Summary:

Mildred and Harry disagree on the friend ensemble a school story protagonist should accumulate. Harry hits on an attractive transfer student in the dining hall, and feels hopeful.

(See the end of the chapter for AN.)


Harry didn't have any lessons immediately after dinner, so she decided to eat in a hurry, leave, and come back. She'd noted a girl with very long hair kept in two braids that must have taken ages to maintain, and who normally wore a blue and white gingham shawl and kept to herself even more than Hermione did. The girl was very pretty, and Harry specialized in preying on the ones who separated from the herd. After leaving the dining hall for the first time, she ran into Mildred and her bookish friend Maude Moonshine.

"Hello, Harry!" said Mildred enthusiastically.

"Hi, Mil," she responded. Harry was unfailingly polite and nice to Mildred, who was, after all, her backup plan. In fact, teaching Mildred the ropes appealed to Harry's predatory instincts with obvious virgins.

"Is it true you and Hermione are friends?" Mildred asked, her eyes alit with interest.

"Yep," said Harry.

"That's wonderful, Harriet!" Said Mildred. "You know, I have a top student friend, too!" With that she indicated Maude, who curtsied, introduced herself, and shook Harry's hand.

"Now," continued Mildred, "for a proper heroic magical trio you just need another friend who will force you to obsess on sports, neglect your homework, fail your tests, and in general skive off in an immature and self-indulgent manner. I've got my eye on Enid Nightshade, so dibs on her."

What the hell would I need that for? Harry wondered. She looked over at Maude, who shrugged.

"It's to make it more of a contrast when you win out at the end, silly," Mildred explained patiently. "Plus, you get points for helping them mature. And you look more well-rounded. It's all in my journal. I'll let you read it if you promise not to show Ethel."


When Harry returned to the dining hall with one of her textbooks to have tea and, ostensibly, study, she made a point of sitting opposite the gingham shawl girl. Now that she looked her over, it was not a very happy face she stole glances at, though it was still quite a pretty one. Harry coughed.

"I hope you don't mind, but I heard you were new here, too. I'm Harry Potter, and I'm from the states."

The look she got back from the girl was completely Well, if I Must.

"Oh?"" she asked. "And where in the States would that be? Big place, after all."

"California," said Harry, in that way Californians had of implying "of course." She hoped it still came off as brash instead of just rude.

"Well, I am one of the Kansas Gales," the girl replied.

That triggered one of Harry's tried-and-true maneuvers. Break the ice - the dumber the joke, the better!

"Well, that must explain your breezy personality," she quipped to the actually very dour girl.

The girl muttered something that sounded like "Really? THAT again?" and looked at Harry with obvious disdain. Then she muttered again. This time it sounded like "well, at least I know this one doesn't have a brain." Boy-Harry had prided himself on never tilting with a girl and girl-Harry didn't want her perfect record marred. The girl at least told her that her name was Dorothy, but she quite deliberately did not offer her hand. Harry might have been tempted to try kissing the back of her hand if she had, so it was all good, really, since that probably didn't fly as well if you, too were a girl. Suddenly, a thought seemed to have struck her target female.

"So what do you think of wizards and witches so far, Harry, is it?" she suddenly asked.

That one was easy, sort of. "I can honestly say I've had my ups and downs with them," she admitted. Jeanette and Miss St. Clair really didn't balance out Torok in anyone's book, she thought.

"Tell me about it," said Dorothy.

"I just got out of a situation where I killed an evil magician without knowing anything about it, and became a hero to a whole magical society on the strength of that. Then, even though I wasn't even old enough for middle school, without any training or even the most basic information, I was supposed to repeat the feat, and everyone else sat on their butts waiting for me to do it. Defeating the evil minions included. Worse, when I did repeat the slaying in a bizarre and implausible fashion, I discovered that the alleged Leader of the Light had been lying and maneuvering me the entire time, and that the leading wizard of the whole magical society was mostly a pious fraud,"

she finished, all in one breath.

Getting her to open up about this had to be a good sign ... that said ...

'Sucks to be her,' thought Harry Potter.

AN:

Kansas Gales ... breezy personality:
In Baum's stage adaptation of The Wizard of Oz this was the actual first exchange between Dorothy and the brainless Scarecrow. Technically, the Scarecrow said "breezy manner" but that doesn't fit a more modern Californian.