Sorry for the delay for this posting. It's kind of funny that I had less time during winter break and the first two weeks back than I did throughout exams. I have barely had any moments free for all of the last week, and only a little the week before.
Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing my story. I hope you enjoy it.
To Penseln: Thanks for the reviews. I'm glad that my comments make sense to you, and that you enjoy the story. I really appreciate all the questions, since they really help me flesh out the story in my own head.
As for your question, well, I'm not really sure. As for Lupin, I kind of have a scene in my head about how they will first meet on the train in third year, and the differences. I guess I'll probably have it in Lupin's point of view, expressly to point out how my characters are different than we know of them in canon. Incidentally, if that scene plays out like I'm thinking, of the four people other than Harry in the car in canon, one will be in my story, and there will be one or two others in the car who are fairly minor characters in canon. I'm curious to see what your guess will be on who they are. As a hint, they are not Slytherins, at least in canon.
However, I really don't know how Lupin, Black, Tonks, and the rest of the Order of the Phoenix will react to Harry and Millie, being the Slytherins they are. Sirius especially will be a wild card here. I don't know if he will be more repulsed by Harry's snakiness (yes, I made up that word), or attracted by his love for his godson. At the very least their relationship will be a lot different from in canon.
Bella? I can't really see myself writing her as anything other than an evil madwoman, to be honest, but that's mostly just because of my own writing skills. I couldn't really do justice in changing the perception of her character because of my own lack in writing emotions and feelings. Could you tell me what stories have a more well-rounded view of Bellatrix? That could be really interesting.
As for Tonks, I love her character a lot, so she will definitely play a major part. I think she'll probably appear earlier than she did in canon. However, she won't appear in first year, for two main reasons. First of all, I think that a big part of first year, in canon as well as in my story, is Harry and his friends (whoever they may be) trying to figure out the mystery on their own. With a seventh year friend, a lot of that is lost. My second reason is a lot more basic, and it's pretty much that I think that Tonks is more than just six years older than Harry. I'm not really certain, but I think that she was in the same year as Charlie Weasley, who I think graduated two or three years before Harry came to Hogwarts.
To Bookivore: Thank you very much for your comment and PM. The suggestions are very helpful. I sent you a second PM back, but since you haven't responded, I'm not sure if you got it. Thanks a lot, anyway.
To anybody who reads my story: I really appreciate comments, especially criticisms. I am just starting out at writing, so if you have any criticism or suggestions, they are incredibly helpful. In addition, I'd be really grateful if people followed both Bookivore and Penseln's example in asking questions and giving suggestions for the rest of the story. That helps me immensely.
On another note, would anyone be interested in being a beta reader for me for the story? It's not so much grammar or spelling (since I think I've got that fairly well), but more keeping people in character and not going off topic.
I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm not sure if the scene of Harry and Millie fighting is overblown a bit, but I think that's the kind of thing little kids do sometimes. I know my little sisters can get angry for no apparent reason.
I hope my descriptions of Millie's 'instinct' thing made sense. I actually had mostly forgotten about the 'people senses' that Millie has, but a comment from Bookivore reminded me of them. So, thanks.
About the Weasleys, they still won't be as close with them as Harry was in canon, the suggestion in this chapter notwithstanding. The Weasleys will, however, have met Harry and Millie before Hogwarts, and they will know each other relatively well. As for Ginny, this story obviously isn't a Harry/Ginny story, since it is Harry/Millie. However, I like Ginny, so she will play a fairly important role in the story. She actually will be in the story more than in canon, as a matter of fact. Incidentally, she will be a Gryffindor, though, since I think making her Slytherin would be stealing from the really good Grey Maiden series by Chris Widger.
Anyway, here's the story, hope you enjoy, and please read and review.
Disclaimer: If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times. I don't own Harry Potter. I wish I did…but I don't. Sorry.
Despite Millie's internal promise, however, the strange reaction of the witch in Gladrag's was soon forgotten as her mother led the pair, newly attired in black robes, back out onto the street. Rather than turning around and returning the way they had come, as one might expect, Millie's mother continued down the side alley, passing sever more stores into which Harry stared eagerly.
Despite the knowledge of Diagon Alley and its environs that Millie had learned from listening to her mother and Aunt talk, she could not help being drawn in by Harry's open enthusiasm. Thus, she spent the walk dragging Harry by his hand to look at interesting sights. After a few shabby looking shops, in whose windows could be seen various odds and ends, including what Millie could have sworn was a wooden cauldron, of all things, the alley began again to brighten and look more well tended.
To Millie's bewilderment, her mother led them past Arnie Entwhistle's Artifices and Enchantments, an intriguing shop with small baubles flitting in the windows, onto a wide street. Millie looked around in amazement. This was Diagon Alley again! They had emerged onto the Alley three shops down from Flourish and Blott's, and five down from Quality Quidditch the other way down the Alley.
Harry stared from the alley behind them to the distant silhouette of Gringott's in the distance, his eyes wide. "But we went in a straight line," he protested, "how could we have ended up here? We started out over there." He pointed to the side of the street by Gringott's, where the edge of Merlin's Best was visible.
Millie hid her own shock to whisper self-importantly in her friend's ear, "It's Diagon Alley. What can you expect?"
Harry looked at her in surprise for a moment, before she burst into giggles, unable to hold a straight face any longer. Harry grinned back at her.
"You had no idea, did you?" he asked.
"Of course not," she replied. "Now come on. We've go to catch up to my mother." Millie dragged Harry through the crowded street towards the rapidly disappearing back of her mother.
The pair was nearly at Flourish and Blott's, into which Millie's mother had gone, when Harry tripped over the hem of his new and unfamiliar robes. He quickly overbalanced and fell forward, pulling Millie with him to land in a heap on the hard ground.
"Oof," he cried, his breath expelling from him in a woosh. "Get your elbow off my stomach."
Millie scowled at Harry from her position on the ground next to him. "Only if you get your knee off my leg."
With much grumbling and bickering, the pair got themselves extricated from their position and stood up. Millie, still glaring at Harry, muttered something under her breath about his being a clumsy idiot.
"Well, you're the one who was holding my hand," Harry grumbled rebelliously. "That's why you landed on me."
"But if you had been able to walk straight without falling on your face, we wouldn't have had to worry about it," Millie said.
"Oh, come on, Millie," Harry said. "You're just as clumsy, or else you would have been able to keep from falling."
"You pulled me!" Millie shouted incredulously. "How can you say it's my fault?"
"Because you should have let go of my hand when I fell!" Harry responded heatedly.
The argument had grown now, but most of the adult witches and wizards walking by did not pay much heed to the two seven year olds shouting at each other at the edge of the street.
"I couldn't. You fell, you clumsy idiot!" Millie shouted back.
"Why were you holding my hand, then?" Harry yelled.
"'Cuz I'm your friend!" Millie bellowed.
"Then maybe I don't want to be your friend anymore!" Harry shouted, still caught up in the heat of the moment.
"Fine!" Millie turned on her heels and walked away in a huff.
Harry stared at her retreating form for a moment as she walked into Flourish and Blott's, horrified by what he had just said. Had he just lost the only friend he had ever had?
After a moment's panic, he rushed into the bookstore after her. When he walked through the door, he paused in shock. At another time he would have been awed by the sheer quantity of books around him, but right then he was more horrified about how much space he had to search to find Millie. Looking around, he set out for the section on jinxes and hexes, hoping to find his best friend there. Or was it former best friend? He thought mournfully.
That worry only increased when he could not find her in the section of books he was at. They had planned to go there when they came to the bookstore and he could not think of where else she would be. After searching through the shelves for three times, Harry sat down hard against a shelf of books and closed his eyes. Despite his best efforts, he could feel a tear slip under his eyelid. He dwelled in his misery for what felt like hours. Now he would have to return to school without his friend. And Millie would probably leave school now, and she definitely wouldn't get as good grades without his help. And Dudley would be able to beat him up all the time. He had just ruined everything. What had started out as the best summer in his memory had turned into his worst ever in the space of less than a day.
All of a sudden, a thought struck him and Harry jumped up and rushed out of the spell books section. He ran back to the ground floor of the bookstore and over to…he hoped against hope that she would be there…Yes! There was Millie, sitting by the shelf of books on Quidditch and holding a small book in her arms. Harry was about to run over to her, but stopped abruptly. Would she still want to be his friend after he had told her he didn't want to be hers?
"Millie?" he whispered tentatively, prepared for rejection.
She looked up and he was shocked to see tears running down her face. Then there was no chance to see anything more because she was up and running, throwing her book to the side and nearly bowling Harry over with her hug.
Harry felt awful to see Millie's tear stricken face, and to know it was his fault. "I'm sorry, Millie," he said miserably. "It was my fault."
"No, it was mine." Millie sounded as awful as Harry was sure he did himself. "I shouldn't have called you clumsy."
Harry felt close to breaking out in tears again. "But I said I didn't want to be friends anymore. How can you say it's your fault?"
Millie responded, a slight tremor in her voice. "But you do still want to be friends with me…right?"
Harry felt even more dreadful to see Millie in such a state. "Of course, Millie. I'll always be friends with you. I didn't really mean what I said."
Millie looked incredibly relieved. "Oh. Good. Friends forever, okay?"
"Yeah, I promise." Harry sat down heavily next to Millie against the bookshelf. In a conscious effort to ignore their fight, he asked, "so…whatcha reading?"
Millie gave him a slightly watery smile and picked up the discarded book to show to him. It was a small brown book, with a zooming Bludger and a Beater in purple Quidditch robes on the cover. "It's a book on Beater tactics," She said. The book's title read The 25 Best Beater Plays of All Time. Opening the book, she pointed out a diagram of a play, complete with moving symbols representing the fourteen players on a Quidditch pitch.
"See," she said, "In his play the Beaters focus on one Bludger and knock it between them back and forth. Then they fly past an opposing Chaser formation on both sides, and the Bludger breaks up the play."
Harry watched the two blue bats representing the Beaters passing on either side of a group of three red gloves representing the Chasers. As the Beaters passed by, the symbol for the Bludger smashed through the red gloves and they scattered. A blue glove swooped in and, with the red ball that was the Quaffle attached to his symbol, began flying back towards the opposing goal posts. As he watched, the play reset and the red gloves began flying in formation again, with the Beaters approaching them from the front.
"But isn't there another Bludger?" Harry asked, confused.
Millie answered, "Yeah. Dad says that's the problem with the play. You need to have a really good front three or your opponents' Beaters have to be really bad if you want to even try it."
"Oh." Harry responded. He supposed that made sense. Then, he realized something Millie had said. "Millie, did you know that's the first time I've heard you call your father Dad?
"Oh, did I call him Dad?" Millie asked.
Harry replied, "Yeah. Why don't you normally? And why did you just then?"
"I dunno," responded Millie. "My father's usually sort of distant…he's even said I might as well be a Squib. But when he's talking about Quidditch, he's really my Dad, you know?"
"I suppose," Harry said, although he really didn't understand. He had never known parents, so he couldn't conceive of having someone who acted like a Dad sometimes, but not always. But he didn't say that, and instead asked, "Does he a lot? Talk about Quidditch, I mean."
"Depends on his mood. A couple of weeks ago, his old team, the Falmouth Falcons, beat us, and he was angry for nearly a week. But I remember in April, right about when you met them, actually, the Cannons crushed Montrose. He was ecstatic for three weeks straight and actually brought me to practice twice."
Harry smiled, and asked, "Do you think your Dad might bring me to a game once? You've told me all about Quidditch, but I've never actually seen a game."
"Maybe. I'll ask him. I'll try and see if I can get a wireless set for you, too, so you can listen to games. I've got one in my room."
"Thanks!" Harry grinned. The thought of seeing a Quidditch game with Millie, or even just listening to one on the wireless, was absolutely brilliant. Then his good mood sobered a little bit. "Millie? Do you think I could ever play Quidditch?" he asked in a tentative tone. Harry was sure that Millie would, but he had never been good at anything, so why would Quidditch be any different?
Millie responded with a smile. "Of course you can, Harry. You've got just the right body type to be a brilliant Seeker."
Harry smiled, but then it faltered a bit. "But I want to be a Beater with you. I don't want to be a Seeker."
Millie's smile lit up her face. Harry was glad that his comment had made her happy, and it was definitely the truth. If he was going to play Quidditch, it would definitely be together with his best, and first, friend. "That would be great!" she said. "With us on the team, Slytherin will—"
Their discussion was interrupted by the sound of Millie's mother's voice. "Millicent. Harry. Are you done now?"
Harry smacked his forehead. "Oh! We forgot to get that book on jinxes."
Millie shrugged. "It's okay. I'll just see if I can sneak one out of my parents' library. Come on, let's bring this book to my mother."
Harry looked at Millie with worry in his eyes. Maybe their argument had affected her worse than he had thought. The smile had vanished right off of her face when their discussion had been interrupted. Even worse, Harry knew that she had been thinking about finding a new book on jinxes for days, and it was unlike her to just give up on something like that.
Millie, not noticing Harry's attentive gaze, stood up and walked to where her mother was standing, holding two gigantic tomes in her arms.
As they approached, Harry whispered in Millie's ear, "What does your Mum do?"
Millie, slightly taller than her friend, bent a little to whisper back, "Mother's a researcher for Transfiguration Weekly. She was a Ravenclaw at Hogwarts, you know."
Harry was still curious about his friend's mother's job, but before he could ask any more questions, Mr. Bulstrode came to them. "Hello Harry, Millicent. What books did you pick out?"
Millie raised the book to show to her father. At the sight, a genuine smile, though very small, graced the older wizard's lips, and Harry saw how it transformed his face entirely, from a closed book to that of a doting parent. Or, at least, an expression that was the closest to a parental one that he could pull out.
Obviously that expression was effective, for Millie's face broke out into a grin, even wider than the one she had worn when Harry had promised to play Beater with her at Hogwarts.
"Very good choice, Millicent," he said. "Have you looked at any of the plays yet?"
"I showed Harry the Bagman Cross."
Mr. Bulstrode's lips, though they had returned to their customary neutral expression, twitched a bit at the information. He looked to be about to respond when an interruption came from his wife.
"Antoine, bring any books the children got over her," she said, sharply.
There was a sad expression on Millie's face as her father walked away again, and Harry could not bear to see it. He gave his friend a hug and said, "c'mon, Millie. Cheer up, we're gonna get ice cream next."
Millie managed a smile, and as soon as her mother paid for the books, she rushed outside with Harry, her excitement slowly regaining. The pair followed Mr. and Mrs. Bulstrode to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor and went to the counter to order.
When Harry went to order, Millie noticed the shop keeper again have an odd reaction to seeing Harry. This one, though hid it well, and Harry, engrossed in picking between a Salamander Sundae and a Newttail Fudge, did not notice. Millie, however, did notice, and when she looked at the shop keeper she could feel something odd about him as he looked at Harry. For some reason, he was looking at her friend in admiration.
When the pair sat down at a table, situated so that the Bulstrodes could see them through the window of the store across the street, the Apothecary, Millie whispered to Harry the reactions that both store keepers had had to him that day.
"People have been staring at me all day?" he asked incredulously. "Why haven't I noticed anything?"
Millie laughed. "Come on Harry, you're not the most observant person. Remember when we first met? You ran right into me because you didn't notice me standing there. Besides, you've been distracted all day by all the cool magic and people."
Harry shrugged. "I guess you're right. Anyway, you have an advantage. I think. Do your instincts have anything to do with what you've noticed?"
Harry was genuinely curious on this point. The pair had discussed the ability that Millie seemed to have, but neither was sure exactly how it worked. It did seem to work less on Muggles, but other than that they really couldn't tell much about it. For that matter, they weren't even exactly sure what it did, other than that it could tell stuff about other people.
"I dunno," she responded. "It's kind of weird. I didn't feel anything from the first one, but when I was standing at the counter for the Ice Cream, I felt like the shop keeper was in awe of you or something." Millie grinned at her friend. "Which is weird, 'cuz there's really not much of you to be in awe of."
"Come on, Millie, it's not my fault I'm skinny," Harry protested.
Millie often teased her friend on his relative scrawniness and shortness compared to her. In a way, it made her feel better about her size, since her friend actually envied her for being bigger and larger. Everyone else she had ever met had always thought badly of her for being larger and possibly a bit fat.
Millie smiled again, and said, "I know. That's why you've got to fatten you up, if you want to play Beater with me."
Harry grinned back, his mouth full of the last of his Fudge. "And that's why I've gotta eat Fudge and ice Cream."
"Yeah. Now come on, we've got to go to Quality Quidditch now." Millie took Harry by his arm and dragged him out of the store.
As the pair began walking towards the Quidditch store, passing by Flourish and Blott's again, Harry chuckled a bit. "Hey, isn't that the same girl we saw before in Gladrag's?"
Millie looked where he was pointing behind them. A huge group of people was walking down the street, all with flaming red hair on their heads. There was a small girl in the midst of the pack, who certainly did seem familiar. "Didn't she have green hair, though?" This girl had long red hair, not the nauseating green of the other.
Harry didn't have a chance to respond, however, because as Millie looked at the family following them, she stumbled. A sudden feeling passed over her.
Harry looked at her in worry. "Millie, are you okay?"
Millie couldn't respond, still overwhelmed by the feeling that she had just felt. For some reason, she felt like she could trust those people implicitly. She didn't know why, she just knew it. This was definitely the strongest reaction she had ever gotten from her 'instincts,' and it made her feel fairly lightheaded. Even more oddly, this was the first time she had gotten more than one of those feelings in a single day. Before this day, she had only gotten feelings of this type rarely, perhaps once in a month or so, but today she had gotten it twice!
As the group drew nearer, however, Millie felt her attention drawn as if by an outside force to a conversation that was being held between the small girl that Harry had noticed and her father.
"Daddy," the girl said, "can't we go back to the bookstore?"
She was pleading in vain, for Millie heard her father say, "No, Ginny, we can't. We only have enough money to get Percy his cauldron, and then we have to go."
"But Daddy…" the girl said again. "Please?"
"I'm sorry, Gin, but we just can't."
Millie was absolutely shocked at the next words that came out of the young girl's mouth. "But they have a new Harry Potter picture book," she said with longing in her voice. "I want to read it."
All of a sudden, Millie seemed to snap out of the trance she had been in, and realized that Harry was holding her by her shoulder, a look of concern on his face. Millie looked around, and realized that she was leaning on a wall, and she could feel herself panting as if she had run a mile. The family of redheads had already passed by them, and was just going into the Apothecary
Abruptly she noticed that Harry was speaking. "…Millie? Please snap out of it. Millie? C'mon Millie…" She could tell that he was close to panicking.
Millie turned her head to him, and spoke. "Harry, I'm okay."
Harry's look of relief would have been laughable if it had not been for the look of near panic he had on his face before when she had not been responding to his voice. "Millie!" he exclaimed. "What happened?"
Millie shook her head at him. "c'mon!" she said imperatively, pulling him by his hand.
"Where are we going? What happened? Are you all right?" Harry's questions were only answered by a fiercer tug on his hand.
Finally, Millie brought them both to Flourish and Blott's, in front of which they stopped. Harry had a look of confusion on his face. "But we were just here," he said plaintively. "Why are we here again?"
Millie finally answered him. "I heard someone say something funny. I want to find out if it's true."
She began to pull him into the store, but Harry resisted her pull. "But what happened to you? Are you okay?"
"I'm okay, Harry," she responded, impatiently. She didn't' know what that girl had been talking about, but she wanted to find out as soon as possible. A Harry Potter picture book? Why would there be a picture book about her best friend? She could sense she was getting close to some answers, and she wanted them as soon as possible.
"But why did you stumble like that? You looked like you were about to pass out in the middle of the street."
Millie was going to ignore the question again, but the look of concern on Harry's face was too hard to resist. She felt some happiness inside that she had someone to be concerned for her, something that she had not had for as long as she could remember. Even her mother and father had only seemed to care for her sometimes, but Harry had not let her down yet.
She responded to his question, "I dunno. I think I had one of those instinct things again."
Harry was now curious as well as concerned. "What about? And they've never affected you like that before, have they?"
Millie just shrugged. "I don't know. It was really weird. I was just looking at all those redheads, when something funny happened. I didn't even realize I was leaning against a wall like that until I spoke to you."
Her friend was excited now. "So, what did the feeling say?" Harry was really happy that his friend now had proof that her talent was better than his. He also was very curious about what kind of things the talent might show.
"Just that we could trust them. It is weird, though, since most of my feelings before today have been about people I've actually met. These people I just saw twice, and suddenly I feel like I can trust them with anything. It's just really weird."
"That's wicked," Harry enthused. He then looked disappointed. "But they've already left. Anyway, how were we supposed to confide in them or something if we don't actually know them?"
"Don't ask me," Millie responded, "I'm just as confused as you. Anyway, I also heard something weird. The little girl said something about a Harry Potter picture book."
Harry just gaped at Millie, his eyes wide. Millie laughed at his expression.
"You're joking, right?" Harry asked.
"No, I'm not. She said that she wanted to read the Harry Potter picture book."
Harry gaped at her for a few more seconds, before darting inside the bookstore, dragging Millie along with him. "There can't really be a Harry Potter picture book," he said, incredulously.
"I agree," Millie said, though she knew that there must actually be one. Her instincts had to have been trying to tell her something, right? They wouldn't just happen to set her off in a fit in the middle of Diagon Alley for no reason, would they? Millie wasn't sure which she was more afraid of, being proved wrong, or being proved right.
Harry led them through the bookstore towards the back. "If that little girl was talking about it, it would be in the children section, right? She looked about two years younger than us."
Millie agreed, and the pair began walking towards the section that they had not looked at earlier in their visit to Flourish and Blott's. There were books on wings flying around them, buzzing at their heads and the heads of the several children lying on couches reading. There were several books which were reading aloud from their own contents, and in a corner a large beanie bag was floating off the ground, with several children hanging on shouting gleefully.
This, however is not what stopped Harry and Millie in astonishment. No, they stopped and stared at a small display right to the left of the children section's entrance.
On top of a shelf a picture stood in a frame. It was a boy's face, one with black hair and a very noticeable lightning bolt scar across his forehead. Harry and Millie stared at it in shock. The boy was different, of course, certainly more healthy looking, without glasses, and with a far more lurid scar than the one on Harry's head. But it was without a doubt the face of Harry Potter.
Harry and Millie stared in shock for a moment, before their eyes travelled to the books on the shelf below the picture. On the top of the shelf in bright blue letters trimmed with gold read the words Harry Potter: The-Boy-Who-Lived. Below sat dozens of books, each with the same blue and gold lettering.
"Boy-Who-Lived? What is that supposed to mean?" Harry whispered after a moment.
"I have no idea," Millie whispered back, just as stunned.
After another few seconds of flabbergasted staring, the pair rushed forwards in an attempt to learn exactly why there was a picture of Harry in the middle of a bookstore, and why there were books, of all things, written about him.
I feel like this is a fairly unsatisfying ending, but I needed a good cut off point because otherwise this chapter would be too long. The next chapter carries their reactions, and the first step for both of them to becoming real Slytherins.