Disclaimer: HP characters belong to J.K. Rowling! Props to her!
Mia sat in front of the roaring fire concentrating fiercely on the text describing animal transfiguration. Oblivious to the bustling life of the common room, she was parked at the edge of her seat clad in a pair of ancient sweats and a white ribbed tank top, her hair piled sloppily on her head. Her quill was moving quickly over the scroll. She had been sitting in the common room since the end of the school day determined not to get further behind than she already was. Her eyes flicked to the wand sitting amidst her books and papers and felt her stomach flip flop. She was dreading trading in her quill for the twig that was supposed to be an extension of her hand.
"Hey stranger," Skye said plopping down in the arm chair next to hers flinging her legs over the side.
"Hi," Mia greeted distractedly.
"You've been working for hours," Skye said, "you need a break."
Mia peeled her eyes away and searched Skye's innocent face. She had something on her mind that she wouldn't give up on, so Mia relented throwing her quill down giving her full attention to her friend.
"Only for a minute," she said, "I still have work to do."
"Of course!" Skye exclaimed as she bolted upright, "Now we can talk about how you know Harry Potter."
"Oh not this again," Mia groaned sinking down into the chair.
"Oh yes this again," Skye began, "I've been waiting to meet him, and what do you know? He comes to me!"
She got up ignoring the curious stares. She sauntered over to Mia's armchair, and perfectly imitated the way Harry had politely asked to sit down. Mia giggled at Skye's perfect imitation. Skye curtsied and dropped back into the chair in a fit of laughter.
"Well?" Skye asked as soon as she had calmed down.
"I was introduced to him by Hagrid when I arrived." Mia answered with a shrug.
"Oh."
Another longer Oh had Mia throwing her friend a look that told her how crazy she thought she was. Ignoring the look, Skye sat up again her striking features animated.
"Of course," she slapped a hand to her head, "You don't know who he is."
"What are you babbling on about?" Mia asked leaning forward curiosity getting the better of her.
"He's Harry Potter," she leaned in and paused dramatically, "the Boy Who Lived.
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Harry and Hermione approached the two girls huddled in front of the fire with extreme caution. Looking down, Harry saw Hermione jerk her head at them, signaling that she had elected him to interrupt their private conversation. He rolled his eyes at her and she charmed him with a smile.
Harry cleared his throat, but when they remained oblivious to his presence, he coughed loudly and beat his chest for good measure. He watched as the two girls nearly jumped out of their seats, their eyes widening as they exchanged guilty glances.
"Sorry to interrupt," Hermione began, "but we have something important to share."
"We were just talking," Skye said nervously nudging her companion.
"Yeah, she was just explaining." Mia confirmed her head bobbing up and down.
Harry and Hermione exchanged confused glances.
"That's…" Hermione hesitated, "that's nice, but we had something to tell Mia."
The two girls let out identical sighs of relief. Skye slumped down into her chair and Mia looked up at them, blowing a curl that had fallen into her face.
"Sure go ahead."
"Well," Hermione began a light in her eyes, she was excited but nervous at the same time, "Professor Dumbledore asked us to come to his office and he asked us," she gestured, "Me and Harry, to erm well to— "
"He asked us to tutor you." Harry said finishing Hermione's thought.
Mia took a moment of silence. She had never had a tutor before had never needed one, but looking over at the cluttered table, she knew that there was always a first for everything.
"That would be great." She said and for the first time in days, her smile reached her eyes.
Harry watched her face light up, and felt his heart do a small acrobatic routine. She looked as animated as his best friend as they talked excitedly about when they could get together.
Skye joined in, and the three girls chatted animatedly. Letting out a satisfied sigh, Harry leaned back and happily retreated to the sidelines.
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I had another dream last night and this time Skye woke up. She came over to see what was wrong, but it's not like she could really do anything to help…though she did try really hard to make me smile. It was bad…worse than bad, it was the worst possible pain I've ever felt. Breaking an arm doesn't hurt like this does it? Well actually I wouldn't know I've never broken a bone before. Let's just say that my tolerance for pain is very low. What's wrong with me?
Mia shut the notebook and shoved it into the side pocket of her book bag, the question still spinning in her head. Tuning out Professor Binn's dull lecture, she absently fingered a curl and replayed her dream in her head. She racked her brain trying to figure out whether or not the pain was even real. Maybe, she thought, I'm just making it all up. But she shook her head knowing that she was many things, but definitely not a masochist. Skye jerked her out of her reverie by pulling lightly on a flyaway curl.
"I'll see you later all right?"
Mia looked around as everyone began gathering their belongings. Following suit, she emptied her desk and stuffed everything into her book bag. She walked out the door and towards the North Tower her next destination. Spotting two familiar heads bobbing in the crowd, she called out for Harry and Ron. The two boys slowed their pace as she fought through a crowd of girls to reach them.
"How did you like that lecture?" Ron asked.
"Oh just fascinating," Mia replied, "I just love how he makes learning so exciting."
They laughed, catching the sarcasm in her voice. Conversation ceased as they trekked up to the North Tower. Their dragging feet stopped at the foot of the stairs and Mia whined about climbing them. Harry and Ron groaned when they saw the Divination Professor peering down at them.
As the three students climbed the stairs, the Divination Professor surveyed them; her eyes magnified ten times their size, her thin shoulders covered by a beaded shawl. Mia sat on an empty cushion near the back and struggled to breathe in. The stuffy room was filled with the strong aroma of incense intensified by the fire that roared in the middle of the hot September morning.
"Welcome," Professor Trelawney said softly as she took her place in front of a table where a massive crystal ball sat.
"Today," she paused dramatically, "we will be practicing the art of seeing through the use of crystal balls."
Mia's eyes widened, "This is crazy," she whispered. Ron's laugh cut through the blanket of silence that had settled on the room as everyone sat in front of their crystal balls faces twisted in concentration.
Professor Trelawney's silent gaze settled on the sniggering trio.
"What do you see Mr. Potter?"
Harry looked up from the mist swirling in the crystal ball.
"Erm…mist?" he said foolishly.
A few quiet laughs were heard around the room.
"I see a couple dancing around in a beautiful ballroom," Lavender volunteered happily.
Harry let out a sigh of relief as the professor glided towards the front of the room to peer over Lavender's eager shoulder. He elbowed his best friend, who sat by him, happy tears in his eyes.
"It's all right Harry," Mia teased, her blue eyes dancing with laughter, "I see mist too."
She merely flashed a small smile in her direction before looking back at her own misty crystal ball. Sneaking a glance at a sheepish looking Harry, she thought about the story Skye had dramatically told her (complete with little skits). She had never noticed the scar on his forehead, but then his untidy hair was always falling over his eyes. In a very cute way too, she thought.
She still didn't completely understand who the you-know-who character was and what had possessed him to try to murder a new-born baby. Skye had tried her best to explain the atrocities that the man had committed until Harry had come along ("He was a hero the moment he was born," Skye had said her face somber).
Mia had not known that though Harry had survived with little more than a scar on his forehead, his parents had perished. She couldn't and didn't want to fathom having the chance to get to know your parents being taken away from you. It was bad enough to lose them at a young age, but at least you had their memories to hold on to. Staring blankly into her misty crystal ball, she fingered the pendant around her neck.
Mia looked back over at Harry, his eyebrows knit together in fierce concentration. A new-found respect had found its way into her heart as she watched his green eyes squint behind the dorky but somehow cute glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose.
She cocked her head to the side unaware that she was blatantly staring. He was grounded despite how utterly, incredibly, unfathomably famous he was ("They will be teaching kids about him," Skye had said enthusiastically, "as soon as he leaves. I wouldn't be surprised if they already are").
He's like a real live superman, she thought, well maybe superBoy minus the buns of steel, and the X-ray vision but plus the broom and magic wand—
A pair of magnified eyes filled her vision a dreamy voice interrupting her thoughts.
"Ms. Amelia what is it that you see in your crystal ball?"
"Mia please professor," she said as politely as she could through gritted teeth.
The class watched in silence as the two locked eyes. A few tense seconds passed and finally the fragile-looking woman straightened and returned to her massive crystal ball, mist swirling round and round in what seemed to be vast emptiness.
As class ended, Ron gave her a firm pat on the back.
"Well done," he congratulated, "you survived your first class with the old bat."
"Yeah," Harry agreed his green eyes smiling, "at least this time she didn't predict my death or anyone's death for that matter."
As the trio reached the top of the stairs, the soft voice called for her to stay behind.
"Escape while you can," she said as she stopped in her tracks.
The two boys retreated down the stairs throwing sympathetic looks in her direction. Mia turned slowly.
"I'm sorry if I disrespected you earlier," she began but noticed the professor was staring blankly past her.
"Professor?" Mia called out cautiously stepping forward while tossing a quick look over her shoulder to make sure there was no one behind her. Her blue eyes widened in panic as she saw the professor's head loll about.
"Professor?" she repeated reaching for her shoulder but jumped back when the lolling head snapped up. Chills ran up and down Mia's spine as the professor began to speak in a voice that was not her own.
"An angel of light there will be. The last of us he will lead to hopeful victory. Our last hope, she holds within her the key of which to unlock her destiny. Long shall she be concealed, a phoenix and dragon will she bear. She must fight," Mia staggered back her head spinning, "and must not fail."
The professor slumped forward her body sliding to the floor. Mia felt the searing pain in her side as she moved toward the professor's crumpled body. Another step sent her sprawling forward. The room stopped spinning just enough for her to focus on the angelic face floating in front of her.
A/N: Thank you so much for the comments! I really really appreciate them. To answer the question about how I thought Mia up….she's a totally re-written character of a first failed attempt I re-evaluated and decided that she was a Mary Sue. With Mia I tried to get as far away from a Mary-Sue as I could and tried to make her more real…hopefully I achieved that. Well keep reading and commenting!