent her a look of sympathy.
"What exactly happened?" he asked.
And so she told him. She'd been making her potion and had finished in half the time that her classmates had. Snape had come over, unbelieving, to inspect. Sure enough it had been perfect, as Ascella hadn't been shy in telling him. Then he'd narrowed his eyes and sneered at her.
"Five points from Ravenclaw," he'd said.
"For what?" she'd burst out angrily.
"For not following directions."
"But why follow those directions when you can do what I did and cut the brew time in half!"
"And then he took five more points," Ascella continued to Harry. "For 'arrogance' and 'cheek'. At this point the rest of the class had figured out what was going on. You should have seen how annoyed Aaron and Kevin were. Even Terry Boot and Padma Patil came to my defense saying it wasn't right to be punished for learning more than the lesson had offered. They even went so far as to say I should be awarded points for going above and beyond. To be honest I don't think a group of Ravenclaw's have ever lost so many points in a class before."
"So let me get this straight. You got points taken away because you were smarter than the lesson?" Harry asked slowly when she'd finished.
"Basically, yeah."
"Yeah I think he might hate you more," he said simply patting her back in mock sympathy. Ascella made a face at him. He laughed.
"Git," she mumbled, before spearing a turkey leg onto her plate and pretending it had Snape's face.
"Hey I know what will cheer you up!" he said a little while later. "We are having an Exploding Snap tournament in the common room tonight and you should come!"
Ascella's face brightened and then she bit her lip.
"Brilliant! But am I even allowed in the Gryffindor common room?" she asked.
"Uh, good point. I don't know, but you should come anyway."
"Okay."
"Okay? You aren't worried about getting in trouble?" Harry asked.
"Nah. I mean I was and then I decided Exploding Snap is worth it." Harry laughed at her unsurprised. Not much worried Ascella. "By the way, you never did tell me about the duel."
"Oh yeah! Get this," Harry started leaning in to tell her what Ron, Hermione, and he had found behind the door to the forbidden passage on the third floor.
"Are you kidding me? Wonder what it's guarding," Ascella said when Harry had finished his tale.
"I don't know but whatever it is, it must be important or incredibly dangerous," Harry replied.
"Or both," Ascella mused. As she was saying this she caught sight of Granger down the row her nose stuck in a book. "Did Granger really say that being expelled would be worse than dying?" she asked incredulous.
Harry nodded his eyes wide.
"Blimey," Ascella said shaking her head. "She really should have been in Ravenclaw."
After dinner Ascella headed with Harry and Ron up multiple flights of stairs and through passages she hadn't known were there until they were in a part of the castle she had never been before.
"What floor is this?" she asked curiously.
"Seventh," Harry replied. Then looking at Ron he asked, "D'you think we should have blindfolded her?" Ron shrugged. Ascella hit Harry.
"If you ever try to blindfold me, believe me you will regret it, remember I know more hexes than you do."
Harry grinned at her, his green eyes flashing.
"Then again maybe a gag would be better for all of us," he said slyly. She tried to hit him again but he darted out of the way laughing with Ron.
"Oh ha ha very funny, Potter," Ascella replied dryly. "Don't go getting too cheeky. And no neither will be necessary, I'll keep mum about where the Gryffindor's can be found."
They continued walking and soon found themselves facing a portrait of an immensely fat woman in a pink dress.
"Caput Draconis," Harry said. Ascella looked at him funny until the portrait swung open to reveal a hole in the wall. Her mouth dropped. Harry nudged her forward glee in his eyes at her reaction, as Ron crawled through the hole.
"That's it?!" she said still staring dumbfounded. "Just a password?!"
Harry laughed and nodded.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Ascella muttered as she crawled through. "Sure they get a password. Why can't we have a password? Would that have really been too hard? I could remember a bloody password."
On the other side Ascella stopped again in amazement looking around her. Students were gathered around in big armchairs and lazing on couches laughing with friends and enjoying their Friday evening, not a speck of homework in sight.
"Aw! It's so cozy!" she exclaimed to Harry when he'd joined her. "And it's nice to see people actually doing stuff unrelated to school work on a Friday." He grinned at her.
"Come on the tournament's over here." Harry took her by the elbow and guided her over towards a group of couches where a group of first year boys were waiting. Ascella recognized the two boys she'd come across the lake with. They were introduced as Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas. There was also the poor boy who'd lost his toad. His name was Neville Longbottom. No body batted an eye that Harry and Ron had brought a Ravenclaw with them and soon the tournament began.
Ascella destroyed them. They seemed to mostly be good sports about it but they were demanding a rematch. Unfortunately it was almost first year curfew so Ascella had to head out. Before they let her leave they made her promise to come back. She made it back to the knocker on time but like hell if she'd be able to get in. Sure enough she got it wrong. She thought about sending in a message but realized everyone had probably already headed to bed. So she settled down to wait. And that was how Ascella spent her first night (first of many she suspected) sleeping outside her common room.
A week later found Ascella once again locked out. Ever since the last Friday she had been spending more and more time in the Gryffindor common room. She still spent time with Aaron and Kevin and still walked back with Boot, but she almost always made a trip to visit the Gryffindor's at least once a night. She just grew bored in the Ravenclaw common room. Her homework was easy for her when she bothered to do it. She always had something to turn in but she didn't need to spend the hours on it that her classmates seemed to, whatever Ascella read or heard she remembered and as she'd been reading anything Ted would bring home from the Wizarding library where he worked since the age of 5 she had a vast knowledge base already. So it was either sit and do more of the Animagus research she had begun or go be entertained by the Gryffindor's.
On this particular Friday Ascella was currently wondering back from hanging out with Ron and his brothers. She was strolling aimlessly, dreading another night on the stone cold floor when she spotted Harry walking back from his first Quidditch practice.
"Oi, Potter," she called. He grinned when he saw her and walked over. "So how was it?" she asked trying for her usual eagerness.
"Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I start real practice with the team next week. Where are you off to?" Harry asked. He seemed to have picked up on her mood.
"Back to Ravenclaw tower. Though I'm not looking forward to it."
"Why?" Harry asked brow furrowed. "I thought you were getting on well with the rest of the Ravenclaw's."
Ascella sighed and not looking at Harry said, "Oh yes I am. Except for Turpin. But only Mandy gets on with her. No I'm just not looking forward to getting locked out again," she finished quietly.
"Oh," Harry said in sympathy. "I'm sorry. Does it happen often?" She nodded. "Why haven't you said anything?" Harry asked upset with her. She met his earnest eyes and looked away blushing. Blushing because truthfully she hadn't told anyone because it was embarrassing. So she just shrugged in answer to Harry's question.
"Cells," Harry said using the nickname he and Ron had adopted for her, "Have you been sleeping outside your common room?" Miserably she nodded again, looking down at her shoes.
Harry grabbed her arm then and began marching off with her in the direction she'd been heading.
"Uh, Harry?" she finally asked. "Where are we going?"
"To Ravenclaw tower. If we can't figure it out between the two of us then you are coming back with me to Gryffindor tower."
"Oh," she said breathless. That made sense. Then, "Well in that case you should have turned two hallways back."
Eventually they reached the bronze door knocker, Harry commenting that their entrance wasn't that difficult to find despite the fact that he had admitted to never having been in that part of the castle. Ascella told him that while that may be true their knocker more than made up for it.
"So you just knock it?" Harry asked skeptical as he faced the door knocker.
"Yup," she said reaching for it. The eagle began speaking as her hand fell away.
"Judge no book by its cover, it is said amongst the wise. My unappealing outside my true usefulness belies. The swiftest means to reach thy goal lies well-concealed in me. Extend thy hand then, pilgrim, and embrace thy destiny."
Harry just stared at the knocker in complete confusion and bewilderment. Ascella couldn't help it she started giggling. Harry turned to her blinking.
"It asks stuff like that all the time?" he asked amazed. Ascella made a pained face.
"Unfortunately yes."
"Right. How often has guessing worked?"
"Approximately never."
"Right. Well you have any ideas?" Harry looked at her hopefully.
"Well the first two lines make sense, don't judge something by its "cover" or appearance, so it's clearly something ugly, the second line implying that its more important than it would seem. But then it makes no sense. It gets all philosophical. Do you know of something that's ugly but is supposed to be really useful?"
Harry furrowed his brow. Then brightening he said, "Snape."
"What?" Ascella asked a smile starting to form on her face.
"Well think about it," Harry started listing out his reasons on his fingers, "He's certainly ugly, have you seen how greasy his hair is? And he's supposed to be useful and help us learn stuff. Makes sense to me."
Ascella laughed. "As much as I agree that Snape is an ugly git, who should be helping us there is no way that's the answer."
"Right well I'm stumped."
"Bugger. Me too," Ascella said. "Take your best guess."
"Hogwarts, A History," Harry said to the door. The door told him that it wasn't right. Ascella just stared at Harry. "What," he asked. "It was the first thing that popped into my head."
Shaking her head she thought about the riddle again. "You know it might actually have something to do with traveling," she mused to Harry. "That might be what the philosophical part is on about." She turned to the door and said," Apparation."
"Close but not the kind of travel meant."
"Damnit," Ascella swore realizing the answer. "It was a fucking portkey wasn't it?" She took the door's silence as confirmation. Harry had to pull Ascella down the stairs away from the door as she had started swearing profusely at the door knocker.
At the base of the stairs she shrugged Harry off. He raised an eyebrow at her.
"It always does that! Every time I get it wrong the stupid knocker answers me with a hint that always makes it obvious what it was!" she answered Harry's unasked question. Harry just grinned at her and started off towards Gryffindor tower. Sighing she caught up to him putting her arm through his, the one not carrying his broom.
"You know you have a bit of a temper," he said quietly. She laughed.
"Not really though," she replied thinking. "Well a bit, but honestly I'm more just embarrassed than anything. I feel like the worst Ravenclaw ever. Do you even know how many times I've spent the night outside with that stupid knocker. It doesn't make for a good talking companion."
"I'm sorry," Harry said. "Is that why you always have all your books for the entire day?" She nodded. "Alright well this stops today," Harry said resolutely. Ascella snorted.
"Were you not at the same door I just was?"
"Funny," he said darkly. "I just meant that when you get locked out from now on you'll come to Gryffindor. The fat lady has to let you in if you know the password, so I'll just always make sure you know it. You can sleep in our dorm if you have to!"
Ascella felt a rush of gratitude for her friend.
"Thanks Harry," she said sincerely throwing her arm around him and giving him a squeeze. He was surprised but pleased.
"Although if I'm going to be staying in your dorm we'd best be discrete." She winked at him coyly, watching his face as he got her joke. His eyes widened in surprise and he slowed down.
"That's not - I just meant -"
"Relax Potter," she said laughing and tugging him along. "I knew what you meant." He shook his head at her and grinned, allowing himself to be dragged along by his friend.
The common room was empty when they reached it. Harry told her to wait while he went to make sure everyone was asleep. He came back down after a few moments.
"Wait," he said before tugging her hood up and making sure her golden hair was hidden in its depths. "Just in case," he said. Nodding she followed him up the stairs to a door labeled First Years.
"Just head straight to the bed and draw the curtains," Harry whispered to her. She nodded and they headed in. Ascella plopped onto Harry's bed and drew the curtains around her. Then she pulled out her wand and performed a quick spell. When Harry drew the curtains and crawled in Ascella was already under the covers, grateful to be in a bed. After a moment Harry turned to her.
"Why is my bed bigger than it was, but only from in here?" he asked confused. Ascella smiled into the pillow, half asleep already.
"Undetectable extension charm. It's what I've been using on my bag so it'll hold all my stuff. Haven't worked out the feather light spell to help with the heaviness yest but I'm sure I'll get it," she said sleepily. "Now shut it Potter. I haven't had a decent night's sleep in a week." Harry muttered something about being ungrateful but he quieted down. Ascella fell asleep smiling.
