Dumbledore's Office Count., Harry's Birthday
"I am not certified as a teacher, professor,"
"Not as a teacher, but as a counselor,"
"I'm not qualified for that either!" she looked at the old coot in agitation.
"You do not think so? Did you not just say that you have been helping Harry through a very traumatic experience?"
"Yes, but I'm not certified …"
"Have you ever studied psychology before?"
"Yes, on Paradise Island all Amazons studied it vigorously, but…"
"I have the power to certify you for counseling students at my school, if you are willing to take the job."
Diana was about to argue some more, when she thought, It would give me something to do where I could do some good until I get my belt back. But it was a big decision; having influence over students is a decision that shouldn't be entered into lightly, "Can I have a few days to think it over?"
"I'm afraid we don't have a few days. You see, the ministry does not believe that Voldemort has returned, and are undermining my attempts to spread the truth. They are taking away more and more of my authority in the wizarding world; so if it is to be done, it has to be tonight."
Diana let out a deep, exasperated breath as she thought of her decision, "Alright, I'll do it."
Dumbledore smiled as he said, "Then as the soon-to-be former Chief Warlock of the Wizengemont and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, I hereby certify you as a juvenile counselor." He waved his wand over a blank piece of parchment, which immediately began filling with fancy words and intricate designs. He handed the newly created certificate to Diana, "You need only sign this."
She glanced at the beautifully decorated paper where there was a lot of fancy writing along with three signature lines, two of which were already filled in. Albus Dumbledore and, "Who is Severus Snape?"
"Oh, don't worry; He won't mind being a 'witness'," he said with an innocent smile. She just barely sent him an 'I can see right through you' glare before rolling her eyes and taking a quill to sign.
While she was signing, something that had been nagging at her finally came to her mind, "How am I supposed to spend a year at a magic school without magic?"
"Ah, yes, that is another issue I wished to discuss. Do you recall that you were able to use a death eater's wand against him even though you are not a witch and had no practice using magic?"
"Yes, I remember."
"I also have a theory pertaining to that. And if I do say so myself, my theories usually turn out to be correct. You say that Amazons live in harmony and completely at one with the universe; am I correct?"
"Yes,"
"It is my belief that as you are in harmony with nature, that you are capable of performing magic as much as any witch or wizard. Maybe even more so, as magic is among the most natural forces in the universe,"
"Are you certain of that? How can we be sure?" asked Diana.
"It is simple enough to test," he reached into one of his drawers for something, "I had this specially made for you," he handed her a long rectangular box. When she opened it, she found inside a long, thin wand with an intricately carved phoenix for the handle, "It is made from the wood from an olive tree, and is thirteen inches. The core is a feather from a winged horse."
"It's beautiful, professor," she said as she reached into the box and took out the wand. Immediately a stream of golden sparks emerged from the tip.
"Splendid," he smiled smugly, causing Diana to roll her eyes again, "A wand will only do that for the one that is destined to use it. There is also a charm on it so that when you use it, your magic will not be tracked by the ministry, even if you use it near an underage wizard."
"Okay, I guess I've got a lot of practicing to do. So when can I go back," she was definitely ready to get into her own bed by now, having waited up for this meeting.
"There are still two important matters to discuss. You will need to write a letter to your employer. You can say that you are out of town for personal reasons, or any excuse that you think will suffice," he waved his wand and a normal pen and piece of paper appeared before her, "And lastly, we will need to go over the details of your employment contract. It may come in handy,"
"Alright, let's get it over with," said Diana, picking up the pen to begin her letter.
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Harry was making his usual route to the park, kicking a poor, innocent soda can that he happened to find in the sidewalk to vent his frustration. He had just got done reading the new letters his friends sent him from the Burrow; he didn't know what their intentions were in not telling him anything useful, but it was far from setting his nerves at ease.
He felt angry with them. They were supposed to be his best friends; you'd think they would at least try and send him some real news.
"Harry, yoo-hoo, Harry!" he was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice that he'd been spotted. Turning around he saw Mrs. Figg that lived across the street, "Oh, Harry, how have you been? It's been ages since you've been to my house. Mr. Tibbles missed you. Why don't you come for tea?"
"Actually, I'm," before he could think up an excuse, she had her arm around his shoulders leading him to her house.
"Excellent, I've got so many new cat pictures to show you."
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Diana was in the kitchen getting a glass of water when she overheard the Dursleys talking from the living room..
"Petunia, dear, I need to speak with you about something,"
"What is it Vernon?"
"Harry's birthday is tomorrow. I was just wondering what we should so about it."
Diana smiled to herself, thinking that even though they seem to hate Harry so much, they at least wouldn't let his birthday go by unnoticed.
"Why not just give him a list of chores that will keep him busy all day and then you and I can take Dudders into London for the day."
The plates and cups could be heard shaking from inside the cabinets as Diana was nearly overcome with anger. Ever since she started practicing magic with her wand and the few books that Professor Dumbledore, she had progressed fairly well. She was even able to do some wandless magic. But it also came with the added side effect of her magic getting loose when she was angry. The professor had explained that it could happen and that usually it happened to children before they learned to control their magic.
"That sounds wonderful. Why don't you go tell Dudley and later we'll plan out where we'll go and what we'll make the boy do while we're gone."
"Okay Diana, calm down," she whispered to herself, breathing deeply to regain control before something, or someone broke. The dishes stopped rattling just as Vernon walked into the kitchen. She sent him an angry glare when she saw him.
"What are you staring at?" said Vernon, rudely.
"Nothing," she gulped down the last of her water and walked out of the room just as the cabinet door directly behind Vernon swung open and collided with his head. He spent the next fifteen minutes ranting about 'freaks' and their 'unnaturalness'.
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Harry was sitting in his room with his new boxes of sweets and birthday cards from his friends. He was in there almost two hours when the owl came with the packages. Just like every other day, there was no news on the movement against Voldemort. There were just cryptic words and promises that they'd be together 'soon'. He assumed that they were together somewhere; they were most likely at the Burrow having a jolly good time without him. In his anger, he moved to dump it all in the waste bin. Before he could though, he heard Diana's voice.
"Harry, could you come down here please?"
Harry put the cards and sweets under the loose floorboard under his bed and then made his way downstairs. Diana was waiting for him in the living room.
"Where've you been all day?" it was now mid-afternoon and he hadn't seen her all day, which was unusual. The Dursleys went off somewhere and left him with a long list of chores. Because he wanted so much to concentrate on anything but his birthday, his friends and his situation, he was able to finish early. Unfortunately that meant that now those were the only things left for him to think about, which led to his current bitter mood.
"I just went to do some shopping. Come into the kitchen. I wanna show you something," she said with a bright smile.
"What is it?" he asked while following her.
"You'll see," she opened the door that led into the kitchen.
Harry's eyes widened at the display. In the kitchen, she had set up a brightly colored 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!' banner and the table was set with a plastic tablecloth that had a confetti print and matching plates and napkins. There were also hotdogs, several types of chips and dips and some bottles of soda next to a stack of plastic cups. In the center of all this was a small, round cake with a plastic lid. The icing was white with a blue shell border. Candy confetti was sprinkled all over and there were icing balloons on the top along with the words 'Happy Birthday, Harry!'
"I realize that it's just the two of us but I figure 'why don't we have a party to celebrate your big day?'" she said, cheerily, slipping a cone hat over his head, "I hope you like it. In America when someone has a birthday party, chips and hot dogs is kind of a go-to meal."
"Diana… no one's ever… what if the Dursleys…"
"If they get home before we've cut the cake, they can join in or deal with it. If not, then they'll be none the wiser," she reached into her purse and pulled something out, "This is for you. I didn't know what to get you, so I figured the basics would do,"
He looked at the card that she handed to him. On the front was a dog with abnormally large eyes, which made Harry laugh out loud. When he opened it up, he found two twenty pound notes, and the inside read 'You're How Old?' which made him laugh again.
In a blink of an eye, Harry had covered the short distance between him and Diana and hugged her as tightly as he felt he could without hurting her, "Thank you, Diana. You made this the best birthday I've ever had."
Diana grinned as she returned the hug and then patted him on the back, "Okay now, let's eat so we can have cake."
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I hope I kept Diana in character in the scenes in Dumbledore's office. I remember there were times in the t.v. show where she would seem to get annoyed or agitated with somebody. I was just going for a realistic reaction. Her belt was stolen by a wizard, rendering her powerless. So to get it back she's got to stick by people that know who they're dealing with, like Dumbledore and Harry. So she may feel a bit out of control of the situation; but she is so far from being a pushover, which I try to show through her interactions with the Dursleys.
I realize that the thing with Diana being able to use magic is something that probably has never been done before, but I thought that it would be a cool concept to work with. The Idea I'm working off of is that Amazons aren't born magic like witches and wizards are, but they are able to learn to use it, if that makes sense. I would also like to state that I have no idea what qualifies someone to be a counselor. I just figured that's something that Dumbledore would do in order to achieve his goals. And I don't know if some might think it's strange that I'm making Diana a counselor at Hogwarts, but that job choice, plus the employment contract will be important later on. It'll be awesome, trust me.
About her interaction with Harry, when I think of Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman, I think of her as sort of a maternal type. You can see it in the way she interacts with kids in the show. That;s the side of her personality I want to bring out when she's with Harry. She grew up with her Mother and her Amazon sisters; they were all a family on Paradise Island. Then she comes to stay with the Dursleys and sees this sad teenage boy whose parents died when he was a baby and who's unloved by his only surviving relatives. Her first instinct is to try to take away all of his hurt. At this point in the story, she is not directly trying to be a mother to him, but they are definitely forming a mother/son type bond.
I hope these notes help when you're reading my story. Will update soon.