Mia Potter was the other Potter. Looking almost identical to her mother, she was a force to be reckoned with. But there was only one person who could reckon with her, and his name was Draco Malfoy.
In which the youngest Potter twin finds herself fa...
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"In the cauldron boil and bake, fillet of a fenny snake, scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, witches' mummy, maw and gulf."
Mis was sitting next to Ron and opposite Harry and Hermione while the frog choir were at the front of the school, singing.
"Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble. Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Something wicked this way comes!"
The hall burst into appluase as Ron turned to Mia.
"That song's kind of catchy," he muttered as Mia chuckled.
"A little bit," she said back.
Professor Dumbledore, though very old, always gave an impression of great energy. He had several feet of long silver hair and beard, half-moon spectacles, and an extremely crooked nose. He was often described as the greatest wizard of the age, but that wasn't why Mia respected him. You couldn't help trusting Albus Dumbledore, and as Mia watched him beaming around at the students, she felt really calm for the first time since the Dementor had entered the train compartment.
"Welcome!" said Dumbledore, the candlelight shimmering on his beard. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! Now, I'd like to say a few words before we all become too befuddled by our excellent feast. First, I'm pleased to welcome Professor R.J. Lupin who's kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Good luck, professor."
Professor Lupin stood up as there here was some scattered, rather unenthusiastic applause. Only those who had been in the compartment on the train with Professor Lupin clapped hard, Mia among them. Professor Lupin looked particularly shabby next to all the other teachers in their best robes.
"Look at Snape!" Ron hissed in Mia's ear.
Professor Snape, the Potions master, was staring along the staff table at Professor Lupin. It was common knowledge that Snape wanted the Defence Against the Dark Arts job, but even Mia, who hated Snape, was startled at the expression twisting his thin, sallow face. it was beyond anger, it was loathing. Mia knew that expression all too well. It was the look Snape wore every time he set eyes on Mia and Harry.
"Of course. That's why he knew to give you the chocolate, Mia," Hermione said as Mia grinned.
"Potter. Potter."
Mia turned around to the Slytherin table and saw Draco Malfoy sat there with Crabbe, Goyle, Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson. She couldn't deny, he had gotten better looking over the summer. He was taller, his voice deeper and he no longer had his hair slicked back, it was left natural and fell over his grey eyes.
"Is it true you fainted?" he whispered to Mia. Nott did an impression of fainted as Mia rolled her eyes and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I mean, you actually fainted?"
"Shove off, Malfoy," Ron said, taking Mia's shoulders and turning her back to the front.
"How did he find out?" she muttered to her friends.
"Just forget it," Hermione said sympathetically as Mia nodded. She turned back to the front where Dumbledore was giving his speech.
". . . .our Care of Magical Creatures teacher has decided to retire," Dumbledore was saying, "in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs. Fortunately, I'm delighted to announce that his place will be taken by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid!"
Mia, Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at one another, stunned. Then they joined in with the applause, which was tumultuous at the Gryffindor table in particular. Harry leaned forward to see Hagrid, who was ruby red in the face and staring down at his enormous hands, his wide grin hidden in the tangle of his black beard. Mia's eyes flashed red and she wiggled her fingers as red fireworks exploded above the Gryffindor table.
"We should've known!" Ron roared, pounding the table. "Who else would have assigned us a biting book?"
Mia, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the last to stop clapping, and as Professor Dumbledore started speaking again, they saw that Hagrid was wiping his eyes on the tablecloth.
"Finally, on a more disquieting note," Dumbledore said as the hall fell silent, "at the request of the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts will, until further notice, play host to the dementors of Azkaban until such a time as Sirius Black is captured. The dementors will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds."
Mia and Harry exchanged looks.
"Now whilst I've been assured that their presence will not disrupt our day-to-day activities, a word of caution. Dementors are vicious creatures. They'll not distinguish, between the one they hunt and the one who gets in their way. Therefore, I must warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you."
"Easier said that done," Mia muttered to Harry who nodded.
"It is not in the nature of a dementor to be forgiving. But you know, happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times," Dumbledore waved his hand over a candle, and the flame went out, "if one only remembers to turn on the light."
He waved his hand back over it, and the flame reappeared.
"Well, I think that's everything of importance," said Dumbledore. "Let the feast begin!"
The golden plates and goblets before them filled suddenly with food and drink. Mia, suddenly ravenous, helped herself to everything she could reach and began to eat.
It was a delicious feast. The hall echoed with talk, laughter, and the clatter of knives and forks. Mia, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, however, were eager for it to finish so that they could talk to Hagrid. They knew how much being made a teacher would mean to him. Hagrid wasn't a fully qualified wizard, he had been expelled from Hogwarts in his third year for a crime he had not committed. It had been Mia, Harry, Ron, and Hermione who had cleared Hagrid's name last year.
At long last, when the last morsels of pumpkin tart had melted from the golden platters, Dumbledore gave the word that it was time for them all to go to bed, and they got their chance.
"Congratulations, Hagrid!" Hermione squealed as they reached the teachers' table.
"All down ter you four," said Hagrid, wiping his shining face on his napkin as he looked up at them. "Can' believe it. . . . great man, Dumbledore. . . . came straight down to me hut after Professor Kettleburn said he'd had enough. . . It's what I always wanted. . . ."
Overcome with emotion, he buried his face in his napkin, and Professor McGonagall shooed them away.
Mia, Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined the Gryffindors streaming up the marble staircase and, very tired now, along more corridors, up more and more stairs, to the hidden entrance to Gryffindor Tower, where a large portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress asked them, "Password?"
"Coming through, coming through!" Percy called from behind the crowd. "The new password's Fortuna Major!"
"Oh no," said Neville Longbottom sadly. He always had trouble remembering the passwords.
Through the portrait hole and across the common room, the girls and boys divided toward their separate staircases. Mia climbed the spiral stair with no thought in her head except how glad she was to be back. They reached their familiar, circular dormitory with its five four-poster beds, and Mia, looking around, felt she was home at last.
