Chapter 3 - Unwanted Visiters
DISCLAIMER – ANYTHING YOU RECOGNISE, DOESN'T BELONG TO ME :)

I woke up with my bed sheets half on the floor, and half at my toes. It hadn't been a very good night's sleep. Luckily, no-one else was up yet, so I silently got up and ready, then escaped the dormitory to the Great Hall.

I wasn't ready to face the others yet. I knew that as soon as they saw me they would bombard me with 'are you alright?'s and 'do you feel okay?'s. I picked up my new timetable and 2 slices of toast, and (seeing as I had a free period first) went outside to my favourite spot by the lake. I don't know what came over me last night; I was just a bit... well... I don't know. But what I do know, is that I really didn't need Gilderoy Lockhart from Ravenclaw coming over and bothering me. Which he was. Oh crap.
"Oh Harriet Darling, how are you this fine day?" Lockhart said as he sauntered up to me. Sceptically, I looked up into the sky. The grey clouds that threatened rain any second hardly said 'fine day' to me.
Ignoring the formalities, I said "What do you want Lockhart?"
He looked taken aback, but his eyes betrayed him. He wanted to tick me off in his 'black book'. "Want? I don't want anything! But now you mention it..." He took a step closer to me. What a creep...
I took a BIG step – more like a leap – backwards, saying "Oh please! Why don't you bugger off back to your 'tart of the week' and leave me alone. I'm sure they would love to be on the end of one of your pathetic pick-up lines."

He sighed. "Fine..." he said, and walked off back to the castle with considerably less swagger than before. Wait a sec, did I just damage Gilderoy Lockhart's ego? That is DEFINITELY going on my list of achievements. All I had to make a fool of now was Sirius, and my list would be complete. Speak of the devil...

"James! Sirius! What are you doing over there?" They emerged from a nearby bush with their usual smirks on their faces.

"Oh Harriet Daaaarling, how aaare you this fine day?" They both chorused as they walked towards me.

"Ha ha very funny. Were you just listening to our whole conversation?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

"Well, we were sitting in the common room early this morning when you went through. We followed you 'cause we wanted to see if you were okay, and we just happened to see Lockhart go up to you and thought 'why stop him?' We needed a laugh, and... we got one." James said matter-of-factly.

I looked sceptically at the innocent smile of his face, before turning to Sirius. "I take it you two have a free period now too?"

Sirius smiled. "Of course! Do you think we – of all people – would just skip class? Who do you think we are?" He put his hand to his forehead whilst James and I laughed. He was such a drama queen sometimes...
"Well what class do you have next?" I asked.

"Potions" James and Sirius said in unison.

"Oh cool, me too. Well, we have about 15 minutes till lessons, so shall we just walk to the dungeons very slowly?"

"I 'spose," James said, "and if we were to run into any Slytherins on the way..." He and Sirius exchanged knowing looks. I sighed.
"Guys! Do you always have to hex Slytherins for simply being there? Yes, I know, Slytherin is the root of all evil, but James, you're Head Boy now! You have to set a good example! And I really do think that Lily would give you a chance if you acted a little bit more mature." They both stared at me blankly for a few seconds. Although James had a pained expression on his face, he gave in.

"You're right Harriet. Come on then guys, let's go to Potions." He said, and strutted off with his head held high. I and Sirius stared at his retreating back for a second then both said "What?" He turned around looking confused.

"Well... You said we should go to class. So I'm going to class! Now get moving or you'll both end up in detention for a week." And he walked off again, leaving Sirius and I in stitches."I'm not joking." He shouted back to us.

"What have I turned him in to...?" I muttered to a still laughing Sirius, as we both obediently followed James.

*****

Well, what can I say? Potions was positively disastrous.

I knew something bad was going to happen as soon as I walked into the classroom and saw 'Please stand at the front of the classroom so I can sort you into your working pairs.' I nudged myself in between Lily and Severus Snape – For her sake. Snape was the disgusting human being i'd ever had the misfortune to meet. He has shoulder length black hair that I swear had never touched soup and he has a passion for the Dark Arts. He also has a GINORMOUS crush on Lily, but lost any chance he had with her when he called her a 'Mudblood' in 5th year. So I sacrificed my nice grease-free robes to stop him pestering her. I am such a good friend!

Anyway, we were put in to pairs.

"I'm going to put you all in pairs with another member of your house because I know how high tensions can get between you all!" Slughorn chuckled nervously. He was right. "So I'm going to start with Gryffindor. So I have down... Lily Evans and James Potter!" Ooo this was going to be a long year! "Sirius Black and Dorcas Meadowes! Remus Lupin and..." I drew a deep breath. "Mary Macdonald!" Phew! But that means I'm with – "Peter Pettigrew and Harriet Cattermole!" Ah well. He's not THAT bad. I guess...

So after that, Peter and I went to our desk to start a potion of our choice. We (Or, because Peter didn't seem too enthusiastic, I) chose to brew a Calming Drought. I walked over to the store cupboard to get some daisy roots, but unfortunately, someone else was already in there.

"Hey Harriet! Are you sure you're OK after last night?" Remus looked at me concerned. Geez, will this guy ever stop being nice? "Yes Remus I'm fine" I said through gritted teeth. "Now will you please let me past so that I can get some daisy roots?" He was slightly taken aback for a second, but recovered in time to say "It's fine, I'll just get them for you."

"No, I am perfectly capable of getting them myself!"

"Well I'm closer, so just..."

CRASH. All of our bickering had caused the daisy roots to shatter on the floor. "Great. Now look what you've done!" I shouted in his shocked face and stormed back to my seat. I really didn't make this easy for myself did I?