4

Harriet knew why her parents didn't want her to go alone. The reason was that New York was a dangerous place, hell, America was a dangerous country, especially at night.

She understood their overprotectiveness as she was their only daughter. Also, New York was a scary place, but Harriet thought she could protect herself easily. She just needed to lift her hand, say some words, and all would be well.

There was the "Statute of Secrecy," an ancient law which was still sort of relevant today. Harriet was told that wizards and witches preferred to keep to themselves in case they caused fear and chaos from the endless possibilities that wizards and witches were capable of. Worst case scenario, if found out, would be death. Still, Harriet thought she'd be able to handle muggles, erase their minds, knock them out, or tell them they've gone mental if they accused her of anything.

Harriet was old enough, smart enough, and talented enough to avoid those possibilities, and all in all, Harriet just wanted a time for herself away from her family. Some would call it a phase or puberty, others would say Harriet was maturing.

Before she knew it, Harriet had arrived at school in time.

"Hey, Peter," Harriet smiled as she greeted the boy.

Peter's face reddened from the memory of yesterday's embarrassment. It was hard for him to keep his focus in Science class yesterday since he found out that she was in the same class too, along with Hermione and Ned.

"Hi," he answered, pretending that he hadn't blushed at all. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. I'm a bit hungry though, I didn't eat breakfast today." She then explained further, "mum was busy finishing up her thesis, and my dad's a terrible cook. I honestly think that he could somehow burn cereal if he tried."

Peter laughed awkwardly at her joke. "Uh, do you cook?" He stammered a bit due to the excitement he felt since Harriet was still talking to him. He went on complete autopilot yesterday after lunch time. He wasn't able to even focus on what Mr. Harrington said in Science.

"I can cook eggs… and ramen, but that's about it," Harriet smiled with a shrug. "How about you, do you cook?"

"Nah, my aunt though, she's… passable. I got used to her cooking though."

Peter beamed when Harriet laughed. "What about your mother?"

"Oh, uh," Peter scratched his head, "my parents passed away when I was young."

"Oh… I'm… I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine." Great going, Peter, you screwed up the conversation.

"It must be really depressing not having your mum and dad around — It's so weird, I always had nightmares about my parents being killed. It got to the point where I was diagnosed with anxiety and PTSD," Harriet shrugged as though this wasn't much of a deal.

"Do you have a therapist then, or…?"

Harriet smiled a little, "Yeah, my parents took me to see a therapist and I got better. I still have those dreams though. If I'm lucky, they turn lucid and I defeat the bad guy that killed them."

"Oh, so there is a happy ending," Peter said with a smile.

Harriet's smile widened. "Yeah."

Suddenly, the voice of Mr. Riddle was heard. "Class, please sit down and turn to the first page of Romeo and Juliet. Yesterday, we talked about the writing techniques and we'll be applying that knowledge to Shakespeare."

After Harriet shared lunch time with her two childhood friends, plus Ned and Peter who she was befriending, it was time for Science class which she shared with everyone except for Ron. The teacher was Mr. Harrington and everyone in class could tell he was excited to teach the subject.

"Class, I want you all to pick a permanent partner for the whole semester for every experiment I will give you," Harrington announced. Soon enough, the class was hectic as girls and boys tried to find their best friends.

Ned nudged Peter, "Wouldn't it be so nice to have Harriet as your partner?"

"Yeah…"

They were both staring at the backs of the girls. They watched as many of their classmates came and went to Harriet and Hermione's table to ask if Harriet wanted to partner up, to which she replied "No thanks." After what happened in the cafeteria yesterday, everyone's been wanting to be her friend, or the Golden Trio's.

"We'll start the second day with a fun experiment I'm sure everyone will enjoy!"

Just like that, as Harriet continued her days in Midtown High, weeks passed and soon, the warm season of summer turned into autumn. Within the duration of those few weeks, the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Harriet, Hermione, Ron, Peter, and Ned blossomed.

The two nerds, Peter and Ned, got along with Ron so well when they introduced Star Wars to Ron, resulting in him claiming that he was officially in the fandom the next day. In return, Ron had let them borrow his old comic books that he'd collected over the years.

Hermione also gotten along well with Peter and Ned considering how much of a geek they all were. Half the time, they were spending their times in the school libraries discussing everything science related. The three soon joined the Decathlon Team as it was their passion.

Harriet had gotten along spectacularly with the two as well. Ron would also join in sometimes. Their love for Iron Man was mutual, and they found themselves talking about and admiring the heroic things that the hero did or how Iron Man's "sidekick" was badass.

Soon, the table at the cafeteria which the Golden Trio had all to themselves was soon filled to the brim when Peter and Ned had their own permanent spot beside the three. And whenever lunch was over, Harriet and Hermione walked into their third period science class with Peter and Ned like a daily ritual.

Things were going smoothly.

Harriet was returning home from school, riding her bike at a faster speed than her ride in the mornings. It was getting considerably dark since the day during the fall and winter was shorter compared to spring and summer. At least the weather was considerably similar to any day, except for the minor wind.

Just then, however, Harriet hit the brakes when she heard a muffled shout coming from deep within the narrow dark alleyway. Harriet noticed that there were a few people that heard that sound as well, but ignored it. It was too dangerous for any defenceless person to go in and save the victim. It'd be better off if someone involved the police instead.

Harriet found herself walking into the alleyway. While wrapping the family's heirloom around herself to make herself invisible, she cautiously approached the origin of the scream. Harriet thanked Merlin for reminding her morning-self to take with her the invisibility cloak from her dad's office for Ron's prank on Thompson.

"P-Please, don't shoot, I-I don't have anything to give you-!"

"Shut up! Give me your fucking wedding ring then! All of your jewelry you have on you!"

A pistol was pointed at the female victim. A mad look was painted on the criminal's face. Harriet wondered if the criminal had done this before, the confidence oozing off from his posture was very telling. Without a second thought, Harriet whispered, "stupefy," as she reached out her hand in front of her.

The only two females at the scene of crime watched as the criminal flew back and hit the brick wall of the run-down apartment. Harriet was slightly surprised that the stunning spell send a man flying as if he was pummeled by a wrecking ball.

The woman looked around at the source of the bright light but found nothing. Swiping at her tears with shaky hands, she went to pick up her purse and quickly left the scene.

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