Author's Note: Thanks for everyone who clicked into the next chapter. I'm really hoping Mindy turns out to be an awesome character for y'all. Anyway, here we go.

Chapter 2: In Which Melinda Gets Completely Lost

The first week that you ever spend at Hogwarts always remains in your memory no matter if you are a first year or a sixth year in Melinda Roberts's case. Melinda (or Mindy as she liked to be called by her friends) was a very smart girl and had always been so. In fact, she was positive that she would make the Ravenclaw house quite proud. However, there was something about Hogwarts that simply boggled her mind. Back home in the States, Salem Academy was a sprawling manor whose grounds stretched for acres on end but she still managed to navigate everything quite successfully. Here though, it was a different story.

Mindy grew up in Boston and had thought that she was used to being surrounded by an old culture that went back to the beginning of the country. This castle though had stood for far longer. She was amazed at the winding hallways and ever changing staircases that seemed like they wanted her to get lost or just get out entirely. She had been late to all of her classes the first day and at least one class each day after that. She was never lost in the same part of the castle either. In fact, in the middle of the week she was convinced that she stepped foot in a part of the castle that hadn't been used since the school was founded based on the decorations and amount of dust. But when she retraced her steps to explore later, that part of the castle seemed to never exist.

Needless to say, the transition for her was not going well.

It had started at the beginning of the week at the Welcoming Feast that they put on. She had situated herself at the front of the Great Hall and amused herself by staring at the ceiling. It was a bright night and all the stars were visible but they were all so different in this part of England than she was used to. She had gotten distracted and hadn't even noticed that the table until someone asked her if the seat next to her was taken. She shook her head and was about to introduce herself but the person had already turned to talk to their friend. Oh well, they look a little too young to be a sixth year anyway, she thought and turned her attention to the first years coming in.

Her gaze didn't linger on them for too long; a crash distracted everyone including Mindy. She turned to see two rather attractive boys standing on the table (Gryffindor perhaps) and bowing as if this was all planned. She highly doubted that. The headmistress barely even did anything either though perhaps she was just use to it. The rest of the students certainly were as they fell quickly back into hushed conversations.

"Oh they're at it again," whispered the boy sitting next to her to his other friend.

"Seriously, you would think McGonagall would do something about it."

"Well, what could she do? They don't care about house points."

"Yeah, remember two years ago when the Gryffindors finished with a negative number? And they all cheered!"

Mindy raised her eyebrows at the two boys that were stating the opinion of the entire Ravenclaw house based from the glares that the two Gryffindor boys were still getting. Okay, I can follow the rules; that's fine she thought and prepared herself for the questions that were sure to come when the Headmistress introduced her. She was going to at least introduce herself to one person tonight (even though as a rule she was normally quite shy). It was a new school and new school year, there was no reason why she couldn't make herself into whoever she wanted to be.

Her name and year were called and Mindy straightened herself and smiled a little. Instead of the questions she was expected (and probably would have gotten with the Gryffindors), the eyes of the students quickly found the odd person out and stared. Her smile wavered but she powered through and waved a little down the table. Still, she could feel the judgment being passed on her before slowly the rest of the students turned their attention to the food that had appeared suddenly in front of them. It was every introvert's worst nightmare. Mindy sighed and looked down at her plate. Suddenly, her appetite just disappeared.

"Hello, I'm Carrie Donaldson! 6th year as well, oi you move over firsty!" a voice called a voice. Mindy's head shot up to see a mop of curly black hair directly across from her shoving a first year boy out of the way to sit down. Carrie's pale skin was slightly flushed in her cheeks; clearly she had moved from pretty far down the table. When she settled herself, she looked up again and grinned cheerfully, "You must be Melinda correct?"

Mindy smiled slightly back and said, "You can call me Mindy. You really didn't have to move down here if you didn't want to."

Carrie shook her head and sent her curls flying "Don't worry about it. I was just sitting with Marie further down the table; she's in our year too. I tried to get her to come down but she thought you might be a little bit overwhelmed with me!"

"I can kinda see why," Mindy said with a touch of sarcasm without thinking, "Oh crap, I'm…"

But Carrie was laughing, "I know, it's so true! You and Marie both have that same sarcasm so you'll get along splendidly." She shifted a little of her attention to grabbing a few things to put on her plate. Then she continued, "Anyway, I'm muggle born so I know how it is to see everyone knowing each other already. I thought I would come down here since we're going to be sharing a dorm with the others. Though I'm a little disappointed since there's no southern drawl."

Mindy snorted quite loudly which sent Carrie laughing again. "No," she said while grabbing her food, "I grew up in the northeast, but I have some country music if you want to hear the southern accent."

Carrie paused, "You have muggle music that works here?"

"Yeah, my dad helped invent this device. I'm not sure of the magic behind it but I can play CD's that are muggle made," Mindy clarified and looked up to see Carrie staring at her, "What's wrong?"

"I think I see the start of a beautiful relationship," Carrie declared. The two girls giggled and spent the rest of dinner talking about all the music that Carrie had collected when she was at home and had up till now collected dust in her trunk.

If the rest of the girls in the Ravenclaw house in her year had been as nice as Carrie, the week probably would have gone better. Marie was nice enough though extremely quiet. She did have a sense of humor but she let Carrie take over the conversation and Mindy really couldn't tell her opinion on anything. The rest of the girls had seen that Carrie had taken Mindy under her wing and simply ignored the fact that someone else was in their room (apparently Carrie had insulted one of them their first year and it had been Carrie and Marie versus the rest of them since then). Of course, the two girls would have helped Mindy out in her directional struggles but besides a few tips they couldn't do much. Carrie wanted to be a journalist and was taking all the 'easy classes' while Marie wanted to be a healer and was taking just a few different classes from Mindy that they were never traveling together at the same time.

Mindy of course had piled on her classes as she had expected them to be like the Salem Academy. Her personal goal was to become an Auror (America used the same word as England. Apparently, some ties were just never broken) so of course she really couldn't drop any classes from her first few years. Still, the material would have been relatively easy had the professors given her what they were giving everyone else. However, they wanted to make sure she was on the same page and had given her a review homework that covered the first five years of education and was due at the end of the week.

Yes, her life was going to the dogs.

The week had gone by in a blur and Mindy found herself on Thursday night sitting in front of the fireplace in the Ravenclaw Common Room with Carrie and Marie. The other two had finished their work a while ago and were looking through pictures of the summer. Mindy couldn't even bring herself to listen to their conversation; the pile of parchment in front of her was really too much to consider a break.

"Mindy, take a break! It's dinner time and the food waits for no girl, even if she has extra work," Carrie's voice broke through the concentration Mindy was trying to preserve.

"I can't right now, I'm right in the middle of a paragraph. You can go ahead down, I'll meet you there in a few minutes," Mindy mumbled as she rubbed her nose not even noticing the smudge of ink that it left behind.

Carrie shrugged and bounced away shouting something about a rumor of butterbeer to celebrate the upcoming weekend. Mindy looked up just in time to see Marie shake her head and muttered back to her, "Please come down to the hall soon, Carrie is on a sugar high today I think." She then hurried after Carrie (though somehow she made much, much less noise than her counterpart) and left Mindy to herself and her homework.

Slowly, the common room emptied but the lessening of the noise of the students only made matters worse. Mindy sighed and pulled her straight, brown hair easily into a messy bun held in place by an extra quill. The inspiration came back but slowly; every word that Mindy scratched on the page was an effort. Her normal, neat handwriting was quite small and was not even close to filling up the page. She bit her lip tempted to write larger but she just couldn't do it. She lost count of the number of textbooks she opened to get anything else to write but nothing was happening.

Finally, an hour later Mindy pushed back from her desk. "This is just not getting done right now!" she shouted at the page. She looked up and saw two first years that had come back from dinner early. She was just too tired and upset to get embarrassed. Mindy's arms swept around two books that seemed to help more than the others and stormed out of the Common Room with parchment and quills dropping behind her. Perhaps, if she hurried, there would be time to read during dessert.

After quite a number of turns and three staircases later, she was completely lost again with no one around to give directions. She looked out the window, saw that she was in another tower entirely and shouted once again, "Fuck!" Mindy spun around with her head down and almost ready to cry.

Unfortunately, that turn made her crash right into an actual person.

The books thumped onto the ground and she fell down quite literally on her butt. The other person, a guy she could now see, had managed to brace himself in time but had stepped backwards into a suit of armor. It had begun to fall but he somehow managed to awkwardly embrace the metal in a hug that looked rather pointy. The two of them looked at each other for a moment before the boy said, "Well, I certainly didn't intend on getting to second base with a suit of armor tonight."

"Well, I didn't really want to get bruises on my butt either," Mindy huffed back. The silence lasted for a minute longer and the two started to laugh. Mindy broke out her wand (thankfully uninjured despite being in her back pocket) and gave a little wave. The armor stood back up and the boy was freed from his hug. He stopped to push his glasses back onto his face properly then reached out his hand to help her up which she graciously accepted.

Once she did, Mindy found herself looking pretty far up. Granted, she was only 5'2" on a good day but he had to be at least a foot taller than her. His auburn hair was pretty messed up but she had a strange feeling that he worked very hard to get it that way in the morning. He bent down once again, gathered up her books, and held them out silently barely holding back a laugh that she could easily see in his brown eyes that stared directly into her blue ones. She snatched them away quickly before he noticed her staring. "Thanks, I can't believe how incredibly stupid I was," she said with a slight grimace.

He chuckled, "Everyone has their days. Of course I never do." He said the last part with such a straight face that she began laughing again. He looked confused for a second before he chuckled, "Okay, maybe I do. Still, I'm curious as to why a Ravenclaw is right near the Gryffindor tower."

"What gave me away; the fact that I'm carrying the armful of books, the quill in my hair, or the American accent?" Mindy laughed before the rest of his sentence dawned on her, "Wait, that's on the other side of the castle. Shoot, I just wanted dinner. You know what? I'm just done." She sighed and leaned back on the wall only to slide completely down to the floor.

The boy looked like he wanted to laugh again but resisted which Mindy was grateful for. He sat down next to her with a grace only an athlete could pull off. "Well, by now you've completely missed dinner, but I could always direct you down to the kitchens," he said with a small grin.

Mindy narrowed her eyes, "What you can just go down there?"

"Erm, not exactly. But I can tell you what to do. You know which way the kitchens are correct?" he asked. Mindy thought about it and pointed in a random direction. The boy just started laughing at her again, "You know what, I'll just take you down."

"You really don't have…" but she was cut off by her stomach rumbling.

"Nonsense, allow me!" he hopped up and held out his hand once again. Mindy sighed and took it. To her utter dismay, she found that the boy was taking her in the total opposite direction of where she pointed when he had asked. Well he must think I'm a total idiot she thought. At least she had Carrie and Marie for some friends since this boy was clearly going to hate her after this.

The walked for a minute in silence before Mindy slowly said, "Well, I'm Mindy. And your name is?"

The boy looked at her quite oddly. He said, "I'm James. Don't you recognize me?"

"Should I?" she asked but considering the look on his face, she did try to think back. Yes, he did look rather familiar. She had seen him recently. Oh, how could she forgotten? "You're one of the boys who stood up on the table at the Welcoming Feast. A lot of Ravenclaws weren't happy about that. They thought it was really too showy."

James opened his mouth about to say something but shook his head and started again, "Most Ravenclaws don't appreciate the fine art of trouble making. What did you think?" He looked at her hopefully with that stupid sideways grin that was apparently his thing. He was doing it enough tonight.

"Well, I thought it was pretty funny, though I'm assuming you really do like the attention," she laughed a little and glanced over at James. He chuckled back and nodded so she continued, "I'm just not used to it. According to everyone at my table, you do get in trouble a lot. At Salem Academy, there's a kind of zero tolerance policy. So really, there's no big pranks ever allowed."

James looked a little horrified. "That sounds like a dictatorship."

"Well we prefer the word democracy if you don't mind," she said with another snort. She hadn't laughed this much all week. Well, really since she had left America. "Besides, school is supposed to be for building character and preparing you for the real world. Well, at least according to my old professors."

He waved his hand dismissively, "We have time for all of that after we graduate. Now is the time to have fun. Now the kitchens are just down these steps in the basement." He ambled quite easily down the stairs taking two sometimes three at a time with practiced ease. It was all Mindy could do to keep up and not fall down to embarrass herself further. James reached up to a painting with a bowl of fruit but stopped suddenly and turned around to her, "Hold on, what's your middle name?"

"Why?"

"Curiosity killed the cat and whatnot."

"It's Jennifer if you must know."

James burst out into laughter, "Finally! This is awesome! I can call you MJ!"

Mindy groaned, "You can't call me that; it's like Spiderman really." She bit her lip hoping that he understood that reference as she was definitely not in a mood to explain why muggles liked it when a teenage boy acted like a spider to catch bad guys.

"That's exactly why! My dad bought me a little figure when I was little and I've loved it ever since. Now I finally get to call a girl that!" he was beaming at her.

She sighed, "It's not the same names. Besides, literally everyone calls me Mindy."

"Well, I'm not just everyone!" he said with a hint of triumph in his tone.

She raised her one eyebrow skeptically, "Oh really? I have yet to see anything that makes you special other than the fact that you seem to think it yourself."

For a second, Mindy could have sworn that James looked completely baffled by what she said, but she must have been imagining it as the half smile was back in full force. He turned to face the painting again and tickled the pear, "Are you ready… MJ?"

Before, she could say anything, the painting swung open to reveal a maze filled with a whirlwind of activity. There were rows and rows of tables that had tons of leftovers from dinner. Little house elves ran around levitating the food and making it disappear (Mindy just hoped that they could use it next time and didn't throw it away). The high vaulted ceilings were illuminated by the ovens that were still on and flickering brightly. The smells from all the different food mixed together to form a delightful mixture that reminded Mindy of her home at Christmas time. "This is… amazing," Mindy gasped as she stepped a little further into the kitchen careful to avoid stepping on an elf.

She turned and saw that James looked a little puzzled. He asked, "Don't you have things like this in America? I mean, the kitchens are cool but considering everything else in the castle, it's really pretty normal."

Mindy sighed, "I've been constantly in a state of shock all week. Salem really doesn't have the same feel to it. They've been incorporating muggle technology so witches and wizards can blend in better. Most of the Manor has electricity and we even have our own version of emails. I mean, everything uses magic instead of the muggle equivalent but still…"

"If everything still uses magic, then why… Oh, Winky!" James was completely cut off from his question with the arrival of a smaller than normal house elf (Mindy couldn't have been happier at the interruption). She had a small dress on and looked up at James with a sort of devotion that Mindy couldn't help but giggle at. James stuck his tongue out at Mindy then said to Winky, "I'll just have the usual please. Mindy, what do you want?"

"Um, the same?" she asked. Winky nodded and scurried away. James started to walk away towards a table in the back that was set up family style. It was circular and fit at least 10 chairs around the whole thing. "So I take it you're a regular in here," Mindy said as she sat down at one of the seats. Though the seat appeared to be wooden, it molded to her body as soon as she had sat down and was quite literally the most comfortable seat she had ever felt.

"Yeah," said James sitting down next to her and leaned back, "Fred and I always come down here usually like at midnight or so. Still, I don't think you'll be able to finish 'the usual.'"

"Considering I haven't eaten all day, I think I just might."

James was stunned, "How in the world did you manage that?"

"The teachers are giving me a ton of work to make sure I know everything that you were taught the first five years. It's all due by tomorrow so there is a very good chance I'm not sleeping tonight. I had no time to eat today."

"Well, I'm probably not sleeping tonight either," James said. This time, his smile was tight and he instantly looked more distant than he had all night.

"Why…" but this time her question was cut off by Winky's arrival. She had two huge bags in her hand and gave one to each of them. Mindy looked inside and counted at least 5 subs, 3 bags of chips, 6 bottles of butterbeer, and a tub of what looked to be chocolate pudding. "I see why you get this all to go already," Mindy muttered.

"Well, this will all be gone by morning for me," James said quite seriously, "But I don't have the time to eat here. Places to go, people to see, teachers to terrorize and so on. Are you going to be alright getting back to the Ravenclaw Tower by yourself?"

"Probably not, the castle wants to get rid of me I think," she laughed as she got up and stretched.

James did his sideways grin and raised his arms up in the air. He shouted, "Oh beautiful Hogwarts castle, let it be known that MJ Roberts…"

"Mindy."

"MJ is not an intruder and means us no harm. So please stop trying to get her lost because she doesn't want to lose any more house points." James flourished his arms in a circle then brought them back down. He grinned at her, "See; now you won't get lost anymore. I bet you 10 galleons."

Mindy snorted, "Fine, you're on." They walked to the portrait, waved good bye to all the House Elves and stepped out into the corridor. Mindy stopped once she realized that they had to go in opposite directions and said, "Hey James, thanks for tonight. It's been quite a week and that was pretty nice of you."

"No worries," he said, "Hogwarts is supposed to be a home to all witches and wizards. You'll see; not everything is as bad as you think." He turned and started to jog away, "See you later, MJ!"

Mindy shook her head, too tired to argue, "Bye James." She took a deep breath and began her journey back to the tower. She didn't get lost a single time.

When the portrait opened, Carrie and Marie were waiting for her. Carrie started to ask her where she had been and Marie dug in the bag to see exactly what food she had received. She told them about getting lost and managing to find her way down to the kitchens. Finally, when they each had a sandwich and butterbeer in front of them, she said, "Yeah, the only reason why I could find anything was because of this guy. He was really sweet; I didn't get his last name or year though."

Carrie paused in eating, "I know basically everyone in this school. What was his first name?"

"Well, his name was James and he was a Gryffindor."

Marie's eyes widened, "Auburn hair and glasses?"

"Yeah, actually."

Carrie snorted, "You just made the acquaintance of James Potter."

Mindy stared at her, "Am I supposed to know that name?"

Carrie started to laugh hard enough that she had to work to stay in her chair and not on the floor. Marie rolled her eyes and said, "He's the son of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley."

Mindy paused. "Oh," she said. The three girls looked at each other and began to laugh again. Carrie really did fall off her chair this time. Despite laughing, Mindy couldn't help but feel a little bit stupid. No wonder he had looked at her funny when she didn't realize who he was. Granted, he wasn't famous and his parents were but still…

Well that's one person who won't be talking to me again she thought and slowly but surely turned her attention to the work she still had left.