Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor would I ever claim to.

Time After Time

A Girl's Guide to being Jaded

11:58 p.m. July 30th, 1993

Harry Potter lied awake that night thinking of nothing but the weather. This was strange enough for any almost thirteen year old, especially seeing that Harry had never really had any interest in weather at all.

But honestly there was only one word that could describe Harry's life, and that was the word strange. His family, was extremely unconventional to say the least, consisting of his parents and some of the most interesting and kind people you could ever meet. His best friend, was the daughter of a convict, his godfather was said convict.

But perhaps the most interesting aspect of Harry's life, and the most frightening, was that he was the only wizard to ever survive the killing curse and was the very person responsible for the early demise of Lord Voldemort.

He and his friends had fought what was left of the dark wizard twice so far, and had come out on the winning side both times, which was quite frankly remarkable seeing as they were only school children.

Harry's school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, wasn't normal either, playing host to young wizards and witches much like himself. But in all the strangeness of his life, and most importantly, on the eve of his birthday, all Harry Potter could think of was the weather.

Usually, Britain saw temperatures in the seventies, farenheit that is, during the summer months. But for some reason, the temperatures barely reached the forties. It was wet, which wasn't unusual for England, but Harry had never seen storms and cold fronts quite like this.

There was an eery feeling in the air, that he wasn't used to at Potter Manor, his home when he wasn't at Hogwarts, and Harry couldn't help but wonder what exactly was causing this strange and dreary summer. The warm months of Summer were what he longed for all throughout his school term, and something was robbing him of that warmth.

Another thing he wasn't accustomed to was having his best friend Annie living in his house. Her father had been wrongfully put in the wizard prison, Azkaban, just before school ended.

Her room, was the very room next to his, and he could often hear her snores on most nights. It wasn't something that bothered Harry, seeing as his dad also snored, and anyways, Annie's snoring wasn't the annoying kind, but more the kind that could lull you to sleep.

It was nice always having someone to play quidditch with (weather permitting), or work on summer homework with during the long rainy days. Annie was six months younger than him, which would normally put her a year behind him in school, but she was extremely smart and was able to move up to his year in school.

This was something his friend Hermione was also offered after their first year in school, but she decided to stay with her friends instead. Annie would actually get to have almost all of the same classes as Harry, Hermione, and his friend Ron because a Gryffindor who would've been a third year this upcoming school term had been taken out of school during the attacks on many students last year by Tom Riddle, otherwise known as Lord Voldemort.

Harry looked at the clock and saw he had been thirteen for thirty minutes. A tapping at his window got his attention and he saw his owl Hedwig, a tawny school owl, and the Weasley family's owl Errol all carrying parcels adressed to him.

After relieving the owls from their burdens, he shut the window and sat on his bed opening his gifts. Ron, had gotten him a pocket sneakoscope, Hermione had outdone herself and gave him a broomstick servicing kit, and well... Hagrid's he was too afraid to open.

His friend's couldn't be at his small birthday gathering, so they sent their gifts a bit early. Hermione was in France with her parents, and all nine of the Weasley's were in Egypt on summer holiday.

He was awoken that morning by his extremely hyper father jumping up and down on his bed singing (very off key he might add) "Happy Birthday," to him.

His dad wasn't like most, he was more of a kid than Harry sometimes, and during his days at Hogwarts was part of an elite pranking group that were able to make a map of all of Hogwarts and everyone that inhabbited it. Harry, of course, had inherrited the map but hadn't found much use for it yet.

The singing unfortunately continued for many minutes until both his mother and Annie were at the door begging for it to stop. The four were forced to spend most of Harry's birthday inside due to the rain, but were lucky enough to get a visit from Moony,to the rest of the world known as Remus Lupin.

They also recieved the news that Remus would be teaching at Hogwarts this year, thus filling the doomed Defense Against the Dark Arts post that every student thought there was a curse on.

Harry recieved many presents and had a great time, until that is they recieved the news that Sirius had escaped from Azkaban which threw them all for a whirl. No one in history had ever escaped from Azkaban.

Harry found Annie that evening in the library. The Potter's library was almost as extensive as Hogwart's library, housing books and tombs of all kinds on every subject imaginable.

It was the perfect place to retreat to if you didn't want to be found and both Harry and Annie knew that. Harry sat down on the ground next to Annie, who was leaning against a book case reading the biography of Uric the Oddball.

"Ah, Uric the Oddball, has to be an interesting read." Harry said aloud and Annie looked up from the page and at him. She sighed and closed her book shut, emitting a poof of dust from the pages.

"Listen, I appreciate what your doing, the whole make Annie feel better thing by sitting next to her and saying nothing which incase will make her spill her guts, but really, she's fine."

"Fine people don't typically speak in third person. And anyways, I am merely hear to learn about..." Harry pulled a random book of the shelf, "365 Beauty Charms for the Haggard Witch...."

"Oh really, feeling a little haggard lately?" Annie laughed.

"Alright, not exactly my kind of read..." Harry put the book back and noticed Annie also had a copy of that evening's Evening Prophet. He took it and saw a blown up picture of Sirius, that had to be taken at Azkaban along with a story claiming he was a madman on the loose. "You shouldn't read this rubbish, you know it's not true don't you?"

"Yes, I know that. I just wonder where he's at is all. No one's ever escaped from Azkaban, not in the history of wizards has there ever been someone smart or daft enough to make it out and still be alive. I just... wish I knew if he was alright."

"If he was smart enough to escape from Azkaban, than I'm sure he's alright." Harry offered his sense kindly.

"If he's not though..." Her voice suddenly filled with fear and doubt.

"If you think like that you'll just make yourself more worried..."

Annie got up off the floor and looked down at Harry, "Up for a one on one game of quidditch."

Harry said back with a bit of intrigue in his voice, but also looked at her as if she was crazy. "In the rain?"

"Oh well, if you're too afraid of a little bit of water, I mean I guess I understand..." She said, mock-teasing him.

Harry scoffed, "You're starting to sound exactly like Oliver Wood..."

Annie took offense to that statement, as she, along with everyone else believed that Oliver Wood was truly insane.The two were about to leave when Annie said, "Oh wait!" and she put the book she was reading back in it's place by using her powers.

"Still freaks me out that you can do that..." Harry said under his breath thinking Annie didn't hear him.

"It still freaks me out too..." But apparently she did.

The end of summer had fastly approached for Harry and Annie, bringing with it the traditional trip to diagon alley to shop for all their school supplies. This year, since Lily and James truly believed their son and goddaughter were in no danger, they allowed Harry and Annie to meet up with Hermione and Ron in Diagon Alley on August 30th to get their supplies for school and in general just hang out a bit considering the four friends had not been altogether yet that summer.

Harry, Ron, and Annie were all thankful that they would be able to go alone, since most wizard parents wouldn't dream of letting their children run around with Sirius Black on the loose. Luckily the Potter's and the Weasley's knew Sirius wasn't a mass murderer and wouldn't dream of harming children and Hermione's parent's were muggles who she quite frankly didn't tell.

August 30th, 1993

If you've ever lived in an extremely humid climate, you know how truly miserable it can be. Enduring the muggy, humid, and now hot temperatures along with the never ceasing rain weren't the only things Harry and Annie had on their mind that day in Diagon Alley. Finding Ron and Hermione through the rain had been harder than they thought it would be.

On the other hand, Harry felt fine just hanging out with Annie. The thirteen year old Gryffindor had actually felt like that alot lately. He glanced across the table at her as they sat in Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream shop and thought that she looked particularly nice that day. She wore short, white cuffed shorts, a blue halter top, and a jean jacket. Her hair had curled more than ever in the humidity and sprang all over the place even though it was pulled half back. And her freckles stood out against her pale skin.

'Wait a minute,' Harry thought to himself, 'Since when did I start thinking Annie looked nice? I mean it's true she does look nice... beautiful is more like it...Stop, Harry, she's your friend...' His thoughts were quickly interupted by the door of the shop opening bringing with it a quarrelling Hermione and Ron. Hermione seemed to be holding a wet, orange furball in her hand that was hissing at a sickly looking Scabbers, who was held in Ron's hand.

He looked at Annie who was giving him a signal that clearly said, 'Run for it.' But it was too late, Ron and Hermione had already spotted them and were making their way over to the table, continuing their bickering match the entire way. Annie openly sighed and hit her head on the table.

She liked Hermione alot, and thought Ron was okay, but the two of them together was almost unbearable at times. During school terms she could always just run to her own common room, but there was no way out of this one.

"Crookshanks is not an evil, devil worshipping cat, Ronald! You're a good little boy aren't you Crookshanks." Hermione coddled the cat as if it was a baby. That was another thing Annie didn't particularly like, cats. They're always stairing at you with those all-knowing eyes and seemed to judge you with a single glare. Plus, they made her sneeze.

"Where've you two been?" Ron said as he pulled a bowl of ice cream toward him and shoved a heaping spoonful in his mouth, "We've been looking for you for an hour at least. Had to waste time in Magical Menagerie..."

Annie started to feel her nose itch and fought the urge to sneeze which made her eyes water, "How was France, Hermione?"

Harry leaned toward Annie and muttered under his breath, "Are you okay..."

She coughed, "Fine..."

"Oh Annie, it was the most beautiful place I've ever been. There's so much history to Paris. And not just muggle history but also wizarding." Hermione's face seemed to light up.

Annie sneezed loudly shaking the table, something she had never done before, "There were incredible witch trials in France that aren't as well known as the killings in America. I mean France was home to Joan of Arc and she was most notoriously and wrongly accused of being a witch and...why are you all stairing at me." Ron, Hermione, and Harry were all looking at her strangely. Ron and Harry seemed to have a worried expression, and Hermione a confused one.

Then Annie realized she suddenly felt better and didn't have the urge to sneeze. It was then that she realized she was gaining control of another power. She had thought, "Wouldn't it be great to be able to conjure up a forcefield right now...?" Just to be able to protect herself from the horrid cat. And then she had actually done it, without getting immensely exhausted! Of course, the shield was only around her head, not her entire body so that had to make it easier. She quickly let go of the thought and the shield went down. Hermione looked as though she was gaining and idea of what was going on.

Annie quickly sputtered out, "Sorry! We have to go, now!" She grabbed Harry's hand and made him run out of the store, "See you on the train!" He called from the door as Annie pulled him outside into the rain. They dashed into the empty street and were pelted with wet, sweet, summer rain.

"That was... it was... you did it, Annie." Harry was genuially proud of her, this was one of the only good things that had happened that gloomy summer. He looked her in the eye and he could see her smile in her eyes. But she wished Sirius could've been there.

She realized she was still holding Harry's hand and let go quickly, "Sorry..."

Harry cleared his throat and put his hands to his side, "Er... that's er... okay," he said awkwardly as he looked at the ground. "You do realize were standing out in the rain for absolutely no reason, right?"

She laughed a bit, "You and the rain, I swear. Did you two have a fight, need a little make up time? Because really I can leave you two alone."

Harry rolled his eyes slightly,"Let's just go find my parents," And the two ran off into the rain, making puddles splash beneath their feet after every step they took. They later found Lily and James in the Leaky Cauldron and explained what had happened at the ice cream parlor. Lily insisted on telling Dumbledore the news that evening by floo, needless to say he was surprised.

The rest of summer went by extremely fast, and as soon as they knew it, the days of summer were over. Annie was particularly dreading going back to school this year and she had every reason why.

September 1st,

The Hogwarts Express was a symbol to the students of Howarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. The train ride was the transition between their lives at home, and their lives at school. For most students, those two worlds were completely and totally different. The apple red train steamed on as Harry, Annie, Lily, and James walked through the barrier onto platform 9 and 3/4.

They were ever so rudely met by photographers and reporters from the Daily Prophet as soon as they appeared. James instinctively put a protective, guiding arm on Annie's shoulder, and Lily got closer to Harry. Reporters in the Wizarding world were vicious, especially Rita Skeeter. Reporters and Photographers alike cruely shouted out anything they could think of concerning Sirius.

"Is it true he was the Potter's Secret Keeper?"

"Did he really attempt to murder you in your sleep?"

"Are you secretly harboring him in your home until he can escape again?"

"What kind of Dark Magic gets you out of Azkaban?"

James Potter's temper was legendary, and Lily half-expected him to give the Prophet workers hell, but it seemed to hit him as hard as it did Annie. Annie blankly stared forward, emotionless, and expressionless. She was silent as they fought their ways through whispering students and parents. Silence, painful silence, as if she had become a vacant person just wandering without their emotions. Lily, turned to her son and said, "Harry go find a compartment on the train, Annie will be there in a minute." Harry gave his mother a confused look, but obeyed anyways and put his trunk in a carriage with Ron and Hermione's and waited there, figuring there was a reason Lily shooed him.

James and Lily pulled Annie aside and Lily put her thumb under her goddaughter's chin, lifting it gently so she would look at her, but Annie averted looking her in the eye and staired at the corner instead. Lily put it simply, "You don't have to go back Annie, you don't have to do this."

She didn't say anything back but, merely shook her head, saying that she didn't want to avoid school. James stepped forward and got to her level and spoke kindly, "No matter what any person tries to tell you, you know the truth. And simply knowing the truth is what get's you through. You know what's real Annie, right here." He put his hand on his own heart and Annie finally looked him in the eye. She said her goodbyes, giving them what she considered empty hugs. She wasn't in the mood to hug right now, she wasn't in the mood to be near people. She walked to the carriage where she saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione (sans Crookshanks) and the train pulled away leaving Annie with the knowledge that knowing the truth is never simple.

Annie slept for most of the long train ride to Hogwarts, thus missing the arrival of Remus in their carriage. It wasn't until about halfway through the trip did she wake up. Annie awoke to subtle laugter and the soft roaring of train tracks, feeling her head rest on something cold and hard, which she later discovered was a window. Just as she opened her eyes the train hit a bump and her head smacked into the window.

"Ow...stupid train, I despise you stupid train," Annie whimpered and muttered under her breath as she rubbed the sore patch forming on the side of her head. She sat up and saw a game of chess unfold before her. Remus and Ron were playing in what seemed to be a very intense game of wizards chess, while Hermione was reading a book, and Harry was watching the chess match.

"You tell that train who's boss," Harry muttered under his breath.

"Hah, you're funny, you're a funny guy." Annie said sarcastically.

"Check," Ron said as he moved a chess pawn across the board. The train shook slightly and the lights flickered.

"So are you looking forward to teaching Moony?" Annie tried to make conversation as the train shook some more.

"It'll be a challenge, but I think I'm up for it." He said back. The train began to rumble more violently and the animals in the compartment began to squack about.

"What the...?" Harry muttered as the compartments occupants looked around avidly trying to find the source of the disturbance.

Scabbers scampered across the floor of the train and Hedwig and Loyld began to hoot loudly. The normally calm train shook once more and the light went out, leaving them in complete and utter darkness. An eerie silence cut through the air like a razor and they felt their throats swell from sheer coldness. Annie broke the silence.

"Who just sat on me?" That thought was interupted by overwhelming fear and immense cold in the core of every person present on the train. What Harry smelt however was far worse than what he felt, the air smelt of rotting flesh and he saw a cloaked figure floating toward him, edging closer and closer and then he saw one last flash of bright light and with the sound of a piercing cry, the world went black.

"Harry...Harry...Harry...You better wake up because Neville's convinced your dead..." Harry heard Annie's muffled voice say. He slowly tried to raise his head and felt searing pain on his forehead. Annie, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville surrounded him on their knees.

"Did you hear... a woman... screaming?" Harry panted heavily.

Ceaseless amounts of rain fell for the remainder of the evening and the next morning, but chose to stop before morning classes. Most people had been avoiding Annie since it was announced at dinner that the dementors were souly there to protect the castle from Sirius Black. She had been as good as shunned from her dormitory, except for a rather interesting girl named Luna Lovegood, who decided Sirius's arrest had been part of a Wracklespurt conspiracy. Humid mist surrounded Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Annie as they walked down to their first Care of Magical Creatures Lesson. Harry noticed Annie was staying at least twenty feet away from him as they made their way to Hagrid's hut. He stopped abruptly as did she.

"So I have the plague now I take it?" Harry said loud enough for Hermione and Ron to stop.

"No, no not the plague. You're not the plague, I'm the plague, seriously, I'm the person in the movie walking around with the ominous cloud over their head and the dramatic lighting and someday that cloud is going to dump a crapload of rain on my head and if any of you are near by you'll get equal amounts of the freaky rain on your heads." Annie spoke quickly with her arms waving wildly in the air for emphasis. "So I'm staying twenty feet, that's the rule twenty feet!"

Harry fought the urge to laugh, "You're freaking out right now, you realize that right? I should be calling the nice men in the white coats to take you away." Harry walked closer.

"I am not freaking out! Hey! Twenty feet!"

Harry backed away a bit, "I'm sorry I just have trouble judging this distance thing."

"Just think of two really big basketball players lined up head to toe," Annie took a deep breath, "I'm freaking out aren't I?" She looked at Ron and Hermione as she said this.

"N-No... not at all..." They both said too fast for it to actually be true.

"Sorry, momentary crazy person lapse, won't happen again." Annie began to walk again as did Ron, Hermione, and Harry; Ron and Hermione a bit ahead of Harry and Annie.

"She's gone mental..." Ron said.

"The first day I met Annie, she was mental Ronald, it's just something I've gotten used to." Hermione said.

"I'm telling you craploads of rain." Annie said as Harry walked closer to her.

"I'll risk it." Harry said and shoved Annie playfully off the trail they were walking on and she shoved him back and they laughed their way to Hagrid's hut just as rain began to pour down again. "And maybe buy an umbrella." Harry finished earning a laugh from Annie.

They were luckily protected from the light rain by the canopy of forest trees Hagrid led them to. As each student entered a bit of the forest they stopped dead in their tracks and saw a beast of a creature. Hagrid had decided to start his first lesson with...

"Hippogriffs...?" Hermione muttered under her breath.

"Isn't he beautiful...?!" Hagrid bellowed standing next to the beast. Harry swore he could hear Malfoy snark behind his back, but not wanting to ruin Hagrid's first lesson he chose to ignore it. "Now who wants to ride 'im first?" Harry didn't realize nearly every single person backed away until he heard a tree branch crack on the ground beneath someone's feet, of course, Neville was the one to break the silence by backing onto the branch. Harry turned and saw that Hermione, Ron, and Annie had all backed away aswell, some friends they are he thought to himself. Before he knew it Hagrid had his hand clapped on Harry's back and was pulling him toward Buckbeak the Hippogriff. He bowed as Hagrid instructed, and kept in the position until he got the okay to pet Buckbeak. As Harry moved forward and approached the proud looking animal, Buckbeak took to his hein legs and neighed loudly at him. Harry backed away a bit but then moved forward again to pet Buckbeak successfully and Annie let go of a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

There was clapping and praises from Hagrid and other students, but in a dizzying whirl of excitement Harry failed to realize when Hagrid placed him on a wild Hippogriff that began charging the forest floor. But fear was replaced with wonderment as Buckbeak spread his wings wide and glided over the green tree tops. Harry felt drops of rain hit his forehead as Buckbeak soared over the black lake and landed back in the area of the forest that Care of Magical Creatures was being held at. While Harry had been flying over the Hogwarts grounds, Hagrid had assigned working partners for classroom assignments through out the year. Harry had been matched with Parvati, Hermione with Daphne Greengrass, Ron with Seamus, and Annie with Blaise Zabini. They were told to stand with their partners and begin their work, which was to draw a diagram of a Hippogriff.

Annie relunctantly walked over to her Slytherin pairing and sat down in the grass next to him. Annie proceeded to get parchment from her school bag and her literally monsterous Care of Magical Creatures textbook.

Blaise held out his hand, "Blaise Zabini, I don't think we've properly met yet." Annie paused to look up and cast him a taken aback glance, raising one eyebrow as if she was saying 'You've got to be kidding me.' He picked her arm up by the forearm and shook it for her, "Hi Blaise, I'm Annie, nice to meet you." He said in a falsetto tone. Annie smiled a little bit. "Ah, the Annie Black smiling, I didn't think it would happen this year."

Annie took her arm back, "So I take it you're not one of the many who think my father's a pshycopathic murderer who plotted against his best friends to kill them?"

"Has anyone ever told you you're ridiculously jaded?" He asked. "Listen, if I thought Sirius Black was a murderer, he would've killed you in your sleep years ago." Blaise said as Annie sketched Buckbeak. "That's a nice sketch," He paused, "You shouldn't block people out, you just may be surprised what you find once you get to know them." At that point, Malfoy had managed to get himself run over by a five hundred pound Hippogriff and was whimpering and rolling around on the ground like a toddler who didn't get what he wanted,"I'd better go, he is a friend I guess..." Blaise said as he stood up and brushed off his pants and Annie went to join Harry in congratulating Buckbeak on his excellent choice of people to attack. "See you around Ace."

"It's Annie actually." Annie said full knowing that he was messing with her.

"What was that about?" Harry asked.

"Nothing, just developing an understanding I guess..." Annie said as Harry gave her an unconvinced glance. "An understanding with a Slytherin? Well how about that..." Harry said perplexed.

Annie looked at her paper thoughtfully as she contemplated the idea that maybe there was a decent Slytherin in the world, and that she had possibly been sitting right next to him.

Author's Note: Thanks for the patience during my lack of updates mode. I swear there must be writers block traveling around this place. Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter. I've always wanted to know more about Blaise, so I guess this is my way of doing that. Don't forget to hit that button and tell me what you think on your way out!!!

What'll happen to Hagrid once Malfoy spreads the news of Buckbeak trampeling him?

Why is Blaise being so nice to Annie?

How's Harry going to take it if Annie's friends with Blaise?

Find out next time. PS: I realize I made a continuity error, I gave Crookshanks to Hermione a year earlier than I ment to. Oh well. I apologize if there were any spelling errors, spellcheck hasn't been working for some reason.