Me own Harry Potter? Now where would you get a silly idea like that?
=/\=
An Interlude with the Ladies
As she lay in her bed, listening to the snoring of her roommates, Ginny Weasley decided she was having a terrible, horrible first year at Hogwarts.
Oh sure she was doing well in her classes and she not only knew everyone in her year but she was friends with most of them, even those who had not been brave enough to become Gryffindors. The few she wasn't friends with were the Slytherins as a whole, a couple of particularly stuck up Hufflepuffs and Luna Lovegood, but then she hadn't really been friends with Looney since the beginning of the summer. She had been praised by Flitwick the other day for her levitation spell and Professor Destiny had given her points for knowing correct potions procedure.
But none of that meant anything because Boy-Who-Lived was ignoring her!
She had grown up hearing about the Boy-Who-Lived and how he defeated You-Know-Who, the wickedest monster to ever plague the magical world. Tales about the Boy-Who-Lived had made up all of her favorite bed time stories. She loved the Boy-Who-Lived with all her heart and she was certain that they were destined for each other.
She was positive that her belief was confirmed as Ron told her more about her beloved Boy-Who-Lived. Every letter Ron sent back to the family were filled with stories of how he was friends with the Boy-Who-Lived and how they were nice enough to let some muggle born girl hang out with them and how he and the Boy-Who-Lived were the best of friends and had discovered all sorts of interesting things in the castle. When he first returned home from Hogwarts for the summer he went on and on about how he and the Boy-Who-Lived had rescued the school, and possibly the world too, from a teacher who had apparently been some sort of left over follower of You-Know-Who.
She had thought that as Ron's little sister and as part of the family that had housed him for a good half of the summer the Boy-Who-Lived would save some room by Him where she could do her homework and listen to him.
Of course that theory probably only would have worked if she had managed to dredge up the courage to talk to Him over the summer. And if she could ever actually find Him while He was doing his homework with that bushy haired buck toothed muggle born. Of course He must be so smart that he got His homework done in class, but why was he never in the common room? The way Ron talked about Him during the summer before He came to the Burrow, He and Ron were always playing chess or something. But so far she could count the number of times she had seen him hanging around the common room on one hand. Sometimes she was lucky and saw Him running through the hallways and she had almost gotten Him when she had persuaded the Quidditch captain to let her lead the search for the school's star seeker. But that interfering buck toothed bushy haired muggle born had apparently found him first and sent Him to the field before she could even get the chance to hold His hand! And he was always rushing through meals and now he was in the hospital wing and she hadn't even been able to dredge up the courage to go and visit him!
She pouted to herself as she stared into the darkness of the room and absently noted that someone else was awake and moving around. She ignored whoever it was and tried to figure out why on earth the Hat had put her in Gryffindor. What sort of Gryffindor couldn't talk to her soul mate?
The youngest Weasley was jolted out of her misery by the sound of someone tripping over something. She pulled the curtains of her bed open and glared out into the darkness.
"Go to sleep!" she hissed. At least she was being quiet while she dwelled on her misery and how horrible the year was going so far.
"After I find the urisk," came the reply from the inky darkness. Ginny rolled her eyes as she recognized the voice. Only Luna would be up at this late at night in order to look for silly creatures that not even muggles believed in.
"Whatever," Ginny huffed, "Just don't get caught!"
She didn't hear Luna reply. Instead she chose to return to dwelling on her misery. If only she could figure out some way to get the Boy-Who-Lived to notice her! Well, notice was probably wrong. She was positive that he at least knew who she was. After all, had been around him for a good half of the summer. But he still didn't talk to her!
And on top of that, Professor Destiny had dropped hints that she was going to ask her to be a student assistant in potions class! That would label her as a nerd or worse, a teacher's pet, for the rest of her time at Hogwarts! People would consider her another version of Percy! That could be a disaster! The Boy-Who-Lived would never look twice at someone like that!
Ginny let out a moan. She hated her life.
=/\=
Luna Lovegood traipsed through the dark halls of Hogwarts with a smile on her face, a song in her heart and Harry's invisibility cloak surrounding her. She loved Hogwarts. At Hogwarts she was learning to channel her magic and make it even more powerful. At Hogwarts she had real, solid, human friends that the Others approved of. It was strange to think that she had lived by them for so long but had never before been able to consider the twin red heads friends. And once Ginny had abandoned her she had felt sure that all the other Weasleys would follow suit, but the twins had not. In fact, since coming to Hogwarts they had actively kept an eye on her and at least one of them had defended her from some of the nastier bullies. Even better, she had a female friend! Hermione was brilliant even if she was a bit silly about certain matters but she knew that the older girl would learn eventually and their friendship would flourish. And then there was Harry Potter. He was an exception in many ways but he was kind and rather funny to watch as he tried to rush around. He was often distracted but she could tell that the Others were getting ready to make contact with him. She was looking forward to that meeting.
The young blonde glanced down at her hand and restrained a squeal of glee. She could tell that the time was getting closer. She didn't know what Harry had done to get that bracelet, quite dreaded to even think about it, but she was going to be indebted to the Potters' for perhaps the rest of her existence and she would be so happily. The first touch of that bracelet had reminded her of all she had purposefully forgotten and the second touch had set her on her way to true freedom. A third time might hurry the process but she didn't think that she would risk it. Messing with that sort of power always had consequences.
She pushed the thoughts from her mind for now and continued on her way. She had been warned that Harry was up to something and she was determined to help her friend. And she knew very well that he needed her help. After all, what sort of warrior went into battle without his best weapons? Or at the very least a favor from his lady.
The young witch froze for a moment and cocked her head to the side. Her eyes widened and she began to hasten her steps. If she was going to get the Champion's weapons and his favor from Hermione then she had to hurry!
=/\=
Mina paced and tried not to pay too much attention the screen in front of her, if she did then she'd just end up doing something stupid, she knew it. Instead she tried to figure out where she went wrong. When she'd finished her initial training she'd been given a charge to watch over during her apprenticeship. After her apprenticeship with Jim, she'd received offers from every Mortis department in the world. Until this incident, Ayame had regularly sent her post cards asking if she'd changed her mind and decided she wanted to be a shinigami more than she wanted to be a reaper. She had once been considered one of the best guardians in the department, and certainly the most efficient junior reaper available.
The Potter line had been given to her charge over a millennia ago, as a reward for her hard work.
That was how it went after all. Rather than new jobs within the department, a department where management positions were actually rather pointless, the best reapers were rewarded with family lines instead of individuals. Reapers preferred to watch families. In many cases it was more interesting to watch over a family rather than a bunch of individuals, and less stressful. You were more or less encouraged to grow attached to a family and unless something huge went wrong, your family charge stayed within the same general area. If you watched over an entire family yourself then you didn't have to worry about your charge's soul being damaged because of the poor work of another guardian.
Beside, the only way to actually move up in the department was simply by someone ahead of you getting a real promotion and then the oldest reaper would step into their place. She shuddered at the idea of being named a senior reaper. Senior reapers had to train apprentices, which could take centuries even if the apprentices didn't suck, and they did more paperwork. Senior reapers could be assigned to the Board, the group that reviewed every department and jumped on every potential infraction of the rules. The not very grim reaper didn't think she'd mind an apprentice but the last thing she wanted to do was go anywhere near the Board. More than anything, since she'd first learned about them in basic training, she wanted a real promotion.
And she'd been so close.
She was sure that scaring wasn't against the rules. The goblins still could have chosen to be unhelpful, but they probably wouldn't have liked the consequences. And she could do whatever she wanted with consequences, provided she didn't hurt anyone's body or soul. The mind was free though.
For now she stopped dwelling on her loss. She could probably find the time to mourn later, or at the very least go and stick more pins in her Destiny voodoo doll.
Almost without thinking, the dainty brunette looked at the viewing screen showing her most troublesome charge.
She blinked.
Then she rubbed her eyes.
"No," Mina whispered, "No, no, no, no, no! What, how in the name of the seven realms could is this possible?"
Her eyes widened further and the reaper put her hands over her mouth to muffle the scream that escaped.
"Why didn't her guardian tell me about this?" Mina hissed to the empty room when she'd regained what passed for composure for her, "Bad enough the bloody throwback brownie is not only there but chaos touched on top of that and of course Harry hangs around the chaos twins more than he did before but now he's going to be in contact with them? They aren't supposed to be released at this level for another two millennia, not until after terra forming is made possible! It's only supposed to be isolated incidents until then! Nothing like this!"
For just a minute Mina wondered if it would be worth it to kill Harry herself. The punishment for failure couldn't be that bad. After all, they'd already taken away her promotion.
She pushed the thought aside almost as quickly as it had come and turned away from the mirror. She had research to complete, planning to do and she'd probably have to bake at least three dozen cookies for Jim when he realized what Harry was about to unleash and probably even more cookies for the other departments when they tracked down who was to blame for this latest unscheduled development. She made a note to remember to bake a really big cake for Fate just in case.
=/\=
However much Mina or other reapers protested, the fact remained that Death was not omnipotent and neither were those that worked in the department of death. Oh they knew exactly when and where everyone and everything would end their time in the mortal plain and they were very good at keeping an eye on their charges. They were, in general, very good at figuring out where certain choices would lead their charges and how they would change things in relation to their other charges. But they often missed certain things. And there were many who took advantage of that.
Deep within the depths of Hogwarts was one such person. In the small suite of rooms that had once been occupied by Professor Severus Snape, a lovely woman sat in front of a fire and gazed deeply into one of a dozen different mirrors. She was a beautiful woman. Her face looked as if a master had carved it from marble and her hair was a wave of golden silk that spilled over the arm of the chair she sat in. Her custom made black silk robes perfectly displayed her trim waist and generous assets, hinting without being vulgar. She held a golden mirror in her hand but rather than her own reflection of a heart shaped face with large sky blue eyes, she the suffering Ginny Weasley. In another mirror at her side, one could see the image of Harry Potter sneaking through the halls of Hogwarts. The other ten each showed something different as well.
"Poor baby," the woman cooed and a sharp grin appeared on her lovely face, "But don't worry little one. The Granger brat may have Death working on her behalf, but Death is no match for Destiny. Whatever Destiny proclaims will happen."
She stood up and began to walk towards another mirror, one hanging over a vanity covered in tiny glass bottles and vials. In this mirror the woman called Destiny saw two scenes side by side.
One scene was of the dainty brunette reaper, pouring over books and occasionally scratching out something on paper. Her hair had been twisted up into a bun rather than her customary ponytail and it was held in place by a number of pencils and a single quill decorated the slap dash style. There was a smudge of flour on her cheek. She was surrounded by hundreds of other books and seemed completely involved in her work.
Destiny glared at the image of the reaper and put one manicured finger to her lips as she considered the oblivious Mina. She shook her head and looked at the other scene and smiled.
The other scene contained a tall young man sitting in front of a giant loom. Sandy hair flopped into hazel eyes as he worked, his concentration unbreakable.
Destiny sighed over the image, watched the broad shoulder and dared to move the image slightly in order to see more of his face. But as she did so he looked up, seemed to look exactly at her through the mirror and scowled.
She huffed in indignation when a brief flash of light shone in her mirror and suddenly her looking glass showed only the uppity little reaper girl.
"Now that Harry has lost his true advantage, you're going to fail you little brat," Destiny said to the image, "You're going to fail and when you do, it will all be mine. He'll be mine this time. You'll lose everything. Everything you loved, everything you worked for, everything's going to be mine."
The image of the reaper faded, leaving only Destiny's lovely appearance gazing back at her. She looked at herself for a moment and then smiled.
"Red I think," the beautiful woman said to herself and as she did her hair changed from waves of sunshine to locks of bright, ruby red.
"Much better," Destiny purred and she turned away from her reflection in favor of her another mirror in which a dark hair boy with a yellow and black scarf was using the telescope in the astronomy tower.
=/\=
At first Hermione wasn't sure what had caused her to wake up but after a moment she noted Luna at the foot of her bed.
"What's going on?" she asked the strange younger girl. Hermione still wasn't entirely sure what to think of her. Harry had told her quite a bit about Luna during his original exposition of what could have happened to her and what she did to help. Hermione had interpreted some of what he had told her and had determined that she would like Luna, that they could be good friends. There was something about her that Hermione had instantly liked.
But at the same time, the way the girl thought was at times so very alien to her that she often had a hard time biting her tongue to keep herself from insulting the seemingly fragile blonde. She had so few friends, and Luna would be the only female friend, so the last thing she wanted to do was insult her before she could discover if this Luna would be all that Harry claimed she once was in another life. She really wanted a friend, a girl, someone who would understand the things that, no matter how close she had gotten to Harry, would simply be awkward to discuss with him.
That she had liked Luna almost as soon as she'd met her, felt that she would have liked the blonde even without Harry's stories, was strangely enough, a mark against her as well. All throughout school the witch had met other children, many of whom she had liked instantly, and had subsequently been betrayed by them. To meet someone like that now, even someone that Harry vetted, made Hermione wary. Perhaps especially because Harry had vetted her. As much as she cared for Harry, Hermione privately didn't really think of him as the best judge of people. After all, Ron was his best friend. She appreciated Ron, to a degree. The Weasley boy had helped save her life. But that didn't stop her from getting her feelings hurt when he made a crass or rude comment or made her feel as though the only reason anyone would hang out with her was for academic help. And it didn't stop the bite when he made derisive or dismissive comments about muggles.
"You didn't notice?" Luna asked, a brow raised, "He didn't take his wand or get his sword. Or talk to the urisk."
"His sword?" Hermione repeated dumbly. She looked over at Harry's bed and bit back a curse and wondered, how she could have possibly missed this?
Of course Harry hadn't just been brooding over the latest rash of victims or his inability to remember. No, he had been planning.
"Of course," Luna replied, as though it was obvious, "Every warrior needs a sword when going off to battle the monster and rescue the princess."
"Or impress the princess when she's not in need of rescuing," the blonde waif revised with a smile on her face.
"Well, I'm afraid that I'm fresh out of swords," Hermione admitted as she gingerly tried to get out of the bed. When Madam Pomfrey didn't instantly appear Hermione sighed and smirked to herself. Being the "obedient patient" while Harry tried to escape had paid off.
"You should go back to bed," Hermione ordered her younger friend as she searched through her things. After a moment managed to find a few sickles and her compact mirror. The application of some transfiguration turned the group of items into a large mirror shield. She wasn't sure how strong it would be but strength wasn't the point, the reflectivity would at least keep her and Harry from dying. She mentally began to run through anything she had read that might help her and cursed. Most of what she had gleaned from the journals dealt with the very basics and touched on mind magics. She hadn't gotten very far in translating or practicing the more advanced things and she got the feeling that those advanced things might be what would help most. She hadn't really practiced anything that she could think to apply to a situation like this.
Luna shook her head.
"No," the blonde said in a strangely firm voice, "Something's going on. You might need me tonight. At the very least, you'll need this."
Luna waved Harry's cloak around before she wrapped it about her shoulders, leaving only her head floating in the darkness.
"And if I don't have it then I might get caught going back to the tower," Luna pointed out.
"Better caught by a teacher than dead," Hermione countered as arranged some pillows beneath the blankets to make it seem as though people were still in the two empty beds. Some more transfiguration created a simulation of her own hair at the head of her now empty bed and a facsimile of Harry's messy locks at the head of his pillow self. It wouldn't stand up to anything more than a casual glance but it would give people pause. Luna only laughed.
"The safest place to be right now is with the one who seeks the monster," Luna said breezily, joining Hermione under the invisibility cloak.
Hermione wanted to argue, she really did! But the idea of confronting the snake on her own terrified her more than she dared to admit. She was grateful that Luna was willing to stick by her.
She felt her resolve harden. She was going to save Harry if he was in over his head, which was likely, and she was going to protect Luna Lovegood.
Nothing less would be acceptable.
=/\=
And there you have it, and hey, it didn't take me a year!
Then again, as the title said, it was just an interlude, but Destiny insisted on getting into the spotlight, diva that she is.
For the real chapter we catch up with Harry who has Hermione hot on his heels and Luna trilling behind with her own bag of tricks ready to help out.
As a hint, a urisk isn't just a made up creature from Luna or the Quibbler's imaginations…
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