"Hey, Harry," Hermione greeted at the breakfast table that morning. Jamie came down alone, seeing as Ron already came down with Hermione.
"Hey guys." She mumbled. Defense Against the Dark Arts was the first class.
"I heard that Ron needed glasses this morning." Hermione said, ready to burst out laughing.
"I don't even know what that was about," Jamie lied, starting to eat pancakes.
"I was half-asleep… I guess I couldn't see properly." Ron said.
"Are you getting a fever? Hallucinations aren't good news." Hermione asked, smiling.
"Speaking of news," Jamie said, watching the post being delivered. Hermione had gotten her Daily Prophet and Jamie got another package from her mom and a letter with proper handwriting.
"Who sent you a book?" Ron said, feeling the package on the table.
"My – uh – friend," she almost said 'My mom'. She put the package in her robe pocket.
"You met someone at home?" Ron asked.
"Just a friend – I met her a couple years ago at school… But she moved away and we're like pen pals." She said, describing herself in Harry's eyes.
"Her? You never told us about anyone!"
"You didn't ask," she said simply, "What's this?" she added, picking up the letter. She opened it and read it out loud. "Our guest, Jamie, will be arriving Friday, as I've told you. After dinner, please come to my office for your own classes. If it isn't too much trouble, could you stay all weekend? I have so much planned and we must get as much done as possible. Signed, Albus Dumbledore."
"All weekend?" Ron repeated. "I'm going to win the bet, Harry! I have the whole weekend to see her!"
"Sure you will, Ron," Hermione rolled her eyes.
Jamie laughed. A little packet of Chiclets fell out of the envelope. "I think I know what the password is!"
"What are those?" Ron asked, inspecting the little box.
"It's gum… I'll show you later, we have to go to class."
The trio stood up and headed toward the DADA class together, Jamie filling more and more with dread every step. She was heading toward her worst subject, disguised as the most Outstanding DADA student.
Upon entering the classroom, her nerves became nausea. She started to feel lightheaded and queasy. Hermione noticed the blanching face of her friend.
"Harry, are you okay?"
"I don't feel good…" Jamie replied, clutching her head.
"Is it your scar? Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey or Dumbledore even." Ron suggested, worried. Jamie nodded and went outside, heading toward the Hospital Wing.
"Madam Pomfrey?" she called in the hospital wing.
"Potter! Why aren't you in class?" she scolded from her office. Getting up and approaching, she noticed the bad condition of her patient. "Sit down."
"I think I just need a fever relief potion," she muttered.
"I was thinking the same thing, here," the matron said, thrusting the potion into her hands. Jamie felt instantly better physically and mentally upon swallowing, seeing as she didn't need to return to DADA. She thanked the nurse and headed toward her next class; Potions.
She ended up waiting for a while in the dungeons, but she passed the time by reading her potions book. She was so interested, she hadn't realized the bell had rung and Hermione and Ron were coming.
"Harry? Are you feeling better?" Hermione asked. Jamie finally looked up, surprised and shoved the book back in Harry's bag.
"Yea, I was just starting a fever. I'm alright now, I went to the hospital wing."
"Were you reading your potions' book?" Ron asked disbelievingly.
"Nothing else to do," Jamie shrugged and went into class, again angry with herself for being so un-Harry-like. To make it up, she reluctantly skipped the third step – adding a vital ingredient – and cringed when her potion turned a sickening green color.
"Potter." The drawling voice of the Potions professor rang through the room, silencing all the students. "Can you tell me what is wrong with your potion?"
"I forgot my powdered salamander tail." She said, pretending to examine the steps on the blackboard.
"Then this potion is no longer functional."
"It can be," she whispered, angry with this teacher.
"Pardon me?" Snape asked threateningly. "Powdered salamander tail is the key element in this potion. It's useless without it."
Gathering up her courage, she spat, "It's now the making of this potion." She turned a couple pages in her book and pushed it toward Snape. His eyes narrowed and he leaned down to whisper:
"Be that as it may, but the assignment was to make a Dreamless Sleep potion. 10 points from Gryffindor." He said, vanishing the potion.
"Wow, Harry, I never realized…" Hermione said, looking at Jamie's open book. Jamie just grunted and rested her head on the table.
In the hallway, to escape Hermione's constant "why didn't you tell me" or "that's incredible!" comments, Jamie slipped into the boy's room and decided to open her package. After ripping off the paper, she discovered a little dark green diary with a nice white quill. She put the diary back in her pocket, smiling as she went to the Great Hall for lunch.
When she sat at the Gryffindor table at lunchtime, Hermione and Ron were already there. They stopped talking when she sat down.
"Where were you?" Hermione asked Jamie.
"Bathroom," she answered, starting to eat a sandwich.
"You really told off Snape back there! That was awesome!" Ron exclaimed.
"Thanks…" she said, sipping her juice. She started to cough. "What kind of drink is that?!" she sniffed the juice. "Did you see anyone put something in my drink? Then again, how would anyone know I'm sitting here?" she asked suspiciously.
"Ron! What…?"
"You put something in my drink!" Jamie picked up her goblet and stormed out of the Hall, sitting hidden behind a suit of armor. She waved her wand over the contaminated juice and extracted the potion, putting it into a vial from her Potions' kit. Leaving the cup there, she went to the library to find out what she held in her hand.
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To Harry's horror, Jessie was instructed to teach him Occlumency.
"I've tried it, and I didn't do very well…" Harry told Jessie.
"Really? Who taught you?"
"Snape."
"Well maybe I'm a better Occlumency teacher. You never know."
Harry nodded and tried to clear his mind. Memories of past Occlumency came up and he started to feel anxiety. Then, memories of Sirius pushed him to work harder.
"Take a deep breath, Harry. It's okay if you don't get it right the first time, there's no hurry," she encouraged. Harry nodded.
"Legilimens!" Jessie cast. And then started the long path of Occlumency.
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After long hours in the library during lunch and dinner of two consecutive days, Jamie finally found out what the potion was - the antidote for Polyjuice Potion. Surprised and somewhat impressed, she went back to the common room.
"Polyjuice Potion?" she said ferociously, slamming the vial on the chessboard Ron and Hermione were playing on. Leaving the two Gryffindors gaping, she went upstairs and lay in bed. She pulled the diary out of her pillow and started to write:
Dear Diary,
Ron thinks I'm using Polyjuice Potion. Great, more suspicion. He's thinking of anything and everything… It'll be only a matter of time before he finds some kind of morph-reversal spell or something. But to be so worried and determined for Harry… That's true friendship. I'm happy Harry has friends like these… I don't think I could ever be that close.
Too bad the Draco Malfoy guy is Harry's enemy - he's really cute! He may be an arrogant little … yea… but maybe a nice girl is all he needs to straighten up. (Insert smiley face here).
Maybe if I drink a bad potion, I'll be unconscious or in quarantine for a while… give me some time in peace. Oh well. Tomorrow's Friday! Yay!
Jamie
With an extra curl in her signature, she stuffed the diary in her pillow and sealed the pillow. Smiling, she plopped her head down and fell asleep instantly, long study hours getting the better of her.