Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything relating to JKRowling.
Summary: Harriet Driscoll is a transfer student from Noctar Academy, attending Hogwarts as a Gryffindor for her first and final. As a memento of her time at Noctar, the librarian has sent her a book: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. As a new classmate and friend of the main character's parents, what is Harriet supposed to do?
Note: I don't know if it matters to anyone else, but I have this idea in my head of what my characters look like, and I feel like it's worth mentioning here. Lily Olivia Evans is Isla Fisher. Harriett Johanna Driscoll is Rachel McAdams (Time Traveler's Wife or Family Stone), Marigold Dawn Burns is Hayden Panettiere, Rachel Raven Wyatt is Odette Yustman (You Again), and Gemma Celeste Ingram is Taylor Momsen (before she had platinum blonde hair). American Schools: Nadova (Nevada), Whooshsky (Wyoming), Misinnipso (Missouri), Noctar (North Carolina)
Second Note: Please review! Thanks
Previously: Gemma has a nightmare, Rachel snores, Harriet falls asleep in McGonagall's class, Marigold introduces James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, Harriet collects a gift from the librarian at her old school through McGonagall, Sirius flirts with Harriet/Hattie-formerly-known-as-Harry, Harriet is oblivious, Harriet reads part of the gift, Lily tries to comfort her, Lily call James by his first name (off screen), Harriet's book is revealed to be Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harriet faces a dilemma.
Chapter Two: A Decision Needs to be Reached
September 16th, 1997. Friday. Three o'clock. In the afternoon. Harriett's roommates (even Rachel) and the Marauders (the name was slipped by Peter when Harriett was introduced to him on Wednesday) were still tiptoeing around her like they were afraid she was going to go off at any moment. Which I just might, Harriett could help but think. The "gift" she received from her old school was still under the pile of clothes in her trunk. She hadn't touched it since Monday night, but that didn't mean she had not thought about it constantly for the rest of the week. It can't just sit it there. I've got to do something with it. It was driving her mad that she couldn't decide what to do with the book; she could burn it, or read it. Should she tell someone about it? Or maybe she should read it with Lily and James, since it was their son, Harry, that the story was about. Maybe just Lily? Or just James? Sirius and Remus were James' best friends though, and maybe they had a right to read it to. What about Lily's friends? Marigold would want to see it. Damn. What am I suppose to do?
She sighed heavily as she walked up the steps, and moved to one side so that she could stay out of the way of the hurried footsteps she heard behind her. "Hey, Hattie." Sirius smiled down at her.
"Have you always been that tall?" Harriett asked curiously. Sirius, she had learned by the end of the week, had a habit of getting himself into minor trouble using products from the joke shop that's located in the nearby town; so it wasn't nearly as stupid a question as it sounds, and yet she could feel the heat moving to my cheeks and bit her bottom lip angrily.
"Nope. When I was born, I was definitely not this tall. I grew in years, height, and good looks."
"Does that mean your fan base will grow as you age? How many fan girls will you have at 100?"
"Who says I'm going to live that long? My plan is to die young."
"Don't say that, Sirius." The words came out sharp and they both stopped on the stairs as if they had been slapped by her comment. There was ice growing in Harriett's veins again as the words in the first chapter rang in her head, but she started walking again, without looking to see if Sirius was following as it would keep the chill out of her bloodstream.
"What's wrong, Hattie?" The future. The future is what's wrong.
"Nothing."
"You're lying." She avoided eye contact with him by taking a few steps faster, but she couldn't deny it.
"I know."
"Don't lie to me." I don't think anyone has ever said that to me before.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want to be lied to," Sirius said sounding miffed and irritated. I shouldn't laugh, but his voice just changed.
"Everyone wants to be lied to." She was talking without a filter again, a side effect that only came in the first five minutes after waking up, or when she was seriously stressed out. "Why should I not lie to you?"
"Because it's a waste of time to lie to me. I can tell when you are lying."
"Practice makes perfect."
"Because I asked you not to." Harriett didn't reply to that, she didn't know how. That was a rather good reason, and yet it reminds me of the phrase parents and grandparents are supposed to use "Because I told you so. "What happened Monday?"
"Lots of things."
"Hattie." Sirius said impatiently. Can't blame him, I'm annoying myself trying to evade him.
"That isn't a lie."
"Evasion is nine-tenths of the law." She couldn't help but snort at the reference to the muggle world, although she was confused as to how he knew it.
"That's possession. And where did you learn that from?" Blocking to another subject. Perfect strategy.
"What happened when I left you on the staircase Monday?" Perfect strategy failed!
"I went to my room and read." I feel like I'm under inquiry.
"What did you read?"
"A part of a book." From the future.
"What book?"
"A sad book." From our futures.
"What book?"
"I doubt you've read it." Because it's from the FUTURE!
"What book?"
"One the librarian at Noctar sent to me." Where the hell did he get it though? Were there more books like the ones I got?
"What book?"
"How many times are you going to ask me that?"
"How many times is it going to take for me to get a straight answer?"
"Can we just not talk about me crying?" He stopped short, and she turned to him curiously.
"Crying?" Harriett grimaced and started walking up the stairs again, as if he was going to stop following her. Damn, I thought that's why he was so curious. Lily must not have told him. "You cried? Over a book. What are you reading?"
"I'm not reading it!" I don't want to read anymore of it.
"What were you reading?"
"A sad passage from a book that was given to me in which a couple is murdered and their one year old son is sent off to family who will clearly have no understanding, and cannot possibly accept him. Alright? Now can we please drop it?" Way to go, Harriett. You just told him the future demise of his best friend and Lily-flower. How does it feel?
"I'm just trying to help." There was a bite to his sentence and she could feel her back tense up in defense, but she forced it to relax and accept that he was telling the truth.
"I know. And I appreciate the sentiment." Although I can't figure out why you all seem to be so set of "helping" me. "But honestly, Sirius, it's hard to explain why I am upset and I would have to talk about things that I can't talk about to anyone in order to explain my feelings correctly."
"Why—"
"Stop badgering her, mate." Remus' voice comes from behind them. When did he get there?
"I'm not, Rems! I'm just—"
"Badgering her. I've been behind you for awhile. If she can't tell us or doesn't trust us, you can't make her." She tried not to wince at the comment about trust, not that she expected either to notice. It wasn't that she didn't trust them, after all. At least I think it doesn't. But I've never really had to trust someone recently, either… "If the first, it's not fair to ask what you wouldn't do yourself. If the second, we've only know her for a week. It took me a year to trust you and James." She wanted to ask why, but knew she couldn't ask without tying herself up in a knot of hypocrisy.
"Look, I'll be fine. I just have to deal with something, and for now I have to deal with it on my own. If I need help, I'll come find you, alright?" Sirius looked at her ticked off, but in the end nodded sharply. Remus smiled sympathetically. I really didn't make a good impression on him. Every time I see him he looks like he wants to apologize for my life. "Nector Clio." She said to the Fat Lady and they entered the common room.
"I'm going to put my books up. I'll see you all later."
"Alright, Hatts." She turned to Sirius and looked at him skeptically, but Remus was the one to ask the question.
"Hatts?"
"It's got a better ring to it." She laughed at the phrase that was beginning to sound like an inside joke between them and asked, knowing he would catch the pun: "Siriusly?"
"Siriusly."
When Harriett walked into the room she noticed several things amiss. The first was that there was someone yelling, and it wasn't Rachel. The second, their beds were in the center of the room instead of the outside walls. Third, there were girls that weren't wearing Gryffindor ties sitting on her bed. Fourth, all the trunks were missing. Of course, one of these things worried her more than anything else.
"Where is my trunk?"Marigold whipped her golden head around and glared so hard she thought blue daggers were going to fly. Wow, glad she isn't mad with me.
"THESE little brats moved them! They were paid five gallons each to sneak into our dorm and trash our room. Five extra if they kept their mouths shut on who is paying them off!" Harriett looked at the three fifth year Ravenclaws who seemed to not be nearly afraid of their situation as they should have been. Now I get to be the investigator, this should be fun.
"Can you tell us what house sent you?" One of the girls shook her head. "Can you tell me where my trunk is?" Another shake. "Can you tell me if anyone is going to notice you're missing when I toss you into the lake without wands and with cement shoes on?" Harriett got a gasp and her name whispered reproachfully by Marigold and wide-eyed fear from the other girls as a response. Ah, now I have their attention. "Not sure? Well, let's go back from the beginning. What are your names? First name is fine."
"I'm Valerie, this is Tiffany and Anna." The one who shook her head must be the one in charge. She's going to answer all the questions for them. If she doesn't break, I'll have to separate them.
"Are you from Ravenclaw." Nod. "Are you getting paid from someone in Ravenclaw?" Hesitant nod. "Is it because that person felt he or she was being treated unkindly by someone in this room?" Nod. "Do you know who they were targeting?" Nod. "Do you know who lives in this room?" Hesitant nod. "Who am I?" No answer. "Who is she?" Harriett pointed to Marigold, who was still glaring at them. No answer. "I thought you said you knew who we were."
"We know who is suppose to live here." For Ravenclaw, they aren't very bright.
"Yah, it's Delany Carter, Missy Braxton, Kelly Shine, Rebecca Wyatt and Colby Night."
"Marigold, take the middle one, I can handle the other two." Their eyes looked like they were going to pop out.
"Where are we taking them Harriet?" Methinks Marigold is a little frightened by me right now. Gosh, this is the most fun I've had in awhile.
"To dunk them in the lake, of course. None of those people live here." Except for Wyatt, but I'll deal with that later.
"But, but that's what she told us. She told us the room and the spells and the time to do it."
"Who? Who is she?"
"We can't say any more or we won't get paid."
"You'll say something more or the Head Girl will find out about it."
"You'll tell on us?" Are they seriously Ravenclaws?
"If you had done your homework beforehand, you would know that this is the Head Girl's room." The look on their faces was enough to make Harriett believe that they'd at least heard rumors of Lily's temper, if not experienced it firsthand. "So I won't have to tell on you, she'll already know. Now look, how long did it take you to cause this mess?"
"An hour."
"Well you have half that amount of time to fix it. Because that, chick-a-dees is when Lily Evans comes back. Go." So it isn't the best way to handle it, maybe, but it got it done. And I had fun doing it...Does that make me a bad person? Oh, who cares. "Marigolds in charge, and you'd better listen to her. I'll be back in two minutes. I'll want to see results." Haha. I sound like McGonagall! Harriett took off to the boys room. They wanted her to come to them for help? Fine, they could help her find the idiot who paid the Ravenclaw girls to damage her room and steal her book...well trunk.
"This is a bad idea, Padfoot. If she finds out you did this, she'll be pissed at you for the rest of your life."
"But my intent is good, Moony. You said that if my intent was good, all could be forgiven."
"I meant with me, you idiot! Not with a girl we met a week ago."
"Look, I just want to see this book, and then we'll return everything. She'll never even know she was the target." I've never felt pissed off and touched at the same time before. It's an odd combination. I think I like it. But he's going to pay! Harriett knocked quietly on the door to the Marauder's room, eyes flashing at what she just overheard.
"Hey, Sirius? Remus? Are you in there?" If they lie, they die.
"Harriet! I mean Harry, I mean Hattie. Uh, hold on!" Oh the frantic movement and speech of Sirius Black. It's music to my ears. If this makes me a terrible person. I'll take it.
"Can I come in?"
"NO!" Remus knows he's going to get caught in the middle if I get in there. Good.
"That is…we aren't decent." You got that right, Rems.
"Well in that case, let me join the club." She slammed open the door to see both boys covering up the trunks. "Aw, Sirius, that's no fun. I thought you were going to be indecent." Both boys had their eyes open, unsure if she had seen the trunks being hid.
"Um, well. We—we were. I mean our room is indecent. Completely inappropriate for a young lady, such as yourself." She had to hold off a snort at the phrase 'young lady', but throwing it back at them gave her an excuse to smile.
"What is appropriate for a young lady, such as myself." Did he just blush? No. He just knows I know what he did, and he doesn't want to admit it.
"I—er, I don't know if…"
"If what Sirius? What don't you know?" I think I just made him gulp.
"You know, I must be leaving. Good luck, Sirius." Remus went to leave, but she blocked his way and closed the door with her wand, her eyes on Sirius who was looking between her and Remus unsure of what to do next.
"I'd prefer that you'd stay a little longer, Moony."
"It's Sirius' fault," Remus answered without preamble and she felt the urge to laugh again. That was quick. Do I look that angry? Cause I feel like I'm going to crack up.
"You didn't stop him."
"But I didn't help him!"
"But you didn't stop him, either!"
"Well, we were just worried about you." Her shoulder tensed. Damn, there it is again. Why the heck do these people care about me so much? I just met them.
"But you can't just take my trunk and my roommates trunks and put the dorm in disarray because you're worried about me."
"Why not?" Sirius asked as if she had denied him a personal right or freedom.
"Because I'm not the only one being effected by your worrying when you do that," she answered incredulously. "Marigold has a date to night, and I demand that you send her trunk back to her room right this minute!" I really do sound like McGonagall. Maybe that's what I'll do when I graduate.
"FINE!" Sirius opened the curtains and cursed four of the trunks so they floated out the door. "Now no one other than yourself is being effected by us worrying about you." Don't smile. Don't smile. He's acting like a little kid! It's not funny, do not smile!
"Were you really going to pay those girls five gallons to keep their mouths shut?"
"Yes, but—"
"Give them the money tomorrow; they didn't rat you out."
"Then how did you know to come here?" Remus asked, confused by my quick appearance.
"Ironically enough, I came to ask you to help me figure out what Wyatt did, and to who in Ravenclaw, that warranted us having our room destroyed." Remus and Sirius looked at the floor feeling at least a pin of guilt. And yet they both stay standing in front of my trunk. "Don't suppose you would mind sending my trunk back too, or would you?"
"Will you tell us what's wrong with you?" Remus asked carefully. And to think he was the one supporting my silence a second ago. He's a little hard to read…
"Can I tell you in a couple of weeks?" When hopefully I'll have figured out what to do with that information.
"Why can't you tell us now?" Why are you so inquisitive?
"Because it's complicated, Sirius! There are other people involved and I have to take that into consideration before blabbing my mouth. How would you feel if one of those people were you or Remus?" That stopped them from speaking for awhile.
"Then why do I feel like you don't trust me? Or Remus? Even Lily-flower told James that she doesn't think you trust her or Marigold and you talk to them more than anyone else. Do you trust anyone?"
…No. "No."
"…no. Like no, meaning no one at all. Or no, meaning no one recently or at this school. Or no, meaning never."
"Option one?" I answered Remus' multiple choice hesitantly.
"What about your parents?" They're dead, so no.
"I'd really rather not talk about my family if you don't mind."
"See! There! You're doing it again. You don't want to tell us anything."
"That's not true. It's just a lot of the things you want to ask I don't want to answer," Sirius interrupted me with a mirthless laugh, but I persisted, "because it's either complicated or liable to have people feel sorry for me. Which I don't want. I don't want or need someone's pity, good intentioned or otherwise." That came out a little sharper than I meant…
"If you answer my next couple of questions, I'll not ask about the book again for a whole week."
"That's the best deal I'm going to get, isn't it?" They didn't respond. "Fine. What's your question?"
"Where do you live?" She blinked confused: What kind of question is that?
"Here." Obviously.
"Seriously?" Why the hell are they mad at me, it was them that asked the stupid question?
"You asked!" Remus shook his head like she was the one who wasn't making any sense.
"I meant where is home to you. Where are your parents? Where did you grow up? Where are you going for Christmas?"
"I'm staying at Hogwarts for Christmas. And I don't have a house that I grew up in. My parents traveled, they didn't stick." What was the point of sticking when you could just pack up and leave your troubles behind?
"Where are they now?" In a cemetery. In different states and time zones.
"This your last question?" Sirius nodded reluctantly and Remus shrugged. "Mom is in Nevada and Dad's in Montana. Now, give me my trunk." Sirius looked like he had another question, but Remus moved him out of her way so she could curse her trunk to follow behind her as she walked away from them. "Thank you for recovering my belongings." She said with a smile before slamming the door behind her. I think Sirius threw a shoe at the door…
The room was fixed ten minutes before Lily came through the door. Rachel, Gemma, and Marigold got her approval of their outfits for their dates, and, once they left, flopped down, with a long sigh, on Harriett's bed. "So, what are your plans for the night?" Lily asked it casually, but Harriett couldn't stop thinking about what Sirius had said about her and Marigold. It wasn't that she didn't want to trust people, she'd just never been taught that she should. I knew I had to be trustworthy, but all my teachers had put "works well alone" and "very independent" in the compliments section of my reports. Harriett tightened her grip on the book and tried to look relaxed: "I haven't decided yet. Do you have plans tonight?"
Lily twisted a small strand of hair around her finger and slowly said, "I was actually wondering if you wanted to hang out. We could play a game? Or tell stories? Or something like that. It's been really hectic since you've gotten here, and even though I see you and Marigold a lot, it's usually in a classroom."
"Sounds good to me." Do it. Do it. Tell her about the book! "Hey Lily, can we start off with a quick game of twenty questions, so like five questions?" She looked shocked and blinked a few times, so I had to laugh. "I was informed today, that I'm not…I'm not exactly a forthcoming person." Lily bit her lip and Harriett knew she was probably thinking of what she told James. "I don't do it on purpose," Harriett tried to explain, "it's just how I react. It's how I've always reacted. So I warn you now. Be very specific with your question. And no sympathetic, pitting responses. Okay?"
"Five questions that I'm dying" (Don't wince) " to have you answer about yourself?" Lily bit her lip, but her eyes showed she was excited by the prospect. "Hard, I wasn't expecting that. I guess number one would be are you homesick?" Oh so many ways to answer that. But I promised not to evade. Well, sort of promised.
"Yes, and no. I miss certain things about my old school, but as far as missing my life before I was eleven, I guess is what you mean? The answer is no. I miss my room and the building, it's so different from Hogwarts, and yet they are both strangely cozy, despite being massive. My parents moved all the time when I was a kid, they liked to be in a car more than I think they liked being at any once place. I don't miss that. If I never had to ride in a car again, I could be happy." I think that's the longest answer I've given to her since we've met. "Now it's my turn. Where do you see your life ten years from now?" I'm an awful, terrible person.
"Ten years? I think in ten years, I'd like to have found the person I love and married them, maybe have a kid or one on the way. I really want to do the nurses program at St. Mungos, that's what I'm studying for. I thought maybe about becoming a teacher, but I think I'd wait awhile if I did that. Maybe once my kids were at Hogwarts?" She smiled at the thought of her future and it made my heart sick. Well, at least she had a kid before she died. Is that better or worse? "Where will you be in ten years?"
"To be honest, I don't know. I don't even know what I want to do when I get out of school. I don't really have a dream. I guess I want to be settled in one spot. Maybe I'll become a teacher. McGonagall scares the heck out of me, but I learned today that I am a pretty scary person myself. Or I might go into business. I always liked shops, even if I didn't have money. But I don't know what kind of business. If I found the right guy, I'd get married, but I also like the idea of adoption which means I don't need to get married…Question two, if you found out that your future was a screwed mess and could potentially fix it, would you? And I do mean completely screwed, like you're not alive." (Smooth) "Or something of that nature." That question had Lily blinking, too.
"I guess if the opportunity presented itself, I would see it as a sign that it's okay for me to fix my future."
"Really?"
"Yah, why not."
"So if your friend had said item that could potentially fix your future, would you want that friend to show it to you or burn it?"
"Show it to me."
"On a scale of one to ten, how much do you dislike James? Be honest! One is you actually love him and ten is you wish he had gotten lost in a black hole."
"What's five?"
"You have no feelings about him either way." Lily chewed her bottom lip. "Lily, I will call farce if I can tell you are lying."
"2?"
"You love him, but you didn't want to and you can't tell him?"
"Yah, that basically sums it up."
"Great! Wow, that was a quick game of twenty questions, now on to the next activity!"
"Wait! I didn't get to ask you five questions."
"Oh, but you will in a second."
"What do you mean?" Moment of truth. Harriet handed Lily the source of her problems since Monday and hoped Lily had been telling the truth about wanting to know the future. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," Lily read. "What is this, Harriet?"
"Your future. Or, well, you're son's anyways.