Title: Harry Potter and the Girl Who Lived
By: S'Eleene Paris <torres_01@yahoo.com>
Disclaimer: see chapter one for details
"Now all this you claim, Mr. Potter, as well as I."-John Wesley, the man who started many protestant denominations, including mine. Nazarene.
Chapter Three
Summer's End
Roger Drive roared loudly as Heather and Hector strolled down the street with the other students of the Chicago Institute of Witchcraft and Wizardry under the direction of a Professor Daniel Gaddis. "I can't wait until we get back." Heather commented to him. "I so want to see the grounds once more. I wonder which plants they have planted this year."
"I know you are going to be one busy girl this semester. Not only are you prefect this year and captain of the dance team, color guard, and the star in the school play, but you are adding choir to your list."
"At least Choir is a class and I can get credit for it."
"True." Hector grinned evilly and took her hand and placed it around his arm. "Bucking for Head Girl by the end of next year?"
"Duh." she stopped.
"No matter what happens to you, Heather, you will always be my Head Girl."
"That is sweet." she smiled at him, but looked down at her shoes. "Danielle MacNeal is still in the bag for it, though, so it is going to be a close match."
"Even with that fight with that fourth year...what's her name?"
"Does Jackie Wheeler ring a bell? She's in our house by the way."
"Really? Who won buy the way?"
"Jackie, I think. At least her wounds were less extensive." Heather rolled her eyes. "You know Danielle, her parents are practically fucking Bill Gates."
Hector rolled his eyes at her use of language. "I really wish you would cut down on your use of bad language."
"Sorry." Heather looked down at the street as they continued walking. "I just get so upset; she can practically buy her way out of anything and leave who ever ain't lying there in the mud. It's not like I'm jealous of her or anything, but I think it is annoying she flaunts herself through connections like that. I'm not poorer, but I know we don't have as much money as she has. I don't do that to my friends, do I?"
Before Hector could respond, the voice of Danielle MacNeal floated into their ears. "Look, it's the lead Scarlet Slut."
"Look, Hector. It's the lead Western Whore." Heather smirked at the rival of house.
The Chicago Institute of Witchcraft and Wizardry is comprised of three different schools, in three different locations, and in three different towns. The Junior High, comprised of the first, second, and third years, is located in Cottage Grove, IL. In the muggle word it is considered one of the most haunted places in the United States of America. In the Wizarding World it is considered one of the most secured places in the United States.
The two High Schools, consisting of the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh years, located themselves about fifteen minutes away from each other. The Chicago Institute of Witchcraft and Wizardry founded themselves on the grounds of two former mental institutions, the Diversetech and Shapiro campuses.
Two of the four houses of the Institute, attended each of the two High schools. The houses included: Sifto-Salt, Franklin, Western, and Milner. Milner and Franklin houses both attended the Diversetech campus, while Sifto-Salt (Salt for short) and Western houses attended the Shapiro campus.
As Headmaster of all three of the schools, Daniel Gaddis, found his offices located itself between the two senior high schools. Since the schools and the Wizarding community interacts with the muggle community more often in America than it did in Europe, the headmaster's office was subterranean with the school's seal upon the door.
The seal consisted of all of the four house's mascot of all of the houses due to the founders of each house was animagus and could transform into the creatures on the seal. It bares the Sifto-Salt scarlet Phoenix, the Franklin house's Midnight blue timber wolf, the Milner house's gold cougar, and the Western House's hunter green alligator.
If this sounds familiar to anyone; it's because it should. When the four founders from he school came to America, they wanted to build a school much like their beloved Hogwarts, in which they attended. Since Scarlet Sifto-Salt, Saoban Franklin, Kimberly Milner, and William Western came over to America, they knew their freedoms of religion and the separations of church and state (compared to the olden days when the laws were made) would add to their safeties here in America in which they did not have in England.
Danielle stood there wearing a pair of Old Navy flare style blue jeans and a green peasant blouse to match the green and black house patch on her black robe. On her feet, she wore a pair of green and black Nike tennis shoes. Danielle was a tall, skinny girl, who had curly blonde hair. Her blue eyes shined through a pair of wizard contacts. "You still bucking for Head Girl, Heather? I would drop out of the race if I were you."
"And why is that?" Heather brushed her raven black hair back behind her ear. Her dark brown eyes began to fill defensively. Heather's red vintage style blouse and her kaki jeans made her fit in a little better with the Wizard way of life rather than Danielle's peasant top. Heather's black leather ankle boots accented her black cape with the red and silver patch of the Sifto-Salt house.
"Because I am prefect now as well. Not to mention, I was told I would be."
"By who?" Hector asked as his Sifto-Salt robe swayed in the wind a little as he asked this. "Professor Gaddis won't announce that until a couple of summers from now."
"Well, I've been guaranteed it. After all, my parents were Head boy and Head girl, not to mention my older brother and sister...it practically runs in the family."
"Danielle!" her father called from Madame' Dawson's wand shop with a young boy in tow. "It's time to go home."
"Alright, Daddy. I look forward in seeing you tomorrow." she sneered at Heather. Danielle strutted away from the two of them and Heather turned around to roll her eyes at what just happened.
"Don't even think about what she just said, Heather! Don't dwell on it for one moment!" Hector exclaimed as he took her hand and held it to his heart. "Even if she were correct about you not being head girl, it would not matter much to me because you know you should have been the head girl. You are much more gifted than she is. Danielle is just jealous of you."
"Aww!" Rachel called across from Berti Bott's candy store with a large box of Berti Bott's Every Flavor Beans and a bag full of Chocolate frogs. "I'm sorry to interrupt this beautiful moment, but we need to be headed over to the Cloakroom and get something to eat."
""I could use a Starbuck's Frappicino right about now." Heather admitted to them. Let's go to Barnes and Noble instead and get one."
"And allow you to sit around and read until closing?" Rachel rolled her eyes at the idea. "No way!"
As they headed over to the Cloakroom, which was across the street from Roger Drive's branch of Gringott's Bank, they stopped as they passed Madame' Cross' robes for every and all occasions. Heather stopped to look at the latest look in Wizarding robe fashions.
"Heather, come on!" Hector sighed as he frustrated tried to pull Heather away from the store window.
"Come on, Heather! I'm starving!" Rachel complained. "We can come back after lunch."
"Rachel, you are always hungry."
"So what? I have a high metabolism." Rachel huffed and then pouted. "I may always be hungry, but at least I have the knowledge to know when we should be going now if we want something to eat before it gets too busy."
"Fine." Heather knew she could not fight two hungry people, especially if they were Hector and Rachel because things could get vicious. Together the trio walked into the restaurant and claimed "their" table. The waitress walked toward them and took their order.
"I'm going to the restroom, Rachel, you want to go with?" Heather asked her to go with.
"Yeah." Rachel stood up and walked down the hallway toward the restroom, but not before Hector mumbled some complaint about girls always going to the restroom in packs like wolfs.
On the way to the door, Heather accidentally collided with a man with his cape hood clenched around his head. When he ran into her, he made no attempt to apologize. "Sorry." Heather stated and when he turned to acknowledge her presence, her scar began to burn. "OUCH!" she hissed in pain.
"Come on, Heather." Rachel pulled Heather into the bathroom while Heather clenched her forehead still very much in pain. "What's wrong?"
"My scar, it's burning."
"How can it burn? Let me take a look at it."
"No, it hurts too much."
Rachel rolled her eyes at Heather as she washed her hands. For some strange reason, Heather never liked going to the medi-wizards to take care of an injury. Rachel remembered back when the three of them were in their fourth year and Heather had broken her ankle in the middle of their house's production of Annie. Rachel had heard her foot snap and she squinted as she remembered the sound that emitted from her foot.
Even though Heather had dropped a heavy prop on her foot, she continued the production without a complaint. When the production was ended, Heather limped off stage to take off her costume and stage make up. As she took off her character shoes, Rachel noticed Heather's foot turned purple.
"You're going to the hospital," she had informed her friend, "and if you do not comply with my demands, there will be hell to pay."
Heather shook off the memory and went over to her friend from the sink and to where she stood by the door." Are you sure you are going to be alright."
"I am fine, just a small headache that is all." Heather turned on the faucet and washed her face. She dried it with a paper towel and they exited the bathroom.
"Want me to brew you a pain killer potion?"
"No thanks." she looked at her friend and tried to smile. "I will be fine."
"Positive?"
"Absolute."
"Okay, but if you need some..."
"I'll ask, I know." Heather and Rachel walked out of the hallway and found their booth next to the window. Hector was waiting calmly as their drink order had arrived.
*****
Heather arrived at the entrance to the grounds of the Chicago Institute of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She pulled up in her new black with silver trim Jaguar XK-8 convertible with a black top, black leather interior (although with the black and white zebra striped seat covers on the front seats, the zebra striped pillows and blankets in the back seat, and the Zebra striped steering wheel cover no one could really tell.) and 10 disk compact disk changer, Heather arrived to the grounds in style.
Her trunk and suitcases were I the backseat and the trunk of her car. Her cell phone rang once she pulled into the gate. She put on her headset and kept driving. "Hello? Hey, mom! I just pulled in at the gate. Yeah, I have my laptop. Check my email? Why? You sent me some already? But I have not been gone for more than ten minutes! Okay."
"Look, honey." Her mother voice floated into the phone. "I have to go. I have a couple of babies to deliver. Good luck with your first day of school. Bye honey."
"Bye mom." she hung up the phone as she pulled into the front parking lot of the school where she was greeted by the familiar face of the keeper of grounds at the Institute. "Hello, Douglas."
"Hello, Miss Potter." the house elf smiled at her. "Did the miss have a nice summer break?"
"Yes, Douglas. Did you?"
"Yes, Miss. I was busy working on the flowers and the fountains here. There was much for Douglas to do, Miss, to prepare for the semester." He paused and then continued excitedly. "I believe, Miss, that this year the gardens will be as beautiful as the ones in Babylon."
"Douglas, how do you know about the hanging gardens of Babylon?"
Heather asked him and Douglas pulled a book out from his ragged cloak pocket. "Headmaster Professor Gaddis gave it to me from his own collection, Miss. Douglas is allowed to learn himself, Miss."
"That is wonderful, Douglas!" she smiled at him and he began to trot off. "Douglas will see you, miss, at the fest."
Heather parked in her car in front of the castle and she began to unload her things from it. As she dragged her things to the stairwell, Heather was greeted buy the sight of Professor Gaddis leaving the school and heading to, more than likely, the Cottage Grove campus.
"Hello, Miss Potter. Welcome back." the headmaster placed his black briefcase into the sidesaddle bag on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
"Thank you, Professor Gaddis." Heather paused then asked. "Where are you headed?"
"I'm going haunting."
"Ah, yes the sorting ceremony at Cottage Grove."
"School rumor has it the Western house third years are going to make all their first years run across the road stark naked."
"Streaking! That is so hilarious! I wish I would have thought of that!" Heather Potter laughed heartedly, but the look on Professor Gaddis' face gave her, made her stop instantly.
He grew serious. "I figured if I were present, they would not proceed as planned."
"Probably." she snorted as the sight of all the first years streaking filled her head and Professor Gaddis looked at her once more.
"Well," Daniel Gaddis started his motorcycle and it revved to life. "I must be going, Miss Potter. I hope I will not have to see you later this evening or tomorrow morning. Behave yourself."
"What me? I'm always good." she grinned evilly at him.
"Some how, Heather, Good is not a term I would use to describe you." He waved as he drove away from the building, out of the gate, and toward Cottage Grove.
Heather began to climb the stairs, when she heard her name being called amongst the crowd forming outside of the school doors. Rachel raced toward Heather sporting her new school uniform. The Sifto-Salt Uniform consisted of a deep scarlet, red plaid pleated skirt with white collared shirt and a plain scarlet, red silk tie. Her black uniform cloak swayed behind her. "Heather!" Rachel hugged her friend when she reached her. "You look nice. I like your boots."
Heather looked down at her uniform; her "shoes" consisted of a black pair of jungle combat books, which rose to her lower shin and calf. "Thanks, I bought them at an Army surplus store in Lockport." she smiled at her friend. "We're going to have to go there during a break sometime to get you a pair."
As soon as all the students registered for classes, the faculty and students of the Chicago Institute of Witchcraft and Wizardry sat down for first feast of the school year. The deputy headmistress, a Professor Celestial Moon stood up to make the announcements." As this New Year begins, I'd like to inform our fourth years, and remind those who cannot seem to stop bending the rules..." Heather, Hector, and Rachel looked at each other. The three of them gave each other knowing glances and knew Professor Moon was speaking directly to them. "You may not leave the school grounds unless you have direct permission of a teacher or if it is a weekend for that allotted time. That is all." she sat down at the table and the feast began as the kitchen staff brought the students their meal.
As Heather chewed down on some spicy chicken wings, the ghost of the Chicago Institute began to appear out from nowhere. "Hello, how are you, Heather?" the voice of the Sifto-Salt house ghost called to her. Louis Siemens appeared over the green bean casserole.
"Hello, Crazy Louie. How was your summer?"
"Dreadful and yours?"
"Actually it was quite nice." Crazy Louie noticed Hector and Heather sitting next to each other and holding hands on top of the table. "I can see why."
Rachel rolled her eyes and continued gnawing on her chicken leg. She took brownie from the plate in front of her. As the dinner progressed, a storm brewed out of nowhere and soon it raged over their heads. The wind wiped the tree's branches against the large gothic style windows as if they were a child's objects of play. The wind let a loud howl as the rain joined in with the branches in beating the window.
Rachel stopped eating for a moment to allow herself to witness the show in the sky. The lightning flashed brightly and the thunder crashed so loudly it shook the building. Everyone stopped their eating to watch the spectacle showing out the window.
After the next flash of lightning, everyone seemed to count the interval between the lightning and the thunder to measure the distance of the storm. Three seconds lapsed in between the two elements of nature and Heather knew the center of the storm would pass over the school in a matter of a few more minutes.
Heather continued eating a moment later, but the actions going on at the head table caught her attention. Professor Sierria Shift, the potions mistress and the head of Sifto-Salt, leaned over to hand something to the deputy headmistress. Professor Moon's eyes went wide in what looked like complete horror. Heather had learned to read lip very well over the past few years and it seemed as if Professors Moon and Shift seemed to be discussing something having to do with the safety of the school.
"Are you sure, Sierria?"
"There have been sightings of him all over the area. I have owled Professor Dumbledore at Hogwarts, but there is no answer as of yet. He and the rest of the Hogwarts staff are probably at their first feast and sorting ceremony."
"Has there been any answer from any of the other schools? Salem?
Colorado? Miami? Or Los Angeles?"
"Nor Great Lakes Academy."
"I guess we will have to wait until someone does."
"But what if he strikes during that time?"
"Then Merlin help us."
"I wonder what he is looking for, Celestial."
"I don't wonder, I know. It's not the matter of what. It's the
matter of who."
"What do you mean, Celest?"
"He's looking for someone particular. My guessing he has found her."
"Her? Who is he looking for?"
Celestial Moon looked at her fellow faculty member and the name
fell from her lips in terror for the person. "Heather, Heather Potter."
*****
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