Title: Fall- back
Chapter three: A Real Guide
Rating: T
Summary: After the war Harry moves to Lima, Ohio to try and live a normal life as just another invisible teenager. You know what they say about best laid plans, though. KH/HP
Disclaimer: (oops, forgot to do this) Anything you recognise…. Isn't mine. Though I probably wish it is.
Hiya! Another chapter of Fall- back (I'm not really sure I like how FF automatically made it into Fallback in the title, but I can't change it…ah well)! And faster than the last, I think. Right? Pretty sure. I'm terrible with keeping my days apart in my head.
Oh! PM question (Yes, feel free to PM me whenever you want to) I'll respond to here: I do have a tumblr account. It's klainingperfect(.)tumblr(.)com Feel free to look me up if you want to. If I post a oneshot (usually fluff or smut) I usually post it there first.
Anyhoo, thanks again for the response, which has all been positive so far! You guys are awesome.
Question though: When I click on my story, the review number says '13', even though I know it should either be '17' or '18'. When you click on the number though, it shows all of them, as it should. Does anyone know why this is?
So, we see Artie and Rachel this chapter ^^ Fun. Enjoy reading!
It hadn't taken Harry very long to find the classroom he was supposed to be in. It also hadn't taken Harry very long to find out that McKinley's educational system sucked big time. The teacher had taken one look at him, put him in a seat in the front- next to some guy in a wheelchair-, had greeted the class, given them a few sheets of papers covered in questions, and left. The teacher had left. Just like that. Harry turned to his neighbour.
"Is he serious?" he asked disbelievingly. The boy next to him ( Who was wearing the most ridiculous outfit Harry had ever seen. A bowtie and suspenders? Really?) looked at him as if he was surprised to be spoken to, even though the rest of the class had started chatting away the second the teacher had closed the door behind him.
"Mr Collins? Oh yeah, dead serious. I'm betting he won't be coming back, either," he answered Harry, looking at him curiously. "Nice accent, by the way. Where are you from?"
"Surry, England," Harry replied. "Went to school up in Scotland though. I'm Harry."
"Artie," the boy replied, shaking the hand Harry had extended to him with one of his own gloved hands.
A few moments of silence passed in which Harry looked at his papers with disbelief still etched in his face and Artie calmly started answering the questions on the papers in front of him.
"So, why are you here and not in England?" Artie suddenly asked, scribbling away on the papers.
Harry shrugged, deciding he might as well start answering the questions as well, and answered while skimming over the questions: "I decided to graduate from an American high school as well, to broaden the range of universities I can apply to."
A complete lie, of course. You could very well apply to American colleges and universities with a British secondary school diploma or A-levels. He counted on Artie not knowing this though, and added:
"Didn't realise the educational system here was shit, though. What kind of teacher just leaves instead of teaching?"
Artie snorted. "I hear you, dude. Self- study is key here."
Harry tried to supress a groan. The one thing Hermione had always hammered on him and Ron for; self- study. Coincidentally something he really, really hated. He had always been more of a hands- on sort of learner. Somehow he doubted that he'd get many practical classes here.
Artie looked away from his papers to look at him.
"Do you know your way around yet?", he asked.
"Not quite," Harry answered tartly. "I had a tour guide but he bailed on me before he even pointed me to this classroom."
Artie made a face. "That sucks man. I can show you around if you'd like?"
He asked his question very carefully, as if expecting to be shot down immediately. Harry , on the other hand, couldn't believe his luck. From his short walkthrough of the building he had noticed that it wasn't very large – certainly not as large as Hogwarts- but that it was still quite easy to lose your way in, since every single hallway you walked in looked exactly like the last.
"That would be brilliant," he answered with a grin. "This building confuses the hell out of me."
Artie grinned back. "Cool."
As it turned out, all Harry had needed was a proper tour guide of the building to be able to find his way around himself. Another thing Harry found out was that Artie was quite funny when he wanted to be.
"The cafeteria. Bring your own food if you want to be sure you'll live to see tomorrow. If you're feeling daring though, just stick with the soup. Highest chance of survival."
.
"The school trophy case. Pretty damn empty. Feel free to mock."
.
"Home ec. You in Home ec.?"
"…yeah?"
"Awesome. You'll bake muffins. My favourite are blueberry, fyi."
"Noted."
.
"The choir room. Here's where all the cool people hang."
"Who are they, then?"
"Glee club."
"….no offense, Artie, but-"
"Yeah, I know. Doesn't sound cool. We're not, really."
"Then why-"
"I like to kid myself sometimes."
.
"Oh, there's your locker. A high one. Lucky you."
"What's wrong with a low one? "
"When someone drops their drink, it splashes between the grooves. I cello- wrap my books."
"Ah."
.
"Aaaand here's your next class. AP Latin, huh?"
"Yup."
"Didn't even know we had Latin here."
.
With that, and a promise to join him for lunch, Harry had let Artie go his own way and had entered his classroom. It wasn't really a surprise that Artie didn't know there was a Latin class at McKinley. Counting Harry, there were only three students in the room. One of them was a grungy looking kid who smelled as if he hadn't taken a shower in months and appeared to actually be asleep, the other was an excitable looking girl with big brown eyes and long brown hair that reminded Harry of Hermione for a brief moment. And then she opened her mouth.
"Hi! You must be the new kid! It's great to see another student interested in the ancient language that is Latin. I won't really use it in the future, since I'm going to make it big on Broadway and be a star and all that, but it's always nice to know I could get into a medical profession with this knowledge as a back-up plan, of course! My dads always tell me it's extremely important to have a back- up plan, and I'm inclined to agree. What if my voice gives out or I have a terrible accident that will leave me all disfigured and ugly? Oh, where are my manners? I'm Rachel. Rachel Berry. And you are?"
Harry's initial thoughts about her were way of. The only way this girl could possibly still remind him of Hermione was if Hermione would take speed and grow an attitude. Both of which were highly unlikely.
"Harry Potter," he hesitatingly answered, not sure if it was really safe to take the seat next to her she was excitedly gesturing at. "Nice to meet you?"
"Pleased to meet you, too," she beamed at him, before practically manhandling him into the chair.
Harry sat down, and took out his notebook, a pen, and the day planner Hermione had nearly thrown at him while he was packing ("Remember Harry, it's all in the planning!") and placed them on his table, trying to avoid the excited brown eyes he knew were aimed at the side of his face. He was saved from looking at her again by the teacher walking in. Unfortunately for Harry, the teacher barely acknowledged they were there, handed out stacks of papers much the same as the ones he had been filling in with Artie the previous hour, instructed them to complete the exercises on them, and began reading the Lima Gazette at his desk.
Rachel began babbling excitedly at him again, and Harry started to wonder if her mood- switch was just stuck on that emotion. She started talking at him about the exercises and Harry glanced at the boy in the back from the corner of his eyes. Rachel caught his glance and said:
"Oh, that's Brett. Don't worry about including him. He'll wake up ten minutes till time, finish the exercises and ace them, too. He's scary smart. Are you smart, Harry?"
Harry shrugged, never having really considered himself smart but also never having considered himself dumb.
"I do okay, I guess," he answered diplomatically.
She narrowed her eyes a bit and snatched the schedule he had stuffed in his day planner from out of it to look it over. Her gleaming eyes looked back at him after quickly scanning the page and Harry felt a small shiver run down his spine.
"I have decided you're going to be my partner in every group project we'll get assigned this year," she stated, very matter- of – factly.
Harry gulped. How on earth was he going to shake this girl?
I'm amused by the thought of stoner Brett being wicked smart. Anyone else?
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought of it?
Till next time!