Sorry this chapter took so long coming but for those who have checked my homepage, you'll know that I've a death in the family recently. I already had most of this chapter written so I buckled down and made myself finish it, so if the end's a little rushed, that's why.

I probably won't be able to graduate again untill after graduation, sorry. I'll try to get the next chapter in as soon as I can but don't expect a miracle. Thanks for being understanding!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Having Harry's Destiny- Welcome to Hogwarts, again.

Helena shifted from foot to foot nervously as she stood in the front of the Great Hall waiting for the first years to be sorted so she could take her turn. It was at moments like this that she was half-glad Harry was here with her to help calm her. Though she would have preferred his support from outside her body. Candles floated in the air above and a sea of curious voices looked up at her from below. She was glad that her resemblance to the famous boy wizard was not as discernable from a distance or the whole hall would be in turmoil. She fought the urge to tuck her hair behind her ears, to bite her nails, to fiddle with her robes, to do anything that would display how nervous she was.

Calm down, Harry whispered in her mind. Just take a deep breath, it'll be ok.

Easy for you to say. You've done this before.

And everybody stared at me too. Though I didn't really know why at the time. They're just staring at you because you're new and pretty.

And it's all thanks to you.

Huh?

I don't know if the accident messed up your eye sight or something but if you didn't notice, I was rather a Plain Jane before you decided to join me.

Hey! You weren't plain! I thought you were kinda cute. And no my memory is perfectly fine. I remember thinking it was funny that here I was dying and I was thinking about you being cute.

Suuuurree…

It's the truth. Whether or not you choose to believe it is up to you. Just then Professor MacGonagall's voice broke through their conversation.

"And this year students we are very pleased to have a new Seventh year joining us, Ms. Helena Cullington." McGonagall said.

Harry. Megan hissed. Get up here and take over RIGHT NOW. Helena froze, eyes glazed.

"Ms. Cullington," McGonagall stepped aside to let Helena set on the stool. Her eyes refocused and she sat down confidently. The hat seemed confused and sat for quite some time before it made its decision.

"Gryffindor!" It finally shouted followed by applause from every house but Slytherin. Helena took a seat by Ron and Hermione, and across from Neville. A few people congratulated her but most just grinned nervously still unsure of her resemblance to Harry.

"Helena?" Ron asked but she didn't respond. She seemed to be staring at a spot on the wall behind Neville's head. "Helena?" He poked her slightly.

"Huh? What?" she asked looking around confused.

"You ok?" Ron asked.

"Yeah," she said then added in a whisper. "Just had to pull a switch for the hat." Ron nodded understanding. Just then Dumbledore stood and gave his usual speech; Forbidden Forest is strictly off limits and the like. Only this time he paused at the end and with a sad face added:

"I would like to take a moment to remember a dear student and friend, Harry Potter, who died most unfortunately over the summer. He will be missed very much this year." The room fell gravely silent; even the Slytherins were respectfully quiet. Several students looked on the verge of tears. Helena shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Let this feast be in his honor." With that a grand display of food appeared on the tables. Everyone seemed uncomfortable to be the first to start eating so instead they all looked nervously around their tables. Ron sighed and began filling his plate. Hermione did the same and soon everyone was following their leads. Ron nudged Helena.

"Could you pass me the rolls." He asked. She looked at him, not seeming to comprehend at first. There was a sad look in her eyes.

"Oh sure." She said handing them to him. He gave her a look asking her if she was ok and she gave a small nod and then smiled. In only a matter of minutes she had the people around her at ease and talking freely. She was the type of person who you could talk to like they were an old friend when you had only just meet them a few minutes ago. Of course having Harry to guide her probably didn't hurt any either.

Halfway through the meal someone sitting next to them began to snicker uncontrollably. They gave him a "What's so funny?" look.

"Check out Malfoy." He said pointing behind them. They turned to see Malfoy trying unsuccessfully to get out of the Great Hall unnoticed. A large black mark covered most of his face. Most of the student body was snickering at him. Hermione reached around Ron and gave Helena a small high-five so the others wouldn't see. Ron looked at them like "what in the world was that for?" With her eyes Hermoine pointed to Helena and then to Malfoy. Ron's eyes grew big as he realized what she was implying. He whipped around to face Helena with a look of pure amazement. Helena simply nodded to the affirmative and to everybody's surprise Ron wrapped her in a rib-breaking hug. Helena somehow managed to peel him off her and he turned to find his friends giving him very strange looks.

"Just glad she got into Gryffindor and not Slytherin." Ron explained patter Helena on the head.

"Uh, Ron?" she said.

"Yep I sure am glad you didn't get stuck in Slytherin." He said with an odd grin.

"Ron. I'm not your dog so stop petting me." Helena said wryly. Ron realized he was still patting her on the head and quickly snatched his hand away to the amusement of those around them.

"Hey, Ron, what's up with you? Did you get a house elf to spike your drink or something?" One of the students joked.

"It does smell funny." Helena said sniffing it and making an awful face.

"I can't believe you guys think I would actually do such a thing." Ron said with a fake hurt expression making everyone laugh.

"Oh! I just thought of something!" Helena said. "Somebody needs to take a picture of Malfoy before the ink wears off."

"And blow up and put it up all over school!" Someone added.

"Send it to the newspapers!" Another joined in.

"Make him pay for all the grief he's given us!"

"YEAH!" Their whole section shouted getting the whole Hall's attention. Several teachers gave them disapproving looks.

"I think that's our cue to leave." Ron said and they quickly rushed from the room.

Hermione was leading the way toward the common room when Helena noticed that Neville looked troubled. She started to say something but realized that he had just met her so she poked Ron instead. She motioned to Neville and Ron nodded, understanding.

"Hey, Neville?" Ron asked. "Are you ok?" Everyone stopped and looked at the boy. His eyes darted nervously to the ground.

"It's just that…" he started then stopped. "I mean does anybody else feel guilty?"

"What do you mean guilty?" Hermione asked.

"I mean Harry just died like a month or so ago and here we are laughing and having a good time. It just seems…wrong."

"Neville," Helena said stepping forward. "It's true I didn't know Harry but from what I can tell from everything I've ever heard about him is that he was a true friend. The kind that's hard to come by, the kind you fight to keep."

"He was the best." Neville said quietly still looking at the floor.

"And a friend like that would want you to be happy, to go on with your life and not waste all you time mourning for them." Hermione had to bite her lip to keep from crying. Was Harry saying that? Either way she knew it was true; Harry would want them to be happy.

"She's right," Hermione managed to choke out. "Harry wouldn't want us to spend the rest of our lives dwelling on the past but living in the moment and looking to the future."

"What future?" Neville asked grumpily. "Without Harry what hope do we have?"

"Hey," Helena said. "It's not over till the fat lady sings!"

"Well the fat lady likes to sing a lot," Neville said. "In fact she'll probably have a song waiting for us when we get there." Helena gave him a weird look and Hermione quickly explained about the portrait.

"Well then," Helena said. "It's not over until I say it's over and I say that as long as there is one grain of good in this world there will always be someone to fight for it and there will always be hope. And since evil can never completely obliterate that bit of good, only make it smaller and smaller until they think it's gone and leave it alone only to turn around and find it's grown even bigger, then there will always be hope."

"When you put it that way…" Neville smiled slightly. "Things don't sound so bad, they still sound bad, just not hopeless."

"Wow," Ron said in awe. "That was…amazing."

"Thanks," Helena said sheepishly. "It's strange, when it comes to other people I can be the most optimist person you've ever met but when it comes to myself I'm just plain pessimistic."

"Ah, Ms. Cullington," McGonagall broke into their conversation. "I came to show you to your room."

"Oh we were just on our way to the doors," Neville said.

"Yes, I figured that much Mr. Longbottom, but Ms. Cullington has a private room."

"What?" Neville asked incredulously. "How'd you pull that off?" Helena stiffened and Ron and Hermione held their breath.

"I have…medical problems." Helena said vaguely.

"Don't worry, I'll show her where the Gryffindor dorms are as soon as I show her to her own room." McGonagall said walking off down one of the corridors while motioning for Helena to follow her.

"I guess I'll see you later." She said as she followed the teacher. As soon as they were out of sight Neville turned to his friends and asked;

"What do you think she meant by medical problems?"

"I'm sure if she wants us to know she'll tell us." Hermione said. "Besides we just met her, you can't really expect her to spill her deepest secrets to us after only one day."

"I guess." Neville agreed and the group continued toward the dorm.

"Hey guys!" Ginny greeted them as they entered the common room. "Where's Helena?"

"She gets her own private room." Neville said in a sulky voice.

"What?" a near by student asked. "Why?"

"Some sort of "medical problems."" Neville said shrugging.

"What's wrong with her?" a young girl asked.

"Don't know. Hermoine said it's none of our business." Neville said grudgingly.

"And she's right." Ginny said. "She doesn't have to spill her private life to a bunch of strangers." Everyone shrugged dejectedly and broke into small groups and began speculating quietly about this mysterious "medical problem." A few minutes later the portal opened and Helena walked through.

"Whoa." She said looking around her. "This is awesome."

"Hey Helena!" Hermione said waving her over.

"So what do you think?" Ron asked indicating the room.

"It's frilling." Helena said as she plopped down. They all gave her look like she'd lost her mind. "It's just something I say." She explained.

"So, how's your room?" Ginny asked.

"Why don't you come judge for yourselves." Helena said a she jumped back to her feet. The others followed her out the portal and down several corridors. She stopped in front of a life-sized picture of a sandy stallion with a black mane and tail standing on a rocky point in the midst of a field of yellow grass. He struck an imposing figure and one couldn't help but feel awe at his natural power and beauty.

"This is Cimeron," Helena said indicating the horse. He turned his noble head at the sound of his name. His deep eyes bore into them. He jumped off the rock and trotted gracefully over to them. Helena leaned over and whispered the password into his ear. The portrait swung open effortlessly and they looked inside.

Immediately inside the doorway was a small entry room of sorts. There was a rack for coats and a small table for purses and such. Then there were four stairs that led up to a setting room. The room was comfortably furnished in the house colors with a deep red couch and two cream chairs around a small fireplace to the left. On the wall that contained the entrance were bookcases and a small desk to store school supplies in. On the wall to the right of the door was a cabinet about half a foot above waste height topped with candles, empty picture frames and other nick-knacks. The doors to the cabinet were closed to hide its contents. The wall opposite the entrance held large glass French doors. On either side of the door a picture hung. The curtains on the inside of doors were open to reveal a simply bedroom with a four-poster bed, dresser, nightstands, and two doors; one to the bathroom and anther to a closet.

"Wow." Hermione said looking around. Ron let out a low whistle.

"Not bad at all," He said.

"Makes me wish I had medical problems," Neville said wistfully.

"Sit down," Helena said indicating the couch and chairs. As she settled into one of the plush chairs she glanced nervously through the glass doors. She carefully hid Harry's wand in the secret drawer Professor McGonagall had shown her but she was still scared someone would find it. And how in the world would she explain that? She shook the thought off and tuned into the conversation going on around her.

----------------------------------------------------

A review or two would be nice!