One early morning in July a small dark-haired girl was tossing and turning in her soft feathery bed with light blue linen. The early morning sun was sending her soft rays through the open window and she could smell the fresh morning dew on the wet green grass. Harriet always slept with open windows in summer to catch the gentle breeze cooling the air at night, but kept them closed during the burning heat of the day.

Her eyes slowly roamed her room, which was sparsely furnished. She had a huge wooden bed, a desk and a chair, a few shelves, who were to her dismay still relatively empty, a wardrobe and a bathroom. But it was nothing she had received from her parents. After Voldemort's "demise" the family had moved back to Potter Manor, who had been in dire need of renovation. Not because it had been so badly kept, but because as Dumbledore had predicted Voldemort had search for them here, but had not found their family.

Until the completion of the renovation they had lived with Sirius, yet she already felt that something had severely changed in the family dynamics. Before the attack which she could hardly remember they had done everything together. Her mother had sung to them, her father had read stories using different voices for the characters and tales of Beedle the Bard or the Grimm's tales to them and played with them. But now her parents only did that with her brother.

A silent tear slid down her pale cheeks onto her pillow and she gulped heavily, while trying to hold back more of them. She remembered that she had be happy at first when they had finally be able to move back in Potter Manor, but it had soon been diminished when her brother had been allowed to choose his room on the first floor. When she had asked her parents if she also could choose one for herself she had not even received an answer. She hardly received an answer nowadays.

Only scolding, when she had destroyed something belonging to her brother to get their attention. A loving word or words of praise for her from her parent's lips was the only thing she yearned for, but deep down se knew that she would not receive it, but she would continue trying. She had therefore roamed the manor alone until she found this large room on the second floor and had chosen it as hers. Away from her family's floor. Today was her 6th birthday, but she doubted that she would receive any presents except one from Remus and one from Sirius. Although on second thought Sirius would probably forget. Last year he had forgotten too and although she was not supposed to know this, Remus had reminded him to get one for his second godchild too.

When she strained her ears she could already hear the exhaustive preparations for Alexander's lavish birthday party. It was unfair. Why did he get such parties and she did not? They could both not remember what had happened on this fateful night, but Dumbledore had hailed her pompous brother the saviour of the wizarding world while disregarding her presence completely. She felt that she was already too awake to go back to sleep, although she would have preferred to sleep through the entire day for not having to witness the party and the sickening doting on her brother or the presenting of the "perfect" family.

Maybe she could go through their family's potion supplies and find a sleeping potion to knock her out. Her parents would certainly not notice if she missed the party. She sighed sadly. Or she could get some books from the large family library downstairs again, but it would be hard to find a book which she had not yet memorized. Something was wrong with her mind. Her brother even called her a freak, when adults were nowhere to be seen. She was unable to forget anything that has ever happened to her, with the exception of Voldemort's attack. She had realized when they had stayed at Sirius house, when she had mentally been able to walk through her own good memories of better days. Now she was slowly building a library in her mind palace. She had needed to organize her mind somehow.

Or maybe she was lucky and her parents would finally remember that it was her birthday too. She slowly stood up, made her bed and reluctantly got ready to greet the day. A few minutes later she stepped down the last stairways into their kitchen and unfortunately ran into her busy mother who was surrounded by three busy house elves.

"Ah, Harriet. Perfect timing. " she said happily. "They just delivered the birthday cake. Be a good girl and help me get Alexander's birthday cake outside."

She looked at the four storey cake of chocolate with green icing, which said:"Happy Birthday, Alexander".

Harriet slowly clenched and unclenched her hands and tried to get her growing fury under control.

"Where is mine?" she asked her mother. She was done being the good girl.

"Don't make a fuss and help me." her mother ordered ignoring the question.

Harriet tried again. "Where is mine, mother?"

"Yours what?" her mother asked confused.

"My birthday cake! It's my birthday too!" Harriet stomped her foot shouting at her mother.

"You can have a piece of Alex's cake later. Now help me." she ordered again.

Harriet finally lost control of her anger! Why was she deemed less than her brother? She deserved to have her own birthday cake and her birthday party. The lights in the kitchen flickered as she jumped next to the counter with a snarl and angrily pulled the tray the cake was resting on. She felt that it was too heavy for her alone but she could feel something in her snap too and could have sworn that the tray was hovering a few centimetres over the counter. She snarling pulled and threw the cake with its tray on the floor where it burst into all directions before her mother could stop her. The cake was now uneatable. Even with magic it would not be able to repair it. That had felt so good until she turned around felt a short strong sting on her left cheek which violently turned her head and upper body to the right.

Harry jerked upwards in her cot and hit her head on the underside of the cot above her.

Au! That hurt! Blasted cot! Great another dream about her past. She slowly rubbed her front and her eyes and checked her chronometer. Half an hour to her shift after less than four hours asleep. This had gone on for over a month now and she did not know how long she could continue like this before breaking down. Her pepper up potions could only work for some time and she often felt close to crying due to her tiredness. Harry hastily got out of her cot but had to steady herself as her vision blurred shortly. She had stood up too suddenly again, which was a bad idea with her low blood pressure. After a moment it cleared and she stepped over to her locker to get her nutritional drinking ration which she had gotten yesterday evening from the cantina.

The people on the ship, workers and officers alike were advised to take these nutritional drinks in favour of the normal food, but it was not obligatory. She certainly saw the advantage in that although she preferred normal food. As she had been rations behind she had been able to take two from the cantina although they usually were very strict in enforcing the rations. Harry drowned that ration in two gulps and from her magically hidden pocket, she uncorked a small vile of pepper up potion and put a second one in her working overall.

She did not know if she would be able to take the second one, but during this month it had helped her considerably. Carefully checking if someone was watching she mumbled "Scourgify" and felt as yesterday's grime, sweat and dirt on her body, on her hair and on her overall disappeared. She sighed contently. What would she give for a warm watery shower or a bath tub where she could soak in the warm water for some time?

She checked her chronometer again. Twenty minutes to her shift. Damn. She needed to hurry. No time to get to the hairdresser to cut the newly grown hair. No matter what she did, her hair always grew back to her normal length during her sleep. She patted it as best as she could, put it in a messy knot, glamoured it and put on her cap. She locked her locker and jogged towards the nearest elevator to the bridge ignoring the aghast gazes of the other individuals in the corridor but was used to it by now. This was the only exercise she would get, except the drills she would surely be forced to do again today.

One day she would make Ensign Mayr pay for what he put her through after every shift. Ten minutes later the doors slid open and she stepped on the familiar bridge and mentally prepared herself for another confrontational meeting with her direct superior. She could spot the blue skinned commander of the fleet with several officers around a projector in the command room on the left side of the bridge, which could be separated from it by closing the durasteel doors. On the right side before the control station, she had to pass in order to climb down to her pit, she saw an ISB agent reading something on his datapad. Just as she passed the station he addressed her and neck hair straightened.

"Crewman Potter?." She froze, her breath hitched and her heartbeat accelerated. What could he want from me? She recalled her training in the academy, turned towards him, put her hands together behind her back and stood attention.

"Yes Sir. Is there a problem?" Her voice sounded more confident than she felt.

"You tell me, crewman." he stated in a bored, yet accusing tone.

"Sir, if I have done something wrong then I'm unaware of it." she answered truthfully meeting the broad shouldered agent's inquisitive stare. They do love a guessing game, do they? Freaking Imperials!

"I received information that you have ignored orders for your weekly mandatory physical training assessment, at least four times."

What orders?! Her eyebrows shot up at the surprise. She could now feel her rapid pulse in her throat. She had only received Ensign Mayr's orders. What orders was the brown haired ISB agent referring to?

"With all due respect, Sir. I did not receive such orders." she answered with wavering voice.

"You receive your orders via your workstation, do you not?" he asked clearly enjoying seeing her squirm.

"Yes, Sir. But the only orders I received were orders from ensign Mayr." she answered wondering if she would be late for her shift as she did not dare to look at her chronometer.

"I am sure that if you check my log then you'll see that I have never received them."

The ISB agent's right eyebrow rose as if he doubted her statement. "You seem nervous, Crewman? Any particular reason why?" he enquired.

"I am probably late for my shift by now, Sir and Ensign Mayr is not a forgiving man." she answered and gulped at the agent's astonished expression. He could interpret it as him being accused of being the reason for her being late to her shift, which he technically was and the way she had answered him could also be interpreted as disrespectful towards him.

"Alright, crewman. You are dismissed." He turned back towards his workstation and Harry spun around on her heel and jumped down into the pit ignoring the ladder steps in the wall as this was faster and landed relatively silent which she was mentally proud of and trod carefully towards her workstation which was unfortunately blocked by the very devil himself: Ensign Mayr.

"Crewman Potter reporting for duty, Sir." she said dully.

"You are late again, Crewman." he grinned maliciously. "It seems that you are incapable of following simple directions." Not my fault, you little piece of not existing manhood. She thought, while keeping her face emotionless. Arguing that it was not her fault was useless, she knew. Just ignore him. She mentally repeated for the possibly hundred's time this month.

"May I go to my station now?" she asked connecting her gaze with the other young crewman who worked the shift before her. Today he looked even more worn out than usual. That's not good. Her ensign took a step back and allowed her to pass him. The other crewman logged himself out in rapid speed and jumped of his seat and wavered. His face was ghostly pale and he seemed rather nervous as he carefully shot a glance towards their superior. Harriet did not know what came over her, but she put her right hand on his left shoulder and squeezed it gently, while giving him one of her "calming" smiles. At least her cousin had dubbed her facial expression as that. The young crewman stopped startled, but seeing her smile he nodded a short thanks to her. As she took her seat and logged herself in the system she watched him limping towards the steps in wall and wondered what had happened to him. Finally she caught herself and shook her head to clear it and worked the data flow after adjusting it to her favourite speed.

A few hours later, minutes before Ensign Mayr would be relieved from his shift by another ensign she received data indicating that an imperial shuttle was directed towards them.

"Shuttle TWA75. Please transmit clearance code." she transmitted with smiling lips although she did not feel like smiling. During her communications training before the empire had come to earth she had learned that people who smiled while talking over the phone sounded friendlier. This was similar and she kept it up as she did not know who was at the other end of the transmission.

There was no answer. That was strange. Just as she wanted to repeat herself a transmission came through.

"Ah. Yes. Ahm. Transmitting Codes now."

That did not sound imperial! Maybe she was wrong and someone new to the procedure was flying the shuttle or it had been hijacked. The correct codes appeared on her screen.

She turned towards her ensign and addressed him. "Sir. An imperial shuttle requests to dock, but something is wrong."

"Wrong? Did they transmit the correct clearance codes?" he snapped at her.

"They did, but with considerable delay in their response and not in the standard phrasing." she answered.

"Then clear them for docking." he ordered in a bored tone.

"But Sir, the codes could have been in the shuttle when it was hijacked."

"Imperial shuttles don't get hijacked, crewman. No do as you're ordered." he hissed hovering over her.

Really? And what about Tarkin's own Carrion Spike?

Before she could stop herself she threw her hands up, while shaking her head. Her feeling told her that something was fishy, but she had to follow orders unfortunately. She hated following orders, especially as they contradicted her feeling which was never wrong.

"Shuttle TWA75, you are cleared for landing. Proceed to bay 11."

"Copy that." came the now immediate response and she could have sworn that she heard a relieved sigh in the background. As she transmitted the clearance for the shuttle to the bay personal, she hesitated for a moment but then quickly added the code for possible danger. It was against her orders, but the only thing she could do to prevent an infiltration.

Their fleet was currently assigned to the Taldot sector near the Great Kashyyyk Branch which ran from Zeltros to Charros IV. Several imperial shipments had been targeted and destroyed by pirates and crime syndicates. Their commander had been made Grandadmiral by the emperor after his victory at Batonn two month ago, before she was assigned to his flagship and he had requested to get command over the seventh fleet, which was known for its immense fire power. She desperately hoped that they were pirates or individuals from crime syndicates and not rebels. Or maybe she was just paranoid and those flying the ship were really just rookies. But then again the correct procedures and phrases were drilled into their heads that such a slip should not happen. Well, they would see.

She went back to her data flows but in the back of her mind the strange feeling that something was wrong remained.

Suddenly she heard a startled exclamation from the opposite pit.

"Sir, there is reported shooting in hangar bay 11." The Lieutenant on the walkway immediately informed the captain who bellowed orders into his comm and she dared not to breathe. As the elevators to the bridge were momentarily disabled to prevent any infiltrator from entering in case they were able to flee from the hanger, Ensign Mayr was stuck.

Grand Admiral Thrawn emerging from the command room with other officers ordered the Troopers to set their blasters to stun as he wanted the infiltrators alive for questioning. The bridge was buzzing with activity.

Several tense minutes passed and Harry had to slow down her dataflow as her concentration slipped several times. Finally, one trooper commander commed the bridge to inform them that they had captured six individuals using stolen trooper armour and that they would transfer them into the detention levels for questioning. There had been no fatalities on the infiltrator's side but two on the empire's side. Bitter bilge was rising in her throat as Harry realized that she was responsible for the loss of two lives. Maybe even two conscripts like her, whose family would never see them again.

The blues skinned commander slowly swept over the walkway towards the windows of the bridge followed by his assistant Vanto. He seemed to be deep in thought. After a while he turned on his heels and swept back to the middle of the walkway.

"Who cleared that shuttle?" he asked addressing the working personnel. Harry stopped the dataflow, closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath to prepare herself. There was every chance that Ensign Mayr would throw her under the bus, just to safe his own skin. She stood up from her seat and stood attention and addressed her commander.

"I did, Sir." she replied not daring to break eye contact.

"I see. Was there anything unusual?" he enquired his tone seemed friendly, but there was a subtle hint of a threat implied. Or maybe she just imagined it.

"Yes, there was." she acknowledged. "I addressed the approaching shuttle with the standard phrasing asking for their clearance codes but the response time from the shuttle was unusually long and their partially non-standard phrasing either suggested someone new to his station or someone with not sufficient knowledge of imperial procedures."

Tapping something on his data pad he remarked. "I see the clearance codes were valid."

Harry quickly dared to peek towards Ensign Mayr, who stood tenser than normal, and back to the Grandadmiral.

"That is curious. You also issued a code yellow alert to the hanger personal? Why?" he remarked fixing her with his red eyed hard stare while pulling his right eyebrow up.

She took a second nervous peek towards Ensign Mayr, who now had a furious look on his face and back to the Commander.

"Because, I alerted my direct superior about my suspicion but was ordered to follow standard procedure and grant the landing permit in hanger 11."

"Issuing such an alert without your superior's approval is above your rank, crewman." Thrawn stated.

"Sir, if I may. Crewman Potter is still, after a month, incapable of following sandard procedure." Ensign Mayr cut in strutting towards Harry, who opened her mouth to defend herself, but closed it again while her hands clenched and unclenched behind her back in anger. She probably looked like a carp out of the water, but she could not stop it. She wanted to defend herself so desperately, but it would not help her at all.

Ignoring standard procedure! I have always followed standard procedure so far, but he just always finds something to prove to me that I'm worth nothing as a conscript. He will make everything look like I am responsible for what happened! I warned him that something was wrong! He ignored it!

She had the strong urge to strangle him right here in front of everyone or punch him to pulp. She had not yet decided. What the hell am I thinking?

The white uniformed commander coldly raised his eyebrow at Ensign Mayr who stopped in his tracks and his gaze fell back at her. She hated standing on a lower level as she had to crane her neck to look up and from her point of view the commander on the walkway looked even taller than he already was.

"Crewman Potter." he addressed her again emphasizing her name.

"I know that it is above my rank, Sir." she answered truthfully. "But as stated earlier I made Ensign Mayr aware of my suspicion and was ordered to clear the shuttle's landing. I even warned him that the clearance codes could have been in the shuttle's systems when it was hijacked. But I was ordered a second time to clear the shuttle for landing. His reasoning was that imperial shuttles don't get hijacked. I issued that alert, because we are operating in a system teeming with pirates and crime syndicates and therefore I wanted to prevent possible infiltration. Had I not done that then more than two lives would have been lost today, Sir."

"I see. Do you know the difference between an error and a mistake, Ensign?" He asked with his deep and cultivated voice as he turned towards, Ensign Mayr, who gulped nervously and answered hesitantly:

"No, Sir."

"Anyone can make an error, Ensign. But that error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." Thrawn lectured him and gestured towards Harry. "Crewman Potter corrected your error before it could become your mistake."

Although Harry kept her face emotionless she enjoyed it immensely that her brutish ensign was scolded by their scary superior and that she saw him squirming like little worm.

"I expect a detailed report about that incident. From both of you." Thrawn ordered and surprised Harry by stating:

"Crewman Potter. You are hereby elevated to the rank of Midshipman. Congratulations."

Harry blinked processing what had just happened and thanked him:"Thank you, Sir."

Thrawn nodded shortly and proceeded back to the command room. She had been promoted. But she was just a conscript. She had been told countless times that conscripts did not get a promotion. She now had the authority to issue a code yellow alert. But she also needed to find out what she could do with her new rank and where her limitations were. She sat back on her seat and immersed herself again in the dataflow for the rest of her shift.

Just as she was about to log out she received several orders at once and groaned involuntarily. The reminder of her report to Grandadmiral Thrawn, which know had a deadline (3 hours from now), the usual orders from Ensign Mayr, orders for her monthly physical evaluation and the physical combat training assessment on the training deck. All of it was today. She shortly looked at the time schedule and decided that Ensign Mayr had to wait. The other things took precedence. Especially her report to the Grandadmiral, because she knew that the Ensign would make her miss her other orders and her report.

Chances were that she would not be able to get any sleep until her next shift.

The wood in the opulent black fireplace was crackling and the fire sent out its warm rays to light the office. But the current minister of magic, sitting bent over an important parchment trying to find any loopholes to the new legislation that the Wizengamot would pass within a week, did not feel its warmth. To his very dismay, the Wizarding world had elected to distance itself from the Muggle world in order to protect themselves. Only a few Wizarding communities had decided to help the Muggles.

A sharp knock on his door disrupted the silence, which made the former Auror jump.

"Mr. Shacklebolt, I'm sorry to disturb you, but you have a visitor." his red haired assistant informed him.

Shacklebolt wearily sat back on his chair, rubbed his front with his left hand and nodded to let the visitor in. He knew that it must have been an important one or they would not have made it passed his fierce assistant. But it was the one person he had not dared to imagine.

A young man with white-blond hair and impeccable robes entered. Why in Merlin's name is Draco Malfoy in my office?

"Young Mr. Malfoy" he greeted the young man shaking his hand. "This is an unexpected surprise. What can I do for you?"

"Well, Minister." the other began sitting down on the chair opposite the desk.

"A little birdie told me that you are still looking for volunteers for the protection of wizards who elect to stay in the Muggle World." he explained clasping his hands together.

A little birdie? More like a personal spy. Shouldn't he show humility after his family was cleared from any wrongdoing because they switched sides in the last minutes of the war?

"And you want to volunteer for that?" Shacklebolt enquired skeptically. "I assume you have an individual in mind?"

"That I do" the younger answered with a slight grin which made the minister uneasy.

"I assume that she would choose to stay in the Muggle world as she has made a name for herself there and does not really favour the Wizarding world. As she is still at odds with her family, I doubt that anyone else has volunteered for her."

That would be a bad idea! Shacklebolt mentally screamed having a vague idea who he could mean, but he chose to play the ignorant person. Especially if the rumors were true.

"It would help if you could be a bit more specific as we are still collecting the names for the list of individuals deciding to stay in the Muggle World." he answered.

"Well, Minister. Harriet Thea Potter, of course."

Hope you liked that chapter. Just to clarify: I will use the name Harriet mostly for the flashback scenes and Harry for the adult version. But both are one and the same person.

I live for constructive feedback. Don't hesitate to review.