Ugh... It was three in the morning and Harry still couldn't get to sleep. There was something about her that got to him. He knew there was something about her, but what!? He searched her eyes in the Great Hall and the Common Room trying to find even a trace of something. Her eyes were wise, old, as if she had seen to much in her short life. He could tell that she was guarded.
She acted like she let you get to know her but there was so much more to her than that... That's it! Harry got up, threw on a t-shirt and headed for the stairs. If he wasn't going to sleep he might as well go down to the common room. On the last stair Harry stopped.
The object of his insomnia was curled up on a chair with a book. The glow from the fire gave her a eerie glow that was strangely intriguing to Harry. She wore pink pajama pants with guitars on them and and an over sized black t-shirt . Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun and she wore glasses. Around her right wrist was a thick braided black leather bracelet, on the cord was a charm that had some sort of crest on it. Harry thought that she looked adorable.
As if sensing his presence, Allie looked up from her book, but only after finishing the page. The only other person that Harry had ever seen read with that intensity had been Hermione, it impressed him.
"Hey" Her tone was somewhere between a whisper and a normal volume.
"Hey yourself. What are you doing up?" Harry crashed on the couch across from where Allie sat. She put the marker back into her book before setting it on the floor. She then turned her attention to the scruffy haired boy.
"Couldn't sleep. How bout you?"
"Same thing. Why couldn't you sleep? Nervous about you first day?" Harry winked at her. She scoffed in return.
"Yeah, right. Teachers and classes scare me less then a basket full of kittens." They both chuckled. "But really, I think it's just the whole being in a new place thing, ya know? It'll just take me a few days to get used to all the things that go bump in the night." Allie wiggled her fingers as if they were supposed to be a monster.
"Yeah I get that." Silence filled the common room. The only sound was the wood crackling in the fire place.
"Hey you never said why you couldn't sleep." Allie waited for Harry's answer. He was defiantly not telling her the truth. Oh I was just thinking about you. Yeah, creep her out. So he said the only think he could think of.
"Too much sugar at the Feast. Got me all jittery." After the words left his mouth Harry felt like a complete git. What was he, four? He couldn't handle his sugar?
Allie smiled at him. He knew she was too nice to say something about his idiotic excuse. They sat in silence for a few more minutes, just listening to the fire.
"Well I think I'm gonna try to catch some z's. I know if I don't I will be crabby and no one needs that. I'd like to spare you the pain I would cause if I ripped off your head for doing something like saying hello." Allies stood up from her chair and stretched.
"Thanks I would appreciate that and I'm sure everyone else would too." Harry watched her turn to make her way up the stairs. "Good night Allie"
"Night Harry"
After Allie left, Harry decided to follow her example and head to bed. He knew he wouldn't get much sleep but he could at least try.
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At breakfast the next morning Professor McGonigal went around handing out class schedules. She started at the opposite end of the table that the Golden Trio and Allie sat at so they would be waiting for a while. Finally three pieces of toast and two pancakes later McGonigal came up to them. She handed them their schedules and they started to compare.
"How can we have different times for potions!" Ron said after looking at his class list then Harry's.
"It's because we are taking Care of Magical Creatures and they are not Ronald" Hermione said while staring at her own classes. "It looks like we have everything else together besides that." Ron still looked convinced that Fate was out to get him.
"At least we're not alone." Allie added. "You and Hermione are together and I've got Harry. You could have been completely alone Ron. So don't freak out." Ron glared at her before allowing his face to soften. He knew she was right he just didn't want to admit it.
When it was time for classes, Ron and Hermione headed outside for Care of Magical Creatures while Allie and Harry headed to the dungeons for potions.
"Now Snape's the teacher you have to watch out for. He hates all things Gryffindor." Harry explained as they turned a corner to their classroom. Harry held open the door for Allie and they walked into the room. It was filled with tables that had cauldrons placed on them and the room smelt faintly of feet.
"I'd like to see him try to intimidate me. It's not easily done." Allie said as they found seats at an empty table. Harry raised his eyebrows to this but didn't push her farther. Thirty seconds later greasy haired Professor Snape walked into the class. He raced up to the front of the room and stared down at his students.
"Your fourth years now and I expect you to understand the rules and expectations of this classroom by now so I will not explain them again. " He stated in a monotone voice. His eyes scanned the room but stopped when he spotted Allie.
She did not look away. She kept eye contact with the potions master. "So you are the famous Allie Cullen that is supposed to excel in Potions?" He snarled.
"That's what they tell me, sir. " She put on a sugary sweet voice. Snape glared at her before turning to address the whole class.
"We will start by assigning partners." She hissed out. Allie wondered to herself why this man taught when he clearly hated most of the Hogwarts population. The professor started naming off lab partners.
"Potter you will be with Crabbe." Snape smiled as if he had won some sort of battle. Allie could hear Harry make some sort of noise that resembled a growl before getting up and moving over to sit next to the huge boy she assumed to be Crabbe.
"Now Miss. Cullen where shall I put you. You will obviously need a partner who won't slow you down." He didn't mean that as a compliment. Allie knew that this Snape guy was trying to get to her. Well it wasn't going to work, she'd dealt with much worse the a greasy haired school teacher with a crooked nose.
"You will partner with Mr. Malfoy" He pointed to a boy with platinum blond hair. He was wearing Slytherin robes which didn't seem promising. "Is there a problem with the pairing Miss. Cullen or were you be expecting special treatment to go with your skill?"
What is this guys problem? "It's completely fine sir. I don't mind at all." She flashed him a smile that only made her teacher glare.
She walked over to the boy and sat down. "Hello there, my name is Allie, Allie Cullen" She extended her hand to the boy. He looked at it for a moment before taking it in his and shaking it.
"Draco Malfoy."
"Nice to meet you Draco." He didn't seem too friendly but she didn't expect much anyway. Harry had told her all about how Slytherins and Gryffindors avoid each other like the plague. Something about a feud that had gone on between the two houses since the fonding of the school.
"Today we will be making a simple potion..." He turned his attention to Allie mid thought. "This potion, I'm sure Miss. Cullen will be way to easy for some one with you expertise so you wouldn't mind making another potion for me would you?" Allie narrowed her eyes and slowly shook her head in an intimidating way. "Well, how about Felix FeIicis then? That won't be too difficult for you will it?"
Ha might as well tell me to make a simple sleeping drought. "Liquid luck, sir? That's not difficult, you see, I've made it before." Allie kept a smug look off her face but it was hard. He was trying to break her but it wouldn't work.
"Very well, get to it then." was his response. He then proceeded to pretend that Allie didn't exist while he instructed the rest of the class. Malfoy stared at her in amazement.
"What?" She said over her shoulder while reaching into her bag to get the supplies they needed.
"I don't think anyone has ever stood up to him before." Draco looked slightly confused.
"Yeah well it's about time someone did."
"But now he is going to treat you like he does Potter. You just dug yourself a big hole." Allie couldn't understand why he cared. She lit the cauldron to boil the water and started to chop ingredients.
"He had his mind made up about me from the moment I walked in that door, maybe even before. No matter what I did he was gonna treat me like scum."
"How do you know that?" Great another question that I can't answer. Why are people are Hogwarts so curious?
She looked Draco straight in the eye. "I just do."
