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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"Let's go find Harry and Ron," Hermione said to Mia the next morning. From the second she woke up, she felt the silently judging looks from all the other girls in the dorm.
"Yeah," Mia said as she followed Hermione out of the dorm and down the spiral stairs. The ginger girl felt everyone's eyes on her as she and Hermione caught up with Harry and Ron halfway across the common room as they headed toward breakfast. When Mia met with Harry and Ron, she noticed the looks Harry and Ron gave her. She sighed as she looked away.
"You look absolutely. . . . oh for heaven's sake." She was staring at the common room notice board, where a large new sign had been put up.
GALLONS OF GALLEONS! Pocket money failing to keep pace with your outgoings?Like to earn a little extra gold? Contact Fred and George Weasley, Gryffindor common room, for simple, part-time, virtually painless jobs! (WE REGRET THAT ALL WORK IS UNDERTAKEN AT THE APPLICANT'S OWN RISK)
"They are the limit," said Hermione grimly, taking down the sign, which Fred and George had pinned up over a poster giving the date of the first Hogsmeade weekend in October. "Anyway, what's up, Harry?" Hermione continued, as they walked down a flight of stairs lined with portraits of old witches and wizards, all of whom ignored them, being engrossed in their conversation."You look angry about something."
"Seamus reckons Mia's lying about You-Know-Who, he said it in the dorm last night after slating her before. Harry kicked off at him and nearly punched him," said Ron succinctly, when Harry did not respond. Hermione sighed.
"Yes, Lavender thinks so too," she said gloomily.
"What?" Mia asked shocked.
"You were asleep," Hermione said, "I thought you could use the rest so I used Muffliato on you so you wouldn't hear anything."
"Been having a nice little chat with her about whether or not my sister is a lying, attention-seeking prat or mentioned her past, have you?" Harry said loudly.
"No," said Hermione calmly, "I told her to keep her big fat mouth shut about Mia. And it would be quite nice if you stopped jumping down Ron's and my throats, Harry because if you haven't noticed, we're on your side. I know Mia hasn't said anything about this, and I understand your frustration about it, but this is about Mia, not you." All three of them looked at Mia.
"I don't care," she said, pulling her backpack over her shoulder. "People can say what they want about me."
"Don't you remember what Dumbledore said at the end-of-term feast last year?" Mia, Harry and Ron both looked at her blankly, and Hermione sighed again.
"I was a bit preoccupied last year," Mia said.
"About You-Know-Who. He said, his gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. . . ."
"How do you remember stuff like that?" asked Ron, looking at her in admiration.
"I listen, Ron," said Hermione with a touch of asperity.
"So do I, but I still couldn't tell you exactly what. . . ."
"The point," Hermione pressed on loudly, "is that this sort of thing is exactly what Dumbledore was talking about. You-Know-Who's only been back two months, and we've started fighting among ourselves. And the Sorting Hat's warning was the same, stand together, be united. . . ."
"And Harry said it last night," retorted Ron, "if that means we're supposed to get matey with the Slytherins, fat chance."
"Well, I think it's a pity we're not trying for a bit of inter-House unity," said Hermione crossly.
They had reached the foot of the marble staircase. A line of fourth-year Ravenclaws was crossing the entrance hall. They caught sight of Mia, sent her disgusted looks and hurried to form a tighter group, as though frightened might attack stragglers.
"Yeah, we really ought to be trying to make friends with people like that," said Mia sarcastically.
They followed the Ravenclaws into the Great Hall, looking instinctively at the staff table as they entered. Professor Grubbly-Plank was chatting to Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher, and Hagrid was once again conspicuous only by his absence. The enchanted ceiling above them echoed Mia's mood. It was a miserable rain cloud.
As the ginger girl walked down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables and felt everyone's eyes on her.
"I can't believe she's still here. . . ."
"Look at her! She looks so ill. . . ."
". . . .how is she still walking around. . . ."
Mia sat down, with Hermione next to her and Harry and Ron opposite her. The ginger girl looked down at her plate and when she looked up, Harry, Ron and Hermione all quickly looked away from her and began picking food for their breakfast. Mia glanced at them before reaching for some orange juice.
With a whoosh and a clatter, hundreds of owls came soaring in through the upper windows. They descended all over the Hall, bringing letters and packages to their owners and showering the breakfasters with droplets of water; it was raining hard outside. Hermione, however, had to move her orange juice aside quickly to make way for a large damp barn owl bearing a sodden Daily Prophet in its beak.
"What are you still getting that for?" said Harry irritably as Hermione placed a Knut in the leather pouch on the leg and it took off again. "I'm not bothering. . . . a load of rubbish."
"It's best to know what the enemy is saying," said Hermionedarkly, and she unfurled the newspaper and disappeared behind it, not emerging until Mia, Harry and Ron had finished eating."Nothing," she said simply, rolling up the newspaper and laying it down by her plate. "Nothing about you or Dumbledore or anything."
Professor McGonagall was now moving along the table handing out schedules and Mia noticed the quick look of pity she gave Mia before moving on.
"I'll er, I'll be back," the ginger girl said, "see you in class." She grabbed her bag and her schedula and almost ran out of the Great Hall.
The ginger girl ignored all the stares and whispers as she made her way to the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey was making the beds.
"Um, Madam Pomfrey?"
The older woman looked up and gave the young girl a smile.
"Good morning Miss. Potter," she said smiling, "I take it you're here because of what Remus said?" Mia nodded.
"I want to get clean," she said, her voice weak, "and I was told you can help."
"I can," Madam Pomfrey said with a smile. She walked to her office and got out a small box of brightly coloured pills. "Take these, I've spoken to your Professors, they are aware of your situation and have all agreed that it's okay for you to take them during lessons. You need to take one every two hours for three months. It's not going to be easy, it's going to make your emotional all over the place. It's going to be easy to forget to take them, but if you miss even one then you have to start the four weeks again."
"Okay," Mia said nodding, "thank you." She took the pills and smiled.
"Good luck Mia," Madam Pomfrey said, "any problems, please come to me." Mia nodded and smiled as she put the box in her robes pocket.
