Author's note:

Sorry about the long wait for the next chapter. My brand new computer (only had it for 2 weeks!) crashed, due to a transformer blowing out. Not only did I lose everything I had written, but it totally erased my hard-drive. I was not a happy camper!

Also, the bit in the last chapter about David Copperfield-very true. It happened to me in first grade. I totally screwed up the trick, but he was nice enough not to get mad at me (at least in front of my face), and then he gave me a life-time pass to any show of his. So of course, I lost it. Somewhere my Mom has pictures of me attempting to do the trick with him. I don't remember the entire trick (happened way back in 1980 or 1981), but I remember a bottle, hanky, and a metal ring. Remember to be nice to the little people-you never know if they're going to end up a star!

Again, trying something new with spacing. Maybe this time it will work. Cross your fingers and hope for the best! If it doesn't work, I'm taking down the chapter for about 10 minutes or so to try something else. If none of these work, then I will resort to adding various letters

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Ron woke up to Harry grumbling about the new girl. He had never seen Harry so upset before about someone who wasn't either a deatheater, or a victim of a deatheater attack. Well, Rita Skeeter upset him a lot too. And Malfoy. But not someone Harry had just met. And he didn't even really meet her! A few words in the great hall and glaring at her in the common room didn't qualify as meeting someone.

Apparently Ron was not the only one Harry had woke up. Neville had a pillow over his head, and Dean and Seamus were sitting on the ends of their beds looking like they were plotting revenge for being woke up early on a Saturday morning. Harry shut the lid of his trunk that he had been looking through, like it was the answer to all his problems. He all but ran to the door, slamming open the door so hard it bounced off the wall and shut again.

"Damn Harry! What'd the door do to you?" said Ron.

"Are you going down to breakfast or what?" growled Harry, in response to Ron's question.

"Yeah, sure. Give me 5 minutes and I'll meet you in the common room."

Harry nodded, opened the door with slightly less force then before, and stalked out of the room.

"What's his problem?" asked Seamus.

"Merlin knows. I'll try to find out at breakfast, if I don't get my head torn off."

After Ron had visited the bathroom and gotten dressed, he headed down to the common room only to stop at the bottom of the stairs. Hermione and the new girl (Bethany, right?) were standing in the middle of the room talking about classes and professors. Bethany was just finished putting on Hermione's winter robes. She pulled out a pair of gloves from the pockets, looked at them, shrugged, then stuffed them back in. At least, Hermione was talking. Bethany was glancing around the common room when her eyes fell on Harry. She seemed to be in a staring match with Harry, who was sitting rigidly in a chair by the fireplace. He glared, she glared. Harry's eyebrows furrowed, so did hers. He death-glared, she death-glared. And then it happened. Bethany's face transformed to a bright and happy smile. To say Harry was surprised was an understatement. His eyebrows shot up almost to his forehead. Then Bethany did something that Ron would never forget-she stuck out her tongue and crossed her eyes. A burst of laughter escaped from Harry's lips before he slapped his hand over his mouth. Hermione startled from the outburst. She had been so busy talking to Bethany that she hadn't noticed the unspoken battle between one of her best friends and her new friend. Ron couldn't help it-he had to laugh, earning another glare from Harry.

Harry got up and stalked over to Ron, grabbing a fist full of robes, and began dragging him from the common room.

"I guess I'll see you at breakfast, Hermione!" called out Ron as he was lugged out the door. He didn't hear a response because the Fat Lady's portrait had already closed.

Harry grumbled his way down the corridor, causing several first years to jump out of the way. He still had his hand firmly attached to Ron's robes when they got to the staircase. Seeing how Ron didn't want to spend his first day back in the hospital wing from being dragged down several flights of stairs, he yanked his robes from Harry's grasp.

"Ok, Harry. This is getting a bit old. I do know the way to the great hall! What's got your knickers in a twist this morning?"

Harry hadn't realized that he was still dragging Ron around behind him. He let go of Ron, looked around to make sure no one was within hearing distance and sighed.

"Sorry, Ron. That new girl has got me so upset. I mean, really! She comes out of no where, disrupts the feast, and tears Dumbledore away without even letting him eat! And I don't know what she said to him to make him trust her, but I don't. I.."

Harry sighed again and raked his hands through his hair. "I'm just sick of trusting people blindly. Every time I do, something bad happens. And look where trusting people has gotten me! Quirrell, who was hiding Voldemort under his turban. Lockhart, a complete fraud. Moody, who was Barty Crouch. We're supposed to trust Snape, but he's such a git that it's impossible to trust him. No actual light wizard would behave the way he does. Umbridge, Fudge, Dung Fletcher. I could go on and on! I'm done trusting people just on someone elses's say so." Harry finished up looking miserable. He shook his head, and started down the stairs. Ron quickly caught up with him.

"First of all, Dumbledore probably had the house elves bring up sandwiches or something, so I don't think either one of them went hungry last night. And who asked you to trust her? Trust is usually built, not given freely. But the way you're acting, you'd think she came here, wand blazing and putting people down left and right!"

"Did you see how she got here, Ron? From lightening! I doubt even Hermione has a good thing to say about that!" said Harry, exasperated. "She just appears out of the air, tossing her long brown hair around like she's something special, displays powers that are unheard of, and everyone is supposed to be ok with that? Well, I'm not. She hurts Snape, then heals him. Then there's Dobby. What kind of power does she have over house elves? Dobby is usually a bit more cautious with new people, and the second he sees her, he acts like she's the greatest thing in the world! He didn't even say hi to me, or wave or anything! Explain that, will you?"

Ron was trying to take everything Harry was saying in, but he kept replaying in his mind about the 'long brown hair' bit. What was that about? Why would Harry make any comment about Bethany's hair if he loathed her so much? Maybe it wasn't so much as loathing, but more curious. Intrigued? Tempted? Enthralled? Damn! Now he was using Hermione words. This was too much to think about seriously before he even ate breakfast. Maybe him and Mione could uh, 'go for a walk' later on and talk about it. That is, if he could get her away from Bethany. Either way, Ron didn't think that Bethany would be far from anyone's thoughts anytime soon.

Breakfast turned out to be a very quiet-at first. Almost no one was talking, except to say 'pass the toast' and the like. It was far from the first morning back pattering. When a utensil was knocked to the floor, some students actually jumped in their seats. Everyone's thoughts were on the new girl and her strange entrance to Hogwarts. Harry's grand entrance didn't help matters either. His footsteps were heard before he arrived, quieting the room. Then he just stood in the doorway, looking at the gryffindor table like he was making sure no one was there who wasn't supposed to be. Satisfied, he continued to the table for breakfast. The murmur of students began again. About five minutes later, Hermione was still chattering about classes to Bethany as they entered the great hall. But as she approached the table, she noticed her voice echoing off the walls. It was so silent in the room that a feather could have dropped, and everyone would have heard it.

The two girls sat down opposite of Ron and Harry, with Bethany across from the famous student. She put a couple of pancakes and a large bit of bacon on her plate before looking at Harry and put on her biggest smile.

"Well! Good morning to you, Harry. And you too, Ron. Would you please pass the syrup? Don't you just love bacon? Mmm...pig meat. No wonder why the Big Bad Wolf was trying to catch the little pigs!"

Harry's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe she just started talking to him like she'd been his friend for years. Even Dennis Creevy still hesitated a moment before speaking to him. Who did this American think she is?

He was broken out of his musing by Bethany speaking to him again.

"Hey! Hello? Hey green eyes! Pass. The. Syrup."

He scoffed. Incredible! She is very gutsy, I can tell you that, thought Harry.

"Hey, mate. Listen, it's really not that hard of a thing to do. You just pick up the jugs and give it to me."

"Mate?" said Harry.

"Uh, yeah. Hermione, isn't 'mate' British slang for friend? Or is it Australian?"

"Um, both I believe. Harry, are you ok? Your face is turning red. Are you choking?"

Indeed, Harry was red, but it wasn't from choking. He was furious. This tart dared to call him a mate? Well, two can play at that game!

"I'm so sorry." Harry said to Bethany, smiling very sweetly. "You wanted the syrup? Here you go!" He picked up the container, reached across the table and proceeded to pour the sticky liquid down the front of Bethany's borrowed robes.

Bethany tumbled backwards from the table trying to escape, and ended up on the floor. (Of course, Colin got a picture of this. Several, in fact-just in case the first few didn't turn out.)

A loud collected gasp went round the room. Everyone had been watching this exchange, and Malfoy was taking great pleasure in watching Potter's face turn red as the mudblood taunted him. Professor McGonagall stood up to start doling out punishment (On the first day! A new record for Potter. What's wrong with that boy!) when the headmaster put his hand on her arm to stop her.

"Let us see how Miss Frost handles this. If anything, it is quite amusing to see Harry trying to hold his dignity in front of a charming young lady." said Dumbledore. "I think we will be seeing more of this in the upcoming year."

If Bethany had heard the headmaster's words, she would have agreed. However, the embarrassment of the situation had her blood pressure pounding in her ears. She calmly got up.

Harry sat the jug down on the table. He said, "You are NOT my mate. Do not assume you are just because you talk to one of my best friends. They've been my 'mates' since first year. I don't know anything about you, besides your name."

"Don't assume anything, Harry Potter!" Bethany retorted. "It just makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'."

"We'll see about that!" Harry shot back, determined to have the last word. He got up and started to walk down the aisle, head held high. Inside, his mind was churning. 'I can't believe I just did that! I'm in so much trouble. I'm going to get called to Dumbledore's office and get detention for a month.' Harry was thinking, not paying any attention to what was happening behind him.

Bethany scrambled after him. She caught up to him just before he got to the doors and grabbed his arm, whipping him around.

"You are not having the last word here, buster!" She put her hand in her cloak's pocket, withdrawing the glove she found earlier. She shook it out, and gripped it by the wrist.

In an imperious voice, she told him, "Copying the famous words of Bugs Bunny:I hope you know-this means war!" then proceeded to slap him across the face with the glove. She put the glove back in her pocket, and walked out of the room.

Harry just stood there, slack jawed, with his hand holding his cheek. Hermione and Ron raced up to him.

"She hit me!"

Hermione huffed. "Well, what do you expect! I would have slapped you too! Those are my winter robes she is wearing, Harry. My robes that you just dumped syrup all down the front of-not hers. She must be so upset and embarrassed. And just what is your problem with Bethany anyway? She's a very sweet girl! And smart too. Bethany asked me if I had read any books by Myrddin. Myrddin! You know who that is, don't you? It's Merlin. She's talking about some of the most well-guarded books in the world! She also asked me if we had learned certain defense spells that haven't even been taught to us yet. You could learn a lot from her!"

Harry wasn't taking any of this in. He just stood there, hand on his face, with a confused look on his face. "Ron, she hit me!" he said.

Ron swung his arm around his friend's shoulder, guiding him from the room. He thought they had gathered enough attention for one morning. "Harry, mate, I saw the whole thing. Everyone saw it."

Harry paused, causing Hermione to bump into him. "What do you mean, everyone saw?"

"Harry, didn't you notice that everyone was quiet during your little argument? Don't worry. People will probably forget all about it by time classes start on Monday." Hermione said, taking up his other arm with hers.

Harry said, "Yeah, right. I could trip over a rock and fall flat on my face, and it's in the Daily Prophet that night. This is a bloody disaster!"

"Language, Harry. I wonder where Bethany went to? I hope she doesn't get lost."

The three friends continued walking in silence to the common room. As they were approaching the Fat Lady's portrait, Ron spoke.

"Hermione, who's Bugs Bunny?"